Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! We arrived home today, and are cleaning and putting all our new toys away. It looks like Santa's sleigh crashed into our living room. I am not complaining - I love watching the kids play with their new toys. You should have seen Jacob chasing Lizzie and me with his remote control dinosaur!

Anyway, I have lots of fun pictures to post. I got an awesome new digital camera for Christmas and as I am learning to use it, have been fortunate enough to snap some good ones! However, I am going to wait to post them until after we hook up our new computer which should take a few days. Yep, Brian took all his gift cards and money and went today and bought his new computer. He is very excited. And the promise of being able to upload photos without crashing our computer sounds good to me as well!

Mission Accomplished

I actually kept the secret, and so did my kids. Brian was genuinely surprised. After his co-worker gave him a book that I wrote (it was a Seussical type of book with pictures of us) , he called on my cell to see where I was. I then told him to check out his wallet for a gift card and that he was to go to the restaurant and pick up our dinner using that card. He was amazed that I had thought of all that and had kept it quiet! He was even more surprised when he found out the kids knew all along.

Then, yesterday brought an even BIGGER surprise. While we were all at Sunday School and Church, Santa came to visit. He usually comes to our house a little early since we leave for Indiana, but during the day? That crafty old magical soul. . .how did he ever pull that one off?

Zach was sure his daddy left Sunday School to do it, but he was teaching! And, I told him I had people who could vouch for me as well. So, we are not sure how he did that, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

Now, the kids and I are getting all packed up to head to southern Indiana. Brian will follow in a few days. He has a lot to do at work with there being such a short time between students selling their books back and then needing to buy new ones! But he will keep his eye on the radar, and try to beat any nasty weather that might be heading this way.

Christmas brings such a crazy time of the year with visiting family and making sure we get everywhere! However, this Christmas, I am going to try very hard to keep it in perspective. It is about the birth of Jesus Christ and my attitude towards this chaos should reflect that of Jesus.

Big Mouth!

I HATE keeping secrets that I am excited about. And I am excited to surprise Brian tonight. Thus far, I have kept my secret though! Even more miraculous? The kids have kept the secret as well.

We woke this morning to ice and therefore an extra day added to our Christmas break. We had a mixture of emotions at our house ranging from "yea, an extra day!" to "Oh man, today was our party!" The good news? The roads are already clearing and Zach gets to go to his buddies house early. They have been emailing each other about it all morning. Funny stuff!

Brian surprised me yesterday at work with yellow roses. They are beautiful. Then he brought home some Coldstone ice cream last night. Yum!!! Zach tried it and was amazed too.

Gotta run. One of the bonuses of "ice days" off of school? Fighting children!! Ughhh!!!!!!

Let It Snow!

Well, Zach was granted a reprieve from his chorus concert. The snow and freezing drizzle we got today led to the concert being cancelled. I have to admit that I was ok with that as well. We came home, built a fire, and wrapped some presents.

I think I have found an idea for Brian's anniversary gift. I am going to meet him in town after work on Friday evening. I plan on getting a hotel room. I haven't decided how to get him there, though. Either go out to eat, and when it is time for the bill, have the waitress give him a note with the info on it? Or, have someone deliver a card to him at work at closing which will give him clues as to where I can be found? Whatcha think? I am just looking forward to a quiet evening where we don't have to watch Hannah Montana or answer the question "why?"

I have arranged for a friend to bring her kids over for a slumber party with my kids on Friday. She will stay here and watch them all. I am excited and hope I can pull it off! And no, he never reads my blog! :) Good thing huh?

Oh Christmas Tree and more

The Christmas tree is up and decorated. I love our tree! We collect ornaments, and our tree is a hodgepodge of ornaments that represent who we are and what we like. You can find everything from Payton Manning, sock monkeys, and Darth Vader to "Our First Christmas Together" and nativity ornaments. It is fun! This year, the ornaments seem to be clumped. Hmmm. . .could be because the kids had a more instrumental role in decorating this year.

Is it the most beautiful tree in the world? Of course not! But, these guys love it and are proud of their hard work. Who could ask for anything more?

Lizzie was "reading" the newspaper the other day when all of the sudden she decided she absolutely HAD to have my reading glasses. What a hoot!

Zach basketball team continues to improve. On Saturday, they won! Zach scored 8 points and had his game of the season thus far!

Zach has a chorus concert tomorrow night. He is SOOO not looking forward to it. But, he will be there. I think the thing he is disgruntled about the most is the directive that they must wear dress pants - no jeans! Maybe I will even be able to snap a pic or two when he is not looking!

Speaking of jeans, I bought Zach some tonight. You know the type, the ones that look like they have been washed, beat against the brick on the front of the house and then ran over by the car a few times!! Perhaps I exaggerate, but suffice it to say that I am sure some family members will comment on them at Christmas.

It has been fun watching Jacob lately. He is just growing and growing. His reading is improving by leaps and bounds daily, and he is getting so stinking smart. This week, he learned a new expression. On Saturday morning, he crawled in our bed and was bemoaning the fact that his daddy had not let them eat "dough" while I was gone the previous evening. I said he could have a little after lunch. He loves little bites of sugar cookie dough. Hearing this conversation, Brian piped in and said that he didn't know I let them do this, and thought Jake was pulling his leg. Jake looked up, raised his eyebrows, and opened his eyes wide. He exclaimed loudly, "I did NOT pull on your leg!"

Gotta go. . .big Wii bowling tournament awaits! I feel a win coming on! By the way, still don't know what to do for our anniversary!

Clark Griswold Moment

I love this time of the year. The kids are so excited. The lights and trees are beautiful! Fun, fun stuff. I even like the shopping. Friday night, I left Brian with the kiddos and headed out for dinner and shopping with friends. We met for dinner at 5:30 and did not return home until 1:30 a.m.! I got a LOT done and had a good time while doing so!

Brian had a Clark Griswold moment today. Last year, he kept saying that he KNEW he bought me a Christmas card but just couldn't find it. Today, he went to hide the card he bought me for this year. Lo and behold, there was the card he couldn't find last year. What's even better? It was the SAME card. He bought the same card two years in a row!! Can't wait to get it and find out what was so special about it that it grabbed his attention twice!

Another reason I love this time of the year is because our anniversary is December 19th! We have been married for 16 years. Now, the big question. . .what do I get Brian for our anniversary? Help! If you can think of something, let me know. I am truly at a loss!

I have some fun pictures of the Christmas tree, but my computer is not letting me upload them. We really need a new computer. Santa, are you listening? Until then, I will keep trying and hope I can get some posted soon!

How Can It Be?

How can it be that our sweet happy little Lizzie can turn into a demon child within a matter of seconds? We have found that we have to keep our sense of humor in dealing with her or we will go crazy! So, a funny Lizzie story: The other night I asked her to do something and she refused. I counted her and then she got one quick swat on the bottom. She is the one child who believes that a kiss will take away any and all pain. So, she looks up at me with her big eyes and says "Kiss my butt mommy, kiss my butt!" I told her no so she went over and told her daddy, " Daddy my butt hurts. Kiss my butt! Please kiss my butt." When he declined, she tried each brother who in turn told her no. It was pretty funny to watch and listen to!

What's With The House?

Several people have asked about our house recently. We decided to go ahead and take it off the market. The number of people who were coming through it had slowed down significantly, and the house we were really interested in sold. So, we will stay here and hopefully start to make some updates and do some remodeling soon. The boys are excited about this turn of events. Zach likes living right across the road from the golf course, and Jacob likes all his buddies in the neighborhood. Me? Well, I am not as excited, but there is not a lot I can do about the market, now is there?