hair.stylist

This is what your hair looks like when you do it yourself and you're 5! I thought it was pretty good for her first try.

Then, if you can convince your sister to let you do her hair, it will look like this....

You know, I could save myself a good 10 minutes every morning if I let Claire do everyone's hair. Hmmm...you know, I'll have to think about that one. :)

 

crossword.puzzle

Claire was doing a crossword puzzle for fun the other day. She doesn't know how to spell very many words yet, so I was helping her.

#1 across: The place where pizza was first made. 5 letters (not that it matters to someone who can't really spell)

I always have her guess even if I'm pretty sure she won't get it right.

She confidently answered, "Pizza Hut."

Unfortunately, it didn't fit. So, we went with Italy instead.

and.the.winner.is...

Aunt Jill! Wow, with a guess of 15 lb. 5 oz., she was only 1 oz. off...

Amelia weighed in at 15 pounds 6 ounces and was 25 inches long!

Jess, when you guessed 15 lb. 2 oz., I thought you would win for sure!!! Thanks for guessing everyone!!

amelia.9.mo

Look who's drinking out of a sippy cup...my big girl!

Let me start by saying that Mom and Josh can't guess because they already know the answer. Secondly, I'll tell you that she's a complete peanut. Her poor little head isn't growing very quickly. The doctor isn't too concerned because she's doing everything she's supposed to be doing (eating, crawling, almost cruising, babbling, cooking, emailing, driving, etc.). But she did say that if Amelia's head hasn't gotten bigger by her 12 month appointment, she might have to be seen by a neurologist just to make sure that everything is ok.

Josh and I were brainstorming ideas to make her head bigger. We thought about playing a recording of statements through the night to give her a bigger head, such as: Amelia, you're the smartest baby in the world! You crawl better than every other baby we know! You're way stronger than Daddy! ...you know, things to give her a big head. :)

Ok, back to the guessing. Whoever is closest, by Thursday night when I go to bed, you will win! At 6 months, she was 13 pounds 7 ounces....what is she now??? Remember...tag blanket on the line people!!! #2.

tag.blanket

This is one of my new favorite baby gifts, and after the third one, I think I've figured it out! I've learned that it pretty much takes me at least 3 times to get a project to look the way I've hoped. (By the way, I saw a tutorial for this, but I didn't save it because it was pretty self-explanatory. I would link it, but I don't know where I saw it! )

The first time I try really hard, but typically it looks like a complete beginner project. The second one will look pretty good, but a perfectionistic quality comes out in me and it isn't "quite" right. (This is the point where Josh accuses me of being crazy...no one will notice that one of the stitch lines isn't super straight. Then, I proceed to remind him that his pot is calling my kettle black. He's one of THE most perfectionistic people I know...he worked on one 4 inch piece of trim in our house for like 3 hours: SERIOUSLY!) Back on subject....by #3, I'm good to go. I've figured out what things to watch out for and it turns out pretty well!

So, Amelia has trial #1. Jenna has the pretty one #3 (pictured at the top). That means that #2 is up for grabs...it would be an outlet mall special. Looks good at a glance, but not quite right up close. It just doesn't lay quite right because I had to fix a spot that wasn't quite right. I had to fix it either way, and I didn't know how the fix would turn out. It was ok, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it away for a gift when it would only take me only a short bit of time to make another that would qualify for the window display.

#1 was pretty sad...I didn't even take a picture of it...plus it was a different fabric (which was part of the problem).

Here's #2 (which you can win in the next post!)...this is it's "good" side:

So, how can you go about getting your very own outlet-quality tag blanket???? Check out my next post!! :)

it's.alive

....the furnace, that is!!! And there was much rejoicing....seriously.

My favorite furnace man, Judd, came over this afternoon to give us another quote on the new furnace (that will be going in soon, mind you). He peeked at the old one and lead Josh right to the part that needed fixin'. $20 and 10 minutes later, we cheered aloud! So, we're praying that old unfaithful will keep plugging along for a week or two more.

Our house was down to 54 today....too cold for my liking. As I type, I hear the furnace kicking on. I've not heard such a sweet, sweet sound in quite some time!!! And there was more rejoicing!

Thank you, Judd!

b.r.r.r.r.r.r.r.

The morning started at 57 and we've risen to 59. It may actually get up to 60 today in here!

Let me start by saying that I think I need to call Ralph.

And today, I'd like to thank the following people:

My mom and dad...for letting us borrow the little space heaters.

Josh's mom and dad...for giving Josh Christmas money a couple of years ago to purchase the Mr. Heater.

Claire, Meredith, and Amelia...for not seeming to notice that it's cold in the house. (Meredith is searching for her tutu as I type.)

