The Runway

Here is a picture of the girls playing with one of their Christmas presents. It's from Jim's parents. I think it says it all.

The specs: The "dressing room" is approximately 4-5 ft cubed. The "runway" is 5 feet long and has sensor-activated LEDs as well as music. The girls LOVE it!








In other news, I'm typing at you from my very own NEW computer! Jim has been saying for months now that we needed a new one. Well, see, they're kind of expensive......Anyway, for Christmas, he got ME my very own NEW computer! You see, being the computer guru in the family, HE'S always gotten the new ones and I would get his last year's model. He told me that he wanted me to have a nice new one. So I've got it! It's a MacBook. Girly white. But it runs everything MUCH faster! It even has a camera built in. It's pretty cool.

Thank you, honey! I love it!

A message for the Season....

I don't have time to post about Christmas right now, but I had to share this. The Knights of Columbus hall down the street from my mom's house had this message for the Christmas season:

Keep Christ in Christmas.
Happy Holidays

Okay....I guess they aren't up on current political debate.

More to come.......

Answered prayer

This morning, while I was praying in the shower, (yes, I pray in the shower) I casually asked God to show me that some of our Christian teaching was getting through to the girls. I asked him to let me know that some of it was sinking in.

Fast forward to the children's sermon at church today. A dangerous time.....Alpha is sitting NEXT to the preacher and, hence, the microphone. First, the preacher says there are 2 more days until Christmas and she blurts out, "No there's not! There's only ONE more day!"

Ahem.
Anyway, the point of his Children's sermon was that Jesus is the greatest gift God has ever given us. He asked the kids if they could remember that on Tuesday. They said yes. Then Alpha says, "You can remember that EVERY day!"

Wow.
Wow.
Wow!

Praise God for his wonderful sign! Praise the Sunday school teachers and family members that have taken the time and effort to explain God to kids. They ARE getting it and they DO get it. Sunday school works! Religious education works! Praise be to God!

And remember on Tuesday, and EVERY day, that "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

Some final thoughts....

I'm not complaining or suggesting an alternative lifestyle, but maybe the song should say, "I saw DADDY kissing Santa Claus".......

How did I end up with SO MANY things?

NO PEEKING!!!!
Step away from the tree......

After decorating cookies, "whaddya mean you don't like sprinkles?"

How did it get to be so late?

One more gift, just one more gift!

And our now-famous family saying, "I got you.........NOTHING!" (We taught the girls to say this last year when the beans kept getting spilt.)

Callin' in the big guns!

With Christmas only 4 days away, I thought I'd share a little of our own family's Christmas preparations with you. This email is reprinted here, by permission of my husband, to show his ingenuity, creativity, and parenting-oomph.

*************************************************************************************
This morning Beta was pitching the end-all of fits in the back of
the car -- kicking, screaming, the works. So as we pulled away from
the house, I decided to get her attention. I pulled out my cell phone
and made sure she could see that I was "dialing."

"Hello? Yes, Santa please... thank you."
"..."
"Hello, Santa? Yes, this is Jim Kane. That report I sent you last
night, about Beta Kane? I think I'll need to make some changes to
it."
"..."
"OK, thanks, I'll send you the details later today."

"Alright, merry Christmas!"

You could have heard a bug fart in that car the rest of the trip. By
the time we got to preschool, she had cooled off and was fine.
************************************************************************************

Isn't that great? Rosemond would be proud. It feels weird to pull something like that, but boy, does it work like a charm!

My last thing of the evening, I need to give a shout out (podcast speak) to a new blogger. Jennifer Felio, one of my really good friends from college, finally has a blog! Her husband, David, another one of my good friends from college, has been blogging for a very long time. Go read both of theirs. They have very interesting things to say.

My Christmas List

In the spirit of this Manic Mommies post, I thought I'd make my own Christmas list.

What I want for Christmas:
1. To understand instantly, totally, and completely, my new job and how to do it.
2. To not feel guilty for taking said job.
3. A spell to make children instantly know how to match clothes. Or a sign that pops up over their heads saying "I dressed myself!"
4. Strength to be one of those patient, calm, June-Cleaver-type moms who never raises her voice, always remains calm, and has copious amounts of Solomon-type wisdom.
5. Or just to yell a lot less.


I'm sure there's more. I guess I could add "Make chocolate be a vegetable" and "let everyone like their gifts." And one thing I'd really like, though not necessarily for Christmas, is a new scrub brush for the tub. I've asked Santa for that so maybe I'll get it. :)

That's all for now.

Is Christmas a bad thing?

In this weekend's Religion section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, they had an article about the origins of the popular holiday we call, "Christmas". The article said it was originally a pagan festival, and that many Christians of the time refused to celebrate it. Some cities even outlawed it!

The article mentioned one preacher from the Church of God who refuses to celebrate Christmas. He says that since it's not mentioned in the Bible, and the early Christians didn't celebrate it, then he's not going to celebrate it.

Which got me to thinking.

Is Christmas a bad thing?

I say no! Here's why.

Who cares if Christmas had its beginnings in a pagan celebration. Christians have made it into celebrating the birth of Christ, our Saviour and Lord. That's not a bad thing.

And what about the non-Christians who speak of the "spirit of the season" without meaning Christ? Well, is it really that bad for us as a people to try to be generous to the needy, polite and kind to one another, and spread "Christmas cheer?" No, it's not.

