Just the Girls

This afternoon Madeleine and I had a very special date to see the new Disney princess movie -- The Princess and the Frog. To say she was excited would be quite an understatement!! She's been looking forward to this for such a long time....and I have too. This was Madeleine's first movie-theater experience and I couldn't wait to share it with her.

After getting the necessary movie snacks we took our seats and waited for the show to start. She could hardly be still, but as soon as the movie came on she was captivated! I'll never forget watching her cover her mouth in laughter at the funny parts and grin so big at the kiss-y parts. She sat so still through the entire show, occassionally reaching over to hug me or smile at me. It was wonderful!

As we left the theater, we saw some other kids going in and Madeleine remarked to me that they'd missed the show. When I explained to her that it plays over and over, she wanted to go back in and see it again! So, I think we'll be seeing this again soon! :)

The Countdown Begins...

For those of you interested, here's a belly pic as of 32 weeks.....taken BEFORE I ate Thanksgiving Dinner! :)

I really haven't blogged a lot about this pregnancy. I guess some of that's because I'm a fairly private person and at the same time there hasn't really been much to tell -- which, in pregnancy, is a good thing.

This time around it's going sooooo fast. I thought it flew by with Harrison, but it seems like this time I've turned around and we're on the countdown! I had my last 4 week appt. last week and am now on the 2 week schedule which always seems to go faster.

So far, I'm still feeling pretty good -- just very, very tired. I think I could sleep 14 hours a day if my other 2 kiddos would let me! I'm definitely letting myself have more caffine with this one -- I NEED that late afternoon coke to get me through till bedtime! :) I also think my "pregnancy brain" is much WORSE -- I've gone looking for my keys several time this week only to realize they're in my hand! :)

I'm carrying this baby much higher than the other two, so eating is definitely a challenge. It only takes a couple of bites of food and I feel stuffed. It's a crazy feeling to feel full even as my tummy is still growling! ha! Smoothies have become my new favorite lunch since they are healthy and yet don't make me feel so stuffed.

As of my appt last week it seems that this baby is head-down for now which is a relief since it was breach last month. Hopefully it will cooperate and stay that way! As the days go by I'm getting more and more excited to meet this little one. Madeleine still prays for a girl and Harrison keeps telling me it's going to be 2 babies --- thankfully, I'm sure he's wrong!!! I don't have a preference either way -- on the one hand I'd love for Madeleine to get her prayer answered since she really really wants a sister, but on the other hand it would be nice for Harrison to have a playmate at home with him during the day (one that plays cars/trucks/dinosaurs instead of dollhouse!). These both weigh evenly in my mind, so I can honestly say I don't care what it is. I think that's why it's been so easy to wait and find out at delivery if we have a HE or a SHE. I think it's going to make for an exciting delivery, too!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

I thought it would be fun to share some of our Christmas "favorites."

Favorite movies: White Christmas (I've watched this every year since I was 5 and can pretty much recite it by heart), Christmas in Connecticut, Remember the Night, Meet Me in St. Louis (not entirely Christmas-y, but I think it counts) and Holiday Inn. I'm obviously a fan of the oldies!

Favorite Songs: Thanks to my good Christian upbringing, Christmas music doesn't get any better than a gay man singing "it's the most wonderful time of the year." Just kidding! Actually, I love Johnny Mathis Christmas! (Sharon you know it's true). The kids favorites this year, which they know by heart, are: Baby It's Cold Outside, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Rock, Santa Clause Is Coming to Town and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I love hearing them belting out Jingle Bells in the car!!!

Favorite Sweets: The first year we were married and I made Turtles, I thought Matt was going to go into diabetic shock from eating so many! Now they're a staple during the holidays. We also LOVE Whitney's Mounds Bars -- worth every fattening bite --, Walnut Candy, Peanut Butter Balls, and Roasted Pecans. It also wouldn't be Christmas without Candy Cane cookies and cut-out cookies. This year I'm excited about Madeleine getting to help me make Spritz for the firs time too! (Oh yes, that's why I'm usually running like a maniac come January -- gotta burn off all those goodies!).

Favorite Traditions: This year we started the Elf on the Shelf (more on that in a later post). We also always make Magic Reindeer food to put out Christmas Eve, decorate a Gingerbread House and sugar cookies, and add to our christmas book collection. One of my favorite nights is our "Lights Night" where we get ice cream and drive around looking at Christmas lights. I also always add an ornament to the tree for each kiddo -- Madeleine has a fairy collection and Harrison's varies from year to year.

Favorite Christmas Books: This year they're favs are The Three Bears Christmas, The Sweet Smell of Christmas, and The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever and Rudolph.

I could write much more, but I mostly wanted to keep a record of what the kids enjoyed about Christmas the most this year. What are some of your Christmas favorites????

O Christmas Tree

I saved putting up the tree for the last of my decorating this year. I knew I'd have two little helpers and I needed to be prepared! They were both SO excited to get the tree up -- they were running around the house singing O Christmas Tree (or at least the first couple of lines since that's all they know!) and occasionally I heard them burst out into Jingle Bells as well. I loved that their excitement was palpatable and tried to take in every moment, knowing that one day they may not want to help.

Harrison was really into helping Daddy get it up. He had to be right there next to Daddy making sure he was doing it right! :)

Once we got the tree up and "fluffed" I opened all the non-breakable ornaments and let them have at it. As you can see, it was an unusually warm night....Harrison had shedded his jammies (his new trick -- many a night we go to check on him before we go to be only to find him in only a diaper) and Madeleine was wearing her favorite leotard. So much for the cute Christmas jammies I'd planned on them wearing. That's how we role around here these days....

