Oh yeah...

I meant to tell you that I set the Roomba loose in the toy room. It came back and told me that my kids are pigs.

Follow-up to our Sleepover

Remember how I mentioned that Macon had a friend spend the night and how he almost never gets to have kids over?? Well, it may be a long time for the next one, thanks to the Silverleaf gossip mill!! Macon woke us up the night Ryan stayed, throwing up. He threw up at least once an hour all night. Ryan woke up around 8:45 and David basically chucked him in the car and drove him home. Macon didn't eat anything but 5 small crackers yesterday. He took a loooong nap and then still went to bed around 8pm. He slept through the night and has tried to eat everything in the house today. In fact, he just called up here asking for a snack. He is still in his pj's (his choice) and we have played our new electronic Monopoly game. I am proud to say that I have not yet run out of money but Macon owns all the expensive properties so I am sure that will change.

The big kids are still gone. The girls were going to come home yesterday but with the sickness, I asked if they could stay one more night. Now, they ditched me and aren't coming until tomorrow (Today is Lee's birthday). David is running his drug/alcohol group tonight and won't be home until 9 so I asked Mom and Dad to come eat dinner. I have ham, black-eyed peas, collards and cornbread. Obviously, I was expecting a crowd, not just me and Macon!! We have been invited to a party in the neighborhood that includes kids but with the recent upchucking, I think just David is going to go. Clemson plays tonight at 7:30pm and I'll be watching it. Good thing Macon doesn't realize that it is New Year's Eve and I can go ahead and put him to bed like normal. He would be a bear the next day if he doesn't get enough sleep.

David is off tomorrow so hopefully it doesn't rain and he can get the lights off the house. I love the way it looks but come January I am ready for it to come down. We have a lot going on between Market for Mom's stores, David's test, and our trip to Maryland (is it snowing there??). The last weekend in January, our school has its annual Family Clay night. You purchase clay, make it into something (we have lots of bowls at our house), paint it, then the art department fires it and returns it to you. It's a lot of fun and because it isn't PTA sponsored, I get to relax and enjoy it. So busy, busy January but mostly fun stuff.

Oh yeah, I forgot, Camp Willow Run applications come out Jan. 26th. We will be first in line this year, I hope. The kids have loved it immensely and I enjoy going back to visit. Brings back fond memories!!

The Calm after the Storm

Christmas is over, even thought the decorations are still up!! It has been raining here so David has not taken down the outside stuff and I have been too busy/lazy to do the inside. I think tomorrow will be a good day since we have played with all the toys!!

The big kids are gone for the weekend so Macon had a friend come play today and then sleep over. David went upstairs a little bit ago and found the two of them in the same bed, Ryan on his stomach and Macon on his back, arms flung out. Very cute when you are six, not so cute when you are 38 (David sleeps sprawled out). Poor Macon gets left out of the friends' thing a lot. The big kids can just go from house to house to house but Macon, we have to call and set it up. Plus, all of his friends are the youngest in the family and I think we Moms are tired a lot. Anyway, I am trying to do better because he really likes having boys his age around.

The big news is that we got a Wii from Santa. It's sad to say but David and I have played it more than the kids. We have never had any type of game system so this is super exciting for us. Except we have now realized that our family room is not big enough for four people to play tennis. Our friends were over tonight after a dinner at Fuddrucker's. Terese conked Ryan in the head with the controller while swinging at the tennis ball. He now sports a knot on his forehead. Otherwise, she is a good mother.

The other big news is I got a Roomba for Christmas. Yes, it was actually on my list. Our friends, Andy and Miriam have one in Florida and when we visitied, I was very impressed with how well it cleaned. So far, it has found a book under the sofa in the family room, hangers under the one in the living room and a whole bunch of dust and dog hair hiding under the chairs. Next, I am going to let it loose in the kids rooms and see if we can find some missing socks.

David will be taking his Praxis (a professional exam for teachers) in January and, if he passes, will then become hireable (is that a word?) in South Carolina as a teacher of emotionally handicapped students. I questioned his ability to teach but then he has reminded me that he has been counseling kids with these problems for 10 years. Sometimes it is hard for me to realize that he has a whole nother life out there that I am not a part of. He leaves in the morning and comes home at night without me helping at all. Well, other than making his lunch occassionally. I guess because I have never had a "real" job I don't relate to that part of his day. But, he is a real professional who currently supervises almost 60 people serving over 1500 clients. I guess that means he can do his job well!! Too bad he is bogged down in boring paperwork and not getting paid what we would like. You know it must be bad if he is considering teaching as a better-paying job.

School starts back next Thursday and while I have really enjoyed having this break, it will be nice to get back to our routine. I think David and I are going to have a grown-up night with the Wii. Kick the kids out, move the furniture around and try not to whack each other in the heads!!

"'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

The Rushton's excitement, one could not douse

The church clothes were hung by the bed with care

In hopes that all would soon be dressed without snare

The children were wrestled all snug in their seats

And we were off to the church to sing with a beat

And Perry and family lead a wonderful prayer

For all of us to remember the Son Mary did bear...

When, out of the church, our tummies like beasts

Off to Grammy and Papa's for a delicious feast!

Long ago, when young, Papa's mother did cook

Yummy seafood casserole, and so, by the book

Grammy will fix it for her family

The same great dish derived from the sea

Then home again, home again, home again quick

For it is time to get ready for jolly St. Nick

More rapid than computers the children they came

And Mom whistled and shouted and called them by name

"Now, Hannah! now Knox! now Katy and Macon!

