The Secret Life of an American S.A.H.M.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

A Holly Jolly Christmas 2012

A Holly Jolly Christmas 2012!

Jake, John, and "Joey," our Shelf Elf, in front of our Christmas tree,

wearing the Santa Jammie's from Nana Pam and Zaydeh Abe. Every year they send matching Christmas Jammie's to all the grandkids. Sweetest gift ever. The boys love it every year.

Joey our Elf on the Shelf

Meet "Joey" our Shelf Elf. He arrived at our door step on December 1st, 2012. Santa Claus sent him from The North Pole to John and Jake. We read his story and placed him on the mantel. Jake decided on his name: "Joey" -after his favorite friend at Kindergarten. In typical John fashion, he didn't mind Jake naming him, he said, "Sure! I don't care. Whatever Jake wants."

This is Joey on the morning of the 22nd, atop Grammy's swine. The boys (and Reese!) were so excited he made it to Eugene! Welcome, Joey!

The first full-day at Grammy's and Grandpa's was spent just chilling out with Farkas'

John & Tate -total buds-hanging out...wait for it....

...There's that famous Tate Farkas "smile"

Tinsel Town at Grammy & Grandpa's house

O Christmas Tree

Day 2 at Grammy's-Joey had lots of places to play and hide.

Day 3 he was swinging from the chandelier.

December 23rd, spent with the Wilson side at Uncle Roger and Aunt Sharon's home in Jefferson, OR.

Aunt Nancy, Evan, & Megan-the food was plentiful and delish!

The kids had so much fun playing together...

And the "big kids" too :)

John was very sweet with the little guys.

Aiden acting shy with Johnny

Look at Isaac eyeing John- sweet boys!

Bodie is the sweetest

Bodie with his Great Aunt Shirley

Jake & Reese holding the pretty horses, Tate smiling big

All The Wilson Ladies~Elizabeth, Aunt Pam, Amy, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Sharon, Mom,

Aunt Shirley holding Ava, Me, Reese, Emma, Megan~I'm certain My Grandma Wilson is smiling down on all of us from heaven. She is right there.

We have a good time.

The night of the 23rd, we spent at Farkas' house eating appetizers and having a dance party. I have video of all the kids + Megan doing Gangam Style. It's hilarious. I need permission from Megan to post that one:)

Christmas Eve ~

The Girls baked Christmas cookies and candy at Megan's while The Boys went bowling. We took lots of pictures...the boys did not:)

We baked Apricot Bars (my annual Christmas dessert), Eskimo Balls (my childhood favorite!) Macaroon Hershey Kiss Cookies, Chocolate Cookie Bars, Sugar Cookies, and a couple more I'm forgetting. The girls decorated sugar cones as Christmas Trees. We danced in the living room to Christmas music while the cookies baked. And Champagne. Lots of Bubbly. The girls had Sparkling Chardonnay Grape Juice.

The girls worked hard on their Christmas Trees

Farkas Family's lovely bright red decor, love it!

The boys are back....

Anahkin & Me, my oldest nephew, he's a giant man now.

When the boys were done bowling we all hung out at Farkas Force Five's house. The Boys played FB and ran around outside, it got muddy. Fun.

Christmas Eve Night, -back to GRAM Central Station-

Tracking Mr. C. on the Internet, Reese says, "He just left Paris!"

Eat eat eat? Check. Drink drink drink? Check. Be Merry? Check. Track Santa? Check. Feed Reindeer? Check. Time for Christmas Carols on the front porch. More like "Just Dance Christmas Edition." SO FUN. We are loud. I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cousin Pictures...it's late, we have partied for 2 days straight. We are ready for SANTA!!

Grammy & Grandpa let their grand kids open the gift from them very late on Christmas Eve Night!

Jake got Leonardo TMNT Guy & a DINO LEGO! He was EXCITED!

John got 2 things he had on his Christmas wish list!

A Darth Vader alarm clock and Boba Fett LEGO watch. He was so surprised and happy. He used his alarm clock on January 2nd to wake up for school. I found him holding it at 7:28am waiting for it to go off at 7:30am. He has an internal clock, so I guess I'll set it for earlier! :)

Tate got Iron Man. Do you think he was excited? I can't tell.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!

