Oh For FREAKING FREAK FREAK FREAK"S Sake

Read this post. Gerber has made it onto my hate list once again. Why oh why must they put milk in everything?

Movin' On Up

Lily got a painting set from Cousin Tom for Christmas - she is in heaven! Look at that concentration! That's her piece titled, Rainbow.

Lily saw a doctor today. I wanted someone to listen to her lungs and just check her over. She's been coughing since the end of September and it seems worse at night. During the day for the most part she is fine, unless she's running around a lot or going in and out of the cold.

The doc agreed that it is most likely asthma. He put her on an inhaler that she needs to take every night PLUS a over the counter allergy medicine. Some of her coughing and congestion may be due to an unspecified allergy. So, we try them both out and see if it helps. I'm hoping that she'll be able to sleep better at night without all the coughing.

Here's the good news.... Lily is 2 1/2 (really more like 2 3/4) and weighs 28 pounds. This puts her in the 30th percentile!!! Fantastic for a kid who 6 months ago was barely in the 7th percent. Maybe all that Lily-butter that she eats really does have calories in it.

Soup for Santa

No photos today folks, you've got to use your imagination.

Last night as the girls and I were driving home from the grocery store (Yes, I again took my hungry children to the grocery store at 6pm. Will I never learn?) I asked Addie if she would like to leave cookies and milk out for Santa on Christmas Eve. I got a rather noncommittal answer from the back seat.

"Addie, do you think Santa would like cookies and milk (soy of course, I hear Santa is lactose intolerant) when he comes to our house?"

"No, he'd like water." Addie told me.

"Oh, so it should be water and cookies?"

"No. Water and soup and crackers. And toast." She was so confident about the way she said this. Perhaps Santa would like some soup to warm himself up with by the time he gets to our house.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

He's making a list, checkin' it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice

Santa Claus is coming to town!

And guess who is so excited she can barely sleep? We turned her crib into a daybed this weekend hoping that it would help Lily sleep in her own bed instead of the "BIG bed" guest bed in her room. It certainly has done the trick so far. Lily loves having her own little nest. She piles on all her animals and her turtle night light, then snuggles up in her blankets.

In case you were wondering where Lily gets the crazy grin from.

We had a little preview of Christmas this last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa came up to give the girls their presents early. Lily loved the artist smock she got, and all the great Play-Doh stuff to go with it.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

School Sing a Long

Addie's 4-K classroom had a sing-a-long last week. All the families were invited into the classroom. Since I was just there last week to help the kids make Monkey Bread, most of the kids remembered me. It was so fun to see all the kids in their Santa hats! It was also really nice to meet some of the other parents. I know 2 of them from different things, one was Addie's daycare teacher when she was a baby - and Addie was actually in her wedding! If we choose to go to the public school next year, Addie and this little boy will be in the same class. The other mom I know from work (I cannot remember where she works though), she asked if Addie could come over some day after school for a playdate. It would be her very first playdate without Mommy. Yikes!

The kids sang several songs for us and got to play their instruments. The instruments were definitely the bigger hit. The kids loved the shakers and jingle bells! So much so that they sometimes forgot to sing the words because they were too busy shaking.

Addie says, "Ms. Beth ROCKS!"

The best part of the program? Decorating cookies!! I couldn't believe how much sprinkles and M&M's went on these cookies. Addie decided she needed to make a cookie for herself, one for Daddy because he couldn't make it and one for Lily.

In Defense of My Homeland

I'm sitting here pondering my next blog entry, wondering if shivering counts as an aerobic activity when I read the comments from my previous post.

Ouch, accused of switching my allegience to a crummy purple and gold bunch of degenerate whiners. Shall we discuss the Love Boat incident? Perhaps not on a blog about my children.

No, my children's coats have nothing to do with the allegiance towards any particular football team. It's really hard to find green coats for girls. Plus, my girly-girls would probably revolt at anything that is not pink or purple. Lily's coat is a hand-me-down from her cousin (one that Addie barely wore) and Addie's happened to be a good sale. I figured the purple wouldn't look as dirty as fast as a light pink would.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful....

What does any sane Northwoods family do when they're in the middle of a blizzard?
Bundle up the kids and go play outside of course!!

