Christmas Eve

Stocking are hung, presents are wrapped, candy is made.... I think we are all set for the holidays.  We have some heavy traveling ahead of us, but I am looking forward to spending the next few days with all of the people who are near and dear to my heart, and for Ivy to have a chance to spend time with those she doesn't see often enough (it is her blog, right?   Had to link back to her somehow. :p )

Happy Holidays to everyone.... enjoy whatever it is that you are celebrating and more than that, enjoy the time you are lucky enough to have with your loved ones.

For crying out loud

Christmas is just not meant to be this year.

All the parents at preschool have been charged with the task of bringing nine (apparently so I can eat three of the dozen I make?) homemade cookies to the Christmas Program tomorrow.  Here are the cookies I decided to make.

  

Aren't they beautiful?  I'm the mom who makes stuff, sews her daughters clothes.... I have to bring inpressive cookies, right?  Cookies that will make the other mom's talk, right?  Oh, they would be talking alright.  Check out what I just took out of the oven:

what. the. heck. is. that?  They taste FANTASTIC, but I don't think the teachers would count one large blob as nine cookies.  I guess I could be wrong, though.

So google has helped me to come up with another idea.  11:06pm.... and take two it is!

Update

Ebay sellers can still kiss my butt, but paypal is invited to be my bff.

Within 24 hours I was notified that the seller of the super duper top secret gift for my mom would be refunding me my money once he receives the item back in the original condition.  I swear on everything holy if he tries to pull any crap with that one, I will drive to Houston myself and introduce him to my foot in his butt, because I didn't even take the thing out of the bubble wrap.  Soooo, I should (fingers crossed) have the money back in my account in plenty of time to brave the stores and get the same thing for slightly more money not on the internet.  

And the unworking DVD player?  That can get sent back, too.  Prepaid UPS, so that's good.  I don't know that I'll have that money back in time to get a new one before Christmas, though, which should make for a fun 14 hours in the car.

Oh Internet Shopping, why must you mess with me?

I was doing soooo good.  I have found some KILLER steals on Amazon for Christmas presents.  Free shipping.  Fast free shipping.  $28 for toys that would cost $60 + tax in the stores.  I was on cloud nine.  Then, karma had to come bite me in the ass.

Who am I kidding?  Not karma.  Ebay.  I think I am officially over ebay.  I made two major purchases and they are both causing nothing but grief.  A present for mom came missing parts and the seller won't accept a return.  I filed a paypal claim to get my money back, but he has until 12/26 to respond.  Did you notice this is AFTER Christmas?  

I also bought a used personal DVD player so Ivy can watch movies during the 14 hours we are going to be spending in the car over Christmas (no exageration there, seriously).  Got it yesterday, it's beautiful.  But the one million dollar question.... does it work?  What do you think?  Would I be writing the post if it did?

I am beyond flustered.  That's almost $200 of crap that isn't what I wanted and won't serve it's purpose.  I sure hope the paypal gods are looking down on me this season and get me some refunds.  Ugh.

Ivy's Quote of the Day

"After four I'm gonna be five, and after five I'm gonna be six, and after six I'm gonna be seven and that's big enough to drive the car."

An Election Story

In honor of the election today, I wanted to share a conversation Ivy and I had sometime last week.  It started with me asking if they had talked about the president at all in school.  She said they hadn't, so I started to try to explain a little.

Me: The president is the person who is in charge of the whole country.

Ivy: I call Daddy president sometimes.

Me: I bet he likes that!  On Tuesday, we get to vote for who we think should be president.  Do you want to come with me so you can see how it works?

Ivy: Sure.  I know who I am going to vote for!

Me: Honey, you have to be 18 to vote.  Only grown ups can vote.

Ivy: Okay, I know who I would vote for.  Some one who starts with a "buh" "buh" B

Me: BARACK OBAMA??  (thinking: "YES! I am raising her right!!")

Ivy: No!  Brandi (this kills me that she still talks about Brandi so much)

Me: Oh, there are really only two people we get to pick from, Barack Obama or John McCain

Ivy: JOHN MCCAIN!

Me: (Insert internal screaming here)

Ivy: I like his name.  J is my favorite letter.

