Happy New Year!

It's the last day of 2007! This is what we did today, after purchasing some snow boots for M at the W-word store. I tried to find them elsewhere, but everybody else was out and I had no luck with secondhand in his size. Anyhow, he had a blast out there, even though I forgot his snow pants (oops!) and he was frozen by the end.


Anyway, he now knows what a snow angel is and is way into it. E got his 2 sizes too big hand me down boots on, but he didn't last after his fingers got cold, so this is what he did while I shoveled and M "dug a tunnel."

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Could someone please get it into my son's head that you CAN have Christmas without snow? I have tried, but he is still insisting that "it won't be Christmas at ALL without snow, mom." If we were staying here, it wouldn't be a problem, but I don't think Boise is a winter wonderland right now. Darn Christmas Specials, he sure didn't learn that from me!

I can't believe how this month has flown by! I haven't blogged. I haven't even taken a picture since I last blogged. There go a month of activities without any pictures to document them. Oh well. We've had party after party after activity these last few weeks. They've been fun. We have spent several of the past nights driving around taking presents and treats to people. I've gotten a chance to see some friends from out of town and it's been a whirlwind. I've decided this is the "season" in our culture here, instead of the summer like in England.

Through it all, I've had horrible health. I am so tired of being sick and having my body out of whack, I just want to be better! Enough complaining. It's Christmas!

We will be traveling today and coming home on Christmas. My kids are super excited to see their cousins and of course get their things from Santa. We hope you all have a great Christmas as well. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Dog Night, apparently

So for our month of December, we have this calendar/advent that we use to guide all of our wonderful Christmasy family activities. We sometimes just get a treat. Other times we do an activity. Well, on Tuesday night, the activity read: Go to see Santa at the mall. We figured, Tuesday night will probably be pretty dead at the mall compared to other nights, so the line won't be as long. Boy were we wrong! When we got there, we were greeted by a long line of DOGS waiting (with their owners) to get their picture taken with the Jolly St. Nick. DH and I both agreed that there was no WAY they were paying this man enough to pose with up to (just what we witnessed, anyway) 5, read it 5 dogs at a time and sit there holding their leashes until the matching-sweaters-with-their-dogs owners were satisfied with the precious keepsake. Not that I don't like dogs, or people who have dogs (particularly instead of children) but this is what killed me: There were people there with multiple dogs, spending over $100 on pictures of their dogs with Santa WHILE THEIR SMALL CHILDREN STAND BY not even talking to Santa or sitting on his lap or anything. And they looked sad. I know, they could have already done it another day, but I'm just saying. M sat on his lap and told him he wanted a Rudolph toy, and that his brother (being held at a safe distance away by me) wanted candy. What were we thinking buying all those toys? Of course, last year he asked for a candy cane. We could get away with so much less, but who doesn't want to buy fun things for their kids? So we spent no money on pictures with Santa, which I figured was okay since we had witnessed at least $1500 exchange hands before we even got up to see the big guy.

P.S.- Have you ever tried to find a Rudolph toy in a store? I looked everywhere and all I was able to find was a pez reindeer dispenser that I'll have to paint red to look like him! Sheesh!

Our Tree this year

We've been under the weather off and on since Thanksgiving, and are still dealing with colds, asthma, etc...  We did get our tree, outside lights, and decorations up the weekend after thanksgiving though.  We got out on Black Friday and hit about 6-8 stores and got a new tree.  The next day we went to a very cold Christmas Lights Parade in Kaysville.  Free candy cane.  The boys were thrilled.  

This week, we have been doing a lot of Nursery Rhyme memorization.  M just can't get enough of it.  I got him "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and am going to have him learn that.  E is extremely needy right now, and is with my 24-7, so my energy is zapped and I'm not quite sure I'll be well for a long time.  At least I can deny him going on "walks" (he rides in the stroller) without much guilt, since it's so snowy outside.