Memorial Day Discipline

We had an invite to go to our neighbor's yesterday for dinner.  We were all excited to just relax, play and visit.  Everything was going well, dinner was lovely (pigs in a blanket for the kids and pork steaks and an Asian salad for the adults, yummy) and the kids were playing very nicely together.  Something took a turn for the worse somewhere between brownies and sunset. 

Jac and Mia were playing with our neighbor's five year old, we are very close with them and they know each other quite well.  Jac is perhaps, a little too comfortable at their house.  Comfortable enough to throw a five year old sized fit in their backyard.  It involved turn taking, which was merely the beginning of the poor choices that Jac made.  After he had spent a good ten minutes in their Fred Flinstone car with the girls hanging onto the outside and Jac driving them around, he was asked by Mia nicely if she could have a turn.  Much to her credit she was very patient and didn't through a fit herself.  I asked him to give Mia a turn and then Jeff in a much sterner voice asked him.  He started to negotiate, which was his first poor choice. 

When I got up from the table he knew that his negotiation wouldn't work.  So he ran, this was his second poor choice.  Never run away from your mother!  So, I told him we would go home if he didn't come to me.  He came.  Then he had to sit on my lap, but since he was being a bit too noisy (screaming his head off, third poor choice) to stay within company we moved inside for a discussion.  I thought for sure I could calm the situation down.  But to no avail, he tried, he really did but he was so frustrated and I was frustrated.  When we tried to walk back outside he continued to show his frustration, the final poor choice, so I decided I should take the opportunity I had.  I left with him and Jeff and Mia stayed at the party. 

Oh my.  This was quite a lesson.  He wasn't entirely positive that he wouldn't get to go back.  He held out hope for the longest time, probably up until I had his jammies on, then he knew.  He would not be allowed to go back and continue to play. 

I have to admit, I was very pleased by the whole situation.  Jac has been five going on fifteen lately, with a bit of an attitude and a healthy dose of defiance.  This was the perfect punishment at the perfect time.  Sometimes it is hard to make this choice and end a lovely evening for both yourself and your child, but I do believe that we had bottomed out.  This punishment will ring loudly in his memory for a long time, something for Jac to remember on Memorial Day.

Thank you to all the veterans out there, for your time and devotion and commitment.  A special thank you to my two Grandfathers, both whom have passed, for their service to their country in World War II.  I love you! 

Valentines Day and Other Weekend Happenings

To kick off the weekend Jeff arrived home with a dozen beautiful red roses.  Valentine's Day is sort of a quieter holiday for us because it is so close to our anniversary.  In general, we don't make too big of a holiday out of it.  We always exchange something.  I don't always get flowers, but I love them!  They just make me happy. 

On Sunday I gave Jeff an iPod nano.  We really don't have a lot of gadgets, and for not having a lot of gadgets we tend to still have a large amount of adapter cables and battery packs.  I am not sure what everyone does with all of those cables when they DO have every gadget under the sun, it is hard to manage!  But I am losing focus here.  The reason I got him a nano, after telling you that we don't make too big of a deal out of the holiday, is because I lost his last iPod.  It was a tiny little iPod shuffle that was perfect for working out or running because it was so little and light.  Somehow I have lost the silly thing.  Hopefully it still turns up, but regardless I owed him an iPod.  I decided to upgrade him, even though the nano is bigger.  The shuffle only allows you one playlist which can be incredibly annoying.  Also, the new shuffle is configured different with all of the controls on the headphones instead of the body of the iPod.  I didn't think he would like that so I decided to get him a nano.  The nano also has the ability to take video which is nice if you are out running and you swear you see Jessica Alba doing laps around you (he swears two summers ago that Jessica Alba ran past him going the other way twice) your wife can then look at the video and inform you that whoever the lovely 20 year old that you skeevishly just took video of is not Jessica Alba.

