Happy New Year!

I've been considering new year's resolutions over the last few days, but haven't taken the time to write them down. So, I'll do that here.

1) Make a real effort at this blog! (More time blogging, less time Facebooking.)

2) Take better care of myself. This includes several different things: get to bed earlier, make time to exercise, eat more fruits and veggies....less sugar, wash my face each night.....you get the picture.

3) Organization! This was on the list in 2011, too. I know I did a little better, but need to build on it more. (I wish the rest of my family was on board with organizing, too.)

4) Do better with keeping the house picked up.

Let's see how I do!

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve

Now that it's a month after Christmas, I'm struggling to remember everything! Chuck and Nancy came to visit for the holidays and had arrived a few days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I was trying to get all the gifts wrapped early because the evening was going to be so busy.

We went to Aunt Marilyn's mid-afternoon for her open house and for the kids to see Santa!



I love getting to see him there each year. When he sat down, Lacey walked right up to him and sat down. All business and ready to roll! Leah was pretty shy with him, though.

It was nice getting to visit with Aunt M and Gil, plus Shelly, Tammy, Rick and everyone.

We left there and headed to church. While we weren't very good about making it to church during 2010, I made a real effort at going during the weeks leading up to Christmas! I didn't want to be a ChrEaster (who shows up only on those 2 holidays). It was the Family/Children's service and I usually really enjoy that. But, the girls seemed to be more wound up than usual and since we got there a bit late, we were spread out some. I was sitting with the girls. Butch, Chuck & Nancy were in other pews. So, trying to keep them behaving and settled was all on me and a bit stressful...even in the Children's service!

It was awesome to walk into the house after all that and smell an amazing dinner cooking in the crock pot! I had prepared a pot roast with potatoes and carrots. Yum-o!

Christmas Eve is also Butch's birthday. This picture is courtesy of an almost 6 year old photographer, Lacey. I love it!




A tradition that we had growing up was opening 1 gift on Christmas Eve....and it was always new pajamas! We do the same for the girls now. They're young enough that they haven't figured out that it's always pajamas! They get to open a 2nd gift on Christmas Eve, too and that (so far) has always been a new ornament.

This was really the first year that Lacey could handle writing the whole note to Santa. It was great to see her deciding what to write and writing it all herself.

Once they were in bed....well, still lots to get done!

Christmas Day

The girls woke up a little before 7:00, but we had warned them ahead of time we wouldn't wake up Grandma & Poppy any earlier than 7:00. So, they played upstairs for a bit while we all got ourselves together.

Santa's gifts that were under the tree weren't wrapped, and the girls saw their new Barbie dolls right away...along with some puzzles and things. Lacey actually said "This is the BEST Christmas EVER!" before she had even opened one wrapped present! Once everything was opened, they realized that Santa had left something else....wrapped....over by the TV.



I think the picture shows it all! They were so excited about their new Barbie house! They played with it all morning.

We hosted Christmas dinner at our house so the girls would be able to keep enjoying their things. In our family, hosting dinner doesn't mean taking on the responsibility of the whole dinner (thankfully). We prepared a turkey breast in the crock pot (turned out delish, if I do say so myself), gourmet sweet potato casserole, mandarin orange salad (thank you, Nancy), stuffing, gravy & rolls. Others brought mashed potatoes (Dee/Buck), green bean casserole (Rick/Kristina) and southern MD stuffed ham (Dad). Fabulous feast.





I love our holiday feasts.

After dinner, we opened gifts; and then posed for several pictures. We always try to remember a cousins picture. There is usually a serious one, and a silly (crazy, weird, scary) face one.



Dee & I often remember to get a sister's picture, but I don't think we have many of us with Rick.



The girls were exhausted by the end of the day. Who am I kidding? We all were!

Merry Christmas!

(It seems quite silly to be blogging about Christmas when it's now March. But I do want to have all the big things written down somewhere.)

Christmas is so much fun with kids! And they are so much fun at their ages. Chuck & Nancy didn't come down this year, so it was just the 4 of us on Christmas morning. Butch started the casserole before we came downstairs so it would be done when we finished with gifts. (More on the casserole later!)

Lacey & Leah were amazed to see all the gifts under the tree! (What kid wouldn't be?!)
They immediately started digging in. Santa had wrapped the really big gifts and it took them a bit to realize there was something BIG to open. I'm glad they didn't realize it right away since Lacey was so into her new bike that I'm not sure she would have kept unwrapping right away!

And, yes...Santa brought them bikes. Lacey's is a big girl one with training wheels. Leah's is a Radio Flyer trike that has a handle on it that we can push until she learns how to peddle on her own.

