Merry Christmas!

~Merry Christmas to You~

Embrace The Camera

Go ahead and hop in front of the camera. It will be nice.

 

 

 Especially do it if you wear an embarassing sweater in public and your child is too young to know it's embarassing. Eventually, they'll think you're embarassing...I can't wait for that day.

Light through the darkness

"We come to realize that we bear responsibility for every child, because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours, that we’re all parents, that they are all our children.
This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.
And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations?
Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?
Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know they are loved and teaching them to love in return?
Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?"
-President Barack Obama

I don't have anything eloquent to say. I'm just sad. I can't make sense of it and none of us ever will. I felt silly blogging about our daily activities when something so horrific was really on my mind. Like most of you, I didn't feel right acting as if nothing happened. As I listened to our President trying to console some of the families that are having to bury their children too soon, I thought about my current situation and what I CAN actually do. There are, literally thousands of families and children that need help and need help NOW.
Let this horrific act be a call to action for every one of us to do what we can, to help those we can and let this shooting save more lives than it took.  
Good will overcome evil. We just need to decide if we will be a part of the driving force for good or if we let fear push us into the darkness.  
Pick a cause. Send money to build a water well in Africa to save THOUSANDS of lives. Adopt or Foster a child that is otherwise guaranteed a life of hardship and void of love. Mentor an adult that has had a life of despair and pain. Empower people to do a skill that will give them a lifelong steady income.
ANY one. Just PICK. Please.
This is the best time of the year to show love to one another. 
Please, help those in need.  
Please, be the light in the darkness. 
 

Getting her in the spirit

This is my GIANT So What!
I have mentioned before that I am a Christmas junkie. My entire life, I have loved everything about Christmas and each year I get a little depressed on December 26th and I have to take down all my decorations and all the gifts I pretended that I liked (kidding! No I'm not). Now that I have a daughter, Christmas has gotten even MORE fun and I am hoping that I can give her that same love of Christmas.
Now, let's just get this out in the open....we DO Santa. I don't think it's going to put my kid in counseling because I "lied" to her during childhood (she will probably already be in counseling because her mom's a kook and pushes Christmas down her throat, but whatever) because Santa is a cool guy. That childhood innocence is gone way too early and I want to embrace it while we still have it. So I taught her Santa Claus songs, we were the first in line to visit him and we talk about him being "nice" and jolly. We will do the Elf on the Shelf when she is old enough to actually name him and we will do ALL the other trends that come around.
We ALSO teach that Christmas is about Jesus' birthday. It's the best birthday party in the world for the most amazing man that ever walked the earth and we tell her that. We teach her that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus and not about the gifts (she's not about the gifts either...she asked Santa for a blue sucker. That's it.). If you ask her who's birthday is coming, she will say, "JESUS!"

All that being said, she loves to sing about Santa...so I let her. And it's freakin' cute.

Making Memories here!

We are out of town for most of our weekends in December, so that means we are cramming in all the "family Christmas time" here while we can get it. That means date night to see Eric Church (he's sorta Christmasy, right? His name is Church....it counts), visits to see Santa, looking at Christmas lights, delivering gifts, having family dinners, making crafts and visiting the "North Pole" at our local Bass Pro shop (welcome to Oklahoma, folks).

 Awkward hand placement on my part. I have no idea why I'm grabbing my own goods.

 When bored with daddy, improvise and make a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

 

We made some delicious Pinterest treats and they were a huge hit! Isabelle LOVED making them and my family LOVED eating only the good side and throwing out the plain pretzel side. Rude little sugar junkies.

 

Santa also listened to my request for Christmas to actually feel like Christmas with some cold weather. Yesterday a cold front blew in and made for a FREEZING morning. It actually IS starting to feel a lot like Christmas! It's a perfect morning in my book when we can enjoy story time together in our jammies, while I drink a fresh cup of coffee and Isabelle drinks some chocolate milk. I could die a happy momma. 

Of course, the cuddle time doesn't last all day and sister HAS to get her wiggles out, so we ventured to Bass Pro to get in some craft time and color some pictures for daddy before Santa came. Isabelle wanted to make sure to be gone by the time Santa showed up for his first shift.

 

You know it's going to be a good day when you park beside Santa's minivan. Who knew Santa drove a minivan to Oklahoma?

 

We had a great weekend and and in true toddler form, it ended with a tantrum, a time out and a wet bed. 

It is not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

It was 80 degrees here yesterday. Call me crazy, but it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you are blasting your Christmas tunes with your sun roof open and still having the AC on. This is the only month out of the year where I prefer it to be cold and I prefer some white stuff to fall on the ground (I almost forgot what it's called since we haven't seen any around these parts for almost 2 years!).
Thank the good Lord for Pinterest, because it has been the only thing that has reminded me that Christmas crafts and decorations are appropriate! I am trying to spread my Christmas cheer to my daughter so we decided to do a craft that I have had pinned for a while. You just put painters tape down on a canvas (Hobby Lobby is selling canvases for $3...you're losing money by NOT buying them) and then have your little one paint all over the canvas. Once the paint is dried, peel off the tape and voila! You have a magical creation! Isabelle's snowflake turned out perfectly, but she wanted to do more colors than just blue. I am a crafting Nazi, so we only did one color, but I think we will do this again and make it rainbow colors and a different design. The possibilities are endless!

You can also do this craft redneck style and use duck tape like we did. It did the job and Mr. T got to feel like he helped out since he always has duck tape on hand.
Come on over and share your idea...I need more things to do. Plus, I feel like I'm actually being productive when I pin things.

I'm late....

On embracing the camera! (Did I fool you?)

 

 

I am embracing the camera with my favorite little anti-model. She is starting to know that I love taking pictures of her, so she either: A)makes a ridiculously fake smile. B) looks directly at the camera without any show of emotion whatsoever or C) hides her face.
During this picture she chose C (usually she does A,B,and C) but I was happy to embrace her hiding because she happened to hug while hiding. I'll take what I can get.
Have a Fun Friday and enjoy your weekend. Please go do Christmasy stuff and get in the spirit people!

So What! Wednesday

  This week I am saying So what!:   That I always become the Christmas Nazi this time of year. After Thanksgiving means that Christmas music is ALWAYS playing and Christmas decorations are out.   That when we were buying a  house, I was thinking about how I could decorate it specifically for Christmas. Now I get to see that dream, a reality. (Did I mention I'm crazy about Christmas yet?)   I have had to take Isabelle to our church preschool a few times (during the week) so that I could run some errands alone and I felt incredibly guilty the entire time. I never thought I would be "that" mom....but now I am. How in the world am I going to drop her off at preschool next year?   That "The Voice" bores me. I liked it when they were still spinning their chairs, but now I think it's boring. I don't really care about any of the singers and they're all awesome, so I don't care who wins. Bring AI back please.   That AS AN ENTIRE FAMILY (of adults) we watched Magic Mike after Thanksgiving dinner. It was easily, the worst movie I've ever seen. Not hot, at all. I repeat, AT ALL. Channing Tatum is now LESS attractive to me for signing up for that movie.   You know what IS a great movie? Elf. I have seen it about 100 times and can recite every word (but I don't...I hate those people), because it's now a Christmas classic.     So, am I crazy? Or is it just me? What are you saying So What! to?    

Making a Difference

 

In the spirit of CyberMonday, why not buy something beautiful and fabulous that is also life giving to the artisans all over the world that make every item?

 Shop Noonday today!

Thanksgiving at the Lake

 This year was the first year we have spent our Thanksgiving at the Lake. Mr. T's family just built a beautiful home on a beautiful Texas lake and it made for the perfect Thanksgiving setting. The best part? I didn't really have to cook much of anything. Store bought pecan pie did the trick and it was easy to carry that on a 6 hour car trip. I did make some of these cute little Pilgrim hats that I found on Pinterst. I thought I did a great job, but Isabelle kept calling them Cowboy Hat cookies. Sister is already really good at calling me out. 

