It was a very good year

Frank Sinatra sang it best. It was a very good year. 2008 was incredibly good to us and we can only hope 2009 will be just as gracious.

I don't have a year in review in store for you (or back ordered for that matter). Instead, let's just get ready to say, "Hello 2009."



We have to get somebody to bed.

A surprise in the shower

Just Monday, I had my own surprise encounter while in the shower involving a fire, so today after Daddy and my shower, we entered the living room to a very thrilled Bailey who announced "The mail came!!" She then immediately held up the item from the box. Yes, it's this game that seemed like something she might enjoy, especially since she's been loving Miss Tinkerbell all the live long day lately. And it certainly didn't hurt that I got such a bargain on it. What we hadn't counted on was that Bailey would answer the door when the mail came, bring this HUGE box that contained it inside and open it while we were detained. Another damper in this situation was that it was purchased as a birthday gift. Well, happy birthday, Bailey.

Be assured that we had a stern conversation about strangers and never opening the door by herself. (It'd also be nice to not open other people's mail or things meant to be for birthdays.)

Well, that was quite the surprise...for her parents.

It's not really all that funny

Bailey and I were watching the movie Robots today. There's this scene in the movie where this red robot named Fender voiced by my ever beloved Robin Williams starts dancing to Britney Spears' "Hit me baby one more time," and while dancing to it manages to beat up all the bad robots. So if you're following, that scene finishes and Bailey comments, "wow, I wish I could do that." The fact she said this about anything pertaining to Britney Spears, no matter how obscure of a connection disturbed me more than you'll ever know. Like I titled it, it's not really all that funny. Let's just determine she meant beating up the boys. Yeah, much preferable.

The Fire

Now, there are few things more terrifying than taking a shower and having your wee redhead enter the bathroom to mention something about setting a fire in the living room.

There are quite a few things scary during this predicament, mainly a woman's worst fear of being naked during a fire. Not something any fireman or neighbor should have to witness. And the thought of your small child being a pyro like yourself doesn't help much either. So, to make sure I didn't have to run in a panic outside in all my natural glory, I asked Bailey, "a REAL fire?"

"No, a pretend fire. And I'm roasting weenies. Do you want to roast weenies with me?"

"Let me finish washing my hair first, okay?" I said this while finally being able to breathe again.

"Okay! But Fudge can't roast weenies over the pretend fire because she doesn't have any arms, only legs. My friends are going to roast weenies too. But Nemo already roasted his weenies over the pretend fire. And he already ate his. He ate fire because his caught on fire and ate it. He likes tasting fire."

This whole conversation had me extremely curious what I'd discover in my living room and coincidentally enough, I heard sirens pass the house as I entered the living room. I was quite pleased to know it truly was a pretend fire. And Bailey was thrilled that my hair was nice and clean and I could finally roast some weenies with her. She went into her bedroom for a moment and I heard, "Roasted weenie time," followed by, "YAY! YAY! YAY!" in a variety of voices. I hadn't realized we would have hundreds of animals roasting weenies with us, nor did I realize just how handy those new plastic tinker toys (not wooden, which was disappointing) would be. Bailey asked her friends, "who's first?" with many animals answering, "ME!"

I would also like to point out that her new swimming puppy from Santa didn't eat his, he only licked it with his mouth because that's what dogs do (according to Bailey).

I was just glad, ecstatic even, that I had clothes on just in case our pretend fire got out of hand. I told you, NO ONE needs to see that.

Sometimes, accidents are blessings

This afternoon Bailey was playing with Pixos, one of her new toys Santa brought just for her. And while she was showing me her Pixos, I realized that when Daddy had allowed her peanut butter and jelly on the coffee table, the jelly she had told me exploded, had indeed exploded, all over the rebate forms for our new monitors (my monitor literally died) Daddy had yet to send in. I was a little upset to see them covered in jelly and Daddy had wondered what was ruined and I replied, "sixty dollars" and then explained. He instantly was angry with Bailey (a little too much so) and immediately went to de-jelly the receipts and rebate forms. I stayed to assure Bailey it was okay because she kept explaining it was an accident, and it was, and Daddy's anger had little to do with her (more so with himself).

