Advent Calendar

After much debating and finally admitting I didn't have time to make an advent calendar I decided on stuffing bags.  I really wish I bought these a couple days ago or even yesterday, but today will have to do.

For a lovely 50% off I bought a package of 24 bags at Hobby Lobby.  I know Santa's head is mostly white, but out of all my bag choices this bag appeared to be the least translucent.  I numbered each bag at the bottom of Santa's beard.  I stuffed the bags with both stocking stuffers (small toys, lip gloss, ect) and candy.  So instead of a stocking Kaitlyn Joy will be getting one thing a day until Christmas.

After stuffing the bags I folded the tops, taped them down, punched a hole then debated.  How to display them?  How to display?  I could drape them across our double window in the living room?  No, Kj would be to short to reach the bags.  I could hang the bags from long pieces of yard on either side of our small window?  No...  Then I remembered our bare bottom tree.  I wanted to buy a white tree skirt today, but I wasn't willing to pay $20 for one even though that was the half off price. 

So I tied yarn onto each bag and hung them under the tree.  I like it.  I should explain we have three trees.  Our gifts go under our 7' tree.  Kj has a pink 3' tree in the play room.  This is our 4' bear tree.  There are 26 bears on the tree; one for each of our children.

"I want this for Christmas"

EDIT: If it's in red that means someone said they bought it.  I don't mean to be tacky, but I figure it's the best way to prevent the potential double gifting.

Kaitlyn Joy has an annoying "I want" habit.  A couple months ago when she started in on wanting a toy I told her Christmas AND her birthday are to close for her to be asking me to buy her stuff.  Soooo... it has changed to "I want this for Christmas!!!!"  It makes me want to strangle her at times.  Well, not really of course, but I do get tired of hearing it.  When walking down the toy isle at any given store I can hear the phrase 6-8 times minimum.  Ugh!
By the way for all who might be wondering just what Neal may like, he said money.  He wants to buy his own handgun.  It doesn't sound fun to me.

At one point I got tired of hearing what Kj wanted and decided to start taking pictures of her holding the items she likes.  Below are some of the pictures I took a couple weeks ago.

 She thought these slippers at JCP's were the greatest.  Personally I thought they were over priced.  She just liked that they were puppy slippers.

 Is it a stuffed animal of a horse or a bag?  Both I guess, but I'm not sure how much it can really hold.  Every time we are at JCP she drools over them.  She likes the little puppy purses they have too.

 Right now anything My Little Pony (MLP) she likes.  She has two partial McDonald's collections of MLP and that's about it.

 Last week she chased me down the isle holding two packages of MLP that were on scooters I think.  "Look Mommy LOOK!  I want this for Christmas."  Perhaps with these the big deal is her getting the best of both worlds, they are horses (ponies) and small.

Zhu Zhu Pet Castle
For some reason she really likes all the accessories for Zhu Zhu pets.  Of course I do have a couple (hamsters) put away for her for Christmas; the two actually she held up in what would have been the next picture.  I didn't post it because I've already bought them.

Ahhh, Barbie.  She likes Barbie sets like this one.  I know she held this one up because the Barbie is holding a couple dogs.  There has been a commercial on with a condo/motor home(????), I don't know, that Barbie and her friends are hanging out in.  The bed or couch flips over and makes a tub.  What do I hear every time it comes on, "I want that for Christmas!"

Another want I hear a lot about are Littlest Pet Shop.  She seems to like them because they were small. 

One thing about Kj I've really noticed is that she will play with a free or $1 toy more then any others.  She loves her Lego's.  She has smaller ones that we bought her last year and she has some of the bigger chunky ones (1 1/2 to 5 years I believe) that a friend gave us that she got for free from the Airman's Attic.  She LOVES them.  She's always building a tower with the chunky ones.  Her teacher has a treasure chest that she lets the kids dig into from time to time.  Kj has come home with four little toys that she treats like they are the best thing since sliced bread.  They are probably all 2"-3" at the most.  She two dinosaurs, a turtle and most recently a lizard.  Her four friends live in her Lego tower. =)  I could spend $100 on a toy for her, but in the end it's the little things she likes the most.

