Dressed up with no place to go

Charlotte was invited to a birthday party a few weeks ago. We were very excited that we were going to be able to go this year as last year the post office kept us from being able to go to this person's party. This year the party was Cinderella themed. Charlotte spent lots of time planning her attire. She was perfectly coiffed and had her present ready. The day of the party I tried to double check the time but couldn't see the evite as it came to my work email address and I never could find it from home. But I had the event on my personal calendar so I wasn't too concerned.

We arrived right on time, only to realize the party was ending, not beginning! I had written the time down wrong. The party was 2-4 and I had it on my calendar for 4-6. Charlotte got to stay long enough to have a piece of cake and give the birthday girl her gift. Then it was time to go. I felt like the worst mother of the year.

From the party we went to run a few errands. Charlotte recieved many compliments on her costume and hair. To make it up to her we made a stop by Krispy Kreme before heading home. All in all, it turned out OK as Charlotte and I got to spend two hours just us, no siblings.

Maybe next year she will actually make it to the party on time.

Basketball Fix

Getting our Freebirds fix before the game

Yep, even Cookie Monster was at the game. Apparently there was some obscure basketball related reason, all I know is the girls thought it was awesome that he was there.

So it isn't the Dean Dome and it isn't the Tarheels, but it is college basketball and tickets are a bit more readily available and affordable. We had a great family day hanging out watching the Aggies play.

Just a Little Project

Charlotte and Rehm got out of school today at noon. Charlotte needed something to occupy her so I gave Charlotte these materials


30 minutes later she had created this:


Complete with this story:




Jenn

Do you know what this is?

This is SCUBADuck getting ready to make his return voyage to Molly. We sent along a new friend, AstroFrog to hopefully have some fun in the D.C. area. It is really funny but after literally months of living in my purse, I finally rescue poor SCUBADuck and send him home. Mere days later, we go somewhere as a family, probably to College Station for a basket ball game, I don't remember. All the kids start asking where SCUBADuck is because they want to have their picture taken with him. I had to break the news that SCUBADuck was no longer with us. All four children were sad for about 30 seconds and then moved on to something else.

Later in the week something was mentioned about Washington, DC I think in relationship to the president and Eliza Claire said, "with Molly?" It took me a minute to realize what she was talking about. My kids think Molly is much cooler than the president and all they know about D.C. is that Molly lives there and that she has SCUBADuck, which makes her the coolest person ever, at least to the three year old set.

Jenn

Star Struck

I had the opportunity to go to the Children's Pastors' Conference in Nashville last week. It was a great conference. I came away with some great ideas and some much needed time with coworkers for planning and reviewing our programs.

One of the highlights of the week for me was that Go Fish emceed the general sessions. They are a great christian kids band. I have liked them since I discovered them at my first visit to CPC two years ago. We have all of their CDs, a DVD or two, and have attended concerts the past two years in the Houston area. My kids love them and I find myself singing their songs myself. I've even blogged about them at least once.

OK, so I have a confession, I like them even more than my kids do. I've been accused of being a groupie. That seems a bit extreme to me. I'd say I'm an avid fan or just mom to kids who like them. OK, so avid fan is probably accurate. It is funny, I have never been the type to follow a band, actor, musician, etc. That is just not my style. So it is funny that I religiously read their blog, know when they have new stuff coming out, and take my children to their concert every year. That is just no my norm.

One day at the conference, I was sitting in an out of way place reading my Kindle. I was very engrossed in the book. Someone walking by said, "don't you just love your Kindle?" I looked up to agree that I did and realized it was Jamie from Go Fish. I got completely tongue tied. I introduced myself and told him how much our family loves their music. He said he recognized my name. So I had to admit I had emailed him a couple of times and posted comments on his blog a couple of time as well. I asked him if I could record a short video of him saying hi to my kids. He was nice and agreed. After the fact I realized that in my star struckness I had taken a blurry picture instead of getting the 10 second video. I was very disappointed.

Later that day all the members of Go Fish were hanging out at their booth so I asked if I could possibly have a picture with them as I messed up the video. I was embarrassed to ask but I knew the kids would think it was cool and it would give me proof that I had met them. You know, I did it just for the kids. That is totally the only reason.

