Chelsea Salomone: 2016

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

December To Remember

Foods of minimal nutritional value has been the way of life at the Salomone house lately. Getting my kids out the door with a solid breakfast in their bellies used to be my one crowning achievement, but since Beckham's been born even that's gone by the wayside.

It doesn't seem to matter how early I get up- trying to get both boys fed and dressed, Beckham fed and dressed, the dog fed and medicated, myself dressed (and sometimes fed) and all the other things required to get out the door and get the household running for the day has really crimped my breakfast style.

In an attempt to mix things up and really just get wild and crazy the other morning, I set out a bunch of random stuff and let the boys make yogurt parfaits. They loved it, and I felt like they were getting a relatively solid breakfast.

Plus it solves the age old dilemma of: How will I ever get my kids to eat flaxseed? Ha!

It was nothing fancy (and yes, a lot of sweet things) but it was new and different and they actually ate it. I set out yogurt + shaved coconut chips + flaxseed mixed with brown sugar + granola + honey + berries and said "HAVE AT IT KIDS! I'll be sipping my tea and watching Houda and Kathy Lee if anyone needs me!" (Yeah right.)

What kinds of healthy things do your kids eat for breakfast? Or, do they?

While I'm throwing Christmas memes out there... this was another one that made me laugh.

Nick and I have a trip to Vegas coming up (!!), so last Thursday while the boys were at school I bundled this guy up and we set out to find new shoes for me, plus some final Christmas presents as well.

NEVER GROW UP, BECKHAM!! I want to carry you like a papoose in a snow suit for all of the days!!

I was in search of two pair (two pairs?) of shoes to wear with some dresses I bought. I wanted something fun, something a little spicy and something totally different from my usual footwear options (which include: Toms flats, Toms booties and boots).

I ended up at DSW with these two, and felt like it was a mission well accomplished. They should serve me well in Vegas and beyond, I think.

That afternoon Logan's class was celebrating his birthday. I ordered these fancy donuts, per his special request, and we surprised him with Nick taking off work to celebrate too.

Logan was so excited we were there, but typical kid-- do you know what he was most excited about? He was BESIDE HIMSELF that he got to pick a prize from Mrs. Debbie's super secret birthday box and that he was chosen as Top Dog for his class for the day, on account of "always being such a good listener, a good friend to others and for following directions so well."

Isn't that the way it goes with kids? Forget the donuts, forget that Nick took off work- the dicut dog with his name on it and the 25 cent "wall crawler" were totally what blew him away. "CAN YOU GUYS BELIEVE I WAS THE TOP DOG ANDDDD I GOT TO VISIT THE BIRTHDAY BOX???" was what he kept saying on repeat.

We could believe it.

That night, following the Christmashoe shopping and birthday celebration, was Logan's first belt test for Taekwondo.

I don't know if I've mentioned that he's been taking Taekwondo the past few months, but he has been and loves it. I know it's hard to believe, but prior to this I actually knew nada about Martial Arts. I've been so impressed with the things they have taught Logan (agility, strength, speed) but most importantly, how they make it fun, engaging and totally appropriate for a preschool kid.

Besides that, we have pretty much been ruining our kids with something fun and exciting and celebratory every day for countless days. (I wish every month were December. It's pretty spectacular while you can get away with it.) Nick and I didn't intentionally plan it this way, but that's how it's been. I have no doubt we'll pay our penance for all the abundance of sugar and overstimulation and excitement when January rolls around.

One normal-ish fun thing we've been doing is making carmel popcorn and watching Christmas movies. I discovered an old recipe a neighbor used to make years ago, and given my boys' extreme love of popcorn, we couldn't not make it (twice).

One night we put Beckham to bed and the four of us cuddled up in the living room and watched Nick's favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. And then, of course, there have been the countless Home Alone showings.

Another night we enjoyed having a friend's high school daughter Alyssa come and hang out with us for the evening and make some more popcorn of the carmel variety.

