Wordless Wednesday

The Griswold's in Nashville

I will give Marty credit, our house looks fantastic (alebit a little bright) but fantastic none the less. We have so many lights that we have been afraid that planes would mistake our house for the runway, we are near the airport after all. And Abby no longer needs a nightlight in her room because the glow from the outside is enough it make it look like 2:00 in the afternoon in her room. All kidding aside, Marty has done a great job. He is a little obsessed with Christmas lights and every year we have a few more lights than the previous year. Watch out, I'm sure one year we will be featured on the HGTV show What's With That Decked Out Christmas House. If you haven't seen the show, it's quite comical. That is until you realize that your house and your husband are quickly approaching the needed requirements for becoming a decked out Christmas house. What will next year bring? I'm afraid to find out.

As promised

Well, better late than never I guess. Here are pictures of the kids' rooms. Neither one of them are completely finished, but they both have a real good start to them. I just need the final touches like curtains and nicknacks. I had made my decision on what quilt I wanted for Abby's room (not this one) but when we got there, she had other ideas. She really liked this one, so that's what she got. I'm such a sucker. We painted the polka dots on the wall when we first moved in so the dots on the quilt worked well.

Abby's polka dot palace

Andrew's wild safari. Yes, those are animals on his wall.
Andrew's big boy bed

Elf on the Shelf

Meet our newest Christmas tradition. He is yet to be named since he hasn’t actually made his appearance yet, that will come tomorrow morning. I love Christmas traditions and I love Santa, yes even at 33 years old. Every year since the kids were born they have been getting a package from Santa complete with a letter from the big guy himself and reindeer food so Rudolph can find our house on Christmas. They love it and I love to see the magic it brings.
Well, this year I am introducing a new tradition and it’s an Elf on the Shelf. He is adorable. The concept is that Santa sends an elf to watch the kids and will report back to Santa who has been naughty or nice. How else would he know, there are lots of boys and girls to watch ya know. At night the elf will go back to Santa with his report and will reappear the next morning before the kids wake up. The elf has to be moved every night to a new location, he did make a trip to the North Pole after all, and can’t be touched or he will lose his magic powers. Note to self, keep the elf up high out of the kids reach. I am such a kid myself, I can’t wait to put the elf out tonight and begin the magic.
I love the magic of Christmas and this is just one more way to make it special for my kids. I hope it brings many fun times and lots of good memories.

What a difference a year makes

Andrew not so happy, but Abby's not fazed at all
Andrew happy

We went to see Santa the other night and I was so proud of my little man. He did such a great job and wasn't scared at all. The kids told Santa what they want for Christmas. Andrew wants a Spiderman guitar and Abby wants a Christmas doll house and a turtle. Yes, you read that right, a turtle. I was happier when she wanted a real cat. Cat she might have gotten but a turtle, no way!! I don't know why she wants a turtle but she does, maybe I can find a stuffed animal and say that Santa must have misunderstood.

Abby is so honest, God love her. She told Santa that her and Andrew fight often. Santa said that he understands.

Wordless Wednesday

Misc

Ok, so there is nothing specific for me to write a whole post about but there are random things so this is going to be a post about all the miscellaneous things going on in our life right now.

**Andrew is potty trained!! YIPPEE (I think) He has been in big boy undies for a month or so now and has been completely accident free. He was so easy to potty train; I need to count my lucky stars knock on wood or something because I know he will get me back 10 fold somewhere down the line. He is even napping in big boy undies. He could probably go diaperless at night but I’m not going to push that issue. I don’t mind buying a pack of diapers a month.
**Today at school Abby is putting up a Christmas tree in their classroom and they are having a Christmas Program and a Christmas Party. Not a Holiday party but a Christmas Party complete with a decorated Christmas tree. I love that Christmas has not been taken out of her school.
**Our Christmas tree is up and Marty is working on the lights outside. By the time he is finished, you should be able to see the glow of our house from Georgia. Last year he had 1500 lights on one tree alone. Hey, we have the Opryland Hotel to compete with.
**I have not forgotten about posting pictures of the kids’ rooms. In order to get a picture, I have to clean their rooms and that just hasn’t been on the agenda lately.
**I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and stuffed themselves full to induce a turkey coma.

