Meatballs

We took the kids to see Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs. It was a good movie. I laughed, mostly at James, he so gets into movies. It's so much fun to sit next to him during a movie.

The last gift was made today. All the kids hand made their gifts for eachother this year. Except for James. He got to cheat. I am amazed at what the kids came up with. They really pay attention to eachother and made some pretty cool gifts.

sledding

Courtney built a snow man
Dave and the kids coming down the hill

Courtney on her belly

Justin after spinning down the hill

Jordan coming down

David, Justin and Noelia
Everybody headed back up
Courntey, Alijandra, Noelia in a train
James, He actually had fun this year
Everyone on the hill.

It was fun. We took the girls across the street with us. Everyone had a blast, the kids built a ramp. James tried to go over it several times. So Dave got him all lined up and going fast, he was headed strait for it. When he hit it, his sled came to a compleat stop and he went flying out. It was so funny. I so wished I had, had the video going. He loved it. He tried again and just blew through it. The kids wouldn't let him go over it anymore.

Everyone had a blast and come home frozen.

Christmas shopping

Is done. Except for stockings and a couple of kids have to finish making their gifts. And I will be staying home for the next 3 Saturdays. At least, staying away from the corner of State Street and University Ave.

Dave and I finished tonight. I love having kids old enough to babysit. This is the first year Dave and I did all of the Christmas shopping together. I love shopping with Dave he gets so excited, he loves trying to figure out what the kids will like. He does a much better job than I do.

I took James and Noah to the library for story time on Tuesday, they weren't having story time. So the wonderful librarians gave little gift bags to the boys. James missed the part where the librarian said no storytime. He looked at her and said, "I need my name tag." She said "Sorry we arent having story time today" He shook his head and said "Dang it" I don't think the librarians have ever laughed so loud in the libray before.

Germs

So next week Mythbusters will test what germs are on the surfaces you touch daily and how they compare to the germs on a toilet seat.

About 7-8 years ago a morning news shows followed one of their anchors and tested all the surfaces he touched during the day to find out what germs were on them.

Just last month there was a study done showing that the germs on purse handles were the same if not worse than in a bathroom. (no surprise there, what is the first thing you grab after pulling up your pants in a public bathroom.)

But Surprise Surprise we are not all dead, nor are we walking around sick. We were given a wonderful thing called an immune system. It fights all the germs we pick up and keeps us healthy. We get germs in small amounts and we don't even know it. But our bodies take care of it all on their own.

Did you know that the percentage of childhood allergies has steadily gone up over the past 20 years? Not only that, the severity of the allergies has gotten worse.

So do you want to know why? Because children are living in a more sterile environment. Their immune system has nothing to fight. So it goes after what would be a small allergy, and hits it full steam ahead because it has nothing to fight.

I have never sterilized my home, it is clean, and except for flu and cold season we do not sanitize hands or use Lysol on all household surfaces.
My daughter had an allergy to squash when she was younger, ut having been exposed to it in small doses she no longer has an allergy.

I am not saying that all allergies are the fault of sterilization. My boys all have dust allergies. I have spring allergies. It does happen. I am just saying, Don't let it get out of hand.

Shapes

So as my niece said, "I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight, just not shape." That is where I am, It just took me 4 years instead of the 2 months it took her.

So with the last 4 pounds I lost, my belly changed shape. So now my pants and undies don't want to fit right. So that means I get to go clothes shopping. Only not quite yet. I want to see if I can change the shape of my belly a little bit more.

We put the Christmas tree up last night. The kids have such a ball, and James was able to help this year. He loved it. He had so much fun. Last year he was recovering from having hernia surgery. Only no one was tall enough to reach the top so I got to rearranged a bit when they were done.

I have to say Thanks to Linda for the snow shovels. Yesterday instead of only 2 out shoveling there were 4 out there. They got it done so quick they even did the neighbors. I love my kids they are such great kids.

Justin

Justin is going on a camp out this week.
Yesterday we were teasing him with all the things we were going to do with out him.
Today when I looked at the calendar, he had written Justin gone :( on the day he leaves and Ya Justin is home :) ya, on the day he comes home.
I love that kids sense of humor.