Tuesday Tell All Catch Up

Christmases Long Long Ago: I loved having my grandparents spend the night on Christmas Eve. Granny would sleep with me and Papa would sleep in Billy's room, putting him on the couch. They would be at our house to see what Santa left for us then pack up and go. After church we'd go to their house for dinner and gifts. After dinner we'd play games and eat dessert. Fun times!

Greatest gift: The greatest gift I gave this year was the carousel that Papaw wanted for his village which has quickly morphed into a city. Aiden picked it out for him. The greatest material gifts I recieved was from our parents: a dishwasher and a leaf sucker/blower. However the best gift I got was the picket fence smiles from my two little sweeties. I loved seeing their excitement with the gifts and who can resist the bed hair in Christmas morning pictures! They have been getting along so well lately and that is the best gift ever.

Don't Ask Me, I Just Pay the Mortgage!

Needless to say I got a good belly laugh when I found this scenario in the kitchen the other day. No one will fess up to "uniting" Pooh and the frog in this position. Aiden and Travis said they didn't do it but I am not sure if I believe that for a second.

I never would have pegged these two as a match for each other but opposites do attract, you know. I guess we all need to get a little lovin' from time to time!

Happy New Year, y'all!

The cherry on top...

both Aiden and Audrey are throwing up with a stomach flu. Travis is next in line with stomach cramps and I imagine I'll be following that road shortly. There goes our New Year's plans. On the bright side, I would rather blow noses that get puked on one more time.

Normally I am not one to complain but I really feel so much better after getting my top 7 off my chest. Every now and then you just need to let it all go. Usually I am the one who is last to take down the tree and other decorations. And I did have some wonderful times with my family and freinds this year. I guess you can't have the Norman Rockwell Christmas every year and it was my turn to have the Charlie Brown Christmas this year.

Who wants to claim it for next year?

Just call me Scrooge

Although I thoroughly enjoyed being with my family and friends, I am SO OVER the holidays! I will post pictures of the holidays tomorrow but here are the top 10 reasons I am ready to be done with December:

1. Both our cars went in the shop within a week of each other, really tightening the old pursestraps.
2. Neither of my kids are sleeping through the night. Once I get one down the other is awake. Maybe it is because the idea of Santa had them wacked out hyper all month. When the kiddos aren't sleepin ain't nobody sleepin! (Needless to say Aiden woke up while I was writing this post so I had to save it an come back.)
3. Both Aiden and Audrey have had the worst runny noses this month. I am over trying to chase Aiden down to blow his nose. Audrey on the other hand actually likes it but I don't care if I ever blow another nose again! Plus it makes them cough all night, which may be a contributing factor to the not sleeping thing.
4. When I got out my tree this year, about half of the spots where the limbs connect were broken. So our tree looked like poo since there were mostrous gaps everywhere. I wanted to throw up every time I saw that ugly thing.
5. Aiden and Audrey kept taking off the ornaments that were on the tree. Aiden would take ones he liked back to his room and Audrey would just take them off the tree to look at them, tell me "pretty," then lay them back on the tree.
6. I don't get out of school until Friday the 21st this year! What is that about?
7. I volunteered to have Christmas dinner at my house this year so that the kids could play with their new things at home(Ultimately I did't feel like lugging home all their new gear for the third night in a row). That meant that I needed to clean the house amongst all the Christmas maddness and cook the dinner.


Today Travis and I shuttled the kids off and cleaned the heck out of our house, erasing any evidence of the crazy month that has passed. The ghetto tree is waiting to be picked up and I can breathe deeply again.


Here's Aiden again...so I'll leave it at the top 7. Sorry about the complaining but now that it;s out of my system I can appreciate the goodness that is my family and our future.

As Aiden would say...

"What da world?" I can't figure out why my picture no longer fits in the title box. I didn't make any changes to the template. Any suggestions?

Sweeter than any sugarplum

This is my girl, Audrey.