Now the blessing in all of this is that we have a terrible track record with rebates. In fact, one of the few times I did send one in, it arrived in a plastic bag from the postal service in pieces, so it was worthless. And as it was drying, I noticed the date on it. I informed Daddy maybe it was a good thing jelly exploded. The directions said they must be postmarked by the 28th, and well, since that's tomorrow and tomorrow is Sunday, that meant we were about to miss the boat. We started filling them out, copying the UPCs (thanks to my new copier/printer/scanner that replaced my very dead printer) and sealing envelopes. They may not have been postmarked in time since they were dropped off at 4, but at least we tried, and at least it made us aware of their fast approaching due date. And as Bailey likes to remind us, accidents happen; but so do blessings.

I didn't send this to everybody

Don't take it personally, but usually I reserve my annual Christmas newsletter for distant family I barely see or hear from. I refer to it as my annual phone call (which means I don't have to call anyone with news of our family) and it's also commonly referred to as my olive branch. And since people nearby (or perhaps people who visit our blog daily) usually know more about us than they'd wish to, I don't typically send out our newsletter to those pour souls. I add people certain years to the newsletter list, so it seems like a new thing I've done, but it's not. I've done the newsletter for at least ten Christmases, it's just random who gets a copy. I apologize to those of you who do. But just in case you're a curious sap who would like to know all the gory little details and don't want to feel left out, I've decided to post this here. And if it feels redundant, I warned you. (I've posted these letters on Bailey's website in the past, but had yet to post last year's and this year's.)

Happy reading! (Or feel free to not read it.)



Hello to all of our fabulous family and friends this holiday season!


2008 was more blessed than we could have ever imagined. It involved a bountiful amount of trips, time together, and many gifts along the way.

We did our yearly event in seeing Sesame Street Live, something we did even before Bailey came to be. And then shortly thereafter, we cashed in Bailey’s main Christmas present from 2007 and flew to Orlando to go to Disney World for a week. Grandma and Grandpa met us at the airport after their own flight from Arizona and we stayed together in a local condo, courtesy of them. The week included the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios, and two separate breakfasts with Donald, Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, lunch with the princesses, a visit to Daytona and New Smyrna beaches and a stop by Sea World.

In March, just in time for Easter, we welcomed a new bundle of joy. Bailey appropriately chose the name Fudge for our youngest daughter (as “Oh Fudge!” is said far too often), and even though she looks a lot like a canine (half Japanese Chin, half Bichon-Frise), she thinks she’s every bit our child as Bailey is.

In April, Daddy left his job after 11 years to start a new life with a startup company, specializing in green energy, namely hydrogen fuel cells. So far, he loves the change of scenery and the privilege of working with new technology and the opportunity to work more intensively in research and development. Not only is it more interesting, it’s a higher salary and also cut his drive down to thirty minutes.

Bailey started a creative movement class in June, which is an introduction to ballet. We’ve absolutely loved dressing her in costumes and tutus, while her favorite part is a little boy named Kale in her class and the fact they get candy handed to them after each class period. She’s also extremely fond of the stage and just had two different recitals this month, doing wonderfully both times.

In July we celebrated Bailey’s fourth birthday at the Great Wolf Lodge (which we have a funny feeling is going to become a yearly tradition since she also insisted we go for Mommy and Daddy’s birthdays as well) and had quite the circus of a party, literally. (Her birthday party was a circus theme, picked out by her without any help.)

In August we drove out to Missouri for my Family Reunion. I had done quite a bit of planning for it so it was good to have the hard work pay off and spend some quality time with my paternal side of the family. Two weeks later, we flew out to Buffalo, New York and drove from there to Niagara Falls and then Toronto. In Toronto, we saw dinosaur bones at the Royal Ontario Museum, said, “aye” a lot, explored the magnificent Science Centre, visited the Toronto Zoo, played on the beach at Ontario Lake, felt like royalty at Casa Loma, looked down on Toronto from the CN Tower, and watched a Toronto Blue Jays game. When we returned to Niagara Falls, we rode the Maid of the Mist and saw the falls up close. Bailey can’t wait to return someday.

We lost our precious Kaitlin, our almost thirteen year old canine, to old age in October. Fudge and Kaitlin had become quite close, but no one took it harder than Bailey. She was a loyal companion and dearest friend and is deeply missed in this household. We lost something else in October as well, but not as dear to our hearts as Kaitlin. Instead, Bailey had her tonsils and adenoid removed and ear tubes inserted. The surgery was a success and for the first time in her life, Bailey no longer snores and gets a good night’s rest. It has changed our lives for the better.

