Not Me!

"I didn't eat the powdered donut." hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I don't know if I believe her!

17

17 years ago, in a hospital in downtown Bangkok, Thailand, my first baby was born shortly after 7am. Joe and I became parents. I became a mother. I keep looking at Joey, our 6'4", 17 year old son, and I can't help but wonder where all the time has gone.

Joey was THRILLED by his birthday gifts... a new Ipod and some new basketball shoes of his choice from Eastbay! He also enjoyed his "cake" ... or big chocolate chip cookie that Holly baked him per his request!

Lunch Conversation Between Sisters...

The littles enjoyed lunch on the leftover Batman paperware from Abby's birthday celebration. Their choice for lunch today: quesadillas and applesauce. Spurred on by the cartoons on their plates and napkins, they discussed their love of Batman, Spiderman, Robin and the Joker.

Then the conversation took a drastic turn:

Lilli ~ "When I eat all my lunch, I am going to grow up big and strong and get married."

Abby ~ "Lilli, you don't even know what married is."

Lilli ~ "Yes I do. I will get a big sparkly ring."

Abby ~ "And you have to kiss too."

Lilli ~ "I don't want to kiss. I just want the big sparkly ring."

I am still laughing!

Another funny of Lilli...

She came home from school the other day and proclaimed that she had a boyfriend. Abby informed us that yes indeed, Lilli was smitten with Blake at school. Joey asked Lilli why Blake... and she replied, "Because he goes potty every time by himself".... You can tell that potty training is a BIG issue at our house! But we were all laughing because Lilli's standards at the moment are obviously not that high... hope she adds some more criteria to her "What it takes to win Lilli's heart" list when she gets a little older... but being potty trained... well, that should ALWAYS be on the top of the list!

SELAMAT HARI ULANG TAHUN ABBY!

... That would be Happy Birthday Abby in Bahasa Indonesian!

Today we spent the entire day celebrating Abby and her special day... SHE IS 5!!!!!

We started the day with homemade waffles upon her request. After breakfast, she received her first present ~ Bat Cave! She guessed what it was before she opened it... and funny... she never asked for it... WHAT A GUESS!

At first she wanted her birthday dinner to be at Olive Garden... because"everyone loves the croutons" she said. But in the end, Chuck E. Cheese won out! I printed out a coupon and took the kids report cards from last semester and the kids ended up with hundreds of tokens to enjoy! And enjoy they did... Daniel collected all the "tickets" before we departed and picked out a cute little radio for Abby!

The evening ended with cake and presents... and a round of "Panjang Umurnya" or Happy Birthday in Indonesia! We also made Spiderman cupcakes for Abby to take to school to share tomorrow.

Abby had a great day and is now tucked in and hopefully having sweet dreams of her special day! I can not believe that she is 5!!! Even more amazing... in just a few days, my first "baby" turns 17!!!! That is the one that I really CAN NOT believe!!!!

Hey YALL... It's a Winter Wonderland!

My mom called early this morning to give me the news.... it was snowing!!! She had been sleeping soundly when my aunt called her... who had received a call from the neighbor waking her up! The news of SNOW in the deep south travels fast!!! I am so hoping this snow travels up Interstate 59 and dumps a little on our front lawn in Northern Alabama!

Seriously, the last snow that we could recall (of any consequence) in southern Louisiana was in the late 70's. It is the only snow that I can recall growing up... No wonder I still hold the beautiful white stuff in such high esteem! I am sure if I had to live with it day in and day out for months at a time, my love would change to strong dislike pretty quickly!

But for now, I will just say, "The car is in the garage, I have coffee, I have bread, I have milk... the fire place is warm and toasty... so, Bring it on"!

*** To watch the video below, scroll down to the bottom of the blog and pause the music as the video has music all it's own! Enjoy!

Catch Up

Busy is not descriptive enough to describe my current life! I have a new found respect for single parents.... If I did not know this was a temporary situation ... I think I would need counseling and a lot more caffeine!

That said... we hit the road for Thanksgiving ~ our car pointed south for New Orleans. My dad had his knee replaced the week before and was released from the hospital on Wednesday - a few hours before our arrival. It was a low key holiday because of this... but joyous just the same.

