I ♥ Faces - Texture

I haven't entered a I Heart Faces challenge in a while, but this week's theme is textures, and I immediately thought of this picture of my Little Man at the beach.

Why I'm Not Looking Forward to June

My middle child turns nine this June.

Just the other day, she told me she can't wait until her birthday. She added that she has two things on her wish list already.

The first is a cell phone. Not going to happen!

The second item on her list?

A fruit bat!

One of her best friends got a hedgehog for Christmas. I guess she has decided to think out of the box!

The Two Leos

Before Christmas, my girls came across the 1996 production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The production which, I am quite certain has The Bard flipping over in his grave every time it is shown.

I mean seriously, how can Juliet say,

"O happy dagger!
This is thy sheath;
there rust, and let me die."

and then shoot herself?



The part of Romeo is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. My girls love the movie Titanic, so the second they saw Leo as Romeo, they said, "Oh, it's Jack."



Flash forward to Christmas. The Princess and her cousin, S, were having a conversation, and the Princess came to me and asked if Leonardo DiCaprio is dead. I told her no, he's in his 30's, and is definitely not dead.

On New Year's Day, I picked the Princess up from a friend's house. On the drive home, she said, "Finally, one of my friends believes me that Leonardo DiCaprio is not dead."

I asked her why her friends all think he's dead. She said she didn't know. Then she asked me the name of "that lady he painted."

Thinking she was talking about Titanic, I said, "Kate Winslet is the actress' name."

"No," she said, "the lady he painted in real life."

I didn't realize Leo was an artist. She kept on, asking me again, and crossing her hands in front of her. I had a light bulb moment.

"The Mona Lisa?" I asked.



Ummm, yep, that's a different Leo, and he is dead.



By the way, if you're wondering how my eight year old knows that someone named Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa, it's because her wonderful first grade teacher, Mr. B, dressed up as Leonardo DaVinci for Halloween.

And nine year old cousin S knows all about Leonardo DaVinci because her little brother likes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Alphabitty Moments - The Letter M

I'm a day late (and a dollar short, but that's another story).

This week's Alphabitty Moments letter is 'M'.

My son has two moms. Myself and my oldest child, who we often refer to as "Mama, Jr." I have to admit, it does sometimes hurt my feelings a little when he prefers her over me. Then again, there are moments when the break is kind of nice.

ICICLES!!

Okay, so what if they are man made by leaving the sprinkler on overnight. It's Florida, it's the best we can do!

Christmas Day 2009

Finally.

We had a very limited budget this Christmas, and I was quite stressed for a while. I hated the thought of my kids being disappointed on Christmas morning. But I used coupons where I could, bought on sale when possible, made gifts for people when I was able and managed to stretch our little budget pretty far.

In all honesty, I think I liked it better this way. The kids weren't overwhelmed with a bunch of stuff, and I don't have to find a home for a bunch of stuff they didn't need in the first place.

Christmas morning, we got up to see what Santa left and to open our gifts from each other. The Tween Queen had told me that she didn't mind not getting any gifts at all if she could just get a cell phone. I talked her daddy into it, ordered and received it before Thanksgiving, and spent the month of December explaining to her that a twelve year old really doesn't need a cell phone. I told her it would make our monthly bill increase by about $30.00 because we would have to add unlimited texting if she had her own phone. I had her convinced there was no way on God's green earth she was getting a phone.

Surprise! And no, I still don't think a twelve year old needs a phone! Wants? Yes. Needs? No.

After we finished up at home, we got dressed and drove the fifteen minutes to Nana's house (my mother-in-law). We always have Christmas morning breakfast at Nana's with my sister-in-law, her three kids, and her granddaughter. Breakfast is always yummy.... biscuits and ham, scrambled eggs, grits, fruit and my cream cheese danish.

My mother-in-law always over does it at Christmas. This year, she asked if it would be okay for her to get a group gift for my kids. She wanted to get them a Wii. That was one of the things they had already asked for, and I knew it would free up a large chunk of my budget, so I told her to go for it. I think they thought because they didn't get it from Santa, they weren't getting it at all, so they were very surprised when they opened it.

(Sidenotes: The Boy recently decided to turn everything into a phone, hence the MagnaDoodle pen in his ear. Little boy hugging the daddy...too precious. The cutie patootie little girl is my great niece. Isn't she adorable? We think someone may have drugged the dog.)

Once we finish up with gifts at Nana's we load all our new loot up in the car, go home, unload and reload with our suitcases and gifts to take to Grandma's house in Georgia. The girls always watch some of their new movies in the car. Little Man slept most of the drive. The hubby and I listen to Christmas music and talk, and I might nod off a little here and there. My husband works for a grocery store, so the days leading up to any holiday are very busy for him. The three hour drive to Georgia is actually pretty nice as we get to catch up.

