You're a mean one grinchy neighbors

Right now I've got 4 little Hannah Montana impersonators dancing up a storm in my living room. Hailey's having her birthday party and while I've planned some quiet acitivites, this is a 6 year olds birthday party. Naturally the second the girls started showing up and the noise level increased slightly, the phone was ringing. I explained we were having a birthday party for our 6 year old and it would be over by 1 and I'd do my best, sorry. Now you'd think that since the sun has made a rare appearance today they might LEAVE THEIR HOVEL FOR ONCE but no they will remain in their little tv viewing cave calling if the kids accidentally have fun. I tried having them roll a ball back and forth instead of dancing for a few minutes but that didn't last long and I thought screw them, they'll get over it and its her birthday party. I've stopped answering my phone and the door until the parties over. Avoidance is the best policy. I hope they have an oops and its triplets. That'll put a kink in their perfectly childless lives.

Birthdays

Its hard to believe Connor's already 1. The year has flown by. He's such a sweet baby. He's so happy and busy. Sadly for me his favorite game is to dump out all the cupboards. Apparantly it is really funny. I'm so scared I have another Hailey on my hands. That's all I need. He still loves to nurse and is a fat litte chunk. He has some amazing thunder thighs. I want him to stay small since he's my last baby but that little stinker just keeps on growing.

Hailey turned 6 two days after Connor's birthday. I remember when she was my fat, crazy baby. Now she's 6 and a kindergartener. She can't wait to go to first grade and be "really" big. She's a real goof ball. Ha's been funny from the get go. Her laugh as a baby was just hysterical. Now she's all about silly one liners. Yesterday at church she started jiggling my arms. Then she announced "Mommy your arms are chubby. You need to do jiggle free arms, like your jiggle free buns." (I have this workout video called jiggle free buns which is a hysterical title. It never ceases to be funny. The kids will walk behind me in the store and announce their opinion on the jiggle free ness of my butt)
Connor enjoying his cake. This boy doesn't turn down anything. At least he eats like Hailey. And he already loves chocolate.

Hailey and Connor with their birthday cake. I love Connor's horrified look when Hailey picks him up. He loves her but he seems a bit frightened when she gets him.

Hailey's fancy skirt from Chrissy. Note the glittery top again.

Connor really loved the confetti Carrie got him. I'm sure there was a present involved but its not nearly as great as confetti!

A chip off the old block.

I took this picture of Connor sleeping one night. I was trying to capture that sweet baby sleeping. I took a bunch. I got Photoshop for Christmas and I'm hoping I can edit one of them up to something great.

So....where's the Wii?

So I know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats for me to update my blog since we lead such an incredibly thrilling life. Somehow all of my spare time lately has been sucked up into some sort of black hole where clean socks have become a luxury.
Christmas is so fun with little kids. They are just so excited and full of hope and expectations with none of the worry. Greggers has gotten really excited about Thomas the Train since hanging out with his little buddy Cameron. He was so sure that Santa was going to bring him one. But since he doesn't really have any concept of time (he thinks everyday is Sunday) every time there was new box in the livingroom or a new gift wrapped under the tree, he would come sprinting into our room announcing "Santa brought me my Thomas Train!" Then we'd have to explain that no it wasn't Christmas yet we just wrapped a present or two. So Christmas morning when he came out and saw that Thomas set he literally did a dance for joy. He was spinning and jumping and whooping in a circle. It was the best day of his life. Now Hailey came out and saw Greg got his beloved train and she'd gotten her coveted over priced Princess Barbie and suv for the dollhouse and Kenzie gotten what she'd asked for and assumed her every wish was fulfilled. It went something like this "Hey Santa brought by Barbie. And my dollhouse van." Looking around the living room "so where's the Wii?" I had no response except laughter. See a few weeks before Christmas the girls had decided they wanted a Wii since their friends had them. Unfortunately Santa was done shopping and lacked the budget for a Wii. Hailey in her childlike innocence had assumed since she got everything else surely the Wii was somewhere.



Hailey in her "Fancy Nancy" outfit. The skirt and top are sparkly (of course) and there's a super sparkly purse to match. If its glittery she wants it.

Connor first Santa present. He only likes the walking toy if we lock it so it won't move. I see those Paulitz wussy genes are strong.

Kenzie and her eyeclops she wanted so much. Its some magnifier you hook to your tv and things are 200 times bigger. Its actually pretty disgusting.

