Twas the Night Before Christmas....

And it was one of the few nights my kids were excited to go to bed! But before we could do that we needed to make sure the milk and cookies were set out with care for soon old Saint Nick would soon be there.

Each child wanted to pick out a 'special' cookie that we had made just for Santa.


Then We had to place said cookies and said glass of milk next to the tree. I was worried that a dog or cat may destroy what was left for dear old Santa, so we weren't sure if we should do plastic or glass, plastic or glass....hmm we decided Santa deserved the real thing, so glass it was.

We said our prayers and everyone scooted off to bed. The funny part is that recently Andrew has been in the habit of waking up sometime during the night and turning his bedroom light on. Sometimes he gets up, sometimes he just falls back asleep. But many nights, I'll see his light on from under the door and I'll sneak in there and he's out cold with the light blaring. So I was sure to tell the kids that on THIS night, that no one should be awake, because if Santa arrives and he sees that children are awake and/or out of bed, he may very well pass right on by the house to go the next one.

So the next morning, the kids slept in for once. I was shocked. But then I realized that maybe they didn't just sleep in, maybe they were just a little freaked to come out too early in case Santa hadn't arrived as of yet.

So a little after 7am, Cailin crept out and into our room. The first thing she said was "mom, was Santa here?". I said "I don't know, should we go look?" And off she cruised, with me in tow. Once she spied the tree with presents and the stockings lined up full, she squealed "HE'S BEEN HERE MOMMY! HE'S BEEN HERE!".

(you see we had the tree pretty much baricaded because the dog would like to try to grab a branch with it's teeth and attempted repeatedly to pull it over. So we had all sorts of furniture blocking the tree, this was one of the first times we actually had the tree open and in full-view for all. It didn't last long though, at least until the dog woke up and emerged from his kennel.....)


Now we waited until the rest of the family arose and the kids got to work on opening their Santa presents. They were very excited to get a Wii system, a few games and the accompanying pieces.

Proof that Santa had polished his yummy cookies and milk.



We of course spent time talking about the other meaning of Christmas....The kids even sang an inspiring version of "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus. Of course, that was not caught on film which was a bummer.

Puppy update

I kind of, sort of got in trouble for bashing poor, cute, little sweetie pie Jake (our puppy). Yes, he is cute. Yes, is sweet. BUT, he is kind of a handful! He's tried pulling the Christmas tree down, so now we have that barricaded off. He's harassed the cats non-stop, so they are pretty much in hiding, well except one that is quite a feisty one, Ripley. She's like a thousand years old and is feisty to say the least. She stands her grand and has 'taught' the puppy to respect her authority (quoting Cartman from South Park).

Otherwise, the puppy is doing well. He has assimilated into our family well. The kids love him. Although they are not thrilled when he nibbles their toes, or rips their clothes when playing. We watch him closely around them so no one gets hurt. The kids have learned a lot about how to care for an animal and to be kind to animals as well as they love him to pieces.


He also loves the snow, which is good, because like I've said before, living in Minnesota, we get a lot of snow. He likes to roll around in the snow, bury his entire head in the snow and just make a total mess of himself in the snow. So that's all good.

Winter Fun

Whew! It's been really busy in our house these past few weeks. Turns out that having two kids, working full time (thankfully), getting ready for the holidays, battling colds AND having a puppy keeps one very, very busy!
:)

But we did find some time to get out and play in the snow. Last weekend, Andrew wanted to go out and do some sledding. We have a small hill on the side of our house that dumps directly into our now dormant garden. So that has become our sledding hill in our yard. It's kind of nice not to have to go anywhere to go sledding.

I remained in the house with Cailin since she was getting over a cold/fever. She was very upset that she couldn't go sledding and I was deemed 'the meanest mommy ever' for not letting her go out with her 102.9 fever. Man, I AM mean! Well, that was until she got to watch a movie and snuggle on the couch with me, then I was told "this is exactly what I wanted mommy!". Aaaah, the mind of an almost five year old. As I tell her, 'it's hard being 5!".

