I know, I know. Christmas was 3 weeks ago, and I’m just now getting to posting pictures?  Life is busy.

The high lights:

-Savannah got way too many toys. I guess that happens with a Dad who’s a kid at heart himself and many sets of grandparents.

-She got pretty much all things princesses. The only thing she asked for this year (she went right up and told Santa herself) was a Snow White dress.  We used this desire as a bribe to reward her for sleeping through the night (it worked!) and so Christmas she finally got it. It’s funny how much she loves princesses and yet she’s never watched any of the videos, fine by me.

-Mark’s big gift from me was Panther’s football Tickets. He’s a huge sports fan and didn’t think we could afford tickets right now. His face was priceless! (Once again, I love me some mommy board finds!)

-I got mainly house stuff for Christmas and loved every minute of it. Between gifts and giftcards, we’re almost all set to go now!

-We had our Kaylee Christmas visit, staying the night again.  Savannah and Kaylee had a blast playing  together, I love watching them and the friendship they have formed.  Kaylee is really possessive over Savannah being her “baby sister” and doesn’t like to share play time with her brother, poor Blake gets left out. Mark and I had fun hanging out with their parents as always.

-I gave Kaylee a photobook for Christmas that shares a little bit about her birthfamily. Most of it is my family of course since that’s what I have more access to, but I contacted Kaylee’s birthgrandma for some information about her Birthdad growing up I could include. I added a page or two or random facts like birthdays, where we went to school, our hobbies, eye color, etc. and also shared our dating story and some pictures.  Kaylee liked it, but was totally confused that her birthdad is not Mark.  Hm…don’t know how to explain that one to a 5 year old!

-And to end my winter break with a shabang, I had my visit with Victoria!  We had our week jam packed with things to do and it was a blast (exhausting, but a blast)!  I saw historical things like the Liberty Bell in down town Philadelphia, we went snow tubing in the Poconos (so much fun, everyone should go!), went bowling for her birthday, got our nails done (first time since I got married, what a treat), painted pottery, ate the most amazing burger and french fries I have ever had at The Pop Shop (it was on the Food Network, it’s that good!), and finally got to meet her birth family.  It was so much :-)

-I, however, decided I can ever live in the north because the drivers and the road designs (ie. lanes just suddenly ending with no warning signs) stresses me out way too much.  We seriously almost crashed 20 times.  I love my easy going south.

And the big news:

We close on our house next week!

I am unbelievable excited and have been shopping like crazy to get the rest of the house things we needed. We also bought paint tonight while it was on sale at home depot.  I cannot wait to see what a difference the paint makes. We just need a washer and dryer, food, cleaning supplies, and blinds and we’ll have a home :-)

Holy Moly! Has it been 2.5 weeks already since I posted?  Going out of town through my life out of whack and I’m still trying to catch up with all the things I’ve missed (101 emails, anyone? or 100 blog posts to read? or 174 facebook updates?).

Today was the first day of classes and I can tell I’m going to have a challenging, work filled semester. Thankfully, it’s the last one, but bear with me as I post when I can between assignments and the 100’s of pages of readings on top of laundry, spending time with Savannah, planning her 3rd birthday party, and oh yeah…buying a house and moving all our stuff and making it look presentable. I’m stressed just thinking about all this and I have a feeling my blog posts will get pushed down to the bottom of the to-do list. 

Hopefully coming this week:

-Christmas pictures

-Kaylee visit!

-My mommy getaway trip recap

-House news

In short: a lot has happened in the last 2.5 weeks so be ready for update overload!

I don’ t know what it is about Christmas break, I get in this writing slump even though I have all the time in the world to actually write something. It happens every year!

What’s been happening?  Well, for starters I ended up with 4 A’s and 1 B as my final grades. I’m pretty happy with that, being my senior year (and I just like being good at things, okay?). I’m so excited to have just one more semester to go, I’m ready to get it started and be done for ever!

House wise– my brain doesn’t stop working thinking about paint colors and room layouts now.  We’re still waiting on getting the inspection done, but since the house is 3 years old I doubt (I pray) anything serious will be wrong so we can continue to move forward.  We feel so at peace with our decision, not just in the house, but location and even moving out earlier than planned. We are ready. So ready, that I already started packing. I thought I’d get a head start while I’m not in school and since I’ll be out of town visiting family and Victoria (!) for two weeks.