Josh...for putting doors up in the house to keep the warm air inside the bedrooms at night.

Aunt B, Aunt S, and Cousins K and D...for pooling your money together and giving us a warm down comforter for our bed as a wedding gift many years ago.

Old Navy...for making a warm hat, scarf, and gloves for me to wear in my house.

Kevin at Josh's work...who said that he can bring home heaters that were sitting in the office so that we can continue to live in our home.

And most importantly, the Lord...for giving me the patience to deal with the fact that our furnace died yesterday and we won't have heat for another week.


And today, I'd like to give dirty looks the following people (but I won't because that would just be mean):

The people who put the furnace in...it hasn't been working right for 3 weeks now, and it finally died yesterday. RIP 17 year old furnace.

The people who disconnected the ceiling heat in the house while they lived here...we had it in our last house, and we really liked it.

The people who installed the duct work...it all has to be rerun before the new furnace is installed because it wasn't done right in the first place.

And most importantly, to Josh...who talked me into buying this house that I've actually grown to love...even with spiders, ants, snakes, lack of heat, lack of air conditioning, disgusting attic, water leaks, icy driveways, unpainted walls, and more dust than I could ever ask for. I love you, honey, and I promise that I will never let you talk me into anything like this again. We're in it together, and I do know that we will, in fact, look back on this and laugh some day :)!

Patience is a virtue and heat is overrated.

smiles.

This picture makes me smile :) I love you, Meredith!!

 

number.3

Christmas night is always spent with Josh's family. There are 11 (soon to be 12) grand kids on that side of the family that are 9 and under...oh, and 7 of them are boys. Let's just say that it gets a little rowdy at times. There is always a TON of food...Jenn and Jess would just love it. Anyway, even though it is crazy, it is a lot of fun!

My in-laws have two family room type rooms in the house. One is very spacious (they added on to it while Josh and I were dating to accommodate the growing family), and the other is a family room of typical size with one couch and one love seat. Where do you think we all gathered? You know it, the small one. We (all 19 of us) were all literally sitting on top of each other watching The Incredibles. It was super-fun! And I just love that movie.

Here are a few pics from the evening...


Meredith in her hat and apron from Aunt K.

Amelia reading her new book...she was talking to it and everything!

And who can resist one more adorable picture of Amelia? This is Josh's new fav.

All in all, this was probably the best Christmas yet! The kids are at such fun ages, and everyone was in a great mood through all of the family gatherings. Although, as I'm typing this, I remember that Meredith puked like 4 times on Christmas morning. We don't think she was sick, she had just eaten a lot of sweets on Christmas Eve. Once we made it through breakfast, she was fine. But, obviously it wasn't that big of a deal....I almost forgot!

So, the gifts have all been opened. The tree is out in the burn pile. The decorations are in the boxes (which are still in my kitchen). It was such a joy, once again, to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is truly one of my favorite times of the year on so many levels. Each Christmas since I've become a mom, I've really thought long and hard about Mary and her experiences as Jesus' mother. I know the pure joy of holding my own child in my arms. I can't even imagine the feelings that she had knowing that she was not only holding her child, but knowing that she was also holding the savior of the world. She was holding God in flesh. Simply incredible.

number.2

We've now come to Christmas #2....Christmas morning. We decided this year to let the kids open their gifts and play with them as they opened them. Typically, we do more of a open-them-all-and-then-play-with-them-later deal. It worked well this year.

The first gifts were matching duck umbrellas. The girls have been wanting umbrellas for such a long time, but I never want to spend $7 on something that they won't use very often or something that they might break in 10 minutes! Thankfully, I found these at my new favorite it's-only-open-at-Christmastime store. That's right, people, $1.39 each. Actually, virtually everything in the place is $1.39. I bought a ton of stuff (American Greetings wrapping paper that totally rocked...double sided...included). If you live near me, you really need to go. If you don't know where I'm talking about, ask me later and I'll give out my source.

On to little Melia opening her gifts...oh, no, she decided to open Meredith's gifts instead of her own. Silly girl. She actually slept through a lot of the gift-opening time. She just wanted the ribbons anyway! :)

Meredith received one of her two new favorite books, Gigi. She received another one from Grandma Ice Cream, which is her other new favorite book. Thanks to Julie and Harper for getting us on the Gigi kick. The girls LOVE these books...we now have 3! Meredith and Gigi are like two peas in a pod.

And now, on to my absolute favorite gift of the morning. Does anyone remember my post about the missing Panda ornament? Well, let me tell you a little story about the ugly panda ornament. It goes a little something like this....

