Livin' it up!

Isn't it the silliest dilemma? I am trying to decide if I should send Christmas cards this year (I think I've sent them every year for the last 8 years or so, so why should it be this hard to decide this year?)

The Pros

• I actually have a decent, recent family picture (usually, lack of a picture is the #1 reason I threaten not to send Christmas cards).
• I love getting Christmas cards from all my friends and seeing what everyone is up to.
• I am a person who doesn't like to lose track of old friends, so I feel obligated to do my part to stay in touch.

The Cons

• Mike thinks it's a silly waste of money to spend $0.69 on each card when email is free (cost of 41 cent stamp and printing of Christmas cards at Costco--about as cheap as it gets).
• No one else in my family sends Christmas cards with any regularity, so why should I feel inclined to?
• Writing the Christmas letter--when you have nothing new to report (no new job, no new address, no new baby), what is there to write about except brag about your great family vacation and how good your kids are at soccer? (I seriously think this is the hardest part--I have no idea what to write without sounding like the proud mother that I am!)
• Time, time, time. Maybe I'd be better off playing games with my kids than looking up addresses and putting together Christmas cards?

So anyone who has an opinion, go ahead and weigh in . . . should I send them out this year or let this be our year to skip it?

So here's what we've been up to . . . Thanksgiving in Utah, a day trip to Provo to indoctrinate the kids about the glories of BYU . . . this was lunch at the Creamery on 9th with Kara and Dave and family.

The crew on campus . . .
Enjoying fine root beer and pizza at Brick Oven for dinner.
A hay ride with my family, who was all together for Thanksgiving weekend because of Dan's wedding.
Playing in the leaves at Grandma and Grandpa B's house.

Smores and a campfire in the back yard with lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles. Plenty of board games. The new one for this trip was Thurn and Taxis--very fun!
Dan and Autumn at the temple with Brooke and Megan. The two very handsome men in my life!

It was a great trip, great time with family, and so glad we could all be there!

So, we're babysitting 16-month-old Jameson for 5 days while our friends down the street are on vacation. Things have been busy, but going okay. Jameson is pleasant, plays well with Evan, and definitly doesn't run as fast, so in a lot of ways he's easier. But simply the notion of having two 16-month-old boys to take care of us a lot. On top of it all, Evan is getting over a cold and has some type of wheeze in his chest that is not going away so this weekend we have been pumping him full of steriods and giving him Albuterol treatments every three hours. If he wasn't already a wound up kid, he is now literally bouncing off the walls.

Despite the craziness of our Saturday (flu shots for the girls, a ward baptism, a parent teacher conference, a soccer game for Brooke, a year-end soccer party at a restaurant, a New Member social for our ward, and chaperoning the stake youth dance, plus giving Evan five twenty-minute breathing treatments), we survived the day and the kids got to bed and everything worked out okay. It was just our Sunday that was shot. Mike and I finally got to bed around 12:30, only to be woken at 1:00 because Megan had wet the bed, and then bawled for 20 minutes because she couldn't figure out why I couldn't dry her wet snuggle blanket fast enough for her to sleep with it again. So eventually we went to bed.

Everything ran smoothly Sunday morning until we realized that despite our best intentions, we left for church at 8:26 instead of 8:20. So although our church is only about two blocks away, all the seats in the chapel were filled by the time we got there, so we sat in the folding chairs in the back. The boys both squirmed and fussed the whole first part of the meeting because we couldn't/wouldn't let them down because they would run away. So after the sacramaent, all six of us with all our bags marched up to the front two rows vacated when the deacons went to sit with their families. Evan and Jameson were MUCH happier after being let down to at least stand on their own. That worked fun until the girls got our some pens to draw and Evan threw the biggest fit when I wouldn't let him draw with pink pen in the hymnbook. So Mike marched him out. Then it was time for the ward choir to sing, and I would have just skipped it but Brooke has been practicing and DYING to sing with the choir, and I had to go up. I quickly handed Jameson to a friend and went to sing with Brooke. Megan sulked because left her in the bench alone. Jameson didn't like the hand-off, so he joined Mike and Evan in the hall. I went out to retrieve the kids and Evan had snot running down his face and Mike tried to convince me to let him take them home. I insisted that we could handle his, so we marched both boys back into sacrament meeting. (I think this now like the third time I have been in the aisle in just 40 minutes.) The boys last a mere five minutes before both of them were crying, and Mike and I stood up and marched back out again, leaving Brooke and Megan on the bench. We just kept marching straight to the car and Mike took the boys home for playtime, and early lunch, and naps. I went back to sacrament meeting and apparently Megan had gotten up to follow us out, so our good friend Todd had gone to sit with Brooke and Megan until we got back. By the time I got back, I sat in the bench next to Todd and we finished sacrament meeting.

I have always admired moms who managed twins, but after all the feeding and diapers of this weekend, I can see that twins is truly a full-time job!! I think I'll happily take my babies one at a time.

Evan goes back to the doctor tomorrow for his wheezing and hopefully will be doing better, although he still doesn't sound great. We have actually really enjoyed having Jameson with us this weekend though. The girls have risen to the occasion and have enjoyed playing with the babies, feeding them, and even getting up early and setting the table for breakfast in an effort to help us get out the door and to school and church on time. It's so great to have girls who are such wonderful little mommies!

Evan on slide from katie on Vimeo.

All dressed up on Sunday morning. Thanks to the time change, we got up early and have enough time to snap a few pictures! Evan had to be restrained to get in the picture . . .

Brooke: "Mom, Evan can write X's! But he's writing on the walls so you'd better come take his pencil away."

I have seven very large, very dark X's all over my kitchen and hallway that Evan drew for me today. This morning he scribbled all overthe wall while Mike was home and Mike scolded him. Later tonight I saw him quietly walk over and get a wet wipe and try to wipe off the wall, so I know he knows better. Who to punish? The girl who left the pencil out twice in one day, or the curious 16-month-old who would rather color on the wall than obey?

I think I'll wait a week or two before I try to re-paint, since I'm sure this problem is not yet solved.

Evan loved scooping out the pumpkin. We thankfully tossed him in bed before the true carving began. He just can't be trusted around knives!
Brooke LOVES her pioneer costume. She has worn it several times a week since we got it in September.
Evan is very appropriately our naughty little monkey! At last count, he ate three candy bars, two suckers, and one bag on fruit snacks while I tried to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. He was perfectly content all night so long as there was a treat in his hand.
Megan had about five costumes to choose from, but at the last minute this is the one that won out. Dad's shirt makes a great lab coat, and I'm not sure why we buy these elaborate costumes when borrowing a few items from our friend, the doctor, makes a great costume!
The trick or treaters head out for a night on the town!!