MERRY! MERRY! MERRY!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you COOL CATs out there.

I am the World's Greatest MOM!

I think it should be made official. It is now 12:40 am and I have just finished baking 30 sugar cookies for the boys' school Christmas Party. And I must say they look awesome!


The party was suppose to be Wednesday, but school has been cancelled for the past two days due to icy road conditions. So we are having the party later today! (Thursday). I have worked extremely hard to get ready for this shindig and today is going to be a blast. I have to get up at 7am to get the boys ready for school and I will be hitting the floor running. I have to have to boys dropped off at school by 7:50, then it is off to the grocery store to pick up some fun icing to use in our cookie decorating center at the party. Then I have to rush back home and pack up our skateboard float and all of the party stuff and be back at the school by 9:00am. Our skateboard float is a real beauty. The skateboard float parade is a holiday tradition at my boys' school, and this is our first year to enter a float in the parade.

I worked hard on the float. I made all of the present in Santa's sleigh by hand with cardboard, construction paper, glue, tape, and gold ribbon. The boys are excited about the parade. After I was finished with the float, the were parading around the house with it.

I have also arranged for Santa to show up at the Christmas party. Santa is one of my best friends. I have known him and Mrs. Clause for a very long time. I will be sure to take some pictures of today's events and post them for every one's viewing pleasure. The party is going to be a blast. We are going to have an ornament toss game where we toss ornament into a huge box wrapped up like a present and a hole is cut out of the center of it. The boys, of course, just had to get inside of it once it was all finished.

We are going to decorate cookies. We are going to have face painting. I have bought some chocolate Santa's for everyone. And I have got a small Christmas ornament for each child. We are also going to make an ornament of our own as a present for mom and dad. It is going to be a wreath Christmas ornament with a picture of the kids in the middle. I think I've spent close to $50 on all of this stuff, and I don't even want to know how many man hours I've spent preparing everything. But to see the smiles on the kids faces and to hear their laughter of joy when Santa walks into the room with his bag full of candy canes will be worth every penny and every minute. And that is why I am the World's Greatest MOM!

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UPDATE

So the party was a huge success. Santa came and was wonderful!

I even got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas!

And the skateboard float parade was quite a site. There was everything from Santas, to presents, to Christmas trees to puppies, but best of all was Sponge Bob Square Pants!

Here's a few snapshots of everyone lining up to start the parade.

At one point during the parade the boys got their strings tangled up and tipped Santa's sleigh. Everyone thought that was quite entertaining.

There were also gingerbread men creations on display. A plain gingerbread man was sent home with each child and the family had a week to decorate him and send him back. This one is Nathan's. It is a rock star vampire ginger bread man. (click to enlarge it to see his teeth and blood below his mouth.)

This one is Forrest's. His is a Rock Star Shooter Gingerbread Man. He has a red gun in his hand and a purple bandit's bandanna around his neck. He is also wearing a rainbow Kevlar vest.

Here are a few snapshots of some of the other gingerbread creations that I thought were quite interesting.

The girl with the feathers was a bit risque for a first grade display in my opinion, but perhaps this girls mom is a stripper or something. I suppose we will never know.

But the most creative one of all was Houdini. Now this family has talent!

It is also a tradition in First Grade at our school to make gingerbread houses out of an empty milk carton and frosting and lots and lots of candy.
Forrest's gingerbread house
Nathan's gingerbread house

And lastly, these are the ornaments we created during the party. They look fabulous! Forrest is on the left and Nathan is on the right (his bow is at the bottom. I loved doing this project with the kids because no two ornaments were decorated alike. The used every bell, holly berry, and star they were given, too!. I hope everyone has enjoyed the party. I know I did.

Sometimes we just need a friend to Lean on.

Sometimes we all just need a friend,
To bend their ear or to make us grin.
I am lucky because I have found all of you,
To help me along and to get me through.



Lean on me when you have drank too much.
Lean on me when you feel out of touch.
Lean on me when you need a friend.
Lean on me when the pain won’t end.
Lean on me, I don’t mind at all.
Lean on me I won’t let you fall.
Lean on me, because I’m here for you.
Lean on me, and I’ll lean on you.

