Let it snow......

This close to Christmas I am glad to say that my shopping is done. It's a good thing too because we have had a ton of snow falling and disrupting our lives. I'm not complaining, however because we had our first whole family snow day yesterday. The weather was bad enough that even the college closed- and it was during finals. It cleared up enough for the girls to play outside with friends - so they buried Charlie in the snow, but the weather turned again . We have another foot or so of snow out there. It's enough snow that the swings in the back yard can't move anymore. We're waiting for the winds to pick up and bring us the blizzard that's been predicted. It's bad enough that church has already been cancelled for tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be okay to have school on monday so my preschoolers can still have a party. Sadly my 2 day class missed theirs with our snow day. Anyway, we'll update you tomorrow (really- as long as we have power) and let you know how bad it was. Until then, it's great to be home as a family.

Fabulous Birthdays

Shawn and I celebrated our birthdays last weekend. I'd have to say that this year was the most fun birthdays we've ever had. We started out by going out to dinner with some friends on Shawn's birthday. We had a great time. I especially enjoyed Shawn saying on the car ride back, how he really wished we had gotten a dessert b/c you just need a dessert on your birthday- not knowing that Vanessa had actually made him a birthday cake. He was excited to dive into it. We continued on celebrating with a work party on Friday. It was also a ton of fun. The best was yet to come, when on my birthday we actually went away. Friends took the girls and we took off. We spent the afternoon shopping at the mall of america, met up with friends for lunch at Bubba Gumps- where they sang to BOTH of us, and then went to a late movie and a super late dinner. We slept way in on Sunday and didn't get the kids back until after 5:00 p.m. as far as birthdays go, this one ROCKED!!!!
Thanks to Vanessa for making BOTH of our birthday cakes, to Carolyn for taking the girls and to Vanessa and Bonnie for making sure we got off to an early start!!!! You guys totally rock!

Christmas Concerts

The girls all had their holiday concerts. Em's was first and she chose to wear the summer skirt and shirt set that her Grandma Camp had made this summer. She sang and danced and did a great job. Charlie had both a band concert and a choir concert. she did Fabulous in both. I'm so glad that she can sing. Lily also had her first little concert as well. Her's stressed me out the most as it was also my 1st concert as a preschool teacher. It was a lot of fun and my kids all did a great job.

A REAL tree....and some false crow

We had a great time going to get our Christmas tree. We took some friends who are new to the area and new to cutting your own tree down with us and had a great morning. After getting our tree set up- but not decorated, we headed to Rochester to do some shopping. We were seeing the "Christmas Forest" at one store when Charlie leaned in and said, "how will Emily and I share our Christmas tree? ", referring to a homely red tinsel tree I bought as a Valentine's Tree several years ago when the girls could not bear to take the Christmas Tree down. So, C and E had claimed it in their room each Christmas. Now that they don't share a room anymore, Charlie needed her own. There were trees on sale for $7 so I bought her one. Em, seeing that Char's tree actually looks like a tree (is green and not made out of tinsel) wanted one as well. Lily of course decided she must have one as well- and has inherited the red tinsel tree. So, Our Real Tree Only house now has 1 beautiful large REAL tree- and 3 false trees- 4 if you count the Charlie Brown one I bought for Shawn's office. So that crow is tasty pretty fake right now......

Real or False?????

This Christmas will be the 15th Christmas that Shawn and I have celebrated as a married couple. Of those 15 Christmases, all but two have included a live (real) tree. On the 2 occasions we had false (artificial) trees, we had no choice and really hated the tree. Each of us seperately came to the conclusion that we NEVER wanted a false tree and are glad that we both agree. For Shawn, it is hard enough to even buy a tree from a nursery as he cut down his own trees almost all of his life. And, I must admit the best tree experiences I've ever had have come from the times we cut down our own tree. (My favorite being when Shawn was so enamored with a tree that was HUGE. It was so huge that it took several members of the University of Idaho football team to help him carry it out. We also had to cut several feet off just to get it to fit in our apartment and had greens for EVERYONE who wanted any. ) Our real trees are gorgeous, smell beautiful, and are one of our family's favorite part of Christmas. They are, however, not without mishap. There was the cat climbing the tree incident which resulted in numerous broken ornaments and a VERY wet carpet, the time we didn't know the\at soft needled trees dried out so fast- and resulted in a very crispy tree we had to take down the day after Christmas, and my personal favorite- a visit to a tree farm where the paint the trees to look green. (No joke, the trees were orange in the summer and they paint them green- even the bark is green- it's the u-cut place on the way to Rochester for those of you in the area).

