A Decorating and Baking Kind Of Day

While we decorated the house for Christmas yesterday, the girlz made gingerbread houses and baked cupcakes in their Easy Bake Oven. The cupcakes looked pretty gross to me, but the girlz thought it was outstanding.

To each their own.

Darby found the red velvet cupcakes sitting on the counter this morning and decided to eat a few. She's still smiling, so I guess they're not as bad as they look.

Darby Is Back!

Our elf is back! She used the Sharpies and toilet paper last night to leave the girlz a note that said "I missed you".

They were SO EXCITED to see her!!

The girlz wanted me to take their picture making Darby faces. So silly!

Thanks to Pinterest, I have several new ideas in my bag of tricks this year. We'll see how well they turn out!

Thanksgiving 2013

Another successful Thanksgiving celebration has gone down in the books! With several missing family members this year, I was concerned it would be a sad day. I'm relieved everyone was able to relax and enjoy a happy day.

Cooking a full Thanksgiving meal for 25-ish people is no small task, and it takes us the entire week to get everything done. Lucky for me, Lieutenant Sexy took some time off work and was home all week to help. It made a HUGE difference!

Since we got through everything faster than usual and the girlz were with Mama and Papa, we were able to enjoy a quiet dinner out Wednesday night. So nice!

Here are some pictures...

Table #2

Some of the desserts

The centerpieces

Table #3

The turkey! 

Appetizers

I didn't get a picture of table #1, the casseroles, ham, bread, collards... I wish I'd had more time to run around with the camera, but it's a pretty hectic day. I guess I should be thankful I was able to get any pictures at all!

Although hosting Thanksgiving is a ton of work, it's totally worth it.

In about 50 weeks, someone needs to remind me I said that!!

Guess Who We Saw Tonight?

SANTA!!!!!!!

The girlz have been working on their lists for weeks. We printed them off tonight and took them to Santa along with a sweet treat (Skittles). It was the perfect night to go -- we were the only ones there, and Santa generously spent lots of time with the girlz.

Santa's Elves were super nice and took several pictures of the girlz with the big guy. We really only needed the digital pictures so we ended up buying the CD. They loaded every picture they had taken (even though the disc was only supposed to come with 3 pictures) - so nice!

While we were discussing what would come with the disc, our very astute Elf noticed an ADORABLE photo op happening -- and she got the picture! It's the last one below. I love it!

After talking with Santa, we ate dinner and headed home. Such a fun night!

Reviewing the lists with Santa

All smiles!!!

This is the one our lightening-fast Elf got at the very end. I LOVE IT!!!

Crazy Dance Mom

I was the Crazy Dance Mom standing on the sidewalk outside the dance studio tonight, peering through the gaps in the curtains to catch a glimpse of my tiny dancer. I got this picture... and even though it's a little grainy, I love it.

The expression on my girl's face is nothing but pure joy.

I'll be the first to admit that I get tired of spending hours and hours each week sitting in the dance studio lobby. And driving my car in a continuous loop from our house to the studio and back again, over and over and over, got old several years ago. And we could take some pretty swanky vacations if we weren't constantly paying for costumes, tuition, and competition fees.

But watching dance class unfold tonight from my secret, unseen spot gave me a new perspective. Seeing Campbell's face lit up with happiness makes the inconveniences and sacrifices seem insignificant and trivial.

Is dance expensive and time-consuming?  Very.

Are we getting a return on our investment?  You better believe it.

Saying Goodbye

We are sad to report that Batman Girl has passed away. We suspected she had succumbed for about a week, but the sure sign of her demise was when she started to smell like the ocean. Poor Hello Kitty lived in their little pink cage for about a week with a dead body.

Campbell is not happy that her crab died and Cassidy's didn't, which will most certainly be a fun conversation topic for the next few months.

We buried Batman Girl in the backyard last night. Lieutenant Sexy dug a hole and the girlz made a tiny tombstone out of a rock.

Goodbye, Batman Girl

Anyone willing to place a wager on how long we last before heading to PetSmart for another hermit crab?

Bunco Babes

A few ladies at church recently started a Bunco group three months ago and asked me to join. I played Bunco one time nearly two years ago with a different group of ladies from church, and it was a ton of fun. I agreed to attend as often as I was able, and a new monthly tradition was born.

In just a few months, I've grown to love our little community of busy Christian Moms. Our two hours together each month is a chance to decompress with other women in the same season of life. The actual (mindless) game of Bunco is secondary.

The friend I taught Art Camp with last summer hosted the group this month. She meticulously decorated her house with the cutest dice decorations and Bunco eCards.

It was adorable, and I loved looking at all little details. She thought of everything - she wrapped the water bottles with Bunco labels and even put sugar cubes with dice markings on top of the cupcakes!

