Courage Under Fire

Sweet Santa left Sophy a pair of roller skates of her very own! Today was the first day that we set out to learn the art of skating. Carpet is the best teacher, so I turned her loose in the hallway. Notice her brother in the background with Nerf pistol in hand? He was leaping from one vantage point to another during her treks up and down the hall...firing at her from each spot. Poor kid. She never fell. True grit, eh?

To my great wonderment and surprise, the Big Man also left yours truly a pair of roller skates! WITH PINK WHEELS!! I can't imagine where he must've found them...ahem. Or why they arrived in an Amazon box with my name on the label. Still. I know they were from Santa and meant for me. I just know it! See how lovely!?

It's all so confusing.

This house is insanely quite at the moment. All 3 kids had a sleepover with my folks and their cousins. This isn't a rare occurence, but Sophy usually will not participate in anything that involves dark + her being away from mommy. Much to my surprise, she volunteered whole heartedly to her cousins invitation to stay. It was so surprising, in fact, that Mr. Pinkie and I sort of just stared at each other and muttered incoherently for several hours as we attempted a plan for our new found freedom.
I kept asking him, 'Now what is that we always say "If we ever have a free evening, let's......" To which Mr. Pinkie would respond, "Go to the movies? Out to dinner?" Those aren't the things. We've seen 2 movies and been out to eat 4 times in the last 2 weeks. The kids come along for such events. At this point I would become impatient and flail my arms about and make noises that were unintelligable. Mr. Pinkie continued to stare. "C'mon. THINK! We're using up our free hours!", I would say. I even had the ingenius idea that if we turned on SpongeBob, tossed some Lincoln Logs out in the hallway, cranked up the Princess CD player, etc. maybe we would remember what it was that we longed to do. Of course, we never mustered up the courage to do such things. However; as you'll recall, we were staring and muttering incoherently...for the most part. In the end, we couldn't think of whatever it was that we always wanted to do if we had the chance. Sadness. Truly.

Like all good people who can't think straight when their children aren't around, we did come up with an alternate plan, albeit not the one that we kept forgetting to remember that we wanted to do in the first place. I ran a tub of scalding hot water, grabbed a snack and read a romance novel while Mr. Pinkie watched the evening news. We used our new skillet that Mr. Pinkie's dad gave us for Christmas that is for the grill to make some AMAZING, grilled red fish with grilled asparagus. I made Garlic-Cheese biscuits and loaded, baked potatoes. I guess we could've eaten in the dining room..you know, ambiance and all. Instead, we chose to lounge in the living room and watch The Hostage (Bruce Willis--wow, good show.) Somewhere during all of this we ate a slice of coconut cake and endured, Talladega Nights-The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. What a retarded show! Did I laugh? Uh. Yeah. Will I watch it again. NEVER!

As we made the nightly rounds of shutting of lights and locking doors, Mr. Pinkie commented that our house is "creepy" when the kids aren't home. Switching of our bedside lamps, we got under the covers and listened. If the kids were there, they surely would've been asleep. The house is ALWAYS silent when we go to bed. What, then, was the loud, screaming silence we were hearing? "I don't like this", I said. "Can we turn a light on somewhere?" Mr. Pinkie said, "I'm not getting up. It's spooky out there. You go turn on the kitchen light." ME? ME! Uh. No. Then the house creaked. The cat ran down the hall. Somewhere in the distance it started to thunder (not really.) We learned something very important last night. When our kids leave home, we're going with them.

Video Montage

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

We may be down, but we're not out.

So, where was I? Oh yeah. Jack has finally succumbed to Sophy's strep germs. About an hour after we made it home from Charlotte's Web (too cute, btw), he complained of his throat hurting and being cold. He had about a 103 temp, so off to the doc with him this a.m. One more round of antibiotics and another shot in the hiney. So, what do you do when fate conspires against you? YOU MAKE A GARLAND OUT OF FUZZY THINGS!! THAT IS WHAT!! Oh, sorry. Was I shouting? Ahem. Like I said, I swiped this idea from someone's blog. I think maybe Posy Gets Cozy? I dunno. I think she swiped it from someone else. Oh well. The best ideas I've ever had were ones I stole from someone else, so there ya go. How about an up close garland on tree shot?


If you are so bored as to check for ornament spacing, don't bother. Sophy Claire is determined that all ornaments work better when they mingle together in a tight wad so as to cause the branches to droop and sway. I'm glad I decided that this year our tree would be mostly ornaments made by the kids. We've had some rather unfortunate ornament casualties...mostly the salt dough ornaments...and a few glass balls that we glittered. Oh, and another shot of said garland draping the TV armoire.

It's crazy, but you can buy a 750 count fuzzy bag for like, $5. Amazing, isn't it? So, I bought two of them. Mr. Pinkie isn't as fond of our fuzzy art as we are. The kids had a grand time threading them....and poking each other with the needles.
((As I type, Sam is running through the house with a lasso and his nerf pistol--with bullets--after the dog...poor critter.)) I still have a bag and a half of warm fuzzies left....what shall we do with them tomorrow??? Hhhhmmm..........

