I'm pooped.

We just got home from DC. Traveling with a kid is always hard, but I kept thinking, especially as we were going through security "holy crap. we're going to have to do this with two kids in a few months. YIKES!" We had a wonderful time visiting the Riley fam in Washington D.C. I will post about it soon.

Listen to what happened to Devin's poor little sister, Caitlyn. She wanted to go work at Spring Canyon (Buena Vista, CO) for a week. Some friends hooked her up with a friends and family Southwest ticket. Unfortunately those tickets are standby so she flew out to Chicago to get on a flight to Denver. She sat at the Chicago airport from early in the morning until 9 at night because all of those flights were too full to get on. Then she found out she would not get on a flight until Thursday, so she flew back home to D.C. I love you Caitlyn! I hope you can get to Colorado....

Merry Christmas!

Devin's brother, Darren, is in Iraq. We thought he needed to be in the family picture.

I miss you other family (celebrating in Phoenix). Don't drink too much of Papa's eggnog tonight! 

Christmas Movies

Jeni blogged about Christmas movies and I thought I'd take a minute to blog about some of my faves/least faves.

Faves:

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: ultimate favorite. There's nothing better.
Elf: This movie is just so great. "I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!"
Miracle on 34th Street: any version, but I like the 90s version (the girl with the lisp) the best.
Love Actually: I know it's sort of inappropriate at times, but it always makes me cry and it's hilarious.
The Muppets Christmas Carol

Good, but I'm burned out:

It's A Wonderful Life: I honestly don't think I could watch that one this year. It's just too depressing!

The Christmas Story: TBS ruins it by playing it over and over and over again.

Least Faves:

Frosty the Snowman

A Christmas Carol (my mom loves the old school version and begs to watch it every year, but unfortunately we always fall asleep).

One movie I have never seen, but absolutely refuse to watch no matter what is The Christmas Shoes. I don't care how adorable Rob Lowe is or how much I loved him in the West Wing. NO!


So far our vacation to D.C. has been very relaxing and fun! The flight over here was pretty uneventful. At one point Addison's ears started to really hurt, but I kept her happy with gummi Lifesavers (aka "circle treats") and that seemed to distract her. She's having a lot of fun with Devin's parents and brothers and sisters, and is totally showing off for them.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Office Party

I was look forward to Devin's office parties every year. They always have great food, you can wear jeans, everyone is super nice and it's always fun to see how each floor decorates for the Christmas Floor Decorating Contest each year. This year Devin's floor won hands down. His gingerbread Wal-Mart was the big hit. He spent over 6 hours working on it last night (but was happy as a clam the whole time). We decided to bring Addison to the party this year. She was pretty good, except refused to eat any of the food (even though it was manicotti, something she'd normally like) but still wanted sips of my diet A&W and a cookie. Normally I would refuse to let her have a cookie unless she ate something else first, but who wants to ruin a perfectly good party with a tantrum over manicotti? So she had that cookie, then a few minutes later Linda (the HR lady) gave her another frosted cookie. Then we went upstairs, where Addison had fun playing with this fisher price tool set that someone had included as part of the decoration upstairs until it was time to go. We said goodbye to Devin (he stayed to play poker) but Addison threw herself on the floor in a heap when it was time to go (right in front of Linda's office) and she came out and said "Does someone need some M&Ms?" I wanted to say "Oh dear Lord no more sweets!", but no one likes those moms. So Addison got a cup full of m&ms on top of the cookies and pop she already had.

Oh well. It's Christmas. :)

Addison gave me another indicator that she has no interest in potty training as of yet. I was upstairs using the bathroom and I heard her say "I need to go potty too!" I got so excited, so I immediately came downstairs to where she was playing with stickers and said "Want me to go get your potty Addison?" She said "No thanks. I already went." and continued playing.

Here are some pictures from Devin's floor at work: Their theme was "Santa's Workshop: Building Wal-Marts for good little boys and girls."

Parenting 101 aka "Please don't fire me Kyle and Julie!"

I really should have known better than to leave Addison and Celia downstairs to their own devices, even though it was only for a few minutes. I started to get a little nervous when it was quiet, but as soon as I heard "crinkling" I ran downstairs. Too late.

