Christmas Eve

Unfortunately, all three of us got REALLY sick right before Christmas and were still down and out throughout the holiday. I was so happy that Tay got better in time to enjoy Christmas Day with her dad. We did manage to muster enough energy to open presents the night before and set out a few things for Santa...I'll share more about the extra special Santa letter soon. For now, here are a few pics of Tay in action...

Making snowman cookies for Santa

Decked out for bed in her new jammies and slippers

They light up when she walks - too funny for words :-)

Three Lounging Pups

During the time I was off recovering from surgery, the puppies were truly in hog heaven as they didn't have to go outside in the cold. Perhaps they got a bit too comfortable, though, because one day I came out of the bathroom after taking a shower and this is what I found...

Bo lounging on MY pillow...and wouldn't get up for anything!

Prissy sprawled across MY side of the bed...

And Perkie lapping up all of the lovin' she could get from her dad...

Think they were tired of me being home and ready to have Daddy Day again?

Merry Christmas from the Elves!

I tried several times to post our eCard directly to the blog but it wasn't ever successful. So check out this link but only if you're in the mood to bust a gut laughing:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/7kgQO7xF64kTshOi22AV

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted but I've had a good excuse - nasal surgery to fix my deviated septum. While I thought it would be a straight-up picnic, it wasn't and was much more complicated than even the surgeon had anticipated. That's all behind us now, though, and I'm back at work and we're getting into the spirit of the holidays.

I put out most of our decorations while Tay was with her dad on Thanksgiving and then she helped me "fine tune" then once she got back. I had to promise her that I'd post pictures on her blog of all of the Christmas goodness so here goes...just don't tell her how long it took me or I'll be in big trouble!

Tonight is her Christmas pageant where she'll be a "reindeer with solo" and "angel." I'll be sure to take pics because I'm certain they'll be adorable!

Merry Christmas to all...

Thanksgiving Morning

Tay and I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to celebrate the holiday on Thursday. Well, we watched parts of its anyway...she wanted to finish redecorating her room by the time her dad picked her up so we went back and forth. She caught the tail end of the parade at her Nanna's house and has a spiffy looking room too!

Pretty fairy from Maw Maw...

A big girl dresser!

No room is complete without a Santa hat on the bedpost.

The parade is fun, Mom, but can we go decorate my room now?

Should I have a lemon for breakfast?

In my opinion, Baylor beat Tech

Yep, that's right...regardless of the score, Baylor still beat Tech. Why, you might ask? Because there's no way Tech will get the respect of those who vote for the polls now. Baylor missed a field goal and, had they been successful, the score would have been even closer. I think it's a great way for Baylor to end the season - we really could have gone to a bowl game this year if a couple of games would have fallen the other way...and they were all really close games!

So the other reason I'm annoyed with Tech right now is that Leach couldn't give one iota of credit to a team that completely dominated his for the majority of the game. Said team isn't even ranked!! Would it have killed him to be at least cordial??? And, another thing (yes, I'm on a soap box but I'm about to get off), when you're a player being stomped all over the field and then finally make ONE good play, there is absolutely no reason for you to jump all over the place and chest bump like you've really done something special...

Now stepping down from soapbox...the worst part about it is I've rooted for Tech all season long--wanted them to beat Texas and jumped up and down trying to bring them to life against OU. The one time I don't root for them, they act ugly...for no reason...

Thanksgiving is Here!

As I type, Tay is cuddled up on the couch watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Once it's over, she's heading to her dad's house for lunch and we'll be picking Logan up for some football watching fun. Tonight we're having our first Thanksgiving meal alone as a family and I can't wait!

Not because I don't want to see our families but because I figured out last night that it's a lot of fun to do the holiday cooking. We have Maw Maw's lemon icebox pie in the fridge along with Nana's sweet potato crunch so all we have left is the ham, mac & cheese and green beans. Yum!!

I'm running around taking pictures but am having to sneak it because Tay thinks I'm a distraction :-)...once I get some, I'll post them...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Fall in Review

It's been a while since I blogged but life has been C-R-A-Z-Y!! Between getting ready for surgery, finishing soccer, continuing with dance and gym, preparing for the yucky TAKs test with Taylor and just general family stuff it's been non-stop goodness.

