Christmas 2012

We had another fantastic Christmas season this year.  As always, it came and went way too fast...can't believe it's already the final day of 2012.  Hope everyone had a fabulous 24th & 25th!! 

 

In no particular order (I'm way too lazy for that today)....

 

Carter (15), Bennett (10), Cate (4), Brady (8)

 

Uncle Si shirt from Aunt Kathy

Uncle Joshie!

Carter's two new pairs of shoes.  Check out them PF Flyers...Sandlot Bennie "the jet" Rodriguez style!

Uncle Kenny gave the boys bb guns.  I recommend staying far away from our house!

Great Grandpa Bill, Carter, Bennett

The aftermath.  Ugh.

Carter hanging with Trevor. 

Cate loves her microphone!

"Mom, I want a cheetah pet for Christmas.  They can be found at any Walgreens, RiteAid, and Kmart store".  Guess she pays attention to the commercials!  Thanks MauMau :)

Brady's Duck Commander shirt

Throwing food out for the reindeer

Santa brought Bennett an iPhone!

Wig is just a tad bit darker than her natural hair...looks so funny when she wears it

Got Christmas? 

Shiny silver hotpants :)

Christmas morning wore Carter out and he slept at BauBau's for hours

With the addition of a 2nd xbox, the boys now have systems downstairs and in their room.  Throw in 7+ new games, and I have yet to hear "I'm bored" all break.

Spying on Cate in her room.  She loves to rock out with that microphone!!!

Fwannie bought Cate a "real" Cinderella dress and glass slippers. Love it!!

Six days have passed and I have yet to find my living room floor.  Hoping to take all Christmas decor down tomorrow and get back to reality.  Second semester starts Thursday!!!  Bring on 2013 :)

conversation

Conversation with Cate....

I knew the highlight of my day would be getting my haircut, I just didn't realize it would be the ONLY thing I did today.  Booorrrrinnnngggg.  I actually laid on the couch for over an hour...not sure that's happened in the last four years (I have a very hard time sitting still and doing nothing!).  Cate joined me and said:

Cate:  "Mom, let's have a conversation"

Me:  "Ok, let's talk about kindergarten"

Cate:  "I'm not going to kindergarten.  The End."

And with that, she ran back to her room. 

Spying on our little princess rock star.  We hung a huge mirror on the wall and she loves to look at herself while jamming out (and while getting dressed, and reading books, and playing with her dolls....)

Conversation with Carter....

Carter: "Mom, my phone is dead, will you Google a phone number for me?"
Me: "Grab the phone book and look it up"
Carter: "Phone book?  I have no idea what that is or where I go to find one"

Am I the only person that still uses a phone book, dictionary, and thesaurus???

Riding Brady's Flashrider 360 through the house.  BTW, they leave nice skid marks (not the poop kind) on hardwood floors, but wipe up easily (unlike the poop kind)  :)

8:12pm on a Saturday night and I'm going to bed.  I blame it on the cold weather.  I would rather be a loser on a Saturday night than out in the cold.  Come on spring!!!

party it up

The week before Christmas break is always crammed full of school family-fun-days, Christmas programs, and class parties...I'm so thankful that I'm able to attend all of this good stuff!!!

 

On Thursday, Cate's pre-school hosted a family fun day for all of the classes (they have 12 classes in the morning and 12 in the afternoon).  Each of the rooms held a different activity and the main conference room hosted Santa.  Cate and Hadley had a great time and because Carter is once again grounded, he joined us as my "manny" (or Hadley chaser).  He was a huge help, but still grounded :(

Making a bow wreath

Posing in front of her handprint from last months McTeacher Night



Friday was Pajama Day and her class party. Although I love attending these parties, I hate volunteering at them. Preschool kids are kinda gross and I really hate getting my hands dirty, so making Gingerbread house creations and anything with glue makes me want to hide in the hallway until all such activities are finished. My friend Candi and I aren't much help at these parties...you should see us stuff treat bags into backpacks while trying not to touch anything in the lockers. But I guess the teachers figure bad help is better than no help and we continue to get asked back :) 

hot chocolate!

"snow ball" fight in the gym

almost broke a sweat

attacking Mrs. C

Cate and her buddy Ryan (who lives across the street)

That morning Carter delivered Christmas food baskets to our towns neediest families.  This is a really great program that Student Council runs for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every morning a few Stu Co representitives stop in each classroom to beg for money :) (There is a video floating around somewhere of Carter rappin' in John Moads class to encourage kids to donate more.  I would reeeaally like to see this.) Student Council then counts and runs tabs until the deadline.  They were able to raise $6749 to spend on food and filled over 120 baskets.   Carter, along with most of the other members of StuCo, are pretty sheltered from poverty and it's a very eye-opening experience...Carter talks about the families and the homes he sees long after the project is over.

