Candy, Candy Canes, Candy Corns and Syrup

This was my favorite out-take from Christmas card photo attempts. I just noticed that they're holding hand here ... awwww! Anyway, if you didn't get a Christmas card from me (and you cared anything about getting one) I'm so sorry. My super duper organized way of handling Christmas mailings is to grab a box of cards from Target and just start sending them until they're gone. I don't think I'm going to be CEO of anything at any point. Ever.

This year's Christmastime for us was really sweet. We did our second annual trip to Thompson's Tree Farm and picked out this little guy, whom Elsbeth named "Sky." Isn't that awesome?! I have hope that deep down inside this girl who loves princesses, fancy dresses and sparkly shoes is a hippie chic just waiting to burst out. :-)

We got to enjoy all the extended Mobley family in Aiken the week before Christmas. Andrew's finger wasn't quite in his nose here, for which we can all be grateful. And don't miss my darling new nephew, baby Jay, nestled in Jessie's arms.

The cousins got some good play time in. Cute! I'm trying to get Jeff and Jessie to move closer so they can hang out more.


OK, so I realize that I'm not exactly a bastion of normalcy, but even I can't quite wrap my head around this one. Below is a photo of Papa. Laying in the middle of the floor. In the living room. In the middle of a big family Christmas gathering. A bunch of Mobleys just sitting around, chatting and hanging out and generally being merry and in strolls Papa. He proceeds to lay down on the rug, hands symetrically placed upon his chest, and is perfectly still with his eyes closed for quite some time. Nap? Deep meditation? Finding his happy place in the midst of the chaos? I have no idea, but it made me deeply happy. It also makes me happy that I was the only one in the group who even took notice of this bizarre event.

We got home from the Aiken festivities just in time for Phil to squeeze in a spot of surgery before the big day. He had been in severe back pain for weeks and really wasn't nearly as amusing on the narcotics as I had hoped, so finding this opening with a great surgeon was a wonderful Christmas present. Dr. Rhee told me the disc herniation was "massive," so I guess he wasn't just being a giant baby when he was crawling around on the floor yelling in the middle of the night trying to find a way to get back up in bed. That was all really super fun, by the way.


My mom, dad and brother all made the trek to see us for Christmas, bless 'em. Actually, my mom and Bradley came early (dad was working) to take care of my wee ones so I could be with Phil at this hospital. I cannot begin to express my gratitude!

Phil's recovery went (and has continued to go) very, very well, so we were all able to enjoy a wonderful Christmas together.

Andrew decided he was too busy to help me make sugar cookies on Christmas Eve, so Bradley stepped in to lend a hand. He's too sexy for my kitchen, too sexy for my kitchen ....

We could barely find the children under the wrapped boxes on Christmas morning, which delighted them.

I gave Bradley a box full of disguise material, which I'm pretty sure was a stroke of genius. I cannot wait to hear the stories of the ways in which he decides to use this stuff.


My parents brought Sofie a catnip cigar, which if you know Sofie at all, is one of the most hilarious things ever.


Huh. I'm out of pictures, so I guess that's it for this post. I hope all of you loved ones had a beautiful, meaningful Christmas and that 2012 is your best year yet! I also hope when I go to get Elsbeth up from rest time momentarily that I don't find a poop explosion that requires a special, middle-of-the-day bath like yesterday.

Sometimes We Just Have To Put Dick Scroggins In The Closet

Too many glorious adventures, too little time to write about them!

First off, surprising Andrew with a trip to Disney World was just the best thing ever. Poor guy was so confused when we dragged him out of bed at 4:45am and started throwing clothes on him. "Why are you dressing me in the middle of the night," he asked with half-open eyes and sincere bewilderment. Below is the video clip of me telling him where we were taking him. I'm not sure if it will play (Blogger video technology often eludes me), and even if it does play, the audio is really low.

Basically he just does this little crazy arm dance a few times, then gets serious trying to figure out all the logistics.

Disney World was more crowded than we were hoping for, but in the end it didn't matter. We had a blast.

Our Precious can be a timid soul, so we really didn't know what he was going to love and what he was going to shy away from. Right after entering the park, we saw a show going on in front of Cinderella's Castle. He dug it until the witch from Snow White made an appearance, then he was done with that, and actually had zero interest in shows from that point on. He didn't give a rat's behind about the parades. He enjoyed Small World, the Tea Cups, Peter Pan's Flight and Dumbo. But what he loved, what he couldn't get enough of, was Splash Mountain and Thunder Mt. Railroad. The faster and wilder the ride, the better. If he was tall enough, I'm certain he would have loved Space Mountain.

