Christmas Festivies: Part 3.2

Finally getting time and getting around to posting pictures of us actually opening the presents. We all had a nice time and got some great stuff. Here are the high-lights:

opening Santa's present

opening Santa's present

The stockings. The boys had BYU football Pez candy in it.

Pickle with his spoils.

Pachman with his spoils.

Opening Dino's present. It was a shirt.

Bacon enjoying his present from mom and dad.

Bacon enjoying the ornaments. Even boxes won't stop him.

Bacon opening his present from Pickle and Pachman.

Dad opening his book about the history of BYU Football.

Playing with the wheelbarrows from Grandparents.

All their toys in the cement mixer. Also a grandparents gift.

The wheelbarrow being put to good use.

Inside: socks, toy cars, toy trains, squinkies, wrapping paper, bath toys and maybe more.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES: PART 3.1

All the presents are opened, the mess is all cleaned up and it's a new day to play and relax. Perhaps not relax but to at least have fun.  Why part 3.1 you ask? Because I don't have time to put in all the pictures and little tidbits from opening the presents but do have something funny(?) to share.  I guess funny is a debateable word.

With lots of wonderful gifts this year, 2 stand out in my mind. Background: I am still losing baby weight from Bacon and therefore clothing is somewhat of an issue at times. I own one pair of jeans, 3 loungy pants (that are not pajamas) and 2 pajama pants. Keep this in mind when you read the following story.

We were opening the last of the presents, the ones from Grandma and Grandpa Dutson.  I was sitting in the middle of the floor, holding Bacon, so all could see him via skype. Pach took off running to the bathroom.  I heard the toilet flush AND water running.  He had even remembered to wash his hands!!  I couldn't have been prouder of him...... or so I thought.  He came running back in and I grabbed him to open his present from Grandma and Grandpa.  I felt something wet on my leg and the following converstaion happened:

"Pach, did you wet your pants?"
"No mama."
"Are you sure because I feel something wet."
"Yes mama. I didn't wet my pants."
"OK."

He stands up and I look.  The entire back side of his shorts are soaked!!!

"Pachget upstairs! You did wet your pants."
He took off running and changed, as did I. There went one pair of clean pants.

FAST FORWARD TO A COUPLE HOURS LATER:

Tim was on the phone with one of his good childhood friend, Ben.  I was a few feet away on the couch holding Bacon, who was being pretty fussy.  I tried patting his back, rocking him, tickling him but alas, nothing seemed to be working.  He was just very fussy.  I even tried feeding the bottomless pit but that didn't even get him to stop fussing.  He was laying on his back across my lap as I was making one more futile attempt at making the poor little guy happy.  Finally I picked him up, with the intention of putting him in his swing, when.....I figured out why he was so unhappy.  HE HAD POOP HALF WAY UP HIS BACK!! I don't know how I didn't smell it but I didn't.  Tim quickly said good-bye to his friend to come help me clean up the poop, which ended up being a family affair.  Pach got me the wipes, while Tim got a bag to put all the wipes and diaper in and Pickle, being himself, stood over watching everyone saying, "That's gross! Bacon popped on mommy!" and then laughing hyseterically.  I looked down and there was a big wet spot on my leg.  Another pair of pants down.

I quickly cleaned Bacon up.  It was around a 20 wipes job, so pretty big.  The standard poopey diaper is usually a 2 wipes clean-up.  If it's really bad, then perhaps 3 or 4 wipes.  That should give you something to guage the grossness of this particular poop. 

I realized all the other pairs of pants (minus jeans) were dirty, pajama ones and all.  So what did I do? I wore shorts of course and was cold the rest of the day.  We did throw the poopey clothes and other stuff in the washer to wash.  And about 24 hours later, they have been re-washed (since they never made it into the dryer yesterday) and are once again sitting in the washing machine still.  Hopefully today they will make it to the dryer.  Meanwhile, I did find my 3rd pair of loungy pants and am happily wearing them!

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES PART 2: SANTA'S CHRISTMAS LETTER

Every year growing up we wrote a letter to Santa Claus and left it with a plate of cookies and carrots.  This is the first year we've done this as a family and here are some pictures from it.  The boys (Pach and Pickle) were really excited.  Bacon was just a loose canon.

The letter. Pach was so specific I had to help broaden his desires.
The two little purple blobs to the left of his name are "Miguel" and "Shu".
The 2 cars he specifically asked Santa for, from CARS 2.

All ready for Santa and the reindeer.

A picture of the VERY happy boys.

An attempt at more normal looking happy boys.

First attempt with all the boys.

The 2nd and last attempt of all 3 boys. Bacon knocked Pach over.
 Pickle wanted a turn holding Bacon but we nixed that.
Someone (Pickle) might have gotten hurt.

BLAST FROM THE PAST! GINGERBREAD HOUSES

Ok, so the post I wrote right before this was this years Gingerbread House.  We do them every year (or most) and thought I would let you all see the past ones we've done.  Mine are the crappy, ugly ones and Tim's are the amazing ones. 

