All the kid wanted was a snowman...

Apparently, his name is "Mel" and he's a cab driver and he now lives in my backyard.

Chris wanted to build a snow fort with Mitchell, so they worked on that for awhile. Well, after an hour out there, my little man (who already has a cold) face plants in the snow while being silly and gets snow in his gloves, all over his face, down his neck, etc. I decide that is the signal for him to come in. He is devastated that he won't get to build a snowman. Chris assures him that he'll take care of it.

Mel comes to life.

I try to stop laughing and tell him that he's gonna be in trouble with "The Boss" because he wanted a snowman, not a snow MAN. He laughs and says "Don't you like him?" I just shake my head, roll my eyes and go inside to show Mitchell his dad's handiwork. "That's a cheese cutter hat, by the way!" I hear yelled at me on my way in.

I take Mitchell upstairs to the bathroom, as you can see the entire backyard from up there and tell him that Daddy's done. He says "Oh boy, did Daddy make me a Frosty?" I said "Uhhh, well, sort of." I lift him up so he can see Chris proudly standing next to his, errr, cab driver. Here's the conversation from that point...

Mitchell: Daddy, WHAT did you build me?
Chris: His name is Mel!
Mitchell: But where's my Frosty?
Chris: This is a snowman, buddy.
Mitchell: But where's my Frosty?
Chris: I didn't make a Frosty, I made Mel.
Mitchell: Well, make me a Frosty.

There's still no Frosty. Lucky for Chris, Mitchell didn't say another word about it. Oh, and he claims that the snow wouldn't stick enough to make a Frosty. Seemed to stick enough to make a Mel, now didn't it?

**Funny P.S. Mitchell just asked me, "Mommy, Did my man melt yet?" Not snowman. Man. Nice.

Let's start the New Year with...

Some Mitchell-isms. Here are some I've written down from this weekend:

Me: Georgia, NO.
Mitchell: Georgia, NO.
Me: I'm the Mommy, you don't need to chime in.
Mitchell: But I'M the MITCHELL.

**************************************************************************************
Me: Georgia is a nut!
Mitchell: No she's not, she's a pickle.

**************************************************************************************
Mitchell: You're the best Mommy I ever had in my whole LIFE.
Me: You're the best son I ever had in MY whole life.

*************************************************************************************
Mitchell: Mommy, who is your favorite? (Cars character)
Me: Sally.
Mitchell (to Dad): Daddy, when I'm a Daddy, I'm gonna buy Mommy TWO Sallies.

*************************************************************************************
Mitchell: Mommy, when Daddy wouldn't let me go where all the Cars stuff was (at the store) it made me angry.
Me: Well, what did you do? Did you throw a fit or use your words?
Mitchell: I cried and screamed.
Me: Hmmm...well, what do you think would work better next time?
Mitchell: Daddy could let me go play with the Cars stuff.

*************************************************************************************
Me: That's not a nice word, we don't say that. (Someone in the Cars movie --sensing a theme? -- called someone else an idiot.)
Mitchell: That's right, Mommy. We need to call them nice idiots.

Whew!

Christmas is my favorite holiday, but I wish that someone would invent another holiday just for tired people who are wiped out from the Big Day. Actually, I wish there could be some wacky new law that MAKES tired moms lay down on the sofa while someone else swoops in to clean up the mess, organize the toys, put away the Christmas dishes and take down the tree and decorations. Around here, the next day was just "Tuesday". Not nearly as restful.

Don't get me wrong -- it was a wonderful holiday, but sheesh -- I'm beat.

Mitchell was like a rubber ball bouncing around the house the ENTIRE day on Christmas Eve. He was so excited, he just couldn't stand it. Bless his heart, he wasn't trying to be naughty or not listen, he just could not control himself. To get him dressed was like trying to nail jello to a tree. He was on full throttle, jumping, squirming, giggling, you name it -- he was doing it.

We always have a big Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' house and this year was no exception. 20 adults and 6 kids. Chaos.

Santa always makes a visit at the end of the night and it's so fun to watch the kids and their reactions. I was hopeful that maybe this year Mitchell might be brave enough to give him a hug, but I guess the plus side to that not happening is that he didn't end up getting close enough to figure out that it was my father in law. (Bought another year on that front.) Georgia sat on Santa's lap and just stared with wide-eyed wonder. She didn't cry at all -- just stared. The second Santa walked in, Mitchell hit the floor like you're supposed to do if there's a gunman in the room. He hid behind my legs and said "I just want to LOOK at him." (This is code for PLEASE don't make me go near him, but I really do like him.)

Santa always knows JUST who will be at dinner and has a gift for each one of them and calls them up by name. My cousin's kids had the routine down pat -- listen for your name, turn around and pose for the paparrazi. My nephew did the same thing. Mitchell snuck up there, reached out on his tippy toes to get the present and ran off as soon as he could. As I already said, Georgia just stared and stared.

Our tradition is that the kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it's always Christmas pj's. (This is one I carried over from my own childhood.) We put the kiddos in their jammies and headed off for 11 pm church service. This has *never* been a problem, as Mitchell always just sleeps through it or cuddles up on us and lays down quietly. Well....it seems that Miss G has new plans for our family on Christmas Eve...and they won't include the 11pm service.

They were both sacked out when we arrived to the church at 10:30. We got them out, went inside and found a seat in the back on the aisle. Mitchell curled up on Chris and went right back to sleep. Georgia? No, no, no. Georgia might miss something if she did that. If you are holding her, no matter HOW tired she is, she refuses to close her eyes or put her head down. She has to stand up, look around, and check it all out. She just fussed and squirmed, and squirmed and fussed some more. Finally at 10:55 we decided not to ruin the service for everyone else and packed it in for the night. Bummer -- that was Chris' and my favorite thing to do. Oh well -- we'll get there again eventually, but it might have to be a mid-day Christmas service or an early afternoon one for the next few years from now on.

