Week in Review ~ 12/18

Snow, snow, and more snow was the story of the week! We started out with a surprise snow Monday morning, slowing down our drive to school quite a bit. I left home with snow on the roads and yards covered but got to the babysitter's and didn't find much. Shortly after school started we were covered there as well though. We kept waiting to be sent home, but we stayed all day. Even though most of it was gone by the afternoon, our staff dinner was canceled for the night. I was disappointed about missing a good dinner and a chance to run some errands alone, but I was excited to be able to pick up Avery and get home at the regular time.

We had our Christmas program at school Tuesday night. Ned picked up Avery while I ran my errands and had dinner at my parents'. It's nice to have them a minute from school when I live over 30 minutes away. Leaving the house at 6:45 am and getting home at 8:30 pm can make for a long day though.

Wednesday was a regular day with lots of talk about snow in the forecast. Lolli picked up Avery because she got out of school early, so I visited there before coming home. I brought nothing for school home with me because I was expecting an early release on Thursday if we got that. The forecast was for 2-5 inches but it showed it starting mid-morning.

Ned got up to go hunting Thursday morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep because I wondered if the phone would ring. Finally it did, telling me that Avery and I would have snow day at home. Not much had happened when Ned got home around 8, but shortly after our yard and road were covered. I was so glad to be home and not having to worry about how I could get Avery from the babysitter's and get home safely. Road conditions were not good. My dad left work at lunchtime, and his usual 40 minute trip to almost 3 hours, with 1.5 of that sitting at a standstill. My in-laws planned to leave early to go to Blacksburg to see Rob graduate but waited a few hours in the hopes roads would get cleared. They had a long trip as well. I was unprepared for the snow in terms of food. I like to have lots of snacks during inclement weather, and I was lacking except for Pepsi and peppermint bark. This resulted in a delicious pizza dinner though. I'm sure you've gathered by now that we enjoy a good pizza. Things still looked bad on the roads, and I kept waiting for the phone to ring to say that we at least had a delay. They finally called around 10 pm to say that school was canceled.

Avery woke up at her normal time on Friday then got silent and I fell back to sleep. Almost an hour later I jumped out of bed in a panic because she was quiet. Silly girl had found a pie-pie tucked away from the nap that never happened Thursday and was hanging out in her crib. We set off after her nap to pick up my bonus check at the high school. It's a pretty good drive that fell right at lunchtime, but I didn't know if the check would be mailed over the holiday. I figured a late lunch and nap would be ok since she had a long morning nap. We had a repeat of Thursday though with no afternoon nap. I rescued her from the crib and received lots of hugs and back pats. We headed to Food Lion to get dinner and a few extras. Avery went to bed a little early but had done well both days with no afternoon nap. That's a little scary to me. Once she was asleep, Ned and I watched Christmas Vacation on DVD, one of our favorite holiday classics.

I shopped with my mom on Saturday. I didn't have much Christmas shopping to finish, but the deals were too good to pass up. Everything at Gymboree was 50% off and 40% at Ann Taylor Loft. If this is tradition for the weekend before Christmas it will also become tradition for me! Avery also needed a new pair of shoes to wear to Jennifer's. She got a whopping 3 months out of the pair she outgrew! I see frequent trips to the outlet at this rate. I grocery shopped among the chaos before returning home. Ned and Avery had a good day but another day with no afternoon nap. Morning naps were hit or miss for awhile but had returned pretty consistently. I had really hoped to at least have a morning rest through Christmas, but something has to change so she's sleeping in the afternoon. I put away the piles of groceries, and then we decided that Mexican sounded better than anything I could fix. Ned turned Avery's seat around in his truck so that she could see some Christmas lights after dinner. We did a little drive but had to get home and finish drying Giraffi so that she and Avery could get to bed early.

This week is Christmas week! Tomorrow I'm keeping the nursery at church if it isn't canceled because of snow expected tonight. Then we have our first Christmas dinner at Lolli and Poppa's tomorrow night. Avery has her Christmas party at Jennifer's Tuesday then Friday and Saturday will be the big days. Somewhere in all this we're hoping to get an e-mail with the first drawing of our house. I'm more excited about Christmas than I've been in a long time, and I'm always excited about Christmas! I just know I'm going to turn around and find it all over, so I'm trying to soak up every minute of it now.

Here are a few pictures from the end of the week. Avery looks so grown here...



Avery reading what appears to be a shocking text. Perhaps she's seen Mama do this before?



Under the dining room table is now the perfect spot for everything from ribbon inspecting to pooping.



More snow Saturday before dinner! When it started it was huge!



Avery knows just where to see "side" and watch the snow fall.

All is Calm

From Our Family to Yours

Merry Christmas, blog friends!





