Good Bye and Good Riddance!

Only 3 1/2 hours left of 2008. I don't think I've been happier to see a year coming to a close. I have had a pretty rough year and the past week was the definition of hell on earth. (Yeah, I know that doesn't sound too nice with Christmas and all the spiritual holiday stuff, but that's just how it was)

2009 Resolutions:
Live and Let Live

Yep, that's it. My one and only resolution to to remember I have no control over anyone or anything buy myself (and even that is iffy at times) Out of any other resolution I could make, this will probably be the ONLY one that will bring me any peace.

Sorry for making my last blog of the year be so depressing. I know the whole point of a blog is to let my friends and family see a glimpse into the life of my happy little family, but hey, lets be realistic, we aren't always happy. If you are, please send me the phone number to your pharmacist.

Green Christmas

Ok, so EVERY Christmas we ever have will be a "Green" Christmas, but I had childish hopes that it would be a white Christmas, even here in Vegas. It seems like everyone has had a ton of snow heaped on them this passed week. Vegas DID get some snow last week and even had school canceled because of it. It didn't last long and we didn't get any more snow to make my White Christmas fantasy come true. Oh well.
Last week (or maybe the week before?) I took the kids to the photo studio to get some pictures with Santa. The poses were adorable, Santa and the kids were doing great, but the photographer must have been pretty new. None of the pictures with Santa turned out right. We did happen to get this photo of just the kids so that is their Christmas photo this year.


Last Saturday we were going to go down to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory to see the Christmas lights (as we do every year) but decided to take the kids to the Magic Forest instead. It's not really fair to compare the two but the Magic Forest is SO much better. (However, Ethel M is free, so it has it's perks too) For those of you that don't know what it is, there is a place called Opportunity Village that assists disabled people learn life skills and helps them find jobs. Well, they have a little grove of trees on their campus and every year all of the companies in Las Vegas "buy" a tree to sponsor and decorate. So the entire grove of trees is lit up. There is a path to walk through and see everything as well as a train that takes you through the forest. They also have a carousel and a huge slide to go down. The fire department and police department come and let the kids climb all over the firetrucks and turn on the sirens in the police cars. Of course Santa is there and they also had a magic show and lots and lots of other stuff going on.





On Christmas Eve we started the pj tradition. (A little late but you gotta start sometime) I decided to get pj's for each of them that kind of reflect their personalities for the past year. Jay got Optimus Prime pj's because of his obsession with Transformers. Alyssa got ballerina slipper pj's because of her shoe fetish. Our living room is pretty cramped and we couldn't really fit a tree in there so we set up our tree on our porch. Yes, I made the kids go out in their pj's and freeze their little toes to get a picture in front of the tree. I am such a mean mom!!


Christmas morning was fun. The kids actually slept in until 9:30, which is pretty much unheard of. Alyssa was SO excited to see her giant polar bear (which was what we found on our last second shopping trip to Walgreens) and Jay went nuts over every present he opened. It was fun to see the excitement on their faces, and to see Jeremy have as much fun playing with the toys as the kids did.


After a day of trying to get all of the toys out of their boxes (along with the millions of twist ties securing them to said boxes) finding batteries for all of the toys, filling numerous bags with discarded wrapping paper and boxes, dealing with two crazy kids and their sugar highs, I was NOT about to figure out what to make for dinner. We joked about going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering duck, but ended up at the Red Rock Casino. After dinner we walked out to the car to see big, fat, fluffy snowflakes falling. So even if I didn't get a true White Christmas, my Christmas wish of snow was granted. Thanks Santa! :)

It's late and it's been a long day so you won't get a real post tonight. Just wanted to show everyone a cute picture of Jay that had Jer and I cracking up all night.

Shopping

Jeremy and I ditched the kids at a friends house and went shopping with out them. This is our second date night in two weeks. Before that the last time we went out of the house together with out the kids was for his Christmas party...LAST year. How sad is that. We had fun, but it was pretty depressing going to all of the close-out sales. When we walked into Linens-N-Things the whole store was empty except for the front aisle facing the doors and the bedding section off to the right. I was really hoping to find some curtains there as I HATE the ones we have. They are still the old lacy curtains that the last owner left when we bought the condo. Didn't really find anything my style so we went over to Toys-R-Us. Yeah, it was crowded, but considering it was the last Friday night before Christmas, it wasn't too bad. After that we went over to Mervyn's and I just wanted to cry. They are only open for 4 more days. Everything in the store is 70-80% off. Not much was left but we got a dress shirt, three ties and three long-sleeved shirts for Jay. A dress and shoes for Alyssa and some Nike sandals for Jeremy. Including tax, we spent less than $60 total. Our receipt showed we saved $128.19
By this time I was starved so we grabbed dinner at Chipotle (YUM) then headed to Michael's to get some stuff for my Christmas projects. Afterward we went to WalMart to look for stocking stuffers. Our last stop was at Walgreens to see what they had. Let's just say Alyssa will be VERY happy that we made that last stop. (Stay tuned for Christmas morning pics to see why)
Believe it or not, all of this running around only took 4 hours to accomplish. We went and picked up the kids and came home and put them to bed. After I am done blogging and I am sure the kids are asleep, I will start the whole wrapping fiasco. It's a good thing tomorrow is Saturday!!

