White Christmas

Yeah, I know everyone else in the world has already packed up their Christmas decorations and moved on to the next holiday--but we got our stuff out late and we're gonna leave it up a while to sit back and enjoy. And I have some posts to catch up on, anyway.

So, we finally had a white Christmas at our house. And it was a BIG white Christmas--over 13 inches of snow! Great for building forts, huge snowmen, and some sledding.

Except that we weren't here for it. We were somewhere where there is always snow on the ground this time of year, so I shouldn't care. Except this year there was hardly any snow! We were in the Rocky Mountains in Northern New Mexico, where I grew up skiing on the slopes of Angel Fire, Taos, Sipapu, and Red River. Luckily, the slopes had enough snow for the older boys to get on skis for the first time (and for Mommy to show Daddy who's the boss on skis. Again.)

Brandon and Tyler were in all-day ski school the first day, and loved it so much that they went again all day the next day! Taking after my sister and I at that age--the boys were on the leading edge of uncontrolled chaos on the bunny slopes. They've learned to somewhat veer around people as they go straight down the mountain, falling on their butts to slow down and eventually crashing to a stop. I couldn't be more proud of them. We didn't get much video of it, but we got a good family picture:

Nick and was content to stay at the cabin and sled with his cousin Ty:

Make your own photo slideshow

Needless to say, we had a ball! We've got the skiing bug, so it's time to start looking around here for some decent slopes for the kids to keep practicing on.

Pathetic

This is our bull-headed boy, who is stubborn as a mule and just doesn't care what anyone thinks about him:



This is yesterday's picture of that same little boy who can't seem to stop peeing in his pants at preschool (yes, that is girl clothes--for humiliation):


I'd post a picture of what he looked like today, but don't need any more pervs...he came home wearing only a diaper and his jacket. In 30-degree weather. And he just doesn't care...

Belated Halloween

According to Wal-Mart, I should be posting Christmas pictures already...

Here was our house this Halloween:

Our Cubs

See, we aren't terrible heathens--our boys are in Cub Scouts, where part of their Scout Promise is to do their "duty to God". AND when I said that my worries about not enough quality time with the kids was out the window?--it's because Cub Scouts forces us to do meaningful things together.

Here's our little Cubs:



We are so proud of them!

A Story By Brandon

Here is a story Brandon wrote at school--unedited:

I'm the smallest punkin. I will beg them to pick me but I am too small and sence I am small they can not here me. I want to grow faster! I yelled. The other punkins are big and they take all my food exsep one little tiny piece. I hate big punkins. I can not even drink my own water cause there is so many big punkins and I am the only one who is small. I want someone to pick me now so I have my own food and water. I want to be carved. But I haft to be quite and be pashent. Finly someone picked me now. I can have my own food and water. Now I am carved as a VAMPIRE! The End!

Luke, I Am Your Father

Of course we're still ALL dressing up for Halloween--it's friggin' FUN!!

Attack of the Zombies!!!

They've invaded!!!

No, I Didn't Get It On Video

Just where do you think my husband got the bright idea to do something like this? From watching America's Funniest Videos...



Yeah, that's wax in his orifices. No, I didn't get it on video.

Creepshow

Today we took a day trip to beautiful Lake Anna. Of course, the pictures I have show the not-so-beautiful side...

Note the green goo mixed with people's trash floating in front of our boys. Have any of you seen Creepshow? (there is some bad language here)

OCD much?

Anyone who has spent any time around my husband with our kids knows that he is crazy about having their hair perfect. Perfect to the point that I am not allowed to comb their hair at all because I'm not good enough. Perfect to the point that he friggin' combs their hair before they go to bed at night! Psycho...

Since I am an evil wife, I have been plotting against this OCD behavior for almost a year. I stocked up on colored hair spray last Halloween and hid them. I bought clippers and stashed them away. I waited until the perfect moment to spring my plan into action--wacky hair day at daycare. Bryan had already left for work, so he had no idea what craziness awaited him when he picked up the kids from daycare...and I lived to tell about it.

Yep--those mohawks are real. I cleaned up the evidence so that Bryan would never suspect a thing when he got home from work. When I dropped the kids off at daycare, all the ladies gasped--they know first-hand how nutty Bryan is with hair, and they vowed to work late just to see his reaction.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it myself. He was still hyperventilating when he got home from picking them up. He had to prop himself on a chair just to look me in the eye. He didn't say a word for over 5 minutes (that's a long time!) And then he gave me a shock of a lifetime--he said Nick looked particularly cute and they could keep their mohawks for the rest of the week! (Who are you and what did you do with my husband???)

