New Years is Not Our Thing

New Years Eve.....

One of the first times Don Juan and I knew that we were meant to be happened on a New Years eve in the early 2000's

our conversation went something like this

" What do you want to do?"

"nothing really how about you?"

"I don't really dig new years eve it isn't a big deal to me"

" Me either"

" really? are you just saying that because you think I'm hot and you want me to make out with you?"

" no I really couldn't care less about it"

And then we knew it. If we stayed together we were not doomed to a lifetime of lame New years Eve Parties, or yearly noise making or blowing of annoying kazoo things in my year, and we also knew that if we fell asleep before midnight on New Years for the rest of our lives it wouldn't be a big deal because we would just kiss each other in the morning and say

"happy new year baby"

and it would mean the same to us.

SO.....that's what we have done

( minus a few friend dinners we have had here and there that have lasted until midnight with out meaning to)

But now we have the Kidletts and they want to do something SOOOO bad, and there is nothing our eye rolling or sighing can do about it.

SO, we decided if we have to celebrate the New Year with a bang, we are going to do it Markland style,

First we will be secretly changing the clocks so the party will actually end at 10 not 12

(there is only a few more years we can get away with this and we will be taking full advantage)

and then I am pretty sure we are going to turn our house into a Nerf War Zone and play some kind of capture the flag on the different levels of our house...It will actually be fun

and as long as We are in bed and asleep by 11:00 it will be an awesome New Years Eve

Christmas One Liners

One of my favorite things about the holiday is doing nothing, hanging out with family drinking hot chocolate and playing cribbage at 4 in the afternoon because we are not on a schedule. Dinner always seems to be late, the house stays a mess, there is lots of cuddling,and laughing and playing with new Christmas toys.

I always like to look back at our break and write down the funniest things that happen. that way when we look back at these days we laugh laugh laugh.

here are a few of my favorites

Daniel: my face book notified me of like 10 birthdays this week. Jesus wasn't one of them.......DANG YOU ZUCKERBERG!

Logan: Eww I don't like my hair like this it makes me look like Calvin Coolidge.

Daniel: What are you talking about? these slippers are way manly. These slippers are manlier than John Hamn

Michelle: What are you doing? your doing the nonsense that's buggin.

Don Juan: Like I said before, Patrick Swayze is a tall glass of water.......

Jude: I thought it was a good idea........but it was a BAAAAAD idea ( this was about him giving his pants a swirly....you know, flushing them down the toilet)

Jude: Don't worry mom, I didn't flush my pants I flushed Wrapping paper because it was gross.

Diana: as long as I can provide entertainment for Christmas dinner I am happy. I have been working on "Sweet Transvestite" ( imagine that title to the tune of Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline, also imagine Diana saying it with her perfected Transvestite voice.)

Kennedy: Logan wants to crush a sleeping pill in Santa's cookies so we can catch him but I don't want to because I think it will make Comet mad at us.

Christmas break is so much fun,

Thanks Daniel for hanging out here for Christmas and keeping Don company while I was isolated!

Christmas part 2

Christmas eve is my most favorite day of the year. I love all the excitement just bursting from everyone in the house. We did the regular, you know, made cookies for Santa,put out the reindeer food, acted out the nativity and then patiently waited for Santa to come.

We big kids played some card games and ate way to many crackers and Gouda cheese.

I usually make a big Christmas eve dinner but this year we choose to go out to eat. No mess so it was nice but my cooking is better, I never thought I would ever say that but in this case it was true. Lessons learned.

And thus our planking war continues on, nice one kids.

Christmas part 1

Treatment ended three days before Christmas so the frolicking began. Started off by Don Juan and I going to slc. to see "A Christmas Carol" Great show,great message, overall just great.

I had to sneak these pictures seeing as no cameras allowed or pictures on our sneaky camera phones. I may or may not have cried a few times,I can not confirm or deny that fact, I also got to eat a huge bacon cheeseburger and french fries for dinner. After my iodine diet it was HEAVEN, HEAVEN I tell you

many more fun Christmas stories to come.

