Christmas 2007

By the looks of my house, Christmas definitely came. Toys are still strewn about. The fridge is full of leftovers. Candy is lurking everywhere. And surprise surprise, my pants are a bit snug! One of these days I will have to put my house back in order. The good news is that my boys are quite content playing with themselves for awhile. It is a nice change!

Taylor was thrilled with his new football from his Uncle Dalin and a BYU jersey from Grandma Larsen. Bennett was disappointed because he didn't actually get to see Santa. Although later that night he was telling his Uncle Grant that he saw Santa and that he was wearing a BYU hat. Thank heavens it was a BYU hat! Owen after opening his drill, politely told us "no" when we asked him if he wanted to open another gift. He was happy with just one.


The boys in their new p.j.'s anxiously waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought them.


Buzz was definitely a hit with Bennett. Notice his buzz-like pose he is striking.

The drill was Owen's favorite gift. He hauls it all over the place.

Ties from China! Let me tell you that shopping trip helped tremendously!

Sugared Up

Tis the season for sugar. School parties, tae kwon parties, family parties, neighbor gifts. The sugar supply never ends. My house has so much junk you can't open a cupboard without some sort of sugared treat falling on your head. My kids are on such a sugar high right now, I am going to have to put them through a serious de-tox program when Christmas is finally over. Their moods range from the running around the house in circles uncontrollably, to crying and whining and begging me for just one more fix. I've got some serious addicts here. Some part of me tells me to just throw it all away, but throwing away perfectly good candy? Is that possible? I don't know if it is. Especially when I know I will be craving a piece of chocolate in a week or two when things start to settle down and I will most likely kick myself for throwing it all away. Oh and the making of gingerbread houses with my sister and her family, though fun, didn't help the addiction!

That's not how it works!

Have you ever started something, only to become frustrated because it is not going according to your plan? That's how I feel with this year's advent calendar. We have a tradition each year to set up a Playmobil advent calendar, similar to this one. This year, instead of buying a so-called "holiday" one, I decided to buy a Playmobil nativity scene(for some reason they don't make an advent calendar with a nativity scene) and turn it into an advent calendar using old parts from previous years calendars. After making items fit into boxes that aren't suppose to fit, I got it set up and ready to go. This is how, in my mind the advent calendar is suppose to work. Each day 1 child gets to open the box, they oohh and aahh at what's in it, they put the newly opened piece on the background to admire, and then by Christmas we have a lovely nativity scene to look at that reminds us what Christmas is all about. That's not happening at our house. Let me tell you how it's not going according to my plan.

Each day the boys argue about who's turn it is to open the box. They all insist it is their turn. Once I determine who's turn it really is and somehow convince the other 2 their turn is coming up, the winner opens the box. Arguing then begins again because they all want to look at the piece and play with it. After I break up the arguments the piece eventually gets put on the set momentarily. After about 5 minutes someone takes it off and we never see the piece again. I looked at our pathetic nativity scene last night. Not only are less than half the pieces even there, somehow Han Solo, a dinosaur, a dragon and a trojan horse have ended up in the nativity. Now I know my memory is not like it use to, but I clearly don't remember these things in the nativity story. This is not going according to my plan. So I take a deep breathe and try my hardest to remember this is EXACTLY how the advent calendar is suppose to work with three boys in the house!

Flashback Friday - Our First Pet

Betcha didn't know Scott and I had a bird when we were first married. Our good friends, the Wolfe's had a parakeet. I can't remember how they came upon it, but for a bird - it was pretty cool. For Christmas maybe(?) they decided to buy us our own bird. Unfortunately, ours was not so cool. It had some serious anxiety issues and never did seem to warm up to us. We kept it until we moved to Y View. They didn't allow pets, so we gave it to Scott's sister, who lived in Santa Fe. It lived with them happily for several more years and then one morning they found it dead in it's cage. So long little bird!

Naughty Boy

Not only has Owen been my naughtiest boy, he has also turned into a stripper. There have been several times I have put him down for a nap only to peek in on him and either find him buck naked or mostly naked. Now he has upped the naughtiness. Today he not only stripped down to nothing, he decided to pee in his crib as well. What we can't figure out is how he managed to get the mattress pad out from underneath the crib sheet while leaving the sheet on. I guess the only good part is that I wasn't the one who found him!

"Alexander...

...and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" This is one of Owen's favorite books because he loves to make the faces that Alexander makes. Funny Kid.

That Wonderful Time of the Year

No, I'm not talking about Christmas. Whether you call them clementines or mandarins they are finally in season. Several years ago, Scott's sister introduced us to these wonderful fruits and we have been in love ever since. Whether you get "Cuties"(clementines) or "Pretty Belles" (mandarins) they are so good! Sweet, juicy and easy to peel. My family loves them. We go through boxes of them. Total count so far - 4 boxes in a week. About 20 lbs. We will thoroughly enjoy these while they last!