My Everyday Life

I don’t like the kiddos to snack right before dinner because then they never eat dinner.  Today, when I opened the fridge to start making dinner I saw this apple sitting there.  When I asked J if he ate the apple, his response was “no Mom, a crazy squirrel ran in here and ate it.”

When you have a family recovering from the stomach bug, decorating the Christmas tree can take a few days.  During that time, rambunctious little ones will find alternate uses for your boxes of lights.

This always winds up being my job because I am the one who is super anal about the tree looking like it is ready to blast off.  😉

We normally go to Hidden Pond every year to cut down our tree.  And when I say “cut down” I mean, we walk through the field, pick our tree and then an employee comes, cuts it down, hauls it to our car, loads it onto our car and ties it onto our car for us.  All the while, we sit next to the warm campfire and toast marshmallows and drink hot chocolate.  But some friends of ours told us Hidden Pond was sold out of trees to cut down.  So they recommended Downers Farm as a good alternative with lots of pretty trees.  What we didn’t know was that it was completely self-service.  You lay on the cold, wet, muddy ground, you cut your tree, you haul it through the field without any gloves on, you put it on your car and you tie it down.  *Someone* was not very happy with me….

And then we made the kids stand on the grassy shoulder so we could prevent them from running into the middle of the road while Dada and I tied the tree to the car. That wasn’t really working so we opened up the back of my car and made them stand in the back trunk area. What we didn’t realize is that while they were running up and down they grassy shoulder, they had stepped in dog poop and were now tracking it all over the back of my SUV. When Dada and I leaned into the car to tie the rope we kept getting whiffs of poop. We thought that maybe R had pooped in his diaper. When we finally were finished and went to put the kids in their seats, we realized what had happened to so we had to strip them down for the ride home and then take my car immediately to the car wash.

  (last one, iPhone shot)

For once, I decided to follow the rules and not bring my big girl camera.  I was worried they wouldn’t let me in with it.  Turns out, they didn’t even check our bags so it would have been fine.  So I only have iPhone photos but it’s better than nothing!  The boys had such a great time at Frozen on Ice!  Our seats were great and we had tons of snacks to keep them occupied.  I think R may have been a bit young for it, but he still had fun dancing in the aisle and loved the parts where the wolves chase Anna and Kristoff and when the big snowman monster comes out.  J loved all the parts with Elsa and his eyes were glued to her when she sang “Let it Go.”  But I think he also developed a small affection for Anna too – this is the first time I think he realized the story really is mostly about her and he actually said “Mom, did you know Anna is really funny?”  afterwards.

I actually took this picture last week.  As I left the mall (would never dream of going to the mall on Black Friday) I saw the prettiest sunset occurring.  My immediate first thought was “quick, get in the car and think of a nearby spot to go to photograph it!”  But as soon as I got on the highway there was bumper to bumper traffic.  So I just sat in my car watching the sun go down and the colors start to fade and lamenting about a missed opportunity.  As I continued to inch forward, I found a clearing in the treeline and figured this would be the best chance I had.  So I pulled over and resisted the urge to actually climb onto the roof of my car and instead just opened the door and stood on the side rail and shot this from there.  I only had my 70-200 mm with me – I so wish I had my wide angle lens!  I still think it turned out pretty though.