11.15.12

Last night Wyatt and I went to Dollarama to pick items for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  He seemed to enjoy choosing specific things for "the boy".  Most of the conversation was, "I think the boy will like...." but there was a lot of, "And I will like...."  He did a good job though, no fussing when I only let him pick one thing to take home (a Kinder Egg).  We just need to add some info about Wyatt and Paige to the boxes and drop them off at the tree lighting ceremony in town tomorrow.
We are going to attempt Photos With Santa.  Wish me luck.

11.12.12

 

I've been lousy at posting since I went back to work at May, but it's been even worse lately.  I do apologize (especially to my mother!).

These last few weeks have been hectic.  Every morning it's a rush to get us all out of the door on time (never happens), then I get to work and am swamped allll day.  I know that it's all part and parcel in training for a new position, but the inability to just sit back for 2 seconds to gather my thoughts is wearing on me.

We've been getting ready for Christmas - I think shopping is pretty well over and done with.  I found a used artificial tree for $20, and it was the best $20 I've spent lately, ha ha.  We have the worst luck keeping real trees alive, I feel like we've tried all the tricks out there.  Last year we couldn't even turn the lights on the week of  Christmas because the tree was totally dead and I was concerned it would burst into flame.

I decorated a few cakes this weekend for the salon that my hairdresser works at.  It was their annual open house, and they were celebrating 10 years.  She's actually been doing my hair for 13 years (since I ran in the Corn and Apple Queen Pageant), so when they approached me, I agreed for that reason alone. ;)

We started a Biggest Loser competition at work - I actually somehow got roped into leading it - I'm hoping this will be the push I need to make a change.  I did good this week, tracked every single thing and worked out every other day...and drinking a LOT of tea instead of snacking in the evenings.

I am really looking forward to the Christmas season - I'd love suggestions for explaining the real Christmas story to Wyatt.  We're not church goers (not because we're not believers), and it seems like anything to do with praying/church seems to weird him out a bit (I get the praying thing - the monotone chanting of people with their eyes closed might seem a bit unsettling if it's not done every day in your house).  We have a Baby Bible that has the Christmas story, but it's only one page.

11.7.12

I had this great idea tonight, to set up the small Christmas tree in the basement with the kids.
Me: "It'll make the cutest pictures of the kids decorating the tree!"
Kids: "No."
Paige was totally freaked out by the tree for some reason.  Hopefully this means she won't destroy the real  one (and by real, I mean not mini, thinking of doing a fake tree this year because we routinely kill our Christmas trees the  week before Christmas).
Wyatt put most of the ornaments on the same spot, and then cried until I took a picture of the huge Tigger toy with the tree.
Not exactly as I had pictured it...

11.3.12

Last night Wyatt had a sleepover with his cousins at Josh's parents'. Paige did not know what to do with herself, so she decided to wreak havoc. This is how the past 24 hours went:
Me: "Paige, stop. No! Stop it. Put that down! Get off the chair. Put that back. Get down. Stop it! No. No!! Paige!!!!!"
Don't be surprised if they name a hurricane after her.

10.31.12

Happy Halloween!

10.27.12

Today the fossil museum was offering a few Halloween festivities. My sister in law wanted to take her kids, and invited us along. Since it fell during Paige's nap time, my mother in law took Wyatt (Josh had already been at 2 firecalls since 4am, a third came during supper). He didn't really enjoy it, he told me there was "scary stuff" there that he didn't like. My sister in law snapped a quick picture before he left though.

After Paige woke up, I tried on a Snow White dress that was handed down to Paige. She was not impressed.

10.23.12

Just over 2 months until Christmas!!

I've been trying to finish up my Christmas shopping this week.  I get a LOT of flack, every single year, from people who think I am annoyingly early with my shopping.  I get it.  I love Christmas shopping though.  I love picking out that perfect gift for someone, even if it does stress me out at times.  On my side of the family, we make lists.  I love lists.  You can't go wrong with a list.  I often stray from the list, but at least that gives me a very good idea of the type of things someone is looking for.
My in laws, on the other hand, never do lists.  And my in laws are VERY hard to shop for.  Josh is hopeless when it comes to helping me choose gifts, so this is a point of contention every single year.  This year, he came up with a great idea for his dad with no prompting.  It was wonderful.
Anyway, besides my love of Christmas shopping, I start early to ease the financial burden.  If I start in October and buy one gift a week, as long as we stick to our budget, by the time Christmas has come, we haven't had to go into debt over presents. 
And with Christmas shopping comes my Christmas Budget Spreadsheet!  Probably the most exciting part of it all. ;)  I should find a way to make a bar graph when I am done shopping too.
This year, for the kids, we are trying to stick to this guideline:

Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. Wyatt was pretty clear on what he wants (a red combine, which I have already purchased).  Paige answered me by blowing me a kiss and shaking her head no.  I took that to mean she wanted a mixer to go with her toy kitchen.
I'm having trouble with this, as my instinct is to buy anything I think the kids might like.  But thankfully, the logical part of me knows that a)I don't really want to go broke and b)they already have an excess of "things".  Hopefully by limiting the gifts, it will make the ones they get that much more special.
Next week's post: Planning Paige's 2nd birthday (KIDDING. Settle down).