Flair, Flair, Flair!

You said this to yourself in your head, didn't you?!?
C'mon.....be honest....you know you did!

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

(Click on post title for link)

Apparently, I'm socks.....What crappy gift are you?

Name that Christmas tune!

Can you name these Christmas songs?

1. Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

2. Embellish interior passageways.

3. Vertically challenged adolescent percussionist.

4. Natal celebration devoid of color as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

5. Majestic triplet referred to in the first person plural.

6. Twelve o'clock on the clement night witnessed its arrival.

7. Soundless nocturnal period.

8. The Yuletide occurrence preceding all others.

9. Precious metal musical devices.

10. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

11. Caribou with vermillion olfactory appendage.

12. Allow crystalline formations to descend.

13. Jovial yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

14. Bipedal traveling through an amazing acreage during the period between December 21st and March 21st.

15. Exclamatory remark concerning a diminutive municipality in Judea southwest of Jerusalem.

Which is your favorite?

Being thankful....

Tonight for family night we talked about being thankful. We each had "feathers" to write down 4 things we are thankful for and then we added them to our "turkey". We have done this every Family Night before Thanksgiving since Noah was little and I save every turkey we've made. Here's our list from this year:

Nathan (he came up with these on his own!)
* the seasons
* turkey
* guitar
* Aki (his beloved elephant)

Noah
* the earth
* friends
* family
* Legos

Erin
* Noah, Nathan, Scott
* books
* my health
* kit kats (which is ironic, I know, since it's impeding my health)

Scott
* job
* family
* music

So, I must tell you about last year's list. Nathan was 2 and I didn't really think he'd get the idea of listing something that you're thankful for. So, we went around the table and all of us said what we were thankful for. We get to Nathan and ask him what he is thankful for and he says, "Trees". I'm so impressed! Yea, he understands! A few seconds later he adds, "and boogers".
Good times.

Sleepover, Twilight, and TSO!

We have been busy! Last Monday, my BIL and SIL closed on their very first home! Woohoo! It's a great home and I'm more than excited for them! They were nice enough to let their son come over to spend the night with us so they could move. My boys were sooo excited! Nathan and Xander are both 3 and play SO well together! Nathan loves Xander and any time his name is mentioned Nathan says, "Xander, my best fwend!" We all had a great time and hope he can come back soon!
Thursday was a wonderful day. My incredible, beautiful, talented SIL was in a performance of the Ten Virgins involving her ward and one other ward. She invited me to come and I am so thankful she did! The place was packed! All of the decorations were wonderful and it was great seeing old friends! Heather portrayed Nava, a faithful woman who loves the Lord, but hasn't learned the importance of taking the time to seek Him daily. Each character sung a song that told about her character. Heather's song was amazing. Not only is her voice beautiful and strong, but she brought such emotion to the character that I had tears in my eyes. In the end she was one who was not prepared and portrayed this with such heartfelt emotion that really left me wondering if I'm prepared. All of the ladies did a fabulous job and I've been thinking a lot about it since that night.
After the performance a group of 16 of us headed over to the movie theater to see the midnight showing of Twilight! Yes, we were there with every other teenage girl from miles around. Don't judge me. We waited in line for about an hour and a half, but it didn't seem that long with all the chatting we were doing! Heather made an interesting observation. She said you could tell the generation gap. The teenage girls were standing in circles texting and the rest of us were standing in circles chatting! I enjoyed the movie, overall, but was disappointed with some parts. I got to bed at 3am, but it was fun doing something out of the ordinary!
Friday, Noah had a Thanksgiving feast and program at school. And when I say "feast", I mean it was a feast! There was a turkey and ALL of the trimmings! The kids then sang a song called "One by One" about being thankful for things one by one. Most moms had tears. Noah did a GREAT job!
Saturday night my mom invited me to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra with her! I have never been to their show and only know the Christmas music that's played on the radio. It's a rock-opera group started by a rock band called Savatage. Their light show is amazing! Lasers, pyro-technics, fireworks, flashes of fire, etc. Some of the musicians play on platforms that are raised to the ceiling and lowered. Some play electric violins. I didn't even know they made those! All in all it was a great night and thanks, Mom, for inviting me!
I don't usually post about the "in's and out's" of the week, but there were too many things and I didn't want to post 18 separate posts!

