Christmas Party

We attended the Kids Christmas Party for Jared's work. Every year, that company goes all out for their employees and their families. We had supper, watched a magician, and Santa came with presents! The kids loved it.

The next picture is of the kids waiting for their turn to see Santa. And boy, did we wait! The company has a thousand employees... they called up families in alphabetical order. Stinkin' "Whidden"! Changing our last name to "Aardvark" was looking pretty good right about then!

Finally!

Today I am...

... relaxing, after a busy day hosting a luncheon for 8 people.

... looking forward to my "Mommy Retreat" shopping trip tomorrow!

... officially a hockey mom.

... taking pictures of Hayley whenever she has a tantrum. It makes her stop because she doesn't know what the heck I am doing.

... thinking (despite the occasional tantrums) that I have pretty awesome kids. I was commenting to my sister today on the phone that I am finally able to pull my head out of that "deep dark fog", otherwise known as "having babies", and enjoy some me time. They are at such an easy age, and entertain each other for hours on end. Life is good with these two sweethearts:

... desperately needing to catch up on laundry.

... missing my sweet momma, who has a hilarious blog and posted this for me on my birthday.

... embracing this whole "late-twenties" thing.

... bragging to anyone who will listen about how I went to Kalispell last weekend, finished all my Christmas shopping, and came home and wrapped all those presents! Oh yeah! Can I get a Whoop Whoop?!?

watersliding in Kalispell with the kids

... wondering why my 5-year-old is so obsessed with hunting, when we've never even participated in said activity. Like, ever.

... so happy Mr. Handsomepants is finally home. He has been on work trips and in Arbitration so much, we have hardly seen him lately. It's all done now so we can have him back again.

... wondering if it's too early to put the kids on skis this winter.

... regretting even bothering with my Kindergartner's Picture Retakes at school, when the second round was worse than the first. It's comical actually.

... having a playdate.

... having Shanna's Torillas for supper. It's the best, and a secret family recipe so don't even ask (I am totally kidding, but that sounded mysterious, didn't it?).

... singing Miley's "Party in the USA" over and over again. Don't laugh. That song is way too catchy.

... finally getting used to my lighter hair color.

... excited about my new Christmas dress that just came in the mail. Online shopping just might win me over yet.

... sad to see some friends move away.

... doing P90X - Yoga today. Yikes.


What are YOU today?

We've got spirit, how 'bout you?

Oh man, am I in for some trouble when this sassy little gal turns into a teenager! Hayley got her flu shot and was being quite articulate about it, so I was trying to catch it on camera. Of course she stopped talking so much when the camera came on. And wasn't too happy with my attempts to catch it on film either.

Chillax

Chillax is a commonly-used phrase around our house. This past week I set out to do just that. One day, I actually set aside all the household chores just to do fun stuff with the kids all day. We played Cars Bingo, and Princess Dominoes. Then we played "Hunting and Camping", a favorite that involves alot of sleeping, waking up, campfires, and bear attacks (all imaginary, chillax). Then we did something shocking... I let the kids PAINT. Yep, I decided to be "Nice Mom" and not worry about the mess. And you should see the "log cabin" I fashioned out of popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. We crafted the day away and they loved it.



We took the kids skating today at the rec center. First time for the Little Miss, and she did awesome.



I really needed a week like this. And I'm pretty proud that I didn't get swayed either; the hubby wanted to spontaneously drive somewhere, get a hotel with a waterslide, do some shopping, etc (a normal conversation that comes up, oh, every weekend at our house), but I stuck to the plan. Chillax. It's been nice, even though he might not admit it :)

If a stranger offers you candy, make sure it's Reeses Pieces

Last week, a note came home with all the elementary school kids asking parents to make sure our kids are "Stranger Aware". So I decided I needed to have "the talk" with my kids about strangers and how we practice safety with people we don't know. It went something like this:

Me: "So you guys know what to do when a stranger approaches, right?"

The Boy: "What's a stranger?"

Me: "A stranger is someone we don't know. Lots of times we see strangers at the store and if they ask us 'How are you', we can say 'fine', etc. But if a stranger ever asks you to come with them, what do you think we should say to them?"

The Girl: "Please and Thank you?"

Me: "Well actually we should say, 'No, I don't talk to strangers" and then walk away or find Mommy or Daddy.

The Boy: "But we aren't allowed to be away from you, so why can't you just tell the stranger that yourself?"

Me: "When you're older there might be times when you are allowed to walk home from school by yourself, or play outside alone... ANYWAYS, never go anywhere with a stranger, okay?

The Boy and The Girl: .... mumbling in agreement...

Me: So what would you say if a stranger offered you some candy?

The Boy: "I would say 'No!... but what kind of candy?'..."


At this rate, they won't be allowed to walk home alone until they're in college.

Halloween

For Halloween we had our friends come over and the hubbies took the kids trick-or-treating. Hayley was a Pirate, Brock was Bumblebee, and Carter was Darth Vader. (Baby Felicia was a skunk, but she's not in the picture).

Us adults had fun with dress-up clothes and face paint too.


Once we got the sugar-crazy kids to bed, we played Rock Band and Wii Sports.


Earlier that afternoon, my kids were so excited to go Trick-or-Treating, they were practicing on every door in our house. We told them they had to say "Thank you!" just as loud as they said "Trick-or-Treat!". They did this for hours: