It should be a big day, at least-- it's the final day of 2012!! Since I spent the last four evenings watching football from my couch and the rest of the days eating, I have absolutely nothing to show for the weekend. I feel like I should have prepared a retrospective post--and maybe that will come since football is kinda at a lull now and I don't want to face taking down Christmas decorations--but in the meantime, I send out big birthday greetings to two loyal readers. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my very favorite brother and to Abbey T, who will surely not be eating chili and rice today! :-)
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
The Indoctrination is Complete
It started innocently enough, more than 4 years ago. But the team wasn't especially exciting and then Polly up and left for Beantown and who was going to shape the B-man in burgundy and gold ways?
Well, my friends, he has been shaped:
Polly came over around 10:30 yesterday morning and we eventually talked her into spending the night. There's not much better than a full day and evening of Miss Polly P!!
In addition to the Christmas presents she brought the kiddos, she also arrived with a very large box. (C was so excited that she ran around ringing a bell!):
Turns out her mom is cleaning out the house since all Polly's nieces and nephews have gotten older and she sent B + C all kinds of treasures:
A quick snap before we treated her to a really fancy lunch at Mickey Ds:
We employed Polly's tech wizardry for some extra entertainment:
Have I mentioned how much the B-man loves his Auntie Polly?
PS: GO BEARS!!
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Well, my friends, he has been shaped:
Polly came over around 10:30 yesterday morning and we eventually talked her into spending the night. There's not much better than a full day and evening of Miss Polly P!!
In addition to the Christmas presents she brought the kiddos, she also arrived with a very large box. (C was so excited that she ran around ringing a bell!):
Turns out her mom is cleaning out the house since all Polly's nieces and nephews have gotten older and she sent B + C all kinds of treasures:
A quick snap before we treated her to a really fancy lunch at Mickey Ds:
Thursday, December 27, 2012
It's Thursday
And I don't have much to share.
Thought I'd have a Polly-centric post but our visit got postponed by the yucky weather we had around here all day yesterday. The poor BG had to ride in a bus on slushy roads to an all-day track meet but he made it home in one piece around 5:30 or so. Then he cooked up a big pot of spaghetti and sauce of which I ate several pounds, to be matched only by the amount of chocolate fudge I've stuffed in my mouth this week. WHY does the recipe make 5 lbs?? (I know, I know-- for sharing. Which I did. But still had plenty left over! :-)
Alas, we had a very lazy, quiet day staying warm and dry while the sleet and/or freezing rain (can never remember the difference) raged outside. Nothing much to show for it. Should probably start one of the books I got for Christmas:
This Is Your Captain Speaking (written by the brother of my friend Julie)
A Year of Biblical Womanhood (I've heard great things)
Agent Zigzag (annual random book given to me by mon frere)
Scribble, Scribble, Scribble (annual even-more-random book given to me by the BG's stepdad, aka Papa)
Sending out a big SIC 'EM to the Baylor Bears as they face UCLA in the Holiday Bowl tonight. My parents and brother/sister-in-law have gathered in San Diego for the game. Might be a titch jealous, although I'm glad it's on TV. Another BIG game on TV Sunday night, too, right?!! Seriously-- I still find it hysterical that I now watch this much football....especially since I still generally can't find the ball.
Whatever.
Anything interesting going on with you this fine Thursday? Shout-out to Carrie whom I know is sitting at work while reading this. WORK HARD, BIRTHDAY TWIN!!!!!! :-)
Thought I'd have a Polly-centric post but our visit got postponed by the yucky weather we had around here all day yesterday. The poor BG had to ride in a bus on slushy roads to an all-day track meet but he made it home in one piece around 5:30 or so. Then he cooked up a big pot of spaghetti and sauce of which I ate several pounds, to be matched only by the amount of chocolate fudge I've stuffed in my mouth this week. WHY does the recipe make 5 lbs?? (I know, I know-- for sharing. Which I did. But still had plenty left over! :-)
Alas, we had a very lazy, quiet day staying warm and dry while the sleet and/or freezing rain (can never remember the difference) raged outside. Nothing much to show for it. Should probably start one of the books I got for Christmas:
This Is Your Captain Speaking (written by the brother of my friend Julie)
A Year of Biblical Womanhood (I've heard great things)
Agent Zigzag (annual random book given to me by mon frere)
Scribble, Scribble, Scribble (annual even-more-random book given to me by the BG's stepdad, aka Papa)
Sending out a big SIC 'EM to the Baylor Bears as they face UCLA in the Holiday Bowl tonight. My parents and brother/sister-in-law have gathered in San Diego for the game. Might be a titch jealous, although I'm glad it's on TV. Another BIG game on TV Sunday night, too, right?!! Seriously-- I still find it hysterical that I now watch this much football....especially since I still generally can't find the ball.
