Christmas Eve - Part 2 "Wrapping"

Every year, for as long as I can remember, Eric and I have come home from church on Christmas Eve, put the kids to bed, and settled in either the living room or the family room to finish the wrapping. This year was no different. Well, actually, it was. It was different this year because Eric was rather cranky about it. We do it every year. He should be prepared. But, for some reason, this year he just wasn't happy about it. His attitude was not in the least bit festive or joyous.

It was compounded by the fact that we had the "We really should cut back this year" conversation back around Thanksgiving and as the presents kept coming out of the closet -- I swear they must have been reproducing in there! -- it became apparent that I had not done a very good job. At one point I actually dreaded getting up from my not-so-comfortable spot on the floor to get "another load." I could just sense that this was going to be the "load" that resulted in the "I thought we were cutting back this year!?" comment. And, sure enough, it was. (Interesting the way you can sense these things). I did try the "Well I got a lot of things on sale" angle. I also said "It really isn't that much." But, at the end of it all, my only argument is that "It just isn't that easy to 'cut back'". I tried. I failed.

How do you cut back when you have a 13 year old that wants a $150 ipod? And a 4 year old who wants everything he sees on TV? And you have to fill in everyone in between. And you need to be sure everyone has the same number of gifts to open. And you don't want to spend twice as much money on one kid as you do on the others. Is it working? Have I convinced you that I did the best I could? Nope. I didn't think so. I didn't convince Eric, either. Oh, well. What's done is done. We'll pay the bills in January and then I might feel a little bit of remorse. But probably not. Christmas was GREAT! Everyone was happy. And that is my job -- and I do it well.

Anyway, we finished wrapping. I (I mean, Santa) filled the stockings. Eric put away the wrapping paper and we were in bed by 1:30 am. Not too bad. We've done worse.

Eric swears that next year we aren't doing the wrapping on Christmas Eve. But I kind of like it. So we probably will. I'll just hope this cranky thing was just a mood.

Happy New Year!

OK, so he might be justified...this time

This morning Mark came into my room at about 6 am. He has done this fairly regularly the past few days and for varying reasons, all of which resulted in me sending him back to his room to go back to sleep. For the love of God, there is no school and I want to sleep past 7:00!

This morning's conversation went something like this:

Mark: Mom, I'm scared.

Mom: What are you scared of?

Mark: Fire.

Mom: That's ridiculous. Go back to bed. It is only 6:00.

Mark: But there is a candle burning in the family room.

Mom: Oh. Well blow that out on your way back to your room.

OK, so I think I will leave that off of my "Mother of the Year" application.

And the scary thing is that my next thought was "Damn, that was one of my favorite candles. I hope it isn't gone."

Christmas Eve - Part 1 "The Christmas Pageant"

My kids participate in the youth music groups at our church. Brooke has been active for years. Her group is called Music, Arts & Drama (MAD, for short) and meets on Wednesday nights -- they don't want any part of the little kids. Kevin was guilted in this year by the music director who suggested that he could just do handbells and skip the singing and drama. His group is called MAD, Jr. and meets on Tuesday nights. Daniel is part of Preschool Faith Weaver Friends meeting also on Tuesday nights. Mark was strongly against participation of any kind. But, as Kevin and Daniel's groups meet at the same time on Tuesday's when Brooke was at church working on her confirmation lessons -- he had to be at church anyway. The first night, way back in September, he refused to join in. So, I said fine. You can just hang out with me and be bored. About 1/2 way through the night a boy came out and invited Mark to come on in -- very sweet. Mark decided he would just "look". He went to the door, peeked in, and I proceeded to shove him from the back into the middle of the room. Stunned and not knowing what else to do, he took a seat. Lucky for me they were giving out Hershey bars that night. He hasn't missed since. The possibility of a snack is all he needed.

Anyway, back to my story. The groups all participate together in the family Christmas Eve service. Brooke's group sang and directed the service. Kevin ended up as a shepherd and singing. (He might as well learn now that one thing leads to another and saying "no" isn't that easy.) Mark was a King and had a small speaking part! And Daniel was the cutest little shepherd you ever did see.

We had moments of brilliance: Brooke nailed her piano piece "Carol of the Bells" and sang beautifully.

We had moments of frustration: The afternoon before the performance, Daniel expressed reluctance to participate. Actually, his exact words were "I'm not going up on stage." I asked him why not and he said "I don't like the costume. It chokes me in my neck." To which I replied "I'm going to choke you in your neck if you don't get dressed for church!" At the end of it all, he got dressed, Eric took him to church and he got swooped up in the mayhem and never looked back. (Or if he did, there was no one there to care -- we all went to get good seats and didn't even go check on him).

