Christmas Morning

This was actually taken at Steve's Mom's later in the day, I gave him a silly pose to show off my new bracelet!!


This is our Christmas Morning. I could not sleep at all. I woke up probably 20 times to check the clock. Around 6:45, I was done checking and got up. One of us always goes down first to get the cameras ready and turn on the lights on the tree. Steve did that and went to wake up the kiddies. They were sleepy but excited! I tried to get their picture at the top of the stairs before they came down but it's very dark and blurry. They came down and saw that Santa had come and left Noah the Lego set he had asked for and Abby the Baby Alive she wanted. They were both very excited about that. They could also see sticking out of their stockings a Webkin for each of them. We started opening presents with the kids giving each other the gift they picked out for each other. Noah is crazy about frogs, especially tree frogs and Abby got him the tree frog peeper, it's a wooden frog with a spot to hold his glasses, so it looks like the frog has giant eyes. They sell them in the optical part of Walmart. Noah got Abby a Littlest Pet Shop mini set. They were both very pleased with the gift choices. Then we started opening all the gifts. Noah got tons of Legos and the new Cars that are out. When we were in Disney, we went to the Lego store downtown and had a brick made with Noah's name on it. He loved that. It's just a little green brick that says his name, but he loves it! Abby got play-doh, Littlest Pet Shop, Shining Stars, Rescue Pets and an Easybake Oven. They were all very happy. Now I have to say that my husband has always been a good gift giver. He doesn't usually give a lot of gifts throughout the year, but on Birthdays and Christmas, he's really great at it. This year, he was partnering with my mom on the Rachael Ray cooking stuff and got me another pan with a sandwich press and the big knife set. I was so excited when I saw those, like a little kid!! He also got me a bracelet from Tiffany's. It's sterling silver and just beautiful, I love it. It came in the Tiffany blue box. When I saw the box, I nearly died! I was so excited. The kids got me gifts too. Abby chose the Betty Crocker cake decorating kit that has a commercial about a zillion times a day on Nickelodeon and Noah chose a very nice candle for me. I took the kids with me for all the things I got Steve, so there wasn't anything in particular that was "from them", but they had input on all of his gifts. We got him a Reds giftpack with a new shirt, a bag of peanuts, some Cracker Jacks and $40 in giftcards to buy tickets to a game. We got him a photo of the Bengals stadium framed, a game for the Wii, a stand for the Wii, some sports thingies that you put the Wii controller into and some new sleep pants. He also got me some Mickey Ears to add to my collection in the kitchen. It was such a great morning and then by 9:15, we were ready to go...........

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was very nice. We had breakfast at my parents at 9 in the morning. We had pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs. Very delicious! Then we opened the presents from them and my brother's family. My parents got all of us so much, they are just spoiling us!! The kids got tons, Noah got several Lego sets and Abby got Littlest Pet Shop and Princess stuff. I got the big Rachael Ray pots and pans set, a 500 different cookies cookbook and a Rachael Ray paring knife and Steve got a big saw and power drill (honey do list coming up!!!). I couldn't believe how generous our parents were this year. They are just nuts!! They all really enjoyed the gifts we got them as well. We got my Mom more red Rubbermaid accessories for her kitchen and a family tree picture (the one we got together Sonya) and some art for her dining room. We got my Dad pictures of Bengals, Reds and Ohio States stadiums and framed them for his basement. My brother got a picture of B.B. King whose real first name is Riley so you can see where we got Riley's name! I mounted it on a canvas so it looked really cool. We got Tiffany a really soft blanket for their bed, some picture frames and a knife set for the kitchen. Riley got Little People Noah's Ark and another Little People set for the tub. It was just a nice quiet and loving morning. I had the best time. We all got so much that I couldn't believe we still had more stops to go to!

After that we lounged around their house for a little while and then we went to my Mamaw and Papaw's (my Mom's side). We had some ham and sides for lunch and then we exchanged presents there. It was funny because when we first got there my cousins and my aunt were all taking turns playing guitar hero!! That was a lot of fun to watch!! The kids of course got lots of great stuff, they always do! I think we have the best gift givers in our family. They always seem to just know what our kids and even Steve and I like and get us those things. They are the best. The adults did a gift exchange so we pretty much got what we asked for from that. It was again a very nice time. I loved being with everyone.

