Merry Christmas!

Yes. I was a procrastinator. Yes. I am using today's technology to help me make up for not sending Christmas cards. Sooo, I'm staying up late tonight so that you can wake up and see shiny, happy, little people in your email inbox in the morning! :-)

(Note: I know this is long, but I didn't feel like posting 3 separate blogs.)


Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we took the kids up to Mom and Dad's house for a fantastic prime rib dinner with friends and family. Mom and Dad slaved in the kitchen and Katie helped! (Her green teeth are from the Christmas cookie she just ate.) Good food and fun was had by all. :-)

Then we carried on the 35 year old tradition of the Christmas Tree Story. Narrated by Nathan. Enjoy the video. Should be some nostalgia there for some. :-)

After the story, we all opened our presents. Casey bought the boys Air Hog helicopters. They battled with those all night. Katie got a boombox from Grandma and Grandpa, and Alex got a Handy Manny talking wrench and screwdriver from Uncle Casey. They're inseparable. Alex opens presents with the wrench, pokes his sister with the screwdriver, and sleeps with both of them clutched in his little baby paws at night. (Thank you Uncle Casey!)

We stayed at Dad's pretty late, but needed to head home and finish wrapping. The kids were having so much fun, we couldn't get them in the car. I told them to hurry up because if they didn't, we couldn't turn on our Christmas lights. And if we didn't turn on our Christmas lights, Santa couldn't find our house. And if Santa couldn't find our house, he couldn't bring us any presents. To which they replied, "How many presents will Santa bring us?".

"One," I said. "Haven't you been watching the news? We're in a recession. Santa had to lay off some elves and his workshop has slowed to 15% production capacity."

"Huh? What Mom?"

"Yeah. So get in the car."

Christmas Day

It was nice to wake up and have a Christmas at home this year. I always love traveling to Grandparents' houses and visiting around town, but it was definitely nice to be able to wake up at 6:30AM with the kids and say, "HEY! Go back to sleep!"

We had a fantastic Christmas. After opening presents, we made a big breakfast. Casey came over for a quick bite to eat, but after seeing that I bought the kids Guitar Hero World Tour, he decided to stay and party. We were having so much fun, we invited Steve and Mom to come join us. (Mom, you were a trooper!) Unfortunately, my camera isn't picking up the very loud sound from the TV of the song they were playing, but here's the video nonetheless.

What you don't see is the 2 solid hours of Casey on the drum set with the kids asking, "Uncle Casey, is it my turn yet?!"

"No. One more set. Just one more...."

3rd Times the Charm

Later in the day, we pumped out a Thanksgiving-style meal for Darrick's parents. They came over and brought the kids presents. Uncle Clinton (Darrick's brother) rocked out with the kids on World Tour. They had a blast.

Casey stayed for dinner and we had nice convos with good company. As everyone left, I began to feel how tired I really was, but the kids decided to whip out World Tour again. I had to get this on tape. So, here's a video of them writing their own music on the "Studio" section of the game, where you write and record our own music. I'll translate Nathan's lyrics for you. Keep in mind, he's obsessed with Star Wars.

"Never lose hope. Never let the Republic die. Never give up on the Republic. Cause the Republic la la la, go Republic, la la la la. You have to fight. For the Republic. Never lose hooooope."

I don't have video of this, but after Alex fell asleep, Darrick grabbed the drums, Ethan and Nathan did rhythm and lead guitar and Katie and I produced the sweet and sultry vocals for a few jam sessions. We had a blast.

Thank you all for making it the best Christmas ever! :-)

I'm going to bed now. What a day! Merry Christmas you guys!

Gettin' Down for Christmas

After my sister-in-law posted her cute family video, I thought I would try out the killer flash JibJab has come up with. And may I just say, from experience of how long it takes to change out just one photo in Flash, these Flash videos are killer! :-) And yes, that IS chocolate dripping down the side of Alex's mouth. I thought it very fitting. :-)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

"Even though it has a flannel banket on it..."

