Being on the Yearbook Staff Finally Comes in Handy

I know it's hard to believe, but I was once a writer for my high school yearbook. My favorite part about that task was writing captions under people's pictures. I thought I'd just caption some Christmas photos and let those serve as a recap for some of this past week's recent holiday highlights. This is what happens when parents don't arrive 15 minutes early to their kid's preschool performance. Good luck capturing that moment.
Here's Bethie.....loves to work out and go with her nieces to

Disney movies, would hate for me to try to set her up, or indicate

on an online website that people read that she's available.
I'm Noelle & I'm so excited to see The Princess & the Frog.

Too bad nobody warns me there's scary voo doo demonic forces

in the movie. Thanks Disney for using the shadowy images

that terrified adults in the 90's movie, Ghost to scare my kids.
I think this picture speaks for itself. Let's see if as a family,

we vote for which movie to see, and Dan is outnumbered by girls

5 to 1..... then expect to see these 2 expressions a lot in our future.
Everyone loves the tradition of Mimi (my mom) sewing the

girls old-fashioned nightgowns and giving them to the girls to open

on Christmas Eve. Wait, did I say everyone?
If I were to predict which child will give me grief in high school...
Mom was upset because 1 of the lunchboxes she ordered for

the girls said, "Be Green," on it. Don't worry mom, I won't allow

those liberals to influence me, disposable diapers are my friends.

I'm not grateful or at all happy with this gift or any of the

others I got, because the twins got lunchboxes, and I didn't. Don't

try to teach me about contentment or gratitude because I'm 2, and

don't you forget it.

This is the same type of jacket that Steve McQueen

used to wear, so basically this is Mikie's best Christmas

ever. And yes, He's drinking a Dr. Pepper Christmas morning.
Why is my mom trying not to cry? (Because you look like a

19 year old model, and you're in kindergarten, but I'm not going

to tell you that because I don't want you to get a big head).

Lastly, I wish I could have taken a picture of the police officer that pulled us over on Christmas day, but I just didn't think he'd be interested in participating in my blog. That night, after the kids went to bed, Dan & I took advantage of my parents babysitting, and headed to a movie. On the way there, we were stopped by an officer and asked, if we had been smoking marijuana that evening. It was funny, sort of. I guess minivan drivers with car seats and bibles strewn about the back seat fit that whole "pot-smoking" profile. Who knew? Probably a good thing I didn't try to take his picture, he let us go, and told Dan not to straddle the lanes so much in the future. (In his defense, our window was misty...)

All Time Best Presents

The truth about the whole gift-giving thing is it's really only fun to give the kids gifts. First of all because you can get them something in the dollar section at Target and they're thrilled, and secondly because they are still wide-eyed and (fairly) grateful when they receive new things. However, reality never is quite like the movie moments on Lifetime in December, but I will admit, I have been blessed with some pretty awesome gifts in the past. Here's my top 5.

5. A brown leather jacket from Dan. This was a score because a) it fit b) I actually loved it c) I still can get away with wearing it even though I've had it for years, because it's classy d) I was stunned he picked it out by himself, I hadn't even realized I wanted a leather jacket.

4. Western Barbie: She didn't just have a cowboy hat and tassles hanging from her shirt, if you pressed her back, she winked and her eyelid was covered in bright blue eyeshadow. She was awesome and inspiring. I couldn't wait to wear turquoise eye shadow because of her.

3. A porcelain China doll that my mom gave me when I was about 9. She was so beautiful. I still have her, pink pantaloons and all, and I'm going to pass her on to my girls when they're older.

2. A Swatch 2-way pink telephone and my own personal phone line when I was 13. This gift brought tears to my eyes and was probably the biggest parenting mistake my parents ever made. I LOVED it, and it was before caller ID so prank calls were a way of life. Ahhh, the glory days.

1. The Ultimate, the microwave that cooks things with light bulbs, come on! Does it get any better than that? I baked cakes in tiny, circular pans by adding water to bags of mysterious batter mixes that came with my u-bake oven, and they took like hours to cook, but at the time I felt like Martha Stewart must feel after she milks her cows and churns her own butter each morning, like one proud little mother hen. Whoever thought of a light bulb cooking things is a genius. They should get a technology award of some sort, forget flip cameras and ipods, light bulbs that bake - you can't put a price on that.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

Morgan in her winter ensemble. Is it just me
or does she look like trouble?
Last Saturday, we went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Here's Maisy enjoying one of the finer things in life, movie popcorn.

This morning was the annual kindergarten Christmas
chapel. Lorelei was an angel, but of course!

Above is a pic of our "Company Party," last night with
our friends the Stimers and the Naimos. We love them all!
And below a pic from our Birthday party for Jesus last week.
I wanted to capture the moment of me actually reading to
the kids to assuage my guilt for the massive amounts of TV
they've been watching, er... lately.
So basically, it's beginning to look a lot like.....

my life revolves around my children. Who knew?

Christmas Cheer

So I'm all grumpy right now because in an attempt to impress my neighbors, I tried to channel Martha Stewart and make these candy type walnut chews. And basically, when I cut into the crisp, beautifully brown-sugar tan top layer of chewy goodness, the whole top crumbled like over-cooked meringue, only to reveal a completely gooey under done layer beneath the hard surface. Hmmm, baking disaster #1 of the season.

But never fear, because if you're ever feeling down, all you have to do is read one of the holiday-themed poems you assigned your class full of 7 Jr. High boys (and one lone girl, thank you Emily for being born, and doing thoughtful things for me like writing your name on your papers and doing your homework and coming to class with combed hair). Anyway, here's one of the poems turned in to me this year. Hope it brings you some Christmas Cheer:

The Snowball

Come one, come all -

Behold, the mighty snow ball.

As I hit you in the head,

I'll send you to the nurse's bed.

As I do my victory dance,

It will soak your underpants.

The Family Christmas Card

Well, the card is on it's way out to you so now you know, it's just a picture of the kids this year. I know, I know, some of you have strong opinions on that, but this year, I had a theme going, and it just looked better with just the kids. If you really want to know what Dan and I look like, here are the pictures (as taken by our friends the Hervey, see her blog and check out their other photos). The t shirt idea was given to me by Jen, so I owe all of that brilliance to her.

Meanwhile, I survived a Christmas play Monday, bible study Tuesday, haircut & sick child Wednesday, Thursday bring baked goods to special Christmas ladies night at church, and a house full of toddlers for a birthday party for Jesus this morning.

I am now tired, there is glitter in my hair, and I'm in a sugar-induced stupor, and actually I kind of like it.