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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Our year in review

This year...


Dec. 13 2008
We welcomed Harrison Grant Roane
to our family.



We welcomed Harrison?


We enjoyed our second anual "Fresh from the sewer"
birthday cake,



We escaped certain doom.


We did?


and basked in the glory of our divine nature.

We learned new things...





and improved on the old things,
(or techniques.)


We celebrated in eachother's little victories
(Brooke performes on stage as Hannah Montana)


And shared eachother's little burdons.

There were times when things got a little scary


but...

 by sticking together,


and once in awhile, letting it all hang out...


We eventually were victorious!



And we can honestly say...


that we're better for it.


Life is nothing but a big piece of cake...

 

Dig in!



Have a fabulous New Year!


Sunday, December 27, 2009

Santa's not-so-merry Christmas

  Santa totally screwed us this year! Not only did he forget where he hid a couple of Ashton's presents, but he threw the girls' necklaces away with the empty shopping bags, (I had to dig them out of the trash) and left Matthew with a stomache bug, which left Nate and myself cleaning Christmas puke out of the carpet and bed sheets. I think Santa needs to consider a retirement or something because that magical man is really losing his touch!

 Of course not all of Christmas was a total bust. Santa did remember to leave me a box of my favorite chocolates from Sees and a shopping gift card to my favorite store, the Buckle. And Ashton did get her Zhu Zhu pet. But he really should have left a note or something explaining that he couldn't get his hands on any of the Zhu Zhu accessories and the elves couldn't even make enough to supply the demand this year, but that Mommy has direct orders to take Ashton shopping for the accessories as soon as stores have them again.

 Once Matthew stopped vomiting some color once again returning to his cheeks, he really enjoyed what Santa brought for him too. With four new costumes we probably won't see Matthew dressed as himself for quite a while. Brooke, our hardest to please seemed surprisingly pleased with all her loot. Even baby Harrison seemed to enjoy his presents especially his crocodile xylophone.

  The day ended well with a delicious ham dinner at Nate's parents' house and a good old fashioned game of scattergories. Christmas was saved after all, even after Santa played a grinch on us!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Adventures in last minute christmas shopping

         I got Ashton her damned zhu zhu pet after spending the wee hours of the morning in line at Walmart, sandwiched between my mother and the most annoying man in the world. This guy, who's name I never bothered to get, had been the one solitary customer in the zhu zhu line when my mother and I stumbled in at 4:30 am. He had been there, drinking his redbulls, since mid-night. And he was very excited to see real live people for the first time all night.

       After getting lawn chairs out of the sporting goods section for my mother and myself, (really, very thoughtful), he proceeded to tell us both about his love of hunting and camping. He was very disappointed that I wasn't really a camper. He told us for whom he was hoping to get a zhu zhu pet. He told us that his power drinks taste like melted skittles, that he only buys his clothes at wal-mart, what bars he and his friends like to hang out at and a miriaid of stories that may or may not have been true. (I had never met anyone who drove his subaru through a pond ).

     My mom and I tried to be polite and even friendly at first, but when he turned his chair toward mine in order to get closer to our conversations, we were thoroughly annoyed. This presumptuous asshole even nudged my knee with his foot at one point during the wait in order to get my complete attention! One last ditch attempt at not being lonely for Christmas I guess, but a total waste of energy nonetheless.

    When the zhu zhu pets were finally put out, I couldn't be more happy to make my selection and get the heck out of there. Unfortunately, getting rid of my new friend was not so easy. This, the most annoying person in the world, followed my mother and I through the store to the cash registers asking our opinions on other gift ideas.

   Yeah, Merry Christmas now please, go away, douch!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

ZHU ZHU Zoo-mania!


Every year there's that one "special toy" that every kid just has to have and every year that one special toy is the one you can't find any where! I swear the stores know what the big hot item is and they purposefully under-order these items just to create a holiday craze! I mean, seriously does someone have to die in the pursuit of a zhu zhu before manufacturers and stores stop creating this insanity?

Anyway, Zhu Zhu pets are the crazy toy item for this year. And I thought Iwas off the hook (since no child of mine had mentioned it).That was until  yesterday when Ashton announced that she wanted one of these little electronic hamsters for christmas and if she didn't get one she'd know just how unloved she was! This is a technique kids have been using on parents since the dawn of time called parental manipulation. This technique has endured for centuries and I'm no stranger to it since I used it shamelessly on my parents when I was a child, and I usually don't give in to this kind of sabatoge but Ashton is the one child I still have to get that one last gift for and she's the difficult one to buy for this year so any clue as to what she wants is going to be heeded. So in short: I'll be standing in line at Walmart in the middle of the night tonight in a pathetic attempt to get Ashy that coveted zhu zhu!

She now owes me big!

A funny little side note on the Zhu Zhu craze: Conan O'brien commented on these little hamsters on his show a few nights ago. He said that You-Tube has an instructional video on how to make your own Zhu Zhu pet with faux fur and a remote control car. Then he said, "Yes this is the perfect way to tell your child, 'mommy and daddy don't really love you.'"
I thought that was quite humorous myself.

I'll have to post an update on the zhu zhu situation. Feel free to leave any helpful tips for me in my comment box.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Twilight every day

Brilliant idea # 2009!
So the other day I dragged Nate to see New Moon with me. (Nate actually liked it, but don't tell him I said so.) After the movie however, I came up with the greatest idea that will be sure to put some spice in anyone's otherwise ordinary life.
What if we all incorporated some Twilight-type vocabulary as well as behaviors into our every day lives? Example: When your husband is leaving for work instead of just saying ' bye have a nice day, I love you' like we normally would, give him a very long passionate kiss like it may be the last time he's ever seen alive and say, "Be careful out there. The only thing I'm scared of is losing you!"
Of course you may want to give him a heads up on your new choice in words before hand just so you don't freak him out.
Then, he can reply with something like, "I've got to go. I've got a vampire to kill."
Life is just so much more exciting when its dramatic.
I actually gave this idea a go the morning after seeing New Moon. I told Nate the idea before hand as suggested so he didn't comit me to the mental institution on the spot. Then, as I was kissing him good bye, I gazed up into his eyes with my best attempt at a dreamy expression and said "You can't leave me, I can't bear life without you."
To that my husband shook his head, chuckled and said, "okay, I've gotta go, you're really weird."
Not the response he was supposed to give.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Last evening as my children and I sat down to a meal of pork chops and mashed potatoes, (yeah I actually cooked, you're welcome family) Ashton decides to make this comment,
"Hey mom, have you ever noticed how skinny the Shadow Valley moms are?"
I'm suddenly feeling guilty about the spoonful of mashed potatoes I just shoved in my mouth. "Yeah, I have Ashton, why do you ask?"
"Oh, I don't know. This one kid's mom is so skinny she looks like a teenager!"
Ok. You can shut up now.
"I bet they never eat any sugar or anything."
I bet they never eat anything but boiled water. "What's the point of this Ash? Are you trying to say I'm not skinny?"
"Well...your butt isn't!"
I just lost my appetite completely.
"Maybe you should buy a tred mill or something."


Cursed gravy.

Monday, December 7, 2009

First Snow fall of the Year

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Matthew rolls in the powder

Ashton makes a perfect angel



Brooke is bundled like a marshmallow


and poor Harrison just wishes he could go out and play too