I am blessed with two of my nieces over for the day.
It's AWESOME!

Ya know, my day today..
with TWO 3 year olds
and
TWO 5 year olds
is much, MUCH, easier than my day usually is
with only
ONE 3 year old
and ONE 5 year old.

They all play so fabulously together.
They pair off
and...
that's it!

They could go all day without hearing from me at all!
I just go check on them every now and then
Feed them lunch when it's time
and go back to checking on them periodically.

Seriously.
It's that easy.
It's that wonderful.
I've done nothing!

I SHOULD be doing plenty
Plenty of cleaning that needs to be done.
BUT
I've straightened.
The kitchen is clean.
The laundry is getting washed.
The living room is clean.

So all is well
all is great
all is beautiful
(just don't ask about the playroom or the kids' room!)

Thank you Sista'~
Let's set this up for every week ok?
:0)

You know the movie right?

Toy Story

Andy has played with Woody for years.

Loves him.

Very much.

Then....

he gets Buzz Lightyear.

Woody is tossed aside.

Becomes an outsider.

An OBSERVER.

I'm pretty sure Dora and Mariana are feeling that way right now.

They were the queens of the bathtub.

Played with EVERY time

by BOTH kids.

Now

Say hello to

Swimming Baby and Swimming Puppy (not their real names)
Life is hard when you're a toy

Dora's thoughts: "Yes, sir, we're next month's garage sale fodder for sure".

:0)

Here are Christmas photos...backwards in time. The treats were made on Christmas Eve. We made Buckeyes and no bake cookies. We had planned on Christmas Crinkles too but I messed those up and decided they were too much work. We were also supposed to make our traditional sugar cookies for the kiddos to decorate but we had plenty of fun with the two we did!

This is Caleb hugging and kissing the Wii. It's all he really wanted and has been waiting a year for. He has asked for it at least once a month for that entire year too!






Here is what Caleb decided to leave out for Santa: two VERY small cookies and an apple (for the reindeer). :0)





and here are two especially for "Aunt Chosie". They LOVED their gifts! Caleb is going crazy waiting for us to make some of the slime with him...we'll get around to it .... soon. ;0)
Georgia has been carrying around all sorts of babies and animals in her carrier, mostly "Bear" though. :0)

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate!
Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? Santa doesn't wrap AND they aren't under the tree...
Colored lights on tree or white? WHITE ONLY
When do you put your decorations up? The Sunday after Thanksgiving
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Green bean bundles
Favorite holiday memory as a child:
And how did you learn the truth about Santa? don't remember
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? nope
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? This year, just ornaments. Sometimes we have garland.
Snow! Love it or dread it? I LOVE it but we NEVER get it here. One year, we WILL travel for snow on Christmas
Can you ice skate? nope and don't really like trying
Do you remember your favorite gift? nope
What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with one another and family
What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pumpkin Dump Cake and Cherry Pie
What is your favorite tradition? Hmmm....baking cookies Christmas Eve
Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Being a mom has changed my perspective on this.. now it is giving
What is your favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night
Candy canes! Yuck or yum? Yum
Ever recycled a Christmas present? I'm sure I have...not sure what but probably have.

If you're reading this, answer it for yourself on your blog!

A while back while talking to my Sis, we chatted about the upcoming holidays without Mom.

I don't know if I'll miss her more because it's Christmas or not, honestly I just miss her more each day no matter what the day is.

BUT

I shared my thoughts on what Christmas must be like in heaven. (my Sis just sorta' giggled with (at) me on my ideas)

I mean really, can you imagine?

It is probably the most beautiful party ever!

One angel didn't come down to the shepherds on that amazing night.

Not one.
A multitude.
It was glorious.
It was over the top.

I think that's how their party must be.

See, my Mom LOOOOVED to dress up for holidays.
She loved making everything beautiful, fancy, and as "over the top" as she could.

I just KNOW she has an amazing outfit picked out for the upcoming festivities.

I don't know that she had to go to Chico's to get it but I bet the shoes that match are amazing too.

If they let her decorate and help out, she'll do so with gusto. (and I'm sure she'll steer any angels that need steering in the right decoration for HOW things should be decorated ;0)

I just KNOW it's going to be beautiful.
And fun.
And glorious.
Rejoicing like we could ever imagine.

While this holiday might be one of my most difficult,
I think it's going to be my Mom's best Christmas ever.
Imagine spending Christmas morning with Christ himself.
Wow.

:0)
p.s.....maybe they'll even play "Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk" for her some time during the party?

RAOK...random act of kindness.
I've been the lucky recipient of a few of these in my days.
An unexpected card in the mail.
A surprise gift from a friend just for fun.
Someone going out of their way for you.
Someone picking up something you dropped.

RAOKs can come in many forms.

I received one today that was really neat.
Made me smile for a long time and still does.
What was so neat...it was from a complete stranger.
The stranger didn't do it for appreciation...she didn't even wait around for a "thank you".

The kids and I went to McD's today after school.
I hadn't had anything to eat all day (I never eat breakfast and often forget to take lunch with me) and I was gonna get the kids a snack.
More importantly than food...I was in some serious need for a large sweet tea.

I was in a hurry because I had a short amount of time before I had to be back home and traffic was heavier than I imagined it would be.

SO...when I saw an SUV enter the parking lot where it also hits the drive thru line, I wasn't real hip about letting someone cut in front of me.

BUT the lady who pulled up looked like she was in a bigger hurry than me
.
At first I thought she was just motioning to me that she was going to go to the drive thru and I was thinking "Yeah, me too."

She continued to make pointing gestures.

After a few I waved her in...
To be nice but also sort of out of shock from her persistence when I realized she was pointing in hopes of me letting her cut into line.

"Heck, why not...go ahead." I thought.

I waved her in and smiled.
She waved frantically and was very happy.

I proceeded through, made my order.
As I went to pay the guy said "I didn't charge you for your large sweet tea." "The lady in front of you already paid for it."

WHAT?
REALLY?

"Yep, she said thanks for letting her go in front of you."

How cool is that?

A stranger bought me a large sweet tea.

THAT is a perfect RAOK.

It made my day
Probably more than one day

It is so nice to know that there are really sweet people out there.
Not just the people we already know and love.
Strangers who are nice enough to do something because they are just THAT nice!

Awesome.

I'm gonna have to do that for someone some time. It was such a fabulous surprise!
:0)