When we got home, Mitchell was too sleepy to help put out cookies, milk and celery with me so I did it for him. He snuggled into his bed and went right to sleep. I was exhausted and told Chris I'd rather just get up early instead of staying up late. He said that was fine and only asked if I'd get him some water when I went downstairs to get something. As I was downstairs, I started looking around at all of the stuff I needed to do before breakfast and that was all I needed to get a second wind. I went upstairs with the water and to tell Chris that I changed my mind but he was already asleep, so I headed back down.

It ended up being kind of nice -- a little quiet time for myself to reflect on the blessings of the season. I got a lot done but I enjoyed the time alone with my thoughts more than anything. I have so very, very much to be thankful for and I took some time to say some prayers for people in my life (and even some I don't know) whose holidays I know were not quite as merry.

In the morning, I got up at 7 (I was going to get up at 6 but couldn't drag myself out of bed) and got Mitchell all set up with his Cars movie in our room. I shut the gate and told him he needed to stay up there till we told him he could come down. Chris came down with me and soon Georgia did, too. We got the food going, the table set, etc. Both of our parents came along with my grandma and we had a wonderful morning together.

When it was finally time for the kids to come down and check out the goodies that Santa had left, I think that Mitchell was a little overwhelmed. He was very reserved, quiet, and shy. He didn't dive in like we all thought he would -- I don't know if he was extra tired or if he was sort of taken aback by a roomful of grandparents and cameras. Either way, he definitely warmed up and soon became immersed in all the glory that Christmas morning is when you are a 4 year old boy. Package after package brought all of his wishes and dreams come true. It was a fun thing to watch, but almost as fun for Chris and I were watching the faces of all of the grandparents -- I'm not sure who was happier. His favorite gifts included all of the "Cars" die cast characters (Ramon, Flo, Red, Stanley, Lightning, Mater) but most of all "The King" . We'd been hearing about "The King" for weeks, so it was so much fun to see him light up. He also got a big Fast Talking Lightning McQueen, and a remote control train. The list goes on and on, of course. Sigh.

As for Georgia, she was happy shuffling between the bows, ribbons, paper and all of Mitchell's stuff. She loved her Sesame Street Purse from Mommy and Daddy and tried to kiss Elmo through the packaging. I think her favorite gift of the day was the Night Glow Pooh from my parents. Mitchell loves playing it for her and she would just smile, laugh, and smother Pooh with hugs and kisses. It really is cute, so I can't blame her there.

Anyway -- after all of our guests left, we were left to start cleaning up the mess (HA!!), put the kids down for a nap/rest, and get ready for dinner at my in-laws. We headed over there and had a WONDERFUL evening with them. It was kind of funny -- last year, we went dressed casually and my BIL/SIL were dressed up so we decided we needed to dress up this year. We arrived and my SIL was in her pajamas, using our casual dress from last year as her reasoning. We agreed that next year, none of us would go above casual...HOORAY!! Dinner was delicious, the company was so enjoyable and the kids had a ball. At one point we caught Mitchell and his cousin Madison (a year younger almost to the day) double fisting Papa's peppermint bark behind the kitchen counter. Too funny! His most prized gift of this party was by far Cranky the Crane and Georgia enjoyed getting a Glow Worm.

When we got home, we got the car unloaded, the kids in their jammies, and into bed. Then Chris and I did our own gift exchange. We plugged in our little Charlie Brown tree -- it's a little 2 feet (that's being generous) tree that I got at a craft fair years and years ago. We sit by it every year for our gift exchange and I think it's one of our more romantic traditions, personally. We each have a drink and take turns opening presents. It worked out this year that we each had exactly the same number...usually I open more than he does. After we were done opening gifts, we sat and read the year in review book together. My husband started this tradition when we were dating and I adore it. In 2001, it was my last Christmas gift from him -- a 30 page review of the year together. In the end he said that he hoped we could take turns giving the book to each other and that it would become a lasting history for our children. It's just so neat and every year you end up laughing, crying and saying "Oh YEAH...I'd forgotten about that!" I only made it through February so far, but he'll get the rest by New Year's.

Anyway -- after that, we headed upstairs with aspirations for some continuing romance but before you know it, we were both asleep. Oh well -- we'll make up for that later!

Last night we concluded the Christmas chaos with dinner at my parents' house to exchange gifts with my brother's family. All four of our kids are around the same age, with Mitchell being the oldest so you can imagine that it was neither quiet nor dull around there. It was fun to watch the kids play together and open their gifts...the highlight of THIS opening party was a Thomas watch and some VERY cute clothes for Georgia.

I'm about ready to fall over from being so tired, but I should count my blessings. I realize how lucky I am to have so many places to go, gifts to give, gifts to open, meals to prepare and eat, and most importantly, people to love and love me back.

It was a wonderful Christmas...and I didn't even mention this, but it was even a White Christmas, too!

Let it snow...

And snow, and snow, and snow...

You know what is craziest about this big ol' blizzard that turned our entire city upside down this week? I didn't really even know it was supposed to snow until the night it started happening. Yes, I am just *that* in tune with the latest happenings.

G had about 2 (and I'm not exaggerating) diapers left and barely any baby food so we went to the grocery store the day before, but it had absolutely NOTHING to do with me being prepared. Just good timing for once. Then my hubby had to stop for some stuff on the way home the night before the big snow dump and I had him grab some more things because I realized that it might be a pain to get out the next day.

Here's the thing...I watch the news and they say 5-10 inches. That might sound like a lot to some of you warm weather people, but to this CO native it's like "Ehhhh...the next day sorta sucks but other than that, no biggie." Well, THEN I see a newscast where they are comparing the snow that's supposed to come with March 2003 and I thought "Oh, wow."

