Low Key Christmas

Last year, we went completely over the top for Christmas. We bought tons of toys and then Santa brought them a Band Hero set, including the giant drum kit and the grandparents got them a bunch of stuff too. And they didn't use hardly any of it in the last year. In fact, they had the band kit less than 6 months before they had completely destroyed the drums.

This year, we scaled it way back. They bought each other a few small gifts (I actually picked them out and bought them because they decided they wanted to do it on Dec 23rd after 5pm and I so wasn't taking them to Target with all the other crazies. He got her snowman slippers and sparkly peppermint flavored lipgloss.



She got him a space themed game similar to Chutes and Ladders and a Mario Kart Drawing pad



Santa brought her some pink DJ headphones so she doesn't have to borrow her brother's anymore.



Santa brought him Stratego and he was super excited about it.




At this point, they gave up on the hold up and smile portion of the gift opening so you can't tell what any of the other presents are. :)

She got Just Dance 3 fo the Wii



And he got Lego Harry Potter years 5-7



They also each got a complete book set. Her's was the entire collection of Junie B. Jones



And he got the 39 Clues



And thanks to the Girl Scout magazine sale, both kids got a magazine subscription for the next year. He got Dig, a magazine about archeology, which was funny because I picked it out without his knowing, then he brought home a copy that he bought at the used book sale at school. So they would have more to unwrap, I took his copy and wrapped it and put it under the tree for him to open.



She got Jack and Jill, which I borrowed a copy of from the library and wrapped for her.



Besides the other stuff they got from Nonni on Christmas Eve she gave them snow boards with handles that they are just DYING to use. Unfortunately, no snow means no snow boards.





A little later in the day, two small gifts were "found" under the tree. They opened them and were a little confused, since it was just a page of pictures of a waterpark.



On the paper it said "how about we go here" and MT figured out what that meant first.



Nonni asked her went she would like to go and she said "tomorrow!" Nonni said "how about right now?" The reaction was understandably excited.



Everything was packed and in the car and ready to go, all they had to do was put on real clothes.





Before they could do that, MF started to cry because she was "so happy"



So that was our version of a low key Christmas, where before noon on Christmas day, the kids took off with my parents and we had the house to ourselves for 3 days. :)

Tis the Season

I hate the carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Seriously? You are going to show up at my house uninvited, demand food and then refuse to leave until you get some? STFU!

Just one more reason that I'm not a holiday fan

Worst toy ever

A few months ago, my MIL said she wanted to buy the kids a trampoline for Christmas and she wanted my mom to go in on it with her. Fine, the kids would love that. Then my mom decided that she didn't want to get them a trampoline for Christmas because it would kind of suck to have this cool new toy but be unable to play with it for several months until it got warm enough to be outside. Fine that makes sense. My MIL asked what they would like for Christams since she wasn't getting the trampoline anymore. I told her that The Boy would like to have a Star Wars, The Clone Wars, Elctronic Battleship game. I even sent her a picture of the one we found at Toys R Us so she would know exactly what to look for. She called me a few days later and told me that she wasn't getting him that, she was getting him a remote control helicopter. I told her that was a VERY bad idea, that I wouldn't let him fly it in the house and that she should pass and get what I suggested. It was then that she told that she had already bought and I pointed out that stores accept returns because it was NOT A GOOD CHOICE for a gift.

So today was Christmas with the ILs and it went about as predicted. The kids ran around and made grandma and grandpa quite crazy. BIL and SIL were grumpy that they even had to be there and I was ready to tear all the freaking heads off. Of course, they insist on eating before opening presents, which is practically a hanging offense in our house. The kids refused to eat and then my MIL told them they couldn't have their presents if they didn't eat. That was when I stepped in and told her to back off, that wasn't going to happen. So eventually, everyone got done eating and the kids opened their presents. TB got a helicopter and MT got a "bounce back" remote control car. You run it forward, it runs into the wall, flips over and comes back. Whatever, not driving it in my house. H (RF's niece) a zero gravity car that runs up the walls. None of the toys were charged and the kid whose toy just took AA batteries was told she could drive her because it wouldn't be fair to the older kids who couldn't play with their toys. Good call, get kids toys with batteries, don't charge them and then don't let them play with them either. Super fun Christmas all around, thanks for playing!

