Dear God...

Thank youFor this little girl... And this little boy... And for the chance to live here... to enjoy this.... in December!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...

Other occasions of Merriment

The kids school put on a "Journey to Bethelehem" activity in which the kids got to learn all sorts of ancient traditions and history. Here the kids make dreidels with some of our pals. And we all learned a Jewish dance... And here is AK with one of her favorite people on the planet, her teacher, or as AK calls her, "This is MY friend" She is incredibly gifted and her class is filled with singing and dancing.

This is Mr. Boy's teacher, each and every day we gave thanks for this amazing teacher who "gets Mr. Boy" and loves him. She laughs a lot and Mr. Boy loves her, because of her he doesn't want to miss a single minute of school.
The kids found this amazing stick that looked just like antlers. And they both tried them out. We decided to head over to South Coast Plaza, my fourth favorite place on the planet. We had to take a minute to take a picture of the Worlds Largest Christmas Tree. It was gorgeous but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had already seen the World's Largest Christmas tree somewhere else. Oh that's right, there are three trees in the area boasting the same title. We rode the carousel which they change out for the holiday. It has reindeers and sleighs. You can also glimpse Santa as you go around, and AK kept missing him. She burst into tears anxious to see her friend again. Finally, he stood up and waved and all was well again.
It was on this trip that I found a rare member of the Justice League that Mr. Boy had asked Santa for and was able to sneak it up to the register, thanks to a whole team of people who occupied my children while I paid. I accidentally left the package out on my desk and it was discovered the next morning. Drats!! However, Mr. Boy understands the importance of suprises this year. He helped me wrap it and gave an oscar winning performance on Christmas morning pretending he had no idea that I had bought it for him. Thankfully, he believes that I communicate with Santa on which presents we are already buying for him. Phew!

Bear with me... It's gonna feel like A Christmas Carol

I still have lots of things I want to remember about this holiday season, so you are going to feel like each posts is like the Ghost of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future.

Remember AK and her cute performance in a previous post, well Mr. Boy performed too. Here are the angel costumes I worked on. And I'm pretty sure Mr. Boy isn't singing "Glooooooooooria" with his tongue hanging out of his mouth like that. Here is Baby Rollerhand and AK before we left for one of our parties. They had matching dresses, I'm pretty sure that was the first outfit Baby Rollerhand wore this entire year, despite the drawer full of doll clothes.And a candid of Mr. Boy with Sandy showing off his Pokemon cards. Curse you classmates for introducing Pokemon cards to Mr. Boy, and double curses for having the odacity to share and give some cards to him. I swore I would have a Pokemon-free house. I also swore my children would never have a tantrum in public...At our Church's Christmas Party, Mr. Boy snapped this cute pic of AK with some of our favorite friends.So, we spent most of the month of December trying to see Santa. Both kids were terrified of the man in the big red suit. We would go to the mall, stand in line, and get close and then the tears would start and someone would end up running away. *flashback* Two years ago, Mr. Boy ran outside at the mention of Santa while at a party. He just took off running, and unfortunately ran smack into the side of a clipboard a man was carrying, split his head right open. Santa hadn't even arrived yet. Last year Mr. Boy kept probing me about Santa "coming into our house" and was terrified at the thought of Santa being "in his space". *end flashback*

At this Christmas party everyone is sitting, singing carols and in walks Santa. AK leaps up and runs over to him and leaps into his arms. He carried her around a bit, and I stood there baffled. This is the child who was the first one to start crying at the sight of the mall santa. Mr. Boy waited in line knowing this was his chance to ask Santa for what he wanted on Christmas morning. He had carefully weighed the options for an entire week, and decided a minute of terror would be managable if it involved getting Pokemon cards and the "Big Red Dragon". We had talked about how you should just ask for one thing, but apparently he forgot all about that. Santa leaned forward, and Mr. Boy whispered for a long time a list of everything he wanted, including the stores he had seen them at, and in some cases the price. Every holiday my mom and I do something festive, last year we saw the Rockettes, this year we went to this fabulous resturant called The White House, the highlight of the evening was giggling while we perused the chef's cookbook that was filled with pictures of scantily clad waiters seductively holding the chef's creation.

