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Just wanted to take a minute to update 'round here. First of all we had a marvelous CHRISTmas celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. The Crosby Baptist Church Christmas Play was a huge success and I just want to say THANK YOU to all of my friends and family who came out to support the hard working cast. It was a lot of work, and so worth it to have so many people come out to watch!
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| Brien with his new guitar. |
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| Emily kissing her new baby doll carrier. |
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| Tyler was excited about this zhu zhu pet! |
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| Shelby got some zebra striped shoes! |
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| Oscar was licking his lips when he realized that Santa had left him a gift! |
It was the night before Christmas, when all thru the abode
only one creature was stirring, and she was cleaning the commode.
The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds,
while visions of Nintendo and Barbie, flipped through their heads.
The dad was snoring in front of the TV.
with a half-constructed bicycle on his knee.
So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter,
which made her sigh, "Now what's the matter?"
With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand,
she descended the stairs, and saw the old man.
He was covered with ashes and soot, which fell with a shrug.
"Oh great," muttered mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."
"Ho-ho-ho!" cried Santa, "I'm glad you're awake.
Your gift was especially difficult to make."
"Thanks Santa, but all I want is some time alone."
"Exactly!" he chuckled, "I've made you a clone."
"A clone?" she asked, "What good is that?
Run along, Santa, I've no time for chit-chat."
The mother's twin. Same hair, same eyes,
Same double chin.
"She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess.
You'll relax, take it easy, watch The Young & The Restless."
"Fantastic!" the mom cheered. "My dream come true!
I'll shop, I'll read, I'll sleep the whole night through!"
From the room above, the youngest began to fret.
"Mommy?!" I'm scared...and I am wet."
The clone replied, "I'm coming sweetheart."
"Hey," the mom smiled, "She knows her part."
The clone changed the small one, and hummed a tune,
as she bundled the child, in a blanket cocoon.
"You are the best mommy ever. I really love you."
The clone smiled and sighed, "I love you too."
The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal.
That's my child's love, she's trying to steal."
Smiling wisely Santa said, "To me it is clear,
only one loving mother is needed here."
The mom kissed her child and tucked her into bed.
"Thank you, Santa, for clearing my head.
I sometimes forget, it won't be very long,
when they are too old for my cradle song."
The clock on the mantle began to chime.
Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time."
With the cone by his side Santa said, "Goodnight.
Merry Christmas, Mom, you'll be alright."
~Author Unknown
It is so easy for everyone to get caught up in the worldly things of the Christmas season. I was up at 5:30 this morning cleaning my middle child's bedroom and finishing up the laundry...but we can't let the love and spirit of the season slip away in all of the hum drum of baking, cleaning, and gift wrapping!! Hug your babies tightly as you tuck them into bed and remember that you are not promised tomorrow, so enjoy every minute of today! Merry Christmas to all of the busy Moms out there. May you never need or wish for a clone.
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| The Black Family Christmas 2010 |
This morning we woke up and found Simon-Peter in a different room than he's been previously! He's been hanging around (literally) in the living room but this morning when Shelby jumped out of bed in search for our pixie Elf on The Shelf, he was no where to be found until she entered the kitchen. He tends to like to hang out in high places, so she looked up on top of the fridge and this is what she saw...
Hello There!
Shelby, Tyler, and Emily, Thank you so much for taking such good care of my helper Simon-Peter the Pixie Elf. HE loves his name, by the way. You all have been doing such a wonderful job of letting him watch over you and not bothering him. I hope he isn't getting into any trouble while he's there. since there are three of you and all of you attend school, church and with lots of other things going on like the Christmas play, Awana, and birthday parties it's a big chore for Simon-Peter to keep up with all of you by himself. To take away some of the work load, I have enlisted another pixie elf to help report your behavior to me.
Please remember to be kind to your new elf just as you have Simon-Peter. There must be no touching her so that she can do her job. Don't try to talk to her because she must never talk to the family that she watches...only to Santa!
Thank you children, and don't forget to name your new friend and have Mom or Dad go online and register her name so that Mrs. Clause and I will know what to call her.
Sincerely,
Your Friend Santa
So, today was Simon-Peter's first full day on duty at the Black household. In case you missed it, Simon-Peter is our new friend, from The Elf on a Shelf family. He was sent to us from Santa to help keep an eye on the kiddos during the day and report back to Santa at night. It's a great idea and my kids are having so much fun!!! This morning, Shelby jumped out of bed and when she realized that the pixie elf was not in the same place that we'd left him, she excitedly recruited her siblings to help her find him! They spotted him in the Christmas tree.
Yesterday we began a new Christmas family tradition. Meet our new friend, Simon-Peter. (The kids couldn't agree on a name, so we took both names they liked and made one name!)
