These are the days...-Mama.

These are the days that I contemplate taking the kids to Nebraska (or at least abandoning them at Aunt Jenni's house). Both kids were very high energy, while I was exceedingly low energy. This morning I decorated the last Christmas tree while Henry was at school. The last tree is on a table because it holds all of the special, breakable ornaments. As I was hanging them up, I contemplated which would get broken before the kids grew up (I hope it's not the Brat Fest ball I got last year.) But my sentimental mood grew melancholy when I unwrapped the Bengals collection (yes, collection). I opened up the ornament of Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, and Rudy Johnson exchanging high fives and couldn't help but be sad that Rudy Johnson doesn't even play for the Bungles anymore. And now Ocho Cinco was suspended. And on top the fact that the Bengals are now 1-10-1, Chad is one of the receivers on my fantasy football team. And none of my receivers are that good, and how am I going to stay in first place into the post-season if one of my receivers isn't even playing? These are truly trying times.

Henry was fairly good today, despite a few time outs for screaming and loving his sister a little too agressively. To pass the time, we made "cookies" this afternoon.

Okay, it's really a refrigerated pie crust that I needed to use, but we still had fun cutting out the train shapes.

The real culprit of my strife today can be attributed to my one- my own- my Precious. We had to wake this one up at 9 to take Henry to school, which ruined any chance of getting a morning nap, which threw a wrench in my plans of getting much done. We tried to spend some time in the office, but June managed to pull down every sheet of paper in the room and try to eat it.

Later, during a diaper change, Miss Wiggle herself managed to shock, amaze and disgust me all at once when she actually managed to get poop in her mouth. No joke. I didn't realize it at first (it's pretty commonplace to have to put your fingers in June's mouth to fish out whatever she shoved in), but immediately freaked out when I figured out what was in her mouth and now on my fingers. We did our best to wipe out her mouth, called Aunt Jenni (who just laughed at us), then consulted the interwebs for help. Of course, Google "baby eats poop" and the first hit is a blog with the phrase "What kind of mother lets her baby eat poop?!?!?" We're monitoring June for any sign of illness, but she seems fine so far. The worst part is that she didn't even flinch when she got it in there.

And if that wasn't enough, tonight she managed to get into the trashcan (a good 24 inches high) without tipping it over. Her hard work was rewarded with the remnants of lunch and probably tons of germs and filth. I'm not even sure how this happened, but now we need to get a trash can with a lid and anchor it to a wall.

Today confirmed what we've suspected all along- June will literally eat anything. She's like the ostrich that ate the trumpet in the Curious George book. I won't be surprised when she starts catching small game and eating it whole.

The Christmas tree is still here!- June.

It's pretty good to be Henry these days. When he wakes up in the morning, he is thrilled to see that mama and papa didn't take down the Christmas tree while he was sleeping. And when we arrive home from being out, he exclaims "Do you know what's inside? A Christmas tree!"

Yesterday he found more lights and carried them around until mama agreed to put up the last tree (we've got the 7 footer, a 5 footer and a little 3 footer for Henry to decorate over and over). Henry even picked up all of his toys, so mama would agree to put up the last tree.

We tried to capture the mood with these pictures, but the shutter speed was a little slw with the dim light and we were too excited to sit still.

Today, mama and Henry unpacked the nativity scene. They talked about the wisemen, the shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. Henry turned over baby Jesus and was shocked to see he wasn't wearing a diaper. But he must have just gotten out of the bathtub, so it was okay. Then mama told Henry that Christmas was baby Jesus' birthday (hoping to launch into a rousing rendition of Reba's "Happy Birthday Jesus- I'll open this one just for you!"), but Henry instead insisted that he and baby Jesus go to each other's birthday parties. In the end, babay Jesus got tired, so Henry put his bed in the loft of the manger and put him down for his nap.

We couldn't wait- Henry.

Well, the Christmas spirit got the best of us and we got our tree out and started decorating. We feel justified in decorating early, since we'll be gone at Thanksgiving and will leave again around Christmas. We need to enjoy it while we can. Plus, mama loves hearing me say "That tree is so beautiful."

