Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Not the gumdrop buttons!!!!


This year on Thanksgiving we did our annual Gingerbread house. My mother was in town as we were celebrating her birthday and of course eating lots of turkey. The kids decided to get decked out in their Indian garb (oh excuse me, Native American dress). Now my mother's and my assignment consisted of putting the actual house together. The children were in charge of decoration. Well, we put the walls up and as my Mom held one side and I held the other, one side of the roof broke in two. Now I am thinking, this can be fixed... just put a little more icing on it, stick it together, and there you go. Not that easy! After about half a bag of icing and lots of contorting I finally got the roof together. Carefully Mom and I held it in place for five full minutes and proceeded to let the kids decorate the house. About half way through the process I see we are running out of gumdrops...I also notice the telltale sign of food coloring around Kayleigh's mouth and the dazed look of a sugar rush in her eyes. Connor starts to complain, "Don't eat all the candy Kayleigh! What will we decorate the top of the roof with?" Kayleigh proudly points out, "But the roof is upside down, we can't decorate it!" What?!? Sure enough, one side of the roof (the one I so carefully fixed) is attached upside down. Time for some creative icing! Finally we get the house decorated and even have enough left for the gingerbread men. I could hear the kids say as they ate pieces of their gingerbread cookies, "Oh,no! Not the gumdrop buttons!" You've gotta love Shrek!

Strepo Boy

This year was Connor's 3rd Cheetah Charge at school. He had been battling frequent cases of strep getting ready for the race running with me, so he wasn't able to put in the mileage he normally does in preparation. We had a good pep talk the night before the race, but I knew that this year again I would miss the race because I had to work. Ken promised to be there with camera in hand and cell phone. I asked him if the batteries were fresh (last year he had a camera, but dead batteries) and he said we were good to go. I got a call while I was in the OR at 1:30 saying he was getting ready to race. I told Connor that if he did his best he would do great and that we were proud of him. Well, Connor ran his little heart out! He said that his side kept hurting (he had a hamburger for lunch an hour before I found out later) and he was really winded, but he came in fourth. Now for poor Connor that was a huge disappointment since he had come in first last year. I told him I was so proud because I knew he had run as fast as he could. Connor came home later and told me he was tired and that his throat hurt. I checked his temperature and sure enough it was over 101. The next day at the pediatrician's office they confirmed that he indeed had strep again. Now I told Connor that I knew he could do anything if he could run a race with strep! Suddenly to Connor 4th place didn't seem so bad. He decided that his nick-name Dash would have to be changed to Strepo boy!

All I Want For Christmas




All I want For Christmas
(to the tune of “All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth”)

Everybody pauses and glares at me
With three children in tow it’s plain to see
Lots of soiled clothes and toys, it’s a catastrophe!
But being home more I’m happy as can be.

All I want for Christmas is a good night’s sleep,
A good night’s sleep, just a good night’s sleep.
Gee, if I could only have a good night’s sleep,
Then I could wish you a “Merry Christmas”

It seems so long since Ken could say,
“I think I’ll play some golf today.”
With a brand new job at BE&K
Placing engineers will hopefully pay!

All I want for Christmas is a good night’s sleep,
A good night’s sleep, just a good night’s sleep.
Gee, if I could only have a good night’s sleep,
Then I could wish you a “Merry Christmas”

Connor aiming baseballs at the backfield fence,
Kayleigh’s taste in clothes could be a huge expense,
Little Cade’s teething diapers are a big offense,
We’ve gone from man to man now to a zone defense.

All I want for Christmas is a good night’s sleep,
A good night’s sleep, just a good night’s sleep.
Gee, if I could only have a good night’s sleep,
Then I could wish you a “Merry Christmas”