That's Hot

There is nothing more attractive to me than my handyman husband. I grew up in a family that wasn't very "fix it" friendly. I know that they probably could but my father or mother usually paid someone to fix broken things or bought new ones. So, when the washer broke down....that was my first thought. Tim got right on it though and found out what part needed to be replaced, how much it was, and how to do it. The next morning, he went out fishing(boo) and then went and picked up the needed part to fix my machine(yay!). He came home and fixed it.....it only took about an hour or less and I had a working machine. The pile of humongous stinky clothing has been liberated and I will not have to heft it all to a mat. My knight in shining coveralls!!!

Murphy's Law

All the clothes in the house are pretty much dirty....it is time once again to have to great washing of the clothes day begin. I have been putting it off since the holiday was upon me because I didn't want the huge pile of clothes that inevitably ends up on my couch for a week tp appear. So today, I undertake the daunting task. One load goes through and into the dryer.....I start a new load and then leave to go run a few errands with the kids. I get back and look to start a new load. I start to grab the washed clothing to put them in the dryer and they are still WAY wet. So, I try to put them through the spin cycle once more. It's not spinning......try it again. IT'S NOT SPINNING!!! Argh! My washer went KAPUT! Tim looked at it, which entails him laying it on it's side, dumping any reserve water out onto my floor in a mini version of the great flood. And then proceeds to tell me that the belt is burnt out and needs to be replaced. He says he can do it and it will only cost us 4.95 for the part and 4.00 to ship it to us. How fast it will get here and how long it will take for him to get said part onto the washer and into working order is a whole 'nother story. So, in the meantime, I have to schlep all my laundry to a laundry mat with the no extra money that I have since the holiday broke us. BUT on the bright side, at least I don't have to buy a whole new washer......At least not for the moment......I'll let you know.

Christmas Morning Loot

Christmas

It was a nice, quiet and semi-sweaty Christmas. Unlike our friends and most of our family, we were in 70 degree weather for Christmas and the next day it was 78.....we slept with the A/C on.....crazy I know. Laurel was worried that Santa wouldn't show up cause it wasn't snowing in TX. Anyhow, Christmas eve, we went to a friend's house, Diana Reichert, and had a nice turkey dinner. She had invited a few families. It was a lot of fun to interact with so many kids even if they weren't related to me. We even got to act out the nativity story and then Diana, who is sweet beyond words, gave everyone some type of nativity present. Laurel got a felt board, Connor and Gavin got their own ornaments and Tim and I got a pretty one from Willow Tree(which just happens to be a favorite thing of mine). The only down fall is that my camera went on the blitz and wouldn't take any pictures(just a few video clips) so I will have to wait until Diana gives me copies of the ones I took with her camera. It was a fun night and filled in the little aching space that I had from wanting to be with my family and in the midst of all that beloved chaos. We came home and Tim was nice enough to let the kids open 2 presents each. One was the prerequisite pair of new pj's and the other was whatever they wanted to pick. Laurel opened a gift from a neighbor-it was a teddy bear, Gavin opened one from Tim and I-it was a McFarlane Dragon, and Connor opened a gift from Colleen-it was an action figure from Ironman.



The next morning, we were awoken at about 7am by our kids and we stumbled down to our living room to happily rip into all of the fun things that Santa had left for us. Santa leaves each child their very own sack full of toys in our family. Connor's big gift this year was a remote controlled Walle. He also got a cool tin robot from Grandmama that he adored. Gavin really lucked out and was gifted with a Nintendo DS lite and 2 games. And he hit Bakugan pay dirt....he ended up with about 16 altogether. Laurel got her favorite(for now) Barbie, Diamond Castle Princess, who sings songs when you press her hand....she seems to know them all already and sings them loudly every time. She also got her very own Disney Princess Laptop(the fake kind with games loaded on it) She takes her "puter" everywhere. It is very cute. They all got lots of knick knacks in their stockings too. We will have little pieces galore for the next couple of months. I then snuck back upstairs and slept for another couple of hours because for Christmas I got a cold. Fun for everyone....Ha.





