Monday, December 7, 2009

december daily 7

made up christmas lists tonight for fhe....

here is a copy of it, for posterity...will be funny to read over a few years down the road
Xander

"UP"- dvd widescreen
"Wall E" - dvd widescreen
Wii
Wii games
rocket legos (legos that make rockets)
Star Wars Gun
a new game for my LMax
a new video game for Nintendo 64
books - and ones I can read
one front tooth :}
jar of pickles
slippers
tickets (?) to Batting Cage - 10th Inning in Suwanee would be a good choice, or Next Level in Suwanee
tickets to Gwinnett Braves
Snuggie (seriously, he said that!)
Gwinnett Braves sweatshirt
long sleeved t-shirts
jeans
ties
church shirts
brown blazer


Cassidy

books
cash register (she's been eyeballing one at the disney store)
her own house
microwave
kitchen
sour cream
toilet paper ("I just like to play with it")
toy food
a bathrobe
"Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure"
art supplies ( my list of things that would work-water colors, markers, paper, collage items, stamps....)
snuggie (because her brother asked for it)
slippers


Todd

zip hoodie
GPS
new watch
cologne
baseball glove - Nike or Mizuno
digital frames
plasma flat screen
Gwinnett Braves gear & tickets
tennis shoes (or as Sarah calls them, sneakers)
iphone
laptop
"X-Men Origins" - dvd widescreen
"Iron Man" - dvd widescreen
jeans


Sarah

WRMK OR Basic Grey magnetic mat
gift cards to Archiver's work too
black or brown boots
flat iron
long denim skirt
personalized address stamp
a professional organizer to save my office from total destruction
a maid

Sunday, December 6, 2009

december daily 6

i'm dreaming of a white christmas....
dream come true. we watched that classic tonight. still think there are some weird dances, still think betty way over-reacts, still think that it is the coolest thing that a whole regiment would drop everything they were doing at christmas eve and travel to vermont for a former general....(yes, i know it is just a movie)...but it makes me cry none-the-less. little tears, no sobbing or anything.
so, even though i'm in georgia and in the 10 years i've been here i have never had a white christmas, i'll keep on dreaming...

Saturday, December 5, 2009

december daily 5

big day for the littlest littles...

xander got to meet his baseball hero chipper jones of the atlanta braves
amazing...i have to get him to tell me about it in his own words so i can write it down.
a friend from his baseball team(s), little babe and his dad emailed us last night to ask us about it. turns out it was going to overlap the same time as cassidy's first dance performance, but i let xander make his own decision. he had cassidy need to support each other in their activities, but this was an opportunity that wouldn't come around again, at least not any time soon. so he and todd both went. they had an incredible experience and still made it in time to see cassidy dance.

























and cassidy, my little skating ballerina, performed in her first performance. it was for the city of buford' holiday celebration. our arrival time was 1:00, the performance time was supposed to be 1:45, but we didn't go on until after 2:00. if she survived this one and wants to keep dancing, then she has dedication! it was FREEZING! and if we had been in massachusetts we still would have said it was FREEZING! cause it really was. definitely in the 30's. and my little baby danced. we kept her bundled up in her sweat pants and heavy jacket until it was time to go on.


george vidoed and todd took pictures. and she was SO CUTE. only one little hiccup...some of the other moms brought the costume skirts home to finish sewing, but not all of them made it to the performance. cassidy didn't have a white skirt with turquoise trim like the other girls. so ms. victoria took a skirt from one of the smaller older girls, a silver one, and told cassidy she was the STAR.

i've been talking her through it for the last few days, going through the arm movements and reminding her when it was her turn to run to the front of the stage. and she did...she watched the older girls and started the arm movements.

























when it was time to come to the front of the stage she ran all the way up front, farther up front than anyone else. she got a good chuckle from the crowd.










i still can't believe how cold it was, and that she got out there and did it. so proud baby ballerina!










this is her pose at the end of her performance and this is her at the end of the show, sans skirt!











Friday, December 4, 2009

december daily 4

part of the season is about giving gifts. sometimes i am consumed with the ideas or lack thereof as i try to come up with the perfect gift for each person. this year i am going for the personalized factor. send me you wish lists, but i might not choose anything off of it...i want the WOW, that's cool! reaction. so i'm avoiding the mall, except for a few of those specifics and i'm heading to specialty/gift shops. don't worry, it isn't junk! just want something with a little more meaning. please know i am putting a lot of thought into this!

but one funny tonight...todd and i asked cassidy what she wanted to get for xander for christmas. she does the funniest thing when she acts surprised and covers her mouth with her hand, eyes wide! so when we asked her she yelled out "ICE CREAM" and then pulled the surprised look. then laughed hysterically and ran away singing. truly, a funny girl.

she says...

here is cassidy's account of what happened in our house last night....

