We finally got our tree up last night. It was strange decorating the tree with the air conditioning on, but that's Alabama for you. A cold front is coming through today and by tonight it will down in the 30's. No wonder my sinuses are going crazy.

While decorating I came across the picture of Matthew when he was the age James is now.  Its like I had twins seven years apart.  Do ya'll see those freckles across this nose and cheeks?  Oh my goodness, I could just eat him up.

We have a saying at our house, "Its not Christmas until somebody cries." (I think it is from one of the Shrek movies) and we had our first meltdown last night.  Its usually me that meltdowns when all the tiredness hits me, but last night it was James.  He cried because, well, I don't remember, but it was something about lights and ornaments and things just generally not going his way.

Putting the star on the tree. He's happy again.

And all decked out.  The big boys helped decorate, but they kept putting the ornaments on wrong just to aggravate me so I sent them to do the supper dishes.  The tree is a little ornament-heavy for my tastes, but Abbie says this is the tree she has always dreamed of and that it is perfect.  So, it stays like it is.

Today Abbie will be baking cookies for our Heritage Girl Mother/Daughter Cookie Exchange.  And I'll be vacuuming up the needles from where the tree fell over as Abbie and I were trying to position it just right. 

What are you doing today?

A Little Late...

A New Level of L.A.Z.Y....

Well, the big day has come and gone and I thought I would tell you about two of the presents I received.

1. The DVD Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version thank you very much) from Sweet Hubby

2. An electric thermal throw that slowly warms your body until it is the absolute perfect temperature for maximum laziness, from my Aunt Renee.

So, I may not be posting for awhile. There are leftovers in the fridge, I have no school guilt cause its the holidays, and it is a cold rainy day here in mid-Alabama.

I shall be optimizing my lazy quota for the week.

Actually, in all honesty, I am going to iron while watching P&P and then finish it curled up on the couch after the ironing is done. That will be my reward for ironing fast and getting the job done. I might even just go ahead and put my pjs on.

Aunt Renee, you may have started a whole new level of excuses around here.

From Us...To You...

Source: Uploaded by user via Jodi on Pinterst

You know how you can think of all those eloquent things to say in the middle of the night? Or you have these great thoughts while you are driving down the road alone and have no one to share them with.

Well, Amy, has all my Christmas thoughts typed up right here. She is a beautiful writer and a beautiful person and we all need to read what she wrote.

Merry Christmas to you and your family from the Clarks!

Thursday...

Things have been remarkably quite at my house the past two weeks. I don't know what to do without all the running around and the crazy.

We have just been enjoying our time off from school, enjoying staying home, and just being together. Well I have anyway. My three oldest children like to do something outside of the house on a pretty regular basis. As Tyler says, "I want to see some people."

What are we? Aliens?

He will get to see some people tonight at the office Christmas party. Jill, you got any games lined up?

Today will be baking and a little cleaning day. All of Mark's family comes to our house on Christmas Day so I'll hold off on deep cleaning the bathrooms and mopping until Friday night. We will be gone all day Saturday at my family Christmas so maybe it will stay decent until Sunday morning. I doubt it, but a girl can hope, right?

I got most of the presents wrapped last night. Mark had fun laying on the couch and whopping me with the empty wrapping paper tubes. We are just barrels of fun here. Sort of like Jill and her hubby.

My goal for the next few days is to avoid Walmart at all costs, and enjoy the family and this season. We are having a very low-scale Christmas here and it has been perfect. Just perfect.

Friday Morning...

How in the world did it get to be Friday?
How in the world did it get to be December?
Christmas already?
I am just getting used to writing 2011 on my checks and now it is about to go changing on me again.

The weekend is coming and it is readying to be a super-busy one for the ole MamaHen and the Abbie-girl. Christmas parties, a Christmas parade, dress rehearsals, Salvation Army bell-ringing (although I am with you Lisa on the sound of the bells-they do have the strangest tinkling sound, don't they), and then two Christmas play performances on Sunday morning. Then Tyler has a church Christmas shin-ding Sunday night.

Oh, and I am planning on Rebekah having that sweet baby Sunday. Rebekah, I'll even give up my birthday nap if I need to come to the hospital to hold the baby for you while you recover.

