Blakey's Christmas presents!

So.  I was inspired by Shannon and then Kalyn to blog about what B is getting for Christmas.  I print my blog into a book each year and what a great way to look back and see what she got for Christmas each year.  You had me at documentation.  So here we go.  

Santa is bringing her this table and chairs set.  

The child is going to love this.  Every single day she puts one baby in each of my dining room chairs and then saves one seat for herself.  I don't have room in my living room for this so I am hoping that having it will kick my booty into gear to set up the playroom downstairs.  Surely.  

This tea set.  

I can't even tell you how many reviews I read on tea party sets.  Too many.  I wanted something that she could use and use a lot.  I found that most of the reviewers of the tin sets complained about rust unless kept super dry.  Well, we all know that I won't be checking the tea set every day for drips of water.  These are made out of recycled milk jugs so they should last a long time!  I may get her this dining set as well.  

This bouncy ball was Lonnie's idea and it is a great one.  

As you all may know, my child loves to jump.  She will jump off of anything and I am beginning to think she is going to be quite the daredevil.  We considered a small indoor trampoline with handle bars but I could just see her flipping over them in the first 5 minutes.  She can jump with the best of them so I thought maybe we should just bite the bullet and get her a large outdoor trampoline.  Lonnie was not on board with that so then he mentioned this ball.  I think it will be perfect.  She can jump around the house and hopefully not break her arm.  Win.  

Mel.issa and D.oug See and Spell

I'm pretty excited about this.  She still loves letters and calls out the letters on signs all the time.  She knows all of her uppers case letters and I think this will help with learning her lower case letters a bit better, sounds the letters make and a little bit of spelling.

Lin.coln Logs

I absolutely loved these when I was growing up.  Hopefully she likes them as much as I did.  And if she doesn't, well, mommy will have all the fun!  

Personalized name puzzle

We've been trying to teach her how to spell her name so I think she will love this puzzle.  Now if I can just get her to say "Blakely" instead of "Boppy".  Ha!  

Christmas is going to be oh so much fun this year!  

Countdown update!

Since we have marked a few things off of the countdown I thought it was time to do a little catch up.  

I posted the full countdown list here but I also added it to the bottom of this post as well with some of the activities marked off.   

We sent a shoebox for O.peration Chr.istmas Child.  Blakely went with me to pick out all of the toys to put in our shoebox.  I explained to her that we were going to send some toys to a little girl who didn't have any toys.  She said "me sad" and did really well picking things out.  When we got home and started packing up the shoebox, well, that was another story.  She wanted to play with everything and was saying "me new toy"!  So yeah, we are working on that.  But all in all it went well and I am glad we did it.  I think we will do something else similar this month too.  And I have no pictures of this one...I was too busy making sure she did tear open all of the stuff!  

We decorated Blakely's Christmas tree.  2 things come to mind when I see these pictures.  One is that this child has grown up so much in a year!  

And two is that she needs a bigger/better Christmas tree.  After Christmas I will be hitting up Hob Lob to get a new one for her!  

We also painted some ornaments to give to family members.  I don't think I have mentioned this but my girl is obsessed with painting.  OBSESSED.  They paint occasionally at school and now that is all she talks about.  I swear she would have sat in her chair and painted all day long.  You should have seen the struggle it was to get her to go take a bubble bath....her second favorite thing to do.

During her nap one day I decided to make her a felt Christmas tree.  I was going to have her cut out snowflakes and decorate the windows with them but I quickly found out that she can't be trusted with scissors juuuuust yet.  Also, I have a ton of felt in my craft closet so it was easy peasy to whip this right up.  She thinks it is awesome and plays with it every day.  I highly recommend doing this with your littles!  

We have also made pine cone birdfeeders.  She wasn't all that interested in this but I think it was because I had it all set up for when she woke up from her nap.  She was still a bit cranky and only wanted to eat the peanut butter!  She really loves checking to see if we have any birds though.  So far we don't but my mom said it can take up to a week for the birds to find new feeders.  We shall see.  

sneaky grin...

She is really enjoying the Christmas activities.  I have a bunch set up for this week.  I don't do one a day I just do one when we can.  Lonnie is off next week so I am saving quite a few things so we can do them as a family.  This time of year is just magical and I can't help but walk around with a smile on my face.  I am so lucky.  

