Merry Christmas!!!

We've been working hard on a couple of dances to send you warm holiday wishes! We hope that you enjoy!!
Love,
The McDonalds

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Dear Santa...

Addie Grace cracks me up...truly...every day. Not so much when she's telling me a joke, but just when she's just being herself. I mention joke telling because that is her new favorite hobby right now. She LOVES to tell us jokes...all the time. The same three OVER and OVER again. Anyway, that's not the point of this post.

She dictated her letter to Santa to me and it just made me laugh, so I wanted to share...

Dearest Santa Claus,
I really want one of something and I really hope I get it. I want 5 squishy frogs, a new teddy bear, a big squishy dinosaur, some little chicks, a bike (with my prompting...since that's what Santa is bringing!!!), and a squishy ring that lights up, and a stuffed walrus.
I've been good this year. I share with my friend Shelby. I play with her at the park at school and I tell her stories.
We're going to save you some cookies and milk and I'm going to shape them like you and a reindeer, a Christmas tree and a snowman. We're going to cover them with sprinkles.
I love and care for the world.
Love,
Addie Grace

Oh yeah, and about Sawyer. My brother would like a train table, a little stuffed puppy and a teddy bear.
Sawyer has been good this year. He plays with me. He plays in the swimming pool with me. He's been very good this year.
Love,
Addie Grace

One more funny Addie Grace story...
I was on the computer and she came in and told me that she needed to bring her little chalkboard up here. I said you don't have a little chalkboard...yours is big. (It's the big easel kind), and she said (in her most put-out voice), "Noooo M-o-o-o-mmm! I only said it was little because Jesus is the biggest one!"

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Traumatizing Elves, Tortuous Santas, Terrible Mothers, and Tormenting Christmas Pictures...

Okay, so this post is a week and half late, but as I said earlier...I'm ALOT behind!
We had breakfast with Santa at church...the experience was notable to me for a couple of different reasons. First our elf on the shelf...
We have an elf on the shelf...love him. His name is Wink and during the day he watches Addie Grace and Sawyer to see how they behave. Every night, he flies to the North Pole to report to Santa how they've been all day. When we wake up every morning, he's in a new spot, and Addie Grace (and eventually Sawyer) has to find him. Addie Grace thinks it's great. Most of the time anyway. One morning she came in bawling. In between sobs she got out that she didn't want Wink to go to church with us...to eat dinner. Huh?? It took a few tries for her to explain through the blubbering that she didn't want Wink to go to church with us and eat dinner with Santa because he would tell him that she's been naughty! Apparently Wink is working his magic!! Unfortunately, she got over that pretty quickly, because 5 minutes later she was back to tormenting her poor brother.
The second reason the breakfast was memorable to me was because poor Sawyer was horrified of Santa!!! We never had that issue with Addie Grace, so I assumed (bad idea) that we wouldn't have any problem with Sawyer either. WRONG!!! We are going to see another Santa next week, so hopefully he will warm up to him a little bit...but I doubt it!! While we were standing in line, he kept smiling and pointing and saying, "HO HO HO!" However, when we started climbing the steps, I could feel his little fingers digging into my neck...it was downhill from there!! We have a picture of me with Santa when I was probably Addie Grace's age that looks VERY similar...and I think that I might be with that same exact Santa!! (He was very 1970's looking!!!)
We really had a great day...it was fun for everyone, including Sawyer up to that point.
Here are some pictures...
First, the oh-so-lovely Santa picture...
Don't you think that would look great framed on my mantle??
Now for the fun...

After Breakfast with Santa, it was snowing and I made my kids stand out in the freezing, nasty weather to take pictures...WITH NO COATS!! Truly, we were only out there about 5 minutes (as evidenced by my inability to get a really good shot). Here is the best one that I was able to get...

After I was finished tormenting them, Gram and Grandaddy got here and Chris, Jill and Jack came over for dinner. Gram wanted to get a picture of the grandkids for her Christmas card...
Here are some of the lovely shots before we finally got one that would do!!




I think that they might be done...
and the keeper...

I also liked this one of Sawyer and Jack...

We really didn't try for that long, so we were pretty happy with the end result. A few days later I did our Christmas pictures...just wait until you see some of my outtakes...phew!!! I didn't know if we were going to survive that ordeal...I'm going to wait a few more days to post about that...It's still a touchy subject and I'm not fully recovered!!!

