The Bestest Present Ever

Do you have an all-time favorite Christmas present? Something you got one year that you will forever remember? I do. Keith and I just sat though another disappointing ending to Survivor [will the person we root for ever win?], and soothed the loss by talking about our childhood Christmasses. From this discussion, I learned a very interesting thing: Keith experiences life as as being a constant, even experience. No real highs, no real lows. And apparently, no real stand-outs for Christmas presents. I on the other hand, have a vivid memory of getting the Crayola Caddy. You know the Caddy, right? I mean, who doesn't, right? A lovely yellow square, it's sides lined with crayons and paints, and the top with a crown of markers? Oh, how I lusted over the Crayola Caddy that year. In South Africa we have a store called OK. It's a Walmart-ish store [I think, I can't really remember], and I remember this particular year standing in the toy aisle at OK drooling over the Caddy while my mom shopped. I don't remember asking for it, or even talking about it, but somehow, when we opened gifts that year, there it was!! A Crayola Caddy of my own. Still not sure what I'm talking about? Click over to this person's blog, and scroll down. There's a delightfully fuzzy picture of a Crayola Caddy.


http://koolkittymusings.typepad.com/kool_kitty_musings/2007/04/children_of_the.html

I also remember Karen and my cousins Karla and Rudolf trying to play with it that Christmas Eve. Back off,  people, it's MY Caddy! And if you insist on playing with the Caddy, at least put the crayons back in color order. Light colors to dark colors, not any ole crazy order.



So it was a surprise to me that Keith didn't remember any toy as being a standout. I know for sure that Gran GG is a good advisor to Santa, and a good gift shopper herself, so I know he got good Christmas gifts. I think his lack of a favorite is just a reflection of his, and my, personalities. He's always even-keel, I tend to remember life as a series highs and lows. It does make me wonder what memories C&G will hold on to as they grow older. Will they remember me getting exasperated when they throw food [food I slaved over] from their high chairs - a low for me at least-, or splashing during bathtime and completely soaking Dada and the entire bathroom floor -a high for me, but I think Keith might disagree-? I do hope they remember the fun of playing with the ornaments on the tree [they're getting braver by the day], "helping" Dada put outside lights up, and singing Christmas songs to overcome temper tantrums. I suppose time will tell.


While we're on the topics of gifts and what time will tell....time will tell if Aunt Angela's & Gran GG's gifts survived the Grady & Cole chaihh test. What is this test, you ask? Well, you sit on the gift, of course. If it doesn't buckle and the box doesn't crumble, it's a CHAIH, and you can sit on it. See?

Not Napping

A few posts ago I chroniceled how the boys were not napping as quickly as they should. More realistically I should say as quickly as they used to do, I realize we're approaching a no-nap world in the next year or so. 

We do the same dance every day at naptime. First we laugh, then we bounce, then we yell at each other across the room. Then there's some crazy laughing and finally, we'll fall asleep. 


Because I'm a stellar mom, I decided that instead of ignoring the behavior and letting them get to sleep, I'd go in and take pictures. 'Cause nothing says "mommy is serious about you taking a nap" better than giving attention to bad behavior. Yep, I'm a great parent. Email me if you want other tips like bribing them to use a sippy, or giving in to temper tantrums. Above you see Cole. Cole likes to strip down when it's naptime, so that's why he's pants-free. And when you tell him to lay down, he does, but them wrestles with the blanket. Below you see Grady welcoming me to the no-nap party. He's quite the host. After that you see Grady being reunited with BEAAH. We still love BEAAH.

 Oh, how I love these two boys.

Gather & Be Festive

Party.

We love a party. More specifically, we love to host a party. Each Christmas for the last few year’s we’ve hosted what used to be called the Hewitt Christmas party. It’s an annual gathering of some of our favorite people, and we genuinely look forward to it each year. [read about 2007’s party year’s here, if you’re that nosy http://babiessquared.blogspot.com/2007/12/once-upon-time.html. . I apparently did not write about last year’s party, nor did I post pictures. Oops.]