1.  Go to a Christmas Parade.

2.  Go to Garvan Gardens and see the lights.

3.  Make some treats for some special people.  (Can't be too specific!)

4.  Fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child

5.  Open an early Christmas present

6.  Make a pallet on the living room floor and watch Christmas movies. 

7.  Make hot chocolate (with lots of marshmallows) and sit by the fire.  (NO TV)

8.  Make a Christmas craft for family.

9.  Decorate Blakely's Christmas tree.  

10.  Go to the Arlington and see the life size gingerbread house. 

11.  Color another page in her Christmas coloring book and date it. (same book from last year)

12.  Daddy/daughter date night.  

13.  Spend the night with Gran Di. (because we all know she will have fun Christmas stuff for      B to do!)

14.  Get pictures made with Santa. 

15.  Decorate cookies and leave them out for Santa

16.  Read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.

17. Do three random acts of kindness

18. Make a red and green lunch or dinner.  

19. Cut out snowflakes and decorate the windows with them.  Changed to make felt tree

20. Decorate a gingerbread house.  

21. Make a pine cone bird feeder.  

22. Make apple cider and read Christmas books before bed

23. Drive around to see Christmas lights.  

24. Make or pick out gifts for her teachers.  

25. Go to a Christmas event (Santa story time or Christmas craft) at the library.

My favorite picture.

We have been stuck inside for 2 days.  I am not complaining (yes I am) because it was 70 degrees the day before that.  BUT we are having an ice storm and this town shuts down like we've had 10 feet of snow when there is any ice in the forecast.  So we haven't left the house and B is, like, totally over it.  I filled yesterday with all kinds of fun activities but today I am over it too.  We are sitting on the couch watching Super Why (she's learning, right?) and blogging.  If the electricity goes out.  I don't even know...

Anyway.  

I was planning on hitting all the wedding highlights with you today but I just really don't have the energy.  And I don't have all of the pictures yet.  So I am going to share with you my favorite photo from the wedding.  Lonnie captured this moment perfectly and I am so glad he did.  I didn't even know he was taking pictures!  This was right after the wedding and I was telling B how good of a job she did.  I told her she needed lots of kisses!  She said "No, mommy, me want nose kisses!"  So nose kisses she got....

This girl....

A party, a concert and a rehearsal.

Ahhhhhh.......  The weekend is over.  Wow.  What a wonderful (and busy!) few months we have had leading up to this weekend.  

The wedding turned out perfect.  We cried.  We laughed.  We danced.  We drank champagne from the bottle.  It couldn't have been better.  But it deserves its own post.  

I want to back up and share a few things that I haven't had time to share before I get to the wedding. 

A couple of weeks ago me and a few of my friends hosted a couples shower party for Sarah and CJ at my house.  We wanted to do something that would involve CJ a little more than you average "wedding shower".  Our theme was "Brats, Beer and Months of the Year".  I assigned each couple a month and they were to bring a gift that correlated.  My thought was that people would be able to get gifts geared more towards CJ with that theme than just something off their registry that, let's all be honest, most men don't really care that much about.

Sarah and CJ

We cooked a few different types of brats and had lots of toppings for them.  I made sauerkraut and we had a few other side items (potato salad, baked beans, etc).  You know, manly food!  Ha!  We had a few tubs of different types of beer (always a hit) and I made some cider.  It was a great time and the gifts were so cute!  Lonnie and I had April so we got them a picnic basket and filled it with wine, personalized wine glasses and a water proof picnic blanket.  

Katie and Tommy

This theme was perfect for a "non-traditional" shower.  They got things like a turkey fryer for November, a heavy duty ice chest for July, tailgating stuff for September and champagne flutes for January.  I think my favorite gifts were a jar full of money for March and the August gift my friend Jenny put together.  She looked up all of the days in August that were "national" days.  For example, she got them stuff to make s'mores for Natio.nal S'mor.es Day, a picture of all of us for Nati.onal Frie.ndship Day, matching socks for wiggle your toes day and her favorite board game for Nat.ional Just Bec.ause Day.  There more more but how cute and original is that?   

Jenny and Matt

Then we played a version of the newlywed game and, as you can imagine, it was pretty hilarious!  

Mark and Casey

It was a great night celebrating a great couple.  I actually think we should do this more often!  Although Lonnie may kill me if I plan any more parties at our house in the near future...Ha!  And would you believe I didn't get a picture of the two of us.  Sigh....

All the girls...

Moving on.  A few days after the party some of us girls went to see Mr. Timberlake in concert.

