Christmas recap

We had a very merry christmas this year! Being gone for the first week out of the month kind of helped us avoid the holiday drag we usually get by the week before Christmas. Generally by the time it arrives, I have been so focused on ticking things off the list, that I forget that it is supposed to be fun. Being so sick in the months leading up to the season, I also forwent (forgoed?) things like making Christmas cards and buying presents early. So, to all my friends and family who didn't get a card this year, you won't. And since I did most of my shopping online, your present is probably in the mail if you haven't received it yet!

For the kids, we went more simple this year present-wise with a vacation just behind us and one coming up in february. It was awesome! I want to bring back the Laura Ingalls Wilder days when kids could be wildly happy with a new tin cup of their own, a stick of candy and a penny. Who's with me?

The day after we got home from CA, we bought our tree. We usually make a big deal out of getting it but this time we were so beat that we picked up the first nice looking one in front of walmart where we had gone to get groceries. $30 we said? What a steal! We now realize that trees that are cut down sometime in mid-september and then sold at wal-mart are often a great deal. We were quite disappointed when it died about three minutes after setting it up and decorating it.

We love real trees, but are learning to accept the fact that we are not lucky with them. They die very quickly for us, even when we do everything right like cutting off the bottom and moving them away from heat vents and watering religiously. Last year we thought we would sidestep our Christmas tree fate by cutting down our own. We travelled out to a tree farm near us and because Jay worked late and it was already dark, found and cut down our tree with the aid of a spotlight. Here is how our tree looked in the forest (directly behind the boys):

This is how the tree looked when we set it up in the stand (yes, it is the same tree):

This is us at Rite-Aid that same night buying a replacement tree (that died before christmas, of course.)

Thomas liked to hide behind this year's tree until I banned the boys from touching it at all, because needles would shower off if someone so much as walked through the room, or breathed.
We thought we could stick it out, but about a week and a half before the big day the branches began to curl under and go brown. Everytime we turned the lights on we were afraid it would burst into flames.So, we took it down and I got a cheap, fake walmart tree to use next year as the kids tree downstairs. It was cute but not at all sturdy. At last count, the boys had knocked it over 6 times. Next year I am going to just buy two trees right off the bat and keep one outside until the first one dies.

Despite the two full size TV's in this house, the boys preferred to watch their DVD's on the eight inch portable DVD player under the tree. To be fair, I don't think I can blame them. I recall laying as far under the christmas tree as I could get when I was little to look up at the lights through the branches. Incidentally that memory along with the tree smell is why we have not yet given up on real trees yet and wont!) I'm not even going to pretend to be reasonable here.

Other than that, we did the usual stuff. Sam made a list of all the things we needed to do before christmas could come. On the list was, decorating the house:

Making gingerbread men and gingerbread houses:

And snowball fights and sledding:

Check, check, check. It was a blast.

Samuel had a very specific christmas list this year. All he wanted was a baby lion (interactive stuffed animal) a puppet with strings and a jack in the box. I wanted to ask him if he was sure he didn't also want a whistle and a ball and a whip that cracks! Oh, and also when he would be heading back to the early 1900's. With the exception of the Jack in the box (which is now considered a "vintage toy" and new ones cost at least as much as the bike I got him instead) Santa came through. We have put Grandpa Kit on the hunt at the thrift store for a more reasonably priced Jack in the box because my baby boy has his 5th birthday coming up in February.

Christmas Eve always comes with new Nick & Nora jammies and an ornament that represents their year (and as an extra special present from Thomas to his parents, he pooped in the potty for the first time. Gross, I know, but back me up any of you moms out there who have potty trained. It's exciting stuff. I almost had tears in my eyes I was so proud!)

We also enjoyed our annual Christmas Eve fondue feast (we were all kind of sick from cheese overload after but it was totally worth it) This year's Christmas Eve also happened to bring my brothers Brad and Jeff (who should have know this picture might come back to haunt him):

Before bed, Sam wrote a letter to Santa (Sam's "writing" on the left and my translation on the right) They decorated cookies earlier in the day and in case you are curious as to why there is so little frosting on them, it is because they were less interested in putting it on the cookie than in their mouths. Santa didn't mind. Rudolph got the leftover broccoli from the fondue plate. He didn't mind either.

I love how the tree looks before the presents get distributed and the paper starts flying. And yes, I got my boys a play kitchen. Whatever some of you are thinking has probably already been said by my brothers, but they love it and I had to look long and hard to find a set that was not girly and not plastic-y (and not $700 a set, Pottery Barn!!)

To top it all off, it snowed again this year! Altough the storm kept us from seeing family that we expected to get to visit with later that day, you can't beat a white Christmas!

I'll leave you Sam's version's of some classic christmas songs:

Deck the Halls (distinctly influenced by the movie "Shrek the Halls")

"Shrek the Halls with Boots and Donkey, Fa la la la la la la la la

Christmas has to be so lonky, fa la la la la la la la la..."

Jingle Bells

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way

come inside, it's fun inside, come inside the sleigh - hey!"

He sang these versions so often, we were all singing them that way by the end. At the end of the day on Christmas, he asked me what was my favorite part of the day. It will be many years before he truly believes that my favorite part is watching my boys have fun (although I did recieve a sewing machine and that was pretty fun too!) We have a New Year's Eve party to rock at Mamma and Papa's tomorrow, and after that, behavior boot camp will commence (and in Thomas' case, potty training will resume).

Hope everyone else's Christmas was as great as ours!

Merry Christmas to all...

...And to all a good night!

It's a Girl!

Three out of four of us are very excited. Sam told me he is "just so sad, because he wanted a brother." Should I remind him he has a brother that he fights with constantly? Then he tried to negotiate and said he would be okay with a baby sister as long as she can walk like cousin Nono (Bek's 2 year old daughter). Thomas just put his hands over his eyes during the ultrasound. I think he was expecting a monster of some sort to come popping onto the screen. However, later he announced to Grandma on the phone "mama has a big belly!"

I immediately went to Target and bought something pink! Your turn Kate...

Happiest Place on Earth (part 2)

Tuesday - Of course Jay came down with the same flu I had and spent almost the entire day in bed. We hung out at the park for awhile and then came back and went swimming and watched fireworks.

Wednesday - Wednesday rocked! Lines were great, Jay recovered, food tasted good again and Sam got picked to be in the Jedi training show!

Thursday - Bek and family left on Thursday morning and we spent one last day in the park. It wasn't quite the same without our usual Disneyland compadres, but we had fun on their behalf!

No trip to California is complete without a trip to Boston Market! Those of you who have them near you, we envy you, and we may come visit you....

Thomas wasn't as impressed as we have raised him to be!

It's always nice to come home and crawl into our own beds! We are almost as attached to our awesome bed as we are to our children and we miss it greatly when we have to sleep anywhere else. No one puked on the way home although Sam claimed it was "the longest drive in his life." I tend to agree. We'll fly next time. I miss the churros already!

Tha happiest place on earth (part 1)

Our favorite trip is always our yearly trek to Disneyland! We have always been lucky enough to be joined by sister Bek and her family (children's code names are intact!) This year we hit a few snags, but still had a great time!

Friday (the day before we leave): Moments after enjoying Training Table cheese fries with my younger brother, I feel less than awesome. I don't get too alarmed since I am still prone to bouts of morning (my eye!) sickness. I scrap all my good intentions to finish my lists and pack and have everything sitting neatly by the door by the time j makes it home from work. Instead I bully the boys into taking naps so I can "sleep it off." By 6 pm it is clear that I have caught the flu, the likes of which I have not seen in 9 years (the last time I was ever that sick, it was my birthday!) By 10 pm I am wishing J would mercy kill me and am resolutely trying not to think about the fact that I have not finished my lists, the laundry or done any packing whatsoever. I kick J onto the downstairs couch (to keep him safe from germs, right?) whimper through the night and finally fall asleep around 4 a.m.

Saturday morning: Sweet J takes the kids out of the house early to give me a chance to sleep in peace and quiet (my kids are incapable of being quiet. They sometimes even fight in their sleep). They visit McDonald's, and get the oil changed in the truck. Sam is strangely quiet and not hungry. As they pull into the driveway, he leans over and pukes onto the seat (I should note here that the truck is the first car we have owned without easily wipeable leather seats. We regretted that decision long before they were ever puked on.) Thomas looks over at Samuel with wide eyes and says:

"Duuuude! What are you doing!?"

Meanwhile, I find that I am (with the help of Zofran and tylenol) able to stand. Packing consists of throwing things unfolded into suitcases and rubber totes. We throw it into the back of the truck rejoicing that for the first time we don't have to play tetris in the truck with our luggage (Since we are all friends here, I don't mind admitting that that particular reason was at least 50% of the allure of getting a truck in the first place!). We pile into the car and I find that as long as my eyes are closed the whole time, I'm good. Sam agrees. We find our hotel and find ourselves eating Pizza and Jello at midnight.

Sunday: We leave Vegas around 9:00 looking forward to the short drive to the LA area. We're going to go swimming! Maybe the beach! We'll have dinner in Downtown Disney!!!...

Or, maybe we will spend the next eight hours completing what should have been a three hour drive. Clearly everyone in Southern California had spent the thanksgiving holiday in Vegas. It actually made us feel better that Bek, who was coming down from SF, was also hitting the same kind of traffic. It made us feel a little less picked on!

Early to bed...Disneyland in the morning.

Monday: First stop is the character breakfast. We love this. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is not interested in waiting in long lines to see your children's favorite characters around the park. Although Captain Hook's attempt to approach the table put Thomas into hysterics.

Thomas' face is how he looked most of the breakfast!

To be continued...

Frosty and Frostina

I know I still owe a Disneyland update, but Sam dropped this little gem on us the other night and I had to share. He goes through reams of paper these days drawing everything he can think of and then bugs me for ideas. He came to me and proudly showed me his picture of a snowman:





After the usual sincere oohs and aahs and promises to put it on the fridge, he turned it over and just as proudly said "and this is a Snow Woman." Oh my!



He was confused and a little sheepish when I couldn't help laughing and wouldn't answer any of my questions about it, but as promised it is now hanging on the refrigerator. So far there have been no other anatomically correct pictures coming from our little Leonardo, but I will keep you posted.