This little one is 16 months going on 26 years old! Sometimes I think she acts more grown up than I. For example, when she is ready for bed, she'll turn off the TV, take my hand and guide me to the gate at the bottom of the basement stairs. "Baba. Night night" she'll tell me and be ready for bed. She'll mimic anything we say to her and it actually sounds pretty close. Our favorite thing about her language is her favorite word, "pookoo." We've discovered this word can mean many things: purple, crayon, present, and the list goes on. She also refuses to eat without a spoon and always uses "pwease" and "dank oo." What a little lady!

She loves to sing "Old MacDonald" so she'll sing "e-i-e-i-o-duck" because she always wants the duck to be named first. When any music is on while she is sitting(or even when it is dead silent), you can see her kicking her legs to the rhythm. She also does this when you hold her or when she is trying to fall asleep. It sounds funny in the monitor at night. And dancing? That girl has some rhythm! I see toe shoes in her future!

Audrey is named after my dad's mother whom I believe to be one of the kindest women I've ever known. I was so worried that this baby would be a hellion and I would always be yelling at her using my grandmother's name. That would be too weird!Luckily this Audrey is following in that Audrey's footsteps. She cannot stand to hear anyone cry, especially babies. Tonight in Target she heard a baby crying and she called out, "don't cry" and blew the baby a kiss. If she accidently head buts us while we are holding her she'll say "saawwwyy" and "ets hug." Can't get much sweeter than that. Although my grandmother hated her name I think she's so happy to have such a beautiful and gentle little girl as her namesake. Santa will definitely be good to her this year!

Audrey's wish list from Santa:
1. A doll with a doh (pacifier) or one that talks.
2. Books
3. Puzzles
4. Anything kitty cat

Someone bring me my wrist cuffs!

I always knew I was meant to do something good and this quiz solidified that answer for me! According to this scientifically proven, research based quiz I am Wonder Woman!



Take the quiz at www.thesuperheroquiz.com and see what superhero you resemble.


What about that bad side we all try to keep hidden but seems to emerge at the worst possible time? See which superhero villain fits you at www.thesuperheroquiz.com/villain. When it comes to the bad guys I most strongly resemble The Riddler.



What does it say for you? Do you think it fits?

Tuesday Tell All: The Twelve Questions of Christmas

Real or artificial tree?

Artificial for now but real once the animals are gone.

Do you like eggnog?

Yes...yummy creamy goodness!

Favorite gift received as a child?

My dollhouse which Audrey will get in a few or twenty years.

Do you have a nativity scene?

Yes and Aiden loves to arrange the people. He likes to have baby Jesus in his room but I told him the baby needs to stay with his mommy and daddy since he is only a tiny baby.

Hardest? Easiest person to buy for?

Hardest: my brother Billy. Easiest: the kids.

Favorite Christmas movie?

Twas the Night Before Christmas...you know the one with the mice and the clock.

White lights or colored lights?

Either but we have white this year.

Favorite Christmas song?

The Chipmunk Christmas Song or Baby, it's Cold Outside.

Travel for Christmas or stay home?
Traveling around the city is fine. All of our closest family is within a 20 minute drive.

Do you open presents Christmas Eve

or Christmas morning?

Christmas Eve at Cathy and Larry's house with Trav's side of the family. Christmas morning at home alone with the kids. Christmas night at my mom and dad's with my brother.

Do you tell the Christmas story?

We read the book to the kids.

Good for a giggle

Amy Ritchie sent me this video on Monday and I really needed a good laugh. On Monday, neither Aiden nor Audrey slept well, the car passed out which will put us out $400 this close to the holidays and school was wacko! Thanks Amy...enjoy everyone!



When looking for this on YouTube I found a few more like it but none that truly hold a candle to this one.

Question: If you are married, would you redo it this way and what song would you use? I totally would! Our song would be, "You're the One that I Want" from Grease, Travis' favorite guilty pleasure!

