Thursday, December 28, 2006

A Few Christmas Pictures

Silly picture after putting goodies out for Santa:


Cute picture in front of the tree before bed Christmas Eve:


Our little Carolina Panther!


Can we return this gift to Santa???

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Christmas Eve Service to Remember

On Christmas Eve, we took the kids and my mom to the kids service at our church at 5PM. We got there at about 4:30, to ensure that we got a seat. They had the children in kindergarten through second grade sing before the service started. PM can't wait to be able to do it next year. Then, during the message, Father Joe had all of the children come up to the front to listen. As he would ask them questions, PM and DQ were shouting out the answers. It was so cute, although at one point I did have to hide in the pew... I can't remember what PM shouted out, but it was funny.

The highlight of the evening was during communion. Both Father Joe and a retired Priest named Father Tony were handing out the hosts. We were in Father Tony's line. As he started to put his hand up to bless DQ (since she is obviously too young to take communion, she walks with her arms crossed and hands on her shoulders and the priest usually just places his hand on their forehead and gives a blessing) she didn't realize that was what he was doing. She thought he wanted a hi-five, so she reached up her hand and gave him one. It was so funny! I wish I had videotaped that moment!!!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Crafts at the office

Continuing on the non-working day post from before, we have also made these to decorate:


Here is the link for the instructions on how to make the very fancy ones pictured.

What I am doing at work today

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Bad Crack

Check out this funny news story quoted below from Charlotte.com

Woman tells cop she bought 'bad crack'
Associated Press

HAWTHORNE, Fla. - A North Carolina woman was arrested after complaining to a police officer that the crack cocaine she had just purchased wasn't very good, authorities said.
Eloise D. Reaves, 50, approached the Putnam County sheriff's deputy at a convenience store Friday, telling him that another man had sold her "bad crack" that contained wax and cocaine.
She pulled an alleged crack rock out of her mouth and placed it on the deputy's car for inspection, the Palatka Daily News reported for Tuesday editions.
The deputy told Reaves that she would be arrested if the crack tested positive for cocaine.
She was charged with possession of cocaine and bonded out for $1,504.

Too old

Last night, as I was laying with PM before he went to sleep, I was informed that he was too old for me to hold him or rub his back while I sing to him, but that it was still ok to sing to him. Yes, my little man is growing up. Now, if he would just figure out that he is too old to be waking me up in the middle of the night when he has to use the restroom!

DQ is also growing so much! She was wearing size four pants and panties. Well, she is constantly walking around picking her underwear out of her bottom like she has a permanent wedgie! So, I bought her bigger underwear. Did you know for little girls that they jump from size 4 to size 6 in panties? I didn't. That didn't work and it appears that her pants are the issue now too. So, I had to go and buy her size five pants. For the most part that has solved the problem, but now I need to buy her more pants (or just ignore the butt picking for a while).

PM & DQ are basically the same size again. I think DQ has had a little growth spurt. She is definitely within half an inch of him in height. When we weighed them, they were exactly the same (holding strong at 38.8 lbs). Her feet are a little bigger though. She is a solid 13, whereas PM is more of a 12.5.

DQ will be four on January 13. So, once we are through the holiday rush, look for me whining about her growing up too!!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Baby Talk

Gotcha! You probably thought I was going to write about wanting another baby. Well, you were wrong, not on your life!

Anyway, I stumbled upon this in reading some other blogs and thought WOW! That looks like it really makes sense. Why didn't they have this knowledge when my kiddos were infants? It is the Dunstan Baby Language. This lady says she has figured out these five "words" that babies say that mean something each. Check out the site and then check out her video on Oprah. (The link to the video is on this page.) It truly is amazing!

Yippee!

BD and I finally pulled out all of the gifts we have for the kiddos for Christmas to go through them. We needed to make sure that we have the same amount of gifts. When they get older, we will worry more about spending the same amount per child. Right now, we definitely just need to make sure they have the same number of presents to open.

As usual, I think we have too much. We had decided to scale back this year, but after buying them the things they asked for and things we wanted to get for them, there is still too much.

What do you do in your family? Do you set a dollar limit per child and not worry about the number of presents for each one? Do you just do the same number of presents and not worry about the money? Fill me in...

Friday, December 15, 2006

DQ Christmas Program

I am such a proud mommy! DQ had her first performance ever last night. She had a Christmas program that both 3k classes did together. They have been practicing since before Halloween and she was beyond excited. I didn't really know what they were doing, as she kept it a surprise. I did know that she got to sing a part of a song by herself, with two other little boys. So, without further hesitation, here she is! DQ singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain"!!


