Life As We Know It

Christmas Morning

I heard Porter babbling in his room and elbowed Ryan to get him up. It was Christmas morning! Porter was still laying in his crib chattering, half asleep, and I said ‘Porter!! Santa came to our house and he left you lots of presents!!” He shot up in his sleepy state and wide eyed said “pesents?! OooooOOOOoohhH!” I hyped it up good. He was so excited to see his tent and his stocking and little pile of Santa gifts. He loved the balls in the ball pit of the tent. I asked him “Porter, did Santa bring all this for you?” He says “Bring balls!”

Santa brought:

 

Every present he opened when I asked “hmmm I wonder what it is?” He’d say “fire truck!”

He opened his shoes from us (something he needs) and acted happy “tennis shoes!” and then said “In box!” put them back in the box and then said “Top on!” and put the top on and went back to all his trucks. 

Porter loved his tent and play balls.  He got lots of new trucks and cars (as if he needed anymore!) and a Fisher Price Garage along with some puzzles, books, a Candy Land game and some other misc. stuff. 

This afternoon we went over to my mom's house to have Christmas with my side of the family.  My grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin, sister, brother and niece were there.  We had a yummy ham dinner, sat comatose while Porter napped, ripped into presents and then played a couple rounds of Apples to Apples.

I think Porter's favorite toys here were his hammer and this weird weasel-ball toy.  Aubri was freaked out by it, although she tried her best to be "nice" to it LOL!

As usual, Porter was wound up and acted like a freak once it was way past his bedtime.  I swear... this kid doesn't get slow and sleepy when he's overtired.  He just cranks into overdrive.  He was a one-kid show spinning around and being goofy with everyone.  He kept spinning until he was dizzy and would fall down, saying "YAY!  Spinning!"

Christmas Eve

I didn't have time (err... energy) to post last night.  I wanted to recap our Christmas Eve.

We celebrate Christmas Eve with Ryan's family.  This year it was at Lori's house.  Before going to Dearborn, I wanted to run to the mall to get one more quick picture of Porter with Santa.  The one I took on Sunday was horizontal and I wanted one that was vertical (tall) so that eventually I could do a comparison of all the Santa pictures and they'd all be tall (showing Santa's full body vs. just his waist up). 

Here are the Santa pics this year:

And... retardo me.... I was able to crop my original Santa pic and make it vertical.  (Yes, Ryan, you were right.) 

Look... same Santa!  Porter is even less thrilled about seeing Santa this year.  I prepped him so good before hand... we talked about going to see him, sitting on his lap, telling him what he wanted him to bring him for Christmas.  He wasn't scared of him at all until I sat him on his lap.  I just hurried and took a picture.

Again, not so thrilled to be seeing Santa.  He was  more interested in the Porter-Sized penguins all around Santa's set.  Note the yellow tipped beard Santa is sporting.  And the sign that says's Santa's Beautiful Beard by JCPenney Salon.  And the near empty bottle of sore throat spray sitting next to Santa's chair.  Hmmm...

Anyhow, after my brief meltdown over Ryan taking another horizontal picture, we made our way up to Dearborn.

The kids had a blast playing with all the Cars cars, and finally the youngest three went down for naps around 2pm.  Us adults (and Lia) played Apples to Apples for awhile and then ate an early dinner of Mr. Chicken, french fries and salad.  Afterwards, the mayhem began.  Present time.  Present time with 4 kids under the age of 4.  EEEk!  Let's just say we made it alive, and all presents (and people) intact. 

Pictures from the evening:

The kids decorating the "Gumdrop Tree".  Lori is starting this as a tradition each year. 

Porter, Brenna and Lia seemed most interested in eating the gumdrops.  Shae, however, took her job seriously.  She was so into it!

Brenna, Shae and Lia

Porter thought the girls' Dora ViewMaster (is that what those are called?) was a camera.  He kept saying "CHEESE!"

The tree:

Like I said yesterday, the roads home were horrible.  I won't recap that again. 

Baking Cookies

Today the Howards came over to bake cookies with us.  Well, actually it turned out Tony came over to take a nap on our couch and my husband napped on the floor while the boys napped this afternoon.  LeeAnn and I, however, were busy from 10:30am to nearly 5pm baking baking baking.

The beginning:  All our baking stuff and Porter's apron I made.

