I'm Lovin' These

My sister called a few weeks ago with a request for Thing 1 and Thing 2 burp pads for some little twins soon-to-be born into her husband's side of the family. This is what I came up with! They're in the mail, Michelle (along with a few other twin goodies like matching flannel blankets and more matching burpies).

Snow (Florida Style) and Nativities

On Saturday evening we drove down to Celebration, Florida. This is a Disney-designed community that looks like Utopia as you drive through it. Really, it's picturesque with beautiful houses and big front porches. We drove down for their snow on Market Street activity.

The "snow" is more like soap suds that come spewing out of machines at the top of every hour. The brick-paved side street is covered in the white stuff and the kids had a ball playing in it.
After watching the kids play in the snow (too bad we couldn't make a snowman!), we drove to the church across the street from the temple where they were having a Festival of the Nativity. The cultural hall was transformed into Nativity Central with an elaborate and extensive collection of nativities on display. Here were some of the most unusual:

Soap Nativity

Mouse Nativity

Indian Nativity (love little baby Jesus in a papoose)

Eskimo Nativity (instead of cows and lambs they had seals and polar bears!)

Doggie Nativity

Cake Nativity

Marzipan Nativity

And next year we're going to see if we can get Meghann's very own Sculpey Nativity on display.

Souvenir

A few weeks ago Tucker went on a field trip to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S. I wanted to chapperone but Brady was going to be out of town and since the field trip would last until about 5:30 p.m., I needed to be home to get the other kids home from school.

So, the night before he left we were discussing how much spending money he should bring. He had about $20 in his wallet but I didn't want him to take all of it so I suggested $14. He counter offered (that's so Tucker) and asked if he could take $16. I agreed, but I was nervous about sending him off with money because he is Mr. Forgetful. We talked about what pocket he would keep his money in and I had faith in him.

I picked him up at the school the next evening, excited to hear about his day. He had a big grin on his face and was carrying a package. I thought he might spend a few dollars at the candy store and come home with most of the money he took, but it looked like he'd done a little souvenir shopping.

He proudly held up his newspaper-wrapped package and said, "Mom, for my souvenir I bought newspaper!" Ha ha...show me what's under it. He unwrapped it and said, "Okay, I really got tissue paper!" Under the newspaper was a few layers of tissue paper. Hmmm, so it was something fragile and had been carefully wrapped.

Then he announced, "I spent $15.88 and bought this!"

Yikes! He was holding a dead shark in a bottle! I just about screamed when I saw it. He was laughing hysterically, and I thought there might be something really wrong with him. Then I thought, "Nope, he's just a boy. The dead shark is perfectly normal."

When I told Tucker I thought he would spend his money at the candy shop he said, "Oh, I had 12 cents left and I bought a Jolly Rancher with it!" He was quite proud that he was able to buy a real souvenir AND a piece of candy.

So, now we have a shark-in-a-jar to forever remind us of Tucker's 4th grade field trip to St. Augustine. He even named his "pet." Dexter. But you know, those are my kinds of pets. NO barking, no eating, no pooping, no hair, no furballs, no nothing. They just sit and smile at you (and believe me, it really does look like Dexter is smiling). Don't you wish you had a shark-in-a-jar?

Black Friday - We Woke, We Shopped, We Conquered

3:00 a.m. - Woke up because nature was calling. Toss and turn for 50 minutes, trying to force myself back to sleep, but no luck.

3:50 a.m. - Alarm goes off for an already-awake me.

4:00 a.m. - Leave the house with Meghann who confesses that she woke up at 3:00 too - we should have just left then! But she was able to fall back asleep. Lucky.

4:20 a.m. - Drop Meghann off at Kohl's with my money and list to do my shopping while I wait in line at Sports Authority.

5:00 a.m. - Enter Sport's Authority. Get my $10 savings coupon.

5:10 a.m. - Leave Sports Authority with goods in tow. Head to Kohls to rescue Meghann from the maddening crowds.

5:40 a.m. - Leave Kohl's with goods in tow. Head to JoAnn's to wait for 6:00 a.m. opening.

6:00 a.m. - Enter JoAnn's, load my cart with $1.49 a yard flannel, pick a number for getting fabric cut - only three numbers ahead of me. Woo Hoo! Until I find out that the lady in front of me has about 100 bolts of flannel that she wants cut. No kidding. I can't believe there was any flannel left for the rest of us.
7:10 a.m. - Leave JoAnns, head to Ashley Furniture who is having a 20% off sale until 9 am. Lucky me, I've been eyeing something there. Talk to my mom on the phone while shopping at Ashley - it's only 5:30 in Utah and they were at the Chocolate Factory. What??? Some people just have to have their morning chocolate I guess.

8:00 a.m. - Head to Target. Can't find what I need - they were obviously wiped out by the 5 am crowd and nothing is left for the second wave. Call my mom back on the cell phone and she finds it there in Utah! Love having them two hours behind us where the shelves are still stocked.

9:00 a.m. - Quik stop at Aeropostle where everything is at least 50% off!

9:20 a.m. - Breakfast at McDonalds - I'm not really lovin' it, but Meghann loves their bagel breakfast sandwiches so I treat her (is McDonalds really considered a treat??? Only on Black Friday...)

9:30 a.m. - return home to give van to Brady so he can head out.

5:00 p.m. - Head to mall with SIX kids (and a husband, gratefully)! That's right - SIX kids. Meet Eric who has been our foster child this week. His family went on a Thanksgiving cruise and he got to spend the week with us! (I think he got ripped off...but we've had tons of fun with him here). 10:30 p.m. - can't keep my eyes open a minute longer. Crash and burn...it was a successful day!

Pow Wow

Friday was Jordan's kindergarten Pow Wow. They sang songs and then the parents were invited to have lunch with their child. Thank goodness for a dad with a flexible schedule because Jordan's mom was MIA. Actually, I was helping with a catering job - my first experience at that and the whole time I was thinking, "Like mother, like daughter. I am becoming my mom!" (which isn't a bad thing). I had a hard time choosing whether to be at the pow wow or earn some money, but in the end cold hard cash at Christmastime won out...please forgive me Jordan and thank you Brady for the great pictures and video.