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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Indiana Christmas

I promised you some pictures of the kids over Christmas, so at long last, here they are.  We drove up to Northwest Indiana to spend some time with Rainman's side of the family.  First, the kids started with a rousing game of dress up.


V-Girl isn't quite sure what is happening....

I just noticed that S-Girl kind of got squeezed out of that group shot...so here is another where you can see her in all her flower power sunglasses glory!



What you can't see in this picture is just how small A-man's Woody costume is....very, very tight and very, very short....but he still kept it on for at least 30 minutes of rootin' tootin' family fun!



D-Man and A-Girl spent a lot of time playing with the little kids....by choice and not because we told them to... even though both of them are getting to the age where they would like to lurk around adult conversations to see what interesting information than can gleen! They are very good with kids and kids love them.  It makes this mommy's heart glad.


Uncle Frank plays Santa every year and here are this years crop of helpful elves.


Here we are at the end of the night.  D-Man is wearing his favorite gift.  The other favorites include:  A-Girl got a fake American Girl doll; L-Girl got a penguin pillow pet; S-Girl got a Baby Alive; V-Girl got her own baby so there won't be any fighting over previously mentioned Baby Alive; and A-Man got something he put on his Christmas wish list.  Something every 5 year old boy covets.....


A hand crafted (by his Auntie Debby), genuine pilgrim hat!  We don't know why he wanted one or where he came up with the idea.....but here it is and here is his smiling face!!!

He also wanted a Boba Fett head from Star Wars which he got and I have recorded on my Christmas gift from Rainman - a new digital video camera....but I have missed placed the computer disk so I can't upload my film...(I guess it isn't really "film" is it?)... onto the computer.  The video is pretty funny, so hopefully I can post that soon!

We headed back to Georgia having missed out on the ice storm that came through while we were gone. Rainman had to work on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we still managed to squeeze in some family time.

To keep this from getting to be too long a post....I will post about Georgia Christmas later.

Friday, December 24, 2010

He is the Reason....and a Cute Santa Picture!

As my sister's post says...He is The Reason....

I thought you might still enjoy seeing the kids Santa picture this year. 


It was taken at our church.  I love how the tree was decorated with crosses and Chrismons symbols.  He really is the Reason.  Thank you God.  Now that I am a mother, I cannot imagine the sacrifice that HE made for each and every one of us!

We have had the stomach flu here this week, so I will post more Christmas adventures after Christmas when we are all feeling better!  Until then, please have a Blessed Christmas with your families!  If you get to be with your extended family this year, appreciate it - don't just have it be something you have to get through or fit into your schedule!  I miss the luxury of being with my brother, sisters, nieces and nephews!!!  Love you guys!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

New Christmas Lyrics

We just returned from a road trip to visit my husband's side of the family in Northwest Indiana, so I will have more pictures to share later, but I thought I would share the new Christmas lyrics that A-man has been singing!

Deck the Halls with.....wait for it.....Balls of Jolly!

I love those words waaaaay better than the original.....who knows what a Bough of Holly is anyway?!?

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A Southern Lady or a Southern Belle?

We have lived in Georgia for a little more than a year now.  I was the last to get on the Georgia is great bandwagon....but I am finally aboard.  And while I am finally comfortable that this is our home and excited for what the future will hold, I still don't feel totally comfortable here in social situations.  Most people have told me that I will still be considered an outsider for many years.  And, I am pretty sure it will be true.  I am different.  Where I come from there are different ways of talking.  For example, where I come from "Uffda" is a multi-purpose word.  Here, I am pretty sure they think I am talking gibberish when I say it. 

There are different social norms.  Recently, a friend of mine at church teased a few of the little kids about something, including A-man...(it had something to do with K-I-S-S....something, something, G)  This particular tease was one that I have been teaching the kids that it is not nice to do.  So, I went and talked to her about...not in a confrontational way...but in what I think was a "Minnesota Nice" way.  I just basically, jokingly, asked her if she could restrain herself from this particular tease in the future. I didn't think it was a big deal....at all. 

Another one of my friends was mother to one of the other "teasees" and asked me if I had heard what friend number one had said/done.  I told her I had and I had talked to her about it.  She looked at me with kind of a shocked look on her face...her mouth even dropped open a little bit.  We had all the kids around so nothing was discussed, but later, in a follow up conversation, I asked her about her reaction to the fact that I had spoken to this friend and asked her not to tease the kids. 

She told me that, here in the South, you can be upset with people or not like something they have said or done(we weren't happy about the way this embarrassed the kids), but she said you never know how a Southern Lady will feel because she will just say "Oh, bless your heart!" and move on...even if she is furious.  What I had done was very out of character. 

Then I got to thinking. 

I know that "my heart" has been "blessed" many, many times since we moved here.  Oh no!!!  Was I offending everyone with my Yankee ways?  Was I considered too brash?  Were they all blessing my heart and then talking about me behind my back? 

In my Yankee forwardness, I asked my friend.  She reassured me that people can really say, "Bless your heart", and actually mean, "Bless your heart", but that phrase is apparently kind of the multi-purpose phrase of the South - similar to Uffda in the North.

My friend assured me that I shouldn't try to change my ways to fit in and that maybe I could be an example of a different way of communicating for the ladies here.  I don't know.  We will see.  It just feels strange to feel so like these Southern Ladies and yet so very, very different.  I am not sure I will ever be able to say that I am a true Southern Lady, even though I have become a sweet tea convert.

On another note, S-Girl, my 3 year old, seems to be adapting and turning into a Little Southern Belle. 


She has recently started saying fer.  What is that, you say?  It is fer...not fur.  She will ask things like, "What's that fer mom?"  "What are we having fer dinner, mom?"  I have tried to get her to say for...but it seems to be a losing battle.  She is becoming a little Southern Belle. 

On the other hand, the rest of us still giggle and nudge each other when someone says, "Can all y'all pay attention, please?" Or any other variation on all y'all!

So, in closing, I say, "Bless all y'all hearts"! 

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Jesus In Your Heart

We believe in Jesus at our house.  We believe that he died for each and every one of us.  We believe that this time of year celebrates his birth.

I have one of these....

I am honestly not sure where or when I got it....I am even not sure what it is supposed to be used for.  I have tried to make heart shaped pancakes and the batter just kind of oozed underneath and the end result is a vaguely heart shaped pancake.  I have successfully used it to make heart shaped sandwiches.  Nevertheless, when we moved, I deemed it important enough to pack it into a box and bring it to Georgia with us where it has taken up residence in a drawer that houses all my baking stuff....measuring cups, spoons, scoops, and heart shaped thingies that I don't really know what they are used for.  This drawer is right at V-Girls level, so she unpacks the contents of the drawer at least once daily. 

Recently, when this happened, I asked A-Man to help me pick up.  I went to do something else and left him to do the job on his own.  Then he came over and showed me a new use for the heart... 

Here is what he said....

This is people who don't have Jesus in their heart.


This is people who are thinking about having Jesus in their heart.


This is people who have Jesus in their heart.

I think I like this use for this item best of all.  A visual aid in a lesson from a 5 year old on how Jesus should be IN our heart....not outside and not even just close to their heart!!!