It only appears that they are harmoniously working together in the photo. In real life there was quite a it of shoving, grabbing, and bickering. I always forget about that and it comes as a surprise every year the amount of arguing they are able to do with each other over nothing.
My 11 yr old son has a collection of Nutcrackers. Every year I buy him a new one to add to the collection.
I’ll be watching you.
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you.
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you…
Love,
Stalker Elf
The excitement and wonder on little faces. I will miss this when they are all grown.
The multi-tasking teenager.
What would the Christmas season be without studying for final exams. While texting your friends. And eating snacks. And flashing your mother the Hang Loose sign. All while professing your love for boobies with not one but TWO bracelets.
Not pictured, the mother standing behind the photo with a whip in her hand. Because teenagers are not as good at multi-tasking as they think they are.
If you look closely you can see Stalker Elf’s head in the top of the photo where he was hanging upside down from the chandelier. Just making sure the teenager studies! God, why do they have to grow up and stop believing in Santa–I have nothing with which to threaten them.
This book was mine when I was a child.
I read it every year growing up. And now my children do
Two of the many, many letters my daughter wrote detailing what she wanted for Christmas.
In the first letter she wants a Figit and lots more except underware. I thought, what the hell is a Figit?
This letter was typed and printed. As if one could no possibly deny her requests when they were presented so persausively. There is that damn Figit on the list again. And a motorized scooter and red Converse sneakers? I almost feel like those last two were put on the list to make the Figit seem like the only reasonable option. She already knew I wasn’t spending $200+ on a motorized scooter when she leaves everything out around the neighborhood. Nor was I buying her another pair of shoes. She has no less than 20 pair of shoes/converse/boots and wears one pair almost exclusively.
Ah well, I thought, there is still 24 days for her to change her mind. I can always find one of those Figit things later.
Famous last words.
I am making a turkey for Christmas dinner. More than anything I wish I had time to go to one of those paint your own ceramic places to buy a giant turkey platter. So I could paint “Don’t Eat Me, You Bastards!” around the edge.
There’s always next year, right?
So this just happened at my house.
Kids: Can we rent Cowboys and Aliens?
Me, thinking a movie with this title must surely be a light hearted comedy: Okay!
About 15 minutes in.
Me: This doesn’t seem very funny so far.
Kids: …
I guess I should pay more attention to previews. But honestly, who had the idea for this movie? People like aliens and people like cowboys, lets put them together. It will be like the Reese peanut butter cup of movies! Except, NOT.
I feel markedly dumber having watched it.
At one point during the movie my 14 yr old said that he couldn’t believe they expected us to believe it was suddenly raining in the desert. I just looked at him. Because watching cowboys fight aliens in the wild west doesn’t require any suspension of belief.
I spent the evening in the ER with my son who hurt his foot skateboarding. No, scratch that. Who hurt his foot when he stepped off the skateboard strangely and rolled his ankle.
Bad news: broken foot.
Good news: Since it is the end of the year the insurance deductible is already met
Better news: We overestimated our FSA for the year and there is extra money we couldn’t seem to figure out how to spend–vision care, dental, and orthodontia are excluded.
Bittersweet news: Now we know how to spend it
