Lots to share

I found a trick to an early slumber for Nicholas on Christmas eve….tickle his tummy for about a half an hour. He was OUT COLD!!! Santa was very busy setting up little army men in a village of large tanks, air boats, and helicopters…then removing annoying twist ties from packaging after packaging. In the end there was a large wooden puzzle, a soft pink husband, a pink umbrella, lots of army men, 2 pair of cowboy boots, a purple light saber for Robin, and stockings FULL of goodies!!!

The agenda of wake up, stockings, breakfast, church, lunch, naps, then gifts was shot out of the water…but well worth it. Gift opening was a whirlwind. Robin kept “finding” them all over the loivingroom floor and opening them for you then proclaim “look what you got!”

Church on Jesus’ birthday was nice. A wonderful time of singing and reading of the Christmas story.

Then off to the New China House for lunch along with a lot of other Boonies (and many Florida implants hoping for a white Christmas).

Naps for most and dinner cooking for me!!! I made my first apple pie completely from scratch. I skimped on the stuffing (boxed) but everything else was scratch!!! The 13 pound turkey was very juicy, although it appeared a little over cooked. We were all able to sit around the little table for all meals which was very nice.

We woke to a white Christmas-gift-return day and headed off to K-Mart and outlet malls for returns and Christmas item sales.

In short, it goes like this:

Everyone played with Play Doh...

Nicholas loved his remote control car…Nicholas knew exactly what this was and Robin had no idea...Cindy Lu Who was thrilled with the entire concept of Christmas (not to mention all of the pink she got) and kept wishing everyone “Merry Christmas” all day…Nicholas had lots of "Grandpa time"...Robin has a new buddy...Can you guess Robin's 2 favorite gifts...Our digital camera was giving me fits with the focus...Imelda herslef may not have been as thrilled as Robin to have been given such lovely shoes at the bowling alley... Check out this form (just don't look at the air between the ball and floor)...Santa's elves double in the off season as bowling ball return caddies...Thanks to all who showed their love through giving this year. We missed so many of our family but were very happy to have Grandma and Grandpa visit for the weekend. Drive safe tomorrow and enjoy the 80 degree weather.(Thanks for tolerating the 25 degrees plus wind chill you had here this Christmas!)

Lasagna!

Grandma and Grandpa will be here tonight. Nicholas helped me make lasagna for dinner. I don’t know which he liked more mixing up the cheese or “playing” with the noodles.

A very bust week

Well, I could go on and on about this past weeks events in the gift giving area. But it has turned out to be a bit more emotional than I had expected and I was VERY involved in the giving. I feel like I should not post here. Just know that everything went very well. If you want me to email you about it I will be happy to ...just bounce me a request at my email.

In other news…

Nicholas had his school Christmas concert:Robin had her school concert:Nicholas wrote a letter to Santa and received one back:Robin made this beautiful wreath:

Grandma and Grandpa are coming Friday, it’s Christmas in a few days, and I get to cook Christmas dinner in my home. (You know that means I get left over turkey!!!)

I have had nice time to relax and recoup for the Spring semester. I should spend a little more time on my resume and job hunting. I thought I’d have SOOOO much time, but it’s not looking that way.

I look forward to posting Christmas pictures and then New Year pictures with Momma El! This is a big one. Both children still believe in Santa and are very excited!!! I plan to video their reaction to the stockings when I go “turn on the tree” before everyone goes in there. Wish we had a digital video!!

C H A M P I O N S !!!!!

Did you see that game? If not you missed out BIG TIME!!! How exciting. The first time in MANY years that ANY areas of Mountaineer athletics has won a National Championship title!!! Way to go…all of you!

Go App!!

I scared Robin this afternoon when I was yelling at the TV in support of ASU’s final touchdown against Furman! She’s never seen me get excited like that…not to mention she was in her own world and all of a sudden mommy starts jumping all over!!!

So, ASU is going to the National Championship game in Chattanooga this coming weekend. You can read all about it here…ESPN or goASU.com or ASU!!

(image from ESPN)

After the game fans (AKA students) rushed the field, immediately removed the goal post. Rob and I speculated that it would be tossed in the duck pond so we asked Nicholas and Robin in they wanted to go for a walk to see where they carried the goal post. When Nicholas put it all together he realized that there would be a lot of screaming, crazy people on campus and pleaded not to go!!! Soon after, an image appeared on ASU’s home page that provided the evidence. (Keep hitting re-load until the image appears, there are about 5 random photos).

