BUBBLES AND HIS BLING

Mr. Bubbles loves his bling!

Happy New Year!

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CHRISTMAS CARD REJECTS

Here are a few of the Christmas card pictures that ended up being rejects.

I believe this was the first Christmas that no tears were involved.

Usually #3 gets exasperated with her two camera loving older sisters and tears usually show up sooner or later.

The bad news is #3 is now very interested in what she looks like, what she is wearing and how her pictures turn out.

3 girls = trouble

It wasn't just the lighting that made this a bad choice

Looks pretty good.... except #3 looks too old and sassy.

We told #1 that she obviously stayed up too late the night before because her eyes were puffy and squinty.

She didn't take the news well.

She never does.

Here she is trying to pull them open and make them bigger.

She's going to regret doing all of that stretching around the eye area when she's older!

It is a great nostril and throat shot though.

from the right:

#2 is almost baring her undies - #3 lost her neck - not really sure what #1 is doing

ditto...

except this time....I see London, I see France, I really do see someone's underpants!

The one we settled on.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Just a few little things on Christmas Eve:

It wouldn't feel like Christmas without that last minute trip to Walmart or Target.

The Man of the House and I headed out around nine this morning to go buy pajamas.

I DID already buy the girls their Christmas jammies for tonight (several weeks ago), but when I was wrapping them the other night, I held them up and realized that they were too little for them.

I was NOT going back to the mall today, to go the Gap, to exchange them......

Targe' will have to do!

This was the scene in the kitchen at 2 this afternoon.

The princesses had not dressed yet, but they were helping me in the kitchen.

We are cooking food to take my parent's house tomorrow and making our "party" food for tonight.

I am full (miserable) already just from nibbling!

I love finding "new" clever things for Christmas.

You all may have seen this before, but it was something new for me and it

made me smile.

I found this potpourri at a gift store the other day.

It smells like Christmas trees and it has "Santa Things" in it.

There is a Santa sack, a naughty list, a good list, belt,

hat, candy cane, red socks.....

Like I said.... it is the little things that make me smile!

Merry Christmas Friends!

NURSING SCHOOL, GIFT WRAPPING AND A THANK YOU

Well, the last time I took the time to post on my blog, it was the day before my mom's 70th birthday. I was worried about the weather and being able to get to her house to see her. We were right on the line of expecting snow, ice or nothing. We got a little bit of everything. It snowed and sleeted the entire drive to her house, but it didn't stick to the road. We didn't stay too long because my mom was really worried about us driving back home. I was thankful just to be able to see her on her birthday. She stayed in the bed while we were there, she wasn't feeling well. I crawled in beside her and we talked.

Tomorrow she and my dad head to Duke for another chemo treatment. I hope her blood levels are good and she is able to get it. I am taking the girls to go and meet them and sit with her during the treatment. Treatment days are long days.

I am doing a little last minute scrambling this Christmas. Come hell or high water, I vow to never do this again. I know I have a good excuse, but this is so not me and I am not enjoying the unorganized feeling.

I finally did some wrapping yesterday afternoon. Until yesterday, there were only a few things under the tree and I hadn't "done them up" like I usually do. I even had used a big fat black sharpie and wrote names on the back. The girls were a little relieved to see it looking a little more festive!

I set all my wrapping supplies up in the dining room.

I had a system going!

the paper this year

my helper.... on ribbon duty

finished projects....

While I was wrapping, the doorbell rang and the UPS elf brought me the greatest thing. A very special person sent me this and I love it. I cannot tell you how I felt when I opened it. I was having a little low moment and this really touched me and brightened my day. It brought tears to my eyes.

I love pottery and love collecting it. We will be using this on Christmas Eve.

I think we will be baking crab dip in it!

Thank you friend!!!

Joyce, you are something else!

Well, the other thing that has preoccupied our time is #1's nursing school application. It was due just 18 minutes ago. She submitted it about thirty minutes earlier. It is a long shot that she will get accepted the first go round. The UNC nursing program is very competitive and they are only accepting 86 students into it this year. They receive applications from all over the country as well as from students there at UNC. There were over 200 in her biology class this past semester and the majority of the students in there planned on applying, some of them for the second time. She is hopeful and knows that she would be so blessed to get in the first time.

drained - finishing up - stressed

The application was long and tedious. I hate the on line application process. There is a lot clicking forwards and backwards. If you edit something you have to remember to click the "save edits" button and if don't, everything gets lost. I lost count how many times that happened! This application was set up so that you could not print it and you could not see everything you had typed all at once. So in the whole process, even the person submitting the application never gets to see and scroll through the completed form. That kind of stinks! She worked on the application before exams started, but once they did start, she had no time to even look at it. Everyone in the family sat down tonight to read over the three essays and the application.

a little prayer before sending

Mr. Bubbles said a little prayer too!