We went to a friend's house Saturday evening, just the adults.  It was advertised as game night, so we knew what to expect.  She always serves lovely appetizers and then mingles that in with some fun games.  Jeff of course, was not anticipating the game portion of the evening.  He loves games, but they tend toward the physical like flag football or games without conversation, like hearts.  We ended up playing Taboo, which is a game where you have a word you need your team to shout out, but you can't use any of the "taboo" clues to get them to say the word.  Definitely, not up Jeff's alley, or so he says.  I swear he was having a ball though.  

I have played this many times before.  I would say I am pretty average at it.  In general I do pretty good with the clue giving and tend to not do so well at the shouting out of answers.  Although Saturday night I was exactly the opposite, not so much on the clue giving, but actually quite good at guessing.  My big observation was how differently the men and the women played.  (Of course the women kicked some male booty in this game, our style of play is vastly superior to the men's.)  Men basically give one word clues and then their team responds with literally one guess.  I guess they assume that their clue is so pointed that who wouldn't be able to guess the word, and then the guessing side feels the same.  Well with the clue they were given it certainly has to be this one word, it couldn't possibly be any other word in the English language.  The women on the other hand don't pause, just let the words flow out of their mouths.  No stopping, just a continuous stream of words that somehow all makes sense.   It parallels daily life between men and women, grunts and clicks from the men and full conversations with feelings and emotions from the women.  How did the male gender produce such greats as Jefferson, Shakespeare and Churchill?  It seems like a fantastic anomaly when compared to Saturday night's fun and games; the only thing that I can come up with is that they must have had amazing mothers.  To be fair, the men actually warmed up nicely and had a good comeback.  Two of the men (Jeff being one of them) did very good a couple of rounds and did better than some of the women (me).  I believe my best round was to get four clues right and Jeff's was five.  But regardless, the women totally kicked it!

Jeff also painted a bit over the weekend, with some helpers.  Patience is a virtue when painting stairs with a ladder and two little ones helping.

Last, but certainly not least.  Mia started sleeping all night without a pullup.  I used the last one and decided she was ready.  She had gone several weeks without using it and I think I was just holding on to it for some reason.  So, she is officially done training.  She is really very consistent and good about going when she needs to.  She rarely does the "I have to potty, but can't possibly be asked to take two minutes out to do it dance". 

That was our eventful weekend, hope your's was great!

Valentines Day Parties

Oh my.  I do love a holiday that comes in the blink of an eye, that is all about love and friendship and that dumps an elephant ton of candy in your lap.  Okay, I love it except for that last part.  I am sure everyone's kids love candy.  Well, mine are no exception.  Mia is generally pretty reasonable, she will eat what you allow her and not really think about it again until the next day.  She may forget altogether that she has candy; which is strange because the child has a freakishly long memory.  Maybe she just doesn't care, once she has had a taste she is good to go.  That will serve her well later in life.

Jac on the other hand, will wake up in the middle of the night proclaiming he is hungry for, take a wild guess, candy or cake or cookies.  Craziness.  He will come downstairs in the morning and beg and cry and weep for dessert.  He is a self proclaimed candy addict.  He loves the good stuff, chocolate. 

Here are some pictures of this lovely holiday.  Mia got quite the take from her "dancing Balentines party" of which she was happy to share.

And Jac was happy that she shared!













I was snack lady and mail lady for Mia's class this year. The first time that I have done this.  It was nice being the only mom and getting to help all of the little ones.

Here is Jac enjoying a ring pop a little too much!

Happy Valentines Day!  (I know it isn't Valentines Day yet, I am sure that there is still much fun to come.)

Dance Class Progress

This was the fourth week of dance class.  Which sounds really impressive, although Mia goes to class just once a week.  So really it is only the fourth dance class, not so impressive.  She is progressing.  She can do a first position plie correctly.  At first she was keeping her knees together for the entire bend, which is excruciatingly painful when tried out with 35 year old knees (I just heard my ACL rip painfully, not sure how she was even doing it).  But we worked on letting light go between her knees and she got it!  So at least now dance class won't cause her to have knee surgery when she is 20. 

The teacher has started closing the blinds so I can't watch as much as I want to.  I think she wants to keep the routine they are learning a secret, which is kind of laughable.  With 15 three year olds at various levels of terrible you really can't see much of a routine at all. 

