Mama's Back!

Miss me?  The Nockinbirds have been busy, busy, busy!  In fact, the Nockinbirds have moved to a new nest:

More pictures to follow, promise.  But don't expect the white, icy stuff.  Just an aberration...a four day aberration last week...possibly followed up with more white, icy aberration tonight... Oh, the glories of snow days in a new home...

the back patio makes a fantastic skating rink....

My first baking endeavor in my new oven.  What better way to celebrate being out of school on a snow day that popping open a can of cinnamon rolls...unless one were to unroll those cinnamon rolls and stuff them with chocolate chips and caramel bits...

mmmmmmmmm.

Frolicking with Emily after a romp in the frosty yard.  All is cozy and wonderful...until it feels a little chilly in the house.  Crank up the furnace!  Really, crank it up.  Uh, I know it's cold outside, but it's not getting any warmer when we turn up the thermostat.  Why?  Oh!  THE HEATER WON'T WORK!!!  And it's the coldest weather we've seen here in twenty years.

Loverboy got to know the fireplace very well, because it was the only heat he had for four days (or two, until we got a couple of the last space heaters Lowe's had).  Little Miss and I decamped to Molly and Papa's house while Loverboy kept the pipes from freezing in our nonetheless fabulous new house.

While we were at Molly and Papa's, or as I like to call it, Nockinbird Satellite Campus since it's only 1.4 miles down the road,  someone had the audacity to turn six...S!I!X!  Where is my baby?  Who is this ridiculously tall kid with a crop of adult teeth who likes to play mancala (and beat her father) and chill out before bed watching a lava lamp (a gift from Molly--pink lava, purple liquid--to match her decorating scheme of her new bedroom)?

Loverboy did leave the Nockinbird Nest a couple of times of day to keep all on an even keel.

There's always fun stuff to get into at Molly's house...and no pick-up-after-yourself rules are enforced by the Molly.  She's changed a lot since I knew her as a kid.

By Thursday, though, the charm of snow days were beginning to wear off--or at least the unnecessary coldness of them was.

Except for the Nockinbird with the built in/on fur coat.  I'm not sure of the biology involved, but I think our dog is part cat.  She was going insane with all the birds on the ground desperately pecking at the frozen pecans.  She wore a path through the snow tearing back and forth chasing them.  I think she actually caught/killed one when we were moving into the Nest.  She was outside by herself for a few minutes and when I opened the door, there was a deceased chickadee on the welcome mat with a pleased-looking dog standing over it.  I'll spare you the crime scene photo.

It's a good thing the deer didn't press their luck.

So pretty...sooooo cold.

Speaking of moving in, which is still an on-going process, Loverboy did pack us off to Molly's to miss the bulk of the big stuff.  It coincided with a visit from Lolly and Lolo.  This was back when the weather was nice, nicer anyway.

Good cousinly fun had by all.  Except the photographer.  It's like nailing jell-o to a tree to get these three to all look and look normal at the same time.

Back to today...given the threat of iciness again tonight, I hit Walmart to lay in supplies after work.  When I got home, this was awaiting me...

Another tooth gone!!

And Little Miss Picky About Her Socks didn't like the way the toe seam in what she says are her favorite brand of socks was feeling.  Before Loverboy stopped cooking dinner to wrestle with that earth-shattering task, she decided to take matters into her own hands...armed with her snub-nose art center scissors.  She "trimmed" the offending strings.  That's my tooth-less holey-toed independent girl.

I promise I'm back!  More Nockinbird adventures to come!

Welcome, 2011!

Molly zoomed over for a few minutes revelry with us last night.  We welcomed the new year (about 8:30--we set the timer on the microwave and even had a countdown!) with bubbly.

Little Miss felt it was a bit too strong.  The girl just can't hold her sparkling apple cider.  We kept the new year vibe low key today as well.  Molly set us on the road to health and wealth black eyed peas and cabbage...Loverboy and Little Miss enjoyed the January chill at the park...generally, very little was accomplished.  Keep it up 2011!

The next couple of weeks, however, I feel will be full of bustle and excitement.  Stay tuned.

Happy New Years' Eve!

And Happy Anniversary to Mama Nockinbird.  Perhaps the only New Years' Resolution I've EVER kept.  One year and counting!  Seriously, if you don't have a blog, you should!  What are you waiting for? 

I really need to do a Christmas recap (because it was a ridiculously FABULOUS Christmas), but the germies, they've gotten to me!  I woke up yesterday wondering why I had to even wake up.  Felt like I'd been hit by a semi.  I slept, or lost consciousness, all day.  Today, it feels more like I was hit a Volkswagon.  A step forward.  However, I was lax in my New Years' festivity planning, and now, here we are, with nary a hat, tiara, or noisemaker.  Little Miss is NOT pleased.  And, frankly, she's not really being very sympathetic either.  Just sayin'.

