Baby Envy

All my (kid) life I wanted a Baby Alive doll. So, so much. Each and every time I was told no. Actually I was told, "I don't need one more thing that eats or shits in this house." So since Baby Alive both eats AND shits, I was out of luck.

Call it mellowing, or call it payback, my mom bought Janey and my niece Eliza a Baby Alive this Christmas.

They we so EXCITED!!

The next day Janey poked me awake at the crack of dawn to see if we could feed her.

Both she and Julian were fascinated by the fact that she was REALLY eating.

Then they couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Oh, the horror!!

This is their favorite part of feeding her! Goofy, goofy girls!

Winner!

The Christmas Elf has come to share some good news! WE HAVE A WINNER!

I had Elf Julian write down the entries. Two for everyone who guessed right.

And a lot of you did guess right! It was snow on my gutter.

With the snow storm we had lots of drifting snow that made for some cool photos.

We also have icicles everywhere.

All the entries ready to go. I could have used random.org, but this was much more fun!

Elf Janey got to pick the winner.

And the winner is....

The SILVA'S! Megan, send me an email and I will get it right out to you!

Yippee!! A CONTEST!

Ok, my first contest. I know you just can't stand the excitement! I will be giving away one child of your choice a $25 Target gift card to one lucky winner! All you have to do is guess what this picture is.Anyone who guesses, gets an entry. Those who guess correctly get TWO. Contest will end midnight December 23 EST. Winner will be drawn sometime on Christmas Eve between cooking, wrapping, cleaning, and trying to buy Valium on the street corner. Good luck, and good guessing!

Snow, snow, and more SNOW!!!

Oh, this is gonna be a good Winter!

Again, for me, not Steve the snow grinch.

Today the news dubbed this "The Blizzard of '09".

We have had a great day. Making Christmas cookies. Reading books.

Playing out in the snow until I had some little frozen snowkids.


Shoveling, shoveling, and more shoveling.


The new puppy, Roxy, loves the snow too!



She has had great fun playing outside with Algae, who was glad he did not have to go to work today.


Thankfully Steve DID go to work. And brought home the snowblower too!

And after it is all said and done, a nice nap.

And enjoying the snow from INSIDE the warm house.

PS- The first picture of my patio umbrella was taken about 6 hours earlier. Now the snow is up to the metal joint!!! Yay! I *heart* snow!

Let it Snow!

We got out first real snowfall last week. I love, love, love snow.

My husband does NOT. Not even a little.

There is nothing like waking up and seeing everything icing covered and beautiful.

The snow motivated me to get moving on Christmas decorating and baking.

Pictures to come soon. Not only for your viewing pleasure, but to prove I am not lying!

Hoping for a white Christmas. We had one a few years ago, so I think we are due.

Also hoping for LOTS of lazy snow days this winter. Sorry, honey.

Dog Days

Last weekend was a bad one. Steve's first border collie, Moss had a stroke on Sunday. Moss was 14 and not in the best health. He had worked hard up until last year when we retired him due to arthritis. We put him to sleep on Monday. He lived a good, long life.



Monday we all stayed up late to watch the Raven's lose. Tuesday morning came too soon and we were all tired and running late. When I went to let Lucille out of her cage it was apparent there was something drastically wrong. She was non-responsive, and her cage was covered in blood. This was a dog who was perfectly fine the night before.
Steve ran up to the school to get Tucker (she is his dog). Within 15 minutes of finding her we were at the vet. She died minutes later. We are not sure why. Probably complications from her stomach issues from a few years ago.

Moss was old. Circle of life, and all that crap. Lucy was not old, not sick, and this has kneecapped all of us.

My house is too quiet.
I walk the girls to school, and open the back door to feed Lucy.
I come in from shopping and hear her quickly jump off the chair; her nails click-clacking on the wood floors.
I see her waiting patiently to go outside.


She is under my feet as I cook, waiting for me to drop something.
On cold, gloomy days we sneak a nap in the morning. Me on the sofa. Lucille on the back of the sofa keeping watch out the window.
As I work on the computer she lays under the table and I scratch her with my feet.



When I make school lunches Lucy runs in as soon as she hears me get the bread out. She knows she always get the ends of the loaf.
When Steve comes home from work, she joyfully greets him. If he does not respond quickly enough, Lucy will grab his pants.
She sits on command and gives you one paw, then the other, and the other, back and forth as long as you will let her.


Lucy may only weigh 17 lbs, but she kick's Algae's butt! They run through the house like crazy kids. Lucille always wins. She cheats a little, because she stand on the sofa to get to Algae.
She is a big dog in a little body.
And she should still be here.

I have no answers for myself or my kids. One thing I do have is great family and friends. My mom sent flowers, goodies, balloons, and some cute stuff. The delivery man put on a good face, despite my puffed up face and snotty nose.
Lisa and Zach dropped off Pumpkin bread and a sweet note.
Sigrid made us dinner-mac and cheese, salad and brownies.
So many sent kind words and hugs via email and facebook.
It helped so much.

Tis the Season!

So, I have all my shopping done. Just finished decorating the trees, and my presents are all wrapped underneath them. It is so pretty at night with all my outdoor lights lit, and the cookies and goodies make my house smell soooo yummy.

Ummmm...yeah. Okay. Back to the real world. Where VERY LITTLE of that is actually true. Well, none of it is, if you MUST know!

I did have time for an easy craft. I found it in a magazine the other day when I was lucky enough to spend all day in doctors waiting rooms for one thing and another.

Take your old bits of broken up crayons and take the paper off.

Put them in a silicone baking pan. You can use any shape. I happened to find this one in the dollar aisle at Target. Similar ones were $10, so trees it was.