Greggers and the before mentioned dance of joy. Its hard to really capture it on a photo but it was great. Unfortunately Santa misjudged the size of the toy as it looks much smaller on the box. When it was assembled Christmas Eve it turned out to be the size of his toddler bed. Maybe a few inches bigger. I guess I can't blame my brother for his oversized toys he sends anymore.

Greg and McKenzie playing in the snow. As you can see Greg enjoys it as much as he did last year. Well worth all the snow clothes we bought him for the two times he went out. I guess it didn't help that it was up to his chest.

Hailey buried in the snow. The girls thought all the snow was great. Only Kenzie about had a panic attack when the carports started collapsing. (ours is fine, luckily)

Connors first Santa picture. He looks so very excited!

Greg and Eli on New Year's Eve. These two are both so obsessed with Cars. We put the movie in for them and they were quoting along with it. We had more fun watching them watch the movie than anything else.

My dad snowboarding in his front yard. I think this is about as far as he made it but for Dad pretty impressive. I made it all the way to the bottom of the hill a time or two without falling.

Tim's wife Jackie snowboarding in the yard. Tim the kid my mother used to have to drag in from the snow hardly came out. His California bred wife who had never seen the snow would stay out for an hour at a time. Go figure.

I came home from work one day to find these two sitting in the kitchen with an empty pie plate between them and two forks.

Hailey's Wii story has a happy ending. At my parent's house that afternoon one gift was a treasure hunt. At the end was a Wii for our family from my sisters and brother in law. Not knowing what was at the end, I didn't have a camera. It would have been as good as Greg's dance for joy. When the end of the package was opened and McKenzie saw what it was her mouth hung open and she held her breath until she was bright red and we all screamed at her to breathe. The kid had tears in her eyes she was so happy. I guess if Santa fails you always have aunts.

A Griswold Family Christmas

Nik's always said the Paulitz's could stand in for National Lampoons Christmas. Evidenced by my dad's love of gigantic trees. The bigger the better. Its become so expected that a normal size tree is a disappointment. We went up with my dad, Carrie, and Scott to Fourth of July Pass the first weekend of the month to cut down a tree. It was so warm it almost felt like cheating. Usually when we would go get a tree it was freezing and there was too much snow to walk (I'm sure there is now). Instead it was almost warm and muddy. The kids had a great time tromping through the mud and climbing the hills searching for the perfect tree. I was trying to get a shot of how truly ridiculous my dad's car looked with the trees on top. But I couldn't capture the essence of it. The trees stuck off of every edge of the car. Every time I looked in my rearview mirror on the way home I started to laugh. Somehow the sight of the Vue with trees billowing in the wind off the sides never ceased being funny. In his defense only two of them are for him (my parents have taken to having 2 trees in the living room for a "forest" look). The third is Carrie and Scotts. I haven't seen the trees in the house yet but I'm told I won't be disappointed. I've always set the standard by the year the furniture had to be in the kitchen because the tree was too full. Apparantly it took dad a while to figure out how to get furniture and the tree in the living room so we can sit on Christmas. He says "6 people fit if they really like each other, 4 if they don't."

The girls were pretty good little helpers. They tried to help carry everything. Carrie and I cut a bunch of cedar branches and the girls gathered them up for us. Greggers mostly played in the mud and we left Connor with Grandma. We thought climbing hills with the kids would be too hard to take the baby, but they were actually little troopers.

Upon closer inspection this was deemed too small for dad, but just right for Carrie.

Dave and the girls ready to cut down the winner. True to form I choose a tree that had to have 4 feet cut off to fit in our apartment. I guess its genetic.

Scott, Carrie, and Dad. The mighty tree hunters. We bring saws not station wagons.

Oh Santa!

Tonight at the ward party we were singing "With Wondering Awe." During the chorus it says "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name." I noticed Greggers was singing something different. His version goes "Oh Santa, Oh Santa, Oh Santa is his name." Good to know we're teaching him the true meaning of Christmas.

When McKenzie saw the Santa at our ward party she gasped "I think he's the real one." (Kudos to whoever the ward Santa is. He's really good)

And of course Hailey always has a gem or two up her sleeve. In the car on the way home I asked her what she told Santa. "I told him I was good." Trying to tease her I asked "Oh, were you telling him the truth? Did you tell him how you scratched Greg?" Very matter of factly she replied, "No I lied so I'd get more presents." Good old Hay she tells it like it is.