The one thing that Jac is able to report back (he can go up to the window and peer in without looking odd, four year olds can get away with things that 35 year olds can't).  Well, Mia was itchy again last night.  The last class the teacher had the blinds open for awhile and I was able to watch her dance, which is darling in its awkwardness.  Well about 10 minutes into class she starts wiggling and itching.  She is no longer dancing. 

She has her left arm down the front of her black leotard and this makes the sleeve of the leotard creep down her right arm. So now she has a whole shoulder and part of her (upper, thank goodness) chest completely bare while her left arm and hand are searching for the offensive material.  I have no idea why she is so itchy or what is causing it, but she did it again last night.

Jac went up to look in about halfway through class and came running back.  "Mommy, she's itchy again!" 

We had a conversation in the truck and I told her that she needed to not take off her leotard in the middle of class.  And if she had an issue with her leotard she could ask her teachers for help.  Well, of course she isn't going to ask her teachers for help she is going to scratch herself! 

We also got a "fun" announcement last night.   Before class, the teacher informs us that she had "forgotten all about Valentines Day".  Well, I guess she remembered in the nick of time to torture us all, and we are supposed to bring 15 Valentines for the dance class to exchange next week.  (Are you kidding me?)  I need another Valentines Day party like I need another toilet to clean.  So here we go, Mia is terribly excited.

She suggested that since Jac didn't have a dance class to exchange Valentines with that perhaps we could enroll him in a dance class by next week in order for him to have a dancing Valentines Day party.  Oh my.

Things I Learned Today

Jac went back to preschool today.  When he got into the car, I asked him how his day was.  He looked at me very seriously and said, "I didn't learn anything new today".  Well, I sure did.  Here are the things I learned today.

Two parents is always better than one.  Jeff went back to work today and I am sad, because my patience was gone by 9:30. 

A dog that barks a lot is really annoying.  A dog that barks at a person walking by is understandable.  A dog that barks at a tiny, little squirrel across the street in the neighbors yard is a little obsessive.  A dog that barks at his reflection is just silly.  (This is something we are going to have to work on.)

I still have it.  When required I can still sprint with the best of them.  When new doggie is escaping out the back of the yard because he ran out the door during a confusing, too many kids not enough adults moment the adrenaline kicks in and there I go.  Although I may feel that little sprint in the morning.  No dogs or children were hurt during this little event, and no adults had to spend too much time outside in crazy cold weather without a coat or gloves.

One other thing I learned today was that there are at least three little girls who have told Jac they want to marry him.  Here is an email I received from my friend regarding her little girl who no longer goes to school with Jac but is still very good friends with him.  We have regular playdates and have gotten quite close.

So you may (or may not) find this funny.


As soon as we got home this afternoon, Jane (I have changed her name for the purpose of this blog) said she wanted to write Jac a note. She started on her own but then asked how to spell words like: marry, person, know, playdates...

The final letter reads: Jac do you know that you can marry a person you have playdates with? Love, Jane

I assumed that she had overheard our conversation about her wanting to marry her daddy and that's what triggered the note. But then during bath time tonight she told the rest of the story: Supposedly Jac told her that both Makayla and Becca wanted to marry him. And in her little mind she wanted to make it clear to Jac that he didn't have to marry a girl from his preschool that he could marry a 'person' that he has playdates with.

Poor Jac, he has all kinds of Type A girls wanting to marry him!
 
I also learned that true to his father's nature, my little boy doesn't tell me much of what goes on at school.  This isn't terribly surprising.  I am sure that by the time he is 12 I will have learned some tricks to get the information I require.
 
Trucker update:  Trucker is doing well.  He did try a little escape today, but no harm.  He needs more excercise and we are going to get him trained on the Invisible Fence as soon as possible.  He likes to bark and gets a bit obsessive about it, but if you can distract him it is fine.  I am not sure what do about this because of all the bad habits Trooper had, this was not one of them.  He still loves to pick up the kids things, so we will continue to work on what toys are his.  He is great at Sitting, we are working on Stay, Come and Down.  He almost knows his name, I think in a week or so he will have it down.  We go to the vet on Thursday to make sure what is what and get his stiches out.  I also want to know how much weight she wants him to gain.  Jeff thinks he is 63 pounds I think he is more like 56 pounds. 
 
