Obsession, Christmas lights & too much cocoa?

So it's nearly Christmas, and to all those of you who haven't received our family card yet - it is coming - I'll try & get those out tomorrow, lol - 8 days before Christmas. Typical Joe style!

Does anyone think it's weird that my daughter whose 2 is almost obsessed with the movie "Coraline"? She will literally watch this 3 or 4 times a day, if I let her. She's always asking to watch it, gets ticked at the other kids if they turn the t.v on and don't start playing her DVD, quotes lines from it & will have a heart attack if she can't find the DVD cover to look at in her wanderings during the day.
Have you seen the movie? It's scary as all heck! Especially at the end when the belle dame has shown her true colors & is chasing her up the web, and then screaming as she's running back up the web tunnel! Yet, she can watch it with big, round eyes - but those eyes are absolutely fearless. She gets more "Yeah! Run, run" type of attitude to it. She does enjoy more age appropiate movies & cartoons - but I wonder about this particular one, which scared the living crap out of my 6 year old (who now refuses to watch the "scary" parts!) Well, who knows - hopefully it will be another 'phase' that ends ... reasonably soon. Preferably next week ;)

Today was pretty uneventful. I was supposed to work, but the door to this gorgeous house that I sometimes get to clean was gone, so the trip out was a waste (I think I'll get paid for time, but still. A long drive for nothing) Tonight we were going to go back, but my friends 2 year old took a swan dive off the kitchen counter at her house & was acting lethargic enough to worry her mother into taking her to the Instacare (as every mother now reading is like "yep - been there. Woulda done that too" is now thinking)
Thankfully she was just fine.

Then my wonderful husband decided to hook up the house lights, and as he got to pick the color this year, he was very excited about it. He also managed to finish his "guys hangout pad" in his part of the garage (which Katherine was nice enough to say that my side was cleaner than his, haha Craig!) so we lost the t.v out of the dining room, which I only allowed (or at least didn't argue my piece) because he claims that way he will actually get those 'projects' done that he needs too, because he'll be able to watch his History channel, Glenn Beck / Fox News and other 'guy' type programs while doing his thing. So for a few weeks, I'll be pacified.

Last day of school tomorrow! That's a double edged sword isn't it? It's fabulous to not have to do hair, pick clothes out, bundle kids up & all that, but then there is the problem of possible 'cabin fever', arguing & just general sibling stuff that goes on when they're here & its 8 hours more a day. Hopefully the excitement of Kris Kringle will be enough to wipe those habits out, at least for a few extra days!
Speaking of the jolly fat man, my shopping is nearly done!! I've won a bunch of giveaways (for which I am eternally grateful. Getting something for nothing is always such a bonus - but around Christmas time, it;s almost a high!) I only have a few more little things (and one big thing for Q, who was horribly run over, braved it out, deserves something special, then lost his cat.) So more work tomorrow.
I also need to get in to see my doctor as my back has decided to ache whenever I'm sitting down, standing up, walking or even thinking about it. So that's been a blast! There;s probably not much that can be done about it though, which bites, I'm just hoping it isn't a "Lupus" thing.

Well, everyone here has hit the hay, I had to finish up the 'Hot Chocolate/Peppermint" jars that we're giving to neighbors & family for Christmas this year, although the kids helped me when I was measuring out the HC, so I'm alittle concerned that the 'taste' might be off? So if you get one that is a bit on the 'grit your teeth to drink it' side, I apologize. That most likely was one where G and Q argued over who had put the last HC in the last jar and who had done the powered milk, & possibly slipped more in to spite the other. (I caught them doing this at least twice, and remedied it as best I could, but you never know)
So I'll hit the hay too, but a big Merry Christmas to all those who I know & love, and those who I don't!

 (Also, as per reading Jens blog, I learnt that I need to give props to where I got my images from, although I don't know if this applies to ones that are 'free for all'. However - just in case, & not wanting to be one of "those" people, as per her post, these images were uploaded from Photobucket, and here are the links Coraline, Merry Christmas - and thank you to those people who allowed me to use them!)

We ran our kid over!

Nope, that isn't an attempt at humor, we literally ran our son, Quintyn, over when we were on Cedar mountain looking for a tree today!
The day started off wonderfully, Jahmal made some pancakse (he's turning into quite the chef!)
He made his apron himself - a huge BYU fan, (of course I'm proud!)

