Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree ...

Once again it seems like ForEver since I've updated, sorry.
I really thought that I would have had time to update last week (especially since we Didn't go to school for THREE days due to ice storms!) but it was Very busy, busy, busy around here.
Devan & I made it to Jackson last Sunday for our "annual holiday shopping trip" & this year we even managed to "drag" Jim along for the trip. ;-)
We didn't have much to finish up mainly my nephew Logan (his list came from American Eagle- so it had to come from a bigger town) & some "filler" things.
One of the things on my list was new ornaments for this year...
I've always gotten Devan a new ornament every year (this will be his to take with him when he leaves home).
About 3 years ago I realized that when he Does leave he will be taking quite a bit of the ornaments with him. At that point I started a New tradition of Everyone picking out a New ornament (no theme trees here, they are Beautiful but I prefer more of a "traditional" mosh posh of ornaments) .
I thought I would take a few minutes to share a pic of our tree with you this year & pics of our new ornaments ...



Our tree! I personally had The hardest time picking an ornament this year, usually there are several that "speak" to me but this year it was Not so.
We had been to Macy's & Every other store in The mall & I was empty handed.
After we had dinner at Red Robin (this was Jim's first time & I think he enjoyed it!) we headed over to Kohls to look for ornaments, nutcrackers (we may not get nutcrackers this year-haven't found any yet that "talk" to us) , a new Christmas frame (for the pic that I "knew" we would would be taking with "Santa" at the "Lights of the Delta") stocking stuffers & little "go with" gifts.
When I went to the ornaments & looked once again I didn't see Anything that "spoke" to me. When the guys caught up to me & we started looking at the other decorations I finally saw something that made me go "hmmm". When I started looking around that display I finially saw one that made my heart kind of smile :o) ...


this is the guy that I hesitantly picked up thinking "could this be the one???" . I looked all around & he was the only one left & he was perfect - no breaks or cracks. :o) The more I looked at him the More I fell in Love with him! He's sooo vintage-y (hmmm I'm sure that's not a REAL word, lol) looking, he has bling glitter & even has flocking around his mittens- did I mention that he was on sale too ??? Yep, he cost me all of $2.64 & he Couldn't make me Happier he IS "my" perfect ornament this year! :o)


This was Jim's addition for this year (he found him at Macy's) . Another vintag-y looking one. He's pretty Cute I think, he reminds me of those little milk carton/Santa ornaments we used to make in Kindergarten (do you remember those?) .


Last but not least here is Devan's ornament for this year (he also found his at Kohls) . It has become a Huge part of our Christmas Day to watch "A Christmas Story" at Least THREE times! lol. I guess it was pretty easy for him when he saw this one & when he realized that the door opens, that it lights up, & plays scenes from the movie it was a Sure thing! ;-)
I guess that's it for now, hopefully I'll be able to post a little something tomorrow.
See-Ya!

sneaky ... who ME ???

hmmm, I guess I could resemble that remark, lol.
Last night the choir concert was held at the High School & being that Devan is in choir this year we were there, along with HALF of the town! No kidding I could not believe how Crowded it was! I pulled into the parking lot at 7 thinking that I was plenty early enough
( concert was to begin at 7:30) only to find that I had to park ALL the way in the BACK!!!
I was sure that there Must be a basketball game going on till I entered the theatre! OMG!
You would Not believe the amount of people!
Turns out they were doing ALL the choirs!
Yep! You heard right ALL 6th-12th!
So I guess pretty much EVERY parent in town was there! LOL!
The advanced choir (Devan's) was the last to perform on their own ...


truth is we didn't even Recognize HIM! Do you? It honestly took me a few minutes to find him, still not used to the dark hair (will be glad when it's gone). He's on the back row - last guy on the right! Yep, that HIM! Right now his hair is about the color Jim's was when we were dating, lol.
(They've had a LOT of fun with it at school, they check it daily to see what colors are showing through. Someone told him yesterday that it had some pink- I personally didn't see it but it could be, lol.)


