Wordless Wednesday: Little Packages, Big Smiles

Each one of these smiles was from a different package in the stocking. Santa did well with what he had, and made a certain little boy VERY happy.

Noah's Christmas Poem

Noah was so excited to have gotten an art kit for Christmas ($2.99 at Michael's) and sat down that afternoon to write a Christmas poem.

I wondered a little at the spelling of the word "just"

And I loved the picture of us all holding hands.






I am not quite sure why Noah has three arms though.

You can tell who I am...the only one with hair.

Weekend Top Five 12/29/08

I guess, after a crazy week with a major holiday, the weekend was destined for a bit of a "let down", but it really didn't happen. Even though Steve had to to return to work on Friday, the boys and I had a really good day anyway, followed by a great and low stress weekend. Just what I like, especially with another sub-holiday coming up this week.



5. Friday PlayWorld and Shopping

After the craziness of the holiday, Deb and I set off to PlayWorld for a few hours to let the kids run off some steam. And run they did! Noah spent the time trying to take pictures with the little digital camera he got for Christmas ($10 at Walgreens). The quality of pictures is horrid (see left) but he loves taking the pictures and seeing them right away.

I'm actually bummed that it was so blurry...it would have been the best picture of Aaron and me that I have ever seen. We may have to spring for the real thing for him sometime in the near future.

That night, Deb and I resumed our Friday night shopping trips, this time to return all of the things that didn't fit/didn't work as well as a few clearance Christmas sales. The best part of the night though was sitting with Deb in Wendy's, drinking water and eating ice cream, getting a chance to just talk about the week and our kids.

4. Saturday Children's Museum

After being motivated to start the un-decorating process just a little, we headed to the ever popular children's museum for a few hours of fun. Steve had the most fun in the penguin exhibit this week, making friends with a puppet.









3. Sunday Church

Somewhat uneventful, except that our quartet sang for both services, and we got a chance to see our friend Chris and his adorable daughter, Juliana, for the first time in quite a while.

2. Sunday at the in-Laws

Since the family Christmas had gotten cancelled, we hadn't had a chance to celebrate Christmas with Steve's parents yet, so we headed up for the day after church. It is only about an hour drive, and the quietest we have ever had, now that both boys have Leapsters and Noah also had his new mp3 player.

It was a pretty good visit, although Aaron had an out-of-character accident (he's four) and had to wear my MIL's panties and sweatshirt for the bulk of the day.

The boys both got some Disney Dollars to spend when we go in March, which they were so excited about and I got some bubble bath.





1. Me

I guess the best thing about this weekend was how I was feeling. For some reason, I have been feeling more at peace the last few days. Our financial situation is still a mess, but I think I have been letting it affect my mood to the kids too much, and I didn't let it this weekend. We were all so much calmer, no major temper tantrums, raising of voices, or anger. For most people, this would be the norm, but for me, as I battle my demons, a weekend like this one reassures me that we're all going to be okay, that I'm an okay mom, my children feel loved and secure, and we will make it together, no matter what.

I hope you all had a great weekend too. Today, it's off to haircuts for the boys and planning for a kid-sized New Years' Eve Party in our basement.

Have a great Monday!

The Day After...

When I was little, my mom had a Harry Simeone Christmas record with a choral arrangement of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" She played it over and over and later when my sister was in high school, her choir sang it. I then purchased the CD for myself when I got older and it became one of Steve's and my favorite songs to sing along with in the car.

The last verse was running through my head all night last night expresses the sentiment of the day...

"Twas the night AFTER Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse
The presents are scattered and broken I fear
And St. Nicholas won't come again for a year"










Have a great weekend!

An Impossible Task made Simpler

After a very busy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and over 100 pictures on the camera, it is quite impossible to share all of the pictures in one post. So I thought I would condense my Christmas Day summary into a Top Five, similar to my weekend top five. It should be much easier to manage.

5. Christmas Eve 5:00 Service

My parents were supposed to come but with the weather looking iffy, I called them earlier in the day and suggested that maybe it would not be such a good idea.

There were three momentous events surrounding this service

A. Our family lit the advent candles for the service, which included Noah doing a reading and even Aaron speaking "Hope, Faith, Joy, Love" into the microphone. I was so proud of both of them.