Ok, so back to sledding, Cailin was all situated with her movie and then Andrew, Mike AND the puppy Jake went outside to play. Last year, Andrew didn't like being in the snow. He's kind of a sensitive kid. Not just sensitive in his feelings, like he is very sensitive to certain textures as well as things that are cold. So he wasn't a big fan of the snow last year. Well, that was last year. Big boy has grown up a bit!

Getting ready for the first run, Masher not sure what to expect:


Now, on run 3 or 4, enjoying himself.


And now, with the dog:


And yes, the dog liked sledding as well. We had to drag Masher in the house. I kept reassuring Masher that the good news is that since we live in Minnesota, we have months of snow and winter weather ahead of us, so there will be plenty of days to go sledding again......
right.....

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. (www.mycharmingkids.net)

I'm sure you know it was not me that ignored the laundry once again. Oops. I'm sure it just slipped my mind. And it isn't me that still hasn't done anything about Holiday cards as of yet. The organized part of me would never have allowed this much time to go and not have even thought of doing a holiday card yet. No way, couldn't be me. I'm sure if I had neglected to do so as of yet, I'd be all over that very soon. I'm sure. Right?

And it wasn't me that was playing doctor's office with my kids (the innocent kind, not the adolescent kind) and actually dozed off while I was in for 'routine surgery' as my daughter told me. I would never have fallen asleep while we were playing, even if it was for just a few minutes. And it surely wasn't me who was laughing as my daughter used the VeggieTales manger scene as the music (it plays a song of a Veggietale signing "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem")to put me to sleep. Well that laughing must not have been right before I actually dozed off. That must have been a mistake.

And most certainly it wasn't me that used distraction as a means to solve a disagreement between my two kids. You see that would have been the easy way out, instead I'm sure I would have sat with both of them, and thoughtfully discussed the offense and come up with some lengthy peace agreement rather than said "Hey, Andrew - look! The Fraser's turned their Christmas lights on, let's go see". (wow good timing Frasers - thank you!)

It was NOT me that was in a meeting last week at work only to look down and see that I might have had two different socks on. D'OH! Then it also wasn't me that thought back to when I was getting dressed that morning, (running late because of the puppy) that maybe getting dressed in the dark was maybe not such a good idea?? I have got to get to that laundry....

And I'm sure it wasn't me that instead of getting ready for work as I should am sitting on the computer seeing what y'all are up to. (and hearing the dog scratching at the door) Nope, wasn't me either!
;)

Happy Monday!

Before AND After

I started doing some Christmas baking this past weekend. We usually attend a few Christmas gatherings over the next few weeks and it's nice to arrive with a plate of homemade cookies in hand. At least, that's what I'm told ("we'd love to have you and oh, if you could bring some of your cookies, that would be great...").

So I had some 'help' getting cookies started this weekend. My kitchen looked like it had been a part of some type of explosion.
So here is the before:


And AFTER we made cookies....



We were making gingerbread cookies. All was well until I busted out the sprinkles. I made some frosting and then the kids wanted to try EVERY kind of sprinkle we had. We left some looking pretty nice and neat, but some we just let the kids go to town. Some had close to an inch of sprinkles (on top of the frosting).

We also had a few casualties. These didn't make the journey. They were broken in the process and left aside to enjoy by the kids. I actually think they broke a few on purpose just to have some to munch on this weekend.


Too bad the dog doesn't understand the idea of licking up the remnants yet. I had to do that myself. Well, not lick them up, but sweep them up at least.

The kids then had to sample their cookies and after about fifteen minutes of creating designs (and destroying the kitchen) they got bored and disappeared to play in their rooms together.


It's all clean now at least for the moment.

Relax and Enjoy the Ride

I am just exhausted almost every day. Many days I'm already in bed by now, exhausted. And I only have two kids!

So how do people do it. I mean, I love it, don't get me wrong, but it seems like most days I'm flying by the seat of my pants to get it all done. I work full time, my husband does as well, we have a four year old and three year old, cats and now a puppy. We have a house that needs cleaning, laundry that needs cleaning - you know - all that stuff. So I sit here at 10 minutes after 9 in the evening and think 'what am i doing on the computer? The house is a disaster, the puppy is chewing on an Easter basket that he found god knows where, the dishwasher needs emptying, the laundry needs folding and I NEED to go to bed to start this all over again in a few short hours.'

