Crazy Uncle Leo

What can I say about a 22 year old uncle? Our sisters all married awesome guys but it's hard to compete with the super fun and young Leo. Unfortunately the snow did not cooperate enough for the kids to learn to snowboard for real from him (okay, I think they were supposed to start with skiing this year but Leo is a snowboard instructor and someday he will teach them they think). He did get them their most prized present, the Hogwarts lego castle. He also made some much appreciated drinks that his girlfriend Ashley inspired. If only I could remember what was in it...

Here's Sienna!

Just hanging on the porch with Caroline. Looks so much like Nicholas and I'm sure those two are going to have some fun very soon as she is mobile now.

Fathers, you have one job

To keep your daughters off the pole. We like to think this means Patrick will be a firefighter, not an exotic dancer.

Group shots

All ye gather round the ol' iphone... warms my heart.

All the ladies now...

Taylors! I will find another one to post of Sienna later, the poor sick baby. Most the kids and some of the adults were sick but I think the little ones were the worst off.

Hey, 50% of the kids are happy, score! Children, it is Christmas EVE, happiest night of the year. I assure you, this was the best shot. You can see me scolding some of them in other shots and later off camera there may have been some attitude adjustment.

Anna recovering.... looks like a nice Belgium beer (cheers to the Benders who get it fresh!). For the record, she isn't drinking it, just in case someone wanted to turn me in. We give the kids the cheap beer.

Keenan Christmas

I try not to brag because it just makes people hate you (has anyone on facebook missed this lesson?), but the VA Keenans know how to do Christmas. We haven't gone in ten years due to army and children, and while we do enjoy Christmas on our own in our house, nothing compares to the celebration they put on. And really, I'm not bragging because I had nothing to do with it other than have the wisdom at 22.5 years old to marry someone from a great family. The house looked amazing, the food was worth the weight we gained, and everyone had a great time catching up. Nicholas and Patrick had so much fun together, nice for Patrick to have someone who wants to play with him. And a special shout out to Bridget for breaking into her wine collection!

VA LOVE

Many things to love about Virginia, Veritas Winery was just the first stop. Start saving those wine corks to hang from piano wire, I "love" this idea. (couldn't resist, sorry)

Bridget and I bravely tasted the wine before choosing some bottles for the picnic outside. I would like to point out that I was extra brave, note the red wine and cream sweater.

Hey, when you're not on call you can have wine with lunch.

Definitely a family friendly winery and it wasn't as warm as we hoped for but the boys still had fun splashing in the puddles on the deck, so much so that Nicholas needed a change of clothes. I didn't get a good photo of that, I must have been busy carefully drinking wine.

Was Grandpa Paul here?

Looks like someone shot the reindeer while we were in Virginia over Christmas. Lots of posts to catch up on and I just realized that I need to do them in the next 8 hours if I want them included in my 2011 blog book. That's right, I print this drivel out! And if you come over to my house you can read the 3 books I already have. Fascinating! If you are drinking! So let's get started. I mean with the blogging, I think enough drinking was done in Virginia... As Jude Law will say later tonight in The Holiday (Sean is working), I don't believe anyone has ever drank that much.

Only Boy

The girls laughed hysterically when they saw him come out in this but I was just happy that he bundled up enough to stay outside more than 2 minutes.

Sunday night out

For once I managed to remember something fun I read to do around town. Girls have been begging nonstop to go ice skating and I would love to take them, but not possible with the littles in tow and Sean is never around when it's open and we want to go. Anyway, this was my consolation event.... horse and carriage ride to look at the lights downtown. As always, everything is more fun with a friend along and these three got to ride up front with the driver. Is that what you call him? No beef-a-roni action a la Kramer on Seinfeld but they said it did stink.