Put in the oven at 400 degrees until liquefied (about 5 minutes). I've never used silicone baking pans before, and I DID put them on a baking sheet. The silicone was much too flimsy.

While I am sure it would be VERY amusing to watch me jumping around with hot wax all over, I opted out of that step!

Cool, and pop out of mold.

Magic- NEW CRAYONS! If you mix a bunch together, they will come out rainbow-y. Janey wanted to sort them into similar colors. So we did.

Thankful

I am Thankful. Thankful for this family of mine.

Thankful for my husband who is most times,

the only thing that holds me together.

Thankful for Teddy, and his goofiness.

His ability to make me laugh.

Thankful for Tucker and his sense of humor.

His laugh is one of my favorite sounds.

Thankful for Julian and her inquisitive mind.

Her enthusiasm and ideas.

Thankful for Janey and her silly ways.

Her faces and expressions crack me up.

This is all I need, this family of mine.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Tag!

Jennifer tagged me for a 5 things MeMe. Since I am totally procrastinating working my way through my to do list, I thought it was a great idea!!

5 Things Meme

5 Things I was Doing 10 years Ago
1. Being a mom to my first daughter. Actually her two brothers wouldn't leave her alone, and the only time I got her to myself was to feed her! And when she woke up in the middle of the night.
2. Settling in to our new house STILL. Actually, I feel like I am, even NOW, still getting stuff done that was on my initial to do list!
3. Trying to get ready for the holidays on little to no sleep.
4. Getting to know my new, improved sister
5. Going to my 10 year reunion. Right after giving birth.

5 Things On My To-Do List Today
1. Empty cat boxes. It has actually been on my list for a week. I love it so much, that I keep moving it to the bottom. NOW it is mandatory. And for those who wonder, NO, I can't get the boys to do it. They do SUCH a horrible job, I have to not only redo them, but clean the entire bathroom. I know they planned it that way, and let me tell you...it worked.
2. Make my christmas list. Preferably without having a panic attack.
3. Laundry. Wash. Dry. Fold. Put away. Repeat. All day. Every day.
4. Find an outfit for my 20 year reunion. This will require alcholic fortification, so I should put it last.
5. Take a nap. I only added this once I woke up and saw what a crappy, rainy, cold day it was.

5 Snacks I Love
1. Rice crackers and cream cheese
2. Popcorn
3. Apples and peanut butter
4. Pistachios
5. Gushers

5 Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire:
1. Pay off our house
2. College funds for the kiddies
3. Buy a beach house (although, I might need more than a million!)
4. Secretly mail $ to people in need. Real need.
5. Make a donation to family members. With the SIGNED stipulation they NEVER ask for money again.

5 Jobs I’ve Had
1. Kennel worker at a vet/boarding kennel. Scooped shit, cleaned cages, bathed animals (alive and dead), helped at appointments, and more. Loved it.
2. Nanny. For years, and many different kids. Got to go to cool places, and do all the fun, creative stuff that comes when you actually have energy!
3. Worked in an insurance company. Doing the most boring stuff on earth. So boring you felt like you would die. So boring I fell asleep standing up. So boring I considered selling an organ for cash. Did I mention it was boring?!?
4. Cleaned houses
5. Stay at home mom. The job is great, but the pay sucks!

So now I get to tag 5 people. Fill out your MeMe, and have Fun!! I guess I also have to tackle my to do list now......

I tag:
Deb
Anemone Pie
Sandgroper
Kristin
Falk Family

Squirrely Boy

Ever since forever Teddy has loved squirrels. Love, love, loved them. He has stuffed squirrels, Tshirts, figurines..you name it.

The first time Steve and I went to New York City, I was amazed at the tameness of the squirrels in Central Park. I called Teddy to tell him I had taken a picture of Daddy petting one.

He hung up on me.

Years later Teddy and I went to the Central Park Zoo where he spent much time trying, and finally succeeding in getting a squirrel to eat from his hand. Yes. We have pictures. And video.

Over the years we have trained various squirrels to come to the kitchen window for nuts. This is yet another thing that makes Steve crazy!!

Teddy and I were on the way to my mom's the other day. A very strange animal darted across the road. I had NO idea what it was.

I didn't know WHAT it was, but whatever it was....I had just run it over .

Ick and Ugh. I save animals. And find them. And help them. I don't run them over!!! So, guilt ridden, I turned the car around. When I got back to the scene of the crime, the poor (already) tail-less squirrel was laying in the road. Twitching. I did what anyone would do under those circumstances....(drove off) scooped him up and put him in my brand new car.

By some weird act of (irresponsibility) luck, I had my camera in the car. And a sleeping bag!!

See honey, my car is NOT a mess! This stuff comes in handy.

I wrapped Squirrely up and was sad to see the labored breathing, blood, and lack of response. After we were done at my mom's I checked on him again.

(And, yes, I DID have fleeting thoughts that he might escape into my car.

BUT...he's almost dead, remember??)

Except, he's not. Dead. And he's not so stunned anymore either. In fact, he is now a plain old everyday wild animal.

In. my. car.

Much to the FURIOUSITY of my oldest son, we decided to let him go. We drove back to the scene of the crime, with Teddy bitching the WHOLE way.

I was ruining his dream. A fox would eat Squirrely. He would jump in the stream and drown. Ummm...someone needs to tell Teddy he is 17.

When it came time for the release, Teddy refused. On the grounds it was aiding and abetting the ruination of his lifelong dream to be a squirrel owner.

We released our now lucid friend back onto the side of the street he was headed towards.

We watched his tail-less little self run off happily into the woods.

Where a hawk flew down and killed him. KIDDING on the hawk!