Home Sweet Home

We're back. Back from traveling, back from seeing family, back from our vacation, but most importantly, back to normal. I haven't yet taken down all of the Christmas decor, but have been doing laundry, cleaning out the old toys, assembling the new, filling up our refrigerator, and the other chores that accompany getting things back to normal.

We had a WONDERFUL time over the holidays. I am still enjoying little bits of time with some of my sisters, who haven't made the trek back to Harding yet. The holidays were so busy and we did so much that it would be impossible to try to give an account of it all. It was, though, a very fun-filled holiday time, full of all of the things that make holidays special to me.

My kids seem to have experienced a sortof knowledge boost. It seems like every time we spend a length of time with extended family, my kids come back full of random knowledge that I know I had nothing to do with. Josh and I are usually quite impressed with some of the things that our kids have picked up from the fam, while other facts we hope they'll forget about-----soon.

It seems that Major will now be joining his older sister in the "hiney dance" tradition. If you read an earlier blog, you know that for years Mary Alice has done this thing she calls "the hiney dance". In it, she drops her drawers and shakes her hiney to us, while humming a jaunty tune. This tune is the intro part to the timeless classic "Tequila". If the name doesn't ring a bell, it was a song that was used on Pee Wee's Big Adventure. If that also doesn't ring a bell, then maybe you aren't quite as weird as our family, because we know this song by heart. Of course, we don't sing about "Tequila" in our family, only the intro music. Anyway- Major does the dance now. Over the Christmas holidays we were surprised to learn that our usually modest daughter was hiney dancing for many members of our extended family. And, as a result, Major now does this "hiney dance" as well. We are working on retraining our children to understand what is appropriate behavior and what is not. Major, has added on to the fun of the "hiney dance". I guess you could say he has made it his own. For example, when Major does the hiney dance, he can be known to hold up a baby doll and make it do the dance along with him. He sings the "Tequila" music along with his hiney dance, just like his sister. We are seriously in trouble!! I spent a little time with Mary Alice today, explaining to her that we don't do the hiney dance in front of anyone except for our family!

In addition to this, one of my sisters (who shall remain nameless) taught Mary Alice a song/cheer-type chant called "Shake Your Bootie". Hmph! Not funny! I guess we're to blame, though, for letting the "hiney dance" be publicized as a family tradition. Here is the jist of the song:

Mary Alice: "Hey Sue!"
Sue: "Hey what?"
Mary Alice: "Shake your bootie!"
Sue: "No way!"
Mary Alice: "Shake your bootie!"
Sue: "No way!"
Mary Alice: "Shake your bootie!"
Sue: "Ok."

Mary Alice: "Jump, shake your bootie, jump jump, shake your bootie, jump, shake your bootie, jump, jump, shake your bootie."

Of course, this is something that Major has caught onto. So, we are going to spend a little bit of time with our kids, retraining them on this one. As of today, no more "Shake your bootie" cheer in our house. Just wait until my sisters have kids!!! They'll be so sorry they ever mentioned the word bootie.

I also learned a few things over Christmas break. Here they are:

1) I LOVE Dance Dance Revolution. This is a video game that my brother and youngest sister got for Christmas. If you don't know what it is, it is a pad that you stand on and try to hit the correct arrows with your feet as you watch those arrows flash across the screen (all done to some techno-type music). Apparently these games are all over the place at arcade-type places. I guess since I never go to arcade-type places I never noticed. I actually hate video games of all kinds, and haven't played any since-like- fifth grade, but am not ashamed to say that I'll make an exception for this one. If you've never done this, you really should try it. The music is a bit cheesy, though. If only they had "Tequila".

2) Josh and I took the kids to the Zoo yesterday. I learned that Josh had NEVER been to a zoo. I thought that was pretty weird. I learned something new about him. He was so cute at the zoo, seeing lots of animals for the first time. I thought it was more interesting to watch his reaction to the animals than to watch the kids look at the animals. He has also never been ice skating. I'm going to have to take him to do that soon.

3) I learned that there are some of the best sales on New Years' Day. I had never been to a New Years Day sale. I had the hardest time looking for a pair of jeans that fit. After trying lots of the regular stores, I decided to look at Dillards. I wandered into the designer section (a place I never ever go) and noticed some crazed looking women snatching things off of the shelves. I went over to the designer jeans and grabbed several pairs. After trying on nearly forty pairs of jeans, I found some that fit me perfectly!! Yahoo! Considering that jeans is my nearly every day attire, I was extremely excited to find jeans for $16. Did I mention that they were normally over $100? I would never pay that much for jeans, but was just extremely happy to find jeans that fit me for $16!! So, FYI, New Years' Day-- at Dillards. Designer section. I'll probably be there every year from now on!

4) I was introduced to a new kind of makeup. For Christmas, Josh's parents gave me this different kind of makeup for Christmas. It is called Bare Escentuals. While I knew that both Josh's mom and sis used this makeup, I had no idea how great it was. I have only been using it for a week and can already tell a huge difference. The idea of this makeup is natural and non-oily and 100% pure, from minerals in the earth, free of preservatives, dyes, etc. that can irritate you. So, I knew nothing about this makeup and honestly care little about makeup, but LOVE the ease with which this stuff goes on. It is also so light and natural looking and makes your skin look healthy and glowing. Seriously, if there was ever someone who is NOT a make-up promoter, that is me. But, I learned this about myself... there is a different kind of makeup out there that I actually DO love. So now I am promoting my Christmas gift as a true revolutionary beauty product.

5) Last of all, I am a nerd. I realized that I truly enjoy watching possibly the lamest thing on television, the National Spelling Bee. I watched it after the kids went to bed last night. I found it truly amazing that there are people who study language like those 12 year olds in the Spelling Bee. I found it very interesting. They really put me to shame. I even learned some new words. I don't expect that anyone else is as nerdy as I am, but if they are, the National Spelling Bee is WAY better than reality tv.

So those are some things my kids and I learned over the holidays. We might have picked up some unwanted baggage along the way, but we can unpack it now, because we're back to our wonderful home sweet home.