Day 7 and starting Day 8

I thought we were going to have an alternating day of nothingness but I guess not. Two lazybones woke up at close to noon (since they stayed up until the wee hours of the night). It had been snowing lightly all morning so it was a perfect day to stay in but Tayshaun had won the bet the previous night so we headed for the theater to watch Avatar.

Since the sleepy heads were late risers, I sent Jazmin and Tayshaun into the theater while I ordered food. Unfortunately I sent them in without thinking about handing them their 3-D glasses so when I realized, I rushed into the theater to give them their glasses - since the previews and movie were less effective without them. When I finally found them in the dark, they BOTH had a pair already on. YUCK! The little improvisers must have grab themselves a pair from the recycled glasses bin outside the theater. So I gave them their unused and wrapped up glasses instead.

Jazmin enjoyed the movie and Tayshaun narrated through some of it. He liked it again but probably not as much as the first time. At about 3/4 of the way through and while it was quiet, he sighed loudly and bellows, "is this movie ever going to be over?!" To ask him to do well in a 3 hour flick twice in a row is asking a bunch so he was a real trooper. I reminded him of the parts we hadn't seen yet and he settled back into his seat and did well finishing off the flick.

Jazmin hadn't seen the girls yet so she decided to stay over another night. We went to Rumbi's to bug Madison and then scooped up Michael because he wanted to have a sleepover too.

We did have a lazy afternoon. Michael and Tayshaun were their usual competitive selves and little fighting buggers. I had a headache most of the evening. Jazmin and I went through a few home collection dvds. They were all STILL up at 1:30am when I finally went to bed.

It's 10:30am now and none of them are even stirring. Diva's even tried her best to wake them. Guess I'll log on at work and then clean up my office. Awwwww YVETTE TIME.

Day 6 with Jazmin

We were up at 6:30am this morning - without the alarm. Doesn't that just SNAP! We both kinda looked around the house like we were lost. It's been six days and we both feel like we're supposed to be somewhere else right about now.

By noon though we had cleaned up and showered and decided to see what Jazmin was up to. We'd made plans to spend some time with her today. So we took a field trip to Layton and scooped her up and stopped by Layton Hills Mall to pick up some Christmas gifts. Geez! Jazmin is as tall as me now...but that's not hard to be. And NO BRACES! Beauuuutiful! Tayshaun was shy (or maybe he had a little crush I don't know) and he was totally silly but before long it was like they picked up where they left off the last time they saw each other.

Here's the two posers trying on sunglasses and hats. Jazmin is a pretty simple shopper and found some clothes and jewelry in no time.

Shopping always makes us hungry and it's not time to start my diet yet (oh yeah, it's Monday...guess I'll have to start next year) so Jazmin chose Red Lobster. She's eats lightly like Tayshaun so they both ate a little bit of "this and that". And left lots of "that" on their plates.

Jazmin wanted to see Avatar in 3-D. Tayshaun and I were game to go again but by the end of meal Tayshaun was getting in his homebody mode and started to make deals with Jazmin to see if she'd like to go home instead. He asked her if she wanted to watch Sandlot or if she wanted to see Fergie-Purr or if she wanted to play Wii games. Well, Jazmin was pretty set on the theater but she noticed that Tayshaun had LOTS of chicken still left on his plate so she made a bet with him that if he could eat everything on his plate, we could go to the movies tomorrow instead.

So Tayshaun looked at his plate and said "I think I"m going to puke! But I'm gonna win this bet!" So he started to eat and eat and eat. We were all sure he was going to lose the bet and I kept asking him if he was ready to leave and he'd just say "I'm not gonna quit. I'm gonna win this bet so we can go home but I'm gonna hafta go to the bathroom before we go home 'cause I'm gonna be sick." Look at his poor face above...he looks stuffed.

And the winner is!?

Lazy Day 4 & SnowBoarding Day 5...it's going by too quickly!!!!

I was thinking today was Saturday so I've already lost a day. Bummer!

Day 4 was obviously our lazy day. We tinkered around, played with our goodies, found spots for our new toys, and then made turkey leftovers for Grandpa and Grandma. We never left the house!

Day 5...Tisha and Jazlyn took Tayshaun snowboarding for the first time. I'm waiting for the pics to be transferred to me so in the meantime Tayshaun narrated the events of the day...

Day 3 - Christmas Day

Christmas started off pretty early for me and Tayshaun but it was in the bathroom sitting by the toilet. Tayshaun still wasn't feeling well on Christmas morn. He was up at 7am but only to get sick. He was feeling so badly he didn't even ask about Santa. Mom slept over but didn't hear a thing. She was up about 15 minutes later to get the turkey started. I was so tired I just crashed with Tayshaun after he was able to go back to bed. Thanks Mom for starting the turkey early!!!!

At 8am I heard Tisha and Jazlyn downstairs waiting for Tayshaun to wake up. So I got up and brushed my teeth and by that time Tayshaun was groggily sitting on the steps talking with his sisters. We talked him down to see what Santa left him. Yes, Santa did come through and brought Tayshaun all that he asked for and more. It was a BAKUGAN year!

