Elf in a Tea Cup

The girlz found Darby in the china cabinet this morning.  It took them a while to find her and we weren't entirely sure they would see her way up there, so I gave them a teeny hint.

Cassidy had 2 tests today and the last thing she needed was to be distracted and concerned throughout the day - wondering where Darby was, not knowing if she'd even made it back to our house the night before.

So when the bus pulled up with (surprise!) Mr. Looove behind the wheel, they were happy and ready for a great day at school.

Elves Like Cheerios

The girlz found Darby sitting on the kitchen island this morning, enjoying a nice bowl of Cheerios.  The bowl she chose is a Snoopy and Woodstock Christmas bowl from a collection we had when I was a little girl.

We almost didn't have that bowl for her to use today.  When I was in college, I was working the church Yard Sale and found these bowls and the matching mugs in a box of our things Papa donated when we weren't looking.  I loved these bowls and mugs.  LOVED them.  And I wanted them back.

The church tried to give my things back, but Papa made me pay for them.  Yes - he made me buy my own things back from the church.

Wrong, on so many different levels.  And yet I suspect Lieutenant Sexy will likely do the same thing to the girlz one day.

I bought the girlz new winter coats last year but it never got cold enough to wear them.  We had a good amount of frost this morning, so we finally had a reason to break out the "new" coats!  The girlz thought the frost was beautiful and were convinced it had snowed.

So sweet.

Elf on a Copy Machine

The girlz found Darby in my office this morning.  She had made copies of herself on the copy machine!

Darby made 2 copies of herself so each girl could have one (good call, Lieutenant Sexy!).  Both of them proudly carried their Darby pictures to school today.

Thanks for the idea, Pinterest!

Elf on a Tree Branch

It took the girlz a while to find Darby this morning.  She was hiding in our Christmas Tree!

As usual, I took a picture of the girlz pointing at her.  I didn't realize it at the time, but it's not one I can unleash on the interwebz.  Cassidy wanted to wear her fancy new Big Girl School rhinestone t-shirt to school today, and the logo was way too big to censor without making the entire picture look stupid.  Boo.

Thanks to Pinterest, I have lots of awesome ideas for Darby up my sleeve.  So fun!!!

Welcome Back, Darby!

The girlz were beyond excited to find Darby in our house the morning after Thanksgiving! We've had the best time finding her each morning...

Friday Morning: Sitting next to their soccer picture!

Friday night, Campbell pulled her stocking off the mantle and the stocking holder broke.  Saturday morning, they found Darby sitting on the kitchen counter next to the broken stocking holder.  Can you say NAUGHTY LIST? 

Sunday morning: On the mantle next to the fixed stocking holder (it's not really fixed, it's just an illusion).

Monday morning: Sitting next to a Christmas candle roasting a marshmallow on a toothpick.

Here's a close-up:

I love this tradition!!

Thanksgiving 2012

It took days of non-stop work, but Thanksgiving 2012 was a great success!  Lieutenant Sexy did an awesome job frying the turkey, as always.  I was completely focused on the cleaning and cooking, so the pictures are few.  I didn't take a day off of work until the day before Thanksgiving, so there just wasn't a whole lot of time to get things done in advance.  Thankfully, Mama and Papa took the girlz the night before Thanksgiving so we could frantically try to get all the food cooked.

Miraculously, it got done.  Somehow it always gets done.  The food was scrumptious and the company of our family was delightful.

Lieutenant Sexy had to be at work by 4PM, so he pretty much ate and left.  We were sad to see him go, but it's hard to complain about it when we're so thankful to have jobs.

It was truly a great day.  We are abundantly blessed!

You know you're feeding a small army when you need this many plates!

The centerpieces

Turkey (I missed getting the picture before he cut it)

Butterflake rolls in my new Willow House bowl and wrought iron stand.  LOVE.

Homemade cranberry sauce in my Grandma's bowl

Cakes and pies!

