Soccer Story

Patrick's first soccer experience has gotten off to a rough start, inasmuch as it keeps raining, so five weeks in we've only played one game. We have had a few practices, though, so we're still getting a chance to see how he likes it. I'm not sure he's totally sold on the sport, but to give him credit, he tries 100%. And he looks darn good doing it...

These pictures above are from our one game back during the last weekend in March. Last Saturday's got rained out and the make-up game was tonight and it also got rained out after about 15 minutes of play. I hope they just decide to forget about re-scheduling at this point, especially for the Under 6 teams...like it really matters who wins.

The team prayer right before the game started tonight. Could it get any cuter?

Apparently it can! Ben hooked up with another little bro named Tyler and they found an unused field to kick a ball around on. We looked over and they were sitting on the balls chatting earnestly, probably about the weather. It was the cutest thing ever.

Tomorrow we're headed to David and Sandi's house for the weekend to baptize lil' Brendan. Got my camera packed and ready...let's hope it doesn't get too chilly. I've gotten used to the warm temps and I'm not sure I can handle too close to freezing! Have a great weekend!

Overheard Conversations

And this is what they talk about when I'm at home with them...

#1

Luke: How was school?

Ben: Ms. Jennifer wiped my nose for me.

Luke: Oh, that was nice.

Ben: She ate the boogers.


#2

Ben: Beer? That's Daddy's beer?

Luke: No, this is liquor.

Ben: Oh. Mommy's liquor?


Imagine what they're saying while I'm at work...

Cloudland

As promised, here are the pictures from our trip to Cloudland Canyon, which turned out to be a really fun day, even if it was a bit on the chilly side. It was supposed to get to 72 degrees, but I don't think it ever quite made it. It must've been the breeze that kept things cool, because down in the canyon--out of the wind--it was pretty nice. I am so over March. The month is nothing but one big tease, and I've just about had enough. It's frigid outside today, and I am ready to put on a short-sleeve shirt and keep it on for crying out loud!

Anyways, here we are starting our hike. It was a really beautiful place. Everything was *just* starting to bud, and there were mountain laurels everywhere. In about two weeks, the scenery will be outta sight. It was unfortunate that our break was not a tad later so we could've enjoyed that. But they worked it around Easter and it was early, so too bad. I move that Easter be the third Sunday in April every year, like they do Thanksgiving. I see absolutely no reason to continue to base the date on moon cycles and equinoxes and whatnot, and if anyone knows why we should still be using this ancient system, please--enlighten me. Moving on...

The park has a 5-mile rim trail that we obviously skipped, having two preschoolers in tow. But there is also a hike down into the canyon that is only two miles round-trip and leads to two waterfalls. That was great for us, and there were only about five other people in the whole park, so we took it at a kid pace...which was good, because we got to pause and check things out. We explored some caves and overhanging rocks, watched for red-tailed hawks and noticed that the forest was beginning to emerge from winter. There were ferns starting to grow back and I saw lots and lots of toadshade sprouting up, a plant I discovered last year when Luke's mom found one growing in her woods. I had never seen it before, but since researching it, I have seen it everywhere. Anyway, it was in abundance on the canyon floor.


Ben zonked out on the way home. So did Patrick and I. Altogether a very good day. Yesterday Patrick had his first soccer game and dang it--it was freezing of course! But still a great experience. I got pictures from that too. They'll come later. See ya!

Egg-cellent Fun

Geez, that was corny. Oh, who cares? We have been having a lot of fun this week. Monday Luke went to work so the boys and I took a much-needed day of rest after the hectic weekend. Then on Tuesday, we couldn't get our act together and think of something to do, but that was okay because it was still kind of chilly after Monday's frigid temps. So yesterday we finally got in gear and headed to the Georgia Aquarium to let the boys see all the fishies. It was a great time--unfortunately, I have no documentation of that. I remembered to bring my camera but forgot that I had taken out the picture card to get egg hunt pictures developed. Oops. Stupid me. But it's probably for the best. Usually when I am trying to get a great shot, I miss out on half the fun. Patrick loved it all, especially the whale sharks. Ben was a little overwhelmed and spent most of the time with his hands over his eyes. I'm glad we didn't have to pay for him.