With the grandmas, Logan and Everett went to Casa Mañana to see a the kids' Christmas musical and also made their annual gingerbread house with Teri. Both things ranked very high on the favorite things list. My mom and Teri are awesome to plan such fun things for them!

Today was the last day of preschool for the year, along with Christmas parties in both classes.

I especially loved being with Everett and seeing my little ham in his element with "the friends."

This was the only picture I took of Logan's party- the room moms set up such a cute table for them!

I read a Christmas story to Logan's class, like last year, and this morning on the way to school he said, "Mom- I love when you come read stories to my class. Next year when I'm in kindergarten and even when I'm in high school will you still do that?" I'm gonna need to have him sign some sort of official document stating that in pen, while his mind is still right.

After school they brought home the delightful preschool gifts they had so carefully made for Nick and I (a book and a painted picture frame from Logan and a handprint dish towel from Everett), along with these two gems of pictures. The annual Baby Jesus photo their preschool does is easily the highlight of my December every year.

But, despite that laundry list of holiday fun, the pinnacle happened on Sunday night when Nick (took one for the team) and took the boys to stay at Great Wolf Lodge for Logan's birthday.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Baby Jesus Acting Debut

Beckham's acting debut as baby Jesus in our church's Christmas play was a smashing success!!

If you remember, our MOPS liaison Michelle asked if Beckham could be baby Jesus, and then I got THIS EMAIL a couple weeks later that was like, Oh hey, BT Dubs, you're the Mary!

I showed up at rehearsal at 9 a.m. Saturday morning not quite sure what to expect. Besides a couple of vague emails I really hadn't gotten much direction on what exactly I was expected to do. Nick had given a hard no to playing the role of Joseph, so this young pup was my counterpart. (And I didn't bring Beckham to rehearsal, so this was our rehearsal Jesus.)

All was well and good until they pulled out the donuts and sausage rolls. Apparently high school boys and sausage rolls are moths to a flame. We kept trying to run through the program, but they kept losing Joseph. "SAUSAGE ROLLS!" was something I said more than once that morning, and someone would go and retrieve Joseph.

We go to a big church and this is quite a production every year- singers, musicians, dancers, an artist, live camels... the works! So I was supposed to be on stage for three parts.

The first part, Kyle the director (who owns an improv theatre in Dallas incidentally) explained like this, "So the soloist will be singing and on the second chorus you will walk by yourself down the center aisle [BRIDE STYLE!] with the spotlight following you. Walk up the steps, sit stage right and pray and just act very pensive. The mood here is terrified and anxious. While you're sitting on stage the Angel of the Lord is going to be dancing around you. As she's finishing, stand up slowly, walk down the steps by the poinsettias and exit stage left."

Then I was to come in a second time with Beckham and the sausage king, leading a procession to Little Drummer Boy. During that we just sat on stage ("ADORATION IS WHAT YOU'RE FEELING HERE! I WANT TO SEE LOTS OF ADORATION!" Kyle said.) doing the typical Jesus in the manger scene as the wise men, drummer boy, camels, kings, angels, etc. came in and bowed to the baby.

Finally, we all walked in one last time together in the last song of the show, Go Tell It On The Mountain.

Let me just say-- I was a giant ball of nerves following rehearsal. It did not help ease my mind at all, with all the emotions I was supposed to portray and stage directions and cues and the sitting by myself part while my entire family and hundreds of strangers watched... I drove through Taco Bueno on my way home and sat down at the kitchen counter and stress ate the heck out of a nacho salad and a bean burrito.

Nick was super helpful and compassionate to my plight with his words of encouragement: "Listen, you've got no one to blame here but the person in the mirror."

I contemplated a blow out, fake lashes and a giant glass of wine before the performance, for real. ("One glass of wine is basically communion!!" my friend Jenny reasoned.) But I did none of the above. What I did do, was put on a double layer of my unhealthy deodorant.

