House of Estrogen

Fly-By Christmas and New Year's Post

I'm behind in my blogging, and nobody wants to hear about Christmas any more, so this will be a quick fly-by of our holidays. Christmas Eve was simple - just the five of us, a slightly overcooked pork roast, a sweet potato casserole, some veggies and champagne. Nobody told me pajamas were the required attire for the evening, so I looked a bit out of place.

Christmas morning, I was set up at my usual spot on the couch, video camera in hand, as I have every Christmas for years, ready to film the girls running down the stairs to discover the Santa gifts. Santa was generous this year, so I couldn't wait to catch their reactions on film. You know where this is going, right? The camera was set on photo rather than video, so I took a single photo of them at the top of the stairs. Nice.  It turns out it was for the best anyway though. They ran down to find a huge green box from Santa. When they lifted the lid, a note was carried up by balloons.

Here's a closer look.

A trip to Disney World! The most magical place on earth! Every child's dream come true! No better Santa gift!

Uh. No. Not at all. They opened the box, did not even look at the sign, and headed to their stockings. Then, when J.C. pointed out the sign, Elise gave us a moderately enthusiastic, "Yea! Disney World!", Nina said, "What did Santa bring me?", and Addison kept on heading to the stockings.  Their reactions were underwhelming, to put it nicely. Then, they opened their stockings while I murmured under my breath, "spoiled rotten... mumble, mumble, Santa might just send JC and me to Hawaii instead...mumble, mumble... see if Santa ever brings anything extravagant again... mumble, mumble"  I think it is fortunate none of that was captured on tape, don't you?

After stockings, the gift opening commenced.

"A new bathrobe... way more exciting than Disney!"

"Mickey Mouse? Who cares?  There is Play-doh!"

Then it was off to my in-laws' house for a lovely turkey dinner and more gifts.

"A crochet set! Thank goodness for Grandmamma knowing that a crochet hook would be better than the Magic Kingdom!"

No, I'm not bitter. Really. I'm not. I never even contemplated telling them that Santa revoked his gift. Honest.

The day after Christmas was better. I started my morning off with a peppermint mocha using a Starbuck's gift card and reading a book purchased with an Amazon gift card. Then we grew crystals,

built a treehouse out of Legos,

and played new games. It was a fun day.

A couple days later, Elise's jump rope team performed at half-time of an NCSU basketball game. They didn't have the same type of practice space at PNC Arena that the team has usually had for basketball games, so the performance was not as strong as it should have been. It was fun seeing them up on the big screens though.

On New Year's Eve, we went to Games Night at a friend's house. We played board games, party games, the Wii, and Addie had a ball running around with the other kids her age. It was a fun, laid-back way to ring in the new year.

Overall, the holidays were nice. We had ups and downs, but we all enjoyed the time off of work and school and time spent with family. I have finally come to peace with the fact that the Pez and M&M's had a bigger wow factor than a Disney trip. Lesson learned.

The Endangered American Pandas

The big girls went on a bike ride with J.C. today, and when they came in, I overheard this conversation:

Nina: "I'm going to tell mom the news!!"

Elise: "What news?"

Nina: "The news about the trees that were died!"

Elise: "Oh yeah."

Nina: "And it killed the pandas!"

Elise: "No, Nina, pandas don't live here."

Nina: "Yes, they do."

Elise: "Oh yeah... the American pandas."

Nina: "And the other bears."

Elise: "Yeah, it kills the bears and the people."

Nina: "Cutting down trees doesn't kill people."

Elise: "Yeah it does."

Nina: "Oh yeah, because some trees have flowers."

Elise: "ALL trees have oxygen."

Nina: "And bees make oxygen."

Elise: "NO!!! We need the bees because of the flowers and the animals. That's why we need bees."

Then, Nina came racing upstairs to me and exclaimed, "Mom, mom, I have some very sad news. On the way home, we saw some trees that had been cut down. It made me very sad because the pandas need the trees to live. They eat the trees... pandas and the other bears!" I later asked J.C. about the trees that had been cut down. He said that they rode by one single stump that had probably been there for decades, and Nina was completely distraught over how sad the entire population of pandas must be over that one stump.