The Soundtrack of My Life

Opening Credits: When I Come Around—Green Day
Waking Up: Lord I Hope This Day is Good—Don Williams
First Day Of School: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain—Willie Nelson
Falling In Love: Love Will Keep Us Together—Captain & Tennille
Fight Song: Suo Gan
Breaking Up: You Give Love a Bad Name—Bon Jovi
Prom: Solitary Man—Neil Diamond
Graduation: Messiah: Hallelujah
Life's Ok: Good Times Roll—The Cars
First Day On The Job: Working 9-5—Dolly Parton
Breakdown: No Where to Run To—Martha and the Vandellas
Driving: Real Gone—Sheryl Crow
Flashback: Almost Home—Craig Morgan
Birth Of A Child: Only Time--Enya
Wedding: I Got You (I Feel Good)—James Brown
Chase Scene: Dukes of Hazzard Theme Song
Final Battle: Without a Fight--Hoobastank
Death Scene: What a Wonderful World—Louis Armstrong
Funeral Song: When It’s All Said and Done—Jim Cowan
End Credits: Happy Trails—Roy Rogers
Sequel Trailer: Here It Goes Again—OK Go

Things I Need/Want To Do:

1. Go see Charlotte's Web with the kids.
2. Run to Kroger to pick up last minute holiday/snack/baking/essentials. I'm thinking this year we're going to really be good to Santa and make him a plate of GOODIES that includes ham biscuits, blueberry muffins, grapes, strawberries etc.
3. Finish up Mr. GP's Christmas shopping.
4. Neighbor gifts
5. Pick up supplies for the kid's garland idea that I stole from someone's blog (colored puff balls and beads strung together with a big needle and fishing line...cutest thing ever...)
6. Bake cake mix cookies (lemon). I bought the ingredients weeks ago, and Mr.GP made the vanilla version for a Christmas party we attended. They were soo good. Maybe I should let him bake them. He's a much better cook than, say, me.
7. Do a final present count for the kids. One year we had this horrible realization on Christmas Eve night that Jack was seriously shorted when it came to presents compared to the other two for some reason. I felt horrible, and I vowed to not let it happen again (it sounds petty, but these things matter.) Luckily at the time, they were all young enough that it didn't cause too much of a stir. That type of slip-up now and we would have an INCIDENT on our hands.

((I just suited the boys up in jogging pants, tshirts and tennis shoes and sent them off to jog around the house 5 times. They are about to explode from Christmas anxiety! Omg. We've tried to do something fun each day of our holiday, even if it's just making cookies and hot chocolate for snack time. Of course, all of the constant fun can takes it toll....at times like this, we jog. FAR!))

And isn't the cutest kid around?

Frankly Scarlet....

These aren't exactly the words the doctor spoke to us today. It was more like, "Looks like scarlet fever to me..." GREAT! So, that explains the throwing up, fever, headache, achey body, and RASH that showed up today. Luckily, we got a shot in the hiney (which caused Sophy to swear like a sailor of sorts), a round of antibiotics, and Benadryl. That means Jack is behind in our pharmacy tally for the week. He's being stubbornly healthy despite all our best efforts to give him all sorts of nasty things. Don't worry. I'm sure we'll crack him. Since we failed to have our tea party and this is the last night my brother's family will be here, we're having a Pizza Party for all the cousins tonight, and it sounds entirely yummy to me at this point. I'd love nothing more than to drown my sorrows in a little cheese (or a lot of cheese) and Canadian Bacon (with black and green olives.) If we are able, we're going to the square up town to let the kids talk to Santa and ride around the square in a carriage this evening. Know what else? We're going to veg out in front of the tv and watch Dead Man's Chest tonight after the kids are abed. And then tomorrow...well, someone will puke. Or grow a rash. Or something.

Spud, Michael, Larry, Magic....and Jack.

NBA here we come. Jack received his first Christmas present this weekend at our family Christmas for my side. To say he is happy would be an understatement. He has been asking us for a basketball set for a while. I guess this will appease him until we're ready to concrete one in. So far we're working on HORSE and 21....oh and slam dunking off the top bunk. I'm waiting for Sam to do something really horrendous with it all. It's not everyday there is a 6ft tall object in their room....Sam is bound to do unspeakable things. He was asking for rope earlier and reading Jack's book on pulleys and wenches. Great.

My favorite movies...

It's thrilling to be able to tell you this. Truly. That my favorite children love my favorite movies. Or is it the fact that my kids are finally at an age to appreciate a movie (with real actors) that is so thrilling? We had a movie marathon late last night while we recup from vomit, croup, and sinus infections. It's the first time that our family Movie Night has consisted of non-kid-flicks, unless you count Shark Boy and Lava Girl...which I do not. Ahhhhhh, I say, for it was wonderful watching Home Alone and Home Alone 2 with the kids. They were enthralled, captured, giggling, and it was great. All 3 were shouting at the bad guys, cringing at the appropriate parts, and lamenting when Kevin McAlister misplaced his parents---both times. We did have to question the intelligence of our movie choice....Sam was awfully quiet at some very disturbing times of the movie...contemplating....figuring....planning. Like the part where Kevin tied a rope to a 100 pound cement bag that was to be pulled onto the head of the bad guy...or when he soaked a rope in kerosene so he could light it up when the bad guys started to climb down....sure, we could've made a more responsible movie choice. But would it have been as much fun? I don't think so.
Now I'm considered all the other movie possibiblites out there! Back To the Future (all three!!!), Raiders of the Lost Ark, ahhhhh.......hoorah for movies.
Speaking of, we've promised the kids a trip to see Charlotte's Web at the theatre this week. Hope it's a good one....even if there are no kerosene soaked ropes and exploding toilets.

It's a holiday. I guess you know what that means..

