Day 147 A Surprise Semi Truck RIDE for JJ!!!

Well, if you know my kid,  you know that this has been the year of the semi trucks.  We've had a year of Barney, a couple of 2-3 years of John Deere tractor stuff (still love it too!), a year of monster trucks, and now this year it's been all about semi trucks.

So they've been working on this house next door.  Literally for a year.  See last January posts where I wrote about JJ getting to ride in the scraper/bulldozer while they were doing dirt work....a year ago next week.  Today...they finished putting in 8 semi loads (yes...8...I swear!...OUR yard has 1 semi load of sod we rolled out...and it's an acre. YOU do the math!!!

Anyway....we have watched and watched as semi after semi has been here over the course of 2 week with skid steers to roll out sod.  JJ has watched and watched....and dug in our flower bed at the same time while watching.   Too cute. Bless his heart...he needs dirt under his nails just to be happy! :)

As I was leaving the house yesterday I saw the driver of the semi getting out...I saw an opportunity!!  I stopped in the middle of the road after pulling out from our drive, rolled down my window, made some comment about  HOW. MUCH. SOD. they've rolled out there.  The I just flat out asked the guy, "any  chance you'd give a ride in your truck to a 5 year old little boy about to turn 6 on Monday for a surprise birthday treat?  We are having a "semi truck" birthday party.  (just in case you're wondering....no you don't find any decorations with that as a  theme....I've made our own invitations and am even making JJ a tshirt with "his own logo" on it for "JJ's Trucking"!)  So,  he said he wouldn't be around that day but would be back here again tomorrow and could ride with him to his next job from here.  I was excited!!!! I had really wished a semi could come on his actual bday and give hi and all his friends a ride at the party.  But I thought that was pushing it a bit.  I was happy with him getting his own ride.


The truck showed up next door to finish working...and we've never mentioned a word of this to JJ.  When the driver, Mr Stan, came over to talk to JJ he asked if his mom was here.  He came and got me and then said if I still wanted him to ride he was ready!  I told JJ what we were doing and by the look on his face....I wasn't even sure if he was scared, very surprised, excited or nervous....after talking to him about it tonight....it was ALL of those! :)

So, Stan and Buddy, and guys from Western Oklahoma Sod...thanks for the semi ride.  I hope he'll always remember it!

BUT!!! Here's the funny thing about JJ and semi's....clear up until I was at least 10...if not 12?....I waned to be a truck driver when I grew up! There was a show in the early 80's (yes..you can figure my age here) called "BJ and the Bear"....he had a red semi and traveled with a monkey.  My parents were really worried for a long time that I would really but a truck driver when I grew up.  I never was.  Just traveled enough to be one.  Maybe JJ will just have the traveling spirit in him too!  :)

Sister didn't  get to ride....just in the "chase car" with mom and dad!

When JJ and all of the workers got out of the truck, Buddy--Stan's son--?

said, "He grinned from ear to ear the whole time."

Such a silly thing...but made my eyes swell up...just because he was happy!

We love you JJ!  

Day 146 "THE" Christmas Cookies

Well....it started out as going to see Santa...then it turned into all of us going to dinner, one spending the night with us...looking at lights...that turned into 2 extra cousins going with us to look at lights then it turned into 4 kids total, looking at lights, watching the Polar Express (twice), and all sleeping over...all of that to finally arrive at making sugar cookies and decorating them this morning.  The house is ALMOST cleaned up.  Last toad of dishes in the washer...and I've not showered for the day.  It's 3:20pm.  It might happen today.  And then again....it might not! :)  JJ is at a party....Hannalee and I went to jog around the track at the park and Dusty is resting.  I've got 30 minutes to myself to: blog, work on a present, put away dishes, put away laundry, nap and shower myself.  Hum...guess I'll blog! ;)  Just for you Aunt Sally!

Well...its now 8:15...I've finally showered and kids are in bed!  Here's the pics from our cookie decorating party!

Day 146 Great Sally's Christmas Sugar Cookies

Well today was the day!  MY WHOLE LIFE my Aunt Sally has always had THE Christmas sugar cookies. If you'd been good that year, you got cookies.  If not....bummer for you because no one is going to share theirs with you.  AT. ALL.  In fact...we will hide them from you.  Never tell you we received them. And eat them in secret!  But this year...this year just might be different!!

Aunt Sally came to my very own house from Weatherford (about 45 minutes away) and gave me one easy lesson and helped me make my own dough!!! I just wish it were like Friendship starter bread dough...you make your own and then it just lasts!  :) 

 We've all had copies of the recipe for "Sally's Christmas Cookies" over the years but my whole life we have sworn that she does something different to the ingredients than what is listed on the recipe.  She brought the book today to prove....that no, really, there is no secret ingredient!  I saw it with my own eyes...no secret.  And yes...the recipe is written on a piece of paper that is nearly as old as I am.  I learned today that maybe...just maybe the secret is in the process.  Mix this first.  Sift that here with that.  Add this all slowly.  Maybe...just maybe that will allow me to make my own batch. 

