I'm late, I'm late, I'm late....

I think next year I'm just going to admit the fact that I can't seem to get this Christmas card thing done in a reasonable amount of time. My plan is to order the cards that say "Happy New Year!" so that I won't be considered late. Today is December 18th and my Christmas cards are sitting behind the photo counter at Costco. I'd love to blame this whole situation on the fact that my whole family, aside from me, is sick and that I haven't left the house in days. But the truth is, I just submitted my order 3 days ago. I really wish that I didn't have this affliction of tardiness, but it's real and it's me, at least with things like this. So with any luck, today I will find a few minutes where Matt is awake, and not at work, where I can run to Costco alone so I can get started on sending out my tardy Christmas cards. Let's just focus on this....better late than never. And worse case scenario....Happy New Year!

Move the Elf, Move the Elf...just keep reminding yourself...Move the Elf.

Addie passed out in her bed with her arm hanging out the side. I know every kid does this, but I love it. I also love that Dora's foot is in Addie's face! These are the Christmas jammies that Alabaster Snowball (our Elf) delivered this year from Santa! Tucker's Pjs have Santa in rockets flying around the planets (Nick & Nora @ Target) and Addie has Santas all over her Pjs (Carter's). They both LOVE the Pjs and they are wondering why they can't wear them every night. These jammies are going to get lots of love...and trips to the laundry, probably every other night!
So this morning I really felt the heat of all the fun and exciting traditions I've got going. I came SO CLOSE to dropping the ball this morning.

Here's how it goes:

Tucker whispers in to my room, "Mommy, Mommy, Addie is awake. She wants you." Only half believing him, because I don't hear her, I roll out of bed and head towards her room. By the time I get there, Tucker has climbed in her crib. (yes, still in a crib. She has made NO attempt to climb out, I have made NO attempt to spend money on a new bed.) They are playing nice and looking so cute and Tucker asks Addie, "Addie! Where do you think Alabaster Snowball is hiding today?!?"

....Oh Crap. My mind is racing...."I thought about moving that elf. Did I do it? ummm....NO! CRAP. NO! Ok...stall.... you are good at this Tami. Stall."

I get Addie out of the crib, and I leave Tucker there. Although he is nearly FIVE years old (a whole separate and tear filled blog topic) he claims that he can only climb IN the crib, but can't get out. PERFECT. So I get Addie out, change her diaper (again...a whole separate blog...I've got a lot of blogging to do) and I leave Tucker in the crib. While I'm changing her, I ask Tucker to do a series of "favors" for me, like turn off Addie's music, help Addie get her dolls out of bed, anything to keep him from following me to the living room where, no doubt, Alabaster is still in the same spot.

I step out of Addie's room calmly, but my very next step takes me into a flat out sprint to the living room. I jump up on the chair, grab the little bastard elf out of the giant stocking decoration and look desperately around the room for a new hiding spot. No time. Small feet approaching. Crap. Think Fast. No hiding spot. Here I go....I shove poor, little, bastard elf, Alabaster up my shirt and calmly say, "Man, I guess he's not hiding in here today! Tucker can you please let the dog out?" As Tucker agrees and heads for the sliding glass door, I take off for the other room looking for a hiding spot. The fastest spot I could find was up on a shelf amongst our nativity scene. NICE. I'm calling Alabaster a bastard elf, and then I go and throw him up there with Lord Baby Jesus. Lord help me.

So as the kids come in the room to find Alabaster, I go back to the other room to find a quick treat to throw in the advent calendar...another lovely and fun tradition that has me running in circles every morning!!!

I love it all and I wouldn't change a thing, but that little Alabaster sure did give me my cardio for the day!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I'm biased, I can't even hide that fact. I birthed them, I love them, I'm raising them to be decent human beings (hopefully), but really who can deny that they are beautiful? Have you ever seen two kids, at the same time, be so happy to see Santa? I've never witnessed it with my own eyes. I can't even claim this victory to my name. This was really how they felt. I did no coaching, prep work or bribing for this perfect picture.

As we were walking down the mall, headed towards the Santa village, Tucker caught a glimpse of the gargantuan structure and started jumping, hopping and yelling, "It's SANTA! It's SANTA!" He was, by no means, using an "inside voice" but I didn't even care. When your kids are jumping with a pure joy that you can vaguely remember having as a kid, you don't care what kind of scene your child is making. Everyone was looking, smiling and giggling at the sight of Tucker approaching Santa. Addie was excited too, but looked more like she was on a top secret mission where she just needed to approach the objective and complete the mission. She walked with a very quick and meaningful gate, which told me that she was ready to announce that she wanted everything Strawberry Shortcake, as soon as possible.

While waiting in line, Addie couldn't stop walking around in circles and Tucker...well honestly, in those 5 minutes of waiting, he made all the holiday madness worth it. Those moments in time will stick with me forever. It was one of those MommyMoments where you feel like you have conquered the pentacle of parenthood. You are the hero, you have delivered your child to Santa...and IT IS AWESOME. Tucker physically couldn't stand still. If his feet weren't walking, his hands were shaking, if his hands weren't shaking, then his arms were flapping. He was physically out of control! I can only imagine how crazy he felt in his own body! That must have been a rush like he's never experienced before.

