Blue And Gold

I realized I have been super post negligent when I revved up the camera for my church group meeting last night. Nothing says "Bible Study" like 4 glasses of wine. Anywho, I needed to clear my content and get ready for our travels to D.C. next week. Oh yea, 12 plus hours in a car all night long and waking up to the 11 a.m. White House Tour! Nothing says 'Family Time" like a good long road trip.

Anywho, a few weeks ago we had Jack's blue and gold boyscout dinner function thingy. It was real classy, with a buffet table of hot dogs and pizza.


Here is Jack onstage getting ready to do his bit in the skit. He's a natural in front of others. This was pretty much Nate's expression during the ENTIRE dinner. He has decided he's not doing Boy Scouts. Ever. He even refers to it as "Bunny Scouts" (from Max and Ruby cartoons).

Jack and Maddie had fun sitting next to each other, until another family came to sit with us and then Mads had to sit on my lap. They were people. She doesn't like people.

The boys. Nate's face=nuff said.

Awww look. 2 peas in a pod. Really.

I can't tell if John was more annoyed at my photography skillz, or if he was annoyed at the whole boy scout event. In any case, that's usually the face I get when I make him pose.

As I mentioned before, we are getting ready for our trip to D.C. I have never been there, so I am excited to see some ruby slippers and the Archie Bunker chair. I hear there are Cherry blossoms this time of year, but nuts to that. I wanna see Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown.

We actually got lucky enough to get tickets to the White House, which I hear are damn near impossible to get. I have been reading various D.C. books to the kids, and Nate thinks he is going to meet Baruh Bamamba. When we told him we couldn't meet him, he was truly disappointed. I think he's wondering what the point of even going to his House is?

Leaving it to Nate to get into the gore of any situation, after our Lent service on Wednesday, I was reading him a book on D.C. There was a picture of the British burning the first White House during the War of 1812. The following is a recap of our rather morbid conversation.

"Mom! Are those the guys who shot and KILLED Jesus?"

"No. Jesus was not shot and killed."

"Well. How did he die then?"

"He was hung on a cross'.

"Yah, so. Then what?"

"Then nothing."

"Well Someone had to shoot and kill him. (pointing to a photo of Abe Lincoln): Maybe this guy did it".

"No Nate, That was Abraham Lincoln."

"Oh. Maybe SHE shot and killed Jesus"

"That's Clara Barton. She founded the American Red Cross. She didn't shoot and kill anybody".

"Well, what, he just hung there?"

At this point I had to give in a little. The morbid factor was not being satisfied on any level.

"Well Nate, a soldier did stick his sword in his side."

"Yeah, and then he bleeded all over".

Okay...time to shut this one down. I read the blurb next to Lincoln's photo about his assassination and got this:

"Mom! If he was shooted in the front of the face instead of the back of the head more people could have seen his blood because it would have been more everywhere."

People ask me what I let my kids watch on t.v. Rest assured we are not watching gruesome shootings and crucifixions, unless they are now showing these things on PBS and they've been imbedded into random episodes of Sponge Bob (which I hate, but it's not bloody and gory. It's just stupid humor). Rather, I think this is how boys are wired. At least my boys.

The grosser it is the better. That's a good motto for life.

I think.

Busted By the Pastor

On Wednesdays during Lent, we (meaning the kids and I) have been regularly attending a lecture series. The kids have their program, I have mine. This Wednesday was about getting your affairs in order, such as a Medical Power of Attorney, Will, etc. Great info. I made John go, because we really should have a will. We just should. And we don't. Which is beside the point.

There is always a dinner served, soup and sandwiches, spaghetti, and the like. Anyone who knows John knows he just does not eat soup. Soup is NOT a meal. He cannot understand why/how people can eat soup and be full, as if soup were a real meal. Because it's not (keep in mind, soup is one of MY favorite meals, so I think he's a little crazy, but whatever. Opposites attract and all that blah de blah).

