Blessed Beyond Measure

Nixon and I have been having the same conversation for almost a month and I could not for the life of me figure out where it came from. She keeps telling me that Santa picks his nose. I of course explain to her that Santa would never pick his nose because he has such great manners. She continued to argue with me and would even use this against me if she herself decided to pick her nose. "Santa does it." So, what to my wondering eyes did appear- the TRUTH! All it took was a bedtime story that we had read almost every night for a month. It seems that in the story 'Twas the Night Before Christmas there is a point that it says . . . "And laying his finger aside of his nose" . . . In the middle of reading this sentence, N exclaims, "See mommy. Santa picks his nose." I quickly explained that Santa puts his finger ASIDE of his nose. Not inside of his nose. I took a good five minutes explaining the difference between aside and inside. She just shook ...

We enjoyed a few days celebrating Christmas in Athens. It was so much fun seeing all of the goodies that Santa brought! N loved the Bolt dog and her Barbie and the Diamond Castle Barbie and tons of other goodies. We moved on to celebrate N's 4th birthday spending the day playing at Cain park riding scooters and playing with all of our new toys. We had a Tinkerbell party and a great time was had by all!

Coming out of the closet. Yep- you heard me right. My Piggies and Paws closet, that is. For those of you who don't know, I have converted our guest walk-in closet in to a work room for my "part-time" job. The area is perfect for what I am doing, but at this moment in time I don't care if I ever walk back in there. I'm sure I will feel differently after a few weeks off. Guess trying to finish over 300 prints in two months wasn't the smartest thing I have ever done. Lesson learned. Now I am out, and ready for some Christmas celebrations!

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care and mom is quite absent- stuck in her Piggies and Paws lair. We haven't seen her for days, not even a sight. We are just hoping she comes out by Christmas Eve night. She is cutting and gluing and sunk deep in that room. No house work from her, not even a broom. Cook? No she hasn't. Does she even remember how? We are making do though, eating cereal for now. Advent house, Christmas stories- we've done none of that. Very few wrapped presents under the tree to look at. Poor mom is so busy, she may never come out. Looks like this Christmas we may just do without.

Bryan sent this picture with a note from the head coaches wife. It said, "After an extended football season, David finally put the Christmas lights up." I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair!

Our little princess will only wear dresses. It doesn't matter where we are going or what we are doing, she will only wear dresses. As most of you know, this has been going on for quite some time- it started with the Butterfly Dress. At least now she will wear more than one dress. This is the newest to our collection and probably our favorite. It has princesses all over it. She insisted on wearing it today to school also. She kept spinning and telling me that she looked like a princess. Looks like we will be keeping Nana busy for a while!

Well, football season is over. And just like always, with the relief comes this huge sadness. As the minutes ticked by at the game, your heart is just so sad that it is over for the coaches and boys- especially the seniors. They had an amazing season and have so much to be proud of. I would love to see Copperas Cove win the state title! They were so good. After the game we headed back to Athens and spent the rest of the weekend with Nana and Papa. On Saturday we enjoyed the Athens Christmas parade. It is at night with floats all lit up and tons of Santa's helpers. (Maybe a few too many this year.) N's favorite part was the fact that her Uncle Terry bought her this huge light saber that is neon green. You can see her holding it in the picture above. She keeps telling me, "My Uncle Terry bought me this." She even slept with it using it as a "reading" light. From there we went to the Athens Christmas Park . This park is just amazing. If you ...

We had a nice Thanksgiving break. We had a great time having dinner at Uncle Danny's house and meeting Geri and her boys. They kept N entertained for hours! We then took off for Waco. (Football, of course.) While Papaw and B took in a football game, Nixon and I headed off to see Madagascar 2. I was really nervous about seeing it without knowing much about it, but it was a great show. N LOVED it! She is still singing the songs! It was her first trip to the movies and it was all she had imagined and more. Saturday was B's game and we won! As ready as I am to have B home for a while, I sure do hope they go all the way this year! They are really talented and I could see them going all the way. Our next game will be a tough one. Yesterday, N and I were off to the mall to pick up a Brighton handbag I won. Yea me! It is red and shiny and I love it. We also adopted an Angel from the Angel tree. I was so proud that N was into the whole idea and then she says this: "...

A girl I know has started making these and they are so cute! I need several for night's out to dinner. They are the cutest little chalkboard mats that can be unwrapped and written on. Check them out here .

We finally graduated little Nixie from her toddler bed to her big girl bed. It is really neat to see the baby bed turn in to a big bed. She loves that it is the same bed! She was hanging off of both ends of the toddler bed and there was no room for her once she filled it with lovies . Now there is tons of room for them, and trust me, she fills it up every night.