Happy Birthday Greggers

I know that Greg's birthday was Friday, but I just haven't had two seconds to sit down and do this until now. Its hard to believe that my little boy is three. I guess he's not a baby anymore. He's so sweet and loving. I love his little hugs and the feeling of little hands on the back of my neck. I know one day that will stop and I'll miss it. Greg still has a few left over baby habits. He still sucks his lips when he's sleeping, upset, or tired, and drags Tag around all day. But he's trying so hard to be a big boy. He likes to help cook and he's finally starting to dress himself. No interest in going near the potty though. Who needs that anyways when you have the convenience of a diaper. You never have to take a break to go to the bathroom. Sometimes he likes to announce to everyone "I'm peeing now." Thanks for the update buddy.

We had a little birthday party for him on Saturday. Two of his nursery buddies came over and Eli came down. I've discovered that boy parties are much simpler than girl parties. All they care about is playing and frosting. The boys were more than happy to run around playing for an hour and as long as I followed up with something with frosting on it we were good. No elaborate games, crafts, cakes or decorations. He really didn't care. The mesh of noises from four little boys playing was pretty funny. Simultaneous shooting, driving, and roaring noises that only little boys make.


Greggers in his pirate costume we got him. He got a dinosaur build a bear earlier. His little friends brought him Kachow color wonders and Kachow bath toys. And a special thanks to Traci for letting Markus bring a guns and army guys. She claims she didn't know if I liked guns or not, but come on you know who I voted for its not a shocker that I'm not a gun fan. She thinks she subconsciously did it just to spite me. (j/k Traci, you know I love ya but I can't let you live this down) The kids love playing with the guns now and I've only stepped on one army guy so far.

Greggers and Cameron

Eli, Markus, and Hailey, and a little bit of Noah's head

See cupcakes and a little funfetti frosting and he's pleased as punch. I don't think McKenzie would be equally impressed if this were her cake. Ahhh the perks of boys.

Happy Birthday little buddy, we love you.

I'll get you neighbors and your little dog too!!

I'm writing this hoping you will all feel free to leave me a comment with some advice. Our downstairs neighbors are of the small, purse-dog instead of kids variety. They admittedly don't want kids, drive fancy cars, and wear fancy clothes to work. We obviously have nothing in common with them. They've taken to complaining about the noise we make. Apparantly we are giving their dog anxiety attacks and they're getting worse everyday. Now at first we were all nicey nice about it to each other, but its just escalating. Apparantly we sound like we are coming through the ceiling all day long. The second one of my kids does something they aren't supposed to like jump off the furniture, or body slam another person to the ground they are up here lickety split. I'm telling you these people must sprint up the stairs because I'll barely finish telling them to quit it and there she is. She gets madder every day. I keep telling her that we're trying to move as soon as our lease is up but that just makes her madder since thats not until March. I have tried to explain how hard it is to keep 4 kids quiet and that kids are just noisy but she does not get it. Tonight she came up and tried to get me to come down and listen to my family's noise. I admit its not a terrible idea but the kids were all over, I'd just gotten off work and was trying to throw dinner together, and Dave was trying to get ready to go to work. Any fool could see I didn't exactly have the time to come lounge around their fancy apartment watching their big screen and playing their grand piano while I listen to how loud my kids are. Instead she stood in my doorway for 20 minutes while dinner got cold and we argued as nicely as possible. Then she suggested that we move to a 1st floor in the complex, we wouldn't even have to sign a new contract! Well yeah for you lady but look around. Do you see all this crap? Do I look like I have the time? NO! I don't. Nor do I have the desire to greatly inconvenience myself for your dog! I'm sorry we are loud. Go do something for once in your lives besides watch your stupid tv. I told her to give her dog an anxiety pill (nicely I swear) and she basically told me to have my kids walk solemnly around the house all day. Aarrgh!!!!
So here's my dilemna. I refuse to make my children act like monks in their own home. Kids skip and run and 2 year olds jump up and down when they are mad. I understand her dog is her kid and all but what do I do? She complained to the manager who said too bad since we aren't noisy during "quiet hours". I have tried to explain over and over that we are doing our best but there are 4 of them and 2 of us. And quite frankly they are children and I will not make them behave like adults (as if they would listen anyways). And if you want peace and quiet don't live in an apartment. End of story. We have lived under a rock band, a large family, and spouse abusers. Deal with it. I try to keep the jumping to a minimum, but its cold now and we have Hailey. End of story. And if my kids want to play hide and seek at 4 pm they should be able too. And if I want to do an exercise video at 10 am I should be able to. This is my home. Even if I rent it. However, since I know I can be hot headed and stubborn I pose the question. Should I just ignore them and let kids be kids, or do I become nazi mommy and make them tip toe around all day? How do I make the next 4 months livable for all of us without the neighbors slashing my tires?