We Are Getting This House Cleaned Up!

The dreaded words of every child's Saturday morning. Or in this case the dreaded words for my children this morning when they woke up. We are having a New Year's get together with another family at our home, where we will eat for six-plus hours straight, play games, play rock band, and laugh too loudly.

While I couldn't possibly be considered a contender for the title of "clean freak", I do have some standards. We're talking basics. Clothes put away, beds made, dishes done, toys put away, uncluttered countered, cleaned bathrooms, swept floors.

So this morning, in a effort to avoid conflict and confusion, I made Clark, Bethany, and Elinor lists of jobs they were in charge of. They are fairly accustomed to such lists, and although the lists were a bit longer than usual, there was only minimal gnashing of teeth.
They completed their jobs and things were looking okay.

But that was at 12:00. The party isn't until 6:00. HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KEEP THINGS CLEAN FOR SIX HOURS????
Sure enough, out come the dress up scarves to be mermaids. Out comes the skateboard and a cardboard box to make a life size robot. Out come the dominos. Out comes the sheet to make a background set for the movie they are making. Out comes Cannon from his crib (he'd been asleep, which aided in the initial quick clean-up). Oh gracious.

I believe my children are the brightest, most creative, clever creatures on the planet. But must they be so when I have a party to get ready for?











Clark's assortment of homemade weapons. Made from wooden train tracks and aluminum foil. I believe he made them as Christmas gifts for the girls, but they were not as well received as he's hoped. Cannon appreciated them. Brothers are like that.

Now What?

Like most families, we are on break from Christmas to New Years. We're not doing our school work, rules about computer, Wii, and movies are seriously lax, and healthy meal preparation is at a minimum. It is a time to relax from our normal schedule, with the exception of regular chores because the house would explode if we didnt.

The thing is, a family of our size and shape doesn't function very well without our normal routine, and rules and workload. Several of us, myself included, get quite out of sorts without our schedule. There is no dance, Tae Kwon Do, basketball, violin or piano lessons. There really is no reason to leave the house. We are going stir crazy.We can't go out shopping to entertain ourselves (no money). Dollar movies are out (Cannon is a nightmare at a theater). I can't sit and read a book these days (Cannon thinks I'm a jungle gym). The kids do go play in the snow quite a bit, but then the snow clothes aftermath drives me to drink. Some of the children enjoy having friends over to play, but that bothers the ones who don't enjoy having friends over.

I suppose our purpose this week is to relax. I don't think I'm very good at relaxing. I'm good at running my ship and making sure my people are being productive. I have got to chill out, but my idea of chilling out doesn't translate to well taken care of and happy children. Can anyone relate? Does anyone have any advice for me?

Merry Christmas

"The Aftermath" is the favorite Christmas picture of 2009.
We'll go backward to review the Christmas festivities.













The girls got American Girl books and mini dolls.Their pajamas were a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Cannon.















Clark has somewhat moved out of the"toy" phase of Christmas and into the "really useful gadget" phase.
Grandpa Cannon gave a compass and the headlamp he is wearing. Santa brought him fireworks. He also got new hiking boots, a knock-off Leatherman, a new coat, and an MP3 player.








Santa also brought Clark his first real Boy Scout shirt.















Faith got a little scooter.
















I hope you can see this picture clearly. This was the most amazing thing this Christmas. Mrs. Claus, AKA, Barbara Sherman made all these amazing doll clothes for the girls. I gave one little hint that the girls were really into their dolls and would love some clothes for Christmas and THIS is what she did! So cute and the girls couldn't believe it. They were screaming and jumping around. It's pretty fun for the mom too.





The night before Christmas. I like Cannon crawling on Faith behind Abe.
















Snuggly Christmas jammies.
















We've adopted the English tradition of Christmas crackers. You pop them open and find a little toy and a fabulous paper crown.













Cannon got cars for Christmas. A big car for him to ride in and matchbox cars.














It was a wonderful Christmas Eve and we are having a very relaxing Christmas Day. It is my policy to NOT get dressed on Christmas and I don't expect my children to talk to me for at least 3 days because they are so involved with their new treasures.

TRADITION!

Every Christmas we drive down to Spanish Fork and pay $5 to drive through a fun lights display.

This year I mentioned to Abe that maybe we could go to a lights display that is just as good, but a little closer to home. Geez, you'd think I'd tried to sell one of our children!
NO! It is tradition!
Abe is the Czar of Christmas tradition.

So we drove. We arranged the seating with the least likely possibility of Elinor getting car sick.



And it was really fun. The favorite part is each of the children get a turn to drive.
Bethany was first. She improved from last year, but she gets a little distracted-- by all the lights (go figure).











Then Cannon got a very brief turn. Not so interested in driving, but very interested in having his picture taken.














Elinor was next. She is only 6 so the expectation wasn't too high, but she did very well and took it very seriously.













She was like a crazy little old woman on the road.
















Faith got a turn, but she was more interested in snuggling with daddy while he drove.














What have we here?
First of all, it can't be proven that he was operating a moving vehicle! Secondly, if, in fact, he was operating a moving vehicle at the age of 10, surely his dad would be right next to him taking care of the gas and break pedals.

He did great.








But, I still had some concerns.














You can drive around as many times as you want and all normal seat belt rules do not apply. In fact, we let our people hang their bodies outside the car. All the girls are sitting in the window of the passenger seat.

I'm guess I'm grateful I live with the Christmas Czar. It makes for good memories.

Can You Say Naughty?

Naughty, but delicious. Last week we had a Cannon/Behunin Christmas gathering at Steve and Candee's home.














We did a kids' dollar gift exchange. I feel torn on kids' gift exchanges because it always, and I do mean ALWAYS, ends in tears. It's usually my kids in tears. This year was no exception. It was Elinor, bless her heart. She opened a little set of rackets and a ball. She quickly traded them away for an glitzy "ipod" that played horrific electronic music at an outrageous volume (It since mysteriously disappeared). Shortly after making the trade, regret set in. She didn't know how much wanted that racket set. It was too late though, the deal was done. The tears began to flow. Every single year. Without fail.
I don't know what Clark is doing to Bethany. Sometimes it is best not to ask until there are tears.















They were good brownies.

Piggy Back

Cannon gets a piggy back ride from Grandpa Cannon. I don't know who is having a better time!

This reminds me of a childhood memory. When I was about 10 years old--too big for a piggy back ride-- I wanted a piggy back ride from my dad. He agreed on the condition that I promise to care for him when he was 70 and an old man.

I promised and he gave me a ride. But I wanted a longer ride so I promised I'd take care of him when he was 65. He kept carrying me. I wanted more so I promised I care for him at 60. This kept going until I had sworn an oath to care for him when he was 45 years old.
I'm glad he hasn't taken me up on it yet. Just like I'm glad he hasn't made good on the bet I made when I was 11 that "I would NEVER wear bell bottoms and if I did I would buy him a steak dinner". But do flares really count as bell bottoms? I hope not.

Clark's Lego League Team

The coach of the team put this clip together.

The Bunnies

Allison taped Faith in her Snow White Bunny dance. She is the shortest bunny, who keeps looking at the floor to find her "spot".