I knew I couldn't keep it up!

Well, it's Tuesday and I just realized that I didn't do a Monday Mumblings yesterday OR last week... oops!

So here's 2 weeks worth of Monday Mumblings.... on Tuesday. :)

1. All 8 members of my family got some sort of stomach bug over Christmas.
Riley got it just after we opened presents at my in-law's house on Christmas Eve.
Chandler got it about an hour later.
I woke up Christmas morning MISERABLE!
Brandon got it sometime the day after Christmas at my grandmother's house.
My sister AND my mom got it on the Saturday after Christmas.
Joel AND my dad spent all Saturday night and all Sunday day SICK!

2. The good news in all of that is that whatever it was, it didn't last more than 24 hours for any of us.

3. Because of being sick on Christmas morning, I don't have a single picture of my kids opening presents. :(

4. I got some great gifts for Christmas.

5. We have all been enjoying our Wii.

6. Chandler is quite the bowler, golfer and boxer! :)

7. I LOVE the Wii Fit!!! I'm a hulla hooping CHAMP!

8. We MIGHT be slightly obsessed with the Wii right now.

9. We have TWO televisions set up in our living room. 1 for the Wii and 1 for watching movies and tv WHILE we play the Wii.... As soon as the holidays are over the Wii will move into the bonus room and my livingroom will get back to normal.

10. I am THRILLED to know that Mummy McT got her package (or parcel as she calls it... I love Australian accents!) ON CHRISTMAS EVE! YAY!

11. I'm looking forward to having some good friends over tomorrow night for New Year's Eve!

12. I need to clean my house before those good friends get here!!!!

13. I'm excited to start planning my trip to Forks, WA (Washington State for my non-U.S. readers) with this guy...

My cousin, Brett.

14. Brett thinks there should be an entire blog post just about him... careful what you wish for Brett! :)

15. I'm also excited that Evan will be here in just over 6 weeks.

16. I need to start seriously planning my list of random U.S. things that I'm going to expose him to! I'm open to suggestions!

17. I still haven't finished my list of 30 things to do before I'm 30.

18. There are PLENTY of things I want to do, but I'm trying to be practical about it.

19. Chandler's 6th Birthday is ONE WEEK from tomorrow. I need to make some party plans!

20. Since Chandler's birthday is one week from tomorrow... that means MY birthday is TWO WEEKS from tomorrow!

21. The longer this list gets, the more I realize I have to get done in a fairly short amount of time!

Got any random thoughts you want to share?

Don't really have time...

Well, I'll fill you in on our Christmas "mishaps" when I've actually got a few minutes to organize my thoughts, but for now I'll leave you with a link to a few of the pictures from our photo session.

Jared Wielfaert Photography: Jennifer's Headshots

Check out Jared's Blog and his website for more info on what he has to offer. :)

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!!!

A Very Merry Christmas!!

Well, it seems as if most, if not all, of my bloggy friends are taking a "blogging vacation" over Christmas so I may just do it too!

We are headed out of town in the morning... so begins the season of holiday travel. :)


Merry Christmas everyone!!


Oh! By the way... the photo session went quite well. I've seen a few of the proofs and I'm very pleased with the results. We managed to get some REALLY good ones of Chandler and a few of me and Brandon together. Riley wasn't too cooperative due to an ear infection, runny nose and well... being on the threshold of the "terrible 2s". :)

Fortunately for all of you, I didn't get Janna's clothing suggestion until AFTER the session. Ha! (see the comments on the previous post.)

Decisions, decisions...

I mentioned in this post, that my friend Jared is going to be taking some head shots of me. A few of you asked why I needed head shots...
In high school I was a member of a drama class and became a member of the International Thespian Society. My senior year of high school I auditioned for a part in a community theatre production of "Annie Get Your Gun". That was SO much fun!

I haven't done any acting since then, but I've always wanted too... head shots are one step closer to acting again. :)

Here I am in "Annie Get Your Gun" just to the right of Frank Butler.
My hair was short like it is now, so I had to wear that terrible wig! At least it was brown and not that horrible blonde on the other girl! :)
**Note: Unless I am in another musical that requires me to dance, this is probably the only photographic proof you will EVER find of me dancing!

