Yes, but do you like tinsel?

I've determined that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they like to decorate their tree.

The hubster is a colored lights kind of tree guy. I prefer white lights. If given his preference he would throw tinsel over the tree. Me, I think candy canes are a must.

So, we compromise. We have colored lights outside and on an artificial tree in the basement. Our main tree has white lights.

There isn't any tinsel anywhere.

Then there are the blinking light folks. I'm not sure about them!

Christmas

We finally got our tree yesterday. Actually, it doesn't seem that late but it seemed like we were a little behind the times.

We went to a big Christmas tree farms that had horse drawn wagons take you out to the fields.

Sounds pretty idyllic until you are in the moment. We had snow this week and it was about 40 degrees on Saturday so it all melted and left a lovely, muddy mess. It seemed to take a while to find a tree that interested us. Both kids chose the moment we were out in the field of trees to declare that they had to go to the bathroom. There were about a million people there....I guess we weren't the only ones to wait until this weekend to get our tree.

But, we found our tree and headed back to the "barn" for hot chocolate before heading home.

The most important aspect of all of this, the thing that saved our marriage and took all of the arguments out of Christmas? Last year we bought the tree stand with the spike up the middle. This year the farm shakes your tree out, bags it and drills a nice hole up the middle of the trunk for your stand.

We came home, carried the bagged tree inside, lined it up with the spike, and it was in!

There are still the lights to cause some arguments!

Snow Day!

We had our first snowfall of the season yesterday!

Only about 3 - 4 inches but it's is currently about 14 degrees Fahrenheit outside so everything looks beautiful.

The kids' schools are delayed today and that poses a problem. I have a feeling the boy's bus will arrive at our house at the same time that the girl has to be at school (a 15 minute drive away). Not to mention the fact that I am working in the 2 year old class today and need to be there 15 minutes before school starts.

But, we have snow!

The kids only had a little time to play in it yesterday before it got dark. The girl was done after about 15 minutes (too cold) but the boy could have stayed out all night I think!

On another note, this prevents us from putting up our Christmas lights. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

Home again

We survived our trip and had a nice time. Hectic and a bit tiring but nice. The kiddos love, love, love the grandparents and it's nice to see them so happy. We made a trip into Chicago on Wednesday to see Christmas lights and have lunch. Everything took extra long but it was fun. The kids got to see Santa and we had lunch in the beautiful Walnut Room of Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's). At one point at lunch a "Princess" came up to us and asked the kids if they wanted to make a wish (I think she must have been a snow princess or some other Christmasy princess!) The Girl closed her eyes extremely tight and let the Princess sprinkle "fairy dust" on her head. She was so serious about making a wish. When we asked her what she wished for she said, "I wished for sparkles in my hair."

Turkey Day

We're leaving tomorrow to drive 11 hours to my parents for Thanksgiving. I am actually looking forward to it. The kids are pretty good in the car (thanks to numerous snacks and a built-in DVD player) and the Hubster drives most of the way.

There is a lot to do before we leave though and the kids' excitement level is already very high. They both have school tomorrow and the Girl has dance class. I have a feeling they are not going to get much out of the day tomorrow!

Life

I started this thinking I had lots to say. I wanted to have a place to record the kids' lives but also my thoughts. So far I seem at a loss for words. I think too much about what I should "post" about. So I don't end up posting at all.

So, I've decided I'm just going to write and see what develops. It doesn't have to be perfect. Hopefully it will evolve over time.

I have scrapbooks for each of the kiddos that I started when they were born. The boy's first few pages aren't as nice (in my opinion) as the girl's because I had more experience and practice by the time I started her book.

Hopefully this blog will be similar.

A Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz. It is one that my kids now enjoy as well.

I guess I liked the fact that this kid had a day that started off badly and continued that way until he went to bed. I remember days like that when I was a kid. I have days like that as an adult.

Yesterday was one of those days. It started off as any day I guess but by the time the Boy got home from school I was frazzled. Add to that the fact that the bus driver shared some recent antics of the Boy.

He has befriended a little girl who has some behavior problems. The difference is that this little girl doesn't really know any better. And the Boy does. So, he has taken to copying her and is getting into trouble.

I think he must have been upset that the bus driver shared is poor behavior with me because he was awful for the rest of the evening. I tried to help him with his "homework" and I was getting so frustrated I caught myself yelling at him. For doing his homework. He is in Kindergarten! But he was not paying attention and it was driving me insane.

Basically he just needed to go to bed but since the Hubster always puts him to bed and he wasn't home from work, that wasn't working.

The Girl was annoying me through all of this because she was trying to get involved and "help".

Once they were asleep I had an attack of the ever present guilt for having such a short fuse with them.

Let's hope today is a better day!

The Princess

The girl is 4 going on 16. She has become a snotty, back talking, impatient, diva! Just now she threw a fit because I happened to walk by the bathroom when she was in there. I apparently ruined her experience! And, I couldn't put the headband on the way she wanted it.

And she slept in today!

I am trying to focus on the little girl who still likes to cuddle and give me kisses. Because if she's driving me crazy now, I can't wait until she really is sixteen!

Lord be with me!