It wouldn't be holidays without a visit to Neiman Marcus and pictures in front of the World's Largest Christmas Tree. And we had to take a moment to be silly. And it was on this trip we purchased the infamous Christmas Sweater. Mr. Boy has worn it nonstop since he tried it on in this dressing room. Mr. Boy insists he wants his new room to look just like this dressing room. And can she get any cuter!?! I just love having a little girl. Wouldn't she look adorable in Paris? She would look lovely in a pink beret to match her coat. Let's move there I say!

These next two pics represent the essence of Mr. Boy. This is the two sides to him. There is no middle... he is so totally full of life, head thrown back in laughter embracing every minute.

And also totally determined and focused with his little tongue off to side as he concentrates on doing his best work. Well, maybe there is one other.... the mischievious side. However, I love it... wouldn't change a thing.

He..

Shhhh... He thinks I have no idea. Little does he know that he left me at home with the chatty wee one, who is good at keeping half of a secret. He took each child out alone to shop for gifts, for the other wee one, and for me on the only day "off" that he has had in weeks. He claimed he was just taking them out for some boring errands. He also bought something for me, when he claimed that we weren't really doing gifts this year. (The wee one, wouldn't tell me what it was, just that "ooo, we don't talk about gifts") He is full of surprises and I love that about him.

Oops trying again.. Is it just me...

Is it just me or is this not totally and ridiculously adorable? I'm super biased, I know.

This is my life now...

I'm not sure I'll ever be "Mrs. Supermom" the team mom/room mom/PTA President/dinner on the table at 6/homemade cookies everyday all rolled into one woman. It's not me... it wasn't my mom, nor my grandmother, or her mother. I love who I am, I've embraced it, and I think I'm a fun mom for the most part. My kids are gonna be okay.. and I have my moments as supermom. If we took all these pics and rolled them into one day... I think that would qualify. However, it's a whole weeks worth of festivities.
The kids in festive sweaters picked out by Mr. Boy, a nod to my Swedish heritage. The kids wore their sweaters to a Holiday Gospel Choir Concert... and AK had a super stuck comb dangling from her head. Watching Frosty the Snowman for the 100000th time. They have surprisingly similar mannerisms, which cracks me up... such as the finger dangling on their mouth. We are trying to hit Disneyland weekly for the holidays, and met up with some of our favorite pals for the afternoon. And check out this sweet Eiffel Tower from the newly re-opened "It's a small world" Shhh... I may try and steal it. (If I got caught... it wouldn't be my first time visiting the Disneyland Jail!) I went with Mr. Boy to The Glory of Christmas with his class. This is his buddy from school.

We've been busy baking cookies too. And visiting with neighbors, I love this pic Mr. Boy snapped of me donning an apron and standing in the doorway chatting with our neighbor. (Hate the vanilla colored walls...) If you told me 10 years ago that I would be staying up late one night making 14 angel costumes for the school pagaent, I would have laughed heartily and bet you $50 million that it would never happen... I would have lost that bet last night...

And this sweet dog was all alone yesterday while her pal Sandy spent a day getting checked out by the vet. She quickly slipped into a deep gloomy funk that no amount of "fetch" could relieve. Sandy came home and Skoopi immediately went back to her sweet lovable self.

Oh the weather outside is frightful....

