Project 52 {50}

My favorite thing about you:

You need to figure things out for yourself.

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This project was all her.  From what's inside to wrapping it, to writing out the tag, curling the ribbon - Her.  She picked out the gift, the paper, the color of ribbon and the tag.  She was bent on doing it herself.  Was it perfect?  Yes.  Because I didn't have to do it, and because she succeeded in wrapping it.  She asked for help when she needed it (sometimes wrapping presents takes more than two hands, especially almost six year old hands).  

And before I get too into this, it was Christmas hat day at school - she wasn't just wearing that because she was wrapping presents, she seriously hasn't taken it off since she put it on at about 9:00 this morning. 

Both of my kids have an inherent need to do things for themselves.  Gee, I wonder where that comes from.  Yeah, I'm sure lots of kids are like this, it's kind of a kid trait.  It seems like mine have been like this from birth:  happy to figure things out - legos, writing, getting dressed...  Time permitting, I try my best to let them struggle through on their own, but dude, that's tough.  I know they need to do it for themselves, but so help me, sometimes we need to make it out the door in the next four hours.  But those times when I unleash holy patience on them and actually allow them to fight through on their own, the sense of their accomplishment is so rewarding (not just for them). 

Having patience with my kids is something I need to practice.  A lot.  I'm crappy at it.  Yes, I admitted it.  My name is Meghan, and I lack patience with my children (you can go ahead and take away this week's mom of the year prize too).  I wish things would happend when I want.  I wish they would happen how I want.  But you know what my father-in-law says about wishing? 

"You can wish in one hand and {poop} in the other and see which one fills up."  

-Glenn Roberson

And it's true.  I can wish all day long that they would figure it out, but unless I give up my do/go now schedule(every once in a while, at least), grab some patience by the short hairs and hunker down, they'll never learn and I'll be doing it for them till the day they leave for college - and that's just fact.  So a little bit of patience on my end now, truly can go a long way.  And God willing, one day I'll never have to wrap anyone's presents but hers, because she can do it for me!

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.  

  

Project 52 {48}

My favorite thing about you:

You're game.

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Got some hair-brained awesome idea?  Talk to my kids.  They're up for it.  Can you sell it as "Quite possibly the greatest thing they'll ever do.  In their entire lives!"?  Totally game.  My kids are most definitely "yes" people.  At almost 6 and 4.5 years old, my kids think little about their decisions.  And that's great.  They don't consider their limitations, because at that age, lets be honest:  The only thing that could possibly hold them back is their size.  We have little concept of the "Risk of life or limb" idea.  And while I'm sure that running with the bulls, or skydiving would be really great, I am not one of those people.  I strive to be, but sometimes I just want to sit in the house with my covers pulled up to my chin and watch a little television.  

We talked a bit this week about the idea of courage, and that's something my kids have in spades. We're not a family who believes in a lot of fear (though, as a mother, I have enough for all four of us.  Times infinity.  But never let them see you scared).  We dismiss the idea of being afraid of the dark.  Rather, if it's something that makes you uncomfortable; fix it.  Turn the bathroom light on yourself.  Don't like the thunder?  Lets find a way to make it less scary - discuss how it occurs, a way to think or rationalize around it.  Things you understand are far less threatening.  Afraid that you physically can't do something?  Most of the time the worst thing that can happen is that you can't and with a little practice, that can change.  Being afraid of failure is absolutely unacceptable for these two.  It's my job to make sure that they know with preparation and support anything is possible.  That's not to say that failure is unacceptable.  It absolutely is.  But to use fear as a means to keep you from even trying... nuh-uh.  

All of this to tell you that this week we went to the city's Parade of Lights with our good friends.  We all packed into my car and headed down to the madness.  It was a great time, with hot chocolate, and pretty amazing peanut butter (and jelly in a container, not on your PBJ) sandwiches.  Side note:  if you have a PB & Jellies near you:  GO!!  The kids saw a pretty well make-upped Jacob Marley, rattling his chains right at them.  Scared the crap out of them.  But with a little discussion (and distraction) before bed, we were able to talk through the fear of him.  We moved on and one fewer thing in this world for them to be afraid of.  Because, being honest again:  As they grow there will be plenty of time and things for them to be afraid of.  But if you let fear keep you from doing things, you'll never accomplish anything of greatness.  Be game for whatever life has headed your way.  