Whatever.
Anything interesting going on with you this fine Thursday? Shout-out to Carrie whom I know is sitting at work while reading this. WORK HARD, BIRTHDAY TWIN!!!!!! :-)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
A Few Christmas Snaps
We hope all of you who celebrated Christmas yesterday had a wonderful time!! We sure did...
After Santa's visit but before the kids awoke:
The laugh-out-loud moment of the morning. Grandma knitted booties for both kids and, as we soon found out, some matching ones for the baby doll she sent C, too!
The Imaginext castle Big Daddy sent was the HIT of the day:
The kiddies were pretty happy (albeit a bit fuzzy):
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering....he did get a big box o' gatorade:
...which he enjoyed with dinner!
(And Santa came through with shampoo, so it was a success all the way around!)
After Santa's visit but before the kids awoke:
The laugh-out-loud moment of the morning. Grandma knitted booties for both kids and, as we soon found out, some matching ones for the baby doll she sent C, too!
The Imaginext castle Big Daddy sent was the HIT of the day:
The kiddies were pretty happy (albeit a bit fuzzy):
(And Santa came through with shampoo, so it was a success all the way around!)
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Red and Green and Merry All Over!
"Someone" rang the doorbell Sunday night and left two wrapped packages, conveniently during bath time. B was REALLY excited until he opened his gift and kept saying, "This is NOT interesting!" HA.
Obviously, it's always too much to ask for a nice calm picture of kids in their matching PJs. Instead, we have a wordless tale of a normal few minutes in our household:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!
Obviously, it's always too much to ask for a nice calm picture of kids in their matching PJs. Instead, we have a wordless tale of a normal few minutes in our household:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Fruition, Finally
So one of the things about being a big bargain-shopper is that I often buy things well in advance and never am exactly sure how the timing/sizing is going to work out. Remember this exciting bottom-dollar, top-label purchase from more than 1.5 years ago?
Someone finally wore it yesterday!
(And no, we couldn't get that cup away if we wanted a pic!)
Someone finally wore it yesterday!
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Sweet Festivities
And I mean that literally.... check out the supply o' decorations for decorating gingerbread (er, graham cracker) houses:
Backing up a bit, here's the little elf checking her bidness before we headed to B's class party:
I was so excited that the tights from her Halloween costume were such a festive match here; unfortunately, 5 minutes after this picture was taken, she took off running down the driveway, tripped, and ripped a hole in them. Awesome.
A good little techie, she loves herself some forward-facing camera and I even managed to capture what I thought was the exact moment she was going to rip the bow from her hair. Amazingly enough, it lasted another good 20 minutes or so!
The class presented Who is Coming to Our House? with Joseph portrayed by the fastest-walking, non-singing kid you have ever seen! That brown blur? Walking down the aisle so fast there was no need for a donkey:
All the parents brought in various refreshments so the kids enjoyed quite the spread after their performance. (BTW, these cookies were a hit, although I neither shaped them into crescents nor did the last step of icing + bits.) I didn't get any pics of that because I was soaking in the excitement of having a certain BG attend such an event for the first time ever! Thank goodness for the winning combination of living closer + head football coach's teaching schedule!
Of course, the BG was starting to sweat after being off-campus for 30 minutes :-), so he went back to school and the sugar rush began!
We left shortly after this pic since someone kept pulling off the candy from her brother's house and eating it!
The B-man doesn't go back to school until Friday, January 4th. Does that mean I have to do crafts at home?!! ;-)
A good little techie, she loves herself some forward-facing camera and I even managed to capture what I thought was the exact moment she was going to rip the bow from her hair. Amazingly enough, it lasted another good 20 minutes or so!
The B-man doesn't go back to school until Friday, January 4th. Does that mean I have to do crafts at home?!! ;-)
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Lights Extravaganza!!
We went crrraaazy and kept Miss C up past her bedtime last night so we could go explore the holiday lights display at the nearby Gardens (where we ran around last month). I'm thinking she enjoyed the adventure:
She spent most of the time running at super-fast speed yelling combinations of Wow! Whoa! and Go!