The worst toy EVER award goes the helicopter that TB got. First of all, it is tiny, probably not bigger than the palm of my hand. Second, you put 6 AA in the control and hook the heli up to it to charge. You have to let it charge between 30 and 40 minutes and then let it cool for 10-15, so you are looking at nearly as hour of charging time. That's fine, you probably get a couple of days use out of like with the DS and the portable DVD players, right? WRONG! Way wrong, as a matter of fact. For every hour that you charge it, you get 5-6 minutes of flight time!! What a waste of $50! He was bitching and whining about how long it was going to take before it ever got plugged in. After about the second time, I'm going to be done with listening to that crap and I'm going to throw the whole toy in the garbage. Way to get a great a toy, grandma!

I told RF next I'm telling his mom buy only the gifts that I tell you to buy or don't bother buying anything. She can't make good choices on her own so I will give a list of approved items and that will be it. I will not have another year of this!

They say that a hero will save us

While doing some after Christmas shopping last night, RF bought me Guitar Hero for birthmas (my b-day is in Feb so I often ask for, and get, larger presents because people will combine them and that is fine with me). Plus, I bought Wii Fit and Raving Rabbids TV Party on eBay that I just have to wait to have shipped. So we will have a rock star style party at my house one of these days :)

Additionally, Christmas was good at our house. MT got a Batman shirt and a pink DS from Santa (the only things she asked for). TB got a new computer and a remote control car from Santa. They both got a Chia Pet, which we are waiting to grow now. MT got some wedgits, which I confess I thought had limited play option but she loves them, and TB got new Magnetix. the kids both got some new clothes and we got MT some games for her DS.

I got my curling iron and RF got some new pajama pants to replace his 10 year old pair that finally fell apart.

Today, I'm going to go shopping and see if I can find a new pair of boots and some leggings for MT. It is 2 days after Christmas and they already have bathing suits out in stores. Do they not understand that people still need cold weather apprioriate clothing for kids? Hopefully, I'll get some deal with the after Christmas sales :)

Not the reason

Leaving Christ out of Christmas

I wrote a post about this a few days ago andnever posted it. It wasn't well thought out and didn't come together like I wanted. So I leave it to Slate to say how I feel about religion and holidays.

Hell has frozen over

And if you look at the weather, you will see that Central Illinois has as well. Because of the deep freeze, we are hanging out at home today and I was playing *GASP* Christmas Music! Of course it was Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Carol of the Bells



and I followed it up with Green Day's Minority



but hey, take what you can get LOL

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Or at least regcognizes a few letters. I went to Target today and got a shirt that says "CELEBRATE!" (those of you that know me, plan to see this shirt over the next few weeks because it is nifty and I will be wearing it for the upcoming holidays). I put it on when I got home and MT asked me what is said. I told her and then pointed to each letter (she has an interest in letters and reading so I make a point of encouraging that for her) to tell her what they were. I pointed and said "c" and then I pointed to the e and before I could say anything she said "e" then she pointed and said "l, e, b and I don't know the rest" LOL It will be so nice to have kid that I don't have to hear about how she can't read all the time. Of course she probably won't be able to do math or something like that but damn it, at least she'll be able to read.

After that, we had my extended family Christmas dinner. Usually we have it at my parents house but with Mom's foot being messed up still, she didn't want to clean and cook and whatnot so we had it at Ryan's instead. Everyone got to eat exactly what they wanted and then we got presents.

MT got new underwear (that she asked for specifically) princess dominoes, a princess story book and a whole boat load of new dresses. TB got a small set of Magnetix, a gift card to Walmart, and $50 in cash (which goes towards his wish of a thousand in cash that he asked for from Santa). RF and I got our Xmas money and now I'm trying to figure out how to spend mine.

Do I be responsible and buy some things we need (nothing major, just some clothes and things for me and the kids) or do I be totally friviolous and buy a Wii fit and Raving Rabbids, if I can afford both. The Wii Fit is $100+ by itself but I'm looking on eBay to see if I can get it cheaper, in which case I can get the game too. Otherwise, I have to wait until my birthday to get the game. In reality, I just want the balance board because I don't care much about the Wii Fit (it would be fun for a while but doesn't seem to have staying power) which I why I turned to eBay in the first place. I hoped to find just the board but it doesn't seem that anyone is selling that right now.

What goes Ho Ho Ho, thump?

Santa Claus laughing his head off, of course! What goes "Holy Crap it's cold out here"? That would be the playgroup freezing our butts off at the annual parade of lights tonight. Despite the cold, the parade was good. Looseyfur set us up in a darn good spot. We were right in front of Aroma Cafe, where the view of the parade was great and we had access to warmth and bathrooms. Nothing better than that. :)

MT decided to dance to keep warm while we waited


I had no idea that there would be candy thown at the parade so I didn't bring our candy bags. However, my resourceful kids used TB's camera bag to hold all their candy. Smarties :)

We met up with the Quigs family


as well as several of our other favorite people! Poor Pretty Girl wasn't happy about the cold at all. Fortunately, her daddy was willing to let her borrow his coat.


