Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Oh, where to start?  Where to start?  Okay.  Get comfy.  This is probably going to be a little long-winded. 

We have had a wonderful, magnificent, amazing Christmas!  My family was all healthy and happy.  The girls had such a great time everywhere we went and they loved their presents.

On Christmas Eve we went to the Coopers.  We had supper with Grandma Sherrel, Grandpa Clarence, and Uncle Craig and Aunt LuAnn.  It was a good meal and then we had birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.  The girls thought that was especially exciting and Maleah was thrilled that she got to blow out the candles again this year.  I have a feeling that next year her sister might give her a run for her money on that one.  But we'll see.

After supper we opened gifts.  Maleah had been asking "how much longer 'til we open gifts?" and "can we open presents now?" for like two hours so we finally quit torturing her and started opening all of the gifts that had piled up in the living room.  Maleah got a really cool Tinkerbell video game (sort of like a wii) that Aunt Kay had sent to her.  She loves it!  She got new camouflage hunting clothes from Craig and LuAnn.  She had asked for those because she really wants to go hunting with her Dad and learn to shoot her gun.  So, needless to say, she was excited.  From Grandma Sherrel and Grandpa Clarence she got a rubber stamp set that she really loves too.  She walked away with a ton of other stuff from her grandparents and her aunt and uncle.  But I think these things were her faves.

Carissa got a tea set and a sit n' spin from Grandma Sherrel and Grandpa Clarence that she really likes.  Aunt Kay sent her a very cute little baby doll.  And Craig and LuAnn got her a Moon in My Room.  That girl is crazy about the moon.  Maleah always was too and when she was that age Craig got her a Moon in My Room too.  It was a hit with both girls.  It is a moon that hangs on their bedroom walls and lights up and actually goes through the moon cycle.  So sometimes it's a full moon, other times it's not.  Very cool gift.    She also got lots of other things from Grandma and Grandpa and Craig and LuAnn but I think these things are her favorites so far.

So that brings us to Christmas morning.  I think it was probably the most anticipated and the most exciting Christmas morning that this house has ever seen.  Maleah was so so so excited!  She woke up at 7:10 and came in my room to inform me that Santa had indeed been there and left her a scooter!  The one she really wanted! (whew!)  She needed me to get up right away so she could show me.  Well, me being the incredibly vain mother that I am was not going into the living room, in front of the video camera, until I put my makeup on and a bra on.  So, I got up, put my makeup on, got dressed for the day, etc and Jason showered and got ready as well.  This was probably the longest twenty minutes of Maleah's little life.  But she didn't complain.  She was all smiles and was talking a mile a minute.  I had to wake poor little Carissa up.  She didn't understand the excitement and was a little aggravated that her sleep was cut short (like mother, like daughter, huh?).  All she wanted was a cup of chocolate milk and to watch Dora for the next 20 minutes.  All of the stuff sitting in the living room floor did not even faze her.  She could've cared less that there was an Elmo doll and a Dora chair sitting right in front of her.  She wanted her milk and she wanted to watch tv!  No ifs, ands, or buts!  She eventually woke up a little and got happy.  She decided that as a matter of fact she would like to open some presents.  Maleah loved her pink scooter that Santa brought her!  He had a really really hard time finding that after Walmart.com lost the one that had been ordered in November.  With only a few days left 'til Christmas he had to hustle to find it but thankfully his supplier (known as the Fairview Heights K-Mart to us) had it in stock.  She also loved the cardboard playhouse that you can color on that Santa brought.  And he also brought her a Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear.  Carissa decided that she loved that Dora chair and Elmo doll from Santa.  She loves Melmo (Elmo).  Santa also brought her a Little People ride-on car.  It's pretty cute.

Maleah's other favorites on Christmas morning were a Hello Kitty water dispenser for her room and a Hello Kitty Nintendo DS.  Carissa's other favorites were her very own remote control (she loves remotes!) and a stuffed Boots doll.  They got a lot of stuff but these were the ones their faces really lit up over.

After we opened up all of the presents, we loaded up the car and went to Grandma Debby and Grandpa David's for breakfast.  It was delicious, as always.  The girls got tons of gifts there too and got to see their cousin Chloey.  I think Maleah's favorite thing there was the pink mp3 player that Grandpa pre-loaded all of her favorite songs onto.  Her playlist includes Justin Bieber (Oh Baby, Baby!), Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Dance Little Jean), Johnny Cash, Beach Boys, and many more.  It's a real variety.  She hasn't hardly taken that thing out of her ears in the past few days.  Carissa's favorite thing there was probably a Dora book that came with little tiny Dora characters to play with.  Now we have mini Boots, mini Dora, mini Benny, etc, all over the house.  Carissa loves them so if I step on one I will try to remember that.   We had a really nice time at Mom and Dad's.  We all got really nice gifts but the girls were getting tired so we headed home.

Carissa went back to bed.  Jason took a nap on the couch.  Maleah "just rested" because "I AM NOT going to go to sleep".  And I put everything away and took down the Christmas trees and Christmas decorations.  I can not stand my house being that cluttered and with all of the gifts being opened it was extremely cluttered.  Our living room really isn't that big.  We had the tree up, a four foot by four foot playhouse in the middle of the room, a stack of boxes, two trash bags full of paper, a scooter, a ride-on car, an extra chair, and a partridge in a pear tree in our living room.  Mama had a lot of work ahead of her.  So I cleaned.  I felt much better when everything was put away.  So our Christmas tree was down by 2 p.m. on Christmas Day and I couldn't have been any happier.  I also made about three dozen deviled eggs during that time.  By the time our four o'clock Oestreich Christmas rolled around I was starting to feel slightly exhausted.

