My "Elf on the Shelf" Karma

photo from here

Look at this guy. He's the Elf on the Shelf. He sits somewhere where he can see all of the goings on in your home. He watches your little ones and reports back to Santa if they have been bad or good. If they are bad the get no presents. What an ingenious idea, right?? What better way is there to get kids to behave than the threat of no presents? I bought into the hype, but it backfired on me. I realized this when the following statement was uttered from the lips of my 3yo.

 Mommy, if you let me play a game on your phone, the Elf on the Shelf will tell Santa to give you presents!

I'm sorry, what?? Apparently he thinks I am under the jurisdiction of this Elf! Moreover, he thinks that mommy being good is giving him what he wants, even though he knows he is banned from using my phone (a liiiittle incident with downloading) because he can't listen. Hmmmm. I wonder if I can slip an extra line into the story when we read it next...

A line that excludes mommy and daddy from the knowing stare of the little nymph!! I guess that's what I get for trying to bribe my kid to be good.

Merry Christmas!

Wrap Up

I miss blogging. I really do. I miss rubbing my pregnant belly as I read every one's posts. Heck, I even miss writing my own. Truth is, I just haven't had the brain power, will power, or (wo)man power to do it lately. I imagine I will get back on track in the near future, but for now a quick wrap up of the last week and a half will have to do.

• We went to see Santa and try to get a Christmas tree at Brigg's Nursery. Nathan was so cute with Santa. He got right up there and told him that he wanted a "Big, Huge, Iron man and Spiderman" for Christmas. We tried to get a decent shot of him smiling, but you know how it goes with toddlers. We got these weird half smiles out of his buddy Tyler and an equally strange tongue in teeth smile out of Nate, so these were the best shots (sadly). I had Arielle in the Bjorn (oh I can't wait to use my ergo....come on 15 pounds!!) and she was peacefully sleeping, so I did not remove her and hand her to germy Santa. Maybe this week at the mall I will attempt that.
  

  They have a cool indoor polar express train set up and this entertained the boys for a while as they ate their candy canes. We didn't end up getting a tree (for the second time in a week) since they were ridiculously expensive and rather piddly looking for the price. Aaron surprised me and came home with a tree when he went to get dinner. It is an awesome tree and I will post pics...eventually!

• One of my oldest and best friends, Darcy, came to visit for the week. We have known each other since we were 15 and she lives in Oregon so I only get to see her once a year. I was so happy to have her visit! She was such a great help with the baby and Nathan. We got our craft on and I helped her make two Christmas presents with my handy dandy sewing machine. I can't say what they are just yet as I am making a couple to give as gifts myself, but I'll reveal all of my crafting after Christmas! We managed to get dressed up and go to my favorite restaurant to have a cocktail and share a creme brulee. It was only an hour and a half, but I felt like a real person again! Sadly, I suck at taking pictures these days and we snapped one pic before we left to take her back to the airport!
• I made chocolate chip cookies and I told my little helper that he could assist me in the making. We got the flour in a bowl, but then I needed to get into the drawer that his chair was blocking. I held his arm and tried to move the chair, only to throw him off balance and knock the bowl into the floor. The poor kid froze like he was going to be in big trouble. Instead I just laughed as it was totally my fault. Then, of course, I made him stand there covered in flour until I could get my camera and take a picture. See the empty bowl behind him. Ugh!
  
• Arielle has been doing great. She is 3 weeks old today and drank her first bottle of expressed milk tonight. She has been fussy and cluster-feeding in the evening and we thought a quick shot might fill her tummy enough to get her to nap once more before her normal bed time of 10:30 or so. We have been carrying her around or bouncing on the exercise ball from about 6-10 every night, so it is a welcome break for our backs! She had her first bath last week. She liked it for a total of 6 seconds and then screamed the whole time. I will try again this week!Well, not exactly short and sweet, but somewhat summarized! I have a ton more projects to finish before Christmas. I still haven't made Christmas cards or birth announcements. I have to get tot he post office tomorrow and all of this has to get done while taking care of the girl and trying not to body slam my defiant toddler. Wish me luck and I promise I will be back to commenting as soon as humanly possible!

