Olivia's First Bubble Bath

Olivia received some Bubble Bath from Santa too, she's never had a bubble bath before as they aren't really recommended for a little girl's health. But since Santa brought her some we decided we'd give it a try and see what she thought.

Olivia loved the bubbles and had a fun time plastering her face with bubbles. She didn't even eat too many bubbles, and that is saying a lot with Livs.

Isn't her hair beautiful?

I like the lighting in the bathroom for the pictures.

My Bubbles

The boy loves bubbles! Luke was very excited to get bubbles in his stocking from Santa this year.

This picture was taken of Luke when he was 4. He LOVES bubbles.

Awwwwww!

Luke was sitting on the floor playing the Wii, and Livvy went over and sat next to him and snuggled up. Who could resist taking this picture?

Christmas time is here

Christmas time is here,

happiness and cheer,

fun for all that children call their favorite time of year.

Snowflakes in the air,

carols everywhere,


olden times and ancient rhymes
and love and dreams to share.

Sleigh bells in the air;

beauty every where;

yuletide by the fireside

and joyful memories there.

Christmas time is here;

we'll be drawing near;

oh that we could always see

such spirit through the year,

such spirit through the year.

I love the music for the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. We had a great Christmas. Luke said over and over that it was his best Christmas ever. He got a Air Hog helicopter from Santa and flies it very well. Mom and Dad got him and Air Hog Zero Gravity Micro Racer. You'll notice it behind him on the walls in some of the pictures. It runs on the walls and the ceilings. It is really cool. He also got Madden 09 Football and was so excited.

Olivia was spoiled with many dresses and clothes. She was in heaven. I think she had changed outfits 10 times in the first 10 minutes she found them. When she found the dresses Santa brought her, she said "oh, pretty dresses!" and proceeded to change right then and there. She got some fun games too, and she loves to play them. And don't forget the candy, she was very happy to find that.

Mom and Dad had a fun Christmas because the kids were so excited and thankful. Luke kept running and giving us hugs because he was so happy.

We hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas. May the spirit of Christmas follow you throughout the year and next.

'Twas the night before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas...

And all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,

Not even a mouse.

The children were tucked all snug in their beds,

While visions of Sugar Plums danced in their heads....

We've had a fun day, and the kids are so excited for Santa to bring them presents. Well, Luke was, Livvy didn't want to go to bed because she thought Santa would come into her room and scare her. We let the kids go to bed in our bed so she wouldn't be afraid. Livvy had the time of her life rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes for the cookies.

We let the kids open their presents to each other tonight to try to make it more memorable for them, or at least an attempt to help them remember what they gave to and received from each other. Luke gave Livvy Tinkerbell the movie, (she had it, but broke it- what a sad day that was). She was so excited. Livvy gave Luke a rocket set that you build and then you can shoot them off. Luke was so excited he wanted to go and shoot them right away. He decided that a good way he could shoot them off and be warm at the same time would be to cut a hole in the roof and light them in here. That didn't fly so well with the parents.

And then of course the kids opened their Christmas PJ's. Well I better be off to bed so Santa can make the rounds.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Sand Art

So I hope you realize that I have been sick, and my daughter is taking full advantage of my slowness and grogginess. Today while I was just a few short steps away from my her, I could hear this sand against the linoleum sound and knew instantly what it was. And boy was I right. I came around the corner and she was just as happy as could be playing the the dry Cream of Wheat she had dumped on the ground.

Can I tell you that there are some days I love nap time. And yes, I still love the 2 year old stage. And yes, I usually do her hair, just not in time for any of the pictures.

Sick days

Here's my poor boy on Monday. He was so sick, all he could do was just lay down and sleep. When he started throwing up, he cried and cried because he wanted to go to his friend Tiana's party. He tried to act like he was healthy enough to go, but when we told him we would get together with Tiana another day, he finally collapsed and fell asleep for most of the day. He's such a good boy, and he rarely gets sick, when he does it really wipes him out. It was really nice to see him "need" me again, but I'd rather have him healthy and independent.

I didn't lighten the picture, so you can barely see Olivia laying there with him wanting to be close to him. I figured she's already been exposed so I let her. She has not started with it yet, but we're still watching and waiting.

Oh Baby

This cute little doll Livvy is holding caused me to have an "Aha" moment. This dress the doll is wearing is a dress that my friend Lisa sewed for Olivia when she was a Preemie, because the Preemie clothes were too big for her. When I saw my baby's doll wearing a dress that she wore when she was a brand spankin' new born, it just made me sick to remember how small she really was. Boy, I can't even believe from where she started to where she's at now. What a blessing.

I'll try to find the picture of Olivia wearing the dress.

Little helper

My sweet little helper. I said that I needed to vacuum, and Livvy disappeared and showed up a few minutes later with her vacuum to help. She's such a good girl.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Here are a couple of shots of Luke and Livvy decorating the tree. Luke was so excited to show Olivia how to decorate. It was so fun to see them working together on this project.

Life

Could I be blogging about this cute scared little girl?

Yep, this is the mischievous little girl I'm talking about.

Life has been so crazy and busy. I realize that it will never slow down, but the little breaks here and there are nice. I have a ton of pictures to download to the computer and upload to the blog, I will try and get it done soon.

Monday morning at 2:30 AM Luke woke me up because he had thrown up. Poor kid. He was home from school and very sad, because we were missing our friend's Christmas Party. Then right at the time we should have been at the party, I started in with it too. Man it wiped me out. At least I lost a bunch of weight with it.

