The Night Before Christmas

I bought this book from Hallmark forever ago, and somehow it's become our Christmas Eve tradition to read it together before settling in for our long winter's nap. The pop-ups and the moving parts still work, tho they test it every year and one of the strings to tie it closed was lost many moons ago....

Harry 2006

Christmas Eve 2007


Jack 2007

Harry moves in 2008

Gene Autry

When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter

The boys finished their letters to Santa yesterday and proudly took them to his special mailbox at our little post office.

Quite possible the nicest postal worker in the world!

And look how quickly Santa wrote them back....he really is fast!

The boys got the official word on where they rank on the list, along with some transformers and Santa pez that they love :-)

Johnny Marks

No secret santa for me - Spin Cycle

Jen's Spin Cycle for this week is 'secret santa', a chance to introduce a blog we really enjoy. I'm a little intimidated because I just found this blog, have no creative juices left after all the Christmas Jollies, and am still trying to take more than four breaths without coughing up a lung....but I couldn't NOT introduce this awesome site, even though I've only really seen a tiny morsel and she has a huge audience (tho nowhere near as cool as all you SCers, right?!?) So, with only one more slight apology for not doing her true justice, I offer up my gift to you all:

I ran across The Pioneer Woman Cooks right before Thanksgiving with this post about homemade cranberry sauce.....I spent a few moments at the holiday table wishing I'd actually made it when I looked at the cranberry sauce I'd always thought of as 'normal' with a new eye after seeing Ree's amazing pix and great instructions. I've 'watched' her cook all sorts of amazing things, and will actually try these carrots for our Christmas dinner.

Ree seems to take on any challenge in the kitchen (and maybe elsewhere based on my quick peek at the homepage), takes fantastic pix of the process, and has an amazing ability to empower even the most novice cook! The site is so easy to navigate, you can search any recipes (and likely much more), and she's funny. Oh, yeah, and she gives away free stuff ALL the time...good free stuff! If you like to cook, can't cook, dream of cooking, you'll be happy here :-)

If you know more about her, please comment here since there's a fair amount of Spin Cyclers who pop thru here and expectations are high ;-)

Happy Cooking!

Zebrahead's (anti-Christmas)Deck The Halls

We could drive up - Tricky Tuesday

I have my friend Christina to thank for this trick, one we have yet to use ourselves because I never remember in time, but I have passed it on to others who love it!







When we are meeting to play at a fast food restaurant, she'll drive thru and order the food then take it inside; thereby missing the torture of standing in line with one or more tiny tornadoes.







I usually like to make things harder for myself, so I've suffered through many a nightmarish wait in long lines while they learned to stand still. It's good to teach them, but it's also good to know the limits and adapt as needed. The next time I see a really long line inside, I'm jumping on this to save us all the stress.

Hope you can use it!





Alabama's Christmas In Your Arms

Fill my sock with candy

It was a day full of fun, and everyone behaved ;-)

We started out at CEC - if you haven't been during December and don't love it or carols DO NOT GO - they have a whole series of CEC'd out carols!

Ride 'em Cowboy!
A sign of the times - Harry, Jack and Gavin enjoying the ride while we moms snap pix

Jack and Harry gaming -

it's hard to see but it actually blows air to give a more authentic ride ;-)

If CEC wasn't enough, we met Aunt Jackie at Krispy Kreme for some gift swapping
The boys and AJ watching the process,

with the toys they got from Ms. Sharon (thank you!)

I'll take that one, and I'll take that one

Jack decided he REALLY wanted those donuts

Harry warned him "Don't do it!"

Now, the milk balances the donuts out, right? Say what, HASAY??!

Donuts are pretty messy

Harry in full toy glory!

Everyone checking out a cool magnet game Harry got from AJ

...and the hits keep rolling - we met Daddy at Johnny Rockets for a little nostalgia - he headed out for more shopping, and we headed home for much-needed naps.

Hope your days are sweet - happy holidays!

