Snow Day

Today we woke up to about a half inch of snow on the ground with more falling.  Brian is the first to get out in the mornings and he normally reports how the roads are.  So I got up and got dressed for work and got Josie up and dressed.  We came downstairs and then the phone rings.  It is Brian reporting on the road conditions.  His report was that the roads really sucked.  And he advised against me driving in it especially with Josie in the car.  So on the last day of the year I used my last sick day so Josie and I could take a snow day.

Here she is eating cereal and watching Imagination Movers.  I am thinking that we might make some Cheerio necklaces later or maybe some bird feeding crafts.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Christmas Day and Weekend

Christmas was great this year, well most of it anyway. Brian and I were both sick and still are sick. I had/have bronchitis and pink eye and on antibiotics for both. Brian had/has an upper respiratory infection. So we spent the whole time coughing, hacking and blowing our noses. I told Mom that we were sick and if they still wanted us to come and she did. So we went and worked hard to keep our germs to ourselves.

On Christmas Eve Josie was keyed up and I don’t think she had any idea why. I feel bad for Josie because when the parents are sick a lot of holiday traditions go out the window. We didn’t get any cookies put out and didn’t read “The Night Before Christmas.” Josie opened her Eve gift early so she could wear her PJ’s and go to bed before it was too late. Brian had already gone to bed so I opened his PJ Eve gift for him. I helped Mom finish wrapping some gifts before heading to bed myself.

Christmas morning Josie didn’t get up until close to 7:30 which was nice for us to get some sleep. I told Mom the night before that I would only be able to hold her off until 8. So at 8 we went upstairs and woke up Grandma and Grandpa. Great Grandma was already up, dressed and eating breakfast. I kept Josie out in the kitchen until everyone was ready before I let her see the tree. I called her in and she came running in and kind of stopped. She didn’t know what to do. She pointed at the presents and looked at me with that look of “can I touch it?” Our tradition is we open stockings first while the Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls are baking. Then we eat our rolls and open the rest of the gifts. Josie has really figured out the opening of presents now. Santa wrapped a few of hers a little too well and she needed some adult help. But for the most part she got it all done by herself. My Dad hands out the gifts under the tree so everyone is opening a gift at relatively the same time. Josie got a pile up. She wanted to play with everything before opening another gift. So we let her do her thing and I would open some (the ones I could tell were clothes) and left the others for when she was ready.

Josie’s big hit gift was the play kitchen that Grandma and Grandpa got her. For Brian it was the solar charger he got that can charge/power all his gadgets. For me it was a Pandora Christmas! I got a new Pandora necklace and several beads. Although, I was very fond of the humidifier that I got because I was able to put it straight to use in our room at my mom’s house. It helped us all sleep better with our colds.

The day after Christmas my mom and I baked gingerbread men cookies, banana bread and sugar cookie dough (we didn’t get to make the actual cookies; Mom baked them after I left).

All in all we had a great time and we are feeling better, seems like one of us is sick around the holidays. That is one tradition I can do without. Now the countdown starts toward 2010!

The Christmas Season

Wow I am so behind on blogging. I guess that is a sign of being busy off my butt. Lots going on, being that it is the holiday season and all. At the start of December we got to visit with one set of our bestest friends who we don't get to see very often. Kelly, Jake, Will and Ryan came up to Maryland for a visit. It was great seeing them! I miss them all so much! I was determined to visit with them at Kelly's mom's house despite throwing out my back that morning and the snow falling. Kelly's mom made a great holiday dinner and we all had good time. It is great to have such good friends that even when you don't see each other very often you can pick right back up like you were never apart. I have to say that Will is becoming quite the charmer and Ryan is so sweet. My biggest wish is that one day the Grimes family, the Gualdin family and the Abbe family all live in the same neighborhood and our kids grow up together. Maybe someday....

The annual "Tree Day" with my parents was on the first Sunday of the month. We went to Fritz's Farm and Nursery in Harford County MD. We have been going there for about 30 years now to get our Christmas trees. Josie found the whole experience interesting. She didn't like it when we went in one direction looking for a tree and Grandma and Grandpa went in another direction. Once we all found trees that we liked the ladies went inside to pay while the guys got the trees loaded. Mom and I also bought wreaths and Josie was fascinated with the old dog roaming around. Didn't see any cats this year, must have been hiding out somewhere warm. We have one of those swivel straight tree stands and really love it. We take the inside boot from the stand with us to the tree place and have them cut off any low branches that need to be trimmed for the boot to fit. Then we drive home with the boot attached to the tree and when we get home Brian just brings the tree in and plops it in the stand. We swivel it till it is straight and done. Saves a lot of arguing. The tree has been decorated for a while now and presents are filling up under the tree. We put out the gifts that come in the mail and ones that were sent in other ways. These gifts we normally open on Christmas Eve before we load up and leave for my mom’s house.

And that brings us to today. It is Christmas Eve and the presents are wrapped, the cards are sent and the car is waiting to be loaded. Josie doesn’t quite get the whole Santa thing yet but she knows who he is if you show her a picture and she knows that he brings presents but that is about as far as it goes. I can’t wait to see her face in the morning when she sees all the presents under the tree. This year my Grandmother Davis will be at my mom’s too for the holiday. So it will be nice to have four generations together at Christmas. I will take lots of Christmas day pictures and will post another blog soon.

Merry Christmas to all!

November

I feel like I should post a blog since I haven't done it in a while.  Josie will be 2 years old on Saturday.  I can't believe how the time has flown by.  She is such a little person now.  She loves Mickey and The Wiggles and Thumper.  She has many of the Thumper board books and loves to "read" them and have you read them to her.  Lately she has been a bit of crank but I think that is just the terrible twos setting in.  On Friday she will have a little party at daycare with her friends.  I bought cupcakes to take in and will bring in Wigglely Bay for them to all watch.  Then starting on the 16th she will be in the 2's room.  They tried to transition her over there a few hours at a time but that didn't go so well so we are trying the sink or swim method by just dropping her off at the start of the day and picking her up at the end of the day from the 2's.  We shall see how that goes.  I figure the first week will be hard but she will get used to it.  She knows the kids in that room since they used to be in the 1's room with her. 

Last weekend we had a family party for Josie and Abbie at my parent's house.  It was fun and Jo had a great time with her cousins.  It is so funny to see her and Abbie interact.  They have thier own language that they talk to each other in.  They both don't like to share Grandma with the other one but as long as Grandma has room for both on her lap then things are ok.