Uh-huh. I'll give you one guess...and that's seriously all you'll need if stop and think about our luck with holidays. Yep. Vomit. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. Yesterday was our final day of school before the holidays. I took Sam to the doc because he has this horrible sinus infection that won't go away, even with antibiotics. No biggie. Doc prescribes a stronger/longer round of them and off we go. My brother's family was due in last night, so my mom had made a huge meal. We were all to meet there at their arrival time to have supper. Everything was going great. About this time, Sophy takes to the couch and says she isn't feeling well. I check her out, and lo' and behold she is running a temp. Nice. We ate our supper quickly and headed home. My brother's family had made it there just minutes after all of this took place, and my boys did not want to come home...to the point of tears. So, Mimi said she didn't mind them staying to play with all the cousins...so we left them there. After a long car ride home, Sophy emptied her gut the minute we walked in the door. YAY! PUKE! I'm so excited! I mean. Of course she puked it's the Christmas holiday, right? And after all, we have to leave plenty of holiday days for the boys to catch it. Right? It just wouldn't have that holiday feel without the smell of Lysol and Clorox. Inhale....can ya smell it?
Oh, and remember that Christmas tea we were so going to have today? It's enough to make ya cry, I tell ya. We're thinking if no one else begins puking, we may be able to do it tomorrow.
So, when we're not puking, we are singing Christmas songs. Sam's Christmas program went very nicely. He is quite the stage ham. We figured as much, but he proved us right. The kindergarten rendition of Feliz Navidad was too cute, and the little swaying hip, side step was the perfect move for the song. How cute is this?

My sil from Austin will be in a bit, so I better go make myself a little less scarey looking as we're going to look for a few Christmas gifts. Mr.GP volunteered *evil laugh inserted here* to watch the kids while we go. What's a few kids added to 3??

Nutcrackers and cats in cradles....

Scratch that. The cat is in the high chair. Pah! I was attempting to take a picture of the cat, but someone just HAD to stick his nose into the business. He is such a busy body.
It has been a rather long time between entries, but that is how I roll, right? I just wish I could remember what I've been up to during my absence. Things are in a frenzy right now with this being our last week of school before the holidays. Can I make it four more days? Only time will tell.
Sam has a Christmas program at school on Thursday, as well as his class party/lunch. My classes at school are in the process of making light bulb birds covered in paper mache. Maybe I'll post some fun shots of the completed birds. The kids are having a good time with this project, and for that I am thankful. Since it is a reading class, we do not always find a way to incorporate art projects into our assignments. There were times over the last week and a half; however, where I questioned my judgment and project choice. 60+ students, newpaper pulp, tempera paint, and breakable light bulbs...well, you can visualize the potential for chaos. I think we reached our apex of fume output today, so maybe my head/dizziness can clear up. Fumes just sort of sneak up on you, huh?
My brother's family from the Austin area will be here this weekend. We'll have some sort of a Christmas meal and gift exchanging, cousin pandemonium, and our Christmas tea for the girl cousins. Thank goodness for all these fru-fru holiday activities. We actually get to wear all of the holiday dresses in our collection. HA! Well, Sophy's collection...not like I have any clothes fit for public viewing.

Speaking of girlie things, we went to see The Nutcracker with Mr. GP's mom and our little cousin, Elizabeth. I always forget how much I enjoy both the ballet and The Nutcracker specifically. Sophy was taken with the little aspects of the story. For example, "Why did her brother break her doll? What is that sugar plum's name? Where did that snow come from? Do we get popcorn?" It's a great story, and I enjoy the costumes/scenery almost as much as the tradition of it all. Apparently Sophy feels the same way. This particular ballerina never noticed Sophy's fascination with her swishy tutu.

The dancers all come out to meet the crowd and pose for pictures after the performace. And what had to be the smoochiest moment on record occured faster than my camera could focus. I turned just in time to catch Sophy sneak up to The Nutcracker as he signed an autograph for some tiny totlet and plant a sweet peck on his powder caked cheek. He blushed while she ran hid in my skirt....and here is the fuzzy picture of the smoochiest moment on record.

Happy Christmas y'all.

Christmas Card Photos

This is one of the contenders for this year's Christmas card. We took some amazing individuals too. How will I ever be able to decide?
PS Did you know that if you click on the pic it's gets larger? WOW!

Be Still My Heart!

I have been twisting my brain in an attempt to figure out a way to have a Christmas tea for our little girl cousins before the season gets away from us. Lo' and behold! My SIL told me today that they'll be in the weekend before Christmas! EEK! TEA TIME! YAY! Last year we started what, we hope, will be an annual spring tea for our cousins and a few little friends. It was a cute, little affair with fluffy dresses, flowers, candles, a pretty dining room, good manners and cute, cute, cute little girls. I'm am beyond excited that we'll get to have a Christmas tea now! An excuse to cruise Ebay for the perfect fru-fru dress for Sophy Claire! WHHEEEE!!!

The Green Room

Mr. Pinkie still hasn't acquired a fondness (or anything even close) for my dining room paint color choice (Sweet Annie was it's name), but I think it goes just lovely with Christmas decorations! The table will seat 6 comfortably, but I could squeeze a few more since the side seating utilizes a bench. Not your typical, formal dining room seating options, but I like it so much that I plan to use benches when I invest in my 'forever' dining room table. I measured today, and I will easily have room for a table that seats 10 in my newly down-sized dining room. YAY!! It's the little things that make me happy, you see.

What up yo?

