Pre Cleaning...

I'm a bit frazzled. Just trying out new stuff for the new year. This isn't permanent. 'Catch you all next year. {Monday}

Happy New Year!!

Anyone Hungry...?

We had big plans last Tuesday. First let me start by stating that my plans for my December Daily have fallen semi flat. I am still chugging along, but my printer broke {??} and I haven't done anything since I picked everything up on Christmas Eve. {I worked on my book since day one right next to the tree} I'm sad because I had so many plans this year and realized that I really do have the time for all of it if I plan it out versus waiting for it all to happen. That isn't why I'm sad. I'm sad because the weather was sooo crazy that many of our plans got postponed or cancelled all together. Aha. Goals for next year. {can you say "think ahead??"}

Okay, so my point is, it was Christmas Eve eve and we hadn't baked and decorated cookies {with the boys} or enjoyed our Christmas movie marathon or driven around to light- gaze. Enter Tuesday. I figured we'd get it all done at once.

I have so much to put in here. Keith bought us a new 50 in. plasma that he picked up the Saturday before. I had a doctor's appointment Tuesday morning so I left the boys to sleep and headed out. Keith worked the night before but I left Caleb in charge. I knew I needed a few more presents for Keith, all three boys, Brenda, Sammi, shoes for both Andrew and Kyle, two ties,...I'm sure there was plenty more but the thought escapes me. {I know this to be true because of the money I later spent} I got out of the doc's office early and decided I'd run out toward the mall. Real Quick. Oh boy. It was the best. I always comment about how much I procrastinate-even on accident. Obviously this Christmas was no exception. I did the best shopping that day. I did a stellar job. I even think I may wait until the week of Christmas next year! :) Are you dying yet?

Okay, so Keith called me at 1:00ish to ask when I'd be home. He had barely slept yet because of the boys. He was so tired I believe he made mention of possibly ripping one of the boys' heads off if he heard something again. Oh. I was at target at the time and actually having a hard time finding the remaining items on my list. That was probably because I had already been there three other times and already had purchased everything they had. I told him I was heading home, without the time to stop at even one more place. I told him I would be there within the hour and movies would start on time-2:00. We would change our lineup and start with his least favorite movie so he could sleep until 4:00...Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas. I scurried out of Target and headed out of dodge. that place was a zoo, which reminded me that next year I wasn't going to be doing all of my shopping the week of Christmas!

My four pics are coming...I promise!

I decided to pull off the highway and run into Meijer. I really didn't have a choice. The next day was Christmas Eve and I was still lacking two very important gifts and two less important gifts. One was super crucial...and next to impossible to find this time of year. I had to try. HOORAY for Meijer! I wish I had known that fact the night before when I took Kyle to Meijer in his jammies to attempt the finishing of my shopping. Whatever! SOLID GOLD! I called Caleb, {it was past 2:00} got a grocery list from him for Wesco, {gotta have fun snacks} picked them up and headed home. We were only about 20 minutes behind. perfect. I figured in 2 hours per movie, which is never the case, so we were right on time.

We watched the otter movie, woke Keith up for The Christmas Story, and then watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas. After #3, we took a break to order pizza and bake cookies. The boys decorated the cookies while Keith picked up dinner. When we were finished, we headed downstairs to watch Polar Express. We didn't watch the other movies downstairs because we all would've had pneumonia by bedtime. We need to rework the heating downstairs so it is might cold, and usually abandoned, all winter long. We cuddled up cozy in all17 of our blankets and watched the last movie. we had more but ran out of time. {zzzzzz} Next year we will start much earlier. It was an awesome end to an awesome day. Too bad I was so nestled in my blankets and didn't dare to move that I forgot to take a picture. I may cheat and sneak another picture in my book.

Okay, so here are a few pics of the cookies. Can you say sugar buzzzzzzzz??

You'r Going To Notice A Pattern...

I am trying to play catch up today before 3:00. Yea...that is when we close for the holiday. I can only post 4 pics at a time through Picasa so that is what you'll get...4 picture posts.

Do you remember the 79 feet of snow we got right before Christmas? So does Keith. I asked him to shovel the deck because, if nothing else, I was sure it was going to collapse by spring. The bigger reason is because snow was making its way into our home...? And there is something so NOT right about that!

Kyle wanted to help his daddy shovel...

