Christmas Traditions: REJECT pile

in my short little mommy life, i have tried to begin many Christmas Traditions ... in fact i have tried to do a LOT of 'programs', charts, routines, etc.
sadly, my good/great/grand ideas sometimes fall short of becoming habit/routine/tradition.
take for instance:
for the last several years we have been going to the Carousel down at westlake center with the Farrar Family on the monday before Christmas ... last year we changed it up and went on saturday. this year we were back to monday but with all the snowfall we decided to back out - we also had some not so healthy kidlets and didn't want to push it. so i had a fantastic idea to get pizza and watch a bunch of Christmas movies together and fall asleep under the Christmas Tree. in theory this is a fun family film festival featuring frosty, rudolf, santa, and the polar express.

someone hit me in the head next time i think it's a great idea to let my little kids stay up later than 10pm!!

it was all fun and games and popcorn and licorice ... until easton couldn't hold still - i should have put him to bed like i kept threatening! (honestly, i am notoriaous for NOT sticking to my guns ... i need to demonstrate a little follow-through in the new year - resolution #1 say what i mean and mean what i say!)
and then ammon fell asleep - this was the intended result of movie night ... good job ammon for following the plan!!
the girls on the other hand were no where near as cooperative ... i should have remembered that they have NEVER fallen asleep in front of the tv, EVER in their lives!!
it was 1am before i threw in the towel/ran up the white flag/called it quits - andy had gone to bed at midnight when i finally surrendered to the fact that easton wasn't going to fall asleep either!!
this morning when ammon stumbled into my room at 7:50 to get a drink of water ... and then brought easton back with him at 8:10 ... and elyssa came in at 8:15 - BAH! i got out my BIG RED REJECT STAMP and threw this new tradition on the top of the "failed plans and rejected traditions" pile!
next Christmas i'm going to be better prepared with more age appropriate ideas for tradtions to begin ... or maybe i'll just stick with the ones we've got!!

What traditions have you started that have failed miserably ... or better yet - which Christmas traditions have worked really well?? inspire me!

photographic recap of these many days that i have neglected to blog ...

after finding the perfectly petite tree ... we brought it home and proceeded to deck the halls and the tree, the counter tops, the table tops, the hutch, the shelves, the front porch and the walls!

andy and i went out with our best friends (the party) to The Melting Pot ... if you've never been - save your money (it's not cheap but worth every penny!!), make a reservation and go. it's the perfect restaurant for us, we like to eat and visit for hours on end. our dining experience usually lasts 3+ hours. this trip to The Melting Pot was double celebration for us! "Merry Christmas to The Party" and "Look Who's Gettin' Married - Engagement Party!" we are so happy to have a party of 6 now! yippy!! Congratulations you two!

as many of you know it's been a winter wonderland in the great northwest these past few days ... wednesday was our first snow day! and we didn't know that it was going to be the first day of winter break until today! no school thursday or friday! see ya next year!!
we couldn't resist the hill over at the Y and when we showed up with our plastic bags (yeah - we're ghetto - we don't own a sled ... we live in rainville!) a nice kid offer to let us use his sled! and we had a GREAT time!

last night when it started to really pile up - i decided that it would be fun to make ourselves a POLAR EXPRESS! it was a hit ... we decorated and ate a ton of candy ... and when we were all done - we had a masterpiece!

and do you know what happens when little hands get ahold of your camera?? they fill it up with pictures like these ... i have 86 shots like this ... and if you'll notice, the one in the bottom left corner is of his big sisters smiling - and not making any attempt to save my camera from the perilous hands of our resident 2 year old!!

i have told him 900 times not to play with my camera ... all he has to do is say:

and i melt!

[and before you say "why don't you put the camera up where he can't get it??" ... when i put it up out of his reach he climbs up to get it ... he's just following his heart i guess ... someday he'll be a famous photographer and we'll look back to these days and maybe i'll be able to sell his 'first works' for millions!!]


So that's what's been happening here the last few days ... i'm hoping to get some good pictures of us playing in the snow tomorrow - i was pitted out by the time we got out the door today ... and i didn't take any pictures! i'm hoping to get a good sled and find some great runs tomorrow ... cross your fingers! it's supposed to be sunny and 27 degrees!