I’m sure I’ll be back, eventually, when the Christmas hub-bub is over. When the ridiculous amount of toys are opened and thrown everywhere, when we’re stuffed with good food and filled with joy.

God has been so good to us, I pray you have a blessed,  joyful, peaceful Christmas as well.

I hope yall had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  We’re enjoying our trip to see my family and lots of good food, of course. We’re having a second Thanksgiving tonight with more family and to eat foods we didn’t get to eat yesterday (like stuffing and watergate salad!).  I know that we should be thankful for our lives and things within our lives every single day, but I’m glad we have at least one day a year to remind us of that and allow families time to take off work to be together.  We’ve got much to be grateful for and my heart is swelling with thanks.

I can’t believe Thanksgiving has technically already come and gone though. And, while I love Thanksgiving for the food and family time, I love that it also officially kicks off the holiday season and I can bring out Christmas music and movies without feeling lame.  My family’s tradition goes something like this: eat food, do lots of talking, come home tired, now bring out the Christmas movies! As soon as we got home from Thanksgiving lunch yesterday, we popped in The Polar Express (Savannah was in my lap the entire time because it was intense for her! I loved all those snuggles).

And now that it’s Friday, I can especially bring out my music favorites: Snowed In (renamed as The Christmas Collection here) by Hanson and pretty much anything by Amy Grant. It’s just not Christmas without them.  Don’t laugh, I was in love with Hanson as a 90’s kid and they still have a spot in my heart. Sure, this CD is pre-puberty and they sound a bit like girls compared to their latest awesomeness in a CD now that they are in their 20’s, but like I said, it’s just not Christmas without these songs!

Less than a month until Christmas! Crazy…

This has been the longest week EVER.  2 more days until we know what’s going on in this womb of mine. I’m still feeling good physically (aside from nausea) and I’m hopeful for good things.  I’m choosing to be happy this weekend, for if I do find out bad news Monday, I will have enjoyed my last days before reality hits.

But until I know what’s going on, it’s made me so thankful for Savannah. I swear, it’s like she knows her momma needs support and lots of laughs because she has been pretty amazing this last week.  I’m loving this age!  She knows how to make us laugh with her silly faces and games. She’s got this new game where she talks to things, like our fingers or stuff animals or anything she wants.  But, my favorite thing she does is how she gets three stuff animals, three bottles, three anything and they suddenly are mommy, daddy, and baby. It’s adorable to watch her use her imagination now and we all have a role in it.

Happy Birthmother’s Day to my fellow birthmothers! And Happy Mother’s Day to my fellow Mommies (and birthmommies) tomorrow.  Like I said last year, I love having two days to celebrate my roles.

Happy Valentines Day, folks!

And I? Am convinced that I have the greatest husband ever. (And in-laws.) Why?  Well, my husband took me a short trip uptown to eat last night (I know, a day early) at an extremely yummy restaurant by our selves. And then? Surprised me with a night’s stay at a swanky uptown hotel. Corner suit, no less.  He also attempted to pack me a night bag, complete with my make up in little baggies, my toothbrush, jammies, etc. Even a DVD player and movie! (By the way Leatherheads is kind boring). He did forget my brush though and facewash, but I survived and I’m just so thankful at all the little things he thought of to do for me!  It was absolutely wonderful to sleep in a giant bed with no sleep distractions but my sickly throat and nose. Oh, it was good to just rest and not have to be up all night with sickly Savannah!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend, too!  Do something sweet for your sweety :-)

I realize I’ve been missing for… oh…about 2 weeks.  Perhaps my brain needed a break after this tough college semester? I had intended to do more blogging over my Christmas break but it obviously did not happen!  I was too busy enjoying family, or just being lazy. Which, I think is pretty well deserved after a challenging college semester.  We are now finally home from all our visits, settling back into a routine (though school doesn’t start for us for another week) and enjoying being back on our own turf.  I slept like a baby last night, not waking up at all (which is quite rare for me). It’s good to be home!

So since it has been so long since I’ve made a real update. Let’s start with Christmas shall we?