Snow dusting day

This snow day may not have been necessary but I'm not too sad to miss picking up the girls from school because the roads will be worse by then no doubt. Sean took my car to work since it has AWD so the kids and I are obviously staying home today. The big girls went outside for about 20 minutes which is a record (except for the time last year when I let them use the hose to try and melt the ice on the driveway). Patrick got dressed up in a variety of snow gear, including Anna's dress boots from 2 years ago (I didn't bother to get him boots yet this year since he is so picky about what he wears-- went outside yesterday in shorts and crocs) and then spent 2 minutes outside. Emily had a fit for a good ten minutes because I wouldn't let her go outside in her pajamas and dress shoes. I have absolutely no snow gear for her because I know she won't last 30 seconds. She and I will not be partaking in winter activities in Virginia... Ah, I should use the energy from my sudafed and pot of tea to get the packing done. Going to need some magic bags to fit it all in, not to mention bring it all back with presents thrown in....

Saaaanta

No, Megan, it's not a laptop. Nor will you be getting one...

Anna was pretty chatty, probably tattling on Patrick.

Patrick wouldn't even go into the room where Santa was (not even to get dessert!). We think that he was afraid Santa would chew him out for all his bad behavior lately. For example, we are trying to get him to stop calling everyone "you stupid idiot", which we think he learned from Shrek. I even made him a chart where he gets a sticker for every day he goes without saying that. I made this chart two months ago. He has one sticker and I'm not even sure he earned it. I am pretty confident that we won't be cashing that chart in for a trip to Disney any year soon.
Sweet Emily was enamored with Santa... from a distance. She kept waving at him and saying "Saaaanta" in her sweet quiet voice. She says that every time she sees anything Santa oriented, including the waffle bar guy wearing a Santa hat and a Santa glass I have. Wait until she gets presents from him on Christmas morning, then she will really love him. Too bad Santa hasn't thought of anything for her yet. Santa didn't know if she would understand this year. Santa might need to hit Target YET AGAIN. HO ho ho!

Favorite things Friday

Friday was favorite things day indeed. Went to the favorite things party where everyone brought 3 of their favorite item and then ended up coming home with 3 different things from other people. I got some fabulous cinnamon rolls, of which I had more than one I confess, thanks Jeanne! And then I got my new absolute favorite piece of furniture delivered... lockers! Now I can put all the kid clutter behind closed doors and I no longer break out in hives whenever I go in that room. Patrick suggested I get their picture standing in front of their lockers and of course a fight broke out and I captured the beginning of it.

Dr. K in da house

Don't you hate when people talk like that, dawg? Anyway, just wanted to let Sean know that I picked up his Dr. K since everyone (and by everyone I mean only me and only right now) calls him Dr. K. It's a 2 liter, better drink it in one sitting or else that fine store brand beverage is going to go flat. I suspect this prize will hang around our fridge a LONG time.

Now the Diet Vernors won't be so lonely... it will be waiting for my parents to return and drink it in the spring.

This kind of day

Patrick announced that he needed rocks, glue and paper for some art. Fine, whatever. But then he was mad when I took a picture of Emily after I took a picture of his art and thus gave me this face. Notice that he won't get dressed today either. While I will obviously force him at some point as we have to pick the girls up from school, forcing him to get dressed to go to the grocery store rarely ends well. Usually ends with lots of crap I didn't need from the store in the first place. So dinner tonight comes from the freezer, yay! Well, some will come from the wine fridge...

Which do I prefer?

Christmas deer don't eat my plants or leave piles of droppings for the kids to investigate...

New PJs

Sometimes I need to wash Batman, so Superman comes to the rescue. Emily is working on her poses. She also likes to point out the letters on her shirt frequently. Not sure what she thinks it says, probably something about how we need to give her more presents. This is going to be the big year for understanding the concept of presents I think. She is already obsessed with Santa and she doesn't even know what he can do for her.

2nd of 10 Christmas Programs

Our school does a real Christmas program every year and it seems to be a tradition to do some of the same songs each year so I am guessing by the tenth year we will be ready to move on to just the band concert. Anyway, when making Sean's work schedule months ago I did not notice the date of the program and of course he was working both jobs last night and this time of year it is hard to swap shifts. And then as we were sitting down to dinner Emily had just had it, so I put her in time out for a couple minutes to cool down. She fell asleep of course... at 5:45... So the girls think that Sean stayed home because of Emily and weren't upset at all that Sean was going to miss the show. I also promised to video tape it for him which I am usually kind of opposed to since then you don't enjoy it live, too busy fussing with the video camera. Patrick ended up sitting on my lap and shaking the camera the whole time so that will be a great program to watch, kind of like punishment for missing the real thing.

