My Gift to You

I hate the cold weather. I hate having to bundle everybody up and then try not to lose any of the layers. I hate tracking snow and dirty slushy yucky stuff into houses. I hate getting in a cold bed. But Christmas time is not about me telling you my hates. It's about me sharing my coping mechanisms with you. So here you are and you may thank me later.
First, buy yourself this for your bed:It is a mattress cover warmer thingie! Like an electric blanket, but cooler because you can't see it. It warms your whole bed. I seriously turn it on at 3 pm so it will be nice and toasty hours later. (Can you tell how I really look forward to bedtime?)

Then I warm up the classic corn bag in the microwave and toss it in my bed. Two minutes and it's hot enough to fry you and make your bed smell a little like burnt popcorn. Who doesn't love that? (So Hub is a little tired of the burnt popcorn smell, but that's just cause it makes him hungry)


And finally the traditional cup of hot chocolate. Warmed in the microwave for a perfect 90 seconds. You shouldn't be able to gulp it. That means it's not hot enough. Hot chocolate is for sipping only. And as soon as Stephen's Gourmet Mint Truffle goes on a better sale I will be in heaven literally.

These three elements, a book (in addition to your scripture study and journal writing of course), and you are now a happy camper. Of course, about 20 minutes later you are throwing covers off and sweating a bit, but that is all part of the experience. Merry Christmas!

And as a bonus, here are the kiddies in front of the tree. Sending out Christmas cards is about #451 on the list right now and we're only on #2 (finish shopping already), so this may be the closest thing you get. Ciao.

Special Sister Post and Other Things to Make you Cry With Joy

It is Cold Cocoa's Birthday today! She was a little upset that I hadn't done a special sister post in her honor, but that would just make us seem like we're the kind of sisters that hug. And we're not, so instead I will show my love by revealing this about her: She has always been one of the people who makes me laugh the most. I can only say that about maybe three people so props to her. Plus she shares a lot of my vices and that makes me feel not so guilty about them. Props again. Hurray for sisters!

Moving on so everyone stops thinking about sisterly feelings and gets back to the exciting things of my life.... Look at our garage! Hub installed some cabinets from his parents' kitchen and put them in our garage to make us look fancy-pants organized. I can't wait for the kids to start playing in them and messing up whatever order exits right now.
And here is how Ike earns his room and board. Don't you love having kids who are finally old enough to do REAL labor (not the haphazard shoveling of clothes away and playing with wet rags) and not require your constant supervision?? I'm sure that his enthusiasm to help shovel had nothing to do with the novelty of the snow and he will be the first one out there every snow storm.
And we did get our Christmas tree so you can stop worrying about that. Hub and the kids decorated it while I was at YWs and I was OK with that. Why mess with ornament placement when it gets changed by the kiddies about 45 times a day? That is all.

We Party Hard Yet Again

This happens every year. After the first week of December we are all partied out. Between Hub's work, the ward and extended family parties we are mostly done with the festivities. It doesn't help that 4 of them were planned on the same day. Anyway. Here is some evidence of the good times.

Ethan telling Santa that he wanted a monster truck and a transformer. Both of which he already has and Santa Mama has some 'better' ideas.

Mitch telling Santa that he wanted a baby doll and a remote control car. He loves the attention he gets from saying he wants a baby doll. Last week it was a Barbie. Next week it'll be a HSM sundress. But for the record: he will not be receiving any gifts intended for females.This was as close as Noelle would get to Santy. She couldn't even look him in the eye. We're OK with this because it is really a strange custom to have people sit on a costumed man's lap.

Ike has never been into sitting on Santa's lap so this is the picture I captured. He corrupted Noelle by getting her to pose in this horrible cheesy manner.

Party #2 was w/ my siblings, our super loud offspring and my parents. There were several different kid crafts going on.

Ike and Mitch painting some Christmas decor. And below is Ethan with the favorite edible craft of all:the Christmas tree that is an upside down ice-cream cone decorated with green frosting and M&M ornaments. There was way too much finger licking involved in this craft and if I wasn't in such a great Christmas mood I could have gone postal (pet peeve of mine--finger licking. Now you know)

We closed out Saturday with a huge family party at DGs. Only one ariel photo kind of turned out.

