Christmas Eve

Well the big day finally came -- or I guess its really the big night. Somehow I wasn't totally on top of things this year and ended up scrambling to get everything together. Luckily, I don't think the kids knew the difference, it was just a little more stressful for us grown-ups! We ended up wrapping presents until 6:30 or so, didn't eat dinner until 7:00 (thank goodness I always plan something really fast for Christmas Eve!), start our Christmas Eve festivities around 7:30, which included a treasure hunt for the symbols of Christmas (an idea I totally ripped off of my friend, Shana Hendrichsen), where the treasure at the end was a book called I Believe in Santa, which is about how Santa Claus is a symbol for Christ, then we watched the DVD of the nativity that the ward made this year, then we started our birthday party for Jesus, with a pinata and a birthday cake and presents. Naturally, the presents were pajamas, which the kids were FAR more excited about than I would have expected, Dani pulled hers out and exclaimed, "Its the pajamas I've always DREAMED of!!" Emily put hers on and then followed me around jabbering about how she had always wanted jammies that were just this color and how she just loved sleeves that were like these ones. Evan looked at his stripes and declared that he was a "cane." I'm assuming he meant a candy cane. All these cute reactions, and all of them happened when the video camera was OFF! Arg! After we ate our cake, gosh, it was only a little after 9:00, we checked the Track Santa Site, and Santa hadn't even hit the United States yet, so we played a few Christmas carols on the pipe chimes -- a disaster, might I add. A 2 and a 4 year old are utterly incaapble of waiting turns, especially when it involved hitting a pipe with a mallet, but they got to make noise and it felt festive, so I suppose it was all swell in the end. Around 10, we stopped and checked on Santa's progress again and he had entered the US via Florida and so we decided we'd better hurry to bed. Man alive, you should have seen Emily! She just didn't know what to do with herself... she scurried around so frantically that I could picture her breaking into a million pieces and then each of the pieces of her also running around frantically, as thoughthat would help to contain her excitement. They were, in fact, so eager to get into bed were they that we completely forgot to lay out stockings for Santa to fill, so about 10 minutes after I put them in bed, I had to drag them down to place the stockings and Emily kept faking that I'd woken her from a dead sleep and she was too tired to function. Finally got them in bed, assembled a bike and a train table in a mere 2 1/2 hours, remembered around 1:00 a.m. that I hadn't prepped anything for breakfast and now here I am, at nearly 2:00 in the morning, finally ready to go to sleep. Here's hoping that the kids aren't old enough to wake up before 6:00 for present opening!

One of these things is not like the others

Ok, so my kids look more like Restuccias than Rushes... except for Evan -- he's a pretty good knock-off of one of my brothers, but even with that, none of them look much like me. Dani has apparently noticed this. She asked me why my hair isn't red like hers. I made some non-comment like, "It just isn't." She informed me that I could buy a "thing that will color on your hair so you can match your kidses." I believe she meant a ProColor Accent, which she has seen the commercial for several times. A case in point -- below you will see pictures of myself and Emily at 5 years old. We don't look anything alike. My mom doesn't agree, but I think Emily is far cuter :) . Dani makes a good argument, I would love to have red hair anyway, but I have an even better excuse in that if I had red hair, then I would "match my kidses" and at least one part of us would look the same! So if was was willing to shell out 30 bucks to have hair the color of a red crayon, I could be almost as cute as my kids, but alas, I'm not willing to go quite that far

Dani has an E.Q.

We watched Lilo and Stitch 2 tonight. Dani was sitting in my lap as the movie ended -- at one point you think that Stitch is dead. Imagine my surprise when I hear small gasping sounds coming from Dani and I look at her and she is watching the movie and struggling NOT TO CRY! Her little lower lip was stuck out and her eyes were brimming with tears. It was a very sweet sight. When I asked her what she was crying about, she wouldn't fess up to it. She said she wanted me and then she said she wanted a game that was on the other side of the room. I find it interesting that she could have enough emotional sensitivity to cry at that point of the movie and even more interesting that she would have the emotional sensitivity to be embarrassed about crying at a movie. I wouldn't have been surprised by this behavior from Emily, but Dani??
That kid never ceases to surprise me.

