Another Sign of Parentdom

Yep, this is us at 11pm on New Year's Eve. We do have champagne in hand, but we're in our jammies, bundled under blankets, watching other people party while we have our own private celebration of our 2009 and anticipation of our 2010. Old though it may appear, it's a WONDERFUL life, and I'm so glad it's mine!

L&S,

Leslie

A Preview

I will upload all the Christmas pictures sometime this week, but until then, a preview of how fabulous our Christmas was...

L&S,

The Bowers

Remember THIS? It took me a while, but I FINALLY got the picture. West family, remind you of anything? This has been my final sight before closing my eyes for the last month and every night it has brought back a flood of memories from Christmases past - all of my Christmas memories for so many years had a tree JUST like this glowing up the hill (from Munner's, where so many of my memories center). Ahhhhh......

L&S,

Leslie

Merry Christmas!

Hello, all! Wanted to throw out a little Christmas gift before leaving town for a few days. (Secret, hidden meaning: "I won't be blogging for at least a few days.")

Last year I shared one video from "A Colbert Christmas", a funny Christmas special in the style of an Andy Williams (tracked laughter, cheesy music, and fake sets). If you get some time over the holiday, I recommend you go to www.comedycentral.com and search for "A Colbert Christmas" and watch it in its entirety. Until then, though, here are some of my favorite songs. :) (You MUST listen to the lyrics. They're hysterical!!! Also, please remember it's all meant to be tongue-in-cheek.)

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211033/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--jon-stewart

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211029/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--feist-sings

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211037/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--colbert-costello-duet

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you have a blessed holiday full of good food, quality time with family, laughter, and relaxation!

L&S,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - My First Movie - "Charlie Brown Christmas"

L&S,

Leslie

Meme Monday

A couple of housekeeping items before getting into the Meme today.

First of all, SEVEN (that's right, Ricky and Pam, not eight) years ago today, Drew and I became "The Bowers" in snazzy clothes with lots of music, pictures, family, and friends. Happy Anniversary to ME (and him)!!!

That also means (those of you who were AT the wedding probably remember) that today my precious little Tooter Booter turns TWELVE!!!!! My sweet little girl who was born when I was in COLLEGE, spent boo-coodles of time with me in Carrollton, was best friends with Stuart Little (and his wife, Tina), and used to ALWAYS reply with, "My name is NOT Tooter Booter" until I was pregnant with my own baby when I heard, "What are you going to use as HER nickname? 'Cause Tooter Booter is already taken. She can't have it," is turning TWELVE!!! She is a beautiful, vibrant, kind-hearted goober of a girl and I adore her. Happy Birthday, Tooter! (Oh, and by the way, yesterday at her birthday lunch with us, we got Tucker to start calling her Tooter! Hahaha!)

Ok, now on to the Meme. I thought I'd go all traditional and talk holiday memories. Drew and I were upstairs folding clothes (Yep, I finally got that Thanksgiving beach suitcase unpacked) and started talking about our favorite childhood memories and then our favorite memories since we were "on our own". What are some of your favorites - from childhood and/or adulthood?

Here are some of my favorites:

*Working on Grandaddy's Christmas tree farm - "helping" by carrying the measuring sticks out for everyone, talking up the mistletoe, "helping" bag the trees and tie them on cars, and most importantly, decorating the Charlie Brown Tree down in the farm so it would surprise people when they came upon it

*Decorating PawPaw's tree up the hill from Munner's (a little different perspective of PawPaw's decorations from yours, Unclewesty) - This always seemed the beginning of the real Christmas season for me. Everyone that could came. The men did the light throwing onto that HUGE tree while we kids played tag, held races, and did a million other things, I'm sure, to get in the way of the real task at hand. :)

*Singing in the choir for candlelight service at the Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve, going to (and a couple of times our family providing music for) the candlelight service at our church (First Methodist) and occupying the two rows mid way down the lefthand side of the sanctuary (You're right, Unclewesty, God DOES live there. haha) with my Munner, and before that with my Munner and Grandad.

*There are a MILLION memories of the ENTIRE crew (for those of you who don't know, we're a BIIIIIIIIIG family - 6 original kids, all married with at least two kids, six of them married, two of them engaged, and 7 great-grandkids if I'm counting correctly) at Munner and Grandad's, but the most vivid is the year Grandad decided we all needed to watch this video (of unknown length) about the life of Jesus in its entirety before "Opening the tree". Great in theory, BAAAAAAD in practice. We were young and hopped-up on Christmas Eve energy and that was a LOOOOOONG video. I believe the final deal was that we could stop the video on the promise that everyone would take a copy home and watch it later as a family.

