Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

So much to tell! First, here are the little crazies in their holiday jammas.

So this year I was totally on it - at first. The tree's up & stockings are hung, but that's about it. Last year I went all out, but now that Christmas is in a week & a half, I don't even care. I am proud about the tree though. Many times in past years I've wanted to put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving or even the first weekend in December, but it ends up being halfway through December. So this year I got the tree out on Sunday after Thanksgiving. Of course it did me no good since our crappy pre-lit tree was not lighting! After about 1/2 an hour of checking bulbs I said forget it & decided to wait till after my walk the next morning to run into WalMart & grab some new lights. I don't know if all pre-lits are so crappy, but we've had problems with ours for the past 3 years! In the past though I've been able to find the problem bulb before a 1/2 hour was up! In the tree's defence, it was only like $60 the day after Thanksgiving 5 years ago, so maybe cheap tree = stupid lights. Anyway, Callie was going nuts Monday afternoon waiting for me to finish putting on the lights & garland & ribbon so that we could get down to business. She was a very good little decorator! At first I just had her hand me decorations. Soon she was telling me where to put them. And before long she was going to the tree to do it herself. I didn't have to rehang much of what she put on - she must have her mom's flair! :) She did at one point talk about how Grandma Darcy had made our tree (not true of course). I told her Grandma Darcy was really crafty. She said, "Yeah, Grandma Darcy's crafty. I crafty too mom." Yes she is! She's certainly not lacking confidence! The other night I said to Jack, "You're so stinkin' cute!" Callie immediately followed up with, "Yeah, I so stinkin' cute too!"

We went to our ward Christmas Party 2 weekends ago & Callie was SO excited to see Santa! Our Santa was comical. The guy who was going to wear the suit (an older man who would have been great) went to put it on & the pants wouldn't fit over his thighs, so the next several minutes were spent stalling the children & looking for someone to fit the suit. But none of the kids knew the difference. Callie had been talking all day about seeing Santa and was just so excited! Santa gave all the kids candy canes so now Callie mentions daily that she wants to see Santa & get a candy cane. We've told her about the naughty & nice thing but until very recently hadn't been using it against her! So before we even started blackmailing her with it, she was in time out one day & crying out, "I nice! I nice! I not naughty!" I love it! I think we'll be able to use the naughty & nice thing for a while past Christmas since she's still talking about trick-or-treating! Jack was very hesitant about Santa, but in the end was accepting of the Jolly Old Elf. I think he's not quite old enough to be terrified like Callie was last year, and hopefully next year he'll think he's great like Callie does this year!

So now I'm working on finishing presents, and getting everything in order so we can have a fun, stress-free last few days before Christmas. I really wanted to take Callie to the Grand Canyon Railway so that we could ride The Polar Express, but when I called in November to get tickets for this month I sadly learned that you have to buy your tickets a year in advance! That's insane! They did have 3 dates in January still available, but who wants to see Santa in January?! I called a few days ago to book our tickets for next year & my first choice was also already booked! For next year! But anyway, for anyone who wants to ride The Polar Express with us next year, call & get your tix now! We're going Friday, December 14th at 6:30pm. I can't wait! It's too bad though! Before I knew that we wouldn't be able to go this year I'd told Callie all about it so she's constantly saying she wants to ride the train & see Santa.

Well the kids are both up now & crying to be fed so I'd better go. But Callie would like to add one last thing:

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:)

Tylenol Junkies

Is it strange that my children delight in medicine taking? Callie LOVES Tylenol in any form, but especially the Meltaways. She'll say to me, "Mom, I gumpy. I need Tynol." So since she's been sick the last 3 days she's constantly asking me for medicine. "Mom, I sick, I need some medicine." She even cries if I won't give her any (I'm so mean!). 2 nights ago I gave her some Tylenol Simply Cough - it's Cherry Berry flavored (yeah, whatever) & you give it to your kid in a little cup. I thought for sure she'd think it was gross but she savored every sip of the stuff. She gets excited when it's time to drink some more Tylenol.

And Jack is headed down the same twisted path. He's seriously happy when he sees the dropperful of grape Tylenol & most always gladly opens his mouth for the treat!

Even Jeremiah said last night after running out of Tylenol with Cool Burst that I needed to buy some more since it's a lot better than the Nyquil or whatever he'd been taking.

Is Tylenol a publicly traded company? We need to put our money where our addiction is!

LCD, HDTV, HDMI, DVI, DVR - I Love Technology!

