Shannanigans: December 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Saturday, December 24, 2011

To believe or not to believe

Here is what Santa found under the tree tonight as he conspicuously left presents for the kids.

In case you can't read it (and because blogger keeps wanting to flip it on it's side), I'll translate...

To Santa

From Colby 12/24/11

Dear Santa, Can I get a 3DS

To Santa

From Colby 12/24/11

Dear Santa, Can I get a DSI

To Santa

From Colby 12/24/11

Dear Santa, Can you get Kara a puffle

To Santa

From Colby 12/24/11

Dear Santa, Can you get me a laptop please

To Santa

From Colby 12/24/11

Dear Santa, Can Ty get a dinosaur movie

To Santa

From Colby 12/24/11

Dear Santa, Will is at his Grands home. Can you deliver this present to Will.

First of all. So sweet that he took the time to think about his brother and sister. And I love that he was hoping Santa could do him a favor and deliver his duct tape wallet to his friend that is spending Christmas at his grandparents.

Second of all. This just may be the year that Colby starts suspecting something's up. Why?

3DS: not check

DSI: not check

Laptop: not check

puffle: not check

dinosaur movie: not check

delivering gift to San Antonio Texas: not check

I think we can fake our way through delivering the wallet. It's currently in my purse and I will make a special delivery to Will's house and then let Will's mom handle the rest of this "fabrication" of the truth.

And, Kara just decided a few days ago that what she wants more than anything in the world from Santa is a puffle. What is a puffle? Anybody? And the last few days, Ty's been going around saying that for his birthday, he wants a dinosaur movie. His birthday. When my kid asks for something for a specific event, I'm not about to just give it to them early. What kind of mother would that make me? And for the 3DS and DSI and laptop- these are all pipe dreams that have surfaced after asking for legos and a remote control helicopter, both of which Santa did manage to pull through on. Of course we've had the conversation with the kids about how Santa's elves have to have time to make the toys, and that Santa doesn't have unlimited funds and resources and has to draw the line somewhere and that Santa is a conspiracy theory made up by the government to ruin our lives. But the kid wrote a post-it note and stuck it under the tree for heaven's sake. That trumps everything, right? What dude in a big red suit, or humble mother in her bathrobe and striped fuzzy socks with cookie crumbs in the corner of her mouth, is going to deny the poor child his desires?

Every year I go back and forth on this Santa thing. It's sweet and fun to see the kids get excited about the impossible and a little ridiculous, heartbreaking, and a downright pain in my backside, all at the same time.

What's your take on Santa?

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Colby's First Piano Recital

I am one proud mama. Way to go Colby!!

Friday, December 16, 2011

The True Meaning

I think Colby is finally catching the spirit of Christmas, don'tya think?

The winters here...

I've recently resigned myself to the fact that Houston weather...sucks...for lack of a better word. I've already mentioned how miserably devilish the summer is and without hardly any 60's and 70's in which to frolic in the fields, it turned to 30s and 20s. And 30s with humidity is COLD. Like sweater wearing, coat wearing, hat wearing, mittens wearing cold. But I think it feels colder mentally because I was expecting this wonderfully 60 degree winter and I'm bitter that I endured triple digit heat because "the winters are so nice." But, I've accepted it. I'm pretty good at making the best of a situation when I really don't have a choice in it anyway. (Not that I don't have a choice in living in Houston. I just don't have a choice in how the weather's gonna be). I can officially say, "I like it here but the weather sucks." But then, one December day, I go outside to get in my car and think, wow. It feels warm. I get out my phone and look up the weather. It is 69 degrees. 69 degrees in the middle of December. That's "nice." That's better than "nice." So. I did a little frolicking in the field and I've now decided that the jury is still out on the weather in Houston.

Everyone told me how much I'd miss the season changes and when I went back to Utah in October for a visit and saw the beautiful leaves, I realized I would miss that more than I thought. And then this morning, I look outside from our dining table and here is what I discoveedr in my own backyard.

Pretty, huh? And those trees in the back will stay green all year long. And as far as season changes, going from the 20's to the 70's in one week is all the change I need. And I thought Utah weather was unpredictable...

Friday, December 02, 2011

And the stockings were hung...

For the first time in my 11 years of marriage,
I have a fireplace from which to hang our stockings!

Somehow looking at stockings hanging from my fireplace

has put me in the Christmas mood a lot earlier this year.

Hope you're having a merry holiday so far!

