Hawaii here I come!

I am not gonna lie. I am totally freaking out. Not in a good way. But I am going to Hawaii.
It's decided. May 14th. Done. Okay, let me back up real quick and explain...

Where should I begin. When I was in 7th grade I got braces to straighten my teeth. I had them on until 8th grade. But that was just to straighten them, because you see, I had this wicked underbite, so that everytime I chewed I looked like this: So my freshman year of high school I got braces a 2nd time along with some wickedly awesome reverse headgear. This is actually the exact make, model & color... I know, you're jealous.
Anyway, got the braces off a year later and it fixed the problem, or so they thought. I went for about 9 years only able to chew on one side of my mouth since the other side didn't touch. After going to the dentist and the dentist telling me that I had so much wear on my teeth that by the time I was 40 I'd have nubs on one side and normal teeth on the other I went to the orthodontist.

As luck would have it, he recommended braces for a 3rd time! Turns out my husband had a wicked crossbite and needed them as well. So we broke the bank and took the plunge. Last April Tony got his removed and at 8 1/2 months pregnant I finally got mine off just in time to give birth to Tatum.

Turns out I had some wicked inflamation in my jaw that made my bite even worse. The only place in my mouth where my teeth met were in the front. Orthodontist man blamed it on the hormones from baby birthing and such. But here we are a year later and still no sign of recovery.

So lucky me, I get to have braces a FOURTH TIME! Got the lovely news this morning and had a freak attack. Tony & I were planning on ditching the kids with my parents for a few days sometime this fall and taking that honeymoon we never got and running off to Hawaii. And now, knowing that my face will once again be full of metal (May 26th: doomsday) I have decided we are going sooner rather than later! I don't want to look at our amazing Hawaii pictures and see metal.

But on the plus side, my orthodontist is footing the bill!

Bathroom Talk

Just a little advice for when your children are driving you nuts...

What ever happened to those Easter egg shrink wrap thing-a-ma-doodads?

I have never really been a fan of Easter egg dying. It's just messy and makes an absolute dreadful mess. My absolute favorite as a kid were those shrink wrap type deals that you put around your egg and dropped it into boiling water. So easy, so fast. Nearly non-existent clean up. What ever happened to those? They were the coolest. I assume there were too many lawsuits of burned children trying to shrink wrap their eggs?

Anyway, I was at the Target the other day, yes, I call it THE Target, way cooler that way. Anywho... saw there was this kit that you just sponge painted the eggs. Seemed way easier and I thought there was more room for creative freedom. So I paid the $1.99 and took it home. We busted it out tonight and let me tell ya, NOT easy OR clean. And since my 3 year old is a clean freak like his father he only wanted to paint each egg one color and within 5 minutes we were done.So here are Spencer's works of art. The one multicolored one is the only egg I could get Spencer to let me paint. I get the artistic itch sometimes and it's hard to let Spencer do his thing without going back through and "fixing" them. Is that bad?
When we were finished I took Spencer to the sink to wash his hands only to realize mine were the filthy ones. He didn't even have a spot on his! Ridiculousness. I am guessing I won't be the only mommy at church tomorrow with purplish bluish greenish pinkish yellow fingertips. Or at least I'm hoping.

Help! I want to move my blog!

So like any new blogger, I have decided I want more! I want to upgrade my sight, give it a little makeover. But I need some help... I have iWeb and I've been piddling around with it and I've found it to be pretty rad. How do I go about merging iWeb & my current blog? Any ideas, suggestions? Anything would help in the most tremendous way...

Thanks so much!

A Picture's Worth 1,000 Words

So what do you do when your husband is in a teleconference meeting in your 3 year old's room, the house needs cleaned because it's on the market and potential buyers could show up at a moments notice and the baby cries everytime you set her down? Make it work my friends... make it work.

Social Media Mommy

I am married to someone who is tech savvy and totally into social media... His job requires it in fact. As a direct result, I have become a little addicted to this world as well. I LOVE my computer and spend most of my free time on it, that is until we made the switch to AT&T and got the iPhone. Now I spend all of my free time on my iPhone. I know it's a bit ridiculous, but I love it. I can email, chat, tweet, and even check the status of my Etsy page from anywhere! It's convenient and I don't know if I could ever go back.

For Christmas, my husband also got me the Mino Flip pocket camcorder. It is rad. It fits in the small pocket of my purse and I can bust it out to tape my kids doing crazy things whenever and wherever and it's totally inconspicuious.