We immediately logged on to the Elf On The Shelf website to name our new family friend. We poked around on the website a bit and had some fun there and then I read the story to the kids explaining all about our Elf on a Shelf. They were concerned as to how he would get to Santa, why are his eyes turned a certain way, and most importantly, is it REAL?! I read the story which cleared up all of their confusion. Of COURSE he is real. During the day he will watch from various locations in our home, but at night once the kiddos are asleep he will fly to the North Pole and report to Santa how the kids have conducted themselves...good or bad. My 5 year old son, Tyler thought this was a BAD idea at first. But, then he warmed up to it. |
| Yup, you gotta watch that one, Simon-Peter!! |
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| Can you spot Simon-Peter?! He's in the tree!! |
I just wanted to take a minute and invite all of my local readers to the Christmas play at our church. Crosby Baptist Church will be holding two performances of Bethleham and Main - A Christmas Play on Saturday, December 18, 2010 and Sunday December 19, 2010. Performance times are 7pm on Saturday night and 6pm on Sunday night. If you need a ride or directions, please feel free to leave a comment, e-mail, or message me (via FB or text). I will gladly make sure that you can get to one of the performances. Shelby, Tyler, and myself are all taking part in the play. So, we hope that you can come out and receive a blessing! Thanks to our play director, Charity Morris for all of her hard work on this production! It is coming together so nicely and I know she has been under a lot of stress but these kids are working hard and they will knock your socks off on performance night, I just know it!!! I can't wait.
This has been a wonderfully blessed week. I am so thankful that I have such a loving and wonderful family. Unfortunately we've had a sickness hit us. Brien is on the couch as we speak...well, as I speak. He cannot. His voice is gone. Emily has a terrible cough as well as a runny nose and the other two do as well. She comes to me and tells me that her nose "is leaking"! We'll have to see if we can find a good plumber (maybe her daddy???) to fix that! Thankfully I am well. I am keeping the hand sanitizer close by and contemplating getting some hospital masks!
Right now I am sitting in the recliner drinking a hot cup of coffee and I was contemplating the fact that if I drink coffee after breakfast, that I consider myself old. I remember my Mom used to drink coffee all day long and I thought it was so strange. Now, I am "strange" I guess. I was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch and I just thought that a hot cup of french vanilla coffee would hit the spot. So, I brewed a pot just for myself!
I did not do any "Black Friday" shopping this year. In fact, I don't plan on ever doing it. I think it's just crazy! In my humble opinion, you generally tend to get what you pay for. Most of the time those "bargains" aren't really bargains after all. I have began my Christmas shopping, but still have some to do. Shelby and I did have a "girl's day" yesterday. We went to the mall and she made a Build-A-Bear. She got a Christmas outfit for her new friend, Sara as well as a Rapunzel dress and wig as we were going to go see the movie Tangled. It was a GREAT movie and I plan to write a review (fingers crossed!!) later on this week. Tomorrow I will draw for the winner of the Tangled contest as well. I have NOT forgotten.
We did put up our Christmas tree on Friday. We also hung the stockings, but didn't do much else along the lines of decorating. So, once I'm finished I will post a picture of our tree. I need to wrap some gifts and put them under the tree also! I am so excited about the holiday season this year!!! We have so many fun traditions and many more to make. What are some of your favorite things about the holidays?
I got a jump start on my Christmas shopping over the weekend!! Normally we are the family that is scrambling last minute to buy gifts. This year while my husband was gone traipsing around in the deer woods stalking Bambi's Mom and Dad, my oldest daughter and I decided to head to the mall and do some shopping. We had a great time and got quite a bit of Christmas shopping under our belts. School teachers gifts are bought. We also got lots of great deals for several folks on our shopping list. So, how far along are you with your Christmas shopping? If not, when do you start?
We don't have our Christmas tree up just yet. We always wait until after Christmas at least to put up the tree. Since Shelby's birthday is November 29, we usually wait until after then to put up the tree so not to detract from her special day. It's exciting to know that we'll actually have gifts to put under there once we get the tree up! So, what are your Christmas tree rituals? Is there a certain time you put it up and when do you take it down?
First things first, though...THANKSGIVING!!! I can't wait!!
Did everyone have a great Christmas?! I'm sure you're family is just like mine...still removing twist ties and cardboard from mounds of toys while sporting your snuggi! We've had record rain here in Arkansas. 80+ inches this year have given us record totals. It's been a bit much. On Christmas Eve, it rained all day and had rained most of the day previous and all night. Unfortunately this left much of the state water logged and even flooded. We have celebrated Christmas Eve at my mom's house every since I can remember us all having families of our own. This year, the weather postponed our celebration. Brien, the kids, and I spent Christmas Eve at home watching movies. We traditionally open one gift on Christmas Eve. This is always the new PJs. This year they got a snuggi so I let them open the snuggi also. After gifts were opened, milk and cookies were left for Santa and reindeer food was sprinkled on the lawn as well as some carrots with Santa's milk and cookies. Yep, we cover all bases here at the CWM household! We tracked Santa via Norad and once he reached the US, the kiddos were easily convinced that they should retreat to their beds so that he didn't have to pass us over. We also used one of those call center services and listened to a pre-recorded message from Santa and his elves. Tyler was convinced that he saw "a white beard and a red nose" out his window when I gave him his night-night lovies.
