It’s Over Already?

December 31, 2008. Wow. That’s all I can say. Seems like Flower was just a baby and we were getting ready for her first birthday and now the year is almost over and we’ll be getting ready for her second birthday pretty soon.

Princess has turned into a lady this year….at least sometimes she acts like a lady. She is a wonderful big sister. She is very patient with Flower. She is always explaining things to her and trying to teach her things like what a cow says or colors.

We have a houseful of family right now so I don’t have much time. We received a Wii for Christmas so everyone is huddled in the living room around the TV. Just wanted to post one last time in 2008 and wish everyone a safe evening. Not sure if we have plans yet, it will depend on the weather. We’ll probably be eating junk food, watching a movie, and hopefully we’ll be able to find a channel that will show the ball dropping in NYC so we can go to bed before midnight. That’s how we celebrate New Year’s Eve around here.

We Were on the Nice List

Santa stopped at our house on Christmas Eve. Princess was very worried that night because she hadn’t been very cooperative getting dressed for church. So at bedtime she and Daddy set out some milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. As I was snuggling her into bed she confided in me that she hoped she was on the “Nice” list.

Turns out we made the Nice list this year. Santa was very nice to us. Princess found a dollhouse waiting for her under the tree and Flower got an inchworm. We spent the morning opening gifts and playing with our new stuff and went to Nana and Papa’s for more gift giving and dinner. The snow started to fall around noon and we got a few inches yesterday. It was a beautifully white Christmas.

We had an amazing day and today we are recovering. The girls put their snow gear on this morning and we headed out for 4 wheeler rides, a little sledding, and to try out the new cross-country skis. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well. Enjoy and photos.

We’re Patiently Awaiting His Arrival

Santa that is. As the girls get older we realize how important it is to teach them there is more to Christmas than receiving gifts. Christmas is, most importantly, a time to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. Flower is still a bit young to understand Christmas, but Princess needs to know that Christmas not about getting the best gift or the most gifts. So that’s my objective. I want to keep all the magic of Santa for the girls but I also want them to know how truly wonderful it is to give to others.

I need to come up with a game plan for next year but for now we’re trying to focus on making and giving to others. Last weekend we made fudge, caramels, cookies, and caramel corn. Flower thought caramel corn was the best thing she’d ever eaten, or at least that’s what it looked like as she was shoveling it in. We assembled some goodie bags for friends, co-workers and relatives to enjoy. Princess wasn’t sure about giving away so much of our treats, but in the holiday spirit she complied.

Princess and I are planning a scavenger hunt for Daddy on Christmas morning. I’m not very good when it comes to shopping for Daddy. He always thinks of wonderful things for me but I can never seem to find that perfect gift for him. Although this year I did get something he’s going to like. He’ll be surprise too because I had to do some leg work and ask his buddies to help me pick it out.

Santa came early for me this year. I won an iPod nano at a conference a couple weeks ago so I’m set. Princess asked Santa for a dollhouse….one with a round thing that makes the other thing go up….aka an elevator. Flower isn’t old enough to ask Santa for a gift so I suggested an inch worm to Princess and she told Santa on Flower’s behalf. Hopefully “Santa” will check the boxes tonight to make sure all the required parts were included in the boxes so assembly will be successful tomorrow.

That’s it for another year. I think we’re ready for the big day. Ho, ho ho! Merry Christmas! Happy holidays from our house to yours.

Deck the Halls

Earlier this evening Princess and I were in her bedroom getting ready for bed. We can hear the Monday Night Football halftime show in the background. Chris Berman says, “Deck the Halls” and Princess starts to giggle. She looks at me and says, “Mommy, did you hear him? He said ‘Deck the Halls’. He meant to say ‘Shrek the Halls’.” And she rolls her eyes as if to say “Boys can be so silly sometimes….” Apparently we’ve been watching too much of the big green ogre lately.

We're Quarantined...

