Lights, Camera, Christhmath!

Hellooooooo Griswolds. I don't care what anyone says, our family owns that title. I've said it before and I'll stand by it. We are the Griswolds. We thought very seriously about naming our next child Clark or possibly using Griswold as a middle name....and then we remembered that we made sure (99% sure, at least) that we won't be having any more kids. Instead we'll just continue on our "what would the Griswolds do" path. On Wednesday afternoon, while running last minute Thanksgiving prep errands, we ended up at Costco. As we were leaving we saw a lone tree out with a price and description. Come to find out, Costco would be bringing in a truckload of Douglass Fir trees, 7-8 feet, for the unbelievable low price of $33.50. Seriously? $33.50?!?!? For the last I-don't-even-know-how-many years we have ended up on a lot, paying an obnoxious amount for a tree, after trying our best to find a better deal. We've tried the Ma/Pa shops, the tree farms, the Cub Scouts, etc. Now I should mention, I am extremely particular when it comes to our tree. It has to be exactly right. No branch out of place, not too full, not too tall, no bald spots, etc. It takes me a while to find the tree that I have to put up with for a whole month. Okay, so back to this tree in Costco.....we couldn't stop thinking about what a deal it was. I finally convinced myself that we should go for it. I mean, really, this would cost us less than half of what we are used to paying. What a deal. I am not that picky, am I? It just has to look half decent. The one on display at Costco was actually really nice. I could totally live with that. So off we went to pick up our tree. We paid for it and loaded it up. Kevin was really uncomfortable with the whole thing because I refused to even get out of the car; (a) it was freezing cold and (b) they were all wrapped up so I couldn't tell what it was going to look like once we got it home and unwrapped it anyway. This story is getting really long winded so I'll try to get right to the Griswold point. We brought it in, put it up, saw that it was completely wonky (and that the needles were shedding faster than Talan can pull every ornament off of it when given ample opportunity) and had to load it up and take it right back the following day. And after all of that we ended up back at the same tree lot (in front of a grocery store), paying a million dollars (okay, so maybe a tad bit less) for a tree that deep down inside we knew we would end up with anyway. Lesson learned. I have to say, even though it was a grocery-store-front-lot I loved the whole experience. We drove through Starbucks before hand and grabbed coffee and caramel ciders (which also cost us close to a million dollars) and walked around the lot until we found the perfect tree. I felt at home in that lot! Once home, we baked cookies and made another batch of apple cider in prep for the tree decorating: Talan has taken to mocking his sister when we break out the camera. He cocks his head to the side and puts on his best pose. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: Two crazy parents = two crazy kids: Lights off of the kids and onto the tree. Time to decorate: Thank God that candle is a fake: We only lasted about 20 minutes before we put Talan to bed. He is convinced that the ornaments are balls.....and that they are unbreakable. My life for the next 28 days is going to be H-E-double hockey sticks. And yes, I said 28 days. As in our tree will be in the front yard the day after Christmas. I am already having clutter-driven anxiety from all of the decorations and it's been a few hours. But back to the shiny happy part of this blog, here are Reese and Kevin putting the final touch on the tree. This is always one of my favorite moments throughout the whole tree decorating process: Okay, so I uploaded this next photo to show the finished tree. But in looking at it I'm seeing some wonk! The right side is definitely not up to par! Off to fix that now! "The most enduring traditions of the season are best enjoyed in the warm embrace of kith and kin. Thith tree is a thymbol of the the thspirit of the Griswold family Chrithmath. (Clark W. Griswold)" - Christmas Vacation