So much for the chocolate advent calendar. Thanks anyway Leigh Ayn!
I really shouldn't have encouraged Addison (the culprit) by taking these pictures, but I couldn't help myself.















I honestly can't believe how quickly they ate those things. I know they're really small, but I was seriously only emailing for, like, 5 minutes!














Oh, and don't worry. They're sitting here next to me as I type.
Wow. I've learned a lot of lessons this week. Thank goodness tomorrow's Friday!

Mmmmm....

Right now I am drinking my Trader Joe's Wintry Blend coffee (THANK YOU LEIGH AYN!) with Peppermint Mocha Creamer and life is good.

It would be better if I didn't have the Wonder Pets theme song stuck in my head as I type this. "What's gonna work? TEAM WORK!"

Another dose of humility

I always seem to have to go to the grocery store in really bad weather. Today was no exception. Thankfully the girls were really, really good. It only sucked when the cashier had scanned all my groceries and I realized I left my wallet out in the car. Arrghh...I'm such a scatterbrain. I was proud of myself for exhibiting self-control and only doing two stores (they're right next to each other) when I knew deep down inside I could go to Aldi as well and pay much less. Sometimes it's worth it to pay a little more, like when you've got two toddlers with you and there's a blizzard outside! I was really excited, though, because I got all the stuff I needed to make our meals for the week (plus some stuff for when we get home from our trip to DC) as well as staples and I still have $10 left in my weekly budget! That almost never happens to me.

Do you ever do nice things for people out of the secret hope that they'll fall all over themselves with gratitude? As the rest of you Kansas Citians know, it snowed a lot today. I thought it would be super nice of me to shovel the driveway for Devin because he had to work late. I didn't think he'd want to come home at 7 or 8 pm and have to immediately go out in the dark and shovel the driveway. PLUS I thought it be freaking awesome for him to pull into the driveway to see his wife out there shoveling away, 30 weeks pregnant. GRRRRRR! Well he missed me out there. I finished up (DISCLAIMER: If I had felt any kind signal from my body that I was overdoing it I would have stopped, but it really wasn't too bad) and made some dinner for Addison and me. About an hour later I heard the garage door open! He's home! Let the rejoicing and groveling begin! Yeah that never happened. He said "Did you shovel the driveway?" I said "YEP!" nodding proudly. He said "Oh. Thanks!" and that was the end of that.

To be honest? I'm glad he reacted that way (in hindsight). The whole point of doing something nice for someone is the sacrifice that it takes to do it, not the glory you receive. Another lesson that it's not all about me.

So when is this ice storm supposed to start? I'm a little nervous about it because I have to work really late tomorrow night. I don't mind driving in the snow, but I HATE driving on icy roads, especially at night.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland?

I sold another book on amazon on Thursday. I flipped out last night because I didn't see the Sold! Ship Now! email from amazon because I get about 10 junk emails from amazon every day. I knew if I sent the book out priority mail this morning it'd get there pretty fast, so I get the girls bundled up, grocery menu planned, gym clothes on, etc. and we go out to the car.

Problem: Devin forgot to take the carseat out of his car so Celia could use it (don't get too mad at him. We were out late last night and had a busy weekend).

Ok no grocery store. Whatever. No gym (ehh....not that big of a sacrifice, really).

But I HAD to go to the post office. I had to mail out that book. It's, like, a 1/2 mile away, so I figured we'd take a "Winter Walk."

I know now that it is 8 degrees outside. I did not know that when we left.

Yes. This was a STUPID idea. I know that now, but I honestly did not have a choice. I get the girls extra bundled in hats, gloves, fleece blankets (they looked pretty cute), etc. and set them up in the stroller. The whining started about 5 minutes into the walk. I wish Celia had not been taught to say "I'M FREEEEEZING!" because she said it the whole time. Addison just sat there, looking miserable. They were happy as long as I was singing, so you can probably imagine me out there breathlessly singing

"The...wheels...on...the bus...go...round...and round..."

We made it there (thankfully it only took about 10 minutes to walk there)and mailed the book. If only this person in South Dakota knew the sacrifice I went through to mail her a slightly used copy of "Teaching With Love and Logic." It was the walk home that really sucked. Both girls started crying and continued crying even inside the house.

