I love the weekend

I have not even had the computer on all weekend---wow! We have been busy. What have we been up to?

Friday morning we had an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor for Abby. It seems she needs tubes for her ears. I think it will help her but I hate to think about her having a surgery, even if it is minor. They scheduler was out of the office and will call this week but I'd guess it would be sometime in the next few weeks.

Friday evening we went to a longtime family friend's party. It was funny because Maria and I have been friends about as long as I have been friends with anyone and here we were at her house with our own children running around. It was great and the kiddos got along well. Her daughter, Erin, is a year and a little bit older than Madelyn and her son, Colby, is 2 weeks younger than Abigail. Colby was very interested in Abby--he grabbed her hand and tried to kiss her right away. Abigail gave him "the hand" but after a while she warmed up to him.

Post-party on Friday I finished Abigail's 1st year scrapbook. It is a huge accomplishment. It turned out to be 3 pages (6 sides) longer than Madelyn's. I hope they do not hold that against me someday. After finishing it, it was hard to go to sleep even though it was 1:30ish but that made it hard the next morning when...

On Saturday morning Madelyn and I went to a soccer birthday party. She was a natural--sort of. She rushed onto the field and took off with the ball. It was very cute to see 3-year-olds "playing" soccer. Of course I revved up and kicked the ball as hard as I could and the dumb thing hit the pole and came flying back at me. Some soccer experience I have!

Saturday evening we had a "princess playdate" of sorts because our friends/neighbors, Alexa and Jilly, received princess wigs for Christmas and invited us over to play. Madelyn called the wigs "wiggles" but was quite excited to really look like Belle with the dress and the hair.

Today we decided definitely yes on the gym and now we are all officially members....two adults and two junior members. Here's to a healthy 2008!

A funny thing about....

...Madelyn: She likes to play hide-and-seek but she has not completely grasped the concept...she thinks if she cannot see you, you cannot see her. Therefore the other day when she was playing hide-and-seek with my friend Maria's daughter Erin I watched her "hide" by sticking her head under a blanket.

...Abigail: She calls everything "a ball" these days. Not just "ball" but "a ball." It's really cute and she says it quite well. That must be her favorite word.

...Madelyn: She likes to have imaginary conversations on her cell phone. She pauses for the "other person to talk" and everything. Oh yeah. The other day she had a nice conversation with Cinderella, who was at the ball of course. She asked Cinderella if she could talk to the prince...waited a few minutes and then talked to him. It's hysterical and really quite polite.

...Abigail: She is into everything and gets so mad if you put a gate up (even if you are on the same side right next to her---she just hates the idea of being penned in.) But when she is not all upset she will just wander around and check things out, often with her hands folded behind her back like she is on a nice afternoon stroll.

...Madelyn: She says "sorry 'bout that" all the time....and often when she really does not need to be sorry (like if she drops something by accident) but never when she really should be sorry (like when she pushes her sister.)

...Abigail: She sleeps with her feet crossed at the ankle, just as she was one time during an ultrasound before she was born.


Kids are funny and they do things that amuse us all the time. I just have to be better about remembering them especially on the days that they are driving me crazy!

The fine art of putting stuff away

We are still putting things away. In fact this is a nightly ritual (a highly annoying ritual at that!)but it is magnified with all the new toys. It makes me wonder can we really be taking stuff out at a higher ratio than putting things away? It honestly seems as if things multiply. Arranging the kitchen is actually still a highlight. After a rousing playdate here today I put things back together multiple times throughout the day. Tonight I arranged little potholders on the handles of the kitchen doors. Kevin pondered how long it would take for those to be flung across the room in the morning.....and for the produce to be mixed in with the other food items that were so carefully segregated. His guess is 6 minutes (from the time they enter the room). At what age do children get the sense of order?...though they may never get my sense of order which is fairly particular at times.

A Christmas to Remember

Whoa, did Santa ever stop here! We have been so busy playing with all our new toys. It has been hard to pull the kids away to do anything like leave the house or go to bed. One may even wonder if some of the toys are for Mommy. Even after Madelyn said, "I'm done, Mommy" I continued to play with the dress up dolls. And the kitchen they got from their grandparents truly is a dream kitchen. Now that they are in bed, I can play with it...ahem, I mean clean it up. Seriously this was a really FUN Christmas for all of us.

