How I Know I Am Old

We wanted pizza for dinner last night. It was getting late, so I decided to head out to pick it up rather than have it delivered. I got to the restaurant a little too early and still had a ten minute wait ahead of me. I headed over to C.V.S. to kill some time.

After a quick search, I found what I was looking for and got in line. Ahead of me was a young twenties-ish woman with a cart filled with alcohol. As she put it all on the counter, the clerk casually asked her if she had a big party to go to that night. The woman said no, but that she was headed out to Las Vegas with friends for a New Year's Eve party.

The clerk, who was equally as young, and the woman chit chatted about their New Year's Eve plans while they finished the transaction.

Ahhhh...the stories both of these ladies will have come Saturday...

Both of them had a action packed holiday planned for themselves.

Now, Is.aac and I have a wild night of maybe some Wii playing in front of us for our New Year's Eve. That alone makes the differences in our ages stand out like some glaring neon sign.

But the thing that made me feel really old was when I put my purchase on the counter-a pair of shoe inserts-and I realized that those babies were my idea of a good time!

Who needs alcohol when she can have supported comfort all day long? :-)

Tuesday's Thoughts

Just some thought from today...

Will someone explain to me why a house get so dang dirty in such a little bit of time? I swear. It's only been four days since I last thoroughly cleaned, and there are dust bunnies in the corners of the rooms already! I am not a dirty person. I clean up after myself. You wouldn't know it if you saw what I saw tonight. Ugh. I blame my husband.


---


Ja.son got quite an eye full when he burst into the bathroom today. (tmi ahead) Let's just say that it is period time and I use tampons. Yep. I am sure you guessed it. I tried my best to look as nonchalant as a person could while in the middle of things and told him to go get Sh.awn so he'd leave. I just knew if I freaked out and over reacted he'd forever be scarred and unable to wear cotton for the rest of his life or something. He wouldn't go, so I had to just hurry up and get it over with. Now I just hope he keeps our little encounter between us. It would be my luck that he'd share this tidbit with some stranger at Tar.get or something.


Note to self: make sure the bathroom door latches every time you enter from now on...


---


I gave myself my first shot of del.estrogen last night. It wasn't too bad. The next shot's on Thursday.


I think my hair falling out is a side effect of this stuff. The last time I used it, I pulled hair out by the handfuls. It was awful. I definitely hope it doesn't get that bad this time around. I'm only taking five shots this time...


because my transfer is Thursday the 14th!! Whoot!


---


My children are boycotting naps. This is day numero dos in said boycott, and I am going CRAZY. My boys need their naps. I need their naps.


Today they acted like demon's spawn with all of the tantruming, eyeglass throwing, screaming, and crying going on. Not that I actually know any demon's spawn to compare the boys to (at least I don't think I do), but surely demon's spawn couldn't behave any worse.


Is this nap time revolt a stage that kids go through? Tell me it is short lived if it is!

FET #2...Or Is It #3 -- Whatever

The scan didn't go so well today. I have a rather sizeable cyst, well actually two on my right ovary. The big one is measuring 40x30 while the smaller one is only about 18x20. I was pretty certain that the cycle was doomed right then and there, but I did my blood work anyway. You know me, always the glutton for more punishment.

Imagine my surprise when I got the call today that we are on!! Whoot!! My E2 was only 28.3, which means that the cysts are not producing estrogen so I can start the cycle.

Jeez. My adrenaline is flowing man. I hate it when the clinic calls late...it never means good news. Whew.

Anyway, I start delestrogen tonight and Thursday. I go back on Sunday for my next scan and blood work.

We are on, Baby. 2010 is going to be the year!

Maybe this should replace my Perfect Monday Moment! (check below for a cute video of Sh.awn)

Perfect Moment Monday - Hello!

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Sh.awn is in this stage where he makes everything, and I do mean everything, into an imaginary phone so he can say, "Hello." One of his make believe favorites is his toothbrush. He'll always try to answer it several times before he gets down to the business at hand and brushes his teeth.

All along we've told him that it is not a phone, it's a toothbrush when he starts his routine, so he knows what he's doing. He does it anyway, and it never fails to make me smile. (hm. could this be why he continues?) His response is to wait for a bit before he whispers a quick hello. It is too funny because it is almost like he's talking to someone he's not supposed to be talking to.

We finally caught him in action this weekend...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Did you catch the quick hello when Is.aac started to tell him it wasn't a phone? This kid is a riot.

Go here to see other Perfect Moment Monday posts.

