I must confess..

It is true. I LOVE Christmas music. I really, really do.

I love all the traditional favorites.

I love the Very Special Christmas albums with top artists performing the classics.

I love the Barenaked Ladies "Barenaked for the Holidays".

I love Jimmy Buffett's "Christmas Island".

I love when that one radio station starts playing Christmas music ALL THE TIME from Thanksgiving to New Years.

My two VERY FAVORITE songs are Christmas Carol by Skip Ewing and Colorado Christmas by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Click the link to hear the songs. And if anyone has an EASY way to add my itunes playlist to the blog, please let me know. I have lost (almost) all my Christmas cheer trying to figure it out.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Christmas Card Photo 2008?

Yeah, probably not. But it would be funny.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Saturday I baked, Sunday we celebrated our 12th anniversary. Today we purchased TWO car batteries for our TWO cars that both decided to need a new battery AT THE SAME TIME!

And then we took the boys here for a quick photo shoot.

Dear Santa,
I need a new, better camera.
Love,
Laura

Feel free to vote for your favorite, but don't be upset if we pick one of the others.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6


And we saw this guy. He looks too surprised, if you ask me. Didn't he know we were coming? Or was he just surprised that the boys had so much to ask for....



I almost forgot! Sunday afternoon I worked on this...


...a quilt (and I use that term loosely as I do not "really" quilt) of old jeans, mostly the boys, a bit of grown up jeans and the darker squares are pieces of my green velvet maternity dress I was lucky enough to wear while carrying each baby. I still need to finish it off, but I am pretty happy so far.

My busy kitchen

Today I made:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Hillary's Whole Foods Monster Cookies

Plain Old Regular Chocolate Chip Cookies

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

AND

5 months worth of tracking posters for Ben to track his accounts

AND

1 big 6 month tracking sheet for Ben to track current month/year versus last month/year

I have been very busy. My kitchen in clean, but my house is a wreck.

Look what I did

In the summer of 2007, I did this project.

Ignore Griffin in the "I heart Chicks" pjs, he is looking for Easter eggs. I am very bad at taking before pictures, so this was the only one I had of the cabinets.


Newly painted with brown glaze detail, new hardware.



Ever since the big kitchen project, I had wanted to update the bathrooms as well.

When she posted this, I knew it was time to get busy.

Again, no real before shot. We have the same bathroom cabinets in our master (pictured) that room is next!







I painted the walls, removed the rubber duckie wallpaper border, painted the main cabinet, medicine cabinet and spray painted the hardware. And the best part...I had all the paint so the project cost was only my time.





I love it. It is still kid friendly for our 4 year old but not too babyish and embarrasing for the almost 11 year old.

Next up, the master bathroom. Anyone have a good (CHEAP) bathroom renovation project to share. I need ideas.

Wordless Wednesday

Scenic overlook at the Air Force Academy, 5 minutes from our house. We see those mountains, all day, everyday. Aren't we lucky!

Life in the Testosterone Zone ~ Grown-Up Edition

Let me apologize in advance, as most of you will not see the humor in this post. But those of you who have been over when Ben has brought home a case of number 10 can enchilada sauce or a case of tortilla wraps, or jalepeno poppers should find it slightly amusing.

Ben, the food service salesman husband, received this email. It is a funny look into our lives. Yes, my children read sugar packets and boo US Food Service and Sysco trucks.


You might be a Food Service Saleman:

If you have four kinds of olive oil, three kinds of mustard, and 5 pounds of ground black pepper in your cupboard.

If most of the shirts you wear between 7am and 6pm have Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, or the Pillsbury Dough boy on them.

If your home appetizer menu includes Poppers.

If you keep your roll foil and film on the workbench in the garage because they each weigh 15 pounds.

If your kid flips the ice cream man off from the garage where he morphs into Santa Claus with the neighbor kids as he hands out Blue Bunny ice cream bars.

If the top of your gift wish list includes car wash and oil change gift certificates.

If you know which restaurants in your area have clean kitchens.

If you have looked in a restaurant's dumpster to see what they are buying and from whom.

If your personal car has 300,000 miles on it.

If your kids boo the competition's trucks.

If your ketchup, steak sauce and mustard have "FOODSERVICE PACKAGE. NOT FOR INDIVIDUAL SALE" on the label.

If you are the go-to person to supply the food for holiday parties.

If your spouse knows what a number ten can is.

If you have ever turned over a piece of China to look on the bottom in a white table cloth restaurant.

If you have read a sugar packet on a date.

If the cheese in your fridge is a forty pound block.

Ha Ha, I love second grade jokes

You will probaby rememeber these from second grade recess.

Spell: I cup. I see you pee. Ha Ha Ha.

Spell: PIG backwards. Gee, I pee. Ha Ha Ha.

Thanks for the morning chuckle Griffin.

You need to wear a coat

It is snowing outside.

Me: Carter, you need to wear a coat.

Carter: No, I'll be fine.

Me: I can not let you wear a sweatshirt only when it is snowing out. Put on a coat.

Carter: I don't want to wear a coat, I'll look like a nerd.