...but gave up quickly in favor of coming inside. I guess nobody told him he would've had better luck using a shovel...parenting is a big job. I'll try to remember next time...

Keith shoveled for about 15 minutes and cleared a square section in front of my bedroom slider. Had I taken a pic of the entire deck from the untouched end I'm sure you'd be able to hear crickets through my blog. We had tons of snow. 'See why I was concerned about collapse??

I got busted and decided the wifely thing to do was to just bow out gracefully. I was on the phone with Kristin, taking tons of pics, when Keith looked up and saw me. Oops. I'm sure he had a few choice words for me, the nicest of which were, "Get out here and shovel!"

Wii Had A Blast...

Catch up.

Saturday the 20th was our annual after-hours office party. This year we ventured out, in crappy weather, to the MAC downtown. We had a private area reserved for us where we ate, drank and played merry. Actually, we did eat fabulous appetizers and loads of mac and cheese, and we drank...some more than others...and we definitley played. Wii bowling. Lynnie played herself...Trixie LaRou...

Me? I didn't have a name. I clearly didn't need one...

Keith was Elvis. Big surprise...

We entertained ourselves quite nicely. We all took turns taking pictures of each other, then of ourselves. Kristin was so kind to even take pictures of the blue wall. {and you say Steve has a pirate eye...you must've been using your pirate eye that night, Kris!}

We had the most lovely time. We all got lifetime memberships so we will surely be visiting again.

Rock And Roll Fantasy...

It's all part of {our} rock and roll fantasy...this is what happens when there are no games, practices, parties, or work on a wintery Friday evening at the Stratton's...

We all took turns...we are all musically inclined...don't be jealous...just accept it... :)

Holly Jolly Christmas...

{I apologize in advance for the picture craziness...posted these separately}

Today was our office Christmas party, not to be confused with our Christmas party for the office. Usually the FriDAY of our after hours Christmas party, the 5 of us stay in for pizza and a gift exchange. The party is usually that night with spouses. (this year we are going to the MAC instead) Kristin has been telling me she made me something and it won't match my decor and it didn't really turn out all that great...I opened it today. I was supposed to open it at lunch but she changed her mind this morning. I opened my package and this is what I found...


WOW! What a fabulous gift from her heart. I love it! The coloring here doesn't do the book justice. I love all the ribbon.

Awww...my sediments exactly. I love, love my awesome gift.

After opening our gifts from Steven, we always like to take a picture to commemorate the occasion...

Sunday is Fun-day...

Okay, so not really.

Sunday was a big day for us. I got up at normal weekday time to bake cookies. I turned the oven on to preheat while I showered. I then baked the cookies, got dressed (in that order I think) and started meatballs. Okay, so people know I procrastinate. I make lists early, but I don't do everything at an early stage. It isn't on purpose. I think I over schedule and my mind is always thinking and I somehow get behind. I'm sure I've said this before. Anyway, I planned on making sweet and sour meatballs...I think. Whatever grape jelly and chili sauce make. Anyway, I forgot to pick up chili sauce. I made fun of Keith's cooking for improvising while making salmon the other night (hey, I have to eat it) but I was in a position to do the same thing. Luckily, the meatball bag had a recipe on it calling for grape jelly and BBQ sauce. Done. Oh, except I didn't have much grape jelly left. But I had lots of black raspberry jam. I got Andrew in the shower and Kyle dressed. I packed our canned goods for donating, as well as my camera and table service for my family and the cookies and meatballs, and we headed out to Sunday School, but not before stopping at Caleb's friend's house to pick him up. I dropped the boys off and headed back to my mom's to plug in the crock pot. I went back to church and enjoyed the Cantata with my whole family, minus Keith who was sleeping.

OH. WAIT. I tried to enjoy the Cantata. Instead, I dealt with Kyle 3/4 of the service. Dealing how? Oh by pulling him by his feet back to my pew after he decided to lay in the middle of the aisle. Oh, yes I did! He wanted to stand because, in his defense, he couldn't see the whole choir. I told him he couldn't because people behind him couldn't see. That is where it both started and ended. He turned around to see the "other people" and caught a glimpse of Abbi. He decided, loudly, that he wanted to play with Abbi. He kept trying to sneak away to see her. I let him kneel by my pew so he wouldn't scream. This was after bribing with fruit snacks. He just wanted to see. Yeah, see how far his luck went. He sprawled out across the aisle, he continuously put his feet up on the pew in front of me, and every time I roped him in he would let out a shriek. I think the Huizengas and Sheesleys got quite a kick out of it. As in, "Thank God he's not mine!" Finally, a man from church came up to me and asked if Kyle would like to go to the nursery. I'm sure we were being disruptive. Kyle just looked at him. I said two magic words and he was good to go. Magic to him. Curse words to me. Play Room. He went with Mr. Mason like they were old friends.