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.  

Project 52 {47}

My favorite thing about you is:

You're gullible.  

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Here again is where I win the "Mother of the Year" prize.  Your trust in your father and I is infallible.  I guess, as it should be.  I mean, why would a parent intentionally mislead, or (gasp) lie to their child?  Oh... Christmas time.  And a few other times (because it's just not appropriate to explain to an almost 6 year old what blood alcohol levels are, because *technically* babies really are put there by God, and because sometimes you just don't need to know the truth... yet).

So, it's Christmas time again.  And like I mentioned last week, our Elf on the Shelf: Mortimer came back.  I also explained his greatness last week as well.  But just like last year, the poor guy has barely been around a week and already he's sidelined at the North Pole.  Remember when I said I wanted to be the mom who invented him?  If I had been said mom, I would have included the clause that if you touched him he unleashed some kind of pent up vitriolic elf rage.  There would be no going back to the North Pole - I deal with these kids single handedly 365 days a year, save for when he swoops in for a month and takes on the tattling.  Is it too much to ask that he stick around for the promised month-ish?!  No slacking my little friend.  It's common knowledge that the first rule of fight club is do not talk about fight club.  And if you're on a playground anywhere in the United States, I'm pretty sure the the kids will tell you that the first rule of Elf on the Shelf is no touching the Elf on the Shelf.    

Well, the other night he brought all of our Christmas books.  He was minding his business checking out his Elf: The Movie book, when Haley was looking for one to read.  She touched the basket holding the books and accidentally knocked Mortimer over.  I imagine (because I wasn't actually there) that she reached to set him back up again, forgetting the rules, but thus touching him none the less.  To preserve the magic, the rules must be followed.  And even though I can't tell you with certainty that that's how the situation went down, I'm not dumb - and I know how this almost 6 year old operates.  

That's the thing about your kids.  You hang around them long enough and you know the words that are going to come out of their mouth, before they can even think them.  And you know how they'll react to certain things.  Except when they tell you that the lyrics to "Feliz Navidad" are absolutely not "Feliz Navidad", but are in fact "Denise Nobby Lob" or "Elise La De Da" depending on which kid you ask (but you're an idiot to think it'd be "Feliz Navidad").  Nobody can see that coming.  But I know how Haley would be in this particular situation.  Did she have good intentions?  Absolutely.  Did she honestly forget?  Yup.  But did she lie her little face off about it?  You bet.  So we had to follow through on the consequences, because the last thing you want is an almost 6 year old who starts to critically think about Christmas magic.  Yes, a few weeks ago I did say that I wanted my kids to be critical thinkers, but not this time of year.  I still need to be able to lie to them.  They need to know that Santa is real.  That Mortimer really is working for the big guy.  That I really do have the big guy on speed dial just incase.  And that God really does put babies in mommies tummies.  

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.  

Project 52 {46}

My favorite thing about you:

You're festive.

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This week we learned that one of the local radio stations is playing all day Christmas music (yes, I know, already).  And yes, we listen to it.  Save me the lectures on how it's not even Thanksgiving, I realize this.  But here's the thing.  Thanksgiving?  Not all it's cracked up to be (if you're a mom who has to manage the kids and also a turkey).  It's an excuse to eat a big honkin' meal.  Great idea America, but if it's all the same to you, I'll cook my turkey, but I'm moving straight from Halloween into Christmas.

So yes, we listen to Christmas music everywhere we go.  We talk about which ones are my favorite (Carol of the bells by anyone who does it normal, and Christmas Canon by Trans Siberian Orchestra) and which are my mom's favorite (Ann Murry's Holly and the Ivy), and which are Grandma's favorite (Celine Dion anything) and their favorites (Little Drummer Boy and anything found in a movie: Frosty, Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to town - a fantastic reminder this time of year but I digress).  Our Elf on the Shelf: Mortimer also showed up early (he we needed for our Christmas pictures).  And can I just tell you that I wish I was the mom who came up with that idea?!  She's an effing genius.  Yeah, that's right, I said effing on my blog.  In a Christmas post.  That's how genius she is.  I love Mortimer; coming up with ideas for him (thank you Pinterest), and just the fact that at any point in the day I can say "Mortimer, totally saw that"!  Plus, they cut back on their tattle-tailing to me by about 50% and just send it to Mortimer.  He and I are partners in crime.  I never want him to go back to the North Pole, just actually hang out here on a shelf the other 11 months of the year.

