My Everyday Unwrapped: Part One

Dear Lady at Vons,
I'm sorry. I needed a time-out yesterday. My ideal grocery shopping trip does not include my 20 month old and most certainly does not include the tiny cart (TM Abby) driven by my four-year old. I heard the word "Mama" in all of its variations about 973 times in the hour (yes, hour) it took to grocery shop yesterday. My four-year old tiny cart driver stood in the path of at least 12 shoppers on 15 different occasions (there were repeat victims). I was trying to wrap up my Christmas shopping at the Von's gift card kiosk with 5 other people and their carts. And then we had to have a potty break! $154 later (that's just the groceries), the baby was grabbing everything in sight, including a pack of Trident and I was grouchy.

The last in-store job was parking the tiny cart. I thought he could handle it. Instead I stood blocking the door while he made jerky motions with the cart, unable to remember where it came from. I am sure that there was not a lot of compassion in my eyes or voice as I screamed at him to park the cart. But you, my neighbor smiled and waited patiently for at least 2 minutes. You were outside on a Friday late afternoon waiting for my four-year old to figure it all out before you could enter Von's. I know that during Christmas time waiting is always multiplied by 7 so thank you for waiting a full 14 minutes for me and my son. And not looking at me like I am a Bad Mommy. And for saying Merry Christmas back to me as I finally realized that you had been too kind. Whoever you are, where ever you are, thanks for the little lesson.

Merry Christmas,
Bad Mommy

Dear Von's,
Love the super charged fuel discount, thanks. Love the super charged gift card kiosk, thanks. Love the 75% off Christmas, thanks. Love the $5 Friday service deli deals, thanks. Do me a favor, GET RID OF THE TINY CARTS!!!!!!

Merry Christmas,
Bad Mommy

______________________________________________________

So here I am, living (by living I mean blogging) my lesson. Until my little Jiminy Cricket schooled me yesterday, I had been ignoring the Everyday Unwrapped concept Emily over at chatting at the sky has been featuring. The concept is simple, take the time to celebrate the here and now moments that make memories, no matter how simple.

I read the post from Kimba last night and decided that my Saturday needed to be unwrapped. And so it was....

I didn't jump out of bed to grab the camera because I was too busy cuddling in bed with both boys. We almost always have an agenda in the morning so this opportunity is uncommon.

Keith had the remnants of a dirty diaper and was in serious need of a bath. Patrick took over bathing his brother while I took a shower. As I got dressed Patrick was explaining to Keith that he still had to wash his feet. Keith kicked a foot up for Patrick to scrub. I was reminded of the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet in John 13. It was a reminder about our ultimate role-model, Jesus Christ and the importance of taking care of each other. The day proceeded with the three of us serving each other accordingly.

First Things First
Milk, Cinnamon Twists (thanks pillsbury), and Grapefruit.

I said, MILK PLEASE!!! Put the camera down and get the milk!


Patrick likes cooking and baking. He also likes to try new things. He ate a whole grapefruit this morning and asked for more. Twist, twist, scoop.



Help a Momma Out


I know this is my everyday unwrapped because there were six loads of laundry and a dirty kitchen. Patrick is usually my little helper but today Keith was stepping up to the plate. My memories of my boys' little helping hands will forever touch my heart.

Candy Canes and Martha
The boys got candy canes while we watched DVRed episodes of Cookie Week on Martha.






Monster Ball Soup

Patrick wanted chicken and tortillas for lunch, instead we made matzo ball soup. Am I the only one who absolutely loves this soup? Answer: No. Keith Fox Callahan ate 3 matzo balls, all the size of his fist. I always forget that the balls inflate in the broth, I was aiming for toddler sized matzo balls. Oh well. I'm sure Patrick will remind me next time.



Quiet Time
Keith crashed hard, right after he coached me on the correct placement of every blanket and silky in his crib. He is on silky lock down so he is very excited to get in bed with his silkies.



Patrick headed upstairs to play with the big boy toys that were relocated from the playroom to his closet. Hearing him playing and pretending confirmed the wisdom of relocating the toys.


Meanwhile Mommy got to take a little moment for herself. A hot cup of super sweet cafe something or other, Grey's Anatomy and blog stalking. This is the good life people.

Children as art

My new light fixture, all dressed up, ready for a party!

I didn't go crazy this week. I got the mantel and dining room (all but) finished last night. The best part is all of the boxes are put away now.

