CRAP Dip?!?!?!?

Let me set the scene: Zoe and I are in the rocking chair doin a little 4:30 PM Chill Out session. Claire is reading at the table and Gus has his back to us playing GameBoy at the breakfast bar. The Food Network channel is on-OF COURSE! -and Rachael, our favorite, is making something. Gus suddenly yells over to me-
Gus: Mom! What's she making?
Me: Crab Dip
Gus: **looking increduluous** CRAP DIP?!?!? Well, THAT doesn't sound good at all!!!

Claire and I LOST IT! We laughed so hard~heck, we're still laughing at that one. Oh! These kids crack me up!!

This pic has nothing to do with that-I just thought it was so funny! Quintessential Gus!



Claire was The Prompter in a classroom play, The Wizard of Oz this morning and did fabulously with her very important part.

I heard from about 10 kids that when they played the video that some nice dad made for them of the play, all they could hear was Zoe in the background singing "blah blah la la la dah dah dah da da"-the kids were good humored about it-for the parents, we'll probably have some apologizing to do tomorrow. Good thing she's so cute.

Here's a pic of Zoe, Claire, and my cousin Joell's baby Bella-I can't believe how similar Zoe and Bella are-too cute!

We had our Ormonde/Kenner Xmas party this past Sunday at Uncle David's BIG-ASS (as Steven describes it) new home. It's really something else and so nice of him to open it to all of us hullagins!!!
Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up-Micah (Annie's baby) was not terribly impressed. He's a skeptical one.

MOST of the shopping is done, we just have a tree to acquire, put up, dress, then skirt with the goods. Yes, you read that correctly- it's the 20th and we have no tree. Long story shortened: we had a fireplace leak which turned our living room carpet into a swampland. I insisted that it be fixed before we bring more chaos into the house so here we sit. Steven has bubba-rigged it with some tarp and the past storm proved his method viable so we're goin tree huntin this weekend. Hope we catch a squirrel for dinner too! Yee Haw!!!!Steven says that this pic of Zoe with her hands up is the image that's emblazoned in his mind forever.
It's all just a day in the life~
Tina

Mom! I'm Bored!

You know, I'm just NOT buyin it any more! They've TOTALLY blown their cover with me.

For kids, this is Harvest Season; They are fully prepared to reap the bounty (Xmas presents) of their labors (being good all year-especially when mom yells, "I hope you're not talking back to me cuz Santa can totally hear you!). So over the past few weeks, Steven and I have been making the list of the things we wanted to get for the kids and suggestions for our wonderfully generous family and friends and in that time I heard , oh too many times, my kids saying, "I'm bored-I have nothing to do".
Well, the other day while Steven was attending to his weekly ritual of 'organizing the garage' and I was inside on the phone, the kids dragged out the bicycle trailor.

Gus started pulling Zoe around first, which she LOVED! Then he got smart-he got his Big Sister to pull them both around.
They had this rickshaw thing going on for an hour or so-just pulling each other around and around and around the driveway! THEY HAD A BLAST!!!!
So, my new response to "Mom, I'm bored!" is "Go pull something random out of that garage and party-on!!!!"

We had our town's annual Holiday Parade this past weekend. So much fun! It's really just a ‘get everyone in the town to put glitter in their hair and walk down main street then line up the grandparents and aunts to watch’ but it’s all we have and we love it. Gus and Daddy walked with their Boy Scout Pack then we met our Den at a park and had hot cocoa and cookies.


Zoe has been busy 'working'. She decided that since I'm hard at work everyday at MY desk, she needed a place for her 'important papers and such'. She climbs up to the big table, takes a postcard out of her 'inbox', and writes while describing the whole thing to me in great detail. It's mostly a symphony of "blah blah da da da dah dah dah la la la ah ah ah" but I know exactly what she's talking about and it's music to my ears!!!! We have so much fun 'working' together!
I found this other pic of Claire & Zoe from last year while I was uploading these other pics-OH! How I LOVE these beautiful girls!!!! They are growing up SO FAST -TOO FAST-and I'm thankful and sad all at the same time.


~~~~It's just another Day In The Life~~~~
Tina