Toy Room

See this???



This is how the kids' toy room looks today....and how it looked 2 weeks ago.

Now, check this out!!! Look what happened in a 20-minute span while I was upstairs prepping dinner.



Yea, it's been great fun cleaning this mess...it's exactly what I would choose to do with my free time the last few weeks!!! Oh well, I did get to throw out 3 bags of crap. I also gave 2 boxes of baby toys away. Now, I just need to methodically go through each box and bag each toy set to sell at our next MOMs sale.

Another Giveaway

Go check out Mrs. Southern Belle. She's hosting her first giveaway. You have the chance to win one of her handpainted signs.



I can easily picture this hanging in our sunroom or family room. Mrs. Southern Belle will announce her winner tomorrow so get over there quickly and enter.

Ahhhhhhhh....

Mr. O arrived home last night around 11p. It was great watching the kids' reactions this morning when they realized he was home. After much snuggling and tickling, Mr. O and the kids headed downstairs for breakfast. I noticed it was 8:37am.

Next thing I know I wake up and it's 9:22a. I hear lots of laughter and running around downstairs. I have a smile on my face and am thankful for my power-snooze. I am ready to take on the day.

No Sweet 16 for Mr. O...

Mr. O made it to the 2nd round of his Vegas blackjack tournament, but unfortunately he did not advance to the 3rd round. Oh well, it was nice to hope for some kind of payout.

On the flip side, I'm happy that he is coming home today. I've told the kids that he is coming home tomorrow as his flight does not get in until 10:30p. They are going to be thrilled to see their dad when they wake up in the morning. I'm thrilled that I get to sleep in and then enjoy a nice home-cooked breakfast made by my gourmet husband.

Have a good weekend!!!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

Scary Mommy is giving away diamond earrings she received from her husband on Valentine's Day.

Check out her site for your chance(s) to win!!! You will have to subscribe to her blog. You won't regret it though, because she is hilarious.

March Madness

I look forward to the NCAA tournament every year, and love watching the games with Mr. O after the kids are all ensconced in bed. Unfortunately, this year I'll be watching them all by my lonesome. :( Mr. O will be having a blast, though. He's in Vegas...I can just imagine all the different bets he can make on the games. I hope he comes home with more money than he left with.

Mr. O, my brothers and my dad traditionally go to Vegas every year on Super Bowl weekend. This year when they went Mr. O entered a promotional Black Jack tournament. The qualifying rounds for the tournament was spread over a 3 week period. No, Mr. O wasn't there that long...he was just there for the 3-day weekend. All the contestants had to do was play one 30-minute round. At the end of the qualifying rounds, the top 64 contestants were invited back for the March Madness Blackjack Tournament this weekend where each of them will vie for the $250K payout to the top winner.

Please, please, please God let Mr. O be the Blackjack King this weekend. I can only hope, right?!?!?

Slainte

Simple Breakfast

My kids have always been big breakfast eaters; Me, not so much! When Tank asked me to make pancakes today, I was happy to join in. I just couldn't resist a pancake with fresh raspberries and blueberries...it was so yummy!!!









P.S. Did you notice the girls are wearing their princess dresses? The first thing they do every morning is shed their PJs for their costumes.

Spring Swap

Semi-slacker Mom is hosting a Spring Swap!

I've been reluctant to join another swap since I got shafted in the last one I participated in. Apparently, the same thing happened to Semi-slacker. I have to give her credit for wanting to organize one though. Now that the February blahs are over, I'm truly looking forward to Spring...If only this snow would melt and the weather would warm up!!!

For the Spring Swap details, click here!

Snow Play....

3 posts in one day...that happens on a snow day!!!

The kids finally decided they wanted to get all decked out to play.

Here are some snow angels in the making...





Banana was more interested in building a fort...



She got this far...



...then quit!!! :)

DON'T you DARE think about throwing that at me, Tank?

Super Mom

Everyone in our neighborhood has their satellite dish on his/her roof. Not us!!! We were satellite virgins when we moved into our house 5.5 years ago. When the DTV installer came to our house, I INSISTED that our dish be placed off our deck. Mr. O wanted to be like the Joneses and put it on the roof. I told him we WERE the Joneses. And, good thing I did!!!

I wrote earlier about getting the kids out to make snow angels. When I opened the door to do a quick shovel of the front steps, they wanted to stay in!!! It was too cold and windy for them. God, I love them...they are sooo smart! They decided to play dress-up instead...



