all i want for christmas is ...

yes i realize christmas has passed -
but this was just too perfect of a
'i am missing ALL of my front teeth' shot to pass up posting it

as seen in my mom's christmas village

thanks to one of the 4 helpers she had running around this weekend :)

at least they were stacked nicely
and not being used to shoot at the flagpole or the trees,
right?!

Christmas recap

i would like to start by giving a HUGE shout out to our neighbors -
while we were gone, MN got absolutely slammed with snow -
YET,
we came home to a clean driveway
AND
a clean trampoline ...

so THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the hard work ...

especially you, blake ;)


now ...
on to the recap ...

we had a really nice Christmas.
the boys went strong from the moment we got there

although i am glad to be back and getting settled

it was really fun to spend a few days doing nothing but hanging out and playing

things that are hard for me to do here at home

just spending time with people that we love lots, but don't get to see enough of - ROCKED!!

I don't think the boys went to bed before 10pm any night this weekend.

there was just too much to do!

we started out by spending Christmas eve with my dad

and then spent Christmas at my mom's

(surrounded by my brother, sisters and aiden of course)

we spent LOTS of time playing wii -
lego rockband and rockband country are 2 of the most fun wii games!!
it is a REALLY good thing there was not a constant video camera running down in the basement this weekend!

we ate a TON -

i spent some time playing with my camera-
AND
collecting blackmail pictures for future weddings :)



and i even ended the weekend
following the boys on a snowshoe adventure
which gave me the PERFECT opportunity to play with my new lens

as always it was
busy
and
crazy
and
i can't believe it is already over

BUT it was fun.

and it's kind of fun to think ...
it's only 363 days until we get to do it all over again ;)

BUT ...
for now ...
i have 3 sleeping boys
and a husband with a new super mario bros game
that is calling my name ;)

so planning next year's Christmas card will just have to wait ;)

merry early Christmas

this morning we did 'our Christmas' here -
meaning
'we go to WI for Christmas day -
so we took today to open gifts and spend the day playing some of their favorite games'

that meant today was filled with lots of wii ...

wii sports resort ...

lego rockband ...



apparently ...
you have better vocals when singing in your undies...
i guess
i wouldn't know

and finally ...
a little toy story mania -
IN 3D



seriously what's next?!
how fun would it be to be the people that create wii games -
imagine those brainstorming sessions!

ANYWAY ...

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS !!



have an incredible weekend!!
we're supposed to get up to 20 inches of snow over the next 3 days!!
what a beautiful white Christmas it is going to be!!!

OPEN

as of this weekend ...

our backyard hill is officially up and running ...

now all we need is that tow rope ...

that isn't powered by my strength ;)

hmmm ...

gobble gobble

this weekend stacey's family came to our house

for 'a barnett christmas'


although it was fun spending time with them -
and the kids absolutely LOVE having their cousins staying here -
the highlight of the weekend HAD to be saturday's dinner.

stacey cooked a turkey for the first time!!!



and it was a hit!!



i'm guessing that's what drew is saying -
although i really have no idea
you would've thought the 3 yr olds would've been the ones staring at their hands ;)

sweet dreamin'

alex and will

who would've thought that with 5 extra people in the house we would STILL have an extra bed ;)

report on report cards

today was report card day!!

both boys did really well -

which i expected, of course ;)

but as i look them over i find it so interesting.

they are SO different.

AND

SO predictible.

first, drew.

the kid is a genius.

he understands concepts that i can't even grasp.

he completes homework and tests without much thought.

and

he thinks about things on a level that i don't even want to try to go to.

YET

because of this -

he has a hard time listening to other people's ideas

and flexibility is not one of his strong suits.

he gets super uptight about some things -

and then some of the things we wish he cared about -

he just doesn't at all :)

his report card showed exactly this.

he works hard.

always participates.

but ... the 'staying on task' section - um ... HA! ...

(stacey is his father - maybe next quarter.)

handwriting - ya, not so much.

but

reading, math, writing, science, social studies - killin it ;)

you rock, drew.

some day those traits that make you a hard kid to teach are going to be your greatest assets!

***

then there is ben.

ben is a likeable kid who gets along with everyone.

he's also doing really well academically.

HOWEVER ...

his teacher sees the same thing we see.

ben is either all or nothing.

some days he is super passionate about it and very productive.

other days - not so much.

VERY typical ben.

he either gives every little bit he has-

or he is too busy rolling around on the floor putting holes in his pants

to care about silly things like reading strategies and number tables.

he ROCKS at reading.

he's doing well with math.

and he is a SERIOUSLY mad speller.

but writing ...

well apparently his teacher didn't appreciate

his small moment story

(which is supposed to be real)

about someone breaking into our house

and shooting chewy in the head.

