The Test Subject

I have been very neglectful of this blog lately. Anyone who follows it, must think that we just don't do anything interesting. That's not true...we have a whole trip to the Dr. Pepper Museum that we have yet to post about, but I really don't have time now to argue with Blogger about where I want my pictures to go, so that adventure will have to wait. Until then, I have had this little gem of a "blogworthy" story in my aresnal for about a month now.
First I'll set the stage: I was "sleeping in" one morning during Christmas break. This was early in the break, because Cameron still had to go to work, but the kids were out of school. By "sleeping in" I mean it was not yet 8 am, because I am almost always awake by 8 am, if the kids haven't had breakfast yet. Anyway...here's the story.
I was just beginning to awake from my pleasant slumber, when I hear the sound of my bedroom door being opened, and no fewer than 3 little bodies scurry in. They did not, however, make a sound. I'm assuming this is because it was light enough in the room that they could see that their father had already left for work, but I can't be absolutely sure. I then hear 3 little bodies exit as soundlessly as they had come. I then hear the following exchange in the hallway:

Peyton: "Where Daddy?"
Dylan: "He already left for work." "Go ask Mommy for breakfast."
Peyton: "Me? No, you."
A few moments pass, where I hear several feet run up the stairs.
Then I hear my door open once again, and this time 4 bodies enter my room. (I can only assume that they had gone to get reinforcements in the form of their older sister.) I then hear Andi say: "Shhh, she's still sleeping. Don't wake her up."
They exited again, and I hear a few exchanges out in the hall that may or may not have included drawing straws to see who would be the best candidate for the job. I know I also heard a few words involving "But I'm hungry now!" but the memory has become a little fuzzy. Apparently after some deliberation, I hear my door open one more time, and the sound of two little feet scurrying accross the floor. Then I hear Dylan exclaim from the hallway to his croanies: "It's going to be alright...I sent Soni in!"
It was then that I lost it. I couldn't pretend to be asleep any longer. Especially since a matter of seconds later, my diaper clad princess climbed up on my bed, tackled me, and said: "HEWO, MOMMY!"
Should I be worried that my older 3 children so easily sent thier baby sister into "the lion's den"? Should I be even more concerned that my children view me as the grumpy bear that they must not wake from hibernation? Whatever their reasoning, I am just grateful that they have been well trained to wake up their dad...even if he is not.

Christmas came and went...

So, it's January. Christmas and New Years came and went and now we have to get back in the Work/School routine again. That happened quick. Christmas was uneventful at our house. Since we live so far away from everyone we just stuck around here, which wasn't too bad.

The kids enjoyed Christmas. Leading up to the big day, Dylan had his heart set on this big monstrosity of a toy called "Spike the Ultra Dinosaur". He saw a commercial for it on Nickelodeon, and was dead set on getting it. Why not? It's green and it's a dinosaur. Green is his favorite color, and he likes dinosaurs. It's perfect... except we had already planned on getting him a Leapster. He got a Leapster for his fourth birthday, but it came to a quick demise when he decided to wash it by submerging it in water. As you may know, when you submerge electronic stuff in water, it really doesn't work very well again, or at all. Anyway, we tried to steer him away from Spike, knowing full well that two days after Christmas, Spike would become less and less cool. Green can only get you so far.

I had told Dylan I wouldn't get him Spike for Christmas, so Dylan pulled a Ralphie on me and asked Santa Claus for it twice. (If only Spike shot little bb's out of his mouth, I could have given a "You'll shoot your eye out" argument. That could have been fun.) If he had wavered even slightly for a second I would have jumped all over anything else. We decided not to ruin his hopes and dreams of Christmas, so we got the huge frickin' dinosaur for him.

Dylan was super excited to play with Spike on Christmas morning. It was cool seeing his face light up as his Christmas wish had been granted.

Two days later....

Spike had become a whole lot less cooler than his older sister's Leapster. He has played that so much the last week that I've had to change the batteries in it twice. Spike? I haven't had to recharge him since the 27th. Now we have this huge frickin' green trip hazard that I am sure will one day kill me, either by becoming animated and going on a rampage, or by me tripping on it in the dark and being impaled by its huge tail.

Thanks Fisher Price for making that thing, and thanks Nickelodeon for advertising it. :P I'm going to look up your corporate headqurters on Google Maps street view and picture throwing tomatoes at your buildings. Take that, suckas!

Our other kids? Andi got the commandeered Leapster for Christmas, and had her Birthday party the next day. Noo more presents for 363 more days for you. Ha! She had her first sleep over for her birthday too, which she enjoyed. Can't believe she's 7 already. If I had any measureable amount of hair left, I'm sure some of it would be gray.

Peyton asked for a toy flashlight for Christmas. Luckily, Handy Manny has a little flashlight tool named Flicker. Thanks, Disney. Between that and Dora, our kids will be learning Spanglish at a reasonable pace. He might be able to tell the Mexican kids to turn off the lights by the time he's in Kindergarten. Muy Bien!

Soni loves anything Dora, so she got a stuffed Dora and a blanket. She was happy with it, and she's not stealing her sister's Leapster. Or Spike. In fact, no one is stealing Spike.

Here's a picture of the gang in their new Christmas church clothes. A handsome bunch of kids if I do say so myself.

That about does it for the Christmas recap. Yay. Hope your holidays were as enjoyable as ours.