This, people, is what is wrong with America today.  I don't doubt there WILL be people voting based on what letter they like, or that Obama is young, or that McCain was a POW.  Take a look at the issues and make your own decision.

Did YOU vote today?

What?

I was reading through the Halloween post and noticed that I mentioned Jamaica.  So I scrolled down to re-read the post about vacation.  Huh what huh?  There isn't one!  That is SO on my list of things to post about this month. 

I wasn't going to mention it for fear of jinxing myself, but it's National Blog Posting Month.  I tried this whole "post a day" thing last year and I believe I made it to November 3rd.  So this year, I am NOT posting every day for NaBloPoMo.  I am just posting "more."  Not a very specific goal for myself, but one that I am already doing quite well on, thankyouverymuch.  In fact, I already have a post written for TOMORROW.  How's that for being on top of things?  So, my five faithful readers, keep checking back.  This month will be way more productive than previous months.  I hope.  

More Wedding Goodness

I feel like I should run a caption contest for this one.  Of course, there's about four people who read this blog, so it wouldn't be much of a contest now, would it?

SERIOUSLY?  What was she thinking in THIS one?  I told you she was getting her groove on on the dance floor, but what kind of a groove was that?  

You can see how red and tired she was, though.  For her to ask to go home before the "party" was over was amazing to me.

By the way, she has asked me more than once when Andrea is getting married again.  I'm going to go with never, so apparently we need more friends who aren't already married so Ivy can go to more parties.

Halloween 2008

Oh, my child is a loon.  She wanted to be - get this - a garbage can for Halloween.  I showed her princess costumes and other somewhat normal costumes, but she would have none of it.  She wanted to be a garbage can and that was it.  So Nathan and I made her a garbage can costume.... admittedly, Nathan did a lot of the work on this one.  He can be crafty, too!  Here she is in the Halloween parade at preschool on Thursday.  She immediately tripped, basically on the way out the door, so I had to "march" with her for awhile.  Then she decided Mrs. Turner (the director) would do as well as me, so I got to take a few pictures.  By the end of the second lap around the building, she was "marching" by herself.

My one consolation in this whole "my daughter wants to be a garbage can" thing was that it was an original costume.  Right?  Right?? No.  There was another garbage can at school that day.  Whatever.

Here's the costume WITH the lid, right before trick or treating.

When she got tired and didn't want to walk anymore, she "had an idea."  She thought we should get a taxi.  That was a throwback to vacation in Jamaica, where a taxi would stop you every 27 seconds, if not more often.  I explained there were no taxis in our neighborhood, lazy bones, now get to stepping.  I thought she got tired pretty quick, but by the time we got home, it was past 7:00, so I guess she did pretty well.  She got a lot of loot and is already talking about next Halloween.  Halloween 2008 was a success!

The Wedding

The wedding is over.  Ivy was so excited, and I don't think the festivities disappointed her in the least.  There's actually a ton to blog about, but for now, I will put up the pictures my dear sweet sister took and leave it at that.  Well, that and Ivy's closing comment to my mom on Saturday..... "That was the best party EVER."

Ivy and Corrine walking down the aisle.  They did a fantastic, albeit sloooooow job.

Ivy on the steps outside of the church, after the service.  It was coooold.  You can't see it, but her dress is starting to rip.  By the end of the night, almost the whole skirt was ripped off the bodice.  Jordan Fashions is SO getting a strongly worded letter.

Ivy cheesing for Aunt Jessie.

Me and Andrea at the back of the church after the ceremony.  She looked so beautiful and perfect!

Me, after the ceremony.  I loved our dresses and our flowers.  

Infomercial Queen

Ivy loves commercials. She especially loves those "as seen on TV" infomercial type comercials. The girl can tell you all about Aquaglobes and Roll and Grow and Blendy Pens. And don't forget Green Bags. "Spoiled produce? Not again. Stop THROWING AWAY YOUR MONEY MOMMY." You should see the hand gestures that go with that one.

We were sitting on the couch cuddling earlier this week. I was on my laptop, Ivy was watching TV. I wasn't really listening to the TV. This conversation ensued.

