Over the Holidays and then some...

This is take two because the first take my slideshows were set to some music that I didn't endorse or approve. It's going to just be slideshows, I think.

Thanksgiving/Christmas Celebration with my dad's side of the family:

My brother, A, came into town and visited with my dad's side of the family. He hasn't done that in many, many years. He spent most of the time with my dad, stepmom, and two brothers, R and N. Then we got together with my dad's siblings and "the cousins" on Saturday for our traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. This year, my aunt's typical planning craziness included a Christmas Cantata that included worship and a sermon from her pastor. She was almost lynched though when she wanted to have the cantata before the food. We L's LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our food. So to postpone dinner was a dicey gamble. It was a fun time. Then A came home with me and the next morning my brother K, his wife M, and their boys T and G, met us for brunch at MoKaBe's. It was a good time.

Our tree farm trip:

First our car started acting funny and we had to take it to the mechanic. By the time we got on the road, The Scientist was SO CRABBY! We did everything we could to appease, or ignore him (in a nice way), to let him know that we were trying to give him an experience. It took a little creativity and patience.

Christmas:

Dirty's mom came to visit us for a week and he took off the whole week. It was a really, really nice way to start the Holiday break. Monkey developed an uncanny ability to guess what presents were. He guessed what most of the presents were that he was getting. It was completely crazy. We enjoyed a lot of family time and I didn't want the break from school to come to an end for the boys. They did start acting like my sweet boys again. So it's good to know that in two weeks, I can dust off the snotty, disrespectful attitudes and have the awesome, loving children that I raised thus far. Oh, and next year, I'm getting the boys, and maybe even Dirty and I, pajamas for Christmas Eve. Our Christmas morning pictures are a bit white trashy with The Scientist with no shirt and Monkey with no pants. You live and you learn. I try to anyway. ha.

AAAAHHHHH........

That's me breathing in a deep big breath. I made it through the semester. My children are acting a bit like kids whose parents don't spend enough time with them. I'm hoping I can reverse that over the my winter break. I'm very hopeful. I know that my sweet, considerate, loving children are in there just below the surface and I will get that back. That's the child update and now onto the family update.

It's only been three days since I finished my final and I already feel like I've crammed a ton of family-time into those few, short days. Friday was laid back and relaxed. I took Monkey to the bus stop and The Scientist to school. Once there, I was invited to coffee at one of the other mom's house. My original plan was to head to Target and get some shopping done, but it's hard to pass up coffee and visiting with people you like, so I went there instead. Oh and LK brought donuts. I think they were from the place on Southwest. I can't remember but they were good. Anyway, after leaving there I did end up at Target. I spent two hours walking around and trying on clothes. I only ended up with a skirt and a dress, but I like them both a lot and only spent fourteen dollars. Awesome. After Target, I went to El Burrito Loco and got their specialty, El Burrito Loco, and went home to eat it. I was starving after shopping and the drive home from near Carondelet Park to my house just north of Tower Grove Park was excruciating. I watched nutjobs get followed with a camera Jersey Shore and ate my burrito. Then I headed to Monkey's class party. They didn't celebrate any holidays because there is one Jehovah's Witness, but there were two birthdays so there were cupcakes and singing. I was miserable throughout the afternoon after El Burrito Loco, but I pushed through.

Saturday I cleaned in the morning and my MIL came in a little after lunch. We had a nice time visiting in the afternoon. Then everyone got ready to go out. I took the boys to my Aunt L. and Aunt J.'s house. We met my mom, her husband C., my brothers J and A, and my brother K, his wife M, and their kids T and G. Unfortunately, Monkey had NOT taken a nap and he was great for about an hour, but then he was bouncing off the walls. My aunts are very particular about their Christmas tree. My aunt J keeps each individual box to put the ornaments back into. They used to have pretty indestructible ornaments when they had cats, but they no longer have cats. I was on pins and needles all night about Monkey darting around.

