The worst idea Santa ever had

I agonized for weeks and weeks over what Avery's "big" Christmas gift should be this year. My initial idea was to get her a nice, big (Barbie-sized), wooden dollhouse. She's really getting into Barbies and other dolls and the creative play that goes along with them.

But, after looking and looking and LOOKING at big, huge, wooden dollhouses and confusing myself more and more as the weeks went on, I finally decided to forget that idea. Big wooden dollhouses aren't cheap... and Avery would probably just take a big, black Sharpie marker to it and then I would cry big crocodile tears.

And about the time I abandoned the dollhouse idea, Amazon answered my prayers and marked the Rose Petal Cottage wayyyyyy down in price. So, YAY, another idea was born. It's kinda like a dollhouse, just on a bigger, Avery-size scale... she'll LOVE it!! (Plus, it was marked wayyyyy down, which thrilled me to no end!)

Now, less than a week after Christmas, I've decided that the purchase of a Rose Petal Cottage (and the Cherry Blossom Market that goes along with it, also marked wayyyy down) was quite possibly the WORST idea I've ever had.

I detest the Rose Petal Cottage.

I detest the fact that this thing is enormous... and absolutely does not fit anywhere in my cozy, little house.

I detest the fact that my daughter is obsessed with trying to contain our dogs in her Rose Petal Cottage... that's just a disaster waiting to happen. Now, mind you, Avery also got the cutest-ever little 25th Anniversary Cabbage Patch Kid preemie for Christmas, to go IN her Rose Petal Cottage with the cute little nursery set. But Avery could care less about the CPK, who fits perfectly in the Cottage. No, Avery is determined that Comet the Moose should live in her Cottage instead.

This afternoon when Damon's friends were here playing, I found them all crammed in Avery's room... with the Rose Petal Cottage flipped over on its side, every which way it was NOT supposed to be. And God only knows what kind of Star Wars game they were playing... but Avery was whimpering in the corner of the Cottage, no doubt a "prisoner" of some kind. This is totally not what I envisioned when I was so stinkin' excited about my little girl finding a Rose Petal Cottage waiting for her on Christmas morning.

I'm thisclose to packing up the Rose Petal Cottage and taking it to my local Goodwill store... so that it can go home and terrorize some other unsuspecting mother.

Next year, Avery's getting a whole slew of those microscopic Polly Pocket thingamabobs instead. Then, she can feed them to Comet and everyone will be happy!

Christmas 2008

I attempted to make this post about Christmas earlier this morning... but Blogger did not want to cooperate. So now I'm thinking I'll be lucky just to get these pics posted for your viewing pleasure!

Here's Avery, sitting in her new Rose Petal Cottage (one part of the monstrous thing, anyway!)... I don't think she was fully awake yet!This is the Cherry Blossom Market that goes along with the Cottage...

More Cottage pics, before Avery got to it and started rearranging (and trapping the dogs in it!).

Avery's loot under the tree...

Damon's side of the tree...

Damon waiting patiently for Avery and Daddy, before he could start ripping gifts open.

Still waiting for Daddy to get out of bed. (And, no, I don't beat my son, but his friends are a little on the rough side!)

Ripping the Wii open!

Taylor Swift!!!! Avery was too excited about this gift!

That was our Christmas morning in a nutshell!

Another birthday

My baby girl is *sniff, sniff* FIVE years old today!

I've been scratching my head all day wondering how it's possible that it's been five years since the night she was born... it really does seem like it was just yesterday.

Everyone always says, "ohh, poor Avery... what a terrible birthday, the day after Christmas." But, she doesn't seem to mind one bit!

We had a pretty calm, quiet day, but it suited her (and her mommy!) just fine. I told Avery I wanted to take her shopping today, so that she could pick out her own birthday goodies. And I let her choose the store... wherever she wanted to go. God bless this child... she chose The Dollar Tree! lol

So, we had Chinese buffet for lunch (also the birthday girl's choice) and then we headed to The Dollar Tree. Avery loaded up a cart with everything her little heart desired... and even let her brother throw in a few things, too... and it cost a whoppin' $36. Gotta love that!

All day, Avery kept telling me that she wasn't five yet because she hadn't blown out her candles. Unfortunately, when the time came, I couldn't find the box of birthday candles that I KNOW are floating around my kitchen somewhere... so she had to settle for one giant candle stuck in the middle of her cake. She assured me it was okay... and after she blew out her one lone candle, she was officially five!

The balloon and the shirt (it says "Drama Queen) pretty much say it all! :)

And here are some of her new birthday jammies from Gram... a little big, but she'll grow into them.

Happy Birthday, Princess Avery!

Impossible to hate

My mom has always claimed to hate her canine granddaughter (although I often question the fact that Lizzie is actually a dog... she seems more like a cross between Bambi and an evil rat).

Grandma might not feel warm fuzzies toward Evil Lizz, but she does seem to enjoy keeping Lizzie warm and fuzzy every winter!

Last year, Grandma made several fleece doggy coats to keep the extremely cold-blooded rat warm, including this personalized hoodie (but she doesn't like her).

Today, I tagged along while Mom finished her Christmas shopping for her grandkids... and I'll be damned if the woman didn't buy Lizzie another sweater. She kept saying, "Why am I spending money on that dog? I don't even LIKE her..." Uh huh. Sure you don't.

Lizzie loves her new Christmas sweater. And I give it 2 days, tops, before Comet figures out how to unravel it with his teeth (Lizzie is his favorite chew toy, after all).

Snow pics

I know I shared a video of the kids sledding/fighting last week... but I also took a million pics of them enjoying our first significant snowfall.

For your viewing pleasure...

Taking a small break...

from work just so I can have a mini panic attack because Christmas is next week... and I'm in no way prepared!!