She and Papa set up the tree last night, but we waited for papa to get home from work to decorate. I cold hardly stand the wait. I hung a few ornaments that I painted before supper. But then mama made me eat (like that's ever going to happen) before we could hang the rest.

Mama has saved every ornament tat she's ever made or been given since she was born. She's also started saving other various mementos- wrist bands from the Dells, bell favors from weddings, and even weird elves inside green mushrooms that she and Miss Leah bought with a box of Christmas decorations at a garage sale when they were in college (your guess is as good as mine). But we had a great time going through all the ornaments and talking about them. Mama only got upset once when she pulled out a styrofoam lollipop and I took a bite of it. I guess it really wasn't candy.

Even Junerks (new nickname) had a good time and didn't cry like she's been doing most of the time lately (it's a combination of "I'm hungry", "Why aren't we touching?" and "Can't you get this kid to stop pushing me over?"). She tried to hang up her M&M ornament, but then gave up and just chewed on it for the rest of the night.

Side note- you'll see that the T-Rex helped set up the tree tonight. I've been spending a lot of time talking about birthday parties lately (for some reason, tree lights remind me of my birthday). When mama asked who was coming to my party, I told her that Lightning McQueen couldn't come, becuase he was already at his own birthday party. And T-Rex can't come because he just a toy (does this show how much I like my cars?). In the end, I decided that Oliver could come to my party, even though he lives far, far away.

Here's the finished product. I have a feeling that mama is holding out on us and saved a few boxes of ornaments to put up without us. She said that if they come packaged individually, I'm not allowed to touch them.

Decorating the tree left me with a serious case of "hyper." Mama had to lay down some serious threats to get us to bed tonight. This was after I pleaded with her not to turn off the tree lights and please, please don't take off the ornaments.

We had a great time decorating and while listening to Kenny and Dolly for the first time this season (it feels good), we had our first Christmas miracle. We found mama's hand mixer and hand chopper packed away in the Christmas decorations along with Papa's stir fry pan. She sure was glad to see them again!

But we do have one sad thing to report. This week, we had to throw away the last of mama's pumped milk. It was very painful for her, but we suspected it was going bad and making Juner's tummy hurt when we fed it to her in her oatmeal. It was especially painful, because we out significant effort into hauling it down from Wisconsin when we moved. We those that those of you who have ahd to throw away this much hard work can feel our pain tonight.

And to cap off the evening, here's a video of June's new trick. June is increasingly always in my stuff. Tonight, she kept getting in the way while I sat in my rocking chair gazing at the splender of 600 red and white tree lights. So I requested that she be put in her jumper. Mama readily agreed because June has also lately become quite fond of trying to stand up and open drawers or doors. Unfortuanately for June, this also involves a lot of falling on her head and face. Mama was glad to get her somewhere where she couldn't hurt herself for a few minutes. And June was pleased to show off her new fancy footwork.

Here's the right video.

As it turns out, mama was on her second Old Fashioned when she was uploading videos on Saturday night and she uploaded the wrong video. We've gotten a couple calls questioning the significance of a one second video.

So here's the real video that showcases two goofballs unwilling to quiet down and go to bed already. And you wonder why mama is driven to drinking? (Listen carefully and you can hear Elmo talking to baby David about sitting on the potty. Henry loves those books, but still refuses any part of potty training.)

Some videos-Juner.

Aunt Jenni must be taking the Minnesota loss to the Badgers (2 safeties in the 4th quarter? Really?). So true to our bet (win- you get Juner, lose-you get Juner), here's a sneak peak to what you've got coming.

All I want to do is stand up- all the time. And scream. You'll notice that I also have a new sound. Now I can also say "Bababa" in addition to my pterodactyl screech.

When mama put us to bed tonight, we were not interested in sleeping. And the worst thing possible has happened- we've become really good friends. Which means we spend a good half hour yelling at each other before bed. Well, I stand up and scream while Henry lays in bed talking to me, but hoping mama won't come in and take away his flashlight.

Quote of the day: Tonight while mama ws helping Henry brush his teeth and washed his face becuase it was covered in the chocolate chips that papa snuck him. He asked what she was doing, to which she replied "I'm washing your face off." Henry exclaimed "Leave my face on!"

Make-up post- June.

