Merry Xmas!

Merry Xmas from our house to yours! 

Outside Trees?

Saw an article about decorating your front porch for the holidays a few weeks ago and felt a little inadequate, and also felt very under-inspired to do anything out there. The porches in the article were GORGEOUS and well manicured, and it all seemed so overwhelming. Then I wandered into Target, and saw an artificial tree for $20. My brain went to town with that one (Who knew they had $20 trees?) and we are now the proud owners of said $20 tree, a slew of tiny ornaments, some twist tie hanger things that keep the ornaments attached to the branches  and some fake snow. The yellow cord, albeit visible all the time from every angle, is essential so I'm not going to complain. The lights are cool, the fake snow is cool, the ornaments are cool, and the $20 tree was a total score. 

Happy Hanukkah!

So what do YOU want for Christmas?

Oh how some things change, and some stay exactly the same. I could have written this post just now. My boys are older, and the seven year old mentioned here is now 12, and he is asking for the latest and greatest Nintendo DS thingy. He is all about the DS XL I guess, but they all look the same to me, and just like five years ago, he ain't gettin' one this year. But the difference between the 2007 request for the DS is not only that he owns a run of the mill DS, but also a kindle Fire, and now an iPod Touch. Talk about loaded, they really are set until they are 80. Sigh..the well planned kid campaign is likely to strike again, but this time the kids has his own source of income. Life HAS changed, oh yes, it has. 

December 12, 2007

So what do YOU want for Christmas?

It's a question that we all ask our kids as the holidays approach. "What would you like for Christmas and Hanukkah this year (we celebrate both)?" I figure that the boys are all old enough now that they canactually give me answers. Boy, was I wrong. I asked the first one I could grab and all I got was "I already told the teacher at school what I wanted." Huh? So I peeked on the list the next day at pre-school and all it said was Pokemon cards. Easy enough - especially if that's all he wants. He's 4.5 and doesn't have a lot of needs, and apparently not a lot of wants either. So, I hunted down the next kiddo. He's also 4.5 and I thought he was going to be a bit tougher. "Well, I want Pokemon cards." Man, this is going to be an easy year for me - all I need to buy is Pokemon cards. I was hoping my luck would hold out and sure enough it did..sort of.

I asked the oldest what he wanted, if he had thought about it at all. "Yeah, Mom. I want a pack of 60 Pokemon cards - but make sure they are the Diamond and Pearl kind." Woo Hoo! Pokemon cards all around - done! "And a DS." Thud. That was my trophy for my perfect record of getting my kids exactly what they want for the holidays hitting the ground and smashing to pieces.

Up until now they haven't asked for much, and we were able to supplement their wants with things that we thought were cool. We avoided the whole "We want a puppy!" thing this go round - they went through that phase a few months ago (we're cat people) and thankfully it passed quickly. But this whole Nintendo DS thing has been in the works for a several months now. "But J has a DS and he has all the cool games" and "But all my friends have DS's and I don't." and "But this one game only runs on the DS and I really want it." Yeah, but you guys have three Game Boys, a Game Cube and a computer, and that's plenty. I'm sure I did the same thing when I was a kid, and I'm sure this is my payback. So, I told him very clearly, "I'm not getting you a DS." Crickets. You could hear them all the way from Richmond. And the look on his face when he finally realized (after me telling him this exact thing five other times prior to this particular conversation) that he wasn't getting a DS was decidedly...normal. Huh. He's seven so I was expecting more complaining. But then again he's seven, so it may be just the beginning of a huge campaign to get himself a DS.

And to make it worse, my hubby questioned the fact that we weren't getting them any electronics for Christmas - not even a single game for their current systems. I'm sure that these three kids have plenty of games and plenty of electronic things to keep them occupied well into their 80's. (For the record they are getting some cool presents, just no electronics.) And I'm sure that he'll have his Nintendo DS on or before his next birthday - after all, we're suckers for the well planned kiddo campaign. Sigh...

Best Holiday Letter

We love getting letters and cards from folks over the holidays, so we do out best to always get something out the door. This year our cards were done at the beginning of December, then life got in the way, and they are still sitting here. Not to make excuses (but I am clearly making one here), but the computer that has the database with all of the addresses on it is no longer used, and the new computer that we have, along with all of the rest of the computers in the house, don't have a compatible program, or even a database program, so we're kind of stuck. Needless to say we need to do some work to get the list off of the old computer and onto something that's readable by all the currently-in-use computers.

I wander.

