Thanksgiving Weekend

Well I have a few minutes to write a little something since Daddy's getting help with the dishes.






This Thanksgiving has been very different for us. On Thanksgiving day we had to wing it on our own, since mom and dad went to Jeff City to do Thanksgiving there and bring Chris back. So we went over to my parents rental house and raked and raked and raked the leaves that were in the front yard. They had so many leaves, it just made the house more run down and not very homey. Anyway, we went there to do all of this for them, and when we pulled in there, we realized we forgot our key to their house, so we were stuck with a billion leaves and only one rake. Adriana was very good considering she had to occupy herself for 3.5 hours outside. We weren't able to finish because we had to get Adriana home for a nap. Anyway, our Thanksgiving feast ended up being a Jr. Burger from Sonic for lunch and biscuits and gravy for dinner. Like I said, a very different holiday. I will say, that I was amazed how many people are out and about at the most weird places. There were a ton of people at Walgreens, which I understand to a point, but there was even a lot of people at Sonic and I noticed that there was even a line at the dog wash (yeah, we have a dog wash). I'm willing to bet that those dogs weren't too Thankful for that treat on Thanksgiving day.
Last night we did Thanksgiving with my parents and my brother. We had good cookin' and lots of fun hanging with each other. It doesn't matter what day you do your holiday festivities as long as you get to be with each other. Oh, and have great food!
Today we decorated for Christmas. It was an all day event. Adriana is still in awe of the tree. She keeps wanting to touch the ornaments on the tree, so I told her to look with her eyes and not with her hands. She doesn't understand this saying yet, because she just got really close to the tree and squinted her eyes. It was so funny.
Here are some pictures of my helpers today.

Adriana and Daddy opening the tree box.



Zoe jumped in to help.



Zoe getting shut in the box.



Mama's little helper.


Zoe under the tree glad to be out of the box.

Here are some pictures I took the other night of Adriana playing dress up. Zoe even had to get in on the action.




Well little Miss Busy Body is done with the dishes so I better go. I will try to post pics of our Christmas decorations soon. Have a good rest of the weekend!

Random Thoughts

I just wanted to update and let everyone know that my parents move went really well. They ended up having help load and unload the trucks both in Jeff City and here in Springfield. I went over and helped them a little yesterday while Adriana was in school, but they have a long ways to go. They aren't going to unpack everything, since they will hopefully be moving to a house of their own in 6 months or so.
They are going to bring Chris back on Thursday to live with them. He has been living in a crappy motel for a few months and I know is ready for a fresh start. I hope and pray he will find a good job, and start getting on his own feet soon.
We have decided to do Thanksgiving with my parents on Friday, since they are going out of town on Thursday. I think it will be a lot of fun, and still some good food to eat.
I am currently waiting for Adriana to go down for a nap, so I can head outside to paint a headboard for her room. We will be moving her to a "big girl bed" shortly, and since its so nice outside today, I thought I would take advantage and finish painting it.
We have all been sick for the last couple of weeks. Poor Adriana has had the worse runny nose for literally 3 weeks or longer. Her nose is so red and she doesn't want anyone to come near it with a tissue.
I guess its just one month from today till Christmas. Its kind of sad to see it coming so fast, because you know how fast its going to fly by and before you know it December will be gone. I enjoy this time of year. I like the music, the warm drinks, the generosity it brings out in people, and of course all the extra shopping. I wish it could go by a little slower.
Well, I'll wrap things up. I think my child is, hopefully, asleep and I need to get to painting.

