It's A Christmas Miracle!

Goosey and Little Man are finally on holiday break! We have two solid weeks of chill time and are already getting into the groove of not getting up at 6 AM and rushing off to school.

Last week, I chaperoned a field trip for Goosey's class to see "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Christmas_Pageant_Ever) After returning to the school, her class had their Christmas party. It is so fun to go on these trips with Goosey. I know she was a bit embarrassed that her mom had tears streaming at then end of the play, but she will get over it.

A few days later, Little Man had his Christmas pageant where he was part of the choir. This was the very first public "thing" he has been involved in so Auntie J, Daddy Mac, Goosey and I were all in attendance. Bless his heart....he refused to wear the the shirt he made for the occasion. He was the ONLY child to be wearing a bright YELLOW shirt with a blue stripe while the rest were in white. The first song "Rudolph" was performed while standing up, with his back to the audience, and his ears covered. Followed by a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells" in which he did jingle some bells, but did not sing. The final song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was sang with a jingle bell planted solidly in his mouth. We were proud!

Since Auntie J was in town, we decided to celebrate Little Man's third birthday with a Chuck E. Cheese lunch. He was ecstatic! He got a new train set, some serious diggers and a fireman dress up set with a book and fire truck. And because he was the birthday boy, Mama Mac did not make a huge deal out of the fact that all he ate the entire day was a candy cane and a big hunk of cake. Seriously.

Goosey had a big announcement on 12/20: She has her first loose tooth! It is truly a Christmas miracle! She is the ONLY child in her grade that has not lost one tooth. She was so excited that she took a running jump into my lap and grabbed me around the neck and squealed! Bless her. Her next few years of pictures are going to look fabulous!

So in a few days, we will open the gifts, play a bit and then hit the road to visit the Grandparents in TN. Life is busy!

Bread, Bread, Everywhere.....

I just don't know what I am thinking. I seriously wonder what I am thinking. I was given some starter for Amish bread. I made about 4 loaves which turned out to be so delicious! I had never baked anything from scratch and was amazed at how great they turned out. The only problem is that the top of the bread was a bit sunken in (due to using self-rising flour as opposed to all purpose).

So from that batch, I had three additional starters to "share" with my friends. I gave one to our Auntie Friend and then kept the remaining two for myself. This is where I feel I am CRAZY. I thought I could bake bread to give to some teachers, friends, and family. One starter can make 10 loaves. So two starters would produce 20 loaves.

I bought a couple of extra loaf pans and did four loaves this morning. Only 1 out of the 4 turned out perfect. All of them looked great until I took them out of the pan. The sugar/cinnamon mixture that is to "dust" the pans had congealed or something and was semi-burnt on a portion of the bottom of the loaves. Good grief! All that work and it can't be given to anyone.

I guess I will cut up some slices and send it to school with Goosey for the next few days. I DO NOT NEED TO PARTAKE in this bread. I WILL NOT. Nope. Not one bite.

I need to lose 30 lbs! Bread will not help.

So if you get some bread from me, know that a lot of effort and lubs went into attempting to bake. =)

That Sick Feeling In The Pit of Your Stomach...

Every single day on the way to drop Goosey off at school, I pray over her and Little Man. We pray that God will help all of us with self-control, respect, love, endurance to get through the day. We pray for our missionary friends and pick an extended family member to specifically pray for each day. I usually end the prayer by praying a hedge of protection of Goosey's and Little Man's mind, their spirit and their physical bodies from the evil one. I hand them over to the Lord each day.

Every single day that I pick up Goosey from school, I ask her how her day went. She usually responds with comments such as: "I kept on Green! I made a 100 on my math test! I went to the book fair! We had a treat for my friend's birthday!"

Yesterday was no different. We talked up that fact that she was having her classmate over for a first playdate and discussed Bible verses that she needed to know for her Awana class at church. We spoke of how a classmate can't seem to keep quiet AT ALL and is on "red" every single day. We went over homework and chatted it up about Co-Co the Chi-La-La's virtual home on Webkinz.

But then on the way home from church, Goosey just blurted out that the "funniest thing happened at school today!" She then proceeds to tell us how they had a Code Red drill, only it wasn't a drill. It was a REAL Code Red. I had to ask what a Code Red was. She went on to explain that when there are bad people outside that may want to hurt the children or possibly snatch them, they do follow the Code Red Instructions. (Holy moly! Just typing this makes me nauseous.)

