Let's talk about Christmas.

It was good.
That's it.
End of post.



This is Lilli jumping in Pepere's truck. that was part of the Christmas evening entertainment.


OK I will tell you about it.
Dec 24th: Christmas Eve: Normand thought it would be cool to cut his hand open so he'd need to get stitches. He was in the ER (waiting room mostly) for 6 hours. Right through dinner. We didn't have a really special dinner plan, but we probably would have eaten at a table and on plates. It's cool, the kids ate what they love (Lilli-PBJ; Sage -Mac and Chz; both from the Target cafe) and Norm had Fried chicken from Popeye's and a sub from Subway. I had a soft pretzel with nacho cheese dip and I love that, but usually not as a holiday dinner substitution. We went home, and went right to bed.

Santa came

Dec 25th: At 4am both children woke up. Luckily, I had put in the DVD "Space chimps" before I went to bed, so we just started that, and the kids stayed in bed and watched the movie until they fell back to sleep. I guess we got up around 8, but it was by Normand's doing to the best of my recollection. Just to be clear, I was not the first one up or the one to wake everyone. I think I was the 2nd to last up and out of bed (G-dad was last). Lilli sped through her presents. I kept telling her to slow down, but she got them all open in the time it took Sage to open 1/2 of his. Sage "made out like a bandit" to put it in Norm's words. Mainly he just got a bunch of trucks and trains (and later Airplanes and Helicopters). But he lines them all up and takes them all everywhere he goes. Today, for example, I had to bring them to work with me. I was thinking we'd bring a truck 2 planes a book and a few movies. We ended up bringing 7 large trucks, 1 train, 4 tiny cars, 3 helicopters, and 2 airplanes. Plus the 4 movies and 2 books, and Lilli's stuff.

Though we planned to have a lovely Christmas breakfast, Normand was anxious to get going (out to his parents'). So dad made some cinnamon rolls and bacon (and possibly the rest of breakfast but I didn't see) and the kids ate bacon and I had a roll, then we left. Then we went there, and had some lunch, which was really good. Then we went to Norm's grandma's for a little while, then come back to his parents' and had dinner. We ate lasagna for
Christmas dinner.
Above is Sage playing the drums, really well for a 2 year old.
Left: This is Lilli in a tree, like a partridge, but not, and I don't know if it's a pear tree, but maybe...


All day, neither child took a nap, so around 8 Sage got too restless and we went home. The kids played a lot and it was an enjoyable day. I have a few cute pictures, but NO FAMILY PICTURES still. Here's one I like. I mean it could be better, but it could be way worse.

I need more friends

It turns out I am so attention deprived that I allowed my husband to think I had been hit by a car so he'd worry about me and be nice to me.

What happened was: I was walking Lilli (riding her bike) to the bus stop this morning. There was something going on down one of the cross streets. There were fire trucks and flashing lights, so we were both looking at them. While we were looking down the street we were not looking at where we were going or at each other and she ran me over.

Let me guess, you're thinking "how could a 5 yr old who weighs 31 lbs on a little princess bike hurt you bad enough that you would make your husband worry like that." I will tell you. I got hurt, and I wanted to complain to someone, and he was at work, and I don't know if she hit me or I walked in front of her, but I can't let Lilli think she hurt me badly. So I call him and I say, "don't come home from work or anything, but I was hit while I walked Lilli to the bus stop." So I didn't say "run over", or "car", or ask him to rush home and baby me. I mainly wanted him to know because I thought I really had broken my hand. After a little while I moved it and decided it wasn't broken but maybe sprained or strained. Point being, I put off housework yesterday with the intention of doing it today, and now I can hardly move my left hand. (it's not as bad now anyway, but it still hurts) So I didn't want him picking on me or being disappointed that I didn't do the dishes or vacuum or whatever else I may have done today if I wasn't injured.

He was worried, you know, like asking if they stopped and if I called the police and was Sage ok. And I just couldn't say after all that, "no dear, I was just calling to bug you at work, Lilli hit me with her bike" So I let it go. And I let him work for 5 hours worried about me. Then he came home and I was about to write this blog, so I figured I'd better fess up because he can read this as well as anyone, and it's better to come clean early on. So now he's home, and not worried about me, and no one cares anymore that I skinned both hands and a knee and bent the palm of my hand backward a lot further than natural. There were no 'pops' so I am sure I am fine, but now I have to do my chores.

If I just had more friends I wouldn't feel the need to create drama. Too bad for Norm.

Sage's awesome hair

Check it out... It's hard to see his hair against the dark background, but he's cutest in this picture.