My parents have ten grandchildren. The oldest is almost 14, and my Little Man is the youngest at 22 months. Can you say CHAOS? They don't all get together very often, so when they do, they go a little nuts.

Once we arrived at Grandma's house, I started helping her get Christmas dinner ready. After dinner, and after at least one child had asked the adults at least 28 times if they could just hurry up already, we opened more gifts.

(Sidenotes: The Boy was quite intrigued by Grandaddy's mounted deer heads. I have now realized that the pictures of Little Man were not taken on Christmas Day. They were the next night. I know this because A.) those are not the jammies he wore on Christmas night, and 2.) that mess on the tv? That's the 'Urban Meyer is retiring' newsflash. Which of course was followed the next day by the 'Urban Meyer might not retire' newsflash. Which of course was followed by the 'Urban Meyer is not retiring' newsflash. All of which makes me question why I live in the middle of Gator Nation. Oh wait, 30 minute drive to the beach, yep, that's it!)

By the end of the day, everyone was stuffed and exhausted.

Alphabitty Moments - The Letter L

Now that the holidays are over (yes, I know I still haven't posted anything from Christmas Day), it's time to get back into the swing of things.

I really need to get back into the Mixbook swing. I had a hard time mustering up any creativity for this week's Alphabitty Moments post, and I'm still not 100% happy with my end result.

Our letter this week is 'L'. I decided on the word 'Look'. If I had a dime for every time the Princess says, "Mommy, come look at this," I would be a rich woman. While I don't always get up to go look at whatever she finds fascinating at the moment, I have come to realize she does point out some things I'm glad I didn't miss.

Things like the hawk that landed on our water slide, and the rainbow that appeared while we were on vacation last summer.

Christmas Eve 2009

I promise I'll get through all my Christmas posts before Easter!

Every year, one of my hopes for the Christmas season is to be able to spend Christmas Eve day at home with my kids with nothing to do other than making candy and cookies, watching Christmas movies on tv and getting ready for church.

What actually happens at my house on Christmas Eve day? I spend most of the day rushing to get laundry done so we can pack for our trip to Georgia.

I guess it's good to have traditions.

This year was no exception to my normal Christmas Eve laundryfest.

I also put together a cheese danish to take to breakfast at Nana's house on Christmas morning, and a sweet potato souffle for dinner. Yes, we're all about low fat, healthy dishes throughout the Christmas season.....NOT!

The one thing that absolutely has to be finished before we head off to church and dinner at Nana's is that the Martha Washington Balls we make for my daddy every year must be finished. There have been Christmases in the past where I have stayed up half the night dipping candy into chocolate. That will never happen again.

Of course, now that I have two very capable helpers, the candy making job has become much easier. The recipe produces about 150 balls, which then have to be dipped into hot melted chocolate with toothpicks. Well, except for the ones we save out for my brother who doesn't like chocolate. I KNOW! This year, I think I only rolled about 20 balls, and I probably dipped fewer than that. Woohoo for helpful kiddos!

We usually attend the early, family oriented Christmas Eve service. This year, we sat right behind Nana and Papa. Little Man spent the entire service saying, "Nana, Papa, Nana, Papa, Nana, Papa" and pointing to their heads.

After the service is over, we head back to Nana and Papa's house for Christmas Eve dinner. The hubby had to work until 7:00, and then had about an hour drive, so we ate late. Before he got there, I attempted to get a picture of our three rug rats, who weren't exactly dressed in their best Christmas apparel. No matter, I never got a good picture anyway!



After dinner, we head home, put out a bowl of reindeer food for Santa's reindeer and a plate of cookies and milk for Santa. Our reindeer food is normally made of oatmeal and glitter. This year we were out of both. We realized colored sugar might be easier on a reindeer's digestive tract than glitter, and also decided that they might get tired of oatmeal, but Rice Krispies might be a nice change of pace. Judging by the almost empty bowl we found the next morning, I think we are on to something!

The Tween Queen wants to start a new tradition where she reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to her siblings.



Things started off great, and oh so sweet, but soon after this picture was taken, both the Little Man and the Princess got bored and abandoned their big sister. She was not deterred. She finished reading to her mom and dad.

After the kids are snuggled all warm in their beds, I turn on "A Christmas Story" and wrap gifts. I didn't wrap a single gift early this year because I knew the Little Man would rip them open.

Here's hoping next year I'll have the sense to get the laundry done early so I can be a little less stressed on Christmas Eve day!!

Christmas 2009: Part 1

I need to go ahead and post some Christmas pictures and memories. You know, before summer!

This year, we had six trees in our house. No, our house isn't really big enough for six trees, but I love decorating for Christmas, and love coming up with new ideas for our trees.

