Twas the Day After Christmas

And all the through the house, there's no room for more toys, not even a mouse. But I got all the wrapping paper and boxes picked up, and we even had a hot cooked breakfast, hehehe. I actually didn't take many pictures yesterday. Gigi has been cranky (teeth, I think) and so I was doing too much walking and rocking to be able to hold the camera.





And as a lame attempt to focus on ME for a moment, even with a baby in my lap and a monkey boy running around the room in front of me like a dervish, here's a meme:

Where is your mobile phone? side table here next to me.
Where is your significant other? planted in front of his computer playing his new game, Fallout 3.
Your hair color? dark brown.
Your mother? Hanging with her mom who is visiting from Bogota to meet all her great grandchildren. :)
Your father? I would put money on that he's in his recliner with 2 dogs in his lap, watching TV.
Your favorite thing? Naps!
Your dream last night? Can't remember...
Your dream goal? To be old and gray, knitting for my great grandchildren.
The room you’re in? The den, which is an unholy mess. Or you could call it wall-to-wall toy carpetting.
Your hobby? Knitting, though I don't have much time for it.
Your fear? Losing my family.
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Driving my kids to soccer/gymnastics/piano practice.
Where were you last night? Home, online.
What you’re not Bored or well-rested.
One of your wish-list items? Circular wooden needles, sizes 1-4.
Where you grew up? McAllen, TX.
The last thing you did? Helped Brent wash his hands after he went potty.
What are you wearing? My stay-at-home uniform: tshirt and panties.
Your TV? On Price Is Right. :)
Your pets? 2 dogs: Reese & Tyler, and 5 fish in 2 tanks.
Your computer? My husband's laptop from work.
Your mood? Peaceful, since the baby's asleep and Brent is busy & happy.
Missing someone? Not really. :)
Your car? In the driveway resting from lots of trips to the inlaws and back lately.
Something you’re not wearing? Um, pants? lol
Favorite shop? Gauge Knits, Austin TX!
Your summer? Honestly? It was like the 7th level of hell, but it's over. And I'm never getting pregnant again! lol
Love someone? Many, many people. I have a full, lovely life. :)
Your favourite color? Purpley pink.
When is the last time you laughed? Just a little while ago when my husband declared the new Wubbzy DVD was his and Brent climbed up him and onto his head to retrieve it.
When is the last time you cried? I honestly don't remember. Not because it was that long ago but because it wasn't that big a deal. I cry easily when I get frustrated.

Mama, Mama!

So, it was Friday night Advent calendar time, and Gigi got a cute lil pink headband. Yay! Brent thought that was really cool, and helped me put it on her. Then we opened his and got... a cute lil purple headband. Luckily, I stood there and thought, "Oh crap, I musta mixed up some of the packages," before reacting and so he didn't hear an Oops, 'cause he was just thrilled. "Mama, mama! Like Gigi, for my head!"



And yet, only 2 minutes later, he was making some Brently adjustments. "Mama, mama, look..."



"I'm a pirate,"



"ARRRRR!"

A fun Blog Contest

A fellow Raveler is having a fun contest to name a lovely set of jewelry she made as a Christmas gift. I have entered some names (and hope to win because her stuff is really pretty!) So, I'm encouraging ya'll to go vote! But, I won't tell you which entries are mine, 'cause that's skeezy. ;)

Here's the jewelry set.
And here's the voting.

Sidenote: Sorry for the absence from posts for a while there. I've felt spectacularly unmotivated as of late, and I can only blame a few days of that on illness. I wonder if it's the gray skies... I'm a sunbaby. :(

Snow!

It snowed last night! Just for a little while, and rather late at night (11:30ish), but Will alerted everyone and my warm bed was abandoned in order to check it out. It's really still a special thing to us who grew up on the border where it's virtually a miracle to see the stuff.

She's (almost) grown into the Purple Devan!

Last Night was Family Cake Night!

Finally, photos!

Of the kids enjoying Advent calendar goodies...