On David, let's hurry, you think this's vacation?

To your rooms in the house! to your warm, comfy beds!

Now dash away, dash away, lay down your sweet heads!"

As the cookies were placed on a plate by the fire

and carrots and celery, for that's what reindeers desire

New jammies for all 'cause last year's they outgrew

And little voices insist, "Mom and Dad, go to bed too!"

And then, in a twinkling, they heard on the street

The jingling and jangling of bells on his feet

Down the road St. Nicholas came with a bound

With cars driving past and honking their sounds

He was smaller than last year, with no loot to boot

And his clothes were quite shabby, like a second-hand suit

But the children believed and Mom and Dad sighed

"Not too many more years" as a tear fell from their eye

Then, into the darkness, he disappeared

and our children screeched out "Will he come back here?"

As we got them tucked in their soft warm beds

And thanked God for the Present, my little ones said

"This year's the best, Mom, keep on the night-light"

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!!!

and the Conclusion!!

Well, the real conclusion is...I found the stupid stocking!! I was pulling Christmas presents out of my closet to finish wrapping tonight while David is at work and, lo and behold, it was down in the corner. Why?? Who knows how it got there. Anyway, that means NO going out to a store tomorrow!!

The previous story, titled "A Year Without a Stocking", is a fictionalized event. All characters are purely figments of the author's imagination and do not reflect real life. The child named Hannah would NEVER be so awful to her mother and the mother would never be harried on Christmas ;)

"The Christmas Without A Stocking"

Once upon a time there was a young lady named Hannah (I have it on good authority that this young lady is certainly not a child anymore). Hannah was very excited about Christmas because she had asked for all new, all expensive presents that every 'tween child, I mean, young lady that ever stands a chance of having friends or, more importantly, a boyfriend, would ever need. Only one thing stood in her way of the perfect Christmas....her overworked, overwrought, very evil mother. This awful person had done the impossible. She had LOST Hannah's stocking. Now, it didn't matter that the stocking was one of those red felt ones with the white fur trim that this same evil person had purchased at the exclusive and tawny store, Garden Ridge, for a ridiculous price of .99 cents. It didn't matter that Hannah's name had been very carefully applied in red glitter across the soft fur by the unsteady hand of her terrible mother. What mattered most was that Hannah and only Hannah (not her better-loved siblings) had no stocking for Christmas morning. What's an evil mother to do??? Well, this mother will be heading out into the fray to find a CVS, another very exclusive store, to purchase a stocking for her beloved daughter two days before Christmas morn so that it may be filled with all the wonderous things a stocking can hold....oranges and impossible-to-crack nuts. The conclusion of our story finds the harried but still evil mother grumbling about Christmas and the beloved but now slightly scarred daughter having something to discuss with her therapist when she gets older.

To be continued....

Late as usual!!

Wow...I said not like Jonathan and yet, here I am, a month later, trying to pretend that I am on the ball. Actually, nothing is on the ball right now. Our Christmas tree is still not decorated. The kids have been gone every weekend in December so far, either to the exes or Hannah's swim meet. On the bright side, David and I have bought every single Christmas present without the use of a credit card. NO MORE DEBT is our new slogan.

Hannah just competed in her first out of town meet. It was kinda neat because it was in Rock Hill, which is where I started college, met Lee and fled after three years. Lee's mom was able to come and see her swim though. Hannah had her best meet ever, dropping seconds like it was nothing. So much so, that her coach has decided to move her up to the next training group. I get this email about it and print it to show Hannah. She was reading a bedtime story to Macon that night so when she was done, I went in to say prayers with Macon and handed the email to Hannah on her way out. She closed the door, I turned out Macon's light, knelt down to start prayers and hear Hannah say, "Yes!" Then I feel the floor start to shake and paper begin to rattle as she does a happy dance in the hallway. Needless to say, she was excited.

Last night, Hannah had two girls spend the night. I was gone when they arrived, picking Katy up from a birthday party and driving her back to Lee's to spend the night there. When I got back, David was playing Monopoly with the giggling girls. I remember when we first got serious about dating, he asked me why the girls made that noise. "What noise?" as silly sounds emanate from the other room. "That noise....the high-pitch sound coming from their little bitty lips" Oh, the sounds of little girls and here he is making them giggle by pretending to have stolen their Monopoly money. What a long way we have come in seven years!!

I have three parties to attend this week, a cookie swap, Bunco and a couples' party Saturday night. Thank goodness they are all on different nights because I cannot wait for them all!! The cookie swap and Bunco are two different groups of women and I love both of them. The couples' party is at a good friend of ours and they have invited lots of fun people. The kids are spending the night with David's parents that night so David and I get to stay out WAAAAY past our bedtime.

Speaking of past bedtime...I have to go to bed now. Macon is our only child in the house tonight and I think I have convinced David to let me sleep late in the morning but I cannot count on it. Macon is my little alarm clock. He'll sneak in to tell me what time it is. "Mom, mom, it's seven--dot-dot--zero-two. That means it's time to get up." I LOVE to sleep and have never been the mom who wakes up the minute her little darlings do but with three Rushton men in the house, that is hard to do. They get up early and they make no bones about the fact that if they are awake, then everyone else should be too!! Bless David's heart, he cannot be quiet to save his soul. He also has a tendency to wake me up in order to ask me what time I want him to wake me up. My response is always the same. "Well, what time is it now??" "Seven--dot-dot-zero two (He and Macon tell time the same way:)" "Well, then, wake me up at 7:02."

I'll try not to let so much time pass.....you know how it flies when you are having fun :)