And I go through my "why can't we just all stay home?" questions and then head out to the mini-van because older wiser people have told me all this will go by so fast and these are the best times of my life, etc, etc, etc...

I can vouch for the time flying for sure. And for the best time of our lives-I think they are pretty much right on with that too. Except I really love the rocking babies to sleep times and the "I can't come, we have little ones you know" times and it just being our little family here all tucked in at our house.

I am in a transition time here at the Clark House of Chaos. No more real little ones and moving into a new territory of teens and pre-teens. Still very much children, but the way I talk with them and relate to them is starting to change. I can't explain it, I just know it is happening. I feel like I just got the baby thing figured out and now they aren't babies!

Well, that went off in a tangent I wasn't expecting...

So, I am claiming this weekend as a great bonding and fun time with my Abbie-girl. Mark and my mom and dad are holding down the fort with the boys. Abbie, her friends, and I can take this weekend and run with it. We will be running, from here and there, thats for sure. It'll be a good one because I'll be with her and then Sunday I will turning 39 and I will have the chance to see all my family at Abbie's performance.

That's another thing-how am I turning 39 when I haven't done all the things I was going to do when I was 38?.........

Follow along if you dare...

Something is crazy up with our computer. It is working under Mark's log in name, but mine is all kinds of messed up. Mark was able to save all our pictures (which we should have done anyway) and the blog, along with a family recipe book that Mrs. Jennifer and I have been working on for, oh, about 13 years now. Seriously. I started it before Tyler was born. Mrs. Jennifer took over after I had three kids in four years and the thought of finishing a recipe book was the last thing on my mind. Then she had FavCousin and it all got sort of forgotten about. I am happy to say that with Mark's help and me hunkering down about two years ago it got completed. Now it might only take me two more years to actually go and get it printed. I know. Sad, isn't it? But won't the family be happy and surprised when they actually get it? I only told them 13 years ago to be on the look out for it...

The bunnies are growing like crazy and are still adorable. I have lots of pictures but I am afraid to do anything with them until Mark gets all the kinks worked out on the computer. They will be ready to go to their new homes the week of Christmas. Hows that for timing? If you are local and would love a bunny for Christmas let me know. I'll even deliver!

We got our tree up Monday and got it decorated last night. Again, I have pictures, but I'll just let you imagine the chaos. And then we did Christmas card photos after the tree was up. We attempted it anyway. James is a little ham and the big kids were not too happy about having to sit for pictures for so long. Oh well. They'll bounce back.

BFF Rebekah is due any day now. I am sitting on ready to get to the hospital. Rebekah, Friday would be good. Mark will be home and I will have childcare. Just sayin. Saturday and Sunday are going to be really busy for me so you might need to wait until Monday if Friday doesn't work out :). You know I'm kidding girl. But Saturday is not a good day at all.... :)

Speaking of Friday, its the last day of school for the year! Momma and Teacher needs a good break. I said at one time I was actually liking fractions now. I changed my mind. I tend to do that on a regular basis. Except for history. Love me some history. We just finished the War for Independence and that will be a good stopping place for the semester. We will pick back up with the Constitution in the new year.

Okay, I feel like I have wasted a good amount of your morning. So sorry. We just aren't very exciting around here at all.

Jill, I have your camera in my purse and we give it to Momma on Friday when I see her. Is that okay?

Just a Beeping...

James just came in huffing and puffing. He's been running around the yard. Just running. I guess he is just glad to be outside after all the freezing weather and rain.

He came in, walked over to me, and said, "I have been running really really fast and my heart is beeping."

I guess the beeps will warn people to get out of the way.

Oh, and by the way. This picture is right after opening presents on Christmas morning. The kid is surrounded by new toys. And he picks up this little piece of square shaped hard styrofoam. He declared it was his IPOD and played with it the rest of the morning.

Again, why do we even buy presents?

A Christmas Meme....

The same as last year. Its all still applicable. If you do this let me know!

I have a moment on Christmas Eve when I leave all the family and sneak outside. It is my moment to say thank you to God for Christmas and Easter and the perfect Life He lived.

I hope you can find a moment this Christmas weekend.

Edited to Add: Dear Sweet Aunt Mollie, I am sure the children will be thoroughly delighted with the presents you sent. They had so much fun opening the box and pulling out all the beautifully wrapped gifts. They had a great time shaking each and every gift over and over and over and discussing between themselves what they could possibly be.

