Names have been changed to protect the innocent

The kids are playing a new game they got for Christmas, in which you have to roll a single die to determine what your next move is.

Child 1: "What did you roll?"

Child 2: "A nine."

"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas..."

(one of Lauren's stocking stuffers from Noni and Papa, who always sing the song to her)

Naughty or nice?

Uncle Bud celebrating Christmas Eve:

Crowded house

While the kids were over at my parents' house today they were playing in the spare bedroom and turned on the electric blanket on the bed. When my mom noticed this she had a talk with them and told them not to turn it on because no one was in it sleeping and if it was on all day it might burn the house down. She asked them where would they (Noni and Papa) sleep if their house burned down. Here are their answers:

Lauren offered them our futon.

Owen offered the middle of Mama and Daddy's bed - his favorite place to sleep!

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas edition

(Wordless, schmerdless: These are just the picture cards we've received. And in the last two days we've gotten enough more to warrant another ribbon column, but I'm too busy (read: lazy) to get them up.)

Polar Express 2009

Whoa, it seriously seems like JUST yesterday I was posting the pictures from last year and here we are again. We joined a big group of friends yesterday afternoon for our annual ride. We've usually gone earlier in the month, but I think it was more fun this time because of how close we are to Christmas. Afterwards, instead of going out to dinner like we usually do with a bunch of wound up kids, we came back to our house for pizza. And the kids were wild indeed! We then ventured out past bedtime in the drizzly night to see some Christmas lights. All in all, a fabulous family evening!

It's tradition - new jammies! (notice the matching kicks)

Owen's got his ticket to ride

Enjoying cookies and hot chocolate

Santa gave Lauren the first gift of Christmas - a bell from his sleigh!

Adam let Owen snap a few shots using his new toy

Buster. Dirt buster.

I can't decide if my favorite part is where he gets twitter-pated that I'm recording him and he does a little dance or near the end when he's trying to turn it off and it keeps sliding away from him!

"Time for school, go buckle up!"

Martha Jr.

Owen (AKA Mr. Cranky Sick Pants) went to bed early and fell fast asleep. I thought Lauren would enjoy helping me wrap some presents, and boy was I right! She helped me trim old Christmas cards to use as name tags, choose which boxes to use for whom, cut ribbon, and write out everyone's name. She loved helping and when we were done she ran to ask Daddy to take her picture with all of her creative products.

I've been saving Christmas cards for years (it's a sickness, passed down for generations) and wanted to figure out a way to use some of the most beautiful ones. I finally went through them this afternoon and cut the fronts off of the ones I loved. I trimmed them into shapes for name tags. I think this is the most creative (hands on - the blog doesn't count) thing I've done in years - pretty sad!

Stable upgrade

Totally them

(taken with Daddy's new camera, a Nikon D90)

Self medication, preschooler style

So I've been a parent for over five and a half years. Owen will be exactly three and a half next week, and I only just this morning had to make my very first phone call to poison control. Pretty good, eh?

Backstory: He's had a cold and wicked cough for a few days, ever since helping Adam put up the outside Christmas lights in frigid weather on Sunday afternoon.

He crawled in my bed this morning around 2:00 and said he was sick and coughing a lot. Adam was still awake (but that's a story for another day), so I sent Owen out to find him to ask for some medicine. I heard him shuffle down the hall in his footie jammies, so I rolled over and snuggled back under the warm covers.

A few minutes later he came shuffling back and crawled in bed with me. I asked him if Daddy got some medicine for him and he said, "No, I did it myself." I sat straight up in bed and asked him to repeat himself. "Daddy fell asleep on the couch, so I did it myself." I immediately ran out and grabbed the bottle of Triaminic so see how much he'd had. I woke up Adam and we both went back to cross examine the boy.

We asked him how he got the bottle open, since yes, it does have a childproof cap on it. He said he pushed it down hard and turned it lefty loosey (no joke, the kid is smart) and he grunted when he was showing us, to emphasize how hard he had to turn it. We had him try it in front of us, and he couldn't repeat the feat.

I asked him how much he had had, and he said, "Mama, you only give me one, but I'm three, so I had three." Judging from how much I remembered being in the bottle at bedtime, he was right - there were about three teaspoons missing. I went back out to the kitchen and found the little dosage cup in the sink. He certainly knew what he was doing!

I called poison control and relayed the details to them. They calculated the active ingredients, milligrams and his weight and said it was not a toxic amount and assured me I had nothing to worry about. Adam slept with him the rest of the night, just to make sure.

