Bring in the New

I am so glad that Christmas is over. I know that it's the "most wonderful time of the year" and all that, but...I almost had a full-blown panic attack the first time I heard Christmas music on the PA at Wal-Mart. (The day after HALLOWEEN). I am easily overwhelmed by the hype, expectation, and frantic pace that has become associated with the holiday celebrating the quiet birth of our Savior.

I did enjoy my children's growing awareness of the true meaning of the season. We talked often of God's love for us and sending His son to earth as a baby to someday die for our sins. I also absorbed every second of the magic of Santa, and loved to see things through their eyes.

One night, as is our family's tradition, we rode around in our pajamas and looked at Christmas lights. There is a really spectacularly tacky one about 20 miles from here that we visit every year. When we passed a huge nativity display with a spotlight, Fat Baby surprised us by singing in his booming toddler voice, "Away in a Manger, no crib for a bed, the wittle Word Jesus lay down his sweet head..."
I didn't even know he knew the whole song! Those were the blessings of the season.

I enjoyed Christmas shopping and lunch out with my dad every Friday. (To be replaced in the new year with just lunch out!)

I bought a pre-lit Christmas tree last year, and it is just right. I love the way it looked, and made the room so cozy. The ornaments I collect each year tell our family's story. And I love that.

So, while I often felt like a total Scrooge, it was a great Christmas with many blessings. We were all healthy and happy, and got to see all our family.

In the new year, I have resolved to concentrate on living by the fruits of the spirit. They are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). I'm working with the boys on this, too.

Since things have slowed down, I have made it a point to take time to enjoy my boys while they are still "little boys." Of course, Fat Baby always has something to make me laugh (or cry, often both at the same time).

During breakfast one morning, he had MAN GAS. I mean, I could not believe this big poot came out of his little body. Of course, he and The President found it hysterically funny. When I composed myself enough to remind him to say, "Excuse me," Fat Baby told me, "that was my bubble poop."

And yesterday morning when he came to snuggle with me in my bed, he slipped as he was trying to climb in. He said, "Oh, I dropped me!"

Remember to take joy in the small things in this new year!

Holiday Cheer

We took the boys to visit The Jolly One a few weeks ago. That's the one part of holiday insanity that I checked off the list early. Wanna hear what's not done? Christmas cards, most of my shopping, any gift wrapping, house cleaning, online ordering, and magical moments of merriment. Whatever.

So we're waiting in line to visit St. Nick, about six people from the front of the line. Fat Baby waves his arms and yells with his booming voice, "HEY SANTA!!!!! IT'S US!!!! THE PRESIDENT AND FAT BABY!"

I think it's cool that my kids have never been frightened of Santa. I have great pictures of both of them every year. Of course, being the kind of mom I am--I would love the screaming in terror pictures, too. (Maybe even more).

Apparently the preschool is using the whole "most wonderful time of the year" thing to bribe the munchkins into behaving well. Who can blame them? If I had to be up there every day, I'd pull out every kind of bribery known to man. So, yeah Santa's watching, who's on the good list and all that...and here's proof.

I pick up the boys from school and it's an immediate and constant battle.

"He's touching me!"

"Make him be quiet!"

"That's MINE!"

So when I heard "Fat Baby won't let go of my ear!", I pulled down my rear-view mirror and said, "Put your hands in your lap. Do not touch your brother. I am watching you."

To which Fat Baby replied, "You're not Sanda Cwause and you're NOT watching me!"

And a bonus, since I missed the Halloween time frame:

Me: "What do you say when you ring the doorbell on Halloween, Fat Baby?"

FB: Dick or Treat!

Valentine's Day and the Future MILF

I really am not a big fan of VD. Basically, it just adds a few more things to my already too long to-do list. Buy the kids a treat, chocolate goodies for My Baby's Daddy & Pop, parties at the kids' schools, a little gift for their teachers, cards & treats for classmates, and the obligatory sex for the husband...and so it goes. Tomorrow night The President has karate and I have Weight Watchers (happy freakin' chocolate whore holiday to me!) so the festivities will be....um, not happening. I I love to buy gifts and chocolates, and do enjoy an occasional round of bow chicka wow wow....but, geez the pressure of it all! And on a school night!

