Wordless Wednesday

I have seen the light

For the last couple of months I have been contemplating having another baby even though Cory has told me numerous times that he does not want anymore. I keep going back and forth, however, yesterday I saw the light so to speak. We decided to take the girls to McDonald's for lunch and then go to Target and even to the park on the way home since it was a pretty decent day out. The whole day yesterday was so calm and relaxing that I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. While we were at McDonald's both the girls sat in the booth so nicely and ate with hardly any assistance from me or Cory. Every now and then I had to help Paige get a piece of chicken on her fork but for the most part we were all able to sit and eat our food while it was still warm. They both did great at Target and had a blast at the park. It really opened my eyes and showed me how much easier my life is going to be in just a few more months when Paige is 2 and Claire is 4. I can now be sure that I do not want to start all over with someone who is completely dependent on me in every way, shape and form. Yes, babies are so sweet and wonderful but then they start to get mobile and make your life so much more complicated. I will just wait until one of our friends or family members has a little munchkin of their own that I can get my baby fix from. Then I will go back home to my wonderful family and remember why I am so thankful that my girls are getting to the age where they don't need mommy and daddy quite as much!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a great day with their family and loved ones. We had such a wonderful morning at our house. Claire woke up at 7:45am and came running into our room saying "mommy, daddy I can't wait to go and see if Santa brought my Susie doll." We are such mean parents we told her she had to go potty and we all needed to brush our teeth and then we would head downstairs. She waited so patiently as Cory rolled out of bed, yes, I say Cory because he is a HORRIBLE morning person especially if he is woken up and did not wake up on his own. Even knowing how excited Claire was to get downstairs did not seem to put any getty up in his step yesterday morning. Anyways, we finally made it downstairs and saw the look on her face as she came running down the stairs to grab her doll in one big swoop. Of course I was already down in the living room with the video camera on and ready to capture the moment. She also asked for a rocking chair which Santa brought as well but that did not make as big of an impact as SUSIE!

Yes, I know that I have not mentioned Paige as she was still asleep. We again being mean parents made Claire wait until Paige was awake to open any presents. She had her Santa gifts and did her stocking and then helped Killian see what was in his stocking. He got some new babies and bones from Santa and was very happy, hey who are you sticking your tongue out at?!

I finally gave in and woke Paige at 8:20am as Claire could simple not wait any longer. Both the girls had a great time opening their gifts and playing with each others new toys. Paige got a new kitchen from Santa and really enjoys playing with it.

After we had our family Christmas at home and the girls played, played some more and took a nap, we headed over to my sisters to finish out our day! I should mention that Cory got me a new camera for Christmas and of course I had to try it out ALL DAY LONG, it has so many cool features. I think I about drove my family crazy last night as I was having them all pose for pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

Poor little girl, her cheeks are so chapped!

Okay I really don't see it, but everyone especially lately has been saying how much me and my sister look alike. They have even gone to the extreme of asking if we are twins!! What do you all think??




All the grand kids!

Me with my dad, mom and sister.

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies

Sunday was my cookie exchange, this is the 3rd year in a row that I have done it. I almost didn't have it this year but after a couple of friends expressed how bummed they were that I wasn't going to do it I changed my mind. It gets easier and easier every year as I get more use to the routine. I also had WONDERFUL help from my AWESOME husband. He helped me clean the house from top to bottom all day/night on Saturday. During the party he entertains the girls (usually he will take them and go out for a few hours, however it was just too darn cold this year with the temp being around 14 degrees and the wind chill even lower)so they played in the basement. Then once the party was over he helped, well basically cleaned up everything for me. Thanks again honey, your the best!! It is always nice to just have to make a kind of cookie or in my case chocolate-peanut butter mallow bars and then when the party is over have a variety of about 11 types of cookies. Thanks to everyone who came it is always nice to see everyone and catch up during the holidays!