My birthday gift from Eric was sitting outside against the door. It was a bottle of what looks like really good Italian wine. There are only 3 reasons that entire bottle has not been consumed by now.

1. I am 30 weeks pregnant
2. Being completely drunk may somewhat affect the way I take care of Addison and Celia today.
3. I'm not an alcoholic.

I had a Krispy Kreme donut instead.

Lesson: Hell might be a lot like a winter walk with two 2 year olds. Except this version of hell would be a lot colder (8 degrees to be exact).

Lesson Two: It would have been worth the negative rating to stay at home. Duh.

__________________________________________________________________

Do you know how many places give you free stuff on/around your birthday (just sign up for their emails)? I had several coupons and I used them all this weekend! :)

Houlihans: Free entree (anything)
Red Robin: Free burger
Sheridans: Free shake, concrete or sundae (they have a drive-thru if your bday happens to fall in December but you still want a chocolate malt)
Banana Republic Card: $15 coupon (Devin got a really nice sweater at the outlet for free. No tax or anything!)

Thanks for all your wonderful birthday wishes! I felt so special this year. It was wonderful.

Because I might forget to write it down somewhere...

I was making chicken sandwiches w/ sweet potato fries for dinner last night (it was my creative effort to use up some chicken and hamburger buns) and Addison was "helping me" dredge the chicken in flour and egg to pan fry. That day for breakfast we had made french toast, so when she saw me dip the chicken in the egg she asked

"Is mama making french chicken?"

Ha ha ha ha!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

AMANDA just sent me a Starbucks giftcard for my birthday! THANK YOU AMANDA! That made my day. And yes, I am fully aware of the fact that my birthday is not until Saturday, but opening cards early doesn't count right? I was actually thinking that it might have been some really important news about the Washburn family. Because that comes in a purple card. ;)

And you know what? Because you made me feel so happy and loved, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it:

THANK YOU SWEET FRIEND!

heh heh.

Snuggie

I've always wanted to buy stuff on infomercials. I will say that I have never bought one single thing from an infomercial, but I'm always tempted. That steam mop commercial gets me every time. Normally Devin just rolls his eyes or laughs at me, but when he saw the Snuggie commercial he said he wanted one of those too.

You know what I'm talking about?


















Can't you just see us sitting on the couch next to each other with our Snuggies on? Ha ha ha! Unfortunately Dave Ramsey was making fun of them on his show today. Dave, I agree with you on most things, but what's not to like about a Snuggie? They're awesome. At least they look awesome on tv.

___________________________________________________________________

I had a very frustrating coupon day. First I forgot to use two of my 75 cents off coupons at CVS today. I hate it when that happens. It drives me insane.

Then I got all crazy excited over this detergent deal over at Walgreens. I bought two things of laundry detergent for $1 each. They're normally $6.99, so I was ecstatic. Yes I get excited about things like laundry detergent. I'm weird.

I paid for them, happily walked back to my car and then it occurred to me that I have a front loading washer. I have to use "special" detergent. I guess regular detergent foams up too much and can ruin your clothes and the washing machine. DANG!

So yes, I went back and returned the detergent. What can I say, except I have no pride anymore. I needed that stupid $2 and didn't want to waste it on something that I couldn't use (plus I honestly thought it might be nice to put it back on the shelf for someone who could legitimately use it). I hate it when I end up wasting time like that because I'm not paying attention.

Argh.

Oh, and one more thing. I totally have pregnancy fat face. It has returned with an awful vengeance. I'd be more upset, except I just found out that one of my close friends has MS. Pregnancy fat face is pretty low on the list of bad things to happen to a person. In fact, it shouldn't belong on a list at all.

Good night!

I will admit that I totally stole this off of someone else's blog, but I thought it was really cool:

Christmas!

Here are a couple of pictures of some of our little decorations. Sometimes I wish my house was decorated more like something out of Southern Living or House Beautiful, but those people don't have toddlers that mess with all their stuff. Plus they have lots of money. Plus I just don't care that much! At least people can feel comfy over at our place. I don't freak out if you spill something!














That's our cute little tree. We just don't have a big enough living room for a normal one. Andria, that's why your suggestion of putting my 8' Santa in the living room won't work. That apartment complex across the street is the reason for my trepidation about sticking Santa out there. I have a feeling he might get stolen.















