Ward Christmas Party Pictures

This morning (freakishly early) we had our ward Christmas Party back in my parents ward. We had Annie sleep over at my parents house the night before. My Mom probably thought it had something to do with getting Annie used to being away from Mom & Dad or something, I thought it had everything to do with getting one less kid dressed and ready for a party at 8AM on a Saturday morning. Turns out Annie (who took a ridiculously late nap yesterday) didn't get to bed 'til 11PM last night, then kept everyone up in the house all night with her horrible cough. My Dad says she's never allowed to sleep over again if she's not feeling well. I personally think the whole situation worked out just about perfectly. But that's just me. Annie recently changed her mind on what she wants from Santa. For the longest time she's been asking for a kitchen set. This was great, as I'd already purchased and had shipped a gigantic play kitchen to my parents house. I was surprised the other day though when she was playing with some play food at a toy store when she said, "Mom, look, four kitchen sets! Maybe I can get one for Christmas." The kid's considering the little accessory sets to be "kitchen sets", and she's more than thrilled to get one for Christmas and share it with her little sister (she asks Santa for a "kitchen set for Ellie and me to share!") This kid is going to be so freakishly excited when she sees a whole kitchen by the fireplace Christmas morning! Anyway, but the mind change. So, Annie was playing with a Disney Princess Laptop at a store the other day, and after about the best ten minutes of her entire life, she turned to me and said, "Mom, tell Santa I non't want a kitchen set anymore, I want a 'puter." She has since then walked around telling people Santa is going to bring her a laptop. She was telling my Mom yesterday that she wanted a laptop from Santa. My Mom asked about the kitchen set. Annie stopped and thought about it for a second, then said, "I know. Santa can bring me a laptop. You give me a kitchen set for Christmas." Problem solved. You know, if it wasn't for the fact we already spent $200 on a kitchen and all! Best news I heard all week was when my sister in law told me the other day that she'd already bought Annie a play laptop for Christmas. Then today Annie told Santa at the Ward Christmas party that she wanted a kitchen set. So things may be back on track now.

Here is Annie and Ellie, in the same outfit, at the Christmas parties in 2006 & 2008.
For such freakishly teeny tiny babies, man do they have big ol' cheeks!

I love this one, 'cause this just looks so completely like Ellie to me. Like this is how I picture her in my head. It's a very different look than when she's smiling huge.

Love this Ellie smile.

A very excited Daddy & Ellie. They probably heard Santa Claus was coming.

Me and my girls.

Annie & Ellie with Santa. Look, no tears!!

Annie & Ellie with Santa.

I love the look on Ellie's face.

Annie & me self-portrait. Her teeth are orange here from the orange candy Santa gave her.

Here Annie's teeth are blue due to the blue candy Santa gave her. There was kind of a theme here until she finally ran out of candy.

I don't know what it is about this picture, I just love it. Ellie sitting up, all pleased with herself, looking right at me while Annie and Jovanny are completely ignoring me.

I like this picture 'cause Ellie looks a little funny. Is that bad?

The big snow storm meant that Annie & Uncle Cody got to go outside afterwards and play with the sled.

Feeding Ducks

Annie, Ellie and I headed out to Gardner Village earlier today to swing by my friend Wendi's store Posh Frippery to check out the latest Fancy Nancy books. (Um, yeah, they're pretty much Annie's autobiography or owner's manual or something.) We brought bread with us, 'cause that's what you do when you have a two year old and you're going ANYWHERE there might be ducks. Usually we bring old, crappy, stale, possibly moldy bread with us (since we almost never finish a loaf of bread without it going bad). How glad am I we were using just a plain, ol' normal fresh hoagie bun from Grandma and Grandpa's house when I turned around and saw Annie in the backseat, mouth stuffed impossibly full of bread. I asked her, "Annie, what are you doing? That bread is for the ducks!" She sat there for a second, than with her mouth full she mumbled, "I'm sharing with the ducks, I 'possed to share!" Always so sweet.