OK, so the quality of the photo below leaves a little to be desired, but I want the world at large* to see with their own eyeballs what my husband was doing ... on a ride in Disney World ... sitting next to his beloved son. Enjoying the wind in his face? Capturing the look of glee on Andrew's face in his mind?


Oh no. He'd be the guy checking Facebook.

I would like for you to all click over to your Facebook accounts right now and status update what you think of this. (But only if it's dripping with sarcasm and negativity.) (And then un-friend him so he won't have a reason to check it anymore.)

Anyway, back to Disney World. Not only was it full of amazing rides, but treats upon treats as well!


Seriously, that cinnamon roll was as big as my head. (Andrew saw Goofy take a picture holding one of his ears in the air, so he decided to try it for his "insanely unhealthy but fabulous breakfast" photo shoot.)



Is it any wonder that he spent hours on Nina's couch throwing up? Actually, that happened days after our trip, so I don't think we can blame the sugar. But it was crazy that it's been almost a year since we've been to Nina and Pa's house and we all caught a stomach bug last time! Thankfully, he kept his pitiful tummy situation to himself, but we all felt really sorry for him as we chucked crackers and Sprite in his direction from a crack in the kitchen door.


The healthy folk had a glorious time cooking ginger bread Mickeys with Nina. We also had some deep discussions about which end of Mickey you should start eating first if desiring the most humane end for the famous mouse.

The next day Andrew felt great, so we went to Wacatee Zoo, one of my favorite places, because you get to see a whole lot of this:


And now a quick catch up of some additional Preciousness I failed to post earlier.

Andrew had a Veteran's Day program at his school and had to dress in his "performance wear." I could just keel over from the astounding levels of adorableness here.

His class did a series of patriotic songs, and I tried to take some video with my phone, but shockingly it didn't turn out so well. So I talked Andrew into giving me a solo performance in the living room.

And finally, Andrew's class did a whole big thing for Thanksgiving, weeks of preparations making place mats and headdresses and costumes for their big feast with the first grade Pilgrims. For the month of November, Andrew was called by his Native American name "Hugging Bear." Here he is with his teacher, "Chief Faithful Friend." I swoon.

*All four of you currently following my blog I shall now and evermore refer to as "the world at large." I hope this makes you feel important.

I've Got A Fever, And The Only Prescription Is More Cowbell

It all started out so innocently. Elsbeth wanted to paint her tiny pumpkin.

Then she wanted Mommy to paint pictures on her arms.


Then Mommy's tea kicked in ... and things started getting out of hand.

Oh my. I had such fun.

I love having kids that let me do stuff like this.


All that and it wasn't even Halloween yet!

Andrew saw The Mickey Mouse Club for the first time many months ago at Dr. Robinson's office while getting his teeth cleaned, and thus began his obsession with Mickey Mouse. Of course, Elsbeth quickly fell in line and became obsessed with Minnie Mouse. Now the Mickey Mouse Club is the regular choice for TV time, I wake up at night with "The Hot Dog Dance" stuck in my head, Els and Andrew can spot Mickey ears from any distance in any store, and they both carry their stuffed mice (back from Phil's Orlando conference) with them all day long. It all made for a really stinkin' adorable Halloween.

We did our annual tour of the McSchnazzy's fabulous neighborhood (thanks for having us, Dave and Ami!) I appreciate that my friends have really cute, sweet kids.

This picture just made me happy.


My Precious doesn't know it yet, but we're surprising him with a trip to Disney World in a couple weeks. We leave the Sunday before Thanksgiving and we're not going to tell him 'til we're on our way to the airport. How fun is that?! The Fiery One is staying with Nannie and Papa so it will be just the three of us. We are really excited. :)


Phil's boss has 5 kids, and every time one of them turned 5, it was their year to have Disney World (and Mom and Dad) all to themselves. We thought this was such a neat idea and decided years ago we were going to steal it. Our sweet Nibblet won't miss us at all ... she'll be having her own version of Disney World with her Nannie and Papa. I might miss her a smidge, though.

Got Monks?

I haven't done this in so long, I'm not sure I remember how. I think I'm just going to post a whole bunch of pictures (some kinda old) and maybe say something about them. Should be riveting.

Ohhh! This is a good one! This is our newest member of the family: Mr. Tumnus. We've had him just over a week. He is adorable and so very sweet. Right now he's asleep on Phil's lap, but he's just as likely to be trying to catch Shiloh's tail, trying passionately to get to our breakfast cereal, or curled up next to Andrew during rest time.