Shortly after the presidential election, we boarded a plane for Daytona, Florida and checked out the timeshare Daddy had purchased. We were directly on the beach and it was the most awesome week together. We went back to the Magic Kingdom for a day and met Tinkerbell in person (Bailey’s latest favorite character), discovered the Bistro McDonald’s in Orlando (and was lovin’ it), witnessed dolphins in the ocean, enjoyed the ocean view from our balcony, drove to New Smyrna Beach twice, went to historical St. Augustine as well as their local Alligator farm, and even saw a shuttle launch! It was by far one of the best trips we’ve ever taken, and it had a lot to do with how relaxing it was. There were no expectations.

Other highlights of the year included Disney Princesses on Ice, celebrating Great-Grandma Rangger’s 90th birthday, walking the Kansas City Autism Walk with Team Triple R (for our niece Rebecca), becoming Tinkerbell for Halloween, the 2008 election, Mommy quitting her job of two years in November in order to finally spend weekends with her two favorite people, and Mommy and Daddy seeing the Lion King on stage by themselves.

2008 was such a fantastic year we can only dream of what 2009 might hold.


Until then, we wish you a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year,


With Love,


Rob, Terra & Bailey
(And Fudge and Aerial too)

Merry Christmas from the furry members of our household...

Yeah, we meant these two. And I suppose a "Merry Christmas" from us as well.

Tis better to give than to receive

I've always liked giving presents. For any holiday. It's always been my thing. In fact, I used to have people who had me do their shopping for them. I just love getting gifts for people. And then years later, a couple people started implying they didn't like their presents or just wanting cold hard cash or something, and suddenly gift giving wasn't what it used to be, so I searched for an alternative. (I wanted to make people happy but I also wanted to search for the perfect presents.) I didn't want to resent giving because it's always been who I am, even if no one knew it. So we started adopting families during the holidays (and stole the idea from my in-laws because I was so envious of their experiences) and our world grew brighter and suddenly giving was even more awesome. Plus, we do this anonymously, so I'll never know if they secretly hated what we gave them or not.

Santa's always loved shopping for Bailey, but Santa's a busy guy and so he needs our help. And I'll tell you, there are few more satisfying feelings than doing this. We used to buy up stuff throughout the year and then make a big donation to Toys for Tots for years and years, but adopting a family seems more complete, more attached, and even though Toys for Tots went to a much larger population, adopting a family feels like an extension of our own family.

We go through a different charity each time, so this time we chose a different Salvation Army in a different local city. After signing up, we were given stipulations and most horrifying, restrictions. I don't do well with restrictions, especially $30 maximums and such. I immediately summoned the head of the organization explaining I don't do maximums and any kind of limitations, because really, what's the point? You can't limit my shopping capabilities. She promised me it was just a guideline and that I could do anything I wanted. Anything. I loved the ring to that. And somewhere in the midst of that we adopted an additional family. They had a lot more families on the list this year due to the economy (and by a lot more, I mean at least 25%) and because of that, they didn't include the parents. Plus, with more people cutting back, they feared less people adopting.

Bailey welcomed our two new families with open arms. Our first family consisted of a single mother with two children, a nine year old little girl named Wendy and a six year old little boy named George. George liked anything Spiderman and really wanted a remote control helicopter. His sister liked High School Musical and needed a twin comforter for her bed. Our second family was a single mom with a little girl (but she didn't come named like the other two children, so I named her Audrey) who was 3.5 and needed winter boots and liked anything fit for a princess. Since our four year old isn't into princesses quite as much as other little girls, I was on the case. (But Bailey was a lot more into princesses this year than any other year, probably because of shopping for Audrey.)

Now I'm not sharing this expecting you to think we're all that great of people, because we do this for our own selfish love of doing it. And Bailey gets really into it. She picked out quite a bit of their presents and when we first told her about them, she instantly made up lists for each child. Her favorite was George and came up with some marvelous options for him. (If you remember our family last year, we named a little girl Heidi and Bailey had insisted on getting her a tricycle and wouldn't allow us to buy her any dresses at all.)

Buying for two kids was a lot harder than buying for one because I was so busy keeping everything even. When we'd done this before, the kids were close in age and the same gender, so it made it a lot easier. We just picked characters and one of each for each child. This time...I had to kind of just hope it all equalled out. I got a glimpse of what life would be like with more children. It was scary.

These are some pictures of the gifts we gave. I felt honored that these mothers allowed us to become part of their lives this holiday season. So, here's Rob and my Christmas present for this year (this is the only real gift we give each other, but it's a big one):

Not only was this box huge, it was heavy.

