Merry Christmas to All!

Yes, that's the winning holiday photo. Notice the lovely date stamp. Oh well.

Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and that Santa brings you every single item on your lists!

Love,
the Bengtsons

This and That

Well, Micah placed third in his spelling bee! I was so proud of him! They had a lot of trouble with the microphone and he didn't hear his word correctly. He spelled "method" as "nethod." LOL He wasn't disappointed, though-the two kids that placed ahead of him were both fifth graders. He did so well!

The kids are done with school now until January 3. Not sure how we're all going to survive that. Nana is coming on Saturday and I mailed all my packages and cards today (I'm late!). Now I just have to wrap. And wrap and wrap some more. Ugh. I loathe wrapping presents. One reason is because I suck at it. *sigh*

This is SO wrong!

Ya'll know how I feel about Mustangs. Imagine the shock and disbelief I felt when reading this. And no, I will not be getting one. Mustang Wagons? I'm going to cry.......

Spelling Bee

This morning I learned that Micah is going to be in the school Spelling Bee tomorrow. Who knows how long he's known about this. I only found out because I asked him why he had a 5th grade spelling book in his backpack.

Turns out he won the classroom Spelling Bee ("I was the person who lasted the longest Mom. Everyone else got out before me."). The winner of each class moves on to the school Spelling Bee. He's not sure what time it starts tomorrow, but he thinks it's 1:10. Or maybe 1:20. Or 1:00 (guess who is calling the school today to make sure?). My little speller......

Holiday Photos

When I was pregnant with Aaron and having anxiety attacks over how I was going to parent three kids, my friend Dawn gave me a tip. She told me that the hardest part of having three kids was taking pictures. Naturally, I scoffed at her. That's what clueless people do, you know. And then I had three kids and tried to take pictures of all three of them and it was hell.

I skipped family Christmas photos last year. I just could not bring myself to go through the torture. So I knew this year I was going to have to bite the bullet and take them, lest friends and family think I'm hiding my children from them or something. On Saturday I made all the kids dress in red and I broke out the adorable little Santa hats I bought for the dogs. Kids and dogs gathered around the tree and I took up the camera. And that's where my whole plan fell apart.

Doc, the puppy, was not going to wear the hat. No freaking way. I swear, if he could talk he would have said something along the lines of "Are you out of you ever-lovin' mind, woman?" Okay, no hats on the dogs. Gracie was willing to wear hers (or too stupid to realize it was on her head), but it would look ridiculous with just one dog wearing a hat.

Now that we've removed the hats, Gracie has decided she's not up to having her picture taken. Maybe it was a bad hair day. I don't know, but whenever we tried to get her to sit for a picture she immediately walked away. Okay, scratch the dogs. Kids only in the picture. This will work.

I got everyone posed just so and snapped a quick picture. Checked it out in the viewing screen and realized I had left the digital date on it. ARGH!!!!! I reset the camera so the date would not show up on what I was still convinced were going to be my perfect family photo Christmas cards and we were ready to go again.

Except we weren't.

After 10 minutes of cajoling, I couldn't get them to sit still. I thought maybe if they sat on the couch they'd do better. I was wrong. This is the picture I managed to snap just after I told them they were going to be grounded from everything if they didn't sit nice and smile.





Marissah loves her cheesy smiles and Micah and Aaron can't sit next to each other without messing around. The proof is right here.


And now, of course, Doc changes his mind and decides he should be in the picture. On the couch. Did I mention it's not even six months old yet and I really don't like animals on the furniture. Well, I decided to bend my rule for the sake of the Ultimate Christmas Photo. (Who the hell am I kidding?!)



One more picture and I'm ready to hang it up. Get the damn dog on your lap, look and me and smile pretty. I think I may have threatened to pull ears, but I may have just wished that.




What the hell. Enough. I'm sending out the picture with the date stamp on it. Do you know what pisses me off the most? I spent 45 minutes taking these pictures and I end up using the very first one I took.

Dawn, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I stand humbled before you. I can't do this again. Next year it's JC Penney portrait studio or nothing.

Christmas Mushrooms?

I bought some more ornaments for our Christmas tree today at Wal-Mart. It was looking a little sad with our special ornaments and a mere five red balls. I bought a big package of shatter-proof ornaments, because, well, I live in Heathenville. Anyhoo, Aaron and I were putting some on the tree and what do I see??? Why, Christmas mushrooms!

Who the heck puts mushrooms on their Christmas tree?! Is this something I don't know about? I know some people put a pickle ornament on their trees, but I've never heard of mushrooms. There were four of these in the package I bought. The rest of the ornaments were normal-stars, pinecones, twirly things, bells, etc. And four mushrooms. Maybe the ornament makers in China were just bored and thought "Hey, I know! Let's give those crazy Americans something to think about. Let's make them some mushroom ornaments!"

I have to say, those mushrooms are not going on my tree. I feel about it the same way as I feel about those ugly Croc shoes. Just because everyone's wearing them doesn't mean they're cute. I threw the mushrooms away.

Ah, I should have done a Google search earlier. Turns out I was on the right track: Mushroom Tradition. I'm still not putting them on my tree.

Make it stop!

It's cold here. Yes, I'm being whiny. But really, last year we didn't have our first frost until the middle of December. Here it is, December 4, and it's been cold for a week already.

I was so cold today that I put on a shawl. It's a very, very cute shawl. It's bubble gum pink and it's cable knit. Not really heavy or anything but it keeps me warm. And it looks good with my pink long-sleeved shirt. Well, my husband doesn't like it. In fact, he commented to Marissah that I'll make a good little old lady because I'm already practicing. ARGH!!!!!!!! Obviously, this is coming from the man who still keeps his Miami Vice suit because "it's gonna come back in style." (As a very funny aside, I just did a Google search for "1980s vintage mens suits" to link to one that looks like it. Can't find a single picture of anything that looks remotely close. Guess they're not coming back anytime soon, huh?)

Anywho....it's cold and I'm sick of it already. I want 75 degrees and sunshine, not 35 and gray. Yuck.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my best friend's birthday! Everyone join me in saying "Happy Birthday Meircee!" She deserves a very special day because she's a wonderful friend. :)