The Oestreich Christmas was fun and the food was delicious.  My cousin Amanda gave the five girl cousins a nice picture frame that said "cousins" on it to each one of us and in it was a picture of the five of us with Grandma Rose on her 80th birthday last year.  We all decided that we didn't like that old picture that much so we decided to take a new one to put in the frame.  It turned out pretty good.  My Mom and her three sisters decided to have their picture taken with Grandma too.  My Mom has four brothers as well but we didn't do a group shot of all of them.  My Uncle Randy is in China right now and couldn't be there with us.  We all really missed him. 

Front L to R:  Hillary Halsey, Grandma Rose Oestreich, Andrea Rinehart

Back L to R:  Abby Kitley, Me, and Amanda Oestreich

Front L to R:  My mom, Debby Devore, Grandma Rose, Angie Connell

Back L to R:  Lori VanDyke, Patty Loehr

On Sunday morning we all went to church and the girls got to wear their Christmas dresses.  I did not get a good picture of them together but they looked beautiful.  Here is Carissa in her's.

On Sunday afternoon we went over to Craig and LuAnn's to play their new Wii.  We had a great time!  The funny thing was that there was a ton of static electricity in the room and Carissa's hair was a wild mess.  We all got a good laugh at Rissy's funny hair.

It was a super fun weekend.  Jason was able to be off of work on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so that was a nice treat too.  I don't know if that's ever happened at Christmas before.  We are still having a clutter problem here at the house.  I keep putting toys away but they keep reappearing.  Is it possible that they are multiplying??  I don't know but I wish Maleah would leave for a few hours so I could throw a bunch of the old stuff out.  We have too many toys.  That is for sure. 

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's!!!

Colds, Cookies, and Big Girl Beds

I mentioned the other day that Jason and Carissa had colds.  Well, Jason is doing a lot better but Carissa is not.  She is still sick and runs a fever off and on, has a major runny nose, and watery eyes.  She was doing better for a couple of days but now she is as bad as ever again.  What is up with that?  I think I am taking her to the doctor tomorrow.  Maleah is getting it now too.  She is coughing and has complained about her throat hurting.  And the icing on the cake is that I have it as well.  When I get a cold though it doesn't affect me the same as the others.  When they get runny noses and coughs, I lose my voice.  It happens every single time!  Errrr! Right now I can only whisper.  No one can hear me and it is majorally annoying.  I really feel pretty good, I just can't talk.  I really really really really really don't want any of us to be sick at Christmas.  I hope this is all gone by then!  Say a prayer for us please.

Yesterday was a fun day.  I spent the day helping at the Feed 500 Project at our church.  Shani and Morgan VanHyning had been challenged to organize a big meal and feed 500 people and they did it!  These two high school girls were in charge of the whole thing and they did an amazing job!  It required lots of planning and lots of work but they did it.  I volunteered to help in the kitchen and I spent the day making mashed potatoes.  Lots and lots of mashed potatoes!  It was fun and I had a good time serving with the other women in the kitchen.  It was great to see so many people pull together and do something for the community.  (I still had my voice yesterday, so that was good.)

What else is new with us? Well, a certain present for a certain someone in our family has still not been delivered to our Walmart and I am starting to freak out about that. I still have tons of presents to wrap. Jason has a few things to put together. I have thought of a few things that I still need to go buy. I hope I can get all of this done in the next week!

The big news for the week is that Carissa is now in a big girl bed. She figured out how to crawl out of crib. She actually half-crawled out, half fell out. She hit the floor HARD, flat on her back, and scared me half to death. So, that was the end of the crib. She cried when her daddy took it apart and moved it out of her room the next day. I think she was confused, plus she just didn't feel good. We moved in the twin bed and she loves it! She was so very very excited that she has Dora sheets on her bed now and she cried when I covered them up with the comforter. So, for now she is sleeping with Dora sheets and a Dora blanket and that is it. No pretty comforter but that's okay. She loves it. And if she's happy and sleepin', I'm happy and sleepin'.

Carissa before she realized that the crib was leaving for good.

+

Carissa in her new big girl bed!!!!

We had two snow days this past week and on Thursday our friends Bethany, Belle, and London came over to spend the day with us.  We made Christmas cookies and had lots of fun.  Maleah and Belle are the same age and have a great time together.  Carissa and London are the same age and they have fun too.  It was a fun day.  Here are some pics of the girls decorating their cookies.

Have a great week-before-Christmas everybody!!

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas...

Christmas is getting close!  Can you feel the excitement??  Get within a ten foot radius of my family and you will!

Last night we began wrapping presents.  Maleah had been begging and I mean begging to start wrapping presents.  I finally gave in.  I thought I wanted to wrap alone, in a quiet house, without helpers, while some Christmas carols played in the background.  I had been putting off the wrapping because I wasn't getting any quiet time to do it in.  I also thought that I wanted my wrapped gifts to look like professionally wrapped gifts that came from Oprah and were all wrapped in coordinating paper.  It turned out that we wrapped in my slightly chaotic kitchen, with two helpers, while Dora played on the television.  It also turned out that my gifts looked less like they were from Oprah and more like they were wrapped with love by someone very very eager to do her best taping and best handwriting on very small tags.  I actually liked this look better than the whole Oprah look anyway.  And if you receive a gift from us this year and it's not the most neatly wrapped gift, please know that it was wrapped with the most love and excitement that you can ever imagine.  I hadn't realized that letting the girls help with the wrapping would help teach them the lesson of giving.  Maleah is so truly excited about giving gifts this year.  Maybe not as excited as she is about receiving them, but close.  And that, my friends, is progress.  It's good for Carissa too.  She may be a little too young to "get it" but she understands way more than I give her credit for.  Maleah's excitement is contagious, so if Maleah is excited about giving someone a very special gift, Carissa is too.

