You WISH you were this cool!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards


Thanks for the idea, Sara:)

Funny/clever title here.

So my mom and sister came out for a very brief Thanksgiving visit, and in between 2 more trips to the hospital (I think I have earned my free visit on my punchcard now), we decided to let the kids open their Christmas presents from Grandma. We figured that way she would get to see them play with their gifts, and also cut down on the chaos on Christmas. I don't know about your kids, but ours get a little overwhelmed on Christmas morning, and all they really want to do is play with the toy they just opened -- not necessarily open more gifts.

Anyway, they were all thrilled and really enjoyed Grandma and Caitlin's visit. Here's the proof:

This is funny only if you know how much my mom wants our cats to leave her alone. They have some spidey sense though when it comes to people who don't like them + bonus points for the black pants = "Mom the cat magnet".


Ry and Caiti reading books -- Rylan will read to anyone who will listen to her, and Caiti needed to practice anyway (love you Caiti:)

Branik had a lot of fun with "Aunt Tatey" and really enjoyed the tickle-fest.


He also enjoys trying to catch the camera.


Onto the gifts. Rylan got a wooden doll cradle that she hopes will be filled with a new baby doll in about 26 days. This is all because of Cilka and Payton's visit in October. As long as she isn't still saying, "I wish I had a real baby in my tummy" in another 5 years, I'm cool with it.

She also got Boggle Jr. and will cream you if you agree to play her. It's a double whammy to have your children suck your brains out (ie "Mom brain") and then use them against you in board games.


Keaton died and went to heaven over his new helicopter. It spins it's 2 rotors, it rolls on the floor, and it makes a rocket blasting noise. This could have been his whole Christmas and he would have been happy. Seriously, he kept saying over and over, "Grandma, I love my new helicopter!" and "This makes me so happy!"


See, he wasn't kidding.

He got a huge pad of art paper and his own markers too, and look what he wanted to draw:


Yeah. So he was thrilled. He is sleeping with the helicopter, and keeps reminding us that Grandma gave it to him.

Branik got a really cute Take Along Thomas engine wash and a new little James engine, along with a John Deere dumptruck that he uses to transport his trains in. You know, because trains need a ride to get from place to place. I should have taken a picture of him playing with the whole setup. I didn't. Mom saw it and that's all that matters:)

Oh yeah, and we had Thanksgiving dinner. I have no pictures of any of it, and trust me, you don't want them anyway. I seriously didn't even shower until bedtime that night, and I'm only about 37% sure I was wearing a bra at the table. It turns out making pies and rolls and turkey is time consuming and leaves very little motivation to photograph the fruits of your labors. But it all tasted great and I feel confident now that I am not lying when I say, "I CAN cook, I just choose not to".

So yeah. Good times. Watching how excited the kids were with just a couple of gifts made me think, "Why do we bother with getting more than this?" It doesn't really seem like tripling the presents equals triple the fun. I think it's more about the adults than the kids when you go overboard (like I always want to do). And now I will quit my rant before I sound like a scrooge.

We are so glad we could spend even a few days with family, and can't wait to live closer. Thanks for coming out Mom and Caiti!

P.S. Go see "Bolt" with your kids -- we did and it was really cute.

P.P.S. The special-ed effects in "Twilight" are just as bad the second time around. But Edward is just as hot. Just so you know.

Odds and Ends

I just don't have anything to say. Or something. Here are a bunch of random things to munch on while you are waiting for dinner...

I am going to start with a few pics specifically for all my UMC gals. Here is your proof that Chrysta is in fact alive and does have a bouncing baby boy -- albeit a clumsy one:)

1 baby + 1 Scentsy (scented wax melter) = FUN!

Yeah. So Chrysta'a Keaton (we call him K2) grabbed the cord and the wax holder shattered and splattered orange spice wax all over his head -- Gorbachev-style. We sort of freaked out right at first, but Scentsy wax melts much cooler than normal candle wax and he was not hurt at all. He didn't even cry until his cruel parents picked the wax off his head. He smelled fantastic!

See? Happy as a clam. A really, really cute, orange spice scented clam. With blue eyes.

OK. Onto my own spawn. I mentioned earlier that Rylan is in ballet now, but this was the first look I got at her in class. She won't "do her moves" outside the studio, so I had no idea how she was doing. I'll say this: she looks GREAT on the barre.

Did I say she looks great on the barre yet? I did? Well, she does. Very graceful. She loves to tell me, "Ballerinas always have long necks." Things get a little but dicey once she is on the floor, but the girl moves FAST. So fast I couldn't get a decent shot of her. I'll work on that.

