If You Give a Girl a Cookie......

If you give a girl a cookie



she’ll probably ask to frost it.



After it’s frosted,




she’ll want to add sprinkles.



When it’s done,

it will look like this




And even though mom said no snacks,

chances are, she will eat it.




Once she’s finished,

she’ll want to read a Christmas book



if she can force mom to play along.



Once books are done,

she’ll probably want to watch a movie



even though she watched it today at school.

During the movie, she’ll ask for popcorn.



Mom will say no since we haven’t had dinner.



Dinner, she says? I want egg rolls, not steak.



When dinner is done, it reminds her that it’s time for a treat.

What treat? Ice cream, candy, cookies, fruit?



No fruit today, mom. I want a cookie.

And chances are if she asks for a cookie,



she’ll want to decorate it.



Does mom have the strength to do it again?

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Can you identify the inspiration?? I own the whole series!

Santa (finally) gets to work....

The stockings may be hung by the chimney with care, but nothing else had been done……until Santa finally started shopping.

Actually, Santa headed to the stores to buy things for school but had an unsuccessful mission. So, Santa I browsed through the toy aisles just to see what I could see. I had actually planned on buying most things online but never completed my order before going to bed on Sunday so closed it all out.

But Santa had a good day for little girls and came home with several things



I called Alex on the way home to tell him what I had purchased. The response? Barbies, Littlest Pet Shop: dumb. Lincoln Logs, Legos, games: cool.

I also told him we needed to use his closet to hide the gifts. You see, there are some things in my closet now so they “know” to look there. The playroom closet? Heck no, they’ll look there by accident. Katie's or ours? Nope, too full. So, Alex’s closet it is.




I guess this means I’ll be seeing this



from now until Christmas since he can’t won't use the closet. Ah, who am I kidding? His room always looks that way.

After hiding gifts, I got busy doing teacher gifts



with my favorite gift of popcorn, chocolate, and Blockbuster card,

books for the book exchange at school



which both girls are doing—but not my class,

making cookies,



cutting things for a school project (Rudolph ornament!),



making dinner for little ones,



and reading Christmas cards from people who are on the ball.



That would not be me. I haven’t even started writing our letter yet. Maybe next week.

So as I am preparing their lovely and healthy dinner (uh, no), I look over at the girls who are busy wrapping toys to give to each other. Yes, I gave them old wrapping paper so they could play Christmas.

Here is the aftermath



and the toys they gave each other.



At least they are having fun, right?

No shopping has been done for the big kids-----and even if it was, I wouldn’t post here for fear they would read about it!!

Two more days of school. Can we survive? Tomorrow is party day; Thursday is our Polar Express Day with activities, stories, and movie time in our jammies.

Do you think we can make it???

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I can't figure out why those pictures are sideways. I'll keep working on it. Until then, just turn your head!

A Time Line of Life

So, Alex had this project for Gifted Lit that he neglected to mention until last night.....and it's due tomorrow. Such is the story of my life.

Anyhow, he had to create a visual timeline of 8-10 things in his life using color and texture in displaying the information on an 8 foot rope. Uh, okay. At 6:30 tonight, he we got started. Yes, it's been a busy day doing other necessary things. Truly!

The beginning is obviously his birth or babyhood. I pulled out his first shoes to be hung on the rope.



I can't imagine him being that small anymore!! He's 5'10" or taller at this point---surpassed my 5'8"ness a while ago.

Next stop in his life, moving from PA to GA at the age of 3. He hung a snowflake on the rope (fussing the whole time) to signify leaving the snow! Yes, that is a major reason in our move south almost 11 years ago.



Next up, the beginning of soccer....and end of mom's free weekends.



What's next, what's next, you ask? Hmmm. Well, it's a broken arm just before Thanksgiving at the age of 9 or so. Someone thought trying to be a fighter pilot on the swings would be a good thing. Note to readers: it's not a good idea. Please pass that along.



Don't you love how it's saved on a Christmas ornament for posterity?

China. How could we leave that out? He actually wanted to count it twice on his timeline but I wouldn't let him. Talk about an easy way out. So then he wanted to know which child we were leaving out. Oh good grief. So here is his symbol from BOTH China trips...



Whoo Hoo!! The next milestone was a fun one. A trip to Jamaica when Anna Grace was 18 months old. We went to Beaches Boscobel which was a 2 hour bus ride from Montego Bay or a thirty minute plane ride via this lovely piece of equipment.