B. While all of the kids of the church were up front looking at Baby Jesus during "Silent Night" the front candle stick toppled forward toward the crown on stage, shattering on the floor in front of the front pew sending glass everywhere. I stood up on the front step blocking kids from walking down while about five other parents crawled around on the floor picking up glass, while the singing continued on. At the end of the service, our pastor stood up and said "No one can say that we didn't bring down the house at our Christmas Eve Service!"

C. The service ran long and we were starving and ended up at at Friday's for dinner.

4. Christmas Eve at home

We got home somewhat late, but still had time for

setting out milk and cookies













and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, complete with blowing out a candle..













We had made reindeer food, but it was so bitter cold out, we decided that the reindeer would be okay this year.

3. Presents

We got started opening around 8:00 with stocking stuff, stopped for a breakfast casserole that Noah complained EXTREMELY vocally about, and then finished up around11:00. The favorites of the day were:
Noah's Bakugans













Noah's "Ipod" (really a somewhat cheap mp3 player but he was thrilled) and speakers












Aaron's drum


















Steve got me some pajamas and slippers too.

2. Ah--Choo!!!

Somehow, everyone in our house has caught some sort of allergy and was sneezing, sniffling ALL DAY. We ran out of tissue buy mid morning and by the end, all of our noses were red and raw. It woke us all up early, and made for rough sleeping on the night before Christmas.

I finally took some benadryl to survive, which knocked me out completely for a little while, accompanied by the cats (and our stocking treats that Aaron kept sneaking into).










And even Noah gave himself some down time after awhile, surrounded by his favorite gifts.












I am praying that we all feel better tomorrow, but for sure we will be making a trip to the store to buy some tissue with lotion in it.

1. The PIE

Yup, after posting about never getting any pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I took things into my own hands and bought my own apple pie to bake and have with ice cream when we got home from looking at Christmas lights.

Here we are looking at an amazing display called Christ Lights in Byron Center, complete with its own radio station and synchronized light show











But this is what was waiting at home. For no reason whatsoever, I took the pie out of the tin before I put it on the pan, and the pan and pie all ended up in the dumpster outside.










It was a fun and exhausting Christmas. Does anyone else feel the let down when it's over? I don't as much yet. Maybe because it was a good day, or maybe because I am ready to get our life back to some semblance of "normal".

I can tell you this much though. I have no intention of taking the tree down any time soon. It just may stay up until March.

Weekend Top Five 12/22/08

You would think I would have more to say for the weekend before Christmas, but weather and an out of commission vehicle helped to slow us down.

Any weekend is a good weekend though, right?




5. Snow Day

What do you do when school is cancelled and you have no car to leave the house all day?

Waste away in front of the TV?














Brave the elements outside?


















Get caught eating the play dough and brush your teeth in the middle of the afternoon?














Or help mom clean the house?












4. Saturday practice

After being home all day on Friday for a snow day, it was good to head to church Saturday morning for dress rehearsal. Knowing we were going to be there for three hours, I let Aaron bring his new soccer ball to play with in fellowship hall and gave Noah a new leapster game that was supposed to go into his stocking. I still can't believe how well behave they were the entire time and the rehearsal certainly made me feel much better about the performance the next day.

3. Anniversary Dinner Out
Although we couldn't really do anything for our anniversary, we were able to take advantage of the babysitting that Deb's church was offering Saturday night and get out for dinner and a little bit of stocking shopping.









2. Sunday Performance
After six months of preparation, we finally had our music performance at church. We hired orchestra members from the Grand Rapids Symphony. Almost all of the orchestra
and most of the choir members made it to the church despite the blizzard conditions and over 300 church cancellations. We stayed open and actually had people in the congregation to listen. My bells did better than I expected and the performance for the most part went quite well. I had tons of coloring pages for my cherubs. Noah did great sitting through the entire service waiting for his choir's turn to sing.


1. Sunday at home
With sub-zero wind chills all day on Sunday, we settled in for snuggles and games. The boys are still excited about all of the Christmas decorations. I got a glass"present" with lights for a gift a couple of years ago from someone in church and Noah has had it in his room. Aaron has been sad that he doesn't have one. I was given another one from the pastor as a present after the church service Sunday and the boys were very excited to pose together now that they both had one.