The excited visitors:
A cool dragon:
Totally wanted s'mores after this one:
The conservatory building had a fun model train exhibit that was a big hit with this guy:
In one section of the exhibit was this structure, which was a model of the building we were in. You can see in the part on the left that there's a miniature train display (with moving train!). Which begs the question-- does that model train set have a structure like this on it with a model train on it? Anyone else thinking about the Land O' Lakes box with the Land O' Lakes lady holding a Land O' Lakes box with the Land O' Lakes lady on it? According to wikipedia, this is called the Droste effect. (The more you know....ding!)
Hit up a Starbucks on the way home and drove through some neighborhoods to look at lights. Love family outings!!
She spent most of the time running at super-fast speed yelling combinations of Wow! Whoa! and Go!
The excited visitors:
Hit up a Starbucks on the way home and drove through some neighborhoods to look at lights. Love family outings!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Love.
This is what I saw when I walked in the other morning:
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They are pretty darn cute to watch together.
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Monday, December 17, 2012
Finally! An Olive I Can Love! (and other happy news)
When Fake Auntie Chisty and Fake Uncle Eric discovered they had a baby on the way, they decided to refer to it in utero as "Olive." I am still quite proud of these cards that I had made for her to use:
Well, their baby arrived late Friday night and guess what? The name stuck!! We are all so excited that Baby Olive is here!! I haven't gotten to meet her yet but let's just say that Miss C is already SO jealous of all her hair!!
BUT THERE'S MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember this pic from two weekends ago??
Here's the way it should have looked:
Yessssss!! Carrie and Anne are BOTH due to have babies in June!! Throw in the little Moore on the way in April to Geoff and Nicki and you have a big-time BabyFest!!! I could NOT be more excited for all of these besties to be entering parenthood at the same time!! Fake Auntie Em (well, I'm Real Auntie Em for one of 'em) is soooooooooooooooo thrilled!!!
BUT THERE'S MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember this pic from two weekends ago??
Here's the way it should have looked:
Friday, December 14, 2012
Mid-December Friday
How did we get to this place, where Christmas is a mere 11 days away?!
I spent yesterday in a hunkered-down Christmas card-writing haze. My children may or may not have watched 87 episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It's one of those projects where you just want to GET IT DONE. We're hosting a little gathering for some former colleagues of the BG tonight and I knew I needed to make my big mess so I could clean it up and be done.
I obviously choose to make this an arduous process by handwriting messages on each card but it is a labor of love. It's also a labor of pain-- I always forget about the "writer's bump" that develops on my middle finger until halfway through. Brings back so many memories of all the writing I did in my academic past!!
After quiet/nap time yesterday (during which I finally got out of my fuzzy robe and quasi-dressed), I bundled the kids up to get to the PO in time to buy my Christmas stamps and get some cards mailed off. I had already decided I didn't want to sit in the car with the kids and apply each stamp to all the cards I'd completed, so I took only the first small batch. Would you believe that they were OUT of Christmas stamps? So...at least 18 of you will be getting very festive flag stamps and I'm hoping I can find some more seasonal ones tomorrow!! There will also be a batch featuring "newsletters" (term lovingly provided by AKHG) in blue font instead of black because our black ink cartridge died towards the end of today's process! :-)
I still have a set of cards to prepare for some local peeps but--hallelujah!--I'm pretty much done. Now it's back to the fun job of tracking cards sent/received on my dorky Excel spreadsheet! I totally know at least one of you who likely does the same thing....cough, cough Karen I! Any other trackers out there?
Enjoy the weekend! Hope you get lots of fun mail!!
I spent yesterday in a hunkered-down Christmas card-writing haze. My children may or may not have watched 87 episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It's one of those projects where you just want to GET IT DONE. We're hosting a little gathering for some former colleagues of the BG tonight and I knew I needed to make my big mess so I could clean it up and be done.
I obviously choose to make this an arduous process by handwriting messages on each card but it is a labor of love. It's also a labor of pain-- I always forget about the "writer's bump" that develops on my middle finger until halfway through. Brings back so many memories of all the writing I did in my academic past!!
