Snow Heatherns

Adelaide has somehow decided that the proper way to run is by putting her arms straight out behind her... like a backwards superhero. It's hilarious!

Today she flew over to Papaw and Mamaw's with us for Christmas dinner (turkey, yummy mashed potatoes, etc.) and to open gifts. The kids made quite a haul: new shoes, clothes, backpacks, books, dolls, and the piece de resistance...two big hatboxes full of dress up clothes. Josie's had a purple hat with a plume, gloves, a boa, and a skirt and shirt, and Sadie's had a pink ballerina dress, flats with ribbons, a crown, a magic wand, and a bracelet. They immediately ran to put these on, and then they proceeded to put on a "Cinderella show," with Sadie as Cinderella and Josie as ALL of the supporting roles (Fairy Godmother, Prince, Stepsisters, etc.). Papaw and Mamaw enjoyed the show immensely, especially the "after show" when the actors came out to curtsy and 'meet the audience.'

Later, we went out to play (Papaw tried out Sadie's new scooter) and they had fun running up and down the driveway (Adelaide), riding the push car (Josie), and jumping through the snow making rabbit tracks (Sadie). After the grownups got too cold and went inside, Papaw opened the door and yelled out to the kids, "HEY! Get in here, you little heatherns!" :)

The girls wanted to stay at their house, but Jesse and I had to put Adelaide down for a nap and meet Brian for dinner. As I was leaving and giving final (obey) instructions for the girls, I told my daddy, "Don't let them see anything on TV with bad words, cause they'll repeat it..." Josie piped up, "Yep, we will!"

P.U.

Taylor and Evelyn came over to see the kids this morning... Sadie pulled Taylor back into the 'playroom' and was shortly joined by Josie. Apparently, somehow the conversation turned to personal hygiene. Sadie to Taylor: "You're too big to take a bath, aren't you?" Taylor: "Yeah...I haven't taken a bath in the tub since I was your age." Josie: "You must be pretty stinky, then."

Hog Pig

Sadie: "I can't wait to get to Brenda's for opening presents because we get to go Hog Pig!" (aka "Hog Wild")

Adelaide: "Night night." (on the floor at Brenda's after the Christmas extravaganza - and after bedtime).

Josie: "I had very much fun when Daddy took a nap with me. That's all I wanted for Christmas, and it was like a sleepover!"

There are No Orphans of God

The Christmas cantata at Chasity's church was great. After taking my Daddy a coconut cake and some of Jesse's pecan pie, we met Becky, Stephen, and Hailey at the church and settled in to watch the show (after Sadie and Josie snuck backstage with Chasity - they thought that was great fun). We sat behind Becky and Stephen so we could talk more easily, though I think they were probably sorry once the cantata started. About halfway through, there was a song called "This is Our God," that talked about the sacrifice that God and Jesus made with Jesus' birth, life, and death, and how much they love us. Well, I started crying, and I didn't stop until the very end. After that song, Chasity sang her solo... and she was just amazing. I was so proud of her - I haven't heard her sing in church in years, since we used to sing together. She was SO GOOD and the song was definitely the best one in the whole cantata. It was called "There Are No Orphans of God." It talked about how no matter how bad things seem here on earth, God sees us all the same... loves us all the same... there are no outcasts, there are no strangers, there are no orphans of God." I pretty much bawled through it, and I started getting backward glances from Becky and Stephen and our kids (I think it scared them that I was crying so much - Josie came to sit on my lap and rub my head) - and I didn't have a tissue anywhere. I ended up having to wipe my eyes on my nursing wrap/cover, which doubled as the world's largest handkerchief. After that, Kimmie came out and did this dance and then there was some miming to another song. It was very cool - they turned out all the lights, and the mimes, who were wearing all black except for white gloves, stood underneath a black light so the gloves glowed bright blue. There was another song then about how no matter what you've done or how far you've been from God, he still wants you to come back. Some of the mimes fashioned a cross out of their hands while the other ones made "come forward" motions with their hands, like Jesus is calling you to the cross. It was so touching to me... I've felt kind of like a wall has been up between me and God for quite a while now, but suddenly, the walls crashed down and I had a tremendously emotional (and welcome) experience. I felt like God had given ME a Christmas present right then... and I am SO glad that we went. I guess it was all a part of the plan. I haven't been to a Christmas play in over 8 years, and we just happened to be able to make it to that one. Coincidence? I think not.

