christmas and new year recap

apparently, i have a lot to fill you in on.

because accountability does a body good.

or milk.

or whatever.

anyway.

so let's see. where did i last leave off? all of my goodies. um, yeah, the christmas cookies i MADE FROM SCRATCH? yeah, they rocked the casbah. i was so impressed. they were so delicious. seriously. big h and i rolled the dough, used flour with a ROLLING PIN. (never mind the fact that i wasn't even sure we had one. sad. my mom would be so disappointed.) baked them to perfection. iced them. sprinkled them. and just marveled at our work. we're humble like that.

we headed to the christmas eve service. where both of my children cried as they walked into their classrooms. because they were different. with different teachers.

and here is where i would like to give my kiddos props. week in and week out, they go to church where they kind of don't know anyone (even though we've been going there since before they were born). and have a great time. and adapt. and adjust.

high five, big h and goo. you're my heroes.

we set out the cookies for santa.

christmas morning brought fun and surprises. big h is a *tad* obsessed with batman. and basically santa and everyone else brought batman paraphernalia ad nauseum.

goo went more with a wonder pet theme. however, she did get one of these. and i'm pleased to inform you that it was less than $700.

and then, my two children got to open the window to the backyard. and see their present from my in-laws.

um, yeah. my kids almost passed out.

such a fun time. my parents came over that afternoon just to play for a while. we put our kids to bed, and buz and i watched a movie and snuggled.

then, friday we headed out to my parents' house to wait for my brother and his family to arrive from alabama. my son ADORES his cousins. he could. not. wait. for their arrival. he and goo spent the night at nana and papa's with all of the cousins and my brother and his wife. and buz and i headed home to pack and spend the night at our house.

alone.

without any children.

in our own house.

alone.

dude. it was so quiet.

we packed and went straight to sleep. and didn't wake up the entire night. oh my.

i took the longest shower the next morning. and we stopped at starbucks on the way back to my parents' house. so much fun to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and one hour of uninterrupted conversation with my spouse. poor buz didn't know what hit him. i talked the entire. hour. :)

then, the whole gang headed to our first destination. put our stuff away and headed straight for the water park. in december. do you know how fun it is to put on a swimsuit in december? i just reminded myself that i was going to have a great time with my family. and fun, we had. we wore ourselves out.

had some pizza for dinner. we so thought we would put goo down, put the other four kids in one of the hotel rooms with nana, and the four of us grownups would head downstairs for a nightcap.

except goo decided to cry bloody murder and proceeded to crawl out of her pack and play.

good times.

so instead, we all watched star wars the clone wars in that little hotel room. being parents changes things, huh?

the next day, we headed to destination #2. dropped our stuff off in our room and headed straight for the ice. luckily, buz had prepared me that goo might not have much fun at the ice exhibit. yeah, he was right. you wear these huge parkas and walk through this freezing tour of ice sculptures. it's awesome. totally up my alley. apparently, not up goo's. she cried the entire time.

good times.

but big h loved it. there was even a slide made out of ice, and buz, my brother, my nephew, big h, my dad, and i all did the slide, and it was so much fun.

we finished and sat down to have some hot chocolate. and big h spilled his. and burned his tongue. bless his heart.

had dinner and let the kiddos run around the hotel conference center, where no one was. so much fun to play duck duck goose with my little nieces and nephew.

and goo and i slept in a bed together. oh my. i am so not ready for her to grow up. and definitely not ready for her to be in a big girl bed. we'll keep her in the crib for as long as possible.

and then, it was time for them to drive back to alabama. and big h cried a lot. he loves the heck out of those cousins.

and now it's new years eve. we had some friends over for dinner. put our kids in jammies. and they were gone by 10. goo was asleep in about 6.2 seconds. big h was maybe 10 minutes, which is huge.

and buz and i are about ready to watch a movie and then turn over to the new york ball. i know. we live on the edge.

but there is nowhere i'd rather be. than hearing the faint sound of sleeping children down the hall. and cuddling with my best buddy, ringing in 2009.

praying for a wonderful new year to each and every one of you.

updated: since i started, buz has since fallen asleep. guess i'll watch a movie by myself. :)

i have this problem. i have always had this problem. i do one big night (or day) of preparation or shopping for a certain event. i get *almost* everything done. i only have a *little* left to do. and somehow that *little* left ends up killing me.

buz and i went Christmas shopping two weeks ago. we knocked it all out. or so we thought.

somehow i keep thinking of things i forgot.

oops. gift for my niece.

oops. gift for buz...even though we're not supposed to be getting each other anything. except, he always gets me something. even when we make this rule. jerk. not really. he's quite fabulous, actually.

oops. gift for my dad. well, his birthday is the week after christmas. "i thought we said we were doing one big gift?"

oops. all of the ingredients for sugar cookies from scratch.

