Swimming

The pool was fixed so the boys had swimming lessons today. They did GREAT! I decided to sign them up for more lessons, and asked if anyone else was signed up to take lessons at the same time and was told no. So the boys will have "semi-private" lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays for the price of group rate lessons. Yeah!!



The picture was taken with Adam's new iPhone.

All in a days work

My husband has been bugging me to clean my office, so with ABSOLUTELY nothing else to do today other than listening to my children whine, I got r dun.



Granted, I need to take a run to Goodwill, take a box to work, and a box to church.

BOREDOM!!!!!!!!!!

It is now day 10 of Christmas vacation (winter break, whatever) and I am BORED!!!!! I signed the boys up for swimming lessons, which sounded like such a great idea at the time; they went to their first lesson and loved it, and now the pump is broken and the pool is 70 degrees, so they've cancelled the lessons. And it's snowing out, which also sounds fun, but my car needs new tires so I'm stuck at home.
How many times can one watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before going crazy?
I'll let you know.

Quote of the day - from the husband

We're about to head off to the Pearce's for a Christmas extravaganza, and here is the conversation that Adam and I had...
"Where do they live?" - Adam
"In Bellevue somewhere, I'll mapquest it" - me
"Just give me the address and I'll look it up on my iPhone along the way" - Adam
Guess he can no longer use the excuse of things being "on the way home" now that he has his iPhone!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to my 4 friends who read my blog! The boys actually slept in today (thanks to a late night at the Gardner's last night), and we started opening gifts around 7:30. I love watching Thornley open his gifts - he is so excited about everything he gets. One year he got a tube of socks and he just thought it was the greatest thing EVER! This year was no exception - everything he opened he loved and is excited for. We gave him some new Sorels, because his old ones don't fit and he squealed with glee over his new all black snow boots.
Jack is a bit more subdued while opening gifts, but got really excited over his bow and arrow, Count Dooku lightsaber (how did Santa know?!), and his R2D2 computer.
The boys received a lot of DVDs this year and are now watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, because according to Jack, he loves the dementors, they're not scary at all!

A New Superhero

Incase you haven't seen the latest crime fighter - here he is...Underwear Man!
You don't even want to know what his super powers are!

Facebook & Marriage

So, I joined Facebook a few weeks back more for my husband than myself, but now I'm the one who is using it more. The other day I changed my profile to married, updated my profile no problem. Today I went to add Adam's name as my spouse, and even though on his page I'm listed as his spouse, facebook is going to check with him and confirm that we indeed are married. I thought the vows and marriage license took care of that, who knew you had to confirm it with facebook.

Christmas Carols Chad Style

For the 3 of you that read this blog, I may have already sent the link. Just incase I haven't, here is the Extol link, and when you click on it you can hear some carols Chad style.

http://www.nccextol.com/index.cfm

That Donkey - he's busy

Tonight we took the boys to see the Live Nativity at church; they LOVE the Live Nativity. Never want to BE in the Live Nativity, but love to go see it. Yesterday the animals arrived at church, and so I took the boys out to see them. They think the donkey is cool, but are a bit intimidated by it (so was the gal playing Mary tonight).
Jack's comment on the way home..."There was a real donkey in the Live Nativity."
"Yes, there was. Wasn't that cool?"
"Yeah, just like in Shrek."

Frightening

Oh my word - the laundry has certainly piled up! Truly, I don't know how we've gotten dressed these past few days. I'm doing everything I can think of to avoid folding the clean laundry from last week, but the thought of piling MORE clean laundry on top is convincing me I should stop procrastinating.
Too bad I don't have anything clever or noteworthy to blog, because that always takes up some time, especially if I have a picture to add! But alas, it's just laundry and if I took a picture of the pile, you might never step foot in our house again!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yes, it's that fabulous time of the year when all my babysitters are home from college and wanting money! I've promised them all some babysitting hours, so anyone want to go do something?
We're going out for Adam's birthday tonight, so it's T minus 60 minutes, and I need to finish cleaning before the blessed event happens and my babysitter shows up!
I just LOVE Christmas time!

Like Father, Like Son

Today during Adam's sermon, he mentioned how we are like our parents. I'm shocked he didn't us a Thornley illustration, since he (Thornley) truly is a mini-me version of Adam. Case in point...

After his bath, Thornley said his back hurt a little, so he ran downstairs and sat in the massaging chair.
Can you say - Adam?

You're Freaking Kidding Me!

I just finished addressing the 100th Christmas card - yes that's 100 cards, and get this - I'm 10 short!
The problem is that I can't order them from Snapfish and pick them up at Walgreens, because Rob did such a good job with our pictures that they think they're professional and won't give them to us without his written approval! (funny thing is, they won't give them to Rob without his written approval).
I'm off to Target tomorrow to buy more cards - the good news is I saw some cute photo cards when I was in there the other day, but didn't buy them because they said 2007 and, silly me, thought I had enough cards for this year.
AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
If you're card is late, the return address might read Rubber Room #1 - anyone care to join me, maybe we can get a group rate?!

Nothing

Just to let you all know....
If you are:
*addressing Christmas cards
*making gifts for family members
*doing laundry
*entertaining your kids so they don't kill each other
*on the phone with "customer service" (or should I say on hold with customer service)
You are doing nothing.
I have to finish doing nothing.

Quote of the Day

Jack comes running upstairs crying...
"Mommy I need ice, I just hurt my bad word finger."

