Dots, dots and more dots...

In another life, I would be an interior decorator. In another life, my house would be totally well put together, beautifully decorated. Alas, this is my life, and I am not good at decorating. I have grand intentions that just don't get carried out.

Our bathroom was given a fresh coat of paint this summer, and has sat bare all fall. We needed a new shower curtain since my niece would be staying with us, so I found this cute one at Bed Bath and Beyond, on sale. Woo-hoo!



Then I remembered I had some lettering from an Uppercase Living party that I'd never put up in the bathroom. "It's a Girl Thing" in hot pink seemed to go well.



Then I got a wild hair to paint polka dots in the bathroom to match the shower curtain. I used the bottom of the fish food container, a plastic lid, the top to a water bottle, and a MU cup turned upside down to create circles to trace. My mom had the brilliant idea to use acrylic paint, and at .77 cents a bottle, it was a very cheap project. I stayed up until 1 am painting while the girls were sleeping.

Here are some of the random polka dots in the bathroom.






This set is my favorite...




I think it turned out very cute and is something that will grow with the girls for a while. I didn't want to do something too baby-ish. It's pretty girly, but hey--there are 3 girls and 1 boy in our house. What can you do?

And now for a sneak peek of the wildness that will be Macy's room soon...check out these colors and the color of her room. She's wanted polka dots since this summer, and Lauren has promised to help.

Christmas pic blow out

My download cord to my camera has been MIA, but thankfully Bobby found it tonight (in the trunk of his car!) so I can share Christmas pictures with you. I know you've been dying to see pictures. :)

Making cookies on Christmas Eve... We use the Nestle Tollhouse break apart ones. This year I asked the girls if they wanted to actually bake from scratch cookies, and they voted to still use the break apart ones.


Putting cookies and milk out for Santa. At our house, we put it down low for the picture, but then we actually leave it up on our mantel. Otherwise, the dogs would eat the cookies and drink the milk before Santa could.


Macy was VERY obsessed with where Santa was this year, and we followed him all night on the NORAD Santa tracker. She freaked out when, around 9:00, he was in Canada. "Mom! He's getting so close! I have to go to sleep!!" They hurried upstairs and went to sleep very quickly. She wasn't awake to see that after he was in Canada, he dipped back down to South America for a while before entering the United States.


We had the girls buy gifts for each other this year, to hopefully emphasize more the GIVING aspect. Macy picked out Hannah Montana makeup for Kaylin. She was very proud of herself.


Kaylin picked out a High School Musical book light for Macy. It's been used for everything BUT a book light so far.


Santa was very good to the girls, bringing lots of presents. Macy's favorite was a new digital camera of her very own.


Kaylin's favorite gift from Santa was a Hannah Montana doll.


Can't leave the dogs out! Every year we get them a bone shaped like a candy cane. Kobe ALWAYS picks hers up, throws it, then sits down and promptly destroys it in about 15 minutes.


Gabriel, on the other hand, immediately wants to go outside and bury it. Kobe found the secret hiding place an hour or so later, and we had to take it from her. It took Gabe about an hour to eat it.


After all that excitement, we headed to Bobby's sister's house in Springfield. We actually made it the entire way without stopping once. And we only watched one High School Musical movie.

Kaylin and her new baby cousin Peyton.


Macy and Peyton.


The girls and Great-Grandmother Velma.


Entire family picture. Cannot tell you how many tries this took, using the self-timer button on the camera, balanced precariously on the rim of Peyton's high chair.


We've had a restful couple days, and then my brother and his family arrive Tuesday. My niece, her fiancee and their dog will be staying with us. The entire family is going ice-skating; that should be interesting!!

The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas,
when all the through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
not even the dogs.




The stockings were hung
by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas
soon would be there



The children were nestled
all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugarplums
danced in their heads





And Momma in her kerchief,
couldn't stay awake any longer
She took some Nyquil
and settled down for a long winter's nap..

Who Knew?

Who knew Walmart was so busy at midnight? Oh, wait. I do, because I was there with all the other crazy insane people. And I'd really like to know why a woman was buying 8 ears of corn at midnight. Seriously?

Me, weird? Never...