After that long day, we spent today in town, starting with a bike ride this morning. After the boys napped, we finally got around to coloring our eggs for Easter. Better late than never, I say! These were the eggs that sat unrefrigerated for over a day after the tornadoes, so I was more than happy to boil them for the sake of arts and crafts. Waste not, and all that...

Cute picture, huh? I thought the eggs turned out great. I was too lazy to make more than four colors (yellow, red, blue and light blue), but my laziness turned out to be a great lesson in color theory. We double-dyed lots of them and learned that yellow and red make orange and yellow and blue make green and blue and red and then blue again make purple. The key is to start with the lighter color. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend an hour outside.

Tomorrow we're going to Cloudland Canyon for some more good clean outdoor fun and a picnic as well. I've got the picture card back in the camera, so I'll be sure to come back with snaphots this time. Ciao!

Happy Easter 2008

Easter weekend was awesome, as usual! Such a great time of year...the weather, everything's in bloom or budding...not to mention the candy! We had an egg hunt at our house on Saturday, with about twelve kiddies on hand, and it was a great time. I hid two hundred eggs and they found all but about a dozen. Not too bad! Luke was the master hider. He came up with some very sneaky spots.

Patrick and Ben showed focus from the very get-go. Patrick had watched me fill the eggs and was on the look-out for a blue one with a toy watch inside. I have no idea why he coveted it so badly. It turned out that Ben found it, but since it was not edible, he gladly handed it over.

Rebeckah came and so did Mary Kate, who brought along new baby sister Claire. Claire is so very new that she stayed asleep in her sling for the whole time--never a peep! But Mary Kate had a great time and loaded up on eggs. And yes, that is Jenny--two weeks post-partum. I know...there are no words.

The kids took a while to find their eggs, but they took even longer afterwards opening them up to see what prizes were inside. It was gorgeous outside, so everyone enjoyed lounging in the sunshine.

This morning, the kids were excited to wake up and find their Easter baskets. I had warned Patrick that when Mommy was younger, that rascally Easter Bunny would hide her basket and make her look for it. Wouldn't you know...same thing! But he found it fast and had a good time looking at all the treats. Patrick got a soccer ball to practice with at home since he's on his first team this spring, and Ben got a set of golf clubs which became permanently attached to his grip today. He is sleeping with them.

On Friday we went to Wal-mart to get stuff for the weekend and the "fake" Easter Bunny was there doing free pictures, so we were game for that. Well...Patrick was. I couldn't get Ben any further into the picture. Doesn't he look...special?

My parents came up today and they brought me some great phlox cuttings and a hydrangea from their yard, so we spent some time transplanting those and then made a killer feast featuring Luke's signature smoked pork tenderloin. It is to die for. So today was another fun day and as I said, this week is our spring break. Aside from tomorrow, the weather's supposed to be great, so hopefully we'll get out to do all sorts of fun stuff.

Happy Easter!

St. Paddy's

Another year, another St. Patrick's Day...and I did get Patrick his annual St. Paddy's t-shirt from Old Navy and attempted to take his picture in it as well. However, we were in a playful mood and I got in the picture too and effectively covered up his logo with my arm, so instead you get shamrocks splattered all over the picture. I also realized that I don't have a single scrap of green clothing, so we know what I'll be adding to my wardrobe this spring. Nothing like a holiday to make you see gaping holes in your closet.

This weekend a monster storm came through the South and we kind of dodged a bullet inasmuch as an F3 tornado demolished a good chunk of our neighborhood. When I say neighborhood, I don't mean the group of houses on my street, I mean the area of town where I live. The main carnage occurred about 1.5 miles from our house, and I was totally clueless as to what was going on. Good for me, since I probably would have FREAKED...bad for Luke, who was at work and all he could gather is that a tornado hit our road. The power was out and I had INconveniently forgotten to switch on the ringer to the wall phone, the only one that worked. So as he called and called, I had stashed my cell phone, purse and flashlight in the closet under the stairs and was vigilantly watching for a reason to cram in there with the kiddies and dogs, wondering what the hail and the wind and the faint smell of smoke in the air really meant and completely unaware that the actual reason was just down the road. I became a little bit more aware of the situation a few minutes later when every emergency vehicle in the county plus some from surrounding counties started screaming past our house and continued for a steady hour. And it was at that point that Luke finally got hold of me and gave me the scoop. We were lucky, though...I found out just how lucky later that evening. With the power still out, the sun setting and nothing to do, we got in the car and drove down to see the wreckage and oh my gosh. It is amazing how one side of the street could be completely obliterated and the other side untouched. It was the kind of stuff you usually see in Texas and Oklahoma, and not a single trailer involved. Brick houses torn to the ground. Hundred-year-old oak trees either uprooted or snapped off of their huge trunks. And when I saw the power lines--the huge main lines that look like ski lifts--scattered across a pasture like tinker toys...well, I told Patrick it would be a while before we had power again. But the power company did an amazing job, and it was only a little over 24 hours that we had to go without. So as I said, we were lucky. A lot of people weren't.

