The Big, the Little

This is how I found Scott and Cole yesterday.  

I was cracking up.  Here's all 6'3" of Scott curled up onto our little loveseat, and there's Cole taking up the entire couch all by himself.  Truly, Cole has enjoyed Scott being home so much.  Today Scott was zipping the liner back into his coat after I had washed it and Cole said, "Dad are you going to school? Me don't haunt you to go to school."  

Christmas In a Nutshell

We put them to bed around 10:00.  I was so hoping they would sleep in.  What was I thinking?

We finally got to bed around 1:00 a.m., and they arrived around 5:00 a.m.  I had told them all the night before that 7:00 was the magic time, but they had to ask if we could move that to say...5:00.  I was so tired.  Scott reminded me that it was Christmas and he hauled out of bed, so I followed suit.  

   Let's just say it was very obvious how tired they were as I sat up the video camera before they all headed downstairs and as I flipped it on to record the first thing I hear is Aidan yelling, "Don't push me!"  oi vei.  

 (Asher went out to shovel the deck for me to cook the steak and this is how I found him and Cole).  

We did have a fantastic Christmas however.  I even got in a nap.  Although we were quite sad that we didn't get to go up to Grandma and Grandpa's house as we traditionally do, Grandma was kind enough to bring what we would have had for Christmas dinner down to us for me to cook.  I probably would've made some soup or something, but we were graced with fantastic steaks and CRAB LEGS!!  These things were huge.  I thought it would be kinda funny to put this gigantic claw on Cole's plate when he got to the dinner table, and I had my camera ready.  

He immediately scowled, and said, "What is it? Me don't haunt it.  It's too pokey."  

In a sunshine voice I said, "Oh Cole, it's yummy, it's crab."

"NO!  Me don't haunt crab.  It's too pokey!"

We all just laughed and I removed the claw.  

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to the New Year!

Special Name

So tonight as we were driving with all the kids in the car we decided that if our sweet little baby decides to be born on Christmas Day we're going to give her a special Christmas name.  Some of the ideas were:

Ho Ho Browning

Cookie Browning

Holly Browning

Joy Browning

Noel Browning

 but we settled on 

Jingle Bell Browning. 

So here's hoping we have a Christmas baby!  right?

A Day Without T.V.

I decided to unplug the t.v. today.  It was fantastic!!  It seems that thing is going 24/7 with noise sometimes.  Let me tell you what the kids got done:

Went to breakfast with Santa

They created their own gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and Halloween candy

Colored a candle picture then soaked it in oil to make it "see-through"

Helped me make stew

Cole rubbed lotion on my legs

Had a coloring contest

Helped me get a ton of housework done

Played the piano

Chloe painted my toenails

Set up the bassinet for me (complete with pillows, blankets, stuffed animals :)

Yeah for NO T.V.

We just listened to Scott L's Christmas CD over and over with the fireplace on.  

Happy Day. 

Bad Mood

I started the day right- early, getting things done, laundry, dishes, cleaning out the fridge,picking up.  Then I shattered a glass shelf from my fridge in my kitchen sink.  A couple other things got me all worked up too.  Well, I called my sisters (yes more than one) to vent.  And can I just say Emily had an idea that was pure genius.  You see my problem was that glass had shattered and fallen in my disposal.  I was getting all cut up trying to retrieve glass.  She suggested I get the shop vac and stick the hose down in the disposal and suck the glass out!!!  Brilliant.  I think she should write that one in to Martha Stewart or Abby or someone.  Give the girl some credit.  Shop vacs are so underrated!  I'm going to start thinking of shop vacs first when I find myself in a sticky situation.  Perhaps they'll be the answer to more than one problem.

An Honest Prayer

Cole said the prayer at dinner last night all by himself.  It went like this:

Thank you no fighting.

Thank you no wrestling. 

Thank you no crying.

I'd say he hit the top 3 things his Mommy says in the day.  

 

Thank you Cole.

Good Times

Just thought I'd post some pictures/comments about our Family Reunion in Heber this weekend for those who were there and those who couldn't make it.  

All in all I thought we all had a good time and enjoyed spending time with everyone.  The cabin was really large with lots of living areas which helped make our large numbers really not feel like that many people in one space.  We had a lot of good food (what's new) and played some fun games (thanks Molly and Tristan).  The family auction raised a good amount of money for the reunion in June.  There was a battle over Jen's handmade bag (no surprise there) and Em put up an original piece of art that was highly sought after.  The talent show was too cute.  We had sommersaults ( a few of them), Kung Fu (Ethan), sign language (Dawson), singing (Cal, Becky, Gabby, Mom, Bailey).  The kids loved the air hockey ( I injured my elbow by hyper-extending it as I battled to beat 8 year old boys), the hot tub was dominated by the 10 and under crowd, and the theatre room seemed to always have a few loungers.  I really liked that we had a few days to be together because it felt like you could really just enjoy the time.  Uncle Shawn began the Moose Mouse Club which had many enthusiastic members.  They had games of their own and enjoyed a few nature walks with Uncle Shawn.  Our Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic!  We have some good cooks in this family.  We ended the reunion with a great devotional by the Rowley's and made some plans for the upcoming reunions.

 I have to say I love my family and I loved spending time with all of you and seeing  our children enjoy each other.  The highlights for me were:

Molly's back massages, Mom's lemon pie, watching Cole oogle Baby Sophie, game night with Dr. Zeus, schizophrenia, Bev Clark, and Harrison Ford in Hairspray,  happy splashing in a stinky hot tub, recitation of the Living Christ by Ginger and  Terri, Ethan's unending devotion to Kung Fu Panda, watching Taylor fill Isaac's shoes by wrestling with the boys, seeing the fruits of Ginger's labor, not seeing any of my own labor, Dad at the kitchen sink doing dishes for hours, Dad carrying each grandkid out of the hot tub to a bathtub in a towel so they wouldn't get the carpet wet, fixing Ellie and Bailey's hair (it's been a long time), Chloe's handmade trophies for the talent show, Mom winning first place in the talent show for singing,  Gabby's beautiful voice singing Hey Jude, Shawn's faithful Moose Mouse Club following him outside. 

What a great time!  We missed those who couldn't come and thought of you. Thanks everyone, I'm looking forward to June!

It is in fact December 1st

It's December 1st.  

Aidan zipped the bottom off his pants while he was at school today, and when I picked him up he was wearing shorts. 

It's December 1st.

The children called a bunch of friends today and organized a game of tag outside.  

They played for a couple hours in jackets and sweatshirts.

It's December 1st.

I opened the windows upstairs because it was getting a little too warm for me as I ran around with the laundry.  A hornet got in and I chased it out. 

I won't lie, I've enjoyed the mild weather, but I think it's time for Mother Nature to get it together and give us some snow.