Well, remember the presentation I gave a couple of weeks ago? My friend Steph and I brought in some food samples-she made stellar brownies using applesauce instead of oil, and I brought in some Vegan grape salad, and some cornbread made with tofu. I have found many uses for tofu lately so we've been eating more and more as I can substitute it for dairy products in some recipes.

Following is an actual conversation between John and my pastor (who keeps trying to get me to run a marathon with him, but I keep saying that not even God can convince me to go that crazy).

Pastor: John, you really should eat something!
John: No, it's okay. I'm good, really.
Pastor: It's soup....the soup is good. The sandwiches are good.
Me: Yah, John's not really a soupy kind of guy.
Pastor: You really should go eat. It's better than tofu anyways.

Seriously? He busted me out. Totally.
And John could not stop laughing. Of course.

My Next Biggest Kick

Well, last week's presentation went very well, if you read between the lines. Tonight, our friend is presenting on the topic, "Now is the time...to get your affairs in order". Very timely, as it regards getting your will and all that other unthinkable stuff in order just in case. It makes me a little queasy to think of it, but I'm making John come to this presentation. It's just that important.

That being said, I'm going to backtrack a bit. This stream of consciousness typing is really too diffiuclt for anyone to follow, including me. But...

While Steph(not my sister) and I presented last week, she pulled up a great website for local CSA's. This stands for "Community Supported Agriculture", and basically the premise is you pay a certain amount of money for a season, get a box of a pre-determined size, and basically own a share of locally produced, oftentimes organic produce for the season you have paid for. We are so doing this this summer. I LOVE Farmer's Market's, but sometimes they are a bit expensive. This way, you get a good deal.

Don't just take my word for it. Check it out:
http://www.localharvest.org/

Discover a CSA near you, and enjoy the benefits of eating local!

Some Lessons Learned

This week I learned a few things. Like, I'm not very organized as I'm cleaning out every room in the house and my palace looks like a bomb dropped.

I also learned that there is some super duper strain of strep going around that is somewhat resistant to antibiotics and my daughters tonisils look like two golf balls stuck in her throat.

I learned how to use power point...sort of. And insert pictures with only the thumbnails to look at so wording on "You Go Girl" signs looks small and innocent.

And most importantly, I learned that when giving a presentation about health and fitness at church, when you're talking about doing a triathlon and how important it is to have a support group and awesome signs, sometimes you should really make those thumbnails bigger.


I also learned my pastors have a GREAT sense of humor. And they thought it was funny.

Pay To Play

Lookie what I made for dinner in the crockpot! Yum! It's not vegan, but that's okay. It was some sort of soy/hoisin/orange chicken. Of course Nate slathered his with ketchup and didn't eat it, and Maddie slathered hers with ranch dressing and didn't it it, but John and Jack devoured it. I've given up accommodating for the younger ones. There have been many a nights one or the both of them goes to bed hungry. On to the Pay to Play. Oh yah, I did so totally go there! I'm really sick of the 5:30 a.m. raps to the forehead asking to play wii. Or Jack waking BEFORE 5 to play the stupid ds. So now, I don't care when they play. They just have to pay me first.

How do they earn money? For every minute of reading for Jack and workbook work for Nate they earn a penny. Every penny equals a minute; you see how this plays out? They can earn extra for doing chores and they can lose minutes for being naughty. So far each boy has accumulated 30 minutes. Maddie wanted in on the gig too, so she just does some stuff and I give her pennies. She doens't play wii, but she may just learn a little about spending, saving, and time being money, that whole thing.

Now, aren't I clever? (For the moment anyway).

All Partied Out

I am finally getting around to writing about Bawentine's Day. I wound up supervising/planning 3 classroom parties, so by the time the BIG DAY arrived I didn't even care. It's a stupid "holiday" anyway. On a plus note, we cooked us up some special crab legs just for the event and the kids ate them all. I mean all three kids ate all MY crab legs.

What can I say, they have good taste.

