Christmas time

Okay, I say Christmas is my least favorite season, but it's mostly because of the commercialism of Christmas and how impatient people get. If I can spend time with my family and stay away from the mall this time of year, I love it! So far, I have been able to do that. I have one more thing to get each of the girls and then I'm done.

I love the Christmas movies. I have DVR'd Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch (animated), and now Shrek the Halls. Did anybody else watch that? I thought it was hilarious and can't wait to watch it again. I will probably delete them after Christmas, but the girls and I enjoy watching them in the evening. I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone the other night about all the Christmas movies, including Ralphy, It's a Wonderful Life and so on, and Taylor comes out with, "Can we watch Polar Express? It's a Christmas movie." I was impressed she knew to associate it with Christmas and so now I think we may have a new tradition. I think the movie is cute and all, but we'll probably have to watch it every day from now until February because Taylor has a habit of becoming addicted to movies, especially that one.

It's funny how I really never got into Christmas too much and always thought the gift giving was such a hassle and now I've gotten into the holiday spirit this year! I guess kids have a funny way of changing you!

I have to tell you all that yesterday was my dad's birthday. I did call and wish him a happy birthday, but I meant to give him a shout out on here and never got around to it. Sorry Dad!

Today is my older sister's 30th birthday! I used to love teasing her when she was about 26, that she was getting close to 30 and I still had way more years than her to go. Not so funny anymore! Happy birthday Alissa!

I am officially the worst mother!

I was changing Callee's clothes last night into her jammies and she started to scoot off my lap. I put up my hand to catch her (I didn't want her falling) and she lunged forward at the same time. My thumb nail scratched her bottom eyelid pretty bad and she has a little bruise (aka - black eye!) What kind of mother gives their baby their very first black eye? I am terrible.

On a whole different note, the girls and I had a great evening last night, until Taylor had to go to bed and didn't want to. We were done with dinner early, because I made scrambled eggs and sausage, it didn't take too long. This is what happens when you forget to thaw anything! We colored, watched some TV, played and ran around like crazy. Callee went to bed at 8:00. Not only is she teething, but she is hitting a growth spurt too and that makes for one sleepy little baby! I tried putting Taylor to bed at 9:00, but she actually didn't get up again after 10:30 so she went to bed really late! I tried telling her last night she wasn't going to want to get up for school today, and what happened? She was a bear to wake up! I did make her go though, even though I felt bad, like I should keep her home.

I got to watch my friend Jenn's baby girl. She is the chubbiest 5 month old ever! I absolutely love chubby babies, however, I've never really had one. I told Jenn to leave her at my house because she had some running around to do and Addison was being fussy. She left her and I think she was lying about her. She was not fussy unless Callee was in her face. She just sat there so content and looking around. She is such a good baby!

That was my Monday evening followed by not getting to bed until late! Hopefully it will be an earlier night tonight. I hope everyone has a great day!

Blah Blah Blogging

I hope every one's Thanksgiving was good. We watched the Macy's parade and then headed out to family's houses. We started at my mother in law's which was fun and the food was yummy. We drew names for our Secret Santa exchange and then let the kids play for a while. We all had a good time, but then it was time to head to my mother's. We ate more there (wonderful food) and then played games. Unfortunately the boys (Mike, Josh and CJ) won, but my mom and I don't care we know we're better anyway. We played Scene It Friends edition, they got lucky! A better post on Monday!

What a night

First of all, let me address the whole couch thing. Taylor and I think it is more of a green color and Mike and my mom swear it's blue. My brother said to me last night, in the picture it looks green, but at your house it's blue. So I guess I won in pictures, but at home...who knows! I still think it's green.

Last night I was sitting there watching TV at 10:30 when I got a call from a blocked number. I only have two people who call from a blocked number and neither of them usually call that late. I answered and it sounded like my friend Jenn. I said, "Hey what are you doing?" and the voice on the other end said, "This is you sister!" Oops!

"I need you to come pick me up."

"Where are you?"

"Home, but the air is no longer in my tires and I have no way out."

"I'm on my way."

I called my little sister so I didn't have to drag my kids out of bed and I hurried over there not knowing what to expect. Just my sister, niece, and nephew were there and they were packed and ready to go. I brought them back to my house where they will stay for a while. I confess to being torn about this. I love the idea of living with my sister again. I lived with her until my nephew was 2 and I loved being around them all the time. The only problem is, I now have a husband and add 2 more kids to that mix! My house is going to be crazy for a little while and I will embrace every minute of it.

I have realized through all of this how lucky I am. Mike never asked, "Can't they go somewhere else?" or "We really don't have the room." I apologized to him and his response was, "Don't be. She is your sister and we will do what we have to for however long. Our house won't be clean for quite a while though." I think I just fell in love all over.

