The Four Ponies of the Apocalypse

Claudia's My Little Pony creations.

Christmas Day

You'll not believe what time we had screaming, pounding-on-our-bedroom-door children on Christmas morning.

3:15.

Yes, it's true. Every single year I warn them to not to get out of bed before 6:00 and I forgot this year. And since my children are always ones to get out of things on a technicality (no, I never specifically asked you not to make chocolate handprints on the walls, did I?)so up they got. And since Santa doesn't wrap presents (no, of *course* he doesn't--Santa doesn't have time for that! I don't want to argue with you about it.) they saw what they got and so we had to let them have a few minutes before sending them back to bed.

But then we had a lovely day. Beverly and Walter arrived at our house, bearing many cool gifts, around noon for Christmas dinner. We had pork loin with butter and sage, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon and onion, rolls and apple cobbler. So, nothing fancy, but I think Jamie and I did a pretty good job and it all turned out pretty well. Beverly and Walter were great company, as always, and I learned a lot about Jamie's family which makes me happy. Oh, and Andy called during dinner and we had a big speaker phone conversation and that was very nice!

Score!

One of the things my parents gave the littles for Christmas this year was a mall gift certificate. I took Sammy shopping today and she got this dress at Gap Kids that's so adorable, I had to post it. It was the last one and in her size, so major score! It will be worn with turtleneck, tights and mary janes. It's completely precious on her. And man, I love buying their clothes at some of the stores in the mall. Have to start doing that again.

Happiest Christmas Eve!

Aside from a couple of incredibly annoying glitches, yesterday was a really fabulous day.

I had the day off, so I finished the shopping in the morning and then spent the day tying up loose ends, making snacks for us to have for dinner while we opened presents, baking for Christmas day and wrapping presents.

In the evening the littles put on their Christmas dresses and we went to the candlelight service at our church. It was nice. We sang carols, the Christmas story was read. Honestly, it was just almost like the Methodist service I was craving! On the way home we sang The 12 Days of Christmas and kept messing up which thing went with which number, Jamie started throwing in the Bob and Doug McKenzie version (three french toasts, two turtlenecks and a beer, in a tree) towards the end and then I couldn't stop singing it that way and Claudia threw in something about Danny Bonnaduci.

When we got home we delightedly discovered the dog hadn't eaten the presents! So we did our Secret Rodney gift exchange and then Claudia acted as Santa's Helper and we opened all the gifts. After that the littles put some of Leah's fabulous cookies out on our Santa plate for Santa, made reindeer food and threw it outside, checked Santa's location on NORAD and then hurried off to bed because he was in Tennessee already!

Jordan waiting to open presents.


Claudia's very happy about her "Support the Rabid" bracelet from The Office.


Sammy's very happy about her Holiday Barbie.



Claudia opening her four My Little Ponies (she asked for them so she could turn them into the four Ponies of the Apocalypse).


Amy and Marinda gave the littles e-certificiates for Amazon and we found out the littles didn't know what Amazon is!


But then we told them.


Jordan asks for a new blanket every year. This year it was a frog blanket that came with a stuffed frog.


Jordan and Sam both got two tickets to the 3D Imax Hannah Montana movie so they could each take a friend, so that was a big hit.


Happy girls.




Making reindeer food in their new Christmas pj's that were from Big Mama and Grandpa Hinson.




Sammy working on a headband (Andy, Lysa and Baby C. sent her a make-a-headband kit).

We're having a tamalada!

Oh, my freaking Lord. That's just it. I'm inviting everyone I know (within driving distance, anyway) over for a tamale making party very, very soon.

Jamie and Claudia are at church, Jordan and I are skipping out, and I just stumbled across a blog that I love--Homesick Texan--and she blogs how to make tamales. I've long wanted to learn and now that it's completely necessary, since I live about 1000 miles away from the Baldaras Tamale Factory, there's nothing else to be done. Anyway, it should be a blast! We'll drag out the Shiner Bock and margaritas on the rocks and roll! I've missed it for this Christmas season, when they're a must-have (in Texas, anyway), but that's ok. I'll take good tamales any time of the year.

Photos from this week

Sammy singing Happy Birthday.


Cake!


Jamie looking at his action figures that Jordan gave him.


Sam watching her dad open presents. We left them little Christmas bags with snacks and candy for their after school snack that day and I think the tip of her nose is blue because of the candy.