So now I have seen her make the dough.  I've made it with the "Real Sugar Cookie Queen" in my own house and have 2 batches in my fridge...waiting.  Chiling.  Ready to used (and eaten) tomorrow morning!  We haven't nibble on it since it's been in there!  At all!  But as I'm typing this I'm thinking..."oooohh!  cookie dough!" 

The rest of the story I have to tell is that when I was about 9 years old I asked Aunt Sally if she was going to be baking some pies.  Yes...she said.  I asked if she was making them at Grandma Smalley's house.  Yes...she said.  Can I help you, I asked.  Yes...she said.  The rest of the story is that 9 pie crusts later....there was FLOUR EVERYWHERE.  We were literally wearing it...all over us and all over Grandma Smalley's house.  Just today with Aunt Sally (my kids call her Great Sally) re-telling me the story she said that she could remember Grandma (Toots--some called her that!) came walking down the hall, saw the disaster of flour in the kitchen that we had made, nearly had a cow and turned around and walked away. All the while, Aunt Sally promising that yes indeed we would clean up the kitchen...and ourselves! :)    Thanks Great Sally!!!  Thanks for holding that memory for me!

Oops!  Great Sally caught me! 

THIS is why I "should" be out running!  ;)

PS ....me and 4 kids all just had  a spoonful of cookie dough! Yep...its good!
 

THANKS GREAT SALLY!  Just sorry you'll miss the mess of actually MAKING and ICING the cookies! :)  With 4 kids under the age of 7!!!!

Day 145 Santa at the park!

We finally went and saw Santa at his workshop at the park tonight!  Poor JJ just couldn't stand waiting so we finally HAD to go tonight...because in his sweet world if you don't tell Santa what you want...well, you know! ;)  We missed riding our local "Polar Express" train ride with Santa this year.  I cried when he realized it and I felt SO bad.  He was heart broken and I felt horribl!!  But he was first in line tonight to tell Santa what he wanted...."a dirt truck semi."  It will sure haul a lot of dirt, Santa said!  :)  Hannalee......well...she CRIED!!!!  She saw Santa from a far while they were sitting on a sleigh taking pictures.  She efven yelled out "hey, Santa!"  But when we were in line and JJ and Kennedy were talking to Santa...she was shaking, hiding, crying and all but screaming about NOT wanting to get any closer than she already was! She wanted nothing to do any of it!  JJ has had to tell Santa for two years now what his sister wants!  Bless her heart!  He told him about the puppy like Kenney's. 

Two cousin/best friends are spending the night after looking at CHRISTmas lights.  They are playing babies, puppies and watching the Polar Express.  In the morning we will make some Christmas cookies from the dough that Great Sally helped us make!  (See next post about THAT!)

Day 144 Wee School Christmas program and party

Twice a week (when she's not at Rainbow Lane) Hannalee goes to our church preschool.  It's great and she loves it!  A couple of her friends from Rainbow Lane are in her class here too.

At her Thanksgiving program she barely (never really) looked up at even me the whole time and never sang a word of her songs.  Sooooo the opposite of how JJ ever has been! He's a ham and LOVES to stand in front of people and sing/perform. He's never been shy like that.  But Hannalee did a GREAT job this time! She smiled and waved at me and did a great job singing in her class!

Thanks Hannalee for having such a sweet heart!  We love you!  You did a great job!

Day 143 Hannalee's Open House at Rainbow Lane

Hannalee is in the Yellow Class at Rainbow Lane this year.  I'm her teacher!  Well...one of them.  It takes about 5-6 of us to teach our friends.....the 3 year old are in 3 classes.  Yellow.  Orange and Purple.  The 4 year olds are in Blue and Red and the 5's are in Green.  Get it....rainbow colors....for the classes at Rainbow Lane?!  Pretty clever.  Hannalee has been on the list to go to preschool here since she was....oh,....about 6 months old.  There is a waiting list every year for and there are even kids on a list to start school here for the year 2014.  Yes....2014! 

She had her open house last week and of course meme, papa John and  nana and papa Jerry all paraded through with us to look at all of her special projects she had made to show us!  We had to guess which picture on a wall was her self-portrait.  Pretty hard to do....but if we had first seen the letter "H" written on her picture we would have known it was hers right away. 

Then we saw her Christmas wreath and handprints all cut out.  She had done marble painting on squares and they were turned into presents under a tree.  We watched a slide show of the pictures throughout the semester and we found her "stocking" that was hung by the chiminey with care.  She made a reindeer cutout, a Christmas tree from paper and named what made her happy:  "horses."  No surprise there!  There she told her teachers that she was asking Santa for a "puppy dog like Kennedy's" for Christmas and that her favorite thing at Rainbow Lane is reading books.  I was hoping she'd say "her mommy" but that's ok....I'm glad its books!  I love you, Hannalee and I'm glad you like school! 

Day 142 My Daddy's 70th Birthday

Dear Daddy,

Thanks for all you do for all of us all the time!

We couldn't do what we do without you

and wouldn't be who we are without you either!

Love you lots!

Your Sweet Daughter