I totally remember that...M was 3 months old and I was so scared that my hubby wouldn't make it home from work. His employer didn't let them go until 4pm that day so by the time he got home, the snow was insane. He got stuck on the street about 3 houses down.

Know what's funny? He got to leave 3 hours earlier this time, but got stuck in the EXACT same spot in a different car. I went out to shovel the driveway and street (again) so he'd have a shot at getting the car in the garage and as I made my first line down his side of the driveway I looked up and saw a car sitting in the middle of the street. It was SO covered with snow that it took me a few minutes to figure out that it was hubby's! After about an hour, the neighbor, most importantly her snowblower, Chris, our shovel, and M's little shovel had him in the garage. (Might I add -- M's shovel kicks some butt!!)

We had a really fun family day yesterday and the snow was like a little boy's dream come true. Mitchell had SO much fun digging and rolling and climbing and running in the snow. I can't imagine how it must have looked from way down there -- looked like a lot of snow to me and I was taller than it!

I think tomorrow we'll help him build a snow tunnel in the backyard during G's afternoon nap. I remember in the blizzard of '82 (OMG -- how old do I sound there??) my dad helped us build a snow tunnel in the backyard and it was the COOLEST thing ever! Even cooler than my Strawberry Shortcake sleepsack. Or my OP shorts. Or my red Nike tennies with the plaid hologram swoosh. Or my moon boots. Or my gymnastics day outfit that I'd wear to school -- my leotard with cableknit tights, a polyester mini skirt, clogs and a terry cloth headband. Or my powder blue eye shadow.

(Sorry -- I love all that 80's crap.)

Hopefully M will think the tunnel is cool like that!! Okay -- off to wrap presents, which is what I should REALLY be doing right now.

Happy Holidays!!!

Yuck. And Beyond...

So, I spent 18 hours between Saturday night (midnight) and Sunday evening (6pm) being REALLY sick. Both ends sick.

Nasty. Disgusting. And STINKY.

I am SOOOO thankful that this joyous little adventure was all mine -- the only thing worse is when you have to take care of others who are doing the both ends thing while doing it yourself, so I'd like to stop and say another round of thanks to The Big Guy for not unleashing that upon the house. My angel of a hubby stayed home and took care of the kids, both of whom decided to be complete saints all day long.

I just drank a cup of chicken and rice soup -- it's noon and it was the first thing I could bring myself to eat. Half a piece of bread for breakfast -- does that count? Thankfully it seems to be fine, I'm just a little gunshy because of yesterday.

Oh well, I feel pretty much back to normal, I just don't want to push things. Nothing like a day of complete misery to make you realize just how thankful you should be for your daily health.

I'm thankful, believe me, I'm thankful.

Birthday update and other holiday happenings...

You'd think I'd have been blogging every day lately, I've had lots to write about, just lacking in the motivation department. I've even signed in a few days, stared at this blank box and then said "Nahhhh. Nope, not today."

So, my "little" boy is now 4. He turned 4 last weekend and we celebrated for three days straight. I don't know why but I *really* had a hard time with this one. Maybe it's because "4" is the last age that sounds little to me. Turning 5 means one thing -- school aged, and not preschool. How in the WORLD is he so close??? Now I'm thankful that he gets an extra year before kindergarten -- not only do I think *he* needs it, but I know that even more importantly, Mommy needs it!! Anyway - -it was like he was moving out or something, I was a little emotional about it all weekend...just feel like time is going too quickly. You know it will, if you are a parent you know that is the annoying mantra that every other parent of older children CONSTANTLY tells you...well, hey -- I might join the legion of annoying preachers myself because it's really true. His favorite story to hear is the story about when he was born...I almost couldn't do it on his birthday without tears.

Okay, so moving on-- birthdays and running -- when do they go from the best things in the world to things you dread? He was in HOG heaven for three days! He and his buddy (from our lamaze class) had a joint birthday party and a local museum that has lots of cars and trains. It was PERFECT!! We had this big room that had the exact amount of tables we needed already set up when we walked in, tables already set up for food, etc. There was plenty of room for the kids to run around and believe me, they did. For over an hour straight. The only real bummer of the day was that someone walked off with the big Lightning McQueen from the cake. Let me tell you how sad M was about that. I think his buddy A was, too. We were going to call Sam's and see if they'd give us an extra since it was a joint party, but now we'd need two more. I just can't believe someone would do that. Anyway -- hopefully it was an accident, but I'll tell ya, if I was a parent and found out that my kid made it home with that, I'd be calling the birthday kid's mom and 'fessin' up. That's a pretty big offense in the 4 year old world.

That night we went to the parade of lights. Beautiful and fun but REALLY cold. We got to sit in my hubby's office and watch though so it wasn't horrible.

The next day we had a pizza/cake party at my parents' house since we didn't invite any of my grandparents to the big party. (They're all near or actually are 85 and it snowed like crazy for his party -- does every year, actually -- so we didn't think they needed to be wandering around in it.)

The NEXT day -- yep, I was wiped out by then -- he got to do a cupcake thing at preschool for snack. I sent hats and napkins for the kids and had ordered some Cars toothpick things and cupcake liners so he was ALL excited about that.

So, that was the birthday extravaganza around here. Delayed our getting Christmas decorations out, but that's happening tomorrow. We were gonna do it today, but tomorrow is fine. We're just hanging out today.

M also had his program at school on Thursday night. Last year he FREAKED out and wouldn't sing at all, just stood there with his fingers in his mouth at the Christmas program. For the spring program, he freaked even more and when he saw me in the aisle, he refused to go up there.

I was cautiously optimistic about this one. He loves to sing and much like his momma, LOVES Christmas music. We have it on all the time right now and he sings along with me -- I love it! Anyway -- he knew all of his lines, all of the songs, and all of the little hand motions. He was so excited about his program, but I couldn't be sure if he really would do it or just get up there and freak out again. My gut said it would be okay, but I didn't want to be disappointed, because I have to say, that's a pretty intimidating thing to be so little and up there in front of a whole CROWD of people that are snapping photos and shooting videos like the paparrazi. Lots of pressure, especially if that sort of "performance" is not in your comfort zone to begin with.

