Everyone Should Get A Moose

and learn to speak Scottish! (I think)

The Chrismas Play

Last Sunday night my girls were in the Christmas play at our church. They were kings/wise men because our church seems to have way more girls than boys. Sydney was decked out in purple and ivory and Melia was well....from China I guess.

The kids sang a little...and Melia attacks!

My first Christmas get together

Last night I hosted my first Christmas get together. It went really well I think. My mom, my grandparents, my aunt Nadean, and my brother's family all came for desert and exchanging gifts. The menu was small, Jell-O no bake cheese cake, and Jell-O peanutbutter desert. Yumm! The kids were loud and crazy... as were the adults! LOL!

A rare moment when my brother doesn't run away from a camera!

Melia was very helpful with the party, she is a natural hostess.

Mom and Sydney...

Overall, the evening was a big sucess and everyone agreed that I should do this agian next year. (I wasn't so sure...I didn't know that these things take so much work! LOL)

Television Man

I did it! I did it!

Well, Monday was the big day...Graduation! There were about 300 of us graduating. I must say that I giggled to myself seeing all the professors walking in with their brightly colored robes and weird shaped hats.

The cap made me look bald, but other than that I felt great! (See Sydney hiding behind me? lol)

And so now it's off to work...

Go Heels!

Yesterday we went to Chapel Hill, NC for the annual coach Roy Williams kids basketball clinic. We left early (7 a.m.) and drove 3 1/2 hours while the kids watched Elf and Everyones Hero on the DVD players that hang on the back of the front seats. (makes traveling easier) We stayed in a nice hotel with a beautiful view of Home Depot. Suites are great because you can bring your own food to fix it in the kitchenette and the kids get their own TV.

We went early so that we could go to a woman's basketball game. We had a good time. Melia liked the cheerleaders, I enjoyed the pep band, and Chris and Sydney were enthralled in the game. We all like the fight song. (Not the best video but it gives you an idea what the game was like)

Sydney got her picture taken with their crazy Ram mascot. A cute story; Chris was at the consession stand and the Ram came up to him and started pushing on him so he started pushing back and the Ram fell on the floor and started flailing around....so weird!

Then Chris and Sydney went to the boy's game that evening. Melia and I didn't go because it just wouldn't be worth the money so we went window shopping, checked out the hotel gym, and watched the game from the hotel. Well, Melia fell asleep and I got on my lap top (love the free wireless internet access) and the game was on....it was a good evening.

Sydney all ready for the game....Go Heels!!

I tried the glasses on too! (my serious look)

The boy's won the game, hit 100 points in the game, and at the next game (Thurs) Tyler Hansbrough will break the record for most points scored. Which brings us to the clinic. Every year the coach, Roy Williams, hosts a clinic for kids 1-8th grade to have a chance to shoot some hoops with the players. The kids loved it and the parents LOVED it, cameras flashing, crazy moms harassing the players for pictures, and so on. Coach Williams makes it a point to tell all the parents to stay the hell out of the way (in no uncertain terms LOL) The group of kids was about half than that of last year, which was great because the kids could spend more one-on-one time with the players. The clinic was held at a different time and was not advertised except for a small anouncement on their website so it was mainly repeats from last year...good for us. :)

Sydney had the most fun playing in this gym with the hilarious Will Graves and Deon Thomson. I tell ya, these guys are real cut ups! They go around singing songs, dancing and making faces, funny guys! In another part of the clinic the kids got to ask the players some questions. I just want to know what they major in and how they get their work done with their schedule!

Here's Marcus Ginyard...

and Ty Lawson...a fav!

And of course Tyler Hansbrough...(rather a doofis. imo :) )

At the end of the clinic the kids got to got a chance to get the all-coveted autographs. They had a limited amount of time and Sydney got all but a few! (she was so happy) We will frame the poster that she brought home. Here she is with Danny Green. (with a boo-boo from last night's game)

and Tyler....

Attending this clinic each year helps Sydney realize (hopefully) that these guys are real people and that they poop in the toilet just like we do. :)

Great comercial well, not so much...

According to this commercial, here are the reasons you should shop at Norton Furniture:

1.) They'll give you credit even if you don't know what credit is.

2.) You can count on the fact that the owner's name is Mark.

3.) Giant tuxedoed frogs often relax there.

4.) Except when concealed men with hedge clippers go on the attack.

Memorable quote: "Now, seriously. If you can't get credit in my store," (coffee break) "you can't get credit anywhere."

