Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Holidays = Lots of Visiting!

The past few days have been a blur of activity. Trying to catch a moment with so many friends that are in town for the holidays is tricky when there are not many days to go around and lots of people to see. Thankfully I got to see a good number of people in a short amount of time. Whee!

Sunday was crazy, 3 meet ups! Woot, a record for us I think. We had church in the morning and had fun telling people our baby news. Then we went off to Stella's for lunch and got to meet all of Kara's university friends that I remember reading about and seeing pictures of. So nice to meet them in person, and a wonderful turkey lunch of soup and sandwiches was a bonus too! Yummy!


Then home again for a visit with Maureen, Darrel and the kids... well those kids are getting close to being teens. Ugh! I remember them as babies, they are growing up way too fast.


Ariel enjoyed playing with them and cooking up soup. Haha.


Finally, I got to have dinner with 2 of my dear friends, Robyn and Dianne, my Camp Tulahead girls. Hee. We met up at the Cactus Club, a place I haven't been since college, and had a great dinner. I had mini burgers, oh they were ADORABLE!!! And very tasty!


It was great to just chat, laugh and catch up. Its been YEARS since all three of us were together, I guess maybe it was when we all got married (all in the same year back in 2001) Gosh, I love you girls! Hehe, and no insight to what we talked about, haha. Some things are better left as secrets. Wink wink!

OH, and I can't forget to mention about the WEIRD situation I walked in on in the bathroom. Some girl was standing on the sink counter, in a very short skirt and her friend was taking um 'interesting' pictures of her. I quickly darted into a stall, praying they were gone when I came out. Thankfully they were and I ran back to report to the girls and we spent some time looking for the nasty chicks... who we later spotted... ick! Why me? Hahaha.


Monday came and Ken was back at work for 2 days before taking another 5 days off in a row, whee! Not much happened during the day, mostly because it was pouring rain out. Ariel and I did get down to the bank to deposit some stuff and somehow got wrangled into taking an old toy box from the thrift store. Ugh, seriously, why can't I say no?

I did NOT want it, but my daughter saw Mickey on it and the older men there were saying 'take it as a gift'. I kept saying, oh I don't know if it will fit in your room (which is true) and the men I think took that as 'she can't afford it' (it was only $2). They were very sweet to offer it, but let me say this delicately, its UGLY! Its a nice handcrafted wooden box, that's the nice part, the not so nice part was they used old Mickey Mouse wall paper from the 70's to decorate the top. Its not centered, so there is another 2 pieces added on with a very noticeable seam, its peeling and really dirty and I kinda don't want it anywhere in our house. As they loaded it into the car, the one guy thought I was crying because of their generosity... more so of what am I gonna do with this thing now? In fact, its still in the car! Am I being a total jerk? I figured I could clean it up but still, I kinda had wanted to get an Ikea basket for Ariel's big girl room because it would hold more and frankly this isn't that big and would be more of a waste of space than toy storage which is what she needs.


Just when I thought I was stuck with it, my husband comes home, sees it in the car and kinda likes it!!! Sooooooooo, I think I am close to convincing him to put it in his office at work. He likes weird crap, and frankly it fits the bill. Did you ever see the huge plastic rabbit that looks like a giant chocolate? Yeah, that's in his office too. Love you babe, hee.

Ariel waiting for the next guests to arrive... she said she was flying! Haha.


Princess was in a good mood for answering questions, so I got some cute video of her talking about the baby.


The evening rolled around and some of my friends from High School came around for some Chinese food and catch up. We had some of the 'next generation' present too, Julie's 8 month old daughter Lillian, Christy's 3 year old daughter Alasyn and my Ariel.

For the most part, Ariel and Alasyn played well together. The funnest thing that happened was they couldn't decide on what placemat they wanted and they kept trading them back and forth until they both had a plate of food in front of them. Haha.


Later the girls played dress up with the pettiskirts, and we totally had to try it on Lillian too. Too cute!!!


It was great to see some of my friends and catch up, but disappointed Ann and Gwen couldn't make it. Next time! I had a bit of a tummy ache (probably too much yummy food) and ended up not getting to sleep until midnight, gack! Thankfully I watched several episodes of the Gilmore Girls with Ken until then, and I am excited that I have him hooked too now. Haha. I love that he will watch these shows with me. He wasn't too into it at first, but he was really enjoying the dialog and found himself asking some back story questions to catch up. Woot! My husband is awesome, haha.

Then this morning I was up early to clean the living room for our next guests, my 2nd cousin Kimberly, who I got reconnected with on Facebook, her 3 kids and her mom. Nana was suppose to join us but ended up taking a fall outside her car on black ice. Ugh. She was ok, but I have a feeling she maybe feeling pretty sore tomorrow. Anyhoo, Kimberly and her family use to live here in our town growing up, just down the street from my Nana. I always loved their place because they had a big red door. Her middle brother Dan was my age, and I remember the fun we use to have. Hee.