It's Monday all the way around today. I never know how we make it out of the house without half of the things we need on a daily basis, but somehow we did this glorious Monday morning. Of course, I had to be at school early today for a parent conference and also needed to make a stop to pick up supplies for a project we are doing in class today. We seem to only be late on these type of days. So, when we got almost the entire way to school and N says, "Mommy, where is my blankie ?" A few ugly words said very quietly and a U-turn later we are headed home for blankie . I take a survey of the car to see if we need anything else. Oh yes, a lovey also. Oh and N's napper. We all haul out of the car to gather the various items we need and take off once again to school. A little over half way to school N says, "Mommy, I lost one of my shoes." OK , are you serious? Did you throw it out the window or what, I mean we are in the CAR!! She continues, "I think it fel...

I can't tell you how great it was to have Nixon around these last few days. She really did lighten the mood. At the family visitation night there were hundreds of people there to show their respects. N never stopped moving- the ENTIRE time!! I know, she was usually dragging me with her. At one point I told her that we needed to sit for a minute a have a cool down. She agreed. After about 20 seconds she says in my ear, "Mommy, I am pretty sure that all of these people want to see me dance. OK?" (Now anyone who has spent much time around her knows that the OK at the end of this sentence is in this squeaky cheerleader voice and it is adorable.) So, what was a mom to do? I let her dance- right there in the middle of everyone. And she brought a smile to so many faces. After the service yesterday, we attended a reception at the church. There were lots of tables full of yummy snacks and desserts. While N was in her daddy's care she asked him if she could have ...

This cute little guy came to our house last night. If you haven't heard of this tradition, it is awesome! N is loving it and so am I. She named him Piddle. All I have to do is remind her that Piddle is watching and she is right on task! She is having a blast with him too. Check them out at http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home .

After over 20 years of fighting cancer, Bryan's mom- N's Mamaw- passed away today. We were very lucky to be with her and hear her say she was ready to be with Karen and everyone else she loves in heaven. We are so thankful for all of the amazing memories and will certainly miss our funny Mamaw. Her stories will be missed!

I saw a new doctor today. One that runs her office like the one on Private Practice. A great experience. I'm sure hoping for great things in the year of 34!

Last night Bryan came home from working a long day and gave me my birthday card. As soon as I opened it I giggled a little noticing that the card was the exact same style he had given me last year. He was amazed that I remembered it, but for some reason I did. I even went to the nightstand drawer to prove it. As we were laughing about him REALLY liking that card, Nixon starts to get on to her daddy. "Daddy, be nice to mommy. She is just SOOOOOO old." You gotta love kids!

N asked me this morning if I made her at Build-A-Bear. I had to remind myself that she was serious and even though the question was hilarious to me, laughing at her was not appropriate. She was sure hoping I had kissed her heart before I put it in her like she had done on her horse she built there named Choo Choo . I explained that God had kissed her heart before he put it in. What a cutie pie!!

Woodlands cop please let me go. You're the coolest cop I know! So, I always hear how awful The Woodlands cops are. Well, yesterday must have been my lucky day. I rushed to vote after school and was feeling guilty about picking N up a little late. I apparently didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign near N's school. So, the cop pulled me right in to the school parking lot. Lovely. He took my license and came back and made a comment about me still having a perfectly clean driving record and how rare that was now days. He then told me he didn't want to be the one to ruin that, so he let me go. I could have cried!!! It really was my lucky day!

Giselle was a hit when we got to school this morning. When we walked in to the door, every teacher stopped and stared. Most made a comment about her being the most beautiful thing ever. I have to admit that she is a show-stopper in this. She just glows and I fell in love!

I could not be any prouder of Bryan and his Panther defense. The game was on TV last night and it was our "big game" playing for district champions. The announcer kept saying things like "that Oak defense is amazing", "they are relentless", "they are unstoppable" and my personal favorite "that Oak defensive coordinator should get a bonus after tonight." I couldn't agree more!!

Now, don't get me wrong. I was completely and totally "called" to be a teacher- especially a junior high teacher. I cannot think of anything else in the world I would rather do and I genuinely love my kids. But, I have to admit there are times when I wonder what in the heck got me into this profession. I gave a test the other day and about half of my kids did- let's say, not so good. Here are a couple of conversations that resulted from the grades: "Mrs. Gorka , is there anything I can do to raise my grade?" Keep in mind that my dry sense of humor takes over quite often when dealing with the thirteen year old mind. "Work harder." "Is that the only option?" "Yes." "Well, that sucks." Seriously kid! Get some work ethic! Another kid- "Mrs. Gorka , online it says I have an 88. I am assuming that you are going to CURVE that up to a 90." "Well, you would be assuming wrong. I never curve. You get what you earn...