Christmas Top 10 and 365 Days of Target

My top 10 favorite things about Christmas vacation in no order whatsoever:

1. Going to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN. We went to the bear pits and fed the bears, unintentionally ran a 5K in the snow, ate at Hardrock Cafe, bought a wooden sign, went to Magiquest, went on a trolley tour of lights, rode a sky tram up a mountain, and got into a snowball fight.

2. The snow in Virginia! Kalea and I played in the snow twice a day. It went up past my knees! It was so high that Kalea often sank every time she tried to make a snow angel. Steve lost his keys in the snow during a batched snow angel attempt.

3. Walking through the snow on the way to the Christmas Eve church service. There's something magical about walking on a snow lined path on the way to worship our Lord and Savior.

4. The PJ Fairy brought me some footie PJs that had built in sock monkey slippers.

5. Playing Wii with my family. It was hilarious and I am sure that my sister will never forget my 'amazing' singing. (I don't think that she will ever be able to listen to that song again with dying laughing.)

6. Eating at the Rusty Suppart and walking across the Inner Harbor to visit the Baltimore Science Center. I think my face froze off.

7. Sciport Louisana's Science Center's play area. The kids had a blast!

8. Getting to hang out with my family (mom, dad, brother, sisters and niece).

9. 2 weeks of not having to get up at 5AM.

10. Giving the kids cameras and going out to Grand Prairie lights. Kalea took 180 pictures!!!


365 Days of Taboggle

Sooo, if you're a Facebook friend, you've probably already noticed that Steve and I are participating in our crazy creation of 365 Days of Target. The videos may be silly, but watching the creation of the videos is what leaves me bewildered. This is the way Day 2 played out.

Steve: Nathan, take this camera and crawl through the maze of Christmas displays.
Nathan: (looking quite stunned) You want me to do what?!
Steve: Take the camera and just crawl through.
Nathan: (still looking stunned) .....won't I get in trouble?!
Steve: No, it's ok, just do it fast.....after that Target lady walks by.....
Nathan: (looks around, hesitates, and goes for it)

It goes back to the endless debate that I have in my mind. I've always wanted a traditional family with 2.5 kids, a white picket fence, and a dog named Spot that doesn't poop, bark, smell or bite. Those of you who know us, however, know that our family is anything but traditional. We roam the country all summer. We play in a punk rawk band, and we sometimes force our children out of their comfort zone to do silly things for the sake of art. We are busy....too busy. If there were ever a moment to stop and breath, it would only be for a second before we jump into a silly time consuming idea like going to Target for 365 days. Part of me wants to slow down and just be normal, but the other part knows that children of two very GT-minded teachers weren't put on earth to be normal. Kalea spent an hour one morning mixing and fixing a Rubics Cube a hundred times. She could live in a library and I catch her Google-ing things on my iphone; words that I didn't even know she could spell. Nathan can play drums as well as his daddy. He spends his spare time writing and illustrating books. So the endless debate inside my mind? Should I force normal-ness on my family? The world may never know......