Wow, What A Christmas!

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and fun. For us here, I think this Christmas holiday will go down in the record books as one of the "bestest" ever. :-)

I am not sure how we managed it, but we were able to get the right combination of spending time with friends, just us, and the whole family. The boys soaked up the attention and were absolute stars everywhere we went.

On Wednesday, I went to my sisterfriend's house to make tamales. We had a blast spreading the masa (dough), filling the tamales with yummy goodies, and talking. The men folk came over in the evening and we feasted on our tasty accomplishment. The boys even liked them and mooched tamales from everyone they could find to give them some, probably because I wasn't the one to actually make all the ingredients! In case you're wondering, yes they had their own tamales to devour before they started the mooching.

Thursday was spent as a relaxing day together as a family. Is.aac had to work half the day, so the boys and I hung out and made merry by ourselves. We played outside and made a mess with play-doh. Good times. When daddy came home, we packed up the boys to go look at Christmas lights.

What's that, mommy?

Let's go over there, daddy!

Quit smiling! Let's get back to the lights!

That was fun!

They were fascinated with all the people around and loved, loved, loved the lights. I don't think either boys stopped talking the entire time we were out. The funniest part was how they told the lights "Goodbye, lights!" all the way to the car (and home, actually).

The boys are in a fun stage of knowing what to do with a present, but they don't have the expectation that there should actually be presents to open. That made Friday even more fun for me because they weren't expecting anything to be out of the ordinary. Their expressions of pure and utter delight as they entered our living room to see that a toy store had somehow exploded everywhere was almost worth every bit of everything we have been through in their lives. It definitely made it a day to remember.

What's this? (He swears they are spiders. I can't seem to break him of that, no matter how often I tell him they are caterpillars.)

Unwrapping our presents... (Ignore the big blond person in the background with the not-so-matching outfit-whoops!)

An airplane!

A remote! (And no, he wasn't fooled. The real kind is by far better.)

Sitting at our new table...

Reading a new book...

Looking at my picture album. (I made a book for each of them that is filled with important moments from their lives and family members. He's telling me there is a pumpkin right here.)

Once we finished opening gifts at our house, we headed to grandma's house where we did more of the same. I'll spare you the pictures except for this one...

Sh.awnie on his big boy bike. He rides that thing like a champ!

Doesn't he look great on that thing?

We ate like pigs, played Wii with the family, and just hung out together. Ah, it was just a perfect day. :-)

I do have to say, though, that I have reached a point now where I am completely exhausted. I am ready to get back to our regular normal routine.

---

Speaking of which, AF decided to show this morning, a full eight days overdue. I am off for my scan and blood work tomorrow at 8:15. This is the cycle, right? Right.

Perfect Moment Monday - I'll Have What He's Having

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

I couldn't resist. This is my perfect moment of the weekend. I've dubbed it "I'll Have What He's Having," alternately known as "Goldfish!" Enjoy. :-)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Man, I love my boys.

Click here for more Perfect Moments.

Getting to Know You Meme - Christmas Edition

It's that ICLW time again. Welcome everyone! Letting the commenting commence.

---

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire post. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then post this on your blog.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper with pretty bows

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, although they make me sneeze

3. When do you put up the tree? whenever I can get to it. This year we got it the first week of December. It took me 7 days before I got around to decorating it.

4. When do you take the tree down? two or three days after Christmas, or whenever the mood strikes

5. Do you like eggnog? yuck

6. Favorite gift received as a child? easy bake oven. I totally loved that thing.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Is.aac

8. Easiest person to buy for? my boys were easy. I think I over did it. Oops! :-)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? well, I will mail Christmas cards...someday...

11. Worst Christmas ever? Christmas 2007 was not my favorite (boys were in the hospital). Nor was 2006 (had a miscarriage over the Christmas weekend. :-( )

12. Favorite Christmas Movie(s)? I like Elf and Love Actually

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? doesn't matter, because it is never soon enough!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? YES... of course, but not very often

15 .Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate kiss cookies...mmmm....

16. Lights on the tree? yep. multi-colored

17. Favorite Christmas song? teaching the boys "Jingle Bells" so that is a sweet one this year

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home and go to my mom's

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? yep. :-)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Continuous Christmas music everywhere

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? silver

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I am open to pretty much anything. Mostly.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a new year full of good health for my fam (and maybe a little girl.....)

Now it's your turn. If you play, please leave me the link so I can read your answers.

