Coal or Presents?

There's some debate about whether these stockings will have presents or coal. The discussion took place over lunch today. We reminded the kids that Santa could still be making last minute changes to his "lists." This was in an effort to curb some of the misbehavior that has taken place over the last couple days. They are convinced that they could never make it on the naughty list, but I think they are overly confident...

Good Laugh

I went to look at the Archiver's website to see what Christmas cards they were offering this year and I LAUGHED when I saw that I'm on one of the sample cards. This is a photo of me with S and R. (My mom worked there a few years ago and would sometimes provide photos for different store projects.) I guess I must be the "single mommy" sample. So, Happy Holidays from part of our family, three years ago...

Rough Night, Baby?

Oh, my sleeping woes. I know the day will come when I feel like a human being again, but it seems a distant dream. I reached my breaking point the other day when I decided that waking every one and a half hours with my NINE MONTH OLD was getting to be too much. So, I decided to make the baby "cry it out." It was only marginally successful. My sweet little cherub cried for more than three hours! I was ruthless though and didn't go in his room from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. When I went to get him at 5 a.m., he looked hilarious--hair sticking up EVERYWHERE. I don't know what happened in there...

p.s. We're back to square one!!!

Christmas With Little Ones

I found myself in a "situation" that only a parent of small children will understand. I had to mail two large Christmas packages. Easy enough. BUT when you add a baby, a preschooler (who RUNS like mad in the opposite direction given any small chance), a Post Office where you can't park near the door, and SNOW, I wasn't sure how I would do this. Sure, I could have found a babysitter, but I'm too "last minute" for that. For days, I was planning my strategy. I decided a stroller would be involved. Add candy to lure the three year old my way. And I ditched the Post Office for the UPS Store because I could park near the door. While we were in the store, the baby was taken for a "wild ride" by the preschooler, but we all survived. After it was over, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Here are some other favorites from my "little kid" Christmas.

This is my third roll of wrapping paper destroyed by the three-year-old because "it looked fun." Sigh.

I love advent calendars. This is one of my favorites, but I feel some frustration about its use. Last year I tried putting treats in the pockets, and I'm sure you can guess how that went. I've also tried putting "activities" in the pockets, but the kids just take them out. So, this year I bought a little Santa to move from pocket to pocket. I have officially given up because R will not let ANYONE move the Santa out of the SANTA pocket. I guess that makes sense?

I won't even address R eating the family gingerbread house (I don't have pictures because it didn't last too long).

Honestly, I'm really enjoying the holiday and hope you are too!

Some Confessions

It's been a little crazy around here lately. I'm not sure why. I'm not really even sure what we've been doing, but it seems like there hasn't been a lot of free time. I confess that, as a result, I've resorted to paying my children small sums of money to play with each other. (And it's worked.) I must also confess that I've found myself playing on my daughter's Webkinz account more than once in the last week (when all the kiddies were in bed). It's kind of therapeutic...

Brussel Sprout Observations

I saw this recipe for roasted brussel sprouts in a parenting magazine. I thought it sounded really good. (In retrospect, I might have been really hungry at the time I was reading the magazine.) The story that follows is what happened when I served these "yummy treats." I told everyone that I was making BRUSSEL SPROUTS. No one in the family really knew what I was talking about...hmmm, what does that say? For starters, they didn't turn out quite like the picture. I also added A LOT more salt than the recipe suggested. The first one I tasted, was OK. Maybe even good. So I ate a few more. I paid S fifty cents to eat one. Hubby ate a couple. R refused to eat any. No one was eating them so I ate some more. Hubby commented that these "must be really healthy...". I ate a few more since he's probably right, they must be really healthy. Near the end, I hit a "need to puke" threshold. All of us ended up thinking they were disgusting. We had to eat leftover Halloween candy in order to feel better. I'm serious. Sorry to all you brussel spout lovers.

The Wake-Up Game (Everyone's Favorite)

R woke up a weeeeee bit early this morning (an unfortunate recent pattern). I told him to get in bed with me. I was going to try that "maybe he'll go back to sleep" trick. He was quiet for what seemed like a few minutes and then he asked me if I wanted to play the "Wake-Up Game." I drowsily said, "Sure, what is that?" He replied, "It's when I poke the mommy in the eye until she finally wakes up and gets me cereal. It's really fun." Sounds fun, doesn't it? I lost after one round.