• Well, hello there!  Long time no speak…type…see…whatever.
• I combined busy-ness with a bloggity break and now…I’m baaaaaaaaaaack!
• Did you miss me?  :)
• I missed you.
• Where do I begin?
• S is now in a dance class.  She loves it.  She wears her leotard all the time – even to bed.
• We’re in the midst of deciding on G’s future Kindergarten plans.
• He turned the FIVE a couple of weeks ago.
• “When I was four, I couldn’t swing.  I’m five now and I can swing.”
• On G’s birthday, S and I took some cookies in to his class.  We got to spend a couple of hours with the class as well.
• I’m in awe of preschool teachers.
• S, my social butterfly, jumped right in like she was a member of the class.
• Circle time?  Oh yes.  She was there.  In the middle of the circle.
• Line up?  Yup, there, too.
• Now she wants her own backpack and lunchbox and to go to school.
• I’m looking into 3-year-old preschool now for her next year, too.
• Chris bought me a late Christmas present, it was on back order.  I now am a proud owner of the Barnes & Noble nook.
• We chose that over Amazon’s Kindle because you can add memory cards to it, it has a touch-screen interface on the bottom.
• I’m in love with my nook.
• Having all those books at my fingertips – way fun.
• Chris’s goal was to start saving bookshelf space in the house.
• S and I are having a battle of wills this morning.
• We both think we’re winning.
• I AM the adult here.  Shush now.

Going Nowhere

• Wowzers, it’s been awhile since I have blogged!!  So sorry about that…December was just a whirlwind of activity and I could hardly keep up.
• Today is my mom’s birthday – Happy Birthday, Mom!  We love you!  We’ll call and harass you shortly.
• Christmas was great…nice and quiet.  We missed seeing family, but we had just seen everyone over Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter.
• S got her first major haircut yesterday – such a little girl.  She looks cute as a button.
• I gave up on growing her bangs out.  I’d rather see her pretty face.
• I’m looking forward to 2010 as a year to get more organized.
• I have fallen in love with this site:  ListPlanIt.com.
• It’s a beautiful thing.  Over 400 lists to help you organize your home, family, meals, business, anything and everything.
• You pay a nominal fee to have year-long access.
• Worth every penny, I’m telling you.
• I combine that with my favorite house-cleaning to-do list at MotivatedMoms.com – only $8 for a daily to-do list.  LOVE it!  I’ve used it for three or four years now.
• I love lists.  Can you tell?
• The piano-teaching business is picking-up and I’m enjoying it.  Adults, teens, junior high, little ones – even a 5-year old.  I’m having a ball!
• Chris and I are looking forward to a major trip overseas this spring – sort of an anniversary trip.  We’re really, really excited for it.
• It’s a cruise.  Foooooooooooooood….
• Kids are screaming for attention…must run.
• 2010…ready or not…here we come!

Going Nowhere

• This time of year is crazy for us!  Birthdays, Thanksgiving, more birthdays, Christmas, more birthdays.  Hard to keep up!
• That includes not keeping up with the blog, too, of course.
• My parents and aunt and brother and his family came down for S’s birthday.
• THREE!!  Our little girl is THREE!!
• Then came Thanksgiving.  Whew.
• The next day we (my family plus my parents and aunt) joined Mike and his family in Orlando at DisneyWorld.
• Magic Kingdom, more specifically.
• Of ALL the days we have outside activities, it was cold in Florida on that day.
• By cold, I mean mid 50s.
• It’s ok to laugh.
• S’s entire goal was to see the princess’ castle and ride a carousel.
• Check and check.
• She loved it!
• G got to ride so many more rides now that he is older and he had a blast!
• Being there with family made it that much more fun.  Can’t wait to do it again – when the temp is, you know, low 70s.
• Yes, that would be perfect.
• Nana and ‘Pa and Judy were like kids again, riding everything G did.
• If Cinderella’s Castle is this amazingly gorgeous, can you just imagine how incredible Heaven is going to be?  If human hands can create this, God’s handiwork is going to knock our socks off.

Going Nowhere, Growing Up

• Still recovering from the flu, but we are doing great!
• S and I haven’t left the house since Friday night.
• I made Pioneer Woman’s Carrot and Squash Curry Soup tonight.
• Success!
• The funny part was that I had just been talking about a similar recipe with my Aunt Macie the day before…then Pioneer Woman was gracious enough to read our minds and post her recipe for it.
• So nice of her to do that.  *cheesy grin*
• I rounded out the meal with homemade ranch dressing on salad and homemade croutons.
• The kids love helping make the croutons – tearing the bread apart, tossing them in the olive oil…
• …then eating them all once they are done.
• I finally made a successful batch of mayonnaise!  Yea!  I love the taste of it, too.  I used this recipe.
• I am keeping G home from school this week just in case.  I would hate to spread it to his classmates and their families.
• Oh, yes, he misses it.  Who am I kidding??  *I* miss it!  LOL
• So we are working on the letter J at home this week.  It’s amazing how much free preschool stuff there is online for the letter J!
• We’re going to do a lesson about the fall season this week, too.  Tomorrow:  Leaves.
• G is asking about FIVE times a day when he’s going to turn FIVE.  He’s so excited.
• S keeps asking for her birthday cake.
• It’s going to be a busy holiday/birthday season this year…
• …and for many years to come.
• Sweet blessings.

Going Nowhere

• Chris really, really, really loved his Love Letter.
• *grin*
• Currently, there is a black snake on my deck.  I think it’s an Eastern Ribbon Snake after looking it up.
• Harmless.
• But, well, yeah…
• I like to watch So You Think You Can Dance with my friend Mindy and last night’s episode was great.  This dance just got both of us.  Amazing.  Even more amazing is knowing where the guy, Legacy, has come from and how far he has come to dance this style.  Wow.  It’s called “Fear.”   We watched it a couple of times before moving on.  You can watch it here at YouTube and their segment starts about two minutes in.
• SYTYCD is such a breath of fresh air from American Idol – the judges are nice, contestants are nice – everyone’s behavior is always professional and positive and encouraging.
• Did I mention the amazing talent?  Oh my word.
• I can only dream of dancing like that.
• We are looking forward to seeing family at the holidays.  We are both missing our families right now.  *sniff*
• S has learned how to burp on demand.
• She’s very proud of this skill.
• I’m excited, so very excited, to have my appliances back in place and running.
• Home, sweet, home.

Going Nowhere