Woohoo!! Snow Day #3!! SO FUN!!

mission accomplished!

this morning after andy headed to his CPR/First Aid training ... we loaded into the van and drove 2.6 miles to the most local and i-can't-understand-why-i-haven't-known-about-it-before-this-year tree farm. apparently i'm the only one that was oblivious to this fantastic little secret, since the joint was jumping!! we pulled into a recently vacated parking spot, hopped out, greeted the nice lady handing out saws and cardboard (to kneel on - how thoughtful!) and headed out in search of the best tree in the lot.

we hummed and haa-ed over many ... "that one's too tall for our house", "we should probably let that one grow a few more years", "that one's a little too full", "that one doesn't have enough branches for all our ornaments", "that one's branches are a little too wimpy", "i think we should have one that points straight up, don't you??" ... and then we found it ...

the brilliantly brawny, perfectly petite, and victoriously vertical tree in the entire tree farm!

(and go figure ... it wasn't a noble!)

so as a team, we sawed (that's a weird word, don't you think?), stayed out of the way of the saw, held the tree and successfully felled (that one's even weirder ... but i looked them up ... they are real words!) our fantastic tree!!

we missed our daddy but had some help from a wonderful friend who just happened to be there too!! (thanks beans!) and next year ... we'll be back to this not so super secret tree farm! Hooray!!

now ... gotta decorate!

(ps ... elyssa is holding the top of another person's tree that was lopped off and rescued by my ingenious daughters who found the potential for this cast off ... it was an umbrella, palm tree and 3-4 different things before we got it home and they had to decorate it!)

see ...

homemade decorations and all!

charlie brown ain't got nothin' on these girls!

7 + 8 = fifteen things you never knew you wanted to know!

for starters ... i haven't done a meme in quite a while ... mostly because i haven't been nominated - but also cuz i can't ever think of 4, 5 or 6 things that people really want to know about me ... and now i find myself tagged for 2 different memes ... one with 7 quirks and the other crazy eights, if you get bored - i won't mind if you click away ... we'll still be friends.

7 quirks ... this oughta be good!

1. as many of you know ... i went to ricks college (now it's BYU-Idaho) but what you may not know is that i was a huge country dancer - (not huge as in size, back in the day i was wearing some good'n'tight no-pocket-on-the-butt jeans and looking pretty good if i do say so myself!) my partner/best friend [read: boyfriend] and i were really good and we even taught some people how to 2 step and swing. even today, when i hear a good 2 stepping song, i can't help but be taken back to that other life and i get carried away and start dancing with my now-imaginary partner.

2. i can play cribbage - and i like it ... and sometimes - shoot i do it all the time - i play it with license plates - count points with what i see on the plate ... A's are Aces - worth 1 or 11, J's are Jacks - worth 10, Q's are Queens, K's ... you get the picture! my dance partner from #1 and i would do that on road trips - so we didn't have to try and figure out how to bring the cribbage board and cards. andy thinks i'm a little crazy when i start "15-2, 15-4 ..."

3. i am afraid of spiders, heights and losing my friends/family ... therefore i am the 'spider getter' in our family, i climb up on ladders and roofs whenever the opportunity presents itself and i do everything i can to keep my friends and family close - in order to counter-balance these fears.

4. i have never worked retail ... or at a fast food restaurant ... or as a lead position of anything. of the 3, i would like to have a lead position but only if i had worked for it and deserved it! retail ... i think i could do it - not sure i'd love it. fast food ... not on your life - i won't do it - you can't make me! what's my dream job, you ask? i'm living it - i always wanted to be a mom (and a hairdresser in the basement have my own salon and such - maybe this part someday)! i brush my daughter's hair when they let me ... and i am the family barber for my 3 boys! but if i had to work outside my home, you know the movie "The Kid" - Lily Tomlin's role ... Bruce Wills/Russ' personal secretary. that's what i think i'd love to do ... call me crazy - but when i saw that movie for the first time ... i just wanted her job!!

5. i don't eat seafood ... mind you, i live in one of the seafood capitals in the world but i haven't tried it all [read: hardly any] ... but what i have i was not in love with.

6. i have 4 boys that i grew up with that i claim as 'my boys' ... and my handsome husband has 6 (i think) girls that he grew up with that i call 'his girls' (or harem - not the 6 ... but the other 20 that followed him around {wink}) ... funny that we married each other.

