Work really sucks it out of you

I've noticed its been a while. Time flies when you sleep all day. In my defense, I work all night. I had a pretty good schedule going at first. I was up and alert by the time everyone was home from work/school. That gave me time to get things done around the house, cook dinner and spend some quality time with the kids and Wes before heaing off to work again. Not so much this past week or so. I've just been exhausted. I get up to make dinner, trudge through that and fall asleep on the couch again until the kids go to bed. Pathetic I know.
I've been working a brutal schedule though. 4 days on, 1 day off for the past 2 weeks and I think its caught up to me. My schedule revolves on a 28 day calendar. The first 2 weeks are pretty well spaced, but the last 2 are rough. So, I'm hoping as the new period starts this week, I'll adjust better to the last 2 weeks this month.
Nothing too alarming is going on. Joey graduated from a cast to a brace last week. He's in that for about another month. But, he can take it off when he's just sitting around (not often, as outside is still the place to be around here) and most important, he can take it off to shower. And while he showers, I can spray the brace with Febreeze. Man those things stink up fast!
Mackenzie has her first chorus concert tomorrow. She's looking forward to it, but she isn't sure she wants to continue after this. Her chorus teacher seems to think that chorus is life and that a bunch of 8-10 year olds should want nothing more than to practice twice a week, in spite of everything else. She may give it a go as a class option once she's in middle school thought.
Joey's first band concert is also coming up soon. Oddly, they chose to wait until after Christmas to do that. My highschool band teacher would have loved that. He hated the need for Christmas concerts, almost as much as pep band.
Wes is almost done with his probabtion period at work. He's looking forward to a possible raise and benefits kicking in by the end of the month. He's also given notice at his 2nd job. With Christmas shopping almost done, he figures the tiny amount he gets from there can be given up. I quite agree.
We will have a full house for Christmas. Russell and Briana will be with us the first part of their school break, going back to their mom's Christmas afternoon. My kids will be with us until then as well, going to Mike's at the same time. My parents are leaving on a cruise tonight, and when they return, they're driving up here from Florida to spend Christmas with us. With the big crowd we're already having, we're going to host Christmas Eve dinner here for Wes' family. I think I may have gone a little insane with that thought. But, with tv trays and folding chairs borowed from here and there, it should work out alright.
One more announcement for those that aren't related to me and don't know...my beautiful niece Brittany is getting married! Since this is no small event, The kids and I and perhaps even Wes will be trekking back across the country this summer for the wedding. I'm not sure which was scarier, wedding invites from the kids I used to babysit, or this. Man I'm getting old!