If I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus...

Who doesn't love Christmas jammies?

The usual suspects eating Christmas breakfast.

Not sure why I chose that as the title of this blog, but thought everyone would be more inclined to read it if it had something juicy in it. It doesn't.

Christmas time really gets to me. I am a sentimental dad, there I said it. It has always meant something special and I have really fond memories of Christmas as a child. I had some great traditions that I hope can carry forward to our kids so they can feel the same way about Christmas as I do.

Traditions that I would like to have every year.

1. Christmas Eve mass. I love getting dressed up and going to mass on Christmas Eve, it is, after all, the entire reason for Christmas. With no small task at hand, Jen and I got all the little ones dressed in their Christmas "fits" and were able to get them in the car and over to church. Luckily, we chose the later mass at Holy Name in NOLA where we were able to get a sweet parking spot AND the boys were very good at church. All the Dietz clan in town was there and it was really nice to get back to church. While not the easiests of tasks, we did it. Note to self - don't go into the nursery again with crawling babies that try to put everything into their mouths (coughing and runny noses, here we come).

2. Aunt Sandy's peanut butter balls. For as long as I can remember, we used to get a package in the mail from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dave. It always contained the most delicious chocolate covered peanut butter balls. I don't even know what makes them so awesome, but we always got them around christmas and I used to look forward to it every year. I definitely need to get that recipe from her.

3. Christmas lights. I used to always help my mom put up christmas lights around the house and yard in the weeks before Christmas. This year, Owen "helped" me put them up outside. I just kept thinking of Rusty and Clark W. Griswold putting up the lights in National Lampoon's (probably because the movie was on for 24 straight hours) and I am looking forward to having my boys help decorate every year. Note to self - I definitely will be going overboard as the years go on...I just don't think I can help myself.

4. The Night Before Christmas. After Owen was born, I bought our own copy of this book and we have read it the past 3 years. I know they don't really get it yet, but this was something that we always did on Christmas Eve and I think that everyone should read it. This is something that really captures the joy of Christmas for little kids. The look on Owen's face as I acted out some of the parts of the book was priceless.

There are a bunch more, but these are some of my favorites. We had a terrific Christmas with some family and some friends. Unfortunately, we can't always all get together at the same time anymore so we do what we can and make the most of it. Our families have been so good to us in 2009 and we hope that 2010 will be an even better year for everyone.

Merry Christmas from Connisonville - Brett, Jen, Owen, Parker, and Jack.

One of the reasons to look forward to bedtime

It's milk, but I'm prepping him to love coffee just the same.

I love the nighttime routine we have with Owen. It usually goes something like this:

• Tubby Time
• Short Playtime/Cleanup Party while "the brothers" get their tubby.
• Small cup of Cheerios (or other cereal) and Milk/Sesame Party
• "Brush Teef"
• Read 2 books/turn on sound machine/nightlight
• Prayers
• Hugs and kisses and I tuck Owen in with what ever animals he wants and we say goodnight.

Owen has been getting good at saying his prayers. He is very thankful for a lot of things, especially all of his stuffed animals. He now knows the whole prayer (which we have kind of made up on the go), even though we still have to say it together.

"Dear God, Thank you for my Mommy and my Daddy, my brothers: Parker and Jack, GaGa and Pops, Sissy, Uncle Lea, Doos, MawMaw and PawPaw, Aunt Kell, Nana, Baxter, Scooter/Skeeter, Mike the Tiger, Douglas, Edgar, Gorilla, all my elephants, all my family, all my friends, my health, my house, all my toys, all my books, and everything else. Amen."

It is one of the best parts of my day.

Oh, the places we will go (Part 2)

In Part 1, Jen and I considered our trip to SC a win. The ride back to BR was not quite as successful.

We started out from SC around 6:30pm, stopping first for Starbucks (if you haven't tried a Caramel Brulee Latte, you need to) so we could get all hopped up on caffeine for the ride to Montgomery where we would stop for the night. We started out ok, and the boys eventually fell asleep nicely and we were on a roll. Unfortunately, they woke up really fussy about an hour outside of Atlanta (3 hours in) and we were forced to stop, change diapers, feed the little guys, pee, get more coffee and FINALLY get back on the road.

During the mass commotion that was our car during this 30 minute pit stop, a young, fairly normal looking woman approached us (as I was just finishing changing a crying, tired baby). The conversation went something like this:

Girl: Are you headed toward Atlanta?
Me: Yeah, it's south, the exit is right there (pointing to the interstate sign, I assumed she was lost)
Girl: Cool, so you can give me a ride?
Me: (obviously shocked) HAHA. Have you lost your mind? I have 3 kids in there!!
Girl: But your going to Atlanta.
Me: (Trying to be nice) I have my car packed up and we don't have room.
Girl: Aww, come on, you are already going that way.
Me: Yeah, with my 3 young children.
Girl, I have a 2 year old too...
Me: So you should probably go see her.
Girl: But...
Me: You need to back up away from my car, now. BACK UP, NOW.

At that point, she knew I was serious and I was a bit on edge. I thought she looked normal, but I'm wasn't sure what the crackhead in her was about to do so I made sure she knew I wasn't afraid to go nuts on a crackhead. She finally left and went inside. It was quite the interesting experience with a crazy homeless person. Seriously, you have to be pretty crazy to WANT to get into a car with us...

