Christmas 2010

Alas, Christmas has come and gone. Please tell me that I'm not the only person that says "man, didn't we just put the tree up, didn't we just have Christmas last year, where does the time go"...I feel so old when I say those things, but it's so true.




We had a nice Christmas. It's always fun to watch the kids and spend time with people that you love. It did stink that I had to work and we were relatively busy and I did have to stay awake for 31 hours and after that it was all sort of a blur. Oh well. Oh, and did I mention that it snowed. We had a white Christmas! When I finally awoke from my slumber on Sunday morning, I was impressed to see that we actually got a couple of inches of snow and it was beautiful.



I apologize in advance for the pictures being a bit out of order, but did I mention that I was a bit out of sorts due to my lack of sleep?



Emma and Uncle Johnny (she calls him Uncle Lolly) opening presents.
The grandchildren. Doesn't Brady have on a festive Christmas themed shirt?

The family, minus me.

The family, minus Bo.

Johnny and his new "daughter" Sarah. Her first Christmas as a Palmore. Let's hope it ain't her last....

Ashley and Ben. We are sure she will be a Palmore at some point.

Our little angel.

Blowing out the Advent candles.

Trying to avoid blowing out the candles....

What kind of grandmother let's little kids play with fire?

Why yes, she did dress herself on Christmas morning.

My musicians.

A sleepy, yet handsome couple of boys.

Emma loves her new camera that Santa brought her.

Yes Ashton, Santa did bring you your very own soft serve maker.

Drum Corp extraordinaire.

This girl has no problem opening presents. She was very funny to watch. She would remove a small piece of paper and hand it to me and then continue on. At that pace I was afraid we would never get finished.

FINALLY, a DOG that she likes. The Fur Real Puppy was a hit, although not at first. She was a bit skeptical until she realized that it wasn't real. She has been walking it around the house and when she is tired of it, she lays it down on its side and it goes "nite nite". She also got a Baby Alive and has changed her diaper repeatedly. I have not been brave enough to actually let her feed it yet.

So Christmas has come and gone and now it's time to get the tree and all the trimmings put away for another year. I am one of those people that just can't wait to get it all cleaned up and back to normal, whatever that is.

I hope to get a little after Christmas shopping in today. I am also one of those nerdy people that love to buy my paper, bags, ribbons, etc. after Christmas. It's all about saving money!

A Christmas Wish

Well, it is here again. I can not believe that it is Christmas Eve already. I think I'm almost ready. I still have packages to wrap and some baking to do, but almost ready. Unfortunately I have to work tonight, but such is life. It goes with the territory of the medical profession and I am really praying for a good night.



Emma has no clue what is going on. She doesn't get it yet and that's okay with me. I am anxious to see her when she realizes that she can finally open the packages under the tree. The boys on the other hand, well they are driving me nuts. Ashton is tempting Emma to handle the packages. I heard him say to her "Look Emma, you will get lots of presents. Everyone loves little Asian girls." Poor Caucasian teenager, he suffers so from neglect.




There is a possibility we will have a white Christmas and as long as my husband can get me home in the morning and I don't have to spend it at the hospital, that is okay with me. I know the kids would love it.




So it's off to shower and head out to the in-laws and my mothers before going to work. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and I hope you get to spend it with the ones that you love the most.

Weekend in Review

We survived our weekend......again. Work was not too bad Friday night and that was an answer to prayer. I worked a partial shift yesterday and then managed to come home and make some goodies to take to our church Christmas program/fellowship last night. My house continues to suffer the effects of lack of attention and too many boys in it. I'm hoping to remedy that at some point but I have not idea when that will be. The house, not the boys....




This was Emma's outfit of choice for Saturday morning. Bo took these pictures while I was napping. This girl has her own sense of style. Notice how long her legs are.

We had dinner at my mother's house on Saturday night with Dale's grandchildren. This adorable girl is Sophie Kay and her mother Erica. Emma was loving Sophie and Sophie, well, I'm not so sure:)

Pap and Sophie Kay.

Sophie gets a doll for Christmas. She LOVED it.

Ashton wasn't so sure about holding a baby. I used this as a teaching moment..........

Notice Emma's pink princess watch. This was a gift from Sophie and her parents. The cute thing is that her dad, Jessie, picked it out by himself and bought it. I just love that.

Not a very good picture, but I totally love the look on Emma's face.

I really love the look on Sophie's face in this one. "Would someone please help me?"

So we had a nice weekend and now another busy week ahead. All 3 of the kids have dental appointments today. This will be Emma's second one since coming home. Luckily the boys are with her during it. The last one is when Brady told me he was pretty sure that Emma may have been using Chinese profanity.

Ballgame tonight along with working the concession stand.....YUCK........

A much needed haircut for Ashton and myself tomorrow and I have got to finish my Christmas shopping and wrapping. I really planned to be finished by now and hoped to get to relax some this week but it's not looking very promising.

Happy Monday.

Just Another Day...

This has been my day........

