Always an adventure

I had a brilliant idea for this weekend. My mom had sent money for the kids' Christmas presents. I figured that since they already own 8,045,072 toys that they probably don't need any more. Instead I thought that we could take the money and use it for a trip away for the weekend. (Brilliant, right? Wait.)

We decided to take them to Santa's Village, in Jefferson New Hampshire. Since it's about 2 1/2 hours away, we also decided we'd stay overnight in a hotel. This one, in fact.

We found that they had a room which had one room with two double beds with a door separating another room with a Queen bed. Awesome, we thought. (how naive) We assumed the kids would sleep on their own side, and we could have our own side.

We originally thought we could leave right after work. However, we never packed, and that takes about 7 hours with this crew. Then we needed to feed everyone dinner, and drop Wyatt off at Respite. We ended up leaving Vermont at about 7:30.

The kids occupied themselves in the car by yelling as loudly as they possibly could, and determining how hard they could hit one another before drawing blood. After about 1 1/2 hours of that, we pulled over and moved car seats around. Connor and Aisling could no longer touch one another. By the time we arrived, they were all asleep.

When we got to the hotel, Connor and Aisling went right to sleep. Siobhan, however, was totally wound up. She stayed in between Al and I bouncing around until about 1:00 in the morning. Al, obviously, was able to sleep right through that, being the dad and all. I, however, had to keep up conversations with her about all sorts of random things. Super.

After a breakfast where we spilled everything in sight, bumped into as many people as we possibly could, and left a trail of crumbs and milk from the dining room to our hotel room, we hit the road.

It was freezing. Freezing. Extremely freezing. We still ended up staying for the entire day. We got there at around 11:30, and left at around 7:00.

That. Was. Stupid.

Although, we surely saw everything, and had a great time for most of it, but the time we left the kids were BEYOND exhausted.

Our time in the park was mostly great. We went on every open ride, made some gifts, decorated cookies, saw some shows, and even picked out gifts from Santa. Aside from one extremely exhausted and cranky baby and some isolated complaints here and there about the cold and being tired, the day was pretty fun.

Until, The End.

As you leave Santa's Village you exit through the store. There are baskets full of presents from Santa. We always have allowed each kid to pick one out. Then you pay for them (oh, did you think they were free? silly you!) and you unwrap them outside. Or, if it's frigid, you unwrap them in your car.

Let me stress here; we've been to Santa's Village at least 4 other times. And also, there's not a ton of variety in the gifts here.

The girls opened theirs, and each of them got a stuffed animal. (Yeah! More things to collect dust....) Connor opened his and he got a deck of cards and a lanyard. Oh no. The Same Deck of Cards from Last Year! Oh No.

Connor exhibited a tantrum unlike any I have ever seen. (I've seen a few in my day). This one rivaled them all. There was yelling, screaming, crying, swearing, and threatening. Also, he was pretty loud too.

Now, obviously, being a trained behaviorist, I responded to his tantrum with calm words and appropriate interactions. I supported his needs and responded to him with respect. I never yelled at him and obviously did not threaten to take away all of his toys for being so ungrateful. In fact, I think all of the parents around were stopping to stare at my phenomenal parenting skills and abilities. Obviously, they could tell I am a behaviorist. Obviously.

Well, once that was done we hit the road and headed home.

I vowed never to take a road trip with them again.

Ever.

Although, I also said that last month after we went to Rhode Island.

Figured it ou!

I finally figured out why families like the Duggars have so many children.

Laziness.

Seriously! I was just working on cooking dinner. (Weird I know but Al's away at a party.) Siobhan said she had to use the potty. I asked Connor to take her. He did, she went, and all was right with the world.

How remarkable, I realized! I didn't have to do a single thing, and the 2 year old used the potty!

I figure if I had a few more children I wouldn't even have had to be cooking dinner. I could get the 16 year old cooking dinner, the 14 year old cleaning up, the 12 year old leading homework club, and the 10 year old doing all the potty trips. What a system!

Maybe I should get in on that.....




Nah, maybe not.

Just what we needed

I'd like to thank everyone who bought Cub Scout popcorn from Connor.

Thanks.


He sold over $600.00 worth. That means he earned a special 600 club patch.

Yay!

It also means, however, that he earned a marshmallow crossbow.

