We’ll get to that at the end, but I thought I’d post some pics of the kiddos and family at the lake for Easter weekend.
Archive for the ‘Holiday’ Category
What Happens When the Candy is Taken Away
Sunday, April 24th, 2011
Rollie and Tiller on Valentine’s Day
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011Rollie and Tiller interview on Valentine’s Day. Captures their personalities pretty well. Rollie is in a sugar coma, while Tiller is bouncing off the walls.
Happy belated Valentine’s Day!
Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011We stayed home last night, and friends came over. Ned and Vanessa also didn’t have a sitter, so we decided to do a slumber party again this year. Surprisingly, our friends Matt and Shannon, and Carlie and Brandon, both childless, came also. I guess we are all getting old and they didn’t want to do the whole bar/party scene. (I did sneak out for an hour to my neighbor’s party, and would liked to have been in two places at once. Looked fun.)
Ned and Vanessa brought their lab, Summer, and Matt and Shannon brought their dogs, Omar and Bodhi. There were dogs everywhere, and Simon (the black cat) is still livid even after they have all been gone for hours. If I die by an anvil falling on my head, Simon is most certainly responsible.
Lisa and Dashie came, too. They just stayed for dinner.
Rollie, Scarlett, and Tiller watched movies.
Then, the kids started going crazy, wanting sparklers.
And more crazy.
Yes, those PJs are flammable. @NervousNellieMother
I love those damn goofy kids.
So cute together.
Kids waiting not so patiently for Ned to fire up the big fireworks.
Scarlett used her time to strike some poses. Nessie claims that she didn't teach her this, but come on. We've all seen Nessa get self-whiplash to get into the proper pose before the camera clicks.
The kids ran like crazy in the front yard inbetween the big fireworks. Carlie and I cowered in fear behind some bushes.
Ned and Carlie relaxing after setting things on fire.
This is Matt. He is probably saying snarky, back-handed things about UGA.
Before midnight, we did some hanging by the fire with the dogs.
All the couples kissed at midnight. We are all cute. Then we all kissed each others husbands and wives. Yeah, that's how it is.
I totally threw Brandon under the bus on this one, but Carlie looked so cute, I had to include this one.
And Ned and Nessie. Isn't her new hair color cute?
And me and Mr. Dogwood. Not a great picture, but the only one of the two of us.
Love these girls!
Matt ruined the picture watching tv. We've all been spending NYE together since Y2K! Except we used to go to the beach and we didn't have kids. We did have puzzles and other recreational activities. And a lot of alcohol.
Shannon and Nessie and I solved all the problems of the world after midnight. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what we decided now.
Matt was dressed like a WWII airplane mechanic. Lisa and I called him Hawkeye.
And Ned, back in black, tending the fire.
So, overall, a very low-key night. The kids never made it to midnight, but I think they could next year. They were still up at 7 this morning. It was fun to get up in the chaos of coffee-making, casserole-baking, cereal-pouring, and dog petting. What a madhouse. We ate breakfast and chatted and lounged with dogs, then everyone left.
I put on the greens and the black eyed peas. Lounged on the couch with Tiller and watched about ten episodes of Tom and Jerry. (Thank you, Boomerang!) Watched some football with Todd and Rollie. Ate two helpings of the peas and greens. Tiller had the worst hangover – she fell asleep on the couch and slept for almost two hours. I fell asleep on the floor with my dog. Can’t remember the last time I fell asleep on the floor in the middle of the afternoon. It was nice, but that weird waking-up-in-the-dark thing always makes me feel strange.
Kids are in bed now, and I watched Saving Private Ryan (sucks me in every time), while eating a Bowl of Shame for the ages. I think Bridget Jones said it best:
I do think New Year’s resolutions can’t technically be expected to begin on New Year’s Day, don’t you? Since, because it’s an extension of New Year’s Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year’s Day isn’t a good idea as you can’t eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second. ~Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary
So, my resolution, to hit the Weight Watcher’s again, will start Tuesday morning. The kids go back to school that day, and no sane person would spend over two weeks with their offspring, 24 hours a day, and then try to quit drinking before the reinforcements come. That would be crazy.
So, I bid you all a Happy New Year! I am too tired to go on. Sweet dreams from Dogwood Girl.
Tiller Chillin’ with Her New MP3 Player
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Just listened to Arcade Fire’s Sprawl II, and now, Stairway To Heaven. Thanks, Aunt Lisa!
Official Fudge Tester, Christmas 2010
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
How Do You Achieve a Peaceful Holiday Season with Kids?