They also wanted to watch a Sponge Bob movie in their play room! Great...that would give me time to get the kitchen cleaned up. In the midst of straightening up, I hear the kids screaming, all upset!!! It turned out we lost our satellite connections.

I looked out our dining room window, and saw this...



Okay, it was Super Mom to the rescue!!!

First, I had to dig out...



...then, I had to carefully sweep the snow off the dish, praying that I didn't move it from its position.



I walked into the house to kisses, hugs, and "Thank you Mama."

I knew that decision to put the dish on the deck would pay off some day. Do you think this Super Mom would climb on the roof to please her children??? Ha!

There's no day like a snow day!!!

After eating a big breakfast(pancakes, bacon, fruit salad), we will soon be out making snowmen and snow angels. Unfortunately, we left our sleds at Mim & Pop's house after our last ice storm. Later in the day, we may ride over there to get them. What fun we will have today!!!

In my last post about the kids' caricatures, I thought my youngest looked more "made-up" than my oldest. I'm not going to write out her name as I don't want the unnecessary hits on my blog; my immediate thought was she looked like a child model with the initials JBR. I don't thinks so much anymore, but that was my first gut reaction. What do you think?

Caricatures...

This was taken at Disney World in January. I don't think this artist quite captured them, especially the girls. They still look cute, however!



Please tell me...does my youngest remind you of anyone?

A Lilly Giveaway

The Preppy Princess is hosting another great Lilly giveaway.

She's giving away two items from the new line, both in the Cabanarama pattern. Her giveaway includes one of the Latte Da! mugs and the Take Note Mouse Pad. The Take Note Mouse pad consists of a standard-size mouse pad topped by a pad of Lilly note paper. Go check out her blog post for your chance to win…you can enter up to 5x.

20 February--

Happy Birthday, Ned and Nora! Your sisters and brother will be blowing out some candles for you tonight.

Ned and Nora were born 7 years ago today (02.20.02 at 05:12 and 05:13). Ned lived almost 10 hours and Nora, 15 hours. It’s been a heck of journey since their births and our loss. But, if this was the only way I could have met them, I would do it all over again. They impacted my life so deeply, irrevocably changing it for the better.

In those first days and months after their passing, though, I never believed that life would be OK or better!

It is better!!! Ned and Nora have me the gift of HOPE. I’m an earthly mom now as well as a “’heavenly” mom. After 5 months of bedrest, Banana & Tank were born in October ’03. KK, (“the Trip”) was born in May ‘05>

Time has a way of making you better, no matter how much you need to laugh, cry, grieve, etc. Thankfully, it does not have the power to make you forget. I will never forget my Ns.

Summer Loving!!!

I'm patiently waiting for Spring to arrive. I'm tired of seeing the bare trees and brown grasses. I'm looking forward to scooting around on our Razors and teaching the kids to ride bicycles. The twins and KK got their first bikes with training wheels back in October. Unfortunately, we have not had much riding time.

On this cold blah day in February, I received some much welcomed mail, so much so that I want to wish Spring away (not really, but close). It was our lease agreement for a beach home in the Hamptons this Summer. I wish we could stay the whole Summer, but I'm thrilled that we are staying a little longer than normal.

I grew up in NYC and from the time I was 10yo, my family spent the whole Summer in the Hamptons. We even made the 1.5 hour trip every weekend throughout the school year. That was actually a drag when I was in high school. My parents still have their place there, but unfortunately our family of 5 has outgrown it. We've been fortunate, though, to find reasonable rentals within 5 miles of their home.

So, this is what I'm looking forward to!!!

So Sleepy...

Happy belated Valentine's!!! I hope everyone got struck hard by Cupid.

Never again will I brag about looking forward to sleeping in!!! I haven't had a decent night's sleep since I wrote that post on Wednesday. First, Tank got sick. He was better by Friday when KK started with the high fevers and vomiting. Then, yesterday afternoon Banana started feeling hot. Great...just great!!!

Another Fun Giveaway

Semi-Slacker Mom at Confessions of a Semi-"Slacker" Mom loves to play bunko. For the past 5 years, she's been playing with a group of 12 women that meet monthly. Not only do they get together for a fun game and cocktails, they also host fundraisers and adopt one or two families at Christmas-time. There's nothing semi-slacker there!!!

If you like to read, she's giving away a copy of The Bunko Babes, a story about friendship among a group of women of varying ages facing life's challenges and triumphs. Go leave a comment if you want a chance to win.

