324 Escape to NOLA

If you want to get technical, we were on our way to New Orleans, LA for the wedding of one of Chip's fraternity brothers, but you can't blame us for parlaying that into a weekend getaway. Seriously, it was out first kid free night in seven and a half years. It was also the first time that Katie and Connor were allowed to spend the night at Mimi and PopPop's.

I give up ... been trying to find time to write this post for over a week, but I can't find it. Here are some pics, there are more in my Flickr ...
Suffice to say, we ate lots of beignets and other delicious food. We walked around the French Quarter A LOT. I drank lots of coffee and margaritas. When I get a chance I will revisit this and be more eloquent.

323 Never Threaten a Fairy

Katie is seven and a half years old, and up until yesterday she had all of her baby teeth. They came in late. She barely had a tooth on her first birthday. She has been claiming that her tooth has been loose for months. If you ask her, she has 10 loose teeth. I am afraid we may have to start blending all of her food if she is right. All I know is those teeth need to come out FAST! They are worn down to all but nubs. Her top teeth are starting to look crooked. Please let them come out fast (and please PLEASE let them come back in straight!)!

Right before we left to see Santa on Monday I snapped this picture. Her poor tooth could be bent all the way back, but her gums just WOULD NOT let it go!! And I know she must have been miserable. Trying to take a bite out of most foods has been bothering her for a while (though usually only on the stuff she doesn't want to eat anyway).

I was cooking dinner last night, and I heard Katie come clomping down the stairs. It was her excited "gotta hurry" clomp, too.

"Momma! My tooth came out!!!"

And she did it all on her own! Maybe the fact she was chewing gum helped it along ... Yes Mom, I know she has schmutz on her face. Yes Mom, I know I should wipe her off before I take pictures. But, this is how she came to me, and I like to take photos of actual events.

....or I am too lazy to take the time to wipe her mouth off.

So, then the Tooth Fairy discussions began in earnest. We had to locate the tooth pillow I had made for her a few months back...

which she then decided not to use because they had given her a tooth shaped box at school. And since this is Katie's first lost tooth I wrote a little note to make sure that the Tooth Fairy left her tooth for me to put in her keepsake box.

As I was tucking her in Katie was asking about how the Tooth Fairy would come to her room, and what would she leave, and blah diddy blah. And she was starting to get nervous thinking about the Tooth Fairy getting that close to her. (When she was younger we had to promise her that Santa did not actually come in our house, he just used magic to get her presents under the tree) The last thing she said as I was walking out of the room was "If that Tooth Fairy wakes me up I am going to punch her!"

Well, apparently Katie scared the crap out of the Tooth Fairy because she did not even attempt to leave the money under her pillow. (or Chip thought it was taken care of and didn't do it, whatever) Crisis was averted when I discovered that the Tooth Fairy had left her five dollar bill on the stove. PHEW!

It did give me the chance to impart an important bit of wisdom to my little girl ....

...NEVER THREATEN A FAIRY!

322 Sing Along

Thursday night was Katie's Second Grade Holiday program ... or in any other state it would be called a holiday program to be politically correct, but here in Mississippi it is outright Christmas.

Programs are a painful thing. One, they are always on a night that Chip has to work, so I am stuck wrestling COnnor, trying to take pictures.Two, Katie either remembers to sing and forgets the gestures, or she is so intent on the gestures she forgets to sing. It didn't help that her blood sugar was high. Poor girl looked like she wanted to curl up and go to sleep on the risers.At one point she yawned really really big. (yeah, I yawned when I typed yawn, wanna make something of it?)

I have nothing witty to write about her program. It was a room of second graders singing ... how adorable is that?! Well, here are a few little audio clips (if I figured out how to make it work) that prove the adorable-ness.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Let it Snow (with an intro of Connor whining)

321 Santa Wears a Bulletproof Vest

I know I took a shot at him, but the Big Guy is very forgiving. He didn't bat an eyelash when he saw me walking towards him. He smiled and waved. In truth, I felt kind of bad. Just a few days ago I was railing against him, and here I was bringing my kids to talk his ear off and snap a picture. Its not like I expected to be on the Nice List anyway. I think of it as doing Santa a favor, lightening his load. If I was a good girl all year then he would have to come up with something to bring me. I am too old for Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Pony. Maybe if Santa worked at Best Buy we could work something out. A Flip Video camera would be superb.

But this visit was about the kids ... (and to assuage my guilt). Katie had written up her list, and we told her over and over that she should pick out the top three things she wanted to tell Santa about. Instead she whipped out the whole list. Santa was a little confused about what "AG" stood for, but Katie was quick to inform him that it stood for American Girl. Connor did pretty good, too. He was distracted by people walking around on the second floor. All the pretty lights helped also. Not that it helped him smile at the camera.
He did try to tell Santa what he wanted, but I hope Santa is fluent in baby talk!And here is the bought picture ... meh ....Afterwords we ran into Sears, and the kids geeked out looking at video games after we checked out the refrigerator selection. And the highlight of all mall trips... the smoothie. Katie had her fingers crossed that her blood sugar would be low enough for a treat. She wasn't "low" but she popped her nighttime pill and we let her get one anyway.

