Accountable Kids Review

Wow, it's already been almost two months since I purchased the Accountable Kids program which I meant to review a month ago to earn the 50% rebate offer. I suppose my tardiness reflects my own need for an accountable boost. Anyhow, here's what I think of the program.

First here's a brief description from the Accountable Kids website.

Step One: Children learn to take care of personal responsibilities without constant direction. They learn work ethics, time management, and responsibility. Children earn Tickets by completing basic chores. Tickets can then be used for activities or privileges. Tickets provide parents the ability to discipline without losing control or physical contact. Basic values are encouraged and reinforced with the Best Behavior Card.
Step Two: The Privilege Pass is introduced to eliminate specific negative behaviors. This process empowers children to predict consequences, follow rules, and redirect themselves towards positive behaviors. A Special Date Card is added to allow children to work for future rewards and enhance parent/child relationships.
Step Three: Completing basic chores provides basic privileges, but not the extras. Children earn Bonus Bucks for completing extra chores. This gives them the ability to make decisions about purchases. They experience the advantages of saving and learn to manage resources for the future.
Step four: The Family Forum presents an opportunity to discuss goals, problems, challenges, and accomplishments. It provides an opportunity to monitor progress and encourage positive behaviors. Quiet Time is introduced to refresh and recharge children and parents. It encourages the use of imagination, self-discipline, and self-entertainment.

Theory: I love that this is more than a chore chart. They really thought about the core issues of teaching accountability to children and provide plenty of tools to get them on their way. I love the visual impact of each child having their own peg board. The tickets are cute and useful though a bit delicate for my rough boys.

Preparation/set up: this system requires a bit more preparation than your standard chore chart. But that's what makes it more worthwhile. You have to think about what each child can handle and what motivates them and be specific about what each ticket represents and what behaviors lose tickets.

Execution: I feel like we got off to a rocky start and even though we've technically been using this system for about 5 weeks we're still working out the kinks. I think it's like potty training: you have to be sure you're committed before you start because false starts just mess up the process. It didn't help that right after we introduced the program each of the kids and then I all got sick. There's no sticking to schedules and chores when you're sick. And then we had visitors. And then their daddy sometimes works night shifts so we can't really do music and all the other things when we have to be quiet all morning. But, even with all those complications, I still think this is a great system. They're still not at the point where they can be trusted to do everything without prompting but we're definitely making progress. I love when they tell me what's coming up next. Also, my older son really didn't like getting 2 tickets taken away for hitting his brother so it's only happened once. And I've really found the best behavior card to be helpful. After my younger son got his first one he was extra sweet the rest of the day.

Overall Rating: I think I'll give it a 4 out of 5 stars. I think most of our hiccups have been due to my lack of execution than the actual program. But I do wish there was more help to figure out how to make it work under different circumstances. I think I should read the book and the blog more. And if anybody has any ideas about working around night schedules and how strict to be about earning stars for dates, I'd be very grateful.

conversations with 2 very interesting boys

It's been a long time since I've updated the quotes and I know there's some text error so you can't even read most of them. So here are a few choice tidbits from my hilarious boys.

Nov 13, 2010
Jarom: I'm the king of the world! (He likes to climb on the highest part of the wall along the way to Keahi's school.) That means I tell everybody what to do.
Cailin: What about me? Does the king of the world tell his mommy what to do?
Jarom: Ummmmm..No. Mommy still tells teh king what to do.......mommy is the mommy of the world!

Nov 16, 2010
Jarom: When somebody isi tired of the world, I will pick them up and take them to a bouncy castle.

Nov 20, 2010
Jarom: I'm thirsty.
Cailin: Have some water.
Jarom: No! I want some juice!
Keahi: If you were really thirsty you would drink anything. Even your own pee.

Nov 26, 2010
Jarom: I'm hungry. (about half an hour after breakfast)
Iz: No one is surprised, Jarom.
Jarom: Weeeellll....I never give up on eating.


Nov 26, 2010
Cailin: Did you find the wii remote?
Iz: No. Maybe the ipod and the wii controller are hanging out together.
Keahi: Yeah, maybe they found love. The ipod is the girl and the remote is the boy and they're kissing somewhere.


