Update time

So I was playing a mindgame with myself. For some reason I didn't want to create a new post until I had the pics from my January trip back to NE for the work party at my old office.

And I finally got them when I went to Nebraska last week.

So First thing first. While I was back in December, my friend D and I went shopping together. We got the giggles while looking at dresses in JCPenney's and tried on matching Sparkly dresses. We thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if she and I went to the work party together and dressed in matching fancy dresses?"

And the idea stuck. So here are a few pics of us at the event.

Can you see by the clothes of our co-workers that we were a little dressed up for the event? D tells me that someone walked up and commented on our dresses and asked, "Don't you think you are trying to get a little attention?"

And to that she answered, DO YOU THINK?

And I had anticipated a lot more pictures of the dance, but apparently the photographer left before "The guys," as I'll call them, showed up and we started dancing to 90s classics like "Jump Around."

I don't think I'll be invited back next year . . .but then again, there's never a guarantee that this party will be held next year due to a change in management.

At any rate, I had an awesome time chatting with my favorite people from the office and hanging out with my favorite blogger. Hopefully I didn't embarrass her too much as I introduced her to anyone who came up to talk to us.

And that is why I haven't blogged.

Oh Mr. Wilson!

I need a volleyball.

But not just any volleyball. I need Wilson.

THE Wilson.
















Today, it was only about 50 degrees here, but I felt chilled to the bone. Not cold enough inside to want to turn up the thermostat, because that makes it really hot in the master bedroom where the Commander sleeps during the day.

So I decided to start a fire for Little Bear and I.

And everytime I start a fire by myself I feel like this. . .

I have made FIRE!

 

And the more I think about it, the better Wilson would look on my Mantle. . . .don't you agree?

 

Christmas of the boys, year of the girls.

So about Christmas. . . .

Allow me to share all the AWESOME photos I took!

oh wait. . .THERE AREN'T ANY!

Every year I have a #epicfail moment at Christmas in which I take about 5 photos the entire Christmas season. The Commander however, is a different story.

He takes HUNDREDS.

I would guess that the lack of my desire to take a photo of the girls opening everygift is directly related to the fact that I know sometime in my future, I will be the one who has to select which photos should go in an album, which ones are stuck in electronic purgatory, and which ones should just be deleted. And I HATE deleting photos.

But I do have to say that my girls hit the jackpot this year at Christmas.

The BOY jackpot.

 

My girls came home with ALL the Disney Princes. And mommy and the princesses are so happy! For some reason, when we just had the girls, they spent most of their

time in need to being rescued and admiring each other's dresses. The introduction of the plastic Y chromosome has somehow allowed playtime to now consist of visiting each other, sitting down to eat meals together, and about a bazillion weddings. But I'll take weddings over a princess screaming "HELP ME!" any day.

And have you ever cried over a Christmas present that WASN'T jewelry? This was MY year to babble and cry.

 

And it was over this . . ..

A SERGER! The commander finally figured out after about 5 years of asking, that I really, REALLY wanted this thing. Hooray!

 

Wintery fun was had by all on our trip back to Nebraska, the cat ate the last ninja sugar cookies before I got around to taking a picture of it, and I taught my second solo girl scout meeting today. I have learned that being 'kind of' organized when faces with 6 K-3rd graders is the same as trying to do crafts with no scissors, tape or glue.

 

It just isn't cool!

 

I've got a lot of work to do to be ready for these girls. And with that, I'm heading to bed.

 



What to say . ..

I wanted to type something profound about how I felt today hearing about the deaths in Connecticut, but I can't seem to find words. I heard them re air the president's speech on the radio as I drove home from getting my haircut.

And cried all the way home.

I wish we could undo such a tragedy, but that won't happen. 

I just wish that we could respond with kindness and caring. Maybe we could be less interested in figuring out who or what is to blame, and just worry about caring for other people.

Could we be a little less concerned with complaints, criticisms, and celebrity gossip and try to have the top story of the day be about acts of kindness and events that leave us motivated and uplifted?

