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!!