What a day

Well the decorating is done, the concerts tonight were beautiful. Sarah and Meredith saved me twice today - its so nice to have great friends. I suppose this is another high/low post. The Nativity was the high - but there is a big low. We found out this morning that Aunt Beth is facing a huge medical hurdle, more details later when we know more, but please add her in your prayers.
I also need to say Happy Birthday Ella! now because Kyle and I fly out in the morning for Dayton for the weekend. We are going to the corporate Christmas party which includes a private concert by the Beach Boys!!! I have been too busy to even take it all in, but I am getting very excited!!! So I need to stop blogging and pack.

Its getting there...

About 470 Nativities!!!

If anyone is bored, come help us there is tons left to do!!!

I feel so important...

LOL
I was quoted in the newspaper today!!! Now its back to the building to decorate!!!
Frisco Nativity Exhibit article
its looking so good, but boy am I tired!

High/Low

So every Sunday the kids do this thing called High/low in Primary. You say your highest moment of the last week and your lowest moment. If you have no low moment they all say "hooray" for you. So here goes my High/Low:

High: WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

Low: Kyle can't do it for me...

Here to wishing #4 comes without morning sickness...

Good food, pretty tree

Is there enough room for everyone?

We enjoyed a wonderful thanksgiving with tons of friends who are also Texas transplants sans extended family close by.
Everyone else digs in, except Maiya, our only kid who is not a good eater!
Looks like a chipmunk!

Afternoon nap? Ella has a way with back rubs!

Decorating the tree - I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Ignore the bare rods - maybe one day I'll pick curtains - christmas gift maybe? - wink, wink!

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

-Thornton Wilder

Occupational Therapy Song

Every once in a while I check on what exactly I need to do to get back into my career, and instead of getting my ducks in a row I find junk like this. Fast forward through him jabbin and listen. I am probably the only one who thinks its funny.

Ella's Party

Hot Dogs on the grill and hot dogs on the cupcakes
Check out my face painting skills

Someone is excited

Who reads cards? - Do kids ever get better about that

Leave it to Benjamin to point out the specs on the baby stuff

The wind wanted to blow out her candle

Someone stole the bilibo

Question - I don't use very much punctuation when I blog, or ever for that matter - just ask my mom aka proofreader how much I love run-on sentences. I depend on spaces and dashes, but blogger keeps getting rid of my spaces and empty lines and scrunching everything together. Its really annoying how do I stop it?

I jumped

So I updated my template. Nothing really new yet, except by doing that I lost recent changes to my friends list and such so I will have to change that later. I really wanted the polling feature. So check it out and vote! I am on the fence about the music thing, so here is the way I look at it:

Pro's -

Music is cool
I listen to the best music - so ya'll all got hear it
You get introduced to music you wouldn't normally hear (I am hooked to the Ben Folds song on Andrea's blog)

Con's

Its distracting when all you want to do is read (and yes I know you can mute it, but that is distracting to do)
Some people listen at work, so they shouldn't have to mess with the noise
It weird to constantly hear the first 20 seconds of a song when all you are doing is checking to read a quick post.
So I shall leave it to the masses to decide...

Special Friends Day!

We kept the kids up too late playing games with Sarah and Dylan - too fun for us, a little exhausting for the kids.

She needs her sleep, her birthday party is tomorrow. I think Ella is destined to always celebrate her birthday two weeks early. Her birthday falls during the Nativity so that's out and next weekend is too close to Thanksgiving, everyone will be busy - So tomorrow it is.

Definition of Responsibility?

So a few weeks ago I had a long talk with Benjamin covering the following:
You need to be more responsible, you are getting really good about getting up and feeding Zeke and doing your homework - but that is not everything. There are 3 big things you need to work on -
1. STOP PICKING your nose, its GROSS - if you have to, go in the bathroom.
2. You need to brush your teeth every morning and every night without being bugged.
3. Pick up your room and turn off the lights before you go downstairs in the morning.