Wilson was so freaked out he was practically molting, and had been since early that morning when the first major thunderstorm rolled through. I'm amazed he didn't have a heart attack sometime during the day. Even after everything had passed, it took him a little while to muster up enough courage to come out from underneath the end table.

So spring is here, and along with the blossoming trees and budding flowers comes occasional bad weather. It's truly a shame when people lose their homes and their lives to mother nature, but sometimes the humanity that comes out of it is the silver lining. The relief efforts from people in the community have been stellar, and the power company and the county trucks have been going by day and night working as fast as they can to get the area back to (relatively) normal.

Our spring break is next week and we don't have any concrete plans. We are going to take a lot of day trips, which are loosely planned depending on the weather. I had planned on taking the boys to the children's museum in Atlanta, but I'll have to check to see if it's open since the first tornado of the weekend ripped right through downtown--crazy. If not, there's an equally great discovery museum in Chattanooga we could go to. Whatever end up doing, I'll try to take some pictures and document the fun we plan on having. Hope everyone is enjoying this warm weather!

Contentment

Five Years Later

Then...
...and now.
And I thank God for every second in between. Happy 5th birthday Patrick. I love you.

Birthday Boy

Well, on Sunday we had The Birthday Party--which has earned its title inasmuch as it will go down in history as one of our better parties. I have to give myself credit here...I took the easiest route I could think of and it turned out GREAT. What more could a mother ask for?

We had the party at school and I raided the gym storage room for all the fun stuff the kids love to play with. I set out the hoola-hoops and yarn balls, blew up balloons for them to smack around (and hopefully not choke on) and made a maze for them to climb through. And then there was the piece de resistance--the scooters. Those kids LOVE the scooters. And we only had two minor injuries--one of which was my child--but it happens, ya know?

Then there was the requisite pizza and cake, most of which was thrown away after the kids made sure to breathe all over their slice, but not actually eat it. They were much more interested in getting back to the games. Eventually I was able to drag them outside for a treasure hunt that I had set up on the playground. I totally underestimated these kids' skills--they found everything in .3 seconds. But that was okay, because after that they just ran around the playground. The weather was gorgeous all weekend--we were so lucky. On March 2nd it can either be snowing or verging on hot, and we were definitely closer to the hot end. We couldn't have planned a better day.

Patrick's VERY FAVORITE present of the day was a total scream. His buddy Lucas' parents are both German and his dad makes frequent trips back to the homeland. Whenever he's there, he picks up a Donald Duck comic book (in German of course) for Lucas to look at. Well, Lucas has been bringing them to school to read during rest time, and Patrick thinks they are the coolest thing ever. Well, Lucas' mom bought Patrick a present and all, but Sunday morning he decided that he wanted to give Patrick one of his Donald Duck books too. So they picked one out and wrapped it up and I wish you could have seen the look on Patrick's face when he opened it. He was so excited, and he hasn't put it down since Sunday. It still warms my heart that Lucas thought to share his books with Patrick--what a sweet kid.

The kids spent the rest of the party running around the playground and enjoying the sunshine, and after everyone left and Luke and I got everything cleaned up, we went back outside to let the kids play more while we sat on the picnic tables to unwind. I was exhausted yesterday, but it was a great party, so it was totally worth it. Now I just have to figure out how to top it next year...

The New Guy

I'd like to welcome the latest little guy on the team roster--our new cousin Brendan!

His name is Brendan Kirby and he made his arrival late yesterday afternoon in all his 9 lb, 4 oz glory--two weeks early, mind you--earning an instant nickname from his mommy...the BK Whopper!!! Too funny!

