Playing dress up!

The girls were upstairs playing.  They all came  down to show me their latest fashions.  Here is their newest creation!

Daddy watch out!  The little girl may kill something before you do!

Gone Hunting!

John Mark and Tyler were invited to go hunting this evening with a drug rep friend who also has kids at the girls' school.  Unfortunately, Tyler left church this morning because he had the stomach bug that Mom stayed home from church with this morning.  Tyler joined Mom at home in the "sick bay" for the rest of the day.  

Dad decided to go ahead and go hunting, but he decided to take Corynne with him.  Sounds like a great idea for our little nature girl, and the drug rep was taking his son who is in Corynne's class at school.  They had a lot of fun.  The did not kill anything. (This is a recurring theme when JM goes hunting!  I love to give him a hard time!)  They did see a bunch of wild hogs that they did try to shoot and missed!  All in all, Corynne and Dad had a wonderful time together with friends!  

Annual Gingerbread Decorating

We had originally planned to go see the lights at Callaway Gardens in GA this evening, but due to some bad planning we were not able to leave this afternoon.  Plan B - I really was not prepared for plan B, but I braved the holiday crowds to go to Wal-Mart and Costco to find gingerbread houses and candies to decorate the houses.  JM stayed at home with the kids, and they enjoyed some outside fun since the weather was quite warm today.  

We had a pizza supper and began decorating.  Lyndsey even got in on the action this year.  She enjoyed putting the candies on the house.  Then she discovered the frosting and candy was better to eat.  We always have fun decorating, and the houses always turn out much different then I expect!  Uncle Michael - the kids missed having you decorate with them.  They all remembered how funny and fun  you were last year!

Here are the kids creations all in a row (birth order to be exact)!

I did not steal!

We returned to the basketball courts this morning.   Corynne played her first game this morning since she missed last Saturday's game.  I was a little late to the game because I had to pick up Tyler from an early morning tennis lesson.  JM sent me a text saying, "What did you do to our daughter?  She had 3 steals, 4 shots and 1 basket in the first period."  This is not the Corynne we know.  Our Corynne is just playing for fun, praying that everyone does their best, and everyone is a winner.  Our Corynne does not compete in sports!  Until this morning.  She made Daddy proud!  The first picture is of Corynne right after she made a basket!

As Dad was walking her out to the car, he told her that she had 4-5 steals and scored twice.  Corynne replied, "I did not steal the ball.  The girl dropped it and I picked it up and took it."  Now that is our Corynne!!!

Don't tell the child labor board!

Problem #1:  JM is 7000 "electronic signatures" behind at work.  

Since he got his new Mac laptop, he has not been able to log on to the hospital website and "sign" his charts.  The IT department said that it was possible to log into the system on a MAC, but after weeks of trying the IT department now says you can not use a MAC.  So, JM took his old laptop back up to the hospital for the IT department to set it up for home login.

Problem #2:  Tyler needs a new bat. 

On Wednesday, Tyler goes to the batting cages with a batting instructor.  This is something he has been doing for over a year.  During his "off season (fall)", we have continued to go to maintain and improve his swing for the spring season.  In Texas, all kids play and love football.  In Alabama, all kids play and love baseball.  During his first 30 minutes in the cage with the machine, his bat broke.  If you have not bought a bat lately, that is a $100-$275 purchase.    It is Christmas, and I am done shopping.

Solution:  Dad taught Tyler how to log on to the hospital and "sign"  his charts.  Okay, don't panic.  Any kid can press a button repetitively 7000 times!  If it were only that fast!  The trick is staying awake between clicks.  You have to wait for the file to load and then click the button.  Wait and click.  Wait and click.  I have seen JM fall asleep many times doing this!   JM promised to pay him 2 cents per chart to be applied toward a new bat.  Okay, don't tell Tyler about minimum wage laws or we are going to be in trouble!  He has currently completed about 800 and it has taken a LONG TIME!

Friday night Basketball Fever!