Not to mention the fact that Avery's birthday is the next day, and I'm not prepared for that either (she chose a really unfortunate day to be born!).

And just in case Santa is reading my blog... All I want for Christmas is to hit the lottery... or find a money tree growing in my backyard. That's all.

Back to work now (because I'm pretty sure my Christmas wish won't come true, darn it!)

The Real Damon and Avery

As a blog reader, I know that it's really easy to read mommy blogs and read goofy stories about their kids and think, "how cute, how sweet" and imagine that the children featured are cute, sweet, angelic little people. Even though we KNOW that's not realistic, that's what we picture, right? At least I do, usually...

Well, just in case any of you are under the impression that Damon and Avery are cute, sweet, angelic little people... this video was taken this afternoon while they were sledding and having a "good time" together. It's very representative of a typical minute or two spent with them, on any given afternoon.

And, yes, I sat back with my camera and laughed deliriously while they yelled at, hit, and kicked each other and whined and threw temper tantrums. If I don't laugh, I'll cry. Really.

Welcome to my world...

Time to get crafty!

I have a busy evening ahead of me... but unlike the work-related kind of busy that I dread, I'm actually looking forward to tonight's projects!

Tomorrow evening is the Cub Scouts' Christmas party, and I volunteered (some time ago, of course) to make ornaments for each of the boys. So, I've taken pics of most of the scouts in their uniforms and now I need to make 50 snowflake foam ornaments with their pics and glitter glue. Hopefully my husband will be a dear and help out with this one!

I also have to make three tutus... for three grown men. Every year, the parents and volunteers put on a little Christmas program for the scouts, and of course Nick and I got roped into that this year. Broadway it's not, but still, it's turning into quite the production with the costumes and props. My mom is coming over tonight to help with the tutu-making!

Tomorrow is also Nick's birthday, although I fear it's going to be overshadowed by the Christmas party (but I don't think he'll mind terribly!). I am planning to cook his traditional birthday meal (sausage links and mac and cheese) and I bought cake and brownie mixes, too.

AND, once all of that is behind me, I have a book to finish editing this weekend... although I'm trying not to even think about that right now! Tutus and snowflakes are much more fun than a book about cardiogenic shock.

Looking Like Christmas

Avery and I decided to get crafty last weekend, and we made ten million feet of paper chain garland for our Christmas tree. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite ten million feet... but it was a lot, and my stapler finger was hurting by the time we were done!

Nick was busy putting the tree up, it was snowing outside, and we had Christmas carols playing... it was definitely feeling like Christmas in our house!

I tried to play around with my camera settings and get a halfway decent picture of the tree while it was lit... I'm not sure I succeeded, but these will have to do!

Finally, I'm sharing a few pics from our Thanksgiving weekend with Nick's family.

We all gathered at Nick's aunt and uncle's house, about 2 hours south of where we live... AJ and Amber drove a million miles from Connecticut... and Missy and her daughter Hailey drove over from Illinois. It's not very often that the three Witschey siblings are in the same place at the same time, so this was quite a treat!

And, of course, I failed to get a picture of the three of them together... I'm so ashamed.

Here's a pic of Missy and her very own Mini-Me, Miss Hailey. I hadn't seen Hailey since she was only a few months old... so now, 2 years later, she looks a lot different. When Missy came walking in the door, Hailey picked up her head and looked at me and I shrieked, "OH MY GOD, she's a little Missy!" She really is.
Here's Missy, Mini-Missy, and Uncle AJ...

Hailey and her big cousin, Avery, chilling out, watching some toons...

Hailey and Damon, with candy cane all over his face, of course...

Damon was very taken with his little cousin. I'm always touched when I see him interact with a younger child... because he's so sweet and gentle. And it makes me sad, for about half a second, that he won't be a big brother again. But I get over that quickly, I promise!

I tried so hard to get a GOOD picture of the three cousins... but it was impossible. My kids had candy cane all over their faces at all times. And Hailey... well, Hailey doesn't sit still for more than 1.2 seconds at any given time. If, by some miracle, I got them all to sit in the same vicinity, there was no way they'd all look at the camera at the same time... I finally gave up; this is as good as it gets, I'm afraid...

I think this is my favorite pic from the week. Missy snapped this one of Hailey and Damon when they stayed with us Monday night, before heading back to Illinois. How cute is that?

Oh, I almost forgot... Here's a pic I snapped on Thanksgiving of myself and my dearly beloved. I know, I know... the kids are cuter...

The perfect gift

Anyone who knows me well knows that laundry is my nemesis. I absolutely abhor laundry. And my biggest challenge is getting a load of clothes from the washer to the dryer without having to rewash it several times.

So, when this cute little frame arrived in the mail today---a Christmas gift from a good friend of mine---I had to laugh (and display it proudly).

Hallmark made this JUST for me, I'm convinced... and my friends know me too well!

Stay Tuned!

I have lots more to share about the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend (that wouldn't end!). I also have a million and one pictures of Nick and his siblings and especially of the three "babies" on his side of the family--our two munchkins and our niece, Hailey.

We were so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with Nick's brother AND sister... it doesn't happen often, unless someone's getting married (and since they're all married now, I guess we can't count on that to bring us together again anytime soon).

Anyway, I have lots and lots to share... but I also have a horribly wicked cold/cough/sore throat that my husband was kind enough to pass to me this weekend. He's been sick for over a week and I really hoped that it would skip over me, but I'm never that lucky!

So, between being sick and trying to work and getting everyone back into the swing of things around here after the holiday weekend, I'll have to fit in picture uploading and blogging another day. Right now my head is screaming for its pillow... I've been ignoring the screams since 9 o'clock this morning, so I think it's time to finally surrender!