I would like to say the day got better. After rolling my eyes one hundred times regarding Kyle and wrangling him out of the nursery, we were ready to leave. I practically chased Kyle down the stairs. He wants to keep up with his brothers but they are normally oblivious to that. He would've run into the street and they would never notice. The boys were just ahead of me and as I was casually walking, my heel got caught in the cuff of my pant and...

I'm not really all that graceful and although I tried to correct my problem, I didn't. I think I went down on my face, but maybe not. I just know I was down and wanted to stay there a long, long time. Pat and Jen were behind me. No, they weren't the only people to see me. It reminds me of Thanksgiving when I fell out of my van at the car vacuum place. They were there then, too. I think this has something to do, also, with why I have a seat belt attached to my chair at work.

Anyway, (I'm breaking this up so it is easier to read) a high school kid I know was also standing right there when I fell and he just kept laughing. I haven't seen his mom since so she hasn't been able to make fun of me. There was also a man standing at the end of the hall who watched the whole thing. When I left he said to me, "You're your own worst enemy, aren't you?" That about sums it up.

Skip, skip ahead. We went back to my mom's, waited for Keith, grabbed the food and headed north to my mom's family Christmas party. When we arrived, Keith plugged in my meatballs to keep them warm. Kyle peed his pants within ten minutes. Luckily I had an extra pair of underwear and pants in the van. Unfortunately, the pants were warm ups and he was wearing a button down. Cute. Keith came back from changing Kyle and he said to me that he locked my keys in the van. Perfect.

As he waited for a tow truck, the rest of the gang was preparing to start eating. I checked my meatballs to find the crock pot had been turned off. Lovely. I think things went pretty smooth after that, but it was too late for me. I was crabby. It had been a long day.

This pretty much says it all...

I Had To Do It...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Checklist...

I feel the need to start this post by sharing this photo and wondering, along with you, why...??

Do you all have a list? I am the queen of lists. I make lists of the lists I have. I leave a list somewhere and then I make another list and all of a sudden I have seven of the same lists. This year I have added a checklist for my journal to my list. :) Surprisingly, I've never made this list before. Some things on this list may not make sense alone but they are included for the sake of my Christmas journal.

*capture the snow *

*send a letter to Santa *

*Advent service *

*decorate *

*Christmas parade *

*Christmas movie marathon

*address cards *

*Christmas shopping 1/2 *

*take boys shopping

*wrap presents

*Midweek party *

*Christmas Cantata

*Christmas hair cuts

*Whitehall faculty benefit concert

*Sunday School program

*sledding

*snowman

*snow angels

*check out Christmas lights

*bake cookies {x 3}

*handmade gifts

*volunteer *

*donate {time, money, warm clothes} 1/2 *

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The list is long and the checks aren't plenty but we'll get through. I have to keep rearranging the plan because of added birthday parties,sleepovers and banquets but I am thankful for the people in our lives who are the reason for the rearranging. Am I missing anything? What is on your list?

***************************************************

***Happy Anniversary, mom and dad!***

Fed Up...

I'm cheating by just adding these pics without another story. Use your imagination and scroll down to the post misiing pics and try to follow along. Good luck. :)

{Angry} Christmas Spirit Is Still Spirit...

I am trying, I really am. I am so UGH right now about my pics I loaded from Picasa. The prior post means nothing without the pictures that go with it. Does anyone know how to fix the big red "X" problem I am having??

Christmas Has Officially Arrived {along with my package}...

I cannot believe that I haven't posted a single entry about my December Daily journal. Day three, I think, Jen emailed me to see if I was still on it. I never caught on as to why she may have asked. Maybe it is because Jennie posts something every day. Hmm. I am still hanging in there and getting something done daily. {technically it isn't daily because I ran out of ink and then ran out of another color of ink} I have to, however, share this tidbit from my journal...

