Traditions:

My favorite family holiday tradition is a toss up. I really love fondue. Each Christmas Eve, the adults gather and eat way too much fried food. It's the best meal of the year. My favorite holiday tradition that involves the children, however, would probably have to be opening stockings. I have such precious memories of opening stockings as a kid. The gifts in there were obviously small, and usually just a million (individually wrapped) packs of gum or chapstick. But seeing that stocking stuffed to the gills on Christmas morning was just magical. Now, the fun is in recreating that for MY kids. One year, we wrapped a million matchbox cars individually. It was wonderful because the boys were truly surprised each time they opened one, even though they all looked the same.

We've been invaded by nearly 4 dozen mice. Click through to see pictures...

Have I mentioned lately that I love this man with all of my heart?

I took the kids out for root beer floats tonight. This was Ray's mom's idea, and was a brilliant one.

You see, one of the incentives for AJ's fundraiser, is that if you bring in a certain amount of money by a certain day, you can have a root beer float at lunch time. AJ knew this and all weekend was begging us to give him enough money for one. We didn't have the $30 though. So, the compromise was that we would take him to Sonic for a root beer float after school.

While I was pregnant with AJ, I did my best to consider all of the things that I would need to do to be the perfect mother. Things like learning to decorate cakes so that my kids would have beautiful birthday cakes like I did when I was a kid. Or like keeping the bathroom completely clean at all times. Or like being completely finished with potty training before they turned 2. Or like making cute little baby books for each of them.

Yes, I do have a homeless man. Actually I have two...and a half. The half is because it's a guy that I don't know if he is actually homeless or not. He might not be...

The guy who came to church is a man I met at Wal-mart. The long lines at our local Wal-marts are seriously killing me here. Without fail, I wait more than 15 minutes in line at Walmart. Even if I'm in the express lane.

AJ: Mommy, what IS this?
Mommy: A plum.
AJ: Ooooh!! Yum.

a few minutes pass as he inspects the plum.

AJ: Mommy, what's in the middle of this?
Mommy: A pit.
AJ: Drew, look what we are eating!
Drew: It's called a plit.
AJ: No, it's a plumt.
Drew: No, it's a plunned.
AJ: No, it's a plump.
Drew: Oh...I really like this plump.
AJ: Yeah. Plumps are good.

Being a mom can be a tiresome and unrewarding job. That is difficult for me because I want to feel like what I do day in and day out actually matters. I want to feel appreciated. I know, I know...I probably won't get the appreciation or validation that I desire until my kids are grown and have kids of their own and see just how difficult it can be.

In any case, I can say with confidence that once or twice a day, I am a hero to my kids. It happens invariably at mealtime...usually breakfast.