Go Buy This Music! Now!

Josh Groban's voice has been stopping me dead in my tracks every time I have heard him on the radio for the last few weeks. I didn't even know who he was. (Not having television, I'm not exactly on the cutting edge of things!)

I love his renditions of classics like "O Holy Night" because they don't have any of the pretentious-sounding ad libbing that so many artists throw in as they attempt to put their own fresh spin on them. He simply sings them . . .and they're beautiful.



Go to iTunes (or your favorite mp3 store) right now and buy "O Holy Night". It will be the best 99 cents you've ever spent!

Christmas Firsts

Here are a few pics from our Christmas trip to Arizona:

Fun on the plane (gotta love Dollar Tree!)
The noses blinked and were a big hit!

SUGAR!!!!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
(Hey, at least it kept her happy!)

Screech finally put on her antlers and nose.

(That's candy stick residue all over my top!)
This was her first time flying. She did great! Almost no tears!
(Last time I flew, I was pregnant with her. I was 36 weeks along and everyone was really nervous! I had to get permission from my doctor to fly.)

This pic was taken in my "in-loves" (in-laws') neighborhood.
Screech laughed and called these "silly trees"!

American Girl fever has struck our household.

Here is a very happy Drama Queen with Molly.

Persnickety Pete went to his first football game with Uncle Dennis.
The Arizona Cardinals played the Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona won.
Pete had a blast!

Our family put on a Christmas Eve concert at my in-loves' church. My kids are pictured here with cousin Princess. The little ones (minus Screech, who sat with me and was chain-fed cookies and granola bars) sang "Away in a Manger" together. It was a big deal for Pete to sing; in the past he refused to participate. Drama Queen sang a very sweet solo. My favorite part was when she played a violin duet with her daddy.

After the Christmas Eve service, we gorged on Aunt Denise's cookies, a yearly tradition. I believe there were 23 different kinds of cookies and candy! I made the Fairy Food (AKA sponge candy, angel food, sea foam, honeycomb, or hot air candy). It is HARD to make, but I love the challenge! Hubby and his family are crazy about the stuff.

Screech finally conked out after all that eating!

On the trip back, Screech fell asleep minutes before takeoff. She slept quite awhile and was content in Daddy's arms for the entire flight. No tears!

We had a wonderful time. I especially enjoyed playing Rook with the family. My in-loves are precious! We all get along so great. It's amazing, even when we're all cooped up in a tiny house, no one seems to get on anyone else's nerves. They are a wonderful, godly family and I have learned so much from them.

Overall, our trip went really smoothly. Getting through the airport on the way back, though, was tough. I didn't realize it until I went through security but I had lost my driver's license. This of course meant that I was a terrorist. (Even the pic on my VISA check card wouldn't count.) I got the whole enchilada - I was patted down, they went through my purse with a fine-tooth comb, and they strip-searched me and sent me through the x-ray machine. (Okay, I'm kidding on that last one. But it felt like it.) I felt REALLY stupid because we bought some extra snacks for the plane which included some Capri-Sun pouches, which of course had to be thrown away. Then when I got to the gate and the guy got ready to scan my ticket, he said that I had to go through the whole security bit again because they had failed to punch my ticket. (I was ready to punch more than a ticket by this point.) Thankfully, someone in security remembered me so I didn't have to go through it all over again. (Hey, aren't you the idiot terrorist lady who tried to bring a bunch of explosives disguised as drinks on the plane?)

I'm sorry, but I've got to vent about the Atlanta airport. After we landed, we were in a hurry to get to baggage claim because it was so far from the gates that we had to take a subway. We knew that by the time we got there our stuff would already be on the carousel and we were worried about things getting stolen. We don't know the layout of the airport very well, so we followed the signs to baggage claim. A few of the signs were COMPLETELY in Spanish with NO English anywhere to be seen. If it weren't for the little picture of the suitcase, we wouldn't have known where to go. I. WAS. LIVID. If I had landed in Mexico or Spain I would have expected this, but THIS IS AMERICA! I know that many people and businesses have chosen to cater to Spanish-speaking people by putting Spanish translations underneath the English in signs, but making signs completely in Spanish in an English-speaking country is RIDICULOUS!

Okay. My little tantrum is over now. I feel much better, thank you.

Life in the Fast Lane?

I got a well-deserved speeding ticket today. Sorry - no exciting story about how I was cruising the freeway in a candy apple red convertible with the top down and my bleached blond mane whipping about my face. Nope. And no, I wasn't making a mad dash to the hospital to save my dying child's life. Uh-uh. I wasn't even running late. No, I was bebopping along in my little minivan on my way to my 7-year-old's violin lesson, singing "Get on Board, Little Children" at the top of my lungs. Seems that the tempo on the Wee Sing CD got faster and faster and, well, I got caught up in the spirit of it all.

Not only was I going 69 in a 45 mph school zone, I had never quite gotten around to acquiring new tags when we moved to Georgia 3 months ago. Oops.

As he handed me an invitation to breakfast with an esteemed public official (okay, okay - it just sounded better than "speeding ticket" or "court summons"), the police officer spied my kids' Auto Safety Bingo cards lying in the seat next to me. He couldn't get past the irony.

Because I was going 24 miles over the speed limit I HAVE to go to court. Well, maybe that's not so bad. I'll have to get a sitter for the kiddies, so I may as well make a day of it . . . an uninterrupted afternoon at Starbucks would be nice . . .

Then again, if I dragged them along, maybe the judge would see all of them and feel sorry for me and let me off easy . . .

Nah! I desperately NEED a Starbucks day if my primary source of entertainment is a kiddie CD from the 80's!