So they arrived and we had a nice visit while the kids played. Ariel has done well the past few days with lots of kids she doesn't know, so its been a good learning experience and perhaps a look to the future with sharing with a sibling, hehe. We took some pictures for Nana so she could see the kids and parted ways, until next time. Hee.


Yes, we have had a very social few days. Tomorrow is New Years eve and we are going to a fondue party with our friends Kevin and Brenda! I am so pumped and so is Ariel to play with her little friends. Its the first time in AGES that we are actually going out on new years, yay! Party on!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Oh What a Christmas : aka The Longest Blog Ever!♦

Yes, it was a pretty amazing Christmas this year. Ken and I got the most amazing gift, the news we were expecting another little one. I am due September 1st, 2009, so Ariel will have just turned 3, so its a nice age gap. I am loving the new ticker, hee. Baby!!!!

Here are the details, I started feeling off and decided to take a pregnancy test. I got a light positive, and was around 9 days past ovulation when looking at my chart, so still 5 days till my period was due. That was very much the same way I found out I was pregnant with Ariel, a very light test that Ken didn't believe was a positive, haha. This time, rather than tell Ken, I wanted to surprise him. I didn't get that opportunity with Ariel because I was so excited that I was finally pregnant. So over the following days I kept testing, getting darker and darker lines. Then last Friday, Ken got home late from his work party, and I played the video I made that was in the previous post. Needless to say he was surprised and THRILLED! He was shocked I managed to keep it a secret, sometimes I surprise myself too.


Then came the big decision, do we tell or wait till Christmas. Well, it was just too close to the big day, so we waited and it was so worth it. I can tell you I am glad its out, I can't stand keeping it a secret. Yes, we are not ones to wait the 12 weeks. My view is, if something 'heaven forbid' happens, I don't want to suffer alone, especially with something so heartbreaking. Thats just me, everyone is different, but both Ken and I felt this was the right decision, as it was with Ariel.

How do I feel? Well, so far tired, sore and a bit nauseous. My morning sickness didn't kick in with Ariel until 7 weeks, so we shall see if that happens again. I started craving OJ, and I am allergic to it. Sure enough I am drinking it every morning, with no side effects, the same way I did with Ariel. Crazy, apparently my allergies disappear when I am pregnant. I will enjoy this, since I think this may be my last baby. I won't get to see my doctor until January 6th because of the holidays, and then she will refer me to my baby doctor that I had last time. Works out well since they usually don't want to see you until 8 weeks anyways. Woot! We also will be finding out if the baby is a boy or girl again. I get too anxious not knowing and I would like to keep my blood pressure normal, haha.

Ok, lets get back to Christmas! The snow continued to fall this week and come Christmas eve I was worried if we would be able to drive and get to our service at church. Thankfully after I took a walk out in it, I saw the roads were pretty good on the main drag, so we would have no problem, yay!

In the afternoon, Ariel helped me bake a birthday cake for Jesus, a tradition I am starting. She was so excited to help and even had to wear her apron. Too cute!


When finished, we sang happy birthday and had a slice. Blowing out the candles is always fun!


Ariel surprised us by singing along, and when I tried to tape her did pretty good but forgot a line, which actually was pretty funny.


When it was time to head to church, we left early since we had to get the scans of the pictures for the story on the computer and test them. I got a few pictures of our little princess in her pretty dress. She even wore her special cross that her Aunty Trudy gave her when she born. Such a little angel.


She was also glad to see Aunty Kara who was there early to practice her dance. Then Ariel proved there is no such thing as a tired girl who missed her nap. She ran around until the service started and then Ken had to take her to the nursery to play since she was too hyper. Gack!


The service was BEAUTIFUL! Simply lovely and so special, the worship team really did a great job. The story was a hit and Gayle and Roy were thrilled with the illustrations we did. We made our way home, in the falling snow. Sadly our annual drive around town to look at Christmas lights didn't happen, couldn't chance getting stuck in the snow filled side roads, oh well.

We got home and I prepared 2 warm dips to snack on while watching Christmas specials. Ariel went to bed (sort of, she didn't fall asleep until we came up at 11pm) and I played Santa putting out the gifts under the tree and stuffing the stockings. The tree looked so pretty in the darkness, glowing away.


Looks like Ariel got an overstuffed stocking again this year. Actually, I hung extra little things that I was too tired to wrap up, haha.


The next morning we were up at 6am bright and early... the snow was still falling. We had our online video chat with Ken's family back in Michigan. Ariel got into unwrapping presents pretty quickly haha.


