For Christmas - yes, I am so far behind in my storytelling that we are still talking about Christmas - Stephen received a 50 dollar gift card to D and B Supply. Not that this is relevant to the story but Stephen loves D and B. He tries to buy everything that he possibly can from D and B. He goes to D and B at least once a week. The clerks there know the names of our children, if that tells you anything. So a 50 dollar gift card to D and B for Stephen is money well spent.

Stephen spent about 2 days considering what he might purchase with his 50 dollar gift card. A new rake handle. An ax. Some irrigating boots. Seeds for the garden. Work gloves. Bacon jerky. No - not bacon jerky but the sky was the limit with 50 dollars to spend. He could have bought so many things. So many things to beautify our yard or maintain our house or feed our bellies come summer. But he didn't.

Nope. Instead he bought the boys a BB gun. You read that right. A gun. He bought my babies a gun! Not that I should actually pretend to care. I am so over all of that. And by all of that I mean any false hope that I would raise children who were uninterested in guns or violence or war or battle or blood or combat or whatever else little boys are drawn to. And also, by children I really mean boys or sons because obviously I don't have daughters.

I believe that my next statement comes from an educated place in both an academic and real world sense - boys and girls are innately different and many (but not all) boys are drawn to physical interaction and destruction. At least in my opinion as a women's studies major and the mother of two sons. Of course, I've been wrong before.

Getting back to BB gun. It's a Daisy Red Rider. The Christmas Story kind, which was fitting for a Christmas gift. The boys love it. Or they did love it. The novelty has already worn off. But that's okay with me because their Free Range father let's them shoot the gun without parental assistance. They've had a gun safety lesson. They have protective eye wear. They have some empty beer cans and some distance guidelines. What more do they need?

I'll tell you what they don't need - an overprotective mother up in their business. It's true. As hard as it is trust Stephen's ability to teach them gun safety and as hard as it is to let my children enjoy a small amount of freedom, I know that it's the right decision.

I am sure that many of you - because many of you are reading my blog, right? - will disagree. How could I possible let two seven-year olds handle a gun without immediate adult supervision? How could I let two seven-year olds handle a gun in the first place? What sort of irresponsible, negligent mother am I?

First, let me remind you that it's just a BB gun. Second, I trust Stephen to instill proper gun safety. Third, I recognize the value in trusting the decisions my children make. Fourth, I am from Idaho. Fifth, not only am I from Idaho but I am just hella cool - ask anyone who knows me. Sixth, the the Zombie Apocalypse is coming. That shit is for real - how many cans of Manwich do you have in your cellar?

Stephen received a Google Nexus 7 from my parents for Christmas. It was originally intended to be family gift but it ended up going to just Stephen. Not that any of that matters because the boys still play with it and consider it to be their tablet.

After we got to the condo on Christmas Day, Stephen downloaded the free version of Angry Birds and handed the Google Nexus 7 the boys. I told Stephen I felt as though we'd crossed over to the Dark Side.

I don't believe I've yet voiced my disdain for parents who do nothing but let their children play video games on any number of mobile devices. For some reason, I try to keep my more offensive thoughts to myself. But whatever, it's my blog. Stop reading if you let your two-year play with your iPhone - you'll probably be pissed at me because let there be no pretenses, I am judging you. Hard.

I'm also judging myself pretty hard. Nearly six weeks have passed since Christmas and the boys seem to be spending more and more time in front of one screen or another. It's cold outside. I'm currently trying to juggle more responsibilities than normal. All three boys have been stricken with either a cold or the flu.

What I'm saying is now that we have the Google Nexus 7 it's suddenly become a lot easier to give in. To just let them play games on either one of two laptops or the new tablet. Or to let them watch cartoons for hours on end while Stephen and I try to catch up on our sleep over the weekends.

But it's got to end! This is not the childhood I envisioned for my boys. No! I will not succumb!



And that's about as far as I've gotten with that parenting declaration. We've already failed at distributing screen time tickets in exchange for agreed upon chores. We've already failed at limiting screen time to 30 minutes each day following an invigorating jaunt outside for 30 - 40 minutes.

But fear not. I am sure I will come up with the perfect strategy for balancing screen time with the rest that life has to offer us - just as soon as I have the time or the energy. In the interim, I will continue to judge myself and second guess my parenting abilities. And most importantly, I will continue to believe that my babies are the most beautiful things on the plant, regardless that their heads glued to a tiny little screen and especially because they, on occasion, rock totally 80s homemade sweatbands.

Over the Christmas break Henry and Wyatt attended theater camp for a second time - thanks Grandpa and Grandma! Theater camp is in Ketchum and starts the day after Christmas. So as I mentioned at my Christmas recap post, we took off for Ketchum on the 25th.

