Thursday, December 25, 2008

Where did all the trash go?

It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and is now gone. It's amazing to see all the boxes of presents around the tree and then to see the plethora of trash that goes out after the mayhem is over. We decided to take Christmas day a little different this year. We would let the kids open Santa's stuff, play, make a mess, get bored, open some more stuff, repeat process and then do our gifts in the afternoon. It was a good idea for a few reasons we didn't have mega disaster on our hands all at once, we could keep up with all the ribbon and paper pretty well each time. The other thing we realized is that our kids didn't need nearly as much as they got. They would have been just fine with their "first session" of gifts. (It seems that the best gifts are not the ones we give then anyway. They got some great stuff from grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Santa doesn't always know best!!!We now know for next year, if you get the right thing you don't need 50 things, it's just a matter of figuring out what the right thing is. Anywhoo here we are-like Cam said he feels like George Banks on Father of The Bride shaking out the confetti from his shoe now that it is all over and he has a minute to breathe.



Here is a breakdown of the events.... We had the Ellingsons (great next door neighbors) and the Missionaries over for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a great dinner, potato soup in bread bowls, ham, green bean casserole, "Christmas salad", sparkling cider and a trifle for dessert. Dinner went well, it was fun and the kids had a good time. After dinner I had to scramble to make cookies for Santa, Claire had said Chocolate and Grant had said Sugar Cookies, luckily Grant ended up saying that Chocolate would be fine. I whipped some up and we attempted to get the kids down for bed. So here is where I have to explain a little. For the past 3 nights for one reason or another Grant has not slept well, on Tuesday he was up for a while coughing, he has been pretty sick. I had given him some Motrin and Delsyum to help his cough and help him sleep. I was not thinking at the time I did that that he had really had nothing to eat all day, around 9:30 up it came. Luckily he was sitting on the couch with me watching the classic White Christmas, he had blanket on so it caught it. We stayed up until around 11:30 and went to bed. The next morning at 5 he was WIDE AWAKE!!! Hello, I couldn't believe it, I was baffled. So we thought for sure he would sleep well last night (Christmas Eve) ya that's funny isn't it. A 5 yr old sleep well on Christmas Eve. We did all we could to get him down, Vicks on his feet and chest and Delsyum to sleep (we made sure he had at least a little to eat) We settled in for our Santa's helpers jobs, got it done and went to bed around 9:30. We were so tired I am surprised our eyes were not hanging out of our heads. So lo and behold here come Grant and Claire into our room this morning at 2:37!!!! I about died!!!! We told them Brig would not be awake for at least 5 more hours so they had to go back to bed, Claire went without a fight (gee I wonder if Grant woke her up?) Grant on the other hand played the "everything in the room is making dust and causing me to cough" routine. Cam and I were at our wits end. I pulled out the Dramamine and sat at the computer for a while trying to see if we would kill Grant if we gave him some with Delsyum in his system. (Mind you this is 3 AM in our freezing house in a COLD leather chair with not much on. I was ready for a dip in a warm bed ASAP. We decided not to give him Dramamine unless he came in again. Lucky for him he held out until 6:20. We told the kids Brig was still asleep and we weren't going downstairs without him. Grant and Claire went back to bed and Grant conveniently decide to kick his wall a few times (Brig is on the other side of the wall) I'm sure you can guess what happened next-you got it, CRANKY Brig here we come! Once I said Merry Christmas he seemed o.k. -check it out we've come full circle from the beginning of my post, now we sit, our eyes burning with tiredness watching silly TV, wondering why we are not it bed......who knows what tonight will bring...all I can say is there is a crapload of toys downstairs if anyone is up before 7!



p.s. Grant is awesome, he said before bed last night, it's o.k. if I just get coal in my stocking, I can use it at load it into my dump truck! What a kid!!



p.p.s. I am really working on being greatful I have my kids living with us, not in a hospital, or someplace else, and also that they have bodies that work so well too. I know too many times I take these sweet little spirits for granted when they are underfoot and more then willing to help with anything and everything. What a blessing to be a family and have such a great husband and kids too!! Enjoy the journey, it only comes around once.



last but no least, we are posting pics tomorrow morning so check back!

1 comment:

Abester said...

Can't WAIT for the next update!

Love you guys!


Cuyahoga Valley Hike

Grant and Claire

Grant and Claire
Grant and Claire at "Ice Box" Cave

How does your garden grow?

How does your garden grow?
The sign next to Brig reads, "Smell This Plant"....maybe later.

3 Amigos

3 Amigos
They look innocent...

Pump It!

Pump It!
Brig was having a ball with the water spout

Water Girl

Water Girl
Claire at the Botanical Garden

Yuck!

Yuck!
This is why 1 year olds aren't allowed in the kitchen. They would make nasty hot dog and peanut butter sandwiches and eat them!

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens
Grant and Claire in Madagascar Biome.

Claire's Birthday

Claire's Birthday
Claire's B-day was May 27th but it was freezing cold. We did it in a park but everyone was bundled b/c the wind was blowing so much. Needless to say it was a short party, and the ice cream didn't melt.

Princess Claire

Princess Claire
A dress up she got for her birthday.