Wordless Wednesday. . .yes he is about to run me over

ICE! 2007

I'm not even going to try to describe it because I wouldn't do it justice. The pictures speak for themselves. This year's theme was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Just a reminder, it is all ice and all very cold. So fun!!

Andrew ice slideAbby ice slide

Keri, you have been forewarned. Abby really wants Ella and Evan to go when y'all come up to visit. All I can say is, dress warm.

Daddy's little girl

Like father like daughter. Marty has always had a love affair with rock climbing and it looks like the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree (yes, my heart has already skipped a few beats). No, not Andrew (well at least not yet) but Abby. Ever since she was about 2 and a half or so, she has wanted to climb the rock wall whenever we saw one; she had to wait until she was 5. Not my rule, but I wasn’t complaining either. Well, her wish has come true many times over. There is a party place that has one and just for the record we have gone to 5 parties there since school started in August. Can you guess where Abby wants to have her next party? Anyway, the first time we went, she put the harness on and went up a very little way. By the next time she was a pro and doesn’t want to do anything else when she’s there. I have to bribe her to go down the slide or play in the jumpy; all she wants to do is climb, climb, climb. Daddy’s beaming, mommy’s fainting.

7:00

Well, we bought one. Yep, we bought a clock for Abby's room, not because she has a need to know what time it is, well I take that back, she does need to know what time it is. She needs to know that anything before 7:00 in the morning is way too early to be getting up on the weekends. Ever since the time change (I think I complained about it last year also) she has been getting up way before 7:00 and that just doesn't work for me. I know she will get herself adjusted, but in the meantime we decided to buy us some time, haha. She is actually really excited to have a clock in her room and she thinks it's really fun to be able to play in her room until the first number turns to 7. For some reason I function much better after 7:00, and I'm even a morning person. Oh well, for now I'm happy!

Mispronunciations

I love to hear what comes out of my kids’ mouths. It is so cute to hear their take on things. The other day we were going to Home Depot to return an aerator that Marty rented and the kids were holding on to it to make sure it didn’t fall out of the car (it was safely staying the car but they felt like they were helping in a big way) Abby wanted Andrew to let go so she told him to hang off of it. The opposite of hang on is hang off isn’t it?
Also, the other day we saw smoke coming from the Opryland Hotel and I was explaining to Abby that it wasn’t actually smoke but it was from where the heaters were running. Later on in the day Abby was telling Marty about it and she said “we saw smoke at the hotel, you know the one that you do ballet at” Marty wanted to know what I was teaching our kids because he is not a ballerina, a clogger yes, but not a ballerina. Marty is actually a valet, very close to ballet. So cute!

Wordless Wednesday

Trick or Treat

We had such a great night last night, not just the kids but also Marty and I. We invited friends over (24 people actually) and had a small Halloween party before going out trick or treating. Marty and I had decked the house out complete with hanging spiders inside, a fog machine, a floating ghost and a strobe light plus many many pumpkins. The kids love Halloween, for them the gorier the better. We had a total of 10 kids that went out trick or treating and I won’t do it any other way from now on. The kids had so much fun running from house to house, little Andrew tried so hard to keep up with the big kids. Half way through TOT I was carrying his bucket and by the end of the night I was not only carrying his bucket but I was also carrying him. We were going over what to do when you go up to the door and I asked Andrew what he should say and his response was “Candy please” Hey at least he got the please part in there.
It was so cute seeing all the kids find their own little spot and dump their loot out when we got back to the house. It was even funnier seeing the parents trying to sneak a piece of candy, it’s not only mommies that have eyes in the back of their heads. Halloween 2007 was a huge success.

Alice and Spidey- I can't believe that I never got a picture with Andrew's mask on

Me and Marty
Abby and Mikayla

Wordless Wednesday

Foto Friday, because I missed Wordless Wednesday

Wow!

I saw this on another blog that I read and had to include it because it speaks volumes and we could all learn something from this incredible man.

