Doll House?

Since I missed a day or two of posting (sorry mom!) I thought I'd share one more cute post....

Jennah and Kaylee both received doll houses for Christmas... Needless to say, Kaylee plays with her sister's doll house more than the one she received... hmmm wonder why? Take a look...

Wish I would have know this before we had our own house built, we would have done without the 4th bedroom and saved on property tax money! I could have set up a little doll house in some corner for her to "live" in! ;)

I measured the opening for the doors... 7 1/2 inches wide x 11 1/2 inches high (at the highest point as they're curved at the top) I kid you not, she's tiny! I even took pics with the tape measure for those skeptics out there!

Kaylee had her OT eval today. All went well. I'm still sick and sick of being sick! Luckily though, I have the greatest kids ever; I came home from Kaylee's therapy, and Jennah had cleaned her bathroom! She put out new towels, cleaned the sink AND the tub and lined up the toothpaste and toothbrushes on the vanity. She also cleaned the mirror! Ok, so she did use 1/2 tub of Clorox wipes to do all this but I'm happy that she took on cleaning the bathroom all by herself! She's such a good helper.

Anyway, we took the girls out to Chili's for dinner. The service was just awful - very slow, and I hate it when servers take it upon themselves to do what they think is right. For instance: I NEVER order a meal for Kaylee because we all know she won't eat anything but maybe a french fry or some chips, etc. So tonight, the waitress asks "Anything for the little one?" To which I answer "No, but if you would bring us a small plate please." "Ok." she said. Well, when we finally got our food, she looks and says "oh look, they even split up the kids meal (Jennah's) so they can each have their own!" Arrggghhh! I didn't want to split the meal, I just wanted an extra plate so Kaylee could put the ONE french fry that she's going to eat on it! So, Jennah sat there with two very small baskets of mac and cheese and fries in them! I know, not a big deal but may I just ask... Why?

Another relaxing day... I really could get used to this! Tomorrow will be back to the grind though. I have to cancel Kaylee's therapy again! I need to get myself to the Dr. as I'm still not 100%. Got to take care of mommy sometimes! Anyway, the kids played all day again today. Mike and I rested and watched some tv. I booked our trip to Miami for the February boat show. Not that we'd get a boat or anything, it's just fun to dream sometimes! That's about all that's happening around here. Oh, for my Northern friends (and you too B. Pittman) it was 84 degrees today!

A relaxing day

The girls and I had a relaxing day today. We played with our new toys! Mike got me a Netflix receiver box for the tv so I can catch up on some movies and some of my tv shows. It's really neat. The girls have been playing with Jennah's new dollhouse all day while Mike's been at work. Of course, after work, we'll have our nightly Rockband 2 competition going! Mike's been practicing since I whipped him in the drum sets! He'll beat me for sure now, it's become his personal goal!

Merry Christmas

Well, the big day is almost over. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. The kids were very excited with the toys and clothes they received. Thanks to everyone for making this a joyous holiday season for us. Now all that's left is the aftermath! My living room looks like a cardboard explosion. Can we all say we dislike little toys that are wired, taped, and pretty much welded to those packages! Anyhow, pictures will show up tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to pack up some stuff and hit the pillow! Good Night all!

Is it Christmas yet?

For some reason, I just can't bring myself to finish up my Christmas "duties". Maybe it's because I'm still not feeling well enough yet and I keep getting tired. This cough has really got me winded as well. I just assume put bows on every unwrapped gift and call it a night! I just can't do that though. It's not as fun for the kids that way. Tomorrow we are headed to the condo on the beach to celebrate with "beach grandpa and beach grandma" as the kids call them. Then, it's off to my mom's house for some New England clams! Hopefully, I'll feel better than I do tonight and this cough will go away at least for a day or so. Anyway, may everyone have a safe and happy holiday week. Merry Christmas!

Slumber party

The girls decided that this year, they are going "camping" in front of the tree for the next few nights so they can catch Santa Claus! They laid out their sleeping bags, pillows and teddy bears while I was on the phone this evening! Jennah said she's going to move her sleeping bag underneath the dining room table on Christmas Eve. Her two reasons: 1. So Santa will have room to put all the toys and 2. So she can hide from him and catch him! Too cute but I've got a strange feeling that Santa will be up for a while waiting for the "perfect time" to deliver!