That night we had our neighbors come over and share a Christmas dinner. The Ditzlers are a fun family with 3 boys ages 10,6, and 4. We had a nice time talking and just hanging out.
The next morning, I slept in and refused to get out of my pj's. In fact, I napped and ate junk food most of the day and then rotted my brain out watching fun TV movies. The kids ran in and out of the house, playing with all the neighborhood kids and showing off all their new toys and seeing what all the other kids got. The holiday season was a good one. And it could have only been better if we could have spent it with family.

Night Lights

Last night we went to Nature in Lights(or something like that). It is a huge light display that they have set up at Belton lake here near post. You pay $5 and then drive through all the lights. It was fun to see and the kids got a big kick out of it. What did Tim think? He said he was glad that gas was cheap seeing how it took us almost 2 hours to do it due to traffic. I had fun taking pictures and trying my hand at being artistic. None of pictures that I took were in focus....which was on purpose. Anyhow, here are a few of my favorites.....

Traditions

I often tease Tim that he grew up doing Christmas the wrong way and so I am now forced to do it wrong too. It has been hard for me to let go of the traditions of my childhood and it was made even harder since Tim doesn't seem to have any firm Metcalf ones to bring to the table. So it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started to try to blend new ones for our little family.....and it is still evolving. So tonight, it got me thinking....where did my Hubler traditions come from. My father came over from Switzerland when he was of college age so the Christmas things I did mostly came from his culture. I looked up Swiss Christmas and here are a few things I found out(there were more but these are what stood out to me):
On Dec. 5, at dusk, they celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas. In some villages,a procession of "lifeltrager' wearing gigantic illuminated lanterns in the shape of a Bishop's mitre on their heads walk the streets. The children will put out their shoes and the next morning they are filled with treats.
On the 6th of Dec., as further part of the Feast, Samichlaus, who is accompanied by a character called Schmutzli, go from house to house. They bring out a book telling if the children have been good or bad and consult it. The naughty children are threatened by Schmutzli (or "dirty guy") who tells them that he'll throw them in a sack and bring them to the Black Forest where he will drown them. The children will sing or recite a poem to make up for being bad and then they will have a chance to reach into the sack that Samichlaus carries and get oranges, chocolates and nuts.

It is also tradition to make grittibanz on this day. That is a sweet bread that they decorate with currants and almonds and shape to look like little men. It is said to represent Santa.


The week before Christmas, children dress up and visit homes with small gifts. Bell ringing has become a tradition, and each village competes with the next when calling people to midnight mass. They try to see who can ring the bells the loudest. After the service, families gather to share huge homemade doughnuts called Ringli and hot chocolate.
Traditionally, the tree isn't put up or decorated until Dec. 24th. They put candles on the tree and light them. Christmas carols are sung. If the family is religious, the read the the nativity story from the Bible. And then they open gifts from one another. The tree is left up until Jan. 2 to ensure good luck in the new year.
As a kid, we did the 12 days of Christmas a few times for families. That was a rush as a kid. Leaving a present on some one's doorstep and then running away....way an exciting experience. Then trying to keep it secret when we saw that person later. Ha. Good times. We also would go to a place called Candy cane Lane in PG. That is a neighborhood where everyone decorates their lawns and houses to the hilt. It was always a highlight for me. There is just something about seeing the glow of lights that decorate a house. So growing up, I did the whole Christmas eve thing. We all got together that night and had a fun dinner of finger foods that we loved but never really got to eat during the year......this may have been my mom's way of getting out of making a big Christmas dinner(LOL). We would then gather around my mother's piano and sing carols. Then we would read the Christmas story and if there were enough small children around we would act it out....even going so far as to dress up for it.

