Ice Skating with Santa

For the last little while, I've been avoiding doing "this is what we did today" posts. Mostly, to be more private, while not going private. But, then I remembered that the whole reason I even started this blog was to replace scrapbooking, and document our life. Lately, it's kind of become a narcissistic social hour for Sher. So, since my family IS the most important part of my life, I'm going to start doing a little more "this is what we did today" posting.

So, last Thursday, C called me from work and said he had tickets to get in free to see Santa and go ice skating at the Gallivan Center.

The Gallivan Center has an outdoor ice skating rink in downtown Salt Lake. Santa wasn't actually ice skating, although that would've been cool. They had food, hot chocolate, and beautiful lights and music.

Of course, I was excited to go. I LOVE ice skating, and obviously don't get to go much anymore since my hubby thinks it's gay, and my kids have been too little up to now. KJ did great. We've taken her once before a few years ago, and she didn't last very long. She was awesome this time! TJ went once around the rink holding on the railing the whole way around, then he was done. So TJ and Peter sat on the sidelines with C, while KJ and I skated the night away!

Here are some fun pics!

Here are the monkeys with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Peter was scared of them and wouldn't look up for the picture. Notice KJ isn't shy at all about telling Santa what she wants for Christmas!

TJ, me and KJ before we set out on the ice!

See TJ hanging on the rail?

Look at TJ's face. He's not very happy about this ice skating thing.

I love this picture because it looks like we're doing a trick, but really KJ was falling and I caught her.

It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas!

When we left this morning to drive the monkeys to school it was raining/sleeting. By the time I dropped everyone off, and made it across town to go to the gym, it was a full on blizzard!

December is the only time of the year, that I actually get excited to see snow. Suddenly, it actually feels like Christmas to me! It's really put me in the holiday mood, today.

I'm happy to see the snow. (Not happy that I'll probably have to shovel it even though it's not a lot because our house is North facing and it won't melt).

So, while I was driving around my little town today, I remembered I had my camera in my purse and decided to take some pictures of the winter wonderland.

This is my signature take on photography. My best pictures happen to come out from rolling my window down and taking pictures out the window while I'm driving. Don't worry, I'm incredibly good at looking at the road and NOT at what I'm photographing, so as not to endanger others on the road.

Here are my best ones:

While I was getting gas, a horse pasture across the street

This field is on my Grandparent's property.

The farm next to the above field

The road on my way to the gym

The bank across the parking lot from my gym.

Random Friday

This always happens. I always have a gajillion things to talk about for random Friday, then when I sit down to write them out, I forget. I really should've taken Motherboard's advice last month and gotten myself a notebook. Sorry, Motherboard. I'm a bad follower.

Ok. Here's something. Next week is a little bit crazy insane for me. But, I'm kind of excited about it.

First our Enrichment meeting is on Thursday night and they asked me to play one of my Christmas arrangements for the program. Yay!

Then, a zillion years ago (read: in August) I entered my song "Solitude" in a little contest with the Utah Composer's Guild, and they want me to perform at the Composer's Festival this Friday. Yay!

Then, Saturday morning, my sister's ward is having their Enrichment meeting, and she asked me to play two of my songs.

So, I get to play a lot next week! I'm loving it!

Also, KJ has a concert for her children's choir that she sings in, and it is C's company Christmas party. All on Saturday. Crazy. We also had tickets to the Kurt Bestor concert. We always go to the Saturday matinee show with our friends, but it conflicts with KJ's concert, so we had to give them away. I'm really bummed about missing it, but of course, KJ's concert is more important.

Speaking of which, I have recently written new arrangements for Joy to the World; O Come, O Come Emmanuel; What Child is This, and last year I wrote an arrangement of Silent Night and a medley of Pachelbel's Canon and Angel's We Have Heard on High. Hopefully, by this time next year, I will have made mondo bucks on my Solitude CD, and will be able to release a Christmas album! So, moral of the story, buy my CD (when it comes out). ☺


**************

I'm going through some weird funk this week. I'm not really sick. I'm not particularly depressed. I actually feel pretty good, emotionally. But, I'm so friggin' tired. Probably because I decided to get off my duff and actually exercise this week, and have done something active everyday this week. Maybe that is why I'm having such serious food issues. It's completely out of control people! Tuesday, after running, grocery store, preschool, playgroup, and karate, I think I just came home and self-medicated on food. I think I was pretty much eating constantly from 2pm to 10pm, including an entire bag of Christmas candy (Hershey's kisses, and peanut butter cups), leftovers from Sunday, leftovers from Monday, more Candy, a cup of hot chocolate, and a banana split. I've been eating like that all week. No wonder my pants are all shrinking. I've resorted to wearing my old post-pregnancy fat pants. It's sad. And really, really depressing. I feel like such a loser. I really need to chocolate now, to make me feel better.

