For Mel

This is Mel at Mel's Haven. The song is "All I really want for Christmas" by Steven Curtis Chapman, a great advocate for adoption. It's hanky time, folks.

Penguins & Polar Bears

A little slice of life from my house:

Last night we're watching "Shrek the Halls" (btw - not a classic, but worth the Carmina Burana inspired Christmas Shopping song) and one of those Coca-Cola Penguin & Polar Bear commercials comes on. The one where the baby polar bear slides into the penguin party, there's a brief moment of tension, they share a Coke and party. We start discussing the fact that this could never happen. I am referring to the fact that penguins and polar bears live on different sides of the planet. Rob brings up the fact that the polar bears would eat the penguins. True, but . . . My response to Rob's thought - "Does this mean I shouldn't put my new polar bear pajamas in the same drawer as my penguin pajamas?" Straight faced as all get out, the hubby responds, "Yes, you can't be too careful."

Yes, ladies & gentlemen, that's my family.

Christmas Portraits

These are the one's we ordered - we're making weird faces and such in the others.
That's Elena's good buddy Penguin Neil. The dinosaur is Kathryn's old toy Rex. He was her favorite when she was 2. It was a bit of nostalgia to put it in the portraits.

My Thanksgiving Vacation by Laney

Thanksgiving got started early with my day care Thanksgiving feast. Mommy came and had lunch with me on the Friday before Thanksgiving.

My Mama Janie and my Daddy Ron came to have Thanksgiving with us.

I tried Thanksgiving food. I liked the cranberry sauce the best.
I played in the kitchen cabinets. That's fun!

My Uncle Ronny & my Aunt Lauren came over on Friday.They made tamales with my parents & grandparents.
And the Aggies won! My family tried really hard to teach me to make a "Gig 'Em" sign with my hand. No luck there, but I did learn to say "Puppy", sign "Baby", and I started calling Mama Janie "Mimi".

Best of Blessings To You All

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude - Thanksgiving dinner edition

1. Pillsbury pie crust - the roll out kind. While not as yummy as AM's real thing (complete with lard) it's tasty & easy and I don't regret volunteering to make the apple pie.

2. My apple corer - makes apple pie mentioned above easier. Cuts down on the slicing significantly.

3. My mom's making the dressing - the one Thanksgiving food I don't know how to make. I should learn at some point, unfortunately Mom's not going to be around forever.

4. Reynold's Turkey bag - faster cooking time, easy clean up. 'Nuff said.

5. Leftovers - my family has an awesome tradition of making turkey tamales during Thanksgiving weekend. Once again, yummy & it generates several dinners that can be prepared in about 15 minutes.

6. Our relationship with Kat's mom - I thank God for this on a regular basis, but I've been hearing so much about family strife during the holidays. I am very happy that it is so easy to organize the holidays with her

7. And looking on the bright side - Thanksgiving isn't turning out to be what I hoped. Some family members are ill, some have obligations with their other families, etc. so ours will be a small celebration. But I love the folks who will be here dearly and I am so happy we will be together. The others will be in our thoughts, prayers and on the other end of the phone. And we have less dishes to do, a smaller turkey to cook, & more pie to go around!

Bathtime Bride

Laney escaped from Daddy after her Sunday night bath and wandered into the living room like this. Who wouldn't take a picture? (Note Dad's indignant pose in the background)

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Our good buddy Andrew turned 3 on Saturday and his birthday party was Friday night. This was Laney's first birthday party for a friend and she seemed to have a good time.

Andrew with his new tinker toys from Laney
This was the coolest present, his 12 year old brother made him a wooden puzzle at school
My girls nosh on cake
Laney did way better with this cake than her own - no tears
Laney & the Birthday Boy. I had hoped to get them closer together, but this was it.
Laney had to be in the middle of EVERYTHING! This was one of Andrew's gifts - a race track. She helped the boys race cars and apparently Andrew is still saying "Laney knocked my cars off!" days later.

By the way, Mommies, this track is awesome, it folds out easily and is about 4 feet long. No snapping together. And it folds up to be about 18 inches long and 4 inches wide as its own carrying case. All 3 boys thought it was cool.

Playing dress up

No, we haven't gotten over excited about the fact that the high was below 70 degrees today. Although that was nice, bt the only thing I did special was dress Elena in long sleeves. My e-bay order came in and I thought I'd show off my bargain hunting skills, which are not those of some, but they'll do . . .

This is the sherpa hat bought on clearance last winter, the coat my mom got at a consignment store (okay not my shopping skills) and the snow boots I bought on e-bay. I also got some cheap toddler long undies at Wal-Mart (during the trip from HADES) but I chose not to photograph those.

And why pray tell, does our little Texan need all of this? I give you the next picture:

We're dreaming of a white Christmas - all goes well and it 'll be a ski vacation for us come late December. Woo hoo! (The bib was one of the first things my mom bought Laney, I was only about 3 months pregnant.)

Random Musings of Mommy

SLIMMED-DOWN BACON CHEESEBURGER MEATLOAF 'MUFFINS' are yummy. Even cold when your flying down the road to get in and out of Babies R Us during lunch.

Why is it that Laney's favorite past time is turning her sippy cup upside down and slamming it until enough water comes out to play in?

And on a related topic, soggy Goldfish crackers are one of the nastiest things on Earth.

What the heck happened to Thanksgiving? I've seen Christmas Ross commercials. Cathy dressed her dogs as Santa and an Elf today. And I heard a song on the radio called "Sometimes I Cry at Christmas" or something like that.