Snap!

Alex doing her best "picture" smile. We were able to coax Zach onto Santa's lap. I was crouched right next to the boy with my reassuring hand on him. Santa gave Zach his jingle bells to hold and that made it better long enough to get a keepsake picture.   :)

I love this age :)

Tonight Alexandria and Zachary saw Santa again. It's the third time Alex has talked to Santa this year and I was wondering if she'd start to question why Santa seems to have a very bad memory about what her name is and what she wants for Christmas. She hasn't seemed to worry about that yet!

Tonight we were at the KW Little Theatre Christmas party (it's the company that's putting up Jean-Paul's musical this July). One of the gentlemen had brought his Santa suit, which he donned for the kids. (Our two and one 3 1/2 week old baby girl).

Alexandria talked to Santa for a bit and was all smiles. The best part was when she was talking to him about how on TV she watched about how he grew up and how he used to not have his beard and stuff. And how he used to have red hair. Sooooo cute! She was referring to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". It's the 1970 special done in the same kind of animation as 1964's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I LOVE that she thinks she was talking to the same guy that was in the special we were watching. :)

Have I mentioned having kids is pretty cool?

On the first night of Chanukah...

We pulled out the menorah that Alexandria and I painted at The Art Studios last year. We made some paper candles and the kids decorated them today. Tonight we talked about Chanukah, the menorah, The Festival of Lights and what it all means. We talked about how Alexander the Great was a friend to the Jews, but the dude after him, Antiochus, was definitely not. We talked about Judah the Maccabee, the temple and the significance of the eight candles on the menorah. I came up with a pretty good off-the-top-of-my-head Junior Kindergarten analogy for the Jews being forced to give up their beliefs, I think.

So, we "lit" the shamash (middle candle of the menorah) and the first candle. Ok.. we taped the paper candles on.

Then the kids got their first little Chanukah present. Alexandria got a balloon pump and Zachary got a balloon kit - both from the dollar store. So, of course the pump didn't work. I blew up the balloons and I STILL feel sick. Note to self: Never, ever buy anything from the dollar store that may require going anywhere near my mouth again!

I searched for an appropriate video about Hanukkah for the kids and came up with this:



Tonight, though, I found this one. Sesame Street explains Chanukah. I'll show them this one tomorrow.

Best. response. ever.

I just got the best response from Alexandria.

I said, "Please stay in this room."

Her reply was, "But I have wild adventures to explore!"

Waxing philosophical to ... Aerosmith?

You know you're in a mushy, emotional state when you hear an Aeorsmith song and go, "totally, dude. Totally."

Dream On came on the radio and the lyrics just clicked with me today.

"Every time I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer"

This is so true. I absolutely still see myself visually, in my head, as younger than I am and thinner than I am. When I look in the mirror, honestly, I shock myself. Almost every day. Sad, I know.

"All these lines on my face getting clearer." Holy shit, are they ever! I... have.... wrinkles!

If I could go back to my 20-something self I would say, "Self." "Yes, older self." "Please, please, dear younger self, moisturize and cleanse regularly. You'll thank me, um, you, when you're 30-something-or-other."

Now that I'm staring 40 in the face (ok, not staring so much as squinting at 40 from off in the distance, but it's there... I can see it) things are starting to droop, drop, creak, crack, go nuh-uh, expand, proliferate, pop up, and grow where?! And while we're on the topic, Mother Nature, why in the name of all things fuzzy does my body need to be covered in more hair as I age? Where is it going? Is it trying to escape? Is it taking over? Was there a coup?

I have not yet waved the white flag to signal my defeat to they grey hairs, but I now acknowledge I am losing that battle. Badly. Now I'm going to be colouring my hair not so much for the sake of a new colour, but for the sake of having colour. Ok. It's not that bad, but those little wiry beasts are conspiring, staging predawn attacks and gaining a lot of ground.

"Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away"

I TRY to live in the moment. I TRY to enjoy life, as it is, today. I KNOW it could all end in the blink of an eye (thank you Aerosmith for reminding me). It's so hard not to look behind.... or look ahead, but to live in the moment and not worry about what the future holds.

It's weird. I used to always have some big life event to look forward to. When you're little, it's always the next birthday or going to then next grade. Then it's going to high school, getting a driver's license, graduating, going away to college. Then maybe it's meeting a boy, falling in love, getting married. Then there's still looking ahead to someday getting pregnant, having babies. It feels like I've run out of the "good" and "momentous" things to look forward to. Now all the things revolve around someone else's life. My kids' birthdays. Their moving on to the next grade, graduating, etc, etc.... I'm not trying to say this in a negative way. I'm simply feeling a bit strange. There's no big "good" life event on the horizon for me anymore. Been there. Done that. Got the extra pounds still to prove it.