Mommy Claire

Mommy Claire
Claire has a great imagination. She will make anything into play stuff. shel loves to be the mom. In this pic. she pulled up her stroller and was reading her baby a book. The different color rings on the stroller are boy and girl rings. The ones on the left are girls and the ones on the left are boys. Claire gets really into her books. Cam said yesterday sometimes he can't tell if she is just reading/pretending or if she is really crying! She is her own person for sure.

After the Egg Hunt

After the Egg Hunt
Enjoying the spoils after the Easter egg hunt. Brig will shake and egg and if there is something in it he will give it to us to open. He's a smart cookie with a sweet tooth!

Lawnmowing in March

Lawnmowing in March
We were pulling out our kids table from the shed outside for Easter dinner with our friends and Claire saw the mowers and had to pull them out!

Storm of '08

Storm of '08
What a snow storm it was! Probably 1.5-2 feet deep in some spots, deeper in others

Variations on Winter

Variations on Winter
We got a suit for Claire at Old Navy and as all girls are, she couldn't wait to get it on. Mind you it's like 25 outside. To make it even better, Grant was headed ouside to play in the mounds of snow we got, I had to get a pic of them together!

Claire's mishap

Claire's mishap
Let's explain why Claire looks so freaky!! O.K. so we were having a fun family night together a few Sundays ago. We were tossing the kids up in the blanket and instead of Claire landing back in the blanket she landed on her head on the floor. We took her to the ER and a few hours later found out she had a hair-line fracture on her skull right above her eye and this is what she looked like the next day. We made sure to tell Grant not to say anything to her about her eye, as to not make her too upset. He said o.k. so a little while later he thought I was out of earshot and he said your eye is so gross, I can't stand to look at it anymore. Then he walked away!! She is our cute Claire now and has healed great!!!.

BeckList


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True Love

True Love
We celebrated 8 great years on February 17th, 2008! To many more!

Big Rig Brig

Big Rig Brig
Dimple Doodle Dandy!

"Sun on Moss" By Audrey Beck circa 2008

"Sun on Moss" By Audrey Beck circa 2008
Cool place in Cuyahoga Valley

You are my sunshine!

You are my sunshine!
This is what happens when you try to give a man a fun birthday present. It turns into a prop!

Hog Wild

Hog Wild
Grant and Brig...In our dirt pile full of mud! They loved it!

Goo!

Goo!
Brig has a Goose fetish. He calls them Goo's and loves seeing them!!

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
At the Ledges

Brig at the Case Farm

Brig at the Case Farm

White Earth Nation

White Earth Nation
Cam in Minnesota on the White Earth Reservation.

Fries with that?

Fries with that?
Zorbaz Fiesta Platter in Detroit Lakes MN, need we say more?

New Zealand

New Zealand
We got a scavenger hunt map from granny and grandpa and had fun finding different places on the map they collected their shells and rocks from.

Grant

Grant
Grant takes after his dad in so many ways.....

Fence

Fence
This is a fence in a really cool place in Ohio called Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We really like to visit there, and I have a weird addiction to taking pics of fences!

Blast From the Past

Blast From the Past
Cam Grant and Claire in the kitchen making cookies!

Our Awesome House

Our Awesome House
I love our house so much, and will miss it a ton when we leave Cleveland

Bubble Girl

Bubble Girl

Claire and Brig at the park

Claire and Brig at the park

camping in the backyard

camping in the backyard
Tyler, Grant and Claire are roasting marshmallows over thier fire

Claire and Mom

Claire and Mom

My Magnolia Tree

My Magnolia Tree
One of the things I will really miss about Cleveland and our great house is the Mangolia tree outside one of our front room windows. It is a huge beautiful tree with delicate blossoms that only last a short time. I love it!

Going Camping

Going Camping
Claire and her friend Halle today decided they were going to go "camping" like their brothers Grant and Tyler. I wonder who will last in the wilderness the longest. Grant and Tyler with a backpack full of food, bandaids, matches ect. or Claire and Halle with a backpack full of fluffy shoes and stuffed animals!

The Chair

The Chair
Here is a pic of the chairs that I have,sorry I can't figure out how to rotate it on the blog!

As if Brig wasn't big enough...

As if Brig wasn't big enough...
Brig decided to see how the bike pump tasted. Grant went over and gave him some air! Brig would laugh and laugh-he really had a good time.

Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner

This is Your Brain on Tube

This is Your Brain on Tube
Claire was watching a show the other day and had put her shirt over her head and we thought it was pretty funny! TV may not be as safe as we previously thought.

Hi!

Hi!
Brig discovering the phone. He loves to say hi and play on the phone any chance he gets. In this picture he is saying hi to Nan and Grandpa.

Easter Morning

Easter Morning
Claire was really excited to find the goodies left by the Easter bunny and started devouring the contents of the eggs she found.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day
Here are the kids in their green with our neighbors Spence and Matthew

Food Man

Food Man
Brig could eat all day if we let him. He really loves food, maybe we need to stop feeding him so his belly won't be so big so he can walk!! He knows when the fridge is open and makes a crawl for it as fast as he can. He will reach for our candy cupboard too. The little stinker!

Dentists in training

Dentists in training
This past wash day the kids and I were sorting out all the dirty clothes in Brig's room (man were there a lot of them) Anyway, I had gone downstaris to put a load of wash in and when I started to come back up I could hear Grant and Claire laughing. I stood on the steps to listen for a minute but couldn't figure out what they were doing. I went up and they were dressed up in Cam's scrubs! They were having a ball being dental students together so I had to get a pic!