Little known Christmas carol facts and our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Did you know that "Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer had very shiny clothes"? Did you also know that "one foggy Christmas tree Santa came to say"? Don't be upset if you didn't know these things because I didn't either. Victoria and I took a trip to Wally World to check out the Christmas aisle. We needed to get a table top tree for her room and I wanted to get a new Christmas CD for our rides in the car to look at Christmas lights. I have a few good ones with my favorites but she doesn't know any of them so she can't sing along, and for her that is a MUST! So I found a $5 CD with Rudolph, Frosty, Rockin around the Christmas tree, and other kid popular songs. I didn't know that it was going to be such an educational experience for me to learn the hidden lyrics of old favorites.

While in the decorations we found our tree for her room. It was a dollar (which was about our budget) and it was in a bag (not a good sign). I thought what the heck and purchased it with a small package of pink ornaments to go with her obnoxious sweet tart purple room (really you need to see it to appreciate it). We headed home with our new toys and went straight to decorating the tree. I pulled the 24 incher out of the bag and proceeded to "fluff" the 2-3 branches that the tree came with. The tree is pitiful! I added my 50 count lights to it, (little did I know that the branches would barely support them it looks like the poor thing is radioactive with 50 lights on this itty bitty thing) and I used Victoria's pink feather boa for a makeshift tree skirt. Each of the branches had to carry the weight of 2 of the mini ornaments, which was questionable, because there just isn't enough branches to put one on each. I know that putting both lights and ornaments I am violating the weight capacity but I guess it turned out alright. If you ask her it is just as pretty as the Rockefeller tree. She thanked me by handing me my tail in a game of Candyland.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous!

So this is how the other half live! James and I had a wonderful week this week thanks to our friends Travis and Marlina.

My week started out Monday with James finally making it home for the first time for longer than a few hours in 2 weeks time span. It was great to have him home and the kids and I enjoyed every minute of it. He even cooked dinner for us and it was so good that everyone had seconds.

Tuesday I left all 5 kids with James and I enjoyed a gift certificate from Travis for a salon in town for a 1/2 hour massage and a haircut and style. He won it at a benefit at work and didn't have a need for it so he passed it along to a tired overworked mommy for a day of pampering. I enjoyed every minute of it. When I was done James had left to take Brooklyn and Makenzie home so that we could pack things up for an evening out of the house. Travis and Marlina invited us over to their house for a some conversation and wine. They have been working very hard on their house that they bought this year and have just put in a hot tub outside in a beautiful gazebo. We hung out and let Victoria and the babies watch Shrek 3 and laughed along with every part. Once the kids eyelids started to get heavy we took them into their spare bedroom and put them down to sleep hooked up the monitor and headed outside to the hot tub. It was so beautiful the steam rolling off of the water and the lights inside the tub changing color in the waterfall. I was in hog heaven. The kids gave us an early Christmas gift of a few hours of peace. They didn't make a peep while we were relaxing with friends. We talked and laughed while the bubbles tickled and relaxed every inch of our bodies.

Wednesday we started early getting the kids ready to go to mamaw and papaws for their first overnight visit. Travis, Marlina, James and I had been planning for weeks for our first overnight double date. Travis has a connection with Ceaser's casino and was given two complimentary rooms and a 300 dollar comp for Portico's restaurant to celebrate Marlina's 24th birthday. I have been anticipating this for a while. I have heard that the food at this restaurant is amazing and have stayed in the rooms there a couple times and knew how comfy the beds were and anxiously awaited a night of good food and great company.

Our dinner reservations were at 9 and we arrived at the hotel at 4 so we headed to our rooms and changed into our suits and hit the pool and hot tub at the hotel. We swam and snacked poolside for a few hours then headed up to our rooms to get ready for dinner. After our calamari appetizer I ordered surf and turf and James ordered a 24oz. Porterhouse steak that you could practically cut with a fork. A bottle of wine was opened for us to share and we sat there enjoying our 55 dollar a plate dinners like we were the type of people that could afford that on a daily basis. The unbelievable dinner was matched by the chocolate lava cake. James ordered bananas foster, his favorite, and the server came to our table and fixed it in front of us we really got a kick out of it. I have pictures above that were taken when he flamed the sauce.

