This little piggy...

Cha Cha. What is something positive that I can say about this dog? She had her 8th Birthday in March and we didn't do a darn thing to celebrate it. She's one year closer to death.
Oh, okay that's harsh.
I'll apologize to her later.
Here's the thing, I have been trying to tap into why I have so many issues with this dog. She is not a bad dog. She is potty trained and doesn't chew on stuff and...well that's it really. Yeah, she's cranky. But she is the smallest and stinkiest one in the house so that naturally means we pick on her more than anyone else. And us picking on her probably contributes a great deal to her crankiness. I don't know if it's a pug thing or if it's a HER thing but she is probably the moodiest dog I've ever met. Moodiness just radiates from her eyeballs. And she farts. A lot. When she isn't farting in her sleep, she's snorting at us or chewing on herself. Are these normal pug traits? If so, a pug is NOT the breed for me. But I can't get rid of her because the kids love her. They LOVE to torture her. They squeeze her and kiss her until she snaps at them and they pull her tail until she barks. They love to overfeed her until she pukes and they baby talk her until I want to puke.

I don't think I will ever write a post about how blessed I feel to have Cha Cha in my life, but I did think I should post some pictures and videos of her. Someday, when she's gone, I will need proof that I survived having this dog in my life. I sometimes wish I had taken more pictures of the kitties to prove that I lived through having them. Sometimes I forget about them. And then I see a cat and I realize that cats are the devil's pet of choice and I remember why I never want to own another cat again. Anyway, I feel the same way about Cha Cha-she is a devil dog. And in my book, pugs rank right up there with cats: they should all live on their own island so that no human ever has to deal with their crap (both literal and psychological).

Please ignore my voice in both these videos. It is so deadpan and bleh. Also, you will hear that I let my kids use the word "stupid". I realize that in many people's eyes that makes me a failure as a mother. Oh well. If it turns out that they don't get accepted to college because their mother let them use words like "poop", "fart" and "stupid" when they were young than I am sure I will feel great remorse for it. As of now, I don't lose any sleep over it.


Unless you put her outside, THIS is what you will hear while you eat...

This is a DAILY occurrence. I am sure Zoey lays in bed and wonders what she did wrong to deserve having to share us with Cha Cha.

The moves like...

If you've never met Tay in person, you probably don't realize that she has a flair for the dramatic. She LOOKS like a quiet, mild mannered child on the outside. But inside she has a mini Mic Jagger just waiting to get out...

Or should we say a mini Magic Mike? (I've never seen the movie, so I don't know.)

I want to bottle him up

Easton is at such a fun age. Because he is my youngest, it seems like every age has been extra cute and so much more fun. Right now Easton is at the age where we have super "interesting" conversations. The kind of conversations that make you wish you could freeze time. I want to bottle this boy and all of his 3 1/2 year old personality up and save it. His voice is kind of hoarse right now and it is too cute for words. And because I am a mean mom, I torture his poor throat by making him talk more than he probably should. But I can't help it!!! Especially when he talks about jumping over muddles. I'm glad that that's what stands out to him about his brother's Kindergarten experience: that they get to jump over muddles:)

A dog, a boy and a pretzel

The title of this post says it all. This is the result of those 3 things...

 

Young Love

When Taylor was in Kindergarten boys meant nothing to her. She was fully immersed in her friend drama and in learning her numbers and letters. So I was ill prepared when about a month ago the twins' conversations started to revolve around girls. I'm not ashamed to admit that I would totally eavesdrop on their conversations; "Delihah probably doesn't love you anymore because she sat by Ian and then PLAYED with him during free play..." 
"Don't tell Cecily that I have a crush on her." 
"Avea told me she loves me MORE than Lucas!"

