We Love the Library (or, at least we love the books and movies that we bring home)

One of my favorite things in the whole world is the public library. In Irvine we had the GREATEST public library ever so I was a bit concerned when we moved because I knew we wouldn't find another library like it. And it's true that our library here is straight of out the 60's and a touch on the small side, but they have TONS of books. I can't figure out if it's just because they ordered like 10 of each book or if it's because people here don't go to the public library, but there are always lots of great books in good condition. I love it. And as long as we have a public library in the town we live, I will never have to rent or buy DVDs for my children. I can deal with the skips and pauses on the checked-out DVDs so long as I don't have to waste money on a DVD that they will watch 15 times in a row and deposit in the back of the case never to be seen again.

With Search and Destroy, trips to the library have to be speedy. They love to read at home but not at the library. Instead they like to yell, run, search and destroy (in other words: just being boys). My trips down the book aisles go something like this. With my largest bag in hand I randomly grab a book. If the book title includes any of the following words: dinosaur, truck, train, animal, or school, then the book has passed the preliminary qualification. The second requirement is that the pictures have to be exciting and catchy. The third requirement is that there can't be too much writing. I almost hate to admit this one, but let's face it. Who wants to read extra-long books to their kids at bedtime when everyone is so tired?

Here are a few books from our last trip that the boys can't get enough of.

I love Who'd Hiding because it's very interactive. Obviously, you can make any book interactive if you want to, but this one demands it. It's very cute.

Like I said, if the word "dinosaur" is in the title, it goes in the bag. The boys love to dance with the T-Rex in "Dinosaurumpus" ("Dinosaw-wumpus" if you are Search) and they love it when the triceratops kicks the T-Rex out of the Dinosaur Cafe for threatening to add the other dinosaurs in his "meat soup". Search loves these books when I read them to him but won't allow them in his crib with him when I'm not in his room with him. He must be too scared that the T-Rex will jump off the page and threaten to make him share his binky or blankie. Heaven forbid.

Why do all my posts turn into novels? I really just wanted to post a couple of cute books.

I Forgot to Add That...

...Church was cancelled this last week! I'm thinking, sweet! We moved to the right place where they cancel church! But, I guess it doesn't happen all that often. Aw, nuts! We had a pretty good storm on saturday night and there was supposed to be freezing rain which would make driving to church a wee bit dangerous. So, they were looking out for our safety and decided to cancel church. I think this was the first time in my relatively short life that it's ever happened to me. So, instead we went over to our primary president's house and played the Wii. Don't worry, we kept if sunday-sensored and we didn't play anything with guns or cussing (like we would anyways). PS, next time you see our primary president, don't tell her I told you :)

On another Wii note, Destroy and I tied the other day while bowling and I wasn't trying to lose. He also kicks my patooty at baseball too. It's very humbling when your four-year-old can beat you at video games. I don't pretend to be good at them (because I'm not) but in my defense, I've had a few years more of video gaming under my belt than he has. Yesterday I came out after taking a little nap and Destroy had gotten a stool, gotten the key off the top of the TV, unlocked the cabinet, plugged into the Wii cord into the correct spot, turned on the Wii, turned on the Bose and TV, plugged in the nun chuck into the Wii remote (which neither Aaron or I have ever tried before), maneuvered his way through all the menus and was just beginning to box (which neither Aaron or I have ever done before either). On top of that, he did really well and got four knock outs in the first few rounds. I thought that maybe I was still asleep and having a strange dream. I swear this new generation was practicing computer and technology skills before they were born.