Well, we got there and hurdle one was overcome...he went into his room with no problem. Happily shed his coat (no hat -- couldn't risk the hat hair) and started doing some puzzles with his buddies. He looked so handsome...he had on a cute button down shirt and a "tight" just like Daddy. He also had on some cute navy cargo cords and his "Handy Manny" shoes -- aka, penny loafers. (Don't ask me about the HM thing -- he wears boots, but M swears they are his HM shoes. He loves to wear them -- puts them on with sweats and everything. My brother had a pair of cowboy boots like that -- I guess we're doing the loafers version.)

I never post pics here, but I just have to share this one. This was right before I left to go get my seat. Doesn't he look adorable and excited???



I get settled into my seat in the 2nd row that the awesome grandparents had scored...too bad it was on the wrong side...his class was on the other side of the aisle, but that's okay. The music started playing and my hubby and I looked at each other like "here we go". They started walking in and here came my little buddy...holding onto each of his ears like they were going to fall off. Hee hee. But dang it -- he got up there and wasn't crying or anything -- he was actually smiling, just holding onto his ears for dear life. (He's had a thing with his ears since he was tiny - -they're his little comfort thing -- some kids suck their thumb, our little man just plays with his ears. Again, don't ask me where that came from.)

My hubby leaned over and said "Rrrrriiiibbbbbiiiittttt." I started cracking up. We call him "Michigan J. Frog" because if you remember that cartoon from when we were kids...it's the construction worker that finds the singing frog who only sings when no one else is around. He even rents out this whole theater to do this singing/dancing frog show, but when he opens the frog's box all he says is "Rrrriiiiibbbbbiiiiitttt". So, my hubby does that when M is being all nutty and we know no one would ever believe what a ham he is because he gets so shy around other people.

So, about halfway into the first song, M decides he feels comfy enough to let go of the ears. We all were so happy because we knew we were home free at that point. It just made me so happy to see my little guy up there looking so cute and doing such a great job. And the best part? You could just see him beaming and having so much fun! I am getting teary just typing this. My hubby thought I was a total nerd and sap when I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said "He's doing it!!" but I just couldn't help it. It was such a special feeling in my heart.

My very, very favorite part was the first time he spotted us, and more specifically, me. He was already smiling, but when he saw my hubby's dad, his eyes opened a little wider, his smile, got a little bigger and he instantly scanned down the row till he saw me. We locked eyes and I smiled so big and waved at him...he started giggling his famous little (heeeheeeheee -- I could just hear it) M giggle and waved at me with a look of pride and pure joy.

In addition to the image of him burning rubber down the greenbelt path ahead of us on his tricycle pretending to be Dale Jarrett, I will also have that image of him giggling and waving to me forever imprinted on my Mommy's heart. (Yes, I'm now full on crying in case you were wondering. I'm a blubbering fool.)

He also provided a little comic relief for us a few times. His buddy who is our neighbor is in a different class and on a different day, so they NEVER see each other at school anymore and this was neat for them to be up there together. She was right in front of us and when she finally saw M, she just HAD to get his attention. Unfortunately, this moment happened exactly when her class was saying their speaking part. Her whole class is reciting their memorized lines and she's totally leaning forward, bent over and wildly waving her arms whispering "Miiiitttccchhheeelll". He was in la-la land but finally saw her and starts waving just as wildly. OMG -- I was laughing so hard.

The other funny thing he did was during "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". They did this thing with their arms that looked like what you might do if you're a grouchy grandpa --- ball up your fist and swing it in front of you to say "Oh, rats." Anyway--this little arm swing was only supposed to happen on "wish". Well, our little spazmobile decided to adopt it throughout the song and exaggerate his movements on top of that. He almost gave the poor little girl next to him a bloody nose about 4 times. We just watched my mom's videos of the program last night and her camera is shaking like crazy because she was cracking up. I looked at Chris and said "Well, I guess we had nothing to worry about."

So -- I go from not blogging for 2 weeks to a post that will take you 2 hours to read. Nice.

Random...

I don't have enough in my head for a good, long post so this will just be Random Monday happenings.

*Nothing will make me laugh faster than my kids laughing. For whatever reason, the car is the prime time funny spot for those two. Mitchell (even though he's strapped into a 5 pt carseat) manages to put on some sort of goofball show for her every day and she just laughs and laughs. Today she was FULL ON belly laughing for a good 5 minutes, Mitchell was laughing (mostly at himself, I think) and I was just giggling the whole time because it's contagious!

*Every couple goes through those swings of ups and downs. I wouldn't even term it a "down" but EVERY weekend for the past month, we've spent most of the time arguing. Sometimes downright fighting. Half the time we don't talk after a blow up...last night it had been a good 3 hours since we'd said two words to each other that didn't involve quick questions about dinner or diapers, and I was still mad. Know the sad part? I couldn't remember why. I was washing dishes, stopped, looked at the ceiling, remembered and said "Oh yeah. No way I'm talking to him anytime soon." (I guarantee he was sharing the sentiment.) Nice and mature. That's us! I hope we get out of this phase -- maybe some makeup nookie would help. He DID bring me a Starbucks yesterday so it's not THAT bad. Hee hee.