December

Despite me not posting life really has marched on. On the 11th we took Kaitlyn Joy to Sea World for her birthday. Before heading out we had her blow the candles out on a birthday cake and let her open her gifts. I made her a cupcake shirt and a big cupcake hair bow for the day; she wore them with a blue jean skirt, stripped leg warmers and yellow ribbon socks. Yep she was cute.

We had a lot of fun at Sea World. At the first show we went to Kj was laughing her head off at the pre-show.

When the water shot up from beside us to over our heads we jumped up and ran. There was a guy standing over the water and splashing it on everyone. It was funny to watch. Kj had been laughing for a while when Neal shot this video.

On the 15th we took cupcakes to Kj's school for her birthday. Because she saw the 15th as her "real" party (she didn't want to go to Sea World at first thinking it meant no cupcakes at school) I bought her a Cinderella cupcake-cake at Walmart. Note to self, take a knife next time because the icing was thick. Her teacher did a wonderful job at getting the cupcakes apart, but it would have been a lot easier if we had something to cut the icing with. I kept the toppers thinking we might get the cake again for her party. They did a great job on it.

On the 16th Kj had a good time with her friends at school having a Christmas party; it was her last day before the Christmas break.

Seeing how we are never home for Christmas we decided to open our gifts on the 17th. Kj did a wonderful job oohing and gooing over everything. Between the 17 & 22 she opened seven horses. She's in horse heaven. We gave her a bigger one for her birthday so she has 8 total. We gave her both an electronic game and two board games, a small stuffed cat, Legos, ect... A short time after opening her gifts I asked which was her favorite; she held up her little tabby kitty and said it was. Her second was the Legos and cell phone (lip gloss). For a short time we found ourselves taking three cats everywhere. I finally convinced her the tabby can go alone. Don't ask me why, but she named it Super Star. LOL...

On the 23rd we headed for my parents house for Christmas. We had a packed day planned for the 24th. We opened gifts at my parents and both grandmother's houses. Kj had a good time at Grandma's with my cousin's kids. I felt bad for her when we were at Mama Peggy's because her second cousin wasn't there. She was the only great-grandchild present. Laci was with her mom and grandfather. Speaking of grandfather, I went into Daddy Billy's room for the first time since his passing. I first walked in without thinking about it then when I realized my mistake it felt like the air was sucked out of the room. It took me a moment to breath. I had gone in to place a toy in there. It was a toy that had always been in that room, at least until it became Daddy Billy's. It didn't feel right putting it anyplace else so I left it in the room. I went back in there before we left and honestly it felt the same. I guess it will feel like his room until it's cleared out.

Oh, how could I forget... On Christmas Eve Kaitlyn Joy turned four. Daily she finds a reason to tell me her age. I know when she gets around other kids she can pick up how they say things, like Bleth-la-hem, but for the most part she can pronounce things correctly. It's funny to hear her say four though because she sounds like it's a struggle to say. I need to work with her on it. We've worked on Bethlehem many times and she can say it at home. I think it's hearing others say it wrong that throws her off. Once home from school we are back to saying it over and over trying to drop the L.

On the 25th we ate at my parents house. Mama Peggy, my cousin Dustin, and my youngest uncle and his family all came over. I had woken Neal up and told him seeing how we were at both my grandmothers the day before mom didn't have time to do any pre-cooking. I told him we needed to help her. He looked more interested in sleeping. I announced I was going to the bathroom and told him to be ready when I came back. Of course he was checking out the inside of his eyelids when I returned. I told him he needed to get up then I began to get dressed. Suddenly there was a desperate knock at the door. I opened it and dad rushed in to say there was a deer in the field and Neal needed to come shoot it. Neal was now wide awake, out of bed (thankfully wearing shorts) and running for the backdoor. Dad gave him a gun and a pair of Crocs. Basically dad handed him a deer on a silver platter so neither one would have to help cook. Rats! =p

Mom and I spent the weekend reading Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers. It's a good book! We pushed hard to finish it before I left. Once home I bought Her Daughter's Dream and finished it in a couple days. Wooooh, that book had me in tears by the end. I kept reminding myself it was just a book and tried fighting the tears. LOL...

