Christmas

This Christmas was very much like last Christmas, which is a good thing. We let the kids open their presents from the grandparents on Christmas Eve this year so they would get their own special attention. Everything was a big hit! Thank you again!! Later that night we made cookies for Santa. Any baking in this house is a fun time, and we bake every weekend. It can get a little CRAZY! No, not really... but it is fun! :)
20111224 7900
  20111224 7893
20111224 7895 
Christmas day we had our friend Rudy over and we just hung out and relaxed, watched football, ate. The weather has been decent so the kids played outside with their new toys for a few hours. They got half outside toys, half inside toys (because we're all stinkin' geniuses). It was fun and relaxing, just what we wanted! Josh made his first ducken (duck stuffed with a chicken) and it was delicious. We all got what we wanted.
 20111225 789120111225 7890 
We've been enjoying our time together while Josh is off work... at home, chilling out and cooking :) I love my life. It might be monotonous sometimes, but it's a great life.
20111222 13061
20111222 13058
20111222 13078
20111222 13079 
Another family we know and love has moved on. We had a little bu-bye dinner at our house. I got some funny shots of all the crazy boys together :) We'll be following soon... late June our time in Spain is up! Now that Jessica and Jamie are gone you might be seeing more of me as I try to maintain my creativity and sanity despite utter boredom and lack of companionship.
20111224 7896 
 I am going to be getting Tristan ready for school. I don't know how much he knows already, but it's not a lot. Who knows he might surprise me. Thankfully he finally seems willing to do a little learning.
20111224 7898 
Brennan is going to get potty trained. We've been assaulting him daily with psychological warfare about the potty. I think he's going to be an easy one. After Tristan anything would be easy!
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Writing a Book

Image
I've been writing a book for over 5 years now.  When I first started writing I would only go in spurts of manic typing followed by months of nothing.  Looking back on what I had written was always interesting because I don't remember what I wrote, and I am generally surprised at the insight and elegance of what I typed out.  I find old writings of mine all the time, and some of them I still get so anxious about sharing, but I noticed that comes with a theme of prior personal judgment of self.  One self in particular.  I have no faith in my inner teacher.  I am not the most confident person when it comes to sharing new ideas or my perceptions of situations.  Oh I'm definitely a bold and thoughtful person, but I don't want to discuss my reasons for my choices.  When I do, afterwards I get anxious about how others felt about what I said or how I said it.  I will tell myself I don't have valuable insight, everyone already knows what I know, no one wants to learn what I…
Read more

New Beginnings

Image
After tons of research and conversations, we've decided to try something completely new.  The kids are going to be home with me next year instead of attending school.  I'm writing all about it on another blog for anyone interested in following this little adventure :)  We probably will also have a few trips to Germany and elsewhere mixed in... SO EXCITED!  I get really nervous about telling people about my choices for some reason, but I'm working on it.  It was time to finally let everyone know.
Read more

The Bullied Become Bullies

I believe the main reason bullying has become such a problem is our continued mistreatment of children.  We are bullies to them.  We are sarcastic and cynical and disrespectful.  We lord our power over them.  We hit them.  We say everything we want, however we want, as loud as we want, and tell them they cannot respond similarly.  We tell them how they feel and how they should feel.  We tell them what their intentions are.  We don't ask them or help them think through these complicated issues.  We don't practice patience.  We publicly shame them.  We don't trust them or have faith in their abilities.  We tell them what they can wear and say and when they can eat, sleep, even go to the bathroom.  It's insane.  We say "you can be anything", but our actions are fear-filled and insecure and opposite our words.  We give them no autonomy or control over their own lives.

This is especially true during middle school years, when kids are earnestly trying to become in…
Read more