Merry Christmas!

We went to the Mall last week to visit with Santa.

Both kids were so excited to see him from the distance and while waiting in line.

When it was their time to chat with Santa, Bella freaked out and Joshua totally drew a blank.

This was the best out of all the shots that were taken.

Mrs. Claus looks a little goofy, and Bella was NOT happy to be in her lap, but Joshua and Santa look really cute!!

We've lucked out the last few years with our Mall Santas, they've looked quite authentic :)

Ready, Set, PRAY!!!

Someone looked at our house yesterday in PA and wants to "Check it out" again on Saturday!

Everyone PLEASE pray for us, (and them too I guess?!) that we'll be able to sell the house!!!!

THANKS!!

This would be the ultimate Christmas/birthday present EVER :D

Whatta??

Yeah... that was totally my reaction after what happened to me today.

I had never really been a victim of a Crazy Shopping Maniac, but today, I can add that one to the list.

The kids have been sick, so I finally found a pediatrician in the area to have them looked at. (that sounded like I'm taking my car to the mechanic) Anyway... Turns out they both have strep, and double ear infections.

Now, imagine how well and happy they were feeling. After we left the Doc.'s office, I decided to try the wal-mart pharmacy. (Not sure what I was thinking (lack of sleep maybe?))

While we were waiting for the prescription to be filled, the kids and I walked across the isle where the bikes and scooters were on display.
Joshua hoped on a bike and Bella on another waaaaayyyy too big for her.
As I am going down this little area with Bella on the bike, this woman (I won't dare call her a lady) pushed her way into the spot where we had come from.
Mind you, the store was pretty full, with plenty of people around us.
I turned the bike around with Bella, and Josh starts...
"Mom, can I ride this bike? mom, mom, mom, mom..."

I say to the woman, "Excuse us" In a cheery, Christmassy sort of way.

Nothing...

(Josh in the background... MOM, mom, mom, mom, MOOOOOOM, mom, mommyyyyy...)

"Excuse me" I said a little louder...

"I'M TRYING TO SHOP HERE!!! YOU ARE NOT EXCUSED!" (yelling)

Incredulously I said, "I'm sorry I was just trying to get around you to put this bike bac..."

"WELL, GO FIND ANOTHER WAY AROUND, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING GETTING IN PEOPLE'S WAY WITH YOUR KID AND THAT STUPID BIKE!" (as she moved very slowly out of the way)

I was a little shocked... my brain was saying >> DOES NOT COMPUTE<<

"Listen!" I said in my 'tude, yet TRYING to stay calm voice.
"That was completely unnecessary! You need to chill out OK!"
"YOU LITTLE B#$@%!!" and some other off color comments that were totally inappropriate for her to be saying in front of my children or anyone for that matter.

This woman just flipped.

"That was absolutely unnecessary! You better keep on movin..."

AND SHE PUSHES HER SHOPPING CART INTO ME!!

It took every fiber of my being to contain myself and not go absolutely Ghetto on that woman!

This is when I had one of those out of body experiences, where time froze and I got to run the whole scenario in my head again in total disbelief.

The funny part is that all I could think of was, "your kids are here, don't do anything or say anything stupid", it's Christmas time... blow this off, What Would Jesus Do??"

I think too in her mind she was thinking... "Whatta heck did I just do? I better get the heck outta here!!"

I Roared back at her "Whatta Hell do you think you're doing? You better..."

She started to waddle off quickly, and as if to take one last stab at me, she turned around and called me a B*%$# again.

Except this time, what she saw was a little birdie doing a flip. She was so shocked at how close I got to her face with the bird, that I thought my finger would go up her nose.

She gave me an appalled kind of look and waddled away quickly.

I stood there for a second thinking. "Gosh, Jesus would never do that!"

I was reawakened by a little voice in the distance saying... "Mom, mom, mom, mom, MOMMMMEEEEE, are you listening to me? Mommy!"

I cannot emphasize how much I hated walmart before.
This incident just totally sealed the deal for me.

I will NEVER go back again...

...well to that location at least ;D

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

...And the kids are absolutely loving it!

This entire past week, Joshua and Bella were begging for a tree. Dwight and I were quite torn because we're very much real tree people. Only thing is, we really didn't want to deal with the mess that it could make in the apartment (The pine needles, watering it, spilling the water on the carpet), but we also didn't want to spend too much money on a FAKE tree... 'cause really in this case you get what you pay for!!

So to appease the little ones, we set out to find the perfect tree.

At first we looked at real trees, but the local vendors only seemed to have the humongo ones...

It was either us or the tree in the apartment.

So, we looked for fake ones and GASPED at the prices, but decided to keep on looking anyway...

Finally we stopped at Lowe's for a light bulb replacement, and ended up in the "holiday" section... The kids made a bee line to a really cute pre-lit tree with colorful lights.
They liked it so much, we took a few pictures by the tree expecting to buy it.

I know what you're thinking, and what I'm sure all the people at Lowe's were thinking too...

WHY IN THE WORLD take a picture of us buying a tree at Lowe's??

Allow me to explain... In the past we always bought real trees and had a lot of fun doing so.
We would go to the tree farm, roast hot dogs or smores on a bonfire, drink hot chocolate, run around (tripping on stumps), and having a lot of fun trying to find "the perfect tree." We always took pictures... Always.
So,even though we were breaking the tradition, at least I would get some cute pictures.

Or so I thought...





After all the trouble of trying to get a decent picture by the tree...

WE BOUGHT A DIFFERENT ONE :-S

Later we went looking at lots where Josh found the "Ultimate Stick"
he he he :)