Happy New Year

MC has been enjoying her new wheels lately. She's tearing up the floors behind me after I attempt to clean them!

We are having the best New Year's Eve...MC was asleep by 7:15 pm and I am watching one of my favorite movies 'Pride & Prejudice' but unfortunately Matt has to work. He was off during Christmas so it's okay. I must ring in New Year's Day as my last day at Kroger, but plan to spend the entire weekend cleaning up Christmas.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year! 2008 will be hard to beat for us. Looking back we watched MC grow from a 6 month old to a very talkative and funny 18 month old. First steps, first words, and emerging personality! Matt and I had memorable visits to Chicago, St. Louis, Las Vegas, and Tennessee...and waged war over the Tahoe. We celebrated MC's sweet first birthday that we will never forget. Looking forward to see what's in store for 2009.

Growing up

MC is growing up overnight it seems. She is learning to stack and build blocks and she even put a puzzle together all by herself! We are making SLOW progress with food, but at least it's progress. She gave me the best Christmas gift ever by letting me sleep late and then eating my breakfast casserole! We even started planning her "big girl" room upstairs. I was reminded yesterday that the guest bed was a DOUBLE bed...so MC will inherit that one even though she's nowhere close to getting in it. And she is experimenting with her new potty seat!

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We had a great Christmas! MC loves all her toys (even though all of them are not out of their boxes yet...we're taking it one day at a time). A tornado hit my house sometime this week and I have been cooking and cleaning ever since. Seriously, I can't find the floor of my living room or the bottom of my kitchen sink. Matt and I did manage to sneak away for a minute to go see the movie 4 Christmases. I saw an interview with Reese Witherspoon and she said "Escape from your Christmas chaos to our Christmas chaos and just have fun!" Very cute movie. We took a trip to Bay Springs today to visit the Miley extended family. It was great to visit with Matt's cousins and their kids (MC's 2nd or 3rd cousins???).

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Quitting my job was weird. My boss took it WAY better than I expected. I ended up having to work with him for 2 straight days after Monday. He kept smiling and telling me I was doing it for the right reasons and he understood. After about the 10th joke, I realized...'he doesn't take me seriously!' The other pharmacist on duty told me he was in denial. Possibly. He's leaving me on staff as "active" so I can help out if I want to. But his response made it much easier for me. I can make jokes and not cry when I see him now. Again, the best boss ever.

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Our thoughts and prayers are with the Townsend family. I can't imagine what they are going through. I got to visit with them last night and baby Cole is adorable. They are under so much stress with a new house, new baby, holidays, and the death of his brother. Keep them in your prayers please.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOY!

G is for:

G is for Gigi:

It's amazing how no one else exists to Mati Claire when Gigi is in the room. MC was stuck to mom's hip the entire week! She sleeps better, eats better, and acts better when Gigi is around. I have to brag just for a second: MC was a perfect traveler! She did great! MC tried my dad's famous pancakes for the first time (only because Kennedy was eating them) and so we decided we were going to kidnap Kennedy for a few weeks to teach MC how to eat. Or lease her. Or borrow her - whatever my sister will allow. ;) MC even wanted to sit on the potty because that's what Kennedy does! Mom and Dad sold their house FINALLY! They close on it in a few weeks.

G is for GanGan:

We took a side trip to visit my aunt, uncle, and grandmother (Gan-Gan) in North Carolina. Yes, we are the only family in America I think that has a Gan Gan. I haven't seen or spoken to her in almost 10 years for reasons that are too long to post. I put aside my differences to introduce her to her youngest great-granchild. We had a great time visiting and catching up with extended family.

G is for Goodbye:

Goodbye to Kroger. I'm giving my 2 weeks notice tomorrow (provided I don't chicken out). All signs have been pointing to stay at home with Mati Claire. Our regular sitter just wasn't working out, Mother's Day Out didn't work out, and daycare is not an option. We are out of options so I'm going to stay home more and help Matt's dad out when I can (aiming for 1 day a week). I will truly miss my co-workers and I absolutely love the job - but I love being a mom more and that job comes first. I told Matt it was a bit of a delayed reaction on my part but it's better late than never.

G is for George:

George W. Vanderbilt that is. Mom kept MC for us while Matt and I took a trip to Biltmore in NC. Wintertime is not the best time to see the gardens, but they makeup for it in Christmas decorations. I am not a history buff but it's amazing to see how the Vanderbilt family lived in 1895. Definitely worth the trip. My family saw it back when I was in 3rd grade or something and things have changed since then. I forgot my camera that day so I had to borrow my sister's. When I get those pics I'll post a few.

G is for Glad:

Glad to be home. Glad we got to spend quality time with family. Glad Christmas is here! We are also grateful for the gifts we received. And Mati Claire is glad that she saw Santa (I think) hahahaha ;) Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Parties!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDALL!

