Merry Christmas!!!

Guess who dropped by our house last night??? We found this photo this morning on the cookie plate amongst the crumbs! Brough thinks it was Santa's way of saying thank you, "because we put out egg nog instead of just plain old milk". Hmm, maybe. Or maybe it was this that we heard about from a friend yesterday afternoon.

More to come later. Lots to write about, but savoring time with the family today.

Blessings and joy to you and those you love!

Merry, Merry Christmas!!!

Happiness

On her blog Hi Ho Ohio has 6 things that make her happy. So I got to thinking, what makes me truly, down to the core of my being, blissfully happy and content?

You know, it truly is the simple things in life...

1. Hanging out with this guy.

Whether we're chillin' at the casa, or out on the town - doesn't matter. He's the one I can be my whole, true, goofy, mental, sometimes catty, philosophical, silly self around.

2. These two...

What can I say, they make life complete. They are so funny, so smart, so sweet.

3. Waking up on a Saturday morning with NO PLANS for the entire day. A day wide open with possibility. Will we use it to get things done around the house? Plan a grand adventure? Or just have Family Jammie Day and do nothing but play board games, read books, watch a DVD, pop popcorn, have waffles for dinner? The possibilities are endless.

4. Time with family and friends. You know the people in your life who just make you happy - who make your day better for having seen them or even just chatting with them on the phone? No agenda. No expectations. No "keeping up with the Joneses". The people who like you just the way you are. And you like them just the way they are.

5. Serving God by serving others. I know, sounds kind of high and mighty. But here's the thing, doing good for others... showing them love... those little random acts of kindness... that's how we can change the world. And as much as you set out to bless others, you'll find yourself feeling blessed right back! It doesn't matter if you're doing mission work in Africa, working in a soup kitchen, sitting and listening to a friend who's hurting, or just smiling at a stranger who looks a little down... selfless acts have this sneaky way of making you feel good.

6. Being alone at home. As much as I love my family, there is something wonderful about being home by myself. The quiet. Aaaaah. Freedom to catch up on all my chores or to kick back and read. The only person I need to fix a snack for is myself. Yeah, I've decided it's OK to be a little, tiny bit selfish every once in a while. Pat occasionally takes off with the kiddos and the dog and lets me have "Mommy Alone Time" as the kids call it.

Home alone + a soda + a snack (some kind of junk food) + mindless magazine (Entertainment Weekly, People...) + comfy couch = Happy Mom!

What makes you happy? Leave a comment and let me know...

Top Chef, Jr.

OK, first an update from Friday... Santaland Diaries was wonderful! We laughed so hard! We saw it at the Zachary Scott Theatre in Austin. It's performed in the round, and the theatre is small, only 3 rows of seats. At first it felt a little too "intimate", but once the show got rolling, I loved it! If you're near Austin, get on over and see it! It runs through January 11.

On to Saturday... Brough decided in the morning that he wanted to make Chinese food for dinner. He loves cooking. Top Chef is one of his favorite shows. So, we pulled out the cookbooks, and ultimately decided to prepare dishes from this one...

We made Kung Pao Pork (it's supposed to be Kung Pao Chicken, but I had pork already, so we switched), Green Bean Stir Fry, and Sesame Peanut Noodle Salad. We also made some Vietnamese Pho. Brough decided on the recipes, made the grocery list, went shopping with me, and helped prepare. He worked really hard all day (I'm talking 9:00 am - 7:00 pm with a 1 hour break, here!). Becca pitched in with the prep work too.

Cooking with the kids always means it takes twice as long and dirties twice as many dishes, but it's so worth it!

It goes against all my "mommy" instincts to let him near the stove! But he's so careful. I've also started letting him slice veggies since he earned his "Whittling Chip" in Cub Scouts. He sliced the red pepper for the green beans...

It was a great dinner! Brough and I were both pretty tired when it was done, but we're already looking forward to the next time.