Neal ended up working New Years Eve and on into New Years. Sadly the circumstances are never good if he must work on a weekend or holiday. I feel for those affected and pray for peace. Anything life changing around a holiday seems to taint the holiday for everyone. It's just terrible all around.Kj stayed up with me as long as her eyes would allow it. We went for a quick drive - I know not the best idea - and she really had to fight to keep her eyes open. I kept talking with her the whole time trying to keep her awake. When I turned the car off I turned around to find her sleeping. I woke her up and took her upstairs to bed. She held out 2.5 hours passed her bedtime; it was 10pm. I ended up wasting a lot of time waiting on Neal to get home. And that girl... Only on a handful of occasions has she slept past 7am. She would get up earlier if I would let her. I bought a color changing alarm clock that signals her when she can get out of bed. Like clock work she comes into my room every morning at 7am; today was no exception. Neal would have slept till noon if it hadn't been for Kj setting off the house alarm. =D Good girl! Hehehe... No I didn't have anything to do with it.

Happy New Year!

May 2011 find your family healthy and happy. May you receive many blessings throughout the year. And may God be more real to you this year then ever before.

We already have a piece of good news for 2011. I looked back and I never blogged about an issue that came up in our church. Our Pastor and a couple staff members were having problems. The staff members felt he wasn't a good leader. Personally I disagree. The board talked about it and decided the situation couldn't be rectified between the parties so someone needed to go. The staff members had been in the church the longest so the pastor of 1.5 years had to leave. On Halloween Pastor told us about the problem and said he prayed about it and decided to leave. I was stunned. He's the main reason we go to the church. How can I trust the church to pick a new pastor when they got rid of one over a squabble? It really made me question why the last guy left. Did staff members disagree with him too? The board was quick to wipe the church and it's website clean of anything dealing with it's now former pastor. Thankfully, today we were walking into the movies when a couple we know were coming out. They had gone to the New Comers Dessert at Pastor's house with us. From them we learned Pastor is starting a new church. I will have to find out from Pastor's wife which civic center they will be holding it at. They aren't officially starting it until March 9th. I'm excited to be apart of what God is doing with our Pastor and the group of people who are already meeting together.

Christmas Road Trip

There are times I think about posting something on here, but by the time I sit down, I really don't care to type out the story that was rolling around in my head. That's how I feel now. Here I sit in a hotel room waiting to see what tomorrow brings while debating going to bed or spending more time online. Onward...

Today we started our long haul from Texas to Minnesota after putting the drive off last night. Yesterday evening I learned the winter weather warning was extended from 6pm on December 25th to noon on the 26th. Of course every state, including our own, that we would be driving through was included in the blizzard warning. I never thought I would see a blizzard warning in Texas. Odd. The driving was slow going with most drivers sticking with 40-50 mph depending on the road conditions. The bad part was we were still in Texas. We knew it was only going to get worse. We put off leaving the night before hoping to miss some of the delays. Somewhere between Denton and Decatur, TX we came over a slight incline to find the road covered in ice. I noticed the car in front of me slightly fish tail a couple times which put me on guard. And then it happened... The rear of the Jeep started going to the left which turned us to the right causing me to cross into the other lane of traffic. I called Neal's name hoping he could quickly give me some words of wisdom, but he only replied with, "there's nothing you can do." Ummm... was he thinking I wanted to jump out and watch? I mean really, if I'm asking you for help I expect you to say, "let off the gas, don't hit the brake, steer us in the direction we want to go" and so forth. Instead I didn't get anything. Of course I did all of those things, but it didn't matter. As my front end regained control my rouge rear end spun around and sent us in the opposite direction. Thankfully in the middle of it all I glanced in the rear view mirror to find everyone behind me braking enough not to get in the middle nor get into an accident themselves. As the Jeep took off across the road heading to the concrete median, I still had the wheel turned in the proper direction. Neal was right, there was nothing I could do, we were headed straight for it. Just before impact, I closed my eyes anticipating the airbag to deploy. It never did. However it felt like I was hit in the neck with something. I think the zipper of my jacket was between me and the seat belt; it left a "burn" on my neck that feels raw right now.From right to left we scraped the front bumper against the median while we slid around like a rag doll on the ice. Suddenly we were facing forward again, in the proper lane, and still sliding at a pretty good rate. I thought for sure with not using the gas we would slow down... nope. I finally got up the never to test the brakes; I was afraid of fishtailing again. Thankfully they worked as I slowed us down and pulled to the inside median just in time for all the cars behind us to slowly drive by. Neal and I jumped out and looked the Jeep over. All his "fancy" lights on the front were shattered.