I just love this face. She has been such a hoot lately with all the crazy made-up games she wants to play! This morning she and I were sitting inside Andrew's closet (the zoo) so she could release animals from the humidifier I keep there (elephants, giraffes and tigers) and feed them beans and popcicles. Does it get any better than that?

A couple weeks ago we went to visit my wonderful Burlington family. Have I mentioned before how much I love my cousin Ashton? Here she is on a train ride with Andrew.

And hanging with her girl.

Didn't I marry a good-looking man? Yep. I thought he looked particularly stunning riding on Uncle Ron and Aunt Gayle's boat this summer. I love a man who can grow a good burn.

A little Sprite ad.

We had such a good time - thanks a million Ron and Gayle!

And here are some pictures from our trip to Myrtle Beach with my family back in July ....

I just love my Aunt Leslie. I really wish she didn't live all the way in PA. Here she is telling us all about how her face is falling off. It was a gripping and terrifying tale.

Andrew was a crazy wave-jumping fool this time around, which is extremely helpful when trying to enjoy a beach trip with young children.

Here's Phil ordering pizza from notes made on the Magnadoodle. Funny! (Maybe you had to be there.)

Cutie patootie.

Let's end on a high note ... my Mom doing push ups before going down the the ocean. Isn't' she awesome?! I can't remember now if she ended up doing 0 or 1, but it totally brightened my day.

I may have just beaten my own record of random and disheveled blog posts.

It Can Reach The Piglett?

The Fiery One and I have really been enjoying our girly mornings together. Last week we went wild and decided to alter a yummy plum bread recipe and make it into peach muffins instead - a pretty big risk for me. The muffins ended up stuck fast to the pan, but the pieces we pulled out were mighty tasty. Els was the official peach taster during this project and she did a swell job. She even left just enough fruit for the muffins. (PS - The plum bread is delicious but tends not to get done in the middle ... one of the reasons for making the switch to a muffin tin.)

Another morning we spent walking the isles of Costco. Phil has decided Costco's official motto should be "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time." I think of it as I strain my back unloading giant flats of Gatorade and 12-pound sacks of raisins. And I seem to be going through a phase where every time I go out shopping I think to myself, "Hmmm, I do believe we're out of toilet cleaner" and grab a couple bottles. So, naturally, I find myself dragging a 10-pack of Lysol toilet gel around the house only to find every cabinet loaded down with the Clorox toilet gel I was compelled to buy last time.

Anyway, while I was there I noticed they were selling Carter's footed fleece pajamas in both 3T and 5T (yes, my girl is already growing out of her 2T clothes!), and The Precious had recently been talking about how excited he was going to be to wear footed whambones again. I don't know why they thrill his soul so, but he wore the feet right out of the ones I finally tracked down in 4T last year. So I grabbed a pair for each of them. Elsbeth had to hold hers all through the store and in the car on the way home, and Andrew went nutty nuts when he saw them after school. My two children spend the entire Georgia August afternoon gleefully tearing around the house in fleece footed pajamas with sweaty heads and rosy cheeks. Andrew and I had a bit of a battle over whether or not he was wearing them to sleep, but I won in the end because I'm bigger and pretty committed to him not having a heat stroke.


Speaking of weird kids, I think Elsbeth may have gotten the Fisher Crazy Gene like her mother before her. I believe she and I are going to share the same odd sense of humor and random wackiness - whoo hoo! A small sampling:

During snack time at the zoo: "Mommy, I want you to take a picture of me eating my pretzels." OK, no problem.


A couple days ago in the kitchen: She declares she and Minnie Mouse must sing the ABC song together upside down. Alrighty then.

She says hilarious things all the time which I kick myself for not writing down. She regularly fixes me tea and treats in her little kitchen and beams when Andrew includes her in his games (the most recent favorite, playing bears in a kitchen-chair-and-blanket bear cave that come running out to feast on Mommy's legs until she tickles them and sends them shrieking back to their hideout).

And ... drum roll please ... she is now sleeping in a big girl bed! We made the switch this weekend and she has been so excited about it. Here she is all set for night night sleepy time on Saturday night:

She's done so well. There's a little built-in rail, so I haven't had the fun of hunting for her in the middle of the night like I did Andrew. Tonight I heard something strange after putting her down and discovered she'd reached under her bed and pulled up the toy baskets stored there. She was waist-deep in blocks and Lego's having grand old time. I think I'll find another spot for those. Other than that, the transition has been perfect. And adorable.