A Very Merry Christmas

Another blessed Holiday Season is upon us. The dust has settled. The grandparents have all gone home. The kids are somewhere playing with all of their Christmas bounty. Handyman has his feet up and is playing with his Mr Blue Eyes' toy helicopter. And I have managed to slip away to reflect on what a great time we had.

Mr Blue Eyes had his very first Christmas program in school. There are four boys in his class and the poor guy was the only one who showed for the performance.

He warned me in the morning that he was not going to sing... and he did not. Not one word. He did not even sway or humm to the songs. In fact, about half way through he just slid his hands into his pockets and stood there staring back at the audience.  

Handy Man of course was "thrilled" about the Christmas Program from the minute I told him WE WERE GOING. You see it started 30 minutes after the Bronco game started the same day. Half way through the first song, Handy Man leaned over and said, "We totally could have skipped this and could be watching the Bronco game! Look at him up there... seriously."

Seriously?

We endured and I enjoyed watching all of the cute little kids singing, shouting and twirling on stage. I also enjoyed watching our son, hands in his pocket, front and center, just standing there.

I did a little baking this year for friends and family. A "little" baking - lots of wine drinking. 

Christmas kind of creep-ed up on me this year - even though it happened on the same day of the month as last year... and the year before... and the year before that. Unorganized, I panicked the week before Christmas because I had not sent out Christmas cards yet. I made the kids get dressed up one morning before school and I managed to snap this picture!

20 minutes on Walmart.com and two hours later I was sitting in a Starbucks stuffing envelopes and placing stamps in the upper right hand corner before darting off to Mr Blue Eyes' first Holiday party at school.

Did I mention my babysitter had twins just before Thanksgiving? Thank goodness this time of year is a bit slow for real estate because I have been wearing spandex every day and racking up the miles in the drop-off and pick-up lanes at the kids' schools.

I am not quite sure I am cracked up to be a SAHM... I do love the no mess hair, no make-up, daily workout wardrobe however.

My beautiful Brown Eyed Girl made me smile from ear-to-ear this year. We received a Breyer magazine in the mail and she read that thing front to cover at least 34598702347 times.

She and I sat down one night looking at all of the model horses. We talked about which ones she liked best (about 98% of the entire catalog.) I told her that when I was a little girl I would go through the catalogs and circle the ones I really wanted so my mom or Santa would know what to get me. She spent about three hours the next morning, pen in hand, circling all of her favorites.

I love that girl to the moon and back!

Speaking of pen, actually crayon, in hand. Someone learned how to draw Christmas Trees this year. He has been practicing.... everywhere...

This is why we do not have nice things...

Grandma and I took the kids to the North Pole (the one in Colorado Springs that is. )

Mr Blue Eyes was not photogenic at the North Pole.

We rode reindeer on a carousel that was probably 75 years old. I say this not to be nostalgic, but because for 45 seconds Grandma and I feared for our lives. 

Mr Blue Eyes chose to ride in the sleigh. This was the only picture he posed for at the North Pole.

Grandma and our Brown Eyed Girl rode the Ferris Wheel. 

We saw baby reindeer! Two were albino!

Mr Blue Eyes would only ride the rides that had cars or trucks. 

But he did ride a little roller coaster with his old mom! I still can't believe he never cried.

It was an hour drive. It was very, very chilly. The kids did not want to ride any of the same rides that the other one wanted to ride. They were crabby and cold and well, let's just say I was very thankful our tickets were free. 

Thankfully I was still able to catch a few smiles here and there. 

This cute kid decided he wanted to start wearing ONLY underwear at night and ditch the diapers.

We are currently 2:6.

I am a pro at stripping a bed at 3:00 am.

We managed to hit up the store the same time that Santa was visiting. It was very impromptu and I was a little worried about how the photo was going to look considering we had zero thought put into this moment. I only wished I had picked up our free photo sooner. Totally could have used this as our Christmas card three weeks ago!!!

That Thomas character tee-peed our Christmas Tree!

 

As Christmas Eve drew near, I asked the kids if they thought they had been good this year. Mr Blue Eyes honestly said, "Ummm not really Mom. Maybe a widdle bit. but mostly naughty." I hope Santa gives bonus points for telling the truth. 

My Brown Eyed Girl said, "But Mommy, we have been better this week. Maybe that's okay?"

I told them they had better tell Thomas they were sorry for fighting and not listing very much and hope that Thomas puts in a good word for them. 

They both looked at each other and ran out of the room and started pleading their case to Thomas.

We really had a great time making most of our gifts this year. The kids had so much fun making the gifts but even more fun describing how they did each gift all by their self.

Handmade gifts are just more special!

Christmas was very relaxed. The ladies cooked and chatted in the kitchen. The guys played video games on the TV. The kids danced around asking when we were going to open our presents every five minutes. Typical and magical.

After dinner, packages were passed out and the paper began flying. The kids jumped with joy and squealed in delight, gift after gift.

This gun was probably the number one gift for Mr Blue Eyes. 

Finally Tangled's groom!

His very own cornbine!!! 

A wedding dress of her very own...

Best of all... Santa came through and these two cuties got brand new bikes for Christmas!

Before I knew what was happening, my Brown Eyed Girl gave her new bike a whirl in the kitchen!!!

