12/1/12

Today was a great day! Christian had to work all day, so he was busy with that. YAY for the OT!

The girls and I had breakfast, hung out for a bit and got ready for the day. Today I was off to take a family picture with my cousins on my dad’s side…we took one 10 or 11 years ago as a gift to our grandparents. My grandpa has mentioned lately he’d really like an updated one – so, my oldest cousin organized everything and got us set up to take it today. We’re all scattered around the cities, but lucky for me, I’m fairly central so it ended up being close to home. YAY! We took our picture, which turned out SUPER cute and I can’t wait to give it to our grandparents, and then my aunt treated us all to pizza for lunch. So our loud, rowdy group gathered at a local pizza place and hung out for a bit. It was actually really nice to sit around the table, laughing and joking and catching up with each other. I wish it could happen more often.

After lunch, we headed home and the girls went down for their nap, and Christian actually arrived home at the same time. We did some cleaning and picking up around the house, Christian ran to bring the vacuum cleaner back to his parents and ran to the grocery store quick and we hung out for a while. Then, onto the next family adventure…

My dad and stepmom stopped over to spend the evening with us. My dad’s birthday was on Thursday, and their (28^th!) anniversary was yesterday, so we had them over for pizza (yes, again) and some time to catch up. The girls had a lot of fun showing them around and showing off for them, and I know that since we don’t get the chance to see them often, they really enjoyed their time with the girls. My stepmom had a little Christmas craft for the girls, which they loved.

Once they headed out, the girls were off to bed, and we settled in to watch some Dexter. Christian’s friend stopped over for a bit – but I couldn’t hang. Off to bed I went! What a great day!

Here are some pictures of Buddy Day 1: Welcome Home!

And, this was really cute. We still have all the girls' little chairs from the basement upstairs from Thanksgiving. They gathered all of them up, put them around the table, and set up all of their stuffed animals to have a "pizza party" of their own. They've never really played "pretend" to that extent before, so it was really cute to see.

11/30/12

Well, today was a busy day! Christian and I were both off work today, so we took full advantage!

Christian took the truck in for an oil change this morning, while the girls and I hung out, watched some cartoons and ate some breakfast. I did some vacuuming (so we could return his parents' vacuum cleaner) and a little picking up, while Christian did some picking up in the garage. As soon as I got the girls settled in with lunch, Christian took over kid duty and I was off! Christmas shopping extravaganza today!

First up, Toys R Us. I had a bunch of coupons and rewards to use, so I ended up making two trips so I'd be able to use all of them. I found a bunch of great deals and was able to get a ton of stuff done. Next up, I stopped into Hallmark to get Olivia's birthday figurine. Well, of course they didn't have the "4"...BUT, they finally brought back the dancing, singing snowmen that we used to buy every year, so I did get one of those. I stopped to grab a quick lunch, then off to Target I went. I got a few groceries for the weekend, and finished up some more Christmas shopping. I'm just about done....one day of online shopping, one day of running around, and I only have a couple more things to get. Super cool!

I got home around dinner time, so we ate and spent the evening playing and goofing around. Christian has to work tomorrow, so he passed out shortly after the girls went to bed, and I caught up on some DVR'd goodies. What day!

I got this shot of Rico today. This is his favorite place in the house - laying on top of the cable box. It gets so hot, I don't know how he can stand it, but he just loves it. Always has.

11/29/12

Today was another pretty boring day. It was my Friday at work, so I spent the day tying up loose ends. The girls had another great week at school. I just love talking to their teachers - they just love the girls so much, it warms my heart. They sure can drive me crazy and fight with each other like nobody's business - but they are so good at school, and so great to their teachers. Makes me happy!

After work, I picked up the girls, and we met Christian at Applebee's for a fun dinner out. He had to work later than expected, so the girls and I hung out for a while, colored and had lots of laughs while we waited for him. We're so lucky that they do so well when we're out to eat...because we love going out to eat. It's our one luxury in life, LOL.

After dinner, it was pretty much time for baths and bed. Tomorrow is my flex day, and Christian took the day off to use up some of his leave time, so we cuddled up on the couch and watched some Dexter after the girls went down. Great end to the day!

Here is a shot of the girls at dinner. So cute!

11/28/12

Today was a pretty low key day. Nothing too interesting to report. I left work a tad early to get some cleaning and stuff done around the house. All of my online shopping orders have been coming in...I love when packages come in - it's like Christmas every day! Pretty soon Christmas cards will be flooding our mailbox and then it will REALLY start getting me in the Christmas mood! So fun :)

So, I really don't have much else to write about today. For some reason, Olivia climbed into our bed in the middle of the night...I don't think she was scared or sick..I think she was just confused. LOL. I welcomed the cuddles, no matter the reason...

