Christmas 2012 Part 1

We are having the kind of Christmas Eve that lets me have my coffee cup beside me all day. I am cherishing this coffee cup because it is from one of my more challenging students this year. As I opened it, he said, "I bought that with my own money that I got for my birthday." :-) Sweetness.

This rainy day just calls for staying inside and having one more cup of coffee. We have no plans today. We had Christmas with my family yesterday, and Phil's family always comes over in the evening on Christmas Day. So, today, we wait for Santa. We have been baking and lounging around. At first I thought it was going to be strange, but it has turned out to be a very nice day so far. We are planning to drive around in our Christmas PJs tonight to help pass the time until Santa comes. I have two REALLY exicted four-year-olds on my hands!

We have been baking cookies for Santa!

Can you tell I had some little helpers?


We had Christmas with my family yesterday at Mama and Daddy's house. It was lots of fun! We ate too much, and the kids had so much fun opening presents! We also go together with my uncle, aunt, and cousin to celebrate. We enjoyed some time with them.

We squeezed in a trip to see Santa.

Duncan, the elf, has been causing quite the stir around here as well. One morning, Duncan was found in front of the Christmas tree riding with a Barbie in Frannie's Barbie car. She rarely plays with it, so the whole "can't touch Duncan" thing seemed like it would be no big deal. WRONG! She immediately burst into tears when she saw him and commenced with wailing and 'carrying on'. It was quite a show. I assured her that I would tell Duncan to only play with Rush's toys from now on. And... that sent Rush into a fit of screaming about how much he loved his toys. The conversation went like this:

Me to SF: I will just tell him to play with Rush's toys from now on. He won't bother your things again.
Rush: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Duncan can't play with my toys either.
Me to Rush: Well, maybe just some of the ones that aren't your favorites.
Rush: They are all my favorites.
Me to both: That seems a little selfish to me. You won't even share your toys with one of Santa's elves. I bet Santa will be so sad when Duncan tells him how you acted about sharing toys.
SF: Mama, I changed my mind. Duncan can play with any of my stuff. Anything. I changed my mind.
Me to Rush: Did you change your mind, too?
Rush: No.
Me to Rush: You don't want to change your mind about sharing your toys with Duncan?
Rush: Nope.

So apparently, not even Santa and his elves can get Rush to share his beloved toys. Under any circumstances. Ever. Period.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Duncan the Elf and other December Fun!

I have been a little behind with my Christmas posting. Our elf, Duncan, was fashionably late as usual this year, but he has arrived. While other elves often arrive around Thanksgiving Day, Duncan is one of Santa's special helpers. He often has to stay at the North Pole a bit later than the other elves to do some special jobs.

He made his first appearance a little over a week ago. You can probably tell that Fran was less than pleased with the place he decided to settle on his first day with us. She couldn't see his feet. It just made her angry. She pouted. I told her Duncan was watching and would tell Santa. Is that mean? I might as well use that little guy to my advantage when needed.

Duncan definitely loves sweets. He brought candy canes because he knew Rush dropped his in the driveway at Gigi's and cried. He also sat in the napkin holder on the kitchen table and opened up some fruit snacks for a little treat. At least he is neat and clean. He doesn't make messes like some other elves I know. Today, he is lounging on the fireplace mantle.

In other news, my high school made it to the state playoffs last week, and my best friend came into town to go to the game with me! Fun times!! She just happened to find her old band jacket before she made the trip down, and she decided to bring it with her. I just happened to have mine hanging in my closet since I was a band nerd for Halloween. Ivy was on her way to my house, so Michelle and I decided to put them on to surprise her. As soon as Ivy opened the door, she screamed, "I KNEW y'all would do something like this to embarrass me!!" Do you think we drove her crazy in high school or what? Hahahaha!! Class of 1993 Flutes Rule!! :-)

Sister and me at the game... we lost BIG TIME, but it was still a fun night.

That same weekend, we went to the Victorian Porch Walking Tour. I think it was
little lost on the kids. The porches are beautiful, but they were more interested in the hand bell choirs and singing. It was fun, though!

We also went to the park to take some Christmas pictures of my favorite niece, Kate. Could she be more beautiful?

Love her to pieces!

We are getting ready for Santa to arrive! The excitement is building!

