Random Rants and Observations at the ESPN House

A bunch of randomness

1. It is supposed to be in the high 70's here in the desert.  For the love of winter could we actually get some cooler daytime temps?
2. Why does Chatty insist on waking up at 4:45 am today and want to talk and eat?  These are the moments I seriously think she is not my child.
3. Sara Evan's version of Go Tell It on the Mountain is one of my favorite Christmas songs ever.

Our elf, Snowball, isn't doing that good of a job.  My kids are wild and misbehaving like they are getting paid for it.  I feel like Super Nanny is going to show up any minute and shout "Gotcha!"  If she could help, it might be worth the embarrassment.
5. My Christmas cards will be in the mail tomorrow and once again Mr. ESPN's only contribution is dropping them off at the post office.  Oh and he licked a couple envelopes.
6. There are presents under the tree - even though I have threatened "Santa won't be coming to this house" more times than I can remember over the last few days.
7. Being at the soccer field that is an hour away at 7:15 am in 46 degree weather isn't how I prefer to spend the second Sunday of Advent.  We told Chatty God would understand she had a tournament and it was OK to miss church last week.
8. It's lovely when people stare at you in the grocery store parking lot when your kids is screaming "That hurts Mommy!"  I had escorted Bia out of the store and she proceeded to throw a fit in the parking lot when I held her arm (so she wouldn't run through the parking lot).

These are really good and addicting!
10. If another person tells me how skinny Mr. ESPN is and how good he looks (as if I don't already know), I am going to drop kick them and then I am going to eat some chocolate and drink a glass of wine!  Just a warning ...

Sneak Peek

Over the weekend we met up with a friend of a friend who took some family photos of us (for a great price).  He was so patient with the girls.  Between Chatty's fake smiles and Bia's total lack of cooperation, I was wondering if we would ever get a good one.  Needless to say we got several good ones and now I am trying to figure out which one(s) to use on our Christmas card ...



It's amazing how in one split second you look like a normal, happy, sane family! 5 seconds later it's back to reality!

Happy New Year ...

Hard to believe it is 2010 already ... we were lucky enough to ring in the new year two hours early since we are in Tampa for A's wedding. We left Bia with Nana and Poppa to ring in the new year (yes we will be doing grandparent detox beginning Monday!). It was a long day of traveling with Chatty. She insisted on talking non-stop (big surprise huh?) during the plane ride and also touching me ... it was just a little (actually a lot) annoying! But alas we all got here alive and in one piece.

So while everyone else is posting New Year's resolutions and reflections on the past year, I am still posting Christmas pictures. Yes I have been MIA for several days. It has been crazy plus trying to pack for four people ... yes I pack Mr. ESPN's clothes to ensure they arrive neatly! Anyway below is a recap of Christmas ...

A Four Generation Picture (finally)

Granny and my girls

Uncle Greg and Lacey

Christmas Eve before church

Christmas Morning

Nana putting stick on earrings on Bia

Hopefully by sometime late next week I will be back to regular blogging ... I am sure I will have some lovely flower girl stories too. Let's just say we have had a little too much togetherness the last two weeks. Chatty and I are both ready to go back to school and work! BTW thanks for all the skinny comments on the last post ... I can assure that I won't be receiving anymore because I have been eating so badly the past week! Ugh - back to reality next week!

GOAL!

Last weekend Chatty had an early soccer game - 8:00 a.m. Wouldn't you know that last weekend was the first time we had winter weather here in the desert? It was 35 degrees out when we got to her game. While I know that isn't super cold for some of y'all it is cold for us here in the desert! Chatty didn't seem to mind - she was on fire (as one of the other moms put it) on the soccer field. I think she was running like a wild woman to keep warm. Anyway with the game tied at 0 in the third period Chatty faked out (that's how she described it) the goalie and kicked a goal!!! Guess what - I even saw the whole thing, but alas I didn't have my camera!! She was so excited - as was I! Last game of the season (until January) is this Saturday at 8:00 a.m. I sure hope it isn't quite as cold out!

The day before Thanksgiving we took the girls to get their pictures taken. Last time we did this Bia didn't cooperate very well and I wasn't a very happy mommy! She must have remembered that everything is better when mommy is happy because she was so well behaved and smiled/posed on cue like none other! I have to give a shout out to Casey and say thanks for telling me where to get the aprons - they turned out so cute. I plan on letting the girls wear the aprons to bake now that I have the pictures taken.

I used this one for our Christmas card

Blog Issues, Bee Stings and Other Random Thoughts

Yesterday I stayed home sick from work. I had a 24hr stomach bug. Is it weird to be happy you had a stomach bug because now your clothes feel loser? I am always the person who gets an illness that doesn't affect my appetite, so while I am home doing nothing, I eat. At least yesterday I didn't feel like eating and was able to ... let's say... purge some of the prior days food. Anyway while I was home I changed my blog header and forgot to hit the shrink to fit button. Unfortunately the picture is downloaded from my home computer so i can't fix it until I get home so y'all will have to deal with it for a little bit.

This morning I got a call on my cell phone from the school nurse. My first thought is crap Chatty has an ear infection and I sent her to school with it - bad mom (she made a comment on the way to school that her ear hurt .. first news of this so I wasn't sure if she wanted an excuse to stay home or not). As it turns out, Chatty was stung by a bee on the playground before school started. Poor girl! Nurse asks me if anyone in our family it allergic to bees .. umm .. my mom. Nurse asks me what kind of allergy does my mom have to bees - what the heck??? Am I dumb or is there more than one kind of bee allergy? Anyway she was going to keep her in the office for a little while to observe her and give her some Tylenol for the pain. I spoke to Chatty for a minute and she seemed to be handling it well, I am sure she will save all the drama for Mr. ESPN and me tonight! I do feel bad for her though because they really do hurt!

Am I the only one who wants their Christmas letter stationary to match their address labels? I printed my letter (which had a typo Mr. ESPN didn't catch when I asked him to proof it) and address labels. Because there is a picture on the left side of the labels it is hard to read the street number on some of them, so I wanted to reprint them. So I asked Mr. ESPN to pick up some two more packages. He couldn't find them at one Wal-marts yesterday and today he calls me to ask what they look like again? If he can't remember what they look like how does he know they didn't have them yesterday? Then he asks me if he can buy some different ones that don't match ? UGH - needless to say I may be using plain white labels or addressing all of them by hand.