December 31, 2008 by Amy Jo.

Allison wandered downstairs around 9:30 pm (Mountain Time) on New Years Eve with claims that she was itchy and therefore could not sleep.  So we let her stay up and watch the ball drop in New York on TV with us. 

(Mommy knows that she took a long and well needed nap this afternoon - which is the real reason she couldn’t sleep!) 

We’d been planning on watching the ball drop at 10 pm our time and then heading off to bed.  Mommy has been sick and Daddy is worn out from taking care of Mommy, full time Daddy duty, and end of year work stuff at his “real job”!  So 10 pm was as late as we thought we could stay up.  Ahhh.  Married with children.  We’re so romantic!

Shortly after the ball drop, Carter wakes and starts crying in his bed.  Daddy brought a sleepy Carter downstairs to snuggle while Allison finished up her bowl of popcorn.  (Yes, we gave her popcorn at 9:30 pm - sometimes even we can’t resist the cuteness!)

So, we were all together to ring in the New Year in New York City via cable TV!

I hope you and yours have a
HAPPY and PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!

Posted in Family & Kids | 1 Comment »

December 30, 2008 by Amy Jo.

My newest decoration. 

It looks painted - but it is actually a vinyl sticker that I got at Hobby Lobby.  I have been wanting one for ages!  I have a neighbor who’s an Uppercase Living demonstrator and sells similar expressions.  I’ve ordered a couple of things, but nothing this big and bold!  I love it!

If you haven’t heard of  Uppercase Living, you need to check out their website.  Really cool stuff.  Vinyl lettering that sticks on your wall - looks like it’s painted on, but peals off when you change decor. 

Posted in Crafts | 2 Comments »

December 30, 2008 by Amy Jo.

We have a new baby doll that arrived on Christmas Day. (Thank-you Auntie Kimberly!  Allison loves it!)

The baby’s name?  Playduck.  Yep.  Play-duck.

     ALLISON:  Playduck.  Because she has a duck to play with.

Baby Playduck had a nice warm bath in the sink today.  Then Allison dried her off; Mommy dressed her; and Allison tucked her in for a little nap on the couch.

This evening, after kisses on Playduck’s forehead, Allison, Daddy and Carter have gone out to run an errand (we are dangerously lowon Daddy’s caffeine free diet cola).  Mommy is in charge of Baby Playduck. 

She’s sleeping soundly…  Shhhhh…

Posted in Allison | 3 Comments »

December 27, 2008 by Amy Jo.

ALLISON:  Daddy, do I look any different today?

DADDY:  I don’t know, how would you look different?

ALLISON:  I looked in the mirror and I was a little cuter today.

Posted in Allison | 2 Comments »

December 26, 2008 by Amy Jo.

Posted in Allison | 2 Comments »

December 25, 2008 by Amy Jo.

We went to a 4 pm Mass on Christmas Eve and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights for quite a while.  Carter really loved the lights.  Whenever there wasn’t a house with lights in view, he’d politely say:

More. More, please.

Also, we discovered quite a few light-up reindeer that had some lights not working… sometimes the head wasn’t lit.  Sometimes the body wasn’t lit.  And sometimes there was a small dark patch that only Carter could see.  For all of these reindeer Carter would say:

Broke. Reindeer.

In fact, the broke reindeer were the highlight of the trip!

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December 25, 2008 by Amy Jo.

by Allison
Allison wrote “Ho Ho Ho Ho” on this drawing all by herself!

Allison’s ornament picture from preschool.  Every picture from preschool
is a mug shot… she never smiles for them! 

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December 23, 2008 by Amy Jo.

Here’s my latest knitting project: 

Done just in time for Christmas!
The purple one is for Allison and the blue one is for Carter. 

Check out this link for the pattern:  Prehistoric Pals Dinosaur

Posted in Crafts | 4 Comments »

December 23, 2008 by Amy Jo.

“That’s a sturdy little branch!” Jim said as Carter hung a third ornament from the same Christmas tree branch.

Our Christmas tree this year has most of the ornaments in the bottom front.  Thanks to Carter.  Allison distributed a couple of hers around to the bottom back, but most of hers ended up in the bottom front, too.  Jim and I managed to put a couple ornaments up high in between helping the kids - but for the most part, the ornament distribution is bottom heavy.

I thought of redistributing the ornaments and spacing them more evenly to make the tree perfect (according to my standards).  But when the kids were done, I found that what their little hands had worked so hard to do was perfectly beautiful and I wouldn’t change a thing!

Posted in Family & Kids | 1 Comment »

December 23, 2008 by Amy Jo.

This is a picture of my dad (Pop), my brother (Brian), and my mom (Nana) from 1983 - shortly after Christmas, I think.  I believe they were visiting Chicago to look at colleges for my brother who was a Senior in high school that year.

Posted in Family & Kids | 2 Comments »