The other night we went to my cousin Lance's beautiful wedding reception at Market Street Grill. It was gorgeous and decked out in Christmas decor, and it made me want to plan my own Christmas wedding but Greg says we're not doing all that again. Scrooge, that's what he is. Anyway, this may come as a surprise, but I took some pictures. Although, unfortunately not until we were leaving, so they were kinda rushed, Annie was already in a coat and Ellie was back in a carseat for most of them . . . oh well!

Here's Annie in front of the Market Street Grill Christmas Tree.

Annie and Ellie in front of the tree. With Ellie in her carseat. Classy.

Ellie showing off her holiday spirit!

Aunt Talina, Annie & Aunt Star.

Me with an adorably grinning Ellie.

See, and you were starting to think I may just never blog again . . .

Unrelated, do you know what is seriously fun? Getting together with people you haven't seen forever, and counting how many dozens of kids your friends are capable of having in a matter of a few years! :-) Blows your mind. Of course, I was contributing a couple of my own to the mix!

Wanna Win?

'Cause I love winning stuff, I'm shamelessly linking to Seriously So Blessed! Go over there and leave a comment and win stuff! (Ever since I won something on there, I'm like convinced that someone I know will win something EVERY SINGLE TIME there's another giveaway. It hasn't happened yet. Y'all need to restore my belief in giveaways and get hooked up already!!)

She's a Sweet Kid

So, there was much internal debate about whether or not to blog the funniest thing Annie said today. My Mom has given me her "people blog about inappropriate things too often, because of the anonymity provided by the internet" speech before. But since the story is fundamentally about the workings of Annie's two year old mind, and not my period, I decided to just write it. And there, I already said it, "period". So just delete this email now Dad, it gets worse from here.

I woke up the other morning with the unhappy realization that for the first time since August of 2005, I needed to get my hands on some feminine protection. And it wasn't something I packed with us for the one month stay here at Greg's parents house, since I wasn't really expecting it this early on with the full time nursing and all. Anyway, after a Rite Aid run I was now more prepared, and as I laid out my clothes and whatnot before my shower this morning, Annie noticed my grabbing a pad from the package and placing it on top of my pile of clothes. She looked at it quizzically and asked, "What that Mommy?"

"Um, that's a pad." Any chance we can leave it at that?

Nope. "What is it for?"

"Well, sometimes Mommy's and other older girls need to wear these inside their underwear, because sometimes they, um, leak." Leak?! That was lame. But probably better than "monthly shed their uterine lining" though, so I figured we'd leave it at that. And Annie seemed cool with it, and went back to watching "Super Why" with no further questions. Maturation discussion 101 was fairly successful, I guess.

About 30 seconds later though, Annie turns to me, and with her warmest, sweetest, most sympathetic smile ever, she says, "It's OK Mommy . . . I wear a diaper too."

The Shopping Season

My inbox was littered with "Savings of a Lifetime" kinda offers from toy stores, department stores, amazon, and so on. So, I checked some of them out and was kinda surprised to see how underwhelmed I felt by the 'bargains'. All I've heard this season, especially from the likes of CNN, MSNBC and the Wall Street Journal, has been that there were going to be more amazing deals out there than we'd know what to do with. And maybe if I'd wanted like a GPS navigator, or a $400 laptop or something, I would've been thrilled the day after Thanksgiving, but when looking at stuff I'm actually interested in, I've been pretty disappointed with all of these "Never Seen Prices Like These Before" sales. My problem is, I'm already a bargain shopper. And looking at an ad full of Toys R Us' 25% off offers was laughable. (Also made me laugh: the picture of the cute little girl surrounded by all pink boxes of games, like Mystery Date and, of course, a very pink, girly Ouija board that is for "the questions girls want to know," that comes with it's own carrying case purse. What about a Ouija board lends itself to needing gender specific boards . . . does this one only reach the spirits of dearly departed divas?) Anyway, I won't buy a toy unless it's at least 50% off, or cannot be found anywhere else, online or in a store, for less. I guess, in the long run, it's better this way though. For me, not the economy. 'Cause we really don't need any more stuff. Especially while living out of boxes in someone's basement. But the shopper in me has been a little disappointed.
Although, I did finally settle on a kitchen for Annie & Ellie from Santa. (Oddly enough, not one of the three I'd posted online before as my top three picks). Shhhh, don't tell 'em. Everytime Annie's seen Santa she's told him she wants a kitchen set for her and Ellie to share. The Santa at the mall told her that the elves LOVE kitchen sets, and make him pretend dinners all the time. Annie thought this was the coolest thing ever, as she's a big fan of making people pretend pizza, and I had to resist the urge to plant a big ol' kiss on the amazing Mall Santa's rosy red cheek. I was happy to find it on sale from the manufacturer $40 cheaper than Toys R Us' sale, and with free shipping and no tax. But still, not the deal of a lifetime.