Colby and Kara Quotes

Ty walked into Kara's room as she was getting dressed. Kara told Ty to close his eyes and Ty said, "No! Eyes! Anna!" (Anna is what Ty calls Kara-March 2011)
*****
Ty's latest: "down-me" (at least 50 times a day. It means he wants up on his chair, down from his chair, help down the stairs, for me to pick him up, for me to put him down...), "apple-now" (means apple. He puts the word "now" at the end of almost everything), "keekoo-now" (means cookie), "donu" (sounds like donut and means candy),"no" (very emphatically and to almost everything I say), "mil" (means milk and any other liquid drink), "nee-nee" (means blankie), "daydoo" (thank-you). These are just the most popular words among his ever-growing vocabulary. He can repeat anything you tell him to repeat and he has just started combining 2 words consistently the last few weeks. (March 2011)
****
Kara: "Guess what mom. I'm going to get you a really special present. For your birthday. It's at the dollor store." February 2011
*****
Kara: "Mom. Would you slide down a waterfall?"
Mom: "Ya, I'd slide down a waterfall. Would you slide down a waterfall?"
Kara: "Yes. Yes I would. If Jesus told me to slide down a waterfall, I would!" (August 2010)
*****
Kara: As we're watching TV). "Mom. Does this happen? Are people ever watching us on TV?" (July 2010)
*****
Colby plopped down next to me while I was in my bed reading a novel and said, "Mom, I'm reading something better than you, something that's important. It's called the Book of Mormon." (March 2010)
*****
Colby uses "giants" to reference anything big or of mass quantity. "Mom. Is the earth as big as a giant?" "I'm so hungry, I could eat a giant!" "If I eat a lot of brocolli, I'll grow as big as a giant." (February 2010)
*****
Kara: "Guess what I want for dinner when it's my birthday... Rotten noodles!" After a little probing, we figured out she meant ramen noodles. (February 2010)
****
A few Colby and Kara-isms as of late:
canora (granola-Kara), bazeum (museum- Colby), bestructions (instructions- Kara), prastic (practice- Colby), cownaforneeuh (California- Kara), my throw-up hurts (my throat hurts- Kara), That possed can't be happened! (That's not supposed to happen- Kara), stellacove (telescope- Kara) July 2009-January 2010
*****
Kara: "If I got in trouble and a fireman came to our house, would you be sad?" (Janaury 2010)
****
Mom: "Tomorrow, I'm going with Dad to a place called Las Vegas."
Colby: "Are things lost in lost Vegas?" (December 2009)
*****
Kara: "Santa is so funny! His elves builded my underwear too big!" (December 2009)
****
Since Halloween, Kara thinks that we should dress up for every holiday. Today she said, "Mom. Do you know what I want to be for next Christmas? Naked!" (December 2009)
****
Kara: "I had a dream about exercise monsters. And Jesus helped them into the pool. Exercise monsters like the pool because they have short fingernails and short heads." (October 2009)
****
Kara: (During Sacrament Meeting, after she asked me if she could play at Nathan's house after church and I said no). "Ya! Now! Let me!" (October 2009)
*****
Kara: "If Colby makes me mad again, I'll tell Jesus to cut off his head." (October 2009)
*****
Kara: (In a 15-year-old valley girl voice) "Oh my gos. That is so freaky cute, mom!" (October 2009)
****
Colby: (After hours of waiting outside for the ice cream truck to drive by our house) "Do you think Jesus knows when the ice cream man will come?" (September 2009)
*****
Kara: "I love chips. They're my favorite vegetable." (August 2009)
****
Kara to mom: "You're not my even special friend anymore!"
*****
After looking into Ty's ear Colby said, "Look mom. There's a hole in Ty's ear."
****
Most frequently used quotes in our house:
"That's not even fair!"
"That's going to take forever!"
"You're in awful trouble!" (March 2009)
****
Colby: "Mom. Now we need to make you on that thing we play golf (creating the playing characters on the Wii) and we need to make you fat." (March 2009)
*****
Colby: "Mom. I'm going to make a machine that looks like that white thing in the office (fan) that goes like this (rapidly spinning his finger around) that is so ginormous and I will put it in the backyard and it will blow all of our dog poop into the other backyards." (February 2009)
****
When asked why Kara keeps coming into our room in the middle of the night to sleep in our bed, she replied, "because there are witches in my room. And they have guns and they will shoot me." (February 2009)
*****
Kara: "Mom, why are you feakin out?" (January 2009)
*****
Kara's prayer tonight: "Heavenly Father. Thank you mom could come home. Thank you finger come home. Bread come home. Cow come home. Dad come home. Amen." (January 2009)
*****
Kara: "Mommy, hold my horawse (horse). He's so sad."
Mom: "Why is he so sad?"
Kara: "Um...he REALLY don't like my shirt." (December 2008)
*****
Colby and I were playing the "I'm thinking of something green" game. I said I was thinking of something white and when Colby couldn't guess it, I told him the answer was teeth. He said, "Teeth aren't white, mom." I replied, "They aren't? What color are they (dreading the answer I knew was coming). "They're the color of...um...honey. Yah, yellow. Like the color of honey." (October 2008)
****
If Kara really wants to be persuasive, she will follow a request or command with, "my daddy be so mad." For example, if she is trying to tell me to not touch her sleeping baby, she'll say, "Don't touch my baby, she sleeping. My daddy be so mad. Don't touch my baby." The wrath of Cameron is pretty scary so I usually obey when I hear that threat.
