It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...Um...Summer?

Whoa, we've been busy. Tis the season, right? Sorry for the bloggy absence, but I've been spending a lot of my extra time trying to pull back out the summer clothes that have been neatly tucked away till, you know, summer. If you looked at my laundry, you would think that either I've completely gone mad or I've taken numerous trips from the tropics to the polar regions in the span of 2 weeks. I mean, I don't think I've ever washed sweatshirts and tank tops in the same load. Until now. And it's still happening. Yesterday it was mid 70's and today it's mid 50's. One consistency has been the rain. Mercy, the rain. My poor kids are starting to get that pale look with dark under eye circles because of the lack of UV rays or Vitamin D or something like that.

Lovely.

Anyhoo.

We have had quite a few "firsts" this Christmas!

Starting with....
MY BABY BROTHER GOT ENGAGED!!!
And to clarify, he's not a baby. He's only 2 years younger than I am, but you know what I mean. His fiancee's name is Lindsay and she's awesome. She's a dancer (professionally - she dances in Taye Diggs' company in NYC and just finished up 3 months of dancing at Disney World - I'm not ONE BIT jealous of her...nope...none), a Southern Girl (I truly think the Southern peeps in NYC find a way to connect with each other), a FSU Seminole, and an absolute doll. My girls adore her. Mary Emma has been waiting for Adam to propose so she could officially call her Aunt Lindsay.

Here are some pics of them...




The last picture is of Adam and Lindsay with Minnie Mouse after one of her shows. The red hair is a wig - she is really a blonde - as shown in the first picture. Lindsay loves all things antique and the ring Adam gave her is early 1900's. The diamond is dated somewhere between 1850 and 1900 and the ring is 1920's. It's gorgeous and we are so proud for them.

Second, Mary Emma learned to ride a two-wheeled bike! The training wheels came off! She's 7 1/2, which is a little late to learn to ride a bike, but let me tell you a little about her. She has an unnatural fear of scraping her knees. She has fallen in the driveway in the past, screamed so loud and hard that we have had neighbors come running out of their house. The fear of falling off of a bicycle and scraping her knees far outweighed the joy of riding a bike. Until last week. Spencer took her to the school parking lot, gave her one push, and she never looked back. We are crazy proud of her.



Third, Tait was ALL ABOUT Santa this year.....from a distance. We kept noticing her anxiety level rising on Christmas Eve and finally realized that she thought Santa Claus was coming to her room. Once we assured her that Santa wasn't coming upstairs, she calmed down and went on to sleep. Camille still doesn't fully understand, but I have a feeling that next year is her year. Plus, if Santa did decide to come upstairs and into Camille's room, she'd totally take him down. That kid can hold her own.

Fourth, my parents's house flooded - the rebuild started this morning and should take about a month. In case you don't fully grasp this concept, my parents are rebuilding their brand spanking new 4 day old house. If you feel led to continue to throw up some prayers on their behalf, I know they'd appreciate it.

Fifth, Spencer left this morning for a meeting in San Diego for 12 DAYS. That's 288 hours. 17,280 minutes. 1,036,800 seconds. Nothing like jumping back into the back to school routine like tackling it as a single mom. However, there is an upside. Thursday through Monday, I will be going out there, too, WITHOUT THE KIDS. I'd say that's a good trade-off.

Sixth, I learned that if I purchase these noisemakers for the kids on New Year's Eve

then I'm not allowed to yell at them for running around for HOURS and shaking their little noisy brains out. Whatev.

Seventh and lastly, Spencer gave me photography lessons for our Anniversary. I start tonight. I am STOKED. I know that I will learn about stuff like aperture, shutter speed, focal points, exposure, and calibrating my light meter (aren't you impressed? Don't be - I copied that off the class website - I have no idea what that means) so that I can become photog extraordinaire. The Pioneer Woman ain't got nothin' on me. Before you know it, she'll be inviting me to her fabulous ranch where I can stay at the newly remodeled (and amazing) lodge so that I can give her some photography lessons. And then I'll leave there to go have dinner with Reba.

A girl can dream, right?

In the words of 2 year old Camille, "Peace Out, y'all."