A little Elf & a lot of Snow!

My dad & step-mom sent the girls a little book called The Elf On The Shelf a few weeks ago. I'd been waiting for December 1st to roll around so we could start some new traditions in our house for the holidays.

The book explains that you have to name the Elf right away and then put him on the shelf. He watches over you all day and each night he flies to Santa to report if you've been naughty or nice. Every morning she has to search the house to find where the elf has posted for the day. The Elf (whom Izzy named Coca - don't judge - she's 3) cannot be touched or he loses his magical powers. It's basically the BEST bribery for a little girl to share, behave, not scream, not push her sister, etc around the holidays.
Coca is working most of the time. Not sure Izzy cared about what Santa thought of her behavior yesterday morning when she pushed her sister down two stairs in her wagon. So yeah, that was fun. Delaney was a screaming mess (and now has a black eye), I was a crying fool, yet Izzy didn't cry until I told her Coca saw the entire thing. She broke down and started apologizing to Coca. Then she apologized to her sister. It's a work in progress.
As a child we always had a chocolate candy advent calendar to open each night. I didn't want to do an advent calendar for a few reasons. So in lieu of that, another tradition I started this year was to wrap up all of our Christmas books (I only had 15 that I've accumulated throughout the years, so my mom and dad both have sent packages with more books to sum up to 25) and each night Izzy gets to open one and that is her nighttime book we read. Gives her something to look forward to each evening. I put all of these books in our holiday storage last year so we wouldn't be reading them throughout the year....to keep an element of surprise when she opens them.
The girls got new winter coats a few weeks ago and this was the first week they donned them to school, as the weather hadn't been cold enough to warrant the thicker jackets until now. It's not all that fun to bundle the girls up and then squeeze them into a car seat; but they are just so stinkin' cute all wrapped up!

We woke up Saturday morning to several inches of snow and Izzy was chomping at the bit to get outside. Mike and Laney stayed inside while Iz and I played.

Getting her feel for walking in all those layers...

Snow angels

Her first taste of snow..."That tastes really yummy in my belly!"

Snow falling on Hawthorne

Izzy wanted to slide

And she loved it!

Laney watching us play

Pajama day!

Saturday evening I headed out to celebrate Molly's birthday and this was the scene as I left: Mike and the girls were watching movies and all snuggled up.

Me, Mols & Jaim at Mesh

Jaim, Molly, Molly, Susan & I

And finally, I decided to bundle up both girls and take them out in the snow today. Laney was NOT a fan of being so layered up...she even fell flat on her face (she has scratches on her nose to prove it) because she couldn't walk in the boots I had on her. Whoops. I bought the very last sled at Target yesterday and we used it all of 5 minutes. Guess we'll have to hit up the hills next weekend.

Small Obsession...

Most people know about Shutterfly. I have a small obsession with it.

You probably know I’m quite a methodical gal and love a good routine and nice order in my day/week/month/year. You can call me Type A, anal, or simply crazy. I call it order.

You also may know (since you read this blog) that I love to take pictures. In fact, I probably take several hundred photos a month. Yep, it’s borderline obsessive. But that just goes hand-in-hand with my Type A personality stated above. Since I take so many photos I have to keep them organized and what better way to do that than Shutterfly?
My Shutterfly obsession started back in 2004 and has continued ever since. I upload my photos at the end of each month and place an order at the end of each month for prints to catalog in our family photo albums. I know, I know, why keep a photo album when I have an online album at Shutterfly and this Blog you ask? Because I’ve had an ongoing love affair with photo albums since I was a small child. I’d look through my family pictures at my mom’s house, my dad’s house, my friends’ houses and I STILL do this whenever I walk into someone’s house: I head straight for their mantel and peruse their photos. Simply said, I love pictures.

So since it’s December and the month for the annual Holiday-card-in-the-mail time, I am finding myself shopping on Shutterfly for this year’s card. I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

Shutterfly sends me weekly coupon codes and FREE cards, calendars, or photo books…so I suppose you can say I’ve been holding out for the next best coupon. Low and behold, I found the perfect one; if you are a blogger you can get 50 FREE Holiday Cards. No joke (really, I would never joke about a coupon, especially at Shutterfly). So here goes…I’m ready to order but just haven’t yet decided what I want this year’s card to look like. Take a look for yourself:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

Oh, and if you’re a blogger…why don’t you go here http://bit.ly/sfly2010 to get YOUR free 50 Holiday cards. Go ahead, start the obsession. I promise it won’t disappoint!

Thanksgiving 2010

We packed up and headed north to Ft. Wayne on Wednesday afternoon. Everyone in our house was on the upswing of the stomach bug and so were all the families we'd be meeting up with at Bob & Laura's...we were ready for some quality family time. Mike and I headed out on Thanksgiving morning for the Ft. Wayne Galloping Gobbler 4 mile run through St. Francis College's cemetery. This was the first Tgivs (dubbed from Corey) race I'd ever attended and it was comical to see all the festive hats and costumes. I rather enjoyed being a spectator (foot is still on the mend) especially on this day and race. There were entire families running together. Loved watching them start and finish. Made me inspired to watch the first female finish in about 26 minutes. Phew...that's fast. But it sill makes me want to lace up my shoes (as soon as these stitches come out) and hit the pavement.

I'm assuming this is the Galloping Gobbler
Was a very foggy day...Mike finished in about 32 minutes
We then headed home to get ready for the festivities. I tried my hand at my Nana's apple pie recipe, making the crust from scratch. Thank goodness my sister was on call to help me with it...I had to dump the first batch of crust out, as she kept a few of the instructions to herself and therefore the crust was too dry to roll out to the necessary proportions. Anyway, I was darn proud of myself and had to take a before and after shot (just in case the after was dreadful) to prove that I did it!