In other news...the year of "I've got to take care of myself or I'll be dead in six months" is still moving right along. Since I started back to Weight Watchers (January 8th), I've lost 11 pounds. I did not, however, get to the gym one single time this week and weigh-in is tomorrow night. I could sneak in an a.m. workout...maybe, but I do have the whole VD party thing to contend with.

I've started getting my tan on...so when the winter clothes start to come off, I won't be shockingly pasty. And until I reach my goal weight, brown fat looks way better than white fat.

I haven't been very consistent about posting about my weight loss efforts since I signed on with Lotta as a "Future MILF." But, I know the support helps me and maybe someone could use a tip that I have learned in this never-ending process. Here are a some of my favorite new discoveries:

Flatout wraps---only 1 point! Great for making rolled sandwiches. I like to get the light whole-grain wraps and fill with hummus, chopped rotisserie chicken (no skin), roasted red peppers, baby spinach and a little feta cheese. It's really good and totally a treat for lunch.

My new favorite favorite things are Fiber One bars. They have 9 grams of fiber (35% of your daily value). These are only two points, delicious, and really big. It's almost like having a candy bar!

Ziploc Steamer Bags are fantastic. They steam vegetables perfectly, and there is absolutely no mess to clean up! They come with some yummy, healthy recipe ideas, too.

Please let me know what works for you...it gets so boring doing the same things all the time.

And even though I'm not a fan of the VDay hype...you know how much I love you!

A little bit nice and a lot of naughty

First of all, if anybody is still checking in on this blog....Bless your heart! I have no excuse for not posting, except that the datebook is full right now (fa la la la la....) and since I neither gave birth to nor get paid for the blog, it's on the "we'll catch up in the New Year" list. Along with my laundry. And my husband's semi-annual conjugal visit.

That being said, I couldn't resist sharing some great holiday moments of the Southern Fried House of Fun, 2007 edition.

The first one is not funny, but was a very moving experience for me this year. Our group of friends has a casual holiday gathering every year. We usually feast on Christmas goodies, have a few cocktails, and do a "dirty Santa" gift exchange. A fun, low-key, kid-free evening. Well, this year, the hostess & I happened to attend an event at our church and were looking over the "angel tree" where needy families' information was posted. We were surprised and sad to see a family we knew, and the mom had been in a Preschool Mom's group with us a couple of years ago. The list simply said, "We can't afford to buy Christmas for our children this year." We just looked at each other, and back at the list...Then, we took it down & quickly went home to e-mail everyone with the change of plans. Instead of dirty Santa gifts no one needs, we would take the money to bring gifts for the family. We filled a dining room table, and wrapped all the gifts beautifully. It was fantastic, and will be our new tradition. Things like that put me in the spirit of Christmas more than anything else.

The President is looking forward to the holiday, and as you might imagine, has a very specific list for The Man in Red. He's very easy to buy for, and has not faltered from his original gift requests. As I've said before, he's very observant. I downloaded the song "Santa Baby" as my ringtone for my cellphone. As I was packing his lunch the other day, I was singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Well, he put 2 + 2 together, and said, "Ohhhhhh, so that's what the song Santa Baby is all about!" It's sex ed, the holiday edition! And he's only seven. Yippee.

We had a chance to meet Santa on a field trip the other day. Each of the children was given an opportunity to climb up and present their list of demands. My son (he's not called The President for nothing!) leads off with, "First, I've got two questions:

#1) Am I on the nice list?
He was.

#2) Do you have a budget?
Yes. He really asked Santa Claus that...and St. Nick said, "This kid's gonna be a politician!" Everybody cracked up.

And, not to be left out of the festivities, Pop has been teaching Fat Baby to spread the holiday cheer. Ask my three year old, "What does Santa say?"

"HO HO HO....bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!"