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday the primary kids had their Christmas Party. Santa came to enjoy some french toast and make ornaments with the kids. After breakfast and craft time they all got to sit on Santa's lap and have their picture taken. I just got this picture e-mailed to me from the photographer. I haven't gotten a copy of Jay's picture yet but will post it when I do.
After the party was over I was helping Santa hang up his costume so we could take it to the cleaners to be ready for the BIG day next week. We got to talking and he told me that he promised Jay he would bring him the "awesome" dinosaur that he wanted (This seemed harmless enough compared to the kids asking for swimming pools, limo's and a million dollars) That is when I told Santa that the "awesome" dinosaur would cost him $130 to build in his toy shop and that it would seriously deplete his cocoa fund if he were to build it. Is there anyway I can get Santa to send Jay a retraction letter?

A Happy Birthday and a Sad Goodbye

Our friend Cliff is having his birthday is next week, so we went out to celebrate today. We went down to the strip to check out the atrium at the Bellagio then went to the Miracle Mile shops before going out to dinner. Usually this would be a lot of fun (it still was) but when you add in 4 children 6 years old and younger, you add an element of craziness to the fun.
Alyssa and Elizabeth were barking like puppies for each other and cracking the other one up. It was very cute to see them giggling but with each bark the volume went up and up. (This little game went from barking to yelping and eventually on to full on screaming...they thought it was a riot) At the Miracle Mile shops we stopped by the Godiva Chocolate shop and got some truffles to share. They were heavenly, but after we ate them we slapped ourselves for giving our already hyper children MORE sugar! On the way back to the car before dinner we stopped at the fountains to watch a show. We got there about 20 minutes before the next show so we let Jay and Elizabeth run around in our little alcove area to burn off some energy. Alyssa was pretty jealous and wanted in on the fun. I didn't want her running around cause she would run off. I decided that I would at least take her out of her stroller and hold her. She was still upset so I tried to give her her lovey. (A miniature version of her silky...see a few post's down) Well, that was NOT what she wanted so she threw it. That girl has a pretty good arm. When she threw it, it didn't land by my feet or even next to the stroller in front of me. No, she chucked the thing over the railing and into the water. She was heart broken when she realized that mommy and daddy couldn't get it for her. We were joking that we were going to see a report on the evening news about the Bellagio fountains being under construction after a baby blanket got caught in the intake pipes. I know we'll never see it again, but I did at least inform security that there was a blanket in the lake and left my info with them if they ever did retrieve it.
After the strip we went to Lone Star for dinner. Poor baby Catherine is teething and hasn't really been feeling well. I felt so bad for Jen at dinner since she was walking around trying to calm her down for about 1/2 of the time we were there.
By the time dinner was over Alyssa needed to go to bed. I dropped off Jeremy and Alyssa at home while Jay and I went out to get a Christmas tree. Since our living room is so crowded we decided to put our tree out on our patio. I have it set up and have the lights strung on it for now. We'll decorate it tomorrow after church.

I Get To Do This Tomorrow Too?