And then James had an equally delightful time jumping into the box and throwing the white sytofoam peanuts all over my clean and ready for Christmas Day living room. And then pulling the box throughout the house throwing them and yelling, "Snow! Snow!"

Thank you Aunt Mollie. I'll see you next week when you stay at my house. And I will be thinking and plotting my plan for revenge all this week.

Just kidding, you know I love you. The kids really are super-excited! Will miss you guys this Christmas Day. See you next weekend though!!!!!!

What Child Is This....

I thought this was going to be corny and silly. Instead it absolutely took my breath away. The Incarnation. A Mystery I will never be able to understand, but a Truth that keeps me moving ahead every day. God With Us. A Grace I will never deserve.

Just a little link...

I linked to this last year, but Amy reminded me of it this morning. I love this post.

I think Ms Jennifer is wearing off on me cause I thought this was hilarious....

Hey Jill, when I saw this I thought of me falling Sunday at mom's.

Oh, I checked and no people or camel was hurt in the making of this video.

If you are interested....

I have a little post up over at Beyond Little House.

Tree Cutting and Trimming...

The Finished Tree

Abbie decided she wanted to cut down the tree all by herself this year. Mark handed her the saw and told her to have at it. We cut our tree from the small wooded area behind our house and after six years we are running out of small fir/cedar trees. I am not sure what we will do next year. It goes against everything I so cheaply believe in to spend money on something that will die in three weeks. Plus, the memories these kids are going to have is worth far more than having a "perfect" tree lot tree. That's what I'm saying anyway...

Abbie got the tree to the house, measured, cut some more, and loaded the tree into our 5 gallon bucket tree stand. When James was drawing a Christmas tree the other day I asked him what was at the bottom. He promptly replied, "That's the 5-gallon bucket." Bless his heart, he thinks all trees sit in a bucket for Christmas. His poor wife. I do cover the bucket up with a pretty tree skirt thingy though.

And then the Clark Chaos of tree decorating began. Below, MamaHen trying to figure out the lights. I tried to convince Mark it was the man's job to do the lights, just as is killing the bugs and turning off the lights after we are both in bed and realize the light is still on. I need to have another baby because the "I gave birth four times, and the last time without an epidural" argument is wearing thin with him. I think giving birth four times and the last time without and epidural, covers a multitude of having to turn the lights off. Or put the lights on the Christmas tree. Don't you? Mark eventually got fed up with the way I was doing it and took over anyway. I just don't know why he won't do it to start with. :)

And just like the shepherds, James was "sore afraid." (I wish I knew what the child was thinking in this picture. And can I just say, this is one of my favorite pictures ever of James. And yes, his face is just as dirty as it looks. He is just like PigPen from Charlie Brown. I don't even notice it anymore. And yes, Nana, I just noticed the sweatshirt. Sorry, it was warm on this cold day."

My Hardworking Men

Mark has been off work this week and has been busy with the boys tearing down the barn. Abbie and I have been busy trying to avoid going up there because Mark wants to put us to work as well. We have been busy with "house things". Right Abbie?

James wakes up ready to help Daddy with the barn, but his enthusiasm quickly wears off. Especially when it is 30 degrees outside. What is going on? As I have said before, "I put up with the heat of Alabama so I don't have to put up with coldness."

My hardworking men.

And my hardworking hens. Matt is trying an experiment right now. He is putting red food coloring in their food to see if he can get red yolks. It is supposed to work, so we'll see. I love that kid.

Right now, as I type in my warm and cozy house, Mark and the kids are out in the Back 40 cutting down our Christmas tree. So tonight will be decorating night. I am going to fix potato soup for supper and then we will have hot chocolate or apple cider while we decorate.

That all sounds so sweet, doesn't it? And it will be. But before that can happen I have to go make a place for the tree in our living room, find all the decorations, and test the lights. I also have to make the soup and make up the hot chocolate mix. And before that can happen I have to go clean up the kitchen from where my three men came in and devoured lunch. And I better come up with a snack to make because with them working out in this cold weather they want to eat about every 1/2 hour. You think I'm kidding, don't you?

Well, off to tackle the kitchen...try to stay warm!