Beckham got lots of attention from the little angels before the show.

Cougar Mary, A squirming baby J and Joseph ready to go

"I should probably tell you- I know nothing about babies," was pretty much the only exchange high school Joseph and I shared. His mom took a ton of pictures of us, though.

I did tell him he was welcome to use this family pic as his profile picture on social media, but I don't think he found my humor very humorous. I have so much to learn about high school boys.

The performance went off without a hitch. I know I'm biased but Beckham was the cutest baby Jesus in all the land. He totally stole the show. At one point I set him in the manger (I was given the option to hold him or set him down), and he sat straight up the entire time just looking around. It was pretty much the cutest thing on the entire planet, if I may say so myself.

One of the camels

At the end, right before we came out for the last song he fell asleep in my arms. I mean- PERFECT this kid was!!!! It's like he was made to do this.

All of our family came to support- the Salomones, Nick's Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve, my mom, Andrea, Chris & Colin, the Allshouses from Michigan... Beckham had quite a fan club.

The boys were just enthralled with Beckham's performance. Everett patted his head as soon as he saw us afterwards and said, "Beckham! You did such a good job buddy!" And Logan said, "Could you believe him?? Just looking around, enjoying the world!"

Afterwards we all went to our favorite local Italian restaurant to stuff our faces with meatballs and pizza, and I finally got that glass of wine I'd been needing. It really turned out to be a fun night and such a sweet, sweet memory our family will be telling for years to come.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Christmas Experiences & Booby Traps

We are in the midst of all the fun and excitement December has to offer! There are so many things happening right now- parties and festivals and birthday prep and trip planning and holiday dinners with friends- it almost feels like we've become a family of ping pong balls, bouncing excitedly from one fun thing to the next. Maybe moreso than in years past, even. Add to that Logan and Everett's excitement, and it's just really, really fun at our house right now.

In the midst of all the fun, however, I came down with a horrible case of strep throat. It was the yucky, in bed achey + shivering and my throat is filled with fire ants and shards of glass, kind of sick. I haven't felt that bad in a really long time. Thankfully Nick took a day off work and with my mom and Teri's help we managed just fine. It really and truly took close to a week before I felt 100% like myself again. Because of this, Beckham had to step down from his starring role as Baby Jesus at our church's Christmas Festival. Instead, Nick took only the big kids to run and around and play (and let me rest with the quiet of just one baby). But hey- lucky for me- the actual Christmas service isn't until this Saturday, so I won't miss out on the awesome opportunity of playing Mary alongside my little Jesus baby. (I'm still lobbying for lashes and a blow out, FYI. Even if it's not historically accurate, I think Mary would want me to look my best on her behalf.)

Saturday morning I was starting to feel much like a human again, so I bundled Beckham up and we headed to a baby shower in the cold rain. (Perfect December weather, if you ask me!)

Okay, these two tall drinks of water right here were my former kindergarten students... many of you probably read all kinds of funny stories about them back in the day.

This is the class of students that I've kept in touch with so many of them. So Anna (in the middle), her mom is having a baby, and my friend Ashley threw the shower.

Back when I was pregnant with Logan they all threw me a baby shower, and Anna had written me this book with ten step by step instructions (and illustrations) on how to take care of a baby. It's as cute and kindergarten-y as you might imagine. I've held on to the book, and it was so much fun to pull it out at Darcy's shower to give to Anna. I love when life comes full circle like that!

In the blink of an eye in all happened, and here we are with this guy!!!

Saturday night Debbee & Fred had their family and all of the Salomones over for a holiday dinner. I don't feel like "holiday dinner" really does it justice. Let me see if I can put this in context. Okay, if I made a holiday dinner, I would cook something (or likely, pick something up) and get some red poinsettias for the table, possibly a plaid Christmas table cloth, and maybe- maybe- pull out the real dishes, rather than paper plates. So that's "holiday dinner" in my mind. This is holiday dinner in Debbee's mind:

The kids table, complete with monogrammed Pottery Barn Santa chair covers, matching plates and cups, a snow man candle and confetti, little Pez dispensers at each spot that match the kid's interests (notice Everett claimed his in a quick minute)...