The flight was actually fine but I detest, hate, can't stand, suffer through flying so it was pure torture for me. The five of us, plus the pilot, in this little plane over the ocean. Not fun. Give me a drink, please. Oh, that's right. There's no flight attendant because the plane is too flipping small.

I may never forget that trip.

Moving on....

The move to our current house almost three years ago. Alex put a sample of our address stamp on the rope. Although you know we live in the Atlanta area, I don't want to post our exact address so all you stalkers out there can't come see me. Now, if you are a blogger who wants to stop by, just email me!! I'd be very happy to meet you!

Just before heading to China in 2006 for Abby, Alex broke his collarbone which is the next thing on his timeline. We were worried about traveling and weren't sure if he'd need surgery once we returned. Thankfully, he turned out just peachy keen.



And finally, we have his time at high school. He decided to post his most recent progress report to signify the change from middle to high school. He currently is sporting all A's----which he did not do in middle school. I hope this trend continues.



So since I'm not sure how all this plays into his Lit class, the whole thing seems rather dumb, yet it was fun to relive some old times. Aren't memories fun??



And as I was taking pictures of the project, Alex said,

"You aren't going to blog about this are you, mom?"

Of course. What a silly question!

Big Girls Party....Blonde???

What? Do I have you very confused?

Such is the story of my life. I am perpetually confused. Probably because I try to carry on four conversations all at once so miss most of each one. I used to pride myself on never forgetting anything. However, when I miss most of the conversation, it’s quite easy to forget something.

Today Anna Grace attended a birthday party for a girl in her after school class. One she has been with at daycare for several years. It’s also the first party where Moms Were Not Allowed by order of the birthday child. Gee, turning six makes you pretty grown up! Sounds like something AG would do too!!!!!

The party was held at the home of our daycare’s former curriculum director. She left to pursue further higher education (go Ms Kathi!!). But she also does scrapbooking stuff. So the girls had a grand time stamping, gluing, and writing. All things little big girls love to do!



Anna Grace came home with a huge bag of essentials to continue creating projects here at home. Thanks Ms Kara and Ms Kathi! All my hard work of hiding markers, scissors, and glue are down the drain. (hee hee!)



In other news, Katie returned to the salon today to try and gain her blondeness back. If you remember, she accidentally dyed her hair orange strawberry blonde but had it color corrected to a light brown. Although it looked good, it was not the Katie we are used to. Her roots may be a light brown but her overall color has always been a sun-kissed blonde.

So, off she went to the salon to try again. Here are the results. She looks great!!! Back to the Katie I am used to seeing.



Katie is now off seeing her boyfriend, Alex is hanging with a neighbor, and little girls are in bed. Dave and I are sitting here in front of the fireplace watching TV/blogging and enjoying the quiet time and conversation.

Hope you all are doing the same…..

TGIF.........

Our day began as any other day. Showers, getting dressed, eating, leaving for school. My hope was not to repeat the day yesterday and have a normal day.

When I picked up the girls today, Abby immediately asked to listen to Rudolph.

This morning when I dropped her off at school, that’s what was playing on the radio. Little people don’t understand that the radio is not the same thing as a CD. Mommy just can't make the radio people play the songs you want! I'm not that powerful.

However, when I arrived home with the girls today and was gathering mail from the mailbox, guess what came on the radio?



Talk about excitement! But then I was stuck sitting in the van in the garage on so we could hear the whole song. Yeah me.

I noticed while getting the mail that the



was gone from the curb. Well, how amazing. Maybe Dave did it before going to work? No. The garbage truck was not in the neighborhood before we left this morning.

That means only one thing. One of the minions Alex amazingly put it away. Wow.

Then I got in the house and saw the “turn on the dishwasher” sign on the door like we’ve had before.



Guess what? It was clean AND unloaded. Go teens! Way to win some mom points!

When I mentioned it to Katie, she said, “Well, we’re scared of you now, Mom”

Fear is good, my child. Fear is good.

Intermission…..

I received an email tonight from Tracy, Katie’s boyfriend’s mom (did you follow that??). Anyhow, Katie completed an art project based around Catlan’s pitching and uniform. I never saw the final project-----and then she gave it to Cat so I really never saw it! But Tracy sent me a picture tonight. She wants to have it framed for him. Isn’t it cool??



Proud mom bragging.