The boys were great at making a huge mess helping us:

Our final products: (click on the cookie name to link to the recipe)

Corn Flake Wreaths

Peanut Butter Blossums

Buckeyes

and Sugar Cookies

Some things we learned:

1. Don't send the guys to the store for a "quick" item pickup.  Especially on the weekend before Christmas.  A "quick" run ends up taking an hour and a half.
2. Read the directions.  Read the directions.  Read the directions.  This will eliminate the problems of a)adding sugar TWICE to your Sugar Cookie recipe and b) prematurely mixing in the flour to the Peanut Butter Blossom recipe
3. Don't buy cheap chocolate chips.  They aren't as creamy.
4. Freeze the Buckeye Balls before dipping.  Sitting them outside isn't nearly as cold.
5. Don't put the marshmallow-y Corn Flake Wreaths on wax paper.  It ends up sticking like glue.  Maybe try crisco spraying a cookie sheet next time?
6. Cake frosting doesn't harden.  Therefore, its not the best choice for cookie frosting.

I am EXHAUSTED.  My feet and back kill.  My eyes burn.  I can feel the sugar coating my teeth.  Whew!  Who would have thought that baking cookies could be this tiring?

However, I can't wait to do this again next year!

Christmas Card Scoring System

I found this on Swistle's blog and I thought a certain someone would enjoy scoring one of the recent brag novels cards she received. 

• Card received:  +5
• Card received before December 1st:  -1
• Card received after December 25th:  -1
• Card is pretty, and looks nice on wall:  +3
• Card is glittery:  +1
• Card does not contain card, but only letter, so there is nothing to put up on wall:  -3
• Card is e-card:  -5

• Card includes photo or is photo card:  +5
• More than one photo:  +2 each additional photo
• Photo is non-Christmassy so will look good on fridge all year:  +1
• Photo is Christmassy so increases holiday feeling of card:  +1
• Red-eye causes family to appear possessed by evil Christmas spirit:  -1
• Photo was taken on beach this past summer in summer clothing, so family looks chilly against winter pattern of card:  -1
• Photo includes dogs with glowing eyes who seem poised to eat humans:  -1

• Card includes letter:  +5
• Letter is informative and interesting:  +3
• Letter describes child as "amazing" or "already an avid reader at age 3!":  -3 each
• Letter is so braggy and saccharine-cheery, I wonder why I associate with these people:  -3
• Letter is so very braggy and saccharine-cheery, it crosses over into comical and becomes fun to read aloud in an unkind tone of voice:  +2
• Letter is a sermon disguised as a Christmas letter, and contains pious hopes for our country, for mankind, and for me personally: -5
• Letter mentions details of gross surgery:  -1 or +1, depending on entertainment value
• Letter contains thinly-veiled family gossip:  +3
• Letter contains information that should have been told earlier:  -2

• Card includes check:  +5
• Large check:  +10
• Card includes announcement of pregnancy:  +10
• Card from Christmas Card Friends contains surprising news of baby born since last card sent:  +10

Another great 25 Days of Christmas tradition...

Melissa has this really neat tradition.  Each year, she wraps up 25 of their Christmas books and every night the kids open one and they read that book that evening.  The Night Before Christmas is reserved for Christmas Eve, of course. 

We have a ton of Christmas books, so this would be perfect to do next year.  I might try it. 

BTW... Porter LOVES the socks.  Every morning he wakes up and says "Do sock?  Do sock"  I tell him we have to wait until after dinner to do it.  I spent the majority of this afternoon running errands and grocery shopping.  I got home just before dinner, walked in the door and Porter says "Hi mama!  Do sock!"  and ran right to the entertainment center to wait.  Ryan told me that he had told Porter we'd have to wait until mama was home to open the sock, and boy did he remember!  Silly kid. 

Decorating Survey: My Answers

I guess I should finally get around to answering my survey.  And posting pictures. 

1. White lights or Color? Color.  Although, this year I really wanted to use white lights but we only had two strands.  I needed three and didn't want to go to the store. 
2. Do you decorate the back of your tree? Nope.  Our tree is in the corner, although right by a window, but I don't think you can see the side of the tree very well out the window.  We decorate what you can see.
3. Do you use ribbon or beaded garland or similar items? Yes.  This year I used a purply-red ribbon, teal beaded garland and red tinsel garland that had the stars dangling from it (and... after decorating the tree I realized I had bought the red tinsel garland last year for wrapping presents.  Oops!  That's what I get for buying a year in advance)
4. What is your tree topper? A silver lighted star.  Cheap. I want a new, cute one, but haven't got around to buying one.
5. Do you put candy canes on your tree? Not normally. Last year we did, and I really didn't care for it.  This year we didn't.
6. Do you have a themed tree (color, items etc)? I usually do a color theme and we add on some of our "memorable" ornaments (from wedding, Porter, vacation etc...).  This year I was so happy with my "matching" tree that we kept all our other ornaments packed away.  All two 18 gallon totes full!  For a few years our color theme was blue/silver/purple.  Then it was red/gold.  Last year after Christmas I bought all this bright colored stuff on clearance.  I love it. 
7. If you do have a theme, does your wrapping paper match it?  Definitely.  That is my favorite part!
8. Is your tree the only part of your house you decorate? We have a few other decorations, but we don't get too crazy about it. 
9. Do you put lights on your house? No, although we have about 5 boxes of icicle lights that we've had for about 3 or 4 years and we've never used them.  Seems like too much work to put up and then take down a month later. 
10. Do you have yard decorations? No

