Apr 18, 2017 | Holidays |
My Easter preparations this year were very lowkey. We didn’t even dye eggs. I bought a pack of plastic eggs on sale and picked up a box of stickers to put on them. We went with a really subtle and refined style.
When I was growing up I always helped my Grandma make chocolate and peanut butter candies at Easter. Annabelle helped me make them for the first time this year. I love passing along traditions to her.
AB has been more difficult lately but sometimes she can be oh so sweet. We’ll be sending this picture to Prince George. It will seal the deal on their future marriage arrangments.
In reality, she was less the enthusiastic about the photoshoot-
The Easter Bunny was behind and didn’t fill the basket or hide the eggs until late in the day. The bunny doubled as the chef in charge of a three course meal so I don’t blame her for being a little late.
The one thing Sesame said she wanted the Easter Bunny to bring was a stuffed animal. She has 72 stuffed animals already but is always looking for more. The EB saw a frog at the dollar store (hashtag bargain shopper) and she couldn’t resist. Thanks to frequently picking up said stuffed animals, the Bunny is quite familiar with the stuffed animal rotation around here and knew she didn’t have a frog.
As if Flower the Frog wasn’t exciting enough, hunting for Easter eggs was the cherry on top. A perk of being the only child was she got to find each egg.
“Another walk down memory lane? Are you going to do this every holiday?” Yes, I am.
Feb 16, 2017 | Holidays, Sesame |
Yesterday was the day of love, where we showered our favorite people in chocolate, kisses and germs.
Or maybe it’s just Annabelle who thinks its loving to share germs.
I kept her home from school for the second week in a row because she still has a cough. As much as I wanted a break, I didn’t want to be THAT mom who sends in her coughing child. We went by the school for a quick minute to drop off the valentines she picked for her friends.
Normally I’d spend hours making perfect valentines with coordinating scrapbook paper and special edition washi tape. I’d stay up late into the night creating masterpieces no two year old would care about. This year I told myself it was ok to buy a pack of valentines and call it a day. I gave the box to Christopher and Annabelle so I wouldn’t have to do anything as a fun bonding activity. Yet there I was Monday night, sitting on the floor reglueing all the bee erasers back onto the cards. I couldn’t escape even though I tried.
You know who didn’t go lowkey with valentines? Karter’s mom. She drew a baseball diamond with the words “I have a ball with you” across the top. She stapled a jersey-shaped valentine to a bag with two clemetines on which she had drawn the stitches of a baseball. She topped off the package with a red ribbon and coordinating lollipop. The pressure to perform in the toddler circle is intense. At the same time, I want to applaud Karter’s mom. I think we have a lot in common and I’d probably be jealous of her cardstock stash.
I felt bad Sesame had to miss the party at school so we went to Dunkin Donuts for her first real doughnut experience. You’d think being the DD frequent fliers that we are she’d have had one of their doughnuts before but she hasn’t. It’s a rare day we go inside so that was exciting in itself. Doing my part to keep life exciting since 2014!
Earlier in the week we were stir crazy so we spent a little time walking around the mall. We went into Claire’s and AB’s mind was blown. It was sparkly little girl heaven. I told her if she did special chores to earn money we could go back to buy something. She earned two quarters so we went back to Claire’s after DD. I went to the Claire’s at the little mall but she kept telling me it wasn’t the right “kids jewel store.” I told her all the stores have the same things. She wanted the original Claire’s at the big mall. So off we went to the correct store. She wondered the aisles touching everything and every time I asked her what she wanted she said “you’ll just have to wait and see.” In other words, she was completely overwhelmed and didn’t want to commit to anything. She is so my child.
She finally settled on a set of tiny rubber dessert toys. The cashier called them erasers but they’re not. They’re unnecessary paraphernalia that is now strewn about my living room floor. I would have insisted she pick something more useful like the darling pink locket or new bows but it was her money. Fifty cents her money. The other six dollars was forked over by yours truly.