The letters and pictures we received this year were spectacular as usual. it wasn't that they were fancy, fancy. It wasn't that they were superbly written or perfect photographs. But it was all the love poured into them and the fact that we touched base with our old and new friends and caught glimpses of life in their world. But then we got one letter and the last paragraph was so good I had to share. After sharing about their three fabulous kids in their various stages of finishing up their education, and telling us all that they were up to over the past year, the closing line was a killer. The sentiments they express are just perfect:

Here's hoping that we all survive the next election cycle; if you should see the Texas governor, please send him home - we're so embarrassed. Apart from that, we feel blessed and hope that you feel the spirit of Christmas in your lives.

And that says it all. Hope that everyone is enjoying their holiday season!

Happy Holidays!

Hope that all of your holidays are filled with joy, love, and peace. Looking forward to another GREAT holiday season here - a bit delayed for us though. I'm in Florida for a week helping out a friend while the family is hanging out at home with Baba in Virginia. We celebrated Hanukkah before I left and we'll get Christmas covered once I get back in a few days.

But I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season, that you get to spend loads of time relaxing and hanging out with family,and that you indulge a bit on the treats and smells of the holiday season!

Image: © Guillaume Piolle / CC-BY-3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Happy Birthday, Baba!

Happy Happy, Merry Merry! Glad that we got to spend another birthday celebrating with you Dad!

Getting ready for Halloween!

After dragging my butt a bit on the whole getting ready for the holidays thing I finally got started. If you get behind on decorating for Halloween, then you fall behind on Thanksgiving, and of course, Christmas/Hanukkah. The past few years I've been able to get my act together soon enough to get the house all pretty on the inside, get a few things thrown up outside, and enjoy the decorations for more than a week. But this year with school starting so late, the crush of soccer, and my general disinterest in the decorating part for some unknown reason, I finally did throw a few things out there. Cute, easy to put up and take down, yet, festive. And you know as soon as Halloween ends I'm tearing this stuff down and getting the Fall/Thanksgiving stuff up. Gotta get decorated!

CANDY CORN SEASON!!!

YES! (If you can't tell I'm jumping up and down giving high fives to anyone within reach.) It's candy corn season again! One of my favorite times of year. it doesn't matter if it's raining outside, cold and dreary, if I have my candy corn I'm happy.

Reflections on Turning 39

Yes, actually 39.

To the chagrin of some of my friends I'm still not quite 40. (That's going to be a fun party though.) But for now I'm one step closer to the big Four-Oh, and well, eh. Aside from the smart ass #2 kiddo telling me I looked older that morning when I got up, I don't feel any different. It took me a little longer than my 29 year old self to get up and going, but once I get going I'm a heck of a lot wiser than I was at 29. Thank goodness. And also with age comes grace...and cool pink hair.

Happy Fourth!

(Can't WAIT for this new movie to come out!)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Dad!

Having a summer birthday in DC bites, unless it's at the pool.

For the past few years we have had trouble gauging how many kids will attend Max's birthday party (see below for all of my frustrations about his summer birthday, as well as ). Seems that everyone leaves the country/state/county for Max's birthday. Last year we had a good number of kids actually around, but every year he has had a blast at his party. So now we have TWO kids that have summer birthdays. Lucy's falls a month before Max's, and this year we're hitting the baby pool. We're taking a load of our little friends to our baby pool for a popsicle party. The pool is really only there to help keep the popsicle mess to a minimum. Last year we had a splash party in the back yard and nearly cooked. This year, we are hanging out at the pool so everyone can be cool. But I have no idea how many people will show up. It's a Saturday, which is typically family time for the under four crowd. And then there's the whole thing about two and three year olds can't drive, so the kids will likely have parents tagging along. But hey, the more the merrier right? Hopefully Miss Lucy will be celebrating her birthday with a load of her good buddies, all will be splashing, and all will eat way too many popsicles!

July 29, 2008

Having a summer birthday in DC bites

My oldest was born at the beginning of August. Not a fun time for me - we were in Texas and August is WAY hot if you are 9 months pregnant. But his birthday fell at that just right spot for great back yard splash parties, and as he got older, pool parties. When we were in Texas we would have these huge backyard parties - loads of kids, food, cake, and water. There was one little boy whose family took a yearly trip to their cabin up north, but everyone else that we knew would come and celebrate with Max. We did five birthdays that way, and Max loved it. Then we moved to the DC area, and it all came to a screeching halt. You see, here in our area there's a mass vacation exodus in August.

