New Years Eve

Happy New Years Eve my friends!

It was always a question in my mind what exactly the words ARE to the Auld Lang Syne, so I looked them up and thought I'd share. Trust me, you do NOT want me to sing them anywhere NEAR you! lol



Auld Lang Syne
by Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne

We twa hae run aboot the braes
And pou'd the gowans fine;
we've wander'd mony a weary foot
Sin' auld lang syne

We two hae paidled i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne

And here's a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne


So I'll raise a cup o' kindness friends and toast a blessed New Year to you all!

Bring it ON....

So wow, Christmas was fast and furious in this house. First, Jackson would NOT go to sleep on Christmas eve. I finally had to send my parents to bed and we went to bed and turned off all the lights for a hour. THEN got BACK up to set everything out and go BACK to bed. Only to have 2 glazed over eyes glaring at me at 5:45am saying "mom, mom, lets get up. I can't stand it anymore and want to open my stuff before Nathan gets up". So we all got up and enjoyed Jackson's surprise and excitement for what seemed to take all of 10 minutes. That boy can TEAR through some presents!

About that time, Nathan woke up. Time for a second cup of coffee and a second Christmas morning. Nathan was a little more low-key at first. Then he warmed up to the idea that SANNA KASS came and brought Pressies.

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas. The boys were happy and I think the Old Man and his bride were taken back a few years just watching the boys.

All the prep work, the stress over getting things done, getting the right things, and wrapping the things, and so forth is done. WEEKS of prep over in less than a hour. But I will say, well worth it again this year!

So now all the Christmas decorations are down, packed back up in their secure home. We now move forward to a New Year.

I love the New Year. We're not big wild party people that go all out or anything, been there done that. No, I love New Years because I get to start a fresh clean calender. I don't "do" resolutions because lets face it, we all TRY to be better people in the New Year. But we really should work on that all year round. Not just January.

I always get the bug to clean out and toss and move things around for New Years. A fresh clean slate like my fresh clean calender without a bazillion things written on it. So that is my project for New Years and the weekend ahead. We're going to tackle Jackson's room which is now somewhere stuck in the "tween" stage. Still a lot of little kid stuff, and ever growing big kid stuff.

So as you toast the New Year (or if you are like me, wake up and realize it is a New Year), reflect a little bit about the past year, but focus on the wiped clean slate calender of your life. Don't think about all those little squares getting filled up with commitments, think about filling them with fun, life, and love.

Happy New Year my friends.

Laughing at Christmas

So I am sitting here relaxing. I know, crazy right? First - I don't relax, Second - it is 4 days to Christmas! No gifts are wrapped, but my stockings are hung by the chimney with care (and packing tape). No really, we have stocking holders.

My tornado is sleeping. Jackson is on his computer. Bryan left this morning for a whirlwind trip up to New Jersey to be with our dear friend Eric as he buries his father Tuesday morning. My heart is really with him, as I would be there as well if it wasn't so close to Christmas. Now, we prepare for the Holiday with added prayers that Bryan's flights aren't messed up by the horrid weather up there in snow land, and he makes it home safe and sound by Christmas eve.

On an up note...

I am enjoying the quiet and thinking back to one of THE funniest Christmas eve services I will ever remember.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we always went to the Christmas Eve Service at church. It was our time to breath, reflect, and feel the warmth of the Christmas spirit. We always enjoyed Communion that night as well. It felt as if we were renewing our faith, renewing our lives for the new year. A fresh start. I always loved that. One year, and forgive me, I can't remember the year, we all stretched out along the pew. My Granny (the Old Mans mom) came with us every year as well. Now, in our old little church on regular Sunday morning communion, we used to get the wafers that were passed down each row. But Christmas Eve were literally broke bread. A load of fresh cooked bread was passed own the pews for each person to pinch off their piece and partake in a quiet communion. We all did as we were supposed to and when the loaf got to my Granny, she kinda "bit off more than she could chew" and broke of a huge hunk of bread.

We all kinda started snickering, but the pew began to shake with ALL of us trying to contain our laughter and flat out hee hawing as she looked at her bread, broke off a small part and stuck the rest in her coat pocket. I am sitting here with tears going down my face thinking about the whole image right now. Literally every one on our pew had the shoulders shaking, the looking down pretending to be praying but really had our eyes closed to keep from looking at each other and losing the battle over the giggles. I have never seen my family completely LOSE IT like that since.

My dear Granny, God rest her soul, never knew that we were laughing at her... or with her.. and she never once thought anything about that hunk of bread. But I guess in her way, she received her bread that was broken for her... and today I am sure she is looking down on all of us and giving us a big belly, shoulder shaking, full on LAUGH over our daily antics, and loving as us as much as we love her.

Merry Christmas Granny, we love and miss you and I'll say a little "Kanna Kause Kome" for ya on Christmas Morning.

Introducing the Miller and Rhodes Santa....

and 2 very adorable yet Shy looking girls!

Thanks for sharing the picture with me dad!

