Busy week and a half

I've been wanting to post this since last week, but I wasn't going to do so, until I could get my husband to dump the pictures from his camera onto the computer. Finally after much nagging asking nicely, he got it done today! YAY! I guess I could learn how to do it myself, but that would be too easy. So without further ado, here's what's been going on in our busy lives. The Friday before Christmas we finally got our first 'real' snow of the season. It snowed into Sunday, with a bit of a reprieve here & there. Alas, Friday & Saturday it was a powdery fine snow, not good at all for making snowmen, but the girls learned how to make snow angels. By Sunday afternoon, it started turning to rain; good enough for packing & making a snowman. WOOHOO! Well, Saturday, late in the afternoon as it was turning dark we let the girls go out and play in it. This picture is my 2 girls and the landlord's daughter who's a few months younger than mine.
L-R Emily, Rachel, Maddie

And unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the snowman, but he was about 6' tall. As he started to melt on Tuesday, my husband said he must be an Obama supporter. I asked why, and I shouldn't have. He said, "Because he's leaning left." I married this comedian.

Tuesday morning came and we loaded up the van and headed up to Lunenburg, MA to visit my cousin, Chriztine and my aunt Nita, who had just flown in from Ohio. Boy what a trip that woman had. Here she is 82 years young, they cancel her flight Sunday, due to weather. Monday, they let her sit in the Cleveland airport for 4 hours(she's from Columbus), try to reroute her to Boston(she was suppose to fly into Manchester, NH)and then lose her luggage. It showed up Wednesday morning at 1:30. UGH!
We were going up to bake Christmas cookies, visit, (I hadn't seen my aunt since my mom passed away almost 2 years ago) do a little sledding since they had almost 2 feet of snow there and go eat some lobsta'. Here are some pictures from the day at Chriztine's.
these are the sugar cookies, the girls & I decorated.
this is my Rudolph
this is Emmy's gingerbread woman she decorated, she was a bit heavy handed with the colored sugar.
L-R my Aunt Nita, me, my cousin Chriztine
this is me as I just crashed into Rae, at the bottom of the picture you can see Em's bum

Christmas morning came, we read the girls the story of Jesus' birth and then tore into the presents. At this particular time in life, my girls are into Cars & princesses. In case you couldn't tell from the pictures. Emmy all excited that Santa brought her Mater socks.
the girls in their new princess robes & lightning "the queen" slippers (this what they say instead of McQueen)
After all of the excitement of opening presents, the girls & I said a fond farewell to their Elmo slippers that were getting too small & had holes in the bottoms.

Emmy's in red & Rae's in black, yes, Em can be my clown at times, but they both have their moments.

I hope you and your family had a very MERRY CHRISTmas.

Wisdom

I think I've made this confession before, I am addicted to blog reading. Some of the blogs I read are my friends & it allows me to catch up on the comical things going on in their lives. Most of them are other Christians, who many times have great words of wisdom to share. I really enjoy reading Perry Noble's blog, as he usually has great things to say. As do Lots of Scotts & Bring the Rain. But today Perry linked to another post, the title is a bit shocking, but the post itself speaks great truth to those of us that are Christians. It definitely made me say OUCH! So without further ado, hop on over & read this.

Things my momma taught me(a little tribute)

I know, I know, don't faint that I'm doing 2 posts in one day. Actually wanted to do this one last year, but just wasn't in the place to do it. And I didn't really ever call her momma, it was always Mom, Mommy, or as I got older & if I was annoyed with her it was Mother(spoken with an attitude & heaviness on the ther). But my girls call me momma, so thus the title.