Not Me! Monday

Could it be? What's that you say?? A Monday I don't have to work, hooray!! In good fashion I will have to say that I am not absolutely giddy that I am in my jammies writing my post. This is one Monday that being in said jammies at this time is not going to make me late for work! I'd like to blame MckMama for my obsession with these posts, but we all know that you can lead a horse to water but ya can't make 'em drink. If you want to drink in the hilarity, head on over to her blog and wallow in the fun with us!

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I did not trip while going up the stairs at work and drop my timer down 2 flights of stairs trying to grab the hand rail. I was not amazed that it didn’t break into a million pieces, though it did completely reset the timer and clock.

I didn’t wash my hands with the worst smelling sop ever and then have to smell it for over an hour until I could leave the lab and wash my hands in our office bathroom with different soap. I didn't look mildly crazy since I kept smelling my hands and grimacing.

When arriving at my In-laws house for our Christmas Eve party, I did not drop their present (our professional pictures) in a giant puddle. If that happened, I would not immediately throw the rest of the stuff I was holding onto the hood of my car (while yelling profanities) and rip the paper off of their gift to avoid soaking the photos. Since that did not happen to me, I did not have to give them their present unwrapped and explain my clumsiness.

I was not one of the 4 oldest people at a concert the other night. I was not secretly happy that we could have a spot at the bar with a perfect view since people weren’t fighting to get a drink!



My little man didn't misjudge the height of a step and fall right on his noggin. If that happened, I would be a calm parent, not freak out and snatch him up probably making him dizzy. He didn't cough up a little bit of lunch, start choking on it and then proceed to throw up all over me. At the first sign of gagging I turned him around. I am not stupid enough to stand there and let him puke on me...4 times. Nope, not me!

What did you "not" do this week??

Merry Christmas to All

We had 2 wonderful days filled with friends and family. Christmas eve we went to a party at Aaron's parent's house. Aaron's dad always hosts the Christmas eve party for the family. Last year Aaron's dad and step mother went to Mexico so we hosted the party and, let me tell you, I was happy to give it back to them this year! I love Aaron's family and we all sat around, ate, sang songs (well, some of us sang!) and shared fun stories. There is always great food (I made stuffed mushrooms this year), fabulous wine, and a loud and crazy Italian family, which I love being a part of.

Natey loves his cousins and got to play with Lily and hang out with Eve. Lily decorated her gingerbread house. Well, she tried and then proceeded to eat the pieces when it crashed.
Aaron and I (yes he actually did most of the work) made Natey a tie onesie for the party. He looked so cute and partied with us way past his normal bed time (7:30pm) until 9! He started to get pooped toward the end, but he hung in there like a champ!

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Christmas day started off at home with just Natey, daddy and I. It was so fun to sit in our jammies and open presents. Natey got into riping the paper and opening presents. I even managed to surprise Aaron which, for those who know him, is almost impossible. Let's just say that this was the first time in 5 years that he didn't guess what I got him!!! He is the king of spoiling surprises and always wants to give you hints about your gift or give it to you early. I tell him he is worse than a kid when it comes to things like that!

We went to Aaron's mom and step dad's house and had an early dinner with them, two of Aaron's brothers, one of his sisters, their significant others, and Natey's cousin Aiden. We had dinner and opened presents. The highlight for Nate was the Radio Flyer horsey he got from Santa. He is really into horsies right now and he loves it and kept yelling "Ye haw" as he happily bounced and rocked the afternoon away.

I missed my side of the family a lot, but I got to talk to all of them at some point today. I really missed having my mom there but, as I watched the video Aaron took of Natey and I opening presents, I saw a lot of her in me. I don't often watch myself in action, but in that 5 minute video, I saw some of her mannerisms, her smile and mostly the glow she had when she looked at me and my brother in myself and I knew she was right there with me all along.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you had a wonderful day filled with everything you wished for this year.

...and to all a good night.

