Aloha Friday...Christmas presents

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday.

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link over at Island Life. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

This week's question is:

Do you put your Christmas presents under the tree as you wrap or do you wait for Christmas morning for them to all go under the tree?  And why...

We put our Christmas presents under the tree starting the day after Thanksgiving...why?  Becuase that's what my mom always did.  I was never one of those kids that looks at the presents before the big day.

We have heard that people actually put the presents under the tree on late Christmas Eve...and I thought about it and think that would be fun, but wanted to hear why people do it that way and the pros and cons of it.

Merry Christmas!

For more Aloha Fridays...make your holly jolly way over to Island Life.

1st Grade Christmas program...

Last night was the girls' 1st grade Christmas program.  It was so sweet!

I have them in separate classes and it was fun because they each got to learn different songs and go up at different times.  This is so good for them. :)

The evening did take an interesting turn though...as we got home from school and were getting ready to get them in their dresses my sister called and told me something so sad.  A guy that works for my brother-n-law had his daughter, Alexis over at my sister's house.  Alexis is in Emilie's class.  My sister Kim called me and told me that Alexis was telling her how beautiful she was gonna look in her Christmas dress, etc.  Kim mentioned to Alexis's dad that it was about time for her to start getting ready and he told Kim that she was not gonna be able to go.  My sister almost cried.  We have such a soft spot in our hearts for kids that when she called me and let me know that Alexis was not gonna be able to go, I instantly had her bring Alexis over to my house.  Between my husband and I we had a dress, tights, matching shoes and a hair bow within a matter of minutes to get Alexis ready and let her come with us to the Christmas program. 

Alexis has two older brothers so she really doesn't get a chance to get dressed up very often...and she was so excited to dress up and sing her songs.  She kept asking people all night...isn't my hair beautiful?  Isn't my dress beautiful?  She was very proud of herself.  It was so special. :)

We were so thankful to be able to help her have a great evening, along with our own girls. 

It turned out awesome!

PJ Party, Getting melted candles out of holders and other randomness....

10 days until Christmas???  Seriously???  Why doesn't it feel like it?

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The annual girls HO HO HO PJ party...super fun!  We wear jammies and bring a pair of pj's wrapped with you.  Then we do the white elephant exchange for the jammies...it's pretty brutal, but lots of fun!

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Wouldn't the world be a much happier, less cluttered place if everything was done electronically?  What do people really do with all the stacks of mail that we get and don't read...especially this time of the year.  You realize that bills will actually change color when they are serious about coming after you for non payment!  Learned that in my 20's. 

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Sing Off...new show hosted by Nick Lachey.  Awesome...everything is totally acapella (meaning no instruments, etc...only voices).  I was so impressed!  You have to check it out...I don't even like to watch TV and wasn't able to walk away from this.

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So don't you think that 6 years after having twins I should come to a point when I will stop peeing my pants?  Well I haven't.  Seriously, I'm not even modest about it anymore.  The other day I made a dumb decision when I went in to the post office after feeling a tiny bit like I had to pee.  Needless to say, it was not good.  The whole way out of the post office I was peeing my pants a little bit every step I took.  And then the dreaded sit down in the car move...that'll make ya pee them for sure.  So I drove home knowing darn good and well that I had peed my pants...no big deal, until I got home and my sister and neice were there.  That's enough to damage a 13 year old girl from ever having kids.  I walked in and ran past them telling them I had to pee...their comment..."I think you already have."  They were right. 

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I love this little trick and you will to, especially over the holidays...to get already melted candles out of your candle holders...stick the candle holder in the freezer for about an hour and hit the bottom of the candle holder and the candle inside will pop right out.  You'll feel like a genius!

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I LOVE Jim Carey in all of these kids movies...i.e. The Grinch.  That is the funniest show ever, I just love Jim Carey as The Grinch.  His fuzzy fingers and over stuffed belly, I could watch that a 1000 times.  And then as the elephant in Horton Hears a Who!  This will shock you...I almost pee my pants everytime I watch it cuz he's so darn funny! 

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My girls have their 1st grade Christmas program tonight...can't wait!  I thank God for my family everyday!

Now run on over to Keely's and check out more Random Tuesday Thoughts.

You wont regret it. :)

Sign Language for Kids...

When my girls were 4 months old I started teaching them sign language.  You know the basic signs:  mom, dad, eat, drink, hungry, thirsty, no, yes, more, milk, water, please.  By the time they were 8 months old they were signing to me.  It was AMAZING!!  I couldn't believe how quickly they picked it up!

At 13 months old they were signing about 75-80 signs on a daily basis.  Why did we start sign language with the girls...why not?  I was reading "On Becoming Babywise II" and at the end of that book were some starter signs and I thought that would be kind of cool.  I never imagine what it would turn in to.  Also, my girls NEVER had any frustrations with eating time.  They would tell me when they were done, when they wanted more, what they wanted, etc.  This is actually why we started them to begin with. 

When kids are under 1 year old, often times they know what they want to say but you can't understand it.  This is very frustrating to them.  They are trying to talk to you and you have no idea what they are saying...this completely eliminated all of that!!

At 13 months my girls were asked to be in Baby Signs DVDs that were produced by Baby Einstein.  We went to audition and they were the youngest ones in the DVD.  It was so much fun.

By the time they were 2 they were signing around 200 signs each.