Most of my family is currently on a cruise ship off of the coast of Mexico right now. Stopping in Ensenada tomorrow then onto Cabo San Lucas. Oh, I could SO use that break right now. I was trying to surprise Jeremy for Christmas and take him to rest up for finals, but as I am not currently babysitting we are getting creative just to pay our mortgage. Therefore, any grand ideas of getting away to Mexico for the weekend are just wistful day dreams. On the bright side, when this was a possibility I had called Jer's boss and scheduled the days off about 3-4 months in advance. When I finally accepted that we wouldn't be able to participate in the family vacation I never called to cancel his vacation time.
Turns out that was a HUGE blessing. Jeremy has been stressed with finals coming up and never seems to be able to do his on-line classes at home since there are so many distractions. (Gee you think honey? So how can I do 2 classes online for you?) Since he has a few days off he kindly asked me to get the kids out of the house so he could study. I was gone from 10am to 7PM with the kids (Jay got out of school at 11:30 so I didn't have him the WHOLE time) I am exhausted. It was pretty hard staying away from home all day and not spend a fortune doing things to entertain us. We first went to Walmart to get some diapers and do a little window shopping. Went next door to look at shoes at Payless before picking Jay up from school. We went out for lunch at Sonic and had a "picnic". We got out and sat at the tables rather than eating in the car. After that we headed over to the mall to see Santa, play around the Disney Store, make appointments to have their pictures taken on Monday, play around in another toys store and do even more window shopping. By this time, Alyssa needed a nap so we dropped her off at home with Jer while Jay and I went to the movies. Unfortunately the movie started 10 minutes before we got there so we ended up playing in the arcade and going bowling instead. Then we went to the library where Jay did his homework and we worked our way through a few Amelia Bedelia books and about a dozen other random books Jay picked out. By then Alyssa was up from her nap so we went home to pick her up and cleaned out our car. The kids and I then went grocery shopping at Sam's Club for a few staples we needed then back over to Walmart so Jay could check out the toys. A stop at the gas station was all I could muster on the way home. When we got here Jer was happily finishing his last quiz for one of his classes. He then said, that if he can work just as hard tomorrow then he'll be done with all of his class work and quizes until he takes his finals next week. AHHHHHHHH..... what am I supposed to do with them tomorrow?
I had a few ideas such as going for a bike ride and then taking them over to the gym while I worked off the tater tots from lunch today. The gym has the best day care center ever. Jay likes it better than going to Chuck E. Cheese. After that I am at a loss of what to do. NO MORE WINDOW SHOPPING ALONE WITH 2 KIDS 3 WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS!! We do need to do some house work as we are babysitting for some friends tomorrow evening. (We are trading off kids so we can go to our work parties without paying for a sitter. It's our turn to ditch the kiddo's next Saturday.) But trying to clean the house isn't exactly removing the distractions so he can study.
Oh yeah, he has Monday off too and will be wanting to do more studying for the actual exams. HA!! He's getting kicked out to go to the library.

My Favorite Christmas Gift

Ok, so really it is for Alyssa but when I got it in the mail I LOVED it. As you might already know I have a love affair with books. It started at a young age and I never grew out of it. I hope to pass this along to my kids (as I inherited it from my mother and both grandmothers) and so far, my family has been helping me do so.
When I was about 5 or 6, I received an autographed copy of The Napping House from my Aunt Denise. I loved this book, loved that she picked it out just for me and that the author and illustrator personalized a message and a drawing inside the front cover. This was probably one of my all time favorite gifts as a child. I still have the book and read it to my children.
Jeremy's grandmother has a tradition of gifting magazine subscriptions to every one as Christmas gifts. I love getting my Parents magazine every month and Jay pours over every edition of Highlights that comes in the mail. She is a very thoughtful and giving woman. As her family grows with new babies she understands that a 1 year old wouldn't really appreciate a magazine subscription as much as the rest of us. This year she found the PERFECT gift for the little ones instead. This is what we received in the mail (with a prior letter from grandma telling us it was coming and to wrap it up for her to give to Alyssa on Christmas):



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If you can't see the writing very well, double click on the image and it will blow it up bigger so you can read it. The book is all about Alyssa judging an art show on Sesame Street. It is SO cute. For those of you that know my husbands family you might have taken particular notice that the inscriptions reads: From Great Grandma Flyer. I called the customer service number and notified them of the mistake. They pulled the paperwork and it clearly reads: From Great Grandma Plyler. Since it was written correctly on the order form and they messed up with the printing, they are going to make a corrected copy and sent it to us at no charge. The corrected one will be here in time for Christmas. (So anyone else that gets a book like this from grandma, check the inscription ASAP and call the 800 number on the shipping label)

Two-Wheelin' It

Just one more thing I should have blogged about LAST month. Jay learned how to ride his bike. No more training wheels. He was actually freaking out about taking the training wheels off but after he realized that he could do it on his own it wasn't too bad. The handle that I attached to the back of his bike helped a lot. It took about a week for him to master the feat, but he did it.

First we worked on just balancing and riding in a straight line. Next came using the brakes. (Rather than running himself into the curb to stop) After he figured that out we worked on turning. The first few days I took the camera out to take pictures of him I could only get the back view. After helping him get started, he could only go straight (away from me) so I figured we would work on turning next.




Finally I got him to learn how to start pedaling by himself with out me holding the bike balanced when he started. After a few falls, REALLY dirty arms and couple of tears he caught on.

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This picture has nothing to do with Jay riding a bike, I just took it cause it would make some friends and family proud, others annoyed. I promise I am not brainwashing my kids into being Republicans. When my kids grow up I could really care less about what political party they identify themselves with as long as they vote for what they believe in.