Christmas 2014

Another Christmas has come and gone.  Good times all around.  

Santa took some time out of his busy night to cook our Christmas Eve dinner.  It was delicious.

Ha ha! Nate's the kid in the cafeteria nobody wants to sit by.

 Christmas wouldn't be complete without Grandma Taco's fish pond.

Grandma Taco, Moe & the boys

 Grandpa Bernie, Grammy & the boys

Grandpa & Grandma Squeaker & the boys

We had some pretty spoiled kids this year (one of these years it really does have to stop).  Remember a post or two ago I was making myself very clear that there would be no iPod given to an 11 year old who thought he was the only kid left on the planet that didn't have one?  Well turns out I'm all bark and no bite.  He got a stinkin iPod.  There was one catch though....we couldn't buy an iPod for him and Grif both so we told them they either had to share or pitch in money together to buy a second one.  They very quickly opted for a second one.  Sharing until it gets here has been torture so far.  I'm pretty sure they'll survive.

While these 3 were enjoying the goods Santa left Grif was doing this.....

He wasn't upset with what he did or didn't get from Santa, he was ticked at me. So in all his stubbornness he decided he would rather sulk and prove a point than see what he got.  You're hurting yourself a lot more than you're hurting me buddy.

Once he took a chill pill he realized he got what he had been asking for.  Ask me what it was he wanted.  Not your typical 9 year old request.  A bed.  He wanted a new, bigger bed for Christmas.  Works for me.  Thank you Grandma Squeaker for making a quilt last minute to fit it. 

Notice how quickly my OCD kicked in.  I made my boys take all their Santa gifts to their rooms so we could open the presents under the tree.  Someone teach me to relax already.  In all honesty the 3 year old started cleaning up before I did.  Have I told you lately how much I love that little stink.

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my fam and Christmas night with Nate's. Here are the Heber happenings

One whole picture!  Go me!  

Let me tell you why I love this picture.  There were several adults on the other side of this telling these 13 boys to hold still and smile.  Don't they all look thrilled and not like they're forcing smiles at all?

Here are some real smiles we were looking for.  

Merry Christmas Everybody!

 

Winner, Winner

The town does a coloring contest every year.  Different stores around town let the kids drop off pictures they have colored and give them a treat for participating.  Then they pick a few winners. Last year my 3 older boys did it and all won.  Our only winner this year was Baylor who won at Macks.  He was so stinkin excited. Me too because I was sure the prize would be FREE ICE CREAM FOR LIFE.  I wish.  He did get a free ice cream cone and a gift card.  That made for one happy little fella. 

He gets credit for trying

Dilon's writing assignment at school this week was to convince his parents to let him have something he was told no to.  This is what he wrote:

Dear Mom, 

I know that you told me no for an iPod but I need one.

If I ever need to text you because I am somewhere and my blood sugar is low I can text you.  If I am at a sport and you are not there I can tell you.  If I am at a friends house and I am low I can tell you.  If I am somewhere you are not and I am low I can tell you.  

A lot of diabetic's have phones or iPod's or something just in case.  Someone in our ward has a phone that he takes to school and other places.  If I am anywhere and I need to text you I can.  It is good that a diabetic has a phone or an iPod just in case.  If I ever need to text someone to pick me up from somewhere, I can.  If I miss the bus after school I can text somebody.  If I am home alone and something bad happens, I can text somebody.

I know you told me no but I probably need one just in case. 

Love, Dilon W.

Oh my dear sweet Dilon.  Nice try buddy.  Playing that diabetes card pretty hard right now. Just in case you don't know what my answer to an iPod is let me clarify:

If you are home alone and something bad happens use the home phone to call this sweet mother of yours.  If someone breaks into the house hide in the closet, cross your fingers and pray.  If the house is on fire there will be no time to find your iPod to text me, get your butt outside.

 

If you miss the bus AGAIN there will be no need to text me.  You know you will be walking home.

If you ever need someone to pick you up, hitchhike.  It's totally safe.

It is good for a diabetic to have an apple juice on them, not an iPod.

If you are somewhere I'm not and you're low there is no need to worry about sending me a text.  I am your mother.  I know everything.  I already have something prepared for you to do, you just have to do it. For example, eat the skittles I made sure were in your pack. 

You will probably never be at a friends house and need to text me because lets face it, you're always grounded.  Lose the attitude and that might change.  If you are lucky enough to get to hang with friends I'm sure their lovely mom has a phone you could text me from.

  

If someone in our ward had a python do you think I would let you get one too?

If you are at a sport and low tell your dad.  He is the crazy parent yelling from the sideline.

You do not NEED an iPod.  You need air.  Air is a need, iPod's are a want. I want a pony.  When do I get that?

There is one thing I have decided though, I may throw $5 into your iPod savings jar for creativity.