He can only make it to about 8PM before he passes out.  He gets all sleepy looking and can barely stand up.  He will put his head on your lap or by your hand and close his eyes and just stand there.  He is an early bird and has been carried to bed twice now.

New Year's 2010

Well, I am sure that many many people are so glad so see the last of 2009.  We were fortunate and did have many blessings in 2009 but are looking hopefully to 2010 for renewed hope and faith in our wonderful country.

Jeff and I were so happy to not be laid off in 2009.  I am able to stay home with the kids which in and of itself is amazing.  We know so many families who have been laid off and are looking for work that to us just to have this stability has been fantastic. 

I made many new friends in 2009 and got closer and more comfortable to some wonderful people.  This is all we can really ask is to have a wonderful family and have close friends to share our ups and downs with.  I am not the easiest person in the world to befriend but I had plenty of women hang in there and really get to know me better.  I hope to continue to foster these friendships.

For 2010, here are a few of my hopes and dreams and dare I say resolutions.

• Get a dog!
• Keep those pounds at bay.
• Work on writing more, both in and out of a blog.
• Have fewer poopy pants in 2010 than 2009.

There are a few other things that Jeff and I are working on, but we won't share those until they come to fruition.  Happy 2010! 

Christmas

We had an amazing blessed Christmas. The kids were full of wonder and joy. Here is a play by play.

Christmas Eve day - My parents and sister arrived along with a dusting of snow. The sky was a steely gray and all of a sudden it felt like the dead of winter. Thanks to Jeff's dad we had a roaring fire with some lovely wood that he had brought us a week ago. Jac and Mia were wonderfully entertained by Aunt Daphne and Papa and Gee Gee. They played chase games and generally showed off for an hour or so. We had our traditional Christmas Eve fare for dinner, which are appetizers. I made meatballs and seared tuna and we had a veggie tray and a meat and cheese plate. Followed up by some Christmas cookies and chocolate, everyone was well fed.

Christmas morning - It took awhile to get the kids to bed, of course. I remember it being impossible to fall asleep on Christmas Eve as a kid. Amazingly enough, we all slept in on Christmas until 8:00 am, which is absolutely unheard of. It was lovely and eventually I had to whisper in Jac's ear, "do you think Santa came last night"? That roused him, he was going to go straight downstairs but I told him to wake up Mia.

The two of them carefully walked downstairs, unsure of themselves. They came into the "cars" room (we call our front living room the cars room) and saw all of the presents. They were a bit overwhelmed. They got over that pretty quickly and wanted to dig into gifts. We all got into it and it went pretty quickly. There wasn't a huge amount of coaxing in order to get them to open their presents. They got hung up on a couple that they wanted to check out, I believe Jeff had to read one of the new books to Mia before she would move on. All in all, it was a wonderful morning.

Jeff and I went to noon mass and it was wonderful. We were able to find a seat easily and the contemporary band made the music beautiful. The snow was falling pretty fast while we were out but not enough to accumulate. For Christmas dinner, we had ham and cheesecake for dessert our Carey family tradition.

All in all we had a fantastic time with our family and a wonderful Christmas. We are so blessed to be able to provide what we do for our family and it is overwhelming at times to realize that many are not this blessed.

Over the weekend we were able to spend a couple of days with Jeff's family also. We had some very interesting conversations that I will be thinking about for awhile. We exchanged gifts and ate well. Jac and Mia love playing with their cousins and try and keep up with all the older kids. I do hope that your Christmas was wonderful as well.