It's Christmas time. Time to Deck the Halls. And what better way to Deck the Halls, than to SING "Deck the Halls". Let's commence the original Welsh version of the song, shall we?

Cold is the man who can't love,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la,
The old mountains of dear Wales,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la,
To him and his warmest friend,
Ffa la, Ffa la, fa la la,
A cheerful holiday next year,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la.
To the troubled, cold are the bills,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la,
Which come during the holidays,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la,
Listening to a sermon in one verse,
Ffa la, Ffa la, fa la la,
Spending more than you earn,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la.
Cold is the snow on Mount Snowdon,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la,
Even though it has a flannel banket on it,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la,
Cold are the people who don't care,
Ffa la, Ffa la, fa la la,
To meet together on New Year's Eve,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la.

Huh? Such a HAPPY tune!

Well, we Decked our Halls the first weekend in December. Darrick decided his kids were having a real tree this year. Good grief, I was thinking a 6-7 footer would do it, but he picked out a ginormous 10 foot tree that nearly touches the ceiling! Luckily, we came up with just enough decorations to cover this giant Grand Fir. Though I thought it was a bit much, we can't help but stare in awe at this gorgeous reminder of why I shouldn't live in Tucson! Not to mention it's divine pine smell.

These pictures really don't do it justice. If you haven't been to my house, then you don't realize that I have a nearly 14 foot ceiling and my fireplace is the size of a Pinto. (Well, close.)

And I found this great little "Fast Facts" page about Christmas trees on the History Channel site. Check it out.

Uncle Casey's Hood

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Mom and I took the kids up to Prescott to check out Uncle Casey's hood. On the way up, I got my picture taken by these fun little cameras on the side of the road. It's like Prescott's own Disneyland entrance where they have someone take your picture when you enter and then send the picture to you later. Only the photo is so expensive, you usually don't buy it. I'm sure in this case my "Welcome to Prescott" picture will be something I'm forced to buy. And it will cost around $80 (for going 10 over the speed limit! How does Prescott have speed cams and Tucson doesn't?!)

But that's neither here nor there....

So, as soon as we got into Prescott, Mom took us to Coco's. We walked in and Alex started looking every which-way, yelling, "Unca Taaaaasey! Unca Taaaaaseeeeeey!" After that, those two were pretty much inseparable the rest of our visit.





After seeing Casey's reptilian roommates and brutal heater (seriously Case, post a pic of that thing would ya?), we headed to the lake to feed the ducks and play.

Twas our day up in Prescott

When all through the park

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a shark (yeah, yeah)

The bread was brought by Casey with care

In hopes that the ducks soon would be there

The children were excited, jumped up and sped

down to the lake, they ran way ahead

And me with my expensive Latte, and Casey with his coffee black

Ran down to the children to give them some crack. (I kid. It was bread!)

When across the water, there arose such a clatter

We sprang from the bench to see what was the matter

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But 25 ducks, a goose and a gander!

Flying in a "V" towards the targets on our heads,

I knew in a moment we'd all be dead.

(OK, that's dramatic, but HOLY COW! Freaking ducks on meth!)

More rapid than eagles as coursers they came

I whistled and shouted and called the kids by name,

"Now Alex and Ethan and Nathan and Katie!"

"Back up from the water, this is gettin' shady!"

"To the top of the hill, back to the car!"

"Now run away! Run away! Run away far!"

So back down to the water all of the kids walked,

because no one listens when Mommy talks.

Later I heard Casey exclaim as we finally walked out of sight,

"Dude! Did you get that on camera?! Alriiiight..."

Here's Casey playing with the kids at the park. We had such a blast! We're coming up to see you again Uncle Casey! Only next time, we're spending the night. 8 hours of driving in one day is POOP!

