GO STATE!

Holiday Heritage

We had an enjoyable day with the Clayberg side of the family on the 26th. There always seems to be a catch phrase that arises any time the clan gets together. This year it was, "This is my heritage," courtesy of Aaron. It started with him asking me to try some lefsa, as it is "his heritage". It was a phrase that stuck through the meal, the opening of gifts and long into the evening.

The Christmas gathering always ends with Aaron's mom making fudgens, as it "is their heritage"! This year however, she handed me the 3 pronged fork and insisted I learn how to make them. Oh the pressure! This is NOT "my heritage" and in no way shape or form did I want to mess it up, especially with Aaron's mom being a former Home Ec teacher (now Family and Consumer Science). I know my fudgens didn't live up to Ween's, but thankfully Aaron insisted I didn't ruin "his heritage"!

All in all we have been blessed with wonderful family gatherings this holiday season. We truly treasure the memories made each and every time we get together.

Enjoy the slideshow of some of those memories!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A little Christmas chaos

Merry Christmas from the Clayberg gang! What a wonderful holiday we have had so far. After MUCH debate due to the icy and snowy weather, we spent Christmas Eve in Webster City with my family. It was a day full of fun in which many new memories were made. When you have four boys leading the way, it's bound to be entertaining!


All four boys were thrilled when we finished eating and could open gifts. The highlight for all four of them was the spark scooters they received from Papa and Grandma Di. They spent a good part of the afternoon in the unfinished part of the basement "scooting" around and giggling! The evening was capped off with a candlelight church service in which we celebrated the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. Earlier in the day Carter had told me that we had better be going to a church tonight that has candles to hold while we sing Silent Night. I'm so thankful that he recognizes that as one of our traditions of Christmas and wasn't solely focused on the presents - even though I'm sure those were on the forefront of his mind! After the service, we skated back home on icy and snowy roads wishing we had Rudolph to lead the way.

The boys were exhausted when we got home. They made sure their Santa cookies and reindeer food were in place and hunkered right down into bed, which was helpful to Aaron and I as we scampered around finishing up our last minute Christmas duties.


Since the boys were still up in the air on their Santa beliefs and had seen the list of gifts I had purchased, we (or as Aaron will say, I) had some extra holiday fun up our sleeves. Typically, the Santa gifts are on the kitchen table for the boys first thing when they wake up Christmas morning and all their presents are under the tree. However, this year there was only a letter from Santa describing the boys' behavior through the year and their gifts to each other under the tree upstairs, along with a few supposed gifts to the cats (which were actually their old toys wrapped up with notes typed from me that said, "I guess you were on the naughty list this year. Maybe next year you won't look at the list!")

Needless to say, Austin and Carter weren't nearly as thrilled with my Christmas trickery as I was! When they came out to the kitchen table, their chins just dropped. The cookies had been eaten, and the reindeer food and milk were gone. They saw the envelope but were NOT happy campers. They quickly asked if they could open their gifts from each other after reading the letter from Santa. Notice the looks on their faces.



















They opened those half-heartedly and the mood quickly went downhill when they realized there were no other gifts for them. I told them maybe they should open the "cat gifts" and see what happened. The look on Austin and Carter's faces when they opened the first ones and realized it was their own toys and read the notes from me were ones of devastation. (They made me promise not to post any of those pictures! Actually they told me NOT to blog about this at all, but you can see I didn't listen to that!) I almost gave in right then and there. However, I trudged on reluctantly as my heart was actually breaking. Austin made it one more gift before collapsing in tears and headed into his room. Carter made it two more before the crocodile tears started rolling down. UGH! I was really hoping they would simply call my bluff! Not a chance. Now I had to eat humble pie and go ask them if they thought I would really not get them anything for Christmas. Both of them responded with an emphatic YES!

There was another envelope on the tree upstairs that told them their gifts might be located under another tree. With tear stained faces they reluctantly opened the envelope, and Austin mistakenly thought it meant I had given their gifts to another family. Thankfully Carter realized it meant our other tree downstairs and moods suddenly brightened as they ran downstairs! They were so excited that Austin actually wiped out and fell down the last four stairs. Yes, mother-of-the-year award here I come! Needless to say, they found a Santa gift along with far too many others and Carter shouted, "It's a Christmas miracle!"















All's well in the Clayberg household again. Hopefully Austin and Carter have forgiven me. It's been a memorable Christmas so far. We are looking forward to continuing making Christmas memories with Aaron's family tomorrow in Webster City.

Do you believe?

Austin and Carter informed me a couple weeks ago that they no longer believed in Santa. Apparently someone from school had blown Santa's cover and spilled the beans about what really happens at Christmas. So, when Santa showed up at our house yesterday for a "good boy" check before Christmas, needless to say, the boys were perplexed.

