Dentist Veteran

You might not guess it from this particular photo, but we had lots of good news today!

1) A crippling ice storm will miss our city. No power is rough. I can't imagine doing it in the cold. Remember this week?

Living Without Power

#2) Our taxes. For the 1st time in our 15 years of filing, we just might get a refund. It's also the 1st year since I was 16, that I didn't get a W-2. Kinda weird.

Check the new flex-tiara. It helps anchor the Valentine's kitchen towel.

#3) Dentist! Another great report from the Dentist today. One good thing about multiple trips to the dentist...she's totally comfortable. In fact, she was acting like a grizzled veteran today. She flashed a smile to the receptionist and discussed preschool with Dr. Yang. I really can't express how much we love this office. Everyone seems to enjoy what they do. I'm so thankful we found Dr. Yang and her awesome staff.

I found this dress for $15.00 today at TJ Maxx. We're all about turning Spring clothing into winter outfits...so I bought this dress in a size 7.

The ever-patient, Woofy. (I mean Baxter) At night, he brings all his "babies" to someone. We refer to Baxter's various treasured toys as, "babies." Sometimes, he brings the collection to us. I wake up to 3 or 4 well-chewed cat toys...he prefers the ones with sticks attached. It's so cute when he's dragging the sticks along our floor at 3 am. Sometimes, he picks Dev. I'll find all the toys outside of her bedroom door in the morning.

Her appt. today involved x-rays, cleaning and filling repair. We took a well-deserved trip to the family owned toy store, just around the corner from the office. She chose a portable thing, which is good for trips.

Snow Day!

It doesn't take much in our city to get a snow day. In fact, schools were closed before it ever started snowing. But, they were right....this time. It snowed most of the day on Tuesday, giving Dev and I a chance to enjoy the flakes.

Devin's 2nd home....the tennis club.

Do you think she was sick of me practicing with my new lens?

(I love the details in captures in her hair)

Twinkling Into 2011

Happy New Year! I'm not sure where 2010 went, but my Yo Gabba Gabba calendar is history. (This year it's Yoga Cats...thanks to Gma and Gpa!)

Santa brought a Cotton Candy Machine this Christmas, so we busted it out the other day while playing, "Fair." Yes, nothing brings back the memories of hot summer days spent at the pool and the State Fair like homemade cotton candy.

Yesterday, she used that fake snow material to make pretend cotton candy. It involved a lot of markers on fleece and cutting. (Which was a ginormous mess) But, it looks real and is better for teeth:)

This picture depicts 2 cherished gifts...Devin's Twinkle Toes and my new lens!

Apparently, there's a bit of a learning curve. I chose this lens: Canon 85 mm f/1.8 It's a medium telephoto lens, ideal for portraits and low-light indoor shots. (I never, ever use the flash)

This was gymnastics class yesterday...she was moving super-fast and I thought it did a good job of stopping the action and her face is crisp. (The lens has an ultrasonic motor and is lighting fast)

We spent last week with Gma and Gpa and the whole family! Everyone. In one house. For those of you keeping score at home:

We had 11 humans (8 adults and 3 children), 2 dogs (100 lbs. each) and 3 cats. So, there weren't too many dull moments.

Her cousins painted pirate treasure boxes.

The basement poles made for some excellent twirling.

For posterity, I captured Gpa performing his last act as an attorney. (Helping a family friend with his Will) After 30 years, Ray gets to be a stay-at-home Gpa! We expect lots of baking, Sudoku solving, Scrabbling and Rosetta-Stoning!

Uncle Carson:)

Carson and Catherine's beautiful, 'Winnie."

And, finally...the Hostess with the Mostest! This lady cranked out a full Ham dinner for 15, Turkey dinner the next night and then hosted a party for 50+ folks.

NO paper plates, NO plastic cups and NO caterer.

Take that, Martha Stewart.

(See how my new lens perfectly blurs my husband stuffing his face with caramel corn)

Christmas with a 4.5 year old!