My neighborhood circle has a monthly bunco game. It's fun to get out without the kids and the husband and just DISH about anything and everything.

Weekend Preview

I'm really looking forward to the 3-day weekend coming up. Let me count the ways...

1. I get to sleep in 3 mornings in a row. Granted, that usually means I'm lucky if I'm still in bed an hour after the kids get up. But, an hour is an hour...

2. For the first time in 6 years, Mr. O and I have a date on Valentine's Day. We were damn lucky to get reservations anywhere. We waited until last week to place them. Most places we could be seated only before 3p or after 9p. Uh, I don't think so. We finally landed a primo reservation (6:15p) at McCormick & Schmick's...not too shabby!!!

3. We are going to see Mickey Mouse again. No, we are not heading back to Disney World; that would be nice, though. We are going to see...



...at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on Sunday. The kids are PUMPED. Do you notice the mad teacups in the photo? I can't tell how many times I was spinning in a teacup. Tank is excited to see that the Incredibles are featured in this show...I think he's getting tired of being outnumbered by princesses.



After the show, we're going out for dinner someplace nice but kid-friendly!!!

4. No matter how late we're out on Saturday and Sunday, I get to sleep in the next morning. I already addressed this in this post, but the more I keep repeating it to myself, the more I'm smiling. :)

Awesome Giveaway

My sister at Mom Times Two is hosting a great giveaway. Go check out her blog and leave a comment for a chance to win either Ina Garten's back to basics cookbook or Bunny Williams' Affair with a House.

Mags needs....

This post is inspired by Sue at As Cape Cod Turns.

Go to google and put in 'your name' and 'needs' in the search button.

It doesn't bode well for me...Here's what I need!

1. Maggie needs an Alibi! LOL...

2. Maggie needs a Home.

3. Maggie needs to be near Mom. LOL!!!

4. Maggie needs help.

5. Maggie needs your prayers.

6. Maggie needs some food.

7. Maggie needs new shoes.

Power Rangers...

One of the highlights for Tank on our recent trip to Disneyworld was meeting the Power Rangers at Hollywood Studios.











Whenever I take his picture nowadays, he always assumes a Power Ranger stance.





His sisters are even getting in the act...

The Blahs...

The February blahs suck!!!

I thought this year might be different. Between the excitement of the Christmas holidays and our New Year's Day party, then getting ready for our magical trip to Disney World, then spending 7 wonderful (but cold) days in the land of Mickey, I thought the euphoria of it all would carry us into March.

Nope, it didn't happen!

February is a hard month.

So, I'm working hard to make it better for me as well as the family. I made it to the gym twice this week...I plan to go once this weekend and 3 days next week. Mr. O and I are going out for dinner by ourselves on Valentine's Day. The next day we are taking the kids to see Disney on Ice in Washington, DC. We'll have a family dinner in the city afterward.

I've done something special on the 20th for my children since they've been born in honor of my firstborn babes...I have no idea what to do this year.

I'm looking forward to the end of the month when my mom, sister and I are hosting a couples' baby shower for my big bro and SIL. What better way to end a blah-month with a PARTY!!!

P.S. The baby sitter is already lined up!!!

I'm in Trouble...

My baby is a sweetie most of the time, but when she gets mad, watch out!!!

Yesterday, KK got upset with me for putting her in timeout. She screamed at me, "NO, I WILL NOT GO IN TIMEOUT." She then looked at me like this...



She looked down on the floor. She looked back at me and smirked.

She then peed in her pants! ARGH!!!

I have a feeling she will be the cause of many of my gray hairs. If she's like this at 3, what is she going to be like when she's a teenager???

25 Random Things About Me

I was tagged on Facebook for 25 random things about me. Since I spent all that time doing it for FB, I thought I'd share with you.

1. My name is Margaret, and wouldn’t let anyone call me anything but Margaret when I lived in NY. Any time my parents would try to call me Maggie, I’d yell at them. When I moved to VA as a junior in high school I introduced myself to everyone as Maggie. Different state…different persona!!! You can call me either…or Mags, Magnanimous, Magnificent, etc.

2. I am 102 years old. LOL! My kids told me that when you turn 100, you die. So, a few months ago, when they asked me how old I was, I said , “101.” I celebrated my birthday last week. They told EVERYONE I was 102. Better to be 102 than 52 right now, right?!?!?

