Merry Christmas

As you can see- between the Guitar Hero Rock Band, the giant hello kitty stuffed animal and the fat head ( 6 foot tall cut out of a baseball player)....a Merry Christmas was definately had by all!

Festivus for the Restuvus

Yes..this is the same day as the aforementioned Breakfast with Santa! We were really, really in the holiday spirit, what can I say? Grandma Ilene decided to treat us to the Polar Express Train ride this year instead of Breakfast with Santa - thus my previous post. Anyhoo...it was complete with old train car seats, elves with names like Cocoa, Jasmine, and Tinsel, chocolate chip cookies, semi-hot chocolate, a real live book reading and a rousing rendition of the 12 days of Christmas! What it was not complete with was restrooms...that's right... drink it up and hold it in! The kids had a blast but I just had to include the picture up top with Kalen and Adeline deeply staring out the window, nope: Deeply staring at the Polar Express Book, nope; deeply staring at the jubilance around them, nope: Deeply staring at the Nintendo DS....yep!

Breakfast with....the Grinch???

Okay People...This is a community service message to all and you will thank me later. In order to explain I must start at the very beginning...I personally have been attending some kind of Breakfast with Santa since- well as long as I can remember we'll put it that way. First, it was Downtown at the Tiffin Room in the Old ZCMI Building (still my favorite by the way), next came the Zoo's rendition (which was amazing considering I won't even eat popcorn at the zoo usually) and this year we decided to try the Thanksgiving Point festivities. First of all, the buffet included it's own security elf who would not allow anyone to make a second trip even if they were a starving 2 year old who didn't get eggs the first time around. Secondly, there were no tables with less than 8 seats on them so we Wisemans had to bust up some unsuspecting families fun by taking up half of their table...pass the salt, please. Thirdly, the entertainment included the following: A very, scary, hairy grinch who talked with too much of a lisp- if you get my drift, a gingerbread man, a sugarplum fairy, a huge white polar bear and the best for last....a Santa who looked like a 20 year old Brazilian. I mean really, you should have seen those dark, bushy eyebrows next to the white hair and beard. Even Adeline commented that that HAD to be one of Santa's "helpers" since he didn't look anything like the Real Santa. Sorry I didn't get a good picture of this brazilian fiasco...I am just too cheap to pay $20 a person and also $7.95 for a picture with him as well. Yes, they did charge for those. This my friends was an official holiday trap-the same as a tourist trap only with a giant Christmas Bow on top. We will definately be returning to the Monkeys, Lizards and such next season for our Breakfast it was the best we've found so far. So, my friends...save your money and time and please don't drink this egg-nog.

Cookie Party with the Fam

Yum, Yum, Yummy...So Good in my Tummy (that was A.J.'s contribution to this post). Lindsey, Shelby, Mom and all of our accompanying troops met last night for a baking extravaganza. As you can see we mixed, rolled, frosted and dipped our way to pure sugar nirvana. It was so fun to try everyone elses cookie creations and then share with neighbors, friends and co-workers the next day!

Snaggletooth!

Holy Cow!!! check out that snaggler growing out the side of A.J.'s gum line. He's going to kill me someday for this, but for now he thinks it's pretty cool. He obviously had to have this thing removed before it grew a head of it's own and decided to take up permanent residence. The other picture is the sad aftermath of a visit to the Dentist's office and 3 novicaine shots. Cheer up little buddy a full set of braces is just around the corner.

Attack of the Sister-Monster

A.J. and I spent hours dressing up this clothes pin to represent an ancestor who owned a farm (Wheeler Farm to be exact). While we left it to dry it seems someone could not resist the urge to take a bite of that delicious, stale marshmellow-nevermind that I have an entire bag in the cupboard. It must have been the mouth watering googly eyes that weakened her resolve. For some of us it's chocolate, for others its cookies...for the Sister-Monster it's google eyed mallows!

Snow Glorious Snow

Finally, an excuse to put on these beauties again...Adeline went out to play in the snow clothed in Full and I mean Full get-up. Piggy snow hat, orange tinted googles, lady bug scarf, turtle neck, winter coat, ski pants, gloves, long socks and UGG's. I thought she'd be out there all day-alas, I was wrong. 20 minutes later there she was at the back door ready to take it all off again and have her ceremonial cup of hot cocoa. Just as she was taking off the orange tinted googles she said to me, " Mom, I can't believe it's been a year since I saw the world in orange."

Piano Recital

After many months and hours of practice...it was finally time to show their stuff on the baby grand. A.J. and Adeline played 2 Christmas pieces each and Rocked the House if I do say so myself! It's amazing how much better it sounded on that Baby Grand piano...in fact I think our little beauty at home (that was a nice way of saying piece of junk) is out of tune to say the least. Oh well, playing music is playing music is playing music, right? No matter what your playing on it always sounds like a masterpiece to your MOM.