Fast forward to last night - We are driving down the street when the talk of Christmas lists comes up, and Benjamin brings up a frequent request "I want a pocket knife please" - No Bud you are not responsible enough for that (yes I kind of felt like A Christmas Story - You'll shot your eye out because I was thinking "you'll cut your finger off" - A whiny wail ensues "But mom I have been picking my nose in the bathroom for two weeks and you haven't even noticed!!!!!!!!!!! I AM RESPONSIBLE"

At dinner the conversation continued. Ok Benjamin what else do you want besides a pocket knife or video games. "Well I have really been thinking I would like a car" - The funniest part is how absolutely drop dead serious he is, quieting our laughter Kyle says "You know you can't drive until you are 16" - "Well I guess you guys could borrow it until then."
"No Benjamin you are not getting a car for Christmas" - long sigh "Ok I guess a motorcycle then"

Dancing

Can I just say WOW - it was worth every penny!!!
Go Ella!! (sorry I forgot the camera at Benjamin's Award party) -
I am doing the happy dance that the season is over - this was a hectic soccer season!!

"What a good big brother" - direct quote from Benjamin, he saw these two pictures and said Mom you should put that on the blog and say this...

Someone wouldn't sleep the other night... All she wanted to do was dance

I do have a medium saturation level

So I have too many things going on and I am dragging my feet on all of them.
First off carpet:
The carpet was in so-so condition when we moved here and I shampooed it myself. Well I must have washed off what little stainguard there was left on it because it looked good for about 48 hours then it got awful fast. And that has happened each subsequent time I have shampooed it myself. So I decided to fork over the money have a professional company do it and then put stain protectant on it. Then I canceled thinking I should finish with the worst part of potty training. Then I rescheduled thinking that could be a long time from now. Then I canceled again thinking we need to paint the stairwell. So we put a first coat on this weekend and the carpet people will get here in the morning. That leaves us one day to put on a second coat, move furniture and vacuum good. I can't decide when to get things done then I leave myself too much to do in a little amount of time. Oh yeah and I have a few million things to do for the Nativity Exhibit.
Then there is the yard. I wanted to plant a lot of bulbs this fall. When I had the time I didn't have the money. Then I had the money so I bought the bulbs and yet they aren't in the ground yet. And the other thing I don't know whether or not to feel guilty about is the leaves. Last year when the leaves fell I thought "oh yeah our rakes didn't make the move I should buy two at the store" and the very next day the crazy wind had blew every single leaf out of our yard. Someone actually said to me - don't buy a rake here, we have good wind. But it has been a little less windy this fall and the leaves sit. No one else seems to be raking yet. So I am going to wait too.
Last random thought - Where do those huge drains we have on our streets lead to? Last night I saw a fearful Chihuahua wandering around the neighborhood. I pulled up to it, got out of the van and tried to approach it when it jumped in the sewer drain!!! I didn't know what to do - it was pitch black and I didn't hear it scrambling or freaking out or nothing. I hope the little guy is ok - I can't see how he could climb back out so I hope he knew where he was going.

Vaseline removal try #2

So this was Goop hand cleaner left on for twenty minutes (well actually like 11 minutes because she gave up and pulled off the walmart bag) - it seemed to work the best. I'd say about 75% is gone. I think what is really working is her pillowcase absorbing it at night - kind of gross I know. I don't think it was overly noticeable at church today. Everyone probably just thought I was a bad mom who didn't wash my kids hair.

Speaking of judgemental people,

Screw you anonymous for flagging my blog - you really need to get a life.

Hear this blogger world:
STOP LEAVING ANONYMOUS COMMENTS ESPECIALLY PETTY, JUDGEMENTAL AND POORLY DEFENDED ONES WITHOUT TELLING ME WHO YOU ARE!
Its not fair to sit and wonder if you are in my circle of friends.

And if you are immediately concerned about sexual matters when you see a little toddler's butt maybe you should get some help. There is nothing on this blog that hasn't been in a Johnson&Johnson or Coppertone commercial. And to insinuate I am promoting pedophilia is beyond rude.

I love anonymous readers but I am over cowards!!!

I do love that color - and I think that pretty much sums me up!

you are cornflowerblue #6495ED

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect. Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

A texas playdate

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful"
I'll just throw from here.

Come closer please.

Awww. a baby

Picking pecans, YUMMO

I gave up.