After that we went to 5 o'clock service at church. It was a kids program with kids singing and live animals walking around the sanctuary. We actually sat on an aisle right where the animals walked past. They had a llama, sheep, goats and a donkey (I LOVE donkeys!!). It was only about a half hour long, but it was very good. The kids sang and they had a family with a baby boy be Mary, Joseph and Jesus and then there were lots of kid angels and kid shepards. It was really sweet. Afterwards we got to pet the animals. Wow the sheeps coat is so thick! If you stick your fingers into it, you won't hit skin. The wool is so thick!! I thought that was so cool!! It was just a really nice service and I'm glad we got to go to it.

So we went home after that and had a pizza party for Jesus's Birthday. We ordered PapaJohns pizza, they were open until 7:30. We also made our cake which you can see in the pictures. It was very delicious. I put a candle on it for each of us. I used our favorite colors, a pink candle for Abby, green for Noah, purple for me and blue for Daddy. We each blew out our own candle and it was just a cool thing. We ate our pizza on party plates left over from kids' parties and we even had noisemakers. Just a good time.

And finally we got the kids ready for bed and then read Twas the Night Before Christmas as we always do.

Writing all that makes it seem like a lot and we even had people say that it was a lot, but it didn't feel like so much. I wouldn't give any of it up for a second. We had the best Christmas Eve and got to spend time with family and visit church. It was just a great day, we were all very content. And then there was Christmas Day...........

Ready to Go!!!

This is our family tree in the great room of our house. It has the presents for just the four of us under it and it has ornaments from all the places we've traveled as well as age milestones for the kids and other ones we love.




This is the tree I put up to display in our front window. It has the presents for all the rest of our family under it. I only decorate it with simple ornaments so I can save the special ones for the family tree! But I have always loved seeing Christmas trees in peoples front windows, so I wanted that for our house as well!!


Well the shopping and wrapping is now done and we can relax and enjoy this great holiday. We had just a few little things to get to finish it up and we did that over the last few days. We've done the baking, visited the zoo's festival of lights, the museum and it's holiday junction, went to mamaw's christmas party, sent and received lots of christmas cards and now we just have visiting church tomorrow and again on christmas eve, making a cake for Jesus, visiting our family, having a little birthday party for Jesus, opening the presents and just sitting back and enjoying the generosity of each other!! I'm so excited and I can't wait! Well have a great December 22nd!!

Santa Visits from Christmas pasts

Two years ago when we found Santa at the zoo. The first time in a few years that Abby wasn't afraid of him!!




Last year, I think Santa was at Tri-County Mall. It must've been a Friday because Noah is wearing Karate pants and I can see Abby's leotard coming out from the sleeves. They had those both on Friday's last year!!




This was 2003, about 3 months before we moved back to Ohio from Texas. Abby was upset because she did not like Santa!!




This year we were in Disney World during Christmas time and found Santa there. This time Abby won the arguement and didn't sit on that scary Santa's lap!! SM




This was Noah's second Christmas ,2001, right before he turned 2 and right before we got pregnant with Abby. It's from Texas. I loved that Winnie the Pooh overall outfit!!




This was Abby's first Christmas so it's 2002. Also from Texas and before she became afraid of him!! But unfortunately not a great looking Santa. Oh well!! We had just gotten back from our first trip to Disney World here and Noah got that Mickey hat and he wore it everywhere for like 6 months after that!!


I have kept all these photos together in a single frame and just add the new one on top. But Noah's first Christmas one was an 8x10 (these are all 5x7), so it's not with the others and I can't find it right now, but if I do, I'll post it too! It's very cute, he's pouting and wearing an Oscar the Grouch shirt!! Very cute! I'll keep looking!! Well I hope you enjoy our journey through Christmas pasts!!

Visting Santa

Here's our Santa photo from today. We saw him in Kenwood. He was very nice and sweet.

We stopped there on our way to the museum. Noah and Daddy went to the pirates exhibit while Abby and I played in the children's museum. She was so funny because everything she did, whether it was shopping for groceries, making me a meal or taking care of my pet, she turned around and told me I had to do it too. So I was the only adult in the diner fixing food, the only adult in the vet office working on stuffed animals and the only adult shopping in the grocery store!! She loved it though, so that's what matters!! The museum was nice and quiet today. Just as we pulled up around 12:30 or 1:00, bus loads of people were leaving and after that it was so nice. Steve and Noah had a nice time in the pirates exhibit too. After that we went into the Cincinnati History Museum to see their Holiday Junction display. They have a room set up with tons of different sized train displays all in holiday scenes and even a little train the kids can ride on, like the ones they usually have at malls. It was nice and all free, even the ride. After that we stopped at McDonalds and came home.