And, yes, my co-workers accused me of not only being a groupie but a stalker, to boot. I promise I'm really not.

Oh, did I mention they were filming a video for their new CD at the conference. We were in the recording group. I wonder if any of our group will end up in the final cut.

Once again I do have to say if you don't have any Go Fish music and you have kids under the age of 10 you must buy a CD, now! It really is great stuff! Oh, I noticed that they are running their $5 deal on their website right now.

I'm really not a stalker, I'm really not a stalker...
Jenn

Annoyed

At the grocery store this week, I got really annoyed with a fellow customer who was obviously annoyed with me. We had not been in the store long. One girl was in the cart the other was walking. We were talking about what we needed to get and of course were doing the grocery game. Whoever was walking was lagging behind looking at the bananas. I said something about going to see which bread we got free this week. The customer, a man in probably his 60s looked at another male customer and muttered "Jesus!" in a really annoyed, I can't believe her, tone of voice. I assume that he assumed we were getting "free" bread due to government assistance - we were not, and was offended by this and the fact that I was announcing we were getting "free" bread.

If you are annoyed enough to mutter things where I can hear you, then actually say it to my face. I would have been happy to explain that my free bread was due to a store coupon that reimbursed me for sliced cheese and bread when I bought a certain brand of lunch meat. I would have been happy to inform him that I was paying for my groceries but that I do watch my budget and am teaching my children to do so as well. I would have further explained that I completely understand that government assistance is not free and that maybe he should stop making so many assumptions when he didn't have the facts.

I almost turned around and told him these things. But I decided I really didn't care what he thought of me and my family because I had made my share of assumptions about him based on the one word he had said and none of my assumptions were favorable either!

And just so you know, I got $160 worth of groceries for $130. As far as I'm concerned, that is worth a few ugly looks.
Jenn

Heard Around Mayhem Mania

Eliza Claire has a new phrase for expressing her frustration when something isn't going her way. When she is struggling with something, she screws up her face and utters "Uggah!"



Ruby is sporting a new saying too. Hers is "thing-a-jiggy" for anything she doesn't have a name for. I don't know where she picked it up but it is darling. She just throws it in like she knows what she is talking about and keeps on talking.

Both girls are still eating "scoop" instead of soup.

That's My Girl

We got an email from Eliza's preschool teacher that she would only be in class for part of the day last Wednesday (the 1st day back for the preschool), because her parents had bought her family tickets to the national championship game in Pasadena for a Christmas gift. As a send off, the substitute had the class line up to say good-bye as Miss Jami left for the airport. All the kids were flashing the Hook 'Em Horns sign....except one- right in the middle of the line, Eliza Claire had her thumbs up in the Aggie Gig 'Em sign. She said, "I don't know how to hook 'em."

Sea World One Last Time

We bought season passes to Sea World this year and wanted to make sure we used them one last time before they expired. So despite temps in the upper 40s/low 50s with lots of clouds we drove to San Antonio. We got there right around opening and it was cold a bit windy and very cloudy. It stayed that way until around 3:00pm. Then the sun came out and it warmed up a bit.




We had a great time. The shows were different for the holidays so that was a nice treat. Our favorite was the sea lion show, which with the normal shows is our least favorite. Charlotte discovered that she was tall enough to ride the Steel Eel and was beside herself with excitement. I did not get to go on it with her - I was on the kiddie rides with Ruby and Eliza Claire. Michael said she loved it and wanted to do it again as soon as she got off. Eliza Claire rode both of the kiddie rides for the first time. On previous trips this year she has very politely refused to ride them. She has ridden the shamu express and the log ride previously and did ask to ride both again this trip. She did great. As soon as we got to the top of the first hill on the log ride she looked at me with a big smile and said, "Mommy! I haven't cried at all, yet!" She did not cry and said she had fun when we got off, though at bedtime she confessed that she "really didn't like the log ride."

Eliza Claire on the Ferris wheel and actually happy about it!

Rehm and Charlotte in the 4D movie

We rode all the rides, saw all the shows (including the Polar Express 4D) and in general had a great day! I love Sea World when it isn't crazy crowded.

We went to Sea World four times in 2009. I'd say we got our money's worth out of our passes. I doubt we'll get passes in 2010. But by 2011 I bet we are ready for more Sea World fun and by then Ruby and Eliza Claire will be tall enough for a lot more rides.

