All I want for Christmas is my Left Maxillary Canine Tooth

I've always stayed out of the whole teeth pulling thing with all three kids. I'm great at skinned knees, broken bones and soothing them when they are wounded. But I have a strong aversion to deliberately causing them pain. This means the job of removing teeth falls to Jon. Tonight, to Abigail's delight he pulled a left upper eye tooth. Teeth pulling is always followed by a flavored ice and gleeful preparations for the tooth fairy!

Christmas Party

Kids and laughter filled our home today! It was our annual homeschool Christmas party. The girls daintily decorated their gingerbread men. The boys, armed with the same supplies licked icing, sprinkles, and candy off of their gingerbread men!

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Miss Donna came armed with her bag of crafts! Each of the kids made the sweetest cork reindeer ornaments. The girls made other wonderful creations while the boys warred with light sabers.

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The highlight of the party is always the gift exchange. The older kids go first and then the younger can steal from them or select a new gift. One of the fun gifts was was a toddler Winnie the Pooh gardening kit that one of the older girls received. Caleb got his gifts stolen the most times. Sissy wound up with the decorative Santa sock she bought. Someone went home with 4 cans of silly string!!

Casa Manana's Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Christmas time means time for another great musical at Casa Manana. This year in their production of Santa Claus is Coming to town, Christmas is in trouble! When the greedy toy company DeBiggy Toys International gets a judge to outlaw Santa Claus, a rag-tag band of singing, dancing children are the only ones who can save Christmas. The adventure zips from the North Pole to Acapulco and back again in this clever, fun-loving musical. The big finale included snow falling down on the audience!!!!

Girls Tea Party

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Ashley & Kaley's Grammy hosted a lovely tea party for the girls today. Lots of yummy treats, hot tea, and games. The girls even enjoyed a gift exchange! Tate received the tiara & earrings that Abigail brought! It was so very girly, which Abigail is not, but she had a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Granny let us know that it had been too long since she had seen her babies! The weekend she came down with Jon's nephew Jess. Jon's brother Bob came up from Houston, for a big family event.

Jess brought his trombone and played his concert songs for us. Caleb accompanied him on the piano for a song or two.

We also sang a little Christmas karaoke, played a little Uno.

I prepared a big Thanksgiving dinner for us, and as only happens when you have house guests the smoke alarm went off. My dear brother-in-law reminded me that dinner is ready before that alarm goes off! :)

Let it Snow!

This morning as we gathered in the entry to bid fond adieu to Jon as he left for work, we were greeted with a glorious white blanket of snow. Pausing from school, we took this moment to frolic in the winter wonderland . . . .right after we scooped (for futher explanation of 'scooping', look at post below regarding the very large Englsh Mastiff)

It's a Ruff Life

At our house any reason for celebration is a good reason! The first thing out of Frankie's mouth this morning was, "We have a birthday girl today!" Today is Padme's 4th birthday! The kids made her a party hat, we put a new chew toy and treats in gift bags for her to open! She is such a good puppy and puts up with the silliness, complete with happy birthday Kareoke!

Thankful Memories

We honor those we've lost: Jon’s dad, both sets of his grandparents, aunts and an uncle. Mimi’s parents. My Grandmother, and both Grandfathers, Aunt Linda and Dad. We thank God for their memories and for those who are still among us. And with a little levity offer this ‘Ode to Thanksgiving’ masterpiece.

The day begins with the pomp & circumstance of a parade,
And hot fresh sausage balls, always homemade.

Dad teaches son how to prepare the bird,
Singing and laughing thru the house can be heard.

Carrots, celery, onion & potatoes a peeling,
There’s nothing like the Thanksgiving feeling.

Fond memories of Granddaddy and his possum story,
And Grandmother’s cheese cake with all it’s glory.

Sweet potatoes prepared in honor of Dad,
Sit steaming hot on Nana’s plastic canvas hot pad.

Great memories of meals at Uncle Lester & Cora Lee’s,
Followed by picking up pecans under their trees.

Cousins play baseball with ball and cap,
While Dad’s watch football and take a nap.

With dishes washed and a little nudge,
Mom snuggles with Dad and shares some fudge.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

It's time once again for our annual Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner. The kids play games, make crafts and have a wonderful lunch together. Donna has them review the first Thanksgiving facts, no test this year! Most of the homeschoolers are all kids from church. It is so fun to see how much this group has grown over the years, this year there were 23 children + babies!

Veteran's Day Parade

Yet another year for our annual trek to the Dallas Veteran's Day Parade with our church homeschool friends. I think this was the fourth year that we have gone to thank the heroes who make it safe for our children. The kids dress in camo and patriotic colors. The kids made their own signs to cheer on the soldiers. It is always such a heartfelt event!