Here is a picture of her shaking her bells for one song:


And, links to all of the videos:
Song One
Song Two
Song Three
Song Four
Song Five was the one shown above of her singing "solo"
Song Six
Song Seven
Song Eight
Song Nine
Song Ten

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Pictures, as promised

First, here is PM with a blanket one of his friends helped her mom make for him. He loves it!

Here is PM with a few of his friends from his "old school". I don't know why his one friend is making that face. Every time I pulled out the camera he did that, even though the rest of the time he was smiling and wild!


Here is PM bowling (yes, I said bowling, not doing a crazy dance move).


PM with a balloon he blew up. He wanted me to take a picture of it on his head. No clue why, but I did as he asked.


Last, but not least, here is the cake I made for him. It was my second one, in two ways. First, I made this same cake for his party last year. So, it was nice that I already had the mold and had done it before. Second, I made one cake (just baked it) on Saturday, but left it in the mold too long and when I went to take it out it stuck to the pan and fell apart. So, Sunday morning, I had to bake a new cake and then decorate it. Phew...


So, in all, his party was a huge success on Sunday afternoon. He still hasn't un-packaged all of his gifts. We are doing one each night and morning for him, as there is just so much. A few of the items seem a little too young for him and those I will either try to take back and get him something else or donate them next year to my Angel from the Salvation Army Angel Tree, as I am already finished with it this year.

Monday, December 11, 2006

My first tag!

Yes, I have "made it" in the blogging world where I have finally been tagged to do something. (Ok, yes, I am a DORK!)

Anyway, the thing is this, Nicole challenged a few people, including myself to this Blogger Challenge. Here are the rules: take a picture of yourself as you are at the moment (that's right, no primping) and then challenge 4 others to do the same…

Unfortunately for her, since I was so busy over the weekend, I never made it on the computer, let alone to visit any blogs. So, here I am at work.


And look, I even have on matching socks and shoes, which believe me, was quite a feat (no pun intended) this morning!!!

I am tagging: QofD, Dad Gone Mad, AdventureDad and Gretchen.

Birthday Party Success!

We had his party yesterday afternoon at 4PM at the local bowling alley (same place as last year). Out of the 30 kids that rsvp'd, 27 showed up. The kids had a blast, but to me it was torture. Thank goodness the parents all stayed, but the kids were just wild! Part of it was because he had invited all of his friends he used to go to school with. None of them really see each other anymore, as they have all scattered. They were SOOOO happy to see each other again and had so much fun! You figure they have known each other since they were babies, so they really missed each other!

Each kid bowled a complete game and then we had dinner of pizza and hot dogs for them. After that, we did the cake (Batman again) and then we ended the party. It was already 6PM by this time and I decided we would just open the presents at home! We ran through the Arby's drive through and headed home. Our friends and their two kids came over and we let PM open his 20 presents. Man, talk about a lot! He was so excited! We only let him take one present out of it's package though, as it was too late...

I will say that the Leapster L-Max is a huge hit with him! He has barely put it down since we gave it to him yesterday morning. When he does it is to play with either his new air hockey table (from my parents) or his "Ninja Turtle Sewer Spewer" (the damn thing shoots silly string and is a remote control vehicle. I removed the silly string and told him we can only put that in when it is outside!) that my sister got him. I had to pry the Leapster away from him when we got to school today, I think he is addicted already!!

No pictures yet, as I was too tired to deal with them last night. But, if I have any decent shots, I'll get them up tomorrow!

Friday, December 08, 2006

Yes, I am a klutz

So, first a few weeks back, I drop my iron on my right ankle... Then today happened...

I was wandering around my building trying to figure out what to have to eat for lunch and decided to go to Quizno's. Now, our Quizno's has two open entrances and the rest of the front is glass, can you see where this is going? Anyway, I proceeded to walk to the second entrance, as that is the closest to where you have to order. I start looking and and rummaging through my purse looking for my coupon as I turn and RUN STRAIGHT INTO A GLASS WALL!!! Thoughts immediately start flooding my mind, one of which was, "so this is what a bird must feel like", then "OMG, did everyone just see that?", "I can't look around at anyone right now", "DAMN that hurt my left knee!", "I cannot cry, DAMN it hurts, don't cry..." You get the point.