The concert was in Memphis (about 3ish hours away) and since he is from there they declared it Nation.al JT day.  

We dressed up and even made our own little bow ties!  The concert was great and he put on a great show for his hometown.  

This past Friday night we had the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner.  

Lonnie was on call and ended up having a TERRIBLE day Friday so he couldn't make it to the actual rehearsal but was going to meet us at dinner.  It was just me and B.  Let me just set the scene for you.  It is dinner time and she's starving.  We are outside and it is cold.  The wedding was on a ridge (also known as a cliff...) and it was dark out.  I was wearing 5 inch heels.  So here we go practicing our entrance.  The plan was for me to walk down some steps (about 15) with Blakely and Kyndal holding my hand.  Then when we got to the bottom I would walk down the aisle and they would follow me.  So we start walking down the steps.  B immediately screams NO HELP!  NO HELP MOMMY!  She wants to do it herself.  Then when we finally make it to the "altar" (it seemed like an hour) she bolts right to the cliff.  I am running around chasing her in soft grass with heels on while she screams ME SWING NOW (there was a swing set)!  I mean.  It was stressful.  I told Sarah there was no way the girls could walk down the stairs so we made another plan.  That plan was much better.  But you can imagine my stress about the ACTUAL wedding when Blakely was such a tornado at the rehearsal.

But, honestly, these two could scream the whole time and still be adorable, right?!

Christmas Countdown 2013

You may remember my Christmas Countdown from last year.  We had so much fun doing it and I did eventually get most of the stuff marked off of the list.  This year I am even more excited about it.  Mostly because Blakely will understand more this year and I know she will enjoy most of the activities a little more.  She already gets so excited when she see "Tissmas Tees" and when you say Santa Claus she screams "HO HO HO!"

Quite a few of the things are the same but I did change some up.  I am sure throughout the month I may change or add a few things to the list if needed.  The idea is to do one thing each day until Christmas. 

1.  Go to a Christmas Parade.
2.  Go to Garvan Gardens and see the lights.
3.  Make some treats for some special people.  (Can't be too specific!)
4.  Fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child
5.  Open an early Christmas present
6.  Make a pallet on the living room floor and watch Christmas movies. 
7.  Make hot chocolate (with lots of marshmallows) and sit by the fire.  (NO TV)
8.  Make a Christmas craft for family.
9.  Decorate Blakely's Christmas tree.  
10.  Go to the Arlington and see the life size gingerbread house. 
11.  Color another page in her Christmas coloring book and date it. (same book from last year)
12.  Daddy/daughter date night.  
13.  Spend the night with Gran Di. (because we all know she will have fun Christmas stuff for      B to do!)
14.  Get pictures made with Santa. 
15.  Decorate cookies and leave them out for Santa
16.  Read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.
17. Do three random acts of kindness
18. Make a red and green lunch or dinner.  
19. Cut out snowflakes and decorate the windows with them.  
20. Decorate a gingerbread house.  
21. Make a pine cone bird feeder.  
22. Make apple cider and read Christmas books before bed
23. Drive around to see Christmas lights.  
24. Make or pick out gifts for her teachers.  
25. Go to a Christmas event (Santa story time or Christmas craft) at the library.  

We have already done a couple of the things on the list but I will post about them once we have completed a weeks worth of activities.  HAPPY DECEMBER!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!  

My Sarah is getting married!

Tomorrow, my best friend is getting married.  Sarah has been my best friend since 8th grade when she moved here.  I remember the first time I met her when she came to summer basketball camp and I thought to myself, "We are going to be best friends".  That was that.  And that was before I even knew she loved crafting!  Ha!

sunburned BABIES....

I know how lucky I am to have such a close friend.  We have been through many things in our more than 15 year friendship. I am so happy that she is getting her happy ending.  She deserves it more than anyone I know.  

Some fun facts about my Sarah!  

1.  She is a very terrible driver.  TERRIBLE.  She rear ended me in high school and I had to take her home because her car needed to be towed.  I, to this day, RARELY ride in the car with her.  She knows to just hop on in my jeep.   

2.  She doesn't forget anything, ever.  This is awesome and totally annoying at the same time.  We all know to just ask Sarah if we can't remember when something happened or who we were with or whatever.  And she isn't scared to bust you out if she remembers an embarrassing detail about you.  She really enjoys it actually.  