The two bigger ones he put on last weekend. The one on the drivers side had five cracks in it from the storm that went through early Christmas Eve morning. We are guessing something blew up and hit it. Honestly it sounded like windows were going to brake so I don't doubt he Jeep took a beating. It doesn't matter now because as you see it's partner was completely knocked out as well as most of the little ones.

If you notice in this picture the right light was pushed in. The right side is where the main impact happened. Why we didn't go ahead and spin backwards I don't know; we most certainly were heading that way in the Jeep righted itself. What you should be able to barely make out, but can't is our license plate number. All the blue was scraped off the number. I would show you the close up of it, but that's a bit to personal. If you look below the Jeep at the ice/snow you will see some fluid on the ground. It's very deceiving looking at this picture because you would think the Jeep could drive away from the incident. Technically it did, but it didn't go far. All the front pushed in during the impact then popped back out. Don't you love plastic cars? The frame actually buckled causing the radiator to be crushed. We were at an exit when the accident happened so as soon as the road was clear we crossed the interstate and got off. A gas station was nearby which is where we discovered this...Compared to a crushed frame this is nothing, but never the less it was more insult to injury. There were four totes, an ice chest, snow chains (ironic), and two 5 gallon gas jugs on the carrier, you are getting a glimpse of, off the back of the Jeep. One of the gas cans slammed forward and hit the back door denting it.

After taking a split second to touch my neck and rub my knees I jumped out of the Jeep with Neal to see what the damage was. I barely made it to the front when I remembered Kaitlyn and Sadie (our Mini Schnauzer) in the backseat. Neither one of them was making any noise. Thankfully they were both fine. By their reaction you would have thought Neal and I pulled over just to stretch our legs.

A tow truck came for the Jeep and took us to a hotel. We have to wait until tomorrow to get a rental car. Now our debate is: a) leave for MN tomorrow, b) wait and go to MN Sunday, c) go home tomorrow and go to MN in a couple weeks when the storm has clearly passed and all the roads are cleared. As much as Neal wants to go home and his family wants us to be there, it's not worth us risking our lives. When we knew the storm warning had been extended till Saturday we should have waited longer. Next time we will. Perhaps storm warnings are when I need to step in between Neal and his emotions. Yes you want to be there, no it's not safe to go. The scary thought is that we didn't even make it out of our own state. I can't imagine what it would have been like in OK. We knew, after setting out, that OK had declared a state of emergency. Shortly before the accident we stopped for gas and someone asked us if the roads had been opened back up in OK.

Kaitlyn slept from 6pm till a few minutes ago and now at 2am I think I'm going to have to knock her out. She didn't eat dinner so she's sitting at the table in the dark eating some bad pizza and talking nonstop. She's talking about one of Grandma's fish dying and her pooping on it. Shortly after I flushed the fish Kaitlyn had to go potty. She wouldn't stop talking about the dead fish so I told her she was pooping on the fish. I was wondering if she would start trying to look into the bowl. Instead she embraced the idea and threw that into the conversation. *sigh*

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. Ours has been almost like any other day other then I have had a headache for most of the day and Kaitlyn acts like she hasn't had a nap.

Last night Neal and I were talking about next year's Christmas. If we were going to be stateside (which we aren't) we would stay home for Christmas. We would put lights on everything along with a ton of garland, and shower the house with snowmen, and any other "Christmas" creatures we could find. Kaitlyn hasn't had a normal Christmas since she arrived and this was her third. Well last year we were at my parents house over Christmas, but when we left England our house sure didn't look like Christmas. We are done with drab Christmases; I want a decked out house.

