Christmas Favorites-Contemporary Non-Carol

I absolutely love Christmas music. There's not too much of it I don't like, but I thought it might be fun to share my favorites and see what yours are. Maybe we'll be exposed to some music we haven't heard before! So, I'll suggest a category of music, tell you my favorite and you tell me yours!

My first category is Contemporary Non-Carol. So not your traditional Christmas songs that you hear all the time, but something a little different.

My very favorite is Steven Curtis Chapman's "Christmas is All in the Heart". I could really listen to this song over and over again forever. This CD was given to me by my sister-in-law a number of years ago and has been my very favorite ever since! This is not a real video for the song, but something someone put together. it's quite nice though. Enjoy!

Dancing Queen

As part of the 7th and 8th grade experience at the school my kids attend, the kids are allowed to choose an elective. It's either music or art and they actually take both classes anyway, but this is an additional session of one of those. SB chose to take music because they dance. she's learned many forms of social dance, including the waltz, salsa, etc. They 7th and 8th graders will be presenting a selection of all of these forms of dance at the Christmas program coming up next month. On of the dance styles they are learning is hip-hop which happens to be SB's favorite type of dance, and one that she is exceptionally good at. This has not gone unnoticed at her school. She had already been asked to teach the hip-hop sessions to both 7th and 8th graders, but now the ultimate honor for her! She has been asked to choreograph the hip-hop portion of the Christmas program! She is beyond excited and nervous and working really hard to get it just right. she's beginning the teaching of her choreography today. What an awesome experience for her!

Sick Boy!

The teenager is sick. He's been complaining of a sore throat for several days, but in the last two days developed a pretty nasty cough as well. Today's the second day of school he's missed, minus his first hour which he needed to be at so he got up and went both days. I called the Dr. and they weren't going to see him until tomorrow until I mentioned that I thought he might have strep. The only appointment available was 10:30, which is very close to the time the Princess gets out of school, so I had to send him off on his own. Having done that, I actually have no idea what is wrong with him. I do know he doesn't have strep (at least according to the rapid test results), but that he does have some kind of infection that requires antibiotics. I guess that's all that really matters, but geesh, I should have sent a tape recorder with him!

Christmas songs gone wrong...

From the brain of FE, sung to the tune of "Mary Did You Know":

Shmi, did you know, that your baby boy would one day fight on lava?

Be Still My Heart

I live in a major metropolitan area. Lots of people, lots of cars, lots of accidents. Today on my way to pick the Princess up from school I saw three separate accidents. Three. At 11 AM. All three with paramedics on the scene. I've never been one to not notice accidents at all, but I must admit that now that I have a teenager driving, I notice them much more often. And even if I know he's not out driving, my heart starts beating faster and I must look to see the cars involved and sometimes even call the teenager to make sure he's okay. I just worry about him so.

The Lights!

So Cold!

I would never make it in a colder climate as I think I'm freezing to death here and it's 53 degrees!

I'm feeling rather filled with joy these days. I think I've reached a place in my life where I just don't want to spend my time being upset. It's not worth it. We have so little control of so many circumstances around us. And really, there are things in my life that are not perfect, or that I wish were different, but I don't want to waste time worrying about them. There are relationships I wish were different, but I can only control my reactions to people, not the way they choose to feel or react. I'm a little sad that it took me almost 39 years to figure that out. I know I've wasted a lot of time trying to make people happy. People who just won't be happy no matter what I do. Because really, your happiness cannot be based on what other people do. You have to own your own happiness and decide that you want to live joyfully. And that's what I am trying to do.

In other news, I have an interview for another day care charge today. Another little girl, almost 2. It's a part time gig, which works for me, and right now I'm just really wanting to get money put away since I am quitting my job in August to go back to school! So hopefully this will go well. Mark is not that excited about me taking the job, but I feel like I really want to be helping more with the financial side of things.

Good News!

In today's mail I received a letter from the principal at the teenager's school. They are holding graduation at a local mega-church that holds 6,000! So, I don't know if attendance will be unlimited, but at least we'll be able to have more than 2 people attend! The only downfall is that graduation is being held at 2 PM on a weekday afternoon. But, I know that it's enough advanced notice that anyone who really cares to be there will be able.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

What a perfect morning! The kiddos and I are drinking hot cocoa. There is Christmas music playing in the background. My wonderful hubby worked all day Tuesday and Wednesday getting the Christmas lights up and we turned them on for the first time last night. And we'll be decorating the inside of the house today minus the tree, of course. I feel happy and blessed and cozy in my warm house. Have a wonderful day!!

Glad I Did!