Welcome to the world Brendan!

How Wii Hibernate

Today's weather was pretty nice and the boys got to be outside and play Better Batter Baseball! but it gets dark a little after 6:00 and the temps started dropping even before that, so we were still driven inside early. Spring cannot come fast enough. The boys decided to play Luke's Wii to pass the time after dinner.

Luke took on a little tennis and then switched to boxing. He KO'd the opponent (who was quite a thug) in the first round. Not too shabby.

Now I pretty much hate the Wii (and every other gaming system for that matter). But I will play some tennis every once in a while, 'cause I've got mad skills in tennis. Tonight I took on a doubles team comprised of a look-alike of that dude Gordon from Sesame Street and one of those cavemen from the Geico commercials. Weird combo, I know...but I smeared them all over the court. My avatar is a sassy lil' thang with pigtails and some rockin' eye makeup. She's hot. And she averages two aces a game. My serve is killing my rotator cuff, though...I may actually have to ice it tomorrow.

Patrick is pretty good himself. He plays more than any of us, since whenever we get the Wii out, he demands a frequent turn in the rotation. Therefore his rankings are the highest at this point. I may have to make an effort to play more, just so I can secure my spot in family tennis domination.

Ben used to hook himself up to the remote and swing it around aimlessly, but I think he decided there wasn't much of a point, because he prefers to watch now. If Patrick puts on baseball, he'll play that...but for all other games, he's our #1 spectator. And he cheers for me when I win a point. Sweet kid.

So it was fun and all, but I look forward to warmer (longer) days when we can go outside and physically play all these sports (okay, maybe not boxing) instead of gaming them. In the meantime, Gordon and Caveman better be ready, cause I'm bringing my A-game.

Just Like Daddy

Pure Comic Genius

It's really my grandparents that caused me to love "Peanuts". They held on to my dad's and uncles' old comic books from the 1950's and whenever we'd go visit them--for lack of anything better to do--I'd read them over and over again. I absolutely love those books. Thank goodness my dad made sure to hang onto them after both my grandparents passed away a few years back. Now they're in his basement and someday they'll be mine.

I have a later reproduction of some of the strips, published in the late 70's. I don't even know where I got it, but I know it must've been kind of recent since it's stamped from a secondhand book store here in town. Anyway, Patrick's really into comic books lately. He suckered Luke's parents into buying him a Pokemon book. At first I resented his attraction to Pokemon, and then I realized that kids that are into Pokemon are usually also into computers and Dungeons and Dragons and techy stuff and less into Nascar and killing hapless woodland creatures for sport in their spare time. So now I see that Pokemon is the lesser of two evils and I am in support of it. But the point is, Patrick is digging comic books, and so I pulled out my one "Peanuts" book for him to look at and have been thumbing through it myself whenever he leaves it lying around for me to pick up. I came across this one and it struck me as too funny not to share, especially in light of the book I'm reading. Lucy would've made a great 21st century chick.

Update

So I'm coming out of my blogging coma--which I was in because I was having a really hard time believing that anyone truly cared what I had to say--to do a survey that Katie put on her blog. Because I love these surveys. And for some reason, I honestly do believe that you all need (and want) to know this stuff about me. But just in case you don't, I'll put pictures of the boys at the end of the post. Here we go...this is riveting stuff...

1. Do you like blue cheese? Cheese practically rules my life, but I don't like this one. Gorgonzola is okay on some occasions...feta and goat cheese rock my world.

2. Have you ever smoked crack? No, but I do bake it into my chocolate chip cookies, which is why certain people have developed a severe dependency on them after just one bite...complete with withdrawal symptoms.

3. Do you own a gun? Luke owns about a half dozen of them. Patrick has one too. He won it in a raffle. I was not present.

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I can't say that even the allure of adding things to my drink makes me want to go eat at Sonic.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Why should I? If I was worried about very bad news, then you'd think I'd be worried about it for quite a while before the appointment. The only thing you could possibly be worried about is the doc telling you you're not feeling well because you're pregnant, and you'd have to be a complete bonehead not to know you're pregnant.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I think I better stay away from them. But I appreciate them because my kids eat them for lunch sometimes.

7. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I do not get thirsty until lunch time. It's weird. I have to make myself drink a glass of water in the morning. Patrick is the same way.

