The Gingerbread Man

I have to be honest with you. I'm not sure what this "Elf on the Shelf" is. 

Maybe something to do with an Elf checking out your kids and reporting to Santa? 

We've never had any Elves show up at our place. Maybe it is because the Gingerbread Man has the scene under control. He is pretty good at keeping the whining down and the bickering at bay. Every once in awhile, he will turn up "missing". The kids like to conspire to hide him. That's why his "Big Brother" came on the scene. Tadpole came in my room the other day with a bulging sweater and said, "I'm just fat. I don't know where the Gingerbread Man and his Big Brother are!"

Nice try.

Perfect Timing!

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" 

 Last year it was the bottom two...

This year it is the top two!

Oh! Christmas Tree!

Christmas Tree Time!

We found a beauty!

We brought her home, pulled out all of the decorations, 

and got busy!

I think we got  a good one... 

I especially like it with my favorite sparkly things out front!

Christmas Vaneer

While this crew will never take home rewards for, "Best Behaved", we are happy to settle for most stylish (self determined, of course). Christmas and Easter are when this family shines! 

Thanks to Grandma for the fancy threads!

And thanks to Cousin Andie who dropped by from Colorado to be audience to all of this and acted as personal photographer too! We ALL LOVE YOU!

Wish Lists

Jessica showed up Thanksgiving morning with the newspaper tucked under her arm. We all spent the day browsing the adds for all things bright and glimmery to delight our hearts. It reminded me of receiving the Sears catalog in the mail right before Christmas. I remember flipping through the pages over and over again circling all my favorite picks, which turned out to be pretty much anything in the catalog aimed at a girl. I think it was first Superkid's idea to grab a pair of scissors and start clipping out favs for his letter to Santa. The others were not about to miss out in such great fun and important work!

Topping Superkid's list is the Nerf N-Strike gun with "nite vishin gogls". He is also dying for an iPod Touch, Lego sets, robots and the Polar Express train set.

Abizella wants an EZ Bake oven, fancy dress-up shoes, slippers, art supplies, Disney Princesses, and a sewing machine! ... that is until she saw the Black Friday door buster add at K-Mart for a $10.99 sewing machine and realized she could just but that herself! 

This will go down in history as the BEST $10.99 she ever spent! Long story short, K-Mart did not have said sewing machine in stock on-line, or in the store (I know because we spent a very ugly Black Friday night at K-Mart). After giving up and deciding the pay the difference and buy it elsewhere, I got online to see the terrible reviews. In the end the "difference I paid" was a little more substantial, but the machine will go the distance. Abz already whipped out her first project, a silky skirt for her doll. 

Nice work!

Topping Tadpole's list is Hot Wheel's Wall Tracks, after all it is the tidy toy that will never touch the ground and is still loads of fun! He is also pining for Angry Bird's Star Wars plush toys, remote control cars, Thomas the Train's buddy Victor, and GeoTracks.

Little Chief didn't catch wind of the whole making a list scene. 

But it is pretty clear what is on this kid's mind. 

Ponies. 

Ponies, Ponies, Ponies.

He loves his (okay, Abz's) horses. I find him up chatting with his little horse buddies, acting out little scenarios. If he sees me, he looks up and says, "Go away Mom!" 

It is clear the horse takes center stage in his heart!

It's 'Nowing!

Little Chief bounded out of bed Saturday morning screaming, "It's 'nowing, It's 'nowing!"

Snow is not the only "S" word LC struggles to pronounce. Other favorites include, "Shammy" for his big brother, and he brought the Andrus girls to their knees in laughter when he commanded the dog, Shadow, (repeatedly) to *SIT!*

 It was on this "Nowy" day that Pops decided that the rain gutters MUST be cleared. To be honest there hasn't been any time before now (the leaves are finally all down and *mostly* hauled back to the compost pile) and the weather is not getting any better around here. Still I was pretty sure he had a death wish when he crawled out on the slick roof, tied to a power tool.

But why would he want to kill himself when he has these darling little *lazy* angels to care for on top of that full time job of his!?
As he likes to quote George Bluth, "I'm doing the time of my life!"

 Pops said that the ambulance that was blaring down the street slowed as it approached the house. He was waiting for them to pull over, lean out the window and say, "We'll just wait"

No worries though, he only had one close call all day and it was during the 1% of the time that I was actually spotting him on the ladder. Pops is my hero. The true model manly man.

Aunt Cincha Heaven

My sister Cindy came to town just before Thanksgiving. I see my family so rarely that when I do get to be with them I usually end up laughing myself senseless and having that feeling of never being satiated. Cindy is the best. We came from the best family of all time. Not because we were perfect, not because we always got along, but probably because we could always laugh, and still do. 

My kiddos were instantly in love. Tadpole still asks when she will be back. She is good for snuggling, chatting, tickling, reading stories and throws a mean movie party! Popcorn with M&Ms and licorice will be the "Aunt Cindy" treat of choice for all movie nights moving forward.

The wonderful thing about Aunt Cincha is that she values us all so much. She connected individually with everyone of us. We can't wait for her to come back in a couple of months! Hopefully she will bring Uncle Shane and Cousin Davis with her!

And Cindy, the "Pooh Clicker" is totally all yours!