Thanksgiving Cowboy Style

Thanksgiving Day was great. I slaved in the kitchen all day. Though it didn't feel like slaving because there was a nice, cool mist outside; Grandma took the kids to a movie; the baby took a nap; and I rocked out to my COLDPLAY CD. (OK OK. I'll stop saying Coldplay.) COLDPLAY!

On Friday night, we decided to have a little family outing. We took the kids to Trail Dust Town. It's a great little Old West town complete with steakhouse, locomotive, gold panning, shooting range and a live stunt show called "Santa's Little Outlaw". Best part is, everything but the train ride is free. (And that's only a buck!)

Here's Darrick keeping Alex nice and warm. (Katie loves to make sure she pops into all pictures that include baby.)

There's a shoe shine stand near the gazebo in the center of "town". Nate and Alex decided to strike a pose.

The best part is when the kids get to pan for gold. Why? The guy that works that area of town must have been an original part of the Old West. He literally looks like this guy and stands there like a statue in an Old West museum until a kid walks near him. Then, suddenly, he comes to life. Scares the kids everytime. It must be his joy in life. lol

Then he gives each kid a pan and shows them how to swirl it. While they're focused on looking for the gold, he sneaks a piece of fool's gold into the pan and buries it in the sand. The kids get so excited when they find their gold. Of course, Ethan always wants to keep looking...lol

Darrick, me and the kids. Grandma locked us up!

Better Late Than Never

It's been a crazy few weeks, but I thought I would take a minute to catch up on Moochie Town.

So, here's the night before Thanksgiving. Mom came down from California to take care of the kids while we went to the Coldplay concert. (Subliminal shout out to Coldplay, "I love you!")

Anywho, here's the product of one gingerbread man kit, four kids' creativity and one Grandma's patience and perseverance.

Fun was had by all and Grandma is still alive. Must have been a good night! :-)

Coldplay Rocks!

We started off the Thanksgiving Holiday with a rockin' concert in Glendale. Here's a clip. I'm about 30 rows back down in a floor row. (Thank goodness other people had better cameras. I left mine in the car and my cellphone's sound recording is poop.)



At one point, they walked through the crowd, high-fiving everyone down the row, then setup in the middle of the audience at the back of the arena. Killer.




During "Lovers in Japan", they dropped a bazillion paper butterflies from the ceiling. I, of course, sleep holding mine. ALWAYS. :-P



One more for posterity...LOVE THIS BAND!



Thank you to Mom for making it possible for me to go!!!

Time to go find my Coldplay CD and curl up with my paper butterflies while wearing my kicka$$ Coldplay Tour T-shirt!

Winter Cleaning

I've had this stack of the kids' homework I keep meaning to recycle. I almost threw them out when I thought maybe I should sort through them to see if there were any I wanted to keep for their memory books. Then I thought it might be nice for you guys to see how they're doing in school. So here's one of each. (Click on each image and it should open a window with a larger view. If it doesn't, I'll upload them as large images. If you're reading this in your email, you may have to visit my blog to see them as larger images.)

Your future president:


Nate has been stoked about this meal worm project they did at school. I thought it was especially great when he brought it home and wanted to keep it as a pet. :-) I love his spelling of "magnifying glass" in his last line.

Ethan's greatest strength in school has always been math. This was his 3 minute timed test from earlier in the semester. He was the only one in class who finished in the allotted time with a 100%. You should see this kid at the grocery store. He logs each price in his head, adds it up, then adds in the 8.2% tax. He'll tell me the cost of our load before we check out. He's usually only a few cents off!

And this is just one to grow on. I found this in my stack of photos when I was putting together some albums for myself. I think it's circa 1994, but Jami can correct me if I'm wrong!

Playhouse

About 3 weeks ago, Darrick scored an overseas crate from a job. He decided this would be a perfect foundation for a playhouse for the kids. With a lot of free wood from his Dad, in under a week he transformed it from something like this:

to this:





With another week or two under his belt, the kids' cottage began to take shape. Here comes the roof...