Ivy: Mommy, do you love me?
Me : Of course I love you.
Ivy: Then you have to get me Zoobooks. See them on the TV?

I mean, at least she was asking for something educational. But still. I didn't think I had to start buying her love for at least another eight or ten years. Crap.

Wedding crazy?

Ivy is officially obsessed. Every time she picks a flower she says it's for when she is in Andrea Nelson's wedding.

Every time she puts on her white sundress she wants to know if that is her dress for Andrea Nelson's wedding.

She's found a box of envelopes and is always writing us letters. You know, three year old letters, which consist of wavy lines that only she can read. She can write her letters and read, but no way is she actually writing a whole letter!! Anyway, half of the time she writes letters to us, they are from Andrea Nelson.


What's up with that?

This elephant.....

he's a better artist than me.

Had to post this somewhere because I find it amazing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2246645/Pictures-of-the-day-4-July-2008.html

So few updates, so much time

So many things have happened in the past couple months that actually have made me say "I need to blog that." And we all know I am by no means a professional blogger. They don't pay people who post once every couple of months to blog.

Of course, now that I am sitting down to blog, I can't remember any of them. So I'll tell you about our holiday weekend, since that is fresh in my mind.

Ivy is deathly afraid of loud noises, to the point that we didn't even consider going to fireworks this year. We did, however, buy some sparklers. Of course she was afraid they would make noise. Of course I was nervous she would set something (namely, herself) on fire. Of course she stayed up way too late so we could wait until it was dark to do them. But oh, was it worth it when I saw the look in her eyes. I truely can not remember a time where I have seen her so happy, glowing from the inside over something so simple as a sparkler. Her eyes sparkled (and not from the reflection of the flaming stick in her hand) and her grin was as big as her face. Of course, I didn't get a picture of the first sparkler, but I did run and get my camera so I could document her first sparkler experience, even if it wasn't the first sparkler. We then retired to the couch to watch the downtown Toledo fireworks on TV. Not quite the same, but a brilliant idea to be able to turn down the volume on fireworks, no?

Yesterday we took Ivy to Par 2 golf course. As she would say, the "pupp pupp course". She's been talking for awhile about wanting to play miniature golf, and we bought her a cheap little set of golf clubs at Big Lots, but she wanted to play "real pupp pupp." So we went. And we played. And she was so annoying. For some reason I had a very low tolerance for the rock throwing and not listening yesterday. The first 6 holes or so were very cute, but then I got frustrated and moody. Anyone surprised there? No? Okay, moving on then.

We also did the Go Karts. Ivy LOVED them. They are apparently race cars. Daddy drove her and I drove my own car. I don't know if he was coaching her or not, but as we sat in the "pits" waiting to go she was yelling things like "See you at the finish line" and "We're gonna win, nah nah nah nah nah nah" at me. Actually very cute at the time. She really loved it and wasn't afraid at all. Even when they got in a wreck and the front of their go kart was wedged under the side of the road. The workers had to get the crow bar. Very exciting time.

The princess dress

Andrea says these are the dresses. I LOVE them both, especially mine, lol. :op

Here is my dress:




Too bad I don't look like the model, lol.

Here's Ivy's dress.... had to save the best for last, because it really is just about the most beautiful flower girl dress in the world:




Beautiful, no?

What Andrea Has Been Waiting for

This post SHOULD have been posted about five months ago. Whoops. This is take 6 and I was DONE with the video taking, so it's as good as it's going to get. :o)



So October 18th, 2008, Ivy will be in her second wedding and I will be in my first... unless you count mine. :o)

I'll share when the important decisions get made, like Ivy's "princess dress".

Day three - we have pee!!

This afternoon, Ivy peed next to the potty, on the step stool we have in front of the sink so she can brush her teeth and stuff. This also included peeing on the roll of toilet paper that was sitting on the stool. Did I mention this is directly next to the potty? I was pissed (no pun intended). I put Ivy in a time out for four minutes (a full minute longer than normal, so you can tell I was mad, lol). After she was done with time out, I talked to her about how it's not okay to pee on the floor and pee belongs in the potty. If she puts her pee on the floor, she's going to have a time out. She understood.