These are Wendy's gifts. In the left corner you get a glimpse of both sibling's wrapping paper (High School Musical and Spiderman). As for her gifts, from the back left we have a stack of clothing for her (two pairs of winter gloves, a stocking cap, three pairs of underwear, a pair of Gymboree pants, a pair of cropped jeans Bailey picked out, High School Musical pajamas, a pair of jeans we found in Florida, a Camp Rock shirt, two High School Musical shirts and a Bratz t-shirt). Aside from the clothing, a High School Musical twin comforter, a High School Musical 3 Prom Date two pack of dolls, her stocking, then the High School Musical backpack stocked full of school supplies, a Camp Rock water bottle Bailey picked out, a Sharpay doll my friends bought for Wendy, a pillow case to match her comforter, High School Musical pom-poms, a High School Musical puzzle, a Hannah Montana puzzle, High School Musical slippers and High School Musical croc-style shoes (also from my friends).

(Keep in mind these are mostly all clearance finds.) Wendy's backpack included glue, crayons, High School Musical ink pens, a five pack of spirals, markers, glue sticks, erasers, High School Musical miniature notepad, High School Musical folder and some pencils with cute animals on them. (I probably spent less than a total of $7 on all of this.)

Wendy's stocking was full of a High School Musical stamper set, Tooth Tunes toothbrush with a High School Musical song on it, High School Musical trivia card game, High School Musical miniature stamper pens, High School Musical hand sanitizer, High School Musical chap stick on a clip, High School Musical chap stick, two Taylor Swift pins, a High School Musical washcloth, a High School Musical poster that came with some batteries we bought, and a High School Musical night light.

George's presents included the board game Don't Wake Hulk (picked by Bailey of course), a Spiderman web blaster (also from Bailey), an Air Hogs RC Helicopter and airplane combo set (and thank goodness my friend was able to get this during the Black Friday deals!), a Spiderman backpack full of school supplies, a Spiderman foam play mat, Spiderman bubble bath, a Spiderman puzzle, an Iron Man puzzle, his stocking, a stack of clothing (two pairs of sweatpants and two sweatshirts, a Spiderman hooded sweatshirt, Spiderman pajamas, an Iron man t-shirt, a pair of skeleton gloves, two pairs of solid colored gloves, and a stocking cap), Hot Wheels Speedracer car set, Spiderman briefs, Spiderman slippers, and Walle on DVD (which is actually for both siblings).

George's backpack had a Batman coloring book, five pack of spiral notebooks, markers, crayons, glue, glue sticks, various sport team pencils, Spiderman multiplication cards, and a huge Spiderman eraser.

George's stocking had Spiderman juggling balls, a Spiderman tape dispenser of glow-in-the-dark stickers, Spiderman vehicle, a Spiderman watch, a Spiderman guy that grows, miscellaneous superheroes in coin machine bubbles, Spiderman dominoes, and a two pack of Spiderman toothbrushes.

Audrey's gifts included a blue shirt, a dress, a hooded shirt, Santa hat (courtesy of Bailey), Carters black boots, pink and purple VSmile, VSmile smartbook, Walle VSmile game, Little Mermaid VSmile game, batteries, Dora Smartbook book for the VSmile, five Walle shirts (from Miss Bailey of course as well as the $1 Retail Giant price), two rolls of Disney princess wrapping paper, Walle on DVD, Disney princess shopping cart and food from the Disney website, Disney Princess Memory game, Disney princess band-aids, princess Barbie (from my friends), sidewalk chalk, Little Mermaid underwear, Winnie the Pooh pants, princess coloring book, light up Cinderella dress up shoes, Cinderella baby doll, Disney princess Christmas paint set, purple jacket and pant set, princess pajamas, Disney Princess tea set, her stocking, and Disney princess candy canes.

Audrey's stocking had Disney princess stamp markers, a Disney Princess toothbrush, Disney Princess toothpaste, a two pack of pink gloves, a Disney Princess Aurora wallet, Night Before Christmas board book, Disney Princess washcloth, Disney Princess dominoes, Disney princess hair bands, The Velveteen Rabbit board book, crayons, Disney Princess night light, and Disney Princess stickers.

I wasn't sure if I was going to do the bags of stuff for the families or not aside from their Retail Giant gift cards, but after realizing I had dropped off George and Wendy's gifts without including batteries (and George was really going to need the batteries), I decided to go ahead. The lady I called assured me even though I'd dropped that family's stuff off the Friday prior, the extra items dropped off on Monday would still get to them. (We could only drop off gifts on Friday or Monday and our car only had room for the huge box of Wendy and George's items so we had to make two different trips.)