But I remind myself that a messy house or unfolded laundry does not make unhappy children or an unhappy family. I try to remind myself that the clothes will get folded eventually and that the dishes will find their way back to the cabinet soon. But moments like this

don't come along too often. We put our Christmas tree up and both kids eagerly helped. We listened to nice music and they just played so cooperatively (which believe me at 3 and 4 can be a miracle some days). It was really awesome.

So I just need to remind myself to relax. Just relax about the small stuff and enjoy the fun stuff. Because time does move quickly and as Ferris Bueller said in 1986 (not that I'm dating myself at all) "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it". So I guess I'll try and remember that as I trip over the Easter basket in the hall.
:)

Happy Wednesday!

Swimming anyone?

Yes, it seems like an odd time of year to be discussing this, however, Cailin and I stopped by the Foss Swim school in Chanhassen the other day to get her registered for winter swim classes.

You may recall that Cailin had swimming lessons previously and only entered the pool once. Yes, once. My little fish, only went into the swimming lesson pool one time. Otherwise refusing to go. She got a little freaked out by the set up, so we decided to try another venue.

Most of the kids have swim goggles and Cailin was all excited to get her own swim goggles. As soon as we got home, little mash (aka Andrew) found said goggles and decideded to try them on.

Thirsty boy, drinking his milk!

Funny but he figured those out quickly!


I guess he'll be up next for swimming lessons.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. (www.mycharmingkids.net)

It was not me who went Christmas Shopping the day after Thanksgiving primarily to go 'people-watching' - that would have been really silly to go out on a day like that and not want to shop???

And it certainly wasn't me who was put on a timeout by her 4-year old because I said out of frustration we had a very 'stupid' puppy after it pooped on my carpet within 10 seconds of returning inside from going potty (for the third time...). That would not have been one of my better parenting moments, so I'm sure that could NOT have been something I would have done, as it would have been a bad example to set for my witnessing 4-year old. Bad mom, Bad mom!

And it wasn't me who kept piling my dirty clothes up higher because I didn't want to do another load. It wasn't me who said "I'll get to it tomorrow" to keep playing with my monsters, only to have the pile so high, it actually caved and tipped over. That would never have been me.

And it most certainly wasn't me that pulled out the "I'll call Santa and tell him who has been naughty...." phrase this past weekend and smiled slightly when it actually worked. No way, wasn't me.

Happy Monday everyone!

Let's Play Hockey

My little man is a sports fan. At 3 1/2, he is already way into sports. Being a sports fan myself (as well as Mike of course) we really do enjoy and embrace his little habit.

This morning he got up and said "Mama, I want to be a hockey player today". I said, "Ok, honey, what are you thinking you'd like to wear to be a hockey player?". He pulled out his Minnesota Wild stuff of course. And I was briefly suprised at how much Wild stuff that boy has.

He went to his bedroom and pulled out his Wild hockey pants, his Wild Jersey, His Wild sock and then asked me to grab his Wild hat off the hook hanging in his room. I told him I didn't think we had any Wild underwear, but he was ok with that.

This was the end result.

Cute boy.


Then he began skipping around the room in a circle and singing the Wild song (he's been to a game already this year with Dad, so he knows the drill...). "In the state, the state of hockey....".
:)

Not so bad for 3 1/2 huh?

Black Friday

I ventured out with the thousands of other shoppers on Friday morning to see what it was all about. I had never shopped on the day after Thanksgiving, but was invited to join my two sister in-laws for the Friday festivities.

They picked me up just before six (we had a bit of a misunderstanding about the time, and I was patiently waiting for a little while outside until they arrived) and we headed off to Rochester for the big day.

Since I had never participated in the Black Friday Shopping excursion, my sister in-laws were very helpful in walking me through their process. This is kind of a summary of how they do the planning for their outing. First they get the HUGE Thursday paper and pull all the ads. They do a quick once over and glance to see if anything jumps out. Then make a list of items they need to get for certain people - Johnny needs socks, Jane needs a blanket - etc. Then they go through a second time, in great detail to see which stores need to be on the stop list. They are both so organized, I'm actually rather jealous at how organized they are.

