Christmas Fun: The Nutcracker, Christmas Shopping, and More!

We've had some more Christmas fun this past week.

On a side note...as I type this, it is rainy and windy. Yesterday the high was 78. This weather is the opposite of Christmas-y.

Anyway, Friday evening I watched my Buford Wolves claim their first State Championship in football in Class AAA, which they just moved up to from AA. (However, this was NOT their first championship ever, not by any means. I could look up the stats right now, but I'm too lazy to do that.) I was thrilled for them to win. To say BHS has had a tough 2012 would be the understatement of the year, so it was wonderful to see them win and celebrate something good and fun.

Our next-door neighbor gave us two free tickets to see The Nutcracker: A Tale from the Bayou Saturday afternoon, so Amelia and I went to that. I was very curious about the "Bayou" part, but it ended up just being part of a very brief frame story. (But might I say, my drama teacher friend Kim would have been very impressed with their bayou set. Seriously.) The rest was the "real" Nutcracker, and it was amazing. Amelia enjoyed most of it, even though she (understandably) got a little restless about halfway through the second act.

Sunday, we went to church (our church hunt deserves another blog post because YES, we're still looking), and that afternoon, Amelia had a birthday party to go to. Here she is with her friend B...AFTER I caught them sliding together down an inflatable with a hula hoop around them. I told them I didn't think that was a good idea, not to do it again, and they both said, almost simultaneously, "It's okay. We didn't get hurt."

Monday, Darryl and I went to New Orleans to Christmas shop while Amelia was in school. This was something I had told Darryl I wanted to do as far back as the summer. WELL. Aside from shopping at a Disney store for some things (we don't have a Disney store in Baton Rouge), we didn't really find any shop that we didn't have access to in Baton Rouge. So we decided that at least we could have a really good lunch somewhere spectacular. We had a list of several places in mind. And guess what? Apparently almost all the "notable" restaurants in New Orleans are closed on Monday.

Interesting.

So we ended up at a BBQ joint that was just okay.

And for Darryl's co-workers who read this blog...don't you miss seeing this mug every day?

I must leave you with this one Amelia story.  Monday night, I was doing various things around the house, and I saw Amelia like this:

I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I'm the Elf on the Shelf." Then, when I wasn't looking, she would move to another location and sit perfectly still like that. This went on for at least thirty minutes. It was hilarious!

And a little creepy.

A Loss for Words

I feel that I can't -- and perhaps shouldn't -- continue to blog about Christmas baking, The Nutcracker, and festive events when something of an unspeakable magnitude, of unimaginable horror, took place in a small elementary school in Connecticut on Friday.

The truth, though, is that I really have no words. I have nothing new to bring to the conversation. If I'm being completely honest, I've watched the news reports in bits and pieces, unable and maybe even unwilling to let myself "go there" completely. I can barely stand to look at the photos of kids who have the same grins full of those tiny baby teeth and those eyes that sparkle with happiness and/or mischief, much like my own daughter's, or the photos of the school administrators and teachers who obviously took their jobs to heart and were advocates for their students even in their last breath. I have a choice in what I read, watch, and allow myself to experience; my heart breaks for grieving families and loved ones who are forced to face a nightmarish reality.

Last night before going to bed, I read an email that Amelia's principal sent to all the parents of the school. She was transparent and honest about how difficult and confusing these days after this senseless tragedy have been and will continue to be. The email ended with a prayer that I found comforting and reassuring, and I will end with it as well:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. 
Where there is hatred, let us sow love; 
where there is injury, pardon; 
where there is discord, union; 
where there is doubt, faith; 
where there is despair, hope; 
where there is darkness, light; 
where there is sadness, joy. 
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; 
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. 
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life.  

Amen.

The Christmas Season Thus Far

I know I've been focusing on catching up on past events, but I also want to talk a little bit about the Christmas season up to this point...or else I'll be catching up on it in February, maybe March. :-)

This season has been a ton of fun so far, and it has been a good balance of doing fun things and just chilling out at home and watching Christmas movies and baking goodies.

I'm doing another December Daily album this year (this one is my fourth), so most of the photos are from that; if you see something fancy (and for me, "fancy" is a collage or words on a photo, as you see in the photo above), that is why.

We kicked off the season by going to a Family Fun Night at Amelia's school, where we watched The Polar Express on the playground while enjoying some snacks and hot chocolate. Oh, and food trucks were there as well. Amelia enjoyed hanging out with her friend G, and here they are after about four cups of hot chocolate EACH.