What a fun week we have ahead. Steve is taking a vacation day on Monday and we are off to the public museum for a family fun day. Then a few days left until the Big Day. I am worried about building it up too much. I always feel so let down when it's over.

Happy Monday and please let me know if you posted your weekend.

To My Honey Of 12 Years

Free Comments and Graphics

I Asked For It...

But I didn't prepare.

Yup, pretty much every school in West Michigan is closed, including Noah's. I admit I wanted it.

But did I prepare?

Of course not.


Our van has been in the shop since Wednesday, with no hopes for repair any time in the near future so we are home without a car.

Did I go shopping, knowing since Monday that this storm was on its way?

No.

We have no milk, no jelly, no cereal. Pretty much the only things my kids will eat in the morning.

I have never craved milk so much.

It is about a three quarters mile walk to McDonald's but the wind chills are in the single digits and we are getting 1-2 inches of snow per hour, which means that the sidewalks won't be clear enough to walk.

UGH!!!!

Please tell me this is not going to be the way the entire Christmas Break goes.

Just to add to the fun...

Noah was snooping under our bed and found "TOYS!"

Luckily, it was the wrapped ones that I was going to give them in case there was a snow day. Everything else is wrapped in a pile of three tubs, sitting about 18 inches away from them, covered by a blanket and dirty clothes.

I'm SOOOO hungry!

And I think I hear the first squabble beginning in the living room.

Happy Snow Day Everyone!

Photo Story Friday: Santa Comes To Preschool

Aaron's preschool class had their Christmas party yesterday.







Pretty much you typical Christmas party;

BINGO, a craft,





snacks













and a cute little program in which none of the kids really sang but still looked cute.














The funniest part was when there was a knock on the door and Santa came in to visit.


Keeping in true Aaron personality, while the rest of the kids looked at him in wonder, Aaron ran up to him with open arms (all the while getting scolded by the teacher to stay in his place....I was with him...go give the big guy a hug!)








But then, while all the rest of the kids were waiting at their tables for the candy canes that Santa was distributing, MY SON was at the window.

Why? You may ask

He was searching for the sleigh. He was absolutely convinced that the sleigh just HAD to be outside somewhere.



So then he went up to Santa to ask him and Santa pointed up to tell him that the sleigh was on the roof with the reindeer.









And this:




is how I found my son took for the rest of the time that Santa was visiting his class.













This week was full of some major stresses of which I have kept out of the blog this week, but I hope next week will be better and the problems we are facing become less daunting than they feel at the moment.

Have a great weekend.

Thursday Thirteen: Twelfth Anniversary

This Sunday, my hubby and I will be celebrating our 12th anniversary. It's been an adventure. We began as buddies, then stopped talking for awhile, and then became best friends. I always joke that I fell in love with his singing voice long before I fell in love with him. I thought I would do my Thursday Thirteen about a milestone from each year of our married life together.

I only hope I can remember...

1. 1996
We got married on December 21st, a week after college graduation. Your typical white trash wedding. Cold cuts and homemade decorations. My in-laws were appalled, but it was all we could afford...still is.

2. 1997
We picked up and moved to Wisconsin, three states away from all of our family. We still believe to this day that it may have been the best thing for us as we started our married life.

3. 1998
After a year and a half later, we moved back to Michigan so we could start our family near our own family and friends. We settled in the Grand Rapids area since it was within an hour of both our families...just the right distance

4. 1999
Moved out of the ghetto house in which we were living into a "real" apartment.

5. 2000
Started my first full time teaching job. Steve worked for a utility locating company.

6. 2001
We take our first and only vacation as a childless married couple to Disney World with my brother and his girlfriend (now wife) and my parents. Wonderful trip and we look forward to our trip with the boys this March, the exact same week as in 2001.

7. 2002
We bought our first (and current) house and had our first child, a beautiful baby boy named Noah.

8. 2003
How sad is this? I can't think of a single memorable event in this year. We were busy struggling, learning how to be parents and dealing with the guilt of having a child in full time day care.

9. 2004
We added a second son to our household, a sweet baby named Aaron.

10. 2005
Steve loses his job, throwing us into the world of unemployment and panic.

11. 2006
Steve falls of a ladder at his new job (after being unemployed for seven months), suffering severe injuries to his ankle and giving us our biggest challenge as of yet. We made it through with prayer, friendships, and Mike's Hard lemonade.