That being said, I'm feeling kind of out of place. Most of my friends are "normal" mommies that aren't too into the whole tech/social media trend that's happening. A few weeks back I busted out my flip to record the kids playing during one of my playdates and one of my friends looked at me like I was crazy. Like, "what the crap is that?" It seemed like she was weirded out and I felt totally embarrassed. Why is that? Why am I embarrassed and why are my friends weirded out? Don't get me wrong, some of my friends are all about the tweeting and the cool gadgetry and whathaveyou, but I'm almost embarrassed to tell most of my friends about all this cool stuff. Why?

I also recently found out about Ustream... this wickedly rad way of streaming live video and chatting. In fact, I think my next post is going to be a video just because it's so easy, takes me way less time than typing and I feel like it's almost more personal. Are my friends going to think I'm crazy? Probably so, but I can't stop the inevitable. This is social media & I'm loving every part of it!

Family fun time...

Twas a beautiful sunny weekend! About flippin' time am I right? Seems like the last time it was this nice out was a lifetime ago. Saturday afternoon I decided to try and catch some rays... Spencer was so stinkin' cute. I was in the midst of reading "The Shack" and he decided he needed to read too. He ran inside and picked out some books and came back with his little chair and sat right next to me. He pretty much has half of his books memorized, so he "read" them aloud. He's getting so big and independent, he doesn't even need me to read to him! :)
Yesterday I was feeling pretty nasty with this awful cold I can't seem to shake, so while Spencer & Tony ran around in the back yard, Tate and I sat on a blanket playing. She was making the most hilarious faces I had to bust out the camera.
Such a girly girl... But if you look closely, you can finally see her 2 new teeth!
Here she kept trying to put Spencer's hat on top of her hat on her head. She knows she's being cute. You can tell by the look in her eye.
I have no clue what she's doing here...
This one I like to call troll face. The phrase was coined a couple summers ago, when my nephew, Braeden would always wrinkle up his nose when the sun was in his eyes. I guess it's a family trait. :)
After all was said and done, we had 2 sweaty smelly babies that needed to be bathed. Lately Tate has been freaking out when we try and give her a bath. Turns out she was only upset because Spencer wasn't in the tub with her. Funny girl. Can't bathe without her big bro. Also turns out she's got super curly hair. Spencer thought she looked funny though and kept calling her a "silly Tatum." Funtimes had by all this weekend...

Strawberry Shortcake

I have a theory, turns out it's pretty well spread. I believe that whatever you crave and eat the most of during your pregnancy, that your child ends up loving that food the most!

When I was pregnant with Spencer, from the very first moment I craved corn on the cob. Sadly for me it wasn't in season until I was 5 months pregnant. The moment it came into the grocery stores I remember sobbing almost uncontrollably from happiness. Lo and behold, (when Spencer finally started eating "real" food) he LOVED corn on the cob. Still does.

When I was pregnant with Tatum, I would literally go through a Costco size flat of strawberries a week. She is my little Strawberry Shortcake. When I finally let her try strawberries, she was absolutely sold. She freaks out a little when she sees them because she wants one immediately. We also have these dried strawberries and bananas that come in a huge box at Costco that she likes when the real thing isn't available. I gave her a bag full the other day and there was a bunch of strawberry powder at the bottom that I never thought she'd even get to, but somehow she got to it, AND got it all over herself.

Campout

So if any of you know Tony, you'd know he hates being dirty. I've wanted to go camping more than a couple of times and he always says he doesn't really want to. He's not a dirty guy. Don't get me wrong, he's a dude's dude, he just likes being clean. So since Spencer has never experienced the camping, Tony thought it would be a fun to let Spencer pretend camp in his bedroom the other night... Last Easter we got him this pop up tent that he loves to play in. *Funny sidestory: When we bought it, Tony tried for 2 hours to try and unpop the tent so we could put it away, but to no avail. We ended up taking it back and buying a new one. I studied it for a few minutes before opening it. Let's just say if something were to happen to me, that popup tent would always stay popped.

Anyway, got the tent out, pumped up his Spiderman blow up bed and Spencer was so freakin' excited he wanted to go to bed then and there. After tucking him in, within 15 minutes he was fast asleep. The next day, midday, before even mentioning it, Spencer asked if it was naptime. Before I could say anything he was in his tent, tucked into his Spiderman bed. So stinkin' cute. Needless to say, the tent has since been taken down after he took all of his Grow (in water) Dinosaurs and ripped them to shreds during naptime.But now we know how to bribe him next time we really want him to do something. :)

Tatum did NOT go poopy!

