Be My Valentine!

Mandy had her Valentine Program at Mother's Day Out last Thursday.  She was so cute and so excited about performing.  She insisted that Thomas and Grace be there to see it.  The more I thought about it, I realized that she has been to every basketball, soccer game, school program that the both of them have been in since she was born.  So, I took them out of school for an hour so they could see her.  They were both so proud of her!  

It was a little bittersweet for me because I realized that she will start PreK at Hays Elementary next year and that this was probably the last MDO program we will have...till we have grandchildren of course!

Blessings,

Leslie

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine Blessings,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesday...

Christmas Eve! The strangest one I've ever had...

Scott and I began our Christmas Eve day with at trip to the Branson ER at 1 a.m.!  The cedar in Branson about did us all in.  I think of all the many things I'm allergic to, that cedar is the worst.  Helloooo....we were staying at the Big Cedar Lodge!   Never really occured to me that the reason they named it that could be because of the massive amount of CEDAR trees that consume it.  Grace and I...and Thomas and Mandy, were sick the entire time we were there.  

By the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning Grace's asthma couldn't take it.  And, being as I was a wee bit strung out before we left I had managed to pack the nebulizer, but not the medicine that goes in it.  So, I tried all the usual tricks and by 1:00 that morning it was clear none of them were working.  You know it's bad when your 7 year old is ASKING to go to the ER.  So, Scott and I headed out to experience the Branson, Missouri ER.  

It's a very small hospital.  The nurse checked us in and gave us a pager, so we settled in to wait. Already waiting were an older couple dressed in black leather...the man was the one there to be treated and looked as though he traveled with ZZ top at some point in his youth.  And, a couple a bit older than us was there with their 13 year old who'd been bitten by a dog.   We all sat in the wee hours of Christmas Eve in the Skaggs Community hospital watching... Real Housewives of Orange County.  The show was so trashy that Scott took Grace to walk around.

  Finally the other father in the room went and got the nurse and made her change the channel.  When Scott thanked him, he replied "No problem, they don't need to be watching that."  To which, ZZ top replies, "Ain't none of us need to be watching that.  Real Housewives of Orange County...ain't nothin real about a damn one of 'um!"  Fortunately, just then the nurse called us back to see the doctor.  Anyway, they cleared her out, wrote us a prescription and she's fine!  

Scott had promised her a donut afterwards, but donut stores do not stay open all night

 in Branson so she had to wait until much, much later in the morning...

We hit Krispy Kreme where we decided to try the Peppermint donuts.  Just for future reference, somethings should not be paired together and peppermint and donuts are one of them!  

We also grabbed a bit of ice cream while we were out!  Later that night, after dinner we put on our jammies and watched Polar Express in the "movie theater" before we all headed to bed to wait for Santa!

Blessings,

Leslie

Christmas in Branson!

We left Saturday the 20th and headed to Branson, Missouri with my mom, dad and my aunts Jane and Judy.  My dad had rented us a 5 bedroom house on Table Rock Lake for the week.  Our friends the Bradley's came too! The kids were in heaven in that big house!  They about came unglued when they took the first running tour and discovered the "movie theater!"  Mandy declared that "this house is magical!"  The house was great.  We really didn't do just a ton of stuff.  Scott took the kids to the Titanic museum...

Then we drove not once, but twice to eat at Lambert's...the home of the throwed rolls!  

And, of course, no trip to Missouri would be complete for Papaw and Thomas without a trip to the flagship Bass Pro Shop!!  I saw them when we first walked in and then we had to call Pap's phone when we were all ready and waiting at the front!

Friday, December 19

On Friday, we had the Jingle Bell run (school marathon for diabetes), Thomas's Pecos Bill play, both of their class parties, and then we went to Willow Bend mall to pick up my new computer and see Santa.  Oh...and when we got home, I still had to pack to leave for a week!

