Christmas Time's A'Comin'

This was the first take.
Things went downhill from there.
Deacon kept looking to his right to make sure that everyone else was looking at the camera.  Kyle never smiled again for real, and eventually just wanted to eat his candy cane bribe.  Poor Sean was vehement that it was really nap time, and further more proved that squinty eyes were the best he had to offer.  However, Bryce smiled 'til his face fell off. I'm cloning Bryce.

Oh anticipation!  Presents are piling up under the tree.  I had vowed to wait until Christmas Eve to place them under O Tannenbaum, but cheery Bryce today asked in the patientest, most happy voice when we could put presents out. I just had to give in.  The reason I had wanted to wait, was so that we wouldn't end up having tell Kyle no over man-handing gifts. But it turns out that replacing the batteries in his rescue ambulance truck with the loud as a firecracker siren system did the trick.  Major distraction for the three year old: check!

Back to the photo: Deacon was in the seventh Heaven over Sean's get up.  Please note: the shirt is courtesy of Bethany, who gave that "Little Brother" camo onsie to me pretty much the second we knew Sean was a he-baby. And those pants are from Amy and her mom, Libby.  I want it in print that people buy camo for us . . . (although if you look at Deacon's outfit, well, we picked all that out ourselves, so you know people know what suits a McMurray).

So speaking of picking things out.  Those two chairs in the background were my Grandma Jeanne's.  She inherited them from her mother, Helen, and recovered them, though bits of the lurid sixties orangey-pinky-yellow Helen esteemed peek underneath.  I'm sure this fabric was a remnant from the same bolt used to make Goldie Hawn's Laugh In get-ups.  It's lurid I tell you!  Which is funny since Grandma Jeanne covered them with a subdued Japanese Wedgewood-esque fabric.  I've totally rabbit-trailed.  Back to the picking.  I've been thinking for quite some time that I'd like to recover the chairs myself (which means I'd like to pay someone else to recover them). Mostly, I've pretty much fixated on a linen velvet in a burlap color (oh the romance).  But today, I thought-- AND I KID YOU NOT, "What if I asked Kelsey if there are any designer camo fabrics out there?"

Are you thoroughly horrified?!?!

Once I was done reeling from my temporary fit of insanity, I almost fainted.
Now, if I go insane again, but Kelsey refuses to find that shi-shi-pooh-pooh camo damask that some wealthy lady hunter commissioned for her den, I could always fashion some slip covers with safety pins from that leftover dinosaur camo-look fleece lurking in my hall closet.

Thanksgiving Sisters, 2011 & 2012

Lipstick police, where were you?

4th of July Fireworks

Oh dear, it's nearly the end of the month and I never mentioned the 4th of July! We had a lovely, busy day beginning a whirlwind trip to Coeur d'Alene and Spokane for the parade and a visit with Opa, followed by quite the barbeque spread at Grandma Greta & Papa Glen's. By the time we made it home I was exhaustido. Beyond fatigued and thankfully Phil realized that trying to put anything more on my plate would result in a memorable day in all the wrong ways . . . so instead, he headed out to assemble the best home-grown fireworks this side of the reservation. He and Grandpa Dan got the boys so riled up with excitement that even the sparklers and pop-its were had them giddy. And for my part, I made one of those American flag cakes with the blueberries and strawberries, and then picked all the berries off my picky kids' plates . . .

Easter

The only photo missing is our wonderful pre-church breakfast with Granddaddy . . . it was a perfect day, with cheery weather, family, and feasting! 

Valentine's Day

 

Heart shaped sour-cream sugar cookies, frosted by Bryce & Deacon. And, heart-shaped biscuits along with dinner. The boys loved it . . . almost as much as loved looking over and over again at their school valentines.

Roman Candle

 

So my camera is a little backlogged . . .

We had so much fun torching the fancy fir tree. Phil had no idea it would torch up so well, and his grew big and then bigger as he contemplated that only minutes earlier this a flambe'd tannenbaum had been inside our house covered (and I mean dripping) with twinkle lights.

Also, by staying home for Christmas we missed out on celebrating with our Tri-Cities relatives. Aunt Chrissy saved the day by doing up some great blog posts for us Moscow McMurrays: here's Bryce loving all the photos.

Blomberg Dishwasher

 

Deraneleau's had at me at plastics can go on the bottom rack.

Games Galore

 

Aunt JoAnn gave the boys three family favorite games: Battleship, Yahtzee, and Jenga. Fantastic! I had no idea that these games would be such an absolute, over-the-top hit with all the menfolk. As soon as all the presents were unwrapped, but before anyone had even considered crab legs, Bryce and Deacon teamed up with Phil and Granddaddy so the latters could teach the formers how to play Battleship. Granddaddy had one additonal rule (that he enforced with fierce reminders): when your ship got a hit you had to make realistic explosion sound effects.

