Pre-Christmas Cookies

We've been working on trying to teach Mikey to count and to say his ABC's.

We haven't had much luck.

We were invited to a "Santa Open House" at our friends place.

Katie and Mikey had a good time "reminding" Santa what they had previously told him they wanted for Christmas.  I mean, they had just seen him at the mall.

Katie:  Legos and Barbies

"Its okay, Mikey.  It's just Santa.  You can tell him what you want for Christmas!

AND, he'll give you a goody bag!"

Mikey:  Ninjago and Star Wars.

The Legos.

We were able to get most of the kids together for a nice group pic.

Santa kinda creeps some people out.  Understandable.

A little like clowns.....

And one more Santa pic for good measure.

Too bad we had already sent out xmas cards this year.

Maybe next year......

Wait.

You don't need to see this picture.

This isn't the family you're looking for.

You can go about your business.

Move along.

There was a Science Night at Katie's school.

They had the ReptileMan visit.

He brought all his pals.

After the event I asked Mikey what his favorite animal was.  He told me it was the turtle.

I was surprised.

I asked him, "What about the snake?"  He told me, matter of factly, "There was no snake there, Mom."

Here he is grabbing its tail.

It was so big that he didn't know there was a snake attached to it.

"Hi, Mr. Iguana.

You're SO cute!"

The kid loves animals.

Scratch that.

The kidS love animals.

After visiting with our reptilian friends, we hit the main exhibits.

Rocks.

Exploring the insides of a dead salmon.

And circuits.

Hey.  Who's that?

DADDY!

His first (of many - don't tell him) volunteer stint at a PTA event.

Sigh.

This is very sad.

This is Katie and Mikey's crib on the curb for garbage pick up.

Gulp.

Moving on.

Meet Lloyd, The Green Ninja.

He's one of Mikey's favorite guys.

Which makes it hard for me to comprehend why he decided to put him into one of these holes in Huzbend's work-out equipment.

Mikey was really upset when I told him that it would be nearly impossible to get him out of there.

I guess we just needed a new perspective.

Huzbend came home from work and quickly formed a plan.

Water.

We would float him out of the hole.

Here are the tools.

Here's the water inside the equipment.

Lloyd was extracted with chopsticks.

Here's one proud Daddy.

Welcome back to the world of the living, Lloyd.

(Current Lloyd Status:  Missing.  Again.  Hopefully not in a hole.)

Preschool holiday party.

I was too busy helping out (or carrying crowd-shy Mikey around) to snap many decent pictures.

There was lots of food and kid craziness.  An auction.  A book-walk (instead of a cake walk).

Music and dancing.  And a showing of Frosty the Snowman on a big screen.

It was crazy, but fun.

Here's Katie with the school mascot, T.T. Turtle.

And here's Mikey saying hi to Frosty.

Tree time!

It was super muddy.

Like, uber muddy.

This is just a funny picture.

He's just anticipating the joy of having to get down on his knees in the cold, wet mud.

See?

More mud.

Someone kinda fell down.

A lot.

So much so that we had to do an outfit change when we got back to the car.

Katie got her candy cane and all was right with the world.

Except that Mikey doesn't like candy canes and the only other thing

I had was a "fruit leather".  Oh well.

The next day was my 39th birthday.

On a Monday.  Boo.

We did manage to have a date on Saturday.

Lunch and The Hobbit in IMAX 3D.

Spectacular.

Both the lunch (P.F. Changs) and the movie.

On my actual birthday, we had yummy Mexican food at a restaurant.

Then we came back for dessert.

I volunteered to make cookies for the teachers at Katie's school and had 

some leftover.

Everyone got to pick their favorite.

I had to take a picture of this, because this is the most

awesome wrapping job that Huzbend has ever done.

Its awesomeness is beyond mere words......

Katie had another loose tooth.  This time a big front one.

It was my first (human) tooth extraction.  It was kinda gross.

With the promise of a cookie to ensure cooperation.....

Pop!  Out it came.

Speaking of cookies.

We made a bunch of gingerbread cookies along with the now

traditional gingerbread house.

We took some time yesterday to decorate them all.

