I'm Sorry, I Don't Speak Japanese.

(Name that quote, if you're awesome)

So I bought tickets today to see my sister, Anna, in January. The kiddos are coming with so that Chad can rock it with his practice and pound the pavement all day long without worrying about us. Anyway, I was checking the airlines' checked baggage policy to see how much they charge per bag. Here's what I learned: The first two bags are free.
Then, just below that statement is this: The first bag is $15 and the second bag is $25.
Then, just below that statement is this: For flights purchased after September 19, 2009, there will be a $5 surcharge per bag checked at the kiosk or with a airline personnel at check-in.
Then, just below that statement is this: For persons checking in online prior to their flight, the $5 surcharge will be waived. (All this is paraphrased, by the way).

I'm confused. Are the first two bags free? Or are they $5 a piece per the surcharge unless I check in online? Or are they $15 and $25 or $20 and $30 including the surcharge? Anyone out there speak airlinese?

Unbridaled Avarice (a.k.a Christmas)

Here's the Christmas post. Enjoy!

The kids dutifully writing a letter to Santa to place near his tray of cookies and strudel. Sam carefully wrote all the letters of the alphabet he could. There were a lot of H's, i's, t's and a few G's. Dear Santa, I would like a few G's.

Huh? The kids heard sleigh bells. We told them they better hurry and get to bed before Santa passed our house. I've never seen Sam get ready for bed so quickly. Man, I love Christmas.

Good morning! It's Christmas! Hey, let's have Pez for breakfast. Sam came into our room and said the following (in rapid succession): "Hey Mom, it's Christmas. I think Santa came and left us presents. Do you think he ate our goodies? I'm so excited. I can't sleep."

I just liked the blur that my little point and shoot camera rendered.

Noelle got a big wheel for Christmas. It was a good choice--let's put it that way.

The Legos were a hit. Thanks Grandma!

Candy and toys. Not a bad combo.

The tree. Not bad for a $5 DI tree that the kids pulled out and killed all the bottom branches as well as moved, rearranged and broke the ornaments.

The aftermath (after semi cleaning up).

T'was the Night Before Christmas...

And we enjoyed delicious homemade tamales and a living Nativity at our friend's home.

The first Noel, the Noelle did say...

Sam put in an amazing performance as one of two shepherds.

The role of baby Jesus was played by my friends little daughter, Amren Faith. Doesn't she look cute? I want one of those. (By the way, if you're reading this and thinking of placing one of those with me, you should totally email me. I'm super nice.)

The living Nativity in all it's splendor. I thought the donkey was quite ingenious.

T'was the Day Before Christmas...

When the television broke
Then soon after that
The van went up in smoke
And the stereo too
Will no longer play
And it's certain, we know
It will stay in that way

Christmas came and it went
Thought we, our troubles are gone
Until we discovered
The furnace wouldn't come on

But you'll hear me exclaim
Ere you finish this post
What can you do?
That's the breaks folks

Jolly and Happy

Here's a few things we've been doing to make the season bright...

Consuming mass amounts of Christmas treats at the ward party.

Preparing more mass amounts of Christmas treats to consume at will as well as to give away to friends.

The aftermath of consuming mass amounts of Christmas treats.

Muffin Talk and Five Days

Tonight, I decided to make blueberry muffins for tomorrow's breakfast. But who wants to wait for tomorrow to eat them? Not me. So the kiddos and I sat down to some muffins before bed. In the middle of enjoying my masterful muffin morsel, Sam says this:

Sam: "Hey Mom. You're gonna have a baby."

Me: "How will I get this baby?"

Sam: "From Heavenly Father and a birth mom."

Me: (The all important question) "When will I get this baby?"

Sam: "Mmm. Five days."

Five days. I wish buddy. Seriously, our profile been online for just a short amount of time, but I'm finding I'm not so patient this time around. And my downfall--they have a whole new system where I can check how many times our profile has been viewed--I check every morning and every night. I'm sure I'll lose heart eventually and stop checking all together. But for now, I'm thinking five days would be nice.

The Snowy Day

We woke up two mornings ago to the world all aglow in sparkling snow. Huh, that rhymed. I'm a poet. The kids spent a good hour in the yard just filling up their little dump trucks with snow and rolling around the snow. My favorite moment was catching Sam, when he thought no one was looking, slide down the slide on his knees. I'm not sure what he expected, but apparently he was well pleased with himself. At the bottom of the slide he threw back his head and laughed triumphantly. Sorry about the dark picts. I didn't realize my camera was on night-time shots.

The Good Ole Fashioned Kuna Community Christmas Parade

Do we live in Kuna? No, but we like to pretend we do. We've made it a family tradition to attend the Christmas parade they hold every year. It's the awesomest. You don't even know.

Kickin' it at the Kuna Christmas Parade. We couldn't tear Sam's eyes away from the splendor of lights and candy and poor Noelle couldn't move, I had her so bundled.

Why are you so gorgeous? Even in her butterfly camo and brothers hand-me-down hat, you can't hide Noelle's beauty.

Mesmerized.

In awe.

You're welcome.

A girl came by with the sweetest sheep and let the kids pet it. Noelle gave it a hug. When the sheep had to move on, Noelle didn't want to let go.

Let's Get It On

I saw this commercial while working out at the gym the other day. I about peed my pants it was so funny. The award winning moments are the dance in the kitchen and the old man on the bleachers who doesn't have one. Truly, the Snuggie will go down in history with all the other seasonal items you only buy for Christmas like Chia Pet and The Clapper. Get on your Snuggies friends . . . and please be sure to wear them in public--the game, the movie theater, the library, while holding babies, at Church, everywhere.