Christmas Festivites

Merry Christmas, every one.

Our traditional photo with Santa, Lily was loving it. This Santa is so popular that Chad and Bill got up at 6am drove to Dallas, stood in line to get tickets for us to see him. We've been going to him for the last five years and we just think he is a great Santa.

The stockings were hung from the chimney with care,with hopes of St. Nickolas soon to be there.

We have our nice sit down dinner on Christmas eve. I love doing it this way; gives me more time to relax and enjoy Christmas. I made prime rib, creamed corn, potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Which if I do say so myself it was a brilliant dinner. Everything turned out great and a feast was enjoyed by all.
Owen, our little artist received an art set. On Christmas morning we had sticky buns while we opened presents. Nan set hers down for a minute and Miss Lily was all over them. Opening the grand finale present! The Wii!
This was my favorite Christmas memory. We gave Lily a doll/stroller set. She carried the doll all around and pushed her all over the house. It just did my heart well.

The little mother.

Nan knitted Lily a beautiful sweater. I loved it so much I've had her wear it for the last two days.
Owen saw Nan putting on the finishing touches on Lily's sweater and asked Nan to nip him something (for some reason the word knit just couldn't come out of his mouth, so nip was the word). She did and under great pressure too I might add. Owen watched her nip almost the entire scarf. And about every ten minutes he'd ask her if she was finished. When she finally was finished he wore it proudly day and night.
Nan worried about how poor Luke would feel, not having anything from his Nana so she got out her needles and niped some more. Maybe a bit too much, the hat is perfect for some conjoined twins. :)! But even Luke loves his gift wore it proudly today while riding his bigwheels.

Don't you just love babies.

Owen and I were working on our family photo book tonight and he just LOVED this picture. He kept wanting to see it over and over again. "Let's go back and look at that picture with the cute fat baby and blue hat." So, here it is for every one's enjoyment (Owen certainly enjoyed it).

I like to move it move it.

News FLASH!

Girls are different than boys.

Have I just rocked your world by this nugget of information? If not read on. First difference, girls are better. Just kidding.... Seriously, the first difference is girls like pretty girly things. As Lily is my first daughter I was surprised that she had a preference for the feminine. I guess I always thought that mothers of daughters were giving the little girls the dolls, necklaces, makeup etc. No, no the little girls are taking the army toys and playing dress up with them until mother buys daughter doll.

Secondly, girls (Lily at least) love to dance. Anytime there is music on (and since I'm a girl too it's on pretty often) you will find Lily shaken her stuff. Even in her car seat she will be bopping along to the beat. When she is sad if you put on music and turn it up she will forget all her troubles and move it move it.

Third girls make you want to abandon parenting strategies and just give them everything they could possibly desire, consequences be damned. I just cannot imagine how on earth I am going to be able to heaven forbid (spank) Lily when the time comes. Friends and family prepare now for a total brat; unless it turns out as Chad predicts and she will never do anything wrong and be completely perfect forever (she's gotten to him too).

But one of the big differences we've noticed is that Lily likes it when Chaddy and I get frisky in front of her (keep it clean folks). She, (unlike her brothers) laughs and giggles when Chad and I hug or kiss. She just loves it. Huumm, what does that mean? When the boys were a bit younger they would FREAK out every time Chad and I kissed or hugged, which just totally would egg Chad on. He'd hug me longer, etc. just to rub it in. He'd tease them that mommy was his not theirs and they would just scream. It was kind of funny, and we just thought that all children hated parental affection. But it is just boys, that Oedipus complex I guess.

Mr. Luke William. Boys it seems are pretty simple, don't let them get hungry (they really really hate that). They love to be useful, little helpers. Especially if you put it to them like you really need their help, that without them would be forever lost. They also love to feel like they are taking care of stuff; like your safety. They both have numerous swords and gun apparatus that they use to patrol our perimeter (the lawn) and look out for bad guys. With the exception of patrolling our lawn it kind of sounds like how big boys like to be treated.

