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Monday, December 27, 2010

His Father's Son & My Daughter

Christmas 2010 is a wrap and what a pile of loot these kids received.  They must have been very, very good this year.  (And they have been)  


Our almost tweenie girl got her dream room from Santa.  A futon/couch for her room and a nightstand.  Can you imagine?  That was exactly what she wanted.  I asked her if she would be disappointed if she didn't get toys from Santa.  "Uh, no.  Right?"  Everything is followed with, "Yah, right?"  That is her little tweenie lingo for okay.


And Boo got every Star Wars toy a six year-old could dream of.  He's been putting together Legos and battling with Jedi force since Christmas morning.


Thanks to everyone for the gifts and such a special Christmas morning.  I just wish I could capture their excitement at this age in words.  But it isn't possible.  Truly a very special time for us all.  They are just thankful, appreciative, and truly enveloped in joy.  We feel so blessed.


So here's some Christmas Eve pics which I am going to title ---
His Father's Son
And you ALL know what I mean by that...hahahaha!









 Finally, a good pic of them together.
SO BLESSED!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Our Family and GFS Rocks!

So last week I just about threw in the towel on the holidays.  A gazillion potlucks...with no time to even shop for the necessary items, let alone cook them.  Yes, we had bagels for dinner one night.  Why?  Because it was the only thing left in the frig that was edible.  Unless you count ketchup.  And at work, women all around me asking if my shopping was done.  Yes, in my spare time, between 2 & 3am at the Walmart Supercenter.  NO!  Not done.  I was stressed to the max.


Then I found GFS.  Gordon Food Service.  Working mother's dream.  Steak chili in cans---YES STEAK!  Heat and repeat.  And frozen mini mint chocolate eclairs.  My kind of potluck food.  Except...sweet pea daughter got sick and I didn't make it to the potluck "baby shower luncheon for the lady that just had twins".  So you know what we had for dinner!  High-sodium but still better-than-bagels, steak chili.  And two days later, eclairs were delivered to the 60th birthday party / neighborhood ladies afternoon delight.  GFS rocks!


After staying home with congested daughter, I returned to work and there were 100's --- okay, dozens --- of color-copied pics of me in that blasted 1990's craft fair holiday sweatshirt with the matching ribbons in my hair.  Everyone's cube in the cube farm, within 20 people of me, had this picture, of me smiling, with that forsaken, joke of a holiday sweatshirt.  Safe to say, Miss Chris got me good.  Rumor has it there was even a couple hanging above the urinals.  I can only hope they said, "For a good time call".  And you know what they say about paybacks.  I can take it and DISH IT OUT.


Okay.  You asked for it.  Here it is with all of its glory.  
Not my shining moment but clearly very funny.
Post worthy....but I don't think the picture does the 
gold glitter glue justice.


I recovered but only after turning as red as the holiday sweater that I wore on that particular day.  And when I saw this picture, I realized that I really did look as tired as I felt.  As I mentioned, I was about to throw the towel in.  But I re-thought and used it as a pillow.


Then came the weekend and the piano recital.  Our prodigy son did great.  He walked up on stage, bowed, and then banged out Up on the Housetop, with his fingers on the wrong keys of the big piano.  But it didn't phase him.  He played the whole song about 1/2 an octave down.  He bowed and then came back to his seat.  So proud.  Not sure that is something I could have done at six.




And his sister did a perfect rendition of Silent Night in her fashionista party-perfect dress.  She has improved so much over the last year.  And I can only think how well she would be doing with a LITTLE practice...just 5 minutes each week.  Nonetheless, it was a stellar performance by the K kiddos.  We are proud parents!




And this week, both kids had their singing programs at school.  You come to their music class and listen to them bang on drums and ring bells and sing.  So stinking cute.  Boo is right under the little girl with the striped pink jacket.


And pipsqueak is in the back row, 3rd from the left, in the white t-shirt.  
She loves, loves, loves to sing.


Only two more days of the cube farm remain in 2010.  Then I'm free to be until January 3rd.  And I am going to spend EVERY single minute with the kids and za big D.  Seriously, I live for these breaks with our family.  Pippster said it best, "Our family rocks!"

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Were you born in a barn?

Merry Christmas Friends & Family! As of today, you can count the shopping days 'til Christmas with the digits on your hands. No toes required. That sure shocked me. Shocked me into doing some power online shopping over the weekend. So much shopping that my credit card company halted any further purchases. Ring, ring. They called and asked about several transactions. It seems I had an unusually large volume of purchases on a single day and they were concerned about fraudulent activity. Glad to know they had my back. So if you get a box from a retailer and you have no idea where it came from and I forget to tell you to look for it, Merry Christmas from our family!

Earlier this week, I came home and it looked like someone dumped the coat closet out on the floor. And the hat/mitten box. And the shoe closet too. Dwyane had scolded the kids, "Were you born in a barn? Pick up your hats, coats, gloves, and boots." Little Miss Fancy Pants replied, "What is wrong with being born in a barn? Jesus was born in a barn." Dad was silenced.

The little guy has really, really, really started watching football. Seriously. Yelling at the TV. Cheering for good plays. And asking why the coach or quarterback would call such a stupid play. He's into it and understands what is going on. And that of course means his football is with him at all times so he can do an instant re-play of the play in our living room. And that long day of football excitement led to a pass out on Sunday night. With his ball. And his fingers on the threads.