Last year we planned one of these great back yard splash parties for the first time here in the DC area and invited lots of kids. Max had friends from both soccer and school on the list, and he was so excited about having everyone over to his house. There were about 30 kids on the list and I wasn't sure if we had enough cake, juice boxes and water, or enough candy for the pinata. Then the RSVP's started rolling in and the list dwindled from 30 to 25 to 20,then to 15, and finally 11. Out of 30 kids, only 11 were going to be in town for his birthday. Max was bummed that his closest friends weren't going to be at his party, but I was stunned that we had so few kids attending.

In Texas when we invited 20, 19 would show up. When we invited 25, 24 would show up - you get the idea. We were always in the midst of the party planning wondering if we would have enough. Now it seems that we are victims of the vacation exodus and poor Max has only three kids that have RSVP'd for his birthday this year thus far, and the party is on Saturday. He'll have fun, and he and his friends will enjoy the party I'm sure, but how much does it bite to know that most of your very best friends will be gone? Forget moving the party though - you never know which kids will be gone which weekend in August, just that a majority of them will be gone for a good chunk of the month. Thinking of suggesting that we switch the birthday party to February? Well, that's out of the question as well - his brothers have February birthdays and that just wouldn't be nice to them. So it will be another year of a smaller party than expected. But the kids will have fun, everyone will get wet, and we will all celebrate the birthday of a pretty cool little kid.

Original DC Metro Moms Blog Post. Suzie also blogs about her own summer birthday at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman.

Memorial Day Thanks

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I went searching for a pictures of myself with my mom and it took me a TON of time to find one. Seems we only took about five over the years (out of the 30,000 or so that I have digitally). But then I realized that the pictures that I really wanted to share were all the ones with mom and the kids. And those, well those I have a ton. Some of my favorites I've shared, but this one really expresses the joy that the boys brought my mom:

Sam, Mimi, & Ian, December 2004

So, to all of my mom friends out there and those that may not be moms but are celebrating as well, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Momma's Day, Mommas (and Dads too)!

If Mothers Day has crept up on you, here are a few last minute, really cute ideas that you can either zip off via e-mail or print and hand deliver. Some are cute crafty things, and some are printables. My momma-in-law has some momma love on the way to her, but how about you?

Amy of A Proffittable Life designed these really cool printables that come in FOUR colors (red, teal, orange, and pink).

Laura over at Come Together Kids shared these delightful fingerprint candles. Grab your kids and a few candles and let them create!

And one more with a very cool twist. This is a printable that really crosses over - speaks to more than the Mom in me:

And is come in SPANISH!!! Thanks Lara for realizing that Spanish speakers love your creations too!

A big thanks to Lara over at less cake (more frosting) for this one!

Be sure to visit all three of these blogs to grab the full sized versions and directions. and most of all, be sure to celebrate the joy that is Mother's Day with your favorite Mom, Dad, Granny, Grandpa, kiddo - you get the drift!

Thanks for plugging in the Easter Egg Roll!

It's Easter Egg Roll time again in the DC area, and this year, while we aren't going, 250 students and teachers from our school will be there. Fairfax County Public Schools chose Bailey's Elementary School to give the tickets to, and the second grade was chosen to attend. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a good chunk of these kids, and they are beyond excited.

We went to the roll last year and had a fantastic time. We rode the Metro. We hung out in the grass and had a snack. We waited in line to get in and went through security. ;). Then, we saw Justin Bieber, DJ Lance, Clifford, the White House up close (!), and the Easter bunny, of course! We rolled eggs, hunted for eggs, and dyed eggs. We tossed footballs, ran an agility course, and did some people watching (who was that Justin kid anyway?) We planted some seeds, did more people watching, got a cool looking wooden egg, a banana (yes, they were handing those out), and a neat poster, then rode the Metro back home.

I am sure that the second graders that go this year will have as wonderful of a time as we did. And maybe, just maybe, the President himself will be there when they go. How cool would that be?

March 27, 2009

Thanks for plugging in the Easter Egg Roll!

Dear Mr. President and the rest of you White House Folks,

Thank you for the opportunity to get tickets to your annual Easter Egg Roll. I know this is the first year that you will be in attendance of this tradition, but we have not yet had the opportunity to even participate in the whole process of getting tickets up until you decided to put it all online. In past years folks had to come down to the Mall to get tickets about a week before the event. And wait in line...and wait...and wait. And if you lived out of town? Well, you were stuck either coming into town a week early and waiting in line, or you were just out of luck. Locals? Well, we had the option of hanging out with our closest "friends" for hours and hours and hoping that we were far up enough to get one of the 18,000 or so tickets that were handed out. But you changed that all this year.