A letter to the Kidletts

Dear Kidletts,

I have been sick all week, and your daddy has been taking care of me and you guys. You are very lucky to have Don Juan as your pops.

I have been banished to my room since 10:00 am this morning and I will be stuck here until the morning. I am apparently radioactive for 24 hours after my treatment so I cant be around anybody or anything. I have heard you playing with Daddy downstairs all day and I am a little jealous. I love your little hugs and kisses and I love feeding you and just seeing you laugh. I am very jealous your dad gets to have you guys all to himself today. It is good for him to see you how I see you ( meaning all day) but I wish I could be a part of it.

Hamlet, and Ophelia have been hanging outside my room all day, occasionally scratching the door, they want to come in so bad, but nope I am dangerous to them also.

I get my full body scan on Friday and assuming those results come back negative I will be officially in Remission. Kind of a great feeling. forget kind of a great feeling it is an awesome feeling.

I am off to take my radioactive tush to bed and I will wake radioactive free (did i say that right?) and in the morning I will wake you all up with a thousand kisses and snuggles, it is amazing how much I miss them after just one day

P.S nice picture of Ophelia huh?

Christmas threw up all over my living room

Here is our Christmas overload room. Every time I walk in here I feel like an eighty year old ladies Christmas decorations threw up all over my living room. I cant say that I hate it, it kind of makes me happy just to sit in there and be surrounded by Christmas.

I have not been writing alot lately because we kind of have been crazy busy around here. This week starting my treatment has made me sicker than I was expecting, plus all of the kids concerts,shows,parties, I cant seem to find a down moment

Tomorrow is the big Day that I go get my actual radiation treatment so I am now resting ( Don Juans orders) If he finds me on the laptop I will be dead, but Ah well....

Happy Sunday

Greatest Video Ever

I just came across this video that Don Juan made me years ago of the kidletts. It makes me so happy to watch...enjoy ....it is a keeper

I Got Flipped off.....And so the winter Begins

It finally snowed! I was so bummed that we were halfway through December and had no real snow yet. The kidletts were dying to get out their snow gear, unfortunately this was all the lam snow we got.

and just when I thought that this snow day couldnt get any lamer a miracle happened

my car skidded on the way home from the gas station, therefore the rest of the way home I drove very very slowly,which in turn made the people behind me very angry and as I turned into my neighborhood I got my first honking/flip off of the season.

oh it brought me great joy! Winter has come!

maybe this year I will get the nerve to drive 10 mph in the snow.

I said maybe.

lets be for real I probably wont

looks like I have a winter full of angry drivers and flip offs ahead of me

Bring it on!!!!!Im ready.

;)

Date Night

What do you Kidletts do when we are away? Well, it depends on who is watching you. If it is Aunt Diana this is the craziness that in sues

I don't appreciate the pre Chippendale dancer shot we have going on here.

you guys had way more fun than your pops and I we went and saw the lamest movie ever. But we did go to a nice dinner

So thanks to Aunt Diana for letting Don Juan and I have some special time

oh yeah, and for organizing our closet while we were away( its Weird aunt Diana loves organizing closets, I mean she loves it.It is kind of sick)

Congrats To Don Juan and Im really Starting Tomorrow.....Really I am this Time

Congrats to my Don Juan DeMarkland for getting his dissertation topic finally approved. It has taken a year of editing, re-editing,coursework,and a ton of rejection but it finally got approved.

Congrats my Sweetums,you are one step closer to your P.H.D which also means you are one step closer to me calling you Dr. Don

Also congrats on this picture. You look like a doped up rock star if you ask me..... This is what you look like when you travel red eyes for work and don't sleep for two days, somehow you still make this look cool.

I start treatment tomorrow for real this time..... I have it confirmed with the doctor.....remember when a few weeks ago I said I was starting? well, that didnt happen, what happened instead was a big annoyinh pain in my butt, but this time its for sure. Tomorrow I start! Is it weird that I am a little excited? I just want to get it done, so maybe it is anxiety, either way here I go!