My girl made her daddy proud as she caught 3 big fish on her pink, sparkly, Dora the Explorer Fishing pole. She didn't mind that they were slimy or squirmy, she held on to them like a trophy fisher woman should do (I wasn't there to show her a grossed out face. Fish gross me out...big time).

We had a blast doing a lot of nothing. It is so weird to me when I see Isabelle with her cousins and SHE is the older one. She likes to teach her cousins how to do things and new words to say. She is becoming such a big girl and it's so exciting to see. I am thankful for our little family and I am thankful for such a happy little girl that will be such a great big sister some day.

It's Me!

Don't forget about me over here! I'm here, I promise. Things have just been a tad more chaotic than normal, but I am getting my act together and catching up on this little ol' blog. This time of year is the perfect time of year to reflect on all the "normal" things in life that I forget to be Thankful for. It's wrong and I know it. I know that it's the "little things" that are the important things so I am trying to remember that.

 

 

 I am thankful for a little girl who loves to dress up like a princess, but loves to roll around in the dirt and leaves with her cousins. She enjoys life. Our life is chaotic right now, but she is my constant source of joy. She can always make me laugh and I am always thankful for a good laugh.  

3 Looong, but short years.

Today marks the day that I dragged him down the aisle screaming and kicking married my best bud Mr. T. It has been three years since I made the best decision I have ever made in my life and married my hot, Texas man. We slept more than, ate better, drank more and were a lot more careless. We didn't have the responsibilities that we do now, but those "responsibilities" have made my life complete. A lot has happened in our marriage in three years (including a surprise pregnancy, the baby planning chaos, the baby chaos, toddler life and now growing our family MORE with an adoption journey) but those three years have flown by. I don't know how I did life without Mr. T in it and I am so thankful that I found someone stubborn enough to handle my stubbornness.

Our three years together have been amazing. I love having a partner in life that is strong enough to ride this roller coaster in life together and enjoy every part of the ride (of course I am speaking metaphorically though...Mr. T. HATES roller coasters).  

 Three years ago we were sitting on the beach, relaxing without a care in the world. This year we are going to spend our time at an adoption conference and running a marathon which is quite a change from the beaches of Mexico, but I wouldn't change it for anything. Three years ago, I would never have thought this is where we would be in our life but God has a good sense of humor. He knew we didn't have these specific plans for our life,but His plan is so much better than ours.

Happy Anniversary Mr. T! Here's to many, many more.
You are so lucky you married me...

Roll Tide Roll??

This weekend we left Isabelle at home with her Gram and we took a road trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to watch Texas A&M play the University of Alabama. Mr. T, his sister and brother in law all went to Texas A&M and my other brother in law went to Alabama so we thought it would be a perfect time to get on our game day gear and watch some good football. I did the good wife thing and wore A&M gear (sorta...I'm not really into team gear, but I did wear aggie colors). We had a blast and only got in a few quarrels with other fans (it's funny because I'm not kidding).

 

 

The weather was perfect and the state of Alabama is beautiful with their huge trees and the fall colors. Oklahoma didn't get much of a fall this year because it's been so dry, so our fall colors lasted about 2 days.

The favorite thing about the weekend was getting time with only adults and having adult conversations while knowing that Isabelle is having more fun with her Gram then she would be having with us. Pretty priceless to me.

Momma Lovin

Lately when Isabelle has wakes up from her nap, she just wants to cuddle and be held by me. She takes a while to completely wake up and usually she requires a Dora episode to get her stuff together, but as of lately, she has just wanted me to be with her. Just sit with her. Not talk (that's for sure!), just hold her and brush her hair. I know that this will be a phase that will end, so now I am embracing it.

 

 Maybe tomorrow during our "quiet time" I will teach her some simple manners...

She obviously learns that move from her Papa.

This how we do it.

The party animals hiding from all the lame adults during Isabelle's cousins 2nd birthday party. They are partners in crime...already. I'm so in trouble. But I'm also so thankful for their adorable relationship.