Day 1, Night 1

Well, Day 1 was ok, night 1 was even better. Yesterday was Andrew’s first day in his big boy bed and he decided that he didn’t need to take a nap; I hope that’s not a trend he continues. I will give him credit though because he did stay in his room (that was one of my fears) but he didn’t even think about closing his eyes and going to sleep. When we went to get him up from his “nap” we noticed that all of his books were in bed with him. He was reading. Sneaky boy, we didn’t hear him walking at all. We did hear a bunch of loud bangs though, that should have clued us in. Night time was better, it could have been that he was dead dog tired because of the no nap thing, but he went right to sleep and didn’t give us any trouble at all. I am totally jinxing myself I know.
Abby loves her big bed too. Her expression was priceless when she saw her bed. She picked out her quilt but she had no idea that she was getting new furniture. Marty and I wanted to surprise her and it was so worth it. The silly girl was most excited about the fact that her animals now have a pillow of their own to sleep on.
I will post pictures when Andrew’s quilt comes in, their rooms are adorable!

Big changes ahead

Tonight marks a very sad milestone for our little family. Tonight will be Andrew’s last night in his crib. We have had that crib up for 5 and half years. He is so ready so I know he won’t have a problem, it’s me that I’m worried about. Andrew has been asking for a while for a big bed like Abby’s so I am confident that he is more than ready. Our friends and neighbors are expecting their second child so they are going to use Andrew’s crib and changing table so at least I can go visit it anytime I want to. I’m sure there will be tears (mine) tonight when I put him to bed. My babies are growing up way too fast.
On a side note though, Abby and Andrew are both getting new furniture tomorrow. Abby is getting a full bed and Andrew is getting a twin bed. Long story as to why we aren’t using Abby’s bed but this will work out better in the long run. I am taking tomorrow off of work so we can get their rooms put together before both of them get home from school. It should be fun.

Wordless Wednesday . . . School Picture Edition

Notice anything different?

No, they haven’t started making trendy diapers (although that is an idea) Yes, Andrew is wearing big boy undies. Marty and I have to watch ourselves because we have been talking about panties with Abby for so long now that it’s hard to transition to boy talk. And I don’t want Andrew calling his underwear panties.
Anyway, we are attempting to get Andrew into undies during the day and so far he’s done really good. He went 2 days in them with no accidents but he refuses to go to the potty while we are out. He will not go in a public restroom. Now, I know some are not the prettiest but come on boy; you will have to go at some point. We have tried everywhere, the grocery store, his school, Mc Donald’s, Home Depot, Sam’s; you name it and he won’t go. I’m not sure what this means but I know it can’t be good for the potty training attempt.
So, now I’m not sure if I am going to cry tears of joy (diapers are expensive, ya know) or tears of sadness. My baby can not be ready to wear big boy undies.
****UPDATE***
I jumped the gun a little too early. He had his first accident and has decided that he wants back in his pull-ups. Again, I don't know if I should cry tears of joy or tears of sadness.

Wordless Wednesday . . . School Picture Edition

Where is Fall?

I guess Mother Nature must be running a little late this year because it sure doesn’t seem like fall. Today it is going to be a high of 92. Yes, you read that right 92.
How can it be possible that on October 8th, it is 92 degrees? Don’t get me wrong, I love spring and summer; in fact it’s my favorite time of the year. But, I’m ready to move on to long sleeves, cool nights, fires and all things winter. Honestly, I’m just getting tired of my warm weather wardrobe. Pull out the cozy fleece.

Wordless Wednesday

Abby's 5 year well baby check

Can I still call it a well baby check when she’s 5 years old? I should have taken her to her well baby check in August (ya know when she actually turned 5) but I just kept forgetting about it. Anyway, it went great. She did have to get her finger pricked and 2 shots. I knew about the finger prick, since she’s borderline anemic she always has to get her iron checked but I had told her that she wasn’t going to have to get any shots. The nurse told me that they make liars out of parents all the time. My poor baby, she was so upset and she has 2 pretty nasty bruises on her little thighs today. Nothing that a little bit of ice cream from the Opryland Hotel couldn’t make better though. She weighs 35 pounds (14th percentile) and is 41 inches tall (17th percentile). She’s healthy, happy and striving. I couldn’t ask for more.

