A Christmas Vacation Better Than the Griswalds Ever Had!!!

We had an absolutely marvelous vacation. Santa Claus dropped a puppy off for us! He filled the stockings with lots of little treats and then was off into the Christmas Eve blizzard of 2008! Grandpa and Grandma Reier made the trek to our house in spite of the very blustery and snowy day. It was wonderful to have a white Christmas that nearly snowed us into our house.

Hannah, Grandma Reier, & Maggie Christmas Morning 2008
We had a yummy brunch with Grandma and Grandpa. The menu included crepes in three varieties: blueberry, apple and cherry. A lovely quiche made by Yours Truly! Fresh grapefruit and clementines, courtesy of Santa Claus. Juice and hot cocoa as beverages. Delicious. I am particularly proud of the crepe endeavor. I have never attempted to make crepes and they turned out just fabulous. Hungry anyone????
We did, however, miss Santa at Grandma and Grandpa Buchanan's by about 10 minutes. Amazingly, nobody had a melt down! He did leave fabulous treats for us in our "cowboy" and "cowgirl" stockings. We had fun frosting and decorating Christmas cookies with the Buchanan cousins in southern Utah. ( Why did we miss Santa? Well, you'll have to ask Matt about that one. Some little car thing following a fit of impatience! He'd just love to tell you the story, I am certain!)

Cait and Grandma Buchanan on Christmas Eve 2008. Venice, Utah.

All About the MOM... and a Little About the Dad

(Disclaimer: The mom conducted the interview so there is an 88.67% chance that the responses of all participants may not be reliable!)

What ingredients are moms made of?
Maggie: Umm… skin, eyes, eyelashes, nose, hair, mouth, teeth, arms, hands, fingers, and love and a neck and head.
Max: They are made out of love and hugs.
Hannah: My mom is made of brains, hugs and kisses!

Why did God give you this mom and not another mom?
Maggie: Because this mom loves me.
Max: Because she loves me. And she is the one that was perfect for me.
Hannah: Because He knew she would be the right mom for me.

Why do you need a mom?
Maggie: To love me.
Max: So I can get fed.
Hannah: To feed me and buy me clothing.

Who is the boss at your house?
Maggie: Mommy!
Max: Mommy! Because you are the one who has the children.
Hannah: Mommy. Because you are better at math than Dad.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
Maggie: She was Shelly. Freckles. Long hair and black hair then cut it short and then went to get your hair trimmed.
Max: A Buchanan. A cowgirl.
Hannah: A farm girl. Very pretty.

Why did she marry your dad?
Maggie: Because he was nice and handsome. And you were like “I like that man.” Then you had a baby then another one, then another, another and another and another. First Bo, then a long time later, me.
Max: Because he was handsome.
Hannah: Because you knew he was the one. I looked kind and nice. He looked like he would be a good father.

What did she need to know before she married your dad?
Maggie: Umm, having a baby. To know that he was nice.
Max: I don’t know.
Hannah: If he was worthy to have children.

What is the difference between your mom and your dad?
Maggie: You put on make-up. He likes snow and you don’t. You like summer. You love your children and don’t like them to wrestle. He likes to wrestle with the children sometimes.
Hannah: Dad has curly hair and you have straight hair.
Max: My mom is a girl and my dad is a boy. My mom has children and my dad doesn’t. My mom likes to ride horses and my dad doesn’t. My mom doesn’t like to go to drive us to school and my dad likes to. My dad is allergic to bulldogs and my mom is not.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
Maggie: You miss us. You love us. You want us to come home. You clean up our rooms and get clothes and toys and stuffed animals and puppets for us. And a hug.
Max: She does her homework.
Hannah: Works.

What would you change about your mom?
Maggie: To be nice.
Max: Umm, umm, ah, to ah umm, to let me have her room because it has a bathroom so I just have to walk a couple feet.
Hannah: Nicer and never yell at us!

Max is a Genius!

Of course everyone who knows Max, knows this fact. But, if you don't know or believe, here is the scoop. Max had an assignment to create an invention that used two simple machines. He chose a wheel and a ramp. With these simple machines, he built an MXG2 Rated Miner-Forty-Niner! Yes, that is what it is. And it works, at least the prototype of the invention works; well, let me put it in Max's words, "Works like a beauty!" On the way out the door to school with the MXG2 Rated Miner-Forty-Niner I heard Max comment to himself, "This is perfect. Now everyone will finally know what genius I am!"

Bo is home!

Bo is REALLY home. Although he has been working (yes back unloading semis full of tires... it is so good for those biceps), and we haven't seen a lot of him, here is the proof. Oh, and if you check out the empty refrigerator (no, I am not taking a photo of the refrigerator) you will see yet another convincing piece of evidence.

All I Want for Christmas is...

Hannah: A PUPPY and that is all. Oh, maybe a new iPod and a new computer.
Max: Are you going to send this to Santa? I'll tell you, I want 12 bags of marbles and I want a lego Indiana Jones set and my own invention kit and I want a pet puppy, I mean a pet turtle. I have one more thing to add, the clone wars helmet that you can copy into another friend's helmet and a clone blaster like I saw on TV. And, to have my teeth that I have been missing for a really long time, like 8 years!
Maggie: OK (deep breath) Puppy. A flower, I mean Cheetah scooter. Well, make-up and an ice cream shop from you. Remember on the magazine?
Bo: (We may never know.)
Caiti: (Let me guess for her... a car?)
Dad: (I know, he wants he family to be healthy and happy!)
Mom: The van to keep running until Bo gets home from his mission, p-l-e-a-s-e???? (Caiti, I don't care if it is old AND green!!!!)

Maggie Needs a Make-Over!

