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!!!"