Probably first & foremost, my mom pounded into my head & heart that "God always provides." Seeing as how we are still among the unemployed, this is truly a good thing to know & have heart knowledge of, not just head knowledge. She taught me the principles of giving (and receiving, but I'm not always a gracious receiver). She taught me honesty and integrity. She taught me that if I'm going to do things to do my very best, do it right the first time & you won't have to do it over again. And she taught me that can't never did anything. Huh? you may be saying. If you say you can't do something you are right- you can't & you will never do anything in life if you continue to say "I can't do____."
She told me that wait broke the wagon down & makes it too hard to carry. No that isn't a typo- she wasn't talking about weight, but when I was little & would say "wait, mommy, wait!"
As a teenager & young adult in my early 20's, my mom and I had open and honest conversations about sex. My mom knew I tried many things(sex, drugs & rock n' roll) after the fact and she didn't necessarily condone them, but she loved me none the less.
She almost always let me sit in her lap; even well into my 20's. I remember I had gotten one of the Beatrix Potter books at the gas station & I sat in her lap & she read it to me. She was the coolest mom. I remember when I turned 21 & she took me out for my 1st "official" drink. But she didn't want me to drink & drive & so when I went out for my 25th b-day & was too drunk to drive, she came & picked me up.

We didn't always have the best relationship. I remember shortly after my folks got divorced and I must not have been too happy with the rules at our house. I wrote her a letter telling her I wanted a divorce too. She kept that letter in her wallet, I think until the day she died. I remember when I realized that going to church wasn't just something we did on Sundays, but it was about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; I said some not very nice things about my parents and how they had raised me in "religion" and not taught me anything. I later realized that what they did teach me gave me the foundation I have today. I remember her not being very happy with me when I told her I wanted to be baptized again, because it was a choice my parents had made for me. It wasn't a very good conversation & shortly after that conversation she thought I had joined a cult. Thankfully, she realized that I hadn't joined a cult & we repaired our relationship.

I hope I can be as good a mom to my girls, as my mother was for me. Miss you lots, Lucy!

Birthday shout outs, and other miscellaneous rants

I have a WHOLE LOT of birthday shout outs that I'm combining into 1 post, so here goes. Today is/was(which is proper-since she is deceased?)my mom's b-day. She always told me she shared her birthday with Beethoven & Bach, but in researching it, I didn't find Bach; & that the Boston tea party happened on her birthday too.(wow, that seems like a nice run-on sentence.) I was always a bit envious, because the only somewhat famous person/object who shares my b-day is Bugs bunny. Well, today is also my good friend Dawn's son's b-day. So Happy b-day W-bear. To see a picture of the over the top cake she did for his b-day go here.
In other b-day shout outs, my sis-in-law, Jess, turned 30 yesterday. Yep, I posted her age, 'cuz she's just a young whipper snapper. :) Some dear friends of mine, Tim & Melissia(who also happened to whine about turning 30), their b-days are the 21st & 10th respectively. Also, my BFF Renae's daughter, Jill's b-day is the 9th. My step-mom's b-day is the 19th. And I certainly can not forget the Christmas brigade of b-day's either. My cousin, Amy's is the 24th, my good friend Hollie's is the 25th, & my big brother, Mikey's is the 26th. It is kind of cool that my cousin & brother are exactly 2 days apart and their 1st born children are about 1 week apart. There are other b-days, but some of these people I haven't talked to in awhile, so I won't bore you with listing them.

Missing my mom. Emotionally, I'm okay, most days. But I miss just being able to pick up the phone & whining about telling her how the girls are doing; what funny things they have said or done lately. I miss the fact that my girls won't really remember "Mimi Lucy." Lucy was my nickname for my mom & the girls call my mom & my mom-in-law "Mimi;" they couldn't really say Grammy, so it turned into Mimi. They know that Mimi Lucy is with Jesus in heaven.

I know I was going to post about some other stuff, thus the title for this post, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. I hate when I lose my mind. So, I guess good night for now.