At this time in our life, our circle of friends is evolving. In some ways I think things like Facebook, blogs, texting, etc. allows friends to be more distant, because they can see what you're doing without actually checking in. At the same time, I'm so thankful for the friends I have and can keep in touch with because of these technologies. Many are friends who I rarely see or have never met, but are nonetheless quick to use these things to show that they are connected and interested in our life.

Merry, merry to you all! Thanks for loving us!

Week in Review ~12/11

This week seemed to slow to a crawl! By Thursday I told a fellow teacher that if time moved any slower it would go backwards, and I was very afraid I'd wakeup and it would be Wednesday again. I hate to wish my time away, especially at the holidays, but the 3rd grade can be a bit trying with holiday in the air.

Time certainly didn't move slowly due to lack of things to do. I've already written about our wonderful trip to see Santa on Sunday. We had conferences Tuesday, then I rushed home so that Ned could get to city council. On Wednesday, Avery and I rode to pick up our Christmas cards. It's a long trip from school to the photographer's to home, but Avery did well on the ride. The cards turned out beautifully, and I worked on addressing them that night.

Avery and I were a little late getting home again on Thursday, which I hated because it was the third day in a row. I quickly changed, laid out Avery's things for bed, packed her bag for Friday night, and fixed her dinner. Mimi came to stay with her while Ned and I met with our architect to draw our house plans. We have no idea whether we'll use the plans in 3 months or 3 years, but we want to have everything ready when the time is right. We were both very pleased at his work and got to see plans he had done for people we knew. We were also pleased to hear that we had picked a cost-effective house to build! I'm excited to go back in a few weeks and see the plans in a little more detail than was given in the plan book. We made it home just in time to put Avery to bed, then Ned picked up a Cheesy Bites pizza for us.

Lolli picked Avery up Friday because she was spending the night with them. I had a hair appointment then got crab legs and shrimp to take home for dinner. Ned and I hadn't had crab legs since before Avery was born, because both crab legs and Avery require a lot of hands. We enjoyed our yummy dinner then rode to look at Christmas lights. While riding in Ned's parents' neighborhood, his mom stopped us because his grandparents had a kitchen fire. Ned's grandfather had been able to put it out, but Ned went in to check everything out. Even though Mimi had said the house had been filled with smoke, I was surprised at the places that you could see smoke on the walls and soot laying around. Ned's grandfather and his wife were very lucky that the fire was contained to the stove and range hood, especially since they apparently had no smoke detectors or fire extinguisher. I think firefighter Ned is going to need to remedy that. House fires are one of my biggest fear, and I may be a tad paranoid in that department.

Ned got up Saturday and went hunting, and somehow I managed to be awake before 7 am on my morning off. I may have Felix to thank for that. I refused to get up though, and enjoyed the bed to myself in a quiet house. Once I did get up I got busy with laundry and straightening things up. By the time I got ready to go to Walmart, it was raining. I always seem to need the most in bad weather, and 25 lbs of litter, rolls of wrapping paper, etc. are zero fun in a cold rain. Our little elf arrived home a little after 4 and seemed happy to see us. I fixed an enchilada ring for Avery and I because Ned was going to a friend's to eat oysters. Avery and I passed on that invitation, and then Avery passed on the enchilada ring. She spent the majority of dinner transfering her meal around her bowls, utensils, and tray. Lolli and Poppa must have worn Avery out, because she went to bed early. Ned is still gone, and I'm enjoying the end of Christmas Vacation and waiting for Frosty and It's a Wonderful Life. I am LOVING all these Christmas movies and being home in our cozy house. Perhaps I'll find some motivation to do some wrapping also.

This should be a fun week at school as long as the students don't drive me totally crazy. It will also be busy with either Ned or I gone each night of the week. Friday is a half day at school (4 1/2 day week!) and Avery has her Christmas party at Jen-Jen's that afternoon. Saturday I'll finally set foot in a mall, more for a break with my mom than to do actual shopping. If there's ever a time that I wish time could speed up and slow down it certainly is now.

Ho Ho Hear We Come!

Today we set off bright and early to see the Legendary Santa in Richmond. It was a full car with Lolli, Poppa, and Mimi joining us. Avery slept late, and with us leaving way before nap time, I knew she wouldn't sleep. She did great in the car and seemed to enjoy me beside her and Lolli and Mimi behind her. The grandparents went in to hold our spot in line while Ned and I got Avery dressed. I knew she had gone to the bathroom and was very concerned when I felt a wet bottom, because she had on her tights under her pants. It wasn't the disaster that it could have been, and somehow the tights turned out better than the pants. After a quick cleanup on my folded down 3rd seat, she was in her dress and ready to go. When we joined everyone in line, the sign said an hour wait from that point. The line didn't look bad, and an hour sounded much better than the hour and a half we waited last year. And, I was happy to see on the TV that it was the "good" Santa that I saw for many years. While we waited, Avery got busy with a snack and some people watching.