Like any polite girl, or any guy for that matter, Tatum is totally in denial after going number 2. She had an explosion in her pants the other day and this is what she had to say for herself after I asked her about it...

New Baby Connor

We went over to my bro's house last night after my sis-in-law and their newest edition came home from the hospital. Here's some footage of the newest & smallest McIntyre to ever be born...

Pig Mud

The other day we decided to paint Great Grandpa a picture for his birthday this coming Monday. Spencer's favorite thing to do is paint apparently. I wonder where he gets it? ;) He even concentrates so hard that he tends to stick his tongue out when he paints. It took him 45 minutes to complete this one painting. When all was said and done, he called his masterpiece "Pig Mud."

Wii Ski

So we busted out the wii fit the other day for the first time in a long time while some friends were over. Spencer really wanted to participate so I brought out my step aerobics board. One of his favorite events to do with Daddy was the Ski Jump...

Wacky's

A few weeks ago Spence, Tate & I went to this place in Corvallis that is just rad. It's like bounce castle mania. I totally forgot I got some video of Spence & his friends going down one of the big slides until I was going through my flip today... So here it is:

A Blog I found totally WORTH checking out!

So I just LOVE this blog called HisBoysCanSwim because it's absolutely hilarious. Didn't know I can randomly find something so cool. Just wanted to share with all my other mommy friends so they too can get in on the day to day hilarity.

Poor sick Tate

It has been a long couple of weeks. Poor Tatum ended up getting sick afterall. She has had bronchiolitis for about a week now and it is one of the saddest things to have to watch. She cries most of the day and she has lost her voice so it sounds even more pathetic than you can even imagine. She seems to be getting better though since she will actually go down for naps during the day. I cannot wait for her to feel better so we can get back to crawling boot camp. :) Spencer on the other hand is on the mend from yet another battle with pneumonia.

As for what else has happened... Turns out the people who made an offer on our house didn't want it that bad. But that's another post and another time when I am not in bed blogging from my iPhone instead of sleeping.

Things Have Been Crazy!

A lot has happened since last I posted. Spencer is officially a little boy. In 2 days he managed to get 2 different owies on his face. The bruise on his forehead is from doing jump circles and landing on a wire basket. The one on his cheek is a faint reminder of turning to run down the hall and running into the couch instead. Poor guy. And now he has pneumonia for the fifth time! Seriously? I took him into the doc on Friday and they said he was fine. Saturday his fever would not break and I knew something was wrong. I know it sounds crazy, but whenever he gets pneumonia he emits this kind of foul odor. So I took him to urgent care and low and behold... pneumonia!

Tate has managed to stay healthy, despite giving her big brother lots of big kisses.


Tate is officially 9 months old. She is turning out to have quite the sweet personality. She loves to talk. She can now say Mama, Dada, and bruh (brother). Saying Spencer is a little too hard for her. Even Spencer had a hard time with his own name. I think he went through pesser, pencer, sipter, senser before finally figuring it out.

She loves giving kisses (as you can see) and is perfectly content to sit and play or watch Spencer. Tatum usually falls asleep in the car if we go somewhere during naptime, but a couple weeks ago, as opposed to falling asleep, she was more content to watch Spencer sing. He cracks her up every time! It's nice that she finds him entertaining and he loves doing it. :)

Photo Tag

I have been tagged by Jaime! Here are the rules-

1. Choose the fourth folder you store your pictures in on your computer

2. Select the fourth picture in the folder

3. Explain the picture

4. Tag four people to do the same.
So I have a mac computer and the filing system is a little different so I just went to my 4th event and then my 4th picture. This of course is our wedding. :)

And now I will tag Kellie, Susan, Heather & Jennie...

Pics of Mr. Tony

So Tony wanted me to take some pics of him for a professional blog. He had to run to a meeting so we had literally like 2 minutes. These 2 are my fave. He hasn't even seen them yet... still in his meeting. But I thought I'd let you all decide. What do you think? Toothy or Solemn?

Silly Putty Art

So Spencer got some silly putty in his stocking for Christmas. The other day we busted it out & I was feeling my old sculpty self come out. Here are a few of our sculptures before Spence accidentally mixed the green & red together to create an awesome shade of vomit.

Tate loves her big brother!

Tatum thinks Spencer is hilarious. Sometimes I think she loves him more than she loves me, since I certainly can't get her to laugh this hard. :)

Best hiding place for a 3 year old...

So I was taking a shower and I came out and couldn't find Spencer.

