My children have started waking up in the morning and instead of saying, “Good morning, Mother dear” they groggily say “Is it another snow day?” We have had a full snow day, a late start or an early release from school due to snow almost every day since 2011 began. This time it was “just” an ice storm instead of 2 feet of snow. Not too bad as ice storms go-we still have our power- but we got a snow day out of it. The trains into New York were blocked by fallen trees and ice on the wires so Dad got a snow day too. We knew that might happen when he had to scrape a 1/4 inch of ice off his car to pry it open before driving it home from the train station last night. When we asked Mr. President to help shovel the driveway again, he claimed he couldn’t do it because he found a new use for the ice on the driveway.

This year I got snow for my birthday!  Well, actually, we’ve had at least a foot of snow on the ground since the day after Christmas.  We just got the latest dumping on my birthday, the 26th.  Newark (ie. us) got a record 19 inches that day! It was amazing. 
Here is Mr. President shoveling the driveway the day after.  Doesn’t he look thrilled to be working this hard!  This is only the second foot of snow.  We spent my birthday shoveling the first foot, otherwise we would have had 2 feet at once to shovel!  And yes, in case you’re wondering, we are going to invest in a snow blower.  We are tired of watching the neighbors all come out with their nifty snow blowers and zip up and down their driveways clearing them in 10 minutes flat,  while we look on in envy, sweat dripping down our faces.
Blue Jeans was thrilled to be out in the snow (because he wasn’t shoveling).  He’s standing in front of the snow drift next to our driveway.  The drifts at the end of the driveway were taller than ME!  And today for the first time in my life, I actually watched a bulldozer come and move the snow on the corner of our busy street as it was piled taller than Rock.

Our bed of snow.

In other news….

Blue Jeans and Ladybug had their 3 year and 6 month checkups.  Ladybug is in the 90th percentile for her weight… no surprises there!  And Blue Jeans is, though not nearly as chubby, very healthy.

Ladybug is sitting up, and starting to roll over.  She’s a very calm, pleasant happy baby.  A blessing to her mother in all ways! 

Mr. President now says “ARnge” instead of Orange.  It’s time to move back West.  QUICK!  Before he starts saying “wudda” for water.  And there’s no hope for Blue Jeans.  sigh. 

It is not yet even 8:00 and our little chillins are already in bed. Yes, you can say it. We Are Good. We got in all the special Christmas Eve traditions from the Nativity to the Eggnog and The Night Before Christmas all by 7:30! Woohoo! Now we just get to wait……….. till they actually fall asleep!

So while you’re waiting you can check out our evening.

Go Go spent December 24th in shorts making more LEGO creations

We finally got our Christmas pictures taken….

The Nativity

The Baby Jesus covered in, I mean laying in the hay.

Shepherds and Angels

The Narrator Joseph

And last but not least, the real star of the nativity this year…
The Camel (his choice of part)

The PJ’s

The Jump shot

The Force

Superman

The Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight! May Santa bring you everything you hope for tomorrow! And may your children fall asleep before midnight!

Today was Mr. President’s Christmas concert at school.  The school conveniently chose 9:00 in the morning (the time at which I am usually in the shower because I’ve just spent all morning getting everyone ELSE ready and out the door) to have the concert.  So, I raced around trying to get myself AND all four children ready before 9.  After getting both the older ones out the door and the little ones dressed, fed, coated and shoed, we finally made it into the car at about 8:59.  The school is not far but it is cold enough that I was not going to walk that far.  However, by 9:00 the streets surrounding the school were already packed and I still had to hike, well, really I was running by this point, over rivers of ice and through the woods in 24 degree weather to get to the school.  Luckily there’s no snow yet.  Poor Ladybug in her stroller got the bouncing of her life as we ran over the uneven sidewalks and Blue Jeans had to run to keep up with mom as I dragged him along.  His little fingers were cold, but it is so hard to get gloves with fingers (as opposed to mittens without fingers) on little hands that I didn’t take the time to do so before dashing from the car.  I told him to put his hands in his pockets and he thought I meant his pants pockets, so he ran the whole way being dragged by one hand and trying to keep his other hand in his back pocket.  If I hadn’t been in such a hurry I would have laughed at how funny he looked.  Instead I kept pulling and prodding to get us all there before we missed the concert.  We made it into the school and raced down the hall to the gym, throwing off our heavy layers that had suddenly become stifling in the heat of the school.  We entered the gym only to find that there was standing room only at the back.  We are very short, Blue Jeans, Ladybug and I and standing behind all those people was not going to work.  But stand we did, looking at the backs of everyone who was slightly less late then us until Mr. President’s class filed in.  We only didn’t miss him because the school band played first.  I’d forgotten what an elementary band sounds like.  It was painful, to say the least and I was suddenly grateful for all the years my parents spent not only listening to the painful practicing, but all those painful concerts too.  Whew! 

We managed to find a spot along the side where Mr. President could see us and know that we were there.  That’s all that really matters, after all.  Who cares if you can’t see very well, or have to stand for a long time in a really warm room while holding a baby and trying to keep a toddler quiet.  The important thing is that your kid knows you’re there.  And he did.  I got a big dimpled smile and a wave for my efforts. 
But I barely had time to catch my breath.  Mr. President’s class sang a grand total of two songs and then left the stage.  Two songs.   It was so short I didn’t even have time to get the camera out!  We were inside the gym a total of 10 minutes before we had to turn around and repeat the over the river and through the woods part again to get back to the car.  On the way back Blue Jeans did a twisting 360 on the ice…while I was holding his little hand.  It almost looked like we’d planned an ice dance, but the stroller gave it away to all the cars waiting for us to cross the street. 