So now we have a few gifts under our tree.  Carissa is doing a magnificent job of leaving them alone.  I am so proud of her.  Maybe she overheard me telling someone that I didn't trust her and didn't feel like I could put any presents under the tree until Christmas Eve.  She probably heard me and was wishing I would put some out early just so she could prove me wrong.  That would be my girl.  I am like that myself.  I should have worried more about her older sister than her.  The first present was only under our tree for about 20 minutes before Maleah stepped on it and completely smashed one side of the box.  "Don't worry Mom!  Don't panic!  I popped it back into place!", she hollered at me.  I laughed and told her not to stand so close to the tree.  She just can't help it I guess.  That tree is like a magnet to both of my kids. 

Jason has had a horrible cold and now poor little Rissa has it too.  It is so sad when she is sick.  She just has the saddest face in the world.  She doesn't like me to wipe her nose, but if I ask her to do it, she will.  She does a really good job of it too for a one and a half year old.  She hasn't been sleeping good so therefore neither have I.  I sure wish there was something I could give her to make her feel better.  It's not fair when babies are sick!!  I sure hope we are all well for Christmas.

Maleah is still having trouble with the boy at school who calls her slow.  This week he told her that her name and her necklace was ugly.  She was so insulted.  She couldn't believe he would say that to her.  I told her to ignore him and don't talk to him.  I also told her that "your name is ugly" translates to "I love you and I think you're great" in boynese.  It's a hard language to learn.  Mannish is a little easier, but not much.

On Sunday we trekked through blizzard conditions and slick roads to celebrate Christmas with the Weavers.  It was our first family Christmas celebration of the season.  I kind of liked having it a couple of weeks early.  It makes the season a little less hectic when things are nicely spaced out on my calendar (and everyone else's too, I'm sure).  We had a great meal complete with Grandma Sherrel's rolls.  Carissa could not help herself and grabbed one of them off of the buffet table long before the prayer was said or anyone else lined up.  I sat her down and let her eat it.  I'm sure no one wanted to hear her scream if I took it away.  She is just a baby and too little to understand waiting on the blessing ("the BLESSSINGGG!!!"). 

After the meal we spent some time celebrating Jesus' birthday, complete with song singing, a skit, and a birthday cake with candles.  Grandma Sherrel sang a very pretty song and asked Maleah and Carissa on stage with her while she sang it.  I told Jason that I sure hoped Carissa didn't spot the baby Jesus in the manger.  This baby Jesus was a very cute little baby doll that was a prop for the song "Mary, Did You Know?".  I knew if Carissa spotted it, that baby Jesus would be toted around and not left to rest in his manger.  So after Grandma sat Carissa on her lap to sing to her a song about a baby's first Christmas, Carissa hollers out "BABY!  BABY!".  She hops right off of Grandma's lap and grabs up Baby Jesus quicker than you can say Buddy the Elf.  This got several chuckles out of the crowd.  Luckily, "Mary, Did You Know?" was already over.  She didn't put baby Jesus back into his manger until it was time to go see Santa.  Here's a picture of Grandma, Maleah, Carissa, and baby Jesus. 

Santa made his usual appearance at the Weaver Family Christmas.  He brought Maleah a writing pad and pen that has magic ink in it that appears in different colors on the pages.  He also brought her some books and a puzzle.  She didn't hesitate and hopped right up on his lap to get her gifts.  Carissa, on the other hand, was scared out of her mind.  She clung to me.  She gave Santa dirty looks.  So he handed me a couple of gifts for her and she sat down and began tearing at the paper.  She was thrilled to discover that he had given her a brand new baby doll, a Dora book, and a tea set.  It was the baby doll that really got her attention though.  While her Dad was desperately trying to free the newborn plastic doll from her many cables, ties, and other theft-proof, parent-hating contraptions that kept her tied down so tightly, Carissa had turned around and was now almost lovingly admiring Santa from afar.  She didn't want to get any closer to him but I'm pretty sure she shot him a genuine smile of thanks. 

I think she is starting to look more like me.  What do you think?

The younger kids with baby Jesus

Maleah and Santa

Carissa after getting her new baby doll from Santa.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus and their son Seth

Okay, you guys know that my blog posts get really long at Christmastime.  Sorry.  But here are some cute pictures that I took of the girls playing in the snow.  They had a great time and spent about 20 minutes outside.  It took us about 40 minutes to get ready to go outside and play.  And it took me at least 15 minutes to get everyone undressed afterwards and to hang up all the wet clothes to dry.  It was quite the workout, let me tell ya...

Yum, snow!

Have a great week everybody!

My Two Funny Kids

The Christmas Season is upon us.  That is for sure.  It is a busy time of year for us and I feel like I've got a lot to do in the next two weeks.  I like to have a stress-free holiday.  Each year I take on less and less responsibility in December.  I don't want to be all worried about what I need to get done and so stressed out that I can't enjoy the season.  A few years ago I quit sending Christmas cards (did you really miss them?).  I had three reasons for doing so:  1. It took a lot of time. 2.  It stressed me out to get them done on time, and 3.  It was expensive.  I figured it was just one expense for the month of December that I could cut out.  I wish I could cut out the house insurance just as easily but I can't.  (Note to self:  Do not ever buy a house in December again.)  I also sign up for very little (none) extra stuff in December.  I offered to help with Maleah's Halloween and Valentine's parties in her classroom this year, but not the Christmas party.  I don't need to be worrying about planning games for 19 five-year olds right now.  This year I have already baked our Christmas cookies and won't be baking any again this year.  So, the next two weeks are reserved for some last minute shopping for a few small items, wrapping gifts, and just enjoying the season with my family.  I look forward to things like looking at the Christmas lights and singing Christmas carols in the car.  I want the next two weeks to be as stress-free as possible. 

