Before I forget

Part of the reason for this blog is to give me something to work from when I actually get a chance to update the kids' "baby" books. So, for the record:

We take part in a tradition with Brett's great friend from high school and his family every Christmastime. It's called C&CC. It has nothing to do with the Catholic Church and it has nothing to do with Conservation Camps. It is simply Christmas Chili and Chocolate Cake (yes, I know a "C" is missing and I've never been able to understand how the acronym is actually formed, but that's not important here). This tradition has been going on for about 11 years now. The group changes slightly from year to year, and we haven't been able to attend the past couple of years since we were so far away. This year we brought the kids since we started the meal earlier in the day. They've attended this elite evening once before, but I'm not sure if they remembered it or not. Before we arrived, I reminded our children that we were having chili tonight, we were guests in someone's house, and we were going to be polite and eat whatever it is that is put in front of us or we will go hungry (so mean I know...same rule applies here). Apparently Aidan was in the kitchen with our hostess and was asked if he liked chili. He paused, looked pensive and stated, "Well, mommy said that we were going to eat whatever was put in front of us because we were guests and we weren't going to be rude, buuuuut....since you asked...no, I do not care for chili!"

Can I help it?

So technically this family has turned off the tv for lent. That was supposed to include the children. But, I'm sure I'm dispensed from my lenten sacrifice if when I wake up the temperature (not including wind chill) reads -20 degrees F, if school takes all of 20 minutes because the pupils can hardly do anything without grabbing a kleenex or coughing, and if the only thing that distracts the almost-two-year old from her inevitable ear infection is sitting on the couch and staring! :-) Surely, I can offer up something else for the day....right? I won't mention the handful of M&Ms I impulsely grabbed before heading down to the basement (brrrrrrrrr) to "work" on the computer. Doh!

*On a side note: If any one was wondering what happens when you use your front, non-heated, entry way to store certain beverages of choice that you don't want taking up room in your refrigerator (i.e. pop/soda/coke/whatever, beer), let ye be warned...remember that can of sizzling fun that you stuck in your freezer to cool off just a tad bit faster, but then you forgot about it? That's right....what I thought was just "shoe yuck" that hadn't melted was in fact Diet Coke (I do not endorse this junk, just live with a lovely man who happens to like it..ick) that had exploded. Lucky for me I'm not expecting the temperature to rise much in the next couple of days so I have awhile before I have to deal with the frozen sticky mess.

How we are...

This picture pretty much sums up how we've been lately. I was going to include the line-up of all the meds these children are on in addition to the list that I have to keep in order to keep track of who took what, how much, and when so I know who can have what else, how much, and when. Fun, fun, fun!

"Mine, all mine!"

Gigi is almost two. With that comes the lovely stage of possessiveness. You know that time of her life when she deems everything as her own. Sometimes it's when she's playing cars with Aidan and takes an armful while stating, "Mine!".
She also has a very endearing side to this possessiveness too which cannot go unmentioned, and in fact almost excuses her for the times she's not so sweet. All of us are "hers". She'll talk to me about "my Emma, my Aidan, my Daddy". My favorite is when we are curled up in bed and she just isn't feeling close enough and asks, "My touch my mommy?" which means she wants to scoot a little closer and drape her little, chubby, almost-two-year-old arm around me. Uh...yeah, you can touch your mommy...any day...any time.

Yum....chocolate!

Lately, I've been buying insane amounts of chocolate! With all the St.Valentine's Day displays out and all of the "great" sales on the stuff how could I resist? I tell myself that I'm celbrating that day devoted to l-o-v-e a little early, and the fact that Lent starts so early this year has been quite an inspiration for me to eat all the chocolate while I can (that's what we're supposed to do, right? hoard all of the stuff we're "giving up"...just kidding!) :-) I figure I'll be deprived of the stuff for 40+ days so I might as well eat all I can now.
Really, truly I am impressed at the amount of the stuff that I can consume without feeling a bit guilty. It's so good...I'm not addicted, no way....I just have....to....have.....chocolate.......NOW!!!!!!!

Fans by Default

We often tell the story of Brett's now-coworkers wanting to know two things about him after he had been hired. You know, those topics that you can't exactly bring up in the interviewing process. Those two things were 1) religion and 2) football affiliation (not necessary in that order). The faculty has quite a variety when it comes to religious practices. They have Lutherans, Catholics, a Mormsn, a Jew, some new ageyness, so they were really not too concerned where Brett fell...mainly curious. But football affiliation...now that is important. Since we had been in Texas for 7 years they thought maybe he was a Cowboy fan, he grew up in South Dakota so they thought he could be a Denver fan. What they were really concerned about was, however, that he could, by some horrible fate, be a...dare I say it....a Vikings fan.

Thanks to Brett's dad for supplying him with what he needed he was able to put their worries to rest. His allegiance of course is with the Packers!

Bad Buggy, Go Away!

Two weeks ago we were awakened to Emma throwing up...poor thing. She continue to be sick all night and all the next day with a reprise a day and a half later. A week went by...every one else was fine!
Then, just when I was feeling very confident that the rest of us had been spared, Gigi woke up in the middle of the night with the same fate as Emma.
So...now, we are about a week from that, Gigi is mostly better (only a little evidence that her belly isn't quite back to normal yet) and I was feeling really great about the fact that Pukefest 2008 was coming to an end.
Aidan's turn! Oh yes! Same story, not quite as bad because the boy has a stomach of steel, but not fun either.
So, what are the children doing today? Why, what all 21st century children do when there is a sick one in the house (oh, what do you say? that's only *my* children)...they are watching video, after video, after video, after video, etc...
Aidan was feeling well enough to argue with me about why he feels he should be able to watch "Star Wars" today so I might just be a mean enough mom to make him do his schoolwork this afternoon. If he's well enough to argue, he's well enough to practice his handwriting! Oh, I'm soooo mean!