Merry Christmas!

Title says it all.

Parade and performances

This past weekend was quite busy as we had a parade and two performances over the course of two days.

Adriana was in our town's Christmas parade with her Girl Scout troop. It was fun, although chillier than we are accustomed. Afterwards, the children sat on Santa's lap for a visit and some pictures. For me, the visit wasn't the great warm memory, but I won't go into why on here. Let's just say I was hormonal and leave it at that. Adriana didn't get to tell Santa what she wanted because I rushed us all out right after she sat in his lap. She did, however, send him an e-mail and she quickly received a reply. Pretty cool, especially considering he said he knew she was helping her parents around the house. She helped clean more than usual that day.

That night, we went to our church's Christmas program. The children sang a couple of songs and Jonah was the "Little Drummer Boy". (Now, I know the little drummer boy is not biblical, but the directors were trying to find a part for him.) The only problem was he wouldn't drum. During rehearsal, we had to fight him to get the drum away. The afternoon of the performance, he almost took a nap a couple of times. We even tried lying down with him, but he would fight it. He fell asleep right before we left to go to the church, so he was sleepy for the performance. I am surprised he even walked down the aisle. He did while drumming with one drumstick and sucking his thumb. He saw me and walked right to me. I couldn't get him to move anymore after that.

The next night, the girls were in a Christmas concert presented by a local church's children's choir. Adriana was in the chorus, and Cara was a cheerleader. Both of them did great, and Cara stole the show in my humble opinion.

Needless to say, we have all been recovering this week.

The tale of the leaning Christmas tree

So, the same weekend we went to the Live Nativity (which was used as a sermon illustration, by the way), we went to get our live Christmas tree. Supposed to be a great, warm family memory. Supposed to be. Not quite.

First off, we started off the day with me cleaning out the living room which someone turns into a junk room any time other than Christmas. It wasn't too bad, but a little girl was desperately wanting to help and I just wanted to get it done. I wasn't the patient mother I should have been.

Finally, after lunch we headed down to the Christmas tree farm in the freezing, somewhat damp weather. All was going good until Adriana spotted two cats. And, Jonah had a blow-out in his pull-up. (Yes, potty training is on the horizon. Don't worry.)

For some unknown reason Adriana is terrified of cats. Now, she has never been attacked, scratched or anything else by cats, but she is absolutely petrified of the things. The two cats were not anywhere near and she was begging me to carry her. I want her to get over this fear, so being the nice, loving mother I am, I refused. She becomes hysterical.

In the meantime, Jonah has a runny blow-out in his pull-up. (I know, TMI, but you have to really appreciate the scene here.) Christmas tree farms generally do not have a changing table right handy, so Bruce took him to the van, but decided he needed to put him on the ground to change him. We did have a changing pad to place him on. We got him taken care of and outfit changed.

Then, Jonah was in tears because I would not let him have his Doodlebops "magazine" as he calls it. It is a CD insert.

So, we proceeded to have two crying children. Needless to say, we wrapped up the tree shopping very soon after that.

Cara was cooperative that day and did not have a meltdown when I talked her out of getting her Beary a tree.

And, they did enjoy the little tractor-train ride.

We got the tree home and set it in the stand and left it for a little while. At this point, we decided to finish the tree the next day because it was so late.

The next day, while stringing the lights, I noticed the tree was leaning. That turned into an hour or so of trying to right the tree. Seems the tree has a major limb that prevents the tree from sitting right in the stand. Ugh!

We finally got it secure enough that we each put about two ornaments on there and called it a night.

The tree now has about 15 ornaments on it. Maybe it will be finished by Christmas. Maybe.

And on Dec. 26, it is turning into an artificial tree.

Live Nativity

We went to see a live nativity this past weekend in a neighboring town. I saw an advertisement for it, and thought this is what my children really need to see. If you ask Adriana, she can tell you that Christmas is about Jesus' birth. I thought Cara would be able to say that, too, but a couple of weeks ago she said it was about Santa and getting presents. Big mistake. Before you think that we haven't raised our children correctly, last year she could tell you the real meaning, but I think she kind of forgot in all the excitement and it was at the beginning of the season.

