Her Preference

So the 2-year-old definitely has a preference for me to do things like get her ready for bed, read to her, carry her, put her coat on, give her baths, cook her meals to order, brush her hair 100 strokes each night, massage her aching feet, feed her bob-bons... but I digress (and embellish). Geof takes the lead a lot on getting her ready, and she often protests, mostly, I think, as a stalling tactic or just to be persnickety. Or just to be 2. Tonight he was fixing to get her ready for bed, and she was giving some push back about him changing her. She wanted me. Here's their conversation.

Geof: "Can I get you dressed?"
Rella: "No. Take my clothes off, put my jammies on, bush my teeth, read my story, put me to bed. All those things to do . . . FOR SHEEEEEE!"

Dreaming of Warmer Days . . .

Brrrr - the kids were all home today, underfoot and looking for things to do. Eventually, we decided they should bundle up and play outside. 2 of the 3 lasted for a while out there, but doses of warm blueberry tea were in order after play time was over. Tonight I was dreaming of warmer days, so I worked on a few pages from our day at Sea World last month. We had such a nice day there - no crowds, perfect temperatures, and sparkling faces. Our passes are good for another 20 months, so I'm thinking another trip is in order.

Santa's Middle Helper

There's a reason why you should always have a camera handy when you have little kids in the house. Kind of like those indispensible bouncy seats that I had in every room when they were infants. I just never knew when I was going to need one. This morning the girls were dressed in their Christmas dresses and we actually had about 15 minutes to spare before heading off to church. And they just happened to be playing in a bright sunny spot in the house, and I just happened to have my camera loaded and ready on the dining room table. 5 quick minutes of shooting, and another item checked off my list - Christmas pictures of Fancy!

Santa's Helper

Success! I can check off 1/3 of one item on my Christmas End-of-Year To Do List. Rella had her first preschool Christmas program this morning. The instructions from school were to wear Christmas colors, and even though I offered her two lovely red Christmas dresses to choose from, she insisted on wearing her sparkly pink Santa dress. There was no talking her into red, and it just really wasn't worth the battle. But it made her easy to spot on a stage full of red and green preschoolers! After school she was in a good mood and was willing to let me take a few pictures, so I've got 1/3 of my kids' Christmas pictures accomplished! Sigh. I could just eat her up.

To-Do-List

My Christmas End of the Year To Do List

How is is that this month is just flying by? And how is it that the same thing happens every year, and yet every year it surprises me (and seemingly everyone else in suburbia, as that seems to be all the small talk we suburban moms waiting around at ballet/basketball/music lessons talk about)? So with a rapidly moving month comes a to do list a mile long. I'm not calling it a Christmas list, because the things on this list have nothing to do with Christmas. I'm pretty sure Jesus is not interested in all my stressful running about in preparation for His miraculous birthday. I'm pretty sure He'd be happier for me to sit on my list and focus on His glory, grace and purpose for my life. Pretty sure about that. But, here's my list, so I can refer back to it and maybe, just maybe cross something off. Or maybe I can just sit on it.

1. Take dog to the vet (just to be sure that all the plastic, crayon wax and plush stuffing that he's consumed while in our impeccible care this fall have caused no lasting harm. I mean, we do the same for our kids, after all!)

2. Get my hair cut (I mean, I do the same for my kids, after all!).

3. Take holiday pictures of my kids (I mean, I do the same thing for YOUR kids, after all!)

4. Make a gigantic treasure map and think of clever clues.

6. Clean my closet (while shopping last night I found a really cute shirt on sale. Then I realized I HAVE that shirt, I wore it once, and I have no idea where it is. SAD.).

7. Make more Christmas cookies. Because we ate all 5 dozen or so of the ones I made last week. oops.

8. Potty train the little one (HA! like that's going to happen before the end of the year, but if anyone asks, it's on my list).

9. Find a small guitar.

10. Find something to do with all of my kids' Halloween candy and find a home for the blinding orange jack-o-lantern pails that is somewhere other than the top of the fridge. Every kid likes Halloween candy in their stocking, right?

11. Find last year's Christmas card address list so I can mail the rest of my Christmas cards.

12. Do a big cook and fill the freezer with meals. Maybe Fancy can help me with that. She did learn to make toast this weekend.