This is Maddie at her class party. I am most proud of this photo because her face isn't too dirty. Really, I don't even know what she's doing here, but her face is relatively spotless, compared to how it usually looks. Nothing says "3 YEAR OLD PARTY IN SESSION" quite like a sticker project. It's easy. And it's cheap.

Okay, I LOVE this. For Nate's party, one of the moms brought in a karaoke machine. Nate got to do a duet with his friend Vivianna---and they did a rousing rendition of "Jesus Loves Me".

This is Nate "reading" the lyrics to "Jesus loves me". He's so serious, and what? Isn't it like the easiest song ever to learn after the Alphabet song? Pshaw.... Really I was just thinking he needed to audition for American Idol or something. I'm sure he'd tell Simon a thing or two...especially since his favorite phrase is "You STINK!". How do you think that would go over with the at home voters?

Ahhh...the Freeze Dance portion of the party. Always a hit. Always!

Devotion

I gave you life, but cannot live it for you.
I can give you directions, but I cannot be there to lead you.
I can allow you freedom, but I cannot account for it.
I can teach you right from wrong, but I cannot decide for you.
I can offer you advice, but I cannot accept it for you.
I can give you love, but I cannot force it upon you.
I can teach you to share, but I cannot make you unselfish.
I can teach you respect, but I cannot force you to show honor.
I can advise you about friends, but cannot choose them for you.
I can advise you about sex, but I cannot keep you pure.
I can tell you about drink, but I can't say "no" for you.
I can warn you about drugs, but I can't prevent you from using them.
I can tell you about lofty goals, but I can't achieve them for you.
I can teach you about kindness, but I can't force you to be gracious.
I can pray for you, but I cannot make you walk with God.
I can tell you how to live, but I cannot give you eternal life.
~~ Author Unknown

The Inbisobol Guys Strike Again

"Nate, what's that on your belly?"

"Nuffing"

"There's a red marker mark on your belly."

"Yah, must be someone did that."

"Someone?"

"Yah, like those inbisobol peoples or somefing."

Must be somefing in the water.

Olympic Goals

Last night we watched the opening ceremonies. Actually, Jack was the only one who made it all the way thru with me, but we had fun talking about who Wayne Gretzky is. He's kinda getting into hockey now, which is quite awesome.

Anyway, watching the parade of athletes, Nate was not so much interested in their respective sports, or athletic abilities. Instead, he had this bit of wisdom to share:

"Wow. Look at all those guys walking."
"Yup, Nate, they're all in the Olympics."
"Mom, wouldn't it be SO TOTALLY AWESOME if one of them farted RIGHT NOW!"

"Yup. So totally awesome".

So at four if his greatest accomplishments are fart noises and booger jokes, what happens when he's a teenager?

Crying over NonFat NonSpilled Soy Milk

I didn't even give them almond milk this morning. I swear. Apparently, my two favorite young boys decided they did, and as I showered before work this morning, their conversation apparently went a little somethin' like dis:

J- "I hate Almond milk. Why did mom give it to me today? She promised she wouldn't buy it anymore."

N-"Yah, me too. I hate this milk".

J-"Maybe daddy, you and mom can get separate and not live together anymore and we'll come live with you so that we don't have to drink yucky milk anymore".

N-'Good Idea Jack!"

I feel the love, don't you? My own children, turned against me over something I never even did.

Guess it's the price you pay when trying to be uber healthy. Daddy thought this whole conversation was hilarious. Apparently there's going to be a health-food mutiny in this house very soon. If I suddenly disappear, I'm probably tied up somewhere being forcefed soda pop, full fat cows milk, and some form of pork. Send out the rescue squad!

The Pinewood Derby Subtitled: Boy Scouts; My OTHER Part Time Job

Last weekend, Jack had his Boy Scout Pinewood Derby. For those of you who don't know, you are basically given a block of wood, told to carve into a racing vehicle and expected to race to win at a bit "Pack" event. There is a lot involved, apparently, and for a person whose missing anything resembling a creativity gene, it's also very overwhelming.

