Free Summer Entertainment (Almost)

Remember when we got new chairs at work?

And I brought home those HUGE boxes?

And I said I would let you know what the kids did with them?

Hours and Hours of sawing and cutting and taping later...

This is what has been concocted.

The best summer entertainment only cost me a roll of duck tape. Take that Corporate America with your Deep Pockets!

Adventures in a Box

Today at work our new chairs arrived. In big glorious boxes! With smaller boxes and pieces that came with The Big Box. I promptly volunteered to take one or two.

Of course I could only fit one Box in my car at a time.

But Baby was so incredibly excited to meet The Box.

He brought the box in the house and promptly pulled everything out. I told him if he didn't use something to throw it in the recycle bin.

He replied, as he got cozy with The Box, "There won't be anything going in the Recycle Bin!"

Stay tuned for Baby's Adventures in a Box.

Christmas Shopping

There has been an item on sale at Target this week that I have been trying to secure for the boys for Christmas. I've already been to the store three times and they've been out of stock every time. This morning I got smart. I called them as soon as I got to work.

"Do you have any of Item Z in stock today?" I asked.

"Yes, we do have those."

"Do you have at least two?" I asked.

"Yes, we have at least two." I love that he didn't volunteer that they had 20 or 50 or 3.

"How long do you think you'll have those in stock today?"

"I don't know. I would come. Right. Now." He said it just like that. I felt like someone was reading me a blog with all that fancy-dancy punctuation that's so trendy.

Needless to say I hightailed it out of there and got two Item Z's for Christmas morning.

Christmas Craziness

This week I got all the Christmas decorations out and decorated the house. I made the boys bring all the boxes out of the basement for me. And since they were rifling around the storage room they found a train. Sometime, a long time ago, I don't remember when, someone gave us the toy train to run around our Christmas tree. So we got it out.

While I was busy decorating the house, Baby and Olaf were busy putting up the tree and the train. Baby has been playing with the train all week. And he brought out his army men.

It looks like a World War II Train to me. He loves it. I think I'm going deaf though. The train whistle doesn't turn off. I don't know if I can make it til Christmas.

It's a Blue Christmas

I had some wonderful visitors this year. They are wonderful! They are Christmassy! They are Blue! They are Small! I already have some of their relatives that come for Halloween.

They came through the snow to visit our house. No smurfing their duties!

Not to make a Mountain out of a Molehill, but this guy had no choice. They had to climb over snow pebbles/mountains just to get here.

They smurfed hard and got here just in time to make everyone happy.

See those big smurfballs they had to trudge through on that little red sleigh?

They were so happy to get in the house and warm up.

Smurfs compliments of Sister-in-Law Nurse, who must really love me to bring me this wonderful present!

Happy Blue Critters

Remember these Happy Critters from Saturday morning cartoons?

They're Smurfs and I loved the cartoon.

Every Saturday I would watch to see what mishap would befall them this week.

One day my parents took us to FAO Schwartz in Las Vegas.
The kids scoured the store. There were so many cool things!
All useless, expensive toys. Have I told you I hate buying toys?

I saw the price tags for stuff the boys would actually use. And
then couldn't rationalize buying something cheap we didn't need,
like another stuffed animal. Have I told you I hate stuffed animals?

I've thrown away garbage bags of stuffed animals. I've donated
bags full of them to the police. So we left with nothing.

Well, almost nothing. I couldn't help myself.
And Olaf just groaned when I showed him my brand new purchase.

Our 4th Child

I have neglected to tell many people that we actually have 4 children, not three. Luckily I did not have to endure the nine month preganancy, nor sleepless nights afterwards. And this 4th child doesn't need diaper changes or bottle-feedings and coddling, granted Baby gives him enough of that. Our 4th child's name is Froggy. He was born the same day as Baby. He was a gift from his Aunt & Uncle and has become part of the family. He goes on vacation with us. He sleeps with Baby every night. We have gone on several Search & Rescue Missions to recover Froggy from dangerous field ops where his partner forgot to extract him.

Our favorite Search & Rescue Mission took place in Boise after Thanksgiving. We were trying to go home. One of my younger sisters calls to tell me she's in labor. "Congratulations! -pause- Have you seen Froggy, was he left at your house last night?" No. Off to downtown Boise and dumpster diving with the best of the homeless. Rechecking restaurants and parking garages. Finally, in the kid playground I walked in "Have you seen a used green . . . There he is! Thank you so MUCH! Where did you find him?" In the parking lot. Obviously some mother saw him and knew how much he would be missed and brought him back in to the lost and found. That or else she was so disgusted by him she didn't want her kid touching him. Whatever the reason thank you wherever you are!

After our most recent Search & Rescue Mission we decided Baby is too old to be carrying Froggy everywhere and we are tired of looking for him with the sick feeling every parent has when a child is lost. He has been relegated to the China Cabinet next to my Bear, who was loved just as much as Froggy.