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010Am I the only one that thinks much of the Christmas season sucks ass now that I have kids? Sure, as long as I am stuffing them full of sugar and butter products, and when they are opening gifts, they are having a blast. The rest of the time? They are just whining about things they want, want, want.
Am I doing something wrong? We’ve given to multiple charities, donated toys to needy children, and our kids know about it and why we are doing it.
We don’t go crazy with gifts, and in fact, my kids get way less than most children I know.
I spend time with them, wrapping gifts, singing Christmas carols in the car (a once a year thing, really, as I force them to listen to decent music in the car all other times of the year – it is for their own good in the long run), making cookies, filling the birdfeeders together (birdies need yummy Christmas food too!), etc.
So what am I doing wrong? Is it just normal to feel like a failure as a parent this time of year? It never felt this stressful before kids. Am I asking too much of them, at 7 and 5 years of age, to understand how very and truly lucky they are to be born in this time, in this country, to well-educated and loving parents? (I know that it is not something they can really comprehend. It was, like, rhetorical and stuff.)
If you are able to have a peaceful season with your kids, please share with the class. Because i am feeling like a complete failure.
Lunar Eclipse
Monday, December 20th, 2010Cool stuff in the sky this week: A full lunar eclipse tonight, the full moon, and the winter solstice tomorrow.
I’ll go ahead and say it. Nerd Central.
Lots of fun this weekend, so hoping to post about it soon, but have a million things to do today, so who knows if that will happen. All you really need to know is that Todd wore a Santa suit.
Nobody Even Knocked Over the Baby Jesus
Friday, December 17th, 2010Tiller’s Christmas program was this morning at St. Bede’s. I, of course, ran completely late and didn’t get to drink any coffee before, during, or after the program. So, one part of me was all sad that it was Tiller’s last “little girl” Christmas program, and the other half was just holding on to a thread of sanity until I could find a coffee.
First of all, the 4s class came out and did some songs. (Jingle Bells and some other stuff.) Very cute. Unfortunately, by the time they are this age, they don’t really do anything wild, like start talking to their mom during the program, or start wailing when they see all the people stare at them, or accidentally knock the baby Jesus out of the cradle.
And let’s be honest: That is what we show up for.
-
- St. Bede’s Christmas Program, December 2010, Tiller, 5 years old
-
- Biting her knuckles with either nerves or excitement.
-
- Belting out jingle bells.
-
- Tiller as some kind of farm animal, which she could not identify.
-
- With her friends. Tiller towers over the other kids.
-
- Tiller not smiling.
-
- Tiller, after I told her she would get cookies after pictures.
-
- Tiller’s happy ending.
Fairies in the Manger
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010The other night, Todd and Rollie left for Boy Scouts and Tiller and I were still at the dinner table talking. She was telling me how she had her feelings hurt because Vivian and Anna both got to be Mary when they played manger, and she did not get a turn. I was amazed that she really knew about the manger and Mary. Upon further questioning, she also knows what a manger is, who is in the manger (Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus), and that there were animals all around, because there “was no hotel.”
Me: “Didn’t some other people come to the manger?”
Tiller: “Yes. The wise men, and the fairies.”
Me: “The fairies?”
Tiller: “Yes, the fairies come to see the Baby Jesus.”
Me: “Honey, I think you mean the Angels.”
Tiller: “Oh, yes! They have wings like fairies!”
Merry Christmas. Hope You Don’t Die.
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010This is so sweet and earnest and honest, in a heartbreaking way, that I wanted to document it here in on Dogwood Girl, even though Todd already posted it on Facebook.
Todd:
At Cub Scouts last night, the boys made Xmas cards to send to troops overseas…I look away for a couple minutes, and R has written “Merry Christmas, I hope you don’t die”….took some gentle coaxing to get him to change it….
Of course, it is also very funny, too. The story is slightly funnier when Todd tells it in person: Evidently, some of the other kids were struggling with the concept of war, and saying things like, “They use guns. I can draw a gun on my card!” and one kid, who has been watching WWII documentaries (?), wanted to draw a Japanese Rising Sun flag on one of his cards.
We were trying to decide if a soldier would bust out laughing upon reading Rollie’s, or burst into tears. I am guessing there is a fine line between laughter and fear and sadness over there, and it might elicit a little of both.
But, really, isn’t Rollie right, if not exactly tactful? (Not sure where he gets that from.) Don’t we want them to have a Merry Christmas, and not die? I guess I’d probably add that I want them to come home safe to their families. I can’t help but think that their own fathers might have been helping them write cards to soldiers just ten years ago, too. And I can’t help but think of the constant fear their mothers must be in every moment of the day.
Merry Christmas to all those serving our country this year. And to their mamas and daddies.