Therapy day

Not much going on today... I did the usual taking Kaylee to speech therapy. She's such a cutie pants. She saw her therapist, Lesa, and sort of ran down the hallway past her and said (in Kaylee words) "Sesa, come on, le's go!" Today we worked on saying names of colors. Miss Lesa made some colored paper pockets with strips of colored paper in them. She took the strips out and had Kaylee say the color and put it back in it's pocket. When you ask Kaylee what color something is, she almost always says green first so Miss Lesa did not make a green pocket. When she asked Kaylee what color pocket she had in her hand, Kaylee of course said green. Miss Lesa told her "There is no green here." In doing that, everything today was pink! Oh well, she'll get it one day.

Holidays and Family

If there's one thing I love about the holidays, it's family. Being in Arkansas for 10+ years, we didn't always have the opportunity to travel back to Florida for Christmas. Now, we're back and for the third year in a row, I realize how much we've missed while we were living up north.

We had our little get-together tonight with Mike's mom and step-dad. It's a special get-together that his mom plans every year for her children and their families. We had a great time just sitting, watching the kids open some presents and laughing.

I can't help but love this picture. Yes, I did get the "serious" shot with everyone looking straight into the camera but this photo makes me laugh. You see, the kids in this photo are all cousins. What makes it really special is that almost half of them haven't seen the others in about two years, yet they got together and in a matter of minutes, acted like they've seen each other just yesterday! Now that's Christmas.

Come To The Dark Side...We Have Antibiotics

Mike joined the rest of the family and added himself to the Antibiotic club! They say "resistance is futile" but I made him go to the Dr. even though he swore he was feeling better. We're glad he went. He has an ear infection (sound familiar?) and his throat is inflamed. Can I say "I told you so!" Now that we're all on meds with the exception of Kaylee, maybe we'll all be well for Christmas.

Our toothless elf...

Well, FINALLY, Jennahs other top front tooth came out. She was looking pretty silly with just one tooth on top right in the middle. Now, even toothless, she's cuter than ever!

Holiday Ornaments

Jennah and I had time today to make some Christmas ornaments in between taking antibiotics! We had fun making them although we're not quite done yet. It takes about a day for the glue to set, then we have to add the quick dry cement on top to fill in the spaces between the glass chips. I think she's beginning to feel better - she's not refusing food like she was yesterday. Those of you that know her well know that she can pack in some groceries for a little girl! I'm feeling a bit better myself. I'm finally getting my hearing back in my right ear that's been clogged for days!

Happy Holidays ??

Took Jennah to the Dr. today... She's got strep throat! Luckily, I've got an excellent pediatrician who worked with my awkward schedule to fit me in. He even suggested that if Kaylee catches what we've got (and eventually, it's going to happen) to just call him and he'd prescribe her Rx without me taking her to see him. What a guy! So, here we are, sick as doggies trying very carefully to avoid Mike and Kaylee. Oh well. I really feel bad for Jennah, not only did she miss the after school party yesterday with Santa and the Mrs. but now she's going to miss out on her class party on Friday. Hopefully, she'll be better on Saturday as she's supposed to go to a sleep-over at her cousins house.

Dr visit...

Went to the Dr. today... yep, Bronchitis, URI, and a full blown ear infection! How'd I get that? My Dr. said my right ear was so red, he hasn't seen one like it since his military days! "Ready to blow" was his comment. So, now I'm on two antibiotics and have some ear drops to put in my ear for the pain.

I also was lucky enough to get "the phone call" today. You that have small children know... the one from the school demanding you pick your child up because they have a fever! ARGHHH. I got the call literally moments before I left to go pick Jennah up from the bus stop. They wouldn't let her on the bus because her fever was 103.5. Turns out she was feeling sick this afternoon at school but didn't tell anyone because Santa and Mrs. Claus were going to be at school this evening. It was going to be our evening out. She was all prepared with her cookies and Christmas list to give to them. Luckily, her teacher spotted her "not being herself" before she boarded the bus. I hope she gets better soon, I can't stand to see my girls sick let alone the fact that she missed Santa.

Will I ever get better?

Today I tried my best to get an appointment to see my Dr. I'm still not feeling up to par and now my ear is killing me. Really, I feel like someone stuck a fork in my right ear. It's plugged up so bad, I can hardly hear out of it. The first appointment I can get is tomorrow morning. Hopefully, I'll get a good Rx and this will all be over with soon. It's a good thing I have my princess to take care of me! She was so cute in her little princess - mix outfit!

Day at Dad's

We went to my dad's house today for a little get-together. The whole family was there including my sister, brother, their boys, my dad's girlfriend and some of her family. We had a lot of fun sitting around the table telling stories. We can always make dad laugh with our silly stories especially the ones about the kids and the funny things they say and do. We had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect. Most of the kids played outside while the adults were inside enjoying a good time.

