Sh*tty Boots

My daughter has always been a challenge for me...well, not ALWAYS...I did think she was a sweet baby. But toddler hood has been a totally different story. She is not a beast every day...some days she is a beauty on the inside, as well as on the outside...but as of late, my little princess, has been anything but charming. :0( This past week has been especially rough. In addition to daily tantrums, and a disrespectful attitude, we have now been introduced to her sailor-like mouth. My blog isn't usually the place where I rag on my kids, but in 5 years...and maybe even next week...I am going to forget that these words ever came out of my daughters mouth (twice)...someone in my family will bring it up at one of our gatherings, and I will adamantly deny that my daughter would even THINK about such a word, let alone say it! So, in an effort to preserve the truth, I must walk into a 12 step program, and admit...

"Hello, my name is Elizabeth, and my daughter said the "S"-"H" word. Repeatedly."

I honestly have no idea where she got it from! I honestly think she made up the word herself. lol. My daughter is with me...all.of.the.time. We have been to the YMCA 3 times in the last 4 weeks (yeah, that's a different blog post, lol)...I don't think she got it from there. Due to illness, and being on vacation one of the weekends, up until last night, we hadn't been to church the entire month of December...I know she didn't get it there. We don't have real cable TV...soo, unless this is something new they are saying on Sesame Street, I don't think she got it from the TV. And most importantly, I do not say curse words. Seriously...how did this happen!?

We are walking through Kohls, and as I am desperately searching through racks and racks of clothing, I finally begin to listen to the words my daughter keeps repeating over and over in a sing-song voice.... "sh*tty boots...sh*tty boots...sh*tty boots..." I asked her what she was saying, and she repeated the words to me...just to be clear, I asked her to say just the first word again....she did. :-0

Oh my word, this girl.

Wyatt NEVER did stuff like this!...although, I don't have a blog from his toddler years to refresh my memory, lol.

I played it cool, in an effort to not make a big deal about the situation. The last thing I wanted to do was let my daughter know that this was yet another way she could make me flip out in my head. I simply explained that that was not an appropriate word, and that the next time she said that, we would be washing her mouth out with soap.

24 hours later...the kids are playing quietly together in Bea's room (I should have known trouble was brewing...the kids were actually playing quietly!) when Wyatt storms out of Beatrice's room to produce the most dramatic nark-fest he could come up with. Yep...she was singing "sh*tty boots" again. Grrr.

Now enter soap in mouth.

In the last 48 hours "sh*tty boots" has not been an issue in our home. (sigh of relief.)

I realize that its AWFUL to say this, but in these moments...and in these days...Rick, Wyatt and I appreciate our youngest family member most when she is....

"My girl likes to party all the time..."

I have made the decision to keep doing school through the month of December. With Christmas falling on a weekend, and since I am not responsible for hosting an event, there is no reason for us to take a pause in Wyatt's work. However, we have taken a 2 week break for Bea's schooling. We are just doing the required work...no United States study...but there is always time for crafting, and baking, and science experimenting. :0) Wyatt is half-way through his math and spelling books for the school year, and he only has 17-school-days remaining in Science, Social Studies, and English, for the entire school year! He has worked hard at completing those books these first several months of the school year, and we both look forward to him having a lighter school load come January. :0)

This past week was my party-a-day week. Fortunately, in all of the pictures, my face reflects the feeling in my heart...happiness. :0) Unfortunately though, I caught a cold at the beginning of the week, and it made for a mental struggle for me to get excited about going to most of these events. I.was.wiped. :0( But in true fashion, once I arrived at the gatherings, I really did have a good time. I love this time of year...spending time with friends and family...some you see often, and some you hardly ever see at all, except during the Christmas season. So here is a run-down on our "7 days of Celebration"...

On Monday, while the weather outside was frightful ...



...our activities inside were delightful. We had started our cookie baking for the week...





And on Monday night, while the kids spent the night at Grammy's house, I celebrated the birth of Christ with my MOPS leadership team...







We had such a wonderful time chatting...



Eating...



Looking at all of the beautiful decorations, and multiple Christmas trees in Nancy's house...



And then we had a hilarious white elephant gift exchange which resulted in me winning a make-shift ping-pong set up...SCORE! That provided many laughs in our home this week...



On Tuesday, my mommies group gathered together for our Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange. I love this group of women. We have all been parenting together since Wyatt was an infant, and I have found it imperative to have a core group of friends to go through this "mommy journey" with. Through the power of the internet, I talk to these ladies all the time, but unfortunately my days get the better of me, and I don't see these friends as often as I would like to. But on this day, we got to hang out...









...cuddle babies...





...the kids played...





...and we all ate cookies!!!





















On Wednesday, we had our MOPS Christmas party meeting.



We had an ornament exchange...



We had our normal delicious food...



And we packaged up bags of cookies to give to our childcare workers for Christmas...



On Wednesday night, the kids had their Awana group Christmas Party. They made ornaments...





And back by popular demand, Wyatt played "The Inn Keeper" in their annual Awana Nativity Play...





On Thursday morning, I started working on a Sugar Shack order...



And on Thursday night, we attended the birthday party of Wyatt's friend. The kids had a blast playing on all of the jumpies. :0)









On Friday night, I celebrated the season with my Happy Hour group. Brooke hosted the BEAUTIFUL affair...





We enjoyed eachothers company...









Ate incredibly delicious food...







And then we had our annual ornament exchange...



Some of my very favorite ornaments on my tree have come from the years spent together with these ladies, and partaking in this FUN tradition!













On Saturday morning, I got to watch 2-B's kids for her. Wyatt had such a fun time with their new puppy...







...the little girls mostly played outside...









... and we played games. I was the winner of Auntie Pasta...a game of fractions...



...and 2-B's oldest daughter was the winner of the skeletal system game. :0)



Immediately after our babysitting adventure, the kids and I headed up to Grandpa & Grandma Piton's house. The kids hung out with Grandpa, while my step mom treated my sister Jenni and I to our Annual Night at The Nutcracker!



First we had dinner and a drink at the Macaroni Grill...











...and then we were off to The Nutcracker!



We have had the priviledge of sitting in some amazing seats every year, but this year was the very BEST! We got private balcony box seats right over the orchestra!





We had an awesome view!







And since we didnt have time for dessert before the show, we indulged after the show at BJ's...





And if you thought a person wouldn't be full after eating pasta for dinner, and then having multiple desserts, you are WRONG! While actively eating our dessert, my sister Jenni said she had a craving for chips and queso at On the Border. I said I was in if guacamole was involved, lol. You could find us eating yet again...at yet another restraunt...at midnight...





Jenni recently stopped working at this restaraunt, and her old manger surprised us by buying us a drink...



It was a very nice gesture, but we barely drank any of it...would you believe our stomachs were finally too full to shove anything else in there!? But it was still too much of a fun drink to not pose with it! :0)





And finally, after the kids and I went home on Saturday night...well technically, Sunday morning...we went right back up to Grandpa and Grandma Piton's house for Michelle (my step mom) and I to do our Annual holiday baking for our family and her friends. We have literally continued this tradtion for over 20 years. :0)



Over a 7 hour stretch we made 4 pans of fudge...





Peanut butter balls...



Which we then dipped in 2 kinds of chocolate...





We then dipped marshmallows in chocolate with 4 different toppings...









...and chocolate dipped pretzels...



The kids were "helpful" too!



So that's about it. The crazy week is over. We only have 2 parties remaining before Christmas & Christmas Eve...I plan to fully embrace the 3 days this week where we have nothing on the calendar...hopefully my cold will go away with enough rest on those days. :0)