Ho Ho HO....Green Giant

Does that giant green guy say the same thing as Santa??

Merry Christmas! We had a great few days here for sure. My parents came over for Christmas Eve and we made our traditional homemade pizza. Cameron even learned the art of spreading cheese ball on crackers, that's a lifelong skill!



Then we made cookies for Santa:





Then Santa made some videos for the boys so we watched them. Seriously, if you haven't used the PNP, Portable North Pole videos you are missing out. My friend Cathy told me about it, it seriously brought magic into the room as we watched them. At one point Carson said "I know you guys just made this video!" and then a few seconds later he said, with a reverent whisper: "just kidding, I know Santa made it". It was awesome! All three boys were MESMERIZED!




Then we had our traditional French Crepes for dessert:


Sam read Luke 2 from the Bible and we sent the kids to bed. They were pretty giddy. I told Parker "If I can't sleep tonight, I'll come to your room and we'll play games okay?" He happily gave me a thumbs up and went to bed.

At 5am Parker woke me up and said "hey mom, remember you said you'd come play games with me if you couldn't sleep?" I said "Yeah,I remember. However, I was asleep! Go to bed!!" So I walked him back to the stairs and made sure he went into his room. As I was heading back to bed, I saw some flashing lights in the window by my front door. I looked outside and LAUGHED MY GUTS OUT!


There's a story here.

Once upon a time at work, there was an auction. One item up for bid, was a chair we affectionately called "Big Red". It is a huge executive office chair. I was almost outbid but at the last minute I won the bid by $.50. This past summer, Sam and I decided it was time to get rid of Big Red and, perhaps, we should give the chair to my co-worker who almost outbid me. Well, we MAY or may NOT have climbed her fence and placed the chair on her deck. I really can't confirm whether this event took place or not.

Well, somehow Big Red came back into my life sometime between 12AM and 5AM on Christmas Day. It's a Christmas Miracle....or tragedy, I haven't decided yet. However, I can't believe how hard I was laughing. I totally woke Sam up and made him look outside. I wonder what the neighbors thought? ha ha ha!

Finally at 7am I gathered the boys. They hadn't slept much and were runnin' on pure adreneline.


The morning was wonderful. The kids were very excited about everything and everyone!



Cameron had his grumpy moments, but that is to be expected!




We got him back by introducing him to the world of "jack in the box" toys! This one has Sir Topham Hat popping up out of the box. He smiled the first few times, then he got scared, we laughed, and then he was petrified of it. I'm smiling right now remembering it. Good times!


Sam is taking the boys to a Jazz game next week. I think Parker was feeling enthusiastic about it.


After we opened presents, we went to my parents house to watch them open gifts and then we had the most amazing breakfast....Cinnamon Bread (more like cake!) from Kneaders, it makes the BEST french toast. Plus egg casserole. Wow. I'm still full!

Then we visited with some of the Sweet's and then had a fabulous soup/bread bowl dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Wow, did I mention I'm still full? Luckily I laughed so much after dinner that I hope I burned at least one bite's worth of calories from that cinnamon french toast! I love hanging with family and larfing out lard. Seriously, I am so completely blessed. I hope everybody else had a great Christmas!

And now, good night!

Unsupervised

This is what happens when I send Sam to Costco, alone with the boys.

I'm A Fan

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I was able to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, featuring David Archuleta. It was amaaaaazing!



Seriously, I thought he had a great voice when he was on American Idol...but hearing him live, performing with the Tabernacle Choir, BLEW MY MIND! I was completely mesmerized the whole time and when it was over I was panicky..."No, it can't be over yet!!!" type of panic.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. We went with some great friends, the Sharpe's. We've know the Sharpe's since our days of being newlyweds living in the avenues in downtown Salt Lake City. Reconnecting with long-time friends while attending a Christmas concert. Just one of the many reasons I love this time of year!

You know what else I love? Knock Knock jokes that Carson makes up. Let me break it down for you:

Carson: Knock Knock
Carrie: Who's there?
Carson: Ketchup
Carrie: Ketchup who?