My Year in Review According to Facebook

I saw this on Kym's and Kristin's blogs and thought I'd post my results, too. Actually, I did this twice and found that it chose different updates for each one. This is the one that I liked better. :-) It is funny that it mentions sleep on more than a few occasions. I do love my sleep! (Do I really talk about sleep that much? Hm.)

If you want to do your own, check out My Year In Status on Facebook. If you decide to join in the fun, let me know and then post your link over at Kym's for her.

Speaking of FB, I have connected with quite a few of you through email, but if you are a regular reader and would like to be friends, send me an email and let me know. I'd love to connect with you, too! (unless you are some freak or something)

Tonight We Celebrated!

Sh.awnie crawled on all fours with his butt IN THE AIR (officially not an army crawl!) tonight. It is so sweet to watch him. My heart just swells with pride when I see him crawl!

But that isn't why we celebrated.

Oh, no. We celebrated something much bigger that my little guy accomplished.

He PULLED HIMSELF INTO A STAND all by himself! (While he's been able to pull himself up from a sitting position or by holding someone's hand for a long time now, he's never done it all on his own because his right arm is not as strong as his left. Until tonight that is!) And he did it not once. Not twice. Not even three times! He did it 4 FREAKING times in about an hour!!!

OMG, I am so excited!

The first time, I was in the other room. I heard him yelling and ran out to see what was wrong. There he was, standing at the baby gate with this shit eating grin on his face. See, even he knew what he did was fantastic! I prompting called Is.aac and my mom to gush the news.

Is.aac came home a little bit after that. He took Ja.son into the other room to change his diaper. I was busy in the kitchen. I heard the same yelling and went running to find a smiling Sh.awn again standing at the gate.

I got to watch the third and fourth times. All I can say is that he is an Amazing child. Every single day he keeps reminding me that "Every little thing gonna be alright."

All I have to do is have faith and be patient. :-)

Around the World in 80 Blogs - Southern California

Have you ever wondered where different bloggers live? I mean, we learn so much about each other through our blogs, that it just seems like a natural extension to wonder about the different locations people describe. Well, it is a natural extension for me. :-)

Shannon, at Everyday Stranger, also had this question. As she put it, "It sounds strange, but this web thing, it connects us all and yet we’re all so different in our environments..." She put a call out for her blog readers to participate, so I thought I'd jump on the band wagon and give it a whirl.

I have to admit that I am not confident enough to tell exactly where I live, but I think it will be okay to share some details with all of you.

Anyway, here it goes...

---

Southern California

Let me start by saying that I love where I live. I grew up here and have chosen to remain here. (and not just because my mother said I had to--which she did, but I would have stayed anyway) The weather here is consistently nice (rain becomes "Breaking News!" on the local news channels) and warm.

I live in the largest city in my county in terms of population, with somewhere around 200,000 people. We have several malls within a short driving distance and are still close enough to the big city of angels to make short trips there if we need. My city is a unique place because we have two large military bases, a commercial port, and a small airport very close to us. Plus, my city is considered an important agricultural center! Where else can you find that kind of diversity I ask you?

My house is pretty much centered in all of the activity. Let me give you a little tour:

Two miles south of my house will find you at one of our city's beaches.

That is some kind of fishing boat, I think, out there in the distance. I suppose, technically, that this beach would be part of the neighboring, much smaller city, but this is the beach that we went to as I grew up. As my mother always says, "It's close enough for government work."

Here is a shot that shows a bit of our pier. It looks like people are fishing out there, too. Crazy people. It was freaking cold out there! I do believe it was in the 60's! I had to wear my scarf. Ahem.

Our city's port is located just to the right of this picture.

---

Leave the beach and head north about a mile (about half way between the beach and my house), and you'll find the entrance to one of our military bases. This picture is of the visitor's center just outside the gate.

This shot is of the gate leading into the base and shows the stop lights inside the base itself. I couldn't get a better picture without getting out of my car. At least you can see the nifty "warning" sign posted just before you enter the gate. Anyway, this is where most of my best friends lived while I was growing up. They'd stay for a few years and then be transferred to another base. Boo. My dad also worked on this base for several years before he retired.

---

Head about a mile west of my house, and you'll find one of our harbors, which is surrounded by million dollar homes. (I do not live in one of those million dollars homes, but I do like to admire them from afar.) Actually, this harbor has a quaint little outdoor area with tables and seating for lounging outside and watching the boats come and go.

---

Approximately a half a mile north from my house is our local airport. It is pretty small and only does a small amount of commuter flights.

