The (not so) perfect pictures with Santa

I think I have given up on getting that perfect picture of my kids with Santa. I have lots of perfect pictures of Anna with Santa, but that's where it ends. Alex has never been a fan of "characters"- Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. We try every year, and every year he refuses. He has been known to send his requests with Anna or to just mail his letters to Santa and I guess that works for him. Anna, on the other hand adores Santa. She has seen the same Santa every year and to her, this really is the Santa she knows. Sarah was extremely excited to see Santa until she got closer. Then, the only way I could get her to go any further was with bribery from Santa in the form of candy. She was, however, fascinated with Santa's reindeer and was trying to get in the cage with them. Oh well, here are our (almost) perfect pictures :)

 (proof that Alex did actually come with)

Jesus loves the little children....all the children of the world (well, hopefully even ours)...

Sometimes it's hard to have such perfect kids. I mean, they are so darn good, honest, holy and obedient, it just makes our heads spin! And, so, I would like to offer some words of advice for those who are trying to get their children to be as good....

• Encourage them to respect all holy figures. Under no circumstances let them grab the virgin Mary statue around the neck and shake her in utter frustration of being stuck among such holy figures.
• In the same manner, make sure they understand the meaning of the Nativity scene. Whatever you do, do not allow them to chew on the baby Jesus, especially until the point of nearly gnawing off the legs.
• Help them with their prayers. When they state they are "hardly sorry for their sins", make sure you correct it to "heartily sorry" instead of mumbling under your breath how the first statement actually made more sense.
• Make sure they understand and practice for their sacraments. Specifically when practicing for their first confession, calmly correct them when they pronoune penance as "penis". Under no circumstances laugh so hard that you cry and are completely unable to go any further with the "practice confession".

Like I said, it's darn hard raising such religious and well-behaved kids. But, we are trying :)

How to Sarah proof your Christmas Decorations

No judging allowed! When I mentioned to a few people that we were delaying and way scaling back our Christmas decorations this year because of Sarah, I got a few looks. Some understood. Others gave advice. "Just tell her no", "Put all the breakable ornaments up high", "Put a gate around the tree". No offense, but clearly none of these people actually know Sarah. To tell Sarah "no" for the 15 hours a day that she is awake (which is how many hours she is in trouble), is plain ridiculous. Putting the ornaments up high is really just a bigger challenge to her. She can climb, and I really do mean climb. Still waiting for the day I find her on top of the cupboards in the kitchen- it's coming, I know it is. Gates are really just a useless invention meant to keep out "normal" 2 year olds. Sarah can not only climb them, she actually knows how to unlatch and open any gate we could possibly put up, so why bother? So, instead, we decorated in our own, "Sarah-proof" way. In case you have a similar 2 year old at your house, here are the recommended steps:

Step 1-  Make sure the Nativity scene is completely unbreakable. This will mean that none of the actual animals that belong in the scene will be able to come out of the box this year. Instead, use various other animals you find around the house- turtles, elephants, deer, dogs, warthogs and hippos. A real "equal opportunity" type manger scene. (in case you are wondering the people in the nativity scene are plastic- unbreakable, but the animals we have for it are ceramic, thus why they will not visit this year)

Step 2-  Find as many stuffed animals that have the color "red" on them as you can. These can double as pillows for a soft landing under the tree and add some festive "Christmas" color to the house.

Step 3- Break the older one's hearts by letting them know that absolutely none of their cherished ornaments they have ever received will be coming out of storage this year :(

Step 4- Tell them, that instead, a whole bag of "not such a big deal if they break" wooden ornaments will don the tree this year.

 Step 5- Realize that within the first 30 seconds of said wooden ornaments being introduced, there will be casualties. Expect them and move on.
Step 6- Make sure to allow a path for Sarah to get behind the tree. If you don't do this, she will find a way anyways and likely knock over the tree.

Step 7- Quickly take a picture

 Step 8- Realize that while the tree doesn't really look the same without all of our favorite "stuff" on it and that there will be absolutely no presents under it until Christmas morning (I don't feel like re-wrapping everything), it is still beautiful and it is still Christmas, with Sarah :)



So, what has Anna been up to?