So, in a new movie with Adam Sandler, The Longest Yard, he mentions something about a lowly team like Appalachian state who never wins. With this, our Chancellor invited Adam Sandler to an ASU home game to learn the truth...here's a couple of articles about that...ASU and USA Today. It'd be pretty cool if he cam to Chattanooga!! (I know... I know, it was all in fun)

The Energy Star conference in Raleigh went well on Thursday. I roped home form there with Dad and Pat who stayed in Boone for 2 VERY COLD days. It was nice to spend some time with them. However, I had to go to school 3 hours one day and then they babysat for us that evening. So, my time with them was limited, but they seemed to enjoy the children!

I have to turn a paper in on Monday and I am officially finished for the semester! Don’t know why I’m not proofing that once more instead of writing this!!!

So, when Dad and Pat babysat for us we went to the movies to see The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Outstanding! Amazing animation and acting, the sets and locations were phenomenal (New Zealand of course). The battle scene and fictitious characters rival The Lord of the Rings! Most importantly however, was the story line and how it tells the truth of Christ. Here is a review by Plugged in! (I got the link from Focus on the Family). Go see it!!!

Oh and Nicholas did not get a Green card on Thursday to make 2 straight weeks of green cards. He was talking too much again. I explained to Dad and at however, that it is completely opposite of the "talking too much" that I used to get in trouble for all the time in elementary school! Nicholas answers all of the questions and "helps" the other children with their work. This disturbs the other students and makes it difficult for them to learn. If he's going to "talk too much" I'd much prefer it's for something like that!! So here we go, all over again from day one!

GREEN CARDS everywhere...

The proof is in the pudding (not really sure what that means). But what I do know is that there is one boy in my house who is behaving VERY well…at home and school. (Not to say that the bigger one isn’t…have to clear that up!)

ONE more green card and Nicholas gets a Rescue Heroes movie and action figure form Momma El!!! Then 5 more days (3 weeks) and he gets a trip to Hickory Dickory Doc!!!

Last (minor) presentation tonight and a MAJOR paper due the 12th and I am DONE!!! Just 6 credit hours next semester and I graduate in May!!!!

Hopefully we can put up our Christmas tree tonight!!

Off to the Energy Star Conference tomorrow evening.

CiCi's, foam soap, and m&ms

We had a blast! Nicholas got a whole week of green cards, plus 2 days last week. That’s 7 straight!!! I can not tell you how proud we are of him. Mom, dad, his teachers….basically anyone I tell…which is everyone.

Rob’s co-worker Ms. Shirley (who rides Nicholas’ scooter with him in the back hall of the advising center, cause it has a cool ramp!!) gave him an m&m dispenser! It’s real neat. She says she’ll give him a bag of m&m’s each time he gets a full week of green.

So, anyway, we went to CiCi’s for dinner (that’s what he chose). We all ate LOTS of pizza, salad, breadsticks, and cinnamon rolls!!! He took his quarters (a daily reward for green cards) and had a blast in the game room with daddy. Then we went to Big Lots and he bought some foaming bath soap. One for him and one for Robin…..

Our neighbor’s son just got here from Russia, Sasha. He is the cutest 4 year old. HE doesn’t speak any English yet, but they seem to have a universal language. Sasha showed up the first day at our door with a HUGE Batman figure. It was instant non-verbal communication! Nicholas has to go to Sasha’s house so his mommy can translate. Nicholas thinks it’s a little weird, but I am excited that he is being exposed to another culture. Hopefully I will have pictures soon. (Nicholas called him Sausage by accident...OOPS!!)

Nicholas just walked in. He’s having trouble sleeping. Say’s he afraid he’ll have nightmares. Anyway, he must have heard me typing. He said “Mommy, wouldn’t it be cool if we had a computer that already knew what you wanted to do and it did it for you?” Maybe he will invent that one day!!!

Robin was playing on the computer with me. We found a coloring page at Hasbro’s Candy Land. The I happened upon m&m’s web site (since Robin loves chocolate so much) and I found these screensavers. I downloaded the ski slope!! Also, check this out…you can have custom printed m&m’s. Wouldn’t this be cool as a wedding favor…baby announcement…birthday greeting…marriage proposal…store promotion item…WHATEVER!!! I think it’s a GREAT idea!

Back to my research paper.

Mr. Sleepy Pants!

Procrastinating once more from what I should be doing…but I had to share. Nicholas has had such a wonderful week at school.... 4 Green cards so far!!! Apparently it is taking toll on life after school!!!