If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

It finally started snowing a couple of days ago and it hasn't stopped!  Thursday I was at the park with the kids without our coats. . .and while it was a beautiful day, we wanted the snow!  It finally came and we are so excited!  Andy and Hays have been snowboarding all weekend and Dax and Tiki and I went sledding yesterday (I've been in bed since my one run sledding accident--silly non-blog-worthy story).  The boys are LOVING the weather!  (The girls are in Oklahoma with BeBe and PaPa.)

I feel like a new chapter in my life has begun and I'm kind of scared of it (if I were perfectly honest, I would tell you that I feel like a small part of me has died).  Lesley left today.  In August, she took one look at Andy's travel schedule and then asked me if she could stay with us and help me out strictly because she loves our family.  Of course I said YES and she has been the biggest blessing to me!  This year has been a tough one for me for many many reasons, but because of Lesley, I have been able to survive it with dignity and even with some enthusiasm.  She is a servant and she is easy to be with.  She is very loving and I have never seen anyone love my children the way she does.  It was nice to have her help around the house and it was nice to have her companionship after the kids went to bed.  She is a true servant and she is a literal life-saver. Thank you, Lesley!  I am nervous to try and do life without your help again....

This is Tiki's marshmellow snow man that he made at his holiday party today!  He was so proud of himself!

This morning was a middle school morning.  Hays made the honor roll (even had at 100% average in Science) and so I got to go to the honor roll assembly.  I nearly had an emotional break down waiting for the assembly to start because I was so AWARE of how ALONE I was.  Back in Branson, I would have been there with my friend, Melissa, and we would have been laughing and talking and probably would have been at the assembly more to be together than to honor our kids.  And there I sat today ALL ALONE without a friend to sit with (or even to look for).  It took all of my strength to hold my tears at bay until the assembly finally started.  Pathetic, I know.  (I miss you, Mel!) Then, after the assembly, we got to go watch the sixth graders launch their hot air balloons.  They have been making these balloons for a science project and I was expecting something fairly hokey, but it was so much fun.  The balloons were so pretty and so well done and it...

Well, Gabby and Tiki both have new hair do's for the holidays!  I am so excited! Tiki has a John Legend inspired head full of little twists that Lesley worked on for about five hours (I helped for about twenty minutes--maybe).  He looks adorable!  There was one name-calling incident at school ("hedgehog") followed by some tears, but I think he now realizes just how awesome he looks! And Gabby got her braids back in!  We headed to the salon at 9:00 yesterday morning and emerged at 4:45 with much more hair!  Enjoy the "in-process" shots, too!  She kept saying that she looked like "Punzel" (Rapunzel) because the hair was down to her ankles before we cut and burned the ends!  It was hysterical to watch her play with her long long hair all day while it was getting braided!  She is a trooper!  I cannot fathom having someone pull at my hair for nearly eight hours!

The shortbread wedges on the Christmas Tree plate are my favorites!  And I found crushed peppermint flavored Ande's candies to put on the top instead of crushed candy canes!  YUMMY!!!

So, this morning, I made teacher gifts.  Yes, I made them (baked them).  Being on a new budget really brings out the Betty Crocker (wanna-be) in me!  So, I made hot chocolate mix and white chocolate covered pretzles (and a few good teachers will get Bath & Body Works lotion that I began stocking up on before the big budget crunch!  Anyway, at first I was really frustrated that I had to give the teachers homemade gifts.  I mean, they spend more time with my children than I do for crying out loud.  They deserve the moon!  But once I finished and had them all wrapped, I am very excited about my gifts!  They are so cute!!! And below are other random pictures from the last several days that haven't made it to the blog yet!  Also, as an update. . .I called the passport office and Tiki's passport got mailed today!!!  Whooo Hoooo! Hays at his first band concert. . .playing my old saxophone!!! Maggie at her first orchestra concert. ...