We rolled ourselves back to the hotel to change into stretchy clothes and take a quick nap before making a small deposit into their slot machines. When we met Travis and Marlina in their room to make our way to the boat we decided to take some snapshots of us before we won big or lost miserably. As James was taking a picture of Marlina sitting on the bed and Travis kneeling beside her he proceeded to pull out an engagement ring and pop the question. It was wonderful to be a part of that moment with them. Sadly though it didn't bring us any luck on the boat. We still had a ball and finished off the whole "vacation" with breakfast buffet free with their Ceaser's points. All you can eat bacon and pancakes?!? Sign me up!

I am now at home and the house is quiet. James has left for a run to Jersey and the kids and I just got back from looking at Christmas lights. Victoria and my favorite pass time these days. I promised her that I would take her if she was good at mamaw and papaws. Plus I asked her tonight if she would like our hot chocolate and she responded..... and I quote....."Let me go pick my toys up first". I wanted to check her for fever. I can't believe it! It is an amazing moment in parenting when the week before you were at your wits end and frustrated beyond belief and suddenly your kids show a sign that what you try to teach them is finally sinking in. Granted I know it was a fleeting moment and tomorrow I will be repeating myself all over again it is just nice to see a glimpse of all of the effort come through when for once I don't need to say "Go ahead and put your stuff away" I have had a wonderful week. I am rejuvenated and refreshed. I now can slide back into the roll of mommy with a clear head and a new appreciation for the finer things in life. While fine dining and being waited on hand a foot isn't day to day life for us around here it was nice to pretend for bit.

3 new posts

I have been waiting to upload photos and video to publish some posts to there are 3 new ones don't miss the video.

My tuckered out turkeys

My babies have found their smiles! I have only caught Anthony's on camera but you ought to see Miss Addison's. Bottom photographs are of them on Thanksgiving Day once we got home. They are worn out!! Can you tell Anthony loves the camera?

Thanksgiving is over and I am stuffed. My sister had it this year and did a wonderful job. Best food I've had in a long time. As always I was excited that it was hot! James is in Bakersfield, CA and is going to start heading home tomorrow morning. I hate the holidays without him. It just isn't' the same. I can't imagine all of the people with family members overseas during the holidays. Their strength surpasses mine. At least I know he will be home in a few days. I had all kinds of help with the babies and Victoria though. Mom and Dad came to get Victoria last night so that I could regroup from another LONG week. I had reached my limit and they came to the rescue. They also decided that they are going to keep her another night as well along with my niece Ariel. They are going to see the Bee movie tomorrow and I am going to stay home and just relax with the babies. I can't wait.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Fun at the zoo & the goat that cracked us up!

If you ever feel bad about your teeth take a look at this goat and I garuntee that you will feel much better about your appearance.

I played with the camera all day posing my "shy" daughter Victoria.

This is Marlina and I taking the babies down the slide for the first time. I am sure in a year I won't be able to get them off of it.

My babies being so serious. The weather was georgous that day! I think they really enjoyed the fresh air.

Babies first time on the jungle gym. As you can see some did better than others. I like to call them Miss Prissy and Captain Panic.

More poses of my wall flower.

She is no stranger to the camera. She played till she was a sweaty mess.

