I’m not happy….I was out runnning errands this afternoon and saw what I thought was a flake. No, it couldn’t be. Really? Snow? OH YES. It’s been snowing now for a couple of hours, it’s sticking and I’m livid. Praying to the rain gods to come in and take care of the issue because school starts up again tomorrow and we NEED it to start tomorrow.

So Dee and I had haircuts scheduled in Poulsbo today, which meant the kids and I were going to stop in at the Evil Empire to do a little Christmas clearance shopping. Dee was so bummed out to miss our outing since she had to work (ha ha ha ha, not really). We met up with Carolyn and her foster kids and got some major shopping done. All the Christmas items were 75% off, which meant there were great deals. Problem was that some of the items didn’t ring up at the sale price and I had some dumb-a$$ middle age male checker with attitude.
At this point in the shopping trip, Levi was crying…let me back up a minute. When we left the haircuts all of the boys got a lollipop and Levi was still eating his when we went into Walmart. He was bugging Carlos and Trey and got a warning about not doing it again, then proceeded to bug them more and I took his lollipop away. He was screaming and sobbing in the store, but I didn’t give in (we don’t reward tantrums) but I did tell him that if he pulled it together and didn’t pester his brothers for the rest of the trip that I would buy another lollipop. He was great (yeah!) for the whole trip, I reached down at the checkout to grab a ring pop and he saw me do that and felt confident that he had earned his treat and no longer needed to behave. WRONG, the minute I put the ring pop in the cart he blew it and started bugging Trey again, the exact same way he did before. I took the ring pop, put it back on the shelf and he was lost in a sobbing tantrum yet again.
Needless to say, I was flustered and wanted to just be done so when Christmas items weren’t ringing up at the clearance price, and I brought it to the checkers attention he said “guess they aren’t on sale” Dude, for real? I know my sales and ALL the holiday stuff was 75%, so sheets that said “Holiday Traditions” should ring up not $18, but $4.5o a set. I was ticked, both at Levi and at the checker’s brain dead state so I said forget it and didn’t get the items.
Levi pulled it together finally and we got a sandwich at Subway and I looked over my receipt…he’s charged me for one of the items I didn’t even get. Lame, now I had to take the crew back to customer service and get my money back. They were awesome, thank God, and I also asked them about the other holiday stuff and they said to bring it to them and they would ring it up at the discount. WHEW, what a trip!

And last but not least…it was Trey’s turn to visit the dentist. He did GREAT, and it was even his first time. He got the works, flouride, cleaning and a new toothbrush and floss to take home. We’re all good for another 6 months. Be sure to check out the boy’s sparkly white smiles next time you see them, they are quite proud of their teeth.

All the best for your 2009!

I thought Carlos’ trip to the dentist would be tough since the previous visit he was freaked out and nothing got done. but this time he was a total rockstar. Great job, Carlos. Now….Trey’s up on Friday.

For Christmas this year, sweet Dee gave me a much wanted iPhone. She got a gift card for it (thank you BIG storm!) so today I had big plans to load up the troops, all but Carlos who had a day with Nana to deal with Christmas present exchanges, and head over to Seattle to the Apple store.
We started the morning with Levi waking up having asthma issues, his meds weren’t helping all that much so we went in to the doctor’s office for a quick check. We got his meds adjusted a little and he actually sounded worse than he really was so all was good. Next stop was the dentist office for Levi, which as you can see from this picture he really didn’t love. His sensory issues just work overtime at the dentist. He was a trooper and got a pat on the back for taking such good care of his teeth at home and was sent on his way with some new floss, which made his day. I always like to take them because I get to see our dear friend, Joy!
We thought we’d catch the 11:30 ferry and had plans to meet cousin Nathan for lunch before heading to U Village, but we missed the boat by 4 cars and just grabbed a sandwich at Real Foods. The Apple store was fabulous and I’m in 7th heaven figuring out my new phone. It’s pretty cool and fun! It’ll be nice to be able to watch a movie on it while we’re sitting up at Wilkes in between preschool pickup and drop off.
Time to hang it up and get some sleep! Hate to see the wind and rain coming in, but so happy it’s not more snow. And it makes me smile knowing that Levi will wake up a happy, happy boy to finally be able to use his Spiderman umbrella! Tomorrow’s Carlos’ day at the dentist…wish me luck!

Here’s a link to The Funky Monkey, which featured Levi as their “Tuesdays Tot”! He’s pretty stinkin cute, if I do say so myself!

http://susannahbananaboutique.blogspot.com/2008/12/tuesdays-tot-wednesday-now.html

The roads were still bad so we decided to go late to Nana and Papas and then do our Christmas with them, have dinner and spend the night. The boys were so excited!
The roads were still icy, we tried to drive the Volvo to their house, were planning to park at the boy’s school and walk down to Nana/Papa’s house but the road scrappers had been through and we couldn’t get into the parking lot so Dee dropped me and the boys off to walk down their nasty, icy driveway while she drove back home to get a ride with Nana/Papa. The roads were decent except for their driveway, which was a slippery mess. Dee was stressed out about the sliding around in the car, I was stressed out about the sliding around while walking the boys down the driveway but she remembered the Jack Daniels! We settled in, poured a couple drinks and relaxed. The boys were jazzed that Santa came their as well. Trey rocked out with his new guitar and Levi was super excited to get his Spiderman umbrella.
We had a really nice night just hanging out with my folks, it’s not too often we get to do that. In the morning the snow hadn’t melted too much so the thought of actually getting out of the driveway wasn’t pleasant. Dee and I spent a few hours shoveling snow and ice and trying to at least make a path to drive out of. Let me tell you, I had no idea how long their driveway actually was! We did as much as we physically could, drove out without much issue and all was good. Today, we are SORE…but it was worth clearing the driveway for my folks!

los




Our boys are at a wonderful age for Christmas! It took awhile to settle them down on Christmas Eve, but they finally fell asleep and Dee and I got to work. Santa came and ate the cookies and drank the Egg Nog we set out and the reindeer munched the carrots. The toys were set out by our Charlie Brown tree (that never did get decorated) and all was set for the morning.
I was first to get up but when I was in going potty and excited Carlos came bursting into the bathroom and screamed “Oh my goodness, Mama, there are presents out there…Santa came!” I’m pretty sure he was shocked because he’s been fairly naughty these past few days. He got Mama Dee up then flipped the lights on in the boy’s room and woke them up with the good news. Dee and I grabbed a cup of coffee and the opening began. The hit of the morning was the headlight flashlights that each of the guys got, they are super cool, but now our boys look like a team of miners headed down into the mines. We spent the morning building Lego spaceships, boats and helicopters, which are now destroyed, and delivering the cookies we made to our neighbors.