musings of Mother Hood

The Home Team

2013-01-08T07:45:00-06:00

Unfortunately, this season didn't bring visions of bowl games dancing in the heads of Hog fans. But if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

ULM (Jeff's alma mater) beat the Razorbacks in Little Rock this year (though we were at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the time and didn't know the result of the game until three days later!) but no sour grapes here. When we heard ULM had earned a bid to their first bowl game EVER, we made plans to be there. To sweeten the deal, it was the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. Less than two hours away from Monroe - practically a home game for the Warhawks!

We got to Shreveport with plenty of pre-game time to visit with Jeff's old friends, coworkers, and fraternity brothers. I even felt like a minor celebrity when so many of them recognized me from Facebook. (Even after all this time, Jeff has not given up and created his own Facebook profile so his friends from high school and college have to be "friends" with me. Hi Smackover/Monroe friends! It was nice to finally meet a lot of you!)

ULM fans really showed up -- their stands were packed! The above photo was taken well into the third quarter when it had started to get misty, windy and COLD so people had started to leave. We finally gave up, too, when my toes started to go numb. The game didn't go ULM's way, but we had a great time -- and I know ULM is looking forward to another great season in 2013. Go Warhawks!

Christmas Road Trip | 2012

2012-12-31T21:24:13-06:00

We really outdid ourselves this year. 8 days, 3 states, 1850 miles, 2 Christmases, ENDLESS food -- 3 Hoods and 1 car. Add 1 dodged snowstorm, 2 dangerous cows, 1 NBA game, 5 miniature horses, and 1 rewired chainsaw and you've got a party! Instead of giving you the play-by-play of our entire trip, I've pulled out some favorites. Enjoy.

The Cows. Every year the big toy companies spend millions of dollars promoting the fire out of "This Year's Must-Have Holiday Toys". Could be Cabbage Patch Kids, could be Furby. Parents and children across the country spend the weeks and months leading up to Christmas being bombarded with ads and displays and competitive pricing. Shoppers are trampled on Black Friday trying to secure one of those special, anointed, impossible-to-find toys that will absolutely make or break Christmas.

But then, some people go out and buy a couple of these instead.

The Ponies. My sister is a nurse and had to work on Christmas Day, so we planned to do Christmas on the 26th. Which left us an entire day on the 25th to entertain the Little Guy with everything closed for the holiday. Pawpaw and Mawmaw had a plan! Another Gold Star Family in the area was having an open house so we made plans to drop in. Buddy and Reesa were so sweet and welcoming, and they have horses! Colt-sized horses!

The littlest horse of the group was Trigger. And Trigger and Colt were fast friends. Buddy even let Colt give the little guys a snack. And made us promise to come back and visit when we're in town.

The Chainsaw. All he could talk about for weeks was a chainsaw. And around here, Santa tries not to disappoint. So we picked it out and had it shipped to San Antonio for my parents to pick up. Easy. Until, that is, Christmas night (our Christmas Eve) when we decided to unpack the box only to discover that it was a sad, non-functioning chainsaw. First, we tried batteries. Surely it had just fallen victim to "try me!" in the store once too many times and the batteries were dead. But fresh batteries didn't do the trick and I started to panic. How in the world was I going to explain that Santa delivered a BROKEN chainsaw? Or - worse - no chainsaw at all?!

But I was rescued by the best elves ever. Elves with a soldering iron and just enough working knowledge of plastic toys made in China to be dangerous. My dad and my Uncle Jerry (my mom's brother - visiting for Christmas from Sioux Falls) went to work taking the thing apart, rewiring it, and putting it all back together good as new. MANY hands were required to get all wires, screws, and buttons in the right spots so Mom, Leo, and I were all necessary help at points in the process. The island in my parents' kitchen was the operating table and we even used a few of the tools from the rest of his Christmas presents to get the job done!

No chainsaws were necessary, but Colt spent some good quality time in the shop with Pawpaw, building a fire truck. They are a perfect pair, yes?

And the rest of the story...

Saturday night, as I tucked him in, Colt asked me, "Mommy? Next year, can we have Christmas at our OWN house? I wanna stay here forever and never go on vacation again." No place like home, eh?

Best Laid Plans

2012-12-21T08:00:00-06:00

It's been unseasonably warm here for weeks. Months, even. We decorated the tree in shorts, we baked cookies with warm sunshine streaming in the windows -- we've been enjoying weather in the 60s!

But winter had to get here eventually. And it decided to arrive today. We invited Becky and Scott & Tena to join us and we made plans to meet for pizza, then stroll around the downtown square, enjoying the lights and visiting Santa. SIMPLE. PLAN.

First, Tena let me know they were opting out and told me we were crazy for still planning to go "in this weather". But I was determined. "It's not THAT cold," I thought.

We should have known when we landed a primo parking spot that we wouldn't exactly be fighting the crowds... And as we got out of the car, bundled up for the first time all year, it was obvious why.

C-O-L-D. Wind gusts. Biting cold. Kiddo ASKING for gloves and a hat.

New plan. Head straight for Santa then take a family photo and get the heck back in the car.

But as we walked up to Santa's garden area, my heart sank. It was dark. And deserted. Way to go, Mom of the Year. Santa isn't even HERE. (Who knew Santa was only a weekend gig?) (Probably everyone but me.)

New new plan. Take a family photo as quickly as possible and get the heck back in the car. And maybe go find Santa at the mall.

After they humored me for a quick photo they took off for the car. As we were running from the wind, I turned around and snapped these two photos of the lights. They really do an incredible job. Also, these shots do a pretty good job of depicting the "crowd". The handful of people in the first one were literally the only other people there during the seven minutes we were out of the car.

All original plans and subsequent contingency plans truly hinged on one thing -- talking to Santa. And since we had waited until the very last night we'd be in town before leaving to visit family -- this was it. Must find Santa.

So instead of the lovely family evening I had anticipated -- hot chocolate, Christmas lights, music, camel rides. I found myself standing in line for nearly an hour so that this sweet kiddo could ask Santa for a chainsaw.

I just noticed he's wearing nearly the exact same outfit in the photo from last year's Santa visit. Somebody get that kid a stylist.

Death by sprinkles

2012-12-19T08:00:00-06:00

The cookies never saw it coming.

And Amanda's kitchen will never be the same.

But the kiddos made flour and sprinkles into a new art form.

The only downside -- deciding halfway through the afternoon that we should have set up a video camera to capture the giggling, shrieking, wiggling, sprinkly fun we were having. (And to get a picture of Becky! Becky was there, too, but she took all the pictures! Hi Becky!)

You'd never know there are sugar cookies under there. Somewhere.

Martha Stewart, eat your heart out.