12. 2007
Steve returns to work as a warehouse employee. I began teaching piano at a music store as an employee, versus self employment.

13. 2008
A year of major ups and downs, but with two people who still love each other and are happy to see each other at the end of the night and when they wake up in the morning.

Happy Anniversary Steve. I Love You!

Old School Punishment

In keeping with my policy, I will not give details. I will just say that the emails between myself one of my children's teacher were a-flyin' yesterday. Yelling and punishments don't work. So I thought I would try the "old school" way.



(update: just got an email from teacher...much better day so far today)
















I guess we'll see what happens today...

Looking Ahead

I just have to blog about my worries. I often read the blog of our local weatherman Bill Steffen when a big storm is expected. We're in the little circle of red in Michigan. And Guess what I just read?

They even had a 10% chance of 12″+ north of GRR for the Thurs. night storm. Click to see the 120-hour total snowfall from the GFS model and the 84-hour total snowfall from the NAM model (note because the NAM is only 84-hours, it will have less snow than the GFS, which goes out 36 more hours). Here’s a wider view of expected snow. Get the plows and shovels ready…and get set for some possible school closings on Friday!

Is he serious? Will the last day before Christmas vacation be cancelled? No parties, presents, etc? Will the kids be bummed or thrilled? Will I? Already this year, they have predicted storms that have not developed. Should be an interesting week.

Stay tuned...

Weekend Top Five

A busy weekend. Next weekend will be the Big Kahuna of busy.

Pretty much the story of the weekend centers around the two early Christmas gifts the boys received.




5. Friday Night Christmas Shopping Complete

I do believe this Friday night trip with Deb will be the last. I am done and the boys are going to have a great Christmas. Everything is wrapped and ready for Christmas Eve delivery.

I don't think we'll stop the Friday Night trips though...they are the best outlet after each long week...especially since this week I discovered the joys of Wendy's chocolate cookie dough frosties. Oh Yeah, Baby!

4. Family Christmas

We had sledding, eating, family time, and presents. What else can you ask from a family Christmas?

The boys bot got several presents that they LOVE...


Daddy and Aaron with his guitar/microphone. Most parents would be annoyed by this present, but not us. As a matter of fact, we are adding a drum set to the mix come Christmas morning. And all of them will reside downstairs in the playroom where he can make noise to his heart's content.














Noah and Cousin Odin star gazing in the bathroom dark with Noah's new constellation globe. On the way home Saturday night, Noah's biggest concern was how many days he has to wait until he can take it to school for show and tell.








And the traditional pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa went over better than ever. All of the boys got superhero pj's that light up and the girls all dressed up in the fairy clothes that Cousin Piper got as a gift. It turned into a mass frenzy of fairies and superheroes that had us all rolling in laughter.

I love Noah's pose in this one...




3. Church

My cherubs, including Noah, sang a Happy birthday Jesus song for the service, complete with playing tone chimes. They did great.

I did get upset during bell practice though. As we are getting ready for the big concert next week, I found out that several members of the adult choir think that I shouldn't be directing the bells at the same time that the choir director is leading the choir. They don't realize how much the bells need me and I found myself steaming about it all day.

2. Rock Concert...Noah and Aaron Style

I am sure that the pictures of our rocking boys will only expand when one more microphone and a drum set are added to this mix on Christmas morning. But for now, they're rocking the house pretty well.

I will be subjecting you to video later this week. It is just too funny to skip.






1. Messiah Sing-A-Long

I saw it in the paper Saturday morning. It's been a couple of year's since I sang it so I invited my sister to come sing it with me. She's a soprano and I'm an alto, but it didn't matter. It was fun, although quite a bit different since it was a sing along instead of a performance.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Please come back and let me know if you post about the weekend.

Happy Monday

The Many Faces Of Noah The Performer

Noah had his Christmas Concert Thursday Night. It was a little better put together than last year's and Noah participated very well. He is an amazing singer, but doesn't always strut his stuff.

In a bunch of kids, how will you Noah?

Oh, I think you'll know...





Could it possible be the only kid with his hand up in the air waving like a king?







He was fun to watch because he seemed to be having a good time...


