You would never guess they are not *real* brother and sister, would you? Check out the cake we made out of a Pepperidge Farm Box cake and a box of those Pepperidge Farm cookies. The kids had fun putting it together.  

like hot McDonald's french fries, right out of the bag

Listening to "Like a Virgin" on my iPod. Not just ANY "Like a Virgin", but the extended dance re-mix. My iPod makes me so happy. I'm not even going to tell you how many times I've listened to Captain & Tenille, Tears for Fears, Hall and Oates, oh... and Eminem.

how I knew my son was my son
We celebrated my sons's 10th birthday early. Technically it's not til December 20th. Even though I carried him around in my uterus, Nate really doesn't look like I had anything to do with him, except he did get my blue eyes.

There are very few occasions when I've actually seen myself reflected in my son. There was one time, when I caught him sitting on the kitchen tile eating green olives right out of the jar. I knew on that day he was MY boy. Then this past weekend, when we were getting dressed for his b-day dinner, he put on three shirts before he finally decided on the fourth one. In that moment. I knew he had my style dna in his genetic make-up. Then he did a similar thing with fixing his hair. Now if I could only make this sort of headway with the daughters.

The Pastor and I have been enjoying some kid-free time this week. It's amazing how much better the quality of our relationship is without children. I'm not sure how other married couples, who have their children around all the time, actually have intact marriages.

The Pastor and I enjoyed sleeping in until 10:15 on Saturday morning. Since I married the Pastor, I have become the laziest person ever. Anyway,10:15 a.m. is about four hours later than we get to sleep when younger daughter is around and wakes up early and thinks because she is
awake everyone in the house should be awake too.

Speaking of having an intact marriage, there are just some things you cannot possibly predict will be a problem in your marriage. For instance, I know what I agreed to and vowed and all that jazz, but I had NO IDEA I was marrying someone who would not respect boundaries with my library card.

Before I married the Pastor, I went to the library. I tried to get my son excited about the library and would try to take him to stuff there. I usually had a fine for my tardiness in returning materials. But the Pastor goes to the library EVERY FREAKIN' DAY. If they had some sort of
frequent flyer program at the library, he would have more points than anyone. So the Pastor decided since he pays my bills blah blah blah,he could check out the maximum number of library materials on my card and double his check-out ability. That might have been ok for him to max-out my library card, but the one book I did get, he read before me and told me it wasn't worth reading. I finally had to sit him down and ask him to not use my card or spoil the plot of my book. If that doesn't work, I'll have to change my library card number and not tell him

I think we have a Christmas party every night this week except for Tuesday. You think its tricky trying to figure out dress codes like "business casual" and "holiday casual" and "resort casual" and "semi-formal", just try and figure out "Nazarene party wear" that doesn't involve some ugly Christmas sweater.

When it's a bad idea to go to Church

When you fail to plan . . . .
You end up eating at Church's Fried Chicken.

Milkshake Night. 

Milkshake Night.

Milkshake Night. 

No party is complete without the fabulous party shoes, purchased for $1.50 at Goodwill. And they are Nine West shoes!  

Side view of the hair. Why didn't someone tell me my arms are so fat??? 

The hair, from the back. Hair good, bra strap bad. Not very Nazarene, to show one's bra.  

A view from the top. I fixed my hair! It looked really cute (I thought)! I can't believe some people are actually able to get ready for a party in less than 8 hours.  

Me and the Pastor. Check out my cute party purse! 

I don't know what is more amazing! 1. I appear to have become larger than the tree. 2. I actually look like I have boobs. 3. I fixed my hair.  

Our family at a Christmas party this week. Turned out being a "Medieval Theme". Glad we all got dressed up so we could eat with our hands and not use napkins. You try to work with the kids on manners, and then...

Children of the Corn

Hmmmm... perhaps I should change the name of the blog to thepastorisafreak... he made this labyrinth thing in the field next to the Parsonage, so he could go walk in circles. And go figure, the kids love walking in circles too. Who needs toys?!?

I like Frosty. He's a baldy like the Pastor.

Imagine my surprise. Up close, he LOOKED like Frosty, but now that I'm looking at the picture, I'm thinking it may just have been a man in a costume.

Christmas party at the church. My kid is the white one, in front.

Gasp! It's the object of much controversy... the birthday cake. And the birthday girl doesn't *look* scarred for life.
 

Miss Manners

Made youngest daughter write thank you cards for birthday presents tonight. Oh my. Someone will probably want to castigate me for that too. By the time she had written three cards and I'd explained to her several times why we couldn't just say "thank you for the present", I wanted to jab myself in the eye with the pencil.

The devil is in the details.

Things are NOT going well at the Parsonage this weekend. I won't go into detail except to say it involved a Christmas tree ornament made out of macaroni, deceit, and a great deal of drama.

My shin hurts. I'm not sure if it's from walking vigorously on the treadmill without properly warming up, a family-avoidance session at the mall in very high heels, or something I won't go into detail about which happened in the shower.

In addition to all the Christmas presents wrapped under the tree, there are birthday presents by the fireplace. I'm not sure who ever thought it was a good idea to have a baby around Christmas.

We had our first Christmas party of the season this weekend. It was at the church. Party + sugar + party games + inner city children + treat bags = chaos.

Had a little incident with younger daughter last week. The Pastor and I were at the store. We were having a birthday cake discussion. Right there in the store, I pulled the T-Mobile Sidekick out of my purse and called the younger daughter. Did she want a Strawberry Shortcake cake?
A pretty-pretty princess cake? A Hello Kitty cake? Younger daughter would NOT SPEAK TO ME. So I finally said oh, ok. Just let her know I was calling to see what kind of birthday cake she wanted!, but nevermind! and ended the call. And would you believe my phone rings like a minute later, and it's younger daughter. And NOW she has decided I am worthy of conversing with her? She was suddenly very friendly! So I just said oh I had just been calling about the cake, but nevermind, and ended the call. The next day she sees the Pastor at her school and tells him 1. I WOULDN'T TALK TO HER and 2. I HAD HUNG UP ON HER! Whatever!

I just told the Pastor when we go on our mission trip later this month, that is when I will have my period. The Pastor said I would be humped by stray dogs on the Mexican streets. So now I have that to look forward to. I didn't know that's how I would be called to serve.

O Christmas Tree!

Here is my lovely tree. I figured let's go with the white one. It's not as if we are going to fool anyone into thinking it's a real tree anyway. Plus I cannot be like everyone else. Ignore whatever is going on with my sweater. I'm not sure why I thought the red velvet bustier was a good idea under the sweater. It's just that I haven't quite figured out what it is that housewives are supposed to wear.

The only photographic evidence of me doing any sort of exercise. And I actually LOOK happy about it! 

We now have an old phone booth in our living room. You never know what is going to show up at the Parsonage.  

Nate at the Action Figure Museum. The museum was sorta cool, yet sorta lame too.  

Thanksgiving feast at the Parsonage! 

The BEST pumpkin pie ever. It was more like a pumpkin mousse... very light, not too heavy on the pumpkin-y taste. And check out my totally cool sweater coat! Yes, she can make a pumpkin pie AND is totally stylish! The little Christmas tree has all of my bear ornaments on it.  

Absolute proof. 1. I do have a Christmas tree. 2. We allowed the children to make omelets by boiling eggs in ziploc baggies. Total fun.  

Robyn, are you going to have babies with the Pastor? I am posting this picture as a reminder to myself that the Pastor allows children TO LAY IN THE SAND!  

See, I did make turkey for Thanksgiving. 

try not to get too excited by this foot picture...