(and screech goes the record player.)

yep. i said from scratch.

seriously. what am i smoking?

the holiday spirit. not only that. but i'm going to make the icing too. and use different food colors.

oh, and i made sweets today.

AND i made a pot roast this week.

AND i let big h and goo play with playdoh today.

i know. i am not EVEN kidding.

next thing you know i'll be wanting to drink wine, drink diet coke, and take long bubble baths.

ok...not going that far.

um, the pot roast? first one i've made. ever. and buz went for seconds. i'll take that as a compliment.

the sweets i made? were supposed to be for goo's birthday party. yeah, in JULY. oops. i decided to go with white chocolate instead. and i had every intention of using red and green sugar sprinkles and multi-colored sprinkles. but the chocolate dried while i was blinking.

but they're cute. and EASY. go me.

and the FROM SCRATCH cookie dough i made is chilling in the fridge tonight. thanks, jenny. man, if i had a dollar for every time someone asked me if i just wanted to use the already made stuff...well, i would be about five bucks richer. seems that no one is a believer in my culinary skill. i'll show them.

oh, and never mind the fact that we have no one (other than santa) to give any of these treats to. i'm already preparing for a *bit* of a sugar high from both of my children.

we headed to the mall with some friends today to get last minute things.

and OH. MY. WORD.

have i mentioned that my daughter knows how to throw herself one mighty tantrum? i got to do the walk of shame through the halls of the mall while my friend took big h and her children to a store to look around. goo and i just loved on each other. and when she calmed down, she looked at me so matter-of-factly and said, "i crying. so youd. i sad."

understatement, sister.

big h is BEYOND excited about christmas. we have an advent calendar, and he cannot wait to get a treat every night and share one thing he's thankful for. and fun for buz and me? it's usually something along the lines of "i yuv my stister."

and as far as what we're doing...well, we are going to kick it this year.

my in-laws got my kiddos a trampoline this year. big h and goo are going to need to breathe into a paper bag. trust me.

and my parents are taking my family and brother's family to two different places to spend the night this weekend.

um, yeah.

and so. i'm off to hit the hay. and wake up to a christmas eve with my kiddos. perhaps some flavored coffee and some coloring. and jammies.

night night all.

as promised

big h making his entrance.


entrance from janet wisner on Vimeo.

santa claus is coming to town

santa claus is coming to town from janet wisner on Vimeo.

we three kings

we three kings from janet wisner on Vimeo.

signing in for my weekly update

i'm kinda like SNL.

only not as funny. and this isn't tv.

so really, i'm not like SNL at all.

just got done with my marathon list-make-a-thon.

i heart lists. they make my heart happy. really, really happy.

one of the items on this list is to start working on my christmas card list.

dear Jesus. be with me as i work on my christmas card list.

today, it was seventy-four degrees, and i was sweating coming out of church. tomorrow, the high is 38. texas, make up your mind.

last night, i took a shower before i went to bed. as i was preparing to wash my hair and enjoy my herbal essence experience, i dropped a dollop of shampoo RIGHT into my eye. and proceeded to imagine what ninety-five needles must look like INSIDE my eye ball. i even called buz into the bathroom to read the fine print. and his response was, "well, if it's meant to go in your hair, surely they know there's a chance some of it may go in your eye."

and so for the rest of the night, i tried so hard not to be pitiful. but i really wanted to talk about how MY EYE HURT ALREADY.

i woke up for church this morning and thought and thought about how i would explain to my friends at church that no, buz does NOT beat me. yep. swollen shut. with lots and lots of eye goo.

hello nasty. nice to meet you.

did i mention i really wanted to talk about how badly my eye hurt but refrained? i'm such a martyr.

came home and played outside for a long time because i might have mentioned that it was SEVENTY-FOUR degrees outside. in december. christmastime, people.

put goo down for the worst part of my day and hers. and probably buz's too. her nap. homegirl doesn't seem to want to go down for a nap these days. seems she thinks she's going to miss something.

but big h and i headed out to a deli to pick up a fresh salad for my buddy who just had her first baby on friday. oh, and she just happens to be our babysitter's stepmom. try to figure that one out.

we picked up a salad for her and headed to the hospital to catch a glimpse of her little punkin. she reads this blog, so i have to make sure to be COMPLETELY honest when i say that big h was a rockstar. he came and sat and ate cheetos and commented more than once or six times how cute this little gal was. and he might have commented on all of her appendages and how cute they were and how cute her face was and how cute her black hair was. i love hanging out with this kiddo.

we left and got the text from buz (who, btw, does NOT text) saying that big h and i could pick up dinner and go pick out ornaments for the four of us.

we went to four different places and only came up with one for big h and one for daddy. he and daddy have a date to pick out ornaments for the girls sometime soon.

buz's ornament is a replica of this...

this is big h's ornament.

i love my boys.

watched goo pitch one of her bigger fits tonight as we asked her to get into the bath and actually get clean.

again, there is a reason i didn't have a blog when big was two.

oh. my. word.

the tantrums that the wisners know how to throw. we are serious business.

she was asleep tonight within 6.3 seconds.

big h had his christmas program on thursday and friday. he kicked butt. yes, i'm biased. i'm allowed to be. he had a speaking part that he'd been working on for weeks.

