A Little Christmas Cabbage

Each of our children have gotten a Cabbage Patch Kid for their first Christmas. This tradition probably stems from my Cabbage Patch experience as a child. Bless my dear grandma's heart, but when I was little, I wanted a cabbage patch doll desperately... so grandma made me one. She was great from the chin up, but from neck down she was NOT a cabbage patch doll. No bellybutton, or tushcrack wrinkles or most importantly...a signed heiney!! Alas....the Dahlstrom kid Cabbage Patch Christmas came to be. (who cares if we started out with boys!)



Meet Raphael Jasper Dahlstrom. We call him Jasper. This little guy has had his share of life experiences since this morning 5 years ago... poor thing no longer sports a bellybutton or tushcrack wrinkles, his face has a perma-tan now it is stained so badly, lost for weeks in a box in the garage (eerily around the same time as the balloon boy incident). And once when and his "daddy" were only 2 years old, he was the bearer of an unfortunate haircut that will never grow back! BUT, through thick and thin these two have been the best of buds.

Introducing Theodore Jamir Dahlstrom... But you can call him Theo. Mr. Boom-jangles drew the short stick and got his little friend for his second Christmas. He is his "daddy's" second best friend. Afterall, he's always had an "uncle" to compete with for attention! Which, in turn means he is in much better shape. Plus, he's a whole 2 years younger than his "cousin", Jasper! His face is less stained and still has his bellybutton and tushwrinkles fully intact.


Last, but not least Rachel Jeri Dahlstrom has arrived! However, she's been nicknamed R.J. This was the number one thing I was excited to see be opened on Christmas morning this year. Ellie's girl was a secret until she came out of her box because apparently they don't sell Cabbage Patch Dolls like they used to and now the newborn size only comes dressed in a cabbage where you can't see their hair or name on the birth certificate. Ellie really lucked out getting such a cute girl, though! I'm super excited to see all the shenanigans my girl puts her "daughter" through over the next few years, and I'm even more stoked for all the doll clothes I'll get to make her! (I have made my "grandsons" numerous outfits including their own little Colts jerseys, but for some reason they'd much rather be little exhibitionists all the time!)

All of our kids and Christmas"grandkids". It's amazing how fast our family has grown!

seriously...?!

i think my boys have it out for me today. just last night, they were allowed to take a bath by themselves. BIG MISTAKE! they decided to dump out the whole brand new bottle of body/hair wash we hadn't ever used yet, to make a bathroom full of bubbles (seriously, the toilet downstairs was glugging as the tub was being drained upstairs). and covered the bathroom floor with water. as punishment they ended up going to bed and hour early. wet.

fast forward to just now... the boys had been playing quietly for about an hour, so i went to check on them. they heard me coming and quick scramble to lock the bathroom door. not so easy with soapy hands!! they once again have soap suds and water ALL over the bathroom. they had filled up the sink with water and dumped the liquid hand soap all in to make a pond for the thomas tracks they had built over the sink and toilet. i'm kicking myself now for not taking pictures, but i was furious. seriously?! the bath mat and half a dozen towels it took to clean up last night's mess hadn't even made it to the dryer yet! i had the train tracks and train thrown into the tub before i had that "this will be funny later" thought. plus i've found taking pics knowing i'll cool off later, makes them think what they've done is so funny it's picture-worthy.

i've said it before and i'll say it again...the NUMBER ONE thing i cannot stand about having boys... never having a clean bathroom!! it's always wet or soapy or dirty or the TP is destroyed in one way or another, hand towels that get drenched in all the wet or used with dirty hands and faces.

watch... i'll come back and read this when i'm 50 and my kids are grown, and miss this stage. for now.... not so much!