*We have a decent house. I'll tell you this -- it looked about twice as big before we moved in. No kids, half as much CRAP, but still -- it's average sized. Let me tell you about how much STUFF you can cram in here if you want to. I spent most of the day yesterday consolidating, organizing, etc. our four (yes, FOUR) overflowing toy baskets. I still have to do the train table. Again. As I was doing it, I almost felt nauseated because I know that there are families out there who are in agony because they can't afford to buy their children even ONE thing. And here I am disgusted with the amount of stuff we have to the point of calling it crap. That would be GOLDEN crap somewhere else. Ugh. We are overly blessed. I'm thinking about next Christmas insisting that everyone who wants to get Mitchell or Georgia a gift donate to this community thing out here. They have gifts donated and families can come shop for 25 cents on the dollar so that they still "buy" the stuff. I mean, seriously -- my kids don't need another thing as long as they live and the sad part is, I know many people who put our little stockpile to shame. It's really pretty crazy when you stop to think about it. (That said, guess who has already reviewed her list of bday and Christmas purchases and realized that she's already done more than she said she would.) *rolls eyes at self*

*I have some very, very good friends. I appreciate them more than I can say. I was thinking about that the other day and really -- I just can't imagine my life without my girlfriends. I feel sad for those women (I'm sure you know some yourself) who don't get along with other women. I can't imagine. I'm sure they're quite happy, but man (ha, ha), I'd be miserable.

*I bought some soy egg nog and let me tell you how much I love it. Lots. It's yummy. Get some!

Random enough for you?

My first turkey...

Okay, so you'd think that I wouldn't be nervous about something like that, right? But I am. I think it might be because I've seen so many sitcoms and cartoons about women taking a smoking, charred black turkey out of the oven. Or someone going to slice it up and it flies around the room like a balloon. Or it pops.

Clearly, I'm not worried about that, but I think it might be that for 33 years now I've been eating other people's turkey. I mean, here I am, 33 years old with two kids and I've never made a turkey. I just want to know that people won't be going home saying "Well, *I* should have made the turkey. That sucked." Or something like that.

My mom has assured me that it's the easiest thing on the menu. I don't know about you but for some reason, that almost has disaster written all over it.

I guarantee I'm taking a picture of this bad boy. Part of me is tempted to do it with the half lemons underneath like boobs just to make sure it's got my own special touch. Well, and because how funny would that picture be?

Okay -- so I'm nervous about my first turkey but I'm sure it will be good. I just wouldn't be me if I didn't worry about ridiculous stuff like this. (For example, Saturday night we hosted a little dinner party and this is the first time I can ever remember not laying there worrying that someone was going to get food poisoning. Seriously. Usually I'm up for hours with a pit in my stomach.)

Oh, and if you'd like to get a mental picture of me cooking my turkey -- as soon as my kiddos and I are done watching the parade on tv, I will have on my apron and be singing as much of this song as I can remember while I'm in the kitchen...my hubby and I both serenade each other with it every single year.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

PSA...

If you're planning family pictures, you may want to invest in some helmets and body armor for the kids to wear the week before.

We're scheduled for Sunday and so far we have one split lip and one mini-goose egg on a forehead. It's only Tuesday.

Stay tuned. I have neither helmets nor body armor, so we may be screwed.

A literal stroll down memory lane...

So, this weekend my hubby and I did some big-time reminiscing. I mean like giganto.

We got up Saturday morning, got everyone fed and dressed and dropped the kiddos off at my in-laws house. Then, we got back in the car and drove an hour up the road to the town and college campus where we met. Our old stompin' grounds! It wasn't homecoming, we weren't meeting anyone there, it was just something my hubby proposed about a month or two ago and it sounded fun, so we just went for the day. We left our day pretty unstructured, as I was sick (and still am) with a pretty yucky cold.

It was probably one of the best days of our married life.

The whole way up we played the "remember when" game. We were laughing about the STUPIDEST things we've seen, said and done together. We also laughed about what a complete idiot my husband is for not trying to marry me sooner, but that's a whole different Oprah right there.

Before I get into our day -- my hubby attended school there from '90-'94 before he moved back east for law school. I was there from '91-'95 and then stayed till '97 for grad school. Just use that as a frame of reference.

One of the first things we noticed when we drove into town is that "The Gambler" is not "The Gambler" anymore. This was very distressing to us, as our first drive back into town smacked of change on a fundamental level. How in the HELL could that happen? I mean -- that was where you went to get REALLY "happy" with your friends. It was a complete dive -- a country bar with penny pitchers...you get the idea. The best part about it was that it was TOTALLY within walking distance to my house. *sigh* I sure hope "Jack's Place" provides the same opportunities for drunk dancing, groping and obnoxious memory making that The Gambler did.

Okay -- change #2...we drove past my house, which is a few blocks away. CRAZINESS!! The entire block was wiped out on the other side of the road...they tore down all of those houses and built apartments! It was nuts! I still remember that we were friends with all of these looney guys that lived across the street from us and we'd walk to class with them a few times a week. It's crazy to think that now their house is gone. (Am I sounding really old yet? Are you detecting a theme here?)

Moving right along -- the shock wore off of that and we decided to head to campus. We turn onto the street and both go "What is THAT?" A *very* nice building that definitely was NOT there when we were at school. We both were like "Ummm, we were not consulted on this and that is NOT how we remember it." Well, adding a building didn't prepare us for what was around the corner -- they flippin' STUCCOED our dorms!!! Our dorms when we were there were white wood with black trim. Now they are a yellowy tan stucco with lots of brick. We both just started laughing when we saw them because it was like "what is THAT?!?" I think part of it is -- that was our special memory -- that's where we met. That's where he first toted my luggage around. Hee hee. I swear to you -- we both were like "ooookay, this is gonna be a strange day."

And it was.

We took bets on what would still be in the University Center, what wouldn't etc. Let me tell you, those of you that know me will know this is a big announcement -- THERE IS A STARBUCKS in the UC!!! How in the WORLD did I miss out on THAT?!? Ugh!!! All of that time that I spent there with no Starbucks???? Come ON!! Those kids better appreciate that one!

OMG -- I just called them kids. And meant it. And I'm TOTALLY a "ma'am" to them. Crap.