Bite my nose

One of Evan's favorite games these days is called "Bite my nose, Mom." So since I don't give him what he wants very often and this is easy enough to do, I will GENTLY bite his nose, then we move on to fingers, sometimes his belly -- he thinks its hilarious. He loves to try to put his finger in my mouth and pull it out before I bite down. Today, he tried a new version of this game... "I bite fingers, Mom" with his mouth open, waiting for me to trust him enough to put my fingers in there. Cautiously, I poked an index finger in there...... and my suspisions were corrrect -- Evan doesn't know how to bite without really biting. OW! I jerked my finger out quick, but I had some good teeth marks in it. Then he asks, "Mom, I bite nose?" Now Mom may be stupid sometimes, but she's not going to be stuid twice -- especially when my nose is on the line, so I said no, and so he went for my ear. That's when we quit playing. Later in the day, I heard him say to Dani, "Bite my finger, Dani." And before I could yell, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO," Evan starts wailing... I guess Dani doesn't know how to bite without biting either. Poor little Ev. Ya try to have a little fun with your big sister and you nearly lose a finger!

Sweet Dreams

This is one of Brendan's favorite sleeping positions. I'm so lucky that Jason is willing to take Brendan off my hands from time to time while he's working. He just props Brendan up in his lap, and Brendan stares at the computer screen until he falls asleep. Daddy's work has the same effect on me too.

Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty

I have no idea where this kitty puppet came from -- probably Aunt Tam or Grandpa Rush, since they both like puppets. Evan dug it up from somewhere and it is now his pet. He named it Meow and follows me around meowing and wanting me to pet him all the time. I'm glad he's happy with a puppet cat, cause he's sure as heck not getting a real one!

Our stars

The girls both had Christmas programs this week on consecutive days. Emily had a speaking part in hers. She had to say "The choir's not quite ready." She did a great job -- spoke loudly and clearly. The songs were darling and the coreography was cute. Em was just a beat off some of the time, but it didn't matter-- we were so proud.

Dani's program was also very cute. The most amazing thing is that Dani actually sang! That was a first! One of the songs was called "Mitten time." In the chorus the kids put the hands out in front of them and sang "Thumbs in the thumb place...... BINK!" and they popped up their thumbs. The "BINK" was the most intelligable and loudest part of the song. It was so cute and again, we were so proud :)

Dani's antics

We have a few Dani anecdotes in need of preservation. One of the best things about doing this blog is that I am finally writing down the nutty things she says and does.

Dani has a sudden interest in singing. She has never cared much for singing before... last year at her preschool Christmas program she sucked on her fingers and pulled her skirt over her head rather than singing ANY of the songs. In the last week or so, every time we get in the car, she wants to sing Christmas songs. Now, on one hand, this is kinda sweet, on the other hand, its a little nerve wracking because she only knows Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Deck the Halls, so we sing those over and over and over again. I tried to teach her Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer the other day. I was singing a part of a line and then let her finish it and thought she was getting it until we sang the following:


Me: And if you ever saw it... you would even say it....
Dani: ...lights up in the dark.....

I guess she's getting the general idea :)



One evening this week, I went out finish up a little Christmas shopping with some friends and I got a call after we'd be out about an hour. It was Jason, who called to share with me that Dani had called 911 and the police had shown up at the door. Evan and Emily were interested, but Dani, who we've convinced that the police will arrest her if she doesn't wear her seatbelt, hid and was afraid that they had come to take her away. The whole thing must have beena huge accident since Dani couldn't distinguish the numbers 911 from the letters ABC if for all the donuts in the world! Jason wasn't too hard on her, but told her that I was made at her and then told me that I had to come down on her about it. So the next morning when she came downstairs it went something like this:

