Now don't get your hopes all up that this post will contain pictures from Christmas festivities... because it will not, and if that isn't a discouraging way to start off a post, I don't know what is.
We did survive all the merriment and have a wonderful 4 days of Christmas meals and presents. Having all our family so close by means lots of folks under foot, but contributes to the tradition of the holidays that we've always had.
Hayley really got the present thing this year. A couple of times we even had to reign her in for asking where more presents for her were... eek! We also watched her unwrap all her presents only to move over and play with Bowen's... but really, a gift to one of them is for both of them since we are working on the "share" rule at our house.
Bowen was not all that impressed with the present opening routine. She loved playing with the toys and things once they were opened, but actually unwrapping them herself was highly overrated. She never even pulled her stocking stuff out, and I can only recall her even putting her hands on about 5 different bags/boxes. And opening with "assistance" on those. She will not do what you want her to do just because you want her to... obviously.
I do hope to get around to some pictures and posts with actual quality material sometime in the new year.
But this week, the girls are enjoying Daddy Daycare while I'm at work and I have big plans for lunch with a friend and the third annual trip to see the Chipmunks movie with Lane & our Moms... and yes, I am aware that none of those trips involved taking actual children by age to the movies.
Thursday, December 29
Saturday, December 24
Friday, December 23
not at all related to Christmas
Ok, so y'all know I have some issues with public restrooms...or even semi-private restrooms like the ones at work.
Someone in the 5 who use the same restroom I do left a wallet calendar in the bathroom 4ish months ago... 1. weirdness. 2. why in the world? 3. just plain weird.
This week I noticed that someone left a Land's End catalog in the bathroom.
Um, WHAT?!
Who spends enough time in the semi-public work bathroom to warrant a catalogue? And really, seriously, what good does that do... its not like you can come out of the bathroom and be like "Y'all, have you seen the super cute boots on page 23?"
weird. weird. weird.
and completely unrelated to Christmas.
Someone in the 5 who use the same restroom I do left a wallet calendar in the bathroom 4ish months ago... 1. weirdness. 2. why in the world? 3. just plain weird.
This week I noticed that someone left a Land's End catalog in the bathroom.
Um, WHAT?!
Who spends enough time in the semi-public work bathroom to warrant a catalogue? And really, seriously, what good does that do... its not like you can come out of the bathroom and be like "Y'all, have you seen the super cute boots on page 23?"
weird. weird. weird.
and completely unrelated to Christmas.
Thursday, December 22
so far we're still breathing
We are taking our last deep breath over here as the Christmas festivities with famly officially kick off tomorrow and run through Monday.
Tomorrow: Christmas with my immediate family
Saturday: Christmas with Michael's immediate family
Sunday: Church at 10:30, Lunch with my Mama's extended family, Supper with my Daddy's extended family
Monday: Recovery day, aka the very last no-more-available vacation day from work of 2011.
Tonight I got the last tiny little presents wrapped and under the tree. Made sure Christmas jammies were clean for the girlies and gave my random assortment of ingredients on the counter the once over for preparation over the next few days.
Now I'm stretched out in the bed, remote in hand, laptop in lap and hoping that by deep breathing while I type I'll manage to deep breathe myself through the entire weekend... (and still crossing my fingers that I'm not really seriously missing a gift for someone somewhere along the lines)
If you're gonna be around our small corner of the county this Sunday, join us for church...10:30 a.m.
Tomorrow: Christmas with my immediate family
Saturday: Christmas with Michael's immediate family
Sunday: Church at 10:30, Lunch with my Mama's extended family, Supper with my Daddy's extended family
Monday: Recovery day, aka the very last no-more-available vacation day from work of 2011.
Tonight I got the last tiny little presents wrapped and under the tree. Made sure Christmas jammies were clean for the girlies and gave my random assortment of ingredients on the counter the once over for preparation over the next few days.
Now I'm stretched out in the bed, remote in hand, laptop in lap and hoping that by deep breathing while I type I'll manage to deep breathe myself through the entire weekend... (and still crossing my fingers that I'm not really seriously missing a gift for someone somewhere along the lines)
If you're gonna be around our small corner of the county this Sunday, join us for church...10:30 a.m.
Tuesday, December 20
This Just In
Gift that I was Pretty Sure I forgot... Figured it Out Today in a semi-frantic call from my sister-in-law.
Its a present we are supposed to be doing from Nana for someone else.
A present that will no way get here by Christmas.
So.
Yea....
Its a present we are supposed to be doing from Nana for someone else.
A present that will no way get here by Christmas.
So.
Yea....
Monday, December 19
ahem. let us begin with a moment of silence.
