12/24/11

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everybody is celebrating in some way, big or small!

We had a very relaxing morning today, which was really nice. Christian did spend some time putting in a new post for the mailbox, but thanks to the lack of snow and extreme cold, that went pretty fast. Buddy came bright and early for his last visit. He got pretty fancy today, and even wrapped the girls’ gifts! Today they each got a new pair of jammies to wear today, and their own personalized place mats for the table. Lucky girls! They were so excited to see him today – I think they’re going to be pretty sad to say goodbye to good ol’ Buddy!

We just spent the morning hanging out and relaxing. Once the girls were up from their naps, we were off to Christian’s parents’ house, with my mom, for the evening. They didn’t do anything super formal, just lots of yummy appetizers to pig out on. The girls were TOTALLY spoiled and got a ton of great stuff. We got a new set of pots and pans which I’m very excited about. The drinking didn’t get too out of control (always my big concern), and we had a really good time.

After we got home, the girls and I put out some milk and cookies for Santa, and they were off to bed. Christian and I put up the new princess castle Olivia got so she would be able to play with it tomorrow. That thing was a major PITA to put together too, let me tell you! She is going to love it though!

Christmas celebration 2 of 4 down, man I love this time of year!

12/23/11

Today was an AMAZING Friday. Seriously, amazing!

Well, it didn’t start off that way. I received a phone call from my mom that Olivia had thrown up after breakfast. Hoping that it was a fluke thing, we let it go. I made a couple of pretty big Craigslist sales on my lunch break, and my co-worker surprised me with Thai food for lunch! YUM. And, my supervisor ended up sending the few of us that were there home early for the day! Awesome!

I was able to run to a couple stores and pick up some last minute gift cards before I picked up the girls – and with that, Christmas shopping is over! Olivia was doing well, but she threw up again after lunch, and after the car ride home. It seems to be just an upset stomach, maybe she ate something that didn’t agree with her or something? It seems to only be food or motion induced; otherwise, she seems completely normal.

Buddy made a hasty appearance today, completely destroying our Gingerbread house. He brought the girls some Princess stickers and magnets though, that seemed to cheer them up. After a little hanging out, we were off to the Madrid’s house for our first Christmas celebration. We met Christian there, ate lot so yummy snacks, the kids opened their presents and we had some time to catch up. The girls seem to be getting better and better at sharing and playing together, which is nice.

Eventually, toddler crabbiness started up, and it was time to head home. We made a quick stop on the way home to check out this beautiful tree that's lit up every year. We can see it from way down the highway, and every year I'm just in awe. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever. I love it.

The girls fell asleep on the way home, and Christian and I didn’t last much longer. It was an early night, but a really great day.

12/22/11

Today I was home with the girls because my mother in law had to work. It’s always kind of an adventure when I’m home with the girls – you never know exactly how the day is going to go with them. Today was actually a really, REALLY great day. The girls were beyond well behaved, I couldn’t believe it really. They actually slept in, which was a nice change of page. They were quiet and played so well together, all day long. Sharing, laughing and just having the time of their life. They both ate all of their breakfast AND their lunch. They went down for their naps with no screaming or fighting it. It was seriously one of the the easiest day I’ve ever had with them. I LOVE days like this! No fighting, no stress, no yelling – just an entire day of truly enjoying every second with my girls.

I spent nap time doing my usual…paying bills, balancing the budget, catching up on some DVR’d shows and relaxing with the computer.

The girls went down for their naps pretty late, so Christian arrived home shortly after they woke up. We ate some dinner, and Buddy showed up, hiding upon the girls’ ceiling fan with some fairy wings (“Buddy” may or may not have hurt himself getting into position today…ouch). You should see how the girls react to Buddy’s arrival now days – they just LOVE the whole thing, and ask about him all the time. It’s been so fun, but I’m not sure what they are going to do when he’s gone…

Christian went outside to pull his truck in, and discovered that our mailbox was lying out in the middle of the street. Our mailbox is actually a double mailbox (we share with the neighbors across the street) with quite a solid post into the ground. We both went out to investigate, and it was clear a car had hit it. We saw tire tracks coming across the grass, heading straight for where the mailbox is supposed to be. We were so upset, and at a complete loss of what to do. We did some investigating and we are indeed responsible for replacing it (you know, in all of our extra time, with all of our extra funds). The neighbors across the street never even came out to check or talk to us (it turned out they were in Vegas on vacation, but even to this day – weeks later – they never once mentioned it, thanked us for fixing it or anything. GREAT neighbors we have). Just one more thing to fit into a busy Holiday weekend. Ugh.

Here is a picture of Buddy with his goodies, and the girls, snuggling together on the couch. They were total best friends today!

12/21/11

Today was a pretty low key day. It FINALLY snowed today, a pretty decent amount, but it doesn’t sound like it will stick around through the weekend. Boo. It’s looking like we will definitely NOT be having a white Christmas this year. Pretty bummed about it, but I suppose one brown Christmas every once in a while isn’t horrible.

Work was pretty busy today. Half day yesterday, I’m off tomorrow, Half day Friday = REALLY busy when I’m actually here! I’ve been pretty good about keeping up lately, which makes work much less stressful. Christian has been working a lot of overtime, another great perk of the Holiday season. The girls have been pretty good lately – probably all of the Buddy goodies and Santa bribes :)

Speaking of, Buddy showed up today, hiding under the tree, with some Pez Dispensers. The girls thought they were just the most amazing things ever! Too funny.

I was a little upset today. The Happy Feet contest has been on for a few days now. You can’t see the number of votes you’re getting, but you CAN see which of your facebook friends have been voting. I have 200 friends on facebook, and only 25 have voted within the last few days. And NONE of Christian’s friends. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, seriously, how sad is that? This is literally the easiest contest ever, one click, and you are done. No registering, no giving them personal information, nothing. It was really discouraging, and it makes me question a lot of the people on my friends list. I ended up posting something about it on my page, and got a ton of responses from people. Some said they just plain hadn’t seen my posts about it, and voted right away. YAY. Some wouldn’t vote because they didn’t want to allow the “contest” application associated with it. This kind of bothered me because it’s SUPER easy to remove an application after you are done – but, I get some people are really worried about their privacy so I can't blame them for that. Others only access facebook through their mobile devices, and I guess the contest isn’t accessible through all of them. And, others just didn’t even respond. In the end, after this, I got up to 40 some friends voting, which is much better, but still kind of a dismal amount. In the end, all I can do is be grateful for the opportunity, and thankful for the friends and family that decide to support us.

Here's Buddy with his goodies. And, of course, a random ornament. The bottom half of our tree is just about empty of ornaments at this point. I've just given up on putting them back up. KIDS!

12/20/11

Today was a pretty exciting day. Work flew by this morning, and I ended up taking the afternoon off, picking up Olivia and taking her out to the Mall of America to meet Cinderella! One of our local theaters is putting on a production of “Cinderella”, and Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother were appearing at the Mall, doing a little performance, and a meet and greet after. We met the Madrid’s out there so the girls could meet them. I got Olivia all dressed up in her Cinderella costume and she was SO excited. She loved every minute of it, and couldn’t wait to meet Cinderella and give her a big hug. It was so fun, I love doing stuff like this. I’m glad we were able to make it.

After the show, Olivia and I stopped into Target to pick up a few things, and then she passed out and took a short, late nap. She and I ate dinner together when she woke up, and then waited for Christian and Amelia to come home. Buddy showed up, hiding on top of the girls’ curtains in their room, with some Bubbles for the girls. Bubbles and kids – it never fails.We had a pretty relaxing evening, just blowing bubbles and hanging out.

12/19/11

Seriously, I cannot believe Christmas is THIS weekend! We have so many reasons to be excited. Santa is coming to make two VERY deserving girls very happy. We’ll be spending some much needed, much appreciated time with our amazing family. Experiencing the joy, happiness and kindness that come with this time of year, especially through the eyes of a 1 and 2 year old that just look at everything in awe. And, of course, the “reason for the season” is never forgotten. This is just such a magical time of year, I can't believe it's already here!

Today was a pretty low key day. My mother in law has to work a few days this week, so luckily my mom offered to watch the girls today so I wouldn’t have to take a ton of time off. We’re pretty excited because today voting in the “Happy Feet Contest” I entered Olivia in starts. The “Pump it Up” site on facebook is hosting this contest, and asked for videos of kids showing off their “Happy Feet”. I submitted a video of Olivia when she was a little over 1, and it’s seriously one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. And, looking through the other video entries – she TOTALLY deserves to win. Not just being over the top, my kids the best, really – it’s the best video. So, guess we’ll see how it goes over the next couple weeks. YAY!

Tonight, Buddy showed up, hiding above the Kitchen door. He was pretty lazy today, and just put together little goody bags of snacks for the girls - stolen from our cupboards of course. That sneaky Elf!

12/18/11

Today we really didn’t do much. Of course Christian was dragging this morning after his late night, so we all just kind of hung out and took it easy this morning.

After naps, and dinner, the girls discovered that Buddy has shown up with a bunch of goodies – a gingerbread house, some cookie mix, sprinkles and frosting! Amelia didn’t really care too much, but Olivia was excited to help out with everything. I baked the cookies and we all did the gingerbread house together. It’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, but we got it up, and Olivia had A LOT of input, while Amelia just tried to eat everything. LOL. Once we finished, Olivia and I frosted the cookies, and man were they TASTY! I didn’t realize until I took a picture of them, but they ended up very Mexican Pride-ish. Ha.