He was extremely fast and precise in his movements and I was having trouble keeping up in the small space winding around people. He kept turning on the same Charlie Brown Christmas ornament of Linus saying his Christmas speech. That was fine, but it scared the crap out of me when he would dart at the tree. It was like a praying mantis. One of the times I thought he was going for the ornament and I went to spot him and make sure that's all he did, but instead, he went straight past the tree, picked up this little ceramic vase thing, walked around the island, up to the refrigerator and tried to stick the vase thing on it in the span of about one and a quarter seconds. It didn't stick though and instead crashed to the ground making a skin cringing shattering sound. I wasn't too far behind, but not close enough to catch it. UGH! My aunt turned around and said a little sternly, but more entertained, "What was that?" I apologized profusely and she said she'd been hoping that thing would break so she could get rid of it. Thanks Aunt L.

That started the extremely hectic portion of the evening where my kids only wanted sugar due to tiredness leading me to defending the food from their little monkey paws and them snapping at each other, and at times Monkey would hit. It was awful and I kept remembering conversations with other moms when we would wonder why So and So's kids are so awful to each other. I mentioned above that I think it stems from lack of parental interaction and I've noticed it slowly getting worse since I started back at school. ICK! At least I know there is a problem and we're going to attack it.

Sunday I went to breakfast with my mom, C, my brothers, SIL and nephews. We went to City Diner because I thought I remembered a friend saying that it would be a good place to take my vegan brother...it was NOT a good place to take him. Everyone else seemed to like it enough. I would have rather gone back to MoKaBe's though. But my mom needed to get back to Ohio to write a paper and get back to work. Poor A was stuck eating french fries and that was it. Sorry A. After that, my MIL had the boys help her make breakfast sandwiches to freeze for the week. Then she took them to Washington, MO for a sleepover and visiting with family.

Dirty and I hardly knew what to do with ourselves. We went to the place I despise and would sometimes rather be submitted to test out medieval torture devises than step into Wal-Mart where we had gift cards. However, without children and only one child husband to appease while shopping it was almost pleasant. I was able to get a sewing machine for under $100 AND it also comes with a subscription reimbursement for Martha Stewart Living. Major score. Plus later when we got home, we realized that the guy who couldn't wait to get around us, when we were waiting for another couple to come out of their aisle at Wal-Mart, bought us a 5 pack of Hanes V-neck undershirts. Thanks Rude Dude. Although, I don't think that will make him any more chipper this holiday season, but we got a kick out of it.

We also went out to lunch and it was one of the most freeing feelings of eating out without your kids. After the evening spent at my aunts' house, I really needed that. While there, I asked if he wanted to go see The Road. By the time we hit another handful of stores and got to the movie theater, Dirty mentioned that we still hadn't seen New Moon and it was going to be another 2 hours. It was going to be two more hours at The Galleria too, but I argued that at least we could look around for more Christmas gifts. Now for my New Moon theater going story...

This story isn't that great, but it's a little funny. We got to the theater and I didn't expect a ton of people since it's been out for a while. We ended up being two of 11 movie patrons. There were five other ladies only one of which came by herself. The other four came in pairs. Then there were two homosexual couples who I think came for this. One of the couples I overheard remarking about Jacob Black stating that he was "born that way. It isn't a lifestyle choice." I have to say I might be one of those creepy women waiting for Jacob Black to reach the age of majority. He was pretty fine. I think Dirty liked him too. He kept saying the line from Austin Powers, "Women want to be with him, men want to be him." We then came home and wrapped presents and had cocktails. It was a really nice night.

Today, Dirty went for a bike ride. I worked out. Then the boys came home and we ate lunch. Monkey went down extremely easily for a nap, and I took a three hour nap on the couch. Once we were up, we attempted shopping again with the boys. That didn't work. We ended up at Toys 'r Us and the boys were able to spend some of their Christmas money. I tried checking my grades on my phone and it worked. Straight A's baby!!!!! I guess that there have to be some sacrifices and I'm processing how I feel about my children acting like hoodlums. Like I said before, I'm hoping to reverse that over this winter break...as well as apply for nursing schools...and check out kindergarten teacher options for Monkey...and of course, to take a nice relaxing break after busting my hump this semester.