And... onto my tree. (please ignore the yellow cast.  Icky artificial lighting, taken at night and I was too lazy to do a CWB).

And my favorite part... the presents.  I *love* getting all creative and making pretty presents. 

And, last but not least, our sock-advent-calendar.  Excuse the flash.  It was a grey, ugly day yesterday. 

Holiday Traditions: Making it *magical*

I'm really bad at planning ahead for birthdays, holidays, baby showers, etc...  I usually end up grabbing something at the last minute, or getting a generic gift and putting little thought into it.  I wish I had the time and energy and willpower to be creative in these situations and make unique, special things to "spice up" the occasion.  Every once in awhile I pull out something great.  Every once in awhile.  A long, long, long while.  :)

Porter's 2nd Christmas is coming up.  As a parent, I really want to make Christmas really special and "magical" for him (and the new baby).  This holiday has, in recent years, become such a pain in my rear with shifting from family to family and trying to balance everyone we need to see. 

When I was little, Christmas always seemed really magical to me.  Some of the things I remember are:

• Listening to Christmas music all the time (especially Alvin and the Chipmunks!).
• Going to a tree farm and cutting down our Christmas tree
• Getting a new ornament every year (usually for Christmas), and when decorating the tree, looking at all our ornaments from years past.
• Going on special drives just to look for houses all decked out with Christmas lights
• Baking cookies with my mom and leaving them out for Santa with a glass of milk and carrots for the reindeer. 
• Spending Christmas Eve at my dad's parents.  I remember getting stockings and my sister and I would color and draw pictures. 
• We used to always get a chocolate advent calendar, which I seriously always looked forward to.
• Going to church on Christmas Eve for the candlelight service
• I remember anxiously waiting up Christmas Eve to "hear" the reindeer.  We always left our Christmas Tree lights on that night, and it just added to the magic. 
• Waking up way too early and finding our stockings and a gift beside it (usually a holiday bear or stuffed animal of some sort).  My sister and I would wake up and dig through our stockings while my parents slept. 
• Always getting an orange in the bottom of my stocking, which I never had any idea why but recently I found out there is a tradition about a Christmas Orange.
• My stocking was made by my grandma... the design on it was embroidered by hand (as was my sister and brother's).  Last year I found a stocking for Porter and my mom made his stocking, so we continued that tradition.  I guess I should find a stocking for the new baby so she can start on that!

Anyhow, I really want to start up some neat traditions of our own.  Ryan and I have continued the stocking and one gift from Santa (opened and sitting beside the stocking) tradition.  Last year we attended Westwinds *awesome* Christmas Eve candlelight service.  I look forward to that again this year. 

We've also added a few traditions of our own:

• Our gifts to Porter are kept to a minimum.  We follow the "4 gift rule" to this rhyme:  "Something you want, something you need, something to play with and something to read."
• This year I will help Porter set out cookies and milk for Santa
• This year I am going to do a 25 days til Christmas socks (scroll down when you get to the link) in place of the advent calendar. In each sock there will be a tiny gift/treat.  Something relating to Jesus, Christmas, winter etc...
  
• When Ryan was little he got new pajamas every Christmas Eve.  We're going to continue that as well.
• For most holidays/seasons I have books relating to that holiday/season and we have a book basket in the living room that we put the current books in to read.  I love buying books, especially from Scholastic!

Another thing I want to begin this year is having Porter pick out some of his toys to donate.  I want my kids to realize they are very, very lucky to receive new toys every year, and not take that for granted.  I want them to learn the gift of giving as well (and, it'll cut down on toy overflow!). I also think, when Porter is a little older maybe we'll take the kids to pick out new toys for Toys for Tots.

So... the reason for this post.  While I feel like I have a good base for setting up holiday traditions for Christmas, I wish I had "littler" things to do to make the holiday special.  Something that doesn't revolve around getting gifts.  I keep thinking about something with a note from Santa but I can't think of anything unique or "different."