Besides, don't Christians watch TV, listen to the radio, read the newspapers, wear jeans and make-up, and enjoy celebrating football victories? Just because we're Christian doesn't mean we can't do some of the same things other people in our "culture" do.

Therefore, we can celebrate Christmas!

(As if you needed my permission...)

Merry Christmas! 9 more days to go!

Tree-o!

The Great Christmas Tree Hunt of '07 is over! 3 times over, in fact.

Yes. We have 3 Christmas trees. All decorated. I call them our "tree-o". (Get it?)

Here is our main Christmas tree:

It is a real, cut frasier fir. 8 feet tall. With nearly a 5 foot diameter at the bottom! It contains all our most treasured ornaments.









Next, we have the girls' little tree.


We got this tree about 3 years ago. We bought it so the girls could hang their own (unbreakable) ornaments without messing up the real tree. Or hurting themselves. We all love this tree. The girls get to hang multiple ornaments on the top branch and I don't have to sweat seeing the big tree full of plastic-y things.





Finally, our newest addition!


A 4 feet tall, artificial white tree! As we were looking for artificial trees this year (long story), I kept seeing the white ones. I knew we didn't want to purchase a 7 ft tall white tree and pay over $100 for it. However, when we'd go look, I'd just stare at the white tree and love it! I can't really explain or describe why. I'm so traditional, and it just bunks tradition.

Anyway, my grandmother sent me some birthday money. I wasn't sure what to spend it on until we went to Wal-Mart last Friday. That's when I saw it. My 4 ft tall white tree for only $25!!!!! I bought the blue bead garland, blue ornaments, and candy canes. I got a blue picture-ornament that I put one of our family pictures from last year in. I also found a tree skirt for a table top tree that fits this one perfectly! I have some blue ribbon for the top, but I just haven't had time to make a bow.

Beta LOVES it! We set it on my grandmother's music cabinet in the foyer so it could be seen from the window. (Jim says he always wanted a tree you could see from the window.) It reminds me of my grandmothers. My grandmother Helen always had a small tree set on a table. She never (or very, very rarely) had a larger tree. My grandmother Clark at one point DID have an aluminum Christmas tree with the color wheel! So this one kind of reminds me of her, too.

And that, dear readers, is how we managed to have 3 trees in our house, decorated, all at the same time. Maybe next year Jim can have one of HIS own. In the office. Reaching the ceiling. Adorned with computers, xbox games, and LED lights!

Overheard....part 2

"Karla doesn't celebrate Christmas. She celebrates Harmonica."

Overheard....

While making Christmas cards:

"It doesn't matter what color the Brigglers get. They don't care which one they get."

"Grandmother is not a Briggler. She's just a Grandmother."

And my favorite, as Alpha left webkinz.com to go potty:

"Don't touch the computer, Beta! Don't! D-O-T!!!!"

The Expanded Version

As promised, (sorta), here is the expanded version of our weekend.

It started early. Thursday evening, to be exact. It was my birthday! Yay! Well, kinda. Once you pass 21, it just doesn't mean as much. Here are some pics from my "party":

Do you see Alpha trying to blow out my birthday candles?? I think Beta was headed for one as well. We had 3 on my cake. No specific reason.....







Next, Saturday afternoon was Alpha's first gymnastics meet! It was a "fun meet" which meant everyone got a T-shirt and a trophy. There was no competition. Here she is smiling beforehand. She said she wasn't nervous, but she was very quiet.






Now if this won't terrify a mother, nothing will. Here stands your baby, alone, in front of everyone!








Here she is finishing her routine with a backbend. She can do these really well now.

(The red bars are the railing. We were upstairs and I zoomed in with my camera.)








Ta da! These are the regular gym participants. They all got to stand on the podium and raise their arms and say "ta da!"







Alpha said she really enjoyed it. She looked terrified during it, but loved it afterwards. We got to see 3 upper level gymnasts do floor routines after the regular girls. They were very good.

To finish out the day, we went to see "The Nutcracker" performed by the Classical Ballet Academy in Rogers. It was VERY good! Both girls actually sat on the edge of their seats and watched the entire 2 hour performance! I explained the story beforehand since there was no talking. Alpha loved reading the program with me. Beta was tired and sick, but even her attention was held the entire time! Only towards the last 15 or 20 minutes did she start sucking her thumb and climb into her daddy's lap.

All in all it was an absolutely wonderful family day! Both girls now want to be professional ballerinas when they grow up. We told Alpha that meant she'd need to switch from gymnastics back to ballet. She wasn't so sure about that. We'll figure that out later.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have a video of the routine up. Or a picture of our Christmas tree! (IF we ever find time to decorate it.)

Have a good week, everyone!

Coming soon....

Hello, everyone! There will be a new post here soon. Probably tomorrow night. We have had a busy last 3 days and we've got another busy one tomorrow.

In short, here's what we've done:

Thursday: Wendy's birthday
Friday: The Great Christmas Tree Hunt of '07
Saturday: Alpha's gymnastics meet in the afternoon, then we all attended "The Nutcracker" ballet this evening.
Sunday: Church, then finding a tree (hopefully), decorating it, and Community group. Oh, and clean the house.

Oh, and Beta's got ear infections in both ears.

I've got lots of stories and pictures. I just don't have time to post. Maybe I'll have time tomorrow night.

Good night, all!