Piles of wrapping paper

This year, my mom had a brilliant idea to cut down on some of the Christmas gluttony in our household.  We'd draw names of the adults and each purchase a bag full of presents for them.  Santa would still come for the kids, but that should be less right?  Well, it was less, but not by much.  We just had two days of present opening.  Santa presents on Christmas morning and giant bags full of presents on the 27th, with Nick, Kelly and baby Lucas.  Each of the kids got a giant bag full from my parents, and now I am a bit worried about fitting it all on the plane.  We brought a couple of extra suitcases with us so we should be okay.  There is one item that will not be traveling back with us.

I'd seen this line of toys online at Target.  The Mighty World sets are listed as being for ages 3+ and look like they'd be what Sam really likes.  Sam loves bits and pieces for trucks and for the people who drive the trucks.  Sam loved it!  However, it is a complete piece of crap!  Within 5 minutes, two pieces had broke.  Sam was slightly rough so we explained that he had to be ever so gentle.  Now, two days later, so many pieces are broken.  The trailer won't go on the truck anymore, one of the doors is off the truck, the rack on the back is gone, multiple parts of the boat are broken and one wheel always falls off.  And it wasn't even Sam's fault!  Ever since the breakage, he's been ever so gentle with the truck, but the slightest little thing cause pieces to fall off.   By the time we leave, they will be nothing left of the truck!  Never again will we purchase one of these sets!
Tom got a Lionel train set from my parents and he is in love!  He walks around saying that he wants to be a collector.  We visited the local train garden last night after dinner and there in the display is his train!  He was so excited that he told everyone about it. 
Joe got a DSi from Santa and can't stop talking about it.  I think he's a bit obsessed.  Everything he talks about relates back to his DSi.  That will wear off a bit after awhile.  It is keeping him entertained though. 
Jay got me a pair of diamond earrings and had them in a koala's ears.  Very pretty earrings and a cute koala.  I gave Jay a life jacket and a kayak.  The kayak will be delivered to our house in Australia after he gets back there.  He is excited and looking forward to using it. 
All in all, a nice Christmas.

Do it again, Ohio

Right before my freshman year of high school, we moved from a small town in Ohio to a small city in Indiana.  In Ohio, I had played on the girls' basketball team and was one of the best on the team.  Of course, our team barely won any games so I was one of the best of the worst.  A few weeks into my freshman year, we started training for basketball.  The basketball coach prefered to call everyone by their last names, except for two of us.  I think we were the two people she liked least.  The other girl had been playing basketball since she was 4 and was a talented post player, but was full of attitude.  I was much less talented and fairly quiet.  Since the coach had met my mom and knew I was from Ohio, she took to calling me Ohio. 
Part of our training involved lots of running.  Players were allowed to touch a ball in practice until a certain date in the calendar year (in order to prevent teams from practicing year long).  So the first three weeks of training were just conditioning our bodies to be faster and better.  Lots of weight lifting and running.  One of the coach's favorite things was the seven minute mile.  Run a mile on the track in seven  minutes and you were done.  Do it in more than seven minutes and we had to try again.  If we failed to do it in three tries at the beginning of practice, we'd get one more try at the end of our two hour practice.  I was quick and athletic, but I couldn't do a seven minute mile.  On the first try, I was always at about 7:10.  Second try would be slower, more like 7:25.  The third try would be really slow as I would be so tired...I would be lucky to break 8 minutes.  At the end of practice, there would be no way to even run the mile.  It was much more of a slow jog. 
Now, as I am trying to get into a shape other than round, I can just hear coach's voice in my head "do it again, Ohio."  Though now, instead of the dread that those words used to inspire, now they motivate me out of bed in the morning. 
In other news, December 1st (yesterday) was the first day of summer for us.  Summer came in with buckets of rain and cool temps.  Today already looks better as there are only a few wispy clouds in the sky. 

Joe's birthday party last weekend went off without any problems, though somehow, I managed not to take a single picture.  Not one.  The camera was out but it was just never picked up.  I got too busy playing games to snap photos. 
Christmas season as also arrived here.  It feels incredibly wrong to be shopping for new sandals and listening to Bing Crosby dream of a white Christmas.  Shorts and jingle bells just seems weird.  That being said, we bought an inexpensive tree and decked it out.  We love it!

Jay's facial hair is finally gone.  I paid $50 to the Movember campaign in support of him, but I hated that thing on his lip.  I am glad for it to be gone.
The alarm has rung to remind me that it's time to go get the boys to school.  Cheers!