Tree Trimming

Today we headed out into the frigid cold to choose our Christmas tree. Even properly bundled it was freezing as we tramped through the snow.
I like this shot of Gooser.

Here's Don posing with a tree we were considering--but we ultimately rejected it.And Teddy with a "baby" tree that we also rejected!

Pickle says "Get me out of here! I'm cold!"

When we got home we had our traditional tree trimming party which included lots of food.

Eggnog, of course!

Veggie platter--had to get those vitamins in! Pickle single-handedly ate all of the tomatoes.

Lil' Smokies!Assorted cheeses...

...and salami.

Mini quiches.Later we had cookies and hot chocolate--but no pics--sorry!

Here are the boys hanging out by the fireplace.And Gooser dancing with our giant singing and dancing Santa--I know Jenni Jiggety will appreciate this!And here is the finished product:And with the boys (Pickle refused to be photographed.)A flashless shot:I love all my ornaments, but find that I am most attracted to are the vintage ones I have collected over the years.

I love this Santa in a hot air balloon. The balloon and Santa part is paper.
One of my many elves--I'm sure Candid Carrie will like him--or not!A pretty vintage bell:I like to clip these Santas to a lamp:And one more of Gooser by the tree.

My favorite quotes from tree-decorating:

Me (after I saw the tree in the stand): Why is it so big?

Don: That's what she said.

Then there's: "Just stick the stick up the angel's butt and stick it on the tree!"

Santa Visit--Take One!

We took the kids to an annual Christmas fun fest that my mom hosts for us at a fancy club. The kids love it because there's an all-you-can-eat brunch and lots of fun activities.

They got to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus (who arrived by boat!) and hang out with them a little and get some gifts (they were giving out toy penguins--Gooser is holding his).

Notice Pickle isn't in the pic. She wouldn't go anywhere close to Santa! She did take her penguin though--but only because I handed it to her.

There was a balloon artist there--she made a Batman for Gooser.
And a baby for Pickle.
Teddy and Patrick got some fun balloons too and face painting to match!

Close-ups!

Of course Gooser wanted a Batman scenario.
And Andy went with a Santa theme.
Here are a few family portraits. The whole group!
Me and Pickle and the boys:
Me with the Pickle:
There was also a caricature artist who did this brilliant rendition of Gooser!So onto the next Santa event--I always take the kids for a formal pic with Santa and a lunch at our traditional place with my sister. I'm dreading the Pickle vs. Santa showdown!! Something tells me it will get ugly!

Gooser and Oprah Too

I had a scare today with Gooser. His teacher called me this morning and said that during snacktime he started choking on the orange he was eating (or more specifically, a Clementine).

The kids eat these non-stop at home and I always break all the little segments apart for Gooser, but I guess he put a super large piece in his mouth and didn't chew it enough.

The teacher said his face started turning really red and she was preparing to do the Heimlich when he was able to cough it up.

Then she took him to the nurse to have his throat checked--and he was fine.

How scary though!! I was freaked out when she called and I could tell she was really scared too.

I'm constantly telling the kids "take small bites!" "chew it up!" Especially when they're eating things like apples, pretzels or hot dogs--but I'm usually not paranoid about stuff like oranges!

So I thought I'd use this scary episode as a reminder to everyone--remind your kids to be careful!! It also couldn't hurt to take a course in CPR and the Heimlich--I took one ages ago but I think I need a refresher course. My sister and I are going to sign up for one soon.

In other news--I found this fun/funny blog called Living Oprah. The premise is that the woman takes every bit of advice that Oprah gives--what to wear, eat, buy, etc. and does it in her own life as a challenge to see if following Oprah's advice helps you live your "best life." It sounds like a pretty intriguing idea so I will be checking out her blog!

"Brothers"

Here is my submission for Candid Carrie's Phriday Foto Phiesta:I think Don must have taken this pic becauase I didn't--but I'm pretty sure it was taken right after I bought the kids new pajamas and they were so excited they put them on right away.

I love "brothers" pics--and this is an especially tender moment between Teddy and Gooser. Usually Teddy picks on Gooser so it's nice to see them getting along. Plus the pajamas are pretty snazzy!

Happy Friday!!

Lunch With The Dolls

I have an addiction and it's called American Girl Place. If you haven't heard of it before, it's a ginormous doll emporium with zillions of dolls to choose from, doll clothes (with matching little girl clothes!), doll furniture, doll hair salon, photo studio, theater and...lunch with your dolls.

I can feel myself losing control the second I enter the store. I have always loved dolls and having a little girl has allowed me to relive my doll obsession full force.

I went on a small spree there a few weeks ago to get Pickle some Christmas presents and I couldn't resist a matching doll/Pickle Christmas outfit. Point blank: There's nothing cuter on the Earth than a little girl and baby doll in matching outfits! Case in point:

So Pickle and "Bitty Baby" got all gussied up and we headed over to American Girl for lunch today to meet my friend and her two little girls.

One of the fun things about having lunch there is that they give you little high chairs so the dolls can sit and "eat" with you. Of course, Pickle marches to her own drum and immediately dismantled the high chair, leaving Bitty Baby draped across my purse in the boothwhile "Meow-Meow" got the royal throne:
Through the majority of the lunch, she amused herself by pouring water from the big mug into the little mug.
And occasionally giving her doll a drink.
And Meow-Meow got some too. What's with the expression on her face here!?!