Christmas Program

Why do teachers let friends stand next to each other at preschool Christmas programs? Here is Jack with his buddy Troy tonight at the program. If I can figure out how to post a video, I will because we have one of him ringing his bell that is SOOOOOO cute!!

Behavior Modification 201

This one is for all you hardcore parents out there. What you can do if your kid just isn't listening...



Just kidding! Before anyone calls CPS on me (you all know I love my kids - right?!); this was at Cori's on Thanksgiving. Goodness only knows what they were doing!

One of these things is not like the other one

Here is dear, sweet Jack at the Birthday Party for Jesus this past Sunday. You will notice all the other children are dressed as angels; except Jack.
"Jack, are you going to be an angel this year?" me
"NO, angels are girls." him
Technically not, but fair enough the kid doesn't want to wear a dress!
Oh, and the other difference is that Jack was actually singing.
Tonight we're heading off to his Christmas program at preschool. He's so excited - he gets to wave a scarf AND throw it in the air!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth

Yep, that's right - Thornley lost tooth #2 this morning. Loosing teeth should be illegal around Christmas, between Santa and the Tooth Fairy we're broke!

Is this what Santa goes thru?

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The Anatomy of a Christmas Card

It's that time of the year again - Christmas Card time.
I love picking out our cards and writing our letter, but it is such a process - this year it seems more so than years past.
We went to Becca & Rob's in November to have our picture taken. I think out of 20 pictures we had one good one. Picture done.
Then it was time to find the perfect photo card on Snapfish - not an easy task, but one I take on with much determination.
Since we ordered our cards early we got the early bird discount - a good thing since we order like 100 cards. The cards came, I think they're nice. Cards done.
Now the letter...I love trying to be creative and write our letter. This year, again, not an easy task. I tried a few different versions, but finally went with the one that went with the "theme" of our card. Letter done.
Time to copy the letter. I found paper I liked, but not enough, so I bought it having faith that I would go do a different Target and find more of the same paper - wrong!! So finally today at Target I found paper that would work, again, not super excited about it, but it will work. Letter copying done.
My task for today is to address all the envelopes. I know, I should put them in the computer and print labels, but the addresses are the ONLY thing handwritten about the letter, so I address away.
It may take a few days to send them because I need stamps, and well, stamps cost money and after buying the cards and the paper for the letter, and I'll probably need a new ink cartridge for our printer after making all the copies, I have no money for stamps!
Why is wishing people a Merry Christmas such a process?!

"Christmas Classics"

I went to Target today because, well, it's Thursday, but more importantly I was looking for the DVD of Frosty the Snowman. I wanted to show it in class on the 17th, and the boys like the movie and every year I "DVR" it, but erase it around Easter when my hours are running out. Target doesn't sell just Frosty the Snowman, or if they do, they were out. So instead I purchased a compilation of Christmas Classics, which included Frosty, Rudolph, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and something else along with "bonus" footage. I figured it was worth the $30, because by the time I remembered to return all those movies to Blockbuster, my late fees would triple that.
Now, I got to thinking... wouldn't it be great if all the "classics" had a Christmas version; such as "Merry Christmas the Nerd's Revenge", or "Merry Superbad Christmas", or "American Christmas Pie".
Yes, Mark, this post is for you, so Merry Christmas to you and your mom!

Party Hostessing 101

Since I'm assuming that the three of you that read this know me, you know how much I love a party. I like going to parties, I like having parties, I like throwing big parties; crazy I know, but I love a party. Tonight I had my small group (that isn't so small) and another small group over for a Christmas party. I planned my meal, shopped for food, bought my white elephant gift and cleaned my house (well, at least the rooms I was allowing people in). This is what gets me; why do we clean our homes before people come over? I dusted, I vacuumed, I mopped, I scrubbed, and now that everyone has left I have to do it all over again! Why is it so important to have a clean, disinfected bathroom when you know you're just going to do it the following day because a bunch of people used your bathroom? I vacuumed up a storm, and I'll have to do it tomorrow because when everyone arrived they tracked in a whole pine tree full of needles. And don't even get me started on the kitchen and the mopping!
It's been a long day, so I guess I'll go to bed and get a good night sleep, so I can wake up tomorrow and clean my house again!

On a side note, it was a fun party and the food was pretty good too!

We're not in California anymore Oski

My conversation with my husband this morning...
"Do you have any plans this evening?"(that would be my husband asking me).
"Yes, I'm going to watch the Big Game." (my response).
"What Big Game?" he asked
"THE Big Game," duh!!

GO BEARS!!

Sur la Table

Here is a pic of my table from the luncheon today. I have to say, I do enjoy setting the table, but hate coming up with a centerpiece. This year I think it turned out pretty nice, though.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today we woke up to snow, and the boys were outside playing in it by 7:00.


















Jack absolutely LOVES Christmas decorations, and yesterday we were at Target and he stood mesmerized watching this particular one, so how could I tell him no. It's so cute and plays Christmas carols. He stands in front of it and dances to the music (pardon the Halloween cards still in the background).
















The snow stopped for a while, and I went to the Christmas Luncheon at church to hear my friend Becca, and enjoy the company of friends. Before I left I asked Adam which car I should take, and he said to take mine because he was sure it was done snowing. I could hardly make it back up our hill, the snow was coming down so hard and fast! Here are a few of our outdoor decorations, and our yard covered in snow. (I love our snow covered yard - it covers up so much and actually makes our yard look pretty!)