Christmas Miracles 2011

Svea: Mom, I wrapped your present, but it's kinda stuck to the floor because I used that double stick tape.

Me: Oooooh! Look at those Christmas decorations!

Svea: Oh, WOW! Those are beautiful!!!

Henry: Oh, Mom. They are going to have to clean all that up.

Henry: Mom, can Santa see you...even in the bathroom?

Me: Svea, what kind of gift would you like from Grandaddy this year?

Svea: I KNOW! How about we get the whole family together and have fun?

Me: (verklempt) YES. Absolutely. In addition...is there anything you would like to have wrapped up under the tree?

Svea: YES! Let's have everyone get together!

Fourteen

Corinne is fourteen months old.

And that girl can communicate.

She and I got a few hours this afternoon alone, just like old times (that is, like 5 days ago when Henry and Svea were in school and it was just Corinne, Sugar and me in the house).

She wanted to dance.

And dance...

...and dance. Hooray for Christmas music, y'all.

If you want to talk about hot shoes juice bye-bye, she is your girl. She is talking and signing like crazy. In addition to dancing, she loves shoes. Anybody's shoes. They totally do not have to fit.

And if she wants to put on socks and black Mary Jane shoes before bed, who am I to stop her, right? I'm just the Mom.

She is also climbing on everything. Like a monkey.

Which is right in sync with her loving the book "No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed."

So when she climbed on the bench and the kitchen chair and the porch chair on her own and I called her a monkey, she might have shook her finger at me like Eminem rapping, just like we do when we say, "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED."

Shake your finger, sister. It's almost Christmas...

Night 7

And on the seventh night, Henry and Svea spent the night with Mimi and Papa.

Blake was distressed.

Night Six. Game On.

The Boys:

The Girls:

The Game:

Night Five with the Elf

As requested...

Blake, the Elf on the Fourth Night

Johnnie and Amber Stateside

My mom takes good pictures.

And she has an awesome camera. And some pretty hilarious grandchildren. Thank goodness that all comes together when we are in town.

And The Nutcrackers Win!!!

Staff vs. SPRC Charades Showdown!!!

Second and Third Night

The second night, Blake the Elf strung toilet paper all over Henry's room. I think Blake had SO MUCH FUN doing it that Blake needs to get out more often.

There are no pictures of this escapade because Henry sensed with his spidey senses that his room may be untidy, so he woke up in the middle of the night and CLEANED IT ALL UP.

Then he went back to sleep.

When Brian and I went to wake him up for school the next morning, he explained that, logically, he had cleaned it up and just what were we doing in his room right then?

That kid.

The third night, Blake the Elf left this note:

And did this:

After Henry got over being so pleased, there was a little stress around how to get all the flour off the elf.

Dude. Relax kid.

Our Elf, Blake

Henry got one of these:

So we have joined the MANY who house and entertain a mischievous elf each night before Christmas. I have watched groups of parents hovering their smart phones in each other's faces to show the recent pictures of what their elf was up too.

Now I get it. I love this.

The first night, Blake the Elf left this note:

And Henry found him here:

Hahahahahaaha.

Henry saved the box.

I Won Bingo In Drawing Class

My final exam in Drawing class was to choose three objects, preferably shiny and colorful, and create a still life to draw in chalk pastels.

I had never worked with pastels before. I thought after graphite and charcoal that it would be somewhat similar...but it was not. Graphite you can kind of erase and reform, sometimes smear and shade. Different pencils go darker and shade more freely. Charcoal comes in about 18 different forms. Who knew?

The amazing thing about chalk pastels is that the expensive brand truly draws differently, and the white chalk fixes everything. Also, working with pastels is about layering. Kinda like Svea's dress code.

We had two class sessions (that's a total of 5 hours) to get started on our still life, plus time to work on our own. In the second session, I was adding layer after layer trying to get control of the edges of my objects (how's that for a metaphor?) without ruining the tooth of my paper (I love saying that: the tooth of my paper).

I was wearing a t-shirt that day last week, because it's December in Montevallo, adding layers to my Still Life in Pastels and my right arm bat wing started to shake like crazy.

So I say to Alyssa next to me, "Man, my bat wing is really taking off with these pastels."

She glances at me because she's 20 and I'm 35 and she's all Whatever most of the time when I talk. Then she says, "Oh, you mean your Bingo wings?"

So I'm all, "Whatever...what are Bingo wings?"

She goes, "You know how the old ladies in the nursing homes go when they win Bingo?" She raises her hands in the air and waves her hands so her bat wings fly and yells high-pitched, "Bingo! Bingo! I won!"

I'm on the floor. ROTFL.

My flapping tricep muscles are no longer for bats, and are all for me winning Bingo.

Here is Alyssa's Still Life of her marbles:

Good thing she didn't lose them...like some of those old ladies playing Bingo.

HA.

The Ones That Didn't Make The Christmas Card Cut

Thx Shout Out

In this season of gratitude, I am addicted to this web site.

I promise that if you spend 2 minutes reading this site, it will change your brain. These thank you notes are so contagious - just like haikus. You think you aren't thinking about them, then you realize you are tapping out 5:7:5 syllables on your steering wheel at a red light.

I have been collecting (and sometimes writing down) various 3-sentence expressions of gratitude lately. KB did it too over here. Y'all should totally try it. Your brain will say thx, thx, thx.

10 Years Ago

Ten years ago today, I ate a Whopper from Burger King. Right after I got my hair did up with pearls.

Somehow I knew that it would be my very last Whopper ever. I'm not sure if it was a Last Supper to my life as a bachelorette, or if I was figuratively and literally leaving one life behind me at that moment and moving towards a life of Better In Every Way.

Regardless, I'm glad I ate it, savored it, and left it.

Then I got married. At 3:30 pm on a warm December 8th in a beautiful church, surrounded by beautiful people.

My memory recalls that everything was A LOT that day: a lot of people, food, excitement, love, things, stuff, gifts, happiness, love, smiles, conversations, clothes, time, words, hope, love, fake snow for throwing as confetti, fatigue, planning, laughter music - did I mention love?

Thank you, most of all dearest Brian, but ALL of you who continue to surround us.

(I totally stole this picture from Brian's Facebook post...he took the picture with his phone this morning from our wedding album which we read over breakfast - awww so sentimental, yawl - and the kids were definitely not into it. So Brian read me Kimberly's homily out loud while I packed lunches and wrapped cakes and the message was better 10 years later...just like our marriage...and fine wine.)

Daisy Troop Takes the Christmas Parade!

Today was the day Svea got to march in the Christmas Parade with her Girl Scout troop (Cookies go on sale December 30th!!!!)

Svea and MM not looking at the camera:

Waiting for our turn to enter the parade:

Corinne waving to the parade...and loving her shadow:

Entertaining the Daisies, Brownies and Girl Scouts with her silly hat and groovy dance moves:

Handing out candy en route:

She marched so importantly...

And Corinne napped...during the WHOLE thing...

...as did the rest of us when we got home. Whew.