Nov 27, 2010
Jarom: I like eating the heart and the liver and the gizzard of the turkey. You can eat the chambers, too.
Keahi: Yes, but not the blood.
Keahi: Do you like the stomach and the intestines? (We told him that Uncle Kervin is a big fan.)
Jarom: You can't eat those.
Keahi: Yes, you can. Oh, do you like the large intestines?
Jarom: Yes.
Keahi: Eeeww. You like the poop!
Jarom: No, you take the poop out.
Keahi: Eeeewww.
Jarom: The people that make the turkey take the poop out.
Iz: How do you do that?
Jarom: They put it in a poop holder.They just scoop it up and it lands into the bowl part.

I hate money.....

...or rather I hate my lack of it. I just scheduled my first surgery appointment and called to inquire about the copayments. It's going to cost me $250 to remove my silly IUD. Plus I have to go under general anesthesia and have my very first surgery ever. I've never broken a bone or been admitted to a hospital for anything other than the births of my kids. And now I have to have a pre-op visit, lab visit, surgery, and post op visit (all requiring babysitting) just to get rid of my hassle-free IUD. Gee, having a baby starts costing money before you even start trying to have a baby. Oh, state insurance, how miss you.

Big Boys

I felt a little bad today when I realized that Keahi has had a birthday party with other kids every year since his second birthday and this is Jarom's fourth one and still no party. Maybe next year. Not that he's complaining. He doesn't have a lot of friends here yet. And he loved his birthday crown he wore all day long. And we went with the moms club to Anderson Dairy Factory and got to tour the place and meet the animatronic animals (since, yeah, this is Vegas so there are no cows grazing around here), see the ice cream getting packaged and most importantly eat free ice cream. Now we can save his free birthday ice cream from Coldstone (seriously, you gotta join their birthday club) for next week. He also got to watch his favorite movie. One guess. Yup, Cars.

Then we went to Chuck E Cheese "where magic happens" after picking up Keahi from school. We played the online ticket buster game so that both boys has coupons for 30 tickets each to use for prizes. At one point Jarom got stuck on the bicycle that goes up in the air when you pedal. He sat up there for a while as I tried to make it seem like he was so lucky to get such a long ride until the tech guys got the thing to come back down. Luckily the ruse worked. Freak out averted. Keahi was really sweet to his brother on his special day, always calling him birthday boy (for the 4 days leading to his birthday he'd call Jarom Almost Birthday Boy and sing him Happy Almost Birthday each day) and saying, "Of course I'll share my treat for after lunch with Jarom. He's the birthday boy. He can do whatever he wants." Which lead to a latter conversation we had to have with the birthday boy about how it doesn't actually mean he can do whatever he wants. But, mommy, Keahi said.....After Chuck E Cheese we rushed home to make the pancakes and bacon dinner he requested while Iz finished up the Cars cake (red velvet, of course). Then it was off to Keahi's soccer practice and back for cake and presents.

Sadly, the present I ordered for him (from QVC, mom, can you believe that?) won't get here till next week and Popo is sending money for a piano for the boys which will take time find and we'd already bought him a bike from a garage sale 3 weeks ago for his birthday so he only had one actual present to open on his special day. Keahi picked out 3 things from the dollar store which he paid for with his own money (mostly coins he's found over the last year and his first dollar in allowance). I had packed them into a Fruity Cheerios box and I love that Jarom was so excited when he ripped off the paper to find cereal for his birthday gift. When I told him to open it he was like Yes, I get to eat it now. Then he was even more excited to discover a Cars harmonica, Cars stamp and sticker set, and a Cars tic tac toe game. One day when (if) he grows out of his Cars obsession we're going to have a lot of things for a themed garage sale.

The next morning we headed back to the soccer field for Keahi's second game (which they lost pretty heavily but they all still had fun so it was great) and Jarom's second practice. He's definitely more athletically inclined than his big brother. Then we headed over to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Another free event for his birthday since we used our voucher from the only time we spent the $10 to go to the pool and some kid pooped in it after 3 hrs. This time there were hardly any people there so Keahi went on the big slide about a hundred times and Jarom on the little one fifty times (after we finally convinced him to try it). By the end Jarom was sliding down by himself and going under and bouncing off the bottom before I caught him up. A huge improvement. He also loved Iz flying him over to me and did it repeatedly until Iz did it super high and a life guard asked us to stop. By the end we were all exhausted and ready to go home and play video games till dinner. All in all, it was a good birthday weekend. And now my youngest is 4. Wow.

