Concerned

About an hour ago, Peyton, looking concerned and holding her nose, came into the kitchen and said, "Mom, I didn't tell any lies and I'm getting a long long nose."

The list of things I wanted to accomplish over vacation is still about as long as it was a week and a half ago. Some things required the use of my personal computer which is, as we speak, somewhere in Portland getting a new hard drive as a late Christmas present. Others required the use of my camera which wasn't so lucky this year. Its faulty gear is still faulty. I can use it only by taking off the bottom plate, lubing the gear and then holding the battery in place long enough to take pictures. Oh well, right? Things sometimes just don't get done. Or in this case, life just doesn't get blogged, as it is difficult to do without a camera and the computer that holds the pictures.

What I have accomplished is a whole bunch of nothing, which is just how the girls love it. Last night we played Bingo and channel surfed till we ran into The Polar Express and then we watched the whole thing. That's good stuff.

I also super organized my Christmas stuff as I took it down this year. If you know me and my love of organizing, this was almost as fun as putting it all up. I consolidated five totes of Christmas into two, put all the ornaments into Ziploc bags with bubble wrap so I don't have to unwrap each one to know its contents and I took a load to Goodwill. I should take nine more loads to Goodwill, but I'm on vacation after all. I'd hate to exert too much energy.

Sometime in January I hope I'll have my old computer back with its new hard drive. Then, I can upload some pics and I'll be back in business. Until then, I'll be enjoying my family as we ring in the New Year together and then cheer our Ducks to a Rose Bowl victory! Happy New Year to you and your loved ones....

A few Christmas Day faves....

Christmas Morning

The list of things I love about vacation is a long one. On that list.... "things I want to do, but never have time for". Today, in the quiet of the post-Christmas frenzy, while everyone was (a) ignoring each other to play with a new electronic device, (b) walking before gorging or (c) napping, I downloaded the Blogger app and I am, at this moment, blogging from my iPhone. Technology, glorious technology. Well, the only piece of technology that is currently working for me.

Wishing you a day filled with love, laughs and working technology. We're about to have our annual viewing of A Christmas Story before dinner....

You'll be happy to know I'm over it.

You know the big boo hoo I had here yesterday? The one to help me get it out and get on with life? It worked. My computer is still mad and me, and my camera doesn't work, but this is how I know.....

I minute ago, Libby came running into the bathroom where I was reading blogs on my phone (don't ask), and I said, "Hi babe. What d'ya wanna do today?" And you know what she said? Get this.....

"Ummmmmm. Be with you."

Bah. Humbug.

This little rant is an attempt to clear my head, have my tantrum, and get over it and move on. If you are fully enveloped in the Christmas spirit, you might just forgo reading this post.

There are a few things I need to quit being surprised about, quit complaining about and just embrace.

#1- This time of year, especially the last week of school before vacation, is a frantically paced go Go GO. The minute I stop, I get sick. It might be a cold, could be a sinus infection, but usually I'm blessed with both. Two doctors have said sinus surgery. I'm hold out hope for something that isn't sinus surgery.

#2- I've told my girls, "There is nothing you could do to make me not ache with love for you. I love you. I'm over the moon for you. Daddy and I are head over heels for you." However, I guess they don't believe me? For every time school lets out for vacation, they test me with the whiniest, clingiest most annoying behaviors that haven't shown themselves since ...... well ....... the last time school let out for vacation. Newly added to the mix just in time for 2012 ....... drumroll ............ fighting with each other! Hooray! Both are equally antagonistic. I guess I should look at the bright side. My head is so plugged with fluid I can barely hear what they're screaming at each other. And this morning at Walmart, no one seemed to notice.

(The next two on my list aren't regular visitors. I guess this is just my year.)

#3- Something is wrong with my computer. It's so slow that every time that little rainbow colored beach ball starts to spin before me I get all red in the face and have to talk myself off of the ledge. I know it's just my computer doing its thinking. But I swear, last night as the ball was spinning, it flipped me off. And as I calmly set my computer down and walked away to pour myself some Christmas spirit, I heard it laughing at me.

#4- My good camera doesn't work. Just in time for Christmas. Awesome.

#5- Right now I'm a slave to my To Do List. It's long. It's my own fault. And this morning I started crossing things off without doing them. I'm just not going to get to everything I wanted to. Yesterday, Shane and I took the "divide and conquer" approach. He took Libby. I took Peyton. As we were running around town with the other 500,000 people I said, "Peyton, I love spending the day with you." She replied, "I like being with Daddy the best." Faaaaaaantastic. After that, we just listened to the Christmas music on the radio much louder.

#6- Two artists I really can't stand are Gloria Estefan and Aaron Neville. All year long I don't listen to them. They both have a Christmas album. Apparently every DJ loves them.

Last but not least, Libby asked me this morning why I call Ella, "Ella Boo". I said, "Well, sometimes when you love somebody you give them a nickname. It's why we call you Libby Lou. It's why Peyton is Peytie Pie, Pea Pod and (Daddy's favorite) Pey-TONE! Peyton responded with this loud rant: "DON'T CALL ME PEY-TONE! I DON'T LIKE YOU CALLING ME PEY-TONE! I DON'T WANT YOU TALKING. I DON'T LIKE WHEN YOU'RE TALKING TO ME!

