In The Bleak Midwinter

I realize it's New Year's Eve but I'm still feeling Chrismassy. This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns/poems.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Christina Rosetti

Simpson Family Values (That's Homer and Marge, not OJ)

You would think with all the children home and a free evening schedule (which by God won't be seen again until March madness ends) we would have done something blogworthy, but nope! The weather has precluded much outdoor acitivity. The kids have gone out and shot some hoops, that's it. A merry little head cold has been passed around, but that appears to be the only familial sharing that has taken place. The boys mutter about levels and strategies, Mel keeps getting naked, L and A (my babysitting charge) fluctuate between playing house, air hockey and tearing each other's hair out. As for E, she emerges from her den, er room, occasionally for another coke and disappears again. On the bright side, there is no teen attitude if you never speak to your teen. I haven't been much better, having started (foolishly) a book series with SIX books. Why would I do that??? Well time for more cookies. I'm actually getting tired of cookies, who'd have thunk?

The Hits of the Season

After a couple days shakedown I can now judge what the best loved toys are. If they'd just let you bunk the kids at the toy store for a couple days you could determine this and only have to buy one or two toys. I am glad to report that the expense was worth it for the oldest three. Evidently E has had earbuds permanently implanted in her head. S and C have become subterranean slugs, who only leave the basement and it's gamecube altar for occasional refreshment. Now, on to the ones who would have been happy with cheap stuff, lol. L has played non-stop with a teddy bear that has clothes I picked up at Penney's 60% off, F likes the dollar store monster truck and Mel. She keeps dressing a doll in her new pooh panties (yes this leaves her naked) and pushing it around in the Goodwill stroller. I'm not sure why she must be naked to take her baby for a stroll.

Had Myself a Merry Little Christmas

An abundance of candy, cookies, "loot" and mimosas for mama made Christmas pretty darn good, dadgum it.

All cleaned up for church. F looks pained because S is holding him in place, lol. I only snapped 3 pics so not bad considering.


The morning after with the "goods". Notice how dramatically their attire is down graded.


It snowed Christmas afternoon which looked lovely. We had a fire all afternoon and a big dinner. Amazingly they played with their stuff until collapsing. The boys probably strained their thumbs from game cube. E hooked into iPod and wasn't heard from again, F remote controlled his brains out and L and A played dolls, stuffed animals and restaurant. By next week it'll probably all be old and boring but at least it was interesting one day.

Happy Christmas Eve

Luke 2:4-19
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Achievement

For some unknown reason Mel decided Wednesday to strip off all her clothes (that's not the new part) and sit herself on the potty. She's been going ever since. Strange! I hadn't planned on even thinking about it until spring or summer. Of course there is always the chance it will become boring (especially if the adulation stops) and she will quit doing it. I've never had one just decide by themselves to use the potty. Her other achievement is stripping off her boots, mittens and snow suit outside. Evidently she is impervious to cold. I would just quit bothering to put them on her if that didn't seem protective services worthy behavior.

Winter Solstice

Tried for a little beginning of winter fun today. I wanted to make a Solstice cake but was voted down and we made solstice peppermint bark instead. Whatever. We went to a basketball game (which is a winter celebration of being a Hoosier) and then had a nice fire. It wasn't exactly a Yule log, but was cheery none the less.

Tomorrow is the kids final day of school before break. I MUST do some wrapping. I HATE wrapping, sigh!

Life Reeked With Joy

This made me laugh out loud. This is especially funny if you've ever had the misfortune of being a graduate assistant. Most thankless job I've ever held. Read and enjoy!
Life Reeked With Joy

Tantrum

It's just because she hasn't had enough sleep, she's been drug around to too many events and she's feeling pressured....but that Lisa sure threw a tantrum.

So she sent the kids out to

Then she

She's much better now!

Ready

Ok, the fat man can come now, we have a tree. Actually, we've had a tree, but leaning against the garage wall was less than festive.

Why is there plastic on this thing?

