Done

        

Yee haw! I am done! I was trying to think of something clever for today's post, but frankly I just didn't have it in me. I spent the day cleaning, a disaster of a house. The kids were very good today and I got to take like a 15 minute shower-alone! The evening was capped off me crying at the end of Toy Story 3, again, and Delaney making farting noises into her elbow. I was so proud that I taught her how to sing Jingle Bells and We Wish You  A Merry Christmas (Brody claps and dances along with us) and then Eric came in and ruined it by making farting sounds at the end of each line. I am pretty sure that Delaney will get kicked out of church for that. The worst part is, I was laughing my butt off. Hey, it happens in a blink right? I am savoring every moment, no matter how disgusting:)

Thanks for reading these past 30 days! My gal pals (yep I said it) Ami and Anabelle did it too!! We rock!
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Traditions.

My friend, Ami,did a post about old and new traditions and I thought that was a STUPENDOUS idea.

Christmas has always been my family's favorite time of year. Growing up my mom would decorate our house to the hilt. It was always amazing! Our friends would come over just to hang out at the Kelley's Christmas Wonderland. I love our traditions and I love that we are making new ones. I love everything about this season.

• Every year we go to Winterhaven and walk around as a family looking at all the amazing 'exterior illumination'.
• My mom and I put out our Christmas Villages and each Christmas we add a new house to our collection- this year my sister has joined in the madness.
• During the Toys for Tots toy drive, we give the kids some money and take them shopping. It's totally cool watching them pick stuff out for kids that would otherwise get nothing (that is something that my parents started with us when we were little)
• On Christmas Eve we have a very strict routine and I LOVE IT! We all go to church (the big church, as Delaney would say) about 4:00. When it's over we head to my parents house. **New tradition that started last year.... when we get to my parent's house, Santa somehow got to her house early and left some cozy jammies for the little kids to wear (this is actually something that Eric's older kids do at their mom's house and I loved the idea, although I think maybe we will say it was Santa's elves that left the jammies-I dunno, I am still undecided.)
• Every Christmas Eve, we eat chili. Chili with cut up hot dogs and cheese and Frito's and onions. My mouth literally just filled up with spit as I typed that.
• After Chili, we always got to open one present on Christmas Eve (we will do that too with our kids) and then we watch White Christmas. This is something that I remember every year growing up. I love that I can remember watching it when I was younger and I can't wait for our kids to appreciate it too.
• After the movie, cookies and milk are put out for Santa and then off to bed.
• Christmas morning we could open our stockings as we waited for my parents to wake up or heard the final beep signaling that the coffee was ready.
• We eat Chicken Enchilada Soup on Christmas Day and watch The Polar Express

I know that list is kind of all over the place, but my mind is going a million different directions tonight. I am so excited for Christmas. I want to make sure that I put emphasis on the fact that Christmas is not about things, but about family and Christ. I want my kids growing up understanding the Reason for the Season. It's important to me. I find myself telling Delaney that Santa is watching and she can't say "stupid", "shut up" or "son of a bitch" (Awesome, I know) and she promptly asks me, "With his noculars?" I tell her yes and he doesn't like that language and he won't bring you presents, and I immediately cringe. That's not what I want. I don't want Kris Kringle to turn into a threat. I am going to work on that. I promise.

I am grateful for all the memories I have growing up during this time of the year...... I want that for my kids too.

Holy 2 year old batman

Holy crap. My son has gone freaking crazy! He has jumped, with both feet, from the high dive, into the terrible twos. Our poor Christmas tree has taken a huge beating and the poor baby Jesus from the Little People Nativity scene has been abused beyond belief. He won't stop throwing things- tonight it was his whole plate. Holy moly....

How can he be so cute and cuddly one minute and then crazy the next????

Now they are in bed and Eric and I are enjoying a nice fire and peace and quiet.

O Christmas Tree

Today was another Griswold moment for me. The big kids are with us this weekend so we decided to decorate the Christmas tree. I envisioned this wonderful day, where all the kids were happy, the little would be in total awe of the tree, Christmas music would be playing in the background, the tree would turn out like a Pottery Barn catalog and I would look skinny in all pictures.