Me: If you don't wear a coat, you'll get sick.

Carter: I don't want to wear a coat.

Me: Ok, fine. Get a piece of paper and write a note to your teacher that says: I did not wear a coat. I understand I will not be able to go out for recess today. Please send me home with next week's homework as I will probably be home sick.

Carter: Fine, I'll bring a coat, but I won't wear it.

Me: IT IS SNOWING OUTSIDE!!

Carter left for school wearing his sweatshirt...and his coat. Hopefully he leaves it on until he gets to school. I can't wait until he is a teenager, GEEZ!

The Chef

The moms at 5 minutes for mom have chance to win $500 in free groceries from a photo contest.

The contest is about celebrating our families through our FUN with FOOD.

I searched for the picture of Griffin answering the banana phone, but realized that was before the digital camera.

I searched for a picture of the boys making those sugar cookies last year, but that was only video snipets.

And then I found this. My entry for the contest, Hayden helping in the kitchen. Here's a helpful hint, have little chefs break the egg in a small bowl, not the bowl with the other ingredients, it is easier to get the shells out this way.

Bon appétit!

Bedroom Time, no, not for grown-ups

Love and Logic part 3

Tired of bedtime fights? Try bedroom time! The theory is that they need too learn how to fall alseep by themselves. After all, if someone tells you, "go to sleep right now!" Can you fall asleep?

This little gem teaches them to go to sleep when they are tired and that staying up really late isn't as fun as you would think.

We didn't even get out of the church parking lot before we decided to spring this one on the kids.

Us: Are you guys tired of us telling you when to go to bed?

Them: YES!

Us: Do you think we send you to bed too early?

Them: YES!

Us: Well we have an idea. You can stay up as late as you want!

Them: WHAT??!!

Us: Yes, you can stay up as late as you want, but there are a few rules.

Them: OK! What are they?

Us: You have to get your pajamas on, brush your teeth and stay in your rooms when we send you for bedroom time. No coming out to say you are hungry and thirsty. You stay in your room.

Them: OK, is that it?

Us: One more thing, we get up at 6 am and you shower/bathe and get ready for school. No complaining.

Them: OK! It's a deal.


So last night, for the first time ever without complaining, they got in pjs, brushed teeth and ran up to bedroom time.

Hayden fell right asleep.
Griffin watched a little tv and was asleep by 9.
Carter stayed up until 10:30 watching a Disney Channel movie.

The real learning takes place later today, when those little angels turn into grumpy, tired little boys. Then during tonight's bedroom time they should fall asleep earlier.

Wish us luck....luck that we don't get a call from school about our grumpy boys!

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Does Anybody Really Care?

I awoke to Hayden crawling in our bed.

Ben and I lift our heads, see the clock says 12:45 and we tell him to go back to sleep. Really, I was just watching Letterman, I can't have only 1 1/2 hours of sleep.

Hayden continues complaining that he wants to go downstairs, "I'm hungry," he says.

My reply, and it is pretty brilliant, "What a bummer Hayden, I guess you should have eaten dinner."

It is a brilliant reply because not only did I remember Love and Logic, but I remembered he didn't want to eat dinner. And all this is happening at 12:45 in the morning.

Time passes, he wiggles, and he pleads and finally goes back to his room.

And then Griffin climbs in the middle of the bed. "Go back to sleep," we tell him and he does.

I continue laying there awake, wondering how I am going to deal with this busy day on only 1 1/2 hours of sleep, and then...the heat comes on.

This is strange because my brother-in-law just installed a new programmable thermostat AND I just programmed it two days ago.

I know the heat is supposed to kick on at 5:45 am, not 2:07 am.

What is going on?

What was that noise?

Why is it getting so hot in here?

OH NO, Suddenly it makes perfect sense.

A burglar has broken in, he turned up the heat to make it uncomfortable to sleep, then when I go downstairs to turn the heat down, he will thump me on the head and horrible things will happen.

OH NO, What am I going to do? Why is Ben sleeping through this? How much hotter can it get in here?

Ben sneezes, "Hey, while you are up," I say to him, "Can you please go check out the thermostat because it is really hot in here and the heat isn't supposed to come on until 5:45am. I will stay here by the phone in case I have to call for back up."

He goes downstairs, I wait for the thump on the head.....no thump. I go downstairs.

"The time on the thermostat is wrong, no wonder it came on already" he says.

"Ok, I'll reset it, what time is it?" I am thinking it must be 2:15 am by now.

"The kitchen clock says 6:00am.....oh, the clock upstairs is wrong. How did that happen?"

And so that was the way our day began, at 12:45 am and then time warped to 6:00 am. Does anybody really know what time it is?

Out of the mouths of babes

Griffin explaining first class mail to Hayden: It is when the letter gets to sit in the front of the plane.

Carter trying to use a word that he thinks also means whoosh: Douche

Hayden being creative: Let's get a hot air balloon and pump it full of hot air and we can float all the way up to heaven to see Grandma Sue.

Whew, that was fun!