9. Can you do push-ups? Sure, how many?

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My big silver hoop earrings.

11. Someone living or dead you would like to meet? That's a toughie. I can't think of anyone right off the bat. I know I could stand to learn a few things from Mother Theresa. Or maybe Stacy London, just to see if she thinks I act as much like her as everyone else says.

12. Favorite hobby? I wish I knew...I would do it more often. Perhaps sunbathing?

13. Favorite Author?

14. Do you have A.D.D.? Don't we all have a touch of it...?

15. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? I don't really *hate* anything about my personality. I wish I had longer legs, but I'm coping.

16. Middle name? Leigh

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. I can't think of my favorite author/Why are my kids acting like this way today/I ate too many pancakes at dinner

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. I only bought one thing yesterday--a fried chicken salad in the school lunchroom. It was good.

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Water, skim milk and more water.

20. Current worry right now? How the next four days will go since Luke is out of town until Tuesday evening.

19. Current hate right now? The fact that it's 7:00 and not 8:00 (bedtime).

22. Favorite place to be? Beach. Fo sho.

23. How did you bring in the New Years? Listening to my neighbor shoot off fireworks wishing he'd get it over with and hoping it wouldn't wake my kids. Luke was at work.

24. Where's # 24???

25. Name three people who will complete this? No.

26. What you would do if you didn't have to work to make money? I'd probably do the same things I do now, but I'd do them better and at at slower pace. Maybe when the kids got a little older, I'd find a good volunteer position that would benefit both me and the organization. But I do have to work, so we won't worry about that.

27. What shirt are you wearing? A white tank top and a turquoise hoodie.

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Ew. No. I like cotton sheets that have been worn thin.

30. Favorite color? Brown.

31. Would you be a pirate? Only if I got to be Captain Jack's first mate.

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't sing in the shower. I try to be quiet so nobody realizes I'm in there, which gives me a better chance of actually being left alone.

33. Favorite girl's name? Summer

34. Favorite boys' name? Benjamin

35. What's in your pocket right now? No pockets on me at the moment. And all the ones off of me are empty, I'm sure. I don't ever find a random fiver.

37. Best bed sheets as a child? I did not have cool sheets. I remember that Strawberry Shortcake was a theme in my room, but I think she was on the curtains maybe.

38. Worst injury you've ever had? Either when my boyfriend's grandfather's dog attacked me and tried to rip me limb from limb (age 17) or the time I was riding on my dad's handlebars at the beach and he told me not to put my feet in the spokes and so of course I did (age 4?? 5??). The bike incident left a much bigger scar than the dog.

39. Do you love where you live? NO WAY.

40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 3

41. Who is your loudest friend? Katie is my loudest friend. By far. And she's that much better for it.

42. How many dogs do you have? We have one dog (Wilson) and one prima donna who we treat like a dog (Savannah).

43. Does someone have a crush on you? Jeez, I hope so.

44. What do you miss most? I miss the beach for the 51 weeks a year that I'm not there.

45. What is your favorite book? My favorite kids' book is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Totally awesome read, even for a grown up. As far as adult books, not many have had the impact that To Kill a Mockingbird had on me.

46. What is your favorite candy? Plain M&Ms. They've tried all sorts of variations (mini, huge, w/ peanuts, w/ crisp, dark chocolate, etc.), but you just can't beat the original. It's perfection.

47. What is your favorite sports team? I'll defer that question to someone who actually cares.

48. What song do you want played at your funeral? Huh? I don't want a song played at my funeral. I want a hymn played at my funeral. It's tacky to play songs in church.

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping. A lot of nights I am watching Scrubs at that hour.

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning? "Where's Luke?"

And now for the kiddies...

As you may know, we had a few snow showers here a couple weeks back. They were not much. I was very embarrassed for the reporters on TV who were trying to make it sound like a big deal. What a humiliating job. One girl actually said "When we get hit, we get hit hard." Yeah, lady. One time...like 15 years ago. Then once before that in 1983. So zip it and get back to my regularly scheduled rerun.

The first one started at about 6:00 p.m. one evening and it was melted by midnight. It was too dark to go out and play for more than 10 minutes, but we did what we could. Ben had never actually seen snow before, but he knew what it was.

