The Twelve Days of Stressmas

Typically, this is my favorite time of year (well, tied with early October). I love the Christmas music, the cookie baking, the gift wrapping, the anticipation of the excitement on the kids' faces on Christmas morning. Well this year I've had a hard time even remembering that Christmas is coming up so soon. Life has gotten in the way. Things have been chaotic.

So here's my list of why I've forgotten the joys of the season over the past 12 days.
1. Doctor appointment where I found out that I have to have a needle jammed into my throat (aka "needle aspiration" of my thyroid)
2. Garage door breaks.
3. Phone call from Paul's preschool saying that we need to have a conference to discuss his "behavior issues."
4. I get all holiday spirit-y and decide to make a traditional batch of fudge. The old fashioned way. I spend 2 hours and end up with a chocolate flavored crumbly brick.
5. Satellite receiver dies.
6. Yoga class gets interrupted by gym childcare employee because Paul hit her.
7. I decided to make gifts for people, involving the sewing machine and fabric. I discovered when I was almost done that I'd sewn 5 out of the 7 items inside out. Spent some good quality time with a seam-ripper.
8. I got ready to take Sam to school (on a morning when he had a field trip) only to discover that the car won't start.
9. I finally got some dental work done that I've needed for awhile, and now I've got a slight lisp.
10. Sam's school called at noon today because he was claiming to have "chest pains" and said he needed to go home. Of course the chest pains magically disappeared the second he sat down at the computer at home. And of course this was on an afternoon when Paul was supposed to have school, and I had errands to run.
11. I got around to making chocolate dipped marshmallows, and as I was walking across the kitchen with a bowl full of 1 1/2 lb of melted white chocolate, the bowl slipped. Covering the entire kitchen in white chocolate.
12. As I was cleaning up the kitchen I heard the words "Mommy! Emergency!" in Sam's voice coming from upstairs. Never good news. Let's just say that finding poop on the floor isn't something that gets me in the Christmas spirit!

Holiday Photos for those who don't like holidays

Trying to get the perfect Christmas card photo has never been an easy thing. But now that the kids both have their own opinions and feelings (and a general hatred of sitting still and smiling) it was quite a difficult task this year! Here are a few of our delightful outtakes:

These were the ones we attempted at home:





Then we had our visit with a real live reindeer. Paul had just woken up from a nap in the car, and was rather cranky.


And sleepy.


Of course as soon as we gave up on getting him to smile, and started walking away, Paul started crying and saying "I didn't get to say cheese!" So we gave it one more try. Got a great smile out of Paul. But lost Sam behind the reindeer.




So I'd advise people to start watching for our Christmas cards sometime in mid-February. We may get a photo by then!

Madison Ink

Well, I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile now. At first I couldn't, because I didn't want to ruin the surprise. Then I just plain didn't get around to it!!!

Anyway, I got a new tattoo. Mel and I went together, and got Life Is Good tattoos, to remind us, well, that life is good. And to remind us of Papa. Mine is to symbolize Papa sitting on the log with Sam and Paul, having their special bonding time.

Here's a (rather out of focus and not great) picture of mine:



p.s. If anyone tells you that tatoos don't hurt, they're lying. Not as bad as childbirth, but still not a pleasant feeling!!!!

Minnesota Memories

I meant to post this when we got back from our trip last month, but never got around to it! So here are our pictures from our time in the twin cities.

Here's Clark with cutie pie Bry!





Here we are at a lake (yes, they do have a few of them in Minnesota)

Welcome!

My kids are no longer the only kids in their generation anymore (on my side of the family) My cousin Susie has a new baby, who is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! Welcome to Jack, my sweet new cousin!

Scary Stuff!

Well, the computer containing our photo website has been down for a few weeks. But thanks to our computer genius Clark, things are working better than ever!

So here are our Halloween photos--better late than never!

When we carved pumpkins this year, we had each of the kids draw the face they wanted on their pumpkin, and then Clark carved them.

Here's Paul's drawing:




The finished product:


Clark hard at work:

Sam's drawing:

Sam's finished pumpkin:


And the scary vampire and little brother bat:



Heading out to trick-or-treat:


Totally don't know what was going on here, but the picture is priceless! (especially Paul's lip)


CANDY!

How to party like a first grader....

Sam had a school dance tonight, sponsored by the PTO. (gotta put the plug in for the PTO anywhere I can now that I'm the secretary, lol! http://www.chavezschool.com/bus_board.php)

Anyway, they had the same DJ as last year, which meant lots of fun for the kids, and lots of laughs for the parents.

There were a few of the same dances as last year, including The Macarena (would everyone please just let this song die!!!!!), The YMCA (a classic, I must admit), and a large quantity of disco, including "Stayin' Alive".



There was also The Chicken Dance, because after all, a dance just wouldn't be a dance if you didn't get to act like a chicken at some point.

Here is Sam doing the chicken dance with one of his best buds, Jeremiah.






