TIMBERRRRR!!

This time next year we will have a new member of the family partaking in our Christmas festivities right here in our little living room! Thats right, I'm the proud owner of a brand new clearance priced artificial Christmas tree!! YIPEEE!!!! No more needles, no more spiders, no more crying over spilled tree water *sigh* I mean really, can my life get any better than this?!?

We made the much anticipated (on my end anyway) shopping trip to our friendly local one-stop shopping center today to browse the clearance Christmas items and Lo and Behold there she was in all her glory. Boxes and boxes of them were left. Boy, God was smiling on me today! :) So that precious husband of mine hauled one off the top of the pile and reluctantly placed it in our shopping cart while mumbling something to the extent of 'this goes against everything I have ever believed in or stood for....rarr rarr rarr'. Have I mentioned lately just how much I love this guy? (As we speak he is still sweeping pine needles from our devil-spawn tree that I took down, what, like 3 days ago?? Maybe it's starting to sink in that this whole artificial tree is the MOST EXCELLENT IDEA ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET!?!)
Anyhoo, now we have it home and put away next to all our other Christmas goodies in the garage where they will have plenty of time to get acquainted with each other before next year when I *sigh* pull them all out again.
Hooray for Artificial Trees!
Hoory for my hubby!!
Thanks babe :)

Oooh looky here!

A new pretty background! I seriously spent ENTIRELY too much time on here putting this up. Like a ridiculous amount of time. Time that could have been spent studying the back of my eyelids. Oh the price you pay for beauty, even the virtual kind! ha!
I think I hear my pillow and nice new down mattress topper calling my name. Yes, I'm certain of it. It's either that or my husband who I'm sure thinks I have sneaked out to the local bar by now to toss back a few after the lovely day I had. *sigh*

Christmas 2007: The finale. I promise.

Yikes. There were just too many to choose from. (I'm a bit of a picture whore, for lack of a better word)
Here are some with our little 3 person family Christmas morning:


Daddy and Livie


Mommy and Livie *yikes, mommy REALLY should have showered before pictures!*


*GASP* A kitchen?!?!





Livie and Daddy playing with the new Playdough set!

Oh yes, more Christmas pictures!

Any my side of the family:



Here is Liv and her baby cousin Carter. Have you ever seen a sweeter picture??


My sister and her boyfriend, and their son


Uncle John have a man-to-man with baby Carter


Just needed a little time to let that food settle!


Liv concentrating *really* hard on her new easel!

Christmas: Part Deux

Here are some Christmas pics with Johns side of the family:


Aunt Amber and Livie doing Gymnastics!


Crab dinner with Hercules Livie in the background!


*SO* excited about her new clothes washer!


Aunt Amber REALLY likes mommys cheeseball!


Happy Birthday Jesus!

MERRY CHRISTMAS.....4 days ago....sheesh....

ok ok ok OK!!! I'm finally taking the time to sit down and let you guys now how our Christmas was since you all were SO quick to look better than me and do it, like say, the day AFTER Christmas....whatever....

I know I'm with my mom on this one, that as SOON as Christmas is over, I want the decorations GONE! I'm not going to tell you what a pain in my *ace* our STUPID tree was this year. I won't tell you tell you how I'm certain that our tree had anorexic tendencies, choosing not to take a single drop of water the ENTIRE time we had it. Not. a. single. one. I won't tell you how when I finally took it down yesterday it was so dry and brittle that every time it would poke me I would actually have needles stuck in my legs. ouch. I won't tell you how I had sap stuck to my hands for hours, or that 2 different spiders JUMPED, I mean JUMPED out at me from their little perch atop our rediculously ugly tree, or that I managed to leave a little water trail and GIANT needle trail across our new carpet leading out the front door where I left it-lights and all-for John to finish taking care of. No, I won't tell you all these things, because, well, I'm sure you would all enjoy at least one post where you don't have to hear me b*tch and complain about some trivial thing I happen to be going through. (but they really were disgusting spiders. huge spiders. like as big as half of my pinky nail spiders. ewww.)