Things Jarom can do now that he's a big boy:
-play soccer with the rugrats every Saturday
-skip like a champion
-read a bit
-no more naps
-build awesome things with his magformers just like his big bro
-ask almost every day when he's going to do joy school (I'm working on it, I really am)
-show greater kindness to his brother
-whine slightly less often
-mostly be quiet for the 6 hours during the day that daddy sleeps (seriously, a huge accomplishment)
-dance like a wild maniac

He's my awesome sweetie pie. Who asks me why he's my sweetie pie. And what's a sweetie pie. And then goes, "Oh," with a knowing little nod.

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The Grand Canyon

Sooo, this is not even on the list of things I said I had to catch up on but I decided to skip all that for now and recap our latest adventure instead. Since Iz now only gets 3 weeks off during the entire year we have to make each vacation week count. This time we decided to go camping at the Grand Canyon for a couple of nights.

After a bit of stress concerning if we'd have a place to sleep since all the sites I saw the night before--but couldn't book online because it was too late--were apparently gone by the time we called it in the next morning as we were driving to Arizona, we managed to snag an awesome site near the bathrooms and on a very pretty loop of the camground. And, yes, it's still camping if there's a bathroom and even shower services ($2 for 8 min) and a laundry room--I mean, we did have to drive a few minutes to get to those facilities--and inflatable beds in our tent. At least, by my definitions.

Our first surprise was the weather. It was about 25 degrees cooler there than in steamy--but not actually since that requires humidity-- Las Vegas. And there were plenty of trees for shade and puddles on the ground. I haven't seen a puddle since Michigan.

And then we noticed all the wild life. We got to see deer, elk, ravens, condors, and even a shy ringtail. I think the most impressive one was the condor spiraling from the bottom of the canyon right over us and beyond. We took about a million pictures. We should file them next to the millions of pictures we have of the pigeons in San Marco square in Italy. We've got a thing for birds.

We explored the southern rim with the boys, which translates into several scenic bus rides and a smattering of short, easy hikes. We went looking for fossils (the boys got a kick of looking for "animal evidence" and hopping over them), made our way partway into the canyon (we got pretty far considering the kids) and watched the mules march their way back up, and ventured onto tiny ledges as the boys got more and more adventurous. I had several heart attacks. But I snapped the photos anyway.

I think the boys' favorite parts were still the roasted marshmallows and flashlight-saber fighting in the woods. I think mine were watching the sunset from Yavapai point (after all the picture taking was completed and we'd moved the car that was double-parked and were finally able to sit and relax) off the path in a quiet nook surrounded by trees. It was our private place; the boys said it was only for Temples. And I loved watching the stars with Iz after the kids fell asleep. The milky way is so lovely.

I'm so glad we were able to get away for a few days with the boy. This world is full of so many kinds of beautiful.

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As for the rest of the vacation week, I took the kids on a Moms Club tour of the Great Harvest Bakery where they got to learn about making bread and even kneed their own rolls. We also all visited Red Rock Canyon together for a fun tour of their exhibits and a fun flower activity for the kids. We drove the scenic drive but I'd forgotten the camera at home so no pics yet. But I can't wait to go back during the winter and see snow again. Yay, snow! And I want to see the waterfalls in the spring. And we also attempted a fishing trip to Floyd Lamb State park. The ponds are supposed to be stocked with catfish during the summer and trout during the winter. Maybe we'll have better luck with the trout. But it was still lovely and refreshing to be near some water with shady trees around. And I love that when I asked Keahi to smile for the camera he informed me that he couldn't because he had to concentrate on the floater to see if it bobbed under. All in all, it was a good week. Now poor Iz has to go back to work. At 6am. And with not a single day off for the next 2 weeks. Yikes.

