Christmas Survey

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper!
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, how else would we get Jenny confessions?

• Side note: On our way to the tree farm, Jenny would muster up the courage to confess something she did years and years before. I don't remember what it was that she confessed, but something about the drive to get a Christmas tree just made her crack.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the second week of December or whenever we get to it.
4. When do you take the tree down? Depends on whether we are traveling or not. I like to leave it up for New Year's.
5. Do you like eggnog? I don't think I've ever tried it, but I have no desire to drink eggs, alcohol or not.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my Cabbage Patch Doll, Misty. I think it must have been the Christmas I was 5.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Pat's mom
8. Easiest person to buy for? Cole
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A gold paint pen from my sister Kris. I think she was really cheap with everyone that year.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppet's Christmas Carol
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I used to wait until December, but now I start whenever the free shipping deals start.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Nut bars, Reese's PB cup cookies. Mmmm.
16. Lights on the tree? of course. I think ours are clear, but I like colored too.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Ring Christmas Bells. Does anyone know of a CD that this is on? I can't find it. Every commercial uses it, but I can't get it on CD.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? There is usually some travel, but I prefer to stay home on Christmas Day.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I think so.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve with Pat's family, and then our own Christmas gifts Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The commercials and grouchy shoppers. It's Christmas!
23. Themed tree or traditional ornaments? Themed tree?? Do people actually do that? Is random a theme?
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham, mashed potatoes, orange jello salad, green bean dish, and pie!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Wii fit
26. Favorite part about Christmas? The atmosphere in preparation for the birth of Baby Jesus. I love the decorations, the food, the music, the traditions, the giving and getting gifts, but I think my favorite part are church hymns.
27. Favorite Christmas Tradition? Growing up, it had to be putting up the lights with my Dad. When we moved to our new house, hardly anyone on our street put up lights, but we put up so many it looked like we had an airport landing strip. Gradually, every year, our neighbors put up more and more lights.
Now it would be making ornaments of my boys. I've decided that every year our kids will make an ornament with their picture on it so we can see how they've grown through the years. This will be the first year Cole will be able to color his own.

Black Friday

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. We spent the day at Pat's sister's. The food was great and we had a good time. Cole had a rough day. He started by tripping and falling down the front steps, again. This time he cut his lip. He luckily missed his teeth. Later he tripped over Pat's feet and bonked his head on the floor, then later yet, he ran into the table. Poor kid. He's doing much better today.

So today is Black Friday. Anybody do some shopping? I did the early morning thing once and was not impressed. It was quite a few years ago. I went with a friend and her mom. It was the year Dayton's, now Marshall Field's, had the bride and groom Santa bears. Nothing says Merry Christmas like watching grown women plow each other over at 5 AM to get some teddy bears. Ah, the holiday spirit. I've gone shopping on this day in the past, but not before 9AM. I was kind of disappointed with the ads this year. There really wasn't anything worth shopping for, for me anyway.

So now Christmas can start. I put up our lights outside and am in the process of taking down our fall decor and putting up our Christmas stuff. I've been writing our Christmas letter in my head for a while, but haven't come up with anything good so far. I also need to work on getting a good picture of the boys. That may take all month.

In other news, they came and pumped our septic system today. They replaced the drain plug, which are hoping was the problem. We shall see. I need to do laundry and that is usually when it smells the worst. Hopefully this will take care of it. I'd rather have the house smell like Christmas than poop!

A Good Glass of Wine

When I was pregnant with Tate I decided that after he was born I would start drinking wine. Pat gets his beer every night, I should be able to drink a nice glass of wine. Besides, red wine is supposed to be good for you. Here's the problem, I don't really like wine. Granted I've had some good wine but it was 3 years ago and from a winery in California and I don't have a clue what it is called. Pat bought me some Turning Leaf white zinfandel earlier this fall, but I don't like it that much. It came in a 4 pack, which I think is just a step up from boxed wine. I'm looking for a red wine that is fruity and sweet and not so wine tastyish. Something along the lines of the flavor of Boone's Farm Wine, but that you would only drink a glass of. I think it's an unspoken rule that you have to drink an entire bottle of Boone's, but I'm not sure. So something not so college-binge-drinkingish (I'm full of made up words today). I bought 2 bottles at the liquor store today. The lady there recommended them, so we'll see. One is Bartenura Moscato and the other is Cafe Zinfandel from the Gallo Family. So if you know of a good wine, leave a comment and maybe I'll check it out.