Good thing we have the minivan because we added some more little girls to the family: three new baby dolls! I must have been quite a sight at the mall today with my two plus their well dressed baby dolls and mini-strollers. (Now that they each have baby doll strollers hopefully there will be less fighting in the house now!) Thank heavens Nana met us there so I had an extra handle to corral the troops in the crowds.

We really needed nothing for Christmas but we received so many wonderful and fun gifts this year...now we just have to find the perfect place for everything. We should be entertained for days and days with all the great toys and games.

It was a wonderful Christmas filled with time with family (at a delicious brunch at Jason and Kelly's and then relaxing afternoon and magnificent dinner at Mom and Dad's) and memories to treasure the whole year through.

Apparently I took over 50 photos! Go figure! (These kids are cute.) But here are just a few to sum up our holiday.

Opening gifts....

...and opening.....
Bags crafted by Aunt Deb
This girl loves boxes!

Ta-da.....your brand new dream kitchen!
Abby was pleased....so was Madelyn (she jumped up and down) but was too busy playing to pose
Family photo on Christmas morning (post gift opening)
Christmas Day at Nana and Pop's
Aunt Kelly and Madelyn put together this adorable gingerbread cottage---too pretty to eat?

Christmas Eve

Though I am no longer a child I still revel in the fact that today is Christmas Eve. It just makes me feel so happy. The Eve of anything whether it is a weekend, a birthday or Christmas is just filled with anticipation and I love it.

Today is filled with treat after treat for the senses: see all the presents wrapped under the tree, smell the dinner cooking in the oven, taste the yummy cookies (those that are still left that is!), feel the hugs from the family and hear the Christmas music playing in the background.

We made a paper chain that contained a special thing for each day of December. Now that chain is on to the very last link. There has been so much leading up to this day--all the baking, shopping, card-addressing, photo-taking, wrapping....but now everything is all finished and we can sit back and enjoy.

I especially cannot wait for tomorrow morning when the children open their gifts. I know they do not fully "get it" this year. They will wake up I am sure at their normal time instead of extra early to open their gifts. But this may be the last year for that as I am sure next year Madelyn will be fully on to the magic of Christmas. But this is the first year we have some traditions that will last perhaps our lifetime.

Wherever you are and whatever your traditions will be this Christmas, may it be bright and merry and filled with happy memories.

Merry Christmas!

They say it's your birthday....

We are all in for a very rude awakening when we go back to eating well again. We sure will miss all the cake for dessert. But we can't have a birthday celebration without cake and today we celebrated my mom's birthday. Typically for her birthday we do it up in the morning, go out for lunch and then see a movie. Then the evening is on to Christmas Eve. Well today we had a little party here--complete with balloons, decorations, lunch and of course cake and gifts. Hope you had a happy birthday, Mom!

Christmas Card Could-have-beens

Here are a few Christmas card photo attempts...have I mentioned how hard of a time I have photographing them? No one likes to sit just right for Mommy! But, hey, we gave it a go and no one got hurt (except the red lollipop that met an unexpected fate at the hands of a certain 15-month old.)




This was going to be my sentiment on the card: May visions of sugar plum fairies dance in your heart this Christmas.....
(I cannot get enough of that EBK tutu Madelyn is wearing---I had to work it in to the Christmas card.)







And my personal fav. (that did make it in the card!):

Sweet as a Candy Cane

Abby has discovered the candy cane and she is a fan! We had to chase her around the house to get it out of her hands. Then she'd find another one.... We barely even let Madelyn have a candy cane (due to my extreme fear of choking---you know how I cut up their blueberries sometimes!) and here is little Abby running around the house with a candy cane. Second child. But honestly she still is not feeling totally up to par so if a little sugar boosts her spirits, okay.

Wacky Wednesday

Today felt like Friday all day. I guess it was because my mom had the day off and we went to the mall---something we sometimes do on her usual days off. She and Madelyn stayed and went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Apparently Madelyn cried at the end because she did not want to leave the movie "feeater." Kevin and I were talking about it and I think she has seen as many movies in the "feeater" this year as we have! How funny. But she seems to be into the movies. Abby came home for a much needed long nap but someday she will be into the movies too. Maybe. That girl does not sit still for much. Not even our old pal, Elmo.

