Endless Winter

There are many reason why I don't like winter. I have mentioned a couple of them in previous posts. Our winters are usually an endless cycle of coughs, soar throats and vomiting spells. There is almost always at least one child who isn't breathing well because of being stuffed up and there for can't sleep well at night so they come and wake up mom and dad. It's always great when they start to feel better but by then it has usually moved on to another member of the family.

You can understand our awe and enjoyment when not one of the kids so much as sniffled all the way up until Christmas. It was great but as you can guess, we broke the dry spell. This time however, we decided to get it all over with at once instead of passing it slowly around the family. Ryan and Parker were the only ones who escaped unscathed, I think she kinda felt left out. Easton had it the worst with a double ear infection, one of which ruptured before we could get him into the doctor. The rest of us only had coughs and congestion. I don't get sick very often but when I do, it's usually pretty bad. Moms, in my opinion, shouldn't be allowed to get sick unless they have a mom to take care of them too.

One funny story:
Ryan was in the girls room playing with all the kids. He was laying on his stomach across Parkers bed and Creed was sitting on his back. Ryan told Creed to not jump on his neck because his face was by a side board and any jerking would make him smack his face. Creed, instead of jumping, slid up Ryans back to his neck and then off his head onto the floor. Ryan smashed his nose into the side board and quickly ran from the room because he thought he was bleeding. (Not to worry, the injury wasn't too serious, just a lot of pain.) When Ryan came back to the room to talk to Creed about it he found Creed howling with tears running down his face. Ryan asked what on earth happened to him. Creed bawled, "it's because I feel TERRIBLE!!" His little boy was having a soul wrenching experience that was so cute Ryan had to try hard not to laugh. So in the end, Ryan, who had his nose smashed in, was comforting and hugging Creed who got a fun slide ride off the bed. Oh to be a child again.

kid potential

So the Button family is doing good, just haven't had a lot to post lately. Thought I'd give Berni a break and post this time. Also wanted to quickly add to a past posting of hers that talked about how you know if you live in a ghetto. Two more evidences that may manifest this include the bullet proof glass shielding the post office workers from the possible dangers lurking on the other side as well as the sign posted on Rite Aids front door (my personal favorite) that asks everyone to please take off their ski masks before entering.

One of the things that I am constantly guilty of as a father is the tendency I have to underestimate my childrens abilities. As much as I'd like to say that the artwork pictured above is mine...Our five year old Easton was messing around on paintbrush today and came up with this (I'm flattered to say that the handsome man driving this beautiful automobile is actually supposed to be me).

I guess the reason I hold my kids back is the fact that I am always comparing them to me and well, if I couldn't do something at their age, then neither can they. Yeah, good thing they have a talented mother.

So one of the gifts Parker recieved on Christmas was the game of chess. I figured I'd tell her what a boring game it was and get out of ever having to play this game that pretty much makes my brain hurt from the strategy involved. Well, Parker won me over in the end. I had to brush up on the instructions so that I could teach her the way all the pieces move etc. She soaked everything up and asked spot on follow-up questions about almost every rule that I taught her. A few days later when we played again, she remembered everything.

Anyway, I guess my point is, you know how when you are a teenager and you think your parents don't know anything? I'm afraid that for my childrens father, that may actually turn out to be truer than I'd like.

Julie & Julia. . . and Berni

Most of the family got a vacation from school for a few weeks so I took a vacation from blogging. The break has allowed me to return to my center, blogging is very stressful work you know.

Well, it's great to say but we really haven't done anything. The kids have been playing with the toys they got at Christmas. . .

or more like fighting for each others. The toys are always better on the other side of the fence, even if they were meant for a one year old.

One thing we have been doing is actively trying to stay warm. Christmas brought the cold weather (30's and below) and our house is feeling it. Most of you know we keep the thermostat at 60 during the day and turn it down to 50 at 7:00 when the kids go to bed. (Yes, we have plenty of blankets.)

Last night Ryan and I were watching a movie and shivering like crazy. I burst out laughing when our atomic clock said it was 47 degrees in our living room! Don't anybody worry, we are all staying warm enough, we just can't afford the $500 bill to keep our house at 65 during the day and 60 at night (we about had a heart attack that month). It's just one more story for "Our lives as college students."

Since it's too cold to play outside, the kids have been finding ways to entertain themselves. For instance, Easton found a circle paper clasp which provided hours of enjoyment.

But oh no, Creed couldn't find one. Where is the justice in this world!?!

Oh (sigh) don't worry, everything is okay now. He found a penny.

I made the mistake of renting "Julie and Julia" during the break. This set in motion a string of events that were not at all conducive to a dieting lifestyle.

I had so much fun! I made two pounds of English Toffee and "sugar 'n' spice" creme brulee that had vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks in it for a Christmas party, we had sweet potatoes that we made with our vita mixer, for New Years Eve we made Pina Colada's and Peach Daiquiri's (don't worry I made virgin ones for the kids ;) and my most favorite thing yet was the bruschetta with spinach, tomatoes and mozzarella! Don't I sound just like Julia Child, so in love with food. She just made it look so fun! I went so far as to make our decorations out of food. Scratch that, not food, candy.

This is Beckham eating some New Years Eve crackers and cheese ball.

So basically other then food we haven't done a whole lot. I did however finally take some pictures of some things I have been working on in the tower (my craft room) for a while.

A flower cuff bracelet

Some green mother of pearl earrings

Funky pink mother of pearl and black crystal earrings

And my favorite, a butterfly necklace that gave me a run for my money. I had to rework it several times and do some research online of how to make this kind of necklace. I love the look of them but man, are they a pain in the rear-end!