I hope Santa doesn't forget

Don't worry, it wasn't really hard at all to convince her that Santa remembers everything.   At one point this evening, out of the blue, we heard, "Santa and God know everything, don't they?"

This afternoon, we headed to the local Rail Road Museum for the Polar Express event.  They hold them on weekends in December and have local television celebrities reading the story to the kids.  It has been years since I cried my way through read the book, but I believe what we heard today was a very abridged version.  I can remember my wonderful co-teacher Rachele and I having to hand the book back and forth between the two of us to be able to finish the story for the kids.

But, this version was a great length since many of the kids were younger than mine.  Several were older, too.  When I bought the tickets, they encouraged me to dress the kids in their jammies for comfort and fun.  They were happy to get to wear their new gingerbread pajamas.  The good news is... they will not trip on the stairs running down to the tree on Christmas morning.  (Guess it is a good thing I did not cut the pajama pants to hem them, I simply tucked it all up inside the leg and sewed the hem quite high.  I'll have to let it out soon.)

After the story, which was very well read with a jolly deep Santa voice,  Santa appeared and each child was given a jingle bell just like the main character of the story has received.   Each child could sit with Santa and tell him what they would like for Christmas.  I did not get to hear Carl's request, but Gretchen told me he asked for a "Talking Nemo stuffed animal and a gummy cheeseburger."  I was close enough to hear Gretchen ask for a Holiday Barbie.  Santa said, "What else?" and she replied, "I can't think of anything else."  The Barbie is all she has wanted all along.  I truly think Santa will be able to make their wishes come true this Christmas. 

Then, we got to go into the Kids' Room and see the awesome train display they have in there.  It was all enclosed in a case with buttons surrounding the base that the kids could push to make different displays do different things.  I wasn't sure how Carl would like a train he couldn't touch.......  well, he loved it!!!!    They had a couple Thomas tables, but he didn't play with those - he was much too into the display one.  I definitely want to take them back to the whole museum to see all the displays. 

Gretchen and I had a cup of hot cocoa and we even bought some raffle tickets to win a toy train set.  Hope we have the same good luck my mother would have!! 

It was a nice afternoon event and possibly something of a new tradition.  A wonderful kick-off to the holiday season!!

a December Friday

I took these photos yesterday after dropping the twins off at school.  The beginning of my day.

Then, I headed inside and got ready for some fun. 

For starters, half coffee, half whole milk with Hershey's chocolate and peppermint extract in it! 

You see the sewing machine (along with the flowers Lindy brought to me on Thanksgiving, a couple twinkling lights on my tree and a grey matchbox pick-up truck because, you cannot do anything in life without a matchbox car of some sort being involved.  They.Are.Everywhere.)  ....  be looking for this pattern to show up in some photos Sunday.  It is the flannel I bought to make the twins' Christmas Eve pajamas.  I bought Carl a brown long sleeved shirt and Gretchen a red one to go along with them.   Turns out, we have somewhere to wear them before Christmas Eve at Grammie's.

They are very excited because one of the computer programs they use at both school and home has a seasonal section.  So, for December, the new story is The Gingerbread Man.  They love running around yelling, "Run!  Run as fast as you can!  You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"  Every 5 minutes Carl is asking me, "Where are my gingerbread pants?"  and I had to keep saying, "Buddy, I haven't made them yet."

Friday I finished up hers and totally made his. 

One more... my happy little snowman, Carlton.  He is a Dean Griff & Christopher Radko Woodland Winds product.  (so is the little bear on the leaf you can see in the background.  This is the critter tree and has a lot of Dean Griff ornaments on it.)   Once, I won a 5 foot tall version of Carlton the Snowman on ebay, but after saying they would ship it to me - the seller decided not to ship it and wanted to arrange some kind of pick-up.  They were in Ohio and I am in North Carolina.  I ended up not getting to buy life-sized Carlton. 

I also managed to get in some shopping yesterday.  I was looking for a photo prop (that I never found) but ended up at the Rail Road Museum, Michael's, Joann Fabrics (not the fun Etc store... nope, we have an old little fabric store), Lowe's Hardware and finally... ended at the Goodwill.  That was a last minute decision.  I didn't really have enough time to go home before having to pick up the kids, but had too much time to just sit in the pick-up line, so I pulled in.  I was looking for pants for Carl who continues to get taller.  He needs size 8!