Our wait was nowhere near and hour and soon it was time to go into Santa Land. Both years that we've taken Avery, I've gotten a little teary as we walked in. All I've ever wanted to do is be a mom, and this is one of the traditions I imagined carrying out long before Avery arrived. I visited the Legendary Santa each year until I was a senior in high school. Until 1990, he resided in the Miller and Rhoads department store and had been there since 1936. There you could see Santa come down the chimney and visit with the Snow Queen and Bruce the Spruce, a singing and talking tree. After sitting on Santa's lap, we ate in the Tea Room, where Santa would come in, drink a full glass of milk with no breaths but lots of load gulps, and eat reindeer cake. Things changed when the store closed in 1990, but Santa has been somewhere in Richmond each year. His permanent home is now in the Children's Museum, where he still comes down the chimney several times a day, feet just a swinging, after checking his reindeer on the roof. Tea with Santa is also offered in a downtown hotel. We missed him coming down the chimney this year but will definately be trying to catch him next year.

Here we are talking to the Snow Queen before Santa said, "Hi, Avery! Come on over!"



As you can see, we had no tears! Avery checked out Santa and all the pretty lights in the room.

They snapped the picture right away, then of course she smiled and smiled.

Lolli got a great picture of Avery giving Santa a sweet smile though. She didn't seem bothered in the least to be talking to him. I was shocked!

We finished so quickly that we checked out the train display. My dad had the neatest one set up in his farm office when I was little with buildings, roads, cars, and a sawmill that sawed logs. We used to go play with the trains on Sunday afternoon and I would drink a grape soda. I would love to think that Avery's interest today would cause Poppa to pull those trains back out.

We left and traveled to Short Pump mall for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We all ate so much that we had no room for yummy cheesecake. We only visited one store after lunch because it's an outdoor mall and was too cold today. If I don't pop in Janie and Jack, it must be cold! Avery was falling asleep with her head up before we ever got on the highway and slept all the way home. What a wonderful day! My only complaint is that it went by too fast!

Week in Review ~ 12/4

It was so great to welcome December this week. The list of things we have to look forward to made the week go fast, but not quite fast enough. Sunday involved putting up the tree and buying groceries. We let Avery and Felix adjust to the tree for awhile with no ornaments since Avery was being a little too much help Sunday afternoon.

On Monday we went back to the pediatrician for an ear check since Avery had been off her medicine for about a month. We got there about 3:30 and the waiting room was packed. I always enjoy taking a healthy baby to the doctor because you are sure to pick up something terrible. Avery and I waited, and waited, then waited some more for a grand total of an hour. I managed to keep Avery in my lap for the first 30 minutes. We looked out the window for squirrels and kitties and told everyone who was leaving bye-bye. We also investigated all of the fun things in my purse and the diaper bag. Those tricks ran out and she spent the next 30 minutes touching everthing in the waiting room. The day after a holiday weekend is not the time to go apparently. Once we were called back it moved pretty quickly, but we did not receive the best news. Avery's ear is still not clear of fluid, so she is back on an antibiotic for a month. This will clear any infection and keep one from reoccuring. She's also on Claritin. She'll be checked again in a month to see if the fluid is gone. I have a feeling we'll be seeing an ENT at some point and may be introduced to the world of tubes. The examination of course involved lots of tears. Monday was a rude push back into the real world after Thanksgiving with a school observation and then the experience at the doctor's office. It was good to get home.

Ned stayed home with Avery Tuesday because our sitter had the day off. There was lots of playing and not much napping. When I picked her up at Ned's office she was helping a customer with some paperwork but had to leave her position to show me the fish.

Avery has been off of her bathroom medicine for awhile, and it caught up with all of us Wednesday night. We knew she needed to start it again but were trying to wait and see how she would do on the antibiotic. I'll spare the details, but poor baby tried for an hour and a half to use the bathroom. She was such a trooper and only cried when we sat her in the highchair and when we tried to remedy the problem. I held her for the longest time and she just rested her little head on me. As bedtime approached I finally called the pediatrician on call. We got her straight and finally got some dinner in her. It was so good to put a happy baby to bed since she had been so pitiful. I got around to getting some ornaments on the tree after she went to bed. Felix has only chewed the lights 5 or 6 times, and Ned has been able to repair each each strand. The bottom portion of the tree is filled with cord protectors, and what isn't covered has been sprayed with bitter spray. Soon Avery and I will be off to Lowe's to pick out a tree to purchase on sale after Christmas. Ned has had this one since he moved into the house, and even without Felix's damage it had seen better days.

Avery and I hurried home Thursday to get a picture to send in to the paper with her letter to Santa. Earlier in the week when I realized I should try to get a Christmas-like picture, her eyes were a bit of a mess from her ear infection. So, it was get something good on Thursday our use a Halloween picture. I started her in her little rocking chair, but she kept wiggling her little feet to the floor, so we moved to her room. I got a pretty good one to send in, and here are a few that didn't make the cut.





