UPDATE!!

Well, folks, here's an update on our Christmas light situation. Bryan felt the need to add another 200 lights to the rooftop today... Here's the "end" result (he says he's done, but I have my doubts... LoL):



We also painted our bedroom today. When Bryan was taping down the drop cloth, he asked for my help. I set Maddy in her rocking chair (but didn't buckle her in), gave her a cup of milk and turned on some Christmas movie that was on TV. Once we got the drop cloth taped down, I realized that we hadn't heard anything from Maddy. I went out to the living room to find this:



As best as I can tell, she was asleep like this for about an hour. It definitely messed up her normal naptime, but we were able to get her back down in her crib for a real nap a little later than normal this afternoon. At the risk of jinx'ing myself, I think this kiddo just might be beginning to figure out this whole nap thing (in addition to the sleep thing)!! Woo Hoo!! :)

Her 3rd canine tooth broke through today, so that leaves us with just ONE MORE TOOTH!!! Well, one more until the 2 and 5 year molars come in. I think that deserves a big ole ginormous WOO HOO!!! :)

Other than those activities today, I cleaned out our pantry... throwing away anything that has been in there a long time (we must not like it or want it... or at least that's my thought process)...

We've gotten everything on our to do list completed this weekend, and I couldn't be more thrilled!! We're hoping for a relaxing day tomorrow!! I hope all of you have had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I know ours has not only been good, but we have been SUPER productive!!!

Love you guys!! :)

YAY for Christmas Decorations!!

What did I do on my Thanksgiving vacation?? Well, I'm glad you asked... (And even if you didn't, I'm going to tell you anyway. LoL.)

Bryan and I got up this morning (along with Maddy and Nash), and we CLEANED the house TOP-TO-BOTTOM!!! Our house was beginning to be a bit of a bio-hazard, so I suggested that we do something about it. Bryan happily obliged, and we got to work. We were completely finished before lunch!!

After we cleaned, we headed to Lowe's to get some painting supplies, and left with a couple of small items to help with a project that I'll mention in a bit... AND $100 worth of Christmas lights, etc. to decorate outside!!! :)

Once we got home, we had a little lunch and put Maddy down for a nap. Then, these 2 little elves (Bryan and myself) got busy decorating. Here's the end result..




This is Maddy cheesing with the Santa-in-an-Airplane inflatable my mom sent Bryan for his birthday. She really seems to like it, AND does the sign for airplane when she looks at it. LoL. :)

Well, I use the term "end result" loosely. Apparently, I married a Grizwold, and we'll be heading back to Lowe's tomorrow for some additional lights for the roof line... LoL. If/when we do that, I'll post a few more pictures.

Maddy slept for almost TWO HOURS today. That's some kind of a record for her!!! She's not a great napper, but it seems as though she's making some improvements!! Can I get a WOO HOO?? :)

Once we were finished outside, I got busy inside the house!! We don't have a lot to decorate inside, but I put up what we have and am satisfied for now. Here are a couple of pictures of our favorite decorations:


This is MY favorite decoration. This is something that we had when we were growing up. There's a little bear who is trying to figure out what Christmas is (he's usually hibernating all winter), so every day he looks somewhere different... Everyday we'll have to move him to a different place on the house. Maybe he'll figure it out by Christmas!! :)

These are our stockings... which are hung by the TV with care. LoL. As was previously mentioned, we do not have a fireplace, so I bought this neat stocking hanger from Kirkland's. The stockings are Bryan's, mine, Maddy's and Nash's. I know... Poor Nash... Always gets the short end of the stick. LoL. :)


This is BRYAN'S favorite decoration!! This is his Nashville Predator's wreath that is adorning our front door. :)

It's been a lot of fun decorating this year. We didn't decorate at all last year, and we've never had a Christmas tree in this house, so it's been a lot of fun!!

The tree will be coming in a week or so. I know that it'll be a challenge to keep Maddy away from it, so I don't want to do it too early, but I still want us to be able to enjoy it. We just have to find the right time to put it up. :)

Tomorrow, we're going to paint our bedroom. We're going to do the same color that it already is, but it'll just be a fresh coat. I hope to also get the pantry cleaned out and organized this weekend, then work on a couple of special gifts for a couple of special people... I'm pretty excited about these gifts. I hope they like them!!

I guess that's it for now!!

Love you guys!! I hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving. We missed our families, but still had a great day!!

Talk to you later!! :)

I'm Done With Texas!!

