When the Cat's Away, the Mice HAVE to Play!

When Roy travels, I make it a mission to keep busy while he's out of town. I normally have one activity planned each day to get us out of the house at least for a few hours. Whether it's Target, going to the mall to see the Christmas lights or lunch with friends, we keep busy! This week has been a busy and fun one. Tuesday night Caroline had a school program at her preschool for the parents. I hated that Roy had to miss it, but I decided to make it a special night for her, so I got a babysitter for RoyBoy and Caroline and I made it a date night! Her class performed "God is Number One" and they did a great job:

After the program, I went back to her classroom to see the art she prepared for us. She was very proud:

Here is everything she loves about her family:

Basically she loves us because, Daddy tickles her, I read books and cook and Roy Austin plays with his toys. This is a keeper! Afterwards we took our hot date to Starbucks for some hot chocolate and chocolate milk because it was FREEZING outside!!

On Wednesday, we met our friends Miss Jessica, Caleb and Kathryn for lunch at Chick-fil-a. The kids had fun playing and Jessica and I had fun talking and cleaning up the huge mess Roy Austin made!! We had a good time, as always:

We also welcomed a new family member into our house on Wednesday. Have any of you ever heard of "Elf on the Shelf"? It's a great item to get for your house for the Christmas season if you have small children. It makes them behave because they think an elf is watching them each day and will report to Santa on what he sees/hears each night while they sleep. If you have time read about it, do it. It's cute. Don't pay full price, though. Go here to find coupons for Barnes and Noble or Borders and get it there with coupons! Once you buy it and take it home, you're supposed to name the elf. You set him in a special place and each morning the parents have to move it into a new location for the kids to find the next morning. This makes them think that the elf flew back from the North Pole and hid in a new place to spy on them! I hope I remember to move it each night! Ladies and gents.....please meet our new guy, Jingles the Elf:So far, he's working!!! We also started our decorating on Wednesday. I'm doing a kitchen tree this year. We put that up and started some other projects. FYI, if you do a kitchen tree, Martha Stewart's line at KMart has some cute kitchen ornaments and decorations. Here is our tree and my kitchen garland. I got this idea from the Greenbrier and it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself:

Glenda, is this comparable to the Greenbrier's?! I made those gumdrop balls all by my lonesome.

On Thursday, I met HPS and Nancy at Cracker Barrel for some lunch/girl time. HPS and Nancy had never met face to face, so we had a mini-blogunion. While we were there, we decided to look around for the Christmas Blog Swap. All I can say, is that whatever girls we three draw will be some lucky, lucky ladies. Nancy debated back and forth on what to get her person. It was either this, a nice Bill Gaither Homecoming CD:

or this snazzy Christmas sweatshirt that said something about Grandkids. Mom and Glenda, are you salivating?! Nancy, you look thrilled:)

Hannah opted to get her person a classy snowman sweatshirt along with a darling patchwork bag. Whatever lucky person Hannah draws, will be the envy of every woman:

I found the cutest thing...EVER! It's a green sweater vest with sassy Santas in leopard print coats all over. The collar is even leopard faux fur. Do you swappers have your fingers crossed that I draw your name? And this is my new friend, Michelle (with 2 stars on her apron). She thought I was serious about getting this vest and she kept telling me how great I looked in it.

She held/watched Roy Austin for me while I looked at some ornaments and the next thing I know, she's telling me that he's walking to her. WHAT?!!!!!

Yes, that's right. My baby boy took his first steps. In Cracker Barrel. Towards 2-star Michelle.

Friday, I was able to enjoy a haircut and foil, thanks to Jessica watching my children. Nothing like a trim and color to cheer a girl up. Then tonight, we made 'Ol Roy's Sugar Biscuits (they're actually pretty good!) and then we worked on our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Caroline really enjoyed making them. Roy Austin just enjoyed getting into the candy:

And to end this ridiculously long post, here is a picture of Roy Austin's face that he now makes quite often. It cracks me up:

Have a nice weekend!!