...or we should be. Just a quick note to let you know that if you were planning to stop by our house, don't. There has been a stomach bug going around and it finally found us. Princess showed us her skills in projectile vomiting last night and managed to shower Flower, me, the sofa, the love seat, decorate pillows, blankets...you get the picture. Today we're just staying warm and trying to predict and confine bodily fluids to washable things around the house.

We're Frozen

Well, we survived another weekend. This one wasn't as busy as last weekend due to the weather. An arctic blast rolled in Friday night and it dumped a little snow, blew it around enough to make traveling dangerous, and dropped the temperature a million degrees.

It was a good weekend for hot chocolate and movies. Unfortunately we had practice Saturday morning for the Christmas program at church so Princess and I donned our winter wear, put the pickup in four wheel drive, and backed out of the garage. Seriously, there was a 4 foot drift in front of the garage door. We spent the morning in town and made it home for a nap and hot apple cider.

Sunday morning we headed back to church for the early service and Christmas program. The program was originally scheduled for the evening but with the weather so frigid it was moved up to the morning. We were thrilled because it meant we didn't have to go out in 20 below temperatures. Princess was an angel. Nana was in charge of the program this year and it went very well despite lack of participation from the older kids at church. Basically half of the kids who could read backed out at the last minute so Nana had to improvise. Those of you who know Nana know that the program was wonderful, despite what she might tell you. I'd post the video but I doubt you want to see all of it so you'll have to settle for a photo.

While we were at church the power went out at our house so it was a little chilly when we returned. Luckily the girls went to Nana and Papa's for the afternoon so we headed to town for a little shopping. Then back to Nana's for dinner. The power was on by the time we got home so we didn't need to break out the propane heaters and long johns.

This morning our daycare lady informed us that some of the other kids were home with a stomach thing that didn't sound like much fun. I'm headed out of town for a meeting tomorrow so cross your fingers the girls didn't pick up the stomach bug because Daddy's in charge!

We’re Exhausted

We had a busy weekend. I knew it would be, I just didn’t realize how busy. Friday we did a little shopping in the morning and daddy hit the road in the afternoon. He had a project that only he could do 4 hours from home. He was bummed about missing Princess perform at the festival on Saturday but that’s life. We have video.

Saturday morning we headed to the festival to watch a friend dance. I called Nana and Papa to make sure they would be there to help coral Flower. Things took a little longer than I expected so we barely had time to eat a quick lunch and get Princess dressed for her performance. She was fabulous. Her leotard was adorable, she didn’t complain once about it or her hair. She was in the front row so Nana was able to get her on video. After the little girls did their thing the older girls performed their routine. Then they all grabbed a little girl and did the chicken dance. Apparently it’s a tradition for this group. It was definitely entertaining. Flower loved all the girls and she was moving her arms and dancing right along with them.

Next item on our agenda was Santa. Princess remembered that Santa was at the festival last year and there was no way we were leaving without seeing Santa. Luckily he was available and there was no line…amazing I know. Princess got right up in his lap and immediately started smiling for the camera. Flower was ok with sitting in his lap, but she just wanted to stare at him so we had to coax her into smiling for the camera. Last year all she wanted to do was pull his beard so I guess we’ll consider staring progress. She eventually looked our way and the photographer got a great photo. Princess told Santa she wanted a dollhouse and Flower wanted an inchworm. I breathed a huge sigh of relief because I’ve already ordered those items so a last minute change of heart by Princess would not have been good. After Santa we checked out the craft tables and decorated cookies.

Sunday we headed out to harvest a Christmas tree with friends. I’ll admit, I was a little apprehensive because Princess has issues when it comes to wearing warm clothes and this outing would require snow pants. After a minor meltdown she got dressed and we took off. It was in the 30s with a light snow falling….a perfect day for some sledding and hot chocolate. We found a nice place and the kids played on the sleds for an hour or so. Then we set off in search of the perfect tree. Actually, we were just looking for a decent tree that would fit through the door and not take up the entire living room. We hunted for about an hour and made a decision. Hopefully we’ll get it in the stand tonight to see if we made a good choice.