The Smell of Poo

is radiating through my house. It's been a few weeks now, and no one can seem to figure out where it is coming from, but everyone seems to agree that our house smells like sewage. How lovely. It's typically been bad whenever I do laundry, which in my book is a darn good reason to not do it, however, I do like to wear clean underwear. Currently I am not doing anything, and my house reeks. I can't help but wonder, do I smell like poo? Do my clothes smell like poo? Do my kids smell like poo? Yuck. They are supposed to come pump the septic tank tomorrow, but I'm not hopeful it will help. They've already replaced part of the pipe in hopes that was it, but no luck. So if anyone comes to visit, I appologize. Just so you know, I can smell it too, and I don't like it either. Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekend Road Trip

It's been a while since we headed out to my parents' for a weekend. I think the last time we were out there was back in May. So I figured we'd head out for an early Thanksgiving. It was a good trip. Pat and I got a night out Friday. I did some shopping with a friend on Saturday, and we hung out with my family Saturday night. Cole was pretty excited and was Papa's shadow most of the weekend. I got most of my Christmas shopping done. Sad, I know. I used to not like to start until after Thanksgiving, but since living in the middle of nowhere, I start when there is free shipping, or whenever I get a chance. We are heading to the cities in another week or two and I don't really have any shopping left. I'm sure I'll find something I need to get. I bought Cole the Candyland Castle Game. It's kind of bingo with shapes. I had it sitting in the bedroom and he came in and worked really hard to get it out of the bag. Then proceeded to try to get Auntie Jenny to open the box for him. She didn't give in. He is just enthralled by that package. I did put it away when we got home. I guess I'll have to wrap up presents before he discovers my not so hidden hiding spot.

My exciting news is that I got tickets to see Jeff Dunham for Pat and my anniversary. I'm so excited. I haven't figured out how we are going to work it with the kids yet. I'm not sure if we'll leave them here and stay in a hotel, or take them out to my parents and head there after the concert. I'd love to stay overnight, but with nursing it's a tough call. Night time and mornings are hard to miss. Granted I can pump, but the one night he had a bottle before bed he was up at 2 instead of 4, which means more feedings. I'm sure he'll be fine, I just worry that whoever he stays with won't wake up right away or Cole will have trouble going to sleep, or etc. I guess you never stop worrying. I just want to be able to relax and have a good time.

Turkeys and Make-Believe

We took the boys to a Turkey Good Time at school last night. When I was getting Cole changed into his good clothes I told him we were going to school. He replied "at school, B~". B~ is a little girl from play group. Her mom happens to be the teacher. I was surprised. He normally doesn't have anything to do with the other kids, so the fact that he does realize they exist was a plus. At school he was trying to hit another kid with his turkey, which shocked me. He wasn't being mean, just swinging his turkey at J~. Anywho, it was a good time. Even Tate had fun looking at himself in the mirror and talking and smiling at himself. It was pretty cute.

Cole has being doing a lot of pretend lately. Usually he picks up "food" and eats it. He'll usually share with me, and even Tate. This morning he was eating beans. Not candy or cake, beans. What can I say, the kid loves beans. He was also playing with his baby today. He calls his baby Tate and put him up on the changing table where he proclaimed "woooweee!" Apparently his baby was stinky. He fed his baby some beans too. Maybe that's why he was stinky. He's also been doing a lot of singing lately. Usually his songs involve combining corn or the cow says moo moo moo. No farm boy here! He's been pretty cute lately. He continues to amaze me with how much he picks up. He says oops a lot when he plays wii (I'm not very good at some of the games). He can count to 6, most of the time. He's learning shapes and knows the letter B and W. What amazes me is that we have barely worked on letters or shapes and he remembers them after only one or two times. I think it's safe to say he must be a genius!

4 month checkup

Tate had his checkup today. He weighed in at 12 lb 14 oz, which is in the 3rd percentile. He is 24 inches long, which is in the 35th percentile. Our doctor didn't even mention formula! He keeps asking if I have enough milk though. If I didn't, don't you think he wouldn't be growing??? Other than that, the appointment went well. I'm still not sure about switching doctors. I feel like he's implying something when he asks if I have enough milk. The other thing that bothered me was he mentioned Tate's head is a little lopsided. He prefers one side over the other, but it's not nearly as bad as Cole's. The dr. never even mentioned Cole's head until I brought up putting him in a helmet. He said Tate will grow out of it (or into it, I'm not sure which). I don't know if he mentioned it because we had Cole in a helmet or what. So I am still undecided on the dr. switch. The little guy got 2 shots and one oral vaccination. He's not a happy camper. He is currently swinging and sucking on his fists. It's either that or I walk around with him all day.

I did decide that I will stick it out with school. I only have 2 semesters of math classes left. Granted they will be really hard semesters, but I'm getting so close that I think I will regret it if I don't finish. I have some ed. classes left to take, but those aren't as hard and if I decide to push those off it won't be as big of a deal to go back and take them later. Well, I'm off to attempt a nap.