Tomorrow is baking day, yummy!! It's also dance with me day at Abby's dance schooll. So Mommy gets to come in and dance with her!! That's always fun!! Luckily no one takes pictures!!! SM

Thursday night my Mom's work is having their Christmas party at a roller skating rink and we're taking the kids to that, it should be interesting!! I used to skate pretty well, not like great or anything, but well enough to not fall!! Hopefully I'll remember those moves!! My Mom is really good so hopefully she'll help me with the kids. Well have a great day, I'll post more pics later!!

Hey everyone, just a quick update!! Less than two weeks people!!! I'm just about finished with my shopping now, just a few little things to pick up. I did a lot of my list yesterday. I got a lot of it done. I'm very excited to see everyone react to their gifts. I truly, truly love giving more than receiving. It makes me so incredibly happy to see people love what I took time to pick for them. I love getting something I know the person took time to pick especially for me as well, but it's the giving that brings me the most joy!!!

Abby is doing much better now. She ended up visiting Urgent Care on Sunday as her lips swelled up incredibly and were completely covered in blisters and she had a rash on her face. The doctor there was incredibly nice and took extra steps to make sure she "did right by Abby' and got her the right medicine and the right course of action. I was truly grateful for how she treated us. She put Abby on an antiviral which helped almost immediately. It stopped the blisters from getting worse and allowed her body to start healing. The doctor actually said this was the worst case she had seen in a child. I'm so glad I decided to take her in, even if it meant my Dad had to come pick us up as Steve and Noah were off to the Bengals game. It was so worth it. She even had blisters on her tongue which made it incredibly difficult to feed her. She easily could eat peanut butter sandwiches and drink water. That was about it for two days. Now she's eating normally, the rash is drying out on her face and her lips are normal size and color, with just a few scabs left to come off. I'll be so glad when I can kiss those little lips again!!!

So Steve and Noah got two tickets to the Bengals game from my aunt and uncle who share season tickets with another couple. We were afraid that they would be drenched the whole time and prepared for that with new ponchos, several layers of clothes and boots on the feet. But they were actually in a row that had an awning, so they were completely dry. Two rows up the people were soaked, but where they were was dry. I was so relieved to hear that!!! They had a great time and the Bengals won, so that was awesome!! I didn't make him take the camera though because of the rain. I knew he'd have a fit, if I even asked!! We have pictures from the first game they went to though, so that's good!!

Yesterday the kids and I stopped at three different CVS's to get more great deals and this is what I came home with. I got 3 packs of batteries, 3 boxes of tissues, 3 johnson baby shampoos (small bottles), 1 bottle of tums, 1 package of hello kitty band-aids, 2 spongebob pencils (yes, the kids were definitely with me!!), 3 bowl appetit meals, 2 simply asia noodle bowls, 2 bags of Doritos, 2 gallons of milk, 1 box of chocolate donettes, and 2 rolls of CVS paper towels. I used no ECB's on these three deals, but got back 2 for the Tums deal and only paid out of pocket 1.68 for all of that. It was coupons alone that got me down to that total. Pretty good!

Today I need to wrap the presents I have and get those all ready to go. Next week Steve is off (actually for a total of 18 days, I'm so excited!!). I love being able to do things as a family during the day, when it's less crowded and we get so much more out of it. We may visit the zoo as long as it's not too cold (Sonya you remember how Steve loves the cold!!), maybe do the Holiday in lights, though I think that's a little pricey, even with the coupon, we're going to visit Santa, go to the museum and see the pirate exhibit and probably do some baking together. I can't wait. I'm so glad to have the shopping done and we can just focus on the fun of the season.

Well have a great day and I'll try to post more soon!

My best deal to date!!

Ok, here it is, the best deal yet!!




I got 4 Aquafresh toothpastes, 4 birdseye bags of vegetables, 4 10ct vials of Excedrin, 2 Pounce cat treats, 2 15ct Totinos pizza rolls, 4 philadelphia cream cheeses, 2 daisy sour creams, 4 general mills cereals (2 reese's puffs and 2 double chocolate cookie crisps), and 9 3-packs of fleischmans yeast. With all my coupons, a $4 off deal for the cereal and a mysterious $4 off from something else????, I ended up paying ......................wait for it..........................FORTY SEVEN CENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus I got 9 fifty cents off your next order coupons for Kroger (each yeast packet printed another coupon), and those are good on anything you buy. How awesome is that!!!!

