Saturday, December 21, 2013

Ho, ho, ho! or Traditions are Fun

 
Yay! It’s almost Christmas… and I have the presents to prove it. They’re all stored in my bedroom.


I think they’re safe in there. It’s the one place in the whole house where the kids aren’t allowed to play. They go in only to grab their nooks (and they leave the light on every single time, which drives me nuts) or wake me up on the weekends, but it’s not a gathering place.


You know, I used to have this thought that it would be sweet to snuggle in bed and watch TV together, but in reality it’s mostly  pretty uncomfortable because everyone piles on top of me and then they all vie for the best spot… which is usually the spot my head is occupying. Then, and this is all just speculation on my part (is it still speculation if it's highly likely to happen?), a serious fight would break out over who should have "the best spot," and then there would be an argument over what to watch, and then one kid would want to play on their nook but would have forgotten to charge it, and then another kid would go and get their fully charged nook and comment on everything they're doing on it which would upset the owner of the not fully charged nook, then someone would want to eat breakfast, and then someone else would be upset because they want to cuddle more, then my newspaper would be crinkled and torn in all of the ruckus and everyone would be cranky... so, no, we don’t gather there and spend lazy Saturday mornings with me reading the paper in bed and the kids lounging around in their jammies next to me watching cartoons. Instead, we do our lounging in the living room where we can all spread out unless we want to cuddle. Like right now for example… I’m typing this while Jackson sits next to me, Katie next to him, and Jacob next to her. We’re squished onto two thirds of the couch. It’s cozy and no one has their feet in my face. Plus, it’s very warm. (If I didn’t have this laptop in my lap, I would try to convince Jacob to sit with me too… on the foot rest because 1. he likes to sit there, and 2. he keeps my legs warm when he sits on them.)


Oh, we had a really fun day last Saturday. Grammy had sugar cookies made and we got to go decorate them! (On a related note, I need to buy Grammy some decorating stuff because the kids dumped all of hers out while decorating their cookies.) It wasn’t too bad of a mess because we had them put their cookies into a dish before they dumped a ton of stuff on them. We brought our cookies home and I’ve been eating them all week. They turned out really good and I would say that next year Grammy should make the same recipe for the cookies and frosting. And then she should invite us over again to decorate them. This would be a great tradition. Are you reading this Grammy?


And finally, I’m starting to get excited about Christmas. We went to the Christmas service at church and there were Christmas decorations and Christmas songs and a really good pastor message and my mom went with us. Yay! AND I’ve got most of our presents bought. Now I just have to wrap them (while watching the Christmas movie marathons on Hallmark channel, of course... that seems to have become my tradition. Yes, Hallmark channel movies and running out of tape because, for some reason, I always think I have way more than I actually have, and I always expect to find a backup roll in the last place I remember seeing one… even though I used *that* tape up when I ran out the year before. Maybe I need to find new traditions, like Netflix and buying lots of tape in advance). I’m also excited because this year I planned ahead and bought stuff for their stockings instead of waiting till the last minute.


Okay, finally for real this time, Jacob is wearing a Santa hat. He’s worn it all day, since Grandpa gave it to him. He wore it while playing, he wore it while eating, he wore it at church… he’ll probably want to wear it to bed. Yes, he wore it to bed. I took it off of him and put it on one of his toys so he'll see it in the morning.
 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Stepping Carefully onto the Bandwagon

I got a new phone recently. It's pretty awesome. Especially for something I didn't know I would want.

It's... an... iphone.

I was perfectly happy with my old LG Ally until I went to Target with my mom and grandma and they were looking at the iphone my mom saw advertised for $49. I was still perfectly happy with my phone while I watched as the lady walked my grandma through the process. This started at around 8:30 p.m..

I was still perfectly happy with my old phone while I did a little shopping. 

But then, you know, at around 9:00 p.m., I started thinking about a new phone. Something I hadn't had for a few years because I didn't want to renew my contract. And I started to think a new phone wasn't such a bad idea.

So I did it. I signed on for a iphone. And the best part about it is that it was free! Sure, there was a $50 out of pocket cost but then they give you a gift card for $50. Win/Win.

I picked white. Because it looked clean and I could find it in my dark purse. And I guess I like it. It's no LG Ally, but it looks like this iphone thing isn't just a fad so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

Plus, I feel like I'm embracing the present by buying one.

(I don't even set the clock on my VCR... or program the remote for TV and cable (I changed the code on my remote about 3 weeks ago when I tried to program the DVD to work with my TV and when it didn't work AND I realized I messed up the code, I just started using two remotes; one for cable, one for volume), or change my clocks for daylight savings.)

We got home at around 11 p.m. then sat around playing on our new phones. Pretty awesome.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Laundry. Why doesn't it just do itself?



I have a basket.

It's just one basket but it's full to the brim with socks. Based on the massive amount of socks in the basket, I am amazed that we have ANY socks in our dresser drawers.

I think about the actual size of socks. Not that big, right? And then I think about how many socks would be needed to FILL a basket. That's a lot of socks. And they're all in my basket.

And since I am the only person who I trust NOT to toss the socks around the room when forced to do something with them, I'm the one who will match them up and put them away. Although, if the kids were going to be home this weekend, I *might* have made them sit with me and help... but they're going to the lake with grandma and grandpa. So, down side is that I'll be matching and folding socks all by myself, the upside is that my matched and folded socks will stay matched and folded.

Of course I had to fit some fun friend plans into the weekend. We're going to some art thing... to look at some art. I'll get some culture and won't spend the day in sweat pants and a ratty t-shirt. I think there will be jewelry there too so I might even buy myself something pretty! That's my plan for fun.

My other, not so fun, plans include shopping for a new pair of jeans, getting an oil change, cleaning popcorn out of the van from the weekend, changing sheets, buying groceries. You know, the stuff that isn't as fun.

Oh well. It could be worse. I could be doing all of the not so fun stuff with three children in tow!


P.S. Here are some pics of the kids at a corn maze. Pumpkin carving pics to come soon!
Katie and Jake bouncing

Jake loved the corn pit

Queen of the hill

Jack


I wondered why he had such a weird expression on his face.
Then I realized he was being a pirate.



Katie got to hold a parakeet