3. I love my last name, but I always thought I would change it when I got married. That said, I always said I could never marry a Smith or a Jones. In college, I dated a Bob Jones for 9 months. After college, I dated a Tom Smith for almost two years. I ended up marrying a Jones; not Bob, definitely Owen. So far, I’ve kept my last name…but, I am thinking of changing it almost 10 years later.

4. I love the Hokies!!! I haven’t been able to get to any regular season game since having kids, but I’ve been to every ACC championship game Tech’s been in (2 in Jacksonville, one in Tampa). Tech’s record in the championship is 2-1.

5. Even if VT isn’t playing, I love watching college football. I love watching the NY Giants playing. Any other NFL team?...meh! BTW, I cried when the Giants won the Superbowl last year…and I was bummed when they lost in the playoffs this season.

6. I love watching baseball; it doesn’t matter what level of play (Little League, Babe Ruth, minors, Majors, etc. My favorite team is the NY Yankees. When I pitched softball in high school, my teammates called me Goose (Gossage). I remember when Thurmon Munson died in 1979…I was in San Francisco. I like following the Mets too. My favorite all-time Mets player is Tom Seaver. I hope my children become Nationals fans though. They are their local team.

7. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister. They range in age from 25 to 43. The “baby” is a “Southerner”, having been born in VA 3 weeks after our family moved there from the Bronx. At least, he was conceived in NY, right?!?! LOL

8. When I was 10, my parents built a beach home in East Quogue, NY. Since my mom worked in education, we were able to spend the whole Summer at the beach. I’ve visited many beaches all over the country…nothing beats the beaches on Long Island.

9. I love that we have been able to rent a place near my folks’ beach home for a month each July. It’s great catching up with my NY peeps and extended family. It would be cool if we can get a Pelham Bay reunion going in the near future. It’s been great catching up with everyone through FB.

10. My favorite number is 222. It’s based on a drinking game my friends made up in college. The game is based on quarters but everyone drinks. The game was named 222 because that was the hotel room we were in when we came up with the rules.

11. Back in the late 80s, many of us said we should celebrate a holiday reunion on 02.20.02. On that day, though, I was 24 weeks pregnant with my firstborn twins, Ned and Nora. Unfortunately, they were born and died that day. Ned lived 10 hours, and Nora, almost 15.

12. 222 is still my favorite number. When I see 2:22 come up on the clock I think of my sweet babes. Although I couldn’t get it at first, Ned and Nora gave me the gift of hope. I now have 3 earth angels to cherish: Banana & Tank(b. 10.03) and KK(b. 05.05).

13. Since then, I have participated in the March of Dimes March for Babies every year in their honor. This year our March is on Owen’s birthday, April 19th. If you can support me, I’d greatly appreciate it. You can find my personal page at http://www.marchforbabies.org/hokiehi.

14. I love to read; I’m on my fourth book this year. For 2009, I thought I’d give a review of all the books I’ve finished on my blog. I got spooked when I saw that one of my reviews was visited by someone in the same town as the author and where the story takes place. So far, I’ve read The Eight, by Katherine Neville (awesome); The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright (okay); Twilight , by Stephanie Meyers (okay). Now I’m reading Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn. If you like Baldacci, you’ll like Flynn.

15. I just slurped spaghetti sauce all over my shirt. Thank God it’s not white!!!

16. I live less than 30 minutes from Washington, DC. I worked there, I meet friends there, I get my hair done there, but I never sightsee. I want to start taking my kids there once a month or so to take in the sights and visit the museums. There’s no reason for us to not take advantage of all the nation’s capital has to offer.

17. When I was growing up, golf was always on TV at my Nan’s house on Sunday afternoons. I remember being quite bored when we showed up for Sunday dinner. The Lawrence Welk show came on after golf. Double yawn!!! I took up golf when I was in law school. I love watching golf on Sundays now. My kids hate it…Ha!

18. I met Owen at a restaurant named, “That’s Amore.” Enough said!!! We’ve been married for 9 years and together for 14years (is that a double itch?).

19. I can cry at the drop of a hat. Happy tears, sad tears, nervous tears…it happens frequently and it’s embarrassing. I don’t have a pretty cry.