After the play was over we all met in the fellowship hall with everyone for cookies (LOTS of cookies) and to talk over the play. It was a fun night. Jesse asked what the difference was between a Baptist and a Methodist (he really wanted to know what the answer was) and Stephen laughingly explained that "A Methodist will say hello to you in the liquor store." Hehee

On Christmas Eve, Jesse and I finally made it to Kohl's to see Brian for a few minutes and pick up some last minute things (and we snuck to Sonic for lunch - by ourselves). Then we went in circles around the grocery store, searching for frozen orange juice to make punch with. Later, after much drama at Grandma's (rivaling the Jerry Springer Show), we finally made it to the Church Christmas Dinner (not A church, but the Church Family) with my Daddy and Sylvia. It was good to see all of my family there together and the girls warmed right up to their cousins and played a rousing game of tag. The cutest part was seeing Sadie, Josie, Lauren, and Sydney (Syndey, according to Josie) sitting in the kitchen floor all together while Sadie told them stories. Too cute.

Next we trekked to Scotty and Angela's for ANOTHER dinner and more Christmas madness. It actually wasn't too crazy this year, and the girls had a great time - Sadie and Josie playing with Cameron, Caleb, Adam, Natasha... and Adelaide playing with (and fighting with) Bayleigh. Grandma Genevieve had given Adelaide some really cute sparkly silver shoes the other day, but her little foot was too chunky to wear them! So Grandma gave them to Bayleigh (their birthdays are two weeks apart), who had them on last night. Adelaide spotted the shoes right away, and proceeded to try to be like Grandpa Roy and "re-po" them. Bayleigh said, "Mine!" and took one shoe, but Adelaide said, "ADDALAY!" and snatched one back. This went on for some time, and we thought there was going to be a fight! The older great-grandkids put on a show, much to Uncle Thomas' dismay :) but everyone else liked it! Sadie and Josie said the "Long Long Ago" poem, and then Cameron sang the verses to "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and the other kids chimed in on the chorus. It was really good, I thought!

We got Bayleigh a red and white hat like Adelaide's blue one (the world's cutest hat) and when they put them on, the whole room stopped to watch. It was the CUTEST thing EVER. Of course, they wouldn't sit still enough for us to get a good picture, but it was one of those things you won't forget!

When we got back to Grandma's house, we all got ready for bed and then Jesse read us the Christmas story from Luke (my favorite version) before we all snuggled in for a long winter's nap. This morning, Sadie and Josie were thrilled to find new Razor Scooters with their names on them! They tore through the house all morning, toes beware! Adelaide had new tub toys, which she had to check out in the "sub, sub!" and Jesse got me some cool new leopard PJs. I feel blessed beyond measure this year, even though financially, times are kind of hard. God knows just what we need, doesn't He? It's amazing. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Oh Chwistmas Twee!

I've decided that while life isn't really more important here in the South than it is at home in Ohio, I just tend to have extra time to write things down while I'm here; hence the play by play!

We ended up leaving a day earlier than expected after Scotty called and warned us of an impending blizzard on Friday (we were supposed to leave Friday afternoon after Jesse got off work). Roy graciously said to "hit the road," and we did... at 7pm on Thursday night. We drove all night and got here at 4:30am on Friday. It's a good thing we did, too, because they got almost a foot of snow here, which hasn't happened since I was 17! That's a long time, and it takes the one plow in the state of NC a VERY long time to plow all the roads here. :) The kids were really good in the car, and I thoroughly enjoyed the new song I learned from their book on tape: "I'm Herman the worm-an and I like my squirming and I like being close to the ground... boom boom!" I think I liked it more than they did, and now the silly, non-Christmasy song is stuck in my head.

On Friday, before the roads got really bad, we delivered Cinnamon Bread to Louis and Brenda (after I lost it, blamed Jesse for forgetting it, then found it in the van) then came back to Grandma's and got to see Derek and Theda for a few mintues before they left for Florida (they brought us a whole box full of yummy cannoli). The snow fell, and fell, and fell, and one of Grandma's giant spruce trees fell, and the snow still fell!

Saturday, when we woke up, there was snow everywhere, and all the southerners blamed us for bringing it with us. We put plastic bags on our shoes (of course we didn't bring any snow clothes down here... who would've thought?) and headed up to Angela and Scotty's house, and proceeded to play in the snow ALL DAY. Sadie and Josie ended up wearing a dazzling array of clothing borrowed from Cameron, Caleb, Angela, and Sharon. They went sledding (Sadie went really far, overshooting the boundary tree and landing in the blueberry patch once; Josie and Caleb went tandem-sledding and there was much squealing and shouting for joy), played with the cat, Spencer (Sadie kept carrying him around and putting him in the snow when she thought no one was looking), riding the 4wheeler with Daddy and Scotty, unfroze at Aunt Sharon's (Sadie spent a long time at her house, eating chili beans and thawing out with hot chocolate), and had a great time playing with the boys in their rooms. Adelaide took a long nap on Caleb's bed, then ran around playing with bowls (I cleaned out Angela's tupperware cabinet) and trying to keep up with the big kids. Jesse, Scotty, and Uncle Gary spent the day getting cars unstuck from the driveway, clearing driveways, and playing around on the 4 wheelers. Angela and I finished wrapping her presents and then she made my new favorite for dinner: Hamburger pie!