The next day, we broke out our Christmas decorations and decked the halls. I must confess it was fun decorating a new (to us) place this time around.

Last week was a busy week at Amelia's school. I helped out one day at the Book Fair. Here's Amelia's class listening to a story. (Y'all. I've always loved a Book Fair. When I saw it as a volunteer opportunity at the school, I signed myself right up.)

Another day, I had lunch at school as part of the Book Fair promotion. (They take this Book Fair seriously, y'all.) I took out my phone to take get a photo of Amelia and me, and her friends wanted to get in on the action.

And if you ever wondered what 4- and 5-year-olds like to talk about at lunch, I can tell you: they LOVE to talk about pee-pee and poo-poo. And the various places one can pee-pee and poo-poo.

Gross.

Let's change the subject.

Friday night, Darryl and I had a date night. We went to eat and then just strolled around Perkins Rowe shopping center. My favorite decorations were the Christmas Alligators, seen here in the bottom right photo.

Amelia's next-door friend A spent a lot of time with us Saturday while Darryl helped her dad move some palm trees in their backyard. These two girls kept me hoppin', but eventually they settled down with their dolls and stuffed animals to eat some popcorn and watch a Barbie movie.

Saturday night, we went to the Christmas parade downtown. I'll just say it wasn't our favorite parade experience, but Amelia was happy she caught some Mardi Gras beads. Apparently Mardi Gras beads aren't just for Mardi Gras anymore.

Sunday, we went to church and lunch with my friend Martha and her family. That night, she met us at her church again so we could take Amelia through the live Nativity. I think Amelia's favorite part was a cage full of baby bunnies in a makeshift petting zoo. (The church had brought in live donkeys and such, so I think they just brought in a few extra animals for the kids. Unless I'm forgetting something about rabbits as part of the Christmas Story.)

 

A couple of nights ago, Amelia was in her first little dance recital. She is taking a VERY informal dance class at her school one afternoon a week (really, all she cares about it is putting on a tutu and dancing around), and they had a little program. Y'all, it was HILARIOUS. Here's Miss Amelia getting her groove on to "Jingle Bells."

And that brings us up to date on Christmas season, I think. We have a few more fun things planned...and I REALLY need to get a jump on some Christmas shopping. And some baking. And...

5 (The Actual Birthday, not the Birthday Par-TAY)

Amelia turned five on November 12.

I can't believe it. This birthday was a little more difficult for this mom to take than the ones before. Five just seems so...old, like some landmark birthday that is the transition from little girl to big girl.

Amelia was SO excited to be turning five. When she woke up on her birthday, she sleepily walked into the kitchen, where I was sitting, and she said, "Momma, I'm turning five years old today!!"

The birthday girl and I managed to fit in some doughnuts before school that morning.

I took cupcakes to her school. She has been into superheroes lately, so she requested superhero cupcakes.
Also, at school, she got this rockstar crown.

(I think next year, I want a crown like that with a big "40" on the top.)

That evening, she wanted to eat at Chick-fil-a and then go to the mall to ride the carousel. And since she was the birthday girl, that was what we did.

This isn't the greatest photo of Amelia (look at the camera, girl!), but I had to include it. She named this pig "Tickle" and said it was her brother. Um, okay...

 For dessert, she picked out this rainbow cookie. Girlfriend loves rainbows.

Here are some things I am loving about Amelia at this age:
--She is open to anything...meeting new friends, trying a new Sunday School at a new church, trying new experiences.
--She is affectionate. She is a HUGGER. She hugs her friends when she sees them and then again when she tells them goodbye. (If her friends are a lot smaller than she is, she also likes to lift them off the ground when she hugs them.)
--She loves to make books. She is always drawing pictures, writing some words over them, and then asking me to staple the papers on the side to make a book. Love it.
--She loves to dance and sing. Loudly.
--She's funny...usually when she isn't trying to be. :-)

Anyway, we had a wonderful day celebrating our girl. We love her so much!

A Catch-Up Post: Thanksgiving '12

We had a great Thanksgiving!

My parents stayed with us for Thanksgiving this year. Actually, they came the weekend right before Thanksgiving so they could attend Amelia's birthday party on Sunday. They enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time with Amelia...they even braved Chuck E. Cheese with her one day. That is love.

Our week got off to a rousing start when our fridge of over ten years decided to quit. Convenient timing, yes?