Thomas was the narrator in his class's Pecos Bill play.  He had a ton of lines and had memorized every single one of them.  I was so proud of him!  Afterward, his teacher, Mrs. Samples, said that he had chosen that part, and she was so proud of how hard he had worked.  The kids were so cute and all knew their parts perfectly.  I am always so amazed at how those elementary teachers get them all so organized and all focused on the task at hand.  Try as I may, not even when I clap, snap, sing the rhymes or whatever do they EVER do that for me!  I even had to get Mrs. Phillips to lead the book exchange at the second grade holiday party.  Clearly, God knew what he was doing when he led me to teach high school!

While we were at Willow Bend we decided to pay Santa a visit.  It was wonderful!  The whole thing was Polar Express and while we waited the kids watched the movie, looked at life sized snow globes and pulled the train whistle.  Just before we saw Santa we were in a HUGE snow globe where it snowed on us.  The kids were all beside themselves excited and loved playing in the "snow!"

Blessings,

Leslie

Free Enterprise Day!

This past Thursday was Free Enterprise Day in Grace's second grade class.  The kids have to create a product or a service and then set up their desk as a store.  It's a really awesome lesson in supply and demand, marketing.  The kids earn paper quarters for the several weeks prior and then they use those to shop from their friends. 

 The entire second grade participates and you can get some really cute stocking stuffers!  

Grace made bottle cap chokers...

It is such an awesome lesson.  Mandy got to go "shop" for awhile before she went to school.  She thought it was great fun to get to shop on her own.  She had a whole bag full of stuff!

Blessings,

Leslie
 

Christmas Mischief!

Santa sent us a very naughty elf! The second night he toilet papered the kitchen. He wrote on his blog that he thought it was snow and was trying to turn our kitchen into a winter wonderland. We found him swinging from the pot rack.

The next night he played in the packing peanuts from a package we received that day and wrote his name in them... Saturday night he made us sugar cookies. And, made snow angels in the flour! And last night, he "decorated" our Christmas tree with all our socks with no mates!

Christmas Blessings,

Leslie

Elf Delivery!

Santa sent us an elf. Yes, an elf.

Yesterday when Grace came home from a friends house there was a box addressed to Thomas, Grace and Mandy on the front porch. We opened the letter first and it said:

Dear Thomas, Grace and Mandy,

I am very excited to tell the three of you that you have been chosen to be part of a new Elf Reporting Program we’re starting here at the North Pole.

I have sent a Magic Elf to you by the name of Jingle and between the two of us, he’s quite a handful. I chose you to be assigned to him because I know you’ll able to keep things under control. You should see the pictures the day he wrecked my sleigh. It took Elf Max in the Sleigh Workshop weeks to get it in the air again!

Jingle will spend the next few weeks at your house on XXXX Blvd. He will be watching and reporting to let me know if you are naughty or nice. When I come to visit on Christmas Eve he will present his report and head back to the Workshop with me, so be sure you bring him along to Branson with you!

Be very wary! Jingle has been known to get into a bit of Elf Mischief…he will be inspecting your house from top to bottom and sometimes these Elves just can’t stay out of trouble. I am sending him to you in his bed, each night before you go to sleep please put him to bed by the fireplace and sprinkle a pinch of Magic Snow over him. You will find that Elves can not move on their own while you are awake, but come to life once you’re asleep at night! Don’t be fooled though, Jingle can still see and hear everything you do when you’re awake….so be good for goodness sake! If he gets into too much trouble or breaks anything while he is there please leave me a note on Christmas Eve to let me know. Thank you for being part of the new Elf Reporting Program and I will be “seeing” you before you know it!

Ho Ho Ho,Santa

Mass hysteria ensued after they read the letter. Thomas and Grace immediately ran full throttle upstairs to clean their rooms. Mandy was a little confused though. She thought the elf had come to clean her room for her!

At bedtime we sprinkled him with the Magic Snow...

Then, this morning when we got up for school...his bed was empty! We couldn't find him at first, but when we went to the kitchen for breakfast this is what we saw...He'd pigged out on Milky Way's, M&M's, cookies and brownies and finished off an entire Coke Zero! No wonder he was passed out in the candy bowl clutching his tummy! The kids found this so hysterical and exciting they could hardly eat breakfast.

