Ten on Tuesday

(We have officially been told by the dentist to stop sucking our thumb.  So far it's not happening.)

(I am on the Flourishing Mother's Mama Monday.  Please visit here.)
Wow, it's been a while.  I don't know what else to do but jump in.  We'll see how it goes.
1.  We went to NYC to see Betsy after Christmas.  Two days after Christmas.  Remember what happened that weekend in the northeast?  A blizzard.  We had our bags packed and my parents were at my house ready to drive to Atlanta when our flight was cancelled.  Since we were the third day of cancelled flights we were at the bottom of the list to be re-booked, meaning our week long visit would have turned in to a weekend visit.  Unacceptable.  We brainstormed and came up with Amtrak.  All of the Atlanta trains were already booked so my Mom said to check Savannah since it's a different route.  Within minutes we had 7 seats on the Palmetto line running from Savannah to Penn Station.  So step 2 was to pack my mom's Tahoe with all of our stuff and drive to Tybee and spend the night.  We went to AJ's on the Back River and had dinner, watched the Falcons lose Monday Night Football, and went to bed.  The next day we left Tybee at 6:45 am and went to the train station.  We boarded at about 8:45.  We arrived in New York City about 1:30 am.  People kept telling us how crazy we were or how committed we were to our trip.  I never saw it as an option.  I was getting to New York by whatever means of transportation I had available.
2.  Packy got alot of trains from Santa this year so he was pumped about the train.  The other kids were excited too.  It really was not horrible.  You can bring food, drinks, and laptops.  We also brought books, UNO, and Nintendo DSs.  We had big, comfortable seats and it was fun to see the snow in all of the towns that we passed through.  I would do it again.
3.  New York was awesome.  We went to the Holiday Spectacular at Radio City and Phish at Madison Square Garden.  Toys-R-Us at Times Square, the carousel at Central Park, sledding at Riverside Park, and ate a fabulous (adult) dinner at il Buco.  We went to a New Year's Eve party (until 10) and got to meet some of Betsy's friends.  But the best part, and it always is, is just being with the Betsy, Lee, and the girls.  They are amazing hosts and make me laugh.  Good times and totally worth the effort it took to get there.
4.  We flew home.
5.  I am totally still out of my routine.  The kids went back to school last Wednesday but we are on our second snow/ice day today.  I am really craving some normalcy.  Whatever that is!
6.  Want to know what's hard?  Teaching your children to love their enemies.  Emory has had some issues with some girls lately.  For the most part I encourage her to do the right thing and let her handle it.  Yesterday I had to get involved.  Someone was being very unkind to her (and Jay) and she came home in tears.  The sweetest part was that the reason she was so upset was because this little girl was calling me names.  I guess the "don't you talk about my Mama" starts as a child (she called me an idiot and a Frankenstein?).  We talked about not retaliating and reflecting God's love so that she (the girl) could see that they handled bullying in a different way than most children.  (That was the talk we had after I calmed down.  When they first came home and told me everything that had happened I was ready to go over there and let her have it.  Jason advised me to not act like a teenager and show out.  Thank God he is the voice of reason in our house.  I did handle it in an adult manner.) 
7.  Babies are tiring.  Children are exhausting.  I am scared to death of teenagers.
8. My dog is having surgery today.  He has a torn ACL and has been limping for a month.  He is 13 years old.  Let's just say he has a Papa who really loves him and wants him to stick around for a few more years.
9.  I learned something in New York.  Clementines are the new Pomegranates.  Everyone eats them, decorates them, and even makes them into martinis.  I just wanted everyone to be up on what's "in".

10.  We sold our Birdhouse and bought another.  I can't tell you more than that because it's not 100% .  It's about 95%.  Maybe next week.  It's a testimate to God's affinity for the details of our life.