So. No one has puked here in about 4 days. This SHOULD make me happy, but I know the real truth. It means that once my holiday is over, someone will vomit...requiring me to take a day off, etc. etc. etc. Yeah, the germs are smart. You laugh, but they plot and scheme in deviously successful ways. All we can do is stock up on the appropriate supplies...you know, paper towels, Lysol (spray and liquid), Clorox wipes, possibly a mop. One must be vigilant and prepared. That should be our mantra.

In other news, we're going to see an IMAX movie today. Jack really, really wants to see Desolation on the Moon, but I'd rather have my teeth drilled on without the benefit of anesthesia. I think we're going to see Santa vs. The Snowman. 'Cause yeah, that's just one step above unmedicated dental work. The bright spot is, we're going to Macaroni Grill afterwards to eat with Mr. Pinkie's folks, at which point I will likely partake of some nice tomato bruschetta and a ceasar salad. Uh-huh.

Yesterday we put up the Christmas lights outside, put up the dining room and living room trees, put the kid's trees in their bedrooms, and decorated the dining room (which looks soooo good). I'll post pics of as much of it as I can ASAP.

Well, I better scoot. Mr. GP, God Bless His Sweet Heart, went to Taco Bell to pick up lunch. I love him for just such a reason. Hehe. ((Side note: This wonderful fellow worked for 5 hours this morning making endless trips into the attic and to the outside shed, tossing endless amounts of accumulated fodder, sorting through tools, paint cans, etc...all in an effort to clean out our INSANELY horrendous garage. The end result is that we can now fit my vehicle and Mr. Man's Jeep into the garage...with room to spare! He even made a sports bin for the kids badminton, tennis, baseball, wiffle ball, etc. items. Siggh. I'm tellin' ya. It's love!))

Wild and Crazy Times!

So we had to cancel Sophy's bday party yesterday (and it was to be a princess tea party with fru-fru dresses and EVERYTHING) because she was still sick. Yesterday afternoon and evening, she made a big improvement and woke up this a.m. back to her old self (or so we thought.) So, we got the cousins and some friends together and headed to the Space Dome (they cared not a whit that they had just been there) and let the kids all run free, then we went to a little diner and ate breakfast for supper and opened presents. It was pretty nice, but yeah, it was crazy. Luckily, I took a bucket because Sophy decided to do the birthday celebratory puke on the way. She acted totally fine, so I think it was just too much excitement...too soon. Anywho! She is SO excited to be FIVE, and she is even more excited that she finally got Toys-es. You would think the child never gets a toy the way she has talked and dreamed of this party! I'm so glad we were able to pull it together at the last minute. It was breaking my heart to see her so sad and sick! Sniff, sniff! Here is a birthday pic!

Mr. Pinkie has a chiropracotr appointment in the morning. I guess chiropractors are legit. I've always thought they were quacks (apologies to any random chiropractor that is reading this...) We'll see. His back went out yesterday, and today he could hardly lift his feet. Let's hope relief is right around the corner (crossing my fingers and toes.) I'm making cake mix cookies tomorrow. You know the kind where you use a cake mix, an egg, and a container of cool whip and then roll them in powdered sugar then bake them? I'm using a lemon cake mix. 'Cause I'm cool like that. We're heading to mil's tomorrow for T'giving there. Sounds like we're having steak and fixings. HOOHOO!! Sounds like I'll be happy! Hehe. We'll stay the night there and then have turkey with my folks the following day. Sounds like I'll be happy! Again! HA!
Happy Turkey Day if we don't meet again before then!

Isn't she lovely.

Sophy Claire Daily
November 21, 2001
10:58 a.m.
7 pounds, 14 ounces, 19 inches long

Tag, I'm it!

((I'll have you know, CoolMama, that I tried to post this to my blog this a.m. while tending to a sick child. Apparently the process was taking so long, my computer gave up and kicked it all out. OY!)) But since you tagged me, here it is!

The Christmas Questionaire.....

1. Egg Nog or hot chocolate?
Egg nog, but don't you dare think I can't/won't guzzle a piping hot mug of hot choco. However, I'd prefer hot tea, if I am getting to choose.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Who am I to speculate on the machinations of the wise Santa? Puhlease.

3. Colored lights on the tree or white?
Blue (old-timey) on the living room tree. White ones (this year) on the dining room tree (first ever!!)

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I once had a bad mistletoe experience. So, no.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
As soon as the turkey is off the table. HA!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
I refuse to answer this question. It's ridiculous.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Driving 10.5 hours to see my grandparents. And it wasn't for the presents they gave us, because they lived until I was in my late twenties, and not once did they ever get ANY of their BAZILLION grandkids a present, and it was the warmest, best holidays EVER that we spent with them.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Not sure of the age, but I'm positive it had something to do with my brothers. Scurge of my existance.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
I would love to let the kids open one gift on Christmas Eve, but Mr. Pinkie will not have it. He is sooo anal about presents and Christmas. Really sucks the fun right out of it, if you ask me.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Very carefully.

11. Snow: love it or dread it?
Snow is a lie straight from the devil, a myth, a paradox, a fable.

12. Can you ice skate?
Like Michele Kwan.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Yes. Do you?

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Sharing the meaning of the holiday with my babes. Baking with my kids, helping them plan things that are special family traditions for OUR family now.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
D-I-V-I-N-I-T-Y!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I can't pick one! Probably going to the Christmas Eve (night) service at church.