13. Get back to scrapbooking my 2009 Disney pictures. AND, get to scrapping my 2008 Disney pictures. AND look at my Chicago pictures. Forget it. That's just too overwhelming.

14. Repair my Snuggie (and add that item to the list of things the vet needs to check for as causing no adverse effects when consumed in small quanties by said naughty dog).

15. Have my piccolo repaired.

Yep - I think I'm going to sit on this list.

Random #2

Last night I went into Hi-Hat's room, where he was reading by the dim light of the hall light. I believe our conversation went just like this:

concerned parent: "Hi-Hat, don't you need a lamp to read? How can you see the words on the page?"
unconcerned child: "I don't want to have the lights too bright to disturb Alex (said naughty dog) while he's resting (curled up on a pillow in the floor)."
concerned parent: "you are going to strain your eyes reading with no light."
unconcerned child: "what does strain mean?"
concerned parent: "[insert dull definition of strain here]"
unconcerned child: "why would looking at tiny words on a page with no light make my eyes work hard?"
concerned parent: "It just will. That's what my mom said and that's what I'm telling you." Concerned parent clicks on lamp and leaves the room. Said naughty dog seems oblivious.

AWOL

I haven't posted in FOREVER! Must remedy that right now. Hold your hats, folks, this one just so interesting. Here goes:

Why is it that whenever my kids need a bandaid I can only find plain, flesh-tone ones? And why is it that whenever I need a bandaid I can only find Curious George or Barbie ones?

That's it. Thanks for visiting. :)

Before and After

My new bag of tricks from Patti Brown are proving to be quite fun!  Now I can proof much faster and have much more fun!  Woo-hoo!  Here's a sample for HL. :)

Before:

and after:

I'll be proofing into the wee hours of the night, but it will remain bright and colorful in my office! Happy Thanksgiving all!

I Heart Faces ... "Sun Flare" photo challenge

My entry for this week's sun flare challenge. I love catching flare, but it can be tough on the old eyes if I do it for too long! I love this picture of my girl riding fancy!

Sorting it all out

This is for those readers out there who love Trader Joe's and who love Disney World (I know there's at least one of you out there!). Geof dropped me off at Trader Joe's to do a little shopping while he took Hi-Hat and the girls to drum lessons. After the lesson, Geof told Rella that they needed to pick me up from Trader Joe's. Rella exclaims to me as I get in the car: "Mommy! We got you and we're going to Monkey Joe's to trade pins!" :)

*Peppermint JoJo's now available at Trader Joe's, though I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to become aware of this most important information.

**Can I just also say that the Non-Aerosol Original Orange Air Therapy Environmental Essence room spray is WONDERFUL. Adds a little zest to the house. I think it could just a catchier name, though.

***I'm having tabule for lunch tomorrow and either mandarin orange chicken or potstickers for dinner. For breakfast it's a wheat bagel with either pumpkin butter or cranberry apple butter. Can't decide.

More Disney Pages

Wow! With the kids sick and staying home from school and putting other work on hold, I'm getting lots done on my Disney pictures sitting with them here in the living room. Here are two more layouts from our first encounter with Main Street USA. Surely there must be a little condo tucked away somewhere on Main Street that we could move into! :)

For the love of books

So I've always seen myself in Hi-Hat. We're a lot alike. This year in first grade his reading has just skyrocketed. It's favor has even surpassed drumming. If you're ever wondering where he is, just check the couch or his bed or his "office" and you'll find him curled up with a book. He loves goofy chapter books, and right now he's loving the Roscoe Riley series. I'm a little torn over what to do about his night time reading. It's 10:41, and he's still not able to fall asleep, and he's reading "just one more chapter." The mom in me wants him to read one chapter and then go right to sleep. The person in me who can totally relate to him thinks he should just read and read until he falls asleep. I remember being a kid reading into the wee hours of the night, and I still read for about an hour before falling asleep. He's sometimes reading 2 chapter books each night. He's always been a night owl, so I think for now I'll go along with it and let him blossom with his new found skill. As he said with a sweet smile to me tonight, "Mom, I love reading. It's really fun. It's funner than TV."

Let there be lights!