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Too much to catch up on

So we've been in Las Vegas for 2 months now and I haven't posted about the move, visiting with friends along the way here, settling in and finding cool things to do here, our brother-in-law's death, Israel's new job, my trip to Hawaii with the boys, how our entire family has become Super Mario Glaxy 2 obsessed, visits with Rueben, Evie, and the latest with our friend Nicole from NY, or anything else along the way. And I'm not going to do it right now. I'm a bit overwhelmed and need to find a place to start--which for my left-brained approach usually means chronologically--and I don't have any pics ready yet. This is the longest I've gone since moving in somewhere without giving a tour of the new digs. And now we've blown right past the just-moved-in orderliness into the s-two-active-boys-live-here-with-their-mostly-single-mother clutter. But, slowly, I will document everything.

For now, let me just say that we're adjusting to the dry heat. I use the special lotions my mom has been sending me for years morning, noon, and night. We love having central air. The boys think The Luxor pyramid is the coolest hotel ever. Next to the "fake New York" one with the outdoor roller coaster. There are slot machines in every grocery store. I found a kind of Portuguese sausage that's mostly like back home. The ward is very nice, but full of older, established families with teenage kids so I'm really, really missing our little branch full of people just like me. But there's got to be others here, right? And I've got a drawer full of clothes I have to lose weight to fit into again. There's a depressing note to end on. Now I feel like eating some ice cream. Yay! Ice cream!

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day we started a day early and had an awesome dinner.....made by daddy, of course (isn't the honored subject supposed to provide the meal?) with kalbi (made on our craigslist smoke 'n grill gem of a find), asparagus, bell peppers, mushrooms with our favorite lime butter sauce, and the bottle of Takwan we brought with us on our 4 day journey from Michigan. Actually, we planned on this meal being on Saturday since Iz's hospital had a dinner party planned for Sunday.....which we ended up skipping because we didn't really feel like mingling with strangers and attempting to keep our kids from breaking anything valuable at the hosting doctor's house (breaking the boss' one-of-a-kind souvenier from his trip to Zimbabwe---Yikes!). So I guess dodging that party was also how we celebrated Father's Day. I also took the kids to the library for a special Hooray for Dad storytime where they made crafts from shaving cream clay. I have no idea what Iz will do with them. Maybe I'll mount magnets on them and the go on the fridge. But it's the thought that counts. And they both made him awesome cards. Keahi even asked him the night before to sleep in so he could make another one in the morning.

And he deserves it. I love my husband. He's a good man and a good father. The fact that he questions both only solidifies it. He's kind. Honest. Works hard to provide for his family. And everyone in the family agrees that he's an excellent dancer. Here's to the father of my children. Who would rescue his sons even from gorilla robot pirates from Mars (like in the book he's reading to the kids here--pretty cool one if you're interested in finding it at the library). Hope all kids are as lucky as mine.

Another Gastronomical Anomaly

I know the last post was about breakfast and not the move or the new place but I just thought this was so cute so I had to memorialize it.

Today for breakfast Jarom requested:
-4 slices of salami...no bread
-a banana
-4 umes
-lettuce

I kept offering cereal but received endless stream of "No, thank you" followed by the next bizarre request. I think if he threw in a few slices of wax paper and a side order of rubber bands he'd be Gregory the Terrible Eater.

The Oshima Stomach

Apparently my boys inherited the Oshima Stomach (we can eat anything at any time--there's no distinct breakfast food). Take this morning for example. I'm pretty lazy about breakfast so they usually have dry cereal or cereal bars. And we keep them within reach so they can get it themselves. So today while I'm trying to do last minute packing up, the kids found the chocolate granola bars that were meant for the grownups. But I shrugged my shoulders and let them have at it. Then five minutes later Jarom brings me a bag of opened spicy pork rinds that were on the counter and asks if this can be for breakfast, too. Sure, why not. So the boys' last breakfast in Michigan consisted of chocolate granola bars and spicy pork rinds. Kervin and Tammy would be so proud.

On Demand: Heaven or Hell?

In the midst of my packing/cleaning madness, I have reason to be very grateful for the On Demand function of our cable subscription. The kids sit watching mindless shows while we try to get ready for tomorrow's move. And this has been going on for weeks since I put away most of their toys and games a while ago. So today is Memorial Day and it's gorgeous. Eighty degrees with blue skies and a light breeze. And what are my boys doing? Watching Go, Diego, Go. And later they're going over to the Smith's house to play Wii. I remember when I didn't even know what a Wii was and Keahi would watch a half hour of a movie he liked and then be done and want to go do something else. Like read. And now we have On Demand marathons. Bad, bad mommy.

