Monthly Archives: December 2015

Chippy

Meet our Elf, Chippy Booty-Batter.  He came to our house for the first time last Christmas.  He was named Chippy after the elf in the tv show “An Elf’s Story”. We aren’t very original because we literally took the name straight out of the show.  Of course, we had to silly it up a bit and add the last name of Booty-batter (Miller’s idea).

The kids love to find Chippy every morning. We put him in the tree, on top of the refrigerator, in the front hall, and any where else we could find to put him. Some days Chippy didn’t move at all, but that was because Tom and I forgot.  Unlike some elves, our elf doesn’t cause any mischief…that would require too much work on our part.

Some people find it surprising that we have an elf because we don’t do Santa. Years ago I told the kids that Santa wasn’t real. I explained to them that long ago there was a real St.Nick that gave gifts to children but the one in the red suit was just pretend. I couldn’t lie to them, and I didn’t want Santa to get all the glory. I wanted to keep it about Jesus’ birthday.  Faith and Wilson still want to believe in Santa and wish that they didn’t know the truth. I think Wilson is a bit mad a me for telling him. He was kind of “Bah-humbug” and cynical this Christmas, even about Chippy.  In hindsight, I may have stolen some of the fun of Christmas by not doing Santa. We have the tooth fairy in our house, how is that any different? So, now we have an Elf that I use to try to make up for the lack of a magical Santa.  And yes, I lie about Chippy being real.  I have also begun to lie about Santa being real.  Miller asked me the other day if Santa was real. He said, “Santa is real, right Mom? He is real, right?”  I answered with a vague, “Some people think he is real and others don’t.”  Miller insisted, “But he IS real, right mom?”  He said it so sweetly and with such innocent certainty that I agreed.  I have decided that I really can’t win either way.  So I guess I will do it both ways and see how it turns out – an social experiment of sorts.

Either way, Christmas is over and Chippy is back in the North Pole until next year.  So long, Chippy!  Tell Santa that we said, “Hello!”

Christmas

Christmas came and went very quickly this year.  It seems to happen like that more often than not.  Christmas is two crazy days of church services, gifts and time with family and then it is over. Tom’s dad was with us for Christmas again this year.  We went to Little Church for the Christmas Eve service and had our traditional family picture taken….

 After services Doug came over to help us set up the basketball goal while I stuffed the stockings.  It was great having him over to help. It seemed much more festive.  Here is Doug pretending to slam dunk the ball…

 The kids woke up around 6:00am on Christmas morning (too early) but thankfully they chose to watch tv and eat the candy in their stockings instead of waking us up to open gifts.  This year we adopted the tradition that Tom grew up with – putting the stockings on the kids’ bedroom door knobs. This pacified the kids and gave them something to play with while the parents slept. Brilliant!!  I was able to sleep until 8:00am on Christmas morning.

The boys loved the basketball hoop and it is still sitting in the middle of my living room. (I bet it stays there another week.)

Faith loved her bike with gears, her baby doll stroller and the cheerleader outfit that my mom made for her…. We have always had a rule in our house of “no pets”.  However, Wilson pleaded his case last month on why he should have a fish. I gave in. We now have a beta fish for a pet.  He has yet to be named.  We will see how long he stays around…

 If you haven’t noticed from the pictures yet, we were all wearing shorts on Christmas morning. It was almost 80 degrees outside.  Miller rode his new scooter around with only his pajama pants on (this actually happens more often than not).

 It wouldn’t be Christmas without one of the kids getting upset because they didn’t get the gift that they so desperately desired.  Wilson wanted the Hot Wheels Spin Storm race track. He started crying when he didn’t get it from us so my parents rushed over to give him the gift that they had bought for him – a Hot Wheels track. Christmas was complete! 

The presents were opened and time together was spent.  A successful Christmas and we still have almost a week left of Christmas break.  I wish it could be like this year round.

The New House

We have been living in the new house for over month now.   The unpacking process has been slow.  We lived here for the first 3-5 days with only the beds on the floor, a couch, and a TV hung on the wall.  At that point we were just glad to be in our new house.  We even lived here while the painters were still working.  We learned to live around ladders and wet walls.  Slowly boxes began to be unpacked.  It took me a week to find some pots and pans and silverware.   Thankfully, my friend Erin came over and helped me unpack the kitchen.  I was at a loss as to where to put things.  Amazingly, I still have many shelves that are still empty, however, I am sure that they will fill up with junk before too long.  My goal has been to unpack two boxes and to hang one picture each day. There is still a stack of boxes in the garage but not many. I love the new house. It suits our family so much better than the last house. I look around each day and enjoy what I see. 

Here are some of the best parts of the new house:

-Wilson rides his bike everyday around the cul de sac.  He loves the freedom and independence that it provides.  He used to be afraid to ride his bike and wouldn’t even try it. Now all he want to do is ride his bike. We race around the cul de sac with him on his bike and me riding his razor scooter. (I have gotten pretty good. Haha) He even rides it at night…IMG_6605.JPG

-Faith has her own room to play in. She goes in it after school everyday, shuts the door, and plays with her dolls or plays school. It brings me joy to know that she has her own space to be alone and use her imagination. I took a picture of it as it really is – a mess… 

 – The kitchen isn’t cut off from the rest of the house. I LOVE the kitchen. I had the cabinets painted white so that they would be clean and pretty. I can make lunches in the morning, feed the kids and see what is going on all at the same time. Finally!  

