On Saturday, Steven's aunt Betty Lou died. She had a stroke 4 weeks ago and never recovered. Prior to this, she was a spry woman, who ran a daycare out of her home up until a couple years ago. She was 80 years old, the oldest of the girls in a family of 6 children.  She helped raise Steven's mom and her twin sister, and the sister that followed them a year later. (Yikes!) She will definitely be missed. She was kind of a "fixture" in the family, as much as any person is, and we feel her loss tremendously.  In addition to being a great person, she and I shared the same birthday. Which, of course, made both of us way cool.

Today was the Christmas program at church. Alex and Elijah were wisemen, and Thomas was a shepherd. Alex, being 9 this year, got to have not one, but two reading parts in addition to being a wiseman. They were all very good. Elijah almost had a "wardrobe malfunction" when his wiseman gear began to slip off his shoulders. Unlike Janet, he was fully clothed underneath, so it was no biggie . . .
I was so proud of all of the boys, but Alex especially. His voice rang out clear, and everyone could hear him and understand him. So well, that he got several compliments (kids can be hard to understand and have a tendency to be quiet at the mic when reading) This is way way way cool, especially considering that Alex has been in speech therapy for 4.5 years. When he was a toddler, and even when he started kindergarten, it was very difficult to understand him at all. So today was pretty awesome for me. He didn't even seem to care, just another day. He wasn't nervous at all and he just said, "thank you" when someone complimented him and went back to playing. As a mom, well, I almost cried. ha. That's probably just me being a girl though.

This site is giving away a super cute apron! I could really use an apron. I'm forever ruining my clothes while cooking or washing dishes. What is up with that? And really, looking cute while cooking. That's just cool.

Next week is Christmas, people. NEXT WEEK! This leaves me thinking so many things . . .

Are the boys really ready for the Christmas program this Sunday at church? (which really means: will the shepherd refrain from hitting someone with his shepherding stick? will the wiseman be falling down the steps on his butt again? Will Alex read his parts loud enough for people to hear? who knows what can run amok during the Christmas play?!)

what will I get for my father-in-law?

I haven't wrapped anything . . .

All the presents are hidden in my ginormous laundry pile in my bedroom. Really, they are. And while that is a tad embarrassing, it's actually working.

I have to pack my office today and work from another location next week because this building is getting new carpet. Do you have any idea how stressful that is?

I'm going to see Daughtry in concert tomorrow night. I'll let you know how it is.

Elijah sings "two double dubs" instead of "two turtle doves" in the 12 days of Christmas. It makes me laugh every time.

Really, no clue about the father-in-law gift . . . why are men so hard to shop for? Well, not Steven. He has an amazon wish list. That was a tremendous help. Plus it's a very large list so there was lots to choose from. but Wayne  . . .

Finished a great book yesterday. Took me several days to finish it, partly because the days are so full of other stuff right now. My December book numbers have taken a hit! The book was great though.

The gas light is on in the car right now. That bugs me.