Today was the annual cookie party at Ms. Rachel’s(female anatomy instructor) house.

Here are all the little ones waiting for us to get done with the pictures so they can start.

Here is Ms. Sarah explaining what reindeer food is.

Today was the annual “snow day” at Teravista.

Carol told me I should document the cute things my kids do before I forget.  So here goes my story of Noah and Santa.

This is the first year that Noah really understands Santa.  Oh and he loves him.  Well earlier last week I had to take Noah to Toys R Us because he finally pooped on the potty.  I was amazed that there was no one in the store.  So I took that opportunity to do our xmas shopping.  Noah asked what I was doing and I told him that we were making our list for Santa.  I told him we would take all these things to the check out counter and they would then give that list to Santa.  He bought it!

Then Noah noticed I carried all the bags to the car.  He asked me what I was doing.  I had to think fast so I came up with another story about taking the presents home and that the elves would come get them then build their version of the toys and return the toys to Toys R Us.  I further sold the story by calling the NOrth Pole and telling the elves that they could come on by the house in about an hour to get the toys out of my car.  I even asked them if they wanted my keys or should I just leave the car unlocked.  Noah was amazed.  So a few days later I was driving Noah home from school and he started screaming, “The elves came mom, the elves came.”  I was completely clueless.  I asked him what he meant and he pointed to the back of the car and told me the presents were gone and that the elves came and got him.  I was so surprised by his excitement and his belief  It just made my heart smile!

I think of a million things to write and people to include in my blogs every sleepless night and then once I put Cooper down for nap my mind is in a fog.  I am just hurrying so that I can get to take a nap before he wakes.  LOL 

The boys got their pics with Santa last weekend.  They also got pics with Bevo.  That was their first Santa pic in shorts!  Yea it was one of those loopy days where it was 80.  I was hoping to put a pic here but I have to wait for Gregg to show me how to do it.  This might surprise some of you but he isn’t bery patient with teaching me new things.  He likes to just do it himself and then chastise me for still not being able to learn by watching him.  Any way those will be up soon.

Thank You Shannon for the lovely Party Sunday.  Sorry you weren’t feeling well.  This weekend the parties continue.  We have a winter fest at the clubhouse.  They are bringing a big snow making machine out and the kids will get to sled down a hill and such.  Ijust found out that this thing costs $10,000.  Holy cow.  I guess it is a good thing we have a lot of houses paying HOA dues(3,700 when sub is done).  Then we are going to Rachel’s house(anatomy teacher) for the kids xmas cookie decorating party.  After that we are going to Carol’s house for the kids xmas movie night.  I think there are going to be 2 or 3 rooms with a different xmas movie and the kids wear their PJ’s and bring their sleeping bags.  The parents will of course all be downstairs enjoying themselves.

Ahh what a fun weekend.  Now we just have to get this week out of the way!

First I would like to thank Miss Rachel for giving Noah the female anatomy course quite unexpectedly last week.  I reminded Noah that we don’t walk into other people’s bathrooms especially if the shower is running.  And ya know I have told him before that it is not polite to stare. 

First the Omaha mall shooting now churches, what is going on with people?  At least the shooting in Colorado Springs ended at the hand of an ARMED security guard.  I’m sick of these losers being able to kill themselves.  Now I know my mom is going to  cringe but my uncle Keith will be proud ……if more people had concealed weapons these assholes wouldn’t be able to knock off so many people.  I’m not saying it should be easy to get a gun or that anybody should be able to get a concealed permit.  But if just one competent person had a gun at any of these shootings we wouldn’t be mourning so many deaths.  I was thinking about this the other night as I couldn’t sleep yet again.  I thought about V Tech and everything and where you should be able to have a concealed weapon and where you shouldn’t.  In the morning I wake up and hear about the church shootings and that blew my theory out of water.  Back to my drawing board.

I don’t have the energy for another Drew Peterson rant right now but I know my weekely rant will come later this week.