We had quite a weekend celebrating Christmas! It started early Christmas Eve, when we all went to Matt's work to fix breakfast for his co-workers. (On his day off...what a guy!) We made blueberry pancakes, bacon & blueberry muffins. Everyone was appreciative, except for the guy who splattered blueberry juice all over his white dress shirt and tie. Oops:(

After that, we hit Kroger and it wasn't too bad. I witnessed 2 freak outs, when Kroger appeared to have run out of whip cream and butter. There were no less than 5-10 people standing perplexed at the dairy case.

Christmas Eve dinner at Ga-Ga's featured homemade lasagna, chocolate cake and stockings to open. We were all beat from cooking and cleaning & fell asleep easily and early.

A white Christmas is rare here, but we actually had a dusting and woke up to a beautiful snowy morning!

Here's Dev opening one of her first gifts. Matt found it...apparently she saw part of it in the hotel on our trip down to Florida. Talk about a steel-trap memory. It's cute...by the Wallace and Grommet folks.

As always, the simple gifts I threw in the basket as afterthoughts, were very popular. She loves this weird gooey stuff I found in a can. It's meant to make flatulent-like noises when you stick your hand in, but turns out it's like a non-messy play doh. She's messed with the stuff for hours.

The $.99 kaleidoscope!

We're busting out the Easy Bake Oven this afternoon....wish me luck:)

It's That Time of Year

Last week was memorable, for all the wrong reasons. Dev and Matt came down with the flu within 2 days of each other. The poor things had sore throats, high fevers, vomiting, major aches and pains, severe congestion and coughs, zero appetite or energy....it was a long week for everyone. By some miracle, my Mom and I avoided the worst symptoms. We both had chills, aches etc... for one day and thought we were coming down with it. (We felt better the next day)

But, it's that time of year. I knew as soon as the kids started staying in 100% of the mornings at preschool, it would get ugly. They take them out whenever possible, but ice and snow and bitter cold means indoors they stay.

It's almost Christmas...already? We realized Dev hadn't been to see Santa yet. She's always been cool with the guy in red, except for her very first Xmas at 6 months old.

(We took our own pictures at home)

At that age, she freaked out if I left the room, so it was understandable. Santa pictures aren't very high on my childhood memory priority list, so whatever works for her is fine with me.

This year, Dev chose her Santa visit outfit. I thought the Peace symbol was appropriate:) She also asked if I could straighten her hair that day. I obliged.

Here's 2008:

And, 2009:

It's all about Barbie this Christmas. I introduced Barbie to Devin with my collection from childhood. I still have my 1970's Barbie carrying case, 5 dolls, outfits, the Dallas horse and saddle etc... She loves to bathe the dolls, wash their hair and change their clothes. Most of my Barbie's clothing was handmade by my Grandma & it's incredible. She hand knitted retro sweater dresses, coats, there's fur stole and some really sweet outfits. So, it was a wake up call when I went to the Barbie aisle at Target for the 1st time. Apparently, Barbie is a hoochy-mama now. All the clothes make Barbie look like she's ready to hit the streets for a Pimps Up, Hoes Down episode.

Her "big" present this year is a doll house to Barbie's scale. (Which btw, is 1/6 in case you care) The actual "Barbie" dream house is just too much pink plastic for me. (And, I'm fairly tolerant of pink plastic)

So, I went with this wooden one:

The most important feature for the house (according to Devin) is to have a "balcony." This has 2 with porch swings!

I damn near went postal putting it together, but at least I didn't wait until Christmas Eve. (Like last year, with her bike)

I just hope Barbie likes it. Let's hope she's into Southern Colonial charm vs. pink plastic vomit.

See?

The Finished Product!

Year In Pictures New Year's Card

Make a statement with custom holiday cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

There's a Bluebird On My Shoulder....

Or, at least on my bird bath!

I also caught the Matriarch of our cat clan tolerating the newbie. (Actually, she was probably trying to keep warm) We remind ourselves daily, that our lovely (grey) Samantha is 15 years old...the equivalent of late 70's in human years.

I needed a new picture to complete my Christmas card project for 2010. I placed my Shutterfly order today and I'm so excited to see our cards in person:)