Not. So. Much. First of all, my parents came over yesterday and surprised us with a new Christmas tree. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I was so excited! During the little kids nap we set it up.

Our new tree.

 When Delaney woke up from her nap and walked down the hallway and said, "Oh wow! Mommy, that is beautiful. Thank you so much for my birthday Christmas tree. I love it. It is amazing!" Seriously made me tear up. Then when Brody woke up we wanted to capture it on film... so here is his reaction:

Happy boy

Apparently. I was trying for a bit more of a reaction...

So then it was time to decorate. I opened the box and envisioned this peaceful, joyous experience and was sorely mistaken. Delaney was frustrated with the hooks, but did a great job piling them on top of each other on the same 3 branches. And Brody, well, Brody found two of Eric's car ornaments and played with them during the ENTIRE process. Instead of music playing, we had Christmas Vacation on (which was okay, it's one of my favorite movies). And the tree is somehow does NOT look like Pottery Barn-weird!! We have figured out that we are going to have to move the ornaments a couple of feet up because Brody man has a tendency to grab and throw. Not just toss, freakin throw. His tantrums have gotten completely out of control. AWESOME!!!

Getting frustrated.

Daylen helping out.

This is as close as Brody got to the tree.

Brody helping

I guess I am annoyed. Shocking.

Brody helping.

Kaylie:)

Anyway, the tree is up. We then decided to take Brody for a haircut and then went to the store. When we got home, we grilled burgers and Kaylie helped make dinner. We finished our day with a great dinner, as a family, laughing and talking. And then while drinking a margarita and eating oreos, we watched my favorite Friends episode- The one when they are in Vegas. (Alex- I can't watch this without thinking of you- Mrs.Ross:)

Getting his haircut/

Kaylie cutting veggies for dinner.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Thanksgiving was a blast, exhausting, but fun. Here are a bunch of pictures from our day:)

Brody watching the train set that my grandparents brought. He loves trains!

My princess watching the choo-choo.

Mimi (my grandma) and Brody man

Mimi and Delaney

Brody and Nana having a moment.

That is the barrier protecting the turkey fryer (or I guess it would be to keep kids and dogs out).

Brody upset cuz he can't touch it- look at that look!

He's over it. He loves to slide, but his new thing is to put his cars down it and yell, "Set....Go" and he makes the most hilarious face!

This is the face:)

My baby girl.

Turkey #1 is done!

My Granddaddy and Brody

I love this one....

Ignore the hair and beads and check out the nasty look. Delaney says he is "beary mad"

Delaney having Thanksgiving on the coffee table, watching Caillou!

Happy family (although we missed Josh and Rachel)!

Thanksgiving is over.

My kids are in bed. My dogs are fed. The dishes are done. The house is not trashed. I am wearing sweats and eating pumpkin cookies. We are about to watch Christmas Vacation and I am going to have a big glass of chocolate milk.

Thanksgiving was great. We started the day with monkey bread and the parade. Delaney and Brody LOVED watching all the balloons and I loved watching them. We watched the Patriots win and went to my parents house and had an INCREDIBLE dinner.

I am thankful for so much. I am thankful for my family. They would do anything for us (and actually not only us, they pretty much would do anything for any one, if we asked them). I am thankful for my husband. Not many husbands would help make a cake or give his honest opinion on what jewelry to wear. Plus, he works his butt off for us, without many thank yous. I am thankful for his boss. Jeff has not laid anyone off, yet, and that is because he has a good heart and knows that Eric has a family to support. I am thankful for my kids.... man I just can't imagine life without them. I am thankful for my friends. My real friends. The ones that are always there for me, and tell me like it is. I am thankful that we have a house to live in and food on the table. I am thankful for our church. I have learned so much in the past year  or so and I know it because God has a plan for me and I am just getting prepared to carry it out.

I am thankful for my life.I have learned, very recently, to not take it for granted.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

PS Only 5 more days til the 25 Days of Christmas on abc Family. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

It's Baaaaackkkkkkk

SO remember the story about my dad and the 'rat the size of a small terrier'? Well, according to my mom, the rat bastard is back-and is pissed. He is moving bigger stuff around in there to show his manliness (is that a word?).