Seems I've been posting a lot about Alex and Sarah and kind of neglecting the middle child.....so, here you go :)

Anna has become quite the little gymnast. She is going twice a week now and the progress is amazing. I am incredibly proud of her :) I have to admit, I selfishly like going to gymnastics because it's so fun to watch. As a kid I used to love when gymnastics was on TV. For me, it's really great....and since Anna absolutely loves it, it makes it double fun :)

 I had the opportunity several weeks back (notice there was no snow, so this was pre-Halloween) to spend the day with Anna at the MN Zoo. It was such a fun day, just Anna and I. We visited Scarecrow Alley which I had never seen before. Pretty impressive. Anna wanted to pose with every single scarecrow (I think there were like 50). I only put my favorites on here- you get the point :) Anna is growing up so much and yet she so wants to be my little baby somedays. It's a hard age, being 6. For now I am just glad that I am still her best friend- hopefully this will last a bit longer :)

Isn't she so darn cute???

Twos, Twos, The Trouble with Twos

I have to admit I have kind of a love-hate relationship with the "twos". By the "twos" I mean the age- 2 year olds. It is such a fun age and yet such a hard age.

I find myself, lately, needing to remind myself that this is such a brief moment in time and that our littlest  monster will indeed not stay 2 forever. Some days the hate relationship is stronger than the love relationship (not with Sarah, but just the age in general) When the older kids went through this stage,  it was busy too. But, not as busy as we find ourselves now. We are now faced with the daily challenge of trying to juggle the needs of two school aged kids and their homework, activities, etc in addition to the continuous monitoring Sarah requires. Our nights go something like this.....Alex and Anna get home around 4, Sarah immediately starts acting out and trying to get more attention (after all, she's had the house and all the adult attention to herself for the last 7 hours). If she is not paid continuous attention she will just get into one kind of trouble after another until you are forced to give her attention. The next 3 hours are spent fighting with the older two to get their homework done, preparing and eating dinner, chasing Sarah, making sure all school issues for the next day are taken care of and then running the older two to various activities 3 nights/week. Most nights by the time we get them to bed we have asked each other more than one time "why is it that we wanted kids????" Tonight, for instance, I was attempting to play a game with the older two since we had only battled an hour to get through homework, we had a little time to do something "fun" together. However, there is really nothing "fun" about trying to play a game with a 2 year old who insists on stealing all the pieces, knocking the gameboard on the floor, ripping up the cards, attempting to eat the dice and in the middle of it all decides that it would be a great time to pour a bottle of soy sauce onto the kitchen floor, because you know, it only took mom about 3 weeks to get to scrubbing that floor last weekend, so why should it stay clean?

And then, when the house is all quiet again, I can reflect on what I absolutely adore about the twos. They are becoming so independent and their personalities really start to develop. They interact more- with both the environment and others. They are learning so fast and can pick up new skills with amazing speed. They understand how to say I love you and know how to give the best hugs imaginable. They belly laugh until tears run down their face about the simplest things. They are ALWAYS excited to see you when you come home, no matter what. They are still small enough to cuddle on your lap and watch them fall asleep. They once in awhile like to be picked up and you can pretend (if only for brief minute) that they are still, indeed, your baby. And, at the end of the day, the love relationship always wins. And so, since I know this is my last official 2 year old, I will get some extra bear hugs, hear a few more belly laughs, practice new words, watch with amazement at the simple things like snow and ice and just try to appreciate the twos for what they are- fast, furious and (sometimes) fun :)

In denial about the change of seasons?

It's ok, you're not alone :)

Holiday Savings

So, with the holidays coming, money is always something we can use more of around here. I'm guessing those reading this feel the same way. If not, feel free to send some of your money that is lying around our way, we will put it to good use :) This weekend I was away at a scrapbooking retreat and had 3 glorious days without kids :) Chris, however, spent the weekend without power and with 3 small children whose negligent mother had not purchased snow boots yet :(  Good thing my mom lives across the street and had a couple extra pairs the bigger kids could borrow. Needless to say I was feeling guilty about procrastinating on the whole snow boots thing. Then, I read my friend Molly's blog (http://www.snyder5.com/) and she was blogging about snow boots and how she had saved 30% on them plus free shipping and was also getting 6% cash back. That caught my attention. The busier we get, the more we tend to shop online. And, as anyone who shops online can tell you, the holidays are absolutely full of great deals all with free shipping. Why would anyone in their right mind go outside in this weather when you can shop from the comfort of your home? Well, anyways, about the great savings I wanted to share.....so, from Molly I learned about this great website called Ebates.com that offers different coupons and also gives you money back on online purchases you make. It is basically like free money sent to you in a big fat check about every quarter. Nice, huh? Want to get in on the deal? Click here http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=LlwxnaXBTpzCvCwrMI6iKg%3D%3D . Signup takes about 2 minutes and you are on your way to savings. Best part is you can still use all of your crazy promotion codes and coupons on top of your cash back so it is a win win situation. It doesn't cost anything and you get to choose if you want emails from the website or not. I was browsing through and saw that ebates is offering 11.5% cash back on any order from snapfish.com. Couple that with my 25% off code that I have and free shipping and my snapfish "bucks" I have from previous orders and my Christmas cards are going to be a steal this year! Gotta love a bargain! Enjoy :)

How it Starts

I think I may have solved the mystery of why girls go to the bathroom together....

