Best Of The Best 2008

We were going to do a top ten list of the craziest sayings we had in our house this year, but with five boys counting me, some of the funniest things are also pretty gross. Just as an example so that you know what you are missing out on, one of the boys thought they had a little accident while trying to squeak off a silent but violent one during family prayer. Upon returning from his own inspection, Tami asked, "Did you you get everything cleaned up?" His reply was, "It turns out it was just a hot fart." (sorry Mom, I know fart is not a word that you approve of) There are plenty more just like this but now you know why we decided to change our theme. Anyway, this is our Christmas letter.

Jude is the best baby we have ever had. He is so good that we almost decided to have another one (this is going to be a huge surprise for Tami because it never crossed her mind even once). Out of all our boys, he is the slowest developing. It's funny how life changes parents. If he would have been our first, we would have already had him working with a speach pathologist, a walking instructor and any other profession that starts with psych. Since he is our last one, we just consider him to be "special".

Silas has the best imagination of all our boys. I had a friend that used to remember all the movie lines and it would drive me crazy to have to hear them. Guess what? Now I live with one. He has just about every line of the movie Cars memorized. At least I enjoy most of the funny lines in that movie. We were nervous that he only remembered the bad things (he knows more swear words then the rest of the family combined minus Tami) but he started preschool this year and he remembers everything he hears there too. He made a great discovery this year when he told Tami that she didn't wipe his bottom good enough because he stuck his finger in the "red spot" and found more. Yeah, don't ever take candy from our kid, you won't want it.

This letter could get ugly really quick so I better change the subject to Isaac. He was baptized this year. We were excited about Elias' baptism too but with a child like Isaac, it is a wonderful feeling once they reach the age of accountability. He is our little chihuaha of the family. The only difference between Isaac and a chihuaha is that when Isaac gets scared, he doesn't pee on the floor. He has a lot of bark and likes to try and pick on the bigger kids but when it really comes down to it, running is his best option. Isaac doesn't really know how to walk. He is constantly running, hopping or even skipping wherever he goes. We are trying to cure him of that last one. No matter what people say, it really isn't okay.

I already spoke about Elias earlier in the letter. Oops, I told him I wouldn't mention names on the "hot fart" comment. Elias loves any sport that requires players to be on the sidelines cheering. I was always extremely annoyed at the team mates that were the "raw-raw" guys. Elias is one but as long as he is wearing the same uniform as the players on the field and not one that matches the girls on the side lines, we are happy. I really should apologize for being such a braggart about our kids in this letter. By the way, they helped us write it.

For some reason, Tami wanted to be left out of this years letter. I can't see any reason why she wouldn't want her one paragraph of fame. I'm sure when Tami pictured her married life 12 years ago, she would have never thought it could be this good. Being the only princess in a house of boys isn't quite what she expected. She is a wonderful wife and mother and completely off limits in this letter.

Since I am writing this letter, I opt to not have a paragraph. I will however, include a few facts below that aren't gross:

1. We sold our house this year because we had been living it for almost three years and we were bored. We wanted to buy acreage and ended up moving to a house without acreage that was only 4 to 5 blocks away from our previous house. Definitely, not our original plan!!!

2. I can't believe I actually thought that we could come up with more than one thing that didn't have something to do with potty humor.

Have a Merry Christmas!!!

FAMILY PHOTOS

Thanks to Chris of Paxman Photography!! (My very talented BIL).

Ugly Plowing

We finally got enough snow for Caleb to use our four wheeler snow plow. Our new house has a driveway that would take FOREVER to hand shovel so I convinced Caleb to get a blade. He then convinced me that the job couldn't be done unless he had a winch too. Well the big snow finally came and Caleb happened to be taking a vacation day so he got up and started working. He plowed our driveway, the sidewalk by the street in front of our house and two others and then plowed a neighbors driveway all in no time. It's been a mild winter with very little snow but I think this purchase was well worth it!!
ALSO... Last night we went to an ugly sweater Christmas party and Caleb won the UGLIEST sweater. His sweater was your basic Cliff Huxtable (with a vomit twist) but I embellished it with faux green fur and black tassels across the chest which I think put it over the edge into the super ugly category! It was a good time!! Now maybe I can ebay it and make back the money I spent on all MY sweater options that I kept collecting!

You Can't Catch Me...

I'm the Gingerbread Man! I bought a gingerbread house kit for the kids to make with my Mom while we were gone (perfect planning). They did an awesome job on it. Then for the next 24 hours all I heard was "can we eat it now?" I thought once you made the house you just looked at it til Christmas than threw it away. I finally got so tired of them asking all the time that I told them to go ahead and RUIN it! So they dug in and quickly realized that it wasn't great tasting candy or gingerbread and I threw the whole thing away. Sorry Mom!! It was beautiful and we did get pictures!! Also, a big thank you to my Mom for watching the boys! I know just keeping an eye on all four is stressful!

Houston

The day after Thanksgiving my Mom flew down to watch our boys and Caleb and I flew to Houston for a quick weekend. Caleb's boss hosted an all day Christmas party. He chartered a bus that took us all to see The Music Man, Benihanas, and then to watch the Houston Rockets play the Spurs from a sweet suite. It was a blast but so tiring!

Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving with the Jeffers. It was sweet! The food,decorations and company were awesome. It was totally fun and low key. The adults had a Yahtzee tournament and the kids entertained themselves. I am thankful for great friends like the Jeffers!

Sponge Bob Sandy Pants

We've had unusually nice weather this winter. So nice that the boys have still been playing in the sand box. I know it for a fact from the amount of sand that ends up on my laundry room floor. I'll have to make them empty their pockets and shoes from now on before they come in.

My LIttle Butt Rocker

Caleb vowed in high school that if AC/DC ever toured again he'd go to a concert. Well they came to Denver in November so he finally got to live out his dream. He was a little nervous that it would be a "dirty" concert but was pleasantly surprised that is was just freakin' awesome. I tried to convince him to wear earplugs but he thought that just wouldn't be cool. I guarantee if he'd gone to a Celine Dion concert with me he wouldn't have minded the earplugs. His ears rung for days after but he said it was well worth it!

You Must See This!!

So I mentioned my little sis and her UGLY dog recently in one of my posts. You have GOT to check out her blog and most recent post!!!

Click HERE for a good ol' belly laugh!!

Super Cool

Me: "Oh crud Silas, I have to take you to school in a few minutes and I'm still in my pajamas."

Silas: "Mom, that's Super Cool, don't be embarrassed."

Then he proceeded to tell me that he would be embarrassed if he went to school in his pj's but for some reason it would have been OK for me to be seen in public with mine?!? It must be my sweet care bear pj's that are public worthy!