By the time we finished up out Christmas activities, it was basically time for bed. Another weekend down, it’s crazy to think that next weekend, we’ll be celebrating Christmas!

12/17/11

Today was just kind of a typical weekend day around the house. Cleaning up, dishes and some laundry for me. Christian did some cleaning up in the garage. Nothing too strenuous. It’s always nice to get a chance to actually get some stuff done around the house. The girls took a nice long nap today, which helps too.

We ate dinner shortly after the girls got up, and then Christian was out for the night. He was off to help Lorenzo finish up laying down his flooring. I’m sure that’s not ALL they will be doing, and I was a little bitter that he got to go “out”, again. It’s so rare that I get out of the house, so I get a little annoyed by it, but I really shouldn’t. For one, it’s not his fault that none of my girlfriends ever ask to get together or do anything. And, it’s not his fault that I’m more of a homebody, and typically OK just hanging out at home by myself. He gets really bored just being at home, especially in the winter/colder months when there isn’t much you can do, so I get why he wants to go and hang out with friends. I still get jealous though…and probably a little hurt that he doesn’t want to just hang out with me. LOL

Buddy showed up this evening, hiding in the rocker with the girls’ stuffed friends, with some reindeer headbands for the girls. They thought these things were hilarious, and seriously wore them the rest of the night. It was cute.

12/16/11

Today was my Friday off, home with the girls. YAY. I ended up having to make a surprise trip into work though; because it turns out I left my wallet there. Oops. Everyone was pretty excited to see the girls though, and it’s nice to get them up and out of the house.After our visit, the girls and I were off to a late breakfast at Perkins. I love taking them out, they always have so much fun when we’re out to eat, and everybody always thinks they’re so cute. They were really well behaved, and ate pretty good, which is always a plus too.

It was basically time for naps when we got home from eating. The girls went down pretty well, and took a nice long nap. I spent nap time doing my usual, bills, checkbooks, DVR and R&R. LOVE it!

Buddy showed up with some “Create Your Own Crowns” tonight. So, right after naps, I got the girls in their chairs and we put them together. Really, I had to do it because the pieces were too small, but the girls watched and were pretty excited about it. They ended up being a lot more work than I expected though – I sure wish Buddy would have just put them together himself…Christian showed up as we finished with some take out for dinner. We ate and just hung out for a bit before it was time for baths and bed. Christian and I had a pretty relaxing night, watching some TV and just snuggling on the couch together after the girls went down. Pretty great day, that’s for sure!

12/15/11

Today marked another Thursday/Friday in my world. Seriously, there is no feeling like a Thursday at work when you don't work on Friday....and, even though it wasn't the best circumstances, ending up with a 3 day work week isn't too shabby either!

Work continues to be pretty good. I'm still managing to keep pretty caught up. A rush comes across my desk here and there, but for the most part I don't have anything too pressing on my plate. It's been a much needed break from the chaos. Christian worked a bit over overtime this week. He hasn't been getting as much OT as I hoped, or as he had last year. I'm hoping that picks up over the next couple of weeks as the Holiday's come and go.

On my lunch break I met a girl to make another craigslist sale. I have a hard time selling our stuff, and getting rid of it, but it's nice to have the extra cash. I think we'll finally be able to get Chuy in for a checkup, and to get fixed. Hoping that he'll finally calm down a little bit afterwards....and seeing that he escapes the yard often, it's the responsible thing to do. Poor thing...

After work, I ran to Target to grab some groceries and a few necessities. I was really excited....they had their kids coats on sale, 50% off, so I grabbed a couple of springy coats for the girls to have after winter. They are SO cute, and were super cheap on sale. Sad how exciting that "find" was. LOL

Finally, it was home for Taco Thursday, some play time, and the girls were off to bed. We're at a crossroads with the girls/bedtime now. We had a system down...Amelia went down, fell asleep, then Olivia went down. Easy peasy. Now, Amelia waits for Olivia, she just won't go to sleep until Olivia comes in. Then, they talk and yell and act crazy for at least 45 minutes or so. To top it off, a while after we put them down last night, we heard some loud noises...checked the monitor, and sure enough...Amelia had climbed out of her crib, and they were tearing apart their closet! I don't know what we're going to do. NO WAY is Amelia ready for the toddler bed, there is no way she would stay in it, and the girls would go on a rampage every night. We're going to see how it goes, or if she keeps doing it. I'm NOT ready for this, that's for sure!

Tonight, Buddy was hiding atop mommy and daddy's TV with some Princess and Winnie the Pooh tops for the girls. Seriously, you should see the way these girls react when they find Buddy, they LOVE him to death, it's hilarious!