5 Dollars

My life as an at-home momma of 3 amazing kids...it's kind of like shoveling snow in a blizzard.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Book 7 speculation: An interesting read for Harry Potter fans

A Key in the Kitchens

Harry Potter fans in our house have long been speculating that RAB stands for Regulus Black and that the heart necklace found at Grimmauld Place is the missing Horcrux. Any other theories out there?

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Catching up

We've been wrapped up in the holiday whirlwind here for the past week. The tissue paper is finally settling on the floor and things are starting to return to something that at least resembles normal.

Last weekend we went to Matt's work Christmas party, celebrated my birthday and then went to the annual Christmas Concert and Matt's mother's holiday party. I left the concert a little early with Norma to help her get the food all set up since Kay couldn't do it this year. Unfortunately, I forgot Matt no longer has a set of keys to my van. He and the kids were stuck at the church. Thankfully, his brother got him to the party and then Gertrude took him back later to get the car.

On Wednesday Kaylee had her best friend Emily over to play after school. All three girls had fun, although Ruby was a bit whiney. I think she may have felt a little excluded by the older girls. I don't think they were trying to leave her out though. They had a picnic in their bedroom and watched a Dora movie. They played for a few hours until Emily's mom came back to collect her. I think they all had a good time.

Keithen went to bed Thursday night and stayed up reading for a while. I was trying to get Ruby to settle down for the night when I heard him yell, "I just lost a tooth!" It was a pretty bloody one, so it took a bit of time to get him settled back in his bed. His tooth was placed safely under the little tree by his bed for the Tooth Fairy to find it. Thankfully, she didn't seem to have any troubles finding his new room.



Kaylee and Keithen had their last day of school on Friday. Kaylee had a class party which I helped plan. They had a "Polar Express" theme since they had just worked on that story last week. They took a ride on the Polar Express (their chairs formed into a train) and found jingle bells that we hid under their seats. They decorated their teacher like a Christmas tree and made train ornaments to take home. Then they had ice cream and cookies.


After school on Friday, the kids and I baked Santa's cookies. We didn't get them all decorated that night and put them aside to finish on Christmas Eve. (Note the flour on Kaylee's nose!)


On Saturday we packed up and headed to Fort Wayne to spend an early holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Williams and Mamaw Betty. We stayed the night in the same hotel where we had Grandpa's party last July. Ruby recognized it as soon as we pulled up outsie. Unfortunately, lack of planned meant we didn't get to enjoy the pool on this trip.

We had a big lunch at Grandma's house and then the kids dug into the present opening with gusto. Keithen was very tickled with his little digital camera and his CD/mp3 player with the Harry Potter books on it. Kaylee was head-over-heals with her big stuffed Diego doll and her Princess Dora castle. We made her wait until we got hom to open the box for the castle and I think she was about to explode from anticipation. Ruby was very excited to get the Barbie Hot Tub Bus and a ballerina "Our Generation" doll. Grandpa got a new popcorn machine and the kids were very much willing to taste test the first batch.








On Sunday afternoon we headed home to get everything ready for Santa. Unfortunately, we got a bit of a late start and had to make a couple of pit stops on the way home, so I didn't get to cook the Christmas Eve dinner I had planned. We ended up ordering Papa John's pizza instead. We finished putting together toys that came home from Grandma's house (the bus and the castle) and finished decorating the cookies. Ruby took charge of arranging a plate of goodies for Santa. (And of course there had to be popcorn for him again this year!) The kids opened their final Advent presents from Grandma Dollar (yeah.....I know.....I missed a bunch of days of blogging on those). Then we exchanged our family presents. The kids got their traditional pair of new PJ's and a treasured hardback book. This was the first year that they bought presents for each other and us. (Dollar Store shopping sprees for each of them!) They had fun exchanging the gifts that they had chosen on their own. Stockings were hung and the children were all finally off to bed very late!







Santa was quite generous this year, as you can see from the bulging stockings and the pile of loot under the tree! I think Keithen's favorite gift from Santa was his Pokemon gameboy game (although the spy gear will probably come in a close second). Kaylee of course was head over heals for her new Diego Rescue Center. Ruby's favorite has to be her Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses toy laptop computer.








Christmas morning I made scones for the first time in ages. Matt proclaimed that I "hadn't lost a step" because they were quite yummy, warm covered with fresh cream. Later in the day I finally got to make the meal I had planned for Christmas Eve, champagne garlic chicken. Yum! Of course a lot of time was spent playing and trying out new games and toys. The kids built a fort and a car with the "super fort" pieces Grandma and Grandpa Williams gave them.