Friday was also Bennett and Brady's class parties.  (Friday was a busy day, right?!)  As a result of the CT school shooting the week prior,  our school limited room parents to four per class.  I was in charge of Brady's class but was able to run down to Ben's once to check on him. He totally ignored me.  Back in Brady's room, we played three games, decorated treat bags, ate pizza (the PTA treated every class to pizza!) and cupcakes.  Longest hour of my life!! 

Brady's classroom is huge and he only has 19 students so there's plenty of room to move around.  Made our relay races much easier.  (Notice the floors...the entire school has been stripped of their floors and are awaiting the new ones.  Only the gym is finished thus far..makes everything look blah. )

One game was to wrap your partner in crepe paper and decorate with stickers and a bow...human Christmas tree!

Brady and Maddox did a great job!

For the second game, the kids had to wear gloves while trying to open candy canes.  It took Brady about three seconds, but everyone else struggled!

This picture makes me smile :)  How often do you laugh like Omari?  Happiness is contagious!!

Nick, Brady, and Hector.  Hectors parents own my favorite Mexican restaurant and I barely resisted the urge to ask for a donation of the white cheese for the party!!!

End of school celebrations means Christmas break has finally arrived!!!  Looking forward to the next 12 days of sleeping in!

Celebration and Way of Lights

Last Saturday afternoon we met Scott's family at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Uncle Joshie and Aunt Fwannie's birthdays.  Josh turned 30 this year...woot! woot!  And Fran turned 35...(plus a few)

Don't you just love this Cinderella apron we had made for Fran?  Cate thought it would be the perfect gift :)  The tiara was the perfect finishing touch!

 

Neither Josh nor Fran wanted to ride the saddle while everyone sang, so Cate took one for the team!

YeeeHaaaaw!

That evening, we headed to Way of Lights at Our Lady of the Snows to ooh and ahh over the awesome Christmas lights.  Cate and Brady rode a camel and we all enjoyed a few bags of kettle corn

Best quote of the night came from a lady behind us in line for popcorn.... yelling at her kids "You are the most ungrateful children in the world.  We are here to spend time as a family.  Quality family time is the most important thing.  Now shut up and behave or I'm going to poke you in the eye again!".  Scott and I both laughed out loud...I could not hold it in.  Funniest thing ever.

On the way home Cate yelled "I call living room tv" and everyone groaned like just because she "called" it meant she got it.  Which of course it did.  She enjoyed front row seating to Cinderella while we all watched tv in our rooms.  So ridiculous.

Five days of school til Christmas break!  Falalalalalalalala!

my "extra" kids

Yes, I only have four kids of my own, but each week I am lucky enough to spend lots of time with a few "extra" kids.  Miss Hadley spends all day every weekday with me and her big brother Tyler before and after school....and my GREAT nephew Trevor drops in on Tuesdays and any other day that I get a call from his mama that sounds something like "Hey Deb, whaaaatcha doin' today?"  I love answering my phone to hear that :)

Babysitting is a huge commitment to say the least.  I've only "called off" one time four years ago due to a bad case of the flu. I even had a hysterectomy on a Tuesday in September, and Hadley and Trevor were back the following Monday.  I take my job very seriously because I know their parents depend on me.  I'm like the friggin' mailman...rain, sleet, snow.  And besides, it's fun.  Hadley and I have a kick ass morning routine and everyone from Target to Schnucks is very familiar with our shopping skills :)  And after we pick Cate up from school we often spend our afternoons at the park. When Trevor is over I spend most of the day taking A LOT of pictures!  Which brings me to the point of this post....my recent pictures of two of my favorite people :)

Last week when I opened Hadley's car door to get her out, she had these zebra ears on.  I hadn't seen them since Carter's "animal day" during Homecoming week in October and I have no idea where she found them.  I assume they were in the pocket of my seat since it's the only thing she can reach while in the car seat, but I really have no clue.  Cracked me up, she wore them ALL day!



 

Looking for Cate..they have the best time together!

 

I may take more pictures of Trevor than I did of Cate at this age.  That's A LOT of pictures.

He makes the very funniest faces.  I laugh at almost every picture I take...so happy and goofy.

 

Throwin' gangsta signs at his dawg....

"Woah! What the....... how'd you get over here?"

"Ooooooh not the monkey again"

"I karate chop monkey...HIIII YAAAA"

 

"Duuude, totally laid him out. "

"Well, hello there handsome" 

"Yeah, we're lookin good"

This how he looks at me when I put the camera away...he's sad (or in total shock).  Baby boy loves showing off for the camera!

 

 

Love that I get to spend so much time with these kiddos!