Merry Excited Days

The holidays are fun, right? The boys are NUTS and have been bouncing off the walls. I am glad Christmas is going to be over soon. Don't get me wrong, I am soooooo very excited about tomorrow. Little Man is going to have a BLAST and Squeaker is going to run himself ragged. He has already been practicing unwrapping the gifts from under the tree. But I am done. I need it to be over so I can have some sense of normalcy around here.

Examples of why I need to be done:
90% of what came out of my mouth yesterday was negative and directed at my children's behavior. I felt terrible and awful and like I couldn't get a grip. I hate yelling at them and I hate that I can't help them calm down. I should be able to do that, right. It is part of my job(s). Ah well, going to bed at 8pm helped.

Squeaker has regressed in his napping/falling asleep abilities. Yesterday, after 2 hours, I gave up. He didn't take a nap. And, he needed one.

I have been done with my Christmas shopping for a while, but I had a few returns and decided to get out of the house while my mom did her shopping at the mall yesterday. With the boys. While we strolled around, apparently Squeaker was emptying my purse. And, leaving things places. I don't know what else I am missing, but after searching the house and car, my camera was no where to be found this morning. A few calls and amazingly someone had turned it in at Macy's. Yeah for Christmas spirit!!! So, I had to go back to the mall... on Christmas eve... with everyone else... to retrieve my camera.

Whew, that is all that comes to mind right now. I am sure there was more, but I have blocked most of it (oh yah, crayon all over the furniture and pillows today). Thank goodness for cookies!

Festival of Brrrrrr

The Wild Animal Park has a festival every year around the holidays called the Festival of Lights. I remember volunteering when I was a kid doing face painting or other miscellaneous booths. That might have been the last time I attended the festival and now i am seeing it in a different light. It was beautiful seeing all the lights all over the park and trying out a couple of the free activity booths. The light magic show could have been missed. And snow hill was not a big hit with my boys... maybe next year. Squeaker would have loved it had he not been so sleep deprived and allowed to wear gloves (we couldn't find them... still packed away). Anyhow, it was fun and we might even go back.

Holiday Season

Sorry for the lack of posting, things have been a bit crazy around here... all my projects to do while watching tv are still sitting there since I haven't even been close to a tv. Well, unless it was to put on a show for the boys so I could get just one thing done in peace. :) Anywho... I started at work, and am working 3 days a week. I have only been at the elementary school and already I think I feel comfortable enough there. It is the high school, that I start right after break, that I am worried about. I am sure it will be fine.

So, on another more festive note:

Jingle Bells a la Squeaker

Jingle Bells, Jesus came
all the way,
open sleigh.
Santa go on the sleigh.
Christmas Tree.
Hey!

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer a la Little Man

Rudolph the red nose reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows
all of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names
all of them except for rudolph
join um in the reindeer games.
One froggy christmas eve
santa came to say, ho ho ho.
rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight.
then how the riendeer loved him
we'll go down in hisTOR EEEEEEEEE

(oh, and slightly off cue.. don't think he'll ever be a professional singer)

The "letter"

My husband is the best Christmas letter writer EVER. He has written several letters that leave you wanting more. And, because they are so good, we get requests... "please write another letter this year". I am not trying to set expectations high or anything, but really, the 'letters' are clever, well thought out and fun to read. Rather than just a run down of what we did or whatever happened over the year, we have had a Lord of the Rings letter and a Twas the Night Before Christmas letter. I am sure there was one or two more (or so I am told) but those two stick out in my mind the most. Sadly, for the past two years, we have had a hiatus. My wonderful, christmas card writing, creative and clever husband basically refused to write our 'letter' for 2 years. So, we went the route of adorable photo cards. I love those, but when you have had a taste of the 'letter', you want more!!! So, finally, I convinced him that enough has happened this year to warrant a return to the 'letter'. He agreed and has completed his task with flying colors. I am not quite clever enough to figure out how to upload the letter on blogger but if you click on the image, a blurry version might pop up for you. There are some being sent out as we speak, so some of you can check your mailboxes in the next few days. It is a good read, with a hidden gem not previously mentioned here before. Check it out. :)

Crossing my fingers

Everyone join me in crossing my fingers... we have a slew of snotty noses around here that need some nudging in the direction of allergies vs colds. Little Man said that last night, his nose was so full of boogies that he had to get up and wipe the outside. Wow, that means that it was a lot... when a 4 year old gets up to wipe his nose in the middle of the night.

