Last quote of 2011

The great difference between voyages rests not in ships but in the people you meet on them.

-Amelia Barr

We have clearance, Clarence

We got clearance today from Daniel's pediatrician for the surgery on Wednesday.
Our boy is a perfect 40/40. 40 1/4 inches tall and 40 lbs. Pure love.

We were waiting for the Dr. hence the bare legs.
I'm excited to eat all the food we had frozen for XMas in the next few days. We'll be enjoying shrimp, scallops, stuffed mushrooms (for me, Ry hates mushrooms) and Ry will be making a shrimp dish. Goodbye clean kitchen, but he's super excited to make it. The weather here is crazy, it was in the mid 40s today. I was a wild woman today trying to keep the squirrels away from the bird feeder we put up. The bag of food says "Cardinals will love it and squirrels hate it", I don't know where they did their testing and what kind of squirrels refused these seeds but the ones in our back yard were hanging upside down to get to the food today. I strategically placed the feeder so they wouldn't steal the food. There was a squirrel doing gymnastics to get to the food. I felt bad. I just can't afford to feed everyone out there. These squirrels don't look like they are starving either.
They are also not as cute as the birds chirping to get to their meal. I don't appreciate the increasing amount of bird poop on my patio though. I guess I can't win either way. For now the feeder stays.

and we're back

We're here, still enjoying some time off after Christmas. We had a very busy week.
We prepared for Xmas by baking a ton. I had a little helper.
We made some reindeer food; recipe: oatmeal, lots of glitter, sprinkles, M&M's and love. Daniel proceeded to just dump the food on the driveway in one swift motion and not the ceremonious sprinkling I prepared him for. Before I could hit the button on the camera the "food" was out.
We joined my family for XMas Eve while daddy was at the hospital with his parents. Grandpa M had a little scare when his heart decided to take a little holiday break. He's doing well and hopefully going home soon. Ry joined us for a late dinner and presents.
We came home and "Santa" wrote D a letter, he gobbled down the cookies and drank some milk.
The next morning a smiling face woke us up with "It's Xmas today". We stalled for a little while but then made our way down stairs. D first spotted the trampoline he got from grandma and grandpa.
Then, it was off to open the presents from Santa, himself. The DEPOT that he waited so long for arrived.
Notice daddy filming and talking on the phone. Man of many talents.
If the depot was the only gift he got, he would have been happy.
Daniel received many "chuggers" to go along with his set. He played with it until it was time to visit grandpa.
He did so well at the hospital, partly because he got more chuggers that kept him busy.
We heated up some food and enjoyed our XMas as a family in the comfort of a hospital room. It didn't matter as long as we were together.
In the mean time Daniel continues to take inventory of the chuggers he has, by circling them and pointing out pathetically the 3 that he doesn't. He will have them soon considering that he will be in the hospital next week.
We don't have any plans for New Year's but to sit home and relax.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours

May Lovely, Happy Times
Decorate this Time of the Season.
May Warm, Special Memories brighten your New Year,
May the wonder of Christmas be with you Forever.

Merry Christmas!!!!

We're getting ready

We baked our first batch of XMas cookies today. Nestle Toll House has new sugar cookies for XMas. They have a Santa, XMas tree, snowman and snowgirl shapes all precut. They are super cute and easy to make. I didn't take any pictures but when Daniel requested the Santa cookie and didn't want to bite his head off I couldn't miss a second of it to grab the camera. He was eating around it until only his head was left. He looked at me, thought for a second and bit his head off. Only the beard remained of the jolly guy, it too was swallowed without much thought.
I went food shopping at 9pm today, closed the place down but I know I'll be glad tomorrow when I'm in my warm kitchen baking cookies and having fun while the stores around me are insane.
I also got all my present wrapping done. That one was easy considering we only bought for Daniel and my in-laws. My niece and nephew request cold hard cash, EASY! I'm blessed, I know.

On a sadder note, we found out our baby needs his adenoids removed. He's been on 3 rounds of antibiotics for sinus infections and it's not going away. He has a history of sinus infections and strep. He had a CT scan on Monday and it revealed that his adenoids are 60% bigger than they should be. It explains the constant congestion. His tonsils look extremely big but the Dr. will make the decision while he's "in" if they need to be taken out. The surgery is scheduled for January 4th, I will be nervous but I also know so many kids that have had it removed and all the parents tell me how much happier they are. We want to make him comfortable and get him off so many antibiotics.
Next week we'll try to get out of the house and make it special for him before his surgery.
I'm sure all the new gifts he'll get will keep him busy until then.

On another note I'm obsessed with the show Mad Men, I got it on Neflix and love watching it. I'm a few seasons behind so it's nice to know I have something waiting for me when all the shows on tv are on hiatus. Ry is obsessed with a show called Dexter. He watches it on his iPad as I watch my show on TV. Yes, 7 years of marriage and you can do things like that.
Off to catch some sleep.

Under Construction

It's Christmas week people-I'm a little crazed.
I'll be back Thursday to share a "Reindeer snack" recipe with you, it's Daniel's special recipe.
I need to put a new scanner on my xmas list because this is what I get.
4 more days till XMas!!!

Late

I babysat 2 other kids last night. 3 boys under the age of 4 and under can really define the word exhausting. I can see why stay at home moms are frazled by the end of the day. Eveyrone slept well, D ran around like a nut, he had a blast, the only problem is going to bed at 10:30pm may have had something to do with him being late for school today. He didn't seem to mind. Between wiping noses for all three boys, trying to give back two kids without bruises, snacks, a diaper change, some pinching, a little crying...it was an eventful evening.

Quote of the week

Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving

-Erma Bombeck

Santa overload

Sigh!
It was one craazzzzzzy weekend. I'm just coming up for air from the overdose of holiday cheer.
Great memories were made, sore backs have recovered and more parties have yet to be enjoyed.
Friday, we did something spontaneous, we got into my car around 7:30pm with hot popcorn and hot chocolate.
and drove to a lit town nearby.
It was cold as hell!!! Within 5 minutes we were freezing AND Mr. Prinklepants wanted to play at the playground that was frozen over.
He started to whine...
threats were made, we high tailed it outta there.
Warm in the car we drove around while listening to XMas music.
You know it was a fun night when the passenger in the back passed out from all the fun.
40lbs of pure love carried up the stairs to bed can do a number on anyone's back.
The next morning was breakfast with Santa.
followed by a birthday party for D and daddy and volunteer work for me. I volunteered to help clean up for 2.5 hours after breakfast with Santa. I was dying afterwards. You don't appreciate all the details during the breakfast until you have to take down 5 trees, each one filled with ornaments, put away fake "presents" that pile up to the ceiling in the church's musty basement, organize all the centerpieces used for the tables, make sure the rented chairs get folded and don't get confused with the church's chairs that practically look the same. I worked with great moms that I got to meet and laugh with. I also scored some left over donuts and a bottle of maple syrup. My sore body enjoyed the extra sugar. And when I heard "you were such a great help, make sure you sign up next year" it made me realize that busting my butt was recognized and appreciated.
D and daddy had a great time at the birthday party and I appreciated that he ran around like a nut because nap time was easy. Not for me, of course. D and daddy slept while I ran errands.
Sunday, was another busy day. It was time for the Polar Express at 9:00am!
We sang carols, met another Santa, ate cookies and drank juice. It was great time spent with family. I was on my last ounce of energy by the end.
We enjoyed lunch at the Choo Choo Diner. By the time we got home I collapsed with Daniel and slept like a baby for 2 hours! I felt semi normal when we woke up at 5pm.
2 Santas, a birthday party, a train ride, some lights...all in a weekend. Nothing like December!