Ariel got some lovely gifts, an American Girl Bitty Baby doll with stroller, a HUGE HIT, can you tell? A Mickey Mouse story reader, also a hit, she loves Mickey! Also some cool board books and a beautiful outfit (will get a picture of her in it soon!) Ken and I got a flip video with a tripod, so cool! Will be handy when we have the new baby, Ken won't have to haul the video camera around. After all the presents were opened we shared our news about the baby, and everyone was very happy! Whee!


We said goodbye and then called Ken's dad who was at his Aunt's place. Had a nice chat then let Ariel open her stocking. She was loving the chocolate inside, the dance ribbon which she had to use right away and all the other little surprises. Daddy tried out the flip video while she was busy checking everything out.


Then she got to have a gift from under the tree while we waited for the family to arrive. The Mr Potato head parts I got in Disneyland were awesome, she loved them and it kept her busy until Mike and Jo arrived at 9am.


By far the CUTEST picture ever of Ariel with her Aunty Jo and Uncle Mike. I love it!!!


Dad and Rita arrived bringing Nana and Papa. The present opening then started once everyone had their coffee. Haha. Ken was ready with the flip video for when Nana opened the card. We kept it on the down low so it didn't seem like anything important. Haha. Check out the awesome moment when Nana read the card about her gift. (We got her and Papa the next season of Matlock on DVD but it wasn't coming till next month, so I had to make up a card telling them that... and added our news as well).


After all the announcements were made and the last gift was opened we relaxed and ate breakfast. Ariel was loving the overnight sticky buns, yummy!


We all got some lovely gifts, Ariel got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Tinkerbell Movie dvds, big lego blocks, clothes and some cool little toys. She spent a good time with her new blocks from Grandpa and Rita (which were the one I saw at the consignment store and told them about. Such a great set - and a real bargain compared to the ones in the store).


I got a new piece of Cranberry Pottery and some Christmas money from Dad and Rita, Momma Mia dvd from Mike and Jo, an Old Navy gift card from Nana and Papa (which will be great when I need to get some maternity clothes, and a beautiful new bracelet that I had been eying at Fancy This Gifts since summer and earrings that match my favorite necklace I wear all the time from Ken. Speaking of Ken, my hubby got lots of dvds, Prince Caspian from Mike and Jo, Wall-E from Dad and Rita (along with some coffee and Christmas money) and SNL season 2 and Donald Duck vol. 4 from me. He also got a Starbucks card from Nana and Papa, so he was pumped, my coffee boy. Haha.

Dad and Rita took Nana and Papa home and went to start cooking the Christmas dinner at their place. Mike and Jo hung out for a bit with us which was really nice. Mike was on hand to help us with our computer when it started not wanting to reboot all the way through. Turns out if our webcam is plugged in during the reboot, it won't work. CRAZY! So we need to remember that, but its going to be hard to forget since its caused so much grief and stress that morning. I hate computer issues.

When Mike and Jo left to head to Jo's parents place, we stayed in our pjs and cleaned up the house. At 3pm we drove over to Dad and Rita's so Ariel could get another sled ride. She wasn't so thrilled this time, most likely because the road was more bumpy this time and snow kept getting in the sled.


Ariel was eager for turkey... she is never late for dinner that's for sure! Dinner was really yummy and I took full advantage of eating for 2 by having 2 very full helpings of turkey goodness. Oh I was soooooooo full and skipped dessert... but it was worth it. I love turkey, and I am glad I was able to enjoy it because I remember I couldn't eat it once I was well into my pregnancy with Ariel.


Ariel is still a little small for the paper hats, and eventually were all shredded to pieces anyways.


When we headed home we nearly got stuck on the unplowed street in front of the house. Thankfully our snow tires are awesome and good driving on Ken's part got us free and home safely. Thus, it ended our amazing Christmas Day.

Boxing day was very mellow. We all slept in till 10am, didn't go shopping, but watched the snow fall ALL DAY AGAIN! Yes, it seems to keep coming, and I am hoping it doesn't ruin plans I have for dinner out with Dianne and Robyn on Sunday night. Eek! We then got word in the afternoon that my cousin Kyle popped the question to his girlfriend Lindsay on Christmas Eve! I got to chat with Kyle briefly online and the wedding is planned for 2010 in the summer. Congrats you guys! We are so happy for you both. Well, if you are still reading, you get a prize! That was a long post, but I hope it was entertaining and fun.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Blessed!

A little video of our special Christmas... very special indeed. Its worth watching people, hee.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and blessings in the New Year!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

Everyday I wake up and look outside to see white snow... its weird, just not use to it. Anyhoo, yesterday we were pretty much snowed in. Ken stayed home to work, and it was nice having him around. While it was still early I went out for a walk by myself with my camera. Oh it was so lovely and crisp. I really do like snow, maybe not for driving, pushing a stroller but walking, its really nice.


The sun was just coming up and creating a lovely glow, so pretty and I couldn't just keep it to my self. So I ran home to pull my husband and daughter out for a short walk so they could experience it.