Madeleine stuck with it until all the ornaments were up. Harrison only lasted for a few then he was off to play. The bottom third of the tree was decorated to perfection when they were through! :) The next day I went around and spread out the ornaments thinking they wouldn't notice. I was WRONG! The first thing Madeleine said when she came in the door from school was "who moved my fairy ornaments????" So much for that.

I'm hoping to post some picture of the house decorations this week. It took me FOREVER this year to get things just right, but I'm quite happy with how it all turned out! Here's a sneak peak at my mantle.....

Thanksgiving

Okay, this is long overdue but here's our Thanksgiving in review....

Harrison's school had a Thanksgiving Feast and Program this year that was too cute! His class dressed up like pilgrims and sang a pilgrim song. While Harrison didn't sing, he did stand there and look cute, so I was a happy momma. Toward the end of the song he spotted me and yelled out "mommy!" which made me smile. :)

After the program we joined the other kids and parents for a traditional Thanksgiving meal which was yummy! The teachers did such a wonderful job preparing lots of goodies for us! I enjoyed it all. Harrison enjoyed his Oreos. Oh how I love that boy!

This year was our year to spend Thanksgiving with my family so off to Little Rock we headed! I think Madeleine was glad to have a break from school for the week and the kids had such fun playing at Mimi and Grandads. Madeleine's class had been talking about Thanksgiving a lot, so she was really excited about it! She knew all about the pilgrims and indians and the first thanksgiving which made it even more fun. She was such a good helper getting ready this year too! She set the table pretty much by herself and was so proud of herself!

Although Matt worked a good part of the week, we both enjoyed some R&R while Mimi and Grandad watched over our kids! It was a treat to get to sleep a little later and nap during the day. You'd often find us like this:

or this:

Our dinner was delicious with all the traditional thanksgiving fare....my mom and I are believers that you just don't mess with the traditional thanksgiving food. I'll admit that I look forward all year to the dressing -- it's my favorite thing on the menu! If only I had more room to eat more this year! :)

Friday afternoon we headed up to Searcy to visit Matt's family. The kids had a great time playing with their cousin, Emery, and I was so proud of how good Madeleine was with her! She's going to be such a great big sister to this baby! We pretty much just hung out and chatted while the kids played which was so nice. It seems like there's never enough time to catch up.

If you'll look closely you can see Harrison playing doll house with his wild animals! That boy!

Saturday we did some more Christmas shopping and I can say that I'm almost finished! Now for the wrapping.....it's going to take me DAYS (but I absolutely love wrapping gifts!).

Halloween

Halloween was such fun this year! It was the first year that BOTH kiddos really looked forward to it and watching their excitement build throughout the week made it even more exciting for me. They'd chosen their costumes long ago -- a ballerina for Madeleine and a lion for Harrison. However, after watching a Caillou episode earlier in the week where Caillou is a pirate for Halloween.....you can guess what Harrison just HAD to be! Thankfully, I was able to put together a quick makeshift pirate costume that made him very happy.

The first order of the day on Halloween was to carve our pumpkin. Madeleine helped draw the face and Matt started working on her "perfect" face. Madeleine's class had carved a pumpkin earlier in the week, so she knew exactly how this worked. Harrison, however, had no memory of last year and was quite interest in just how this was going to work. He kept trying to use his pirate dagger to "help" Matt!

I was completely surprised that Madeleine wasn't grossed out by the pumpkin guts! She sorted the seeds out for me to roast later and was such a great help.

Here's our finished pumpkin. Madeleine was proud of her face and if you look closely you can see the eyelashed she had to have on their. Obviously, this was a girl pumpkin! :)

The afternoon seemed to drag on that day! I can't count the number of times I was asked if it was time to get ready.....they were sooooo excited! Getting dressed took a good long time, since neither of them could stand still for long! Harrison kept dancing around the room and Madeleine was practicing her ballet moves. Finally they were ready. Madeleine was thrilled when I let her use my makeup to get really, really fancy! Here's the finished product....except for Harrison's hat which he only put on once he realized that it got him candy. Ha!

This year we were much wiser and knew they would probably poop out at the backside of the neighborhood which is the farthest point from our house, so we took some transportation with us. Here we are heading out.

Poor Matt had the job of pulling the wagon and loading them in and out at each house.

This year Madeleine knew just what to do and marched right up to each door and rang the bell. She'd yell out "trick or treat" and Harrison would echo it with either his "trick or treat" or a "happy halloween!" I'll never forget the sound of that, it was so sweet.

As we rounded the back side of the neighborhood, there's a stretch of just golf course/undeveloped land we had quite a treat and saw this:

We've seen lots of deer back there before, but never this close to us! They didn't even shy away when Harrison began yelling "HIIIIII" at them. I guess they're used to people getting close. We actually saw almost 10 deer in total, just another reason I LOVE where we live!

Once Harrison had a bit of candy in his basket, he was THROUGH! He just wanted to stay put in the wagon and let Madeleine keep going while he nibbled on his candy. The funniest part was that when Madeleine would ring the doorbell and the people would see Harrison sitting in the wagon, they'd bring the candy to him! He was livin' the good life that night.

Judging from the amount of candy the kids got I'd say this year was quite a success! We'll be eating candy for a long time around here. And, even though they both loved going door to door I think their favorite part of the evening was handing out the candy to the kids that came to our door, especially Madeleine.

New Favorite Website

If you live in NWA you need to check out this website! I have a feeling it's going to save me lots of $$$ in the future. :)

http://thefrugalmuse.blogspot.com/