Mr. Owen William being such a cool guy (which is his new objective in life). Did you know that the boys both have the same middle name. Well they do, we named Owen after Chad's wonderful father William -we call him Bill. Anyways, so we named Owen after Bill and when I was pregnant with Luke we were trying to decide on what to name Luke. Chad thought why not name them both after him, after all he was a great father. Why not honor him again, so we did.

Caution, men at work.

I know, I know I've posted about it before but I just cannot help myself. I never knew how much pleasure seeing my children work would bring to me. I mean, this is stuff that I don't have to do. I love it! And the craziest thing is, (they actually enjoy doing it!) I swear I'm not making it up.

It brings me back to my childhood memories of seeding the lawn of my parents home. My dad going around on the three wheeler shouting at all of us to, "!GET BACK TO WORK!" Oh happy memories, but I'm just as wacky as Owie because I love to be busy working being productive. I guess the busy bee gene IS genetic. It goes all the way back in my family, both my parents and my dad's mom to be sure.

Don't mind my messy cabinets they are all sparkly and clean now thanks to Owie and a small thanks to Luke (his level of enjoyment wears off pretty quickly).
The pure pleasure of friends and video games, (Owen played and they watched). I can still remember when Chad was in law school, to relieve some pressure he and his friends, (Doug and Alex) would come to our house and play video games. I mean, they would watch Chad play video games. I know, silly. Occasionally they would play too but for the most part Chad would play and they would watch. I remember teasing all of them about this bizarre situation but they were all very happy with the arrangement. Doug and Alex were like his adviser's, they would survey the scene and tell him what he should do next, "whoa dude watch out, no no no over there man, agghhh too late. Man he just decapitated you." Nothing like pure violence and your best buddies to direct you through the mine fields of enemy attack.

Notice Lily with her necklace and Chad's guitar strap as her beau. That girl loves an accessory.

Family picture time, please please somebody kill me.

I'm putting this adorable picture of Lily first so that I will remember her like this. Nice, not naughty, crying, arching her back and being a PILL. Because she totally was. In the car on the way there we had the "only one difficult child at a time rule" discussion. Oh, and if you haven't heard of this rule it will help you immensely.

Last family photo time it was Luke's turn to be the difficult child. But now that we have a younger child his turn is forever over. And Owen, well your turn is long over and you now have the responsibility of being "johnny on the spot". Ready with a laugh for others, a toy made out of a twig, carrying treats in your pockets, etc. Sorry, but thems the rules. I think I look best in this picture but Lily is there throwing off the family mojo. Darn. I am the queen, why is the princess messing up my perfect picture?

So, surprise! This is the Christmas card you will be receiving in the mail (if I have your address, if your worried that I don't... comment with your address and you will be rewarded with your very own card. :) See good things do happen to good people.)

Many thanks to our great photographer, Melissa. Your the wo-man.

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Two things; don't mess with Luke and Owie loses two baby teeth

I was "working" (i.e. surfing, shopping, celebrity gossip, etc.) today on the computer when I looked over at Luke to see this. I know. Hilarious, right. He was sitting with his finger up his nose watching Spongebob. He stayed like that for a few minutes and was totally unaware of me while I shot these now priceless photos. You're welcome.

Now, he doesn't look like a total bad ass when you gaze at the above photo, but he is. Just ask Owen's friend Patrick (name changed to protect the innocent). Luke got to go along with Owen on a play date a few weeks ago. Now those of you who know Luke, you know that he is not one to be trifled with. Well, poor "Patrick" did not know this. Now remember when you hear this story that "Patrick" is Owen's friend, meaning he is six almost seven years old.

Okay, so there were four boys on the trampoline at said friend's house jumping away. Luke goes to get off the trampoline and "Patrick" blocked the mesh gate so that Luke couldn't get off. That was a mistake. Luke's first act was to pull his hair so that he could disable him. Then he got on top of him in a position know in the wresting/extreme fighting world as full mount. Meaning Luke was sitting across his chest pinning him to the ground.

Luke took advantage of this position and began to rain down punches on this boy. Apparently with so much force that "Patrick" couldn't get up and for long enough that the other boys had to go and get help from parents. Parents came back to find Luke still swinging away. The parents pulled an enraged Luke off Patrick revealing a bloody nose, black eye and a sobbing boy.