Katie took all the knowledge gleaned from hours of

"Cupcake Wars" and the "Sugar Dome" to

crank out some crazy cookies.

It became a team effort.

Except that Mikey only ended up decorating two cookies out of the dozen.

And he ate one of those two.

Along with a half bowl of icing.

Behold!  The finished product.

As if there weren't enough sugar flowing through the veins,

it was time to decorate the gingerbread house.

I would say that the amount of candy that you see on this house is

equal to the amount that ended up in Katie's stomach.

It's no surprise she loves gingerbread houses.

The McMain Course

Okay.  You can think of this as "fast food".

It's gonna be quick, so don't blink or anything.

I gotta get this Thanksgiving stuff served and cleared so

we can get ready for Christmas treats!

First up, some pre-Turkey stuff.

Mikey's preschool took a trip to a local fire department.

Besides a tour of the facility, checking out a fireman in all his gear, and getting to climb on trucks, they all got the chance to help with the hose.

We got back Katie's school picture.

Um.

I'll let it speak for itself.

We opted for a re-take.

We've been working on trying to curtail the finger sucking.

One of the things we're trying is wrapping Katie's elbow with an ace bandage.

When she falls asleep, her arm straightens and her finger gets pulled out of her mouth.

I just can't bring myself to get any of those plastic contraptions to put on her

hand or to use any of those vomit inducing nail paints.

Sometimes the bandage comes unwrapped during the night.

Meet Kai (red) and Cole (black).  Masters of Spinjitzu.

Meet Cole and Kai.  Masters of Costume Changes.

DRAGON FINGER OF NOSE PICKING!

NINJA-GOOOOOO!

 

Turkey time!

In Huzbend's ever-quest to find the best turkey recipe he decided to do a salt rub on the turkey and then to "spatchcock" it for cooking.

Katie wanted to help.

She really did.

Then she saw Huzbend remove the neck.

Then she saw him shoving the salt under the turkey skin.

She didn't like it.

 

Here's the final product.

Crispy Skin - check!

Tender turkey meat - check!

Too much salt (which I liked) - check!

Oh well.  Huzbend says back to a water brine for next year.

We had some guests for dinner.

Sienna, Logan and their Mommy joined us for our turkey feast.

Yes.  That is mac n' cheese you see there.....

(we had chicken nuggets too)

 

This year we opted for a "whipped sweet potato bake" instead of the

traditional candied yams that only Katie and I eat (Katie only eats the marshmallows).

The bake was enjoyed by all.

Katie gave her thumbs up.

This was Logan and Sienna's SECOND dinner.  They did pretty good.

Next up....dessert.

A Remlinger Farms store bought apple pie (I know, SACRILEDGE!), vanilla ice cream, whipped cream from a can and Double Layer Pudding Pumpkin Pie!

Heh.  I thought I would try something different.

It was actually pretty good.

Even ice cream on your shirt is not a total loss....

Happiness.  Sheer happiness.

Someone ate WAAAAYYYYY too much.

 

What better way to work off all that dinner than to play

Lego Star Wars on the Xbox.

PARENT HINT:

If you want your kids to take a nap, read them The Hobbit.

I'll just say it.

I love my huzbend.

Especially when he takes turkey leftovers and makes

individual turkey pot pies!

 

And last but not least, the week after Thanksgiving break Katie had her first Mandarin lesson.

It's an after school program.

Her Mandarin name is :  Bai Ling

This is all part of her life plan, you know.

1.  Become a veterinarian.

2.  Move to China.

3.  Take care of pandas.

An Appetizer

Here's a little something to tide you over until the Thanksgiving Blog is served......

The Food Network is evil.

Here are my top two reasons:

1)  The Food Network gives Huzbend ideas for delicious, yet horribly messy meals.

The other week he saw a "Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives" show where Guy Fieri had some tamales.  I guess they looked pretty good.  So, Huzbend decided he wanted to make some.  Delicious?  Yes.  Messy?  HELL yes.  I guess there must be a price to pay if you want good food.

2)  The Food Network gives kids the idea that their parents should be able to make incredible creations out of food.

