Is Santa Claus real?

Sonya, who will be 10 in March has been asking me for a few years if Santa is real and I've managed to persuade her that he is, or at least make her too afraid to admit that she thinks there's no Santa, lest she be left without any presents under the tree.

She asked again a few weeks ago and again I persuaded her to believe in the jolly old elf. I don't want her not to believe, I like putting out milk & cookies and putting sparkling oatmeal outside on the grass to attract the reindeer and I like to see and hear the joy on Christmas morning when they all wake up and see the living room filled with presents from St. Nick (though my hubby hates that we give that old fella all the credit).

Well the ladies at my work said she was too smart to really believe anyway and that I was just prolonging it and soon she may be really mad at me when she finds out I haven't been truthful with her. Also, they thought if she believed for much longer, she may get made fun of at school.

So, Friday night she told me that another girl at her school told her that her parents said that Santa Claus wasn't real and Sonya wanted to get the truth from me. So, I bit the bullet and told her that Santa wasn't real, but that parents wanted this time of year to be magical for their children and they made the whole story up. It's been going on for decades and it's a really fun part of Christmas - helping to keep everything secretive until the big day. Her response - "I kinda figured he wasn't real. I mean, who would believe that some strange man flies around all over the world delivering presents to all the kids on flying reindeer?"

I then told her that it was a very magical idea and now that she knew, she could never tell anyone the secret. She should not be like her friend at school and ruin it for others, especially children younger than she. She agreed and understood that it's part of the fun now to help get others to believe.

She then asked if DJ knew that Santa wasn't real. He's 15. I told her no that DJ just did his best to help make her believe. She then asked if Colby still believed. He's 12. I said, I wasn't for sure, that Colby didn't ever really say anything about it and he probably knew but just didn't want to ask me about it.

I heard this conversation from his room a little later....

Sonya - Hey Colby, so do you still believe there's a Santa Claus?

Colby - Uh, I don't know, there might be, I'm not sure.

Sonya - Well, there's NOT!!!!!

So much for helping to keep the secret. When I asked her about it, she said "Mom, he's 12 years old, it's about time he faced reality. Besides, you wouldn't want his friends making fun of him, would you? I did him a favor."

Well, it's a good thing I have her around to make sure everything's taken care of, huh?

Pictures of my girls

This is Sonya on Halloween. She thought of her own costume and did her own clothes and make up. She was a zombie and wanted to pose "dead". To say she is a drama queen is putting it mildly.

This is her trick or treating - it's a better picture of what her face looked like. And she was trying to make her eyes go back in her head so she looked "scarier".



She was the only one of mine that went trick or treating. Well, Heather went with us too - but she didn't dress up. She did get a lot of texting in on the ride though. Whatever would she fill her time with, but for texting?

On Sunday, we went to a state park with lots of big rocks to climb on and here are some of my favorite pics. It was just us girls. Here is Heather and Sonya laying on a big rock.


Here's one of the three of us. I don't know why some of these showed up smaller. I think it's in the way she sent them to me, because we only had her camera with us and I had to wait for her to send the pics when she got back to school.


The girls in a tree.


One of Heather and me. I miss her tremendously, but she is having the time of her life.


And this one was at the very end of the trip through the rocks. These sisters are great friends - well most of the time. It looks like they're being so sweet here, when in all actuality, they were play fighting with each other. The pic is still cute though:)


And one more of my little drama queen. This was taken in a little antique shop we stopped at afterward. We went in for penny candy and they were amazed at the packs of bubble gum cigarettes that puffed out powdered sugar "smoke" when you blew on them. We had to get 4 boxes:)


I have to say this was one of the best days I've had that I can remember. It was so nice to spend time alone with the girls and do something fun. It's a memory I know I'll treasure for a long time to come.

My mom wants to know...

A conversation on the radio this morning caused me to think of this story of Sonya when she was in kindergarden. When the DJ asked that listeners call in with their stories - I seriously thought about doing it - but reconsidered - which prompts me to ask - do you ever call in to radio shows? I don't know if it's because I'm in the car so long or what, but for some reason I always want to call, sometimes I do, but usually I hang up before I'm actually on the radio - what is up with me?

Anyhow, back to the story...

The principal at the elementary school is very pretty - I don't like her, actually but it's because she actually came on to my husband (I think so, and so does he) right in front of me and my son while hubby, son and I were in her office because son had done something wrong, but that's a story for another day.