This afternoon I was exhausted. So tired. I didn't want to think about dinner, nor having to entertain my in-laws for the evening. I tried to talk Mark into canceling, but he said he would take care of everything, and he did. And I am so glad we went ahead with the evening. We had dinner and chatted forever, the kids put on a play and then we watched Elf, which happens to be one of my favorite Christmas movies. I wasn't too sure how my MIL would like it, but she laughed hysterically most of the way through. It was awesome. We ate leftover pie for dessert during the movie and it was just a casual fun evening. They finally left, just a few minutes ago, and I feel so happy that we shared such a fun time with them!

All Tuckered Out

My alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. That was late compared to last year when the teenager didn't drive and had to be at work at 4:30, but still...

Anyway, my hero and I headed out before 6 AM. We got most of what we were looking for, plus a few things we didn't KNOW we wanted. I completely stumbled on a perfect gift for the hardest person on my list, so that was awesome! We called home at 7 to wake the teenager for wrestling practice, and then at 10 to bribe the other children. We're having guests tonight and the house needed to be straightened and dishes washed. We told them that if they would get everything cleaned up, we would come get them and take them to shop at the dollar store. Small treat maybe, but my kids LOVE to do their own Christmas shopping, and the dollar store allows them to shop for everyone on their lists with their own money! They were thrilled. The house is clean, so I'm happy.
The only downside is that my feet are killing me. We were shopping for 9 hours. And I am ready for a nap!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I posted my thankful post earlier in the week. It's going to be a lovely day here, filled with family, food, football and a special movie we are all anxious to see! Hope your day is filled with love and laughter! I know mine will be!

Pilgrim Napkin Rings...

From Family Fun. These were fun to make and they are sooooooo adorable!!!

Gift cards, yes or no?

I was reading another blog yesterday that posed the question of whether or not gift cards are a great gift, or completely impersonal and tacky.

I know for me, on the receiving end, I LOVE gift cards. I rarely have money to buy things for myself and I love to shop, so gift cards are the perfect gift for me. I mean really, wouldn't you rather buy something you KNOW for sure someone will use rather than something they'll be giving away in January??

As far as giving, I also love them. I read that some people think it takes no thought or effort to buy a card, and while I guess it is easier sometimes, it also takes some effort to go to a specific store to buy a gift card you know someone will love. That's more effort than ordering a gift online! And? I hate for my money to be poorly spent buying someone something THEY will be selling or giving away in January. I would rather give them they joy of picking out something they've been wanting!

And let's not even go there with the kids as they get older. The teenager wants expensive stuff. When people ask what to give him, I really don't have ideas that are budget friendly that don't involve gift cards. His clothes are expensive, his toys are expensive. It's part of being a teenager!

So for me? Gift cards are awesome! It's a win-win situation for those who are hard to buy for!

What do you think???

Busy...and Thankful. (plus a bragging moment or two!)

I don't think I mentioned to anyone but Karin that FE won the art contest at his school a couple of weeks ago. He worked really hard and it was awesome for him to win. The prize was money to spend at the book fair which is the perfect prize for him!

And...last week was the annual Turkey Trot at our school. FE, after a break from tradition last year , came in 4th again, BUT SB?? She ran her heart out and placed 3rd among the 7th grade girls! Next year the Princess gets to run as well! That will be fun!

This week is fun, but busy. Tonight is the teenager's football banquet, if he makes it back from his job interview on time. He's interviewing for a large company with many stores, but they only interview in Tempe, about a 40 minute drive in good traffic. I'm a nervous wreck about him driving out there and back during rush hour, and we let him take Mark's car because his, while good for tooling around town, needs to last a while and driving that far on the freeway may not be the best way to keep it running well right now!lol!
Tomorrow the kids are home and we'll be cleaning house and doing some crafty things to get ready for Thursday, as well as heading to my friend's house for her annual turkey butcher party. I stay away from the butcher part, but enjoy the party part!
Thursday is dinner, football, a movie and scouring the ads for my favorite shopping day of the year! And Friday my in-laws will be coming for dinner and a movie since we'll miss them on Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for so much this year. God is truly awesome.

My husband, who takes care of me and loves me no matter how moody I am.

The teenager, who really makes me laugh like no one can, and has a heart of gold.

SB, my darling, gorgeous, amazing girl. She's the sweetest person I've ever known, bar none.

FE, who turns my hair gray, but also fills my heart with joy and pride with his charming, quirky personality.

The princess, my toothless wonder, who loves everyone in the most exuberant fashion, but her mommy most of all.

Lilly Vanilly, the barkless wonder dog who makes me crazy, but also makes my heart happy.

My mom, who helps me with the logistics involved in getting everyone where they need to be on time.

