Hello and I hope you all are enjoying a merry Christmas! I was watching Food Network tonight and they had a feature about this lady's edible snow globe kits! I wrote it down for next year and will definitely order some for my kids and my nephew. The website is www.cookieconstructionco.com. The owner of the company is a mom who makes the kits in her own kitchen! That right there makes me want to order for sure.

Hope you are soaking up lots of family time. :-)

Music to my ears

• Look what I came home with today. I snuck out early this morning, met a lady in a parking lot way down in south Fort Worth and loaded this little sweetie up. I love my ipod and all things 'modern', but I do have a very weak spot for all things old. Very weak. Ask my husband. You should've seen the look on his face when I had to ask him for help in getting it out of the van. I've seen that look a thousand times. He's used to me though and I love him for putting up with me. :-)

Now I need to get some records!

Take this to your neighbors

Here is a great gift idea that you can make with your child. My daughter made some last night and even made her own gift tags labeled, "Carlen's Hot Chocolate" with cute polka dots all over it.

• This mix is surprisingly good. Try it. You'll like it.

4 1/2 C. Powdered Sugar

2 C. Cocoa

10 C. Dry Milk

1 C. Creamer

1 Package Chocolate Fudge Pudding Mix

Makes 15 Cups of mix. Mix 1/3 C. to 1 C. of boiling water

A Cappella

Jingle Jangle Christmas

You Are My Holiday

This is just precious! Enjoy it.

Maybe I'll see you there

My family and I have been enjoying the Flower Mound Symphony Orchestra for years and I began when my daughter was a preschooler. Their performances are always free (they accept donations), they are always very special and filling. There are no 'bad seats' at Trietsch Methodist Church where they mainly perform. What I used to do when my children were young like yours, would be to leave during intermission. A little, shortened 'concert' to peak their interest, but not too long to make them start to fidget and fuss. Although be assured that these concerts are very family-friendly and not your stiff, formal concerts. They are PERFECT for children of all ages! The instruments are easy to see from your seat and the acoustics are incredible at Trietsch. Treat yourself and your family to a wonderful, musical experience!

Just as a head's up------they have a WONDERFULLY educational and interactive children's concert every May. I'll let you know about that later!

I noticed on their website they are also doing a performance with their preparatory orchestra (younger musicians) at Borders. This may be the perfect option for you! Here's the scoop"

Flower Mound Symphony Orchestra

December 15 & December 16

7:00 PM Trietsch United Methodist Church Flower Mound


Flower Mound Preparatory and Progressive Orchestras

December 17, 7:00 PM Borders Book Store

2403 S. Stemmons, Suite 100 Lewisville, TX 75067 (off Round Grove Rd.)

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world."

John Burroughs

moving, beautiful, dancing with the heart

Mom's Letter to Santa

This is making the email circuit right now, but I thought I would post it here, just in case you haven’t seen it.

Dear Santa,
I’ve been a good mum all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of choc.bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I’ll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I’d like a pair of legs that don’t ache (in any colour, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don’t hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the lolly aisle in the grocery store.

I’d also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you’re hauling big ticket items this year I’d like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn’t broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, “Yes, Mummy” to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don’t fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting “Don’t eat in the living room” and “Take your hands off your brother/sister,” because my voice seems to be just out of my children’s hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it’s too late to find any of these products, I’d settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don’t mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare tomato sauce a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don’t catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don’t eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always,
A MUM!

P.S. One more thing…you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children happy, healthy and always believing.

Music and singing are powerful ways of experiencing being together for all people of all ages.

Fostering Children's Social Competence, Lilian Katz

Practice makes purrfect

Great site

http://www.babycenter.com/0_music-and-your-toddler-or-preschooler-ages-1-to-3_6549.bc

This is a great website I found. Pregnancy seems to be catchy in my classes :-), and I wanted to point out to my expectant moms that there is a neat thing where you can see where your baby is developmentally week-by-week. Also, there is quite a lot of interesting information about music and your baby and toddler. Click on the link to read more!