20. I am hearing impaired. Many people are surprised when they find out as I can read lips well.

21. I was on the moot court team in law school. When one of my co-workers told her husband I was going to Colorado for a moot court team meeting, he told her, “She’s not moot (mute); she’s deaf.” LOL

22. My favorite color is purple, also the color of hope.

23. I’m a chocoholic. My favorite candy is the Cadbury mini-eggs that come out at Easter time only. I used to buy enough bags to last me a year. I was thrilled when they came out with the Xmas mini-eggs a few years ago.

24. When Banana & Tank were babies, I drove around with them in a Chevy Trailblazer, a very nice suburban mom’s SUV. Since KK was born, I drive around with them in a Chevy Suburban, a very “Don’t Fuck with Mama” SUV.

25. My family is my life…I want them all to be happy, healthy and safe!!!

Vacations!!!

I love going on vacations getting away with my family. Damn, though, packing is a bitch no matter where we go!!!

We're heading to Disney World for a week on Friday. How do you pack for Orlando in January? Based on the 10-day forecast, we're expecting highs in the mid-60s and lows in the high 30s/low 40s. Only in our last two days are the forecasters predicting weather in the 70s.

Help me out if you can!!! I'm leaning real close to just packing their whole wardrobe...talk about Chaos!!!

Another Book Review...

My next book was a very quick read!!! The Wednesday Letters was written by Jason F. Wright and was a New York Times bestseller. The Wednesday Letters tells the story of a family whose grown children learn more about their parents’ marriage after discovering letters their father wrote to their mother every Wednesday. It’s a good story with morals that I agree with. The story was good, but the writing was mediocre.

With that said, I love the idea of one spouse writing a weekly letter to the other. I would like to do that myself, but know I'd just be setting myself up for disappointment for not following through. My short notes on Mr. O's brown bag napkins will have to do for now.

I'm jumping on the Twilight bandwagon. I'm a couple hundred pages into it, and am enjoying it so far. I'll let you know how I like it.

Book Review

I finished my first book for 2009, and at 598 pages in length, it's no wonder I am a bit behind on folding laundry. If you are looking for a good mystery and loved The DaVinci Code, pick up The Eight by Katherine Neville. It was first published 20 years ago.

Synopsis: The Montglane Service, an ornate, jeweled chess set given to Charlemagne by the Moors, is said to hold a code which when deciphered will bring great power. Nations and individuals have schemed to possess all the pieces. As the set is dispersed during the French Revolution, a young novice risks her life to safeguard it. Alternating with her story are the present-day efforts of a U.S. computer expert and a Russian chess master to assemble the set and solve its mystery. Studying the code involves musical notation, chess strategy, Fibonacci numbers, and mysticism.

I really enjoyed this book, and plan on reading the sequel, The Fire, very soon. The sequel was released just a few months ago. This afternoon I headed to Borders to purchase it, but then saw it will be released in paperback in April. I can wait until then.

My next book is The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright.

Root and Foot Day

Tomorrow is my Root Day. I stole this name from Abnormally Normal and I love her description. My appointment is mid-morning.

Late afternoon, I have an appointment for a pedicure!

Mr. O will never ever interfere with any of those appointments. :)

Maybe, I should shoot for a Root, Back and Foot Day! I might be able to get away with it semi-annually, but not monthly...bummer.

I received my first blog award From Stilettos to Sneakers. She made my day today!!! I started following her blog because she's a fellow twin mom, and seems to have a close and crazy family like mine. I also like following her sister's blog, Life in a Hampton Zoo, because she lives in one of my favorite places. My family vacations in East Quogue and Hampton Bays every Summer, and she doesn't live too far from there.

There were no rules to follow with this award, and I'm happy to pass it on to a few more beautiful bloggers:

Mom Times Two, because she has a great blog and she's my favorite sister!

I Need a Martini Mom, because she cracks me up all the time!

the hyper homemaker, because she's coaching me to make my organized chaos less chaotic!

Boo and Hooties Mom, because I love the way she showcases her children's projects.

One Fabulous Mom, because she's just fabulous!!!

Thanks, Stilettos, for this nice award.

Countdown

10 days and counting until we leave for a week's stay at Disney World!!!

Of course, the kids are all excited, but I think I'm more excited than the lot of them. I've never been there myself, although I've made many trips to Disney Land. I think the World is going to be like Disney Land on cack!!!

I just have to get through the next 10 days....

We brought our truck into the dealer for a service checkup. I wanted to make sure all was square before making the drive from the DC area to Orlando. It turns out we need a new transmission. Great!!! Thank goodness the truck is still under warranty, so we're not out of any big bucks that can be spent at Disney.