The Fresh Morning Face Of A Child

When I think about some of my favorite things about being a mom this is definately at the top of my list. I love how my kidletts look when they first wake up. The look only lasts for a few minutes and then it is gone. I am not sure what it is but their eyes are just a little puffier, maybe a little glazed,wide, and you know what? I dont know how elses to describe it but they just look different when they first wake up. I love it. I think it is beautiful and it is my favorite time of the day and when I see those fresh morning faces I just cant help but want to bring them into bed with me and cuddle them and trap that freshley woken up face on them forever. Thankfully Kennedy and Jude are more than happy to oblige my morning cuddling as seen below. Logan, well, it depends on whether he has other things going on. I am like #20 on his list of important things so no he doesnt cuddle in the mornings as much......he still does it.....but not willingly.

Look at those fresh morning faces. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

Dang You Wednesday.

Dang you Vlasic Kosher Dill Wholes. Darn you for being such a large jar that i Cant get my hand around you to open you. When you want a pickle nothing else will do.And I want a pickle!NOW! seriously I am angry I really want a pickle

Dang you cinnamon sugar almonds, I didn't know you would be so good and that I would want to eat you all day. Dang you for being half nut so I semi think your healthy when deep down I know your not.Dang you

Dang you Osiel Giros for making me 1. realize my talent is really just not that cool. 2. want to never watch American Ballet at all, Cuban Ballet is where it is at. and 3. for just plain making my day.

(the video is 3 minutes or so, if you in a hurry go to minute 2:00 to the most beautiful jumps I have ever seen

p.s thanks Osiel for making me feel a little less in shape today, i really appreciate it

Dang you Jude's Pillow for not ever having a pillowcase on ( I know Jude takes it off every night because he says "pillowcases are evil so I took mine off" its really not your fault) but now I have to wash you in the washer and it has thrown my washer out of alignment so it sounds like my washer is going to fall through the floor into my kitchen. So, Dang you for being so bulky.

Dang you Don Juan for taking my Burt's Bees to work, my lips hurt SO bad right now and all I have is gross waxy carmex, once you have had the Burt's you cant go back. DANG YOU!

Canadian Customs are legit!!!!

My house is a mess, and I don't mean a " oh please excuse my messy house" (after I have cleaned the entire house top to bottom) I mean super messy
I have 3 bathrooms to clean, a floor to mop, a laundry room full of laundry to fold and even worse put away......finals for my Government class are this week( remember I re-started my schooling? Yeah I don't know what I was thinking) but instead of cleaning my house I am messing through my phone and looking at some recent pictures....like this gem.....

A few weeks ago Kennedy and I went and saw The Ballet Wests rendition of the Nutcracker!!!
Kennedy loved it and couldn't stop talking about the Sugar Plum Fairy.....is it bad that I have this secret dream of Kennedy being a professional ballet dancer? You know without all of the crazy anxiety,eating disorders and messed up body image things.....just a beautiful ballerina.I love the Ballet, the music, the dancing, the costumes, It just takes me to a new world so when Kennedy does it for a living she can hook me up with season tickets and because she will be the star Don Juan wont complain about going. PERFECT!!!!

Speaking of Don Juan he is at this moment driving home from the airport,coming home from a day trip to Canada....a day trip that included him getting harassed in customs because he was only going for a day and checked two bags. I am pretty sure they thought he was part of a drug cartel and that he had swallowed bags of cocaine that he was going to "deposit" in a bath tub later on.... (anyone seen "Maria Full of Grace"? uh if not...don't watch it it will give you bad dreams, if you have seen it you catch my reference) alas,Don Juan was not trafficking drugs, he was just flying out to visit some of his employees out there.
Today I will be cleaning my house, if no one hears from me in a few days just know that I died doing what I hate...... drowning in my huge pile of clean laundry.

Did I mention I hate folding laundry???