As for false trees, they are not without their own amusing stories. I have 1 brother who for years would simply store his false tree already decorated in the closet. On December 1st he pulled it out and plugged it in, on January 1st he put it back in the closet. As a child our dog managed to knock our tree down several times and I know of family who used the plastic white tree that has no needles-only lights on the branches- the kind meant for your front lawn as their tree because their cats climbed the false tree they kept in their house and knocked it over too many times.

So which are you doing this year and why? Have a great tree story? Share it here, I'd love to hear it.

The nutcracker

The girls all danced in The Nutcracker this weekend, and Charlie danced in the St. Lucia Festival as well. They all did a great job and had a great time. The only problem was that Lily needed to sit with us except for her dance and the final curtain call. It was my job to get Lily to the dressing room and to pick her up again. When Lily was dancing I noticed a mistake that I had made, instead of her dance slippers she was wearing her winter boots! (the picture where she has her dance slippers on is the rehearsal) She looked so cute but I was embarrassed. Also, Shawn's mom, Kathy made Lily's "costume", it was the beautiful Christmas dress from last year. I barely fit, but looked so cute and all of the other "cookies" were envious of the fact that Lily's dress had jingle bells sewn in. I hope your holiday season is going as wel as ours. Happy Holidays!!!!

Being an example

Shawn, Lily, and I went to Walmart today. Shawn thought up this great game. He silently took off and Lily and I chase after him. Lily loved it and thought it was so much fun. So much so, that as Shawn returned to shopping Lily quietly headed to a mani aisle and yelled, "Mommy, Daddy come catch me!" And, just as her dad had she darted in and out of the aisles. It was scary for just a minute, but she kept popping her head out at us. Still, no more crazy games in Walmart.

Twilight

I went to twilight with a group of great friends. It was a ton of fun. The movie was FABULOUS. I absolutely loved seeing the characters come to life. And, while at times the scenes weren't what I'd imagine, they were still so worth watching. which I am very glad for because I'm off to watch it again tomorrow with Charlie.
After the movie, we went to dinner at a favorite Chinese place. It made for a great night- even though the weather was so cold. Thanks to Bonnie and Vanessa for organizing such a great event and to Bonnie for holding the best seats in the cinema for all of us.

The Days are Just Packed...........

Both Emily and Charlie has their school plays this week. Emily was the Trunchball in Summer Reading is Killing Me, and Charlie was a flower girl and a card in Alice in Wonderland. It was so much fun to see both girls acting. They both can't wait to do it again. Also check out Tweedle Dee, he's a friend of the family. Great job everyone!

Black Friday

I was reading an article about Christmas shopping and it listed a great site called www.SundaySaver.com where some black Friday and Thanksgiving day ads are already listed. I know it's early for Christmas, but as I type this Charlie is practicie Christmas carols on the piano and all three girls are getting ready for their Nutcracker/Santa Lucia Festival Dances, holiday concerts etc, so really it's not too early. I'm even getting ready to start our holiday newletter later this week. So, if you haven't at least thought about the holidays, you might want to start now, or if you're like Shawn, grumble that people are talking about it before Thanksgiving. Either way the add are great.

Don't take life to seriously- no one gets out alive

That's my new life motto. I'm watching it snow, hanging out with Lily and enjoying the day. You should all enjoy the day as well. I love my job, I love my fabulous husband, my 3 daughters, and even the cat who is curled up on my lap. I have some of the best friends ever and am glad it is Friday and I can sleep in tomorrow. I hope that you are all enjoying a great day as well!

So WHAT are you entitled to????

**

**********************************I went to pick Emily up from play practice this afternoon. As I waited for her, an old beat up car pulled up. The driver and passenger stopped their car in the middle of the road going the wrong way on a one way and four small children scrambled into the car. I waited for them to realize their mistake and after a few minutes decided that not only were they unaware that they were driving/sitting the wrong direction. so, I pulled up to them. They noticed that we were now head to head and motioned me to back up out of their way. One of the women got out of the car and agressively came up to me and told me to move. I told her that they were going the wrong way and that they needed to back up. They proceeded to tell me that they have rights and I had better move. I told her that they didn't have the right to drive the wrong way down a one way or to cause an accident. They insisted that they weren't going to move so I made a phone call. Afraid i was calling the police or ticked that I didn't care, they turned their car around- at which point I notice that they are missing their bumper and have numerous dents. They then roll down the window and tell me that they are facing the right way and aren't going to move. I told them that i was fine with me but probably not the 4 cars behind me, at which point they drive off.

