Blessed With Beautiful Weather

For those of you that do not live around here, you may not be aware of the absolutely beautiful day we had in middle Tennessee yesterday. Even on the plateau, we made it to 62 degrees. MIGHTY FINE! I got off work at three and headed straight home to get the boys out. Outside I mean.....not out of the tiny crate I keep them in when I have to work and there is no school!!!

Just kidding, we had a sitter.......maybe!

First on the agenda was bike riding. Marshall sat in his little seat in front of me on my bike and off we went. Our neighborhood is shaped like a backward letter 'P' and has about 12 houses in it. This is perfect for riding because it is not a thoroughfare and traffic is non-existent. We made 10 loops around with each loop a smidgen shy of 1/2 mile. It was so nice to be outside again, especially on my bike. For those of you new to my blog, I ride my bike to work when it is warm and I miss it terribly. It is great therapy.

Next, we threw the Aerobie. This is the most fun thing to throw to each other. It it like a Frisbee but softer and much easier to catch and aim. Perfect for kids because it does not hurt their hand when they catch it and it will go forever if you throw it hard enough over 100 yards. Seriously, Homer! I included a picture, check it out. They have them at Target.

We ended the evening with the boys on the patio chasing each other on tricycles. For some reason Michael loves to ride Marshall's little toys. They did that while I made yummy burgers on the grill. I decided to be a bad parent and finish watching a movie while we ate dinner. I know thousands of moms have their hands on their hips right now but you know what....bite me!!! :)

We had to finish watching Baby Mama so it could be returned on time. By the way, great flick!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. Please don't drink and drive or let your friends drink and drive. Even though I get very few comments on my blog, I do have a tracker for visits which average about 13 a day and I want every one of my anonymous people who read my blog alive and well next year. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Late Pics of Christmas Decorations

I feel Christmas is like a wedding. You spend tons of time, energy and money on an event that lasts maybe two hours. You turn around.....and it is all over in a blink of an eye. Wow, all of that work!!!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. I love decorating, Santa, and all that crap!!! I love all of it so much, I will continue to FORCE my children to leave cookies and milk for Santa for as long as they live in my home!! I don't care if they are 20 and 14 years old. This will be a non-negotiable. No, I am not controlling!!!!

I did another Goodwill purge today to make room for all of the new stuff...that felt good. Tomorrow, it is off to work....yeah. I wanted to include a couple of much belated Christmas decoration pictures. The one of the front of the house does not do it justice. I don't have some fancy shmancy camera......so low light pics do not fare well. The next pic is of the 'adult' Christmas tree downstairs. Sorry to disappoint many of you but I have to squelch the 'adult' part of your imagination. As my friend Danielle put it....she can just imagine our adult tree. Quite humorous if you ask me. I can see where her mind might have gone. It is actually quite funny. Our tree is very G rated......SORRY!!!!!!! The last pic is of the gingerbread house we made.

Christmas Day

Begrudgingly, I arose on Christmas Day at 5 a.m. I did not want to get up that early but there were camera batteries to charge and a toy not working crisis. After those two issues were rectified we had to figure out how to blow up Marshall's jumpy thing which was from Santa. It is about 6X6X6 but not one of the fancy ones with an external device that blows it up. We scrambled to find the air mattress pump but settled for the hair dryer. This humongous thing now resides in our rec room upstairs. (The jumpy thing, not the hair dryer!) Neither of us are happy about toys all over the house but we have succumbed to the fact that we do have kids and having toys everywhere is just part of it.

The boys woke up around 7 and thank goodness did not head straight downstairs. I like to be ready with the video camera and film them coming down the steps. It is actually kind of cool the way it all works. Our steps exit into the living room in the back of the house instead of greeting you at the front door....I hate that. So, as they come downstairs they descend upon the tree with all of Santa's presents around it. Sounds corny but I like it. What sucks about Michael getting older is 1. This is most likely our last Christmas with 'Santa' because he is asking a boatload of questions. 2. Presents get smaller and more expensive the older kids get....to them it does not seem like they get near as much stuff.

After the boys opened presents, both sets of grandparents came over to visit, eat and watch the boys play. Later that day I decided to tackle dismantling the upstairs tree. This is the artificial one with all of the Peanut ornaments. Marshall was OK with what was happening until I put the tree in the box and started to carry it downstairs. He was crying and saying..."No, my tree." Heartbreaking, I know but if you only knew how many decorations I have to take down......you would understand why I have to do it piecemeal. He was over it quickly.