This past week Maleah had her Christmas program at her school.  All of the kindergarten classes performed songs and recited poems.  Maleah did great!  She is a natural in front of an audience and I don't think I have ever seen anyone enjoy her Christmas program more than that girl did.  She loved it!  She smiled, she danced, and just really got into it.  Plus she looked adorable doing it.  But all of the little boys and girls did a good job.  It was a really nice program.  They all sang so well and looked so cute!  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone enjoyed it but Carissa.  Unfortunately, the program was scheduled for the same time as nap time and Little Miss Riss watched about two minutes of it before she conked out on my lap, sound asleep, completely oblivious to the sound of a hundred little voices singing Christmas carols.

On a side note about the Christmas program, there will probably never be a year that Maleah will be in the front row of a Christmas program in her life.  I have some good shots of her friend Erica on the front row and we can all see how pretty her dress is.  But Maleah's pretty dress is hidden back there on the second row (and behind the songbook).  I know not everybody can be in the front row so that's why I told Maleah to offer her teacher 20 bucks for a place in the front.  I don't know if Maleah didn't ask or if the teacher just didn't go for that idea.  Oh well.
In other news, Maleah has been telling me that a certain boy in her class calls her names and is mean to her.  When asked what he calls her, she says that he always calls her slow.  He tells her that she can't run as fast as him.  I am sure this is true.  She is probably slower than him.  No big deal.  But it bugs her.  He is also always trying to get her attention and basically just drives her crazy at school.  Personally, I think he has a crush on her.  I told her that boys don't know what to do when they like a girl so they are sometimes mean and do really dumb stuff because they are terrible communicators.  We talked about different ways to handle the problem and what she could say back to him.  This is a recent conversation between the two of them:
Boy:  "You're so slow!"
Maleah:  "My legs might be slower but my mind is faster!"
Hahahaha!!!  I love it!  That's my girl!  He probably had no idea what to say back to her.  I asked her what he said and I think she said that he just walked off.  It's been a few days ago and so far, no other complaints about this certain boy.  There are lots of boys in her classroom and some of them are very nice and she talks very highly of some of them.  She even told me that one boy in the class was smarter than she was.  Whoa!  All year she has been telling me that she is the smartest one.  Unfortunately, the girls are way outnumbered in her class.  She has some really nice girls in there with her but for some reason she talks more about the boys.

In Carissa news, she is getting another tooth in and then I think she will be done for awhile.  She now has all of the ones in front in.  I am relieved about that.  It hurts to get teeth in and I'm glad that she's going to have a little break from that.  She is still fascinated with the Christmas tree and we are currently missing several ornaments.  I have found two of them inside some Christmas votive holders.  The other day I said to her "Are you my buddy?"  She said "no" in a very matter of fact voice.  Later that day when we went to the store I told her that she could be my helper, she said "no" again in the same voice.  No is her favorite word right now.  Another example:
Carissa:  "Baa-uhl?"  (She's looking for her sippy cup.)
Me:  "Is it in the living room?"
Carissa:  "No."
Me:  "Is it in your room?"
Carissa:  "No."
Me:  "Is it in the kitchen?"
Carissa:  "No."
Me: "Did you actually look in any of these places?"
Carissa:  "No."
The cup was later found in her bedroom.  And for the record, she can say "yeah" so it's not like she doesn't know how to answer correctly.  She won't say "yes" but she will say "yeah" and can use it correctly.  She is just stuck on "no" right now.  Oh well.  She's so cute that it doesn't really matter.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only two and a half weeks away!  I hope that you guys are all having a wonderful Christmas season!!

Thankful for Daddy and Homemade Noodles

We had a great Thanksgiving.  I was especially thankful that Jason was off of work this year and had the following day off as well.  That was nice.  We had a nice long weekend full of family time.

Maleah and Carissa were especially thankful for noodles I think.  Homemade noodles are their favorite.  Maleah couldn't wait to get to the Oestreich Thanksgiving and eat some of Aunt Janet's noodles.  She and Carissa both thoroughly enjoyed them.  By the next day, Maleah was excited and ready for some of Aunt Kay's noodles at the Cooper Thanksgiving.  They both thoroughly enjoyed them as well.  Someone asked Carissa at the Cooper's "What are you eating?" and she immediately replied in a very matter-of-fact voice "Noodles."  Her whole tone was sort of like "duh!"  What does it look like I'm eating?"  Up until that point, I had no idea that she could even say noodles.  Add that word to her list of new words for the week. 

I am very happy to report that I have most of my Christmas shopping done and it's not even December yet.  I just have a few things left to pick up and know exactly what I need to buy.  I just haven't done it yet.  Now I just have to find the time to wrap it all!  I did manage to get the tree up and the decorations out over the weekend too.  Each of the girls have their own tree in their room and then we have a big tree in the living room.  Carissa can't leave the big tree alone.  She keeps taking off ornaments and playing with them.  She tries to replace the missing ornaments with random other things.  Right now there is a spot on our tree with nothing on it but a few lights and a paper towel that is wadded up.  We probably do not qualify for the prettiest tree in town, but I like it and the girls love it.

The girls are getting really excited about Christmas.  Well, actually Maleah is.  It's hard to say if Carissa really is or not.  She may not really understand right now but I'm pretty sure that she's going to be super excited on Christmas morning.  It will be a lot of fun to watch her unwrap presents this year.  She is going to love her presents!  I hope Maleah does too but I'm a little nervous about one of them.  I didn't buy her exactly the same scooter as the one she wanted because it wasn't appropriate for her age.  I tried to explain to her that it wasn't but she thought Santa would be able to find her one that was a little bit smaller.  Let me tell you, Santa tried.  He couldn't find that exact scooter that was a little bit smaller.  So he bought her one that was a little bit different but the right size.  She said the other day that she really didn't like any scooter except for the one she had already showed me.  Uh oh.  I hope we don't have a disappointed kid on Christmas morning when she doesn't get a full size electric scooter that goes 15 mph and is for girls ages 12-15.  It looks like this:

Cute, isn't it?  It would be until my kid runs it into the ditch at 15 mph and ends up in the hospital.  I have serious doubts that she could even balance on it.  It's basically a small slow motorcycle.  Is it even legal to drive on the street?  I don't know.  I did pick out another electric scooter for Santa to bring that is more her size and it is the kind you stand on instead of sit on.  She is very good on a regular scooter.  I'm not worried about her being able to handle it at all.  It's just not what she had in mind.  Wish us luck with that!