Anyway -- the bookstore is now owned by Barnes & Noble, so that was bizarre. We spent almost $300 in there buying clothes and hats and dumb stuff but it was so much fun! We wandered around and basically both couldn't believe it really had been over 10 years since we were there together. Just insane.

Okay -- so after that we decided to go to our favorite restaurant for lunch. It is a complete DIVE but they have the BEST carolis (like calzones) and really cheap beer. Hey -- Georgia was elsewhere so I was on that. We ordered the Bazookas, just like old times and guess what -- I actually finished mine. We just laughed the entire time we were at lunch and enjoyed ourselves entirely. Of course the humongous beer did its usual make me frisky thing, so I spent the next hour telling my hubby to pull over so I could attack him and he spent the next hour laughing at me. Good times...

Okay -- so after lunch we decided to drive over to where he used to work. That meant a trip to a really fun little newspaper stand and he was very good -- we were only there a few minutes because that man could stay there for HOURS. They have any magazine you'd ever want to read and then some. After that, a trip to the STUPID little nascar store. Ugh. The lady just HAD to tell him that his driver stuff was 50% off so that took forever, even though this store is like the size of a broom closet. That didn't stop him from taking his sweet ol' time. Nerd.

(This is very long, and please know that I am not EVEN doing our day justice.)

Okay -- so I finally yank him out of the nascar nerd store and we get back in the car. This time we decide to drive over to the other side of campus and walk around -- over by the library. It's funny -- I can't describe how it was like an instant flood of memories walking back into that library -- I spent soooooooo much time there in grad school. LOTS of time. The sight of the dang copy room -- I don't even want to think about how much money in dimes I spent in there making copies. Insane. But I told my hubby, I really wish it was closer -- I'd LOVE to spend more time in there again. Seeing all of these kids in there studying, laughing with their friends, it made me realize just how completely EASY I had it in college -- I never, ever thought I'd be longing to do that stuff again, but I think it would be SO fun!! Oh, and by the way, coffee kiosk in the library now, too. Gimme a break -- spoiled brats!! (That's jealousy speaking, there.)

We walk around, laugh about places we used to hang out and where we always seemed to run into each other -- and then we get to that new building that we saw on the way into town. Oh my word -- that place is a brand new "dining hall" but it looks like a fancy freakin' RESTAURANT!! We were like "Are you KIDDING me with this???" Sheesh.

By this time, I was feeling not so hot so we decided to just drive around some more so I could get back to my beloved bottled water and cough drops. (Uhhh - yeah. Old. I know.)

We drive around and look at a park we used to love and the other side of campus. I feel a recharge of energy (youthful??) so we walk around some more. That's the old part of campus that they stuccoed to make it "new" again, so it felt weird to us because nothing looked the same. They'd built some more dorms, and changed the way everything looked but that same ol' feeling was there walking with him. Pretty nutso.

Back to the car we go -- and off to dinner at another favorite place. We had a great dinner and made our Christmas list of gifts we need to buy while we ate. (Yes, by this time, it's official -- we are crusty ol' farts.)

On the way home, I'd like to point out that my husband saved our lives. I'm not even kidding. We were on a pretty rural road that didn't have any street lights. We were on the main road and coming up to a cross street. There was no stop sign or anything but my hubby started slowing down. I was like "What are you doing?" Just about then, he starts saying "Oh my God, she's NOT gonna stop" and lays on the horn. I totally didn't even see it but this girl driving a sedan BARRELED through the stop sign coming the other way and would have NAILED us right in my passenger door if he hadn't been so alert. I cannot explain to you how close it was and how my heart literally was pounding away. I looked back to see the girl's car stopped on the other side of the main road on the shoulder. My guess is she was figuring out how to clean the poop out of her pants. I was shaking and hubby was very calm but told me he saw her because her phone was lit up and he could tell she wasn't slowing down. He said that ever since those crazy Volkswagon commercials started, he's always aware of getting t-boned like that. Thank GOD for him because I'm serious, it would have been a NASTY accident. Scares me even to think about it.

Anyway-- we ended our day with picking up the kids, getting them home and to bed. We both just laughed at how funny it is that we ended up together like this. We met when I was 17 years old and now here we are married, in the suburbs with a minivan and two kids.

Anything is possible, people. Never say never to anything -- we are proof that it may take awhile, but crazy things happen every day.

I'm so very, very grateful that life is like that.

What is it...

Does Target have a magnetic draw to my wallet? Is there some hypnotic field that I pass through each time I walk through the doors?

There has to be.

Check out how stupid I am. Seriously, not bright.

So, last month I went and spent $245 at Target. I thought my hubby's head was going to spin right off of his shoulders and land on the living room floor when I told him. Not mad...just, um, incredulous? Like HOW do you spend that much money in one trip? Wanna know my answer? HOW do you NOT spend at LEAST $100 each time?

I guess it helps that the only time he's EVER in Target is when I'm there, but still...

So, anyway, back to my frivolous spending. (Sort of -- most of it I'll go down on the ship for.) SO, I make this little pile of things that I can take back. $40 worth of stuff -- pretty good, huh? So I take it back today. And guess what -- I spent $126 more.

Uhhhhh, y-e-a-h....tonight should be fun when I break THAT news.

I swear, it's all stuff we need. Sort of need. Want. Really bad. Not me, the kids.

(How's it going so far...think he'll buy it? Me either.)

Letsee -- here's what I got...

*M's santa gift -- a big (like gigantic oversized slipper size) Lightning McQueen that talks and drives in crazy patterns...it's the ONLY thing he wants the Big Guy to bring him and I know if I waited, they'd be sold out.

*Some Cars cars for his stocking

*A Cars ornament. He loved decorating the tree last year and this way we can remember his Cars birthday party. (logical, no??)