Yeah, sure that's cute and slighlty amusing to hear. But now it's to the next level. A level I am so not ready for. Myles came home the other day and informed me that him and Avea are "in love" and started to list the reasons why:

"She likes my hair"
"We like to play the same thing at Free Play"
"Her spot on the square rug is my OLD spot"
"She gave me a snowflake"

Now while those are totally legit reasons to love someone when you are in Kindergarten. I am still a little bit weirded out. I've heard stories about how aggressive girls today are, but I didn't believe it until last week. I don't know what these girls are reading or watching on TV or who they are listening to, but they need to straight up tone it down a notch! Both Jack and Myles came home with a different girl's phone number this week. And Jack came home with a snowflake that had "Will you go out with me?" written on it on the same day that Myles came home with this picture from his newest love, (I'm sad that Delilah got the boot) Avea:

It's a picture of a girl and a boy and the top of it says, Love. Avea asked him to please "hang it on his fridge"

Is this normal behavior for Kindergarten? Tay STILL doesn't talk about boys with me. I know boys like her because I've been to her class and have seen the way boys look at her and how they try to get her attention, and I know she likes boys because I've heard the way she gushes about them to her friends. But I would DIE if I found out that she was giving boys notes that had her phone number on them or was giving them notes that said, "Will you go out with me?"

It's all too soon! I am simply not ready for any of this relationship drama.

Sweet Tattoos

I really love Valentine's Day.  I think it's a fun, "show someone you care" holiday. I don't buy into all the romantic pressure that surrounds it (that's not to say that I don't love and won't swoon over a V-day filled with chocolates, flowers and jewelry), I just think it's a fun excuse to shower the people I love most with more stuff.

I think it's fun to take the kids to the store and let them pick out Valentine's cards and treats. I think class parties are fun. I get a kick out of taking the kids around to deliver Valentine's cards and I like that all church activities in February are decorated in pink and red.

What I have mixed feelings about is the newest Valentine's Day kiddie card trend: tattoos and stickers in lieu of candy. I'm sorry but 99.9 percent of the appeal of this lovely holiday is the chocolate everythings, the cinnamon lips, and the tasteless conversation hearts that every 8 year old girl is sure have hidden meaning. I loved sitting around at recess with my friends and opening my Valentine's cards to find that Tom (name has been changed to protect my reputation) had given me a conversation heart that said, "call me". Call me?! That's practically a marriage proposal when you are in third grade!!! I'd hate to deny the future generations that kind of romantic thrill so I don't love that more and more teachers are discouraging the giving of candy. Boo on them!

And I definitely don't love that now, along with having to write names on 28 cards and put stickers on those cards or seal them in an envelope, we also have to include the tattoos. Because explaining to a 3 year old that the tattoos are for his friends and not for his entire left arm is slightly obnoxious. But let's be honest, Easton has all of 4 friends, so we had A LOT of tattoos left over.

What better way to get rid of them then to let him play tattoo artist in the bathroom? I normally don't let my kids wear tattoos when they have church or school the next day, so instead I opted to let Easton tattoo me. Kendrick and Taylor did sneak in on the action and had one put on each of their arms. But then they made sure to wear long sleeves to work/school the next day...although maybe Kendrick would get more orders if people saw him sporting a Buzz Lightyear tat...

I have been horrible at taking pictures lately but my cute friend, Tristian just mentioned me and my love of pictures on her blog so I took that as a friendly reminder to pull out the phone and start snapping more pics. I'm glad I did! I love that Easton takes this art form very seriously, so it was fun to capture his enthusiasm for it.

We're still here

I haven't blogged in over a week! And I haven't taken a single picture worth posting in two, maybe three weeks. I'd love to write that I have been so busy planning our spring vacation and losing weight and reorganizing my house that I just haven't had any time to blog. But that would be a lie. We probably won't be going on any vacations this spring because we are aiming to be completely debt free by Spring. But little surprises always seem to pop up so we'll see if that actually happens...
I have slowed down a little on the weight loss front. And I decided to take down the 17 Day Diet post because I don't want this blog to be about those kinds of things. This blog is about our family and what we are up to. Not my ever changing eating habits and my workout routines. I loved all your comments and support though, so thank you!
And while I did  manage to clean out both my pantries, our bedroom junk drawer and the hall closet, the rest of the house will just have to wait for Spring. It's been a cold, lazy, sickness infested winter. We've had lots of colds in our house this winter. I'm not sure if that's because we currently aren't drinking green smoothies or if it's because I now have a baby, a 3 year old and 3 school age children in my house...probably a mixture of both. Whatever the reason, each sniffle and cough just about gives me an anxiety attack. I hate not having health insurance right now!
I haven't been taking tons of pictures because it seems there hasn't been many photo ops lately. We are all just happily going about our daily routines and dreaming of Summer. But here is just a taste of our exciting lives:

• My friend, Debbie gave me a black armoir style desk and I am going to take out the desk part of it and rearrange the shelves in it so that it will be our new quilt cupboard. I have so many nice quilts and I hate seeing them all piled up in my laundry room when they should be stored away nicely and displayed. I want to paint it Gun Metal grey or a deep shade of red. Depends on where I decide to put it....

• Kendrick's Uncle Jess and Aunt Linda are coming to see us from Florida in a few weeks!

• Kendrick finally started his job on Tuesday!! I wanted to take a picture of him with his work bag and nice clothes on and do a "back to work" post, kind of like a cutesy "back to school" post, but I didn't have the motivation to find batteries for my camera. So I'll let you just imagine how cute it would have been...

• My back hurts like a mother! I've figured out that most back bending (cobra pose, table top, reverse plank) Yoga positions, "flying" with the kids, and my recliner are all things that aggravate my back. I think I may have a herniated disc. And this cold weather doesn't help. I wake up stiff every single day. My back pain is giving me greater compassion for Kendrick's back pain though and has encouraged some pretty high spirited debates between the two of us as to who tolerates pain better. I still think I do. 

• Taylor got to go on a field trip to the Opera this week. She was so excited! Again, I should have taken a picture since she was all dressed up for it...

• The twins took their Kindergarten assessments last week and kicked butt! Those boys are so smart. I love that my kids love to learn. 

• I decided I would like to go back to school in the fall and take some online classes. I want to study nutrition and human development. 

• Oh, and speaking of school! I got roped into teaching a Junior Achievement course for Taylor's class. And it's not the fluff stuff like: deciphering fairy tales, learning the color wheel or 'why are we special'? But the grown up stuff like: city planning, reading a menu, balancing a checkbook and reading blueprints!! I am still in shock that I agreed to do it! Wish me luck on that one.

• I ripped off my nails. The last lady that did them wasn't the normal lady that does them and I hated them. I've been living with them since before Christmas but finally I just couldn't take their ugliness anymore so I ripped them off. I don't currently have the funds to get them redone. My hair takes precedence over my nails any day, so now I have stubby boy hands again until we start rollin' in the dough. However, I am typing faster than ever right now...

• Kendrick's new job is in Bountiful for the first few months. If something changes and he ends up still needing to work in Bountiful when our lease is up here (July) then you'd better believe that Bountiful is where we will be house hunting. I don't like that he has to commute that far. Especially on these icy roads.

• We've only gotten two of the three W2's we need so far to do our taxes.  Have you all gotten yours yet? This is the longest we've ever had to wait for ours. It's weird to think that Kendrick was working for 3 different companies last year. I sincerely hope we never have to do that again. Kendrick's old company won't be mailing out W2's until next Thursday! I could just kick someone there in the pants! I want our tax return as soon as possible, dang it!

•  It's colder than a frozen farm crap here. This is the coldest January I have ever experienced in Utah. And our air quality is HORRIBLE. Most days we can't even see the mountains, and I live by the mountains! I heard on the radio this morning that this air can be harmful to women who are pregnant and that prolonged exposure to it can contribute to miscarriages! I don't know if that is a bunch of baloney, but I do know that every time I get home from taking and picking up the kids from school I feel like I need to suck on a pipe of fresh air to clean out my throat and lungs. Anyone know where I can get a pipe of fresh air?;)

• I am on a mission to find some cute knee highs to wear with my boots and some leggings. But the only place online that I have been able to find some is Amazon, and I wasn't in love with what I found there. Also, it's almost too cold for leggings. I wore some to church on Sunday and my butt shivered so badly the whole day that by Monday I felt like I had done 10,000 squats-I was sore! But on the other side of that, yay for getting in a rear end workout at church of all places, right? So where do you ladies out there find cute, thick knee highs?