So you will never take me at my word again. Ever. 'Cause here are a few more Disney pictures. Just to get you in the mood for Christmas. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios is quickly becoming a tradition for us. After experiencing it two years in a row, I'm thinking there's no turning back now. We simply must go see it every year. The lights are gorgeous, the music is festive (and they even play true Christmas carols!!), and the Florida snow is fun. I guess if we don't go next year, I have no choice but to put up my own strings of 3 million lights.

Hi-Hat and Fancy did a lot of dancing and hugging during our visit to the lights show. Gots lots of "awwww, aren't they sweet"s from other visitors. 8:)

Cast of Characters

OK, so I lied. I ended up working on a handful of Disney pictures today! Woo-hoo! Well, not entirely woo-hoo. Hi-Hat spiked a fever last night that was accompanied but stomach yuckiness, so he is home from school with me. We've been sitting at the kitchen table working on homework and class turkey projects, so I've had my computer with me slowly working on a couple of pages in between addition problems, feather gluing and calculating mileage for school journal entries. We had pretty good success in meeting characters this trip. I think Fancy was only disappointed not to have met Snow White or Jasmine this time around. Rella was very brave about meeting characters. She was always the first to run to a character with hugs and hi-fives. But then she was done with them and generally did not want to pose for group pictures. This was probably mostly due to the fact that many of our meet and greets were at character dinners (I think we had one each day!), and she was usually quite engrossed in her nuggets and mac and cheese. 8:)


funny that our only family picture of the entire week was taken with Lightning McQueen and Mater.

Late Posting

So I think I've determined with my schedule that I won't be able to look over my Disney pictures until February. Boo! But that's how it is. You'll just have to keep checking back if you want to see more pictures than what I posted on fb. :) And maybe I'll look over LAST year's Disney pictures and this summer's Chicago pictures in February, too.

And I'm very late posting this cute little guy's fun experience in October. Geof found out TobyMac was coming to Rocky Mount, and it just so happens that TobyMac is Hi-Hat's most favorite recording artist. He wears this adorable hat around the basement, blasting TobyMac over the surround sound, and he sings along, making up dance moves that often involve flying leaps off his drum stage. I love to sneak down into the hallway and peer around the corner and watch when he doesn't know it (he get's all self conscious and shoos me out if he notices). Anyway, Geof decided to get tickets and on the day of the concert surprised Hi-Hat with them. He told him he was going to his first big concert for his most favorite artist, and had to guess what artist he was going to see. We thought for sure he would yell out TobyMac! First he guessed Dave Matthews. Good grief. Then R.E.M. Then U2. Then Bruce Springsteen. The boy does tend to favor the talented musicians! When Geof had to cut him off and tell him it was TobyMac, Hi-Hat was tha-rilled! He got right to work making a "Boomin!" sign to hold over his head in the crowd and perched his cap on his head. From all accounts, Hi-Hat did not stop dancing and singing during the entire concert. He was exhausted but so lit up. Next time it's my turn to take him to a show.

Disney Pictures

My browser is being ornery down here, and I don't have much time before our Hoop-De-Doo dinner, so here's a link to my facebook album of highlights from our trip so far. Loving Disney!! (Geof's even mentioning their vacation club here and there...yippee!!!) (yeah, right - like that would ever happen. But if he's bringing it up we must be having a good time!)

View Pictures

Spoooooooooky!

This week Geof and I had a chance to get away to western Virginia to see my brother play in the Virginia Tech marching band at the Tech vs. Carolina game in Blacksburg (Tech lost, but I'm pretty sure that the band won!). Today we came home via Mabry Mill. The mountain was covered with fog, which was beautiful if not a bit eerie! We could only see a few feet in front of the car as we drove up and down the mountain. So in anticipation of Halloween, here are a few "spooky" pictures from our day. :)

Wonder what is to be found hidden in the mist, just beyond the bend?

Our view of the trees as they emerged from the mist. They would just appear as we got within a few feet of them.

The mill in the mist

Geof was good at spotting spider webs

Can you see the beautiful web in the greenery on the foreground? (No? Below is a close up)

The giant REALLY scary spider was hiding behind a leaf in the center of the web.
And since it's Halloween, I had to photograph a really quaint cemetery through the mist
I love fall colors, no matter what the setting!

Happy Halloween!