The weather here is driving me crazy.  I seriously never know what to wear or what to pack away for the season.  Yesterday morning we were wearing shorts and tshirts and today we are wearing turtle necks and sweaters and tomorrow we will be wearing pants and tshirts.  It goes from 82-76-47-and now 73 tomorrow.  What is going on.  It just isn’t steady.  I think after Tuesday we will be in the 60’s.  For how long I don’t know…….

I’m done xmas shopping for my family!  yahoo!!  I only have to buy my dirty santa present now.  Yesterday we had the womens ornament party and I got a nice martini ornament.  Oddly enough two girls brought the same martini ornament.  What impeccable taste!

OK I’m tired of typing.

I have had the tummy flu for a few days now.  I will post more later this weekend when I feel better.

Sorry to hear D and D were let go this AM.  Hopefully they can get a deal hammered out and be back on the air next year!  I miss their show!

I was watching WGN(out of Chicago) earlier with the boys.  They love Funniest Pets and People.  Well I stayed tuned a little longer and watched their extensive weather coverage.  People in Detroit know what I mean about extensive coverage.  When there is bad weather in the midwest no one can blow it out of proportion like your doppler 4d radar.  These people can turn an entire 1/2 hour news show into the second coming of………

I digress….. So I was listening to another Chicago public figure discuss when the trucks will be out to clear the local streets.  The reporter in the field was perfectly dressed with ALL the gear:  Parka, scarf, gloves you would expect to see on someone scaling Mt. Everest.  It had me remembering the big snow falls of Michigan.  The best thing about these big snowfalls was that most people actually did stay inside.  It would be soooo quiet on the streets.  At night in bed you could hear a pin drop.  OOOHHH and I was a teacher.  If you think the kids were praying for a snow day you have no idea that some of us teachers were praying WAY harder.  An extra day to Xmas shop would be perfect.  I would lie in the silent night wondering what it looked like outside the window.  The bedroom would be illuminated by the white of the snow.  Waiting patiently for the phone to ring to tell me that there was no school that day.  And the silent night awakened by the single sound of a plow scraping the cement as it clears the main street.  It didn’t matter if you were 1/4 a mile from a major road (or lived close to a major hospital (: ) you would still hear it.  Those were good memories……..but I still like having no snow.  It was pretty to watch on TV!

Noah bean was sick all weekend.  Poor kid had some kind of flu.  The bad news is he lost some weight(scarecrow) but the good news is he pooped on the potty for the first time.  Now that the flu is gone let’s hope the recent “development” keeps progressing.

OK I will rant at least once a week about Drew Peterson until he is arrested for killing one of his wives.  Come on he was doing background checks on people that were “friends” of his wife.  Can you say Controlling?  This is one wacked out sociopath.  I love how now he is sick of the media yet a week ago couldn’t get enough of them.  They are on to you.  You slimy excuse for flesh.

The weather here has been unseasonably warm.  I’m not complaining.  It was 80 the other day.  We are back in the lower 70’s now.  I’ve been use to much cooler weather.  When we moved to Philly it was about 10 degrees warmer than Detroit.  I enjoyed that.  It wasn’t that bad but once it dips below 32 it doesn’t much matter if it is 15 or 25 degrees.  Now that we are back in Austin it has taken some adjusting.  We were thrown into full swing summer when we got here.  No time for blood thinning!  The kids looked like two radishes after playing for 1/2 hour.  The pool was always a nice getaway.  Now after 4 months we got used to it and we get a chill when it dips below 60.  One day we had a cold front come through and the temperature dropped 30(80 to 50) degrees in like an hour.  You should have seen some of our friends with winter coats on and such.  It feels weird when I see TV reports about the snow back in Michigan because it doesn’t even feel real.  When I talk to friends back home I never think of them in coats and looking out a snowy window.  Instead I think of them being right here experiencing the same thing as me.

Have no fear as there are reports of a giant snowfall here at Teravista on Saturday, December 15th.  The community will be making snow down at the clubhouse for the little ones to sled down and have a snowball fight.  OOh that sounds like so much fun.  Of course Noah isn’t too sure about the snow but I keep promising him that it won’t be cold outside.  LOL  He is sooooooo picky!