P-P-P-Parade in the C-C--C-Cold

I LOVE parades. Really, really love them. Living in Naperville, we're lucky enough to look forward to several throughout the year. One of them is the Holiday Electric Lights Parade, always the day after Thanksgiving. We started out the week with temperatures in the mid-60's. Unfortunately that didn't last. The parade starts at 4:30 and by that time the sun was already down and the temperatures were in the 20's. That coupled with the wind made for a really, really cold night. We weren't going to let that damper our moods. We bundled up the kids and packed them into the stroller to stake out our spot: When I say it was cold, I mean it was cooooooold. The kids both had multiple layers and were covered with a blanket. I thought I was prepared but by the time the parade was over (about an hour later) and we got the car I was barely able to move my lips to talk and when I took my gloves off my fingers were bright red. My butt cheeks and toes took about 10 minutes to thaw. I was wearing a down coat. I know it's a good one because the only body parts that stayed warm were underneath it. The kids seemed to fair much better than Kevin and I did (thank God!). I did take a few more photos but they are pretty craptastic because my camera blows. I tried to convince Reese to ask Santa for one for Christmas but she didn't have room on her (mile long) list. Here they are anyway:

Happy Saintsgiving

Our family hosted Thanksgiving yesterday. Kevin and I went into it beyond prepared. I had the tables set and ready two days previous: We had all of our desserts (cranberry swirl cheesecake, pumpkin creme brulee, and pecan pie bars) baked the day before. We also spent part of the day before prepping food so that the day of would be a piece of cake. On Wednesday night we went as far as laying it all out in a spreadsheet so that nothing overlapped and so that we were organized and on time with everything. We had a long to-do list. Our menu was turkey (fried of course!), ham, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, homemade mac-n-cheese, squash casserole, gravy, and mushroom rice. It was smooth sailing right up until everyone was due to arrive. We lost our groove for the last hour or so but managed to have dinner on the table within 15 minutes of our goal time. Go us! I was so busy with dinner that I didn't take any pictures of the food. Bummer. There are a few people pictures from the day: I am so thankful that we were able to spend the holiday with the Heller and Ham families. I'm beyond grateful for my wonderful family and the best friends. Lastly, I am thankful that I resisted the urge to sell my daughter on the black market as a result of her rotten behavior. How bad was it? So bad that I am too embarrassed to write about it. Oh, and GOOOOOOO SAINTS!

A Penny For Your Pics

Here are three of the six photos we had taken yesterday: The other three were not worth posting; Kevin mid-sentence, Talan looking away, me with hair covering half of my face, etc. It was a lot of work to get all four of us dressed and camera ready. I'm glad we only do this once a year!

Party Animals

Gettin' Jerky with Turkey

A friend of mine who works in retail called yesterday and we launched into a discussion about how early the holidays seem to have come this year. It's almost as if we are looking to bypass Thanksgiving and rush right into Christmas. Nearly every retailer had their holiday point of sale materials out at the beginning of this month and some are even offering the Black Friday sales now...no need to wait until next week. I, too, am guilty of rushing into it this year. I finished all of my shopping last week and today we went in for our annual holiday picture and to bring the kids to see Santa. I'm afraid that December is going to be a really long month because I'm normally rushing to fit it all in but this year I have nothing left to do. I was really disappointed at how our family photos turned out. We've always had great luck with JCPenny until now. This morning we thought we were ahead of the game. Our appointment was at 10:40. The mall doesn't even open until 11 so we expected to avoid a rush. When we got there we walked into at least 8 other families waiting for photos. We've found that it doesn't really matter if/when you booked your appointment. Prepare to wait. When you have an unruly almost-2-year-old, waiting around and wasting valuable time is not really the best option. We only actually waited about 20 minutes but by the time we got back there Talan was over it. The woman snapped 6 photos and spent no more than 5 minutes with us. I wasn't happy. On the flip side, the photo of the kids with Santa turned out really cute. Talan is a huge fan of the bearded man in the big red suit who gives him a candy cane every time he sees him. As opposed to most kids his age, he was happy to hop up onto Santa's lap. The trouble was getting him off and out of there. On the way home we called the Hellers to see if they could come to the rescue. We stopped by their house and Eric snapped several photos of us in their backyard. Wouldn't you know that the pictures he took were 100 times better than what we had taken in the studio? Eric Heller saved the Branton Christmas card this year! Speaking of the Hellers, they were gracious enough to host us last night for dinner, games and good times. We hadn't seen them in what feels like ages so it was great to catch up and to watch all of the kids together. Mr. "Professional Photographer" Heller took a ton of cute pictures last night. This is one of my favorites:

Crazy for Daisies

On Friday Reese went to her first official "Daisies" meeting. For those who may not know, Daisies are first, then comes Brownies, and then Girl Scouts. After the meeting they had a pinning ceremony. This brings back so many memories! Here she is with her troop: After a full week and a long day of school, I was shocked at the amount of energy these girls had. They were running wild! In two weeks they will begin earning their patches. The first will be for Christmas caroling at a local nursing home. Again, brings back memories!