• Oh! And I am going to hop back on the gratitude wagon for as long and as often as I can. I miss it. And certain little things lately have reminded me that having an attitude of gratitude makes every trial more bearable. 

Now, because this post is already as boring as last season's The Bachelor, here are some recent phone pics and videos to liven things up...

The dog caught stealing some popcorn

The Dexican caught stealing a sip of soy milk

 

 

 

 

 We are going to start calling him Easton Van Halen. It's the first 10 seconds that make this video. I love his rocker face and that he is finally getting what it means to lip sync. Maybe he'll become good enough at that that he can lip sync for the President someday, eh?

Baby teeth are droppin' like flies!

Myles lost ANOTHER tooth today. It's been loose since before Christmas and Kendrick has been making me crazy by trying to pull it before it was ready. But today poor Myles got knocked in the mouth at school and that helped encourage the tooth out. So when he got home from school Kendrick pulled it. His face in this video is PRICELESS! I am so glad I was able to capture it!!

Interesting side note-
Jack lost his top front left baby tooth almost exactly a month to the day before Myles lost his top right tooth! They make quite the pair, my toothless wonders!

An oldie but a goodie

The other night while waiting for the video of the kid's band to upload I was sort of "stuck" to the computer. I had to wait for the video to upload and that took forever and I didn't feel like I could walk away and do something else while it did, because if something happened or the computer went into hibernation then the video would stop uploading. You know how it is. Anyway, so I wandered over to our old blog to reminisce and was reading through the posts with "funny" labels. First of all, isn't it a little presumptious of me to label my own posts funny? I think so. But this one actually is a little funny and as I read it, all the feelings I felt as I typed it nearly 3 years ago came rushing back to me: anxiety, stress, love, impatience, frustration, happiness...

And it made me smile. I often remark that I would have twins again in a heartbeat if it were up to me. I'm not kidding when I say that. I recognize that it would be hard, do a number on my body, my emotions and our finances. But the end result is perfection. Having twins is just so much fun. And I think this post proves it...

March 11, 2010

The thing about having twins

When people find out I have twins they usually give me one of two responses:
 1)"How fun! I always wanted twins..."
or
2) "Wow! I bet you have your hands full..."
Unless that person has had twins themselves, then their response is more along the lines of: "Don't worry, you'll survive." or "Oh, the first (insert any number between 1 and 18 here) years are the worst."

I have reached the point, that when I hear that someone is pregnant with twins, I want to hand them an information packet that says:

THINGS NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT HAVING TWINS:

#1. Yes, it is exciting, somewhat uncommon and completely amazing that a woman's body can house two other human bodies at the same time for hopefully nine months. But it is also amazing how badly it can hurt and how crazy it can make you feel. There will be nights when you will wake up with sensations in your middle that make you feel like your insides are separating and are just going to come exploding through your skin, out of your stomach. And be prepared to experience pains in your "womanly area" ALL DAY LONG.
Also, as with any pregnancy, you will have CRAZY dreams. My most vivid dream when I was pregnant with my twins you ask?
Well, Kendrick and I were hot tubing with Heidi Klum. Yes, Heidi Klum the super model. And Heidi started flirting with Kendrick. Okay, yeah that was weird. But then, in the middle of flirting, Heidi got up and said to me, "this is how he likes it Desiree" and then proceeded to let Kendrick bite her butt!!! On a normal night, when not pregnant with twins, I might have been able to wake up and let it go. But being pregnant and having a SURGE of hormones in me-I woke up and really believed that at some point in the night we had been hot tubing with Heidi Klum and that Kendrick had bit her butt in front of me. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was a dream. But in those few minutes that I was up in the middle of the night peeing, (because you will pee 72 times a day when pregnant with twins) I was FURIOUS with Kendrick and wanted to slap him while he slept. It took me a couple of months, but I eventually forgave Heidi Klum for having the gall to show up in my dream. Now doesn't all that pain and craziness sound exciting?!