Okay, then there's the adult table:

I've been to weddings- most weddings- that weren't as decked out as this table. There was food as far as the eye could see...salamis and cheeses and dips and lasagana and pizza rolls and salad and pies (so many pies!), any drink you could think about wanting...

It was truly, a carnival for the senses. Or as Logan said as we pulled away from the winter wonderland in their front yard, "Guys this is definitely the best house we've ever been to, right??"

So instead of a holiday dinner, I'm renaming this the Heldoorn Holiday Experience. Debbee totally outdid herself. We had a great time and appreciated all of Debbee and Fred's hard work.

Aww he loves me

Debbee entertaining the boys (and possibly giving them more chocolate after I cut them off)

On Sunday we finally had to get our house back in order after me being out of comish for most of the week and put up our Christmas decorations. Did I mention our washing machine was also broken all of last week? Or how about that Lexi threw up more times than I want to remember and that the smoke alarm batteries started beeping one night at 2 a.m.? Last week was really a doozie!

This was the toy situation alone. You can imagine the laundry! I get so twitchy even looking back at these pictures. Please God, never let me get sick again.

We all pitched in (youngest to oldest!) and got things ship shape in no time. Nick had stayed up late on Saturday night trying to get the washer put back together once the part arrived, and saying all manner of cuss words and watching various YouTube videos along the way. But alas! The house was orderly, the washer was humming... life was good! On to the Christmas decorations!!!

Nick is all about the Christmas tree, even more than I am. There is a part of me that would like a matchy matchy, pretty tree. But Nick loves our hodge podge of sentimental ornaments in a really sweet and unexpected way. I got so much joy out of watching the three of them intently decorate the tree (Beckham and I helped some), and listening to Nick explain each ornament to them.

Our elf, Elfie also made his debut this week, mostly because Logan has been asking non stop when he would come. The boys are all about Elfie this year and overjoyed to find him each morning, even though he's kind of lame and only just moves from spot to spot. Elfie doesn't do all of the fancy, Pinterest-y things many of his other elf friends do for their families, because rumor has it, Elfie spends enough time cleaning up after three little people as it is and doesn't need to clean up after an elf on top of that. Elfie's kind of lame, I know.

Besides Elfie, the other thing Logan and Everett are loving right now is Home Alone. It's pretty much on constant loop in our house.

We had one really sweet moment yesterday after school where the boys came home and we sat on the couch under a blanket drinking hot chocolate and watching Home Alone while Beckham napped. It was really, really great and what holiday dreams are made of! But to be fair, an hour later they were dive bombing one another off the arms of the couch, so the sweet, cozy, calm was short lived.

Here's the thing I want to say about Home Alone... that movie is totally different through adult eyes. Woah! The language in that movie is something else. And the McCallisters... they're basically like the worst parents of all time. I feel like when we were kids our parents let us watch that without a second thought, so what's changed? Are we just raising a generation of precious flowers or what? Why is this movie so bad to me??

The best thought on that came from my friend Liz who said, "I have yet to show Zach this because it will for sure raise a panic in him of bad guys attacking our house. But should I just toughen him up and teach him awesome skills to fight back like hot irons swinging from banisters?? Also, I guess the home owners insurance covered damages to the McCallister's home or else they wouldn't have had the funds to go on vacation two."

I laughed so hard at that. Exactly. That's where I'm at. I guess this says something about where we're at in life if we're worried about practical things like home owner's insurance and feel like we basically need to stage a family intervention after showing our kids Home Alone. ((Kids- I swear! I wasn't always this lame!))

Logan's learned all kinds of valuable things from Kevin, too. He made this super durable twine booby trap for Nick to walk into after work...