I probably won't be able to write all of my Christmas secrets on here next year since Maleah is starting to read at such a fast pace...

Hermione loves Harry

It's a been a funny week around here.  One of the funniest things happened just tonight.  Maleah and I were in the car together on the way home from a birthday party.  Our 10 year old friend and neighbor, Dawson, was with us.  Out of the blue, Maleah said "So, what's it like sleeping with Dad?"  Hmmm.  Okay.  Deep breath.  I suppressed my laughter and said "Well," (big pause) "it's no fun at all.  He hogs the covers and talks in his sleep."  This answer pleased her and she said "Well, that stinks".  Yes.  It does.

Other, less funny, things that have happened over the past week include getting all of the Girl Scout cookies delivered and the money collected, me reading a book to Maleah's class, the Harry Potter premiere (yay!)and roller skating, among our regular day-to-day activities. 

Carissa continues to amaze me.  She is becoming obsessed with the moon and the remote.  She wanders around the living room, shrugging her shoulders and putting her hands up saying "mote?, 'mote??"  She is thinking "Where is that thing?  I want to turn it to Dora".  She loves the remote way more than she likes sitting still to watch a show.  She also is totally in love with the moon right now.  She is always looking for it outside and telling me over and over that she has spotted it.  "Moon!!  Moon!!!" she'll say.  Tonight she bit a round tortilla chip in half and handed it to me.  She said "Moon!" and handed me a perfectly shaped crescent moon chip.  How smart is she??  I was totally impressed.  I think that shows several things about her intelligence.  1:  She is able to associate the things in her memory with what she is doing now.  2.  She realizes that the moon is sometimes full, sometimes not.  3.  And she has an imagination.  I know everybody thinks their own kids are super smart but mine really are!  Hey, it's my blog.  I can brag if I want to.

So, the moment I had been waiting for was Friday night.  The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere!  I was so super excited!  So was my friend Bethany and her husband, Mat.  We had all decided to dress up for the event.  I went as Hermione, Bethany as Tonks, and Mat as Lupin.  Bethany's friend Dee Dee met us there and she went as Professor McGonagall.  We looked so awesome!  It was so much fun!  We were the only ones at that theater that had dressed up but that didn't matter.   I think it made it better actually.  I would've been bummed if someone else there had a better Hermione outfit than me.  We even had wands and I carried a book that said "Hogwarts:  A History" because Hermione loves that book.  I wore a "time turner" around my neck.  I know some people probably thinks it's hilarious that we dressed up but we really didn't care if we looked a bit ridiculous (but I don't think we did) because we were having so much fun!  Just because you're a grown-up doesn't mean that you can't have fun.  I don't want to be boring.  You only live once, people!  Anyway, Jason couldn't go because he had to work and we didn't want to wait on him to have a day off.  No, just kidding.  We would've waited on him but it was also deer season.  So it would've been a really long wait and he's just not into Harry Potter like I am anyway.  He didn't care that we went without him.   We heard several people say "Man, I wish we would've dressed up!" and "Why didn't we think of that?"   Here are some pics of my and my friends at the theater.  By the way, the movie was awesome!!!

Today we went to a skating birthday party for Maleah's friend Katrina. Maleah loves to skate so much and had a great time. Here are some pics of her having some skating fun.

I feel like there was a lot more to write about this week but I can't remember what it was!  Ha Ha!  I must be getting old.  Or maybe I'm just tired.  Yeah, that's it.  That's got to be it.  Have a great week everybody!

Just chillin', chillin', mindin' my business...

Well, not much has been going on around here this week.  We have been chillin' and relaxin'.  This makes me very happy.  I have slowed our schedule down for the month and let me just say I'm lovin' it!!!!  

Maleah has been so good lately.  Not that she is ever really bad but she is just such a blessing to have around.  She is a lot of fun to be with for one thing.  She is an a very good listener and she is extremely helpful.  She goes out of her way to please me and Jason.  It makes me so happy that she is growing up into such a nice, caring, and loving person.  She thinks I'm the best mommy in the whole world and tells me how much she loves me all the time.  She is so sweet!

Carissa has been good too.  She has gotten into some trouble lately though and has had to go to time-out.  She likes to hit me or pull out my earrings when she gets frustrated.  So, we're working on that.  I think her frustration comes from the fact that her communication skills are not 100%.  She says new words every day and is very determined to keep up with her sister.  She tries to do everything Maleah does.  She really wants to have a conversation with us.  She just can't quite get it all out.  But she is smart, that's for sure.  You can tell that she understands everything we say to her.  Carissa is Maleah's little shadow and if Maleah runs, Carissa runs.  If Maleah does a front roll, Carissa does a front roll.  If Maleah gives me a kiss, Carissa gives me a kiss.  If Maleah cries, Carissa laughs. 

Something funny that Carissa has been doing is that if she gives one person a high five, she has to give everybody in the room a high five. And there is no getting around it either.  She walks up to you and puts out her hand and waits until you give her the high five.  After you do, she will move on to the next person.  I'm really hoping that nobody at church asks her for a high five.  She is also like this with kisses.  If one person kisses her, everybody has to.  You've been warned.  Another funny thing she's been doing is bringing handfuls of dry cat food into the living room and throwing it on the carpet.  Wait, that's not funny at all - just annoying. 

Well, like I said, it's sort of been a slow week.  I can't think of one single exciting story to tell you.  I'm sure by next week I'll have something funny to report.  And maybe I can show off some great pictures from my new favorite camera...

