11 Days of Christmas

Yes, 11 straight days of hanging out with family this Christmas holiday. And I must say, it was a lot of fun. The kids got their fill of playing with their cousins from Texas, Arizona, and Minnesota. It was amazing how well they all got along. The kids' activities included sledding, skating, ice fishing, snow tubing, dance parties, nerf gun wars, movies, video games, and sleepovers.




Crazy, Crazy Dance Party
(Hannah Montana, of course)

Cartwheel Competition

The Guys

CHRISTMAS DAY
The kids got some pretty cool stuff but not everything they were hoping to receive (which is understandable if you read my previous posts). This Christmas break was more about spending time with family so the kids didn't really seem to spend much time playing with toys. In fact, Blake has spent more time reading than playing video games the last few days. That's my boy!

a compromise on the "drumset"

a new "robot" toy
Paige says she is starting a collection

Happy Birthday Paige!

5 YEARS OLD! I can't believe it. I took Paige and two of her friends to see a a movie this weekend to celebrate. It was a bit of a balancing act to get all three of the girls to the point of being seated in the theater. Mission accomplished with booster seats in place, 3-D glasses handed out (too bad they were adult sized), and snacks in laps with time to spare. As far as I could tell, I was the only one squirming in my seat in need of a bathroom break. We made it through the entire movie without having to leave our seats (more or less...we are talking about 4 and 5 year olds here). Afterwards, I took the girlie group to Cash Wise to pick up a few things. Glutton for punishment, I know, but I hate making unnecessary trips to St. Cloud. I told them to play choo-choo train. And they did. Through the entire store, three little girls in a conga line with two girls saying "chugga chugga" and the third topping it off with a "choo choo".

Last week, Paige went on mini shopping spree to pick out her cake toppers and supplies. It is no secret that she is obsessed with animals, specifically wild animals. She wanted a "simba family" and a mommy and baby "Giraffiz" on her "bowfday" cake AND chocolate sprinkles AND pink frosting.

I don't perpetuate the mispronunciations by repeating them, but I don't correct her either. I know they will disappear within the next year; and I know from experience, that when they do, you can feel your heart ache a little. Blake called himself "Bwake"until he was 5. One of my favorite stories of the kids is when Blake got very upset one day because he didn't like the way Paige was pronouncing his name (I don't even know if she was 2 at the time). He emphatically stated, "I am so tired of you calling me Bake. My name is Bwake. Buh-Wake!" Needles to say, Paige can pronounce his name now that she isn't a little "gouhl" anymore (she recently started pronouncing girl correctly).

Anyway, back to the cake...homemade devils food cake with homemade peanut butter buttercream frosting. By homemade, I mean from scratch and not just made in my home. I have never made a homemade cake before but assumed it couldn't be too difficult. It was gooood! The only problem with making dessert items homemade is that you cannot deny the ingredients since you personally added them one trans-fatty sugary cup at a time. Oh well, Princess only turns 5 once! Maybe by her next birthday she will understand that she is not actually a princess. Baby steps...baby steps.

She's Making a List and Checking it Twice

Brotherly love caught on camera!
What would Santa think of giving Sis a noogie?

Let the countdown begin! The Christmas cards are in the mail. Events and dinners are marked on the calendar. To Do lists, in both written and mental form, are being revisited as time is ticking away. And the shopping is almost done. Almost. Gifts for the kids were interesting this year. It is the first year that both of the monkeys will be aware of, and most importantly paying attention to, what the other is getting. Paige is at the age where she only wants every single toy currently being manufactured. You know that stage where you can tell when a commercial comes on TV because you hear shouts of "Mom, Mom, MOM!". You rush into the room and your child points to the TV and says either "I want that!" or "Ugh, you missed it. Stay here until it comes on again.". And yes, this happens at EVERY commercial...another reason to love Disney Channel. Thankfully it is a short-lived stage. Blake has entered the age where he only wants toys that he can use to start his own rock band. We know that you can't always get what you want, unfortunately kids are just learning to grasp the concept. So, you find what YOU want them to have and then make THEM want it. Fear of stockings filled with coal or reindeer poop (depending on who you talk to) keep the kiddos on their best behavior which is helpful because, as we all know, Christmas is the most stressful time of year...I mean wonderful, wonderful time of year! The preparations are almost done. Almost. That means it is almost time to enjoy the all the great traditions and to experience the magic of Christmas. Perhaps the neatest thing of all is that we create Christmas magic for the kids through careful planning (and maybe just a little scheming) while their unfiltered reactions and excitement create the magic for us.