Update - We got our electric fence fixed yesterday for a very reasonable amount. Our collar works and I got a quick lesson on how to train for the fence. Jeff talked to the manager at the rescue group and he asked if we would be interested in taking Casey for the weekend, as her foster family is out of town for the weekend and she will be boarding at the rescue. We of course are very interested and so will probably have a furry guest for the weekend! She does have to go back to the rescue next week to finish her heartworm treatment and we will still need to have a home visit. But all in all things are falling into place very quickly. They would like to see Casey with us as she is a good fit for our family. I have a feeling that after the weekend we will all be madly in love with Casey.

Yummy Stuff - Peanut Brittle and Zucchini Bread

So many great recipes for the holidays.  Here are two that will become staples in my house.

Peanut Brittle

Mom's Best Peanut Brittle by Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 cup peanuts
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1.Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside.  Make sure to measure out your peanuts, butter and soda ahead of time so that you can keep stirring while you are dumping these in.


2.In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until temperature reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard and brittle threads.


3.Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter or margarine and baking soda; pour at once onto cookie sheet. With 2 forks, lift and pull peanut mixture into rectangle about 14x12 inches (lifting and pulling didn't work so well for me it is really helpful to poor this on something that will cook it quickly, either glass or marble.  Also, pour it thinly so you can do less pulling.); cool. Snap candy into pieces.
 
Yield: 1 pound of super yummy brittle!
 
Zucchini Bread
by The Muffin Lady, Linda Fisher
 
Ingredients
 
2 cups grated zucchini (including the peel)
1 cup oil (I substitute half the oil with 1/2 cup of flax seed with enough water to soak through)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cardomom (I didn't have this and didn't include it in the recipe)
1/3 teaspoon mace
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds (optional)
 
Directions
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the zucchini, oil, eggs, and sugar.  Sift together the dry ingredients and gradually add them to the zucchini mix.  Blend in the nuts.  Bake in a 4 by 8 inch loaf pan for 45 minutes.
 
Yield:  8-12 servings

My kids call this "cornbread" when I use the flax because it is ever slightly grainy on top like cornmeal tends to be.  But this is really moist and lovely.  I would like to eliminate all the oil next time I make it and add in some applesauce. 

Stress and Christmas

It's like Peanut Butter and Jelly or maybe more like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  I don't understand people who at least don't have a little bit of stress around the holidays, it's un-American.  I know for certain that come December 26th ish (maybe the 29th because this year we are doing a post Christmas gift exchange with Jeff's family), regardless, somewhere after Christmas in January perhaps I will sleep much better than I am sleeping right now.  I believe that even Santa, in all of his cookie eating and list checking is probably not getting to sleep immediately at night either thinking of all the things that must be done the next day. 

Last night I wrapped most, not all, of the presents.  I don't, obviously, wrap my own gifts that Jeff has bought for me.   But I wrap pretty much the rest of the gifts that are to be given by The Carey's.  I was so proud of myself for doing it early, not waiting until Christmas Eve.  I didn't want to wait this year, because I knew I would have other things to do on Christmas Eve.  The staging for the kids had to be done, the cameras charged, breakfast premade in the fridge ready to pop in the oven, Christmas lunch to at least have been prepped, Chrismas Eve Mass to be attended and obviously Christmas Eve festivities. 

There would be no wrapping on Christmas Eve. 

Jeff came into the room, probably to sneak a peak at his gifts, and said - "wow, you are wrapping on the 19th, not the 24th".  He said it with sarcasm and didn't look altogether too complimentary.  Well, my response was reserved, I could have said all manner of things that would have ended with "coal in your stocking!" but instead I said in a very mature tone, "I am trying to minimize my stress".  Which is exactly what I was trying to do!

This is the response I got.  "Stress?  Stress!   Why would Christmas make you stress?  It is my time to de-stress!"  

Well, the first thing I have to say to that is Bah Humbug.  I am trying to do less, shop less, worry less, clean less, cook less, eat less, everything less in order to make sure there is time to worship more, play more, sing more, love more - you get the drift.  But, I admit, there will still be a bit of stress.  I am not on a desert island with palm tress blowing in the wind and yes, my name is Dawn Carey - there will be stress.  Does this man not know me?  Have we not been married for almost 10 years?  So, instead of helping me wrap a few gifts, buy a few presents, plan a few meals, I get harangued for stressing out about what I still have to do in five days time.  Bah Humbug to that. 