And we had moments of laughter: Mark walked in with the other kings looking like he was being led to the electric chair! I really can't adequately describe it in words. I am desperately trying to get a copy of the video and I will post it if I can. But it was absolutely hysterical. And when he said his line: "Indeed, this is no ordinary star. It signifies the birth of a new king. Let us follow the star and see this young king!" with the same lack of enthusiasm I cracked up -- and so did everyone else. So, we need to work on his "drama".

Why bother?

My kids had school today and will have another full day of school tomorrow before the Holiday Break (can't call it Christmas Break because that wouldn't be PC). The problem with this is that they aren't doing anything!

Mark asked me to pick him up early today because this afternoon the entire school (all 500 students) were watching the movie "Kung Fu Panda" in the cafeteria. The 3rd grade, as the highest grade in the school, sits at the back, so he can't see. His teacher allows him to move to the front so that he can see and even lets him bring a friend, but he is bothered by having to sit with the Kindergarteners. So, what is the point of making him stay and not see a movie that he has already seen and can watch (and see) in the comfort of his own home?

Tomorrow he has a party in the morning and a Sing-A-Long in the afternoon. I suppose he will attend because I am in charge of the craft at the party. I'm sure he would like to skip the Sing-A-Long (he has already told me he won't go up front and sing), but I can hardly sign him out early two days in a row with no good reason! Or can I?

Brooke stayed home with a cold today. I probably won't send her tomorrow, either. They are having an assembly in the morning -- the band, chorus, and orchestra are performing. And in the afternoon they are all going to pile into the gym to watch 3-on-3 basketball games for "Hoops For Heart" -- a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Brooke hit me up for a donation, but not being a huge fan of exerting herself, decided to pass on the actual basketball part of the fundraiser. So, what is the point of sending her to school when she is not 100% so that she can suffocate trying to play her flute with a stuffy nose and sit on the gym floor with 100's of classmates watching basketball games that she doesn't care about?

Kevin hasn't shared the agenda for tomorrow with me yet, but I'm sure it is not chock full of academic stimulation.

Daniel is the only one who seems to have a purpose to his day tomorrow -- a Happy Birthday Jesus party at preschool that is sure to include a cupcake!

Completely makes sense...when you think about it

Daniel is a VERY picky eater. There are only about 15 foods he is willing to eat. He tries nothing new. Chicken nuggets is the only "meat" he eats.

Anyway, one of his favorite foods is a cream cheese sandwich on cinnamon bread. He has been eating this for a little over a year and he does vary it. Sometimes he wants it toasted, sometimes open faced, sometimes cut in fours, etc. Whatever it is, though, it is a trend. He doesn't vary from meal to meal or from day to day. (And he does eat cream cheese sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner -- but, not all in one day).

Currently, the order is always "Cream cheese sandwich, not toasted, yes top." I got to thinking about the "yes top" the other day and wondered where that came from. And it made perfect sense. The opposite would be "Cream cheese sandwich, not toasted, no top." So it stands to reason that if he wants a top it would be "Cream cheese sandwich, not toasted, yes top."

OK, that's enough thinking for me for one day.

There must be a better way

Today in New Jersey it is snowing. The forecast was for snow to begin at about 6 am, so I thought there might be no school. However, when we woke this morning at 6 -- no snow. I checked the website and there was no message posted about school cancelation, so I woke everyone and off they all went to school (except for Daniel who has a cold and has been hanging with me ALL week! Ugh!). By about 9:30 am the snow had started and I began to think early dismissal.

So, I, in my infinite wisdom, saw a small window of opportunity to run a couple of quick Christmas errands. Off I went in the snow to Bed, Bath & Beyond, Michael's and Target. While in Michael's my cell phone rang -- the automated message that school's are dismissing early due to the inclement weather. OK, no problem -- it is only 10:45 and Brooke and Kevin won't be dismissed until 12:15 -- ONWARD! As I am checking out, my cell phone rings again. Someone from MLK School is calling (mind you, I have no children at MLK) regarding Brandon (my friend Lana's son). They can't get in touch with her and want to be sure that someone will be picking him up. I tell them that I will get in touch with her. Call Lana on her cell. Two minutes later -- a call from Randolphville regarding Julia (my friend Jessica's daughter). They can't get in touch with her and want to be sure someone will be at the bus stop to meet her. I tell them I will get in touch with her and if I can't I will pick Julia up myself (Mark is at Randolphville, too). Call Jessica on her cell -- no answer. Call Jessica at home.