The came the best part.....we got to open all our family gifts to one another. After all that chaos was done, my mom would make us arrange all our gifts into a consolidated pile that would then be marked as our spot. We weren't allowed to take anything new to our rooms that night. "Santa" wanted to be able to see everything that we had been given. That night he would come and leave us more gifts and a stocking so in the morning we would awaken at the crack of dawn, we would find more gifts to tear into. It was great!
So with my kids, I have tried to blend a few of my childhood traditions in where I can. We hunt out the best lighted and decorated neighborhoods, we sing Christmas carols and read the nativity story. We also read another special book a few nights before called One Wintry Night. It is a gorgeous illustrated book with a spiritual message. Tim won't bend when it comes to the opening of gifts on Christmas eve so I have tried to make sure that there is a marked difference between their family gifts and Santa gifts. Santa leaves each person their very own sack full of presents. But after reading up on my Swiss heritage, I am sure to incorporate Ringli and Grittibanz next year. Plus, Tim will be in Iraq next year so we will get to do Christmas the "right" way anyhow. LOL. Merry Christmas to you all. Much love, Hugs and Kisses!!

Look! I am a Christmas tree

Carols and "The Season"

The kids are ready for Christmas and I still need about another extra week. And since school let out today for our winter break, you can forget about getting about 1/2 the stuff you need to get done in a timely manner. Oh well....it will just have to be good enough as is. Speaking of the last day of school, we gave the kids teacher's their presents today. I had fun making wreaths for them and wanted to share with you all how they turned out. They went over big. It is nice to have your ideas appreciated.



We have done some of the fun stuff already, though. We did some baking the other night. The kids helped to lick the spoons and bowls, but there is still a few more items that I want to make before it really feels like Christmas to me. We went to see this crazy house in town that is decorated with lights to the hilt. They were way impressed and we found out that a couple of days later there was going to be an open house there too. They decorate like crazy inside too and were going to have Santa come and talk to the kids. Of course we had to go back and see the mystery of what the inside would look like. So the night of the open house, the kids kept bugging me and asking: "is it time yet?". Finally, I pulled it together and ushered them to the car. We got to the house and with baited breath entered the home. And realized that we needed to hold our breath. It was decorated to the hilt, but it stunk so bad of cat urine that we were out of there in record time! We are going to go see the special lights display that they do here at the recreational lake a couple of light from now. Hopefully they are not all "lighted" out by then. It is one of my favorite things about Christmas....seeing the displays that people create on their homes with lights and props.
The other fun thing is that every time the door is knocked on, Laurel runs to it hoping that there will be a package. In the chance that there is one and there are presents in it, she insists that it is NOW Christmas and we should open everything right away. Her tactic hasn't worked yet, but not from lack of trying. Because of her extreme excitement, I haven't put any gifts under our tree.....I am just too afraid that she will rip into them prematurely.
So to wrap this blog up, I thought that I would add a "carol" that I re-wrote that words to. You would sing this song to the tune of "Stars were Gleaming" from the Primary songbook:

Eyes were streaming, children screaming,
And their voice was high and shrill,
Mother's story, long and gory,
Retail nightmares, lists to fill,
Hand is stinging, Ears are ringing,
Curses flinging, Baby clinging,
Heavens, is it Christmas still?

Okay so it isn't all as bad as that, but sometimes it is easy to forget the "reason for the season" with all the "I want"'s and stress that we impose on ourselves this time of year. Hope that the song above it just a parody and not a true to life experience to any and all that read my blog. Much love to you all!

Happy Birthday to Tim

Happy Birthday to my Hubby! He turned 42 on the 17th. It was a bad day at work so he was happy to come home to a meal ready to eat, cards to open, big hugs from me and the children, and his favorite cake, German Chocolate. Connor asked how old he was now and when I told him, he exclaimed in horror" Dad is an OLD man now!" I laughed and told him that it wasn't that old. But Tim contends that being in the Army has made him feel old some days so it was no biggie to hear Connor say that.

Laurel's Birthday

I just wanted to put a little blurb about Laurel's birthday. She had a fun one with 3 of her friends and a little neighbor boy who hijacked his way in. I didn't have to heart to kick him out. He kept asking where the pinata was and I told him we weren't having one. For someone who wasn't invited until the last minute he was quite the critic. He even asked for a gift bag at the end and I had to explain that I only had 3 girly bags.....I almost expected him to ask for one. Anyhow, my friend, Diana made the cake and Laurel LOVED it. She asked for a Barbie princess cake with a dress with pink and white flowers with butterflies. What do you think? Laurel is already planning on her next birthday theme and has invited some people WAY in advance. I have to keep telling parents that there is no party for at least another year. Ha. My baby is now 5!!!