Nothing says Christmas like The Thing

Kiddisms

2yo
Poo-kiki-translation ~dirty diaper
cup-cup~almost all inanimate objects--insert tantrum if you don't automatically divine which inanimate object she means

7yo
Hey mom, what does sleep with heavenly peeps mean? Angels? Um, that's sleep in heavenly peace dear.

13yo
Could I have the Fantastic Four on dvd? That human torch--he's hot. Really smokin' ~ imagine me groaning and her smirking

4yo
Jack Splat can eat no fat
His wife could eat no spleen~ darn, no spleen, how does the woman stand it

Most heartwarming moment of the day. "Hey mom, can I just sit here and adore you?" Feel free!

Double Digits

C is ten today. It does not seem that long. I remember that the winter he was born was very cold and snowy. I walked up town to get the mail that day, dragging my then 3 and 18 mo old behind me. I remember thinking that it was getting too hard to fight the drifts and carry kids. My water broke about 3pm that day. I called dh and my dad to watch the other kids. I got to the hospital about 4:30. He was born about 6. He was my biggest baby at 9lb 8 oz. It was his head circumfrence that was really attention getting at 15 inches.

C is a human calculator. He figured out and taught himself division right after first grade. He loves math, chess and puzzles. He also enjoys playing basketball, baseball and running cross country and being a Cub Scout. All of these passions pale though, compared with that precious gamecube time. If he only had a nice mother who would let him play as much as he wants! He's tried petitioning that it will improve his problem solving skills and hand eye co-ordination. But I'm not buying it.

The Best?

E and I went to a production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever last night. Afterward she said to me "You know, our family really is sort of like the Herdmans." Uh, I didn't know we were that bad. Maybe Mrs. Herdman didn't know either!

Snow Day

Eight and a half inches of snow resulted in our first snow day. The kids were outside almost all day. How do they stand it? Of course, they have warm snow suits and mittens and boots. I've got jeans and sneakers. (I had boots, two pair in fact, which are now being worn by E and S.) They sledded and snow boarded and made snow tunnels in drifts. I want to know why my 4yo can snowboard, but I fall down every darn time!
They did come in some in the afternoon and we made this.

And of course, we wouldn't want to keep that pesky extra icing around

E is going to a LazerTagging, Cosmic Bowling all nighter tonight. I have to take her at 10pm. I may need to set my alarm to get up and take her. And I have to pick her up at 7am. Yuck!! You know the years are creeping up when your warm bed sounds much better than being up all night.

Fa-La-La-La-La

Caroling last night finally gave me a little Christmas spirit. I wrestled home a tree which is reposing in the garage. I usually wait until after C's birthday on the 12th to put the tree up, but if I wait to long to buy it you get a stick with brown spines attatched vs a fresh, fragrant tree.
Lots of activity this weekend. Saturday S went to Dayton to the Air Force Museum with Boy Scouts. Dh ran everyone to basketball practices so I could go to yoga. I then tried to hang on to that calmness as I went to two different grocery stores, K-Mart and Penney's. On Sunday L and I went caroling while S,C and F went sledding and snow boarding. It is nice when the big brothers let little brother hang out with them. E laid on the couch like a teen. She stayed up far too late reading on Saturday night. Hmm, that's about all. I need to go click buy on my Amazon cart. Gotta love the internet.

Grinchy Claus

I'm trying to get in the mood for Christmas, I swear. I've even been to see Jinglebelle the reindeer and the town Christmas Tree lighting, but I'm just not feeling it. I tried to make a list today of what the kids want, and what I have and who else needs gifts. I kept thinking I was done, and then thinking of someone else and having to go get the list again. My amazon shopping cart is waiting for me to click buy, but I keep thinking of things so I don't want to do it yet.
No one in town is selling trees this year, so I'm going to have to go somewhere else to find one, and load it and drag it home. I like the tree, just not getting it in and out of the van. There are tons of treats to be baked, too many places we are supposed to go and in the middle of it, five teams worth of basketball games to get to. Humbug! Bah! Dratted Holiday!

I feel better now.