You gotta hear this....  I found:

• Old Navy jeans for Carl
• Liz Claiborne jeans for me
• denim capris with pockets for me
• a Halloween tee shirt for Gretchen
• a Talbots flannel shirt for Carl (looked almost identical to the one Lew wore to work Friday... Carl was psyched!)
• a Gap red plaid button down shirt for Carl
• a navy/green very classic plaid The Children's Place button down shirt for Carl (he likes wearing "Daddy Shirts")
• a Sparky the Fire Dog Matchbox truck
• the little book collection called "Nutshell Library"  that is four books by Maurice Sendak (One Was Johnny, Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around and Pierre) It was brand new - all four books had that cracking sound when I opened them up.  Never been opened before.  Score!

All of that for $22.59!!!!    Our Goodwill is awesome! 

I picked the kids up, they had a popcorn snack and then they played out back for a while.  That is when I made Carl's pants.   Earlier, I was finishing up Gretchen's and watching One Life to Live.  It's ending this month.  I am going to miss Llanview!!  I have been watching this show for decades. 

We did go out to eat.  Mmmm!!!  Then, bath and bedtime.   We had another Slumber Party.  So, Gretchen slept with me and Carl was in the bed in my mother's room with Lew.  They love snuggling on weekend nights! 

So, there's my Friday.   

Santa's Helper Elf (he isn't "on a shelf")

He have had this special visitor for a few years now.  He was a gift to the twins from Mimi Joanne, Kris' mom.  And, he has an "in" with the big guy with the beard.

He was here before the Elf on a Shelf craze really hit.   Now, that Elf looks exactly like one my parents have had on the tree since I was a little girl.  The design for the current story had to come from something to do with the company and design on this older elf.  Or, perhaps, all elves really do look like that and it is all a coincidence.  Nah.  The old elf at Mom's house really looks like this new one they are selling everywhere. 

Anyway, back to our Elf.

The kids found him waiting on their little bedroom tree at bedtime last night. 

Here is the star that Gretchen made all by herself!   Isn't it beautiful?

After school today, the elf was hanging out in the kitchen, waiting to observe some meals.  Gretchen informed him we wouldn't be eating here tonight.  We always go to the same local grill on Friday nights.  But, he will be ready to keep an eye on us during breakfast tomorrow!

I wonder if he will have a better effect on them this year than he has in the past.  They love looking for him in different places each day, but honestly, they couldn't care less about his ability to report to Santa. 

10,000 views

I just hit 10,000 views to the blog at 9:17 pm on December 1, 2011.

this is getting old

I have been sick since before the kids' Hoedown Festival on October 21st.  I went to the doctor on 10/25 and got antibiotic #1.  I was so convinced it was strep throat that I talked the doctor into giving me that antibiotic based on the look of my throat and the pain.  The in-office culture was actually negative.  It helped get rid of the really intense pain, but the coughing and everything I have been dealing with since has kept my throat hurting somewhat every day since then.  That medication was classic penicillin.

I finished the penicillin while we were on vacation yet continued to cough and have a sore throat so when we returned to NC, I waited a few days, but returned to the doctor.  Let me say, I rarely get sick anymore.  When I was teaching, I got sick a lot at first and then each time I changed centers, I would fall to the new germs for a season.  But, then, all those years of kid germs bestowed upon me a great immune system.  It has been a long time since I have been sick.  So, I am not enjoying this long whatever-it-is. 

Anyway, I was given antibiotic #2.  It was the generic of Omnicef.  I took that for 3 days and it ramped up my coughing to an insane level and I stopped taking it.  See, I am allergic to Cefzil.  Both of these drugs are in the same classification.  I diagnosed myself with a sensitivity to all cephalosporin drugs after this little 3 day experiment.

Do not think I blindly took this same-class-as-my-allergy drug.  I spoke to the pharmacist about it first.  He said many people have a specific Cefzil reaction and do not reaction to all drugs in this class.  He even said, "If you were going to react to the Omnicef, you would have had a reaction to the penicillin."   At that moment, I did not put it together.  But, after the 3 days of Omnicef and that reaction, I realized that some of my lung-hacking-up-cough on vacation could have been the same reaction to penicillin.  Hmmmm.....

So, still having a sore, hoarse throat and now having a definite sinus infection that is in my chest, too.... I headed back to the doctor yesterday.  I figured she would listen to my rantings about coughing and drug reaction and pee her pants laughing at me.  Nope.  She said it all made perfect sense and she thinks my diagnosis is correct.  I do in fact have a sensitivity to penicillin.  So, from here on out, I am to tell doctors I am allergic to cephalosporin and penicillin classifications of drugs.  She said they are both very common classes of drugs to have a reaction to and that there are plenty of other drugs that can be prescribed.

She gave me a 6 day steroid prescription to calm my lungs down at this point and also a 10 day course of Clarithromycin.  Let's hope this is a good one!

And she said if I do not feel 100% better in 2 weeks to come back again and they will do a chest x-ray. 

For now......  I'm ready to move on.  Being sick isn't all that fun and this has been like 6 weeks now.  This is getting old.