It took some tears to get everyone back to sleep and another couple hours passed until we made it to Montgomery. We (ok, I) then took a wrong turn off the exit and took an extra 10 minutes to find our hotel. Grrrr. When you just want to get in and get settled, getting lost sucks...at 1am, with 3 kids, in 35 degree weather.

The hotel was pretty good, we had a bit of a time again checking in, getting everyone inside and settled, but we finally got everyone to sleep. The cribs were set up this time (thanks to Jen for calling ahead and making sure they were). Unfortunately, someone (Owen decided that the late 4's was a good time to start making some noise. Had we been at home, no big deal, but in a hotel room, you don't have many options. We managed to keep him quiet for a while but I think everyone was up by 5:45am. I later found out that Jen didn't even sleep for two hours. I was out like a light though, thankfully, since I knew it would be another interesting ride home.

We packed it up again and hit the road. The boys slept a little during the morning time, but not the 2 hours they normally get. After some more stops, etc. everyone slept about 45 minutes for the afternoon nap - not awesome considering when we got home to BR, we needed to get ready for a going away party later in the evening. Jen's cousin John has joined the Marines and it was the last big shindig for him before he shipped out so we had to see him off.

With the help of GaGa and Pops, who came to our house when we got home, we were able to get everyone ready and out the door for an appearance at the party. Jen and I were not expecting much considering the lack of naps that everyone had, but we were hoping to make it long enough to say our goodbyes. Luckily, Parker and Jack snoozed on the way over there so when we got there, I stayed in the car with them for their catnap.

The party was good, I think we lasted almost an hour and a half. By the time we left and got home, we were definitely exhausted. LSU was playing Arkansas at 7pm so I had to stay up for that nailbiter...Once LSU clinched it in OT, the TV went off and I was done. Jen barely made it to the second half.

Soooooo. Here is the thing for next time...I think we need to start a bit later so they don't stay awake very long at the beginning of the trip and go for as long as we possibly can drive while still being safe. The next time we do make a long trip like that, Park and Jack will be a little bit older and in forward facing seats. I'm not expecting these trips to be easy for some time, but at least they are manageable and the time with MawMaw and PawPaw make it totally worth the trip.

Anybody else have travel tips for youngsters? We are taking suggestions!!!

2009 Christmas Card

I realized I could save card images from Shutterfly through some interweb trickery.  Ok, I really just took a screenshot of the card online and cropped it, but the term interweb trickery sounded cooler.

Our 2009 Christmas Card.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Connisonville!!

-Brett, Jen, Owen, Parker, and Jack

Good Morning Jack.

Action Jackson

I woke up this morning, got Jack from his crib and since Parker was still snoozing, I brought him to Jen for morning breakfast in bed. When he was finished, as clear as day, he said "hey Dada." Even though I know he is just blabbering, it is still the cutest thing ever.

Then, cute was gone in 60 seconds...Jen let him crawl over to me. These three things happened within the next minute. Jack spit up on me, he bit me, then he laughed and pulled my underarm hair. Awesome, nice way to start a Monday.

Oh, the places we will go (Part 1)

Jen and I decided that we would come up with a fantastic plan for traveling 12+ hours in the car with 3 children. This plan, consisted of driving as far as possible while all the dudes were sleeping. We thought that Atlanta would be far enough and we could handle the 4 hours after our hotel stay. When I got off of work on Friday, we drive into NOLA to pick up Owen who was visiting GaGa and Pops, bathed and fed everyone and started on the road at 7pm. How smart is it to start driving that far at 7pm? We were hoping for the best, not knowing how this would actually turn out...

6 hours, a No-Doz, and many old CDs later with hardly a peep out of anyone, we pulled into the hotel which was 30 minutes outside of ATL. There were some logistics to consider when we got there...the kids, the bags, the checking in, trying not to put anyone down on a semi gross hotel room floor (Jen was grossed out more by the thought and not so much be actual grossness). We did end up with all 3 pack and plays that we requested (thank God) and unfortunately, I had to set them up at 2am. We continued with normal nighttime routines even though we were all in the same room (though it was a suite). Everyone slept pretty well, I was hoping for at least 4 hours and we got 4.5 so I can't complain. Owen charmed the pants off the hotel staff while I gathered up oatmeal, cheerios, and COFFEE from the hotel breakfast bar. He is sometimes so shy and other times, he will talk to EVERYONE.

We hit up Dunkin Donuts for some more coffee and we were back on the road. With not as much success, but with what we still considered a win, we endured the remainder of the trip thanks to two dual screen DVD players in the car. I would have been the last person to think that a 9 month old baby (or two) needed a DVD player to watch in the car. I think I remember seeing a screen in a rear facing seat and thinking what lazy, terrible parents those people must be. Needless to say, my opinion has changed trying to keep not one or two, but 3 kids as quiet as possible for 13 hours.

A few, fairly uneventful hours later, we got to SC and were rescued by MawMaw and PawPaw.

For those who have little children, and have to travel across country...I would recommend against it. Just kidding, it is way better to drive cross country than fly with little kids, the possibilities of mass chaos on a plane are endless. In the car, at least you can always take the next exit and stretch your legs at a luxurious truck stop in the middle of Alabama...