bee and rose

Over the years here at the Smith house, we have developed traditions that help us celebrate the joys of the Christmas season... Singing Christmas carols is my daughter's favorite holiday tradition...Right now she wows us with her rendition of the Overstock.com commercial..."Ho, Ho, the Great Big Ho"....(yep, we know it's really "O, O, the Great Big O", which btw is seriously just as hilarious to me...)  She loves to belt this out in public...all...the...time.... We also play "Twas the Night Before Christmas"  (which is really just Monopoly dressed up for the holidays...)  Of course, being the generous mother that I am, I make sure I win every time by gobbling up every property I can and charging exorbitant rent prices as soon as possible.  This tradition usually ends with Irish Dancer Girl storming off to her room because she has been rendered financially destitute and Teen Caveboy shaking his head in disappointment at me for my greed.   W...

Tis the season to be...assaulting your family with real cream whipped topping!  That's right!  When you live in the desert, you make your own "snow" day fun!  I wish I had photos to show you the devastation I showered upon my family yesterday with just one can of this creamy goodness. However, I was too busy chasing everyone around the house and spraying them down in Reddi~wip.(only the best for my family!)  By the way, Connor...nice move using your sister as a human shield...that was brilliant!  All I'm sayin' is "don't mess with Mama" at Christmas because there's more Reddi-wippin' that will come your way. In other holiday news, we went to visit Santa last week. (different Santa from last year...)  Catherine was so excited to tell Santa thank you for making her last year's Christmas wish come true.  (You can read about that here ...)  Of course, she made Santa cry again .  (and Mrs. Claus...and the elves...and me...and my mom, b...

We've been busy bees with our holiday preparations here at the Smith household!  We have 7 trees...yep, it's the "Festival of Trees" at our house!  (This drives Chilly absolutely bonkers!)  I'm sure Santa will be completely confused when he arrives!  He'll probably try to find a liquor cabinet from the stress of it all! (sorry Santa...no liquor cabinet here!) Here is the Smith Family Festival of Trees rundown... The FAMILY TREE ~ covered in heirloom ornaments, family photos, hand~crafted ornies from the kiddos and crocheted snowflakes from my grandma, Gigi.... (taken while we were still in the process of decorating it...) Irish Dancer Girl's Tree ~ a six foot white tree filled with fairy finery, fashionistas, princesses and pretty things... Teen Caveboy's Tree ~ covered in his favorite cartoon characters and Nightmare Before Christmas pals with a big Jack Skellington sitting at the top...(I was forbidden to photograph it by ...

Happy Monday! I will be bending the rules a bit and post my Friday's "Dear So and So" post today!  "Dear So and So" is brought to you by the lovely Kat over at 3 Bedroom Bungalow ! Let us begin... Dear Zombie Who Showed Up at Cat's Gingerbread Cottage Last Night.... I can appreciate that you are "undead" and may still enjoy some holiday cheer. However, you may find that a six year old girl, who's gingerbread cottage has been defiled by the likes of you, can be a very dangerous enemy. It's probably best to drag your half eaten limbs and exposed brain off to the mall or some other favorite zombie haunt.  Seriously, you don't want to mess with Irish Dancer Girl.  She has moves that can put even the most fearsome zombie to shame. Last year, we had a monster with weird shoes show up and this is what happened.... That's right...a monster homicide…Irish Dancer Girl was busted in the back yard with a shovel and a fre...

Party Girl Returns! I've been missing from Blogland for a few weeks because I've been at this huge party. Family and friends will tell you that I have a talent for throwing awesome parties. This party was a doozy! I was the only guest (hooray for me!) Maybe you've even been to one of these fabulous special occasions...It's called the Pity Party. I really threw myself into the festivities. I dressed up in my special Pity Party attire of sweats and tees. I ate Frownies. I played sad music. I grumbled and griped at everyone I know. I even let my nerve endings blow out into a full bout of shingles! I know how to throw a good party! I honestly thought this party was going to last forever...that is, until my daughter made Santa Claus cry. Yep, nothing like Santa's tears to put the smack-down on a good Pity Party. It started at the mall last week. I figured it was still too early for Santa to be hanging out at his usual spot in the center court area. Boy howdy...

(Don't forget to visit Shannon and her Week-end Wordles over at Last Shreds of Sanity !) Once upon a time this morning, I wandered into the family room in my usual morning stupor. I threw back the curtains to find I had a visitor outside in the form of an elf. Well, hello there, hottie! He was leaning against the tree holding a scroll. I went to open the door to invite him in. “What are you doing here?” I purred in my sexy morning voice. (What? Don’t you have one of those?) He winked at me (swoon) and nodded toward the St. Patty’s Day tree. “What do you think I’m doing here?” I blushed. “Um…yeah…Is there a problem with the tree, Legolas?” I was feeling all tingly now. He came really close to me. Really close. “For you, my lady.” He handed me the scroll. “I come bearing glad tidings.” He brushed by me and bowed. Be still my fluttery heart! I looked at the scroll closely. Oh jinkies…I had gotten one of these in mid January. I knew exactly who it was from. I sighed, unrolled it a...

I woke up this morning and headed out to write my morning post for the family. I stopped short when I saw twinkling lights in my family room. They grew bigger each moment until they formed a tiny man with strange ears. I noticed he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. "Hey," he nodded at me. "Hey...", I replied a bit cautiously. He handed me a letter. "Here," he grumbled. "Wait a minute..I know you...you're Grumpy...Snow White's friend!" I clapped my hands excitedly. He snorted, "No, I'm Sebastian, on special assignment from the North Pole. Are you gonna read this or what?" "Geez, I'll read it...Simmer down there, Sebastian!" I opened the letter slowly. Was I in trouble with the guy in the red suit? Golly, it wasn't even a month past Christmas! He must be watching me awfully close! I take a deep breath and begin to read.... Dear Dawn; We have been watching you through our special snowglobe. (oops...I thought I cl...