11/25/11 – “Christmas Decorations”

Today, my “30 Days of Thankful” item is…Christmas Decorations! I’m in the most Christmasy of moods quite yet, but there is nothing like the colorful, wonderful memory-inducing Christmas decorations. They make the whole house look so bright and cheerful, and they bring back so many amazing memories. Today, like every year since I first moved out on my own, we put up the Christmas tree. We have a whole new look to our tree this year. Our tree was always very classic…white lights with red and silver ornaments. Very simple and elegant. We’ve now decided – what the heck, we have kids now! They like colors and fun. So, during the “after Christmas” sales last year, we stocked up on some new, colorful ornaments and a huge spool of multi-colored lights. The tree looks amazing, and the girls just loved it. Hopefully over the next week I’ll be able to get all of our other decorations up and fill the house with the joy it brings!

Other than that, today was a very relaxing day. We hung out together all day and took it easy. Christian and I snuck in some naps of our own during naptime, and spent the evening playing and hanging out with the girls. Even though we didn’t do much, the day still flew by. Before we knew it, the girls were off to bed. We made some nachos and settled in for another movie night. We only managed one movie tonight after our late night yesterday – “Horrible Bosses”. SUPER funny, another one I would highly recommend. We could not stop laughing through the whole thing. It feels good to finally spend a little time together, and catch up on some movies we’ve wanted to watch (and, of course, stay awake for them!).

Here are some pictures of our tree decorating fun, including a snap of the girls' 2011 ornaments. And, of course, we snapped our family Christmas photos right away so I can get to work on our Christmas cards soon. There's always something!

11/24/11 – “EVERYTHING!”

It’s here, HAPPY THANKSGIVING”!

Today, my “30 Days of Thankful” item, of course, is everything! I have so much in my life to be thankful, and grateful, for, and Thanksgiving Day is the perfect day to reflect on all of that. I am so incredibly blessed, from my great parents, to my wonderful husband, to my two beautiful daughters, to my entertaining furbabies. My amazing friends, whether we are close, or distant…whether I see them often, or never see them at all. My kind and generous family, immediate, extended and everything in between…whether I see them daily, or once a year. My warm and happy home, a vehicle that safely gets us from point a to point b and the means to provide for my family. We have our health, we have each other and we have our happiness – and with that, we are definitely rich with what is important.

Today was pretty amazing day all around. We spent the morning eating yummy cinnamon rolls and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, our traditional start to the day. We spent the rest of the morning cleaning up and getting ready for the big day. My mom and Christian’s parents joined us, like usual, for the Thanksgiving feast. The mom’s and I did the cooking, and the running after children, while Christian and his dad were in charge of the Turkey (another successful year of not burning down the house!). We ate, spent some time chatting and catching up, we flipped the switch on the outside lights (and the house looks beautiful) and we capped everything off with some dessert. Perfection!

Olivia did not take a nap today, so as the night went on she got crabbier and crabbier. It was a pretty rough evening with her. The excitement of all of us being in one place, and a little bit of chaos, definitely does not help. We ended up putting the girls to bed fairly early because we just had had enough of it. Not the best way to finish off a wonderful Holiday, but also not too surprising in a house with a 1 and a 2 year old.

Once the girls were in bed, Christian and I settled in for a movie night. Tonight we watched “Source Code” and “Shutter Island”. Both were VERY good, I would highly recommend them. Every year I debate “Back Friday” shopping. Christian and I used to get up early the day after Thanksgiving, and do a ton of shopping – for ourselves, and for Christmas gifts – you know, back when it was actually BLACK FRIDAY. I did go out to Toys R Us last year, and it was horrendous. I went back and forth on going out this year, but just decided it is not in any way worth it. Really, the deals aren’t that great…you rush out to get this stuff, that over the next 3-4 weeks is going to end up on sale anyway (PS, keep in mind, I’m writing this post a few weeks late, so I actually know this for a fact as I’ve seen not only the same deals, but BETTER deals on “Black Friday” specials over the last few weeks). I’d prefer to get the deals online, or just randomly over the next few weeks, than deal with the chaos of it all. It’s not even just the long lines and the crowds that get to me, but it’s just the way people act period that I can’t handle. It’s sad really. We live right across the street from Walmart, and were watching all of the cars and chaos when the “doors opened”, and it was not a pretty sight. No thanks! A nice warm night, cuddled up with my hubby, watching some awesome movies was much more fulfilling for me!

11/23/11 – “This Weather….Maybe”

Today, my “30 Days of Thankful” item is, this weather. It’s so amazingly beautiful out, I can’t even believe it. This time last year was windy, and freezing and everything was covered in snow. This year, you don’t even need a coat, or a heavy sweater for that matter! It’s just been completely perfect fall weather, which is great. However, the only downside to it is…we’re a little worried about our turkey for tomorrow! We deep fry our turkey, which means it has to brine overnight in a big standing cooler. This usually isn’t an issue because we leave the cooler outside or in the garage, which helps it stay cool. This year, we’re a little worried that it might be too warm out! Hopefully the overnight temperature tonight is low enough to help us out!