He plans to build a kitchen, table, etc. on the inside. If any of you really know Darrick, you know he's very particular. So I'm positive it will be beautiful when it's done. He's even incorporating this beautiful stained glass Mom made for me a few Christmases ago into one of the windows...





I'm hoping he has it done by Christmas. Who hasn't wished they woke up on Christmas morning to a present as fantastic as THIS?

"Nuh-uh"

Earlier today I took the kids to grab some dinner. We sat outside on the patio to eat our grub. They were a little playful at first but as soon as the food came they settled right down. About halfway through the meal, an older couple strolled by and began to marvel at my chatty-but-calm children. With a German accent, they showered the kids with compliments.

"You are so vell behaved! Look at ze shildren! You are all acting like zuch big kids!"

At first the kids were a little startled, with a sort of "ME???" look on their faces. But eventually Ethan thanked them and everyone else followed suit. Then the couple asked how old Alex was. I told them he was 2, to which they replied, "Oh my! He is zo vell behaved!"

They were nearly applauding as they left; but Katie looked a bit perplexed. Looking down at the ground and mumbling, so we could hear her but the couple couldn't, she says, "They must be from another country."

Assuming it was because of their accents, I asked Katie why she thought that. Shaking her head, she said, "Well, they must be from another country because Alex is definitely not well behaved".

Halloween Fun

May I just say that trick-or-treating in 80 degree weather is LAME. But fun was had by all. As we started our evening, all of the kids were hootin' and hollerin' about how they were going to trick-or-treat for hours. Needless to say, about 45 minutes in I was hearing "Mom can you hold my bucket?"and "Can we go home now?".

The three older kids planned their own costumes. Although, I admit I had a blast helping Katie with hers. Cutest Little Witch in the West.

I shopped for an orange sweatsuit for Alex so I could make a tiger costume, but no dice. So he landed Nate's Anakin Skywalker getup from last year. He was the cutest little Jedi you ever saw.

Alex had an interesting trick-or-treat strategy. For the first few houses, he was just happy to get one piece of candy. But everyone thought he was so cute, they would give him handfuls. Eventually when he was handed only one piece, he would quietly say, "One more, peas". They thought he was so cute, they kept giving him MORE! By the time we were done, I think his bucket was about 3 lbs heavier than the others kids'!

Katie decided she wanted to be a witch instead of a princess this year. I guess it happens at some point in every woman's life. :-P But, tell me I'm not going to be in trouble with this one and her big brown eyes...

The boys begged to be soldiers, so I scavenged through Savers and found some legit fatigues. Dad lended us some of his pins and voila! Here's a "before" picture and a"midway-through-before-we-crashed" picture.

Nathan had his own particular way of trick-or-treating. This was his exact line at every single house. I think he rehearsed it before hand.

"Trick-or-treat! How are you? I hope you're good. Happy Halloween and Thank you!"

Sometimes he didn't even wait for their answer. He just streamed right through that, took the candy and bailed. :-)

Darrick carrying Alex after his Jedi powers were drained.

We had a blast! We even topped off the night with a visit to Grandma and Steve at Steve's football game. (Darn it! I should have taken a picture of Steve playing his tuba and hanging all over the girls in the brass section. :-P)

The Pumpkin "Patch"

OK, so it's really the pumpkin "lot" near our house. But honestly, the kids didn't know the difference. And when you add in $20 bucks in gas and a $4 per person charge just to go into the pumpkin patch (not including the per pound price), I better be walkin out with a gold plated 25lb pumpkin!

So here's our trip to the "patch" and our goopy fun.

Alex wanted to "drive" the wagon. I'm not looking forward to his 16th birthday.

Katie and Alex wanted to paint their pumpkins. Ethan and Nathan carved theirs.

From left to right: Katie's, Alex's, Ethan's and then Nate's pumpkin.

I forgot to add in this video! So here it is...