Talking about being quirky, here are a few of my quirky things:

1. I hate--and I mean HATE--wooden kitchen utensils. Something about the feel of the wood under my fingers freaks me out. Sometimes cardboard bothers me for the same reason.

2. I like to sleep with one foot sticking out of the covers.

3. I love to watch cooking shows on the Food Network, even though I wouldn't eat 98% of what they prepare. I am just fascinated by watching them cook.

4. I have to sleep where I can see an alarm clock--if I wake up in the middle of the night, I need to know what time it is. On our last trip to St. Louis, the hotel room didn't have an alarm clock and it drove me crazy.

5. I'm freaked out by midgets. I know, I shouldn't be. But they freak me out for some reason. All Bobby has to do to get me to leave the room is turn on Little People, Big World. Imagine my discomfort when the one midget we have at the high school was interviewed in the newspaper room in my presence.

A little look at my quirky side on this Christmas Eve Eve.

What's your quirky things?

Random thoughts

My girls are quirky--I know that, and I love them for it. But Macy wore her coat for 9 1/2 hours straight today. She wore it home from church, and did not take it off until she changed into pj's. And she kept asking me how long she had worn it.

I want to move to Florida. Or Arizona. Or California. Or the Bahamas. This cold weather is killing me.

Christmas is in 3 days, and I have 2 presents purchased. Oh, I love waiting until the last minute. At least both of our families are drawing names (except for kids) so that helps a ton. I will be busy over the next three days.

I am getting a student teacher in the spring! Way excited about that, especially since I have a 50-page thesis to write, due in March.

Check this out!

My newspaper kids pitched in and bought me this chair for Christmas! Oh, I'm so excited!!

Let it snow Higgins Style

Oh, the weather outside is frightful
Getting out early is so delightful
And since school no mo'
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow



They don't show signs of stopping,
snow angels on the deck are hopping,
Hats are pulled way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow




When we finally kiss goodnight,
how they'll dream of their snow play
Throwing snowballs at Kobe was a sight,
and being snow queens for the day





The warmth is slowly dying,
And to the snow we're still goodbying
But oh how they loved it so
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow




[Ok, so I had some problems with the third verse. Have a problem with it?]

Dear Santa...

Ahh, the joys of writing letters to Santa. I hauled out all the ads from the last two Sunday papers, and spent a long time spelling things for both girls. Their lists are quite interesting...

Kaylin's was three pages. Not because she has that much stuff on her list, but rather because she writes so big and not in an orderly fashion. I seriously worry about her in kindergarten next year...


This one says: "Dear Santa, I would like a LPS [little pet shop] Doll, a HSM computer, HSM game, Barbie castle, HSM Doll, cell phone" [And lots of random letters all over the page] "Mooooommmm! I need another piece of paper!"

A Biscuit dog [$169.99, I don't think so], a horse and doll, and again lots of random drawings and letter. "MMoooooommm! I found more stuff! I need another piece of paper!"

Freak and style, stylin' studio, baby, wow wee [a stuffed animal that comes alive!] and a Dora Horse.

Whew. Glad we got all that written down. Hopefully Santa can do ok with that list. His elves sure will be busy.



On to Macy...I've been calling her Cyndi Lauper all day, with her capri pants, Converse hi-tops, and bun on top of her head that keeps sliding to the side. Her list was more organized, needs some explanation, and is more expensive.



A Troy Doll [we looked all over for one for her birthday], a Nintendo Ds, a Wii [sorry, honey, we can't afford those], a Grab Bag [soap, lotion, etc.], a HSM tent, a raccoon webkinz, a HSM shirt, HSM make-up, Barbie and the Diamond Castle, Biscuit [the same $169 dog her sister wants], a guitar [she wants guitar lessons] a stylin' studio, a Girl Crush make up set, a digital camera, a wow wee, and pretty necklaces.



Macy believes 100%. That makes me happy. I also see her not believing her friends when that time comes.

To be young at Christmas...only 10 days! Means I can start Christmas shopping in 7 days.
<

Happy Birthday Macy!