Christmas Eve

We have two days of Christmas in the Clark family. Today we will go to my granddaddy's house and celebrate with my side of the family. Tomorrow all the Clark's will come here and we'll eat a big lunch and celebrate together. My kiddos are beyond excited and it is fun to watch them. I am trying to do last minute things and everyone is about to head out to clean their rooms. Because you know, Santa will not come to a house with dirty bedrooms. (I know, I am terrible.)

I love to get together with our families, I love presents, and I love yummy food. But, I hope to remember that this is not about me. This is about remembering. Remembering what God did for us. James said something a couple of days ago and I hope I always remember it.

We were looking at a Nativity story book together. He likes to talk about each person and each animal. He points them all out and makes the animal sounds. That day when he got to the manger he said, "Look Momma, it's Baby God."

Emmanuel, God With Us.

Christmas Tree 2009, Part 2, by Pappa Rooster

Where was I, Oh yeah.

Matt was in the plum thicket and had cut down the tree. He had cried TIMBER and then nothing happened due to the large quantity of saw briers, honeysuckle and privet hedge holding the tree straight up and keeping it in the thicket.

Me: "Matt do you need some help?"

Matt: "Dad, I don’t need any help, this is my tree, I’m telling you I got this tree, now stop messing with me."

Me: "You got it Bub, but you are gonna have to cut those vines to get that tree out, and when you do drag it by the bottom of the trunk."

Matt: "I know. Get back over there. I’ll call you when I get out."

I went back to the swing and pushed Abbie and James on the swing. I could hear snarling, moaning, and wailing from the thicket. It sounded like he was at war with the thicket. I could see almost the entire thicket shaking. All this time Matt was getting bit by ants, but would not accept any help.

Finally with Herculean effort the trunk of the tree began to emerge from the thicket.

Matt: "Ok Dad, you can pull now if you want too."

Me: "You sure?"

Matt: "Dad, Your killing me here,come pull it out."

Me: "I thought this was your tree?"

Matt: "It is, now come over here and help me pull it out."

Me: "You got it kid."

I came over and pulled the tree free of the thicket,. You would have thought that Matt had just won an Olympic medal. He did his touchdown dance. He yelled and whooped. It was classic. I have no idea where he gets his personality, but you gotta love the kid.

Matt drug the tree half way to the house an then he was whupped. He had spent all his energy in the hand on branch warfare and now was willing to let Tyler help drag.

Once it was at the house I wanted to take their picture. As I was taking a few Abbie decided that she wanted to help cut the tree to length. As soon as Matt realized what was happening he had a conniption fit, and ended up running after Abbie as she ran with the saw. Much yelling ensued as I shouted, "Don't run with a saw in your hand!"

Matt measured the ceiling and went looking for a suitable base for the tree, our tree stand was too small to fit the trunk of the tree. We found a good bucket and decorated the tree.

Again to be continued.

***He ran out of time to finish, but we got the tree in the house and the kids began to decorate. James was so excited because "A tree Momma, a real tree IN THE HOUSE!!!!!" He could not stop saying it over and over. It was too cute.

Mark did the lights and then we sat on the loveseat and let them decorate the tree. I was hesitant to post this video because it shows the wilder side of my kiddos. They are not this loud ALL the time. I promise. They were hamming it up some for the pictures they thought Mark was taking. (They had no idea Mark was videoing them). They are all characters, that's for sure. - MamaHen

Christmas Trouble Brewing?

Yesterday Abbie and I were riding home from a school event. She looked over at me and said, "Momma, would you really spank me on Christmas Day?"

I assured her I would.

I wonder what she had planned.

Pappa Rooster, Matt, and the Christmas Tree, By Pappa Rooster

Pappa Rooster has been busy writing again.

Last year I posted about our Rockwellian Christmas tree experience. Its in my notes if you are curious. This year the two oldest boys and I got together and began our hunt. First Matthew had a fit. It was apparent that he felt left out the previous year by Tyler taking the lead in the cutting. He felt as if he had been slighted because of his being younger than Tyler. So I told him he could cut the tree this year. Matt was happy.

We found several nice trees that were easily accessible to everyone. Matt would have none of that. He wanted one that he picked out on his own, Soooooooo. He found one deep within what we refer to as the Plumb Thicket.