I love having kids big enough to rid real roller coasters with me.
Jenn

Christmas Eve - In Pictures

We started the day off baking. We had to frost the Christmas cake, make the breakfast casserole and bake sugar cake and bread.



Then we spread our reindeer food to get ready for Santa to come. We forgot to put out cookies for Santa, but luckily the kids didn't notice.




We went to church. Rehm was a wise person along with two of his good friends, Will and Lael. They, along with other children helped tell the Christmas story during the service. Every time "wise men" were mentioned in the story they lead part of the congregation in saying "follow that star." At one point the gifts of the wise men were mentioned by name. Apparently they were supposed to hold up their gift when it was mentioned. Rehm's was mentioned first. He held it up promtly. As soon as his friend Will's was mentioned Rehm elbowed him in the back (he was standing behind him) so hard that he almost lost his balance and fell and of course was distracted by my son and thus a little late holding up his gift. Lael also got similar treatment from my dear son. It is a wonder they put up with him.

After the service we had a live nativity complete with petting zoo. It was nice and cold (40ish) which was nice for making it feel like Christmas but not so nice for standing outside for an hour.





Since the girls were all shepherds for the live nativity we forewent Christmas clothes and all went in jeans and warm shirts. It was so nice to not have to do the elaborate costume change mid day that is Christmas clothing. Maybe I can convince them to do this again next year.

For their shepherd costumes I bough the cheapest king size pillowcases I could find. I cut head and arm holes and then cut them off to an appropriate length. I also purchased contrasting colored cloth napkins to use as their head pieces and tied those on with the scraps from the hems of the pillowcases. It took all of 10 minutes to make the costumes and required no sewing.

After church we celebrated Jesus' birthday with dear friends. This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions. The kids have a blast and so do their parents.








After the party we came home and put all the tired kids to bed and prepared for Santa to come.

Christmas Morning

We have always been very fortunate with how patient our children are on Christmas morning. Again this year they did a great job. Rehm was the first to arrive in our room at 7:00 am on the dot. This was the earliest they were allowed to get out of bed. Aren't we mean? Charlotte arrived about five minutes later. Ruby showed up at 7:20. As each one came and crawled in bed with us, we talked about past Christmases all the way back to when Rehm was a baby. By 7:45 they were all antsy enough that we decided it was time to wake up Eliza Claire. She wasn't too thrilled about being woken up, but got over it fairly quick when she realized Santa had come.

I'm sure this is shocking to my family. I was the queen of getting up in the middle of the night to go see what Santa had brought me. I never could get my sister to get up with me. On the years we shared a room when I came back to bed I would make a point to tell her what she got as pay back for her not getting up with me. If I didn't get up in the middle of the night I was definitely up and checking out the Santa stash by 6:00 am at the latest! It drove my family crazy! So I'm sure they can not believe I am so mean as to make my children be up for almost an hour before letting them at the gifts. I think having a two story house is a large part of why this is possible.

Grandma arrived right as we were coming downstairs to see what Santa had brought. We opened presents, each taking turns, one gift at a time, so everyone could see what each person got. And also to prolong the excitement of present opening. After presents we had our traditional breakfast casserole and not so traditional Moravian sugar cake. Usually we have Grandma's pecan rolls and stollen. This year Grandma and Grandpa were supposed to be in Houston so I made the sugar cake. They ended up staying home because Grandpa was under the weather.

The rest of the day was spent in our pjs just enjoying our family and all our new toys. Grandma came back over in the afternoon to play games with us and have dinner. Dinner was ham and macaroni and cheese. This was the very first time I have ever bough a ham! And honestly I wouldn't have bought this one if the grocery store had not been running a great deal where I got as much free groceries as the cost of the ham. I don't know why I've never bought a ham before. For as much as I cook I'm kind of surprised it took me this long to get around to it.

It was a perfect Christmas day at our house! I hope it was at yours, too.
Jenn

PS On a interesting side note: I asked Ruby and Eliza Claire what Santa was going to bring them. Their answers: Ruby, a toy frog; Eliza Claire, a blue shirt. Apparently this is what the told their preschool teachers and it stuck. Luckily Santa did come through with both items. I thought they were quite random.