In closing, I have included some Christmas Day pictures. The first one is at breakfast.....next, Michael throwing the Frisbee upstairs (yes, it is possible to throw a Frisbee inside.....last, the jumpy thing in it's temporary home. We are moving it another part of the room so we can still play pool in the winter. As of now, it is an obstacle for pool playing and to get into the boy's playroom. The sacrifices we make! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve

In order to preserve my mom's sanity and at our reluctance, we drove to Nashville to pick up the kids! I am kidding, we did miss them but the break was so nice. The drive down was uneventful. The drive back was Hell. We decided to hit the road at the exact moment a storm was traveling up I-40 in the same direction we were going. The rain was heavy and the wind was blowing it in sheets. Visibility was low but not non-existent....well, for some people it was non-existent. One would have thought it was blizzard conditions. People driving 30 mph, pulled over on the side of the road....we even came to a complete stop three times during our quest. I have no problem with people correcting their speed to their comfort level but GET IN THE SLOW LANE! It took us 1.5 hours to get home. (Usually takes 55 min). We spent the evening at Mike's parents pigging out on amazing hors d'oeuvres and opening presents. The boys were allowed to open one gift a piece of my choosing when we got home. I chose the matching pajamas. Not too exciting for them but I thought they were adorable.

Moviefone

Only Seinfeld junkies will appreciate the title.....................
Anyway, since I could watch a movie every night for the rest of my life, my time alone will be consumed by movies. Tonight we screened Blood Diamond. Let me say, this has to be the most disturbing movie I have watched in a long time. I guess the hardest impact was because it is, for arguments sake, a true story. If you have children, terribly disturbing.....if you don't have children....moderately disturbing only if you have any iota of appreciation for humanity. I had to fast forward through several parts due to the disturbing factor. I am proud to say I am not your typical female lusting after diamonds. I could care less. What does a drawer full of baubles mean anyway? I love you and please refer to all of these marital assets to prove it. PLEASE!!! Could anyone be more shallow? By the way, the Titans rule and now have home advantage for the playoffs....HELL YES!!!

Don't Be Jealous

Well, it is official. As of yesterday at 6:00 p.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday....I am childless. Don't get me wrong, I love my boys very much but the break is going to be lovely. Mike and I were able to watch an entire movie unfettered last night. We were also able to have the surround sound up as loud as we like it, sweet chicken. What is the use of having a 50" plasma and kick ass sound system if you cannot use it to it's full capacity.....I digress. We screened The Dark Knight (Batman) and it was great. I am not a huge superhero movie watcher but this was definitely the exception. Well done, without a lot of hokey crap...if you know what I mean.
I cannot believe I am getting ready to write this but I am already a little bored. We are going shopping a little later for a couple more Wii games but other than that.....what the hell am I supposed to do with all this free time!?!!??
At noon I am going to be watching the Titans play and hopefully kick Pittsburgh's ass. I plan on watching the entire game (in peace and quiet) but with that statement comes stipulations....
#1 If the Steelers are really running away with the game I will have to stop watching it because it will make me mad to continue.
#2 If the Titans are really running away with the game I will have to stop watching it because I will be bored out of my mind! It is the attention deficit.....not me! I have no control over it.

I will be watching the game alone so I can make all the noise and say all the profanity I want. Mike hates football so he drove out to the farm to give the Smith and Wesson some love. I should have gone target practicing too but it is too damn cold for this girl.
YUCK, tomorrow is Monday!

I Hate Having To Title Every Blog Entry!

It has been raining/misting here for the past few days and Marshall is fascinated with rain. Well, he is fascinated with snow too so I guess it is just anything which falls from the sky! I picked him up from daycare on Wednesday and when we got outside he starts this informative dialogue.

Marshall: It's waining (raining)
Me: It is? (said with hyper enthusiasm)
Marshall: Yeah, it wained on my face.
Me: It did? (said with unbridled enthusiasm)
Marshall: Yeah, it wained on my nose.
Me: It did? (said with moderate enthusiasm, I was running low on enthusiasm at this point)
Marshall: Yeah, it wained on the truck.
Me: I know.

By this time we are pulling out the parking lot and he further instructs me on how to get home. "Turn that way", he tells me. He know the way home, granted it is only 1/4 of a mile away and only has two turns......I still think that is pretty darn impressive.
I also realize this little dialogue is not near as cute in typed print.....but....just try to envision it coming out of a two year old mouth with a little lisp! Priceless.

Random Bablings

The past two days have been a whirlwind of activity. I get a tiny reprieve of social activity tonight but that time will be filled with preparations for Michael's cookie decorating party. This is our third annual cookie party. We have 12 or so kids come over and decorate Christmas themed sugar cookies. They get all kinds of icing, sprinkles, etc. I figure this is the last year he will want this so I am taking full advantage of it.
Tuesday night I went to an ornament swap with some girls I attend Bible study with (yes, I go to Bible study). Last night was an all girl party at another friends house. I have never seen so many women in one house in my entire life. There must have been 40 women there. I was excited to go for several reasons. One, it was in a swanky neighborhood and I have been dying to see inside some of the houses. Two, a lot of friends I have not seen in a while were there. The night ended with two separate karaoke session in different parts of the house (this house was huge). Oh, and the pool house was bigger than most people's houses. It was quite the pad I must say.
Anyway, I wanted to write something funny Marshall said yesterday but I have to get to work. I will post it at lunch so be sure to check back.