Christmas young and old

For those of you that read my blog as well as my Old Man's blog, you'll know that the Old Man has been triggering some GREAT Christmas past memories. Every time I read one of his, I am inspired to write about the same things, just fast forwarded a few years.

As a kid growing up (and well lets face it Im still working on the growing up part)... I had some fun times at Christmas. I thought maybe I'd just write a few down to trigger my own memories and maybe help you find some of yours.

- Every Christmas eve, we went to the Candle Light Service at our church. I always ALWAYS loved this night. Up until we went to church, it was nothing but running here and there, and doing more than humanly possible although my mom made it look easy. But Christmas Eve was always when we all sat together on a pew of the church as a family. We all took a deep breath when finally relaxed for the first time in weeks. We all listened to the service or the choir performance, and we all lit our candles and sang Silent Night. As a much younger child the ending of the service was always "cool" because I got to hold the forbidden candle and it just lit up the whole church and I had that AWE feeling. As I grew older, it started to mean so much more. I started listening to the words of the song, basking in the beauty of the warmth of all of those candles, and without fail, we'd have tears by the end verse. I miss that warmth of that service.

-After the church service the bustle was back on. We would run home and change clothes, mom would have more food than we ever needed and friends would come over to hang out (mostly in high school). Mom would go down in the basement and we weren't allowed to get near that door. She would be down there for HOURS wrapping presents for everyone and from everyone and trying to remember where she hid some things and who they were for. My mom was and still IS the queen gift wrapper. Poor woman would come limping up the stairs in pure exhaustion when they were done... only to be faced with a late night of laying out Santa stuff once we went to bed. Yes, even when we were in high school and I do believe college, santa came.

- Christmas morning brings to mind a few things. My granny would sleep with my sister, and my Aunt Louise would sleep with me. Lauri and I would be awake before the sun, but we'd wait until we heard granny saying "Sanna clause came" and mom and dad would wipe their fuzzy eyes and try to focus after being up 1/2 the night. Everyone would get up and get coffee, and turn on all the lights, and Lauri and I would stand at the end of our hallway peeing our pants with excitement and anticipation. Sometimes, I even got sick to my stomach from butterflies from the wait. I love that feeling. To this day, when I wake up on Christmas morning, I get the SAME butterflies and jitters waiting to see my own children witness the awe of Christmas morn.

- As for trees, well my mom is still to this day the MASTER of all trees. Oh us girls would try to help but really it must have pained my mom to see our work. One year, Lauri and I decided we would decorate the tree while mom and dad were out. We started decorating it and out of nowhere the dang thing fell right on top of Lauri and all the ornaments fell off. We did what any kid would do, we propped it up in the corner and went to our rooms. Mom and Dad came home to not only an UNdecorated tree, but one that was no longer standing upright and pretty. Oh man we laughed about that one for years... and still do.

- Santa. The main man. For years (and honestly I can't remember how many or when it was) we would drive up to Richmond, VA to Miller and Rhodes store to have breakfast with Santa. This was THE most amazing thing we ever did. We'd go sit at tables and Santa would literally come down the chimney (but only after we heard bells and reindeer paws on the roof) and he'd sit at his table and we'd all eat. He would even stand up and point to children in the crowd and call them by name AND where they lived. Imagine - being that child sitting there in total amazement and hearing "Well there is Lauri and Julie Jackson from Lynchburg Virginia" yes, we heard it and I am really surprised we didn't faint. After breakfast you go stand in line for the photo op of the year. We would talk to the Snow Princess before hand and tell her our names and when it was our turn, Santa would hold his hand out and say "Well come on up here Julie" WHAT? how did he know that? (we later found out that Ice Princess and Santa were wired and while Santa was smiling for the camera with one kid he was listening to our names in an ear piece). I was always the shy one and you can tell it in the pictures. Man what an incredible memory that is. I"m sitting here smiling just thinking about it.

I have gone on to long, but my childhood was a Christmas dream. We had great family time, we had a reflective moment on the true meaning of Christmas with our church service and the excitement that can only be described have fabulous.

Nothing could be finer in my life, than to create that magic for my kids, and watch them take in the beauty of the season.

Heading out of town...

this morning to drive up to "The Old Mans" house and see some family. I am SO ready, its been WAY to long since we've been up there. I can't wait to see mom and dad and then Saturday we're driving up to Boone to see my sister and her family. Again, its been WAY to long since I've seen her and her family.

Everything is mostly packed, Jackson was up at the crack of dawn to finish getting his stuff together and Nathan keeps saying "Mee Maws Ouse" and asking for Paw Paw pretzels! So as you can see, we're all very excited!

I hope everyone has a spendid weekend!

Here comes Santa Claus....

Right down St. Simons Island, GA!

So we set aside some important Sunday time for our 15 minutes of fame with Santa. I knew going in to this that the chances of some GREAT pictures of Nathan with Santa were slim to none. I had high hopes for Jackson though! Together - forget it!

So anyway - we went over to the beach, met up with Santa and his photographer and had about 15 minutes of just us time to do what we could with photo ops. Here are a few shots.

