Christmas by the numbers

This year I've decided to let the numbers do the talking.

23- Date in December that we went with G-ma & G-pa P to This is the Place Park to see the Christmas festivities.

90- Number of minutes we spent seeing a live nativity and other cool things at the park.

3- Number of times Korinne screamed out that her feet were frozen on the way home.

2- Number of real reindeer the kids got to see at This is the Place Park.

20,000- Number of calories I consumed in the 3 days leading up to Christmas.

2- Number of guests on Christmas Eve--My parents.

35- Number of years my parents have had reuben sandwiches on Christmas Eve.

5- Number of reubens consumed last night. Yummy.

4- Number of times my Dad said that he ate too much.

40- Number of minutes Adam spent trying to recreate my Aunt Kathy's chocolate covered raspberries.

0- Number of people who declared him successful. (His effort was truly valiant, however.)

5:29 a.m.- Time that Jenna first came in asking to go downstairs to see if Santa came.

60- Number of minutes the kids had to wait before we all went downstairs together.

4- Number of naps taken by people over the age of 10 this afternoon.

3- Number of years the kids have had to wait for a wii for Christmas.

6- Hours spent playing wii sports.

10- Current temperature outside.

45-Minutes spent on the treadmill after eating for 3 days straight.

1,287- Minutes still needed on the treadmill to counteract all 3 days of eating.

3- Number of years Adam has made his fancy schmancy red and green Christmas jello with 7-up and marshamallows.

70- Number of years he plans to keep Christmas jello tradition.

365- Number of days until next Christmas.

5- Members of our family who had a fabulous Christmas this year!

Merry Christmas!

No Awards

Clearly I will not be winning any blogging awards this month. Life has been busy, but I just haven't been blogspired lately. We've had the usual snow storms and freezing temps and have enjoyed all of the typical holiday merriment that goes on at this time of the year. Getting the Primary ready for the new year has also kept me busy. Last week Korinne's Joy School had a Christmas program where all of the Joy School kids and their siblings participated in the nativity. Britton was Joseph and never came within 3 feet of Mary who was played by one of Korinne's classmates. You can tell how excited he was by the look on his face in this picture

Korinne was one of the innkeepers.

Jenna was a shepherd (note the stuffed lamb she is holding).

They all did a great job.

Santa came at the end of the program. Jenna and Korinne were more than happy to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Britton, who is now a Santa skeptic, refused. He was more interested in hanging out by the refreshments (which I can totally relate to, by the way).

I can hardly believe Christmas is less than a week away. When I was a kid the Christmas season lasted f o r e v e r! Now it feels like it is over in a millisecond. It is funny how that works.

Jenna has been here

Change of Plans

Last night I had a list of errands I was going to run today while Korinne was at preschool. When I got up this morning and saw that we were in the middle of a big snowstorm I threw the list away and went in search of a big sweater and some hot chocolate. I'm glad Adam's commute to work involved walking from the upstairs to the main floor because it just wasn't a good day for driving. Adam has an uncanny ability to work and stay focused despite all of Korinne's visits during the day. It is hard for her to stay out of his office but as long as she remains quiet when he is on the phone he doesn't mind having her there and pretty much lets her do whatever. Yesterday I was walking past and caught a glimpse of this.

I asked him how he could possibly still be working with her in his lap this way. He didn't seem bothered in the least and was still getting everything done that he needed to do. This is why working from home works so well for Adam. Korinne has become his favorite little co-worker.

Family Dinner

I'm a true believer in eating dinner as a family every night. At our house Korinne always wants to sit by Dad, Jenna usually doesn't eat very much but refuses to complain because she wants to earn her 10 dinner points (our point system has been a life saver) and Britton has to be reminded to actually use his utensils about 2 times on average per meal. Well, tonight as we were eating dinner Britton randomly said:
"I memorized the electromagnetic spectrum today. Microwaves, radio waves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma rays."
I didn't think that was typical 2nd grade curriculum, but I asked anyway, "Are you learning about that in school right now?"
"No"
"Then how do you know about that?"
"Oh, it is just something I've been studying."
"Does your teacher know you've been studying this?"
"Yeah, I told her."
"What did she say?"
"She said, 'cool'."
Adam and I just chuckled. She probably had no idea what to do with that information. Britton then went on to talk all about astronomy and our solar system for another 15 minutes. By this time Jenna was in her own world singing and laughing and laying down in her chair and Korinne had just finished telling Jenna, "If you don't stop {something} then I will laugh at you. Ha! Ha! Ha!" only the way she said it made us all stop and laugh. Her follow-up was that she couldn't help with the dishes tonight because she is a dog. I think she even said a few "ruff ruffs" for effect. It didn't do much for her case, but it did make me smile.

There you have it. A typical, random night at our dinner table. I don't know about you, but I'm sure I will sleep better tonight knowing that Britton really does know the electromagnetic spectrum. You just never know when that piece of information might come in handy.