17. What tops your tree?
A stain-glass angel that my brother bought for Mr. Pinkie and myself on our first married Christmas. We could barely afford groceries, but he took us out for a tree and a few decorations. It's special, because at the time, he wasn't much better off than we were.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Oh, alright. I'll be the bad guy and say receiving. Hehe.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree (reminds of Home Alone)

20. Candy Canes: yuck or yum?
Yuck!

Ok. There ya go! Now...let's see. I was tagged by Terri. So I'm tagging....EJo?

I've dropped the ball...

T Poor little guy. Fever is gone this a.m., but he is so croupy. His little eyes are just running, and he's pretty miserable. Of course, he takes his illness like any man does. NOT VERY WELL! He gripes, he complains, he moans. UG! On the other hand, Sophy started vomiting (Hello E.Jo. Top that.) this a.m. at about 5:45. She only threw up twice and was talking about her bday party between spells. This morning she has rushed to the bathroom a couple of times, but nothing came out (nice visual, eh?) Totally different patient than Sam. In between MENTIONING that she doesn't feel well, she's turning somersaults, coloring, asking to paint her toenails (That's my girl!), and carrying kitty around.

Ok. So you asked for it (well, you didn't, but here it comes anyway!) House pics!
The mantle. These are black and white pics of my dad, my brothers and me, and Mr. Pinkie and his sis.

Now. Here is one side from the room divide. This daybed will eventually have a straight skirt (nnot sure what else to call that), so it will look like a sofa skirt. Also, we'll add more pillows.

The computer armoire has really pretty doors that you can't see in this pic.

This is the dining room side. Yes, it's small, but it's bigger than the pic suggests. I hope to eventually replace the table with one that seats 10, but I still plan on using benches for the side seating and chairs at the head of the table. It's still sort of junky. All of the wall stuff is lying around the room waiting to be put back up.

And!!! I am so excited about this mudroom that is about to be gutted! We'll use the shelf area that is already built in, add a built-in bench under that area, and 2 hooks for each child under one section of shelf. Each kid will have a top and bottom shelf, and 2 hooks on the wall (backpack and coat). FINALLY we'll have a place to put those lunch boxes! UG! Anyway. Paint colors are pending. But the brown is about to say AUDIOS!
My mil made these leaf sun catchers for the kids last weekend. Cute, huh?

Last, but no least. Look at this little guy! I bought him unfinished and decopauged (sp?) him. I also bought him a brother who is going to be gold and a sister who is going to be pink with baby birds!! Hehe. Did I mention that I've never actually decopauged before? HHmmm. I haven't. Hopefully, it's not THAT obvious.

Well, show and tell is over boys and girls. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It's beginning to look a lot like....a virus.

Well, well. Remember the 'ol RotaVirus years a while back? If you still have the link to my old journal, I encourage you to take a walk down nightmare, er...memory lane. Just for funnsies. Or, you can just take my word for it when I say that every Spring Break and Thanksgiving means only one thing for us....a fever (and vomiting, coughing, sore throat, pooping, rash, etc.) Hhhmm. Sam has a fever and a sore throat. Go us. Of course, we knew this was bound to happen. How, you ask? Well, it's simple. Thanksgiving break started yesterday. We're all as good as infected with something by now, I'd bet. ((ROLLLINGG MY EEEYYYESS.) I think the only other person I know with our luck is E. Jo! Hope you're all healthy my friend.
This morning (when we thought--HA.HA. that we were all well) we went to town. We stopped at the pet store and bought Pongo a ridiculous sweater that he absolutely hates but that we put on him anyway because it was cute. Ahem.
Proof that we really shouldn't have......

Then we went to Michaels where I bought some things to decopauge (I never can spell that right) these reindeer thingys that I also bought there. HHhhmm. What else? We went to World Market and picked up some GINORMOUS pillows for the new room/daybed. Looks nice. Pics soon, I promise.
Oh. But the really big news is that on Friday eve we went to SciPort/Space Dome. If you don't have one of these near you, well...you're just missing out. It's the neatest, interactive place for kids where they can learn about science/math related things. Well, they just built this 9 million dollar space dome with all types of space/flight related activities (guess who loved this place?) as well as a planetarium. The kids had a ball, but especially Jack. See?

We went to the planetarium, saw an ENORMOUS model of the sun that reflects live images from the REAL sun onto the model. It's something to see. Jack got to land the space shuttle in a flight simulator program, build a paper airplane and launch it in this cool test launcher, ride in a vacuum chair, and tons of other cool stuff. Wanna see pics of Sam and Soph too? Alright!!
Here is Sophy riding the giant protractor thingy. Hehe.

Sam is plotting a course to somewhere warm.

Pinke Man has family portraits and senior portraits to do tomorrow. I think I will go buy somethings for our new, soon-to-be mudroom! Oh, and Sophy's birthday cake for her party!!! 5 years old this week~EEK~

Hello Strangers!

I'm sure everyone (all 4 people...hehe) have waited with bated breath for an update! Right? Don't answer that. We're still here, but we've been so busy with room remodels (the dining room divide is 99% complete). I'll post pics soon! Is it wrong that I'm more excited about the mudroom to come than the two rooms that resulted from the dining room split (which btw, looks really great to me!)
So, until I can make an official update (soon), I'll post a pic of our kind, long-suffering feline, Miss Thomas!

Behold! The pie!

