'twas the night before christmas...

And the Slacker hosue is all a-bustle. Kiki, Uncle Steve and AJ are visiting. Most presents are wrapped (except for Santa presents, as is the tradition in our house). We're headed to my parents for Christmas Eve, and then they are heading over here for Christmas Day. Should be fun!

Hope you have a happy holiday!

 

regifted

"Mama, I drew you a picture!" E said to me.
"Oh, wow, E. That's a beautiful fish," I replied.
"Yes! And I wrote your name on it so you know it's yours!" E said.

 

"Hey...wait a minute! Isn't that A's name under that black scrible?"
"Yes, mommy. I was going to give her the picture, but she broke a crayon and made me mad. So, I'm giving it to you!"

shovelpalooza

So, we had a bit of snow this weekend.

And, by bit, I mean we got about 19 inches. It was INSANE.

John's parents and brother came in on Friday night. The weekend was spent eating (shrimp and grits! beef tenderloin!), drinking (beer! Wine! hot cocoa!) and playing in the snow. E is our snow bunny...she went out for 3 rounds on Saturday. A...not as much. She went out twice, but was in earlier. In her defense, by noon the snow was up to her knees, so basic mobility was an issue. The fact that she was bundled up like Ralphie from A Christmas Story didn't help, either.

John's family did get out okay on Sunday morning (apparently our HOA fees do pay for something! private plowing!). We were able to finish digging out thanks to our neighbor who had a snow blower!

School's out today (and many districts around us have canceled through the week). I've got Kid Duty, so I thought we'd make a healthy breakfast of Sweet Pea Chef's Whole Wheat Pancakes....except we added 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips to them.

We're probably going to hit up Target and Wegmans, and do some playing in the snow, too. Thank goodness we finished up our Christmas shopping last week...'cause I have a suspicion that sneaking things into the house will be a little tough to do this week.

battle royale

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is playing Ornament Wars with my sister. You see, my parent's tree still contains many of our crappy homemade ornaments from when we were little girls. Kiki made a really cute sleeping mouse in a walnut that always gets prime placement. That same year, I made The Christmas Turd, which is supposed to be a brown mouse in a Santa hat, but even I can admit it wasn't my finest work.

But the ornament we play Ornament Wars with is a construction paper wreath with a glued on bow and sequins...with a picture of Kiki circa 1983 in the wreath hole. Yep...smack dab in the middle is a picture in her Dorothy Hamill/bi-level glory in an outfit that involved a monogrammed sweater and blue corduroy KNICKERS (seriously! I couldn't have made it up if I tried.)

To play the game, once the tree is decorated, Kiki moves the ornament to the front and center of the tree. And, I move it to the way way way back of the tree that faces the wall. Every time we pass the tree, we perform our little cat and mouse game. We try to be stealth, but usually break out into the giggles before it is rehung. It just wouldn't be Christmas without this little game we play.

And, last night, I found I had a worthy competitor at home. Even though the girls are young, they have amassed a large amount of crap ornaments already. One of A's is from last year...it's a triangle frame made of tongue depressors, with some faux gems on it, and in the middle is a picture of A...wearing a Halloween t-shirt. Because, really, nothing says Happy Holidays like an orange shirt with a witches hat and black cat (which are *clearly* visible in the picture). It's also huge.

So as we decorated our (still taking water and not dead yet!) Christmas tree last night, I moved it from the middle of the tree to a more...ahem...out of the way location. A few moments later I heard,

"Mama, I moved my ornament to where I could see it!"

Sure enough, it was back up front.

The master has become the student, indeed.

a well-deserved retirement

Dear Blue LL Bean coat,

When I bought you back in Winter 2005, I was excited. E needed a winter coat and I stumbled upon you. You were on super sale. You were blue, which meant you could be passed down to a baby sister or brother, should we have one in the future. You arrived just in time for the first really cold day and I bundled up my toddler in you. I liked you so much, in fact, that you made the 2005 Slacker Christmas card.


E wore you again in 2006, but since I had an itty bitty baby A around, I didn't get any pictures of you while E frolicked outside. I guess the picture-worthy frolicking was kept to a minimum.