We don't have a fireplace. Santa will have to come through the air vent or something.














One of my former 6th grade students made that little light thing for me one year. That's one of the beauties of having a house that does not look like a catalog: you give me something for Christmas, I'll display it!















There they are in all their bright and shining glory! The only one I'm missing is Santa. The snow monster actually roars and plays music. We have to limit Addison to playing it in her room, and only in the afternoon so our neighbor won't hate us. Addison and Celia watched the movie yesterday and loved it.

We also have a beautiful Willow Tree nativity scene. I love it.

So let's talk some more about Christmas songs. Your favorites? The ones you absolutely detest?

Here are my faves:
1. Little Drummer Boy by Josh Groban.
2. The Entire Mariah Carey Christmas cd
3. O Holy Night by Point of Grace
4. Emmanuel by Michael W. Smith (mock away Eric)
5. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. Yes, I'm serious. "Should we open up her gifts or send them back? SEND THEM BACK!" The highlight was when I played it in the car while running errands with the girls and Celia goes "I like this song!"

There are many, many more.

Here are the ones I will turn off immediately or run to the backroom at work and skip.

1. Christmas Shoes
2. Mary Did You Know? (I think I've just heard it sung really badly too many times at the chapel growing up)
3. TLC singing "Sleigh Ride"...it's as awful as it sounds.
4. Any Christmas song "cool jazzified" on 98.1

I bet I could think of more. What are your suggestions?

For Amanda

Just a little background:
Second to Christmas Shoes, this is the cheesiest song ever in the world. That didn't stop Amanda and me from playing it non-stop and dancing around our dorm room in Moore Hall the whole Christmas season. Good memories, my friend.

Sunday Stuff

Tonight at church they were doing baptisms. I recognized a husband and wife that I used to work in Van Zile (K-State) with, except they weren't husband and wife back then. It was really special to watch them get baptized together.

Our pastor told us tonight that his daughter is pregnant. She was worried the church wouldn't accept her, or handle it well. When he told us what he told her "that the church would accept her with grace and love" everyone started clapping and cheering. That made me proud. We've all done pretty stupid stuff. If you haven't, I've done enough stupid stuff to cover for you. I'm thankful for a savior that forgives all the stupid stuff and lets us start over again. New. I feel like I sometimes have to start over again every 20 minutes some days.

Westside is a very special church. I'm so thankful to have found it. Did I ever tell you that I put off going there for several months because "oh no. Westside was one of those K-State churches that I kept hearing about over and over and over again. Westside this, Westside that, bla bla bla. God forbid I join a bandwagon!" Sometimes my pride gets me into some serious trouble. I'm glad I didn't listen to it for very long.

Ok now I'm just procrastinating. I have to clean the kitchen and I realllly don't want to. I wish I could pay my kid some allowance to do it. ;)

I love presents.

Most of you know that I like to open my presents early. In fact, my wonderful mother-in-law learned to send my birthday presents to Devin's work because I have a tendency to dive in as soon as they come in the mail (insert big toothy grin here). My aunt always tries to write in big, bold black writing DO NOT OPEN TIL YOUR BIRTHDAY (or Christmas). She even adds I KNOW HOW YOU ARE! I was pretty good last year. I opened them up the night before. That counts, right?

Well one thing you may not know is that I seriously get equally or more excited for people to open gifts that I give them. I often try to convince people to open their gifts right away. It's just too exciting to wait! I'm like a little kid "WELL, DO YOU LIKE IT?! WHAT DO YOU THINK?! HUH?!, nearly hyperventilating before them when they do. My mom never gives in. Neither does Aunt Shel. Devin always gives in. Last night I bought him one of his presents (a pair of headphones for running) and gave them to him. Honestly, his headphones broke and he has been using mine for the past few weeks, so I did want him to be able to start using them. My intentions were pure! Well now there's someone else who will gladly open a present early: my two year old daughter Addison! Yes! Would this be taking advantage of her limited development? Probably. Technically they weren't her real Christmas presents; just a new pair of jeans and some sparkly red shoes ($11 for both at Baby Gap...love my job!) to wear for Christmas. But she was so excited! She kept saying "I love my red shoes!" and hugging me and Devin, and doing that over and over again. Devin told me I should have given them to her after they went to the gym, and sure enough, the new red shoes were on her feet when they left the house!