My brother and sister-in-law and their I-chiwawa (little Ava) joined the celebration - driving in from North Carolina. ... and driving the "littles" crazy because that cute little dog would have nothing to do with them!!! Drove me crazy too... because I was in need of some puppy lovin'... NOT going to happen... she thought we were all reasons to run and hide in her crate!!!

We enjoyed all the "fixins" - fried turkey, pork roast, rice and gravy, dressing etc etc. My mom and Aunt Carolyn sure can cook GREAT food! My jeans were more than a little tight when the kids and I departed for home on Sunday morning.

Since our return to Alabama, the kids are back to their schoolwork. Their school is on a 4 period block system, so next week will mark the end of the classes they are currently taking. The teachers are cramming all the leftover bits and pieces of information in the last few days of school. Holly and Joey are pretty excited as the High School has a policy that students with an "A" average and only minimal absences are exempt from the final exams. That means - no exams for the both of them... and no school for the last 2 days which are only for exams. How cool is that! Wish my school would have had this policy... would have been great incentive!

Daniel's school does not "offer" the same policy. He is not too happy about that because he is doing so well in school and would be exempt from most of his exams also. Oh Well... a little more studying never hurt anyone! He will survive!

Joe joins us for the holidays in 2 weeks... his plane lands on Christmas Eve at 9pm. The entire Judge clan will be sitting in the teeny tiny local airport to greet him! We can't wait!

All Christmas shopping is done. I simply need to wrap everything! I am hoping to do that next week so Christmas Eve will be easy. Stay tuned for our Christmas morning presents as Joey is going to be really SHOCKED by his present! Something that kids dream of... and something that will help me out tremendously! hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I will leave you all guessing!

I will post some pics soon... as I have tons of the kids basketball games which are in full swing! 3 last night! The kids are all doing great... Holly scored 20 points in her opening game... leading her team to a 32 to 18 victory. Daniel and Joey have also had great games... I am a proud mom! But... after Joey's broken leg on the basketball court... I am ALWAYS SO NERVOUS!!!
I have no finger nails left...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season... We are so enjoying the lights and Christmas Cheer! It is SO GREAT to be back in AMERICA!!!

Some Disco Christmas Spirit

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Spirit

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Song was Heard at Christmas

A song was heard at Christmas
To wake the midnight sky:
A saviour's birth,
and peace on earth,
And praise to God on high.

The angels sang at Christmas
With all the hosts above,
And still we sing
the newborn King
His glory and his love.




*** scroll down to the very bottom of the blog and pause the music before you click on the arrow to play.

"The Winch" by "Dr. Phil"

The boys had "called" the televisions last night for NBA. Fine with me... not much to see anyway until 9pm when Top Chef came on. Anyway, I was on the computer and called the girls in to watch some Christmas shorts on YouTube.

We enjoyed some classics like "Rudolf" and "Frosty" and "Little Drummer Boy". The girls were LOVING the short videos... and were begging for more. Holly walked through the computer room and suggested "The Grinch". Cool I thought.... Well, I do believe "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" was a bit much for one of my littles! Lilli informed me that, "I am not scared of the Winch mommy, he is in the puter"... Abby on the other hand was both fascinated and frightened by this green creature who made his debut into her life last night thanks to her mom and sister. Interesting how she was a bit frightened but intrigued... asking a million questions.

She woke up this morning and the first thing out of her mouth was a question about how big the Grinch was. Oh so small... he lives on a mountain outside of Whoville... and we know from Horton Hears a Who (the first movie we took Lilli to go see) that Whoville is so small - it fits on a dandelion! This has made Abby feel much better!

I also explained to her that "The Grinch" is a story and cartoon that was made up by the same person who wrote "Sam I Am"... which is one of her favorite books! "Oh... The Grinch was written by Dr. Phil" she asked. Cracked me up.... Where in the world did she get Dr. Phil instead of Dr. Suess... I don't watch that show! Come to find out, the lady that cared for Abby in Australia watched Dr. Phil quite regularly while the kids were supposed to be napping... or so Abby tells me!

Top of my shopping list for tomorrow is the DVD "The Grinch". I promised Abby that the Grinch's heart grows and grows with the help of Cindy Lou Who and we will watch the video for her to see the happy ending! Lilli wants to watch "The Winch" too!

Funny how little things turn into such BIG things!

Finally.... Abby has decided she wants to be Cindy Lou Who for Halloween next year... anyone have any idea who sells this sought after costume?????