How Could I Forget These...

On Christmas Eve, I was determined to get a decent picture of the kids together in front of the Christmas tree.

We had quite a humorous photo shoot as a result... here are some of my favorite shots:

My Baby is Three Years Old!

Today is my Avery's third birthday.

As if being born the day after Christmas isn't bad enough, we spent all morning in the doctor's office... where we found out that the birthday girl has a nasty case of strep throat!

Isn't that a fabulous way to spend your birthday???

She was quite the trooper, though. After we got home from the doctor with her antibiotics, we had our little family celebration. I got her an ice cream cake so it would feel okay on her sore throat (and it was YUMMY, too!). And we gave her our gifts... a Dora boombox and two CDs to go with it (Disney Princess Tea Party and The Backyardigans).

You can barely tell from these pics how rotten she felt!!




The good news is that she should be in tip top shape just in time for her big birthday party this Saturday!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!!!!!

Christmas Morning, Part 2

Damon playing his new Battleship game with Daddy:

Apparently the best gift Nick and I bought the kids were these camping sets. They are six-piece sets, including a tent, sleeping bag, suitcase, water bottle, compass, and binoculars... all for the bargain price of $19.99 each! We didn't expect them to be anything fabulous, but they're actually very nice tents! And the kids LOVED them. We had to set both of them up and they took up most of the "free space" in our house all day. Here is Damon's tent:

And, Avery's tent. Notice how she "moved into" it! She carried all of her prized possessions into that tent, including a CHAIR from her room, lol.

By far, my favorite picture this Christmas was this one, taken Christmas night. Avery asked me to put her tent IN her bedroom, and she fell asleep in it and slept there all night! If you look closely, you can see her in there, snoozing! Damon also slept in his tent... set up in the kitchen, of all places, lol. He had his "door" zipped up so I couldn't get a picture of him sleeping.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning was fun and exciting (to say the least) for our kids!

First, Avery woke up and came upstairs at the crack o' dawn. I asked her if Santa had been here, and she said, "No, not yet." Apparently she walked right past the gifts and never even noticed. So, I said, "Are you sure?? Let's go check again..."

And down the stairs we came... THIS time, Avery noticed the gifts galore under the tree!! She took off running for Damon's room and woke him up by shrieking: "Bubba! Bubba! Come look... Santa came!!!!!" It was seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen. Ever.

For the next half hour or so, we watched the kids rip open their gifts, barely pausing to LOOK at them before they moved on to the next package! They had a blast... and got lots of new goodies!

Damon's "big" toy from Santa: the Gameboy

Avery and her Barbie suitcase. She was very distressed because apparently she expected the Barbies to be IN the case already... so when she first opened it, this is the look I got. It turned to smiles once she started ripping open other packages and found several Barbies for her new case!

SpongeBob Damon. Grandma bought Damon a SpongeBob television for his bedroom... and pajamas to match it. He sported these for us most of the day.

Grandma bought Avery the cutest ever little dress-up set. Here she is modeling the whole thing... the dress, tiara, gloves, wand, necklace, earrings, shoes, and purse. Isn't she lovely?

(Look for more pics in the next post, because Blogger won't let me post any more to this one!!)

What Christmas Looks Like at Our House

The tree and Damon and Avery's loot.

An ornament that Damon made at school this year.
Santa. My mom has had this painting for as long as I can remember... somehow I got custody of it. He's hanging beside our tree, and brings back lots of childhood Christmas memories for me.
The stockings were hung on the window sill with care. We improvised because we don't have a chimney/fireplace.
Some of the Holiday cards we've received from loved ones this Season. The other side of that doorway holds the rest of them.
The tree skirt that Mom made for us in 2001. At that time it only had three of our names on it. A couple of years later, she had to add Avery. It's one of my favorite Holiday "decorations."

Avery, Avery, Avery...

I realized tonight that Avery should have her very own blog. A whole place devoted to the insane things she does DAILY... the things that are rapidly turning all of my hairs gray, one by one.

The other day, I posted about the fuzzies up her nose.

Tonight, it was vaseline. Yes, vaseline.

I thought the child was tucked in her bed. I know I did in fact tuck her into bed and she promised me she'd stay there and go night night. Uh huh.

Well, about an hour later, I realize someone is in the bathroom. So, I walk back there and find Avery standing half naked on the toilet... with what looked like an entire jar of vaseline smeared an inch thick all over the bottom portion of her naked body.

What do you do?? What do you say??

I'm sooooooo at my wit's end here lately with this demonic being (who just happens to be hiding under the most angelic-looking creature ever! Just to throw me off, I'm sure).

God only knows what tomorrow has in store... I just hope that He grants me the patience to deal with whatever it might be.

Cutie Pie Pic of the Day

Trimming the Tree... finally!

I finally gave in and admitted that Christmas is in fact rapidly approaching, much to my dismay!

Last night, the kids and I put up our pathetic little Christmas Tree.

Our tree is a really cheap artificial tree that Nick and I bought 6 years ago at Rite Aid for $19.99. It's pretty sad. But, for $19.99, it's been a good tree (and I'm think I'm attached to it for sentimental reasons, lol).

Nick was working last night, so I didn't have his help with the lights... which is the part of tree trimming that I absolutely loathe!!! So, I put the tree together and literally threw the lights on it... I did a hideous job.

Then, I let the kids hang all of the ornaments. I figure it's really for THEM, anyway... and since it's only going to be up for a week or two at the most, who cares... let 'em have some fun, right??

Fun they had... and I did help hang a FEW ornaments on the top foot of the tree that Damon couldn't stretch to reach.