Family shot (windy day doesn't agree with mama's hair)


I like to call this Nathan's CHEESE grin. (or I know that crazy man in the red suit is behind me)



This one I love. This one is my favorite, just Jackson and Santa walking down the beach.


and Nathan and Santa sharing their own little moment together over a toy.




and finally, a good ol Santa picture with Jackson



Granted, that's a lot of pictures to share, but hey that was just a few of the ones that were taken.

We're in full Christmas mode, ready for the man in the red suit (as long as Nate doesn't SEE him) and ready for some family Christmas cheer!

TermiNATER is back...

It has BEEN a week with my darling youngest boy. First - my disclaimer - I am really a good, attentive mom. I don't normally just ignore my 2 year old and let him run amuck.. he seems to do things right in front of me.

Ok now with that said, I'll tell ya about his antics in the past 3 days.

First - the baby powder. Nathan has a thing about emptying and dumping cups, containers, whatever. Some day I'll get in to how he emptied an entire bottle of "wrench" dressing over his waffles while I was switching the laundry... but I digress..

He went into his room the other morning and shut his door. I, like any good mom, got up while on hold with a client and made sure he wasn't in his Bubba's room which is forbidden. He was in his room, what can he do. I was on the phone for a while and finally finished up the call and went to check on my darling. I opened the door and was greeted with the overwhelming smell of baby powder. As well as a total CLOUD in his room and a "snow covered" floor. And an adorable 2 year old smiling with pride over his latest accomplishment: moving his little table over to his dresser, climbing on that to reach the baby powder, opening the powder and well... emptying the bottle. I kid you not, there was a fog in his room. I, again, being the great mom that I am, grabbed my camera and laughed my butt off because really what else could I do? After take the photo proof to show his father, I got the vacuum out and began what ended up being a long process. I vac'd, dust flew, I vac'd more, more powder flew. It was a big white cloudy mess of Nathan's version of snow.

For your viewing pleasure...




That's not a fuzzy bad picture, that's powder flying in the air.

Fast forward to this morning. Dear husband was golfing, Jackson was playing a video game and I had to shower. So Nate took a shower with me, I got him cleaned up and dressed and went back to get myself together. Apparently he got a hold of a Q-tip on the sink counter. He was standing right there and was cleaning his ear (he does this a lot but has always just rubbed around the outside of his ear). Next thing I know its IN his ear and he is screaming bloody murder. I run to him, take out the Q-tip and look at his ear. Nothing is spewing out like the Exorcist, so I console him for about 20 minutes, he gets juice and life is fine.

We ran errands, we ate, we took Jackson to a party and came home and put him down for a nap. I had to go back to get Jacks and Nate was still sleeping so Bryan stayed home. When I get home Bryan says "you know he has blood in his ear". Total panic sits in my stomach... he's going to be deaf, I am sure of it. I debated on the ER room. However, Nate could care less, he's not in pain, he can hear fine, he's not seeming off balance and he's happy as can be. I called my neighbor who is a nurse, in near tears of course, and she said he most likely perforated his ear drum. I wanted to throw up. She said that there is nothing they can do for this, that it has to heal on its own so not to bother with the ER unless it starts bleeding horribly or draining any other various liquid. She said to call his Dr first thing Monday morning and they'll check it and refer us to an ENT if need be.

A Q-tip. A split second of me drying my hair.

So it has been a week. Tomorrow we're going to have pictures done with Santa on the beach. I am thinking of asking Santa for a good pair of glasses for those eyes on the back of my head that all moms are supposed to have. Apparently my vision has gone bad.

Yeah, it has been a wild ride this week.

Unteaching kids to talk...

Is that possible? Remember a while back, for those that follow my musings, I posted about worrying about Nathan talking? Well the switch has finally clicked and he is talking up a storm. He tries to say whatever we say and is putting 2 and 3 words together in simple sentences. His associations are amazing. Just the other day he wanted a Pretzel and Cream Cheese, so he simply asked "mama, keme cheese and pezils".. I commented "Gee Nate, we need to get meemaw and paw paw to bring us another big thing of Pretzels from Costco" and proceeded to hand him a few pretzels. He said "Tink eww paw paw" lol Just cuteness.

However, sometimes its not cute when he repeats what he hears. I, much to my moms dismay, kinda have a bad mouth. I get frustrated easily and drop the "S" bomb. I drop something and drop the "S" bomb, you get the idea.

Nathan has learned this as well. He'll drop a toy and say "Oh SIT", he'll be trying to put something together, get mad and throw it and say "Oh SIT"... OK at first it was funny, Jackson and I would laugh and say "Nate, don't say that" so I tried to stop saying it. I've done well, Nathan, though, hasn't caught on.

So, in your vast knowledge of raising kids my friends, how do you UNTEACH a kid to say some words? I keep hoping he'll just forget it but to this point he's quite fond of the word. I guess it makes him feel better to just get it out - after all he spent MONTHS of frustration just screaming because he was upset. Now he has the power of the Shit word.

Laugh it up, go ahead, I made this bed, right?