Silent Night?? NO WAY

Ah..the joys of Christmas. The children up at 7:30am rushing into our bedroom screaming, "Santa was here!" Down the stairs they flew and wasted not a minute picking up gifts and looking for their names!! It took about an hour to open the gifts and the rest of the day and late into the evening was spent playing with their new toys. Much to our surprise it was a GREAT day with no crying or fighting! The kids were amazing too!! Reagan's favorite gifts: Squakers McCaw Parrot, Webkins, Fur Berry and Hannah Montana Lunch Box/Purse thingy. McKinley's favorite gifts: Baby Alive, Baby Pack n Play, Lucky Ducks game and Pretend Food. The best gifts this whole season were the V-Smile Pockets from Mi-Mi and the Barbie Gymnastics Divas from Aunt Lainie. All in all it was a magical day...I'm ready to take down the tree!

PS No Christmas morning would be complete without eating a candy cane!!

Don't 'Cha Love it When...

Your three year old announces, on Christmas Eve, at Christmas Mass that the *only* thing she really wants this year is a rocking horse?? Um...ok. Never heard that before? It sure would have saved me alot of time and money if she approached me with this information two months ago. But I'm sure she won't turn up her nose at the baby dolls and doll bed she's getting this year. Then again..we will see!!

We'll Be Home for Christmas....

We made it home from Wisconsin Saturday evening loaded up with our Christmas haul from Mi-Mi and Pa-Pa's house. The kids had a magical time! They got to play with their cousins, open presents, spend a day at an indoor waterpark and play with their closest friends - Ethan and Olivia. It was a great time but, whew, how exhausting for only being in Wisconsin for 2 full days. Now the kids are ALL off their schedules and so are mommy and daddy!! As a matter of fact, Erich seems to be coming down with something. He's been complaining of a sore throat and fever since the drive back on Saturday. (funny, he ALWAYS gets sick during ANY holiday...could it be psychosematic?)

So here it is Christmas Eve and the kids are anxiously awaiting the big guy in red! Kinley claims she wants to sit on his lap when he arrives tonight but well all know what would ACTUALLY happen if he came in 200 ft of her! Erich has to work until 5 pm so I think the kids and I will make cookies for Santa today, clean the house and hope that our church has a childrens mass that we can go to this afternoon. And certainly I don't want to waste the cute Christmas outfits I bought them. (If we try to go on Christmas morning I just *know* it will never happen. What, with all the new toys and stuff to play with??!!) So I pray that Erich will come home, in a good mood, feeling well and be ready to put together toys long into the night with me. (not to mention the fun ole task of wrapping) In a previous post I mentioned "less is more"...well, ahem, I cut back but it STILL looks like way too much. Wish us luck with getting it all ready by tomorrow morning!

Merry Christmas!

Reagan's Play Day At St. John's

Well little shy ole Reagan was quite the performer at her Christmas play this afternoon. She got right up to the microphone, in front of about 250 people, and announced her lines ever so loudly. Everyone chuckled because she was every so confident!! We could not have been more proud of our little shy Reagan.

Christmas Secret Revealed

Kinley: Hey mommy. Is that angel on the fireplace the one from Christmas?
Me: No, honey. I got that for my birthday last year.
Kinley: Oh. We got you a different one for Christmas this year.

Thanks Kinley!! Tee hee. I do love my Jim Shore angels so I am quite excited!! The funny thing is that I took each girls shopping alone to pick out something for the other one. Do you think they've told eachother? NOPE. I'm pretty impressed with their secret keeping so far....except for the above mentioned conversation.

Snarky People (You know who you are!)

Snarkey little comments made by people, especially people that are 'supposed' to be very close to me, PISS ME OFF! This is the Christmas season...suck it up and keep your crappy comments to yourself. You seem to think that you are better than those around you...well guess again sista'...you ain't!!

Ok glad I got that off my chest. Now it would be splendid if the person to whom I'm referring is an actual reader of my blog. She knows who she is and need to cut the crap!!

I'm so glad I have an open forum to get this all out.

Happy friggin holidays!!

NOTE TO SELF:

Next year do NOT, I repeat, do NOT volunteer to personally address and sign all 106 holiday cards for E's employees. (Maybe E needs a secretary! HA!) Addressing the 30 something to our friends and family is QUITE enough for my carple tunnel.

