Christmas Pics 2012

In case you have been wondering what we have been up to...

All is well in our house.

In fact, we are ready for Christmas.  

From the youngest...

To the oldest.

So, from our family to yours...

Merry, merry Christmas!

It is a must...

It is a must that we take a picture with Santa each year.

However, being a good picture of the 5 (some of which are not too thrilled that I make them take this picture) is NOT a must.

Point proven.

This is not a super good picture.  

However, I still pretty much love it.

FR Fall Festival

Me and school fundraisers do not really get along.  I see the purpose in them, and I generally support them (because I know they fund things for the kids); however, I am annoyed to the nth by them!  Selling cookie dough, wrapping paper, etc. is for the birds.    More often than not, I would rather just pay an extra $100 a year to support the cause.

With that being said, the Fall Festval at the kids' elementary school does not get on my last nerve.  I know...I am surprised too!   I appreciate that it is the one fundraiser they really do, and it excites me that I rarely have to give above and beyond this event.

More, it is one day - one afternoon really - where my kids have a good time.  So, can I complain?  Nope. 

See?  Such fun!  And, G is a wild man at baseball.  

However, Ballerina gave him a run for his money!

And, this was just funny!

Ballerina thought she was pretty cool.  I mean, this was HER festival and all now that she is in kindergarten!  I would have hated to forget that!


This is a festival face if I have ever seen one!

Yet, one of the best things about the festival had nothing to do with the event itself!  It was this diva...

She is just beginning to really walk this week, so she thinks she is oober cool!  

This picture totally  makes me laugh!  G is totally NOT into taking the picture, but Allyse was making sure he was participating.  Ha!

Okay.  I am getting frustrated with the pictures not centering.  Boo.  Uhh!  More in a while...

Meet the Teacher 2012

I know I haven't blogged in a while.  Well, I haven't blogged in FOREVER.  I know I promised to be better...There are probably 25 unpublished posts in my cue, and I will assuredly get around to them sometime...Maybe...Well, maybe not, but whatever! 

But, I wanted to talk about tonight...It was a BIG night in our house!

Ella had her meet-the-teacher for kindergarten.

Seeing "Ella" and "kindergarten" in the same sentence brings tears to my eyes; however, I think it is harder on Eric than myself!  She is HIS little girl!

Of course, she is entirely ready.  And, I am too!  (She is a wild one!)  Yet, somewhere along the way I have not cherished the years like I swore I would.  I have not remembered every thing as I wanted to.  I have not taken the time I vowed I would take...  It, however, is not for a lack of effort.  It just goes so fast!  In the same prayer I pray for time to speed up - to get to the weekend, to go on that trip, etc.  Then in my next sentence I will pray for one more hour or for time to stand still so that I might be able to cherish more of my blessings.  I guess, however, this is life.

Nonetheless, Ballerina is more than ready for kindergarten...

Dance Pictures

Ballerina makes me crazy.  She is constantly leaving me without words, and she is testing my parenting skills in ways the boys have never, ever done. 

Take, for example, our experience as I picked G up from school when I was in a rush to get him to his baseball game last week:  I am hurriedly shoving everyone in the car at G's school.  Ballerina picks up G's bat and starts waving it in his face (yes, his bat) saying, "I got your bat Grayson!  I got your bat Grayson!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...ha!"  (Kind-of sang this...)

She was taunting him!  She is darn lucky he didn't grab that bat from her hands and wallop her with it! 

Then tonight at the dinner table:  "Daddy, so in the morning it is not going to be a wake me up early morning, right?"  Eric: "No."  Ballerina:  "Well, then...I was thinking there should be clothes for me on my desk ready for church...with my panties and bow and everything, okay...And, then breakfast can be French toast and you can cook it before I get up

Eric repeats and rephrases her requests to ensure he understands.  I try to contain my laughter.

Ballerina, she is a crazy cat, but she is a beautiful one with the most infections smile!  And the more she grows, he more beautiful she becomes.  

Man, I love her...

Not a prettier one around...

Just Another Night for Emers...

It is just another night in our household...

One where my brothers and sisters annoy the crud out of me... 

And where I seek solitude from their constant nagging!  

Man, sometimes there might be TOO much love in this house of mine!

Lessons Learned

Some lessons can only be learned the hard way.

Example lesson: The razors in mommy and daddy's shower is for shaving Mommy's legs, and it it is in NO WAY meant for you to shave...especially your head.

Well, you cut the crud out of the back of your head, and shave 1/2 the hair...this, undoubtedly, upsets you if you are 7. 
Oh, and you cry.

And then you cry more when your parents and uncle tell you that we are going to have to shave the rest of your head/hair to "even things out" and to "look somewhat normal"...Well, that makes you cry too.

But when the neighborhood and all decide to watch...Well, maybe that is too much!Nonetheless, lesson is learned - the hard way. 

And, I do not think he will be using Mommy's razor again...EVER!