It's a weird shift. I love my life. I love my kids. It's just a different view on this side of the hill. Not sure when I "peaked", but here we go! I'd lay down and barrel roll down with you, kids, but I'm afraid I might break a hip!

Holy sweet mother of smurfs!

What an evening!! One. thing. after. another. and. it. didn't. stop!

So, everything was fine until Jean-Paul left for work. Alex saw some new craft stuff and I said, "we'll do that soon, please don't open it yet." I finished unloading the dishwasher and saw her put the craft container (of foam shapes) back on the counter. She said, "that crack was already in it." I thought that comment was a little weird. As I was getting a couple pieces of construction paper out for them to put these foam shapes on, Zach grabbed another piece of paper which Alex quickly grabbed back from him and she proceeded to put it back in her hiding place. I saw that it had the new foam shapes already on it. The construction paper and new foam shapes were put away and they did not get to play with them tonight. She did not listen and then she LIED and tried to hide that she hadn't listened. She sat, sulked and tried not to cry. And now, instead of them doing something creative and requiring brain activity while I got dinner ready, the tv got put on.

Zach decided to help me with dinner instead of watching tv. Fine. Instead of getting the step stool from the family room (which I should have, but I was lazy), I let him use a Little Tikes chair. We had already said no more standing on those chairs (because he's a spaz and keeps falling off.) So, a couple issues here. 1) I'm breaking a rule we just set out (so much for clear boundaries, huh?) and 2) did I mention he's a spaz? Oh, and what are we making for dinner? French toast. With eggs. Four of them. They were cracked, put in ceramic bowl and mixed. He did a good job breaking the yolks and stirring. I stepped to the side for a moment to turn the burner on. In that blink of an eye, Zach somehow went ass over tea kettle over the BACK of the chair. He somehow went over backward, but landed flat on his chest. And what did he use to try and stop his impending free fall? THE BOWL WITH THE EGGS! I managed to stop the bowl from smashing on the floor, but not before the egg went all over Zach... the chair... and the floor. I turned the burner back off, picked him up, started wiping him down and de-clothing him. He managed to get egg on every single piece of clothing he was wearing, including his diaper! I was trying to comfort him while all this is going on, but even I draw the line at cuddling an egg-covered child. I got him stripped down, clothes rinsed off in the kitchen sink, and we went into the bathroom to wipe him down some more. Then we went into his room and got some jammies on. (Zach still crying.) He finally calms down and I plunk him back with Alex - who is still watching tv oblivious to what just went down in the next room. Now back to the kitchen to finish completely start dinner over (on my own.)

I finish dinner. One piece of French toast for Zach - he didn't like it last time, but insisted he wanted some for dinner tonight. Yup, he didn't eat it this time either. Two pieces of French toast for Alex - at least she's a fan. And three pieces for me. As I was clearing away their plates, I had asked Zach to sit still. He bounced up, hit my hand and the plate - the full plate of French toast and SYRUP - went flying. This is where "Christ!" was uttered for the second time tonight, followed by the f-bomb (under my breath, but still). The volcano erupted, I yelled at Zach to SIT. DOWN. RIGHT. THERE! Butt to floor in 0.3 seconds flat.

Just as I was about to clean this up, the doorbell rang. I opened it - damp paper towel in hand, syrup still on the floor in the living room - and exasperatedly said "Hello...'?" to which the doorbell ringer replied, "Um. Are you the homeowner....?" I have never been asked that before by a door-to-door salesdude. Did I mention I was still in my PJs at this point, with no shower? A short little conversation followed. "I'm from blah blah home security and we're..." I cut him off and said, "We're not looking into anything new right now. Thanks." With that I was alone with my two kids again.

With dinner done it was playtime in the basement. That went fine(ish) until the two offspring began fighting over a CONTAINER! I decided it was time to clean up. I mentioned it was December 1st and what were we going to start on December 1st? "The chocolate calendar!" exclaimed Alex. I said after the room was cleaned up. Quickest clean up ever. They each opened door number one and had their chocolate. At this point it's only 6pm! Too early for bath. I sent them back to the playroom. Fast forward to a half hour later. This time clean up is much more of a struggle. I finally said, "I better call Santa and tell him not to bring any new toys since you don't even want to clean up the ones you already have." I actually went and picked up the phone. Alex looked quite worried. "NO! I promise I'll take better care of my toys!!" We'll see how that promise holds tomorrow...

Then we had bath time. My arms are still wet. So's my foot....

We finally got settled, they agreed (I know!) on How the Grinch Stole Christmas as their story. We had a nice final few moments of the day with a calm, cuddly storytime. Twinkle, twinkle little star was sung. Kids were kissed and tucked into bed and the house is peaceful. They're so lucky they're cute.

(This hasn't been proofread, by the way. I'm too tired!)

Lemonade (The Movie)

I love this! This is how I'm starting to look at my situation now. I KNOW I'm heading in the right direction. I can feel it.

Lemonade Movie Trailer