Twilight Flair

** Contains spoilers from Twilight series **

In honor of the Twilight movie opening tomorrow, I'm posting some Twilight flair. Yes, I've read the series and enjoyed it. I am going with my SIL and friends to the midnight premiere tonight (I guess, technically, it's tomorrow morning) and am excited! Enjoy the flair!

Got Flair?

He's home! He's home!

Scott got home from India Tuesday night around 9pm. The kids had not seen him in 3 weeks and were sooooooooo excited! They made him a "Welcome Home! We missed you!" banner and decorated it! When Scott walked in the door the boys attacked him! Noah sang Scott a song he made up called "Welcome Home, Dad!". In one of the pics it's hard to see Noah, but he is behind Scott hugging him. Boy, are we glad Dad is home!!

Halloween

So, I'm only 2 weeks behind. That's not bad, right? Here are my cute kiddos. Noah was Shaggy (from Scooby Doo) and Nathan was a scarecrow. The hat kinda makes him look like a Chinese scarecrow, but whatever. Noah carved pumpkins with his fabulous Uncle Eric and Aunt Heather while I was in India and he also carved one at his school party. The pumpkin on the right is Yoda. After we went trick-or-treating we went to a party at a neighbor's house. The kids had a great time running around with all of the other kids and the adults enjoyed chatting. It was a wonderful Halloween!

India - Part 2 - Kabini

This place is amazing! I did NOT want to leave!

The afternoon we arrived Scott took a jeep safari. It was raining hard, but he decided to go anyway. The safari was 2 1/2 hours and Scott said they got stuck so many times that he truly did not know if they were going to make it back to the resort. They saw spotted deer, bison, peacocks, etc. He really wanted to see tigers or elephants, but didn't. He came back to our cabin and was SOAKED!

Over the next 2 days I had a 90 minute massage (1 1/2 hours of pure bliss), an aromatherapy facial, Scott took a long nature walk, a nap in the hammock, and we took a boat safari.
The staff (and this was how many of the people in India are) was so accommodating. The manager of the restaurant knew I wasn't crazy about spicy food and took me around to the different food stations and pointed out what was spicy and what wasn't. In India you drink soda or bottled water. If your glass is empty, you do not refill it even though the bottle is right there. They do it or it offends them. They have a buffet for every meal, but still ask you what you would like. So during breakfast they'll ask you what you want for lunch. At lunch they ask you what you want for dinner, etc. If an employee is walking down the path and a guest steps onto the path, the employee immediately steps off of the path until the guest passes by. Even if they are at the other end of the path. Every cabin has what they call a "room boy". They stay outside of your cabin all day and all night in case you need something. They even stand there with an umbrella in the rain. And the minute you leave your cabin they are in there straightening it up. Even if that means smoothing out the bed cover or giving you another bottle of water. All of the attention was a bit unnerving. I'm used to doing things for myself, you know?
It was a wonderful weekend spent in a beautful, tropical place. A little piece of Heaven...

Enjoy the slideshow!

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Nathan Got Told!!

Nathan is always SO excited to see Noah after school and asks him a kabillion questions the second the kid opens the door to get in the car from the carpool line. This (most of the time) annoys Noah b/c he's pretty tired from his day. So today I ask Noah how his day was and if he has any homework. Then Nathan asks him the same questions....twice.
Noah looks at Nathan and says, "No, I don't have any homework today b/c I'm not going to school tomorrow."
Nathan: "You're not going to school to-ma-whoa? Why? Why you not going to school to-ma-whoa, Noah?"
Noah looks at him, exasperated, and says (in a cocky little way), "Uh, b/c it's Veterinarian's Day. DUH!"


On a serious note, I do have much respect and tremendous gratitude for those who fought, lost their lives and those still fighting for our country's freedoms. You are true heroes who fight to maintain the spirit of America. I am truly grateful and honor you on this Veteran's Day.

Noah Looses His 1st Tooth!