A few days later another system came along and gave us a repeat of the first, but this time it was during the day. As you can see, it gave us a fine dusting and then melted. So we made do and made a very small snowman, then Luke and Patrick made snowballs and played baseball with them.

I actually hate snow--have ever since that time 15 years ago--so I'm hoping that will be all we see. The boys were content to come back in the warm house and watch their monster truck DVD, so maybe they got it out of their systems as well. We're definitely ready for spring. I was pleasantly surprised to see my crocuses blooming down by the mailbox today. I think I may add a What's Growing in My Yard feature to my sidebar.

Speaking of my sidebar, I'm updating it today as well, so have a look. I'll try not to wait another month before I blog, but what can I say? I blog as the spirit moves me. Patrick's birthday is in a few weeks, so I'll definitely post about that. Catch you later!

We're so glad it's Christmas vacation...over.

Really, we're so glad it's over. Tomorrow is back to school, and we're ready. It's been a veeeery relaxing break (translation: we didn't do much), but we needed that.

After Christmas Day, we skipped down to Gigi and Grandpa's house to do another Christmas with them and also with David and Co. That was on the 29th...and Ben had still not taken off his new Spidey slippers...or Man shoes, as he calls them.

The boys had a good time together...one last time before we throw another one into the mix. Baby #2 is due in just two months for Sandi, so next time we see them, we'll be one step closer to the family basketball team. I'm still pulling for him to be named Cal, but I hear that's out because it means "bald guy" or something. Too bad...it's so cool.

Patrick and Ben got a Better Batter Baseball (Better Batter Baseball!!!) from G & G, but it's been sooooo cold, so we have yet to play with it--unfortunately. They are going to love it. Matthew got a Thomas laptop, which Patrick was extremely envious of, so I thought we'd have to get him one for his birthday. He hasn't mentioned it since we came home though, so maybe not.

For New Years we stayed home--except for Luke, who went to work--so not much exciting to tell there. There was a party, but I opted not to go dateless, because it seemed kind of sad...but maybe next year I will, since Luke will be working again (leap year throws the rotation back a day).

Other than that it's been reeeeeaaal quiet. Lots of playtime and Candyland and watching movies (anyone need me to recite the last Pirates movie?), but it's been good. I feel rested and ready for the new year. My resolution is not unique at all. Last year I lost the extra weight, this year I'm going to try and lose the extra tummy...eww. The last bit of pregnancy that I'm carrying around with me. And you know what that means--crunches. We'll see how well I do when I post beach pictures in July!!! I'm also going to plant an herb garden. That should be infinitely easier, except for the drought and all. I don't think herbs mind dirty dishwater.

Ben wishes all of you a safe and happy 2008!!

Merry Christmas 2007

Just a quick post to comment on our Christmas festivities...

Yesterday we went to Luke's parents to exchange gifts with his family and then last night after 4:00 Mass, his entire family (or a lot of them anyway) gathered at Joan's house for their annual dinner and gift swap. The boys looked so cute yesterday. Adam and Kendall gave them matching John Deere hoodies--which they put on immediately, wore again today and will probably wear again tomorrow! The only reason they took them off was to change into their church clothes...and my, did they look handsome!

Patrick was psyched because he got to hang out with Rebeckah at Joan's house. She looked beautiful. We really do not see her enough anymore. He was so happy to see her! He also got in his Caleb time, although from the looks of these two with their heads together like that, does anyone else think we ought to be worried?

My boys lookin' so smoooooth...especially Ben with his Rico Suave chocolate milk mustache!

When we got home, we put out our milk and cookies (and oats for the reindeer), read The Night Before Christmas, sang a Christmas lullaby, and then nestled our sleepy heads snug in our beds. It was a late night, so the boys slept in this morning. I hated to wake them, but Luke had to be at work at 11:00 (we were lucky to get that--his shift usually starts at 8:00), so we went up to drag them out of bed. We needn't have fretted. Patrick shot out of bed like a cannon and ran downstairs. He was not disappointed! I won't bore you with details, but it was a fun morning and the boys were thrilled with Santa's goodies. Patrick's favorite gift was two truck sticker books. It was all he asked for this year. We were glad Santa could deliver.

