Mother Hoodwink

Christmas 2008

We had a delightful Christmas at our house this year.

A couple days ago we decorated cookies.

Then we went and visited Santa. Gavin's only concern was his free candy cane. He saw Santa three times this year at different events and each time he received a candy cane. He only knows Santa as the Keeper of the Canes. So he's always excited to see him. Maggie of course did major shit flipping because *gasp* her parents weren't the ones who were holding her.

 

Christmas Eve we let the kids open one present each. Which were actually two but I wrapped them as one. (We love the That's not my... books.) We then read them The Christmas Story about that Jesus guy and of course, The Night Before Christmas.

The next morning we found that the cookies we left out,

seemed to be enjoyed by Santa.

He left Gavin and Maggie quite the haul this year.

I have to admit that most of the stuff the kids got was given to them by overzealous grandparents.

Gavin's favorite gift this year was his pretend kitchen that my mom got the kids. Back when she visited last September, she had me help her look for a play kitchen. She wanted my approval on size and such since Josh and I were the ones who would have to deal with it. It has been sitting in a huge box in Maggie's room for three months waiting to fulfill its duties of housing plastic food. It took two hours to open presents because Gavin had a dire need to pretend to eat said plastic food. "I just have to cook!" he would tell us when we asked him to open more presents. Here he is pretending to get a drink of water.

Other than Maggie popping her first tooth on Christmas day, my favorite gift was a new lens that Josh got me for my DSLR. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning.

When I told Josh what it was that I wanted in a lens, I used very professional photography lingo and said that I wanted it "blurry behind the subject." I put one on my Amazon wishlist that I thought would do that but my ADD makes it hard for me to focus on reading about stuff that I have almost no knowledge of. Josh researched everything and turns out I did pick a good lens.

How was your Christmas/Whatever?

What have you done?

I got this from Katrina. Copy and paste then bold and italicize the things you've done.

1. Touched an iceberg (When I visited Alaska.)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby’s diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said “I love you” and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights

Wordless Wednesday: Mid Raspberry

Edited to add the link to the Etsy store I bought Maggie's hair scarf at: My Baby Trend  I love her store. I'm buying more and having her do some custom ones. They are awesome! I love that it makes her look like a girl without using an obnoxiously huge bow.

Wordless Wednesday: So sometimes I encourage him to break the rules.

You don't need talent to make an album.

I found this at Kerry's blog. It's way fun!

If you are in a band and you guys can't come up for a name for your band, an album cover or title, then do this. Most likely it will come out looking really cool and artsy.

Go to this site and use the article's title as your band name.

Go to this site and go to the last quote on the page. Use the last four words of that quote as your album title.

Go to this site and use the third picture, no matter what it is, as your album cover.

The weirder it is, the better. That way it makes you look all artsy and cool.

The original picture I got wouldn't allow me to copy it at all. (Flickr has that option.) So I had to reload and I swear, this is the picture that came up.

And because Dim thinks this is the coolest thing ever, he had to make one too. His turned out really well I think.

Go ahead and try it!

Things you should know about me:

AndreAnna was given an interview by another blogger and she then offered to give one to anyone who wanted one. So I asked and she picked five great questions for me. If you would like an interview then leave me a comment telling me and I'll give you five questions made with my own little brain. Here is my interview:

1) If you could live anywhere in the US, where would you?

My instinct was to say Virginia Beach because that's where my family is, but I don't think it's really my ideal place to live. I have never really been to New England but whenever I see it on TV, it looks like the kind of place I would love to live. Autumn is sort of scarce in the South. It's my favorite season and living in the South my entire life, I have grown pretty bitter about not being able to wear rust colored, chunky turtleneck sweaters while walking down the street while bright orange, yellow and red leaves fall down from the trees.

So probably Rhode Island, Connecticut or Maine maybe. Actually, it just has to be in that area and on the ocean.

2) Besides being an awesome mommy, what would your dream job be?

I've always wanted to be an elementary teacher. Second grade is my top choice to teach. When I was in high school, I went to vocational school for half the day during my junior and senior year. I took Early Childhood Education and for a semester we had to student teach at either a pre-school or an elementary school. My junior year I student taught for a fourth grade class and was so sad to see how jaded and grown up the kids were. I certainly wasn't talking and acting like that in fourth grade. My senior year I student taught for a second grade class and loved every second of it. I'm back in school now to get my degree and hope that I'll be done with it by the time the baby that's baking now is ready for first grade.

For an unrealistic job I want, it would be working in the Peace Corps. It's a great way to get paid to travel and learn all about the culture of which you are working in. I didn't even consider the Peace Corps until after Dim joined the military. He plans on retiring in the military so it won't be happening anytime soon. Since there is an age minimum to join but no maximum, there's still hope.

3) What is your alcoholic beverage of choice (when you're not pregnant of course) or nonalcoholic if you don't drink?