Then there was a new one--to a song called "Party Like A Rock Star". The DJ showed the kids how to wave their hands in the air like rock stars do (Sam didn't quite get this, and was making the sign language sign for "I love you" instead of the "fist of rock", but oh well)


Here's Sam's version of the "rock star" move:



Then he showed them how to cross their arms across their chests and nod their heads up and down, like cool rappers. Here's Sam trying out this move.




There was also a nice guest appearance by the one and only Bucky Badger (who is a heck of a disco dancer, by the way)






The DJ also had all of the kids get into a big circle for several songs, and had the kids raise their hands if they wanted to come out into the middle of the circle, one at a time, and show off their cool dance moves. Sam (aka Sam the Ham) ended up out in the center of the circle over a half a dozen times! The kid is fearless, even with all of his friends, and "big kid" 4th and 5th graders (who I wouldn't want to dance in front of, lol!) watching.

All in all, it was night Sam (and his mommy) will never forget!

How many times.....

can you hear "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" played at about 150 decibels* on the kazoo before you lose your mind?

Hmm, I wish I didn't have the answer to that question today!

*140 decibels is as loud as a jet engine takeoff

When mom and dad are away.....

The kids have lots of fun with Mok and Pa! Last weekend Mok and Pa took the kids for 4 days so Mommy and Daddy could have a weekend away in the twin cities. The kids got to:
go to a corn maze
have a treasure hunt
go to a halloween arts and crafts thing
roast marshmallows in the fireplace
bake and decorate cakes
play hide and go seek outside in the dark
and last but not least.....learn the joys of silly string! (which Sam called me on my cell phone to tell me all about--"Mommy, we got to use this stuff called Silly String! It's in a can, and it looks sort of like string, but it's kind of like shampoo, but it squirts out. It's really cool!")

The parents got to:
stay in a quiet hotel
sleep in late
go out to eat (at restaurants that don't serve corn dogs)
go to an art museum and wander around leisurely looking at paintings without anyone complaining of boredom
spend some quality time with Sandy and Steve and finally meet Bry (cutest baby born in the past 3 years in the whole world)

All in all, it was a great weekend!!

Old McSammy had a farm.....

Sam had a field trip to a local farm on Thursday. He came home with a big pumpkin, and an even bigger smile. He told me that the best part of the trip was that he got to milk a cow, all by himself. He was quite proud!

Bad Mommy

Sam was throwing a fit the other night, after he'd been in bed about a half an hour. He was mad because he wanted to sleep with his Stitch sweatshirt, which he left in the car. I didn't want to go all the way out to the car to get the sweatshirt, and also was getting tired of the bedtime stall tactics. So I said no.

He decided that no was not an answer that he wanted, so he started whining, arguing, and grumbling at me about how he really neeeeeeeded this sweatshirt to sleep.

I got mad, and grumbled something about how "I'm not getting the sweatshirt, it's 80 degrees outside, you don't even need the stupid sweatshirt, blah blah blah blah."

Then he got mad and started screaming that I was the worst mommy ever. At this point, Clark came upstairs and took over. (apparently he's very helpful whenever someone attacks my parenting skills, up to that point it doesn't bother him)

When I went to bed that night, I found a picture on my pillow that Sam had drawn. It was a picture of me (I know this because it said "Mommy" with an arrow pointing to the person.) I was holding his stitch sweatshirt in one hand, and on the other side was a speech bubble that said "stoopid". At the top of the picture he'd written in big letters "DO YOU HAVE SOMTING TO SAY?" (which is the same thing I ask him any time he needs to apologize). So yeah, I'm a bad mommy. And I've got the art to prove it.

(I did eventually apologize to the sweatshirt for hurting its feelings)

Here's my little sensitive guy:

Go Speed Racer!

We've finally found a use for all that endless energy that the kids have--running races! I signed myself up for a 5K race at the zoo called the Zoo Run Run. And they also had a kids race called the Roo Run Run. The kids were very excited to get to run in a real race. They both got an oficial race number to wear, and all the kids got a gold medal at the end of the race. Life doesn't get much better than that!

Here I am crossing the finish line, waving at the kids: (I wasn't exactly fast--I finished 179th for the women, out of 296, but I ran the whole way, and had a great time)



Here's the big hug I got after crossing the finish line:


Here are the 3 runners together:


Here's Paul's race (he's in the middle, above the blue shoulder)


And Sam's race (he's on the left in the stripes)


And the two happy guys with their gold medals:


And a few more pictures from the day:

School Days (a bit late!)

I've finally got the kids' first day of school pictures up on the computer! Here they are:

Here's Paul getting ready to leave the house:

Here are the boys arriving at Paul's preschool:

Here they are in Paul's classroom

Sam shows Paul how to use the counting bears:



Here's Sam introducing Paul to the animals at the preschool farm:

Sam gets ready to leave for school on his first day: