I am so SMART!

A miracle happened in our house today.  My husband admitted that I was right!  This is a big day.  It will go down in history, along with the first time he laughed at one of my jokes...3 years into our relationship.  In order to understand how huge this is, I must provide you with a bit of a back story, so here goes.  For four years, I have been trying to explain to Robbie that instead of scaling a 17 foot ladder and flinging ornaments onto the Christmas tree, we should move the whole thing over to the staircase and decorate it from upstairs and then turn it and decorate the other side.  Every time I bring it up he grumbles and grunts about how that would never work.  So I let him continue to scale a 17 foot ladder and fling ornaments onto the Christmas tree.  I know how to pick my battles.  Well, fast forward three years to last Christmas time when we had some friends over.  As we were talking about our huge tree (one of Robbie's favorite subjects), someone mentioned that they had a friend who also had a two story Christmas tree and they slid it over to the staircase and decorated it from upstairs and then turned it to decorate the other side.  Robbie's eyes lit up and he couldn't stop talking about what  "genius idea" it was.  Wait, what?!!?!  Being the calm, controlled person I am, I started throwing things at him from across the room and jumping up and down screaming that I had been suggesting the same thing for THREE YEARS!!!!  He maintains that it was a misunderstanding.  He apparently thought my idea had something to do with twirling the tree on it's side, before we put it up.  I maintain that he doesn't listen very well.  To his credit, he did stand up during dinner on Christmas Eve and announce to my entire extended family that I had been right about something, which for me, was definitely a highlight of our 13 year relationship.

Today was the day I have been waiting for since the first tree decorating experience in 2009.  It started with a trip (in the torrential down pour, because that is apparently the only way we do it) to my parents' house to find our tree.  Robbie has had his eye on a big cedar in the front corner of my dad's yard since this time last year.  Being that my grandpa was a Christmas tree farmer, I'm a big fan of a REAL Christmas tree and I'm also particular about what type of tree I like.  If it's not a Nobel, I'm not that impressed.  Again, even though my husband would probably disagree, I do know how to pick my battles, so I agreed to the cedar.  Despite the monsoon conditions, we (and by we I mean Robbie) got the tree cut down in just a few minutes. 

And then, disaster struck. As we were loading the tree into the truck, the top snapped off. And just like that we were back at square one.  So after 40 or so more very wet minutes we finally had a tree in our truck.

 When we got home, we put it in the garage to dry off...

 And then Robbie had to go to work and I wanted to shut the garage so we stood it up in the driveway...

 We were lucky enough to have some friends that were willing to come help us get it in the house and then it was time for the fun to begin.  We started by plugging in all the lights to make sure that they worked...

 And then we decided that we wanted the kids to help, so we woke them up...

 They had a good time helping me unpack all of the ornaments and loved finding all of their favorites...

 

 

Finally, the lights were done and I don't think I have ever been happier than when I heard Robbie say. "This is so much easier."  I KNOW!!!

 When we were first married, we discovered that we both have the same "Baby's First Christams" ornament so we always hang them together at the top.  Usually it is a life risking manuver to get them up there but today he just reached over the railing and plopped them on the top branch.  Piece of cake!

 The kids were in charge of decorating the downstairs portion of the tree and they were careful to find the perfect spot for each ornament...

 When all was said and done, the kids were up way too late but the tree looked beautiful and I was right!!!

I am so SMART!!

The Happiest Girl in the World

Yep.  That's Abby.  Today she got the only thing she has ever really wanted.  At least since this time last year when she was first introduced to the phenomenon of American Girl.  It all started with a catalog in the mail.  Ben gets Lego Club magazines and she was so excited to become a part of the "Doll Club" that she could hardly contain herself.  She read her doll club magazines front to back multiple times each day.  She knew exactly what she wanted.  Julie.  On crutches.  She saved her money and was waiting for the day that we could take her to the American Girl Doll store. 

Honestly, we had good intentions but it is virtually impossible for us to have a day when no one has school and no one has to work and there are not 400 other things going on.  So we never went.  And she seemed to kind of forget about it.  Until the new doll club magazine showed up in the mailbox.  And she saw McKenna.  She's a gymnast.  Abby wishes she was a gymnast so obviously it was love at first sight.  And her new doll club magazine was even more worn out than the old one.  She knew exactly what she wanted.  One morning she came downstairs and gave me the low down.

Abby: "Mom, I want to get McKenna, that's $105 and earrings, that's $9 and hearing aids, that's $14."
Me: "Great.  Now you just need to figure out how much you need all together."
Abby: "I already know.  $128."

At that point I didn't know what to say but, "I guess we should count your money."

Well anyone who knows my kids knows that once you tell them something they will hold you to it so the next weekend, she and I sat down to count the money in her piggy bank.  I'm really not entirely sure where all of her money came from.  I know that some of it is from gifts and that she gets an allowance from us (when I remember to give it) but I had no idea just how loaded she was!

She sorted her money and then I helped her count it.

See that bill on the right?  That's a hundred.  Yep.  You're looking at $165.95.  So the $128 she needed?  Chump change.  We went straight to the Internet to order McKenna.  She couldn't have been more giddy.

