Thinking of MissM Today ~

Today we all teeter on the edge of a Brand New Year.........and MissM has an operation that will make that year even better. However it is a big deal operation because it involves drilling a hole into her skull - something no parent EVER wants to contemplate worrying about. And I know both her parents are sitting somewhere right now doing exactly that.

MissM is a lively Princess. She and TheKing run round and round - she can tackle with the best of them and has the spunk that draws me to a kid. So today - while thinking about my own New Year - I am thinking about MissM .........and her mom.......and her dad..........and her sister (another one of my personal favorite girls in the world).

Saying a Prayer.......

Don't Stop Believing....

I know I kinda bagged out through the holidays in reference to blogging - but I was really really sick and in denial about the whole thing(that is another blog). Had I been feeling better most likely I would have blogged about all the fabulous and note worthy things that happened - and there were a few cute ones, but my brain has turned them off - my favorite was the GS getting kicked out of the nursing home (I really thought that was a HOOT!). Alas the illness clogging my sinus's sucked up some of my memory too. Perhaps as the days go by I will slowly recover some of it.

However, in my TOP 10 list of things that I find Wonderful and Amazing about the Christmas hoilday - is that All 3 of my Children STILL Believe in Santa!

BigGuy and I do not lie to them about it. They have point blank asked us (especially SuperStar) whether Santa exists and each time we point blank ask them back "Do You Believe That He Does?" and they say "yes" and we respond with "If you Believe in something then it is REAL for you". And when SuperStar tells us that there are few kids in her class who do Believe anymore we respond that their Parents probably don't Believe either ...........and that is when the magic is lost.

This year SuperStar had an especially hard time. I know there are several kiddo's in her school that have told her they talked to their parents about it - and there are also several kids who are so incredibly sweet that they Believe along side SuperStar even though they don't really Believe. And I love those kids! Each year SuperStar writes a note to Santa - this year her note stated that she is finding it very hard to Believe in him because she has never seen him. And she asked him for Proof.

When I read that line all I could think was CRAP. See when I was little I found the gifts in my parents closet - tried to convince myself they were for the Kacin Kids (our family friends) and waited for Mr. Kacin to come pick them up. He never did - and the next morning they were under our tree. CRAP. So I want my kids to not find out in an anticlimactic way - and until they are ready to find out (because let's be honest - our answer pretty much says that he isn't real if you don't pretend) I am going to give them the fun beauty and mystery of it all. My parents did "proof" things - a boot mark from the soot of the fireplace - cookie crumbs someplace they should not be - but I was little so I bought into it - and let's face it......the world was way simpler. Spidey suggested we hook up a video camera to catch him because we could get a motion sensor that would trigger it to work when he came into the room - thus not wasting the battery. Ah.............we didn't have those in the 70's......we had soot made boot marks. And we LOVED it! My kids wanted proof - high tech style.

This particular Christmas we stayed home. And since I had the luxury of time I decided to set up the tripod for photos of ALL of us to prove I do exist. When we went to bed the tripod still held the camera so it was logical that Santa might use it to try to take a self portrait. And in his response letter (yes, Santa writes back each year - a shortish note) he said he would try to work the digital camera, but that technology like that is hard for him. Apparently that was totally true - because these are the photos we got:





See him...on the hearth reaching for the cookies...he is kinda blurry. But totally cool right? Before I took really good pictures - I took really bad pictures - so this was not so hard to manage. Convincing right? Only......Santa brought DSi's this year and guess what - I could have brought an elephant giving birth into our living room Christmas Day and NONE OF MY CHILDREN WOULD HAVE NOTICED........because their heads were stuck in their DSi's. Well, okay - TheKing would have noticed - and then he would most likely have tried to pound the elephant with his new toys because he was fairly agressive that day. So all that hard work and cleverness was lost completely.

Until last night.

SuperStar had one of my favorite girls over to spend the night. And during the evening SuperStar asked me to bring up the Christmas pictures - I did - and then SuperStar brought out the letter Santa wrote her - the stationary matches the other letter that was sent from Santa's work shop (see it pays to be in charge of EVERY fundraiser attached to Santa Letter fundraisers) - and I noticed that apparently the letters and photos had made an impression on my children. It did help to continue the magic of it all. Now it just so happens that this little friend ALSO received a Santa Letter - so everyone's letter was written on the same paper, in the same style with the same signature - and even though this little girl no longer believes - after looking at the photos and sizing up the paper everyones letter came on - she took me aside and asked me if Santa was real..........and I said....."Do You Believe That He Is?" and she said, "I Want To" and I said, "He is Real if You Believe In Him, but when you stop then he is then a Wonderful Way To Give Back To Those You Love" and she smiled and walked back to SuperStar looking back at the photos still on the computer screen.

Don't Stop Believing..........

Ho Ho Ho ..........You Have Got To Go!