I really wanted to go, but we hesitated because of Cara's fever and sore throat the day before. She said she was feeling better, but her throat was a "little bit" sore. I decided we should try it, so off we went.

(I had posted a whole paragraph here that somehow just went away all of a sudden, so I am going to ignore it.)

After eating out, we went to the place with the Nativity. They had free wagon rides with horse drawn wagons, so we got in line for that first. We didn't have to wait too long, but it was cold. Very cold. We rode around and saw the beautiful lighted displays that were set up. Adriana paid special attention to all the lights and seemed to be soaking everything up.

After getting off the wagon, we headed straight to the Nativity scene. We passed where some groups were selling baked goods and a couple of fires were set up. On the way, we mistakenly saw what we thought were people roasting marshmallows. (I think people were carrying around these neat little pretzels dipped in white chocolate that we saw in the dark as marshmallows.) Bruce or one of us happened to mention the marshmallows, and that was all Cara could think about after that. We kept hearing how she wanted a marshmallow.

Bruce was complaining about his feet hurting because they had been swelling during the day. (He has recently been placed on high blood pressure medicine.) I don't doubt they were, but I was thinking this was supposed to be a warm fuzzy, teachable family moment. I wasn't being such a good understanding wife at the time. I am sorry, honey, I really am.

We were standing waiting for the next Nativity presentation to start when Bruce said something like, "I could take Cara and we could go get a marshmallow" or something like that. Nice coming from the minister, huh? I guess we all have our moments. I told him I thought we should all stay together and it wouldn't last too long. Cara kept saying she wanted a marshmallow. I then said, "No, we are going to stay here and learn what Christmas is really about."

Her response in a not so soft voice, "I get it, Mom. Christmas is all about Jesus' birth. Now, I want a marshmallow."

After all that, they didn't have marshmallows. But they did have some very yummy chocolate treats and hot chocolate. Oh, yeah, and bunnies to pet.

Some Thanksgiving pictures

Digging into the food.

Cara found a few things she liked.

Nanny with her grandchildren, some birthed into the family and some acquired by other means.

Listening to the "only game that matters".


Cara and Jonah entertained with a fashion show.

Sharing memories around the table.

Leaving B in the dust with the Andy Griffith show game.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend. I failed to mention that the children had fun with my mother, brother, and some family friends, also. The children decided to name our turkey "Joe Cong Cong Phooey", don't ask me why because I am not sure.

We went to see the children's "Nana", too. She is someone I have known all my life and is like a second mother to me. She is the one who inspired me to acquire all the Christmas decorations that I have. Her house is always decorated from top to bottom with decorations. We haven't seen her in quite some time, so that was a nice visit.

The girls enjoyed playing the Andy Griffith Show game with their cousin B. The older brothers listened to Clemson-Carolina game on the radio since Nanny does not have cable.

Sick kiddo today

Cara woke up this morning with a temperature of 100.1 under her arm (the only way I could get her to let me take it). She also complained that her throat was sore, she felt dizzy and felt like she was going to throw up. (I know TMI.)

So, Cara is home from school today. Sorry, Mama (Grandma/Ma), she won't be getting her perfect attendance certificate this nine weeks.

Waiting for it to go through the rest of the three.

Thanksgiving

We had a bittersweet Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful visit with family and friends, some that we had not seen in quite some time. I was actually without Internet access for a few days and survived.

We lost one of our dear church members during the break. She passed away on Wednesday. "Miss Judy" was such a sweet person and we loved her so much. Very often, she would make Bruce meatloaf for Wednesday night supper at church. We will miss her a lot, but we know where she is and that makes it better.

The children had a great time with Bruce's brother and his family. They were definitely worn out by the time the weekend was over. I have some pictures that I will post later.

The children spent the night with Bruce's mother and a couple of other family members while Bruce and I went to a nearby city for the night since she only has one bathroom. The next morning while we ate breakfast, we were surrounded by some rabid Clemson and Carolina fans, but mostly Clemson fans. Thankfully, Clemson won the annual contest. And, they now have a full-time coach.

Of course, I did get a little Black Friday shopping completed. I lost my watch while I was out, but a friend whom I was shopping with found it, so I was overjoyed.