Brent and his Smitty hat (C'mon, sing it with me: I'm a model, you know what I mean... ain't he cute??) The hat was a big hit, though my personal favorite has been watching him fight his new green Constructicon VS a Happy Meal Polly Pocket. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that.


Gianna sleeps while Brother opens her gifts, and he plays with her new tub toys and teethers. She has a cold right now, and is either cranky or sleeping most of the time, poor thing.


And as for myself, I finished my Malabrigo Quant! Love it. It's so comfortable and warm. Too warm! Last Sunday at Gauge, I was dyin' of heat and someone suggested helpfully, "Maybe the headband?" but I know she was thinkin' I'm one of those people who throws a fit looking for her hairbrush, accusing others of taking it, while it's in her hand the whole time. Oh wait, I am...
Maybe I'll make myself a cotton or silk one. I decided anyway that I would rather have the ties, the way the pattern was written, rather than the button I modified it to. Though maybe if I had made it long enough so that the button band wasn't so long...

Response to commenters

Ya'll are so sweet for the advice and good wishes. Putting a portable DVD player on the wishlist! We had one... the boy destroyed it. It was a cheapo and only lasted about a year, though I have to say, it withstood some horrific treatment. We simply can't afford one before this trip (buying groceries and gassing up the car on credit lately, no joke. :( Hoping to refinance the house before January...

Maybe I can find a friend with one and borrow it...

We are totally planning on someone sitting in back btwn the 2 carseats to be the monkeyboy's entertainment slave for the drive. I'm sure we'll take turns. Books, games, you name it. God help us. :)

On the plus side, despite the fact that everyone in the house is at varying stages of a shared cold, it's been a good week. The boy loves the Advent calendar from his Granny Gail, the baby girl is learning how to laugh (at her brother, no less, and he loves it,) and the news on the home refinancing front makes me so optimistic for the near future's relief of financial stress. :)

I haven't been able to get photos off the camera and onto the computer but I will try soon! I have some cute ones of the kiddos. An FO pic of my pink Malabrigo Quant is on Ana's camera, but I'll take another. And I'm almost done with the purple/green Taos Quant for Tomorrow! I wish I could find my dpn case to start a Christmas ball for Rose... I will probably cast on a 3rd Quant, for Sheva this time, next. She has promised me an earflappy hat for Brent in exchange -- woot!

Holidays are supposed to be happy...

We did 2 Thanksgivings this year, one on Thursday with my father and some family from the Valley, and one on Friday with my inlaws.

Luckily, Dad lives about 4 miles away and the drive is a piece of cake so that was nice. Still, the house was full and with my grandmother getting near to 90 yrs old, it fell to me to be the hostess. It was really light as far as Thanksgivings go b/c my father picked up the whole dinner from HEB and all I had to do was heat everything up and put it on the table then clean up afterwards, but still. I'm lazy and still had Brent and Gigi dragging on me the entire time so it was tiring.

The trip to the inlaws is only slighter farther, about an hour and a half, and my MIL does all the hard work, but egad, that drive. Travelling with an infant is hard. Travelling with a 3 yr old is hard. Travelling with both at the same time put me in tears. Literally. After an hour straight of the baby howling, exhausting herself and falling asleep only to be immediately woken up by the boy pretending to be a TRex or a pirate because he was bored stiff, I cried the rest of the way home. Oddly enough, my tears were enough to shame the boy and he quieted down except to whisper once in a while, "Mommy sad?" I should have cried sooner.

We will do Christmas at the inlaws and I'm shamefully considering Benadrylling the boy for the drives. Then, family from Bogota is coming to visit in January and we must necessarily swallow our terror and make the 6 hr drive down to see the other nearing 90 yr old grandmother, as it will be, in all reasonableness, the last trip before she dies. That's 6 hrs without children. I think I may need Benadryl for the kids and Valium for me. Wish me luck. I wish we could afford plane tickets. It's just as nightmarish but it's over faster. Can we put the kids in UPS boxes and overnight them?