Kendall turns 2 this weekend! We had a great time at her party. She got so many great gifts. I think Mati Claire enjoyed bonding with Uncle Sam the most. He made sure they all played hard enough to sleep good. Finally, we found someone that can match their energy! This is the best picture I could get of Kendall because she wouldn't stay in one spot long enough to take a picture. There was somewhat of a cupcake eating contest but they would kill me if I posted the pictures. Jennifer T., we all give your husband Daniel credit! He brought Payton to the party (we all commented on how our husbands would have never done that).

And the Cookie Party! All the cookies are delicious. I had 1 bite of each and saving the rest for Matt. We stuffed Christmas stockings for children who had interesting wish lists. I'm glad we could provide them with necessities as well as a few extras. The Sunday School's "Jr. members" enjoyed themselves too.

Unfortunately Mati Claire was tuckered out when we left the birthday party and couldn't make the Christmas party. I even bought the Dirty Santa gift and it was a really good one! Too much socializing for MC wore her out.

I will post again when we get back. There's alot going on here. Traveling, visiting a certain grandmother, etc. Alot of stress.

Whew!

What a week! And it's not even over yet. Sorry no new pics to post. I will post some tomorrow though after another busy Saturday! We have the Sunday School Cookie Swap, Kendall's Birthday Party, then a Christmas Party! Then off to Tennessee (and a side-trip to North Carolina).

I worked more than usual this week. And the third day was a killer...plus the weather. At 10 am, while my co-workers were scrambling to find secondary sitters after the schools and daycares closed, my sitter bailed on me. Luckily, my MIL and SIL were able to cover the rest of the day. Sara, I need a Mrs. Leila! ;) Why are GOOD sitters SO hard to find????

Anyway, we're off to the post office to mail our Christmas cards!

I Two

While changing MC's diaper first thing this morning, she said "I Too!" At first, I thought she was saying maybe "I tooted" but she didn't...then it dawned on me the way she said it. "I Two!!!" She was completely copying Kennedy from last week. It only took her a week after they left but she was so enthusiastic about it. "I two! I two!"

So to get some sanity this morning, I called upon Rachel to babysit for a few hours. I'm driving around town, just laughing at the thought of "I two!" If only I was that enthusiastic about turning 30 next month. You don't hear me screaming "I thirty! I thirty!" I feel every bit of 30 and look more like my 40's. I've been having dreams of my teeth falling out. I researched this online, and every site I found agreed that it meant I had a fear of getting older and/or I was reaching a milestone birthday! How weird is that? True though.

Commenting on Sara's blog, "I too" am saying NO tonight. We had planned all week on going to the Clinton Christmas parade tonight...the cold outside won. I HATE the cold. And I figured MC would wind up sick then we would miss out on next Saturday's events and our trip to Tennessee. We have been SO busy the last few weeks and MC is either teething or hitting a growth spurt - therefore sleeping alot! But who's complaining?

So I plan to stay in tonight and get the last of the gifts wrapped and I made a trial-run of the cookies for next week's Cookie Swap: Chocolate Mint Sugar Cookie Drops! Delicious - the ER staff will love these tonight since they aren't on my diet!

Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup veg. oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups of mint-flavored morsels (I used Andes mint baking chips).

Preheat oven to 350. In small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, and eggs (one at a time mixing after each). Blend in vanilla, and gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in choc/mint morsels. Shape spoonfuls into rounded balls. Roll in colored sugar or regular sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes and cool.

I'm Santa?

Last Christmas is a blur. Mati Claire was only 5 and 1/2 months old JUST starting to sleep through the night and we really didn't buy her alot of stuff simply because of her age. Not that we didn't want to. My point? This Christmas is different! As a parent.

Today, I went to the lovely local Walmart to look for some gold ribbon (Fads-N-Frames was out). I've mentioned that I have a paper fetish. Browsing through the Christmas wrapping paper, I come across my worst nightmare. Oh my goodness I'm a MOM and I have to buy WHAT????? Character paper?????? Really? Yes, character paper. I realized then and there that I don't own a single roll of character wrapping paper. I also realize that as a mom, I have to put my wants aside, and take one for the team.

One of my most favorite things to do at Christmas time is WRAP GIFTS! I remember back when I was a little girl (like 8 or 9 maybe) watching the ladies wrap gifts behind the counter at McRaes and I was in awe. My grandmother attempted to show us how they professionally wrap gifts there. Ahhhh...but it boils down to good paper. I am not a master of bows but I try.

Back to the character paper. Can anyone tell me how to make character paper look good? I remember when I was young, that I would separate my gifts out according to which paper it had. Like ALF or the Smurfs or Mickey Mouse. My OCD-ness is taking a beating today! ;) I know my nieces would prefer to see Princess paper vs. polka dots. I am looking forward to my gorgeous macaroni-string necklaces and 'i made it myself, mommy' dinners!

I hope everyone is reminded that Christmas is about the best gift of all...and He was wrapped in swaddling clothes.