Cara's birthday party

Cara's birthday party this year happened to be the day after Halloween (note to self, don't plan her party so close to Halloween in the future). One of the downsides to having a birthday so close to a holiday is sometimes your party might get moved around, which is what happened this year.

Bless her heart, Cara didn't want to spend too much money on her party so she opted for a party at home. We pulled out the bounce house that Santa brought the children a couple of years ago and had our other usual yard toys out there. God smiled on us, and the weather was perfect.

Bruce tolerates me right before a party because I tend to get a little crazy. Poor guy. I have heard that you should see the person you are dating through all four seasons to see how they react. Maybe he should have seen me plan a birthday party before he committed to this lifetime of zaniness. He probably would have run away screaming. Too late now, he is in my trenches. Bawahaha!

In spite of my craziness, Bruce did say he thought that I was the most relaxed at this party than he had seen. Something about after Jonah pooped on the kitchen floor (by accident) about an hour before it started mellowed me out. It could have been worse. It could have been on the carpet.

Back to the party. Cara had about 12 friends show up and she had a blast. They all seemed to have a good time, too. And a couple of the parents fell in love with my simple ranch dip. (Take a container of sour cream, add an envelope of ranch dressing, and mix well. Viola!)

Cara had a princess party, complete with a princess cake just like her friend T. had about a month ago. I forgot to take a picture of her cake. Oh, well. It was eaten, which is the most important thing.

That night was also the night the time changed, so that was a good thing.

The only problem reported was my brother actually seeing the deer in the headlights. Or, maybe he didn't see it. The story is kind of sketchy, but they are all fine. Well, except the deer. We are not sure about him/her.

Painting pumpkins

The night before Halloween, the children painted their pumpkins we bought at the pumpkin patch. The big we bought didn't get carved until after Halloween (shh, don't tell the children you are supposed to have a jack-o'lantern actually for Halloween, they think this is the way it is done).

Here are some pictures of their endeavors.

Let's finish Halloween, shall we?

Okay, I am going to try to finish Halloween before we move onto Thanksgiving. I have been working on a few "special" projects this week for Christmas. (ahem, Mama and others better appreciate it. Or at least fake appreciating it. Hehe, now that will make her wonder.) Still not finished, so I might as well take a break and update the blog.

On Halloween day, the girls had a "Vocabulary Parade" at school because they cannot wear their Halloween costumes to school. They can, however, go to school dressed as a "word". ??? Color me confused, but they went as a "word". Adriana once again went as the color pink and Cara went as a white kitty cat. She wanted to look like Ma's(my mother) white cat, Spinks.

When they came home from school, Adriana and Jonah put on their Halloween costumes and we surprised Bruce at work. They received a little candy their and then we went to a nursing home in town which invited the children in the community to go trick or treating there. It was a neat time. Adriana initially said she did not want to go. I told her we were going and that she would enjoy herself. I told her that by going she would help bring joy to the residents and they would enjoy it. Cara, of course, was all ready to go.

We had the best time at the nursing home and the staff and residents loaded them down with candy. On the way out to the car Adriana said she had a wonderful time and was glad we went. She also said they had received so much candy that we didn't need to go out that night. She was right, but we still went.

We had a fun time trick or treating. We went around to a few houses and Jonah was so cute saying, "Trick or treat". He was having fun until he fell down the driveway of the lady who keeps the nursery for the Bible Study I attend. He scrapped his knee, and that along with no nap that day made for a very sad little boy. So, we quickly called it a night after that.

Halloween happenings

We had two Halloween/Fall events the Saturday before Halloween. Several organizations in town sponsor a festival that is to designed to give kids a safe alternative to Halloween. The children play games, participate in a costume contest, get free food and go trick or treating downtown at various merchants.

This year, it was kind of misty, but the rain backed off enough to have the event. Adriana went as Sharpay from "High School Musical", Cara went as "Hannah Montana" and Jonah went as, of course, Moe from "The Doodlebops". The children had a wonderful time dressing up in their costumes and going around. Especially Jonah, I mean, Moe, who won one of the costume categories in his age range. That means the Cool kids each have one at least one costume contest.

We then had a slight break until we had to be at church for our annual Fall Festival. The children had a blast because the social committee rented two inflatables for the day. We could not keep Jonah off of them. He is all boy and knows no fear. When the girls were younger, we had a difficult time getting them to even try the inflatables. Not him. He got on them full force.