#2. Nursing two babies is rough. I remember being in the NI CU and a nurse telling me not to worry because "my body new that I just had twins and would automatically make enough milk for both." While that may be true, my body also probably thought that I would be able to take my twins home two days after they were born, and that I would be able to devote 12 hours a day to nursing two babies at the same time so that one baby didn't get more than the other. Since I didn't get to bring my twins home right away (and I don't know of many mother's that do) I had the pleasure of: pumping first thing in the morning, right after breakfast, right after my shower, right before I went to the hospital, the minute I arrived at the hospital, nursing both twins during my visit, pumping again before I left the hospital, pumping when I got home, pumping after dinner, pumping before I went to bed, waking up to pump in the middle of the night; and then taking all of my milk up to the hospital only to be told that I had only made enough milk for ONE BABY!

#3. They will inevitably poop (not the nice pebbly poop, but the disgusting, runny, stinky, stick to the butt kind of poop) at the same time at least 4 times a week. And if you are lucky this will happen in the comfort of your own home. But if you happen to be at church, the store, or the doctors office- then be prepared to want to crawl in a hole and die. Especially if they have ruined their outfit from said poop and you forgot to pack an extra one for each baby.

#4. They will feed off of each other in good times and bad. But mostly bad. I remember having days where I would have to keep Jack happy just to keep Myles happy. Or vice versa. If one of them was upset it would automatically set the other one off. And then they would both scream at me as if to say, "Your doing it wrong Mom! Why can't you shut my brother up?" If I scolded Myles for something (this was in their crawling stage) it might not affect Myles, but it would destroy Jack and then I would have to soothe him even though he didn't do anything wrong. Then, just because Jack was upset, Myles would get upset and I would end up having to console two sobbing babies.

#5. Bathing two wiggly babies is NOT EASY. Especially if you are the only adult around to do it, and you have a 2 year old that decides at the EXACT moment you put them in the tub that she is going to spill make-up all over the floor, have diarrhea, get a bloody nose, or choke on something. Also, beware that there will come a time when you will have both babies clean and ready to get out of the tub and just as you turn to reach for a towel- one of the babies will poop- making the once clear bath water a disgusting brown or green color. Have fun trying to get both babies rinsed off sufficiently, so that you can get them both out of the tub in order to clean the tub well enough to put them BACK in the tub. Because you will have to give them their bath all over again. BUT don't forget about that 2 year old! Who knows what the hell (pardon my french. I find myself getting a tad bit worked up as I type this) she has gotten into while you have devoted more than an HOUR of your life to being stuck in the bathroom with two messy babies.

#6. Have you noticed a theme here? Poop will run your life. Especially if you have boys. See, the thing about twins is: they make a good team. If they work together, then they can both figure out how to get one poopy diaper off and then decide together where the most exciting, least discreet and most difficult place to clean poop out of the carpet will be, and then they will proceed to smear poop all over that chosen place. Also, while they are potty training they might very well try to change each others diapers or pull ups and wipe each others butts (that is if you can pry their heads out of the toilet bowl, because they INSIST on watching the poop go all the way down the drain. In fact, if they could- they would probably just go down with the poop to make sure that it gets to the sewer safely). Also, and this is a big one: THEY MUST FLUSH THEIR OWN POOP! If their twin does it for them then be prepared for one of the biggest and scariest meltdowns you have ever seen!

#7. Just because you have two of everything does not mean you will be able to avoid having them fight over EVERYTHING. They will fight over who gets what pair of identical white underwear. They will fight over who gets what half of an apple that you took extra care to make sure you cut THE EXACT same way. They will cry over who gets which toothbrush even though you made sure to by two IDENTICAL toothbrushes. They will fight over anything. Don't ask me why, but the minute I stopped buying EVERYTHING identical- the fighting subsided a bit. For example: they both still need CARS toothbrushes. But one of them needs to have a blue toothbrush with a red car, while the other one has a yellow toothbrush with a red car. Also, you will inevitably need to lie to your twins to keep them happy. For example-"he gets that part of the banana because he had to stay in the hospital longer as a baby... so his banana has to be bigger." OR "he gets the blue one because the doctor said he had to wear blue when he came home from the hospital so we wouldn't forget his name." Whatever the lie, make it good and make it come from a medical professional-it makes it more believable to them. Because we all know that doctors never lie...