Oh, the bright side...

I like to try to find the bright side of things.  Most of the time there is a bright side to every bad situation (not all, but most).  So this week I have had the stomach flu.  The really really bad stomach flu that nobody wants the details of.  That one.  I thought I was going to die.  I didn't and for that I am thankful.  But what on earth could the bright side of that be?  I'm guessing that I lost right around 3 or 4 pounds in 2 days.  That, my friends, is the bright side.  Since I don't actually own any scales, it's hard to say for sure, but that's a pretty close guesstimate.  I had been up a few pounds for the past month and although the flu wasn't the way I had planned to get back down, it worked!  So, I will be headed to my Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow to double-check my own guess.  If I can find the bright side to the flu, surely you can find a bright side to something too!

Other than that, everything around here has been going great!  The girls are doing good.  And, fingers crossed, they won't be getting the flu anytime soon.  Carissa has really been doing a lot of growing lately.  She suddenly looks and acts more like a 2 year old than a one year old.  She is talking so much, repeating everything.  I understand almost everything she says.  Every one else understands probably about half of what she says.  But she tries and that makes me happy.  She is really into Dora all of the sudden.  Dora makes her laugh out loud.  She giggles every time she see that big football-shaped head. Tonight, Maleah gave her the big, soft, fleece Dora blanket that Grandma Debby and Grandpa David had given her several years ago.  It was a touching moment.  I was very proud of Maleah for doing it because if any of you know Maleah very well, you know that Maleah treasures her blankets.  They are her friends.  But the Dora blanket had been tucked away with some other, less-often used, blankets in the family room, and I put the idea into Maleah's head that if she ever came across that blanket that she might want to let her sister "borrow" it because Carissa was really into Dora right now.  Maleah immediately said "I know right where it is!" (not a big surprise at all) and "She doesn't have to borrow it, she can just have it.  I have lots of other blankets." (Also not a big surprise because this is all how I planned it.  I so know how to work it.  Had I have told her to give Carissa the Dora blanket or had I have asked her to give it to her, the answer would have probably been no.  I am not an evil genius, just a genius.  Thank you very much.)

So, thanks to Dora, I now have several Christmas ideas for Miss Riss, where as before, I had none.  So that will be fun.  I once I had so much Dora in the house that I really couldn't imagine having to buy some more.  But apparently I sold it all at rummage sales because all I can track down is one Dora doll and the Dora blanket, along with the DVDs.  Since Carissa is pretty low on the totem pole, she hardly ever gets to pick what we watch on tv.  But the DVDs are coming in handy for the car, because she has her own screen she can watch her little Spanish friend the whole time I am driving around.  She loves it.  Even if she won't leave the headphones on and can't hear a word of it.

Now, Maleah, on the other hand, is just convinced that Carissa gets loads of tv time.  She thinks that Carissa gets to stay home all day with me and watch Dora all day long.  So not true.  I tried to explain to Maleah that Carissa watches one Dora episode in the morning, one in the afternoon.  She is so not buying it.  In her most defiant and slightly whiny voice she said "I know Carissa gets to watch tv all the time and I never get to!  All I want to watch is Arthur and I can't because it's always what you want to watch! And it's not fair!"  To which I replied "No, she doesn't.  Yes, you do.  No, it isn't.  And yes, it is.  Get used to it."  For the record, I dvr Arthur for her every day and she is always caught up on her Arthur schedule.  I like Arthur and I love that at least she is quiet for 30 minutes a day.  Like I'm really going to pass on that opportunity?  I don't think so!

On a side note, I think my parents would love to remedy this problem by buying each of the girls their own tv for their own room.  For the record, I don't believe in televisions in bedrooms, they know this, so they haven't yet done that.  Jason and I don't even have a tv in our room.  We are a one-tv-kind-of-a-family. I think I have finally convinced them of this though.  You might be wondering what the big deal is?  I am often asked about this and I just see it as your bedroom should be a place of relaxation and little distraction.  My girls would never fall asleep if they had a tv.  Also, I am too controlling to let them have their own tv at the tender ages of 5 and 1.  They are too little to be trusted.  I say who, I say what... I say who!  Okay, that was a little bit of a Pretty Woman quote.  But do you get the point?  I determine how much tv they watch and what they watch.  There is honestly very few things on tv these days that I find appropriate for them.  On a side note of my side note, there is very little on the radio that is appropriate for them these days.  Yes, I know there are family channels, Disney channels, and kids channels on XM (which is what we have in the car) but I can not deal with that all of the time.  I like all types of music and can't stick with one station for very long.  This is why Maleah knows the lyrics to some country, some gospel, a little Lady GaGa (yikes!), and a lot of 80's music.  This week I've been stuck on XM 10, the Roadhouse.  It is all really old country music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  I thought it would be a pretty safe bet and not any risque lyrics.  I was wrong.  I turned it as soon as I realized that I was singing "Tell me now why do you drink?  Why do you roll smoke...  So if I get stoned and sing all night long, it's a family tradition!"  I turned the channel.  Nothing was said.  Thank goodness I wasn't asked what any of that meant.  Thanks a lot Hank!  No wonder your rowdy friends don't come over any more!  They all have kids that they don't want to grow up into druggies!