So anyway, he made breakfast and we all piled into the van & started the trip to the mountain. Everything was great - Mom & Dad were discussing politics, the kids were being too loud, coloring and munching on Chez Itz.
We get up to the mountain, and start the hunt for a tree - mind you we had to hike a mile from the road before we hit any trees - but it's all part of the fun , right?
So we're looking away, the kids gave up and started sleding down any hill that looked halfway promising, C and I eventually decide there's no hidden gem of a tree that we're going to find, so we might as well head to a different area.
So we're all back at the van and C starts tying the sleds to the back of the van - we've done this a thousand times before. Once in our old house it snowed here in town (a miracle in itself!) so we tied the sleds to the back of the truck and went zooming around the neighborhood, the kids had an absolute blast!
So Aliya and Quintyn happily volunteer to have the 'first turns' in the sled, even amid my "It's going to be cold" warnings - (which of course doesn't even come close to the prospect of sledding behind the van!) I think they'd brave hypothermia if it meant 5 minutes in heaven, sledding at 10 miles an hour!
Well, everything was going wonderfully. Jahmal and I were sitting in the back with the door up so we could yell to C, who was driving, and constantly remind A & Q to "HOLD THE ROPE!" and make sure there was no 'goofing off', such as "ramming" or trying to "flick" snow at the other. So I start clicking away.

Then C notices that A & Q need to switch sleds

something about weight dynamics ... things I don't even take into consideration - but thank goodness that they switched ... or who knows how much worse things would have been! So, they switch, and we continue.

The last picture is where things started to go very, very wrong. We had turned down onto a hill. C had started slowing down, as if he was unsure, or had a premonition, (who knows) but it wasn't enough to stop what happened next from happening!
Q and A start picking up speed, & when I realized what was happening, my stomach dropped and I went cold all over. I started yelling to C to "STOP, STOP, STOP!!!!" and Jahmal beside me realizes what's going on, and he too, starts yelling "DAD STOP! DAD!!" over & over. I  see C turning to meet my eyes in the mirror as he's slowing down and they're filled with as much dread as mine- but it's too late.
First A disappears around the right side of the van amid my screams of "STOP!!" and then Q disappears, right as the van is slowing down.
The next thng I know, Q is screaming and Jahmal has jumped out of the van about a split second behind me, and at first I can't understand what I'm looking at. Q isn't under the van or anything, but he's screaming and holding his leg and Jahmal drops beside him & starts literally screaming so loud I had goosebumps "DAD MOVE THE VAN! YOU'RE ON HIS LEG!! DAD MOVE HE'S HURT!!!!" While Q is screaming, I drop beside him and start screaming at my husband to "MOVE THE F'IN VAN!!!" (I cussed in the heat of the moment, and even with as bad as things were I remember thinking "Geez - I hope the kids didn't catch that", I think it's a 2nd sense that parents have when they do something wrong, no matter how bad the situation is.
Well C , opens his door, leans out and asks me "WHICH WAY?!!" And I immediately knew he was asking, 'which way won't hurt him more?' (it has to be a married-for-long-enough-we-have-esp thing, whatever it is, I'm grateful!) So I tell him to "Go back", but when he tries to, the van won't do it, not without alot of revving and possible damage.
So he drives over his leg - much to our disgust. Q starts sobbing and C jumps out of the van and grabs him up while we clear space. I'm sobbing to myself (and, ashamedly, very very mad at my husband) and poor Q has gone white.
We do a quick check of his legs for anything sticking out where it sshouldn't be - the rest of the kids are hysterical at this point. I remember turning to Ava & forcing a calm demeanor & saying "Yes, Quintyn got an owie huh? Let's get him to the doctor, can you give him loves?" This relieved her, but I was a mess all the way down the mountain. And then when we get into town - of course they're having a parade! So traffic is backed up, slow and we're not sure what roads are closed in a town we barely know - luckily we lucked out & made it to the hospital in under 5 minutes!
So he was checked out, I also found coming off the mountain, that asking Q about his favorite shows (Ben 10, Dinosuars, Pokemon, Bakugan) and the story lines, toys and books you can get (for Christmas went unsaid - but I think he got the gist) helped keep him focused, calm and panic free.
He had his x-rays and we made them do his foot (to be sure. He had a suspicious looking lump, which we are told is normal. LOL, he has a huge lump, and it's normal! But thank goodness, he's only bruised.

It hurts him (we've given him medicine) but luckily, it's not worse. And I definitely thank Heavenly Father for this, I remember praying on the way up toward Cedar, because we had forgotten to pray before we left (we usually do) so I said one, an it was more involved because we had missed saying one as a family. I'm so glad I did! Because it could have been worse, what if it was Aliya who got run over? She wouldn't have come out of it with bruising. Or what if Q had gotten sucked and turned around and ended up head first under the wheel? I hate to think about it, but I know I'll be playing the 'What if' game for at least a week! But, he's okay now and my heart rate is nearly back to normal. Needless to say we stopped at Wal Mart and let Q pick out a tree! So that's the story of how we ran our child over! Good grief ...