Post Christmas Jitters

Stockings to empty, presents to open, a feast to eat, toys to put together, candy wrappers to pick up, wrapping paper to bag, dishes to be done...  All one really wants to do the day after Christmas is sit back in a big comfy chair and take a good nap.  Too bad the kids only participated in the first three of these and are still on a Christmas high.  They are ready to go, go, go. 

So go we went, all the way down to Tucson for a bit of spelunking in Colossal Cave.

Besides a visual treat, Colossal Cave holds quite a history.  It was used from about 900 A.D. to 1800 A.D. by several different Indian groups for shelter, storage and as a shrine.  The cave's history also claims to have been a hideout for different groups of bandits, one in particular made off with a significant amount of gold and Mexican silver dollars from a train heist.  Though the group was eventually arrested, their loot was never found.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, all we emerged with was what we went down with, but...

In the process got to touch a piece of history!

Merry Christmas!

Though the hat says grumpy, the smiles say it all.

Merry Christmas!

From Braden slinging his BB gun,

Hadley and Chloe rolling on their roller skates,

Emmry tearing it up on her rollerblades,

RJ pushing his broom,

and Ryan and CeCe surrounded by all that is precious to them!

Disneyland

Sometimes life can seem a bit mundane. We do the same things over and over again, day after day, week after week. School, work, running around, laundry... Sometimes you've just got to mix things up a bit, so Friday night Ryan and I went out on a little date to a local car dealership. I suppose it was a good date because we left our 2000 Odyssey there and came home with a bit of an upgrade. And seeing as every new vehicle needs breaking in, the next morning we pulled the kids away from the television for a little drive to Disneyland.

We had heard that the early weeks of December were ideal to avoid the crowds in "The Happiest Place on Earth". Mix that with a weekday and some rain and you've got yourself a walk onto many of your favorite rides. The deserted park did come with a bit of a cost though, wet feet and a some complaining... but wait times were rare and we did get to see the Hillbillies perform in their indoor venue three times!

Sunday we took a bit of a time out and visited the Observatory overlooking Hollywood, the inspiration for the observatory in Megamind, and the Los Angeles temple all lit up for Christmas, before heading back for more happiness. Kids have a way of making things more fun though, helping you see things in a new light. Who new that Disney had canoe rides and rope swings?

All in all, the trip was a welcome retreat from the day to day tasks of life. The kids got to leave school behind for a few days, Ryan escaped from work, and I got to set aside the demands of running the house.

It seems though that there is always someone that can't quite leave life behind and is difficult to please. The demands on a 13-month-old must be exhausting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we are thankful for...

Ryan: my family

CeCe: the opportunity to come together and celebrate

(Uncle Brian and Aunt Amanda are with us this year!)

Braden: my house

Emmry: my friends and family

Hadley: my baby, RJ, my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Canella, and my mom

Chloe: my family

RJ: the dishwasher

And what about Uncle B?  It's got to be this polar bear jump for sure!

First Word

I think all kids love to climb in the dishwasher.  What's not to love?  First of all, it's full of shiny objects that can be unloaded onto the floor.  Second, mom always mysteriously seems to be nearby!  I don't think I've had one child that hasn't seen its charm.  But the charm of course has always been in undermining what mom has been trying to accomplish for the last half hour.  Forks and spoons find their way to the floor or, even better, on the back of a pan that makes an amazingly loud noise.  So imagine my surprise when a child came along that isn't interested in emptying its contents onto the floor, but seems to love filling it up!

A miracle child he is!  And so polite too!  When I hand him a spoon, he grasps it in his tiny hand, says, "Thank you," and places it in the utensil basket.  Perhaps now we'll just work on his table etiquette!

Here We Go Again

This morning RJ dumped half the contents of a Costco-size bottle of liquid soap on the floor. While he discovered that it may be fun to play with slippery, slimy soap, it doesn't taste half so good.

As I scooped him up all I could think of was how I thought these days were behind me. Thank goodness there's only one of him!

Unearthing Prince Eric - Happy Halloween

For some reason there comes an age when being cute just won't do. Princesses with ringlets and fairies with sparkle dust; cowboys with plastic guns and sheep dogs with painted noses... they're all so adorable! But there is some allure to being something frightening, something that scares others.

Halloween provides just such an opportunity. An opportunity to become something gruesome for a night and go about terrorizing people in their homes. Our kiddos were no different. Moments before our spooky little ones hit the street Ryan made up the faces of a ware wolf, two vampires and a scary alligator... truly a frightening bunch... though through the face paint, the dripping blood and fanged teeth, there were four smiles that could not be masked! And they must have had a successful evening, because somehow we ended up with four heavily laden bags of candy, much more than I began with.

Without doubt the most frightening thing to visit our home this month came disguised as a headless mummy. Last year for a school project Braden had to make a sarcophagus. He begged Prince Eric, Ariel's handsome prince, off the girls, wrapped it in medical tape, and transformed it into a mummy. You would think they would be appalled, but no, they thought it quite an honor for their prince.

After he fulfilled his role at school, it seems our embalmed Prince Eric somehow found his way into a bush in our front yard. There he had been peacefully resting before being unearthed by a pair of twin archaeologists. You would have thought they'd found King Tut himself by the way they danced their way into the house with his decapitated body. They passed him along to the embalmer himself who seemed to reminisce over this great prince that once was.

Silence.

Then a repetitive high pitched scream that could have been coming from a little girl, but instead from the depths of a twelve-year-old boy.

Emmry running with her own version of the same.

The twins staring mesmerized.

What curse had Prince Eric unleashed on our home?

As Ryan and I entered the living room we found that out of the body... out of that pea-sized neck hole of Prince Eric... had climbed a giant spider the size of a tarantula. Perhaps it was a tarantula. Both empty body and spider lay on the floor where Braden had dropped them. There was little talk of keeping this mammoth arthropod as a pet as I was completely against it!

You can bet we learned two lessons from our archaeological experience: 1) never disturb an embalmed prince, and 2) next year for Halloween dress as a headless mummy!