Today was a perfect day at the zoo. Marlina and I decided to take the babies to the zoo today. The weather couldn't of been more wonderful. It was one of the most eventful days at the zoo that I have ever experienced. Let's just say that the warm weather lead the lions, goats and three different sets of turtles in the same exhibit to believe it was spring time. ( if you know what I mean )

We also got to play with the orangutan. I learned from a zoo volunteer one trip that they are fascinated with purses and shiny things. So I grabbed my diaper bag and held it up to the window. The female saw me from across the exhibit and moved from her rock that she was sitting on and moved right up against the window resting her head on the window seal. She nodded her head and pointed to the bag as if to say "Whatcha got in there?" I would take out one thing and she would nod and point wanting to know what else I had. She especially loved the thermometer I had. We got a real kick out of it. There was hardly anyone at the zoo with it being a school day and it was nice to take time to see the animals when they are so interactive without feeling like you are in someones way of seeing them too.

We also got to see a baby penguin get introduced into the exhibit. The poor thing was confused as to why it couldn't swim past the glass and all of the adults were making so much racket marking the top of the rocks their territory. It was quite loud, but a very enjoyable day of exercise, relaxation, and reproductive education.

If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen

Anthony and Addison have both discovered their mobiles this week. I have been cracking up watching them snapping their neck to see the next animal that is coming. I can see that we are going to have to save up for Chiropractic appointments in his future. Addison knows mommy is making a video of bubby and she is crying jealously as daddy is changing her diaper. ( video posted below)

Today was annual baking day with my friend Marlina. We started at 12 and we have been at it all day just playing and getting into the holiday spirit. We began the day at Santa Depot to look at all of the Christmas decorations. She had never been and she really got a kick out of all of the theme trees. We decided to get matching ornaments to mark our second annual baking day for the holidays. The back room had all of the prelit tree lit up. It looked like a Christmas wonderland. Anthony was awake this time and really studied the trees and all of the twinkling lights. I couldn't get Addison to wake up to save my life. I really wanted to see her expression and the magic in her eyes too.

After making a quick trip to the store for some key ingredients we headed home to get started on the goodies. We made an assortment of white bark. Some with chocolate chips and pretzels crunched up. It is my favorite. We also experimented with some peanut butter chips and walnuts. It is just so easy to make and way too easy to pop in your mouth. Marlina made a WONDERFUL discovery of M&M's that are flavored peppermint. THEY ARE AMAZING!!! I highly recommend searching them out you are at the store. We put them in my food processer and mixed them into some of our bark too.

The babies sat in their bouncy seats in the living room listening to XM radio's Christmas station. They were really good today. They have been awake alot lately. They are becoming really alert these days. I caught myself just staring at them listening to the music thinking that this is the first time they are hearing Rudolph, Frosty the snowman, Santa Claus is coming to town, and my personal favorite Oh holy night. It takes everything I have to not tear up thinking about how amazing this Christmas is going to be with my kids. I have waited along time for this in my life. I hope I don't take a minute of it for granted!

A night of relaxation????

Not exactly! Last night was my first night going to the resource study at my church. They are offering different topical classes and I have been anxiously waiting for them to start. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a mid week break, grow a lil deeper in my faith and shake off the stress of the day. They actually began last week and with the sick kids I missed it so this week I started early, as I always do, to get everyone ready to go. Everyone was bathed and ready to go including mommy who found 30 seconds to throw on some makeup. They serve dinner starting at 5 and Victoria and I decided to take advantage of a $2 dollar meal that mommy doesn't have to cook.

After getting everyone loaded into the car I headed to church, about a 5 minute drive. When I got in front of the church I realized that in packing everyone up I forgot to put my wallet in my diaper bag. So I turned around and headed back home to grab my bank card so that I could run by the ATM and get some cash. Once I got back in the car I again heard Victoria for the 59th time asking if we were going to see her friends (at church that is). "Yes Victoria I have already told you we are going to see your friends." I rush to get back to church because it is beginning to rain now but first I have to turn left on Grant line Rd. and for those of you familiar you know that in itself requires a lot of prayer at 5:00.