Wilson Force 5 spent the night at Farkas Force Five's house. We spent the night at Grammy's and Grandpa's. Santa delivered all the presents to Grammy's house. We woke up to ding-dong! ding-dong! ding-dong! The crew came over around 7am. Let the mayhem begin...again! Where's the coffee and carolans?

The kids on Christmas morning...

I wanted to steal Emma's new UGGS. We are the same size!!

Me & my girls happy happy happy

"Now give Emma a kiss" (this is my favorite picture ever- look at Emma- what funny girl!)

Now act...mean?

Now act...sleepy?

Now act excited! LOL

Mimosas, Cream Cheese Eggs, Chocolate Croissants, Almond Croissants, Cinnamon Rolls, Sausage, and Coffee with Irish Cream...ahhh, Christmas Morning.

The boys building new LEGOS together. Will is an expert. I swear he built Jake's big DINO LEGO box in about 20 minutes. They had plenty to build. Batman, Wolverine, DINO, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, & Star Wars, Superheroes LEGOS! It was the year of the LEGO.

This picture makes me so happy.

Uncle Josh helped build Jake's LOTR LEGO. He's an expert too. He hasn't lost his touch.

Grandma & Grandpa, a.k.a. GGma & GGpa, arrive with Leslie and Taylor

I caught Tay in a non-smiling moment. He was joyous I swear.

Taylor deserves the award for the BEST GREAT COUSIN EVER. He played all day with the kids and was the last to leave. He even watched late night Christmas movies with my boys until 930pm. All the kids are obsessed with him.

Ava with the love of her life. -look in the background- E is delivering me a "Holly Jolly" Cocktail :)

Peek-a-Boo Bodie!

Playing Will's new Xbox- Madden Football-the boys are in heaven.

Jake playing with his new Angry Birds game from Aunt Leslie, Uncle Chuck and Taylor. He loves it and plays it every day. John got Doctor Dreadful's Aliens Alien Autopsy Game. He had it on his wish list and was super surprised to get it. The boys love it.

For Christmas Dinner we had ah-mazing dishes. Three crazy good potatoe dishes, mom's carrots, and the best beef brisket ever. Zach and Uri injected to huge slabs of beef with a few bottles of sauce. So tasty!

It was a long few days...Ava was non-stop with no naps. She was a trooper but finally passed out Christmas night all cuddled up in her new blanket.

Tatey & Jakey enjoying sharing Tate's new Kurio Tablet

My favorites. Notice the "ole" sign in the background. It used to spell NOEL...until Uncle Harry got to it.

More of my favorites!! OLE!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Monday, November 5, 2012

John at 7 years old

John Michael Allison is a 7 year old!

Here is a little about John and his amazing personality...

John's Favorites:

Color-"Green" he says. But everyday it's blue. :)
Animal-His cats Padme and McQueen, and big dogs. He would die to have one.
Sport-"Karate" (He's never tried real Karate but loves to watch) He has his first Basketball practice this week. I hope he loves it as much as Baseball....FFWD- he does love it! He had a great time with his team "Swag" playing Rookies Baseball. Team Tigers with his buddies.
Video Game-"LEGO Batman 2" he plays "The Amazing Spiderman" a lot too
TV Shows-Kickin' It!! Ninjago, Regular Show and Adventure Time- (which he only gets 1 a week now because I think they're too old for him,) Looney Tunes, Hotel Translvania, Wild Kratts, Imagination Movers, Charlie Brown, Lab Rats.
Movie-The Amazing Spiderman, We watched E.T. recently for a family movie night; John was extremely affected by this movie. When E.T. was dying, John bawled and could barely watch. The Avengers!! Diary of a Wimpy Kid: dog days!
Friends-Karsten, Ryder, Dylan, Joachim, Drew, Griffin.
School subject- "Math" he says. He excels at Reading. 80 words a minute in first semester 1st grade.
Food-French Fries, Pizza, Cheeseburgers
Candy-"Extreme" Sour candy, airheads
Dessert-chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, cupcakes
Toys-LEGOS. Club Penguin! Puffles.
Books- he just got into Chapter books and LOVES Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He reads it at school in a silent circle with his friends.

