Merry Merry. Family Time

This is the kind of feel-good family movie that gets made at our house on Christmas day when Alek gets a nano complete with video camera.

Grahamberbread Houses

So, I'm shamelessly copying Susan's family tradition (thanks for the recipe!). We built and decorated grahamberbread houses today. Five participated. Not telling who did what. Just vote for your favorite in comments, please!

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Wah wah wahhhhhhh

I tried to post this from my iTouch last night because I was too lazy to walk up the stairs. Didn't work.

Today Walter said, "Look! A waffle!" while we were driving home from the grocery store.
Me: "A waffle?"
Walt: "Yes!!! A waffle. Look!!"
Me: "OHHHHHHHhhhhh. A waterfall!"

So why does he call waffles "wahckles" ??

Now.....'Tis the Season... That's What I'm Talking About

So, I thought, I'll get the boys their haircuts and then we'll dash over to see Santa. The line will be short late on a Tuesday afternoon.

I tell Nora first, and she becomes immediately inconsolable because I'm making her go see Santa and won't let her play. How does she articulate this through her closed second story window to her friend waiting below? "GO HOME RIGHT NOW! I can't play with you! Mom won't let me! GOOOO HOOOMMME!!! Mom says I'm not allowed to play with you!!" Nice.

The haircuts went fine. Took awhile, but it was fine. Except afterwards, Alek kept muttering, "I look different." But, he was okay, no panic. Just a little quiet. Nora was impatient and read nonstop aloud from her Rudolph story book. She read aloud at the salon. In the car. Through the mall. And really, considering that it was now 5ish, Walt was hanging in there.

Hardly any line. Oh. It's 5:02! Santa's dinner break is from 5:00 - 6:00. Niiiiiiice.

Food Court, baby. No problem. Taco Bell, baby. No problem. And really, I was thinking this wasn't so bad. The kids were only fighting semi-constantly. We'd eaten, and when we got back to the Santa line, we were only about 8 families back. No problem. 5:34.

By 5:38 Walter had literally leaned his head on a man's leg so that the man gave him a cookie from the bag of cookies he'd just bought his grandson from The Great American Cookie Company. Yeah.... then Nora and Alek had to be given one. Still. No big deal. Nice man.

By 5:42 I'd had to break out the iTouch and let Walter play MacDonald's Farm on it. And still, as long as no other kid glanced for more than 30 seconds at it, he only shrieked at them occasionally.

By 5:50 Alek started to complain that he didn't want to wait.

By 5:55 Nora had made friends with a cute 3 year old girl.... an only child 3 year old girl with a perfect outfit, perfect hair, and perfect mother. But they were playing very nicely. All was going well. 5 minutes more.

At 5:58 Santa actually arrived on time! Yea Santa! Line is moving fast, but Walt has pretty much lost patience, is uncooperative, and is running around and away repeatedly. Nora won't stop picking up the little girl, but no harm really. And Alek has begun to sulk and fret. As Walter runs wild, the woman behind me, a delight, actually, says, "You are a saint." My response? "I am in public. Don't kid yourself."

The line is humming though. We're almost home free. And then, I turn to put my eye on Nora.... She has just dumped two handfuls of fake confetti/glitter snow all over the 3 year old's perfectly coiffed head. Ummmm.... Her perfect mother is perfectly horrified. This prompts me to giggle. And the delightful sainting woman to laugh out loud and hard. Yeah, perfect mother still not impressed. Our turn!!!!! It's our turn!!! Escape is near!!!!!

Alek kneels. Nora poses. Walt kicks and fights me as Santa braces for him. Dump the kid, jump out of the shot. And yeah, baby. It's Christmas!!! Merry Merry!

Tis the Season

To get behind on everything including the blog.

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JOANIE!!!!! I have a card. I've had it since the day after Thanksgiving. Has it beem mailed? Nope. But I love you dearly. What are you now.... I'm thinking 45, 46?

So.... How many of you remember Alek's Lincoln obsession from this time last year? Yeah. Out with the old, people. This year we're in the 20th century and the assassination victim of choice? JFK. On November 22, 2009, I took Alek to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. That's right... on the 46th anniversary of the shooting. The siblings stayed with Granny and Grandpa. Daddy stayed home. It was just me and Alek. We had a great time.

Buying tickets....

Me: Two please. With audio.

Her: One adult audio and one child audio.

Me: Oh, no. Two adult audios.

Her: Are you sure? They're pretty detailed.

Me: I'm sure.

The tour through the museum....

Tap, tap, tap (Alek motions for me to turn off my headset for a moment.)

Alek: Mom, you know what they forgot to say? They forgot to say how Joe, Jr. died in World War II.

Me: Oh.... there was a fourth brother? I forgot about that.

Tap, tap, tap (Headset gets turned off.)

Alek: Mom, guess what? They didn't say how Jack Ruby brought his dog to the station that morning so they would get fed when he went to jail. And Mom, did you know that if Lee Harvey Oswald (ummm... I'm just going to call him Lee because I like that better.) If Lee hadn't asked for a sweater, probably they would have been gone before Jack Ruby got there, and he would have lived.

Tap, tap, tap (Off for the 725th time)

Alek: Mom, there was no other shooter. Modern computer simulations prove it. Conspiracies are silly. Old people believe them, not me.
Me: Yeah, well, tell that to the CIA, the mob, and Cuba.

Alek: MOM (huge eye roll)...

And rest assured, people.... really.... he's already started talking about Bobby. When he moves to Teddy, how do I explain Chappaquiddick to a third grader?

Doesn't your nearly three year old wear his Jimi Hendrix t-shirt after his Thanksgiving meal???

MASSIVE amounts of snow, people.

The Christmas Season begins.... Walter wanted me to take a picture of his "Sock."

This evening was Nora's Investiture Ceremony. She is officially a Daisy and officially a Girl Scout. Apparently a very tall Daisy Girl Scout.

Even she thinks she is beginning to look grown up. She looked at herself in the mirror last week, looked at me, and said, "I really look like a real girl now." Ummm.... well... you are.

Dude.... Cake. Daisies are okay!

It's Happening Again

I can't seem to get it together for long enough to blog.... but Katie Rocks. Check it out if you want to know what I've been doing.......

Katie said it best!