For three hours leading up to the program the girls were looking for their shoes. I have no idea where they went but I know we had them recently. I probably put them someplace clever again but for now I am blaming the children. Anna ended up wearing an old pair from Megan that were about 2 sizes too big and Megan ended up with a pair of dressy boots from last year that we remembered we had just as we were headed out to Target to get new ones. Few things I hate more than spending money on items we use a couple times... like dresses and fancy shoes. Target comes in so handy and the girls are too young to object still!

ps Emily slept until 8:30 this morning, apparently I need to put her to bed at 5:45 every night!

Get tired!

Let the assembly begin! Thanks Aunt Andrea (although Charlie got all the credit around here).

Anna, as an 8 year old, cannot be in a photo without doing bunny ears. The real reason I had the kids hold dorky looking candles in our Christmas photo.

Getting some air. Sean said that is the first time he has heard Patrick breathe hard. Apparently a good workout. I just want to tire him out and so far it's working!

Welcome to Kansas, Mr. President

So many perks to being a Secret Service superstar, a trip to Kansas City as part of the President's detail team is just one of the best ones. Apparently there was some confusion as to why it is so effing cold already. Just trying to balance out the extreme heat of July... Come back then Dennis, and bring the fam! Would love to see you guys!

Engagement tips

So glad I got engaged over 15 years ago because while wasting time on pinterest I came across tips for things you have to do right after you get engaged. Go get a manicure to aid in showing off your ring and pick a diet plan and stick with it. What's the real meaning of getting engaged?? I realize some people did all that 15 years ago but without reality TV wedding shows to fully educate everyone, I missed out on that. I have had exactly one manicure in my life, on my wedding day (was a gift from friends) and I was probably at my heaviest (with the exception of pregnancy of course) when I got married. Why have a big skirt on your dress if not to hide the junk in the trunk? Anyway, good luck to the brides of 2012! Remember to be the opposite of that Kardashian girl, however you spell that (because I don't care). Spend less, be married longer.

Long season

Day 3 of advent calendars... so far no one has peeked ahead. Impressive because they are playmobil ones, so a tiny toy each day to make a scene at the end. Presents are starting to trickle in and we let them open some early, to keep them from going crazy. Also, as bribes. Tonight it still took Patrick two hours to eat his green beans, even with the promise of a gift from cousin Charlie. I eventually told him what it was, to further inspire him and it still took another hour. Now he has to wait while Sean assembles it.... may be a little late for jumping by the time it's ready. A tiny trampoline. I sure hope it wears him out! Anna is lingering around, thinking she can use it too. Hmm, with her history of ER visits? Now I can't find the gifts for the girls. I put them in a clever place. Too clever. Must have been high on caffeine when I hid them because I have ransacked the house and no luck. It's not a big place but a surprising number of closets and cupboards and apparently one super secret awesome hiding place! Maybe it will show up sometime in March, what a great surprise that will be. Ho ho ho!

House Cleaning Tip O' the Day to You!

Our bedrooms are upstairs and we have a separate furnace for up there. So I keep the bedrooms clean by setting the temperature really low so the children won't go play up there. Added perk: they won't get out of bed at night and wake me up either.

Sweet Baby Jesus

It's my favorite time of the year, when I can strap the kids in the car, mostly out of hitting reach of each other, and drive them around to look at Christmas lights. Sean gets to enjoy some quiet time at home and I get to look like I'm casing the same houses night after night. Here is my comment for tonight... I realize a lot of people like to be offended that Christmas is becoming less religious and more commercial and they like to circulate a lot of emails and facebook posts that are often exaggerated or outright lies. If that makes them think they are good Christians, whatever, post that and then go post some stuff about how illegal immigrants are ruining our country (hmm, WWJD for poor people trying to support their families?), but when it comes to decorating your yard with just a cross as a way to shame your neighbors and their snowmen, you're getting confused.