"the tooth fairy came to my house last night because xander lost a tooth on the bottom. so he called the tooth fairy, her phone number is 105-668. she drove to my house at 12 5, knocked on the door and my mom let her in. xander pu his tooth in a plastic bag then in a silver thingy. and hid it under his pillow. the tooth fairy went to xander's room, got his tooth and threw it away. and left a dollar bill. the tooth fairy's name is bucky kimma."''

(thank you to a pre-scho0l teacher that recognizes the importance of an important story and wrote it all down for me)

here is a picture of xander showing cassidy his "bloody" tooth

Thursday, December 3, 2009

december daily 3

today's entry isn't holiday related...but BIG nonetheless
let's say..."all i want for christmas is my (two) front teeth"
xander has been working on his bottom tooth for the last few day and if finally paid off tonight.








we've felt it moving for the last two or three weeks, but wednesday when i picked him up from the sitter's house after school he said he'd been wiggling it all day.
i threatened him if it fell out before we got home and i could take a picture then he'd have to do push ups!
luckily the tooth stayed in and i got my picture.








tonight, he wasn't really playing with it. we had a traumatic afternoon, and i don't think the tooth was on his mind as much.
but when he brushed his teeth the excitement of it came back to him and he showed me how loose it really was. that sorry thing was just barely hanging on, but it didn't seem quite ready.
well, leave it to a six year old, dying to lose his first tooth and a little too much time laying in bed still awake.
"MOM! MY TOOTH CAME OUT!"
back up the stairs and sure enough. he is sitting up in bed holding his tooth up with a slightly bloody grin.








right behind me was todd with the camera (good dad!).








so, if the right bottom one starts wiggling in the next few days we may just be singing that song for real this year.












taken the next morning after finding a note and a $5.00 in the plastic bag...the tooth was gone!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

december daily 2

this could have been the post for the first day, but i had way too much going on there...
one of our favorite things, and something i remember doing as a child, was counting down the days to christmas. we have several counters or advent calendars that we enjoy changing each day - some we move the counters, others we change out the numbers and others we add ornaments to. todd had one growing up that was a felt tree, and each day a new ornament was added to the tree. my mother made one shaped like a tree while we were young that had pockets on it. each pocket held a piced of candy for each of us, one per day. x & c would really like those....i'll have to get to work and whip something up. (ha ha ha...okay, maybe not this year, but someday before they are grown).

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

december daily

one of my favorite artists in the scrapbooking world has a challenge project up on her blog. she calls it her december daily album. this very talented girl pre-makes a mini album, using christmas and holiday paper, embellishments, etc. that she has been collecting throughout the year, and scraps left from other projects still laying around. she numbers the pages 1-25 and then for each day from december 1st through christmas she takes pictures and journals something that she and/or her family did to celebrate the season.
i have been so busy lately, that i haven't had time to do much scrapbooking, but i have really been trying to accomplish this project. i think by doing it i may make up for the fact that i didn't post a picture every day like i started doing at the beginning of the year. (okay, so i won't make up for it, but it will still be a great project to look back on.)
to keep my thoughts in one place i figured i would journal here and then grab it when i was ready to put it in the album.
i started the album after thanksgiving dinner last week. i've got the right number of pages, and just came home from archiver's with a sticker sheet of numbers 1-25. i'm starting simple, plain, unembellished...and then when i add the journaling and the pictures i'll add a little more to it.

so for my december 1st entry...
i wanted to recount all the things we have done up til now to begin celebrating christmas...
*todd showed the kids the movie "The Santa Clause". when it was finished x said..."i want to go to the mall and see santa claus and sit on his lap" - jaw hit floor! in all his 6 years he has never ever wanted to talk to santa claus. watching him from the railing over his little mall set up was enough for him. monday the 23rd we went to the mall and c sat on his lap and x stood next to him and gave him a high five. actually, gave him close to 10 high fives by the time they were done talking. c asked for "Toy Story". really? c, we already have that movie. "i know, i just want it!" and x asked for "a georgia bulldog football uniform". to which he received high fives from santa. later when we asked him about the georgia request he said "i just panicked." i did not get any pictures....grrr arrrh! i had my camera, but the requirment was that you purchase one of their package sheets to take my own pictures. one of their sheets was $24. i should have just done it. there will never be another first...

*todd put up the tree on monday before thanksgiving, because "i'm off work that day and won't have another chance..." so i endured a whole three very long days of the kids begging to decorate the tree

*bought our annual ornaments at the disney store








*watched the macy's thanksgiving day parade and saw santa claus at the end ..."mom, is that the real santa claus? are those real elves?"