The Morning Show

....starring Reese & Talan Branton: And while I'm blogging, here are my fashion pics for this week. I realize that the week is not over yet but I doubt tomorrow will top these: I help when I need to but it wasn't necessary this week. I wasn't sure about the leg warmers when she picked them out but it worked! A budding fashionista if I do say so myself!!! I'm used to a house full of kids in the afternoon but it was just our family today so we decided to take advantage and have a special dinner. Homemade tomato basil soup with mini-grilled cheese sandwiches taste so much better when served at the green table in the basement: It's been another long week so I look forward to Friday and the weekend that follows.

The Story of Our Lives

Using a simple tool online I was able to import every blog I wrote, pictures included, into book format. The hard part was going through to edit the layout and to try to find any mentions of videos because without the video itself the passages don't make sense. After three weeks of work I finally completed it and went through it with a fine tooth comb (at least 8,433 times) before pressing "approved" to allow it to go through production. The week long wait was tough because I was so excited to see the final product. Blog2Book did not disappoint! The book is beautiful! The cover is a super nice, heavy weight, glossy wrap around. The book itself is hardback. The inside was beautifully done and looks completely professional. It's nearly 250 pages and I think I've read through it 10 times since it arrived. I can't get enough! I came across so many stories and memories that I had already put out of my mind, only to be remembered after reading back. Reese has had a blast going through, laughing at herself and looking at every photo. I am in love with this book. I am so motivated to get started on the 2010 version. I wouldn't doubt it if I'm working on it as soon as the 1st of the new year. I can't believe how little I paid for something so precious and priceless.

Long Week, Short End

Last week went by so slowly. Why is it that we can't have a weekend putt by. Instead they fly and before I know it it's Sunday and I'm bracing for another crazy week. This weekend was one that passed in the blink of an eye. I did manage to cross a few items off of my Christmas to-do list but other than that I really have not much to show for it so I'm not really sure where it went. Part of Reese's reward for her recent great behavior and her stellar report card was a little pizza party. She had 4 girls from her class over on Saturday night for dinner and a movie. I've found that this format works out really well for having more than one girl over at a time. It's late enough to where they are fairly worn out from a long day and they are ready to veg in front of a movie. Here they are pigging out on pizza: I fed Talan before earlier that night but when he saw the pizza dude at the door he started chanting "pizza, pizza, pizza!" so we snuck him a couple of pieces: After some dinner and dancing the girls settled in for a screening of Toy Story 3 (and proceeded to crush a supersized bag of popcorn, brownies, and ice cream) : Before we knew it three hours had passed and their parents were here to pick them up. It was after 8 when they left and Reese was exhausted. We tucked her in and I went to wash my face and change into my PJs. By the time I came out of my room she was sawing logs. I hope she realizes how proud of her we are and what a gem she is.

Six on being "Fifteen"

Reese sings almost constantly so it rarely phases me. I hear all of the time that she has a great voice. I guess I just hear it so much that I forget just how beautiful she sounds. Today I was reminded. This brings me to tears.

The Climb

See this sweet, innocent little face? Don't let the looks deceive. Sweet? Maybe. Innocent? Not a chance. This morning, at 6:30am, Reese and I awoke to a huge "boom" that shook the floor. The noise was followed by Talan screaming. We both went running and when I got to his room I was met at the door by none other than little man. He climbed (and then fell) out of his crib!!! We have it on the lowest possible setting and he can barely see over the top so monkey man had to have used his footie PJs to gain traction, pull a leg over, and escape. I was in shock. Of course this had to happen on a day when (a) the kids were out of school so I had a house full....6 total. And (b) Kevin is downtown in a class all week and therefore gone from before we wake up until late in the evening. I wasn't sure if it was a fluke or if he'd do it again but I can't take that chance so I had to figure something out. I broke into the tool box and took the crib apart to make a daybed out of it and then dug out Reese's old bed rail. So, this is the new set-up: I just put him down for his first nap in the new bed. He got up three times, turned off his white noise, and banged on the door trying to get out but then laid down and he's now been asleep for over an hour. It'll be trying but hopefully it won't be long before he's used to it. A few days (even weeks) of rough nights beats having to worry about him climbing out of bed and breaking his neck! Crazy kid.