Friday was a crazy day at school, so a night out was needed. We met the Vaughans at the oyster bar and had a yummy dinner. Avery enjoyed sweet potato fries, watching baby Emerson, telling people who were leaving "bye," and sneaking cole slaw from my bowl. We had a hard time containing her as her first highchair had no buckle or piece between the legs. The second had a buckle that popped open each time she moved. I was happy to hold Emerson after dinner and offered to take him home. I got lots of little smiles and also got baby fever! Avery tried her best to put her finger into some type of opening on his face but we kept her hands away. We did let her get in a kiss/sniff on his back. Avery grew tired of either her chair or the baby show and was not happy until Mama took her. We left the restaurant after bedtime, but I'm not sure that she slept on the way home. Ned checked when we got off 95 and she was looking around. She has not napped as well this week, and I'm hoping it's the bottom molar that's breaking through instead of all the medicine she's on. We got home while the Christmas parade was still going on, and shortly after I got Avery in bed, the fireworks began. Fireworks are not usually associated with Christmas, even in Emporia, but they were unable to have them on the 4th of July or for the Peanut Festival, so they broke them all out for the parade. There are advantages and disadvantages to living this.close to the shoot-off spot. The main disadvantage is the fact that it sounds and feels like your house is exploding. Since there are few leaves on the trees, I was able to enjoy the whole show from out kitchen window, all warm and toasty. It was very spectacular and patriotic. Avery miraculously slept the whole time. It was so strange to think back to September 2009 when I sat on the same kitchen stool and watched the fireworks through the trees holding a very tiny Avery Grace.

Avery and I stayed home this morning while Ned hunted. He came home before lunch and put together Avery's new carseat for Lolli and Poppa's car. She's still been riding in her infant carrier with them but is about to reach the height limit. Since we'll be turing her around in the next month or so, she got a front-facing carseat for their car. She looked so grown as we got the straps adjusted. I may just have to take the first ride with them to see what she thinks about her new view of the world.



Avery again appears to be giving up her morning nap, and I know it's getting close to that time. After a long morning nap she didn't sleep a bit this afternoon. I made her stay in her crib for an hour and a half, and there was LOTS of singing. Snow was beginning to fall when I got her up, so we had to bundle up to head to Walmart. I had to get a picture of her in her little hat because it's just too funny. We may have to add another hat to the mix.



Avery didn't eat much today and that continued at dinner. I didn't want my dinner either because of the large amount of Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark I ate after picking it up at Walmart. Avery and I both highly recommend it. She got a bath and went to bed early to be rested for her big day tomorrow. We're off to see the Legendary Santa (snow permitting) and I'm as excited as I ever was when I sat on his lap. They've posted the times that he'll come down the chimney and we may just be there for one. The week is also filled with parent-teacher conference, city council, a hair appointment, and a meeting to get our plans drawn. I also hope to do some Christmas card addressing if they come in. Avery is planning a sleepover at Lolli and Poppa's Friday night and I'm planning on sleeping in and having the house to myself for the first morning in a long time.

Welcome December

Press your face to your computer screen. Can you feel my excitement? The season from Thanksgiving to New Year's is my absolute favorite time of the year, and the month of December falls squarely in the middle.

Here are a few things that make me feel like a kid waiting for Santa:

*Decorating the house and enjoying the Christmas tree with the house lights off. Avery is loving waving to my Santas and also her Elf on the Shelf. He's hanging out this year but will be busy reporting to Santa next year.

*Yankee Candle's Home for the Holidays.

*Taking Avery to Richmond to see the Legenary Santa.

*Seeing Conway Photo Shop's magic touch on our Christmas cards and getting them mailed out.

*Receiving Christmas cards.

*Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas commercials, etc. It's been such a thrill to find them on TV and the radio already. We've caught Christmas Vacation, Elf, and the first two Home Alone movies several times. Avery and I have been jamming to Christmas music for awhile, and who doesn't love the Hershey Kisses bells commercial?

*Finding Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown, and The Grinch on TV. Next year sweet Avery gets to watch too!

*Fires in the downstairs fireplace.

*Writing Avery's letter to Santa for our local papers and reading all the letters when they appear in the paper.

*Buying for family and close friends, and trying to not to buy anything else for Avery.

*Participating in a toy drive and Angel Tree.

*Enjoying Christmas decorations, from stores to tacky house displays.

*TWO WHOLE WEEKS OF CHRISTMAS VACATION!

*Christmas baking.

*Christmas Eve Service and singing Silent Night by candelight.

*Avery Grace in Christmas jammies and seeing her face Christmas morning. What will she play with first?

*Family visits, family meals, family all season long.

May you have a delightful December as well!