Peanuts

My dear sweet little Claire has a hard time saying the word "peanuts" she calls them, well how should I say this, it is a male reproductive organ. Well anyway we were at the grocery store today and Claire said "mom don't forget that you need to get peanuts". She was so excited and proud of herself that she shouts out loud "did you hear me mom, I didn't say penis I said it right"! Poor little old women that was passing by I thought she might have a heartache! Kids they make it so our lives never have a dull moment. I couldn't help it I just started laughing out loud and said very good I knew you would get it.

Sad day for mommy!

I decided to take Paige's binky away yesterday and I can not believe how well she did. I think that I am more upset about it then she is. For those of you that don't know Paige was very attached to her binky (or so I thought). If we were playing upstairs she would go into her room, reach through the slats of her crib and grab both her binky and blanket. If we were downstairs playing she may disappear for a few minutes and then reappear with her binky and blanket in hand. Yesterday morning after we were all up and moving I decided to take all the binky's out of her crib and put them in her dresser drawer so she could not get to them during the day unless it was nap or bedtime. Within a few minutes she realized they were gone and cried for a good 10 minutes very upset that she could not find them. The rest of the morning she and Claire played in the basement, we all three baked cookies and they played some more and Paige never asked for her binky again. I decided since she had gotten over it so easily that AM that I would try nap without it. I had myself and Claire all prepared that Paige was going to cry. I could not believe it when I laid her down and she did not ask for it or even let out the slightest whimper. Bedtime went very well last night as well. She was asking for it and when I told her it was gone she looked at me and said "I wook" (I look) and headed for the trash can in the bathroom. Poor thing thought that I had thrown them away. I explained to her that I didn't throw them away they were just gone. She asked why a couple of times but when bedtime came she did not cry. She had a hard time falling asleep, Cory and I heard her talking and moving around for about an hour. After Cory went in, gave her a sip of milk and just rocked her for a few minutes she was right to sleep and slept until this AM at 7:30. As for nap this afternoon, so far so good!

People would ask me when I was going to take her binky away and I just would answer I don't know whenever I am ready. I took Claire's away at 18 months and with Paige about to hit 20 I decided it was time. I just wasn't ready, knowing that Paige is my last one I just wanted to hang on to one of the few things that still showed me she was a baby. Oh well I still have potty training to look forward to right?

We went, we saw.......

she cried.............


I totally expected Paige to cry with Santa this year because she is at the age where no kids are comfortable with a strange, big man in a red furry costume. She was fine until I placed her on his lap and then she was fine as soon as I picked her up. Oh how we torture our children, but they all need to have that picture where they cry with Santa.
Claire did great and had so much fun telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas and then what Paige wanted too. She even told Santa that we had a special cup for his milk and that we would leave carrots out for the reindeer. Guess I am getting carrots at my next trip to the grocery store. After we left, Claire got upset because she forgot to tell Santa that Killian (our dog) wanted some dog bones, cookies and new toys. We had to write him a letter last night and take it out to the mailbox. They are so fun at this age and how they still believe....

It gets me every time

It never fails every year around this time they start playing the song "Christmas Shoes" by: Newsong on the radio and every time I get all teary eyed. That has to be one of the SADEST Christmas songs. When it comes on the radio I always find myself saying change the station but I never do there is something about that song that makes me listen. That song along with Kenny Rogers and Wynonna's version of "Mary Did You Know" are both so powerful. Every time I hear that one I get the goose bumps!
What are some of your favorite Christmas songs??