I have to go through storage to find the kids' Summer clothes this week. Mr. O and I did not do any planning on this trip. We discussed it and made up our minds within 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I packed up our Summer wardrobe the week before. Mr. O will be working in the Midwest next week and comes home late the eve of our departure. Good planning, Mr. O for any (nada) help getting packed.

Oh, and Aunt Flo better arrive soon!!! I'll be ticked if she arrives in Orlando.

2009

I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!!!

Mr. O and I hosted our annual New Year's Day Open House yesterday. Every year as we are preparing for the party, I am stressed because I have no idea how many people are coming. I always worry if there is going to be enough food, drinks, etc. Actually, I don't have to stress about the drinks...there's always plenty!

The party was a success, as always! Because I was so busy socializing and having fun, I didn't take any pictures. Fortunately, we had a surprise guest from Germany; she took many pictures and promised to email them to me when she gets the chance.

And, thankfully, we had enough food. We served chili, chicken stew (Thanks, Mo!), beef tenderloin, and a penne salad with mozzarella & grape tomatoes. My mom also made her delicious potato salad and cole slaw; both of those dishes went quick. Thanks, Mom!

I love hosting this party every year. It's great having most of my family and many of our old and 'new' friends together. I hate the idea of making this informal get-together formal, but I think it will make the party-planning process much easier if we start sending out invites. The only problem I have is that we're always inviting people up to the day of the party. After all, it is an Open House. Do you think it will be okay to continue doing this?

Facebook

How did I not get this???

I'm frigging addicted now...it's just what I need, another time-suck!!!

Upstate NY after Christmas

We traveled from VA to up-state NY the day after Christmas to visit the outlaws (that requires another post). The kids reveled in the snow...

Tres amigos!!!




I love these action photos...











Let's gang up on Daddy!

Christmas Eve

The stockings are hung, and most of the gifts have been wrapped. All we need is for Santa to arrive!!! As I am writing this post, Santa is in Fuji, Japan. We've been tracking Santa since we woke up this morning. We've seen footage of him in New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

Oh, the excitement is in the air in the Jones' house this morning!!! The kids have been playing in the living room all morning. They are constantly resorting everyone's presents. Tank reminds me of my older brother when he was a kid. He's bouncing off the walls.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas...May visions of sugar plums dance in your heads!

Santa is in Tokyo now!!!

Brother T

My brother T's birthday was yesterday, and he's my Irish twin!

Do you know what Irish Twins are?

They are two siblings born within a year of each other. My brother T and I are true Irish twins. We were born within a year IN THE SAME YEAR. I was born in January...he was born in December. In fact, his birthday was yesterday. He also died from a tragic accident when he was 2.5yo. Tank's middle name is his.

We were born in 1967.

Happy 41st!!!

I WISH I grew up with him.

I also believe all of my grandparents are taking care of him, and he's taking care of my Ned & Nora until I can meet up with him again.

God Bless You, Terence!

She's only 3...How can this be???

Yesterday we went to our annual Christmas Brunch at Evergreen. We were joined by Mim and Pop, CoCo, Uncle Todd, Master B and Baby Lulu. The club puts out an awesome feast, and afterward Santa comes riding up in his golf cart.

Tank and Banana joyfully sat on Santa's lap when he called out for them to give them their presents. KK wanted no part of that. She stayed attached to her Mama's lap, so Santa came to her to help her open her present. As long as she was touching Mama, she was OK with that.

As I was getting her dressed for bed last night, I asked her how she liked Santa.

KK: I don't want to sit on his lap.

Me: That's OK, sweetheart...You don't have to.

KK: What's his name?

Me: His name is Santa Clause.

KK: But, what's his name?

Me: Santa Claus.

KK: But, what's his name when he takes his costume off?

Me (freaking out): Oh, honey! His name is Santa Claus. When he takes his suit off, he puts on his red pajamas and goes to sleep. He needs his rest if he's going to visit all the good girls and boys at Christmas.

KK: Oh!!!

I'm telling you, this girl has been here before.

My next conversation was with Tank (5yo).

Me: What did Santa say to you when you sat on his lap?

Tank: He asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him Nerf. [He received a Nerf Ballblaster.]

Me: Did you tell him where you live? Did you give him your address so he can find you on Christmas Eve/night?

Tank: Oh, Ma...Santa knows where ALL the kids live.

I'm so enjoying watching the magic of Christmas in the kids' eyes this holiday season.