Coconut Cheese Pie
1 unbaked 8/9 inch pie crust
6 oz. cream cheese softened
1/3 cup sugar
1.5 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1.5 cup heavy cream
1.5 cup flake coconut
1 can crushed pineapple drained (i served this on the side because i LOATHE. DETEST. HATE. pineapple.)
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
Bake pie crust according to directions. Cool. Beat cream cheese until fluffy; gradually blend in sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat eggs slightly; add cream, and coconut to eggs and blend into cheese mixture. Pour into pie crust. Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes until firm to touch. Before serving, top with drained pineapple and toasted almonds.

I found the recipe for this pie on the back of a bag of coconut. It reminds me of a coconut cheesecake. It was seriously good, but I didn't add the pineapple like the reipe called for. Instead, I just served it on the side to our dinner guests. I HATE, HATE, HATE pineapple. As in, I will fall into a fit of gagging and convulsing just thinking of it crossing my lips. BLECH! If you like coconut pie of any type, you'll like this pie.

Trick or Treat!

We joined our neighborhood trick or treat festivities this evening, although we were slightly earlier than most of the other trickers. It was just falling dusk when we started out, but it was very dark by the time we made it home to hand out our own candy (a job that Sam LOVED!) Our neighborhood (subdivision) hosts a hayride on H'ween that is quite the festive gathering...lots of singing and shouting. Since we didn't intend on stopping at each and every house, we skipped out on that insanity, er...fun. Mostly, we stuck to the houses where we knew all of the little, old ladies that live alone (they give out the best candy.) So, we saw lots of blue hairs and got lots of good candy and more than a few, "Oh. Those are the cutest kids...." Again, another benefit of trick or treating in a geriatric rich community! Go us!
I must say that the highlight of the evening came at what, if I remember correctly, was the 5th house. After knocking on their door for an obscenely loud and long time, Sam announced that we needed to move along because 'wasn't nobody at home.' So, as we turn to leave, the fellow opens the door. He was a rather generous sort and even gifted us with extra goodies in case "your Daddy eats all your candy (has this guy been peeping in our windows?)" Anyway, we said our please and thank-you's and as we turned to leave Sam tells the guy, "Hey. Why don't you get a doorbell next time?" I thought Mr. GP and I would collapse from laughter in the man's front yard. Rather funny, yes it was.
A few pics for your viewing pleasure. Grand total spent on H'ween costumes....less than $6! YAY!! Of course, our ghosts were wearing cowboy boots and old sheet. BUT WHO CARES?!

Just one of those days...

We're getting really good at this stay outside all day and sleep in the grass and sunshine thing. The weather was just too good to be true today, so we just made it an outside day. The boys played in their grapevine fort in the garden, walkie talkies and all. They are hilarious on those things. Sam hasn't quite grasped that you have to release the TALK button in order to hear what the other person is saying, so he would scream into the walkie, "ARE YOU GONNA TALK TO ME OR NOT YOU BIG STINKER HEAD?" He was so thoroughly aggrivated with, what he thought was, Jack's failure to respond. That kid.
Lets see. What else? We had a family baseball game. Girls against boys. We way cheated, so the boys quit playing with us. Spoiled sports. What can I say? We were outnumbered. Somewhere along the way, I observed the following activities:
Monster Ball (those giant velcro disks you attach to your hands that catch a tennis ball?
Fire House (this is something the kids play in their dilapidated wood fort with the fireman pole you can slide down...it's amazing they can still play on it since Sam sawed through the floorboards.)
Car Wash (Sophy brought out all the boy's Hot Wheels and washed them in the creek...how sweet?)
Secret Agents (the boys donned backpacks filled with food, boots, hats, walkie talkies, and hauled lumber planks to their grapevine fort to make floorboards, and plotted and planned secret agent...things.)
Pumpkin Rolling (Sophy took all of the pumpkins off our front porch and rolled them down the hill in our yard trying to knock over other pumpkins...pumpkin bowling?)

Well. Tomorrow is back to school. Yay! Or not.

Documentation! Sniff, sniff.

Jack had his first sleep-away-from-home-at-someone-other-than-Mimi's-house-sleepover last night. He invited his little friend to Sam's wild and crazy party, and then we dropped them off at Friend's house around 9 o'clock p.m. I'm guessing they stayed up really, REALLLLY late (ha!) because Jack was less than interested in his 8 AM soccer game this morning! Can't say that I blame him! He had a great time. Friend's mom made them pancakes. According to Jack, they were "from the cabinet and not from the freezer like mommy's are." Great. Thanks, Friend's Mom, for showing me up! What can I say? I hate pancakes almost as much as I hate chili!! Pah!
Jack muddled his way through his soccer game, played at the Fall Festival, and then attended the soccer awards ceremony late this evening. After his bath, he crashed soundly into his bed with no cohersion and fell fast asleep. Hey, maybe he'll sleep past 6:15 in the morning! No such look I'm sure! He's been waking up before 6:30 since he was like 2 years old. Yeah. We love that about him. NOT! Hehe.

Having non-grandparent related sleepovers makes me feel really old. I mean, I can remember a time when he was little, and for whatever reason, I would think about the day that would come when he wanted to go to a friend's house to play or sleepover. I didn't know how I would feel about that when the time came. I guess I still don't know how I feel about that. He just looked bigger when he got home today. Which is weird, 'cause I'm sure he didn't just sprout overnight. Or did he? I'm thinking maybe he did. See...about a month ago, I bought him all size 8 pants for school. Now, they are flooding big time. He's wearing a size 10 slim all the way. Can you believe that? A size 6.5 shoe. And "I'm really, actually hungry." is all we ever hear come out of his mouth!! Ug. We are in such big trouble.