John has always told me that a real live Christmas tree is just something he will not compromise on. That it's just something you do, go out and cut down a tree and then enjoy the piney smell in your home for the next few weeks. gross. I think after whining enough last night about how *horrible* my tree removal experience was, and showing him my calculations of 'if we bought a live tree every year for 15 years we would spend over $300, BUT if I went and found a really pretty *fake* tree on Clearance at Target for $50 and it lasted us that long, think of all the money we would be saving!!', he sighed and said 'fine, you win. Go get a tree.' I'll give him a little time to let that soak in then maybe tomorrow I'll go on the hunt for a nice big beautiful tree with a healthy body complex. No spiders or water for this girl. It's on like Donkey Kong my friends, it's on!!

*Here are a few pictures to highlight what really was an enjoyable Christmas time for our family*




waiting in line to see SANTA!!


Reading our special book from Santa


Livie in her Christmas Sunday dress
(please excuse the white shoes. Yes, I realize they don't 'go' with the ensemble, but I couldn't find her black shoes last minute. So just get off my back, ok? OK?!)

Went to the chapel, we did done got married.

Today is our 5-year wedding anniversary and I'm quite possibly the most romantic wife ever recorded. I've got Diarrhea, a snotty nose, and a sore throat. Can you say S-E-X-Y?? I know, you are all jealous, it's ok. It only happens to the most beautiful of humans. *sigh*

5 years ago today the love of my life and I stood up in front of our closest family and friends and promised to be the best of friends through thick and thin. And though we have been through a lot in the short 5 years that we have been married, I have to say we have both held up our ends of the bargain pretty darn well. I have been thinking over the last couple of days how incredibly blessed I am. Who can HONESTLY truly say that the person they married is really their best friend. I can. I'm so lucky to have a husband that I really can talk anything through with. Nothings off limits. We've got a problem? No matter how big, we talk through it and in the end appreciate each other that much more.

Sometimes I like to sit and think about that day back in Junior High when I met John for the first time. I remember 'flirting' (only as true 7th graders do), I sat behind him in Health class and would often poke him with my #2 pencil in the back of the head. Well during one of my incessant poking sessions he turned around mid-jab and *whoops!* I poked his loose tooth right out of his head!! Ohhh the horror of that moment. It puts a big smile on my face to think that at that very moment God had a big grin on his face because only he knew that these two awkward pre-teens would later in life become soul mates with a crazy child of their own! Oh the sense of humor our precious God has, huh?

I love you with everything in me my sweet Johnny. You are truly my best friend and I'm so lucky that God placed you right where you should be....next to me!
Happy Anniversary!

p.s. Just in case I never said it, I'm sorry for knocking your tooth out. Well, kinda sorry. :)




This is John and I in '98, our Jr year in High school. Yikes. Can you say homely??



This was in Dec. of 2002-the day John and I said our 'I dos'!



This was our first wedding anniversary-we were living in Las Vegas at the time and had a beautiful dinner up in the rotating restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere.



Wow. HUGE. I think this was about a month? before Liv was born in '05. Would you believe me if I told you I got A LOT bigger before Liv FINALLY decided to show up a week overdue?? *whew* Look how excited John is though. *sigh*

Be blessed!

Matthew 5:3-5 (The Message)

The Message (MSG)

3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

Be blessed my dear friends. Truly blessed.

Cookies Shmookies

Monday morning Livie-Loo and I had the special opportunity to go to my Grandmas (Liv's Great-Grandma) house and roll/cut/bake/decorate/eat Christmas cookies! Well, I should say that Liv and Grandma rolled/cut/baked while Mommy just decorated/ate them, because everyone knows this mommy can't cook/bake to save her life (or the lives of her family for that matter).
It was so much fun and such a special special time that really *tickled* the Grandparents as it's not very often to get to do something like that with you *GREAT* grandchild!
Here are a few highlights from our cookie making adventure!
Note: NOT the best idea to let your 2.5 year-old eat candy bits/sprinkles/cookies/frosting/hot chocolate while the digits on the clock are still in the A.M. Just a thought.



Roll, roll, roll your dough, gently on the counterrrr....


Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily exclaim out loud 'I cut errrr'! *Lame, I know, but that's all I've got people*


GOOD cookies need *LOTS* of sprinkles!


Maybe mommy should taste these, just to be sure they are ok for everyone....


