The Joy of Christmas Morn

Much to my surprise the boys didn't get up at 5am as I had anticipated. I heard the first footsteps running upstairs at 6:30 which is pretty much our normal wake time. Bobby and I quickly got out of bed and headed up to Cade's room. It was the designated meeting spot to do our annual reading of the birth of Jesus and our early morning raspy singing of Happy Birthday.


After that, the indians headed down the stairs to check out their loot




Rhett was surprised to find exactly what he had asked for: a Nintendo DS. Neither Grant nor Cade thought for a second that would be their Santa gifts. Our household Elf, Elfie, must have passed the word to Santa that they would love to have one.
Since the opening of the stockings this is pretty much where you can find the children. On the couch. Non-communicative. Brains slowly turning to mush.
There were a couple other presents under the tree to be opened.
A Star Wars DS game was a major hit!
Rhett was beside himself when he opened up the Imaginext Spaceship he'd been eyeing for months.
I got each of the boys a really soft blanket. One in red, one blue, and one white and to my surprise they each were genuinely excited about it! I thought it'd be like the "oh, great. I got socks from mom" kind of fake excitement. What a pleasant surprise!

Grant has been lugging around his little Webkins pair that Santa put in his stocking. He named them "Black Bear" and "Little Bear" because they are both such unique and individualized names. Original. Their last presents were remote control cars. Being that no one has touched them since opening them on Christmas Day, Bobby and I quietly placed them in a bag with their receipt and took two of them back. Can you believe that no one has even MENTIONED them??? If it weren't for the fact that our resident bull-in-a-china-shop (Rhett) snapped the antenna off of the remote for the other car, we'd have taken it back as well.


As for now, we'll just be stuck with a useless remote-control car, some soft blankets to love on, and three kids who've forgotten how to speak and read and will soon have carpal tunnel of the thumbs. Can school please start back?

Jumpin'

This post really doesn't need a lot of verbage. It's just some snapshots of pure 4 year old joy and the laughter that accompanies it. Sometimes breaking the rules can be so much fun!

It Could Have Been.

It's amazing to me how you can be going through your normal, daily activities without a thought of being scared when all of the sudden you're taken aback by something that, under normal circumstances, wouldn't spook you in the least. Take my day for instance. I'm doing my routine chores: picking up, wiping the counters, making sure we have enough hand sanitizer and liquid soap to keep viruses and germs at bay......you know, the usual, when I head into the laundry room to put clothes in the dryer. 

 I absentmindedly stick my hands in the washer and start pulling clothes out and tossing them into the dryer. I get down to the last few things, usually random socks that now have no mate or unmentionables, and I bend over to take a quick peek inside. I yelped and jumped because I saw a tarantula. Two of them.

I decided to give it another peek since, generally, tarantulas don't particularly thrive in this area. Do you know what it was? If you don't have boys you probably won't. Bakugan balls. Creepy, magnetized, little balls that pop into different creatures when placed on anything metal. Apparently someone had left a couple in their pants pocket and they took a swim in the wash water.  
Isn't it just like some weird toy to give you a good case of the willies? Don't you think at first peek, in low lighting, when unexpected, that this could pass for a tarantula?
Eeww. Yick. On a more serious note, I'm glad these little critters got a good washing. Even more creepy than a tarantula in my washer is knowing that my boys take these on the bus and trade them with other kids that, in most cases, are not properly cleansing their hands. This would be a good time to introduce the "sanitize after each trade" rule. That is a rule isn't it?

The Pilgrams Are Back

Grant didn't let his distaste for kindergarten dress up days ruin his attitude when it came to the Thanksgiving Feast between the Pilgrims and Indians. After he made it clear to me that he really wanted to be an indian, he decided to accept his plight and just rock it out as the best pilgrim ever. 

Since he came home from school with this costume I've seen him wear it at least 4 times. I wonder if Pilgrims really had sword and gun fights with the likes of Boba Fett and the red Power Ranger? My studies suggest not. 

