seriously...

Temper tantrums, however fun they may be to throw,

rarely solve whatever problem is causing them. ~Lemony Snicket

How was your Sunday?

Usually it is my favorite day of the week.

Today was...different

It may have been the worst day of Will's whole life

according to the blood curdling, body flailing, snot flying

temper tantrums he threw.

They were each about 45 minutes.

He was apparently serious about whatever he was mad about.

The first one (at the mall) was

because we put him in his stroller (rude).

He was so loud there was a group of kids who

walked by covering their ears.

And another crazy lady told him (or us, I'm not sure)

to "get some manners!"

The second was when he went to bed and

was equally dramatic.

Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~Phyllis Diller
I hope this isn't his new motto cause

if it is we are in for it.

WOW...

(please excuse our obnoxious voices and the dreaded

licked finger face wipe from his Lulu)

"WOW" was the theme of our Christmas this year.

He just learned the word a couple of days ago

but sure knows how to milk it.

I think we heard it 300 times in 48 hours.

It is quite a compliment when he is opening your gift.

We love Christmas!

I hear Santa is coming...
Visions of sugar plums danced in his head...

Christmas cookies for breakfast

Hi, cousin Essence. I like your bow...

and your shoes...

I think we're like second cousins so this shouldn't be a problem.



We had the best holiday.

We started out at the Torrone's for Christmas Eve.
We had Tapas for dinner, watched Caddyshack, hung out
with Erin and George and Mary and Fred and
watched Will open gifts (he especially loved his ball
game from George and his easel from Noni and Fred).


We then crashed the McDougall party and loved watching
Santa's route on the NORAD website, playing baseball with
Henry and Tookie, eating their bread pudding and
checking out Santa's workshop which was LOADED with gifts.


Christmas morning we went to Lulu and Bomp's house.
We opened stockings and a few gifts (including my favorite
which was a painting done for me by my Tutu), played with
new toys and ate our first breakfast.


Grandma and Grandpa T.'s house was next.
We ate our second breakfast, hung out with Will's
great grandparents, opened a couple of gifts
and Will danced to the beat of the disney Christmas village.


Home for naps was our next stop (and boy did we need it).


Chris' mom's family party started at 3:30.
We noshed on pigs in a blanket, talked about Joe and
Renee's new baby who is due in a week or so, watched the kids
play, had a fantastic dinner and did our annual gift exchange.


We ended at my parent's house for our second dinner.


It is now 10:22 and Will although EXHAUSTED is still awake.

I think the candy canes straight into his blood stream
may have been a mistake.

Chris and I are the happy, walking dead.

Hope your day was as fun as ours!

Hi, WAHHHH-nta!

Conversation on the way to see Santa...

Chris: "Will, do you want to go see Santa?"

Will: "Yaaa...wan San."

Conversation on the way home...
Chris: "Will, do you want to go see Santa again?"
Will: "nnnno"
At least the big guy in red gives out good treats...
hopefully he'll remember that next year.

sch-nouuu

It was a sch-nouuu (Will speak for snow) day at our house.

We watched Nemo (surprise, surprise),

cleaned the kitchen,

destroyed the living room with every toy we own,

had pizza for lunch,

played with dad on the computer,

broke some christmas ornaments,

played basketball in the kitchen,

did laundry,

played in the schnouuu,

napped on the couch,

read books,

made enchiladas for dinner

and hoped for lots more days like this one.

dis

He loves it when we are driving (well, Chris is driving)

and I "tickle" or softly rub his shins.

Today he started pulling up his pants to his knees,

leaning forward, pointing at his shins and

saying "dis" (this?).

After a minute on one side he would point to the

other and say "dis" so I would switch.

He would freeze in this hunched over position

as soon as I started.

After about 5 minutes of rubbing I turned around

and found him like "dis."

Oh, the power...

it was a good idea in theory

We thought it would be so fun to take Will out for his first

snow angel, snowball flight, snowman experience, today.

Boy were we wrong. It was so dang cold.

We first tried at Henry's house and they lasted maybe

3 minutes (it took 5 to get them ready)

and then again tonight at our house.

He humored us for about four minutes and

then made it very clear where he was headed.

It sounds silly to say but I hope it isn't this cold

the next time it snows?!?!

happy birthday to us...

We spent Saturday night in Seattle with friends celebrating

our thirtieth birthdays. Courtney's was the 5th.

Mine was today. And Heidi's is the 19th.

We had a great dinner but best of all I got to spend

an uninterrupted 3 or 4 hours chatting with my favorite gals.

My mom kept Will overnight and we had a slumber party

at Mike and Courtney's house.

It was quite a treat.

Knowing that we get to have a fun night out each year

sure makes getting old easier.

one small (shopping) victory for the mom's of boys

No one denies the fact that girls clothes are so much more fun than boys.

I have taken it as a challenge to find cute, simple stuff that is not

covered in "my daddy is cuter than your daddy" slogans and

teddy bears playing badmitton.

That way, whenever I leave the mall with something, I feel

like I have won (although I don't know who I am beating?).
Yesterday was one of those (very) rare days when I left feeling like I

had bought the most adorable thing (boy or girl) in the mall.

Thank you H and M!

zoolights

could someone photoshop Will and Henry so they are both smiling in the same pic?

glowing with the lights

Liz and I took the kids to Zoolights on Thursday night.

They all loved it (including Lucy) but were bummed the animals were asleep.

Will and Henry were especially enthralled by a rockin' group of

middle schoolers who were performing with their concert choir.

Each one definitely dreams nightly about their try out for American Idol.

Henry and Will looked like they were watching the best concert of their lives.

Liz and I just laughed thinking back on all the ridiculous stuff we did

when we were in middle school and how awesome we thought it all was.

We walked away thankful that there were people in the world like their

choir teacher who was SOOO excited and SOOO enthusiastic and jumping

around the stage and definitely assured them on a regular basis

that they had what it takes to be the next big thing!

Can't wait to attend their first school concerts.

kinda a gearhead

Will's Bomp (grandpa) is restoring his dad's old 1941 Ford truck.

He is not the world's best handy man nor has he ever worked on car.

We were all sure that the truck would get put

in it's garage never to be heard from again.

We have been proven wrong.

He works on it all the time and has it completely taken apart.

We have been going down on Sunday to take updated pictures.

Will doesn't care much about the car but runs around

like a crazy person with this stool he found.

The car is stored in a garage in a sketchy alley in downtown Tacoma.

The guys who hang out down there drink Milwaukees Best Ice

and one of them owns a suped up hearse.
I am sure the surfaces are covered with lead paint remnants and

the "sign" on the door (it's really just sharpie marker)

is so vulgar I was embarassed to read it with my family there.

For health reasons I don't know if Will should hang out there

with Bomp all the time but it is definitely one of those places

where classic great (and crazy) grandpa memories will be made.

And hopefully Will will have a really cool truck to drive to prom!

Tis the season...

that "Santa" gives you chocolate for breakfast every morning.

Auntie Lou gave Will his first advent calendar and boy is he a fan.

We have to hide it after he gets his treat for the day so that

he is not constantly asking for it.

We keep telling him that the candy is from Santa so that maybe

he will sit on Santa's lap without freaking out.

Doubt it will work.

Zoolander in the house

Will thinks it's really awesome to run around without a shirt on.

Kinda a poser, too:)

shop til you drop

"I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one-thousand and sixty."

-Imelda Marcos

Will and I headed to Bellevue Square today with my mom and sister.

I know we're crazy but we did find a few good deals.

Will found some red patent leather shoes he wants.

And I'm sure the sales people didn't mind that

the choices he was trying on were $565 each.