I love that my girls are concerned about the environment. They clearly just haven't quite put all the pieces together yet though, so it makes for some amusing conversations (here's another one).

Note to Nina's preschool teachers... I think I need to borrow that panda book you read in class!

My husband, the killer

.J.C. spent this morning clearing a new trail for mountain bikers in a park not far from our house. As I drove past the park with the girls, we had this conversation...

Me: "That's where Daddy is right now, working on new bike trails."

Elise: "How do they make new trails?"

Me: "They clear out brush, cut down trees...."

At this point, I was interrupted with a firestorm of complaints. As you read this, add in the inflection and tone of voice that you might expect had I said something along the lines of "Santa is dead. We're cancelling Christmas."

Nina: "That's killing nature!!"

Elise: "That's killing trees!!"

Nina: "That's killing rabbits!!"

Elise: "That's killing us!!"

Nina: "That's killing pandas!! Pandas need trees to eat. They eat lots and lots of trees. If you cut down trees, you kill pandas."

Elise: "No. That's killing us!  Trees give off oxygen, and we need oxygen to breathe."

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to all of this since they actually made some valid points. I just assured them that he probably wasn't going to cut down too many trees, and that I didn't think any pandas would be harmed in the process. I think I have a couple of environmentalists in the making.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! Little by little, we're doing our part to try to live a little greener. We've switched out all the lightbulbs to CFL's. We no longer get paper receipts at the gas pump or ATM. We pay bills online. We use cloth napkins. We're carrying reusable bags for groceries. Every little bit counts, right?

Nina loves to yell at me if I leave the faucet running too long, "Mom! You're wasting water! The drought... remember? the drought?" The girls went off to school today dressed for the occassion... Elise in a recycle shirt, Nina in an "Earth Friend" shirt, and Addie with bright green polka dot socks! Anyway, I'm by no means an environmental expert or a truly green mom, but I'm taking one small step at a time. I thought I'd pass along a few green tips that I've found helpful.

• Check out this blog: Green Mom Finds... fabulous site for all kinds of green products and tips for moms, along with give-aways.
• Thinking about trying reusable bags? I promise once you try them, you'll never go back. The rare times now when I have forgotten my bags, I'm kicking myself as I carry in 8 of those plastic, finger breaking bags instead of walking in with two big strong totes over my shoulder. Besides being environmentally friendly, they just make life so much easier! I like my GreenBags by Ecobags. They aren't terribly fashionable, but they have a hard bottom, so they stand up well for easily arranging groceries. They also have a little loop that lets them hook onto the bagger stand that the baggers use. They hold a ton, and you can sling them over your shoulder. Want something more fashionable that can fit in your purse, so you don't have to remember to bring your bags from the car? Try Envirosax. I also think these are kind of fun: Paper Nor Plastic.
• If you subscribe to Newsweek (or like to buy it), check out this week's issue. Take off the cover carefully, fold it inside out, tape up the sides, stuff in a few Target bags, and mail it in (postage is paid already). Target will send you one of their new re-totes made out of recycled Target bags! Cool!
• Do you get too many catalogs in the mail that you don't need? Go to Catalog Choice and opt-out of some of those extra catalogs cluttering up your house.
• There is a great new series on the Discovery Channel called "Expedition Alaska". Click here for the schedule. I watched it the other night and thought it was an excellent show. Here is the description from Discovery Channel: "Alaska is a land of breath-taking natural diversity, but it is changing at a rapid rate. A team of some of the world's top scientists and wildlife filmmakers explore this remote landscape to document what impact global warming is having on Alaska."

I'll be back to my usual photos and House of Estrogen stories tomorrow... just thought I'd do my Earth Day blogging duties today. Have a Happy Earth Day! If you have any green tips of your own to share, leave a comment!