But now we have this beauty hanging out in our kitchen, and we're getting along very well.

Here's a photo of Amelia and my mom just hanging out, having coffee and hot chocolate.

My dad enjoyed some light reading.

He isn't serious all the time, though. Sometimes he likes to play with Power Rangers.

On Thanksgiving Day, there were several attempts made to fly a kite, but the wind seemed to mock us and stop blowing as soon as we'd run out there to try. (I say "we"...I just stood by with a camera in my hand.)

We ate WAY too much food, and Thanksgiving night, Darryl and I had a movie date night and went to see Argo. GREAT movie.

Friday morning, my parents went home, and my friend Rebecca and I kept up our tradition of doing some Black Friday shopping. Here is what you should know: 1) We do not get up at some ungodly hour (like 2 a.m.) to do this. 2) To be honest...we shop mainly for ourselves.

(I look like I am wearing a fancy hat, but it is a pedestal holding a purple high-heeled shoe. Everyone needs a purple high-heeled shoe, am I right?)



While I'm on the subject of Black Friday shopping, can I just say that I HATE that the sales and the shopping start Thanksgiving Day?? Can't we just have Thanksgiving Day, for Pete's sake? (I think Charlie Brown would agree with me on this one.)



And thus concludes Thanksgiving 2012. A good time was had by all.

The lack of blogging....

Well, as I indicated, oh, almost a month ago...life has been a little nuts lately. Not with anything in particular, just with the craziness of life.

Oh, and the fact that for the past few weeks, I've been staring at these:

 

Essay after essay after essay.

If I can toot my own horn, though...I must say I've done a pretty good job of staying on top of the grading this semester. However, I have decided that next semester, I am cutting out at least one essay so I can have more time between the last two.

You probably don't care about that.

So anyway...I have a little catch-up to do in the blog world. I haven't posted about Halloween, Amelia's birthday, Thanksgiving...

Whew.

There's lots to cover.

So for the five of you who might check back here on occasion, expect some catch-up posts. Stat.

Um...

Sometimes I consider pulling the plug on this blog and putting it out of its misery.

But then I look back over old blog posts (from 2006, y'all!), and I just can't do it. I love this little chronicle of our lives, even during times when my posting is extremely sporadic.

If you know me "in real life," you know we are in the midst of craziness right now. From mid-October through Thanksgiving, things feel busier here than they do at Christmas. There's Darryl's birthday, Halloween, my birthday, essays to be graded, and Amelia's 5th (!!!) birthday coming up Monday...and then her party the following Sunday. My parents are coming in that week for birthday fun and then Thanksgiving.

I think while they are here, I might take a power nap.

The good thing is, when I do get a chance to blog--and I hope that happens after I get these last 40 or so essays graded (they are neverending)--I have plenty to blog about. :-)

A Quick and Easy Chicken Pot Pie Recipe...and Goodies Galore!!

I'm making an effort to cook more at home, and I'm always looking for new, GOOD recipes that I can make in a hurry or without much mess or cleanup.

(By the way, I typically do NOT have good luck with Pinterest recipes. Sometimes I have to question the people who describe a recipe -- like the disgusting chicken lasagna rolls I pinned and made -- as the BEST EVER. Either those people are playing a cruel joke on the "pinning" community, or they haven't eaten anything besides frozen dinners.)

ANYWAY...

I made some cream cheese brownies a couple of weekends ago (more on that in a minute), and I saw a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie on the cream cheese box. I tried it the next day.

Is it the BEST chicken pot pie ever? No. But is it good, EASY, tasty comfort food? YES.  I am definitely working it into the recipe rotation.

The recipe is here.

So...back to the cream cheese brownies....

Amelia's school was supposed to have a little carnival/festival thing a couple of Sunday afternoons ago, and the school asked for some baked goods for the cake walk.  Look, I LOVE to bake. I baked Heath Bar cookies, cream cheese brownies, and regular fudge brownies. And, I packaged them so that they looked oh so cute. See?

And...the school had to postpone the festival because of rain.

Alas.

Hurricane Isaac and that Sunday's monsoon really have done nothing for my figure.

Just sayin'.

Clifford

Amelia's "class mascot" is Clifford the Big Red Dog. Each student gets a weekend to take Clifford home and show him a good time. Our weekend was a few weeks ago. Amelia was so, so, SO excited to take Clifford home, and she was all about having me take her photo with Clifford.

