
Peter hunting with his daddy

Making cookies for Santa

Christmas morning

Trey

Samuel and daddy

Grammy's picture book

Peter hunting with his daddy

Making cookies for Santa

Christmas morning

Trey

Samuel and daddy

Grammy's picture book
Here’s some video of the light show in downtown Frisco this year. You just tune your radio to the station on the sign and you can hear the music on your own car radio. Pretty cool! I took several videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1b2KX-r2dM
Also, here are some random photos:

Our stained shutters are finally in and FABULOUS!!!

Peter read the Christmas story last night at the Just family Christmas.

Samuel loved his new chair

Some of my newest creations
So I go into Samuel’s room tonight and find his blue wall covered in white chalk. It was actually kind of pretty – but in a totally inappropriate way. I mean, even I know you shouldn’t let your 3 year old color on the wall. What if he used a red marker next time? Or even worse, orange???
So I stiffled the laughter and went to get Brad. Because I knew I couldn’t keep a straight face long enough to discipline him.
Brad gave him the obligatory swats and then got him ready for bed while I got the other two ready for bed and settled in front of a Christmas cartoon I recorded. Then I traded with Brad and got a wet cloth for Samuel to use to clean the wall. Thankfully, the white chalk was easy to clean off.
After we were done with the clean-up, we went to his bathroom to brush his teeth, and that’s when I noticed part of his supper still on his face. So I used the wet rag to wipe around his mouth and while I was working he looked up at me and said “Hey, stop wiping my face! I’m not the wall!!!”
I don’t know where he gets it.
Not the best video quality, but we remembered! Just got a little off our game when they cancelled school today. Tried to upload here but the site wouldn’t recognize the file. So it’s on Youtube – enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaqAwNJXz8s
Britany
[Edited to add my apologies on not getting this posted yesterday. We made the video last night but it wouldn't upload and I got tired of fighting with it.]
Celeste ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Celina ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Chisum ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Commerce ISD: Closed.
Community ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Cooper ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Court Reporting Institute of Dallas: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Crandall ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Ector ISD: Closed.
Ennis ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Farmersville ISD: Closed.
Frisco ISD: Delayed 2 hours.
Greenville ISD: Morning classes delayed 2 hours.
Hillsboro Public Schools: Delayed 2 hours.
Honey Grove ISD: Closed.
Howe ISD: Closed.
Hubbard ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Irving ISD: Open.
Italy ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Kaufman ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Kemp ISD: Bus delayed 2 hours.
Leonard ISD: Closed.
Little Elm ISD: Morning classes delayed 2 hours.
Lovejoy ISD: Delayed 2 hours.
Maypearl ISD: Opening at 10:00 AM.
McKinney ISD: Delayed 2 hours.
MedVance Institute: Opening at 10:00 AM.
Melissa ISD: Bus delayed 2 hours.
2 of 8 12/16/2008 7:39 AM
The boys were up BEFORE 7am (of course they couldn’t sleep in TODAY) so now they are watching TV in the media room. Here’s the radar right now – the pink stuff is a combination sleet/snow. Since it’s 24 degrees currently, I guess it’s not rain.

Current Radar
As always, I’m happy to be your up-to-the-minute weather forecaster.
Oh yeah, Brad left for work at 6:30am and arrived approximately 7:40am. Just took an extra 20 minutes. He said the problem wasn’t the ice – it was the other drivers going too fast or too slow. No rest for the weary…
[UPDATE: SCHOOL IS CANCELLED FOR TODAY!!! SEE MY PHOTOS BELOW, ADDED AT 8:50AM]

icy sidewalk

After the party...

Dan and Amy, our fearless leaders!

Amy MADE these!!!

Pretty dining room table...

3rd table was in the study.

Aren't these adorable?!! They're real!

Can't remember if I posted this already

Drink/appetizer table set up by the back door.
Yeah, that will make you want to read on, right?!! I’m just being honest. We’re expecting 20 adults and 9 children, plus 3 babysitters for our party tomorrow night. Our new chair & ottoman got delivered today, the speaker guy is coming to hook up our ceiling speakers tomorrow, plus install a new DirectTV dish (can I get an Amen?), plus the shutter people will drop by to match our stain color. No, we won’t get the shutters in time (awwww) but that’s okay – they should be in by Christmas.
Anyone still reading? Not exactly riveting stuff here. But here’s a little eye candy to make up for it.

Bottom row, second from Left

I let the boys decorate their own tree in the Game room.

Peter found a Gameboy ornament - seriously!

Samuel loves the new chair!
I’ll be back with pictures from the party just as soon as I can stand (or sit) again when it’s over!

Here we go again...
So, in case you haven’t guessed yet, Brad’s in Alabama tonight. A fact which should be obvious given the severe thunderstorms we are currently experiencing. We go months without a single bolt of lightening, but Brad leaves and poof! Severe thunderstorms! With rotation in the clouds! Yea! Guess I better try to sleep for the next 20 minutes since after that, I have a feeling my night will be pretty much over.
[Edited to add new screenshot - notice the purple tornado warning outline!]

Tornado Warning just issued for just North of our house!
Last night, I was up with Samuel so many times, I lost count. I remember 3 times for sure around the Midnight-2am time range, then two more times in the early morning 5-7am range. But there might have been more because they are all merging in my head.
Why, you ask, was Samuel awake all night? Good question. Let me ask him. He says:
“‘Cause I want be awake. I wake up with things. That why I want be awake.”
There you have it.
No, in reality, it was because he was sick. He was coughing (croup, round 2 perhaps?) but mostly just very congested. Today hasn’t been much better, despite the Zyrtec and cough medicine I gave him. Of course, this is to be expected since Brad is travelling tonight. At least this is the last trip of the year for Brad.
I decided today to play a game with myself. Since I was extremely tired from being up all night (see above), and since our big Christmas party is Friday, I decided to pretend the party was tomorrow and spend the day cleaning with that in mind. It has been amazing how much I have accomplished using this mentality and the timer! As I told mom earlier, 3 of the 5 bathrooms are clean! To which she replied, “Did you ever think you would make THAT statement???”
Well, that’s all the time I have for an update. Samuel is, well, dripping. And I am sans Kleenex. More later, I suppose.
[P.S. If post-nasal drip is when it drips down your throat, what is it called when it drips out your nose? Pre-nasal drip? Nasal drip? Gross?]