 My dad has put down the ski pole and

has switched to bigger, better tactics.

Did ya notice that the ankle straps are a bit tighter?



Pity? Hold that thought.

I had post-its all ready for tonight and the stupid server is rejecting them. WTH? Ugh so now I am forced to come up with something on the fly.  And now I can't upload ANY pictures, so this is going to be boring!

Brody is now 19 months old has totally started his terrible twos. Holy crap it's a pain int he butt. He is seriously out of control. I took him to the doctor this morning to see why his seal barking cough won't go away and there were 2 brand new moms in there. There beautiful newborns were sleeping peacefully in their car seats and the mom's looked tired, but blissfully unaware of the chaos that lies ahead. At one point they were watching Brody climb up onto the top of the chair, stand up and say, "Yay" at the top of his lungs and then jump into my arms. Then he got mad because I wouldn't let him carry the bag of pretzels around the lobby, so he threw his cup at the toy thing that was in there. These moms were both looking at me with both fear and sorrow in their eyes. I know their initial thought was "OMG my kid will never behave like that (and maybe she won't, but that's probably not so true)" and then the thought went to something like this, "That sucks, she can't even control a 19 month old, I feel so bad for her."

To which I say, "JUST WAIT". I walked into the room with the nurse with Brody stomping behind me yelling "no" and I smiled because I knew that I was in the middle of the terrible twos and horrible threes- and they hadn't even started them.


*Disclaimer: If you have a child that is younger than 19 months or so, I am sure that your child will be a perfect angel and won't go through this.

PS If you believe that, then I have some ocean front property in Arizona for ya and just remember this, when the time comes, you will get through it, and have super fun blog stories.

Just A Little Bit of Brody

Here are some pictures from the past couple days.... he cracks me up.

Brody is ALWAYS sitting on Opie. He is a good dog.

He always has a car in his hand and I am sure that he is watching Toy Story 3 because he is obsessed!!

This was today while I was getting lunch ready. It was too quiet, so I peeked around the corner and saw this. The best part is what the bean bag is on....

That's the mini-tramp (yes in our living room, I have no class).

I love this little man.

I Confess.

I have said many times that my life is totally different than what I expected. I have learned to eat my words. A LOT. When I was young, my mom was a stay at home mom. She made it look easy. The house was clean. Dinner was always on the table, with place mats, napkins, water, etc. Dinner dishes were finished and we would sit down and watch TV together. She would do our laundry- and I would complain. Seriously, I would complain!! I would get annoyed if it was wrinkled or if she just threw it on my bed! What the hell was wrong with me (she started making me do my own)? 

Anyway.... I always thought to myself that wen I was a mom: #1 I would work #2 I would be on top of the house and all the wifey/motherly stuff.

Well, I quit my job and I SUCK as a stay at home mom. I am ashamed to admit this, but I used to think that being a stay at home mom was the easiest job ever. I really didn't think that it was hard to keep the house clean, the laundry caught up, dinner on the table etc. I believe that God ha His hand in my decision to stay home and my inability to keep up with.... life. He wanted to show me the truth. He wants me to know how lucky I was to have a mom who stayed home and did what she did. He wants me to step up.... I think.

So, I am confessing this awful, awful truth. Yes, I completely took my mother for granted, Yes, I totally thought that being a stay at home mom was easy. Yes, I "knew" that I would be able to be a perfect stay at home mom.

Okay....there it is. My confession. I feel better (Ok Lord, I have learned my lesson, I am ready to dive into the laundry again).


*Disclaimer: I am grateful that I get to stay home with my kids. I just want to be better at it.

PS Thanks for your help all weekend mom!

Faith

*This was an email I got from my Nanny today. It was perfect timing. Thanks Nanny*
This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 2 legs


He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.

His first owner also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'.


But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him.


She became determined to teach and train this little dog to walk by himself.


She named him 'Faith'.

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the movement.


Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him for standing up and jumping around.


Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk..


Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward.


After further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human being.



Faith loves to walk around now.

No matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.


He is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.


There is now a book entitled 'With a Little Faith' being published about him.


He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.

His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul'.

In life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better you just need to look at life from another direction.


I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day.


Faith is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of life.