So, what ticks me off isn't that these people are made a mistake, but that they felt that everyone else had to move (illegally backing up a one way) to make room for them and felt "entitled" to drive the way they wanted. They are not only poor drivers but have a misguided sense of the civil liberties.

Are you stupid or a coward?

Over the last week I have read/heard about some really rude comments on many blogs all from "anonymous" posters. These posts have picked on a child's project, tried to express political views but included rude language and no substance, or have simply been vicious attacks. My friend Vaneesa and I were talking about it today and we can't come to a consensus. Are these people just really stupid or cowards? What do you think?
Post a comment and let me know- but not anonymously, because I won't post it.

Meredith's vote- they're cowards. They know their veiws are illogical and rather than signing their name and saying this is how I feel, they pick on other people for having a different view,

Should I be THIS tired??

I have a whole new respect for teachers, which is really hard because I already respect them A LOT. Still, I'm here on the computer because I am just too tired to rake my leaves. Why am I so tired? Well I ran a voting booth, helped write 15 campaign speeches and helped make 15 campaign hats, counted the ballots, caused two volcanic eruptions, and help 15 people with line dancing-before 11:30. I'm exhausted even though I only work about 3 and 1/2 hours a day. I don't have any idead how full time teachers do it.
BTW- golden oreos won out over animal crackers 11 to 4, and Christmas may come 4 times a year, depending who gets elected. Oh and we'll be eating a lot of corn and ice cream.Okay, I'm off to rake the leaves now...

Halloween Fun

We had hands down, the best Halloween ever. It was warm enough that we didn't wear coats- a first for us in the 7 Halloweens we've spent in Minnesota. Great friends to go out with, great friends to run into, (including a couple who were doing the BYOB thing- i didn't even know you could do that! But no need to worry, I reminded them that we don't drink lol) , two parades at preschool (yes i posted both of my classes), a parade for Em at her school, hot chocolate at the Andersons, and no one caught whatever Lily had earlier in the week. We finished up with an early round of shopping for Halloween leftovers (which included NO candy as the girls made a HUGE hall. Check out the picture w/ the orange bowl. That's the "extra" candy we buy from then every year. I know a lot of people at Shawn's work who are going to be very happy on Monday. I can't wait until next year!

Vampires and a werewolf in Minneapolis

As many of you know, Charlie and I are HUGE Twilight fans. So, I was excited to see that Jacob, Laurent, and Victoria will all be in Minneapolis on Novemebr 14th. More details will be available soon at http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ This is great new, though, of course, I am always aware of what I'm missing in Boston, where Edward (robert Pattison) will be this Nov. Details for all of the casts trip are available at the same website. If anyone in boston sees him, I had better get pictures!!!!

I know who you are

My friend Lisa and I were talking about blogs the other day. We decided that since most LDS people keep journals, a fair number probably blog as well. So today I decided to hit next blog when I was done reading blogs and see how many I had to hit until I found someone who looked like they were LDS or else lived in Utah. I hit next blog 3 times and then found someone who is LDS. I know they are because of the picture of Moroni and the missionaries and temple. Unfortunately, I couldn't read anything from their blog as it was in another language. (I want to say Swiss or Finnish, but really, I have no clue. So I left them a post. They probably don't understand English, but if they do how cool. So give it a try. Pick a criteria (loation, age, religion etc.) and count how many times you have to click next blog until you find someone who meets your criteria.

Kicking and Screaming

UPDATE: this post is meant to help some family members new to posting. It it NOT meant to reflect on the ablilities of previous posters. Sorry for the confusion!!!
I understand how hard new technology is. Shawn is often explaining new tech stuff to me, usually many times. So, I am leaving the most direct directions I can for how to leave a comment on a blog. Each entry is called a post. At the bottom of the post is a time stamp. It says posted by meredith and shows the time I posted. One the right it says a number of comments. (Like 3 comments) To leave a comment you left click on the number of comments. This will bring to a new page. That page will show all of the comments and have a empty box under the words leave your comment. You click in that box and write what you want to say. Then, you will see a bunch of random letters. You type those in the box marked word verification. After you do that you click on leave anonymous since you don't have a blogger/google account. Then click post your comment. You will get a comment that tells you that your comment has been saved and you are done. It's very easy and a lot of fun- it's also cheaper than calling me and telling me what you think of the blog. :)

Washington D.C.