************

About play group. Here's the thing. My sweet little boy TJ has never gone to a playgroup in this neighborhood. And he NEVER has a friend to play with. Because they are all sooooo involved in their little play groups that they don't have "time" to play.

Wha? Huh? 5 year old kids don't have time to play? Someone put in my comments on that playgroup post about parents "forcing" their kids to play at a certain time and to be done at a certain time, instead of letting them play when they want to. I'm all for making them do their jobs before they play, but to make them play just because that's what's next on the schedule?

That's why I agreed to the play group for Peter. I was worried she'd have no friends to play with if we didn't "schedule" it in. It's driving me bonkers.

I'm soo NOT a schedule Mom. I'm not a schedule person. I'm not a "book" Mom either. You know the type. That do everything according to "What to Expect the First Year" and "Happy Sleeping Habits, Happy Baby" or whatever the hell it's called. I don't believe in parenting books. I DO believe in trusting your instinct, relying on the spirit, teaching the value of work, and good strong discipline (read: spanking--*gasp*, I know...wah!) and allowing your children to be who they came here to be, and not shoving schedules and activities down their throats, and making them act like adults. And I think I have really great kids.

They are independent, confident, and they act like kids. They're loud, and have lots of energy, and like to run around and play rough, and sometimes they're naughty, and sometimes they are down right annoying, but most times they're really good, and sweet, and I love that they are WHO they are. Each of them is different in their own special way. Three different little personalities, three different ways I need to raise them. What works for one child, won't work for the other. I LOVE that they are so individual. I LOVE their quirks, and that they want me to help them, but if I can't, then can figure it out themselves. I LOVE that about them.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.

***********

We took the kids ice skating with Santa Claus at the Gallivan center last night. Remind me later to post pics! It was fun!

************

Ok, here are some tunes....as soon as I figure out where my kids put my dang I-pod.....

Found it....and the batteries are dead...dangit!

1) Traditions of Christmas - Mannheim Steamroller

2) When My Heart Finds Christmas - Harry Connick, Jr.

3) Prelude - George Winston

4) Old English Suite: Sussex Carol - Kurt Bestor

5) Variations on the Kanon - George Winston

6) Ave Maria - Harry Connick, Jr.

7) Silent Night - Kurt Bestor

8) Jingle Bells - The Brian Setzer Orchestra

9) Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella - Jon Schmidt

10) Greensleeves - Manheim Steamroller

Bonus: Peace (Where the Heart Is) Jim Brickman feat. Collin Raye

I'm due for another complaining session. I'm sure you were all wondering what happened to the regular Sher. Perhaps I was bit by the Christmas bug or something, and all that holiday cheer was getting to me.
Sorry, to get all cheesy and happy on you. I'm sure you were all worried about my well-being.
Don't worry, I can still whine with the best of 'em.
I have plenty of crap to complain about.
Like Tuesday, when I had play group at my house. For the record, having play group at my house makes me want to off myself. It's like having throw a friggin' birthday party every 5 weeks. It's ridiculous. I'm often asking myself why am I in this stupid play group anyway? Peter doesn't really care that much. If she feels like playing, we'll call a friend to come over. Why does it have to be so organized? If you know me at all, I HATE to be scheduled and organized. Don't ask me why. But it BUGS me. Why can't we just go play when we feel like it? Why can your kids ONLY play at 1:00 on Tuesdays? That just weird!
So, yesterday at about 10:30 it occurred to me that we had play group at our house. I hadn't planned any elaborate crafts or activities. I hadn't done any heavy baking that morning. In fact, I spent most of my "preschool" time (time while the kids are all at school) talking to my friend Lisa, who I went to visit because she'd recently had her birthday. I wasn't going to start baking cupcakes and cookies half an hour before I had to go get TJ & Peter from school. So, I thought to myself, well, it's just a play group. We have toys. I'll just send the kids downstairs to play in the toy room. We'll not make this a big deal.
That worked!.....for about 45 minutes. Then two of the girls were upstairs asking me when we were going to start our craft, and what games we were going to play. I really had to bite my tongue when I wanted to tell them this isn't a freakin' birthday party. So, I sent them downstairs and showed them where the dress-ups were. Problem solved.
...Not quite. We have one little boy in our play group. Which usually works out nicely when it's at our house because then TJ has a boy to play with. Well, about 45 minutes into our "play time" TJ came up stairs saying "Boy (because I'm not creative enough to come up with a nickname)" needs help wiping his bum.
Crap. I do NOT need to wipe the neighbor kids bum. No Thank YOU!
So, I went downstairs, told him to wipe his own bum, asked if he could put his pants on himself, and then went back upstairs to monitor the girls, who had gotten bored with playing dressup.
Several minutes later, it occurred to me the "boy" hadn't come out of the bathroom. I went back down to check on him. You wouldn't believe kind of damage a little 4 year old boy can do in 10 minutes. There was shit everywhere. Sorry, about the language, but that's just how pissed off I was. On the rug, on the toilet seat, on the toilet lid, on the bathtub. And he was still sitting there pantless. NAST!
There is nothing more disgusting than cleaning up your neighbor's kids poop.
I'm very seriously considering quitting the play group now.

