Christmas Decorations

In most years past, the Christmas decorating has been my deal. I am a huge Christmas enthusiast, and I love the gift giving, shopping, decorating, etc. Christopher likes Christmas as well, but he does not get into the spirit of things until about a week before Christmas. My girls on the other hand like to help and are excited for Christmas. Their "help" was not always appreciated in past years, and it was just easier to do it myself. In fact, their version of helping was to unwrap all of the ornaments and decorations, get bored, and leave. This year, I set the tree up, strung the garland and beads, and then moved on to hanging the garland on my banisters. When I was done, the tree was ornamented, the snowmen decorations were placed around the house, and it was wonderful to have the help.

We had purchased another shelving unit on Black Friday, so while the girls were decorating upstairs, Chris and his mom were downstairs putting the shelf together and rearranging the storage room. I LOVE an organized room!!!

Saturday

Could a day get any busier? We finished our chores, set up the Christmas tree and decorations, started working on the outside lights, did laundry, Chris put together a shelf for the storage room, organized the storage room, hung some shelves in the garage, and a myriad of other odd jobs. We still had plenty to do when we left for the airport to drop off Grandma and Grandpa, but those jobs will have to wait for another weekend to come along. Ahh tears and sadness....and my girls were crying too. Grandma has a tender heart when it comes to saying goodbye.

Black Friday

Chris and I are only semi-die hard Black Friday participants. We planned to leave the house at 7 am (nothing is really worth getting up at 3 am to buy in my humble opinion). This year Amy wanted to come with us and then thought better of it, "You won't be able to buy me any gifts if I am there." Chris promised her that we would take her and her sisters shopping later.

We started at Walgreens, simply because it was close to home, and moved on to Target. It was definitely not a mad house by the time we got there and the items I wanted to purchase were all still available (except for one game that we found at the Boulder Target much later in the afternoon). We were pretty much finished and on our way home by 10:30 am. We called the girls on the way and said to get ready to go to Boulder to go shopping and then hiking. I thought it was pretty cute that Kristen made her own trail mix with nuts, cashews, raisins and M&Ms. Very ingenious kid.

Great planning on our part, we arrived in Boulder right at lunch time. Of course our girls were hungry. We stopped for a nice lunch at Wendy's and then headed over to Target. Chris and Grandpa ran an errand which was the real reason for going to Boulder while Grandma and I shopped with the girls. Amy went with Grandma and did all of her shopping for the whole family. I had Kristen and Misha and we started looking for gifts for Amy. We purchased those items right away so that Amy wouldn't see them if we happened to run in to her and Grandma. Luckily, Chris returned and he took Misha and shopped with her. Kristen and I were successful in completing all of her shopping. Once done, we dropped Grandpa off at McGuckin's hardware store and the rest of us hiked partway up to the Flat Irons. The wind whipping out of the canyon was nasty, but once we got closer to the mountain, it was much warmer. We all had layers of jackets on and even scavenged some of Grandma's recent purchases.





All week long we had been focusing on a healthy holiday and had encouraged the girls to fit in some exercise each day. This was just one more opportunity to get their heart pumping.

After finishing our hike, we returned to McGuckin's to pick up Grandpa and headed home for my girls' new favorite dinner. I found a pizza dough recipe for my breadmaker that mixes up in 45 minutes. The dough is perfect for rolling out and filling with pizza toppings for a braided calzone. It garnered two-thumbs up all around the table.

Oompah song

Sometimes Chris can really get my girls going, and I just have to laugh and shake my head. Today at the dinner table, Chris started humming a few bars to a song, and the girls would complete the song by snuffing their noses. They called it a snotfest. Not very ladylike or gentlemanly either.

Kristen

We were driving through Boulder yesterday with Christmas music playing on the radio. Kristen announced, "I can hear the violins playing." Grandma was impressed and commented. Kristen's response was, "What did you think I was going to say, the ukeledele?"