Last year Stephen and I joined the boys in Ketchum just in time for the recital and then we stayed through the new year. But this year, we all went up and spent a relaxing week in the condo. Anyway, back to theater camp!

I don't actually have much to say about theater camp other than I like sending my kids. It's good for them to get up on stage and interact with new kids. In the photos Henry looks less than thrilled to be there but he was sick all week and we still made him go to camp everyday. Of course he looks a little apathetic - we're so cruel.

The other thing I have to say about theater camp is that it brings me to tears. Happy tears, of course. I cried during the entire performance, regardless of whether my own children were on stage. Something about children singing and dancing and enjoying the simplicity of their youth hits me every time I attend any sort of childrens' activity. I'm weird like that.

Stephen is not weird like that but his head is big and mine is not.



Someone needs to teach those boys to dance! As a former dancer I seem to have failed them as a mother. You have to look closely for Wyatt in the first video. For whatever reason he was positioned in the back of the group, next to the Time Machine sign. But you can definitely see him in the second video, and after watching Henry dance in the first video and Wyatt in the second, you might agree with me that an immediate dance lesson intervention is absolutely necessary!



Aren't they just so cute! Wyatt had a speaking part and I just about missed taking a photo of his big debut. He had two lines:

                                 Has anyone seen Miss Franklin? She was just here.
                                 Aretha's on next? What will we do!

Oh! You might benefit from knowing the plot of the production. A bunch of children stop by a weird old professor's home and travel back in time to the 60s where they receive a lesson in music history. Good stuff.



I have one more thing to say about theater camp. It's organized and ran by good people. People we like and trust. People who know our mothers. People who've acted with Jack. I feel good about sending my babies there for the day. I guess I just add that because I like reminding myself of good things and good people. I like goodness. And now I'll stop because I am nearing the overly sentimental and positive outlook crap that drives me crazy in other blogs I sometimes (okay, all the time!) frequent.

And just because I can't help myself, here is one more video of my kids that you probably don't want to bother watching! But if you do, enjoy.

 

Are you ready for the longest post ever? Actually, it's not that long and I'll go easy on the text.

Our Christmas was fantastic. My grandparents hosted dinner on Sunday. Everyone but Dylan was there. It was awesome. As we all (we meaning my cousins) grow older it becomes more difficult to get everyone in the same room but we managed to get it done this year - sans Dylan.

Tom has much better photos from that evening but these will do. After a delicious feast of prime rib, we opened gifts. The littler kids still get a handful of gifts to open. The older kids get a a big'ol wad of cash and this year my grandmother also bought fingerless gloves for all the boys and toe socks for all the girls. It was pretty silly.

 

Not pictured are the photo calendars I made for each of my grandparents. I used pictures of all their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They make memorable gifts - in my opinion - but if only I could remember the actual year my grandparents got married because this lapse in memory totally botched my thoughtful gift. The cover of the calendar reads: The Straubhars, est. 1953. Except that's not the year they got married - it was 1956!!!!!

I am now 0 for 2 when it comes to giving gifts with the est. date. Last year I made a print for my parents that read: The Mikesells, est. 1979. Except that's the year I was born not the year they were married! Pointless story, but worth telling on the off chance that someone finds my inability to count or remember dates entertaining.

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and Jack. My grandparents stopped by for a bit as well on their way to a crab cook at my aunt and uncle's house. Stephen and Jack did a splendid job preparing rack of lamb and mussels - there is actually a disproportionate amount of food pictures from that evening. But we all know that if I love anything in this world it's a big'ol chunk of meat.

 

After my grandparents snuck out we opened gifts. Tom came away with the biggest haul - Dana got him a new bike! I also think Tom and Dana were pleased with the homemade yet thoughtful and quality gifts we crafted for them. We had a good bit of fun opening gifts and chatting before everyone left around 8:30 pm.



Even though the boys got to bed by 9 pm they still slept in. I don't think we were up and out of bed before 8 am. It didn't help that Henry had a cold (maybe even the flu). Wyatt was up for nearly 45 minutes before we decided to wake Henry.

Opening gifts didn't take very long since we were adhering the read, want, need, wear trend. You know how I hate anything matchy-matchy but when it comes to gifts, we keep it pretty even. The boys each got a new bike from Santa. This was their need gift. I didn't snap a picture but these bikes are legit. And they'd better last a long time because Santa paid a lot of money for them!

To read they each got three Easy-Reader books from National Geographic. To wear, I sewed them each two pairs of pajama bottoms and made graphic tees with their personal spirit animals, a squirrel and a bald eagle respectively. As always, I was super pleased with my ability to be crafty and I was equally as pleased that the boys are still young enough to think my creations are cool. Also, I already had all the materials I needed for the wear gifts save two bottles of fabric paint costing about a buck fifty total!

