I’m ready for some back to normal, too.  I’ve gotten used to my quiet time every day.  I’m ready for some.  But I had fun over break, too.  The kids loved the third Chronicles of Narnia.  We played lots of Wii Party.  All good.

I’ve also vowed to get on the elliptical machine at least five days a week.  Dammit.

Christmas decorations coming down today, and once they’re all packed away, there will be a calm that comes over the house.  Mama likey calm.

So, off I go…..have a great day!

Santa, however, didn’t get the best gift. I saved that for Mom and Dad. We got them each their own Nintendo DSi’s. But they got lots of other stuff that was a big hit, too. They got Bop It, which they have played with a bunch. Yahtzee, to take me back to my childhood. A game called Pictureka, which was fun. There’s an easy bake oven, moon dough, a crayon maker, Orbeez…the list goes on.

I’m looking forward to this week of just hanging out and playing some family games. We’re headed to see The Chronicles of Narnia in 3D at the theater today. They really enjoyed the first two (we watched them last week). I have a feeling, though, that as soon as I get them to start sleeping in, we’ll have to head back to school…

Hope everybody enjoyed their holidays!!!!!

I finished my last English paper. Ever. I completely procrastinated with it. It was due yesterday at midnight, and I finished it around 6:30, which is so not like me. Here’s what happens when I get overwhelmed…I do absolutely nothing. Instead of pulling up my big girl panties and just tackling life head on, I let the house go to shit, the laundry back up, my websites get neglected, and I do something fun. This week, I headed to the casino. I hit a machine for $700, and played with that money all day. I did come home with about $300. I had much more fun there than I would have had sitting at home writing a paper.

But I had to pay the consequences the next few days.

Now that it’s out of the way, I can begin wrapping, send out some Christmas cards, make some gingerbread houses, celebrate Tony’s birthday, and all that good stuff. Oh, I do have a final to take, but it’s a computer programming final, and it will be fine…even fun. (Yes, I’m a geek).

Everybody in the ‘burgh is planning for the EPIC snowfall that’s forecasted for Sunday…a big ol’ one inch. Grab your salt, shovels, milk and toilet paper – we might not make it to Monday.

Hope everybody has a great weekend, and a fun two weeks of holiday craziness!

It’s amazing the amount of uncontrollable giggles a few farts will produce. A whole farting song? Well, I think Becca almost peed herself

Enjoy what’s left of your weekend!

Although today is December 1st, I’m not finished with the Christmas shopping.  HOWEVER, I did get done shopping for the kids, and some of the other gifts.  I’m completely happy with my progress so far.  I bought a huge bag of Hershey kisses, just waiting for some store bought peanut butter cookie dough (yeah, close enough for me).  On Saturday, the girls and I cuddled and watched A Christmas Story.  The girls picked it, and that made me happy  Let me share this with you:

Anyway, we had a great time.

Yesterday, we went to Build-A-Bear. I had promised to take them a couple of weeks ago, if they were good. Well, they weren’t exactly stellar, which explains the two weeks between “saying” and “going.” They were totally stoked about getting Rudolph and Clarice. Here’s a picture of them waiting for Santa:

Then, I took one of them on their own. There is one of Chloe by herself, and then there’s this:

I took the picture, looked at it, and literally LOL-ed.

They weren’t exactly dressed to get for the official Santa picture, but they did want to go and see the big guy.  So, we waited in line a bit and it was their turn.  Chloe wasn’t sure what she was going to ask for.  Becca knew exactly what she was asking for…a DSi.  I asked Chloe if SHE wanted a DSi, and explained that if Becca got one, she surely would want to play with one, too.  She said “no.”  Well, tough shit for her…she’s getting one.

So, they get on the lap and start chatting.  Becca very politely said that she would like “A DSi and a couple of games, please.”  Chloe just froze.  She changed the subject, explaining all the stockings that we hung to Santa (one for the dog, one for the fish).  He asked her what she wanted, and she said “a ball.”

Classic.

She then added that she would just like some surprises, too.  Had to write about it, because I NEVER want to forget that evening.  Never.

Sorry.

Shit happens.  But everything has been pretty good.  A trip to Girl Scout Camp for the day, chugging right along with every day life.  I’m still determined to get my Christmas shopping done by the first week of December.  Even though I’ve only bought two gifts so far.

Meh.

I did get one gift for OURSELVES today…we bought an elliptical machine from Costco.  It got delivered (and built…by somebody else!) today.  So, no I feel obligated to have a little work out TONIGHT.  Last year when I was going to the gym, I got on the elliptical machine about 95% of the time.  I took a stray class here and there, but I really felt like I could zone out on the elliptical (read:  not feel like I was actually exercising).  So, SQUEE!  Maybe I’ll lose some weight

We had a visit from the stomach flu this week.  Only Chloe and Tony got it badly…Becca and I just felt icky, but that was it.  Cute story about Chloe:  Her teacher told me that she was just not herself that morning at school.  She did a lot of sitting with her head down.  Then, she quietly got up and went to the bathroom (there’s a bathroom in their classroom).  She came out, sat at her desk and got her pencil.  The teacher asked Chloe, “Chloe…did you throw up in there?”  Chloe said yes, but she felt better now.  The teacher asked if she wanted another child to walk down to the nurse with her.  Chloe said “no.”  So, the teacher said, “Do you just want to walk down by yourself?”  Chloe said, “No, I don’t want to go to the nurse at all.”

She’s a big fan of school.

She was very upset when I picked her up at the nurse’s office and told her that she had to stay home the next day, too.  Luckily, she was only all pukey for about six hours.  She still stayed home from school the following day, but she got to run errands with me.

It was nice to have some alone time with her.  And I got alone time with Becca the night prior to that.  We went to Costco together while Tony and Chloe stayed home.