Luke had to miss Tuesday as well, he still didn't have his energy back. Neither did I. We were quite the pair watching Olivia tear things apart in the house. Wednesday we tried to get back to normal. I tried to play my soccer game, I could only last 2-3 minutes on the field, and when I'd try to make a break I was thinking, "why won't my legs work?"

When I got home from soccer, Ryan told me to go kiss the kids, because they probably wouldn't be asleep yet. As I was walking up the stairs I asked Ryan what that smell was, and this cute little voice said, "It's soap."

Oh dear! Olivia had gotten out of bed, got the shampoo out of the bathroom, and had proceeded to pour it all over the carpet in the hallway. She was sitting in the middle of it massaging it into the carpet and making foamy bubbles. She was in Heaven. I couldn't help but laugh. What a mess. What a character!

I scraped it out of the carpet the best I could, I need a carpet cleaner to get the rest as I don't want to make bubble explosion all over the hallway.

After that I noticed that Olivia was wheezing, so I gave her a breathing treatment, and it made her wired and she didn't fall asleep until 12:30 AM. It's gonna be a long day today!

So to end, I have to say that I LOVE the 2 year old stage. I don't love the messes, and I don't love the fits, (luckily there aren't many of these for me), but I love the love of life. I love the exploration, I love the learning, I love the joy, I just love it. I do get frustrated at having to call poison control at times, but I love, love love having a 2 year old.

(I try to avoid the messes, Livvy is truly creative).

Time's running short

I had a goal to get my packages to the post office today. I was so pleased that I actually made it there.
I thought that I would warn others who are wishing to ship things for Christmas that time is running short to still use the Parcel Post option. They say that it takes 7-10 days parcel post, so if you sent it today it would be there by the 20th. So days are numbered for the cheaper way to send.
Merry Christmas.

Poinsettias

So since I was over at the Poinsettia fact page seeing if I needed to call Poison Control, I thought I would share some interesting facts about poinsettias.

• The showy colored parts of poinsettias that most people think are the flowers are actually colored bracts (modified leaves).
• Poinsettias are priced according to the number of blooms. The more blooms, the more expensive the plant.
• Poinsettias are not poisonous
• A study at Ohio State University showed that a 50 pound child who ate 500 bracts might have a slight tummy ache.
• A fresh poinsettia is one on which little or no yellow pollen is showing on the flower clusters in the center of the bracts. Plants that have shed their pollen will soon drop their colorful bracts.
• Poinsettias represent over 85 percent of the potted plant sales during the holiday season.
• December 12 is National Poinsettia Day.
• There are over 100 varieties of poinsettias available.
• $220 million worth of poinsettias are sold during the holiday season
• Eighty percent of poinsettias are purchased by women.
  Eighty percent of people who purchase poinsettias are 40 or older.

There are a few facts about poinsettias, more than you'll ever want to know I'm sure. And my question is, what mother in her right mind is going to allow her child to eat 500 leaves to see what the outcome is?

Now I know I used to tease my friend who researched all her plants to make sure they weren't poisonous and dangerous to her child. "What kid goes around eating plants," were my thoughts. Well obviously Livvy feels the urge to much on some greens. We had salad for dinner, so it's not like she was being deprived of them. Sigh, what will she think of next?

Please note that Olivia only took a tiny nibble of the leaf. Not 500 full leaves.

Thanksgiving

Livvy and Kaiya loved reading books, and Brooklyn had fun watching Luke play games on the computer.

My brother and family came for Thanksgiving. They made it at 3:00 AM Thursday morning. After a few hours of sleep Ryan and Eric woke up in time to go play football, and Angella and I finished preparing the "Thanksgiving Feast." And a feast it was.

We had a turkey, (yummy and juicy), stuffing, smashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, jello salad, a veggie platter, and rolls. For dessert we had apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. It was delicious, and we all ate until we were full.

While we were downstairs putting the turkey in the roaster pan, Eric yells for us to come upstairs and see our daughters. Livvy and Kaiya were a devious pair to say the least. In the morning time, they had dumped all Livvy's pretties out, found the donuts and ate them all but a few, and pushed the water in the fridge door until we had a lake in the kitchen and dining area.

Then we come upstairs to find them in the bathroom with the shampoo. It was a new bottle. You can see from the pictures how much they used. They had poured it all over the toilet, and then they'd rub their hands in it and "wash" their hair. Eric and Ryan had to put them in the shower and spray them off for a really long time, especially Kaiya, who had covered her head with the shampoo.

On Friday morning, Angella and I went shopping for Black Friday deals. We were able to find some good buys! All in all it wasn't too bad, we did see some people make fools out of themselves. Like at WalMart a lady(and I use the term lightly) kept ramming my backside with her shopping cart. She'd giggle and apologize and then kept doing it over and over again. What made her think that her actions would move the crowd in front of me?

Then at Target, (Gasp! Katie went to Target), while we were circling the parking lot looking for a place to park, some lady (again the term is lightly used), gets out of her car and is yelling at the lady in the car in front of her for waiting for a person to back out of a parking space. I love to find the good deals, but come on people, is it worth it to act like that?

After shopping, I came home and stumbled into bed and slept for 3 hours. And I was ready for bed that night at 9:00. I'm getting old.

We had a lot of fun having Eric and Angella and Brooklyn and Kaiya over. The kids all had fun and got along very well. We're thankful that we have family and friends close enough to celebrate with.

Snowman

We have been getting snow here and there. The other day, there was no snow when we woke up, but then it just started coming down. Luke went out and built a snowman, and then he let Livvy help him put the final touches on it. She helped him to gather the rocks for buttons and mouth. They had so much fun and we were really impressed with their ability to work together. What good kids!