Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday!!

The craziness is almost over. I think we spend more time in the car than in one place when Christmas comes.

Christmas Eve is spent at my brother's house. It's nice but a crazy night. Lots of kids and sheer madness no matter how organized we try to be opening presents. My 5 year old has decided he has to be first with everything this year. His New Year's resolution for next year will be patience. We'll be discussing this tomorrow.

Christmas Day was spent opening Santa's presents and those from Mom and Dad. We then headed out at 2 to drive an hour to my Mom's for Christmas dinner. It's still tough going there because I always expect to see my Dad (I really miss him). It was a nice dinner but again crazy with the kids. Great conversation around evolution with family members, I love my family for being able to converse this way!!

Tomorrow is PJ day because if I have to dress I will not be happy. Our house will be covered in Lego's unless I can keep my 2 year old away from big brother and Brian. Maybe we'll have movie night which we actually have a picnic while watching a family movie.

Saturday we'll had up to MA to visit the in-laws and have Christmas with Brian's family. I'm looking forward to that, though I dread the presents the boys will be getting ( I need a bigger house). I enjoy spending time with his family as well and this year we haven't really seen each other since almost last Christmas.

All in all a nice Christmas, I just need to relax now.

First Snow

There's just something special about the first major snowstorm. I don't know if it's just because the holidays are here or the snow just gives everything a fresh wintery look. Everything is so drab after all the leaves fall and the snow and ice just make everything beautiful.

I can also really enjoy the first snow since I had the day off and didn't have to go anywhere.

The excitment from the kids waking up from naps (only one child naps, see previous post). They went to sleep to the drab gray day and woke up to fressh white snow. What's cooler than that?

Then there's the sled rides, snow angels, snowballs, snowmen, following animal tracks. So much to do all in your very own backyard!!

Tagged?

I was tagged by Allison and I now have to write 7 things about me and then have to find 7 people which should be interesting as well.

This is funny, I've been tagged to write about 7 things about me.

#1 I'm a walking hygrometer. My three fingers (pinky, ring and half of my middle) on my left hand act as a hygrometer. The higher the humidity the more wrinkled my fingers get. I had Guillain Barre Syndrome about 2.5 years ago. One of the residual effects is the damage in my hands. I personally think it's pretty cool, and think in really humid weather this is what my hands will look like at 90.

#2 I'm addicted to TV. I watch every crime drama that is available and now Tivo/DVR has added to this addiction.

#3 To keep in sync with those that started this tag. I too have a crooked pinky on my left hand. Unfortunately it's not due to genetics and that's a story for another day. I'm starting to feel bad for my left pinky now.

#4 When I was pregnant with my children I craved Chocodiles. When I was a kid they used to sell them here on the east coast. They are now only available on the west coast. Everyone I knew who lived on the west coast and came to the east or anyone who visited the west coast was ordered to deliver Chocodiles to me. I was incredibly thankful to my co-workers and family who brought them back to me or had them mailed. In case you were wondering they do sell them in convenience stores in Vegas and believe it or not they do have them in LaJolla, CA. (Now I want a Chocodile, uh oh I hope I'm not pregnant again.)

#5 I hate cancer.

#6 My first crush was Erik Estrada, not Andy Gibb as some people think.

#7 I can't nap. My husband and i met in college and like many college students naps were vital. Bri always made fun of me because I could never nap, I always wanted to talk or go out. He used to say the I failed nap and laugh at me. Of course this has now come to bite him in the butt because our oldest son is exactly like me and can't nap either.

The Rules:Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog *Share seven facts about yourself in the post- some random, some weird, *tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs, *let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs/ and or twitter.

5 years old

Well it happened my oldest turned 5 on Dec. 10. He'll be starting kindergarten next year. It's amazing how much has happened in his short 5 years. How do they go from that helpless little bundle to these incredibly self sufficient, free thinking, opinionated little human beings.

Don't tell him the sky is blue because he will tell you it's light blue or gray. The grass is never green it's made of multitudes of colors, from various greens, yellows, browns. Every step with him is like running into a brick wall because he will argue every detail and of course he is always right. He has been like this since before the day he was born.

My pregnancy was having this small baby constantly moving I felt him moving at 12 weeks. He never settled and slept as I was told babies would. He was constantly kicking and moving. We never had an ultrasound where he would be still enough to ensure his little organs were forming correctly.

When he was born he was two weeks early, after 18 hours of labor he was born. The nurses said nurse him and he should fall right to sleep. He was wide awake for the first 8 hours after he was born, the nurses finally took him to the nursery so Bri and I could get sleep. He didn't sleep for the first 6 moths and 1 week of his life for more than 2-3 hours and was incredibly colicky. He finally slept for more than 4 hours on June 17 2004.

He rolled over and started scooting at 2 months. Memories of going to baby massage with him at 2 months and I was the only mother chasing after my 2 month old. He exhausted me.

Now he's learning to read, learning his number, memorizing poems, learning about Beethoven, looking at famous artist paintings, learning Spanish, riding a bicycle, discussing evolution, learning about states of matter, energy, gravity and the planets. It's fascinating listening to him discuss what he believes happened to the Megalodon. I'm hoping to have a little scientist on my hands!

His imagination is just incredible, he draws, paints, creates, builds with Lego's, k'nex and he just won't stop.

He's my amazing 5 year old.

Care Package to Iraq Part 2

So I mailed all 6 packages to Iraq and they recieved them all in about 5 days. My friend told her daughter to open and start eating all the homemade cookies we sent. They ate them all and really enjoyed the taste of home!!

My friend IMed me this morning to tell me her daughters unit was bombed. The truck they were driving drove over an IED and it exploded. The driver was injured but everyone else was ok, that is as ok as one can be after being ion a truck that's been blown up.

I find it horribly upsetting. I realize I hear it in the news every single day. Perhaps as a coping mechanism I've become numb to such news, i guess you have to or you would completely fall apart. But this time it's so close to home, it just makes me want to scream.

Family Portrait

This is my family portrait which was supposed to be on our Christmas cards, this was the best picture out of 100s taken. I'm thinking of calling it 'Life with Boys'. There's not much more to say, the picture says it all.