Henry and Wyatt had to share their want gift, which I suppose is one of the burdens of being a twin. They have had to endure their fair share of shared gifts over the years and I imagine the sharing will only continue. Anyway, we gave them this crappy plastic Bey Blade dome thing that they've literally played with three times because it doesn't work well. But I was expecting this. It's the reason we only bought one!



Stephen and I don't exchange gifts but I wrapped up a pair of lounge pants he knew I was making for him - he selected the pattern and the print. We were both super pleased with the final product. Me because I made the pattern from scratch and the pants fit! Stephen because the pants are just his kind of hideous plus they're cozy!



Between opening gifts and hosting brunch with the Crumrines, we made a quick Skype call to Dylan who was enjoying Christmas in France with a buddy. Then we started pulling together yet another delicious holiday meal. But don't worry, we took a break to open gifts with Glenn, Stephanie, and Tia-D.

The boys scored some fun gifts, this Foosball table being one of them. Again, I think our homemade gifts went over well, although for a brief moment Diana thought we bought her pancake mix from Trader Joe's. Luckily for her I'd just run out of regular gift boxes.



PS. You can catch a glimpse of one of those awesome new bikes in the picture above. It also substitutes as a coat rack.

In addition to our homemade gifts, I gave Stephanie framed family photos taken by the photographer at Wes and Melissa's wedding in June. They were so amazing that Glenn and Tia-D felt compelled to ooh and aah over them!



And then it was time to eat! Stephen made a scrum diddly umptious crab souffle and Tia-D brought fresh fruit and scones. We also had scrapple - a classic Crumrine traditional Christmas brunch staple. If you don't know what scrapple is, you should really click that link. I will tell you that scrapple is some hella good shit and I look forward to the one morning a year that scrapple is placed on the table!

 

After brunch we high-tailed it out of there and headed up to Condo Town for a five-night stay in our snowy little haven - another post. Although don't hold your breath, I am way behind in my story telling!

Also, I lied. This post was heavy on the text. I guess I just had a lot to say after weeks of silence.

Hope you all had a nice holiday and are enjoying the New Year!

Last night, for the first time ever, Henry and Wyatt were invited to stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year! We played board games, watched movies, ate grocery store sushi, and did our best to stay awake. At 12 am we watched the ball drop in Times Square and then ran outside to light a few sparklers.

I think it may have been my best New Year's Eve celebration yet!

For the second year in a row we drove to Idaho City and cut down our Christmas tree, making the event an official holiday tradition!

Last December I wrote about two separate activities I hoped would become Christmas traditions: cutting down our own tree and a Christmas book advent calendar countdown. Alas, I don't think the books are going to stick. It was just too much effort and money to wrap 24 books, plus trade out the books I didn't care for and actually build a collection of 24 books - I think we have 19.

But the Christmas tree trek prevailed and boy, is that tree a thing of beauty!

It rained the entire time we were searching for a tree. It rained hard. There were flash flood warnings for Idaho City that day. But we didn't let that stop us, although the downpour did quicken our pace.





On our way home, we stopped by the same restaurant for lunch as we did last year, Trudy's. It's a great place. I had the chicken strip basket. Everyone else stops there too and the parking lot is lined with cars and trucks each hauling at least one tree. It's a sight. It makes us feel good about our new tradition.

This year we had the genius idea of cutting a tree at the maximum height - 12 feet - and using the extra branches to make wreathes and decorate the mantel. This genius idea probably saved us at least $50, if you don't count the gas to and from Idaho City - which I don't. Our ceilings are 8 feet high and we ended up with about 4 extra feet to decorate with.



I am super, super pleased with my new found wreath building talents. Like way too proud of myself. I made a second wreath for the back door but the photos didn't turn out. You can trust that it's just as awesome - like the rest of our decorations!



It was Wyatt's turn to place the star on top of the tree. And this year I let Henry and Wyatt decorate the tree all by themselves. I actually do this every year and then rearrange all the ornaments once they're in bed. And that's what I didn't do this year. I just left the tree alone and it looks pretty sharp. And I feel good about my ability to let go of perfection this year. Life's too short, you know.



We're all set for Christmas now. This year we're trying the four-gift approach that's all over the Internet. I'm sure you've heard of it. One gift you want, one you need, one to wear, and one to read. I actually came across this idea last year but we'd already placed our presents under the tree. I share that because I really just want you to know that I was ahead of the trend.

Anyway, that's our plan. I think it's a splendid idea. I think we (the collective we) get too caught up in wanting stuff we don't need. Stephen and I are also making most of our gifts and we've set a budget that we're sticking to. I am very excited about the whole thing. It just feels good to change you're perspective a little. Not that my perspective was so far off from what I've just described - but it's a bit more dialed in now. Or something. Whatever. I'll let you know how to goes!