Can't post without a photo, right?  Here we are with Cinderella's Stepfamily.  They are a fun bunch to meet.  Carl and Gretchen want to make a scrapbook of our Disney photos, so for autographs we brought 8.5x11 pieces of scrapbook paper on clipboards and a big pack of crayons.  When we approached, Gretchen dumped the crayons.  Drizella bent down to help her pick them all up and got scolded by her mother, "Drizella - are you doing work?"  Then, Anastasia got impatient and started jumping up and down whining, "I want to color!  I want to color NOW!"  

show and tell

I hate it.  Remember this?   Somehow, we eventually managed to find a similar looking doggy at Michael's Craft Store... and convinced Gretchen he was playing hide-and-seek with us.  To this day, she believes that is how we got her Little White Woof back.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Well, every Thursday night, the homework is to bring in an item from home that begins with whatever letter they are studying that week.  They, of course, want to bring their favorite things to share with their friends.  I, of course, hate Thursday homework.  We get creative and bring in things like Spongebob Stickers to share with everyone on S week.  But, mostly, they bring in photos of whatever item they want.  Last week was C week.  Carl brought in a photo of himself in his "cap" and gown.  This week is P week and they are excited because 'picture' begins with the letter P.  So, it'll be a double P when they bring in pictures of Perry the Platypus and Peppa Pig.  Well, triple P, actually.  For C week, Gretchen brought in Candy Corn.  But, show and tell was not before snack, so she didn't get to eat it with snack.  She gobbled it up at home.

Anyway, yesterday, at 2:40, they hop into the van and exclaim, "Tomorrow we have to bring a teddy bear to school!"   ACK!  Flashbacks.  I am already picturing weeks and months of sobbing themselves to sleep when their bears go missing or get damaged.  Gretchen said, "Mrs Jordan said if we don't want to bring a special bear, we can bring an old one."  Oh Honey, don't you get it?  An older bear would simply be more special to us! 

So, once the kids went to bed, I pulled out some fleece.  It was about 8:30.  I grabbed yellow for Carl and wanted pink for Gretchen, but the pink wasn't big enough.  Brown would do.  I had to whip off a simple outline pattern.  By now, Lew was home from work and was cooking a pizza for us.  Monday Night Football was on and I had the sewing machine all spread out on the kitchen table.  We had to sit on the couch and eat our pizza.  He grabbed a beer, but I had made up a 1/2 batch of the Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Smoothies for myself.  If you haven't tried the recipe... do it!!  Mmmm!!!  We haven't eaten on the couch in such a long time.  It was kind of nice. 

OK, ate dinner and back to the bears.  It took me 2.5 hours total - and that included the pizza and pumpkin smoothie break.   I drew the pattern, cut them out, stitched their faces, decided not to stitch names on them to save time, sewed them, stuffed them and sewed them closed. 

One less show and tell with the potential to have a beloved stuffed family member go missing at school.  Of course, they both absolutely loved their new bears... but if they lose them today, I can make another. 

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The tree is up!   And, I had two wonderful elves to help me decorate it!  So, check out this photo... I put ~8 ornaments on the tree at the very top.  Everything else, Carl & Gretchen did.  They were both very into hanging things.  They'd hang up what I sent them over with and then run back to me - pushing each other out of the way to be first in line to get something else.  Now, by the end of the evening, I noticed some branches had 3 ornaments on them... I did separate those after the kids went to bed.  I told them I was going to.  Only because you can't have 3 ornaments on one branch. 

We also have a 3' tree for their room to act as a nightlight.  They want to put the satiny colored balls on that one.  It has multicolored lights.  I also have a 3 foot one with white lights that I have never used.  I bought it for a bunch of my special ornaments.  I think this season I may clear off the piano and put this tree up there.  I think I can almost trust the kids not to take the ornaments off it.  Carl is the one I trust the least.  Not that he is destructive, but he likes pretty things and if he wants to carry an ornament around, no matter how many times I say, "Don't take those off the tree" he'll do it.   By now, I think I can trust the cats to not jump up on the piano and bother the tree.   I have a whole bunch of Dean Griff woodland animal ornaments as well as several of the ornaments that Dean designed with Christopher Radko and a few other just realistic animal ornaments.  I think I am going to fill my white light tree with those this year. 

I cannot put up my very favorite silver tree because the foolish cats try to eat it.  This house is the first one I have had since we got the cats that doesn't have an office with glass doors.  I used to be able to put up my glorious tree and light wheel and keep the door shut.  When we move again, I will be looking for a room with a glass door!! 

So, here is our kick off to the 2011 holiday season!  Now, gotta make a card....  I wonder if I can find a few photos to pull together for that????