After we arrived at the mall(sister in-laws coupons in hand), I was shocked at how busy the mall really is at 6am! Wow! I could not believe this many people really go out shopping at this time of day. Yes, I am naive. I headed off to Caribou to get a hot tea and that line was even huge - took about 20 minutes to pick up my drink. Everyone was very nice. I read on Facebook some pretty interesting stories - about how folks witnessed angry, upset people - one person even said 'melee'. Well, no such luck in Rochester MN. Pretty tame. It was crowded but everyone was pretty chipper, or at least what I saw. I'd totally do it again it was awesome people watching - and I found a few small things at a good price too.

I was super excited because I had actually done a majority of my shopping online. Since most of the Thursday deals were also available online, I got some big ones (husband and others) purchased without getting out of my jammies.

Now that is my kind of shopping!
:)

Road Trip!

We headed down to Pine Island where Mike's parent's live (and where he grew up) for Thanksgiving. We packed up the kids and the two of us and then we had to pack....the dog. I grew up with dogs at different times in my life but never really had a puppy that I can recall. I never realized how much STUFF a dog or rather, a puppy has. It's kind of crazy, they need almost as much stuff as a baby!

Wow.

So we pack the dog.

We pack, his food, his 'reward' treats (something new I learned about when doing the potty training thing with the puppy), his toys; squeaky toys, chew toys, pull toys, ball toys - ok, lots of toys. We also had to bring somewhere for him to sleep because apparently puppies like to sleep in crates or kennels. So we have this HUGE (or as they say out east uge) crate that folds down. Now don't forget the bedding to go into the crate, the leash, the collar, to water dish, the food dish.

Check, all packed.

We got the kids all settled in the truck, got their movie in the player, buckled up. I grabbed my purse, made sure my overnight bag made it into the truck (because that has happened before) and hopped into the truck.

Mike looked at me. "forget something?" Nope I think we're good I say.

Um, what about the dog?

Oh right, the dog. Can't forget that little guy.

He was kind of a hit at Thanksgiving. The kids were in their glory showing off their new pup to all of the family. And I was in all my glory happily 'sharing' the pup with family. Grandma and Grandpa have offered to take him. I offered to take them up on their offer. Mike, not so much. Well, I didn't see much of the pup this weekend, as he was with Grandma and Grandpa most of the time.

This was a common site this weekend - Grandpa holding Jake (the puppy).


Or Cailin holding Jake.



We also got to get together with the cousins. Sheila and Darin were in town from Pensylvania and Kelly came down with Alex, Lauren and Catherine. We all met up at Uncle Dale and Auntie Janet's house in Rochester. Mike's two sisters and brother in law also joined us. So it was a big group - great to see everyone! The kids were very sad to go.

Andrew passed out cold in the car seat even before we hit the highway. He was pooped out!

Everyone slept well, ate way too well and played well. It was a wonderful Thanskgiving!

Oh, and I promise that not every post is going to be about the dog. Really, we do have other things going on in our lives.....
:)

Seriously????

Ok, so we have this new puppy. Day two is less 'cute' than day 1 was I have to admit. Don't get me wrong, he still is cute, but the reality of puppy-ownership hit home today as my husband trotted off to work leaving me at home with the two mashers and the puppy. Mike kept reassuring me, it wasn't that much work, and heck we've done the infant thing twice, so how hard could it be? he says to me.....

Seriously?

Mike and I have decided to take turns on the overnight patrol and yes, tonight is my night. I happily laid in bed last night trying to pretend not to hear the comings and goings of Mike with the puppy during the night. But it is TOTALLY like an infant. In the sense that you need to get up a few times during the night to make sure the puppy gets out and goes potty (not that you put an infant outside of course - just the getting up all the time stuff) and then when it whines and you don't know why. 'is it hungry? is it thirsty? is it just bored and needs to be held?' Oh heck I don't know.

This is my FIRST experience with a puppy. I was hoping to adopt an older, wiser dog as my first go-round. Now, it'll be initiation by FIRE. Not that I worry or anything. Anyone who knows me knows that I need to plan things out and this wasn't exactly the plan. But oh well, here we are. So a learning I shall go. Right?

