Lil Taz and Santa
I'm not sure if you remember but a while back some wadhead at school told Lil Taz that there was no Santa. So for the past few weeks we have been dealing with this. She wants terribly to believe in him but the question was still nagging at her. I asked a friend of mine how he dealt with it and he told me to try to keep her thinking positive without going overboard. How in the heck was I going to do that?
After some searching I found a pretty cool website where the child can write Santa a letter and receive a special letter from him without giving out your email address. (You can never be too safe) You can also check the Naughty or Nice list to see which list you made. One night Lil Taz and I sat down at the computer and sent Santa her letter. We only had to wait a few seconds after she hit "send" until Santa's letter to her magically appeared. We had put in her age and not far in the letter there was "I know your friends have probably been saying some things about me" (Thank you Santa) She was amazed that Santa knew what had been going on. In her letter she asked for a jingle-bell from the reindeer's harness. :o\ This was the first I had heard about THAT! She didn't ask for toys like most children, only the bell. The next day I went on safari trying to find the precious jingle-bell. Evidently you can't just buy one bell in our small town you have to buy a whole pack but that's ok, she got her bell. When we checked the Naughty or Nice list she was SO relieved to find out that she had made the Nice list. :o) She was actually holding her breath until the Nice certificate appeared. She's a really great kid but like most kids...she has her moments.
On Christmas Eve we opened a few presents but saved the majority for Christmas day. After using NORAD to check to see where Santa was she decided she had plenty of time to watch the penguin movie. After the movie we checked again and found out that Santa was making his way towards Florida...she decided she better get into bed because he was only a few states away.
She left cookies and chocolate milk for Santa, and 9 baby carrots for the reindeer. She brushed her teeth, got the pjs on and hit the bed. It had been an exciting day and she was beat so it didn't take long for her to get to sleep. After making sure she was asleep Mr. Taz and I brought out the Santa stuff. We got a surprise when we sat down at the table to take care of the cookies. There sitting propped up against the glass of milk was an envelope with "To Santa" written on the front. With a shaky voice Mr. Taz told me to open it. She had fixed Santa a Christmas card and had drawn him a picture of himself in his sleigh. She signed the card "Love, Madison". All of a sudden I was wrapped up in Mr. Taz's arms and when I finally pulled back...his eyes were filled with tears too. Right then it hit us that this was probably the last Christmas that she would believe in the big guy. It meant that our darling child was growing up...now please excuse me while I go fall apart.

Dear DVD Release Peeps
I hope you are satisfied...I broke down and bought the DVDs that Lil Taz wanted. I'm now broke but Fantastic Four, Sky High and A Penguins Life or whatever the hell it's called are all wrapped and tucked safely under the tree. One thing I DO appreciate is that FF and Penguins are both 2 DVDs so the packages are long..she'll never guess what they are. Please don't do this to me again next Christmas.

Sincerely,
Me

p.s. I'm not sure if you're in cahoots with video game manufacturers but if you are could you please ask them to stop making PS2 games for EVERY freakin' movie that comes out, it would be greatly appreciated.

I learned somethin' from Lil Taz today...
If you don't believe in Santa...you get clothes.

WOOOHOO
As of right now I have all of my Christmas shopping finished except for 3 presents and I know what I'm buying. I also have everything wrapped so far and under the tree (or in the Santa box). For people that know me, this is amazing. I'm a world-class procrastinator (and bad speller). Normally I'm out on Christmas Eve trying to get ALL of my shopping done and then I'm up until 4 a.m. wrapping. Not this year, by granny, I'm ahead of the game. At the beginning of the school year the teacher sent home a note asking for volunteers for various fieldtrips and parties during the year, I signed up for two things. I'm hoping I volunteered to bake cookies for Lil Taz's class party. What's up with that?

This morning Lil Taz said a funny thing...
We were watching the news and the weather came on. The weather guy said "We're expecting some light snow during the night" . Lil Taz immediately said "I wish we'd get some dark snow so they'll call off school." What she meant was heavy snow.
This made me start thinking...I wish I had written down all the funny stuff she has said since she started talking. Anyone who has kids knows that they DO say the darnedest things. Sometimes the darnedest things aren't funny at the time, they're downright embarrassing but when you look back on them you can't help but laugh. So this morning I jotted down the funnies that I remember and I decided to share them with you. Who says I don't know how to share? :o)

Rubbertree Plant
We used to (keywords) have a rubbertree plant that was sent to my father's funeral. When Lil Taz was really young I was working in the kitchen when she walked in and said "I didn't do nuffin'" Ut oh...that isn't something a parent wants to hear. She looked so cute and innocent and then...she raised her dirty left hand and said "I tware". I asked her to show me the nuffin' she didn't do then followed her into the den. There laying on the floor was a leafless sprig of what was previously a rubbertree plant. She had pulled off every leaf, de-potted it and rubbed the dirt into the floor. There was dirt everywhere...even in the windowsill. Evidently she didn't like the plant that I was so fond of.

