Logic of the Sweet Tooth!

Caris (our pickiest eater, but lover of all sweet things) was trying to convince me that she should be able to buy an ice cream at the cafeteria tomorrow. She has a choral program at school tomorrow night which she has been looking forward to for some time. So her reasoning for the ice cream splurge at lunch ... "If I eat the ice cream at lunch, it will freeze all the words to the songs in my brain so I won't forget them tomorrow night!"

At least Charlie Brown didn't do it!

Okay, it's true confession time! When I was little I colored on the walls! In fact, I colored behind all the furniture because I knew I wasn't supposed to color on the walls! And even worse than that ... when we moved and all the furniture was removed therefore revealing my secret, I didn't even own up to it! I said, "Charlie Brown did it!" (Charlie Brown was my nickname for an adult family friend who liked to play like a big kid - and I loved that!)
Just an hour ago, I found Joseph and his best buddy happily decorating Joseph and David's entire rooms with wet sidewalk chalk! The furniture, toys, comforters, and doors were bright colors of the rainbow! I fussed and lectured while all three of us cleaned. I would love to call someone for sympathy but I'm sure I would just hear laughter on the other end of the phone!

The Gifts of Giving and Time Together!

This Christmas the best gifts any of us gave or received were time together and the sacrifice of giving! We enjoyed a fun-filled visit with Grandaddy; a special visit from Mimi; a trip to DC with MommaC, Papa Joe, Aunt Babsie, Uncle Leland, Jared, Jake and Zac; and a celebration of Jesus' birthday with Aunt Sue, Uncle Ed, Uncle Matt, and the Sanzones!
We were all blessed by having a family Christmas gift swap where all three children combined their saved allowances to buy Rich and I and each other presents. They also all made presents for us. They very carefully chose the gifts they thought the other would enjoy most. The gift of giving brought us all great joy!
One added blessing was the trips to the Marine Corps Museum and the Vietnam Wall with my Dad. We all learned a great deal about the sacrifices of war, the comraderie of those who share in combat, and how the war impacted him.

Birthdays!

We had fun celebrating birthdays in January! My mom turned 65 at the beginning of the month. The whole family kept a secret (which is amazing enough in itself) and my sister and I surprised her with a girls' weekend! Boy was she surprised! She cried and held us both as if we might vanish! The girl time and an afternoon with my great-grandmothers, dad, and Babs' family was quite a blessing (and a great birthday present for me as well)!

The little princess of the family turned 8 later in January! She enjoyed a family dinner at her favorite Mexican restaraunt and a birthday party with some of her friends and her cousin, Anna! The party was completely planned by Caris! I must say she was much more motivated to plan the details than to implement all of them! We all had a great time at the tea party for girls and dolls!