Beaming

Reese's first 1st grade report card was as perfect as they get. In addition to that, she was tested on both reading and math skills and blew the average scores out of the water. Last night was our parent/teacher conference and her teacher confirmed what we already knew....she is a stellar student and well rounded kid. I am so proud I can barely stand it. To top all of that off, we got some more good news yesterday. She entered an art contest at school last month. This year's theme is "Together We Can". Students can turn in a photo, drawing, musical composition, or dance so long as it is around that theme. Reese decided that she wanted to enter and choreographed a dance. This is her entry: She made up every single move herself. The only help she had from me was writing down the moves as she decided on them so that she could practice and then putting together the video for her on the computer. Other that that, it was all her. Well, she made it through the first round! On to round two. We're not really sure what, exactly, that means but we're proud none the less.

Great Reason for a Date Night

Last night Kevin and I attended the 2nd annual Rally for Ryan. Ryan is an 8-year-old boy who lives in our neighborhood and is suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Unfortunately there is no cure for DMD so his family throws a huge benefit to raise money for research in hopes that they will soon develop a cure. Most kids suffering from DMD die in their late teens or early twenties and experience degenerative muscle weakness and loss of ambulation by age 12. It's truly devastating. Listening to his parents speak last night brought me to not just tears, but sobs. Say a prayer for Ryan. I sure hope that they will find a cure before his condition worsens. They do such an amazing job with the benefit. There is a silent and a live auction. This year Dave Eigenberg who plays Steve Brady in Sex & the City (and is a Naperville native) was there. They auctioned off a weekend in Hollywood, accommodations at the Hilton, and a dinner date with Dave. I think it ended up going for $4500. My friends Jennifer & Gary helped organize the event and assigned seating so we were all seated at the table with Dave and his family. Of course I had to get photo proof: I also had a great photo of Kevin and I that was somehow deleted. Bummer. This year Cadillac donated a car that raffled off. Our friends ended up winning! They have a choice of the car or $20,000 cash. The next best thing to winning something yourself is seeing your friends win it. So exciting!!! We have spent today inside hanging out. Reese took some time to write a book called "The Spooky Babysitter". She's so creative. Rather than type it out for you, I had her read it:

Phlegm -n- Fashion

Our week got off to a rough start. Reese has had a cough for what seems like forever. I finally took her into the doctor on Monday and it turns out she has Bronchitis. They are pretty sure it is viral but put her on a 3-day antibiotic anyway. I kept her home from school on Monday and there was no school on Tuesday (teacher conference day) so she and Talan both got a lot of cuddle time and relaxation in. Just as Reese started feeling better Talan came down with what seems to be the same thing. His cough doesn't sound as nasty but he's got a mean runny nose and has been pretty miserable all week. Speaking of Talan, he has just been a sponge lately. He talks non-stop and is really taking in everything we say to him. When he wants to know what something is or when we tell him about something it usually only takes a couple of times before he has retained it. I've been counting and reciting the ABC's for months and he's been counting to three for quite a while now. But just this week he surprised me with what he has learned! Here is a cute video of how far he has come with his counting: And now for my Fashion Friday selections... Yes folks, it is definitely time to work the gloves and coat into the rotation. We aren't complaining though. It's still sunny and it's not terrible yet. It's just not warm enough to leave the coat behind. Talan saw Reese putting on her boots and insisted on joining her. He was very excited when she offered up her lunchbox for the photo opp: And my favorite outfit this week: Is it just me or does she look way too grown up in this photo?