Christmas 2008

The Christmas festivities began with the annual opening of the Christmas Eve Jammies. What would Christmas be without new jammies to wear whilst opening gifts on Christmas morning. If my kids weren't presented with new pajamas on Christmas Eve, they'd take it as a sign that the end times were upon us!

Poor Will accidentally opened Owen's jammies and was not pleased that Owen, in turn, got to open his.

The Night Before Christmas...after a grueling round of wrapping presents, everything was set up under the tree, waiting for eager little children (and a couple eager teens) to wake...



Awake at last and opening stockings...







What did Santa bring?
A play structure for Ben...

Are you excited Ben?
Yeah...Whatever!

A Nintendo DS for Austen and Owen...

A Leapster and Power Ranger for Will...

A bed for Jack...

The BEST gift of all...a visit from Uncle Bri-Bri

And what does Phoebe think of all the mayhem?
Yeah...Whatever!

After all the gifts were opened and Toy-R-Us officially threw up in my house, we had breakfast, some of us got dressed while others chose to spend the day in their jammies (I included) and we headed off to Grandma's house for another deluge of gifts.





It was a wonderful Christmas spent with family, too much snow, a ton of food, and too many awesome gifts to count. We look forward now to a new year of hope and exciting things to come.

Let it Snow!

I woke to the shouts of joy from my children "It's snowing, it's snowing!" Michael quickly leapt from bed and went outside to investigate (yes, after putting his clothes on first.) He informed me it was indeed snowing and sticking..hooray! I bundled the boys up and sent them out until they returned, red-cheeked and numb. While Sarah watched the kids, Michael and I ran a few errands as he was eager to drive on the whitened streets. We bought groceries for the next few days (chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight...yum), picked up a Christmas tree for Sarah's boyfriend and had lunch. When we returned, I made the boys peppermint hot chocolate and Michael lit a fire in the pellet stove. As the song goes..."The weather outside is frightful, but in here it's so delightful.." It's really beginning to look like Christmas.





Michael is like a kid with his coffee and some snow



The boys with their peppermint hot chocolate







And Ben just being cute...

39 years ago...

my mom became the luckiest woman on the planet when I was born...Hee Hee! Yes, today is my birthday, one year away from 40! No, I will NOT be posting a picture, unless I can scan and upload one of my baby pictures (and I was a cute baby!) Tonight, my mom, Sarah and I are going to a movie (Australia) and back to mom's house for a "slumber party." Tomorrow morning we are having breakfast at my favorite breakfast restaurant in Portland, Mother's Bistro and then we plan to do some Christmas shopping. Michael gave me a gift certificate for an hour-long massage and this morning Owen and Austen proudly presented me with the gifts they had chosen themselves, a pair of dangly heart earrings and a dove holding a pearl necklace. I'm wearing them with love!

Will's Musical Debut

Last night was the Pre-K/Kindy music program at the kids' school. Will was an excellent (and very cute) performer.



Why do people think it's OK to be rude? At the performance, there was a man that was video taping the entire show. He held the camera over his head, blocking the view for many, I included. Despite being asked to move the camera, he refused and even went so far as having his daughter stand on her chair, further blocking the view...and he was absolutely smug about it. I was so flabbergasted at his lack of consideration that I took a picture of it.

My Little Elves (doing a jig.)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Loads of December Fun!

Michael was able to score free tickets to the Festival of Trees (as it was, in part, sponsored by his work.) Always one to grab at the chance at cheap entertainment for my kids, I couldn't turn them down. I invited a couple of my mom-friends and their kids (one of which used her connections to get free MAX tickets) to go along. What I believed would just be a giant expo hall full of decorated trees, turned out to be a child-focused activity-filled extravaganza. The highlight of the event was the free teddy bears and the Teddy Bear Hospital. The boys picked and named a bear (Benjamin, Jack, Austen Two, Sonic and Teddy) and took them through many "treatments" complete with bandages, shots, x-rays and the like.






The boys also enjoyed the craft room; coloring pictures, making bell necklaces, stamping gift bags and making foam Christmas decorations.




Ben had better things to do...ZZZZZZZZZZ!


Later that same day, we took the boys (and my mom) to Loch Lolly to get a Christmas Tree. We've enjoyed many visits there over the years, and the boys were especially looking forward to the free hot cocoa. I looked forward to the tradition of buying a couple of ornaments in the gift store. It was a beautiful day, chilly yet sunny with only a smattering of clouds. It rained torrents the next day and we were all glad we had chosen to go on Saturday.





Here is the sunset that hung over Loch Lolly as we were packing up the tree to head home.


On Sunday, I took the boys for professional pictures (to be shared later) and then we spent all afternoon baking Christmas cookies. We made cookie cutter cookies and decorated them with frosting and a myriad of candies (mmm...red hots!), my favorite Russian Tea Cookies and a new treat, Oreo Truffles. As one friend said after tasting one, "These are heaven in a ball!"

10 Things I Love About Christmas..in no particular order

1. Black Friday kicks it off with a sleep-deprived bang!

2. An excuse to listen to the Chipmunk's Christmas album.

3. The smell of cinnamon when you enter any craft store (scented pine cones anyone?)

4. Russian Teas Cookies!

5. My mom's Christmas decorations...knowing she'll eventually pass them down to me.

6. Going to the tree farm and cutting down the tree (and feeling guilty that I hacked to death a living thing, and rationalizing it, and then worrying about my tree karma...make it stop!)

7. Christmas Eve Pajamas.

8. Gluttony at it's finest. Mmmm...chocolate!

9. The lights...on other people's houses, and getting to chuckle when they are still there in June.

10. PRESENTS..duh!

Santa Pugs

I did it..I've lowered myself to the level of dog dressers. I subjected my pugs to canine humiliation. But how can any decent person resist a pug in a Santa suit?

Halloween...a couple weeks late.

OK, I had every intention of posting pics of Halloween the day after Halloween, but such is life with "28 kids" (as my brother likes to jest.) We had a party at Katie's for our daycare kids, and our kids too. The kids made popcorn hands, ate Mummy Pizza, watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, and gobbled Cauldron Cupcakes. The green goo..uh, I mean frosting, sparked a costume change for Jack in time for Trick-or-Treating. In the evening, we gathered at grandma's house for soup before setting out to panhandle a sickening amount of candy. Mmmmm...Almond Joy! At one of the first houses, the kids were greeted by a blood covered, monster-masked fellow wielding a giant bowl of fun-sized chocolate bars. All the boys, save Jack, were a bit spooked. After receiving a couple of treats, Jack fearlessly said "Thank-you Monster!" It certainly melted this mama's heart.