Christmas Card 2013

Merry Christmas Eve!  Here is our Christmas card for this year.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

2013 Christmas Card

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Christmas Shopping

It's almost done.  Every year, I dread Christmas shopping.  I always feel I never know what to get family, friends or even my own children.  Thank goodness my brother and I are old enough to just ask what each other wants and get it.  It makes things so much easier.

Andrew and I felt we went a little overboard last year with our own kids, so we decided to dial it down a notch.  We don't want those bratty kids who think they are entitled to everything on their wish list.  Although getting a wish list out of my kids is cumbersome since they change their minds every 5 minutes.  Jackson is the only one who is getting a little better about it, but he's only 4.  In the next few years, I'll probably wishing this was the case instead of them wanting every electronic gadget under the sun.

We have approached gift giving with the philosophy of something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.  And of course, Santa will bring an extra gift or two.  With the change in philosophy, it's almost done.  Yea!

I just need to wrap (ugh!) and decide what to get Andrew (double ugh!).

In the Christmas spirit, we participated in the kids' preschool's Angel Tree again this year.  We bought a gift for an underprivileged child and brought it to school.  Trying to explain to my kids what we were doing was difficult.  They're not quite old enough to understand the full meaning of the Christmas spirit, so I'm starting young.  Jackson is old enough to start understanding it, but I feel like I'm jamming it down his throat.  Gift giving is more important than receiving.  You need to be grateful for what you have and not always expect or demand things.

I'm trying.  It may be fruitless, but in another year or two, he'll start to grasp it.  That's what I keep telling myself in the mean time.  I'm planting the seeds to his understanding so he'll be a giving, selfless child/adult and not a little brat.  It's my mantra, and I'm sticking to it.

The Nail Polish Incident

It had been a relatively quiet Friday night.  I should have known something was going to go wrong.  The house was just too quiet.  It seemed everyone was content or had fallen asleep early.

Until Cullen walked into the living room terribly upset yelling for Mommy, it took a downhill turn.

I glance over to see what could be wrong this time.  Did his finger get pinched?  Did he walk into a wall and hit his head?  Did his brother take a toy away from him?  He's three so everything is the end of the world.

All I see is red.  Red all over his fingers, his cast, and a lot of it running down his pants.  Add on the fact he is crying, and I am immediately start looking for the gash or cut all this blood is coming from.  That is until I kneel down beside him to pick him up and smell the distinct whiff of nail polish.  Any women knows that particular smell quite well.  There is no mistaking that scent.

I immediately went from concerned for the well being of my child to pissed off Momma ready to smack down my the offender of the heinous incident.  It's quite shocking this complete transition took about 0.3 seconds.

I yell for Andrew who was standing in the kitchen.  He comes running over concerned about the amount of 'blood' all over our son until I stand up, pass his son off to him, and say, "It's nail polish."

Running to the only place this could have happened, I find my OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress red nail polish all over the floor and inside the cabinet of my bathroom.  I'm running around grabbing cleaning supplies and paper towels to clean as much of this mess up as possibly before it starts to dry.

Andrew eventually wanders back into the bathroom to see how he can help with the little offender in tow.   Andrew starts taking off Cullen's pants that are soaked from crotch to knee on both of his legs and trying to clean it up.  I just look up and say, "The pants are ruined.  That will never come out."  And ladies, we all know how true that statement is.

Luckily, I was able to get the nail polish cleaned off the floor without any residue.  Cullen on the other hand, now has nail polish permanently on his cast until it comes off, along with some of the crevices of his finger nails.  I just couldn't get all of his off with my nail polish remover.

I have no idea what came over my boy to have him go back into our bathroom, into my cabinets, into my nail polish Rubbermaid box, get the red nail polish out, and open it.  Was he trying to paint his nails?  Was he just trying to paint?  No clue.  I'm just happy the entire bottle didn't spill and nothing besides his jeans were permanently ruined.  At least I'll have this story to tell him when he gets older.

Homework

 Jackson's Preschool assigns homework for the Pre-K students.  Over Thanksgiving, he was given a packet of about 20 pages, front and back, to finish.  Although the teachers said it wasn't mandatory, Andrew and I made it a point for Jackson to work on and finish it over the break.  It's important to us to instill completing homework is important at an early age, so when he starts being assigned homework in elementary school, the foundation is already in place.

 

Jackson had a simple work assignment of cutting and pasting the numbers in the correct order on his Menorah.  He was very excited to complete his assignment, and he did it all by himself.  It is very important to me Jackson learns I will not being doing his homework for him.  I'll watch and help where needed, but I will not be doing his work.  My days of home work are over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

M&M Thief

I was in the kitchen when Cullen came up to me and said, "Sawyer's eating the M&Ms."

I was completely confused by this statement.  One, the M&Ms are in a metal container that I would have surely heard.  Two, they're in the pantry which is closed.  And when I glanced over, I learned it was open.  Three, Sawyer has never had M&Ms, so I don't know why he would be after them.

"What?" I asked for clarification.

"Sawyer is eating the M&Ms, Mom.  Come see," Cullen is telling me while pulling me into the dining room.

I go through the doors and in a little alcove (little as in just a few inches long because it is piled with pictures we have yet to hang on the walls) Sawyer has emptied almost an entire bag of dark chocolate M&Ms in a corner and is gorging himself on them.  Said M&Ms were not in the metal container.  His face is a multi-colored smorgasbord of color.  His hands are rainbow like, and he still has M&Ms clutched in one hand as the other hand is shoveling them into his mouth.

At first, I'm too astonished at the scene before me to even react.  I quickly get with the program, move him, and start trying to pick up the candy.  I grab the half empty container still in the pantry and start throwing M&Ms in it.  I had to stop in order to remove Sawyer from the room and put him across the house because he was willing to do whatever it took to get back to those delicious little crack candies.  Cullen was a great little helper and helped pick up all the M&Ms without trying to eat them.  I gave him a couple as a little reward for being a good helper.

Unfortunately, no picture was taken.  I was too worried about our dog, Thibie, discovering the mess and eating chocolate to contemplate taking a quick picture.  Luckily, Thibie was taking a nap by the back door.

Note to self, Sawyer has discovered M&Ms and acts like a crack addict to get some more.  And I need to put them significantly higher in the pantry to avoid another such situation.  For, I have a now known little M&M thief.