On Sunday, there was no church anywhere, so we went over to spend the morning and early afternoon with Daddy and Sylvia. The kids were really glad to see them and ended up staying over there to snuggle, eat popcorn, and watch movies after Jesse and I left to put Adelaide down for a nap. Daddy told them the "tobacco story" about how when he was little, his daddy bought cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco for him and his four brothers, and put it all out on the table and said, "Boys, I think you're old enough for this now, so have at it!" They learned a lesson that day, and NONE of them ever smoked. Sadie and Josie think this is incredibly funny. I think it was good parenting! Josie is excited about the pile of gifts under Mamaw and Papaw's tree... and I quote, "Hey! Look at our stack!"

While they were there, I snuck out and picked up Melanie for a quick trip to Cato's. It was great... we have to steal moments together when we can, you know.

Later, Thomas, Elizabeth, Josh, Natasha, Britt, and Bayleigh came over to play. Adelaide was a little shy at first, but she finally warmed up to Bayleigh and they are SO cute together. I could just sit and watch them play together for hours. Later Angela, Scotty, and the boys came down for supper (Great Grandma let Sadie and Josie help make the biscuits), and the house was madness. But it's fun madness when you're all together at Grandma's house, even if I did have to do the dishes! The kids were going crazy, running around and around and around from the kitchen to the living room, wrestling in the floor, and finally Angela and Scotty took ALL of them to their house (except the babies) for a sleepover.

On Monday, the kids stayed at Angela's for as long as was humanly possible. They were NOT ready to go, but I thought Angela was ready for them to go! They'd had a great time sleeping in the living room floor, having PJ day, forming alliances (older kids against younger kids) making cinnamon/applesauce ornaments, and having a generally good old time. Jesse and I took Adelaide and went to the bank, where we saw my cousin Kristi and several other people who loved Adelaide's hat! Then we picked up the girls and put them all down for a LONG nap. Later, we went to my Daddy's and Sylvia's (Papaw's and Mamaw's) for T-bones (cooked by flashlight on the carport outside), and then a rousing game of catch in the living room... Sadie gave Mamaw a reprieve from story-telling for the night!

Tuesday: How many times can one person go to Walmart? I think I've been there 5 times already and I've only been here for 5 days. Ridiculous! We got BoJangle's for breakfast, then I went to Angela's for a while (by myself) while she baked me my very own Hamburger Pie. Sounds gross, tastes delicious! Later we took the kids over to play with Dalton and Noah (Kimmie is almost 13 - almost too old to play!) and Chass made them macaroni and hot dogs for lunch. Adelaide and Sadie kept trying to swipe M&M's, and Josie and Dalton played non-stop, listening to music and running around like hoodlums. After we got back to Grandma's, Melanie and Ada stopped by to play for a while, and Jesse made pecan pies with Sadie and Josie. The kids and I went out to Daddy's, where there was much tickling, ball-playing, and dirty fake-outs (Papaw taught Josie to fake a throw, so she kept looking at him while she chucked the ball at Sadie!:). After we got the kids to bed, Jesse and I went BACK to Walmart AGAIN, where we saw my cousin Bridget, then went up to Melanie's to hang out... just grown ups!

Wednesday: Grandma made the kids livermush for breakfast, then Amanda came over and we all went up to Melanie's to play until naptime. Later, we're headed off with Becky, Stephen, and Hailey to see Kimmie and Chasity perform in their Christmas play. So far, we're having a great mix of relaxation and busyness! Hope it stays this way!

Christmas Jingles

Josie: "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, is a partridge in a pear tree!"

Josie and Sadie: "Deck the halls with bells (bales?) of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la!"

Adelaide: "La la la LA!!"

Sadie: "Well, Santa is good, but we all know the TRUE meaning of Christmas. And that would be Jesus is born!"

Adelaide: "Ho ho ho! Doot!"

Pet Ant

Sadie: If I were in Chicago and Lydia was there with me, there would be TWO Lydias there." (Simon's mom is also named Lydia). "So how would one Lydia know if I was talking to her?"

Mommy: "Well, you could call Aunt Lydia "Aunt Lydia," and you could call Miss Lydia "Miss Lydia."

Josie: "I don't have an Ant Lydia."

Mommy: "Um... Yes you do."