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner with Nana and Boppy last Saturday and it was yummy. We're planning on a very low-key dinner at our house on Thursday evening. Tay's dad will be picking her up that morning after the parades so she can see that side of the fam and Logan will be watching football with me and Dave throughout the afternoon.

On Friday, we're off to take Tay's Christmas pics and then doing family ones on Sunday. Somewhere in there we have to stock the pantry for next week and make sure everyone has their Taylor assignment for next week while I'm in bed...and, of course, I have to find some super cute pajamas to take the focus off the bulky splint on my nose!

With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away and surgery becoming a reality, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic so I compiled a bunch of photos of the activities we've done during the fall. Hope you enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Exciting News!

We got some terrific news yesterday--Miss Taylorbug got not one but two parts in the 3rd grade Christmas play!! She's an angel in one part and is a reindeer with a singing solo for the remainder of the production. She's been so excited about this play because they get to wear "costumes, Mommy, real costumes." She made sure everyone had it on their calendar even before casting so we'll all be there--front and center--on December 16.

I'm a huge proponent of not being too Christmasey before Thanksgiving is over but this was too exciting not to share!!

Bears 41, Aggies 21

Mommy, it's cold!!

Saturday's game was absolutely fantastic as the Bears whipped up on the Aggies 41-21. It was sweet revenge to see the Aggie fans quietly leaving with their heads down at the beginning of the third quarter. All those years that they beat us to a bloody pulp are, hopefully, over!!

We also wrapped up soccer team (thank goodness) Saturday morning. It was a balmy 32 degrees when we got there. Luckily, Tay warmed up while she was on the field and then was able to jump back in the car to warm up when it was her turn to sit out. I do not believe we'll be playing soccer during the fall again - it got too cold!!

We just hung out Sunday as Tay wasn't feeling very well. Attack of the killer seasonal allergies continues to plague my little one and it totally stinks. Hope you enjoy the Battle of the Brazos slide show!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Battle of the Brazos

Where's Waldo?

This weekend the Aggies will invade our quiet town as the Bears play them at Floyd Casey tomorrow afternoon. While Dave loves A&M, he will be cheering for the Bears while wearing his Baylor polo. I offered to buy him one of BU's 'It's time for a whooping' t-shirts but he declined. I can't imagine why...lol...

Anyway, it's been a pretty good week. Tay and I saw the high school's production of Beauty and the Beast on Monday evening, which was phenomenal!! We had Open House at her school on Tuesday, gym on Wednesday and dance last night. Tomorrow is the last soccer game of the season and I truly couldn't be more excited about that--it's been a long couple of months.

She also seems to have mastered those multiplication problems and made a 90 on Wednesday's timed test. We'll see how she does today...I'm happy with the 90 but she wants to get a 100...can't blame her for trying!

Let's see...not much else going on...two more weeks until my surgery so I'm taking iron, vitamins, etc. that I was told would help in the healing process. And I had a dream last night that I woke up from surgery and they decided not to do it...just to let me sleep and get some rest because I looked like I needed it. They offered to do the actual procedure next March. WHAT?!?!?! My subconscious must be more torn up than I am consciously because I haven't had any worry or anxiety...thank you, Lord...

I'm sure we'll have great pictures from the weekend on Monday but I didn't have any new ones to share today. No pics during the play, no reason to take them at Open House and we've kind of been boring this week....sometimes boring is good :-)

Kaska Family Farm, Part Deaux

Ok, so I'm feeling a bit better today so I put together a slide show of my many pictures of our adventure from last weekend. Yes, we finally shot corn cannons and we had duck races over and over and over again. In addition, we also got lost in the corn maze and when I say 'lost,' I truly mean LOST!!

It was a blast, though, and we can't wait to go back next year!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kaska Family Farm

Tay and I headed out to West on Saturday to enjoy the last weekend of activities at Kaska Family Farm. That had - among many other things - corn cannons, which were a blast to shoot! Unfortunately, you'll have to settle for this one photo of us before heading out on our adventure for now...I'm super sickly with sinuses again (come on corrective nose surgery!) and can't promise any long post would make sense...as you can tell from the pic, my face was already swollen on Saturday and let's just say that's a flattering pic compared to today...