I ask my kids what kind of cake they want for their birthdays and I do NOT get the answer "vanilla cake with vanilla frosting".  I get this, "Can I have a cake that is shaped like the exploding Death Star with, uh, maybe the Milennium Falcon and Luke's X-Wing flying away from it....and then, maybe some fireworks exploding in the background in celebration and a couple of butterflies and fairies thrown in?".

Here's another example.  Take this year's pumpkin carving.




I asked, "What are you guys gonna put on your pumpkins?  How about you draw a face on the pumpkin and we'll carve it in?"  Instead, we got this: "I want a Castle Crasher!"  WTF?  Now, I'm no pumpkin carving expert, but I KNOW they've seen those dudes on the Halloween Wars show on The Food Network.  They think that we can do that shit.  And, well, us parents can't disappoint now can we?  All together I spent, hmmmm let's see, about 4+ hours on those pumpkins (my ghost and Mickey included).  Katie did draw her own picture and I just transcribed it onto the pumpkin.

You know what I found out?  Although it was a bit weird not have my kids put traditional faces on their pumpkins, I liked it.  I LIKED spending 4+ hours carving pumpkins.  It's been a loooooooooong ass time since I've done anything art-y.  Pumpkin carving it art-y.

Moving on from my Food Network issues.....

I did something this Halloween season that I've never done.  I went into a haunted corn maze.  For a Mom's Night Out.  At a place called Stalker Farms.  Originally we were supposed to go on a tractor ride to shoot zombies and then roast marshmallows.  I was all for THAT.  But, as would be our luck, one of the tractors broke down.  The organizer of our event went back to the entrance to find out what the deal was and came back with a refund of our zombie shooting ride and All-Access bracelets for the other attractions.  The majority of our group decided to return to the fire pit to enjoy some toasty s'mores.  One of my friends turned to the group and said, and I quote, "Let's do the clowns."  Now, if you knew my friend, you would know that she was DEATHLY and I mean DEATHLY afraid of clowns.  It took her YEARS to make it through watching "Stephen King's IT" TV series.  Yeah.  Bad.  She suggested it in the hopes that it would help her to conquer her fears.  One of my other friends agreed to go with her and then they both turned to me, "You're coming too, right?"  Ugh.  I said yes.

We entered "The Last Laugh", their clown themed haunt.  It was freakin' creepy.  There was no blood and no gore at all (I guess the other haunt has all that) so that was good.  Kerri #1 - the one with the clown phobia - went first.  I glommed on to her left shoulder, my hands gripping her coat.  And behind me on my right shoulder and holding on to my coat was Kerri #2.  We actually walked like that through the entire maze.  Like we were Shaggy, Scooby and Velma or something.

It was quite amazing what they accomplished in that corn field.  They had a cool fun-house spinning tube thing and quite a few buildings we had to walk through.  Some of these buildings were pitch black and when I say pitch black I mean you can't see your hand in front of your nose.  There were strobe lights and laser lights to mess up your vision.  A chain link fence maze WITHIN the maze.  And, oh yeah, the clowns.  Not only would they jump out to scare the bejesus out of you - they would follow you and TALK to you.  Freakin' clowns.

I kinda had trouble sleeping for the next couple of days.  And walking around in the dark (not to mention running in the dark in the morning) was just a tad bit MORE creepy.  We survived.

I have to say that it was the most fun I ever had almost shitting my pants.

Next up.....

Can I make a suggestion?  If you find yourself up at 5:30/6:00am and think about going to take a walk to get some fresh air can you PLEASE put on a reflective jacket or maybe carry a flashlight?  Thank you.

You see that lady attempting to recreate a jog on the side of the road?  Yeah, her with the three layers of clothes, reflective vest and crazy headlamp.  She would appreciate it.

I swear.  People purposely wear brown, blue or black when they decide to walk in the dark.  That way they are impossible to see and completely FREAK ME OUT.  I don't see them until I am literally right next to them.

I call them zombies.

Don't be a zombie.

Two things from Mikey to end this post.

When asked if he needed a tissue for a boogie on his finger, he replied:

"Dirty things are for putting on your pants."

We were in the grocery store today.