After quiet/nap time yesterday (during which I finally got out of my fuzzy robe and quasi-dressed), I bundled the kids up to get to the PO in time to buy my Christmas stamps and get some cards mailed off. I had already decided I didn't want to sit in the car with the kids and apply each stamp to all the cards I'd completed, so I took only the first small batch. Would you believe that they were OUT of Christmas stamps? So...at least 18 of you will be getting very festive flag stamps and I'm hoping I can find some more seasonal ones tomorrow!! There will also be a batch featuring "newsletters" (term lovingly provided by AKHG) in blue font instead of black because our black ink cartridge died towards the end of today's process! :-)
I still have a set of cards to prepare for some local peeps but--hallelujah!--I'm pretty much done. Now it's back to the fun job of tracking cards sent/received on my dorky Excel spreadsheet! I totally know at least one of you who likely does the same thing....cough, cough Karen I! Any other trackers out there?
Enjoy the weekend! Hope you get lots of fun mail!!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Her Big Guy
The BG must seem giant because she's already looking up to her big brother.
In his shoes:
And not letting him go:
In his shoes:
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Mind Meld
Every once in awhile, something happens that makes me feel "cool." ;-)
Early last week, I was reading the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly when I noticed something weird in the Bullseye column, the weekly round-up of pop culture:
While I could be commenting on any number of weird things, let's zoom in a bit:
I looked over on my nightstand and saw this:
Per usual, I had grabbed a random book from the New/Popular Fiction shelf at the library while trying to keep the wee ones from destroying anything. Who knew I'd picked such a winner??
At that point, it became my goal to finish the book ASAP since I knew I wouldn't be able to renew such a hot item. (Unfortunately, I am a major faller-asleeper when reading at night.) I am thankful that I grew up in a family of bibliophiles so my parents didn't seem to care at all that I spent their last evening curled up in a chair devouring this tale that is part-courtroom drama and all-family drama. Highly recommend-- even the Bullseye says so!!
PS: Happy 12/12/12!!
Early last week, I was reading the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly when I noticed something weird in the Bullseye column, the weekly round-up of pop culture:
While I could be commenting on any number of weird things, let's zoom in a bit:
I looked over on my nightstand and saw this:
At that point, it became my goal to finish the book ASAP since I knew I wouldn't be able to renew such a hot item. (Unfortunately, I am a major faller-asleeper when reading at night.) I am thankful that I grew up in a family of bibliophiles so my parents didn't seem to care at all that I spent their last evening curled up in a chair devouring this tale that is part-courtroom drama and all-family drama. Highly recommend-- even the Bullseye says so!!
PS: Happy 12/12/12!!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
The Goings-On
You'd think that we'd have taken all kinds of pics with visiting grandparents in town, but you'd be mistaken. ;-) So I don't have much to show for the past couple of days....which is not to suggest we haven't been enjoying all kinds of adventures!
Thursday evening, we all trooped to the BG's school for the Empty Bowls benefit. If you haven't ever attended such an event, I would recommend it! In this case, the ceramics students had made a whole bunch of bowls, and for $10, you chose a bowl and then got a serving of soup in it, along with a piece of bread and a small bottle of water. The meal is meant to represent what many families in our community are able to have for dinner. You get to keep the bowl and the money raised goes towards the school "Holiday Fund" which is used to buy grocery store gift cards that are given to local families in need. Unfortunately, we finished up just as the Jazz Band was starting its performance, but I did appreciate their super snazzy black-and-orange striped ties!!
Friday morning, Sheils and I took the kids to a puppet theater company performance of The Nutcracker with B's class. It was incredibly cool-- there were "real" people wearing giant heads and costumes as well as marionettes. I sat in the back with Miss C because I wasn't sure how she'd do but she sat still the whole time (about 40 minutes) and watched intently. I'm so glad Grammie got to go on a field trip since Grandma went on one when she was here in October!
We all ventured out Saturday for lunch and then Sheilsie and I poked around a few stores. Shortly after she and I returned home, the BG and I escaped for a most wonderful night out. We gorged on a 3-course meal at a new-to-us restaurant and then saw Silver Linings Playbook. It is possible that I ate so much that I might have been dozing off and on at one point, but my date who watched the entire movie quite enjoyed it!!
Yesterday, the (grand)parentals headed out to visit friends all afternoon. We had planned to go to church but the littlest one has a bit of a runny nose so we stayed home. After Grammie and Opa got home in the evening, the BG and I got to run away again to get some productive shopping done at Target. What a treat it was to wander around there just the two of us!!
I'm thinking I'll take advantage of their last full day here today to run some child-free errands. Hard to believe it's already December 10th. CRAZY.
Hope you all had wondrous weekends!
