Naughty

Camden takes me to both extremes, one of those being a lot more than I'd like.

This morning I went upstairs for the third time since breakfast to give Jace a quick bath because...because there was another explosion(we've been fighting the flu around here).

When Camden came running upstairs so excited to show me his "pretty colors" I about had a meltdown. I knew there was no paper downstairs, and quickly remembered where I had left the church bag which contained crayons.

He had drawn all over the back window(luckily only on the window and only with white and yellow), and needed reassurance of how "beautiful" it was.

I saw visions of an abusive mother over something that could easily be fixed. I counted to ten(something my mom always did that I made fun of), told him how beautiful his art would be, if only on paper, gave him a rag and put him to work.

I had to leave the room because he was making more of a mess trying to clean the darn "artwork" up while saying, "I sorry" over and over.

Merry Christmas

Dan's family had the tradition of getting new pajamas on Christmas Eve, so we started it this year.

Not my favorite choice of jammies, but they match and they're new...so I guess they work!

Camden woke me up around 2:45 saying, "Santa Claus is coming to town Mama". I quickly responded with, "only if you go back to sleep". It worked.

Around 7:30am Camden woke up and got to check out his stocking. He was more than satisfied that Santa listened to his request for snacks!

Jace woke up around 9:30am and we made a mad rush to the tree. He too was more than satisfied that his request to play in a mess of wrapping paper and boxes was filled.

Santa, you done good this year!

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;

It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees,

O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here came the wise men from Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our Friend!

He knows our need—to our weakness is no stranger.

Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His Gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Christ is the Lord!

O praise His name forever!

His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

Playing Hookie

Last night started like every other night around here. Jace fell right to sleep and Camden cried for an hour before caving. It wasn't until about 3am when Camden came into our bedroom in tears(nothing unusual). I tried calming him down before he told me he needed to throw up! We rushed into the bathroom and the fun began. This only lasted for about 3 hours and we've been pretty good since.

You can imagine his excitement when I told him he could have a popsicle(pedialyte) for breakfast. He thought he had died and gone to heaven.

Now Jace is napping, Camden is laying on the couch watching Monsters Inc, and I'm crossing my fingers nobody else gets hit with the bug!

Calling in sick to work isn't as fun as it used to be.

HO HO HO

We ventured our way to the ward party last night and had a blast. In years past it has been for adults only and we never made it. This year the kids were invited. They served pizza and salad, let the kids decorate sugar cookies, and had a surprise visitor!

I was pleasantly surprised with how well my kids did on the jolly man's lap! Jace was determined to find out if this Santa was a fake or not by pulling at his beard. He never got the beard off, he must have been the real deal!

A Little Trick

Oh to be a fly on the wall.

I made a trip to the doctor's office today. Why is it that the only available appointments fall during naptime, which then turns into lunch time, which ultimately spells disaster.

I needed to be there, so I went with two kids in tow. I arrived to a waiting room full of nasty people(rude I know, but the truth). Luckily Camden only had two meltdowns before they called us back. Back in the next waiting room that is. This is the room where they handed me 8, count them, 8 pages of paperwork. Are you kidding?

And the madness begins. I need to fill out the paperwork but I'm afraid to put Jace on the filthy floor, so I opt to hold him. Well that makes a hungry and tired Camden jealous. And his jealously turns into a flat out rage. I continue filling out the paperwork while Camden is hitting his head against the wall, biting my legs, screaming, growling, hitting Jace, hitting me, tearing the magazines up and throwing them around the room...etc. Trying not to loose my cool, or my children for that matter, I finish 7 pages and have myself meltdown when the doctor comes in asking if I'd finished yet(you know she came in to make sure I wasn't killing my son). She tried hard beating around the bush to see if I had any concerns or questions about how to care for children. So in my crying, sweating, embarrassed rage I said; "Are you asking me if I want to beat my kids?" She shrugged her shoulders a bit in fear and said, "Yes." So I quickly explained if I'm not out of here in the next five minutes I might.

It worked. We were out in a flash. I need to remember that trick for next time.

And in case you're wondering...Dan took Camden to the driving range and Jace is napping. I'm now in a happy place!

Boat Parade

Christmas in Arizona is different. But good. Instead of making snowmen and drinking hot cocoa, we head down to the lake.

They have an annual boat parade and we decided to be festive this year and check it out. Really the only lights we saw were the awesome light up swords these two had.

The set up wasn't the greatest, and it was our first year so we didn't know the tricks. Dan held Camden on his shoulders for a while but Camden was more interested in his own sword than the lights on the boats.

Next year I think we'll find ourselves up on the bridge to enjoy the view!