Wishing and hoping

I just love Christmas time with my boy. Since my mom passed away, Christmas has been really hard for me. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around special holiday moments with my mom. I knew, after that first Christmas without her (a month after she passed), that Christmas wouldn't be the same until I had children of my own. Now that I have Natey, I feel a renewed sense of Christmas spirit. Seeing things through his eyes makes everything more magical. Even though I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful boy, a good job and a warm home it doesn't stop me from wishing for more.

I wish she was here now.

I wish she could hear her grandson's sweet little voice saying "lu you".

I wish I could send her a Christmas card with my little boy on Santa's lap.

I wish we could bake cookies and fudge together.

I wish we could reminisce about each ornament as we hung them on the tree.

I wish....

Christmas is a time of wishing and hoping. Natey is my hope for the future and my greatest wish come true. I am so thankful for the life I have now, I just wish she could share it with me.

Santa baby

We finally took Natey to see Santa! I know it's kinda late, but there were extenuating circumstances that kept us away. Like the blue bruise he had in the middle of his forehead from bonking it at his grandparents house (I know, I'm vain...it's terrible), or the fact that he was a snotty miserable mess for over a week. We have been prepping him for Santa for over a month. I've been reading him Santa books, pointing out the Santas we saw around town and teaching him "Ho, Ho, Ho" (which he said to Santa...it was so cute!). I hoped that all of this prepping would come in handy when he met the big guy (it was the same Santa as last year) ...and it did!


Woo hooo! It couldn't have gone any better! Natey was so excited and the picture came out perfect! I know this is a rare occasion so I won't get too overconfident about future Santa pictures (or the EB for that matter), but it was nice to get a great shot one second after he sat down. The poor lady in front of me was having quite a time trying to get her son to cooperate and I felt for her.

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After Santa, Natey had to go for his 18 month visit at the pediatrician. He was 26 pounds 14 oz and 34 1/2 inches long! Yet again Natey is hovering in the 95th percentile for height and ~60th percentile for weight. Hopefully this keeps up and he ends up being taller than Aaron and I! The doctor's office had a tree in the waiting room, and I managed to get one picture where he wasn't sprinting about and blurry.

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This post wouldn't be complete without a glimpse at last year's Christmas pictures. You already saw last year's picture with Santa on my ornament so here are a couple we took of him with our Christmas tree. The second one was the picture I used for our Christmas cards last year.

What's on your tree?

This week's ornament is the one I bought last year for Nathan's first Christmas. Here is his chubby little self with Santa. Poor kid. It looks like he has about 8 chins. To this day, the only part of him that is chubby is his chin and cheeks!

Since this is my (count 'em) 3rd post of the day, I will keep it short and sweet!

***UPDATED*** In my haste I forgot to link to Katie over at This Crazy Life who is hosting What's on your tree Wednesday! Sorry Katie, my holiday brain is shot!!

What's on your tree??

I have been anxiously waiting to play along with this carnival! Being gone for the better part of 3 weeks made it a bit difficult to get a tree and get it decorated. I never feel very Christmasy until I get the tree up and my decorations hung. We finally got our tree this weekend and got it all decorated on Monday! Here is the tree as a whole. Yes, that is a Santa on top. I used to have my mom's angel, but somewhere in my 10 or so moves she disappeared. I have wanted to get another one for the past few years, but haven't found one that is exactly what I want yet. I need to find a vintage one like my momma had. I loved that Angel. I miss both of my angels very much!


My favorite 2 ornaments on the tree are ones that have the most sentimental value. Since I couldn't play last week, I am making it up to Katie by posting 2 ornaments! The first one is one I made when I was about 4. My mom always hung it proudly, in a prominent place on the tree, even though it is made of a TP roll (very fitting, see this post!), ribbon and red and green glitter. I have been made fun of by several people for keeping this ornament, but until it disintegrates, it will hang proudly on my tree.

The second ornament is the one my momma made for my very first Christmas in 1978. I have had this ornament for 30 years and it is probably my favorite. I think I might try to make some of these, if I can find the old plain ornaments. I just think they are precious!

So, that's the first edition of what's on my tree. I love to see other people's ornaments and hear why they love them so much. If you would like to play, see Katie's blog carnival and join in our Holiday Cheer!!