"i hear something."

broadway, here he comes.

and he sang both songs with gusto. he's destined for fame, really. will post video tomorrow, ms. wiz.

this week is their last week of school before the holiday. goo has a breakfast on friday for parents and family to come to. for fifteen minutes. can you imagine the goodbyes that morning?

and on saturday, we're going to bathe them (well, probably big h -- goo's bath will depend on the alignment of the stars), put them in their holiday jammies, drive through starbucks for some hot cocoa, and go look at christmas lights. buz and i do this every december 20 -- the night we got engaged. we don't usually bring the kiddos. but our fabulous babysitter already had social plans. the nerve. should be fun. i think they'll have a great time.

oh, and my mom and i are going to the symphony on tuesday night for a little holiday cheer. because we're fancy like that.

and that concludes this wisner weekly recap. stay tuned for video from big h's christmas program.

definitely in the spirit

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misc as usual

seems i can't get a handle on the whole "blogging on a regular basis thing."

buz is nighty-night. i am up way past my bedtime. but tomorrow is school for big h AND the goo. and i'm thinking about what i'm going to do tomorrow with my five free hours. take a nap on the couch? take a shower? pair buz's unmatched socks? maybe wander the gap? the sky's the limit, really.

let's see. what's been going on in the life with the wisners? had dinner with four fun friends. totally rad, franklin five, sugar, and amy (also referred to in our house as sarah's fun friend) for tamales and gingersnap lattes. i gotta be honest. i don't do girls' night outs very often. but every time i do, i feel so refreshed. granted, i didn't have to eat a tv dinner tonight -- that could be part of it. and i didn't have to give either kiddo a bath. but it was awesome to be with great friends and relax.

and i promised them i would post a video or two of my little man. the kid is freaking hilarious. i realize i am 100% biased. but c'mon. this spanish thing? kills you, right? i love this little guy. or "big guy" as he has corrected me since turning five.



spanish food song from janet wisner on Vimeo.




um. san diego. not going to lie. when you go to a photography workshop, prepared to learn from some of the people you admire most in "the industry," it really SUCKS when your camera breaks. your baby. your gateway to hopefully some awesome images. i told buz i SO didn't want to be known as "the girl whose camera broke." thankfully, most girls didn't even know about it. but again, in all honesty, it kind of yanked the rug out from under me. i actually ended up learning more about my character than i did photography. which was great. i used to always tell my dad that i wish God would stop "building my character." that's what he used to say when something disappointing happened to me growing up. "He's just building your character." but here i am.

my roommate? freaking rocked. and sarah? i might have even told her that i was ready to kick it roommate-style. and she didn't disown me. that's positive. met her right as i got off the plane. we took a cab together back to our hotel and hung out the rest of the day. we had a great week together. she was even able to laugh off my "choice words" when the camera died its horrible death. and still remained my friend. she's an amazing photographer who loves Jesus with everything she is. and i'm pretty sure we're going to be friends for a long time. meaghan, sure do think you're cool.

buz? yeah, he ROCKED it while i was gone. shocker. the guy is amazing. uh-mazing. and i think he had a great time. buz, you're the man.

fall janet? she's here. for now, at least. and seriously. she's so pleasant. i just love her to pieces. what constitutes fall janet, you might ask? fleece. keens. corduroy. cozy blankets at night. the lack of the a/c running. totally void of sweat.

so, hi fall janet. nice to have you here.

every so often, i try to think of words i don't use often and decide that i will work diligently to use them as often as possible. in 1999, it was millennium. buz will tell you i didn't fare too well. 2006 it was fantastic (pronounced fun-TAHS-tic with a bit of a british twist). again. not so much. while i was in san diego, i decided that my new word will be stunning. don't get me wrong. i'm trying. but it's such an extreme word. not many things can really warrant stunning, you know? but i'm really putting out an effort. what's your word?

anything else? OH! i got a cute, little award from a "friend" of mine. she's real cute. seriously. you should go over and say hello. tell her janet sent you. thanks, dude. i love my award. (and i realize that i think i've gotten some cute blog things/buttons, etc. but i forgot about them. and clearly, my blog hasn't been top on priority list lately. sorry, friends.)