In sickness and in...

The kids have been sick since, well, at this point I have a distant memory of a time when locating the Tylenol wasn't the most pressing task at hand.  Distant.  Very. 

I don't even remember which child started the latest round of coughing and sniffling and cries of "I'm cold.  Get me a blanket."  No "please", just "get me the damn blanket."  Normally my kids are well-mannered.  Despite their affinity for destruction "please" and "thank you" have always come easily to them.  It appears that their degree of civility is inversely proportional to their temperature.  I'm not even going to share what Bree called me while requesting a cup of orange juice a few moments ago.  I think she may have a future in composing gangster rap lyrics. 

They even look sick.  Both are pale, with dark circles under their eyes.  Bree has a perpetually chapped upper lip from having her nose wiped every six minutes.  Nick's had a headache that starts up the moment the Tylenol wears off which has made the already daunting job of trying to tame his hair with a comb fairly impossible.  Thursday was the last time I gave it a try.  Normally I (as all mother's do, I'm sure) think that my children are breathtakingly beautiful.  Not right now.  They ugly.  UGGGGLLLLYYYY.

However, my beloved mother-in-law happened to send me a couple of pictures of Chaos and Mayhem from early December, which coincidentally, was they last time I think they were healthy.  I'm considering having the pictures printed out and taping them to the kids foreheads. 

xoxo
Deb

Caption TBD

Couldn't make up my mind on the caption for this picture.

a)  Look!  Finally found a kid who will sit at the table and eat  Unfortunately that kid is Baby-All-Gone.

or

b)  Bree's biological clock started ticking at a very young age.

xoxo
Deb

p.s. And of course Nick had to show Bree the correct method on how to feed the doll.  Now if he could just get Bree to feed herself....

How a Tokarski Decorates a Christmas Tree

This would be why it takes so long for us to decorate the tree.  Each ornament needs to be used as an accessory prior to getting placed on the tree.

Sigh.  xoxo

Deb

Disney Cruise Slideshow

Finally.

Better late than never?

Special thanks to Aaron for technical support (which means holding my hand and literally walking me through the process of setting up a slideshow.)  Technology is not always my friend. You'll need to click on the white box below to get the slideshow started. Still haven't completely figured out how to caption the photos, but they're all fairly self explanatory.



xoxo
Deb

When Bree Wished Upon a Star

Last week we went on a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas with our dear friends, and Bree's godparents, Kamar and Becky Adeleke, and their own brood, Kasim, Khalid, Layla and Sophia. 

For those who don't know, Bree is obsessed with the Disney Princesses.  In the weeks leading up to our departure, Bree plotted her attack on any and all Princesses she encountered.  The term "stalking" came to mind while listening to her detail her plans. 

Mission accomplished.

xoxo
Deb
p.s.  There will be more to come from our travels.  Just trying to get caught up. 
p.p.s.  Keep scrolling down.  There's four shots of four Princesses accosted by Bree.  No comments, please.  Jason does this for a living, not me!

For Mommom

Love you, Mom!

So does Bree!

xoxo-
Deb

Trick or Treat!

As most (all?) things go with Chaos & Mayhem, trick or treating wasn't

easy for us.  It wasn't dull, but it wasn't easy either.

The preschool that my little cherubs attend had a Halloween parade for the 4-year classes.  All of the kids get dressed in their costumes, parade through the Hall and then return to their class, remove their costumes and have a Halloween party.  Sounds simple, right?

Not for Nick.  He went, to quote my dear friend Cristin, "bat-shit crazy."  He was terrified of his friends in costumes, didn't want to stand up in front of a bunch of adults he didn't know and was having no parts of looking "silly" while wearing his costume in front of a bunch of people he didn't know.  In Nick's defense, for a variety of reasons, this is the first year we were actually able to "do" Halloween, so he had no experience with any of this.

That being said, I didn't force him into the costume and then parade around in it (mostly because I figure he'll need enough therapy later in life as it is already) but I did make him watch the parade and go to the party afterwards, as the other kids all removed their costumes for the party. 


Flash forward to Sunday afternoon:  Due to the "fun" that had been

Friday, we had decided to stay home.  I would hand out candy to the little beggers (my term for trick or treaters) with Nick and Jason would take Bree trick or treating.  Then the phone rang.  It was Uncle Aaron checking to see if Nick and Bree wanted to go trick or treating with their cousins.  If there are any people that can persuade Nick to do something, it's Alex, Abby, Amanda and Aidan.  Here's hoping the four of them don't decide to jump off of a bridge.

Wrap up:  Nick turned into a trick or treating pro.  Bree's little legs ran four steps for everyone else's one stride but I think she may have ended up with more candy that the others.

Nick obviously was Buzz Lightyear.  Bree was supposed to be Snow White, however due to the temperature, we ended up throwing together a pink princess costume as I'm pretty sure she would have ended up with frostbite instead of candy if we had sent her out in the Snow White costume.  Many thanks to Jenn Z., Kim Turner and Aunt Becky!  Portions of their birthday presents to Bree ended up as part of her Halloween costume.

Halloween ended with Bree meticulously sorting her candy by type and Nick plotting Christmas while perusing a toy catalog.

xoxo-
Deb