The next time we move I want a full service moving company where all I do is provide some donuts and juice and watch them pack up our lives in neat, labeled boxes and my kids can play with their things right up until the move. And I want it as part of an employment package. Is that asking too much?

Free Fudge

Nope. Sorry. I'm not offering free fudge to the first 10 people who comment on this post. I'm not that generous. Plus, with how infrequently I post it would take forever to get those ten comments. Though maybe for fudge....I mean, I'd respond to just about anything for that.

Which is why I walked into Sander's Candy Shop (just across the street from our house) about 15 min. after opening to get my free half pound of caramel pecan fudge. It was part of some promotional that Hallie Owens told me about at our relief society farewell party 2 days before this blessed event. The first 2010 people who walked into any of their 7 locations got fudge. That sounds like a lot of people but there was no way I was going to take any chances. The 15min after opening was Jarom's fault for taking so long to get ready. Doesn't he realize his mommy WANTS HER FUDGE?

And later I sent Iz out for his free half pound. He asked if we really needed more fudge. I paused for a moment, considering whether he was really my sweet tooth husband or some kind of impostor. And then I sent him out.

So now we have a full pound of yummy fudge. Except that was Friday and now it's Sunday morning and we ate the first half pound in a couple hours and now there's only 1/4 pound left. And another caveat: it wasn't exactly free. Even though they just handed me my box the moment I walked in I couldn't just leave without getting something, right? So leave it to Jarom to pick out a gummy candy that ended up being 2.50. Seriously? Is there a golden ticket inside that thing? And then Iz said that all three workers stared at him expectantly after delivering their free bribe and he ended up getting one scoop of their expensive ice cream (as in $3 for a tiny scoop). So, in the end we spent $5.50 on our fudge. With a gummy and ice cream as extras.

And no, Mariko, that half pound of fudge was not the only treat we had that day. And we're not even pregnant as an excuse.

And it actually paid off

I know I've missed lots of major events including Keahi's 6th birthday and Easter but I just don't feel like a big catch up. Instead, here's a quick tribute to the glory of Joy School. I spent 3 weeks teaching unit 8 Individual Confidence and Uniqueness and it was a roller coaster ride jam-packed with looping mood swings of 6 three year olds, unlooked for twists like a child peeing in his pants while I'm holding another child's paint-covered foot for the Footprint page, and freefalling whines seeming to last forever. But, it was all worth it to see their proud faces when the finished putting together their All About Me books. And, of course, there were plenty of joyful times along the way as well: Hallie, the diplomat, declaring that all the JS kids were her best friends (after every other person had picked Sam as their favorite--except for Jarom who claimed William and Lightning McQueen as his best buds), Jarom recognizing all his classmates' name tags (hurray!he's actually listening to my attempts to teach him), and watching each of them confidently declare all the things they're talented at. Hallie is an artist and dancer. Jarom is a racer (who wants to grow up to be Lightning McQueen). I wish I were as sure in that department. So, cheers for my darling Joy School kids. And cheers that tomorrow is my last teaching day so that starting next week I'll be able to use that time for packing. Huzzah.

We're Moving to Las Vegas!

Here we come Vegas. It was our first choice even though I've never been there--not even a layover at the airport. But we're all looking forward to some warm days in the sun. And being closer to Hawaii. So, anybody know anything about living in Vegas?