This season is a lot of fun.





















P.S. Amanda do you remember back in college when we gave each other our Christmas presents Thanksgiving weekend? ;)

Here's one more fun picture for you from yesterday when I watched my friend Kelly's daughter, Elise. They made a little picnic!

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,
Because I found out today that you read my blog, it is therefore official that you love me more than mom. And I forgive you for teasing me about drinking ONE glass of wine.

Love,
Your daughter

I love Kansas. And senior citizens.

I was at one of my favorite places today, Orowheat Bread Outlet, to use my monthly b1g1 free coupon out of valpak (if you don't need yours, give it to me! I'll use it!). I know I'm being a wise shopper because all of the places I choose to shop are filled with cute old people (Aldi, Hy-vee, and now the bread outlet). Well one particularly cute old lady came up to me with a stack of punch cards (you get a free loaf of bread when you fill one up) that were all filled in. She told me that she wanted to give me a couple of them to use. I told her that she didn't have to; that she could just use them again next time, but she insisted and said "Merry Christmas!" So thanks to her generosity (and my b1g1 free coupon) I was able to get 2 loaves of whole grain bread and 2 packages of whole grain hamburger buns for only $1.89 AND I'll be able to go back again next month and do the same thing (they only let me use one of the punch cards). That made my day. So thank you, you cute old lady. I promise to do the same thing for someone else if given the opportunity.

I sold a book on amazon. It sold in less than 20 minutes! Selling things is fun. What else can I sell? I am tempted to sell Roxy because she threw up on the carpet again.

I am also excited about some of the Christmas presents I've found for my family this year. I don't think my mom reads my blog (in fact, I am also sure she doesn't. Neither does my husband. Where is the love?!) but I better not say just in case. Let's just say googling for online promo codes and then having them work is even more fun than selling things!

Today was a good day!

Toddler Instincts

I've been getting off work an hour later because of extended mall hours, so when I get home my "let's party" switch turns on and I have a very difficult time settling down to go to sleep. Going on the internet makes it even worse, but that didn't stop me from hanging out on here til 1:00 am. I was still wide awake, so I thought I'd take a bath and maybe that would calm me down. I went to bed at 1:30. At 2 a.m. I awaken to the pitter patter of little footsteps down the hall and into my room. When I look over, my 2 year old says "HI MAMA!" She must have thought it was morning. Devin and I have a rule to makes the whole kid in your bed thing a little easier: if it's before 5 a.m. she has to go back to her bed; after 5 a.m. she can stay in our bed. I led her back to bed (she was mad. She really did think it was morning). Before I left she said "I want to pray." Ok. Can't turn that down. Addison knows the stalling techniques that work with mom. :)

I think I need to re-start my "go to bed earlier" plan.

Ok friends and stalkers,
I need some really good tips for having a toddler and a newborn. I started watching Celia when she was itty bitty (Addison was 8 months old), but she always goes home around 5, so I know I'll be in for some surprises. Give me your best advice!

Santa

The whole Santa Clause situation has been on my mind a lot lately. This quote from one of my favorite blogs, Stacy From Louisville made me laugh:

Perhaps one of the most hotly debated issues around Christmas is whether or not, as Christians, we're supposed to tell our children about Santa. You know as well as I do that this determines your worth as a parent.It's kind of like the whole Amy Grant situation. As the years pass, I can't remember if we're still supposed to be mad at her or not. To El Shaddai or not El Shaddai; that is the question. Same with Santa.

This was my original thought, that I thought was so profound: "If we tell Addison now that both Santa and Jesus are real and Santa turns out to be fake, how can she know that Jesus is real?"

When I took my profound thought to Devin he said "Well how is that any different from The Backyardigans and Barney?"

Uh....good point.

Then I realized that my profound thought from above wasn't so profound because just about every other Christian parent probably has the same thought. Dang! Here's another funny quote from the same post:

Once, in a women's group, I mentioned taking my kids to visit Saint Nick. As soon as I said it, one mom said, "We choose not to lie to our children. If we lie to them about Santa they'll think we're lying about Jesus. Then where would we be?" She made a good point. As my kids and I keyed her Mercedes later that day I couldn't help but wonder if my children would be scarred for life because of Santa Claus? Was I doing irreversible damage? I lost a good 20 minutes of sleep that night wondering...