Also north of my house is one of the many fields surrounding my area. I have no idea what is growing here right now, but all of the green growth is pretty. We are "known" for our strawberry and lima bean fields.

Being this close to so many fields is great because there is always the opportunity to purchase just about whatever veggie or fruit item you can think of at one of the numerous fruit stands.

I added this picture of the fields because it shows the mountains to the north of us. I wish I would have had my camera with me last week, because these mountains were covered with snow. It was beautiful. It amazes me that we are within a short drive to both the beach and the snow!

With the presence of both military bases and numerous agricultural fields all around us, it is not uncommon to see military tanks being hauled down the road while waiting at one stop light and then have follow a tractor straight from a field a few miles later!

---

To the east of my house is more fields, several large industrial plants, and the freeways.

---

I am a California girl through and through, although I rarely go to any of the beautiful beaches that are within a mile of my house. I hate to admit it, but the beach is way too cold for me. I start to freeze when the weather gets to be anything lower than 70 degrees. :-)

---

Head on over here to learn a bit about where other bloggers live. Plus, you'd make my day if you participate, too. (Come on. I am dying of curiosity!)

Perfect Moment Monday - It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

Imagine my surprise when today my darling duo slept in until...wait for it...10:15 am! Plus, it was only because my husband so rudely woke us up that we got up at that time. I have to tell you that it was pure heaven. Sleep, I have missed you so. Anyway, I figured that this was a good omen--it must mean that today is the day to go see Santa!

One bruised eye (mine) and a bloody lip later (Ja.son's), and I still wasn't deterred. I just figured that they needed a short little nap as a pick me up. You know, because sleep makes everything better. (It sure worked for me today.)

Only Ja.son wouldn't nap. And because Ja.son wouldn't nap, Sh.awn couldn't nap. Sigh.

But, I still wasn't deterred.

And I am so glad I wasn't.

The mall gods parted the sea of cars and let us find a parking space without having to drive around for hours. Seriously, we just pull into a prime slot as we drove into the parking lot. When does that ever happen?

Then, as we entered the dreaded mall, people sort of drifted out of our path and we were able to make a beeline to Santa's village. Not only that, but they must have known we were coming because I swear there wasn't a single person in line in front of us. It was sweet!

As we walked up, we stood there and admired the big man in red. The boys called to him and said hi. Santa waved at them and told them to come on over. The boys were excited about sitting on Santa's lap. We practiced smiling and saying cheese. We were primed and ready...

...until we got there.

Then their little faces looked like this...

Jeez, the excitement and joy was written all over their faces.

Don't worry about Sh.awn. He stopped crying immediately, once we took him off of Santa's lap. Then he resumed his continuous serenade of "Hi!" to Santa as we walked away. Sigh.

I think they had a good time, though, even with the tears, because they talked about Santa all the way home.

:-)

It is amazing to me to see them on Santa's lap this year. They are growing so fast! Here's a little flashback to last year's Santa visit so you can see what I mean...

Click here to see what others are sharing. Feel free to participate yourself!

What She Said...

Some of you may have heard that Michelle Duggar had her 19th baby yesterday. Little Josie, a 25 weeker, was 1 lb 6 oz at birth. I read that news blip last night and my heart sank. No matter what I think about their life style or the number of children they've brought into the world (can we say crazy?), now I have an enormous soft place in my heart for their family and their little daughter.

The days ahead will be rocky and painful, and I so, so, so feel for them. I hate that yet another baby was born far too early.

Trish, from Fertile Hope, had a beautiful post about this very topic and says it much more eloquently than I ever could. Stop by and give it a read. It will definitely make you think.

Bonding

***Edited to add: This was my contribution to the 2009 Blog Cross Pollination was originally posted on Stirrup Queens on December 9, 2009. (How cool is that?! I was like sort of famous for a day!)

---

When I first was told that I’d be having twins, I have to admit I fantasized about the relationship the two of them would have. I envisioned two little toddlers who’d want to spend every waking moment together. They’d play together and get along famously. Boy, was I sorely mistaken. For whatever reason, S and J have acted less like the way I expected twins to behave and more like competitive, out-for-blood brothers.

While they were babies, I told myself that their lack of closeness was because they had spent so much of their early months apart. I overlooked the fact that each saw the other as nothing more than an obstacle to climb over or from which to take a coveted toy. The screaming fits and crying jags that erupted in this house over the simplest of things were enough to make your ears bleed on a regular basis. What one had, the other wanted. If one was in my lap, the other literally tried to rip the first out it in order to take his place. It was never ending.