The finished product! *notice as my friend Emili pointed out, she knew to cover the gingerbreads man 'junk' with sprinkles. What a modest little girl I have! haha*

See Katie, you aren't the only one with children who have *ahem* 'creative' cookie decorating techniques! ;)

So I'm a week or so behind....

Like I said, I'm a bit behind on posting these, but better late than never, huh? Here is Liv watching the first snow fall! We didn't get much and it lasted all but a few minutes but that was the most quiet, still, few moments in our house that entire day...


We found our tree! What a cute little tree topper, wouldn't you say?


*SO* excited to decorate the tree. Note: Mommy gave up *all* OCD-ish tendencies in order to let Livie help with the decorating this year. *whew* We made it through, and everyone is alive and well.


Daddy helping with the final piece


Ta-da!! Our Christmas tree.

My daughter the budding artist

You know your 2 1/2-year-old has gotten a hold of your camera when you find these taken on it...

One too many??

This is THE must see video of all time people. But please, for the love of our God in heaven, if you laugh, please tell me so I don't feel so bad for practically wetting myself from chuckling so hard. You feel so bad laughing-it's like laughing at an unfortunately ugly baby. (oh come on, don't give me that 'all babies are beautiful' crap, because you know full well, you all have seen an ugly baby or two in your lifetime.) They can't help it. God made them that way. Well, in this case, God has the most hilarious sense of humor! View and enjoy my bloggy friends, view and enjoy....

Cute Livie quote of the day

Just what I needed today:

Walking through the grocery store today Liv and I were chatting randomly back and forth about the things we were there to get, the things we saw, etc. She then threw her arms around my tummy and looked up at me and said:

"I love you TOO much mommy." I think she meant 'I love you so much mommy' but the way she said it couldn't have been better.

*sigh* Thanks Livie-Loo :)

Super Mom has left the building

My mom forwarded me this email this morning and I thought it was definitely share worthy. Especially since the theme of most women I know this year is: ' I'm stressing about money' or 'I'm stressing about dealing with family' or 'I'm just plain old stressed/worn out.

I'm not gonna lie, I often find myself wondering 'why when God knows this is a total stresser for me would he allow it to happen??' I need to remember to look outside my own little selfish box and see the greater things that he has going on. Like Marybeth says below, he ordained for us to be where we are at this time, for HIS purpose. Oh if we could only see into the future right??

I've got to admit, if I was Mary back in the day I would have been seriously P.O.'d if I had been saving myself only to realize that I'm 'knocked up', lord only knows how, and people are calling me horrible horrible names and to top it off I get to give birth right next to a steaming pile of cow crap. ugh. Fast forward many years though and look what her beautiful son did for us all! Wow, kinda makes the stinky pile of poo a little worth it, right?

I personally have got to keep in mind that God didn't make me 'suzy homemaker' for a purpose. His purpose wasn't to make me a world class chef or amazing seamstress....I have yet to figure out exactly what his purpose for me is, (anytime now God?!), but I really can't wait to find out....

Abbie

Super Mom Has Left the Building

By Marybeth Whalen

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

Devotion:

I just have to insert something in the midst of this busy season we call Christmas:

"You can't do it all." And I don't think I can say that enough.

Whatever season in life you are in this Christmas, embrace it. There will be other times to do all those things you want to do. Or not. Whatever your situation is, trust that God is sovereign and He ordained for you to be where you are at this time, for His purpose. There is something to be gained from every season in life. The trick is to find that piece of wisdom God has for you in the midst of each season.

When the angel appeared to Mary, he told her some pretty shocking news about what was going to happen to her. His message ushered her into a season in life that included confusion, rejection and some pretty extreme transition. And yet, her response was "May it be to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38).

I want Mary's reaction to be my own reaction. I want my attitude to be one of complete surrender to God's will, no matter what the circumstances. I want to be able to say with confidence "May it be to me as you have said" instead of whining to God, "Why did you let this happen to me?" like I usually do.

The first step in embracing every season is to let go of our own expectations—even when it means learning to love our limitations. Whether you are struggling with illness, or lack of energy, or a marriage situation, or money problems, or family issues—whatever it is, that is where God has you. Stop trying to be Super Mom or Super Woman and trust a super God instead.

Hooray Albuterol. You Go Girl.

