I was cuddling my little boys at naptime. Maxey, my 2-year-old was already out, but 4-year-old A.J. was wide awake and snuggled up close to me.

We wrapped our arms around each other, and I kissed him and said, "You're so sweet."

He kissed me and replied, "You're so fluffy."

Fluffy! Not what I wanted to hear!

The little stinker giggled and giggled.

Oh well, at least I know I've loved, fluffy and all!

My 4-year-old, A.J., asked if he could have a chameleon someday.

“Um, maybe,” I said.

“Please,” he begged. “A chameleon is an animal, and it changes colors.”

His dad said, “It sure does. And it’s a reptile.”

“I know,” A.J. replied. “Please. I'll take care of it. It’s tiny. I’ll get a tiny little shovel and pick up its tiny little poop!”
 

It was a prayer request that ruined my day.

My family's visit to this particular church started off great. As we walked down the hall toward the nursery, two women greeted us warmly and fussed over our little boys. One of the women was the Sunday school teacher for A.J.'s age group, so she offered to walk him down to the classroom and show him and my hubby around while I took got Maxey signed into the nursery.

The teenage girls working in the nursery were inviting and friendly, and nursery was clean, bright and full of toys to entice our 2-year-old to stay.

Our first impression was this church cared about children, about families. That's important to us.

Then Vince and I found a Sunday school class for us. Just as the teacher was getting ready to start the class, a woman said she had a prayer request. A friend's cousin had been in a wreck, along with the cousin's two children. I felt so bad for this family as the woman described the injuries and the facial surgery the 16-year-old would need. I wish she would've stopped there.

"It was a car full of five Hispanics that hit her, and they just scattered," the woman said. She went on to describe an ex-Marine chasing down the Hispanics.

I stay at home now with my kids, retired from my chosen profession at 26, and I write while my husband goes out and earns the bucks for us. It's like a 50's throwback here, without the pearl necklaces (something I'm ITCHING to bring back) and candied hams. The Daver works in finance, which is a somewhat nebulous term that people typically respond to with a harsh intake of air and a drawn out, "Oooooh." Since the Crash of 'Aught Eight, people tend to have a different perception of "working in finance."

I don't understand a single thing that The Daver does, and when he tries to explain, my eyes glaze over the same way that his do when I talk about my latest email from my agents. But, for all intents and purposes, what "working in finance" means to me is that he's almost never home. A 70 hour work week is a relatively easy week for him.

Add to that an hour plus commute each way and you can easily call me a single mother during the week. Oh, don't worry, I'm not up on the cross about it or anything; I'm sure some new mother needs the wood. To me, it's just the way it is.

We need to get a life.

Vince and I have fallen into the parent trap. We work our butts off, spend as much time as we can with our kids, participate in church life and ... that's it.

We're always so busy and focused on those three things, it seems like there's no time for anything else. No time to clean our house properly, no time to write those thank-you notes that should've been done last summer, no time to paint over the hideous colors in the kitchen or clean out the garage. I feel like I just can't keep up with life.

We certainly haven't kept up with any kind of social life. No time for fun, for sure.

We used to have plenty of fun, nights drinking wine a La Diosa or dancing or going to parties were normal. Now, we're lucky if we go to a movie once a year.

So we're making a new year's resolution. (OK, I'm calling it a resolution; he's agreeing we should do it, though.) We probably won't get much better at the house cleaning or thank-you notes, but we're going to have fun once a month.

It'll be simple (because, really, the goal is to relieve stress), just inviting some friends over for dinner (pizza) and maybe board games or wine. Just hanging out with other adults, hopefully developing relationships with some people we've been wanting to get to know better.

Don’t forget to track the Big Man tonight with the Official NORAD Santa Tracker. 

Children can learn about the places Santa has been before leaving milk and cookies, and (maybe) falling asleep! 

Merry Christmas!

~ The Daily Muse

I've spent weeks trying to get the perfect swing set -- whether metal or wooden -- for my boys, ages 2 and 4. I've been to Home Depot, Academy, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Target. I've looked online. I've compared prices, looked for sales ... the trick has been finding something that they won't outgrow soon but is affordable.

And this has been a killer. I found the perfect outdoor wooden play set on sale the weekend after Thanksgiving, but it wasn't in stock in Lubbock. To order online, the company would charge $265 in shipping. No way. So I kept looking, and let me tell you, Lubbock is not the place to find an affordable outdoor wooden play set -- unless you want to wait until after Christmas to receive it.

That's right -- last week, stores dropped their shipping fees -- but wouldn't get the play set here until early to mid-January.

I looked at metal swing sets, too, and found one I thought would be good for the kids. Out of stock. Everywhere in West Texas. Except Big Spring. Hey, I was even willing to get it in Amarillo or Plainview since I knew I'd be up that way. Not available there, either.

Here's a Christmas craft for the little ones, which my boys and I learned at Groves Library the other night:

Reindeer Ornament

You'll need:
Three Popsicle sticks
Brown marker
Glue
Red or green ribbon at least 6 inches long
2 brown pipe cleaners
2 googley eyes
1 small red pompom

1. Color the Popsicles brown and let the ink dry.
2. Glue them into a triangle and let the glue dry.
3. Position the triangle so it's pointing downward. Tie the ribbon in the middle of the top stick, and make a loop you can use to hang the ornament on a Christmas tree.
4. Fasten the pipe cleaners on the top for antlers, and twirl them around.
5. Glue eyes onto the top stick.
6. Glue pompom onto the bottom point to be the nose.

I took the kids to Crafts with Santa at Groves Library last night. Even though Santa didn’t show up, the kids had fun with the crafts. So I’ll share the two projects we made, one today and one tomorrow. A.J., who’s 4, needed very little help. Two-year-old Max loves having his hands traced, so he was happy to have me do his.

Hand and Foot Reindeer

You’ll need: Something to draw with 

1 piece brown construction paper

1-2 pieces black construction paper

Glue

2 googly eyes

1 little red pompom

1.      On the brown construction paper, trace the child’s foot and cut it out. This is the reindeer face.

My hubby was teasing the boys. He poked his head in the van and said, “Hello, girls!”

Two-year-old Max corrected him immediately.

"I not a girl!" he said. "I a pirate!"