Busy Week

I don't have a ton of time to write, I can rattle off about 10 things that I need to be doing instead, but I just don't feel like doing them at the moment. Whew! It has been a busy week. I feel like my head is spinning. My parents are moving to Springfield tomorrow! They are loading up the trucks today and I have to meet them half way so they can pick up Ryan to help drive one of the trucks for them. They had to rent 2 trucks to get all of their stuff here. They have a lot of stuff, but I will say, they have gotten rid of a lot too, which is a big thing for them to do. I know they are anxious just to get here and get settled in, even though its just a rental house for now.
Me and Adriana have been fighting off a head cold. Its not too bad, just annoying.
Adriana turned 21 months old 2 days ago. She is starting to talk more and be more expressive in what she wants. I can tell that school is teaching her so much. She has picked up on new sign language, she does more actions to songs when we sing them to her, and she has a new love for musical instruments. When I went to pick her up from school the other day, they were having music time, and all the kids had a musical instrument. She had the maracas. They were so cute, they were all dancing and shaking their instruments. I would love to be a fly on the wall and watch her all day in school.
We went to the mall today to eat some lunch, and man alive, are the people out today! Don't these people have jobs? I know, they are probably saying the same thing about me. I guess because its a Friday, but tis the season NOT to be out shopping on the weekends!
We found out last week or so, that we really don't have any plans for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad are going back to JC to get Chris, and have a lunch out with my Grandma and Great Aunt Dee, but its just going to be a day trip. That's really too much for Adriana to handle in one day. By the time we would be eating lunch, it would be about her nap time. So we are just going to stay behind. I think I'll still make a little dinner for the 3 of us, but would love to have people over too. So if you are without Thanksgiving plans, come on over! When we go to Ryan's side for Thanksgiving we eat a big meal over at his Aunts house, in Florida, and then go to the beach afterwards. It is such a great time. I have only gotten to do it twice, but what a nice way to spend the day, a beautiful beach with tons of family, we wish we could be there this year.
Well, I guess I'll get back to the chores or a nap, we'll see....

Heart Breaker

Adriana is starting to push her limits with me. She knows the boundaries, but she just wants to see if I'll let her get by with acting up or not. Lately, it seems, all I have been doing is telling her to stop or swatting her thigh to get her attention. Now, Adriana is a very tender hearted child (I am told, I was the same way) and so her feelings get hurt pretty easily. Not so much when I get onto her about something, but if Ryan or anyone else does, it really hurts her feelings. I would have to say, I have always thought of myself as a tough cookie, as far as children go. I could never understand why parents give into their child, when they would cry or get upset. "Suck it up you baby" is what I would think, and I would be even more upset at the parents who would give in. Well, that has all changed now that I'm a parent and discipline is a part of our daily routine. Adriana's new thing is, is if I or Ryan get onto her, she will cover her eyes to hide. All you can see is her little bottom lip beginning to quiver and she will remover her hands just for a brief second to see if she is still in trouble and all I see are those big blue eyes, red and full of tears. It breaks my heart! As much as I want to scoop her up and tell her I'm sorry for getting onto her, I can't, and I hate that! I have to stick to my guns so she will learn a lesson, but boy, is it ever hard! Last night, she kept putting her leg up on the table while we were eating dinner, and I kept asking her to put it down. Well, she knew she wasn't suppose to have it up there to begin with and she would keep putting it up there and then looking at me and smiling. I gave her plenty of warnings and told her if she did it again, she was going to get a swat and sit in time out. Well, surprise, surprise, she did it again, just to see how I would react. I got her out of her seat, swatted her behind and sat her on the floor. If looks could do anything at all, it think it would have shattered my heart. I almost want to cry thinking of it. She looked so sad, with a big pouty lip, red, teary eyes, she just looked up at me, as if to say, "Mama, you hurt my feelings so much". I just wanted to scoop her up and love on her, but she needed to learn her lesson. I think last night was the saddest look I have ever seen on her. And the thing is, she's still at an innocent age, where if she cries and gets upset, its genuine and not a show. I know I have to stay strong and teach her right from wrong, but its killing me!