I'd forgotten how much I loved Yahtzee, and still do--though Deacon beat me by nearly double during our first game. The boys love it too--shaking the die cup has developed a routine all its own. But, Phil had somehow made it to adulthood without having ever played Jenga. We can almost talk him into a game any time; it helps that he's only been beaten once! Like Granddaddy, Phil too has added some rules, such as: no shaking the coffee table, no crawling under the coffee table, no stomping near the coffee table when its his turn, etc. (lots of coffee table rules).

So much fun. I love that it's still Christmas Break and I have absolutely guilt over my messy-dirty kitchen (that was clean last night), and have instead play-play-played all day with my kiddos!

Cute Little Men

 

Christmas snaps. Deacon's wearing a host of Christmas goodies (if I could I'd have him wear that viking tee every day). Bryce is Cheshire grinning after eating about seven Sweetie Clementines . . . a good start!

Christmas Morning!

 

Aunt Becky scored majorly big with a Tonka helicopter and rescue truck--not to mention very loud cap guns. Deacon tore around the house on his new Razor scooter from Grandma Pauline (Bryce the kangaroo enjoyed his PoGo stick out of sight of the camera). Also pictured: the boys loved the humongous tool kit Deacon received from Aunt Diana--hours of entertainment, and they got to put all the tools to good use sooner than one wants to over a major holiday (read: broken door lock, broken dishwasher)!

Cookie Queen

We had the most wonderful day making cookies with Nana. This lady is a pro--she had stations and jobs like "unwrapping mini peanut butter cups" and "rolling dough into balls" and "slicing shortbread loaves" and "pressing said peanut butter cups into said dough-balls". Perfect. I felt like we were at a magazine shoot for a feature story on Baking with the Grandkids. The table was even set with red placements, cardinal plates, holly berry glasses and festoons of [very good] candy for frequent baking breaks!

Here's Bryce loving all his jobs, and helping with the taste testing:

And Deacon carefully placing each peanut-butter cup into the container (later Bryce and I chucked in the rest):

You know it's pretty much been the best Advent activity ever when--as you walk to the car carrying your tupperware of cookies (which gloriously includes warm chocolate shortbread sandwiching from-scratch peppermint ganache)--your children buckle in asking, "Mommy, but when can we come back to Nana's? That was the best fun ever!"

Our Tree is as Dead as the Day is Long

 

The second night it was up I managed to single hip'edly knock the whole decorated and be-lighted thing down (avoiding somehow any breakage). Water spilled. Phil refilled the water after righting the tree, after . . . well anyway after that I pretended to think he was watering the tree, and I'm sure he thought I was checking it (but I never do, year after year I never do). Anyway, no water=dead tree. Luckily we're a little distracted. Note, none of these gifts are from us to us. They are all from family to us. Pretty darn grateful we are.

Also more than a little excited. This morning a stiff warning was given, "If any paper gets torn on the packages, Mommy will take the presents back to the store". But not really. The warning has worked, though. Deacon, with all the somber seriousness of an undertaker relaying coffin-lining choices to a grieving family, admonished Bryce, "Uh-oh! Be careful Bryce! Or Mommy will have to take that one back to the store."

Bryce might be on to me, because I'd bet my stocking he only feigned concern. If you look closely, you'll notice that Grandma Greta wrapped all of my gifts in paper brandishing, "No peeking!" Sadly, she has reason: one year I did un-wrap and then re-wrap all my gifts, and it didn't ruin Christmas morning for me. Just this year I even unwrapped two gifts the boys received from Aunt Becky (then of course re-wrapped them, I'm a pro at prying Scotch tape from gift-wrap), under the guise of ensuring I didn't duplicate gifts. Phil walked in on me attempting this with another gift, and I've since given up for good.

Also, today Aunt Cathi Thompson's famous fudge arrived. Peppermint-Pecan Fudge! I am in love. If I just got this it would be enough. And I am so overcome with good cheer that this year I'll even share it (no need to discuss Christmas 2010).

Never fear, New Year's Resolutions will include strict diets. We'll eat like rabbits. We promise.

Christmas Program

 

Finally, here are fuzzy photos from the 12/15 Logos Christmas Program. We were thrilled to have Nana & Papa join us for dinner beforehand (and I served them a partially cooked roast chicken that I ended up having to cut into pieces and broil. Fancy eh?)
Thursday afternoon when we got home from a thousand errands, Bryce & Deacon waxed on about how much they wished they could use Daddy's big green snow shovel to clear the walk for Nana . . . finally I realized what a goof I was, and remembered the kid-sized snow shovels from our Christmas morning stash (alas, the weather here is being all Scroogey and it looks like we won't have any snow until 12/27).
Their concert was great--it's fun to see all their little friends dressed up, staring out at the crowd from stage. Deacon took his pre-concert prep time to rearrange his tie, and display it on the outside of his navy blazer (btw, I sent several mothers into a panic by including in my email reminder about the concert a request that all boys wear navy jackets--whoops . . . making friends everyday!).
Deacon's class recited a very long scripture, and Bryce's class sang a song that Deacon LOVES, and sang along with from the audience . . . the Mary Had a Baby song. So much better than my 5th grade class singing Up on the Rooftop!

