I Should Be Folding Laundry

Easter Breakfast

And lunch.
And dinner.

I hope your Easter is filled with laughter, family, love, hope and lots of peanut butter and chocolate.

Love,
Beth

Happy New Year!

You know, over a week ago, when I said I probably wouldn't blog until 2008, I didn't realize two things.  First, just how long a little over a week without blogging feels like.  I feel like I haven't blogged in about three months.  It's a very strange feeling, as if I am neglecting something.  Which in a way, I guess I am.

The other thing I didn't realize was how right I was about not having time to blog.  Every second seems to be taken up in this house.  Maybe it's because there are over 25 of us and finding a quiet spot is nearly impossible. or maybe it's because I'm either talking or shopping or eating, with very little sleep, thanks to the late poker nights.  Whatever it is - we have been so busy and it's been a great time.

Yesterday was a fun treat for Brian and I and my siblings and their spouses.  My parents gave us each money to spend on Christmas for ourselves.  This was the first time my parents have ever done anything like this, typically they spend every second in December shopping and wrapping for all seventy bajillion of us, but this year they gave the adult children money and also allotted a day for us to shop and have lunch together.  And they would watch our children.

I wept when I opened the card.  Not because of the money.  But because we could go shopping without children.

So yesterday, we piled into cars, dined at a fine Mexican restaurant, complete with refried beans and margaritas and shopped for a long, long time.  It was a super, duper, wonderful, much appreciated treat!  (which included a stop at Starbucks, of course.)

I must go now, my early morning blogging retreat that I thought would take twenty minutes before breakfast has turned into a two hour long blogging fiasco.  Therefore, I must go.

I will leave you with a few pictures.

Because there is plenty of picture taking going on.

And tongue contests going on.

You are viewing the smallest and largest tongue of the family.  They're so lucky.

And group pictures going on at Mexican restaurants.

Okay, there is only one of those.

And poker pictures, too.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's blustery cold outside, the winds are whipping around like I have never seen, so today we are going to stay indoors, wrap gifts, make tons of cookies and eat most of them.  And for the first time since summer, my goal is to go the entire day without putting any makeup on.  I aim high, people.

I'm pretty sure I won't be back to blogging until 2008.  I'll have plenty to blog about as we will be packing our bags on the 26th and staying in a giant house with my five brothers and sisters, their spouses, all of their kids and my parents.  Over 25 people = mucho blog fodder and tons of laughter.   We can't wait.

I'll be thinking of you all and wishing each and everyone of you a very merry holiday season filled with wonderful memories and of course, lots of laughter.

See you in 2008...what an exciting year it's going to be!  I just know it!

Merry Weekend Before Christmas!

As you may or may not have noticed, I'm struggling a little bit in the blog department.  And what makes it a little bit worse is that I haven't been worried about it, which is why I have barely blogged.  The holiday season, thus far, has actually proven to be the most relaxing one, yet.  I could have stressed over the fact that I went five days without blogging, but I'm all about themes and really liked the relaxing theme that I seem to have picked out this year.  Relaxation coupled with the fact that nothing is going on in these parts equals a pretty dead blog.

As you probably noticed.  Or not, because you are busy with this holiday season.

We did take the kids to see Santa the other night and it was a delightful experience.  The line was swift, Santa's beard was real, the children weren't scared and best of all...they (the little elves) let me take all the pictures I wanted with MY camera for free.

It was the bomb diggity.

And to make the experience even better, Santa talked to them about good behavior, and listening to their parents and going right to sleep every single night.  I slipped a twenty in his big belt and gave him a nod and a wink.

The hardest part of the visit was when Santa asked Racecar what he wanted for Christmas.

And then my heart shattered a bit because he's not getting boxing gloves.  I did what most of you said and trusted my gut and my gut says "maybe next year."  I think he's just little bit too young to understand boxing gloves and that not everyone always wants to box.  I think. His birthday is in January, maybe I'll change my mind then.  I did consider getting him one of those punching blow up thingys that you punch and it falls down and comes back up, but Racecar is a fast boxer, he's a fan of the old "one - two punch" and I think he would get frustrated with having to wait for the thing to come back up after each individual punch.

I can tell Santa agreed with me.

Luckily, Ariel broke the uncomfortable silence.

We are all very excited for Christmas.  I think this weekend could be my most relaxing one all year, I am determined to go and get a manicure and a pedicure, I'm all about saying Merry Christmas to me! 

I hope you all have a great weekend.

My Halls are Decked

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my home.  Unfortunately, this year, it's not as Christmas-y as I would have liked, but that's okay, because that's less to take down after the holidays! 

Let's hop to it.

Here is a shot of the front of my house. 

It's lovely, isn't it?  All that snow!  I sure hope it melts soon!

This is one of my favorite holiday items, I just love this wreath.  I've taken two pictures for you, one with flash, one without.

Here is our wall o' stockings.  It's very exciting.

And this is our Nativity Set, which is also one of my favorite things to unpack each year.

This little tree, is my Christmas Card Tree.  Thanks to BooMama for this delicious idea.  Speaking of delicious, did you happen to bring some cookies with you?  I love cookies.

Here's a bookshelf.

There are no pictures of my kitchen, because it's a mess.  Just picture a Christmas cookie jar, a few candles and green beans and cheerios stuck to the floor. 

Seriously, you didn't bring cookies?

And here is our tree.  It's a nine footer and a little too big for my liking.  I don't think I'll be "hosting" this tree for too many years.  It's just too large.  Please note the special placement of the candy canes.  The children were in charge of those.  Typically, with my personality type, I would have changed how they placed them and put them on the tree very methodically and equally spaced.  This year, I left them, as is. 