I've been tagged

I thought the only type of tag I played was with the kids but I guess I was wrong. I’ve been tagged by Keri to use the letters in my name to describe myself. Do you know how hard it is to come up with a y word? Anyway, here goes:

R- reader. I love to read. I have to limit myself sometimes because I will get so caught up in a good book that I will completely slack off on things I should be doing. I also finish books quickly. A good book will last maybe 3 days in my house. It’s a good thing my kids go to bed at 8:00.

O- opinionated. Can you be opinionated and indecisive at the same time? Well, that’s me. I always have an opinion, although most times you won’t even know it. I try to keep my opinion to my self most of the time.

B- beach lover. I love the beach which is kinda funny because on vacations I prefer the pool over the ocean but my dream vacation will always be somewhere to the beach. I do like going to the ocean in the morning or late afternoon, you can forget the hottest part of the day, give me the pool.

Y- yard work. I can pull a funny like Keri and tell you how much I love yard work but it would be a total lie. I despise yard work. I think it comes from all the pine cones I had to pick up and raking I had to do as a little kid. Y is very hard

N- naturally a brunette. I guess I have finally embraced my natural hair color although at times I do (and I know Marty does) think about going back blonde. I just can’t justify spending the $$ because it takes a lot to turn this stuff blonde.

You can all feel safe now, because the tagging has been stopped on my end.

Wordless Wednesday

My new nephew

I'm an aunt. . .again.
My sister had her baby yesterday morning, wow was it only yesterday. She wasn't due until October 6th, but the little guy had other plans.
Shelly called me on Saturday night, while we were at a birthday party, to tell me that she was headed to the hospital. After a frantic call to Marty (who was on his way to do a show) we set up a plan that was going to work. It might be crazy but it was going to work. The kids and I were headed to Atlanta to meet Marty's mom and Grandmother and they were going to take the kids for the night and then meet up with Marty on Sunday in Chattanooga. That plan changed slightly since I decided to come home yesterday instead of tomorrow.
I get to the hospital at about midnight and Shelly was still at 3cm and no epidural yet. At about 4:00 am or so the nurse ordered an ultrasound to check the baby's postion and it revealed that the baby had turned breech. Poor Shelly, she had labored for close to 12 hours and the baby was breech all along. They think he turned around 35 weeks. Her c-section was scheduled for 6:30 am.
I am proud to present my newest nephew, Myles born at 6:57 am. He's a tiny little thing weighting only 5 pounds 7 ounce and 18 1/4 inches long. He's adorable and everyone is in love with him already.

My Marty brag

Ok, so I have to brag on Marty (move on if you don’t like the sappy posts) and he is going to hate it when he reads it. Oh well, sorry babe!
We got a call on Tuesday night from one of our friends and they needed someone to watch their oldest son, age 4, from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. This child can sometimes (mostly) be out of control and downright mean, but Marty agreed to it anyway knowing that said friends needed the help. Marty is awesome. He took Andrew and 4 year old boy to the zoo, all by himself. Yes, all by himself. He packed lunches and headed to the zoo for a fun morning. How great is that. He is not only a great daddy but also an awesome friend. I am so lucky to be married to him.

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks Keri for the non blurry picture