Bag one had food items for Audrey's family and a letter to her mother. The food included soups, Spaghetti O's, hot cocoa, Disney princess cookies, fruit snacks, Welch's grape juice, and Macaroni and cheese.

In their second bag I included household items. I also had forgotten to include the shoes from my friends. (Bailey discovered they'd slipped out of the box right after I finished taping it up.) The items aside from the shoes were Earth friendly cleaning spray, Lysol wipes, Glade apple cinnamon spray, toilet paper, deodorant, Listerine, hand soap, scissors, toothbrush, tape, freezer bags, Disney princess holiday window clings, a bag of bows, gift tags, tissues, and laundry detergent.


In the household bag for George and Wendy's family were items such as the cleaning spray, toothbrush, 24 pack of batteries, gift tags, gift bows, Glade spray, tissues, toilet paper, freezer bags, hand soap, Lysol wipes, Listerine, laundry detergent, deodorant, and tape.

Their groceries included High School Musical macaroni and cheese, Disney Pixar Cars macaroni and cheese, High School Musical cereal, Spiderman fruit snacks, hot cocoa, Ritz snowflake crackers, marshmallows, and Welch's fruit juice. I also put in a thank you note to their mother for allowing us to do this for their family.

Now this doesn't count the food or household items, but if this seems like a lot of stuff, please keep in mind that I find some really great deals throughout the year, and especially during Christmastime. I'm also not too proud to go find great little odd and ends at Dollar type stores or search the clearance racks online and in stores for clothing. I stretch those dollars further than you knew a dollar could stretch. Sometimes, I stretch it so far, the money even does cartwheels.

When we adopted an angel off the angel tree this year, it was deliberately because I had found an awesome deal on this Hannah Montana acoustic guitar. It was originally over $90 ($130 in some stores) and I discovered it for a little over $22. It was too good to pass up and so when we adopted our families and Wendy wasn't into Hannah, I needed to find a Hannah. I added Hannah Montana wrapping paper, Hannah Montana pajamas, underwear, a Hannah Montana shirt, markers, notebook, Hannah Montana doll, a stocking with a Hannah Montana puzzle, two Taylor Swift buttons, a Hannah Montana washcloth, Hannah Montana candy rings, Hannah Montana ring stampers, a Hannah Montana trivia card game, a microphone full of Hannah Montana chap sticks, and miniature Hannah Montana stamper pens.

Secretly, we're not all that nice of people, I just like the game of finding great deals and the experience of shopping. Anything else is just a bonus. I told you, it's my thing.

It started with a bang...

Today defined busy for us, which would make perfect sense, it IS the busy season with Christmas approaching and all that jingling jazz. We departed in the wee hours of the morning with Daddy and once he arrived at his office, we hijacked his car and started our day of errands. We were on a mission: how many places can a mother and a redhead visit in one single day?

This isn't uncommon for us. We're all about packed days, except today it was absolutely vital we accomplished everything on our list and nothing less. So, it started as our blog title would suggest, with a bang. Rather, bangs. Bailey's eyes were in desperate need of visibility, and within seconds, our hair stylist found them and we were done without any blood being shed. We paid, and off to our next destination.

Among some of our destinations, we picked up a few things at Target. We searched the aisles at Border's desperately for a gift for Daddy (even though we weren't technically getting him anything for Christmas, but hey, 40% coupons mean you have to buy something!). Next on the list was Petsmart. We had to get presents for our two furry girls as well as Bailey's Godsiblings (Godparents' Mike and Julie's canine babies, Hannah and Henry). Then we made a quick run to Walmart for a gift bag and from there we headed to Oak Park Mall.

Now, today's weather forecast was a bit grim, with that snowy and rainy doom. During most of our errands, it was indeed raining. The roads were fine though the entire time, so when we arrived in the Oak Park Mall parking lot, we were a bit shocked by their icy conditions. The roads were absolutely fine, but Oak Park Mall knew nothing of ice melt, at least not in the places people walk. Bailey and I were sliding all over the place, but that didn't stop us from going to JCPenney's in search of a reason to spend our $10 coupon. If you know anything about our history, we've boycotted Oak Park Mall as often as we can, but their JCPenney's was unfortunately in a convenient location for us. It was also busier than we expected. Weren't people supposed to be working?