So, this coming Monday at 10am, Jared will be shooting photos of me...

Here's the decision part...
WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO WEAR?!?!?

O Christmas Tree!

Ready for picture overload?

Brandon and I FINALLY got into the Christmas spirit (sort of) and got a tree. He and Chandler went to Lowe's last night and picked it out... perk of waiting so late? Our tree only cost $17 with tax! :)
We are still not doing our full blown decorating... no lights on the house... no Christmas dishes on the table... I just don't want to watch Riley like a hawk for the next few days while hoping and praying that she doesn't grab the table cloth and pull all of my Christmas China onto the tile floor! **I'm sure you moms can understand that!

So, we decorated the tree and SOME of the house tonight...

Yes. I am one of "those moms" that fixes the ornaments that her children put on the tree. I really didn't move too many of them... we have LOTS of heavy ornaments and they must be hung "just right" to keep them from crashing to the floor!

Chandler HAD to put the star on this year... it's the 1st year she hasn't complained that we have a star and NOT an angel.
I have no idea what kind of face she is making!

The finished product!!
I told you my presents are all wrapped and ready to go!

All lit up... anyone know how to get a picture like this that ISN'T fuzzy?

So, I've read TONS of blogs lately that have had pictures of trees and homes all decked out for the holidays...
Since I don't have much to show as far as home decor is concerned, I've decided to show you some of my favorite ornaments. :)

These first 2 are gifts from my mom and dad.
They are from Hungary and they bought them on one of their trips through Hungary headed to (or back from) Romania.

Brandon tells me every year to remind my mom to look for more while she is there... he wants an entire tree FULL of these bells!

I'm pretty sure they are one of a kind since they are hand made out of porcelain. :)

Ok, every year we try to buy an ornament that reminds us of something we did that year.
If we go on vacation, we buy an ornament while we are there... it's my favorite vacation tradition!

This one isn't from a vacation, but we bought it to remind us of our very first UGA game!
Gooooo Dawgs!

This one is from a trip I made to Kennebunkport, Maine.
I made the trip with the choir at church a few years ago... back before Riley, but I'm not exactly sure what year it was...
Kennebunkport is BEAUTIFUL! If you live in the U.S., you NEED to go... I recommend going in the summer... the weather was PERFECT!

This ornament was the very first one that Brandon and I bought after we were married... it's from our honeymoon to Aruba.

This little lighthouse is from our first vacation to Jekyll Island with Brandon's parents after we were married.
I had been with them to Jekyll before we were married, but we didn't start the ornament tradition until after our wedding.

This cute little Santa is from a trip we took to Myrtle Beach in 2002. It's the only vacation the two of us have ever been on alone.

The candy cane is from 2004. We vacationed on St. Simon's Island that summer with my parents and my sister.

Bet you can guess where this one came from!
We took a vacation to Disney World with my parents and my sister back in 2006.

This one is from another vacation with my parents. We spent 2007 up in Gatlinburg.
Fortunately, we did NOT see any bears!

**I do not have an ornament from my trip to Australia. I looked for one while I was there, but didn't find anything that I really loved. I've sent Evan on a "Australian Christmas Ornament Mission". We'll see if he succeeds.
I'll keep you posted!


These next 2 ornaments are special because they have pictures of my babies in them!
Brandon's mom got each of the girls a photo ornament to celebrate their 1st Christmases.

Chandler in 2003

Riley in 2007


I mentioned last year how much I love my nativity.

It's the one my sister and I grew up with and it's VERY old.
The bottom of each piece is stamped, "Made in West Germany".

It is chipped. It is scratched. Some of the people have had heads glued back on, but I wouldn't want a new one... even if it was a duplicate set.

A few years ago, my sister in law Lainey, bought me this Flurryville set.
It's Santa's Workshop, but all of the pieces are snowmen... I LOVE IT!
Thanks Lainey!!! It's one of my FAVORITE Christmas decorations!

So, that's all in my livingroom.