In August our church started the $eed2Harvest campaign. I was in the initial meeting when this was planned and was so excited to see it was approved.

Here is how it worked at our church.

Every person over the age of 6 in each family receives $2. Our family had $8. The goal was to use the money over a few months to earn more money. Then turn the money back in on November 16th.

We planted the seed in August, reap the harvest in November.

After a bit of family discussion, the boys decided to put me in charge, they would help. I did what anyone would do with money, I shopped.

We found spongebob temporary tattoos on a cute tape dispenser for .24 each. I sold them on ebay for anywhere from $1.99 to $5.20 each.

We found adorable Halloween bibs (in early September) from .12 to .26 each and sold them on ebay and at church for about $1.00 a piece.

Overall we made $50 out of our $8. Maybe that would have been good enough, but I had another idea.

When we first joined the church, the preschool teachers would offer a Parents' Night Out once a month. You could drop off the kids on Friday night, pick them up a few hours later. The last one was held 3 years ago....until last night.

We made signs, bought snacks, planned crafts, solicited youth volunteers, bought pizza for the youth for dinner. We spent the $50 to prepare for the Parents' Night Out. We had 15 kids from 8 families sign up.

The kids had a great time; they made turkey handprints, an all about me book, they watched Veggie Tales, had playtime and ate lots of goldfish and popcorn.

The youth helpers were great; they were each assigned a couple of kids to help with the projects, they helped straighten up, they also watched Veggie Tales and had snack!

Our $8:

Sent temporary tattoos and bibs across the United States

Sent 8 mommys and daddys out to dinner

Brought together 8 youth helpers on a Friday night

Allowed our two older boys to feel the reward of being youth helpers for a night

Enabled Ben and I to have that "we did a good thing" feeling

Oh and of course, our $8 turned into $178.

I think this "we did a good thing" feeling is going to last a while.

Dear boys,

Dear boys,

Maybe it isn't a big deal to you but it is a huge deal for me. Someday it will matter more, or at least it will to your wives. Please let them know that I did other things good; I was at your class parties taking pictures of your friends, I helped plan the parties, I made a nice dinner for our friends and relatives so everyone could have a full belly before going out to trick or treat.


I'm sorry this is the last picture of all three of you together in your Halloween costumes. I really should be better at taking those pictures. You are all so excited to head out and trick or treat, I always forget to line you up for the picture.



Last year I remembered to get Griffin in the Elvis costume with our neighbor Hannah, they were so cute. Do you see any other brothers in the picture, 'fraid not.



I do own a camera, in fact here is a picture form Carter's class party. The only picture of Carter in his costume. Don't feel bad Carter, I can't seem to find any pictures of your brothers in their costumes.



When I realized I did it again this year, I thought I could recreate the event. After all, who would know years from now that the picture was from November 1st and not October 31st. But by then you guys were so hyped up on candy, I couldn't face it.

So next year I will try to be better. I will try to get you all to stand still before trick or treating. And if I don't, you can send me to my room, alone, for along time. After all, I really should be punished for being a bad mommy.

Random Randomness

I am thankful for all the people who voted early and waited in those long lines so those of us procrastinators could vote with no lines today. I was in and out in 15 minutes, an new record!

I am thankful for the end of daylight savings time since Hayden thought it was bedtime and fell asleep on the couch at 6:15pm.

I am thankful for Cub Scouts because the other guys are gone and I can watch election coverage in a quiet house.

I wish I could talk to my mom about the election. Those of you who have lost a close relative know that there are those times when you think, I wish I could call them right now. This is one of those times for me. It is the first presidential election without Mom cancelling out Dad's vote. Just when I thought I finished with the firsts without Mom. Geez.

I am thankful I found a package of marked down Breast Cancer Awareness Hersey Kisses at Target. I will need those tonight. I would be happier if they were Ovarian Cancer Awareness Hershey Kisses, but I realize I can't have everything. Are you listening Hershey Kisses People?!

I am happy that Carter and Griffin went with us to vote today. They are excited about the process and looking forward to the 2020 election when they can place their first votes for President.

I am excited to see how many people turned out to vote, I hope my guy wins.

I love Jim

Oops, I mean, THE GYM, not Jim. I do love a few Jims, but I wanted to talk about the GYM.

I love that I can have 2 hours of free childcare a day just for working out.

I love that I usually can catch up on my reading while climbing miles on the stairmill.

I love that I belong to the Y and I do not have to worry about the latest fitness attire to show up and get sweaty.

I love that I changed our membership and now I have a key to the cool locker room, complete with hair and shower stuff.

I love that I am only paying $1 more a month than before for the cool locker room.

I love the steam room in the cool locker room.

I love the NO KIDS rule in the cool locker room.

I love the coffee, tv, hot tub, carpeting, toiletries, TOWELS in the cool locker room.

I know it is the closest I will ever come to belonging to a private club and that is fine with me.

I hadn't been to the Y since before our company came in mid October. While I was there I realized how much I love it and missed it. Hayden even asked when he was going back to "Y School" (childwatch). Don't worry baby, you are going tomorrow and every day we can after that.