Today was really a laid back day. Work was quiet, as expected, so I got a TON of stuff done. There were only a few of us in the office (basically my favorite people in the office, shhhhh), so we ordered lunch and spent some time chatting and catching up. LOVE days like that at work. Christian had to work a little late, getting ready for the long weekend, but he still picked up the girls, which gave me plenty of time to get the dishes done and a little picking up and cleaning done around the house. After dinner and a little family time, the girls were off to bed. We started brining the turkey, did a little final cleaning for the day, and were off to bed ourselves! I cannot believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving! The most “wonderful time of the year” is here, and in full effect!

Here is a picture of Amelia, working so hard to feed herself nowadays. Such a big girl already!

11/22/11 – “Technology & My Flexible Workplace”

Today, my “30 Days of Thankful” item is the wonderful world of technology, and my super flexible workplace. It’s hard being off work several days in a row. I care, probably too much, about my work and what the people I work with think about me to let myself get that behind. Thankfully, my work provides laptop computers and everything you would need to be able to easily work from home when the need arises. Of course, having a flexible workplace that actually allows me to do that helps as well. I’m very lucky to have an understanding supervisor that will not only let me do some work at home, but have enough trust in me to let me do it. It really means a ton!

So, today was another pretty good day home with the girls. They’ve been surprisingly well behaved lately, which is great. We spent the morning just hanging out and relaxing. We did have a little issue today with Chuy though. He seems to have gotten into something and spent the day trying to get it up. Not pleasant to listen to at all, and of course we were pretty worried about him. Olivia spent some time taking care of “her puppy” though, which was pretty cute.

The girls took a SUPER long nap this afternoon, which gave me a ton of time to get some work done. Christian arrived home shortly after the marathon naps ended, so it was on to dinner and the usual evening routine. It’s going to feel really strange going into work tomorrow, for one day, but it will also be nice to get out of this house for a while! LOL

I have a couple of pictures to share today. The first, of Olivia taking care of her puppy. The second, of my sweet girls coloring together. Thank goodness for color wonders!

11/21/11 – “Online Shopping”

Today, my “30 Days of Thankful” item is the wonderfulness of online shopping. I’m not a big shopping fan as it is, but my extremely limited time to actually do it makes it even worse. If I could, I would do every bit of shopping online. You can find so many deals and it saves so much time. Thanks to online shopping, I’m just about done Christmas shopping for the girls, and, thanks to some bargain shopping, they are getting way more than they otherwise would. I know Christmas is not all about gifts and what you spend, but it’s that one time of year these little ones deserved to be a little spoiled, so I like to take the opportunity to do so.

This week is a little odd, work wise. Christian’s mom works in a grocery store, in the bakery. So, of course, they get pretty busy close to the Holiday’s. She ended up having to work today and Wednesday – and with us being off Thursday and Friday, it made sense to just “give” her the whole week off. I was a little upset about this when the issue first came about, but it actually turned out to be kind of a good thing. It gives her a break, saves us some money (which we can put towards Thanksgiving dinner) and, of course, gives me a chance to spend some time with the girls. However, I just cannot take an entire week off work…that’s a lot of lost leave time, and the work would just pile up, out of control. So my mom will be watching the girls on Wednesday, which should be a pretty quiet day at work, giving me plenty of time to fly through some work.

The girls were pretty good today. We have an issue going on with Amelia lately that is pretty frustrating. Amelia is a big biter…she has chewed up her crib, she chews on anything and everything, and when she’s upset, she bites. She has only ever bitten Olivia…usually when Olivia won’t leave her alone, basically as a defense mechanism. Lately though, she’s started biting herself…to the point of breaking the skin. Then she cries and scream in pain. I don’t know what to do about it. We grab her hand, and sternly tell her “no”, but she keeps doing it. Of course I pick her up and baby her afterwards, because she’s in pain, so I suppose I need to stop doing that before it just turns into an attention seeking thing. It does worry me though nonetheless – it does not seem like a normal thing to do – at least not to the point of actually hurting herself. Ugh, these kids!

This morning the girls disappeared for a while, and everything got quiet. I went looking for them, only to find them cuddled up in my bed, watching TV. Seriously, they are too smart for their own good!

11/20/11 – “My One-on-One Time”

Today, my “‎30 Days of Thankful” item is my occasional one on one time with the girls. It’s rare that I get time alone with either of the girls. They each have such amazing, individual personalities, but don’t get much of a chance to really show them off. When I get time alone with them, they just shine, and remind me just how amazing they really are. His evening, Christian and Olivia went over to his parents’ house to help move some stuff around in the house, so Amelia and I had some time to hang out and bond. I seriously just love her to pieces. She's so fun, so incredibly smart and amazingly entertaining; it was nice to really see her personality come out. We just laugh the night away when we get our time alone.

The rest of the day was pretty low key. We just had the usual family breakfast, took some naps and relaxed around the house. Gearing up for a busy Holiday week.

I have to share Olivia’s new “thing”. It used to be, anytime you would call her something (honey, goofball, girly) she’d say “No, me no goofball, me Olivia Rose Duran”. Now, when we call her something, she says “No, me no goofball, me Pain in the Butt”. LOL. Like they say, kids don’t lie! She cracks me up!

Here is a picture of the girls, checking out yesterday's snow. They are so excited about it!

11/19/11 - "The American Heart Association"

Today, my "30 Days of Thankful" item is, The American Heart Association. Most people I know are aware that I was born with heart disease. Luckily for me, my issues were caught very early, and while my heart will never be completely healthy, it's not far from perfect :) I've been lucky enough to live a rather full life, when the changes of doing so were pretty questionable for a while. There are so many causes out there, so many horrible diseases, that all deserve time, attention, research and funding. I am proud to be a "part" of such a highly supported, and highly publicized cause.

Today was actually a really great day. Going to bed so early last night was definitely what I needed, even though I was still pretty much dragging this morning. Christian made us all some breakfast while we girls relaxed. After breakfast, and a little cleaning up, we all got ready for the day. We were off to do out weekly grocery shopping, AND Thanksgiving shopping. We love shopping on Saturday...it's sample day at Target, which keeps the girls VERY happy and full the whole time!

While we were in the store, the snow really started coming down, and it had actually accumulated quite a bit by the time we finished. The girls went right down for their naps when we got home, so we had some time to eat lunch and get all of the groceries put away. We have a VERY full fridge, ready for Thanksgiving goodness!

After naps, we got the girls into their snow gear, and spent some time outside. They seriously had the time of their lives! They were rolling in it, making snow angels, eating as much as they could. It was so fun watching them. They were NOT happy when we put an end to the snow fun. But, Christian and I had "big" date plans, so we went into give them a quick dinner, then were on our way.

We dropped the girls off with my mom for a while, and were off to the Mall of America for our date. Last time we played mini-golf, Christian won a free game, which expires tomorrow, so we just HAD to use it. Low and behold, he won ANOTHER free game tonight! LOL. So, we'll be heading back eventually. We were going to use a restaurant gift certificate I had won a while back for dinner, but the weather wasn't so great, so we decided to play it safe and eat there at the mall. Winter has DEFINITELY hit.

Finally, we were off to pick up the girls, and on our way home. They went right off to bed, Christian was off to meet a friend for a beer down the street, and I cuddled up with the laptop and the DVR. Seriously, days don't get much more perfect than this one!

Here are some snow fun pictures.

11/18/11 - "My Schedule"

Today, my "30 Days of Thankful" item is, my current/upcoming work schedule. Today is my usual Friday off (and, between Holiday's and my flex Friday's, I actually don't work a single Friday in November!). Next week, my mother in law has to work her regular job on Monday and Wednesday, we're off Thursday and Friday, so I figured it was pointless to only have her watch them for one day. Figured, she might as well just take the whole week "off", which actually works better for us anyway so we can put that money towards Thanksgiving food. But, I do have some work I NEED to get done next week, so my mom is going to watch the girls on Wednesday so I can do that. So, I only work one day next week. Pretty sure I can handle that! I love the flexibility at my work. It makes life SO much easier!

I'm not going to lie, today was a pretty rough day. I am FAAAAAR too old for such late nights. The girls were up at 7:00AM, bright and early of course. I was so exhausted, all day. I felt bad not giving them as much attention as I should have, but on top of being so tired, my head was pounding. I actually took a little nap when they were napping. It didn't help much though. By the time Christian got home from work, I thought my head was going to explode. We all ate some dinner, and then I took to the couch, and basically called it a night. I went to bed as soon as the girls did, and that was it. I was out cold. Next time I get the bright idea to go to a midnight showing of a movie...please remind me that I have two very young children at home, that have no interest in letting me sleep in.

Here is a picture of Amelia's new favorite place to hang out...on top of the table. Awesome.

11/17/11 - "My Home"

Today, my "30 days of Thankful" item is, my home. Well, OUR home, of course. I was pretty annoyed when I arrived home, to find our 2012 tax assessment in our mailbox. Seeing how much your house drops in value every year is one of the most depressing things ever. Our house is so far under not only what we paid for it, but what we owe on it, that it's just sad. Don't get me wrong, I know this is a VERY common issue in the world right now, I in no way thing we are the only ones in this boat, but it's SO frustrating. BUT, once my anger and resentment passed, I had to take a deep breath, look around me, and tell myself "so what?". This is our forever home. We don't plan on moving, or selling ever, let alone any time soon, so why should we care? Obviously I would LOVE to refinance now that we have a few years of home ownership under our belts, but that's it. That would be the only reason it should really upset me. Otherwise, I need to just be grateful. We have a beautiful house, that keeps us safe and warm. It provides us comfort, joy and pride. It may not be providing us with a ton of comfort financially, but it brings us happiness in so many other ways, and we are so lucky to even have a home to call ours. For that, I am extremely thankful.

Today was a very good, very long, very exhausting day. Work was great. Busy and flew by, just like the rest of the week. I'm off for a few days, so I packed up a laptop and some work on my way out the door in hopes of getting some stuff done while I'm home. We'll see. I did leave work a tad early to watch the last of my Twilight Marathon Movies, Eclipse, before the big premiere tonight. I hadn't seen any of this 3rd movie, so it was all new and exciting for me. FUN!

Once the rest of the house as home, we ate some dinner, hung out and played for a bit and the girls went off to bed. Then, I was off. I picked up Kari, and we were off to the "Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1" movie premiere. I wasn't sure what to expect. I have never been to an "opening night" of a movie before, not to mention a Twilight premiere nonetheless. We got there rather early, so we had plenty of time to sit around and catch up, which was nice. Finally, it was midnight, and the movie started up. It was actually REALLY good too. And, ended at a perfect place. I cannot wait to see Part 2!

By the time I dropped Kari off and got home, it was about 2:30AM. SERIOUSLY past my bedtime! As soon as I crawled into bed, Olivia woke up crying. Christian came in and said she had been up a few times....which had not happened in a LONG time. She was crying and crying, like she was in pain. I kept asking her what was wrong, and she finally said that her legs hurt. We gave her some Tylenol since it was the 3rd time she's woken up not feeling well, and she slept the rest of the night. I'm guessing she must be entering a growth spurt, and her pains are growing pains. I talked to my mom (the next day) and she said the last time Olivia spent the night there she complained that her legs hurt then too, so hopefully she's just a growing girl, and it isn't anything more than that.

In any event, I was anticipating being very, VERY tired on Friday. I was 100% sure I would barely survive. I'm old.

Here is today's picture - reading time with daddy.

11/16/11 - "My Ex-Smokerness"

Today, my "30 Days of Thankful" item is, being a successful ex-smoker. It was a long, hard road. For my age, I started smoking at a fairly young age, and never really looked back. I was basically surrounded by smokers my entire life, so it was pretty much inevitable that I would follow that path. I tried to quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant with Olivia. My body pretty much went into shock. I would shake all day long. I would burst into uncontrollable tears. I made it two weeks, and I just kept getting worse. It wasn't good for my body...as horrible as smoking was, the pain and stress I was putting myself through, was no better. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I was unable to stay smoke free. I had one cigarette, every night. It got me through the pregnancy. Thankfully, there were no ill effects to Olivia because of it. I was finally able to really put forth an effort, with no worry about the quitting effect, in October 2009. Olivia was 9 months old, and I just knew it was time. I didn't want her to grow up with that "in her house" (even though I never actually smoked around her). I ended up being great timing, because 2 weeks after I quit, I found out I was pregnant with Amelia. I had gotten over the "terrible 2 week" quitting slump, and the new pregnancy gave me even more motivation to stay smoke free. So, a little over over 2 years later, I am officially an ex-smoker, and it feels amazing. I do think about it all the time, and I get that urge to smoke, especially on those extra stressful days. But, no matter how strong the urge, I have so many reasons to stay a quitter. Whenever I smell somebody who has been smoking, it's so overwhelming, and actually downright embarrassing to know that's what I smelled like all those years. The cost...we'd SERIOUSLY be in the poor house if I was still a smoker! I don't want our girls to see either of us doing that...setting a good example and all. And, of course, knowing that by quitting, I have added so many years onto my life, with my girls, for my girls. Nothing could beat that. So, today, I am thankful that I was give the strength to quit, and stay a quitter, even on the darkest of days.

Today was a pretty low key day. After days of completely ignoring my e-mail, my phone and my inbox at work, I finally finished a huge task that I've been putting off for so long. It feels SOOOOOOO good to actually accomplish something, and finally be able to move on. Unfortunately, for quite some time now it seems like if you don't work in the accounting section of our office, your hard work and accomplishments go virtually unnoticed, but at least I know, and I am more than happy to be proud of myself!

After work, it was just the usual. Home, dinner, play and bed. Nothing too exciting going on there! Which, is never a bad thing really. Here are he girls...found them in the back of the house, coloring away. Cuties.