Santaland Diaries

Tonight we are going to see Santaland Diaries.

It is a play based on the writings of David Sedaris, who may be one of the funniest people on the planet. (BTW, you can listen to Santaland Diaries at the link on David Sedaris' name.)

It's a surprise for Pat... so if you see him today don't say anything!

It will be fun to have a grown up night out. And the kids are excited to have a sitter. I just got the Christmas books and movies out of storage yesterday (bad mom!), so I'm pretty sure they'll be drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn while watching

or

and probably reading

and

and / or

I love starting a day that is bound to end with happiness and (side-splitting) laughter!!

What the Hail??

We ate a late dinner tonight after Becca's Christmas program at school (see previous post). Out of no where it started hailing a bit. Not unusual for here in TX. The pieces that were falling were quite small, so after a few seconds, we went back to our conversation. The hail subsided soon after.

After the kids were asleep, I heard it start up again in earnest. I turned on the back porch light and found this...

Oh my goodness!!! When I opened the door to take the photos, I realized it was really cold. Pulled up a weather forecast online, and sure enough - it was SLEET! Um, wow. It had been in the 70s today! Becca wore shorts to school, and now we have sleet???

I guess it's because I said I was so jealous of this earlier today.

A Fun Day...

Tonight was the Christmas program for Becca's school. We aren't the type of parents who usually love the preschool singing programs, but this is her last Christmas program. She'll be heading off to "big kid" school next year. *sigh*

Leave it to our little princess to rock it out during "Silent Night".

I kept Brough home from school again today. Although he felt great, he was still running a fever. Becca had school today, so I was able to spend some alone time with my Big Guy. We snuggled up and read books for quite a while.

A bag full of books from the library and new loot from the school book fair... Bliss!!

Later, he suggested dominoes. We played a game that was a combination of Chicken Foot and Mexican Train that only he and I seem to understand.

I showed this photo to him right after I took it. He asked to see it again a few seconds later. Then he asked to see it again. It wasn't until the 3rd time he wanted to look at the picture that I realized he was looking at my dominoes!!! little stinker!

He's growing up so fast. What a blessing to spend a day of down time with him!! And we didn't turn the TV on once!

Christmas Bliss

One of our favorite things about living in our small town, is the Christmas Festival held each year.

Pat had to work late that night, so he missed the fun this time.

Brough sang with his school choir. Can you see him??

After he finished (You did a great job, buddy!),

it was off to spin under the Tree of Lights...

Feel dizzy yet?

What next?? How about the Carousel...

and

Cotton Candy!!!!!

Yup, Becca ate THE WHOLE THING!!

OK, she had a little help from Mom (very little).

It was really quite cold, so we decided to get hot chocolate for the kids and a hot cider for Mom

Of the three of us, guess who spilled?

Me!

While taking the above photo, I placed my drink between my knees...

And guess where my HOT cider landed????

Oh, yeah! Very nice!!!
(no, this is not going to be one of those kind of blogs, but it may help you get to know me better. it was a very "me" kind of thing to do.)

My very warm wet jeans very quickly became very cold wet jeans! But I'm a trooper, so off we went to "Bethlehem" to make mangers. Then it was time to head home.

What a fun night!!! And we didn't even make it over to the carnival rides this year. We'll save that for next year!

Does it always start this way??

So, does every blog's first post say something like, "Guess I'm going to try this blog thing" or "All my friends are blogging, guess I'll try too?" Well, looks like mine will as well!

I got drawn into the world of blogs by my friend Jen. From hers, I've visited blog after blog... you know how it goes, you're reading someone's blog, and click a link of a blog she likes. Then you click a link on that blog, and on it goes. I've been a shameless lurker, but now that I've joined up, I'll practice better blogging etiquette!

Over the past few weeks, when I've been out with the kiddos I've found myself thinking, "Oh this would be fun to blog about," so here is the proverbial first step of a thousand mile journey...