2006: The first year.  I forgot to make angled pieces so I could have an angled roof.  As a result, I have a flat roof, so common in Arizona.

Tim's creation: front view complete with a pebble path,
fish pond and smoking chimney.

Top view of Tim's creation. The little green thing on the
bottom left of the picture is an army man crawling.

The say a picture is worth a thousand words.

2007:

Not sure what happened to more picutres, but this is
two story with a porch roof in red.  Overacheiver.

This is mine and the only one I really like. It was premade but I bought
all the candies. I think it turned out well.  I really like the roof!

 2009:

Front view of Tim's creation. Drive way, snow and
Christmas tree.  Snow on the roof too.

An off-center view.

The back complete with a balcony and small patio. He even put in a garden area.
That's the brown section on the bottom left of the picture.

Side view.  Such the overacheiver.

My pathetic little house. There are a couple of
snowmen and even Christmas lights this time.

2010:

This is mine. I think it turned out ok. We didn't have a lot of time and
hadn't planned much, so it was a little plain.

Tim's fun one. I used the same pattern to make both ours
but his is just more spectacular.

POLL QUESTION:

Looking back at my sad attempts at Gingerbread houses, would you ever guess I am the daughter of an amazing artist?  Feel free to leave your answer in the comment section.  My comment would be something like this: "Heck NO!! He has more artistry in his pinkly nail that I have in my entire body!! The mad skills definately skipped me!" Don't be shy.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES!!! Part 1: Gingerbread Houses

Every year we do Gingerbread Houses.  It's been a fun tradition of ours.  We have made them with friends and with family.  This year we were a little slow and lazy.  Normally we plan out, make the dough from scratch, design our house and then cut it out and bake.  Tim goes all out on his while mine are a little sad looking next to his. Oh well.  This year we just couldn't seem to get in gear, so I finally just bought a pre-cut one that came with all the candies and frosting.  Tim took charge of Bacon while I put everything together and decorated with Pach and Pickle.  They had a lot of fun and the house doesn't look to bad either.  We even had enough candy to make it look good! I wasn't sure since they kept eating it as we went.

Tim said, "You have a mad face!" I replied, "I was just concentrating!"
I think my mouth looks like my Grandma's Meyer's in this picture. 
Her little disapproval frown (or mock disapproval). 

Pach decorating his side of the roof. He kept complaining he needed
 more candies but he kept eating them!

Not sure what Pach's doing but Pickle decorating his side of the house.

Not sure what Pickle is doing but Pach is decorating his side of the house.

Pickle's side of the house but Pach's side of the roof.

The front, which we all decorated. They wanted a fancy pink door like
the picture on the box. I didn't have any fondant and didn't want to do
that much work anyway. Pach did the candy "lights" on the left side
and Pickle did the lights on the right side.

Pickle's side of the roof and Pach's side of the house.

The back of the house which we all did.
Pach did put the candy "lights" on the left side
 and Pickle did the ones on the right side.

A view of the roof. I think it looks pretty good.

JINGLE TRAIL RUN!

I really like to run.  When we moved out here I started running in races more.  There is a guy named Steve Taggert who, not only lives out here but organizes a bunch of races each year.  And the great thing about those races are: they are really close.  There are a couple at the high-school we live by, one a few miles away and others within 30 minutes of our house.  All the races are walker friendly and they are just fun!

Today was the 6th annual Jingle Trail (5K) and Santa's Little Helper (1K) runs.  I ran the 5K by myself.  I bested my last weeks time by 1 min and 18 sec.  Which was amazing because it was super windy today!!  Tim came by a bit later with the boys.  Pach and Pickle ran the Santa's Little Helper run with me.  We started out together but when it became quite clear Pach was fine running but Pickle needed some help, I told Pach to follow the person in front of him.  When we got to the track, I told him to run in the 1st lane.  And he did not deviate from that lane.  He rounded one corner and crossed the line into lane 2 and went right back into lane 1. 

Official Results:
Me (5K) 32.46 (according to my watch)
Pach (1K) 11.46
Pickle (1K) 12.00

They did a great job! We all got bells to wear on our shoes, we all got t-shirts (which they will be wearing for the next 2 years before they grow of them, possibly 3 years) and we all got bibs too!  The boys got special ribbons and a toy just for running. 

Pach, Mom and Pickle before the Santa's Little Helper Run.

Friends: L to R: Peter and Perry Thornley, no idea, and Pach and Pickle.

And we're off! We didn't hold hands the whole time.

Pach pulling away. Pickle needed some mommy help.

We're almost done! I did hold Pickle's hand most of the way. The wind was blowing him backwards.

Crossing the finish line! 11 min. 46 secs.  What a champ!

Almost there: Pickle ran in 12 min. flat

With their ribbons and reindeer toy at the end.