Not entirely sure when this content was added to catechism class, but it sure could solve a very big mystery....

Disaster Preparation

Riding in the car on the way to religion tonight, Anna was telling us about how they had to do a fire drill last week. I told her I thought that was a really good thing to know what to do in a fire and I'm glad they were learning about that. She then said they also did a tornado drill. Again, I told her I thought this was good practice to know what to do in these types of situations. Then she said, "But mom, what exactly do you do if the building starts on fire and there is a tornado outside?" Hmmm....not even sure how to answer that one. I told her I wasn't really sure what the right action would be in that situation but that the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim so she shouldn't really worry about that. Being the realist she is, she came up with her own straight-forward answer, "Well, then I guess if that really happened, you would just have to die". Morbid, but given the likelihood of such an event happening, it seemed easier to just leave it at that rather than come up with some elaborate plan of running from the burning building through the tornado into another building's basement. Such happy thoughts on the way to religion. Hopefully there will be no nightmares about burning buildings caught up in twisters tonight.

Sarah's Instructional Video on how to give your Dog a Bath

*no animals were harmed in the making of this video, no guarantees on the actual cleanliness of your animal if you attempt this method, Sarah is available to come to your house (for a small fee) to clean not only your pets, but also your furniture, your walls and your clothes*

Homework

Homework is hard. It's even harder with a small monkey on your back.....

Tricks and Treats and Lots to Eat!

Sacraments....Alex style...

Alex has been learning about confession, AKA the sacrament of reconciliation. For those non-Catholic followers, it's the sacrament of admitting your sins, seeking repetence and having the priest absolve you of your sins and make your soul "clean" again. Kind of an abstract concept that can be hard to grasp- especially when you are 8, and you started catechism class late. I was trying to explain this whole thing to Alex since he has to make his first reconciliation in December. He was getting it- naming off all the things he's done wrong- lying, fighting, etc. I then tried to explain to him that the priest would listen to his sins and help him seek forgiveness and strength to do better next time. All of this he understood. Then, a light bulb went off. And he said, "Wait, wait a minute- I have to sit and talk to the priest, like right next to him? Are you sure I can't just email him or video chat with him instead because that would be way easier."

The above comment coupled with the gagging and disgusted noises he made during class when he learned that the bread at communion represented the body of Christ and he realized he was going to be eating it, I think we may be kicked out of the Catholic Church by the time this kid is through all the sacraments.

Curling

Sometimes, the conversations I have with the kids take off in their own, strange, confusing direction. More often than not I find myself thinking that having meaningful conversations with anyone under the age of 10 just probably doesn't happen very often. I'd like to think that I have actual "talks" with my kids about important issues, but mostly it just goes something like this.....

Anna:  Mom, do you think that hockey is more popular than gymnastics?
Me: I think they are both pretty popular.
Anna: Yeah, there's always a lot of people at my gymnastics place, right?
Me: Yep
Anna: Alex thinks that hockey is the most popular
Me: He's just trying to start a fight with you, just ignore him, they are both equally popular
Anna: Do you think that soccer is popular?
Me: Yes, lots of people play soccer
Anna: How about football?
Me: Yes, seems popular
Anna: T Ball
Me: Well, it's popular with younger kids for sure
Anna: What about curling?
Me: I don't know if it's as popular as the other ones, but it is in the olympics
Anna: What about straightening?
Me: Huh??
Anna: You know, either curling or straightening your hair, which is more popular? Megan straightened my hair once, and you've curled it, right?
Me: Oh, curling, like curling your hair, not the sport.....I think they are both equally popular....

Because really, when you think about popular sports, don't you wonder if it's more popular to either curl or straighten your hair? I'm not sure, but I don't really think this one would qualify as a "meaningful" conversation....

(as a credit to Anna, she did know what curling the sport was when I asked her, but apparently hairstyles are just sometimes more important than sports!)

Nothing says Fall like.....

Pumpkins, of course! This year was Sarah's first experience with pumpkin "guts". Last year we painted them. That went well, but the older 2 requested carving them again this year, so we did. We actually let Alex and Anna carve theirs themselves and I think they did a pretty good job. Sarah mostly played in the "guts". By the time she was done, she had pumpkin in her ears!

