alls I'm sayin'

Out of a desparation to get out of the house and have some girl time Maddie, Grandma Beverley and I went to see a movie.  We saw New Moon. 

It was kind of sunny.  Good to get some of those rays on my face a little.  (who in their right mind would chose edward over jacob?)

It's good to get out and see the town.

don't judge me.



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mailbox surprise

I went to the mail box to see if we got any mail today and to my surprise...guess what was in there?
Christmas cards.  Lots of them.  I was excited for a brief moment until I realized they were the ones I put in there!  The mail lady has been bringing the mail to the door the last few days because of packages and I guess never checked to see if I had outgoing mail.  Soooo...Some of my cards have gone out even later than they were supposed to.  Better late than never?  ugh.  sorry.

So here you go.

A Merry Christmas to you!

before Christmas.

I took those cards to our little Choccolocco post office that I realized is a lot closer than the one I've been going to for almost 3 years now.  This one isn't even a mile away!  Crazy.  Next to the post office is the Choccolocco History Museum/gift shop.

It's cute and made me laugh.

Lookit.

Look closer.

Look closer.

AWESOME!

Now I know just where to go if I'm looking a little pasty white this winter.

I love this town.

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!

Muah.

ramblin' on

It rained like crazy this morning.  Our septic alarm went off meaning the water got in and shorted out the plug for the pump that pumps the poo out of the tank up to the field so the tank wont fill up and come back into the house.  So.  No shower and we have to ration the flushes.  Brian can fix it as soon as he gets home I think, so thats good, but ugh and ick.

ALSO I went to the post office to send back a Christmas present!  YES!  I sent one back.  Bad, bad kids.  Just kidding.  They're not really bad and I think I've intervened with all the attempted peaking.
What happened was this:  I'd realized when I was up putting Nash to bed one night that he already had what we had gotten and upon further covert investigation found out we had given it to him LAST Christmas.  duh.  duh, duh, duh, duh.  But it's cool.  check it.  They love legos. 
While at the PO I stepped over a huge puddle right into a deep puddle.  And my sock was soaked right through.  So I took it off, took care of the post stuff and went to drop off the recycling at the mall.  Maddie is with me today cause she got such good grades she didn't have to take her exams and got Thurs. and Fri. off. 

We were there (at the mall where the recycling bins are located) so I had to go in.  Our mall may be itty bitty, but I had a cupon.  So in we went to my fave store since I was 12. 
The Gap.  I would love to move on, but they have what I need.  It all started with my huge maroon chunky sweater with the hunting dogs on the front.  So cool.  Well actually, so warm and cozy.  It was the perfect security blanket for my awkward early teen years and many insecurities.  So I stay loyal. 
And...nothing too interesting happened but I hit a great sale and with my cupon I got a 50$ cardigan for 18 buckaroos.  Awesome. 
Then we picked up the preschool princess, who will be the only girl in her class in the new year, and went to the video store to pick out some old movies.  But to my disappointment, NO oldies or musicals.  No Polyanna, no Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, no Three Stooges, nothing.  The best I could do was Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.  I'm sad. 

All with one sock on. 

Also, I ran out of christmas stamps for the cards I finally got to.  So some of them have The Simpsons. 

Do you get sugar headaches?  I do.  I've had a headache for 4 days - ish.  Oreo truffles.  Yum and ache. 

Off to piano lessons.  Head ache, dry socks, unwashed hair and all.

Merry Merry

it's a first!

It's a Wonderful Life!
I'd never seen it before.  Neither had Brian. 
We watched it last night.
I thought it would be kind of boring, but holy cow it was so funny! 
And then not funny, but you know, it had to teach a lesson and the lesson was indeed taught.  Loved it. 
I think we may even join the throngs of folks who watch this every year at Christmas time.  Never to late to bring on traditions, right?
So great.

out with the new, in with the old

I decided to be a little more picky about what the kiddos watch on TV.  I'm cutting down even more, I hope, on their 'screen time' and trying to choose better what they do watch when they can. 

I found a couple DVDs I got from the dollar bin at Target maybe five years ago and took them in the van because they are stuck sitting there and really have no excuse not to watch. 

I knew if they gave them a chance, they would like it. 

The first one was Abbott and Costello.  Carter, no surprise, thought it was hilarious.  Maddie was so taken back that there was no color.  "I was fifteen before I ate my first animal cracker" was repeated with peals of laughter all night long.

Next, I watched The Little Princess with Erin.  I thought maybe she'd like Shirley Temple.  She does and we both cried when she had to say goodbye to her daddy.  We've watched it 3 times now and Nash even joined us for one of them. 

And much to my surprise at the end of the Shirley Temple DVD is a cartoon I watched a ton as a kid myself!

Faithful.  Forever.  I love it.  And guess what?!  So do my kids. 

They laugh and they sing the songs and we love it.

Erin is watching Abbott and Costello right now.  Of her own free will and choice.  

So, hopefully a little less attitude learned from those Nick Teens on tv. 

I don't know if it will make much of a difference, but so far...this week anyway...so good.

it made me smile

I've been looking through pictures today and thought I'd post some pictures I love.  Of course they are all of my family...but they are funny.  I love them.
That first one I love because of the dinosaur.  He totally jumped in at the last second and cheesed it for the camera!  We didn't even know it until we looked through the pictures later that day.  What a silly Rex.  Brian's green dri-fit (he loves a good dri-fit!) and Carter's grin.  Made you smile?  yup.  I know.

This next picture I love because of Carter's funny expression.  He just fed a giraffe and was having a hard time getting passed the tongue.  He was a little disturbed at being that close to an animal.

I love the next picture because it was such a pretty day, Erin dressed herself and was in such a good mood.  She was dancing around and being hilarious.  Love it.

It's all Maddie in this next picture.  She is almost 13 now and I love it when she relaxes and is cute and funny.  AND she's like, almost touching Nash!  Dang.  That's the closest she's let herself get to her brother in a long time.

Nash's new glasses.  He picked them out himself and though I was a little hesitant at first, he looks pretty great in them.  They stay up on his nose.  He also wants me to gel his hair and spike it up in the front now. 

And he's a smarty pants guy. 

Just thought I'd let you in on some things that made me smile today.