I wish the news cared less about the negative quotes, statistics, and motivations behind tragic events and more on the facts of what we can band together to do to heal families, homes, and communities impacted by the event.

I wish that we could all listen more to each other and try to understand what others are saying, even if we don't agree with them. We are never going to all shared the same belief, lifestyle choices and physical characteristics, learn to tolerate and celebrate what makes us different.

However, the news isn't going to change unless we stop listening to it, people are always going to try to blame something for every tragedy, and we aren't going to tolerate differences as long as we think there is one right way.

So for now I'll keep wishing those wishes, and hugging my girls a little tighter.

The Holidays

Why can't Thanksgiving be a little more separate from the Christmas holiday season? The only was I can think of how to do this is to get all the women together and start big build-ups to Thanksgiving that keep the focus on Turkey day.

Unfortunately it would have to be a retail re-inforced movement, and who wants to spend more money before Christmas . . . I'll have to ponder it.

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch with Mimi and Papa. They arrived MUCH earlier than planned on account of them driving through the night . . . you crazy peoples, you!

We went out to eat at a great German restaurant, Ye Ol Heidelbergs, and then I took Mimi to an urgent care clinic to get her some more medicine for her caugh that wouldn't go away. We waited several hours, and by the time we were done there it was supper time.

We treated ourselves by going to The Melting Pot. All I can say is YUM! I didn't think you could get full eating fondu, but we were stuffed by the time we left.

 

This year I was Thankful to have Mimi and Papa with me to walk me through prepping my own thanksgiving feast. The turkey came out of the oven that beautiful as-seen-on-tv golden color.

and the table was set with my fine china.

The only little hickup was that we thought we burnt the stuffing, but the Commander and I agreed that having the tips of the bread browned made it even more delicious!

We did the traditional turkey nap, and then took a driving tour of the city. And then home for Smores at the fireplace! I always loved smores growing up with a stove at Mimi and Papa's, but I was nervous about building my own fire to I was thankful to have Papa there to walk me through it.

And what is a trip to the Rocket City without visiting The Air and Space Center?

Mimi and Papa decided afte about 3 hours that they were all "spaced-out" so we headed home. After a quick drive through the Galaxy of Lights display, we headed home again.

It was a wonderful visit with Mimi and Papa, I had the most fun watching Mimi shop with my girls for fancy clothes, chatting with Mimi and Papa in the kitchen about memories of Thanksgivings past, and catching bits of the parade with Papa on TV.

But Thanksgiving is of course short lived in the prep for Christmas.

So on this Friday, the girls and I put up the tree.

And I found our fun holiday specs! They are really fancy firework glasses. If you have kids you have GOT to get these to go see lights around town. We have Snowflakes and Snowmen.

Aren't they cool?! And now back to trying to clean up the mess we made getting the decorations out. . . .

Where I've been . . .

So I've missed Halloween, where the girls and I actually marched around a residential area knocking on doors for candy. . . you'll notice they talked me into a different costume for this run. Not that it takes much talking to get me to dress up in my 'mommy pirate' costume.

Little Bear is shoing off the girls favorite candy treats. Chocolate Eyeballs. I tried to get her posed in a nice version of Gina Davis from Bettlejuice, but this is as close as she could get.

 Then a trip back to Nebraska for a few days to see family and my friend D in a body building competition. And all I can say is. . . .HOLY FREAKING FAKE TANS!

 

 

 We have now walked through the "Galaxy of Lights" display twice since we returned.

 

The Huntsville Botanical Gardens puts up holiday (and not so holiday) light sculptures all around the garden walking paths.

Santa was there, but the girls were too cozy in the wagon to get out.

 But their favorite part was the light forest. I have to admit I felt a little like I was walking into a fairy wonderland and we walked through curtains of lights strung up along the path.

 

And right in the middle was a 'snow' machine. The girls loved playing in the bubbles.