We had planned on bringing AB to a parents night at church and celebrate Valentines Day alone but because of her cold we kept her with us. She was the third wheel on our date to the botanical garden. I didn’t mind too much. She enjoyed the lights and it was a fun family trip.
Now that Valentines is over it’s back to the valentine drawing board. I can’t let Karter’s mom bring the best gift bags next year!
Dec 30, 2016 | Holidays, Sesame, Uncategorized |
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is dressing your child for all to see.
I hope 2017 will be the year she finally gets some personality. She’s such a wallflower!
Me: Don’t you love your new Christmas headband?!
Sesame:
Dress rehearsal for her winter date with Prince George.
She’s worn this dress every Christmas of her life. Look how much she grew since last Christmas!
Is it obvious I like smocked dresses? I’ve waited her entire life to put her in a smocked nativity dress and it was worth the wait. I might make her wear it every Sunday between now and next Christmas.
Dec 29, 2016 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
People are pulling down their Christmas trees and here I am, talking about our Christmas five days later. I like to keep the holly jolly going until well into the new year.
We celebrated our own Christmas at home the weekend before Christmas. We had a North Pole breakfast with snowmen shaped pancakes and Christmas straws in the morning, played in the snow and opened gifts at night. Annabelle gave me a music box that plays Edelweiss which she told me about four days before I opened it. Every time she talked about it she would tell me, “But Daddy said not to tell you ’bout it.” She asked for a whistle and a jump rope, both of which she got in her stocking. Christopher bought the whistle and I have a feeling it might accidentally on purpose get temporarily lost it if goes too annoying.
We went to a Christmas Eve service than made the long commute all the way across the back yard to my aunt and uncle’s for Christmas festivities. Sesame was so! excited! about all things Christmas. It wasn’t my favorite holiday season in general but she definitely made it better. She was only 9 months old on our last Christmas here so this year she was old enough to enjoy everything.
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| She’s worn this dress 3 years in a row. I hope it still fits when she’s 14. |
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| She was having a fantastic hair day. |
Aaron passed out the gifts on Christmas morning and this tag stumped us all. We have neither a Cristy or a Della in our family. We’re not known for great organization skills on Christmas morning but this takes the cake as the most random.
Annabelle’s single stroller wasn’t big enough for her ever growing family of babies so Grammy and Grampy got her a double stroller. She quickly learned to maximize space and stuffed in no less than 7 assorted dolls and animals. She pushed it across the yard to Memere’s then abandoned all the babies so I was once again on Grandma babysitting duty.
66% of us are smiling so I call this a successful family picture.
Baby Ivy and I got some good cuddles in on her first Christmas. She is so cute. I wish Daniel and Erika would have stuck her in my stocking!
She knew it was important to do some planks and burn off all that wrapping paper she ate!
Dec 16, 2016 | Holidays, Life, Uncategorized, What's going on |
The bad-
This has not been a great two weeks. I feel like every time I try to blog lately it ends up sounding I’m filing complaints with the Board of Life and Why Stuff Happens. But sometimes life isn’t all glitter and bunnies (for Christopher a life of glitter would be a nightmare) and that’s what I’m here to discuss today. Now is your chance to leave and look at perfect pictures on pinterest.
+ At the end of last week and the beginning of this week Annabelle was in the midst of her second round of bronchitis. Every night was rough. She had night terrors, she couldn’t find her pacifier when it was in her hand and she couldn’t figure out how to drink from the cup she sleeps with. I was so scared something would happen when I was asleep that I had her lay with me on the guest bed for a while. The next night was the complete opposite. She jibber jabbered until ONE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. I cannot tell you the number of times I went in her room to give a piece of my mind about her behavior. She wanted her wand. She wanted to talk about Hungry, Hungry Hippos. She dropped (threw) Appletini out of the crib. She wanted more friends to sleep with. She wouldn’t stop flipping the light switch on and off so I had to move the crib a foot away from the wall. It’s interesting how bad nights happen when I’m just barely coming around to the idea of maybe sometime having another baby. A child who doesn’t let you sleep more than 5 hours a night is the only birth control needed.