One of Patrick's presents was a scooter, but since it was raining outside, he and Ben took it for a spin around the kitchen. Ben had a ball opening gifts...this is year has been the first time that he's even begun to grasp the idea of presents, so that made it all the merrier. Altogether, it was a really sweet and cozy Christmas morning with just the fam.

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in Bloggerland, as well as to any random readers. We have had a truly blessed year. I was listening to The Christmas Waltz by Frank Sinatra the other day, and the chorus ends with "Merry Christmas, may your New Years dreams come true..." and it struck me that in 2007, ours did. Last year at this time, Luke was getting ready to tackle full-time school plus full-time job--which left me full-time alone--and we didn't know how things would turn out, or if there would even be a payoff. I'm glad to say there was, and now we're happier than ever. I hope for all of you that your New Years dreams come true. Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus, Delmos and Joe

Patrick's first "real school" Christmas program was this week, and boy was it just darling. I was a very proud momma because he did so well and was sooooo handsome while he did his thang. The Pre-k and kindergarten classes did the "pre-show" (because they are just not cooperative enough to actually be in the program) but it was cool, since theirs was the best part anyway. They sang Rudolph and then a sweet song called Happy Birthday Jesus. It was actually a completely cheesy song, but when sung by 4-year-olds it was transformed into a tearjerker-and-a-half. It went something like this:

Happy Birthday Jesus
I'm so glad it's Christmas
All the twinkling lights
And the presents are nice
But the real gift is yoooooouuuuuuuuu....

And Patrick sang his little heart out.

After that the program took a turn for the worse, especially when Joseph appeared on the scene sporting a beard so heinous that I was sure they'd stolen it off a Hasidic SNL skit. I swear I expected him to bust out in a Yiddish tap number at any point. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture, so you'll have to use your imagination. Joseph--who was lucky enough to be Brennan, my boss son--later told us that the loud whoops and guffaws coming from our row were just the icing on the cake for him. Whatever. We had a great time.

So tonight Delmos came over to play X-box with Luke, but he always eats dinner with us too. And polite Southern boy that he is, he always offers to bring something. Tonight I told him to bring dessert and make it chocolate, so he showed up with a German chocolate cake--yum! Then we found out that tomorrow is his birthday, so it turned into a birthday cake, and of course Patrick was more than happy to help with the candles and such.

And tomorrow is also another little guy's birthday...sweet little Joe, who I think is the cutest thing ever, is turning the big FOUR tomorrow! And this is huge, as any of you who have survived a three-year-old will know. And if you haven't yet experienced the age of three...consider yourself warned. Two is just a warm-up, okay? So Katie, I raise my glass of skim milk to you--you have made it girl, and it's all uphill from here! Happy birthdays to D-to-the-elmos and the one and only Joe!

The First 48

Luke pulled his first 48-hour shift this weekend...ugh. He called me at 7:15 this morning and asked if I cared if he stayed on for another shift--with overtime pay. What's a girl who's hard-up for some Christmas cash supposed to say? It's probably been great for him, since on Saturdays they're required to do absolutely nothing unless there's a call, but for me...well, today was less than thrilling. However, it is 24 full hours of time-and-a-half pay, and Christmas is but a few short days away, so...whatever. He'll be home in the morning and I'll make him watch the kids all day while I sleep off the past two days.

But we did get to see him tonight, since it was the annual Fire Department Christmas dinner. Nothing exciting, but the boys were on cloud nine amidst the throngs of firefighters. The highlight of the night was when Santa came around to hand out goodies and Patrick told him we'd be leaving him a beer and some cookies on Christmas Eve. Gee, I wonder who put him up to that??? They also had a really great slideshow, with lots of pics of the guys doing cool things and looking very sexy in their gear, but in true Luke fashion, he managed to avoid being in every picture but one:

As you can see, there was nothing he could do to avoid being snapped here, so I guess he just decided to embrace it for once. And look what a cool picture it turned out to be! My favorite part is all the other guys' heads peeking out over the platform above. In the grand scheme of things, they are just boys being boys...and they're lucky enough to get paid for it.

I have no idea if this is Luke or not (probably not), but we'll pretend it is, because I know that this was taken during the physical test that all the applicants had to pass before they were accepted into rookie school. Among a slew of other things, they had to slam this tire with the sledge hammer until it moved quite a good distance. I can't recall how far, but I know I wouldn't have moved it an inch, so I guess I'll never be a firefighter. Too bad. I remember Luke saying this day kicked his butt, but he got through, and the rest is history.