On Christmas morning, we actually slept in until 7! That must have been some kind of record for us. Needless to say when the kids entered the living room, their eyes light up brighter than the Christmas tree (which I realized was not turned on when I looked back through the photos)! We all had a lovely time opening gifts. My in-laws had spent the night with us, as they have done the past few years which works out great, because my mother-in-law takes photos for me, so I get to enjoy the gift opening as well as appear in the photos (although I'm not too sure about that second part!). Below are a few of the highlights of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. You can click the photo to make it larger.
Last week we were treated with the stylings of Shelby and the rest of the 1st graders at her school in their Christmas program. We had a wonderful time and the kids all did a wonderful job. They all looked so nice. The girls and boys were all gussied up in their red and green with big ole smiles on their faces as they did 'The Blitzen Boogie', 'Nice Nice Christmas' and more. I think I might've even saw a couple of tuxedos! They played bells and air guitars. Where else can you get this kind of quality entertainment?! Move over, Trans Siberian Orchestra!
We also took the kids to see Santa last week. I was perplexed because I was wondering how you get a picture taken with three kids and Santa. He only has two legs! We improvised and put Shelby in the middle, although in hind sight we realized that we should have put Tyler there. Shelby was a bit too tall and had to squat down in order to keep from blocking Santa's face. Tyler was very nervous as he explained to Santa how good he'd been. Santa explained to them how many days remained until he visits so they need to be on their best behavior. Tyler asked for a Bumblebee Transformer and Shelby asked for a Bunny rabbit, one stuffed animal and one real one. Emily just cried. She was very scared, but she warmed up to Santa after a minute or two. We had several different shots to choose from, but this one was my favorite (pardon the quality, I hadn't scanned it. I've only got a shot on my phone):
I loved the exchange between Emily and Santa. It was priceless! You can tell how nervous Tyler was as he was wringing his hands in his shirt tail. Shelby was just uncomfortable and ready to stand up. *LOL*
December is here...whether we want it to be or not. It seems like it has crept in on us here at the house of CrAzY Working Mom. I haven't done the first bit of Christmas shopping. We did manage to get our Christmas tree put up last weekend. The three kids and I, with the watchful eye of my mother-in-law put up the tree, hung outside lights, and decorated the house while Brien was gone deer hunting. We had a grand time and the kids were all very helpful. Emily had a grand time pulling out every single ball out of each and every container and spreading it all over the floor.
One year ago today, as I was taking down my Christmas tree I felt overwhelmed with emotions. I felt like I had been so moody and irrational that I couldn't stand to be around myself. I felt out of touch with my family, especially my husband. We had a fight. My husband is very non-confrontational. He loaded up the kiddos and they went to McDonald's as I took down the Christmas decorations. It was much easier that way. After I finished packing up all of the decorations, I sat down in the middle of the living room floor feeling spent. I was emotionally drained. I had taken a pregnancy test two weeks prior. Having two children, I knew that the symptoms I had been experiencing were familiar territory. The test was negative, but something about that negative result was still weighing heavily on my mind. I had bought a double pack remembering that it was very common to get a false negative.
I gathered my composure from that living room floor and headed for the restroom. As I unwrapped that stick, I was contemplating the result that I knew in my heart was about to be revealed. In a matter of seconds, a positive sign crept across the small window and a small sigh of relief crept across my heart. I was happy to know that I wasn't going crazy and that the emotional roller coaster that I had been on for the last few weeks was that of a hormonal pregnant woman.
When Brien and the kids returned home, I apologized to my husband for my irrational behavior and told him that I had some news for him. He knew before I told him. He confessed that when I told him that I had a negative result from the first test that he had his doubts. We both admitted that we were shocked and a bit fearful. We were not planning on a third child. Our house was plenty large enough for our family at it's current size. Having another would mean doing some remodeling. Tyler was almost potty trained. We would have to go through all of this again. Diapers, formula, sleepless nights. We thought it was a thing of the past, but quickly realized that it was in our near future.
Now here we are one year later and our family has come full circle. Emily Grace was a blessing for our family. I cannot imagine what we would do without her. Even though we had not planned on having Emily, she is the completing piece of our family. She is a pure joy in my life as well as the lives of her father and siblings. When she was born, I quit my job to go to work in the family business. I am now working for my husband. I am the office manager of his plumbing business and I could not be happier. I have more time to spend with my kids. I can go to field trips and class parties. Emily hangs out with me at the office while Shelby is at school and Tyler is at pre-school. We have come full circle. Things could not be better for us. If you would have told me last November that I would be writing this post today I would have told you that you were crazy. Now I realize that I am crazy and I love every minute of it!!!