Just a little note to let anyone who cares know that I'm officially over Texas... Last night, I noticed a postcard-size advertisement on the ground on my front porch, so I thought I should go out and pick it up before it blows away and litters someone else's front porch. I saw what I thought was a piece of rope next to one of my pumpkins that's decorating my porch. Oh, but wait, that rope is moving... Oh yeah, that's right... It was a SNAKE!! I screamed, Bryan hung up the phone with his parents (who he was talking to at the time... sorry about that), and he came running. He went out to the shed in the backyard and got the garden hoe, but was unable to get it before it slithered into the bushes in front of the house... We never found him again... So, now, I have a nasty rattlesnake living in my front bushes!! And, yes, Bryan (who knows a great deal more about snakes than I do) verified that it was, indeed, a rattlesnake!! That makes the SECOND snake I've seen and we've not been able to kill since this spring... I'M DONE!!!

Thank you for listening to me rant... You may no go on about your business!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

No, we haven't started decorating yet (maybe this weekend, though)... I am just ready for the holidays to start!! I've bought the turkey, which is supposed to be defrosting in the fridge. I say "supposed to" because I put it in there yesterday, and it's still hard as a rock. I think Mr. Tom Turkey will be taking a bath in the sink for a little while tomorrow... He needs a little help taking the chill off!!! :)

I've also bought a few Christmas presents already. Do you think I've bought yours yet? The world may never know! ;) I will admit to buying a few things for Maddy already!! I'm SUPER STINKIN EXCITED about those purchases!!! No, I won't be posting any pictures or divulging what said purchases are until after Santa comes. He might out-do me this year, so I want to wait and see what he brings!! :)

I'm very ready to start my holiday baking, but I'm afraid it might be a little early for that (I'd like for there to still be some cookies by Christmas)... I think, though, I've come up with a plan so that I can do that while Maddy's awake. I'm going to try very hard to let her help me. I know that it's going to take 10 times longer, but who cares?? For that little girl, I have ALMOST all the time in the world!!! If all else fails, I thought I could put her in her high chair with some dough and a cookie cutter and let her play... Again, who cares?!?! It's Christmas for crying out loud!!! :)

So, yes, the spirit has hit me!!! Bryan, Maddy, Nash and I are going to stay home this year and just be us... our little family. Bryan and I have never stayed at home for Christmas (we've always traveled to one family or another), and Bryan, Maddy and I have never all been together for Christmas before... EVER!! We thought this year would be a good time to start. We're going to start some new traditions this year. Some ideas we've thrown out are these:

(1) Everyone gets to open one present on Christmas Eve, but, strategically, that ONE present will just HAPPEN to be new PJ's. (Secretly, I really want us all in snazzy jammies for the pictures on Christmas morning... Shhh... Don't tell anyone!!)

(2) I will be wrapping everyone's Christmas gifts in different paper (each person will have his/her own paper). No packages will have any nametags on them, then on Christmas morning, everyone will open his/her stocking first. At the bottom of each stocking will be a small piece of wrapping paper that will indicate which gifts belong to each person. This is a tradition that a friend of ours in Mississippi did. There were 4 or 5 children in the family, and this kept everyone from sneaking a peek before the big day. No one cared about anyone else's gifts!! :)

(3) We'll read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve as a family. We did this when I was a kiddo (ok, so I was distraught when I was 20-something and someone finally said they didn't want to do it anymore), so I think now that I have a kiddo of my own is a good time to reinstate this tradition! Thankfully, Bryan agreed!! :)

Tomorrow, I plan to go out and buy a stocking holder. You see, our dilemma is that we do not have a fireplace (who needs a fireplace in TEXAS??), so we have no where to hang our stockings. I found a really neat decorative stocking holder at Kirkland's, so I'll be making that purchase tomorrow (hopefully)!

So, I think I've rambled on enough for now... Maddy's sleeping and I'm WORN OUT!! We're just counting down the days until the first holiday of the season!! I hope to blog again to tell everyone about Maddy's first Thanksgiving that she's able to enjoy and interact. Let's face it, a 6 week old really doesn't "get it", so last year was a bit of a bust for Maddy!!

I hope everyone is getting as excited as I am for the holidays!! What are some of your family's traditions? I'd love to hear them... Maybe we'll incorporate them into our family!!

Love you guys!! :)

Birthday Celebratin and a Little Chuckle

Bryan got home last night from what seemed like the LONGEST. WEEK. EVER. We were SO thrilled to have him home again!! We're hoping he sticks around for a little while this time... At least until February, when we know he'll have to leave (we are already mentally preparing).

After he got home, he opened his birthday gifts. Maddy was a HUGE help!! ::WINK WINK:: Once Bryan opened the birthday card from me (which played music), Maddy was off to play the music incessantly. LoL. Here are a few pictures from the opening of the gifts:


This is a birthday card from Bryan's Granny:


This is season 1 of the TV show "Eureka" that Bryan really likes from Grandmom & Grandpop:



Check out that extreme concentration... Like father, like daughter:



Quick tickle break!! :)


LOOK! Maddy got a hat from Daddy's birthday!!


