Hi Santa Claus

Can you believe it? Santa Claus took time out of his busy schedule on Christmas Eve and called Matt.

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope all of you did too. This week I will be posting pictures and stories about all of our Christmas adventures. Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas & Happy Birthday

Merry Christmas from my family to your's.

Also, happy birthday to the world's sexiest man, my hubby! We love you daddy!! Yes, his birthday is on Christmas day.

Parents of the Year

I think many of you already know this, but in case you do not, we are an Office fanatic family. We, as in all three, love The Office. We own the first two seasons on DVD and are hoping for number 3 for Christmas.

Something funny Matt started doing very early was The Office laugh. When you watch the show, it will open up with a dialogue scene and right before it cuts to the opening music, something funny will happen to make you laugh. He figured out that we always laughed when the music came on. So then, every time the music came on, he would bust out laughing. He still does this but not as enthusiastically.

Matt has watched The Office so much that around his two year birthday, he could identify Michael, Jim, Pam, and Dwight. He has even named some of his toys after the characters:

In order from left to right: Dwight, Michael, and Jim. If you look closely, the Dwight guy has glasses. I think he chose the middle guy for Michael because he looks like he is wearing a suit. We did not prompt Matt to do this, he named these on his own.

If you asked Matt what his favorite episode was, he would say "firefighter office". This is the episode where Ryan starts the fire with his pita. Matt loves the part where the fire truck shows up and acts just about as goofy as Dwight. ( If you are curious, my favorite episode is the one when Michael goes to school with Ryan and there is a bat in the office)

Now with the writers' strike, the show is airing reruns. These are funny but we are ready for some new episodes. At this point, I think Matt could entertain us with his own episode and we would be happy.

It's Party Time

Well, today was a big day in the Lewis house; we had our first Christmas party! I hosted a party for the mom's bible study group that I participate in. We got started at 9 with fun in the backyard. Kristen, one of the moms, was so sweet and let us use her bounce house. Thanks girl!! The kids had a blast on it, ran around the yard, and played on the swing set. The really great thing about this morning was the fog and dew. By the time we were done outside, everyone had a wet bottom and grassy feet. I wish I would have taken a picture of all the grassy/muddy feet.

After playing outside, we took the kids in, washed up, and had a snack. In the middle of snack, guess who crashed our party...Santa Claus!! The kids were too cute. When Matt opened the door, he stood there a little dazed and then got behind the door and giggled.

Santa was such a good sport. He took pictures and read to the kids.

Santa even let our littlest ones attack him with a crocodile.

The whole experience was pretty funny because after about 5 minutes the kids were like great, Santa is here, so lets go play with toys. They would take turns disappearing in Matt's room and returning with a toy for Santa. Finally, by the end, most of the kids had drifted into his room and Santa was left sitting by himself.

Things got interesting when Santa had to leave because the children wanted to follow him out and look at his sleigh. We pretty much had to block the door.

Overall it was a great morning. I had so much fun and was glad I could share my home with everyone today.

To all my "momfriends": I love you guys and treasure each of your friendships. I love spending time with you and your crazy kids; it is a blast watching them play! I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a beautiful group of friends. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and can't wait to start back in January!

Take it easy....

Sorry I haven't posted in so long; I did not feel too swell last week.

Actually, I felt so bad that I finally went to the doctor at the prompting of my husband and mom. The week started with me having this weird episode, what I think was an anxiety attack, in the shower. Then, it seemed like I had a headache every time I turned around and all I wanted to do was sleep. All of this was topped off with a healthy dose of nausea.

So, I went to the doctor on Friday. I got checked out and my Dr. had 4 different blood test run. Yes, one of them was to see if I was pregnant. The others were to check my thyroid, liver, blood count, and for anemia. We also had a discussion about me possibly being over committed and stressed out.

Today I called the office to check on my results and first of all, I am NOT pregnant. Actually, there was nothing wrong with me. It seems that I am stressed out and my body is screaming at me to slow down and chill out. The nurse instructed me to call and set up an appointment with my doctor to discuss my stress level.

Hmm..I wonder if this has anything to do with being a wife and mom at Christmas time.

Charlie Brown Christmas

This is Matt's favorite Christmas movie this holiday season. It is one of mine as well.

In case you are feeling yourself getting caught up in all of the commercialism, take a minute to listen to the wisdom of Linus.

By the way, if my child calls your child a stupid blockhead, I'm sorry. But please, don't blam me, blame Lucy.

My Little Angel

Today Matt had his preschool Christmas program; it was very cute. I love watching these programs because the children are so unpredictable. They're waving from the stage, picking noses, poking each other, or just crying. My favorite are the kids who know their parts really well and are hamming it up and yelling their lines.

Matt's class dressed up as angels and performed toward the end. I can't tell you what they did because it was so fast and I was too concerned with taking a picture. As they performed, you could see the kids figuring out that their parents were in the audience by the look on their faces. Once they were finished and sat back down, you could hear a crying chorus of I want my mommy or I want my daddy. That was pretty funny.

From what I could see of Matt, he just stood there and looked around all big-eyed. He did really well until the end, when his class walked by our row and he saw Grandma. He wanted to come sit with us and when I said no, the tears began to flow.

Afterwards, everyone went back to their kid's class and had cookies and punch. Imagine being in a room with around 15 two year olds and their parents. It was quite entertaining. The boy sitting next to Matt would randomly shout no and finally Matt had to join in. It was like they were having a no war. I was so proud.

It was a great morning. I'm still wrestling with the thought of my child being old enough to be in a program. You all would have been very proud of me because I did not cry. I thought I was going to get all teary eyed, but I held it together.