I know you are laughing at the idea of me proofreading something. Seeing that I always have a gazillion mistakes in my posts! I always feel like I need to put a little disclaimer or an apology at the beginning each time explaining how tired my eyes are, how little the print is on my computer screen and how quickly I had to sit down and get something posted. Like now, it is after 1 AM and I am feeling a little cross-eyed. Mr. Bubbles and I are headed to bed!

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CHRISTMAS DECOR

I am a little late at joining the party!!!

First an update on my mom:

I went to Duke University yesterday to meet my parents there.

My mother had a doctor's appointment and chemo.

There was some good news. She gained almost four pounds last week.

The medication they gave her to increase her appetite helped.

She was able to get her chemo treatment this week because the eating helped with

her blood count. She still is so weak and frail. She isn't walking anymore, she is in a wheelchair. She is not the same person she was just two

months ago. I watched her sleep as she was receiving her treatment and just watched that medication drip from that bag and through that line that is connected to her port.

It is a picture I will carry with me forever.

The little room was silent, but that drip was the loudest sound I have ever heard.

My mom's 70th birthday is tomorrow, yeah, bitter sweet.

We were planning on going to visit, but we are expecting some icy roads tomorrow and

am not sure if we will be able to go.

I will feel so guilty if I do not see her tomorrow.

***************

I thought I'd add to the Christmas house tours.

Can you believe that next week, at this time, it will be Christmas Eve?

I can hardly believe it.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, but this year it really has become a blur.

That's okay.

I am just staying focused of the true meaning of Christmas.

I gave this statue of a Saint Bernard to The Man of The House

for Father's Day in memory of Cleo.

We put it in Cleo's spot outside by the front steps.

my tree in the family room

some of the ornaments.....

love this snowman!

I have my girls' and all of my pets' paw prints on the tree.

I make a salt dough that you bake and paint and make ornaments.

This is Muffin's paw print. She was one of our West Highland Terriers we had before having kids.

She lived to be 18 and Nicholas, the other Westie, lived to be 17.

I love when I unpack these ornaments!

the mantle in the family room

I have a lot of Santas and elves hanging around the house.

Christmas dishes

nothing formal here.... just casual and fun!!

the dining room

I have a tree in the dining room that is gold. The angel in the background was made by one of the girls. It's body is a feather and I LOVE how it flutters all day long.

It is holding a nail to symbolize the cold manger made of wood and nails where Jesus was born and also of the cross and nails where Jesus died.

yep, awkward picture of the tree

I also posted some decorations the other day of the foyer and some of my Santas.

Hope you enjoyed!!

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TURKEY LURKING

Mr. Bubbles,

being the talented cat that he is, can always sense when there is a bird in the house.

He is always lurking near by, trying to go incognito.

The other day we decided to make some room in the freezer and cook the 21 pound turkey that had been camping out in there.

It didn't take long for Mr. Bubbles to show up in the kitchen.

Here, Mr. Bubbles is pretending to be part of the roaster.....

(YUM, don't you want to come and eat at our house now? So sanitary!)

standing guard.......

supervising......

and finally, he is doing a little begging.

Do you know what they say about turkey, Mr. Bubbles?

The tryptophan will get you every time!

Time for a catnap?

It sure looks that way to me....

especially from this angle!

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TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

My mom went to Duke on Wednesday to get her second chemo treatment but her white blood count was down and so she was not able to get it. She has lost more weight, she is down to 105 pounds. You can imagine how weak she is. Her doctor told her she had to eat and eat and eat. She just isn't hungry and feels really bad. If would please pray for her strength and appetite, maybe we could all pray about 20 pounds onto her. That would be the biggest blessing.

We are still trying to get into the Christmas spirit at our house. Instead of decorating our house in one weekend like we usually do, we have had to do a little at a time and not put everything out. I am not putting out my Christmas village or our fairy tree in the living room. The girls haven't really realized that yet, but as soon as they do I know they will be disappointed.

I just thought I'd share some of our decorations around the house. Every year I do things a little differently . I have a big Santa collection and this year I split them up and scattered them around the house instead of putting them all together.

This is in the foyer....

I made this wreath out of little wooden ornaments and buttons.

I hang it in my kitchen window.

My favorite manger!

#3 made this in preschool and it is so precious to me.

I may not have one of those wooden mangers from Germany, but I have this one!

The tree in the dining room is all gold.

I am still wrestling with the lights. They seem to have a mind of their own this year.

Everyday a different section decides to go out.

I have a lot of plaques with Christmas sayings on them, but this one has to be my favorite.......

If only I had some elves....................

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