Today is a great day for a little So What! Wednesday. Join me will you?
So What:

• That I watched the election results with my best friend that shares the exact OPPOSITE political views as me. There were no arguments...just lots of wine.
• That my two year old daughter already has a teenage attitude. Case in point: Yesterday she asked if she could watch Dora and I said No. She said, "Ok, then I'm going to cry." Yup. That happend and yup I think I encouraged it more because I died laughing.
• That I am loving this "Fall" weather. The heat this summer really killed my love for warm weather and I am loving the cooler mornings followed by the 70 degree days. Now I know why all the California people are always so happy.
• That I got my husband new running shoes for our 3rd Anniversary. I know, I'm so romantic but he needed new ones and I was being more practical. We are saving money for our Adoption and the last thing I want to do is spend money on something cutesy/lame that he is going to toss after a week. Again, I know. I'm so romantic.
• I thought it would be a good idea to save money and time by giving my dog a haircut myself. I watched a video, bought clippers and prepared myself but now he looks mangy. I brought the clippers back and now he is in a proper grooming salon. Lesson learned.

Please don't laugh at him. It will hurt his feelings.

Thanks

I am Thankful for these guys:

They love each other so much. He will dress like a princess to make her happy and she will give him big smooches to make him happy.
It's the perfect relationship.

Let's not talk about the election.

That's all anyone seems to be talkin' about nowadays and honestly, I'm tired of it. Of course it's important, but I know something that is also very important and let's be honest, you aren't going to be swayed to vote a certain way from reading my blog...and if you are, then I'm scared for our country. So, let's get all updated on one of my favorite times of the year.
This year marked the first year that I wasn't allowed to choose Isabelle's Halloween costume. She got to choose and she DID NOT choose what I would have chosen. 
 I knew the time would come, I just didn't want it so come quickly. There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing adorable kids in costume. It's almost too much for me to handle and I have gotten my fair share of adorable costumes with Isabelle for the past two Halloweens. Last year she had 4 costumes (most were hand-me-downs) and this year I opted for just ONE. I found an adorable little monkey costume at Target that seemed like the perfect choice because it would keep her warm, I call her my little monkey, and she LOVES pretending like she is a monkey. She agreed to it and so we bought it for her.

Then the girl gene kicked in.

About a month before Halloween she suddenly started saying that she wanted to be a princess. I thought it might be a fluke because I didn't even know where she was coming up with the idea. I thought the idea would pass.

It did not.

She was DYING to be a princess and that's all she said she wanted to dress up as. She wouldn't even get NEAR the adorable monkey costume, so I folded. I found a cute Snow White dress and we went for it. She rocked it and wanted to wear it all the time.  
I managed to get her to wear the monkey outfit ONCE by making it a "princess monkey", but that was the end of the ol' monkey outfit.
I asked her if she wanted to be the monkey princess again and she simply stated, "Ummm how about just a Princess".
I knew my dream was over.

I may have "encouraged" her with some candy corn.



When we put her in the red, glitter shoes, she loved it even more. She looked adorable, but it was a little tough for me to see that my little baby is now a little girl with a strong will and opinions on what she wants to wear. I know that she will want to dress like a princess for the next 20 years, so it was sad for me. Tears, I tell ya.  
We had a great time trick or treating with my nephews and niece and we enjoyed our VERY kid friendly neighborhood this year (our old neighborhood was for singles without kids...bummer on Halloween and Christmas).
A perk to having a toddler that trick or treats?
They don't eat all the candy and it's rude to waste candy right?
My gut disapproves, but my heart is oh so happy.

Now, enough with the cute talk...get out there and Vote people!