It's approximately 3:14 in the AM ladies and gents. No, I'm not a night owl. Nope, not a middle of the night call of nature. I've got a little one with a bad cold. And any well informed American knows: Bad cold+asthmatic child=One miserable little human being.
Thank you Steve from Blues Clues for entertaining my sweet daughters mind while we accomplish the ever dreaded middle of the night Nebulizer treatment. What's a mother to do in the middle of the night while trying to stay awake to encourage her child to 'take a deep breath honey' and 'keep breathing the medicine in'? Why, blog of course! Duh!
I guess I'm just filled with a little pride for my daughter right now and thought I would share a bit before I burst and little happy dancing people explode all over my living room. No one wants to clean that up at 3 in the freaking morning. No, I don't have crazy little midget men running around my house in the middle of the night, I just imagine thats what my pride looks like inside my chest right now.....
Back to my daughter.....
I've just realized what a big girl she is. What a wonderful little gal I have. She wakes up coughing and struggling to breath in the middle of the night and what does she do? With out a hitch turns on the breathing machine snuggles down on the couch after turning on Blues Clues and says, "momma, I can hold it". What?? No whining because it's the middle of the night and this machine makes it sound like a bulldozer is plowing through our living room?? No harsh words to your dear mother because she's shoving this loud, steaming monster in your face and instructing you to 'just breath it in'?? Sounds like a terrible high school experience huh?....ugh....
I love my daughter and the independent little creature that she is already becoming at 2 1/2.
And I love you Steve for getting up at the crack of dawn to entertain my daughter. What a pal you are.

My daughter is truly my friend...

I'm standing at the counter a while ago fixing lunch and for reasons only she could possibly know, Liv decides to start bouncing her forehead on my heiny. After a few glorious cushioned blows, she turns, runs into the living room and in her sing-song sort of way yells at the top of her lungs:

"MOOOM, I LOVE YOUR BUTT! *giggle giggle*"

Awww. Thanks Livie.

I suck at life.

STUPID STUPID STUPID. Stupid. Me.

Those who know me well, know that I HATE ruined surprises. I would rather scoop my eyeballs out with a spoon than ruin a surprise for someone or have someone ruin a surprise for me. That being said, the gift giving part of Christmas is something I get so so excited about. I LOVE finding the PERFECT gift for someone. Something that I just know they will love love love. (Might my Love Language be 'gift giving'?? hmm??)
Anyways, now that we no longer live in an apartment, we have been excited about slowly but surely turning our garage into a kind of a 'game room'-complete with a handmedown foosball table, a garage sale dart board, and an air hockey table from the inlaws. John has been known from time to time to enjoy a good poker game at friends houses when enough of them want to get together and shell out $10-$20. I have been planning for a VERY long time to complete Johns 'fun room' with getting him a poker table top for Christmas so that once in a while he can host those 'poker nights' at our house, and on Black Friday I found one!! wahoo!! I was SOOOOO excited to SURPRISE him with it Christmas morning. What a great wife. I got him a gift to use with the guys. Not even something I would use. Man I'm good.
Well fast-forward to yesterday afternoon and John was going to run out to the car to get our things from having been at church that morning and I mentioned 'don't look in the trunk' suddenly realizing I still hadn't gotten the poker table out. 'But thats where I threw our stuff' he said innocently. 'WHAT?? DID YOU SEE ANYTHING??' 'no, I just opened it up and threw our stuff in cuz it was raining then shut it.' B.S. There is no way he couldn't have seen it. So being the idiot that I am, instead of leaving it alone, I pushed and pushed and PUSHED and finally he admitted that he saw it. I LOST IT. I thought I was going to throw up. I felt like crying. He felt so bad. It wasn't his fault! I'm the butthead that left it in the freaking trunk. ugh.
So immediately I went into: ' well, I'm returning it!! I can't give it to you now that you know what it is!! I'M SO STUPID....WAHHHHH!!!'
I can't believe I'm so lame. Being as obsessed as I am with perfecting this whole gift giving thing, why would I leave it out in the open to find?? Blech. My tummy hurts now.
I love you John but now you are getting socks and underwear. Share THAT with your guy friends.

Go Elf yourself!!

We just spent close to an hour pasting different faces on these guys while nearly wetting ourselves from laughing so hard....oh man...TOO funny. ENJOY!

Thank you Alan and Michelle for providing us with some great evening entertainment!