At least I had the forethought to purchase our "bubbly" during my pre-Christmas expedition to Walmart.  We will have plenty with which to toast 2011 as it rolls in at midnight...or 8:00pm local time.  Have you finished your list of 2010 Accomplishments?  Ready to roll with your 2011 Resolutions?  Me neither.  That's what I'll work on while Little Miss sleeps off her sparkling cider tonight. 

So, the Nockinbirds (including those of us who are NOT camera ready today) wish you a Happy New Year!
ps--I may not be camera ready today, however, I did manage to wax my eyebrows and lip in honor of starting the new year!  Such a feeling of accomplishment...and pain...sort of like a sacrifice...but still an accomplishment, of sorts!  Be good to us 2011!

Holidays are in full swing now!

Paper snowflakes are the only ones we're going to have for this Christmas.  Little Miss Fold and Cut was very taken with this new art project.  I suggested to Molly that she just empty the vacuum canister of the resulting tiny paper shreds to use as confetti for the New Years' party.  I don't think my mother fully appreciates my creativity.  Or the fact that the really fun paper cutting events always take place at her house. 

And what a rockin' house Molly and Papa have right now.  The McKinney Crew blew in today. The sugary treats abound at Molly's Holiday House and are much appreciated by the younger set.

The gumdrop tree was especially popular.

After cramming seven gumdrops into those squeezy cheeks, Molly pulled a killjoy and hid the sugar tree.  Three sets of teeth saved from the cavity monster!

My brother, the Holy-Blessed-Man-Child raided the liquor cabinet (above the dryer in the laundry room, behind the spray paint and florist foam), looking for the brandy.  Lacking appropriate glassware, he found Molly's Walmart-special plastic giant margarita glasses, complete with price tags, to stand in for a brandy snifter.  Classy, no?  Then he realized the first drink he poured was not brandy, but cognac.  He passed that over to Papa, and gave the right bottle a pour.  I think nonplussed would be an accurate summation.

Papa, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased amid the chaos!

So far, so good for the holiday...

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year...because we're out of school/work for two whole weeks!  Monday night we stayed up waaaaaay too late for moon viewing--total lunar eclipse, pretty cool.  But "cool" it has not been.  It was 85 for the winter solstice.  The first season change that I've actually been prepared to mark with a celebration dinner (that's one of my 42 by 41) and it was freakishly unseasonable.  I did make the best beef stew EVER, but we had the A/C on all day! We even had a ladybug roaming around the house!  She's up there above the smiley face.  We let her go outside...which may not have been in her best interest.  It's been pretty cool outside today...good luck, ladybug!

Little Miss and I had to get to the library today since it will be closed the rest of the break.  Lunch at McDonald's was called for, and, of course, it's never too chilly to eat outside near the playground.  We wore our matching jingle bell bracelets, but she felt her outfit really called for the Christmas tree pin I was wearing--con artist.

She's even perfected her "Who?  Me?" look.  Tomorrow she'll be asking to borrow the car.

Since one playground a day is never enough, we visited the Firefighter's Park/Playground for the first time today, also.

The equipment was limited, but we had it to ourselves and, since there's no shade whatsoever, it was nice and warm.  That probably won't be a plus any other time of the year, but in winter it's a plus.

I cannot get enough of that missing front tooth gap!

Since we were near the Square, Little Miss suggested we take a walk around it.  She's five and she enjoys browsing the shops on the Square...I never expected this.  My favorite parking space was open, and from it we saw that the Old Jail Museum was open...an adventure!  I just tried to put in a link to the museum, but there's not a website.  Sorry.  Hours are spotty, $2/adults, $1/kids.  They were having an open house today, so it was free (love that!) and the docents were most entertaining.  I hadn't been since 1985, and it seemed like there were more displays of local history this time.  I would like to go back and really look at it all.  Little Miss was preoccupied with the "ghost" that lives (?) upstairs.  Another 42 by 41 item on my list was to get involved in local history...geez, I guess I have to look into volunteering at the Jail Museum!?

Here's Little Miss standing in what had been the living quarters for the jailer and family.

I think she's scared straight.

We did get to see the "ghost" from the inside, but Little Miss would go no where near it, thank you very much.  Or as she would say, "Oh, for Pete's steak!"

There he is in the second story window!  A lovely half hour with local history.  Now, it was time to walk the Square!

Christmas photo ops abounded.  The gazebo was open and decorated, but the continuing work on the courthouse made it little less than picturesque.

This year, the Merchant's Guild put giant Christmas trees on the four corners of the Square and different merchants/groups decorated each one.  This was the most colorful, and thus the winner of Little Miss's Choice Award.

