Christmas, Part I

Note -I realize that all of you are completely over the holidays, but let's not forget - not only is this blog meant to well, I don't know what it is really meant to do for everyone else because to say "entertain" would be rather presumptuous.  So, anyway - it is primarily meant to serve as a journal for my kids to look back on some day.  So, without further adieu, I will post about the holidays.

As expected, our holidays (or shall I say our holiday season) did not disappoint.  It started with St. Nick.  First of all - who knew that Wisconsin is one of the only states to actually celebrate the holiday???  NO ONE in New England knows about this.  But, whatever.  We did it.  The kids put their shoes out and sure enough!  St. Nick brought some presents...

That weekend, the kids and I took advantage of an unseasonably warm day in December to go and pick out the Christmas tree.  Josh tends to think that my process in picking out a tree is a bit "lengthy," so I figured I would spare him and pick out the tree with the kids and then have him go back and cut it down (aka, pay the kid working there $5 to cut it down) and bring it home.  While not the most memorable family moment, it works.  Oh - and, it was our first Santa sighting of the season! Alex swore that he wouldn't sit on his lap, but as soon as he saw his sister doing it, it was all over...

The following day, we had our traditional brunch with Santa.  Avery has maintained her "I'm not afraid of Santa because he brings me presents" attitude since last year.  Alex, on the other hand, had decided that once was enough, but then...surprised us all and not only sat on his lap, but smiled while doing it!  That afternoon, we had our traditional tree decorating afternoon - we listened to Christmas Carols while doing so and then had a nice prime rib dinner that night. Thankfully, it was nowhere near as exciting as it was last year.    I strung the lights while standing on 2 legs (which, as it turns out, is much easier than one), the fire remained in the fireplace, all feces ended up in the proper place and most importantly, the prime rib was cooked to perfection!  A perfect way to start what was gearing up to be a great Christmas.  Part deux next...

It's never a good thing when...

Putting your son to bed at night, you ask him what he did that day in school and he says (in a very matter-of-fact way), "well, during circle time, I showed my friends my wee-wee..."

 

 

I blame his father.

The Baker and the Eater

We have a slight problem in our household right now.  Avery has developed this desire to bake and/or cook with me.  Actually, let me back up  - she has always had this desire and I've always enjoyed my time in the kitchen with her.  But, now?  She has the desire to pick the things that she wants to make and most of the time?  It happens to be either right before or right after I've spent a good hour in the kitchen making dinner.  And, that isn't even the problem.  I still enjoy my time with her in the kitchen (even if all I really want to do at that point is sit on my butt and enjoy a glass of wine).  The problem is that she insists on making desserts.  But, not like desserts out of a box.  Desserts out of her cookbook.  Don't get me wrong - I love the cookbook.  It is really cute.  They write all of the recipes in kid language, so she can follow it.  However, all of the recipes?  FROM SCRATCH.  Like, cakes?  Full blown flour, cocoa, sugar, butter, etc.  There is no pillsbury box involved.   And, then of course, she gets to pick the color of frosting.  In other words, they take a while.  And you end up with a chocolate cake that looks like it was baked by the Easter Bunny...

Which would be fine except that the baker??????  Is NOT the eater.  I am not kidding you when I say that this child just has no interest in eating these desserts.  She may have a small piece of whatever it is the first night.  But, after that?  Nothing.  Which leads us to the real problem... as you may have guessed, Mommy is the EATER.  This is not good.  Not good at all for my waistline.  so point being, I would greatly appreciate if next time you see me you think ok, she may be a bit chubby but damn! That is one selfless mom!

Never Fear...

I am alive and well.  And, there are plenty of holiday stories, temper tantrums and job changes to discuss.  Unfortunately, it is just those holiday stories, temper trantrums and job changes that are taking time away from being able to do so.  Soon, though.  I promise....

My ride to work today...

Started off with Avery asking if I had my iPd and as soon as I said yes, Alex screaming out that he wanted to listen to "Baby You're a Firework."  I then explained that Avery asked first, so she gets to choose her song, so she screamed out that she wanted "California Girls."  Then, Alex got mad because even though Avery asked for the iPod, she didn't ask to hear an actual song, so he thought he should get to listen to his song first because he actually asked for a song.  And, then it all started...

Alex:  "Avery, you're a poopy head."

Mom: "Alex, don't use potty words.  I don't want to hear it again."

Alex (laughing):  "Avery, you're a pee head!"

Mom:  "ALEX!  Stop with the potty words." 

Alex (laughing hysterically):  "Pee, Poop, Poop, Pee!"

Avery (laughing) and spelling the words instead of saying them:  "P-O-O-P-Y!!!!"  "P-E-E!!!"

Mom (singing): "California Girls, they're unforgettable...." because at this point?  I've lost the poopy battle.

This is my life, people.  This is my life...

Fashionista...or shall I say, Fashionisto???

Ok, seriously?  I remember going through a phase with Avery when she started having an opinion about what she was going to wear.  You may remember - the outfit of choice was pretty much any dress or skirt...as long as it was "spinny."  And, yes -the phase was annoying, but not horrible.