Noah has had a front tooth on the bottom row that has been loose for....ev....er. His permanent tooth actually came in behind this tooth. He tells me on Friday that his tooth is very loose, but he wanted to give it a bit more time to come out by itself. Yesterday morning (Saturday) he comes into my bedroom and says, "Mom, I found something hard in my mouth and I think it might be my tooth." Indeed, it was! He was SOOO excited! The tooth fairy did come and left some money and fairy dust. Pics to come....

A Girl and Her Knight...16 years later...

Once upon a time in a land known as High School a certain girl was dating a guy. Said guy breaks up with girl and breaks her heart. Said guy has a friend (who happened to be a knight) who thought what his friend did was mean and comforted the girl. The girl and the knight became fast friends and were soon passing notes throughout the school day and talking constantly on the phone. Several months pass and this beautiful friendship turned romantic. For their first official date they went to see Three Men and a Baby and ate at Rock-Ola cafe. They went to concerts, plays, the NC State Fair, Winterfest, and Prom. Several months later the girl and her knight broke up. (too many details to include how that happened). High school ends and a couple of months later a mutual friend suggests that the girl call the knight. The girl was very unsure, as previous communication had been rejected by the knight. The mutual friend insisted and as they say "that's all she wrote". Sixteen years later, 2 fantastic boys, and 1 angel watching over us, their story continues......(pics to come).

Happy Anniversary, honey!

A 3 year old's perspective

I had a funny conversation with Nathan yesterday after picking him up from pre-school.

Mom: "How was your day, buddy? What did you do today?"
Nathan: "Well, wet's see...we got some weaves... and den we did someping...and den dat's it."
Mom: "Who had the share bag today?"
N: "Sydney did!"
M: "What did she bring to share?"
N: "She bwought a pwincess and a toweh (tower). Do you wike dose tings, Mom?"
M: "Yes, I do. They're girl things, you know."
N: "Guh-hurl tings? You wike guh-hurl tings?"
M: "Yes, because I'm a girl."
N: "No, you're not! You're a mommy!"

I guess Mom's have their own separate category outside of boys and guh-hurls!

17,858 miles flown + 41 hours 40 min. flight time = Experience of a lifetime

What a trip! Getting to India is not easy. Including layovers we spent about 27 straight hours just in travel time to Bangalore. One way. And they are 9.5 hours ahead of us.
I'm not sure where to start. We arrived in Bangalore a little after midnight. We got through customs and met our driver outside the airport. (Scott's company paid for our driver. If you're not from India, you don't drive in India. It's CRAZY how they drive! Having a driver is very common there.) It was about a 45 minute drive to our hotel. We took showers and went to bed.
The next morning our driver took us to Scott's office so Scott could get some things done. Then we went shopping at a place called Commercial Street. Lots of vendors and stores. We were able to get some pashminas (like a shawl) and some gifts.
The next day was Friday and we left to go to a place called Kabini. It's a 4 hour drive from Bangalore and set in a rain forest. We stayed at Cicada Resort and Spa. (will do a separate post for this).
On the way back to Bangalore on Sunday we stopped in a major city called Mysore. We drove to the top of a mountain to a temple. We saw monkeys along the way and great views of Mysore from the moutainside. You have to pay to see the temple and then pay again if you want to go inside. There are TONS of vendors on the walk to and around the temple. Monkeys were climbing on the statues on the temple. This is when I started to notice the staring. People in India stare at you if you're not dark skinned. Now I expected some of this, but it was a lot worse than I thought. They stop and stare. A lot. And if they have a camera they'll take pictures of you. Or video. And they'll follow you. And the vendors beg you to buy their stuff. And they'll follow you, too. Made me really uncomfortable. I told Scott to start taking pictures of those who were taking our pictures. Left there and went to another temple called Mysore Palace. You have to pay to get in to this one, too. We didn't. Again, tons of vendors and the staring. These vendors were the worst ones we dealt with. They, too, will follow you. When we stopped to take pictures, they swarmed around us. When we were leaving we had to go find our driver. We had about 10 vendors following us into the parking lot. We got in the car and it was a bit of a wait to leave b/c of the traffic. These vendors stood at our car and would not leave us alone. They kept hounding us to buy their stuff. Honestly, I don't know how celebrities do it. The vendors reminded me of paparrazi. Then back to Bangalore to enjoy the Indian holiday, Diwali, also known as the festival of lights.

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