Greeting Cards

I finally finished addressing my greeting cards. Now all I have to do is put them in the mail on Monday! YEA! Not much happening today. Mike took Jennah to Soccer and I went to fetch some groceries when he returned. All in all, a relaxing kind of day.

A gross story...

I have the funniest yet gross story to share today. I was not feeling well again yesterday but I managed to get up to take Jennah to the bus stop. Before we left the house, I had her go into my bathroom to brush her hair. I was standing there watching her when suddenly, I felt the need to cover my mouth and fan myself. She looked at me and said "Mom, why are you just standing there with your hand over your mouth?" I told her I felt like I was going to throw up. She just looked at me again and said "Oh." It was at that point that I turned to the "porcelain bus" and started puking. At that point, Jennah looked at me again and said "That's it, I'm outta here!" and she walked off. No sympathy from that kid whatsoever! I had to laugh though because of the way she made her last comment. She's soooo funny.

Today went by slow for me. I've been trying to avoid the kids so as not to give them what I have but it's very hard to do with Kaylee running around. She's too cute. She'll come into my room and say "you ok mommy?" It's real cute and I just want to give her big hugs for being so caring. I'm feeling a little bit better but not 100% yet.

I had to take Jennah to soccer practice tonight. It was pretty windy and a bit chilly out (ok, so 65 is chilly for me now!) and then it sprinkled for about 3 minutes so I'm sure that'll help me get well sooner - NOT! Anyway, we all just downed some hot chili, that's enough to make anyone feel better right?

Sick again

Well, here I sit AGAIN with my bottles of Theraflu, Nyquil and Zycam. Yep, I'm sick for the second time in three weeks. My whole body aches and I feel as if my head is about to blow off my neck! I'm sure it's from not sleeping well and then sitting in the waiting rooms at the therapy centers with Kaylee. Just the other day I was "attacked" by a snot nosed kid! Yuk! I've been avoiding the girls as I don't want them to catch what ever it is that I have. Mike is doing a great job handling the "mom chores". Anyway, it's off to bed I go again. Night Night!

The "kissmess tree" as Kaylee calls it...

The Christmas tree is decorated as of tonight! Of course, there's always one little thing that, shall we say, goes "wrong"! Year after year, we put ourselves through misery with our little tree topper "Tinkerbell." I love her and so do the kids. She's sparkles and has fiber optic wings that change color. Her only problem is the clip that holds her to the tree. They aren't flexible and are in a weird position on her back. This year, all went well for some reason but she was a little crooked. So, being the decorator of the family, I couldn't have that! Ok, I'll even call it a bit of OCD! I tried to straighten her by standing on our little 4ft ladder. Oh, that brings me to another point. On said four foot ladder, the bright yellow warning sign on the third rung warns you "Do not stand on or above this level." Therefore, my so called 4 foot ladder is really only about 2 1/4 foot. With that said, here's the issue: I'm 5'5", add 2'3" for the so called four foot
ladder and presto, one can do the math and figure it does not equal up to the 9 foot tree top! Yes, I tried to make it work but all I did was pull Tinkerbell off. OOPS! Ok, so it wasn't the word oops that came out of my mouth, it was more like she-ite, you get it. I told Mike what I did... his response "Argghh, that be-arch! (you get that word too I know) He hates her but I insist she tops our tree. So, the ladder still sits in my living room until Mike can get up there and "re-attach her! Ahhhhh, the joys of Christmas. All in all, it looks good and the kids are happy. Kaylee calls it the Kissmess tree. Cute. Jennah did most of the decorating as I was not feeling well. Of course after she went to bed, I did a little rearranging or ornaments to avoid the over clumping of reds, greens, and the like!

Just put up the Christmas lights outside... I'm sweating!

Oh that's right, it's 74 degrees out today! ;)

I'll take a pic when it's dark (and cooler) and post them later tonight.

Here's the updated outdoor picture...I know, it's not quite Disney World lights but we're reluctant to add more as our lawn care man runs over anything in his path which I'm guessing would include extension cords! Oh well!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

We put up out tree tonight but did not have time to decorate it! We had a busy day today. Jennah and I returned home from Disney at about 11:00 am. Then it was off to her cousin's birthday party and on to Sam's Club to look at televisions - a long story for a later post! Anyway, I told the girls we would decorate it tomorrow after Jennah gets home form school. Kaylee was pretty excited just that it was up and lit. She had daddy and I lay on the floor with her to "see the stars".