A little more about Johnny and his personality...

John is a good, sweet boy, who cares immensely for other people. I think that is one of the best traits a person can have. John is doing great in school, with especially high marks in reading and behavior and friendships. Math, writing, music, science, art and the rest he is performing average or above average. Mostly, he enjoys recess and P.E. and Computer Lab. He talks about his friends at school everyday, and most days he tells me, "I made another friend!" On Tuesday he told me that his class was to get "A new kid. A boy whose name starts with a Z." Then he went on to tell me that he was worried this new boy would be nervous. He said he would say to him, "Hi, my name is John. Will you be my friend?" He talked about what he would say to this boy the entire 5 minute drive to school. When he got home from school, he was excited to tell me that Mrs. Soucy asked John to show the new boy where the bathroom was. It was a long and detailed story! He was so proud to have helped him.

John wakes up early everyday. He does not need an alarm clock; unlike his dad and brother. I set it for 7am and 9 times out of 10 he is up in the TV room playing Wii, or lying in bed waiting for me to come in. He is a morning person and is ready to get dressed and eat and tackle the day. When John returns home from school he is always ready to play with his brother. They love to play Wii games together. John and Jake get along great. They fight every so often but they know I'll freak out when they do so a lot of the time I'll hear them yelling at each other and then John will say, 'ok, ok! I'm sorry I'm sorry! Don't let mom hear you cry'...etc. And then they work it out, move on and are happy again. John can be a little you-know-what to Jake sometimes, but mostly he takes care of him. Every time he has a little treat or art or prize that he brings home from school he always gives it to Jake (unless Hailey gets it first:) This is a big gesture from a boy who loves his candy. On Halloween he had suckers and play- doh and tattoos from school, and gave them all to Jake.

Speaking of Halloween, this year John was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. We got the costume a couple years ago from Linda; who knew that the Ninja Turtles would make a comback? He went Trick-or-Treating with Dad, Jake, Jacob, Mia, and Miss Jennifer.

On John's 7th Birthday, the Martinez Family came over for Pizza and Cake. The kids had lots of fun. So did the grown-ups! We have a couple friend for the first time here in Washington and it is very cherished:) The next day, Killian and Angie came over for more pizza and more cake and more fun. John was in heaven. For weeks, John's bottom tooth has been loose. I'd been begging him for a couple days to pull it out because it was very ready. But he was not. Grammy sent him the cutest little tooth fairy pillow. A bat; John named him Dre. (After the Karate Kid.) John is so in love with Dre. He sleeps with him nightly and talks to him. When Killian was over, they were wrestling, or pillow-fighting, or both and Killian hit John with a pillow which forced him to push his tooth with his tongue and out came the little toothy! They ran downstairs to tell us and John was so happy and proud; he said he didn't feel a thing! Then he dropped the tooth and me and Angie spent 10 minutes on hands and knees searching for it on the jute rug. It was a needle in a haystack. The tooth fairy came on November 3rd, 2012 for the first time! John got a dollar in his little bat's wing. He was so happy.

John is my sushine. I feel sometimes I am too hard on him. I just want him to be a good boy; which he is. He is sweet, loving, generous, kind, thoughtful, smart, funny, silly, sensitive, grateful, and affectionate. He still obsesses over weird things. But when he is done obsessing, he's done. Pokemon cards, Money, whatever it may be, he will constantly talk about it and then one day he is just over it. He's a little forgetful sometimes and not organized at all. The task of putting dirty clothes in the hamper is like torture for him. He can never find anything, even when it's in front of his face. He's sometimes clumsy and always moving moving moving and flaling about. It drives me nuts. I'm always telling him stop tipping your chair, stop kicking the wall, stop climbing the couch, stop knocking everything over...etc. All these flaws are balanced out by his sweetness. I don't know what I would do without him. He brings joy to my heart. He is so very loved by me. I could cry just thinking of how much I love and adore my son. My sun. My Johnny.