Enough of my blabbering... here are some pics (which I know are what Damon and Avery's fans really come here to see):

Why, Avery, Why?

This pic was taken of Avery and her Bear back in October... I'm sharing it with you now because I have a story to tell you about Avery and Bear, and I thought a visual would be nice.

Yes, Bear is supposed to be pink, but he's very dingy and gray after being dragged around by Avery's dirty hands for the better part of three years (and he gets "baths" regularly, but the gray just doesn't go away!). Bear became Avery's "comfort object" sometime during her first year of life. Avery doesn't go anywhere without her Bear. And she certainly can't sleep without him in her clutches.

At some point, Avery started carrying Bear around with her teeth. She would shove his nose area in her mouth and chew on him (strange behavior, yes). Well, this led to a hole where Bear's nose should be... so now that you're caught up, let me tell you what happened here tonight...

About 5 minutes after I tucked Avery into bed tonight, she came running out of her room, whining.

"What's wrong, Avery?"

"There's something in my nose!!!"

"What did you put in your nose, Avery?"

"A fuzzy." [Note: a "fuzzy" that Avery picked out of the hole in Bear's nose and shoved up her own.]

"Why did you put a fuzzy up your nose, Avery? Why?"

Lots of whining followed, and at this point, I whisked devilish almost 3-year-old child to the bathroom, sat her on the sink, and found the trusty tweezers (thank God for tweezers!!). In seconds, I had the fuzzy removed. Supermommy and her tweezers to the rescue... yet again.

This isn't the first time that a fuzzy from Bear has mysteriously made its way into Avery's nostril. And it's a phenomenon that I just don't comprehend, on any level. So, Supermommy then threatens Avery that if she keeps putting Bear's fuzzies up her nose, Mommy will have to take Bear away. *gasp*

At this, devilish almost 3-year-old child becomes instantly teary-eyed and says, "I won't do it again, Mommy, I promise. I really promise. I won't."

Avery and Bear are tucked into bed again.

At this point, Damon is coughing up a lung, so I go into his room to give him some cough medicine, and I'm still trying to figure out the whole fuzzy thing... so I decide to ask for Damon's input, thinking maybe I'll get some highly intelligent kid logic from him.

"Why does she keep putting fuzzies up her nose, Damon??"

"I know why she does it, Mom... she does it because Bear has a hole in his nose and she pulls the fuzzies out of there."

"Yes, Damon, I know where she GETS the fuzzies from... but why does she put them up her nose?"

"I have no idea... because she's NUTS???"

Exactly. Thank you, Damon... that's what I thought, too. At least WE are on the same page where dear Avery is concerned.

Catching Up

Yikes, it's been over a week (again!) since I've posted. I suck.

Let's see, what excitement (ha!) can I update you on??

Last weekend the kids and I went on a mini-road trip to visit two of my college roommates and their kids. I hadn't seen these two for YEARS, literally, and had never met their daughters. So it was really nice to have a reunion with them!!

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday. He's been in a downright rotten mood here lately, and I'm not sure what I'M supposed to do about it... but, I TRIED to make his birthday fun and special. The kids and I went on a shopping spree and I let them pick out "special," low-cost gifts for Daddy. And I made his favorite cake---yellow cake with chocolate/peanut butter icing. Then, the kids drew him pictures/wrote him notes. Here is Damon's birthday note to Daddy (I might have helped him with the spelling, a little, lol):

I set up Nick's birthday "spread" on the table and surprised him with it when he got home from work Sunday night (since he gets home after midnight, it was technically his birthday).

I thought it was sweet and thoughtful of me (yes, I'm patting myself on the back)... but I didn't get much feedback from him, so I'm not sure what to think about that. I've decided he's just a downer, lol. Instead of concentrating on what he HAS and appreciating what some of us do for him (and how much we love him), he dwells on what he doesn't have and who ignored his birthday. wahhhhhh!

I don't blame him for feeling down about things like that... but I'VE been here for Nick for the past seven years... so I guess I'd like a little credit. Selfish me, lol.

Anyway... moving on.

Last week I also took advantage of my new health insurance!!! It was exciting. I visited my doctor and filled a much-needed prescription for the infamous "happy drugs." I've been taking them for about a week now, and I already feel much better. Amazing how that happens.

One of these days, I'm going to realize that I NEED the meds... instead of foolishly believing I'm "cured" after a few months and can live without them. I'm only "cured" because of the meds, duhhhh. I'm a slow learner, but I'll "get it" eventually.

So yeah, Christmas is in, ummmm, 13 days? You would never know it by stepping foot in my home, however. There is no tree, not a single decoration... oh, and I haven't bought a single gift yet, either.

I keep hoping that if I ignore Christmas, it won't happen. I'm seriously in denial here. And, yes, you should feel sorry for my poor children.

Fuzzy Socks (this post is for you, Ellie!)

So, a couple of months ago, my dear friend Ellen showed up on my doorstep for a surprise visit. We had a fun time while she was here, which included shopped at the nearby outlet stores. In our travels, I spied some oh-so-comfy-looking fuzzy socks... you know, the ones that just scream "touch me!" as you're walking past them??

Well, a couple of weeks later, I got a surprise package in the mail from Ellen (she is just FULL of surprises, lol)... the package included a cute handmade Halloween card and TWO PAIR of the cutest-ever fuzzy socks!! It made my day, for sure...

And, apparently my children really like my new socks, too.

Here is a pic of them a few nights ago, enjoying the warm, fuzzy socks from Ellie.