Santa seemed to know an awful lot about their lives and what was going on, even the fact that they had been wrestling around to mom's dismay right before he came through the front door! He knew the name of the "bean spiller", and the fact that Austin found all the Christmas lists of what mom had purchased on the computer! (Yes, mom's having it rough lately!)

Their eyes were wide the entire time trying to figure out how in the world all of this could really be happening. Santa had a nice little chat with them about believing being what is in their hearts, even when things don't seem to make sense. It's like our belief in Jesus. We can't see him, but his spirit is in our hearts.

He then proceeded to give them each a little gift, along with a candy cane for being on the nice list this year. Mom told Santa he had better check again because she's not sure that's the list she would have put them on! Santa assured mom that he had been watching and overall they had been pretty good this year. Santa even gave the boys an extra candy cane to give to the bean spiller from him and told them he'd really like to back Rudolph up to his house on Christmas Day and have him leave a little present on the doorstep! Oh my, Santa's got a sense of humor!

Santa left them with some great advice about being good and helpful boys for mom and dad and then dashed back out the door. Austin and Carter ran to the window to watch him leave and were in amazement that Santa drove a truck with "blue fire flames on the front"! In their words, "That's a pretty sweet ride Santa has instead of his sleigh!"

So, do they believe? I'm not sure. However, I'm sure even if they do, this will be the last year. Austin has assured me he does. I'm pretty sure he's just savvy enough to know that if he says he does, then he'll get a Santa gift. Carter on the other hand, he's a bit more stubborn. He told me, "Let's just quit talking about this!"

May you all have safe travels and a very Merry Christmas!

Friends

I had the opportunity to meet two beautiful friends, Dawn and Dianna, for lunch yesterday at Hu Hot in Des Moines for a quick "catching up". Both were my roommates during college, and I LOVE how close we have remained since leaving UNI, no matter the miles between us. They exemplify friendship. Both of them are always available for sharing the good times and bad, and do a wonderful job of keeping me grounded. They are two people that you could share your deepest, darkest moments with and know that they stand by you no matter what! I sure wish I had taken a picture yesterday to show you how beautiful they are on the outside. However, it's truly their hearts and personalities that shine so brightly from the inside that make these women the stunning beauties they are!

Away in a Manager

Away in a manger
no crib for a bed
the little Lord Jesus
lay down his sweet head

The stars in the bright sky
looked down where he lay
the little Lord Jesus
asleep on the hay

Tonight was the annual Christmas program at our church. Carter was Joseph in the manger scene and Austin read a passage from Luke focusing on the Christmas story. Aaron and I were proud of both of the boys as they share their love and understanding of Jesus and what our lives are because of Him. We were blessed to have my parents join us for the singing of carols and sharing our church's celebration of the children's Christmas service.

As we are in the process of preparing all the commercial and traditional aspects of Christmas, it's important to remember the real reason we celebrate - the birth of our Lord and Savior! May we always keep that at the forefront of what we do.

Sledding Fun

13+ inches of snow and two days off of school was just what the boys ordered! They were giddy with excitement and didn't give a hoot that snow was blowing and with the wind chill it was below zero. They headed out to explore their new white wonderland and found the most delightful surprise from the snow plow in our cul de sac - a pile of snow that was approximately 10 feet tall and plenty wide enough for several of the neighbor kids to play and sled down without any problems! It's their newest favorite place to hang out. They built in ramps and trails to the pile and are constantly organizing the neighbors to come out and play. Needless to say, it's cut down on the fighting from too much inside togetherness!

Aaron however wasn't quite as enamored with all the snow. There was no way he was able to make it to work in Des Moines, so he spent several hours bundled up like an Eskimo clearing snow with a snowblower. By the time he finished our driveway the first time and headed around our corner to do the sidewalk, you couldn't even tell he had done anything to the driveway. So, he held off until the winds died down and then completed our area and those of 4 different neighbors.

Snow days are always bittersweet for me - a love/hate relationship. I love the unexpected time at home to get things done, but detest the fact that it prolongs our school year into June. I'm in the swing of things now and want to keep plugging along, and by June I'm ready to be outside with the boys and hanging out at the pool! Oh well, I spent a good chunk of my time cooped up inside organizing my scrapbook room downstairs so I can actually scrapbook! I think Aaron was even pleased with my project, which literally required all that cooped up time. It had become the room to just toss things in when we didn't know where to put them or had company coming and needed a "hiding" spot! I am now very motivated to get back into the groove of preserving our family memories and getting back to a hobby that gets pushed aside to deal with "life"!