My challenge was to finish without making yet another trip to Michael's. Technically I was successful, I did have to grab a couple of 2 for $1 candlesticks at Walgreens and I printed the pictures. Amazingly I had a five dollar bill to cover the costs of the pictures and the candlesticks.

The Before....


The After.....



CLOSE-UPs
Most of the "art" hanging in my house is pictures of my kids. I thought the garland needed something more so I stuck in these sepia prints from our Christmas photo shoot. (we call it low-cost/no-cost in the biz. $3.13 still counts as low-cost in a recession right?).




And did I tell you about my personal problem? I have no capacity to remember all of the Christmas things I buy, namely at the day after Christmas sale.

Stocking Surplus: Last year I didn't have a stocking for Keith. I couldn't find one that I liked and he didn't know the difference. Everyone who came by our house commented on the lack of a stocking for the baby. I kind of had a complex about it. So unbeknown to the Me of Christmas Present, the Me of Christmas Past bought these cute stockings on sale at Target. The Me of Christmas Present ordered the stockings featured on the mantel (Personal Creations, love it!) when they were 40% off plus free shipping this fall. This was one of the things that seriously slowed down the Christmas decorating. I was frustrated with myself and I had to figure out what to do with the extras. I put them on the wall by the staircase, hoping that toddler hands would be less likely to grab them there. Then I also had to buy two new sets of stocking hangers (not low-cost or no-cost). We're living with these stockings for awhile. No new kids any time soon. Or they have to sign a no new stocking contract when they are born.

The Nutcracker Mistake: The Me of Christmas Past also had the foresight to stockpile some Nutcrackers. Before last year I had never owned a Nutcracker but Patrick has a Nutcracker Passion. Last year I told him he could get a new nutcracker every year. Present Time Me forgot about the Nutcracker stockpile. What was one of the first things Patrick found? The Stockpiled Nutcrackers that were supposed to get doled out across at least two years. To top that off he had already picked out his yearly Nutcracker at Home Goods at Halloween time. The yearly Nutcracker went missing (but not forgotten, I am not completely hopeless) so he had the two new Nutcrackers. I finally found the HomeGoods nutcracker when we were decorating last night. Four total, his goal is an even ten.





I can't put a tablecloth on my table (and I have a ton of Christmas tablecloths) because Keith will pull it off. Otherwise you would see the whole dining room instead of me intentionally editing the table out. Also, my light isn't quite finished. I have a few more pieces to put on it. I was conducting this decorating with Patrick and Keith standing on the table. Keith was pretending that the ornaments were tether balls. Just for going through that gauntlet I think I deserve a little round of applause.

Oh and I shopped for mantels, I knew it was an insane idea. Expensive and 8 inch shelf depth....and unfinished.... Maybe someone will come up with a low-cost/no-cost solution for extending my mantel shelf!

Pop Quiz (silky style)

The title should get you an A+ on this two question quiz. Open books, open notes, keep your eyes on your own paper.

Question #1
What is this?



A) A chair



B) A block suitable for carrying and throwing


C) A SILKY


Question #2
Please identify the primary function of this Michael Kors Jacket.

A) A jacket


B) The most expensive SILKY in the house

Characters Welcome

Keith, Keith, Keith....
Yesterday when I got home from work he insisted that I get the Wall-E toy down so he could play with it. It wasn't working but he continued to insist that I make it work for him. Finally he gave up on me and took it to his dad. Kevin did the exact same thing I did (turned on the robot and the remote control and pushed buttons) and concluded that Wall-E was "out of juice." Kevin and I continued our conversation and Keith did his thing. A few minutes later Keith returned with his sippy cup of juice. He immediately started giving Wall-E sips of juice from his sippy cup (slurps and ahhs, courtesy of Keith). It took us a minute to catch on but we eventually got it. Keith was disappointed that the juice didn't seem to make Wall-E go.



Keith's FAVORITE Christmas thing. He loves the Hallmark singing and dancing snowmen. This one sings "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree" and the penguins are sitting on a present that boasts a ribbon that happens to be SILKY. Half the time he laughs, sings, and bebops. Half the time he lays next to it rubbing the ribbon and sucking his finger. Yep, that's Keith.

A Christmas Miracle

I use the term miracle very loosely, it was more of a Christmas bribe that had a little baby named Miracle. Last year's Christmas program was a bit of a bust. Patrick did not sing at all (despite his admiration for Pastor Ken and his enthusiasm for Jingle Bells). After the program he admonished us for not being in the Big Church with the rest of the parents. Translation: we were off to the side and didn't stand on our chairs, yelling and screaming his name. Oops.