Next we have our kitchen...

My Gingerbread Welcome sign... a gift from my sister. :)

A cute little gingerbread man hanging on our French doors.
My mom found him at a yard sale... thanks mom!

Another gift from my sister... a little gingerbread family pillow hanging out in an extra kitchen chair.

Chandler and Riley's tree got moved to the kitchen so we could keep an eye on it.
I mentioned last week that Riley is just a tad rough on it!
Now it is wedged between my china cabinet and the fridge.

Riley went to bed before the decorating got under way tonight so here are a few pictures from the night we decorated the little tree... it was still in their room at the time.

"Puppy Mom!"

"ohhhh... I can take the ornaments off all by myself!"

Welcome to Monday Mumblings

Everyone seemed to enjoy my random list of thoughts in my head last Monday so I've decided to turn it into a regular Monday activity...

I make no promises that I'll be able to keep up with it, but I'll try my best.

So here is it...

Monday Mumblings:

1. Today is my sister's 25th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!

2. It's December 15th and we STILL don't have a Christmas tree. Honestly, I'm ok with not getting one this year, but it's a little sad since this is the 1st year that we've had presents wrapped and ready to go so early into December and we don't have a tree to put them under.

3. This is Chandler's last week of school before Christmas break... I've changed my mind about not looking forward to Christmas break... I'm looking forward to it for one simple reason... I won't have to get up before the sun!

4. I'm SO excited about the gifts we got for the girls this year!

5. Taking on the job of Cherub Choir (the pre-school choir) Director and the Nursery Coordinator at church has helped us out financially this Christmas. :) We have been able to pay for ALL of our Christmas gifts IN CASH!
**By the way... My Cherub Choir is singing in church this Sunday... I'll have to figure out how to post video of that! They are adorable and I NEVER know what kind of craziness will happen in the middle of our performances!

6. I'm anxious... maybe more excited than anxous... to see what is in store for us in 2009.

7. 2008 has been full of medical type stuff for us... I'm hoping for LESS of that in 2009.

8. I'm still working on my list of 30 things to do before I'm 30.

9. It has been slightly warmer this past week than it was on this day. For that, I am grateful!

10. Only 1 more Christmas party to attend and only 1 more Christmas program to sing in.

So what's floating around in your head this Monday?

Thoughts on Rules

Well, your honesty made me laugh! Myself and the 8 of you who commented should NEVER go out into public together! :)

Half of us would be breaking all kinds of socially implied rules while the other half would be hiding under the table out of embarrassment!

No, not really... I'm sure we all know how to control ourselves in public!

Sara: I go out in public without makeup... in fact, if you saw me right now... well it's scary really so I wouldn't let you see me right now. Monday through Friday I leave my house between 7 and 7:15 to take Chandler to school... I RARELY change out of my pajamas... makeup, ha!

Jenn: Before I had kids (and even when Chandler was very young) our friends commented that any time there was a party, Brandon and I would be the 1st ones there... I was a band geek most of my life (and really... who am I kidding? once a band geek ALWAYS a band geek.) and the band geek moto is "Early is on time and on time is LATE!"
Now, I'm lucky if I'm only 15 minutes late EVERYWHERE! I HATE being late... I don't intentionally break that rule... I blame my kids! :)

Sandi: I eat when I'm hungry. The only "set" meal at our house is dinner. It is a bad habit that I have passed on to my kids.

Renata: I don't even make rules for myself anymore! I know I'm going to break them so why bother! :)

Kristy: I love that you are a tattooed mama! I was REALLY close to getting a tattoo not too long ago, but couldn't make up my mind so I decided to wait.
When Chandler was born I took out my cartilage ring because "mama's probably shouldn't have multiple piercings" and I wanted to fit the "mama mold".
Today I sit here with not the 3 piercings that I had when I was pregnant with Chandler, but FIVE (yes 5) piercings. :) All in my ears, but 5 none the less.

Lacy: Your blog comment makes you sound like the kind of friend my parents warned me about! lol! I did sneak a snack into the theatre once, but it was for Chandler before I allowed her to eat popcorn... I had a fear that she would choke to death!