Today we put all Kaitlyn's presents on the couch and let her have at them. After opening the second doll outfit she decided she was done. We tried to get her to open her Vtech laptop or her gift from Neal's parents, but she didn't want anything to do with them. I knew how she would respond to the doll clothes and she didn't followed it to the "t". Kaitlyn doesn't like change. Some things she is totally good with, but not things like, me making her a new outfit and immediately putting it on her; that isn't okay. She will scream, pull it, say she is "stuck", and basically carry on like she is dying. She was almost as bad with her doll. It was "stuck" in the clothes and had to get out. She adjusts better if I put her doll in something (like the snowsuit) when she is sleeping. When she finds the dressed doll she usually loves it. Mind you the doll isn't naked on a regular bases. Before Kaitlyn turned one I sewed the shorts onto the doll because they kept falling down then I sewed the shirt to the shorts because it kept coming up. Anyway, she opened gifts in about four rounds. Mind you she didn't have a lot of gifts, she just didn't want to open them.

Packing up

As of today our Christmas tree is packed. We took it down while Kaitlyn was napping. One thing I just noticed is she hasn't mentioned the missing tree. Neal took all the ornaments and garland off only to find a few unauthorized ornaments. A sippy cup and a couple toys had taken up residence in the tree. I expected it. I told him to give the tree a good shake when he was done, but all he had to do was move the tree.

LOL... I think Neal is going to cry. I just said, "Kaitlyn, where's the tree?" Her eyes got big as she looked around the room saying, "Where's Christmas? Where's Christmas?" Okay, she is still asking. I was laughing to hard as I looked at Neal with pity in his eyes. He had to confirm what she was asking.

Today we sold her Around-We-Go table/activity center. It was a great toy. We finally put it away five months ago because we were having to live with so many toys, not because she stopped playing with it. This morning Neal took it out of the garage, through the house then out to the car. He wasn't quick enough. He left the table top against the couch while he took the base and seat out to the car. When he came back for it, Kaitlyn was watching. He had one side of the table and her the other; she was crying and pulling. I told her we have to say bye-bye to the table and give it to another baby. She wasn't buying it. She wanted her table.

And to keep the post on the sad side, my sewing machine is now packed. =( This morning I shortened the elastic in the neck of a doll top then handed the machine off to Neal to put back in it's original box. I then went through all the craziness on the table and either put it in a large baggy to take with me to Texas or sorted it in my craft bins. Here's the last three doll outfits I made this week.

The jumper is actually on the big side. I'm a bit puzzled at the sizing the author used. The dress underneath should stick out the bottom a little, but there is not way that would happen with as long as the jumper is. I'm glad I ran out of fabric before I could add the ruffle that should be on this jumper. Instead I put fabric around the bottom like binding.

Notice this one looks like the skirt I made Kaitlyn a couple weeks ago. I actually shrunk down the apron from that pattern to make this apron. I had debated putting elastic around the waist of the dress, but didn't do it. Now I wish I had. I think she apron would lay better.

This was my last creation. It's REALLY made up of scraps. I was going to make it all blue with a yellow strip (like is on it), but quickly realized I didn't have enough blue. I hated to use the yellow for the sleeves, but thought it wouldn't look so bad if I put the blue on for both the ruffles and elastic band. The flower on the front was actually on a small piece of scraps I had from making the pants. I was about to throw it away when I got the idea of putting the flower on the top. As you can see I did put the elastic in the chest/waist band this time. I wish I had remembered the pants pattern are a bit long for Kaitlyn's doll. I would have shortened them if I had remembered. Oh, well...

Kaitlyn's Wishlist

For those who are wondering what Kaitlyn may like for Christmas or her birthday (although we aren't having a gift party until the third Sunday in May) here are some things she really likes right now.

Little People Learn About Town

Kaitlyn likes to play with this, as much as possible through the packaging, every time she sees it at the BX. When folded it's a bit big, but she needs toys in Texas so I thought I might buy it once we are stateside and ship it to Guam. She likes most anything that is Little People. She has the house, plane, school bus, mini van, two-seater plane, and tow truck. The last two were dropped off at the Airman's Attack and a friend gave them to me for Kaitlyn along with enough people to fill up the bus and plane seats.

