You Can All Relax

The elusive dollhouse furniture has been found, so cancel that APB. I managed to grab the last bedroom set at one of our throwdown Targets, and I didn't even get propositioned in the parking lot or anything. THIS time. So, with the help of dear family members, the quest covered 17 Targets (8 around here, 6 in San Antonio, 3 in other farflung Texas towns), and my extreme hardheadedness actually paid off in this case. In fact, I was so thrilled to find the bedroom set, I bought the last living room set, too. Barbie plays piano, right? As long as Peach and Olive enjoy the dollhouse long enough for me to pay my gas bill, it's all good.

In other news, Peach completed her star-making turn as a Nutcracker mouse and angel, and I was there to witness the dressing room carnage for three out of the four shows last weekend. Seriously, some of these girls had 6 and 7 costume changes, in mere seconds, and all the wardrobe "mistresses" could do is bark at them to "Hurry!" and "Don't get lipstick on anything!" I just got them in and out of there as fast as I could and with as few tears as possible. And it so doesn't have to be that way, but because they've "always done it this way," no one was too impressed by my suggestion to put Velcro in some of the harder to manage costumes. Whatever, we're done. And I got a cute Christmas card picture out of the deal. Except that it's really more of a cute New Year's card picture because I seem to be a bit tardy for the Kodak Gallery's shipping deadlines. Just know that I'm still deeply in love with my children and will be shoving evidence of their delicious cuteness down your throat well into the New Year.

Speaking of, have you guessed where T-Bone and I are going to celebrate our 10th anniversary over New Year's yet? No? Well, A) You are so off the New Year's Card of Adorableness list, and B) To repeat, it's one of my favorite places in the whole world, and we shared a very special moment there oh some 11 years ago. I expect answers post haste in the comment section.

We celebrated Christmas with T-Bone's folks last weekend, and besides the "surprise!" kid-sized "homemade" (as opposed to the much-preferred "handmade" - you know the difference, right?) picnic table they won at some silent auction and proudly presented us with, it was all relatively painless. Is it just me or does this make you terribly sad, for many reasons:


How very unfortunate that it seems to be too big for our porch and that we may have to pawn it off on my BIL.

Peach and Olive finished up with school yesterday, so we're all free and easy for the next two weeks. Even T-Bone! We're headed to San Antonio for a weekend with Mama and Papa Turista, as well as Abuelita Turista, but will be back for the Big Day. Until then, here's ye ol' (new) tannenbaum, which, even though it took me a week to decorate, was so much less painful than the one last year.

Have a great weekend!