Insert tons of laughter from ALL 3 BOYS and SAM. That's when I realized I said "catch a poo". Dang potty talk.

SweeeeeEeeeeet Christmas Par-Tay

We had the Sweet Christmas party last night. I really love the annual Christmas party with the family that I call "in laws". Sam's oldest brother and his wife were in charge, which was guaranteed a good time. When I met Sam's family for the first time Sam said "You are going to love Cindy. She is kind of bossy, like you." ha ha ha! It's true, Cindy rules. She did a great job dealing with the Sweet's who like to tease you to the point of awkwardness (I've learned to embrace it).

For the first time since I've been a Sweet, Santa came to the Christmas party. Before he came in, Cindy had a bunch of Santa songs planned for us to sing. She called up some family members to hold letters that spelled "Santa". Her first mistake was that she called up grown men to hold the letters. Her second mistake was being too slow to realize the letters could be rearranged. Sam quickly directed a few guys to switch places, with this result:


Without realizing what happened, Cindy said to the little kids "What does that spell?" The kids sat there confused and Sam yelled out "SATAN!".

Cindy put on her best preschool teacher voice and quickly got things back under control. Once we sang Santa songs, Santa came strolling in. The kids loved it. You know what's weird though? There were only about 12 kids young enough to sit on Santa's lap. That kills me! When I first attended a Sweet Christmas party in 1998 I thought I would die from all the chaos of all the little kids running wild! My how times change in a few short years. Now those "little kids" are getting married and having their own kids. Sheesh, I feel like one of the old people who talk about walking up hill to school...both ways....but it's true!

Anyway, back to Satan...I mean SANTA!
Cameron was NOT having this whole sit-on-Santa's-lap routine. Mind you, we've never taken our kids to sit on Santa's lap. In fact, brace yourself, this is the very first time Carson, Parker, or Cameron have EVER sat on Santa's lap. I swear I'm telling the truth. The opportunity has never presented itself before and we don't go to malls. :)

However, after seeing Parker and Carson sit on his lap...



He finally agreed. I just kept telling him, "Just sit on his lap and say you want Thomas the Tank Engine for Christmas". He whimpered for awhile and then suddenly said "I want to sit on Santa's lap." so up he went.


Once he came back to me he started crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said "Where's Thomas????" Apparently he thought he'd get his dream come true right after sitting on Santa's lap. Oops, I failed to mention that part. Good thing he didn't realize it because I don't think the promise of a candy cane would have cut it.

I guess you're never too old to sit on Santa's lap! Good one James!


We had a pinata! Cameron was the first kid at bat. Rod put a helmet on him and handed him a heavy metal bat. It almost knocked Cameron down. So, he hoisted it up into the face bars and rested the bat there. I almost died laughing, he's so crazy!


Broken pinata+candy+kids = success!


Yeah, Cameron probably has a tooth-ache. I cannot believe the amount of candy he ate last night and today. Shameful actually!


Like I said before, I really enjoyed the Sweet Christmas party and this is my content look because I'm totally ready for Christmas so this party was the last big hoorah before the big day. It's been a great season!


Today we went to James' house to say "hi" and see Sam's sister Shauna before she left to go home to St George. Aren't they a fun family?


Meanwhile, James was having some bonding moments with Cameron. We tried to get Cameron to smile but this is the best we got. He would NOT give in to peer pressure!


Tonight our neighbors brought some Christmas goodies over. However.....the gingerbread men were a little, uh, sketchy? I'm thinking a few things:
A) totally innocent, no inuendos intended
B) totally on purpose to make us laugh
C) purchased at an erotic bakery


Finally, I got my eye lashes permed and colored today! I'm SOOOOO mad that I didn't get a "before" picture! Just understand this: they were blonde and so straight that they hung over my eyes!

I'm very happy with the results! (no make up on...I have no pride).

