A typical Sunday night

Every Sunday we join the family for dinner at my mom's house.  We eat at 5:00 pm, but everyone gets there a little bit early and then after dinner we hang out all night.  It seems that each and every Sunday though, we fall into the same routines.  Everyone sits in the same spots, does the same stuff, and we talk and laugh, and some of us (dad!) snore a bit.

Last night I decided to do a quick run through the house to photograph everyone in their designated spots.

Last night we ate dessert first. Cherry dump cake, a family favorite.

That handsome brother of mine, who will never tweet me back because he says twitter isn't for conversations even though he twits back all the other people he tweets with, doing his hard math problems for his math teacher who, whenever anyone asks her a question says, "My husband is nearly blind!"

The super smart math teacher sister helping the handsome brother with his hard math problems.

All the little chillin's with grandma ma. Usually, they are in the basement playing air hockey, pirate dinosaurs, or watching bull riding. Last night they were all playing Elmo in Grouch land on the computer.

The over 30 men's crowd watching football, reading tweets about football, sleeping through football, and making work appointments for the next day while watching football. Once football ends, they'll find something else to watch, usually ESPN classic or some "fat guy eating greasy food" show.

And then, there's me. Last night, like most Sunday nights, I don't really have a crowd. I float. I'm too dumb to do math. I'm too lazy to entertain the kids (though Molly wog did sit on my lap for like 15 minutes, a record, to watch Elmo movies on my phone). I'm too disinterested to watch football. I'm too unemployed to talk about taxes. Sometimes I'll color a picture.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Today was a first in our little family.  There are still 4 days left in November and all the Christmas decorations are out.  There are a few more little things I plan to do to make the spirit bright, but it feels festive in our house.  The tree is up and decorated.  The stockings are hung by the chimney.  The pine candle has been lit.  Tonight after dinner we watched "The Grinch", had a roaring fire, and drank home made hot chocolate.

All but two of the Christmas presents are purchased and I'm working on setting up a sub-for-Santa project for us to participate in.

I received my Christmas cards in the mail on Wednesday and I already have all the envelopes addressed.  I won't be sending them out yet, still some work to do.

I'm almost finished with the awesome "activity a day" advent calendar I'm working on for the boys (and me).  We just need some snow so we can build a snowman, blow bubbles that will freeze, catch snowflakes on frozen black paper, and paint a rainbow.

I have a fabulous top secret present in the works for my husband.  He has no idea and he might cry.  Power tools are so emotional.  He isn't planning to get me anything (we have a deal every year - no presents, but I cheat every year) so I already bought myself a new dress (from him of course because I have no income) to wear to church on Christmas Sunday - I just need a navy blue cardigan.

Ah yes, the spirit of the holidays has hit early this year - and the boys were absolutely crazy today to prove it.  We've got two trees this year, one for me and one for the boys and that enabled me to decorate my tree all by myself and if I do say so myself, it turned out lovely.

Familius Activitus

This morning we were going to do a family activity.  The boys rushed our room at 7:35 am and we asked them, "Do you guys want to go to the zoo today?"

"Yes!  The zoo!  I love the zoo," exclaimed the almost five year old.

"The rhino has a butt!" shouted the wee Chickadee.

It was decided.  After cinnamon rolls and the struggle to get showered and dressed we would head to the tippy top of the mountain for the zoo.

Only problem, on the drive up, on the foothills of the mountain, it started to rain.  A very light rain mind you, but rain nonetheless.

Mom and Dad did not want to get wet.  Seeing the light drizzle on the windshield inspired the Dad of the family to change our course.  "What if we go to the new natural history museum instead of the zoo, " he asked?

One boy was psyched.  "Sweet!"  he declared, "I love dinosaurs."
The other boy was disappointed because you see, the rhino has a butt.

We called in the car to make sure that said museum was open and once it was confirmed, we headed up.  Luckily, the new natural history museum is just three minutes away from the zoo.  We got a space to park, admired the view and headed in.

Let me tell you, the museum is awesome.  It is the perfect mix of hands-on kid stuff and grown up fact stuff.  It is bright and colorful and dark and dinosaur-y.  The exhibits are laid out well, the museum flows exceptionally and before you know it, you are at the very top, on the 5th floor, looking at the most amazing, spectacular, breath taking view.

Take a look for yourself.

Anyway, I was impressed and we had fun. In the end, we signed up for a season pass, applying our admission for the day to the final cost for our family to return as often as we'd like. It was a pretty cool day.

Thanksgiving

I know a lot of people who do Thanksgiving Trees with their families during the month of November.  I loved the idea but wanted to do something  a little bit different that could really involve my kids.  Before the end of October, Elliott helped me make 24 little envelopes, staple them to ribbon, and hang them across the window.  Then, starting November 1st we set out every single night after dinner to write down the things that we are thankful for.

Us mom and dad?  Our stuff has been pretty standard.  Elliott has really tried hard to be thoughtful.  Wyatt?  Well, lets just say he's really thankful for his butt.

Anyway, I love the kids thoughts so much I thought I'd share a few here.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Elliott is thankful for:
* having a good day
* a new month of November
* playing in the snow
* have a good day
* ears
* learning a new letter at school
* taco night for dinner
* for mom
* Grandpa Huber
* I got to play with Cy
* Dad could come home kind of early
* fun days at school
* humidifier helped me sleep
* grandma and grandpa
* food to eat
* humidifier is helping my cough
* lights on the Christmas Tree
* toys to play with
* things to eat
* participate in the primary program
* Santa brings presents
* school

The Chick Monster is thankful for:
* I'm thankful for I'm tired
* I like to pick songs (at singing class)
* Old McDonald on moms pink phone
* snow and boogers
* my nose and my eyeball
* how about my butt!
* thankful for my bum
* Doritos
* the big hamster at the pet store
* ice cream
* naps ("I'm just so sleepy")
* moms pink phone
* fruit loops
* my nose
* Mac the truck
* ears
* pasta for dinner
* super bouncy sky ball
* the zoo and the baby elephant and the rhino can poop
* grandma's pasta
* shoots balls
* toe, bed, my friend spot the dog

Dance Dance Revolution

It's been a while since my boys and their amazing dance moves have graced the blog.

You wouldn't know it by looking at the dazzling moves and high spirits in the video that shortly after, literally within minutes, both boys were screaming slobbering messes and went to bed early.

It's a holiday week.

Go figure.

Oh, there is music in the background even though you cannot hear it. I have no idea what the group was but when I asked Ross he said, "two white guys who think they are black."

You can try and figure out who that is.