Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! Brad made me a Spanish coffee tonight.

Coffee+alcohol+fire=yummy.

And,best part, we still have our eyebrows.

While we were at church the Grinch stopped by our house and brought the boys some p.j's. They've got to be the cutest whos in all of Whoville.


The pic below is before church. Brody sang in the cherub choir. He told me on the ride to church he was "really nervous. Well, actually a little frightened."

He was the cutest cherub of all.


Today was a great day. The local movie theater had free movies all day. Can you say awesome?! Brad took the boys to see the Smurfs (sorry I missed it) and I made some appetizers and drank coffee (my morning coffee did not have any flaming alcohol). Then everybody took a nap and off to church to listen to my oldest lover sing. After church Grammie and Grandpa came over for a little while. It was a very relaxing day. My kids have been following Santa all day on the google map thing. They decided it was time for bed as "he's getting closer. Hurry! Hurry! Everybody get to bed."

They are nestled all snug in their beds dreaming of sugar plums.


If you look to the left of the Christmas tree you can see a small Santa suit. Brody wore that his first Christmas Eve. It is one of my favorite memories. Brad and I did rock/paper/scissors to see who got to carry him down the aisle. I lost. But, I walked behind Brad and got to see all the parishioner's faces when they saw a 5 week old baby wearing a Santa suit. I love being a mom.

Why am I posting a pic of me standing in front of the Christmas tree holding my arm up in the air you ask? Well...here's why. Because earlier today I decided to do 4 things. Actually 5.

#1: Shower.

#2: Put on clothes that aren't some type of work-out wear. And, they required ironing.

#3: Put on make-up including mascara and lip gloss.

#4: Fix my hair. Not just fix my hair, but blow-dry it and curl it all fancy like.

#5: Put on perfume. And.....and...accesories.

Why oh why would I waste 40 minutes doing this? Because I thought going out to dinner sounded fun. Fun until Brad and I ran some errands and I wanted to choke myself with a scarf in Kohls because Kohls is the only place to shop in this big city of Rhinelander. I love being stuck in a hot store with 839 people (while of course I'm dressed in a down coat and Ugg boots because I live in the tundra). For those of you that aren't sure....that was sarcasm.

So, after we left Kohls we decided some take-out Chinese was a much better plan than the Pub. But, here's the problem. As I said....I spent 40 minutes (that's like 3 days when you have little boys) getting myself fancied up. So, I posted a pic. Please comment how fab my beach curls and snake skin/rhinestone bracelet look.

P.S. I love yoga pants.

Wales family Christmas

Big boys swimming by themselves!

Best part of hotels....jumping from bed to bed.

Great "Superman" shots of the boys

Last weekend was the "Wales" family Christmas. My siblings and I each take turns hosting the fun and I LOVE this weekend and look forward to it each Christmas season. I have a huge family and getting together with 40-50 people, eating food till I burst, lots of fun laughs and kids enjoying all the fun things Aunts and Uncles let them do. I love, love, love it. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and the kids swam with their cousins until 10:30 p.m., jumped bed to bed, drank well over the legal limit of juice boxes, Hank slept with Daddy both nights and Brody slept with me. Heaven.

On our way home we stopped at Border grill...our family fav. Here's what Hank told me.

"Hey mom, just so you know, everybody loves Daddy and nobody really loves you."

let me remove the dagger from my heart.

Then Brody says

"Hankie, that's not a very nice thing to say. That's going to hurt Momma's feelings. We do love Mom....we just love Daddy wayyyyyyyy more."

A nice end to a perfect weekend.

Christmas program

The kids Christmas program was today. A-DOR-A-BLE!!! B was a wiseman and H was an angel. Aren't they just about the cutest things you've ever seen? I know! They are!
This one melts my heart.

Stay 5 and 3. That's what I want for Christmas. My kids to stay 5 and 3.

I believe God created each and every one of us to do something spectacular. Some of us may be "more" spectacular than others. Well, at least by our human on earth standards. But, each of us has a certain spectacular in us.
I've discovered my spectacular. I am glue. I hold things together. And I do it well. When I was a child I was the glue that held my dad together. Now I am the glue that holds my family together.
Lately I feel that I've lost some of my sticky. So, what does a woman do when she feels like she's becoming painting tape instead of gorilla glue? She hands it over to God. And, that's what I've done. Now, onto the dishes and laundry.

The bagel maker

Tonight Brody learned a very important life skill. How to make a bagel in the toaster!!!! Can you believe it? And, I'm proud to say...he nailed it! First try ladies and gentlemen. I helped him put the toaster on #4 setting. He grabbed the bagels out of the frig, pulled it apart, put it in the slot, and pushed down the button.
And then anticipation.....waiting for the circle of carbs to pop up. When his snack was finished he grabbed a plate, some honey nut cream cheese, and waited for the toaster to cool so he could grab his snack. I'd watch your back Emeril.

Elf on the Shelf

My in-laws have one of those "Elf on the Shelf" things. For those of you that don't know what they are, they are little elf dolls that you hide in different spots around the house. The kids have to find the elf, and of course, the elf reports any bad behavior to the big guy. In this case, Santa, not God. So, I should say the other big guy.
Well....Hankie was wound up last night. After dinner I had to ask him 8,349,763,092,538 times to put his p.j's on. For real. I counted. It was that many times. While he was getting on his p.j's (over a 40 minute time frame) he was also singing Christmas Carols. And, to make the Christmas Carols even more fun he was substituting words like "Holly" and "Jolly" with words like "backfire" and "poop". How festive!
As he is singing he takes off his batman unders and throws them at my Mother-in-law. Hank in hysterical laughter (and me as well) then says "hey Grammie.....I just backfired in those!" How adorable!
At this point, the craziness has gone on long enough and I say "Hank, "Alvin" (the elf) is watching you." Hank walk up to Alvin, picks him up off the stool, and punches him in the face. Take that message to Santa.
I love that kid. LOVE. THAT. KID.