*Georgia's stocking -- again, does our daughter deserve LEFTOVERS? I think not. No, instead she needs the talking/singing Elmo stocking. (Why am I driving myself nuts with these toys, by the way? This will NOT help my cause with the hubster.)

*The Cars DVD - -it's M's bday present from us and it came out yesterday. I was thinking it might be sold out -- not so much, but still, now when it DOES sell out, it's SO not a problem here. *insert VERY cute smile and a few blinks here*

*The newest US Weekly. *cough* I feel sick and trashy mags help me feel better. *more winks and blinks and smiles*

Okay, so not such a good day at ol' Target today. Hope I don't have to cry. LOL

Living vicariously...

is SOOOOO much fun. My best friend was here for a visit this weekend and oh my gosh -- we had so much fun living through each other's eyes.

She's knee deep in being courted by many guys that I had the good fortune of seeing on the internet -- some made us literally almost pee ourselves. Some made us drool on each other. Some made us take a breath, look at each other and do the "oooookaaaayyyy, not so much" in concert thing. It was so fun to be a single, dating woman for a couple of hours each day.

I'm knee deep in sassy 3 year old boys and recently crawling and puppyish biting infants. I think for her it was so fun to be a frumpy, stay at home mom for a few days.

In some ways, I think we both not only appreciated what we love about our own lives, but also sort of got a new appreciation for each other's lives.

There were cupcakes and brownies involved, too -- that never hurts anything.

By the way -- if you don't have a soul sister, get one. You just *shouldn't* attempt to do "life" without one.

Mmmmwwwwahhhhh, Stacer. Love you, love you, love you.

Oh, and the french? Le no. Not so much. :)

Being censored...

SUCKS.

When you have a lot (and I mean a truckload) of things you want to say to someone, that you REALLY feel like they need to hear, but someone else tells you not to say them, because in their opinion it would make a situation even worse...

That SUCKS.

Yes, I am being censored against my will. It is NOT easy and I also have to figure out how to not be a complete jerk to said people next time I'm in their company. Hmmmm. I'm guessing not talk at all -- which will still be me being a jerk, but at least I'll keep my trap shut.

Let's just say if I bit my tongue any harder, it would be in two pieces. You know when Yosemite Sam gets really mad and turns red and starts hopping around and steam comes out of his ears?

Yeah...it's like that.

Creative outlets...

I need them. Badly.

Right now, my only creativity comes in cooking and I'm not even really being all that daring. I mean, I got SO excited that someone passed along a recipe for the crockpot that involved 3 ingredients -- one from a can and one from a package. Sad, isn't it?

Thank goodness for the good ol' Blog, but honestly, how creative have I really been? As my friend Renee said, you go to write in the blog and it's like "The house is dirty, the kids are cranky, I don't know what to make for dinner, the laundry is piled to the ceiling and I want a nap."

In case (I seriously doubt this is an issue) there is anyone who ever is disappointed that I've skipped a day of blogging, just know that that's what it would say had I taken the time to type it out. Kind of like when people go on vacation from work and their email will autoreply with "I'm out of the office until Oct. 29th", mine would say my little dirty house, crying kids, dinner TBD, too much laundry and exhaustion speech. You're seriously not missing anything.

The thing is, I consider myself to be a creative kinda person. How sad is it that the most fun creative artsy-fartsy thing I've done in the past month is make a nametag for myself at my MOPS group? Seriously. That's just sad.

I have a humongous rolling thing of scrapbook stuff in the basement. I really WANT to do it, I just can't face the getting it out, putting it away routine. A little secret -- one of my really, really big want a bigger house reasons is to get a scrapping space. A little corner of a room all to myself. I can't WAIT for that.

Until then, I'll just blog. About the same old stuff. And call it creative.

As my hubby would say, "Well, whooopedeee Dooooooooooo."
(The Wedding Singer was on this weekend. Of course we watched it again. I won't apologize.)

Helpless...

Ya ever feel helpless?

Like when your hubby has 90 bijillion things going on at work and you can't help him do them?

Or when someone you know is in the crappiest relationship and you just have to sit back and watch them get pooed on and be there for them?

Or when someone you care about is in physical pain and there's now way around it?

Or when people make other people feel like crap and then buddy up again when they need something? And you want to say something but the crapee doesn't want you to?

Or when both of your kids have double ear infections and fevers?

Stuff like that makes me feel helpless.

Vacation

My husband and I are trying to decide where to go for our anniversary in February. It's a kid-free trip and for a long weekend. It's our 5th anniversary and we're both really looking forward to it.

If only we could decide where to go and what to do.

Actually, I think we've decided what we want to do -- a whole lot of nothing. Well, maybe with a whole lot of "something" thrown in -- *wink, wink*.

The thing is, we don't travel much. Our family is here, and the ones that aren't here are only an 8 hour car trip away. We get there and stay for free with them.

We're out of the whole "a vacation is expensive" ball game. We've just started pricing our trip and while I know it's probably very reasonable for people that are used to it, we are like "WHAT?!" We can and will pay the money - it's just a little hard to swallow when your big expense is a $300 trip to Sam's Club once a month.

I think we're going to end up in Las Vegas -- we want to just sit. And eat. And have some "adult beverages". And shop if we want to. And lay around. And talk. And sleep. And laugh. And that "whole lot of something". And sit in the hot tub. And order pay-per-view. And maybe gamble a little -- but not much. And sleep. (I think we're both looking forward to the laying around and sleeping the most.)

What better place to do that than Vegas? The people watching (one of our favorite sports) is awesome, the food is awesome, the pools are awesome, and you can walk or lie down all day without a problem. If we feel like going somewhere at 3am, we can. We've always gone with other people so it will be fun to set our own agenda -- or have a complete lack of one.

Anyway -- if we can just realize that we're like the only people on the planet who can't believe how expensive everything is, we'll be fine. We are old fuddy-duddies looking to bust out of that mold for awhile.

