A Thorn Among Roses

when i was a kid, my bro, jeremy, and i were perfect in december because we always had the threat of santa seeing us being bad and not getting gifts. we had an angel as our tree topper...the angel was the one who reported to santa. if santa got a bad report, the angel flew away...and if the angel wasn't on the tree, thn santa wouldn't make the stop at our house. we would sit at the tree and beg the angel to not report our arguing...i c an even remember jeremy crying, and beign a great big sister, i was laughing! turns out that hubs thinks that's a little harsh and grumpy...and so i'm not allowed to do the whole "threat" thing. nana {my mom} apparently 'talked to santa' so he penned a letter to all 4 of my girls. the letters all started with a reminder of some bad behaviors he'd been told and ended with a "don't fight and i'll see you on christmas eve". seemed like a super fun idea...right? look at the excitement on their faces.....

a few things that me and the fam DID NOT do this week... we DID NOT watch elf on monday night...and i DID NOT endlessly quote lines all week to the fam, who sadly, understood and laughed at them all. hubs DID NOT forget to pick up brooke from school while i was at a dentist appoint. i DID NOT call and ask how his first kindergarten pick up went to hear him say, "w hat you are talking about?" i DID NOT flip out a little {or a lot depending on who tells the st ory} and ask where brooke was. he DID NOT say, "school, why?" i DID NOT ask why she wasn't picked up...he DID NOT say, "well, i forgot or well had the time wrong or something or...what do we do?" i DID NOT go right to the school while he called {and i'm sure blamed the whole thing on me}. i DID NOT find brooke sitting in the office, alone and scared and was NOT greeted by "all the other children got picked up and then, well, i didn't and had to come here. where was daddy?" i...

who doesn't like shoes? if you've never bought TOMS, you should check them out. for every pair of shoes that are purchased, they donate a new pair to a person who doesn't have shoes! check this out... my high school students love love love TOMS! not only are they trendy, but comfy and well, full of mercy for others. spread the shoes....choose the shoes.

i'm really hoping to make a few changes this year. i mean more than taking off a little more weight or not eating 12 pieces of pie at christmas dinner... i'm talking change...the inside kinda change. and i think, honestly, we could all use a little "inside change". at the christmas season, we hustle and bustle and make lists and buy buy buy. and so much of it is for nothing... i was thinking about this..i asked my girls what they got for christmas for last year. they remember only 2 gifts {and you know with grandparents and parents and gift exchanges they got way more than that}. so did the gifts really matter? i bet if i gifted water to a village that had no well, that would be memorable for them...and maybe for my kids too. so this year, i am taking the money we would normally spend on "gifts" for teachers and friends and giving them a note {attached to a bag of fresh baked goodies} and telling them their gift is clean drinking water in kenya... i hop...

around these parts, the apples don't fall far from the tree when it comes to the dessert snackage... my little chef, jada, and my helper, sofia, and i got our baking on while ryan and the other girls were hanging out. the new discovery...licking the s patula. and she got every single spec she could get off that thing! i'm more of a sofia kinda girl...why lick the spatula? especially when there's an entire pan of batter? why waste time on the small stuff! i like the way that girls thinks! and i would have a picture of the brownies, but yeah, we ate them very, very quick. and they were soooo delicious...and fun to make too!

we woke up yesterday to our deer {go with me, will you?} frolicking in our first snow of the year. i growled. the kids screamed with joy...and then began the dance... sofia was jealous of java bc she got to play in the snow... {i think maybe java was jealous of sofia too} i used the old "play in the snow time" to get brooke working fast and ready before school, so she went outside to check things out. and again, poor sofia watched...notice she did get on her snow boots to entice me to take her out. well, that stinking winter has begun...and i flipping HATE the cold! tonight the low is 13! that should be illegal...seriously! i need the beach...does anyone have any spare beach? no go and make a difference... read about how you can help out fellow bloggers who really need!

a merry SITSmas to you all! i love this time of year!!! so here's some good wishes from me and fam... and a quick "why the thorn among roses" reminder... and you all have some of my fav must meets...these peeps are rocking my stinking face of the last few years in blogland. check them out ONLY if you want some cool new friends. kacey at chronicles of a mommy. ..she is one of my bloggy bff's! love love love her heart for her fam and the lord. hilarious and sincere to the bone. jen at buried with children ...her hayden and my brooke are getting married in like 20 years. we've arranged it already. pam at you're gonna miss this ...she and i have loads of kiddos, bio and adopted kids, we're photographers and well, she's awesome. meg at meg and the boys ...well, she's my SIL, but she's still awesome! ha! her boys are cuter than newborn puppies and she's precious too. need some baby eye candy...this is your place. my nephew, rowan, was just b...