My Birthday

My gift from my babies!


Well I had the most loveliest Birthday yesterday. Thanks so much to Sonya for how much she put into it. Way more than expected that's for sure!! I had a ncie day with the kids. They each gave me their presents in the morning. Abby wanted to get me a turtle necklace to match the one she got from Grammy on the day of her tonsilectomy. So they found a turtle necklace and then apparently in the case was a frog necklace and Noah is obsessed with frogs right now, so that's what he chose for me. So I got a turtle and a frog necklace!! I love it, mostly because of how much it reminds me of them and their personalities. We did our normal school routine and then we all got ready to go out for the night. We ended up taking the kids to Sonya's (something her and my husband cooked up!!), and then he took me to Olive Garden (my favorite) for dinner. We also stopped at Target and Walgreens and then came back to get them. It was a very wonderful Birthday. I am so blessed to have the family and friends that I do, I am so undeserving!

Well apparently, Abby is still having some health issues. We do not know if it's related to when she hit her head or if she is just coming down with something. She had a big fever blister pop up yesterday, well it may have been there before, but yesterday it was crusted over and we noticed it. She was also running a fever, which I know can be associated with the blister, so I really don't know what to think. We honestly don't believe she has any serious problems because she has no lasting affects from the head thing other than a headache, which could also be related to having a fever. When she has medicine and the fever goes down, so does the headache. I just think, if it were something serious, she would be in a lot more pain. I don't know, I think when Steve gets back from taking Noah to basketball, we're going to run her to the Dr. just to be sure. We'll see. Hopefully it's nothing rest and TLC can't take care of!!

Hopefully if everything works out, we'll be going to Steve's aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party. They live in Atlanta, but are coming up here for the party. They are the ones we see at the 4th of July celebrations. I love them, they're great. I can't wait to see them. Well I hope everyone has a great weekend, hopefully Abby will feel better soon. She's actually completely fine right now, no fever and no headache, and her lip is looking tons better, but we'll see what happens later. Big hugs!

snowy, snowy

Just a few pics from Sunwatch Indian Village and our snow day yesterday!!

Hello again!! Well we've had a nice week so far. I had a great time on Saturday with all the girls. They pretty much covered it all in their blogs, so that's taken care of!!! Sunday, we went to church and then to Toys R Us for a little Christmas shopping and then to my grandparents! HI PAPAPW!!! We drew names for our Christmas exchange and got to visit them for a little while. It was very nice!! We came home after that and let puppy out, she was happy to see us!!! I went out that evening and did some grocery/CVS shopping. I got a few good deals. It was a nice evening.

This week was pretty much normal. Until yesterday that is. Steve had to go to St.Louis just for the day. He left at 8:30am and got home at 9:30pm. We had the snow of course. I let the kids play in it before we did school. I just didn't think they'd really concentrate until they got that out of them. So they did that and I took some pictures. Then we had our usual hot chocolate.

Then we did some school work and made some gifts for Christmas. That was fun! It was just a nice quiet, and relaxed day. We didn't have the car because I told Steve to just take it to the airport so I didn't have to go out there twice in one day. So without the car, we weren't tempted to go anywhere or be rushed. That was actually very nice.

Abby actually gave us a little scare last night. She was playing with a ball and it rolled under the islands counter hangover (you know, where you can put stools to sit at the island) and then lifted straight up and hit her head on the island. Now our counters are granite, so she hit solid rock. She cried a lot, but not more so than when she gets hurt any other time, so I didn't think much of it. Well about and hour or so later, she said she had a headache still so I gave her some Ibuprofen and she took a bath. During the bath, she started screaming about it hurting, so I got her out and was holding her and she said she was about to throw up. She ended up throwing up twice in about a half hour period and I started to worry that it was something worse than just a bonk. So I called the nurseline from our Insurance company and they asked a zillion questions and then told me if she threw up one more time ( apparently three times is the red flag, I later saw this on WebMD as well) or if she screamed with pain again to take her to an emergency room. Well she didn't do either. She went to sleep and I slept with her just to be safe and she' fine this morning. I just think it's so weird that at 2 vomits, she's ok, but 3 is red flag!! I guess they know what their talking about!!! But she's normal Abby today and said it doesn't hurt anymore, so that's good!!

Well I better go, I need to fold laundry and Abby is waiting patiently for a game of My Little Pony Memory!!! Have a good one!!

Thanks Sonya!!!! I love it!!!