Thank God Its Over

Man that was a MESS!

A fun, over indulgent, slightly inebriated, mess.


Im so glad we are finished for another 364 days.

Everyone got some good stuff, ate A LOT of food, and drove all over creation. Whew!

I dont need to ramble on about all the stuff we got but I will say that I got a snuggie, and I will add without shame that I am wearing it right now.

Wilson the Chocolate loving chocolate lab seems fine so far but he did eat some MORE chocolate today. He eats dead animals he finds in fields. Im guessing this wont kill him.

I leave you with a few pictures...


A and JD, easily the coolest kids EVER. Obviously.


A and JD with their cat Samantha(also affectionately referred to as "the spawn of Satan")


Oliver and JD and his new PSP


Me, C, and JR


Testing out the new mic


All 4 boys and Spike.

Back to blogging about non-holiday related things tomorrow!

Cheers folks. I hope you all made it out alive.

Christmas is about surprises!

We came home from our Christmas party last night to find that our lovely lab Wilson had eaten ALL the chocolate for the boys stockings.
A whole bag of York Peppermint Patties, and a bag of Hershey Kisses. Wrappers and all.

So In addition to waking my panicked father up with a phone call(to see how much chocolate would kill a chocolate lab, oh the irony), Oliver had to go out and find a 24 hour gas station on Christmas Eve to buy overpriced candy to fill the stockings.

We also may be finding an emergency vet tomorrow when all those wrappers try to find their way through his digestive tract unsuccessfully.

Merry Christmas Boys and Girls.
The kids open their gifts this evening!

Christmas Shopper Extraordinaire

Have I mentioned lately that Oliver is the man of my dreams?
Well he is and the reasons why just keep piling up.

Its no secret to anyone who knows me well that I have pretty severe anxiety which has no topic or situation discrimination. This is something that is well controlled without medication but I have a tendency to loose it completely sometimes.

We all know that Christmas is a trying time for even some of the most sane people.

And then theres the people like me.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas starts to wear on me quickly and usually by about the 15th of December(thats today) Im avoiding all retail stores completely.

Oliver is a master Christmas shopper and buying just the right gifts for people makes him almost giddy. So does the word "SALE". The man has basically taken over Christmas shopping this year for everyone. I actually went into the closet yesterday to pull everything out and take inventory of what we have because I cant keep up with everything hes bringing home.



As I pulled out shopping bag after shopping bag and my list got longer and longer, I kept having to turn and ask Oliver what toys went to which kid. That is, until I couldnt see him anymore because the gifts between us were piled so high and I started to have to yell over the pile of bags and gifts.

I know hes not done which is scary. The scary part is actually that both of us hate wrapping gifts and theres soooo many to be wrapped. Im hopefully going to start this weekend with the wrapping and spread it out over a week so I dont get burnt out too fast.

Hes asked me to keep him out of the stores because as we get closer to Christmas and things start getting marked down.... well he cant help himself. Short of hiding his keys, freezing his debit card in a block of ice, and chaining him to a radiator, theres no way to stop that man from doing whatever he wants.

So hows your shopping going?

The big man upstairs

Santa I mean.

We took C and JR to a Christmas party last weekend so they could sit on Santas lap and get a gift.

C made a list for Santa and insisted that we bring it so he could give it to him personally. He held it in the car the whole way there.



The kids got all hopped up on sugar and ran around like crazy people of course.
Untill Santa arrived that is. Then they both sat quietly and waited for their names to be called.

JR got called up first and was so excited he started opening his gift while still on Santas lap.



C's name came a couple minutes later. He ran up with his list. He crawled up onto Santas lap and they read his list together.


Nerf Gun
Nerf Darts
Halo Legos
Santa asked if he could keep the list, for future reference you know, and slid it into his pocket.
C jumped down and ran off to open his gift from Santa.

"A nerf gun! It was on my list! How did he know mom?!"

I just shrugged my shoulders, "Hes a pretty magical guy huh."



He spent the next 24 hours telling anyone who was listening, and a few people who wern't, about how Santa got him EXACTLY what was on his list.

He thinks pretty highly of the guy now.

Holiday Mania

Every year I swear that we are going to have a low key "relaxing" holiday season and every year the idea gets completely blown out of the water immediately.

This year Ive given up that notion completely.

Im also a notorious last minute shopper. Im that frantic person in Target on Christmas Eve with still no idea what to buy anyone. I did promise I wouldnt be that person this year and I kicked it off today with the purchase of 2 gifts online. C came running into the diningroom today and announced loudly..

"I want a Pillow Pet!"

"A pillow pet?" I asked, raising one eyebrow. Hes 5, but hes a manly man. Footballs, and videogames, and guns. I was confused.

"You can put your pajamas in them!" his eyes full of, what is that? Excitment?

"A pillow pet?" I asked again still confused by his excitement.

He has a Christmas list already. He wrote it out himself and based on his translation for me it reads:
Halo legos
Nerf Gun
Nerf Darts

None the less, I looked up pillow pets online and called him over so we could discuss which one he wanted.

"Hungry Hippo!" he pointed. Its a purple hippo.

"Really? Not the t-rex or something?" He loves dinosaurs.

"No. Hungry Hippo." He was insistant.

Im still confused about this complete shift away from football helmets and xbox games but hey, I ordered it anyways.

My conversation with JR went about as expected.

"What do you want to put on your list for Santa?"

"Mmmmm....2 toys" he held up 2 fingers.

"Just 2 toys? Any two toys?"

"Mmmm 2 toys. 3..4..5. 5 toys." He held up 3, 4, and 5 fingers respectively.

"Ok so any 5 toys Santa can scrounge up will work?"

"Um, a guitar and 2 tractors" he stated specifically.

Thank goodness this conversation went better with A and JD since they are older. JD was a bit difficult b/c his list said things like Dirt bike, pony, and puppy.

"You know Santa is not bringing you a dirtbike right? And we already have two dogs." I looked over my reading glasses at him.

"Dirt bikes arnt that expensive and we have dogs. Not a PUPPY." He was trying to make eyes at me.

"You'll shoot your eye out." It spilled out of my mouth.

"Its not a gun" he replied flatly "and this isnt that movie."

"Fine, you'll poke your eye out... or crack your head open... or something. whydoyouhavetoarguewithmeaboutthis?!" I was exsaperated by this conversation already.

God Bless A. My logical thinking young man who only asked for completely reasonable items. You know.... like an ipod touch, completely reasonable for an 11 year old! I dont even own an ipod touch.

Oh Christmas. You are a joy every year and this is just the begining!