When it was their turn to visit Santa, they both bolted towards him, jumped into his arms and gave him the biggest hug! So much for Stranger Danger. They sat on his lap and told him what they'd like for Christmas. Tucker wanted every remote control toy on the planet...robots, spiders, trucks and snakes. Addie wanted Strawberry Shortcake. After a brief from Santa on all the ways to behave (listen to your Mommy and Daddy, be nice to each other, and above all things, tell the truth. Not bad Santa. Want to come over every Monday and give "the talk"?), the kids jumped down from his lap. They both turned around and gave him another death grip hug and said, "Thank you!!".

I really hope that every trip to Santa gets better and better, but I do know that all good things come to an end. One day, they won't want to go see Santa. One day, they won't even believe in all this hokis pokis. But for now, we have a magical Christmas season that will live in my heart and memory forever.

Blogger Anger Management

I'm having some serious and real anger problems when it comes to my blog. I love this blog and I think about blogging quite a bit. I just can't bring myself to deal with the technology that is required to change my background, pictures and whatever else I think I need to do to keep up with all those out there with this cute, crafty blog. It makes me angry. There is Original template and then Designer template. My problem is that I think I want Original, but when I try to do that it doesn't seem like the same blog I used to understand. So then I go with the Designer and then it never comes out looking like I want it to. I'm just smart enough to get the basic job done, but not smart enough to make it do what I want. So the bottom line is this...I want to blog, blogging makes me angry. I'm going to try to get some therapy over the issue and get back to posting about my awesome life as a Mommy. I really need to be blogging because with Christmas approaching I have heard some pretty awesome things in the last few weeks.

Time Machine Blog

Isn't it stunning how much children change in one year?

I feel like as crazy as my life is, and as hectic as it feels with two young children I just want to freeze time. They are precious. They are cute and funny without even trying. They still think I'm cool. They want to cuddle, hug and kiss me and they WANT to be with me. Sometimes this feels like a curse to have children hanging on you 24/7, but I'm already starting to think about the days, that will be here sooner than I'd like to admit, where they don't want to spend time with me. I find myself being a softy for things that I would have normally put the smack down on. The main example I can think of is Tucker sneaking into my bed at night. I really do want my bed to be MY bed, but if I stop for just a second and think about how that shows how much he wants to be with me, I often break down and make a little room for him. I know he won't always want to spend time with me, cuddle me or even tell me about his life, and I feel like I need to gobble him up as much as I can now. I love four, and really as much as she can push me to the edge, Addie is a perfect 2 1/2 year old. She is funny, witty, and a loving little girl. She has started telling me that she loves me. I love the look on her face when she says our "I love yous" to each other. I say, "I dub you, Honey" and she says, "I dub YOU, Honey". I really need to get video of that. I hope that's something we can say to each other forever, but I think it will always be more special to me...well until Addie has her own daughter to know this intense love, then she really will understand. Why am I crying??? This happens quite a bit when I'm blogging. Maybe that just means that I don't take enough time during the crazy day to realize how precious and intense motherhood really is to me. Tomorrow I will try to focus on the little things, appreciate the attention (even the negative attention) and know that one day, I'm truly going to miss these days.

I Am Warrior, Hear Me Roar!

My good friend Olivia asked me if I wanted to do the Warrior Dash and who would pass up the chance to hang with your friends, drink beer and get muddy? Not this girl.It seemed appropriate to run for CPT John Hallett for so many reasons. First of all, I've never been able to participate in Lisa's Run To Remember running group and this was my way to Run To Remember John. Also, the run was on September 11th and what a way to honor a soldier than to remember him on a day that forever changed the path of his life. And finally, I needed all the good Army Ranger vibes I could get! Thanks John, you didn't let me down! I felt strong, capable and I had a blast.
Clearly this is after the race! We were plastered in mud. I'm still working on getting some of the dirt out from under my nails. I know it sounds gross, but I've washed my hands, showered and soaked in a hot tub twice...and yet I can't get clean! So funny!

This was a GREAT GREAT day and I'd do it again in a second. As much fun as the run was, my favorite part of the day was when all my friends after the race were cleaning the mud and hay off John's picture so that people could see why I was there. There were a few people who said they liked my picture, but never really commented. However there was one guy, late in the day, who came up and said, "Excuse me, who is CPT Hallett? Can you tell me about him?" I wanted to cry, I wanted to jump up and down with excitement, I wanted to hug this guy! I think people were afraid to ask. But this guy, he made my day. I got to talk about John, Lisa, Jackson, Bryce and Heidi. I got to talk about the brotherhood that the Army is, both brothers in arms and us Army wives. I wish I knew his name, I wish he knew what that meant to me.

Warrior Dash was a blast! Thank you Olivia for convincing me that I wanted to do it and that it wouldn't be THAT bad!

Lake Shasta: Additional Photos

Addie had a long day on the boat and needed to wash it down with a Mike's Hard Lemonade in a Brew Thru cozy. Nice. This picture should have been first, but this was the incredible view of Mt. Shasta on the way to the lake.