Our Life Lessons: 12 Days of Christmas

Has it really been 3 weeks? In the last 3 weeks, we've celebrated the 12 days of Christmas over the course of the last few weeks.

12 - Hurricane is his name-o. Hurricane earns his pseudo name of Hurricane because he was all over the place. He has in the last 3 weeks pushed the emergency alarm at Wal-mart, unscrewed the face plate on so many things we can't count (electrical outlets, doors, toys), attempted to start a window washing business 3x times on his own (large windows are $3 and small windows are $1 - you provide the materials-- is the current business plan), made presents out of little pieces of paper using lots of tape, and taking a full container of glitter stripping down to an undershirt only and spreading glitter all over his body, our bedroom, the hallway, and their bedroom with complete innocence. These are the events we remember.

11 - Completion - No magical number 11 here just that Underfoot has completed all of his reading work for school and was so proud of himself. He had a class party and decorated an ice cream cone as a Christmas tree.

Underfoot wanted Hurricane to participate and asked if his teacher would have extra. They worked together and made trees. He is trying to find his sense of humor. He makes jokes and laughs at them all the time. He wants to be a very good boy and that everyone else is being very good. He "monitors and shares" Hurricane's behavior a lot.

10 - Hours of overtime per week. Sweetheart has continued in his overtime to meet the deadline. He finished this last week and believes that the team met the deadline.

9 - Ladies Dancing. We saw at least 9 ladies dancing as we took our boys to see Beauty and The Beast. The show was a surprise. Underfoot really enjoyed the show. Hurricane on the other hand talked loudly and asked multiple times how many songs to the end. We got in the car after the show, and Hurricane fell asleep.

8 - Days of Laundry - I finished all the laundry and ironing in 8 days from emptying all the closets and such from our smokey home. I said in the last email that we were going to Klitz the kitchen. We didn't get the kitchen painted yet. We need to clean out all the cupboards, nooks, crannies, and not have other things going on. The smoke smell has lessen, but it has gotten colder for here and we are such if the heat of spring will bring out the smell again. So painting is on the holiday list of chores.

7 - Oven Replacement Emails. The oven blew up just before Thanksgiving. Sweetheart figured out the new part and ordered it. The part didn't show up and didn't show up. I tried to call the company to find out what happened. The company doesn't take phone calls. I emailed. They said the part was on back order for them. So I called around here. There was no time frame for the part to be made let alone shipped. They said it might take 3-4 months. Well we started to look for a new oven and found one on Craig's List that would fit. We learned a lot about oven sizes and capabilities. We listed our old oven and part number for the replacement part on Craig's List, and magically the old oven went away.

I mentioned to my friend that we were nervous to start the new oven. She said to keep the fire department number handy as a joke. Sweetheart cleaned out the new oven and was going to try it out. Hurricane trying to be funny put a plastic place mat in the oven after Sweetheart finished. Sweetheart turned it on and presto we have smoke. So I should keep the fire department on one of my phone favorites. We have since used the oven with success and no new smoke.

6 - Minutes. Underfoot and Hurricane take piano. In Underfoot's class they had to compose their own song. He practiced his song the same way every time he practiced. Once he shared it with his class and the parents, the 1 minute 30 second song turned into about 4 1/2 minutes and then he played his other song. He took 6 minutes. The piano teacher and I chuckled as he kept going and going. Hurricane's song took him a total of 15 seconds. They each did a great job!

5 - Soccer Games and Pictures - Vail Soccer Club has games every weekend. The organizer has asked that the teams practice at least 2x a week. Underfoot had quite the learning curve and is finding some success. Hurricane is a dive in and make the goals. He likes to have the ball. I "coach" Hurricane's team. We took team pictures over 2 weekends because there are so many players and teams. The week of Underfoot's pictures there was to be a huge rain storm and games were canceled. The rain held off until after all the games who have happened. Underfoot still had pictures.

4 - Haircuts. All 4 of us got our hair cut. My boys asked for a faux hawk hair cut. I had flashbacks of when I tried to cut my brother, Aaron's, hair and royally messed his hair up. The hair cuts turnout ok. I've had to cut Hurricane's two times because he moves so much.

3 - Drama Performances. The boys participated in drama and each had a role in the perspective plays they were acted. Underfoot was in the role of Aladdin in Aladdin and the Magic Pickle Jar. Hurricane was the little boy who pointed out the truth in The Emperor and His New Hair. I also participated as an assistant for the club. I too had a role as a narrator. Sweetheart came home early from work to watch the show.

2 - Four Wheelers. We were invited by our adopted grandparents to the mine where Grandpa Steve works for the University.