More to come...

Multiplication Madness

This week we've been diligently studying for multiplication quizzes. Not only does Tay have extreme timed test anxiety but she also prefers to 'learn' information as opposed to memorizing it. That's hard for me to understand since I memorize just about everything! She's definitely got an advantage, though, because her method means she retains things much better than her old mommy.

Anyway, to make matters worse, we're working on a subsection called the 'teasers.' What does this mean, you might ask? Well, it's the multiplication facts that follow no real rule and for which there aren't any shortcuts. Basically, they're the hardest ones out there. So we're writing them over and over and over, taking practice quizzes, etc. I think we're seeing incremental progress and I feel much better knowing the final test over these won't occur until next Friday so we have a week to continue 'getting it.'

Not much going on other than that - it's crazily time-consuming and I think we're all still recovering from the business of last week. I sure hope we don't have Halloween and Homecoming in the same week ever again!

Oh, and the countdown is on for my surgery...24 more days...

Homecoming 2008

Lots of fun was had by all at the Baylor Homecoming Parade and then the football game. Not that my opinion will change anything but Mizzou DID NOT convert the down right before they scored their fourth touchdown of the game.  Baylor should not have to battle both the opposing team and the officials...

Enjoy my first attempt at a slide show!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bonfire

Check out the new banners in Fountain Mall - they'll be expanding throughout campus soon!

Pat Neff Hall in the background...my first office was in that tower.

'It's hot when we get close, Mommy.'

Burnin' Mizzou

Waiting for the big show.

After our harrowing experience at ZooBoo, we went home and got Davey so he could accompany us to the Baylor Homecoming Bonfire. Tay was pretty worn out and so was Dave (he'd just worked a 12-hour shift) so we didn't stay too terribly long but we did stay long enough to do a little cheering and get some good pictures...

Glasses

My little one has been complaining of headaches for a couple of weeks and it finally hit me that we should have her eyes checked! Yes, I know, I'm a little slow...

Anyway, Dave took her to the eye doc last week and we got her new glasses this weekend. She has  very mild prescription but does have astigmatism (just like her mom and Nana) so I'm guessing that's what was causing the headaches when she was reading in school. I know when mine acts up, the headache is the first symptom.

We think she looks absolutely adorable and she loves, loves, loves her new glasses. I think she polished them at least 10 times last night...and she told me 'wow, I really can see better now.' Go figure, right?

Halloween

So I had this great idea last week and thought I'd surprise Taylor with a trip on Halloween to ZooBoo. The child has always wanted to be a veterinarian, absolutely adores any and every type of animal and the zoo is one of her all-time favorite destinations. What could go wrong?

Apparently, the zoo decided to take a much more literal interpretation of the term 'ZooBoo' this year and it was actually SCARY. Anyone who knows my little one knows that she does not like anything even remotely scary...it started out ok with the reef being turned into a pirate ship but quickly deteriorated when skeletons began being dropped out of the sky onto unsuspecting children, people were popping out of coffins and all of the animals were put up so their habitats could be turned into graveyards!!!

Needless to say, Miss Tay was ready to get out of there and head home. On the way, she said 'I'm so sorry but I really didn't like it. Please don't take me back there ever again.' She also asked if we could go to the zoo next weekend so she can actually see the animals. Bless her little heart--I felt absolutely horrible so I offered to drive her around so she could get some candy (the other bad thing about the zoo is that they would give the kids ONE Dum Dum or ONE Starburst so she only had about six pieces when we left). 

By the time we got home, though, her really large bag was entirely full so she ended up being a very happy bumblebee. She was super sweet about the whole thing but we will not be attending this annual event ever again. Thank goodness our neighbors were so generous and filled her to the brim with treats.

At the Zoo

I'm trying to have fun at ZooBoo but it's scary...

At least we got a good picture...

This is the bag that was FULL when we got home.

Had to get the back of the costume--too cute!

We were trying to get the scarecrow in the pic but...

She's been shaking hands with this little guy since she was his height!

Now she has to crouch down 'bee style' to look him in the eye!