Today my sweet Macy is 7. I ate lunch with her (lovely school cafeteria spaghetti) and took treats to her classroom. Then we met my mom for dinner at Macy's restaurant of choice (the same Mexican place we eat at once a week). Then we took her to the local chocolate shop, where she picked chocolate-covered grapes for her snack. Interesting... Then off to Build a Bear to spend her gift certificate. She picked a tiger stuffed animal with no prodding from us.

Wow, hard to believe it was 7 years ago she was born. Sometime soon I need to write down the story of their births. Sooner rather than later...

The Saga of the Earring

Macy begged to have her ears pierced for her 6th birthday, so we obliged. Took her to the mall, and she was so big and brave. So proud too of her little daisy earrings. We waited the required 6 weeks, and went to change them.

All heck broke loose. Screaming, crying, throwing herself down on the kitchen floor because it hurt so bad. I called Bobby at work in tears: what do I do? I called another friend for help. I managed to get the original earring back in, and there it stayed.

Until June, when we went to Bobby's sister's house. She somehow convinced Macy to change them, so we bought new earrings to reward her, and she was so proud of herself with these new earrings in. That worked until we got home from our trip, and suddenly she did not want to change them anymore. She didn't want me to put in earrings, nor did she want to try herself. At this point(mid June)she was not wearing any earrings at all.

Last night I am putting Kaylin to bed, and Macy disappears. I find her in the bathroom, sitting in the bathroom sink, putting in earrings! She just randomly decided she wanted to wear earrings again, and did it herself. I really thought that hole would be closed up, but apparently not.

She's a funny little thing.

Almost done!

I applied for graduation today!! So excited, because it means I am finally almost done with my master's. May 15 is the big day. I expect lots of presents from you all. He, he. Just kidding.

Whew...no one drowned!

Macy's 7th birthday party was Friday, and she had an indoor swim party. It was by far the easiest party I've ever had--so much easier than her one last year.

She is obsessed with all things High School Musical and Troy Bolton, so here's our HSM cake:


I whipped them through eating cake and opening presents, because those kids were CRAZY--sooo ready to get in the pool. I did make them gather for a group picture before getting wet. All girls--Macy can not stand boys--except for one brother who tagged along.



Here's the pool--it was small, but served our purposes. Lots of little bodies running around!



Macy jumping off the side. She had such a fun time, and I enjoyed seeing her having fun with all her friends.



Emily, the girls favorite babysitter, is on the swim team and a lifeguard. She came and hung out in the water with the girls, to keep an eye on them and keep them safe. She ended up with kids hanging off her the whole night, or jumping off the side in her arms. She was a really good sport.



My favorite picture of the night--wish it had been my child, but it was one of Macy's best friends. I somehow managed to capture her mid-air!



It was a great party--everyone swam for about 1 1/2 hours, and seemed to have a good time.

I'm not doing a Not Me Monday today, BUT I did not see my youngest daughter pick her nose and eat it during church yesterday. :)

Finally...a real, live fire!

Tones go off at 12:30 am...Bobby is sleeping hard and thinks it will be another silly call. It's Mutual Aid for another fire department with a structure fire. It's his turn to drive the engine, but he switches with someone else so he can go in the fire. He's battled one other, but this would be the first time he went in. Pulls up on the house and one corner of the house has flames coming out the roof. His crew goes in to attack from inside, and the guys from the other department run out the front door when they start pulling ceiling down and flames are shooting out from the attic.

At one point Bobby pulls a section of ceiling down and flames roll across the top of him and the section of ceiling that was on fire falls on top of him and rolls across the floor. He just keeps pulling more down, and his captain said anyone else on their first fire would have ran out the door when the fire rolled over them like that. But not our Bobby!

Fire started from a flue in the chimney probably, and the house was completely lost, but thankfully everyone got out safe.

Picture not long after the firefighters decided it wasn't safe for them anymore...


Picture after the roof had collapsed...


When the fire was going the strongest...


Still smiling after 3 1/2 hours of fighting a fire and loving every minute of it...


And he STILL smells like smoke, even after soaping up twice in shower. Macy and I said a prayer tonight to thank God for keeping him safe. I'm glad I wasn't awake and knowing what was going on.