Libby Lu's

Tuesday after the preschool program, my friend Jill and I took our girls to Libby Lu's. It was their Christmas present to one another and it was so much fun!! Addie Grace has asked pretty much everyday since, when we get to go back. It truly was right up her alley!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

As we were leaving, it was raining. She was so concerned that her new look would be ruined...she wouldn't let me hold the umbrella for me and Sawyer too...she NEEDED it all for herself!

Merry, Merry!

We've had alot of fun stuff going on with Christmas. Tuesday was Addie Grace's Christmas program at preschool. We were so happy that Nana and Pappy, and Gram and Grandaddy were able to come! We especially appreciated their efforts since she was on the stage all of five minutes!
The program was cute, and of course, we were ridiculously proud of Addie Grace...such talent, my goodness! (I am, of course, kidding...not about being proud, just the part about the talent...not that we don't think she's talented...we do, but in the program, she just stood and sang...okay, you get the point, this rambling has gone on far too long!) I had my big camera, my little camera, my video camera...I was ready!!
Here are some pictures...

Thanksgiving...

Alright, alright...I have been getting nasty emails about my wordless Wednesdays...I will admit, that wordless Wednesdays appealed to the lazy person in me. A post with just a picture and no words equals minimal effort for a post on my part. Truly, it was my intention to keep blogging as usual and just have those tossed in as extras, but with us all being sick on and off for the last month, I just didn't feel like sitting down here and putting forth the effort to make a post. Now though, I'm regretting my slacking because I have alot to catch up on!!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Cookeville to see my mom's side of the family. I saw cousins that I haven't seen in years, so it was alot of fun. Then on Friday morning, my mom and one of my sisters and I braved the crowds and went shopping. Believe it or not, I, Kym McCool McDonald, was finished with my shopping by the second week of November (well except for two small gifts), so I was just kind of along for the fun. I didn't get the two things that I was lacking, but I found alot of other stuff that I just COULDN'T live without!! We all went bowling after our shopping and it was so much fun! We have bowling on our Wii and it is the only game that I'm able to beat Brian at and I'm able to beat most other people that I've played against, so I'll admit, I strutted in there thinking that I was about to put everyone to shame...HA! I embarrassed myself OVER and OVER again!!! Oh well, it was still alot of fun!! I wish that I would have gotten a shot of Daddy and Tanya falling down...oh well, maybe next time!! Great memories!! Here are some pictures of our weekend...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Wordless Wednesday...

Rub-a-Dub-Dub...two squirts in the tub!

Here are some pictures of bathtime tonight...

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! We sure are!!

Wordless Wednesdays...

Well, not wordless today, but from now on it will be. I have been recruited to do wordless Wednesdays. You are supposed to just post one of your favorite pictures...so here I go!!! Next week, no words. Promise.

Looks can be deceiving...

Yeah, he looks sweet...but boy, oh boy! This past weekend my sister Tanya came to stay the weekend. We went to the mall on Saturday, and a few different times, people would come over and say things like "ooooh, you're so cute"...and try to talk to him. Well, immediately he would start to swing his arms trying to bat them away, and yell, "BACK! BACK!...BAAAACK! BAAAACK!!!!" (This is his new way to express, "kindly get out of my face PLEASE, crazy lady"...and believe me, it is very apparent to everyone that those are his wishes...there's no being polite and playing it off).
I was a little a horrified, luckily, the kind stangers were just amused. Oh, that boy.

Casting my vote...

Although I have a feeling that tomorrow when I wake up, the President-elect will not be the one that I casted my vote for, I am still thankful. Thankful that I live in a country where my opinion counts and even more thankful that the same One who is leading me today, will still be leading me tomorrow.

Today, Addie Grace wanted to go and vote with me, so I let her and just took her to preschool a little late. She thought that it was great going into the booth with me and being so secretive, and she was thrilled with her sticker. She keeps saying how nervous she is about who is going to win and she can't wait to watch the election unfold. I wish I was as excited.

Anyway, it's been a great day, and I'm thankful regardless of what happens.

Tagged...

