Christmas at Our House

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas at our house. Christmas Eve consisted of building gingerbread houses with the girls, then getting ready for church. We attended the candlelight service at church. Then we went out to eat at the best restaurant in town....LONGHORN! We got home about 8:45. Then we let the girls open their present from Nana and Papa Walty on the webcam....how cool is that?! I love Skype...it is my new favorite thing on the computer. It was so cool to see my parents and my sister and brother-in-law in person. I didn't feel so far from home and felt like we could share holiday memories with them.....tooooooo coooooool! Anyway, the girls were SO excited to open their present and about blew out all of our ears when they screamed when they saw what they got from Nana and Papa.....a Wii. The girls have wanted one of those for so long. I think Bailey actually got tears in her eyes when she chilled out for a minute to take it all in. It was too cute. She told me when I tucked her in that night that she felt like she was dreaming because she couldn't believe she now had a Wii. So needless to say it was a hit. Of course we had to play a few games before they headed off to bed to wait for Santa. Bailey did her typical of laying out the cookies and milk and note to Santa. Then our family tradition is to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then Matthew in the Bible about the real meaning of Christmas. After tucking in Bailey and going through the cute fear she had ... she realized that this was the first time in her life that her and Sarah couldn't sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve. They have always done that since Bailey was born because Sarah always had the extra bed in her room. Well in our new house that isn't the case. She laid there trying to be brave because Santa being in our house "scares" her. Well I went in to tuck Sarah in, and as I was walking down the stairs, I hear this little voice from Bailey's room...."Mama, I am scared...can I sleep in Sarah's room on the floor. I don't care if there isn't a mattress." Then Sarah said, "Come on Bailey, you can sleep in my bed with me"....It was too precious to see both of my little girls tucked in a single bed snuggled together. Made me tear up myself because I realized that even though they are both growing up and at times can't stand each other, they love and care for each other more than we know. So then it was off to our elf work as the children were all snuggled up in their bed.

Christmas morning started at our house at 6:15ish. The girls were very excited to get all their gifts. As you can see from the picture, they were both shocked and excited that they got Guitar Hero. I love that picture because it was a perfect shot of both of their faces. And in the final picture, you can see them boxing each other on the Wii. It was so funny to watch them playing it. They literally played on it ALL DAY LONG! They have already put some time in it today as well. We just had a lazy day.

We overall had a wonderful day and I am so grateful to have my family both far and near. I really loved being able to see my family on the web too. Thanks to Melissa and Steve for that wonderful idea! And if you don't have Skype/a webcam, I highly recommend it to everyone!!!!!

Well, I am gonna close this entry by just saying.....Merry Christmas and I love you all!

Wow! We have been busy this past week! We had the children's musical at church, Sarah's band concerts, a Christmas dinner out with the managers from the restaurant, a Christmas dinner with friends, Christmas parties at school, last minute shopping, baking cookies with the girls, and trying to finish up the girls bedrooms! Needless to say I am tired, so I took a nap yesterday after church, and went to bed at 8:00 and slept till 7:00 this morning!
Let's see if I can update you on all of this. The children's musical was very cute and Bailey did very well. She had a speaking part in it and did great with it. All the kids practiced for a long time in the weeks prior, so I am glad it all came together nicely. I had a picture of it, but it looks like my camera has lost it....not too happy about that. Sarah had her band concert on Monday night and then she had to be at the concert for the high school on Tuesday for part of her grade. Their concert was good but they messed up the last song pretty bad. The reason for that is that the band teacher gave them their music literally two days before the concert. He then proceeded to get ticked off at them and acted like a child to the point that I had to write a nasty email to him. He cussed the kids out on stage after the curtain closed and then gave them all a low grade for the concert. I was so mad at him. I told him if he had not procrastinated in giving the kids their music that wouldn't have happened. There is a lot more to the story but let's just say he dropped their grade and wrote an apology letter to the students and parents. On Wednesday we took the managers to one of our favorite restaurants in Valdosta. It is called the Bistro and we go there for special occassions whenever we can. It was a very enjoyable evening for all of us. Our friends Beth and David has us over for a Christmas dinner the other night and we had fun there as well. We all ended up playing with their Wii, and sharing lots of laughs throughout the night. I was in charge of Bailey's Christmas party on Friday, so after leaving the preschool and my party there, I picked up Sarah at school early and we headed over to Bailey's school. We had a pizza party and enough junk food to feed an army. I couldn't get over the amount of stuff people had sent in. Sarah had Anna spend the night on Saturday and we went on our annual Tifton Tacky Light Tour. We found a few tacky houses, but was a bit disappointed in our tour this year as a lot of people didn't put up lights at all. I guess we are blaming that on the economy too......LOL Today we spent the day doing all of our holiday baking. The girls and I will head out to the fire department and the police department tomorrow to make deliveries of our cookies to them. We do that every year as our way of saying thank you to them for all that they do throughout the year. I also have been painting today. Anna's parents had a dresser and chest of drawers they were gonna get rid of, so they said we could have them which worked out great because we needed them for the girls rooms. I am having to paint them black since they were lime green and white. They look good, and I went to go buy new hardware for them to update their look. I should have them all done in the next few days so then the girls rooms will be almost done!
Well, I guess that is all for now.....I guess my next post will be after Christmas, so I hope you all have a blessed day and a relaxing few days off.
Hugs to you all and Merry Christmas!