Now that mama is only engaged with her domestic pursuits, she has overextended herself in the Christmas craft department, so she's been slacking on the blog updates. We apologize and we won't let it happen again.

It's been a pretty calm week, but lots of fun things have happened!

We went to Target and saw that the dollar spot had sheets of Car Movie tattoos, so we bought a ton and mama intends to use them as bribes to get Henry potty trained. He did give it a fair shot the other night when he sat on the potty for about 10 minutes. Nothing happened, but he did get a new Lightning McQueen tat for the effort. If this actually works, Henry could be the most decorated little boy this side of the Mason Dixon line.

Also, we'd like to send a big thank you out to Miss Leah for these awesome overalls. We were very glad to see they finally fit Henry and he insisted on wearing them no less than 4 times this week.

I discovered that mama has a stash of water bottles on the bottle shelf of the refrigerator. So my newstrategy is to crawl over there and wedge myself in the door before anyone can shut it and pull as many bottles down as i can.

Unfortuantely, mama is energy conscious so I never get to play very long. I can't wait until i can stand up and pull down a couple of those MGD 64's. I hear they are the Lite Champagne of Beers.

Mama felt pretty smug this week when she brought home a Sharon fruit from the grocery store. I guess it is from Israel.

It looks like a tomato, is firm like a crisp apple and taste like a mix between a peach and a honeydew. Henry liked his dipped in yogurt.

Henry got his birthday present early- a new car seat. Now I can get out of that infant seat and into the luxurious big kid seat Henry uses.

There's a funny story behind the car seat. And now that it's over, mama said I can tell it to you. Mama ordered the seat off Amazon.com (good price and free shipping), but in her haste, had it shipped to our old house in Wisconsin. She didn't catch this until she checked the tracking and saw that it had already been delivered. She called up Amazon.com to see if there was anyway they could give her a break on the shipping because it would cost almost as much as the car seat itself to ship down here (why couldn't she have made this mistake with something small- like a book?). Well, the good people at Amazon.com were gracious enough to ship the Wisconsin car seat back for free and sent out a new one for us the same day. Now that is service. Consider this out official endorsement of Amazon.com.
I'm continuing to work on my standing skills, although it's nothing compared to the 9 steps my cousin Sadie took on her birthday (you had better post a video of that!)

My favorite place to practice is still the bathtub ledge. Today I crawled in and gave papa a little surprise!

Finally, here's a video of Henry playing with his car launcher. We especially like that the cars beep when they back up. That was probably one of Henry's first tricks when he was just one. And he still refuses to refer to anything as "backing up." To him they are all "beep beeping."

On Wisconsin-Henry.

We were informed that we are putting our Wisconsin roots to shame, because we didn't remember that the battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe was today. So in honor of the birthplace of the two better members of our family, here's the lyrics to the fight song (we usually just sang "On Wisconsin, on wisconsin" over and over until the song was over.)

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!

Plunge right through that line!
* Run the ball clear down the field,
* A touchdown sure this time. (U rah rah)
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Fight on for her fame
Fight! Fellows! - fight, fight, fight!
We'll win this game.

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Stand up, Badgers, sing!
"Forward" is our driving spirit,
Loyal voices ring.
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Raise her glowing flame
Stand, Fellows, let us now
Salute her name!

And here's our own YouTube tributes. This kid isn't even a Wisconsin fan, but he knows a great team when he sees one.

Next, is a particularly rousing montage. It's makes up miss Madison is little more when we see these fun loving people raise their voices in song.

In honor of the big game, mama has decided to go out and get the fixings for our favorite Wisconsin drink- the Old Fashioned. We'll be living it up tonight. Special thanks to Mr. Kyle for his guidance on the proper way to make an Old Fashioned and to Miss Sara for always making the Old Fashioned fun.

Happy Birthday Sadie!- Henry and June.

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Our favorite Sades turns 1 year old today. We can't believe it's already been a year! It looks like we're running through the Jibab stock videos pretty quickly, so we're putting up two pictures for Sadie instead. Sades, we give you 5 stars.

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We can guess what Sadie would do. She would give us one of those disapproving looks she saves especially for her Aunt Becky and Uncle Bran, then she's look at her parents and ask if she really is related to them. Don't worry, we think the same thing every day.