Speaking his line to a verse into the microphone













Nice wide mouth singing "Gloria" in Angels We Have Heard On High


















Playing Nutcracker on bells with this year's BFF















Proud thumbs up when the bells are done


















Singing on the side of the stage while the third graders performed a VERY AMUSING dance










This extremely biased Momma thinks her 6 year old may be the most handsome first grader on the planet.

For a kid who doesn't like singing because "it's not cool", I was very proud of him.

I hope your weekend is off to great start.

Photo Story Friday: Anyone Want A Kitten?

He's cute, really














Really...



















Really!



This USED to be shower curtain before my shower this morning













So, you still want a kitten?





Me either.



Why can't he behave like his big sister?


















Unfortunately, he's become a beloved member of the household.















But I still have to go buy a new shower curtain and living room blinds.


Have a great weekend and come back and share on Monday.

Thursday Thirteen: Major To Do List (Updated)

I started this as a Tackle It Tuesday, but then I realized that it seemed to be growing into quite a large number. December, which is supposedly the Month for Peace always turns into hectic craziness instead. Wonderful craziness, but craziness nevertheless. I like this T13 graphic, simply because I like to think that Santa is checking MY to do list.

So while trying to gather my thoughts about everything that needs to be done in the next two weeks, I think I'll order them to help myself get things straightened out. You're welcome to come along for the ride.

1. Aaron's Tubes (Again)
Found out on Tuesday that Aaron needs to get tubes again, in his right ear only this time. His evaluation by the speech therapist is supposed to happen any time now and now I need to postpone it until after the surgery. Waiting for the ENT to call me back for scheduling. This will be Aaron's 4th "surgery" with this ENT. No call from the ENT, but found out that he is NOT going to be recommended for speech therapy. I guess that is good.

2. Gingerbread House Construction at Aaron's Preschool
Today at 10:30. They actually "constructed" them yesterday but now will decorate them today. Pictures to follow I'm sure. It was very cute but Aaron ate more candy than made onto the house

3. Noah's Christmas "Concert" Tonight
I still don't understand why the music teacher has the kids SPEAK the words to Christmas songs when it is just as easy to teach them to SING

4. Friday Night Shopping
Stockpiling coupons that I have received for the last two weeks and Deb and I will be out on the town again tomorrow night. Hopefully getting the rest of the stocking stuff done.

5. Family Christmas Saturday
Presents wrapped and ready, thankfully. It looks like the weather will be perfct for sledding and safe driving for my brother's family.

6. Three Bell rehearsals next week
Sunday morning bell practice, Wednesday night bells with choir, Saturday morning bells with choir AND members from the Grand Rapids Symphony.

7. Cherub Choir (including Noah) performing this Sunday
Hopefully, they will remember words and play their bells at the right time, but will look cute no matter what happens

8. Aaron's School Christmas Party Next Thursday
I'm supposed to supply something, but I don't remember what

9. Noah's School Christmas party Next Friday
Need to make pretzel treats and buy present for little girl in his class as an exchange gift

10. Craft Day with Deb's Kids
Need to get the ingredients to make salt dough ornaments and the boys today told me that they want to make gingerbread houses too so gotta get stuff for that (can you get some candy, Deb?)

11. Big Bell, Choir, Symphony Extravaganza on Sunday the 21st
Pray for me...

12. 12th Wedding anniversary on the 21st also
We can actually celebrate it now since Steve's Family Christmas has been mysteriously CANCELLED

13. Christmas Eve Service
Our family is lighting the advent candles so we need to teach the boys their parts, Noah is going to be a shepherd in the pageant, but chimes are no longer playing, so that's one stress gone.

UGHHHH!!!!! I ran out of number and I haven't even made it to Christmas day! I guess it will have to continue next week. Happy Thursday, Everyone.

Seriously?

Not quite wordless today, but pictures are truly worth a thousand words.

My husband is normally quite a handsome man. Cute smile, great hair. I even love the mole on the end of his nose. And I love that his second born son is the spitting image of him.















He had quite a bit of hair when I met him 16 years ago.

Not to say anything about the quality of our marriage (LOL) but his hair has receded quite a bit in the 14 years we have been together.

But he has ALWAYS been very particular about his hair style. He likes it short, and gets quite grumpy if it gets long enough to touch his ears.