Looks like we may be turning a corner regarding school dress up! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A Little Front Yard Football

We've lucked out with such great November weather lately that I feel bad for the brothers that have to spend their days at school. Bobby had the day off for Veteran's Day so he took to the yard with Rhett for a little football. The ultimate preparation for physical activity is the full open mouth drinkability of some vitamin water (for future reference, note this as exhibit A of why I do not, under any circumstances, share drinks with Little Buddy).

He also warmed up by throwing the ball into the air and then running from it so it didn't hit him on top of the head. We have yet to master the catching process.

Finally, the running started. All was well until the unthinkable happened.......

I think the pictures pretty much do the talking.....

After some apologizing and chin tickling Rhett decided he would be friends with his dad again. Even though, as the pixels have captured, Bobby took competition to another level and clearly pushed the child down.

Even some stiff competition can't keep this Little Buddy from lovin' on his daddy!

We Set the Bar High Here

Ahhh, my sweet second-born. Loves himself some dress up in the confines of his own home or in the company of good friends.......even had no qualms whatsoever carousing through the neighborhood in a snake-eyes costume all in the name of candy collecting. However, when it comes to school dress up of ANY kind it's a no-go. I pushed him to dress as a scarecrow and you saw the enthusiasm in those photos. I guess he didn't get the memo that kindergarten has at the very least fifteen days of random dressing up days. The most recent: What I'm Going to be When I Grow Up Day. He's already decided he's not dressing like anything tomorrow. It's our conversation about it that has me tickled........or concerned.

Me: Grant, I need to know what you're going to dress up like on Friday. What do you want to be when you grow up?

G: I don't even know.....uugghhh.

Me: Well, since forever you've wanted to be an army jet pilot. Why don't we dress up like that?

G: You can get killed doing that job. So now I don't want to be it anymore. Do firemen get killed?

Me: Yeah. Sometimes.

G: Policemen?

Me: Sometimes.

G: Well, really I just want to be a dad........

I'm thinking, "Well, that is just the sweetest thing". Then he adds:

G:....I mean just a dad. I don't want to have to get a job.

With that in mind, I'll be sending him to school tomorrow wearing a child sized wife beater with jogging pants and he'll be carrying a can covered in a koozie. I also taught him to scream "kid bring me my cigarettes!". I can almost guarantee he'll be the only kindergartener dressed up like a dead-beat dad. That's my boy! 

Tacky Wacky Wigorama

This year we sent the boys to my mom's and hosted a Halloween spooktacular with some adult conversation. I loved the dry ice effect on the punch last year so I brought it back this year topped by my new favorite halloween decoration- this big spider:

The prerequisite this year to be a party attendee was fake hair....hence the name "Wigorama". 
Here are our wigged out guests- starting with a couple rednecks,
This guy took the prize in my opinion. I could hardly look at him without being judgemental :) There were definitely extra points given for the spray painted t-shirt. 
A'lyce and her girlfriend Helga. I was just thankful they showed up wearing more than just their wigs!
Yikes!
Bret Michaels and his new gal Pamela Sue :)
Earl and his wife Joy Hickey/Turner
Ummmm, colorful Foxy Cleopatra and Howard Stern/Weird Al Yankovich?
Looks like we've got another redneck with his gal Louise Mandrell
Guy Fieri and some cute little blonde that just gave birth 10 days ago!! I know....go ahead and be jealous.

All dolled up were Snow White and her jailbird man (with really horrible dentals).

Bobby and I were, well, who knows what but our wigs were matchy matchy and that's what we were going for. I felt a little rockerish so I decided that it was necessary to slash up a perfectly fine tank top.
I snapped this pic of the gals in the dining room and at the last minute Kelly decided to turn and look at me. I personally like the way it turned out!
After filling up on a smorgasboard of food (no deer meat this year) we headed downstairs to have a little men vs. women game of Guesstures.
It was a riot watching everyone act out their words.

The final count had it at a win for the men....barely.  I'm pretty sure, given the company, that there was cheating involved. I'm just sayin'.  

Thanks friends for coming and making it a great time!