In The Mind of A Thirtysomething Mom

Bye, Bye, Bye

No, no, no, I'm not shutting my blog down (much to your chagrin I'm sure).  Bye, bye, bye is in reference to 2008!  I'm looking forward to 2009.  I'm hoping to jump back on the exercise bandwagon and lose more weight.  I really need to, if for no other reason than to be around longer for my family.  That's important to me, so I need to do all I can to make it happen.

Since I'm in the throws of Science Fair project Hell with B and I'm not able to produce a real post to save my life (Really now.  Do students learn anything from these stupid projects that will help them in the course of life?  I can honestly say that the ones I did as a student have meant NOTHING to my life as I know it today.  For the record, my best project was trying to determine if an earthworm could learn.  Did the whole electroshock way of teaching and everything (sorry PETA people-it was the 80's when y'all weren't important to me then-not that you are all that much now, but I at least respect you more today).  Got me all the way to the state level before I finally lost.  And no, they don't learn at all; and no, I hadn't even given the project another thought until just now when I typed that sentence.  Woo, look at that bunny run!...nevermind), I thought I'd give y'all my personal favorite posts for each month of the year from this blog.  I've opened the comments back up on all these posts just in case you feel inclined to leave me some comment love.  :)  I'm also posting one favorite picture from each month.  The pictures don't have anything to do with the favorite posts.  Just be happy that they're not all Mark Wahlberg pictures and say thank you.  :P

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and pray for God's blessings on you all in 2009.

Enjoy the links.

January

Here's Your Sign



February

Valentine's Day...aka a love letter from Mr. Smoochiefrog



March

That's Love For Ya Pt. III



April

Weekly Winners 4/13/08



May

And Now to be Totally Freaked Out...



June

Why We Don't Have A Retirement Fund



July

Help!



August

And Then I Crawled Under a Rock And Buried My Head



September

Dear Joshua Jackson



October

What's In A Name?



November

Serving Number ????



December

It Was An Awwwww Moment

It Was An Awwwww Moment

I just returned home from taking D to the airport.  His visit was much too short, and I'll be counting down the days until he comes back in May.

Anyway.

We're sitting at the gate arguing over something stupid, that I of course was right about-again, when I noticed an adorable baby sitting in an umbrella stroller behind me.  She was a cutie who was chillin' out chewing on her taggie blanket while mom and dad munched on some pretzels.  (There's a point to this, keep reading.)

A little while later, the captain of the plane came up and said the plane would arrive in a few minutes.  I was engrossed in a game of Solitaire (which I won) on D's Ipod, so I was indifferent.  The plane arrives, passengers disembark, and they line up the first 60 people to get on D's flight.

After about 5 minutes of the passengers standing in line, the captain comes out of the tunnel calling for the H___ family.  Everyone is looking around to see who it is and why the captain is calling for them.  The mom, dad and cute baby from earlier come walking up and the captain confirms that they are the family he's looking for.  The captain then makes the statement:

C: "It's my understanding that you just returned from Iraq.  Is that correct?"

Mr. H:  "Yes sir."

C:  "Well we're going to have you pre-board..."

That's about all I heard before the passengers at the gate broke into applause and I broke into tears.

Yup, I'm sitting there crying in BWI airport while D laughs at my mushiness.

The captain and the H___ family disappear into the tunnel.  After about another 5-10 minutes the captain comes back out, gets on the mike, and says the following:

C:  "The is Captain ________.  I'd like to thank you for your patience these last few minutes.  Mr. H___ just returned from a 18 month tour in Iraq. The rest of his family is on the plane and wanted to surprise him.  They'd never seen the baby either, so they just got to meet her too.  Again, thank you for your patience and we'll now begin to board."

And again I'm sitting there crying in BWI airport while D again laughs at my mushiness.

It's moments like those that renew my faith and hope in mankind.

Thank you Mr. H___ for serving our country, and thank you Mrs. H___ for keeping those home fires burning.  You are both blessings to America.  Thank you Captain ________.  You are a true gentleman and a great asset to Southwest Airlines.

Now I'm going to go find some tissues because I'm sitting in my dining room crying again.

Happy Monday Y'all!

_________________________________________________________

P.S.  If you would like to win a $50 gift card to Target, head over to my bloggy friend Ronnica's new place and enter for your chance.  I've definitely entered!

Weekly Winners 12/28/08

12/21/08-12/27/08

The week started with our annual photo shoot for Christmas cards.



Sunday we all went to see M in her Nutcracker performance.

Here's K before the show.



Posing with dancers dressed as the snow queen and the dewdrop fairy:



At intermission (she did really great and watched the whole thing with hardly a sound!):



M posing with daddy and her flowers:



Tuesday the family met up with a fellow August mom from my message boards. 
We met in the food court of the mall and ran into the Chick-fil-A cow.  The girls had to have a picture of course:



A beautiful Poinsettia Christmas tree display at the mall:



The girls went to Build-A-Bear and M bought K an animal.

Here they are giving their new pets baths:





I'll give you 3 guesses what kind of animal K brought home.  Of course it was a penguin!  Here are the girls with their new bedtime buddies:



Christmas day brought us an invasion.  Of what?  Gee, do you really need to ask...


Yes, there is even a penguin on her jammies.  :)

It took K no time at all to put her new penguins in their place:


Those are just the new ones.  They hadn't met the rest of the penguin crew who reside upstairs yet.

The girls and my dad:



All the tadpoles and my dad:



And finally, the sunset from Christmas day and the sunrise from the day after Christmas.

Sunset:



Sunrise:

Weekly Winners is the brainchild of Sarcastic Mom. Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 (New International Version)

May you and yours enjoy the real reason for the season.
Merry Christmas!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

*I posted this last year, but it's still just as important today.  If you're interested in what traditions the Smoochiefrog family do every year, head over to here to read last year's post about them.*

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

by Dave Ramsey

'Twas the night before Christmas

and all through the town

Not a sign of Baby Jesus

was anywhere to be found.

The people were all busy

with Christmas time chores

Like decorating, and baking,

and shopping in stores.

No one sang "Away in a manger,

no crib for a bed".

Instead, they sang of Santa

dressed-up in bright red.

Mama watched Martha Stewart,

Papa drank beer from a tap.

As hour upon hour

the presents they'd wrap

When what from the T.V.

did they suddenly hear?

'Cept an ad.. which told

of a big sale at Sears.

So away to the mall

they all flew like a flash...

Buying some things on credit...

and others with cash!

And, as they made their way home

From their trip to the mall,

Did they think about Jesus?

Oh, no... not at all.

Their lives were so busy

with their Christmas time things

No time to remember

Christ Jesus, the King.

There were presents to wrap

and cookies to bake.

How could they stop and remember

who died for their sake?

To pray to the Savior...

they had no time to stop.

Because they needed more time

to "Shop til they dropped!"

On Wal-mart! On K-mart!

On Target! On Penney's!

On Hallmark! On Zales!

A quick lunch at Denny's

From the big stores downtown

to the stores at the mall

They would dash away, dash away,

and visit them all!

And up on the roof,

there arose such a clatter

As grandpa hung icicle lights

up on his brand new step ladder.

He hung lights that would flash.

He hung lights that would twirl.

Yet, he never once prayed to Jesus...

Light of the World.

Christ's eyes... how they twinkle!

Christ's Spirit... how merry!

Christ's love... how enormous!

All our burdens... He'll carry!

So instead of being busy,

overworked, and uptight

Let's put Christ back in

Christmas and enjoy

some good nights!

Remember the reason for the season and have a very Merry Christmas!!!!