It's over...almost

IT WAS A GOOD CHRISTMAS!

Well, the gifts are opened, we have ate enough cookies to obtain a similar shape of Santa himself, and our tree is crispy enough to spontaniously combust at any moment. (this is not the combustable tree by the way--we had 2 trees this year.)

Since the big day Carsen and I have been working our hardest to catch up on lost sleep from the month of December seriously, he has been sleeping in until anywhere between 9:00 to the latest being 11:10 a.m. I don't know what we are going to do when school starts up again!

Griffen on the other hand is still running on the gift adrenaline rush and waking up early to come downstairs and open the boxes that I have told him have to wait until outside time.

Like this morning when I came downstairs to find the

MAKE YOUR OWN GIANT VOLCANO!!!!!

kit all set up on the dining room table....fortunately, I caught him prior to loading it with the

HOT LAVA!!!

This kit was a gift from my sister Brandy and her family. (standby for paybacks!!)

We did have a couple of proud moments this holiday season....the best was when Carsen asked what Jesus wanted for his birthday. (Whew, maybe they are learning the true reason for the season!) Another one was when they went up on stage during the Christmas service with all the other little church kids and sang a song for the congregation....right up until Carsen screws up his little face and covers both of his ears with his hand as if he is having to endure the worst sound he has ever heard. Luckily, Griffen was standing right next to him to silently, but forcefully let Carsen know that covering your ears while performing was not acceptable and that he should place both hands in his pockets for the rest of the song. I was holding my breath at that moment because normally when Griffen trys to force Carsen to do anything it turns into a full up brawl and all I could picture was the congregation looking at my kids brawling up on stage and thinking of the Herdmans from that book The Best Christmas Pagent Ever. To my amazement this did not happen and Carsen spent the rest of the song trying to follow along very nicely to "Do you hear what I hear?" Disasterous scene diverted...it really was a good Christmas! Hoping yours was just as wonderful!!

Pictures

These are the pictures to go with one of my previous posts. Carey you are not the only one..... enjoy..

Leaving Las Vegas

Well, we made it back all in one, exhausted piece! It was a decent trip to Vegas, saw good friends, stayed out until anywhere between 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. four nights in a row. Only lost a little money, shopped, ate, saw a comedy show, danced with a bad Santa..... that pretty much sums up the Vegas trip.

Now we are back and I am sssoooo behind on the whole Christmas thing. I even got up at 4:00 a.m. to make a blanket for Griffen because that is the only time (I thought) when he would not catch me making it. Well, I was wrong. There I was sitting on the living room floor tying fleece ends together to make a fringe on a star wars blanket and I hear a funny noise in the hallway. To be honest my pulse quickened a bit because nobody else in my house would be insane enough to be up at that time so I get that "theres someone in the house" creepy feeling and just stare in the direction of it (because I watch scary movies and you NEVER go towards the creepy sound) right up until Griffen rounds the corner and I have to jump up to prevent him from seeing what I am doing. I did manage to finish it and wrap it prior to going back to bed for a couple of precious hours of sleep before we headed off to Redding, CA for Griffen's eye dr. appointment and a little more Christmas shopping which turned up nothing so I am still on the search for a couple of gifts for the kids and Wes. Wish me luck!!!!

SANTA WHO???

On Sunday our base had the Children's Christmas party. The hanger is all decorated and we have craft tables, cookie decorating tables, and many games and fun things for the kiddies. Each year one of our pilots is chosen to fly to the North Pole and retrieve Santa for this special occasion. Well, this year it was our very own Pappy! So, we were out there waiting for the arrival (which I forgot my camera of course!) and all the kids are lined up watching and waiting and here comes the jet with Santa in the back seat and after the engines shut down you could hear various kids yelling "THERE'S SANTA!" very excitedly. All but one little blonde headed boy who was yelling "THAT'S MY DAD!!!!"

Now, Santa climbs out of the jet and the kids follow him right into the hanger so they can sit on his lap and whisper all their Christmas wishes in his ear. EXCEPT ONE....who steps up to the red line and waits for his daddy to meet him on the other side and they walk hand in hand into a totally different building together. (Heart melting sigh)

Then there is Griffen who ditches me as soon as we get there for his best friend and I managed to see him all of 2 times for the next 3 hours that we were there. I finally had to stick my cell phone in his pocket so I could easily track him down!

In case you are wondering I also did my part at the party. I worked at the craft table passing out bags with stickers for decorating. It is the second year that I have worked at that table and I am very happy there as opposed to the cookie decorating table.....for anyone who may not know I gross out VERY easily. So much so that even after Halloween I was cleaning off the front step from the candy that had been strewn out there and happened to pick up a tootsie roll that was still in the wrapper but had melted and oozed out onto my hand. I literally hurled. No matter how much I told myself that it was just melted chocolate it completely grossed me out! So, there is no way I am working the cookie decorating table....kids, frosting, licking of the frosting, smearing shared licked frosting on cookies for eating. No Thank You!

UUUGGGG!!!

Saturday night was our Christmas party so we got all dressed up and went out for the night. We started at the base for the annual dinner/dancing, then on to the officers club for further cocktails and fun. Then around midnight we made plans to meet some people down at the local dance club here. Yes, we actually have one. So, we catch our ride down there and get inside. Now, within about 10 minutes my husband has left me to my own devices and gone off to secure a drink when a very tall guy dressed in his Army uniform comes up to me and I quote says, "You are really hot for an older chick." ARE YOU BAGGING ME!! Now tell me how do you respond to a comment of this nature. Some have said it's a compliment, I say when in the hell did I become an older chick??!?!??