The Magic of 12/12/12

I feel like I should mark the monumental occasion of 12/12/12 by posting a random listing of stuff surely someone will read and comment on.

Truthfully, I had a few pictures I wanted to share along with a few random statements that aren't really enough to make an individual post so I'm lumping them all in one.

*  Today is my mom and dad's anniversary.  They've been married for 37 years.  Isn't that an awesome accomplishment these days?

*  I love my classes this year.  My advanced class moved from a 78% average on their first test to a 90% average on their most recent exam.  Can you believe that?!  And I just love 5th hour.  They are such a diverse group of kids, but they are genuinely interested in each other.  Today, after a few informative speeches, they asked the respective speakers so many intelligent questions.  It was a proud moment to be a teacher.

*  A couple of weeks ago, Favorite and I did a belly comparison:

 

They're alarmingly similar, are they not?  (On a side note, I tried to get them to post side by side, but I'm not tech-savvy and blogger wasn't cooperative.  Use your imagination.)

 

*  I still can't talk about this gift my mom got me without saying all these things that apparently make my readers cry.  (You're an emotional group, aren't y'all?  HA!)  But, honestly, I can remember seeing it in Hallmark and repeatedly wishing I would have a reason to make the purchase. 

 

 

*  Speaking of gifts, I have several I need to post here so you can get an idea of how awesome my support system is.  My Aunt Diane gave Ryan an Ugly Doll (which matches his nursery perfectly), and since she saw it and knew how much I loved Sock Monkeys, Gloria gave me this:

 

He plays peek-a-boo, guys.  And then giggles with this little kid voice.  So.Very.Cute.

 

*  Favorite has been busy finishing up the closet in Ryan's room and the closet in our guest room.  When they come next week, BigBro and SILSheena may even be able to hang their clothes instead of unfolding everything from the suitcase.  And Ryan's room has closet doors.  When those rooms aren't disaster areas, I'll try to get some pictures up here for you all to see.

 

*  And just for fun, we drove out to the road to see our Christmas tree in the front window of our house.  That picture didn't turn out well, but the one of our tag-alongs was pretty indicative of their personalities:

 

 

We are stocking-less this year since I couldn't find any I really liked.  (Or, more accurately, I was unwilling to pay $35 a pop for the Sock Monkey stockings I found and llllluuuurrrrvvvveeeddd.)  But I'm almost completely done wrapping presents and have just a few more things to grade before I can officially relax.

 

And then?  I'll be chillin' until January 7th.

 

Which is about as merry as it gets :)