My mommy resolution

I've told you guys about the babycenter blogging, but I thought I'd offer this link to my "Mommy Resolution." We were asked to come up with a Mommy Resolution for 2008, and it took me all of about 2 seconds to decide what I was going to write about (yes, even though, as some of you know, I think New Year is a "fake" holiday and resolutions are stupid).

Check it out:
Mommy Resolution: Be a Better Time Manager

Santa Baby and Christmas Parade

Tonight was the Hernando Christmas Parade, and lemme tell you, it was much longer than I would have expected for a town this size. (I find myself saying things like that a lot about Hernando.) Will rode on the float for his taekwondo school and had a blast. Adelaide had a lot of fun watching the parade, too. The first few photos are from hanging out at the library before the parade (yes, one is in the ladies' room -- she is trying hard to potty train!). You can see Will on the back of the TKD float, and I included a couple of photos of some other cool floats, as well.

Yes, a good time was had by all. Merry Christmas.

Wouldn't you like this to be your classroom?

This picture was taken before this unseasonable warm bit of weather we're enduring here, earlier this week. He was working on his reading comprehension quiz for a book he's reading, and I came to check on his progress. This was how I found him, cozied up in front of a roaring fireplace, spread on his comfy quilt, propped on a pillow. And I just had to capture it, because I couldn't help but think that this was a really good learning environment. And I was proud.

a photo post with no reason other than that they're really, really adorable.

 
 

Ginger-board house

So, Will wanted to do a gingerbread house this year. He also wanted to buy one of those kits from Wal-Mart or wherever that are like "Gingerbread House in a box." Well, that just seemed wrong to me. I mean, what's the point if you buy a kit? If you're going to do a gingerbread house, I thought, you should do it for real.

And when I say "for real," I mean using graham crackers instead of gingerbread, buying pre-made frosting, and substituting cardboard for the roof when you can't figure anything else out.

Yes, purist right now are horrified, I know. I really *wanted* to do a real house, but I figured that a cardboard-and-graham-cracker house was better than nothing, which is probably what he would have gotten if I'd been determined to do it "right." I have five stories due in the next two weeks, and I've been slammed doing phone interviews with experts and trying to manage my household at the same time. So right now, this ginger-board house looks pretty darn good.

Just please don't eat the roof.

it's the christmas spirit, ya'll!

So, today was a beautiful day here. Ben was happy about that: he participated in the St. Jude's 5K this morning. I was really proud of him, particularly because he had to rise at the crack of dawn the one morning after he got back from a business trip for a manager's meeting in Cleveland. And, of course (Hubby Brag Warning) he didn't just race; he also stopped to help a girl who was having problems on the side of the road. She was having trouble breathing, and he stayed and helped until the cops got there to help. And he still finished in time to get one of the participation medals they only had a certain amount of.


We also got out and did a little bit o' decorating with Will's new giant inflatable Santa. We put up our HUGAMUNGO new Christmas tree, too, and WOW. It's really big. The topper looks miniscule, but anything more would have not fit! And we were filling our little 6 foot tree with our ornaments last year, and now, we have lots of room "to grow."

Finally, of course, I would be remiss to not mention the unique head attire we're all sporting in these shots. We also did MORE unpacking today (yes, we still have boxes. Lots of them) and we discovered these antlers. I mean, how festive, huh? (Please note Will is playing "reindeer" in front of, yes, his Giant Inflatable Santa.)