The highly anticipated cheerleading video

Well, you still won't get it. I brought the DVD with me to work today, but for some reason I can't get it to read in my computer (probably user error). So, that means you will just have to wait, but take my word for it, it's pretty darn cute. We do have other Abby news that probably should take precedents over a cheerleading video anyway.
You have all heard about our past Abby dental drama. Well, hopefully the drama is over for a while. We took Abby for a third opinion (Marty's aunt was our second opinion) and thankfully the third opinion was the same as Marty's aunt which was not the same as the first dentist that we went to. Did you catch all of that? Our suspicions were correct with the first dentist, he did not have Abby best interest in mind; he had his wallets best interest in mind (at the tune of $450.00 worth of extra procedures that weren't needed). Abby did not need 4 crowns, she did need two though. That was until yesterday. We had Abby's appointment scheduled for Wednesday September 26 to get all of her dental work done, but she had other plans.
Monday morning around 4:30 Abby came into our room and said that her tooth was hurting and that she had a bump in her mouth. I felt around (probably not as good as I should have) and didn't feel anything so I picked her up and put her in our bed hoping to get some more sleep in before my alarm went off. I was in the living room about to eat my breakfast and in walks Abby; I knew exactly why her tooth hurt. She was swollen on her left side from her cheek up to her eye. Poor baby! I had a feeling that her tooth had abscessed and I knew what was coming next. We call the emergency number for the dentist and they tell us to get her there at 9:00. They take a look at her and said that the tooth was going to have to come out, and the tears start flowing (not Abby's; mine) They give her a baby cocktail of Demerol at 9:15 and we sat waiting for it to kick in. By 9:45 Abby was sound asleep on my shoulder. They take us back (yes I was allowed to go in with her) at 10:15 to do the work and she pretty slept through the whole thing with the help of laughing gas. She did whimper when they wiggled (the non scary way to say pulled) her tooth but that was it. Thankfully, they were able to get all the work done in one setting. We get home at about 11:30 and she slept until 3:30. When she woke up, she was starving since she hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day so she got jello and pudding. I was planning chicken noodle soup for dinner but she didn't want chicken noodle soup. She wanted pizza. So pizza she got (with dr's approval of course) and a milkshake for good measure. She has no bad memories of experience and she got up and went to school this morning and is doing great. I'm sure she has told everyone who will listen that the tooth fairy came to see her last night, that was the highlight of the whole experience. In case she ever asks you, the tooth fairy takes the teeth up to heaven for all the new babies. Hey, stop laughing, it was all I could come up with at the time, we shouldn't have to be dealing with the tooth fairy for a few more years anyway. Glad that day is over with.

Not yet

I can’t believe how quickly Abby is growing up.
I walk her into school every morning, so far she still wants me to, and it will really break my heart when she wants me to “just drop her off.” She will hold my hand while we are in the parking lot but as soon as we step foot onto the sidewalk she lets go. Anyway, we have a morning ritual once we get at her classroom (I never go into her classroom, only to the door) a kiss, a hug and a big squeezie. Earlier in the week, I stopped on the right side of the door without thinking about it and started our ritual. She quickly pulled me to the left side and continued the kiss, hug, big squeezie routine. I knew what she was doing, we were where her classmates could see us and she didn’t want her peers to see her getting kisses from her mommy. I could see it on her face, the battle of being a big girl but yet still wanting to be mommy’s baby and get the kisses. I made a mental note that if I want the kisses in the morning; I need to be on the left side of the door. Needless to say, I have and will continue to be on the left side of the door from now on. But what happens when the left side is no longer good enough? UGH, I’m not ready.

Wordless Wednesday

Hold 'em back, push 'em back, way back

Today is Abby’s first day of cheerleading camp, pause for the proud mommy moment, and I don’t know who is more excited; me or her. One of the things I liked about DCA was that it is a K-12 school. We get to go to Friday night football games, basketball games, and school drama productions. The Varsity cheerleaders are putting on a 3 day camp for the K-5th graders and on Friday night the girls get to cheer before the home football game. Big stuff! I’m sure I will have pictures and video to share on Monday.
Marty’s just wondering how Abby’s going to pull off cheering for the football games and performing in the marching band during halftime. I’m sure we will get all the details worked out by then, that’s many moons away.
I always said that I will let my kids choose what they want to participate in and I will never push my opinion on them, but I am so excited that she’s at least giving it a try. I had a ball cheering and hopefully she will too. If she hates it, then there’s always Andrew, haha.

Cute quotes heard around the house. . .Part 3

Marty was in the house and saw a fly. He grabbed a towel to kill it. I guess Andrew didn’t see that he was about to swat at it and when Marty did he scared Andrew. Andrew said:
A: You scared me
M: I’m sorry I scared you
A: I jumped
M: You jumped?
A: I jumped higher than God.

Wordless Wednesday times 4