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a great birthday to boot! My day started off with a great card from Sam. He complimented me on my patience as a mother and wife, which made me realize he was talking about someone else, but it made me smile nonetheless! :)

Then, my parents came and picked up Cameron for the whole day so I could work without being interrupted. Happy Birthday to ME! It was very nice and very quiet, I need days like that once in awhile to find my sanity. Of course, they tell me Cameron was perfect for them....I choose to believe them, even if they are lying through their teeth! ha ha!

Now, let's talk about Facebook for a moment. I LOVE love LOVE Facebook on my birthday because all my friends share the love big time! I was inundated with emails full of birthday wishes. Even if they wouldn't have remembered my birthday without the FB reminder, it doesn't matter at all to me. It was a blast to get fun emails instead of boring work emails. It's like getting the mail this time of year is so fun because there are more Christmas cards than bills. Score!

This has nothing to do with my birthday, but on Saturday the kids were playing music really loud in their room. I snuck downstairs with the video camera and caught them dancing. Carson hid behind the door, but Parker acted like I wasn't there and kept dancing. I loved it! This is what happens when you don't let your kids watch TV after breakfast on Saturdays. They get creative!


For the big day yesterday I decided I wanted to go see the lights on Temple Square. I figured riding TRAX would be the best bet since the kids love trains and also because there was a Jazz game downtown last night. Lots and lots of traffic! It was lots of fun. Cameron kept saying "There's Thomas! We are on Thomas!" and Carson and Parker kept trying to stand up while the train was moving. We were classic tourists.




The weather was gorgeous for us at temple square, very mellow, not bitter freezing like it has been in the past!




However, I think everybody within a 100-mile range was either at temple square or at the Jazz game so it got super hectic. We decided to get back on the train and head to my parents house where we enjoyed a variety of fruit, rather than cake. ha ha ha! Insert evil laugh here! I blew out a candle that was in the fruit dip.


I think Carson liked the fruit. At least that is what his smile tells me!


My family was very generous as well, I received some super nice mixing bowls, sneakers, a sweatshirt (because all my sweatshirts are 20 years old, but I'll still wear them!), and a gift certificate to achieve something I've wanted to achieve for a long time...curly eyelashes! I'm getting my eyelashes tinted and curled on Saturday. Should be interesting to say the least. I have long eyelashes but they are straight as a board.

I remember one time in college I went to a football game with my friend. He asked me to go to the game right after I woke up so I put on clothes and ran out the door, no makeup. At the game, he said "how can you even see? Your eyelashes are hanging over your eyes!" ha ha ha! Rude. Anyway, even with an eyelash curler then end up straight by the end of the day. I'm excited to try something new here!

Oh The Joys Of Winter

Sadly, I have an annoucement to make: Please throw your pumpkins away. There will not be a pumpkin throwing party this year. I kept hoping the snow would melt so we could party, but instead, we still have snow and my pumpkins rotted. boo! I asked Sam to scoop up the orange piles that once were pumpkins, and toss them in the garbage can. He did toss them, but one of them bounced off the garbage can lid and into a tree on the side of our house. So, if you drive by our house, play the "can-you-find-the-pumpkin-in-the-tree" game as you go by. Just trying to make your drive a little more entertaining. You are welcome!

Wow, we got slammed with snow last week! Check out the snow in the kids playhouse!

This is what I saw when looking out my front door. Look how deep we had to shovel to find the pavement!

Then we had these deadly daggers hanging from the roof across the entire front of my house. Carson was outside messing around and got hit by one. He just laughed. Then I lectured him about how dangerous they could be. I went outside with a rake and started swatting at them to break them off. A neighbor boy went by and said "Mrs. Sweet! That is dangerous!" and just then I knocked one off and it hit Parker. Sad for Parker, but a great object lesson for Carson! Just trying to find the silver lining here...


Speaking of Parker...one night he was sucking on a ring pop leftover from Halloween. It was taking him FOREVER to finish it and it was bed time. I told him to leave it on a plate in the kitchen so he could get ready for bed. A few hours later I walked past the kitchen to see this:


Not sure why but he had put his sucker in water and the water totally dissolved his ring pop! Good one! I was laughing about it with Sam and Sam said, "oh, I put it in water." What?? I asked him why and he just shrugged his shoulders. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I'm learning this more and more as the years go by. :)

Do you want to know a grievance of mine every winter? My finger tips crack. It seriously is so annoying and it hurts like CRAZY! It's like a papercut on cocaine (get it?? cocaine/crack? I'm so punny). No matter how much lotion/bag balm/neosporin I use, my fingers just crack all winter long. It's quite hideous actually.