I guess the North Pole is pretty up on it's technology cuz not only did he leave a huge mess in the kitchen, but he managed to hack my blogger account and set himself up a blog...
http://jinglesvisit.blogspot.com/

We were all gone most of the day, and I guess he got bored because this is what we found when we all came home after school...

He's quite mischevious and a bit naughty! But, he's certainly keeping us entertained while we wait for Christmas to get here!

Blessings,

Leslie

New York City!

The weekend before Thanksgiving my friend Christie turned 40! So, off we went to New York City to celebrate! Our friend Erica went with us and Christie's cousin Susan met us there.We had so much fun! The first night we went to the Winter Garden theatre and saw Mamma Mia...The next day we shopped ourselves to death in Chinatown...But, we ended up with just a few handbags....

That evening, since it was Christie's birthday, we met her foster sister Rosie at Grand Central Station and headed to Bobby Flay's Bar Americain for dinner. Phenomenal!! The next day we explored 5th Avenue...American Girl, Disney, Saks, Dylan's Candy Bar...
I just knew Tom, Katie and Suri would come out, if I waited long enough!We had a few munchies for the hotel room!
My two favorite things about NYC....food and Canal Street!
This was my first trip anywhere with girlfriends. So awesome!! I'm thinking it might have to be an annual thing!

Big Apple Blessings,

Leslie

Out with the old & in with the new...carpet!

When we bought our house in 2001, we had a 2 year old and a 4 month old. For some unknown reason we chose a VERY light, cream colored carpet. Seven years, a third child, and another dog later...it HAD to go! So, a week before Thanksgiving, we replaced all the carpet in the entire house.

In case you are considering new floors, here's my advice...move. Seriously, it's easier. Sure, the installation included moving the furniture, but all the other stuff had to be moved to a tiled surface. Every bath tub, and square inch of non-carpeted surface in our house was covered in all the "stuff" from our closets, china cabinet, bookshelves...etc.

OH...I almost forgot to mention that Scott scheduled his "toe surgery" for the Friday before the carpet installation on Monday. HE said it was because he knew he'd be around all weekend and," the doctor said it wasn't a big deal, just to take it easy." Uh huh. It's no coincidence that he works for a strategic planning firm. He was laid up the entire weekend, so guess who did the moving??? I even ended up enlisting the help of some neighborhood children!

I just had to take a picture of Scott as he was coming out of the anaesthesia. You know it's bad when the nurse who comes to get you out of the waiting room is laughing so hard she can hardly say your last name, and then everyone you pass on the way to recovery is laughing and wishing you good luck in getting him home. He was crazy as a loon. He was entertaining the entire staff in recovery when I walked in. When they tried to get him to eat something, and they offered him pretzels, he went on for a good 10 minutes about how wonderful pretzels are!

So, after I managed to get him somewhat conscious and home, he pretty much laid around all weekend on pain medicine!

Since the carpet was leaving on Monday, I decided this was a good time for the kids to let their creative juices flow....all over their bedroom floors!

This was wildly fun for all of them. We even had to invite friends over to share in the excitement.

The carpet installation went well and the house is finally put back together. And, while I'm all for creative expression, all crayons must stay in the kitchen!

Blessings,

Leslie

Election Day!!

Have I mentioned how much I love the kids school??! Today they had a mock election for all the kids. They had voter registration cards that they had to present before they received their ballot. They voted in "precincts"...the grade level workrooms! I was the election official for 2nd grade. Each class drew for electoral states and after their popular vote was completed they went to the office to cast their state's electoral votes.
At election headquarters the states were colored red or blue. It was AWESOME! It was a perfect working model of the electoral system in our country. What an amazing lesson for all those kids. They were so excited they could hardly stand it and really took the whole thing very seriously. One little girl told me that she couldn't make up her mind because she had heard on the playground that if Obama were elected that we would have year round school!!!

It was awesome to watch them participate in the excitement of election day! I loved that I got to be a part of it and get my "government teacher fix" for this election! I had such fun watching all of Grace's little friends have this first amazing experience voting.

(Aunt Holly...this one's for you!! Send me your new email address when you get a chance!)

As you know this is a big deal at our house and of course I'm still up watching different state races as I write this!

Blessings of Liberty,

Leslie