Jesus died on Good Friday. This is Christmas, this is all sweet baby Jesus, laying in a manger, God's gift to us. We all know what's going to happen but can we just focus on the true meaning of this particular holy season. Don't. Be. Debbie. Downer. And why the obsession with the cross... Jesus isn't the only one who died on a cross, but He is the only one who was resurrected. How about doing a whole scene in your yard showing Jesus coming back to the disciples after he was raised from the dead? Oh, that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? YES, because this is about the nativity story. Put your cross away and get out Mary, Joseph, sweet baby Jesus, the manger, the donkey, the inn off to the side with no room in it, whatever you want, just pull out your Bible and read the story that is associated with Christmas and go from there. Good Friday is April 6th, we'll all be somber then, deal?

HUGE accomplishment

Now, I try not to brag too much but today was truly extraordinary. I remembered to buy chip clips. For literally years now I have needed them at least several times a day. I'd go look in the empty drawer, curse, vow to buy more, and promptly forget. But not today! Today brings us victory! A 10 pack! Feel free to stop by and bask in my glory. I will reopen a bag of chips to celebrate.

Bad liars

One perk to the kids being young is that they can't lie well. I just walked into a room with an obvious odor a few minutes ago and asked who was stinky. Emily immediately pipes up with a cheery, "me!" followed immediately by "no!" as she hates diaper changes. Patrick then tried to check her diaper to confirm this (trust me, not necessary) and I push him gently out of the way with my knee as I pick her up. He then calls me "stupid mommy" in his angry voice and without missing a beat, changes to his cheerful, excited voice as he says, "race you upstairs!". Prior to this incident I walked in on Patrick picking at some xmas decor and while his hand was still touching it, he claims that Emily did it. Hmm, really? I have my suspicions...

Leftovers: it's what's for breakfast

My mom had the brilliant suggestion to freeze small amounts of my spinach gratin individually so I could thaw them for spinach omelettes. A good way to use up the massive amounts of leftovers when Kitra and Joe aren't over to help eat it. Sean of course won't touch it and he will be thrilled to miss the smell of it this morning. Mmm, nothing like spinach, onions and eggs in the morning. Emily helped herself to a bag of pita chips this morning and I asked her if she wanted breakfast. She knew better than to accept my offer and just pointed to her bag of chips instead. Oh and no meal is complete around here without Patrick using the bathroom, announcing to me just how it went and then having to go help him. I think I have a new diet idea that I will pitch after New Years.

Other random kid stories for Sean bored at work: I got Emily up this morning in her kitty pajamas and I called her my little kitty and she started meowing. So she does know some words. She also just asked for "Word World". Really, can't tell me what is wrong when she is yelling in the car for 20 minutes straight, but can say the name of her favorite TV show? PBS is telling me this morning how much they spend purchasing children's shows each year, must be tied in with fundraising, and I would be happy to support them if they would just once show me the Sesame Street with Jude Law guesting on it.

Patrick has started abbreviating "you stupid idiot" with "you stu", thinking that he can insult me without getting in trouble. I'm not that stupid. He threw his light saber in the trash yesterday when he was mad at me, did it right in front of me. After he walked away I pulled it out and hid it of course, knowing what fit would result later. So this morning sure enough he is looking in the trash for it and I told him it already went out to the garbage truck and he was melting down. I asked him why he threw it away and he said it was because I was being mean. Wow, I guess it's a wonder that we have any toys left in this house. I guess his rationale is that I threaten to throw his things away when HE is bad. Apparently he thinks I will be upset if I don't have his toys to play with too? I should start punishing him with extra chores to do and then maybe he will clean up this place whenever he's mad at me. It would be spotless around here, trust me.

I am hoping the place is a little less chaotic and cluttered as soon as my faux vintage lockers arrive for the library. In theory each child will have their own and we can close them up and thus not have to trip over all the kid crap... bags, coats, boots, shoes, gloves, hats, rocks, papers, Harry Potter wands, light sabers, etc. If this works it will be money well spent. I tried to arrange a trip to KC to find real vintage lockers but it just wasn't happening and I figured it was way easier to order the faux ones from Pottery Barn. This is why real interior designers hate Pottery Barn... makes it so easy and cheap for everyone to get good design. Nothing like a free magazine of great ideas and styled rooms where you can purchase everything with a few clicks on the computer. Quality is questionable at times but we can't all live in Belgium and have great access to the real stuff at great prices. Oh but if I can bribe Heather to move here next I could take a trip over right before they pack up and then pay for their extra freight charges... HINT HINT. Okay, that should be enough to make Sean sweat for now...