Up to Date

The past few days have been pretty busy? But, seriously, who isn't busy at this time of year? I finally finished shopping, sewing and wrapping yesterday so we are good to go for Christmas. The only other reason that I should have to go to the store is if someone spills the entire carton of milk or we run out of chewable Tylenol. On Monday we went to the zoo with our friend Alli. This is Destroy in his favorite place in the whole zoo, curled up in a ginormous pretend snake. The "Deserts" is his favorite exhibit in the whole zoo. Well, and he really likes the rhinos. Speaking of rhinos, the other day Destroy told me that he wanted a Rhinoceros (or "Nacerous", rhinoceros without the rhi, as he calls it) and a hippo for Christmas. When I asked him where he would put it, he was a bit stupefied, so he decided he'd rather have a spider instead. I told him there was no way we were going to have a spider in our house (that I knew of). He told me that he would make the spider have a happy face and he'd take out it's teeth. Well, that's great news. I'm pretty sure Santa won't be bringing us a spider this year. Or any other year. Destroy also had his preschool Christmas program. This picture is really bad because I was trying to film on the video camera and hold Jeremy in my lap at the same time (Aaron was at work). If I ever emerge from the stone age I'll learn how to post videos. They dressed up as snowmen and angels and sang a few songs. It was awesome. Destroy is the one with the orange gloves.
Search has potty trained himself this week. He doesn't need reminders from me, he can hold it for 3 hours or so and doesn't need pull-ups for his nap. He's even held it all night! I can't think of a better Christmas present. Merry Christmas to me! On the downside, he's come down with this funky virus that I can't remember the name for. Aaron could tell you but he's not here. He has a whole bunch of sore in his mouth that look like canker sores. His lymph nodes are outrageously swollen and this morning he threw up. But since these sores in his mouth are so painful that he literally hasn't eaten anything but a cookie and 2 granola bites for the last two days, the only thing he puked up was water. Makes nice for the clean up I guess. Besides not eating, he's up all night like a newborn (at least every two hours) whining about his mouth so we are both pretty tired. I feel really bad for him but I don't know how much more whining and crying I can take. This morning he woke up with red bumps on his arms. So, what's next? So this is what he's been doing: watching movies. It's the only thing that stops the whining.
He have hosted a couple of playgroups this month and made gingerbread men and sugar cookies. We did one playgroup for church and one for some of the medical resident's wives. I finally cleaned off the yellow frosting from the kitchen window yesterday after Search pointed at it and said, "That's from playgroup!" I figured if it was bad enough for one of the kids to notice, then it was really bad.
Here's Ethan and DestroySearch, Destroy, their friends Taylor and Brandon and their mom (and my friend:)) Jenni. The candies and frosting for the gingerbread men didn't quite make it to the gingerbread man. They detoured into Search and Destroy's mouths instead. Aaron has just started a month in the ICU so we won't be seeing him much. He's on call every 4th night. But somehow he got Christmas day off so we are pretty excited about that! We hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

A Winter's Day, in a Deep and Dark December

We had a very winterish day today. Don't you love how I make up words? We woke up this morning to a light cover of snow. While we waited for Daddy to wake up (he worked late) we played triceratops (more to come on that), Darth Vader (if you are Destroy) and Darth Mater (if you are Search). Destroy filled me in on his dream that he had that night where I turned ugly and ate him. When I puked him out he got stuck in my throat and tried to claw his way out but resorted to yelling loudly. When he finally got out of my throat, I had turned into my friend Nancy. I was just glad it wasn't another dream about Darth Vader. Ok, so sorry about the tangent. I realize that that had nothing to do what-so-ever with winter.

When Daddy finally woke up we made our favorite breakfast. We have recently discovered the BEST bacon. Oscar Meyer Center Cut Bacon is where it's at. A little more pricey but well worth it. The kids go nuts for it and we usually end up fighting over the last piece. Breakfast is not complete without Dole's Pine-Orange Banana juice, scrambled eggs with cheese and whole wheat pancakes. I can no longer eat Krusteaz pancakes (maybe just because of the name) after eating these pancakes.

1 c white flour
1 c wheat flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

2 c buttermilk
2 eggs (or 4 egg whites)
2 T oil

The other great thing about this breakfast is that I don't have to feed the kids lunch because they are so full from breakfast!