Me: So Dani, what happened last night?
Dani: (long pause and then quietly) I called the police
Me: Why did you do that Dani?
Dani: (totally subdued) It was really an accident, Mom.
Me: Well, Dani, that is why you aren't supposed to play with the phone.
Dani: (whispering) I'm really sorry, Mommy

Now if you know Dani, you know how RARE it is to see her cowed. I just can't do it justice in black and white. She was just so sad and pathetic, I didn't have the heart to say much more than, "Well, don't do it again." Even though I can't effectively record the memory here, I will always be able to picture her, kneeling next to me, with her little hands folded in her lap, head down, with that wild shock of red hair as she spoke to me in the most sad, calm, apologetic tone I've ever heard come out of her mouth. My poor little Dani. It was definitely a day for her meek Dr. Jekyll side to shine.


As kids are frequently wont to do, Dani has lost her shoes. Its the second pair she's lost in a couple of months, so I decided to get creative when we found that she had the left shoe of one pair and the right shoe of another. So for the last week or so, she's been wearing one Incredibles, light up, velcro shoe and a Spiderman tie-up shoe. A pair of shoes as unique as Danielle herself.

Sunday Best

Brendan is getting too big for his britches, so I bought him a new Sunday outfit. He looked so darn cute I just had take his picture... good thing I did be before church because while we were at church, he had a poop blowout and the clothes don't look nearly as cute anymore!

Plainfield Ward Christmas Party

Tonight was the ward Christmas party, which went fairly well. The ward made a DVD presentation with the primary kids dressed up as the characters from the nativity. It was very cute Emily was a shepherd and Dani was an angel (a bit of a stretch). The nursery kids weren't included, but they did borrow Brendan for baby Jesus when they forgot the doll they were going to use. Santa was there, and Emily believes it was the real Santa, not one of his helpers, becuase he knew her name and he had a big SC on his shirt and he knew that the girls would like the comb and mirror sets he gave them. Dani and Evan both said they wanted Power Rangers for Christmams and Emily said she wants her own radio (she already has one... on further clarification, she said she wants a radio that she can record hersel on). There was even a pinata which they let the kids hit with a fly swatter .I'm guessing that was so it would take a long time to break it -- and it DID take forever, but all the kids got a couple of turns. All in all, a nice night.

Sick Girl

Poor Dani was sick today... she woke up with a runny nose and by 11:00 she was in full whining mode. She was devastated at having to miss school, but when she started falling asleep on the couch, I knew that was it for the day. I always feel bad for my kids when they're sick, but just a little illness turns Dani into a little kittycat. She just wants to be held and loved and since I feel sympathetic I usually give in. Its bonding time we don't usually get becuase in healthy time we are busy butting heads!

Haircut

This is my new haircut. Its ok now, I think it will be better when it starts getting long. Boy, its really really straight, though, isn't it?

Our little boy is growing up

Look what Brendan can do!!! He's also sleeping through the night -- HOORAY!! We finally figured out the trick. He frequently wakes up around 4 or 5, but if we just turn him from his back to his belly (a maneuver that Jason calls "spatula-ing"), he goes back to sleep until 7 or 8. It is amazing what a difference a full night's sleep makes!

Emily's Field Trip

Em went on a field trip to Naper Settlement today to learn about how people lived in 1800s. She came home and asked to use my computer and typed out this little "story" about her trip. I have not edited at all....

12/2/05
Emily Restuccia


Today,I went on a field trip.The field trip was awsame!I learned a lot!I went to a one roomed school house,a log house that looked like it was a brick house.We also went to a place were in the olden days they made news papers.We went to a blacksmith too,but I`ll
Tell you about that later.Let me tell you about the one roomed school house,you have to
Be perfect,and I mean perfect.And guess what?My teacher got in trouble just because she had sloppy hand writing!Her face turned red.Now I can tell you about the blacksmith,
The black parte of the word blacksmith means they work with black metal.Smith means
They change it`s shape. THE END