I'm not sure when this picture was taken--I'd have to guess at the opening of their newest station--but I just think it is really cool.

So that's it. Thanks for reading--I'll catch you all later!

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

The thought of shopping for Christmas gifts popped into my head today...and let me say, I've never been less excited about spending my money on other people. Not to say I don't love you all (especially those of you with whom I will be exchanging gifts)--it's just that I've got no clear direction and that takes all the fun out of it. When you know what you want to get someone, it's exciting to hunt for the best deal, wrap it up all pretty and put it under the tree. Then you wait for the suspense to just eat away at the recipient for 25 days or so, because you know they're going to just love it. So a gift card--even a gift card wrapped up in a pretty box--just doesn't do it for me in terms of gift-giving.

I've already got a few gifts purchased, and a few more with a definite plan forming in my head; but by and large, there are a lot of blanks on my list. So I begged a little help today. Someone told me about a gift-finding website where you enter a person's info (age, relationship, interests) and it spits back literally thousands of gifts to choose from. I thought I'd try it out and see how many hits and misses I'd get. I'll let you be the judge. Would you like to become the proud owner of the Little Pink Pig BBQ Grill this Christmas? Or what about some shoe-shaped party invitations, does that sound like a treat you'd like to find under the tree? Wait--I know just the thing! You've been dying for this pewter lizard paperweight, haven't you? And you can't say the lip-shaped toothpaste squeezer isn't practical, if a little costly. One thing that I actually did find was for Sandi--a Warhol-syle painting of her dog, Schaeffer. She would love it. Unfortunately, I don't have $99 to spend on her, or anyone else for that matter.

Sadly (for you all), this is the best I could come up with. But just think, you'll be all set for next year's Dirty Santa gift exchange, and you'll have me to thank.

For the Holidays, You Can't Beat Home Sweet Home

As is the tradition, I headed home for the holidays this past weekend--to Atlanta that is--where David and Sandi were also going to spend Thanksgiving. As soon as we all got there, Mom got down to business and herded us all out on the front stoop to have a family picture...which will soon be outdated. Yes, in a few short months I'm going to once again become....an aunt. Hah! I know you were all thinking I was going to say mother! Nope, it's Sandi's turn, and she's due in March. Another boy for Gigi, who says we only need one more and then we'll have a basketball team. So I wonder how long Sandi will wait after this one before she has our little shooting guard...?

The picture-taking was less than successful. Nobody ever looked at the same camera, and at some point one of us was pulling a face--usually Luke. But you know, that's how it goes. I should point out that Matthew is not wearing an Obama shirt. I don't think that David and Sandi are big supporters of the O-man. So know that they're not exploiting Matthew's cuteness--the shirt says "Thomas", as in the train.

On Wednesday, we had a joint birthday party for Ben (13th), Luke (22nd) and Sandi (Dec. 2nd). And in case anyone's wondering what to get Ben for Christmas, I'll just tell you that he likes toys and all, but the boxes are still where it's really at.

Incidentally, I did not make the cake, it was from Publix. Sandi loves their cakes, and pregnant birthday girls trump everyone else in terms of choices, so that's what we had. But I did make an apple pie and pumpkin pie for Thursday, and they were insanely good. I liked the apple one better, but we discovered on Friday that the pumpkin one tasted better cold out of the fridge, so next year we'll remember that: hot apple pie, cold pumpkin pie. Either way, the crust on the pumpkin pie was to die for. It had a stick of butter in it and it tasted like a cookie. I also put in a layer of crushed gingersnaps and pecans that was supposed to keep the crust from getting soggy, but it didn't work and didn't change the flavor, so next year I'll skip that step.

Boys # 1, 2 and 3 (aka Patrick, Matthew and Ben). We had much discussion over #4's name, which has been narrowed down to Roger (after Roger Federer) and Jeff (after Jeff the Wiggle). I should point out that David and Sandi came up with the first name and Matthew came up with the second one. Right now they call him RogerJeff. But no matter what the kid's named, all I know is that next Thanksgiving is going to be an experience, with four boys (all five and under) running around. I better start catching up on my sleep now.