Happy Thanksgiving, Fat Baby Style

Went to the pre-school Thanksgiving lunch and program on Monday. The kids looked completely adorable in their fabulous and precious turkey costumes. Mine especially. I mean, he is just freaking cute as pumpkin pie. That being said....

I have some great pictures of Fat Baby's class singing their little hearts out in their turkey costumes. And I have some pictures of Fat Baby lying on the floor of the fellowship hall flat on his back while they are doing so. He did. not. participate. That was expected--it's just who he is. I know that some day I'll be able to laugh about it (maybe when he has a kid just like him)--that's why I made myself take the pictures. Because I surely wasn't feeling it right then. I really wasn't feeling any of it by the time the lunch was over. I'll spare you the gory details...suffice it to say I went straight to Books-a-Million and bought "Your Strong Willed Child," and had read more than half of it before bedtime.

A bright spot to the whole day of fiasco was that the children's own turkey recipes (as told to their teacher) were posted on the bulletin board. You simply must try this one at your own Thanksgiving feast:

MY TURKEY RECIPE
by: Fat Baby

Ingredients:
*Mommy's Angry
*Fat Baby and President
*a bananas
*a red apple
*a rocket toy

Directions:
Cook in it's room, a mess, mix in the food, mix in a toy, a rock, Mommy, Dad, Pop lock the door.

Oven Temperature:
very hot

Checking It Twice

Today is the first chance I've had to get my butt in gear for holiday planning. You all know that I love the planning almost as much (if not more) than the event itself. I am lost without a list, and finally the 2007 Christmas season has started in the Southern Fried household. Wow, I feel better with multiple lists made, and a game plan working. I was totally inspired by this post. I bow down to Clemson Girl's organization and planning, and look forward to her example to help reign in my chaos. I said I like planning and organization....I didn't say I was as good as I'd like to be.

As soon as I can get the boys a haircut, the holiday card is the first order of business. By the way, thanks for all the input...I did get a pre-lit, artificial tree. I am also doing a smaller tree with boy stuff for the boys' room as a surprise.

Oh....AND I totally got the boys' closet done for winter yesterday! (Yes, it's still that warm here!) All the outgrown clothes, gone. Things for next summer, boxed. This year's fall clothes neatly folded and put away! Hooray!

This is how my mind works...

I am so tired of that trick-or-treat post, I can't even tell you. I wish I had time to post every day. This time last year, I was doing NaBloPoMo (national blog posting month). Great fun, got a lot of new traffic, can't commit this time. Too bad for me. I seriously wish I could clone myself, as I really don't have time to be sitting here right now.

Because I know all 6 of you who read this blog are on the edge of your seats...here's the news around here:

*We've all been in bed by 8:30 every night this week. Thank you, Jesus for the time change!

*I can't believe that Sabrina was voted off Dancing With The Stars. She was seriously the best dancer.

*Recently overheard, The President to Fat Baby: "I've got three words for you, Fat Baby---SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE!!!! Actually, that's two words and a compound word." I'm so glad he's learning something in school this year.

*For the first time in my life, I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my own house this year. I feel like such a grown-up, I'm totally excited! My Martha-genes are working overtime. The only other time we've not traveled to visit relatives for Thanksgiving was the first year we were married. We lived about 4 hours away, and My Baby's Daddy (who was just known as My Hubby then) worked as the director of dining services on a college campus. Their football team was in the playoffs, and consequently he had to be there to supervise their holiday meal. I spent the day alone in a town I hated, and when he got home (late) we had turkey subs from Subway. That's love, people. We did have a family thing later in the week-end, so you don't have to feel too sorry for me. I felt plenty sorry for myself! Anyway, I am going to rock the house with my first ever Turkey Day meal!

*I've kind of started a little borderline holiday shopping. No lists yet, though.

*I have two ideas for our Christmas card picture. Coming soon.

*I'm considering a pre-lit artifical tree. Where's the best place to go? We usually have a live Frasier fir, but I've heard there's a tree shortage, and since they're going to be $$$$, I might as well invest in something permanent and convenient. I'm willing to entertain arguments for and against. Offer up your opinions!