Jamie, presents, sock monkeys and rubber chicken.


For Christmas gifts for Jordan and Sam's teachers, I made triple chocolate brownie cookies and put them in gift bags I made with different red and green fabrics. It's so funny and the same in every single school we've ever been in, but everyone pitches in on the class gift and then gives the teacher something, also. Which is kind of nutty but we do it, too. See? We're part of the problem!


Jamie's birthday presents.


Claudia in her new Sloshy tshirt she *loves*, that Andy, Lysa and our neice sent her for her birthday. (Sloshy is from the Homestar Runner website).

Super Happy Fun Day plus 1

33 was Jamie's Jesus year. And even though, to my bitter disappointment, he has failed to announce, 35 was the year he was *finally* old enough to be President of the United States.

He turned 36 on Thursday and who knows what this year will bring? This year seemed like sort of a set up for the coming year. Getting in touch with people he lost touch with, meeting new people, joining a band, registering for the first actuarial exam, joining a church, getting our new family all settled in. He, and we, I think, are poised to have an awesome year!

13 is a magic number

"Magical, magical, magical!" she used to intone intensely, when she was just three, waving her hand over an empty plate before offering me some imaginary toast that she conjured there. Magical, magical, magical indeed were the months she was anticipated, the hours I danced her to sleep in the darkness of her bedroom in her first year of existance, and every single moment I've been blessed with since, watching her grow into an extraordinary, magical 13-year-old girl.

Claudia turned 13 yesterday at 1:03 p.m. cst. Her birth story is as mundane and ordinary as pretty much everyone else's birth story, except thrilling to me because Claudia was here at last, turning me into a mother. She connected me to every other millions of women that ever were mothers in that moment and yet it was a role that was so unique to me and her that we've been figuring it out together ever since. I suppose we'll continue to until she buries me someday. Magical, from her cradle to my grave.

Way back before I had a blog, when my parents were living outside Boston, MA and I was in Texas, I began emailing my parents about Baby Claudia and my mother saved all those many emails. For Claudia's birthday this year she spent hours going through them and compiling the best ones into a booklet that she sent Claudia. I have loved reading them all and remembering so many things I had completely forgotten. Like this from when she was three and had been sick:

Claudia didn't like the cup she saw me putting her juice in, so she stood next to me while I poured and screamed at the top of her lungs (her face turned really red) and stomped her feet and then she grabbed it from me, ran with it above her head into the living room and threw it across the room. Of course, we had words and I took it and put it on the kitchen counter so she ran in there and grabbed it off the counter and threw it on the kitchen floor. Also, she bit me today when I tried to put her down for a nap.

Claudia's Birthday Dinner

Our Birthday tradition is we hang a present outside the birthday child's door to be found when they wake up the morning of their birthday. And then, they have to wait until everone's home that night to open the rest. This year Claudia's morning present was a Stephen Colbert Wrist Strong bracelet. Then we do dinner out after presents, unless we're having some big party thing.

Claudia wanted Chinese buffet for her birthday dinner so after opening presents, that's where we went. She introduced Sammy to king crab legs, which Sam looooved, and frog legs which were deemed "pretty ok". Frog legs taste just like chicken, of course, but I can't bear to watch the children eat them. God. They look exactly like--frog legs--so a protective instinct kicks in and I want to snatch them out of their hands. Don't eat the vermin!

Anyway.

Annoyed at having to wait to open gifts:


It's the Dwight from The Office bobblehead she wanted!



It's the cool Spacebat wallet Amy and Marinda sent her!



Sammy and Jamie watching the opening of the presents:


Jordan loves her sister.


At the restaurant:


The cake. It's possible I'm not the best cake decorator ever.

Time Magazine photo essay

I thought this Time magazine photo essay was very cool. It shows what several families from around the world eat, and what they spend on groceries, in a week. Oh, and it's possible you should prepare to feel somewhat uncomfortable about the amount of trash we generate compared to, well, everyone else.

Christmas photos

I had the littles put on their Christmas dresses today so I could take pictures.

"Disco Dancing". It would be interesting to ask them what all they know about "disco dancing". As demonstrated, it means a lot of finger pointing.


Being silly:












Making sad faces:


Sammy laughing at Jordan:

Sledding on Sunday

Jamie took Jordan and Sammy sledding today (Claudia went shopping with a friend).