It was hardcore. Clifford even had his own bag for the weekend.

Friday evening, we took Clifford to the grocery store to buy some treats for the weekend:

The next morning, we went to Coffee Call for beignets. (Note the powdered sugar mustache.)

Then we took Clifford to the playground, where he enjoyed sliding down the big red slide.

Later that afternoon, we enjoyed a little down time. Amelia was excited to show Clifford Kung Fu Panda 2.

Sunday wasn't quite as eventful, but Amelia still had fun playing with Clifford. And, of course, we (meaning I) wrote about Clifford's adventures in his travel journal. (I was glad that we were the second family to get Clifford; that way, we weren't trying to "compete" with his previous adventures. Ha!!)

Heavy Heart

When I got up this morning, fixed my coffee, and sat down at my computer, I quickly learned that Devin, the former student I wrote about in my last post, passed away early this morning. I am not exaggerating, nor am I trying to be melodramatic, when I say that I was crushed to hear this news. Everyone who knew Devin or knows and loves his family is heartbroken.

Please keep the family, their loved ones, and BHS (which has suffered the loss of three young lives just this year) in your thoughts and prayers. To say all this is hard to fathom is an immense understatement.

A local paper featured this article today if you are interested in reading.

And then I kind of lost it again.

A day or so after I wrote that last post, I had that "overwhelmed by the world" feeling again when I found out that one of my former students (and oldest son of a former colleague I just adore) was in a motorcycle accident and will be paralyzed from the waist down because of a severed spinal cord. While I know he and his family have a long road ahead of them, he is holding his own, will likely have use of his arms, and is breathing on his own. And what I remember most about Devin is his sense of humor and his strength (both mentally and physically), and I'm sure those will serve him well in the days ahead. Keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers, please.

I think aside from the immensity of the situation in and of itself, what got me the most about all this was how his dad had "tweeted" just a day or so before the accident about how happy he (the dad) was to have all four kids under one roof, that we should hug our kids tight because time goes by so fast.

If you are interested, you can read about Devin's accident and progress here and here.

Anyway...

The weekend for us was a low-key to say the least. Friday night, I was in bed by 9:30. Saturday...well, I don't even remember Saturday. Oh yeah...Darryl and I looked at a house with amazing potential (meaning it is a fixer-upper) in a PRIME location at a reasonable price, but we ultimately decided that we are not fixer-uppers.  But wow, if you put some time and money into that house, you could have something truly phenomenal.

I also baked all day for a cake walk for Amelia's school's carnival that was to be held the next day. I made cream cheese brownies, fudge brownies, and Heath bar cookies...and then the carnival was rained out. Our friends Damian and Rebecca came over to take some of it off our hands, and then we gave some to our neighbors. And maybe we ate some. :-/

(Also...we had contemplated going to the LSU game Saturday night, but it was rainy. So I spent Saturday evening wandering the aisles at JoAnn's Fabrics.)

So the weekend didn't really do a whole lot to lift my spirits.

Then yesterday, I kicked off October by scraping the rear left bumper of the car I was trying to park next to. (I was distracted by a group of guys who randomly decided to walk through the space I was trying to park in. Yes, this is still my fault and I shouldn't have been distracted, but that is what was going on.) I left a note in a Ziploc bag on the person's windshield and have heard nothing so far.

This almost inspires me to go off on a tangent about the cost of honesty (and in this situation, probably literally), because really...I could have just parked elsewhere in the parking lot and no one except me would have been the wiser, but instead, I'll probably be paying to have someone's bumper buffed and touched up. Because leaving the note was THE RIGHT THING TO DO. (Thank goodness, there was no dent.) HOWEVER, if I could just be rewarded through some good karma in the days and weeks ahead...that would be nice. :-)

(Is this blog post even making sense? I haven't even had a full cup of coffee yet, and I'm pretty sure I'm just rambling at this point.)

I think I should probably end here.  I'm crossing my fingers for a good second day of October. :-)

I lost my mojo...but I think maybe I've found it.

I have been a horrible blogger.

I've been a horrible "memory keeper" in general, lately. Seriously...I scrapbooked a few photos a couple of weeks ago, and that was the first time I had even TOUCHED my scrapbooking materials since, oh, June, maybe?

In short, I lost my mojo.

The longer version?

I haven't been in what I would call a "funk" exactly. It's been more of an "overwhelmed by the world" mood.