In case you were wondering- Alex's is on the top of the steps (notice how one eye is an "x", apparently his pumpkin is 'dead', Anna's is in the middle and Sarah's is on the bottom- it's a puppy in honor of her continuing obsession with dogs :)

Starting Late

So, confession time- apparently we have started our kids "late" with sports. I became quite aware of this when Anna wanted to do gymnastics this year. Granted she has done a lot of park and rec kind of activities and swimming lessons and dance, but this is the first time she has actually been in an organized "sport" with levels and competitions. When I signed her up for the Beginner, 6+(age) level, I naively assumed the rest of the kids in her group would also be actual "beginners". Well, not really. There are a couple, but the vast majority have been tumbling and doing gymnastics since they were 3. We have a lot of catching up to do. Her instructors have been nice and understanding but every once in awhile we'll get a sort of nod of, "Oh yeah, well, she started late so she just needs to catch up". Really, late?? She is 6 for God's sake. Of her 6 years so far on this earth, almost 2 were spent learning to walk, which really leaves 4 years she could have been in gymnastics. I am having a hard time with the whole running around bringing her to gymnastics one night a week (soon to be two just so we can catch up!) as it is now, I can't imaging having to do this with a 3 year old.

Similar thing with Alex and hockey. Apparently 8 is just barely the cut off to be able to get into hockey. If you aren't in by the time you turn 9, forget it- there really is nothing for beginners after age 8. So, I know that Alex will have a similar struggle with the whole "trying to catch up" thing as many of the kids he plays with have been playing since they could walk. Fortunately for Alex, he is a whiz on skates and has always caught on to everything physical very quickly. But still, he's 8, and 8 is old to be starting hockey.

So, what happened? How did we let this happen? I have been thinking a lot about this lately. In some ways, it was a conscious decision on our part to wait. We knew that this stage of life- this run them everywhere and give up every weekend to sports- would be coming. And so, we waited, and we did other things. I don't regret that decision at all. I'm glad we let them be kids just a little longer. And even now, we are still not going as "sports crazy" as a lot of our friends with kids. And, it's ok. I just wish the rest of the world would see that it is ok and that sometimes starting "late" doesn't make you a negligent parent, it just means that you spent a little extra time cuddling, playing and enjoying the sweet, quickly fading "little kid" stage. Because as anyone who is a parent knows, that stage is gone in a blink and you can't get it back. Sports will always be there. And, believe it or not, life can and does happen without them :)

A "Minor" Week

It has been one of those weeks. The week started off with my graceful cooking adventure in which I managed to slice my thumb open with a soup can cover. This little event bought me 2 nice, neat stitches right over the knuckle on my thumb. It did, however, get me out of finishing dinner that night :) It didn't, however, feel very good :(

Wednesday I had the extreme fortune to be rear ended on my way to work :(  Not so good. But, looking on the bright side, the woman who hit me had insurance and spoke English (which if you have done any amount of driving near downtown St. Paul, this is not always the case). Really no damage to the car or me, so all was good.

Sunday Sarah had a collision with the big boys (my brothers) who were playing football in the yard. Unfortunately for Sarah, her little head was involved. Sarah and I spent the night in the ER with her projectile vomiting concussion. She seems better now, but really irritable- which is not typically her personality. The worst part of this is that we need to try to protect her from anymore head injuries in the near future. I think I may just need to keep a helmet on her. Attempting to keep Sarah from injury was already a full time job, this will surely put us into overtime on the whole preventing Sarah from killing herself watch....

All in all, some drama this week. We have certainly had worse weeks. I guess that this week we are thankful for "minor" injuries and "minor" drama instead of any "major" reportings :)

Stroller-less

I like strollers, I really do. They are a great invention when you think about it. Contain the kids, have a nice spot for your coffee and your bags or whatever you might need. Save your back from having to carry the usually struggling to get away from you toddler. But, there is also a sense of freedom when you don't have one. You don't need to worry about how many steps there are to get in and out of a building, you don't have to struggle to get through the doors by making your arm stretch as long as you possibly can and hurling the stroller quickly through the door all the while hoping the door doesn't take off your heel. And the best part- you get to just follow along....

 And meet new friends....

 And find new adventures...

 Wait, are you still there?

 And go places the stroller can't.....

 And crunch in the leaves...

 And meet more stroller-less friends....

 And walk by and look on with interest at those who are still contained....

 And decide that you are big enough to not hold anyone's hand and just to make sure you are going to leave them clasped behind your back so no one tries....

  And just relish the fact that you can touch the glass without trying to reach over a stroller tray....

And just be...

Ah, freedom, can you feel it?