This is the House that Chadas Built

Who says building a gingerbread house is easy?? They make it look so dang simple on TV. Well as you can see for yourself the girls and I did not have much luck! We just got stared decorating the roof and then it caved in. Try as I might, I could not get it to go back together. In the end all turned out well as the kids said, "That's ok mommy. We'll just eat the candy!" I guess that's what it was all about for them, to begin with anyways. Oh well, maybe next year.

Holiday/Winter insanity

Is it just my kids or does this time of year bring out the insanity?? Could it be from the long hours of being couped up in the house do to the chilling wind blowing outside? Could it be the knowledge that Santa is coming in the next few weeks? (although you'd *think* it would put them on their BEST behavior.) My kids are just outa control lately. RJ and her backtalk/sassy attitude has GOT TO GO! MM and her whining are driving me completely nuts. Ah, the joys of the season. It's going to be a long cold winter in this house, I can already tell.

Update to below (Santa)

Um, yeah. Last night at the Christmas party Reagan hid under a chair for about 20 min when Santa was around and McKinley freaked out. Good times!! Another year gone by without any Santa pix.

She Talks the Talk but Can't Walk the Walk

For DAYS now McKinley has been telling everyone (even complete strangers) that she is going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wants for Christmas as well as what her sister wants too. (being that Reagan is still TERRIFIED of Santa at nearly five years old) So we make the big hour long trip to Champaign to go see the 'good Santa'. (apparently the Santa here at our little mall is a perverted college student....hmmmm maybe I should go sit on his lap. Just kidding) We get there only to find out Santa is on a the last 5 minutes of his break but will be back shortly. I explain this to McKinley and she starts shaking and I mean TREMBLING. Then was the tears fill up her big ole eyes she screams, " I don't want to see Santa. I dont' want to touch Santa. I don't want to look at him or talk to him. He scares me. Get me away from this Santa chair" So no big deal we leave and she procedes to tell everyone, "I don't like Santa anymore. I'm not going to sit on his lap." So here it is 2 days later and we have the kids Xmas party for Erich's work. It's at a bowling alley but I don't have the heart to tell the kids that the big guy in red will most likely be there. I can see a bad night commin on.

Deck the Hawws With Bawws of Howwy....

Fra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra. I love the movie "A Christmas Story".
Anyways we decorated the tree last night. The kids had a good time clumping all the ornaments on the bottom of the tree. They are so excited for Santa to come to our new house. McKinley thinks Santa should come through the front door as "not to get dirty" this year. Reagan could care less how Santa gets in the house as long as he brings her a Fur Berry.

The Never Ending Birthday

Last week we went 'home' to Wisconsin for McKinley's birthday. (which actually isn't until 11/23) She wanted to have a birthday party with some of her friends up there. Did you know that McDonalds in Racine does NOT do birthday parties anymore? WTH??? Anyways I rented the party room there and McKinley got her McDonald's birthday party. Let me tell you 7 kids 4 yrs and under...um.....HEADACHE. There was so much loud screaming, crying and bickering it was unbelievable. But McKinley had a great time and that's all that matters anyways, right? So we come home on Monday and then on Wednesday a few of McKinley's friends had a little party for her here at, drumroll please, MCDONALDS. It was nothing huge just lunch, cupcakes and gifts. My dear friend Jody is so good to my kids!! McKinley thought it was so cool to have yet ANOTHER birthday. THEN last night Aunt Shannan came and brought a birthday card from Oma and Opa so McKinley assumed she was now turning 4 since she already, "had enough 3 year old birthdays." And then today, Thanksgiving, daddy gave her yet another birthday present, just because and now McKinley is ALL sorts of mixed up about birthdays. It's kind of funny. Poor girl. I'm just going to skip telling her that TOMORROW is her ACTUAL birthday...I think she'll have a complete and utter breakdown. Although I shouldn't be THAT surprised as I'm married to the man who claims that he gets 'Birthday MONTHS' not just birthdays.

Adios Amigas...

So Erich's store won a sales contest and Erich and I are off for an all expense paid trip to Cancun Mexico!! I am so excited! We're being put up at an all inclusive resort for 5 days!! WOO HOO!! Sometimes I love The Home Depot!!

Flu Shots. UGH.

