Night and Day

My kids could not be any more different. Here are some of our recent conversations:

Colin: "You're the best mommy in the world."

Camden: "I wish I didn't have a mom."

Colin: "I am trying to be good so I don't get on the naughty list."

Camden: "Since I am on the naughty list, what can I do to get off of it?"

Colin: I don't really like this present but I will be thankful for what I got anyway."

Camden: "Can we take this back?"

And the clencher of it all....

This morning Colin was playing very quietly with this legos. After he finished his creation, he handed it to me and said, "Mom, this is a reminder of what Christmas is all about. Jesus was born on Christmas Day but he died for us so that our sins could be forgiven." What a proud Mommy moment.

And then, three hours later in the car... I looked back in the rear view mirror to see Camden with a plastic grocery bag over his head. He put it on his head because he thought it was funny. (Sorry, no pictures of that one.)

Lord, please give me strength.

Frostbite

Today it was cold. I mean really, really cold. When I checked the weather before taking the kids to gymnastics the reports said it felt like -11 degrees. That's really, really cold. After gymnastics Colin wanted to play outside. After a battle of "whys" and "hows" I finally explained to him the process of frostbite. I did not want to have to go that far, but my mommy brain can only function for so long before I just throw in the towel. Had I turned around to look at Colin's face while I was explaining this to him in the car, I am certain that I would have seen the most horrified look. I know because I saw that look about two minutes after we walked through the door.

(Okay, so this picture has nothing to do with what happened today. This is actually on Colin's last day of Pre-K. He cried and cried and cried. The teachers called me to warn me before I picked him up that he had been crying all morning. I had to take pictures of him with all of his favorite toys. He was going to miss Pre-K and did not want to leave. Someday I will remind him that he cried everyday I TOOK HIM TO PRE-K. He left a hole in my heart every time I dropped him off. So on the last day, he decided he did not want to leave. Can you tell that he can be a bit overly dramatic?)

Back to the story....Scooby wanted outside so naturally I let her out. Colin went running to the door calling for her and crying. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then it clicked. He thought Scooby was going to have her extremities frozen off from frostbite. Why oh why did I have to lose my patience on that subject? I'll probably never convince Colin that is is safe to go outside in the cold.

On another great note, Colin told me tonight that he was so thankful that I was his mom. He said he loved me and that I was the best mom ever. This was totally unprompted so I thought it was really sweet. He went on to say how much he loved daddy too. I was waiting for him to say something about Camden but it never happened. So I asked him if he was thankful for Camden. He told me, "I'll have to think about that." Ah, brotherly love. I mean, who wouldn't love this sweet little kid?

Stories From the Week

I have a lot of random stories and thoughts from the week. I'll just start writing them as they pop in my mind.

First of all, I love Christmas time. I know most people feel the same way. (Except for those Ba Humbug people out there that hate to shop, hate crowds and hate carols.) I, on the other hand, enjoy all that comes along with Christmas. The crowds, the baking, the shopping, the baking, the singing, the baking, the Christmas movies; even the cold....to a point. It has been just downright cold here. Today it was 7 degrees when we were standing outside waiting for a bus that never showed. I ended up taking Colin to school but my toes were frozen for hours. Since it has been so cold outside, I have not been able to get the kids outside much. With two boys, this promotes a lot of wrestling, running and throwing things indoors. Just call before you come over so I can pick up the house. :-)

We've done a lot of our Christmas crafts already this year. I am not sure how I am going to fill the 3+ week break that the kids have off of school. We've already decorated our gingerbread house. The boys always have so much fun licking and tasting all of the candy. Be warned, do not eat anything off of this house if you visit. It's all been licked by one or the other.

It seems that a $10.00 gingerbread house is a good investment for us. This gingerbread house allows for about an hour of quite time listening to Christmas music in an otherwise chaotic house. It seems that candy actually calms my kids. Go figure. It must really taste good!

Camden decided to really get into the spirit this year. He took the term "stockings" to a whole new level. Yes, those are stockings on his feet. He also had to change his clothes so that we could get the full effect of the stockings. Fabio, move over. Here comes Rico Suave.