A visit with Santa

Today it rained...a lot. I picked the girls up and we headed to the mall to see Santa! The rain ended when we got to the mall so we didn't get drenched like I was afraid we would. So, Santa comes to our house on Christmas eve. We leave cookies on a special "Santa plate" and milk in a special "Santa cup" and this year we will leave a special mixture of carrots, apples, and sweet feed for the reindeer in a special "reindeer pail". This will probably be Sydney's last year to do the whole Santa thing. She has hit her tween years. (between child and teen, fyi)

Sydney Elf

Melia Elf

Becky Elf

The mall has the best Santa that I've ever seen in person. Melia immediately ran to him and gave him a big hug! She gets the miss congeniality award!

Sydney is a little more reserved....

Sydney got the bands on her braces changed today to red & green....

Melia likes Santa hugs best...

And then we saw this really cute Santa bear in a store along the way...

Jozin z bazin

This song is about Bigfoot...I think....the subtitles help...lol

Hamster on a Piano (eating popcorn)

Finals

Today I took two final exams. They were in Global Understanding (world history after 1945) and Hispanic Culture (self explanatory). Well, I had to drive an hour to get there, take my first test, and wait 4 hours to take my other! So, during these 4 hours of being alone in a town that I am not familiar with, I grabbed some lunch (close to the school), sat in my car, did an online puzzle, twiddled my thumbs, and chatted a bit with other students. I felt so much happier on the drive home because these finals were over! So here's a video you can get up and dance to! Only one more class to finish, let's party!

A little video

I thought that I would test out the video feature on my camera and the dogs were cute.

You know it's Chistmas when comercials for the clapper come on TV!

Rainy Sundays

Not much going on. We went to Hickory (20 miles away) and ate some CiCi's pizza, went to the tractor supply store (but they don't sell actual tractor parts, believe me I looked!) you know, the usual rainy Sunday afternoon. Chris got some gloves that he can wear while using a pencil and the girls and I picked up some chew bones, a pig's ear and some toys for the dogs, a tick and a flea! Tater liked the tic...the white thing is the flea. They really aren't big toys, Tater's just small...

The interstate was bumper to bumper and it was rather rainy, but we ate good food and spent a nice day together.

I'm a dog person and we put up the tree!

Through the years I've become a dog person... there so darn cute!!

Max is so loyal and Tater is always underfoot...she really likes to play with Max, just the way that Max "plays" with Fluke. lol. You see, Max has become less of a puppy and to see a puppy want to chew on his legs is just plain funny! (payback for Fluke!)

Max was wondering why I wasn't taking pictures of him so he got in front of the camera!

"Look at me! Take a picture of me!"

We put up our Christmas tree. Actually, we got a new Christmas tree...the new tree is great and all that, but our old tree had such personality! It was a little sad and leaned to one side but...it was our tree for 10 years. So, it's taken a day or two for this new tree to grow on me. Now I think that it is a very nice tree.

It's actually quite pretty...

Anyway...we're in the Christmas spirit and we have cute dogs!

Thanksgiving

We had a nice thanksgiving meal at Tony and Lynda's. Lynda fixed most all of the food. (I brought the veggie casserole and some cool whip.) The kids had a great time and the food was fabulous! I took a picture of the turkey

before....(picture perfect!) Mmmmmm!

and after...lol!

Chris carved the turkey and mom set the table..

and the girls waited...

We had a really good time!

Our New Addition

About 2 months ago I let my neighbor Robert know that I wanted one of his puppies (his little dog was pregnant). Well, the momma dog had them under his house and he thought they had died in the cold but that wasn't the case. I don't know if Fluke is pregnant or not (she's menopausal) but we'll give away any pups she does have and then get her fixed....I don't want to go through a dog in heat again. Back to our new addition...she's about 5 weeks old, and reminds me of our childhood dog Pixie. Our little pup's name right now is Tater Tot or Tots. I'm not sure if that will stay her name, we have a tendency to give nicknames!

first thing I gave her a bath...

I'm crate training her because I have found that that is the easiest way to house train my dogs. Right now we are going through the most disgusting part, worming, eewwww! Nothing like spaghetti poop! She's just getting used to the whole crate idea but she'll come to like it just like Max did. In fact, when I was cleaning the bedding to go into her crate Max crawled in!

I think Max will love to play with her in a few weeks

She loves to be with people and sit beside me while I'm on my laptop...so cute!