Josie: "No, I don't have have a pet ant named Lydia. I don't have an Ant Lydia. I do have a pet uncle, though, and his name is Darryl."

Sprinkles

Yesterday the kids helped me with a Christmas tradition: we made holly. Like Rice Krispie treats, only with cornflakes and green food coloring. It was so much fun... I actually relaxed for a while and let them do all the stirring, and then they took turns putting the berries on (red hots) and eating them (one for you, one for me, one for you, two for me...). Today, we've been working on cookies. They are sprinkle-nuts. Seriously, if you pick up a cookie they put sprinkles on, you are covered in sprinkles because there is no way the poor icing could possibly hold that number of sprinkles! Anyway, it's fun. Now we're on to stacking the presents for NC (trying to fit them all in a single laundry basket should be fun) and getting ready for Sugar Cookie Day at Aunt Sue's house tomorrow and NC the day after that!

No One "Huhs" Like Gaston

Last Friday, Grandma Beth took Sadie, Josie, Aunt Becky, James, Teagan, and me to the theater to see "Beauty and the Beast." It was a great show! The kids were so excited (it's one of their favorite stories and they love any live theater, PLUS Grandma, Aunt Becky, and their cousins? What could be more fun?). They dressed up in their Christmas finery, we had dinner (just them and Mommy), then we met up at the theater with Grandma. They couldn't wait to get inside the auditorium, and they kept trying to peek in the doors before the ushers started seating people. The ladies outside the doors were big fans of their "Dorothy shoes," which Grammie gave them early for Christmas, just for such occasions as this. Josie volunteered to sit with me in front of everyone else (we had 5 tickets in one row, 2 in another) and proceeded to strike up a conversation with an older gentleman next to her. She and Sadie and James were very friendly and talkative until the show started, then they all sat back and watched as Belle came on stage - and this lady REALLY sounded like the Belle from Disney's animated cartoon. We were impressed. We recognized some of the actors from the "Annie" show we saw back in September, which was neat. The Beast did an excellent job... I didn't even realize that he was the same guy as the Prince until the end of the show... I thought he was 2 totally separate actors! That's good work! James and Sadie were so excited (Teagan too)... I kept hearing them whispering back and forth to each other and to Grandma - and Aunt Becky had to keep shushing them, but it was still fun! After the show the kids got to meet some of the characters (they wouldn't go near Gaston, though, which was a hoot - he was really great at being the bad guy, but I think the kids thought he was a little TOO good at it), which is the plus of a smaller theater. They wouldn't meet you out front to shake hands if we were downtown at Playhouse Square, that's for sure! We love going to see plays, and one of Sadie's goals for this year is to "do a play" of her own.

The best part of all of this for me is the fact that Sadie, Josie, AND Adelaide (who didn't even see the play, but copies her sisters perfectly) go around striking "muscle poses" like Gaston and going "Huh! Huh!"

Good Twy

Today during naptime, Josie ran into my room, crying. She snuggled her head against me while she sat on my lap and explained that she "just can't be good all the time." She said, "I want to be a good sister - I twy and I twy and I just can't do it!" This all started two days ago when she accidentally pushed Adelaide off the special reading chair in the living room and Adelaide bonked her head on the floor. Josie's been feeling guilty ever since, and she keeps thinking about being a bad sister. I'm glad that she has a conscience about things like this, but what can I say besides "I try to be good all the time too, and I can't do it either. God just wants us to keep on trying."

Christmasy

Feeling "Christmasy," today, although I was forced from my sickbed to pick up family portraits at the mall. While walking by the "Christmas Train," I found that I only had $3 cash. The Christmas Train costs $2 each, so only one kid could ride. Just when I decided that NO ONE was going to ride, a nice elderly lady came up and gave us $1 and told us her grandkids were too big now to ride the Christmas Train, so this ride was on her. Sadie and Josie jumped up and down, squealed, and said, Merry Christmas, nice lady!"

Boo Boo!

Tonight in the car, Adelaide got her chubby little pointer finger stuck in the hole in a plastic drink cup lid. She poked it in there, and then of course the little poky teeth around the bottom of the hole held her finger for ransom. She freaked out. I was driving, so I couldn't just turn around and help her, and she screamed like an alligator was chewing her hand off or something. Finally I put my flashers on and pulled over, but of course I couldn't get it off either... it was like Chinese handcuffs! Luckily, I had my handy-dandy fingernail clippers in the van, so I cut the side of the lid and tore it in half. She then held her injured (but not bleeding) finger up to my lips and said, plain as day, "Boo boo." After I kissed it for her, she was fine. Aahhh... the healing powers of a Mommy's kiss. There's nothing else like it, is there?