Now we just have to wait and see if Santa decides to bring anything off her list. Guess it will all depend on where she ended up, Naughty or Nice.

.... but seriously Santa, I have been AWFUL good this year!

320 I Shot Santa

I'm serious. I couldn't take it anymore. No matter how bad my kids were Santa kept bringing them presents. And not just that, the presents got bigger and BIGGER. So I had to take matters into my own hands. Oh, don't worry. I didn't leave any evidence. There are no fingerprints or blood splotches. Dexter would be very proud. You would almost think that Santa had never really existed at all...

Now I just have to break it to the kids.

Oh, so you think I took it a little too far? Believe me, you don't know the half of it. You see those two adorable kids in that banner up at the top? They are hellions.

Connor is two. He walks into a room. He glances around, cataloging each and every thing he can destroy. And then he systematically carries out his plan. If you try to put something back, then the whole world implodes and the screams begin. Here is a short list of the things he has done this week.

1. He opened a bottle of yellow fingernail polish and flung it all over the upstairs bathroom.

2. He squeezed an entire tube of Katie's hot pink lipgloss onto the carpet in the living room.

3. He took a bottle of powder and proceeded to empty it onto the pile of clean clothes which I was one load away from completing.

4. He screamed at me because I wouldn't change his CLEAN diaper.

5. He punched me in the crotch because I closed the cabinet doors.

6. He pulled all the storage containers out and crawled inside the cabinets.

7. He squeezed the toothpaste on the floor.

8. He poured a bag of cereal on the floor.

9. He dumped a bottle of electric shave cleaner on the (thankfully) dirty clothes.

10. He has slowly and surely stripped me of all sanity.

And nothing works. If you tell him "no" he just screams it back at you. If you pop his hand, he punches you. If you smack his little bottom, he hits himself harder. I need to bring the pack-n-play back in the house to use for TIMEOUT!

Katie is 7 (...and a HALF) but she might as well be 15. She is sullen and sassy. She knows everything. And man I am starting to sound redundant on this one! I just am at my wits end. I know I have only myself to blame. Not just for spoiling her rotten. I know it is my just punishment for all those years of being a complete ass to my own Mom (sorry Mom!). Although I am starting to think I am getting the crap end of that deal. I am fairly positive I didn't turn into a complete bitch until puberty....

This week we had to complete Katie's Reading Fair project. I have never hated soemthing so much!! I tried to get her to plan it out on a piece of scrap paper and she started yelling that she knew what she was supposed to do. Of course when I asked her what that was she couldn't explain it to me. She just kept freaking out because the teacher said they were supposed to put the pieces of paper on the boards (AND OH MY FREAKIN HEAD EXPLODED). There was no way to convince her that I wasn't trying to make her turn in a piece of paper as her project instead of the board. I admit it, I flipped ... I sent her upstairs because it was preferable to actually losing my mind. I paid for it later by having to stay up late and wake up early with her to finish it.

Oh, and she randomly tells her brother she hates him.

So ... as you can see, I had no choice. I took the fat guy out.

319 Love on the Kitchen Floor

And on my very dirty kitchen floor at that.

I turned around to find this image of love glowing on my floor.

Which only serves as yet more proof that love is everywhere.

In the most unlikely of places it will pop up.

Unexpected.

Brilliant.

Glowing.

Happy Love Thursday y'all!

Do me a favor...

keep your eyes open

keep your heart open

Sometimes you just have to let love find you.

Love Thursday is hosted over at Chookooloonks, please stop in, check out some links and leave a little comment love!!

(here is a hint: I love comments, too)

318 Better Late Than Never - Now With Words :)

Ever since Katie has been in school, I feel the need to take advantage of her school vacations to make the trek back to Atlanta. The poor girl has missed several weeks worth of school with her multiple cases of strep, and there is no way I am pulling her out to miss more. So, of course I wanted to head home for Thanksgiving!
At first, Chip denied my request. He couldn't get off work. Something about wanting to spend the holiday with his family blah blah blah. But, after thinking about it for a few days and knowing that I needed to see my Mommy (or realizing he will have all the time he wants to sleep, play on the computer, and watch tv) he gave us his blessing.
So, bright and early Wednesday morning I loaded up the Family Roadster and we headed off for a serene drive through the country. The screaming started before we left the county. And that is when I started reminiscing about college. Ahhh, how I loved to drive home back then. Six hours of music, singing along at the top of my lungs. But back to reality! Now I have two kids, screaming and whining. There is some Disney movie on ENDLESSLY. And the only way I get to listen to music is if they pass out. So yeah, that didn't happen. The moment Connor fell asleep Katie decided she had to pee. Katie finally nodded off and Connor decided it was the perfect time to screech at the top of his lungs. In other words it was an awesome drive!


