Monday at the Mall

I am not a shopper. That may surprise some of you. But it's true. I really don't like to shop. I always enter a store with a clear agenda of what I need. You'll never find me aimlessly roaming Target on a Tuesday afternoon. I briskly walk the store and if I happen to glimpse what I need, I stop and assess. I do not meander the aisles or peruse the racks. I don't often stop and look just 'cause "it's pretty". And I don't like to stand and debate about my purchases. Frankly, I get bored and end up thinking of the other "important" things that I should be doing. Also, I hate to part with money. I am not the girlfriend that you want to take to the mall. Granted, I've done my share of shopping with the best of them. As a child, I endured shopping trips with my mom and grandma that lasted for hours and hours. Sitting on the floor in Eddie Bauer listening to the longest conversation ever about whether Uncle Tim would look better in this plaid flannel shirt or this one. Standing in a fitting room and hearing, "Now how do those fit in the (whispered) crotch?" While glimpsing myself in teal Healthtex denim. That's right Grandma, I know you're reading and I'm calling you out. Hey- 10 year olds tend to blush at the word "crotch". Anyway, I think that you get the point. Shopping is not my favorite past time. I never go to the mall just to go to the mall...unless I'm meeting my girlfriends and that's the agreed upon rendezvous.

After a busy birthday party weekend, I had big plans for Monday. Drop Ava at preschool and head on over to the license branch for my new plates. And then I pulled into the empty school parking lot...and it registered...MLK Day. Oh yeah. Duh. Well now what? Go back home to the laundry and dishes? I think not. I had successfully gotten three of us clean and dressed (I even put on make up). So we headed to the mall. We did all of the things that we never have time for or I never let the kids do. I got the girls a pretzel dog. Ava's favorite. We rode up and down in the glass elevator. We window shopped. We smelled perfume and Ava tested lip glosses (one of her favorite activities). I finally let Ava ride the train. She's been asking since before Christmas and I never had the time. Since she was the only kid there, the guy let her go round and round for 15 minutes. She laughed and rang that obnoxious bell the whole time. Good for her. It was pure joy. When she asked to get our picture taken in the photo booth I said, "Why not?"

Emily's Birthday Party

We celebrated Emily's birthday a week late on Saturday. We decided to celebrate here rather than to travel back home. I love throwing the party at my house. So much more personal. So, for me it was really nice to be able to do that again. Suprisingly, we still had about 20 people in attendance...so thank you to all of you that were able to make the trip. It was so special to celebrate Emily's birthday surrounded by people who love her.

Here's our girl all ready for the party





And some of the decorations and the cakes. Yep. Pink, pink, and pink! I took the liberty of going super girly with the theme. I figure next year she'll want the Backyardigans or Big Bird or some other character, so this year I went with "pretty".







All ready for the cake!



Mmmm.




Happy Birthday to you!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sledding with the family

We spent Saturday afternoon sledding and tobogganning with everyone who was in town for Emily's birthday. I forgot how much fun it is to play in the snow!


That's my nephew Riley and Ava in front. Then Mike's mom, Pam and his sister Katie and her husband Drew in the middle. Finally in the back the two grandpas, Mike's dad Nick and my dad, Gary.



A little family picture in front of the Chalet. Emily was home resting up for the party with my mom, so she got left out of these pictures.



Somehow, Riley tricked my father in law into pulling him up the hill. It's a pretty good workout.





Here's a little footage of the sledding. Um, yes that lady in the fabulous, neon, vintage 1992 snowsuit is me. Dude, it's a Columbia snow set. Do you know how much those cost? This one works great. It's so warm and in perfect condition. So what if my neighbors laugh at me while I'm shovelling. Function trumps fashion this time. Plus, my kids can always find me on the sledding hill.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Emily!

A whole year! Actually, one year ago at this time I was on my way to my 40 week appt. at the OB. They sent me on to the hospital and about 4-5 hours after I checked in, there was our beautiful baby Emily. I remember the time because last year's writers strike meant no new episodes of Grey's Anatomy. On this night though, a new episode was airing and I was happy to have something to watch from my hospital bed. The nurses were joking with me about not missing my show and I informed them that Emily would not arrive until after 10. Well, I did get to see the whole thing, but I was a little distracted at the end.

Emily had a bit of a rough start. She was seemingly fine for her first few hours of her life, but by the morning she couldn't keep anything down. She was whisked off to the the NICU while I was in the shower and ended up staying there for 5 days. She was on an IV for 3 days with no feedings until the doctor could rule out infection, a bowel blockage, and whatever else they were looking for. It was a scary time and I'm thankful for the support and prayers of my family and friends. I saved all of the emails and letters. It turns out that Emily was just fine and we got to bring her home on Tuesday Jan. 15th. Despite her stressful beginning, Emily has spent every day since she came home from the hospital making us smile. She really is a joy.

When Ava turned one, I spent days and days to compile a slideshow of her first year. I met with the multi media guy every day after school for help. Ava's slide show ended up being 4 discs because we couldn't figure out how to save more information on each disc. The soundtrack was on a separate CD because I didn't have a program to lay a music track over the pictures. Now I look back and I'm grateful that I've improved my knowledge of technology. I ended up making Emily's First Year DVD on One True Media, because it was the quickest and easiest, but I think we've got 2 or 3 programs on our desktop that would've done the job. I worked for a little bit every night after the girls were in bed and I'd finished the cooking blog. That said, this movie is about 40 minutes long. It contains my favorite pictures and video clips from each month of Emily's first year. If you're coming to the party next weekend, you might want to save yourself the 40 minutes and watch it on our television. If not and you have 40 extra minutes in your day, enjoy the show. I know it's not really that entertaining looking at 280 pictures of someone else's kid, even if it is set to music. Of course, it makes me cry every single time I watch it.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sledding

I took the girls sledding yesterday. There are a few good sledding hills within minutes of our house, but I decided to stick close to home. I first pulled the girls up and down the sidewalk around our block. Then we headed for the back yard. The house next door is on the market, so we have lots of extra outdoor space. There is a little hill between the two lawns which was perfect for sledding with little ones.
Both girls intensely dislike all of the winter gear. Ava argued the whole time I bundled her up and then informed me that it was a "bad idea, Mommy." Emily just cried. She can hardly move in her snowsuit and boots. It's like looking at the little brother from A Christmas Story. Once they were in the sled, they were on Cloud 9. At first I thought that Emily was falling over backward, but as it turned out, she was trying to lay down in the sled. She preferred to lay down and just be pulled around. I think she would've laid in that sled all day. She just stared at the sky and smiled and laughed.
We're supposed to get about a foot by tomorrow night, so it looks like we'll put some miles on the new sled. Sledding is one of my favorite past times, so I was having a blast. I used to have sledding parties for my birthday. Speaking of birthdays, maybe we'll celebrate Emily's tomorrow with a few runs down the hill.

As you can see, my little Southern belles have adapted well to the Northern Climate.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Toddler

Emily has been taking steps since right around Thanksgiving. She finally got the hang of it over Christmas break. Now, nothing in the house is off limits. In the last couple of days, not only is she walking everywhere, she is climbing everything in sight. She has figured out how to push her toys and kitchen chairs alongside of any piece of furniture and climb up, which is how I found her dangerously standing atop of our coffee table today. She also thinks it's wildly funny to crawl into a room and shut the door behind her. I filmed this clip on Friday night just minutes after we returned from our Christmas vacation, so please excuse the mess and suitcases.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Spaghetti

Don't you wish eating spaghetti made you this happy?