Tate Claps!

Who knew I'd have such a sensitive daughter?

I had no idea what a big transition it would be going from having a son to having a daughter... For the most part, I thought that I could treat them the same, at least during the baby stage with no major problems. I guess not.

Last week Tatum was nursing and for some reason thought it was a good idea to bite me. So I responded in the exact same way I did the first time Spencer bit me. I flicked her cheek very lightly and said in a firm but quiet manner, "we don't bite." Now when I did this to Spencer (3 years ago), he stopped nursing and started laughing at me. But when I did this to Tatum, she looked at me like I had killed her best friend and broke out in the most heartbreaking cry I've ever seen or heard. I felt terrible! So when she had finally calmed down I went back to nursing. She bit me a second time and being aware of what had just happened, I didn't flick, I just pulled away slightly and said very quietly, "we don't bite." She started balling... AGAIN! I really thought I had been nice about it. Guess not. So we tried to nurse a 3rd time. This time I was very aware of her feelings and wanted to be extra careful not to upset her. She bit me AGAIN! So this time, I didn't say anything, I didn't do anything, I just carefully pulled away. I even smiled so as not to show that I was upset in any way. She still cried bloody murder! But it was a delayed reaction... She looked at me kind of crooked and hurt, as I looked back smiling, then after about 5 seconds the quiver lip started and the inevitable tears... Let's just say we were done nursing for the afternoon.

So yesterday, on the same topic, we were playing in Spencer's room and he wanted to play shark. So I was shark and he was Shamu. So without thinking I did to Tate what I have always done to Spencer (and he ALWAYS laughed). I made the sharky noise (duuuum dum, duuum dum, dum dum etc..) and then pretended the shark bit her in the tummy. Well, to my surprise, at the time, seeing as I wasn't thinking clearly or remembering the biting incident of the prior week, I thought she would laugh. But clearly I was mistaken as she looked at me in utter disgust and fear. She cried and cried and cried.

Needless to say, I am now starting to realize that I have to be extra careful not to hurt Tatum's feelings. I am also figuring out that these 2 kids are going to have to be disciplined in quite different ways. I am pretty sure all I will have to do is look at Tatum crooked when she does something wrong in the future and I'll get my point across.

Family Photo

Last time we had a family photo of all my family, it was 2 years ago and some people had their eyes closed, others had nasty attitudes and I had braces. So last week when my big brother Dom & his wife Melinda were in town we got one! And a nice one too... everyone is looking at the camera and everyone looks like they're somewhat happy to be there. Maybe next time we'll get Nathan to crack a smile. At least his eyes are open. Baby steps...

Tate is 8 months...

So here's the latest pics of our not so little baby girl... Spencer couldn't help but be a part of her pictures, so he went and got his puppy too...

Daddy's Little Girl

If I learned anything from my father, it is the art of nazi cookie baking. My father never really cooked growing up, aside from pancakes, waffles or coffee cake on Sunday mornings. He was, however, the avid baker... at least when it came to cookies. To this day, my favorite cookies are his peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips on top. I recently learned that he, as I do, always puts 5 chocolate chips on each cookie. Apparently OCD is genetic, at least when it comes to cookies. Tony also pointed out how I line up the cookies to cool and once they are cool they go into neatly stacked lines. My father never allowed us to eat any cookies that were being cooled, didn't want to throw off the count or mess up his lines. No one was allowed in the kitchen during his cookie baking process. But we would always go sneak a spoonful of cookie dough when he wasn't looking And now I find myself doing the same thing, aside from one thing... I do let Spencer help. But if Tony tries to get himself some cookie dough, it's a spatula to the hand! Like father, like daughter, at least when it comes to our anal OCDness. ;)

St. Jude's Comet

My friend Susan recently posted a blog and I thought it was hilarious, so I am copying her! ;)

1. Put your iPod (or media player) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

Here goes.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Bubbly Toes (Jack Johnson) -- I do think toes are cute, as long as they're not hairy!

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum) -- Very accurate.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Scrub (TLC) -- Actually quite the opposite.

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
If feels like Christmas (Muppets) -- How ironic, we totally took Christmas down yesterday.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Angel (Jack Johnson) -- Interesting. I totally made a video of my babies and had this play with the footage of right after Tate's birth.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Tiny Dancer (Elton John) -- Spence, Tate & I dance when we have nothing better to do for absolutely no reason.

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Hey Mama (Kanye West) -- Love it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
The Way You Look Tonight (Michael Buble) -- Tony IS hot.

