Teenagers

So I've really been looking forward to a break from teenagers for two weeks. I do like and appreciate them. I could never be an elementary school teacher, don't think I have the right kind of patience, but teenagers definitely are patience testers in their own loveable ways and as much as you love them, you do need a break. Funny thing is, here I am at home, to my surprise, with a different species of teenager called the toddler teenager. She rolls her eyes at me. She tells me she's "over it", she goes into her room to listen to music, she bosses me around when we're listening to the High School Musical Soundtrack (I always want Breakin' Free, she wants "Bop to the Top"), she's moody and she has clothing issues (I want to wash the Bratz pajamas, she wants to wear them 24/7). She also got teary eyed when Troy and Gabriella got into a fight during High School Musical II. She turned to me and said "Mom, he loves her."
Me: "Yes he does Maddy."
Madeleine: "But he can't be with her."
I turn and stare at her. Did that really just come out of her mouth?
Madeleine: "It's okay, she needs to be alone right now."
Really? Is she really saying this? Oh my god, the real teenage years....the ones with dating and break ups and bitchy friends.....are going to be a breeze! My four year old toddler teenager totally gets it already! I wish I had been so astute when I was crying over guys who should have been crying over me!

Boxing Day 2007

For the longest time I thought Boxing Day was a celebration of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and all those who sacrifice their two front teeth. It wasn't until my obsession with all things British, and my becoming a self proclaimed anglophile, that I realized Boxing Day is much more exciting than someone getting their ear bitten off on live tv. It's the day we clean out our closets, box up the old, and bring in the new! So all day, I've been rummaging and purging. I have boxes of items (mostly old toys) to give away to the needy. I was introduced to freecycle a few months back (if you're not familiar with it, visit http://www.freecycle.org/) and I have been listing things all day long.



As we cleaned out the girls closets, and made an even bigger mess than we started with, Jason uttered the phrase we all utter, with no intention of following through. "We are not buying these girls anything all year!" Yeah right. I broke that rule four hours later when I went to Nordstrom and bought Maddy some "must have" knee high socks with pom poms on them. I do agree that they do not one more thing labeled "My Little Pony", "Strawberry Shortcake" "Disney Princess" or "Pet Shop". I think we cleaned the shelves of all these items. I have to say I was quite proud of this conversation:

Me: Madeleine, I haven't seen you play with your dollhouse in months. Do you still want it, or should we give it to children who don't have toys?
Madeleine: Do we have to give them my ponies?
Me: No, I'm talking about the dollhouse.
Madeleine (thinking): (pause) Okay, you can give it away.
Me: We don't have to. I just thought..... (she interrupts)
Madeleine: Mommy let's not talk about it, I said just do it.
How charitable, and decisive.

Speaking of decisiveness - we got two bunnies. Our beloved Shabby escaped her cage a few months ago and has gone to live on a farm upstate with many other rabbits. The girls miss playing with her so they asked Santa for two new bunnies. As of now their names are Flopsy and Mopsy. Though I came up with these names, I'm not totally committed to the decision. The girls and Jason however, are. I feel like Flopsy and Mopsy are to rabbits and Debbie and Susie are to people - lovely names of course, but a dime a dozen. They are both girls so we were trying to think of famous female duos but so far Flopsy and Mopsy are sticking.





Overall, our Christmas was nice. Christmas Eve was spent at Babcia and Poppie's and Christmas Day here at home. We left cookies and milk out for Santa and even sent him a letter, express mail - Maddy worried it was too late, Jason assured her he would pay premium postage for overnight delivery to the North Pole - and after three days of obsessive bunny talk, Madeleine and Lily woke up on Christmas morning, ran downstairs and right past two live bunnies in a cage and screamed "Santa got me The Littlest Pet Shop!"



This was definitely a joyous Christmas season filled with laughs and magic and fun. I know these years will go by so fast and I try not to dwell on the sadness of that thought. I always wake up on Boxing Day with a renewed spirit. I'm ready to cleanse, not quite put Christmas away but looking forward to a fresh start of a New Year. I already miss the Christmas Carols on KOST but I'm sick of my gingerbread scented candles. My lights and decorations are staying up but my crispy Christmas tree may have to come down. I'm ready to hide the Polar Express DVD but I'm still looking for Peppermint Ice Cream in the store. I guess if anything, I'm consistent.....consistent in my indecision. So without wanting to totally put Christmas behind me, but looking forward to the start of a new year, I wish you...

Happy Boxing Day to all, and to all a good night!

Gingerbread Girls
You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread girl
Cameron, excited about how tasty her creation is!
Fancy Ruby
Real men wear aprons.....and ride Princess scooters

Haute Moms Baking Day

Okay, this was our first annual Haute Mom's Baking Day. I stole the idea from my mom and wow, what a "sweet" time we had. Everyone showed up armed with their favorite recipes, ingredients, cookie sheets, oven mitts and Christmas cheer. We nibbled on finger foods, sipped wine, and soda for some (preggie Jen) and we baked. I tried something new called a cake cookie. They were very yummy, I filled them with white chocolate chips, cranberries and coconut; then another batch was with white chocolate chips, coconut and tiny peppermint pieces. Gina made an ooey gooey PB & Chocolate treat, and Jennifer some peanut butter drops, you know the ones with the Hershey's kiss? Yum! I loved Stacy's Mexican wedding cookies, even though Tim gave them a 4 - he obviously does not appreciate a good south of the border treat - Ole! Candie made some oatmeal caramel bars and of course her famous Smores cookies. They don't hold a candle to Jason's "famous burritos" but hey, he's been making them for years - they'll get there!

The kids had fun "baking" too, decorating sugar cookies and gingerbread persons and they even got to exchange gifts with each other at the end of the night. It looks like this will be added to that ever growing list of annual events. Thank you to my sugar mamas for mixing up so much fun with me yesterday!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.....

Where the heck have we been.....you may be asking yourself. Well, everywhere it seems! Maddy and Lily started preschool together, I went back to work at La Canada High School, we moved to Chino Hills and Jason went back to work at Central Casting. Oh and we pretty much did that all in the same weekend as Jenni and Rob's wedding!

But now, we're back online and ready to once again share our fun times with you. So, where have we been......since the holidays started, everywhere it seems! 1st stop, the Merriest Place on Earth!