"Mommy, my voice is a little rusty this morning!"

the grand idea.

Ella: "Mom, did you know that Miss Becky (music teacher) has a friend?... his name is Martin Luther King Junior....yeah, he's her friend....yeah, and he had an idea. Do you know what his idea was mom? His idea was that all people no matter what color their skin was-they could all be friends....yeah, yeah, no matter if the friend has yellow skin, or brown or peach or grey or purple or white skin...all the people could be friends........oh, and you know what else mom? Martin Luther King Junior has brown skin."

Mom: Yes, and wasn't that a great idea he had? It's a good thing he had that idea, because wouldn't it be boring if all of our friends had peach skin like us....
--
Now, if only everyone could keep in mind "the idea."

Why didn't I think of this??

empathybelly

There's nothing like doing a little house work
in your birthday suit!

Look how that hand is so strategically placed!...and yes, his legs are really that short.

mommy never wins!

Ella and I just played a game of Chutes and Ladders. I swear, she ALWAYS wins! She got every ladder and I got every chute. She tries to cheat sometimes at games, but when she doesn't cheat she still always wins!

shhhh...don't wake the babies....

Right now I'm making pulled-pork for 20 while diligently catching up on my non-profit Board Presidential duties, checking on ebay, cnn and people.com here and there (no, Pamela is not pregnant and Brit just left for vacation) thinking about how I really should clean my house since those 20 pork eaters will all be here tomorrow evening.....all this going on whilst this is going on in the middle of the family room:


....and Ryan said when I got home "I NEED to work out tonight!"....yeah, right, nice try. They're cute none-the-less.

I'm thinking of something...

Tonight at dinner we played "I'm thinking of something" (aka, 20 questions) as we do most evenings, and ella said this:
"Ok, ok, I'm thinking of something....Mom, it's something you r-e-a-l-l-y like....but no, mom, it's not wine..."

Is she saying I have a drinking problem????

....for the record, the answer was mustard. I do really like mustard, but I'd prefer a cheap shiraz over french's.

whew.

We made it. It's not just Hannukah that lasts 8 days, I'm certain it's Christmas too. Maybe Mary had a r-e-a-l-l-y long labor, or the wise men had some trouble following the star... whatever the reason, it's over... finally...and we're all four alive. We have just arrived home from our 6th Christmas celebration... Don't get me wrong, it was great fun-filled family time complete with all the trimmings: driving an estimated 500+ miles, a visit to santa (who was rather grumpy for a chubby man that only has to work 25 days out of the year), last minute gift card purchasing, wrapping paper overload, spending $325 on boarding 2 dogs for 5 days, two dancing elmos, a call to 911, two snowstorms, a shattered ornament, cramming 20 adults and 5 children in our modest suburban home, eating many-a-mystery-casserole, two vikings games (that's nearly 10 hours of football!... have I mentioned I don't like football?!), two birthday cakes for Jesus and one for Ryan, a power outage, setting the grill on fire (the outside of it), a forgotten ID at the liquor store at 9:59 on a saturday (remember we live in MN, no booze on sundays), a plethora of items made in china (hopefully sans the lead), dogs attacking a turkey carcass, hundreds of twist-ties that spent their short lives anchoring trucks and barbies to their expensive packages only to be lodged in the gut of my Dyson, a bonfire that easily exceeded our city's 3'x3' limit that, which by-the-way, was lit using tiki torch oil (and I thought Ryan was a boyscout), and last but certainly not least; having to reach my bare hand into a public toilet to retrieve a 20¢ sparkle headband... yes, a public toilet... there you have it folks, another Griswald family Christmas. Until next time....

In regard to the black & white striped shirt I'm wearing:

"Mommy, your shirt looks like the wicked witch's legs!"

(she hasn't watched the movie in months... what an amazing memory!)

boongie's vocabulary to date:

"mama" - mommy and daddy
"moh" - milk
"moh" - more
"nah-nah" - pacifier
"bubbah" - bubbles
"apah" - open
"uff" - off
"bappah" - grandpa
"jat" - friend Jack at school
"he-go" - here you go
"ah-dah" - all done
"oh-oh" - when something falls on the floor
"duck"

signs: please, eat, all done

and tomorrow it starts.....