*christmas music on the ipod plugged into the speaker system in the living room

*christmas music on two children's mp3 players
- this year's favorites....David Archuletta, especially "Silent Night", Alvin and the Chipmunks, and almost any version of "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas" (x's other favorite right now"

*x&c helped todd decorate the tree friday night while i was at work

*saturday & sunday we finished decorating. pretty much it is all in the living room. we just don't have any other surfaces in the house that can be taken over with christmas decorations












*sunday, 11/29, after we finished decorating i sat on the couch with x & c and read Santa Mouse








*monday, 11/30 we had family home evening and read a book, This is the Stable. and we put out the empty manger and the hay we could fill it with when we were kind to each other. then, by christmas eve, we should have a manger filled with soft hay for baby jesus to sleep on

*then we finished off f.h.e with eggnog milk shakes and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on TV

*tonight, 12/1, I had to work, but todd and the kids watched "Rudolph"

here's to a great start on my december daily album!


Thursday, October 1, 2009

right now

what? a new post? this is absolutely the biggest shock anyone reading this has had in quite a while.
i have been MIA big time. i haven't posted anything since the end of july.
that was just before my life got flipped upside down and I haven't been able to breathe since.
there is much to catch up on, and of course, many pictures to post. but one at a time, right?

we'll start here @ right now

...i am waiting on a powerpoint presentation i created to upload to my learning team's forum...i am enrolled as a graduate student with the university of phoenix. i am earning a masters degree in elementary education. proposed finish date for classes is next december, followed by 10-12 weeks of student teaching in the spring, and i will have my teaching certificate.

... i am mentally going over my lesson plans for tomorrow in my head, as i teach pre-kindergarten full-time, and i am excited for the apple pies we'll be baking tomorrow at school

... i am looking at a very messy house! (tmi?)

... i am in the middle of organizing paperwork for the ward primary, as i am the secretary for the sugar hill ward.

... i am beyond tired and my eyes hurt, and it isn't even midnight yet.

... i am wanting to go cuddle with my babies, at 3 and 6 they are getting big way too fast.

... i am grateful that i was able to give away three of my upcoming shifts at archivers, where i work part-time, so i could stay sane and not work 60+ hours in a week.

... I am happy it is fall and i can wear long sleeve shirts and sweaters.

... i am excited for xander's baseball game on saturday. go cardinals!

... i am listening to new kids on the block...still love them!

... i wish i was scrapbooking!

... i would love to go away for a weekend and relax and not feel guilty about it.

this is me, right now!

apple picking in elijay, ga beginning of september

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

first day....

first day of kindergarten...
first day of pre - k....
first day with new teachers....
first day of baseball...

Friday, July 31, 2009

cha orlando

as always, so much to catch up on. wish my connection was faster so uploading pictures wasn't such a big pain, cause i have TONS!
but this is what i've been doing. i just got back from orlando where i worked with tombow at cha. it was a great experience, yet again. great people to work with, great people to meet, great HUGE amounts of inspiration.
while at the show tombow was reviewed by craft critique, a very informative web site that reviews ALL kinds of craft products. they were fabulous to talk to and even better...they loved tombow!

Monday, July 27, 2009

she's four

cassidy @ 4
what is your favorite color - any color in the rainbow and pink and purple
what is your favorite food - shepherd's pie
what is your favorite thing to do - dance and play with glue
what is your favorite thing to do with xander - play wii fit
what is your favorite thing to do with mom - go to school with her
what is your favorite thing to do with dad - go to work with him

she
...loves to dance
...makes funny faces
...cries easily, and stops just as fast
...makes up strange names for her baby dolls and imaginary friends
...gives great hugs
...has a contagious laugh
...is starting pre-k in 2 weeks, and when she says it she throws her hands in the air
...loves to glue
...will over hear someone use a name or a word, and will then incorporate that word into her play
...helped name our fish - tom glavine and jason heyward (2 braves players)
...sings
...drives us all crazy with her incessent "mommy, mommy" or "daddy, daddy" and even "xander, xander"
...likes princesses and tinkerbell & fairies
...cheers for the atlanta braves and whatever baseball team xander is on
...hates having her hair brushed, but has started washing it herself.
...is beautiful, lovable and super friendly (if she knows your name you might be her new best friend!)

happy birthday baby girl

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

more backyard fun in the sprinkler....and more fun with the camera....seriously....64 pictures? this is just a sampling









Monday, June 15, 2009

car wash

had the kids help us clean & wash the car today. windows are streaky from overuse of window cleaner, toys have made it back into the car already, but i think they enjoyed it....especially getting wet.

pool pose

oh, i have so many pictures to post....but i'll just get this one up right now.
we've been spending monday, tuesday, and wednesday mornings at the pool. xander and cassidy LOVE it!
i've taken many, many, many pictures of swim team/lessons and cassidy prancing around in her swim suits (she doesn't mean to, but she just walks differently when she's in her suit walking around the pool deck.)
i'll take more time to post them later. promise...