Grandma had the chance to experience Kristenisms first hand all week long. She can attest that funny stuff comes out of the little girl's mouth quite regularly.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving morning dawned earlier than usual for me. I'm normally an early riser, but with thoughts of all the things I needed to do to have dinner ready by 2:00, I was up before 5 am planning my morning. I got up to exercise and then started working on breakfast, raspberry creamsicle jell-o, rolls, and the turkey. With a little help from the girls, Chris and Linda, dinner was on the table looking delicious right on time. We began by taking turns telling what we were thankful. By the time Grandpa finished, Kristen said, "Finally, let's eat." Subtle.

Wednesday of Thanksgiving Break

Hammonds Candy Factory was our first destination today. Grandma and Grandpa drove down with the girls, and Chris and I met them there. We had been on our of their tours when Kristen was a baby, so it was fun to go again. The girls loved watching the different machines at work as well as all the different jobs people had. Did you know it takes about 2 1/2 years to become a skilled candy maker at Hammonds?

We followed up our few treats with lunch at Chick-fil-A and then on to Brunswick Lanes for an afternoon-o-bowling. Grandma skunked us all once she found her groove (she can be a tad bit competitive). Amy and Misha worked on their technique, though Misha had the bumper advantage. Kristen didn't do too badly with bumbers and her bowling helper.



We had to hurry home from bowling to grab a quick dinner and then leave for the Recreation Center for the girls' final night of swimming lessons for this session. Amy and Misha tell me they have had enough lessons, so I think we'll forgo lessons for them until this summer when they can work on diving skills. Kristen is still a work in progress. But she has had the benefit of many one-on-one sessions with Gretchen during this session. She's our favorite teacher and this night Kristen was once again the only one who showed up.

Chris, Grandma and Grandpa got in with the girls to swim after lessons, and I signed up for a Thanksgiving Eve bootcamp from 7:30 to 8:30. It was a great workout but tough as usual.

More Thanksgiving Break

Chris had to work on Monday. The rest of us were home for the day playing, cleaning and enjoying a little quiet time. There was a lot more Wii-playing this week than usual at our house since Grandma threw down the Mario Kart challenge.

After a day of being cooped up, we decided to meet Chris at Cinzetti's for dinner. It is a buffet-style Italian restaurant that has a lot of delicious choices. The bonus is that kids eat free on Monday night. We all partook heartily--probably one of the reasons we don't eat there very often--we always eat way too much.

Chris had a meeting Tuesday morning in Littleton. Since we had planned to go to the temple later in the day while Grandma watched the girls for us (overnight too!), we both left the house at 7:30 am. It probably made for a long day for Grandma and Grandpa, but the girls had fun. I watched a movie in the car on Chris' iPad while he conducted his meeting.

After attending the temple and having soup at Olive Garden, Chris and I headed over to Mens Wearhouse to look at dress pants for Chris. Just as we were finishing up, Chris received a call from an unknown number. He was tempted not to answer it, but decided to anyway. It was the police calling to confirm that Misha was his daughter and that Larry and Linda Ball were Misha's grandparents, and were indeed supposed to have Misha in their custody!

Back to the beginning of this story. Kristen had gymnastics at the Carbon Valley Recreation Center on Tuesday afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa took Misha and Amy as well along with Misha and Amy's scooters for them to play on while waiting. From what I can gather, Misha wiped out on her scooter. Grandpa scooped her up while she was crying, helped her get in to the van, and everyone drove away.

Someone at the Rec Center saw a little girl crying while being put into a silver van by an old man and called the cops on a possible child abduction. Misha wasn't hurt too badly as they all stopped at the stop sign a short distance away and started watching the prairie dogs. The Rec Center employee did not see this. All of a sudden a police car comes speeding down the road and stops right next to the van--blocking its escape. Grandma, who was driving, wasn't quite sure what was going on, but obliged the officer by rolling down her window to find out. In short order, two more police cars came speeding down the road. Misha was asked to get out of the car, Amy was asked to stand up in the car to make sure she wasn't tied up, and Grandma and Grandpa had some explaining to do.



