Anybody Else Want One? (312/365)

I saw this Nativity set at Meijer today and had to force myself to walk away and not put it in my cart, though I don't know if I'll be able to resist it the next time it crosses my path!

I'm a sucker for Christmas.

Why Couldn't it Have Been This Gorgeous Yesterday? (311/365)

As luck would have it, our last day in Jville was a beautiful, unseasonably warm, 70*F day. The girls went with Grandma and Grandpa (and their Aunties) to church, then they pretty much played outside, sans coats, until it was time to head home. They did manage to squeeze some lunch and Alice got to play her favorite game, Grandma's secretary though too. We were no more than 15 minutes out of town when both girls conked out. They slept soundly until we woke them for dinner in Bloomington. It was a sign that they had had a good weekend!

I most definitely agree. See you all again soon!

On This Trip to Grandma's We...(310/365)

1) Ate cake and ice cream before 12pm.

2) Matt, Charles, and Tori all did lots of homework.

3) I slept in because I hardly slept last night due to Izzy's lack of wanting to sleep.

4) Those who got up before I did enjoyed pancakes for breakfast.

5) Dad and Alice played Candyland (her first time playing it, EVER if you can believe that) for at least a half hour. AND she actually followed directions and didn't fuss. That's a HUGE win for my little drama queen.

6) Izzy and JJ both took naps. Izzy SOOO didn't want to get up from her nap. Can't imagine why.

7) Oh, and Dad took one too.

8) Erin had to leave us right after cake and presents. It was good to see her, though we wish she could have stayed longer.

9) Dad and Cindy were brave grandparents and took my two girls off my hands and took them to a pot luck.

10) Dad says there were good, but I'll wait until I can talk to Cindy for the final word on that. Dad has a way of forgetting these things.

11) JJ, Tori, Matt, and I went to D'arcy's Pint as I really wanted to get a horseshoe this trip home.

12) After hearing it was an hour wait to get a table, we opted to go to the Dublin Pub instead for shoes that were just as good.

13) And for the waitress that calls you babe.

14) Then the four of us went to a movie on the way home. We saw Social Network and Mr. Sorkin did not disappoint.

Even though my day started at like 2am, crashed at 5:30am, then rebooted at 10am, all in all it was still a very good day.

Now I'm off to bed - hopefully Izzy sleeps the night away!

We Made It (309/365)

I nearly killed us once, but we made it.

Dress Up and Disasters (308/365)

For a few weeks, Izzy has been bringing me these 3D glasses to me,
asking me to put them on her. This was the first time she's kept them
on long enough for me to snap a pic. Isn't she freaking adorable?!

Alice was intently playing waitress this morning. She had just served
her dolly some food when I asked her to come over to me. I saw
something in her hair and couldn't figure out what it was. Upon
further inspection, I discovered she had a crayon tucked behind her
ear! Where does she get this stuff?!

Heading to Jville tomorrow. It was a good thing Matt had to bring in
garbage cans this evening because one of the tires on the van was
flat. So poor Matt, who also had a lecture to watch tonight, had to go
and deal with that while I fed the kids. Thankfully it was just a
screw puncture - easy fix. We were intending to get new tires for the
van NEXT WEEK, so we were pretty thankful we didn't have to do that
tonight. We should be good to go after school lets out!

Looking forward to seeing those of you who will be there - I'm in need
of a good trip home!

Blah (307/365)

2 out of 4 of us are sick. I think Alice feels fine, but she did have
a fever this morning so she missed school. Me, I'm achy and feverish,
but feeling better than I did this afternoon. Hopefully we'll all feel
better soon as we are planning a trip down to Jville soon!

5 Reasons I Loved Tuesday (306/365)

1) Making banana bread with my big girl. She's starting to really love
helping me in the kitchen, and I hope her fascination continues to
grow because I love it when she helps.

2) Conversing with Izzy. That kid really, truly understands everything
I say and it amazes me. I don't think Alice was this young when she
was like this.

3) Watching Izzy dance to Glee. It may have been a rerun (which I
didn't see the first time), but Izzy loved the "funky" music so much
that she busted out moved I've never seen her do before. Gotta love
that girl!

4) The fact that Alice watched the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland
during quiet time today and loved it! I thought for sure that at
least some of it would scare her, but she wasn't fazed. She did keep
pointing out the differences from that version and the cartoon.

5) That today was election day and the annoying phone calls, people at
my door, and awful commercials will now stop. Oh how I've been waiting
for this day!

I'm Ready For My Close Up! (305/365)

Today was picture day at school. Despite her not cooperating with me
this morning, I think she looked pretty darn cute. Now hopefully the
photographer won't Photoshop her head on someone else's body (this
actually happened to my friend's little boy recently - they put it on
a girl's body too! They also didn't bother to Photoshop out his feet).

Oh, and Iz wanted me to take her pic too, so there you go.

Happy Halloween! (304/365)

What a gorgeous day for Trick-or-Treating!! Like most Sundays, we
spent this one in Villa Park at Matt's parents' house. VP does their
trick-or -treating during daytime hours so we were able to enjoy the
beautiful sunshine as we went door-to-door. The wind had a chill on
it, but it was still quite gorgeous out!

My girls were dressed as Care Bears (Mike, Alice really should have
been Grumpy Bear instead of Cheer - ugh!), JR was his hero Thomas the
Tank Engine, and Sammy was a cute little bee.