Busy Day

I decided at the last minute to take Jennah to Walt Disney World this morning after her soccer game. She thought we were going to Nonna's house to bake cookies. On the way to Disney, I said to her "What if we don't go to Nonna's?" She said "Ok, then we can go home and put up the Christmas tree." I told her "No, we're not going home either." She looked at me funny so I asked her to read the road sign that was coming up. She said "That sign says Disney World." I said "Yes it does, do you want to go there?" She looked at me and said "Are you tricking me?" I told her "No, that's where you and I are going." She was SO excited! We had a great time. Now, we did meet Nonna & our friend Randy there as well as some friends from Canada who were on vacation. The parks were busy so we didn't go to the Magic Kingdom. We did go on a few rides at EPCOT and one awesome ride (Toy Story Mania) at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was so nice to spend time with Jennah. She's such a happy girl and I love it when she gets excited over the smallest things in life. I took this picture while we were waiting on the bus to take us to the park. I just love the toothless smile she has and those bright eyes!

Ice cream night!

I took Jennah grocery shopping with me to get snacks for soccer (see previous post). On the way out she "reminds" me... "Mom, isn't Friday ice cream night?" So we truck on back to the frozen food isle and I let her pick out a flavor. Yippee, it's on sale! 2 for the price of 1. So, Jennah picks out Peppermint Stick. Sounds good you say, well, to me it's like what I would think milk and mouthwash mixed together would be like. (ummm, yukky) For me, I spot my favorite; "Santa's White Christmas" limited Edition. You read right, a Limited Edition Ice Cream!! It's Barney's coffee with espresso chips in it. For you Northerner's, Barney's is similar to Starbucks or Gloria Jeans specialty coffee shops. They only make this flavor at Christmas time, hence the name! So off to the house we go... mmmmmm.

Soccer Mom

Well, I'll soon be on my way to the grocery store. In going to the School concert last night, we missed soccer practice. Normally, not an issue however, being the "soccer mom" that I am, I somehow got roped into being the keeper of the snack schedule. It turns out I was supposed to bring a copy of the schedule to a mom that lost hers. Once again, normally, not a problem but our game is tomorrow morning at 8:30 am and it happens to be THAT mom's snack day! She doesn't have a phone number that we can call to remind her so I'll take on her duty instead. Now, where's that soccer mom badge....

Kaylee's Dr. appt.

Kaylee had an appt today with her neurologist. He is very pleased with how far she's come. Of course, we're pretty pleased as well! I couldn't resist taking this picture after we put her in her car seat. She was so excited about her barrette! Actually, it belongs to Jennah. Not to worry though, it didn't stay in her hair long before she pulled it out!

Holiday Concert

Tonight was Jennah's holiday concert. What a madhouse! First off, the school parking lot was not made to handle the hundreds of cars that are there for such events. Then there's the small cafeteria where the stage is that is incapable of holding all the families for the school children that were a part of the concert. Now I will say that they tried to avoid issues by splitting up the grades having the K-2nd graders perform tonight and the 3rd through 5th graders on a different night. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to have all of them there at once. There were a ton of people standing in the back due to lack of seating. This happens at every event we've gone to. I don't know why they can't figure out a better way to handle such masses of people! Anyway, the kids were great. They sang their little hearts out! Kaylee loved it. She was telling everyone around us to "clap." Grandma Beth and Grandpa Wayne showed up which was very nice. I just hope the mayhem didn't scare them from coming back for other events! We went out to dinner, errr, breakfast afterwards. It was very nice to spend time with the kids and their grandparents. Well, it's off to bed for the girls now. Night night!

Time flys

Wow, where did the time go... Mike and I took Kaylee to the local elementary school so they could do a physical therapy evaluation on her. We're trying to get her into the public school's ESE program when she turns three. Hopefully, she did well and they'll see that she needs help and accept her into their program. Other than that, I wrote a nasty-gram to Wendy's and actually received a phone call form their district manager who was at the store where we had some issues yesterday. He was very nice and will hopefully address the issues we have experienced at their restaurant. Kaylee was pretty grumpy in the afternoon so we just "chilled" for the rest of the day. She so cute though, even at her grumpiest!

My first blog

Well, I've finally decided to start blogging. I've read some others and thought "What a good idea." A blog spot would be great at keeping family and friends informed about what is happening in our little corner of the world.

And so it begins...

THE SCOOP