Land o'Lessa

So, yesterday, after a fabulous dinner, while we were stuffed to the gills, and the girls were cleaning up, and I deboned the turkey, the pup asked if she could stay the night with Nana and Papa. I reminded her that Christmas Comes To Kenai starts today, with Santa arriving in the morning, and didn’t she want to see that? She paused, and then said “Nope. I wanna stay with Nana and Papa!”

…..

For 16 years now, every dayafterthanksgiving, I drag my weary behind out of bed early, bundle up the kids in snowpants and cold weather gear, then go stand in line to see Santa arrive on the FireTruck (back in MY day, it was a helicopter, but whatever.) SIXTEEN YEARS. The boy got ‘too old’ the girl decided sleep was better, and now… NOW…

I asked the pup if she were sure – and she said yup! She was too old for that anyway, but mostly because she wanted to stay with Nana and Papa.

WELL THEN.

Too old.
TOO OLD.

Harumph. At least I got to sleep in. That was nice. BUT STILL…

*sniffle*

Too old. My baby is ‘too old’ for Santa!

Sigh!

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll!

Things around here have been busy, as I try to keep up with 18 gazillion projects on a daily basis. Hee. The girl had her play, the teenagers are drama filled, the pup is back in the pool which means soon I’ll be poolside during her meets for the rest of the winter. She’s THRILLED to have swim team practices finally start, and it certainly makes her sleep well at night! She’s swimming four days a week for an hour after school, and comes home TIRED… and STARVING! It’s funny, she’ll stand there and tell me all about her practice, and I can HEAR her belly growl from like 5 feet away! So it’s good dinner, homework and off to bed, Monday – Thursday. She’s working hard, and we can’t wait to see how she does in the first meet, getting her very first official times so that we can gauge her successes for the rest of the season.

Anyway – hope you all are doing fabulously and enjoying a lovely food coma with your loved ones. We’ll be headed down to Nana’s later today to partake and share The Girl and Pup’s pumpkin pudding (Ala Rachael Ray) that they prepared last night. Then, tomorrow, it’s the biggest little celebration in town – Christmas Comes To Kenai. I may pop in and share some pictures of that for ya later this weekend too.

It’s official. My teenage daughter has completed the Geek Trifecta: Choir Geek, Band Geek, Drama Geek. Now, around here, that’s not a bad thing at all, as it falls in the family tradition – I played piano, was in many renditions of choir, and also a drama geek. Nana was two of the three, though she didn’t play an instrument (unless we count playing Papa like a fiddle! badaDUM!).

Anyway, being in drama runs in the family, that’s all I’m sayin. And this weekend, The Girl officially took her place as the newest in a long line of Drama Queens, as the Cook Sarah, in The Man who came to dinner.

I saw the first and the third (final) shows, and was told I HAD to attend the last one, as in the show I missed, she flubbed one of her lines. The Drama Teacher Mrs. J didn’t even notice though, so I assured her it was fine, while telling her Drama Horror Stories of my own. (Cheaper by the Dozen. Act III. Two eerily similar lines. Said the second one first – thus skipping SIX PAGES of dialog. Calling one of the chars by a wrong name pales in comparison, don’tcha think? *L*)

The kiddos did a fine job showing off their acting chops. There were some shining stars, a couple of misses, but all in all it’s a very fun play that had us giggling and applauding throughout. When I asked one of my boys (Who played the lead, Sheridon Whiteside) how my daughter was as an actress, he said “Surprisingly good.” So I got him back after the first performance, and asked him WHEN he was gonna start acting, as all I saw in that rude ole boy was G. Ha!

As with any high school play – there were some missed cues, a couple of lighting mishaps, and a mishmash cross-section of High School Kids who had come together to create something they could – and should! – be proud of. There were geeks and jocks and cheerleaders/plastics and stoners and norms – and they all worked really hard over 8 weeks to make it all come together. I couldn’t have been prouder, even as I wished more folks had come out to support our kids and see the play.

Those of us who cared enough to go (multiple times in most cases!) however, made up for everyone who didn’t. There were flowers given, applause, and many accolades for our Drama Geeks – but we can always use more help.

Trust me on this one – if your local high school is putting on a show… go. You won’t be disappointed, and these young souls, the rising stars of tomorrow (or the Future Drama Geek Mama who couldn’t be prouder) deserve ALL the support we can give them!

