Merry Christmas!

I am happy to report that this years Christmas photo's went MUCH more smoothly than last year. Jonathan was not happy to be there, yet he did not scream! I am sure it was due to the fact that our friends took these pictures at their photo studio, and Jonathan was able to sit on Mrs. Claus and not on some man- stranger with white gloves and a beard. And it also helped that he got candy after the picture. The whole drive over Jonathan kept saying, 'I not want Santa! No Santa".

Whatever it was that made this year flow...it was a success. The picture is adorable, and my nerves were not as frazzled. Halla-freakin-lujah!

I am Woman

Sometimes in life I am blown away at the things one can accomplish in a day. Women are amazing at their ability to just get things done. Without women, this world would be lost wouldn't it? With that said, I am proud at what I accomplished. In fact, I am so proud, that I rewarded myself with a nap from the pure exhaustive-ness of it all. What was this task that I accomplished? This picture tells all.
Yes... I am Woman. I changed the wreath on the front of my door. I KNOW!! You are all blown away at my awesome-ness aren't' you? (if you read my post yesterday, you'll know what I'm talking about) Sometimes, it is hard to be humble when I accomplish such amazing things on a daily basis. :)

Christmas Over?

Curious...when is the holiday season "officially" over? I bet my neighbors are wondering the same thing. "When is she going to take that fire hazard down off her door?" I have to say though, that I sure got my 20 bucks worth out of this thing. (I wish I could say that this is an April Fools joke, that I surely still don't have a dead christmas wreath on my door...heaven forbid that I actually lift it off the nail and throw it in the garbage! That is just too much work! heh heh)

I'm a Rockstar!

I am a total Rockstar now. For Christmas we as a family got Rockband for the Wii. We figured it was something that we could totally do as a family. And let me tell ya people, it...is...totally...awesome. We are having so much fun with this thing. Trent does the lead vocals, and Nathan and I switch off between drums and guitar. It is taking me a while to get use to playing them, because you don't strum on the exact beat, it is when the colored rectangles move across your screen. That part drives me crazy, and I consider myself somewhat musical, but I have to turn that part of my brain off and not concentrate on strumming exactly to the beat, but strum to the rectangles. It is tricky!

I wait for Nathan to get home from school now so we can have a mini jam session before his homework starts. Nathan loves that part, because he will do absolutely anything to put off doing homework and practicing the piano. My favorite song is Wanted, Dead or Alive. I can rip that up on vocals baby. Nathan will just laugh and shake his head as I am jammin and pullin out my 80's dance moves as I sing. It is some precious family time I tell ya. Jonathan even hits the drums sometimes, or strums the guitar in our session. He wants to be just like us. We are pretty awesome. Rock on!

It's Time!

For Christmas my mom gave us all clocks that her, my dad and Sue made. Yeah...can you even believe that they made this? I am LOVIN it! It says Kunz & Co Est. 1994. It matches my house colors perfectly, and I even had the perfect spot to hang it. Pretty amazing I tell ya. What did I give them for Christmas? Something made with love? Something that will stand the test of time? They got gift certificates to Sizzler. Oh yeah baby. OH yeah. :)

Christmas Miracle "Mania"

The snow is still falling! It is beautiful. I have never seen a storm like this since we have lived here. It feels like I am back in Idaho and I love it! I sent Nathan out to shovel a pathway for Trent so when the bus comes to pick him up tomorrow morning he can get down to the street. All we have is a skinny digging shovel...guess I better go buy one for the next time it snows like this...four years or so? Nathan in his own words describes what happens:

Before our little "miracles" showed up

Our church was cancelled today so this family from our ward was making the rounds and saw Nathan out there shoveling and stopped to help. It seriously saved me probably 2 hours worth of work...at least. There is a thick layer of ice on top of all the snow, so it is quite the process shoveling all of that. I have already had to go back out and shovel two more inches to try and keep the path clear for Trent. Here is some video of Nathan walking on the snow. You can hear him breaking through the ice.