Very matter of factly and in a light hearted voice, Goosey explained that all the children move from their desks and line up underneath one wall of the class under the windows and away from the door. The sit "criss-cross applesauce" on the floor and they are suppose to be very quiet and still. The teachers have special cards that are to be taped to the window or slid under the door. Red means that they need assistance and green means that they don't. She explained that her teacher taped a green card in the window and that her teacher, the teacher's assistant and the music teacher, who happened to be teaching in their classroom, all sat on the floor with their backs near the door.

Goosey said that she wasn't scared. Her friends were. She said that she knew that if she did what she was told that she would be fine and that it wasn't too long before the day resumed. I think that they have presented this type of situation as light-hearted to the children...or maybe Goosey is just too young to understand the gravity of this situation.

I have no idea what precipitated the Code Red. I guess I should call the school. It grieves me....literally grieves me....that we live in a world where my 6-year-old has to learn how to protect herself from a potential gunman or hostage taker. I had the worst pain in my stomach while she was telling us this. I started to tear up and wanted to throw up when I heard about the card system (which is VERY smart).

So, as we drove to school today, I made sure to give thanks to our Lord and protector for answering a simply request for protection. Who knows if the situation was THAT serious....nothing was in the news....but it could have been. It has been for many schools in the past 10 years. God had his hand on my child. I give Him all of the credit!

He's Bringing Sexay Back....Yeah!

Well, our Christmas celebrations are off to a running start! On Saturday alone, we had a long day full of activities that directly relate to Christmas. I woke up and was off to the church to help in making 1500 sandwiches and packing them up in sacks. After I did that and ran some errands, it was Daddy Mac's turn to help with the sandwich distribution. Local motorcycle riders donated a toy and helped to deliver them all over the County. Our church was responsible for providing lunch to 1500 people in less than a 30 minute time frame!

After all that was over, I got the kids ready to head to the babysitter's house so that we could attend a Christmas party with our Sunday school class. It was a mad frenzy and Daddy Mac at that last minute offered to pick up one of Goosey's little friends and transport her to the sitter's also. I had to get ready and so we were all running around like crazy people. (Do you get the idea that we don't go out socially very much?)

We got to the party with large portions of pasta salad and presents for a gift exchange. Lots of friends, great food, and laughing ensued! Then it was time for a few "get-to-know-you" games before the gift exchange. We each were asked to write down an interesting fact about ourselves that would be read so that people could guess who wrote it. Pretty simple. Except that I could NOT think of one single appropriate fact about myself.

Now Daddy Mac had decided to sit at the exact opposite end of this long room. There were 40+ people sitting in between up as I faced him. He was snickering and writing something down and looking at me like he was writing something that I would have disproved of. I was getting worried since Daddy Mac has a bad habit of blurting things out prior to really thinking through the statement.

A cute fact popped into my head; however, I never thought that they would choose to read it aloud. How can you compete with an Army pyrotechnic guy? or a man with a third nipple? or someone who ate her share of crayons as a child? I felt pretty safe with my benign fact.

And then it happened....the reader started reading my fact out loud: This person states "My husband is the SEXIEST man in this room!" The reader then says, "There better be more than one lady stand up...on the count of three....1,2,3!"

There were about 4 of us that stood to our feet and then other three sat down. Everyone was looking at me, including Daddy Mac. He cocks his head to the side and looks confused and says "What are you doing?" Then as if a huge breeze came through the room, EVERY.SINGLE.HEAD turned toward Daddy Mac and the hoots and hollers began. I seriously don't think that I have ever seen him blush so deeply in my life!

I then announced, "Yep! I have the sexiest husband in this room!" and strutted my stuff down the length doing a little dance and planted a big smooch on his cheek! He looked as if he wanted to be swallowed up into a hole that might miraculously open beneath his chair!

The remainder of the party was so much fun! Daddy Mac will have a long time before he lives down his sexiness. He has new names: Sexy Beast, Wild Man, The Sexiest Man....the possibilities are endless.

To say that Sunday school the next morning was interesting would be an understatement!