Somethin' Real Nice

I have foreshadowed this post for years now. It's a long time coming. I don't know if I dare speak of it. Here we go...

Christmas time in my 12th year, a cold wintry affair, 7th grade, middle school, raging psycho'ness', newly acquired noble maturity, trying to fit in and bad bangs, it was 1994. My newly remarried grandfather was feeling extra generous. He asked all of us kids what we wanted for Christmas, without a moments hesitation my immature little elementary school sister declared "a SUPER Nintendo!" My baby brother caught on and voiced hope for a tether ball set. I was next, all was silent, how could I ask for something so materialistic, to give is better to receive right? Truthfully I just had no faith that those little siblings would get anything grander than a pea shooter. In order to keep it real, I nicely and oh so primly and properly, so I would not be thought of as greedy, said "I just want something nice." My nose was covered with snow it was so highly stuck in the air at the time, however, I do think my parents were proud of my oh so generoso spirit. Parents are always proud of their offspring even when they are vile little maggots.

Come Christmas morning I remember it was a glorious affair, Santa was always good to us and I remember getting a long-coveted fancy bear and my granny boots. Do you remember those? Anyway, after it was all said and done there was one more surprise. Grandfather, knocking the socks off of mom and dad still to this day, showed up with shiny packages. Sister opened her present, what do you know, hot-diggity dog a SUPER Nintendo set, which in those days was inconceivably AWESOME. Brother opened his present voila-tetherball set. Next was my turn, I took a deep breath, envisioning a beautiful piece of jewelry, a silver tea set or an angora sweater (I was a strange child) when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a...

miniature pair of stirrup pants and a turtleneck, oh so dear.

No, no not dear, DREADFUL. I think my parents openly laughed at my ill-concealed shock and horror, so much for noble gratuity. Not only did I get a K-mart outfit but my step-grandma (may she rest in peace) had the fashion sense of a squirrel. Those pants and turtleneck were both off-white and the turtleneck had hideous burgundy and hunter green dollops of holly to break up the mono-chromatity. I weighed something like 80 pounds in 7th grade tight knight pants were no bueno, more emphasis on the gangly chicken limbs and stirrups, even in 1994 that was not cool.

Lesson learned, so to this day if someone (meaning my mom or my husband) asks what I want for a present, I try to be precise. Which is why when my sister-in-law's found my Christmas list for Jed they laughed that I gave him instructions and coupon discount hints. I like mostly everything Jed buys for me but it doesn't hurt to supply a list. In a way I am grateful for the episode of the ugly turtleneck. The fact is, it may have saved me from many other "turtleneck" years. Of course it is always better to give than receive. wink.

Traditions

We are still working on developing traditions with our little family. Memories they will later cherish and make fun of us for. Here are a few things we have been up to.


Story time. I don't know if it is a tradition or more of a routine but the box of Christmas books came out and every night is holiday story time. (Not just every day story time.) Jara has over half of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas memorized. Elise is even enjoying story time, mostly she is enjoying pulling Jed's arm hairs. Can you see that? She's sneaky.


Gingerbread house constructing. Lots of work, lots of candy, lots of crazy. I had to restrain myself from making patterns and creating symmetrical designs but overall they didn't do too bad. We looked at some pictures online for ideas and they came up with everything on their own. Jara was quite crafty. Jack consumed more than he produced, that boy loves his sugar. The next day I found him standing on his tip-toes licking the gumdrops on the roof. Jed deemed this normal and informed me if it would have been his childhood gingerbread house he would have ate it "walls and all" in the middle of the night. After making our little house and cleaning up the rubble this was the family conversation:
Joshlyn: Whew maybe this can be an every-other year tradition.
Jed: Oh come on it was fun.
Jara: Making gingerbread houses gives me a warm feeling in my heart. (Where does she get this warm fuzziness from?)
Jack: boing, boing, boing Me soooo happy. (That kid was like a rat on crack for a couple of hours.) Elise: raahhhh achhhh I'm not sure how to type in Elise language but the meaning is clear: I'm sick of chillin' in this bouncy chair, pay attention to ME!

Trimming the tree, the weekend after Thanksgiving. I love having a Christmas tree up, my house feels so warm and cozy. My decorating is sparse every other season of the year so it is nice to feel decorated and homey during the most wonderful time of the year, (insert Bing Crosby crooning.)

Jara with her special ornament from last year. Every year the kid's get their own ornament. We are amassing quite the collection. Everything from "Hot Wheels" cars to the nativity.

My tree has a color scheme. I told Jed we ought to scrap it and start over this year but we have too many beautiful things to start over. AND I am particularly fond of a few tacky items that come together to form a beautiful whole.

Happy Happenings.

So I feel Better about Myself...

Red flags you might be crazy.