Sunday, June 14, 2009

new haircut

okay, it's summer....let him have a mohawk.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

6 is almost here

xander's good friend, born just three months before he was, turned 6! i've been holding onto 5 that it is hard to believe the two of them are moving past that. 5 still seems like "toddler/baby" age to me. but 6? 6? that is a different story all together. we'll have to see how they manage to write this next chapter. i'm sure it will be entertaining.

happy birthday maggie. we loved celebrating with you!



Friday, June 12, 2009

playing in the rain

it was pouring outside. we opened the door and watched it for a few mintues from the porch. then it hit me, it's summer, it isn't cold....so i told the kids they could go running in the rain. and just as soon as they got out to the driveway it all but stopped, just drizzling. xander got mad at me and told me i should have let them go sooner. oh well...who knew the weather would be a little crazy.
(just have to note, they dressed themselves today. love that they both ended up in navy blue striped polos. my "coordinating outfits" is rubbing off!)



Tuesday, June 9, 2009

swim team

xander with his coach...
he isn't afraid of the water and is swimming without any floats. he loves wearing goggles and thinks he's the next michael phelps. okay, he hasn't said that, not even close, but he is convinced he knows all about swimming now. he's an expert. either way, he has already progressed in the f

Monday, June 8, 2009

typical cassie

this is so her. she would rather leave her hair down and push it out of her eyes rather than let me put it up. she loves music and carries her radio around (really it is an mp3 player and we've added all kinds of music including mama mia!) and she loves art -painting, collaging, coloring - it is what she loves.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

teaching cassidy the ins and outs of baseball....according to the braves game program

friends, tents and a rainy day

we love these girls and love that they live just down the street from us!
thanks for playing makayla and ava!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

she says....

in the bathroom...
c: "mom, girls don't have peanuts, boys do."

watching the ticker across the bottom of the screen todd announced
t: "the red sox are winning"
c: "why are they wearing red sox?"

c: "close it really hard!" when she wants a door shut all the way

c: "up-e-side-down" for upside down

c: "mom, mom, mom, mom!"
s: "yes cassidy? what is it?"
c: "i love you!"

out of the blue she's been telling everyone "i love you!" i love hearing it, and i hear it about 20 times a day, at the most random moments.

Monday, June 1, 2009

let's start off summer vacation..

...with strep throat!
poor xander woke up sick this morning.
as with every other time my kids have turned up sick, i did not accurately diagnose him!
he woke up complaining that under his arm hurt. my scientific guess was that it was a swollen lymph node, and upon checking out web md, found that you could have a swollen lymph node in your arm pit if there was an infection in your arm. sure enough, the cut he got playing baseball two weeks ago was beginning to look infected (again! thought we took care of it last week!) he was also complaining that he felt like throwing up, that his throat hurt, and then he didn't eat breakfast and fell asleep, taking a 45 minute nap all before 9:00am.
we were supposed to start of the summer by having his first swim team practice/lesson. so i got him in the car, brought the pool stuff just in case, and drove to register him. while on the way i called the doctor's office and explained to the nurse advice what was going on. "bring him in"...really? okay.
so i brought him in. after an hour and a half visit, a blood test and a throat culture turns up our little boy did have a swollen lymph node (at least i figured that one out) and he had strep throat. what? totally didn't see that one coming. checked out of there for $155 and headed home for lunch, another nap and a $127 prescription.
so, we started off with a bang. but by that night he had bounced back and was begging to go to swim the next morning. unfortunately we had to wait until wednesday, but hopefully, since he got sick at the beginning of the summer we won't have any other illnesses....right? knock on wood? "cassidy, go wash your hands!"

swim team

xander wanted to swim again and i wanted a pool to cool off in. so we joined the grandview neighborhood's swim team.
the first few days were a little rocky for xander. he was struggling to get down the end of the lane, and he was nervous about racing in a meet.
it was a hard mom moment for me...when he wanted to quit i wouldn't let him, even though i knew how scared he was. he spent two days out of the pool just helping out. todd got him in his parent's pool and got him swimming, so he knew he could to it. he just needed to make that decision for himself in the big pool.
we kept him off the lists for the first meet, but we dressed and went to cheer on the wahoos and to see what it was all about.
all the way he was nervously asking "mom, am i going to swim tonight?"
once there we found where to check him in and requested that he get in the pool with the team to warm up. still nervous he got in, but he made it. he took a break by flipping on his back, but he got all the way down.
getting out of the pool he asked again, "mom, am i going to swim tonight?" but this time there was excitement and expectation in his voice. "no, we decided that you were going to watch and see what it was all about." so we did...
but the next thursday, he swam three races! the freestyle relay, the 25m freestyle and the 25m backstroke. (i had to miss it because i was working) but todd was there to take pictures! we've got a little swimmer on our hands!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

sunday bubbles