They love this time of year, and while I can say that Christmas is exclusively great, and kids are pretty awesome too, having kids at Christmas makes life worth living.  And that, my friends, is something to be thankful for.  And Mortimer.  I'm thankful for him too.

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.  

Our December & Christmas

I told you I would add more about Christmas later, well later is finally upon us. This year Jeff and I made the decision to stay out here in Colorado and enjoy (for the first time in 6 Christmases) waking up in our house, just our family. Let me tell you, it was great! Just as we hoped it would be. The kids (and by kids, I mean all four of us) were allowed to hang out and play with all of our presents, we had no where to go, and nothing to do. In fact, we stayed in our new Christmas Jammies all day long! A really nice, family centered Christmas celebration. In the spirit of just enjoying Christmas morning we didn't take a whole ton of pictures and rather just lived in the moment, so for this post, I decided to tell you all about the month of December in the Roberson house, and not just Christmas Day.

This is Atlas giving you an editorial picture of how drastically his life has changed in the past 6 years (most of the time he doesn't look so much like we need to talk him down off the ledge, this is just a moment for him). Where once he had blankets and beds to cuddle up on (and hump) anytime he wanted, he now must find room on the floor amongst the crayons, sippy cups and kids' blankets.

My "helpful" cookie helpers. We needed to make a batch of cookies for Jeff's Det's Kids Holiday party and they wanted so bad to be my sous chefs (or whatever you call an assistant pastry chef). The looks on their faces will give you exactly an idea of how helpful they were. While the recipe does not call for any nuts, you can see we had plenty on hand.

In case all of the blue stuff, and dinosaur pajamas in this picture weren't enough, Kale proves to us daily that he is made of slugs, snails and puppy dog tails every time he looks out his front window. He is beyond excited to show us all of the bulldozers, front loaders, concrete trucks and other construction equipment that visits our ever growing block. It'll be a sad day (very soon) for him when all of this stops, we only have a couple of houses with exterior finishing left, but hopefully spring and warmer weather comes soon so we can walk around and see what's happening on other blocks.

In the middle of the month our little man had a bout of the sicks and was up at 10:00 one night with bowls. Kids or not, I don't have to tell you what that means. He and Jeff each had their "Ats" and were bonking each other in their makeshift helmets, part delirium, part the fact that he just likes to head butt things, this was great entertainment for our sick little man.

This year I thought I would go cookie crazy and made batches of Chocolate Crinkles (that came out flat... WTF?!), Gingerbread (yeah, when the recipe calls for you to grease the cookie sheet, you should listen, Betty Crocker knows her shit), and a quadruple batch of sugar cookies. These are my ever present cookie helpers and also my dual 30 pound weights. This right here is why I work out - this is what I have to keep up with.

I got about 2 cans of frosting into the batch and said SCREW IT! We ate what we had frosted and I didn't pass a one out and I don't feel a bit guilty about it (except when I look in my dining room and see the 4 gallon size bags of unfrosted cookies... I bought 3 cans of frosting today at the commissary). Anyway, Haley came in to help me sprinkle, this year was a little rough, she had a difficult time keeping the top of the sprinkles off of the frosting, but by next year, she will be good to go and will officially have her position as the 5th generation of sugar cookie makers.

Haley in her Christmas Jammies right before bed in front of the tree. Kale was a lot tired by this time so we didn't get him in front of the tree (where he wasn't melting down).

Here is Kale's picture in front of the tree, no more presents left and you can't really tell that the lights are on, but he is happy and has his "MoMo" (his name for anyone that resides on Sesame Street).

Daddy was helping us make Kale smile for his pictures and decided to jump in the picture with him, which led Atlas to jump in too. My favorite part of this picture is Atlas' tongue about to clean Kale's face in one fail swoop.

Haley was beyond excited to see that Santa had come through with her Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe, he also left her a letter in return, ate the cookies, drank the milk, and fed the carrots to the reindeer (BTW, she was VERY perturbed that they were messy reindeer and spit a bunch of their carrots all over the snow in the front yard... I mean really!).