1. People of limited acquaintance ask you in a tender voice, "So, how are you doing?"

2. You wear your fuzzy Eeyore pants around the house the entire day and actually entertain guests in them along with an oversized shirt minus a necessary female undergarment.

3. Your husband asks you "Have you been showering?"

4. You actually go out in public looking/wearing the above AND don't care.

5. Random strangers ask you "How old is your youngest and how many kids do you have?"

I thought I was doing good. I even took all three kids to Old Navy! gasp. Then the last week everything went to hell in a handbasket and I realized I'd been in denial all along and just gave in to the crazies.

Well today I showered! AND got dressed, complete with boots and skirt. My piano student asked me if I planned on going somewhere tonight. Sad, I know. I don't think people recognized me at the grocery store. I took back my hygiene. Everything else waited today... dishes be damned, kids watched cartoons, and the baby slept just long enough I didn't have to subject her to the swing. Guess what? Nothing happened, no one cried or rotted their brain off of 30 minutes of cartoons and I looked and, most importantly, felt like a real contributing member of society. Cause lets face it, it was getting really dicey there for a moment.

3 Months

She is now interested in toys and grabbing and surprisingly strong. I love to see her little mind working as she claws and grasps at whatever is in her path. All of my kids have loved this play mat, good job Aunt Ashley. Elise will chill on the mat for a good 20 minutes kicking and playing and going bald. (Head movement for hairy babies leads to bald spots in the back.)


See I told you she was strong, she can lay on her tummy for quite some time before she...rolls over! (gasp) I have never had a baby roll over so early. She's a genius.



Don't you love her fuzzy hair? I have to embrace the permanent mohawk because there is no taming it. It's especially pretty in the sunlight.

Hallo-palooza III

And with this post we are done...finally

Trick or treating/Halloween night(Day 3 of Halloween fun)

The witch with her loot


Serious monkey business





Group shot



I had to include this picture because it is the only one I got of our pumpkins. Jara and I carved pumpkins this year. Jara wielded her own carving tool and created the ghost face pumpkin, her first ever! She is taking after her dear ol' mum. I love pumpkin carving, a creative outlet that involves knives muwhaahaahaa.

Hallo-palooza II

Halloween is becoming bigger than Christmas around here. Joint birthday parties, carnivals, trick or treating, community events we did it all. The Jara + Jack birthday party is becoming a favorite of mine, this year may or may not have been as spectacular as last year (2 month-old-baby) but we still had a good time and everyone came through with costume wearing.

The cast...

We did not coordinate this year. I was a gypsy and Jed was a... Harlem globe trotter? Yes, Jed's costume still smells like Savers and yes, he actually wore that to school his Senior year. Sweeet. Ryan and Wendy were animal/wildlife photographers, perfectly complimenting their twins' costumes, Miles the tiger and Wade the monkey. Wendy is a creative genius.

Here is Spiderman Mason and Miles sans tiger chest piece. Here the outfit takes on a more caveman style, perfectly enhanced with a plastic bat. Adorable.

Gma and Gpa Grandpa turned out nicely as a wonderful witch and her wicked wizard,... Sitting Bull? Grandpa didn't have a choice in his costume. Sam was...I don't remember but take a close look at that boy's delight in bashing innocent little dinosaur pinatas.

Here are my parents on baby duty with Scarlet and Elise, the cousins one week apart. Sorry I cut off your head dad. (I thought I got ya) I still am not sure if his costume counts, since in the season I think he wears that outfit more than his regular clothes.

Ella was a party animal/fairy and Jack was well...an actual animal. Cute little monkey. The tail, padded tummy and banana were nice extra touches. Oh yes, must not forget Brent, he was a football State champ.

And of course my darling little witch, she's a good witch.

The treats: spider cupcakes and Frankenstein ice cream cups. Blowing out the candles. Jara's good about keeping Jack on cue.

AND afterwards, after the pinata, the fish pond, dinner, cake and ice cream, we had fireworks, because no Jed Wheeler party is complete without blowing something up.

Jack getting a little assistance, because he has too much daddy in him to be trusted with sparklers independently.

Hallo-palooza I

The Old Overton Gym holds an annual fund-raising carnival event. For the first time this year we attended. Perfect for small children, easy on the wallet and included popcorn (my kryptonite.) Favorite activities included the fish pond, penny toss and bean-bag throw and, most importantly, everyone won a prize. Even if the penny did hit the cute middle school girl in the head. oops

Not the best family picture, but quite festive, and no that is not a "man-bag" Jed is sporting, it's the camera bag. Does that make it better?


The kiddos with the traditional pocket-lady. Rumor has it she has been doing this for 40+ years, bless her heart.

Don't forget my perfect little sleeping kitty.