We slid our way to our car and headed to Honey Baked Ham to pick up one of the most pertinent items on our list for the day: a part of the lunch we were providing for Daddy's office. Little did I know that I was going to be standing in line for a soup kitchen. That's seriously how it felt. We fought for a parking spot and waited in line outside in the cold rain in an incredibly long line for a ham that wasn't even for Bailey and I. Luckily, the line moved faster than it seemed (it just kept growing behind us) and by the time we left, the line had doubled the size from when we had first gotten there.

After that, we definitely deserved our lunch and Bailey played in the play area at the Yellow M for a while to burn off the excessive energy she had acquired during our travels. I had just announced we were leaving and then suddenly she pushed a little boy rather hard. I intervened and marched her over to her shoes and asked her what had gotten in to her. She finally told me later, once we'd left that he had attacked her inside the tunnels and she was just getting even (well, that's my version, not hers). I wish I'd known that information before I'd made her give him such a tearful and public apology. I should have known he was hardly innocent, after all, he (nor his brother) seemed so shocked by the shove as the rest of us adults were.

We made it to Hen House for our Tippin's Pie (also for Daddy's office's Christmas lunch) and then since we had extra time, we decided before we went anywhere else, we'd run our gifts for Hannah and Henry to their front doorstep. It wasn't that close to where we were at, but the drive gave Bailey a chance to take a little nap because she'd seemed so exhausted and I was really hoping she'd sleep (she woke up really early) and as we turned on their street to their house, a car was blocking the road. The person in the car was talking to a local neighbor while he was shoveling his driveway. I found it odd to discover it was Julie herself, and I waved but she didn't see me as she headed the opposite direction from her house. This worked for our surprise (I still don't think they realized we dropped off their package last year, they thought it'd been delivered), and I got out of my car so I could hang the gift bag on their door knob and instantly fell flat on my backside. This would not be the only time. In fact, I fell A LOT. Their driveway had what seemed like an inch of ice and I had noticed when I pulled in their driveway, my brakes didn't like the surface. I hung the bag after several more falls and got back in my little car and went to pull out and well, I couldn't. I was stuck!

After a lot of ice capades in their driveway, rubber burning, falls on the ice and curse words while Bailey slept (because I'd never do it while she's awake EVER), I had to call for backup. Since I had Daddy's car, calling him wasn't going to do much good but I had to do it anyway. He asked a coworker to help rescue me and I waited. I kept trying though just like that little engine in the book, and just when I'd gain a foot I'd lose more. And sometimes, my car would turn sideways more than I wanted it to. If it wasn't for my love for them (or my brutal honesty on this blog, which would give me away), I probably would've driven through their grass over their new fruit trees (but not without removing the evidence of the gift bag first).

Daddy and Ray were about five minutes from their house with a bunch of ice melt when this nice guy showed up to my car window offering his assistance. I tried to turn him down, but he persisted and he too fell quite a bit as he did his best to save me from the cruel ice. His attempts finally worked and I barely escaped without hitting his car (which he told me would've been fine if I had), but we managed not to and I prayed that I left absolutely no trace of our tragic situation behind.

I'll tell you, it was absolutely humiliating. I was stuck in a driveway. How does that happen? And it's not the first time this year that Bailey and I've been stuck in someone's driveway after doing something nice and then being forced to summon Daddy to our rescue. Maybe Daddy is right: no good deed goes unpunished. It does make a great story though, which makes it all worth it. However, it did end our day of errands, because after that, I was ready to go home, just not without a mocha java chiller from Sonic first.

Consider it an early Christmas gift...

Last Wednesday, Bailey's class had a field trip to a local retirement community. They needed a spot for just one more child, so I drove Bailey. I graciously did this because I secretly really hoped to videotape it since I can now retrieve my video (YAY!). They went to sing some songs and also bring along some treats for the elderly folk who live there. Bailey had been singing ALL the words to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for a couple weeks prior, enough to warrant suspicion from her Mommy. Once there, I was extremely impressed by Bailey's participation.

After singing, the children passed out cards they'd made to any willingly recipient they could find and then when they'd run out of bodies, they went room to room seeking out more people to give cards to. It was too cute watching the kids.

They also sang in the hallway to different people and when they finally made it back to the main room, they each then passed out cookies in the same fashion and were rewarded by eating a cookie themselves.

The talk of cookies, brings me to a blog entry I almost wrote:
Why craving sweets isn't always bad.

I will never give myself such a hard time when I have a sudden urge to bake brownies ever again. Because had I not had a sudden urge to bake last Tuesday evening, I wouldn't have reminded myself that we had cookies to bake.