Misha told us later that all silver minivans in the Tri-town area were being pulled over, so if you were one of those involved, this is why. That's when we got the phone call. I was just listening to Chris' side of things as he told what his daughter's name was, what his parents' names were, where they were from, etc. He hung up the phone and explained that it was a cop making sure that his parents were supposed to have our van with our children in it. We laughed because it will surely be one of those family stories that gets told over and over, but we were also impressed with someone watching out for children and by the quick, yet courteous, response of the police.

Chris and I waited for a couple of minutes before calling Grandma back to make sure they were all okay. Misha was doing fine but had some pretty sore knees. Still, they were going to the park to play so she couldn't be doing too badly.



While we were gone, they also had fun putting together a gingerbread village and decorating it. There were enough houses that everybody got one to work on which was perfect.







Back to our day away, Chris and I did a little more Christmas shopping and then headed to downtown Denver to check in at the Hilton Garden Inn. We had tickets to a play at the Denver Performing Arts Center later in the evening and thought it would be fun to stay in the midst of downtown Denver. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and the walked back over to the Space Theatre to watch Reckless. Let me just say, and Chris will corroborate, Reckless was ridiculous. The writer must have been high when he wrote it! It was crazy and convoluted and odd.

Gotta Love Santa

When we attended the Food and Gift Festival last weekend, Santa made an appearance. My girls have gotten past all of their fears of sitting on Santa's knee, and were happy to talk with him. Kristen went first, then Misha, and finally Amy. I happened to be listening to part of Santa and Amy's conversation when she told him what she wanted for Christmas--a cell phone. Dear old Santa replied in all seriousnesss, "Well, Mrs. Claus and I feel that you shouldn't have a cell phone until you are at least 15." That was totally without any parental prompting. Way to go Santa for inspiring a little common sense; we completely agree.

Loving their Visitors

My girls are playing Rock Band with Grandma right now. They are loving their one on one time. Kristen was pretty much stuck like glue to Grandma yesterday.

Grandma and Grandpa in Colorado

My girls have been the counting the days until Grandma and Grandpa were coming to visit since October when we visited them. They made a "Welcome" sign to hold up. Fun to see people walk by, look at the sign, and say, "Oh, that's cute." Grandma and Grandpa's plane was waiting for a parking spot when we arrived at the airport, so we had plenty of time to park and gather next to the escalators where they would disembark. Finally, three little girls yelled, "Grandma" and ran for hugs. At that point, nobody wants to hang on to the sign, because there's hugs all around.

Chris and I purchased tickets to a Holiday Food and Gift Festival in downtown Denver at the Convention Center. We lucked out with a parking spot in front of the building and then started the long jaunt to the back of the building. It was fun to look at all of the Christmas crafts and the gift ideas and to sample the various dips, soup mixes, hot chocolates, etc. Not enough to fill our grumbling stomachs though, so we stopped for some snacks to tide us over until dinner.

Dinner was a first for Chris and I and the girls. We ate a the Denver Hard Rock Cafe. My girls were in heaven. For the longest time, they were Michael Jackson fans. That love affair has wained and they are now into Bon Jovi. They were thrilled to find some Bon Jovi memorabilia as they walked around while waiting for dinner to arrive.









It was pretty chilly downtown, but we caught one of the 16th street buses and rode for a little bit. For some reason we always end up in downtown Denver when it is too cold to want to be outside enjoying the experience. I told Chris we needed to come back when it was warmer. I'm sure we'll do that, but not before Chris and I get a night away to see a play at the Denver Performing Arts Center tomorrow night. Should be fun.

Random Kristen

Those are smarties that she licked and stuck to her eyelids. I've noticed that she has done it was m&m's too, after the fact, because she has had blue and green dots on her eyelids.