The Christmas Story

We love this. We've posted it before (and we'll probably do it again).

Everybody's thankful for Martinellis Cider

 

Especially Miss Avery Blake.
Later, just after we'd prayed and all the muchkins were getting settled into their table spots, I was attempting to gently rearrange the chaired children to make just one more spot. Ava wasn't as securely seated as I'd assumed (assumptions are so dangerous). I scooched her chair right and little Ava did a full face-plant left onto the oriental rug. Being the good aunt that I am I managed to stay my giggles until I'd picked her up and handed her off to her mother--then the two of us caught each other's eyes and cracked up. I mean really a full face plant, she's so dramatic.

Costumes & Plastic Cheese

 

Oh my, it's already been over two weeks since Halloween and I just found these trapped on the camera. Those Garfields started a plastic cheese jack-o-lantern tradition that their daughters have kept going (or at least blogged about in the past and I remembered). I surprised the kids with these pumpkin cheeses and it was a hit! Serious hit! As in you cannot imagine what joy this gave them.
And then, we have the photos of my favorite Fireman and favorite Thundergod with their candy-loot! Just before trick-o-treating I realized I'd forgotten to buy sacks, so I emptied out the birdseed tin . . . voila a fireman bucket! And scrounged up a Spiderman gift bag for Thor--who loved it!

Birthday and Carnival Fun

 

We celebrated some November birthdays early so our Coeur d'Alene cousins could join us for the Fall Carnival. This month Ava will be 2, Papa Glen will be 50, and Deacon will be 5!

The kiddos had such a good time playing. Deacon learned not to push a baby's face into the carpet, and Lauren (that's me) learned that every time she has company she will indeed spill something in the oven and smoke out the kitchen! (If you're keeping track, this time it was ridge-less homemade pizza.)

Cousins just get along so well, the adults can pretty much relax and chit-chat. Over the present chaos it was especially fun to Ava open all her little girl presents! She got a pink vacuum, and she was almost as excited as I was when I got my Dyson.

Before the carnival I tried about a million times for a good couch photo--and this was the best one! We had Roman the Roman Solider, Deacon the Pirate, Ava the Witch, Daniel the Pirate, Bryce as Thor, and Lucy the Ladybug!

And the treating begins

 

Today, Papa Ron delivered quite the Halloween haul!

Independence Day

Our financier had bunches of work . . . but cheerfully sent us up to Coeur d'Alene in time for a cousin photo shoot at Opa's house.

Opa gave each kid their own flag, then we walked the short way over to Sherman Avenue to find our seats on the less sunny side the street for the parade. Deacon is modeling his treasure the flashy pinwheel--that he got after chasing down Snow White for a block--and if you asked him what his favorite part of the parade was, he'd reply, "the Princesses!" All four boys are super brave, and loved the loud motorcycles, very loud cruiser cars, and even the comparably quiet horses--although Bryce was a little distressed that there weren't tons of cowboys, Deacon pointed out that there were lots of nice cowboy-girls (I hope he never stops calling them that). Little Ava loved sitting with Papa Glen, who chaperoned us all (while Grandma Greta and Opa put together a delicious lunch for the hungry parade-goers).

After our delicious luncheon topped off by some so-very-good-you-don't-feel-guilty strawberry cake, our noisy little bunch headed over to see Granddaddy Dan. He rigged up the best afternoon distraction: a huge sprinkler near all the toy "houses". The kids loved racing like madmen back and fourth between the sprinkler and safety.

Granddaddy made a fantastic steak dinner--the boys loved the homemade french fries. And then we threw caution to the wind, and even though we'd let all the big kids skip any sort of rest time, we let them run crazy 'til 8:30 when Grandma Greta and Papa Glen appeared to see us off to the fireworks display. Last year we got so cold, so this year I sausaged my kids into their jeans and sweatshirts over top of their long sleeves jammies. (No one complained of cold this year; but Bryce had a bad case of as he put it 'sweating all over'). The boys were again so brave and thoroughly enjoyed all the noisy fireworks. Daniel and Bryce egged each other on announcing the colors of each starburst; cute at first until it turned into a yelling contest for all of downtown! A super sweet boy nearby gave all four boys a glow-in-the-dark stick, aka: swords. Roman and Deacon held a very Matrixesque duel, until someone (no doubt my child) accidentally let exuberance get the best of him and whipped the [excessively] grouchy lady in front of us. Then they were forced in to the stroller the swords became circles (until we'd forget).
(Also, we ended up in front of a small group of surprising loud and gregarious trashy folks--who were on fantastic speaking terms with every stumbling drunk. But the grouchy lady held her tongue with them.)
The fireworks were amazing. Of course, great at first, then even better, but finally you realize no one has spoken for minutes (not even the kids) because you're all completely captivated. . . then finally-finally the grande fanale comes and you know, once again, that the waiting, and missed bedtimes, and driving was all worth it! We got all our sleepy kids into the car, then into bed, and hallelujah my 6:30 am risers slept 'til 8:30, and so did I!