Here is evidence that school uniforms do not allow for enough practice for children at coordinating colors, patterns and seasons. This one might be hard to beat! Maggie didn't have school today. I left for work very early. She was on her own (well, Matt was home, like I said, on her own) and this is what she came up with for a play day with Zarley!

Just another day...

Maggie is missing her first tooth! Hooray! This one is an EXTRA hooray because it has been infected on and off since March. She had the routine cavity care, three prescriptions of antibiotic, kid-sized root canal, and finally, Dr. Miller gave her the good ole fashion treatment for a toothache...pulled it right out!!! She is thrilled and I am thrilled about the possibility of a little girl who will sleep all night. Last night was the first night in I-don't-know-how-long! When Dr. Miller handed her the tooth in the "special glass box", she said she was going to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. I said that we should leave the tooth fairy a note to take that tooth and throw it away since it has been so much trouble. "No, I am going to keep this forever!!!"

Math Attack

I woke up this morning to "2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,20..." Maggie was in bed snuggled right between Matt and I, counting right into my ear. What are relief... she can finally count by two's to twenty at 5 years old. I didn't think she was ever going to get it right! HA HA!!! Do kindergartners usually count by two's and fives and tens before Christmas???

Hannah... Banana... Fee-Fie-Foe-Fanna.... Hannah!!!!

This is Hannah. She is the very much the middle child. She is my only one with dark hair. She is the only one with curly hair. She is very smart. She is very motherly (that is a euphemism for bossy).

What is the most important thing in the world to you?
Hannah: My clothes and my stuffed animals, oh, and my bed.
Are you serious??? What about in the universe?
Hannah: Sorry, the History of Paul Revere.
(Yes, I was hoping for something a bit more sentimental.)
Who do you admire the most of all the people you know?
Hannah: Carlye Webb
(What is this thing my kids have for Carlye Webb. GEEEEEEZZZZ! I've got to get another friend that they don't like more than they like me!)
Why do you admire Carlye?
Hannah: She is an awesome person. When I ask her if I can go over to her house and practice my piano after school, she says, "Oh man yahhhh you can!"
What things are the same about you and your mom?
Hannah: Our hair color. We both like to read this awesome book The Penderwicks. Oh ya! We like to ride bikes. Our bikes are cruisers. Your bike is blue and mine is pink. Both of them have flowers on them.
What things are the same about you and your dad?
Hannah: We both have natural curly hair. We both are crazy about riding bikes. We both love to watch Psych.
What subjects in school are your favorite?
Hannah: My favorite subject is a math test.
What are you really good at doing?
Hannah: Umm, I am really good at writing poems, stories, reports and taking math tests.
What is the best part about being a member of the Reier Circus?
Hannah: I have my own computer.
Tell me about your Grandma Reier.
Hannah: She is awesome because she lets us help put up the Christmas tree. She gives us good-bye treats when we leave her house.
Tell me about your Grandma Buchanan.
Hannah: She is awesome because she invites Santa for Christmas. She gives us our very own stockings. She invites all of our cousins.
I love my friends and family.

More of Max

Max is just the funniest kid. I made this deal with him on Saturday. We have a friend, Ben, who was turning thirty and having a birthday party. I needed a great gag gift for Ben and Matt reminded me that Ben loves to watch "Dexter" (If you haven't ever seen Dexter, this won't make any sense, but keep reading anyway...). So, Max has/had this horrible knife that only a grandmother would ever buy for him (Grandma Reier of course, only she will tell you he made the purchase... yah, yah, yah :)). When you turn it up and down, blood drips across the blade. Yah, I know, bad grand-parenting (so glad I am blameless in this situation). So, the deal was that he would trade the knife to me in exchange for a new cap gun (yes, yes it is a gazillion times more appropriate than a "Dexter" knife! It is!!!!) So, I took him with me to buy the gun, get pizza for dinner, and dog food for Chewie's dinner. I secretly hoped that the dollar store would have a gun so I wouldn't be forced to Walmart. Listed below are the funny things he said to me tonight:

Me: Max, if we go tomorrow night to get your gun, we will be back in time to watch "Chuck".
Max: (Silence as he goes to his room. Five minutes later...) Mom, I have at least 101 Mondays left until I die.
Me: I think you'll have a few more Mondays than that. Why are you worried about how many Mondays you have left until you die?
Max: I'll get to see "Chuck" again and we can just watch it online anyway.

Max: Mom, why are we going to the dollar store, they won't have the gun. I already located it at Walmart with Dad on Saturday.
Me: Max, let's just check (hoping for either a cap gun or something else that would captivate his interest and distract him from the Walmart mission).
Max: Really Mom, what is the difference, the dollar store over there or a couple of blocks down the road to Walmart?


Me: Hey Max, look at these tree-toppers. We need one. They will go perfect with our Christmas tree ornaments.
Max: Yeah, and since I am a blue kinda guy, I think you should buy the blue one.
Me: I don't think blue will be stunning on our green Christmas tree. Let's get this red one.
Max: Ok, you are right. You don't really see blue for a Christmas color much any more.


(We are waiting for pizza at Little Caesars.)
Max: Mom, don't you think Pizza Pizza Guy should be in his Christmas pose?
(I asked him what a Pizza Pizza pose would look like. He modeled it for me. Very funny. I asked him to draw Pizza Pizza Guy in a Christmas pose. Keep checking! We'll have a copyrighted print of Pizza Pizza Guy in his Christmas pose up soon!)

Max: What does vaporize mean? (We found a gun that is motorized and blows bubbles... better than the cap gun because he can play with it in the house... and it is called a Bubble Vaporizer.)
Me: Well, it means to turn something solid into a gas like water vapor.
Max: Oh ya, I know about that. Soldiers at the Pearl Gates in heaven need that to keep the demons out.