Kristen and Chris

Thinking that Chris was still fast asleep one Saturday morning, I was surprised to find our bedroom door slightly ajar. Hmmmm. I was even more surprised to find that Kristen had snuck in to our room and was giving Chris a hair make-over. Granted he might need a little hair fixing in the morning when he wakes up, but I doubt that he'd choose Kristen to be his stylist.

Misha's First Pet

You'd think we got a dog. No, hell's still hot. But Misha was so excited last night. "I can't believe I am getting my first pet."

So I need to back up a little bit. Misha has been telling me that she needed a Betta fish for a school project. No real date as to when, she just needed one. She was working in a group with two other boys, and she had volunteered to buy the fish, it's bowl, the rocks, something for it to hide in, and fish food. And then, she was going to let another boy in the group have it all. What!? You want me to help you get all of this stuff and then you're just going to give it to someone else? I think it was because Misha knows that we have a no pet rule at our house. So I told her that she could keep the fish if she was going to take care of it AND do lots of extra chores to help pay for it.

Well, yesterday she informed that she needed to pick up her Betta fish and all of its supplies last night. All I can say is that she is lucky that Amy had a dental appointment in town, and I was already headed in that direction. I love how they leave everything to the last minute.

So Misha and Zeus headed off to school this morning. I gave her a ride with all of her fish paraphernalia but it will be interesting to see how the two make it home tonight.

How Babies Really Get In There

Some wonder why I write about Kristen so much and others speculate that she must be a handful. One, she and I still spend a lot of time together and she chatters A LOT. There's bound to be something funny coming out of her mouth. Two, she doesn't read so well yet that she requests that I don't put stuff on my blog (doesn't always do my other two any good though).



So, without any further adieu, today at lunch, Kristen and her friend Aalyah were discussing how you get a baby in your tummy. Kristen concluded that "heaven" pushed the baby's head in. She simulated such pushing motion as you might use to dunk someone in a swimming pool. I didn't inquire as to where the actual pushing-in spot was, but when she asked, "Right, Mom?" I responded with, "Well, not exactly."

"Then how? Their legs are pushed in first?"

Kristen

"Mom," Kristen asked as she arrived home from school, "Did you know that Pilgrims had little Pilgrim boys and girls?"

Funny

Sometimes the things I overhear my children say make me laugh. Kristen was walking up the stairs to talk to me and burped. Speaking to herself, she said, "I love it when I do that."

Sickness Abounds

It all started with Misha, but we like to blame it on the girl in her classroom with the snot-encrusted nose who sat at her table. The germs took what appeared to be a short vacation after Misha but which was in reality an intensive incubation period. They attacked Amy with full force, who in turn passed it to me. Kristen has somehow avoided the germs and Chris has been traveling so often he doesn't get much time to come in contact with them. Misha is sick again today, so let's hope that the germs have come full circle and they decide to stop with her. I'm tired of not feeling great.

This is how Amy really felt in between shots of trying to be happy. She took off her dress after these pictures and stayed home from church that day. She can fake it pretty good for the camera.

Conversation with Kristen

Kristen: "Mom, what do you want for Christmas? Something like a Barbie or something, and don't say obedient kids."

Me: "Why can't I say obedient kids?"

Kristen: "'Cause that's not a thing. Don't say a Barbie, say something you would like."

Me: "How about an obedient Kristen?"

Kristen: "Noooooo, you can't say obedient Kristen or obedient Misha or obedient Amy. That's not a thing. You can't wrap us up."

Me: "Oh, I think I could wrap you up. I'd start by putting a piece of tape right on your mouth."

Kristen: "That wouldn't work. We would just wiggle out and ruin the present."

Update: Kristen asked me again what I wanted for Christmas when we were at Costco and was quick to qualify that she didn't want me to say that I would like an obedient Kristen or obedient Misha or obedient Amy..."That's just a dream."