Christmas 2011

It's 2012 and I've fallen behind as usual. But of course Christmas was wonderful as always. Lots of fun, family, food, and food, and more food. This video and this moment is my favorite of the season. Enjoy!

Firsts

Again we were gifted with free tickets (this time thanks to Oma) to another amusement park called Knott's Berry Farm. In a nutshell Knott's has Camp Snoopy with a few dinky rides for small children and a ton of ginormous, insanely awesome, roller coasters. Eric and I politely took turns riding these with Sara and Zac. Luke happily rode along in his stroller just happy to be with the group and then there was Claire. Let's just say that Knott's is not a place for a 5 year old who actually likes roller coasters. She wasn't tall enough for any of them! It was so sad! But she and Luke did get on a few fun rides and overall the day was great.

The best part was having Sara along with us. She is always helpful and unbelievably tolerant of the constant attention from her siblings. She turned 13 on the 11th and her maturity is way beyond that. We nicknamed her Sara Texterson for the trip. Apparently we took 3 other people along for the day. She texts when she walks, in line, in the car, and when she is eating. It's amazing though how she can still stay involved in the conversation. A true gift. This trip to Knott's marked a milestone for Sara. Her first upside down roller coaster!

It took lots of convincing but she did it. I must point out that as roller coasters go, the silver bullet is incredible!

Rookies

I'd say 99.9% of our friends are the proud holders of a Disneyland season pass. They go for the day, for lunch, after school, for dinner, or just for a parade. Not Eric and me. We went once when we were dating and approximately 3 times since. So when free tickets were handed our way, we couldn't resist. The Christmas decorations are unbelievable and seeing things through Luke's eyes for his first trip are moments to never forget. It was truly a spectacular day! I do need to note a few things we learned: Make sure your stroller has appropriate storage space for the 15 sweatshirts and water bottles, take a second stroller for the dramatic female 5-year old and for more storage space, pack a lunch and/or dinner to save yourself $200, bring blankets for warmth and to save your spot for the parade, fast passes are the only way to ride rides, charge your cell phone prior to entering the park, bring a camera if said cell phone battery dies, and finally, don't leave the car overhead light on all day because your battery will die. Thankfully Disneyland is a well oiled machine and we had our battery jumped and running in less than 20 minutes. The kids were home and in bed by 8:00. A perfect day.

Writer

At Zac's conference the other day Mrs. Felton told me that Zac has developed a "writer's voice." I think this is what she meant by that. I found this in his backpack on a piece of scratch paper. I think that means he did this during his free time. Awesome.

Proud Mom

Recently my sister-in-law wrote a blog entry I could really relate to. Sometimes, especially lately, I find it difficult to see "the bright side." If you know me well, this is very out of my character. In fact, knowing that I am acting out of character only frustrates me more.

Today I woke up with a head ache and began the inner negative talk. You know like, "Of course I have a head ache," and "Why should I have one good day this week?" and "Poor me."

I know. So drama!

After I dropped the kids off at school I went for a haircut where my hairdresser spoiled me with a head and neck massage. Seeing some light. I went to Target and decided to use the Starbucks gift card withering away in my purse for some peppermint hot chocolate to sip while I shopped. Light getting brighter. Went home to have lunch delivered by my parents and even had time to clean the house a bit. Even brighter now. Then I headed to Condit to pick up the kids and attend their parent conferences. Claire got a glowing report with a perfect report card (if you exclude the "P" for progress under "self control." It's genetic.) Now I'm smiling as I walk. We move on to Zac's conference where he gets his best report yet and I'm told how kind and helpful he is to his friends. As a reward I took the kids to the very strategically planned for sucker parents like me book fair. The kids each picked a book.

Love this!

We left to pick up Luke in time to witness him leading a group of friends around the playground in an intense game of scream and chase. Pass the sunglasses, the brightness has returned.

Thankful for Me

I am not often very impressed with myself, but for Zac's birthday this year I was awesome. Birthdays always stress me out because I worry about money, time, and the worst part, the guest list. So I did a lot of self coaching, told myself to "Chill out, he's only 8" and made some decisions. Only boys, only 7, at our house, legos. It was great! One box of legos for each kid, pizza, cake, presents and done! 2 hours of fun. It was perfect for an 8 year old boy like on other.

I also managed to be team parent for both Zac and Claire's soccer teams this year. I admit, I didn't quite think that one through. But with Eric's help, we pulled it off. We finished this weekend with two games that, thankfully, didn't overlap, and two team parties. I was gifted with flowers and a Starbucks gift card. A girl always enjoys flowers!

We began our Thanksgiving celebration with school parties at Condit on Friday. Claire's class were the controversial Native Americans while with the other classes were the equally controversial Pilgrims. RoRo joined me to see and hear (yes you could here her over everyone) Claire sing, then move to the playground to give a "Pilgrim" a handmade necklace and enjoy a peaceful meal together. Mom and I hung out long enough to appear helpful then ditched the "feast" to have one of our own at Euro Cafe. I came back in time for Zac's pie party. When I walked in I immediately noticed he was the only kid who tucked his napkin in his shirt like a bib. Gotta love him! The parents and teachers got a kick out of it. Of course he loves the attention. I have no idea where he gets that from!?

Sunday we enjoyed our annual meal at church. I happily overate as I plan to do the entire week, guilt free. I thought I should document that for when, come Monday, I am crying when I can't button my favorite jeans. :)

Halloween

A few of my favorite Halloween moments for 2011:

Eric and I started off the holiday at a grown-ups only party. We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt! Our costumes were fun and easy. I had to show the kids a YouTube video so they would know who we were. I felt old! I also wondered what I ever liked about Popeye the Sailor Man. It was creepy!

We opted out of the dramatic pumpkin patch adventure and went back to our neighborhood parking lot patch. We were the only people there, we took Porsche, Zac jumped on a bouncer, the kids picked a pumpkin, we took some photos, they each got a piece of candy and we left. 20 minutes tops. The "Butch" in me loved it! I know you are jealous Mark. ;)

We went home to carve. Zac ran the show, Claire helped, and Luke refused to touch the thing. He kept signing "all done" and made the yucky face. It worked out well!

Zac was first to show off his costume at his Halloween piano recital. He played Witches Rock dressed as Luigi. Well done Zac!

Sunday the kids dressed up for church and we hit the Early Childhood Center's Spooktacular afterward. More fun and photo opportunities with Luke's school pals and the Tucker cousins.

Finally Monday came and somehow I got the kids all dressed for their school parties, including myself for mine. I was done with Halloween by 9:00 a.m. (Thanks Butch and RoRo for being a Condit parent that day!) But trick-or-treating commenced at sundown. We cruised our neighborhood intent on getting the kids to bed on time to spare all of the poor teachers who had to teach them the following day. Zac gets the prize for etiquette (no walking on lawns, back up from the door, don't grab, say "thank you."). He was very frustrated with the non-etiquette displayed by his siblings. It's got to be tough to be the oldest. I wouldn't know. :) Claire gets the prize for being the proudest of herself because she felt pretty darn awesome in the almost inappropriate bunny costume. I must document that I am not, at this point, concerned about her self esteem! Finally, Luke gets the prize for being SO FLIPPING CUTE! He ran the entire time to keep up with his siblings, his light-up Toy Story boots flashing all the way, and by the sixth house he finally attempted to say "Trick-or-Treat!" It was darn clear and it made my night!

The kids were showered and in bed by 8:00. Yup. I am proud of that! :)