An Easter Scavenger Hunt

Being married to a cop means that there is never a guarantee that they will have holidays off, or weekends, or even a full day off sometimes.  Which I guess can be said for a lot of different jobs, which makes me to wonder why in world companies don't just let their employees enjoy holidays!

Right now he's working the midnight shift in addition to his extra hours he puts in at a grocery store.  Yes, the grocery stores where he works pay officers to be there to deter crime.  And yes, the grocery store was open all day today.  Those two statements are sad on so many levels!

Anyways, we had to get creative for Easter because he was only home from 7 until 2:30 and needed time to sleep.  Since I can never be sure what time he'll definitely be home, I decided to send Abby on a scavenger hunt.  We cut out little bunny paws and numbered them 1 through 5.

Clue 1:  Happy Easter!  I hid your basket but if you put on your Easter dress, you'll find Clue#2!

Clue 2:  (Hidden inside her dress):  Now you have to put your shoes on to find Clue #3!

Don't you just love the shoes?  She insisted that these are the ones the bunny wanted her to wear since they were closest to the clue!

Clue 3:  Go find all 10 eggs I hid in the yard before you peak at Clue #4!

Clue 4:  Daddy has Clue #5!  If he's not home wait patiently for him to arrive!

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait very long but poor Dan didn't even get a hello before she was asking for her clue!  

Clue 5:  Last clue and this hunt is through!  Go downstairs and find the baskets waiting for Lilly and you!

Pure Happiness!

Lilly slept through the scavenger hunt but Abby made sure to show her everything in her basket!

I did get a little Dr. Seuss at the end and would have liked to make all of them rhyme but my brain wasn't working.  Doesn't matter how it was said because she absolutely LOVED her hunt!  She hasn't stopped talking about it all day!  And, Dan got to see her go through her baskets and ate breakfast with us so it was a good morning!

Hope you all had a fabulous Easter!

Christmas Memories

Sadly, Christmas is over.  All that build up and in a blink of an eye it's over.  POOF!

Abby had a super exciting day and has not put her Jesse toy down since she opened it!  It even came shopping with us yesterday (for the record, shopping the day after Christmas is not a good idea with 2 kids... AAHHHHH).

I hope that Santa was as good to all of you as he was to me!  I got a snazzy new camera that is so fancy, I was actually afraid to open the box!  I have got a lot to learn but I'm super excited!  My husband is too good to me sometimes!

One of the gifts that meant the most was actually not given to me, but to Abby.  Attached to her gift bag from my Aunt was an ornament.  We thought it was so strange that the ornament had a G on it but I thought that maybe she just hadn't noticed it.  Turns out, this was one of my Mom's ornaments from when she was about 18 and they lived together.  It's been on my Aunt's tree every year since then and she decided to take it off this year and give it to us.  How sweet is that?

The cool part is, that me and Dan collect ornaments.  Most of our ornaments are sentimental and hold memories from places we go.  Our wedding favors were even handmade ornaments!

We started during when Dan came home from Iraq and we went to Niagara Falls.  Unfortunately, that one is lost somewhere in the tree right now... can you see it because I can't!

I even have an ornament given to me by my Grandmother on my very first Christmas.

I'm crazy when it comes to labeling because one year there were a bunch that I wasn't sure where they came from.  Now that the season is over, all of these ornaments and memories attached to them will get tucked away in a closet.  We'll collect new ones throughout the year and reminisce as we decorate for Christmas 2012!

Hope you all had a Merry Merry Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!!

Fa La La La La

We are in full Christmas mode but have so much left to do!  Abby is literally counting down the days until Santa comes!  She still won't take a picture with him but was ambushed yesterday.  We went to see some Christmas lights and Santa was there.  She debated whether to go see him but she couldn't resist the candy cane!

I wish I was just a little quicker!  

We've also been spending time making salt dough ornaments, which is apparently serious business!

And, making (eating) a gingerbread choo choo train!

Oh, and we've been wrapping presents like crazy.  Well, the ones that are here.  Did I mention I have a terrible habit of mailing things to the wrong address?  I know I'm an airhead!  A few months ago I had something mailed to my old apartment, which my old landlord thankfully intercepted for me.  This time I had stuff mailed to my mom's house which is where my brothers still live.  So, wrapping won't officially be done until Christmas Eve but we're close!