Speaking of our favorite red monster, I kind of miss him. Madelyn was SO into Elmo for a while. I never minded the high-pitched voice or the dancing, giggling toys. But today as I read Abby an Elmo book at bedtime I had this feeling like when you have a friend that you have not been in touch with for a long time. We watch less TV (and less Sesame Street) with all of our activities. We need to catch up, Elmo. Maybe the day will come when Abigail will be his #1 fan and Elmo will be back. But for now the Princesses and Dora rule.

I so should be in bed right now. Kevin is out of town again and I am procrastinating going up. Seriously I have cleared out my e-mail inbox which is rarely down to just a handful of messages. I get an eery feeling from turning off the lights and going upstairs in a quiet house. The radiators don't clink and clunk but they do make noises that I never hear when he is here. Weird! But we are safe and sound and have family and neighbors right around the corner.

Tough year for toys

There were so many recalls on toys this year. Not just the dollar store-type toys that you know are a bit suspect but Fisher Price and Thomas? Click here for a comprehensive list of all the recalled toys, courtesy of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and make sure you don't have any in your house.

Make me feel like dancin'

I am still melting. Madelyn had an open house at her ballet class tonight so we got to sit in on a class and see what they do each week. It was probably the most adorable thing I have seen in my life so far. Exactly how you would imagine: little girls who are easily distracted contorting their legs and feet in all different directions, tongues out as they concentrate, waving to parents and grandparents, collapsing in laughter, singing, twirling.....

Madelyn was clearly the youngest in the class but they all did great! That teacher is really something to teach those busy little girls. I can see how they lose their focus so easily. But they sure stay active! That is a very full class of cute songs and ballet poses. I think they are even learning a bit of French!

Unfortunately my video camera was not working but I captured video and still photos on the camera. I am still working on uploading the video. Seriously if you see these girls dancing to this "Daisy" song you will melt too. Or maybe that is just the talk of a too proud parent. If I get this excited over an open house, imagine how I will be at the recital in the Spring.

I will not be a stage parent, I will not be a stage parent, I will not be a stage parent...... :)

Tiny Ballerina:

Madelyn's friend, Mary, was a total ham throughout the show---adorable!!!

All together now....

Strike a pose....

On their tippy toes, tippy toes..... (it got a little wild)

Checking out their stickers at the end of class:

All this and dinner (with Nana and Pop) at McDonald's? We should all have pleasant dreams.

Illness report

As you can see from the birthday weekend photos Madelyn was still battling her cold though she is definitely on the mend. Poor little Abby started up with the cold over the weekend and was quite miserable to say the least. You could tell she wanted to enjoy the festivities but just could not fully be her jovial self. A visit to the pediatrician today (seriously we need our own room there!) confirmed she has yet another double ear infection. Poor baby! We did not meet with our regular doctor but the one we did see said her charts shows 4-5 ear infections in the last 6 months. Yikes. I knew it seemed like a lot but that really is a lot. He definitely recommended a visit with an ENT. Gulp. We will see what our doctor says. We just can't keep going on like this though....

Ode to a 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe it can finally be
The day that my little girl turns three.
Her big day has now come and gone
But the sugar high seems to live on.

We started with cookies on Friday night
Four of her friends came over much to her delight.
Sprinkles were flying as the girls frosted with glee
Licking the spoons as fast as could be.

Then Saturday was the day to her we never said no
Cookies for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, sure, have a go.
Saturday night it was pizza with the family at CiCi's
If it were my birthday I would have chosen ChiChi's.

Madelyn received some of the greatest gifts she could ever dream
Lots of fun things to keep her busy it would seem
So now that celebrations have come to an end
Here's a photos from the weekend that I wanted to send.

3rd Annual Birthday Weekend is almost here....

Well I think we are ready for Madelyn's birthday weekend! Tomorrow is her last day of school (we decided not to renew with the same class in the Spring.) It is the holiday party but I also wanted to bring a special birthday snack in her honor. So I made rice krispies with gingerbread man sprinkles.