All my out of state pals (oh look, that's 95% of you) are chuckling because I'm about to whine about how chilly it is.
It's rainy, cold, and the perfect day to skip school and work. However, AK & Mr. Boy threw a fit about missing school, something about being able to take their umbrellas to school, so we did our regular day. Do they have any idea how awesome it is to have a mom that says, "hmmm.. No school today!"? When we got home, we put on our Relaxipants (tm) as Mr. Boy refers to his lounge pants and watched holiday movies all afternoon. There was warm Apple Cider, Gingerbread cookies & Peppermint Joe-Joe's to snack on. It was the total opposite of our regular afternoon snack. This was no ordinary afternoon, after all, it was a time to spoil the children all in the name of Christmas. In between snuggling the wee ones for warmth, I put the finishing touches on the Holiday Cards. Fair warning, the Annual Top Ten list... major snooze fest. Get in your jammies and read it in bed, if you read it standing up outside the mailbox you will likely fall into a deep sleep right there. It was totally written by Mr. Man & myself at 2am, after we had used all our wit and humor making our own commentary and lines to the movie: What Happens In Vegas Today, I am grateful that my life affords me this luxury to be able to say... "Cancel the afternoon plans, we are staying inside to eat cookies and watch holiday movies!" I'm sure Mr. Man can find something to wear other than the clothes at the dry cleaner, and I bet the packages I intended to mail today will probably still make it to their destination before Christmas... It was all worth it to indulge these whims, they won't be little and snuggly forever.
Psst... Yaki.. that is your card in the front!

Farewell long wispy curls...

Remember this cute picture with her long-ish locks.And it was two years ago AK had absolutely no hair during a tough few months. I had big plans this week to take a pic of AK and Santa and compare them side by side with this picture, along with a tribute to how far AK has come in the last two years. We tried and tried, and AK, as always, was a total trooper. So was Mr. Man who took over for me and told AK stories to take her mind off on the tugging and twisting going on. Finally, after we used every concotion and pulled out several tools from the toolbox, we came to the decision that the only viable option was scissors.

And while it is so incredibly short... it is really cute!

Uh oh....

This is not exactly what I had planned on doing this evening. This thing is SUPER STUCK.

He is so fancy...

We got all dressed up and drove to a swanky club in Hollywood. When we got to the velvet ropes he said, "Mr & Mrs. Man" and the big burly guy dressed in black said, "Ah, yes... Welcome Mr. Man to our swanky club, right this way please." We breezed on by the line of people waiting to get in. It was Mr. Man's Holiday Party and they rented a swanky club. He works in "The Biz" aka Entertainment, and since I reside as a desperate housewife in the OC, I often forget how "Hollywood" Mr. Man is. This is a guy who starts off stories with, "Yesterday, I was on the lot, and they were filming...." I'm not gonna lie, it's totally sexy to see the "Hollywood Mr. Man" and before you know it, I'm imagining myself (looking surprisingly similar to Barbie) lounging by the pool in a swanky hillside home with a view of the Hollywood sign, talking to my new best friend Posh Spice about how atrocious the food was at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party the night before.

Black Friday

Mr. Man LOVES Black Friday. He scours the ads, and plots out a course for the day. I used to get into it, but keeping track of two kids in crowded stores has cramped my style. On Black Friday, Mr. Man is feeling a tad bit better (He had some sort of severe acid reflex attack or ebola, not sure which..), and Mr. Man talked me into joining him on his Black Friday adventure. We compromised... I dropped Mr. Man off, parked the car, and watched a movie in the car with the kiddos. It was PERFECT! Then Mr. Man wanted to check out TV's "just to look". Whatever... Mr. Man doesn't believe in "just looking" here he is with his new toy pointing out how fabulous it is. While Mr. Man played a fun game called "Let's hook up 1000 cords" I played the game called, "Stop fighting over the Baby Jesus" as we pulled out the Christmas Decor and Christmas Toys.We decorated the trees. The kids have thier own tree that they decorate each and every day. I fully believe Christmas is hands on in this house. There are special Christmas Toys, a basket full of Christmas books, and a box of ornaments for their very own trees. The following day, the kids, Baby Roller Hand, and I were up super early. So we went out and did some shopping. AK and I got some warm f'Uggs for chilly mornings. They are so toasty,AK calls them her "warmers". That early morning wore AK out, and by noon she decided Skoopi's bed was the best place for a nap.