+ The pipes under the sink leaked and soaked everything in the cupboard below.
+ I got stuck in a snow storm and it took an hour to the drive 28 minutes home.
+ Annabelle’s sleep strike leaked into nap time and she repeated the above nonsense for days.
+ Every year I wrap presents while watching The Christmas Card. It’s a cheesy movie but I love it and look forward to my tradition every year. Annabelle’s nap strike reached a peaked on the afternoon I choose to watch it. She yelled to me for two hours. I eventually got her up and in an attempt to help she unorganized my cards and ripped wrapping paper, spilled her milk and knocked over her snack bowl. The whole thing was a disaster.
+ Sesame dumped all her beads all over the kitchen floor, under the oven, down the cellar stairs and into every corner. I didn’t think it through too well when I bought the extra large container of beads.
+ She spilled them again the next day. I’ve since hidden the beads and might accidentally on purpose forget where they are.
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| The day I finally checked myself into rehab. |
+ We couldn’t go to MOPS yesterday because I couldn’t get the car out of the driveway due to snow. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- I’m from Massachusetts and grew up dealing with snowy driveways. Not counting his 5 years at Fort Drum, Christopher has no snow experience to speak of. My word/advice on the subject should be taken as law and followed. All we have to do when it snows is shovel within an appropriate amount of time so we stay on top of the situation and we’ll be able to get in and out of the driveway just fine. It snowed Wednesday night and Christopher said we didn’t need to shovel, we’d just drive over the snow. This is what I was thinking on the inside.
Thursday morning I couldn’t get out of the driveway. Last night he finally shoveled (or more accurately, “shoveled” because it didn’t look that way to me). This morning I got stuck again. I’ll spare you the memes of how that made me feel.
MOVING ON. Stay tuned for future installments of airing my grievances.
The good-
+ I love our Christmas trees this year. Nothing makes me happier at the end of the day than to sit on the couch in the quiet with the trees and mantle lit.
+ One of Annabelle’s favorite games for the last few months is wrapping toys and giving them to us or vice versa. She’ll wrap them in whatever blanket or bit of paper she can find then makes a production of handing them out and singing Happy Birthday. There’s only so many times you can feign enthusiasm for the same toy but it’s so sweet. She wrapped these Christmas presents by herself and was so proud. Her favorite part is the tape. She thinks it’s important to use half a roll on each gift.
The Christmasy-
+ We decorated our gingerbread house. I’m pleased that no one (read: me) allowed perfectionist or OCD tendencies to get in the way of a good time.
+ I’m glad I have a child who loves all things Christmas as much as I do. She says “YOOK, MOMMY!!! IT’S A _______! I YOBE IT!” every single time she sees something Christmas related. It’s like the first time every time.
+ The next movie on our Christmas watch list is my personal favorite- It’s a Wonderful Life. If only I had been born 60 years earlier I would have been Mrs. Jimmy Stewart in a heartbeat.
Dec 11, 2016 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
Last weekend we took Belle Belle to the Christmas Cottage to see Santa. She wore her nativity dress so both parties of the Christmas season were represented. She wasn’t thrilled to see him but she wasn’t in hysterics like last year.
Flashbacks to Santas of years past.
We decorated our tree on Tuesday. Annabelle took the ornaments off as fast as we put them on. Every morning she acts as if it’s the first time she’s ever seen it and gets so excited.
In years past we’ve had two to three big trees. Last year we were almost forced out of our own living room thanks to two extra large trees so we toned it down this year and got a little tree. It looked bigger when we got it home than it did in the tree lot. That happens to us every year but somehow we always forget. Normally we spend a lot of time considering how we’ll decorate our theme tree but this year we couldn’t nail down a theme so I suggested white. Simple and pretty. I got a box of fuzzy white ornaments that look like they’re covered in glittery coconut flakes and a box of clear ornaments. Months ago I ordered vinyl cutouts of some names of Jesus used at Christmas so I stuck them on the clear ornaments. I think it looks very pretty.
Last Christmas our tree fell over. Here’s to a season of all trees staying in their upright positions.
