some xmas

We had a good Xmas. The kids have been pretty good for the most part. I haven't been asking myself when school is going to start back yet, so that's good. I am actually kind of sad that school starts back Monday. The big kids week off has gone by pretty quickly. Maybe I'm still used to the 2 weeks we used to get off. On Xmas Eve we ate out at Famous Dave's with Poppie and then came home and the kids opened their sibling gifts. Starting last year we instituted sibling gifts- the kids each draw a name and get that person a gift for $5 or less. They love it and are usually really excited about their gifts.







Xmas morning, everybody was up at 6:30. The kids set their alarm the night before and sure enough they were up and ready to go as soon as it went off. They originally had it set for 4am, but I made them change it. Santa came and nobody got coal. As a family we got some light sabers for the Wii and a Lego Star Wars game. We also got some movies- Sky High, Pinocchio and the set of all 4 Shrek movies. Plus Pictionary Jr. We LOVE board games and family game night is something we do a lot of, so Pictionary Jr. has been a hit! Santa also did stockings and everybody was happy with what they got. Since a friend suggested it when times where a little rough, we have been doing 3 gifts under the tree each year. A god way to explain it is that Jesus got 3 gifts, so that's what we do. 1 gift is the sibling gift, gift 2 is always PJs and gift 3 this year was a toy for the boys and jewelry stuff for the girls. Kaitlyn and Emma got hanging earring/necklace holders and Mia got supplies to paint and decorate a wooden jewelry box and they each got 3 earrings. Jude got Jingle the Pup with his interactive book (from Hallmark) and Coen got the interactive My Pal Scout. We have been playing games and watching movies like crazy and we have had a very white xmas, so we have been having tons of fun.

How the Gifts came out and sledding

These are the gifts I made. I think they turned out really cute. Jarrod's bosses family will be getting one of the Jack Frosts Not Lost games and Emma's teacher and Kaitlyn's HR teacher will be getting sets of coasters. Kaitlyn's other teachers are getting small boxes of chocolate.





The past two weekends we have gone sledding. One time in the ditch in our neighborhood (with an awesome snowball fight), another at Blue Mountain and another in a neighborhood (I didn't get pics at this one). Sadly we won't be going this weekend since the snow is slushy and melting now, but it was fun while it lasted.
Here are pics from the hood. I'll do the mountain in another post.

Gift Ideas....

So, it is that time of year again. Time to come up with something cute to give my kids' teachers. I want to do something cute and simple (and cheap!!). So, this year I am leaning toward this-

http://homemade.tipjunkie.com/homemade-tile-coasters-diy/

I found it on Tip Junkie's new Homemade site. She has put a lot of stuff on the site that has been very helpful for gift ideas. I also get alot of my ideas for Make and Takes. I got a really cute gift idea for a family too. I am going to make one of these for our family and Jarrod's bosses family.It was linked from one of the many e-mails I get that's craft related. I can't remember which one though. It looks really fun.

http://family.go.com/holidays/pkg-christmas/article-949256-jack-frosts-not-lost-game-t/

Well, if anyone who still reads this has any gift ideas let me know. I'm also having a hard time coming up with gifts for Coen. We have Xmas coming up and about 2 weeks later it's his first birthday. It's hard coming up with stuff for the 5th kid since we still have some stuff from the others he can use. Any ideas?

TodaysMama Giceaway Plus my Meme....

Check out TodaysMama for an awesome giveaway.

From TodaysMama-
TodaysMama and GameStop are giving Santa a run for his money this year with a pile of presents that any family could love.


Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? For good health, happiness and lots of love to go around.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? Waking up opening gifts and stockings. Eat breakfast and hang out and play all day.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A spa day or a babysitter for our 5 little ones so Jarrod and I could go on a date

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? We play lots of family games and go check out the Christmas lights.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Monopoly and trivial pursuit

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? We open one gift on Xmas eve.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? A week in a cabin somewhere

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year? A new DS for our oldest, Family Game Night 3 and MySims Secret Agent

One of my faves...

One of my favorite things right now is how Jude will say he "got for" something. Here it is in context-
Mommy- "Jude, did you turn out the light?"
Jude- "I got for to turn out the light. I go turn it off."

As a bonus, here's another funny story.
Yesterday the kids watched an episode of The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That. In this episode the Cat's friends helped a beaver fix her dam. So later on, Mia and Jude are playing. I hear Mia say "Jude, hurry and fix the dam!". Then, she runs off to go get something. Jude says, "I can't!". When asked why he can't he tells us that "There is no dayum here.". Then, after a little while Mia runs upstairs to go get something and I here Jude say, "Fiiiine, I'll fix the dayum." and he grabs his Handy Manny hammer and heads of to the corner to fix the dam.

Oh and here's one more. Last night Jude hit his head and came over to tell me and Jarrod. Jarrod asked if he wanted him to check it out. Jude said, "No, my brain is broken". So, Jarrod did a little touching and massaging of his head and told Jude he fixed it. Jude walked off holding his head and said, "No, it still broken".

Beard Watch 2010

Jarrod is on day 12 of Beard Watch. He decides to grow a beard out every winter and now that we are up north in the land of frigid temps but hardly any snow known as Missoula it works out well for his face. It usually lasts a couple of months and then it starts to annoy him and he shaves. So this year, I thought I would keep track of how long he lasts and update with pictures. The growing season started October 1st and we will see how long he goes. Maybe I can convince him to grow out his hair for me too! One can only hope =)

The skin on your elbow

During Emma's Birthday dessert, Kaitlyn asked if we knew what the skin on your elbow is called. We said we weren't sure and she told us it's called the Wenis. We looked at her and said that someone obviously told her that in order to get her to say it b/c it rhymes with another word. So, she came into the living room to look it up and prove us wrong. Here is how the rest of the encounter went:

K- "Ha! I was right. Here's the definition- The wenis is the skin on your elbow. If you pinch your wenis it will not hurt at all. If you pull it it will strech pretty far."
As she is ready this definition to us, Jarrod and I are almost dead we are laughing so hard. As she finishes up with the stretching part Emma adds her 2 cents from the living room- "Look, I'll pull my Wenis right now". As soon as that comes out of her mouth Jarrod and I are laughing so hard that I am in tears and he is pretty much maroon.

All in all it was a memorable conversation and we have learned something new- the slang term for the skin on your elbow is wenis, but the medical term is olecranan skin.