My kids are really fun to be around when they’re alone.  It cuts out the whole sister-competition thing.

Thanks for listening, and I’ll try to write again before Thanksgiving.  By the way, I’m heading out shopping on Black Friday.  I think I swore it off last year, but it’s been a whole year…It can’t be that bad, right?

***note:  If this were a movie, the screen would get all wiggly, ‘cuz we’re going back in time…***

The Christmas buzz was in the air.  The kids were ready to be done with school and score some loot.  But here’s the thing.  Becca REALLY wanted one of those darn zhu-zhu pets.  Along with every other kid on the face of this Earth.  A few weeks before the Christmas break began, my niece-in-law (who we’ll just say is my niece, because it’s easier) asked me if I had bought Chloe a zhu-zhu pet for Christmas.  Nope.  Hadn’t done it.  Chloe wasn’t really asking for one all that much.  She went through a few days around Thanksgiving saying that she wanted one.  But then it changed to something else…and something else…and something else…

You get the idea.

Well my niece found some zhu-zhu’s online for a good price and got one for Chloe.  Which was great.  As I thought about this situation, a vision of loving sisters danced in my head.  And I thought it would be a little experiment.  They had been getting along great (I’m sure it had something to do with my Santa-Cams-in-every-lightbulb-ever-made story).  So, I had this vision of them sharing this gift.  Really.

I did consider getting one for Becca.  My sister in law called me the Friday before Christmas (as I had three children in my car on the way to school).  She was at Wal-Mart and they had seven more left.  They were only letting customers purchase one. She got one for her daughter.  Could I get there in time?  I still had to drop off these darn kids!!!  Needless to say, I didn’t make it.

We open our gifts on the morning of Christmas Eve.  (Yup…maybe I’ll tell that story later.  Maybe I already have.  I dunno).  We would see Tony’s family (and aforementioned zhu-zhu pet) at Tony’s sister’s house that night.  We get there, see everybody, chow down on some fantastic Christmas dinner, and get to the gifts.  The kids tear in.  I’m watching Chloe with excitement and anticipation.  She opens the zhu-zhu, smiles a gigantic smile, runs up to Becca and says “Becca, WE got a zhu-zhu pet!!!”

My heart about exploded.  I was so proud.  They were so happy. Christmas is beautiful.

Really?  Did you think it was gonna end there?  Nope.  After about an hour, Chloe wasn’t so excited about the sharing.  Becca wasn’t complaining (which is not exactly like her).  She just sat on the couch very quietly.  I did the correct mom thing.  We talked about it.  She presented her case in a very lady-like, calm manner.  Which also made me proud.  I told her that the best I could do was to try on the day after Christmas.  I would call the stores.

Well, I called.  Nothing.  So, we head to Amazon and find a zhu-zhu pet with a couple of accessories.  But, even with the super-duper-fast-and-expensive shipping, it wouldn’t come until Tuesday.  She was OK with that, and started counting down the days.  I wasn’t about to spend fifty bucks on this toy and shipping, so I took the offer that Amazon always has for the $40 credit if you open a credit card.  Like I need another credit card.  But I digress…

That Monday, as I was headed off to work, the UPS man walked up to my car.  There it was.  Becca’s zhu-zhu.

I ran it up to her.  I was the hero.  I was better than Santa because SHE got to pick out her zhu-zhu.  Mom saved the day! She rocks! Mom can always make it better.

I think the last day they played with zhu-zhu’s was December 30.  Which will lead us into New Years Day.  And this one goes down in history…

When I was small my father (who was a cop) almost always had to work on Christmas Day. Plus, my father is not exactly patient when it comes to gift giving. I’m the same way. Must be genetic. Anyway, Santa always came to our house overnight on the 23rd/24th, and we opened gifts the morning of Christmas Eve.

Fast forward to my grown up years. Yes, I’m already impatient. Tony and I are living together. I was tending bar at the airport, and I always had off Christmas Eve. And always worked Christmas Day (I usually didn’t start until 4:00 – and I got FANTASTIC tips that day). Also, at this time the Downey family festivities usually lasted on Christmas Eve until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and one (if not both) of us were experiencing a fuzzy Christmas buzz. So, the Christmas Eve morning tradition continued.

So, now we have kids. Up until this year, Tony always worked on Christmas Day. Just made sense to keep the tradition alive. This year I had to pause and think about it, though. Yes, Tony is working on Christmas Day, but not until 7:30 pm. Should we break the tradition? Should we follow the Christmas rules? I decided to keep our personal tradition alive, and here is the reasoning: Tony is SO not used to waking up any time before 11:00. If I had to wake him up at, let’s say 6:00 am tomorrow morning, it would throw him off for the entire day. So, he came home from work around 3:30, we set up the presents and stockings, and sat around shooting the shit until 5:30. Out came the bells, the mad rush to try to find Santa, and a whirl wind of cute Christmas wrapping, Hershey Kisses and plastic play things. Tony even made breakfast. (Although he kept referring to the 24th as ‘tomorrow’ and I kept referring to the 24th as ‘today.’)

Becca is now old enough to figure out that she’s getting her presents early. Easy cover up there. PapPap and Santa go way back. Best friends, in fact. There’s a very elite group of people that Santa comes out early for. And we’re included.

So, now I’m dead tired (I’ve been awake since about 2:00 am). And I just went through all the opening of the toys. With the wires. And the plastic restraints. I only swore about five times, and came through with one injured finger. I’ll share more about the toys (and which ones suck) tomorrow. But for now I will leave you with a design I did for t-shirts and such a couple of years ago. (I think…or maybe it was last year). Anyway, as I was twisting, pulling and swearing I thought of it:

Toy Company Greeting Cards (Pk of 10)

Have a great holiday, and please be safe!!!!!!