Winding down the semester...

I don't have much time to make a big long post. I'm in preservation mode to get through the semester with straight A's. I'm may be a bit in denial about how much work I have ahead of me. I do have a ton to do, but am working on one task at a time while also making sure to keep a tally of all the things that need to be done by December 17th. I went to see the UMSL School of Nursing. It's competitive right now, but I'm hoping all the hard work I've put into school, this time around, will give me an edge. I really liked the campus. It made me excited to start the nursing school portion or this trek, but like I said...one task at a time. BUT I have registered for classes next semester and am in the process of applying to UMSL while also looking into other options because of the competitiveness.

The Scientist (until I can come up with a suitable nickname) broke his arm on Thanksgiving. The story is basically this...he was having trouble getting motivated to get his coat on to leave, I challenged him with "I bet you can't make it into the kitchen in two seconds," he did but ran full tilt into the door frame. I knew he was really hurt (not that hurt, but hurt) and after consulting Children's Hospital's website decided with The Scientist to "watch and wait." He went through Thanksgiving day flinching every now and then, but doing most things as normal. We called the nurses line the next day. She suggested not going to the emergency room, but go ahead and see the pediatrician. Once there he recommended x-rays and that led to a six hour wait for the orthopedic pediatrician to decide whether to cast or splint the fracture. He's good now but milking the "I can't write" angle for all it's worth. To an extent we're going along with it. That may change once we go see the orthopedic nurse practitioner tomorrow.

Otherwise, we've been busy with schools and gymnastics and family get-togethers for Thanksgiving/Christmas. The Scientist was asking me today what we do as a family to celebrate the holidays. He didn't realize that we start Christmas at Thanksgiving and that goes until New Years. Busy, busy, busy.

You will also notice that I've changed the background layout of my blog. Thanks Half! I snatched the website from you.

Note to Self...

When "tapping" a dish to get the air bubbles out from under the surface of the food stuffs, make sure to use a ginger "tap." Otherwise, you will end up splattering the food stuffs, hypothetically speaking guacamole, all over yourself. It will get in your hair, on your sweater, all over your face, and I should let you know that your glasses won't help to shield your eyes from this mess either. Getting a hypothetical dip that has lime juice, onions, tomatoes, salt, and jalapenos in your eye does not feel good!!! This is of course for future reference. That hypothetical guacamole does taste really good though. Too bad it's not for home.

Halloween 2009...

This year, we told the boys that we had to use what we had, costume wise, or design inexpensive costumes. I don't know if anyone else has noticed just how expensive Halloween costumes are, but they are and they aren't even made very well. It makes me wish that I had a sewing machine and the ability to make things with it. I would quit spending so much time on the computer find the time. I think it would be fun and I like making things and using my hands. Where was I?*

Oh yeah, so Monkey, being the Transformer fiend that he is, chose to go as Bumblebee from last year. Great that was easy. Who's going to remember? Well you will if you follow that link. :D Okay, and The Scientist, who will henceforth be known as Pokemon Trainer, wanted to go as a Skeleton Wizard. I kind of thought at first that, man oh man, we are going to have to buy a bunch of crap to make this work. Dirty jumped in with some creativity and said, "We can use the tape that I used for my costume." I didn't get a picture of his costume, but he taped a gigantic "E" on his shirt and he's a boy...get it??? He was "E-mail."

Right, anyway, he used the tape and put the shirt together. He did the pants too, but while the shirt looked alright but anatomically incorrect I'm working on the perfectionism the legs looked pretty shotty. So I redid those as the sun was sitting. Earlier in the day, we went to the Halloween store and bought some cheap facepaint (Lord, please don't let it poison him. One time use should be alright, right?) I really enjoyed painting on his face. If the career as a nurse for some reason doesn't work out, my next move might be cosmetology. Gosh, I'm having trouble staying on topic. I watched a few tutorials on YouTube on creating skeleton looks and painted his face letting him give input on what he wanted. The YouTube tutorial didn't have lines across the gumlines, but it's how he wanted it and it was so. I wanted to keep going and make it even more shaded, but he cut me off. The colored hair spray was right next to the face paint in the store so he decided he wanted green hair too. We used one of his LOTR capes (he has two LOTR costumes because we gave into his "I don't want to be Aragorn this year. I wanted to be Legolas." even though they are basically the same freaking costume. However, times are tight we need to get creative and put a little work into it. Voila!!!

