Sunday, December 5, 2010

Christmas Countdown Days 2, 3, and 5

Shop for Holiday Magic Angel present

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Decorate the Christmas tree
(Rylan only managed to break three ornaments)

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Make Christmas cards

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For last year's cards, we did potato stamping with great success, but this year, I decided just to provide them with a bunch of materials and let their creativity go wild. The cards are turning out very interesting...

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The week I'm having

Washing machine breaks

Rylan, Eli, and Cole catch the stomach flu

I clean up vomit in the middle of the night for five nights in a row...without a washing machine

The highlight of the Great Stomach Flu of 2010 is when Cole throws up while climbing down from the top bunk and then runs to my room (instead of the bathroom) leaving a trail of vomit across the whole house

Boys stop throwing up...things are looking up...Michael leaves on a business trip...I wake up with the sniffles

I finally make the pumpkin pie that got nixed from Thanksgiving dinner...Eli takes one whiff, it reminds him of Thanksgiving, and he throws up all over the playroom

Apparently the last thing he ate was blue

This Year's Christmas Countdown

Along with some very lousy pictures. Obviously I have no idea how to take pictures of lights. (Tips are welcome)

advent calendar

But I did catch Rylan's funny face - even if it's blurry.

advent calendar

Christmas Countdown
  1. Read a holiday book.
  2. Shop for Holiday Magic Angel present.
  3. Decorate tree.
  4. Attend state Community Christmas Celebration.
  5. Make Christmas cards.
  6. Celebrate Rylan's birthday.
  7. Paint nativities.
  8. Read a holiday book.
  9. See the lights at Lake Myra.
  10. Attend ward Christmas party.
  11. Daddy picks dinner.
  12. Make secret elf gifts.
  13. Deliver secret elf gifts.
  14. Eli picks dinner.
  15. Read a holiday book.
  16. Make gifts for friends.
  17. Make gifts for teachers.
  18. Joy School Christmas party.
  19. Momma picks dinner.
  20. Cole picks dinner.
  21. Go carolling.
  22. Watch a holiday movie.
  23. Travel to Miriam's.
  24. Christmas Eve.
  25. Christmas Day.
Each of these activities is written on a piece of paper and slipped inside the cases on the tree pictured above. We used Maya's tutorial for a toilet paper advent calendar. Choosing what to do on each day was a little difficult this year with Young Women's, so there are lots of nights where we're just reading a holiday book.

May the countdown begin!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Cole Says...

Cole: Momma, are there more days or nights in December?

Me: There's the same amount because after every day, there's a night.

Cole: No, there are more days. There are no nights in December. There are no swords or helmets or fighting. Get it?

Me: Oh, you mean knights.

Cole: Yes, I was being funny...with homophones.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Sunday Outing

There's a pedestrian bridge that crosses over the interstate near Whole Foods, and I've been trying to figure out for awhile now how to get to it. For any Raleigh friends wondering the same thing - I think the best way is to park at the North Carolina Museum of Art and hop on the greenway there. It's kind of a hike for little legs, but it's totally paved so you can take your stroller if you need to. I brought mine, but then Rylan insisted on walking the whole way anyway...

art museum greenway

art museum greenway

art museum greenway

art museum greenway

art museum greenwayart museum greenway

The Saga of Cole's Birthday

There's a boy in Cole's class this year that Cole has talked about non-stop since September. Every time I turn around, it's "that's a game I learned from Bob*" and "Bob told me that" etc. etc. etc. So when I found out at the beginning of November that Bob's birthday was three days before Cole's, I told him he better find out when Bob was having his party so they didn't plan them for the same day.

Assuming that Cole would be invited to Bob's party. Which he was not.

I think this is the most heartbreaking thing about being a parent. You have this amazing child, and you think everyone in the world should kiss his feet because he's so smart and creative and talented. Whatever faults he might have, he's still one of the three most amazing kids to ever walk the planet. And you don't ever want him to get hurt or sad or made fun of or not invited to a party by an obviously stupid kid from school.

Cole wasn't as upset about it as I was - in fact, he announced in a very matter of fact way that he wasn't invited to Bob's party and that he'd like to have a party at Chuck E. Cheese instead and just invite his friend Suchir, so I guess he wasn't traumatized and life goes on.

But in the midst of my feeling like I wanted to strangle the idiotic kid from school, I vented to Miriam that Cole had decided not to have a birthday party, so she decided to throw a surprise party for him. She is the rockingest aunt of all aunts everywhere.

Cole's 2nd party

And there was a piƱata!

Cole's 2nd party

I think Miriam was regretting the pinata after Michael and I insisted it was too cold to do it outside. Look at her face!

Cole's 2nd party>Cole's 2nd party

So I guess if you're seven years old and you get to have two birthday parties, it's not such a big deal if a kid from school doesn't realize how awesome you are.

*Name has been changed just in case we ever make friends with any parents from their school.

A Thanksgiving to Remember

A week and a half ago, our washing machine quit working. We procrastinated a couple days before calling our usual repair guy, who waited a few days to call back and refer us to another guy, who couldn't come for a few days and then didn't have the part he needed, all culminating in the following happy Thanksgiving:
  • Michael and I spent $21 at a laundromat on Wednesday night to get us all clothed in clean clothes and stocked with dishrags and towels.
  • On Thursday, I woke up feeling nauseous, nixing my awesome pumpkin pie from our dinner menu.
  • That night, Rylan started puking...and puked and puked and puked. All night long. Michael and I took shifts.
  • On Friday night, my visiting relatives decided they'd better cut their vacation short and head home early.
Thanksgiving
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