Tonight Tyler played his first basketball game of the season.  You remember.  The one that was postponed because of the Alabama-Florida game last Saturday. Tyler was so excited because they get to play full court this year.  (We play Upward Basketball where the rules are a little different.)  At half time, all the boys were sweaty, exhausted and thirsty!  

The game time folly of the week was a fast break

 by Tyler's team.  Tyler and another boy raced down the court to get the pass.  They both tripped over each other and went down as the ball passed over them.  Everyone laughed, Tyler's face 

was red when he got up.  The red face was not embarrassment, but ANGER!

Tyler is not a good at losing.  If you have ever played any game with him, you know he tries to change the rules when he is about to lose.  So tonight's loss of 32-18 did not go down too good. 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

The preschool choirs performed tonight at church.  Lauren was so excited about singing her songs.  She even picked out an outfit while at a friends house today--a red santa dress and pink boots.  The friends Mom was laughing as I was picking Lauren up.  She said that it was fine with her, and Lauren really wanted to wear the dress tonight.  Not quite the little smocked Christmas dress I had picked out for her to wear, but I knew this was truly not a battle worth fighting.  I did insist that she find her black shoes to wear instead of the pink boots.  

She sang beautifully in the red Santa dress which she completed with a red Santa hat!  

The sweetest memory of the night for us (the parents) was listening to Lauren sing herself to sleep.  She kept singing "Dear Jesus.  Its your birthday and I have a gift for you.  It something kinda special even though its not brand new.  Though I didn't wrap it and its not under the tree.  Dear Jesus.  Its your birthday and the gift I have is ME!"  The tune got slower and softer until she fell fast asleep!  

A Feast for All

Today I finally did what I had been wanting to do for months.  It is that urge to cook and bake.  It is that time of year.  I did not cook at Thanksgiving, and I am not cooking at Christmas so I think i am feeling a little left out of the holiday kitchen!  Today, John Mark's office staff became my outlet since my children will not eat "fancy" food as they call it!   I prepared a feast of ham, sweet potatoes, apple-cranberry bake, choc pound cake, and dinner rolls for John Mark's office today.  Lauren, Lyndsey and I delivered it hot and fresh to their break room just in time for lunch.  The girls enjoyed visiting with all the ladies at the office and raiding Daddy's chocolate bowl!  We did not stay long - places to go, things to do...it is still Tuesday with the normal activities!

Shh!

We are guilty of breaking that "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS" seal.  We just could not wait any longer.  Especially since it came into our house last night.  It had been sitting in our garage for over two weeks, but we could not lift it upstairs.  After JM and I took his PAs and spouses out to a VERY FANCY dinner last night, Patrick (one of the PAs) stopped by to help JM carry the 200+ pound box upstairs.  Now the box is open, and calling out JM's name!  TaDa......

JM will have to teach us all how to play.  JM was very glad that it came with an official game rules book because we all know that Tyler will challenge to rules many times!!  

Thank you Grammy and Papa for the awesome Christmas gift!  We will enjoy hours of great family and friend time over the next generation.  

HO! HO! HO!

 
  

 
After two church musical performances this morning and Misty sitting a room full of 18-24 month old kids for 2 hours, we went to visit Santa.  Tyler did a great job "protecting" Lyndsey who is still a little scared of the big man with a beard and a red suit!  Corynne and Lauren just enjoyed sitting on his lap and sharing what they wanted Santa to bring them.  After we visited with Santa, everyone enjoyed cookies and crafts!  Lyndsey loved the little girl looking back at her in the mirror!

A new season!

Basketball season opened today for us!  Although, Corynne missed her game because of mandatory church musical rehearsal that ran very late, and Tyler's was rescheduled for next Friday night because it conflicted with the BIG GAME - Alabama vs. Florida!  So Lauren was the only one who played.  She played a good game for Lauren.  She did try to shoot the ball a few times.  We will let you all know when she scores a goal for the first time.  At least, she was not talking and fixing her hair the whole time like her first game last year!  It is hard for a princess to be competitive!

