I've been tagged.

My friend Kelly over at Because I Said So tagged me. I usually don't get tagged so I will participate.

The rules are:
1. Show the icon on your blog
2. Tag seven others to partake in the fun times.
3. List ten random things about yourself.

Well, I don't feel like listing 10 random things about myself alone so I might throw in a few about my family.

1. My favorite song to sing to my kids is Silent Night.
2. My dad is a licensed charter boat captain.
3. My paternal grandparents owned a bar and my dad was raised in the living area behind it.
4. My great grandpa used to illegally run moonshine.
5. My maternal grandfather used to make his own wine. (See a trend here with the booze? Maybe there is a reason I ended up in New Orleans!)
6. I graduated 7th in my high school class. (and no, it was not out of 10!)
7. I majored in journalism
8. I got my scuba diving license in 10th grade.
9. I was diagnosed with Gullian Barre Syndrome last November. I'm ok now.
10. My brother is talk, dark, handsome and single. Email me if you are interested!

Now, I tag:
Mimosa Momma
Queen Sarah
Lagnippe
Mamma Loves
Fried Okra
Daily Delilah
Pennies In My Pocket

Santa Delivered - in a big way!

If you read my post yesterday you will see that my daughter REALLY wanted snow for Christmas. Well, dear Santa delivered and in a very big way!

At 7:15am this morning my daughter came into our bedroom screaming "It is snowing! It is snowing!" I quickly got up and said, "No way." She said, "Yes it is! Everything is white!" It was then that I knew she was not lying because she wouldn't know to describe it that way. Sure enough the first glimpse I got was through the French doors to the backyard and there it was. Snow. White fluffy snow. Haven't see it in 4 years.

My daughter was beside herself with excitement. Her one Christmas wish had just come true in the most unlikely places - Louisiana. I kept telling her it would be highly unlikely that she would see snow down here and that one day I would take her to Nana's in Ohio during Jan or Feb when they are most likely going to have snow. Even they don't always get snow in December.

I called my friend L immediately and she said her boys were out rolling in it while still in their PJs. She said she had tears in her eyes. She has never seen so much snow. I called my friend K next. She too has lived here all her life and could not believe it. She too said she has never seen that much snow - and we were just at the beginning when it was just a dusting sticking only to the grass and shrubs. There was a lot more to come as the morning went on! At least 3 inches. Possibly 5!

The kids ran outside first in just their PJs, shoes and a coat. Eventually it was too cold and I had to bundle them up so they could really go out and play, make snow angels and even sled! The neighbor called and said she had a sled she only used for Christmas decoration. She left it out back for us to use. And we did! I pulled the kids down the street. A neighbor couldn't believe we had a sled and took a picture of us. It was quite funny. Being a northerner it was not a huge deal to me but I got caught up in the fact that it was so unusual for down here and the excitement of everyone around me.

I took pictures of all my neighbors houses covered in snow so I can give it to them as a gift to remember the big snow day!

L called me a little later in the morning and was very concerned about her Crepe Myrtles breaking as they were weighted down and touching the ground because of the heavy wet snow. I said, "L, just go outside and shake the snow off them and they will bounce right back up." She said, "Oh! I never thought of that. I am going out there right now and will call you back!" I just laughed out loud!

K wouldn't let her kids get on the bus or drive because she said people down here don't know how to drive in snow and she wasn't putting her kids at risk. I couldn't agree more! We had lots of accidents by 8am.

All I can say is thay my girl wished and she got it. If you don't believe in Santa you should! Maybe it wasn't December 25th but we will take the 11th.

And to all my NOLA readers here is a little tip. Don't eat the yellow or brown snow!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Dear Santa, all I want is snow.

My girl was born in Pittsburgh, PA 2 days after a snow storm that closed down the city. Which is rare up north. It has to be really bad to close down the roads in a city. She has seen and played in snow. I have pictures! But, she was too young to remember. I guess it should be no surprise to me that she is hell bent on having snow for Christmas. We keep trying to tell her it that snow in Louisiana is just short of a miracle. It did snow our first Christmas down here - lightly. (2004) First time in 50 years but we were in Ohio that year. We got snowed in at my parents for a week.

So I was cleaning up and found this scrap of paper under our tree. I almost threw it out until I read it. It choked me up a bit. I placed it nicely on the tree out of brother's reach and hope Santa can make my girl's one christmas wish come true. (Note the arrow pointing at the word "Snow")



She also drew this for Santa. Not sure why the bat was included . . .

I want to tell you . . .

I want to tell you all about my nice weekend and how we are enjoying the holiday season.

I want to tell you about how I have been thinking a great deal about what happened to me about this time last year.

I want to tell you about how I hated December of 2005 and almost skipped Christmas.

I want to tell you a lot of things.

I've been wanting to write a lot but I need to look inward and process all these emotions I am having this time of year and sorta of just relish all the sweet moments and good times.

Maybe tomorrow. Not today. Going to bed.

A Crafty Thanksgiving

We picked out and trimmed our tree. Son decided that just a diaper and his Home Depot apron was an appropriate outfit for this activity.
I used my daughter's old dress and my son's old jeans (both 6-12 mos sizes) to create these pillows for my mother in law.

We spray painted large pine cones from neighbor's yard green and then sprayed them again with gold glitter. Finished off with red bow and jingle bells. Made 5 of these.

The kids got this Turkey idea from Gigi and they came out so cute.

More Quinky Dinks

1. The other day I was watching an old VHS tape of some old Disney movie with the kids. I see a preview for a Disney movie I have never heard of but think looks very cute and has a lot of NOLA type jazz music in it - Trumpet of the Swan. I ask MIL if she knows it since she is more up on Disney movies than I am. Nope - never head of it or seen it before she says. I look it up on Amazon. Find it. Consider buying and then decide not to. MIL and I go to Target today. She wants to look at DVDs for the kids. I am standing there while she is browsing the $5.50 DVD rack. I am mostly uninterested after a quick scan. Suddenly, I look down at the bottom right corner and low and behold there sits ONE copy of Trumpet of the Swan. I scream, snatch it and throw it in the cart all to my MIL's amazement. Of course, I then explained to her and she was equally as impressed that I found it.

2. I watched the pop-up version of Camp Rock with daughter today (ya know where they have the pop-ups that tell you about the props, behind the scenes, filming, etc?) and one of the tidbits on there was why is Peggy a nickname for Margaret. My MIL and I found the answer rather intersting and something we have never heard before. So I am catching up on my blog reading today and News From Nola has a post where she says she and her co-workers googled that exact question the other day. Just weird how for the first time ever I hear the explanation only to read someone else's blog an hour later who posed the same question recently!

Quinky Dinks

Couple of Quinky Dinks worth noting this week:

1. I just found out through facebook that a friend from high school who shares my first name and hair color also has a boy and girl with the same first names as my boy and girl. And we both have a redhead!

2. I had a dream last night that I ran into my old roommate from college who I lived with for 3 years but have lost touch with since we left college. I woke up thinking, gosh, I have never been able to find her and I wonder where she is and what she is doing these days. I went to check my email and the first message I read was a request from her to be friends on Facebook! Is that crazy or what!