Update/ November

We are neck deep in the adoption process. We are in a VERY good place, but that also means that we are in a very scary place. There are a million uncertainties around each corner and I would love to open my guts and tell you all about it, but I will save that for another day because right now I'm just not quite ready to share.
There are things that I will keep private from this blog, but our adoption story is not one of those things.
I want to share with you everything and I told myself at the beginning of this journey that I would share everything. I have read several other blogs that encouraged me and I pray that this little ol' blog is a bit of encouragement to you guys, but right now I just have to be honest with myself and say that I'm not ready to share quite yet.  
I promise that I will share everything, but things are still new to me and I need a little time to process a ton of information and let my eyes become less swollen.
Things are good and we are in a good place, but things are complicated.

But now is a perfect time for What I'm Thankful for November. I may be a day late, but who cares? There are no rules around this place.
 

I am thankful for my family.

Just the Three of us. 

When in Paris...

Mr. T and I had a blast while we were in Paris. I have never considered myself a "European traveler", but after visiting the many beautiful sites in Paris, meeting (surprisingly) nice people, I fell in LOVE with the city. Like, literally in love, with the place so much that I was figuring out how we could move there (completely impossible).
I won't bore you with too many pictures of Paris, but it is my blog so you'll have to suffer through some of them....we're like family ya know?

 

We shopped, ate, walked about 100 miles a day, ate, and saw all of the beautiful things that Paris has to offer. We are not really into art, but we LOVED visiting the Louvre, which is where The Mona Lisa lives. We didn't have to wait in line to get in or see her, but we were amazed that she wasn't our favorite piece of art. We rented a listening headset tour (totally looked like lame tourist) and it rocked our world. It was so interesting to hear about the different stories of each piece of art and what makes them so amazing. We are now art enthusiasts! Well....maybe not "enthusiasts", but we do like it more now.

The food was amazing and we tried most of it. We did, however, decide to skip this little number:

 I have the humor of a 7th grade boy. Sorry 'bout that.

While we were shopping around, my worst nightmare came true. As I have said before, Isabelle is OBSESSED with cats. She did not get this gene from me, because I hate them. I am allergic to them and they scare me, but when we saw a street man covered in cats that do tricks, I decided to take one for the team and get a quick picture to show Isabelle. Right after I took the picture, the man appeared in front of us telling us to pay him for the picture. Holy creepy. His face was completely painted white and all I could see were his teeth (that weren't white) and the weird little cats crawling all over him. Mr. T sensed my anxiety and quickly threw money in his little container. We laughed about that for a while, but I am afraid I will never get his face out of my head.

The last night, we explored Paris at night. The sites that we saw during the day became even more beautiful when the sun was down and the lights showed their true beauty. We had a blast just enjoying city and being together, just the two of us. It's not very often that we get to be alone and it was nice to do what we wanted, when we wanted. Our lives have been anything but calm these days, so it was a much needed little break.

 

 

 

You know it's true love when a man, who is afraid of heights, goes to the top of the Eiffel Tower so his woman will be happy (and quit pestering him).

 

 

The trip was a much needed calm before the storm. Because our lives are about to get a whole lot busier....

Preparing

I leave on Friday to meet Mr. T in Paris. I have never been to Paris, or even Europe for that matter, but I can hardly wait! I can't wait to eat croissants at every meal, drink wine like it's water and pretend like I'm Carrie Bradshaw (the episodes that she moves there with the Russian...anyone?). It sounds amazing. Mr. T's parents are coming to stay with Isabelle so she is going to get a little vacay of her own. I have never been this far away from her (or for this long), but I know that we will both have a blast.

This week, I am soaking up the Halloween festivities with her and enjoying precious time with my nephew while my sister and brother in law are out of town. They have the most adorable relationship and since they are both only children, they seem to treat one another like siblings. It's so cute. She copies EVERYTHING he says and he finds wayyy too much enjoyment out of it. He is making her a tiny republican, by constantly asking her if she is for Romney (or as he says it, Rominey) or Obama. When she says Romney, he cheers. When she says Obama, he boos. Quite hilarious that it only took him a month to live in Oklahoma and he is already a flag waving republican.
I won't get into politics, but it's cute no matter who you're voting for.

I will see you in a week or so....maybe by then I'll have a sweet french accent and wear a beret.
One can only hope.