#8. Twins (at least my twins) don't function very well by themselves. You may think it will be a big treat for them to go to the store with you all by themselves, but the twin that gets to go will worry and ask about the twin who was left at home the entire time you are gone. Meanwhile, the twin that was left at home will have a meltdown because he was left at home OR because he can't build his lego tower without the other twin. Even though, if the other twin was home he would just make building that tower a nightmare, because he would want it done HIS way and therefore would knock it down every 30 seconds because he didn't agree with how it was being built. Also, if the twins are given a choice between playing in separate rooms by themselves, taking a nap, or sitting in time out- They will choose taking a nap. Especially if it is late in the day and you don't want them to take a nap. They would rather be TOGETHER in their room sleeping, then ALONE in time out for 3 minutes, or playing alone in peace and quiet.

#9. The tattle telling will drive you INSANE. They will tattle on their twin when their twin does good things, bad things, disgusting things you didn't want to know about, things that aren't real and things that are just plain ridiculous. For example: Jack came to tattle on Myles the other day because AND I QUOTE, "Myles won't save the world with me!" And Myles told on Jack just the other morning because... ARE YOU READY? "Jack sucked on his vitamin BEFORE he swallowed it!" Another example: Every morning during their bath, it is inevitable that one of them will try to drink the bath water. The things is, I am so tired of tattling that I now ask them, "What would you like me to do about it?" Their reply? "Please scream at him Mom!"

#10. The last thing that no one tells you about having twins, and that no one can prepare you for is how FABULOUS it is to be completely adored by two people at once. For me-this is better than any "love triangle" I've ever been in. I have two (well okay, four) boys in my life that follow me around all day asking if I am happy or "angwee". When I put more make-up on then usual, they notice and tell me I look pretty. On Sunday mornings I can always count on my boys to tell me that my dress is "bootiful". I can't tell you how many times a day I am asked to cuddle with one of them. I know that through thick and thin these boys are always going to stand up for each other and for me, their Mom. I am so lucky to have twins!

The band with no name

Our kids have started a band. Right now they play locally, just in our living room, and they are still new enough that they accept chocolate for most of their gigs. I would describe their music as young, wanna be punk rock cartoon jams. Their biggest hit thus far is a cover of the theme song to Fireman Sam.

They recently expanded their band from just 3 members, to 4. They now have a keyboard player.
Easton is the lead singer. He originally was a vacuum player but somewhere along the line discovered his passion for singing. He is temperamental and overly dramatic and loves to be the center of attention...basically your typical lead singer.
Jack is a guitarist. He is shy and on the quiet side. He doesn't like to over perform or outshine his band mates.
Myles is also a guitarist. He is a little more flamboyant as he likes to sport costumes when he performs. Taylor plays the keyboard. She gives the band's music a good tempo and is patiently waiting for the lead singer's inevitable downfall into pure selfishness and attention hogging so that she can take over as lead singer.

Even with as new as this band is, I still see big possibilities in their future. Now all they need is a name...

Here are the options:

The Dramatics

Mexican Firefighters

The Little Brother band

The Out-of-tuners

and lastly

Fart Machines

Can you guess which name the kids liked the best?

Here are the lyrics in case you have a hard time understanding them...

"Wee Ooo! Wee Ooo! When you hear that fire alarm: Sam is always cool and calm. Wee Ooo! Wee Ooo! Give him a shout! He'll be there to help you out. So...move aside, make way, Fireman Sam is ha da da blah save the day! Sam is the hero next dooor!"