Well, last year... I had my act together. I mean, really together.
This year... its all grandma MEGHAN got runover by the month of December and has no idea how Christmas is less than a week away, please and thank you, slam bam thank you ma'am!
Y'all, it has been a slap crazy ridiculously blurry month. But from the remnants of memories that peek out from the overly exhaustive piles of boxes and trash and gift exchange remnants and last minute grocery shopping (who in their right mind realizes that their house is out of all staples the week of Christmas? that's right.. not holiday food needs, staples! like milk and poptarts and bananas and things that feed little bellies... the week of Christmas no less) and new gifts that have made their way in the house but not to a designated space...
Lord have mercy, Christmas has overcome us!
We had big plans of going smaller this Christmas... less stress, less running around, simplified family life, togetherness... sure, there were daycare gifts and school gifts and a school program... but other than that, it was going to be a slow go. WHO ARE WE and WHERE IN THE WORLD did we get the idea that ANY OF THAT was under control in the month of DECEMBER?!?!
I'd like to say we even scaled down the presenting traditions...and while we started with humbling beginnings, somewhere in all our crazy, I think we lost count of presents, and now we have no idea how things got so out of hand. And I'm pretty sure that I'm still missing something for someone in all that mix... so if its you, my dearest apologies.
...time out for life...post to be completed soon...and by soon I hope you know what I mean...in that, soon is whenever December releases me from its chaos for a few short minutes of solitude.
This year... its all
Y'all, it has been a slap crazy ridiculously blurry month. But from the remnants of memories that peek out from the overly exhaustive piles of boxes and trash and gift exchange remnants and last minute grocery shopping (who in their right mind realizes that their house is out of all staples the week of Christmas? that's right.. not holiday food needs, staples! like milk and poptarts and bananas and things that feed little bellies... the week of Christmas no less) and new gifts that have made their way in the house but not to a designated space...
Lord have mercy, Christmas has overcome us!
We had big plans of going smaller this Christmas... less stress, less running around, simplified family life, togetherness... sure, there were daycare gifts and school gifts and a school program... but other than that, it was going to be a slow go. WHO ARE WE and WHERE IN THE WORLD did we get the idea that ANY OF THAT was under control in the month of DECEMBER?!?!
I'd like to say we even scaled down the presenting traditions...and while we started with humbling beginnings, somewhere in all our crazy, I think we lost count of presents, and now we have no idea how things got so out of hand. And I'm pretty sure that I'm still missing something for someone in all that mix... so if its you, my dearest apologies.
...time out for life...post to be completed soon...and by soon I hope you know what I mean...in that, soon is whenever December releases me from its chaos for a few short minutes of solitude.
Friday, December 16
You're Here
This is my newest favorite Christmas song... We heard her sing this in Albany at a Christmas Concert 2 years ago now, and it brought me to tears... if you've heard it before, I know you love it too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2xxqRm3Hyg
Also, can't get this embeding to work...grrr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2xxqRm3Hyg
Also, can't get this embeding to work...grrr.
Monday, December 12
Please accept this in leiu of regular posting which evidently took a Christmas vacation for basically the whole month without telling anyone. I'm sorry and you're welcome.
And for the record, I was gonna do a thing about having over 10,000 page views which I think is crazy ridiculous, but y'all jumped right over it before I got to it. So thanks for coming back to visit approximately 1000 times each! : )
Friday, December 2
Monogram Swap.. or in my case, buy!
Putting a monogram to these faces...
Hayley or H: Size 2T and larger
Grady or G: Size 24 month and larger
Bowen or B: Size 18 month and larger
Please email me at meghan(dot)p(dot)williams@gmail.com or comment here and I'll touch base with you!
Hayley or H: Size 2T and larger
Grady or G: Size 24 month and larger
Bowen or B: Size 18 month and larger
Please email me at meghan(dot)p(dot)williams@gmail.com or comment here and I'll touch base with you!
puppy woes
Y'all.
I don't even know if I can do this story justice through words alone.
Epic. It was epic.
Last night, in the chill of the cold evening, as we arrived home I saw a quick dark something scurry down the edge of the house and under our porch steps. I practically shoved Hayley inside, jumped in myself, slammed the door and then peeked out the window to see what it was (because that's what all sane people do in these situations)
It was a puppy... a brown and black little munchkin of a puppy with a simple plastic collar on.
I drop all our stuff inside the door and proceed into the house.
I find out that while Michael unloaded the child from his vehicle, he did not unload all the other daily necessities for today from it. I realize I'm going back outside...with the puppy that almost killed me via surprise element just minutes before. I tell Michael there is a dog out there.... He tells me not to worry about it and just get the stuff out of the car.