(YIKES! where does he get this stuff?!?!?!)

guess we'll need to work on your writing - and details

AND HONESTY!

and

'staying on task' -

yep, same genes - guess we'll work on that too.

***

drew and ben -

you both love school.

you love going each day.

you love doing your homework.

and you love learning.

even if you aren't always very convincing ;)

i'm always excited to hear what you learn about -

and i'm excited to see how that will change over the next few years.

we are SO proud of you!

o christmas tree

it's offically up ...



lit ...

and ready for the next few weeks!



now if i could just finish finding the stuff to go underneath!
ALMOST done!
WHEW!

on the bright side

"ya know why it's good we get to switch schools?

we get to meet all new hot girls"

- drew

age 8 (going on 15)

glad this isn't my job!

although i wasn't aware of it ...
because i am apparently a horrible reader ...
i SWEAR i read the sheet like 10 times trying to find our neighborhood
ANYWAY ...

tonight santa visited our neighborhood on his firetruck-
as he does every december.
the older boys were at church when he came -
so after picking them up they wanted us to drive and find him in a different part of the development.

so we went -

got out of the car -

waved -

and said merry christmas

because ...
apparently even if you 'know santa is a myth'
it's still cool to see him drive by on a firetruck
and it's not something you want to miss

awww

don't ya just feel bad for the little guy???

how in the world can you NOT go crazy with a lampshade around your neck?!

timber!

although there's no snow on the ground
(YET)
it is officially THAT TIME!

we went to cut down our christmas tree!

we found 'the perfect tree'

stacey got lots of help cutting it down



and they topped it off for us with hot apple cider

and ...

once i get to the 'decorating post'

if the tree looks a little crooked ...
it's alex's fault ...



he was, perhaps, a bit TOO helpful ;)

the pink chair

in ben's classroom you can find this lovely pink chair ...



it is known as 'the pink chair'.

every few days his teacher uses his 'magic tongue depressors' to choose a name -
this classmate then gets to sit in 'the pink chair' and get interviewed by the class.
- questions the kids come up with -
once the interview is done,
the kids take a piece of paper and write a card/story about what they heard.

ben was SO excited because he was 'the chosen one' a few weeks ago!
he has LOVED the 'letters' that he got from his friends
he keeps them in a pile in his room
and i find that he sits and looks through them quite a bit



even the one that he wrote about himself ;)

once again -
it's the simple things ...
the little things that teachers think of ...
and make time for ...
that mean the most.

although the smart boards rock ...
and the daily podcasts are pretty sweet too ...
today ...
all it took was a pack of construction paper,
a few markers,
and a little pink chair

THAT is what ben will remember from first grade.
and i LOVE that.
thank you, mr.g

magic

today i am thankful for the magic eraser ...
this morning we came downstairs to find this fun little 'guy' on our dishwasher ...



drawn with a sharpie marker ...
of course

by
none other than ...

our resident punk.

within the past week or so he has become obessed with drawing and writing.
AND
what's fun is that his drawings/writings have really started to resemble things
SO ...
although i won't tell him this ...
it actually did make me smile when i saw this ...


CUZ really ...
it's not everyday that you get to see your 3 year old
learning to draw a person with legs AND eyes!

next time, though, just keep it off the dishwasher.

punk.

LIFE lessons

tonight we played the game of LIFE.

just a few things i heard come out of drew's mouth

while sorting out the money in the beginning

* wow ... when i am older i am going to be such a good rich guy

because i am so good with money

after buying his 3rd stock

*it's ok. i have SO many 20's.

i might as well just spend them.

YIKES.

thinking it might be beneficial to have him play the game ...

and lose ...

JUST a few more times ;)

country mouse city mouse

on saturday we met up with stacey's brother and family

we met up at his mom's -
which is essentially in the middle of nowhere.

BUT ...
for 6 city kids ...
being in the middle of nowhere was a lot of fun!

they shot bb guns
pretty sure everyone hit the can on their first shot ...
well, except stacey ;)
they went for a tractor ride
they got to see a deer head in a tree
yes, lovely, i know
they saw a tree stand ...
AND
they got to climb all over rolls of hay



it doesn't make me want to move to the country ...
BUT ...
it is DEFINITELY a fun place to visit!

together again

being in wisconsin for thanksgiving
meant alex and aiden got to spend a lot of time together.

it's been a while since they last saw each other -
but they jumped in right where they left off
and had SO much fun ...
perhaps TOO much fun (just wait ... there's proof)

they ran ...
a lot!



they laughed ...
a lot!

they screamed ...
a lot!
definitely stacey's favorite part ... ;)

they showed off their MAD bowling skills at our
annual thanksgiving bowling extravaganza ...

and basically just went strong from morning until night.

------------------
THANKFULLY ...
it didn't take long the fun to just completely wear alex out

which is a REALLY good thing
when you look at pictures like this ...