At some point, the timer went off and Butch checked the casserole. He thought it still needed to cook more, so we put it back in. Checked it a bit later and it still wasn't done....I then checked the recipe & realized he had set the timer for 30 min.....instead of 1 hour. Huh. No wonder it wasn't done!

Somewhere around noon, we headed to Rick & Kristina's house. I love holidays with my family. I know what a lucky person I am, too....to have a family that I really like to spend time with.

We had a fabulous dinner! I usually try to take a picture of the food & somehow didn't get that done this year. We had roast beef, stuffed ham, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, salad....and I know I missing things!

And, then the cousins opened up all of their gifts, while the rest of us watched
Every year....or most years....for a long time, we get a picture of the cousins. The past several times, there have been serious pictures with everyone smiling, then the less serious....silly face picture.

I love those "kids".

Christmas Eve 2009

The holidays are always so hectic. And, Christmas Eve is one of those days where I feel like we run around a bit much. But it seems worth it all in the end.

I had to work (from home, luckily) until 12:00 and daycare closed at 1:00. Aunt Marilyn had invited us to an open house for the girls to see Santa. (She has a connection to him through her brother!) He is amazing! So, we picked the girls up & drove to Indian Head. For those that don't know, it's about a 30-40 minute drive. The girls got changed into their Christmas dresses, then sat with Santa and posed for pictures.
We had planned to only be there for an hour or so to allow time to pick up pizza before church (at 5:00). That didn't work out!

We ended up visiting longer than we had planned. It's just too hard to leave when you don't see someone often enough. By the time we left, we knew we'd be late for church (40 minutes back toward home). While Butch was in Ledo's picking up our pizza (in La Plata), it dawned on me that there is a Methodist Church right in La Plata that we could go to. So, that's what we did. It was okay. The 5:00 is supposed to be the "children's service" or "family service". At Mt. Zion, our regular church, this means that the service is really done for the kids. It incorporates them and makes it more fun for them. However, at the La Plata church, I felt like it was just a regular service that was more tolerant of noise. Live and learn, right? Next year we will be at Mt. Zion, I think.

After church, we headed home for pizza. In case you don't know, Christmas Eve is also Butch's birthday. We had birthday cake for him after the pizza and he opened his gifts. I had gotten him an iPod....finally he decided he wanted one!

Then, we switched back to Christmas mode. :-) The girls get to open 2 gifts each year. One is usually PJs and the other is an ornament. We got them new robes this year, too.

Something new happened this year! Lacey was able to write a note to Santa!

I can't believe she's old enough to do that! I love it!

Daycare Christmas Party

The Daycare Party was Tuesday, the 22nd. Miss Lisa's daughter had written a play about the animals in the forest taking care of a little tree that was lonely. Sort of a Charlie Brown tree. Lacey's best buddy went out for her part before Lacey (with her sister) and "froze". Lacey & Leah went out and Lacey refused to do her speaking part, too! Oh well, they were cute! And, when the time came for singing, everyone participated.
Santa came - arriving on a fire truck! No surprise to me that Leah was the first one to run up to him. That girl has no fear.

It was a bit surprising that Lacey went up right after Leah! She sat on his lap for a few minutes and talked.The kids had picked names a few weeks before for a gift exchange. Miss Lisa had also gotten them gifts. And, Miss Lisa had helped them to make gifts for us. They were little bags that had been decorated with fingerprint painting and it said a hug was inside. Inside the bag was a piece of yarn that was as long as their arms are wide. It was a very sweet gift that we'll be keeping.

Lunch with Santa

It seems that I am always saying "I can't believe how long it's been"....when I post. But, I think I have new motivation. I found out that I can have my blog put into a nice book. That will be awesome to have done for the kids. Motivation.

Today we went to Lunch with Santa through the 22nd Annual Hospice Festival of Trees. We apparently went in the wrong way because we almost missed lunch! We spent a lot of time in the room with Santa and a very cool train set up.....and the lunch was down the hall! But, we got to eat even thought they had already put the food away.

The girls were great with Santa. I was amazed that neither one was scared or nervous.



Lacey told Santa that she wants a bike for Christmas. He made sure to talk to her about not riding in the streets. ;-) Leah wasn't very talkative with him, but has said "Elmo" anytime someone asks her what she wants.

The girls got their faces painted....and Grandma joined in the fun as well!
We walked through the hall where all of the amazing trees were. Wow. They are beautiful.

Easter

We had a really nice Easter here. Well, it could have been a little bit warmer, but at least it wasn't raining!

The night before, we colored eggs....