I realized that I didn't take very many pictures of the actual gifts after they were opened. My parents sent him a huge blowup decoration for the front yard that is santa in an airplane. Once we get it set up (sometime after Thanksgiving), I'll be sure to post some pictures of it. He also got a few more DVD's, a video game, a small safe for his handgun, a digital picture frame and a couple of other things. A few weeks ago when Bryan was in Nashville, his parents bought him a new Predators hockey jersey. I don't have any pictures of that either, but he was thrilled with that surprise!! :)

After he opened his gifts, I made Schnitzel for his birthday dinner. Ever since his trip to Germany last Christmas, he's been asking me to make it. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I think it was pretty good for an All-American girl!! :)

This morning, we decided to let Maddy give using a spoon another try. She did much better this time than when we tried it with the peas when we were in Little Rock this summer. This time, we let her try oatmeal (in hopes that it would stick to the spoon). LoL. Here's our end result:




I hope that brought a little chuckle to your day. If she seems a little out of it, it's because she's had a runny nose for a few days, and woke up this morning with a cough. We're headed to the doctor in a bit to make sure that it's nothing to worry about (and that it's not contagious).

Hope everyone's week is getting off to a good start!! Love you guys!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!

Today, my husband got OLD... HaHaHa. Just kidding. Today was his birthday. Since he couldn't be here to celebrate with us, Maddy made a sign for him, and had me take her picture with it. Here she is:



We had a couple of friends over tonight for dinner. With it being Friday night, none of us whose hubbies are gone wanted to be alone, so Maddy and I provided dinner and my friend Diana provided a fantabulous dessert. After dinner, Maddy and Charlie took a picture together to share with their daddies (who are together on this trip). At first Maddy wasn't so sure about sitting so close to Charlie and him having his arm around her. He IS 2 after all... an older man...


She became more okay with it, though... I think they're pretty good buds!! :)


Bryan should be home by the end of the weekend, and we couldn't be more excited!! :) We're going to celebrate his birthday when he gets home!!

Until next time... Have a GREAT weekend everyone!! Love you guys!! :)

WOW...

...2 blogs in one week?!?! That's a recent record, for sure...



Per Uncle Jim's request, here's a video of Maddy walking. Uncle Jim, she's pretty quick, and our house is pretty small, so it's tough to get far enough away from her, get set up and film any length of footage before she's caught up to me. LoL. Here goes:






Here's another short video of our body parts that we've been learning:






Here are a couple of photos of the world's cutest 1 year old!! :)


Miss America with her "purse" around her neck:



This is the "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit" look. LoL...



"CHEEESE"



HaHaHa...



Hangin out in the swing...


I'll leave you with one last video of Maddy walking outside. Sorry the video ends so abruptly, but she was taking off for the dog's water bowl, and, let's be honest, THAT'S GROSS!!! ENJOY!! :)




I hope your week is coming to a nice close!! Love you guys!! :)

Back By Popular Demand

I recently received a rather threatening message on Facebook about my lack of blogging lately. Since it made me a little nervous as I know the poster meant business, I thought I'd blog... This one's for you, Kelly!! ;) Love ya! :)


First, I'd like to show my proof that my kid is the smartest kid EVER (not that I'm biased or anything):





Next, I'd like to show you what Bryan's hard work at work (so I can stay home) has taught our daughter:



That's right Sheniqua... You've got some serious competition coming your way... She's even got the ghetto booty (thanks to her diaper) to back up the "Momma Sayz" moves! HaHaHa...

I have not had time to take a whole lot of pictures lately. We've been "doing" rather than sitting back and watching... Bryan has also been gone quite a bit. I joke that he's been coming home just long enough for me to do his laundry, feed him a couple of home-cooked meals, then he's out the door again. He's in Little Rock this week. We miss him A LOT, but I was told last night that this will hopefully be the last trip for a little while, and there may only be one or two more until he deploys in February. THAT, my friends, is something we just don't talk about right now. None of us are ready for a 4 month separation, but that's what we signed up for... Kind of...

I'll try to do better about blogging and keeping everyone up to date on our lives. In the mean time, Evil Kineval is standing in her rocking chair, so I should probably go intervene... :)

One last thing... We're having "sleep bootcamp" at our house right now. It seems as though Miss Maddy, at the ripe old age of 13 months, has not yet figured out how to sleep on her own or get herself back to sleep if she wakes up, so this Momma is having to let her figure it out on her own. It's not been very pleasant for any of us, but we've made some major progress... Keep us in your prayers that the progress continues!! :)

Ok, well, I didn't stop her from standing in the rocking chair, and now she's tormenting Nash, so I really do need to run!

Love you guys!!

P.S. Did anyone else receive a threatening message because I'm SURE that I'm not the only one who hasn't blogged in a while...