November 2010 ~ These Four No More

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bah Humbug

9:50 AM 3 comments

I feel like a real Ebenezer Scrooge this year. I'm not quite sure why...but I do. My dad put up a few Christmas lights outside - and I'm already ready for them to come down. I don't want to put up my Christmas tree, or deal with stockings, garland, and ornaments. I did put up a small pink "mis mis twee" in the girls' room.

I'm not sure why I feel so grumpy about Christmas this year. I've never taken the girls to see Santa, and don't think I want to start until they are older. I imagine at this point in time, it would simply just be torture for me & Santa. We've not done Christmas pictures yet, and I'm dreading addressing Christmas cards.

My shopping is almost done, basically because I'm not getting people gifts. I simply just don't have the funds this year. The girls are each getting one gift, and one gift to share. All the grandparents will get a photo book of the girls that I've been working on (and really need to finish).

Even watching Christmas Vacation on Thanksgiving did nothing to get me in the holiday mood. Can we just skip Christmas this year and go straight to New Years Eve?

Stalling Tactics

11:17 AM No comments

The girls came home around 2:30 yesterday - and I was so happy to see them. We had fun playing, and reading, and just enjoying being together after 3 days apart. I even cooked them the gourmet dinner of pizza rolls and fruit, lol.

This is often what lounging around my house looks like:

Anyway, I got the girls ready to go to bed, and was going to put them down around 7:30. Natalie said to me, "No, mommy. Later! I playin."

Ummmm, ok? As a general rule of thumb, if no one is cranky, crying, or fighting, I let them stay up.

Except 8:30 rolled around, and I have chores around the house that needed to be completed before I went to bed. So I grabbed the girls, their lovies, the required toys they sleep with (Natalie: a stuffed Baby GoGo, Foofa, and Muno tub squirter, and Audrey: Burt, Elmo, and Foofa tub squirter), and tossed them into bed.

And thus began the waterworks. I waited about 5 minutes before going in there to rock them. As I rocked, Natalie said, "Oh no - sissy cryin', mommy. Play?". To which Audrey said "Yaaah!". And off they ran, in two separate directions.

Finally, I was able to get Natalie in bed (she's a sleep lover like I am) and had to rock Audrey again (who fights sleeping and is afraid to miss something). As I rocked Audrey, Natalie tried several stalling tactics from her bed:

"Lunch? Brefast? Dinnuh? Snack?"

"Milk? Sippy?"

"Poop! Mommy, sissy poop! I poop. Baby GoGo poop. Elmo poop! Mommy poop. Diaper?"

"Bath?"

I think it was finally around 9:00 when my house was quiet again :)

Weekend Recap

1:15 PM No comments

Phew, I am so tired! The funny thing is...I've been able to sleep/nap more these last 3 days than I normally would in two whole weeks!

Friday night we celebrated my birthday with dinner at Copper River, and then going out after for a few drinks. We had a pretty good group of about 15 people or so...and we even met The Captain!

Saturday I did a little shopping (which I don't plan on doing again until AFTER the new year - yikes!). Then some friends gathered to watch our Tigers play...and it wasn't pretty.

This is my pretend to be happy even though we are losing face...

I'm ready for my girls to come home!!

Gobble Gobble

12:58 PM 7 comments

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at my house for 9 people - the girls had so much fun playing around after eating a delicious dinner! I hope you all had a fabulous day as well.

The Tale of Scary Elmo

10:36 PM 3 comments

Sunday, the girls and I went to their friend Justin's 2nd birthday party. Things went very well at first...there was cake, friends, suckers, and even swings...

But then, in walked a giant, 6 foot, demonic sounding Elmo. And my children were terrified. So much so that we spent his entire performance outside the club house, peaking in the door.

And to top it off, children batted at a smaller Elmo until his arm fell off. Just look at the horror in the girls' faces afterwards...

I figured they'd be fine, nothing traumatic or lasting. Oh no, I was wrong! They've talked non-stop about "scary Elmo" and "bye bye Elmo arm". In fact, Natalie gathered all their stuffed Elmos, threw them in the hallway, and started hitting them with a lightsaber, saying "Bye scary Elmo!".

I'm thinking therapy might be in order :)

Candid Pics

11:41 PM 5 comments

I pulled out my old digital camera and snapped some funny pics of the girls the other night (the night of the Blue Screen of Death).

Random Ramblings

11:02 AM 7 comments

* I took some of the cutest pictures of my girls last night, loaded them on my computer, and then received the Blue Screen of Death.

* I took my laptop apart, knowing that the fan was probably clogged, leading it to overheat and crash. I felt so proud of being able to clean it out, put it back together, and it turned on! I should totally get out of education and into technology.

* Only for it to shut back off again. Guess it's a good thing I didn't quit my day job.

* Which means I'll probably be at Walmart Thursday night, standing in line for a $198 e-machine.

* Except I have a date Thursday night (What? On Thanksgiving?!), and we're going to play Bingo, lol.

* The girls will spend Thursday through Sunday with their dad.

* Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I've never been away from them for that long. On the other hand, it's the weekend before my birthday, and I'm kind of looking foward to relaxing a few days.

* I really hope Clemson wins this Saturday. It'll be the first game I get to return to Tiger Town for.

* I keep forgetting that I'm going to be 29. Some days I think I'm turning 28, others I think I'll be 30.

* I'm wondering how bad it is that the girls are only going to get one gift each, and one joint gift from Santa. I had plans for a bigger Christmas, but it just isn't going to happen.

* I'm also torn on feeling either bad or thrifty for using my Swagbuck Giftcards to buy the girls' Christmas presents with. I think I'll go with thrifty on this one!

* My dad is putting up my tree and lights today. He's awesome.

* Today is my last work day of the week. We're going to happy hour after. I'm excited :)

Edit: Dad was able to fix my computer :) Apparently, it was just a memory problem or some mumbo jumbo.

Cell Phone Pics

9:05 AM 1 comment

I've been meaning to get these off my cell phone for a while now...

Natalie - channeling her inner 80's rock star

And vacuuming the floor while she's at it

This was at 12:30 am - and I was informed that nap time was over, and it was time to watch Elmo. 2 seconds later, they darted into two different directions

Step 1: take out all of the toys
Step 2: fall asleep

A more appropriate napping spot

I took them to the dodgeball tournament at school - the first time the gym cheered, they melted down. So we ate snacks in the lobby instead

Happy Birthday, Kate!

5:20 PM No comments

The girls and I went to their friend Kate's 2nd birthday party down in Pendleton today. Audrey took about 30 minutes to warm up before playing, and Natalie has developed a fear of walking on leaves....so I had to hold her 95% of the time. We had a lot of fun, and still have another party to go to tomorrow!