Middle finger

At the bus stop this morning:
Benjamin and Ella together "What does the middle finger mean?"
Me: "It is really bad, its like a cuss word, the worst cuss word"
Both in unison like they already know: "ohh"
Me: "Do you know what the worst cuss word is?"
Ella: Yeah...."Stupid"
Benjamin: NO, its "idiot"

oh to be so innocent...

Go to Sarah's blog to see what Maiya and Claire did today. I thought it was hysterical, Sarah wasn't quite as amused, but then again it wasn't all over my house. The girls will be greasy headed for a while - any tricks to get Vaseline out of hair?

A peek in Benjamin's mind

Benjamin created his own imbee site a while back but wrote his own first blog this weekend:
http://www.imbee.com/imbee/thebestgamer
The "you no" means "you know" - now he wants to learn how to type so if anyone knows any good learn-to-type games for his age let me know.

He is learning about Martin Luther King Jr. at school and this is what he told me:
"Martha King Jr. created freedom. He made white kids and brown kids go to school together. And then he was shot"

Pictures of Maiya up at Flickr!

This is so Benjamin

We will miss you TJ

I saw the For Lease sign in the yard a couple of weeks ago then a few days later they were loading up and by the next day TJ wasn't at school. We were really sad that we didn't' get to say goodbye. But yesterday TJ came by to play one last time while they got the last few boxes from the house.

Benjamin: "But why do you have to move"

TJ: "We just gotta"

Benjamin: " I know, you can live with us"

TJ: "Uh no because then I would have to have the same last name as you and its kinda weird"

Ella: after a little thought "Oh no you don't have to. Aunt Meg lives here and her name is Grinels - So you can move here with whatever name you want"

It was just a fresh perspective

You will never understand till you walk a mile in a fat girl's shoes, and yes this fat girl does walk a mile every morning. I wanted to post something refreshing for myself and my chubby gal pals who hear the common rhetoric of "its your choice, your diet, your fault for being fat" that is regurgitated daily on the Today show, any woman's magazine, the internet, everywhere... Sometimes you just need something to make you feel good about yourself. I don't know it all but I do know somethings:

1. Some people are predisposed to be fat -- This is not agency on equal terms - Studies have focused on this, check it out: NY Times article. I know good friends who are rail thin and couldn't gain weight if they tried - I have even seen them try. One friend a size 0 - yes you read that right a size ZERO ate me under the table. I am not exaggerating - she ate more than I did and finished the night with a tub of cake icing. And commented that she regularly did that growing up. My mom would have broken my fingers if I sat down to eat cake icing. Yet this girl grumbled about how her hips stuck out funny. But I was the one to be judged as lazy, fat and downright immoral for being overweight.

2. I try! I exercise - Yes I could do more, but I try. I try to eat well - but its usually budget, not desire, that gets in the way. Fresh fruits and veggies all the time is very expensive. So I could eat less, eat better, exercise more, but I am who I am and I am not going to beat myself up - Everyone does that enough. I was sure beat up enough in the comments alone recently. This was the first time I have been cussed at in one of the comments.

3. Hatred against fat people is the last acceptable form of prejudice and discrimination. How many times is the fat person in a movie the mean, evil and/or dumb character. It's shoved down our throats that all fat people are bad. Check out Big Fat Deal - It examines the constant barrage of sinister messages about fat in the media.

4. Its not as simple as you would like to think, especially my friends who are blessed to be of average size - Big Fat Facts : "Fat, active people have half the mortality rate of thin sedentary people"

5. There needs to be a level of understanding that may be above most people's comprehension level. Fat acceptance is not promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. It promotes friendship and understanding and a better quality of life for people who are not going to be easily accepted by the world or apparently by blogger.

So to make a short story longer... I deleted comments against my personality for the sake of my own self esteem but more for my lovely fat friends. WE ALREADY KNOW ALL THAT CRAP that's out there. I was just putting a "let's hear it for us for a change!" I don't need the comments that say, " Yeah but you're still bad people and here's why... There won't be anymore comments on the blog about it - I will delete all good and bad because I don't' like looking very 1984 by deleting the bad and leaving the good.
But I am adding Naafa to my links!

Mika - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Amen Again!!!

A Fat Rant.

Amen!!!