The President

So, while we were cold in Georgia (with snow and wind) and my parents and brother/sister in law were stuck in Virginia due to hoards of snow, my sister and family were attending church in Hawaii with the President.



Huh.

No matter your party or opinion, that's cool.

Just sayin'.

=)

(my sister and family are in the pew right opposite the President. Karen is wearing a pink floral sundress).

The Christmas Blur

Ah, Christmas. Seems like we wait all year and all of a sudden, it’s done in a flash. Let’s recap the very busy twenty-four hours…

Christmas Eve found us preparing to church but I was missing one child. He was already at church warming up with the band. I had planned on taking a picture of the kids once we were all home, but guess who forgot?

Yep.



Stromboli dinner, spreading of reindeer food, leaving of cookies for Santa rounded out the evening. I, however, added another special something…..Benadryl.



I fully admit I am one of “those” moms. ‘Nuf said.

Christmas Day arrived but did not bring early risers. No one got up until almost 7:30. Whoo hoo! This day had lots of surprises…..I think I was more excited than the kids!

Before……



After….



In the midst of all chaos, the family gift was opened….



and a scavenger hunt held for…



The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys, hosting dinner for twelve, and serving dessert for twenty....including grandparents from Pennsylvania!

The clean up crew.....what good teens!



My babies….




But the best event of the day?

The snow! Yes, snow in Georgia on Christmas Day.



We hope your Christmas was just as wonderful!

Rockin' Christmas!

My girls gave me a concert tonight. To say it was amusing would be an understatement.

My favorite? "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"......

From Anna Grace:

"Rockin' around the Christmas tree, and a happy holiday.

Everyone snacks and never leaves

in the good old fashioned way."

So, I ask you, how did the people go home if it wasn't the good old fashioned way?

Who Am I?

As Christmas approaches, how are you spending your days?

Shopping? Wrapping? Baking? Being lazy?

That’s what I’d like to do.

But alas, today, I undertook the task of beginning the cleaning process to prepare for company.

Yep, had to get the house “guest room ready.”

As I was cleaning the bathroom, Anna Grace came in and said,

“Is there something I can clean? I like being Cinderella too.”

So, does that mean I am a princess or just a maid?

I’m gong with princess….but with a dusty crown.

You see, I’m not a very good maid.

The Final Countdown

Yep, the final days until Christmas and what do you know…..?


*All my shopping is done (and wrapped) before Christmas Eve for the first time ever!

*The highlight of the zoo visit was watching the panda bear poop.

*My big kids think the abbreviation CN means either Canada or Connecticut. Why they didn't consider China is beyond me.

*Evidently it IS possible to subtract six cookies from zero. You just make more cookies.

*No matter how much food you put in the pantry, someone will always say, “There’s nothing to eat!”

*None of my kids have any common sense. I’m a bit scared.

*Wrapping presents without labels is not a good thing.

*There is no such thing as “no talking medicine”.

*Katie fell asleep reading the newspaper. At 5pm.

Yep, the final days until Christmas and what do I want….?

*All my kids home for the holiday. Hard with Katie working a retail job at school an hour away. Sigh.

*No screaming and yelling from little people. Like I’m ever going to get that wish…

*No more shopping at all. Maybe???

*Laughter and smiles to fill the house.

*No more school. Sigh. Two more days to go.

*Visits with family and friends….

*Lots of good food and drink(s)…..

Yep, the final days until Christmas and guess what??

*We are thankful for good friends and family that fill our lives. Blessings to all as you begin this holiday week.

Math is NOT my Friend

Or more accurately, homework is not my friend. But today’s battle was with math.

Math and knowing when to regroup when subtracting.

And my kid played dumb like she’d never seen it before. Lucky me.

I spent part of my day teaching this and got to do it again after school.

Again, lucky me.

The session started off with the prompt…..

“Okay, if I have 0 cookies, can I give you 6?”

Dummy me thought that would be an easy answer.

I was wrong.

Her response?

“Yes.”

How, I asked?

The response….”You can just bake more.”

Math is going to be the death of me.

The Dusty Sign

I have never stated that my claim to fame involves cooking or cleaning.

But that is common knowledge, isn’t it?

There are some rooms in my house I don’t venture into much at all. Alex’s room being one. Scary place.

The office is another place I don’t visit often. I only go in there to print something or open the blinds. That’s about it.

You see, I make the kitchen my office since that is where my laptop resides.

The office is primarily Alex’s zone….computer, tv, games, etc.

Well, this morning I went in to open the blinds.

I happened to glance down and saw….



Oh my. Guess we need to dust, huh?

Now, whose little piggy toes are those? And how did they get there?

Good thing she left her calling card….

Brothers and Sisters

Why does it never seem to fail that afternoons cannot be calm no matter how quickly I arrive home after school? It seems that the days I get home pretty early seem to be the worst.

Why?

Today brought us home a bit after 4. Toss in homework, lunch making, choosing clothes, checking email, breaking up fights, returning phone calls, telling kids to stop screaming at each other, talking with daddy in California……and my leisurely afternoon turned hectic.

Then add in needing to run to the store to fax something to daddy (at 5:45), and that just creates more havoc.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time away at the fax machine and won’t lie about it. The girls stayed with Alex and his friend. If I could have driven slower, I would have. But it was close to dinner and shower time so I kept on my merry way.

I returned home just 20 minutes later and found no kids in my kitchen. And all was quiet.

Odd.

Upon looking more closely, I spotted two little girls hiding under the desk in the kitchen. Hmmm.

“What are you doing?”

“We are playing hide and seek with Alex. He is still looking for us in the office. He is a bad looker.”

Hmmm.

Upon further inspection, Alex and his friend were hanging out at the computer in the office with no intention of searching for them.

You see, they were smart and played the game of…..

Hide and NOT Seek.