Trick or Treat

Sandy and Danny ready to hit the neighborhood

The month of October was a lot of fun this year. This marks only the second year that we've been able to trick or treat (that they recall). We were in France for two years and it's just not something that is done there. And, before we went to France they were too little to remember.

This year they knew what it was all about!

We took a hayride to a pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins. We carved our pumpkins and scooped out the "goo". We even toasted the seeds. We made a scarecrow at a local "fall celebration." And, we painted several pumpkins.

The 31st both kids had various celebrations. The girl's preschool had a costume parade and the boy's kindergarten had a "Fall Celebration" that I helped plan.

It was so wonderful to see their excitement.

A neighbor had several families over for pizza before trick or treating began. The kids made it around most of the neighborhood but weren't to the point where they had to go to every house. And, most surprising of all, didn't eat all that much candy. When they have had some of their stash they've actually chosen the "gummies", mini bags of teddy grams, etc. I am shocked! They certainly don't take after me. Which is a good thing!

Adventures of Buzzy the Bear

My daughter's preschool class has a bear that travels home with each of the students throughout the year. The adventures are recorded in a notebook that travels with Buzzy and the stories get shared with the students during circle time. My son was in this class last year and it seemed every time Buzzy visited us we had absolutely nothing going on. Well, things have changed a bit in a year.

The night Buzzy was with us recently Grandma was visiting from out of town so "the girls" went to lunch and did some shopping before going to the boy's school. We also had to pick up some bakery items to take to the school for a Fall Celebration later that night. It was at the store that we realized Buzzy was missing! We proceeded on to the boy's school, introduced Grandma to his teachers and saw some of the things he had been working on recently.

The entire time I'm panicked about this stuffed bear. What if someone took it? What if we left it somewhere? We would be responsible for ruining a tradition this preschool class has had for years and years!

After leaving the school we backtracked and at our third stop, we found him. We was sitting on the floor of a bookstore surrounded by books!

Needless to say I was very relieved. If this is what it takes for Buzzy to have a grand adventure, I'm not sure I am interested!

Speedy Gonzales

Four months. That is how long it took "us" to stain the kids swing set and replace the tarp that was ripped. And, we still need to replace the carpet we ripped up from the play area at the top of the slide.

Home improvement is not our strong suit!

(This is the before shot)

Reflections

In our bedroom we have framed in a series the 3, 6, 9 and 12 month photos of our two children. I look back at pictures of my babies and wonder where they went. They are only 4 and 6 years old. I am so afraid I'm going to wake up one day and they will be in College. I want to remember that they still want to sit on my lap. That they still want to play with me.

They have gotten to be so independant. They play together fairly nicely, I sometimes have to intervene but it is like having a built-in playmate at this point. They love each other but also know how to push the other's buttons.

I find that I don't really have to interact with them anymore. Interact is a harsh word, I'm always there, I am always responding to their questions, oohing and ahhing over their ideas/songs/pictures. But, I can work on the computer, look through a magazine, read a book and let them play together without getting involved. Of course, as soon as I pick up the phone or start to fix dinner, all bets are off.

I really want to start focusing on the moment. Enjoying the right here and now. I have a hard time with that. I am always looking ahead. Sunday, we were all outside enjoying a beautiful day. The girl was on my lap and the boy was on the hubsters. We were all sitting on the grass throwing a ball back and forth. And, I kept thinking of all the things I needed to do....laundry, cleaning, getting papers ready for school the next day. I mentally had to tell myself to relax, enjoy, soak it in!

It is something I think I will constantly be working on.

Nine Lives

We have lived in our neighborhood for about a year now and although I know several of our neighbors I have not yet crossed into the "just called up to say hello" stage. So, I was fairly surprised when one of my neighbors whom I've only met a couple of times stopped by my house the other day as I was unloading groceries. I had been out all morning and just brought my daughter home from preschool when she pulled up. She wanted to know if we had a cat, which we do. She asked me if he was light brown, which he is. Then she asked me to come to her car.

I knew right away something was wrong.

Apparently a cat had been hit by a car and was on the road just a few houses down from our house. Hating to see it lay on the side of the road, my neighbor placed it in a garbage bag in the trunk of her car. What little I was able to see of the cat made me think it was our cat. Now, our cat is not an outdoor cat and he's a pretty big cat. So, the few times he has tried to sneak outside he is easily caught. I just couldn't figure out how he could have gotten outside and gotten his collar off.

Although I was trying to shield her from the site, my daughter caught wind of what was going on and started crying. I was trying to hold it together so my neighbor wouldn't think me a complete freak as well as comfort my daughter. We went inside to call my husband and who was sitting in his favorite chair? Our cat! All I could do was laugh. My daughter, with tears streaming down her face joined me!

What a whirlwind of emotions in such a short time. My neighbor probably thinks I'm nuts!

On your mark, get set, go!

Well, I am doing it. I am jumping on the Blog bandwagon and starting one of my own. For two reasons. I have always enjoyed writing. And, as a mom to two crazy kids, I felt it was time I started documenting some of the crazy. So, here we go. I am not sure what I am getting myself into. This site will probably change numerous times as I try to get a handle on what, exactly, it is that I am doing.