I reminded him, my tone had changed a bit, that 90% of his and the rest of the houses Christmas was being accomplished by MOI!  I realize that he works and I do not.  And it has not been pleasant of late and that he really looks forward to taking to some time off and spending quality time with the family.  But still, if he has so much free time on his hands that he isn't even thinking about something to do with Christmas, do I have a list for you! 

Not for sympathy, more for evidence here is a bit of a list for next week.
First of all, we will have guests.  That means a toilet or two must be cleaned (or the whole house, however you want to look at it.)
Guests mean more food, even if it is hotdogs and chips (which it most assuredly will not) you still have to go shopping for said food.)
Christmas Eve, Christmas Breakfast and Christmas Dinner must all be planned  (they are all but planned, just finishing touchs and I need to think about the shopping and prepping).
Cookies, candy, desserts, etc must be baked and delivered to friends.
The rest of the packages must first be received from UPS (at least all are purcashed) and wrapped.
Christmas cards must be addressed (admittedly this could have been done a long time ago and is simple procrastination) and mailed.
Children must be entertained, fed, bathed, rested, clothed, wiped (both ends) and cuddled.
Children must be taught the real meaning of Christmas.
Christmas specials that only come on once a year, must be watched!
I absolutely have to get to the gym a couple of times otherwise this extra five pounds will consider taking up permanent residence.

I am not sure what your list looks like, but this is what I recommend.  First of all, ask your dear, dear spouse who seems to have been born with no stress in his DNA, if he could alleviate one or two of these items.  Second, look at this list sternly and decide what is not a priority and eliminate something if not two somethings.  Third, say a little prayer and have a drink of wine and maybe just maybe this lovely blessed Christmas will be a little less stressful and a lot more Christ like. 

Preschool Performances

Here are some pics and a clip of Mia's Christmas party. Mia's class sang Christmas songs and were just all around entertaining. The big guy came to the party also. Jac was quickly on his lap and then Mia followed once big brother was safely snuggled up. They both looked suspicious though! The clips is short, only a minute or so.

The Meaning of Christmas

One of my goals this year has been to introduce some traditions that really help the kids understand the meaning of Christmas.  Not focus as much on the getting and more on the giving and helping aspects.  I have a ton of ideas and only so much time before the big day actually arrives. 

We have been reading a scripture from an Advent calendar each day, and Jac is always very excited to find out what is behind the little window.  We also have been lighting an Advent candle each Sunday.  Both of these are things that we can continue as the kids get older. 

I like the idea of a Jesse tree, a birthday party for Jesus, a good deed manger and many more.  What are some of the traditions that your family has for Christmas?

By the way, on a totally secular topic.  Our elf Paco is doing great, he has been flying back to the North Pole EVERY evening which is true testament to what a devoted Daddy Jac and Mia have.  (Someone has to remember, and I tell you, it isn't going to be Mommy unless I write a note!)  I have used Paco's name to strike fear into the heart of both my children on several occasions, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.  Bedtime has been going smoother, "you need to go to sleep so that Paco can go ahead and go the North Pole", I guess my children are considerate enough that they don't want him flying about too late at night.  At least three meltdowns have been avoided because, "what will Paco have to report to Santa tonight"?

Oh That Elf

So I had heard of The Elf on the Shelf from some of my neighborhood friends with young children. They were pretty enamored with the little guy. I pretty much knew the gist of the story, you buy an elf he comes to scout out your children for Santa and in return you get some cute memories and maybe a tiny bit better behavior right before the holidays.  I really under estimated the power of the elf.

I had already decided to buy some other things for Christmas in the way of decorations and such so because I had heard of the elf later decided it just wasn't in the budget. I had planned to have some elves visit the house anyway, and did just that when I caught Jac and Mia being especially good one morning. (Check out the blog post that talks about their visit.)