Maybe at first glance you noticed the "thing" in the tree. Maybe you didn't. I didn't. Keith noticed it and wondered, as were driving up the driveway, what it was. Note that at the time of this actual event, the driveway was not plowed. Once he pointed it out, I knew exactly what it was. He got out of the van and attempted to unhook it from the branch. I told him to leave it because I could read through the bag and I wanted a picture for my journal...

A present from the UPS man. The UPS man doesn't bother with my driveway in the winter. More times than not, it isn't plowed for him. {he comes before Keith gets up in the afternoon} Last year was freaky because he left Victoria's Secret packages at Kristin's for me along with a note to Kris to pass it on to me. I think he even referred to me as her sister. I don't know any UPS men anymore. Anyway, if packages weren't left with her, they were just taken back, and on more than one occasion, the packages were shipped back to where they came from. As soon as I told Keith what the box was, he even commented that we must have a new driver this season. I like that he left it but am still a bit concerned because this pic was taken later in the evening and I corrected the color a bit for your viewing pleasure. However, it just really kind of blended in the actual afternoon light. I may not have noticed it for days. You may agree once you see what happened next...

Yea-ahh! This happened as soon as we got closer to the house. Well, actually it happened after Keith tried to get us up the hill. Once that didn't work, he tried to turn me around so I was facing out so I could get out for practice.

I cancelled practice last night. The good news is, after Keith snow-blowed the driveway {like for maybe an hour or an hour and a half??} it only took him 5 minutes to get me out, back up the hill and into the nice, safe, warm garage.

This definitely goes in the book because what would Christmas be like for the Strattons without being stuck in the driveway at least once and finding a UPS package {from Amazon.com} somewhere other than our front porch??

Ahh...Christmas has officially arrived. :)

Oh, and if you want inspiration for your own December Daily journal, check this out...http://flickr.com/groups/decemberdaily2008/ Enjoy!

Not Much Christmas Spirit...

These poor girls...they didn't yet know what they were in for...

Saturday was both the Christmas parade and the high school Christmas formal. The girls voted on whether or not they wanted to ride in the parade and they voted "yes." The weather was horrible Saturday and the girls, I'm sure, didn't get much sleep the night before because they had a sleepover. We were supposed to ride in the fire rescue truck, which translates to a pick up truck. I was going to drive ours because I was guaranteed an inside spot but once we were offered a truck, I felt bad backing out. We were in the middle of decorating the truck when we were told that since two girls didn't make it, there would be enough room for the girls to ride on a fire truck. They were thrilled. I asked a firefighter, "So, do you have an extra special spot for the coach to ride? Like inside?" I got my way. The fire truck had two swivel bucket seats in back so the varsity coach and I were both able to ride inside.
The girls climbed up onto the truck and at that point were just cold, but cheerful.

That was the end of the Christmas spirit. We drove to the old high school to park for what seemed like days to wait for the parade to start. Those poor girls weren't wearing much underneath their warm ups and sweatshirts. Most didn't have boots or mittens. They sat, not moving, in the air, for a 1/2 hour. That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part is that Santa got to move in front of us. Okay, anyone from the White Lake area knows that Santa signals the end of the parade! These girls were an afterthought, even after all the crappy weather they endured. I felt so bad for them. There were definitely troopers standing outside, though. For all the people walking away after Santa's sleigh passed through town, there were some true Christmas parade junkies out there wishing the girls a merry Christmas. The parade ended in Montague, up by Todd's, and the driver was supposed to stop at Montague Foods to drop off a few girls who had rides for hair appointments. Instead, he got an emergency call for a fire and both the jayvee and the varsity cheerleaders had to unload at Todd's! Oh my! Lucky for all of us The Dillivan's were in the parade and had waited for Marie. (their daughter) They offered to give all of us a ride back to City Hall. The girls were numb and one was even crying. {as if this couldn't get any worse...} One of the girls got a text {sooo out of my league} that the dance had been cancelled. No fooling. As a mom, I was happy, but since I'm not a mom of any children attending a high school formal and am, instead, a cheerleading coach, I was distraught for all of them. It was mass chaos in Pekadill's trailer. Everyone was texting and calling friends and salons...oh boy! I had one girl heading to Whitehall for an appointment and another two heading to North Muskegon. I felt bad for any girl who had already gotten their hear done. I had one girl I was taking to the snow hill and another who couldn't find her ride. My cell had died the night before {I got a new one yesterday} and I didn't have any cell numbers to get ahold of my girls to stop them from getting their hair done. I drove both girls to the first salon, stopped my first girl, drove back to City Hall to drop off my second girl, then headed to Northland to use the phone to call the other girls heading to Muskegon. Drama seems to follow me everywhere!!!