So that was Mr. President’s Christmas concert.  5 minutes.  I risked life and limb and the ‘lifes’ and limbs of my two smallest children just to see Mr. President sing Jingle Bells and shake a bell.  Oh the things we do for our children.  As we drove away I imagined what it would have been like had it just snowed and I said a small prayer of thanks that we hadn’t actually needed a sleigh with bells to GET to the school.  And just think, this is only the beginning.  I have years and years ahead of me to enjoy such concerts. 
Thanks Mom and Dad.

Last week at the dinner table Rock and I were discussing whether or not we were going to do something and Mr. President (as usual) wanted to be involved. He started butting into the conversation and giving his two cents worth. Rock informed him that this was not his decision. To which Mr. President thoughtfully replied, “How can I get into the decision?”

Earlier this week Go Go brought home a pattern for a Christmas ornament from Denmark that he could not wait to put together. He kept asking for help all afternoon until finally I had a moment to help him with it. He wanted me to look up the directions online as there were no directions with the pattern. When I looked at it and discovered it was very simple and that I could tell him how to do it without the internet, I told him so. To which he replied in amazement, “REALLY? You used to live in Denmark?!!!

Blue Jeans has taken to racing down the stairs to beat whoever may be coming down after him. Yesterday he raced past me down the stairs and when he reached the bottom exuberantly called, “You lose, and me win, ok?!” Rock has also informed me that whenever he does race someone and they say, “I win!” He still happily calls, “I Lose!”
May he keep that good sportsmanship all his life.

Last night as I was tucking Blue Jeans into bed I sang him the song I am a Child of God. This is something we do every night but for some reason last night he paid more attention to the words. After I sang the line, “Teach me all that I must do to live with him some day.” he got a very thoughtful look on his face and said, “Momma, we go see Heavenly Father?” I answered, “Yes, someday we’ll go see him.” to which he replied, “We drive there?” (which came out We dwive there?) to which I replied, “No, it’s too far away to drive. Heavenly Father doesn’t live on this earth.” His little brain still working, he said “We walk there?” and I said, “No, it’s too far away to walk.” Determined not to give up, he said, “We walk and walk and walk there?” Finally, becoming aware of the bedtime hour I said, “Maybe someday, Blue Jeans.”
Aren’t primary songs great?!

Then this morning Mr. President was asking us if we knew where his ball was. When Rock started questioning him about it-where did he put it, where was the last time he saw it, Mr. Pres said, “Well, it’s not lost, I just don’t know where it is. It’s complicated.” Ah. Now I see.

Rock took the day off today and Blue Jeans enjoyed hanging out with Dad.

Man’s best friend

And just to get you in the Christmas spirit…

As you’ll remember from Thanksgiving, Blue Jeans specializes in split personalities..

Come join us for a reenactment of the Grinch who Stole Christmas and Superman Saves Thanksgiving… (with a sword…).

Ladybug is the first in more ways than just being the first girl. She is also the first of my babies to actually stop nursing to look up and talk to me. She is the first of my children to have a dirty diaper blowout (requiring a change of clothes and LOTS of stain remover) almost every day. Believe it or not, my boys didn’t have blowouts at all. She is also now the first of my children to attempt and succeed at the feat of spitting up down the inside of the sleeve of my long sleeve shirt. To the elbow. Can’t wait to see what else she’s first at. I really hope it doesn’t involve more stain remover.

Imp

Our November has been busy…

With soccer…
Go Go and Mr. Pres were on the same team. (here they both are going for the ball)

with early Christmas presents…..

that brothers thought were cooler than Ladybug did.

And with Thanksgiving….

we had this Superman Pilgrim join us for our feast. A feast which I made almost nothing for, I might add. We decided to try the pre-made store kind this year with no prep on our part other than to heat everything up! When dinner was over in less than 10 minutes, I felt fully justified in my laziness! 🙂 It’s just not worth slaving in the kitchen all day when you are only feeding a husband who doesn’t eat a lot, and three small children. Our little 10 lb turkey almost fit in a 9×13 pan it was so small! But it was more than enough turkey for our family of small eaters and we loved not having to cook it all. Happy Holidays everyone!

This may come as a surprise to many of you who know me well, but I have always laughed at the more extreme child safety products and their paranoia. Locks for your fridge, locks for your toilet, video monitors, and corner covers for every piece of furniture in your house. My personal favorite is the device that prevents doors from shutting all the way so that little ones can’t pinch their fingers in the door. Heaven forbid they actually learn something as basic as how not to hurt themselves. But I am now seriously considering the corner covers for all corners and furniture in my house or Blue Jeans might not make it to the age of 5 with his face intact.
Wednesday I had him scheduled to have his pictures taken at Target. Three hours before the appointment he ran through the kitchen with his bowl of snacks, tripped and landed teeth first into the dinning room chair. He didn’t knock out any teeth, but he hit so hard he gave himself a hematoma in his gums and lip above his upper front teeth and some nice teeth marks under his lip. That kind of injury can translate into crushed teeth up in his gums and dead nerves that cause the teeth to go gray. He was lucky enough not to have any crushed teeth, but the dentist said his teeth may very well go gray. “It’s only cosmetic for kids” he said to reassure me. Just cosmetic?! Easy for him to say, his kid isn’t going to be walking around with dead teeth for the next 5 years. When I finally can take him in for pictures once the vampire teeth marks do heal (look close you can see them), the exchange will go something like this:

Photographer to Blue Jeans: “Say “Cheese”!
Blue Jeans smiles.
Photographer: “Mmm. Maybe you better say “MOLDY Cheese instead.”

This is the kid whose mother gets stopped in the mall by modeling agencies and photographers in Walmart to tell me I need to have his portfolio done. Between the scars on his head and now his teeth I can kiss my life as a child star mother goodbye!

I was so looking forward to that too.