Clearly, that's exactly what our house needed; was a crossbow to shoot marshmallows. We were just not complete as a family without this particular item.I am sure I can't imagine the ways in which this crossbow will be used to torture his sisters.

There were ten in the bed....

We bought a kind sized bed about a year ago. It seems that our old Queen was not enough to hold us, the cats, and the numerous children that seem to find their way in each night.

I woke up the other morning with two little girls snuggled up with one another next to me in bed. (The cat was also between my head and Al's head, but that's not as cute). Aisling had her arms wrapped around Siobhan, and Siobhan was rubbing her fingers in Aisling's hair. It was such a special little moment, it almost made the fact that I had no room in the bed irrelevant. (almost)

I think they'd been there for a few hours, since I vaguely remembered them coming in during the night. Note: they are taking up my entire side of the bed. (Yes, that is a cat on her head, and no the bed rail is not for me, it's for moments like this)

I guess that's not such a bad sight to wake up to!

At least someone's laughing

Sometimes I think that when God makes our kids, it's all a big practical joke to him. A joke on us I mean. Sometimes, I think he takes qualities that we, let's say.... don't appreciate... in our family members, and magnifies them in our children.

Let me 'splain....
No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Tonight, Connor was invited to two sleepover parties, and he had a cub scout pack meeting to go to. He opted to go to the pack meeting, and then head to the nearest sleepover party (next door). When he came home from the pack meeting, he was so worried about sleeping over at the party he burst into tears and refused to go. Worried about going to a party? Hello brother Kevin.

Take Aisling for example, her bedroom can be a total pit. She puts things wherever and often loses things. The kicker, she doesn't care! She's totally happy with it. Why, hello Al.

Connor? He gets so flippin frustrated when he doesn't know how to do something even before it's been taught to him. He demands to know everything right away, and needs to be perfect to a fault in everything he does on the first try. Oh, hello me.

Sometimes, I think God is just cracking up at his little jokes. "So, you got frustrated when your brother was nervous about things? Oh yeah? How do you like it now?"

Thankfully, there are some pretty decent qualities in all our children as well. (Phew, cuz otherwise....)

Aisling and Connor treat Siobhan like she's a total princess. They dote on her and give her everything she wants before she even asks. That's pretty special, and it's something they've learned from Al. They are also both incredibly talented with Wyatt. I've seen them help him out in ways that are better than teachers I've met. That's pretty amazing. I often see my brother in Connor's sense of humor as well, in fantastic ways.

At the end of the day, my kids are an amazing mixture of so many people. We're pretty blessed.... most of the time.

Bubble Gum

We have this in our house:

It's a magnetic advent calendar. It should help the kids to not only understand how many days until Christmas, but also help them remember the actual reason for the season. (Hint, it's not gifts)

In theory.

In reality, it doesn't help. I have heard the question "How many days till Christmas" so many different ways that I think I may have exploded earlier this evening. They are asking me in every way possible.
"Mom, how many days until Christmas?"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if we don't count today?"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if we don't count Christmas?"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if we only count school days?"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if the moon is full and I wear my green pajamas and turn in a circle three times facing East?"

I think I will start answering them in equally crazy ways.
"Mom, how many days until Christmas?"
"Bagel"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if we don't count today?"
"Movie theater"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if we don't count Christmas?"
"Elbow"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if we only count school days?"
"monkey"
"Mom, how many days until Christmas if the moon is full and I wear my green pajamas and turn in a circle three times facing East?"
"Bubble Gum"

Maybe then they'll stop asking me.

I doubt it.

Thanksgiving 2010

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was quiet. (Well, as quiet as it can be with four extremely noisy children underfoot). We shared a great day with my dad and our best friend Julie. Food was great, company was perfect, and the day was fantastic.

Siobhan helped make pie!

Poppy and Connor at their handsomest!


Are words really needed here?


Aisling and our lovely friend Julie!


Thanksgiving is Wyatt's favorite holiday. He's ready to dig in!


Ready to eat!
(no, we still haven't painted the dining room. Are you volunteering?)

After eating, we decided to take a walk, since it was such a beautiful day!

We had a lovely day, and hope you did too. Per usual, the next day we went to get our Christmas tree. That's an adventure for another blog entry!

Happy Thanksgiving!