Teacher gift ideas

For all of you out there who will be shopping for teachers this Christmas, Money-Saving Mom has a great forum of inexpensive gift ideas submitted by her readers, many of them teachers.  Check it out:

http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/11/ask-the-readers-unique-and-inexpensive-teacher-gifts.html

Christmas Fever

It's official.  I've caught it.  It happened sometime this weekend with Daddy taking Friday off and getting to spend lots of good family time together, going to the mall with the kids, and listening to Christmas music on the way home.  So earlier I loaded the kids in the car, and we drove around looking for Christmas lights.  Mind you, the sun had barely set, but we set out in search of them anyway.  By the time we made it home, it was nice and dark, and the kids were almost hoarse from screaming.  It's hilarious how even a rinky-dink light setup at the entrance to a neighborhood gives them such joy.  Emerson spots a house all lit up and yells, "Yook, Baby Jax!  Yook at the yights over dare!"

I love the magic this time of year brings.  I love experiencing it with a pre-schooler and a toddler.  I love the all-Christmas-music-all-the-time station in the car.  I love finishing my Christmas shopping early (only a few more gifts to go!) and counting down the days.  I also love finishing my Christmas photo card order before December (yes, I did) and getting 75 cards for $35 (oh yes, I did).  I love one or two decaf peppermint mochas from Starbucks.  I have yet to partake in that deliciousness as of yet, but I can hear one calling my name.  I love decorating for Christmas, although this year will be a non-decorating kind of year, as I'll be packing boxes for the move.  Uncle Trav is letting us borrow a little bitty Christmas tree for the kids to enjoy, so that's gonne be the extent of our decor.  Well, that and the new Uppercase Living nativity scene I bought last month.  Can't wait to get it out and put it on the wall for the kids to play with.  I'll take a picture of it when I do. 

Happy almost December!  Now we just need a little snow!

Thankful

I am thankful... (click on 'captions' to find out)

"Picnik Show"

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Em's Christmas Dance Performance

Last Friday night Emerson's dance studio put on their annual Christmas Extravaganza at the Riverwalk, and can I just say that Sister Sue was a little bit excited?!  First of all, I promised I would put a little makeup on her, but I made the mistake of telling her about it too early.  For about a week, daily she would ask, "Mommy, do I get to wear a yiddle makeup today?" 

It was a chilly night, but she warmed right up onstage.  The first thing she did after her teacher put her in her place was scream.  Not from fear or fright, just pure elation and joy from being on stage and having an audience at her disposal.  Here are a few pictures and a video that Daddy took.  The crying child in the background is none other than Jax who cried the minute I got out of the car with Emerson and cried again the minute I walked with her to the stage.  I promise I'm not trying to make him a Momma's boy.  He just loves me a lot.

Car Wreck & House Pics

So I was leaving my monthly check-up with my midwife on Tuesday and heading to the inspections on the new house.  A car two cars in front of me was stopped to make a left-hand turn, so there was a line of about 6 cars total (4 behind me) stopped.  All of sudden, I hear screeching brakes, then BAM...BAM...BAM (each successive BAM getting closer to me, and I'm thinking, OH CRAP).  My car gets hit from behind and knocks me forward just a few feet.  Luckily the guy turning left had already gone, so the car directly in front of me had started accelerating, and I didn't hit it.  I got out to survey the damage and was shocked to see the car who caused the accident was in the ditch.  A witness who stopped to help said the female teenage driver was going too fast to stop in time, slammed into the car in front of her, bounced off that car, and catapulted into the ditch.  Thank the good Lord no one was injured.  The EMTs and firefighters on the scene were concerned because I was pregnant, but I wasn't hit hard enough to cause any problems.  And my vehicle suffered only a dent in the back door and scratches on the bumper.  More than anything I was annoyed to be late to the inspections. 

Everything was good with the house... some repairs need to happen, but nothing major structurally.  Here are a few pictures... we're planning on having the hardwoods redone in a darker stain and extending them into the office and dining room, painting and probably texturing the walls, painting the kitchen cabinets (redoing the whole kitchen at some point) and having all of the built-ins painted and stained.  A lot to be done before we move in! 

Front of the house

Our house in BA had a Japanese maple and I miss it... so glad to have one again!

Entryway view... at some point we'll be updating the staircase railing. 

Looking back toward the front door.  Don't you LOVE the light fixture?!  You may come get it if so.  :)   

 

Formal dining

Office (fireplace will be redone)

Downstairs family room

Backyard

The bedrooms are enormous... this will eventually be the girls' room (just Emerson's for now)

Upstairs game room (built-ins to be repainted and glazed)

Play area outside gameroom (taking out the desk and utilizing the built-ins for toy storage... I'm getting some fun ideas for what to do in this space but very afraid that I won't be able to make it actually happen).  

 

My least favorite thing in the house... the kitchen.  I don't think even a pretty cream, glazed cabinet is going to make me like it.  I'm gonna have to really practice self-control and patience in this room because we aren't planning the reno anytime soon. 

So that's our new nest... we're looking at moving after the first of the year at this point.  I'm starting to get both excited and overwhelmed and already starting to pray that all of this doesn't send me into early labor. 

Closet Talk

A few days ago, I walked into my closet to find Jax playing in my shoes.  I caught him off guard and said, "Jax?"

"Yeth, Mommy?"

"How are ya, big boy?"

"Awe-thum." 

Funny stuff.

Tomorrow is inspection on the new house... keeping my fingers crossed that we have no major issues to deal with.  It's only a 10-yr-old home, but you never know.  Daddy told Emerson the Princess that we just bought a new castle, so she's been super excited and has already requested that we paint it pink.  I can't wait to show it to her for the first time. 

Here are pictures of Miss Sadie, our friends Rabu & Kyna's newest addition we met at the hospital on Thursday.  She is such a doll and joins two older sisters, Lexi and Paisley.