"Oh 'much' fun..."

Grace and I both have sinus infections. I'm starting to think she's inherited my dysfunctional ENT system.

I had my tonsils taken out when I was 8, and although we haven't battled strep throat over here yet (knock on wood now), I'm going to go ahead and start saving for when we do start dealing with that. I'm definitely anticipating another tonsillectomy for at least one of my children.

For now, sinusitis. We're both on antibiotics. And I can't decide which is the lesser of two evils: sinus infection symptoms, or the havoc a Z-pack wreaks on my stomach. I have had a gnawing feeling for the last 2 days. Grace seems to be tolerating the Omnicef so far (knock on wood again).

Aside from illness, however, we've had a busy but great week. And we haven't even seen my mom in 5 days. That is definitely some sort of record.

Grace hosted her first preschool play date for her friend, Caroline yesterday morning, and after a nap-cut-short for Bonnie, we were off to parent observation day at ballet.

All I can say is ADORABLE. And HILARIOUS. And also that I had no idea that she knew all the things she apparently knows about ballet (they don't let us watch anymore and Grace won't perform at home).

Today I helped with Grace's Christmas party at school. I now know for certain where we have picked up all of our illnesses, past and present. That place is a little germ factory. But she loves it, and I love their program, too. It's just the right size and the teachers are fantastic.

Bonnie seems to love it as much as Grace and I do; i.e., she loved ripping the teaching paraphernalia off the walls and sticking it to all of Grace's classmates. Hope the 2 year old teachers are ready for her next fall...

We love Ms. Anita!

**Gracie insists that in Jingle Bells, the lyrics are 'oh much fun' rather than 'oh what fun.'**

Baby, it's COLD outside!

The wind is biting. And Bonnie does not like her eskimo coat. Not a good combination.

But I love her in it. She looks adorable. She reminds me of that kid from A Christmas Story who can't put his arms down because his mom has him so bundled up.

She gives me such a hard time trying to put it on her that once it's on, it stays on. Even in the car. I absolutely crack up when I look in the rearview mirror and see Bonnie in that coat. The only things she can move are her eyes!

Daddy Duty

Starting in early October all the way until December 31st is Corey's absolute busiest time of the year. Perfect timing, I know. It has been this way since he started his job 5 years ago.

He is so busy that he'll often go for an entire week without seeing the girls awake. This is not due to traveling, either.

Although neither of us likes it, we're both used to it and we just try to deal with it the best we can.

Grace, however, is not doing as well.

In the past, she's been too young to really notice his absence and was just happy to get to see him when he was home.

Not so much anymore.

After I had cleaned up the remnants of Pancake Saturday, Corey went upstairs to get ready for work. Did I mention that he has to go to the office every weekend, too?

When she realized what he was doing, she lost it. And seeing his little girl cry like that just about brought Corey to tears, too.

Needless to say he did not go to work on Saturday. Or Sunday.

Corey stayed home all weekend and played with his girls. And since I had woken up in the middle of the night on Saturday with a little stomach bug, he even took them to church and breakfast afterward all by himself.

He is the best.

**Just a note to mention that I've (clearly) been having a little fun with the photo effects on my computer!**

Christmas Program

On Thursday, Grace's school held it's annual Christmas Spectacular for all of the 3 year old classes.

It was the cutest thing I have ever seen, and I promise I'm not just saying that because Grace was the best performer of the entire bunch!

She was so proud to hold Ms. Anita's hand and walk down that center aisle to her place on the front row. Then, my sweet girl sang her little heart out and nailed each song's accompanying hand gestures.

She even managed to only get knocked in the head once by the flamboyant performer next to her who also knew every song's accompanying hand gestures.

Bonnie wanted so badly to get up on stage and sing, too.

Preschool BFF, Abby

Clearly getting my money's worth out of these dresses!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I've officially been decorating our house for Christmas for 1 1/2 weeks. You'd think it's because we are overflowing with gorgeous holiday decor to adorn every room.

It's not. It's because I have 2 kids. Or maybe I'm just too tired to care.

Or maybe I'm just slow. I know plenty of people who have more children than I whose homes have been decorated since Thanksgiving.

Either way, this house will be finished tonight if I have to pull an all-nighter to get it done. Not really.

Before we got our day started, the girls played in the playroom while I cleaned up the breakfast table. I peeked in to check on them and noticed that Grace had gotten out every.single.item from the play refrigerator. I was mildly annoyed since I'm trying to keep the house somewhat (and I use that term loosely) neat for cleaning lady day on Friday.

Apparently, she could sense that I was a bit perturbed and just said, "I'm giving tea to the Baby Jesus. He's thirsty. I'm the maid who brings him food."

I'm happy to see that she's taking her duty to love and serve the Lord seriously!

Bonnie Lura Bonds May

We have lost a very special member of our family. Corey's grandmother, "Gamime", after whom we named our youngest baby girl, passed away early yesterday morning.

I can't even begin to describe what a sweet and kind lady I knew her to be, and will treasure the memories that I have of her. We are all so incredibly thankful that we got to see her just a couple of short weeks ago. She is sure going to be missed.

Grace with Gamime

Thanksgiving 2007

"We're on a hunt for a Christmas tree."

Today was Corey's firm's annual Santa party at Peachtree Presbyterian.

Because the party was slated to start at noon and end at 2pm (Bonnie goes down for her nap at 1pm), I wasn't as excited about going this year as I normally am for fear that she would completely melt down. I even tried letting her take a short cat nap this morning, but she chose to play in her bed rather than sleep.

Fortunately, even sans her nap, Bonnie was perfect and had such a great time running (staggering) around trying to keep up with the big kids. Getting to sit on Santa's lap again was also a big hit.

Grace had just as much fun at the party. Not so much because of Santa, but rather because she got to play with her great friend, Em. Even though these girls see each other only handful of times throughout the year, they always seem to pick right up where they left off.

After the party we headed over to Big John's Christmas Tree Farm (parking lot) where we did not buy a tree. Call me crazy, but spending $130 for a 7 foot Frasier Fir just seems like a waste of money.

Regardless, I got some cute pictures of the girls (and Corey) playing among trees while Grace told all the other patrons that we were "on a hunt for a Christmas tree."

It just so happens that the hunt ended at Home Depot this year.

Has "Away in a Manger" always made me cry?

Perhaps.

Hearing my 3 year old sing about the birth of Jesus while attempting to hold her baby sister probably has something to do with it, too.

This morning, both girls blew their daddy kisses before he left for work. Bonnie's version of blowing a kiss is to stick her finger in her mouth and pull it out so that it makes a "kiss smack" sound.

Oh and also, Rusty the Elf showed up at our house this week...