Lacey & Leah searched around the family room to find their Easter baskets! Leah was quite happy with her new sunglasses.
I was pleased that the Easter Bunny hadn't gone overboard on candy. :-) There were sunglasses, toothbrushes (ha), hair accessories, etc.....plus some chocolate. Leah got to have her first peanut butter egg!
We headed to Dad's house later that morning so we'd be there in time for Leah's nap. Sadly, she wouldn't sleep in the pack n play. Every time I tried to put her down, she screamed. I'm guessing she just wasn't used to it and hadn't been at Dad's in a while. Butch relieved me and took a nap with Leah. (I think he was hoping for that.)

I managed to get a couple of very cute pictures with Dad.
The girls had a good time on the swings.....

....and hunting eggs......
.....and checking out their loot.
Bucky handled the grill (as usual). We had pork roast, red potatoes, asparagus, biscuits, etc. All quite yummy!

A Very General Update

Not much has really been happening around here. The girls both had colds that started about a week ago. I kept Lacey home from daycare the Friday before MLK Day because she was so congested. Saturday, Lacey had a mild fever....which she still had on Monday, so I took her to Dr. Jill. It never got above 100.5, but I still thought that after 3 days, she needed to be checked. It turned out that she had an ear infection. She hadn't complained at all, so it must have been just starting. She still has a few days left of the antibiotics, but her cold is almost completely gone.

Leah had a cold, too, but never got a fever. Her 18 month well visit was scheduled for Friday, so it was good to at least have her checked out. By then, her cold was about gone, too. She had a great doctor's visit - she is so easy. Dr. Jill always comments about it being her easiest visit of the day. She is 24 lbs, 4 oz. (50th percentile) and 32.5 inches long (75th percentile). I find the length kind of funny....I know it was accurate because she was really good with being still. But...I always think of her as short. The 18-24 mo. clothing from Old Navy and Gymboree; and the 18 mo. clothing from Carters are all long on her. Anyway....she got only 1 shot that day and handled it well. Not even a flinch.

I worked from home on Tuesday - Inauguration Day. Unbelieveable, but our DC office did not close. Apparently there is 1 person from one of our companies that lives very near the office & was being stubborn about it. So, my dept./division (15-20 people tops) was given the choice to work @ home or take the day off. The 2 administrative women were given "free" days off since they aren't able to work from home.

Butch & I watched the ceremony with happiness since the person we supported had won this year. I had chills watching him take the long walk out for the swearing in. By himself, in his thoughts. You have to wonder what's going through his mind at that point. Perhaps it was "don't let Justice Roberts mess up the words". :-) Truly an amazing day when you think of how far we've come with race issues. I don't believe that 30 years ago anyone other than a white man could have made it this far. I'm proud of how people are changing.

That day was also Winnie the Pooh day (I know because daycare celebrated it). So, I wasn't sure that they would talk about Inauguration Day. But, Lacey came home with this (held upside down):

And, she said that they watched the ceremony, too. I asked her if she had a good time watching it and she said - very enthusiastically - "I had fun!". She already knows who "Barack Obama" is....I'm working on the "President" part with her now.

We bought a new toy box/storage thing that Butch put together last weekend. Here are Lacey & Butch showing it off. It's got 3 bins, so we can attempt to organize the toys. Yeah, right. I'm the only one in the house that sees the point of that.


Yesterday, I took Lacey to see The Little Mermaid at the College of Southern MD. It was the children's theater, so lots of kids were in it. Certainly no Port Tobacco Player's presentation, but it was pretty good and Lacey loved it! What was strange is that the mermaid wasn't "Ariel". Her name was "Anemone". Many of the names were different - the prince was Theodore (instead of Eric). I'm not sure if this was an earlier, pre-Disney story, or if it's because of copywrite issues.

Not much is planned for today. Lacey is still asleep (7:30) and Leah cried around 6:30 - Butch went to her & she's been resting in his arms in the rocking chair ever since. This is how I've found some time to post here!

It isn't often that I get a picture of the 2 girls together...at least not a decent picture. So, here is a lucky shot.

Random Update

It’s been ages (or so it seems) since I’ve done much of a post. I’ve just felt overwhelmed with everything there is to do on a weekly basis - in all areas of life. How is there really time for everything? I actually realized tonight that I have started a few posts here & there and never finished them! Oh well. Here are a few random updates:

An Evening Out

A few weeks ago, we went to a dinner/dance with my family. Dad treated us all (very sweet). So, it was Dad, Frankie, Dee, Buck, Rick, Kristina, Butch & me. Jessica babysat for us and things went smoothly for her. We didn't leave until around 7:00 and Leah goes to bed shortly after that. So, that meant she really only had Lacey to watch for most of the time.

It was a lot of fun, but I think I was so excited to be OUT that I drank too much. I honestly planned on limiting myself to 3 glasses of wine and know that it all that I asked for/went to get. But, I think Butch and/or Rick and/or Buck brought back another glass or 2 at other times. I felt horrible the next day!