I never do these, but I'm looking for an excuse to shirk my responsibilites! I've been tagged...and I'm only supposed to use one word answers...which I'm definitely not good at, but here I go anyway!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? car
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Selfless
5. Your father? Godly
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Didn't
8. Your goal? Heaven
9. The room you're in? Bedroom
10. Your hobby? Hmmm...
11. Your fear? sickness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Tennessee
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? brave
15. One of your wish-list items? D-SLR
16. Where you grew up? Nashville
17. The last thing you did? cleaned
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? None
21. Your computer? PC
22. Your mood? relaxed
23. Missing someone? family
24. Your car? Van
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? Fun
28. Love someone? Yes
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Friday

I'm supposed to tag only one person...Margaret S...here's you another excuse to blog!! Maybe it will get you rolling again!

My Crazy Kids...

I had been sitting on the couch looking at my magazine and enjoying my water and I reached over to grab my cup to take another swig...

Nice. I was a little startled at first. Surely, I'm going to get used to this. He puts one thing or another in my drink pretty consistently. This has been the most interesting so far.

Addie Grace greeted Brian when he came in from work by telling him that she had a very special present for him...

"a hat!" she said, "for you to wear while you go birdwatching!!!" He was needing a new hobby anyway.

Happy Halloween!!

We've had a great Halloween! I'm glad that it's over and that we survived! Our only crises were that we couldn't find Toto at go time and that Sawyer's tail was hanging by a thread from Dorothy pulling on it all night!! Luckily, we found a stand-in Toto and Sawyer's tail DID NOT come all of the way off, so we were good!!

Here are some more pictures. I realize that there alot more of Sawyer than Addie Grace, but that is only because it is soooo much easier to get a good a shot of her...with Sawyer I have to shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and just keep my fingers crossed that SOMETHING will turn out. I actually got several tonight that I liked, so I posted a bunch of them.

Hope your Halloween was great! I did my motherly duty to rid our home of any potential treenut hazards by consuming all of the chocolate candy, so now I must go lie down because I feel ill!!!

Blaah...ahhh...rahhh, Gulf Shores!

We just got home from a mini-vacation to Gulf Shores with one of my sisters and her family and my parents. All vomiting aside, we had an absolutely, positively wonderful time!!
Wednesday night, my stomach started hurting (see previous post re: Addie Grace's stomach virus). I kept waiting for the inevitable, but by Thursday morning, it felt better! PHEW! I thought I was all in the clear. We made it to my parents and everyone was great that afternoon. Right after dinner though, I started throwing up. After much debate and everyone begging me to go anyway, I gave in. Being sick in the car is no fun (probably even less fun for everyone else in the car who had to endure me!!), but by the time I got there, I was fine other than my queasy stomach. Well, a couple hours after we got there, Sawyer started throwing up. His passed pretty quickly though, so he was able to hang out and play on the beach all day. That night, Brian started running a fever, but after sleeping that off, he woke up fine. The next day, we were all great and had a perfect day! During the night though, Bailey and my mom had it, then the next morning, Hadley and Hannah got it!!! By the time we were headed home Dad started getting it, and on the way home, I threw up again!!! My stomach is still not quite right and Addie Grace keeps complaining about hers too. I think I might need to burn down my house with all of our belongings to get this thing taken care of!! We were supposed to stay in Nashville until Thursday, but with my Dad getting it and me not feeling great, I was ready to just come home and try to get us completely well.
I wish we would have been 100% for the trip, but even with a nasty virus, it was still wonderful!! We are sad to be home!!

Anyway, I'm sure that's waaaaaay more information than you really cared to hear, but it was the main theme of our trip, so SORRY!!

Here are some pictures!

Bowling!

Today, we went on a field trip to the bowling alley. Addie Grace was thrilled. It was her first time to bowl and she loved it! She loved it even more that Brian went along as one of the chaperones. She thought that was just great!!

Here are Shelby and her dad squaring off with Addie Grace and Brian...

she was pretty happy with her first roll!!
the look of success!! (knocking at least one pin down!)
the look of frustration (she didn't knock ANY down this time!)
She quickly redeemed herself. She knocked all of them down but 2, and then she rolled a spare!!
we LOVE our Shelby!!!
This happy face changed very quickly about 5 minutes after leaving the bowling alley.

About 15 minutes before we left, she started saying that her stomach hurt. And about 5 miles down the road, she started throwing up. She's thrown up about 6 times and she's running a fever. Yuck. At least she got to enjoy her day at the bowling alley. Hopefully, it will pass quickly!! Poor Addie Grace!