If you live with a young teenager or tween, who happens to be of the girlish persuasion and addicted to the Disney Channel, chances are you know exactly who Hannah Montana is. For those one or two people in the world who don’t – Hannah Montana is the name of Mylie Cyrus’ alter ego on the show, aptly named Hannah Montana, and Disney’s media darling. Of course, as with all Disney Darlings, there are the talks, the scandals, the questions, and more Disney events and concerts than you can shake a stick at. These events and concerts are attended by a metric TON of teenage and pre-teen girls, squealing and screaming and bouncing as if they were meeting… I dunno, the Beetles, if your of my mom’s generation, or maybe Metalica or Jon Bon Jovi (OMGYUM) if you’re of mine. Heh.

ANYWAY – What I’m trying to say is that if you DON’T know who Hannah Montana is – you’re living under a cable and internet free rock. Don’t worry though – I’ve got your back! Watch this!

The song is totally stuck in your head now, isn’t it? Welcome to my life.

Recently I was contacted by the ever lovely Libby on behalf of Lenox, who was sweet enough to send us one of the brand spanking new Hannah Montana Ornaments to show off to you all! It arrived yesterday, and when my youngest saw it, I had a time prying it from her gleefully clutching “IS IT MINE OMG CAN I HAVE IT” fingers in order to tell you all about it. The lovely ornament is crafted of ivory fine Lenox china, hand-painted, and shaped like a guitar, with a delicate golden chain to hang it from – it will shine on the tree in ways that only be rivaled by the smile of the fan who receives it!

If you’re a family who enjoys getting specially chosen ornaments every year to add to the tree – this is a can’t miss item for the Hannah Montana fan nearest you. Purple with delicate swirls in pink and blue, with rhinestones to catch the slightest glimmer of light, sporting the stars and rock star feel – any fan would be pleased to have this as their pick on this years’ tree! You can order it through Macy’s online, for $36. Get yours today, and tell them Lessa at PTB sent ya!

Trust me – your young fan will love it, if the possessive gleam in The Pups’ eye in any way matches that of your own Hannah Montana fan!

~~~
I’m still looking for any other gift ideas for the Teenage boy and girl, so we can put together a nice list of possible items to look for in the upcoming Holiday Shopping Panic! What is YOUR teenager begging for this year? Hit up the Contact Me link over there, or leave me a comment and let me know!

Yup, it’s review day here at Parenting Teens Blog! For the past few weeks, the lovely Melissa and I have been chatting back and forth about the brand new Neopets Puzzle Adventure! I had to admit that I was a hopelessly behind the times mom, and had yet to give my kids a Nintendo DS, and thus couldn’t get my hands on an advance copy – but I do have a PC copy coming soon, where I’ll be able to give a complete review in the weeks after Christmas.

In the meantime – I invite you to test out the online demo of the game, which is surprisingly addictive and easy to use – and you can play it RIGHT here, after the cut below! (Click the “more” link!)

The Neopets Puzzle Adventure will be available on Wii, DS and PC, and will be launched officially on November 25th. It’s fun, and challenging as well (UGH! I will NEVER manage to beat anyone at this flipping the tokens game. It’s infuriating! My 14 year old, however? Loves to point over my shoulder and tell me what I SHOULD have clicked on…)

Check out some of the images below (click to bigafy!) – the colors are stunning, the characters engaging, and you get to pick your own species, color – customizing one of 12 Neopets, and name them when you begin to play. The game is like a classic Reversi and Go – but with a unique Neopets spin on it – along with a lot of fun, mini-games like match, etc. Not only that, but as you unlock more puzzles and areas in the game – you also unlock secret codes that can be redeemed at Neopets.com for exclusive virtual items and accessories! And there’s not just one or two quests, either – for the single-player alone there are more then 150 quests to go on!

Neopets.com has an active virtual economy based on the caring and raising of your virtual pets, collecting Neopoints and taking part in daily and weekly creativity contests. There’s discussion boards, quests and thousands of virtual items that appeals to the Tweener audience! There’s an indepth and exciting storyline, an entire virutal world to explore, and as part of it, Neopets Puzzle Adventure is the ultimate puzzle adventure game for tweens, teens (…and me! I mean, adults!) alike!

(I’m gonna have to get me one of them newfangled DS thingys, huh?)

Hit up the demo above, and be sure to put this on the Christmas list for your DS loving Tween/Teen today! And keep checking back – I’ll be sure to write of our adventures as soon as our PC copy arrives!

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