Ode to LNT

I know, I'm crazy, but I'm going to write this entry despite what you might think. I am writing an Ode to Linens-N-Things (LNT) because they are going out of business. In these tough times a lot of places are going under, but LNT has been a big part of my young adult life. I got a job working there part time in college and loved it. I met so many people and made so many friends there. When I decided to move to Nashville, I transferred with the company and got an assistant manager position, of sorts, there in the bedding department. I didn't plan on working at LNT as long as I did, but I gave them 3 years of my life. I truly enjoyed my job. I didn't always like my co-workers or customers (especially customers), but I did like helping people pick out bedding, or telling people about different kinds of cotton in sheets, etc. I know it sounds lame, but it was a lot of fun. To suggest to someone what kind of colors or fabrics would work best for them and them to take my advice and buy it made me feel good.
I felt like I lived there most of the time when I was in Nashville. I worked full time and often came in on my days off just to chat with my co-workers. They were like family to me and they were my only friends I had there too. I learned many new songs while working there. Its amazing how you can subconsciously learn songs and not even know it. I had a lot of fun there and always like shopping in there. I bought something there with every paycheck. I am going to miss LNT's, every time I went to one, the smells were the same, the music was the same and it just always took me back to my younger days!

Here is a video I took a couple of days ago. I got the camera out because Adriana kept running back in forth sounding like a little piggy as she ran. It was the cutest thing. That child can spot the camera a mile away and when she does she stops whatever she was doing and just wants to focus on the camera. I got her running still and if you listen closely you can her her grunt like a pig. When she noticed the camera I tried to get her to make all the noises she knows, but she caught me off guard so I couldn't really think of much (I don't work well under pressure). In the video you will hear me ask her what Miss Kitty says. Miss Kitty is my parents cat, who has a low growly voice and Adriana has picked up on the different meows between Miss Kitty and Zoe. In the video though, she didn't do well at distinguishing the differences. Also, you will hear me ask what does Daddy's van say. Daddy always honks his horn when he sees her and will occasionally let her get in the van and honk the horn. So anytime she sees a big white van, whether its daddy or not, she will start saying "gonk gonk!".
Video Disclosure: Don't mind the messy house in the background, normally its spotless (yeah, right!) and don't mind Adriana's Farrah Fosset hairdo.

Happy 100th!

Well I had little tid bits of nothings to write about and realized that this is my 100th post! It should be a spectacular post since its a big milestone, unfortunately, there's nothing spectacular going on right now. Surprise, surprise!
I was able to get a good start on my Christmas shopping today. I was out and about on Saturday and quickly realized that I don't want to be in the mix of all the lovely Christmas shoppers. Today was much better, although I have noticed that the shopping crowd has picked up and I'm sure its only going to get worse. I LOVE Christmas shopping! Its fun to buy people things and Ryan doesn't get mad at me spending money since we have already allotted enough money for everyone on our list. We have decided to get Adriana only 3 gifts. Since baby Jesus only got 3 gifts, we thought that that would be a good boundary to set so that she doesn't get overloaded on toys. I think that she will appreciate them more plus she doesn't need a ton of toys, she already has plenty. I thought this was a good idea at first, just getting 3 gifts, but found out today how hard that is. I am finding TONS of things that I want to get her. I know she doesn't know any different and doesn't even care at this age, but as a mom I want to get her everything that I know she would have a ball playing with. I just have to keep reminding myself that there has been stuff that we were so excited about getting her at one point or another, and she plays with it for only a few minutes and then its off to something different. We will be celebrating Christmas down in Alabama again this year, and still probably doing something with my family so I don't know when I will give her her presents.
Well, not much else is going on here. We are looking forward to my parents getting here and getting settled in and I know that they can't wait just to get this move behind them.
Adriana update: I know my mother in law always asks what Adriana is doing or saying and I can never think of anything. We have noticed her wanting to talk more, so we are trying to grow accustomed to her language. Here are some examples: she can say "dishes" pretty well, "nack" for snack, "boo" (with a short O sound) for book, of course she "moos" whenever she sees the cows in the fields on our street, "eow" anytime she sees a cat and I know there is more, its hard to concentrate since she just started crying in her room because she won't take a nap! I guess I'll wrap up. Have a good one and stay warm!