The next day we enjoyed the beach with Granddaddy and cousins. Bryce loved the beach and the waves, and Deacon loved dunking his own head in the water, incessantly. Granddaddy took all four little boys on a walk over to the dock and I had a good ten minutes all by myself, in a camp chair with my feet in the water, and warm sunshine on my face. I didn't know what in the world to do with myself--all alone. So I rinsed out and organized all the beach toys, checked the shoe pile, and then passed judgement on all the NIC girls wearing teeny weeny bikinis (until I realized that I would pay good money too like any one of them), and then I adjusted my "mom bathing suit", and re-learned how to relax at the beach I used to sunbathe at daily in high school.
Now tell me again: Why don't I live in beautiful Coeur d'Alene?

Mother's Day Weekend

I love how we've started thinking of holidays in terms of weekends (or sometimes weeks . . . and I've even been known to refer to "my birthday month"). Last weekend, our friend, Andy, got hitched! His lovely bride, Kellie, was so very popular and perpetually hugged at the reception, that I had to settle for a groom shot:) I was so excited to be headed to Sandpoint (a super fun daytrip for us as kids). The boys were almost fantastic for the wedding (poor Deacon--who doesn't want to remove their sport jacket and shoes during a deathly quiet ceremony?) I spilled red punch across our table after Bryce had walked across an entire humongous room, navigating merry-makers and a labrynth of round tables--and did not hear the end of it from Phil.
The boys (nb: Deacon's wedding attire was on loan from the Nard-dog himself) were wiped out from sitting and eating, and zonked out for the drive to the most amazing kids' party place, a Bouncey Fun Center. Amazing, safe, clean, loud, and socks required=perfect! We were there to celebrate our nephew, Daniel's 5th birthday (notice the zero photos of the birthday boy, and only one fuzzy shot of Deacon flattening something).
Sunday morning we woke up much earlier than one wants to when on vacation (Granddaddy's backyard birds sure are a cheerful lot), and Phil went for my suggestion of breakfast out at Michael D's, which was serving Mimosas for Mother's Day! In the photo you can see Bryce with chocolate milk and water; both of which he pretended were coffee--Bryce took the photo of Deacon and me.
We rolled ourselves out the door and over to Opa's. He'd recently had hand surgery and was on a hydrocodine-induced cloud nine. Heeding my mom's prompting, I tried sweet-talking him into checking his blood suger. With a Chershire Cat smile he winked at me and boomed, "I'm in a very bad mood today and I don't want to ruin it!" Later we were suprised by some Jehovah's Witnesses making the rounds. Opa saw them approach the door and said [loudly], "Look who's back for my money!" Throughout their visit he'd pull out a wad of rather small bills to rub between his fingers while chorusing, "You want my money! You want my money!" You almost had to feel for these devoted elderly be-tweeded fellows. Finally, they started getting down to business, challenging us all about bible reading. Seeing no end in sight, we thought we'd subject them to some preaching from Bryce--who cheerfully shared the gospel.
Completely amused with our visit, we were then shooed off by a likewise very cheerful Opa, and rendezvous'd with Granddaddy at Tubbs Hill; we trekked the whole loop: Pocklington Cove (our swim destination as kids), suspension bridges, steep overlooks, rockthrowing, mud pits and all. The boys loved it. Perfect weather and company!
All that fast walking worked up our appetites, and we lunched at Moon Time Cafe (another downtown favorite). The boys each got a chance to ride in Granddaddy's truck--so exciting, and then Granddaddy treated them at Figpickles toyshop; Phil had to drag me out of there, so fun. I talked my dad into the playing the steel drum, locked myself in Chinese handcuffs--and had to seek out a bemused family member for aid, and forgot my age playing with magnets until someone very cute tugged on my clothing and said, "Moooooommmmm!" With new four wheeler toys, toy guns, and silly string in tow, I abused my holiday carte blanche and drug my crew of men into the Angel Gallery (totally worth it). Out of deep kindness, I did not take Phil up on his offer to drive across town to TJMaxx (such will power).
Ah, Mother's Day, you have a special place in my heart! See you next year . . .