Hiatus, Shmiatus - that's what I always say... (and LOTS of photos)

I took a week off, hoping to "relax" and "enjoy" my family.

What I learned from that experience?

13 year olds are wonderful at cleaning bathrooms - they do a great job of everything... except putting away the supplies.

15 year olds will wait until the LAST minute to tell you that they need a ride to band practice - forcing you to quickly spray your hair with the water bottle next to the sink... only to realize that (thanks to the 13 year old) this is actually a bottle of glass cleaner.

My hair has never felt less greasy...

8 and 6 year old girls are just old enough to have cat fights.  Until this past week I might have wondered why on earth they are referred to as "cat fights"... no longer.  Being highly allergic to cats I think I will avoid that side of the house when they get in their moods.

My kids have a lot of friends.  Their friends have a lot of friends...  when all of these friends converge on one building there is a significant lack of space, video game controllers, snack foods, and bathrooms.

11 year olds are sneaky - sneaky enough to set your phone alarm to go off at 5:45 on Christmas morning... forcing you out of your deep slumber to first FIND said phone and then figure out how to dismiss said alarm. Gee, thanks...

When 4 of the 5 sets of ears in a household are attached to MP3 players the likelihood of someone hearing your request for a dishwasher emptier go down to 0%.

If you ask your children to post for a "reading the books from the grandparents" picture - they WILL be goofy.   It took 4 tries to get this shot.

 Yeah, look again...  the Veggie Teen has his book upside down - that IS our brand of "normal" I guess.

If you let the Teenagers make cookies, you will get some stunning sugar cookies...

And when these intrepid scouts try to make gingerbread for a house - after some frustration they may decide that a "gingerbread lean-to" is sufficient.

 If you ask a pile of teens in your car to snap a few pics of the floods as you drive them to their shin-dig you may get some interesting shots...

I have no idea whose shoes these are...

If you get a MUCH smaller Christmas tree than last year - you will STILL not have enough working lights to cover it.

 

 

If you tell the kids "no need to pack snow clothes, there won't be enough to play in" you WILL be proven wrong.  And your kids will not care whether or not they freeze.

W and the beginnings of his snowman...

Puppet shows are AWESOME!  Especially when you re-enact A Christmas Carol with Oscar, Bert, Ernie, and a goat...

My kids are awesome... and a little sneaky...

purchased on the sly, wrapped with love.

and some are just the right size for tricky jobs...

they have unfortunately learned that if you leave a last minute voice mail for Santa that the thing you suddenly REALLY want may end up right on the top of your gifts!

and actually VERY grateful for the things they received

Po and a handmade "octi"

H and her HUGE pillow pet

 and the grinch carved the Roast Beast...

When more than one of those iPods is in need of charging my laptop becomes their charging station... causing me to wait patiently to upload my photos for my blog...  hoping that after a week of NOTHING that my readers can wait a few more minutes (or hours... but that's not the iPods' fault!) for an update... 

Did I still enjoy Christmas?  Yep - even the parts where I sat for hours on end and removed strings, wires, and plastic protective bits from toys that cost $2 to produce, $3 to package, and $12.99 + tax to purchase.

alright, alright - my cynical side is working overtime after being on blogcation all week - I really DID enjoy Christmas... and after finishing the shopping, wrapping, cooking, preparation part of it the Spirit of the season did kick in...

My 6 year old daughter wrote a beautiful note to Santa Christmas Eve...  thanking him for loving Christ enough to bring gifts for everyone!  and telling him to eat the bear cookie first.  She's just sweet like that.

Santa's Cookies...

Can you believe I forgot to upload the picture of her note?  Complete with a picture of a snowman next to the manger?

I did however remember to upload THIS note of hers that made me smile almost as much...

it says "My mom is Funny"  NOT furry...  so don't ask...

So now we're back to our real life...  although with a new warning... because as we were snacking recently I noticed something...

look closer...

Yep, we've been living life on the edge for YEARS... time to slow down and take it easy for awhile...