Computer Literacy

Some of you become very concerned when my mom does not comment for a few days. I just wanted to let all of you know that she is here spoiling Matt. This means that she will not be posting her usual comments.

For some reason, she thinks she can only do this from her own computer. Today, she asked if she could use my computer to read my blog. I think my mom believes the universe will implode if she gets on another computer to look at her usual sites. To make things even more exciting, she used our laptop and I think it rocked her world.

McDonald's Happy Meal Ad Cha Cha Slide (long version)

This commercial cracks us up. I am sure you all have seen this, but I still had to post it.

There is so much that I love : the expression of the kid and his dad, the shiny gold suit, the stereo from the 80's, he's eating apples, the music that reminds me of a junior high dance, and the fact that my child laughs every time he watches the commercial.

I am hoping that it will inspire Matt to take his Happy Meal eating to a whole new level.

Love

Last night I watched this movie called The Christmas Card. Obviously, it was a Christmas movie. It was a love story about a soldier in Afghanistan who received a Christmas card from a random girl back home. After he was discharged, he set out to find her and fell in love. The problem was that she was engaged.

The other problem was that it was a made-for-TV movie and the acting was horrible. Once I got past that, I enjoyed the movie. I am a sucker for a love story.

Richard was not home when I started it. By the time he got home, the movie was almost over. The 20 minutes he watched was spent passing gas and withering in agony on the couch while making his usual love story comments:

"Oh Come On!!"

"Get Real"

and my personal favorite

"Don't you get any ideas!"

One more day

Did you see Oprah yesterday? Her show was about having one more day with someone you have lost. I find it ironic that her show was about that because today is the eleventh anniversary of when my dad passed.

For those of you who do not know, my dad died of cancer when I was nineteen. He fought it for almost two years but he eventually died. When I look back at that time now, I truly see God's hand in our lives.

I had a unique relationship with my dad. During my early childhood, I loved my dad and thought he was great. He pestered me a lot, but he was my dad and my hero. As I matured, I realized that my dad was an alcoholic and saw the effects it was having on my family. From about the 6th to 12th grade I began to distance myself from him and did not respect him very much.

For some reason, I don't know if it was maturity or divine intervention, I began to mend things with my dad my senior year. It was shortly after that decision that he was diagnosed. I spent the next two years trying to understand, love, and be with my dad. Thankfully, my dad did quit drinking and became a believer. By the time he died, he and I had created a father/daughter relationship full of memories that I am content with.

After watching the show yesterday and of course because of today, he has been on my mind. Yesterday, I thought if I had one more day, I would spend it with dad, Richard, and Matt. I would love to have a day where we all hang out, maybe fish together, and of course make a pecan pie (family joke). We would talk about his childhood, funny stories, and what's been going on the past 11 years. I know that he would love Richard and Matt; they all have the same zany humor. Actually, the three of them would probably drive me nuts! I would love that.

While sifting through old photographs this afternoon, I began to think of other questions and conversations for my dad. As I was looking at photos from the darkest parts of my family's life, I wondered what my dad would have to say about that time. The past 11 years I have always thought about things from my side and have never wondered what my dad was feeling. Did he realize how we felt? Did he feel the same? That time seemed so bleak and hopeless. Thankfully, God is merciful and kept us all in his hand.

Well, I don't want to end today on a sad note. I have chosen two photos that pretty much sum up my dad. Basically, he was a big kid. He loved having fun, telling jokes, and his kids.

This was taken five months before he passed. We took a trip to Galveston and made a lifetime of memories. The picture is hard to see, but of course he is making a silly face.

That's my brother Earnie in his baby bed. Like I said, my dad was a big kid. I have always loved this picture.

Watch Out Martha Stewart

I sent many of you an email from Kids Craft Weekly about creating an advent calendar a couple of weeks ago. Well, I decided to try my hand at crafting and made the origami cups. They turned out rather cute and I wanted to share with all of you.

As you can see, Matt loves them. We went to a Christmas parade the other night, and being the cheap mom that I am, I put that candy in the cups. The problem now is that Matt drags a chair over to the cups and tries to get the candy.

not too sure

As you can see, I added this obnoxiously large thing on the side of my page. I am not sure if I like it or not. It is suppose to be my virtual bookshelf. It looks kind of garish to me. What do you think? Should I keep it or does it look awkward?

The Baby Einstein Effect

Smart huh?? After viewing two years of Baby Einstein, this too can be your child.

I am just kidding! Before anyone leaves me nasty comments, I think that Matt is a genius.

Matt calls his eye patch his "pirate". When he walked into the living room, I just about fell over from laughing. I don't think we have ever laughed so hard at Matt. Of course, Matt hammed it up.

Have you ever seen the movie Goonies? This picture reminds me of that guy Sloth.

Random

I have made a discovery today!!

Have you ever wondered where Disney's Baby Einstein series came from? Today we watched the old classic Fantasia and it is like a older and more tolerable version of Baby Einstein's: Baby Mozart.

I have had this VHS tape since I was a kid and have probably watched it twice. The only thing I remember was that Mickey was on it somewhere. Since we do not have any other Mickey movies, I decided this would be our movie today. After watching the first five minutes, I was thinking, this is Baby Einstein (BE) for the 1940's.

I was surprised that Matt watched as much as he did. It is probably because he is a product of BE ,which according to recent studies, means he is retarded and will have serious language delays. Please, have you heard my kid talk? He might speak his own language but he does talk and has since around a year old.

.

Anyways, I just thought the similarities were interesting and if you are bored and want to read up on Fantasia check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_(film)