Anyway, there was a lottery type thing at the dance. Everyone had a number and if your number was called, they you were eliminated. It was fun, but it interupted the dancing. And, each time they did it, they turned the lights all the way up for all of us to read our tickets.

The band was pretty good. Dee & I danced a ton. Dad, too. I've said it before........when I'm 70, I sure hope I'm moving like that on the dance floor!

Last Weekend

Kristina's parents both turned 70 in recent weeks, so she & her sister hosted a pool party to celebrate on Saturday. It was the hottest weekend so far. Bad for being outside, but at least there was a pool! It was Lacey's first time in this year and Leah's first time ever. Both had a ball. This is Jessica (Steckita) with the girls:

On Sunday, we went to Dad's to cookout. The week before, he bought a swingset and had it all set up for Lacey (and Leah) when we got there. He put on a baby swing that we'd bought for Lacey when she was an infant. Lacey never liked it, but Leah loved it!

Lacey loved the pool at PaPa's house, too. She can touch the bottom now, so she feels like a big girl.

Air Conditioning

Well, our a/c broke again. Yes, you read that right. This is the 3rd time in a year. Last year - literally while I was at the hospital in labor - a new inside unit was being installed for our upstairs a/c. A few months ago, a new inside unit was installed for our downstairs a/c. And now....we've had a new outside unit installed for upstairs. We were without for about a week. This just happened to be the week that we had our first heatwave. Lovely. It was about 90* in Leah's room when she went to bed for 3 nights. And, humid. On the last night, we decided to try putting fans in the foyer and direct them toward the balcony to bring cold air upstairs and this helped a bit. I'm just happy that it's fixed now. We are all sleeping better.

Commute

For some reason....that I've yet to figure out....my morning commute has gotten worse lately. It used to take about 90 min. pretty regularly. The last 2 weeks, it's been about 2 hours. I know part of the problem is they have a road closed in DC that is causing others to take my route. But, that isn't the entire issue. Considering metro and commuter bus numbers are so high (thank you to gas prices), you would think my commute would be shorter. Makes no sense to me and it's making me crazy. Before kids, I was in the office by 7:30. After Lacey, it was about 8:00. After Leah it was about 8:30. With this recent issue, I'm lucky to make it in by 8:45. This is yet another reason why I love my work @ home days.

Father's Day

We're going to the Optimist Club picnic tomorrow. Dad is a member and they have this annual cookout/picnic that we started going to a few years ago. Last year, I was 9 months pregnant and it was HOT. This year, we'll have 2 of them to chase around, but the weather is expected to be much nicer. They have a nice little playground for the kids. And, last year, they had buggies pulled by horses. Lacey loved it. We're hoping for more of the same this year.

I struggled with what to get Butch. I can't really post anything here in case he reads this before tomorrow. :-)

Well, I'd better run. After much time away, I feel like I've written a book. Hehe.

Spring Break and Easter

Butch had a nice long spring break. He was off the Thursday & Friday before Easter and the whole week after Easter. Nice. We left for Pittsburgh on Thursday morning. What should be a 5 1/2 hour drive is more like 7 hours with 2 kids. Not bad, though.

Once we got into Pittsburgh, we stopped at Becky's house for a visit. Becky is someone from my February Sweethearts group. (We met online at Baby Center over 3 years ago.) Becky has 2 little ones under age 2 and is pregnant with her 3rd. I don't know where she gets the energy! Anyway, it was nice to meet her in person after all this time. Lacey was a bit quiet and shy around Cristian and Emma, but that's typical for her. She didn't want to leave their house, though.

After we left Becky's we drove another 45 min. to get to Chuck & Nancy's. Lacey fell asleep on the drive (when we were nearly there) and stayed in the car for a bit longer snoozing. It was a good visit, even though it was short. On Friday, we went to Shakespeare's for lunch since Lacey is obsessed with princesses at the moment. There aren't any princesses there, but she loved the castle.

We were back home for Easter. Lacey was excited about the Easter Bunny's visit and thrilled to discover the baskets left for her and Leah. We headed to Dee & Bucky's for "linner" (late lunch/early dinner.....the name comes from my friend, Tonya). Before Linner, Lacey got to hunt eggs in the yard. She loved it this year.

I took off Tuesday & Wednesday to use up some vacation from 2007. I wish I'd taken the entire week. It was good to get things done. I organized and packed away baby/kids clothing, we took lots of it and other things (bouncy seats, play mat, etc.) to the consignment shop (and made $165) and organized the basement a little. We also took time each day to watch a movie. Day 1 was Knocked Up and day 2 was Atonement. Two extremely different flicks, but they were both really good. I think I'm going to take 2 back to back days off in April, too. Unfortunately, Butch won't be off to help with bigger things, but it will still be good.