December 18th

Not much has been going on this week. I got all of the non-Vallerie presents wrapped. Vallerie insisted on helping, so it took a little longer than expected. Not to mention that she wanted her presents. She did get a little entertainment using some of my scraps. She would "wrap" up a little zebra then rip it open and exclaim "A zebra!" then she would do it all over again.

I still have a few things to crochet before Christmas. And I learned how to crochet ruffle scarves using that sashay netting yarn. So easy! I can even make a scarf for Vallerie and one for me using 1 skein! We're going to have so many scarves!!

Vallerie met Santa for the first time. She told him she wanted a robot dog. If we would have known about it before we probably would have helped Santa with that. Maybe for her birthday if she still wants one.

It snowed quite a bit, so we played in the snow and made a couple snow men. The one on the left is the Daddy Snowman, and the one on the right is the Vallerie and Mommy Snowman.

 After Vallerie visited Santa, we went to the Canal Center Museum. Vallerie and Eddie played old time checkers with corn cob pieces. Vallerie of course didn't know what she was doing, but it was still fun to see them try and play.

Yesterday I got my hair done. It was dyed, highlighted and trimmed. I like it. I went with a darker base.

I still have quite a bit to do before my mom visits. Mainly cleaning up her room so she has somewhere to sleep! I think once Vallerie's presents are wrapped and the empty Christmas boxes are out of there it will be a piece of cake. Hopefully I can get Vallerie's stuff wrapped tonight. I think Saturday will be the big clean/organize day.

December 10th

Last weekend we went to the circus! My aunt got us front row seats! Since we were in the VIP section we actually got to go on the circus floor during the tightrope act. It was pretty awesome. They took us on this little teacups train and it went around the circus floor. We were able to see the lady being fired out of the cannon while we were almost underneath it! I didn't bring my camera at that time or I would have taken pictures. I think that Vallerie had a great time. She keeps asking to go back. All in all, it was amazing.

Started decorating the tree the other day. It's SUPER late for me to start, but I was waiting on a resolution from the tree people... which was for them to send us lights to restring them on the tree. Uh, no thanks. I'm not sure what we'll do with the tree after Christmas. We bought some really pretty garland, but it wasn't enough. When we went to get 1 more strand they were all sold out (go figure). So, I got ribbon. I hope it works.

Got all the Christmas shopping done. Came in under budget (even with buying Vallerie some more stuff). I have a bunch of things to crochet this year, so I need to get on top of that. I do have a few things done. I would say what they were, but I don't want to ruin the surprise if anyone reads this that I am making stuff for.

Haven't made Christmas cards yet. I am WAY behind this year. I guess it's because I normally get a picture of Vallerie in front of the tree and since it's not decorated I haven't been able to do it. I made calendars last year, but I don't think I will have time to do that this year.

December 3rd

Wow. It's been a long week (or 2?) since I blogged last. Where to start... A couple days before Thanksgiving we bought ourselves a nice Christmas present. It is a fireplace tv stand. It's beautiful. The fireplace isn't real, but it is a heater and it looks really nice. Thanksgiving we went to Eddie's sisters in-laws. We had a nice time and ate some good food. We had Vallerie's cousins spend the night (seperately) over the Thanksgiving holiday. It wasn't too bad, but not something I think either one of us want to do again for a while. Vallerie doesn't like to share, and she likes to hit. We're trying to get her to stop hitting. She went to time out a few times while her cousins were there.

  The day after Thanksgiving we had Eddie's family over for lunch. It was fun but hectic. Lots of kids running around.

 We bought a new Christmas tree this year. It's one of the pre-lit ones. It's supposed to have smart technology lights where if one burns out then the others stay on. We've been having major problems with it. For a couple days it all worked fine. Then 1/2 of the top lights burnt out. Yesterday when I got home I noticed that 1/4 of the bottom lights were burnt out. We called the tree people. We actually called after the top went out and they were supposed to send replacement lights. Then we called again yesterday when the bottom went out. The lady we talked to said she was going to call the owners of the tree (they just manage them) and see what they wanted to do. It really sucks because I can't decorate the tree until all the lights work. We can't go back and get another one because the place we bought it doesn't have another one, and we didnt like anything else. We really didnt even want a pre-lit tree, but that's the only one we liked.

 We decorated a little for Christmas. We've got up some garland and the dining room table is set. We still have a little to do. I normally do the tree first then see what’s left over and decorate with that, but since the tree is not working, my normal plans are ruined.

 A few stories about Vallerie: Eddie and Vallerie were playing, and I guess Eddie did something to make her mad because she said "I'll cut you". Eddie and I were a little stunned, but thought it was pretty funny. Now, it's not like we go around saying this. I'm 99% sure she got it from the movie The Croods, and I'm 99% sure she doesn't even know what it means. (Before you ask, YES Eddie and I told her that wasn't a nice thing to say). It was still pretty funny.

 The other day Vallerie came up to me freaking out because she wanted a flashlight friend. I thought that I knew what she was talking about. She got a little pumpkin guy with a light for Halloween a couple years ago. Well, that was not what she wanted. So, we were in the store the other day and she yells "A FLASHLIGHT FRIEND". I look over and see that there really is something called a Flashlight Friend. I guess I thought we had a few more years until she started wanting things from tv. (Yes we bought her one).I bought her some new pajamas yesterday and she put them on last night. She woke up around 2am crying because she was itchy. I guess she had some kind of reaction to them because she was red and bumpy. So, we changed her and put some hydrocortisone on her. She looked much better this morning. I am going to wash them and try them again. Hopefully it isn't the fabric. Nothing like this has happened before, so it was a little scary. Not to mention neither Eddie or I got much sleep. She ended up sleeping in our bed with Eddie and I slept on the couch (uncomfortably). I guess she was kicking Eddie all night. Plus, she got up really early this morning. 

We are going to the circus this weekend.  My aunt got us all front row seats. We are staying in a hotel Fri and Sat. It should be a lot of fun. We haven't told Vallerie yet. She would ask about it all the time until we went. I think we will tell her on Thursday.