Ariel wasn't too into the snow anymore at this point. She doesn't like being cold and wet, so she proclaimed it was yucky...


...unless Daddy held her hand to help her, aw.


We did get as far as the park, which we found it was nearly up to my knees in spots and Ariel wasn't going for anything that crazy, so we did some pictures and went home to warm up.


The rest of the day I did some sewing and got my pjs done. I kept getting pulled away so it kinda dragged on through out the day. One fun distraction came with the morning mail. Ken's Dad had sent our Christmas cards and they were the fancy talking / musical ones. Ariel was thrilled with hers (well, once she woke up anyways - haha)


Then later another fun surprise. We got a package from one of our online mommy friends, we had done an ornament exchange, so fun! Boy was Ariel surprised to see Disney Princess ornaments!!! Thank you Tiffany, we are loving them!


Ariel went to work decorating our tree with them... until she decided she wanted them on her tree in her room, so that is where they are at staying at the moment. In the morning she chatted about all the princesses and how they were on her tree, it was very sweet.


The other major project finished was the paintings for the Christmas eve service. I am so happy with how they turned out, although my hands need a good rest from all that painting. Doing 5 paintings in under a week with a 2 year old is a LOT of work!



Today I woke up early and put together Ariel's little nightgown. By the time she woke up it was finished and she was very eager to try it on. (Pictures tomorrow) It was then I had a brainy idea of walking down to the store. I got Ariel in the stroller and headed out. Some areas were ok, others were really hard to push through and I had to lift the buggy over the snow mounds. Ugh. Good workout at least. Haha.

Came home again to finish Ken's pj pants only to realize I couldn't find the elastic I bought for them. ARGH! Thankfully Stella to the rescue and dropped some off. Yay, so they are finished and my family won't be naked on Christmas Eve! Yay!

Well, Ken just came in, so time for dinner. Can't believe tomorrow is Christmas eve, I am so excited. Church service in the evening, yummy snacks with my little family and then stuffing some stockings. Then the big day... oh boy oh boy oh boy. I think I am still a kid, can you tell?

Sunday, December 21, 2008

More SNOW!

As I am typing, the snow is falling... again. Lots of it... dang! This is crazy! Not to mention COLD! I am missing my regular west coast weather. I wonder if it will be like this for the Olympics in 2010? Anyhoo, its been a busy few days, hence no post. Trying to keep up and yet feeling like I am always forgetting something.

Friday morning Ariel and I joined, Dad, Rita and Katie for breakfast out at ABC. Ariel was thrilled Katie was there and they had fun coloring until the food arrived.


Afterwards, Dad went to get his hair cut and the rest of us thought it be fun to feed the bunnies. So we went down with a bag of carrots and saw our little fuzzy friends.


Ariel was doing her best to try and get close enough without scaring them away... kinda hard when she looked like she was throwing the carrots at them rather than tossing them.


Then we went back to the house and the girls did some sledding down the road. Katie gave Ariel, who was well bundled up, a fun ride.


Peek a boo!


Then Ariel took a turn at pulling. She actually was able to pull Katie which surprised us.


Some video of our fun morning.


Later that day we went to the big appetizer party Nana and Papa were hosting. I made up a Christmas tree veggie tray and herb dip. Very cute! I also can't take credit, I saw it in a magazine. Haha.


Ariel enjoyed visiting and eating. Ken was sadly unable to attend because it was the same night as his staff party. Plus I wasn't too excited about traveling downtown on the bus in the snow, so I came to Nana's party, sorry babe, maybe next year.


Ariel ate a big piece of cake and I will tell you that Costco puts a LOT of dye in their icing. The green wreaths that were on top, well, they turned Ariel's next diaper neon green. YUCK! Nasty and yet very festive I guess. Hehe, sorry.

Saturday morning Ariel and I walked down to get some pull-ups only to get to the store and realize I left the rain check at home! DOH! So we made our way back to the library to return some magazines and pick up some new stuff. Ariel found another Arthur dvd, so she was pumped. I stopped at the park for a moment so Ariel could ride the slide a few times. But she quickly was getting cold and cranky so we ran home to warm up

Later that day Dad and Rita dropped Katie off since they were going to a party. The girls had fun playing Mr Potato head, My Little Ponies and Mario Kart. Yes, Ariel's first time using a video game, it was entertaining to say the least.


Then this morning we made out way to church in a winter wonderland. It had stopped snowing when we arrived but as we left it was full blast again! 4th advent is one of snow, hee. Can't believe its Christmas this week!!!


Only 2 paintings left and then I can sew the pjs. Its all coming together, woot! Can't wait to celebrate with my family, visit friends and just relax with Ken home. Speaking of which, I think we are going to put on some Christmas specials while I paint. So better go, and look for a pj update soon!
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