3.  She and I pretended to be lovers at a wedding one time.  I could leave it at that but I feel like I need to explain a little.  There was a random older guy and he WOULD NOT leave me alone and just didn't seem to get the picture.  I finally told him I was there with Sarah, grabbed her hand and kissed her on the cheek.  We held hands the rest of the reception and danced our booties off.  He left me alone after that!  

4.  She is an excellent trash talker.  Maybe this is because she is so sweet and you don't expect those things to come out of her mouth, but seriously, she can talk shit with the best of them.  She is very competitive (we all are) so this talent of hers get used quite frequently...especially during football season.  

5.  She is the strongest person I know.  She has been through some major stuff yet has never become negative or cynical.  She carries herself with grace and everyone who knows her loves her and her happy personality.  

I could go on and on with silly things about her and the crazy things we have gotten into but that would be boring for you guys.  Basically, I just want y'all to know how awesome she is.  She has ALWAYS been there for me when I needed her.  When I started to freak out right before my wedding (because of all the people..not the actual marriage!) she stripped me down, made me take off my spanx so I could breathe and poured a glass of champagne down my throat.  When we secretly did our FET last December she did everything for the Christmas party that I had already planned at my house so I could be on bed rest.  When I had Blakely she set up a dinner delivery so I had meals brought to me for months.  She is the best.  Like for real.  

I still smile every time I think about how we used to "cruise" in town with our music (probably MASE) turned up way loud and singing/rapping at the top of our lungs.  Wait, maybe we still do this?  Anyway, she is getting married tomorrow.  This makes me super happy because she definitely found her match.  He loves her and appreciates her like she should be appreciated.  He is a good one, no doubt.  

And wish ME some luck getting my sweet girl to walk down the aisle and then be quiet during the ceremony.  The rehearsal tonight didn't go so well.  She may scream NO MOMMY the whole time but at least she will be cute!  It is going to be a crazy fun time!  Happy weekend!

Dusty

Things are pretty crazy around here leading up to the big wedding on Saturday.  But I wanted to check in and say that I am still here with lots to blog about but no time to do it!  Hopefully after this weekend I will have some time to sit down and write about a few of the things we have been doing.  

But right now, I have a heavy heart.  My sweet little dog, Dusty, passed away Friday.  Boo.  

He was my first baby and he was almost 12 years old.  About two weeks ago he started this weird coughing thing (almost like asthma or something but would only last a few minutes) and I took him to the vet after about a week of it.  They diagnosed him with congestive heart failure and put him on medicine.  Now, I worked in the medical field for many years.  I know that doesn't just go away.  I knew eventually he would succumb to his heart troubles.  

After being on the medicine for a few days he got much better.  He was running up the stairs and playing with Blakely like usual.  I thought once he got better that we were going to get a few more years out of him.  He was 12 but shih-tzu's live forever.  My mom's lived until he was like 18!

I took him to the groomer on Friday because he was in bad need of a cut.  Helga is our groomer and she is like the dog whisperer.  It has always been a nightmare to get Dusty groomed until she came along.  He loves her and would sit there and let her do whatever (except for the toenails..he always HATED that!).  

Anyway, she called me and said that he was breathing weird and she thought he may need to go back to the vet.  I said I would come get him.  I was at the grocery store and started that way.  A few minutes later, my phone rang and it was my aunt.  She works right next door and Helga came to get her when Dusty started acting funny.  My aunt told me she thought that Dusty had died.  I was like....no.  WHAT?  Are you sure?  She was sure.  

I was in the car with Blakely and basically lost it.  But I quickly realized I could not do that.  I had to get it together because Blakely was frantically saying "MOMMY!  MOMMY SAD!  OH NO!  MOMMY?"  Not fun.  Hard.  

I'll save all the details but, yeah, he died at the groomer.  Sweet Helga is just the best.  She even performed doggy CPR with mouth to mouth.  I mean....  She tried but it just wasn't happening.  I called and thanked her and told her that if Dusty couldn't be with me when that happened that I was glad he could be with her because I know she loved him too.  

So that is pretty sad.  I came home and put B down for a nap and had a good cry about it.  And now writing this I am getting sad again.  Sigh...

Duster was a good dog.  Not the smartest (as Lonnie would say!) but super sweet and always cuddly.  I got him right before I started x-ray school because it was my first time to live alone and I was lonely.  He slept on my pillow every night until we moved here.  

A good dog.  Our little family will definitely miss him.  We already do.