Merry Christmas

As we are quickly approaching Christmas Day and the most important birthday ever I want to wish you all a great day tomorrow and may you truly enjoy your time with family and friends.  We are off to my mom’s today and will not be back until the 26th.  We are going to see family that we have not seen in years on Christmas day so I am looking very forward to that.  Again, to all of you have a very Merry Christmas and may all of your angels be with you as you travel!

Happy Birthday Shealyn

Eight years ago today I was experiencing labor for the first time.  It turned into what was going to be a very long day (21 hours), but the end result was SO WORTH IT!!  At 6:47 pm on December 22nd Shealyn Nichole, you  made your grand entrance into this world.  Daddy and I were holding the baby we had so longed and prayed for.  You were the answer to our prayers.   I remember holding you and I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.  You were the best Christmas present Daddy and I could have ever asked for.  You were a very happy baby (from what I recall anyway) and would just lay and take it all in while capturing everybody’s attention with your sweet little rolls and infectuous smile.  I was constantly stopped in stores so people could admire you and being the proud momma I am my heart would swell knowing other people thought you were  as beautiful as I did. 

Reflecting back today, I find it very hard to believe that 8 years have gone by already; when on the other hand it may seem like 100 )  You are turning into a very strong willed, determined, helpful young lady.  I know the things I complain about are all normal childhood antics, but overall Daddy and I are sure we are not going to have to worry about you, The Gert,  (our nickname for her) being walked all over.  As strong as you are you also have a very sensitive side and are easily brought to tears.  Sometimes it’s a tightrope we walk on around here, but we’re learning just as you are.  So as you turn 8 today know that Daddy and I love you with all of our hearts and we are so proud of who you are.

Shealyn and I with the gingerbread house we created at school this week.

Crafty Tuesday

Ooohh, ooohhh I have a craft today, can you believe it?  Well, this was a really easy one and to be brutally honest with you I stole the idea!  The girls made their sweatshirts in dance class to wear for a dance, but after talking to my sister and sister-in-law we decided to make sweatshirts for Carter, Haylee, Bayleigh and Laney for them to wear Christmas Eve for a picture.  The girls are reindeer and since Carter is the only boy he wanted to be different so we made him a Santa sweatshirt.  Here are my kids sweatshirts as I didn’t get a picture of the finished product with the nieces.  Click on the pictures to get the full effect.

Shealyn’s reindeer sweatshirt

Carter’s Santa sweatshirt

Payton’s reindeer sweatshirt

Mad Libs!!

Remember those?  If not, they are stories that leave words blank and you have someone fill in the blanks only by giving you a word.  For instance, the blanks tell me what I need to fill it in i.e.  noun, verb, adjective, number etc.

So anyway this weekend at my mom’s we found some mad libs from when all of us were younger and I did them with Shealyn and Carter.  I’ll capitalize the words they filled in with.  They were quite comical and of course the kids found them VERY FUN!!

This is Shealyn’s

SNOW WHITE

This is the story of Snow White and the Seven SNOWMEN.  Once there was a/an GREEN old queen who asked her CHAIR who was the fairest BAYLEIGH J. of them all.  It said, “Snow White.”  This made the queen so RED she gave Snow White a poisoned WATERMELON, and Snow White fell ill in the forest.  But, she was rescued and cured by seven little old BALLS who worked in a/an LANEY mine.  Snow White took care of the dwarves’ cottage and also cooked ORANGES for them for 10,000 years.  Then a handsome prince named DENNIS THE MENACE came riding along on his DOG and saw Snow White and fell head over NOSE in love with her.  He married her at once and took her to live in his HOSPITAL.  So Snow White became a princess, and the wicked queen got so STRIPED she disappeared in a puff of FUEL.

Carter’s story

AN EXCUSE LETTER

(you have just written an excuse for a Junior High School student who has been absent)

Dear Mr. CLARK,

I hope you will excuse KIM for being absent from your PURPLE COUNTING class.  I know she has been absent 500 times, but she had to stay home to help her father build a/an TREE.  She also had a dreadful cold in her BALL, and her nose was JOGGING.  She still would have made it if she hadn’t caught her BUTT CHEEK in the ROBOT.  And then, her alarm clock broke and wouldn’t RUN.  You are her most BIG teacher, and I hope you will not WALK her or give her a failing GORILLA.