Trans Siberian Interpretive Dance

Annie's own interpretation of Mom's favorite Trans Siberian Orchestra song.

Festival of Trees: Part Deux

We went to the Festival of Trees again. And took more pictures. Big surprise. We also had a Ward Christmas Party we attended with Greg's parents in the morning. Annie was pretty psyched to see Santa, get a candy cane, and sing "Jingle Bells." All in all it was a good day! I LOVE December!

Here's Annie pre-party, riding the Christmas rocking horse in Grandma & Grandpa's frontroom. It was obviously some serious riding, thus the tongue-of-extreme-concentration!


Ellie in her exersaucer.

Ellie in her carseat on the way to the party.


Ellie with Grandma Ruth. Photographic evidence that Ellie can be nice to her grandparents when she wants to be.


Annie, Greg, Ellie & Grandma at the party. What is it about a Church cultural hall that makes my camera turn everything yellow?! Stupid non-DSLR camera.


Greg and Ellie disappeared from the party. Here's where I found them out in the foyer.


Now we're at the Festival of Trees. Here's Annie using Grandpa KC's head as an armrest.

Ellie & Aunt Star


Again with Aunt Star.


Aunt Star's magic baby-calming touch apparently knocked my kid out cold, 'cause she is just gone in this picture.


"Here, I'll suck on this hand, you get the other Dad."


Uncle David and Annie


I love this picture of Greg and Ellie. She looks pleased.


Ellie, Greg & me


This picture would pack more punch if you could hear my daughter rocking out and making up her own words to Trans Siberian Orchestra music here.

We spent the last little while we were there watching the dancers on stage. Annie LOVED it. She's convinced she wants nothing more in this world than to be a Ballerina when she's bigger. She will take her prized "Baby Bear" and just chuck him up into the air as high as she can and say, "Look, Baby Bear dances too!" When they had the little 2-3 years olds come out and there dance I wanted to take Annie and just go put her on the stage with them. She would've fit right in, and I think got more of the dance moves right than 75% of the kids who were actually in the dance group. As soon as we move, I may need to look into dance classes!

Grosgrain: Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

I hope to win this gorgeous dress! But if I don't, I hope one of you do! Particularly one of you who don't have a little girl and just decide to give the dress to Annie anyway! I'm selfish like that! :-)

Festivus for the Rest of Us

We went to the Festival of Trees today (which I love), and I took a lot of pictures and bought a lot of semi-useless stuff (I tell myself it's perfectly acceptable to buy what I know will end up in the garbage in three days because it's for charity), and ate WAY too much sugar. It was great. Chocolate dipped cinnamon bears. 'Nuf said.

Annie super-enthusiastic to be "cuddling in the stroller" (as she put it) . . . Ellie is less happy about it.
Grandma Karine and Ellie. (Grandma works at the Festival as a volunteer each year, along with my her sister, Aunt Judy, and with her Mom. It's kind of a cool family tradition.)