WHAT IS 2+2?
New York's Not My Home (Jim Croce) -- Really?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Little Moments Like That (Brad Paisley) -- It's SOOO true.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Cocoon (Jack Johnson) -- Not true. Not gonna be over soon EVER!

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Irreplaceable (Beyonce) -- I hope I am irreplaceable.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Son of a Preacher Man (Janis Joplin) -- HA HA

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Go On (Jack Johnson) -- Can you see the theme? I LOVE Jack.

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Oh Come All Ye Faithful (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) -- Umm, I haven't taken all of my Christmas music off yet.

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Bang Bang (Dispatch) -- No, that's AFTER the wedding.

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Rodeo Clowns (Jack Johnson) -- Nearly Perfect.

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Someone Like You (Tyler Hilton) -- Didn't think I was a stalker?

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Testify to Love (Avalon) --

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Photographs & Memories (Jim Croce) -- It's true.

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Losing Hope (Jack Johnson) -- So true.

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Come On and Dance (Steve Miller Band) -- That would be hilarious... Dancing & boom, dead.

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Kokomo (Beach Boys) -- HA! Never even been there. But I did do baton in elementary school and we always did it to this song!

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Love Me Good (Michael W. Smith) -- Huh?

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
White Christmas (Bing Crosby) -- from joy!

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Butterfly (Mason Jennings) -- yup.

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Please Remember Me (Tim McGraw) -- Wow. I am mostly afraid of dying young and not be able to watch my babies grow up or that they will forget me. :(

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
If There's Love (Citizen Cope) -- I guess that answers that question.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
She Don't Know She's Beautiful (Kenny Chesney) -- For some reason, this song always makes me sad. Probably because I grew up thinking I was a tubby lardbutt.

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Photograph (Weezer) -- Uh? My pictures aren't up in my house because we're trying to sell it?

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
St. Jude's Comet (Paul Simon)

My babies...

Had to post this picture. Their bums are the same size, all Tate needs is longer appendages!

Christmas!

I guess it's about time I catch you up on the last few weeks...

Christmas came early this year with a beautiful snowfall! Spencer & I spent the morning outside playing in the snow about a week and a half before Christmas. Last year Spencer was a little afraid of falling and walking in the snow. I think he didn't like the feeling of the snow crunching beneath his feet (my favorite part of snow). This year he loved it! We tried to make a snowman, but the snow was too powdery. We ended up having a snowball fight and making a ton of snowangels instead. I collected some fresh snow that day in a bowl for snow ice cream and it is still in our freezer!
Christmas baking commenced as it does every year, only a few days before. ;) Spencer always love to help bake. This year was no exception. He did a great job placing the thumbprint cookies and squishing them with a chocolate hug. He helped sift the flour. He even picked out what cookie cutters he wanted and did a great job not cutting into other cookies as he cut them out.Christmas Eve Grandma and Grandpa Jones came over for pizza and our annual frosting of the sugar cookies. I am so bummed that I didn't get any pictures, but turns out Grandpa Jones is a master cookie artist. Spencer spent most of the time adding as many cinnamon disks to one cookie as humanly possible. I think that cookie was left for Santa to eat. :)

We opened presents that night and Spencer was surprised with Kota, the electronic dinosaur, from Grandma & Grandpa. At first, he didn't even know it was there, but as soon as he saw it, he was in love. He asked very nicely if he could play with it. Even Tatum got a ride. I have a video of it and I will have to post it as soon as I figure out how.After we set out Santa's milk & cookies we headed outside to sprinkle some Christmas dust. Our friends, the Joynt's, gave us this last year and we totally forgot to do it. It's oatmeal and glitter. So Santa can see our house from afar and the Reindeer have something to munch on while Santa leaves our presents. Very cool. We will definitely repeat every year!Christmas morning Spencer was so excited that he got what he wanted from Santa, a bumblebee transformer. Tatum got Spencer's old stand up table to play with. We were worried that Spencer would recognize that it was his and ask why Santa gave it to Tatum. We were totally prepared with an answer, but fortunately Spencer didn't care. He was too excited about all of his presents. We opened presents and socks (I don't know why, but I have always called stockings socks) before Grandma & Grandpa Young came over. Tony totally spoiled me with the coolest present. I got the flip camcorder. It's the size of my phone and it is totally awesome! The video quality is great and I can carry it around in my purse. Tony had remembered how I always mention what crazy things the kids do and I wish he would have been there to see it. Now he can!
After the reveal of all our lovely gifts to each other, Grandma & Grandpa Young came over for breakfast and we feasted on Octoberfest sausage, eggs, ham, & my homemade cinnamon rolls with purple frosting. The purple frosting occurs from using the leftover green & red frosting from the night before. ;) We then opened all of our presents and Spencer got many more toys, including a playmobil castle! I think Tatum's favorite presents were the bows.

