Faces

$2 Santa wrapping paper
$30 Christmas P.J.s
$? This years hottest toys
THE LOOKS ON THEIR FACES WHILE OPENING GIFTS
PRICELESS!!!

Tis the Season

Every year we anticipate the Christmas Season for all of the wonderful things that it brings. Family, friends, food, giving and of course a little receiving. Every year in my anticipation however, I always forget how crazy it can all become as you try to buy gifts, wrap, do Christmas cards, get them in the mail, bake, trim the tree and be everywhere at the same time. This year I set a goal for myself. To have all of my shopping done and gifts wrapped by Thanksgiving. I DID IT!!! My thinking behind this was to be able to sit back and truly enjoy the holidays this year. TODAY, I begin. The tree is trimmed, the cards(not the best picture in the world but with a two year old you get what you can), the cookies are baked and given out, the gifts are under the tree and the school parties are done.

TIS THE SEASON!!! MAKE SURE YOU TAKE SOME TIME TO ENJOY IT!!!!


This is Hayden and aunt Kimmi enjoying the season at the Christmas tree farm. After sledding Hayden, who was frozen solid kept saying "more, more".

Does it ever end!!!!!!

Like all heads of the household out there when you roll over and look at the clock in the morning your mind quickly scrolls through all of the things you need to get done that day. Get the kids up and to school, unload the dishwasher, let the dog out, check the mail, make breakfast, lunch and think about what is for dinner and oh ya, maybe a load or two of laundry. If I am really lucky, I will get a shower and if my husband is really lucky, I will put on something besides sweats today. We all know that to accomplish all of the above, swaets would be more comfortable attire.

As I woke THIS morning and prepared for battle (in my sweats, it is not your lucky day honey)
I put laundry high on my list. The weekly routine is to start laundry on Mon. or Tues. and try to have it done and put away by Thur. afternoon. OK OK I know that I do have a family of five that I am washing for but is this crazy or what............

This is only 1 week worth of laundry that has now been washed and now needs to be put away. DEAR SANTA, I would like a shiney red, super duper sized, do it all washer and dryer for Christmas. Possibly a little elf that might help to put it all away would be helpful too because as you can see I AM LOSING THIS BATTLE!!!!!

Sisters

It is not very often that I get to have both of my sisters around for an entire day. They are young, busy and at whole different phase of their lives than I am. Plus it doesn't help that Aunt Keri lives so far away. So for Thanksgiving I actually got to get a few pictures of them. Who knows when this will happen again but it was good to have them around!!! Three generations!!!
Oh and lets not forget Grammy Monica that came and cooked her three girls Thanksginving Dinner and kept us all from starving on this great day!!!! (Next year I will pat more attention to where the turkey goes. I promise!!!!)



Three sisters from the same two parents but I have a hard time seeing an obvious resemblance. (My hair color is the only real one however!!!)







This must be where my kids have gotten their blue eyes because they surly did not get them from me or their dad???? I always learned brown was the dominant trait. My kids are defiantly recessive in the eye department.

White Christmas???

Tis the season for the snow to fall. Looking out the window it is sooo beautiful. 10 minutes of driving in it, not so beautiful. As we drive home from Disney on ice last night and the sugar has set in, the kids seeing all of the cars on the side of the road, decide that sliding in the car might be fun and proceed with all the noise. Slush, ice, wet snow, tis the season.

I have also been hot and heavy about researching smaller cars. The full size Suburban I am driving now just seems sooo big. However, after being back in the snow my "boat" of a car is looking better and better. Watch out Jack Frost because my "boat" can go any where!!!

Day 2

Ok

Anyone that knows my husband knows he loves his Christmas lights. They also know that he can't just sit around and do nothing. It just isn't in his nature. So it is Thanksgiving and he is board. What does he do? Of Coarse, more Christmas lights. He has decided we do not have enough and is out on the roof for round two.

Check back and maybe will have a finished product by years end!!!!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!!!

OH HAYDEE!!!

I do have to begin with the fact that I am sooooo lucky that my husband does not have to work crazy hours and is available to us more often than most daddy's. However, I get so excited and the prospect of having him home for an entire week. I can sleep in, he can take the kids to school, and I will get soo much done. It will be Great.

Well it never turns out that way. Busy as usual. Thanksgiving shopping, a little Christmas shopping, applying for passports, putting up Christmas lights, parent conferences and don't forget the dishes and the laundry still need to be done. The week has proven to be productive but busy. I forget how tiring it can be for the kids too.

We keep finding POOR Hayden asleep in the living room on a chair or in the floor. Did I forget to give him a nap???? Oh ya I did. Again we have fallen into the "Oh we have plenty of time to get everything done". Sorry Haydee!!!!

Isn't he so cute when he sleeps! No wonder it has been so quiet around here!!!

A Week!

THE BOYS RUBBERMAID FORT!








BIG HELPERS!!!!






I am not sure where the time has gone. I have not posted a blog in a week and I cannot remember what it is I have been doing. I will have to say that due to the premature sunsets I find myself in my P.J.s before dinner. Some might say this is a sign of getting older. I say it is a sign of getting colder. There is nothing like a pair of flannel P.J.s and a fire in the fire place.

As I sit and type the rest of the family is bustling with holiday cheer already. Daddy is putting the Christmas lights on the house. Blaine has a little bit of a reputation for being an exterior illuminator. Maybe this is because his dorm room in college had so many Christmas lights in it you couldn't even sit in there because of the heat. When we took the lights down after Christmas he had burn marks on the ceiling. I think that the Frat house electric bill probably reflected Blaine's love for lights. I also think that the local Walmart in Moscow where he bought all of his lights loved him too. I think we still even use some of those very light ten years later.