I think part of the reason I like to host a party is the thrill of getting the house ready in a short amount of time. Seriously. I stress out about all of it-cleaning the house, how much beer and wine to get, what to serve, I could go on and on. But strangely enough, I like the stress. It feels good to spend a few hours preparing the house for friends, and it feels even better when everyone is together and having a good time later. This year was no exception. I do like to plan ahead, so a few weeks out I make a spreadsheet, which in turn is transferred to smaller index cards. There’s a card for each day leading up to the party, and each day, I complete the tasks listed on that card. You had no idea I was this anal, did you? This year I tried a no-index card format, I only used sheets of paper, and let’s just saying I won’t be making that mistake again. Rookie. Why I switched from a good system, I don’t know. Because of said new system I just didn’t feel as prepared as I should, and therefore was a little frantic before the party began. I think the day of party prep is why my hair was so frizzy that night. Maybe?

Anyway, we pulled it all together in time to take our annual selfie in front of the tree. I have to tell you that I felt a little shocked when I saw this year’s picture. Where the hell did those crows feet come from? I may have to switch to old lady moisturizer.

Now we’re ready to party. We put 7:30 on the invite, and for as long as we can remember, at least 1 stickler for timeliness has always arrived at that time. And now it’s….

Oh. Hell. Where all the people at?

Did I put the wrong date on the invite? Wrong time? Is no one coming? Should probably make a drink. And then check the Evite to make sure I had the date right.

Half a drink later Amber & Kevin show up! Phew. We didn’t put the wrong date on the invite, and their fears of showing up on the wrong day were unfounded. We’ve all been there-you’re the first to a party, and you’re not expecting to be the first, so you wonder if you’ve showing up at the right place and at the right time 'cause the driveway is still empty. Right?

These two opened the floodgates, and within 15 minutes the house was full and filled with chatter.

Anyone know what Keith is talking about above? I’m dying to know.

You know about the pickle ornament, right? Jason found it. I won't say any names, but I had my money on someone else finding it first.

Then it was time for the white elephant game. If you’ve been to our house, you know its small. And the living room is a long, narrow room. Cramming a tree, and 30 people playing a game into the space is tricky. Some of our smarter friends learned from past years, and early on picked their spots on the couch. They won’t be forced to sit on the floor or stand in the corner another year, dammit!

Some people play a classy white elephant game with good, usable presents. Not at this party. This crowd prefers…

The Hamburglar, a gift that has been circulating [with the exceptions of ’08, when the Wistricks were MIA] since the first year of the party. Daniel might look excited about having the ‘Burglar, but that didn’t last long. Keith stole it.

Light-up booze signs. This was one of the more popular gifts of the evening, and half of it somehow stayed at our house when all was said and done. I think an agreement was made that we had to display our half during each Christmas party, plugged in and lights blazing. Classy, I told you.

Lube. Suzanne won it, but I spied Amber checking it out later.

The White Elephant game does for this party what opening presents does at a baby shower. Everyone leaves right after. Well, everywhere except these four. We took their continued presence to mean that they want to play boardgames. Bring it on, then! We played a little Cranium.

Since Melissa had already left, Craig filled the slot of Game Rule Enforcer. He’s tough. Don’t try to describe a person when you’re supposed to be acting like the person. Craig does not allow it, and he's keeping an eye on you.

We also forced the Wistricks to recap their honeymoon trip. They had a bad experience, which we wouldn’t normally laugh about, but they are hysterical when they tell the story. It’s not the first time I’ve heard the story, and I still laughed until I cried.

Next thing we knew it was 2:45AM, and we all called it a night. If Craig hadn't looked at his watch, we would surely have made it to 4AM.

Thanks for coming, everyone! It’s always nice to see how everyone is doing. This year we did hear good, bad and shocking updates from some, and I think I speak for many of us when we stopped short at some of the news we heard. Because its not my news to share, I won’t go into details, but it make me think about how lucky we are to have our health and people who we enjoy and care about around us. We loved seeing you and please don’t be strangers. All of the pictures and more are at BabiesSquared shutterfly site.

A Full Load

Why a full load? For several reasons. I just started full laundry load #5 of the week. It feels like load #8, but that's only because Keith seems to be able to generate 2 full loads of nothing but socks. And socks drive me crazy.

I'm also taking a load off after a long and very fun morning with the boys. Keith and I recently booked our next anniversary trip [last one was last May, when we went to Seattle/Vancouver], and this trip is going to involve several days of hiking. At altitude, no less. We're not interested in spending a lot of money just to be miserable and out of shape during those hikes, so we've kicked our working out into gear. I bet you think I'm digressing at this point, bear with me, this all loops full circle. Part of my workout routine is to take the boys on a 4-5 mile walk on my days at home. No better workout that pushing a full load [26lbs stroller + 35lbs Grady + 28lbs Cole=LOAD] through our neighborhood. I try to vary the route so the boys don't get bored, and today I managed to only hit uphills. I was huffing and puffing so loudly that Cole actually imitated me. It's not nice to mock Momma, Cole. To add insult to injury Green Stroller Dad RAN past me up the longest and steepest hill. Show-off. Sure, it's easy to run with those 2 petite little girls in your stroller. Anyways, now I'm sitting here taking a load off and chatting with you while the boys nap [or, use their cribs as bouncy houses].