I'm not that big of a drinker but when I do drink, I just have shots of vodka. Mixed drinks are so yummy but they give me such tummy aches. It's rather annoying. I'm not so crazy about beer. If I do drink it, I have super light crap. Michelob Ultra is my favorite. Everyone makes fun of me for it, but it at least gets the job done. I can get quite a good buzz from just one since I don't drink all that often. The last good drink I had, a friend of ours made up. It may already be a real drink but none of us had ever heard of it. You take a drinking glass and fill it half way with Sierra Mist. (It has to be Sierra Mist. Sprite ruins it.) I'm not sure of the actual amount of alcohol in it but you then pour rum and orange juice in the glass at the same time until it's full. You end up with liquid orange creamsickle. So yummy. But it ended up giving me a tummy ache. Boo.

4) Weirdest food craving?

The weirdest craving I have ever had was when I was pregnant with Boomba. I knew that this would be the tastiest treat in the world if Dim would just go to the store and get it for me. I wanted kettle cooked salt and vinegar chips and a glass of ice cold chocolate milk so I could dunk the chips. Ugh, I almost threw up from just remembering that. I dunked and ate one chip and was done. Obviously it wasn't as good as I thought it would be and really, what the hell was I on to think that would be tasty?

I've heard that cravings are really our body telling us what nutrients it needs. I don't think that's true because with this pregnancy, I want coffee constantly. I don't think my body needs that. Now I usually love coffee but I only ever have coffee about once a week. Even before I knew I was pregnant, I was dragging Dim to Baskin Robbins and getting these blended coffee drinks that were bigger than my head. Once I found out I was pregnant, I stopped getting those drinks because they were so big that I know I was having like a week's worth of caffeine in that one drink. I now drink a cup of decaf every night and have a bowl of Starbucks Java Chip ice cream every now and then.

5) Name one vain indulgence you have.

This one is hard. I don't really have any. See, I'm a saint. Refer to answer two.

I asked Dim what he thought and he and I agreed that it would be my lip gloss obsession. I don't even know how many I have. A freaking lot, I know that. What's so stupid is that most of them are a shade of light pink when my favorites have always been a plum color. For the longest time my established color was Berry Burst from Bonne Bell. I found it when I was around fifteen and it just stuck with me. About three years ago they discontinued my color thus began my quest to find the perfect color... again.

Bag Lady

AndreAnna has tagged me for the "What's in your bag?" meme. I was scared when I started this because I had no idea what the hell was in my bag. I dumped everything out on my bed and figured it out. Let me just state that I have not carried a real purse since before Boomba was born. On the rare occasion when I go out without Boomba, I put my military ID, driver's license, bank card and lip gloss in my pocket. I keep my phone in the console in my car and carry my keys. I really need to dig through my closet and find a purse. Anyways, the bag I mostly use is this oversized purse I ordered from OldNavy.com before Boomba was born. I didn't pay attention to the dimensions given and thought it was going to be a lot smaller. I thought it was unusable until I realized that most real diaper bags suck and are uncomfortable to wear. I have put this bag though hell. Here are the contents:

Ok, clockwise from the top:

A pair of socks just in case I'm not wearing any when I go to an OB appointment. I don't want my doctor to see my feet. I don't care about my girly bits because he sees those all days. I don't want him to be so close to my feet and think, "God woman, you need a pedicure, stat!"

A tampon, which I think I can take out of my bag now.

Boomb'a 15 month check up paper with all of his stats and a brochure for Dolly Parton's free book a month club. I've meaning to sign Boomba up for that.

A toy car and a mini Magna Doodle for when I have to keep the boy busy.

Like five hair ties. I always have extra because sometimes they break so easily and I need my hair out of my way, so I don't mess around. Also, one is the zipper for my bag. Pathetic, I know. I really need a new bag.

A baggie of Goldfish crackers and a baggie of raisins. I'm not going to lie to you, I don't know how long that bag of raisins has been in there. I didn't even know there were any in there until I dumped out my bag.

My cheap pair of Target sunglasses, my wallet and my cell phone.

Above that is my little addiction of lip glosses. I never know if I have any in my bag so I always grab a tube on my way out the door. Apparently, I can stop that because I had four in my bag plus a tube of Chapstick.

Next to that stuff is some baby Motrin. You never know.

Above that is a AA battery. I don't know why that was in my bag. My MacBook remote. I'm even more confused why that is in there. And then there is a purple inked pen. Because purple is such a professional color.

At about 7:00 are some diapers, wipes and a tube of diaper rash cream.

Next to that are my keys hooked onto my bag. One of which is my mom's house key. I never gave it back to her when I moved out. It was my way of stealing food when Dim and I were poor and living together at 18.

Then lastly a water bottle and a sippy cup full of water.

I don't know if you can tell, but my bag is filthy. Don't judge. Oh and I omitted all the scraps of paper and stray Goldfish crackers.

Ok, I'm going to pass this along to Kerry, because she always buys unique things so I'm sure she has some cool crap in her bag.