 – The bonus room upstairs is nice to have. Tom and I actually had an uninterrupted conversation on the couch downstairs while the kids played upstairs.  That was a first!  The kids can watch Saturday morning cartoons while we sleep in a bit.  It is also a mess, but these messes are upstairs and out of my line of sight. Love it!!

 – And finally, the cul-de-sac is awesome.  The kids can ride and play without fear of being run over by a car.  Faith rode her bike while pulling the other kids behind her in the buggy.  IMG_6633.JPG

The house suits our family so much better than the last house, especially in this phase of life.  I think that our house it is pretty and I enjoy waking up in it each morning.  The kids have room to play both inside and out.  Making this move was difficult and stressful, but totally worth the effort.  

First day of Christmas Break

I have been looking forward to Christmas vacation ever since Thanksgiving break ended. I have two full weeks with no preschool, no lunches to pack and no 6:30am alarm. Very exciting!!   

My first day vacation was just as I had envisioned it….almost. I slept in until 7:30am (not bad).  Of course, I hadn’t imagined all five of us sleeping in the same bed together, which we did. It was a bit crowded but nice at the same time. 

I let the kids watch tv while I planned out what we were going to eat for the next week. I decided that Christmas break would be a great time to gather recipes and ditch some of the processed food that we have been eating. I even made muffins today. They were delicious (Except faith and wilson would not eat them, of course).

Then Faith and I had some quality girl time together painting our nails and doing my hair.  

 She even squeezed me into one of her bigger dresses. Haha. No picture of that one. 

I painted even painted with Miller and cleaned up a bit – all before 2:00pm.  A full day. The rest of the day was spent sitting in traffic and waiting in lines at Walmart and the post office. Yuck! That was a bit stressful and gave me anxiety. Tomorrow I think I will leave out the last minute shopping and just enjoy another quiet day at home. Ahhhh….vacation. 

Wilson

I have learned so much about Wilson over the last six months.  He seems to be growing up and changing right before my eyes.  Between school and my job, I think that sometimes he gets a bit overlooked as well.  That is why I am giving him his own blog post today – I want to remember all of the great qualities that he has.  

For one, he has become a great soccer player.  Last season he would run around the field and play, but he was more interested in the snacks AFTER the game than what was actually going on IN the game. This year, however, he was scoring goals, passing the ball, and taking charge on the field.  I was so proud of him.  I am looking forward to what he will do in the spring.  Here is his team picture….


Wilson can be so tough and yet so sweet and sensitive.  He loves to give gifts, especially flowers. If he sees a bush or plant with flowers on it he will walk over, pick one and bring it to me.  He has even begged to jump out of the car at a red light because he really wanted to pick a certain flower that he had seen the day before at that same light.   He ran around to the back of the school last week to pick a pink flower that he had seen on the way to lunch.  He is a giver.  After school on the first day of school he wanted to use his own money to take everyone to Chick-Fil-A for a snack.  He cried when I drove past the first Chick-Fil-A because I didn’t know that he was serious.  We went to the next store, went in, bought snacks and enjoyed the afternoon.

He has also been asking me for piano lessons.  After numerous times of asking, I finally signed him up for a short music class that was offered at his school.  He loves school, which I knew he would.  He is an eager learner.  His teacher said that she wished that every student was as eager as Wilson and that he makes her “want to be a better teacher.” WOW.

He has also begun to really enjoy drawing and coloring.  I attribute this to his going to school. Many pictures include some sweet messages. Here are some of his works… 

   
And finally, and most interestingly, Wilson wanted a white bedroom.  WHITE.  We tried to talk him out of it, but we finally gave him what he wanted.  It was his room.  He told my friend Yolanda that his room was “the most beautiful white color.”  I bought a new bookshelf for his room and he said that he wanted it to be white with white baskets.   I love white because it looks very clean, but I am not sure why he likes white. Either way, I am happy to oblige. 

 I am bragging on Wilson a bit, but only because these are things that the casual on-looker would never know about him.  Yes, he is energetic, loves mischief, tv and sword fighting, but these other qualities over rule it all.  He is super intelligent, endlessly sensitive, and full of originality.

What is not important

There are things that I care about as a mom and things that I don’t care about. My two list are very distinct and rarely over lap. The things that I care about are typical:  the kids should obey me, they should do their homework, they should be kind and loving to one another, etc. 

The things I don’t think are so important are as such:

They can sleep with boxing gloves on… 

 They can sleep in chairs…. 
 They can dress each other up….

 They can run around outside shirtless and barefoot even when it is fifty degrees outside. In this case,  it was with no pants….  
They can wear pretty much anything they want (except to church).  Miller wore his bathing suit over his pants last week…..  

My mom read an article that said that kids that wear no shoes are happier because they can feel the ground under their feet. My kids must be extraordinarily happy, especially Miller. He never wears shoes. 

I would love to be a kid again!  It would feel so good to wear whatever I wanted without consequence, to dress up, sleep where it was the most fun, and go barefoot most of the time.  That is the fun of being a kid and that is how we roll in the Dressler household.