Manic Monday #18

This week's MM meme is candle.


Since my kids are so young we have stopped using candles. We used to burn them all the time along with incense but now we rely on the wonderful glow of incandesent bulbs and the natural aroma brewing in our house.


Here's a few pictures of my aroma makers:

Aroma maker #1 a.k.a. The boss

Aroma maker #2 a.k.a. present snatcher

Manic Monday image courtesy of Jannaverse.

Christmas Lights

The little elf helper

Our neighborhood is flooded with Christmas lights. It is super fantastic. Every night we've been going for car rides to look and awe at all the fancy decorations. One house has the best design ever. They live on a corner lot so they have a really long fence. The entire thing is covered with lights. As you approach the front of the house you come face to face with a real life like Santa riding in his sleigh and being pulled by eight moving and blinking reindeer. But that's not all. Then there's a moving Farris wheel that has white bears sitting in the seats, a hot air balloon over their garage door, loads of light up presents, and a ton of other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. In other words, this house rocks. The girls love it and will can't help but drive by it every night.

We've finished our Christmas shopping and have wrapped most of it. Ava is loving the fact that she can get close up to the tree and she comments, "mommy, I see presents." Olivia understands Santa this year so she's been saying her, "ho ho ho's" to all the store Santas. This year the holidays have been so much fun with the girls and seeing it through their perspective.

Thursday Thirteen #18

Thirteen Of My Favorite Christmas Ornaments

1. Our First Pregnancy

2. Olivia's first Christmas

3. Ava's first Christmas

4. Our wedding ornament from Hawaii

5. Another wedding ornament

6. The first ornament Dave and I bought together

7. Maggie Simpson... from before Dave and I met...my childhood

8. Lisa Simpson...another one of mine

9. Dave's favorite sport

10. Dave's favorite Team

11. Lady, our dog is a beagle



12. This is one of the two ornaments that drives Lady crazy.

13. This is the other one. She hates them and barks whenever they sing!

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Wordless Wednesday #21

A girl's best friend





These pictures are for this week's Tuesday and Wednesday's editions of WW.

Fa la la la...

Today Olivia and I decorated our Christmas tree. We had a lot of fun finding limbs that were just right for our ornaments. Ava enjoyed removing all the ornaments faster than we could put them on.

Since the girls are still at the "hands all over the Christmas tree" stage I put all the nicer ornaments on top and down the tree until right above where Olivia could reach. Olivia put the plastic ones right at her level and down to the bottom and all in ONE spot. The tree looks totally lop-sided and uneven and well...perfect for us. Olivia thinks it's beautiful and that's all that matters.



Now notice the big bare spot, otherwise known as the forbidden ornament zone.

Manic Monday #17

This week's MM meme is light.

We had so much fun taking the girls to all of the Halloween functions that I wanted to make sure we would do the same for the Christmas festivities. We went Friday night out to dinner with some friends of ours and then took everyone to a Christmas tree lighting. The girls thought it was awesome and Olivia wanted to do it again. She was pretty perplexed when I explained that they only light the tree once but was happy once I told her we could see a different tree get lit the next day.

Saturday, after our date, we took the girls to the other tree lighting and Santa parade where the girls got to meet a life sized Dora, Rudolf, Santa, and Mrs. Claus. So the life sized Dora did not go over so well with Olivia. She didn't want to get close to her and in the car kept repeating how she didn't like her and wanted to know where she was. I explained that Dora had to go home and go to bed because it was dark outside but that didn't seem to make her feel any better. The next morning Olivia woke up again asking where she was and kept reminding me that she did not like her. OK I got it.

Sunday Dave's football games appeared on the TV. Oh yea. It's fine though. He watched football with the girls and our neighbors came over and we ate and hung out. I didn't have to watch the game so I was happy. It was a fun filled weekend with a lot of stress removed. We eve got the opportunity to set up our Christmas tree too. The girls love the lights and think that the tree is pretty. Not as pretty as my two angels...

Manic Monday image courtesy of Jannaverse.

Ice Skating

Dave and I decided to go ice skating for our anniversary and out to lunch. We had so much fun ice skating. He can actually skate so I held on to his arm and he kinda dragged me around. Then I used the wall for a little bit while he made a couple of laps around the rink. We both agreed we need to have more dates out without the kids especially now that they are big enough that they don't need us to be home for every little thing and we typically go out while they nap anyway. My neighbor takes great care of them and they love her to pieces so it's a real win win situation.

