Now THAT'S a Goose egg!!!!

The boys decided to go "sledding" in our backyard on what they deem to be a hill at the very back of our backyard.  It's more of a bump really but hey! it kept them busy for quite some time and out my way... I mean out in the fresh air and having fun.  But because last year we misplaced a couple of our sleds we are down to two which means 4 boys and two sleds.... not good.  and I don't mean not good because they are arguing over the two sleds which I would have expected.  I mean not good because it's an accident in the making.  We do have a Sheriff in our home... he is 8 years old.  I should really just refer to him hearafter as Sheriff in my blog because that's how he acts.  My six year old acts like the mom/dad giving suggestions for brothers' discipline so I'll refer to him as Wannabe.  My four year old has a habit of giggling when he gets in trouble.  Let's just say he giggles A LOT. So we'll call him Giggles.  And my 3 year old.... how could I refer to him as anything other than Smiley (have you ever asked him to smile for you when taking his picture???Trying to get a normal smile is no easy task.)

Anyways, Wannabe and Giggles were instructed by Sheriff to share which they were, when reaching the bottom of the "bump" Giggles accidentally pushed down on Wannabe's head resulting in the following goose egg:

Poor Wannabe!  Sometimes the things they do to each other by accident are worse than what they try to do on purpose!

Oh The Irony!!!!

So the other day the mailman got stuck in the road trying to put mail in our mailbox and this morning a poor teenage girl got stuck in the road in front of our next door neighbor's house.  It took four of us to rock her car out of the rut she was in and send her on her way.  

I was thinking about calling the City of West Jordan to ask them when they were going to plow our streets.  Not that I need it for myself because I can kick my vehicle into 4-wheel drive but I realized this morning that there are others in the neighborhood who can't do this (plus I also realized I have scrawny chicken arms and am not really useful at pushing other people's cars out of sticky predicaments).  

As I was about to call the city I heard this repetitive beeping sound coming from out front.  I looked out my window and saw this just past my mailbox...

I couldn't help myself.  I had to laugh as I saw the snowplow stuck in the snow.  The snowplow!  Of course my first instinct was to run for my camera.  But I'm not all bad.  After I took the picture and had my laugh, I put my coat on and took out two shovels and helped the driver dig out the back tires so he could get unstuck.  It worked and he was able to finish our street and hopefully finish the rest of our neighborhood.  I can only hope that no one else gets stuck so I won't have to embarrass myself trying to push their car out.  I really have no upper body strength... or lower for that matter. hahahahaha!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

My Christmas miracle was that I didn't have to take my four year old to get stitches for his lip.  The day before Christmas was full of boys fighting with each other.  Three weeks of being off-track and too much time together with too many snow storms is a toxic combination.  I could hear something going on downstairs but was 5 seconds too late in intervening when the wailing began.  My four-year old came upstairs with blood coming out of his lip and accusing the six-year old of kicking him in the face.  When asked why he did it??? the reply.... "because he wouldn't play with me".  Do you think he wants to play with you NOW????? 

But Christmas morning dawned and the fighting had ceased.  Excitement had set in as boys opened presents, 

we had our traditional steak breakfast, 

then as I prepared to put the turkey in the oven...in horror I discovered I had 3 inches of tin foil left but my faithful friend was willing to lend.  I gave Brett the task to get it from next door but when he looked out the window at the blizzard he palmed it off on his oldest son who didn't make it to the end of the truck before returning to the warm house.  

So Brett had to go anyways...

Brett received a traditional remote control toy from his dad, 

the car got stuck in our driveway when we got home...

some kids got stuck too...

Brett cleaned off the driveway...

and was horrified to discover that he would have to do it again!!!

The next day the boys took advantage of all the snow and their snowman kit while I went into the doctor to see if my nagging sore throat was strep.  No strep but we ended up with a cute snowman.

Winter Fun

I am unbelievably doing a post when I should be wrapping presents or cleaning my house or finishing my brand new nephew's baby blanket or washing the enormous pile of laundry that is in my basement.  Unfortunately we went to Gardner Village, the boys received cute Christmas sweaters and I received some adorable pictures from Dede so I couldn't stop myself from halting my day and posting some pictures.

This year we went to the live Nativity at Gardner Village.  

Although it is freezing cold for those who are ill prepared (I managed to take the time to bundle my kids up and bring blankets for them but forgot to dress in layers myself!!!)... it is a great opportunity to listen to live Christmas music before the Nativity performance and for the kids to see the reenactment of the Savior's birth mixed with music.  