Now why, if Jessica is at home and Lana easily reachable on her cell, are they calling me? Well, it seems that when the emergency list is called they start with the emergency list and not the home and cell numbers for the parents. So, if you did not put yourself as the #1 emergency contact, then you aren't even called. But it doesn't make sense to put yourself since all of your contact numbers are listed on the "information" part of the form. Why would you put them again in the "emergency" section. Most people just assumed that parents would be called first and that emergency numbers used if parents couldn't be reached. WRONG!

At this point I decided it was time to give up my shopping and head for home, since I couldn't get anything done with my phone constantly ringing!

Anyway, to wrap up, in total I received 4 automated phone calls (2 at home and 2 on my cell), 1 call for Lana's son, 1 call for Jessica's daughter, and NO calls for my own children! BTW, my parents also received at least 1 automated call.

I think we need to find a way to streamline this process so that I can make more efficient use of what little time I have available on a snowy day when the kids are coming home early!

This guy takes his job a little too seriously

I went to Lube Express to have my oil changed yesterday. Admittedly, it had been too long -- it has been on my to-do list since October or so. Yesterday was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like being in and out of stores, yet didn't want to be inside cleaning and doing laundry all day, so Daniel and I hit the McDonald's drive-thru and headed to Lube Express for an "in the car picnic."

Well it is a little tough to enjoy your lunch when the Lube Express guy, Matt, is ripping you a new you-know-what for not having your oil changed regularly enough! Yes, I know it had been 9,000 miles. But, what does he care? You would think he had birthed my engine himself and given it to me to take care of! He kept going on and on about the damage I am doing to my engine and that it is highly recommended that I flush the engine (for $99), and that I was more than a quart low, and that oil gets burned onto all of the engine parts, and on and on and on.

So, I call Eric at work and tell him "Hey, this guy and Lube Express is quite disturbed by the fact that I haven't had the oil changed in a while and highly recommends that we have the engine flushed. What should I do?" And Eric, of course, says "Don't do it." And I say, "Well, geez, this guy is really upset about the condition of the engine, etc., etc. He highly recommends that we do this." And Eric replies, "Don't do it."

OK, so I had to tell this guy "No, we'll pass on the engine flush." Given the obvious gravity of the situation, I expected him to cry. But, he took it like a man and told me that we were going to keep burning oil if we don't do it, but that is our decision. And next time he wants to see me in 3,000 miles.

Yeah right! Like I want to go back there again!

(Well, actually I probably will go back there again. I get these coupons for a $19.99 oil change and they are right there by McDonald's. It is just too easy. Let's just hope Matt isn't working that day!)

Y-intercepts and slopes and graphs, oh my!

Yes, I am back on the topic of Algebra. This is going to be the year of Algebra. I just can't get away from it. Kind of like a recurring nightmare.

Last night, before the last of my party guests was even out the driveway, Brooke came into the living room and said "Can Caitlyn come over? We have an algebra assignment due tomorrow that we can't figure out and she thinks that if we work together we can get it." Well, as always, I was a good sport and agreed. So, in a blink of an eye, Caitlyn and her dad were at the door. I told her Dad that I would be happy to drive her home when they were done (I don't know what came over me!), but he said he had nothing better to do and would wait ("Would you like to help clean up my kitchen? I just had 36 people here for a party").

So, the girls settled in the living room to compare their work. And I sat down to try and help. I didn't even remember that y-intercepts and slopes existed and I definitely didn't remember that they could be graphed! But it is like riding a bike. Well, maybe not quite that easy, but I was able to help a little and an hour and a half later Caitlyn and her Dad (who had been watching the Giants-Cowboys game in my family room by himself while Eric put Daniel to bed -- he even let the dog out!) were on their merry way with the assigment done to everyone's satisfaction.

Gee, I hope we get a good grade!

For Moms...funny!

Follow the link below for an absolutely hilarious rendition of the Mom song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw

I'm a moron.

Wow! It sure has been a while since I posted here. Just a long run of days where I just can't get out of my own way.

Here is my latest "boob" moment.

This year, as always, Mark's school sold Entertainment Books as a fundraiser and, as always, I dutifully purchased one. I always have good intentions of taking advantage of tons of coupons and I am lucky if I remember to use the 4 $5 off Shop Rite coupons, which just about cover the $25 cost of the book.

Well, this year even that will be a bit of a challenge since when December 1st came around and I knew that the 2008 book had expired -- I recycled my 2009 book!

Maybe next time I will look at the date a little more carefully before I chuck the damn thing!