Bailey's Recital

Bailey had her recital last night and she did well....especially considering we had to listen to 53 students play either the piano, guitar, drums, or VIOLIN!!! I am hear to tell you, me and the violin don't mix. I told Todd I would rather get my teeth drilled without novacaine than to have to listen to that again. I truly believe you really have to be a patient individual to teach these kids....especially the violin students....eek, eek, eek....that is all it sounds like. It is like nails on a chalkboard. Anyway, some of the kids sang too, and if I were Simon Cowell...I would have been really mean to a lot of them....that sounds horrible cuz they are only kids but I mean really, come on, some of these parents need to have a heart to heart with their kids and let them know it is time to find a new hobby.....LOL I have to say the piano kids were the easiest to listen to because most of their songs were short and too the point. But after going through that last night I feel as if I have earned a new place in heaven. I think that has been one of the most challenging moments of parenthood......LOL
Bailey's video is above and you can watch it. She made two small oopsies, but overall did great compared to a lot of the others. She has only been taking piano for a few months, so I was proud she even wanted to do the recital.....so you all can be honest and tell me if I need to have a heart to heart with my child too......LOL She did enjoy playing on the grand piano, and wants us to "get her one of those kind"....yeah right, got a couple thousand to loan me so I can run right out and get it for her??? She was nervous at first as you will see in the video. She kept asking Ms. Nettie (her piano teacher) to tell her when to start....and after she made her first oopsie, her face got all serious. When she went up to her second octave, I love how she looks over at us and smiles....too cute.
Anyway, I knew you would all want to hear it. Please remember if I die, I don't ever want violins played at my funeral....and if you do it to me, I will come back and haunt you all!!!
Have a great evening.

I am alive......

Okay....I am alive.....really I am! I have been so bad about posting here in the past few weeks. I know most of you know I am swamped, but for those of you that don't....I am swamped! I have literally been going nonstop, and with Christmas preparations on top of everything else, I don't have a second to myself. So please bear with me and know that I will get back in the swing of things eventually.
I feel like I have not written on here in forever, and I don't even know where to start to catch you all up. I guess I will start with the kids since they seem to take top priority in my life lately.

Sarah has finally finished up marching band. Our football team made it two rounds into the playoffs and then lost. Sarah was so bummed, but I on the other hand was doing backflips because I am so sick of running in the middle of the night to go pick her up etc. Their final marching happened last night at the Hometown Holiday Parade here in town. Sarah actually started crying because it is over for the season. I am so glad she has found something she loves that much. She also just tried out for the All District Honor Band on Saturday. She won't know if she makes it for a little bit, but she doesn't think she did very well, so we are not holding our breath. The other exciting news in her life is that she got her first kiss......not sure how I feel about that one. She shared every detail with me, so I guess I am lucky that we have a relationship where she feels comfortable to talk to me about it. But it still means my baby is growing up and soon I will be replaced by a boy who she will think hung the moon while I sit back and cry.