After making it 3/4 of the way around, we were ready for a sit-down.  And the kind people at Granbury Live! theater do have lovely outdoor seating.

There's that gap again!

We called Loverboy as we headed home.  He had just pulled into the Nature Center for a walk, but we convinced him to wait for us.  Playgrounds, shopping and now nature!  What a day!  It was pretty chilly by this point, but we took some new trails and saw some new sights.  I'm lucky to have two animal poop experts to walk with.  My  daughter, MY DAUGHTER!, who was hoofing along in front of me, said, over her shoulder, not even slowing down, "Watch out for the coyote poop.  It ate a lot of berries."  Well, thanks.

Berry festooned poop notwithstanding, it is a pretty place for a walk.

Life is good.  Holidays are good.

Someplace new...

There's a new restaurant in Nockinbird Town!  Hoffbrau has gone into the short-lived Mexican Inn building.  Yea and yum!  Not willing to let the grass grow under our feet or wait for the grease to get old, we hit the steakhouse tonight.

Little Miss was not overly impressed with her cheeseburger and steak fries, but she did enjoy eating a chunk of Loverboy's chicken fried steak (with her hands), especially when she cajoled him into sharing the cream gravy.  My seventh generation Texanne girl loves her some cream gravy!

But first in her heart is a bounce house.  I'm not sure what the connection is with a Spongebob bounce house and a steakhouse...but why ask why?

I'm not sure giving children an opportunity to bounce themselves after a meaty meal is the best gimmick...but it worked for us tonight.

Squidward looked a little worried about it, too.  Little Miss had it to herself for about ten minutes, then a herd of small people climbed aboard to demostrate their acrobatic daring.  It quickly became clear that our two choices had become a) leave and go home or b) wait ten more seconds and go to the emergency room for a cracked coconut.  We chose option a).

It's only Monday?

And X-TREME! we Nockinbirds have been for the last couple of days.  Little Miss had a cheer competition Sunday (!) morning..and I mean morning!  After a three hour practice Saturday morning, we settled down early because we had to be in Garland at 7:30!! Sunday morning!!!  I don't know that I've ever gotten up, on purpose, at 4:30 in the morning.  I do know I've never gotten up that early to go to a cheer competition...but I have now.

Trust me, her father and I did not look so chipper.  Nor was our makeup so well done.

They really seem to be getting the hang of the cheer-team scene.  I'm happy to report that no one was dropped from atop the pyramid.  And check out the Christmas tree hat in the foreground.  I wonder if it's some sort of all season hat...a witch at Halloween, a tree at Christmas, a carrot at Easter.  Genius.

And this time, there were trophies!

Makes getting up at 4:30 am worthwhile.  Did I mention she had a fever in the night?  But the show must go on!  Teamwork.  We planned on leaving as soon as her routine was done, but she'd turned a corner and we stayed to see the "big girls" cheer.  Oh!  And there was vomit, too.  Puked up her doughnut on the way up.  She does that so much with her mucusy allegies, she gives us advance warning and can wait for the proper recepticle to be found.  Such a trooper.  Apparently, there was a barfy virus going around the group that had sense to stay at a hotel in Garland, but we've been right as rain since the compeition.  No more fever either.  Quit judging me, Mother.  And I know you still are! 

Since we were paying spectators ($10 to park, $13 each to get in!) we were stamped with "SPIRIT," and we so are spirited!  There was a lot of spirit at the events center, too.  I finally got a picture of Little Miss there with Santa...she's in her full makeup and regalia...but still, picture with Santa...check!  And they each brought a toy to donate, which Little Miss really likes to do.

We went to Build-A-Bear (much to Loverboy's joy) after the competition where we accumulated yet another stuffed dog (welcome to the Nockinbird family, Sugar) and purchased a pre-made bear at her request to donate to Toys for Tots.

She seemed to enjoy chatting up the handsome young Marines as well.  After lunch at Olive Garden (what do they put in their salad dressing that makes it so ridiculously yummy?  Baby seal oil?) we tried to stay awake for the drive home...mostly successfully.  At cheer practice tonight, it all seemed like a surreal dream that I had seen all those people only 30 hours earlier. 

Other fun things that have been going on include:

This basket of deliciousness that arrived as a birthday present for ME from MawMaw.  I said for ME!  I'm pretty sure some people have been helping themselves when I'm not looking.

Speaking of things that are mine...some snoopy snoop found my pink rhinestone cat's-eye glasses and fell deeply in love.  I was afraid she was going to want to wear them to school the next day, having enjoyed the attention they drew while were eatting dinner out. 

Three and a half more days 'til Christmas break...three and a half more days.  Ho, ho, ho.