Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Let's see if Blogger cooperates and lets me make a post!  It's a long one.......so here goes!

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It's an understatement to say.....the kids were beyond excited.  Santa is just too much fun!  We're probably nearing the end of the Santa-ness with Charlie.  It doesn't take many bus rides to school before someone blurts out the secret.  :(   Oh well.....part of life, I guess.

 THE LEGO WHITE HOUSE!  So cool!

 After the girls went to bed (well....Pat too...), Charlie and I stayed up late and put it together.

 It's an awesome piece!  It's really detailed.  He loves it!

 My brother in law, Ryan, is deployed right now.  Bonny and the kids didn't want to spend Christmas alone, so they made a trip to Minnesota!  Bonny got right to work playing beauty parlor with my girls.   :)

Even though we didn't have any snow (WIERD!), the kids still got to show cousin Tommy what Minnesota winter is all about.....sort of.   Basically they just got the gist of the bundling up aspect.

Must be a genetic thing.....?

Annella can walk!!!

I still cannot stop laughing about this.  Charlie's new wrestling move.  This picture just screams "kodak moment!"

My parents and all ELEVEN grandkids.  This was the best shot we could get!

L-R: Evelyn, Henry, Ben, Violet, Annella, Tommy, Eleanor, Lacey, Rachel, Charlie, and Howie 

Uncle Marshall is so much fun!

Everyone loves the baby in a shopping cart game!

We headed to McIntosh after Christmas, to celebrate Christmas and New Year's wtih Pat's family.  They got a nice snowstorm while we were there.  I say "nice", since we weren't traveling during it, and it was due to disappear by the time we left.   :) 

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Rachel and her cousin Hudson.  They're only about 6 weeks apart, and they play so well together.  That is, until both of their siblings jump in and give them white washes in the snow........

 Even the big kids got in on the fun.  Poor Ronnie....he didn't know what was about to hit him!  Huge snowballs.........and...........

 ......a whitewash!  Poor guy....he thought they were making a snowman and was bringing them out some coal for the eyes.  All you could hear underneath the gasps for air was, "MY COAL!  MY COAL!"

Rachel and Grandpa spent some time ice fishing, and Rachel speared her first fish!  Definately not a mounter, but that's OK.  She was pretty proud of it.

We came back home, just in time to send the kids back to school.  SCORE!!!!!  A break is nice, but so is the routine of school. 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Blogger Malfunction

I'm not purposely neglecting my blog....Blogger has some sort of issue with my computer.  Or vice versa.  If I'm on for more than 5 minutes, it stalls out and even CTRL-ALT-DEL won't even cure it.  Not sure what's up.  Either way......it seems as if it might work now?

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Let me see if I can upload some pics and you might even get a Christmas post out of me by the end of the week!

Van for sale!!!!

Van for sale at a rock bottom, LOW price!  Click on the autotrader link below for more details!

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=312349116&dealer_id=66870363&car_year=2008&position=top&model=GRANDCARAV&pager.offset=75&search_lang=en&start_year=2008&body_style=VANS&search_type=used&distance=25&rdm=1324392561571&marketZipError=false&sownerid=1360642&lastBeginningStartYear=1981&end_year=2012&showZipError=y&dma=MINNEAPOLIS-ST_PAUL_NO&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&body_code=64&first_record=76&isFlashPlugin=true&default_sort=priceDESC&address=55011&sort_type=priceDESC&make=DODGE&seller_type=b&num_records=75&cardist=0&standard=false

Batteries Not Included

My kids, like all other kids, are easily drawn into the electronic world.  The world of multiple TVs in a household, DVD players in the car, Leapsters, Netflix, iPads, PlayStations, and more.  It would be so easy as a parent to just let them use these items, all day - every day.  BUT.....that's not how we roll.  I admit, we have all these gadgets. But, like with all things, they have limits.

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While during an unplugged moment last night, Pat was telling Charlie about how he would spend hours as a kid, setting up his lincoln log battlefield.  He'd get it all set up, then would attack the little plastic army men, with the smallest lincoln logs.  Whichever side had the last remaining soldier.....was declared the winner!

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Charlie went to work immediately.  Quickly building the coolest little lincoln log town for his men to fight at.  He's not finished, and left for school with scrict instructions to not let anyone play with it while he was gone.  Here's a sneak peek as to what he's working on.

He also realized that he doesn't have enough men for the war.  Pat told him that he better ask Santa for more men.  Oh boy......as if Legos aren't bad enough to step on in the middle of the night.  YIKES!