I spent every moment of today (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration) online reading about golden retriever puppies, how they eat, when they eat, how to 'crate them', how to housebreak them, how to discipline them, how to do everything with them. I had no idea.

So now, I'm a little wiser and of course a little more sleep deprived and of I go for my shift on the puppy watch for the evening. After I finish my glass of wine (i'm hoping that'll help my mood as I dredge out in the rain with my cute, adorable, small bladdered puppy - not that I mind of course).

Wish me luck!
:)

Big Decisions

Mike and I have been having 'the talk'. Should we have another child or not? We are blessed with two wonderful, healthy, fantastic kids already, so it's a big decision. We both love the idea of NOT being out numbered by our kids (yes, that's pretty chicken, we know).

Mike has also really wanted a dog for some time. So lately the conversation has been "Do we have another child or do we get a dog?" Sounds crazy right? Can't or shouldn't really compare the two I know it's pretty odd. But that's what's been talked about in our house. Cailin wanted a baby (our daycare lady has one due any day now, so that's on her mind). Andrew votes for the dog.

We signed up with a golden retriever rescue organization that places golden retrievers that have been surrendered for numerous reasons. We liked that idea. Mike has grown a little impatient however with the process. You sign up, you get approved - great idea - just not on Mike's timeline.
It's really a great organization, but the key is patience, you need patience to wait for just the right dog for your family. I was all on board with the 'patience' thing. Then Mike saw some info online about puppies that were available.


Soooooooooo, last night Mike got a fire lit in him and found a farm outside of Kenyon MN that had Golden Retriever puppies available. And soooooooooo he decided to go on a MISSION! He was just going to take a quick look. Yeah, right I know.
This is how it turned out:


Let me introduce you to the newest Friary - Jake Maximillian Friary. He's an 8 week old Golden Retriever.

And yes, we are CRAZY!!!! But he is cute....

And yes, we have a Very, very expensive trip in our schedule for today to PetSmart.

More to come........

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. (www.mycharmingkids.net)

I will try to get to this once a month, it seems like weekly has been difficult for me to do, but try I will to get to this at least once per month....

I'm sure it wasn't me that allowed my child to wear her striped Halloween tights with a large t-shirt over it, just because she wanted to. It looked kind of crazy to be going out in public, but I would never allow her to dress like that in public I'm sure.

It also certainly wasn't me that has been secretly praying that my 9-month pregnant daycare provider hold off on having that third child just a couple more days so it's more convenient for me? Now that wouldn't be very neighborly of me to hope she remains pregnant and uncomfortable a few more days just because I don't really have another daycare plan for the next four days?? ('oh please, don't go into labor until after 4:30 on Thursday - thanks')We love our provider, and that would be terribly rude.

It was not me who didn't exactly tell the entire reason for last week's doctor visit to the kids. I should have told the kids that the sole reason for our trip into the pediatrician was for the H1N1 flu shot, but I'm sure I just forgot to tell them. I'm sure I didn't tell them that we were just going to 'visit' the doctor for a quick check up, because that would not have been the whole truth. I would not have shielded them from that information to hopefully avoid the HUGE meltdown at the door of the pediatrician's office when they indeed found out that they were getting a shot, even if it was just the nasal spray immuniziation. I'm sure the visit went just fine - tears and all.

And it certainly could not have been me that allowed the kids to run around the house in their swimsuits last night just because they wanted to. It's November in Minnesota - how crazy would that be to allow that. And there is no way it was me that allowed the kids to take their nighttime tubs while still wearing their swimsuits. That would be very irresponsible I'm sure.


Well either way, I'm sure none of those behaviors would have been anything like what a responsible parent would do. So I'm absolutely sure none of those thing would have been done by me. Right?
;)

Oh, and Happy Monday!

A Whole Lotta Nothing

I know, I know "lotta" isn't a real word, but it was kind of fun to use, so please forgive me.
What I'm trying to say is some folks have been asking - "so what are you guys up to these days?" and I guess the answer is a 'whole lotta nothing'.
We've been very busy, just with nothing huge or monumental (thankfully) or anything really just out of the ordinary.

We've been very busy enjoying every last bit of this late warm fall we've been having. After having 3" of snow the last time we camped in October, it's been in the 50s or 60s almost every day the last two weeks.