I just love this picture! The kids had just opened all their presents and were elated!Not over yet, now it was time to head over to my parents house for dinner & family fun time! I am a little upset I didn't really get any photos there, I guess there is always so much going on and so many people that I forget. :) But we had a great time and Mom made an amazing dinner. We got lots of cool gifts like a magic bullet from my parents, a marble slab to mix ice cream on (we love Coldstone) from Nathan & Sheri, and a cool REAL hot chocolate maker from Dom & Melinda. Tate even got a stocking hat that says, Future Agent. Wonder where that came from? ;) My Grandpa got all the kids a new illustrated kids bible as well. A very cool thing to have. I am proud that we got this photo of the kids just before we were leaving.
They all had so much fun and were very grateful for everything. We ended up heading out a little early than usual though, because the roads had iced over. :( But overall we had an awesome Christmas! Thank you to everyone for sharing it with us...

North/Bi-Pole R

Christmas time is supposed to be a joyous and fabulous time. But for some reason, this year, oh wait, scratch that... it happens to me EVERY year. I get so excited for Christmas... I want to put the tree up by Halloween. By Thanksgiving I am bursting with enthusiasm and the holiday music has been in our CD player for weeks. I put the tree up, take out all the decorations and I've usually had most of my shopping done, with only a few minor gifts needing to be purchased on Black Friday.

Then it hits, depression. I don't know what exactly it is that makes me so sad, but it happens every year. It's not even a day to day occurrence, it's a daily occurrence. I can be in the most hugest fabulous holiday spirit and then boom, something happens... I feel guilty about Tony getting me presents, or I feel like I didn't get enough presents or the perfect present for everyone. A sleepy haze falls over me and I just want to go to bed and not wake up. It doesn't help this year that the snow is falling everywhere but here. Not to mention Spencer has been the snottiest this last week. And that this will be the first Christmas without my grandma. Ick. I just feel ick. That's the only way to describe it.

I feel mostly bad for Tony. He doesn't deserve my insanity. He tries hard to keep me in the positive. I kind of just want all the crazy to just be over with. But then there's the whole being on the other side of Christmas that you have to deal with. The downfall. It's like this massive buildup to what's supposed to be the happiest day of all and then what? It's over.

I guess all I can do is try to focus on the reason for the season... Jesus. He's pretty cool.

Owies

So while we were up in Mt. Vernon, during this wonderful snow storm, Tatum developed a weird pussy/swollen infection on the tip of one of her fingers. Don't know how that happened, but it was gross. Got her to the doc on Monday and she's on antibiotics. So sad, her first prescription. As for Spencer, last night he was standing on his stool and Tony was going to brush his teeth (which he hates) and he threw himself off the stool, landing face first into the toilet. Needless to say, he has a nasty gash on the inside of his lip and a huge bruise on his chin. Twas very close to going through. My poor babies!

Gingerbread "Houses"

So every year around Christmastime, we get together with Tony's parents, Mark & Bev, and do a little holiday gingerbread house/train/sleigh decorating. This year was no exception. Spencer chose to decorate a choo choo train and chose lucky Grandpa Young to share it with. And seeing as I always insist on decorating by myself, Tony & Bev picked out Santa's sleigh to decorate and I was left with the only house. Spencer has no shirt on because he decorated a part of his gingerbread choo choo train and then proceeded to lean into it and get it all over his shirt.

Here is Tony & Bev's efforts... They both quit early stating they didn't know how they could possibly improve... aka, they had no idea how to help those poor reindeer. ;)

Here is Spencer & Mark's masterpiece...

Here is my little cottage: I tend to get a little anal. ;)

Dirty Bathwater

So the other day Tatum & Spencer took a bath together.

As I was bathing Tate, Spencer pointed out that she had pooped a little in the water. I quickly scooped it up and flushed it down the toilet. Soon after, I took Tatum out and got her diapered and clothed.

While doing so, I heard a sound that was similar to someone swishing water in their mouth. I called out and asked Spencer what he was doing.

He said, "drinking the bath water."

"EEEW!" I shouted. "Tatum's poopy was in that water!"

He responded simply, "But I was thirsty."

Gross.