Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night

Just a few photos of our Christmas decorations! I hope that everyone has a blessed CHRISTmas and that we all can remember and teach our children why we celebrate this day! MERRY CHRISTmas!From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

GOD is good

Can I just say that GOD is GOOD! I have been praying on several things lately. God has blessed my family in so many ways! No matter what your situation, know that God is on your side, and remember "PRAYER DOES WORK"!

Just the Two of Us Thursday

Tonight was a special night! Thursday's, Tony drives an hour and a half to have dinner with Michaella! The twins used to go with him to see Michaella as I toted Peyton to soccer practice. Now that soccer is over and the church Christmas play practices are over we had to figure out how to work Thursdays! Tonight was Riley's night!It is very RARE that I get any extended period of time with just one of the kiddos. So, on Thursdays, it's "Just the Two of us Thursday"! And I must say, Riley and I LOVED it!

First we went to the store to pick out our gourmet dinner. He put the menu together. Spagettio's, Nacho Cheese Dorito's and Sprite Zero.....all his picking and much to my delight, since it was easy of course! Dinner was a hit. After that we shared our valuable time putting the train together that runs under our CHRISTmas tree. If I've never mentioned it before, Riley is ALL about trains. WE are going on 5 years of being passionate about trains. And to this day he will let EVERYONE he knows, he will be a train conductor when he grows up. He even went as far as telling me that it will be on a train where he will "find a girl who has no one to take care of her, so he will do it". I have absolutely no doubt in my mind he will have a profession that deals with trains! What a fine job he did on the track!

Once the train was up and running, he decided he wanted to bake a strawberry cake! And how great it turned out! He is very precise in following directions, if it's 2 minutes to mix, he mixes to the second!

Oh and his favorite part, licking the beaters. I think this to was my favorite part of baking with my Mom!

What a wonderful, heartfelt, warming night Riley and I had. The night ended with a chat on the couch and true insight to his day. I will cherish these moments rare moments forever!

The Disobedient Tree

Friday was finally the day we had Michaella and the boys together which meant it was time to go find our annual Christmas Tree! We always look forward to it, making sure it is full, not too crocked and perfect for our home! We found it, loaded it up, and headed home to put it on display in our front window!

It took a bit of time for Tony to get it just right in the stand, but we finally got it! The kids always have so much fun putting the ornaments on! Tony and I sit and watch as they do all the decorating! OK, maybe I moved one or two to a better spot! Here's a look at our tree, with Santa right by of course! This year their Nana gave them LOTS of tropical Christmas ornaments.... hence her Parrothead background!

I get the kiddos all tucked in bed about midnight, and decide to hang the stockings and do some finishing touches when I hear a big crash! Yes, the Christmas tree fell! All of their hard work smashed on the floor! Needless to say, I left the tree right where it was and by the next afternoon we were back up with the Christmas spirit!

So we have an idea why our tree was being so "disobedient". Tony says the tree is "cursed" because we paid with a credit card for the tree, and neither one of us had cash. Which meant we couldn't tip the helpful hands who put the tree on top of the truck. We felt bad, but I guess we paid for it! the moral of the story....always remember your cash to pay the tip!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a blessed CHRISTmas season!!!!

Broadway Star

O.K., I officially label myself as a big goober! Two weeks ago I registered at Dillards for our upcoming wedding. When I was all done, the consultant had me fill out a form for a drawing. The winner would receive 2 Waterford champagne flute, $150.00 value. Without any thought of possibly winning, I filled out the entry.

Since that day, I had forgotten all about it. I sometimes wonder when there are drawings, if someone actually wins. I don't sometimes wonder that, I always wonder that! Well, last night I received a call and I WON! I was ecstatic! How cool is that, I WON! I don't win anything! I WON! I know, I'm a goober! It's such a good feeling though! Winning! I LOVE TO WIN! They are perfect too!

Anyway, on to more important life events....Peyton is in his Christmas Program tonight at school and he has his own speaking part! So he's not really a Broadway Star, but he is in my heart! We've worked hours on speaking slow and very clearly! Something tells me when he walks up to the microphone and sees a hundred people starring at him, his voice will be fast, shaky and broken! I can't wait to see the performance and I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes!

I'm going to leave you with a few pictures from this morning!

Where's the Tooth?

As promised to Riley, he was indeed the first on the Tooth Fairies list last night. Don't ask me how I know, I don't share secrets! The Tooth Fairy had a slight problem though, the tooth was NOWHERE to be found under his pillow! Thinking and thinking, she decided to check on the floor, just in case it fell. Nothing. One more thought, she skipped over to Walker's pillow and looked under it, no surprise, there was Riley's tooth. Dilemma, where does she put his money. Deciding she needed to prove a point, where the tooth is, the money goes!



Come to find out this morning, Walker convinced Riley that the Tooth Fairy would only come if it was only under his pillow(that's why she didn't come the night before), and that he would actually get more money too! Walker's gonna make a great salesman. Had she known this I bet the Tooth Fairy wishes she put the money under Riley's pillow! Twins, you never know what they're up to!

Needless to say, Walker gave Riley his three dollars as promised and Riley was thrilled all morning!

Do You See What I See

I am feeling much better today! Yet, I am sad for Riley! You see, I slept all day and went to bed at 8:00 last night. Not being able to spend time with the boys yesterday, I ran upstairs to wake Riley up (he likes to be the first one ready EVERY morning) and get my huge good morning hugs he generously hands out every morning. I rubbed his head, he was still asleep, he opened his eyes, looked straight up to me happy as could be....


"I lost my tooth last night"


"What? What tooth?" (I didn't know he had one that close to coming out...I think he played with it for a while trying to knock it out!)


"This one" he says as he shows me his snaggled tooth mouth!

"Oh my, where is it?"


"Ummm"....he lifts up his pillow, "It's still here he says with a sad voice.


"Oh baby, I am sure you lost it late last night after the tooth fairy already had her list of children."


"No, it was only 9:00" he proceeds, "last time it was 9:45", still looking sad.


"You know what baby, I bet last night was a very busy night for her, lots of teeth being lost."


"Like a trillion kids."


"I bet a trillion, but I bet you are first on her list tonight!"


"I bet I am too."


I am very optimistic that the tooth fairy will fulfill her duties tonight. I don't think I could handle another morning of unexpected disappointment!

A Finer Day Awaits

Raging head, throbbing eyes, chapping nose, cozy bed, coarse tissue. No light today. Let the day squeak by, the night go slow, and may a finer day await tomorrow!

It Was All About Me

Why is it when you have a birthday you don't feel a day older, but when your children have a birthday you feel OLD!!!

I don't feel any older, yet, I turned 33 yesterday! The great thing about a Sunday birthday.....we can make it a birthday weekend! And that's exactly what we did! I arrived home Friday after an extra long stressful drive in traffic, to these wonderful homemade Chocalate Meringue pies. Just last week I gave Tony my Grandmother's recipe and what a great suprise I had! A yummy one at that!

On Saturday Tony treated me to dinner at our new favorite Italian Restaurant, Pallotta's. Shrimp Marsala with sundried tomatoes and portabella mushrooms made me happy, along with a nice glass of merlot!

Are you getting the idea I gained a few pounds this weekend! On Sunday my parents came over for smoked chicken, a pot of beans, and rice. Not to mention a devil's food pound cake which Riley helped light and yelled "looks like we're gonna have a fire!" Tony couldn't have made the weekend any better!