Tequila's Karaoke

What a fun night with friends from work!!! We were all sitting around at lunch trying to help Mary Frampton Whitesides come up with something she had to do that would embarrass her for a paper she had to write for Winthrop. Well singing karaoke was what we came up with and of course I told her I would sing with her to help her. ( You know that I love the mic and just wanted an excuse to sing!) We sang "Honey I'm Home" by Shaina Twain. What fun I had! It had a lot to do with the Dos XX I had before hand. We all had so much fun that I called my daddy at home to get him to come to Tequila's restaurant to sing with us since he loves the mic too! What a wonderful way to kick off Spring Break! The weather was beautiful, the company was great, and the food was delicious.

Questions on Christmas Eve about Santa

There are always tons of questions on Christmas Eve about Santa and what ifs. Here are some of the few from Mallory and Taylor Grace:
-What if Santa comes and we aren't asleep?
-What if I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?
-Does Santa ever bring the wrong presents?
-Does Santa ever change your name to the naughty list if "I" have already seen that it was on the good list? (Mallory) I said no, and she said, "Well what if you were bad"?
-How does Santa know when we are asleep?
-What about the people who are up late working? When does Santa come to their house?
-What time can I get up to see what Santa brought me?
-What if I get sick during the night?
-Taylor Grace said, "Mallory get a glass to put the milk in because sometimes you can hear it jingle if he hits it."
Oh the sweet things that children think about and say. Oh how I wish they would stay innocent forever.

Cooking on the Mallory and Taylor Grace Show

The girls love to help me cook. I baked sugar cookies and then let the girls decorate them. They had a ball. They were really creative too. Mallory loves to pretend that she is on a cooking show. She will say, "and today we are in the kitchen with Beth and Taylor Grace making cookies". It is really cute. She calls Rachel Ray Ella Ray, which is my mom's neighbor and Paula Dean, Paula Deana.

Making Ornaments with the Hamels

We started a tradition last year making something with the Hamels, Maddie and Nathan, for the children's grandparents for Christmas from them. This year we got together to fill glass ornaments with "snow" and then decorated them with stickers. The kids had fun. Nathan really went to town decorating his. It was wild while they were here. Two neighbors stopped in, John came home to go running, the kids were running around, Erin and I were trying to get lunch ready, etc... Oh, the fun of the hussle and bussle.

Last Day of School for 2009

Today we get out of school for 2 weeks for Christmas. I am so excited to be able to spend time with the family. I am really sappy lately. I don't know if it is the Christmas music that moves me so, the birth of Jesus and what God gave to us when he sent Jesus, the thought of my children growing up, missing time with family, or knowing that our life is so good that I am afraid that something bad could be around the corner. I am so thankful for all that I have. I just want to take these next two weeks that we are off and spend it doing things with my family and cherishing every moment that I have with them. My Christmas wish would be that the children get along with each other, that my family stays healthy, that Lorrie continues to be cancer free, that my family knows and feels that I love them, that Mallory will also find Jesus as her Lord and Savior, and that we find a church family that we fill at home in.

Pajama Day/Polar Express

Today Mallory got to wear her pajamas to school. She told this dramatic story to my mom about getting to sleep in her pajamas and then just waking up and going to school in the same thing that she slept in. Well, it didn't actually happen the way she had planned because the pajamas she wanted to wear were WAY too little. It burst her bubble but the ones that she ended up wearing were SOOOO cute. She got ready quickly and the morning went smoothly. When I am normally going out the door, I am calling to Mallory to come on. But to my surprise, when I went in the den ready to go, she was sitting quietly on the couch with her book bag on and ready to go. When we got in the car ready to go to school I complimented the girls on how well they did this morning. Taylor Grace said, "Yeah, we didn't aggravate each other". She then said "I decided that now that I am older, that I want to get along with my sister." Mallory then said, "Yeah, I want to have a good Christmas". She said, "If we don't argue, we will have a good Christmas break." It was nice to have a smooth morning!

Taylor Grace's Birthday

We celebrated Taylor Grace's birthday tonight with the family. She was so sweet and grateful! Her big present this year was a REAL birthstone ring. She loved it, but didn't get to wear it because the stone is loose. When opening presents she truly showed GREAT appreciation for what she got. She is growing up. It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since she was born. Time flies and makes me so sad. She wanted to stay up until 8:14 which was the time she was born. She watched the clock and then we hugged. I told her how proud I was of her, so smart, beautiful, thoughtful, sweet, and a Christian. She just hugged me tight and looked teary eyed. It was a special moment shared between us. She then said thanks mom!!!