'Tis the season

My husband & I usher at Providence Performing Arts Center(PPAC). We have been doing this for 3 years now. It is good, because we get to see shows for free & on occasion have a night out on the town together, all for very little cost. (gas money if we have to pick up my mother-in-law, who doesn't drive) This weekend is the "annual" Nutcracker ballet. I had to work tonight & I passed out programs. The area of the theater we work in changes for each show if you want it to. I like working on the door, because you get to see everyone come in & their outfits; from blue jeans with holes in them & ratty, untied tennis shoes to very fancy outfits. Tonight an adorable almost 4 year old came through my door and I gave her a program, not because she can or can not read, but because maybe someday she'll want to put it in her scrapbook. Her name was Ella & she ever so politely said thank you with no prompting from mom or dad when I handed her the program. (I found out her name after the fact, as they left early.) But it just amazes me some of the outfits I see coming in there. Fussy's fight the frump would have a field day! fussypants.typepad.com
Sorry I didn't feel like doing the whole little link thing.
Time for bed.

Cute things your children say

Wednesday my girlfriend Dawn agreed to watch my girls, so Bill & I could go Christmas shopping. We stayed out way later than I planned, but part of that is we got such a late start on our day. Went to leave and couldn't locate the gift cards we had been given for Christmas shopping. They weren't lost, only temporarily misplaced; in fact they were right where I always put gift cards we have. Then when we finally got everyone in the van, it wouldn't start. Ended up having to jump it and got the battery replaced the next day. So, I had originally told Dawn we'd be there about 10:30 but it was closer to 11 by the time we made it.
I tell her to give the girls quiet time on the couch, if they fall asleep great, if not that's okay. Well, Rachel still getting over her laryngitis falls asleep for about 1/2 hour until she slumps over and Emily starts yelling at her to get out of her space. Great! Now Rachel is awake. Again, not the end of the world, but the nap would have been good for her.
So we're driving home after picking up the girls and I ask Emily about above story. She says she didn't wake her sister up, Rachel says she did and the did not, did too's start! I quickly stop this and say it isn't a big deal, but from the back seat I hear Rachel say, "But, God knows." It was kind of said under her breathe, but loud enough that I could hear it. OH MY GOODNESS! It was all I could do to not bust out laughing.

busy weekend

Well, our thanksgiving weekend was busy. Thursday we went to our friends, the Kerr's, for Thanksgiving. Her brother & his family were in town, as well as her folks. Ken(her brother)made some absolutely lovely shrimp on the barbie, as an appetizer. Dawn always tells me the secret to moist poultry is brining your chicken or turkey. She is soooo right. The entire meal was delightful and afterward we played a little Mexican train dominoes.

Friday, I was hoping to accomplish various things around the apartment, but instead ended up helping hubby & the girls put up our Christmas tree. We do every other year here at home, so last year we were away. It was a bit bittersweet to be decorating our tree & combining a lot of the ornaments we had with ones my mother used to use/I grew up with. I did get a few things done other than that & in the afternoon, Daddy made snowmen ornaments with the girls. I was impressed to say the least.

Saturday dawned, and Daddy had mentioned going to La Salette to see all the pretty lights. We called our friends, the Kerr's to see if maybe they wanted to meet up and go with us. It was a done deal. Afterward we went back to their house for dessert and hot chocolate and I was hoping a game of Norwegian dice(some may know it as Farkle). No such luck on the dice.

Sunday was church obviously. My mother-in-law needed a ride to the bank and we all came home after that and took nice long naps. I should have known something was up with Rachel at that point, when she took an almost 3 hour nap and went to bed without a fuss when we got home from having dinner at my mother-in-law's.

Monday came and Rae was not 100%; I could tell(as us moms always can). She had 2 episodes Monday night of a croupy sounding cough within a couple hour time span. The second one scared me a bit, but thankfully we avoided the ER and she went to the doctor's this am. She has laryngitis, but the doctor said at their age, when the vocal cords get inflamed, it can make it difficult for them to breathe. She had a one dose shot of steroids and other than not wanting to go to bed tonight is doing much better.

I hope the busyness of this past weekend is no indication of what the month of December is going to be like.