5 Kids for 2 Days

I remember freaking out while I was pregnant with Jarom about the huge step from one kid to two. I mean, I had a routine down with Keahi and the new arrival was going mess things up with all the feedings and naps and crying. But, 3 years later, I think I've got a handle on two kids.....but having three still freaks me out. I've heard it's the hardest step since once you've got three down, adding extra ones is a breeze. Hmmmm....not sure if I believe the breeze part. (Bettina, what did you think of going from 3 to 5?) But now I can say I know what having 5 kids would be like--specifically 2 sets of twins and a baby. It's exhausting. Especially since I forgot what having a baby was like and my arms weren't prepared for the constant weight of baby Alex--particularly compared to my lightweight boys. But, aside from the constant need to be held, Alex was very simple to care for. Eat, play, sleep. Repeat as needed. It was mostly the older kids that got wild.
The first day was great. So easy I thought I was wrong about worrying about another kid. It made a big difference to have Iz around the whole time. We took the kids to the Clinton Macomb Library that's about a 40 min. drive away but well worth the extra drive. The children's wing is full of things to play with, making the books kinda secondary. The drama stage is huge and well stocked with puppets large and small. There's an electric train circling above the entrance and a Thomas train table with lots of trains to chug around. Fire engine and bus facades and a horse and wagon to boot. And by the time we got home it was naptime for Jarom and baby Alex. And with only 3 kids and a huge basement full of toys, naptime flew by in relative peace. It was amazing what taking Jarom out of the mix fixed since it was mostly Jarom and William that bugged eachother. And pizza and a movie rounded out the evening. Bedtime was also not as bad as I'd feared. We put Alex down in our room and the Grange kids in the spare room--which was much better than my original plan to put all four big kids in the boys' room and the baby in the spare room. This way our boys went down almost immediately and the Granges followed suit after about an hour of talking and giggling. Of course, this was all after their impromptu group visit to the bathroom to get drinks and play with the faucet. But by 8:30pm all was quiet and Iz and I could relax.
The next day was not as idyllic. This time we went to Eastland Mall playscapes to burn off some energy. Iz watched them for a bit by himself while I ran some errands. And then there were multiple potty breaks in an unfamiliar mall with one very close call. And my brilliant idea to do lunchables to avoid fussing backfired since the nuggets and crackers stackers were not big Granger pleasers. I should have just stuck to pbj sandwiches. At least last night's dinner was mostly successful in that the Granges picked off the pepperonis to give to my boys who loved the extra toppings. It's funny how you can never predict kids' tastebuds. Bettina told me that she had similar pickiness problems when our boys were over there. She made homemade mac and cheese with vegetables and her kids ate all the mac and cheese and mine ate all the veggies. I still don't get how I could have kids who don't like mac and cheese. It's unnatural. Anyhow, naptime was less successful this day. I think the novelty of having friends over was wearing off quickly. But we persevered and had fun making New Year's hats and marching in a parade once the boys woke up. I felt bad sending the kids home to their parents with more noise makers but it's New Year's so it's expected, right? Anyhow, it all came to an end by dinner time and with only two kids in the house it felt almost relaxing. Nothing like five to make two seem easy. Then we put them down early and cleaned up for our grownup party to begin.
The Smiths and the Orlandis came over to eat and play games and ring in 2010 with us. With the three families we had the complete YW presidency and 2/3 the Elder's quorum presidency and the seminary instructor. Don't you just love small branches. We had quite the spread with Cyndi's applesauce porkchops with sauerkraut and several cheeses (including a baked brie I learned how to make from Damaris-thanks girl!) and sausages Iz had brought back from NY, and sweets and sparkling drinks galore. The cheesecake fudge we'd gotten from Costco was a big hit. I may have to splurge sometime and order it online. It's called FudgeWudgies. Amazing. Simply ambrosia. We got to talking and eating so much we forgot to play our games till after midnight. And we kept going for a couple more hours. See, we non-drinkers can have fun on New Year's Eve, too. We even introduced them to Nerts. Even though Iz kept dominating, I can't wait to play again sometime. Anyone interested? And we played Catchphrase men v. women. Why is it we always teamup that way? Since we were kids. You'd think the solidarity would evolve into marital unity but somehow it always ends up boys v. girls. Anyhow, I think it was a great way to end 2009 with the kids' friends and our friends, too. Let's hope 2010 is full of more friends and not 5 kids--I could maybe start thinking about 3 but not 5.