We always keep the medicine up high, I had just left that bottle on the counter since we used it at bedtime. Who knew a three year old could open a childproof cap? Our ways have been changed!

Moral of the story: Kids are determined, that's for sure. And so much smarter than we give them credit for!

Tropical boy

This morning while driving Lauren to school the kids were counting the lawns in the neighborhood that were still frosty white from last night's freeze. Out of nowhere, Owen asked, "Mama, when are we going to Hawaii?" The child has never been there, nor is it something we've ever discussed!

Is this familiar to anyone else?

The day before the snow

*S*N*O*W*

I know, I know, not much, hardly enough to photograph. But it never snows here, so it's worth recording. I vaguely remember one other time, maybe about 14 years ago, and there was less on the ground than this.

Beyond her years

We've been listening to Christmas songs all week, at home and in the car. This morning the song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" came on and I was singing along. Lauren, listening intently to the words, chuckled and said, "Well, that was an unusual song."

Candy Cane cookies

I can remember making these Christmas cookies with my kindergarten BFF for years in elementary school, and even into high school. I had to email her a couple weeks ago to get the recipe so the kids and I could try them. Just as yummy as I remembered!

Tradition

This afternoon was our annual Christmas cookie exchange and Santa party at our good friends Fran and Trisha's house. The kids love making crafts and decorating cookies. If there is ever a shortage of glitter glue, you can be sure Lauren had something to do with it!

The kids decorating their own cookies

Finally, a year where no one cried!!

Her first ballet

Lauren and I were invited by some friends to join them at a local production of The Nutcracker today. We were excited to have some girl time! The girls enjoyed themselves, but of course were hungry for snacks the minute the lights went down and the show started. I think the last time I saw The Nutcracker I was in 6th grade. I liked watching Lauren's face as all the different dancers came on stage. He favorite was the Candy Cane dance.

Lauren and Paloma with the nutcrackers

Lauren & I, Roxana & Paloma

A reason to celebrate

We went to a luncheon today for my great aunt and uncle - they were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! Isn't that amazing? Gives us all something to strive for!

Aunt Tillie and Uncle Ray

Mom and Dad

Talia & Chad and Adam & Ali

The immediate fam - just some of us

Me and my mama!

It's not just the days that are getting shorter...

From this:

To this:

Just kidding! How about this:

Crazy, eh? I woke up on Monday and decided it was time for a change. Literally a couple hours later this was the result. I had dinner that night with some girlfriends and neither one of them recognized me, no joke.

I had to wait a few days to post this because I wanted to see my family faces in person on Thanksgiving.

In a nutshell...

this is what I'm thankful for:

Hannibal Lecter

Naps are, unfortunately, a thing of the past for our kids at this point. But today, since they both have mild colds, I sent them to their rooms after lunch for a nap. I just went in to check on them and to tuck them in and found Owen laying in bed with his baseball glove over his face, talking to himself. Funny boy!

Too much Elmer Fudd?

At the grocery store today when I put our Thanksgiving turkey in the shopping cart Lauren wondered out loud who shot Tom Turkey. Owen looked at me with big eyes and asked, "Is that a BODY?"

National Prematurity Awareness Day

Even though we were blessed to have each of our kids born at 41+ weeks, there are so many others who are aren't as lucky. We're continually inspired by our awesome friends the McNulty Quads, who were born at 31 weeks. If you want to learn more about the March of Dimes, head on over to their blog and read about their own experience. Go support this wonderful organization and help #fight4preemies!!!

M.ario K.art W.ii (a whole new meaning)

This is what I saw when I got out of the shower this morning:

(By the way, I broke up the title with those periods so that no one searching the Internet for that game would find themselves here!!)

Technicolor dreams

When I noticed that The Wizard of Oz was on tonight, I told Lauren she could stay up late to watch it. (Besides, it's her half birthday today!) I went to put Owen to bed and when I came back out to the living room ten minutes later she said, "Um, could you turn on the colored movie just like this? I don't like this brown one." I didn't realize she'd seen parts of it before!

Funderland

Last Friday after school we met up with friends for an afternoon of fun. We bought the kids each an unlimited ride wristband and let them run wild. Even the occasional rain sprinkles didn't ruin their fun. Finally, almost three hours in, the chilly weather got the better of us and we called it a day.

Our railroad gang

Kove and Lauren must've gone around four

times in a row, just kicking back and catching up.

Sierra and Owen

Lauren and Kove on the log ride.

Owen and Sierra on a leisurely drive.

Flash forward 11 years - scary!

Why didn't they think of this sooner??

Halloween party