Mummy McT: Your comment reminds me of my friend, Kim, from high school (Kristy can back me up on this)... she could burp louder than any GUY I knew! In fact, on several occasions, I heard her burp the ABCs... and I'll admit, I was a bit jealous. LOL!

Jaime Lynn: I already knew about you and your non-conformist streak! You didn't surprise me one bit... actually I thought about you as I was writing the post! :)


So? Do I break rules? Yes. I do.
Do I always do it on purpose? No.
Do I feel guilty about breaking rules? Yes and No. Really the only I time I feel guilty is when Chandler (who is beginning to notice EVERYTHING) calls me out on breaking a rule... it's usually the socially implied rules.
Does it keep me up at night? Nah.
Is there one rule in our house that's more important than the others? No. Not really. Our rules are more of the "unspoken" variety. The importance changes based on what we are currently struggling with at home or school.

After I posted my rule breaking blog on Wednesday, I noticed that is was my 200th post! YAY ME!
Such a landmark blog requires some sort of giveaway so...

Mummy McT you are the winner! E-mail me your mailing address at brandonjennifer@bellsouth.net and I'll mail out your prize!

You may be asking yourself, "What is she winning?"

I guess you'll just have to wait and see! Maybe she'll write a blog all about it.
**Here's a hint... it's a little story about a rule breaker. :)

Maybe you are asking yourself, "How did she win?"

That's an easy one... Chandler picked her.

Now you are asking, "Why did Chandler pick her?"

J: "Chan. Here are 8 people which one do you think should win?"
C: "Who are they?"

I showed her each of your blogs...

C: "I like this one." (pointing at Mummy McT's blog)
J: "Why?"
C: "Because she has cute kids and they call her mummy... not mOmmy!"

Apparently she shares my love of the Australian accent!

Rebel without a cause?

I'm just curious...

Are YOU a rule breaker?

I don't mean breaking the LAW... please don't tell me THOSE stories! :)

I mean... do you break "rules"...

actual written rules like "no blue jeans at work except on Friday"

rules you set for yourself like "I will NOT eat ice cream... well except maybe on odd numbered days!"

socially implied rules like "don't burp at the table" or "early is on time and on time is LATE!" (maybe that one's just MY socially implied rule!)

random "ruling" requests like "we've all decided to wear white shirts tomorrow"

My question in response to a request such as this is, "who is WE and why do I have to do it too?" :)
Would you wake up tomorrow and intentionally put on a lime green tank top?


I'm not just asking for the sake of posting something today... I really want to know...

Do you break rules?
What KIND of rules to you break?
Do you feel guilty when you break a rule?
Does it keep you up at night?
Is there one rule in your house that is more important than any other?

Nacho Update:

Mummy McT: They were delicious! I may just have to start visiting Taco Bell more often!

Heather: Maybe I'll try to send Brandon out for dessert tonight! Cheesecake sounds good!

Heather C: While I was pregnant with Chandler, I craved Chick-fil-A icecream!! There was not any guacamole on my nachos, but there were refried beans... I like the beans.

Jaclyn: I think I may have had the small one as well... I'm not sure since Brandon went out and got it for me.

Nacho Libre :)

I don't eat at Taco Bell.

I have not been to a Taco Bell since my freshman year (MAYBE my sophomore year) in college. My roommate, Kathryn, and I would make late night runs for "study food"... in the town where our college is (and where I currently live) there wasn't much open after 9:00pm back in 1998 so we would end up at Krystal (gag!) or Taco Bell (gag!)...
We always got the same thing... 2 bean burritos add sour cream... we each got 2... we ate them in the car before we got back to the dorm (or our apartment if in fact we were still doing this our sophomore year).

Tonight after scrubbing my kitchen floor (literally on my hands and knees), Brandon and I sat down to watch last week's episode of The Office. There was a commercial for Taco Bell and it was an ad for the most delicious looking nachos that I have EVER seen...
Now, before you give me a hard time... I KNOW that food never looks as good IN the restaurant as it does on TV... I KNOW THIS, but SOMETHING about those nachos has me CONVINCED that they would be delicious!!!

