Happy New Year!!

Another year come and gone. Wow!! Lots of changes will happen this year. Mainly the kids will become one year older – 4 and 3 this year. Is it just me or does this happen way to fast? I would love to be able to take a deep breath and look back and remember every little thing that happened that made me stop and think “life sure is good” instead of “when are things going to get better”.

It was a tough year… with the loss of my grandfather which seems to be raw this time of year, even though it just happened 2 months ago, it’s still weird that he isn’t around. It was a good year… my cousin moved to town, we purchased a new car, we took a tiny vacation and we were all very healthy (no trips to the ER).

This year’s resolutions: Make more time for myself!!!!! Find a reliable sitter (besides mom, she needs a break). Have more date nights with JT. See our friends more often then 2 times a year. I think that’s good for now. It will be a good year no matter what, it’s what we make of it – right?!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS & FAMILY and anyone else that reads my blog.

The Spoiled Life

The Spoiled Life is a great life if you can get it. I received money for Christmas, which is and can be the best present EVER. I also received some nice gifts too don’t get me wrong. But, I was able to buy two pairs of snazy shoes today from Clarks (Privo is my favorite brand I like their Tequini style  and this new style called Spangle) and I finally joined the masses and purchased an iPod. I can’t believe it, finally!!

I didn’t purchase just any iPod, I purchased the iPod Touch. This is truly the coolest thing I have ever owned. Now I can scrapbook and be cool at the same time. I am currently rocking out to Fergie as we “type”. I am completely geeked out. I was even smiling like a geek as I walked into the store to purchase the said equipment. I know – I know: GEEK!!!

Shopping was a blast. JT and I looked at each other and commented that we hadn’t shopped like that since we’ve had the kids. It was fun and I have no regrets because I thought long and hard about how I was going to spend the money, I usually tend to blow part of it, but not this time. I am proud of myself. (oh yeah the sensible side of me bought socks too, cause I needed those).

Christmas…

Okay I just wrote this whole brilliant post and I accidentally deleted the whole thing. NICE. I am having one of those days. I just spent the morning fixing everything that was wrong on Christmas… Wrong is the wrong word but you know the things that have to be changed for life to continue harmoniously. For instance, we went to Toys R Us this morning to try to return a gift that we received as a duplicate (to protect the innocent the item shall remain unnamed). So I haul it plus two eager and willing to shop children into the store, only to find out that they will not take the item back without a receipt or gift receipt – that’s not what their website said this morning before I left the house. Oh well, I wasn’t going to stand there and fight, so I lug children and toy back to car, the whole time L is screaming because she has to go potty and wants to shop. So we put toy back in the car and wander back into store (I did have a cart for all those concerned, so J was tethered through all of this) to use the potty which I thought was at the back of the store… no it’s not… back to the front we go. Potty taken care of (oh yeah I kept having to walk by the customer service desk where they just rudely told me that they wouldn’t take the toy back and felt like they were laughing at me, I know it was my imagination, at least I hope so). Back to my lovely story. My grandparents gave the kids each a $30 g.c. to Toys R Us which I surprisingly remembered to throw in my purse, SURPRISE!!! L and J got to shop for more toys… just what we needed – have you seen my toy room lately, if not here’s a peek img_8738.jpg.

Oh well, it made them happy, isn’t that what it’s all about? Not the decreasing square footage of my apartment! L picked out yet another pony playset and J picked out the Mickey Mouse clubhouse playset. Okay check Toys R Us off my list… onto the next – WALMART!!!

I HATE WALMART, usually, but today they are my new best friends. I pull into a parking spot, hijack a wet/rainy cart and load aforementioned toy into the cart along with two children (again) and RETURN the toy – yes that’s right, Walmart rocks, I returned the toy and got store credit. I bought a hamper for L’s room and let the poor spoiled children pick out yet another toy. L got a pony and J got a train, momma got a hamper and we all went home happy. Until I got home and had to untie more g.d. twistie ties and clear rubberbands. Moms and Dads, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Good day to you all and I hope you had a Merry Christmas!!! Be back later with more updates on the getting back to normal part… you know organizing the toy room and such.

Remember this…

I loved these commercials when they were out… It’s by Joe Boxer. Very fun for Christmas.

VERY NICE!!! Merry Christmas.

Something last minute???

Check out these really cool inventions fwdemails.com.

I really like the penguin tea timer and “the thing” infant pillow. There’s some pretty interesting stuff.

Well, I am off to finish shopping. Am I crazy… YES!!!

Carols

I love Christmas carols but every year I forget words to one song. This year it’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I get the words all confused and sound stupid when I sing it to my kids. Well anyway this really cute and my dad’s wife sent it to me this morning, so I thought I would post it. Very cute… make sure you watch the whole thing. It’s gets better.