I tried to tell myself, the bond was there. I just needed to be patient. But, I have to admit that it was getting harder and harder to hold on to the hope.

Occasionally I saw glimmers of the possibilities. There were the times that S was so sick in the hospital. J was never quite himself until the moment S started to feel the tiniest bit better. As S improved, J seemed to snap out of his own funk at exactly the same time. And, there was also their annoying habit of tag teaming their over tired parents at bed/nap time. One would fuss for what seemed like forever. When he would finally quiet and go to sleep, his brother would take the reins and start fussing in his place. Back and forth they’d go until they had driven us both crazy with frustration. Something was happening between the two of them. So what if their desire to drive us mad was the glue that stuck them together, right? At least it was something.

S and J have just turned two, and the bond I’ve dreamt about is finally emerging. One is no longer always the rival of the other. Dare I say it? Playing together has actually been seen around this place as of late.

Now, instead of stealing a toy from his brother, J will offer S a replacement so they can trade. S is honing his comedic abilities and tries as hard as he can to get a good laugh from J. Little examples of how much they love each other are witnessed all the time now.

It makes my heart sing to see the two of them together enjoying each other’s company.

This weekend, the boys were in their cribs in their bedroom. S was frustrated and wanted to get out of bed. It was still a little early, so I ignored him and tried to get a little more sleep instead. (A girl’s got to dream!). Over the monitor I could hear the two of them talking. J tried to comfort S and told him several times “no cry.” S calmed down some. Soon after, I heard the first “Boo!” For the next seven minutes they played peek-a-boo. They laughed and giggled as they took turns scaring the other. It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen and heard.

All was right in the world.

It took that moment before it hit me. S and J are close. There is a strong bond between them. I need to stop worrying about their relationship resembling something from my head and let them figure out how it will look.

You know what?

It now looks like they are doing a fine job all on their own.

Brought To You By The Great Blog Cross Pollination - A Guest Post!

C-- informed me that her brother got in an argument at school with his friend, but no one got in trouble with the teacher. "What was the fight about?" I asked, even though we are trying to curb the tattling instinct.

"Whose dad knew more about Star Wars. I ended the fight. I told the boys, 'both daddies just know what they know'."

Yoda says, "Very smart girl, you are. Yes, hmmm."

*******

During my second year of teaching middle school, I found the Love and Logic series, which many people know from the foster care system if they're in the United States. J-- picked up the book one day, and immediately cracked up over the opening story, retitling the series "Bummer!"

In the story, a boy lashes out at his teacher and is sent to the principal. The principal asks the boy what happened and the boy angrily puts all the blame on the teacher as he states his side. The principal responds: "bummer!" and walks away. He returns and asks the same question, not feeding the child the answer and instead allowing the child to come to a place of accepting responsibility for his actions by simply leaving space for the child to calm down and come to that responsibility on his own. Each time, the boy accepts a bit more responsibility for his part in the argument, and the principal responds with the word "bummer!" until he gets to the final moment of acceptance and problem-solving.

The point is to allow kids to solve their own problems rather than feeding them the answer. By making them reflect on their behaviour and do the work, they internalize problem-solving techniques and learn to control their own behaviour rather than have it come externally. The flip side is giving kids a lot of responsibilities and choices, making them see that their voice counts. Expectations are clear, boundaries set, and there are only consequences--no punishments.

It worked in the classroom and it now works in our house. The twins are learning how to budget time, take responsibility for their actions, and take pride in their accomplishments. And, apparently, it also helps in solving Star Wars-related arguments on the playground.

*******

One day, a little boy who had been tantruming in his classroom was brought to J--'s office as the ultimate consequence. He had skipped right up the adult ladder past the principal's office because this was his 1000th offense.

Because I'm the parent who is primarily at home with the twins, I get to utilize the philosophy from morning until night, every single day. I also used it in the classroom for six years. Oh, and I also read the book beyond the initial "bummer!" story.

J-- believes in the philosophy and he puts it in practice, but the twins know his weak spots, know how to beat the system. Ultimately, it was helping this other child through his tantrum that brought him over to the light side of the Force.

The boy gave his explanation for the tantrum and J-- responded with the equivalent of "bummer!," sitting back in his swivel chair and asking the boy open-ended questions to get him both calm and accepting responsibility for what had happened. By the end of the conversation, my Obi-Wan Kenobi had brought the boy back to happiness and he didn't want to leave his office.

