We still have snow!!

Wow, so last week it was snowing and now we are back to 80 degrees!! When it snowed David went and grabbed the box of ziploc bags to "save" the snow. I only allowed him to keep one bag (instead of letting him fill all of the ziplocs we had left! Before his snow, we were cramped for freezer space and now with family coming in for Christmas and some Chick-fil-A cheesecakes added to the freezer - we are literally having to open the freezer with our hands ready to catch something! When it is time to close the freezer you have to use your hands to push the stuff in and use your hinney (with a lot of force) to push the door shut. Anyway, I'm at work today and have been trying to think of a way that we can get rid of the snow without hurting David's feelings. Did I mention this is not sandwich size bag of snow. This is a super humongous BIG Ziploc bag of snow. He was proud of the snow and wants to keep it. If anyone has any ideas, please e-mail me! SOON!!! The only thing I can come up with is to leave it outside with the reindeer food on Christmas Eve. But that would mean I'll have too keep the snow in the freezer for another week!! I need it out NOW!! :) We have already moved the frozen waffles and many other Keep Frozen items to the frige!

So last weekend was my birthday! Last year Brad bought me a gift certificate to the Ritz Carlton and I had never used it so he and I went out last weekend in New Orleans. We had SOOOOO much fun. This was the first time I had left all three of the boys overnight without Annette (my mother-in-law). My friend Stephanie (Nana) watched them...all three of them! Before we left, Brad put out some nice clothes for the boys to wear. She was going to bring them to church and then to Piccadilly....YES, I said Piccadilly. The buffet place where you have to hold a child's hand, push another child in a high chair, TRUST a five year old with a tray of his own while pushing three trays full of food down a line ignoring the fact that there are a dozen hungry people behind you as your child takes five minutes to decide if he wants green or orange jello. And that is not even the difficult part - THEN you have to get all of that to a booth without spilling or loosing anything (including patience and sanity!). She did it!! Even though it was only two days, it was a good test for me to know that "non-mom's" will be able to handle all three of my boys! In February, my twin sister (who does not have children) is going to fly down to watch the kids while Brad and I are in California for a week. I am a bit nervous (well, a LOT) but I am sure she'll be able to handle it...She is coming in town for Christmas and I have already warned the boys that they must put up a front and act like they are well behaved children while she is here. I am going to try and keep her from Stephanie too. I don't want her hearing any horror stories of how exhausting it was! I want her to come back to stay with them! :)

Not too much going on around here...oops - I forgot to finish telling you about my birthday. David changed my birthday (it was really Sunday) because he wanted to give me my present early. He (along with someone that has a job!) bought me a three stone diamond necklace. It is beautiful! David told told me the big diamond on the top is from him, the smaller one is from Christopher and the smallest one is from Jacob. I love it!!! David grabbed my box and bag and then came back with the same Micheal's box and bag. He gave me a gift that was just from him. I opened it up and it was a diamond. He was sooo super proud that he got me a diamond. ...I am not a big jewelry person and don't know much about stones - but the diamond that David gave me resembled the same shiny sticker that was on his SnowMan art project from school, including the adhesive on the back. :) I had a great birthday. Probably the best one since the WWF ring side tickets Brad gave me ten years ago!! I know what you are thinking, but I really did want them and we had a blast! :)

MAAAOOOMMM....IT'S SNOWING...REALLY!!!

So yesterday morning, I was tired (as always!) and just laying in bed trying to get motivated to get out - David was up and getting reading for school as Brad was making breakfast. I heard Brad say it was snowing and then I hear David catch his breath and scream, "IT'S SNOWING!!" I guess that was just the motivation I needed! :) I got up and it was beautiful. It was the most snow I had ever seen in Louisiana! It was actually white and sticking to the ground. It was time for David to leave for school, but I said he could be late to play in the snow for a little bit. I was going to make it a somewhat educational experience. As we saw several of his friends pass by on their way to school, I was wondering if I did the right thing. Hopefully a truancy officer would not be scoping the neighborhood! :) For those of you keeping track of David's school absences he has only missed three days (vacation and Grandparents Day)...the automated system for the school later called and said that school was open, but children would not be marked as absent. We had a fun and cold day of playing in the snow. David and Brad made a huge snowman that is still up today!! Jacob was not too crazy about the snow and Christopher loved just standing outside with his mouth open.

This week, we kept on with our Christmas activities. We went to the Acadian Village in Lafayette. I have been wanting to do this for probably the past ten or so years (ever since Brad told me about it when we were dating) and it just never worked out. The kids had a good time. They had all of the village houses decorated with lights and they also had bumper cars, train rides and other carnival type rides.