They have a little game on the table--a box filled with questions to discuss while you're waiting for the food. One of the questions we got was "What three celebrities would you like to be friends with?" I thought this was a fun question! Mine would be:

1. Gerard Way (big surprise, right?)

2. Oprah Winfrey

3. Michelle Obama

Who would yours be?

It was so much fun having lunch with my friend and getting our girls together. We don't see each other nearly enough and we have vowed to do it more often. Here we are (why do I look so squinty??):

And here's the whole gang:

One funny thing--my friend's four year old had a hard time with Pickle's name and called her "Ostrich" through the whole lunch. "Do you like your cookie, Ostrich?" It was SO cute!! I think Pickle has another nickname now!

Ostrich all dolled out on the way home!

P.S. I added the "Follow Me" feature to my sidebar. I'm not totally sure what it's all about--but I'd love if you would follow me!

More From The Gum Nazi

Remember awhile back when I wrote about the gum policies in one of Teddy's classes? Well he got busted today for gum chewing and his punishment is writing the word "gum" on every square on one side of a piece of graph paper.

When I wrote about the gum situation before, I was just citing Teddy's interpretation of the policy--but today I saw the "official" gum chewing violation punishment sheet--and it's even worse than I thought!

The first time they are caught chewing gum--they have to spit it into the "gum jar" which is kept in the classroom. The second time--they have to choose two consequences from the list below. The third time--they pick two and the teacher picks one. The fourth time there is a meeting with parents and the principal.

In addition to the ones I listed in the other post, there's:

1. Scrape 30 grams of gum from district property after school under teacher supervision.

2. After school, chew 5 pieces of gum for 20 minutes while watching yourself in the mirror (I choose the gum!)

3. Serve a formal, 45 minute after school detention.

4. List 30 reasons NOT to chew gum in class using a complete sentence for each. Number the reasons.

5. Write "I will not chew gum in the classroom" legibly 100 times on lined paper. Number the sentences.

6. Write by hand a 5-paragraph essay (minimum 200 words) on why gum should not be chewed in class.

7. Write by hand a research paper (minimum 400 words plus minimum 2 bibliography forms) on a topic related to gum. Choose one or propose your own (must be approved): How gum is made, ingredients of gum and their sources, history of gum, connection of gum to TMJ, disposal and environmental impact of gum, or safety issues related to gum.

One of the punishments that I had mentioned before--"squishing your hand in the gum jar" had more to it then I thought--the full punishment is "Squish your hand around in the gum jar for 10 minutes right before lunch." (!!!)

Clearly, this teacher HATES gum!

Teddy better watch his back--if he gets caught again, I think there will be some gum squishing in his future!

Christmas Through The Years

I am participating in the SITS Merry SITSmas and here is my little contribution...

I am sharing our Christmas cards pics from the past few years--since Gooser was born. Going back any farther requires too much searching and scanning (all pre-digital!). Here we go!!

2003--Gooser's First Christmas. This pic also features my sweet dog Monte (right) who is no longer with us.
2004--Monte is still there!
2005--Teddy is holding our newest dog addition--Hazel.
2006--This year we have two new additions! Pickle (sleeping in Andy's arms) and Petey (sitting in front of Gooser). I loved this year's card because I did it in pinks and pale greens and thought it turned out so nicely! The card itself was green and pink with a big pink ribbon--the perfect way to celebrate our first baby girl's first Christmas!
2007--Last year's cards. I feel like we just took this pic! The years fly by so fast...
We did take this year's Christmas card pic over the weekend (see yesterday's post) but I'm waiting to share it because I'm doing kind of a different concept this year and I want to wait until it's all ready to go! But we did manage to get a good one!

Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season from The Fun House!!

Be sure to stop by SITS--they're giving away a $200 Target gift certificate!

I Need Another Pumpkin Pie Martini...

What a day! We decided to take our annual holiday portrait that we use for our Christmas card today--and it was the most difficult ever!!

Now, taking a picture of five kids and three dogs has never been an easy task--but Pickle decided out of nowhere to go all "diva" on us, which made the task nearly impossible.

You know those Hollywood actresses that you hear about? The ones that are so difficult no one wants to work with them? That was Pickle today.

"Pickle--Sit in Andy's lap so we can take a picture."

"No!"

"Do you want to sit by yourself?"

"No!"

"Do you want a lollipop after we take the picture?"

"No!"

...and so on.

We did one totally botched photo shoot that ended up with Pickle in tears and me almost in tears followed by Pickle going down for a nap. When she got up, we tried again--and although she was VERY disagreeable, she managed to smile briefly and we got "the" picture.

Before the successful shot, there was a lot of this:

And plenty of this:

A little of this:

And some of that:
And to make things even more difficult, there was some of this:
And lots of that:
Given all the complications, we were lucky to get such a good end result--I will share it with you closer to Christmas!

Catch you later--Don has been making me Pumpkin Pie Martinis to take the edge off the day!!

Also--tomorrow there is a holiday extravaganza on SITS and the grand prize is a $200 Target gift certificate! Go check it out!!