Countdown to Christmas

We had a great week before Christmas.  I got a lot done around the house, the girls went to daycare Monday-Wednesday for some of the day, and we got to see family and friends.

There were also some non-fun parts of this week, including vomiting with one child, and a heart-stopping scary choking incident and fever with the other child.  But, we won't elaborate on those. :(

On Thursday, Sydney and I attempted our second-annual gingerbread house.  Things were going well until we actually tried to stand the walls of the house up... that so wasn't going to happen!  So, we just had to improvise.  (note to self- next year, buy the kind that has the house already put together!)

Making the icing.

Decorating the walls.

Our 1 dimensional but super-sweet gingerbread village.

On Friday, my aunt, who lives in Florida, came up for Christmas.  The four of us went to my parents' house to see her (and my parents, of course) to spend some extra quality time with her. 

This year's Christmas festivities were going to be a little different.  My family was going up to Nashville on Christmas day to celebrate with my brother's family, and this was our year to spend it with Stephen's family.  But, we've made a little family rule that we will spend Christmas morning at our house, so the kids can always experience the tree and "Santa" at the same place each year.  We'll be venturing to see Stephen's family a little later.  So, because of that, my parents, aunt, and sister's family got together on Christmas Eve to exchange presents to each other.  We went to my sister's house in Gainesville Saturday morning, where we enjoyed brunch, gifts, and company.

That night, we had plans to go to church and to our neighbor's for our 3rd annual Christmas Eve dinner together.  But, Taylor spiked a fever that morning and wasn't acting like herself.  She had 3 shots 10 days before, and the doctor said to not be surprised if she got a fever in 10-12 days.  This was like clockwork.  However, her class the past week was hit by both the stomach flu and strep, so I didn't want to assume it wasn't contagious.  We didn't go to church, and Stephen and I took turns at dinner, keeping Taylor away from everyone else. :(

Merry Christmas Eve!

My favorite ornament, courtesy of my friend, Sara :)

Making a Santa face.

We left Santa some milk and cookies.  I asked Sydney how many cookies we should leave him, and she thought about it for a minute and said, "... ten!"

To be continued with our Christmas day fun...



O' Christmas Card...

Sending and receiving Christmas cards is one of my favorite holiday traditions.  I can't wait to get to the mailbox to see who has sent us a card, to see pictures of friends and family, and just to sense the holiday cheer.  Thank you to everyone who has sent us a card... they are all up in our house on display!

Most of our picture cards are displayed here.

In regards to our family Christmas card, I did something a little different this year.  Normally, I find a card I like and order the whole bundle that I need... a one-stop shop.  SInce I've gotten into couponing, I check out this website www.southernsavers.com everyday, just to see the latest deals.  When it started getting to be close to Christmas, this website would post deals where you could get a small number of cards for cheap or even free.  Usually, the cards were in quantities of 10.  So, this year, instead of one card that went out to everybody, we had several.

We didn't have any recent family pictures taken, so I pulled from my stash of pictures that I've taken of the girls. 

So, here are all the cards (minus one, didn't keep a copy for myself).  Enjoy!

This ended up being my favorite one.

We got 5 of these for free with our package when we got these pics taken.

It's kind of fun having a variety.  I may do the same next year.  Plus, I saved so much money doing it this way.  Buying and mailing Christmas cards can add up... but it is TOTALLY worth it in my book. :)

The Language of Sydney

Sydney is quite the funny one, and has a wild imagination.  One thing I've noticed is that she says things as she hears them, and doesn't always quite say the word or phrase correctly.  Here are some examples of Sydney-ese.  (Sydney's version is listed first, followed by the translation).

