Christmases Past

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

We've been talking this Advent about Christmases past and how we would have this Christmas go, if by any chance we get some type of control over our children in the next 4 weeks.

Top 10 reasons I know that nothing will change:

1) Last night, during a family car ride to check out all the Christmas lights in our town, the children fought over whose "favorite" song was on the radio. Having a favorite song playing means that no one else can sing it, cheer because it is on, show any kind of emotion or breathe until the last note has played and the radio station has announced, officially, that the song is over,

2) The children have 47 1/2 favorite songs, apiece.

3) The children have been looking through book catalogs, picking out presents for one another. I gave them each a Scholastic catalog and a crayon. I believe my exact directions were: "Please think very carefully about what each of your siblings would like for Christmas. Circle one book for each sibling and the bring your catalog to me and we can order them."
-Sarah circled three books in record time. All of them were pink with sparkles. One of them had something to do with a princess candy castle. She had written "Joseph" next to it, indicating that she HAD given it some thought and her darling brother would appreciate this type of thing.
-Joseph circled EVERY SINGLE BOOK in his catalog and put a "J" next to each circle.
-Thomas circled each book that had a train on the front and crossed out everything else. "This is so we don't get books that are bad," he says.
-We can't find Nathan's catalog. We think he ate it.

4) In addition to the Advent wreath we normally do, we made a Jesse tree this year. This is to help us refocus each evening by tracing Jesus' lineage and remembering the real reason for the season. We will be on Day 6 this evening, and at 7am this morning I am already dreading the argument that will happen over who gets to put on the ornament for the day. Sarah has disowned her brothers three times over the Jesse tree. We might not do this next year.

5) Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, Sears and JCPenney HATE ME! They sent their toy catalogs early this year...before Thanksgiving. Normally I send the children out to the garage to get the mail. I know when the catalogs are coming this time of year, so I sneak out early and confiscate them before the children get an opportunity to even see them. Not so, this year. Sarah intercepted one and she has been sleeping with the Toys R Us catalog under her pillow ever since.

6) Joseph hid all the instruments at school during music class a couple weeks ago. I got a note from his teacher. I cried. Matt said, "That's my boy!" When Sarah found out, she told Joseph that he would get coal for Christmas. Joseph's reply? "I like coal. Trains like coal."

7) The children watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" this week. I am under very stern orders to call my first born, Clarice...my second born, Comet...my third born, Rudolph...Nathan likes being the Bumble. He likes how everyone screams and runs away when he comes near. I have messed up their reindeer names so many times that I am not allowed to play any reindeer games.

8) The children have a Little People Nativity set (yay Fisher Price!!!!) that they can play with, instead of the beautiful, heirloom Nativity from our last parish priest. These plastic pieces are durable enough for Nathan to chew on and are still very sweet looking after 5 years. I keep finding the camel in the manger... and the wise men stacked up like a totem pole... and that poor sheep is constantly on top of the scene where the angel is supposed to be. Is this sacrilegious?

9) We have been trying to pass along some of our over-abundance during this season. St. Theodore's Church has a St. Pauly's box that accepts all sorts of clothes and things for the needy in our area. We went to drop off some gently-used clothing recently and Sarah and Joseph became very upset after we put our bags into the shed. When I questioned them, they told me that they wanted to meet the people that were receiving their clothes. I told them that the people lived all over our city. Sarah said, "No, you just threw clothes on top of them. They live in that little house." Next time, I will properly educate before we do service.

10)  I am trying to teach the children about seasons. Pictures of spring have flowers and rain, summer has a hot sun and a swimming pool, fall has leaves on the ground and bare trees, winter has snow...lots and lots of snow. It is December 2nd and there is no snow, which is unheard of for where we live. The children are struggling. Seasons coincide with Holidays. They sit at the front window and my drama queen says things to rile up her brothers: "If there is no snow, there can be no winter. If there is no winter, then Christmas will NEVER EVER COME! Cry now, boys. Cry now." Oh, Bean! Really?!?!?!

Short Stories

Matt took Nathan outside on the front porch to check out the rain this week.  Sometimes I forget how exciting and new everything is for our babies.  Matt was very wet when he came inside, but it was worth it. Nate didn't stop smiling.

I cut the boys' hair this week. What a production!

The meter reader from RG&E came into the house and said how he just read in a magazine that red heads are a minority, and soon red hair will cease to exist. Ummmm....

Brave Boo. Sick again. We now refer to him as "Fireman Tom" or "Fighter Pilot Boo".  The children are actually jealous that he gets to have so many breathing treatments and colorful medications.  Nebulizers and Antibiotics are my life. Some people ask if I will ever "go back" to being a nurse.
I never left.
(Side Note: Thomas has also memorized each medication, by name. You know it's bad when your two-year-old can ask for Albuterol and Tylenol.)

Nathan can't sleep at night. The coughing begins the moment he lays down. He has been sleeping in the stroller.
 Didn't I just leave this party??

Veterans Day Weekend

Tim and Jeanine made another supreme effort to get here over the long weekend. The kids had lots of time together, playing games and being silly. We loved each moment we had with them and can't wait to do special cousin time again soon!

Serious Times

These children should not be allowed to play board games. Seriously.

They come from a long line of over-competitive, crazy people that can turn the game RISK into grounds for...well....I am STILL mad about it 9 years later. (Asia was mine, Matt. But I really am sorry for throwing the board at you.)

 This game started out so innocently. I wish I had taken a picture of the clock. It was around 6am. The children were still in their early morning happy period. Everything was fine until someone told Nathan that he couldn't be King Kandy, that he HAD to play like the rest of them...according to the rules. We ALWAYS play according to the rules. We LAMINATE the rules up in this house! We have a folder...just kidding.