In the end, everything worked out.

I forgot to mention that something else took me by surprise in that Pekadills trailer...in an earlier post, I mentioned that one of the cheerleaders made a comment to me about me maybe not remembering high school...well, while all the girls were doing their panic texting and whatnot, one of the girls said she'd call her mom since she worked at one of the salons in town. Her last name is Bush and it hit me. I asked her what her mom's first name is. She replied, "Chandra." Hello, Chandra Nyhof!! I told her that I went to school with her mom! I didn't even want to admit that because Ashley is either a junior or a senior!!!!!! It is happening...I am getting old. It'll happen to you all, too...just wait.

Reality Check In Aisle 5...

...and one reality is that I don't play well with others.

Cheerleading is going so well. I am loving everything about coaching. I like that the final decisions are mine, all mine. I enjoyed coaching the little girls but it definitely presented many challenges. I am strong minded, who knew {?} and I had personal conflicts along the way. I thought I would be coaching alone and that I'd be coaching 9 and 10 year olds. In the end I coached a range of 7 to 12 year olds and co-coached because of the lack of participants. I really really enjoyed my Coach Gripton {she is mine} and look forward to working with her next year {there are no other options} but... I warned Lori from the get go that I might step on toes and it certainly wasn't my intention but I really didn't know how well I would work with another coach. I did take charge more than once and felt bad doing so but I just had to.

Ah, the moral to my story is this...I work with no one. I am the coach and what I say goes. {in a good way} If things get messed up, I am the one to blame...and I'm sure it'll happen. It isn't just that, though, It is also that these girls get it enough to know that what I say goes. I know that most of you are waiting for the Duh moment to hit, but working with preteens who want to tell me how it is is way different than teens actually asking me what I think. And wait, since when did teenage girls start asking adults anything?? I have a great group of girls. The drama is more age related than anything else. There is no cattiness or any of that other crap...yet.

Speaking of drama...I took one of my girls home the other night and we talked about her bad day and the drama that unfolds in high school. I told her high school is supposed to be some of the best years of her life and to try not to get caught up in the middle of it all. I told her it is much easier for an adult to say {in her opinion} but, because I seem to relate to the younger crowd, {??} I thought it would make a bit of a difference to tell her that. Then it happened...for the first time in my life...She said, "Well, you know, like when you were in high school-if you can even remember that long ago..." That Long Ago?? I laughed to myself but when I got home I had a really great big laugh over it. it was so funny to me. These girls are all 14 years old except for 3 of them, which means I am technically old enough to be any of their moms! WOW! I am still cool to the little girls because they know my sons. However...these girls don't care about little kids and I am, I guess, just old. Hello reality.

And More Pics...

This darn Picasa only loads 4 pics at a time...a major downfall...

You'd think either that all the teams lost or that these kids were forced to go to Ford Field to watch 4 of their hometown teams play ball on an NFL field...

Kyle cheering for his daddy and the "good" team...

Andrew doing his best impersonation of a football fanatic...nice try, babe...

Thanks, Kris, for being cooperative. Apparently your talk with Con-Man fell on deaf ears. He was all smiled out from the pic above...

More Pics...

Kyle was super fascinated with the Catholic game...for about a whole 7 minutes...

...and don't let Caleb fool you...he actually was having a great time...

Go ahead, it is okay, you can say it out loud...AWWW...

I left the "pee pants" pic off because I totally overexposed Keith...it wasn't pretty. Kyle did an amazing job all day {all like 9 hours or so} and did phenomenal with the potty thing...until he fell asleep. I was holding him for about two minutes when he fell asleep and I couldn't hold my camera while holding him so I passed him to Keith. What was it, like 2 minutes maybe when Keith turned to me with this horribly freaked out expression on his face. Kyle no sooner was passed over when he peed all over Keith. Gotta love it! I know I did. He was much more tolerant than I would've been.