I Learned A Couple Of Things Yesterday

 First, I learned that this is one of the last pictures my beautiful purple camera will ever take.

I also learned that when you drop a camera, while it's on, onto the road, the lens will bend to a horrifying angle and become unfixable.

I also learned that the easiest way to clear out my house is to announce that Santa is going by outside on a fire truck.  I have never seen so many little kids run outside so fast.

I learned that my house is way too small for all the people that were here yesterday.

One of the worst things I learned was that in the last nine years, since I had a baby, I have lost a lot of my patience.  There were several times yesterday that I lost my cool, and I feel bad about it today.  I think it's a boy thing, too.  I forget how rowdy boys can get when they get together!  I have promised myself that I will try harder next time to be more understanding, and let the kids be kids.

Here's a shot of my birthday girl with Santa.  This was taken after my camera was dropped, so I am impressed it came out at all.  I am now shopping around for a new one...I really want another purple one, and Dawn found me an HP one that looks really cool.  I don't need anything fancy, just a simple point and shoot.  Any recommendations?

House MD Santa

I found a pretty interesting site today. It's all about a guy who wants everyone who will be alone this Christmas to feel like they are part of something big, and not to feel lonely. Basically, just go to the site, and vote for your favorite Santa. I am sure you can tell from the picture that I chose the "House MD" Santa. Then I got to add my own name and picture to the 5 mile high Christmas Tree.

I peeked around the site a little more, and found Keith Urban, who I would have loved to be next to. When you go Vote for Santa, check out the site to see who you want to be next to. And this Holiday season, know that you are part of something special.

Christmas In Branson

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

Two weeks from today is Christmas Eve. I can not believe it. Every year on Christmas Eve we see my dad, and this year we are going to his house. As a child, I remember going to my Aunt's house every Christmas Eve, and we always left after dark. My siblings and I would spend the entire ride home searching the sky for Santa and his sleigh. I think this year I will start that tradition with my kids, but it won't be the same since only Brandi still believes in Santa's existence.

I wish there was a way to make these last few years of her believing special. I hear that the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing is doing something great for the kids this Holiday season, and I wish I could take Brandi. Well, I would like to take all the kids, but I think only Brandi would appreciate the magic of it. You see, between now and Christmas, every Friday through Sunday they are offering their Santa's Coming To Town Package. Starting at only $189 a night, kids can join Mrs. Claus for story time in the lobby of the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel, and also have Santa himself deliver cookies, milk, and presents to their rooms. How cool is that? This is a great way to make kids feel special, and also keep the spirit of Santa alive.

I know the time of believing is coming to an end at my house. That just means I have to make this year, and maybe next year, extra special. And what better way is there to do that than to let the kids have an awesome experience like this.

We Saw Santa!

I had such a hard time falling asleep last night. I think it was about 3:30 am the last time I remember looking at the clock. The only thing that kept me from going crazy was knowing that I could sleep in this morning. What I didn't count on was Junior waking me up at 10. I know, that was still about 6 hours of sleep, but I was looking forward to about 8 or 9, especially since the past week I haven't been sleeping that great, because of migraines and whatever. So, needless to say, I told Junior he better have a good reason for dragging my butt out of bed.

He did. We needed to take Kasi to babysit Junior's ex-mother in law's mother...which she volunteered to do today. I know I have written a post about this in the past, how Kasi was tired of going over there every weekend. It's been a while since she's done it, so she agreed to do it for today.

After we dropped her off, we went on a scavenger hunt to find this huge generator that is being moved through our county. We found it, and I have a bunch of pictures I will post later on, or tomorrow. On the way, we passed a fire department, and guess who was walking around the parking lot?

Santa!!!!!

Of course we had to stop and get a quick picture with the kids. I wish we had Kasi with us, but oh well. Junior gave Santa a dollar to donate to the fire department. I know it wasn't much, but it was all we had to give. As we were leaving, we saw a sign that said it cost $5 for pictures with Santa inside. I guess because i had my own camera, and we were outside, he did it for nothing, which was very nice of him. I always knew Santa had a big heart!

So now we're home, and I am trying to work on Brandi's reading with her. She has to read every day, and as she gets better at it, she moves up levels, which are color coded. She has been on the same color since school started, because to move up (which would put her where 3rd graders are at the end of the year, which means a full year and a half ahead of where she should be) another color, she needs to be able to define words instead of just reading them. She has a card with about 50 words on it, and she needs to know how to define them all. I hate to admit this, but some of the words are hard for me to explain to her. I am seriously considering getting her some Free homework help just to help her learn these words. She wants to move up so badly, and it is hard to watch her struggle, because usually things come so easily for her. She is getting frustrated, which frustrates me. Maybe having someone else help her is the push we need.

I want her to move up before winter break, because they will be out of school for two full weeks; the week of Christmas, and the week after. That's a lot of togetherness.

I hope we all survive!

Santa Is Coming To Branson

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.
Brandi came home from school the other day and asked me if there really is a Santa Claus. She said some kids on the bus were saying he wasn't a real person, and she was pretty upset about it. I told her that as long as she believed that Santa was real, she didn't need to worry about what the other kids thought. I also told her that the kids who don't believe don't get presents from him.

I know at almost eight that she is going to stop believing soon enough. It makes me sad to think of not having that magic in my house anymore. It also got me to thinking that maybe I need to do something special for her before she realizes the truth. This is where the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing comes in handy.

From now until the end of December, Santa and Mrs. Claus will be visiting the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel every weekend. Mrs. Claus will share stories with the kids, and Santa will deliver presents to your children in their rooms. The kids can even have their picture taken with the Jolly Old Guy. Starting at $209 a night for a family of four, that is a pretty good deal.

I want these last few years that Brandi believes to be special. The kids are growing up so fast, but at least I can now look forward to sharing the magic of Santa with my grandkids...many, many years from now.

When Santa Came To My House

My sister's birthday is December sixth. Every year we would have her birthday party on the Sunday closest to her birthday. I remember one year, my dad was looking out our front window, and he saw Santa walking down out street. Of course we all ran to the window to look, and imagine our surprise when he started walking up our driveway. We could see his bag of toys was full, but we couldn't imagine why he was coming to our house. But sure enough, he knocked on our door, came inside, and gave us each a gift. My parents saw how happy we were, so for the next few years Santa visited my sister's birthday party. It was a few years before us kids figured out who was wearing that Christmas costume of Santa Claus.

My youngest child's birthday is on December fourth. I would love to find someone to dress up in an adult Christmas costume to come to her parties. Of course, my husband would probably never do it, so I would have to dress up like Mrs. Claus, and that's just not the same thing. Luckily I could find the costume easily online. I found this great site that also has Thanksgiving costumes. Maybe I could talk someone into dressing up like a turkey, or a pilgrim. The kids would love it!