All joking aside, this next picture was taken seconds before Nathan flipped the board over in frustration and started to eat all the plastic gingerbread man playing pieces. (We are still missing the blue guy...)

Nothing is quite so embarrassing as watching your children act like you. It was mortifying.

I am going to confession this Saturday.

Funny Face

Our children have made some pretty goofy faces over the years.

None compare to Nate-Dawg.

Halloween

This Halloween was going to be awesome. Joseph was to have a party at school that we were all going to attend. Nathan was old enough to make it down the street, trick-or-treating. Sarah and Thomas had been playing dress-up for weeks, preparing for this night.

We woke up Monday morning with colds.
Joseph did not go to school.
We missed the party.
It looked like we might not even make it out trick-or-treating.
I decided that I would load the kids up with Vitamin C, and do some Halloween stuff at home.

Sarah, explaining to everyone how this all needs to get done.

Scooping them out!

Thomas, showing me what he wants his pumpkin to look like.

T-Rex and Dragon

"Show me your tails!"

Cutest Lobster

Looooooooove

Rapunzel, with our indoor jack-o-lanterns.

Pumpkins with Daddy

"If you have to kill a fly, use heavy artillery."

It turned out to be a Happy Halloween, after all!

Fall, Pernot Style

Too Early

Sunday mornings are always a little hectic at our house. It isn't like the children aren't awake, and we have to rouse them for Mass.

No, they have been awake for so long that they are ready for their first naps by the time church finally rolls around at 8:30am.

This particular Sunday, the children were up and wrestling at 4:07am. By 4:30, they were fed and clothed and sick of eachother. I told them if they couldn't be kind to one another, they would have to go to their rooms.

 They decided to play with Nathan, already sleeping. He was the engine for this ridiculously exhausted freight train.

Yes, this week we had to wake them for Mass.

Naaaaaaaaaaate?!

I realized recently that I spend about 30% of my day looking for our youngest child (and the other 70% thanking God that I found him). Most frequented question in this house: "Have you seen the baby?"

I honestly couldn't find him for about 5 seconds, which is a tremendously dangerous amount of time in "baby years". Some mothers use labor and delivery stories to induce guilt in their children. I will use well-documented data with photographic evidence of the worry these children cause. 

Nathan has a knack for getting into all sorts of precarious positions. See that dump truck in the middle of the floor? He pushes it up next to the stairs for some extra altitude while trying to scale the baby gate. All the babyproofing feats we have acheived over the past 5 years...mere speed bumps for this child.

It is not unusual to find Nathan hiding in a bookcase, behind a couch, under a table, on top of the ceiling fan or in his booster seat at the table...eating! "Who can eat at a time like this?!? I am missing the baby! Oh! There you are!"

 Ok, so most of the time my fear is self-induced by my post-partum amnesia. And yes, "post-partum amnesia" is a real diagnosis that I can use as an excuse until my youngest is in college.

Stories of lost children in my home growing up are legendary. Some are scary. Most are benign. My personal favorite is when my mother "misplaced" one of her babies. 

Mom, with true panic in her voice: "Where is Stephen?"

Me: "You are nursing him."

Mom, chuckling nervously: "Just making sure you knew."

I wish I could say that history does not repeat itself. I wish I could say that this conversation never happened in my home. But it has. Several times. Poor Sarah. She knows I am losing it. She should just be greatful that I am not losing her too.

Our Little Scholar

Matt and I were having a peaceful Saturday morning breakfast. The children were downstairs playing potato heads. We were talking about homeschooling, the children, and how pleased we were with how quickly they are learning in all their different subjects.

 Especially Bean.

 Especially in History.

 That child is marvelous. We just studied the Crusades, Christopher Columbus, and the First Thanksgiving. She is full of small bits of information that blow my mind. She can find the Cape of Good Hope on a map of the world. She can tell/show you what places comprise the Far East. I was telling Matt that sometimes I feel so incredibly incompetent when I am teaching her. She catches on quicker than I do. And she can incorporate her lessons into daily life.   

Lots of giggling downstairs. Sarah brought up her completed Potato head (compliments of the Hayes family) to show off to us.

 Sarah and her Storm Trooper. We put it next to Dad's Chewbacca mug for a nice photo.

 Sarah said, "This is not a Storm Trooper!"

Look Again.

Yup, It's a Crusader.

Boys

The morning of my birthday, the children were sitting at the breakfast table, telling me all the things they would be getting me for gifts that day.

Joseph: I will buy you some new matchbox cars because you don't have enough.

Thomas: I will buy you some blue, blue matchbox cars!

Sarah: I will buy you a new shirt and some play pants.

Thomas: I will buy you a blue, blue, shirt! With numbers on it! And a new set of stairs for your house. Some blue, blue stairs!!!!

I chuckled to myself, thanked the children for thinking of me and had fun imagining where Matt would be taking the children to shop that afternoon while I had some alone time.

He brought all four children to Bath and Body Works.

Joseph was very upset. When it came time for presents in the evening, he said, "Dad didn't let me buy you matchbox cars! I am so, so mad!" Thomas said,"I'm so, so mad too!"

They were going to make us pay.

They practically chucked the lotions and soaps at me, took the gift bags, placed them over their heads and began to play " Fred Jackson".

 Under that helmet, Fred Jackson looks like this kid.

Best Birthday Gift

After the cake was eaten and presents were opened, Matt gave me the best present I could have asked for. He helped me tackle the four children and set the timer on the camera for a family photo.

It was stressful and crazy and we bribed the children with everything but their own, personal steam engine. But Look! We are all sitting in the same spot at the same time!

 V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!

Thank you, Mattie, for the best birthday ever.