Some Things Never Change, Like Pink Ink

One of Spencer's favorite things to do is plunder through things that she shouldn't.  The other day she found a box of my old journals and dumped them all on the floor.  I rarely go back and reread the things I wrote when I was in high school and college- more like never- or else I start feeling haunted by my future.  But as I was putting them away, I flipped through a few pages of one from my sophomore year of high school and I saw a list of my New Year's Resolutions, circa 1998.

And oddly enough, not much has changed.  I was even kinda impressed with the resolutions of my 16 year old self.  Although, I definitely did not need to lose 15 llbs.

These are still the same things I'm trying to do now, 12 years later. (How scary is that?! I was 16 twelve years ago!)  Of course I now write out the word love, instead of a heart, but I'm still writing in the same pink ink with the same Pilot Precise Rollerball pen. But it was nice to be reminded again that the old young Katie and the new old Katie are not so different.  And that's a good thing.

Jesus, Where Are You?

On New Year's Day my aunt had the family over to her house for brunch. After we ate, the men went in one room to watch football and us ladies went into another room to watch the parade. Since football just has to be watched on the biggest and best screen in the house (dripping in sarcasm), the boys were in the family room and we were in the living room.

Spencer and living rooms don't mesh well together; they're like oil and water, salt and pepper, Yoko Ono and the Beatles. She immediately went over to the Nativity and started playing with animals and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. I did NOT think this was a good idea, not at all, but my aunt was sitting beside her and said it was okay, that she was watching her. A few minutes later I was deeply engrossed in my new Kindle when I heard Spencer say "it's a missin'!" I didn't think too much about it because she likes to make things go missing so she can then say "I found it!" But then I felt a tug on my pant leg- I looked up at Spencer and saw she was holding a manger in her hands- a manger that was missing a particularly important baby.

And then I heard it.

Jesus, where are You?

There are some things that in this world that a person should just avoid, and losing the Baby Jesus is one of them. So we set about the house looking for Him, with Spencer continually yelling "Jesus, where are You?" It's not a huge house and my aunt is borderline OCD about keeping it pristine and clutter-free; losing anything there would be a challenge. But after 20 minutes of searching, the manger was still empty and Spencer was still yelling, hoping Baby Jesus would answer her. They men/boys were still fixated on football, telling us they had no idea where it was and they hadn't seen Jesus- basically, we were annoying them and they just wanted to watch the game in peace and quiet.

We eventually gave up our search, well, everyone except for Spencer. I've never seen her stay so focused on anything for that long, she just wouldn't give up! A little bit later she gleefully shouted "Jesus! There You are! I found it, I found it!" And guess where it was hiding? Underneath my dad- he was sitting on top of Baby Jesus. We probably won't let him live that one down for a long time! Of course my dad said he had no idea how that could've happened, he'd never even laid eyes on it before.

There are some things in this world that a person should avoid, and I'm certain that sitting on top of the Baby Jesus is one them.

Katie Had a Little Lamb

Yesterday, our church had the annual Christmas Pageant. It was supposed to be the Sunday before Christmas, but due to the blizzard that dropped a foot of snow on the ground, it had to be rescheduled. Spencer was a lamb in the nativity scene, although, stage fright prevented her from actually making it into the nativity. But she was a super cute lamb, if I do say so myself!

My Little Bo Peep, or I guess Spencer was her pet lamb. But that doesn't sound as cute, so I'm sticking with Little Bo Peep and not Little Bo Peep's Pet Lamb!

Maybe just a tad inappropriate for a church!





Not that she cared!

And still refusing to look at the camera.

Afterward, we had a little Christmas party, hence the costume change. Spencer LOVE, LOVE, LOVES my brother, and he told her to look at me and smile, so of course she listened to him! I took over 100 pictures yesterday, and this is the only one where she's looking at me and smiling. Oh well, at least I got this one!

Picture Page

My Snow Queen





Loved the toy solider teddy bear, but





She was afraid of Santa Claus...

Until Christmas morning, and then Mr. Claus become her new BFF when she found all of the toys waiting for her under the tree

Although, she still wasn't all too keen on looking at the camera, or keeping her tutu down

But she jumped for joy on her new trampoline

And then finally granted me a look at the camera- in this splendid picture


We had a great Christmas and New Year and I'm ready to tackle to 2010! I put myself on a computer and internet hiatus over our break so that I could just focus all my energy and attention on Spencer. It was a wonderful break, but now I'm ready to get back to bloggy business before school starts again next week.

Christmas Predux

My spell check is telling me that predux isn't a work, but it should be, so I'm using it. These next few days are going to be busy- biizzzzeee (that's how I say it). Tomorrow we are going to see the Legendary Santa, and since he's the real Santa, lines are usually 2+ hours. This is the same Santa Claus I used to visit, well not the exact same, since the REAL Santa died a few weeks ago, this one is his son, so it's almost the same.

We are lucky that Spencer's Mimi is getting there at 7am to start waiting in line (some crazies get there at 5am) and we'll join her around 9am. By about 10:30am we (she) should be on Santa's lap- hopefully! After that we're going to spend the day with the PGP's and do gifts with them before heading to my parent's house to spend the night with them. I have to watch Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation before going to sleep- it's just my thing I do every year.

On Christmas morning we'll do gifts and everything and then my aunt will come over for lunch/dinner. And then everyone will pass out around 7pm from sheer exhaustion. Then the saddest day of the year will be here, December 26. It's just such a sad day, isn't it? So that's my Christmas predux, be prepared for the redux that will be sure to follow.