Flower went to bed early last night and did not want to get up this morning. Princess was a bear this morning but we eventually got out of the house. I’ve been moving pretty slowly all day too, but I have another excuse. I tripped on the stairs at 4 am Saturday morning on my way down to let the dog out and stubbed my little toe pretty bad. Of course I had to pick one of the busiest weekends we’ve had lately, but it’s healing. Hopefully I’ll be mended by this weekend because we still have a lot to do!

P.S. I know, I know....those of you with more kids or older kids are reading this going "That's all....we do all that in an afternoon." We're more of a 'hang out around the house' family so this was a lot of activity for one weekend!

It Was A Quiet Week

It’s Thursday again and time for another quick update from our house to yours. We had a quiet week. Flower has had a cold with a bad cough for three weeks now so we went to the doctor on Monday. She’s got a little bacterial thing going on so we have 10 days of amoxicillin. It’s orange these days, at least at our pharmacy that’s the standard flavor and Flower loves it. She starts to wiggle and squeal when she sees the dropper of orange delight headed her direction. Princess was really good about taking medicine until recently so we’ve been lucky in that area. Princess still takes her medicine when needed, but now she requires a chaser such as peanut butter or milk. I’ve tasted some of their medicine and I can’t say as I blame her.

We’ve managed to catch a “classic” Christmas program on TV every night this week. Last night Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer was on and Flower really liked Rudolph. We watched the Santa Clause 2 last weekend and Princess liked that movie. We watched a bit of The Christmas Story the other night. It’s one of our favorites and I’m sure we’ll watch that a few times this month.

Princess is having sock issues again. After a lull in the sock department for a month or so she once again has decided that all her socks “don’t feel good”. I have yet to figure out how something which is perfectly fine for weeks all of the sudden becomes unacceptable….when absolutely nothing has changed. Heavy sigh.

Tonight starts the parade of holiday activities. We have an open house tonight. Princess performs at the local Christmas festival on Saturday. Daddy will be out of town for work this weekend so he’s bummed he’ll miss her first performance. Papa will be running the video camera so we can relive the 2 minutes over and over again when Daddy returns. I’m a little uncertain about the performance because it will require a specific shirt, leggings, and hair style. Princess tends to have issues when required to wear something specific that’s not her blue New Mexico tourist t-shirt and purple sweats so we’ll see. I’m not even going to think about her hair. I figure we’ll go, give her the opportunity to dress like the rest of her class, and if she freaks we’ll just watch. There’s always next year, right?

It’s December Already

Where did the time go? I seems like it was just….September and we were getting ready for Princess’ birthday. Now we’re talking about Santa and giving gifts and Christmas programs and it hasn’t even snowed yet, at least not enough to stick around for more than a day or two.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Wonderful meal, well behaved girls. Princess decided she prefers the “brown” meat on the turkey. Flower discovered Daddy’s homemade cranberry sauce (with a little orange zest….it was tasty) and pumpkin pie. I ate way too much but we only get meals prepared by my grandma and great aunt once or twice a year so who cares? Their style of cooking is different than ours, but it’s what I grew up with and it sure is good. Let’s just say if there’s a way to add butter or cream to a dish in order to make it richer they’ve perfected it. I’m still amazed that my grandpa’s arteries aren’t completely clogged after eating my grandma’s sinfully delicious cooking for 60+ years.

Flower also discovered Christmas lights. Her new favorite word is “Ligh! Ligh! Ligh!” so we indulged her and hung our lights yesterday. That is after we bought new LED lights. We needed new lights because we've had ours for years and they are mostly broken from the wind so we invested (and I truly mean invested because they are expensive) in LED lights. They are really pretty though….I love the “clean” white light look….and you can plug 21 strings together so we didn't have to drape the house in extension cords! Now all we need is some snow.