I was tickling Mikey in an attempt to keep him in a jovial mood.

Then he starts yelling, "Mommy!  Tickle my penis!"

He would not stop.  I had to find an empty aisle and attempt to explain why he had to stop yelling out "tickle my penis".  Not something you'd ever think you would have to do.

Um.  Yeah.

Next up, Main Course.

It's Halloween Time!

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

I like to run in the Fall.  I mean, yeah, it's butt-ass dark at 6am.  Every single noise scares the living shit outta me.  But, I like it.  I think the best part is that it's QUIET.  There's not a lot of quiet here at our house anymore.  It's also not hot.  I don't like hot.  The smell of rotting leaves reminds me of trick-or-treating and playing rugby.

The stores around here had their x-mas stuff up for sale before October 31st.  What is up with THAT?

I really wish that people endorsing this and that candidate would stop calling me.  I already voted.

I was up on the roof today cleaning off leaves and emptying the gutters.  I like it up there.  It was warm today and a bit breezy.  I felt like Batman perched up on a gargoyle head surveying the unsuspecting inhabitants of Gotham City.  Well, I did, until a kid on a tricycle yelled out, "HEY!  WHATCHOO DOIN' ON THE ROOF?!?!  HEY!  WHERE'S MIKEY?!?!"  Poof.  Superhero daydream O V E R.  I like cleaning the gutters.  You know why?  Quiet.  It's real quiet up there.  Most of the time anyways.

The Hobbit is the best book, like, ever.  Read it.  Again.

Um.  Yeah.  I have no more random thoughts to share.  On to the rest of the month of October.

Earlier this month Mikey had a day off from preschool.  It wasn't raining and we got an invite to go to the zoo.  Sounded like a good plan to me.

Mikey hung with his good friend, Sienna.  They've known each other since they were born.  People watching them must think they are brother and sister.  Sienna's mom and me, well, we think they act like an old married couple.  They're always arguing about EVERYTHING - and yet, they always make up in the end.  Then they move on to the next argument.

They are quite the pair.

Cheeky.

Here they are, putting on the cuteness.

And here they are, just a few moments later, arguing over

the zoo map.  Mikey is using his head to push Sienna away from the map.

We solved this problem by giving them their own maps.

Everyone was happy.

The leaves began to fall in our backyard and Katie was SO excited.

She ran to the shed, grabbed a rake and made herself a pile to jump in.

Next up = Dads And Donuts Day at school.

You're eyes are NOT deceiving you.

It was funny.  Katie SO wanted Huzbend to go to school.  And yet, when we got there, she was a little embarrassed to introduce him to her friends.  And then she spent most of the time trying to work her way towards the play area to finish out morning recess.

Before she completely dissed us, I did snap one photo of her and her Dad outside of her classroom.

Katie took a Creative Dance and Movement class.

She really liked it.  Right up her alley.

Katie.  Getting her groove on.

TAAAA-DAAAAAAA!

And then it was time for Halloweenie type stuff.

LOTS of Halloweenie type stuff.

The easiest way approach this was in a slideshow-type format.  Otherwise, I would be typing for, like, EVER.
I gotta get to sleep some time tonight.

I'll give you a run down of what you'll see in order of appearance.....

Mikey @ Preschool Pumpkin Patch Field Trip
Family @ Pumpkin Patch
Family @ Halloween Carnival
Costume Day @ Soccer Practice
Family @ Grocery Store Halloween Carnival
Pumpkin Carving @ Home
(Ghost - Mine, Small Cute Knight (Castle Crashers) - Katie, Knight with Sword & Sheild (Castle Crashers again) - Mikey, Mickey & Fireworks - Mine, Kai from Ninjago - Huzbend)
Mikey Preschool Halloween
Katie 1st Grade Halloween Party
Trick-or-Treating Time!
(Me - Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's Mommy), Katie - Wonder Woman, Mikey - Kai from LEGO Ninjago, Huzbend - Sensei Wu from LEGO Ninjago)
Our Pumpkins All Lit Up (huzbend's did not glow)

That's a lot of shtuff for a 4 minute video, eh?

Enjoy!