Being Late

So most of you know that I have a chronic lateness problem. It seems no matter how hard I try or how much time I give myself, I am still late. There is always a reason, but I'm sure it just sounds like I'm making excuses most of the time.

To reinterate my point let me share with you today's experience. We had an appointment to meet with our new landlord at noon. I ran down to warm up the car while I got shoes and coats on. I got Connor ready, then went to snag Greg, only to find that he'd used this short window of time to poop in his underwear. Never a quick cleanup. I raced through as quickly as I could and redressed him. As I'm putting Greg's shoes back on, Connor crawls by with a very telling odor. Are you kidding me?! By the time I get my second stinky boy changed and redressed its now the time we should be there. Had they held out for half an hour we could have been on time. It seems like no matter what I do, I destined to be late.

Hailey's birthday party

Despite the neighbors intentions, Hailey's birthday party was a lot of fun. The girls made necklaces and put on makeup. Hailey's friend Hannah got her a Barbie swimming pool. You haven't lived until you've played with a Barbie pool that actually holds water! Luckily I made them fill it up in the bathroom because when they were done they decided to just dump it out on the floor rather than the sink or tub.

Maryann, Hannah, McKenzie, and Hailey

Hailey's very excited about her birthday cake.

Hailey really wanted a ballerina cake like I made McKenzie a few years back. Of course she decided this after I'd already been shopping for her party. Lucky for her I had to make a milk run so I could get the extra stuff for this mondo cake.

Dave thinks hes so funny

After I posted my last post I left the computer out and the blog logged on. Dave has never logged on because he thinks hes too cool. Anyways he thought it would be funny to put a post that I was drinking all day as a joke that I shouldn't leave my stuff out. Ha, ha I've since removed it so as not to freak people out.

We were watching this Smuckers stars on ice thing this afternoon and they had the Olympic gymnasts on too. At one point the men's team came out to perform and I commented on their arm muscles. McKenzie's response was "wow they must do a lot of workout videos." Yeah I don't think you get that from 30 minutes of Denise Austin.

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.