Thus, Jack was allowed to design the car himself. John had to help him carve it, but we made Jack do everything else "all by himself", sorta. His orginal idea was to design a racing army Tank with the Monopoly Guy driving it. We couldn't find a Monopoly guy, but went ahead with the tank design, even though tanks aren't particularly known for their speed in Taladega.

John cut it, or carved it, or sawed it, or whatever it is. Jack had to sand it and paint it on his own. Here he is heading out to race his tank.

This is an aerial shot. He did all that camo work on his own. Check out the gun on top. Sweet. Side view. He wanted a star on it, so I helped with that. It looks like a glittery blob. How embarrassing.

This is something I wanted him to be proud of. At the race (which by the way lasts ALL day because you have to do several heats, etc) you can certainly tell which cars are kid created, and which kids had a bit more help. And by a bit more I mean some parents pretty much live uber vicariously thru their kids, and that is not how we roll over here. The cars are weighed (it's a BIG deal) and at the last second Jack was hot glue gunning pennies to the underbelly of the tank. There is some sort of serious science and strategy involved that I can not process in my pea brain, so Jack didn't really win anything per se. Their was a design competition, and the only way he's going to win that is if they really vote on if the cars look like they were kid created. Otherwise, we haven't a hope in Hell. There were some really cool designs. I think he was proud, even if he lost. I stressed to him how proud I was that he designed it and created something so cool all on his own. AND in my book you get creativity points for having the idea of a racing tank complete with a gun on top and potentially the Monopoly Guy driving it. Now, I have to run. I have another Boy Scout meeting to attend tonight. And events this weekend, and the following two weekends, Fridays and Saturdays.

Really, busy moms are totally underpaid.

Negative Calories...the Vegan Way

Last night I made oven fried chicken, potato skins, and plain Jane broccoli for dinner. The 'meat' is supposed to be seitan, but, well, we eat real chicken here. The breading for it was really really good too, it consisted of panko crumbs, some chicken buillion (which I probably didn't need, I think you're supposed to use that if you use a block of tofu in place of meat), some paprika, and some cayenne. And salt, but I'm pretty sure I mismeasured and definitely used too much salt.

The potato skins were good and crunchy because I rubbed them with coconut oil before baking them. However, the kids didn't quite understand the concept of eating potato skins, so they ate all the good stuff out of the middle. That being said, we're having mashed potatoes for dinner tonight, since I have a lot of potato meat left.

Crazy as it seems, everyone ate their broccoli. Even John who has a serious aversion to all things green and healthy. I think he was scarred as a child from eating broccoli smothered with Cheeze Whiz. Something about that combo turned him off, but he WILL eat broccoli on occasion...especially if it's plain.

During the meal, John decided to open a bottle of wine and dump about half a bottle of hot sauce onto his plate, because as he says, "Every little bit helps when you eat this stuff". And then he asked me if the entire meal was costing him even 600 calories. Uhhh...I dunno...how much sour cream did you put on your skins (I did give him and the kids the option of regular sour cream, but I do have Vegan/dairy free for Jack).

In the end, the meal itself wasn't bad. Just very very healthy. I do have to say that honestly I enjoy clean eating. I'm not so very fond of the price tag that comes with it initially, but a few extra dollars at the grocery store now could prevent a hefty bill later if I have a heart attack and need to be hospitalized, right?

That being said, I'm not even going to touch on my husband's comments regarding the "Back to Nature" cookies http://backtonaturefoods.com/default.aspx I bought.

Or the fact that he literally ripped the lid off the packaging and started eating it, telling the kids that cardboard tastes just as good as these cookies.....

Vegan Lasagna With REAL DEAD Cow Meat Gets Rated as "Coulda Been Worse"

Long story short, Thursday I get a call from my dad that went something like this:

Me: "Hello"
Dad:"What the hell! Are you TRYING to kill my grandkids?"
Me: "What? No! Why?"
Dad: "Have you ever actually seen a vegetarian? They look like an ad for death!"
Me: "Well, good thing we're not vegetarians. I am using REAL meat after all".
Dad: "Send the kids over. I'll feed 'em right".

