Christmas day!

The boys must have been very very good this year. They both were spoiled rotten by Santa. This is how they started the day. Dressed in their cute little PJ's. We never get dressed on Christmas Day...that is another family tradition. You can shower but you must always wear PJ's! I think this is why it is the best day of the year.


He brought Brock a hundred thousand playmobil guys....just like he wanted.



Good gravy Chase got an electric guitar! Santa forgot to bring the earplugs for the amp...it was a long long long day.
He als got Mario cart...this I think was for me. :) Although I am a pretty good shot with the Nerf game too.


Half way through the gift opening they were both in their underware. Chase has to try on all the clothes as he opens them. He is so funny.


Our neighbor Ashley at Christmas breakfast...she was voted most festive!

My Rockstar!



This is how Brock ended the day!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Joe! I love how he gets in the spirit! There is never a dull moment!


Josh, Ruby, Sharon and Lily came over for chowder. Lily wore beautiful Christmas pigtails!


Meet the Hinkeys. Nigel, Heather and kids Gabby, Willy and Sarah. They just moved here from Portland. They brought much Christmas cheer to the evening. :)



Here are the boys putting out milk and cookies for Santa. The carrots are for the reindeer. Chase is on the verge of not believing in Santa. If he does not believe now he is not letting us know and that is fine with me. My parents never told me there was no Santa. I was just told "if you don't believe you don't receive". I did not want him to count the carrots in the fridge so I decided to throw them over the back fence, a little Christmas treat for the wildlife. Well it totally backfired on me when two got caught in the trees! I tried everything to knock them down. So at Christmas dinner we were all talking about what a rough night Santa must have had. I said, "I know he was hurry when he left here. He drove off so fast that the reindeer dropped their carrots." He fell for it!

The perfect Christmas....not.

The other day our good friend Erin came over for a play date with the boys. She told me she had the perfect "Norman Rockwell" moment with her and her husband curled up on the couch while their boys played in front of the fire. It really made me think. I don't think we have had a moment like that in awhile. I have even tried really really hard to create them lately and it just never seems to come through like I had planned. There was the great gingerbread house debacle. Chase was trying so hard to put the frosting on all nice and neat and big blob fell out right on Brock's head. Then there was the wonderful drive in the car to look at the Christmas lights. Listening to Chase sing all the latest crude versions of Christmas songs...they have evolved since we were kids. Not to mention the two failed trips to mall to see Santa (the lines were longer than Brock's patients). So I have concluded that we are destined to be more like the Griswalds! And that's alright with me! :)

Holiday Chase

Chase loves the holidays! He is so excited it is almost unbearable to make him wait another two days. We added a little fun to the mix this year. We wrapped the boys presents in two different patterns one for Chase and one for Brock. Every morning he asks...begs me to tell him which ones are his. I think I will have to give in on Christmas Eve. That is if I want even one wink of sleep. Last year he was up at 3 am begging...crying for us to get up.



This shirt is so adorable! It lights up when he walks and when I saw it in the store I had to get it for him. He wore it school the next day. After school he burst in the door nearly in tears. It seems this is a not so cute shirt to wear in the third grade. Several boys called him a baby. I told him (hiding my giggles) that they were just jealous because their mom didn't buy them a Christmas shirt. Joe and I told him at dinner that he should wear it again soon just to show them they didn't bother him. I almost spit my coffee out my nose the next morning when he walked out of the bedroom dressed for school in the shirt! I was so proud of him for having the nerve to stick up to the kids and that he actually took our advice...why do they have to grow up????

Fun With Brock

Brock and I took the day off of school to go hang out.




We went to the bookstore...and had coffee of course. He walked right up to the counter and said "I would like a big coffee, please." I agreed I would like the same with a big wink. I can barely handle Brock hopped up on sugar I can not imagine what he would be like with a cup of joe! Oh and that boy ate that entire cinnamon roll!

After a haircut and a successful fit free trip to Walmart I let Brock go into the "toy room" as he calls it. This is a big deal. He has not been in the "toy room" as every trip to Walmart ends up a behaviour disaster. I was so proud and so was he.

The Worms Crawl In The Worms Crawl Out...

Y'all remember that song right? (Yes I say Y'all...I have been in Texas five years now. It's contagious). This last semester I had microbiology. I loved it. I learned so much about bacteria and illness that I am now a full fledged hypochondriac. lol. It was also the hardest class I have taken thus far. So many new concepts it was too much to grasp. I have now lost my 4.0 status and received my first B. What is really disturbing is that I was only one point off...and no there is no curve! Considering how hard the class was and how hard I studied I am pretty proud of that B. Here are some interesting facts that I learned and can apply to my "real" life at home:

1. My children have poor hygiene. :)
2. Showing them a picture of the hookworm at full magnification really will motivate them to wash their hands after they poop. (ironically the hookworm has nothing to do with poop...but wear your shoes outside...especially in Texas)
3. 30% of school age children have pinworms. They are transmitted via the oral/fecal route so I can conclude that my children are not the only dirty little kids in town. I wash my hands really well after I work at the school store. (I cringe when I look around and see all the little kids scratching their bottoms)
4. Pinworms can be detected by the use of a flashlight. They will "glow" in the dark...I won't tell you where to shine it.
5. Eating at Taco Bell, Mcd's...you name...you are risking your life...BUT I really have a thing for crunchy tacos!
6. I will NEVER EVER EVER travel to Africa...not even for Oprah and even with the 30+ vaccines one would have to have.
7. I have been wasting money on antibacterial soap! It must be applied for two full minutes to be affective...after which your hands would dry up and crack.
8. I wish I had a Bunsen burner at home...I would flame my fork before eating.
9. 80% of childhood illnesses are virus...I have wasted ALOT of money on copays!
10. I am so so so thankful that I will never have syphilis.
11. I also learned that I can study for an exam while cooking dinner, cleaning the house and playing with the kids. It was really great to be learning about how B cells make plasma cells that secrete antibodies while holding my sick little viral infected Brock. I could almost see them in action.
12. Oh and the saying I tell my kids so often "God made dirt and dirt don't hurt" totally false...hello botulism...tetnis...I could go on.

AND FINALLY...I LOVE LOVE LOVE my immune system!

I really didn't think I was that stressed out until after it was all over. I woke up yesterday with the biggest zit known to man. Then today a huge cold sore...yeah I was stressed. Brock won't even hug me right now he is so worried I will give him a pimple...I'm sure Joe might feel that same way about the cold sore...wait that is the Herpesviridae, simplex ONE Thank God! See how much smarter I am becoming! (was that even proper English?)

Now I have the entrance exam on Saturday and then I am free for almost a month!

Oh and yeah...forget the 10 second rule...not really that effective.

Brother Time!

I am rocket scientist (or I should be). I have implemented 30 minutes mandatory brother time each day. At first they only made it a 15 minutes before they were both in tears. Our afternoons used to go something like this...boys fighting, homework, play outside somewhere, boys fighting, Brock hits Chase, time out, dance while mom cooks, oops someone bumped into someone else, fighting, dinner time often leads to time out, bath time, story time, ends in fighting, BEDTIME...then the Iwants come. ARGH! It's been a rough few months. Then I got a brainstorm...Brother time. They do the 30 minutes without fighting they get to watch a show before the nighttime routine. The rules are simple. No fighting, no tattling if they run into a disagreement they need to work it out on their own. I also give Brock the power to choose what they play. I do this so that he can think he is control...it is hard to be the youngest sometimes.

It has been going so well yesterday CHASE (he used to dread it) asked if he could hurry and get his homework done so they could have brother time. We were going to go the park the other evening and they said they wanted Brother Time in Chase's room. Brock is doing so much better too. Playing with Chase really boosts his confidence and makes him so happy. I even snuck off the other night and took a bubble bath! Maybe now I can start shaving my legs again (lol).

Unfortunately there can be no pictures of brother time. If I interrupt all H...e...double toothpicks breaks loose.

Christmas decorating and ummm unwanted guests!

Decorating the tree this year was so fun. This was the first year that Brock was able to participate with out too much fuss. Our tradition is to do the tree while listening to my favorite Burle Ives CD. Then we finish up with hot chocolate. The boys also recieve their new Christmas pajamas. Chase was so excited that I was able to get "feetsie" jammies in his size. I think one of these pics will have to double as the Christmas card picture....someone I know has retired (for now) and I can't bring myself to go to Sears!



We also had a house guest for Thanksgiving. Fluffy the class pet came for the long weekend. I was all for it and very surprized to learn that Fluffy was not a cute little gerbil! You can see for yourself below. I was just as freaked by his dinner as I was of him. I don't even like crickets. He was a good guest though. He stayed in his cage and didn't complain about the food!

So Very Very VERY Thankful!

We had a wonderful Thanks giving dinner. Our neighbors from Finland came to celebrate their first Thanksgiving ever. It was so fun to share our traditions with someone else. They tried all the food and loved it all.

We were extremely thankful this year. Ruby, Lily and Sharon were in a car accident. The baby was fine. Sharron is very sore and Ruby broke her arm and suffered a colapsed lung. Her lung reinflated by itself and she will be having surgery on her arm Tuesday! Here is a beautiful picture of Ruby and Lily that was taken a few weeks before at Brock's Birthday party.

Playing with Brock.

Brock and I love to play with the animals. He insists on having 4 of every animal so that they are a family...families only come in four, Mom, Dad, Chase and Brock. Today we were playing elephants and we were missing one. Brock got a little upset but I told him he could pretend with another animal. "The giraffe is you mommy!" I was OK with that giraffes while not my favorite are cool. So then he gets this funny look on his face and says "I have a better idea to be you Mommy!" And this is what he comes in with. I think it is very fitting! Don't you?