Elvis' Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me

Dear Santa (A Letter To Santa)

Finally! Thankfully, 'Santa's elves ride in the VERY fast sleigh to take all the letters to him, plus I already told him when I sat on his lap, so this is just a reminder list.' ;-)

Jack is into initials lately, so at the end he's saying "I Love You Santa"

Some gingerbread, a candy cane

The boys worked on their Gingerbread House project from the abbreviated Preschool party yesterday, and Harry was Mr. Creativity.

He decided the lollipop turned upside down would make a great chimney and right side up was a good flower, the candy canes were great downspouts, the round candy was a perfect doorbell and the small candy cane was a good door handle. Guess it's time we break out the real one, eh??

Harry remembered this song (finally the tune, Jen) so it was raining gumdrops,
and Jack decided the candy canes would be the best umbrellas!

Hope you have everything you need for a fun day ~

Jim Brickman and Kristy Starling's Sending You A Little Christmas

At the Christmas party hop

The boys had a great time at their school's Christmas party today - a local kids' songstress performed and they all got into it. There were hats, goodies of all sorts and a whole lotta friends having fun...not so much hopping, but you get the idea

Jack decided he could use the hat as a sack to hold his presents!
Jack and his buddy Sam practicing their party skills

Harry waiting for the show to begin

Decisions, decisions.....Jack took two laps around the goody table and ended up with three LAYERS of sweet stuff (say who, HASAY?)

It was a great way to end the year, and despite the logistics problems, Sam's mom did a great job getting the kids all loaded up with crafts and goodies!

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

Show us what love's about

The boys had their Christmas Show tonite at school, and it was sooo-weet! There were no tears, no one got sick and everyone participated - great job, kids and teachers ;-)

The kids' Santa wishes were made into these cute trees
and here are the dreams of our two:

Harry heading to the stage

and waving to us

and...does it look like "you wanna piece of this?!"

Jack signing (and yelling) I love you, Mommy...oh, that boy has my number :wub:

Harry ditched the hat and busted a move

Jack did his share, but my angle wasn't good :-(

(no, it's not some weird cult, I just don't have permission to post the other kids' pix) but what is cuter than 30 kids holding hands and singing the Lord's Prayer?

Jack catching a fistbump from Uncle Les My friend Jackie and Dean's brother Les made LONG treks to share in the boys' big nite - thank you both so much!
The obligatory family pose

and Harry getting ready to go airborneIt was sweet and funny and perfectly wonderful :-)

Blind Boys of Alabama's, and Harry Connick Jr's, I Pray On Christmas

My world is filled with cheer and you

Ten things that I didn't know ten years ago today:

...his name.

...what it was like to have three sets of parents, a multitude of brothers and sisters, more neices
and nephews than can fit on one couch.

...what being bored and accepting an IM could lead to.

...that a moment, and hour, a day, a year could be so magical or pass so quickly into ten.

...what it was like to be loved, cherished, teased, pushed, held, and cared for by one person.

...what it meant to have a true partner.

...how amazing it is to watch a child, or two, become the best parts of us both.

...how to balance work and play, think clearly and live fully.

...how strong a man could be.

...how loving him could shiny up my love for everything else.

Thank you for our first decade <3

This Christmas

Have a cup of cheer!

I found these chalk board cups for their teachers the first week of school....it's so not like me to get gifts that far ahead, to remember that I had them, or to even try to be crafty. I'm documenting them 'done' because who knows if that CB paint will hold up to wrapping - my teacher friends tell me teachers hate to get so much junk, but they didn't tell me until after I'd bought these and a little something else.....hopefully their kids will enjoy writing on the chalk board and the candy will be enjoyed ;-)


They have their Christmas show tonite, everyone's napping at the moment, so I'm hopeful we'll have happy pix and flix tomorrow :-)

Burl Ives' Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

Lets spend Christmas with your friends and mine

Some dear old (relative, since they are only 2 and 4) friends were in town visiting, and we all got to share a little jolly with them yesterday. There were two other dear friends there, but have you ever tried to get 6 little boys to be still for a picture while tempted by a playground of fun equipment??
There is a video to be shared as soon as I figure out how to make it leave my cell phone ;-)

Your Friends And Mine