I started breakfast and the kids started playing with all their toys. Handy Man perfecting his helicopter flying skills. My Brown Eyed Girl prancing around in her wedding dress - possibly her number one gift.

I caught a gimps of her out of the corner of my mind and realized she had gotten into the make-up kit Uncle Kurt and Aunt Marilee had given her already.

She was so... beautiful. 

Every ten minutes she disappeared and then reappeared with a different toy, same wardrobe and darker make-up. 

I am really hoping this blue lipstick comes off...

Otherwise, she is going to look like she is O2 deficient should we have to leave the house.

I just don't get why they put blue and green lipstick in make-up kits. Shades of red and pink, maybe purple - I get that. But blue? Green? Yuck!!!

All in all we had an amazing time! 

Food. Fun. Family. Legos. Dresses. Bazookas. Books. Make-up. Lincoln Logs. New Clothes. Handmade gifts. Gift Cards. We are very blessed to receive such gifts from those we love. Thank you all for thinking of our family, taking time and means to send us a gift and reminding us how much we are loved. 

Merry Christmas! We hope you have had a blessed Holiday Season!

Boys

My brown eyed girl and I went shopping for new clothes this weekend. Just the girls on a shopping spree. I am totally bummed that the years of being able to squeak two seasons out of her clothes has come to an end. All of her long pants that I squirreled away from last year are easily 2-3 inches too short this year. The kid is in dire need of a new wardrobe and Christmas just can't wait. So my little fashion forward beauty and I head off in search of new winter pants.

A girls day.

My Brown Eyed Girl longs for those special adventures that are limited to just girls. She calls them her, "Just a Mommy and a Hailey Day." They are special and fun and we don't do them near enough. We talk about a lot of things on our "Just a Mommy and a Hailey Days." I find that she opens up more freely about school and her friends and most recently... boys!

This year has been an eye opener. Reading. Writing. Recess. New classes like Tech (not to be called Computer Class. It's Tech. Just Tech.) music, art and PE. But overwhelmingly, this year has been all about BOYS.

After my Brown Eyed Girl's first two weeks of school, she informed me, and I quote:

"Mom, there is this boy in the other class and he has a mo-hawk. He is sooooooo pretty. Oh Mommy, I can't keep my eyes off of him! I am going to marry him!"

She. Is. Five.

During parent-teacher conferences, my Brown Eyed Girl's teacher made sure to let me know that she "really likes the boys already."

Awesome! Her father and I are so proud! 

Driving to the store, my Brown Eyed Girl proceeded to tell me that she had been recently trying to kiss this boy in her class. She said with a giggle, "Mommy I just can't help it. I just want to kiss him. He thinks I am silly and tried to run from me - but I am faster than he is."

Is it terrible that made a mental note to get her on birth control when she turns 13?

Oh... where do I start? 

I think I finally spit something out to the tune of:

"Honey... I know you think this boy is pretty cute and you like him. But not everybody wants to be kissed. Sometimes they just want to be our friends. We should never try to kiss someone by forcing them to kiss us. What would you do if a boy you did not like tried to make you kiss him?"

"Eeww, gross Mommy. I would be so mad. I would probably punch him in his mouth."

We digressed....

"Okay, well we never punch anyone in their mouth. So the best thing we can do is to NOT chase someone in order to kiss them, okay? Lets keep our hands and kisses to our selves. If you like this boy, it would be better to color a picture for him or write him a note. But no more chasing boys to kiss them, okay?" 

"Okay mom. Hey, can we look at dresses today?"

This week, She had two coloring sheets come home in her back pack from this little boy...

Oh where, oh where, did my little girl go?

Tricky Thomas

Thomas has been especially tricky the last few days. I told the kids that they must have been really good the last couple of days because Thomas always seems to be really funny when they are good.

We found him cuddled up in the fridge one morning. Unfortunately, Mr Blue Eyes was a little sad that he couldn't have cottage cheese with his dinner that night. I told him there just wasn't any way to get the cottage cheese without touching Thomas. 

We found Thomas hiding in one of Mommy's jars. The kids were blown away that he could get in there without taking the lid off.

 

My Brown Eyed Girl said, "Mommy, he is so tricky and so magical!"

 

I wish Thomas granted three wishes like genes...

He may not grant wishes, but he is a very good reader. 

It was so kind of him to teach the Princesses about Christmas and Elves.

This morning, Thomas was hanging out with Santa. 

While he was there, I asked him if he would mind asking Santa for a little gift for me this Christmas. Nothing too fancy. Very practical. Something I need.

You see I use leather gloves every single day. I use them each morning and each evening to feed my horses. This is my very favorite pair of gloves.

Super think and dependable, but soft on the inside.

Reinforced palm - perfect for moving hay. The extra strip of leather really pads your hands from the thin hay strings.

Awesome little adjustable strap on your wrist to keep hay from falling into your glove while you are working.

Well unfortunately left my gloves outside the other day while I was cleaning my paddock. When I went out to feed that evening I realized I had left my great pair of gloves outside.

I did not find them where I had left them.

I did not find them as I had left them.

I now only have a left hand glove.

My right hand glove now looks like this.

I have two possible four-legged suspects in mind that deserve nothing but coal this year for Christmas.

Either way, Thomas if you could ask Santa to find it in his heart to bring me a new pair of gloves I would be grateful!