Keaton drew this on the wall in our hallway last week. I'm telling you, Toby is next year's Harold.

I had been meaning to paint that hallway anyway, so I got to it a few days after this piece was completed, but I'll admit it was hard for me to paint over this. So I took a picture. (Keaton, if you are reading this: "It is not cute to color on the wall! Time out!"). I have a massive Keaton post in the works, so stay tuned for more on our middle child.

Who took this photo of his brother:

Branik finally won me over for good 2 days ago when he walked into the bathroom while I was doing my hair (shut up, it happens from time to time) and said, "Mommy, go car!"

"You want to go in the car, Branik?"

"Yes! To Tardit!"

I have never been so proud in my whole life. Ever.

Okay, back to the pies...

Okay fine. I will post something else. I have just enjoyed rolling around in the victory mud with Barack for the last 10 days (oh wait -- that doesn't sound right)...

What I meant was it warms my little Democratic heart to see his picture front and center when I log in. And to everyone who didn't vote for him:

"It's going to be okay."

For reals, y'all. For reals.

P.S. What's the deal with Uggs? I'll tell you what the deal is -- they are fugly as all get out. Maybe if I lived in Utah or Idaho I would feel differently...but then again, I'd still have eyes, so probably not.

Thrilled

It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood! (And I'm glad I booked my hotel in D.C. last year:)

My Very First 10K!

I did it! I have been saying forever that I was going to run in a real race, but I have been too chicken to do it because I am not a competitive person at all and I have this tremendous fear of failure. But I got a great workout buddy 3 months ago and she gave me the push I needed.

I had no idea what to expect (and spent the first half of my week throwing up) and Sarah had only run 5K's before, so we decided to set VERY conservative goals: to finish the race, to run the whole time, and not be last. We had no problems with any of our goals and both felt really great afterwards. In fact, we turned to each other after we crossed the finish line and said, "Oh. That wasn't bad at all!" We both felt like we could have gone faster, but we were scared to push it too hard because we didn't want to burn out before the finish line. It turns out spinning does wonders for endurance!

So thanks for the push Sarah! It was a blast and we are looking forward to our first half-marathon in spring -- aren't we Sarah:)

Halloween Schmalloween

Is everyone sick of Halloween pictures yet? Too bad. Here are ours. I'll try to make it short and sweet (hahahaha! That'll be the day!)

We carved pumpkins. I only took a picture of this one because I wasn't feeling well. We are dorks.


Keaton continued his tradition of wanting his Halloween costume to be the same thing that his birthday cake was in June of the same year. Last year he had a volcano cake, and then wanted to be a volcano for Halloween. It was especially awesome when he quit wearing the "lava hat" and everyone thought he was either an anthill or a Hershey's Kiss.

Anyway, this year he had a Harold the Helicopter cake, and was sure for months on end that he had to be Harold for Halloween.

So since I am still married to MacGuyver, I tasked my fabulous spouse with making Harold come to life. He didn't disappoint!

He designed and constructed the whole thing -- complete with internal reinforcements and a spinning rotor, and then I took over the painting.


It was quite the feat of cardboard engineering, and Keaton was ECSTATIC when he saw the finished product.

He was tired here, but I am posting it so you can see him from the side...

Keaton's costume was a ton of work, but luckily Rylan also decided to continue her tradition of "I want to be a princess/fairy/ballerina-princess-fairy for Halloween", so hers was easy. I think she just loves to be a girly girl and wear makeup, but whatever floats her boat is fine with me!

I couldn't get her to hold still long enough for a picture by herself, but here she is with Keaton/Harold:



Here they are with some of the neighbor kids. See Branik in the background dragging his blankie around? He almost wasn't anything for Halloween because he was such a little sicko all week, but he perked up at the last minute so we threw him into a costume that both Rylan and Keaton have worn (sorry, third child, thems the breaks!)

I still think he looked cute, but he would NOT part with his blankie. If we ever lose that thing we are dead meat. He only went to about 5 or 6 doors because he really wasn't feeling great, but he was content to be carried all over the freaking neighborhood by yours truly. My left bicep is still killing me. All of us were exhausted after 90 minutes -- Rylan's feet started hurting and SHE had to be carried between houses, I had Branik on my left hip the whole night, and Boone ended up with Harold in one arm while holding Keaton against his back with the other arm.

Good times, but I am glad it's only once a year. I'll predict right now that next October, we will be constructing a Toby costume, because we already know Keaton wants a Toby cake for his 5th birthday (if you have talked to Keaton in the last 6 months, you know this too). If I am right, you all owe me a thousand dollars. Totally fair and not at all manipulateable (not a real word) by me:)


See you next year!