Unintentional Hiatus

Christmas 2005

My sister in law wrote me an email the other day and asked if I was still doing my blog. And that is when I realized that I hadn't gotten on here for too long. So this may get long winded. If it does, I am sorry and I hope that it isn't boring for you to read.
So what's been happening since I least wrote.....Laurel cut her hair again! I so tired of that and told her that if she does it again I am going to shave her head. I would rather have her looking like a chemo patient than to have a semi mullet thing happening. I am able to hid it for the most part, but I am STILL annoyed with it and it has been at least 2 weeks ago that it happened.
My sister came to visit right before Thanksgiving. It was so fun to have her come!! We did a lot of shopping and eating out to lunch. She also came just in time for Twilight to come to theaters. We went to the midnight showing the night before it officially came out. I am glad that I went that night. You could feel all the excitement and anticipation from all the teens and rabid Twilight fans radiating out from all sides. I loved the series so I was excited to see the movie. Alas, as it is always so, the book was way better than the movie. I did have a fun time watching it and it was an okay movie, but the script was weak and so was some of the directing. I hope since they have a better budget for the next movie that they will make more of an effort and make a movie worth making. I felt that this one was basically only for the fans of the book. I wonder if people who haven't read the book would like it (or understand it all) as much. One of my friends who saw it said that she was so excited to finally see Edward in the sun and when she finally did, he just looked sweaty. Ha. I thought that was funny.
My big news(or maybe not so big since I alluded to it in a post a few back) is that I am now officially a Homeschooling parent. I prayed really hard about it and that was the answer that I got. It makes sense for me right now to do this. In the long run, I really feel like it will benefit Connor to be home with me and get some good, intense, one on one teaching. I don't plan to do it for more than a year or two, as of now. During this winter break, I will be refining and organizing what I will be doing with him. I am in a bit of shock since I never thought that I would have the patience to do this, to even want to attempt this.I is amazing how things can change when the circumstances arrange themselves just so. I could have gone to the mattresses with the school, but in the end, I didn't want to put my energy toward that. I am burnt out on fighting. I am going to leave that to another parent.......I may even have to be that parent later on. But I felt my energy was better spent on getting him more up to speed now so there will be NO question that resource classes are where he should be later. The school says that he is functioning at an academic level of 3rd grade......if that is the case, it has been that way for about 3 years now. I have got to wonder why he hasn't progressed more. So, I am removing some of his daily anxieties and stresses and teaching him here. We are getting into a homeschooling group with whom we will meet with once a week. He will also be taking piano lessons, working out daily with me, and at least once a week doing something active like swimming class or rock climbing. It will also give me a chance to teach him practical uses of what he is learning and to see where he excels so that I can steer him that way in his future schooling.
So Christmas is coming up.....It has managed to sneak up on me faster that I was ready for it. There is so much that I need to still do. I am annoyed at Connor and Laurel because they keep changing what they "really want from Santa"....I started telling them that it was too late to change their minds. Connor told me it wasn't because he has just talked to the Santa at the mall the other day. So should I pop his bubble or let him continue to believe?? Laurel was cute and worried the other day that Santa might not come because"it doesn't snow in TX so he won't know where to go..." I told her that he always knew where to go no matter what the weather was like. In the meantime, TX can't make up it mind....it is 32 degrees and the cold just bites through your clothes, but 2 days again it was 77 degree and on Friday it will be again. At least we are getting the FULL use of our shorts here. Screwy TX! So, I need to get my Christmas baking done, get out all my family packages, send out Christmas cards, grocery shop for Christmas dinner, finish getting the last little items for stockings and gifts.....crud, I can't write anymore! I need to get with it. Hopefully I won't go so long in between writing anymore.....