Pop and Cassidy

Thanksgiving Luncheon

Campbell had her Thanksgiving Program and Luncheon at Big Girl School today.  It was a weird feeling to know it was our last year with a child in the Thanksgiving Program.  But one perk was that since I helped set up and I'm a Room Parent, we got seats on the front row!

Campbell and her friends did an excellent job with their songs, and the food was plentiful and delicious.

We had to bring three different food items to share.  Our family chose to bring chicken, pasta salad, and cookies.  The staff asked that we bring our food in disposable containers if possible.

Instead of being happy with the plain white Chinet plate, I punched holes along the rim of our cookie plate and ran an orange ribbon around the edge.  I also punched holes in one corner of each tin casserole dish and tied orange bows on those, too.

I clearly have a problem.

Pilgrim Diva Campbell did a GREAT job.

We pulled Cassidy out of class so she could support her sister.  We put her in charge of the camcorder and I was surprised at how well she did with it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tooth #7

I was at a meeting last Thursday night when Mama texted me this picture:

Cassidy lost her 7th tooth! When we fetched the tooth from her Tooth Monster Pillow later that night, we found a tiny note she had written to the Tooth Fairy:

After reading the note, we decided leaving a dollar bill wouldn't be good enough this time. I sat for a while and thought of what I could leave to show Cassidy the Tooth Fairy loves her right back. I spent a few minutes poking around and found a shiny silver clip-on earring that she'd never seen before - it was one of my Grandmother's that I had hidden away in my jewelry box years ago. I carefully tucked it into the pillow pocket along with her dollar and sprinkled the telltale trail of glitter along the floor.

Cassidy was thrilled when she found it the next morning! I acted confused and wondered aloud why the Tooth Fairy would have left an earring? Had Cassidy left anything else in the pillow, or just the tooth? She told me about the note, and that's when I unleashed my theory on Cassidy - the Tooth Fairy read her note, but maybe she didn't have a pencil and paper to write back.  So the Tooth Fairy must have gently pulled one of her earrings from her ear and slipped it in the pillow pocket so Cassidy would know just how much the Tooth Fairy loves her. Cassidy was fascinated, and immediately clipped the earring to her favorite trophy.

I hope the magic of that moment stays with her for the rest of her life.

The View From Here...

... is getting prettier by the day. The leaves seemed to be a little slower to change this year. Later than usual or not, God delivers a spectacular show every time!


View from the back door:

View from the front door:

The Lost Post

These pictures were in a blank post that fell victim to my pain-induced blog silence. Why wouldn't I have posted these?!?

Campbell put a sticker on her head and immediately morphed into "Boo Campbell - Superhero". I flew her around her kitchen like an airplane while her tiny little voice called out, "Boo Campbell to the rescue!!" Her personality is so BIG!

I took these pictures of the girlz as we waited for the bus last week, but I don't remember why I wanted to share them.

Uneventful Week In A Nutshell

Has it really been a week since I last posted? Based on the dates, I guess that would be a YES. I pulled a muscle in my side last week and didn't feel so great. I started a few posts here and there but deleted them because they seemed insignificant and boring.

So how did I pull a muscle in my side? It happened when I decided to be a good example for Cassidy. While she was sitting on her floor reading last Monday evening, I straddled my legs and did a few side stretches... something I've done my entire life without incident.

It didn't hurt when I stretched, but I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like I'd slept wrong. Campbell had climbed in the bed during the night, so that made sense.

But as the day wore on, I felt worse and worse. I spent the rest of the week sitting on a heating pad whenever I could, and was back to my old self by the weekend.

Cassidy and Marissa had a birthday party to attend Saturday afternoon, so I headed one way with them while Lieutenant Sexy and Campbell headed the opposite direction for swimming lessons and other random stuff.

Sunday was fun - church in the morning, a meeting in the afternoon, and then Lieutenant Sexy and I got the night to ourselves! Almost a year ago, I won a free night at one of our most favorite hotels ever... which also happens to be about a mile from Mama and Papa's house. So we dropped the girlz off Sunday evening and headed down the road. We ate dinner by ourselves and it was wonderful. There are no words to describe how thankful I am for the gift of time!