Jurrasic Park 3
When JP3 came out Lil Taz, Aunt Candy and I went to 'the big movies' to see it. Some would think she was too young at the time but hey...she's MY kid. Those people wouldn't have had to stay up with her at night because some vicious dino was chasing her in her dream...I would have. We always sit on the end of the row so if we need a potty-break we don't disturb everyone in the row. I wish other parents with small children would do that, however, I won't go into that because this is a happy blog :o) Since we were on the end of the row we right next to the stairs, duh, and this guy came walking down carrying his kid who was crying to beat the band. I'm talking sobbing. Right when he got next to us she said..."Frybaby". I know the dad heard it.

Bread
Once Lil Taz got old enough to help with chores we've encouraged (nice word for made) her do so. She was helping me get groceries out of the car and since she was small I handed her a 2# loaf of bread. She should be able to handle that right? WRONG! She ran into the house with her prize and went into her playroom. Since I was busy putting the groceries up I had forgotten all about the bread for a while. Then I heard a funny 'swishing' noise coming from her room so I went to investigate. There she was...holding the bread by the end with a twisty tie, swinging it back and forth. The 2# loaf of fresh bread had became about the thickness of 6 slices of bread. When I asked her what she was doing she said "Killing the bread".

Pencil
This isn't actually something she said but something she did. I don't know about your kids' school but at her school they introduce politics to kids when they're in the 2nd grade. They get to 'vote' in a real voting machine and everything. Pretty cool if you ask me. Well one day volunteers from both sides of the fence visited her classroom and were giving out pencils, pads and whatnot to the children. My child refused a pencil because it was a "Democrat" pencil. ::wiping tear::

Sunflower Seeds and Australian Accents
When Candy's son, Dale, was on a city league baseball team a few years ago Lil Taz and I went to a few games. One of the dads happened to be sitting next to us eating sunflower seeds at one of the games. Either he was trying to give up tobacco or he enjoyed eating stuff that's good for you more than eating the great junkfood that was sold at the concession stand. Anyhoo after a while, she got tired of watching him spit the hulls out onto the ground and said "Don't you know spitting's RUDE? Here's a cup". Color me embarrassed.
Another day, another ballgame...
She has always loved to watch "The Crocodile Hunter" or "Steeeeeebe" as we put it, and after watching so much of it she developed a weird accent. It was kinda like a Duke's mixture of Southern drawl/Aussie/and little kid. I don't know how it goes at ballgames in your parts but here we all holler and support our guys. Lil Taz was hollering and carrying on just as much as the rest of us. She was having a big time. All of a sudden a woman behind us tapped me on the shoulder and asked "Where is she from, not here I assume" On the inside I said "Look lady she's from here just as much as you're from here." but on the outside I explained the drawl/Aussie/kid thing.

Big Lots® Brat
If you've made it this far, kudos to you, I probably think these things are alot funnier than you do. This is the Lil Taz All-Star moment...
One night my mom, Lil Taz (who was 3 at the time) and I were out Christmas shopping and had just finished up her 'stocking stuff'. By the way, Big Lots® is a great place to find stuffers. Ok, on with the story. As we were walking out into the breezeway there was a girl, she looked to be maybe 7, pitching a bitch-fit on her grandmother and mother. First let me explain the breezeway...I'm not sure that's what you call it but that's what I call it when you walk thru doors into the candy room (which echos) and then you have to walk thru another set of doors to go into the store. The bitch-fit kid was raising all kinds of E-mortal hell because she wanted some candy or a cheap ring out of one of the machines. All her grandmother and mother would do was quietly tell her No and try to reason with her. That kid needed her ass whupped for sure. I made the mistake alot of parents make and underestimated the power of my sweet child's hearing. MY bad! Under my breath, so I thought, I said "Damn brat" In the echo room that would make a mouse's poot sound like an elephant's Lil Taz said..."You're RIGHT Mama, she IS a damn BRAT!" I could have crawled under the floor tiles but I just looked at the bitch-fit kid's family and smiled.

Whew...
Life is back to normal, whatever that is, in Tazland. I looked over my latest posts and noticed that they were so negative and that's so not me. I'm normally optimistic, I haven't been looking at the good side of things lately.
The Harry Potter crisis is now over. Lil Taz figures now that if she can read Harry Potter she can do anything she sets her mind to. Which is a GOOD thing.
The Christmas tree, my Santas and all other holiday decorations are up and the house looks awesome. I'll take some pics sometime this weekend. When I get home, get supper over with and the kitchen cleaned up I light vanilla candles, turn the Christmas lights on and enjoy.
I love this time of year. I've already bought some Christmas presents and I'm planning on finishing up the shopping this weekend. Lil Taz will be a great help in the wrapping department. We'll put in a dvd, make a couple of latte's and get to wrapping. Having her help out will be great fun and very cool.
Speaking of very cool...
The other day I received one of the best compliments I could ever get. Staci, a friend on a racing board I go to said " Taz, I gotta say, you must be the most popular mom ever. You just seem to be so attentive and way fun! (Most importantly!)" Now how cool is that? :o)