Then the cookie party is tomorrow night. I am so glad I kept it simple and just invited four of her "girlfriends" and their moms who are my friends. Chick-Fil-a, princess, cake and making/decorating cookies....can't beat that! Hopefully I will have some good photos to share.

Saturday morning we are going to the MOPS Happy Birthday Jesus party and then in the evening we are going out to Madelyn's choice of dinner--CiCi's Pizza--with Nana, Pop, Glamma, Grandpa, Jason and Kelly. I swear we were willing to spring for more than $4.99 a person (kids are free!) but she has insisted for months that is where she wants to go. Okay, birthday girl. My friends say to relish this for one day her birthday party will cost hundreds.

Bring on the fun! I'll report back on Monday.

Just an idea

Dear Santa,

We have been good girls this year (mostly.) We'd be happy if all you bring us is a couple of cardboard boxes because as you can see we can have HOURS of fun with a simple box.

Thank you!

Love,
Madelyn and Abigail

Bam!

I think I have officially hit a wall. Hopefully a good night's sleep will do me good. I had a great day at MOPS and have a special poem I am just too tired to type right now. But I will. I did finish my baking though--yay! One more thing done but then the Christmas cards arrived. I really do love these holidays.

Poor little Madelyn is sick. She was very "runny" today--yech. She seemed okay for MOPS but after her nap she clearly was not up for ballet so we skipped that and opted for hanging out, watching Cinderella on the couch. I hope she feels better by the weekend. Either way she will probably have a red nose from all the nose blowing--just like last year! 'Tis the season.

Running around day

Ok I feel bad. We ran around pretty much all day (except for nap time which I would have continued to go but you know....naps are good.) This morning as we left to go to the monthly craft I coordinate for MOMS Club when Madelyn said, "But I want to stay here and play!" Me too, honey. You can imagine how annoyed I was when only one person ended up showing up and she was not even one of the five that had RSVP'd. Grrrr. People! We are all busy, no one could spare a second to call me? Oh well at least someone showed up. But since we had things to do we crafted for a little bit and got on with things.

Christmas errands are taking a brief hiatus and we are focusing on the birthday errands like ordering the cake and scoping out the food. We had a reconnaissance mission to Chick-Fil-a. Madelyn said, "okay, but no cow?" (The last time we went the mascot a huge cow in a Santa suit was trolling.) Oh no, I told her, the cow only works nights. Well wouldn't you know it that dang cow was there and right in front of the door. Right in front of the door! She changed her mind, with eyes covered, she said, "No, I don't want to go!" Well it was a little after noon, Abby was hungry and fading and we were already half out of the car. I had to go for it. Thank you God, the cow moved over to the drive-thru. We booked it and tried to get in before he came back around. But cars were zooming through the parking lot and I got caught up. Just then the Santa cow rounds the corner and there he is, larger than life. To be honest I was a little scared. "Nice cow, nice cow" and through gritted teeth---"Back off buster! They are scared." Then inside there was another cow--dressed in a hockey jersey maybe? Then Santa cow walks in and starts a fight/dance/show? with Hockey cow. My children are staring not sure if they should cry or not. In fact more people in the restaurant seemed to be watching them to see what they would do. "Nice cow, Nice cow..." Can't a couple girls just enjoy a nice lunch? Luckily (the fear perhaps?) they ate a very good lunch which is really something unusual lately, for Madelyn anyway.

This week is the big week though because so many things are coming to an end. The first of which is MOPS tomorrow. I was joking with a friend of mine that I rented a U-Haul for all the things I need to take to the meeting tomorrow: gifts, nativity set, more gifts, lunch item for the MOPPETS workers and yes, more gifts and cards. I am looking forward to it though and I hope the girls are feeling up to it. Madelyn seems to have caught another cold so she has a raspy voice and runny nose. No fever, no yellow discharge and she seems relatively normal but still, why this week????

So now the kiddos are in bed, Kevin is out shopping and I have to get to wrapping and packing the car for tomorrow morning. Really! And maybe to bed at a decent hour tonight.

The Christmas Season in Full Tilt

Note: Another Daddy Posting....