When Devan's choir had finished singing they brought ALL the choirs Back in for a couple of songs.
They didn't put the kids on the stage (not sure why, it sure would have been a lot cooler in there if they had) they placed them ALL around the room about 3-4 deep! You literally felt the temperature in the room increase as they came in & took their position!
Mr. Patterson & Mr. Coffman were stationed in the isles - directing.
It really was quite nice being surrounded by the music that way. :o)
They had made a announcement before the concert started that they wanted ALL choirs to stay after the performance for a group photo ...
can you guess where my mind was going ??? lol
At the end of the performance my mind went into over-drive & my light bulb went off, lol.
The BEST place to get that photo would be ...
up on the CAT-WALK!!! ;-)
Jim was like "I bet it's locked" , when it became apparent that I was going to try it he told me to be careful & not break my neck on the staircase & promptly left (some night in shinning armor, what's up with that ? he could have been my "partner in crime"!).
As soon as I could get through the crowd I went to the door in the hall & tried the door & ...
I SCORED! It was unlocked! Wahoo!
Sooo I climbed the spiral staircase (first time I've been up there) & while I was going up I was thinking things through ...
*be sure you turn off the flash- if they see the flash they'll know you're up there, make sure you're positioned where they can't see you*
(I was sure that they would be upset with Me helping myself to the cat-walk.)
Once I got up there I was trying to find my position & Mr. Coffman was talking to the kids
"Who said their mom could do this? Someone said their mom had a big camera & could do this who was it?".
I'm standing there frozen thinking *did Devan say I would do this? he would think that my camera is big- he wouldn't know the difference*.
THEN Mr. Coffman starts asking "Do we have Someone up on the cat-walk who can do this for us? Is there Anyone up there for us?".
Now my mind is going *are you kidding me? they want someone up here & they don't sound like they care who, guess it's time to come clean* .
Sooo ... that's when I stepped foward & waved to let them know that I was up there, lol.
At that point I became THE photographer! :o)
I hope they weren't expecting too much. I'm still very much a newbie, still keep it on auto, & I've never been on a cat-walk & have NO idea about what kind of settings you would use for that (some day I really have to make time to "study" more about the camera & setting but I honestly just haven't had the time). But honestly it's not like they had approached someone personally ahead of time & set this up so I guess they get what they get, the shot is definately not perfect but I had to deal with the lights & like I said not sure about settings & I was sooo Nervous when they knew I was up there & now they seem to be relying on ME for the shot!!!



Anyway here is my fave. Not sure what the deal with the "ghost/glare" of the light at the corners is??? I guess maybe something to do with the lights right beside me?? Not sure but they have several to choose from, maybe they'll like one of them. ;-)

p.s. things have been sooo busy crazy around here between work (this is the first day off I've had in a week and a half & I'm scheduled for tomorrow) the play (has completely controlled our life for a week & a half) and now the concert. I am spending the day nice & warm in my flannel pajamas! :o)
Going to get as much done a possible ... or maybe not, lol, just depends.
At any rate I plan on thoroughly enjoying my FIRST pajama day in ELEVEN days !!! ;-)

a transformation in the process...

I feel like I've been neglecting you but it hasn't been intentional, things are just crazier than you can imagine around here.
When we got home on Thanksgiving I set to "staining" Devan's hair for the play that starts tonight (Thursday). I didn't really want him to have Black hair in the Christmas pics so I decided to go with a temporary stain.