When we were leaving, he cried because he wanted to keep sliding and bouncing. I told him he had to tell the inflatables "bye", and he did with a sad, sad face.

I also tried my hand at being creative with a couple of cakes I made for the cake walk. I made one that was supposed to look like a jack-o-lantern, but it ended up not quite right. Seems the recipe that I was using was created before the trans fat hating craze hit and the wonderful artery clogging material was taken out of shortening. I didn't understand what professional cake decorators were fussing about when that happened, but now I know. My icing did not "set" properly which caused the pumpkin's face to get meaner and meaner looking which was not what I intended. I also made a Milky Way cake, which really looked good. Jonah was the third person to win a cake, but unfortunately both of my cakes were the first to go. Fortunately, he picked out a scrumptious chocolate cake that was oh, so yummy.

Needless to say, we all went to sleep very quickly that night.

Cute Cool kid saying

On Sunday mornings, we try to say a prayer before we head out for church. Sometimes, that prayer has to be said in the car because we are running late. Yesterday was one of those mornings.

Cara was riding with me, and the other two were with Bruce. (We take separate cars so Bruce can go visiting after we eat lunch. It saves him some time.)

I told Cara we needed to pray and she said she would. Her prayer went something like this, "Dear God, I hope you have a good day (or morning, I can't remember which)." That wasn't all of it, but I thought it was so sweet that she wanted to make sure the Lord was going to have a good day.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I promise

I am still around. And, here is a small update to get you through your day. Awards Day was held recently at school and Cara received an award for "Most Improved" in her age group in her class.

At the report card pick-up, her teacher said that Cara has done a complete turnaround this year from last year (she has the same teacher because she is in a Montessori program with 3, 4 and 5 year olds. She also said Cara was way ahead of the game in her class work. So, yay, Cara!

Adriana has been doing a lot better academically over the last couple of weeks. We had some challenges a few weeks ago, and she seems to have overcome them. We even received a note from her teacher on Friday that said she finished her tests on time, she made excellent grades on at least two of them and her handwriting was very neat and legible. Her teacher also said she was very proud of Adriana. Adriana had the biggest smile over that note. So, yay, Adriana!

Have my sticker, do you?

If you are reading this and you haven't voted yet, please do so. I will update more about our family happenings later, but right now we (as a nation) have a future to decide for our children.

Please, go and exercise your privilege as an American to vote. More later.

Another Cool kid cute saying

So, Adriana and I were talking last night about the new High School Musical movie and she started talking about the different characters. She was talking about the HSM II and one of the basketball players who found out he actually enjoys working in a kitchen.

She said, "He made a really good creme beleg." (That would be creme brulee, in case you need an interpretation.)

It's official

He's become so obsessed with the Doodlebops that he has morphed into Moe Doodle. Can you guess what he will be for Halloween?

Cara's day

Yesterday, Jonah and I surprised Cara at school and ate lunch with her for her birthday.

Bruce had planned on showing up, but he ended up having some official something with his job, so he couldn't go. He was really disappointed because he also had a meeting last night, so he didn't get to spend too much time with her yesterday.

We did meet him at our local Mexican restaurant for dinner, but had to move our little party to the Italian restaurant since we were greeted with a sign that said, "Closed for renovations" at the Mexican restaurant. That seems to happen every once in a while. Those INS agents sure do know how to mess up a good thing. And, Cara was disappointed because she wanted "Nacho" (yes, that's really his name) to know that it was her birthday.

She did eat well at the Italian restaurant, and since she had spaghetti (or in Adriana's terms, psghetti) at lunch, she was filled with her favorite meal. She opened her present from us and Adriana and Jonah there. We gave her a suds and splash Dora, which she had asked for, and Adriana and Jonah gave her a purple Bible (Adriana's idea). She loved both of them. In fact, when we got home she played with the Dora for quite a while and was a nice sister and let Adriana play with it, also. Then, she told me she needed to "study" her Bible, but she needed an adult to help her because she couldn't read it yet.

Now, she has to wait almost two weeks for her party with her friends because of fall festivals that are going on. She seems to be a good sport about it, though.