In 2007, you were passed down to my now-toddler A. (E got a newer, bigger and pinker coat!) She looked just as cute in you as her big sister did.

And last year, A wore you yet again. We got snow that winter and you helped keep her toasty warm.

 

But a few weeks ago, I had the girls try on their winter coats. Your sleeves did not make it all the way to A's wrists and we had a hard time getting you zipped over her potbelly. And E had outgrown her coat, too. So, I placed an order for a new (purple! not pink! can you believe it!?!?!) coat for E...and A gets the pink coat now.

You did get one last hurrah before your well-deserved retirement. It snowed last weekend. Since the new coat hadn't arrived, A put you on to play in the snow. You did great out there, and I'm *sure* that she wasn't the first one in because her forearms were cold. (I'd show you pictures of A wearing you, but I've already bemoaned how the camera battery was dead.)

So thank you, blue coat. I have so many fond memories of you! And I'll try not to dwell on the fact that neither of my babies are small enough to wear you any more.

the day the camera battery died

We had a fun-filled Friday night. I took E to a birthday party for a classmate at local Pump It Up! (Feel free to say that in SNL Hanz and Franz style: PUMP (clap) IT UP!.) During that time, John took A on a Daddy date. We regrouped at home, and after the girls went to bed, John and I watched DVRed episodes of "Castle" (which is just AWESOME...watch it!) while drinking Layer Cake wine.

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to head out to A's Holiday Program. And by "bright and early", I mean we had to be there by 9AM. Seriously. The one day a week we can sleep in, I had to set the alarm to make sure we were out of the house on time. Ugh.

Anyhoo, A wasn't at all nervous, and E was super-excited to see all of her old friends (most of her friends are still there because they are young 5's who missed the cut off). So, I get out my camera to commence the video and picture taking. And as I turn it on, I get this gem of a message.

Battery is empty.

So, I have no pictures of my Sweet Baby A in her winter hat and mittens shouting at the top of her lungs singing "First Skaters Waltz". She was totally unphased by the audience and was so adorable. And, except for a few fuzzy pictures John took with his Blackberry, we have no photos. Sigh. So...take a look at the pictures from E's show last year, but pretend that A is E and E is A. Also notice how both kids love them some limelight. I have no idea where they get that from.

After the show, we realized that we were about to get snowed in. The forecasters had been all over the map about the totals...but it was really coming down. So we headed to Wegmans to get provisions for the day -- fixin's for chili, ingredients for PB Kisses (inspired by Jersey Baby) and beer before heading home.

The rest of the day was spent playing in the snow, making (and eating) chili and cheddar cornbread and having some mother-daughter bonding while baking the cookies. I'd show you pictures of the fun but...

Battery is empty.

Yeah. Looks like I picked the wrong day to let that happen.

on the ball

This morning I had to stop into Target on the way into work to get dishwashing detergent and a present for a birthday party E is attending tomorrow. Lo and behold, the One Spot was chock full of Princess crap that makes wonderful stocking stuffers -- lip balm, pencils, pads of papers, crayons -- so I grabbed it for the girls. I also picked up a game that a friend of mine raved about playing with her daughter the other day.

I walked out of Target feeling so on top of things. Stocking stuffers! Presents! And it's only December 3! And, then I realized I was really was Santa Claus-ing it up. As their mom, I would have never purchased some of that stuff -- I hatehatehate when the girls have lip balm (because they apply it every 27 seconds and cake it on and get it everywhere) and I've already talked about my intense dislike of the board game. So, gooooo me!

I also finally pulled the trigger and ordered my Christmas cards. I'm super excited to get them. If you want to see our past card photos, here they are. And, to string you on just a bit more, here are a couple more shots that were *not* the money shot! Aren't you just dying to know what awesomeness surpassed these beauties?!?!?!

 

 

 

thanksgiving vacation in pictures

The Slackers packed up and headed to Kentucky for the weekend. It was a fun-filled weekend in which we....

...tried to get a Christmas card picture picture...

 

...did a little reading with Uncle Dave...