Friday 12/21:
- take car (ahem, minivan) in for oil change
- pick-up "Happy Birthday Jesus!" cake
- pick-up uncle nick from airport
Saturday 12/22:
- drop off dogs at spa (aka: gross, confined, chain-link kennel @ $45/day)
- go to swimming lessons
- pack up two kids, 20 gifts, mom, dad & uncle nick into van
- drive to owatonna, eat.
- drive to winona, eat.
Sunday 12/23:
- go to LaCrosse, WI mall, attempt Santa's lap photo (no, ella, that's not the real santa, the real santa is too busy to be at every mall across america....and yes, I understand his breath was stinky and you didn't like his beard)
- play at "Bockie & Boppy's" house the rest of the afternoon & evening
Monday 12/24:
- Go to Great Grandma Anne's house, eat.
- Go to church
- Go to Great Grandma Mabel's house, eat.
- pack up two kids, mom & dad & strap 50+ gifts to roof
- arrive home around 1:00 am
Tuesday 12/25
- Have the Arnold offspring & Bockie & Boppy over, eat.
- nap
- Reflect on how, even though the last 4 days were incredibly stressful and tiring, family is irreplaceable and Santa will always have bad breath.
Wednesday 12/26
- pick up [dirty & ticked off] dogs
- go back to work wearing sweatpants, and weighing at least 7 pounds more than on 12/20

stinky parents:

This morning:
"Mommy!, guess what?...you're not stinky today!!...and neither is Daddy!!"

(well, that's great, I guess...)

kohl's is having a sale. no really, it's true...biggest sale of the year....

perhaps I should stick to girl's haircuts:

the other babies:

bffs: joie & jake

behind mommy's back:

mommy: ella, why are your playing with my nice necklace?
ella: because I took it when you weren't watching.
ella: mommy, when you're not watching I make naughty choices.
mommy: you do?
ella: yep, I do.

my baby boy:

wasn't I just pregnant?!...my baby is growing up, he's such a big boy!!... now, we've just got to get rid of that "nah-nah."

Laundy Weekend How-To:

10 Steps to a successful "Laundry Weekend"
1. sort into whites, pinks, blues, yellows & greens, darks, towels and specialty items.
2. dust bust remnants: dried-up peas, small pieces of play-doh, dog fur...etc...
3. wash

• 3 loads- white
• 2 loads- pink
• 2 loads- blue
• 2 loads- yellows & greens
• 1 load- towels
• 1 load- darks
• 1 load- special items...bras, 30-1/2 year-old blankies, princess dresses, stuffed animals...etc.

4. move cushion from love seat in family room
5. pile all clean laundry on love seat
6. fold over course of one day
7. designate one basket per resident
8. let clothes sit in baskets in each resident's room until next laundry weekend
9. use items as needed from baskets
10. put away into drawers/closets on 13th day, at which time you'll need the baskets again for..."Laundry Weekend!!"

just an average day out on the town:

roller-derby mama:

why bother with just one sucker?!

bummer.

As grandma buckled ella up to go to her dentist appointment, ella commented: "ugh, this is the very worst day of my entire life."
(I'm thinking I should let her know, it only really gets worse)

polka-dotted brother:

On monday, Ella made Grant polka-dotted. (picture to come)

sandwich artist:

"Mom, I need to make some poop sandwiches for the flies in the bathroom."
--ella 9/18/07

footnote:
a) there are NO flies in the bathroom
b) generally, we don't eat poop at our house.
c) exception to item b, 8/29 post

I'm not certain what the plan was here, this is how I found her:

...and yes, that IS the original "Memory" circa 1980-
match the mama animals with the baby animals.

veggie tales:

"Bockie, I can't take a nap because there is a pea under the mattress!"
--ella

mommies can be silly too:

The test results are in...

....there is absolutely no question that Grant is MALE:

(all he needs to learn now is to put his hand in his diaper)