Cara's thoughts on her birthday

This morning, when we woke Cara up, I asked her if she felt five. She said, "Yes, and a little bit four."

She doesn't quite understand why she can't be a Daisy Girl Scout and a kindergartener since she is now five. I tried to explain that her birthday came after the cut-off date, but I am not sure she understands.

Happy birthday, Cara!

Five years ago today, the Lord blessed us with a second daughter. Since she joined us, we have gained more gray hairs, but without her our lives would not have nearly as many laughs or hugs. So, happy 5th birthday, pumpkin! We love you!

Another Cool kid cute saying

Cara's birthday is tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 21). She has been counting down the days, of course. Today, she asked me if she has to go to school tomorrow. I told her that she does not get a holiday just because it is her birthday. (I should have told her that only happens in college when it is your birthday, and your roommate's birthday, and your friend's birthday, and any other reason you can think to cut class.)

Pumpkin patch

Cara had a field trip with her class last week to a pumpkin patch. The class had a good time learning how a farm operates and playing a few games, including milking a fake cow.

The class traveled a good distance to a farm that was not too far from Bruce's mom, so she kept Jonah while I went with the class and then she came home with us for a few days. I was able to clean a little in the apartment that is attached to our house. That is going to be a long, long process. Ugh!

This weekend, we went back up to Bruce's mom's for haircuts, another pumpkin patch visit and a date night for Bruce and me. It was a good weekend except for the scary bit when I thought Cara might be choking. I think she had just gotten too much food in her mouth and was having trouble chewing, but when she came to me I thought maybe she was choking. I am so grateful she is okay.

Bruce and I went out to eat and then to the Michael W. Smith/Steven Curtis Chapman concert. It was awesome! I have to admit, a few tears were shed as Steven shared what his family has been through since little Maria went to be with Jesus. I, for one, about lost it when he came out on stage. I thought that does take a lot a faith to come out and still be able to sing about a merciful God after all he and his family has endured. God was definitely lifted up that night.

Cool kid cute saying

Here's a Cool kid cute saying for your reading pleasure:

The girls and I were talking about our Disney trip the other night (No, I will not ever get over it.) We were talking about our favorite rides, etc. We were talking about how much we liked "It's a Small World" and Adriana started singing the song. This is her version:

"It's a small world, Andelo."

Updates

Okay, since my one faithful fan (that would be you, Mom) seems to be missing her dose of cool news, here it is.

The night of Jonah's birthday, we took him to his favorite place-Shick Fil-A (that would be Chick Fil-A to you and me). We had a few looks for singing "Happy Birthday" while he blew his candle out on his brownie a la mode, but oh, well. He loved it. He has also gotten quite good at holding up three fingers. He fell asleep on the way home and did not get to open the two presents we had for him for that day. He opened them up the next day and was very excited because they were two more Doodlebops DVDs. Someone save me, please.

Adriana celebrated Jonah's birthday by getting her first "high heels", which are actually wedge shoes, but we will call them high heels. Now, she has been talking about getting her ears pierced. Well, she was until I told her how ears get pierced. Funny, she hasn't talked about it too much since.

The next day in an attempt to save money, I baked Jonah's birthday cake. The girls helped me decorate it. It included a Doodlebops topper that I found on the Internet. The topper was a toy tambourine, kazoo and microphone. The girls were helping me decorate the cake when Jonah decided the kazoo was too tempting to leave on the cake. In my best Kate Gosselin imitation, I freaked out and was saying something like, "Jonah, nooooooooooooo." Before I realized it, he was in tears and I felt like a dog. I scooped him up and apologized profusely. He eventually was fine, but I still felt bad.

Cara decided to celebrate his birthday weekend by kicking her acid reflux into high gear. Of course, this was on Saturday night. Since we have a couple of church members who could have very adverse reactions to becoming sick, we decided Cara and I would stay home to be on the safe side. She didn't get sick anymore, so I am pretty sure it was her acid reflux.

Jonah's party was just family and very low-key. I am thinking I really like this idea. He enjoyed it and everyone seemed to have a good time. Needless to say, they fell asleep very quickly.

Here are some pics from the weekend:











So, now the market is back on the upswing and Tommy Bowden is out as Clemson's head coach, but you all are now up to date on the real news.