Here's Annie and Great Grandma, checking out the dope crocheted stuff.
Annie chillin' in front of her favorite tree.
Mommy and funny-faced Ellie.
The babies crashed half way through. Annie (hopped up on rice crispy treats at this point) was good to go.
Annie rocking the fairy princess look. (Mom's a sucker for a $5 flower crown with long flowy ribbons).
Here's Rachel and Jovanny. Jovanny was mesmerized by our $0.66 fairy princess wand.
Ellie and Mommy.
Super cute Ellie.
Again with the cuteness.
Bundled up Jovanny.
Annie & Grandma Karine making Pom Pom creatures. Annie made like three of these.
Great Grandma with Jovanny.

I'm gonna be there tomorrow too.
I think Annie will be bored with the trees after the four hours we were there yesterday, so if anyone wants to show up and just chill with her while she watches all the "ballerinas" on the South End Stage, you'd have a new two year old best friend!

Bilingual Bedtime Requests

Annie whining as she was being led to her bedroom tonight, "But I need agua Daddy!"

So basically all this Spanish her Dad is teaching her now just allows her to delay bedtime in two languages!

I'm a Big Girl Now

For the first time Annie wore her hair in a ponytail. It took us two and a half years to reach this point (and it didn't really stay up that well), but it was up. For like a whole 20 minutes. Than she ripped it out, once we were in the car, and her hair was this weird poofy Grandma-do the rest of the day. At least we got pictures while it was still up!

On The Move

Annie's seen her fair share of moving lately. We've uprooted her and moved her to a new bedroom in my in-laws basement. We just moved my best friend Rachel from her apartment into my parent's basement. So today we came over to visit Rach at my parent's house and babysit her six month old while she goes to a job interview. Upon arriving, I went and put Ms. Fussypants (aka tired Ellie) down in the crib in the nursery. Annie looked up at me, slightly confused, and said, "We're putting Ellie down for a nap here?" "Yeah, she's tired," I answered. "Ohhhh," Annie said, "I get it! We're moving in here with Rachel and Jovanny!" It took some convincing that we weren't going to live here from now on, and it's set us back a bit, 'cause now when I ask her where we're going to live at Christmas time she keeps answering, "This Grandma's house, not the other Grandma's house."

More Co-pays (also known as "I'm Pretty Sure My Doctor Has a Boat Named After My Family.")

So, still nothing in my head that just needs to be spewed out onto (electronic) paper. I haven't felt this level of writers block since I was assigned the article about the new cheerleading squad in 11th grade journalism. Life upheaval and all that seems to have left me blogging inept. I think something about living in someone's basement, out of boxes, is enough to make my mind melt down to sheer uselessness.

We ended up at the doctor's office today, with Annie's hands swollen and puffy and red and blistery. The first thing the receptionist asked was if she'd burnt them. Great, it looks like I've dipped my daughters hands in some kind of boiling hot liquid. I'm pretty sure she was calling child services under the counter (my mind pictures it as a little red button like bank tellers have in movies, that is being pushed repeatedly as the doctor's office receptionist attempts to keep me calm and talking.) Turns out it's hives. The doctor feels it was something she'd come into contact with, not ingested. She'd just been playing with a latex balloon, and a latex allergy just about freaks me out. But the doctor feels that's not it, since she'd also complained earlier in the day (before the balloons) about her fingers bugging her (but I'd checked them in poor lighting, missing the red . . . and I just thought her fingers were freakishly short and stubby in their pudginess, like her Mom's, since she was just complaining about two fingers on one hand, and when I checked them against the other hand they were all the same size . . . it wasn't 'til later that day that I noticed the red and blistery-ness that may or may not have been present when I checked them in the bad lighting of the basement.) I was told just to put some special prescribed (i.e. expensive) cream on them, maybe dope her up on some Benadryl, and just watch for more serious symptoms like not breathing.

Is it bad parenting that I tested the latex allergy theory when we got home by rubbing the balloon against her leg rapidly for about 20 seconds, than stood there and watched the spot intently until I was convinced there was no dramatic (or heaven forbid, painful) reaction by my daughter? Super thrilled she doesn't appear to be allergic to latex. Of course, I now have NO idea what caused such a horrible dermatological reaction. Crap. I guess we just wait until she swells up like a freak again.