The MTD float got to have one of the star balloons that were in the parade


Their bus was pretty cool too


This was the display on the top of the bus. I'm amazed it stayed put with the way the wind was howling.


I liked the teddy bears sledding



Tigger, Piglet, The Cat in the Hat and a dalmation joined in the parade as well.




Finally, the big guy himself!

Shopped til I dropped

I got everything on my list. I started at 3, standing in line at Staples. From there, we went to Target and then to Meijer. We were done by 7:30 and I have finshed Xmas shopping online by 9.

Now we are in St Louis so you will have to wait a few days for a proper update

Food Fight

Last week, I posted about Thanksgiving with the ILs. I've been kind of a coward about calling MIL and telling her that we weren't coming because I know how much she hates that the other DIL does that crap all the time. RF assures me that I'm the fave DIL, no matter and I contend that it like the choice between a bologna sandwich and getting punched in the teeth. Neither is a good choice but one is the obvious winner. LOL

Anyway, MIL and my mom were supposed to get the kids a joint gift for Xmas but my mom decided not to do it so she called MIL and during the call, spilled the beans. No biggie, I needed to call her anyway. So she called me today to see about it and I told her that I intend to come out and see everyone at 11 and then leave at noon to come back home for my family's dinner. MIL thought that was FAB idea! She was excited that I would give them some time, even if we didn't stay for food. She told me "I told your dad (she meant FIL but she does that all the time) last night that you had a good head on your shoulders and you would come up with something that would work for everybody. Not like *other DIL* who says that no one owns Thanksgiving and won't bother to grace us with her presence" LOL

So basically problem solved. Now, I just have to come up with acceptable gift ideas for them to get the kids for Xmas since the group gift is a no go. Sort of off topic, anyone know what a good size trampoline would be for 2 kids to use together? (the group gift was a trampoline) We looked at a 12 foot one but I think it looks kind of small for both kids at the same time.

Movement and getting unfat

So days 1, 2, 3, etc haven't gone so good. Not only did I eat cookies for lunch on Friday and then atoned for my sins by eating a salad for dinner (complete with a 42 oz milkshake for dessert), but we had my famiy's Christmas dinner on Sunday, where I scarfed everything in sight and then some for both lunch and dinner. I ate leftovers today (and stuffed myself sick again) then had mass quantities of popcorn at the movie and came home and ate pizza. Besides all the huge amoutns of food I've eaten over the last several days, I have stopped doing Pilates and Yoga. I've been too full at bedtime to do them so I've been skipping.

In getting back on track, we set up our Christmas present tonight. My mom got us a Wii for Christmas and we wanted it to be set up and totally ready to use when the kids found out about it in the morning. Good thing too because it took over 30 minutes to set up and then to sync and so forth. Once we had it all set up, we had to play it to make sure that everything worked right. :) My brother and were playing Wii Sports (the other games are "to be opened" tomorrow morning) and decided on boxing. We played 3 minutes and both of us nearly died in the process! Every time one of use would go down, we were both doubled over, hands on our knees, panting like crazy. I haven't been that active in ever. I'm not sure I even worked that hard when I used to play soccer (which could have something to do with the fact that I was never, in all the years I played, on a winning team LOL). Then we bowled, which was much less active. If I played one of the games (I left the "boys" playing tennis to come to bed) at least once a day, I would drop mad weight and be in killer shape. I'll have to find out if I can play against the computer or if I can play online or if I'm just going to have to get someone to play against me everyday :)

Gift cards as gifts

I LOVE gift cards. I was just reading something about how it is SO rude to give people give cards because it means you don't care enough about them to know what they would want instead. IMO, getting someone a gift card means you care enough about their time to get them something useful, instead of something that they may not need or want and will just have to return (or regift, which is also OMG SO rude, apparently). My MIL hates giving gift cards and I've been asking for one for every gift giving holiday since dh and I got married. I simply don't understand this. I know what I want, I know where to get and I want the best deal for my money. Why kill yourself buying something I don't like (she has this thing with buying jewelry, which I often don't like or can't wear because of an allergy) or won't be able to use. For example, we asked for a Wii this year for Xmas and I asked for a gift card to buy accesories for it. I don't know what games we want, I want to wait until we find a good deal on something. I don't know how many controllers we will want or need, I don't know if we will need remote skins or anything else.

I swear, when I sat down to write this, this was a lot more intelligent. I've been distracted 20 times since I started and it no longer has even close to the same flow as when I started. :(