Cyber Monday

Isn't every Monday, cyber Monday? Ah, send half the kids off to school and park the other two in front of their beloved Curious George. I'm not usually shopping online, just catching up with friends, getting lost on facebook or pinterest, but apparently tomorrow is the big shopping day. To buy for myself? I found some boots I want but they are backordered until January 2nd. So that wouldn't show up on the credit card bill for AGES. And what a nice surprise that would be, to get some random boots in the mail after the fun of xmas is over! Happy new year to me!

Ah, I need to avoid checking my email tomorrow so I don't get tempted by all these offers and buy something. Even efaucets.com is running a great sale. In case my kitchen faucet breaks a couple weeks after we replaced it? I think we are good there, at least we better be. Diapers.com? Well, we are having a hard time thinking of stuff to get Emily... Let's see what Tiffany.com comes up with, they're always running huge sales. Har. Sorry Sean, I don't see anything for video games...

Easter?

Hard to get motivated to get out the xmas decor when there are bits and pieces of Easter laying around. The kids enjoy raiding the storage room and coming out with all sorts of things. Gosh, wonder why we had only 1 pumpkin for trick or treating this year? I need to come up with a better plan. I also need to brew another pot of tea if I'm going to accomplish anything today. And by that I mean, get dressed.

Last roll

Emily just finished the last roll, which I forgot about and left out overnight. Oh happy day for her! She also helped herself to the tortilla chips at 5:30am. Better than candy? If only she could reach that... At least 3 of the kids have horrible eating habits which might explain their behavior. I offer plenty of healthy food and I get tired of throwing it away... Open invitation to anyone willing to accept this challenge of getting my kids to eat good food!

Up early for Black Friday!

Oh wait, no I am up early for Emily and Curious George. Doubt I can get out shopping today without Sean realizing I am just buying stuff for myself. I think he worked most of the night so he may not notice if I go out but he finds it annoying when I immediately spend the money he just earned while the rest of us were sleeping. It should seem like I have so much extra time today though since I won't be cooking. Hope everyone likes leftovers for a week. Oh wait, they didn't even like it the first time around. Megan is getting smart about it at least as she will fill her plate and eat some, but mostly just move it around and then claim to be full. Until donut time! The other three just had turkey and rolls and in the end really only ate the rolls. Emily did have a carrot which she chewed up and then spit out. Our table manners are delightful and unfortunately sometimes we have other people here to witness them.

Another Thanksgiving highlight was when Anna sliced her finger peeling carrots. It is a very sharp peeler and I thought she knew how to use it since this is one chore she has done before. But I was wrong. So Sean took her down to the ER for some dermabond, which she later chewed off and needed more of, not to Sean's delight. It was 70 degrees out so the kids went to the park and played outside here (digging in the dirt after they had baths, yay!) so the day wasn't a total lazy day. The kids didn't like the Macy's parade and I didn't like the commercials the kids were sucking in so that didn't last long. Megan did enjoy mocking the ice skating show that was on later in the day. Not even 10 yet... the teen years are going to be full of sarcasm...

I am the champion

To everyone who still has Christmas shopping left to do, you suck. I got all mine done, I am so awesome. Okay, I resisted posting that on facebook but everyone knows someone who has... Now let me explain how this happened and how annoying it is to be done with your shopping early. First of all, Sean and I had 2 days in KC without kids to shop in stores that we don't have here, namely Zoom, this fun toy store with stuff we haven't seen anywhere else. Had to take advantage. And then Nana and Pops arrived with a backseat available to cart gifts to Virginia, where we will be spending Christmas this year. Is there ANYONE who would pass up the opportunity to avoid going to the post office to send packages? Talk about motivation. They were probably hoping I wasn't so motivated when they saw the pile to put in there. (Let the record show that our kid gifts are small, it was the gifts for the rest of the family that were bigger... and those are staying in VA).