Bingo???

"There was a farmer, had a cow and Nemo was his name-o

B-L-N-G-O,  B-L-N-G-O,  B-L-N-G-O, and Nemo was his name-o!"

-Rachel Roed

Things I don't like

That the left hand on the piano is played in bass clef, and the right hand is played in treble clef.  How is a person ever to remember if Every Good Boy Does Fine, or if Good Boys Do Fine Always?  Who the heck came up with that crappy idea?  Talk about rubbing your belly and tapping your head........while trying to do long division.  Anyway, on with my list.

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When people rent those Portable On Demand Storage Units...and then use them for permanat storage units.....in their yard....for me to look at....everyday.  That neighbor is wierd.

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That we have a large living room, and the furniture only seem to be able to go one way. Talk about not getting the maximum life out of the carpet. Pat thinks I'm wierd when I say that. But really....think about it.

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Select-A-Size paper towels.  I never get the size I want.  If I wanted a piece that small, I would have grabbed a Kleenex. 

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That my girls feel the need to change clothes 4 times a day.  I swear I am washing clean clothes at some point during the week because I dont' know what is what, and I'm not daring enough to give certain items any sort of sniff test. 

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That you cannot buy snowpants in January, but you can buy a bikini.

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Speaking of bikinis, I have to stop blogging for the day, and go wash a load of swimsuits.  The girls have been playing "pool party" on a blue blanket in the living room lately.  It's pretty cute.   :)

Why is it so hard to remember that Wednesday is garbage day??

How can we be this busy when the kids aren't in much for activities right now?  I'm not sure.....but it seems that way right now.

SCHOOL - Yesterday marked the last day of the 1st trimester of school for the kids.  WHEW.  Only 113 school days to go.  SO, to celebrate, they're off today.  That's right.....on a Wednesday.  Whatever.

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SCOUTS - 'Eh......we're still not sure what to think of this.  It's still very unorganized, and nobody seems to know what they're doing.  But, Charlie is so stinkin' excited about it, so we're giving it the benefit of the doubt....for now.  On a side note, isn't he cute?

FLEET FARM - Yesterday I went shopping at Fleet Farm for toys and such, to fill the baskets for our preschool carnival's basket raffle.  That store has everything!  We spent 60% of our budget and got everything we needed!  Now to hide this $600 worth of toys in my basement somewhere, in hopes that my kids don't get into it!  In case you're wondering, the carnival is on January 28th, at the old Cedar Elementary.  Everyone is welcome to attend!  More details to follow!

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35 - I hit a milestone birthday last week.  35.  Ugghh. I thought of this when I went out to dinner with a college pal to celebrate our November birthdays.  We have known each other for 16 years.  Those 16 years have flown by.  In another 16 years, we will be 51.  FIFTY ONE, people!!  COME ON!  That seems like such a cruel joke.  "Life moves by pretty quickly.  If you don't stop and take a look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller.   So true....So true.

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VAN FOR SALE! - That's right, we're selling the (cough cough) beloved minivan.  It makes zero sense for us both to be driving vehicles that get 15MPG.  SO, we're going to sell it and get a car for Pat to skip back and forth to work in.  Our plan is to sell the pick up too, and buy a Suburban after the first of the year.  We'll see.  One step at a time.  The van listing doesn't seem to be drawing much interest.  Darn it.  If you're interested in buying it, let me know!  It's a 2008 and it only has 44,000 miles on it!

Black Friday - I was one of those crazies who "just had to" partake in the Black Friday madness.  I did however, stick to my guns, and I didn't skip out on any family Thanksgiving time.  I got a few good deals, but nothing really that I couldn't buy online in the comforts of my own home.  I think this might be my last Black Friday outing.  Between getting home at 5AM, and throwing up the entire next day.....I don't think it's really that good of an idea.  It took me 3 days to recover from the sleep deprivation and the vomitness.  I guess I'm not 19 anymore.  (See bullet point 35, above.)

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December - I just turned over the calendar to take a peek at the rest of the week.  December is already packed!  Preschool events, meetings, Holiday parties, Christmas programs, a scout event, and Christmas!!  Sigh......oh well.  Tis the season!  We need to get a tree this weekend.  I need to shampoo my carpet.  I need to address my Christmas cards.  I need to wrap presents.  I need to do laundry.  AND, since it's Wednesday, I need to take the garbage cans down.