Shawn took a trip to D.C. a couple of weeks ago. He keeps meaning to blog about it, but then he forgets/gets busy. So, I decided to blog for him. The problem is that he showed these pics at about midnight on the day her got home (he got home after 11 p.m.) so I honestly can't remember much. Some are from the National Zoo, some are from the National Aquarium, and some are from the Smithonian. My favorite is of the guy at the Smithonian because when we said , oh who's that guy? Shawn's answer was "I have no idea, he was just in the picture". We're glad he's home and if you have questions about the trip feel free to comment, he's more likely to explain if I'm not the only one asking.

People who shouldn't play with knives....

When Eric and Vanessa 1st moved to town, Eric managed to cut himself enough for stitches opening a slice of cheese as he showed off for his kids. A year and 1/2 (or so) later, Vanessa cut herself enough for stitches making food for a party at her home. Tonight, Shawn cut himself on the final cut of carving his pumpkin. My 1st thought was, "I wonder how long he's going to drag this out before he finally just goes to the E.R. My gues was at least an hour, so imagine my surprise when within just a few minutes he says, "This is really deep, I'm going to the E.R." The irony of this injury is of course that i had spent about an hour and a half with about 30 preschoolers and their parents (who included both Eric and Vanessa) and no one cut themselves there. Better luck next time I guess. So, my new thought is, who ended up with more stitches?

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

We have been learning the Five Little Pumpkins at preschool all month long. (If you don't know it you can google it, but having done it so many times, I just don't want to say it again. ) We are performing it at our pumpkin carving party tonight for all of the parents. Lily, who is in my class on Thursdays and Fridays, has practiced very hard at school as well as at home. All of the children have been eagerly waiting for the party. One little girl was absent today and I thought , "wow, what a hard day to be absent from school, she must be very sad to miss all the fun." And, it will be very sad for her. There's only one thing that i can think of that's worse and that's when you get sick at school and find out that not only are you not going to the party, but your mom, one of the preschool teachers, still is. This of course happened to Lily today. She gets full marks for 1) telling me she needed to be sick a full 90 seconds before she was, and 2) for actually being sick in a the lined garbage can at school. Lily rocks, but is very sad because she'll now miss the party. I of course feel incredibly guilty because I will still be there. It really doesn't get much worse-unless one of us comes down with this on Halloween......

Pro Flag Football

We went to a party on Saturday to "play a little flag football." I knew I was out of my element when I saw that they actually had lines painted on the ground, goal posts, a sound system announcing all of the plays and a concession stand. It was a ton of fun and we're looking forward to playing next year. The kids loved

the trampoline, horses and chickens and the younger kids loved making up a half-time show. Shawn was a super hero on the field and was very impressive. Unfortunately, he's still paying for it today as he limps around. Still we can't wait until next year. The flag football "season" runs mid August through mid October, so we're planning on getting a lot of games in next year.

A perfect Saturday

I woke up this morning in a bad mood and thought arrg, what a crappy day. Then, I realized it was after 8 and everyone else was still sleeping, friends showed up with donut holes just to say they were thinking of us, I not only thought that I could get my lesson done for church tomorrow in the hour everyone was gone, but iIactually did get it done in an hour, we spent the afternoon playing flag football-and it never rained and was actually warm despite the forecast, (The craziest -in a good way, thing you've ever seen, look for the post and pics tomorrow), the kids spent a ton of time jumping on the trampoline, feeding the horses, chasing the chickens and playing in the hay loft and weren' ever bored at the party, Em had a friend sleep over and Charlie got home super late from her activitiy- and they were all asleep by 11:30 and we had friends of for a game until about 12:30. So, Shawn and I are sore and tired and glad to go to bed. We're also grateful for the wonderful friends we have and our fabulous family as well. It was a perfect Saturday. I'm so glad my grumpy thoughts this morning were wrong. :)

Cyberstalking definition

I was at a party and 2 things happened. 1st someone asked me if I made up "cyberstalker" and second someone told me that me definition was wrong and that you are only a stalker if you read blogs of people you don't know. So, I am going to assume that I did make up the term and am therefore entitled to define it. If you read a blog and never comment you are a cyberstalker. It does not matter if you know the person whose blog you are reading or not, just as it doesn't matter if you know the person stalking you in person. So if you are reading this right now and you have never commented then you are a stalker- especially if you are using it to gather information.