By the time we were done eating, there was 3-4 inches of snow outside. We put on our snow clothes and headed out to make a snowman. Destroy made the head all by himself. Search just really likes to eat the snow and play with his trucks, so he didn't participate much in making Frosty. Until we brought out the eyes, mouth and buttons. Then he became interested.
Jordan, do you recognize the scarf? I think you gave it to me for Christmas when we were roomies. Unfortunately Frosty's ego did not allow him to wear a hat. His head was just too big. As we brainstormed what to use for the eyes, mouth and buttons (Destroy had long since taken care of the carrot nose), I went inside the house to see what I could find. I came out with forgotten Halloween candy and cookies left from playgroup. we used malt balls for the mouth and star cookies for the buttons. I thought I was pretty brilliant to use suckers for the eyes because they stuck in so well until I came out a few hours later and noticed that Frosty was crying some unhappy purple tears. So much for my brilliance. So the boys ate suckers in the snow today and chastised me for hiding their Halloween candy.

After Search's nap we ate Beef Stroganoff and settled down to watch The Santa Clause with homemade snickerdoodles. And now the boys are in bed. And what could be better than that? Oh, maybe the fact that my two-year-old is potty training himself and has used the same underwear all day! Go Search!

*A special prize for anyone who can tell me the name of the song and artist of the post's title!

Ring Around the Rosy. Oh wait, Tag. What? I'm it?

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I totally love wrapping gifts. In fact I think my mom even paid me to wrap gifts when I was kid. I could wrap a present like nobody's business when I was really young. So, definitely wrapping paper.

2. Tree--Real or Artificial? Real! I love the smell. Although vacuuming up the dead pine needles and remembering to refill the water isn't my favorite. But it's worth it!

3. When do you put Christmas tree up? Seeing as this is the first year that we've had a tree taller than my knee, I don't really know. But probably the first week in December.

4. When do you take the tree down? When most of the pine needles from the tree have ended up in the vacuum dust cup. It will mean that the tree is looking a bit naked and that Christmas is probably long gone.

5. Like egg nog? Yes! I remember drinking it with my Dad when I was young. We also knew this guy our freshman year who drank a gallon of it and immediately threw up afterwards. Somehow I still like the stuff after being present for that experience.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? We have 5 or 6. My mom has always been really into them and she's bought a couple for us. She probably has at least 30. When I my mom and I were going through our pottery phase when I was younger, we used to buy nativities unfinished and paint them. It was a lot of fun. Anyways, we have a beautiful Willow Tree one that my mother-in-law has been adding a piece to for me each Christmas. We've had it for four years and now that we have somewhere high enough to put it, we can display it! We also have a Little People one and one from when I was a kid that the kids can play with.

7. Favorite gift received as a child? My brain is mostly useless since having children, prohibiting me from remember basically anything before age 10. But I do remember this. I was really into American Girls as a kid. When I was 12 I got Molly the American Girl, the same Christmas that my cousin Beth who was 13 got a huge make-up kit. Since we were both at my Grandparent's house that Christmas, I remember feeling really immature and dumb that she was on to make-up and pre-teeness while all I got was some lame doll (but even lamer that I really wanted the lame doll). This was the turning point for me that maybe it was time to give up the dolls. Then a few years later in high school when I was on ski team, my mom bought Molly's ski outfit. Skis, poles, downhill suit (the tight spandex things), goggles, you name it. I didn't even know that I still had the doll until that Christmas when she surprised me with it. Molly still skis on the shelf of my old room in my parents house to this day

8. Hardest person to buy for? Everyone but my kids. Aaron always wants something big and expensive that he has to wait to buy with his Christmas money. My parents and in-laws don't need anything. If they did, they'd go buy it themselves! So, I always give them something grand-kid related but I feel like I'm running out of ideas... As for Aaron, he's getting slippers this year. If anyone has any ideas, shoot them this way!