See, Sage needed a hair cut, and though I have known this for a while, it's just never a good time. Mostly because he is only nice and compliant for very short spans of time.

If I do it spontaneouslywhen he seems to be in a good mood and likely to be able to sit for a few, he's over it by the time I drive the 3 minutes it takes to get to the Barber shop.

And if I decided I was going to take him to get his hair cut at a particular time, I'd have to wake him at the exact perfect time (which I have not nailed down) and feed him and let him run around just the right amount, so that he'd be happy and just worn out enough to sit still for 10 minutes so someone could do his hair.

I cannot create these perfect conditions yet, so I cut his hair myself over the course of an entire day, little by little, until I am pleased with my progress.

I have wanted to give him a mohawk since he was born. I have held off, this entire 2 1/2 years. Since his hair was pretty long (as far as I am concerned with letting my son's hair get), I wanted his hair cut to leave some length so maybe it would be a little curly and cute. Unfortunately, I do not have hair-cutting skills, or proper equipment, like hair scissors or clippers or even a good comb. But I do have access to a beard trimmer and some semi-sharp scissors, so I make it work.

So anyway, his hair is not a mohawk-cut really. It's more of a toupee-cut. You know, like it's shaved down to a 1 on the sides up to the part around the crwon of his head, then it's all long and able to be a comb-over or something. The entire idea makes me laugh. I just style it all sticking up and pulled to the center. BTW-- Can you suggest a gel that is strong but doesn't leave white flakes if it gets moved.

ok so that's Sage's awesome hair.

Halloween was so...boring

The kids were kind of a pain this year. I didn't enjoy Halloween as much as I could have. (I mean, I know it's for them, but I usually have fun too.)

For those of you who don't want to read on forever, the point is Lilli was the same pirate she was last year and Sage didn't dress up. There is only one picture, and I don't even know how good it is.

For the longer version: Lilli had a Halloween party with her soccer team on Thursday, that Sage attended also, but neither dressed up. Norm thought they were still practicing then just having treats so he wouldn't let her dress up. They played some games and hit a pinata and came home with some candy. At school on Friday, they did a "Safe Trick or Treat" around the school and Lilli came home with more candy. She dressed up, but was not interested in putting on the make-up to make herself a pirate-ghost-zombie, before school. I have a picture of what she wore to school I think.

At night: Lilli had been out playing and had a fit when Norm wouldn't let her go out trick or treating with her friend. He told her to wait for me to get home. She kept throwing her tantrum, and he told her she couldn't go out at all. I overturned that, and got her and Sage ready. She decided against makeup again so we could get going. Sage was supposed to be a member of the SWAT team. His gun and walkie-talkie were in G-dad's van at work with him. His chest plate was fine, and his helmet got cracked but was still fine. He stripped all his gear off and just went out in cargo pants and a shirt with his bucket, dressed up like a kid.

We went up and down about 3 streets and then we were done. We have 2 giant bowls of candy anyway, but we had a very weak Halloween experience. The kids were fine with it though.

I had already prepared 2 scrapbook pages for all their wonderful pictures, and I have 1 picture total for the whole event. I am disappointed, I love scrap booking.

Lillianna *Soccer Superstar*

Lilli plays soccer with the Belleview Soccer Club. Her team is called the Dolphins. We weren't sure if she'd be good at it, but she really is. Her strength is speed and stealing the ball. She can usually get the ball out of a group of feet and start it down the field. They have played 2 games so far, and won both times. Not that winning is the most important thing, but we are happy she won, and she did actually play well. They are the blue team and she's #4 if you can tell her number from any of these pictures.

Sage the Comedian

Sage is 2 now. He is almost talking well enough to communicate. He does that "parrot thing" where he says anything you say. That's fine when we are trying to teach him words, but very annoying when he laughs like Spongebob. He's also very funny. (Not "also" as in like Spongebob, but as in another one of his qualities) Whenever he asks for anything and you tell him "no" he says, "aw, man!". And whenever someone on TV does some sort of physical comedy, he laughs this really sarcastic, loud laugh and says, "that's funny" as if you had no idea why he laughed.

In the Beginning...

Kasey mentioned that I should start a blog so everyone can see my kids and get updates on us without actually having to talk to me. I am sure that this is for my benefit as well as others. Like a one-time announcement that you can hear if you're interested.

This picture of Lilli is from some Sunday, maybe in September. She is in Kindergarten now. She's doing really well. Luckily she can't read yet, so I tell her that she has about 3x more homework than she does each day and make her do extra work. It's working very well.