Daddy's Date with the Girls

JM was the ultimate great dad today!  He started off the day by taking the big kids to school.  At 11:30 he spoke to Corynne's 3rd grade class about bones and muscles.  They have been studying this chapter for over a week, so the 3rd graders had a lot of questions for Dr. Dad.  JM said he spent most of the time just answering questions.  I asked him if he was stumped by any questions!  JM responded, "It's not whether you know the answer, but convincing everyone that you KNOW the answer!" (i.e. just sounds good! What has your dr. told you lately?!?!)  No pics for mom even though JM had the camera.  He said he felt weird asking the teacher to take pics.  Next time I will tell the teacher ahead of time to get the camera from him and take some pics for the scrapbook!

Then, Dad hung around a few minutes to pick the girls up from school and take them to lunch before he went back to work.  

Tonight was the night of princess dreams.  JM took Corynne and Lauren to the Father Daughter Diamond Princess ball tonight.  The girls were so excited to "take Dad away from Tyler" for the night.   They danced the night away with Dad and some friends, crashed an ER party that Dad was invited to attend, and finished up the night with drinks at Starbucks!  What more could two girls ask for!!!

Reading her 1st real book!

Lauren read her first real story this morning.  I have to admit that when I saw the book in her homework folder, I did sigh inside and think this is going to take awhile.  She was so excited!  And she did it all by herself!  I know...she is 5.  I know it is about time for her to start reading.  I know...you had a kid that started reading at 3 1/2 or 4.  I know..I had one that started reading early also.  IT WAS MY FIRST CHILD.  Lauren is my third, and she learned to read despite my bad parenting!  Way to go Lauren.  Now I know that there is hope for Lyndsey!

The Waltz

I had one of those moments tonight.  I knew Corynne was a "waltzer" in our church Christmas program, and I knew that involved dancing with a boy.  After the adult Bible Study was over, I went into the auditorium to check on the big kids and get a time estimate on them finishing before I went to get the little girls.  Within seconds of my entrance, I saw Corynne on stage in her fancy ballroom gown dancing with a sweet little boy from her school all decked out in a TUX!  Andrew with his perfect waltzing posture and Corynne just gracefully moving to the music.  My heart sank and tears filled my eyes.  She is too young for this!  I am not suppose to have this kind of emotion until prom or weddings!!!  I know now to take a bunch of Kleenex with me on Saturday night and Sunday!

A look into the future...

The busy holiday season is upon us.  The kids started Upward Basketball this week which adds 3 practices to our afternoon/evening schedule.  Fortunately with the exception of this week, they are all back-to-back-to-back on Tuesday!  The first games are on Saturday. 

 

We finally got a new basketball goal up.  Our old one had fallen over while we were at church months ago - by nature or by someone else we do not know.  The end result was a broken base which would not support the goal anymore.  I have been working on getting to new one installed for quite awhile...really!!  Today it went up, and Tyler came home to practice.  Guess what - he missed more than he made!  Guess whose fault it is...mine of course!?!?  Only time will tell if his star quality shot will return!!!

We are in the final week of rehearsals for the church Christmas program.  Tyler and Corynne have small extra parts in the program.  We have a minimum of 1 hour of practice Tues and Wed.  Then dress rehearsal Saturday morning (with basketball sandwiched around this possibly).  The program in Saturday evening and 2 times on Sunday morning.    Done by NOON!?  No, there is brunch with Santa  until 1pm.  Then an adult Sunday School Party on Sunday night!    

I forgot to mention that Friday night is the annual Father/Daughter Diamond Princess Ball.  Corynne and Lauren have been waiting for this event since last year.  Their spirits were not even hampered when I told them I was not buying a new ball gown this year since last year's gowns still fit!  (Although, JM is planning something different!)  This is their date night with Dad complete with dancing!

Saturday evening we also meet up with our PAs and their spouses for dinner and fellowship immediately after the church Christmas program.  It should be a fun evening, but I still have to find a late night babysitter!

This is all extra stuff for this week on top of the normal piano, tennis, and dance!  Oh, I got a call today that I had schedule dentist appointments for kids 6 months ago for TOMORROW!  I think that Ty may have to check out early so we can get to dentist, dance, tennis, basketball, and rehearsal on in one day!!!