*****
Kara's latest phrase of choice is "booby head." She calls Colby a booby head at least 10 times a day and "I want my daddy" was once quickly followed by, "daddy booby head." I am proud to say she has not yet labeled me a booby head.
*****
(At the check-out stand in Albertsons. I lifted Colby out of the cart...)
Colby: "I thought you were going to put me up there so she could buy me!" (June 2008)
****
(While looking at the bird's nest outside our window...)
Dad: "Where did the mommy robin go?"
Colby: "Probably to the store to buy more eggs." (June 2008)*****
(After the kids got into the hot car and part of the hot seat belt touched Kara's leg, resulting in her crying...)
Colby: "I was brave. Kara, you forgot to be brave. Do you know what brave means? It means you are so so good and brave." (June 2008)
*****
Kara: "Mom yook (look)! A bug. It kill me!" (June 2008)
****
A few Karaisms: Holdee=hold me or hold anything in my hands, bi bu=big jump (June 2008)
****
For lunch we were having hamburgers with sesame seed buns. I looked over and saw Colby picking off all the sesame seeds and putting them in a pile. When I asked what he was doing he said, "I'm saving the seeds so I can plant them so that we'll have hamburger trees." (May 2008)
*****
"Mom, I was a really really freakin' good boy at the store. Can I have my treat now?" (April 2008)
****
"I don't want to put pumpkins in my bed. That would bug me up." (April 2008)
*****
A few Colbyisms: last night=anything in the past, a little long time=forever, hot pie=pot pie, man guy=bad guy, nomiss=imaginary name, smashmallows=marshmallows (April 2008)
****
Kara is really into tatlling lately. When I found her in the kitchen with 2 decks of cards scattered across the floor, she pointed to the mess while jabbering something that ended in "Grandpa." Poor Grandpa is getting blamed for messes now.
I heard Kara calling/whining for me and when I went to get her she said, "Colby. I mad!" with the angriest look ever. It was so hilarious to hear that come out of her mouth. (April 2008)
****
In Colby's prayer last night, he said, "thank you for President Monson," (much to my pleasure since I had been drilling him all day long) and then surprisingly threw in another thank you for "President Uchtdorf." (April 2008)
****
"If my peepee broke off I couldn't go pee and I would have to hold it forever." (March 2008)
*****
This is during my attempt to discipline Colby after I watched him kick Kara in the stomach at the library- hence another reason I am loving age 3 so much...)
Mom: "Colby, when we get home, you have to go to time-out for kicking your sister. I don't like it when you kick your sister."
Colby: "Then I'll just kick you."
Mom: "What did you say? You don't talk to me that way."
Colby: "I'll just kick you a lot and a lot."
****
"Mom, do you know what zero means? It means that mom and dad doesn't give you nofing." (March 2008)
****
"Mom, let's get out of the cold or else my hair will fly away. And then I'll have no hair!" (January 2008)
*****
"Mom, you're getting big." (January 2008- Let's just hope he was referring to my getting big by eating my vegetables rather than all those holiday treats...)
*****
(At Walmart as Colby was picking out Kara's Christmas present. He was deciding between a Snow White doll or a Snow White dress-up...)Colby: "Maybe we should get the doll for Kara and the dress-up for me." (December 2007)
*****
During lunch after I burped...)Colby: (between giggles) "Ew mom, that's 'gusting!" (October 2007)
*****
(While riding in the car at night...)Colby: "Dad, turn on the light."Dad: "I can't."Colby: "Yes you can. Just reach one arm and turn it on. That's a good idea."Dad: (jokingly) "No, that's a bad idea."Colby: "Then do the bad idea."(October 2007)
*****
Colby was tearing up bits of toilet paper and leaving trails of it on my floor. I was very irritated after telling him several times to stop and throw the bits of paper away.ME: (in a very stern and kinda mean voice) "Colby- Throw the the toilet paper away now!"COLBY: "I will! You be patient! (August 2007)
*****
At Snowbird Ski Resort, we were looking at the mountains around us and Colby was wondering why they didn't have snow on them. He said, "Mom, I want to go up in the sky and get the snow down." (July 2007)
****
Colby's lyrics for "I'll prepare myself when I am young" (I Love to See the Temple) are, "I'll prepare myself and num num num." (July 2007)
*****
As we were having a FHE on tithing, Colby was asked what we should give Heavenly Father when we have some money. His response: "Watermelon." (July 2007)
*****
SETTING: A nice, polite family dinner.COLBY: "Belch."MOM: "Colby, please say excuse me."COLBY: "I can't."MOM: "Why can't you say excuse me?"COLBY: "I don't have time." (July 2007)
*****
Candy, I've been missin you." as he gazed at a candybar he pulled out at the checkout line in Albertsons. (June 2007)

Sunday, December 25, 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

To believe or not to believe

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Colby's First Piano Recital

Friday, December 16, 2011

The True Meaning

The winters here...

Friday, December 02, 2011

And the stockings were hung...

Colby and Kara Quotes

Sites I Frequent

More Blogs

Blog Archive