Another Thanksgiving, come & gone. My grandparents came from Overgaard, AZ, Kenny came, Tara came, & Kayleigh came & brought her bf Dustin (who I really liked!). Highlights of the weekend were new holiday pj's for the kids on Thanksgiving night (I'll have to post pictures later), Settlers, and of course good food & pecan pie! We finally have broadened our gaming horizon & tried the game Tikal. Overall it's enjoyable & something new, but I can't say it's the new fav yet. I haven't tired of Settlers because my winning ratio is much less impressive than Jeremiah's. So for me I love the challenge of beating Jeremiah. But Mr. Victory is tired of always playing Settlers (a fair argument) so we figured we might as well try some new games & if we don't like the game we buy we can always resell it on eBay.

So this was the first year since I met Jeremiah that we (or I) didn't get up in the wee hours of the morning to do Day-After-Thanksgiving shopping! I was really a little bummed about it! We'd planned on staying the night in Henderson at Tara's on Thanksgiving so we could hit Best Buy, JC Penney, & a couple others, but Jeremiah hurt his back playing football Thanksgiving morning so he wasn't about to stand in line for hours at Best Buy for a new LCD tv & a laptop (we figure we'd have needed to be in line before midnight). So after much deliberation we decided that we really didn't need anything from WalMart or Home Depot (about all our town has to offer) and I stayed in bed. I really LOVE getting up to do the shopping though. It's SO exciting to be right there in the middle of the madness. It's always been a fun thing so far because we haven't needed to buy the season's hottest toy so we've been able to laugh at the crazed looks on these moms' & dads' faces as they push through the crowds to get THE toy for their child.

I do have to admit that we ended up getting an LCD anyway! My dad, king of amazing deals, actually got WalMart to ad-match their 32" LCD with Home Depot's! WalMart's was almost $100 more than Home Depot's (and Best Buy's), but it was a much better tv than Home Depot's. Crazy thing is, WalMart's ad had printed on it that they would NOT ad-match the tv unless it was the EXACT same model, which if you've gone appliance shopping anywhere you know that they all have slightly different model #'s for that very reason! My dad should be a negotiator- he is SO good at getting people to bend and give him what he wants!

So now the only problem with our new LCD is that our cable company doesn't have HD broadcast in our city & doesn't know when they will. We looked into Dish Network, but because I HATE their on-screen channel guide so much (and a few other reasons), we've decided to wait it out with our cable company. There's only a handful of channels anyway that are broadcast in HD so whatever. The lady at our cable company said that sometime in 2008 (and I guess the holdup is the government) ALL channels will be broadcast in HD. Fact or fiction, I don't know, but how sick will that be if it is true?!

Conversation with Callie

"Mom, I pooped."
"You pooped in your panties?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because! I pooped!"
"That makes mama sad."
Callie gets behind kitchen curtain & says "ROAR!"
"Mom, I scare you."
"No, I'm not scared. I'm frowing."
"You sad mom?"
"Yeah. I'm sad that you pooped your panties."
"Mom, cry!"
"Cry?"
"Yeah! You sad - cry!"
"I'm sad but I'm not going to cry."
"Yes! Do it!"

A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.

When Callie brought this little handful of weeds in I was about to tell her to get them back outside because they'd make a mess. Thankfully before I could say anything she sweetly held out her little bouquet to me & said, "Here mom, I got you flowers." Talk about melt your heart! This is the first time Callie's brought me flowers. I love that girl! We put the "flowers" in her new little tea set vase.

Our California Adventure

We headed to CA Wednesday afternoon - early enough to get to The Men's Wearhouse in time to get Jeremiah a new suit for his brother Jason's wedding. 6 hours & $400 later we had an awesome new black pin-striped suit that would be ready to be picked up Friday evening.

On Thursday we went to Disneyland with Jeremiah's mom, sister Tabetha, & b-i-l Travis. Callie had talked about going to Disneyland and seeing Mickey Mouse on Thursday all week long! In fact on Thursday morning when she started asking about seeing Mickey Mouse we told her that we would get to see him that day & she said, "Hooray! Mickey Mouse!" for what was the first of many times that day! And sometimes she'd even add a "Hip, Hip," before the "Hooray!" She LOVED Disneyland! We'd gone in February but she didn't get it then. It's amazing what 9 months will do! She did not like Pirates - both she & Jack were very scared! But she really liked the rest of the rides we took her on. Especially Gadget's Go-Coaster! She sat with Grandma Divis who had an arm around her so Callie could only get one arm up to go down the coaster, but she kept that arm up the whole time along with a petrified look on her face! But when it was all over and we got off she got a big grin on her face & said it was fun & that she wanted to do it again! Jack was a very good little guy all day, as usual!