And as I sat in the parking lot at school last week, trying to evacuate after a bomb threat, I thought, "This world has gone KRAZY."

While Darryl, Amelia, and I have been trucking right along, it seems like many people around us have just been going through some difficult stuff...it seemed like there was bad news everywhere I looked. I even joked with Darryl that it feels like we caused some cosmic shift when we moved to Baton Rouge, and now the world is off its rocker.

And I have thought about (on more than one occasion) this scene from LOST.

Seriously, if I listed all the things that have happened around us since we moved...well, I won't because it might overwhelm me all over again. :-)

(By the way...we really aren't trying to go back...although I am missing a Georgia Fall -- and more importantly, my Georgia friends -- something fierce.)

But I am slowly finding the mojo again, I think. Things have FINALLY gotten into a routine, and, I hope, will stay that way...barring any hurricanes or bomb threats. School is going pretty well (although I did pass back graded essays last week and some people were, well, unhappy).

But you might have to forgive me if I decide to post about ridiculous things like TV shows, makeup, and other nonsense because those things are a nice distraction from all the "ugh."

Speaking of TV shows, I'm not sure I am emotionally prepared for Parenthood tonight. Especially since I cried actual tears at the preview for this week.

Anyway...here's to actually showing up on the blog!

First day of school...two weeks ago!

In case you haven't heard, we had a tropical storm/hurricane/tropical storm in these parts. And the past two weeks have been -- literally and figuratively -- a whirlwind.

But I have been meaning to post about Amelia's first day of "real" Pre-K!

Amelia was so excited about school starting.  To be honest, so was I. I was ready for some ROUTINE.

(The joke was on me, though, because our lives have been everything BUT routine ever since school started. ANYWAY.)

Here are some photos I took outside before we left for school. Please note the haziness of some of the photos.  Thanks a lot, Baton Rouge humidity. (Also, notice the condensation on our windows.)

Showing off her Barbie lunchbox!

Amelia is going through a phase where she doesn't like just to smile for photos.  There is a face or pose involved. I'm going to embrace it. It's just a phase, right?

I took this quick photo with Amelia's teacher, Mrs. M.  We love her!

All the stuff I didn't blog...

With all the getting settled, going to Florida (three times in five weeks!), and chasing a very active 4-year-old around, I haven't gotten around to blogging about some things.  So here we go...

At the end of June, Amelia and I went to Florida to visit my parents (this was just a week before my mom got sick with meningitis).  One afternoon my mom and I took Amelia to see Brave, and we all enjoyed it.

My dad had set up a tire swing for Amelia, and she loved it.  And my parents also gave her a bug-catching kit that she also enjoyed.  You can see both in this photo.

While we were in Florida, my parents kept Amelia so I could help out with The Walk, North Point Ministries' high school event at the beach. (The lady who took my place when I moved could stay with the girls only the first two nights because of a schedule conflict, so I tag-teamed and stayed the last two nights.) Here I am with some of the girls on the elevator at our resort.

These girls have matured (in a good way) so much in just a year. I'm a bit sad I'm not their group leader anymore. :-(

And here I am with my co-leader, Jen.  She is just nineteen, but she has a lot of wisdom and life experience for a teenager. We really clicked as co-leaders.  I've really enjoyed getting to know her and have enjoyed leading the girls with her this past year.

Back in Baton Rouge...on July 4th, we went with our friends Rebecca and Damian to see the fireworks on the Mississippi.  Amelia was excited!

A couple of weeks ago, Amelia and I met our friends Kaye and Connor for a fun morning at the science museum/planetarium.  I wasn't sure how Amelia would like it, but she had a great time!

One day I got brave (or stupid) and took Amelia to Chuck E. Cheese.  (Actually, it wasn't too bad. We went on a weekday afternoon.)

Anytime I take Amelia to campus with me, we have to see Mike the Tiger. (Obviously, this isn't the REAL tiger.)

Here's the real tiger.  He is napping in the shade every time we see him.  I think Mike the Tiger is resting up because he knows the football season could be a long one, given recent events.

(While Mike has a super-nice habitat, I'm sad that he doesn't share it with a tiger friend.)





Here's my friend Martha. She met us for donuts and coffee one morning. Amelia took this pic, but I like it because it is "true Martha."

This past weekend, the three of us went to Amelia's school for a little popsicle party/teacher meet-and-greet.  I can't believe this girl is ready for Pre-K.

And I think that brings us up to speed!