I like that he cares about his appearance. It was one of the numerous things that I liked about him before I really even got to know him.

But this week has a been a very strenuous week financially (as have they all) and I told him that he would have to wait until Friday to get a hair cut. Not because I'm the boss, just because I know exactly where every penny needs to go between now and Christmas in order to try to get December's mortage paid before January 1st.

He has a hair clipping kit that he has been nagging me for weeks to use on his head. He trusted me, but I didn't and I flat out REFUSED.

Then I got a call at work tonight.

"Uh, Kristi, I couldn't wait."

"What?"

"I tried to cut my hair but I couldn't reach some spots."

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

But sadly, it was true. I wish I had taken a picture of the head I found when I got home, but I didn't want to have it embedded in my memory forever, although it would have made the blogging story much more effective.

So NOW I had no choice but to try to see this through. Let me show you the back after my attempts at fixing:






I actually think it turned out okay.












Now brace yourself......

There was so salvaging the top and front...it was too far gone and my only choice was to keep on going and know that it will grow back.




Maybe we can transplant some from his chest
















Let's chant this together...

"IT WILL GROW BACK, IT WILL GROW BACK, IT WILL GROW BACK..."

Am I convinced yet?

We were going to go get family portraits for Christmas. I think we will now wait until Valentines Day.

Doesn't he have a cute smile, though?

Have you ever cut the hair in your family? Do you have any tips, since he is crazy enough to believe that I could do it again?

Santa Fun

Weekend Top Five

Our weekend started a little earlier since I brought Noah home after lunch on Friday, due to the winter storm we were enduring at the time. Actually, pretty much the whole weekend we stayed home because of said winter storm.




5. Saturday Outside

We had two plans for Saturday...take the kids sledding and the walking in the parade with Noah's school. It was SUPER COLD and the roads were still really bad so I was not interested in going anywhere. Instead, we made our own fun outside.

Steve made a makeshift snow slide from our top step out to the driveway.






































They even got mommy to go down, even though I veered off course and hit the bricks instead.













The parade got cancelled so we needed a back up plan for the rest of the afternoon

4. Saturday Inside

Later that day, Steve decided to take Noah to the big sledding hill, while Aaron and I opted to stay in where it was warm.

So we made No Bake Pumpkin Pie instead.


















3. Crafts
Another indoor activity of the weekend was to use glitter to create foam snowflakes for the window.

I discovered a few years ago when Noah was small that if you put glue on paper and give them a paintbrush, it works WAY better than giving young kids glue bottles (and glue sticks just DON'T work!)



I got a great picture of Aaron from this that I am saving for a Wordless Wednesday in the future.








Noah takes his crafts very seriously


















Here they are on the window

















2. Church Sans Steve

Steve had two concerts with the vocal group that he joined on Sunday so we were Daddy-less. It went fine though. I set up a movie for the kids while we had bell rehearsal and then I took them to a McD's play area for lunch until it was time to go to Hannah's party.

1. Hannah's Birthday Party

Deb's daughter Hannah finally had her birthday party on Sunday. Because our kids, plus our friend Mary's kids make quite a large group, it was still a pretty good crew, even though only one other of Hannah's little friends could come.

They played Disney Bingo, did a pull string pinata and ate yummy cake and ice cream

Although I think the biggest hit of the day was simply RUNNING. I am quite sure there was no system to this game other than 6 kids on sugar highs who had been cooped up way too long this weekend.



Aaron, Noah, Becca











Like I said before, some weekends are harder than others to think of five interesting things. But what fun to try...

Another Winter Storm Watch is posted for Monday Night into Tuesday, so maybe we'll finally get our snow day this week.

If you want to share your weekend with me and others, please feel free to join Mr. Linky below.

Friday Fun

1. Real tree or artificial?

I always grew up with a real tree. Never dreamed of having a fake one. But every since kids arrived, fake is easier to clean up.

2. When do you put up the tree?

Another reason we have artificial. I like putting it right away the week of Thanksgiving. If we had a real one, it would die WAY before Christmas.

3. When do you take down the tree?

Whenever I get sick of the cats knocking the ornaments off and having to redecorate it for the millionth time. Usually around New Year's Day.

4.Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Paper for the most part.

