Christmas Card Outtakes 2011 - Part 1

Yes, it's that time of year again! The time where I attempt to wrangle multiple children into a semi-presentable picture that I can send to far-flung relatives and friends in our annual Christmas card.

It's gotten to a point where I think my kids can inherently sense that I'm attempting to catch them with their cuteness in sync.  So they take turns doing things like this:

Quick!  Everyone glower! And look down!

Yeah, no.

Or there's this:

EAT IT!  EAT IT!

Or, sometimes, they smile fantastically!

In the wrong direction.

But alas!  I sense I'm coming closer to capturing my goal. Or at least, losing the last vestige of my sanity. Because at that point?  I'll be too crazy to care!

We're a Pile of Nuts... and Sloths?

Yesterday, Shaun and I were attempting to discuss the day's plans but kept being drowned out by the din of 3 children expressing their opinions on what to do for the day.  Generally, it's fine for the kids to tell us what they want to do... the first time. And maybe the second. But after the 56th time I heard that my oldest really, REALLY wanted to get this year's tree ornaments and 87 times about how my middle HAD to go to jumping place, I thought my brain might explode. So Shaun lightly asked them to go into the living room for a few minutes so we could talk.

"Why Daddy?"  Someone asked. I don't know who because that question is asked 9345 times a day by each verbal child. (I swear that will be Zoen's first real word).

He teasingly said,

"Because we need to make a decision without hearing from the peanut gallery."

Then he tickled Sayer and said, "Go ahead in the other room, you peanut!"

Sayer looked very serious and said, "I am NOT a peanut!"

Of course, we had to know what he was if not a peanut... so Shaun asked.

Sayer was quick to respond, "I'm a DONUT!"

Definitely my favorite kind of nut, right there.

Oh, and not to be outdone as the catalyst to our laughter, Lex piped up, "AND I'M A FLAPJACK!"

Yes, she's as random as her mother... and anyway, who says FLAPJACK?!

She's the same kid who felt the need to act out the habits of her current animal obsession a few weeks ago at the park. 

She hung from the diagonal bar and stayed very still.

Like... a sloth.

So then I told her it was time to leave and she needed to come up to the steps towards the car.

She listened right away.  Except, instead of walking, she was crawling to me. Ve-r-r-r-r-ry slowly. When questioned, she matter-of-factly stated, "I'm a sloth. We are very slow."

And then, she would periodically drop to the ground to catch a nap. 

Oh, that kid.

They keep me busy... but they keep me laughing, that's a constant.

Falling Into Fall

I love a good cliche. 

I also love a deliciously warm fall afternoon.

The kids were inclined to agree

(She's just sassy. Like her Mama).

He had remarkably good aim.

But the girls didn't seem to mind at all.

I let the kids bury themselves in leaves and I stayed with Z, (who I don't think would have appreciated getting a pile of leaves in the face quite as much as his older siblings seemed to).

Today the weather is 32 degrees and breezy... which kind of makes me feel like this:

Good day.  One that we're anxious to repeat if the weather cooperates.

Germs

You know what I hate more than the scuzzies that get into the drain catch in the sink?

Germs.

The cold and flu season has barely started and we've been through a wicked bout of croup, a couple of colds, a stomach virus, and now, a nasty double ear infection for S.

EW.

Anyway, we've wiped down the house from ceiling to floor and we're hopefully on the mend. 

So, share with me... best cold and flu prevention tips. AND! Best home remedies for when you or your little people are under the weather. 

We're currently taking vitamins, (multi, vitamin D, acidophilus and DHA), eating tons of fresh fruit and veggies, washing hands when we can, playing outside often as my kids will let me push them out the door, and staying away from sugar as much as possible. 

As for when we've gotten sick, we've found that humidifiers are golden, the shower is a lovely anti-croup chamber, (though mildew can flare up, so vent well when done), and honey makes a decent cough calmer.

What'cha got, people?  I'm all about upping my arsenal against the wiley, beastly germs.

Halloween Fun

Halloween has been a low-key holiday in the past. But this year, my kids were all about actually doing some sort of trick-or-treating.

After a considerable amount of debate, (and lots of "NO, I do NOT want to be a ladybug/fairy/princess/lion/monster/robot/chicken!"), the kids decided to be:

A barista! (Lexi - 5) She was enticed by being able to match me, (that's what I was too).

She donned the costume, tipped the cup in my direction, and asked if I'd like a pumpkin latte. She's hired.

Caly (3), decided to be a chef. This was an odd pick, namely because the child has professed the desire to be a ladybug since April.  Then, randomly, she wanted to be a fairy.  But she landed on this outfit after I pulled it out of the dress-up box. Score for no money spent!  Also, she was insanely cute, despite blatant refusal to smile for me.

At one point, she got a pack of skittles and grabbed them out of her bag and walked to Shaun, "Daddy! These are for you!"  Cute, right?  Then she walked right back up to the lady handing out the candy and got herself another one, muttering, "And this one's for me!"  The lady didn't notice.  The guy handing out full sized chocolate bars did.  But she smiled disarmingly and said, "I gave the other one to my Mommy! They're her favorite."  I made a (half-hearted) motion (they were peanut butter cups!) to put mine back but he waved us on with a smile. 

She's a stinker. But she scored me some chocolate. Win!

Sayer (2), was a firefighter.  I had intended to put him into the chicken costume his sisters had worn before him, but apparently, with the age of 2 comes an opinion.  Thankfully, he was swayed by the firefighter suit from our dress-up bin and rocked it, even without the helmet after awhile.