And more excitement for the little Boo. He lost his first tooth.



And the answer to his question came in cursive writing from the Good 'Ol TF herself. She has wings that help her get around to collect teeth all night. Thank goodness the question wasn't, "What do you do with all the teeth that you collect?" That might have required some Googling. And big sister definitely has peaked curiousity about the TF. "Her hand writing looks like Mom's." Mom and Dad were silenced. But she is eight years-old. And there is the bus ride to school for subjects like this.

Today at the cube farm, we had a Ladies Luncheon for our work group. And in the spirit, I found a 1990's holiday sweatshirt and decided this attire was the icing on the proverbial luncheon cake.

When I walked into the room, I guess they didn't realize my glaring holiday sweatshirt was a joke. I waited for silence and explained.

My co-worker and I have been casually competing for the last two weeks. Trying to out-do one anothers' closets of rarely-worn Holiday attire. Oh it has been enlightening. She thought she had me yesterday. But I found another one of those tree sweaters. And then today...I let her have it with the craft-fair poinsetta material sewn onto a black sweatshirt, complete with gold glitter glue for trim. It was a doozy of all bad, bad, bad holiday attire.

And at the luncheon, low and behold, my Secret Santa gift had a ribbon that PERFECTLY matched the gaudy ribbon hot-glued onto the sweatshirt. I laughingly mentioned that we should tease my hair and put the ribbon on my head like Pebbles. So one of the ladies whipped a bobby pin out her purse and the ribbon went into my hair. (Note: All moms with dancing daughters have bobby pins in the purse. Even after they think they have cleared their purse of bobby pins. One more lurks...)

That bow excitement my friends brought out all the Crackberry cameras. Flashes were popping and I am now well-photographed in the most embarrassing holiday outfit EVER! So if it ends up on Facebook, you now know the story and forgive my fashion faux paux(s). It was in bad taste and good humor.

May your barns be clean, football players well-rested, wings swift, sweaters glorious, and most important, may your blessed shopping be finished. And here's a cheer to those souls who actually consider shopping before Dec 15th. Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow

WOO HOO! This week, old man winter final arrived after a fall filled with really, really warm days. Many 60 and 70 degree days in November. And the tornado...

Just before Turkey Day, we had a 69 degree day in the Midwest. In the afternoon, a cold front came through, dropping temps by 20 degrees at the snap of fingers. The little town (no bar, one church, no gas station) where the kids' school is located suffered an F2 tornado that came through quickly. Several houses were destroyed but truely, absolutely amazing, that no one suffered any life-threatening injuries. Lots of cleanup is required and some unlucky souls were left without liveable homes. But the humans prevailed. And the kids' school had no damage. One block away, it looks like a war zone. We are counting our blessings!

But now the cold has set in and after several inches of the white stuff, the kids are joyfully frolicking in the snow. So fun to watch them burn hundreds of calories while bundled like little wooly mammoths. And it just puts you into the holiday spirit. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (but only until 12/31...then it can stop and the warm temps can return)

So that leads to me the question of the week --- Do you know how Santa got his job? The little man came home from school this week and disspelled all myths. Santa started out as a mailman. He got stuck in traffic so he decided it would be better to deliver packages at night. So he did...and he got fired. So he took a job at the zoo. He didn't like seeing all the animals caged up, so he let them out. And he got fired. But the reindeer liked him. And introduced him to the elves. Who decided his previous job skills were perfect for the job of Santa. So they hooked the polar bears up to the sleigh and sent him off with the packages. But the polar bears took the sleigh into water. And the reindeer had to fly and rescue Santa. So Santa hooked the reindeers up to the sleigh --- and that my friends is how Santa came to deliver packages at night with reindeer. The End (Guess this is a book that the teacher read to the kids at school---HOW ADORABLE!)

Miss Socialite participated in a very modern version of Alice in Wonderland a few weeks ago. Our adorable little flower spent much time on stage, pretending she was texting her friends, and saying "Ewwwwwww" while Alice (small, medium, and large) wondered why the White Rabbit was always late. Getting ready for the play was a very large time commitment but it was all worth it. The joy in her face while she was stage---she loves to perform.

But her brother, he could do without on-stage attention. He wants to quit piano. NO, NO, NO---I don't want to play anymore. Kiddos have a Christmas piano recital in a few weeks. Big sister kept telling little bro' how big the piano is at the church. It is like "this" big. "Taller than you are." He is freaked! And it is such a rip-off because after only six months of lessons, little man is READING music. He's naturally picking it up and now, due to stage fright and the MEGA-sized piano, he wants to quit. This saga is to be continued...I may be sitting at the MEGA-piano, plunking Up On The Housetop with little man.

Got the tree up last night. Fire blazing. Polar Express on the TV. And then the battle of "Who Gets to Put the Star On Top of the Tree" ensued. Big sister won. Little man went to bed and cried. So I created a log of who has put the star on the tree from 2004 to current. Going to put it in with the tree decorations so we know whose turn it will be in 2011. Next year, little brother will be putting the star on the tree. And big sister will go to bed and cry. Something to be learned about kindness and the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas everyone! May your tree-topping be battle free and your yard be filled with white stuff. And may your families be blessed with health, love, and happiness this season!