In the second video, Easton forgot which song they were performing and started to perform, "I'm glad you came" by The Wanted before he remember that they were doing Fireman Sam.

"I swallowed it!!"

Jack lost his tooth on Saturday. He finally got so sick of it hanging by a...whatever it was hanging on by, that he finally asked Kendrick to pull it out. Here he is one last time with his big baby tooth grin...

And here he is getting it pulled out...

Look at Myles...I swear it was more painful for him to watch then it was for Jack to get it pulled!

Oops! He swallowed it!

The poor guy was not happy:(

Just a quick double check to make sure it did indeed fall into his stomach.

Kendrick takes the blame since he had Jack look up. Jack looking up made it so that when the tooth fell out, it fell on his tongue. We tried to reassure Jack that it was okay and that the tooth fairy would STILL bring him money, but Jack was pretty upset. Then, after he calmed down and got over the fact that we all spent a good amount of time comparing him to dogs and other animals that swallow their baby teeth (we are a real supportive group, we are)  the jokes and "what if's?" began:

What if you grow a mouth in your stomach? 
What if the tooth bites your butt on the way out? 
What if it stays in there and you feel it swimming in your belly? 
What if we find it on an X-ray someday?
No lunch for Jack because he already ate his tooth...
Maybe that tooth is making you fart?
What if the tooth fairy has to crawl down your throat to find it and she gets stuck?
Guess the tooth fairy will have to to leave your money in the toilet...since that's where she'll find your tooth!

Poor Jack. I can't help but feel bad for him, if only because he already believes that he is the most picked on of all our kids. Of course this would have to happen to him!

Christmas lists 2012

This Christmas we are trying to minimize. Because it worked so well for us last year... even though last year we did it out of desperation just to survive the holidays. But now that my attitude is probably 99.9 percent better and more optimistic than it was last year and I am happier and have more energy and a more of a desire to really get into Christmas than I did last year-I am still taking some notes from last year's Christmas.
The first change we are making is: No more ridiculously long Christmas wish lists from the kids. I realized last year how greedy that was. They each get to make a list to Santa of 4 things they want. That's all. Just 4.
Also, and this one is super easy to do because we are still "new" here: No more elaborate neighbor gifts or huge plates of cookies or crafts for every person on our street. I no longer feel the need to keep up with the Jones' so I am not putting any pressure on myself this Christmas to make my neighbors a Christmas treat or craft.
And lastly: No more Christmas cards to people I haven't talked to in more than 2 years and have no intention of at least trying to see in the near future. That means that the people who were in our ward in CT who we no longer talk too, will not be getting a Christmas card, neither will every office Kendrick has ever worked in, or our dentist or my OBGYN (although I should clarify that I do have plans to see them in the near future and we have seen them in the last year...)
 I think I will enjoy Christmas more when I try to keep it simple and keep it about the ones I love.

So moving on, here are the kids' Christmas lists. We are doing them the old fashioned way from here on out by *gasp* actually writing them down and mailing them to Santa! I love that the twins are old enough to write words now and that Easton draws such...thought provoking pictures. His original picture was a picture of his sad face because I "was yewwing at him". When I told him that that picture made me sad and that he should make a happy one for Santa, he then changed it to a picture of himself with a bloody nose "like Gacks" (Jack). Needless to say, it took a couple of tries to get an actual picture of something he wants for Christmas, but I think we finally did!

Taylor's

Jack's

Myles' with a picture of Santa and Grizzle (our Elf on a Shelf) on the back

Easton's (it's a blue Power Ranger on fire)

"My toof is buggin me ma"

Since Myles won the race of getting his loose tooth out first, Jack (Kendrick) has been desperately trying to get his tooth out ever since. So the other night Kendrick spend a good 5 minutes trying to pull that reluctant tooth from Jack's face only to have Jack walk away in pain and Kendrick walk away with blood all over his hands. Ever since then Kendrick is more determined than ever to pull it out and Easton is convinced that all his teeth are now "buggin him" and he has been seen many times sitting quietly trying to pull teeth out of his mouth. I obviously had to get a picture!