J-- came home elated. "It's like I was waving my hand in front of his face saying 'this is not the tantrum you're looking for'."

Oh, I think it's quite clear who knows more about Star Wars by now...

----

Did you figure out who the mystery blogger is? Leave a comment with your guess and head over here to see if you got it right. Plus, there you can read my post, too.

----

Click here for the master list of all the participants in "The Great Blog Cross Pollination 2009." Ten bonus points to anyone who can get all of them correct!

I Am All Tingly With Excitement

In a few short hours, I am going to be Cross Pollinated. Well, I won't be cross pollinated, because that sounds a little dirty and all, but rather my blog will be cross pollinated with a guest post from a very cool blogger! Whoot!

I am totally excited!

This is all a part of Geohde's brain child "The Great Blog Cross Pollination." She describes it this way:

It’s [The Great Blog Cross Pollination] open to EVERYBODY in the ALI community, and divided into two groups of blogs, those that reference children (hereon known as ‘avec’) and those that do not (the ladies and gents of ’sans’). The idea is to swap posts for one day with a matched blogger so that you BOTH meet new bloggers and everybody finds new readers. Old blogs, new blogs, infertility, loss, pregnancy and parenting blogs (and anybody else I haven’t covered) are more than welcome.

During a moment of insanity, I signed up. Once I came to, I realized that holy crap, a whole lot of people I don't know will be reading my actual thoughts. Whoa. Talk about putting myself in a panic!

But, I survived, as I always seem to do. **cue "I'm a survivor,I'm not gonna give up" music in the background** Of course, I have to admit that this was after a pep talk from my mother who reminded me of my moto when I am trying to do things around the house-- "Aren't you the person who tells me, 'I can do anything when I need to,'" she says. Sigh. That's totally out of context. When I say shit like that I am talking about putting together furniture or tiling a wall, not writing! Jeez. Anyway, I did it, and I am very proud of myself. I even had some fun emailing my matched blogger. :-)

Check back later to read the guest post. You're going to love it! Once you guess who the post was written by (and leave a comment with your guess), go over to that person's blog (don't worry, there will be a link) to see what I wrote for his or hers.

It's that simple!

Until then, you can click here to see a list of all the wonderful bloggers participating in the fun. :-)

I've Earned My Medal Thank You Very Much

I cleaned all night Friday and most of Saturday morning to get ready for the in-laws. They arrived thirty minutes late and stayed for eight full hours. EightfullohmygodIamdyingherewhycan'tthesepeoplejusttakeahintandleavehours.

My nice, spotless house stayed so for less than a half an hour due to an out of control three year old niece who was allowed to do whatever she wanted while she was here unless we were there to stop her. There were eight other adults, and no one really said a word to her about the distruction she was causing the entire time.

The boys' room - toys were strewn everywhere.

The living room - ketchup on the couch (from an adult) and left in a general state of disarray.

The kitchen - crap all over the floor.

I was really good and only cringed once, twice tops, when Is.aac's mom told the boys to call her "grandma." Chalk one up for the boys because they never said it to her. hehe. They know the word, but apparently they've reserved it for my mom only. Can't say that I blame them. They've seen Is.aac's mom no more than a handful of times (and she lives a mile away), which means they don't really know her.

I mustn't forget the "sweet" little conversation my niece had with my boys about how Halloween was the work of Satan and how she loves Jehovah, didn't they. The adults all thought it was funny and laughed at how cute it was. To me, it was awkward and made my skin crawl. Thank God the boys didn't know what she was talking about. (Anyone else see how this might become a problem as the kids age? It's going to be a lot of fun.)

Sigh.

After some subtle and then not so subtle cues that the hosts were freaking tired people, so leave already, they left at 11:30 pm. There were threats to visit again soon, but I am not all that worried yet. I think it had been at least 6 months since we saw most of them last. I figure we've got a good six months before we see them again.

My husband is pleased he was able to show off his beautiful boys to his family. The boys were excited to play with another little kid, even if she did cry ten times more often than they did. (Which was often, like any time the boys touched one of their own toys that she wanted to play with!) Is.aac and the boys enjoyed themselves, and I even managed to have a few moments of fun. So, I suppose all is well in the world.

But, I will be taking that medal now. I say it is official. I am the World's Best Wife. Ahem.

---

Oh, the Christmas decorations are sitting in the kitchen just waiting to be put out. We went and picked out a Christmas tree today, so it's already up and ready to be decorated tomorrow. :-)