I know that might seem harsh (it sounds harsh when I read it back) but I really feel that she isn't having accidents.... she's choosing not to pee on the potty. So I was trying to give her incentive, ya know?

So, a couple hours later, I was cooking supper. Ivy came into the kitchen whining that there were no diapers. So I said "well, go sit on the potty then," and reminded her what would happen if she peed on the floor. SO SHE PEED IN THE POTTY. Completely on her own then ran back into the kitchen to tell me about it.

There were a couple messes after that, but I really feel this is the beginning of the end of diapers. I can't freaking wait.

Another First

Ivy had her first "manicure" today. Every time I have ever tried to paint her nails, she flips out. She's ASKED to have her nails painted and then freaked out. Today she told me that she changed her mind and she likes nail polish. So I gave it a try and lo and behold, we have matching nails. I will get a picture later.

Oh, and happy birthday to me! We are going out to dinner and bowling with Ken and Lisa.

Yesterday's final score.... three pees on my floor, no pees in the potty. Today.... one pee on the floor so far. Sigh.

Operation: For crying outloud, you are too huge to wear diapers!

After seeing Dr. Amy a couple of months ago, I had backed off the whole potty learning thing. We had talked, and decided that Ivy is stubborn and will do the potty in her own sweet time. Well, fast forward to now and I am just so sick of this!! Her diapers are getting too small and they don't MAKE them bigger. They leave marks on her sometimes. She's almsot four years old, for crying outloud and there's SO many things she can't do because she doesn't use the potty. Something has got to give.

So, the new plan is to just not wear diapers (at home) any more. Tomorrow is my birthday and we are going out for supper and probably bowling, so she will have to wear a diaper then, but after that.... we will stay homebound until dance next Thursday and just wear all those cool new underwear we picked out. Ivy keeps saying, "Mommy, are you making me wear underpants again today?" What a turd.

Today's count so far - 2 pees on the floor, no pees in the potty.

Too much computer?

Ivy LOVES to play pretend. One of her new favorites is putting one of her blankies around her shoulders and morphing into Super Ivy. Of course, since there are three blankies, I need to become Super Mommy as well. So as we were "flying" up the stairs the other day, having fun in our imaginative, not electronic or battery powered play, what does Ivy say?

"If you want to learn more about Super Ivy or Super Mommy, just click on them."

Apparently, the computer has done more than help her learn her alphabet and other educational things.

Mini Me

Well, not mini me, but mini Aunt Jessie.

Ivy loves helping Aunt Jessie get ready to go out. She watches Jess do her hair and put on her makeup (or as Ivy calls it, "frosting") and the Jessica lets Ivy put on a little makeup, too. Last weekend, Ivy really liked Jessica's earrings, so she took the two bracelets that were sitting on the counter and made her own earrings. They could be twins, no?



(Definitely click the picture to see the big version.... it's way cuter!)

Three Year Old Logic

My friend Lisa is pregnant. She's due February 20th, so she's getting pretty big. When baby comes, and Lisa goes back to work, I will be watching the baby, so I've been starting to talk to Ivy about babies and how to treat them. She knows there is a baby in Lisa's tummy.

Tonight, the baby was rolling around a lot... you could see it if you looked at Lisa's stomach. Lisa was showing Ivy where to put her hands to feel the baby move. Ivy, of course, lifted Lisa's shirt numerous times to see the baby. Then, the best quote ever:

"Let's squeeze it really hard and see if the baby pops out!!"

Smart ass

Pardon the language, but there just isn't a more appropriate title for this post.

This afternoon Ivy and I went out to lunch. While we were waiting for dessert (lucky girl that she is) we were playing I Spy. You know.... "I spy with my little eye, something [insert color here]."

Fast forward to bed time. Ivy picked out a book, hopped into bed and announced we needed to play I Spy before reading Burger Boy. The following conversation ensued:

Mommy: I spy with my little eye something..... [pause]
Ivy: RED!!!
M: Okay, I spy with my little eye, something red.
I: Your zits!!!! Your zits are red, Mommy! They are really really red.

Thanks, kid. Way to stomp my self esteem.