Big Day for the Logmiister

Dear Logan,
you made a big boy choice this weekend. It was a choice you have been prepping for for 8 years and today finally came! Your pops and I are so proud of the young man you have become. On Saturday you chose to be baptized, I know at this time in your life you do not understand everything about this baptism you assured us you knew enough to know you wanted to do it. What a big boy decision you made. We love you and we consider ourselves lucky lucky lucky to have had you as our firstborn.

you should consider yourself lucky lucky lucky to have us as your parents........yeah that doesn't have the same ring to it..............:) We are the lucky ones

A Christmas Tradition

one of my favorite things about Christmas time is practicing traditions.Traditions are such a wonderfully comforting thing to have in your home, something to look forward to every year.

My favorite tradition in the Markland household statrted about 5 or 6 years ago. Don Juan Demarkland had a great Idea to write me a card everyday for the month of December and on Christmas morning he had made a huge one out of cardboard, it was just sitting there by the tree on Christmas mornings.

I loved the daily cards so much that I started to look forward to finding his little love letters every single morning. Daily he would hide 1 card where he knew I might come across it during the day. If I hadn't found it by bedtime he would start to give me clues.

I loved this and it quickly became the highlight of my days.

To my surprise the next year on December 1st I found a card in the Christmas tree....and you know how the rest of the story goes.

It has grown into a wonderful thing that both of us look forward to. Don has gotten pretty sneaky with his delivery, like giving a few to Logan and telling him to give me 1 a day while he is out of town, you catch my drift. It has turned into a wonderful tradition that Don Juan every intention on teaching our boys and letting them know that this is what MArkland boys do for their wives.

If your looking for something different and sweet to do for your spouse this year, give it a try. Even if they aren't the sappy type, this sweet gesture is guaranteed to make your loved one feel like the most special person in the world.

( Yes wives can do it for their hubbies also feeling loved doesn't discriminate)

Hallmark Christmas Movies

I kind of wonder where the time is going. I cant believe it is almost 2012! Dang Dang Dang.

The Logmister gets Baptized tomorrow ( in my faith you get baptized at 8) and it is kind of making me come to the realization that I am not a young new mom anymore. I mean I am ok with that of course, I am much more at ease with myself as a person,wife,and mother than I was 8 years ago when Logan was born but that doesn't mean I have to be OK with being older right?

on a lighter subject I have been slightly obsessed with these lame cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies that I just happened to stumble upon. They are horrible,cheesy,and I swear I sprained my eyeballs yesterday with all of the insane major eye rolling that was commencing but for some reason I am watching them. I really don't know whats wrong with me, I think it is a sickness. Its making me sick just thinking about them, but at the same time I cant wait to see what is on the Hallmark channels Christmas docket for today.

As I type this I can hear The Jude monster harassing Kennedy in her room. Well, he is not really harassing but he is trying to convince her to clean his room for her,I'm letting it play out because I want to see what she says....... Good girl! she shot him down! but, he is BEYOND pissed, I swear he is dramatic. He gets that from Don Juan I tell you:)

Planning a baptism,and family pictures tomorrow so our weekend will be busy, hope yours is as well! and do yourself a favor and just try watching one Christmas Hallmark movie,with some hot chocolate, you will be surprised by its magical powers(I recommend Santa Baby with Jenny Mccarthy,Mccartney? I don't know? All I know is that was an especially bad/good one)

Thursdays Things

Thursdays thing is knitting. I am sitting here with my sick little girl, starting to not feel so hot myself, I am freezing and I am lusting after this beautiful thick wonderous lap blanket. I have been so drawn to knits lately I cant really explain it but it makes me feel cozy and warm.

So I would like to learn how to knit

and once I do I would like to knit myself this sweet little number

Does anyone know how to knit? is it really hard?

I am feeling under the weather today, particularly right now so this is the end of this lame excuse of a Thursdays Things.

Find the pattern and info on said knitted blanket HERE

Photo courtesy of purlbee.com