Questions

Since we are snowed in for another day and I need to get by children away from the TV for a bit, I thought I'd pose some questions to the boys and see what they had to say. I never know what is going to come out of their mouths, so I figured this might be interesting. I asked each of them these questions separately so they couldn't copy each other's answers. Enjoy their words of wisdom!

What is your favorite thing about having a snow day?

Austin: no school
Carter: going outside and sledding

If you knew you were only getting two gifts for Christmas, what would you want them to be?

Austin: DSi and electric scooter
Carter: Pocket Rocket and electric scooter

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

Austin: to have fun with family and celebrate Jesus birthday
Carter: it's good to give and it's Jesus birthday

What is your favorite thing about your brother?

Austin: he is weird which is good
Carter: he plays with me

If you could do one nice thing for someone else, who would it be and what would you do?

Austin: help mom fold clothes
Carter: help Colton with his homework

When you go back to school tomorrow, what do you think your friends will say they did while at home for 2 days?

Austin: Tyler will say he had a snowball fight
Carter: Colton will say he went sledding

What do you think dad wants for Christmas?

Austin: new headphones since Scooter bit through his other ones
Carter: another kid (oh my this one makes me laugh and laugh, especially if you know Aaron)

What do you think mom wants for Christmas?

Austin: Scooter, our new cat, to quit biting through cords
Carter: more Cricut cartridges

Well, there you have it. Out of the mouths of my babes!

Muffin Man

Yesterday before walking out the door, a snarly Carter grumbled, "I look like a muffin! How am I supposed to run at recess today?" Oh the rough life of a child! After the weather we are having now, it looks like he'll be a muffin man for awhile!

Happy 93rd Birthday!

Grandparents are pretty special people. I'm blessed to still have three living. On Saturday four generations of family members gathered at the Hubbard Care Center to celebrate my Grandpa Herbie's 93rd birthday! Grandpa loved being the center of attention. Cake and punch were served to all the residents in the afternoon, while most of us stayed for pizza with Grandpa that evening.

Sometimes we forget how important it is to spend quality time with those we love and appreciate. The gift of time really isn't difficult to give. It's simply making it a priority. Give a loved one a call in the next few days and let them know how much you love and appreciate them!

Gingerbread House

Grandma Ween was kind enough to tackle the task of making the yearly gingerbread house with the boys again while Aaron and I headed to the D & B Christmas party. Austin and Carter do a pretty good job of separating out all the candy into the muffin tins and colors to start the process. Once the actual process of decorating gets started though, the boys' attention spans never quite last as long as the project! I think Austin ditched Grandma and Carter in favor of TV pretty quickly last night! According to Grandma Ween, Carter said, "I can watch TV anytime, but we only do gingerbread houses once a year." I'm not sure if he had an epiphany or was just sucking up! He hung on a little longer in the process. However, when Aaron and I got home, poor Grandma was still sitting at the kitchen table finishing up all by herself! What a saint she is for doing this each year with our boys!

Headed North!

Vikings 35 Seahawks 9

The score of the game didn't really matter, it was more about the experience. Aaron is the only one of our family who had previously attended a professional football game. An opportunity came our way to get tickets to the Vikings vs. Seahawks game that we really couldn't pass up. Austin and Carter were over-the-top excited that we were going and taking Papa and Granny, my parents, with us!

We loaded up the "silver bullet" and picked up my mom and dad so they could get the full effect of the boys' excitement. We would have hated for them to have missed out on that opportunity! On our way, the boys made a pit stop at Cabela's while the women hung out at the Medford Outlet Mall.

After an enjoyable dinner at the Green Mill, we headed back to our hotel for the boys to swim and the adults to play Pepper. After Austin and Carter were done swimming they taught Papa and Granny to play our newest favorite family game, Farkle.


Austin and Carter found the adjoining hotel rooms to be quite intriguing! According to Carter, "They have these special doors in some hotels just in case you bring grandparents along and they want to be able to see you!" The wisdom of our children will take your breath away some days! Game day brought us to the bellows of a parking garage in which Austin said, "This is too scary for me!" However, the price was right as well as the distance from the dome. Once inside, the boys' eyes grew wide in awe. The size and atmosphere amazed them. The players entering the field through the inflatable Viking ship with the gjallarhorn brought the boys to their feet. The fireworks during the national anthem and every Vikings' touchdown made Austin say, "This is the best!" Of course, they had to sport their new Viking horns during the game.

On the way home from the game, we all got a chuckle out of a beggar standing on the street corner with his sign that said, "Aliens stole my brain! Need money for a new one!" Hmmm...sometimes I feel as though the aliens have my brain too!

We made it home without Papa and Granny going too crazy cooped up in the van with two wild boys! Hopefully they'll join us again for another adventure.