He was enthralled by this strange practice and kept saying, "OH!" and showing me EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE of candy he received.  It was cute. Slow-going, but cute.  Today, he's insisted on sleeping with his candy bucket and he snuck it into the car with him earlier.  Thankfully, he still thinks he needs Momma to open them so I don't worry too much about leaving him alone with his stash.

His 3 year old sister is a different story.  (Remember this?)

Zoen was a chicken. Partially because I already had the costume, partially because it's an unbearably cute get-up, and partially because it was toasty warm beneath his furry feathers.  He was charming. Of course.

Here's a group shot!  (Which I'm remarkably a part of!)  The light started to get low, but this picture makes me happy whenever I see it, so here it is :)

It was indeed a happy, happy Halloween!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

There are members of this family who walk to the beat of their own drums. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know that I'm certainly not one of them.

(OK, if you've known me for awhile, particularly in high school and college, you're laughing and saying, "um, yeah, RIGHT.")

However, I married someone with a slightly larger penchant for procedural deviance than myself.

Case in point:  When Shaun was just a wee lad in kindergarten, his very sweet kindergarten teacher asked the class to draw a picture of an animal.

Shaun didn't much like the constraints of this particular assignment. 

But he did it anyway.

Sort of.

The teacher received a piece of paper with nothing on it but a giant black circle, completely filled in with black crayon. 

Knowing kindergartners were capable of more than just giant blobs, (and frankly, probably curious as to what the heck this thing was), the teacher asked Shaun to explain himself. 

And explain he did, "It's a black bear. In a cave."

Yeah.

So, of course, one of our children was bound to end up following in her father's footsteps.

Today, Lex and I were working through some phonics stuff on the floor in her room. Not to be left out, Caly clamored for her own book so I set her up with a book of random preschool activities.  The first page she turned to had a maze on it. 

This particular maze had a pirate at the top and various pirate-y things surrounding it, (a ship, a parrot, etc), and a giant treasure chest at the bottom.  I showed Caly how to start at the top and made a vague path through the maze and told her that her job was to find a way down to the treasure.

She bent her head over the book and put her crayon on the pirate, concentrating. I turned back towards Lex, thankful that this would probably keep C busy enough that we could finish our phonics review.

Ten seconds later, C pipes up, "Mama!  I'm done!" 

I glanced over at her book, about to congratulate her on finding the correct path so quickly when I noticed something odd.  Her path started at the pirate...

But then it was a straight, bold line directly down to the treasure.  The maze borders were obviously just a suggestion.

I looked up at Caly and attempted to reexplain the directions, "Uh, kiddo, you have to follow a path down to the treasure... you know, you have to see if there's an open way to go..." I traced my finger on the paper, showing her potential routes through the printed borders.

She stared at me and flatly said, "Momma, the pirate reached the treasure."

I tried again, "But Caly... the edges of the maze are like... walls. You have to go around them..."

She was totally nonplussed, "No. The pirate went through the walls. He got to his treasure. I'm done." And with that, she turned the page.

I applaud the kid's creativity. But she's going to wreck havoc on my sanity, isn't she?

Laughter is the Best Medicine

The kids have been quite sick for the past week but that hasn't stopped them from making me giggle. Sometimes out loud, sometimes behind my hands.

Why is it that they're the funniest when I'm not allowed to laugh because it will encourage them into more mischief?

Yesterday, I set the kids up with lunch at the kitchen table and told them that I was going back to my room to feed the {highly distractable} baby.  I implored them to be good, put Lex in charge of telling me if there was a need for me to address, and told them to eat their food and hang tight.

Not two minutes passed before Lexi came trotting in,

"MooooooOOOOOOmmmmm!"

(How can they take a one syllable word and drag it into 11?  How?!)

"What's the matter, Lex?"

She put her hands on her hips and in a very disapproving voice, she said, "Mom. Sayer dumped out his yogurt drink all over the table."

It had been one heck of a week.  I closed my eyes, took 3 deep breaths and instead of freaking out, (clap for me, please), I told Lex to go to the cabinet under my table and get some napkins to help him clean it up.

Rational solution, right?

Yeah.

She shrugged her shoulders and chirped, "Oh!  I don't need to do that!"

"Um, why?"

"Because Sayer is licking it up with his tongue!"  And she trotted back into the kitchen without another word.

Well, I suppose that's another solution.

Later yesterday, I had to take Sayer back to the doctor's office and he capitalized on having Mommy's undivided attention.  Despite being quite sick, he was singing me songs, "Uh oh, oh no, things are kinda tricky!" and "Yo ho, let's GO!"  (Name those kids' shows for 1 million... points!)

Then he was messing with the hood on his shirt and said, "Oh Mama, LOOK! I have big giant ears!"

"You have big giant ears?"

"Yes, I have big giant ears!"  He put his fingers behind them and made them stand out.  I grinned and asked, "Do you have a little tiny nose?"

He very seriously said, "No. I have a big giant nose. And big giant ears."

So I asked, "Do you have a little tiny head?"  I couldn't help it.

And of course, he replied, "NO! I have a big giant head!"  And after a pause, "And I wear big giant hats."

I guess I should stop talking about the kid and his big giant cranium while in his presence. 

But look!  It fills out a fire hat!

Before the plague visited our house, we went to lunch with Shaun's mom and dad.  Caly was looking through pictures on someone's phone as we waited for our food and she suddenly piped up,

"OH! That's my gorgeous face!" and after scrolling through a few more, "Oh there's MORE of my gorgeous face!"

Well, I guess all of my fears about her self-esteem being wounded from being a sandwiched middle child are unfounded.

And finally, I'll leave you with this picture. I think it speaks for itself.

No, he's not really for sale.  Priceless, I say :)