At this point I could only sigh, because John was sitting on the couch laughing and agreeing with my dad. I'm pretty sure there are precious few things they BOTH agree on wholeheartedly, other than my cooking. Dad likes his meat and taters and John just likes his meals to not be so weird. I do have to give my husband props though. He is fun to cook for, because he is like a carp. He'll eat anything. ANYTHING. Especially if he can put hot sauce on it.

That night I was making the Vegan Lasagna, using tofu instead of ricotta cheese. You make your own sauce and everything. And you know what? The sauce was DAMN good. Fresh canned tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organic, I like how they taste), an entire onion, the equivalent of 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, a teensy bit of hot sauce and some red wine, among other things. I swear- it was a delish dish. And yet, even with the hot sauce my husband thought it was bland, but we can't help his slight low tone and under reactive taste buds, but I won't go into that.

The lasagna itself wasn't bad. In fact, we had some leftovers, and the entire 9X13 pan has been eaten and presumably digested at this point. Jack ate a few helpings, which made me feel good, because this is definitely something I can make for a family function for him (and others, right dad?) to eat. Nathan thought it was poison, but that is status quo for anything other than chips and candy, and Maddie hates red sauce on anything in general, so John was the real judge, and his honest opinion was, "Coulda Been Worse".

Well then sir, I consider that a 'thumbs UP!!!"

On A Sliding Scale of 1-10, The Vegan Breakfast Rates a Minus 12

I was pretty gung ho this morning. I made a Vegan Breakfast Sandwich for the kids, except instead of using meat free meat, I used turkey bacon. I like turkey bacon.

I think if I reprint the actual recipe it's some sort of plagiarizing, so suffice it to say it included frying some tofu blocks in coconut oil, topping it with cheese, and making a McVegan Sammich. The pepperjack rice cheese was actually pretty yummy, and melted well, so that was a plus. The rest of it...well...the kids unanimously voted that they 'didn't like my new chicken'.

John found all my new ingredients, and reading them aloud in utter despair while eating a tofu sandwich topped with fake cheese and real turkey bacon could only sigh, shake his head and wonder aloud (and I quote), "Where have I gone wrong? What did we do to you to deserve this? What? Can I fix it? His allergy isn't even THAT bad. It might even be a made up fake allergy!" I shrugged and told him to get onboard baby, cuz it's vegan lasagna tonight, complete with rice noodles and REAL ground beef. This book has a recipe for using marinated tofu for your 'ricotta' replacement.

I'm crossing my fingers. Crossing....crossing my toes, crossing my eyes this turns out okay, because I can't live on tacos and spaghetti my whole life. I mean, come on.

So wish me a buon apetit! Until tomorrow's adventures in Fake Cheese Land....

Cuz I Wanna Be A 'Skinny Bitch'....Sorta

I have bought a new cookbook, which if you know me is no surprise. I'm sort of addicted to cookbooks. This time, the culprit is "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch", from those divine authors of the Skinny Bitch series. You can find more detailed info here: http://www.skinnybitch.net/about.html

Note: If your kid can sound out the title of the book, you may want to hide it so they're not walking around going: Buh Ih Tuh CH....Buh Ih TCH....Buh ITCH....BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH and you have to have a serious sit down chat while secretly being proud of their phonetic progress.


Basically, while the kids were at the Planetarium with the inlaws on Saturday, John and I went to the bookstore. I can't remember what we were looking for, but I do know he pretty much got hives just from entering the store....that many books is a borderline traumatic stress experience for him. But I had fun browsing at least and when I came upon "Bitch" I had to have it. Why?

Weeeellllll.... there are LOADS of dairy/egg/mold free recipes. Okay, ALL recipes are mold free, but you get my point. It's basically a freaky vegan cookbook, but it's worded in such a way that makes the recipes a.) easy to follow and b.) not so weird I want to stop shaving my armpits and live in a peace loving commune. We currently have a rotating menu of about 5 things that Jack can really eat, so I'm always up for new ideas; except I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go all out Vegan...instead of 'fake' meat, I'll be sure to use what they refer to as "dead, rotting, decomposing flesh of carcasses." Sometimes we all need a bleu cheese burger with fried onions on top.....

