Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish all of my blog followers a Merry Christmas before I sign off for a couple of days. Princess TD and Little TD are anxiously waiting for Santa's arrival. Here's a photo of their visit with him.

The top things on their list are:

Princess TD - a Princess kitchen, a recorder, a toy sewing machine, a "real" camera, and a "real" phone.

Little TD - Mack with 2 cars, a recorder, a plane, and a remote control Jeep.

We'll see what Santa has in his bag for them tomorrow morning. I hope they aren't too disappointed. They probably won't be!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Guess What Princess TD Got for Christmas..

..strep throat! She woke up yesterday from her nap feeling sluggish, complaining of a sore throat and really just not herself. She ended up playing for a bit, but then when I went to kiss her goodnight, she felt hot. I took her temp and it was 100F. I gave her medicine for the fever and checked her again this morning. I got her in to see the pediatrician and he confirmed strep. He did say that is good news because with antibiotics she will not be contagious in 24 hours. Let's just hope that none of the rest of us get sick before it's all said and done!

I've Been Tagged...Twice!

I can hardly believe my sweet friends have time to tag anyone with Christmas being next week! Really people, aren't you busy getting things finalized?!?

Ok, I do have to admit, I have been working very hard to get everything done and wrapped so that we can enjoy our holiday without any last minute stressing. I have a few last minute Christmas cards to send out...I lost part of my list, so sorry if you're getting yours late. I have a couple of things yet to make, but I will have one done tomorrow, and the other done by Monday, so then I will be all finished! So exciting.

On to the tags...

My first tag was from ErinKH. The original tag was for a picture of your front door with holiday decorations. Our door looks pretty pathetic on it's own, even with the wreath, so here's our outdoor holiday decorations.


And, for just for ErinKH, here's my mantel:



You can get 4 stockings up there. We use the 3M Command hooks to hold ours, and it comes right off with no damage to the finish. Just an idea for next year.

And for good measure, our Christmas tree, which up until tonight did not have presents under it. We were not going to have a repeat of last year's unwrapping fiasco. Mr. TD is home now until Christmas, so Princess TD and Little TD will not be left alone with the gifts!



I am supposed to tag 3 others, so I choose Shellie (whom I am sure is dying to show off her decorations), Kimberly and MamaT. I can't wait to see what you've done!

For the second tag, my sweet friend JSue tagged me with the "Crazy Eight" meme. I will do my best. Here goes:

Eight Shows I watch:
1. Survivor
2. Life
3. NCIS
4. Eli Stone
5. Private Practice
6. Lipstick Jungle
7. Numbers
8. The Mentalist

Eight Favorite Resturants:
1. Willie's
2. BW3's
3. Chick-Fil-A
4. Outback
5. Saltgrass
6. BJ's
7. Spring Creek Barbeque
8. Jason's Deli

Eight Things that Happened to Me Today:
1. I got to sleep until 8 AM! I love having Mr. TD home again!
2. We made candy as a family.
3. I finished buying stocking stuffers.
4. I used the leftover turkey to make a soup that actually tasted pretty good.
5. I did laundry.
6. I took a catnap. (Only because I sat down long enough to fall asleep)
7. We skipped school.
8. I finished wrapping all but 3 gifts.

Eight Things I Look Forward to:
1. Mr. TD being home and travelling less.
2. School time with my kids.
3. Ladies Bible Study with my friends.
4. Cuddle time with one kid at a time.
5. Time with Mr. TD.
6. Going out in our boat.
7. Camping as a family or with friends (you ready to go yet JSue?).
8. Family game time.

Eight Things I Wish:
1. That my kids weren't growing up so fast.
2. That we had enough money that we could travel with Mr. TD on all his trips.
3. That I could let my kids run around the neighborhood like we did as kids.
4. That the housework would magically do itself.
5. That I was better at keeping in touch with family and friends who are far away.
6. That we could have land on a lake where we could store our boat and camp and boat at the same time.
7. That I could spend all of my time watching my kids learn, teaching them to love others and God.
8. That we can take a trip to Disney before Princess TD stops liking princesses.

Eight People I Tag:
Really, do you think there are eight left??? Between D'Lyn and JSue, everyone I know has been tagged! :)

Run, Run as Fast as You Can...

...you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!

I just love that story! One of my fondest memories from my year in Kindergarten was reading this book, and decorating a cookie sheet sized gingerbread man! Just like the story, our man disappeared. Our whole class went on a tour of the school looking for the gingerbread man. He was found in the Principal's office. It was great and Mrs. Shue was the best teacher ever! Both of my brother's had her too, and they did the same activity. My sister wasn't so lucky, she got a different teacher, but she had her for both Kindergarten and 1st grade!

Anyway, did you know that there are many versions of this story? I didn't. We checked out 3 books from the library, The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Boy, and the Gingerbread Baby. We read all three stories and then discussed the similarities and differences in them. It was really a lot of fun.

I planned to make some gingerbread men and have them disappear like my Kindergarten memory, but the timing was bad. It was Little TD's birthday and I made cupcakes (with the left over batter from the cake) and a HUGE cake, so the last thing we needed was gingerbread cookies. So, this week, we made the cookies. I baked them one night, and let them cool, and then decorated them the next day. They didn't disappear until after they had their eyes, after all they couldn't see without them. This morning when Princess TD and Little TD got up, the men had disappeared.

(You knew I had to make a girl and a boy, right?)

I had such high hopes for this activity, after all, I have such great memories from this story. Well, guess what...they didn't even notice! They didn't know they weren't where they were supposed to be. The men were "hiding" under the dining room table which doubles as our school work table. When we started doing school today, they were so surprised to see them there, and then it clicked with them that the men had run away.

