Saturday, December 26, 2009

Pictures I was going to post yesterday.


The Night Before Christmas and all through the house.....


The Christmas tree before the kids got to it:-)


The kids opening the dog's gift, he sat so nicely waiting for them to be done.


The "Big" gift.



Bailey finding his package.




Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas Morning:-)

My alarm went off 6:30 AM (on vibrate so the kids didn’t hear it). About 5 minutes later we heard the kids in their room. Then the flash lights went on and the little stinkers went on a stealth mission to check out the presents under the tree before Mom & Dad woke up! Then the whispers;

N: It’s not dawn yet. We are not allowed up until it’s light out
W: Come on let’s see if they’re up yet.
N: Billy noooooo
W: (at my side, hand on me shaking me very gently) Mom are you awake? Santa Came
M: No it’s still dark, come lay down with me
N: (On Ed’s side) I tried to stop him
E: 10 more minutes you guys then we can get up
Everyone lay down in bed cuddled together trying to get 10 more minutes
Bailey: thump thump thump thump (his tail banging against the closet door)
We all giggle (about 3 minutes later)
W: Come on lets get up Santa was here, there are presents under the tree.
E: 10 more minutes Billy
W: But we got a hippopotamus!
M: you unwrapped something? :-0
W: NO they weren’t wrapped. See (jumping out of bed and running to get his hippo)
N: (following her brother) it’s a golden Hippopotamus.
Then we all started singing “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” We mess up the words, and make up our own version.
Bailey; thump thump thump thump.
M: OK let’s get up!

We all get out of bed and make our way to the other side of the wall to the tree. Bailey went right over to his gifts and stood their sniffing. We had the kids give him his box of bones, he wouldn’t unwrap them so the kids did it for him. I opened the box and put it behind us so he could help himself for a little while. After about 5 small bones I took the box away.

The kids started opening their gifts. They were happy with all they got. Both now have footy pajamas, crank flash lights that do NOT need batteries, compasses, thermoses for lunch, & candy. I got each kid and Ed their own bath mat for the floor when they take showers (running family joke).

William got a cool race track (I’m praying this one stays together and works for a long time); Natalie got a pair of boots that don’t fit! Santa knew her size was a size 3 and the size 3 sneakers she got in September still fit so I’m not sure what’s up with the boots but they are toooooo small! They are knock off Ugg looking things. But I guess Santa is prepared for this type of thing, because we found a receipt on the bottom of the box with the name of the store on it, so we can swap them for the correct size.

The kids both shopped at the school store for us, William got Ed and I Mom and Dad mugs, which we are proudly using. Natalie got me a pretty MOM necklace that I am wearing, and she got Ed a “Dad” tape measure and key ring light.

The race track has been put together, breakfast has been made and eaten, Ed is working on getting another gift up and running. We did coax Bailey into opening one of his own gifts. Ed had to hold it for him the whole time but he opened it himself.

Grand mom Maureen has been here and left already. The skateboards are a big hit! The Zhu Zhu pets (which they slept “near” and joined us for opening gifts today) that they got from Grammy and Grampy are riding on the sake boards as we speak.

The kids are still singing Christmas Carols. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas is the song of the moment!

That’s all for now! Enjoy the pictures.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and to all a GOOD DAY!!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

You remember when you were little and your parents would tell you to knock it off or they were going to pull the car over and make you get out & walk?

Well now my kids have that story to tell!

Small recap, I take a friends 3 kids to school in the morning along with my 2 kids. We usually walk or ride bikes but with the weather sooooo cold this morning and one of the kids getting over a pretty bad cold, I decided to drive. (At least that’s the excuse I’m using because I didn’t want to freeze my butt off walking this morning!) We take the same route driving that we do walking.

One of the kids was sick today so I only had 4 in the car. When we drive it’s a tight squeeze in the far back. William and the two girls have to squish together so they can all get buckled. The drive is about a minute and a half long, and that’s only if I get stuck at the crossing guard. You would think with 1 less kid in the back seat my children would have enjoyed having a little more space between them and could have kept their hands, feet, body’s, hats, gloves, and voices to themselves. Not the case.

My two DARLING children could NOT behave with each other. I get the 4 kids in the car and we are not even out of the drive way and my two are bugging the heck out of each other and yelling and whining. William just couldn’t keep his hands to himself, but Natalie was yelling and whining and fighting right back with him. He was poking her, she pulled his hat off his head and my warnings to knock it off were being ignored. After about the 5th warning I found an opening on the side of the road, pulled over stopped the car, put it in park and



Said “GET OUT”!!!
They both just sat there, I think they thought I was kidding.
So again I said “GET OUT and walk to school”!
Still they sat there.
The car was in park and I went to turn it off and get out to open the door for them. I think that's when they realized that I was serious.

They stormed past the other two kids, whose eyes were bugging out of their heads, got out of the car and started walking! And I pulled away! I’m pretty sure they were SHOCKED.

I drove down to the crossing guard and parked my car and got the two children, who know how to behave, out of the car. The older boy took his younger sister and said “come on let's get to school” (almost like he had to protect her) I very cheerfully said “have a good day” to them as my two caught up to us.

Natalie was very upset, and I gave her a hug and a kiss and told her I loved her. William didn’t seem to care (which bugged me) and I gave him a hug and a kiss too, handed them both the cookies I made for their class and walked them across the street.

So now my children have a story to pass on to their children about the day their mean mom pulled the car over and made them get out and walk.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The 2 Things Natalie wants for Christmas 2009

Natalie had a student teacher, Ms. Sandal, at school this past semester. Her last day was on Thursday and Natalie was very upset about it.
So this morning we were driving home from William’s wrestling practice and this is our conversation.

N: There are only two things I want for Christmas this year.
M: Oh yea? What two things? (I’m expecting to hear a zhu zhu pet and phone, or some material things that she is defiantly not getting)
N: I want to see Great Grand mom and Mrs. Sandal again.
M: (my heart melted) Which Great Grand mom?
N: Grampys Mom (My grandmother who passed away a few years ago)
M: That’s SOOOOOOOOO sweet, but you know you can’t actually see her. But you can keep her close in your heart
N: I know I can’t really see her.
M: And as for Ms. Sandal I thought you told me her new class was going to be at the same time as your class so she won’t be able to come visit?
N: She thinks she may be able to come visit so I’m hoping she can.
M: OK that’s a good thing to hope for
N: I wish I had gotten to meet Great Grandpa, Grampys Dad.
M: Me too, I never met him either
N: Oh; was he in a war?
M: No I don’t think so.
N: But I thought you all told me he was in a war.
M: No, but you can ask Grampys just to make sure.
N: OK I’ll ask, but you told me he was in WWII.
M: No
N: The civil war?
M: NO
N: The revolutionary war?
M: NO
N: The war of 1812?
M: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
N: You told me he was in a war; which war?
M: Wait a minute; are you talking about Grampys Dad or Grammies Dad?
N: Oh that’s right I think it was Grammies Dad…….
Then we arrived at home and the conversation was over. I’m so happy to know that she remembers her Great Grand mom. She was little when she died but those memories are still with her:-)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Holiday songs:-)

Jingle Bells, Bat Man Smells, Robin laid an Egg! The Batmobile lost his wheel and the joker got away! HEY!

The kids new version of the song:-)

Jingle Bells, Bailey smells (what he does), Sophie (the dog that lives behind us) laid an egg! The dogmobile lost its wheel and Bailey or Sophie (we are debating this subject) got away! HEY!