So we've been having s'mores by our campfire in our backyard..




We've been enjoying Popsicles.


We've been swinging on the swing set.


We've been running around the backyard playing "Mr. Fox" (seems made up to me) and "Red Light, Green Light"


We've been strapping the helmets on and going for bike rides - sorry no pictures with that, now that wouldn't be safe now would it? ;)


And on the days it has been too cold to play outside, or too rainy - we've been busy inside playing any game a 4 or 3 year old brain can invent. Including this one, which was their "fort in Cailin's bed game..."


Or just snuggling with the kittys. That's one of Cailin's favorites.


And of course, we are still doing the usual stuff - gymnastics for Cailin, Preschool classes for Andrew, Volleyball for Mike and running for me.

All in all, it sure feels like we've been super busy and it's been a great kind of busy, a fun kind of busy!

Stellan

Stellan is in Boston now... please keep this family in your prayers!
www.mycharmingkids.net

Halloween

We started Halloween off with a bang this year by me (Karen) sort of, kind of stabbing myself in the hand while carving pumpkins. It was pretty nasty, only a small cut, but managed to cut an artery, tendon and a nerve. All that stuff in a 1/2" spot. After an ER trip and a planned surgerical consult to come, we had an uneventful weekend and Halloween.

Cailin wanted to be Olivia the Pig. She's a charecter in a children's book series and tv show. She decided she didn't want to wear the pig mask, but after much 'discussion', we got a few pictures full-costume. Then off went the mask for trick-or-treating.


Andrew was Superman. He LOVED his costume. We went to visit our neighbors and friends, the Frasers and Caleb was also Superman.


Grandpa and Grandma came up. They had dinner with us and then daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, Cailin and Andrew went door to door trick or treating while mommy stayed home to give candy out to the masses.


The kids met up with the Fraser kids and they all went together trick or treating for a long time. They came back with LARGE piles of loot! It really was a perfect night!

First Ribbon

I remember getting my first ribbon in an activity. It was for swim lessons when I was a little kid. I was scared of my teacher and therefor, not a huge fan of going to lessons, but my parents FORCED me to go, which for swim lessons, it was a good thing. I am now a very proficient swimmer, so thank you Mom and Dad for following through on that. Anyway, I digress.....It was a cool green ribbon for completing my first class. I was so proud! I hung it up in my bedroom and over the years, my ribbon collection grew! Some were the "Participation" ribbons. You ALL know what I'm talking about - it's like 'thanks for participating, but you didn't make it in the top three, so thanks anyway.' Ok, kidding - And then there were the fancy blue, red or yellow (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) ribbons. Our elementary school did a big spring track meet kinda thing (go Birchview!). So I was able to collect a few of every color throughout my elementary, junior high and high school years. You'd get them for sports as well as for academic participation.

Last night, Cailin got her FIRST ribbon. She's 4 1/2 and has been doing gymnastics for the last three months. She got a yellow ribbon


- it was a 'participation' ribbon, but it was funny - even at her tender age, she realized the importance or maybe the significance of that little ribbon. She was GLOWING after she was presented with that thing.


They even did a cute little ceremony where they had all the children 'display' a little routine for the proud, eager, camera-holding parents (including myself).

Sorry that the pictures are so far away. I forgot my zoom lens at home and they wanted the parents outside the classroom so as not to 'distract' the students....so most of these shots are from behind the glass.....

4 year old gymnastics is kind of funny. Kids at that age are still getting more aware of their balance as well as they are still somewhat distractable. It's great exercise. Plus, Cailin loves gymnastics. She loves to practice at home. Thankfully we have lots of comfy furniture so she can tumble, flip and sommersalt all she wants at home and hopefully will remain uninjured.
What kind of gymnastics do they do with 4 year olds you ask? Well, here's a couple of samples...

Floor exercises


Uneven parellel bars and rings (that's Cailin hanging on the rings)


Balance beam


Vault and springboard



Mike had volleyball so he was unable to join us. That meant that Andrew tagged along and sat with mom to watch gymnastics. He had to entertain of course. He had a good time making friends with the other brothers that were 'watching' as well as their parents.

Talk to the hand....