I make it to the parking lot with only a slight drizzle of rain outside and I head to the back of my car to get the stroller. My neck is still giving me fits and carrying them into the church in their seat at almost 10 lbs apiece just didn't sound appealing with spasms in my neck. I get out the stroller (please refer to back to blog post entry "mommy first day with stroller" and insert here because the experience wasn't much different) Once I get into the church we head to get all the kids checked into the childcare offered. We get our identification stickers but the pagers are not here yet so we have to come back. We head to dinner and I navigate my 10 foot long stroller through tight corners to get our salisbury steak with green beans and mashed potatoes. I find a table with ample room for my crew and leave Victoria with the babies while I get us something to drink. (I forgot to say that childcare didn't start until 6:15 so we are with babies) We eat and it was actually really good for 5 dollars between the two of us. We were almost finished when someone approached us to ask if we were the Craig's. Seems that I left my ID stickers where I paid for dinner. I thanked him and continued to munch on MY cookie that I had to pry out of Victoria's hands.

Once dinner was done Victoria and I took the babies to the family restroom. Let me tell you our church must have a lot of small families because just the front half of my stroller fit into it. I decided to just leave the stroller outside and take them one at a time to change their diaper before I left them in the nursery all the while answering the jumping bean Victoria "YES WE ARE GOING TO SEE YOUR FRIENDS......JUST WAIT!!!!" Next time I am going to rethink that cookie after dinner when I am handling her alone with no straight jacket in sight. A very sweet lady came out of the nursery seeing my situation asked if she could help in any way I had her control Victoria while I finished up changing Anthony's diaper as he looked at me with "You are pretty stressed out by now huh." eyes. I find my way over to the nursery and check in the twins. I have to fill out a slip about each of them if they take a paci, when do they eat, and any allergies and such along with putting on their ID tags onto their car seats and them..........."Where did I put those ID tags?!?" Yep now realize that I left them on the table we ate at in the dining hall. I leave the babies in their carriers on the counter with the nursery staff grab Victoria's hand and speed walk to the dining hall grab the tags and head back. Mind you I now have sweat LITERALLY running down my temples and neck. I slap the stickers on the car seat, diaper bag, and each babies leg. The volunteer at the nursery asked me to then fill out the paper on what class I am taking in case they need me what room number I am in and what pager number I have.......remember they didn't have the pagers yet when I checked them in before we ate? CRAP! I am now at a dead run to the Kid stuff counter to get my pager and run back to the nursery scribble down the pager number. I then snatch up Victoria, who STILL hasn't quit asking about her friends and take her to her classroom restraining myself from picking her up and throwing her in the door to be with "her friends".

I find MY class and take a seat. My class was really nice. They talked about making "quiet time with God" I have decided to make a honest effort to do that each and every day. Never mind that I can't even find "quiet time" with my toilet without someone needing me but the concept of 7 minutes with God that they talked about seems more than doable. I have to say that the class didn't last long enough. Before I knew it I had to go and round up my crew again.

I decided to get the babies first so I could concentrate on getting them strapped onto the stroller before I had to pull Victoria away from her friends. The three of us walk across the parking lot talking about what we learned in our classes. Victoria apparently learned about "Jossa" and the whale. A name I am not familiar with in the bible and it made me smile. I get Victoria in the car and snap the babies into their bases in the car try, and I stress try, to breakdown the stroller all the way down and throw it in the car.

Once I get home I change Anthony's diaper to find a sticker on his diaper saying "Inspected by.....". I cracked up. It had written on there who changed his diaper and if it was pee pee or poo poo and what time it happened. How cute is that? I got the babies to bed and Victoria and I played our 5th game of Hi Ho Cherry-O this week while drinking our hot chocolate. I fell into bed and the babies slept 8 1/2 hours last night!!! I have been trying to tweek our schedule and I am going to pray that I have found the magic schedule for a full night of sleep. Everyone is down for a nap now and I am enjoying the peace and quiet. I think I am going to spend my time with God .