Rainy Days + Stir Crazy Moms =

A trip to Ikea!  Anna and I joined Cruz and Summer for a jaunt to Ikea this weekend.  The weather has been so poopy here lately that we were going stir crazy and just needed to get out.  The kids enjoyed themselves, and so did we...

Not Feelin' So Hot

Anna’s had a rough go of it in the last 36 hours. A runny nose turned into what seems like our 951st bout with croup last night which led to us emptying the entire contents of the water heater while sitting in a steamy bathroom watching You Tube videos on the iPhone at 1:30 a.m. Even Surprised Kitty isn’t that cute at 1:30 a.m.

And, if you happened to be out last night at 2 a.m., then yes, that was me and Anna you saw enjoying the frigid air whilst taking in the beautiful sight of Atlanta in the wee hours…Lucky Jason in Minnesota (whoever thought that sentence would be uttered?)

Now we’re at full blown cold phase, doped up on steroids and fingers are crossed there is no croup re-do tonight. To add insult to injury, Anna’s eczema has flared up and she has a particularly bad patch on her right ankle. Tonight during a quick bath she was complaining about it “being stinging”. Once out of the bath she kept saying, “Mommy, fix it! No stinging.” As I approached with the cortisone, ready to fix, the following conversation took place, verbatim:

Anna: “No, mommy. Need a different one. A different one!”

Amy: “A different medicine?”

Anna: “No, mommy. A different foot. Get a different foot.”

Needless to say, that cracked me up.

Invasion

This cute little gal came to stay with us over Christmas – Tope was none too pleased with Aunt Maddie for bringing along Meetons (yes, our family has weird pet names). She is a real sweetheart and even Tope tolerated her kitten antics. Anna still asks where Meetons is…

Tope was glaring at Meetons when this picture was snapped (don’t worry about the missing hair on her forearm…she just overgrooms!)

 

Grandmothers Appeased (I hope).

Grammy and Gramma you can put down your phones and stop with the begging…as you’ll see, we’re all caught up now…it’s like I never missed a beat (thank goodness you can backdate posts…)

Did You Eat Your Black-Eyed Peas?

Hope your 2010 is filled with joy!

Christmas Morning

The big day finally arrived and although Anna doesn’t yet understand what Christmas is all about, I think she liked it (duh!). Prior to Christmas morning, we had placed nothing under the Christmas tree because if Anna is good at one thing, it’s opening presents. When Anna came down the stairs, the expression on her face was priceless – I wish the garland wasn’t in the way so we could get the full effect. (You’ll notice the cute Santa PJ bottoms didn’t make it to Christmas morning…Dad had to make a switch after a diaper leak….)

Once she made it down the stairs she was a bit overwhelmed and kept looking at us to figure out if she could actually approach the toys awaiting her. After getting several affirmative responses from us, she made a beeline for the kitchen Santa brought her and spent a good chunk of time “cooking” for us. It took awhile for us to entice her away to check out her other loot (which worked well because Aunt Maddie was sleeping in!).

Anna also received a dollhouse with extra special meaning – my Grandma and Grandpa Turner made it for me when I was little and it was passed down to Anna this year. My mom performed a “renovation” to bring the house up to today’s style (long gone are the green and mustard paint and shag carpet which was en vogue when I was little!). Anna’s house has tile floors, wood laminate, plush carpet and even a new roof! It
has quickly become one of Anna’s favorite toys. Grandma Dodie – do you recognize this house??

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Cookies & Radishes

After donning her Santa jammies, Anna eagerly went about the task of preparing milk and cookies for Santa. And, radishes for Rudolph (hopefully he shares with the other reindeer).

We had decorated the cookies the day before with our pals Lisa and Ryan and it took a lot of willpower for Anna to not eat every single one before Christmas Eve. She was probably thinking, “Why does this Santa fellow get to eat MY cookies??”

If he saw how the cookies fared on the trip from the kitchen to the fireplace, he might think twice about eating them…