Tonight starts the baking extravaganza!  Too much to do and too little time, especially with an infant who has a tendency to scream from 8 til 11 at night!  I feel an all nighter coming up soon!

What are you all up to for the holidays?

No Momma... No Santa!!!

We have been hyping up Christmas around here since before Thanksgiving mainly because we love Christmas and partly because Abby is totally fascinated with Halloween still.  This is the first year that she actually 'gets' the holidays which is super fun to be a part of.

However, we did not anticipate that she would fear Santa.  It's something I really wish I would have known prior to going to a tree lighting and standing in line freezing my buns off for an hour.  All was good until we had an 'accident'.  You know, the 'I've been doing so good at potty training that my parents forgot to remind me to use the potty before we stood in line for an hour' type of accident.  Here we are, in line, just me and the girls and Abby announces "I have to go pee pee momma."

I try to quickly think where, in this crowd of hundreds of people, I could take her and Lilly who is in a stroller.  I am quietly cursing my husband and dad for going to get food at the worst time because clearly they should have known this would happen.  I try to ask her if she can hold it for a minute and she panics while screaming, "I HAVE TO GO PEE PEE!"  By the time the words came out of her mouth, she was already going.  AWESOME!

The nice people in line ahead of us tell me that they'll hold our place in line but, more importantly, let my husband know where I went since I (of course) forgot my cell phone.  Not that it matters because Dan never carries his phone anyway, but that's a whole other story.

We try to maneuver as quickly as possible to the nearest bathroom.  Big clunky stroller, hysterical toddler, and crowds do not mix!  We make our way to the nearest coffee shop and are second in line, thanks for nothing lady who wouldn't let us go first!!!

So, we clean up and go back to line.  I'm sweating but Abby seems happy again so we're good, or so I thought.  We get back in line a few minutes before the parade starts and the excitement of seeing Santa starts to build.

Well, for all the kids but mine.  Abby becomes hysterical again.  "No Mama, No Santa.  I no like Santa!"

What?!?  Who doesn't like Santa? Totally crazy!  We thought that she would eventually come around but no such luck.  She was begging us to take her home.  She wouldn't even glance at the parade.  She wrapped herself around whoever would hold her with a death grip.  I felt like I was literally torturing her with every extra minute we stood there.

Needless to say, after an hour in line and a pee pee fiasco behind us, we had to leave without seeing Jolly Old St. Nick because Abby doesn't like him.

You would think that this would mean that we could go ahead and skip the whole present thing but apparently the big guy is good enough to bring her gifts because she has requested:

• Lightning McQueen
• Beast (from Beauty and the Beast but I think she means Belle)
• A Horse (black one and a brown one)
• Snacks
• Snow White
• Pooh Bear Movie
• Mickey Mouse
• Water
• Puddles
• Doll house
• Doodle Bear
• Jessie Doll

Does anyone know how to gift wrap puddles?

Celebrating with a BBQ, Fireworks, and Reptiles?!?

The 4th of July always meant big family parties when I was a kid.  There would be family, food, and laughs and a strong sense of patriotism.  Over the years the party has gotten smaller as family has moved away, including myself.  With Dan's schedule as crazy as it is (he's working midnights right now) and family 4 hours away or more, we typically celebrate some holidays much smaller than my childhood memories.  Small is not always a bad thing because we're flexible enough to pick and choose what we want to do and yesterday proved to be a crazy sort of day filled with surprises.

My sister and I took Abby to a bouncy house first thing in the morning.  She had an absolute blast!  She's one of the toughest kids I've ever met and held her own with the older kids.  I held my breathe half the time and after 45 minutes my nerves were just shot!  We left, she cried hysterically, and went for lunch where they gave her all the necessary accessories to become a pirate!  Awesome!

After a much needed nap (not for me unfortunately), we sang some patriotic songs.  I discovered 2 things:  one, I have forgotten most of what I learned as a child and two, there is a serious shortage of upbeat patriotic songs.