I NEED THOSE NACHOS! I DON'T CARE THAT IT IS 9:50 AT NIGHT!

**and NO I am not pregnant. :)

**and if you are interested... I did a post last year about a Krystal eating contest that we went to.


****Edited to add:
At 10pm I was sitting on our sofa eating nachos from Taco Bell.... THANKS BRANDON! :)

What else on a Monday morning?

My brain is full of random half thoughts this morning...

1. Kristy has inspired me to kick myself into gear and work on my list of "30 things to do before I'm 30"... her list is 29 Things Before 30, but I'm gonna 1 up her! :)
**Jenn also had a list a while back ago... she's the one that originally made me start thinking about working on my list.

2. Brandon and I are both going to make lists... maybe some of them will overlap... we can hold each other accountable! :)

3. It's stinkin' cold outside!

4. I am singing this Thursday night for a "Senior Adult Christmas Banquet"... jealous? :)

5. I have partially decorated my house for Christmas... I'm just not in the mood this year. :(

6. The girls have a 3 foot Christmas tree on the bedside table in their room... so far there have been 2 broken ornaments and I've picked the tree up off the floor atleast a half dozen times... that's not counting the times that Brandon has picked it up.

7. My friend, Jared, is going to be taking some headshots for me sometime in the next few weeks... I'm excited about that!

8. Remember when my guestroom was supposed to get a makeover in July and then the date moved to September... well it's December, but it is finally ALMOST DONE!!! 4 of the 5 things on my list to do in that room can be checked off, but I still need to finish the last one and add one more thing to the list... it WILL be done before Christmas!!!

9. Here's the results from the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist that I took Riley to see last week... "If you WANT to have tubes put in, we can do it. If you DON'T want tubes put in, we don't have to do it."
Uh? Um? Well? I DON'T KNOW!!! YOU ARE THE DOCTOR! TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!!

10. My follow up appointment with my surgeon went well. I have to go back for a mammogram in March... that mammogram will serve as my new "baseline" picture to which all future mammograms will be compared. After my mammogram I will go back for another follow up with my surgeon.

11. I am no where NEAR being finished with my Christmas shopping!

12. My friends, Brian and Trish are in the process of adoption. Trish just started a blog... go check it out. They are SUPER people and will be AMAZING parents!!!

13. They have a cookbook that they are selling and all proceeds from the sales are going straight to their adoption fees... need a nice cookbook for yourself or one to give as a Christmas gift? Check out her blog. They are only $15. They are VERY pretty... kind of a scrapbook appearance to the cover AND I even have a few recipes in there! :)
Brian is a chef... yep, that's his actual occupation... and he has a TON of recipes in the book.
I told Trish that they should auction off Brian's culinary talents. :)
I'd pay to have him come cook a nice dinner for me and my family!! Especially in the craziness of the holidays!

14. To make things ever easier... you can buy the cookbook on Ebay! Check it out!! For less than $20 (including shipping) you can help Brian and Trish and add some new recipes to your cooking repertoire! :)

15. My parents are currently in Romania on a mission's trip. If you can spare a minute or 2, say a prayer for their safety as well as the safety of their team.

Wow... I think I'm all out of randomness. Ah. Now I have space in my brain!

I told you it's cold outside...

Don't believe me? Even Rainn Wilson and Selma Blair say so...

It's gonna be a LONG winter!

Have I mentioned I'm not a fan of the cold?
You can read about my dislike of cold weather here and here.

Sitting outside of Chandler's school this morning... waiting to drop her off...

And for my Celsius reading friends...

Yeah, I'm still here!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately... we got back from having Thanksgiving in Atlanta with my extended family and I've been playing catch up since Saturday night!

As soon as I have pictures from Thanksgiving I'll be sure to post them... I forgot to take my camera (I know, I know... what WAS I thinking!!!) so I used my dad's camera and the camera is currently with him in FL. :)

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving... I've really enjoyed reading about everyone's holiday!

Can't wait to hear how Mummy McT's Thanksgiving meal turned out!!!