Note to self

Next year wrap the Christmas presents while your 3 year old (next year 4) is asleep or not around. Claire wanted to help me wrap every one's presents on Sunday, so I thought why not? Well let me tell you why not, because she was totally in my way and I could have wrapped 5 presents on my own in the time that the two of us wrapped 2. She had to help me decided which paper every one's present should be wrapped in when I usually just grab a roll and go with it. She wanted to help me cut, uh didn't happen and then she had to pick out the tag that goes on all the presents as well. Again I usually just grab one and move right along. It was quickly decided that her jobs would be the tape, she could put all the tape on the gifts, she could pick out the tags and lastly she would place the presents under the tree. Yes, it was a nice bonding experience if you call reminding myself to stay calm and to see how much fun she was having. They are just so full of life and curiosity when they are little and I know this is just the beginning. I am so thankful that I have her and Paige in my life to keep it fun and exciting. As we get older we forget how the little things can mean so much and I thank both of my beautiful girls for reminding me on almost a daily basis.

Christmas' Past

My friend Kelli gave this idea of looking back over past Christmas' and it sure was fun! They change so quick and get more and more excited for Santa to come as the years go on...

Claire's 1st Christmas she is 7 months old!


Claire's 2nd Christmas (18 months), I will never forget she had Bronchitis she was SO sick but you couldn't tell!



Paige 8 months and Claire 2 years with their puppies!

Happy 1st Christmas Paige!

Since everyone else is doing it.....

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It is that time of year where we all start to "elfourselves" so to speak. It is always fun to watch yourself and others you love dancing around acting silly. Thanks to my dad for being our fifth elf.

What a way to start off the day.....

We had just started to get up and going this morning when the phone rang at 8:15am. I noticed from caller ID that it was Cory calling from work. This is not unusual as we talk every morning, however, we don't usually talk that early because he knows that I am busy getting the girls ready for our day. I answered the phone and said "you don't usually call this early" and he replied "I know but I just realized that I have something that is going to make it very hard for you to go anywhere today". Right away I knew, he had my car keys!! We went out to Best Buy last night to get me my Christmas present, a new camera and we took my car. Cory said that he had so much stuff to carry in from the car last night that he stuck my keys in his coat pocket and forgot to take them out and hang them on our key hook. I immediately started to panic because I was suppose to be leaving in about 40 minutes to take Claire to school and I also have to go to work later today around 3:45pm. Of course I started to get very upset with him and told him he better get back in the car and start heading home. (For those of you that read my blog and don't know Cory works downtown and it takes him about 40 minutes one way). He told me that he couldn't leave because he had a meeting at 9am. So my wheels start turning and I quickly called my sister to see if she could come pick up Claire and take her to preschool after she was finished dropping my nephew off at his preschool. She was here by a little after 9am and they were out the door, Claire made it to school right on time. Whew!! Thank god for sisters!!
I called Cory back and told him that Amy was able to take Claire to school, however, she can not pick her up and he needs to be home by 12:30pm so one of us can get Claire and then I can still go to work later this afternoon. He said that would work and he will be here. For those of you wondering if we have a spare key to my car the answer is yes, however, Cory keeps it on his key ring so not only did he have my key he also has the spare. I told him that there is really no need for him to have my spare key on his key ring and he needs to take it off and leave it at home. He replied that he will just get an extra key made, whatever, do what you need to let's just make sure this doesn't happen again.

Something everyone has to try

Today was the first day that I have ventured out of the house by myself with the girls in 9 weeks. My foot is almost healed so we headed out to the mall to get a few things for Christmas. I didn't want to over do it so I just went to one store to kill 3 birds with one stone so to speak. While we were at the mall I had to go into WILLIAMS-SONOMA to get myself some of their WONDERFUL hot chocolate. If you have never had their hot chocolate you have to at least try it. I haven't met one person who has tried this stuff and hasn't become completely addicted to it. They only have it during the holidays so I couldn't wait to get myself some. They have a regular Hot Chocolate and then my favorite which is the Peppermint Hot Chocolate. I guess you could somewhat compare it to Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate and if you like Starbucks you will LOVE LOVE LOVE WILLIAM-SONOMA'S because it is at least 10 times better. I think what makes it so good is that it isn't a powder it is actual shavings of dark chocolate and peppermint and it even comes in a cute little tin. Oh I can't wait until tonight once the girls are in bed I am totally making myself a big cup!