However, my good friend in Dallas sent our family an elf as an early Christmas present. The package arrived at such a serendipitous time, that I instantly knew this elf was going to become part of the family. Jac was melting down, he has recently being going through a growth spurt and eating everything in sight. I had made some zucchini bread and allowed them both to have one piece at around 4:30pm but had said that was it before dinner. It is highly irritating for both Jeff and I when they don't eat anything for supper. So our normal cut off is 4pm but I made an exception on this day because the zucchini bread was chock full of healthy stuff. (I plan to write a post about this recipe because it was so yummy.) Jac started to throw a fit and I decided to go get the mail in order to give him some breathing room to hopefully cool down.  

I got the mail and noticed that we had a package at the side door. I grabbed the box and ran inside. The kiddos were instantly intrigued about the box. I said, let's open it carefully and see if there is a Christmas present in here. I saw that it was from Kerrie and assumed that it would be the first present we could put under the tree. The present was wrapped and it had a big note on the box that said "Open This Now". Hmmm, very interesting. I opened the card and it gave a bit more information saying that we needed to open the package now and that hopefully we would start a new Christmas tradition similar to the one her family had just started. (She seemed maybe a bit dismayed at her choice to start the tradition and maybe a bit concerned about our wanting this tradition also.) I wasn't positive but I was pretty sure the package contained an elf. So in we dug, as dinner was ready and we were just waiting for Daddy to get home I needed a serious distraction.

And distraction is just what I got. In the box was a lovely book about the elf and the elf himself of course. Before we got the elf out, I wanted to read the "instructions" so we sat down and read the book together. The book gave all of the details about the elf and exactly what his job entails. (Read more about him here.) The kids bought it immediately, it makes me a little frightened at exactly what they will believe!

When Jeff got home we sat down to name him, as the book instructed. While we were trying to figure out what his name was, Jeff touched him. You would have thought that he had picked up a bomb. The kids had allowed me touch him to get him out of the box and to put him on the mantle. But after that, the book said not to touch him or the magic might go away, so he was off limits. Mia actually left the room very angry with Daddy, I am sure that she thought the elf would no longer be able to fly to the North Pole that night. (Come to find out that the magic only starts after you name him so, no worries, Daddy will be getting more than coal in his stocking.) After much discussion between the three of us, Jac came up with Paco. We all voted and our elf is Paco the Mexican Elf, oh my.  
He did fly back to the North Pole that first night, and the second night, although I think that I need to put a note on my bathroom mirror to remind me to move him each night because Jeff actually remembered to move him at about 2am last night, thank goodness. It could have been a disaster if he had forgotten entirely. I think that is why Kerrie is a bit dismayed at her family's new tradition, because we can't forget about Paco. The devastation would be monstrous if they thought that he hadn't gone to talk to Santa one night.  Both Mia and Jac were ecstatic, and really I promise they were crazy with joy, when they realized that he had indeed gone to the North Pole, given his report and flown back to our house only to sit in a different spot and wait for them to find him.  Wow - if someone had dumped a truck load of puppies off at our house I am not sure we would have gotten a better response.  I already thanked my friend for the elf, but I want to thank her again for giving us so much joy and happiness with this crazy little elf.

It does creep me out a bit that Paco is moving around the house. The last two mornings I have wondered where I will find him, sort of like a stealthy pet that likes to hide (my roommate in college had an iguana that liked to hide in our closets on top of the hangars!). Regardless, Paco is here to stay, at least until Christmas comes. I will give you more updates as we get to know Paco better over the next few weeks.

Do you have The Elf on The Shelf? If you have Santa believers in the house, I highly recommend him.

Reindeer Games

Well, this family doesn't only let me play their reindeer games, they downright force me! I do love the family that plays together. After plenty of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie was eaten we played games at the in-laws. Jac asked me after the second family game together (first we played the second annual flag football game and then we played two rounds of "Papa's game" which is an indoor game that Papa swears he didn't have anything to do with creating), "why are we playing games"? Which I thought was an interesting question.