Do you think I'm over-reacting?

I'm a little freaked about posting this actually, because what if the mom's in the play group read my blog and I don't know it, and now they'll be offended, because I'm such a whiner. I really like your kids, honest I do. But, I still have to be able to complain about it. That's my right as a person who likes to complain.

Somebody Loves Me!

I just got this in the mail today from Shauna, at Trying to Stay Calm. Isn't she sweet? She must know how much I love chocolate, and how disorganized I am, and can't remember anything, so she sent me some comfort chocolate and notepad and pen to help me remember stuff. Like to stop blogging and pay attention to my children.

That's why this post is short. Because my house that actually stayed clean all weekend, and looked somewhat decent up until today, now looks like a tornado hit. All in the name of blogging. (poor little neglected children)

Christmas spelling

Thanks to my overactive, over excited children, we decorated for Christmas over the weekend. Friday, we put up the new Christmas tree. KJ was so excited she was hounding me all day. I made the kids help me clean out the toy room first. We took 6 boxes of old toys (including all my baby toys) to the DI. It feels sooo good to clean stuff out.

Then we got out the Christmas crap and started decorating. I think the tree looks pretty good. Although, I'll be honest, it seems a little small compared to our mondo Griswald tree from last year. I'll learn to love it, I suppose. But, part of me wonders if I should've bought the 12 foot tree, instead.

KJ put up the nativity scene. I love this set. I can't remember what it's called...Olive Tree or something, but they are beautiful.

Sup.

I found these cute little blocks. And it's taken me a while to figure out what their supposed to spell. Can you help me figure it out?

What could this possible have to do with Christmas?

Or this?

Oh, I get it!

Note to Self:

Next time, pay attention to the lesson in Sunday school.

Here's why:
After chewing out my kids for laying down and trying to take a nap, and not listening during sacrament meeting, I ventured into Sunday school.

I sat down next to Brother and Sister O., said Hello, then opened up my scriptures, preparing myself for the upcoming lesson.
I don't know what it is about Sunday school, but for some reason my mind begins to wander. Like the time a few weeks ago when the person sitting next to me whispered to me about the scripture we were on, and broke me from my stupor of thought--wondering if the bishop's wife dyes her hair or if it is naturally that black.
So, today, as soon as the teacher started in about why we need the Book of Mormon in the latter days, I started thinking about the handful of Hershey's kisses in my bag, and wondering how I could grab one, unwrap it and eat it without anyone noticing.
So, I started rifling through my bag, pulling out old used Kleenexes, past sacrament meeting programs and tithing slips, and scratch paper my kids had colored on. Underneath the trash was the old PDA C had brought to entertain the kids.
Temporarily forgetting about my chocolate fix, I grabbed the PDA and turned it on (thankfully it was on silent) and began to play. Eventually I found the scheduling thingy (whatever it's called), and started typing in the coming week's events, proud of myself that I was being so organized.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something fall on the front of my shirt. In silent panic, I thought a spider had landed on me and frantically start swatting at my chest. Looking down, though, I saw a single, thin silvery strand of spit. While intently focusing on my task at hand, I had started drooling.
I glanced slightly to my right to see if Brother O. had noticed. Either he was snickering silently to himself, or he didn't see. Thank goodness.
Quickly, I put away the PDA and started listening.

Next time, to save myself the embarrassment, I'll just listen to the lesson.

