Santa is watching..

While I can get away with it, I have taken to telling the boys "Santa is watching right now.." anytime they have started acting up these last few weeks.. apparently, Riley feels that Santa is fair game.. the last couple days, if Troy or I don't agree with him on something, Riley looks up, bats his sweet little eyelashes & says in a soft voice, "when I talk to Santa, I am going to make sure he puts you on the naughty list.. sorry, but you'll get nothing for Christmas this year".. {sigh}.. that kid has beaten us at our own game..

It's a Wonderful Life..

I was wrapping presents tonight, using some jingle bells on the packages.. when Taggert heard the bells ringing, he said "Mama, did you know- everytime a bell rings, an angel gets another wing?"... yes, baby, that's exactly right.. ; )

Saturday

First thing Saturday morning the phone rings.. "what are you guys doing?".. "trying to make the kids believe we are still asleep" we respond..
it turned out Carol didn't have to go to work for the day, and we needed to take full advantage of a rare Saturday with her.. Poor Troy stayed home & studied, while the boys & I loaded up in the Sippel van for our free day.. Free was our theme & we did our best to stay on track..
First up was a visit to the Austin Capital Building.. The boys did a great job of paying attention on the tour (free), with Riley even stopping to ask the tour guide a question about the renovations..
Next we stopped at Whole Foods for a little wine tasting (they use teeny tiny cups) & some snacks.. a quick bite to eat on the lawn of UT campus (what a gorgeous day) & it was off to the LBJ Presidential Library (free).. Steve's bit of trivia was that there are only 12 presidential libraries currently, with 2 of them in Texas.. who knew? (a wealth of knowledge, isn't he?).. we could have spent a lot more time there, but the boys (pretty much just my boys) were reaching their time limit of quiet voices & no running, so it was time to head back north..
By the time we got home Troy was ready to put his books down.. we all loaded up & headed to Salado, for the annual Christmas Stroll (free).. what a picture perfect little town.. the boys enjoyed the carolers dressed in costumes & the fact that we spotted Santa, driving a big, red Ford no less!
On the way home for the night we stopped at the Georgetown square for dinner, the Heisman announcement.. all the boys loved playing video games & pool while the grown ups enjoyed a quiet dinner.. no one can say we don't make the most of our days!

the last to know..

Troy & I had a meeting for work this morning in downtown Austin, beginning at 8:00 am.. It's pretty rare when we both have to be that far away from home that early, but when it occurs, we take the little trail over to Carol's house & ask if she can adopt our children for the morning, getting them to school after we leave.. God Bless Carol, she always helps out when we are in need..
We left Round Rock at 6:15 am, which meant I had to get moving at 5:00 am to get everyone ready, out the door & deposited on Carol's doorstep on time.. knowing this, I still stayed up until after 1:00 am reading Angels & Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code. why didn't I know these books were soo good?.. I remember all the media hype, prior to the TDVC movie, and I can't for the life of me remember why I didn't read it back then.. perhaps there is a small part of me that resists things that get all the hype, which makes me the last to know how great these books are..
now that I'm finally with the program, if it weren't almost 11:00 pm as I've finished it, I would run over to Carol's to borrow TDVC next.. of course, it would mean I'd stay up reading again until I fell asleep with the book on my face.. I suppose I'll save my late night reading for tomorrow night.. sweet dreams! : )