"All the sun"= all of  a sudden
Daddy is "sword" = Daddy is sore
"Monkey Charms" = Lucky Charms
Don't "berrupt" me = Don't interrupt me
"Pretty Sun" = Capri Sun
"Once summa pime" = Once upon a time
"Hold You" (more like hold joo) = Hold me (I'm surprised at how many toddlers say this!)
"phome" = phone
"fra-tend" = pretend
"bike-a-cycle" = bicycle
"Oatmilk" = oatmeal
"Congladulations" = Congratulations
"len-a-mabe" = lemonade
"North Hole" = North Pole
"lissing" = listen
"Rabbit-see" = privacy
"Logan-bill" = Loganville
"Dora Nee-Dee Splorer" = Dora the Explorer
"Binnochio" = Pinnochio

A lot of these things are so cute and I almost don't want to correct her, because a big part of me doesn't want her to grow up!! 

I think this will have to be a running list of things that I will be adding to as I think of other words.  This will be great to look back at, so I won't forget!

That's my girl!  Walking in my... boots?

Picture Wall

One thing I did for both my girls was get pictures done at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.  And by pictures, I just mean the portrait-studio kind... Sears, Portrait Innovations, etc.  I just wanted that plain background, studio-style look to them.  Since Taylor just turned 12 months, we got her picture taken this past weekend.  Here is a glance of the now-completed wall of pictures!

Sydney's pics

Taylor's pics

This is Taylor's one year-old pic.

I love this one. :)

Oh, fudge!

So, I made a promise to myself that I would keep this blog free of any bathroom humor, gross details about certain things... I know nobody really enjoys reading that.  But, I'm going to have to make an exception today.

Last night, I was a baking-queen.  I wanted to make the teachers that I'm working with at my three schools some holiday treats.  I made some peppermint bark, some cookies, and some chocolate fudge- with and without nuts.  I had cute little holiday bags to put all the goodies in.  Late last night, I got an email saying that I'd be seeing one of my friends at a meeting this morning.  He and I used to work together in Newton County, and both have found our ways into Rockdale.  He's the behavior specialist for the county, so he was participating in this meeting in regards to a kid's behavior.

So, the nice person I am, I decide to make some goodies for my friend.  Instead of putting the food in a cute, festive bag, since he's a guy, I opted just to put the snacks in sandwich bags, tied with holiday ribbon.  I put all the bags by the door so I wouldn't forget them in the morning.

This morning, I get all the bags in the car, though I put his in my purse since it's smaller and so it wouldn't get lost in my car.  I get to the meeting, and my friend and I are sitting in the conference room.  I remembered the present, and pulled it out of my purse to present it to him.  This is what my lovely, nicely squared off fudge pieces now looked like:

You can only imagine the jokes.  At first, I was so embarrassed, giving him this bag of melted fudge.  Then, we both just started dying laughing once we realized what it looked like.  And the jokes kept coming, and we laughed some more.  Now, apparently my motto is, "My name is Brooke, and I give a crap." 

He ended up telling everyone at the county office.  So, now the joke is everyone's asking me if I'm bringing fudge to tomorrow's Christmas party.  Well, guess what?  I'm going to redeem myself... hopefully!  The fudge is chilling in the refrigerator now.  Maybe I should put it in the freezer before tomorrow's party... I won't be taking any more crap from them! (ba dum bum)

A+ Student

I think that Taylor is going to be my overachiever.  Why, you ask?  She is scoring off-the-chart scores in... her size!!!!

My "little" girl is 98% in weight, 98% in height, and 90-95% in head circumference!  Now, if we can translate this kind of achievement into school, ITBS, CRCT, IQ tests... my girl's educational future is looking bright. :)

I sure am cute!!  And proportional!

Mobile Uploads

I think I'm going to start doing this more often... posting on my blog some of the pics I've taken on my phone in the last few months.  You know, the kind of pictures you snap really quickly because something is funny, or cute, or you want to use it for blackmail... you get the idea.  I never usually do anything with them, so this will be my way of displaying them.

The before picture... happy as a lark in Publix.

The after-picture... locked in the car.  By her mom.  With the keys inside.  Go me!

Whoops.  Monkey and his "three cousins from Africa" were all together. 

Having too much fun on my phone.  This never gets old!

Stephen will probably kill me for posting this... This was what he had to sleep in after his LASIK surgery.  I tried to snap a picture but he moved too quickly.  I think you get the idea, though! ;)