The Dude-a-Man in his Cozy Coupe, a.k.a The Drive In Movie Theatre, and the one thing he doesn't HAVE to share with his sister (which makes her want in it even more). He LOVES it, and lives in it.

Enjoying driving his cozy coupe. For the most part he is a pretty happy driver.

But sometimes he gets cut off, and he gets a little angry. I don't know if an 18 month old could utter the letters W-T-F, but the picture definitely says that.

So that's our past month and closes out our 2009. January and 2010 has already been an adventure (at least for Jeff) and maybe (for once), I'll get him to post some stuff on this blog and tell you about his trip to Tokyo, Japan. A belated Merry Christmas to you and we hope 2010 is good to you!

Getting ready for Santa and his Reindeer

I know it's been a while since we posted stuff, but what can I say... The holidays are hectic. We managed to slow down just a little bit (and by we, I mean Jeff and I, not so much Haley), and prepare for Santa and his reindeer's arrival. Here's a video of Haley explaining it.

You should be able to click on this to see it bigger, but this is our Christmas letter that was either not sent, or sent late. Enjoy.

Can we open presents yet?!?!

I've finally finished my shopping, family has arrived, and I've even done all of my wrapping! I'm super excited to watch Haley open her presents this year especially since she's really aware of presents. It's because of this that we have been keeping all presents down in the basement rather than under the tree. So Christmas morning she will come down to see not only what Santa has brought her, but every present for everyone under the tree. I've also managed to get some great presents for others and can't wait to see them opened. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

So now that the Roberson's are no longer homeless we are finally in the Christmas spirit (if only it would warm up enough to put up Christmas lights). It's taken me a little while to get the house unpacked and there are still some odds and ends left (like the entire office, but that's not my fault - they still haven't found the parts to assemble our desk). Anyway, we've been busy and here are the pictures of what we've been up to.

This is the Christmas tree. One of the things that I was most excited about with the new house was the size possibilities for a tree. I knew the moment we toured the model exactly where I would put one up and now, here it is, finally in our house. It measures about 12 feet tall and is an Oregonian Noble Fir. This is the finished product, you'll see more of it below.

Here's Kale and Atlas, the reason Atlas is looking at Kale's rear is because he just exploded from that general region. This is the last picture of Kale for the day because he completely soaked his outfit with poo and we needed to take an emergency shower to clean the kid up. I think Atlas is both perturbed and disgusted. He also won't go near the kid anymore (do you blame him?).


Our super happy dude-man on the stairs. He is so willing to smile for anyone, this is one happy little guy!

From a happy little guy to our beautiful princess, there was no staging involved in this picture, just a lucky shot. Isn't she gorgeous?

I asked her to sit pretty with her hands and legs folded. I think this is so the "My mom made me take this" picture.

This is my new favorite picture of Haley, it just shows her tenacious personality perfectly. The reason we had the kids all dressed up was that we were on our way to go see Santa that afternoon. The moment we sat Kale in his lap and I went behind the camera and said "Hi Dude-Man, he just lit up and smiled. Haley on the other hand was going to have nothing to do with the fat man in the red suit and her picture is her in an amazing tantrum mode. Definitely a moment to remember.

What's the holidays with out a bit of alcohol and a whole lot of friends (or is it the other way around)? Anyway, Jeff has found a home brew supply store and is off and running in the new house. He's decided to revisit his first brew of nearly 2 years ago and is re-doing the Beltian White (No, not a Belgian). He also decided that he needed a partner in crime for this batch and invited Norm over to help out. Norm's wife Mandy and their kids came over also and helped us to decorate our HUGE tree, she chased me and a 6 foot ladder around and around the tree with 1000 lights.

Santa brought Kale a present at Jeff's Det Christmas Party. I think he could have cared less about what the present was, but that bow was SOOO cool!

Back to the Christmas tree... this is what it looked like in front of Lowe's as we prepared to take it home with us.

For Jeff's Det's Christmas party we, of course, were signed up for Sugar cookies. We let Haley decorate her own cookies, the left one is a Christmas tree with LOTS of balls on it and the right one is a Snowman (one of her favorite things this holiday season). She will be the 4th generation of sugar cookie bakers, we have a bit more training to instill before she's ready to be an "approved sprinkler".