In other news this week, Maleah won a 5 pound Hershey's candy bar from the Flora IGA.  It was very exciting!  It was a costume contest open to anybody that showed up at Flora's IGA in their halloween contest.  Only four people did.  I think they would have had a great turnout if they would have had it on trick-or-treat night but they didn't.  Oh well.  Of the three other contestants, only one was any competition numbers-wise.  They were all very cute though.  The pictures were displayed on facebook and whoever got the most "likes" won the contest.  There was a cute little girl dressed up as a monkey that was getting quite a few likes.  Maleah was determined that the monkey was not going to win and that she herself was going to win.  There was not a doubt in her mind.  When I told her that she may not win, she said "Oh, don't worry.  I will."  I was only trying to prepare her for the worst.  But it didn't matter because our friends and family rallied around us and she ended up winning.  It was pretty exciting for her to hear me read all of the comments that our facebook friends (and even some strangers) were making.  Our little Elvis has a lot of fans out there!  Here is a picture of her picking up her candy bar.  I wish she would've been looking at the camera instead of me.  Oh well.  A big thanks goes out to everybody that voted for her!  You really made her day!  She kept saying "Hershey's is my favorite!  This is my dream come true!"  And for years now she has said "I dream in chocolate!" (in a real sing-song voice).  She even has that saying in Uppercase Living next to her bed.  It is so true.  She is a real 100% choco-holic.  It is in her blood, from both sides of the family.  She didn't stand a chance against the love of chocolate. 

I hope you all have a great week!  I know we will.  We have five pounds of chocolate to eat!

Sixteen Days Until Harry Potter!!

Okay, so I changed the theme of this blog to Harry Potter.  It was time to get rid of the Halloween colors.  I could've went straight to Thanksgiving, but why would I have wanted to do that when Harry Potter is right around the corner??  It is the next to the last movie in the series and I can't wait!  I will be one of those crazy people who show up hours before the show to get tickets and I might even be wearing a black robe...

So, what's new with my Mini Coopers?  Well, they have both been cutting teeth.  Carissa has been getting in four new baby teeth (all four incisors) and Maleah has been getting in two new permanent teeth.  Carissa has been having a language explosion.  Although she isn't talking as plain as Maleah did at that age, she is still doing great.  She is a little mockingbird and tries to say everything.  New words this week:  thumb, jump, bread, fork, and many more.  Her favorite words/phrases:  oh, boo-boo (in a sad voice, wants a kiss), spoon (has to have one to eat anything, even bread), Dad, Sister, Mama, Grandma, PaPa, BaBa (bottle, which is actually a sippy cup), hi, bye, and poop (she then goes and sits on the potty seat).  I hadn't really considered potty-training her this early but she definitely is showing some interest, so we'll see.  She has to keep up with Sister, I guess.  In Carissa's mind, she is five years old too.

Maleah has learned to read!  Woo hoo!  It has happened pretty quick really.  She has a good handle on phonics and has known her letters and sounds for a while now but she just suddenly started putting it all together.  We had her parent/teacher conference on Friday and it went great.  The teacher said that she is very smart (although she did not say that Maleah was the smartest kid in the class even though Maleah is adamant that she is) and that she has a lot of friends.  Oh yeah, and she likes to talk.  She also said that Maleah is ready for beginning reader books.  We went to the library later that day and got a couple of Dick and Jane books.  We came home and she read them to me!  How cool is that??  I was so proud of her!!  She is really good at sounding out words.  She is learning so fast.  It's just amazing really.

I always forget to mention Jason in my updates.  I know some of you love him too and want to hear about him.  So here's the update on him:  he's fine.  Ha ha!  He is just fine and it is just not as interesting to talk about him or me as it is the kids.  He's been deer hunting once this year and that's it because he never has time!  If he's not at work, he's busy doing something else with us, so he just hasn't had a lot of time for that.  But hopefully he will soon!  I really don't mind deer season, it's coyote season that wears me out.  It feels like it goes on forever!

There's not really much else going on this week.  I have been getting rested up from the crazy week last week.  I even (gasp!) canceled an appointment I had on Monday to get my car fixed and let Maleah skip tumbling so that we could have a night at home.  We had fun.  While I sewed, she watercolored (is that a word?) next to me, and Carissa played with baby dolls on the floor.  Carissa also played in my scraps and tried to push buttons on my sewing machine, but we won't go into all that.  We had a really nice evening!  Hopefully, the rest of the week will go just as nicely...

Okay, so a cheerleader and Elvis walk into a bar...

Just kidding!  We didn't go into a bar of course but we did have the best Halloween ever!

The girls went from one fun activity to another.  I'm more than a little worn out.  My house looks like a cross between a candy factory and a scene from Hoarders.  It is a mess.  And I have no energy to clean it up.  It's going to have to wait until tomorrow.  We have candy, costumes, coats, and shoes strung all over the place.  It really won't take me that long to get cleaned up, it's just annoying that the less time we spend at home, the messier it gets.  How does that happen?  I guess if I'm home I am continually cleaning up after the Mini Coopers, but if we're constantly running from one place to another nothing gets picked up only dropped off onto the kitchen table and the floor. 

The Halloween fun started on Tuesday when Maleah got to wear her costume to her tumbling class and then after that we went to Grandma Sherrel and Grandpa Clarence's for trick or treat. The girls had so much fun! The fun continued on Wednesday morning when Maleah got to dress up for her class party. Carissa sat this one out and stayed home with Daddy while I helped with the class. It was so fun to see all of the cute little boys and girls in the costumes. They all looked great. Maleah had fun and really made a great Elvis. She got lots of compliments on her costume.  Below is Maleah and one of her besties, Erica.

The real K2

Thursday night we had trick or treat night here in Flora.  We had so much fun!  Jason had to work but I took the kids around town with my friend Deb and her kids.  Our group looked so cute and we had a really nice time.  Maleah really got into it this year.  Carissa was a good girl and rode in her stroller without complaining.  We all ended up at my Mom and Dad's for their annual party and ate chili and my Mom's famous homemade donuts.  Deee-licious!!  Thanks Mom!  Our friends, the Kuhlig's, came out and joined us this year along with the McNeely's, the Atwood's, the Wilson's, plus lots of family came too.  It is one of my favorite nights of the year.  It would've been more fun if Jason could've been there.  But oh well, somebody has to work around here, because I'm retired (according to Maleah).  By the way, Carissa was really not into having her picture taken and Maleah was.  Therefore, I have lots of good pictures of Elvis and lots of bad pictures of my little cheerleader.

