Merry Christmas, Bloggy Peeps!

From my family to yours, have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful new year.

Let Me Introduce You To Cindy Lou Who

Mary Emma's school Christmas party was Friday. The entire 2nd Grade has a tradition of transforming the hall into Whoville - in true Grinch fashion. It's like a right of passage for 2nd Graders. Every kid in the school has been through the wonderful world of Whoville, except for the current 5th graders. The year they were in 2nd grade, the teachers decided to scrap Whoville and hold a "Christmas Around the World" themed party. It was a dud and they went back to Grinch the following year. However, the 5th graders feel a little jipped that they didn't experience Whoville in all of its glory.

Anyhoo, the 2nd graders were to dress up in Whoville clothes for the party. Citizens of Whoville characteristically dress very colorfully, with mismatched patterns and prints. It's like "crazy day" during Homecoming Week on steroids.

Mary Emma, in her never ending quest NOT to be outdone, decided to be Cindy Lou Who for the party. Here's when we came up with.







The hair was by far her favorite part of the costume. I told one mom that all possible caution needs to be taken before telling Mary Emma that she gets to dress up as something because the kid will take it to ANOTHER LEVEL. The kid loves the attention and loves to entertain people.

So I guess she's conquered this milestone. She's been to Whoville and back. She achieved Cindy Lou Who hair.

Now we focus on the 2nd Grade Play. An actual play for an actual drama queen. The practicing will begin after the new year and will continue to the performance at the end of the year.

She will get her time on stage. She will shine like the star that she thinks she is. She will practice and talk about it and make up new ways of performing the play that (in her mind) give her the lead role and every speaking part and a microphone and makeup and a fantastic costume and roses and people asking her for her autograph equally and fairly distribute the parts amongst all of the 2nd Graders. And this will go on for the next 5 months.

Have mercy on us all.

Yes, I Gave In And Elfed My Children.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My Bloggy MoJo Is Seriously In Need Of Help

Ok, it's been 6 whole days since I've posted anything. I'm sorry. I know there's some things I need to post about (BooMama's Tour of Homes, Siesta Ornament Exchange) but I just can't get into it. And my camera batteries are dead, which makes a photo blog tour rather difficult. I don't think you all want to read me describe my Christmas decorations or the FABULOUSLY WONDERFUL SMELLING pine cone ornament that Kerry sent me, so I'll wait until my camera is alive and running again until I post about those things.

In the meantime, I'll let you know a few of the zillion things we've been up to. I apologize for the boring day to day stuff, but hopefully we'll all look back and laugh at these busy days.....

1. The Great Christmas Tree Crash of 2008.
A few nights ago, I was in the kitchen when I heard a crash then a muffled yell from the den. I looked to find Spencer, who was sitting in the chair, which was now completely covered by a fallen Christmas Tree. He was frantically trying to keep from being buried alive while, at the same time, desperately taking off the nice fragile ornaments and laying them down carefully. And some people say men can't multitask. I beg to differ. I grabbed the tree, which weighs about 736 pounds and tried to lift it off of him. I managed to lift it about 2 inches - just enough for him to slide out and pick it back up. All of this being done while trying to keep 3 barefoot curious girls from coming over to investigate. Because nothing would've made the night better that a trip to the ER for glass removal and stitches in 6 little feet. Oh, the memories. I have no idea why it crashed, which is exactly why I predict that it will happen again. I'll keep you posted.

2. Ny Nephew, Jay's, 3rd Birthday Party
I know a lot of you have cute, adorable members of your family, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that my nephew is the cutest kid on the planet. Here's proof.


See. Told ya. My silly brother-in-law and sister-in-law insist on raising him as an Alabama fan, which immediately causes him to lose 5 cool points, but he's still way over a million. And to top it off, the kid is obsessed with old school Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. Not the new stuff - the old cartoons and comic books. I totally love him to pieces. And his baby brother, Jack, will make his grand entrance into the world sometime in April, which means there will be another perfect nephew added to my family. I. Can't. Wait.

3. Mary Emma's 2nd Grade Christmas Party
The 2nd graders at Mary Emma's school have a HUGE themed Christmas Party . The theme is the Grinch and the entire 2nd Grade hall is decorated like Who-ville. They are supposed to dress like people from Who-ville, which, of course, means Mary Emma will be dressing like Cindy Lou Who. Google her. The hairstyle alone means that we'll be up before the sun Friday morning getting the hair ready. I will definitely be posting pictures of this blessed event. Stay tuned.