So Santa stays in the Riley house! Why? BECAUSE IT'S FUN! Just like my extremely tacky...err..whimsical collection of stuffed Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer characters that must be displayed prominently in the house every Christmas. I don't think we'll make this gigantic deal out of Santa because I really do want the focus for Addison to be on Jesus (thankfully she has about 4 or 5 different nativities from both grandmothers so this shouldn't be a problem!) but to avoid Santa like the plague seems a little overly dramatic and silly to me.

After holiday letdown

Do any of you get depressed when the holiday weekend is over? I always get really sad when Christmas ends (no more music, decorations, gift giving, etc.) but today I was kind of in a funk because Thanksgiving was over. I loved getting to spend all that time with Devin and my family, especially my brother who lives in Denver. He's very attractive by the way for any of you single ladies out there. Plus you get me as a sister-in-law which, in my opinion, is the ultimate prize. ;) I think I may have overheard him teaching Addison about evolution when he was playing with Play-doh with her....

My pie making venture turned out pretty great, but the Pumpkin Pie Cake was (and always is) the hit of the dessert menu. It looks like a pumpkiny blob in a 9x13 pan, but tastes like manna from heaven (or realistically probably a lot better). So thank you once again, Amanda for that wonderful recipe.

The rest of the weekend was spent working and hanging out. On Sunday Devin, Addison and I spent the entire day together which was great. We went to spin class (yep I made it through the whole class, taking it pretty easy of course) First Watch (you can get a free entree if you sign up for their email club) for breakfast, watched Love Actually, and went to church.

This pregnancy I've done much better about my hormonal outbursts, but I had two this weekend:

One thanksgiving evening because my dad was teasing me relentlessly about having ONE glass of wine with my dinner. I made it perfectly clear beforehand that my wine quota included Christmas and Thanksgiving. First he refused to put a glass next to my plate. Then he only filled it about 1 cm with wine. In my family teasing = affection, but he should know better than to mess with a overly emotional pregnant woman. I started crying, which wouldn't have been a big deal, but my mom invited a friend that I had never met before. I did drink my glass. I almost didn't out of stubbornness and frustration, but I wasn't going to miss out on that glass of Seven Daughters white wine at $17 a bottle. I better have Devin warn his family ahead of time that if anyone messes with me at Christmas dinner for having one glass of wine I will probably cry then too.

I had another one at CVS. I had a wallet filled with extra bucks, but I didn't get my totals right and a line was forming behind me so I was irritated that I had to pay out of pocket. I spazzed out on Addison, Devin and the CVS guy. I felt so bad later that I apologized to Addison, Devin and called CVS to apologize to them too. Hopefully I can show my face in there again.

It's getting to the point where I'm getting lots and lots of comments and critiques from people about my pregnancy. I had forgotten about that part. Everyone means well, but sometimes enough is enough. I've had people bluntly ask me "So how much weight have you gained?" Is it ever ok to say that? This man at work tonight who was in his mid 60's looked me over once and said "yeah, you'll go early." Ok.... He must have had his special labor predicting glasses on or something. Maybe I should invest in a pair of those. I really don't mind getting advice and stuff, especially from friends and family (I'll need lots of advice about having TWO kids and not just one), but sometimes it'd be nice just to blend in with everyone else. I am sure you all have had your share of weirdo comments. One blogger I read a while back had everyone post their most hurtful/weird infertility or miscarriage comments and I couldn't believe some of the stuff I read. So I know it's not just me going through this! I'm sure I've dished out some of that stuff too.

Let's end this post on a positive note! I listened to my first Christmas music of the season tonight! I played Drummer Boy by Josh Groban three times on the way to work. Leave it to Josh to turn one of the dumbest songs of the season into a musical masterpiece.
















Addison didn't even eat any turkey, but she was still pretty exhausted from the day.


Here's the first of many "getting into mom's makeup" pictures. This time it was the mascara. She'll learn someday that eyebrows and eyelashes aren't the same thing.