My Pathetic Attempt at an Interesting Last Post of 2011

It ain't gonna be pretty but I feel it necessary to put up one last post this year.

We are still on Holiday High here. Although all the Christmas decorations have been boxed up and the tree is now residing in the back yard (in the garbage pile. Not planted. We are not that earth friendly, unfortunately.), my house is still not back to working order. We still have a box full of toys that haven't even been opened yet.

But, we have been playing alot of board games and eating alot of junk. So, time not totally wasted. 

As this year comes to a close, I am once again shocked at how fast time really does go.  2012. Shouldn't we all be flying around on jet packs by now? 

This year has taught us many things. My children have learned some valuable lessons. Jarrett has learned* to not try  and ride a sea lion.

Josie learned, just 2 days after Christmas, that sucking helium out of a balloon will make you pass out, fall and hit your head on your dresser, and require 6 stitches.

Jeven learned, the very next day, that putting your hand UNDER the grocery belt at Winco will inflict pain and cause you to bleed and make the management of Winco come running with proper first-aid equipment, (unlike Jarrett's sea lion experience) and an accident report.

I've learned to not trip over things: 

I told you it wasn't gonna be pretty!

I wish I could be more specific and tell you what I tripped over, if only to prevent you from learning my lesson the hard way. But, alas, I do not know for sure. I am clumsy. I trip. Often.

I'm sure there were other lessons learned this past year but these are the ones that are freshest in my mind as they've all happened in the last 3 days.

Here's to hoping 2012 is happy and full of lessons learned with less pain. And blood.

*learned or learnt?  I tried both. But spell check didn't like learnt and I'm too tired to look it up to see which is correct. And, yes, I homeschool my children. Don't judge.*

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve. Just thought I'd throw that out there in-case you have been living in a cave somewhere. Perhaps your cave was neighboring mine?

You know when people say "Christmas sure snuck up on us, didn't it?"  (Which is ironic since the stores display Christmas decorations starting in Oct)  I know what they are talking about!

My hubby and I stayed out late last night finishing up the shopping. I hate the fact that we had saved so much for the last minute but we don't have lots of extra cash laying around so we had to spread all the shopping out a month or two. But, surprises of surprises, we had a good time shopping and now we are done!!

That leaves today for laying around in my pjs, maybe doing some baking and wrapping some gifts. I've always thought that is what Christmas Eve is for. Relaxing.  And for sure this year as Christmas being on a Sunday makes it extra busy. And special, really. What better day to celebrate the birth of Jesus than a Sunday!

I hope all of you get exactly what you want for Christmas and that you have a happy and healthy 2012!

A Note

Jarrett gave this to me last night:

"Dear Mom, think you for bing niss to me"  (Dear Mom, thank you for being nice to me)

Many thoughts went through my head, in this particular order:

• Omigosh! How awesome! I love, love, love to get notes from my kids that they do ALL.BY.THEMSELVES! With misspelled words and everything. 
• I love how he is learning to sound out words and his writing is improving so much!!
• I wonder if my husband got an awesome note like this?
• Probably not because I am so much nisser than he is. 
• Wait a minute. How bad of a crank have I been that when I'm actually decent to my child, he feels the need to write it down?  
• I love this little bugger so much! 

At Least She Has Her Spelling Down.

Getting Josie to do her school work is like...getting Josie to do anything she doesn't want to do.  In the past, I've threatened, bribed, physically made her and any other means necessary. 

Now, I just wait for the storm to pass and move on. It seems to be the most effective. 

Today, she was doing her Language Arts at the kitchen table, while I was in other room helping Jayce with History.

Josie:  MOM!!! I'm D-O-N-E!! 

Me:  Josie, did you do B-O-T-H pages?

Josie: Well, P-O-O-P!!! 

( : 

(if poop is the worst word she ever spells, then we're good)