Clark Griswold

"I dedicate this house to the Clark Griswold Christmas." I could quote about 20 lines from that wonderful Christmas tale, but I won't. Daddy decided (with a little prodding from mommy) that now would be a fantastic time to wrap our house on the outside with wonderful Christmas cheer. 6 hours later.....we have the house of the neighborhood. ;)

Thank you daddy for spending half of your day of "rest" to hang from a ladder and go back and forth to Lowe's. He even went to Michael's to find a wreath. Wait. It gets better. He bought a wreath, two red bows, and lights to wrap it in. How cute is that?! I had to take a picture to show our children that daddy really does embrace the mayhem and craziness this time of year. Really. He does. We love you daddy. And it made me so proud he even used a 40% percent off coupon at Michael's for the wreath. I almost had a Kate Gosselin moment on him when he told me about buying the wreath and not mentioning the coupon, but waited and he told me about the sweet woman in front of him who asked if he wanted her coupon. I'm guessing he may have looked a little out of his element amongst all the hot glue guns and artificial flowers, but whoever that woman was I could wrap her in a warm Christmas embrace for saving us mucho dinero.

We love you Clark Griswold.....and you don't even know how happy it made me when you handed me the remote that allows me the power of turning on the lights from the comfort of my couch. Really. Could it get any better? Love you daddy.

I've Taught Him Well

While I was scrolling through some pictures yesterday, I came across this one that Drew took last weekend. Last weekend I left town for a "girls weekend" in Houston. It was daddy on duty all weekend. This picture made me happy for 2 reasons.

1) Being the obvious..that my wonderful husband grabbed a camera and captured a moment of their big weekend without mommy. The kids at their school after the football game, having a great time, and looks to me like maybe a little too much sugar. But I digress....all is apparently well with the world.

2) They can survive without me!! They like to make it seem like the world has fallen apart when I am not around ALL the time, but it's not true. Daddy does a great job in ways I never could. He does things like take them to the zoo AND the aquarium in New Orleans on the same day. Yep. You lost me at AND is all I have say. He is so good about just being spontaneous and fun. And we all could use a little more of that. Yay for daddies that r-o-c-k!! And yay for girls weekends that allow mommies everywhere to recharge and regroup and get to eat out in restaurants. Real ones. With people who actually serve you food. Not one drive-thru all weekend. Well...except Starbucks. ;)

Lunch with Daddy

This week has been a little rough on Maddie. Having to watch your siblings get to attend a super-fun camp can be tough. Especially when they have HUGE, colorful bouncy houses and every water game imaginable going strong when we pull in the parking lot to drop them off. Seriously. I know I am not the only mom pulling out after drop-off with a crying child. And I think that is why the donut shop down the street from camp has gotten a little more traffic lately. Maddie almost made the cut-off for camp, and I am secretly glad she didn't. I think I would have a hard time letting her run off into a sea of children and not be fearful she would get squashed by some pre-teen going mach 5 down the waterslide. It was hard enough letting Grace go and not worrying whether she will have someone to sit by at lunch, or that the girls in her group will be nice. And if anyone is mean, I want names and descriptions please. :) Letting go really stinks sometimes.

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So, Maddie and I have had some quality time together this week, and I'm making my week with only 1 child r-e-a-l-l-y productive. We placed an S.O.S call to daddy today to meet him for lunch at his work. Maddie had fun getting ready, and picking out the perfect dress to wear for our lunch with daddy. Nevermind the fact that the town he works in only has about 4 restaurants to choose from, and usually revolve around fried chicken and red beans and rice. She ate watermelon until I thought she was going to be sick, and had the best time. And, more importantly, it helped take her mind off all the bouncy house/water slide/water shooting canons she is being tortured with on a daily basis.