Our main tree is a real tree and is always decorated with white lights and gold, white and clear glass ornaments. I go a little crazy with the lights. This tree was only about 7 feet tall, but it had over 2000 lights!

The other tree in our living room is the tree with all the ornaments the girls have made over the years, and all the ornaments given to me by friends and family.

Little Man's tree this year was decorated with colored lights and the matchbox cars that belonged to his daddy when he was a little boy.

The girls had their white feather tree again this year. It is decorated with colored pipe cleaners. There was a bit of a war over the tree this time. The Princess wanted to use it as a night light every night. The Tween Queen thought it was too bright. The only solution I could come up with was to add some very old lights that I think used to be red, but now appear pink. If we turned off the white lights, the pink ones just added a nice soft glow to the room.

I put a tree in our toy room this year for the first time. It had all red lights and was decorated with ornaments given to me by my mother in law. They are ornaments she used on her tree when my husband was little.



I'm starting to rethink the all white/gold/glass tree. I have done it this way for years now, and I think I might want to add a little color next year.



My mother has a HUGE artificial tree, and every year on Christmas Day, when we get to her house, I realize how pretty her tree is with all her colorful ornaments.



I'm hoping when I get a chance to head to Target and Hobby Lobby, there will still be a few deeply discounted Christmas items left so I can start collecting some other color to go on my tree.

Top 10 of 2009

The beginning of a new year always brings year in review tv shows and newspaper and magazine articles.

I guess all the reviewing made me a little curious, and as the whole reason for this blog is to help me remember the things our family does together and the funny things my kids say and do, I took a little trip down memory lane and made a list of my favorite posts of 2009. Plus, who doesn't love a good list?

1. "If You Give A Mom A Muffin" I have so many days like the one I described in that post!

2. "Family Game Night" My sweet little book smart, no common sense Princess. She keeps us laughing!

3. "Not Me! Monday: Dr. Seuss Style" I had so much fun writing that post, and I really did speak in rhyme for days on end. That is still Little Man's favorite book.

4. "A Little About Football" I still love UGA football, and watching it brings out a competitive side in me that rarely shows it's head. Even though this season wasn't great, I saw improvments in the running game late in the season. UGA has always been a team with a great running game, so I have high hopes for next year. After writing this post, I found out that the referee that made the call that got me up on that soap box, is actually from near my very small hometown. After making another questionable call against Arkansas, his officiating team was suspended. I felt vindicated.

5. "I ♥ Faces: I ♥ Feet" I still love all the things this picture says to me. I also love the fact that in my post I point out that I did not tint the photo, yet the first commenter mentioned how much she loved my tinting of the photo. I don't always read the posts when I'm looking through entries at I ♥ Faces. I think I'll try to do a better job of that!

6. "Missing Child Alert" Just because I love these pictures of my Princess. Also, recently my husband has taken to critiquing outfits he sees on people on tv. Every time he does, I think of his stripe/plaid combo!

7. "Weekend At The Beach" We had such a fun time that weekend! Those pictures under the pier are still some of my favorites I have ever taken.

8. "God's Provision" I am still amazed by how God worked to get that project finished and in MckMama's hands. I am also amazed at the reward of friendship I have gained by offering my services to help MamaBear finish the book. God is awesome.

9. "For Maddie, Miley and Jordan" This was posted exactly a year ago today (or at least a year ago the day I started this post). It's so fun to see how much my Little Man has changed. Maddie, Miley, Jordan and Bryan (who is mentioned in the comments), by the way, are the children of women who became my friends when we were all members of a pregnancy message board. We're still in contact, mostly through our blogs, and I think it would be such a kick if our kids actually met one day.

10. "In Which My Northern Friends Don't Like Me Much" Because I'm cold right now, and honestly, once Christmas is over, I'm ready for warm beach weather!

Mmmmm.....Martini!!

When our 15 year anniversary rolled around on December 10th, my husband told me I could pick anywhere I wanted for our dinner out. I picked the place that used to have the very best martinis. I usually get an appletini (or two) with dinner, and a chocolate martini for dessert. And I usually fall asleep on the drive home. Unfortunately, they had new bartenders or new recipes or something, because the martinis were not good. The food, however, was great. We went to see The Blind Side after dinner, and it was wonderful. And we were without kids for the entire night, which was heavenly.

On New Year's Eve, I decided to try to make my own martini, and the result was yummolicious.

In a martini shaker filled with ice, combine the following:

1 shot of pineapple juice

2 shots of Rose's Cocktail Infusions (Sour Apple flavor)

1 shot of Smirnoff Green Apple Twist Vodka

Give your shaker a few good shakes.

Strain the yummy green goodness into a martini glass.

Enjoy!