Tuesday Tell All Catch-up

I feel like I've been in the Twilight Zone! Something weird happened with our computer that wouldn't allow us to log on to any websites: no email, no blogspot, no ebay! I have no idea why it works now but I ain't askin any questions neither!

Therefore I am going to catch up as much as possible and double dip last week's and this week's Tuesday Tell All:

Last Tuesday: Season of Giving

I hate tooting my own horn so this is a toughie for me. One nice thing I've done lately is give blood at my student council's blood drive last week at school. I felt that I should donate since I was coordinating the drive and asking others to do so. I was so nervous as it was my first time. Secretly I was hoping that I would fail one of the little tests along the way: contact with blood (Aiden always gets bloody noses from digging for gold), low iron (not the case anymore...those pesky multivitamins!). No such luck. I went to get my collection bag and sat on the donor table. One guy couldn't find a good vein...my lucky day...not! He switched me to the lady he called "the vein guru" and of course there was a "pretty one" as she called it on my left arm. Darn that guru! I admit I teared up from the anticipation of the needle but I should have been crying because I was making a huge deal over nothing. It was painless and I was able to help someone without asking for anything in return. Two teachers at my school have had family members recieve transfusions in the last week. I know they didn't get my blood but I feel good for helping the cause. I plan on giving again since I am, and this is in the guru's words, "an A+ sponsor with A - blood."

Something nice that was done for me doesn't really fit as neatly into this topic but I am going to make it fit since it did give me a better outlook. Freshman year at UK I was walking to take a test in a class I dreaded, biology with Dr. Just. He was one of those professors that was bound and determined that no one get an A in his class so his tests were impossible. Scowling, I was walking across "Blanding Beach" when I heard, "You dropped something." As I looked around on the ground I realized this was impossible because everything I needed to fail that test was in my backpack. I looked up at him with a confused look. He merely pointed to my face and said, "Your smile." Of course that comment led me straight to my lost smile, along with the realization that, as much as we hate it, people do see more than we may think we are exuding. I am a pretty friendly gal but anyone who saw me on that day before my chance encounter probably didn't get that vibe. I try and give off the same energy that I like to attract, which is friendliness mixed with fun. I regret that I never saw that guy so I could thank him. BTW, I failed that biology test (and ultimately the class) but retook the course with another teacher and got a B+.


This Tuesday: O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

I don't think I'd ever want one of those department store window showpiece trees that some crave because it goes against what I think of when I think of the holidays: that is family. Here are some of my favorite ornaments and what they say.

Prewedding ornaments: Kiss, UK, WWF Wrestling, a computer, Scrabble board, ballet shoes, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. We found the fun stuff and loved just being us, embracing some of our cherished youth and finding stuff to like together.

Teacher ornaments: A large variety of ABC's, books, schoolhouses...you name it! I do like the one that reads, "Support Wildlife: Teach School."

Wedding ornaments: fancy decorator ones we received as gifts and 7,346 "Our First Christmas" ornaments. I love them all but it doesn't bother me when the fancy ones break. Each of the first Christmas ornaments is special because it shows a little about the giver. My favorites are the bride and groom snow people and the Santa riding an alligator we bought on our honeymoon in New Orleans.

Ornaments commemorating the kids: I love all the ornaments with the kids' names on them, including the ones with four of whatever that can symbolize the four of us. Of tthe kids's ornaments ornaments, my favorites are their dohs (pacifiers) on ribbon that hang on the tree. Aiden's is a blue doh and Audrey's is a UK doh, the only one she'd use for four months straight. The only thing I don't like is that I have more ornaments that have three characters not four as we need now so I don't want Audrey to get jealous one day (that is something I totally felt when it came to my older brother...he was mom's favorite :) ).

Some may not like it because it has no particular color pattern or doesn't stick to one particular style. To me, it is a representation of all of us and love.