On Friday Jack & I got to do some shopping (Jack definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I did!), & Callie went with Jeremiah & his m&d to visit his brothers at work & to the beach.

Saturday was wedding day. The Newport Beach Temple is beautiful! I'm so excited that Jason & Richelle finally got married! I'm excited to have Richelle for a sister-in-law. She's awesome! We took so many pictures waiting for Jason & Richelle to make their big entrance out of the temple that I finally handed the camera to Jeremiah to carry & neither of us remembered to get it back out to take any pictures of the bride & groom! How lame are we?! :) So hopefully someone in our family will email us some good pictures. Jas & Richelle both looked so happy & great! Their reception that evening was amazing! Richelle did a really great job with the wedding!

Halloween was great for the Divis household- at least 2 of us anyway (Callie & me). For me because I love everything about the holiday & season! I got to make the funnest costumes (although you should have seen our house every time we looked at the things - feathers everywhere!), we carved pumpkins, we had candy, what more could you ask for? We carved pumpkins for Family Night on Monday with Stuart who stayed with us for a week & a half while my m&d were out of town. Stuart hadn't ever carved a pumpkin before using a pattern & we kept trying to warn him that the pattern he was choosing was probably too intense for a first-timer but he totally proved us wrong with his awesome pumpkin-carving skills!

Callie helped Jeremiah with his. She was adorable! She kept rubbing his arm & patting his shoulder and saying, "Good job, daddy," or, "I like it," or, "Looks good!" I being the serious pumpkin carver & being in a Harry Potterish mood, carved an owl.

So the decision to have chickens for Halloween came about because I saw a similar chicken costume a few years ago in a magazine & wanted to someday make one because I loved it! I figured that next year Callie would have an opinion about what she wanted to be & since she'd surely never choose to be a chicken, this was the year to do it. Turns out I was wrong about her not having an opinion! At first she was really excited because she sings a chicken song that we see on Noggin so she's all about the chicken. But after going to Story Time at the Library and seeing one of her little friends dressed as Cinderella, she was so over the chicken! The morning of trunk-or-treat night:

Me: Callie, are you so excited to be a chicken & go trick-or-treating?
Callie: I want to wear a Cinderella dress.
Me: You do?
Callie: Yeah.
Me: But you're going to be a chicken.
Callie: No mommy, I don't want to be chicken. I want to wear a Cinderella dress!

Who knew that a 2-year old would have an opinion. The chicken of course stayed. We went to a Harry Potter themed Halloween party on Halloween (amazing job), and then we took Callie trick-or-treating for a half hour. Jeremiah wanted to go home after 2 houses but Callie was thoroughly enjoying herself. I told her to say that she wanted to go to the next house & that stuck. Jeremiah was ready to go home after every house & Callie said every time, "Next house, daddy," or "One more house, daddy." It was hilarious!

Now the only problem has been that big pumkin bucket with all the candy (which wasn't that much since we didn't go to many houses, but when you're 2 it's a ton!). We keep it on top of the fridge and Callie is constantly asking for pumpkin candy. I put all the candy in another bowl (that she doesn't know about) so the candy fairy comes every night and kindly deposits a couple little pieces of candy into her pumpkin bucket. She loves it! And her favorite of all the candies? Suckers! (And Jack likes them too!)

Halloween Chickens

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get more Halloween candy!
Here are our little chickens Saturday night all ready for trunk-or-treating at our ward party.

Sweet Callie-girl

What's sweeter than your 2-year old asking you to sing her "I Am a Child of God" as you put her to sleep?

Chocolate Pudding & Ice Cream - Yum!

When I told Callie I was so glad there was chocolate pudding all over her shirt, she sweetly replied, "Thank ya Mommy." And if you haven't tried hot chocolate pudding & ice cream, you haven't lived! (Thank ya Andy & Didi!) It's crazy good! Just heat up your chocolate pudding (or make the cook & serve kind) & have it with vanilla ice cream! It's de-lish!

Jack is ONE!