Today Matt is back to work, the kids are buried in their new toys and I'm here catching up with life on the web. In a few days, the chaos will start all over. We still have Christmas to do with the Dollar family and with Nanny and Pappy. We have tickets to see Beauty and the Beast as a family and I'll be taking the kids to see Dance Kaleidoscope as well. Probably a couple of playdates coming on the horizon as well. So.....when do I get a nap?!

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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Harry Potter Book 7 - We have a title!!!!!

*****Spoilers ahead!*****

JK Rowling's Christmas present to her fans this year is the title of the final book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Rumor has it that the book is due out 07/07/07, although there is no offical release date yet. Amazon.com has updated their placeholder image to reflect the title.

The Leaky Cauldron notes that the new title was released on the Winter Solstice. An odd coincidence since the prophecy says, "on the Solstice will come a new" "and none will come after."

From book 5, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, chapter 35, pages 784-785.:

Their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Bellatrix's shouts.
"...at the Solstice will come a new..." said the figure of an old, bearded man.
"...and none will come after..." said the figure of a young woman.
The two figuers that had burst from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air."

Both TLC and MuggleNet have instructions how to open the secret door on Jo's site to see the title revealed yourself.

I can't wait until Keithen wakes up in the morning!

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Saturday, December 16, 2006

True bravery!

Ruby has always been afraid to sit on Santa's lap. Last year and this year she was willing to talk to him, but wouldn't climb in his lap for anything. On Wednesday, Kaylee had a gift-making class at The Children's Museum. Ruby and I got to spend some time playing together in the holiday area and in Playscape. She decided that she REALLY needed to see Santa again to tell him something that she forgot. The important message that she had to deliver was that she and Kaylee wanted Kit-Kat candy bars in their stockings. After she talked to him, she was finally brave enough to climb up in his lap and let me snap a couple of pictures.



On the 14th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....



Playing cards! Keithen's were shaped like soccer balls, Kaylee's like a butterfly and Ruby's like a ladybug.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

RIP Peter Boyle


Actor Peter Boyle died Tuesday evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease. Boyle played the grouchy old father on "Everbody Loves Raymond" and the monster in Mel Brooks' classic, “Young Frankenstein."

Warning for users of Nestle® brand Good Start Infant Formula with Iron!

Apparantly Nestle is in a little trouble with the Food and Drug Administration. Nestle's Good Start Infant Formula with Iron was tested by the FDA, who found that the levels of calcium and phosphorus were not only below what the FDA requires, but also below what the product label states!

The product label says that the formula has 64mg of calcium per 100 Kilocalories and 36 mg of phosphorus. The required amounts are 60mg (calcium) and 30mg (phosphorus) per 100 Kilocalories. The FDA's testing first found 58.2 mg of calcium, then 58.6 mg on a retest. The phosphorus measured in at 28.9 mg and 29.4 mg. All levels below the FDA's requirements.

It may not look like a huge difference in numbers at first glance, but when you think about how many bottles an exclusively formula-fed child drinks, that little bit of a deficiency could really add up!

And then what about the issue of parents putting their trust in this company to make a quality product that is up to standards to insure their child's health? Why isn't Nestle testing the product themselves to insure that the standards are consistently met?

I have not seen or heard of any news release presenting a response from Nestle on this issue as of yet.

*Breathing a sigh of relief that I never had to worry about this kind of stuff with my breastfed babies.*

On the 13th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....


Kaylee and Ruby got "magic" towels. (Those little washrags that expand when you put them in the tub the first time.) Keithen got the final flashing critter, a big ugly spider. I asked him if it was related to Aragog.

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On the 12th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....



Kaylee and Ruby got cute little stuffed horses. They have shiney hooves and little magnets in them so they'll stick to stuff. They were very tickled with them. Ruby brought the horses along when we went to pick Kaylee up from school later. Keithen got another little flashing lizard. He's almost got the whole set now.

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Monday, December 11, 2006

On the 11th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....



Keithen got another little creature.....a frog this time.

Kaylee and Ruby got purses with a necklace and a bracelet. Kaylee wore her sparkly pink necklace to school.

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On the 10th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....



The girls got rolls of tape and Keithen got a lizard of some sort. It's either an iquana or a chameleon. Have you ever in your life seen someone so excited to get a roll of tape? Ruby said, "She even put my name on it!" (For those who don't know, these girls can go through a roll of tape in a week, easy!)

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On the 9th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....


The girls got books and Keithen got a little turtle.

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Ruby's ballet recital










Ruby got a new blue tutu with ribons and some bright pink leg warmers to wear for her last recital of the year. She'll have about a month off before she starts dancing again. I have to compare dates and times for ballet and tap classes and weigh that against when Keithen and Ruby will have soccer games before I register her.