Monday Musings

I thought this regular posting of musings would be good... you know, to give me an outlet to post all the crazy things that come out of the boys' mouths during the week. I forgot, however, that my memory is like a sieve... so, it stresses me out each week to remember any of the 40 random comments made. So, this will be the last official monday musing and perhaps I'll throw in a couple here and there for good measure as I remember them in the future. :) Ridiculous, really... I mean, what else do I have to do but sit around and think of the wonderful things that come out of the boys mouths??? Hmmm... maybe I am just cranky because Squeaker teased us by going to sleep on the first try 3 times in a row and today... not so much.

Musing for today:

Dinnertime the other night
Squeaker: I want dessert.
Daddy: You have to finish your dinner first.
Squeaker: Okay. (pushing his food to GaMommy) Here, Gamommy, here is your dessert. I want dessert, Daddy.
GaMommy: No thanks.
Daddy: Um, nice try.
Squeaker: Okay. (and he finishes his dinner)

Glad

I am so glad we went to get our Christmas tree yesterday. It was mid 70s, we were in t-shirts and shorts, there was no one at the tree lot (in Home Depot -- we are big spenders). It was awesome. We got the biggest tree we thought would fit in the living room... maybe 9 feet?... and it looks beautiful -- laying on the floor. The Christmas tree stand was apparently not designed to hold a tree of such grandeur. We went tonight to get a new tree stand, along with everyone else who didn't think of getting a tree yesterday. Holy cow, there were a lot of people there. I am glad we didn't have to wait to get a tree wrapped and trunk trimmed... it was a line like 25 people deep. Yikes!

And, I am also glad, and thankful, that we are living with a babysitter. Daddy and I got to go check out houses during naptime and beyond. It was great. When we got home, there were two awake and happy boys and two brand new gingerbread houses. I guess I have to get used to the idea that Christmas is not that far off.

New Strategies

So, as much as I like/love the whole 1...2...3.. Magic book/strategy, for Little Man, it just isn't right. He ALWAYS gets to 2 before stopping. It is almost like he knows he has that extra chance to do it again before getting into trouble. The idea is that it is supposed to stop behaviors (or start behaviors) by giving the child consistent responses and therefore they know what to expect every time. Well, not so much. All he has learned is that if we want him to start or stop something, we have to count. Fun times. So, we have now told him that we are no longer counting to 3. We are counting to 2. So far, it is working. He stops at 1. Give us a few months, and perhaps we'll stop at 1 and then a time out. Maybe then he'll listen. AUGH. I thought it was supposed to be easy.

New bedtime strategy for Squeaker... screaming at him to stay in your bed for goodness sakes. It doesn't work. We'll keep experimenting. ;)

Daycare Status

So, once again, I have stuck my cute little offspring in daycare. Well, daycare/church preschool. And... I haven't even started working yet! Woo Hoo!!! Today was the first day for Squeaker. Little Man is just extending a couple of his days. So, from what the teachers tell me, they did great. From what the boys told me, it went well too. However, Little Man did not nap, so our evening was less than stellar. Squeaker was as happy as a lark this evening, so he must have slept well. And as we know, he doesn't require as much sleep, anyway.

I start working next week for a couple of weeks until the holiday break, then starting in Jan, I will be 3 days a week in the schools, and doing evaluations, until the end of the school year... if I make it that long. ;)

What I am the most excited about with this whole daycare thing, is that I don't have to put Squeaker down for a nap 3 days/week. that right there is awesome. Maybe I should work full time?!?!

Monday Musings

LM: Yesterday (meaning any day before today) Gavin (a friend at school) and I were fighting.
Me: Oh No! What were you fighting over?
LM: Gavin was fighting me and I was fighting Gavin.
Me: That doesn't sound good.
LM: We were using our hands to fight and he pulled on my shirt and I pulled on his. We both fell down on the ground.
Me: Oh, was this a mean fight or a play fight?
LM: It was playing. It was so we could get our exercise.