• came home from work this morning at 1:30 a.m.
• went to bed, had very hard time going to sleep
• finally went to sleep and that dang alarm went off at 5 a.m.
• Bo left and called me at 6 to make sure I was up. I was not...
• got up and made Ashton breakfast and got him to bus stop at 6:40
• Brady up....finally
• Brady out the door after argument about his plans vs. my plans...I won
• Emma up.....dressed in thermal underwear and Blues Clues costume
• Emma off to my mothers
• back to bed at 8, very hard to unwind
• Brady text message
• Ashton text message
• Ashton text message
• Ashton text message
• Shut up Ashton and let me get some sleep. I don't care how many of your friends come home with you after school.
• Called my mother to make plans
• Called my mother-in-law to make plans
• Ashton home with 3 friends. Very loud playing ball outside. Why do we even have early dismissal days? Pure nonsense.....
• Up and making lunch for boys. Who can sleep with future NBA players right outside making so much noise.
• feed hungry boys
• Emma home
• Emma down for nap
• me back to sleep for one hour
• text message from friend
• Ashton comes to check on me to make sure that I'm ready to take him and guys back to school for ballgame
• loaded 1/2 of the JV team in car and back to school
• back home, drank coffee and then more coffee
• check e-mail, banking, etc
• Emma up.......Cinderella on and bacon request fulfilled for snack after getting her in her nursing scrubs
• time for a shower so I can go to work
• make dinner
• pray for slow night in ER........
• more coffee

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday

I ask you, is there anything more interesting to read than the phone book? Apparently not.

Tuesday

My favorite time of the day is early morning. Yes, I hate to get out of my warm bed and head down the steps at first, but once I get motivated I love it. I love the quiet. It's so seldom heard at our house that I love those first few minutes (or if I'm lucky maybe an hour) when no one is up and the house is quiet and I have my coffee and start my Laura Ingalls fire (gas logs) and start my day. I try to get a load of laundry going and empty the dishwasher while the coffee brews and then I take a seat in front of the computer and catch up with my blog friends and read my mail and my devotion and plan my day. There is just something about the morning, especially winter mornings, that I love.




I realize that I put a very similar picture on yesterday, but this one just captures my girl so perfectly. This girl just oozes personality. Doesn't that face just say "it's all about ME".
I see a photographer on our hands. She loves her camera. She doesn't know it, but Santa is bringing her a better one for Christmas.

Napping in her favorite spot. She loves her computer and all of her things on her desk. It is crazy messy, but it's all hers. Notice her cowboy boots.

These are a bit late, but pictures from Italian Christmas. This is my cousin Andy and his fiance Jamie and my Aunt Sissy. We had such a great time but unfortunately I didn't get many pictures taken.

So another snow day. The kids will begin to get a little stir crazy I'm sure. They might not be the only one. I may have to get everyone out of the house before the day is over. 3 teenage boys trapped inside a house is almost more than a human can take.

Well, my aforementioned love of mornings is about done. I am being summoned by my girl who is kicking in her bed. Translated "come get me up and let's get this party started."

Have a great day.

A Gingerbread Party

Emma and all of the boys (Cory is Brady's best friend) made the gingerbread house last night. I will not even attempt to relay all of the laughter and boy jokes that I heard while they were building their creation. Emma loves the guys and just joined in the fun.

Today has been spent making Christmas cookies and sausage balls and there will be steak sandwiches for dinner tonight. The kids were out of school today and I suspect they will be out tomorrow as well. They have been a little crazy but overall seem to have had a good time together. It's been too cold to actually enjoy the snow. I don't do 12 degrees if I can avoid it.

I hope they make it back to school before actual Christmas break begins on Friday. The boys have final exams and I would love for them to get them out of the way. I also need to finish some shopping and wrapping and that is hard to do with my nosy kids around.

Just One Picture, That's All I Want......

I'm a little late getting my Christmas pictures taken this year and therefore no Christmas cards have been sent from this address. REASON: my children are never home at the same time. So today I took advantage of being home after church to attempt to get a picture that is suitable. It was not an easy task and I'm not particularly happy with of my choices but the chances of me getting one that meets my criteria is slim. Here are just a few of the ones that won't make it and maybe one that will.

I found Emma and Ashton laying in the kitchen floor among an entire container's worth of Beanie Babies that belonged to the boys when they were little. They were having a blast.

Is she adorable or what?

Cousin Anna and Emma enjoying a visit.

Just last year we were sending Todd off to Iraq. Thank God he is home safe and sound.

Giving Nanny a little love.

Friday was Polar Express day at school and Emma was allowed to wear her pajamas. I see a problem with this in that she is not going to understand why she can't wear them EVERYDAY.

So it's a snowy day in the Mid south and after church we came home and I began making every one's favorite Potato soup and Chex Mix snow buddies. They have also requested steak sandwiches but that might have to wait until tomorrow. Living in the South, I can assure you there will be no school tomorrow so that means a house full of boys and more food.