Counting down Xmas ABC family style

Things I'm doing to kick off the Christmas season.

1. Getting up at 2am to start shopping on Black Friday.

It was wild, it was crazy, and there's a rumor that I may have been

a little extreme in my reaction to $7.50 puffer vests in Target.

When I was through, they needed CSI to make sense of it all.

2. Getting a two hour "nap" after returning from Black Friday

2 little girls jumped on my head waiting

for me to get up so I can start Christmas decorating.

3. Hop out of bed and go to Home Depot to get a real live tree.

Where an unforeseen meltdown occurred because I would not

purchased a seizing reindeer for my front yard.

4. A picture does not convey the wretched state of this reindeer.

He's my nightmare and a 4yr old's dream.


5. Yay! A shot with the flash when all else fails.
We're happy we found a tree.
That lost a thousand needles in the back of my minivan.
And through the house.
That I vacuum up everyday.
It smells real nice though.






6. A tree lovingly decorated by the hands of 4yr & 5yr old.



7. I can take the pictures to prove it, but I'll leave it to the closeups
to convey the serenity of a loved tree.

8. Me - "Nora, can I take your picture by the tree?"

Nora: "uh huh."

Me: " Can you look at me and stop watching 'The Dog who Saved Christmas'?

Stranger in a strange land.

Hello sweet freedom!

Yep. We're healthy again and both girls are back in school.

Charlotte wanted to play with her leapster this afternoon and told me she wasn't going to school.

Hmm.

I almost had a mini panic attack and then a firm "Put your shoes on,

Leapster will be there when you get home", may have been uttered by yours truley.

And out the door we were!

Crisis averted.

( bad picture of this layout. It looks very cute in person. This photo...not so much!)
It's bad enough when I have made little trips out of the house I feel like a stranger

in a strange land. Now is not the time to be disorientated.

I've got to be on my game to get all those toys that are wanted by my twosome.

Charlotte has already discovered one present. I have to find a good hiding spot in this house.

She's quick. She found it in my closet which she's never gone in before. Nora neither.

Oh well. At least it was only the one.

Bored and .....oh yes BORED!

I've been home with this little cupcake this week. She's been sick, mostly that heavy wet sounding cough. We've had one night with a fever, but our days have been fever free. Still not sure what we have. But let's get healthy again ALREADY!

Someone in Nora's class has strep according to the note that came home yesterday. Please don't breath in Nora's direction. Can I say that?!

Nothing else happening in our spunky little world. Come on, I've been house bound! I know when I get out I'll probably be talking too much to everyone I see.

Trolling the black Friday ads online and I think I know what I'm getting everyone for Christmas, except Allie. Allie...you're hard to buy for! I just can't buy you any more clothes....that will end up on your floor, books you won't read, or music you can download. I was thinking a gas card, but there are no cool gas stations like Sheetz or Wawas. Hmm...

Drive by

Title hard to read.

"Little Adventures"

Nora is on the road to recovery after an epic battle with high fevers and a rattling cough.

We missed a week of school and assorted activities.

Now I'm on a Charlotte watch. Craig and I have managed to stay healthy so far.

We did pass a few cooties to Uncle Bobby and we're VERY sorry for that!

We've had a rough week so this was super cool to see today!

Go me!

we are.

are we or aren't we?

.

I'm stressed out.

I've been so cautious about keeping us cootie free that I'm tuckered out.

Is the flu season almost over?

Nora had a cough last week and I kept worrying it was going to develop into something worse.

She looks and sounds good today, so Charlotte told me she wasn't feeling well.

Nora received an invite to a birthday party at a bounce house on Monday and I've

called the mom to tell her we can't make it. In my defense, Nora almost always does get sick with a germ after those places. A trip to the Strong Museum closed us down half a week!

Yes, we sanitize all the time. Maybe too much? Can you become immune to it?


(Charlotte's not in the bubble! She's outside in the previous picture and decided to go in!)

Is it possible to be too paranoid of H1N1? Is it as bad as I've read about? The girls had their flu shots and I was ready to call for the swine flu shot after Halloween, but I have yet to hear anything good about it.

One family told us after our neighborhood Halloween parade, they each got the shot and were never sicker in their lives.

Oh be over flu season, you turning me into a paranoid hot mess!

evidence.

Here I am editing pictures to send off for developing and I come across this sequence. It cracks me up! Typical storyline of two sisters.

Sweet pose for mama.
I'm going to throw you out of my picture now, lovingly of course.

You're taking too long, must use more FORCE.

reaction

"MOM!"

(the getaway.)

One room at a time....

Dorothy and Cinderella hope you had a Happy Halloween! So we've been missing in action around these parts since early August I see. That must have been when we started the renovating the scrap room. We have been living limbo wise computer wise since then. Plus we were busy with new schools, schedules, and getting a new routine going. Well it was certainly worth the wait because we have a MARVELOUS scrap room now!
I will post photos soon because right now three crafty tornadoes have hit it hard!


Nora has a new haircut. We call it her "kindergarten cut" and it is not visible in this photo but it brushes her shoulders and she looks adorable. She is in the afternoon kindergarten class which runs from 12:00- 2:30. She absolutely is loving kindergarten and is making new friends. She even has some friends on the bus who are in 1st and 2Nd grade! She is so darn cute getting on and off the bus everyday. Craig usually has Thursday and Fridays off and Nora likes to have her out front bus wise on those days.

Charlotte has preschool 2 days a week at Seton School. She probably wishes she had more days there. I initially signed her up for 2 days because I have Nora and Charlotte's schedules coordinated and I was worried about Charlotte's pick up time conflicting with Nora's drop off from the bus. Turns out we have a 45 minute window between the two. Charlotte is making little friends as well.

We have been making little steps forward on the house since we moved in during July. We've taken down some enormous pines on the side of the house. We've had the scruffy weedy backyard cleared so we can plant some new trees in the spring. Craig has gutted a bathroom and has done more projects than I can remember and the best thing to happen was he built us the best scrappy room ever! I can't wait to share pictures.

Family and friends love our scrap room and understand our need and enthusiasm for our room. When I talk to the neighbors and they ask what we've been up to, I tell them we finished our scrap room/ craft room, I'm met with a blank stare. I have to tell them Martha has one. I still think they don't understand!