Advent

The advent calender started on December 1st.

Blake and I were really excited. We had planned out a bunch of things to do with our kids and we felt like we were really on top of it this year.

 Well, there is nothing like a bunch of kids to spoil everything....or at least make it really hard to have fun.

This year we thought it would be fun to start out with the festival of trees. 

Truthfully it was one of the few activities that we had planned that was going to cost money. Our friends the Wheeler's go every year and they say that their kids enjoy it so we thought "What the heck! Let's go together."

The gist of the whole thing is that they have people that make gingerbread houses, wreaths, quilts, and trees and they auction them off to raise money for Primary Children's Hospital.

A lot of the trees are dedicated to someone that has died, so they are all individual and unique.

This tree was made out of Mountain Dew cans.

Fun right?

I mean look at this gingerbread house that is shaped like Rapunzel's castle.

Let's just say that about 5 minutes into it our kids began to ask when we were leaving. 

Then Gavin started to complain that his legs were tired...and he didn't stop complaining...for an hour or more.

With Canon and Penny we improvised with some fancy stroller usage, but in the end we ended up leaving and going home to have PB&J sandwiches in lieu of having dinner with the Wheelers. 

It was a major bust.

Not only did the kids not appreciate the trees but they also didn't even find the humor in a statue that was creepy but supposed to be beautiful.

Blake and I contemplated calling off the advent altogether.

But what can I say? We are hard core.

Some other things we did:

We had Santa pictures taken and afterwards we had a little chocolate treat. 

That seemed like it was well received...up until Penny had to sit on Santa's lap. 

She was appeased with a giant ice cube afterwards though.

The kids painted their own ornaments.

Surprisingly no complaints. 

Except for when we took Penny's paint away.

Sometimes life does imitate art.

The kids also cut out snowflakes with Blake one night.

You figure that nothing could go wrong with snowflakes.

You would be wrong.

So so wrong.

Laney was upset about how her snowflake had turned out.

That is until the next day when she realized that the "L", that she was so upset about the night before, made a "heart"...then all the sudden her snowflake was great.

Last night we played a Gingerbread boy game.

No complaints.

It truly was like a holiday miracle. 

Plus, I won.

Blake came in last...so I have bragging rights.

Penny was in it more for the coloring and popcorn.

Now all of our gingerbread boys hang on the fridge.

To the kids they symbolize our time together...

but to me they are mostly like a tongue sticking out at Blake.

Winner winner chicken dinner.

On Board

I feel like I can adapt to a lot of things. 

I am pretty open about styles, and think that there are a lot of things that I can "get on board" with.

These shoes are not one of them.

I just don't understand the appeal of having ones feet look like they belong on Frankenstein.

But if they tickle your fancy...well than all the power to you.

You can even go for silver with fur too.

I won't judge. No seriously...I won't. 

You kind of loose the opportunity to judge when you have worn something within the last month that was pulled out of a dumpster.

Funny story:

My friend April and I were at an estate sale. The lady having the estate sale had thrown away a bunch of vintage clothing. We looked in the dumpster and found a whole box of clothes. 

This shirt came to live with me.

The End.

Another thing that I can get on board with is having an old steamer trunk for our boys room. 

Granted it is large, but it is dual purpose. 

The kids can use it as a coffin/hiding space, and they can also put their toys in it and not have the option to dump the whole thing out. 

Can I get an amen?

One of my friends Wendy is in the hospital. 

She had to have a bone marrow transplant, which started out with a heavy round of Chemo. 

To do something nice, a lot of the kids in the neighborhood made hearts to go all over her door.

Gavin made this one. 

At first I thought that it was so so sweet then I laughed.

Take another look. That lady in the bed is Wendy. That scribble below the bed? Her hair. 

If I could start a conga line for my kids art I would.

When they make me look so pretty, how could I not?

Now, I am going to break it down for you.

I can not get on board with animals dressed as people.

Alright so I was going for stealthy but all I ended up with was a picture of Gavin. 

Check out the guy behind.

His dog was in a dress..waiting in line...to see Santa. 

Hey, if you wanna stand in line and take a picture with Santa and your pet...all the power to you. But please...please...don't start to talk about how you are worried because your dog is yawning and you are really nervous that your dog may fall asleep before their fancy picture.

Or... 

You may catch me rolling my eyes as I try to control my 4 yawning kids from tearing down Santa's whole establishment.

Speaking of Santa and animals...

Laney is positive that she is getting a bunny for Christmas. We have gone past the "I hope I get a bunny..." and into "When my bunny is here..."

I will be the first to tell you that animals...well...they aren't really my thing. 

But they used to be. I used to love them. I actually had a pet bunny which is where I am sure that Laney got the idea.

Originally when she started to say that she wanted a bunny I told her that I had a nice bunny, but that my sister Ramonah had a mean bunny. It was so mean that it would hiss and bite you.

Laney was not swayed. 

She just said that if her bunny was mean that we could put it outside. 

Canon said that if it was mean we could put it outside and not feed it, then it would die. 

Canon. 

Always coming up with evil options to things.

Anywho...

Then I got to thinking. I loved having pets growing up, and my kids should have the same option too. 

So....

coming to live with us on Christmas morning...

our new pet.

Blake and I originally thought that Laney would be distraught that Santa had not in fact brought her a bunny then I came up with a fool proof plan:

Write a note from Santa saying all of the bunnies were mean this year so, he brought us a cat instead. 

Then give Laney one of these bunnies to appease the last little bit of disappointment...if there is any.

So evidently I am on board with pets now. Just not dressing them up.

Because how could you resist that creepy/can't stop staring at it face?

It truly is a face only a mother could love.

I seriously don't know what she was doing.

No really. 

No idea.

Mild

When you end up talking about how October has been mild so far, you got to know that at some point mother nature is going to show you who's boss.

Personally I think she went a little overboard.

During the middle of the first day we had 9".

I would have been fine with it stopping there.

The problem is, is that when it snows the kids want to go outside. 

Do you know how big of a production it is to get 4 kids dressed in their snow gear? 

Only to have them remove it 4 minutes later because they got snow down the back of their neck.

4 wet boots, 4 wet coats, 4 wet gloves...it adds up.

Laney was die hard though. 

Girlfriend could make a snow angel like it was nobody's business.

Laney tried to convince Penny that snow angels were all the rage...

she should have tried harder. 

Penny didn't go out from under the covered patio...

but she was ready for the snow. 

It was just going to have to come to her.

Politics A La Unguren

I am not going to talk politics because I just won't. But you know who will talk politics with you?

He learned about the election in school. 

So he told us all about it.

Some gems?

We voted today in our class. I voted for Romney. He won. There were 18 of us that liked him and 10 liked the other guy. 

"Gavin, Obama could win."

When you are president then you get to be president for 4 years. Then you have to run another lap and you get to be president again. Obama is running another lap. Mom? Who did you vote for?

I didn't vote. I wasn't registered, but Dad voted.

You didn't vote?!

Shamed by a 7 year old. Feels good.