I know I don't usually post about current events, but what happened in that Connecticut elementary school on Friday morning is one of my worst nightmares. As a parent and as a teacher.I just can't get it out of my head. My thoughts aren't clear. Sentences aren't complete. It is one of those things that makes me cringe and my eyes well up with tears every time I think about it. I can't stand thinking of how frightened those little people must have felt in the moments it was all taking place. I can't stand thinking of how desperate the teachers in those rooms must have felt. I can't stand thinking of how the parents of those twenty children must have felt in those hours that passed as they waited. How they will be haunted by it always. Can't stand it. And the teachers. And the principal. They could not have imagined anything worse happening in their school. You can have the best "safety plan" in the world, but in the end, evil exists in the world. And sometimes it finds its way in. You just don't think it finds its way into elementary schools where there are babies away from their parents. Where their parents thought they would be safe. I am sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that we will hear many stories of heroism from those teachers and staff in the coming days. I will focus on that. The goodness in those people and not the evil in that crazy man. I will pray for those families that lost someone... a child, a mother, a sister, a friend. They were all somebody's most important someone.

So today, I will snuggle these two a little tighter. Let them stay up a little later. Let them have one more cookie. In the end, having them here with me is the most important thing of all.

Christmas Card Outtakes 2012

Taking Christmas card pictures is always an adventure. I am afraid by the time it becomes a little easier to get both to smile, they will be surly teenagers that are staring at me like I am a crazy lady trying to get them to participate in a Christmas ritual in which they have absolutely no interest. Oh well. We manage to get at least one good one every year. I only took 168 pictures with my camera to get "the one". Of course, I am not going to post that one. Just some on the path that lead us there... it always makes me sweat.

And one for the real photo album...

Thanksgiving... or was it?

Remember that grape juice trick I told you about in the last post? Not sure that it worked as well as I hoped. Frannie and I both got a touch of the stomach bug on Wednesday. So, we spent our Thanksgiving doing this.

I will spare you a picture of me doing the same thing. I don't look nearly as snuggly and cute. :-)

I have to say that I was very sad that we missed all of our Thanksgiving gatherings. Powerade and saltine crackers do not make a very good Turkey Day meal. Alas, there are plenty of leftovers. The thing I missed most, though, was getting to see our families and enjoy time with them. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Even though we spent our day snuggled in at home, I know there is still much to be thankful for...

...like a sweet, little fuzzy headed boy that wants to tell you about Star Wars to "make you feel better, Mom"...a little ladybug to snuggle with all day while you watch movies, and play Hungry, Hungry Hippo... a sister that can make you laugh through tears... or a husband who takes over when you just need to stay in the bed... or amazing parents who you know really do miss you when you aren't there....a family that has known you since the day you arrived in this world and always love you no matter what...friends that call to check on you or send a get well message... and the list goes on. There is much to be thankful for this year. Even if the "day" to be thankful didn't turn out as we had planned, I am still very much aware of how much we have to be thankful for each day.

I hope you all had tummies full of turkey and dressing yesterday! I am planning to give some leftovers a try at the end of the day. For now, I am going to try a cup of coffee. I missed that friend yesterday. :-)

Bring on Christmas! :-)

Busy..

We have been busy. And by busy I mean battling a stomach virus. And by battling I mean only Rush has it so far. And by so far, I mean the rest of us are trying this wild and crazy trick of drinking 100% Red Grape Juice that can only be found at Publix.

The plan is to drink this grape juice 3 times every day for three days... or I guess as long as you have someone sick in your presence. There's no help for Rush in this because he has already been bitten by the bug. The rest of us are keeping our fingers crossed. Although Phil rolls his eyes at me when I hand him his juice, he is participating. Rush is happy and so far things have been mild, but I don't want to test the waters with anyone else. Only thing is that Rush wants me to make him some scrambled eggs. He has been asking all day long. It makes me feel sad because I love to feed Rush anything his little self will eat. But alas, he only gets toast in small little squares because I am afraid of the violent vomit. Also, in hindsight, the blue Powerade might have been a poor choice. Oh, and also the red Powerade. That is all about that.