9. Easiest person to buy for? Me? Just kidding. The kids.

10. Worst Christmas gift? Molly the American doll decked out in ski suit.

11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? Now this is a hard question. If I say mail, those of you planning an Christmas card email will think twice before sending it to me. If I say email, those of you sending a card in the mail will think that I'm sticking to my tree-hugging-Ashland roots and that I don't like paper wasters. Lucky for you, I would love to get either (and I'm not a tree-hugger)!

12. Favorite Christmas movie? Home Alone, Elf, the Grinch.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December. We don't buy much for each other. We're so used to being poor students that even though we have slightly better means, we are still not in the habit of buying much.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No. I don't think anyone would want Molly the American Girl.

15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? sugar cookies, gingerbread, lemon bars, butterscotch bars, truffles, pizza on Christmas eve, honey baked ham, Martinellies with Christmas morning breakfast. What a surprise. They are all very unhealthy. I'm hoping to reach my goal of looking like the Michelin Man someday.

16. Clear or colored tree lights? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas Song? I love "What Child is This", "O Holy Night" but not by Mariah Carey. "Up on the Housetop" and "Jingle Bells" are fun to sing with the kids. I also love the primary song "Mary's Lullaby".

18. Travel during Christmas or Stay home? This is the first Christmas that we won't be traveling. Aaron is working ICU this month and is even working on Christmas day. I thought about going to visit my parents right after Christmas but when I checked plane tickets a month ago they were almost $800 a piece. And with three of us needing seats(a whole lot of dough), I decided to stay.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Sure, after I check Wikipedia.

20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Star.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? On Christmas day when Aaron gets home from work. The children might go insane having to wait all day but maybe I won't tell them it's Christmas. They won't be seeing wrapped presents until then anyways. So I'll just say that Santa came but he couldn't find the Christmas tree to put the presents under and somehow misplaced them onto the top shelf of Mommy's closet. Wow, that boardering child abuse.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The check-out lines at Target when you only have one thing. The kids constant runny noses, driving in the snow, seeing Valentines decorations already out in the stores.

Now you're it!

Wishing and Wanting

A few months ago I discovered my favorite place to buy clothes. Cheap, well made and of course totally cute. They don't have a lot of stuff since it's a small company but everything is adorable. They sell the famous "Wonder-T", small enough to wear under anything but hides everything that you don't want others to see. These are on my wish list:

Cute?

With Christmas approaching I have been making numerous trips to Target and Wal-Mart for various gifts and stocking stuffers. While I am systematically detecting every single toy aisle to make sure I am inspecting every single toy, I can hear the chattering and bickering of the other people looking for toys. I can't help but smile when I hear the dozens of grandparents searching the aisles with their shopping lists looking for gifts for their grandkids or great-grandkids. I think it is so adorable because they always go as a couple, clutching their extensively detailed shopping lists of names and toys, coupons in hand to make sure they are getting the best deal. I just love it.

"Ok, Sammy wants the Death Star/Darth Vader Transformer. They have Transfomers again? I remember those from when Jack was young. Oh here it is. $46.00? Wow, they didn't used to cost this much! Maybe we should check Wal-Mart."

"Jessica wants the Barbie Island Princess Rosella. Ok, we found it. But, the ad said it was on sale. I don't see a sale tag here, do you? We need to find an employee. Did you bring the ad with you?"

Usually it's the grandma who takes control of the shopping situation while the grandpa just stands and interjects random comments when needed. He's really just waiting to man the credit card machine because his wife is nearly senile and doesn't have the computer skills to sign the little box with the little pen.

Which brings me to this point. The only word I can think of while I watch and listen to these adorable elderly couples shop for Christmas is "cute". But I fear that calling them cute, especially the sweet old man, would offend them. But, honestly, aren't they cute? I wonder what they think when people call them cute. Since when did we become cute? I used to be macho, and now I'm cute? What, you mean cute like a little puppy with a hurt paw? Gee thanks. Say whatever you want but just keep paying those taxes. We need the medicare.

Maybe I should ask my grandparents. They are definitely cute in my book. I'll keep calling them cute, though even if they tell me not too. When I get old, I won't be offended when I hear people call me cute.