But guess what I love? I love these bandaids:


They seriously rock. I wish I could just buy the fingertip bandaids because I never need the knuckle ones, but DANG they work so good! The off brand ones suck rocks. The Band-Aid brand never leaves that sticky substance on your fingernail. So even though cracked fingers hurt, at least I can type on a computer fairly well wearing fingertip bandaids!

Yesterday I spent practically the whole day making candy. It is one of my favorite holiday traditions! This morning I was cutting and wrapping caramels and nougat. Carson got out of the shower (sweet hair!) and asked if he could help me. I was thrilled! I took a video:


Carson is such a trooper. If I'm frustrated with him or pleased with him, he's always perfectly happy. Case in point:

For a few weeks now Carson will come home from school and his socks are SOAKING wet! He even wears boots to school! Every day I give him a lecture about not stepping in huge puddles because apparently that's what he's doing and the water goes into the tops of his boots and soaks his feet. It's so gross because we have to take out the liners of his boots and dry them daily. Every day his response is this high pitched (Think of Screech on 'saved by the bell') "SORRY!" and then he goes about his merry way. On Friday Carson came home and said "hey mom! I know why my socks are getting wet every day!". He then shows me how the tread on the bottom of his boots have separated from the sole and they are basically little flaps that open right up to his boot liner. So basically he just steps on wet pavement and his socks get wet. I said "so you haven't been stepping in deep puddles?" He says "nope". I then ask him why he never told me that and he sort of shrugs and said "Idunno". Weird kid. If that were me I'd be making darn sure my mom knew that I wasn't an idiot and that it's not my fault the stupid boots don't work! Carson just doesn't let it bother him.

It's just like the time I thought Carson was missing his target when going to the bathroom because around the base of the toilet was often wet. I was sooooo mad and kept making him clean it up. Come to find out the toilet was leaking, he never missed his mark after all. When I apologized he just, once again, shrugged. Funny kid!

Having said that, we tried finding boots for him this weekend but couldn't find anything that he liked. Sam said "guess he'll have to bread bag it!" If you've ever had Moon Boots I hope you understand the bread bag reference! It made me laugh pretty hard!

Guess what doesn't make me laugh hard? My stupid eyes. Ever since October I've had problems off and on with my eyes. Lately I can't even wear my contacts because I put them in and about 2.431 seconds later if feels like a bomb of Tobasco sauce goes off in my eyes. Once I pry my contacts out, I spend the next 4 hours wiping tears off my cheeks, closing all the blinds in my house because the sunlight hurts, and blowing my nose. It's quite the sight to see. I have gas perm lenses so it's not like I can just throw away my contacts and try on a new pair. I've cleaned them and taken good care of them but something is not right! Good thing I have glasses as a back up because I'm about as blind as they come. However, I'm not a fan of wearing glasses, especially because I taught Cameron to lick his finger and wipe them on my dad's glasses as a joke. Payback is a bee-otch.

I finally grew up and went to an opthamologist instead of an optometrist. After he made me put in my contacts so he could examine my eyes (of course this was after I begged him to not make me), he discovered that my contacts were not round enough for the shape of my eyeball. Imagine putting a plate on top of a beach ball. See how the edges of the plate stick out and don't conform? That's what I was doing to my eyes with my contacts. That's awesome I say as tears are streaming down my face from the Tobasco bomb. So he ordered me some new contacts and I'm hoping and praying that this takes care of my issues (oh and I'm hoping it's not too expensive!)