I want to personally thank you for giving my family a chance at coming to the White House Easter Egg Roll. Up until now we weren't really even given the opportunity to get tickets - I have four kids and there's no way I could have spent a full day out on the Mall for those tickets. For tickets to see Garth Brooks when he finally came to our city in Texas when I was in high school? No problem there - we were camping in front of the local grocery store and we knew most everyone going in and out of there. For football tickets when I was in college? No problem - there was beer involved there and it was just me and my roommates - no kids. But waiting for hours in line on the Mall? Not so much for me these days with four kids in tow or missing several soccer games to make them all stand in line. So you see, I was glad to hear that you changed it to an online system. If it had not been online then my family would have had NO chance of attending the White House Easter Egg Roll. We have lived in the DC area for three years now and the kids are all finally old enough to make it a memorable experience (well the older kids are old enough - the baby's a bit young but I'm sure she wouldn't mind being toted along) so I figured that this was our year.

I understand that there were lot of folks out there who were unhappy about the outcomes. One man posted online earlier today that he has attended for the past three years and he was getting screwed out of his tickets - as if he has some sort of right to attend. Listen bub, there are only 18,000 or so given out each year - don't you think it's someone else's turn to attend? Another person complained that the system kept timing out. Haven't you ever tried to get those hot, HOT concert tickets online, and read later that they sold out in 2 minutes, 14 minutes, 30 minutes. Well, this isn't my first time hitting the refresh button either. And really - computer crashes happen - even the best laid plans. We all know the drill with modern technology.

In the end we did not get our six tickets. But for the first time since we've lived in this area there was the chance for us to be included in the magic of the White House Easter Egg Roll. The kids won't be disappointed because they'll never know I tried. The hubby is sympathetic because he knows how much I enjoy these types of things. And me, well, I'm appreciative that I had the opportunity to try to get those tickets, and hope that next year I have the same chance. And to all of you out there complaining that you had to hang near the computer all day, or that the site kept crashing - remember that you could have spent today in the rain, in the cold, on the Mall, by yourself waiting for hours to get those tickets...or to be told that they were all gone.

So thanks, Mr. President, for "plugging in" the Easter Egg Roll! This familyappreciates it and hopes that you keep that tradition alive in the future. And who knows - maybe we'll see you next year!

Sincerely,

Suzie

This is an original DC Metro Moms Post.

Suzie can be found lamenting her missed egg rolling opportunities as well as other things over at Confessions of A Not So Well Behaved Woman.

Ring in the New

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

-excerpt from Ring Out Wild Bells by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Halloween 2010

Dragging in here, but Happy Halloween from the Phipps clan! Ian dressed up as Pikachu (a Pokemon), Sam as Colt McCoy (Hook 'Em Longhorns!), Miss Lucy was a bumblebee, and Max was a brain eating Zombie (who didn't scare his little sister!).

This year, for the first time, well, ever, Tom and I dressed up. We braved the cold temps to don our coolest costumes ever. If you don't already know, Tom dressed up as Waldo of Where's Waldo fame, and I hung out in a costume that showed my true roots (not the pink, the hippie!) and was a 70's Go-Go dancer.

I think that we pegged ourselves perfectly this year, so it's going to be a tough task to top ourselves next year. We did have loads of fun dressing up though, so I know well do it again!

Making S'mores

Stealing candy from Aunt Brooke's stash

Nicholas

Lucy having S'mores

And last but not least - Lucy really did get how to Trick or Treat:

Sailed right through Black Friday

Yes, you read that right - we sailed right through Black Friday without purchasing a thing. Then we hit Saturday and realized that we didn't have a single gift for anyone for the holidays. Not a one. So, in the span of about 12 hours, we fixed that problem. A quick trip to Target (a date really but didn't want to get into that right now), and a few clicks online, and we're almost done! Found some cool things for the family gift exchange, grabbed a few things for the boys and the little miss, and stumbled on a new microwave in the process. Didn't know we needed a new microwave, but at $33, who could pass it up???!!!

It's a cute little 700 watt microwave that will supplement our other workhorse (and will cover us temporarily if it craps out). Up until the past year we've always had two microwaves. When we moved into this house there wasn't one installed, and at first we thought we'd be fine with it. Then we saw the $33 option and thought that it would make a great addition to our family. So I guess we did partake of Black Friday totally on a whim (and the shocker - it was Tom's whim!).