I open the door and a little puppy face pops out from under the truck next to the steps.
Ok, he's little. I can take him. and by take him I mean drop kick him if he starts acting the fool in my general direction... at least that's what I tell myself in my head because we all know that I'd probably be backing away very slowly or maybe quite quickly dashing to the door because I don't have it in me to kick a puppy should he begin to act the fool in my general direction)
I go out to the car.. not making eye contact or speaking to the puppy. He need not believe that this is his new home.
He beats me back to the porch and is between me and the door.
Then the little beast starts growling at me.
"Hey! Cut that out! Not at my house are you gonna growl at me. Get down. Get out of the way!"
this puppy obviously hasn't learned that people instructions matter
Then the puppy starts whimpering instead of growling as I take the first step up.
He's on the backside of the door where the hinge is.
In my diluted distraction, I think to myself, with my two full hands of stuff and shoulder bag of camera bag... I'll just ease the door open, he'll be between it and porch railing, and I'll jump into the door before he gets around it.
Idea meet failure to account for tiny puppy size and wit.
The door is not even a quarter of the way big enough for my stuff to get through let alone me when the puppy takes two sniffs with his tiny nose and wiggles himself right underneath the door into the tiniest of openings and takes off into the house.
My house. With the two daughters who are petrified of all dogs. Even tiny ones.
I yell "MICHAEL!" about the time the puppy rounds the corner and Michael lays eyes on him (Michael who was until this point sitting in the chair on the telephone). I drop my stuff, close the door back (y'all, its cold out there!), and commence to coming into the house to get to the girls or the dog or whichever came at me first.
I see the little squirt dart through the living room and into the door of Hayley's room. Michael appears to be moving in slow motion and is still on the telephone to boot. Then the puppy runs into the bathroom. The smallest room of the entire house. Where there are two girls. One on the potty. And one standing next to the bathtub.
Cue TERROR SCREAMS! Legs flying up. Bowen almost goes headfirst into tub. All I see when I round the corner is her diapered covered butt and bare legs scrambling to try and climb a bathtub. Hayley is screaming bloody murder and shaking and pulling her legs up and convulsing tighter to the fetal position everytime she looks at the dog.
Who is now hiding behind the trashcan and toilet on which she sits. Probably scared out of his ever-loving mind because I'm pretty sure he wasn't counting on busting his eardrums with children screams when he darted into our house. I sit down in the floor and grab up Bowen, start issuing condolences and its oks and quiet down. And loudly telling Hayley to stop screaming and be still and its fine and we're good.
And for the love of all things good and holy why is this dog still in here and where is Michael?
Michael, is standing in the door trying to figure out how to get to the dog between the two screaming children, the sprawled out mama and the hiding dog behind the toilet. And he's still on the phone.
Michael gets his hands on the dog and throws him back out on the porch where he tries to scramble back into the house but Michael gets the door shut. I, meanwhile, have gotten Bowen calm and am now having the "Why was there a dog in our house? I don't like dogs. I only like Lou (who is a dog who is the exception to the rule). That puppy needs to go to his house." discussion in rapid speed of
peat and repeat with Hayley who is still sitting on the potty with one lone tear still hanging onto her cheek.
I come out of the bathroom and Bowen is now playing in the living room like nothing happens. Hayley goes through the same line of questioning with Michael who has finally gotten off the phone after throwing the dog out the door.
And this all happened in less than 3 minutes.
I kid you not.
Today's note: I was greeted by the same little puppy when I came out the door this morning. He was covered in a mix of spiderwebs and dew drops. I have a very bad feeling that he has self-proclaimed our house as his home. I'm not sure where our signals got crossed because I am quite sure the girls made it perfectly clear that he was not welcome.
I however am my father's daughter, and while he will not come in my house, and I will not feed him today in hopes that he will find his way back to his owners, or they will find him, I did put a box with a towel out in the yard. It's cold and he's little. Shut your face.
I don't even know if I can do this story justice through words alone.
Epic. It was epic.
Last night, in the chill of the cold evening, as we arrived home I saw a quick dark something scurry down the edge of the house and under our porch steps. I practically shoved Hayley inside, jumped in myself, slammed the door and then peeked out the window to see what it was (because that's what all sane people do in these situations)
It was a puppy... a brown and black little munchkin of a puppy with a simple plastic collar on.
I drop all our stuff inside the door and proceed into the house.
I find out that while Michael unloaded the child from his vehicle, he did not unload all the other daily necessities for today from it. I realize I'm going back outside...with the puppy that almost killed me via surprise element just minutes before. I tell Michael there is a dog out there.... He tells me not to worry about it and just get the stuff out of the car.