Our Tyler-Monkey

Hey, remember a while back when I freaked out because I had to sew? I was proud of myself because I had so much advanced notice that I could afford to re-do it a couple of times if I screwed it up. But what did I do? Waited until the night before...but it turned out OK, don't you think? (The safety pin holding the hood together is not in these pictures) (home-made costume ideas here.)



The sad part is that many parents didn't go out of their way much for their kids' costumes. Yes, I waited until the very last minute, but I would have stayed up ALL NIGHT to do a good job. This play was the pinnacle of these kids' end-of-year activities--don't you think you'd work a little at their costumes, after all the hard work they put into memorizing their lines? I'm not going to post those pictures--no need for any more public humiliation for the kids. It just breaks my heart to know these kids worked so hard for something, but their parents obviously blew it off.

Camping Ain't What It Used To Be

Sooooo, it was a nice evening last Friday which meant only 1 thing--we'd be outside drinking and letting the kids run amuk with smores and sparklers.

Sooooo, after drinking for a few hours we realized it was getting late and the kids were up 2 hours past their bedtime. This is when Bryan got the bright idea of camping in the backyard.

I grew up camping in my backyard and was immediately onboard for this little "adventure". What we failed to realize in our drunken stupor is:

1. It was 10:30 at night, and therefore DARK outside.


2. Our tent is a complicated 2-room family tent.


3. The aforementioned complicated tent was brand new--never been out of the box. Translate: we had never set it up before.


4. We had been drinking more than we thought.

After wrestling with it for 2 hours, we finally finished and got the kids corralled into their "room".

The two older boys were great--they zonked right out. For the 3-year-old, it was party time. After he finally settled down, we realized our portion of the tent was over very lumpy ground--this is when I started to realize I'm not as young as I thought. Bryan & I tossed for the remainder of the night on our hard beds--I ended up with a big bruise on my child-rearing hips.

Needless to say, we got no sleep. When the sun came up at 5:30, our youngest woke the whole neighborhood up with "It's morning tiiiiiiime!! Wake up!!!" Ugh...

A few other things I didn't mention before--here is a picture of the tent.

Notice the orange extension cord? There is actually a special port in the tent for cords to run through. We had a fan, music, and laptop in that tent. My how times have changed...

Diabetic Coma

Now that I've woken up from my diabetic coma, let me show you what caused it:

THAT is the birthday cake I made for Bryan--I received more ooh's and aaah's from this lazy person's cake than from all the other cakes I've spent hours decorating. It looked even crazier with candles (that would be Bryan's jokester nephew, who is very happy I snapped this picture):

Bryan had a good birthday--his entire family showed up to cook, eat & have a few drinks. We had a good visit and the kids had a ball destroying playrooms and messing with the dogs outside. My parents were here in spirit: (keep in mind they live in the Cowtown USA)

Since Bryan's birthday is technically not until the 28th, I am withholding his present until it's official. (Payback for not letting me open any Christmas presents on Christmas Eve.)

Memories and Regrets

Several weeks ago, I received a call from my Mom that my grandmother "Dorsey" wasn't doing good and probably wasn't going to make it through the rest of the week. Her health had been declining for the past 5 years, and she felt it was time to return home to God.

At that time, Bryan urged me to write her a letter with my fond memories of times together growing up. I put it off, and Dorsey miraculously bounced back and was doing absolutely great--back to her witty, feisty old self. Then I got another phone call a few weeks ago saying she had up and passed on. She never received that letter from me.

I never let her know about my fondest memories together. About how I dare not go through New Year's Day without eating black-eyed peas for good luck, lest she scold me. The fun times on the little go-kart at her house in Wildorado, and the time she took a corner too fast and dumped me out on the road. How she taught me to play Solitaire while watching The Price is Right, and the times my sister & I would fall asleep at her house waiting for Mom & Dad to come pick us up late at night to take us home.


We would have the most wonderful conversations--she had so many fun facts to share, and she knew the history of our family--I wish I had documented our family tree while she was still here with us. I wish I had called her more often just to talk. I wish I had taken the time to write and send that letter...


I know she is at peace now, but I miss her anyway.

Kids with Tattoos

Bryan and I both have tattoos (in somewhat inconspicuous places.) The boys are fascinated by them because they don't wash off. We've told them that they hurt like a thousand needles (to ward off any growing feelings of really wanting one by the time they are teenagers). So they run around all the time with their temporary tattoos--proudly showing them off to everyone:

Playing With Fire

We let our boys play with fire tonight--it was just way too nice of an evening not to have homemade smores!

Oh yes--they tasted as good as they looked!