What's Up? I'll Tell Ya...

Imagine 2 parades (one of which lasts an hour and a half), a huge festival that brings in tens of thousands of people and an enormous fireworks show, and you'll know what our weekend was like. No, we weren't having an early Independence Day celebration. It was Natchitoches' 82nd Annual Christmas Festival.

We spent the day with friends, did a lot of walking and plenty of eating. We were home by 8pm, but were exhausted! I'd have lots of photos to share, but unfortunately, I lost my camera over the weekend. I don't mourn the loss of that camera, as I'd had it for years and the flash drove me crazy, but i miss the few pics I had on there...

Other than the Christmas Fest, we've had lots of activity in the Spann home. Thanksgiving was great. We all enjoyed our week off. We were lazy, I baked and cooked like a mad woman, and we watched lots of movies. Kelly's mom was with us for the week and the rest of his family joined us Thursday - Saturday. We toured historic Natchitoches, took in the lights and ate some more.

Claire & I decorated for Christmas last weekend. We don't have a tree this year, as we've always had a live one, and we'll be in Colorado for the holidays this year. Still we hung wreaths, garland with lights and stockings. We filled glass vases with shiny silver ornaments and put out candles and an Ecuadorian creche. As we decorated, the boys were out and we stopped our work to enjoy hot cocoa and share a piece of delish vanilla pound cake. "It feels like we're in a restaurant, Mom. The music and the decorations... I love it!".

We're prepping for the party scene this week. A family party tonight, another one on Thursday, a kids party on Friday and a grown-up party on Saturday. Sunday starts a new round, but I won't get into that... I can only do 1 week at a time!

In the past month, Claire & Nolan have both had pinkeye (eh), experienced the "Body Walk" at school (a walk through a simulated, uh, body), Claire was named Terrific Kid (student of the month) and Kelly and some of the baseball players visited the kid's school as a reward for attendance.

Claire is fascinated with all things french these days, specifically the language. We've decided to learn french together as I have always studied espanol. Nolan is even getting into the act, greeting me with a hearty 'bon jour'! Claire is already talking about the trip to Paris she plans to take one day...

And that's the Spanns for now. Many details are lost in translation, but you get the gist. I plan to blog again soon, but just in case, Merry Christmas! May you & yours enjoy the true spirit of the season!

Claire Can Cook

While shopping downtown, Claire & I stopped at a shop featuring cookbooks. Claire's interest in all things culinary is at it's peak. She strongly feels that she needs a cookbook of her own, and thought that this shop would be a good place to find one. While browsing, she says to me, "Mom, I've found it! I need this! It's called... 'Any Bitch Can Cook'!"

A fellow shopper caught my eye and tried not to laugh, to no avail. I told Claire that probably wasn't the cookbook she needed. When I explained what the title meant, her face reddened and said, "I didn't know!". Well, she does now, no thanks to Kaffe Frederick!

At least we can be confident in her reading skills!

Thankful Spririt

In the spirit of the season, a few of the things I'm thankful for:

• coffee
• a dog that is so happy to see me, her entire body "wags" to say hello
• an amazing boss who I call friend, first & foremost
• my genius, gorgeous, hilarious children
• my extended family, including my "kids" who are student workers & athletes
• my best friend who happens to be an amazing husband
• fall weather that doesn't include snow
• an upcoming trip to Denver to visit family
• coffee

There is so much more, but I must get to work...

$3.06

Thanks to the time change, our family was up and at 'em with time to spare this morning. For me to be ready to go by 7am is quite a feat in & of itself, but since I was so chipper, I offered to take the kids to school. (Kelly, being the amazing dad & husband he is, usually takes them).

We drove along, enjoying the sunshine, as I began to pray (with my eyes open, of course!). This is a tradition we began when Claire entered Kindergarten, that our kids would hear us pray out loud for them as they make their way to school. When I finished, Nolan asked if he could pray, to which I said "of course".

His prayer went something like this: "Dear Jesus, Thank you that we believe in you. Thank you for dying for us. Thank you that when we die we can go to heaven and have new bodies. We love you. Amen."

My heart swelled and I thanked him for his prayer. Then I realized just how early it was, too early to go to school. So I suggested that we stop at the gas station for donuts. I ran in, paid the $3.06 and came back to find the kids chatting quietly. Then Claire said, "Mom, Nolan wants to pray that special prayer to have Jesus in his heart forever." I re-parked the car, and we prayed. I cried and the kids knew, "Mom is crying happy tears".

Could I have a better beginning to my day??

Too Pooped to Party

Last week was Northwestern's Homecoming and the Spanns were Demons through and through. Tuesday night I judged the Lip Sync competition. It was quite a sight watching the various sororities & fraternities get their "rock" on. This year's theme was "Live Like A Rock Star". The department decided that next time the Student Activities staff will definitely participate. We may be old, but we can still get our groove on.

On Thursday I took the kids to the Homecoming Parade & Pep Rally. The kids had a blast and caught more candy than they could carry. "This is the best parade EVER!", Claire exclaimed as she stuffed her cheeks and the giant Wal-Mart bag with candy. On Friday we tailgated & enjoyed another Demon victory (at least the first half... We can't stay past halftime, due to boredom.)

This week brought Fall Festival, school carnivals & parties. And I'm pooped. We have candy coming out our ears. Hannah Montana & Batman made an appearance in the Spann Home, for which we consider ourselves very lucky!

Today kicked off the Demon Baseball World Series. It's the grand finale of Fall Baseball. Kelly is once again the head coach of Kelly's Heros, and unfortunately they dropped their first game 5-4. It's a 5 game series, though, and I'm confident they'll take it all the way!

I have pictures to post of the above mentioned events, but I'm way too tired as I sit at work at 8:15 pm to tend to a "work emergency". So, with a sigh & a yawn I'll be on my way...

Growing Way Too Fast

FINALLY!

It finally feels like we've had a change of seasons in Louisiana. This weekend is the perfect example. The air outside actually feels a bit crisp. Not too crisp, though, because it's always humid. Always. We ate lunch outside yesterday. Usually it's too hot, there are too many bugs or it's raining. Yesterday was picture perfect. Grilled hot dogs & dad hung a tire swing! Yes, a tire swing! The kids love it!

We spent the evening at a portion of a 13-inning baseball scrimmage/practice & just enjoyed the outdoors.

It may (no, it will) get warm again, just when we least expect it, but I'll take this for now.