At the last minute, Tayshaun asked for Pokeman cards and Santa didn't really know what PokeMan cards were. I guess the elves took care of Pokeman items? Well just as Santa put his Target card away and was leaving the store, he/she saw some Pokeman cards sitting on the next vacant cashier area. O yeah...I know what the heck he was talking about. Pokeman Cards. So.....

Shortly, Shalyse showed up all jazzy and ready for the day. She got Diva Girl a cute Christmas sweater 'cause she never forgets the doggios. Yes we had a house full of doggies. Lola, Mollie, Diva, and Buster. And eventually they all got along. I wished I'd thought to get some pics of all of them. Mom stood guard over Buster 'cause he was the trouble maker of the bunch and had to keep taking a timeout in his kennel. Shalyse instructed Mom on Dog Whispering...I think Mom is a whispering fool or maybe it was her "Nanny" skills 'cause Buster was eventually crouched in a submissive position at times. Way to go Mom!

Tayshaun got some goggles and gloves for snowboarding on Sunday. Yippee!!!!! A few of my gifts were fashionable sunglasses and sockies. I even think I'll wear these sunglasses. Thanks Shalyse! After a few hours, the girls went to exchange gifts with their dad while Mom and I showered and finished up the turkey lunch preparations. Madison didn't make it for the morning exchange 'cause she was also feeling sickie. This has been the only Christmas I remember where so many of our family members were under the weather. Michael and Zach were sickie also.

So at about 2pm, everyone was back for turkey lunch. Even though Zach wasn't feeling too well, he pushed himself out of the house and made it for a few hours to exchange gifts and play wii with Tayshaun.

All I can say is that I ate at least 6000 calories in one day. I couldn't stop myself. I even ate the Santa sugar cookie that Santa left in Tayshaun's Christmas sock but I made it look like an accident. I told Tayshaun Santa was riding on the mini skateboard and crashed and broke his neck. So since he was already broken, I asked if I could have a bite? Tayshaun's tummy wasn't feeling too well anyways so I got to eat the whole thing!

I tried Denise's sweet potatoe recipe and used her recommendation for a whole jar of marshmellow creme instead of mini marshmellows to top the potatoes. I chuckled to see the finished product but it was actually really scrumptuous. But then again, I have been feeling like Betty Crocker and Rachel Ray's sidekick lately.

So we ate and we drank some more. Elena got the girls keyring breath-alyzers so no one was allowed to leave the house until those babies read green (for go ahead - you're good). Right here, Madison's was a bright RED for (stop and sit you butt down for a while). It was dark when they left.

The boys weren't interested in turkey. They played all afternoon. We missed Michael, Keenan, Savannah, and Bub this year!

It was lovely to spend the whole day with the fam...as always. Even though Tayshaun was under the weather, he insisted he get to spend Christmas hanging with the family. He stayed in his jammies all day but he was 90% Tayshaun.

Love your guts Family!

Day 2 - Christmas Eve

Today we slept in until 8am. We already catching on to the idea of waking without an alarm. We woke to the bright blue morning. Tayshaun had pizza for breakfast and I read until noon. Then we ventured out to MiloSport to outfit Tayshaun for snowboarding this weekend. For Christmas Eve, it was HUGELY busy on the freeway. The grocery stores were packed. REI was stuffed with people. We were disappointed to find out neither MiloSport nor REI had a seasonal rental in size 1 for Tayshaun. So we're re-thinking this idea and asking Tishie to get him rentals at Snowbird for the time being.


We were close to Cookie Cutter so Tayshaun got a quick hair cut and we stopped for a short visit to drop off presents at his grandparents.


Aferwards, we needed to get groceries but decided to catch another flick beforehand because we had plenty of time before our Christmas Eve party at Auntie Lisa's. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks - the Squeakuel. Tayshaun sang loudly to most of the songs and I was able to catch a few winks.


We got our groceries and left for our Christmas Eve party. Fun fun fun!!!!!


Tayshaun started complaining about a headache and didn't feel well so we left a little early. He immediately feel asleep in the car on the ride home so I'm hoping that he's just exhausted. We'll see how he feels in the morning. I helped him into his new jammies and he's cuddled up in my bed right now.

Santa set out his surprise and stuffed his stocking and now I'm getting ready to get some shut eye too. I will be setting the alarm tonight, though so the girls can be here at 8am to see Tayshaun wake to his surprise. Can't wait to see what Santa brought me!

13 Days of Christmas

It's been awhile since I've taken off several consecutive days from work. And this Christmas, I happened to have the opportunity to take four vacation days yet get 13 days out of it which included flex and holiday days. So Tayshaun and I decided we'd sleep in, go to bed late, and do whatever we wanted for the next 13 days. We decided that we'd make this time off fun yet restful so we've planned to alternate days of laziness and activities. I know that Tayshaun was excited about this because when I picked him up on Tuesday, his preschool teacher repeated what he'd told her "we're having a day to be lazy, a day of activity, a day to be lazy, a day of activity". Incidentally, These were the exact words I described to him of our agenda.