Al on the other hand??????????  Oh my lord.  As I'm sure you can understand, at his age, he is growing like a weed.  So, at the beginning of every season, I have to go out and buy him an entirely new wardrobe.  And, every fall, that new wardrobe has consisted of a bunch of khaki type slacks (in khaki, blue and maybe grey), maybe one or two pair of jeans and then maybe one or two pair of sweatpants/comfy pants for the weekends.  If you go back and re-read that, I said nothing about "baseball pants."  This is unfortunate, as this is ALL he wants to wear.  What exactly are baseball pants you ask?  Basically, athletic pants - most of which have a stripe down the side (see below)

I mean, I'm not kidding.  We have EPIC battles in the mornings while trying to get dressed.  I have tried a number of different approaches and none of them work - he wears freaking baseball pants every flippin' day.  And, in case you missed it, let me state it again - I didn't buy any baseball pants at the beginning of the season, so yes!  I have had to go out and purchase all new pants for the kid which inherently means that he now has an entire drawer of pants that he basically doesn't wear.  Why?  Because my kid is the kid who looks like a freaking gym teacher every day when he goes to school.  Oh - and, not only does he insist on baseball pants, but he also insists on a short sleeve t-shirt.  Yep - you guessed it!  NO short sleeve t-shirt were purchased at the beginning of the season.  None.  So, not only does he look like a gym teacher, he looks like a nerdy one who wears t-shirts that are too small on him because they are from like 6 months ago.  Oh - he also wears basically the same 3 short-sleeve t-shirts over and over again, which...you guessed it!  Leads to the exact same outfit being worn more than once in a week.  I can't even handle it, people. 

And, some days, if we are really lucky?  He busts out his trusty sweatband (and for whatever reason, on this particular day, rubber gloves)....

Or!!!!!  Wait for it.......

Snow White's headband (which, yes, he wore to school and kept it on all day).

Lord, help me.

East Coast Thanksgiving

As you know, we typically spend Thanksgiving in TX with my side of the family.  However, given that we are spending Christmas in TX this year, we thought it was a bit much to fly the entire family all of the way down there 2 times in one month.  So, for the first time in 35 years (yes, I was kind of sad when I realized this), I spent Thanksgiving away from my family.  It's ok though.  While I was sad not being able to see them and while I did miss our family traditions, we had a nice weekend at home on the East Coast and potentially started a few traditions of our own. 

Avery had no school on Wednesday ( I swear, this kid has had more days off than on during the month of November - I'm pretty certain we deserve a discount on tuition for this month), so I decided to take the day off as well in order to have a girls' day with my daughter.  And, what better way to spend a girls' day with your daughter than to shop?  Don't get all excited - you know me and know that there is no way this was Christmas shopping that was on the agenda because, seriously?  Why would I do that a month early when I can do it 1 week prior to Christmas and as a result, spend a fortune in shipping?  Actually, it was just the opposite...I figured, as long as we were getting together with Josh's side of the family for the holiday, it would make sense to bring along birthday gifts for ALL of their birthdays, which happened to be in March, September and October of this last year.  Don't worry - this is how the entire Holland side rolls, so it really wasn't a big deal.  So, birthday shopping it was.  We had a great day until Avery started to point out the fact that Alex was getting a lot of things that day and she hadn't gotten anything.  I pointed out the fact that Alex was getting essentials like mittens, "baseball pants" (more on these later) and a hat and that she was getting to spend the entire day alone with Mommy and really, what could be better than that????  She failed to see the value in this.  Regardless, we had a very nice lunch together and then managed to end the pouting when we found (and bought because I caved) her first pair of wedge shoes.  And, if you are wondering if I'm a bit nervous that my daughter can be completely won over by a pair of wedge shoes at the age of 5?  Yes, I am.  It's scary. 

And, yes  - that is my glass of wine in the foreground of this photo.  Even a girls day out with a 5 year old isn't complete without a glass of savignon blanc at lunch...

Later that day, we picked up Alex and got him a much needed haircut.  This was his first time in a real barber shop and I have to say, he handled it quite well.  He wasn't too sure what to think about the clippers, but he sat still and took them like a man. 

We didn't do anything too special during the day of Thanksgiving.  I was bringing over 2 apps and a pumpkin pie (one of my traditions that I forced upon the Holland household), so I spent most of the day cooking while Josh took the kids to the playground.  As it turns out, he ran into about 5 of his other Daddy friends - all of whom had clearly also received the "get the kids out of my hair so that I can cook" message from the wives.  And for those of you thinking that I'm being high maintenance or even possibly mean by wanting my children out of the house for a bit?  This would be why....

As soon as Alex returned, he was doing what he always does and playing with this ball in the house.  I was in the middle of doing something and I'll admit it, was flat out ignoring his, "Mom!  Mom!  I lost my ball!" announcements, until I finally looked up and asked him what he was talking about.  It was at that point that he explained that he had lost his ball in my pie...I mean, really?  All I could do was laugh (and later convince everyone that the ball was in fact clean..ha!). 

We spent Thanksgiving dinner/VERY belated bday celebration at Josh's parents' house.  It was very nice - both food and company were great. 

The next day was our big Holland outing!  We did a bit of research and found a super cheap hotel room right in in the back bay area of Boston for the night on Friday, so off we went.  It was a great trip!  We got up there in time to walk around the city a bit

take the T,

see all of the street performers in Faneuil Hall (including the crazy lady pictured below who requested a dollar per song, which happened to sound like she was dying, had no words, and lasted for literally 5 seconds).

swim in the pool at the hotel and have dinner. 

The next morning, we had breakfast and then went to the Children's Museum (where Avery got selected to go up on stage with Arthur!). 

Everything worked out quite well.  I will say that it became very obvious that Alex was a bit more Josh and Avery was a bit more me on the trip.  Alex spent the entire time being very wide-eyed and almost a bit scared of the big city and all of the people and continuously asked when we were going home. Don't get me wrong, I think that he had fun, but he was clearly out of his comfort zone.  Avery had a great time and LOVED seeing all of the people, lights, etc.  The only downside of the entire trip was the realization that we were all staying in the same hotel room and as a result, we were all going to bed at 8 pm.  Oh, and we were all watching PBS Sprout beforehand.  Ah well.  At least I had my ($15!!!!!!!!!!) glass of Malbec to get me through it...

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!