And thus, so inspired, I went to Whole Foods and spent an exorbitant amount of money on items like: tamari sauce, polenta (in powder form), chickpea flower, firm and flimsy tofu (okay, it's not really called flimsy tofu, but still), whole wheat pastry flour, evaporated cane sugar, nutritional yeast flakes, rice syrup, and a buttload of coconut oil. They were all out of the Ener-G egg replacements that I needed. How dare they.

I will be sure to keep my eager audience aware of our Veganese progress. Or our Wanna be Veganese progress. Or even my own Wanna-Be Bitch progress....wait...too late on that one.

When Fraggles Do Antibiotics

Looong story short. Maddie gets cold. Cold gets worse. Snot changes colors. Cough sounds like chest rattling. Doc gives drugs. We hit the local CVS to fill script aaaand....

(BTW, doesn't Maddie sort of resemble that Fraggle with the Piggie Tails?)

The pharamcist calls me over and politely says, "Excuse me ma'am. But this dosage of medicine is really, really low for someone her age. What is she being treated for?"

"Well, something bronchial-ish". I was not sure how to answer. I really really liked the PA we saw today and didn't want to have a pharmacist rain on my PA parade.

And then I had a brainstorm! " Oh! But I forgot! When they put her on the scale with all her clothes on she was just about almost 30 pounds."

At which point the pharmacist looked over at Maddie waiting by the all powerful and ever entertaining blood pressure cuff (do people with blood pressure issues EVER use those, or are they just totally abused by kids waiting for their drugs?) and then she said, "Oh yes. I see. She IS a bit skinny for someone her age."

Usually at this point I feel obligated to retort "She eats! I swear!" But I let it go. The PA gave her the right dosage for her weight, not age and so I'm fine with the world. Especially since they seem to be working.

And now onto Nate's icky croupy sounding cough....I though little ones outgrew croup???

Christmas...Finally

I'm only a month behind on this post. So sorry. I cann't seem to keep up with daily life these days, much less all the little extras. As it is, I am missing out on my tea party with Mads right now just to start some laundry and type. Sigh.

So, here we are Christmas morning. This is Maddie in her new castle. She still looks half asleep, but she seems to like the castle when the boys aren't waging epic battles inside using their new GI Joes and army guy schtuff. Thanks Oma and Opa by the way, who found it necessary to give the boys army guy sets that come complete with plastic barbed wire reels so that the army guys can crawl through them WWI in France style. Okay, That's kind of cool.... This is Jack, very excited about some Bakugan thing. I have NO idea what this stuff is. I just know boys his age like it. For whatever reason.

Nate got a gift card to Walmart on Christmas Eve. Because he could spend it on whatever he wanted, I'm pretty sure this gift basically trumped them all. Nothing says Merry Christmas like getting shot by a cowboy.

About 30 photos before we actually left to go to my inlaws...and not one winner. See what I mean:

Okay, Jack looks a little dorky and what is with the face Mads is pulling?

2 with eyes closed, one grimacing. Nope. Not a winner.

One with eyes closed, and one doing some funky dance thing. Jack looks cute though.

And those are the best ones. Sigh.

Well, Merry New Year everyone!

And We All Shine On!

Today is day 3 of our first official shiner for Nate. As you can see, the swelling is down, but the bruising is really starting to show. I think the fact that it looks worse means it's getting better, right?

I keep telling him I want to take a picture of his 'black eye'. Then he wants to know how his eyes turned black, and I have to tell him they're not really black, they are bruised. The bruising is across the bridge of his nose on both sides.

His preschool teacher today kept an extra special eye on him and said he was fine all day, which is great. He's bouncing around and acting like normal, despite every effort I've made to keep him relatively sedate throughout the day. Apparently the learning curve hasn't totally kicked in, since he almost fell off our stools at the island and was caught climbing up the back of the couch and then I caught him STANDING ON THE BED playing with his blankets.