 And to wrap up our early holiday experience, we went to the tree lighting ceremony at the local mall. Again, they had the cool bubble 'snow' machines, so we spent quite a bit of time dancing in the snow again.

And aren't you jealous that it was just chilly enough that I was able to let Little Bear take her coat off for a while? She's so warm blooded that I had to beg her to put it back on. It took some talking to (threats to go home) at the garden to get her to wear her coat, too.

And all of this Christmas fun before Thanksgiving even arrived. . . I don't know if that makes me want to cry or scream for joy. I know the Commander wanted to scream, because I spent 15 minutes trying to find a Christmas music station on our satellite radio to listen too.

I didn't find it last weekend, but I found it today. : )



And now, after our Christmas prep, the madness of trying to get prepped for Thanksgiving is in full swing!

I have now officially touched everything that belongs to the girls and myself at this point, sorting and re-sorting to try to fit a two story house into a three bedroom apartment. There's still a lot to be done to find everything a home, but the massive purging of stuff is over.

And the prep for the feast begins tomorrow! I'm extremely excited to be cooking my first turkey and I'm even more excited than when I made my first batch of homemade chicken soup!

Mimi and Papa are probably on their way here right now which has the girls really excited. Little Bear wakes up everyday and asks, "Are Mimi and Papa here yet?"

I will need a way to distract them tomorrow so that they don't ask where Mimi and Papa are every 5 minutes.

But that's all I have to say for now!

Fairy Magic

Yesterday the new Disney Fairy movie came out, Secret of the Wings. They have been advertising it heavily on the Disney Channel, so the girls have been primed for months to get it. ToysBUs (haha) had a special that if you bought $30 in Fairy stuff, you got a free pair of $15 light up wings.

I got the last pair.

Woo Hoo!

But to hit the $30 mark I bought the new fairy, Periwinkle. And with that purchase, I have officially started Christmas Shopping! I smuggled the Periwinkle doll and the wings up to the front register and got them home without the girls peeking. This is the first time I've successfully X-mas shopped with the girls so Hooray for me!

To distract the girls, I had them browse the aisle and look for things they would like for Christmas. So to give anyone buying presents a headstart as well, here are a few things that you can watch for to go on sale as Christmas toy sales start up after Halloween.

For Little Bear.

She loves Merida, so here are a few 'Hero' gifts. (I'll call them that because the girls will jump up and down with excitement when the open them and you will be their hero for getting them).

Little Bear REALLY wants a bow and arrow set. They have one that has merida's picture on it at most toy stores, but she would probably like a cheap bow and arrow set as well.

And I haven't purchased a Merida Barbie sized doll yet.

And for 

Sassy

 

And for Sassy . . . .she loves everything Disney, Barbie and more.

 

The winner prize for her is the full set of the Little Mermaid and her sisters. The one in ToysBUs says it is exclusive to their store, but I thought I saw them in Target. And Sassy would also love the Tinkerbell music box from the first Tinkerbell movie. I think the package calls it "Wendy's music box" but it comes with a ballerina and a Tinkerbell to go on top.

 



 The Commander is just Requesting that toys be small which to me means, no life size toys and they should fit easily inside a backpack.

And somethings that the Captain (me!) would like for the girls . . ...
1000 piece puzzles for Sassy and I to put together. They can't be artsy photos with a lot of blended colors. Translation, not a lot of big spaces of one color and not a lot of 'watercolor' blending.

Good Puzzle pics

 Bad Puzzle pics












And after playing Barbies with the girls at least 4 times a week, the Captain would also like to see them get some boys. We have 2 Kens, but the girls keep fighting over them. And to make them 'Hero' gifts, you might want to look into buying actual heroes, AKA the Disney Princes.

 We only have Flynn Rider (bottom right) and that poor guy is pretty overworked saving the girls everyday. You can find all these guys at the Disney online store.

And just a side note that the girls do have all of the Disney princesses except Merida and Pocahontas.

I'll work on more Christmas items for the girls as we go along, but I wanted to give everyone a head start especially since they start sales right after Halloween.