A definition of ME

A.J.'s 5th grade teacher gave him an assignment to define himself with a poem and a posterboard. When he brought it home, it made me think of how I would define myself. What pictures represent who I am, what I dream about? What words would I use in a poem about me? Needless to say A.J. did a far better job at defining himself than I could at this point in my life. I think the older we get the harder it is to put those abstract dreams, wishes, desires for our future even words to describe ourselves into something that can be pasted to posterboard or rhymed with other words. At least it seemed that way to me today. I want to get back to that place in 5th grade where that stuff flowed so easily...I guess I'll start by following A.J.'s lead...

A.J.
Awesome, cool, sweet
Sibling of: Adeline
Who is made happy by: Bryan Reagan
Who needs: an air soft gun
Who gives out: Butt kickin's daily,
Who fears: nothing
Who would like to see & meet: Derek Lee
Who remembers going to a Cubs game
Who wears "Cubs" stuff
"Wheezeman"
Who is thankful for sports

(Written by A.J. Wiseman and is included in his posterboard masterpiece above)

Amazing Adeline

Today was parent participation day at the Virginia Tanner School of Dance, so of course I donned my sweatsuit and choreographed my way through our families favorite Christmas recipe as was assigned. (Carrot Cake? Really Adeline when was the last time we had Carrot Cake in the month of December?) You know... like crawling around the floor to represent the baby food carrots we add into our cake batter and pretending to stir Adeline while she spins on the floor underneath me...that kind of choreography. Anyway, as I sat there watching my only daughter move, jump, spin, skip, sway or in other words DANCE I was struck by how much I loved this Virginia Tanner women. Even though we have never met and never will I am thankful to her for her vision and for providing a place for girls to feel like amazing dancers no matter what their ability levels are. The following quote is on the wall inside the studio foyer for all to read and all I have to say is -AMEN!

For those of you who may need reading glasses (Uh, Ummm...you know who you are)

"The motivating force behind my work is not only developing excellent dancers, but more importantly, developing young people who are useful, imaginative, worthwhile human beings"

-Virginia Tanner

His and Hers

What is the deal? Didn't we all learn how to make paper snowflakes in pre-school? Well evidently I missed that day! No matter how hard I tried, how carefully I cut, how long I stared and contemplated the design, I could not seem to get it right. Oh well, we all know one thing for sure - God did not want my imput on the day he created snowflakes!

"Box Out, Box Out!"

Yes, it's on to another game involving another type of ball for us at the Wiseman household. #9 here just can't seem to get enough of coaches, hard physical exertion, practices...or in other words FUN, right? All I know is that no matter who is technically the coach on the sideline, A.J. will always have another voice echoing directions as well...last night it was "Box out A.J.-Box out!!!" After a lengthy discussion on what consititutes a well executed "Box out" manuever on the way home from the game, I now know that it requires alot of booty and sending your man to timbucktoo. I'm pretty sure those were the technical terms used somewhere in there...Thank goodness Dad cleared that up for both of us!

Welcome Tinsel

Our families "official scout elf" from the North Pole arrived shortly after Thanksgiving again this year. His/Her name is Tinsel. The gender is a topic of ongoing discussion in our household, in fact I think I may re-name it Pat. Anyhoo...it's fun to have a visitor of such importance around to keep everyone in line...(ummm, Adeline?). Tinsel has a few rules that must be strictly obeyed in order to keep him/her from splitting the scene. #1-you must never touch...elves skin is evidently much too sensitive for us mere humans #2-he/she only moves around when people are not home/or are asleep #3-he/she cannot stay in a house with anyone on the B B & G list (Bad Boys and Girl) ...So, you better watch out, etc. really does apply in this sitch!

A day in the life of....

As many of you know, my Adeline has a little trouble at school occasionally. I have instituted a system that consists of index cards seperated into 4 sections that represent the 4 parts of her school day. A star is good!!! But the part that I just had to document is the "NO Star - Adeline glued her hands together during art! "part. Man I love that girl!

Halloween 2008

Okay, so I'm sure all of you can tell I'm new at this-and I am talking about the world of blogging, of course. Unrotated photos, screwy setups, forgotten text boxes, etc. To tell you the truth I have put this off for the longest time thinking that it was just out of my realm of reality. I am actually very proud of myself at this moment, so please endulge my proudness and overlook the mistakes for a short time at least until I get this under my belt. Loves!

Adeline's big day

Adeline turned 8 last July and was Babtized in September...I know, I know we're a little slow! She loved seeing all of her family and was very glad that the water was warm.

Opps..I forgot the best part

State Champs!!!

Tony and Joe's 9th grade football team went undefeated and won the State Championship Game!!! The best part of the whole day for Adeline and I was the ceremonial shaving of Uncle Joe's head with a shaver right there on the field. Nothing like promising to get your head shaved to provide motivation to 15 year old boys. Way to Go!

Disney Mania

Look closely at this guys hair cut we spotted on our last trip to Disney World. And I thought my hubby loved all things Disney. We went on our latest adventure to Mickeyland with our good friend the Odom Family. Fun was definately had by all!