Bailey has been practicing hard for her piano recital. Her recital is tomorrow night in Sylvester which is a town about 30 minutes from us. They are having it at a church there, and she is so excited that she gets to play on a grand piano. She is playing Away in a Manger. She has it pretty much downpat, so I think she will do well. I just hope the crowd doesn't make her nervous. She continues to like piano a lot. We would love to buy her a piano, but right now all of our finances are going into the house and Christmas, so she will have to wait a while and continue to play on her keyboard. Bailey is also been picking up pecans all around our house. At last count she told me we had 8 pecan trees and that she intended on making lots of money selling her pecans. She even asked a girl that works at Adcock Pecans which is a local pecan distributor in our area how much she can make. They told her they pay $5 a pound but that they weren't buying anymore until next November. She is planning ahead already and has asked Santa for a pecan picker upper.......yes, they do make them and yes Santa is going to deliver. She is so funny about it. If it is nice outside, she grabs a basket I have given to her and she goes out to collect the pecans.....she is out there for quite sometime too. When she gets bored, she just puts down her basket, plays with the cats or Reilly, and then goes back to work. Too funny!

Todd has been very busy at work as he has lost his right hand man, Danny. Danny was promoted to GM of the Valdosta store, so Todd is having to pick up his work too until he gets a replacement manager. He is very tired by the time he gets home but he has remained diligent in helping me around the house, or straightening up the barn or whatever. He has gotten to go hunting 3 times this whole deer season which isn't a lot for him, but he is going when there is nothing else going on around here. He is still suffering badly with his leg cramps. I want him to go see a specialist or a chiropractor to see if we can get him some relief. I don't even know if there is such a thing as a "muscle" specialist. He is losing sleep which is already in short supply for him. He jumped up last night with a cramp so bad it made him sick to his stomach. The leg cramps seem to be getting worse, but no one and nothing seems to work. I have researched and researched on the internet, but unfortunately, most people who suffer with the same problem say there is little to no relief. I just hate seeing him hurting like this. It is pretty bad when he is learning to accept pain and sleeplessness as a normal thing......

As for me, I have been busy with work and the house. Work is going okay....I have one child that I am having major issue with, and he makes my days not so fun, but this too shall pass. I just can't blame him because I know it is his parents fault for the way he acts. They think it is all a laughing matter, and the dad encourages his behavior, so I am just not gonna fight it. As for the house, we have had construction guys in and out for about a week and a half. We started our remodel on the upstairs first. The girls have been sharing the guest room downstairs since we have moved in. None of their stuff has been moved upstairs so needless to say we are all cramped in the lower part of the house, all sharing one bathroom too! The good news is they should be in their own space by next weekend. They finished the upstairs on Friday. We had the bathroom completely gutted and redone. We had a closet built in Sarah's room since there wasn't one. We had all new doors put in. And we had the original hardwood floors refinished. They turned out soooo pretty. I love the color of them. Today I spent priming the walls, and I did get the bathroom painted. It looks so nice and so much better than what we had before. I am hoping to get the girl's rooms and the teen suite painted by Tuesday. Then I will work on all the trim work throughout the upstairs. Todd and I will move their beds in this week and we will order dressers for them to be delivered this week as well. Comforter sets have been purchased and Santa is gonna have to take care of the accessorizing of the rooms. We are not as concerned about furnishing the teen suite right now although all we really need for it is some seating and a tv. We are utilizing the funiture we had in our sunroom for their bookshelf and tv stand. We also had our concrete slabs poured and prepped for the building of walls. We have two slabs out by the barn where we will build a 16 x 30 garage for the storage of all of Todd's toys, and a 20 x20 that will become our game room for the pool table as well as my craft room. So we both will have our spaces. Concrete is so dang expensive....it is ridiculous, but at least that part is done. So we have made some progress. I am lacking in patience as I want all of the remodel done like yesterday, but I just need to let that weinie go and know that it will happen when it happens.

Well I guess that is about all for now. I am going to head to bed. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and your holiday season is going well so far. I am so thankful for all of you and for the wonderful family and friends and all the blessings I have. I didn't get to post that on Thanksgiving, but I hope you all know that.
Hugs from remodel central!!!