Backlog of blog fodder

A. "Standing O" for J.J.&T. Rock Band




B. Package of fruit cake on a hand-painted parrot, odd-shaped serving dish. Now that is a "white elephant" if I ever saw one!


C. Parent says "No," Gman says, "I not be happy!"


D. Guess who is not a morning person.



E. Princess walked up to me and said "I look great!"
(that's pink gloves, a headband, scrunchy worn as a bracelet, and a clutch)



F. I think it may be time to invest in a new pair of jeans.

We have returned...

...but it will be an eternity before the house returns to normal.
Our Christmases are always a "hurry up and go" affair to do presents, get Al to/from his father, & rush out the door to get to Craig's family, which is a 3 hr drive.

Kids first wake up (actually, we had to wake up the little ones up)
At the top of the stairs before going down:


Santa brought us a "Family gift" this year. Al sees it:


Santa brought Gman bedding for "a big boy bed." We are now a crib-free home!


Papaw plays "pool" on the new Wii.

Note the destruction?! That's not even the half of it....it will be spring before I see the carpet.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

We went driving around looking at Christmas lights over the weekend. One of the fire departments does a huge display where the lights turn on/off in unison to Christmas songs played on the radio. Luckily, Santa just happened to be there so we went in to save standing in line at the mall the next day. How lucky was that!? This is the closest the little ones would get to Santa, and only under the protection of Daddy. Princess refused to speak to him, even from 20 feet away, & Gman refused to even look at Santa!

From our house to yours,

Merry Christmas to all
and
to all a Good Night!

CSI: KY

Princess and Gman have crayons that are specially designed for using on bathtub surfaces, but the color tends to run quickly when it gets wet. Apparently they were going through an "artiste's red period" when they drew this. These pics don't really do them justice as to the magnitude of the runnage and amount of red! Believe me when I say, the tub looked like a gruesome scene out of a crime show!

Car of Dr. Suess?

Would you could you in a box?
Would you could you with a fox?

How about both?

I stand corrected

I mentioned my post about the coke machine credit card to some friends. They agreed with those that posted here...that they would use it for the convenience too. Which I agree--it IS convenient and for that reason I stand corrected. But I still think far more people would use it (not because they don't have any cash on them, but because they have no cash period) and would carry that coke on a balance for months/years making a $1.25 soda cost them $125!

Memory Lane Monday (#12))

At a Christmas party in 2004. Al is 8, Princess is 8 months, Gman was not yet even a twinkle in our eyes (but was a few weeks later!).

What in the world?

OK, it's obviously a credit card machine. But the location of it made Al and I really question the money decision-making skills of those who use it (and I hope it's not any of you because I don't want to offend). If someone can't scrape together $1.25 in cash, perhaps they should consider using the FREE water fountain that was 20 feet to the left instead.

When Decorations Go Bad

I found both of these down the street on Tuesday....tsk tsk tsk

No one listened when Santa warned "Be careful playing those Reindeer Games or somebody's gonna get hurt."


It appears that Frosty had a little too much eggnog at the company Christmas party.

Sound Financial Advice

I just randomly decided to go to the car wash this morning. Normally, I would be slightly peeved to have it rain on my car just 3 hours later. But the divine intervention that sent me there, so that I would see the Today Show's expert guest while waiting for my van, it has filled me with a warm fuzzy feeling that cannot blemish my attitude like the rain has blemished my van. His advice will be the simplest financial plan to follow, literally everyone can do it! I feel I am depriving you of the seriousness of the discussion since I cannot quote the guest verbatim, but I am pretty close: In today's economy it is important to invest in a good wine glass to maximize your wine experience.

Speaking in French

Don't get me wrong, in my brain I'm speaking in English. I DO NOT parlez-vous French. (I just now had to search online how to spell that!) That is how little of French I know. But apparently, when I am talking to my children, what I think I am saying in English is coming out in French, because they often seem to not understand me. Today, while grocery shopping, Gman kept screaming to hear his voice echo thru the rafters. I said "Stop it" and Princess immediately turns to Gman and translates: "Stop it means keep doing that."

Title Conundrum

I've mentioned to you all before the little road game we play called "Purple Car."

Princess learned the game "Slug bug" from her Grandma. Problem was, for the longest time, she couldn't tell the difference between a bug and a PT Cruiser. Now she can.

Gman and Princess have started yelling "Christmas lights" every time they see them.

Princess decided she wanted a game called "Box" where you yell "box" every time you see a vehicle that is even remotely rectangular in shape--ie ALL SUV'S, semi's, vans, etc.

Until I tell them "NO MORE!," every 2.5 seconds, somebody from the backseat (usually Princess) yells:

Box!
Purple Car!
Christmas lights!
Bug!
Protein Cruiser!

When I was trying to pick a title for this post, I couldn't decide between "Road Hazards" and "Snatching Myself Bald"

Do the hokey pokey & turn yourself around

Gman was dressing himself and came running into my bathroom to show me that he put on his pants. They were on backwards, so I tell him "Take them off, turn them around and put them back on."

He pulls them down to his ankles and starts spinning himself around and pulls them back up!!

Thats what
its
all
about!

Memory Lane Monday (#12)

Recall back in March, I did a post about boys and their water "experiments." (I'll wait for you to read it or else the rest of this post loses some of its je-ne-sais-quoi).

Al has outgrown them for the most part. I've not seen a water experiment in his bathroom for quite awhile. Wait. "Outgrown" isn't the right word....its really more that he's evolved to a new level of experimentation. Last week, I found this in the freezer:

It's a rock. Frozen in water. To see if the rock would somehow change by being frozen.

Ironically, the EXACT SAME DAY that I found the rock in the freezer, Craig found this:


It's Gman's Matchbox cars water experiment, found under the dining table.
Yes, there is water in there. Craig calls it a Hot Wheels Car Wash. It's even in the EXACT SAME type of cup as Al's frozen rock!

Dear Lord, please give me strength to get thru another 10 years of water experiments.