So this is just before we begin...




the first application of the stain & I have to tell you it smells like ...
Grape Kool-Aid!!! You know the little packets from when we were kids that you had to add your own sugar to. It's really wierd how strong it is & it last a couple of days, lol.



getting a little deeper into the process ...



finally done! I have to tell you that the next morning when I went to get him up I kinda Freaked Out! lol. Only thing about this stain is ...
it was Supposed to last for 3-4 weeks (that's why we did it on Thanksgiving-trying to give it time to fade before Christmas celebrations) , but ...
well it Imediately started fading. A little on Friday, a little more on Saturday, & then ...
a Whole Lot More on Sunday! It was actually quite noticable in the sunlight. Oh & did I mention that on Sunday Green streaks had become visible??? LMBO! Yep! He was afraid that he would get in trouble at school for having green hair- I told him that if Someone had a problem with his hair that they needed to call Chris is the drama dept. it was Her idea to have us color his hair.
By Monday it was even More blond. I t kind of upset him cause his character is supposed to have jet Black hair.
We had about 1/2 a bottle of the stain left so I made arrangements to get him checked out about 10 minutes early yesterday & to drop my kids off with the class next to mine about 10 minutes early yesterday so I could rush home, restain his hair, & send him back to the school by 5 (with dinner) in time for the last dress rehearsal! And I made it !!! whew! :o)
This week has been like that All week. I had a 4th grade class on M,T,W - they thought the teacher had chicken-pox. (this is pretty much the class from he... well you get the idea) Tuesday after dealing with them all day I was up at the school providing back stage food, then ran to the project graduation meeting (ugh, just about as usuless as usual) , then back to rehersal to photograph their first dress rehearsal. (you know they only have one more play after this one so I'm even More sentimental than usual) Once that was over I discovered that I Had to get gas Before coming home so it was almost 10 before I got home. Then I had to wait up for Dev to get home long story short I didn't get to bed till 11:30! Up at 5:20 & bed at 11:30 I am too Old for this crap!
So yesterday they cancelled today on me & I did a little happy dance I have to admit (I was More tired than you can imagine), so today I was playing catch (had just started writing this blog) & decided to go get in the tub & noticed the answering machine flashing. My heart sank & I played it...
it was Mrs. Newbill our principal, she had called at 6:11 this am & No one had heard the phone! I felt horrible & called the school to make sure they had covered the library (that's where they had wanted me) & to appolagize for not hearing the phone & Liz immediatley asked if I would do ISS (in school suspension) tomorrow, ugh - I hate it but it's hard not to do it for Jennie & I need the money to help pay for Dev's trip. The bad thing is I already know that I will be starting the day with 7 kids! The good thing is I get to bring a book so I can do some serious reading (I broke down & bought Twilight!). Then she asked if I would come in today, they had a teacher sick & "she has a student teacher so you don't have to do anything" . Oh yeah, joy! Have I ever told you that I HATE being with a student teacher!!! I am too much of a control freak! I can't handle it when they let the kids walk all over them! Then she tells me it's on the 5th grade hall!!! Ummm... I don't DO 5th grade! and she knows this sooo she must be pretty desperate & I have begged for all the work I can get sooo ...
Yes, I went in. But you know it wasn't as bad as usual, she's kinda strict like me so I wasn't ripping my hair out, lol.
So I have run all day & now it's time for me to head out to the opening night performance of "Hard Luck".
Thought I would share a few of the pics I took at the dress rehersal ...



this is Jeffrey Dycus, he plays this nerdy guy & he's putting the moves on Sanibell -Dev's secretary who's in love with Dev



Dev as Graven Slade - a sleazy con-artist & Sanibell Wilson as Lotta



Pretty much the entire cast, I happened to be there when they were posing for the reporter from the paper! :o)
Well folks gotta run or I won't get there in time for the Best seats in the house (cause I Need more pics ya know, lol). I'll try to check in again soon.
See Ya :o)
UPDATE!
We just got back from the play & everyone there seemed to have really enjoyed it! I really was a wimp of a mom of a senior, I wasn't able to say anything to anyone 'cause I was afraid that I would start bawling... I guess we haven't seen the last of the senior year "mommy melt downs" yet. lol. He really did a good job tonight & I couldn't be more proud!!! :o)