But back to the sleepover....SO, I guess he is a big kid now. Sniff, sniff. I'm an old lady that is teaching herself to crochet...(oy).....the birthdays and milestones just keep zipping past me like cars on the highway. Guess what? Sophy will be 5 in about 3 weeks. Yes. THREE weeks. Now that hurts. Hurts, I tell you. I'm going to go kiss my sleeping BABIES and drown my sorrows in a cup of hot tea. Wahhhh........

A Bouncing Baby Boy!

6 years ago today, Sam was only a couple of hours old and chilling in the NICU, and look at him now! As I type he is outside with his daddy learning how to use the blower. HA! We spent the morning playing our final soccer games and then headed to the Fall Festival (or as Sam called it, The Fall Vegetable...HAHAHA!) We bounced to our hearts content in first one jumpy thing then another. Somewhere in the meantime we stopped and ate hotdogs while we sat in the grassy festival area and washed it down with a giant wad of cotton candy! I tell ya, is there anytime like October? Nay, I tell you. Nay.

Learning to use the blower (heaven help us.)


Of course, I have tons of bday pics to post. The party was absolutely wild, but the kids had a blast. Just one pic of the action while you wait:

Stuff and stuff.

Another week for the history books. Well, the really boring (but fast paced) history books. Here are the highlights of the week:

CHILI - Yes, it's considered a highlight ANYTIME I cook. Well. Maybe not a highlight so much as an oddity. Pah! I hate, hate, hate chili. Mr.Pinkie; however, loves it. So I made a giant pot of it yesterday and appeased him for (hopefully) another year or two. I detest chili or can't ya tell? On a positive chili note, it was rainy and cold all day yesterday, so at least we had good chili weather. Is it just me or does anyone else out there crave certain foods when the weather changes? And speaking of changes..set your clocks back on Sunday!

REMODEL - So, the master bath is complete. The new (and by new I mean in addition to the pre-existing)window in the living room has been installed where the built-ins used to be. SO! We are planning to start construction on a little (and by little I mean Mr. GP is doing it and not me..heehee) project in our giant dining room. We have this dining room, you see, that is the size of two rooms. It's ridiculous really. I've had these peyote type visions of dividing the room down the middle and making two smaller rooms of the one. This would mean a somewhat smaller formal dining area and a guest space/home office. Each room would be about a 10X10 when the division is complete. Most people, ok...ok...everyone I've told, do not see the beauty of my vision. BTW, here is a BEFORE photo from one angle.

And the view from the other entry:

However, I do believe once it is completed not only will everyone love it, but they will see how much more user friendly (although smaller) the space is. We use our formal dining about 2 times a year. Thanksgiving and once for a mommy/daughter tea each spring. I am not about to give up that space. I mean, c'mon. It's a place I can put out cute table decorations and buy china. So there. But we desperately need a guest space and a more conveniently located home/office for Mr. GP's photography clients. So, there ya go! Wa-la! Once that is finished, I will intiate Operation Mudroom and revamp it once it coughs up the computer it is currently housing. It will then, finally, become a true family mudroom as nature intended...complete with sports storage, coat storage, backpack storage, sitting area, boot/shoe/hat storage. Oh yeah.....AFTER pics to follow!!

DENTIST VISIT:
I took the day off yesterday to take the boys to a dentist appt. It was Sam's first appointment ever, and he did great! Of course, he did chastise the dentist for taking too long, but everything else went smoothly. Sam had a good report, and Jack's was better than normal...HA! We did learn that it's looking like Jack will not have to get braces this year as we were originally planning to do, per the dentist's recommendation. Seems his mouth has really grown over the last year, and one particular area in his mouth where we were needing to preserve a space actually solved the problem for us by his eleven (yes..ELEVEN)year old molar dropping down and holding the spot nature planned on it having even though it's not time. Long, confusing story, but we're thankful nonetheless. Of course, we realize we haven't dodged the bullet entirely, but that is ok. Poor Jack. I'm afraid he inherited my horrible mouth. I have beautiful teeth (now), thanks to my parent's diligent dental overhauling they insisted on. Impacted tooth in the roof of my mouth, 2 teeth under my tongue, 8 extractions, an apecoectomy, dimples (yes, you can get those on your teeth apparently) and lots of words that I can't spell, more crowns than the royal family and 5 years of braces later...I have a gorgeous smile! HA! So, of our 3 kids, we'll be lucky if only Jack has my mouth. God bless him.

PARTY FEVER: Tomorrow I'm in charge of Sam's Fall party at school. We've got some cute games going, and it's an early release day. The kids are released at one, but the teachers (oh joy) have to stay until 3 for a workshop. Do I sound excited? I'm not. After school, we're having Sam's bday party. Good times! The red monster will be 6 on Saturday...which is the day we have 2 soccer games, a fall festival, and a soccer awards ceremony to go to. But most importantly, on Saturday we're making a special trip to town for Mr. 6 year old to pick out his new bike! He is so excited!!!

"I just love driving on hay."