So I finished Pokemon Trainer's costume as the sun was setting. I told them we could go. We walked down the steps and, after I'd already opened the door, I remembered we had not taken a picture. So after a quick temper tantrum from Monkey and the threat of "We will NOT go Trick or Treating!" we trucked back up the steps. Pokemon Trainer was actually excited to get his picture taken. This is actually extremely out of character for him, but I'm not complaining. We hit our neighbor's houses and kept asking each other where all the Trick or Treaters were. As we got to the end of our block and made our way over to Flora Place to Trick or Treat our way up to Dirty's parents house, I saw streams of Trick or Treaters crossing the streets. See Flora Place has all of these huge houses. I would venture a guess that most of the houses are three stories and have an average of 6 bedrooms. Apparently, big houses=big candy. There are always tons of people who drive from all over the city to Trick or Treat on this street. Crazy! Yet again, I digress.

So we made our way up the two blocks and the boys were going to trick Grandpa C. We stood back and Pokemon Trainer went up the steps and said, "Trick or Treat!" That was about the time that I heard Grandpa C. say, "Sorry, but I'm out of candy. They have some though." And he directed Pokemon Trainer to the next door neighbors. Monkey went up, but didn't bother with his mask so Grandpa C. said to him, "Oh of course I have candy for you! Where's your brother?" Monkey pointed him out and Grandpa called him over again. That was kind of funny. So we went inside and I the boys dove into their candy bags and the adults went into the kitchen for cocktails. Once the boys got a little rowdy, Grandpa C. put on Monsters vs. Aliens and they settled down again. It was a nice night of visiting.

It's become a bit of a tradition, and it's nice. The boys don't end up with too much candy because we really only hit three blocks. They don't seem to notice because we end up at Happy Fun Land Grandma T.'s and Grandpa C.'s and we get to visit with Dirty's parents while the boys gorge themselves on candy and watch satellite tv. You know what the crazy thing was? As soon as Grandpa C. dropped us off, and while I was walking up our front stairs, I had this feeling like I wanted turkey and a Thanksgiving feast. I'm ready Thanksgiving goodness. Bring it on!

*I lost the post-it that had the "strike through" feature written on it. It took me forever to find a copy of it in my many past posts. Luckily, I don't know if it was me or Jeannette, but I had a copy in my dashboard. That started me on my lack of focus for this post.

Note to Self...

If you are going to not pay attention in Huber's labs, then I would suggest you start bringing a medical dictionary with you when you study. Half the stuff he brings up isn't in the book or his oh-so-comprehensive study notes, which means you need to have a tool to look this crap up. That's all. Get back to studying. You had better keep that "A".

Happy Birthday Monkey...

I can barely believe that it's been five years since he was born. He's no longer a baby or a toddler. He's a kid now. He'll be going to kindergarten next year. However, he still likes to cuddle every now and then. I've been on the verge of tears for the last couple days. Some of it has been frustration with not knowing what to do about The Scientist's anxiety, but I think some of it is also that Monkey is five...a whole hand!

For The Scientist's fifth birthday, we had a HUGE party at The Heights. For Monkey, we're having a party at The Heights, but we haven't had the time or the energy to make it as big as it maybe could have been. For that, I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll have a blast, because that's the kind of kid that he is. I know that I'm doing things for all of us that, in the long run, will be totally worth it. I still worry about what we're having to give up now. These moments pass so quickly. I swear I'm doing the best that I can, and I hope that one day, the boys will be able to look back and appreciate it.

So here's my favorite picture of him at the moment. I think it expemplifies his spirit; on the go, happy, outgoing.