If I ever start getting gray hairs he is the reason why. Just you remember that.

This is What it Looks Like

When you fall off your bed and pick a fight with the open dresser drawer. We don't think the nose is broken, but as you can see his eye is a little swollen.

And I'm really glad he just has that small cut on his eyelid. This could have been a lot worse.

When his nose was bleeding it bled out the right nostril, instead of the cut on the left side. Once again, this incident proves to me that Nate does not have a guardian angel. He happens to have a TEAM of them. My mantra of 2010.....It could have been worse.....it could have been worse....it could have been worse.....

The Nutcracker and Me

I have decided that I want to have fun with my kids on a more regular basis. I should also do some girly mommy and me things more often with my daughter, and so I took her to see a local production of "The Nutcracker Ballet". It was fabulous, and we had a great time. She even sat really well. There was a 15 minute squirmy period in the middle, but she seemed to love it, and now whenever she hears the Nutcracker music, she goes all wild and says..."That's the Nutcracker Mommy!" Yes pretty girl it sure is! This is us, all dolled up in front of our gigantor real tree that the kids decorated, so I don't want any lip on how it's not all neat and organized and themey and it looks a little Charlie Brownish. I love all those handmade, glued up and glittered ornaments. Every one!

After the ballet we went out for a special mom and me dinner. Just a local place for some chicken nuggets and a french dip, but still. I wouldn't have traded the time for anything. And I can't wait until next year to do it all again!

Pageantry at Its Finest

It has been a busy week for us. Between Christmas pageant rehearsals at church, Nutcracker sightings and today heading downtown to view the Christmas around the World exhibit we have been running like crazy....in a good, good way.

Saturday the little ones had Pageant rehearsal. Jack refused to do it, and I won't force him to 'perform' if he doesn't want to. I contend that he would have been pretty awesome at it though.

This is the tree in the Sanctuary. Not exactly the look I was trying to capture, but it turned out alright. I can't wait until Easter to explain what this means to Nate, what with his 'death obsession' and all.

Nate was a dragon/dinosaur in the pageant. There was almost a prehistoric smackdown because another little boy was also a dino, and as Nate clearly pointed out to us, "There was only ONE dinosaur when Jesus was alive." Well, then, okay. During his battle with the T-Rex, he was warned by our WONDERFUL Christian Ed director Miss Bethany that if they continued to 'fight' they would have to be sheep in the play. No 4 year old boy willingly puts on those sheep ears (even if they ARE too cute) and so the boys worked out their territorial differences and lived in Bethlehem as peaceful dinosaurs.

This is my Pageant Penguin. She was soooo stinking cute. EVeryone loved her. She practiced hard all day Saturday, participating in the songs and hand motions and everything. And then, come performance time....there were PEOPLE in the audience! Horror of horrors to a very shy little girl. She was escorted in by another mom (I opted out of helping her at this point because I knew she'd get super clingy to me and so I ran and hid), and went up to the front, turned her back to the PEOPLE and sat through the entire performance. When it was all over she said, "I Don't wanna be in the pageant anymore mommy." I promised she was all done....until next year.
It was a great show. The kids did a great job. Even Mads, who begged to be in the show and then got a serious case of stage fright (Whose genetics are those...certainly NOT mine, to be sure). I'm so proud of my little Dinosaur and Penguin!!! They know all about the Birth of Jesus now. Waddle waddle waddle..... ROAR!

Nate at a Wake

My friend's grandmother passed away, so I hauled all 3 kiddo's to the wake, sans hubby since he had to work late. The kids were remarkably well behaved. Truly. Until they got in line to view the body.

Me-Boys, what are you doing?
N-We're gonna go see Grandma!
Me-Okay, well come up here to the front with me.

Pause pause pause

Nate: Is this it? All it is is a DEAD PERSON?

Me-Yup, that's all there is at a funeral/wake. Dead people.