Okay, by the time Friday rolled around, I was exhausted. The week of non-stop running was catching up with me and my butt was dragging. My little book that I write all our activities is hard to read because there is so much stuff scribbled in for the week. Not only did we have a lot of Halloween stuff going on but I also had a several other appointments and activities this week. Note to self: take it down a notch and quit trying to fit everything in.

Anyway, on Friday night we went to the Louisville Fall Festival and Maleah performed with Das-zle.  She danced and she cheered.  It was the first time the mini cheerleaders performed and she did great!  She was the one who yelled "Set, ready!" and then all of the other cheerleaders followed her lead and they did the cheer.  I was so proud of her! 
 
Saturday was parade day.  Maleah walked with her Daisy Girl Scout troop in the Louisville Fall Festival parade and then rode on the float with Das-zle at the Flora Halloween parade.  She was exhausted by the end of the day.  We all were really.  Carissa was exhausted from watching two parades.  She loved every minute of it though.  I was reminded again of just how fast that kid is.  She repeatedly tried to run away during the Flora parade (what is up with that?) and she is like lightning!  Now you see her, now you don't.  But by the middle of the Flora parade she had started to pick up candy and really got into it.  Someone was even passing out little stuffed animals and gave her a stuffed puppy.  She was thrilled!  She hugged and kissed it.  She is so sweet when she is standing still. 
 
Now it is Sunday and we had a Harvest Party at church tonight, followed by trunk or treat.  It was the final time for the Elvis costume to be worn and boy was Maleah happy about that!  She had begun to hate that wig.  She told me "I'm over being Elvis, Mom".  We had a wonderful night with the church family.  We went on a hayride at Oil Belt camp.  Maleah hates hay rides and barely tolerates the hay touching her.  She brought one of her blankets with her and decided to wrap it completely around her so that no hay actually touched her.  Smart girl.  Carissa, on the other hand, loved the hay.  She grabbed handfuls of it and thought it was fascinating.  Had I have let her, she probably would've rolled around in it like a farm animal while her sister looked on in disgust.  I'm not sure yet, but I think there might be a little bit of tomboy in Carissa. 
 
Tomorrow I am saying goodbye to the Halloween decorations and hello to my pilgrim friends.  My cute pilgrim decorations have been in the basement anxiously awaiting the three weeks of every year that they get to make themselves useful.  Someone on the radio the other day said that Thanksgiving was right around the corner.  Maleah said "Thanksgiving???  Aunt Kayyyy!!!!!".  I think seeing Aunt Kay is her favorite part about the holiday.  It will be here before we know it and you guys know how fast Christmas sneaks up on us as soon as Thanksgiving is over.  I love the holidays!
 
Don't call me this week before 10 a.m., I might still be in bed trying to recover from all of this Halloween madness.

Elle Woods: Cutest Car in Town

Sorry this blog update is so late but I have a good reason for it.  Our favorite laptop died last week.  They were unable to resuscitate her at the hospital (Yes, it was a girl laptop, why not?  Everything in this house is female except for Jason).  She was so young too.  Only two years old.  In computer years, that's sixty-five.  Her hardware just up and quit.  She went quickly.  I guess that's good?  Anyway, we have a newer younger model now.  I think I'll name her Harman because that's what the monitor says right beside "Toshiba".  You guys know I love to name my appliances, cars, etc.

Speaking of cars...  I now have a name for the Mustang.  She is now known as Elle Woods.  Thank you to Bethany for thinking of the great name.  The original Elle is from the movie Legally Blonde and she loved pink, in case you are lost and wondering what on earth I am rambling about now.  Since I have not posted pictures of Elle Woods yet since she was all pinked out, I will now.  Thanks to Lance for doing an awesome job with that. 

I have been busy sewing again.  I have been working on some cute shirts and also some really cute aprons.  My booth at Robin's Corner is looking good and I have it filled with aprons and squeaky shoes!  That is the surprise item that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.  They are toddler shoes that squeak with each step.  They encourage toddlers to start walking, plus they are great for keeping track of where your kids are.  I ordered a pair for Maleah when she was one because she was such a late walker.  I was ready to try anything to get her to start walking.  She got tons of compliments on them and they were really cute.  I kept them and Carissa wore them too until she outgrew them.  Then I found Carissa a new pair a few months ago and I was constantly having to tell people where I bought them.  So I just decided that there might be a little business idea in there somewhere and voila!  I now sell squeaky shoes. 

We had a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad on Saturday night.  It was a lot of fun.  We had it at the Elks and we all crowded into a corner of the back room and yelled "surprise" when he walked in.  He was truly surprised.  He had a lot of fun seeing some people that he hadn't seen in quite a while.  Maleah and Carissa had fun visiting Avery, my cousin Ryan's little girl.  I think those three little girls might be quite the trio one of these days.  The cake was so yummy too (thanks Lora!!)!  It was just an all-around fun night.

Since I was unable to post last week I didn't get a chance to tell you all about Hillary and Kevin's wedding.  It was absolutely beautiful and she had the two cutest flower girls ever!  One of them was Maleah, the other was Kevin's niece Madelyn.  She and Maleah are the same height, same hair color, same attitude, same everything.  They were so cute together.  They did their duties perfectly and had fun.  I think most of the fun came after the ceremony though.  Those two girls danced and danced and danced.  Until midnight!!  We all had a great time.  The bride was gorgeous and the whole wedding just went so smoothly.  I know a lot of work went into it and it really paid off.  Here are a few of the pictures I took. 

We have been so busy!  I still feel like I'm leaving out some stuff, but oh well.  Get ready for next week!  Halloween pictures!!!  And you'll never guess what Maleah is going to be!  Carissa is going to be pretty cute too but her costume is sort of common.  Maleah's - not so much.  Have a spook-tacular week!