Bubble Bath

Her love of bubbles has nothing to do with the brand, but the love of what the general product does. Recently I found a brand new container of bubble bath that needs to be used before we leave England. Kaitlyn has been getting a bubble bath almost every night. As I take her upstairs for a bath she is usually saying "bubbles".

Arts

Kaitlyn loves to color. Seeing how she now decorates her highchair (against our wishes) we only let her play with washable Crayons while strapped into her chair. She typically colors in a small notebook which she seems to prefer over coloring books.

Doll Paraphernalia

Kaitlyn is just starting to get attached to her dolls. We will be taking at least one doll to Texas with us and a doll stroller. It's the smaller items I know she would love, like doll clothes, blanket, doll carrying pouch like this one from Cashmere Cuddles.

Or this doll carrier/bed by Mimas

She also sells these cloth diapers for dolls.

I'm sure these would be easy to make. A little elastic in the legs, maybe some batting down the middle, and Velcro closers.

The more I look the more fun doll stuff I'm finding on Etsy. For those looking for great handmade gifts and would like to help support a stay at home mom etsy.com is the way to go.

Clothes

Kaitlyn is still growing into 2t. For the most part if I buy her anything while stateside I plan on getting her summer items in 3t. Seeing how we are moving to Guam at the end of May and every day is summer weather, even if the 3t won't fit by then, they will fit her soon enough and will get plenty of wear. Dresses are more forgiving if they are to big or small so my plan is to buy her 3t dresses and make her 2t (for now).

She loves purses, but still doesn't understand necklaces and bracelets.

She loves shoes too, but we are having a bit of an issue there. She still walks funny (on the ball of her right foot) and may have to start wearing a special "boot" to correct the problem. If we are cleared to do so I want to buy her some good sandals when we are stateside.

Other Ideas

Gift certificates to You Can Make This. I buy all Kaitlyn's clothing patterns off YCMT. A gift certificate to there is the start of an outfit for Kaitlyn.

I wish Fabritopia sold gift certificates because I love getting fabric from there. The owner is great and her fabric is wonderful quality!

Fabric.com is another place a buy a lot of fabric from that mostly becomes Kaitlyn's clothes.
Oh, movies. Kaitlyn has the second Ice Age, Open Season, and Nim's Island. I think she would like most any animated feature with animals like Madagascar and Barn Yard.

And for those wondering what to get me this last section is good for me too. I have gotten a couple patterns from YCMT for me and of course the fabric came from fabric.com or Fabritopia. I do shop other online stores, but these two have become my main choices.

*Once we are in Guam there are some little bit bigger items we plan on getting her, but I rather not ship. Some of those items are (but not limited to) child size mop and broom, doll bed, and doll highchair.

Happy Birthday!

I was going to post it yesterday, but after my long post I thought I would hold off until today. Yesterday, was my big brother's 34 birthday. By the way, I don't have a little brother or sister; I just wanted to make sure you all knew he is the older sibling. Hehehe... 34! Doesn't that make you want to fall right out of your seat?! One day him and I are going to be in our 50's, we will be chatting to someone online who assumes we are in our 20's or 30's, but nope... Anyway, Happy Birthday Big Brother!

I would also like to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister-in-law. Her birthday was actually on Tuesday. She's younger then me so we won't be talking about her age. =)

Yesterday Kaitlyn Joy turned 21 months old. Do you know what that means? Christmas is three months from today. Those who start shopping now will not be so strapped for cash in December as most people.

On a random Christmas note, I've been tempted to buy and put up a Christmas tree now. We don't know where we will be in December or if we will even have a tree to put up. If anyone was around here last Christmas you may remember I put up a tree, but if fell within the first hour. After taking off all the ornaments and lights I couldn't get it to stand back up. I finally had to take off all the limbs then the base would stand. That was it! Our $10 after Christmas bargain tree has seen it's last Christmas in our house. I boxed the thing up and we gave it to the resale shop on base.