Sigh.

From Nate

N-'Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!"
Me-Yes?
N-Who's going to get Baby Jesis?
Me (thinking of the pageant on Saturday)-Well, honey, I think we may use a doll.
N-No mom. Who is going to get Jesis?
Me-Uh, from where?
N-From Heben. Who is going to Heben to get Jesis?"
Me-Well, Nate, he is going to stay is Heaven forever, because he lived a long, long time ago.
N-And what, he got DEAD???!!!
Me-Yes, he got dead. That is why we celebrate Easter.
N-Cool.
Me-Yup. That is so totally cool.

The Christmas Countdown Begins!

Every week at church our pastors have been stressing the REAL meaning of Christmas. They are urging us not to be so stressed out over the little things. And while I'm totally with them on these points, I don't feel overly stressed about this holiday. I'm nowhere near getting my shopping done, I haven't planned my holiday dinner menu, and I've barely started on my cards to send out. But I love Christmas so much, it just all doesn't seem like work. It is my favorite holiday, and I love all the components that make up a "busy holiday season". Could be why I got married a week before Christmas, eh?

So, we've kicked off the season with our town's holday parade. It really should be renamed the "Boyscout Parade" because that's all whose in it. And 40 year old moms in short Santa skirts twirling batons. I swear to goodness that is true. And slightly icky.

For those of my out of state friends, just so you don't think we are all mean old Chicagoans here, we have John Deere tractors in our parades. Here's Jack in his uniform throwing us some candy. These parades are a great way to get rid of Halloween excess.

Nate and Maddie, enjoying the show.

Bryce is in there somewhere....

These two are getting ready to watch the parade. It's another tradition we now have. We go to church, head to Galati's Pasta for lunch (and primo parking), and watch the parade. I have eliminated the part of the tradition where we choose to go after the parade to get our tree. Standing outside for 2 hours is long enough in this cold weather for me!

Nate's Letter To Santa-As Dictated to His Dad

Dear Santa,

I want to say I love you! Can I give you some grapes? Can I please give you some candy canes? Or some Chili?

Santa, can you please give me some cars? Maybe a big Transformer? Can you build a gun for me?

I have tried to be a good boy all year. I have always wanted a Leapster. That would be great.

Love,
Nate

This is What Happens When

You let the three year old do her own makeup.

O Tannennbaum O Christmas Tree!

We went on Saturday to get our tree. It was very very strange indeed. First of all, it seems to be tradition that we like to get our tree on the absolute coldest day of the year, through about a foot and a half of snow right when the tree farm is closing so that we are always running to hurry up, get a tree, and not miss the last sleigh ride back to home base.

This year, we barely needed coats. And we went early in the day. And we scrapped going for a super long drive and found a tree farm literally in our own back yard (out on my long weekend run I found this tree farm that is about a 5 minute drive from our house. Sweetness).

Practically every tree was in great shape, and the kids had an awesome time running the gauntlet. I think Nate only fell over the saplings once (maybe twice). Maddie really, really wanted us to get the Charlie Brown tree, because it was just her size. She did that with her pumpkins at Halloween too.

Camo-Maddie. Can you find the girl in the leopard print coat that's hiding?

I'm sure at this point he was just talking about something. Talk talk talk talk talk....just to hear his own voice. Sap. Not from our stump.

I'm pretty sure the simple direction I gave at this point was, "Everyone look nice for the camera. We need a Christmas card picture." This is what happens when you say those kinds of crazy things.

Uh...3 year old with a saw. For some reason daddy thought this was an a-okay idea. So while I had a minor heart attack, I took photos.

Oh yeah, this is scary stuff. But it was all good. Everyone maintained all their digits.

Jack playing Lumber Jack.

The kiddos, in front of the winner. Oh yeah, this baby is huge. I have pictures to prove it, but it's not quite ready yet. And I know people like to make fun of my tree because it looks like little kids decorated it, but so what. Little kids DID decorate it. I'm not trying to win any contests or sell in as a display. It's all mine and I love it.