Tree trimming

I just don't know how we will make it until Christmas. The boys are already sooooo excited and it isn't even December 1st. That is probably my fault. I made the mistake of putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. What was I thinking? I was thinking... hey, take advantage of the fact that Brett has the day off. Have him get all the Christmas stuff out so you can put the tree up and decorate the house.

With all the wildness I am seeing in my kids I am seriously reconsidering my decision. Next year I'm thinking the tree will go up December 24th.

That being said, decorating the tree has become a favorite tradition in our home. I'm not sure why the boys get so excited about it but they do. Maybe they love seeing the ornaments they have made in years past being put on the tree, or the fact that they actually get to touch something that is named "decoration" (in our home the word decoration is synonymous with DON'T TOUCH!).
Our tree is not a fancy tree but a hodge podge mixture of decorations from my childhood, gifts from neighbors, and ornaments the boys have made.

But when the tree is trimmed we all stand back and admire its beauty and take pride in our work.

I take pride in the fact that we made it through the process without any bloody noses or time outs. Whew! Now if I can only get all of the stockings finished in time for Christmas....

She got me again...

Before I tell you about a couple of traditions that have generated between my sister April and myself I know that you will want to see the pictoral evidence of my Saturday "moment" with Smiley. Giggles came downstairs with a sheet of paper he had found in Smiley's room that had marker all over it. I knew at that moment that he had drawn on more than just the paper. The question was; how much more?


You have heard me sing the praised of the Magic Eraser before when an errant marker has made its way upstairs. The marker wasn't accidentally left upstairs in this case. Smiley went into the computer room to search a marker out. Needless to say it took him quite some time to clean his artwork off of his bed.

Now to my sister April. Some time ago April acquired a very ugly decorative Arizona plate. This plate has gone back and forth between our homes when we have visited one another. It is currently hidden somewhere in April's home (I dare not reveal where or she will bring it up to my home this Christmas and hide it). A few years back April thought she would be really funny and start gifting me sock monkey items. I think sock monkeys are really creepy. Our mother used to make sock monkeys and sell them for extra money (they were really popular years ago). The last time I visited April I left a sock monkey in her bed to surprise her. April's oldest son, Chase, just came up for the weekend to visit with friends. He left on Saturday and it is now Monday when to my surprise I walk into the room he stayed in and discover this:
Thanks a lot April!

Just wait until Christmas!

Precious Moments?

I've realized that almost on a daily basis I talk with my sister April and she laughs at me (not with me) at the moments I have with my children. She is laughing most likely in relief that she is not experiencing these moments herself with her own boys because they are now grown up. That, of course, is her challenge: to deal with the almost empty-nest syndrome. I'm a little green with envy on some days when I have too many "moments".

Just this morning as I was driving Giggles to school he said to me, "mom can I do THIS?" and raised his fourth finger to me. "No Giggles, you can't." "But it isn't my middle finger!" "The intent is the same so don't do it." I replied."
Now if you know our neighborhood you know that our street gets the bus. So you are probably wondering why I was driving Giggles (and Smiley) to school today. For that I would have to take you back to last week's "moment". It was a doozey. For many days I was hearing reports from big brothers that Giggles and Smiley were not acting properly on the bus. I kept reminding them that they needed to follow the rules of the bus. I even tried silly band offers and stickers as an incentive. Apparently, little plastic bands, stickers and the possibility of time out just weren't enough. Jumping OVER bus seats, "falling" into the aisle repeatedly, standing on the seats and hitting other kids was just too much fun. As I waited at the bus stop with the boys the bus pulled up and the driver honked at me. I came over and she told me that Giggles and Smiley were on the verge of - you guessed it - being kicked off the bus. Nice. Can't say that I blame her really. I followed my wise guru of a sister and voluntarily took them off before they could be kicked off. They are having "practice time" in the morning until they are ready to try again on the bus.


Now if you don't like gross things please stop reading now and click on someone else's blog to read about pretty flowers or go to ebay and start your Christmas shopping. Otherwise please continue reading for my next "moment". This one actually had me laughing. It isn't really funny but it is the way my husband presented it to me that had me laughing. Sheriff and Wannabe share a bathroom downstairs (again... final warning...you may want to stop here and move on to another more pleasant blog or website). They have a terrible habit of not flushing the toilet. Because they are downstairs and Brett and I are rarely downstairs we don't often catch the problem unless we happen to go down for something: which again is rare. The boys had gone to bed for the night and my superhearing picked up the sounds of laughter coming from the basement. Brett went down to investigate and had them settle back down. He came back upstairs and described the downstairs toilet as looking like "Yoda's Dagoba system" and that he fully expected Luke Skywalker's x-wing fighter to rise up out of the toilet at any moment. His vividly accurate description had me laughing for two minutes straight.
Let's not forget doing homework with Smiley. Here is a classic example: "Smiley, listen to this pattern: circle, triangle, circle, triangle. What comes next?" His response: "Square?"