This truly was such a wonderful Christmas "Miracle Mania" (as Nathan put it) It was so nice for Nathan to be on the receiving end of service. We go and do things for others, but to be on the receiving end is such a gift. Nathan keeps talking about it, and how awesome it was that they came to help. These are the times when I feel truly watched out for, and that Heavenly Father is aware of me and knows what I need. It just reaffirmed to me that we are not alone, and others can help ease our burdens. Shoveling my driveway may have seemed like a simple thing to them, but to me...it was huge and one less thing that I needed to worry about.

Winter Wonderland

Winter is here. A real Winter! Usually winter in the Northwest means freezing slushy/rain that freezes and turns the road into a solid sheet of ice. We are actually getting snow...and quite a bit! It actually feels like christmas AND looks like it. We are just loving it. The boys went over to the Morgans to sled down their semi-steep driveway. Jonathan loved being pulled around in the sled. I would ask him if he was done and he would shake his head no.

Jonathan and Annie on the sled (Jonathan is in the back)

You can see the snowflakes comin down and piling up on the bushes. It is still snowing too. It has not quit all day. Life is so good.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas is upon us. I actually got up my decorations early this year, and even wrapped my presents a few days ago. Nathan was wondering if we'd ever get presents under there. I told him that the present fairy hates to wrap presents, and she'll get to it someday. I always underestimate or overestimate how much wrapping paper I need as I am cutting. I was dreaming of hiring someone to wrap the gifts. Nathan came home from school the monday before Thanksgiving and told me that he would like to put up our christmas tree. He was so excited about it, and I had visions of spending time together while we decorated the house. It was quite precious, since these days I am not so "cool" anymore and his friends are much more important. We pulled everything down out of the attic and got the three pieces to the tree out in the living room. I hadn't even put the tree stand up when Nathan said, "Mom, can I go to Trace's house". Sheesh...so much for our "quality" time. Now I had to do it because I was surrounded by bins (OK...only two bins) of stuff. It forced me to get it done though. I love looking at my christmas tree with the white lights, drinkin my hot chocolate, listening to my Time Life Christmas Music CD. (yep...ordered it off the TV) It is so "christmassy".

Nathan took this picture of me trying to put the star up. I had to rig it with a wooden spoon, and shove it down in the tree, because it is so heavy. I included this picture because he only got 1/2 of my body...I like it. The "other" half is no quite as attractive. :)

Games Galore

Have any of you ever been to the store Games Galore? (Name has been changed to protect the innocent) It is basically a big video game-ish store with rows and rows of new and used games for the Wii, Xbox...and all the other contraptions that I don't know the names of. Well...it'll be a while before they forget me at Games Galore. Jonathan was sitting in his stroller as I was perusing the aisle of games. Just minding my own business, being a good customer...when all of a sudden there was a HUGE crashing sound. I almost wanted to hit the ground and take cover. It totally freaked me out. Unbeknownst to me, my son Jonathan managed to grip one of those wire wracks and literally pull it off the wall, sending games all over the ground. I am just standing there in shock/awe. How on earth was he able to do that?

What did the teenage staff do to assist me in my dilemna? Here's our conversation.
"Hey, are you OK over there?".
"Yes, my son just managed to rip the wrack off the wall."
"Oh...OK."
End of conversation.

Did they rush over to help me replace the wrack back on the wall?
No
Did they rush over to help me put all the videos back on the wrack when I figured out how to reattach it?
No

Guess that isn't in their "job description".
After the embarrassment passed, I got a good chuckle out of it. I'll have to make sure to maintain a 5 foot perimeter around the stroller. Or I could put a glass bubble over the stroller...even better. I like it. Bubble boy.

Christmas Therapy

Christmas time. Presents, Jingle bells, candy canes, cinnamon and spice and everything nice. Oh...and did I mention therapy? Why is it that we teach our children to not talk to strangers, yet during Christmas time we forcibly put them on a bearded strangers lap wearing a red velvet suit and white gloves....freaky..(the only other person I know who wears gloves, or at least one glove is Michael Jackson, and we know he is a total freak!)...and as they are screaming we run away and stand at a distance clapping and smiling like it is a fun game? Huh...can we say "add another 10 bucks to the therapy fund?" I'll do it again next year though.

Therapy...expensive.

This picture? Priceless