7. i'm one of Santa's elves and have been since i was in Jr. High ... it's true - i have a uniform and everything. so for all you non-believers out there ... there's a reason the big guy stopped coming to your houses! the bell still rings for me!

are you still with me?? here we go ...
the crazy 8's ...

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. CSI:
2. CSI:NY
3. NCIS
4. Criminal Minds
5. The Menalist
6. Survivor
7. America's Next Top Model
8. CSI:Miami
wow this is sad ... i actually can NAME eight shows i watch (and there are more that i didn't have room to put down) ... just like that ... i think i have a problem!!

8 Places I Love to Eat:
1. La Palmera
2. Red Robin
3. Olive Garden
4. Arby's
5. Taco del Mar
6. Subway
7. Salt Grass
8. Dickey's

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. i watched 2 friend's kids - 3 extra kids ... and it was actually a nice break from having to entertain my own!
2. finally took down all my christmas stuff from the attic - hooray!
3. plugged in my fiber optic tree - my favorite!
4. glued back together my baby food bottle tree - it's so darn cute!
5. removed easton's toddler bed from his bedroom ... and left only his mattress on the floor ... why you ask?? because he and his brother were jumping on the beds and the zip ties broke - yes i did just say that my son's bed was held together with zip ties ... my handsome husband is quite a resourceful fellow ... and when he couldn't find the nuts and bolts ... he improvised!
6. i picked up 2 extra preschool boys and dropped all 3 of them off for preschool at the only girl in our preschool's house!
7. was disappointed that 2 of my favorite shows weren't on because the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was on ...
8. i didn't finally go to bed until after 1AM ... mostly cuz i'm stupid and stay up just cuz i can!

8 Things I Love about Fall:
1. wearing cozy warm long sleeve shirts and scarfs.
2. the changing leaves
3. school supplies go on sale!
4. it's almost Christmas!
5. the crisp air
6. sunsets with a chill in the air
7. the 'bers'
8. school!

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. texting on my cell ...
2. new workout clothes
3. bi-weekly house cleaner
4. better faster computer ...
5. a yard
6. Andy would learn to 2 step
7. paint and a buddy to help
8. oh ... and world peace.

8 People I am Tagging:
1. little big sis
2. little sis
3. littlest sis
4. little bro
5. bestfriend who LOVES memes ...
6. bestfriend who hasn't been tagged since May (i researched it!)
7. bestfriend who hasn't blogged in WAY too long
8. bestfriend who just started a blog!!

(by the way ... you don't have to do both ... you could choose just one or the other if you'd like! but both would be fun!!)

well, if you're still awake and haven't removed me from your blogroll (if i was even on it {wink wink}) thanks for sticking around ... that wasn't all that bad ... but i sure wish i had pictures in this post ... but i'm not going to venture there - already TMI!!

a new tradition

our granny's house is lit up like a gingerbread house every year!

sunday was our first annual Christmas Lighting Celebration!

we'll be having it every year on the sunday after thanksgiving!

you should plan on it for next year!!

we invited the neighbors and a bunch of friends.

we sang carols, ate cookies, drank hot chocolate and cider and counted down to a 'we hope this isn't like the griswald's' christmas house lighting!

and we only tripped the breaker 3 times before we got all the kinks worked out!

Santa arrived and handed out candy canes to all the good little girls and boys that sat on his lap - (or next to him on the bench)!!

it was so much fun!

thanksgiving day recap

i realized that i didn't post what we actually did on turkey day.

after not being able to find our dad to watch him play football -

(long story short: we went to the right place and didn't see his car cuz he didn't park in the parking lot ... so we drove all over looking for him and finally gave up)

we decided to play a little turkey bowl of our own - kinda ...

sister ashby brought over some yummy turkeys

(i'll be making these next year!! - aren't they darling!?)

we had dinner with at our Grandma and Papa Shaw's house

it was yummy!!

then we drove to our Granny's house for dessert

easton fell asleep on the way ...

we didn't get home until about 10 ish ...

our weekend was fairly uneventful ... but relaxing - which is nice.

this is how we found him ...

when we went in to check on the boys before heading to bed last night ... he hadn't quite made it back into his bed ...

before ... falling .... back ..... to ...... sleep.