This was said by Jack as we took a turn around the woods on a hayride last night. I was sort of embarrassed. I mean, are we so city-fied that my children can not refer to a hayride in the correct terminology? Sad times. Sad times. HA! More than once I had to correct Jack...haydrive this, haydrive that. It was almost more than I could stand. Still, despite the city-fied ways of my children (HORRORS!), we had a really nice time. The kids roasted weiners, marshmellows, made s'mores (as in, "they're so good I gotta have s'more"...that's about retarded, isn't it?), went for a hay drive (er, ride...), stuffed themselves with spiced cupcakes and nearly froze our tooties off once the sun went down. We really enjoyed experiencing a hayride through the eyes of the kids. At one point in our LONNGG trek, we came upon a really pretty pond just sitting there all by itself with the setting sun making it glow and look like it was on fire. All of the kids started screaming (at the top of their lungs), THE OCEAN!!! I mean, really. I had to giggle. They were so serious. Jack learned how to chew on a hayseed. Sophy called a cow a donkey (again, we really have strayed from our West Texas family heritage...my Papa would come back from the grave to rip my throat out if he knew Sophy had called a cow a donkey...still, she defended her stance and swore to us that it was, in fact, a donkey.) Sam tried to unhitch the trailer from the tractor. I quote him now, "Mom. What does this thing do?" As he tried to unhitch us. All the way home they were telling spooky stories and making each other giggle. I love this time of year and just about most things that go with it. I promised Sam that we would make hot chocolate and sugar cookies tonight and sit on the porch to watch the sunset. Sometimes, he can be so sweet. Sometimes. HA!

I left the camera in the Jeep when we took off, so this was taken pre-hay drive.

Friday Night Lights

((Play that funky music white boy....play that funky music...))Sam doing a pre-game boogy.


Well. I can honestly say there is nothing like a football Friday night in Texas. What is it about Texas and football games? It's just who we are. People become different people at football games. The kids transformed into cheering, chanting, head bobbing maniacs. The crowd was insane, but we had a good time. Jack especially loved crashing through the sign made for the 2nd graders (who won the penny drive in case you haven't figured that out by now.) Oh, and Sophy almost imploded when she saw the school mascot (Wildcat.) She had on her leopard print leggings/outfit just for the occassion. She ran to the wildcat with open arms and hugged her as if she were long lost family. HA!

It's like finding Waldo (or Nemo...ha!), but see if you can locate Jack. He's wearing a grey hoodie and jeans.


Sophy talked about this all night long. She wants to grow a tail now. I'm all for that, actually. I love the idea of her having a handle! Much easier for keeping up with her in a crowd!!

One step closer to becoming an old woman.

No, it's not my birthday or anywhere near close to it. Yet, I'm steadily creeping up on old age. It's got to be just around the corner. Know why? Because I started crocheting. CROCHETING. ME!! That is bound to make someone out there giggle, if you know me at all.
It's just so....not me...at least, I think it's not.
Well, we'll see if anything significant comes of it. It would be nice if I could just go ahead and learn all the terminology already. Plus, it would be nice if I had actual directions and not just hand written notes that my aunt (who can make a GORGEOUS baby blanket in a day) jotted down for my mom somewhere around 1982 when my mom crocheted a rainbow afghan for my bed that now is on Sophy's bed. WHEW! What a sentence!!!
It's been one crazy week. From beligerent (how DO you spell that?), stupid people at school to overall insanity at home (of the nonbeligerent variety.) The kids, mostly Sam, have been so WILD! What is up? You would think it's the week before Christmas or something.
Sophy, knock on something, seems to have bolted out of the terrible two's...'bout time since she's rapidly approaching the age of 5 in about a month. HA! Whatever has brought on the change, I am so thankful. She's actually agreeable and sweet, as opposed to defiant and mean which is what we had for a while.
Homecoming will be Friday night. Now, this is the district where I went to High School, but I'm just not much of a joiner when it comes to folks. I try to like people. I really do. Sometimes it just doesn't work. I haven't been to a homecoming game since....well...high school? HAHA. I graduated in 1991. Do the math. I mean, c'mon. I still teach in the same district where I went to high school. How much of a homecoming do I need? It looks as though I may not avoid the game altogether. Seems that the elementary school came up with this fund raiser for the United Way. Yeah. The grade that raises the most $ in their annual penny drive gets to smash through the paper banner at the beginning of the game with the football team. Wouldn't ya know it....2nd grade is winning and has been all week. Sigh. Of course, this makes Sam fighting mad. Needless to say, I'll be going to homecoming this year at this rate. Ug. Oh well. Maybe the cheerleaders I used to throw ice at from the stands won't be there. Amongst other folk.....

Kickin' up our heels.

Look at me go!! Who knew I could still do a cartwheel? The kids laughed so hard at their poor mama. I probably did 50 cartwheels. Something tells me that I probably won't be able to move tomorrow. HA! Sophy tried and tried to do a cartwheel. Oh, we had so much fun being stupid.
It was no where near cool enough to start a fire in our chimenea (how do you spell that??? chimanea??) Anyhoo..you know, the outside fire thingy. It wasn't cold enough, but I wanted to smell that pinon wood so bad...so we did it. The kids brought a quilt out and read while we did yard work. It was really, really nice to just be together and with nothing to do.

At some point, the boys had the bright idea to see what kind of secret fort they could make in the grapevine (it's a MONSTER) that borders the east wall of my garden. It's very dense, so Sam got a pair of hand clippers and Jack found a hack-saw and away they went....we didn't see them for hours. Sam told me later that they were making their 'secret agent fort.' So it would seem that my secret garden just became a shade more secret-ish.


My little wood sprite. Here she is...she spent all day playing in the creek, throwing rocks in the pond, picking flowers and putting them in bottles....