Circus Tidbit

For those of you without kids or your memory is shot from having kids, here is a glimpse into life with little kids.
That creepy moment when an electronic toy starts going off by itself in an empty room.

Wrapping with Children

I swear, wrapping presents with children around should be an Olympic sport.
First off, no matter where you hide, they will find you. Especially the toddler. It's like you send out some kind of beacon.
Next, try wrapping stuff while someone is climbing you like you are Mt. Everest. And wishing you had about 8 arms because you have to keep the scissors and tape up and out of reach, but not too far because you know, you are actually still using tape and scissors.
Also, once the older kids find out you are wrapping things they will start carting in random crap to wrap for each other. Because there aren't enough things wrapped for them under the tree. Then there will be tears because child 2 can't open child 1's gift. Child 1 will get upset that child 2 saw what they are wrapping. And you start wondering if it's acceptable to drink at 10 am.
So, if it's January before you get gifts, just be glad one of the kids isn't included in the box.

Countdown to Crazy

Ah, the sweet sound of quiet. I am enjoying it because soon it will be gone.
We are coming into our last few days of quiet before the craziness begins.
Sunday is the "children's program" at church. Most of the kids are 1st grade and below, so we are still at that stage where we can't really do a Christmas program. You know, with memorized lines and kids dressed up as shepherds and angels. So instead the kids sing in both services. With an hour and a half of insanity between the services. It's gonna be fun.
After that, the girls have their holiday party at the dance studio. I would hope DRL would take them, but I think it will be more like passing Bubba off to him while I drag them down there.
Monday is Miss M's 6th birthday. I suppose some type of cake is in order. She has asked for sloppy joes for dinner. She had her birthday party last weekend in hopes that more kids would be able to come. So on Monday she will get to open the rest of the presents we have for her. One good part of her birthday being so close to Christmas is she gets to open her stuff and then hopefully it will keep her and her sister busy for the next day.
Tuesday is Christmas Eve. No big plans here. That evening we will go to church (because the kids are singing again) and then the kids get to open up a present. Which happens to be new pjs. Funny how that works.
Wednesday they get to tear into the mountain of presents under the tree. Actually, probably half the presents for the girls are just old toys that I wrapped up and threw under there. They've probably forgotten all about them anyway. At some point we'll drive over to my mom's house and see them.
Then Thursday is back to work and off to daycare for the kiddos.
Yep, busy busy busy.

Mathematics and Clothing

Somewhere there is a formula that shows the relationship between the importance of one article of clothing and the likelihood that said article of clothing will be missing when you need it. This formula will also factor in ages and the number of children you have.
It is the day of the Christmas program at Miss M and Pudge's school. The children need to wear a white turtleneck and khaki pants. Each of the girls has only one white turtleneck. Guess what I was hunting for at 8:30 pm yesterday? Actually, Pudge's was where I put it: hung up in her closet. Miss M's was missing. It wasn't in her dresser, in the pile of clean laundry, in the wash, or stashed in her toy box or under the bed. I knew it was somewhere in the house, so I would take the entire house apart to keep from trying to go find a new one at the store.  I finally found it crumpled up at the bottom of her bed. She insists it is clean.
Now, what are the odds that today she decides to spill stuff on herself while at school?

Dead Week for Parents

You know how in college, the last week before finals was dead week? Well, once you are a parent to school-age children, the week of school before Christmas break is the new dead week.
Before kids: "I need to bring something to the organization pot luck on Monday and something to the building pot luck on Friday.  Let me look up some recipes to try."
Now: "Okay, organization pot luck is Monday, what is easy? Pretzels? Awesome! Tuesday night I need to put snacks together for both classes.  Oh and must be healthy and nut-free. Well, we have pretzels, so let's add in raisins, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and cheese crackers. I might need to mix it in the tub, but oh well. Also on Tuesday night we need to pick a book to go to school to share and then donate. And select a show-and-tell item. Don't forget we need to make cookies for the cookie exchange on Wednesday. Oh thank goodness, Tuesday is over. Wednesday. Okay, those cookies need to be frosted. And arranged in half dozen sets. Then carted to church for the exchange. After the exchange is dinner, child chaos, and finally church service. Go home and wrap teacher gifts for youngest daughter's teachers. Thursday is Christmas program day. Yay... Leave work early to go get youngest daughter to take her back to school for the 2pm performance. Pick up Bubba from daycare. Throw dinner together and have kids back at the school for the 7pm performance. Wrap gifts for oldest daughter's teachers. Friday. Oh thank God this week is almost over. Make sure gift for the oldest's class gift exchange has made it to school. Send cards and gifts to daycare. Leave work early to pick oldest up because it's early release day. Perhaps drop presents off in the mail because obviously they haven't gone out yet.
And what is the reward for making it through dead week? Children's program at church on Sunday, 6th birthday for Miss M on Monday, Christmas Eve service with kids singing on Tuesday, Christmas Day insanity, and back to work on Thursday. Yay...
I wonder how long that bottle of peppermint schnapps is going to last...