So how totally adorable are these Girl Scouts? They are all Holiday'd (my word......let's all start using it in the real world okay?) Up to go Caroling at a local Retirement Center. One that has 3 levels of care....Independent living, Assisted living and then Lock Down living (safety for the people with Alz). The place (the name is withheld so I can't be brought up on slander charges later) is very close to our school. I didn't honestly know that it existed. One of the mothers in the younger Daisy troop at our school put the event together. They gave her 3 nights to choose from. She was given no guidelines as to what would be expected - except I would imagine the commen sense kinda like "no one with a contagious disease please". And the girls were all so tickled to go caroling that we didn't care which night was chosen. So she picked one.

Everyone dressed in casual best - made certain to wear their sashes and add any yet to be attached badges and patches - brushed their hair and donned their Santa cap - and into the vans we went.....



One of our girls even brought her Sax!! She had been practicing Jingle Bells for the school band. I will say she did a very nice job! Way to be MissB! The only draw back was she was kinda slower in playing then the girls were in singing. So she never really played WITH the girls.........she played behind the girls and then kinda gave up. We figured after the girls made it through their song medley we would put MissB up in front and let her play her song solo. There was little break between songs as the girls were singing at a tempo that even we couldn't recognize or keep up with. It was almost - I think - part of the entertainment to see how THEY put the song verses together. I mean.......they had the words right (hard to goof that up as they were written down on paper in front of them)......but they were singing things so fast that there was no break in between verses and you never could recognize a refrain in a song as being a "break". What was even more entertaining was watching the face of the Brownie Leader and Daisy Dad (the mom leader had to work) that were "leading" the songs........each time the girls left the beat they were singing the song in they kinda rolled their eyes a bit, made a sweet face and waited until they could figure out where the girls were to catch up and try to get them back on track - it was kinda like herding cats.









And then..........a bit more then half way through the singing........it happened. One of the facility directors - oh did I mention that this was a VERY VERY SWANKY retirement facility? Like VERY VERY....I can not mention how many VERY's it would take. This place had large screen tv's....furniture nicer then the Hilton Lobby.....shoot the wing we were in had a chef making omelets to order AND Banana's Foster as a demonstration!! There was wifi.........we passed a dining room that was all made up with a beautiful holiday theme......Christmas decorations like you see in Macy's....it was GORGEOUS! It smelled beautiful too - I say this because I have been in many retirement facilities and then NEVER smell so beautiful - shoot my own house hardly smells that good! Someone said later that it cost $2,400 a month to live there. That is more then my mortgage!

So you get the picture......it is Beautiful! Back to the story.......

The director comes in - she is obviously trying to figure out where one song the girls are singing ends and where one begins - she false starts at one point to interrupt, but the girls don't "get it" and keep going. Then as soon as the girls take a breath in unison she breaks in clapping........"Well that was wonderful girls! We all really appreciate you coming and we hope you have a very Merry Christmas!"

I don't know which one, but some girl says "We aren't done." and the Director kinda - no, not kinda - totally ignores her and says, "Maybe you can come back next year." Now......we have only been there for about 17 minutes. We were thinking after doing a Lounge Act we would move into the Assisted living area and sing door to door - that was the prearranged plan at least. Parents aren't picking girls up for another hour - we got PLENTY of time. And then the Director begins to shoo us down the hall toward the parking lot door we came in from.

What did we do? Well apparently the beautiful dining room we saw set up was for a party some of the residents were having with their children and they needed the parking spaces we were using emptied up because the children of the residents were complaining about having to park far away in the "back" parking lot. Did I mention how much the residents children were paying to have their parents live there? Yes.....you see why we got the Santa Boot right?

Next year when we go we will add "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" to our medley.

Performance Time!

TheKing had his first Preschool Recital. I love love loved the way they did it! See we have kids who are from the US, India and some who are Jehovah Witness - so it really is unrealistic to believe that everyone would enjoy a complete recital filled with music celebrating Christmas only.........and our teachers are also smart enough to realize that our 3 year olds are not quite ready to learn enough songs within a short amount of time to fill just a Christmas venue - so they cleverly had the children sing a large combintation of songs and recite poems with hand and body motions that they have been learning through out the year. And I must say TheKing was a True Performer!! Not at all shy.....placed strategically between two girls that he does not wrestle to the ground......he promptly pointed me out to the crowd - waved - said "Hi Mom I am right here" and then waved again and again - tapped MissC and pointed me out - looked for BigGuy and after seeing him pointed him out and waved too. It was just Too Sweet!! Without further ado........TheKing and The Great Big Spider - followed by - The Teenie Tiny Spider......

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Today is TheKing's 4th Birthday! Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday he was coming home from the hospital. This is the year he 100% understands that his birthday is the BIG DAY that he gets to choose things. The Grands were all in over the weekend and we celebrated with candles and cupcakes. Today BigGuy and I will go to school with him to celebrate with the kids and be the parent helpers in honor of TheKing. Then on Saturday he will have a party with 10 friends. He is SO EXCITED!!

Happy Birthday Little Man! We love you!