Or two days ago when Sheriff lost his tooth and Smiley took Sheriff's tooth and put it in his own mouth grossing everyone in the family out (I'm gagging right now).

Or just two minutes ago when I paused to take pictures of my nephew for his mother's Christmas gift (don't worry she already knows what it is... I'm not ruining the surprise or anything) and I walk back in the room to discover Smiley in the pantry standing on his stool trying to take Halloween candy without permission. -sigh-

I guess that means I'll be calling my sister again today...

You Know it's October When...

You know it's October when..

* the leaves are changing color and falling off the trees

* the Halloween decorations are in the stores (and in some stores the Christmas decorations are starting to come out...yikes!)

* summer tans are already fading or in my case the winter white is already here

*you are wearing winter clothes but your kids still insist on wearing shorts and flip flops

* you have already returned at least one Halloween costume to the store because your child changed his/her mind

* your kids have asked a million times how many days until Halloween

* you are already wishing it was summer again

That Time of Year Again?

I can't believe that September is almost over which means October is almost here and you know what that means.... Halloween. Yes, I have already purchased the Halloween candy (and hidden it not from my kids but from my husband!)

My five-year old decided months ago that he was going to be a knight due to the fact that the school mascot is a Knight and he has seen the life-size statue of the knight in the entry-way of his brother's school for a year now. Good advertisement. Thanks to Target I now have his costume.

Wannabe is still fascinated with all things Star Wars and keeps switching what Stars Wars character he is going to be every few seconds. I'm hoping to borrow my mother-in-law's Darth Vader costume. The kids love wearing all the costumes she has at the house. They play pretend in them, run around in them and play video games in them...
Sheriff seems to always want to be a ninja every Halloween but perhaps he'll choose something different if I can play some subliminal tapes when he's sleeping over the next couple of weeks.

As for myself... I never know what to be. The store costumes for women are never appropriate so you have to come up with something on your own and I'm just not that creative.

Brett has some options though... he could be a cowboy...

or a twilight character.

With all of the costume deciding I can't forget to choose a new creepy recipe to make.
I wonder which one it will be... Maybe spooky eyeball tacos?

Too Close to Home

Sometimes things happen that make you think about what your priorities are. Last night was one of those times. There was a fire on the mountain close to our home. As we watched the reports on the news and watched the fire from the street we wondered how close it would come to our home. Would we have to pack up and leave? What would we take if we had to go in a hurry. We did not have to evacuate thankfully, but the evacuation came to 15 blocks south of us. That's close. Four homes were burned in the fire sadly and I felt bad for the woman who said that she lost all of her children's baby photos.

I mentioned priorities right? Brett and I made a brief list of things to take if we had to leave. Baby photos were on my list. I was surprised by how small my list was as I mentally went through the contents of my house and realized that most things just were not important or could be replaced. Certain things I could not, however, and they included baby and wedding photos as well as my journals. From 2006 on I have photos on hard drives thankfully so those albums I could safely leave behind without crying over.

The weirdest thing I wanted to take though... my choir music folders. But that's just because I didnt' want to have to try and replace all the music before Sunday - I'm too lazy!!! :)

At Your Age...

I've always thought of myself as one who was not easily offended. A recent doctor's appointment however made me realize that I do have my sensitive spots. Let me backtrack a little however...

When I was younger I would get offended when someone would think I was younger than I really was. In fact my sisters thought this was REALLY funny. They would have people guess how old I was and of course they would guess 11 when I was in fact 15 or 16. Ouch!!! April and Sheri would laugh and I would go lick my wounds in my bedroom.

Even into my 20's while serving as a young women leader I would get mistaken as a teenager. REALLY? I thought. Oh to be back in my 20's now...

This year I turned the dreaded 4 0. No one is mistaking me as being younger than I am. In fact... I had the opposite experience happen to me at the doctor's office when I went to get my hand checked out by a specialist. I had slipped on the ice in my driveway back in January. I went in to have an x-ray back then which cleared me of any break or fracture so the primary care doctor said it was probably an injured ligament or tendon which would heal on its own. I wore a splint for a month and a half. Well here we are in September with my hand still bothering me. I decided to see a specialist. In the course of my appointment he used the phrase, "AT YOUR AGE..." three times!!!! I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. HONESTLY??? How old does this guy think I am??? So his theory is either arthritis or a fracture (because doctor office x-ray machines aren't the clearest).

I'm hoping for a fracture because AT MY AGE I don't want arthritis!!!