11/27/12

Today was a pretty good day. The radio station I listen to does this thing every year called “Christmas Wish”. People nominate other people/families that are suffering or going through something – a house fire, some kind of bad accident, a major illness, etc. – and the radio station surprises that person/family with all kinds of great stuff – groceries, gift cards, clothes and toys for kids, etc. They usually do a wish a day in December, but at the end of November they have a wish-a-thon all day, grating a wish an hour, and raising money to grant more throughout the season. I LOVE this day. Listening to these heartwarming stories, and hearing the strength and faith people have while going through the various difficult experiences is so uplifting, and hearing the love and emotion people have for each other while they read their stories and nominations is amazing. It just fills me with the holiday spirit all day! That day was today, so even though I cried A LOT throughout the day listening to these stories, I loved it.

The days have been going really fast – I can’t believe it will be December by the end of the week. I’ve been so busy at work that it seriously feels like I just got there when it’s time to go home. I love the quick day at work, but being swamped for SO LONG is really getting draining. I’d give anything for our office to be able to hire another person – we’ve been underwater for so long now.

I was also pretty excited because I finally touched base with our insurance agent today, and we’re getting together tomorrow to adjust our insurance policies. Now that Christian’s truck is paid off, we can drop his full coverage and save quite a bit of money. YAY! He was also able to lower our homeowners insurance a little bit (which was set to go up about $200 this year – ugh). AND, he wants to try to get my life insurance policy adjusted. Right now I pay a TON for a fairly small policy because of my heart disease. Since I’ve basically been cleared by my cardiologist and don’t require any monitoring or anything, we’re thinking I can go ahead and get a larger policy for cheaper – like a “regular” person. Fingers Crossed!

After work I picked up the girls from school, and we met Christian at McDonald’s for dinner and some playland time. We had some gift certificates, and I’ve been too busy and too tired to grocery shop this week, so this was a good alternative for the day. After some food and playtime, we made our way home…took a quick bath, and cuddled up on the couch for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Shrek the Halls” on TV. LOVE Christmas movies, and the girls are SO into it this year. It’s cute.

I finally got Amelia down to bed and made my way downstairs to workout. My legs and arms were KILLING me, so it was pretty painful, but I made it through. I watched a couple shows, got myself ready for bed and passed out! Busy day!

This morning, before school, Amelia was really concerned about Chuy for some reason, and had to keep an eye on him while we went to the bathroom. What a helpful gal...

11/26/12

Monday’s are hard enough. Monday’s after a LONG weekend is exhausting. No good. At least I’m busy and the days go fast! Christian has a long month or so ahead of him at work with the holiday’s in full swing. He’ll definitely be getting an hour or two of OT every day, along with working every Saturday. He’s going to be tired for sure!

My mother-in-law had to work today (really this time), so the girls went to my mom’s house for the day. They were pretty excited about that switch up. And, my mom took them to buy new tennis shoes (part of their Christmas present), so they were REALLY excited about that. Those girls LOVE shoes. They definitely don’t get that from me.

I did get in some Cyber Monday of course. I ordered our Christmas cards for SUPER cheap – I got 60 of them for $25.00 with all of the coupon’s and deals. I also ordered the “year in review” Photo Books we give our parents for Christmas every year, and got them for about 60% off in the end. AWESOME! Finally, I ordered the girls these really cute scarfs from one of those deal sites to go in their stockings. They are going to LOVE them.

I picked up the girls after work and we made our way home. They actually played really good together all night, which was great. We ate some random leftovers for dinner and hung out once Christian was home. Just a fairly quiet night at home, which is always a good thing.

After I put Amelia down, I FINALLY started working out again. I’m doing another round of 30 Day Shred. It’s a quick, really good workout, so it’s a good fit for me. It’s amazing how quickly your body can get out of shape – I seriously felt like I was starting at square one, and will definitely be in pain tomorrow. It feels good to be getting back to it though. I started logging on myfitnesspal again today, getting my water and getting back on track there too. I’m going to keep up my workouts and watching what I eat – BUT, I’m really just hoping to maintain through the holiday’s. If I can lose, GREAT, but I don’t want to be stressed out about it and I want to enjoy the few holiday celebrations we’ll have, so I’m trying to have a positive attitude about it. January, I’m back at it 100% though! I have goals in mind, and I WILL reach them.

Rico, Tigger and I cuddled up for a while tonight...how fun!

11/25/12

Today was a good day. The girls slept until a decent time, which was great. After we ate some breakfast, we blasted some Christmas Music, I made some Hot Chocolate, and we decorated the Christmas tree. We actually let the girls do most of the decorating this year, and they LOVED it. Christian would pick them up to hang them higher, and they filled up the bottom like pros. I did have to adjust a few of them after they went down for their naps, but they actually did a really good job. They were so proud of their masterpiece! I hung our stockings and got some of our decorations up, and it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas. YES!

Once the tree was up, we all got dressed and took our family photos for our Christmas card. I couldn’t get great lighting in the house, but we ended up with a pretty good picture, so I’m content.

Then, it was nap time! Christian and I relaxed on the couch and watched some football for a while. The Vikings had a REALLY bad day against the Bears this week. OUCH. To make it worse, they play Green Bay next weekend, then the Bears again the following weekend – so we have some rough games ahead of us. It’s not looking too good – but I’m not giving up hope yet!

I did run to Walmart before the girls got up. I had to buy a birthday gift for party tonight, and ended up buying some stuff for the girls too. They still had their board games on sale, so I got them Candyland and Chutes and Ladders (they’ll each get one from Santa), and I got Olivia’s Hungry Hungry Hippos for her birthday (she thinks that game is HILARIOUS, I can’t wait to play it with her!).

Olivia was up when I got home, so I got her dressed and ready to go. Then, got Amelia up, dressed and ready to go. We made our way to our little friend Caleb’s 4^th birthday party! The girls had so much fun doing some crafts and playing with the kids. I got to catch up with my BFF and her family for a while. Win/Win! Christian stayed home and did some stuff around the house. He ran out the gas on the lawnmower and riding mower, checked the snowblower and put up some plastic on the windows. Busy bee!

It was pretty much bedtime when the girls and I arrived home. I finished up some laundry, watched a few shows and fell asleep myself. So sad to see this long weekend come to an end. It’s never easy…

11/24/12

Today was a pretty relaxing day around our house. The girls played the morning away and were actually pretty well behaved. We watched a couple movies, ate breakfast, and they chased each other around for a while. I spent some time online checking out some of the Black Friday deals and we just had a nice, quiet day.

While the girls napped, I watched some Dexter and started doing some blog updating (what’s new, I’m weeks behind). I did get some exciting mail though – our annual mortgage statement came in. EVERY year we’ve owned the house our mortgage has fallen short and we’ve owed money to our escrow at the end of the year. And, to make up for it, our monthly payment goes up a little bit. It’s so frustrating. Well, after this happened last year, I talked to our insurance agent and got our homeowners insurance lowered significantly (we have our insurance and taxes rolled into our mortgage) in hopes that would avoid this issue. Well, it definitely did, because this year they actually owe us money! I’m so excited. And, our payment is going down $20.00 – not a lot, but I’ll take it. Between this and our modification a few months ago, we finally have a NORMAL mortgage payment and it feels good. It was such great news to receive – especially after getting our annual tax assessment and seeing how much the home value dropped AGAIN this year. Ouch. But, our taxes went down a little bit too this year, so great news all around.

The rest of the evening was pretty low key. I planned on decorating the tree and house today, but I was just not in the mood, and a lazy day sounded much better. We ordered Chinese for dinner, and just spent the night hanging out.

I watched some more Dexter when the girls went to bed (Hey, I have 5 seasons to catch up on!) and Christian pretty much passed right out. We’re so awesome!

Here is proof of the girls actually getting along...playing TOGETHER on the iPad. YAY!

11/23/12

Ahhh, the day after Thanksgiving. I don’t know why, but I love this day. No work, everything is quiet and back to normal. Christian did have to work today, so it was just me and the girls! They played some dress up and colored the morning away while I did some online Black Friday shopping. You really couldn’t pay me to actually go Black Friday shopping. I honestly think Black Friday is a complete joke. For one, most of the “Great Deals” the stores have, show up again over the next few weeks. Also, I just can’t stand what’s it’s become. I used to LOVE it – when it was ACTUALLY Black FRIDAY shopping. Christian and I would get up early in the morning, stop somewhere for breakfast, then head to the mall. We’d spend the day shopping, getting deals and lots of “gift with purchase” goodies. It was fairly calm and what it really should be. We’d stop at Target after our day at the mall and get a few more gifts, and pretty much do all of our shopping in one day. There was no standing in lines, camping out, trampling each other, chaos, angry shoppers or fights breaking out. THAT is what Black Friday should be, not the spectacle it is now. It’s sad to me, I miss our fun Black Friday.

So, on my online shopping – I got some great deals at Children’ Place and got the girls a couple sweaters for Christmas. I also got some awesome deals at Payless – finally got myself some new brown and black shoes (my brown ones bit the dust long ago, and I can literally feel the earth through my black shoes when I walk they are so bad. I’m not a big show person at all, so I just try to have my basics – brown shoes, black shows, winter boots and a pair of sandals or two for the summer. I also got Olivia a pair of “everyday” shoes and some dress shoes. Poor Amelia, she just gets the hand-me downs! LOL. Not for long though, they both just destroy their shoes now. Ugh.