As you can see, it was a jolly good time for all.  We matched a lot, both in our PJ’s and outfits.  There were more present than we could bring home (seriously, we had to leave some behind!). Savannah became a chef who enjoys tasting her own cooking way too much.  She also loves her new baby dolls so much, that she wants to be one of them. She is often found sitting in the baby doll crib, in the stroller (which is now nearly broken…), or attempting to climb into the baby high chair. But some times she does do good things like feed the baby doll or take her for a walk. Savannah received the tiniest little tricycle I’ve ever seen that will grow with her as she does. And she loved it, of course (see top left picture). She also was super thrilled about her bus book (thank you dollar aisle in Target). Mark got underwear for Christmas, ha!  Though, appropriately, it was xbox underwear. And I?  I got a new printer, a sea foam green tea pot (Tea is my new coffee), and drum roll please….

A new computer!  Technically, we bought it after Christmas but as Mark told me…it’s my Christmas, birthday and next Christmas present all in one.  I’m fine with that, we needed a new one desperately. My lap top is getting fixed but a brand new one will be more relaiable. Now if only the UPS man would get here with my package….

Also? While we were away we suffered horrible sleep issues.  One night (or morning?) she woke up at 1 am and stayed awake until 7. ONE AM! What nearly 2 year old can handle that much missing sleep? I know I can’t. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who stayed with her while I caught up on sleep.  She did this stunt again a few days ago, but got up at midnight instead. The trend seems to be this when she doesn’t nap. Yes, we will be inforcing the naps from now on. Period.  Here she is finally, finally asleep after a long night. Does she look huge to you, as she does to me? 

That’s pretty much the latest news for now, I’m off to play blocks with the girl!

Have you seen this?  It’s spreading over the internet, it’s popped up in my emails and blogs I read. And I’m glad, this message needs to be heard.  I grew up with Christmas being all about the toys. I had THIRTY Barbies, folks. Plus all the accessories. Did I really need that much? No.  And it’s not that I’m not grateful for what my parents did for me growing up, but I think we do loose the real meaning of Christmas when we pile toys upon toys on our children, most that never get used. It’s sad.

This year, we didn’t buy much for Savannah because she pretty much has everything she needs (but ya know, the Grandparents still will drown her in toys I’m sure). I want Savannah to grow up knowing that Christmas is NOT about the gifts, and I would much rather spend some extra money we have towards people who don’t have everything they need and her be active in helping with that. I want to live simply, in abundance, but only with what we need.

Anyways, watch this video. It has a great, great message.

What’s your favorite smell? Is it the smell of your mother’s perfume that takes you back to when you were growing up?  Is it the smell of laundry?  Flowers? Your child’s hair after bath time?

What about your favorite food smell?  How often can the sense of smell take us back in our memory and crave not just food, but to be in that moment again.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and already I’m anticipating the smell of Turkey baking, stuffing, and that sweat pumpkin pie along with the good company of my family.  It’s part of what makes Thanksgiving…well..Thanksgiving to me. Pillsbury has a new commercial out that portrays just that, that “Home is Calling” where good food and family are waiting.

But Pillsbury is doing more than just advertising for their (awesome tasting) products, but also giving back to those who need it.  Visit this page, watch the short video, and pass it on in honor of your own smell memories and to give that chance to others.  Every time you forward the commercial to others by December 31st, Pillsbury will donate 1 pound of food to a food bank within the USA. It’s that easy help out! They will donate at least $5,000 worth and up to $25,000. That’s a lot of food, people!  Start sending away.

And, to celebrate the holidays even more, I’m giving away THREE Pillsbury gift baskets as a thank you for passing on the love and food. The basket includes:

1. Coupon for FREE Pillsbury crescent rolls

2. Cookie sheet (It’s NICE one folks, Oneida!)

3. Pot holder

4. Bread basket (for those yummy crescent rolls…)

5. Magnetic coupon holder

6. Mouse pad

7. Lovable Pillsbury Doughboy figurine (Which, Savannah is sleeping with ours as I type)

Leave a comment on this post telling me to how many people you forwarded the video to and what’s your favorite holiday food. Comments will close Thursday, December 4th at midnight.  Then, three winners will be chosen randomly and announced on Friday, December 5th.  Thanks for passing the food and good luck!