Some ask if this delayed their speach...it was quite the opposite.  By the time my girls were 24 months old, they were tested at their 2 year old checkup and the doctor told me that they were talking and learning at a 4 year old level.  And that has never stopped.  They are now in 1st grade and were just tested at a 4th grade level and passed at 96%...I owe all that to reading to them since they were two weeks old and sign language.

The DVDs that we are most passionate about are the "Signing Time" DVDs.  The story of the mom Rachel and her sister Emilie and what they have done with these absolutely amazing DVDs is worth taking a look at.  This is where my girls (and me) learned the bulk of their signs.  We have 16 of the DVDs and my girls just LOVED watching them.  There is actually a great interview with Rachel Coleman...the co-creator of Signing Time over at Multiples and More...check it out!  Rachel answers many commonly asked questions about teaching your children sign language!

I would recommend these DVDs to everyone that I know!!

Happy Signing!

Oh, the people we meet....

In my business I have the pleasure of meeting lots of different kinds of people.  Being that I love people, this is a good thing.  The last couple of days have been somewhat frickin crazy interesting to say the least about this individual that I met.

I got a phone call that this gentlemen...we'll call him Buddy...and he lets me know that he will be meeting me at a meeting that I had on Tuesday night.  He was unable to make it so I followed up with him the next day.  Not ever having met "Buddy" before, I had no idea what to expect.  Here's what I did know about him...he was very interested in my technology business.  That's it.

So my first call with him goes something like this...
I introduce myself and he tells me how excited he is to meet me and to see my business.  Without taking a breath he then proceeds to tell me how wonderful he is and that his geneology goes back to William the Conqueror, he was hired to be the bull pin catcher for the Oakland A's but turned that down, but he is in the hall of fame at U of O.  My response...Oh, how nice.  He then proceeds to tell me that he has an executive assistant that works for him in Eugene, OR and handles his calender and such.  I ask him what he does for a living....he pauses...then shares with me that he is a pizza delivery driver for a chain of pizza restaurants in our area that his brother owns.  He just does that to make sure no one is "stealing" from his brother...ahhh ok. 

It doesn't end there, he then tells me that he wants to meet me for breakfast the next morning so we can discuss the business.  I find out the location we are meeting and then he tells me...I like your name.  Thank you, I say.  (Mind you, my name is Kandi)  He then tells me...i bet you're eye candy.  It took everything that I had not to laugh considering I would be what they call the OPPOSITE of eye candy. :)  He then tells me that when he sees me he is going to give me a "sweet kiss", I share with him that there will not be any kisses but a firm handshake will be fine.  You can imagine how many red flags I have going up at this point. 

So the next day, the person who introduced him to the business is going to meet me at the restaurant where "Buddy" has suggested we go.  I actually didn't know the address though so I call him to confirm exactly where we are meeting...he tells me and then says to me..."you buying or are we going dutch, cuz if we're going dutch, I don't have any money."  WTF????   I just about passed out.  I haven't ever had anyone say such an ignorant thing to me in my life!  Mind you, I planned on buying breakfast, but now was adamantly against it!  I said to him that I had already eaten so I wouldn't be eating, but if he needed me to buy his breakfast, that would be fine. 

I actually considered not going just because I could see where this was going...and then I thought I might call him just for the fun of it and tell him that I was running a bit late and would have to meet him after breakfast.  All of which would have been inappropriate, so I went. 

The meeting was interesting to say the least and I can honestly say I have encountered one of the very first "scam artists" that I have come across in my life.

The last thing I will share with you is that while he was eating breakfast, my business partner and I were just sitting there.  A person across the room received an order of bisquits and gravy that looked too good to pass up...my business partner and I decided that we would split an order since we both weren't very hungry...when the waitress came up, she mentioned that they had a half order as well.  This sounded much better for us...then "Buddy" chimes in and tells the waitress, "Just go ahead and bring them the big order and what they don't eat I will take home!"...remember I'M PAYING!!! 

This was just the funniest meeting ever and it will definitely give us a story to talk about long in to the future.  He did end up putting money out for his meal...which totaled $40 by the way...and when I offered to get that he said no...so I paid for mine and left nicely. 

In this business I am blessed to meet lots of people...and ALL KINDS of people...and as a result, I am a better person because of it.

By the way...he did take our left over bisquits and gravy.

Aloha Friday...Christmas traditions

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and head on over to Island Life to post your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question is:

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

One of my favorite traditions that my husband and I started many years ago is an ornament for the Christmas tree.  Every year we find one ornament that representst that year and we buy it for our tree.  This makes it a lot of fun when decorating the tree because it reminds us of major things in our lives.  We now let the girls choose one too so they can start the tradition and our Christmas tree tells a story.

I would love to hear fun traditions that you have at Christmas...please post your comment. :)

My brave husband...

This evening my husband comes downstairs with a pair of scissors and a comb and asks me to cut his hair...after I recovered from choking and slightly freaking out I agreed to do it.

When I was getting ready to start...I actually had no idea where to begin.  Do you go from bottom to top or back to front or visa versa?  Oh crap...what was I going to do?

So I started on the top and just made sure that it was even by pulling the hair up between my fingers and then cutting slightly above my fingers.  This is what I have seen my hair dresser do...isn't it? 

Well after about 15 minutes and a HUGE pile of hair on the ground later, I was done. 

He went in and took a shower and then did his hair the way he usually would and I am proud to announce...it looks awesome!  Who would have thought I had such a hidden talent?  LOL

I can't believe he would even put a pair of scissors in my hand.  I can tell you this though, there are as many cuts on my hand as there are in his hair.

Another one for the books...