Why Fake Trees Save Marriages

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, I can humbly concede to the spirit of this holiday that is Christmas. I know I've been a stinker and a scrooge, and might have offended some people with my bah humbugging. Sorry.

To express my sincerest apologies, I've decided to spread a little Christmas cheer.

As promised, here is a little story about why I have recently purchased a "fake" Christmas tree.

To preface this story, you must know that my sister's husband family own a huge amount of farm property outside the town that they live. Part of that property is up in the mountains. So, early last December, I thought it might be a fun family experience to go all Griswold, and drive up to my sister's property and cut down a Christmas tree. We drove nearly two hours to get there, trekked through mud and snow and forest for hours scouring the slopes for the perfect tree. After searching, and searching, and not finding anything good enough for my humble home, I started hiking up a hill way off the road. Finally, I found a tree that I deemed worthy to be OUR Christmas tree. I called for my hubby, who came with the chainsaw. He laughed and told me it was too big for our house, and I just guffawed and said "This is the one! Cut it down!" Of course, he was tired of following me around the mountain, so he cut down the tree, dragged it down the mountain, and strapped it onto the back of his truck.

We got home, did "a little" trimming to fit the tree into the corner of our family room. One side of the tree was fuller than the rest, so of course that part went in the front. I immediately set out decorating the tree. I was so excited and was sure it was going to be the most beautiful tree EVER!

Later that night, after the tree had been lovingly decorated, the kids and I went to visit my Mom (leaving C home to watch football). An hour later, C called me on my cell phone, fuming, and said that the tree had fallen down, but he'd put it back up. I gathered the kids, and came home. Patiently, I re-decorated the tree.

The next afternoon, the tree fell again. And we patiently pulled it back up. And again the next day.

The next night, around 2:00 a.m., while sleeping peacefully in my bed, I was awakened suddenly, by a strange sound. I heard a slight whoosh, then a tinkle, tinkle, and crash!

My first thought in my half asleep state was that a burglar was in the house. Heart pounding, I thought what to do. Then I realized at once: The tree! I jumped out of bed, flipped on the light, and sure enough there was my beautiful tree lying awkwardly on its face in the middle of my family room. Shocked and stunned by my tree's suicide attempt, I decided to take it upon myself to save my little tree's life. Tired and frustrated, I shimmied behind the tree, and proceeded to attempt to pull up the damaged tree myself. Grunting and pulling, sighing and pushing, I tried every angle I could think of to get that damn tree up. But the enormous mass was just too heavy for weak little me. I wasn't about to swallow my pride and wake up my husband and ask him to help me, so instead I made the biggest racket I could, until finally, he stumbled out of bed and came out to help me on his own. Both of us, agitated beyond reason, having been disturbed from our precious sleep, took upon the task of righting this horrible wrong. He pulled while I pushed, and finally the tree was up, crooked, and cockeyed, but up. With ornaments and lights, strewn everywhere, I again, shimmied around behind the tree, to hold it in place, while C rushed out to the garage to find something to weigh down the back of the tree. He came back with several bricks, and handed them back for me to put into place. Screaming at each other, because it still wasn't working and I wasn't understanding what C was explaining, as he tried to tell me where to put the bricks, we, finally, got the stupid tree upright.

I climbed back out from behind the tree and assessed the damage. A huge puddle of water and sticky sap soaked into my carpet in the middle of the floor. Lights were falling off the tree, and ornaments were everywhere.

After having redecorated the tree so many times that week, I just couldn't wring any more creative energy out of my physically and emotionally exhausted self. So the ornament were literally thrown onto the tree, strings of lights left where they hung.

Covered in sap, sweat, dirt and tears, C & I finally stormed back to bed in bitter silence.

We survived that Christmas. Barely. So, now you can understand my distaste for decorating. I did it enough in that one week to last me for the next decade.

So, to save my marriage, this year, I chose to go fake.

And I will be burning a pine scented candle for effect.

No more Griswold Christmas' for me, thank you very much.

Happy Thanksgiving

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

Know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."

- Abraham Lincoln

Lost and Found!

My camera finally turned up today. I was thinking how sad it was that I'd lost, yet, another camera (I washed and dried my last one, having forgotten it was in my coat pocket, right before Christmas last year).

KJ was outside jumping on the tramp, yesterday, while locked out, because I wasn't home yet, and found it on the back patio.

TJ had taken it out there and left it. Thank goodness it didn't rain while it was out there!!!

Here's what I found on there, unedited:

Ok, I took this one. This was from TJ's last Belt ceremony for Karate.

The rest are by TJ, himself!