The 12 Days of Christmas...

Good Morning Everyone! I don't think there will be much of a chat today...

Good Morning Everyone! I will drop in from time to time, but I don't think that today is going to be much of a chat (with me anyway). Feel free to talk with each other as much as you like. I have to pick up Zach and his friend at 9:30am.

I want to say Merry Christmas to all of you!

The chat room is now closed. Have a great weekend.

For the Southern Girls...

Merry Christmas to all of you Southerners! Wish I was with you. Love reading your blogs telling me how warm it is and showing me pictures of your kids in t-shirts and maybe a sweatershirt at night. It's freezing up here!!

Do You Text??

Today my son sent me a text message regarding having a certain 'friend' over this Saturday. You know the friend. Well, I had never sent a text message. I had to have one of the younger guys at work tell me how to do it. Let me tell you, it took me forever! I'm a good typer, forget those skills...they are useless in texting. I finally got my reply done...no I won't take any pictures of you two for my blog...no I won't stalk or cause you embarassment. Whatever. So, I did manage to get my message out, then he replied...so another stint of hunt and peck and I sent out my second message. I am picking up the friend on Saturday and her mother will be coming here to pick her up later that day. Zach is at his father's and won't be back here until Saturday. He actually offered me money to clean his room! Isn't that hilarious! Doesn't want the friend to see the messy room.

Hmmm...my 15 year old son wants to bring a girl over...when no one is home.

ADVICE PLEASE:

My oldest son Zachary has never really showed any interest in girls until now. All of a sudden out of nowhere a certain young lady has been ringing his cell phone off the hook. He says that she is not a girlfriend but just a friend. I say to you then why are they on the phone for hours? I have to take his cell phone now at 10:00pm because we found calls going on for hours in the wee hours of the morning between these two. And now he called yesterday and asked if she could come over to the house for a day next week since they are off school. Well, I really try to be the cool understanding Mom, so I said yes without giving it much thought. Well, no one will be home next week. So I am asking you, how appropriate is it for him to have a 15 year old 'just friend girl' over while no one is home?

I am kind of old school. I couldn't date until I was 16. I couldn't talk on the phone to anyone after 9pm. I don't want to be a prude though. Zach was always kind of a loner until this year when his social life has really taken off. I don't want to stifle that, but I do want to have some reasonable ground rules for teenagers in the home.

What do you think about my situation and what kind of ground rules do you think are acceptable for teenagers?

MY DECISION: Thank you everyone so much for your wonderful advice. After a lot of thought, I spoke with Zachary and let him know that girl friends are welcome in our home as long as an adult is present. I feel really good about that decision.

The House at Christmastime~

This is a very busy house. We have 4 children who are very active, so we are always coming and going. It's a medium sized home we live with 4 bedrooms, every inch is used to the fullest. Here are some photos of our home at Christmas.
This is our mantle with the stockings. On the mantle on the left is a Santa that my very loved Aunt gave to me some years ago. Also, all of the children's photos with Santa and on the right is a Velveteen rabbit. My best friend gave it to me in memory of my mother because it was her favorite Christmas book. When the boys were younger, they would hold it while I read the book to them.

There are all of your Christmas cards! Tyler made the beautiful colored snowflake that hangs in the middle. I was hoping you could see the mistletoe hanging from the kitchen rafter but you can't.
This is our Christmas village. It is very special to Tyler. Each year he and I put it out. We try to get a new piece each year also.

Here is our Christmas tree. I still don't have all of our gifts wrapped yet. The angel on the top was my mothers.This is our wedding ornament.
Tyler's new Grinchy ornament.
Sophia's new ornament.Eli's new snowman from Aunt Pam.This is Kate's new ornament. She collects snowglobes and I found this one at the Hallmark shop.

Enjoy Your Monday!

Today I trudge to the post office with my many boxes of gifts that need to be shipped out for Christmas. Wish me luck!!

Sunday...