Christmas Past

Well its Christmas Eve, its so hard to believe and kind of sad that it soon will be over. We are leaving for Alabama today. Because my mind is always busy, I normally can't sleep too well the night before we leave. I have been awake since 3am. After laying in bed for an hour I decided to get up. We are wanting to be on the road by 5:30am. I hope its not icy out. Its suppose to be and it looks wet outside, but its hard for me to tell.
I just wanted to make a quick last post before Christmas and wish everyone and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. I hope 2009 brings great joy and happiness in all our lives.
Here are some pictures from the past Christmas', since we have been married. Enjoy, and try not to laugh too hard.


2005--Mind you, we croped the background so
it didn't look like Sanford and Son.


2006--We actually didn't end up sending this picture
out in a card, I didn't like any of the pictures.


2007--Adriana's First Christmas


2008--Don't mind my double chin, boy, that
will make you want to diet!

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with my parents and brother. We had a big meal, lots of snacks and fun opening gifts. Adriana wasn't sure what to think about opening gifts, she was more concerned about cleaning up the trash than the gifts. All in all, she had fun and enjoys her new toys. Here are some pictures that we took tonight of our family.



Ryan, Adriana, Me and Chris


Proud Grandparents (Pa and MiMi)


The Whole Family


Pictures we took the other night for our
Christmas card.



Adriana "hamming" it up.

Deal of the Day

Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE to bargain shop. I rarely pay full price for anything. Well, all my bargain shopping through the years, I have never gotten PAID by a company to take a product off their hands. Let me explain.
Adriana is in desperate need for some shoes. The problems lies in the fact that she has chubby, wide feet, like her mama. Its really hard to find shoes that fit her. She needs some new gym shoes for school, but I can't seem to find any that fit. Anyway, I hate paying full price for children's shoes, because they grow out of them so fast. After checking at some resale stores and looking at Goodwill, I came the the fact that like it or lump it, I'm going to have to buy her shoes at full price. I went to Payless because they carry wides. Well, the only shoe they had in wide was, of course, not on sale. I went ahead and decided that she needed them. Well, the store I was at didn't have her size, so they gave me the store that did and gave me a $3 off coupon towards the purchase of those shoes. So I went to the other store at the mall to buy them and they were having their BOGO 50% sale. I looked for her some more shoes, but couldn't find any. So I breezed over to my size and found a really cute pair of plaid mary janes on clearance for $10. I thought, that is a good deal, I can get these shoes that are normally $23 for $5 (since the second pair is half price). Well I tried on the shoes and they didn't fit real good, so I was going to go down a half size, well, of course, they didn't have my size. I asked them to see if another store would have them in that size and they said that the one a few miles down the road had one pair left in that size. So I went ahead and bought Adriana shoes there at the mall and they gave me another $3 off coupon for those shoes that I was going to buy. (I guess if they don't have it in stock and you have to go to another Payless to get a pair, you get a $3 coupon.) So technically after my 1/2 price on my shoes and after the coupon, I should only pay $2 for my shoes. Not too shabby. Well the girl at the other store rang it up and after talking to the store manager, they ended up giving me $1.07 back in change. I told them that I hadn't even paid for my other pair of shoes, and the manager said that it was too much to fool with so she said "Merry Christmas, enjoy your free shoes". I was in shock! Needless to say, Ryan wasn't too upset at me for getting another pair of shoes, when the store pays you to take a pair of shoes! Talk about a deal!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Me and Adriana wanted to wish our favorite man in the world, a very Happy Birthday! Ryan turns 30 today. He is the best husband and father a person could ask for. He always puts his girls first (except for Zoe). We are very blessed to have such a kind, loving, forgiving, easy going, tender hearted person to call our own. Ryan has excellent parents for role models on how to treat your wife and children right. I know his parents are proud of him and we are too.
Thank you Ryan for always being there for us. You are a great provider and protector of your family! We love you, and hope your birthday is a great one!

Nap Time Troubles

I am currently trying to get Adriana down for a nap. I am getting very frustrated. She normally goes to bed around 1pm and its now 1:55pm. She keeps screaming and having a fit over nothing. I'll let her cry for a little while, but after awhile I'll go in to check on her. She is having issues with her socks. Most of the time she wants them off for nap time, but today she can't decide. She cries because she wants them on, and then when I go in to check on her because she has been crying for 15 minutes, she has her socks off and that is troubling to her. She wears me out! She was cracking me up the last time I was in there though. A few times ago, I was holding her and she had her head on my shoulder and she would lift her head up and I would kiss her cheek and then she would lay her head down again. This soon turned into a game, so I put her back into bed. This last time I was in there holding her, she started to hold her cheek to my lips and I wouldn't do anything, to avoid making it play time. She would do it and the giggle and then put her head back down on my shoulder. It was so cute, I had to resist laughing.
Well its been quite since I have started this blog, so maybe she will go to sleep. Lets cross our fingers.
For all you slackers out there, only 8 shopping days left!

Christmas Movies

I LOVE watching Christmas movies. This is the time of year that I wish we had cable, so I can watch those cheesy, feel-good, made for TV holiday movies. I have been on a movie kick lately. As I wrap gifts during Adriana's nap time, I have been watching Christmas movies. I tend to rent movies from the "Red Box" venues that are at McDonalds and Wal-marts or other places. They are only $1.00/nite. I think its ridiculous to rent movies for $5, especially now that they have the Red Box things. (Also, if you rent a crappy movie, your not out a ton of money).
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I have been thinking a lot about movies that I love. Unfortunately, now that everything is digital, I can't watch most of my collection, because they are on VHS. Here are some of my favorites.