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Christmas in Grosse Pointe

This is the first year we've had Christmas without any of my family around. Or even at our own house for that matter. Leading up to Christmas was kind of stressful since we squeezed in a little ski trip for our anniversary a couple nights beforehand. We got back to GP around 7pm Christmas Eve and picked up the kids from the Grange household--which, I'm sure, was glad to be 2 kids short. We quickly dragged our luggage and the kids' luggage back into the house, flipped on the Christmas tree lights, and attempted to have a nice Christmas Eve as a family with moderate success. We sat by the glowing tree and the kids sipped hot cocoa with snowmen mint marshmallows while I read from Luke. Then we sang a few songs and that concluded the spiritual part of the evening. The kids get to open one present this night and we've started a tradition of getting them pjs to wear to bed. This time though I stuffed them into their stockings from last year marked From Chicago Santa and left them on their beds. Apparently I chose well because the boys were ecstatic over their MarioKart and Cars pjs. Keahi was thrilled that Santa had known what he would love--even if it wasn't the spaceship toy he'd requested. A little while later, Iz and I could finally relax a bit...after cleaning the house and unpacking and getting ready for Chrstimas morning, that is.

Thank all that is holy the boys still slept in on Christmas morning. We had them open their stockings. Jarom was overjoyed that he got a new Lightning Mcqueen to replace the one he lost the week before in Costco. And both kids loved their light sabers and robotic arms and helmets. Then they opened the traditional family game--Cranium Congo--and played while I made brunch. After overhearing Jarom say (as part of the game) that his favorite food was mouse-ear pancakes I made sure I made the proper shapes on the griddle.

After brunch more wrapper ripping ensued--except for the last minute ones I didn't bother to wrap--and we enjoyed a (mostly) relaxing day of toy heaven. My big present was the ski jacket and I'd already been using the lotion mom sent so not a lot of present opening for me. I did save a surprise for Iz--a present that came in the mail from an unknown person. I'd thought it was Tammy at first and then Kervin but now I know it was from Arron. Iz's eyes lit up when he slid out the dvd copy of The Last Dragon. Seriously, you can't ask for a better gift than that. An endless supply of joy. And don't forget the power of the Glow. Our other favorite thing was the box o treats from Kerv and Mary. Lup Cheong!! And the prettiest chopsticks and placemats.

The next morning we got up early and headed out to Toys R Us (first time shopping there ever) so the boys could spend their Christmas money from Ojiisan. Jarom got 4 more Cars to go on the race track we'd gotten him. And Keahi bought Super Monkey Ball. It was actually get one video game get 2nd one half off so we also got one--Wii Fit Plus. Lost of fun for everyone. Then we raced home and started prepping for Christmas dinner with the Roehls. When they got here we chatted, prepped, made rice crispy popsicles and cookies, and played video games. I didn't really get much of a look at the Lego Star Wars game they brought over but I know by the end of the night it was the dads that weren't letting go of it. Dinner was great: Lemon herb turkey with garlic smashed potatoes (I went crazy with the garlic this time instead of catering to the kids) roasted carrots and grilled asparagus. Plus that favorite salad of mine with the gorgonzola, candied pecans, green apples, dried cherries and bacon. Yum. But, alas, no papaya seed dressing. Then for the nontraditional we had rice, kalbi, kalua pig and cabbage and chocolate haupia pie. Plus, Nate got to try a couple different sushis for lunch. Soooo ono. With all the different flavors it was hard to stop. But stop we did in time to open presents before the Roehls had to drive home. All the way to Toledo. I cant' believe we live one and a half hours away and this is our first visit together. We'll have to rectify that. Oooh, can't wait to see the Toledo Zoo. And we also need to bring Paul's and Malia's gifts with us since they accidentally left them behind. Except for the glow-in-the-dark foam which they really loved. Our boys loved their Cars puzzle, dino models and we especially loved our photobook of all the cousins. Great idea, Lani!

So that was basically our Christmas in Grosse Pointe. Simple. But fun. And full of yummy leftovers. The rest of our vacation was pretty relaxed. We went ice skating a few times at our park. Keahi just had his first lesson yesterday and he's doing great. We've attempted to make snowmen but our neighbor told us it was still too fluffy. Good to know it's the snow and not our own ineptitude leading to underwhelming blobs. Last week Sunday, Keahi was very excited about going back to school. He jumped up and down exclaiming, "Yay, yay, yay. Today is the last day of Christmas vacation." It was a nice break, but I agree that it's good to be back to normal.....except for waking up early.

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