This year I decided that I wasn't going to brave the fog and extended family traffic jam without a little entertainment courtesy of my son. So I came up with the go-to Mommy bribe: I HEART SUSHI. If Young Patrick participated in the Christmas program, including singing all of the songs, he would be rewarded with dinner at I LOVE SUSHI.
Dinner at I LOVE SUSHI: $50
Red H&M Sweater: $17
Seeing my kid belt out Feliz Navidad and play his pretend guitar: PRICELESS


He is only making this face because the little kid in front of him wasn't supposed to be in front of him. One of the three-year olds decided to climb up on the riser and stand right in front of him. Patrick's reaction was well worth the admission price, I was rolling! He assured us that this boy is his friend, he just didn't get a chance to ask his name. He was too busy singing dontcha know.



Luckily we had good seats. We could see him (until the little kid stood right in front of him) and most importantly he could see us. He was so excited about his performance and of course the sushi (Puff Daddy roll and a Sour Salmon Roll).

Some funny tidbits from the Knick-Knack:

Jesus? as in Jesus Christ?
A few days ago I was asking about the Christmas performance. I wanted to know what songs they were singing. He started naming off secular Christmas songs. We have had a lot of conversations about Christmas really being about Jesus' birth not Rudolph and a too long to remember Christmas list. So in keeping with that theme I told him that I was hoping they would sing some songs about Jesus. To which Patrick responded, "You mean Jesus Christ?" No, Jesus the Elf who works for Santa.

That's what I'm talking about!
Patrick has a slight enthusiasm over the new vehicle. By slight I mean seriously excited, he can't help it he's our son. I picked him up from school the other day and he (uncharacteristically) double-timed it to the parking lot for a chance to ride in the new car. On the way home I pretended to race, this mostly involved me counting down from 5, making engine revving noises and driving 40 mph. He loved it and responded with a shout of: Now that's what I'm talking about!!!!

I'm handling it.
Keith is studying to be an annoying little brother. So far he is in the running for valedictorian. Lucky for Keith, everyone who has experienced the boys together comments on Patrick's patience with Keith. The other day we were having dinner at the kitchen counter (long story, see the story about the "new" light) and Keith snatched Patrick's spoon or fork, I can't remember. I swooped in to take it back as Patrick exclaimed, "I'm handling it! I'm handling it!" You all know you can't stop a disciplining mom in action so I completed my move and took the spoon back. Patrick looked at me and said, "I said that I was handling it." OHHH-K

Patrick Fox
We went to Open House several weeks ago and read his teachers' report detailing his progress. I guess they need to know their first and last name? Patrick flunked. He told his teachers that his name is Patrick Fox. Since then he has learned how to spell Fox (but not Callahan) and has consistently insisted that he is a Fox. Lately his compromise is that Fox is his middle name. So he has more letters and syllables in his full name than anyone else, so what? He could spell Robert and Callahan if he wanted to.... he can spell "positive encouraging K-LOVE". He just wants to take the short-cut. I remember being in first or second grade and deciding that I was going to use my sister's name, I don't know what I was thinking. Mrs. Kirby wasn't amused.

I need a pause button

All things considered I am pretty happy with the Christmas decorating progress. A couple of things have come to a stand-still.

My mantel and the dining room. Both speak to the beige meet beige and remember to invite off-white color scheme of Serenity. At some point over the last week and a half I decided that my mantel is too small and too...ugly? That is too harsh. The mantel is fine, I just have mantel envy and a mantel decorating block. So right now it features books, a mug of tea, and a trumpet. I did decide to put my "C" over the fireplace. Over the next five days (totally unrealistic given my schedule), I am going to rock out this mantel. But I have to give up on the (truly) insane idea of trashing the whole thing.

I am still loving the butterfly tree but the room isn't done yet. We have been eating in the kitchen because we finally took the beige-on-beige chandelier down to repaint it. We bought spray paint two years ago (not exaggerating) but now since I have the re-purposing bug I finally focused on the project. Kevin took it down, sprayed the final coat of paint and put it back up. It was worth the wait. Remember, it looked like this at Halloween (we love those bats and spiders but lipstick on a pig much?):

Now it looks like this......

Better than I could have imagined! Even with two light bulbs that decided to give up the ghost! Now I can finish the room and take all of the decorations out of the laundry basket where they have been languishing. Wish me luck, I have no time for any of this but I will most certainly go crazy if I don't get it all done!

Make you wanna slap your brother

Christmas card pictures take 147. Can you tell what just happened in this picture? Game over. Mom is toast.