Lunch was great too and we also went shopping. I picked up a sheet to match Olivia's other one, a fluffy, very soft blanket for her bed, and a pair of slippers. Dave found himself a pair of slippers and a pair of pants. It was really nice to be able to walk through the store and hear myself think and have the time to look around without having to entertain someone else. I think after that doctor's appointment and the stress from all of that compiled with the house cleaning and everything else I needed a break and a chance to get out it. I was a perfect outing and anniversary with my hubby.

Then when we got home Dave and I were discussing Olivia's thing and we kinda had a hunch of maybe what she was really doing so I did some Internet investigating and realized that she is perfectly ok. I don't have any worries any longer nor does Dave. Will she out grow it- probably not which is just fine, but she will learn where it is appropriate to do it and where is not. The stress factor has dropped considerably if not totally diminished. It really was a good day all around for EVERYONE.

Our Anniversary...

was complete with cat barf. Who would want to enjoy themselves so much that they wouldn't jump at the chance to clean barf?? Humm.. I wonder.

The actual date was Thursday, December 4 and I spent the day with the kids. Dave had to work late and we had all ready decided to celebrate over the weekend. In turn, I spent the entire day cleaning the house, cleaning the bathrooms, and vacuuming the entire house.

The girls were really great with helping move stuff so the vacuum could get through. They sat on the couch and waited patiently until I was finished. They took their naps right on time which even gave me time to work out. Although I was doing grunt work the day went off without a hitch- almost.

It was around 8 PM and we heard the cat screech. I thought maybe she was locked outside so I got up to look and the dog was jumping all around like, "save my kitty, we have to save her!!!" but alas she was no where to be found. Oh well.

It was time to bring the girls upstairs to get changed for bed and brush their teeth. I was almost done with the day. I envisioned laying in my bed watching all the great Thursday night TV. As we made it to the top stair, I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye what appeared to be something all down the hallway rug that I just vacuumed a few hours before. As I began quietly swearing in my head I quickly walked the girls passed the barf and to the bathroom to have their teeth brushed. When we were finished we quickly walked passed the barf again to their rooms to change and go to bed. This was when I was supposed to be finished...a few hours left to enjoy the anniversary. I guess when you make plans to celebrate on the weekend or a different day, the universe takes note and makes sure you don't try to cheat and get a little extra.

The Doctor's Appointment

We had the follow up appointment for Olivia's "thing" with a child psychologist. First of all I am not good with going to the doctor for myself so it shouldn't be a shocker that I fall apart at her appointment. I think I was so stressed at what "could be" and for how much longer we would be watching her do it that when the doctor asked if we are naturally worriers I began to cry which lasted for the rest of the appointment. Needless to say he did not offer anything different than we all ready knew and was completely perplexed as to why or what Olivia was doing. His piece of advice was to leave it alone and not draw attention to it or she may do it more often.

OK. I can live with that and so can Dave. Liv isn't hurting herself or passing out. We will reevaluate next year and maybe it won't be an issue and if it is then we can try some behavior modification.

Wordless Wednesday #20

Miss Livy made a gingerbread train with her daddy for this week's Tuesday and Wednesday edition of WW.

The Holidays...

are officially here and life is great. The blog has taken a beating though. Every day I think about how I need to get in here and add an update to our lives but time has been flying and we have been so busy that it just has happened.

So here's the lowdown... I think we have officially finished our Christmas shopping minus maybe a few odd and ends that can be bought any time. Olivia's birthday party was great and the neighbor had his birthday party too so the birthday season is winding down somewhat. Thanksgiving was great too. We stayed home and celebrated it with just the girls and it was laid back and easy. Ok so when Ava saw her plate of food she did shove it to the middle of the table and exclaim, "no like it" before she even looked down to eat it but it is what it is. She ended up eating a hot dog and an apple later that night followed by a whole lotta pumpkin pie. Boy did we pay for that the next morning. All in all, the holidays have begun quite nicely and everyone is happy and well.

Dave and I have had the liberty to watch a few movies and catch up on some recorded TV. We have spent a lot of time with the girls since he had several days off. We've been to the park, played with the playdoh, gone to the bouncy house, ate at a few restaurants, and really have enjoyed each other and ourselves with the girls.

We had some friends over for football on Sundays which has been really nice since the girls usually nap through part of the game. I've been reading, something other than blogs, over the past week and been able to soak in the tub without having to work it around a nap schedule. But I have not worked out at all in over a month and it shows. I think I've gained 10 pounds and really need to refocus but I know it will happen when it does.

This week is also our anniversary. Yip 4 years on Thursday. Dave will be working that day so we won't be celebrating on our official day but we will probably make up for it over the weekend. Secretly I am not so sad about it, Thursday is great TV and I'm addicted so it's cool.

Hopefully everyone else out there is having a great holiday season and enjoying themselves too.