Isn't it amazing how sweet and innocent they can look. It may have something to do with the fact that Paige keeps reminding everyone that Santa is watching.

!@#%* Christmas Cards

It is getting to be that time of year again. Christmas Card Time. Time to find a beautiful photo of all of the members of your family together where everyone is smiling, dressed nicely, and in front of an acceptable background. It generally starts with the scrounging through older pics looking for one that might fit the previous description. Yeah Right! The next option is to rig the camera onto chairs, boxes, books and who knows what else in order to use the timer to take a family photo. After an hour of fighting and tears, you choose the least bad picture to send to everyone you know. Generally, you begin to fall in love with the picture you chose (cognitive dissonance) and remember it fondly until you run across it a year or two later and say "what were we thinking?". As you can see from the 'least bad' picture posted above, we will be having a photo session #2. Wish me luck!

Happy Turkey Day

Zach's Birthday Party

Our nephew Zach had quite the birthday bash this weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Dawn and I made the cake. It is definitely a learning process, but we are getting better! The whole family was home and the kids had a great time. It was a good end to a very long week.

Goodbye Rosemary

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a thumb war!

Somebody think he's cool!

I knew this day would come, but I don't think I was prepared for it to come so soon. The other morning Blake crawled into bed with me, "C'mon Mom, let's thumb wrestle." We've done this before, but this time was different. His hands were big enough that I couldn't reach his thumb if he held it back. I thought it didn't matter because he would never have the strength to pin my thumb down. I was wrong. The southpaw beat me with his right hand. My baby boy beat me at thumb wrestling. Twice. I had to have a rematch to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

My little cuddle-muffin back way back in the day

Another slap in the face, I mean another reminder that my baby boy is growing up. It wasn't so long ago that he would follow me around "uppie me, uppie me". The times are rare now when I get to carry him. When I do pick him up, I don't want to put him down. I am fully aware that he is indeed too big to be picked up. Each time I pick him up may be the last time.

A few months into our children's lives, it feels like they have been here forever. It is hard to remember what life was like before them. What it was like to sleep uninterrupted all night, maybe take a nap during the day, only worry about buckling yourself into the car, and of course going to the bathroom without an audience. Well, time flies when you are having fun and slowly but surely you start to get those things back. It is heartbreaking and exhilarating at the same time. They do grow up so fast.

If I want to win at thumb wrestling, I still have Paige. And if I want to carry someone, I can still throw her on a hip, for now anyway.

We were both sweating, my arm was about to fall off...and I loved every minute of it!

I am not a quitter!?

So like I said, I have been considering this blogging thing for a couple of years. I thought blogging would be "hard" and that maybe myspace would be "easier". At the time, everyone was doin' it. I dabbled in myspace for about 2 days before deciding that definitely was NOT my thing. Roughly a year later, I joined the facebook revolution...for about 3 days. Recently, after a year of fighting my facebook fears, I reopened my account because everyone was doin' it. I made it a couple of weeks this time but quickly lost interest. My hopes are that this blog will fulfill what I was looking for on those other sites. If that is the case, then I will keep it up. I want to keep in touch with friends and family in a more meaningful way. Phone calls always seem to follow the same "what is new with you"..."same old, same old, we're so busy, kids are getting so big" template. E-mails bounce back and forth but essentially go nowhere. We don't want to talk about the mundane details of life because we forget that those mundane details are life. And I think, if we make an effort to pay closer attention to those details, we will discover that they are anything but ordinary.

This will only hurt for a second!

Well, I am going to give this a try. I have been considering starting up a blog for about two years but haven't taken the time to look into how the process works. I think this will be a great way to keep friends and family up to date with what is going on in our lives. Now, let's see if I can first of all figure out how to get this whole thing started, and second of all, see if I can keep it up to date. First things first...here is the first post!