Not everything is bigger in Texas

Busy busy busy

My first project* for the day was this "maze" I dug in the foot or so of snow we have accumulated over 2+ days of constant snowfall. I took this from the boys' bedroom window, but the car should give you some sense of scale. Yes, I shovelled almost the whole yard. Yes, my back does hurt-- thanks for asking.

The early afternoon was spent supervising 4 kids decorating the gingerbread houses I made yesterday. (Pictures to come on the boys' blog. Maybe tomorrow.) They were fascinating to watch, as usual. Dorian was especially intent and spent a long time covering as much surface as possible.

And after our second annual viewing of Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special**, it was time to make the latkes for the first night of Hanukkah. We forgot to have them last year which was a total mistake because, really, you should never pass up an opportunity for fried potatoes.

* When I say "first", I mean after making a pancake breakfast for everyone.
**Do yourself a favor and watch this after you go check out that awesome guest list. It is truly hilarious.

The tree

Upon viewing the Xmas tree lying in the middle of the kitchen floor while we assembled the stand:

Dorian: Wow! That's a big tree!

Sebastian: Yeah! And such sturdy wood, too.

Because I didn't have anything else to do

It's not like I totally underestimated how much I had left to do before my mother's visit or anything, right? Wrong. I forgot that Sebastian's presents required twice as much of my time as his. I forgot that I needed to get packages together. And then the last 24 hours hit me like a ton of fruitcakes. I needed to get a new tree stand before we get the tree tomorrow. This required going to the hardware store after Dorian's Little Peoples camp yesterday. The trouble?

• I forgot about Sebastian's "Writer's Celebration" at school. So, I had to
• Rush through the hardware store, discover that the tree stand was way too big to fit in the back of the jog stroller, and run up the big hill home to
• Scarf down a piece of bread with peanut butter and jump in the car to head back to school. (Worth it.)
• Rushed back home to try to get a little cleaning in before Bus Stop Loitering Hour.
• Got dinner together. Ran to grocery store for last couple items before impending visit. Forgot milk.
• Came back (why?!) so Jeremy could leave for a work function.
• Worked on Xmas cards while cracking the whip over Sebastian so he would finish his project.
• Got kids in bed. Wrapped presents for an hour.
• Had stupid fight with Jeremy that was induced by stress/exhaustion.
• Woke up bright and early, showered, and shovelled the 2 inches of snow so we could get to school at 8 to make healthy snack only to go inside and find out
• School is delayed by 2 hours.

Awesome. And here I could have been in bed until at least 7am.

What am I doing?!

Jeremy and I talked about how we were going to get our Xmas acts together, specifically by preparing the packages that need to be mailed. This was supposed to happen this weekend. Ha ha.

Between broken promises of a day off (totally not his fault) and a surprise visit by my electricity-less in-laws (not totally a surprise, just the timing), my Sunday was thrown off and I didn't get around to taking care of what I needed to before my mother's impending visit on Wednesday.

And now, while I should be taking care of that whole package thing, I'm blogging. Go figure.

Testosterone Town

Lately, I have been repeatedly reminded of the fact that I don't just have two children, I have two boys. When they aren't using the words "poop", "poopy", "diarrhea" or "pee" in every sentence, they find other ways to be completely rambunctious.

Such as:

• Running around mooning each other and singing, "My butt is stickin' out!"
• Becoming "powerbots" to fight their arch-nemesis "The Big Gorilla". This usually involves plotting some horrible death.
• Replacing song lyrics with potty language. For example, "Blitzkrieg Bop" includes the line "Pooping in the backseat."
• Getting K'Nex all over the house in their quest to build a robot.

Oh, boys!

The final Xmas project

Last night I got halfway through the final Xmas project. Can it be that I could finish this one today and finish the second sock a couple of days later and be totally done with more than a week before Christmas?

It's certainly possible. This particular project has been a long time coming. I started a similar item with this same yarn a few years ago and then an event arose that postponed the completion. Well, it is probably for the best, as this pattern is way better than the one I was making up as I went along. I can't reveal what it is, but suffice to say, it involves I-cords which I have never wanted to do before, but now find oddly appealing.

I also practically finished Dorian's first sock yesterday. It just needs to have the toe sewn up with the kitchener stitch. Assuming I don't give myself arthritis or carpal tunnel or something, this is shaping up to be a decent Xmas creating season.