KayTar's Car.

It started months ago. KayTar got the idea in her head that she wanted a "pretend car" to drive around. From that point on, she mentioned it every day. Not in a whining or begging way, just in a "In case you forgot..." gentle reminder way. Every day. So Josh and I started entertaining the idea..but you guys, those cars are expensive! Like, more than the entire budgeted amount for KayTar's Christmas gifts kind of expensive. So we didn't really think it was going to happen, but for kicks, we started checking in on Craigslist to see what the secondhand ones were going for. It was kind of dismal, the affordable ones were in crap condition, having spent a lot of time outdoors in disuse. We even went to see one in our price range, but the battery was pretty much dead and the car was rough. Drat.

Then one day I got on Craigslist and refreshed the page and a new listing popped up. Reasonable price, like new condition. Pink, convertible-like...just like she wanted. I emailed the guy immediately. I had Josh call him and leave a voicemail about coming by to see it on his way home from hunting. He didn't get back to us until the next day, though. When he did, he said, "I've already gotten a lot of messages about the car, but you and your husband contacted me first, so you have dibs on it if you are interested." Josh drove out to see it and bought it on the spot! It was perfect! Sooo, we've been sitting on the car since OCTOBER! It has been killing me every time she asked about it...and she never stopped asking about it. She was sure Santa would bring her one. Well, he didn't...but only because we beat him to the punch! ;)

He's a good brother and agreed to ride with her, but was super embarrassed.

On Christmas Eve, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. After months of waiting, she was finally going to get her wee little heart's desire! Amazing! :)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

She loved it at first sight and continue to love it. She drives it back and forth in the living room and loves to drive it up and down the block. It gives her the kind of freedom other kids her age can have on a bike or scooter or skateboard or roller-skates. She can't really do any of those things yet...but she sure can drive that car. And she loves it! I am so, so happy we could give her her dream for Christmas this year. Hooray for Craigslist!

Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning

(In mobile photos)

Delivery of monkey pjs and Muppet Christmas Carol from the Elves.

Before church...

At church.

Me and my sweet little niece

Awwwww.

Ready for bed!

Santa brought new mongrammed stockings!

BubTar's goodies from Santa

KayTar's drums from my parents.

The car is from us, the monkey from Santa.

KayTar and her boyfriend, Socko.

Santa put 'staches in his stocking.

Playing Skylanders.

Drumming her little heart out!

Hugging her car!

In his Doctor Who outfit.

He got a fez to complete the outfit, he was WAY excited.

Short synopsis: I was too excited to sleep last night, went to bed a 12:30am and gave up at 3am and started watching Netflix on my iPad. Everyone else was up at 4am. Everyone is quite pleased with their gifts. KayTar has been driving her car back and forth in the living room all day/drumming in her room, while periodically exclaiming her joy and thankfulness. BubTar is in Doctor Who/video game heaven. Also? More coffee please! ;)

Merry Christmas from the 'Tars!

No, finals week did NOT kill me...

Yikes! I didn't mean to maintain Internet silence for so long! Here is what we've been up to...

On December 9th, the kids took photos at school with Santa in their fancy holiday-wear. BubTar wore a dress shirt, tie, and suit jacket (though he didn't wear it in the photo). He spent about 15 minutes admiring himself in the mirror that morning. The boy LOVES to look nice. KayTar told me, "I tried not to smell Santa, but if I was Buddy the Elf, I'd have ripped his beard off!"

Then that afternoon, I picked up TWO crying kids from school. KayTar was sad because someone else took the treasure box treasure she was eyeing. BubTar was crying because a large group of fourth graders got in trouble for running/being noisy after rehearsal and he had to miss outdoors time and write an apology letter even though he didn't actually run/shout. Sometimes life is like that and you just have to know that you did the right thing, do what is asked of you, and let it go...but he's not good with the letting it go part. That evening, we went to my niece and nephew's birthday party. It was fun until BubTar started losing at Wii baseball, then he pouted the rest of the evening. (sensing a theme yet?) Speaking of him not being a very good sport about losing...we were playing Wii Sports on Thursday night and he was losing to me every round. He told me, "I read a study that says if a kid can't beat their mom at any Wii Sports, they will never pass college and will be a stupid McDunderhead." Ha! What 9 year old tries to make up a scientific study to prove a point?! So funny. It was cracking us up!

Pre-pouting

The next day, we went ice skating with friends. KayTar had a great time, even though she fell a billion times and had to hold on to two people to stay upright...BubTar cried in the penalty box because he wasn't skating at a professional ice skating level yet. It was a very fussy weekend for BubTar. The funniest part of the outing was when this little girl told KayTar, "I'm gonna pass you!" and KayTar said, "Oh, it is ON!" Then seconds later, the other girl fell...and KayTar said, "Oooh, God PUNISHED her!" Ha!

After ice skating, we dropped him at a camp out birthday party with his friend who went skating with us. The rest of us came home to rest a little before having dinner with Josh's family and going to the Christmas house.

Sunday, KayTar and I made salt dough ornaments...a lot of salt dough ornaments! The boys started decorating outside (and it still isn't done, though).

Monday-Wednesday was spent mostly studying. Tuesday night was BubTar's Christmas play. He had a speaking part this year! Wednesday was my last two finals, I did great on my POLS exam, still not sure about Cal. Waiting impatiently on grades to be released! So far I have two A's and two unknowns. On Tuesday night, I took the wrong camera lens, so I didn't get any good photos. After my finals, I went to the kids' school to watch it again and get some decent photos!

After school, KayTar's girl scout troop went to a nursing home to sing carols. It was so cute and the residents appreciated it so much. One old guy with a Santa-esque beard, suspenders, and a Harley t-shirt, gave half dollars to all of the kids! It was a good day, but it sure was long after my late night of studying and early morning of finals!

Thursday was spent running a CRAZY amount of errands to prep for the kids' last day of school and holiday parties. I really could use more than one day between my last final and their last day of school. Somehow it all got finished, but it wasn't easy! KayTar had the bright idea that morning to make salt dough ornaments that say "IT" for her nurse and PE teacher (click here in case you missed the origin of this), so I ran around to find alphabet cookie cutters first, then spent most of the day making dough, rolling it out, cutting it out, and baking several sets of different ornaments so they would be ready for KayTar to decorate when she got home...but it was well worth it! Bed, Bath, and Beyond has a GREAT set of 100 cookie cutters for 9.99. It includes all the letters and numbers, animals, holiday sets for Easter and Christmas and Halloween, vehicles, and a lot of other shapes!

You're IT!

Friday was classroom holiday parties, followed by KayTar's girl scout party after school. It was another full day! After school, BubTar went to my parents' house and my dad taught him to tie a tie! He is SO proud. He came home and demonstrated his new skill about 5 times. My dad gave him a couple of ties, too, and now he wants to start a tie collection. So cute!

Both kids started to get sick on Friday, so we've mostly rested since then. Yesterday I went out alone and finished ALL my Christmas shopping! Everything is wrapped and under the tree except for two last minute gifts I ordered for KayTar from Amazon that won't arrive until the 24th! EEK! They aren't a big deal, so even if they don't make it in time it won't matter. Christmas cards are finally going out in the mail today...I'm a little late on that front!  It feels good to have everything done, though! Now I just need these kids to get well so we can have some fun! Josh is on vacation this week and I hope we get to enjoy it some. Just 5 more sleeps until Christmas! I can't wait!! :)