Upon hearing of this story, I, of course, was totally embarrassed by my son's behavior and promptly called his father to seek appropriate punishment. His father's response: "well, Patrick learned something that day -- don't be an a** hole to Luke." Very nice husband. You're going to be a lot of help during teenage years, thank you. I wonder where in the world he gets it from?

Oh, and Mr. Owen (the friendly son) lost two teeth today. Had a little help from the dentist, pliers, and some laughing gas. Very eagerly awaiting the tooth fairy so that he can buy himself a new bike. It's going to be kind of disappointing to wake up to a few bucks, but life is full of disappointment. Better to start young.

Luke, you're a complicated beast.

My dear son Luke,

I want to remember an experience that we shared a couple of weeks ago. You were walking from another room when you hit your head on a side table, pretty hard. I heard it and wanted to provide you some comfort, sweet son. I came within your view, gave you a big smile (to let you know of my love and understanding of you).

To which you replied, (in a super angry low voice) "your not my best friend."

Oh Luke, I love you too man. It's times like this that I wonder what you will be like when your older. Will you still be filled with hatred and revoltion for your blessed mother? I wonder, oh how I wonder.

Lily has a passion for necklaces.

See, no necklaces here, and just look at the results.
Oh, this is another subject. Lily was outside playing with her brothers, she comes walking up to me and I realize that I have commited a serious mother crime. A HIDEOUS outfit. Two points taken away from my mother of the year award.

On to the necklaces, Lily can somehow detect a necklace from anywhere in the house. She has been known to use computer cords, watches, ropes, strings anything that she can put around her neck for times of fashion need.

Concentrating, this is SERIOUS (say it in a wonder pets kind of voice)

Taking a beauty break.

I like my camera, can you tell?

Lily likes ham.So does Lucy.

Trying to get it all in, in one mouthful.
Oops, that's a wee bit too much. One day I will be able to use the above photo for some sort of blackmail. I'm sure these moments that I capture now will pay off quite nicely during the teenage years.
I just couldn't leave that barfing picture as your last image of the worlds most perfect, darlingest, (yes that is a word) child. Isn't she glorious?

The candy tree

The candy tree is a new tradition to the Mead home. It's a tiny tree that is decorated exclusively with candy.

Luke was in charge of the gummy worms and was very good about spacing them apart. I did the peach rings. Yesterday the boys worked together to string on the cranberries. They loved this and felt so big that they got to use a needle. Luke kept saying it was magic watching the cranberry float down the clear string.

Owen was in charge of the candy canes and from the looks of this photo it appears that he helped himself to a few.

Yes, he definitely did.

The candy tree. Maybe I'll take a picture of it in a few weeks to see what's left.

P.S. Lily was managing from her high chair. I am preparing her for her future as a mother and homemaker. The art of bossing people around is one that must be developed at a young age to truly be brilliant at it. My mother must have started in utero with me. I am an expert bosser arounder. Many times I feel like a symphony director...you do this, you do that, you do this, no, do it like this, yes yes yes. I'm so good at it now that I can even direct the most challenging of subjects, Mr. Mead himself, (on a good day).

Holiday celebrations

I love this time of year. It is fun to do crafts together, eat a dozen cookies in one sitting, and read stories of magical people who bring you anything you can imagine.

Something elsewe love to do is take our pictures with Santa and display them from year to year and see how the children are growing. We even have years that don't include all the kids because they were too hysterical to sit with a fat strange man. Mommy you always say, not to talk to or let strangers touch you.

It is raining snowflakes above our table. The boys love to eat via candlelight. We give toasts to each other, and fight over who gets to say the prayer. Even though on this blessed night, Owen graciously offered to let Luke say it when they both wanted to say it.

Cheers!

Thank you Lucy

For sleeping here.

And not here, where you love to sleep.

Isn't he the cutest boy you've ever seen? Me too. And aren't these some perfect feet. Luke was very intently watching tv when I took these pics. While I was taking them he looked over at me and asked when I was going to be finished because

"you bugging me!" -Luke's words.