OK, so she is cute, petite, has really cool kind of 80's hair (which I love), you know long, full of waves & just perfect - you get the picture. One day, while I was walking Sonya to kindergarden (this was probably 6 or 7 years after the incident with hubby), I saw her and her hair was badly in need of a dye job. I mean there was more gray than the beautiful chestnut brown that had been her color before. She must have really gone prematurely gray, because she's at least 7 or 8 years younger than me and that was way before I had to "wash that gray right outta my hair". So, I commented to no one in particular "Hmmm, I wonder why Miss D is letting her hair grow out gray." and prompty forgot about it in my haste to drop Sonya off and get to work.

A few weeks later, it was parent-teacher conferences and when I went in to see Sonya's teacher (very small town and everyone knows everyone else) she said "I have to tell you the cutest story about your daughter." I was proud that Sonya had done something that evoked this kind of enthusiasm in the teacher and couldn't wait to hear the story.

"Well," she said, "Sonya received the highest grade on her reading test last week, so her prize was to go to Miss D's office and read a book to her. While she was walking down the hall with Miss D, holding her hand, she looked up at her and said "My mom wants to know why you're letting your hair go all gray?""

My proud smile quickly faded into a face of pure horror! "Oh My God! She didn't really ask her that, did she?" I asked. "Yep, she sure did and the rest of the teachers are so glad she did - because we were all wondering the exact same thing!"

"And what did Miss D say?" I asked. "She told Sonya she just hadn't dyed it in awhile, but she guessed it was probably about time she did!" I couldn't believe it. I never said anything to Miss D about it and she never said anything to me. To this day, she is nothing but friendly to me and I've never, ever seen her hair that shade again.

Kids say the darndest things!!!

Guilty pleasures...

I can't help it. This guy is seriously hotttt!!!!




OMG!!! Talk about eye candy!

Get on the bus!!!!

OK, I know I haven't posted in awhile - but you know how it goes.

Conversation on Thursday with my College Kid

Her: Mom, Jess and I are thinking about coming home this weekend. I told her I'd pay half the gas.

Me: OK

Her (1 hour later): Mom, Jess doesn't know if she's coming home. I'm going to offer to pay all the gas, because I really want to come home.

Me: OK

Her (2 hours later): Mom, Jess isn't coming home. She really wants to, but her mom really doesn't want her to spend the money. I guess I'll take the bus, can you get me a ticket?

Me: OK, are you sure she won't change her mind?

Her: No, she won't change her mind.

Her (1 hour later): Mom, did you get my ticket?

Me: Not yet. I was waiting to make sure she didn't change her mind.

Her: She won't change her mind. I've been trying to talk her into it, but she's definitely not coming home this weekend. Can you get the ticket?

Me: Sure. I do it in a little while

Her (1 hour later): Mom, did you get the ticket yet?

I ignored this last text message at 9:45 last night because I thought Jess might change her mind overnight.

Me (this morning): Good Morning! Are you still coming home? Did Jess decide to come home?

Her: No, she's not coming home.

Me: OK, I ordered your ticket online. You're leaving at 3pm. Here are the directions to the bus station, I will meet you in St. Louis is 5:15pm

Her: OK, I'll see you then! Yay!

Her (2:40pm - 20 minutes before the bus leaves): Mom, Jess wants to ride the bus home too. Can you wait and pick us up at 11:30pm?

Me: NO!!!!! Get on the bus! It leaves in 20 minutes. Jess should have decided before now that she was gonna ride the bus. I cannot believe you are changing your plans now.

Her: Mom, why are you so angry with me?

Me: Heather, I asked you 82 times if you were sure Jess wasn't coming home before I ordered the ticket! Get on the bus! You're going to miss it and it's a non-refundable ticket! Get on the bus!

Her: I'm gonna call my dad to see if he can pick me up at 11:30, but then I'll have to stay there all night and I don't want to. Will you call Aunt Shelly and see if she will pick me up?

Me: NO!!!!! Get on the bus! Call your dad! Whatever! I'm out~call me when you figure it out.

Her (10 minutes later): Mom. Here's the plan. Jess' mom said she will pay all the gas home and I have exchanged my ticket for one leaving 2 weeks from now. I'm going to ride home with Jess tonight and we will take the bus home together in 2 weeks.

Me: Whatever - call me when you're on your way. Love you!

Her: Love you too!