About 30 years ago there were three plumb trees in our pasture. They have long since died and privet hedge, saw briers, and one lone cedar tree have taken their place. It is a difficult place for a thin mouse to slip into much less a mere human. But, Matthew is not a mere human, he is a boy of uncommon resolve, and he had so resolved to cut this tree without the aide of anyone. So I handed him the saw and he crawled into the plumb thicket.

He began sawing; I could not even see him. I had him crawl to the edge so I could take his picture. He had no room to move the saw back and forth. He had to cut brush away so he could get to the tree. He finally began cutting the cedar tree. I offered to send Tyler in to help him but he shouted down that quickly.

Then came the ants.

Matt: “Ants, aggg, ants are all over my tree!”.

Me: “Need some help?"

Matt: “No, get back, I’m cutting down this tree!”

Me “Cut faster then.”

Matt: “moan”

I could tell this was going to take a while so I went and got a chair.

Tyler came along realizing that once Matthew puts his mind to something you might as well get comfortable; he took my chair and put it in the swing.

Abbie came along with us. She had just taken a shower; the next obvious step for her was to wallow in the mud and put hay into a huge pile and jump into it with her baby brother.

About the time I started to worry that Matt might have to spend the night in the thicket he called out, “Timber!”. But the tree didn’t fall. There was no room for the tree to fall. It was held up with saw briars and honeysuckle vines.

Matt: “Its stuck.”

Me: “Want some help?”

Matt: “NO, I cut this tree and I am getting it out, this is my tree.”

Me: “OK brother, hurry it up, I am getting tired of waiting”

Matt: “Moan”

Do you see a trend here?

TO BE CONTINUED

Everything you wanted to know about our Christmas***

***or didn't really want to know to start with.

Missy from It's Almost Naptime posted this meme/questionnaire on her blog and said we could all use it. And by the way, if you are not reading Missy you are missing out big time. HEE-larious!

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Both please.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? It really just depends on how tired Santa is at the end of the day.

3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white? Colored.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Not in the house with a small child (poisonous you know), but we have a ton growing out in the trees on our fence line. I suppose Mark and I could go out there and get a smooch, but that would be cold and wet. So we will just pretend and smooch in the warmth of our home.

5. When do you put your Christmas decorations up? Whenever the kids beg long enough and I just can't stand it any longer. (I have problems with messes, you know). This year we put it up the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

6. Favorite holiday dish? My momma can make a mean chicken and dressing. I like the whole berry cranberry sauce. Divine.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house. All children should have a memory like this.

8. When did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Of course not. Santa doesn't come until Christmas Eve night when all the children are sound asleep.

10. How do you decorate a tree? More on that later.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I am 36 years old and as far as I can remember it has never snowed in AL on Christmas.

12. Can you ice skate? Hahahahahahahah.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Too many to count. If we get a baby by Christmas that will definitely be my most favorite present, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen this year.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? Remembering. Remembering of course what God did for us when He became man to redeem us. And remembering all my family before me and what they mean to me now.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My mom also makes these pecan rolls (with condensed milk) that I really love. I also love Oreo Balls.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love doing the Advent Book with our kids at night and then Mark reads the Christmas Story to us on Christmas Eve. We also take one night and go around and look at all the Christmas lights together. My parents used to do that with me also.

17. What tops your tree? A Christmas star that doesn't work.

18. Which do you prefer-Giving or Receiving? Both!!!

19. Favorite Christmas song? Love them all. Really. (Except for Feliz Navidad, a travesty of Christmas songs). I guess O Holy Night would be at the top of my list.

20. Candy Canes-Yuck or Yum? Yuck, yuck, yuck.

21. Favorite Christmas show? Oh, this is a hard one. We always watch the Christmas Story (bb gun one) for one of our movie nights in December. I also usually watch Christmas Vacation. If anything just for the scene where the old lady stands up to pray and says the national anthem instead. I also love to watch TV sitcom Christmas shows. They make my heart happy.

22. Saddest Christmas song? I can't think of any sad Christmas songs, but The Little Drummer Boy gets to me every time. When Baby Jesus smiles at the little drummer boy I start to tear up.
Oh me, now I am thinking about it.


If you decide to do the meme let me know in the comments!