Last weekend was also the Breakfast with Santa event at David's school. Siblings were invited so the little boys tagged along too. Christopher even warmed up enough to sit on Santa's lap. He told him he wanted a school bus. Santa asked if he wanted a "real" school bus and Christopher said, No - a baby school bus. Santa asked David what he wanted and David told him a penguin...yeah, not sure where that came from. He had been pretty consistent with the Wii request! Hopefully, he'll get back onto that request. I am hoping that Santa does not bring him a penguin!!!!

Brad and I are hoping to finish our Christmas shopping tonight. The kids are going to "Nana's Party". Stephanie's church has Parents Night Out tonight and we are bringing them. It is a great program where they watch the kids, feed them and have fun inflatables for $5!! The boys love it! We have never finished Christmas shopping this early - we usually don't finish until the trip to Walgreens (or RiteAid) on Christmas morning!! For those other procrastinators out there...they have a great "As Seen On TV" section. Sometimes the selections are not as good on Christmas afternoon - try early Christmas morning or even better...Christmas Eve! :)

WAHOOOOO....It is Christmastime!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!...We watched A Christmas Story the other night. Each Wednesday is our family movie night and it happened to be on. I LOVE A Christmas Story. The boys (even the daddy one) and I popped corn and watched it. David kept asking, how can he shoot his eye out? There were a few scenes that after they aired I realized were not quite appropriate for my five year old. He wanted to know why the mommy put that red stuff in his mouth (the soap). It ended up being a good lesson for David. I told him if he said anything mean or ugly I'd try that next time! The part when they go and sit on Santa's lap got Christopher's attention. Not a good thing, since he doesn't like Santa. Christopher does not want Santa to come to his house. Every time he mentions that it stresses David out. David says, YES you do!!!

Last night we drove over to New Orleans to go and order Christopher and Jacob's big boy beds. As soon as we arrived in the Pottery Barn Kids, the sales lady was super excited. I thought she must have worked on commission and was excited to see the three little boys....not the case. Renee Zealwigger (who ever that is) was in there too. After playing with everything in PBK we headed over to ride the train at the Santa Land. I love the Santa set up at Lakeside Mall. Brad mentioned last night that it reminded him of the one on A Christmas Story. All three of the boys really enjoyed riding the train around their village and then David went and sat on Santa's lap. Christopher and Jacob didn't want to. Christopher did tell me he wants Santa to bring him a school bus though. I tried taking a few pictures to post on here but wouldn't you know they didn't come out! Last night, since we were already in New Orleans we went over to look at the lights in City Park too.

I guess I should update you on how our Thanksgiving was. Never a dull moment. It began at 5AM when Brad went to the Mall to open his store up. He had several employees that wanted (yes THEY wanted to!!) go and prepare for Friday's super busy day. As soon as he shut the door the little boys woke up. They NEVER wake up that early and I didn't want too! I did though...I figured since I was up I should go ahead and begin preparing for Thanksgiving meal. I put the turkey in....A few hours later I opened the oven and notice that juice is dripping ALL over my floor. The glass pan that I was cooking the ham in had shattered everywhere! Brad rescued the Ham without getting cut and I worked on cleaning up the floor. Then the carrots I cooked, didn't cook. We finally had everything ready and we all sat down for dinner. The kids argued over who was going to say the prayer first and then a debate began between David and his cousin. David prayed to God and Bailey said, No Jesus. It was really cute. We all beagn eating and I thought about how thankful I was that I was actually getting to sit down and eat such a yummy meal. And then, David choked...no, I mean CHOKED...creating him to gag himself and make EVERYTHING else come up too (at the dinner table!!). After we clean that up (and lost our appetite) we went to relax. Brad made some coffee that somehow or another ended up brewing all over the counter and floor instead of into the pot. As the ladies were inside, the boys (including dads and granddads) were outside. Brad comes in for me to come and see what Jacob is doing. I go out there and the adults that are suppose to be supervising are laughing at Jacob as he is standing under the truck!! It was horrible! I actually had a nightmare that night about Jacob being under the truck. After that the boys came in to view Brad's sports collections. Brad's new hobby is purchasing overpriced used shoes and shirts (aka sports memorabilia) on online auctions. Nope, not e-bay...it has to be a fancy auction that has everything certified and authenticated! That is a picture of Jacob wearing autographed Shaq shoes. According to Brad, this is all being purchased for the Game Room in our new house. (No, we don't have the location of a new house or the plans yet!!) Oops - off subject again...back to Thanksgiving... I am so thankful that I have a husband that loves sports! :) So that is how our Thanksgiving went. It seemed like we were in a Thanksgiving Comedy show. Actually, I really enjoyed all of the chaos and was very thankful that we were able to share the day with our family. After everyone left, I packed up the kids and we headed to my parents for the long weekend. I was informed over there that they would not be returning next year for Thanksgiving. They'll go to my Grandparents house instead! :) After that crazy Thanksgiving, I don't blame them!! Brad was super busy at work, so he stayed behind to manage the mall mayhem. He ended up having a record day on Black Friday! Even with all of the talk of the recession, his sales have been up tremendously!