Once on the World Wide Web, we found out that McKenna was back ordered until November 30th, but that didn't stop Abby.  We also found out that hearing aids were not available.  She was disappointed (her cousin Andrew wears hearing aids so she really wanted McKenna to have them too) but agreed to settle for just the earrings.  We made our order and sat back to wait.

Every morning she talked about how she couldn't wait until November 30th.  She knew just how many days until her precious cargo shipped.  And then, last week,  a surprise!  An email saying that McKenna had shipped early.  I had her read it and she couldn't have been more excited.  And shocked!  It wasn't even November 30th!!  I could track the package, but for some reason she had it in her head that it would take a week so I didn't correct her when she thought it would be here on Thursday.

Today, I got home a few minutes early and we both got the best surprise when she walked past the front door and saw a package on the porch.

 She couldn't be happier.  McKenna is everything she hoped for.  And I couldn't be more proud.  She worked hard, saved her money and waited for a long time for something that she really wanted.

Tonight, McKenna (with her very own BeBe) is snuggled up in her own bed, right next to Abby. 

Because apparently, "you don't sleep with American Girl Dolls because they are fragile."  I think I have a lot to learn about Doll Club.

It Snowed!

Well, really, it frosted.  But that didn't stop Ben who threw on his snowsuit (he knows where that is?), drug me out of bed and requested his snowboard.  And what kind of mother would keep a kid from playing in the first "Jack Frost" of the year?

 

 

 After a few minutes, he decided that he was ready to brave the hill...

 

 

Love love love my funny little boy!

Merry Birthday to Meeeeeee!

I have been wanting, I mean really really REALLY wanting, a new camera.  I dropped enough hints (daily, for the past couple of months) that my sweet husband got me one for my birthday/Christmas present.  I found the one I wanted and I've been stalking Amazon on a daily basis to check the price.  On Monday, it dropped lower than I have seen and so I snatched it up.  (Now I will forbid myself from looking anymore so I don't get cranky about it if it goes down again...)  I figured since we are about half way between my birthday and Christmas, it was fair for me to go ahead and buy it now.  Ben wasn't so sure.  "So on Christmas morning you'll have one less present to open?"  he asked me hours after finding out that my present was on the way.  Yes, my sweet little man (who had probably spent 120 minutes thinking about that).  "And you're okay with that?!?"  Oh how I love that kid!

Thanks to my one month free trial of Amazon Prime, my new birthmas present was on my front porch by yesterday afternoon.  Too bad I had to work until 8 and it was dark (and I was beat) by the time I got around to opening the box.  But today, I hurried home and headed outside to test it out on my favorite subjects.

So. Much. Better!!  And I haven't even been able to play with anything yet.  And there are a lot of bells and whistles on this bad boy.  I hope to have some time to figure it all out soon because I am going to need it for a big surprise we have planned next month. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely go anywhere without my camera and although I am thankful for all of the memories that my previous camera captured for me, I am excited to bring things up a notch.  Plus I kind of feel like when your blog is all about pictures, some decent photos really would help.  So yay! 

So brace yourselves, people.  I just may start posting like a crazy woman. 

Trick or Treat

Well, November is here.  Dark and rainy as ever.  That means that Halloween has come and gone, and you know we had some fun with that!

We picked up 130 pounds of pumpkins on our trip to the pumpkin patch with my brother and his fam a couple of weeks ago.  What?  Is that a lot?

 

 

 

 

 

It's a good thing we brought Uncle Jacob to pull the wagon!!

 

 

 

Robbie has been working like crazy (we're talkin' 11 shifts in 7 days!) but he finally had some time off this weekend so that we could carve our pumpkins and other Halloween festivities.

 

 

 Apparently the only way he could clean out his pumpkin was to get up onto the table and get elbow deep into it...

 The kids thought it would be fun to carve their own pumpkins.  We thought that two 5-year-olds with knives probably wasn't the best plan.  Instead, we had them draw their faces so Daddy could make their visions a reality.

 

 

 Ta-da!!

 The next day we got to work on Steve.  You know, our scarecrow.  And of course, that involved a hay fight...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually, Steve was finished, so he headed out to the road...

 

 Come Halloween morning it was ghosts and mummies and ghost poop for breakfast!

 

 

 I got to be a mom for a little bit and go to their Halloween party at school which made a certain little boy pretty happy

 At the end of the party, their teacher said that the kids could go home with us early.  I had one kid who couldn't out of there fast enough and one who was not willing to leave school a minute early.  Any guesses on which was which?

 

For dinner it was a reprise of last year's Halloween feast, as requested.  If it ain't broken don't fix it right???  So brains and eyeballs with a side of snake eyes it was!

 Oh, and dirt and worms for dessert!

 After dinner we were ready to hit the streets.

 And I'm not gonna lie, I was a little impressed with myself in the costume department.

 Especially the little critters on her nightgown...

 If only people knew about "The Napping House" it would have been perfect.  Thanks goodness for our neighbor the kindergarten teacher.  And for Ben who explained her costume at every other house.

 At the end of the night we, I mean they, had made quite a haul!

I think Abby summed it up perfectly when she said, "Mom, I like holiday days the best...because we always get candy and presents."  Happy Halloween!!