Thursday evening, we all trooped to the BG's school for the Empty Bowls benefit. If you haven't ever attended such an event, I would recommend it! In this case, the ceramics students had made a whole bunch of bowls, and for $10, you chose a bowl and then got a serving of soup in it, along with a piece of bread and a small bottle of water. The meal is meant to represent what many families in our community are able to have for dinner. You get to keep the bowl and the money raised goes towards the school "Holiday Fund" which is used to buy grocery store gift cards that are given to local families in need. Unfortunately, we finished up just as the Jazz Band was starting its performance, but I did appreciate their super snazzy black-and-orange striped ties!!
Friday morning, Sheils and I took the kids to a puppet theater company performance of The Nutcracker with B's class. It was incredibly cool-- there were "real" people wearing giant heads and costumes as well as marionettes. I sat in the back with Miss C because I wasn't sure how she'd do but she sat still the whole time (about 40 minutes) and watched intently. I'm so glad Grammie got to go on a field trip since Grandma went on one when she was here in October!
We all ventured out Saturday for lunch and then Sheilsie and I poked around a few stores. Shortly after she and I returned home, the BG and I escaped for a most wonderful night out. We gorged on a 3-course meal at a new-to-us restaurant and then saw Silver Linings Playbook. It is possible that I ate so much that I might have been dozing off and on at one point, but my date who watched the entire movie quite enjoyed it!!
Yesterday, the (grand)parentals headed out to visit friends all afternoon. We had planned to go to church but the littlest one has a bit of a runny nose so we stayed home. After Grammie and Opa got home in the evening, the BG and I got to run away again to get some productive shopping done at Target. What a treat it was to wander around there just the two of us!!
I'm thinking I'll take advantage of their last full day here today to run some child-free errands. Hard to believe it's already December 10th. CRAZY.
Hope you all had wondrous weekends!
Friday, December 7, 2012
Pretty Soon, We Can Have A Montage
(with Adult Brooks doing the voice-over narration while soaring music plays, of course)
HAPPY FRIDAY!!!
HAPPY FRIDAY!!!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Best Reading Place?
Under the tree, of course!
And, even more exciting than having a fireplace and mantel, is that is there's an outlet ON the mantle. Hooray for twinkle lights in garland!
In other news, Grammie and Opa arrived late yesterday afternoon for the better part of a week! Here's to some fun adventures.....and/or restful sitting around and gabbing!!
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Freakishly Warm Fun
Seriously. It got up to 71 degrees yesterday. That is crazy for December up here. I knew I needed to take the kids somewhere outside to run around so I was thrilled to be invited to a playground outing about 30 minutes away with a "new" friend. I've recently reconnected with a girl (sorry, woman-- we're not spring chickens anymore) who was an NYC-based sales rep for Kaplan K12 when I worked full-time. We never worked on any projects together but met a few times at company meetings and hit it off. Thanks to the wonder of social media, we stayed in touch so I knew that she and her family (which now includes 3 kids!) moved down here last year. The kids and I went to visit a few weeks ago and just had the best time so I've now been officially included in her Tuesday playgroup....although we'll see how many times it works for us to go!
In any case, yesterday was the PERFECT day to be outside!
Jen pulling the little girls in the wagon:
B with some ladies:
Decorating gingerbread men out on the deck:
I do so love creating, continuing, and cherishing friendships!!!
In any case, yesterday was the PERFECT day to be outside!
Jen pulling the little girls in the wagon:
B with some ladies:
Decorating gingerbread men out on the deck:
I do so love creating, continuing, and cherishing friendships!!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
A Very Merry Guy
We returned home Sunday afternoon to see twinkling lights in the window as we pulled in the driveway! That amazingly resourceful BG had bought a tree, set it up, and strung all the lights. While I had just driven almost 300 miles and was ready for a hot bath + People magazine combo (which, admittedly, I totally snuck away to enjoy), the kids and their daddy got right to work on taking down the remaining fall decorations and yuletide-ing it up.
This guy CAN NOT GET ENOUGH of the Christmas tree. The fake-looking cheesy grin? Completely genuine!!!
I am so thankful for the BG's determination and skills in all the areas where I lag behind (most notably: putting anything away)! Within just a few hours, it was all Christmassy up in here and I love it!
This guy CAN NOT GET ENOUGH of the Christmas tree. The fake-looking cheesy grin? Completely genuine!!!
I am so thankful for the BG's determination and skills in all the areas where I lag behind (most notably: putting anything away)! Within just a few hours, it was all Christmassy up in here and I love it!
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