Now let's discuss how annoying it is to be done with the shopping. First comes the credit card bill where all the gifts are on the same month, along with the plane tickets. The harsh reality of how much it all really costs. We have a tradition of panicking on Christmas eve that we don't have enough fun gifts for the kids and running out to get more, thus splitting up the expenses over a couple billing cycles. I made a detailed list of gifts before sending to VA because I knew that would happen again. This year I will be strong! And remember the budget! So that is the annoying part... when Sean hands me the mail I have to toss all catalogs, my sweet catalogs, in the recycling. And there is no point in checking out all the emails I get about online sales... So the fun is over.

What I do get to keep from the mail are my house magazines... the January issues are coming out now, full of nice, uncluttered January houses that are a backlash to the over decoration of the holidays. Talk about buzzkill. I don't even want to decorate now. So everyone else will beat me there! I do have the tree up but that was just to make sure it worked and I have no plans to get out ornaments any time soon. We won't even be here for Christmas morning obviously... Oh, I'm sure the kids will insist on getting the stuff out, don't stage an intervention just yet. But you are welcome to come by and help me get the boxes out!

RV back in town

But it's not fitting up the driveway. Fortunately there is a state park down the road so they are all hooked up there. We took full advantage of babysitting services offered and went out for a little pre-Thanksgiving Mexican food fest, followed by a baker's dozen of fancy donuts. Kicking the holiday season off right...

Anna and Nana

I did manage to take one photo when Nana and Pops were here last week. They stopped by on their way home from a wedding in Austin. It may not have been a direct route to Virginia but we sure are glad it worked out. Newly retired Pops gets bored easily and thus begged us to let him do fall clean-up in our yard. I caved in and figured we would take him out for a nice dinner then, sans kids, but then he insisted on paying. Not sure what angle he is working here but he must have a project waiting for Sean at Wintergreen over Christmas...

Batman

First of all, Emily is finally learning some new words and it is a reflection of what happens in this house. She confidently says "Batman" now, so proud of herself. Patrick lives in his Batman pajamas, best $20 ever spent at Target as far as he is concerned. He wears them to play outside unfortunately and is getting holes in them though. Anyway, to illustrate how serious he is about his Batman identity he came down in his mask one morning when Nana and Pops were here. Just glided through the kitchen, ignoring everyone, and sat on the couch. He's not much for talking in the morning. The next morning he came stomping in without the mask. I think he was mad that he couldn't find it. I have to be very careful with Batman in the morning, must judge his mood and treat him accordingly or the rest of the day is a challenge. Well, MORE of a challenge. Oh and every morning he asks if it is Christmas yet. Ah, going to be a long 33 days.

How about this shot?

I decided today was the day for our 5 minute photo shoot for xmas cards (there is a sale going on until Tuesday). Not only did I save money by not hiring a professional to take our photo, I also saved time because I didn't have to get everyone showered on the same day, do their hair, pick out precious coordinating outfits and then spend hours getting shots in various locations. I did get Anna to change out of her stained jeans and velcro gym shoes and Sean bribed Patrick into breaking his "no pants other than sweat pants" rule. I thought it would keep them from hitting each other if they were each holding an (electric) candle but (spoiler alert) it ended up looking kind of odd in the final photo. Here they are practicing with Kira being me while we waited for our speedy photographer to show up (also to take Kira home). 5 minutes really was the limit for the littles so at least I know what I'm working with here and am realistic. I did ban the light saber for the final photo, much to Patrick's dismay. Maybe next year we will all go with the Star Wars theme... I did consider mixing it up this year and choosing a Happy Hanukkah card, Hello Kitty was also a close contender, but I guess you will just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Patrick's theatre debut

So thrilled to kick off his Thanksgiving program.

He is technically dancing here.

That is some fancy placemat art. It will cover up the permanent damage to that he did to my dining room table with some jewelry making glaze while I was in KC last weekend.

That is a cup of his favorite foods combined... popcorn and m&m's. Lunch of champions.