The kids are so excited to help. The boys have made a Rubbermaid fort out of all of the light boxes and Makena is looking for any excuse to go up the ladder.(She hasn't found one yet.)Myself? It is freezing out there. I am thinking about starting a fire and putting my flannel P.J.s. Creek! Creek! I can hear somebody on the roof and it is getting dark. We will have to get back to everyone with the final pictures.

CHECK BACK FOR THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!!!!

Random Acts of Kindness

Our kiddos new favorite movie is Even Almighty. Hayden refers to it as the "boat boat" show. I do love the message that it offers about Random Acts of Kindness. I have even noticed a few of these random acts around my house



As mom of a family of five my job in the laundry room is NEVER done. I will say that I LOVE my new laundry room seeing that I spend soo much time in it these days. In between dealing with the bottomless laundry baskets there is always the SOCK problem. They always seem to go in with matches and emerge from the dryer as singles. I choose to throw the singles in a big basket and when everyone in the house has run out of socks we have what we call a Sock Party. We dump the socks in the floor and practice our "Needle in a Hay Stack" skills followed by the "Matching Pairs" skills.

Last weekend Daddy decided to tackle the sock basket on his own. Of course he did this while watching the Seahawks game in full Seahawks attire. Thanks Daddy!!!




Tucking the kids into bed is a nightly ritual that seems

to always involve a little whining, a little complaining and
maybe even a few threats. A few nights ago Daddy went to
check on the kids and found this note laying out very orderly
outside Brydens bedroom door. It was the sweetest things I have ever seen. However, I do consider this a bedtime stall tactic on Makenas part. Good Job Sis!!!!!





Last but not least is the homework ordeal. Makena works on expanded form math notation while Bryden works on handwriting and writing letters. Hayden however, always has to be right in the middle of it all. Daddy bought him his own notebook and crayons and his siblings are always willing to help out. Good Job Kiddos!!!!!

Keep up those Random Acts of Kindness out there!!!!!

Is it Christmas Yet?

After a great Halloween excursion the kids have finally started to come off of their sugar high and are coming off of the walls. The weather was not overly cold this year and we joined the troops in our old neighborhood for a little trick or treat rally. Our sugar rally team included Bryden as the "nice" black Spiderman, Makena as a Cheetah Girl and there is no question what Hayden was going to be this year, Thomas the "choo-choo".

As I pulled the kids out of bed for school the next morning Bryden
proceeded to come down stair and ask "Now that Halloween is done is it Christmas yet?"
Again I find myself having a hard time keeping up with this crew.

We Hope everyone else had a great Halloween!!!!!!

Halloween Fun!!

It has been a busy week in the Dodson house!! Of course we have not forgotten to stop and take some time to carve pumpkins. As a kid I always remember anticipating the big night and trying to come up with the perfect face. (Scary or Happy this year?)

Thank goodness for dads and their incredible scraping abilities. We managed to get the insides out very quickly and the kids had a great time.

Hopefully trick or treating will go as smoothly!

The Room

So in effort to be on the ball this year I have decided to make sure all of my kids are up on their medical visits. This was mostly set into motion by Makena coming home from school to tell me that they tested her vision and she could not see out of one eye. OH NO!!! In about 20 minutes I had eye appts for everyone in the family. Now for the hard part. Get to the appt on time and then sit and wait in the small room. This would be the room that my kids always seem to think is there purely for their entertainment.
- At the eye Dr. they love to jump in and out of the chair and turn all of the eye machines on. Boys always think that the black eye cover is a weapon.

-At the OB office my kids think that the plastic uterus is a puzzle just for them and don't forget the monkey bars. (ie stirrups) The boys go for anything medal as a weapon.

-At the pediatricians office the cabinet under the examine table is always a fort. Standing in the window in your underware is always a fun game too. Lets not forget the turning chair that we can spin on until we are falling into the walls (I wonder what the people next door are thinking?)As for the boys. They choose the giant Popsicle sticks as the weapon of choice here.

So all of these situations have one thing in common. I am locked in a 9x9 room with three kids bouncing off of the walls. Their volume always seems to shoot up and any sugar they have had kicks in. The problem is you can't yell very loud in these rooms because you know the Dr is always outside the door and I think the kids know this is where they can get away with anything!!

At least at the Dentist there are no doors in the room.
I am starting to feel a little claustrophobic!!!

It is a love hate relationship already!!

So almost every afternoon after lunch Bryden and I look for our daily visitors. Mom and her two babies come out through the trees and hang out just across the street from our front yard. It is amazing to live in a place so close to nature and witness the circle of life right out our front door. However, one morning as I am out walking the dog I noticed that my beautiful lilies were GONE. I will have to admit First Thought: Which one of my kids actually brought scissors outside and cut my flowers off!!!(And all of the leaves)?

I am sure by now everyone is on to who the culprit may be. As beautiful as THEY are, will we be able to come to an understanding about the lilies?

Test Blog

OK world!!!

Or anyone out there that would be interested in catching up on what is going on in the Dodson house. I have decided to take the plunge into the sea of Internet communication and try my hand at blogging. I have found myself looking forward to catching up daily on blogs of friends and family out there. It is nice to see that life can be crazy for everyone out there and I have found many laughs reading other blogs. I also have a very dear friend who told me as a busy mom who cannot find a way to scrapbook or take pictures of all of life's moments, I can at least blog and store some of my families stories and triumphs to keep for myself later. So friends and family....

This is the test blog of the Dodson 5. I cannot promise pure entertainment nor blogs on a regular basis but I too will attempt to blog.



(Maybe I will even figure out how to do pictures too!