Yankee Swap

I have decided that I hate The Secret....

It all started when I burned the eggs yesterday morning and Andrew stuck his fingers in the cornbread I was bringing. Who burns scrambled eggs? Well, not me. But yesterday, I did - even after I told "the Universe" I was going to have a wonderful day. And even after I burned the eggs I told the Universe it was okay, there would be no crying over burned eggs, we were still going to have a good day.

We did get to the Yankee Swap on time, which is HUGE for my family. Of course, that was not the Universe, that was me lying to them and telling them we had to be there at 10:30 when, in all actuality, we had to be there at 11. So, we were 30 minutes behind (per usual) and we got there right on time.

On the way there my little sister passed us, followed by her boyfriend. They were, of course, going 80+ on the highway and leave it to Kirby to prove just what our minivan with 3 kids in it could do. Argh! This is why I rarely ride the motorcycle with him anymore. He gets around young kids who act like jackasses and he feels the need to join right in and show them that, while he may be old, have 4 kids and a granddaughter, he is still "the coolest". Scares the crap out of me!

The speeders - Dana and Kolbe

We made it in one piece and without being pulled over. I had a talk with Andrew (nice words, no screaming, stay out of Aunt Jennie's things, etc, etc), did my survey of the house and we were off. Before we even got to the Swap part of the day Andrew had spilled an entire cup of Sprite on me, gotten into the spare room with a glass cabinet FULL of Beanie Babies (and nearly emptied it, I might add and when I say FULL I mean FULL - probably 1000+), and somehow gotten brownie on his butt and sat on my Aunt's floor...ugh! But it is still going to be a great day - right??????


At this point in time, my "good thoughts" and vibes out to the Universe were faltering. At one point in time I ended up in the bathroom using very stern words with Andrew and then I shot Kirby dirty looks for the next 30 minutes until he decided it was time to take Andrew from me.

We had a great lunch with more then enough food. There were plenty of compliments on my cornbread (I decided to cut out the piece with Andrew's fingerprints in it) and my family only got on my nerves a little bit :) I love them, but they try awful hard to irritate people.


My disgusting brothers - and there wasn't even any alcohol involved - they just act like this for fun.



Monica and Aunt Jen checking out all the food!


Dad - waiting for someone to bring him food, I'm sure

Present time! This is what Andrew had been waiting for from the very beginning. There were 22 people. I got number 22 (which is only second best to number 1) and Andrew got 20...which means he had to wait for 19 other people to open their gift and then decide if they are going to swap for something better. When Uncle Loren chose the gift that he wanted (two Harry Potter toys) it was nearly break down time. I just had to keep reminding him that once he opened his gift if he didn't like it he could take Uncle Loren's (and pray that nobody else decided to steal it from him).

Zachary opened his present and ended up with a 3 1/2 foot snowman...I prayed that someone would take it from him (but who in their right mind would take that thing home). Kirby got a DVD player which got swapped for something else which got swapped for a Yankee Candle. Tom got a Patriots picture that nobody even tried to take. Andrew ended up opening a woman's watch and bracelet set which he promptly traded with Uncle Loren for his Harry Potter toys. I don't remember what I opened...huh...can't remember for the life of me...but I traded it for the DVD player that had been taken from Kirby. Thankfully, Thanny (my 2 year old nephew) fell in love with the snowman and Zachary ended up with a bag of Red Sox's and Patriot's stuff with a wiffle ball and bat. After opening up presents trade is open to all - Zachary also ended up with a Bob the Builder Trash Can and a Harry Potter Magic Wand (Kolbe - Dana's boyfriend - decided that he would rather leave with nothing than those).


Look at those cutie boys!


Thanny

Soon after I was just about fed up with keeping up with Andrew and telling Zachary to stop (jumping, swinging, yelling, running) so we decided it was time to go. It takes us just as long to get out of places as it does to get ready to go most times. After much urging and a few exasperated sighs we made our way out.


Andrew getting his socks on with help from Aunt Sandy


I think Aunt Jen was ready for us to go :)

Sue reminded me that we had to stop by the house on the way home to go through the books they are getting rid of (when we were kids we had a "library", essentially a playroom with three walls of shelves filled with books - they have decided to redo the room and get rid of most of the books). I left with a large box of books, some for the boys, some for me. Kirby left with a large box of computer components. Each of the boys left with ANOTHER toy (Dad and Sue have a "treasure chest" that the boys take a toy from each time they go).

We stopped at Hannaford and FINALLY made it home around 5:30 - just in time to make a quick dinner, watch the Patriots lose and get to bed. As far as the bed part, even after I told the Universe that Andrew was going to bed without any problems we fought for nearly an hour, he got a number of toys taken away (including his Harry Potter toys) and I gave up and made Kirby do it.

That darn Universe must be having a really hard time understanding me...I wonder if maybe s/he speaks Spanish...