With those major parties out of the way I was thinking we should have some evening openings to actually go get our Christmas tree (Hub insists on a live one) and to maybe get some shopping done. Somehow, our calendar has filled up again and I'm not sure when it will happen. So thanks for all the tree shots on everyone else's blogs. We may just have to enjoy yours this year!

We never waste a minute here at our house. Since there is no snow on the ground we decided to still pretend like it was summer and do summer things like take the training wheels off Ethan's bike. He was trying to do crazy things like pop wheelies and go off ramps and that just doesn't work when you have those two extra wheels hampering you, so it was high time he learned.
We went to the track where there was lots of room to steer and no cars to compete with. He loves feeling like a big kid.


We also decided it was time that Noelle learn some more important skills in life. So we taught her how to show her muscles. This is a rite of passage for all children. She is very good at it and does it with sound effects to boot. Sorry those grunts are not included.


As for the older two boys...Ike talked himself into believing in Santa for yet another year (so far) because, as he put it, "There is no way mom and dad would buy us that many presents!" So true, dear. And after another session of helping in Mitch's 1st grade class I am shocked at how much all the little girls love him. They want to sit by him and talk to him and play with him at recess. Maybe little first grade girls find hyper, loud, goofy boys very attractive. I think he's cute and all, but heck, I'm his mom.

What else? Hub finally finished putting up the Christmas lights. At ten o'clock at night. With his headlamp on. I tell you if your hubby doesn't have one of those put it on his Christmas list. Hub has accomplished lots of outside work after dark because of that handy tool.
We also had our PC crash and die. May it rest in peace. It no longer connects to the internet and so what is the point of existing, I ask you? Good thing I have a really old laptop to blog on. And That's All Folks.

Moving on....

Thanksgiving was great fun this year. We only had 35 who could make it to my parent's this year. Weirdly that was only half the family. After porking out on rolls and pie (the only part of the feast I deem mandatory) we had a family talent show. Besides all the traditional musical talents we had Hub rockin' it with his juggling skills and B and L's family show off their newfound yoga tricks. Did L really do the splits or was that just after-dinner hallucinations?

I am never one to dwell on the past so it is now time to move on. This means taking down our wall of Thanksgiving art

and putting up our treasured Christmas decor like this:

Just kidding. I can't buy one of these babies until I can make sure the kids won't break it. We all know what a broken leg lamp can do to a family.

Here's to pulling out all the Holiday movies, music and decorations! Can't wait!

Dear Amazon.com

Dear Mean People at Amazon. Com,

I was already having a bad day since my 8-year-old decided that he wasn't about to actually turn in the book report we spent all weekend doing. Apparently he thought the teacher assigned it as a recreational activity. I should have let him live with the natural consequences of such a decision and be forever scarred by losing 10 points on his 3rd grade report card, but the anal A student in me just couldn't live with......Never mind. I digress. The day just got worse however, when I checked my Amazon shopping cart.

I am not an impulsive shopper. I like to put things in my online cart and then think about them or not think about them and check on ebay and the ads for better deals before I actually hand over any moolah. Sometimes this process takes weeks. Sometimes it takes months and I forget that I ever coveted anything. As you can see, this method works well for my checkbook. So imagine my anger when I check my cart and see that three of my items had increased in price nearly double!!! Come on! That little bouncy hopper that was worth 7 bucks yesterday is now worth 16? How about a little warning?

To your credit you did try to soften the blow and there were two items in my cart that were actually reduced. By a total of three cents. THREE CENTS. Thank you so much for your generosity.

I know you are trying to teach me the lesson that if you snooze you lose, but the joke is on you Amazon. Because in my twisted mind I know that a hopper that was once worth 7 dollars will be worth 7 dollars again. The Hyper Dash that went up nearly 8 dollars? I've seen it on sale at Shopko and that's where I'll get it. So there. Yeah, my kids might not have as great a Christmas this year, but it's worth me sticking it to the man. And the man is you, Mr. Amazon. And my kids will thank me for this valuable lesson they are learning about principle over presents. Won't they?