Colds. Suck.

Both of my kids have one.

We were in the car for 18 hours this weekend.

Need I say more?

Thirtysomething...

Okay, so your 20's are your carefree years where, though you are a full-fledged adult, you can get away with pretty much anything. Yes, you're expected to have a job, but pretty much any job can shut people up because you'll be said to be "finding yourself". You are expected to still party too much and do semi-crazy things with your also unattached, carefree 20-something friends. You can rent instead of own and no one will hound you about when you're going to buy a house. You can remain single and no one really gives ya grief before the big 3-0. If you're married, you can really get by for quite awhile without having people asking when you plan to have kids. (Disclaimer on that last part: this is what I hear and not based on personal experience -- I myself didn't test that theory beyond a time span of 3 weeks post-vows while being 28, which is dangerously near 30.)

Looking back, I had some SERIOUSLY fun 20's. A little rough patch in the middle that I'd like to just pretend was someone else's completely moronic series of life decisions, but other than that (like how I actually did just pretend it never happened?), fun and full of accomplishments. I made some of the best friends I know I'll ever have -- and have forever. I found love, lost love, found love again, and went to some really fun places. Might I also add -- I will forever maintain that I was as smart as I'll ever be -- the end of my grad school experience had my brain at full capacity -- there will never be that much USEFUL information swimming around in there again.

I was a typical 20-something woman -- enjoying life to the fullest and COMPLETELY unaware of how good life was. Funny how you don't TRULY appreciate something until it's past. Maybe it's just me, but that seems to be my pattern. I think I appreciate it, but then looking back on things, I find that I didn't appreciate something nearly as much as I do later on.

Okay -- so moving onto the 30's. People start expecting all this stuff. Like stability and responsibility. You pull a stupid move in your 20's and you get excused -- "Hey, she's young. She'll learn." You pull that same move in your 30's and suddenly you're an idiot. Being single in your 30's takes things to another level both for yourself and those around you from what a few of my friends have told me. You put more pressure on yourself and other people around you definitely don't cut you much slack. If you're married and past the age of 30, you better have a date circled on the calendar for when you plan to start "trying" -- this is especially important for the future grandparents. If you'd like to maintain any other avenue of conversation, I suggest leading off with that information at dinner parties and family celebrations. (Again, refer to earlier disclaimer.)

As a 30-something woman now, I say that life is still good but Good Lord I long for my carefree 20-something days every now and then.

Like this morning when I had to wake up at 5:45. For work? No, no, no.

My minivan needed to go to the shop.

Okay -- seriously. My carefree 20-something self never saw this one coming.

I had to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to make sure that the DVD player in my freakin' minivan can get repaired before we go on a road trip, toting two pajama-wearing kids in parkas with me and depositing a suit wearing husband off downtown afterwards. (By the way, he looks super cute when he wears his Bronco hat with his suit. Wouldn't think it would work like that, but it so does.)

I guess there are pros and cons to every age, but man -- sometimes when I think about my life and the things I do every day, I realize that I really *AM* a thirty-something mom of two kids who drives a minivan and is worried about things like private school and retirement.

So depressing. Sort of. Not really. Just weird, I guess.

Don't blink...

No "might" here -- you WILL miss something.

Overnight these little people grow and change. They are subtle changes and if you're not watching or listening closely, you will indeed miss it and be left wondering when it happened.

Some examples...

Tonight, for the first time, when I asked him to choose "In Between The Lions" or "Sesame Street" for his bedtime cd, he answered "Sesame Street". Why is this unusual? Because up until today it's been "Seh-me Street". When did he add the "suh" syllable in the middle? Not sure. To make myself feel better, I'm going with tonight.

This afternoon, after a month or two of modeling it for her, Georgia touched (like a light clap) her hands together when I had her do "more" for getting more tickles from Grandma. She did it over and over and it was more than evident that she knew EXACTLY what she was doing. Again, today -- first time.

Earlier in the week, my little boy who even the prior week was a blubbering mess during drop off at preschool, told me "I am going into my classroom ALL BY MYSELF today, Mommy. You stay here with Georgia, okay?" (I did let him know that I'd first need to escort him across the parking lot.) Why is it that last week his tears annoyed me and this week I'm the one in tears because it appears I am on the verge of annoying him?

Georgia has developed a new game. It's called the "Ahhh-yell" game. Basically it consists of her and another willing participant to exhange yellish "Ahhhs". She's quite good at it and I've become accustomed to playing each day. My mom asked me when that started -- I have no idea. Another subtle change -- snuck up on me.

Mitchell can now dress and undress himself completely, except for socks and shoes. This is HUGE for us, but if I had to nail down exactly when he mastered this skill, I'd be guessing. I was watching, just not really WATCHING.

Georgia is able to drink from a sippy cup, but prefers drinking ice water from a big person's glass. It's one of her very favorite things to do each day. When did she start this? Hmmmm...

One eye on the kids, the other one on the calendar, people. That's the name of the game.

I forgot...

How much I *hate* political campaign commercial season.

They are SOOOOOO annoying.

It totally irritates me that they spend more of their money telling you why you *shouldn't* vote for the other person than they do telling you why you *should* vote for them. What kind of sense does that make?

That would be like my husband asking me what was for dinner and me spending 5 minutes telling him all of the things that we're NOT having for dinner. Or if I went to a store and asked how much a jacket cost and they proceeded to tell me how much a pair of pants, shoes, shirt, etc. cost.

Tell us about yourselves, people!! But here's the catch -- these days in my state, it's dangerous to make a commercial about yourself because your opponent will surely use it, edit it, crop it, and use it AGAINST you in their mudslinging ad about why people shouldn't vote for you.

On the positive side, some of them have at least been slightly amusing this year. Hard to tell since I change the channel so quickly.