I started this blog late because, of course, I'm a procrastinator and I was catching up yesterday to make sure Santa finished building all Tayshaun's toys in time for tonight (Christmas Eve). I'm blogging our 1st and 2nd days together.

Day 1-
yesterday, we were actually able to sleep in until 7:30am. We woke up and had french toast and coffee. We had a leisure morning and bathed Diva Girl. It was snowing so I stalled before pushing myself out of the house. And at about noon, we left to finish our shopping. As we got in the car, Tayshaun decided to bale on me and asked if he could play at his cousins Zachary and Michael while I finished my shopping. This was actually a great idea was thankful that Auntie Lisa agreed. So Iwas able to finish up shopping in 3 hours versus 5 if he'd been with me. Tayshaun had a great time and I was able to complete a job that I wasn't excited about without the irritation of a horrible, sidekick shopper.


Afterwards we decided to catch the movie Avatar. We arrived at the theater just 30 minutes into the 3D version and Tayshaun didn't want to see the normal version so we ate at our new favorite italian restaurant to wait for the next showing. We shared spaghetti and meatballs and cheese pizza. I later learned that Tayshaun selected pizza only because he was curious about how the pizza stand with the candle burning underneath was going to keep the pizza warm. So needless to say, he ate one slice of pizza. So it's pizza for breakfast, tomorrow.


AVATAR! Loved loved loved it!!!!! We got our treats and 3D glasses and settled into our seats. We saw lots of previews for upcoming 3D movies. And then the movie began. Tayshaun was in awe and totally mesmorized for the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes. What was great about seeing this flick with Tayshaun was I got to experience first-hand his introduction to sci-fi. This film displayed an extraordinarily, captivating, and brilliantly colored planetary forest paradise where there were mythical like creatures and Navi blue-skinned giants living in harmony with nature. It was exciting to watch Tayshaun's reactions. In the film, the Navi had a language of their own so I had to read through some of the dialogue yet he didn't seem irritated or distracted by this little inconvenience. It actually gave him time to ask me questions and make his own comments while we conversed quietly. I could go into the movie more but all I gotta say is.... you got to see this one!!!!! We'll definitely own it.

After the movie, we got a hair....and stopped at Blockbuster to see if Avatar was available for rental. We were both excited by the idea of capturing and riding a Banshee (dragon-like) creature via the Wii. I picked up a few other dvds and we went home to settle in for the evening.

Tayshaun's version of steppin' or krumpin'?

And if that wasn't enough....

The Elf On A Shelf

Tayshaun has been pretty concerned about being on Santa's Naughty List this year. Not that I've warned him about it, I actually forget I could be holding that over his head. But he's apparently getting the reminders in preschool. So at least 4-5 times a week he's been asking me if I think he's on the list. Well, you probably know my answer..."probably".

This morning one of the guys at work told me about a book about an Elf who can watch kids daily and report to Santa. So with Tayshaun's concern, I thought it would be a good idea to have the Elf present in our house so Tayshaun could be reminded that he's being watched by Santa. Maybe I'll get some sweetness, mildness, and thoughtfulness out of Tayshaun for the next eight days. Yes, I'm going to try to milk it... We'll see if it works!!!

Here's the author's book summary:

This charming tradition began for our family when my children were very small. Like most children through the ages, they wanted to know how Santa really knew who was naughty or who was nice. Their answer, as in my own childhood, came in the form of a small pixie-elf.

The first time the elf arrived at our home, my children officially adopted him by giving him a name. Each year he would arrive around the holidays, usually at Thanksgiving. His sole responsibility was to watch the children's behavior and report it to Santa each night. The next morning after the children awoke, they discovered the elf had returned from the North Pole and was now resting in a new and different place. My children would race each other out of bed to try and be the first to spy him in his new position.

Over the years the tradition was perfected and rules were introduced. For example, to better preserve his mystique the children were not allowed to touch him but talking to him was a different matter all together. My children shared many secrets with the elf, and while he was under strict orders not to talk to them, the elf was under no such orders where grown-ups were concerned.

Unwittingly, the tradition provided an added benefit: it helped the children to better control themselves. All it took was a gentle reminder that the "elf is watching," for errant behavior to be modified.

I never dreamed this simple tradition would lead to so many treasured Christmas memories for our entire family. It is my earnest desire that The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition will bring as much joy to your family as it has to mine.

A Sign that Tayshaun is Growing Up

Tayshaun's never really been a big Sesame Street fan but I got an opportunity for front row seats to the Sesame Street Live performance this last weekend and thought it would be fun to be up-close-and-personal.

Tayshaun was pretty excited after we took our seats with cotton candy and snow cones in hand. The performance began and shortly Elmo, Big Bird, and Ernie made there way off the stage and into the audience, shaking our hands and waving to us. However before 20 minutes into it. I was counting down the minutes until intermission. Tayshaun was pretty bored too so at Intermission we decided to leave. We found a boy and his mom far away from the stage and gave them our front row tickets. They looked pretty happy about that. We were too because he just couldn't get interested.

Apparently, Tayshaun has outgrown Sesame Street.

We went to Planet 51 afterwards and ate more ice cream and candy. We were much entertained by the movie.