Has anyone noticed that I have given up on the Christmas a day thing… yeah I figured a couple of you noticed but since I don’t have high readership or subscription I didn’t think any of you minded. 5 Shopping Days Left!!!

Stupid Flu!!!

* Warning – We are all sick, read at your own risk.*

Stupid flu has brought my house to it’s halt. I thought we would make it to the new year. I always get sick AFTER Christmas but the dang thing struck early. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine it’s here early that means we should all be in good shape when Christmas finally arrives. Poor L was the first, she woke up last Friday night with a fever, so we brought her to bed with us where she proceeded to puke in our bed (yeah that’s right, at 1:00 am we were changing jammies and sheets), but it’s okay that’s what a mom does, I had JT laughing though because I actually started to gag… enough about that. So, anyway she missed her last dance class on Saturday and she fell asleep twice in the living room (that never happens) that’s okay though because it snowed all day Saturday, so it was a good day to stay in. Then last night I started to sneeze ALOT and the nose faucet started and I haven’t been able to shut it off since. But, it’s fine I would rather have a cold than the flu any day. Poor J had a fever last night and still today, he’s been up since 4:00 am (in fact, he is laying in my arms right now, poor poor baby) he was sitting in the chair with his blanket from his crib, that he went and got himself. Such a big boy at 2.

So that’s almost all of us. JT needs to catch up because Christmas is right around the corner and he can’t be sick then. We’ll just smother him with kisses when he gets home.

The only nice part of kids being sick, they want to cuddle all the time, that’s the ONLY nice part. Well all we can do is ride out the flu… here’s hoping your family stays healthy for Christmas.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I love SNOW!!! It’s so much fun to play in and I can spend hours watching it fall. It hardly ever snows here in St. Louis. We maybe get 4 inches from November to March – that’s even rare. Plus, we live in the city which means even if we get snow, we only get a dusting or an inch at most. BUT my point is.. it snowed here and it snowed ALOT. We (JT & I) estimate it to be about 4 inches right outside our door. How awesome is that. We’ve played, we’ve made snowmen, we’ve slipped around trying to get up our hill in front of our house. FUN!!! But, now it can start melting, that would be okay with me. It’s starting to bug me a little, the snow coming in on shoes and making the carpet wet, the icy stairs that JT hasn’t shoveled yet (wink wink JT), wearing unfashionable shoes so I can get to the car, the snow turning brown and dirty, you know all that stuff no one likes about snow. Anyway, here are some pictures. Enjoy!!!

    These are pictures from Saturday night as the snow came down outside, the one is pretty shotty because I took it through our screen but you get the idea.

                These are pictures of the kids playing at my mom’s house the next day (Sunday). J took to throwing snowballs right away, like a pro. This is technically the first snow he remembers, then we built “Frosty” or so L calls him, (tonight she said to me “I hope that he will be alright”, she reallys cares deeply for him, so cute) and let’s not forget the picture of L licking the snow off of my grandparents car… yeah I know GROSS!!! At least there were 4 inches of snow so she didn’t make it to the car but I got a couple of pictures and then made her quit cause it was grossing me out. Finally, the last picture is of poor J right before we went inside. Those rosy cheeks and all that snow, he played hard for a long time. I get cold just looking at him.

Hope you all have a white christmas, no matter where you are.

Busy Busy Busy

I wanted this post to be about our crazy weekend and how we have barely been home. Things are just going to get worse from here on out. But as I was getting ready to type this post and was thinking of a title and instantly thought of Sandra Boynton’s song Busy Busy Busy (sung by Kevin Kline). I love Sandra Boynton, she makes these really cute songs with great lyrics and then has actors sing the songs for her CD’s (I am sure most of you know her board books). By the way these are excellent gifts for kids. Her CDs come with Books – I am sure you all know who she is… but this is music that I can actually take listening to over and over in the car. Sometimes I know the words and I can sing along too. Our favorite book is Rhinoceros Tap (she has three of these musical cds with books), here is a link to the book/cd on Amazon, you can click under the picture to listen to a sampling of the songs. http://www.amazon.com/Rhinoceros-Tap-Sandra-Boynton/dp/B0001I2C98/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1198027871&sr=1-2

Here is a cute little video I found on YouTube.

In the spirit of giving

TOO MUCH… Check out this video, I could barely stand to watch the whole thing because you just want to smack this girl. But, it did help me realize that if I spoil my children they will be just as ungrateful.

So I wouldn’t say that this is one of my favorite videos but it’s a reminder to raise grateful children. Has anyone seen this show by the way, it’s the worst show. MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen. For those who haven’t, they show these spoiled brats having sixteenth birthday parties. I recommend that you never let your little girls watch it.