Jingle BAM!

I'm always about 1 second too late. I heard him complaining about not being able to play outside and I KNEW it was coming. And it did. 

I tried to capture it on video but missed the really good 'soaking dapointed' commentary. I got the last half  of a "dapointed" comment just as the video starts and another one at :22 seconds in. (Of course that one came only after an awkward pause and stare-down between the two of us. Never mind my ridiculous prodding... 

Nevertheless, he was "soaking dapointed" and wanted to go for a ride in "My's car." hee hee.. Where? Who knows. 

On possibly an even funnier note, Ethan is now walking around the house loudly exclaiming "Jingle BAM!" Took me a bit to figure out what he was saying or why, because I was certain he was mispronouncing "Jingle Bell" or something. But as it turns out, he was spot on! He is quoting from the movie, Prep & Landing. Sure enough, it's "Jingle BAM!" He finds himself quite funny, as do I!

Now onto Randall's adventures...I am confident that the only one who is buying into the "point" of Randall's existence in our home is  Hunter. She is constantly telling the boys that Randall is going to go get Santa when they're being naughty. I remind her that Randall isn't going to go get Santa, he's just going to fly to the North Pole to tell Santa. (Truthfully, I think she was relieved to hear that. Judging by our most recent Santa Pictures, it's clear she's still a little leery about the jolly old guy and was probably on edge waiting for Santa to walk through the door every time one of her brothers threw a punch at the other. )

The boys, on the other hand, could care less that Randall is literally hanging mere inches above their heads as they pummel one another. Pretty sure they think his point in life is to entertain them with a daily game of hide-and-seek. Maybe one more year and they'll have it all figured out...In the mean time, their reactions when they find him are absolutely priceless!

"Randall, you crazy elf! Why you ridin' my shark hareprane? (airplane). 

The other day, Randall was kind enough to leave some sweets for each of the kids, hanging from his airplane.... 

Today, he spent the day perched atop the TV. 

(I spent the day praying he would not fall....)

And on that note, I shall call it a blog, and call it a night as well. This teacher mama is tired.  :)

The Obligatory Photo with Santa

Dear Children, 

Someday, when you're all grown up and have torture subjects children of your own, you, too, will make them sit on the lap of a strange man and expect them to be happy about it while dozens of onlookers smile and laugh. 

Why? 

Because you can. 

In the meantime, I AM sorry for causing you any discomfort today. 

I am not, however, sorry that I have another photo to add to the "Obligatory Annual Photo with Santa" collection. 

Other than not being certain what happened to 2010, I still crack up at how classic these are....

2009

(9 months old)

2011

(2 years, 8 months)

2012

(3 years, 8 months)

What you can't see in black and white is how red Hunter's face is. She was also FREAKING OUT. Which is how Brian and I ended up IN the photo this year. It was this or nothing. 

 Here, a close up of Ethan and my "Cheese" face. 

Randall goin' all crazy on his Helicopter

The night ended with me, in the attic & Hunter at the bottom of the ladder, on watch duty. 

We practiced explicitly what she was to do, should I fall out of the attic or off of the ladder. 

"I go run and wake up Daddy!" 

"But you won't fall, Mommy," she kept saying. 

(It's like she knows I'm freakishly strong.) 

I was bringing down all our Christmas decorations, including....

THE TREE! YAHOO! 

 The only thing wrong with this photo is that there is a football game on TV when there SHOULD be a holiday movie! Home Alone was coming soon...but STILL! 

 And this little monkey totally shares my excitement for decorating the tree!

(Thank God there's at least one other person in my house who does!)

"Wow! This ornament is so beautiful! Can we hang it? "

Colton got into it after a short while.

 And Ethan joined the fun towards the very end. 

 For a while we just let them hang the ornaments wherever they wanted. Which is of course, down low. This was all fine and good and we were going to leave it, until Brian started to notice the tree tilting. So...we had to relocate a few of the heavier ornaments.

 And she's up! Never you mind all the pockets of 'unlit'ness! 

I'll get to that later...

Merry Almost Christmas! 

Funny Colton-isms tomorrow...

The return of Randall

He's Baaa-aack! 

Don't adjust your heads. He IS in fact hanging from the ceiling vent. That silly Randall. Likes to make an entrance, I guess! He spent the day upside down, watching a certain 3 Bunchkins AND their father. (He's been known to be mischievous too from time to time.) 

The kids were thrilled! As they woke up this morning, Colton came down the stairs and found him immediately! Hunter took a little longer to find him but was just as excited! Ethan woke up a little while after the other two but he was happy to see Randall had kept his promise and returned! 

It's been the longest 365 days of our lives. (There were quite a few days between now and 365 days ago that I wished I could've kept Randall in my purse, to bust out at appropriate times. Say, at Target.  :) But I digress. 

Needless to say, I'm also excited for Randall's return as he marks the beginning of my most favorite holiday season EVER! First it was the red cups at Starbucks and now, Randall. 

So what else did this day have in store for us? 

A trip to Target for starters. At the 11:00 am hour. Much more enjoyable than the middle of the night I'd say. 

Nana and Kristen and I took the trio and did some 'window shopping in the toy aisles. We had a 2 alarm meltdown when Ethan was informed that he would not in fact, be leaving with the FLYING Lightning McQueen. I settled for a $3.49 die cast 'The King' car instead. (And Ramone for Colton.) 

Nana and Papa got the kids some fancy new outfits for their upcoming Holiday Open House and Music Performance. So, so so cute. 

And Hunter has been very busy playing beauty parlor. Last night, I got my hair spatula-ed. Yes, as in a kitchen spatula. 

What you're not seeing is the look of sheer pain on my face. 

Trust me when I tell you there's a reason REAL salons don't use spatulas to do our hair. 

She moved on to Nana's hair tonight. But Nana was spared the torture of the spatula.

Lucky Nana.  :)

And so, Brian is currently working the UofA/ASU football game tonight. 

His dad and sister are there watching the game. 

So that leaves Nana and I at home with the bunchkins. 

What else are we do do, but make cookies...

 And watch holiday movies in our jammies. 

Happy Friday my friends!