My brother, the stand-up comedian, without whom many events in my life would not have been as funny! And who cheers my kids on as if they were his own.

My in-laws, who are supportive and encouraging, and try really hard.

My sister-in-law, who always offers to help.

My best friend, who giggles with me until we get told to be "absolutely" quiet, and makes me feel like I'm in grade school again. (and her husband who figures out a way to make me sound good even when I pick boy songs and helps my kids design a headstone for their precious dog).

My other good friend, who shares in the giggling fits quite often.

My goddaughter, who makes me smile.

My girlfriends and our monthly dates. What happens at dinner stays at dinner.

My kids' schools and wonderful amazing teachers.

And so much I'm sure I'm forgetting. We are truly and wondrously blessed.

Count your blessings and have a joyful holiday with your family.

Happy Thanksgiving.

All She Wants for Christmas...

Lazy Day

For the first time in so long I can't even remember, we have nothing much on the calendar this weekend! I had a lunch date today and SB has a rehearsal tomorrow, but other than that? We're just hanging out at home. A nice break before the insanity that is the holidays.

On a really lovely note, our teachers voted back in May that instead of having the day off for Columbus day, we would have school and then they would take the day before Thanksgiving off. So, only two days of school this week! Woohoo!

Psst....

Hey you, and you, bet you'll be rooting for my Cats tonight, won't you now???

I can't stop

crying that is.

G is back with me today and her face, while looking truly awful, is not as bad as I imagined it all night long. BUT, I can't quit thinking that I could have prevented this. In over 12 years of caring for other people's children I've never had one get so badly hurt. I guess that's probably nearly miraculous, but I just feel awful. My heart hurts and there's just this pit in my stomach. Everyone who knows about the incident has been amazingly kind and supportive, particularly the parents, but I feel so terrible.

Scary Day

My 2.5 year old charge(G) took a mighty big tumble today. In a scenario that's too hard to explain in writing, she tumbled out the open van door into the garage floor, face first. I was on the opposite side of the van, putting the baby in so we could go get the Princess from school. I rushed over and picked G up and saw immediately that her nose was swelling rapidly, her face was all scratched up and she was bleeding like crazy. I stopped the bleeding as much as I could and called her dad. He rushed over and took her to urgent care. Eventually they sent them to the ER, as her nose was so swollen they needed to do a ct scan.

Praise God, she is now on her way home from the hospital with her parents. They are really acting amazing about the entire thing. That's really good since I'm beating myself up enough for all of us...

Tradition! Tradition!

This post from Karin yesterday got me thinking about movies and Thanksgiving and one of the traditions at our house. Every year, at some point on Thanksgiving day (usually in the evening) our family goes to see a movie. It's usually a new release that we've been waiting for and planning on seeing for months. Sometime over the summer, we'll all see a preview for something that comes out around the holiday and say "That can be our Thanksgiving movie!" This year we're going to see Enchanted, and we're very excited! I think we started this tradition about 13 years ago or so. Other movies we've seen on Thanksgiving include Anastasia, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, the Santa Clause movies, etc. The size of our group varies every year. My mom always comes with us. My in-laws have gone a few times, Mark's brother and his family went at least once. It's a sweet and fun tradition that the family looks forward to every year.

Do you and your family have a fun Thanksgiving tradition?

Recovering

I think that 11 weeks of late Friday night football followed by 10 early Saturday morning games and all the emotion that went with the last few weeks of football really wreaked some havoc on me. I have been so tired all weekend. I finally feel a bit recovered this morning. It's been a nice long weekend since my kids had early release on Friday and no school today.

Mark and I went out on Saturday for a cheap date!lol! We saw a play at his work and then went to dinner at a restaurant I love, but I was mystery shopping for the restaurant so we will get reimbursed for our dinner! Woohoo! Can't beat that.


Yesterday we really were mostly lazy except for taking SB to her rehearsal. I grocery shopped while she rehearsed and then came home and took a nap I was so exhausted that I couldn't make it to Mass. Bad me!

Today I've been the energizer bunny. I had to get my blood drawn first thing since I had to fast, but then I've done all the laundry and organized my sewing area. I found Christmas presents I had forgotten I bought! I'm farther along than I realized!lol!

I've also been reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I've seen parts of the movie, but had never read the book.It is so amazing. I really can't put it down!

Friday Night Football-The Final Edition

Final Score:

Us-6 Them-21

Our offense was outplayed, make no mistake. But our defense really did a fantastic job. There were some horrible, horrendous calls by the refs, none of which would have won the game for us, but still...and an announcer who couldn't even say what was happening in the game, and LAUGHED every time he announced something bad from our side. Classless. And 4 of our players got so hurt they couldn't keep playing.
BUT, the teenager played PHENOMENAL football. We're working on his highlight reel to send off to some colleges and see what happens. And wrestling starts Monday.

