A trolley, some snow, and a little caroling...

I firmly believe that my husband is one of the hardest people to buy for in the world. He doesn't want anything for Christmas, and he doesn't care if he gets anything. (Although the Egg Bowl win was a nice little happy.) On top of that, his birthday is in December, which means that I have to scrounge up a good birthday gift, too. Despite the herculean efforts it takes to come up with something appropriate, I think I may have finally done it.

With the help of his and my parents, I rented the Fondren Trolley last Friday night. I had him invite his friends, we donned our tackiest Christmas duds, and we had a very "spirited" night. I even conjured up some snow.

Modeling his Christmas finery. He wasn't even close to being the tackiest.

I'm sporting my 3XL men's t-shirt that I wore as a dress. If you would like one of your own, you can pick it up for a meager $4 at Wal-Mart. And yes, that's a Santa Claus necklace around my neck.

This needs an explanation...We decided to give a small prize to whoever wore the tackiest outfit. Some friends showed up in these matching, denim jackets. The jackets were given to them as a wedding present. For real. No lie. They are hideous--and hilarious. I'm glad that they can now honestly say they've worn the jackets.

The trolley did not run us over--it was parked. And I'm wearing running shorts under my shirt/dress. I promise.

We stopped by Belhaven to do a little sledding. It wasn't that easy considering there wasn't a whole lot of snow, but we didn't really care.

Anthony's parents graciously let Sam spend the night with them that night, so we were able to sleep in. (Thank goodness because it was one of the latest nights we've had in awhile.) Joe took Sam out in the snow the next morning. Forgive Sam's motley outfit. I didn't send appropriate clothes for him because I didn't believe it would actually snow. Serves me right.

Saturday night, we headed to the Belhaven Singing Christmas Tree. It was beautiful, but pretty darn cold. We had dinner with friends after the program, and we decided to top off the night with a little bit of Christmas caroling. We didn't leave the house to subject anyone else to our singing, but we had a great time nonetheless. It was so cliche, but it was ridiculously fun!

Yes, that's the lamp from A Christmas Story. Awesome.

If you look closely, you can see our tip jar. If you missed out on tipping us that night, feel free to send us a check in the mail.

I promise I'm alive...

We've just had a lot going on lately. We had a wonderful, laid-back Thanksgiving holiday--which was capped off by a Bulldog win. Anthony still hasn't come down from his cloud. The Christmas tree is up, and although it hasn't proved to be quite the sticky situation I feared, Sam has still managed to kill an ornament or two.

We have a birthday party for Anthony tonight; I'm not going to divulge his age. I'll be posting pictures from this event ASAP. It ought to be interesting. Two words: Tacky Christmas.

And now, for the score:

Sam 3, Christmas tree 0

Chief Demands-Milk-And-Cackas

It's been a few posts since I inundated the web with pictures of my son, so I figure you're due. His little school had their Thanksgiving feast today, and he had a fine ole time. We have been so happy with his school, and I'm grateful that Sam is comfortable there. He is definitely coming out of his shell. He was an American Indian today, complete with headdress. I didn't ask him what his Indian name was, but I'm sure it's something like, "Chief Demands-Milk-And-Cackas." He and his tribe had big plans for a huge meal, a quick pow-wow, and then a communal nap.

Somebody's got gas...

On Tuesday, it wasn't us. Our sweet little gas company decided to do some maintenance on our gas line, but they apparently forgot to turn it back on. Luckily for us, Tuesday happened to be pretty chilly, and we had no hot water and no heat. I think Anthony's shower lasted all of 20 seconds, and I didn't get to take one at all. While I waited on the gas people to come back and correct the issue, I wrapped myself in quilts and sat on a heating pad. I looked like the scene from Christmas Vacation when Clark accidentally gets trapped in the attic. I'm not exaggerating. I looked ridiculous. Fortunately, Sam was at MMO that day, so he didn't have to freeze with me.

We have now rejoined the 21st century--I have heat, hot water, and I am now clean as a whistle. I even took the turban off my head.

For all you future mothers...

Yet another thing that they don't tell you in pre-baby classes--how your shopping experiences will change. Let me enlighten you.

You will not be able to leave the house without diapers, a massive, cumbersome stroller, wipes, an extra outfit, goldfish, and juice/milk.

You will attempt to buy a book, and end up buying one for your child too because he/she starts throwing a fit in the super-quiet bookstore and screams "Book! Book! Book!" at the top of his/her lungs.

You will go into your favorite store, Anthropologie, and attempt to find something cute, weather-appropriate, and inexpensive (good luck with that one) to wear to a football game that weekend. You will take the huge, cumbersome stroller into a handicapped changing room and strip down as quickly as possible. Your child will tire of the book you just got him/her, and he/she will demand "cackas.'' Cue the goldfish. While you attempt to wade through the pile of potential outfits, your child will open the door and show everyone in the dressing area what you look like without a top on. Awesome. You will leave a trail of crumbs Hansel and Gretel style all over the store, therefore making it easy for the employees to figure out which person made a fantastic mess. You will turn red with shame.

On the bright side, you will get 3 cute tops and a blazer. Your child will be so exhausted from peeking out under the dressing room door that he/she will fall asleep on the ride home.

I'm just warning you.

Super fun...

Insert sarcasm...

This weekend we noticed that Sam had a small, seemingly insignificant rash on his face. It turns out we were really wrong about the insignificant part.

By late Sunday afternoon, the rash covered pretty much every inch of his body, and it looked horrendous. Our pediatric group is open every day of the year except Christmas and Thanksgiving, so we took him in Sunday night at 7:30 and a doctor checked him out. Hand, foot, and mouth disease was the diagnosis. If you're not familiar with this particular brand of torture, it's a super-contagious virus that causes a person to run a low-grade fever and break out in a rash all over the body. (Specifically the hands, feet, and mouth.) Poor kid even has sores in his mouth, too. Good news is that it's nothing major. Bad news is, it has to "run its course." No Mother's Morning Out for us this week.

I would post pictures, but let's face it, that'd be gross. Feel free to google it.

What's even more fun is freaking out every time I have an itch...I'm terrified I'm going to get it. I bet you're itching now, too.

The Samburger

Warning--disgustingly obnoxious amount of pictures to follow.

On Friday Sam had his first "school" party. Talk about organized chaos! Toddlers were everywhere, art projects flew through the air, and all kinds of food ended up on the floor. I really don't know how his teachers handle it every day. They totally won my admiration.



Sam wore his delicious hamburger costume to the party. He had a good time, but he didn't smile for the camera very much. I promise he enjoyed himself.

The cheeseburger cheesin' for the camera

Serious face

Working on his "art project"

Hangin' with his friends Snow White, Ladybug, Angel, and Frog

This pic has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. I just think it's funny.

Halloween night

Yes, that's me. I have always wanted to be Snow White...

At 30 years of age, I made it happen. When I googled "Snow White Costumes" a ton of trashy versions came up. Who knew that you could make Snow White look promiscuous? I passed on the bows and garters and went with the traditional version.

We took Sam to a few friends' houses and then headed to a Halloween party. He hung out with us for a little while, but we had to call in reinforcements to take him off our hands.

Family portrait

Sookie Stackhouse, Willie Nelson, and S. White

Anthony dressed up as a friend of ours; it's an inside joke that would take way too much explanation, so I'll pass. Anthony's posing with John Gosselin and an Ole Miss fan. That's right...someone dressed up as an Ole Miss fan. He's an Auburn grad, so his costume was particularly timely on Saturday.

Hope your Halloween was full of treats!