To play or not to play, what type of interaction does your family have during holidays and get-togethers? The tendency is to let the kids play and the adults talk and never the twain shall meet. Not that this is bad, I have a lot of fond memories of playing with my cousins, kids that you instantly bond with even though you only see a handful of times throughout the year. However, I do think it is especially memorable to mix the two groups and see what you get. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas all playing the same game - all ages all genders. Big ones helping little ones and everybody laughing and making memories.

I need to give props to my football team, The Turkey Legs - we beat The Gobblers 6 to 4. I believe each touchdown was worth one point for those of you who were confused. We even had several injuries on the team as well as had one of our team members picking daisies on the sideline most of the game. (Which was actually easier than making sure Mia wasn't getting plowed over by any of the more aggressive flag footballers.) We also had some pass rushing that was a bit aggressive - counting to 3 MISSISSIPPI seemed to be a challenge for some of The Gobblers. And of course the team was a man down when I had to help Jac go to the bathroom, which turned in to bringing back the wagon and some leaves and sticks. And not only did we win, but we definitely took home the fashion reward. I can't say the same for The Gobblers - are those in-laws or outlaws?

We all had fun and quickly popped some Tylenol as a post game reward.

Deck the Halls

Needless to say we all ate, drank and were merry over the Thanksgiving break. It is always wonderful to be with family and to have Jeff home for long weekends. We were able to see almost all of our immediate family over the break.

Then we came home and were immediately bombarded with Jac's requests to put up the "fall" decorations. By that he meant the Christmas decorations. Which is exactly what we did on Saturday and Sunday. Jac is a big helper and pretty relentless when it comes to decorating. He wants it all out and all out now. He made sure that every light was strung and every stocking hung. We are fully decorated and the house officially looks like Christmas. Now we just need the weather to cooperate - 70 and sunny doesn't feel like Christmas!

Did you get some decorating done this weekend?

Thanks

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my husband. Jeff got me out of Missouri and helped me grow. He brought me back to Missouri when the support of our family mattered so much. Jeff pushed me to go farther and think bigger than anyone ever had. Jeff believes in me everyday, especially when I don't believe in myself. He is a one of a kind optimist with a sarcastic and cynical edge - it makes for an interesting combo.

I am thankful for the things that my husband cannot control. I love the way he looks, I love the way he smells. I am thankful he has good taste and is smart. I am thankful he has a great memory. I am thankful for his amazing geography skills. I love his creativity, without it things like "Camp Austin", "Spring of Fun" and the "Sports Couples Road Trip" wouldn't exist. I am thankful he has a great job that allows me to be at home with the kids and do things like write this blog. I am thankful he can build a fire.

I am thankful for the things he can control. I am thankful he makes time for me and the kids. I am thankful he likes to go camping, hiking, biking and all things outdoors. I am thankful he likes to sleep in on vacation, but still has a list of things we must see. He loves to travel and he pushes me to see places and do things I wouldn't always choose to see. I am so glad he is patient with me and my terrible memory and mommy brain.

I am grateful for the things he has given me. Without him there would be no Jac or Mia. I am grateful for the family that came with him. I am so happy to have converted to his religion. I am so thankful that my family loves him as much as I do. For all of these things and for so many more I am grateful for this husband!

Thank You Vets!

Thank you to all the veterans out there. We appreciate you and cannot fathom all that you sacrifice.

Halloween: A litte late

We had a great Halloween. Jac and Mia were little tornados that went screaming through the neighborhood for almost 2 hours trick-or-treating. They literally ran from house to house. So cute.

Jac had it totally figured out this year, the faster you go the more candy you get. And Mia was a close second. We had fun with them and they make me laugh so much. Jac would say - 'okay Mia, it is your turn to ring the doorbell'. Which is very nice and big brother like - then Mia would literally push the doorbell 50 times until the people showed up and open the door. I didn't realize what she was doing until partway through and then that made me laugh again!

The Racecar Driver and the Ladybug with their friend the Butterfly

Fourth of July Firsts

Here are some of the fun things the kids did while at Gee Gee's and Papa's house.

First Fishing Trip


First Fireworks


First Boat Ride