We were all doing okay until the teenager called home crying. He was so sad to have looked up in the stands at the end of the game and see his little brother. When he came in, he hugged me for a long time. And then he and his brother held each other and sobbed. He told his brother to make sure he plays football and sticks with it. He's really regretting not having played his soph and jr. years. And I regret not forcing the issue, but who knew? He had to make that mistake on his own. I'm glad he stuck with it this year. We've had 11 awesome Friday nights cheering for him.

Can I PLEASE go back to bed???

My comedy of errors actually started yesterday afternoon. The Princess has been having some issues and needed to see the Dr. She was prescribed an antibiotic, which I needed to go pick up at Target. I also had two other prescriptions to pick up and wanted to look at the Halloween stuff on clearance, so i decided to go after my day care charges got picked up, on my way to pick SB up from cheer. I was cutting it close at the pharmacy, but Target is generally really good, and SB never gets done right on time, so i thought I would be fine. I drop off the Princess' prescription and tell them I need a refill on Mark's. They tell me to give them 20 minutes, so the kiddos and I walk around Target, go through the Halloween stuff and get back after about 25 minutes. They need to mix the antibiotic still, no big deal. Oh, except they forgot to fill the other prescription and it'll be 10 more minutes! I'm already late, so I basically empty my cart on their counter and tell them I can't wait, I'll have to come back later. Argh!



Rush off to get SB. Now mind you, I have less than 45 minutes left to feed these kids, get them home and get my self ready to be back at church. SB is holding the coach's baby. The coach is on the phone....... 10 minutes later, we finally get to leave. We stop to eat and I call my mom, who is on her way to my house to take SB to dance and stay with the kids since the teenager is at football practice. Can she just meet us at Arby's? Sure! 5 minutes later, she calls back. There has been an accident and she won't make it in time for me to run home and get ready. The kids are still eating. So? No makeup or changing clothes for me for church! And? she might not make it in time to go get SB's clothes and get her to dance. I call the teenager, who miraculously is just leaving practice. Can he PLEASE run home, get SB's dance stuff together and meet us at church? Listening to SB and him on the phone while she's trying to tell him what to pack was a sit-com unto itself, for sure!



My mom and the teenager both make it to church, SB gets off to dance, and Generations goes relatively well. I go back to Target after church to pick up the meds, they still have my stuff from earlier, and I'm headed home. I call Mark (who has left church and is headed to the gym) and we're talking about SB and cheer and dance...DANCE!!! DANCE!!! SB is still at dance! I was supposed to pick her up when i left Target. I am almost home, and have to turn around to go back to get her! Luckily, she had just finished when I got there, so she has no idea that I almost FORGOT TO PICK HER UP!!!!!



Fast forward through far too little sleep again to this morning. The Princess wakes up fine, takes a shower with me, is being perfectly pleasant. Gets ready for school. And then....the trauma! She HAS to eat breakfast because this medicine will tear up her stomach if she doesn't. Except? She's not hungry. I tell her she must eat anyway so she can take the meds before she goes to school. She takes one bite of her french toast, spits it into the napkin and runs and hides in the car. I go out and bring her in and tell her she must eat. she throws a fit like I've never seen. This is not a child who throws fits. Ever. Well, this fit? Oh.my.gosh. It took her very big older brother( who was late for football trying to help me corral this child) to finally pick her up and sit her on my lap so I could force feed her two bites of french toast. No amount of threatening, cajoling, anything was going to get her to eat. She didn't care about the medicine, she took that fine. For whatever reason, she did not want to eat. We finally leave for school, 15 minutes late. We get there as the bell is ringing. I'm getting out of the car, with a baggie full of change (really like $20 woth ofquarters and dimes) for something I was working on at school, and drop it. Change flies all over the parking lot. At that point? I seriously thought about just lying there in the middle of the road to see what would happen...

Friday Night Football-Week 10

Final Score:

Us-21 Them 26

Heartbreaking game. We were down 20-7 at the half. They scored on three turnovers by us. We came back in the second half and were winning 21-20 with 2 minutes left in the game. and then their quarterback (who has signed with Georgia Tech already) threw an amazing pass and they scored again. We blocked their kick return and had great field position. Our quarterback threw an amazing pass that was not caught in the end zone with 30 seconds left and we lost.

We dropped from our number 8 ranking to number 9. Next week, the first week of state playoffs, we play a local team whom we've beaten before. They however have beaten the team we lost to last night. It's single elimination. If we win, we play again. If we lose, our season is over...