I open the door and a little puppy face pops out from under the truck next to the steps.
Ok, he's little. I can take him. and by take him I mean drop kick him if he starts acting the fool in my general direction... at least that's what I tell myself in my head because we all know that I'd probably be backing away very slowly or maybe quite quickly dashing to the door because I don't have it in me to kick a puppy should he begin to act the fool in my general direction)
I go out to the car.. not making eye contact or speaking to the puppy. He need not believe that this is his new home.
He beats me back to the porch and is between me and the door.
Then the little beast starts growling at me.
"Hey! Cut that out! Not at my house are you gonna growl at me. Get down. Get out of the way!"
this puppy obviously hasn't learned that people instructions matter
Then the puppy starts whimpering instead of growling as I take the first step up.
He's on the backside of the door where the hinge is.
In my diluted distraction, I think to myself, with my two full hands of stuff and shoulder bag of camera bag... I'll just ease the door open, he'll be between it and porch railing, and I'll jump into the door before he gets around it.
Idea meet failure to account for tiny puppy size and wit.
The door is not even a quarter of the way big enough for my stuff to get through let alone me when the puppy takes two sniffs with his tiny nose and wiggles himself right underneath the door into the tiniest of openings and takes off into the house.
My house. With the two daughters who are petrified of all dogs. Even tiny ones.
I yell "MICHAEL!" about the time the puppy rounds the corner and Michael lays eyes on him (Michael who was until this point sitting in the chair on the telephone). I drop my stuff, close the door back (y'all, its cold out there!), and commence to coming into the house to get to the girls or the dog or whichever came at me first.
I see the little squirt dart through the living room and into the door of Hayley's room. Michael appears to be moving in slow motion and is still on the telephone to boot. Then the puppy runs into the bathroom. The smallest room of the entire house. Where there are two girls. One on the potty. And one standing next to the bathtub.
Cue TERROR SCREAMS! Legs flying up. Bowen almost goes headfirst into tub. All I see when I round the corner is her diapered covered butt and bare legs scrambling to try and climb a bathtub. Hayley is screaming bloody murder and shaking and pulling her legs up and convulsing tighter to the fetal position everytime she looks at the dog.
Who is now hiding behind the trashcan and toilet on which she sits. Probably scared out of his ever-loving mind because I'm pretty sure he wasn't counting on busting his eardrums with children screams when he darted into our house. I sit down in the floor and grab up Bowen, start issuing condolences and its oks and quiet down. And loudly telling Hayley to stop screaming and be still and its fine and we're good.
And for the love of all things good and holy why is this dog still in here and where is Michael?
Michael, is standing in the door trying to figure out how to get to the dog between the two screaming children, the sprawled out mama and the hiding dog behind the toilet. And he's still on the phone.
Michael gets his hands on the dog and throws him back out on the porch where he tries to scramble back into the house but Michael gets the door shut. I, meanwhile, have gotten Bowen calm and am now having the "Why was there a dog in our house? I don't like dogs. I only like Lou (who is a dog who is the exception to the rule). That puppy needs to go to his house." discussion in rapid speed of
peat and repeat with Hayley who is still sitting on the potty with one lone tear still hanging onto her cheek.
I come out of the bathroom and Bowen is now playing in the living room like nothing happens. Hayley goes through the same line of questioning with Michael who has finally gotten off the phone after throwing the dog out the door.
And this all happened in less than 3 minutes.
I kid you not.
Today's note: I was greeted by the same little puppy when I came out the door this morning. He was covered in a mix of spiderwebs and dew drops. I have a very bad feeling that he has self-proclaimed our house as his home. I'm not sure where our signals got crossed because I am quite sure the girls made it perfectly clear that he was not welcome.
I however am my father's daughter, and while he will not come in my house, and I will not feed him today in hopes that he will find his way back to his owners, or they will find him, I did put a box with a towel out in the yard. It's cold and he's little. Shut your face.
Thursday, December 1
One Year
I brag about Mikie's weight loss quite a bit in person, and I've talked about it some in the "Wellness Wednesday" posts of days gone by... but y'all, this is what some dedication and diet control did for him, and for us, in ONE YEAR!!!
December 2010 (2 months into weight loss)
November 2011 (1 year of weight loss, 1 month of maintaining!)
He dropped 2.5 ring sizes... for his birthday, I had his wedding band resized since its been months since he's been able to wear it without it falling off his finger!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY (tomorrow) MICHAEL! We won't talk about how old you are today...but just how great you look! : )
Click on the "wellness wednesday" tag right down here to see what I have shared about choices we made with Mikie's journey!
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