Wild Humans

On the way to celebrate Katie's 7th birthday with Mom and Dad last night, we saw a horse traveling in a horse trailer. The kids were excited and started asking me questions about horses. Being the all-knowing mom with extensive equestrian wisdom, I answered their questions.



Kate: "What kind of horse is that, Mom?"

Me: "A brown one."

Ethan: "Are horses dangerous?"

Me: "It depends on whether you spit at them or not." (Yes, I get enjoyment out of giving them retarded answers so that they question everyone's wisdom.) :-)

Nate: "Nuh uh, Mom. But are some horses dangerous, really?"

Me: "Well, Nate....there are domesticated horses, and some of those can be dangerous but I would think a wild horse would be pretty dangerous if you tried to ride him."

Nate: "What would happen to you?"

Me: "You'd probably get bucked off and stomped on. They're not used to humans."

Nate: "That's just like wild humans. They can be crazy too."

Me: "Wild humans?"

Nate: "Yeah, they're called Hobos."

Me: "Uhhhh..."

And here's one for the Dads!

The Man Behind the Belly

Does this make me look fat?

Man, I wish I had one of these T-shirts when I was pregnant...



"Does this baby make me look fat?"

December/January Birthdays

All these birthdays so close together!

Our favorite 6 year old cousin Dallin had his birthday on the 26th. Then Nate's birthday quietly passed on the 27th. (We all had the flu. We just chilled for the most part.) Cutie Claire and Will on the 1st. Dad on the 9th. Grandma Murray on the 19th, and Katie and Grandpa Murray on the 28th.

I can't keep up! If I focus real hard, I might remember Katie's. lol.

Happy Birthday to all. If you haven't had your birthday yet, then this counts as me having remembered. :-P

So here's some birthday cards/funnies for everyone.
To My Favorite Dallin...



To My "Pinkalicious" Ballerina, Claire...

To My Crazy Brother, Will...

To My Awesome Dad... (just funny!)

To My Loving Grandma... (I Love Maxine!)

And To My Country Grandpa from his City Girl...

Whew! Let's Play 'Catch Up'

Sorry about not keeping up on the blog a bit more. I'm working over 50 hours a week, so on weekdays I come home, have some dinner, cuddle with my babies until they fall asleep and then I'm off to bed.

Saturdays are fun though. We go to the park, rock out on World Tour, or work on the house. It's nearly painted. We're still working on the trim, but we decided on yellow and white. Just like "Yellow House Grandma"! :-)

Darrick built the door out of oak (I believe).

He even built the handle/latch system for the doors.

We were impressed!

The long window is where Mom is "filling in".

As far as I know, Mom is receiving an antique table in trade for

a stained glass creation. If I'm wrong, then this is news

to Mom. :-P

Then, before you thought he couldn't get more intricate on the house,

he put in pergo flooring that he scored free from a job.

We still need to build the little kitchen area inside. That way when little Claire Bear comes to visit, she and Katie can play house! :-)

New Year's Resolutions

This morning I woke up and thought about making the obligatory "lose weight this year" resolution, the "pay off credit card debt" resolution, the "eat healthier" resolution, the "learn a new language" resolution, and the new for 2009 - "live more sustainably and 'green'" resolution. I thought I should vow to exercise myself skinny, save every last dime I make to pay down debt, eat only rabbit food, and grow my own rabbit food while speaking fluent German. Because, if I could just reach those goals, I just knew I would be happier. Right?

I hauled my elliptical trainer, which has become a very expensive towel hanger, out into the living room to make sure I felt guilt everytime I passed it by. I made a financial plan to reduce wasteful spending and cut my debt down. I ate a healthy veggie frittata and enjoyed a morning of cleaning the house.

Then it was lunch time.

After a bit of whining from the kiddies, I loaded them up in the car. We drove down to Carl's Jr. where I used my credit card to purchase calorie-laden Famous Stars with cheese and crisscut fries (with Ranch, of course). On top of which, we unnecessarily burned an extra gallon of gas while trying to decide if we wanted Carl's Jr. or something else.

Perhaps I should just get some towels and throw them on the elliptical now...lol

I'm glad I didn't actually make the same old resolutions this year. In fact, the BBC reported New Year's resolutions are hazardous to your health. So if you've made those impossible-to-keep resolutions and are feeling like today is your lucky Thursday, toss all of that out and vow to never make another self-esteem-killing goal again. Chances are, this universe has you right where you're supposed to be.

Fat or thin. Burgers (Occasional!) or veggies. English or German. Near reaching your goals or the furthest from them you've ever been. Just keep on truckin' and take this life one beautiful, engaging step at a time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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!