Here are a few neat "magical touches" I found online:

• Santa's Bootprints
• Santa Clause Evidence Kit
• Personalized phone call from Santa!
• Personalized letter from Santa
• Track Santa Clause throughout the year
• 81 Christmas Traditions to do with your family

Anyhow... I'd LOVE to know what your traditions were/are.  Have you found/heard of any traditions that sound like fun to include?  What about other holidays?  Do you do anything special to make Thanksgiving special?  What about Easter?  I'd love to make Easter a little more about religion, but honestly we're poor examples of including religion in our everyday lives.  I read Porter his kids bible every night and we pray every night (nights that I put him to bed.  Ryan isn't "into" that), but other than that we just aren't all that religious and I'd love to include that more.  Like with Christmas... I'd love to include something religious into our Christmas traditions (other than just reading our Christmas books about Jesus' birth etc). 

So... fire away!

Thanksgiving, Schmanksgiving

What is it about this holiday, this holiday that we're supposed to be giving THANKS for all the wonderful things in our lives, that makes me just despise it altogether?  (No, Zoe, its not because that Columbus really was a dirty b@stard... but, I still haven't pieced together why this holiday really is a sham).  Every year its always the same... trying to work out schedules and places and people and food and trying to make everyone happy and ultimately trying to force ourselves to enjoy this day of "thanks". 

Normally, we split this holiday up between Ryan's family and my mom's side of the family.  Yes, that means we eat two of the same meals and normally they're only a few hours apart (the earliest being ready by 1pm, the next being served at 4/5ish).  Its rush rush rush.  Hi, stuff your face, goodbye see ya later!

I hate cramming it all in.  Every time we just get comfortable and having fun with one side of the family, its time to pack it up and head over to another meal. 

This year Ryan and I had a good long talk about it all and decided to change things up.  See, *ideally* we would have sold our house by now.  *Ideally* we'd be in a larger home and *ideally* we'd be the ones serving dinner and inviting both sides of our family over, as well as some close friends who may want to join, and having a big, 'ol "Thanks-for-all-the-great-things-in-our-life" meal.  But, of course we're still stuck in our tiny little house so that means yet another year of swap, chow, swap. 

So, our big discussion.  We decided that the only way to make this a happy holiday for US would be to only have one place to go.  We decided to do every other year with each of our families, that is, until we have a larger home and then we're going to start our own tradition of us being the ones serving Thanksgiving dinner.  I know our decision hasn't made everyone happy, but its a small price to pay to make it bearable for us. 

Now, I guess what my post is about.... I just wonder if there are any other neat ideas that your families do for Thanksgiving that make the holidays easier and less-rushing on your family.  Do you visit each side of the family on the same day?  Do you split it up into two days? Heather had suggested doing the meal (a late lunch) with one side of the family and then joining the other side later in the evening for dessert.   ((I do like that idea, however, this year we'll have dinner with my mom.  And the entire day after T-day we spend with Ryan's family regardless of who we spend T-day with, it seems silly to drive across town for a late evening desert and then drive back out the next morning.))

So, back to the question... what "schedules" have you made up?  Have you come up with a kick-ass plan that makes EVERYONE happy?  Share it, will ya!

The Baker and his oven

Its 10pm and I'm home already.  I was getting tired so I loaded Porter up and brought him home.  Ryan stayed to chit chat and hang out and, luckily my mom lives about 3 blocks down the road so he can just walk home when he's ready.  I thought I'd get a nice, quiet evening to sit and watch tv, but our neighbors are having some kind of party and all I can hear is this annoying repetitive rap music... the beat reminds me of an Eminem song.  "doo doo doo doo, do do do dooo,  dum doo do dooo. doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, dum do do doooo"  Bleh. All I can hear is the beat.  Annoying. 

Here are our costumes:

And, just in case you don't "get it", wander on over here. 

And Porter was a little lion.  "Raarrrrr!"  He's actually supposed to be Goliath from JoJo's Circus (my niece Aubri is dressing up as JoJo for Halloween... I'm hoping we'll get them together to get some pictures). They do sell an actual Goliath costume but its hideous... one of those "heads growing out of the kids head" type of costume.

I wish I had been creative and thought of a super cute, "unique" costume like I did last year, but I just didn't have the energy to put into it this year.  And I was fresh out of ideas.  I mean, how can you top this cute, feathery little chicken last year?

(Ryan kept saying we should have dressed him as a wolf this year with a few feathers hanging out of his mouth.  Cute, but uh... how are you going to get a one year old to keep a few stray feathers by his mouth? HAAH!)

Anyhow, he's sporting the Old Navy-Made costume this year and I think it looks pretty darn cute on him.