I must say, it came out perfectly!!! Everyone loved it and I believe I would have made Nana proud with my domestic skills.

Izzy's cousins Jake & Gabe arrived on Thursday and she was just so tickled to have buddies to play with. She so desperately wants to play WITH them but they are about 6 years older than her and really could care less. She is happy just to play next to them.

Family pic of the girls in their new Hanna Andersson dresses

We spent a few hours with Mike's mom on Friday. Don't the girls look so darling? I think Laney is in shock that her sister is touching her without hitting her!

Laney is still quite the snuggle bug with mommy

Chubby feet in patent leather shoes...so cute!

Friday night we drove downtown to take in a few exhibits: Christmas tree show, local dancers (ages 3 and up) perform their holiday show, the Botannical gardens and a visit with Santa.

Laney and Grandpa Bob

Izzy & Grandma Laura

Laney with Santa. I believe my first 5 years of life I look like this on Santa's lap. Comical.

Izzy warmed up to Santa once he told her he had a candy cane for her.

The atrium of the theatre

Laney & Iz as gingerbread people

Mike had to jump in...can you tell where the girls get their silly side? Love it.

We headed home Sunday morning and tonight we put up the tree. Izzy helped put up ornaments and she got a kick out of it. Love that she always looks in the big bulbs and says she sees herself. She's always been a big fan of the lights on the tree, starting from when she was 3 months old looking up the tree from underneath!

Helping

Other than the tree...the stockings and a small mantel piece is the ONLY decor I'm putting up. Just too tired and unmotivated to decorate. Thought it was funny that Izzy's stocking still had gifts in it from last year (as we didn't do a xmas morning celebration at home...by the time we got home we decided she had received more than enough and didn't need to have the stocking. Plus, we didn't want to confuse her.). We'll have to figure out a way to do a morning celebration at our house this year.

Decor

It was a fun holiday weekend and I can't say I'm super fired up about going back to work for a 5 day workweek. However, I have one more thing I want to do around the house for the girls; starting a new holiday tradition in our house. I'll post about that soon!!! Have to get it all ready!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Delaney is 15 months old!

Friday morning we took the girls to Delaney's 15 month pediatrician appointment (Izzy needed to get her flu mist so I hobbled my way in to help). Laney is growing and healthy and we were told she has advanced language skills. Here are a few of her stats:

Height: 30 inches (25-50%)

Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz (10-25%)

Head: 47.25 cm (75-90%)

Seems she continues to remain petite with a large head. Healthy, nonetheless.

(This picture is THE VERY reason I am getting a new camera...my girls are too quick for me to snap anything close to a good picture on my point-and-shoot.)

Also, Laney has about 8 teeth right now and she's getting more molars as we I write this. The other day at the dinner table I discovered a new molar and I got excited and told Izzy that her sister is getting more teeth. To which Izzy replied, "When is she getting more hair?!" I laughed so hard at this. It's true. Laney has a fuzzy head. No real hair to speak of. My mom says I was this way (bald) until I was two. I suppose Delaney has gotten her mommy's hair. Girl, I'm so sorry for that! Here's to getting more hair in the upcoming months!

Girls Night and Mike the Nurse...

Thursday afternoon I had a minor procedure on my foot (which put me off my feet for the entire weekend, on crutches for almost a week, and not running for several more weeks) and then went to my girlfriend, Allyson's, house for a girls night. Below is a pic of a few of the Finish Line gals. We had SO much fun, per our usual, and love getting together with these girls outside of the shoe business.

Friday I had off (flexin' it out) and spent the entire day reading, catching up on DVR'd shows, icing my foot and snoozing. My foot was fine all Thursday night (at GNO) until the middle of the night when the numbness wore off. Had to start the pain meds. And haven't let those lapse but for a few times on accident. Who knew that 6 stitches would hurt so much? Saturday Mike had his first set of Butler basketball tickets (he and some guys went in on season tix) and since I was laid out, he decided to take Izzy. She was pumped for a daddy/daughter date!!!
Iz couldn't wait to see Butler Blue (the bulldog mascot) and the cheerleaders and eat popcorn with daddy. I got a call an hour after they left and Mike said they hadn't even gotten to their seats...they were in line waiting to get popcorn when Izzy started projectile vomitting (sorry for TMI). And she didn't stop. Both Mike & Iz were covered in it. Gross. As soon they got home Izzy went down for about 3 hours. Izzy had two more bouts of said vomitting and Mike was gracious enough to spare me from the clean-up duties. Poor Mikey...he nursed me AND the girls back to health the entire weekend. What a trooper.


We knew the stomach bug had been going around their school and were hoping it would pass us by. Laney came home from school on Friday with a high fever, which continued into Saturday. So both girls had the bug. Boo.

While Izzy was snoozing Saturday away, Delaney took advantage of the free time she had with all of Izzy's tutus.

She had on all three of her sister's tutus at the same time. Rebel.

And Sunday both the girls are back to feeling better. They so desperately wanted to play with our neighbor Sammy, but I didn't want to pass this bug along to anyone else. Quarantined ourselves. Oh, we did leave the house ONE time today so Izzy could get her hair cut (we no longer go to the dreadful Coo.kie Cutt.ers btw) and a McDonald's treat for the girls.

Izzy's current favorite thing to play these days is tea party / birthday parties. Does anyone see anything in this picture that doesn't belong?

This squirt bottle somehow made its way into the play kitchen several months ago and I just think it's hilarious that they love to play with it. Corey...this picture is for you! What they don't know can't hurt them :)

Here's to a fun holiday week approaching...the girls are pumped to go to BoBo's house!!!