In a Christmas CRAZE!

Well today has been a L.O.N.G day. Let me tell you!

Both girls have tummy bugs and are sad little sickies. Currently my Pet is on my lap drinking some juice while Madeleine is in an upside down tent. Apparently the long nap did her some good. Of course it has been an all day fight for mommy's lap so we've been snuggled up on the "nice couch" watching movies. I know, I know... but I'm not feeling the best myself, what with the vertigo and the spinning room and whatnot, and Kyle had to work.

I've been very naughty and have been decorating for Christmas WAY earlier than Liturgical and normal calenders deem acceptable. Whatever. I'm a rebel who loves Santa. This year I have started teaching Madeleine about Jesus' birthday as we prepare for Juliette's first. I'm hoping that seeing the celebration for her sister will help her grasp the concept of a birthday for Jesus.

The start of the Christmas season for me really starts with red cups at Starbucks and the first big SNOW, the latter of which came early this year. Along with those things my lovely mother-in-law came to visit for the weekend and so we decided to do Christmas pictures for Christmas cards, family photos, and Juliette's first birthday pictures as well. Naturally they all came out so adorably that I had to run right out to Kohl's to buy frames and naturally when I was there I saw Christmas frames that I had to have. And I left the store with a light up Christmas train and a New England Patriots Nutcracker. If you give a mouse a cookie... she'll probably end up decorating them to look like a snowman, hanging a wreath on the door, and sticking a candy cane in your cocoa.

Of course when I tried to explain "Santa" to Madeleine (he brings you presents to celebrate the birth of Jesus...) she clung to the TOYS part and now yells TOOOOOOOOOOOYS! whenever she sees a picture of him. I told her that this was a very utilitarian approach to take to the whole "Santa" thing.

Really, I am super exhausted and hoping to get the kiddos to bed early so I can enjoy "Once Upon a Time" with my good friend, Baily's on the Rocks.

The new family photo for our living room!

Christmas cards!

The only picture of the girls that is horizontal... since I'm still not sure how to rotate on this website.

One years old. 1/2 part sugar. 1/2 part spice.


The rest of the photos are on facebook. Now back to snuggling my little monkeys!

An Interesting Weekend

This weekend I visited my parents in "Stars Hollow, Connecticut". I am leaving to go back home today. Why am I here? Glad you asked! My little sister is in town!

Hannah, as well as LAUNNICK (Madeleine believes them to be one person making her understanding of the sacrament of marriage greater than most Americans), arrived early Friday morning, we are talking like 3:30, so we didn't get to see them until we woke up.

Still, the girls and I got in Thursday night waaaaay before the newlyweds and the curly blonde head so we had to find ways to entertain ourselves.

Carly had been working at a Halloween event in town and had come back with a bunch of temporary tattoos. Naturally, Carly thought it would be an awesome idea to use them on the girls so now Madeleine has a butterfly in her chubby belly and Juliette has a panda bear tramp stamp. Madeleine is very proud of her tattoo and lifts up her shirt to show it to us every ten minutes or so. And when we really tell her how pretty it looks on her she goes up to her sister and lifts up her shirt as well.

In typical fashion we spent half of Friday eating and the other half trying to figure out what to do in the evening because "Trunk or Treating" on the Town Green had been canceled due to weather. Now, I know what you are thinking. "Why were you going to something called 'Trunk or 'Treating' to begin with. That sounds like you would be walking around taking candy from strangers cars and isn't that the opposite of what we try to teach our children?" I don't know. And yes.

Saturday is when the real snowfall began. I had told my old nemisis SNOW that I refused to be put down by it this year. That it could do it's worst and I would still go out. So naturally, when the one inch it had dumped in the morning coated the street and we were trying to figure out if we should all still go shopping I laughed in the face of danger.

We got halfway there, turned around, and came home. You win this round SNOW but I will win the war.

I found out on Sunday that my power had gone out back in Massachusetts so I decided to stay the extra night here. Kyle was going to be picking up an extra shift anyway to help with the havoc the SNOW had unleashed on the airport (or more like the crazy-a people who go to the airport in the snow when their flights have been delayed or canceled just to scream at the people who work there. mess with my husband and the next time I am pregnant I WILL sit on you).

Since I was staying the extra night my mom asked if I wanted to lead Mafia at the Life Night. Since I am obsessed with crime shows (current fav, Criminal Minds. Dr. Spencer Reid. I've got a thing for tall, awkward, nerd types) I got reeeeeaaaaally into it. When it was my turn to play and someone else to lead I picked out who was in the Mafia correctly by the end of the second "night". Either I am a brilliant detective or I played waaay too much in college. I'm kind of betting the latter.

But today I am taking Elmo and Cookie Monster (or Cookie Hat as Madeleine calls the character) home to go Trick or Treating with their daddy. We miss him like CRAZY and are so excited to see him! It should be lots of fun, lots of candy, and wicked cold.

And a warning to SNOW... I'll get you next time.