The girls and I did spend some time playing in the snow before their naps. It was SO cold though, we didn’t stay for long, but we had fun, and they were exhausted, so it was successful. While they napped, I relaxed, caught up on the DVR a little bit and got all of our Christmas stuff out of storage (which was quite a task).

When Christian got home from work, we had dinner, and got the tree set up. Olivia was so into it this year, she was such a great help. Amelia was her usual ADD self and just ran around like a chicken with her head cut off. We got the lights on, and called it a night. I can’t wait to see them decorate it; they are going to love it.

Once the girls were in bed, Christian ran over to our neighbor’s house to hang out and have a couple beers. I, of course, settled in for a night with Dexter and did some playing online. Love me some quiet alone time!

11/22/12

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Today was definitely a wonderful day. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Thanksgiving! First of all, of course I have so many infinite number of things to be thankful for. To name a few:

1. Thankful for the hubby. We fight, we argue and it isn't always pretty. But, he's my partner in crime...we've grown up together, we've lived so much life together and every day is a new adventure. I know he'll do anything for me and our family, and for that, I'm thankful.
2. Thankful for the little divas I've been blessed with.  No matter how crazy they drive me, or how trying they may be - they are a daily reminder of how amazing life truly is. They are so funny, so energetic, so full of life. They make me a better person, and make my life complete.
3. Thankful for my family...immediate, step, extended and by marriage. I may not see them as often as I'd like, or be as close to them as I wish, but I have so much family, and they are all such wonderful people, inside and out. I'm truly blessed to be surrounded by such them. Especially my parents, who I know would do anything and everything they could for us.
4. Thankful for my friends...the old, the new, the ones I see often, the ones I never see at all..."real life", online, highschoool, co-workers. My friends have helped make me the person I am, and are definitely more like family. For that, I'm grateful.
5. Thankful for our jobs, and everything that it provides for our family...from a house to keep us safe and warm, to the food on our table. From basic necessities to the few splurges we enjoy in life.

This year, we have a few extras to be thankful. I'm thankful we made the decision to put the girls in KinderCare. It's done WONDERS for their development, social, physical and educational. Watching them grow through REALLY learning has been amazing. It was a hard decision to make, a difficult step – but they are SO much better for it.

And, I'm thankful for our furbabies, especially our Rico Suave for still being with us.

It's been a year of challenges, but so many happy times and amazing memories. We have so much to be thankful for.

We were all up bright and early. Our rolls rose wonderfully overnight, so I started up the stove right away. Christian put the laundry room back together and cleaned up his handy-man mess while the girls and I ate our rolls and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Amelia didn’t really care much, but Olivia loved seeing all of the balloons and characters this year. It’s so fun seeing them get into things more and more every year.

The weather today was amazing (well, the first half). So, after cleaning up and watching the Parade, Christian took the girls outside to trim some of the plants and bushes down and play for a while, and I got started on the food. I baked the apple and pumpkin pies, made the cranberry sauce and peeled the bags of potatoes. I got together all of the pans, measuring cups/spoons and everything we’d need for the cooking extravaganza. We were READY TO GO!

I got the girls down for their naps a tad early and we finished cleaning up, showering and getting ready for the day. Our family started arriving around 2:30 – this year it was us, my mom, her friend Jerry, Christian’s parents and his sister with her 3 girls. The men headed outside to fry the turkey (seriously, the ONLY way I will eat turkey – it’s amazing). The kids destroyed the basement, having the time of their lives together. And, we ladies got to cooking. I actually did a large majority of the cooking and prepping myself this year – I hope to do it ALL myself soon. My in-laws did bring the rolls and stuffing, and my mom brought some salad. We made the green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy couldn’t wait to eat.

We sat down to eat around 4:30 and OMG did I eat. So good. There’s nothing like a good, traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We cleaned up the kitchen and got everything put away…the girls went right back to playing while the adults all sat our full butts on the couch and watched some football. Eating is hard work! 

After a little rest, we all made our way outside to “flip the switch” on our Christmas lights – a tradition. The house looks so great! Every year we add a few more lights to the display, so it’s pretty exciting. The weather took a drastic turn today around 1:00/2:00, and it was FREEZING out at this point, with a nice coating of snow on the ground. We went from mid 60’s in the morning/early afternoon to upper 20’s with snow and wind tonight. That’s CRAZY!

We had some pie, and everyone started heading home. Christian has to work tomorrow, so it was a pretty early night for us too. I watched a couple shows while everybody else passed out, and called it a night myself. Another year down. Now, time to prepare for Christmas! I can’t believe it’s a little over a month away already. YAY!