Of course, after the pictures were taken he hopped down off of the step. Not such a big deal unless you consider that just below the stairs is wood flooring. He dropped the snow globe and it cracked. Tears and apologies were had all around. I guess there's always the after Christmas sales for a good replacement. I'll replace the two broken ornaments from the decorating extravaganza too. It seems like we end up with a few casualties every year. Funny how that works with small children. So, our holiday traditions continue. We have some decorations outside. The stockings are hung. The tree is lit up brilliantly. The boys have their own little trees in their rooms. We have decorated a gingerbread house. I have glue stuck to my floor from all of the seasonal crafts. We've even made sugar cookies already. The only thing missing this year will be family. This will be my first year, ever, to not have family around on Christmas morning. It is going to be very strange for me. I am excited that that kids get to wake up in their own beds and run down to their tree on Christmas morning. However, that void of time that happens after the gifts are all unwrapped and wonderful lunch is cooking in the oven is going to be hard to fill this year. I'll just have to keep thinking happy thoughts. I can remember pieces of so many holidays spent with my family (and Steve's family too). I just hope that someday my kids want me around as much as I want my own family around. I am not sure how we all grew up and still stay pretty close. My parents must have done something right.

So now, just a few random thoughts. Camden is convinced that the word "teenager" is pronounced "teamager". He thinks you have to be on team to be this age. Colin has tried to convince him otherwise but he is not budging. Cam's can be a little stubborn. Wonder where he gets that from?

Colin got his first report card today from Kindergarten. I was not expecting it. To see his grades and achievements assessed on paper. Well, it was quite a defining moment for me. His reports were all good. They don't really get grades at this point but his assessments were all very good. I am so proud of him. He loves school so much. Some days it is a bit of a struggle to get him out the door. However, once he is there he really shines. It seems like college is just around the corner. Someone better be there to pick me up off the floor when that happens.

Holding it Together

Today I could have screamed. By today I mean 12:27am. Yep, I was up typing away on the computer trying to get the best deals at Toys R Us without the hassle of going to the store. I even fooled the system. I logged on as if I lived in South Carolina so I could shop the Black Friday ads at 10:00pm here in Colorado. Boy, was I tricky. I had everything in my cart. Ready to check out. But wait, I needed one more thing. Click, click...update order...computer froze. I had my credit card number already entered. All I had to do was hit "Send" and I would have received the lowest prices of the season never to be repeated again in 100 years. I got greedy. Shoot! I tried to get back on but guess what? Everything was SOLD OUT! That's because Toys R Us was wise to my game. I tried to fool the system and Karma came back to bite me. Or did it?

I held it together and slunk into bed at 12:37am. Yes, I was on the computer for 2 hours trying to get my deals back. Never worked. But I would not be defeated.

I schlepped on over to Target at 10:00am today to look for a few deals. I took my Toys R Us ad with me because I heard that there was this amazing thing called "Price Matching". Wow! Who thought of that?! You mean I don't have to go all over creation to get the items I want at the price I want?! Now you've got my attention. Can you say "idog for $5.00 at Target"? Yes! Good Karma is back! Yes, I bought every single idog at Target. Okay, there were only three. Those of you reading this that have children that are friends with my children, your child will probably receive one of these on their next birthday. That's the whole point. Save and stock up. Spend money to save money. Oh well, I had fun anyway. So take that Toys R Us. Fooled you anyway.

Deck the Halls With ... a Cat!

Okay, let me first say it is hard to type with any accuracy using only one hand. Why am I using only one hand you ask? The story goes a little something like this....

We put up our tree early this year. It's the first time we have used an artificial tree. The boys were not really enjoying the whole "go outside and freeze in the snow and wind the day after Thanksgiving to get a real tree" bit. We decided for the next few years we would use a fake tree. That is, until the boys' whining does not result in us carrying them through the tree farm to look for the perfect tree. So, our tree is up. The boys have a week off of school for Thanksgiving and I am fresh out of new and interesting things to do. I am trying to keep them away from stores, play places and anywhere else that might be a germ infested haven; yes, aside from school.