This Is Why My Life Is Worth Living

And the Innocence shines through

I know a soul,

as pure as gold.

Not an ounce of evil

in his body.

His big ole grin,

warms the heart within,

and fur covers

his whole body.

His love is true,

he's never blue.

Just give him love each day.

He wags his tail,

He likes hiking trails.

He loves to run and play.

He's a special dog,

He'll steal your heart,

You really don't have a chance.

By your side he heels,

and love you will feel

with just a single glance.

Life SUCKS! and I got CRABS

Yep, it's a simple known fact that LIFE SUCKS. We all know it. I mean none of us are getting out of it alive. We will all meet the same fate in the end. What can I say, it's depressing. So as all of you know by now, I've been going through a rough time. So I went out with my husband the other day and we got Crabs.

Like the picture above suggests, we got three of them. The species we got are red clawed fiddlers. They look much like the photo below. My camera battery is dead, and I'm too lazy to find the charger to charge it up, so you will have to settle for pictures lifted off the Internet.
Crabs are a great low maintenance pet. Did you know that there are over 90 different species of Fiddler Crabs? And they are quite entertaining to watch. Our new Fiddler crabs were great additions to the three Hermit Crabs that we already own. I don't think I have properly introduced you to the crabs of the family.

Meet BLUEY. He is the first crab we ever got. He is also the smallest crab. We purchased Bluey two years ago. He came home with his friend, Reddy. Reddy has since gone to the big house in the sky, but Bluey is still Molting stronger than ever. (Crabs molt about every 3-6 months. During this time they shed their exoskeleton for a new one. They are able to regenerate limbs during this time.)



Next we have Scoobie Doobie Do. "Scoobie" is our biggest Crab. When we purchased Scoobie, he was housed inside a white shell with a picture of Scoobie Do painted on it. But he moved out of the shell as soon as we got him home. He changed shells several times before he finally settled on the one he has now. Scoobie pinched me once and I had to hold him under running water for several minutes before he decided to let go. I think he was attempting to bury himself for molting when I picked him up, and crabs get sort of crabby when they are ready to molt. I think it is because the skins that they are in, so they need to get bigger ones. Since then, I've been way more careful when handling Scoobie.
And last but not least, there is Hermie. Yes, I have a Hermit Crab named Hermie. Hermie is my favorite. He is very social and usually will come out of his shell when I call him. He loves to climb all over my hands and arms. His favorite snack is Hermit Crab Cookies, and he doesn't care for the creel and brim shrimp pellets that I have for them right now. All of the crabs love the coconut and mango fruit treats. I am thinking of getting some for them for Christmas.

So, now that you've met all of the crabs in our family..... Tell me about all of the crabs in your family. HA

My Thoughts Have Now Been Collected.

Well, the leaves are finally starting to turn colors this month. It seems appropriate considering, we have a new President that will hopefully be able to Change the state of our Union.
The boys really enjoyed Halloween. They were skeletons this year. Forrest had a heart that would pump fake blood through his bones, but the blood scared Nathan, so he would not let me rig his costume with the fake blood. The made a haul with the halloween candy. Both pumpkins were filled to the top. Yep, I think we may still have halloween candy until next year.
Speaking of pumpkins, I worked my fingers to the bone carving this year. I carved two pumpkins with the wolves scene. Both boys wanted it on their pumpkins.

I also did the haunted house scene. It took the most time, three damn hours to carve a stupid pumpkin, and it still didn't win the pumpkin carving contest at work. It was rigged I tell you, rigged. A simple Jack-0-Lantern with the bottom half of a baby sticking out of it's mouth won. Since when did scientists give a damn about creativity? The day after Halloween, I let the boys have a costume party. They really enjoyed it, and so to show me their appreciation, they climbed over our back fence and stole these beautiful rose blooms off of the neighbor's rose bush. They smelled heavenly.

Well, that's the end of my post. I told you I collected my thoughts. I didn't tell you they were organized. I hope every one has a good weekend. Well, what's left of it anyway!.