When I finally woke Dan up Dan finally woke up, we went outside to BBQ and have some fun in the sprinkler before getting ready for fireworks.

This is where it gets a little crazy.  We drove all the way to the fireworks and paid $5 to park our car.  We walked from our car to the actual fireworks location which took about 40 minutes since Abby refuses to use a stroller (and hasn't for at least 6 months now).  At which point, Dan looks at me and says there is no way we're getting back to the car and getting home in time for him to be a work.  So, after a million "What do you want to do?  I don't know... What do you want to do?", we walked back to the car and made our way out of the busy lot to find a location further away but less crowded to see fireworks.


The only way to get Abby to go faster than the first walk was to promise her ice cream so we stopped at McDonald's on our way.  As we walk out of our car we see this:

and this:

Apparently the owner of these animals rescues them and does kids parties.  I'm still confused as to why he was outside McD's but it was interesting to say the least.  Abby, as always, was fearless and enjoyed eating her ice cream cone surrounded by Boa Constrictors!

We then left McD's and could not decide where the best place to park was.  We also couldn't figure out where to look.  We also couldn't figure out what time it would actually start.  Finally, we decided to drive over the bridge and back.  As luck would have it, traffic on the bridge closed on our way back as soon as the fireworks started so we got to see the show from what I think was the best spot!  Abby's face was priceless!

I hope you and your family had an fun filled holiday!  

First, I really need to say a big Thank You to all of our troops!  Let's pray that today marks a turning point for our world to return to peace again so that all of our troops can start coming home!

So, I really didn't intend to take such a long blogging break.  I thought that confronting my block would help but life has been a bit hectic and this little blog of mine has been terribly neglected.  Honestly, I have only been spending about a fraction of the time I normally do online.  The strangest thing is that I still don't feel like I have gotten any thing extra accomplished with my day.  Go figure!

The first exciting thing to happen these past few weeks was that we went out and finally bought a new car!  I can not tell you how happy I am to finally have some wheels on the days that Dan works.  I am not too happy about the payment but I guess that's just the way it works.  I am also not too happy that gas prices are so incredibly ridiculous which makes road trips still hard to plan.  If only I could just win the lottery!!

We also had a very special birthday to celebrate!  Abby's 2nd birthday was filled with lots of family and fun.  The party was on Sunday but half the party showed up the day before so it was a jam packed weekend!  All the cleaning, planning and cooking was definitely worth it because Abby had a blast!

Then we took her back to Clark's Farm on her actually birthday so she could run around and pet some of the animals.  She loved it!!  I tried to recreate some of the photos we took the year before but she isn't all that cooperative in front of the camera.  She either doesn't look at me or she runs up to me yelling "Cheese!" which makes my picture look like this:

We also got a new room mate!  My sister decided she wanted to live closer so she's going to be staying with us for a while.  I have been so far away from family for the past few years so I couldn't be happier having her here!  Abby is absolutely loving all of the extra attention too.

We were also lucky enough to have some beautiful weather so we've been trying to get outside to enjoy it.  We did some Easter egg hunting and we even walked to our local beach!  Abby can't wait to jump in the water!

And the biggest news!  The news that I have been dying to share but wanted to tell my Grandmother in person before I told any of my bloggy buddies is......

Yup... baby #2 is on it's way!  The expected due date is November 19th and I am super excited!  This wasn't exactly a planned thing but it's definitely a happy surprise.  This is probably the biggest reason that I haven't been blogging lately.  This baby has totally wiped me out.  I was nauseous day and night and just looking at the computer screen was making my world spin.  Thankfully, I think I'm slowly getting past that and I'm hoping it's smooth sailing from now until November.

So, there you have it.  We've been celebrating some pretty big things... birthdays, Easter, pregnancy... oh my!  We've also had lots of visitors and my sister moved in.  All that on top of morning sickness!  But, the good news is that I'm back and I can't wait to catch up with all of you!

How Do You Say "Thank You"?

Let me start by being totally honest:  I'm not very good at sending out thank you cards (or anything that requires a stamp).  My wedding thank you cards were way late (by about a year).  My thought on thank you cards is that if you say "Thank you" in person or over the phone then you shouldn't have to send a card unless you feel you want to.