How can you convince a child that a shot will not hurt and will be over in a matter of seconds. I suppose they have to have a concept of a 'second' to begin with. First thing this morning we load up in the minivan with the promise of going to gymnastics after we, ahem, 'run an errand' first. As the hospital comes in view of the kids you can almost here them start to shake. Next comes the inevitable first tear before they even ask why we are headed in the direction of the hospital. McKinley, ever the attentive one, says, " You told daddy yesterday we are getting shots." When the heck did she hear me say that?? I keep my lips shut, get them out of the car and remind them of all the fun toys and the aquarium the doctor's office has. (it seems to distract them from the task at hand) We step inside the office and look upon a sea of kids playing...the girls go join them. I do the usual paperwork keeping a keen ear out for any crying or screaming kids. NOPE...none that I can hear or see! They call our name and the kids seem oblivious to why we are headed behind the waiting room doors. Crap, we got the mean nurse. We get in the room and the nurse asks who wants to go first. No volunteers. I volunteer Kinley. We put her up on the table, pull down her leotard sleeve and I say, "It's ok. It won't hurt. It will be over in second." SCREAMING. SCREAMING. SCREAMING. Then the shot. (then I get yelled at from the mean nurse for not holding her hands) Band-aid on. SCREAMING. SCREAMING. Mean nurse gives her a sticker and grabs Reagan's hand. SCREAMING.....Replay of McKinley's 'trauma'. I grab the kids' coats while they are still screaming and the nurse asks me to escort the kids out the 'back door' so they don't keep scareing the other kids in the waiting room. Mean nurse shakes her head and walks away. I hope this was worth it!!

Only In Mattoon IL

So as most of you know I am less than thrilled to be living here in Mattoon. The corn, the isolation from the rest of the world, the people who scowl at me for calling MATT TOON Matoon, the lack of a Target within an hour of my house. So today I add one more reason to hate Mattoon. Smoking. I went to a consignment shop and sure enough as I opened the door, the employees (three of them) were sitting behind the cash register SMOKING!!! Nice. Smoking in a CLOTHING consignment store. Um, who the heck would want to buy clothes that smell of smoke. NOT ME. Not to mention the stench on my clothes and the girls' clothes just from walking and and immediately walking out. See, this is what I get for trying to contribute to the small local businesses here. Sigh.

Less is More

I think I'm going with the Christmas theme of 'Less is More'. Every year it seems we buy the kids alot of cheap 'crap' plastic toys that get tossed to the side, thrown in the trash or eaten by the dog in a matter of a few weeks. This Christmas I've decided to purchase less but better quality toys. Hopefully gifts that will last a bit longer than the past years' toys. I mean, really, how many My Pretty Pony dolls does one girl need? It's nice that the girls are still young enough that they won't notice the difference from the past years' piles of gifts and will still be overly joyed with the small quality gifts that Santa and Mommy/Daddy will put under the tree. This year we also hope to emphasize the 'reason for the season'. McKinley is VERY interested in Jesus this year so hopefully she will comprehend that we're celebrating his birthday. Reagan on the other hand goes to a Lutheran school (I know, BAD BAD Catholic mommy sending her to a Lutheran school but it's in a better part of town than the Catholic school and she WILL attend public school next year) so I'm hoping that she'll listen better to her teachers than she does to me. Plus she's almost 5 years old so I'm sure she already has some comprehension. So it's off to find good wood American made toys as well as some educational toys. Wish me luck!!

Halloween

Welcome to my THIRD attempt at a blog. I suppose if my sister with THREE kids can keep up with a blog, then I can certainly try too! Not to mention we recently moved away from all of our family and friends. Let's see if I can figure this out.

Halloween this year was fun. Now that Reagan is almost 5 and Kinley is quickly approaching 3 the holidays just get better and better. We had a surprise visit from my youngest sister, a.k.a. Aunt B and the girls were thrilled. Erich and Aunt B took Pink Power Ranger (Reagan) and Supergirl (McKinley) trick or treating while I stayed home and handed out candy. Apparently, Supergirl enjoyed trick or treating a bit more than the Pink Power Ranger as PPR was home about 15 minutes before Supergirl was. Needless to say they had a great time and didn't get 'too much' candy. Heck, they didn't even argue with me when I told them they could only have one piece of candy before bed. (yeah that's rare, they must have been REALLY tired) I guess it was a good day!!

So now it's time to prepare for our trip to WI, McKinley's bday, Thanksgiving and Xmas. No rest for the weary!!