4. The Trips
Spencer travels quite often with his company. I travel about once a year (not including short trips to parents' houses, beach vacay in the summer..) and love it. LOVE. IT. Traveling makes me happy. But being a SAHM of 3 kids, it's a logistical nightmare to make it happen. However, in the next 3-4 weeks, I will be traveling 3 times.
This weekend, Spencer and I are traveling to Jackson, MS, for Spencer's best friend's wedding. He's the best man and is really honored to be such a special part of it. It's our 11th wedding anniversary, also, so a weekend away from the kids will be really nice.
The following weekend, we are heading to Atlanta for my father-in-law's 60th birthday. My inlaws, Spencer's brother & his wife (Jay's mom & dad), and Spencer & I are going to spend a few days over there to celebrate.
Then, on Jan 5-16, Spencer is traveling to San Diego for business. Yes, you read that right - 11 days with 3 kids and no break. Mercy. However, he surprised me a couple of weeks ago with plane tickets out there - I will be going the 8-12 to hang out in San Diego - I've never been there and cannot wait. Also, rock on, Sky Miles account, for free first class tickets. What? What? Holler. I think I'll sit criss-cross-applesauce the entire flight just because the seats are big enough to do so.

So let the insane holiday craziness continue. Let my camera batteries charge so I can take pictures of my house and my ornaments.

But most importantly, let me remember Who this season is about. Let me focus my mind and heart and direct my children's hearts toward the Baby Boy. Let it be about Him. Not places, things, parties, and decorations. Let us remember that it's not all about us. Let us remember the proclamation of the Angels - "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14

We Have A Chance Of "Hydrangeas" Tomorrow.

Once again, snow is predicted for my area tomorrow and tomorrow night.

You know how I feel about that.

The meteorologists are treading on thin ice, my friends.

We'll see.....

I Think She Should Become a Lawyer.

Last night Mary Emma didn't do something that I had asked her twice to do. Nothing big, but definitely one of those "nip it in the bud now or it's going to get worse later" kind of moments. Anyway, I told her that because of it, she was grounded from TV today. When she then pitched a fit about being grounded, she was grounded from TV for another day. Needless to say, the fit stopped.

So this morning, TV restriction commenced. When she fussed (but not too hard because she didn't want the punishment to continue into Tuesday) and didn't get anywhere with it, she changed her strategy.

Welcome to "Mary Emma's Attempt To Get The TV Turned Back On."

Argument #1
"Mommy, Zooboomafoo is on. We are learning about animal habitats in school, so I think Mrs. Story (her teacher) would want me to watch it. I can learn about giraffes, zebras, and monkeys and talk about them in school tomorrow."
Status: Fail.

Argument #2
"Mommy, I don't think I want to be a vet anymore (she has wanted to be a vet for several years now, but today, the desire completely left her). I want to be a Movie Maker, now. So I think I should watch TV so I can get ideas on what movies I'd like to make. I can also watch really closely and see if I can understand how the show was made. Watching TV today will help me become a movie maker."
Status: Fail.

However, I'd like to publicly give her props for trying. I think law school might be something she should think about.

You know, after she finishes the 2nd Grade.

Let It Snow...Please?!

Earlier this week, the weather people predicted that we were going to get some snow. I mistakenly had on the evening news when my 7 year old was in the room and she heard the word "snow". She went absolutely crazy - which in turn made the little 2 girls equally crazy. They were all running around the house cheering for the "snow" that we were "supposed to get during the night."

Guess what?

We got nothing. Nada. Not a flurry. Not a piece of ice. Just wet, cold rain.

Now, let's be honest. It's cruel to tease a child in ALABAMA with snow. I've only seen snow about 10 times in my life (excluding ski trips, etc. to places like Colorado where it's supposed to snow), so it even makes me excited. I have an ongoing promise with Mary Emma - if it snows during the night, even on a school night, and I see it, I will wake her up and we'll go outside and play.

So far, we haven't been through the torture of had the privilege of playing in the snow at 2 AM.

I think that in places like Alabama (and any other of the tropical states), the weather people should be required to refrain from mentioning snow until they see a flurry with their very own eyes. The possibility of snow should have its own code word that you don't get to know until you are an adult. If the weather people here had mentioned a possibility of...say..."hydrangeas," my kids would've never run around like they were jacked up on caffeine, and my 7 year old would've slept with her blinds closed so she didn't wake up every 3 1/2 minutes to check for snow.

So take note, weather people, snow prediction is a serious, serious business. Especially down here in Alabama. Shape up, please.