Best Shot Monday

The kids and I were at my mom’s over the weekend while Clark is in Texas.  Mom watched the kids for me so I could finish up my Christmas shopping and I happened to snap this picture of my niece Bayleigh (my sister’s daughter)  We had over 6 inches dumped on us Saturday night into Sunday morning.  So she was standing at the window watching her mommy use the snow blower and my kids were “helping” shovel.  She wanted to go out so badly, but #1 she WILL NOT leave her mittens on—brrrrrr and #2 all the snow is hard for little legs to get around in.

Here’s a picture of her from the front.  She loves snow so being the great aunt ) that I am I went and got her a bowl of snow only to be met with tears b/c she didn’t want to eat it at the table.

Let me leave you with this at the end of the week

Okay, I’m sure you’re tired of hearing how dreadful the mornings around here can be or maybe the fact of the matter is is that you can truly relate.  Regardless, I have yet another morning to share with you (warning: I’m sure it won’t be the last morning post).  I’m only an hour removed from it and I’m laughing so maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.  It was actually a comedy of errors.  It started off pretty smoothly so I was going to go grab a shower when I remembered that Carter didn’t read his book to me last night so we quickly did that.  And then I decided I better make lunches and keep them moving along.  Well, as I was walking out of the kitchen Shealyn was rearranging her blanket and before I could even get a fair warning out she had spilled Carter’s milk all over.  UUUgggghhhh, not a clean up I wanted to do.  Oh wait, it gets better!

So, now we’re onto getting ready to get out the door or should I say Carter is.  I had told Shealyn to go get her teeth and hair brushed.  Once again, she can’t find the brush she likes (I know for a fact she was the last one to use it).  Anyway, as Carter is almost snow ready I go to check on Shealyn and she still hasn’t brushed her teeth, yet she’s putting away the toothpaste and there is NO toothpaste on her toothbrush. 

M–Shealyn, you didn’t put any toothpaste on your toothbrush

S– yes I did

M–no, you didn’t —I don’t see any

S–(crying) YES I DID!!

M–Shealyn, there is NO toothpaste on your brush (as I’m squeezing more on it)

S– YES, I DID MOM it fell off

Now, I’m realizing that yes she did put toothpaste on her toothbrush but indeed it had fallen off and she thought I was accusing her of not putting it on in the first place.  She is becoming such a literal kid!

So we got beyond that and Shealyn and Carter are finally loading up and I’m calling P so we can take them and I hear this little voice, “mommy, come here.”  I go in search of the voice and find her in the bathroom standing in the middle of a puddle!   UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!  I really don’t have time to clean up this mess right now!  So, I throw a towel on the puddle, strip her, wrap her up in a warm fuzzy blanket and take the kids to school.  YES, P. WENT NAKED!!  She thought it was great fun and I really didn’t have time to care.  Happy Friday to all of you and hope you have a great weekend!

A week with some entertainment

This week we had 2 special nights of entertainment.  On Tuesday night the girls (through their dance classes) danced at the local nursing home.  It was so sweet and special.  To look around and see all those “older” faces and to see the smiles and hear them singing along brought a few tears to my eyes.  They truly enjoyed watching those girls that ranged in ages from 2 to 14.  I found this out later, but thought it was quite humorous.  Apparently one of the girls in Shealyn’s class went up to the teacher and said how rude some of these people were being b/c they were sleeping!  The man next to me was sleeping, but I’m thinking when you’re 102 you are ENTITLED to DO ANYTHING you want!   These pictures ARE NOT great, but you’ll get the idea.  I especially love how Clark got P. in mid air )

Then on Wednesday night we didn’t have anything (ahhhh, I love those nights) so this was Carter’s form of entertainment.

And then on Thursday night we went to Payton’s preschool for her Christmas pageant.  She attends preschool at the the Catholic Church/school so preschool – 8th grade was invloved in the pageant.  Her class just sang “Away In A Manger” and “Jingle Bells.”  Unfortunately, the only picture I have to post of this is a pre perfromance one.