At which point I'd heard enough. I yelled, "Hey! Stop! That's enough!"

"Mom?"

"Whatever you're about to say, it had better be nice!

"Mom?"

"What!?"

"I love you."

Maybe my little rant worked. The girls have been quietly playing together for the entire time it took me to type this. I think I'll poor myself some Trader Joe's candy cane tea, turn on the tree lights and work on our Christmas cards. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..........

Silly

"Mom, When I'm a mom, if there's a dad in my family, I hope he's silly like OUR daddy."

-Libby

P.S. I love weekends.....

Saturday Morning

This morning I was laying in bed thinking about math. I teach two fifth grade math classes, and this morning I was laying in bed making a plan to grade and send home completed work, write a parent letter and highlight some vocabulary we've been using.

Then, I heard the pitter patter of Libby's feet heading my way. She climbed into bed with me and we snuggled for a minute before she asked (as they always do), "Mom, can I turn on Nick Jr?"

I said, "Yeah, but first I want to talk to you. It's important that we talk to each other, because one day you'll be an awful teenager and you won't talk to me. So we gotta talk now."

"Why?"

"Because, teenagers are awful and they don't like their mothers."

"I'll never do that mom. I'll always write you special notes."

"I hope so. I had a dream last night that you, Peyton and I were driving an air mattress down the highway. Isn't that a weird dream? It was only partially inflated and that made it hard to steer. Silly, huh? Did you have a dream last night?"

"Yeah. I dreamed that me and you and Daddy and Peyton and Grunny were watching a movie. It was that funny movie where the guy says, "Eat my rubber!" (Christmas Vacation) We can have a little fun with that here (at home) but I'm not gonna say that at school."

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

Beach Weekend

Warning: Picture OVERload ahead....

Two weeks ago we went to Waldport to spend the weekend at the beach. The morning we left, I woke up early and was surfing Pinterest.

Note:

has become an obsession requiring its own post on another day. Go there. You'll LOVE it.

Anyway, I ran into a picture like the one above and was intrigued by what it was. A waterfall? Where? I did a little more surfing to find out where in the world such a thing would be, and found out it's "on the Oregon Coast between Florence and Yachats". What? I'm going to be on the Oregon Coast between Florence and Yachats today! What are the chances? Seriously. So we stopped there, and I'm all, "I saw this! I know what this is! I saw it online this morning!"

Then, I took my own less impressive pictures. You should go see it, though. It's called Cook's Chasm and it's at Cape Perpetua. It this huge hole that fills from the top and bottom when the waves roll in. Amazing. I love where I live.

Family Pics

On our way to lunch in Waldport

We got into town and headed down on the beach so Shane could fly his kite. This kite was in our attic. It was a gift from his aunt and uncle. They made it, which I find impressive. He talks of it like it's the most prized possession he owns. In almost fifteen years of marriage, I've never seen it. Not once. Anyway, he was stoked and he'd rigged up some innovative handles (fishing rods) to fly it. We were all told to stand back and watch the kite MASTER at work.....

Grunny got out of the way.

Houston, we have lift off! See how far away he is? That's because when he first got airborne, the kite crashed back to Earth, narrowly missing a toddler who was playing in the sand with her family. We narrowly missed a lawsuit. After that, flying his kite was contingent on his willingness to go far far away from any other people. He obliged, because he's a six-year-old trapped in a thirty eight-year-old's body. This is one of two pictures I got of the kite actually in the air.

I took 47 pictures that look like this one.

Getting some help from my mom.

Peyton watches from a safe distance.

Libby entertains herself with a game of keep away from her sister.

giddyup.

An unwilling horse.

Libby agrees to try Daddy's kite.

The handles were a little heavy, and she needed Daddy's help.

Mom's turn.

After our beach fun, we grabbed sandwiches at Subway and headed back to Dick and Kathy's house for a little R and R.

Grammy Jane got the girls some new gloves, so they won't walk with their hands in their pockets. We know how that sort of thing turns out.

The next day Shane pulled in to a mini mart near the beach to get the girls their own kites. The master admitting defeat? I think so....

Putting on gloves isn't easy when you're three.

Libby offers a helping hand.

Kite flying. Take two.

This next series of pictures is a game of beach grass hide-and-seek with Daddy.....

Where is he?

Rooooooaaaaaarrrrr!

Run!

I love this: Daddy hides while the girls stare right at him.

When it got too windy, we grabbed our kites.....

....and headed to Newport to eat lunch at Mo's.

After lunch we headed back to Dick at Kathy's house to watch the Duck vs. Stanford game. Go Ducks!

Look Mom! No hands!

Thank you Dick and Kathy for the invite to stay at your house. We loved it!

Monkeys at the Zoo

Two weeks ago we headed north to do the zoo with Lucy Bug. I took lots of pictures that weren't that great. But I did get a few little gems....

After seeing the monkeys at the zoo, we headed to The Old Spaghetti Factory to feed our little monkeys.