In other news, Tiny Dancer had her first performance of the year. We enjoyed watching her do her thing. She LOVES it! She told Sue Sue that there were lots of people there to cheer for her that weren't her mommies or her daddies. Last time I checked she only had one Mommy and one Daddy, but she loved the cheering regardless of all that. It is possible that they were there to cheer for their own little girls, but I am not sure she realized that. She felt like the star of the show apparently, and it's good for everyone to be the star every now and then. She has truly learned so much from this class that she takes each quarter. She watches her teacher's every move and happily dances away. We will start back in January.

Rush was also vying for Entertainer of the Year with his crazy faces. He really just wanted to play cars in the gym, but he watched and was a pretty good sport.

After she finished dancing, he told SF, "You did a good job with your dancing, Tee-ta." Love his sweet little heart!

We also enjoyed a camp out with Aunt Ivy, Uncle Tony, and Kate. And by camp out I mean we all piled into our house and found a place for everyone to sleep. And by found a place, I mean there were trundle beds and sleeping bags involved. It was really lots of fun! The kids LOVED getting to spend the night together... although they slept in separate rooms. We used to have fun times spending the night with cousins at the lake, so I hope the kiddos are making some of those same memories.

I can't handle the cuteness. And by cuteness I mean the pigtails. And by pigtails, I mean the cutie patootie ones sprouting from Kate's head with the little wavy ribbons tied in to look like 'Fwannie'. Love these babies!

Halloween 2012

Trick or treat! We had some fun this year with trick or treating and costumes! The twins have reached the age where buckets full of candy have some real meaning! Rush was beyond excited to go trick or treating, and Frannie was all fired up, too!

Note to self: Do not put the Halloween decor out quite so early next year. They thought this meant trick or treating was going to be happening relatively soon. It is a LONG way from Sept. 30 until October 31. A looooong way... filled with many, "Is it trick or treat day yet?" :-)

Our neighborhood had the cute little carnival that we have visited for the last couple of years. The kids had fun! They played a few games, decorated cookies, and took a few whacks at the pinata. They had a "little kids" pinata and one for the big kids. My two are still "little kids". The little kids don't really understand the whole concept of a pinata, so when the candy fell out, rather than attacking the candy and stuffing it into bags, they all calmly walked over and were very selective about what they placed in their bags. When the big kids got their turn, it was an all-out FRENZY to grab candy. Wonder when that desperate-ness for candy kicks in?

On Wednesday, after a whirlwind of forgotten ballet tights, ballet class, and homemade pizza, we finally made it out to trick or treat in our neighborhood. Just as a side note, it is a universal sign that you trick or treat at houses where the porch light is ON, right? Even though trick or treating had started in our neighborhood, we had our light off because we were trying to get the twins dressed, eat dinner, etc. Our doorbell rang NON-STOP even though the light was off. Kids were banging on the door and screaming for us to open it. Unfortunately for one group, I did open the door once. I may or may not have used a teacher voice to explain to them why we were not giving out candy at the time. Ooops. I felt kinda bad afterwards, but we were frantic inside, and the incessant ringing and banging just frazzled me even more.

Anyway, back to fun, cute, Halloween memories... We were doing just fine with trick or treating until we ventured to a house across the street where there was a young girl dressed as a witch. She was probably around ten years old. Didn't matter. Fran shimmied up her Daddy's side and firmly planted herself around his waist. She does NOT like anything in a costume that is remotely scary. Who are we kidding? She doesn't really like anything in a costume. Period. And the girl wants to go to Disney World. That would be a pretty pricey trip to spend with your face buried in your Daddy's shoulder. We have told her that we will consider planning a trip to Disney when she hugs the Easter Bunny and the Chick-fil-a cow. I think the Disney Budget will remain safely intact for some time to come. Rush, on the other hand, went right on up and got his candy.

After about ten minutes, she moved past the witch experience for the most part. I am pretty sure her heart rate stayed up for the rest of our little trip around the neighborhood.

When we got back home, we sat out in front of our house and passed out candy to the trick or treaters that were still out and about. The little boy in the Scream mask that arrived at the door just about did Frannie in for the night. She didn't cry, but she just stared at him. When he walked off, she told me she was ready to go inside. So, we called it a night.

Even though SF was a little scared, we had a good time! Rush had an absolute ball. He ate his first Tootsie pop when we got home. He loved it! For him, Halloween was a great success!