*Many small memories (without specific timing or years in my mind) at our own house like kneeling around the Advent wreath singing little hymns and taking turns reading scripture (and taking turns each year as to who got to light the "Mary candle" - the pink one); hiding my favorite ornaments in the back of the tree and hiding back there playing with them; finishing up Christmas decorations, turning out every light but the Christmas lights, and lying on the floor looking at their reflections in Mama's beveled mirror with Mama and sometimes Scott; making ornaments out of dough - sometimes with Mama, at least once with a babysitter; "Helping" Mama decorate the Christmas cookies

*As an adult, the year that Drew and I started dating stands out in the tiniest details to me - our first kiss, staying up all night talking about everything for the first time, him coming to MawMaw's Christmas (and our favorite Michelle line EVER while there), driving back to Carrollton to meet the delivery guys with my new couch (and Drew coming over to wait with me), going to see the Nutcracker at the Fox, talking on the phone at length between our Christmas activities - sweet, sweet memories

*Then the most obvious - my wedding and honeymoon. We had SUCH a blast in New York and our very first (and only) white Christmas! :)

Unclewesty beat me to this game of memories if you'd like to go check out some of his (and see that some of his are the same as mine, only from a different perspective).

What are yours? (Answer in my comments or do it on your own blog and give me a link to it in my comments so I'll know to go check it out.)

L&S,

Leslie

You're Gonna Miss This...Curiosity!

You're Gonna Miss This is a blog that tries to focus on the small blessings we sometimes overlook through the chaos. It's an attempt to cherish the moments that you know one day you will miss.

This week, I can't help but realize how much I cherish Tucker's endless curiosity and how much I will miss it one day when she's "too cool" to show intense curiosity for the world around her. She spends pretty much every minute of everyday figuring out how things work, the multiple things that can be done with any object, sounds things make (especially when banged together), and even her own abilities. She's discovering so much, mastering so many new skills, and increasing her vocabulary (including a few multi-word phrases now). I am amazed daily at how many things she can discover in a day. I will definitely miss watching her discover her world when these days are gone. What a sweet little wonder!

Checking out the piano on stage at Daddy's concert

Exploring (and conquering) the tree while it was still in the box

Pointing out every branch, light and ribbon on the tree for Mommy and Daddy to see

What are YOU going to miss?

L&S,
Leslie

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

I don't know about "raindrops on roses" or "schnitzel with noodles" (I mean, they're both fine, but FAVORITES -- that might be a stretch...), but here are a few of MY favorite things about the holidays.

footie pajamas and snuggling up

Beautifully decorated Christmas trees (and compliments from my husband on my tree)

Family, family, family (and giant group hugs to boot!)

Kiddos galore (and many a picture taken)



Flat-out silliness
*note this is a picture taken from above of 4 kids in 1 box

What are some of YOUR favorite holiday things?

L&S,

Leslie

Memories

I was reading on a friend's blog about favorite Christmas ornaments and decided to share a short story I wrote when I was in college about my favorite ornaments. My favorite part about this story is when my mom read it, she said, "I didn't know you did that." Haha!

Blue Cloth Covered in Lace

by Leslie McKee Bowers

As she climbed under the thin wire that held the tree to the wall, she couldn’t help but think how amazing it was that she could be so close to everyone and them be oblivious to the fact that she was even there, but there they were sitting on the couch watching TV with nothing but the Christmas tree hiding her and they didn’t know she was there. They would never know that she sat back there playing and watching. They would never know that all of the prettiest ornaments were hanging at the very bottom of the tree back there where she could enjoy just how special they were. The horse, the wreath, and the fan made of blue cloth covered in lace; the glass violin; and the Santa and Mrs. Claus with the kitties in their hands – these ornaments were too pretty and too special to be put on a tree with all of the other ornaments. They didn’t need lights or a pine tree to make them beautiful. No, they were much prettier in her secret place without the other ornaments to clutter their beauty. They only needed to be hung on that bottom branch so she could stare at them and appreciate the true beauty they held.

Merry Christmas! Savor each moment of this blessed season!

L&S,

Leslie

Meme Monday

Alright, guys! Being the music lover I am, I decided to go with another music theme today. My family always laughs at me because when I want you to love a song as much as I do, I'm constantly saying, "Ok, be quiet and listen to these lyrics..." (getting my family to be quiet and listen to an entire song is quite a task). I LOVE lyrics and generally pick my favorite songs based on them. :) So today, we're going to share favorite song lyrics. :)

A few of my faves:

1.) Most Romantic: "Everytime I think of you, I always catch my breath."