We checked out Monday morning and headed down the road to trade the Silver Bullet for a new and improved Silver Bullet - The Silver Bullet II.

Once we were done signing on the dotted line, we rushed to Big Girl School for Cassidy's Parent Teacher Conference. We walked away with a great report on Cassidy's performance and one concern to address.

So there it is... our uneventful week in a nutshell.

Faux-tography Time

It's been two years since we've had a picture made that includes all four of us. I wanted to get a family picture for Christmas cards this year, but we weren't available on the days our photographer had set aside for portrait sessions.

No harm, no foul. This is exactly why I asked Lieutenant Sexy to buy me a nice camera way back when. I put the girlz in matching dresses yesterday and headed outside to see what we could get.

Campbell had a huuuuuuuge meltdown as I was trying to get them out the back door to a pretty spot. Remember that extra hour of sleep we were *supposed* to get Saturday night? That whole "Fall Back" thing is a cruel joke for families with young children. Miss Campbell was wide awake and ready to go at 4:00 AM, which made her an emotional and unreasonable wreck for the entire day.

Once I finally had her calmed down, we headed outside to play Faux-tography Studio.

Lieutenant Sexy and I are happy with the results. They're certainly not professional, but they're more than good enough for our Christmas cards!

Here are two that didn't make it to the card:

I can't believe my favorite holidays are just around the corner!

Soccer Sayonara

The Fall Soccer season of 2012 has come to an end.  It ended on a high note - Campbell made a goal at her last game on Saturday morning!  Cassidy was the goalie for her team and did a great job.  Once the games were over, we headed home to prepare our potluck dishes for the banquet.  Then we went right back to the church to help Ms. Connie with set-up and crowd control.

She was shocked and so proud when she realized she'd made a goal.  SO PROUD!!

"I'm not sure what to do with my hands"

For the NASCAR newbies, that's one of Ricky Bobby's quotes from the epic movie Talledega Nights.

The girlz were SO EXCITED to get their trophies!  They both worked really hard this year.  And while they're not the best soccer players on the team (or the second best... or even the third best, for that matter), it doesn't matter because they both have a ton of fun.  Plus, they're learning how to work as a team while getting exercise and fresh air.

That makes the time and money we spend on all things soccer completely worth it.  WINNING!

   
Until Cheer season starts, we'll fill our Saturdays with swimming lessons.  Never a dull moment!!

Halloween Hangover

The girlz had a GREAT Halloween!  I spent yesterday afternoon at the school hosting the Halloween party for Cassidy's class.  We raced home for homework and dinner, and then it was time for costumes!

Cassidy dressed as Draculaura from Monster High and Campbell dressed as Sharpay from High School Musical.  Once again, Mama and Papa graciously offered to hold down the fort and hand out candy while we walked the girlz around the neighborhood.  We're so very thankful for their help!

Once we'd gotten plenty of pictures, we met up with the rest of our Street Crew and hit the pavement.  The girlz were happy that Nana Jill came over to walk part of the way with us.

We had a blast!  The girlz and their friends had set a goal of visiting every house in the neighborhood that had their lights on, and they met their goal!  We had a great night.

This morning was a whole other story.  Both girlz woke up with ugly Halloween Hangovers.  They ate only a few pieces of candy last night, but the running and non-stop stair climbing and overwhelming excitement and late bedtime had morphed them both into Grumpy McGrumpertons.  I ended up driving them to school because my conscience wouldn't let me put those two cranky kids on the bus.

Thankfully, they were fully awake and chill by the time we got to school.

I see an early bedtime in our future.

Draculaura and Sharpay

There was another picture of Mama, Papa, Draculaura, and Sharpay where everyone was looking at the camera, but I like this one better.  I love how Papa is looking at Campbell's cheese-face and smiling.

Next up, Thanksgiving!!