And fortunately, I thought of it in time before Bailey had to go to bed. She had such a blast helping and we didn't have to grab cookies at a store on our way to preschool like other parents did.



Now back to the show...

While passing out cookies, there was this lovely lady who gratefully took as many cookies as the children were willing to give her.

Other people declined once they had a cookie, so the children would seek someone else. Every time a child came by with cookies, this lady took it with such grace even though she had handfuls of cookies.


I don't think she was just some greedy wench, I think she honestly loved the children's attention. This same woman claimed that she never heard the children sing and asked if they'd be willing to sing some songs again. Now, she had been there before, but the children were thrilled to show off their holiday cheer. I figured you might be thrilled to hear that same cheer, so enjoy. I know, it's so tough taking joy in little kids singing Christmas carols, but try anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2r7ezTmri4

Prince Charming

Bailey's been on this kick where she's a super picky eater. She's also been on this kick where she asks to take a stuffed animal with her anywhere we go. Neither one is really all that new, so I'm not sure why I pointed them out as a "kick," but hey, whatever works for rhetorical purposes.

After some arguing, gagging faces and us consistently saying, "try it," Bailey ate a few bites of her pasta with broccoli. And as promised, we stopped by Burger King for her Kid's Meal after we dropped off our movie rentals. And this is where the stuffed animal kick comes in, because she took him along for the ride and then inside while she ate. And of the animals she chose today, she chose her frog puppet who croaks and he decided to wear a crown, rather appropriately. And Daddy responded, "if you kiss him and he turns into a boy, I'm beating him up."

And fortunately for us all, Bailey agreed with a "yeah."

Be warned, princes. Be incredibly warned.

A Very Important Game

Daddy was playing one of his games on his computer, this time the game being a version of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Bailey was sitting on his lap and was quite enthralled with what was going on. One of the other players landed on a spot that made her purchase a membership to a country club and Bailey instantly replied, "golf is very important." Being the daughter of a golfer, Daddy enthusiastically agreed. I've never seen Daddy look so proud.

She definitely knows the way to her Daddy's heart.

A Gift of Hope

There are few greater gifts than hope. And a couple weeks ago, hope came in a brown bag.

Bailey's class had a field trip to our local Hope House the first week in December, so the class was busy gathering items to take with them. We sent an eclectic mix of toothbrushes, shampoo, hot cocoa, lemonade, and whatever else I threw in that black bag. Of course, the field trip was scheduled on possibly the coldest day of the year, so the teachers drove instead of walked and when I went to pick up Bailey later after their field trip, one of the teachers said, "and don't forget your bag."

This usually translates to one of my canvas bags that I bring along to house snacks, craft supplies, or whatever else I send, and her reminder included my empty bag for the Hope House donations, but it also included the brown paper bag. I instantly replied, "I thought they were taking donations to Hope House?"

The teacher laughed and said the lady there at Hope House had asked if they minded if she gave the children presents and she too had said similar to what I commented about Hope House being the ones to receive gifts, but the lady gave the children a bag of hope. The word, "hope" has been tossed around a lot this past year, but this hope was different. And if you're curious what's in a bag of hope, I'll show you.

I can think of fewer items to give more parents and children hope than a bag of Brach's autumn mix, watercolors, and a magnetic A to Z book. This collection of goodies certainly made our bag of lemonade, hot cocoa, shampoo, toothbrushes and other miscellaneous look awfully bleak in comparison.



But next time I send Bailey on a field trip like that expecting to empty out some shelf space, I'll have to consider everything they'll send home with her: a bag of calories, some bright paint, and tiny little magnetic letters. (Fortunately, none of these items have yet to be opened.) Hope awaits us.

Maybe dogs get chapped lips too...

Or perhaps they just chew up anything they can find. I'm open to theories.

Budding Photographer

"That's a good photo of my armpit, Bailey."


"Thank you."



(And no, we do not have a picture to currently show you.)

Print is Dead

I've heard the phrase "print is dead," a few times, and can tell you that it completely applies to my life right now.