We were sitting toward the back and I had Shealyn and Carter on each knee so they could see better.  Let’s face it, the little ones always steal the show.  They did a fabulous job!  But, I do have to share this funny little side story of her pageant.  Actually, I’ll share it in conversation mode:

conversation #1 (around 3pm Thursday)

M– P, are you ready to sing Jingle Bells?

P– No mommy, I’m singing High School Musical 2 #1 (#1 meaning the first track on the soundtrack)

M–  oohhh, you are

P– yep

M–(thinking to myself yes you would if given the opportunity)

conversation #2 (on the way to the pageant)

M—Well, P are you ready, are you excited?

P– yes, mommy

P– Mommy, I’m singing and all my preschool friends are dancing

M–oh yeah, what are you singing?

P– Down by the Bay ( breaks into song)

P– Mommy, have you ever seen a whale with a polka dot tail (part of the song if you’re not familiar with it)

M– No, I haven’t

P– okay, my friends are going to dance

So P. did not get her solo debut, but she sure was precious and quite the little mover and shaker up there.  This is what Christmas is about — watching the kids and seeing the true joy and delight on their faces.

I need a drink or maybe some Calgon

It’s only 9:00 am I’m only half joking.  This morning was awful!  I was able to follow through on a threat/promise this morning (however your mind wants to perceive it).  Shealyn is my poky child and just chooses to ignore the element of TIME!!  It was 20 minutes before 8 (school starts at 8:00) and she was just barely getting into the bathroom to brush her teeth.  And because Clark was home and planning on taking the kdis to school I could follow through this morning.  While Shealyn is just starting to brush her teeth Carter is completely ready to go out the door so I told Clark to go ahead and take him (we live about 1/2 mile from school).  Well, when I went back to the bathroom to keep her moving and she found out her daddy left w/o her she started into one of her stomping, screaming, yelling, crying tantrums!  I’m not proud to admit that I engaged in that screaming right back at her, but this girl brings me from 0 -60 faster than any other human being I know! 

 Meanwhile, Clark is on his way back home b/c the early drop off with Carter was a breeze and now it will be time to fight the traffic and the congestion because 5-7 minutes makes all the difference with drop off at the school.   So, Shealyn left teary and I’m flabbergasted that I’m not sure SHE GOT IT!!!  And trust me, I’ve tried giving her more time — it simply DOES NOT MATTER — she marches to her own drum and apparently her own time frame.  But, I don’t think it’s fair to Carter to be late or not get outside recess b/c his sister is poky.  So, I’m sure there will be a big conversation after school and we’ll see if this morning’s lesson sunk in at all. 

Forgive me if this post seems jumbled b/c I can feel my blood pressure going up even as I type this!  GGGGrrrrrrr.

Best Shot Monday

When I went to bed Saturday night I went in to check on the kids and give them kisses as I always do and look what I found in Carter’s bed!

The girls like to sleep in Carter’s bed b/c he has the biggest bed and I only let them do it on the weekends so it won’t disturb the much needed rest for school days.  P. was feeling a little left out (she had the last turn so it was Shealyn’s) so daddy let her fall asleep on the couch.  Anyway, this next one is probably my favorite of S & C.

This momma’s smiling…well, for a minute anyway

It was so sweet today; Payton and I were getting home just as the bus was coming down our road.  This was our brief little conversation.

P– mommy, can I wait outside for Shealyn and Carter?

M– sure

30 seconds go by

P– I think I’ll go down there and meet them so I can give them a kiss and a hug

M– (in my mind —-awwww, how sweet)

Anyway, she patiently waited, but they were sidetracked by all of the snow.  So, Shealyn quickly dumped off the backpacks and off they headed.  I called Payton back in to get her snow pants on and off she went, too.  I periodically checked on them they were all hanging out making snow angels in the backyard.  It was just so sweet to see them all together and actually enjoying each other!  Because, now as I’m finishing this up they’ve come in and the bickering has begun.  Off to referee!