Now, before all you cyberstalkers get mad, I want to make sure that you know that I love cyberstalkers. If any blogger wants their blog to only be read by people they know, then they make it a private blog. Any open blogs are fair game and are there to be enjoyed. I know of a couple of stalkers who have private blogs but who stalk mine and I'm fine with that as well. (Yup, someone totally ratted you out by mistake.)

So if you read a blog and NEVER comment you are a stalker- and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Liars had better not change their minds

Lily is experimenting with lying. It is either a preschool age thing or else a preschool attending thing as she is telling the same kinds of lies as all of the kids in my preschool class. My personal favorite lie is when a child walks across the room not paying attention, trips over their own feet or another child and points at the closest child and says, "teacher, he/she pushed me!" So, Emily was blamed for knocking Lily down several times this week. I explained to Lily that it is wrong to tell lies. I assumed that this would take several more attempts before she really understood it. So, imagine my surprise when Lily asked me a question, I said no, and then changed my mind. Lily immediately responded, "Mommy, why are you lying? Lying is wrong and I don't like to be lied to." I tried to explain that it's not lying if you say no to a drink and then change your mind, but Lily wasn't buying it at all. I'm sure when it suits her she'll come on board, so I'll let you know the next time I tell her no lying and she says she just changed her mind. For now in our home, apparently you get one shot at a drink, and them you had better stick with your answer.

Almost Home/rock solid marriage

Phone conversations that start off with "I have some bad news" never go well. Shawn called Thursday night to say that due to some complications with his trip he would no longer be home Friday night as promised. Instead, he would be home around noon on Saturday. Well, I didn't have to pay for his ticket so really, there's not much I can say. So imagine my surprise when he calls on Friday afternoon to say the Sat. A.M. flight didn't work out and now he's on a Sat. evening flight. He will land around 10 p.m. and hopefully be home by 11:30 p.m. So, while none of this is his fault, I've got some cranky children at home. It has been a LOOOONG week.

On the plus side, I have informed him that I will never divorce him. (In the past I had always said that if he cheated or hit me I'd divorce him.) My new stance is if he ever does those things I'll make him live in the basement and eat cat food , but I'm NOT doing the single parent thing. Especially since as I typed this, Lily has just song out, "MOOOOMMMMYYY, I POOOOOPPPPPPEDDD!!!!! followed by "DaaaaaDDDDDYYYYY is the BEEEEESSSSSTTTTT!" I'm off to wipe a little butt.

Money chain

Shawn took a trip to D.C. this week. It was very upsetting to Lily. She started to pack her own things in his suitcase. She packed clothes, P.J.s, her toothbrush and a pillow. When Shawn explained that he didn't have a ticket for her, she got out her piggy bank and showed him all of her money and told him she would buy her own. When I told her that I would miss her and needed her to stay with me and go to preschool, she told me that I had Emily and I could go to preschool by myself. Luckily, Shawn left early Monday morning when Lily was to tired to do more than give him a big hug. She has been fine without him, but we're glad he's on his way back.

Cyber stalking

Okay, I admit to being a blog stalker. I totally read blogs that I never comment on. Mostly, I follow the blogs of my friends (and very distant family) Lisa and Nessa. We try and walk several times a week and I read their family's blogs so that I don't spend all my time asking who's pregnant and who's kids did what. So, I just read one of lisa's sil's blogs. She has fabulous Halloween murals that she's painted on her windows. I want to say, "Hey, those are fabulous!!!" But then I'm afraid that she say, "Who is this crazy lady posting?" So I have no idea what to do. And, now I'm curious- is anyone stalking my blog? I have an idea that one person might be, but really if you're stalking let me know...........

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch over the weekend. We had a great time with all of the activities- we went through the color maze, panned for gems, slid down an 80 foot slide, (well, Shawn and the kids did- I took pics from the bottom), dug for dinosaur bones, climbed a dinosaur, were human gerbils , went to the Enchanted Forest, played in harvest town(where after 15 years together Shawn finally beat me at checkers. I was distracted watching Lily dart in and out of the little buildings though). Eventually, we even took a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. This year, we skipped Dodge Town (old west), all of the shows, and the corn maze, after almost 4 hours we were exhausted and wanted to get a late lunch. If you're in Minnesota, you should try Tweite's Pumpkin Patch- it's definitely worth the drive!!!