Today was a day for both multi-tasking and family holiday time. The day started as most Sundays do -- going to church. Madelyn and Abigail were perfect angels, from paying attention to the readings to the after-mass activity of bringing our "Giving Tree" gifts up to the altar. While giving, we visited with our friends, the McMahons, who are neighbors here in Catonsville.

Then it was time for some holiday fun. Jessica got in a work-out, did a little shopping and got to work on making 10 dozen cookies for the neighborhood cookie exchange. Meanwhile, I took the girls to Arlington to attend a Christmas party thrown by one of my co-workers, Danielle. Madelyn and Abigail had a great time decorating cookies, making a craft and playing with the seven other kids in attendance. They also had fun playing, reading books and getting out the Thomas trains. All in all a fun excursion. Since this was a late morning activity, we pushed naps a bit; Madelyn recovered, but Abby decided that the 20 minutes in the car was plenty for her to last the day...yikes!

After dinner we gather together to trim the tree, which was not gloriously displayed in the living room. The girls wore these super-cute pj's to commemorate the occasion. We had planned to get a smaller tree this year, but it was only slightly smaller than the one we have used (artificial) the last two years. As we were donning the tree with ornaments we realized how many extras we soon would have. We thought it would not be an issue until Madelyn confided in me that we had too many ornaments and she started pulling them off. We removed a few, but you can see for yourself.

O Christmas Tree

Santa's workshop just closed for the night but I cannot miss an opportunity to blog about our day. The holiday fun continues.

Today we went to a tree farm to find our Christmas tree. It was very Griswold, with a few less fiascos. As we pulled into the farm's lot I started to think this was a bad idea. Taking to small children to a place that has lots of mud and saws? Well we were all about capturing just the right family memory so we gathered our tree cart and into the 'woods' we went.

It's a funny thing, finding your tree. You find one and then the one down there looks better...oh no, wait, the one over there looks better....maybe that one.... Madelyn said, "Cut this one Daddy!" over and over again. Until finally we found our tree.

Kevin cut it down in no time:



Madelyn, the tree hugger:
The girls were in awe of the tree cleaning (ie. shaking) and baling process. Kevin got it all set up so it is ready for decorating tomorrow.

We went to a party today also. It was a lot of fun since it was a college friend of mine, Natalie, who was hosting an open house in her new home. It is gorgeous! It was so fun to see some my college pals. As Michelle said, so much has changed but yet as we sat there chatting it seemed like no time had passed. That is good friends (and KD sisters!)

Getting in the spirit

Wow! We sure had a day of holiday fun. It started with a visit by Nana and Pop who brought red and green donuts! They were on their way to to Green Bay, WI where they will attend the Packers game this weekend. Hope they dress warmly....brrrrrr.

Then we met up with several members of Madelyn's class at the train garden in the mall. What a display! There was something for everyone. Our favorite area of course was the princess section. But we also saw ice skaters, hot air balloons, Christmas trees, all kinds of characters.....oh and trains too! This display features doorbell kind of buttons around the display so the kids can really make things whirl and twirl. Fun, fun, fun!

Then tonight after dinner we went to see Santa. He has a house at theCatonsville fire house. Madelyn was all for it. Just mentioning it she jumped up and ran for paper and crayons to make her list. I knew she would not go near the man in red but I took my camera just in case. Of course as soon as she saw him through the little window of his house she said, "I am not getting out of the car! You go, Mama." We did talk her into putting her letter in the mailbox though.

Abby, thought about visiting Santa but when the time came....Noooooo waaaaay!
This was Madelyn's comfort level--taking a photo of Santa.

Of course as soon as we left she was all, "Oooh Santa is great! I love Santa!" Very funny. As much as I would totally love a photo for the two of them (Or just one of them even!) grinning from ear to ear on Santa's lap, it;s certainly not worth the price in therapy later in life. Our day will come...one of these years!

The holiday fun continued when we returned home and turned ourselves into elves, virtually speaking. This is hysterical, check it out here and then go ahead and make an elf of yourself too. It is good for a laugh. Kevin can tell you. I was laughing so hard I could not speak to tell him why I was laughing.

Now I am off to watch Frosty with Kevin and Madelyn (who is up past her bedtime.) Ahhh, the holidays!