This morning at 3am we awoke to a clatter. A very loud wailing clatter. I thought, "If that is Camden, something is seriously wrong." I popped out of bed a few seconds after Steve. I saw Steve downstairs wrangling the tree. It was a funny sight for two seconds. Then I realized that the cat had climbed the tree and was hanging upside down with her paw stuck in the lights. Oh man was she mad! Here is the cat in question in one of her rare "cute" moments. She is a very feisty cat and growls a lot. She is sweet for about 2 minutes out of each day. No, the crock pot was not on!

Needless to say, Steve got bit, hard. We got a blanket to wrap around her head. He tried that, got bit again, and dropped her. That sent a huge wail through the room that woke Colin. Now we had a crying boy, grandpa in his underwear, grandma with a blanket and me being a hero. I grabbed the cat with the blanket. She bit the heck out of me. Steve got her foot untangled. The rest is history. She took off under the bed and we did not see her again until this morning. She seems perfectly fine. She even Let me pet her for 5 seconds this morning and then took off growling.

Now. back to my bite. I had to crawl up the stairs last night before I got sick all over the tree. That bite hurt! It did not bleed much but it hurt clear down to the bone. Now, being the super mom that I am, for the last two hours I have refused to even consider going to the Dr. At this point my entire arm hurts. I can't bend my thumb. I think I may have cat scratch fever. Well, without the fever. I think that silly cat is going to cost me a trip to the Dr., some antibiotics, and x-rays. There goes my Christmas bonus for being Mother of the Year. And yes, I have a Dr. appointment this afternoon. Hooray.

Just an Average Day; And Then a Movie

So today was just an average day. It started off with being woken up from sounds of two boys running like crazy men through the kitchen. I am a light sleeper so I hear every sound anyway, but my toy boys are LOUD. It is impossible for them to stay quite and let people sleep.



So, as I am eating breakfast and looking at the newspaper, Camden sees something in the paper and asks if it is a "flyswapper". I had to walk out of the room (once again) before laughing. Of course, he meant fly swatter. Pretty cute.



I took the boys to swim lessons. Can anyone tell me how a 4 year old managed to hit his head at swim lessons when he can't even dive down to the bottom of the pool? Oh, my 4 year old managed just fine thank you very much. He was goofing around on the steps and jumped up underneath the metal railing. You could hear it ring through the entire pool area. Crying and tears ensued. He was fine but I was a little dismayed that swim lessons aren't even enough to wear him out. If I stop feeding him will his energy level go down? If I could just bottle up some of that energy....



Tonight I went to see a movie. You guessed it, New Moon. I have read all of the books three times now. I just really really like them. The movie was great; even better than Twilight. I am now a fan of Jacob instead of Edward. Funny how the same story can have such different influences from book to movie. Thank you to my wonderful husband for watching the kids while I was out having fun. Even though he had to go into work when I got home. :-(

Funny for Today

Okay, so here's the Funny for Today. It goes something like this....

Colin's teacher encouraged the parents to ask questions about the Pilgrims since they have been studying Pilgrims, The Mayflower, etc...in class all week. One prompted question was to ask them about what Squanto taught the Pilgrims. So, I asked Colin what he thought the Pilgrims learned from Squanto. His answer: " Squanto taught them that if you plant a rotten fish it will grow corn." Wow! He said this with so much conviction. I had to walk out of the room before I started laughing. I knew it would hurt his feelings but he was so dead serious. It just did not come out of his mouth the way that it was meant but man was it funny!

This Should Be Interesting

So I finally caved. I have become a member of the blogging world. I decided that I have enough funny stories to share that this could make for an interesting read for others. Hang on and enjoy the ride. Case in point - my youngest son. This was taken of him on Christmas Day last year. He wore that Spider Man suit for the entire day. Now how could that not make you laugh? This is the same child that just told me that I could not have any hugs or kisses for the next three days. After that the offer would expire and I could once again have hugs and kisses. I think he watches too much TV. He knows what a "Snuggie" is, thinks I need Aqua Globes for Christmas and wants me to log onto random web sites to get free stuff. Yep, too much TV. Better stop blogging for today and read some books to the kids.