Since I hate to leave on a sour note, I will still use you for your product reviews. I find those very informative.
Sincerely, Megz

My secret fashionista

I knew the time would come. I just didn't expect it to come so soon and to come from the mouth of my 8-year-old boy whose sense of fashion usually means mixing and matching hoodies with athletic pants.
The conversation Wed. morning:
Me: Hey, guys, do you like my shoes? I haven't worn these forever!
Mitch:Yeah Mom! (what a sweet brown noser)
Ethan: I don't know (He didn't even look. He just knew it was a safe answer)
Isaac: NO!
Me: What do you mean no? These babies are Hilfigers!
Isaac: Whatever that is. They're just weird looking.
Me (starting to get a little defensive): What do you mean? I used to get all sorts of compliments on these shoes......ten years ago.......do they really look weird?
Isaac: Yeah, they just are weird looking.
Me: (tears streaming down my face now) So I bet you think I'm fat too?! (Just kidding on this last part--it just seemed like a good thing a pregnant lady would say)

I usually would not give much credence to Ike's opinions on my clothes. But he does have good vision and the fact that he didn't give a passive comment like Ethan meant he really had an opinion. Plus I was helping out in his class that day and I think he had a little moment of Mommy Might Be an Embarrassment. I also knew that after ten years it was highly unlikely that my Hilfiger clogs were still the talk of the town. In a good way, that is. So I gave in and changed shoes to something a little less eye catching. I hope by this small allowance I bought enough time in my son's eyes that he will still let me come and show my face (or feet) in his class for a few more years. But dang. I'm way too young and cool to start being embarrassing to my kids. Right?

Recent Deets

Life has been life lately. No cute pictures to chronicle the everydayness, sorry. I've been trying to update our 5 scrapbooks (a thrice-yearly project so it's not as bad as it could be), index records for family history (we have a ward goal and it's been a great excuse to learn how), started some online Christmas shopping, and then you know, just other stuff. Exciting stuff. Like cleaning house, helping at school, taking kids here and there, trying to cook real food and hope nobody notices when I don't eat it because it's kindof gross. But to spice this entry up I have narrowed it down to a couple of family highlights for the week.
* Played charades for the family night game. Nothing is funnier than Ethan coming up with his own charade. Like 'it was me playing soccer and riding my bike and going on a hike.' All in one. How could we not get that??

*Noelle learned to burp and loves it. No, she can't actually burp. But she says the word burp in a guttural voice and then laughs hysterically. Is there a girl in there somewhere? Time will tell....

*For a scout goal Ike helped plan, make and clean up dinner. Some of those scout goals are a little annoying (who wants to make a bird house? Not this mom) but I highly recommend this one.

*Mitch insisted some of his eyeball fell out. No amount of common sense could convince him otherwise because he 'felt' it. He does have a scratch right next to his eye, but rest assured, all of his eyeball is intact.

*Hub came up with a list of potential names for our next girlie. Sadly, the name selection process will not be an easy one as he has a few doozies on there. Which I better not share since some of you may have dear grandmas with those names and I'd hate to offend.
CIAO.

My secret life as Hannah Montana

This revealing questionnaire was meant for Mitch, but since he is never home/awake during prime blogging hours we defer to 4-year-old Ethan. Who apparently had been nagged quite a lot about cleaning his room lately.....

1. What is something mom always says to you? Clean my room

2. What is something that makes mom happy? When I clean my room

3. What makes mom sad? Not cleaning my room

4. How does your mom make you laugh? When she tries to catch popcorn in her mouth and it always misses

5. What was your mom like as a child? quiet and goofy

6. How old is your mom? 41 [thanks a lot]

7.How tall is your mom? 41 tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play with us

9. what does your mom do when you are not around? Do stuff

10. If your mom becomes famous what will it be for? Being a cheerleader [what the %!@?]

11. What is your mom really good at? Sports. I mean some sports.

12. What is your mom not very good at? She's good at lots of stuff so I don't know. [oooh, that is so sweet! You don't have to clean your room anymore, sugar buns!]

13. What does your mom do for a job? You work at home, Mom. Doing cleaning work.

14. What is your mom's favorite food? All food [so he hasn't realized I somehow end up with the smallest portion of veggies on my plate....mission accomplished!]

15. What makes you proud of your mom? when she plays the piano.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character who would she be? Hannah Montana

17. What do you and your mom do together? play

18. How are you and your mom the same? we play games

19. How are you and your mom different? she doesn't let me get drinks out of the sink

20. How do you know your mom loves you? she said it before

21. what does your mom like most about your dad? when he plays games with us. Like the ones you don't like to play. Like the long ones. [amen, kid]

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? maybe the store or Hawaii.

That was a fun tag courtesy of Addie. And kudos to Disney for marketing so well that my 4-year-old boy knows who Hannah Montana is.