O-H...........I-O

It was a busy weekend again, but it actually felt like I had a weekend, which was nice. Friday night the girls and I hung out at Kara and Jason's house so Taylor and Makayla could play. We ended up going to the mall to get a few things and we actually found a new Mr. Bunny (which is now a green bear!) For any of you who didn't know, Taylor has had the softest stuffed bunny since she was a baby. She has had to take it everywhere with her and it started to look pretty gross over the years. She lost it about 3 weeks ago and has been devastated. We have looked for a replacement one, but nothing seems as soft or as good as Mr. Bunny. We were at JC Penney Friday night and there was a big rack of stuffed animals. I happened to see a green one (Taylor's favorite color) and went over to touch it, low and behold it felt just like Mr. Bunny used to feel before he was drug through the mud and dirt! She was so happy to have her new playmate. Here is a picture of Taylor with her new bear.She drives Mike crazy with it because even though he is a bear, she still calls him Mr. Bunny. I don't see what this is hurting, but it drives Mike absolutely insane.

Saturday was a good day. Mike slept in because he stayed up too late cleaning the toy room and kitchen counter. I got the girls up, breakfast, bathed and we headed out the door to pick up a few things from the store. On our way to the store, we picked up my brother because the girl that works at the grocery store, he has a crush on. He agreed to come home with me afterwards to keep an eye on the girls while I got the food together. I, like other bloggers I have been reading, love fall. I made two pans of lasagna (we were having company) and a crock pot full of chili. I don't like lasagna, because I don't like spaghetti sauce and wouldn't you know, it's my husbands favorite food. So the chili was for me; my brother and dad love it too so my brother took some of it home with him.

Mike's friend is in the air force and stationed in England so we don't get to see him too often. He was home when I had Taylor, he came home right before and spent about a month and a half here, and he came home with his wife in toe on 9/12. We knew we'd see them this weekend we just weren't sure which day. They ended up coming over on Saturday to watch the Ohio State game and my food I made wasn't eaten. We ended up going to eat at Cracker Barrel, they have such good food, I love it. On a whole different note, do not take a one year old when her bed time is in an hour and expect her to be happy. Callee screamed from the second I put her in the chair until I got her out. It was so embarassing because everyone kept staring at us. So if anyone was at the Cracker Barrel we were at on Saturday night, I aplolgize for my child's behavior.

I felt bad for Randy's wife Mai because Taylor kept getting in her face over dinner. She was sitting between Randy and Taylor and Randy kept asking her questions so Taylor would lean over Mai, in her face leaning, and answer his question. That was definately a challenge to try and explain to her that it was rude and you shouldn't do that. In her 3 year old mind, she was being polite by making sure Randy could hear her answer. It was overall not too bad considering the restaurant was crowded and we took three kids ages 5, 3, and 1 with us.

We went back to our house for a little more visiting and then wrapped up the evening. Saturday we are supposed to be going to the football hall of fame, but I think Mike is just going to go with them. They want to leave at 10 and Taylor starts her dance class this week which is from 10:30 - 11:10. I don't think I'll be going, but maybe we can go to the park or something afterwards. It should be another good weekend. Here are some pictures of Saturday. We took the girls to a parade on Sunday, but that will be my blog for tomorrow because it has taken me about 4 hours to do this post because there is a lot going on at work today.

This is Callee when she stole Randy's hat.

Mike, Randy, Mai, and Emma (in her OSU collar.)Callee talking on the phone.

Randy and Callee playing keep away with Callee's jacket!

I have 37,000 (an exaggeration) more pictures of this weekend, but I think I've bored you enough with the pictures.

FLU

I have the flu and I feel like crap. I just want to go home and sleep and am hoping when the other girl gets here maybe I can go home, but that's not until 3. Let's all hope I start feeling better or by some miracle I get to leave soon. I hate being sick and I wanna go home!!!

Guess who's back...

EMMA! We gave Emma to a lady who desperately wanted a small dog as a companion and thought it would be good for her blood pressure about a month ago. Saturday she stopped by our house with Emma in tow and said she couldn't keep her anymore. She asked if we wanted her back or if she should take her to the pound. Well, I must admit I was torn because we got rid of her because Callee is allergic to her, but I also couldn't bear to see her go to the pound. I decided to let her stay and if Callee starts getting sick or rashes again, we will have to find somewhere else for her to go. Emma is just going to have to be bathed all the time to try and keep as much dander off of her as possible.

I think Emma just wanted to come home because the woman was telling me all these horror stories that are just not Emma. She tore up the woman's leather couch and she ripped a hole in the material on her boxspring and climbed up in there. I know Emma is a little hyper and annoying but she has never destroyed anything of ours. I just couldn't believe it. So, now that she is home she spends her days running from Callee. We have not had one single accident, which used to happen often, and her and Mike are getting along which never happened before. The one problem is Callee developed a rash on her belly and chest last night. We don't know if it was from the dog or a heat rash, but we'll have to keep an eye on it.

I don't know if the lady beat Emma or if she just really wanted to come home so that's why she tore stuff up, but that is really out of character for her. She has never damaged a single thing in our home and as rough as the girls are with her, she has never bitten them. She is one of the best dogs I have ever seen around kids, maybe she just doesn't like adults. Hopefully everything continues to go well and Callee's rash was just a heat rash!