We got 9" of snow yesterday and winds up to 58 mph. Adam had to go outside to get a jump on the shoveling and snowblowing and the girls needed to blow off a little steam. We quickly found out that the snow pants that Lily used last year are much too short for her. Her other snow pants were at Oma's so she didn't last very long. I took her in to get some wool socks and legwarmers to pull over her snowpants to keep her lower legs warm. By the time we got outside again, Adam and Addie had walked over to our elderly neighbor's house to see how they were faring.
The girls went for a quick sled ride around the yard.

When Adam and Addie got back from visiting the neighbor's, they made a snow cave. Actually, I'm told that it is a snow "castle." They also made a little snowgirl to guard the castle. Addie had a great time playing with Daddy outside.

Unfortunately the temperature has dropped to the negative numbers, so we won't be able to play outside until the weather improves.

C is for Cookie...

"C is for Cookie, that's good enough to eat. Cookie Cookie Cookie starts with C. " I was a big Cookie Monster fan as a kid. As an adult, I've rarely met a cookie that I didn't like. My kids seem to be along the same lines, especially Lily. That girl has a sweet tooth that just won't quit! When it came to cookie baking last weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Dude's she wanted to be involved in all of it. As for Addie, she seems to be more of a Frosting kid.

We made 7 or 8 different types of cookies on Saturday. It was pretty much a marathon day for Auntie, Momma and Grandma. Addie and Lily got to be stirrers, rollers and decorators.

Lily loved decorating the Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies. It was tough convincing both girls that they couldn't lick their fingers as they went though. Afterwards, I let them lick the butter knives as a treat. (Boy that makes me sound like a horrible mom, licking knives! Next my children will be sword swollowers!)

Cookie Making is hard work!! Let's take a nap.

A chocolate star photo out take.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

He knows if you've been naughty,

he knows if you've been nice.

He knows if you've been bad or good,

so be good for goodness sake.

Despite a lot of hyping, Lily has not bought into the "Santa is a good guy" spiel this year. Oma brought the girls to see Santa last week and Lily was terrified. She cried and reached for Oma. Addie did fantastic, telling Santa that she wanted a Cupcake Maker. (It's a good thing that Momma is on a first name basis with Santa because I'm putting the nix on that one).

Mom, Auntie Rene and I took the girls to a different Santa over the weekend and Lily did better with that. She had to psych herself up a little about the visit. "I not afraid. I a big girl." Although Lily really didn't want to touch Santa (her arm wouldn't even rest on his) she did tell him she wanted paint for Christmas. Addie's sticking to her guns and saying she wants a Cupcake Maker and Peek-a-boo Dolls.

Mother of the Year Award

Apparently I can kiss the Mother of the Year award goodbye. Yesterday Addie slept late (she stayed up too late the night before begging me for "one more story.") when I went into her room to wake her up and get her ready for school, she definitely was not ready to wake up. Adam had worked into the wee hours of the morning, so I needed to get both girls up, get them dressed and get them out the door to Oma's in time for Addie to catch the bus and me to get to work on time.

In the process of getting Addie dressed (imagine a 38 lb wet noodle getting dressed), Addie informed me that she was "going away."

"Oh really, where are you going to?"

"The mountains where I will stay and sleep outside," Addie replied. Apparently the realities of the mountains in December mean nothing to a 4 year old.

"And what will you eat?"

Without skipping a beat, Addie answered, "Oh, you'll bring me my lunch. And my supper."

So basically, I should go away but not too far away. Is this a harbinger of what will happen in 10 years when we go shopping together. "Mom, don't walk next to me, someone will think we're together."

Addie then proceeded to throw herself (fully dressed) onto the couch and cry until I picked her up and carried her to the car. Where Lily then decided that she too needed to cry.

Bummer

Not a deer to be seen in the woods all weekend... but Sunday morning this doe showed up to eat the apples off our neighbor's tree. Hopefully Adam will have some luck this weekend in the woods.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I've been very good this year. I eat my vegetables and fruit (sometimes the meat, depending on how good it is) and only wander away from the table a few times during the course of a meal.

I've been very nice to my sister (despite what you might have heard). I give her hugs and kisses every time after I pull her hair. I also try very hard to share my toys.

I've been looking at the sales and I've decided what it is that I would like you to bring me for Christmas. It's a hard job to look through all the inserts in the Thanksgiving day paper to find just what you want. It takes preserverance and patience. Mommy says I have the first in spades but not so much the second.

I'd like THAT. It's a baby doll with a changing table, cradle and car seat. Please Santa, if you bring it for me I promise I will go to bed without much of a fight every night.

Love,

Lily

PS- Could you bring something for my big sister too?