A long, long time ago when Josh was 8 years old, someone (probably his mom), gave him an ugly santa panda pal ornament. It looks like this. It entered our marriage with the Christmas ornaments. I complained about it every year when we opened the ornament box, and I always hung it on the back of the tree....always. It almost got the boot one year when I found it still hanging on the tree after the tree had exited the house. It wasn't even on purpose! Anyway, so last Christmas, we got out the ornaments, and I said, "Josh, where is the ugly panda bear with the santa hat?" He says, "I threw it away!" Me, "What do you mean you threw it away?" Him, "You hated that ornament and always complained about it!!" Me, "Well, yes, but it has kind of turned into a love/hate relationship. I can't believe you threw it away!"

So, this year we decided to only spend $10 on our gifts for each other because of the table and chairs. I completely thought of that ugly little ornament, and I went on an all-out ugly ornament hunt. One word, people: eBay. Beautiful site with ugly santa panda ornaments. For $0.99 and a few dollars shipping, you could own one as well! Let's just say that it's going to be on the front of the tree...right in the center, mind you...for the rest of our lives. This was, by far, one of the best Christmas presents that I've ever given to Josh. It was hilarious. I even videotaped him opening it. He loved it.

 

number.1

We always celebrate Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve. We really enjoy this as it takes a lot of the busyness out of Christmas Day. We were fortunate enough to have the new room carpeted the Monday before Christmas (we'll do those pictures later) so that allowed us to spread out a bit more on Christmas Eve.

Our day looked something like this...

You know that little Amelia...she just couldn't resist trying to rummage through the bags that Grandma brought. This is only her first Christmas....I don't know what we'll do when she's 3!

Grandma and Grandpa got the girls a kitchen for Christmas. This is something that we had wanted for awhile, but we just didn't have the space. The new room is the perfect place for the new kitchen. It has gotten a lot of use so far!! Grandpa and Daddy were back in Amelia's room for a couple of hours putting it together before Christmas. The girls kept asking what they were doing! It was cute.

Final product:

Uncle Andrew just couldn't contain his excitement as he walked around the corner to see it!

This is the girls seeing it for the first time...Claire was excited. I'm pretty sure Meredith was in shock :)

As with most babies, Amelia had a lot of fun eating the paper and...

...chewing on the presents.

The girls had a lot of fun opening the presents that they had wrapped for each other...mainly items regifted from the toy box and bookshelf. Claire especially liked this library book that Meredith had "given" her. We had to return it yesterday :)!!

And, really, what would Christmas be without Josh falling asleep while opening presents? :)

Thanks for all of the fun Christmas Eve memories! It was so much fun hosting, and I hope we can do it again next year (mom's going to go for it, I'm sure!). We ate a ton of good food...possibly a bit too much...watched Christmas Vacation....and ended the evening at our Christmas Eve church service. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve. Love you guys!

homemade.stuff

Goodness there is so much that I want to share, and I just don't have an hour to blog everyday! So, bear with me while I post about Christmas fun for a few days. Here are some fun things that we did leading up to Christmas:

We made gingerbread men out of brown paper bags and colored them...

We put these in the windows. They were adorable.

Then the girls made some cotton ball snowmen. We taped these to the windows near the Christmas tree and taped snowflakes all around them. So cute.

The candy cane name card holders were a true team project. I rubber banded the candy canes together and added the raffia. Claire wrote the names on the cards. Meredith put the star stickers on the cards. These were for Christmas dinner, and poor little Amelia didn't get one. Thankfully, I don't think she noticed! :)

And we made a lot of these snowflakes. Even Josh took part in this one...he just couldn't resist trying to make his better than mine! I think we made about 30 of them!

my.gift

Ok, so for our anniversary this year, Josh says, "I was thinking that we could buy a new table and matching chairs!" Yay! I was so excited as I've been wanting one for a long time. As usual, it wasn't quite in the budget. So, we decided that we would purchase one for Christmas and use our Christmas money from our parents as well. I'm pretty sure that we're still over all of those budgets, but I'm not going to ask for any gifts for Valentine's Day or Flag Day this year....I think that'll do it. :)

So...drum roll please........

old chair.....

new chair.....

old table....

new table...

Guess where we bought it! Walmart...seriously. It is their new line called Canopy. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it is really nice quality. Even the husband is impressed! The best part is that there is a leaf in the center that folds right into the table. You don't even have to find a storage spot for it....love it. We are eventually going to purchase matching bar chairs for the counter, but that was *definitely* out of the budget. Maybe next Christmas :)!

So, I wish my old table and chairs well. Rumor has it that they will be relocating to a cabin to the south of us. They arrived free of charge from a former employer of mine, and we will pass along the blessings!

More Christmas posts to come!