We saved our spots on the benches with blankets and went around Gardner Village to look at the elves.  All our kids agreed that the elves were "freaky" but they had fun seeing the different kinds of elves.  Just as a sidenote which I know one of my friends will appreciate considering her recent post.  We were passing a pole and Brett says to our boys "why don't you stick your tongue on it?"  Thinking about her post and what happened to her son's tongue I almost shouted "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"  What are dads thinking????

Who is that third elf to the right???

To warm ourselves before the Nativity we went into the Bakery and had a doughnut.  Yum!  

On Saturday I went to Old Navy where they had their sweaters on sale for $9.00 and I couldn't help but take advantage of that plus with buying a couple of other things I also used my $10.00 off a $50.00 purchase.  Here is the result...

I appreciate everyone who took my kids while I was in Hawaii.  I have awesome friends and family!!! I was not surprised when today I received an adorable ornament with my kids on it and pictures that Dede took of my boys while I was in Hawaii.  Here are a few ...

One of the pictures was perfect for my Christmas email to family and out-of-town friends.  Thanks Dede!!!

Well, I don't anticipate another post before Christmas unless something REALLY major happens before then.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things stay calm and serene in our household.  THAT WOULD BE A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!  But I can hope can't I???  

Santa Here We Come!!!

I was afraid that we would not make it to see Santa this year as I am frightfully behind in ALL my Christmas preparations.  I only have one Christmas decoration up and that is only because I never took it down from LAST year!!!  Sad eh??

So I looked out the window, saw we were having tons of snow coming down and thought "what a great day for a drive all the way to South Towne Mall!!!"  Not the smartest of days to drive all the way out there but I thought if I didn't do it today it would never happen and my kids would be scarred for life having missed a year sitting on Santa's knee.  Come to think of it.... I only sat on Santa's knee a couple of times growing up and I'm okay aren't I???? don't answer that April!!!

Here are the boys telling Santa what they want for Christmas:

Santa looks a little nervous with what my oldest is asking for.  Perhaps his requests are getting a little too large as he gets older.

Well, I almost wish Santa visited the mall more often because they were as good as gold.  I was in shock really to have all four of my boys acting properly at the same time.  We had a lot of fun this morning.

Aloha From Hawaii

I can't believe the week has gone by so fast and we fly home tonight. Picture a teardrop landing on my keyboard... sigh.  We did have some rain this week but nothing like last year.  Our biggest downpour actually came at night when we were sleeping and soaked the carpet in our condo (and the bottom of my suitcase).

As for activities this week... let's see... We went snorkeling and saw lots of different kinds of fish as well as an eel (he was pretty small), a manta ray, a mermaid and a giant sea turtle.  I saw the sea turtle briefly before he took off.  Boy those guys can swim fast!!! We tried to keep up to no avail!

When we came out of the water from snorkeling we were met by these two characters... one of which was resting on my shoe.  Would you want to reach out and get it???? And by resting I mean laying completely on it!!! I gave Brett the task of retrieving it.  

We also enjoyed some sunsets and watched another turtle swimming in the bay.  

There was a debate at first as to whether it was a dolphin, a seal or something else but we realized it was a turtle.  This pic makes it look more like the Loch Ness Monster because he wouldn't come any closer

Kipu Waterfall was really pretty and not too hard to get to.  Brett was the only one who fell down.. oh wait.. that's not true, my feet slipped off one of the rocks and I got wet up to my capris. never mind.  

We ate lots and lots and lots of great food at JJ's, the Marriot, TC's, a new Mexican restaurant (can't remember the name) but I'll be eating the Mexican leftovers for lunch today.  

Waimea Canyon was cloudy AGAIN this year.  In fact it was cloudier this year than last!!!

This time we went to Smith's Tropical Paradise with lots of plants, flowers, ponds and apparently.... birds!!!

I don't have pictures of me relaxing by the pool, sitting in the hot tub, walking on the beach, reading my latest book (Dede would hate the book I'm sure.. hahaha but I'm liking it) oh and working on my lesson for Sunday but who wants a picture of that?  :P  I do have Brett sleeping on the beach although I think he looks dead...

Thanks to everyone for making this trip possible and by that I'm not referring to Delta Airlines and Best Western... I'm talking to friends and family who took our kids so we could be here on beautiful Kauai.  Thank you soooooooooo much.  Hope they have been good enough that you don't want to kill us when we get home .