The best part of the eye doctor experience: My dad came with me to my appointment so he could hang with Cameron and possibly drive me home in case my eyes had to be dilated. Well, the appointment took forever! My dad was desperate to keep Cameron happy so as luck would have it, there was a little toy room just for kids with a kid size door in the waiting room. As luck wouldn't have it, Cameron wouldn't play in there unless my dad was with him. So, being the fabulous Grandpa that he was, he CRAWLED into the kid cave and played with Cameron. You should have seen the waiting room patients laugh as we went to leave and my dad crawled back out of the kid cave! Gotta love CARL!!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

I had a really fun Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, my brother's family couldn't join us this year. On Wednesday, they made it from Rexburg to Blackfoot and had to turn around and go home because the roads were too icy and slick. I was so sad but completely understood! So Wednesday night I made Pioneer Woman's pecan pie and chocolate peanut butter pie. Oh my word, they were AMAZING! For my last meal, I want somebody to make me that chocolate peanut butter pie, okay? I also made dough for the rolls and let it hang out in the fridge all night.

Thanksgiving day I baked rolls and made a veggie tray. Voila! I'm ready for my share of turkey day. The food was awesome, company was great (parents, aunt/uncle, little bro's family). After vegging around for a little while I decided it was time to do something. So, several of us went and saw the movie "Tangled" in 3D. It was sooo good! I was worried that my boys wouldn't like it (taking them to see "The Princess and the Frog" was a disaster!) but they loved it! I loved it too. My favorite character: the horse. Hysterical.

After the movie, my parents took the kiddos home and Shandy and I decided to do some early Black Friday shopping. Fashion Place Mall opened at 9pm and stayed open all night. Every single store was open for business with some killer deals! 50% off everything at Gap, 40% off everything at Eddie Bauer... It was complete madness but I loved every second of it. Shandy and I were loving the people watching for sure. Once I got home, Sam went to the mall and found some basketball shoes among a few other treasures. It was a GREAT way to be part of Black Friday without having to stand out in the freezing cold at scary hours of the morning. I will definitely do it again next year!

The rest of the weekend has been sort of lazy but yet busy. We've run a lot of errands and had lots of hot chocolate. :)

Not sure why, but yesterday Parker filled up a laundry basket full of blankets and fell asleep in it. I'd blame it on the turkey, but he didn't eat too much of it! It certainly did not looke comfortable!


I just don't question what he does because he's so random. Today he told me that he wishes he could legally change his name to "bleep" because then when people were saying his name, it's like they were swearing and somebody had to "bleep" out the bad word. See what I mean? He's so.....unique. :)

Then there are these cuties. Carson filled up the kitchen sink yesterday and played with some toy fish in the water for at least 2 hours. Not kidding. Cameron dragged in a stool and joined in the fun. It was just enough time for me to sneak in a nap. Yay for kids who know how to entertain themselves!!!


For the past 2 days Sam has been building a huge shelf in our garage to hold all our "stuff". It's going to be awesome to get our garage all organized! Since we've lived in the house, there has been a piece of plywood up against one wall that held Sam's hand tools. Sam removed the plywood as part of the shelf construction. He saw a big pile of gray fluff. Upon further examination, he discovered that it was a completely decomposed bird. Poor thing must have fall down behind the plywood and couldn't fly back up and out! I'd like to blow away the dust (AKA feathers) and see what the skeleton looks like underneath! But for now, it's just hanging out like this:



Today we decorated for Christmas, yeah! The boys were bored out of their mind so Sam took them sledding.

This picture of Cameron makes me laugh. He looks so tough with his black eye and I think he's trying to decide if he like sledding. As luck would have it, he loved sledding! Who'da thunk?


Solo run. Look at that joy in his eyes! ha ha!


Oh fancy, he's giving us jazz hands now!


Now he's either flipping off Carson, or he's saying "We're number 1!"


Parker forgot his sled. Either that or he's training for the olympics in the Skeleton event!


I took a few pics of our decorated living room. Did I mention I listened to Chrismtas music all day? I'm loving this Christmas season already!







I have my advent calendar all put together and just waiting for December 1st! My sister in law gave this to me last year. It's a mini muffin tin. Brilliant! I put M&M's in the cups. The boys will love it.