5. When do you start Christmas shopping?

I start around June when I see things on sale. Noah's big present (mp3 player) this year was supposed to be his birthday present but it was back ordered so I bought it the last week of June. I usually buy one thing with every church check starting in September.

6. Who is the hardest person to buy for?

My 4 year old, Aaron

7. Easiest person to buy for?

My 6 year old, Noah

8. Angel or star on top of the tree?

Angel that we got for a wedding present 12 years ago

9. What is the worst Christmas gift you ever got?

Fruitcake from the dance teacher I accompanied for in high school

10. What is the best gift you received as a child?

I don't know if was the best, but most memorable was the Pink Huffy that I named Strawberry Shortcake.

11. What is your favorite food to eat at Christmas time?

My mom used to make this mint fudge that was awesome. Last year she tried but put nuts in it. Apparently she forgot that I have never liked nuts in my life and the fudge went in the garbage since Steve doesn't like it and the tin foil smelled like cigarette smoke.

12. What do you want for Christmas this year?

To pay the mortgage and to have the boys be happy with fewer gifts.

13. Do you have a Nativity scene?

See yesterday's post

14. Do your kids believe in Santa?

Aaron for sure. Noah asked since the discussion has apparently come up at lunch in the classroom. He said that a girl in his class doesn't believe in Santa and gets presents from her Mom and Dad. We told him that those who don't believe get presents from their parents. Those who DO believe get presents from parents AND Santa. That pretty much clinched it for him, given the sheer quantity of gifts for believing.

15. Favorite Christmas Movie?

I don't know if I have a favorite. We discovered two last year that were on a cable channel that we don't have any more but I want to try to find them. They had Steve Guttenberg in them as Santa Claus and Crystal Bernard as this girlfriend. I don't know the name, but Steve and I both wish we could see them again.

16. Favorite Christmas song?

Little Drummer Boy and Do You Hear What I Hear

17. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

Yup.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

One on Christmas Eve (plus new Christmas pajamas) and the rest the next morning.

19. What I love most about Christmas?

The whole ambiance.

If you want to play, copy and paste it and then delete my answers. Please let me know if you play along by signing Mr. Linky below. It really is a fun meme.

Thursday Thirteen: The Nativity Story In Our Home

When I was growing up, there was an old creche that my mom would get out every year. I can't remember (maybe Matt or Shannon do) but it seems to me that it was only one piece with all of the character stuck. It was never a very prominent part of our holiday decor.


I am trying to raise my kids a little differently.

It is so hard for young children to NOT focus on the present aspect of Christmas. Truly, it's hard for all of us to not lose our perspective.

Many years ago (I don't even know how many), my step mom started building our family Nativity with a wonderful Fontanini set. I believe she started with the holy family the first year, followed by the barn the next. Each year it is fun to imagine which pieces will be added. I always encourage the boys to help when we get it out each year so we can talk about the story as it comes out.

But I wondered if this activity was enough to really help them see how important that particular story is to this holiday.

The answer came when I got out our Christmas bins to start decorating a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some of the things I found:

1.
Here is the Fontanini set. This was in 2004 and the first year we let Noah interact with the pieces. It was my favorite all around picture for a LONG time.


I think this is the year that the fire truck got pulled up to the barn and put out a fire set by the dinosaurs, but I didn't keep the pictures. Gotta love Daddy's imagination.



2.
Aaron "making a parade" with all the characters.













3.
Here it is AFTER Noah set it up this year.

Notice Baby Jesus is gone. He won't be here until December 25th.

The Four Wise Men (somehow we ended up with a duplicate for the second time) haven't reached the stable yet.

Aaron says we need more animals.





4.
I often hear people tell me that I shouldn't
allow the kids to "play" with the Nativity. I personally believe that the more the kids interact with the story, the more real it will become for them.

But I still broke down last year and bought a "Toy" nativity set made by Little People. It is such a neat set and even plays music.

Noah set it up so that the "Wise Men need to look at the Baby Jesus"


5.
Has anyone heard the story of the Giant Monster Cat that over took Bethlehem?












6.
Here is Aaron playing with yet another set that my Grandma got for the boys last year. The thing I like about this one is that EACH piece is an ornament that hangs on the tree.