Oh, and did I mention that I arrived in Atlanta JUST at rush hour?!


Did I also mention that I realized right as we passed into Alabama that I forgot to pack jeans ... or any pants other than pajama pants?! (Mom nabbed me a pair of jeans while she was out, so that crisis was averted)


First night, pretty uneventful except for the requisite trip to Wally World. Katie had been promised some make-up and by golly she was determined to get it! Plus, we needed to pick up a few things for the Thanksgiving dinner, but that was secondary. Although, the trip to Cracker Barrel beforehand made it all worth it! YUMMY! I have one 4 miles from my house, but we rarely go, how dumb is that?!

As a special Thanksgiving treat, my Mom let me sleep in!! I was most definitely THANKFUL!! Especially since the night before I had about 3 hours of sleep. We had pushed back our normal Thanksgiving eat time of 2 to a more reasonable 5, so we weren't freaking out first thing in the morning .... don't worry, the rush came anyway. Connor was very helpful though washing dishes (read: splashing water all over the kitchen)And as the real rush began I was reminded exactly why I love my Gemini oven! It is hard to cook with only one oven!! Not impossible, but you have to play with temperatures and cook times. Cross your fingers and hope for the best. Don't worry ... I got the pies made! One brother and his family were out of town, but my biggest brother was there! Aunt Ronka turns into a big kid with my babies, and they LOVE it! Katie snuggled up in the chair with Uncle Vince to watch tv ... it was a definite AWWW! moment. Austin is reaching the age where his little cousins are starting to annoy him. Especially Katie who likes to always be right on top of people. Ronka got a few great shots that SHE NEEDS TO EMAIL ME!! Of course, my family just roll their eyes when I pull out a camera, so out of love for them I try to restrain myself from playing paparazzi at family functions.

I tried so hard to keep from doing the Black Friday shopping thing ... but it is hopeless. Mom likes to get out when we are there (and spoil the kids rotten). I really really tried! I even startedus off at the junk stores! We hit a thrift shop and an antique store ... but you know we ended up at Target. Luckily it was late in the day and it was pretty dead. I just do NOT like to be surrounded by crowds of people! I always think about the woman that was trampled to death in Atlanta the year the Cabbage Patch Kids were the IT toy. Yeah, I was one of the kids wanting the doll (and Mom did get me one, she is upstairs right now, still love her, THANKS MOMMY!) but the idea of people so insane over a toy freaks me OUT!

And on that note ... our next stop was to the American Girl store!! Katie had decided that she finally wanted one, and of course Grammy wanted to take her to see them. Although I don't think Grammy was fully prepared to buy her the doll yet. Of course, when you are in the store and the dolls are right there .... And this face is looking at you when you say she has to wait for Christmas .... And the word "yes" can make her face look like this.... Then what can a Grammy do?? She can give in and say those magic words "this is your Christmas present, you understand?" And suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and birds started to sing. I am fairly sure there were bunnies hoping around as well. And to top it all off, we headed up to the carousel. At first it was just Katie.But being the awesome big sister that she is, she wanted to take Connor on his first carousel ride. She thought they would sit in the chair at first, but Connor was not impressed. Connor wanted to RIDE!!

And ride.... And my favorite part of any mall trip .. the GYRO!! Oh tzatzeki sauce, you are my friend!

Saturday, the last full day of Atlanta fun. We headed over to visit with my Aunt Janice. She is the one person we keep in touch with from my father (read: DNA donor) and Katie ADORES her! We headed out for a little lunch and conversation. Connor managed to immediately drop his full drink on the floor. He screamed every time we tried to take the salt shaker away ... oh the joy of dining out with a two year old! And after eating Mexican for lunch we met my friend Julie and her little guy Kyle for some Mexican for dinner. I am pretty sure that Katie has a boyfriend .... which is extra funny because Kyle is the son of my high school boyfriend. And the age difference is almost the same. Tell me they aren't ADORABLE together!!??Notice that Kyle is holding Katie's makeup. He is in training to be a great hubby one day! When we walked out to the car,they had to hug goodbye .... AND HUG AND HUG AND HUG!! Katie found a keychain, with two little keys on it. One of them being the kind you get on the dealership mailers - you know, the YOU MIGHT HAVE WON A NEW CAR ones. She gave it to Kyle and we joked that it was the key to her heart. Before we said our final goodbyes Kyle walked up to Katie, pointed the key at her heart and turned it. I ABOUT DIED!!! How sweet is that?? He locked her heart up to keep it safe! I can't even stand the cuteness a week later!

So, another wonderful visit home! Family, friends, coming back with more crap than we went with. Totally successful. I even made good time on the way home, in spite of the rain that fell from Birmingham all the way to Horn Lake. The kids slept a little. I rocked out to a few tunes. All is right in the world again.

...other than the fact it took me a week to write this. Hope your Thanksgiving was a fabulous as mine! (and if you aren't in the USA ... hope it was the best Thursday ever!)