Christmas Vacation
Home Alone
Little Women (not really a Christmas movie, but I love to watch it this time of year)
Elf
How the Grinch Stole Christmas

And of course now that I'm trying to remember what it was that I was going to list, I have drawn a blank. I would say these are my favorites. What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Christmas Decorations

I'm sure you have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to post pics of our decorations, but nevertheless, I'm finally posting them. I have more than I posted, but I figure this is enough.

Our sad stockings hanging on our bookcase.
(don't mind the decorative antenna)



Our Christmas Tree


My little village. I got all the houses at a garage
sale for a $1 for all of them.


Ryan's little Christmas tree with his
Simpson's ornaments.


Our front stoop. The tree lights up
at night. I should make Ryan string
lights on the roof. Maybe next year.


We have a progressive dinner with our Sunday School class that I helped throw together, so I hope it turns out to be fun. We are having a white elephant gift exchange, and let me tell you, I have some treasures. My mom has a white elephant gift box in her house that holds a bunch of horrible, tacky gifts, so that was my resource for these gifts. I can't wait to pawn them off on some poor soul.
I have a lot to do today, so I better run. Have a great weekend!

Insert Foot in Mouth

So I had to stick my foot in my mouth today, the first time in a long time. I was on my way inside to pick up Adriana from school and saw another mom from her class. I knew she was pregnant and was due in December. As we were walking in, I said, "Aren't you due about anytime". Now keep in mind, I have only talked to the woman once and I knew she was due in December, that was about the extent of our conversation. So after I asked her that question, she so kindly replied that she had the baby on Saturday. I could have died! I thought she had looked smaller, but didn't really pay that close attention. I tried to cover myself, but it was too late. I felt horrible! Now, granted, when I got back to work from my maternity leave, 6 weeks after having Adriana, I got asked twice in that week when I was due, it didn't really bother me, except these were honest questions by guys that I worked with everyday. Did they not notice I hadn't been there for a month and a half? And that I was, hopefully, a little bit smaller after birthing a 9lbs baby? Anyway, I don't really get offended that easily, but nevertheless, I felt horrible after making my comment. I then proceeded to make up for my stupidity by asking how old her other one was (the one in Adriana's class) saying that he looked small for his age. So not only am I saying she still looks 9 months pregnant but I'm calling her child a runt. Way to go, Lori! Maybe I should be a motivational speaker.
Lets see, between me falling last week at her school like a moron and insulting the parents, why don't we just change my name to Grace!

I am finished!

Its official, I am finished Christmas shopping. I was about 95% of the way finished but had to tie up some odds and ends to make gifts complete. I know people normally sigh a big breath after being done, but I love to shop and this is the only time of year that I don't get in trouble for buying things. I'm kind of bummed that I'm done, but it also feels good at the same time.
I have thought about the most random things lately. For example, isn't it funny how this is the only time of year that we go full out on decorating for a holiday? I mean, you might lay out a bunny and eggs at Easter time or put a pumpkin out in the fall, but what other holiday do you rearrange furniture for? I love Christmas, and I love to decorate for it, but its so funny how we have boxes and boxes of decorations that we only use for one month out of the year. We pull out ladders and risk our husbands lives to hang lights on our houses. People wear Santa hats just to do grocery shopping (which I don't understand). Its just amazing how much we do for this holiday. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say we shouldn't do all of this, it just strikes me as odd that we do it for this holiday and not any other.
Speaking of decorations, I was finally going to post some pics of our tree and decorations around the house and my batteries died on me, so I'll have to post them when the batteries charge.

Well, I figured that you are tired of looking at bloody knees when you sign on to this blog, so I thought I would change it. I don't really have anything to write about, but at least you won't see grossness when you check in on my page.
We recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being home owners. We closed on the house the day before Thanksgiving last year and moved the weekend after Thanksgiving. Who would of thought that a year later, on about the same weekend, we would be moving my parents down here too. Its crazy what can happen in a year.
I was going through pics on my computer yesterday and trying to clean up our hard drive, since our computer keeps shutting off on us. I did it thinking it might help it run longer, if there is more space, and/or I don't want it to crash one day, and have all our pics on there and us not be able to get them off. Anyway, it was very sad to see how much Adriana has changed just even in the last few months, let alone the last year. I am blown away by how fast time goes. The older I get, the faster it seems to go. I can't believe that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away! I love this time of year, but with all the hustle and bustle it goes by so much faster.
Looking at those pictures yesterday, made me think how big Adriana is getting and how she doesn't look like a baby anymore. The sad thing is, is that next year this time, when I look back at pics from Christmas this year, I will think how little she looks. (Does that make sense?)
I didn't mean to make this blog a downer, just sharing what I was thinking about. Hope everyone is having a good start to the weekend.

Battle Wounds

Yesterday I was taking Adriana to school. I got her out of the van and went and stepped up on the edge of the sidewalk and didn't see the patch of ice and instantly slid to my knees. I came pretty close to dropping her and having her head hit first on the sidewalk, but luckily I pulled her back before that happened. I was in shorts because I was going to go work out after dropping her off, that's why they are so tore up. I know, what am I doing wearing shorts when its freezing outside? I'm glad I did have shorts on and not pants, I think it would have tore pants up and I don't have that many to begin with. (Although it would have been a good reason to buy some new clothes!) By the time I dropped her off at her class room and started walking back outside, I had blood running down my leg almost to my ankle. I'm sure people thought I was some kind of freak show. Needless to say, I didn't feel like going and running on a treadmill (alright, I don't run, but I can walk pretty fast). My legs were on fire all day! We'll that's my battle wound story. Sorry for the gross pictures and the fat, white legs that accompany my boo boos.