I hosted last month and didn't even think to do anything like this. When my turn comes up next year, it's on!

Nuclear Meltdown Day

Campbell had not one, but two HUGE meltdowns today. Isn't she supposed to be growing out of this by now? Yeah, I thought so too.

But she's not.

What set her off this time? A flower in her hair and a poorly timed offer to take her picture (my favorite stall tactic while waiting for the school bus). She declined the offer of a picture, but Cassidy wanted hers taken. Campbell changed her mind just as I took Cassidy's picture, which also happened to be the exact second the bus rolled up to the house.

Chaos ensued. We got it worked out and I drove her to another bus stop.

Who knew my world was less than 10 seconds away from exploding when I snapped this picture? I didn't!

I finally got Campbell calmed down and a picture taken after the bus had come and gone. She was still upset. Do you see her concerned eyes? She was trying so hard to smile, but it's hard to force your eyes to smile when they've been crying.

The afternoon drama started the second she walked through the front door. She didn't want to do her homework, was claiming she was STARVING but rejected every food suggesstion I offered, and refused my help getting her dance clothes on but wouldn't put them on herself.

It was lovely, and Cassidy was late to tumble because of Campbell's antics.

NOT a good day!

What Would a Great Daddy Do?

We chose to divide and conquer yesterday afternoon - I took Cassidy down the road for a dance rehearsal and Lieutenant Sexy kept Campbell at home.

Shortly before we left the house, Campbell told me her fingernails and toenails had been "blank" all year. The last trip to the spa was the day before school started.

What would a good Daddy do? Take her to nail salon.

What would a GREAT Daddy do? Paint her nails himself.

And that's exactly what they did! While I was waiting for Cassidy to finish her rehearsal, I got this cuteness on the phone. 

She wore sandals to school today so her friends could see her pretty toes. It's not sandal weather around here anymore, but she INSISTED.

I made sure she wore a hat, gloves, and thick jacket to offset her chilly feet. How could I say no?

Report Cards!

Report Cards came home today. There shouldn't have been any surprises because our school uses software that allows parents to view their child's gradebook anytime they want. Obviously, I take full advantage of this privilege!

Cassidy's report card looked exactly like the online gradebook - all A's and one B+. No surprises.

Campbell's didn't seem to match as cleanly. She appeared to have all 5's in her graded subjects online, which should have translated to E's on the Report Card (E stands for Excellent, the Kindergarten equivalent of an A). But there wasn't one E to be seen - only S's and even a few grades of S-.

How strange. Mrs. H has been been singing the praises of Campbell all year. Her grades have been outstanding and she never gets her name moved for poor behavior. What happened???

To make matters worse, the Report Card included comments from her World Studies teacher: "Often disruptive and talks out of turn.  Does not listen."

Well, well, well... now this is the Campbell we know at home. Is she finally showing her true colors at school?

We asked Campbell what happened with her grades. And what is going on in World Studies that would prompt these comments? She seemed genuinely confused. She can be a mischievous little thing, but she'll typically tell us what happened in surprisingly accurate detail when we ask.

Just before we took the girls upstairs to bed, I took a second look at Campbell's Report Card. I was already mentally drafting an email to her teacher asking to discuss the grades and comments during next week's Parent Teacher Conference.

That's when I noticed it.

The student's name at the top of the Report Card wasn't Campbell's.

And what are we constantly preaching to Cassidy?  Oh, that's right...

PAY. ATTENTION.

Ouch.

Genetically Predisposed to Obnoxious Habits

She probably won't be happy that I posted a picture of her rear end on the interwebz, but I can't resist sharing this sweet moment.

This is Mama playing songs on the piano from my most favorite Little Golden Book, per Campbell's request. Papa and I used to sit and sing songs from that same book when I was little. I found out later that he made the tunes up - the words were right, but the music we sang doesn't match what's written in the book. A minor detail.

I couldn't even begin to count how many hours I've sat in the very spot Campbell is sitting. As far back as I can remember, I used to love playing the piano along with Mama. The problem? I didn't know how to read music until I was about 8, so every note I played until that point was wrong. I didn't care, though. To me, it sounded beautiful.

So Mama and Papa payed a small fortune on Piano Lessons for me, probably in an attempt to ease the pain my little habit was inflicting. But once I was able to read the music, I decided it would be MORE fun to play the wrong notes with the correct timing.

On purpose.

While Mama was trying to practice music for the next church service.

My adult self clearly sees how obnoxious this must have been, but my school-age self was having far too much fun to see it way.

Genetics seem to have passed my habit along to Campbell. Last Saturday morning, Mama was practicing an anthem for next Sunday's service. Miss Campbell marched right up to that piano without any prompting, stood right in my spot, and joyfully played along. Not one note she played was even close to the right one, but Mama kept playing anyway.

Just like she always has.