So we started our school day eating a gingerbread cookie! They both said that they needed to eat their feet first so he wouldn't/couldn't run away again. What a fun day!

I am Smarter than a 1st Grader

I know, amazing, right?!? Princess TD and Little TD are outside playing with the other kids on the street. One little boy, who had a crush on her last year, asked Princess TD about her school. She told him that she doesn't have a school, that her school is here. He was completely astounded. He told her she couldn't do that. Her home can't be a school. She told him that her mommy taught her and that she had school here. He then turned to me and said, "You can't do that! There is something you don't know. (I am all preparing myself for the adult response of socialization, CPS, truancy, etc. , and he comes up with this..) There is a leaf bug!" I did my best to hold back a chuckle, and told him I was aware of the leaf bug. I then asked what he knew about the bug, and he said that it looked like a leaf. I then gave him the very few facts I know about the leaf bug. His response was, "Woooww." He then walked away. I guess I passed his "teacher" test.

Bah Humbug!

I love this time of year. I love shopping for my kids expecting the happy faces on Christmas morning. We don't go overboard, just a couple of gifts each. This year though, I have lost track of what I have purchased. It seems I have gone crazy for Mr. TD and his gifts. I picked up one tonight for him, that brought me to my Bah Humbug mood.

We were shopping at un-named store (in case he's reading this) and my kids were doing great. It was late, past their normal bedtime, but they weren't whining, complaining or asking for anything. We had just completed our purchase when a lady came up to the person checking me out and asked if they had an ATM. I heard the question, but I was getting my kids ready and seated in the stroller to leave the store. I turned around backwards to go through the door. She huffed and acted exasperated that she had to wait for me to get my double stroller through the door. As I swung the stroller around, she stepped through the door, all the while I was holding the door with my foot. She couldn't walk around us, because there were others hanging out in the entry way. Just then another family of 6 or so, stepped out behind her, none of them grabbing the door so that I could move. So here I am, holding the door with my left foot, trying to swing my 125 lb stroller (that's the combined weight of both kids, the stroller and our packages...I am just guessing though...it's probably heavier) around out of the way so "Miss Huffy" can get around and get out the main door. Well, I lost my balance and let the door go. It almost hit one of the kids in the family, so I apologized. Isn't that the right thing to do? Well, the dad didn't think so. He said, "Yeah, right." Miss Huffy was getting huffier. She apparently needed that ATM badly! She was carrying a shopping bag in each hand and rather than step around me when the entry cleared, she waited for me to back up through the next door and hold the door for her! Then, the family stopped for some reason, and I stood there holding the next door, assuming they would be coming right after Miss Huffy. Well, they didn't. The older lady with them, asked if I wanted her to get the door. I replied that I was fine, but I didn't want to be rude and close the door in her face. She just looked at me as if I spoke to her in gibberish. So, I let the door go, and went on my way.

Have we lost all manners and courtesy in this world? Patience people!

I guess that's what I get for shopping at night. I have to be out with all the other folks who don't have time to shop at any other time. I think I will be retreating back to my humble abode to finish ordering any other gifts I need on-line! Thank goodness for Amazon.com!

Maybe if I wrap some presents to put under the tree, I will get back into the festive spirit. Maybe this year Princess TD won't talk Little TD into unwrapping them all before Christmas morning! Then again...maybe I should just wait!

More Snow!

We went to church tonight and when we came out our car was covered in snow! Yes we really are getting some accumulation. I am sure it will melt off pretty quick in the morning, so I let the kids play outside in the snow when we got home. Here's a few more pics.

We even made a little snowman. He was too small to do the "usual" snowman decorations, so we used pine straw for arms and mulch for a nose. He was melting too fast on the ground to do much else. At least they got the idea of what to do.

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I am slightly concerned about my new Knock-out Roses. I didn't realize we would actually have snow, so I didn't cover them. It's probably too late now. I just hope they survive!

We have enjoyed our snow day today! I hope you have had as much fun!

It's Snowing!

Ok, well, really it's just flurrying, but for those of us in southern Texas, it's snowing! This is the second time in Princess TD's lifetime that it has snowed at our house! The first time was very late at night on Christmas Eve, so she didn't see it. Here's their first look at snow.

Of course it's melting as soon as it hits the ground, but the flurries are pretty cool. Here's our "accumulation."

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Shortly after we took these pictures the precipitation changed to snain (a mixture of snow and rain), almost sleet. It reminds me of the days living in St. Louis and the ice storms we had before I moved here. Hey, at least I am one driver who knows how to drive in this stuff, now what do we do about all of the other folks on the road?!?

Little TD and Princess TD are so excited to see snow. Princess TD said, "I didn't know that Texas was that close to the North Pole." Apparently it only snows at the North Pole, at least in her mind!

Happy 3rd Birthday Little TD!

I can hardly believe it! My little baby boy is now 3 years old! How time flies when you're having fun!


We had his party last Saturday. He had a couple of friends over and we had a Thomas the Train party for him. It was a blast. We all had so much fun and ate lots of cake! I think his favorite toys so far are Elizabeth the bus (from Thomas & Friends), his Thomas play tent and his Thomas rolling backpack!

Mr. TD talked me into making him a cake shaped like Thomas! I searched the internet and found a tutorial created by one of the homeschool bloggers I like to read. She walked me through step by step how to create it. Here's the creation process:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He loved it. This picture made all of the work worth it!

Oh, and for those of you interested in numbers, he is 39-1/2" tall and weighs 38 lbs. He is 3/4" shorter than Princess TD at the same age, but his feet are 2 sizes bigger! I think he'll be taller than she is soon!

Happy Birthday Little Man! We love you!