7.
The first time they opened it, they played with it for over an hour last year.












8.
And here the pieces are hanging on the tree this year.


















9.
Noah really wanted a Nativity of his own this year, so he was pretty exited when I found this kit in our Christmas stuff when I was getting it out.

We broke out the glue gun to put it together and I ended up burning my fingers TWICE, but look how happy he is to have his own. He pretty much carries it everywhere with him.












10.
This was a one piece ornament that I found when we got the stuff out. I am not quite sure where it came from, but it is the only one-piece nativity that we have.










11.
And of, course, a selection from the many nativity stories that come out each year. We had a pop up book of the Christmas story that we read every Christmas Eve in our home growing up. It was the only time we ever really talked about what Christmas really was.








12.
I think Christmas Eve church drills it into the kids head pretty well, so I found a different book which I think serves our purpose better. It deals more with how Jesus and the idea of Santa Claus fit together and I think it may be the best book of bringing the spiritual and the secular together.


I highly recommend it for those of you like me that struggle with the Jesus/Santa conflict.










13.
Of course, the story can be told both inside and out. I gave the boys the choice between our big red and green wreath flag or this one, and I was shocked that Noah decided that this should be the one to go up.















My sister runs a preschool/day care out of her home and mentioned the other day that four of her kids didn't know what a Nativity was. I don't know if it was because of different religions or because of lack of exposure. It is amazing to learn the vast differences in our homes in this country, and thank God that we have the freedom for that.

But as for me, I can comfort myself on Christmas morning when the kids are psychotically running toward their gifts, that they do know the Reason for the Season.

I hope you are all enjoying the anticipation of Christmas as much as we are.

Happy Thursday!

A Parenting Question (or few)

Do you ever have BAD Mommy Moments?
Do you ever act the opposite of how you want to be as a mommy?
Do you admit your mistake to the "victim"
Do you apologize?
Do you try to make it up to your child?
Do you worry that you're scarring them for life?
Do you worry that you aren't doing any better than your own mom?
Do you worry that your child will harbor the same bad memories from your parenting that you have from your own?

These are the questions I wrestle with every day.

And they become worse on days of MAJOR Bad mommying.

So often I try to tell myself that I am doing better than my own mom. But is that really good enough?

I work so hard to battle my demons. Why do they still slip out.

The scenario changes very rarely: Child does something inappropriate, mommy gets angry, mommy overreacts, child gets upset.

I have come a long way. I used to yell about everything...just like my mother did to me.
I have worked very hard to try to break this habit. Our children are only young once. I only have one shot at this thing called parenting. So I am trying to do my best.

But every so often, I slip. I get angry and yell and say things I don't want to say.

Then comes the BIG R

REGRET!

Then come the questions.

Did I overreact?
What would the appropriate response have been?
Why didn't I handle it that way?
Is an apology in order?
Or did the child in question really have it coming to them?

The last question is easy...probably not at this age.

Growing up, there were several punishments for my misbehavior.

One...sent to my room for an inordinate amount of time, only to be over when my mom either left for work or forgot about me long enough that I could sneak out. Either way, there was sometimes the question of "What did I do in the first place" lingering in my mind.

Two...THE WOODEN SPOON! Many wooden spoons were broken on my bottom. Before I was out of elementary school, I learned that if mom was chasing me to spank me, I could lie down on my back, kick my feet in the air like I was riding a bicycle, and my mom would have to give up, returning beck to Number One above.

Three...No matter which of the above two were chosen, it was always accompanied by a screaming lecture about how terrible of a child I was.


About a year after Steve and I were married, a pschychic told me to "Never have kids."
This prediction comes back to em each and every time I have a bad mommy moment. Am I really rearing another generation of children who will feel toward their upbringing as I feel about mine?

How am I attempting to break the cycle?

Here's the plan I follow:

Time outs are big...they DO work

Spankings are extremely rare

My children DO get sent to their room, but always with the time limit being told to them.

If my children or myself are yelling, I try to wait until all parties are calmed down and then we DO talk about the offenses, how they should be different next time, and if necessary, apologies by both parties if screaming was involved.

I can;t expect my child to show self control when angry if I can;t model it myself.

Long Story Short...I am a BIG work in progress.

I hope it's enough to allow my boys to know that they are loved so much and when mommy yells, I still love them with all of my heart.









P.S. I did apologize to my son this morning...