...shopped til we dropped...

...hit up the Festival of Trees and told the Jolly one our Christmas Wishes...

 

...found a new playground...

 

...headed home with a relatively quick, uneventful (if not a little too sunny) drive home.

 

Not Pictured: running a Turkey Trot, stuffing ourselves silly, the "money shot" for the Slacker Christmas card, the boys heading to Lexington for a very exciting UT/UK football game, and the other fun we had including hours spent playing with 30 year old Matchbox cars!

Hope your holidays were happy as well!

problem solvers

"Do *not* throw the ball in the house!"

I yelled at my three children husband and daughters on Friday night. Then there was silence, followed by some muffled laughs and shrieks.

 

They were having so much fun, I decided to overlook the lack of shoes and tend to the black-footed tights come laundry day. Can't be a total killjoy, you know.

win-win

Sweet Baby A is one of the most prolific poopers ever. That kid is like clockwork...every single night at 7 o'clock, she retires to the powder room to poop. The other night she yelled,

"Moooooooooommmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyy! I need a book!"

So, I did her one better. She got her own personal reading of "We Make A Snowman" by the Slacker house's newest reader.


The best thing about E reading however (other than freeing me from having to entertain A while pooping, obviously) is that she's writing us love notes. Case in point...she made this for me the other night.

Translation: I love you Mommy. Mommy you're the best.

computation queen

Last week, John and I had our first-ever parent-teacher conference. And this week, E got her first-ever official report card (well, elementary school report card...day care report cards don't count). Basically, E is doing really well at school. She's loves to go, is learning tons, and has made the transition really smoothly. John and I couldn't be happier (or more proud!).

There was a little strip of paper that was sent along in her report card saying that E was going to receive an award at the school assembly on Thursday. I took advantage of the flexibility that my job affords me and went to see it. It was the best decision I've made in a long time. E was overjoyed when she spotted me in the crowd. She waved at me throughout the ceremony. I was able to steal a kiss from her before she headed back to class. I imagine she wouldn't have been devastated if I wasn't there...but the fact that I was really made her day.

But, before I feel too much like mom of the year, let it be noted that bringing a camera totally slipped my mind. And there were parents who were video taping the ceremony (that was a bit much). But, I did remember to take a picture when we got home.

 

Please note that the award she won was for Computation Queen. She let that go to her head a bit. We took her out for a celebratory dinner (for the report card and the award) and she told the waitress "I'm the Queen of my kindergarten class!" And then later she tried to say that she was Queen of the Slacker house. Uh. No. That's all me.

And here she is posing with the Queen of the Upside-down Sunglasses.

 

John was really bummed that he couldn't make it to the ceremony. He already called dibs on the next one. I noticed that they did have one for reading and writing. And, (NOTE: SHAMELESS BRAG FORTHCOMING) based on her cheat sheet of colors that she wrote for fun last night...I wouldn't be surprised if she got one of those.

 

hand me downs

Because AJ was born in a totally different season than E and A, there hasn't been much to pass down to her. But I totally remembered to send her the awesome Ladybug outfit. And Kiki and Uncle Steve sent out their monthly pictures of AJ (how on the ball is THAT?) and had one of my cutie patootie niece in it.

So, of course I had to find one of my kids in it. This was the best I could do. E is about 8 months in this picture. No shots of A wearing it, but we knew that would happen (cough!second child has no pictures!cough!).

 

They also had a picture of my parents with their three grandkids from their recent trip! Such a cute picture...if only my kids stuck to the "only one piece of patterned clothing" rule when dressing...

tgif

Since I'm working from home today and the girls were up and dressed by 7:15 (damn you, Daylight Savings!), we had a little extra time this morning to hang out around the house (just like old times). Both girls wanted ponytails, which I obliged even though it wasn't my best hairstyling effort. I actually think I french braid better than ponytail...who knew?

While I checked my e-mail, the girls played and put together a show for me. A sang a rousing rendition of "You Belong Wif Me" while E was a background foreground dancer. It's too bad "Solid Gold" was canceled because E would tear that show up.