That said, I am shocked by the number of gifts I gave over the holiday season that I did not receive a thank you for.  Since we live so far from family, most of these gifts were not given in person so I would have expected a phone call, text, or even a Facebook message letting me know they got the gift and appreciated it.  Like I said, I'm not picky and could care less about how you say thank you as long as you do.  Most gifts I gave weren't extravagant but the point is that I thought of them, right?  I didn't even get a thank you for some of the checks that were given although I know they got them because they were cashed.

Again, I'm not a stickler for etiquette but "Thank You" should be something that comes as second nature.  Maybe I'm just a little sour because I gave a gift to a kid who shall remain nameless and did not receive a thank you.  Instead, this kid asked me what else I got them.  For the record, this is not the first time that this child did not receive a gift graciously.  I'm not judging the child, nor the parent, and hope this is just a stage that this kid is going through but regardless it was very surprising to witness.

So, I now understand why some people got so mad when my Thank You cards were sent out so late.  It's nice to know a gift you give is appreciated.  I don't give a gift to hear a thank you but it is nice to know that the person received the gift when I wasn't able to give it in person.  And, after witnessing what it feels like to be on the receiving end of an ungrateful kid, I know how important it is to teach Abby to appreciate what others do for her.  So, we started that lesson as soon as we got home by writing Thank You cards to everyone who thought of us during the holidays.  She even signed them in her own special way!  My hope is that by starting early, saying thank you will become natural to her.

So, what is everyone else's take on Thank You cards?  How do you let others know their gift was appreciated?  How do you teach your children to show gratitude?

Happy (Almost) New Year!

With New Years Eve tomorrow night, I've been thinking a lot about my Mom.  New Years Eve is her birthday and we always spent it with her.  As a teenager, I was a little annoyed that I was never able to go to the cool parties with everyone (well, except for once... I had fun... too much fun because I got grounded afterwards).  As an adult, there was no where else I would rather be and I wish I could go back to the days when I was a kid.

Tradition is an important thing in our family.  Now that my Mom is gone we are still trying to find our new groove for the holidays but as a kid we knew where we would be.  As a little kid, we would all go over to my Grandmother's house (my Mom's mom) and have a huge party for New Years.  At midnight we would all be ready with pots and pans.  As the ball dropped, we would run up and down the street making an insane amount of noise and shouting "Happy New Year!"  As kids, we knew we were only allowed to a certain drive way before we had to turn around.

Things were simple.  We just knew where we were supposed to be and what we were supposed to do.  After my Grandmother passed away we continued the tradition of banging pots and pans but slowly the tradition faded.  The parties got smaller as cousins married and started their own traditions.  Even my sibling and I have branched out to do different things.

As is tradition with everyone holiday, I will be spending it with family which is the one thing that remains constant.  The people might be different from year to year, but being surrounded by loved ones stays the same.  Those who can get together do and those who can't are missed.  I know that as the night goes on, I'll be thinking of my Mom and remembering all the childhood memories with a smile.

And who knows... if Abby actually makes it to midnight I may let her bang on some pots and pans to show her how to ring in the New Year right!

I wish all of you a Happy New Year!  Filled with health, wealth, and happiness!

My Hiatus is Over!

Wow... this has been one long hiatus!  Not just from blogging but being on the internet in general.  Aside from a couple quick times I snuck in here and there.  I have to admit, as much as I missed blogging, I have had a great hiatus filled with family and fun.

Abby's first Christmas present from Nonno... a few days early!

My brother, Joe, and sisters, Resa and Katey, relaxing on our new couch!

Abby helped herself to a candy cane while we were baking cookies.

Her first look at what Santa left behind!

She loves her enormous tunnel/ball pit!  Thank goodness we have a large basement!

Today is actually the first day that Abby and I will be in our new home by ourselves.  All of the family is gone and Dan is back to work.  It feels....... quiet.  It's been a long few weeks so I know it's time to get back to normal.  Well, for a few days until we start out on our New Years adventure!

I hope all you had a great holiday!