We made our rounds around the neighborhood and all of the kids came
home with a sack full of goodies to eat. Matt was good and didn't eat
anything other than Smarties. Me, I apparently really needed some
chocolate today! We'll see how screwed up my weigh in is tomorrow -
it was a bad week.

I don't think I mentioned it, but Matt and I are doing another
weightloss challenge. It's really gotten Matt back on the wagon in
terms of good eating habits, but it's yet to light a fire under my
butt. I wish I had more willpower. It ends mid December. We'll see how
well I do with the holidays and with all of the candy in my house at
the moment!

I Love Lazy Saturdays (303/365)

We didn't do much of anything today. We played, watched a Halloween
movie or two, had an early dinner, and we finished the day with a
spooky movie under a tent made of sheets.

The day couldn't have been any better.

I Always Knew She Was Easily Amused (302/365)

Iz and I went to Alice's preschool Halloween party today. In order to
keep her out of the way of the other kids so she didn't get trampled,
I gave her three clothes pins to play with and wouldn't you know it,
they kept her busy the whole time! We passed them back and forth to
one another and I counted them to her as we passed them.

Alice played games, sang songs, trick-or-treated at the old folks home
a few doors down, freeze danced to the record daddy listened to every
year at Halloween, and all in all had a great time. I'm pretty glad we
were able to show up and help out.

Doctor Visit (301/365)

Alice: she's a beast! The kid weighs in at 50 pounds and she's 44
inches. That's off the charts for both measurements! I knew she was a
moose. I talked to the doc about her tonsils. He had mentioned them
before (she's got massive kissing tonsils), but it never caused her
issues so we left it at that. Now she snores, chokes on them, and they
impair her speaking to a point. Needless to say he recommended she see
an ENT and have them taken out.

Izzy: she's dropped from the 50th percentile for weight, to the 37th.
I'm not surprised considering she's been eating like a bird for the
past month. Doc upped her Zantac by a ml per dosage in hopes that that
is her issue. Cross your fingers that that is what is going on.

For good measure I threw in a pic of Alice's costume that I FINALLY
finished. Just in time too as her school Halloween party is tomorrow!

Someone Had Her Special Day at School Today (300/365)

We brought bakery made Swiss cake rolls for her special snack, and I
got to read Alice's favorite book to the whole class at the end of the
school day. Izzy, of course, came with and was in heaven surrounded by
kids (who all wanted to eat her up), books, and toys.

Her favorite part of the day? The fact that she's now old enough to
have a library bag and check out a book from the school library. She's
been talking about it for days now, and one of her teachers told me
that that was the first thing Alice told her this morning. I am SO not
surprised!!

What a Blustery Day (299/365)

This morning for me started very early - 3am to be exact. Alice got up
in a dazed panic looking for Teddy. I sent her to the potty, then put
her to bed. I then tossed any turned until I couldn't take it anymore
and I got up at 4am. Strike 1.

It was unusually hot, so I opened the window and the sliding door
causing a fabulous breeze to come in and it cooled me instantly. I
surfed the web trying to get the urge to fall back asleep. Before I
knew it it was 6am and a nice breeze wasn't the only thing coming in
the window. Unbeknownst to me it was drizzling and the intense wind
was blowing it in the house - all over a stack of mail and the rest of
out green cabinet.
Strike 2.

By 7:30am the rain was heavy and the wind was incredible. Then the
sirens went off.
Strike 3.

It was going to be a bad day.

You may have heard that a huge storm passed through here that
stretched from Canada all the way to Tennessee that was in front of
the strongest low pressure front in the month of October ever recorded
- according to my local news man. Needless to say I was pretty glad I
didn't have to be anywhere today.

The girls and I played and I finally decided I'd better work on
Alice's costume again as she needs it for Friday and Sunday! Good
thing I did too because the hand sewing is taking me much longer than
I expected.

Tonight Alice and Matt carved the pumpkins - designs totally by Alice.
One even has a crown because Alice's just had to be a princess.

After my princess went to bed I watched Rocky Horror and then,
unfortunately, I watched The Amityville Horror and now I'm going to
have to watch something happy before heading to bed.

Stupid Halloween.

P is For…(298/365)

Pumpkin!

We finally had the chance to start carving our pumpkins tonight. So
far they've just been gutted, tomorrow night we'll carve. Alice had a
hell of a good time fishing out seeds and spooning out pumpkin guts
into a bowl. I can't wait to carve them!

P is also for Parent/Teacher Conference.

This morning was my first one ever and I'm happy to report that Alice
is doing well. She excels in most academic areas, but she needs some
work in other areas. Nothing surprising, it's stuff we see at home too
like being aware of other people's personal space, sharing is not
grabbing toys from another kid, she resists transition from one thing
to another, etc. It's always good to know how she is for other people
and now I know where she needs work.

Thought I'd mention that Izzy is still not eating well. I've had to
resort to sitting her on my lap and playing the "Mommy take a bite,
now Izzy take a bite" game to get her to eat anything. I'm starting to
really feel like she needs her meds adjusted because it's starting to
feel like her first 9 months of life all over again. Thankfully she
has a well baby visit on Thursday. Hopefully it's nothing more than
her reflux acting up. I'll keep you posted.