My kid licks the ketchup

 These two....they make me smile.  However, grocery shopping takes double the time when they want their own carts which wipes the smile right off my face. It is not my favorite place to be.  But it's either listen to them whine and cry for 30 minutes because they didn't get one or shop for an hour with two happy little helpers bumping into any and all things knee high. The downfall of this, I end up with several things at the checkout that I had no idea they snuck in.  Oh well, an extra box or two of fruit snacks and cookies and juice and cereal won't kill us.  The grocery stores know darn well what they're doing when they put the good stuff within grabbing range of a 3 year old.  Well played.

So tell me, on a scale from 1-10 how strange is it that the before mentioned 3 year old licks the ketchup bottle? Does he have a vitamin deficiency that makes him do this kind of stuff?  Plus he's only wearing one shoe.  This is normal right?  It has to be normal.  Someone make me feel better and tell me it is.

 

 He must have learned it from the 5 year old.  

What did he want for lunch the other day?  Chicken noodle soup and cocoa puffs.  I don't even care.

Shout-out to awesome teachers

Can I just give a big old shout-out to teachers who really care and make a difference. 

My Grif struggles in school. He has always been behind in math and reading which makes things difficult.   He does have strong points.....he gets 100% on almost all his spelling tests. In kindergarten he could spell hippopotamus and had the alphabet memorized backwards.  But every year I have heard from his teachers that he can't focus and he is below level on tests but not bad enough he needs to be held back.  I have asked them every year at every parent/teacher conference what I could be doing at home.  Most would give a couple suggestions that didn't really help much .  Last year his teacher said she didn't know what to do with him.  She had no advice for me. I kept getting more and more frustrated.

Well this year has been the first year his teacher has told me nothing but positive things about him.  This is what he has been bringing home 

It's amazing what a difference the right fit with a teacher can make.  Positive reinforcement seems to be making a huge difference as well.  

Thank you, thank you to all the teachers out there who sacrifice so much in their lives to make a difference for these kiddos. This mom appreciates it more than you know.

GUILTY

I can't handle the guilt.  

Dax went to his first real tournament for wrestling on Saturday.  He went undefeated in the city wrestling he was in so we decided to challenge him a little and let him go to these bigger meets with Dilon.  We found out Dil and Dax would be wrestling at the same time in 2 different gyms.  Nate said he could handle it and coach both.  I don't care how awesome he is, he can't be in two places at once.  He missed Dilon's first match to coach Dax then left Dax to help Dilon which left me there coaching Dax alone.  I have many super powers, coaching wrestling is not one of them.  I don't know the first thing about the half nelson or honeymooner (yes I googled those terms).  Ask me to write a 10 page paper and I'm good to go.  Ask me to coach wrestling and you might as well be sending me to the moon.  I did an excellent job of cheering him on though.  

While Nate was there Dax won.  His undefeated status was still in tact. 

As I was "coaching" I knew he was winning.  He was schooling the poor little guy he was up against.  Little did I know Dax was holding his hands together when he wasn't supposed to be so he was getting penalties called on him.  Finally he got one too many and got disqualified.  I didn't even have a clue that happened.  All I know is the scoreboard said 15-6 in favor of Dax. I was beaming when they went to hand out medals and then he was given 2nd place.  What?  I know I don't know much about it but 3 wins and no losses should have put him in 1st.  Nate had to go ask the ref what happened and that's when we discovered the little man was doing illegal moves.  It's all my fault.  If I would have known I could have told him to stop doing it and he would be wearing 1st instead of 2nd.  Like I said, I can't handle the guilt. I know it doesn't matter if you win or lose it's how you play the game.  He doesn't seem to care, he was happy with a medal and the fact he got to wrestle.  

What I want to know is if I feel guilty over something like wrestling what's going to happen when I really screw something up for one of my kiddos? 

It's the candy countdown

It's the caaaaandy countdown! (please tell me you hummed The Final Countdown by Europe when you read that.  It makes it so much better)

The Christmas countdown has begun.  The kids have their own candy chain to help these super long days in December of waiting for Santa go a little faster.  Only one kid complained of the candy I bought to go in them.  I've raised a candy snob.  Dilon thinks he has to have chocolate.  Be quiet and eat your taffy boy, it's delicious too.  Well actually I have to agree with him.  Taffy is not that good but it's so much cheaper than chocolate (because it's not that good).  Don't get me wrong, if it's around I'll definitely eat it, it's just not my first choice.

Grif asked every single day in November if we could put the Christmas tree up.  Every single day he was told no, not until after Thanksgiving.  One holiday at a time in this house.  So he passed the time by finding a new hobby

Hello elliptical. First time he did it he pumped out 40 minutes.  Go Gus!  It helps when you can watch T.V. while exercising. Levi's however were the wrong choice, he managed to rub his thighs raw.  But he forgot about it once it was time to finally put the tree up.

Grif's idea of helping was to sit on the couch and tell the other boys which branches went next.  Future leader?

Next item to be checked of the Christmas to-do list---make, cut, and wrap about 1000 carmels.  Excuse me while I go cry now.