I also have a boatload of stuff to tell you about the goings-on of our life. Last time we chatted, and I mean really chatted-not the picture I tried to pass of as a blog entry, I told you about being thankful just before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day was indeed a good one. Here we [Bothma family] on at Nana & Oupa's. The wine glass on the kitchen counter represents me, since I'm behind the camera.

When Karen and I were growing up, people often asked if we were twins. Not all the time, just at certain points in our growth. The last time was when I was 22, she was 26, and before that I think it was when I was 13, she was 17. She never really cared for it, I was tickled that I looked older. For you math people, that's roughly every 9 years, and since I turn 31 next year [cue the horror music!], it's been 9 years and indeed to me it looks like we favor each other again. Or technically I look like her, since she's older. Isn't Nana a cute little elf of a lady?

I don't think looking old is so cool now, if you're wondering. Now it sucks.

OH! I forgot to tell you about the race. Karen and I completed the 10K early Thanksgiving morning, and we ran the entire thing! We were so impressed with ourselves that I was able to talk Karen into more training and she's going to run the ING Half Marathon with me next March! Whooohooo! Either I'm a good sales person, or she's a pushover. Here we are after the race, all tired and sweaty.

Don't you just love the new color on my living room walls? I sure do. Really makes the fireplace pop.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we got our Christmas tree. I thought we'd have a beautiful family moment, all looking at trees together and picking the perfect one. In reality, Cole & Grady realized our attention was focused elsewhere and they took the opportunity to run free in the garden section at Lowe's. We managed to get them to look at one or two trees, but mostly they stared at us, probably thinking Seriously. Trees are everywhere. Big empty spaces like this one isn't everywhere. I think I'd rather run. Maybe we'll have our Rockwell moment next year.

If you're wondering, the boys have stopped jumping their cribs, and have now taken to pointing out airplane decals to each other. From the sounds of things, the loudest baby wins this game.

Once we got our tree home, the lights and ornaments slowly made their way on. I was expecting a lot of messing with the tree, but the boys have been really good. They look, talk about, occasionally touch, but so far, so good. They did take a few off, but put it back when asked. We've told them the lights are HOT!, and they know not to touch anything that is HOT!, so all the lights on the tree are still in place. For now.


Yook! YIGHTS! HOTTTT!

We also squeezed in a visit to Karen's up in Tennessee. We picked the right weekend, because it snowed! Saturday morning we all woke up to a perfect blanket of white outside. I've always thought snow was beautiful-before everyone wakes up and walks on it, drives on it, and plays in it. Then it just gets messy and brown.


The speck you see in the picture below is Greg, roaming about in the snow in his go-cart-thing. Not sure what it's really called. Go-cart? Dune buggy? 4 wheeler? Metal framed thing that scares the hell out of me?

Seriously Karen, where are your shoes? It's cold outside! Or as Nana would say you musn't go outside without shoes and socks! Thankfully there's a gorgeous fireplace inside to get us warmed up.

The boys also had a good time seeing Karen, Scott, Greg and Rhett. But you know who they really loved? OOOORAH. Cousin Oooorah is great. We tickle her. We sit on her lap. We completely ignore the fact that she's a tiny bit of a germaphobe and we give her kisses.
Of course we had to get a picture of the boys with their BellyMomma. Cole was all too happy, he actually sought Karen out to sit with her. Grady made her wait all day, and even then she had to work for it. He's a tough one, that kid. Sure, she let him kick her in the pelvis for a few months, and he tried to climb out of her uterus, but she's still not OOORAH.
Are you still reading? For more pics, you're welcome to click over the the BabiesSquared picture site for two new albums- November '09 and Knoxville Visit. Enjoy!

The boys have finally fallen asleep, and I just heard the ding-ding of the dryer indicating that it is time to start folding some clothes. Thanks for letting me unload, and chat with ya soon!

TEEEE.

The tree, or teeeeee, is up!