So, I straighten up, laugh a bit (people must have thought I was drunk or high) and walk to the counter. Meanwhile, my knee is screaming in pain and I am fighting back tears. I managed to order and get out of there and not limp. Walking back to the elevator bank, I tried really hard not to limp either, but it was killing me! As I am waiting in the elevator bank, a man walks up. Guess what he has in his hand? Go ahead, guess....

Yep, a Quizno's cup. I couldn't look at him the entire ride up. Luckily, he got off on the 11th floor and I continued up to 19. I have finished my yummy lunch and am sitting here with my leg propped up and an icepack on my knee.

So, in the past month or so, I have managed to hurt my right ankle and my left knee. Things supposedly happen in three's, so what is next???

Ok, hopefully this was number three, I just accidentally posted this to the wrong blog!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grateful post

I came here to complain about one thing or another and realized all I was doing was complaining. Then, I got my Christmas bonus from work. Yippee!!! I am in a much better mood already!

So, what am I happy about today instead of what can I bitch about? I am happy that I got my Christmas bonus and that all of the Christmas shopping I have done is now paid for. I am happy that I have two healthy kids! I am happy that BD and I are both healthy. I am happy that we haven't been in any car accidents lately (knock on wood). I am happy to be alive.

I do feel bad today though. One of my good friends was driving to work today and was rear-ended. Ironically enough, her husband was at the dealership dropping his car off for body work, as he had been rear-ended on Friday of last week. Keep them in your thoughts that they don't have any more bad luck before Christmas!

Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Christmas Frenzy

I am all about getting a good deal. Nothing makes me more upset that something going on sale after I have purchased it. The downside of this is that I feel like for the entire Christmas season, even though I am done shopping, I feel like I am still shopping! I feel like I absolutely have to keep looking at the sales to see if something I purchased is any cheaper.

Help! I am addicted and I cannot stop!!!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Gun Safety

I hesitate in posting this, but here it goes.

Last Friday morning, before school, an 8 yr old boy shot his 5 yr old brother in the forehead. Both children attend my kids school. The 5 yr old was rushed to the hospital and the 8 yr old was taken to school for the day. They wanted to airlift the 5 yr old to another hospital, but due to bad weather were unable to do so and had to take him by ambulance instead. It really doesn't matter, as he would have died anyway. He died later that afternoon.

I did not know either of these children, but seeing the grief on all of the teachers faces that have had both of them throughout the years is heartbreaking. The little boy's funeral is today, at which all of his favorite songs will be sung and afterwards is a graveside ceremony.

So far, my kids have not really heard anything or understood what is going on and I pray that they don't.

This is my rant: THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED! The gun was loaded with the safety off and under the mother's pillow. She kept it there when the father was out of town. When he was home, it was kept in the nightstand. WHY OH WHY do people still do this??? How many children have to die at the hands of a sibling or other child to make people realize that this can happen to you??? Not only am I sad that this young child's life has been taken, but also, I am so sad for this 8 yr old who has to live with this the rest of his life.

So far, I do not know if they are pressing charges against the mother...

Monday, December 04, 2006

Out of the mouth of a child

BD asked PM to tell me what was special at church yesterday, since I was at home with DQ who was sick. He was expecting him to tell me about the baptism that they had. Instead, PM said the following, with much enthusiasm, "They had sprinkles on the donuts!"

Friday, December 01, 2006

Don't you hate it when

You are wiping after going to the bathroom and a piece of toilet paper gets stuck, it rips and you have to get it out??

I'll leave you with that thought for the day (and maybe the weekend too).

December 1

Well, it's the first day of December and currently 76 degrees outside with a feels like temperature of 77! YIKES! I did say December and not September right? That's what I get for living in North Carolina. Back home in Indiana, the temperature is a chilly 37 degrees with a feels like temperature of 30. Yeah, I think I'll take my weather...

In any case, I didn't come here to talk about the weather. I came here to tell you, well whine, that my baby boy (PM) will be 5 in just 9 short days. He will be 5 on December 10th and I am soooo not ready!

His party is planned, party favors ordered, cake pan ready and presents bought, but mommy is not ready. He is having his party at the same bowling alley he did last year. He had a blast last year and try as I might, I couldn't talk him out of doing it again this year. He is also having the same cake that I made him last year. I thought about trying to talk him into something different but figured what's the point? If he really likes batman, let him have it! I did do something a little different this year, I ordered bowling themed party favors. I thought it would be cute to go along with the theme rather than giving each kid the typical bag-o-crappy-toys & candy.

So, check back as I prepare to say goodbye to my baby boy and hello to my new 5 year old!