Well, there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  I leave you with a very special picture of the children taking their Christmas card picture.  It was a ton of fun...for them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

To visit more homes on the BooMama's Tour of Homes, click here for a full list of participants!

Good News. And Bad News.

Remember a few weeks back when I wrote about Racecar being so difficult to buy for?  About how easy it was for me to shop for Ariel?  And how when I asked Racecar what he wanted he responded with "a red racecar and a tree?"  Remember that?

I have GOOD NEWS!  He has finally added to his list.  Something he thought of all my himself and he talks about it all the time.  In fact, he thinks it's such a great idea that he thinks Santa should bring the same thing for his sister!

The bad news?

He wants a pair of boxing gloves.

And he wants them badly.

It's interesting that this child would want a pair of boxing gloves because we don't watch boxing, we do not encourage any type of fighting, organized or not, and we don't even talk about boxing.

Except we have The Wii to blame.  Which has boxing.  Which we do not let him play.  He has only experienced boxing while watching Daddy box or Crooked Eyebrow.  And that's it. And it's not often.

There are a lot of sports on Wii: baseball, tennis, golf, bowling.  Couldn't he have asked for a bowling ball?  A lovely little tennis racket?  A golf club?

Another interesting thing about his infatuation with boxing is that whenever he asks to play boxing, we tell him he can play when he is sixteen.

So, everyday, starts out with "am I sixteen today?" 

Which makes for a long, long day.

Last night, while Brian and I were shopping we did see things like this:

But I just could not, would not, get something that teaches my kid to become a better fighter.

I'm a little sad that dear old Santa will not be bringing Racecar his one big Christmas wish, but dear old Santa will not be bringing Racer his one big Christmas wish.

Tell me, am I being too sensitive?  Not only did I have one of these punching things when I was little, I also had daily fist fights with my siblings and look at me, I turned out just perfect fine okay, a little on the slow side.

Is my "soon to be" four year old too young for clown violence?

Tell me, please.  Help a sister out.

Wordless Wednesday

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The end, I love you

It's the final day of NaBloPoMo and I all I have to say is "ALLELUIA!  PRAISE THE LORD!  CAN I GET A WITNESS?!  YEEHAW!"

I am slightly overjoyed.  Even my non-blogging sister asked me while we were on the phone last night "aren't you excited that tomorrow is the 30th?"  Because she knows, she knows.  I responded very eloquently with "hell to the yes."  and "I'm totally not blogging this weekend.  At All." 

Which may or may not be the truth.  But it's more than likely the truth.  But then again, Christmas will be exploding all over our house this weekend, Christmas music, a NINE FOOT Christmas Tree, a 12 Foot Blow Up Snow Man, hundreds of ornaments, many of them could be broken, (if my memory serves me correctly, I was in a bad mood when un-decking my halls last year) and dozens upon dozens of homemade Christmas cookies.

But the cookies is a total lie.  We'll probably have Taco Bell, because nothing says "Be Jolly" like a Nachos Bell Grande.

You know I'm right.

Anyway, my point is that after the Christmas Explosion, I'll probably want to show you pictures on this here blog, but thanks to BooMama's Tour of Homes, I should be able to wait.  Therefore, you will have to wait until December 15th.

But first things first, tonight I am hosting drunco bunco for 12 very loud women (myself included) so I have a house to clean.   

Thank you, NaBloPoMo, for making me blog for thirty consecutive days.  I love you, but mostly I hate you.

In a friendly kinda way.

Boys vs. Girls

Alright, it's November 29th and I'm already stressing just a little bit about Christmas.

why?

Because I have already purchased almost all of Ariel's Christmas gifts, which is easy because her list is so very, very long and shopping for girls is like shopping for me.  Which is easy and fun.  Here's a snippet of the letter Ariel asked me to type out for Santa:

"I want to have a My Little Pony TeaPot and I want to have Briar Rose and Belle with a magic wand and they can change colors on their dresses and necklace and crowns. And I would like to have a castle with it and Jasmine, Ariel as a human and Prince Eric. Can I have My Little Pony things? And a real camera? And I would like to have a princess kitchen, and I would like to have some more ponies, please? And I would like to have more Dora books. And I would like to have more paintbrushes and paint and papers."

This is a snippet, friends.  Not to mention that Santa has already purchased necessities not on the list, like clothes, pajamas and underwear. (okay, and a High School Musical Microphone.)  In fact, today, Ariel added more to her list.  I explained to her, again, that this is just a list, in no way does it guarantee that she will receive everything, she replied by saying "okay, take the Jasmine off of the list, but I must have a Dora Talking Register."  Obviously, we have a long way to go as far as communication goes.

On the other hand.

Here's a snippet from Racecar's letter:

"I want a racecar, a red one.  And a tree."

Oh, did I say snippet?  Because I meant to say THAT IS HIS WHOLE LETTER.  And because he's three and because he has big chocolate eyes and because he snuggles on my lap for a total of one hour each day, I can't seem to get frustrated with him.

So, I went ahead and bought him something aside from the red racecar.  I have purchased some snow boots.  And a baseball glove.  Exciting, exciting stuff.

And that is all.

When I walk into the boy's aisle of toys filled with CARS!  AND TRACTORS! AND RAMPS!  AND SPIRAL RACETRACKS!  I walk right back out because it all seems pretty boring to me.

But the girls stuff, there's so much of it and it's much more interesting than things with wheels.

I guess I better find out what kind of tree he wants, because it looks like that's what he'll be getting.

I better buy LOTS of wrapping paper.

Love is...

I love this picture.  Not only because it's cheesecake and it melts in my mouth and swims in my belly with delight. 
But also because it says to me "no washing dishes for you."

It was the perfect dessert.