2.) Most Frequently True: "It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy, 'cause every now and then, I kick the living s*** out of me."

3.) Most Useful: "You can't find the answers 'til you learn to question; you won't appear stupid, just ask for direction. You're insecure and it clouds your perception, so stop and listen and learn a lesson in love without condition."

What are some of your favorites?

L&S,
Leslie

My Poor, Poor Husband

Last night, as I was closing my eyes to go to sleep, I caught sight of a lit tree one street over that has become my last sight before closing my eyes each night. I decided that because of all the things it brings to mind, I would get a picture of it to share with the blogosphere. So at 11:30, I snuck downstairs in the dark, felt around for where I thought the camera was (and it was actually there - wow!), snuck back upstairs to the window (of course on Drew's side of the bed), and as I was turning the blinds open just enough to fit the lens through to capture the picture, Drew woke up and did a little half-asleep freak-out at what I was doing. No matter how many times I said, "It's fine. Just go back to sleep," he wasn't going to do so until I explained why I was standing over the window with my camera in hand (poor fellow). So I explained that I was trying to capture a picture of the tree out the window and received his usual response to my insane exploits, "OH good grief!". He rolled over (in a teensie bit of a sleep-induced huff), and as I turned to finally capture that picture, I watched the lights on the tree go out. They turned it off before I could get my picture.

So alas, I will try again tomorrow night - hopefully BEFORE Drew goes to sleep this time. :)

L&S,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesday

Ready for Christmas

L&S,

Leslie

Stupid Blogger!!!

I apologize for the jumble that my blogs become sometimes (see below for an example). For some reason, on some days, blogger REFUSES to save any formating I do. It simply will NOT keep a linespace between paragraphs or new paragraph indentations. DRIVES ME NUTS!!! BOO!!!

L&S,

Leslie

Meme Monday

Ok, so I'll fess-up. I kind of took last week off. It wasn't a planned vacation. Heck, I did more blogging when I was actually ON vacation. It's just that I came back from vacation and realized that I had SO MUCH to do. Work was busy, the family from Japan was in, the house needed cleaning, Christmas decorations needed finishing, laundry needed to be started and finished, unpacking needed to be done (I'll admit I still haven't done that one - Yikes, Poor Drew), and my baby got SICK! I still have about half of that stuff to do, but I have better perspective about it this week than I did last week. (This is mainly due to the fact that I have a half-decorated tree sitting in my periphery at the moment. Ahhhhhh.) Ok, so back to it this week, and again, I apologize for the impromptu blogcation. :)

For today's Meme, I'm going to kind of meld the meme with another common blog practice called the "Not me Monday". The Not Me blog is basically a way of fessing up to your shortcomings from the past week/weekend without actually taking any blame. It's pretty fun. Please join in, have fun, and I'll start!

I am NOT the girl that still has four (that's right, count them, FOUR) loads of clean clothes in my bedroom in piles needing to be folded or hung (and another in the dryer). I assure you, my bedroom floor is perfectly clean and spotless without a single item of clothing. I am also NOT the one with a suitcase full of random pieces of outfits that haven't been pulled out to wear yet from vacation a WEEK AND A HALF AGO!!! I promise I would NEVER be that irresponsible and messy. Ask Drew. It's absolutely NOT within my character.

I am also NOT the girl who showed up at the pediatrician on Friday with my daughter saying, "She had a slight fever last night and a VERY croupy cough, and was in contact with a cousin who has croup. But she hasn't been warm AT ALL today, so maybe I was just jumping the gun since she had been in contact with someone with croup, and she doesn't really have it," only to have the nurse tell me that she currently had a 103.5 temp. I promise that did NOT happen (nor did the shame and "proving my good mommyhood through other comments" that followed).

I am also NOT the GROWN WOMAN who sat on the couch with Christmas tree ornaments in clasped in my hands, feet curled under me singing "Christmas chimes are calling SANTA, SANTA!", "Come on, old Kris Kringle, down the Milky Way!" at the top of my lungs. Nope, not me. If you heard it from 3 streets over, it must have been your imagination that someone was being so childish and LOUD. I would NEVER be that silly or immature. Must have been one of your other neighbors.

Man, I'm sure glad I didn't do ANY of that (and didn't realize how many ridiculous things I had NOT done recently). What did you NOT do lately?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Thanksgiving Videos

L&S,

Leslie