I love Billpay! I'd never signed up for it before because we don't have direct deposit & I'm too cheap to pay 7 bucks a month for the convenience. But we made some changes to our accounts so now we finally have free Billpay & I set it up today & I can tell it's gonna be great! Woohoo! I've already scheduled my utility bills & mortgage payments for the month & I'm stoked! If you don't use Billpay you should - unless you have to pay $7/month!

So Jack had his first Birthday last week (17th)! I can't believe he's 1!
He had a huge slice of chocolate cake, just like Callie did on her first Birthday. Although Callie didn't get up in the middle of the night for 2 hours because of a stomach ache like Jack did! Not fun! Poor little guy! Poor us! We celebrated his birthday on Sunday since Tara had come for the weekend, so on his actual Birthday, I only fed him the smallest amount of cake! It wasn't that good anyway.

Here are some other recent pics of the kids for your viewing enjoyment!

Utah Visit

We've been on the road again. The kids & I anyway. I don't know who loves the long drives more - me or them. We went to Utah a couple weeks ago to visit the Condies & my sisters. It was pretty fun for Callie & Jack to be there - lots of new toys, kids their age, & stairs - which were pretty new for Jack. I think he was feeling pretty good about himself on those stairs before we left! So talk about crazy - 2 moms & 5 LITTLE kids! Spencer had just turned 3, Callie's 2, Preston's 1 1/2, Jack's almost 1, & Tanner's weeks old! Wendy & I tried to go into a scrapbook store that supposedly had a play area for kids while the moms shopped. The "play area" was part of a kid corral that was maybe 5' long & 3' at its widest part with a few dirty toys. So one of the kids started crying & it was a total chain reaction. I was trying to juggle Callie & Jack in each arm & look at ribbon & between the 2 squirming & trying to get out of my arms to reach stuff & the stench of Jack's freshly pooped diaper, I just couldn't take it any more. I took my kids & we waited in the car with Toy Story on the DVD player. After that fiasco, Wendy & I took turns going into stores that didn't have shopping carts!

















Callie & Aunt Kayleigh

This morning

It is just ridiculous how cute this little girl is! I was looking on eBay for some hair bows & Gymbo stuff & this mom knows what she's doing! Her stuff is selling REALLY well, & I'm SURE it's because of her adorable little model! So I guess if you want to make lots of money selling your eBay crap, take pictures of your adorable kids using the stuff.

We went on a walk this morning to Grandma Darcy's house since I apparently forgot to set my alarm before I went to bed last night, and slept through my 6:30 walk with the Debs. Callie loves going to "Gamma Darcy's" to jump on the "trampa-bean." Jack sat on a rock & ate bark mulch. It was a good morning! :)

The Niños

Jack is being so stinking cute lately! When we say it's time to say a prayer to bless our food or for family prayer or whatever he folds his arms & does a good job at it too! It's aDOREable! He started clapping his hands a week & a half ago too! He's waving when we say bye or hi. He's tried to mimic some of the things we've said (not that his mimicing sounds a THING like what's been said - I can just tell my the inflections in his voice). He's much more laid back & chill than Callie. He enjoys playing with a toy, whereas Callie can't hardly go from one thing to the next fast enough. We got this little Giraffe when Callie was a baby that you drop blocks into & it makes a sound. Callie still couldn't (or wouldn't) sit down & put the blocks in that thing when she was a year. But Jack's been able to do it for a while now.

This picture is a few days old, but Callie came to the gate (to the office) this morning with lipstick all over 1 cheek & said, "Mom, I pretty. Look Mom, I so pretty. I shopping." She was carrying a Target bag on her arm. When I went into the kitchen to investigate, I discovered a 20- a 1-dollar bill that she'd put in the trash, more cash on the floor, lipstick & lipgloss scattered, & lipgloss smeared onto one of my new red dishtowels that I waited seriously months to buy - from Target - which it's not like I can just go to Target this afternoon & replace! At least the dish towel isn't as expensive or IMPOSSIBLE to replace as the undershirt she ruined a few weeks ago! Jeremiah & I were in the kids' room playing with them & both fell asleep on their floor. I woke up after a few minutes to what I thought was Jack crawling on me. But no - it was Callie wiping her lip-glossy greasy little fingers all over my shirt & undershirt. It would have been a hilarious story had it not ruined my favorite brown undershirt/cami that I probably wear 2+ times a week! It was long, it was a great cotton blend, it was an awesome color, & it stayed down (instead of constantly riding up like its replacement), and it can't be replaced! I'm still not over it!