Short Picture Update

I was not going to share the website with the last pics of me and the boys with everyone because......well.....because there are many unflattering pictures of me in them. To be frank, I like to screen any takes of me as I do not consider myself to be photogenic. But, for once in my life I am feeling it is not all about me.....GASP! I know, I know.....yes....it is me writing this and yes I am writing under my own name not a pseudonym. If I hear a collective thud in about 12 hours from now, I will know scores of people just fainted from reading this. Ok, Ok...I am digressing, so without further adieu http://amycallahan.zenfolio.com/p322468238. This should take you directly to the gallery, if not the password is ( I am whispering this) a.bregenzer
Please don't give me any feedback regarding anything except the children. Remember, it is always about the children.....except when it has to do with me. JUST KIDDING, maybe! AND I got ready in about 7 minutes in a mad dash after work.

Fast Weekends

I just want everyone to know how tired I am of the weekends going by so damn fast! One second it is Friday, the next it is 5:30 Monday morning. This routine is getting rather old! I have no idea what I did Friday night. I took Michael to a birthday party at the children's museum and the rest is just a blur. Saturday consisted of a huge open house family day (should all this be capitalized?) at the "official ribbon cutting" at the new hospital addition. By the way, the sculpture Brad Sells did for the lobby is UNBELIEVABLE! If you live in Cookeville and have not seen it, you are missing out. This was followed by Santa Claus pics at the Candy Junction in downtown Cookeville. To further pass along my torture and for personal entertainment, I made Mike go to all of it! Was that rude? The remainder of the day consisted of wrapping boatloads of presents and the night was finished with my contract company's Christmas party. The actual party was at Holiday Inn Express in town but the real party started at a karaoke sports bar! Wow, talk about a lot of misinformed people. Misinformed like.....someone told them they could sing!!! It was tons of fun and too many drinks and a headache the next morning later...well...you get it.
Sunday....I decided to torture my husband once again. This consisted of taking the kids to IHOP for breakfast, driving to Hermitage to drop them off, and finishing with shopping in Mt. Juliet. We completed the remainder of the shopping (well almost) but it was kind of sad because it was not that busy at the "shopping area". Sign of the times, I suppose. It is just easier to ignore when it doesn't smack you in the face.
Well, seeing as my social calender is back in full swing.....I must get off of here. I have a function tonight, another tomorrow night and another thing for Michael to plan for Friday. I will keep all of you updated on the goings on as I know you are all waiting with bated breath....please insert sarcastic undertone here!

Land Of The Living

Apparently, I had no idea how much I had ostracized myself from the world over the past four weeks. Tonight was the Open House to my eldest son's school. We arrived on time but due to an impending, accumulating snow(which was already happening, so much for impending) they cut everything off at 6:30. I was able to briefly catch up with boatloads of people. All of whom asked "Is everything OK?". I am sure a contributing factor to this question was my swollen, bloodshot eyes but with everything comes an explanation. (LONG STORY, DON'T ASK). I guess I had absolutely no idea how much I had removed myself from civilization. Sorry about that!
It was nice to see everyone again and as much as I hate to admit it.....feeling uber important and cared about by the masses was nice. I guess I forgot how many wonderful people I knew. I decided to kill two birds and deliver the Cougar Run DVD's to the teacher's mailboxes so I had carte blanche into the "secret teacher's area". ha ha! Have I mentioned how important I am ....... just kidding.
Well, the snow is crazy. Accumulation......definite. The yards and cars are covered and the roads are slushy! SWEET! I guess that means no school tomorrow. I vow to become a school teacher if we get socialized medicine. That would mean I get a day off tomorrow!!!
I am back in full form, I promise. I am focused and hopefully back to my old self in less than a week. Christmas is almost here!!

Christmas Is Upon Us

Ok, so usually I am uber prepared for Christmas but this year it has really snuck in the back door. We have two trees in the house. There is a pre-lighted fakie upstairs with all the kids ornaments and then we have a real one downstairs. Every year I tell myself I am done with real trees. Then every year I succumb to it. I finally finished stringing 1000 lights on the real tree downstairs. Now, I just have to put the 'adult' ornaments on it. Hopefully, Marshall will not find it in himself to take down all the ones he can reach. He has an uncanny knack of making me redo things over and over again. It is quite maddening. Yesterday, he made an attempt to help string up the lights. He actually did a decent job considering he is two.
After I had put up the first 100 lights.....I stopped, stepped back and said...'All done'' Marshall looked at me and said 'You not all done.' He was very concerned I was under the impression of being done seeing as it was very obvious I was not. That is one smart cookie if I do say so myself.
Now, if I could only train him to get my Christmas cards finished and to go buy a few more gifts. I am soooooo far behind. I need a personal assistant!