Today was Bailey's class Christmas party that I orchestrated and I had this small urge to run home for some pictures. The kids allowed me to take photos of each of them (rather, they hadn't a clue) and I thought, "hey, I'll run home, touch these up, print them out, bring them back, all before they go home." It was an excellent plan and I would've just ran to Walgreens instead, but the pictures were all in RAW mode, and if that seems Sushi to you, it kind of is. So, I come home, start to work on the files, and my printer decides he's not playing ball. Not even considering playing ball. Didn't even show up to the game. Now it's kind of humorous because he had just printed out all of my Christmas letters the day prior, printed like he's never printed before. Not even one smudge. (He's never done that before in all the years I've known him.) And as I was screaming at this wayward printer, I thought about how lately, I sure have had to hit that resume button a lot, and that he is over five years old, which is basically deceased in printer years. We had a lot of splendid years together, being that he was $100 when I bought him and printed decently and the ink was the cheapest on the block and there was a reason Consumer Reports liked him.

But I wasn't thinking all those happy thoughts as I violently smashed him against my desk a few times, fumed at his flashing green and amber light, threw him down on the carpet in a fury, and kicked him across my entry way in my house. I've been intrigued how my anger seems to magnify when Bailey isn't around, like road rage. I think it's because I hide all this for months, years even, so there is a lot of pent up frustration, not because of her, but because I like to keep these emotions from her (emotions I try to keep from everyone). So the moment she's not in my car, I'm screaming at every Jane, John and Rhoda on the highway. Well, kicking the printer helped me feel a bit better, but mostly humiliated it came to this.

When I returned to his corpse later, I put him all back together wonderfully, plugged him back in and he did the exact same thing as before. I think it was his time to move on, and my time to finally come to terms with the fact, I can't buy cheap ink forever.

We mourned the death of a family member, long enough to find his replacement and set it up on my desk. And hey, I finally have a scanner! (I really have never had one. Seriously.)

Print was dead, but it's making a comeback.

Since some of you have been waiting...

The problem with doing something once or twice is that people get used to it and expect it. I have a habit of setting myself up into these situations, which is why I stopped doing certain things. I grew tired and couldn't keep up (which was harder for me to admit than you'll ever know). However, that is not the case with this video. So enjoy. I know I did.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5Q2h7Ae8A

A Conversation with Santa

Last Friday, we went to visit with Santa. The three of us had been counting down the days, especially Bailey. And by the looks of this photo, it was obviously an awesome visit.

But first, let's rewind and tell the whole story shall we?



We rode up with Daddy early in the morning, and while he went to work, we drove his car to eat breakfast together, run some errands (a.k.a. stop at a couple stores), and then off to Wonderscope for a little while. After making lots and lots of artwork there (our new ritual as of the last three months) we picked Daddy back up, went to lunch and then off to drop off our adopt-a-family packages. After that, Daddy was all ours and we headed to what Bailey affectionately refers to as the Yellow Mall and went to hunt down a Santa. I had brought along an extra change of clothes but then had my own change of heart when I came to terms with the fact I know she hates dresses so I shouldn't make her wear one when she was perfectly fine in the clothing she had on (a holiday shirt). Santa was on lunch so we explored a bit as we waited and then there he was and we were first in line (until I let the mother who was actually there first get in front of us) and we couldn't wait to see the jolly big guy!

And then it happened...it was our turn and suddenly Bailey burrowed into Daddy (even though I told him to STOP carrying her) and wanted nothing to do with Mr. C. She became Bailey the Drama Queen. She made the nastiest of faces and then ran from Ol' St. Nick towards the mall doors. She didn't want to come back with us in line so we told the next family to go ahead because we weren't going to hold up the line for this. And after conversing with her, we told her she was done for now. She had tears in her eyes and we couldn't figure out if she was just scared or if it was because we told her this was scheduled for the day and if she didn't do as we all planned, she wasn't getting a pretzel at her favorite pretzel shop or playing in the play area. I know, we're harsh.

After a bit of sad expressions and some minor talking, Bailey decided she wanted to try it again. So we approached Santa once the line was empty and as soon as we approached him...it happened again. This time we had real tears and she just kept shaking her head and hid behind Daddy. We were both even more agitated at this point and Daddy used a fierce tone as he announced she was done for the day, scooped her up, we put her coat back on for the second time and headed straight for the car without passing Go, Jail or any stop in between. We threw out words and phrases just as we had on the first attempt like, "no pretzel," "and, wow, we really had wanted a pretzel too," "now Santa won't know what to get you since you didn't tell him," "did you want to be on the naughty list?" and anything else our irrational minds could have thought up.

Once at the car, I saw Daddy's fuming face and asked him nicely to take a walk so I could talk to Bailey alone. On the way to the car, it started to feel a bit off. We weren't handling this the right way at all and I was doing a mild version of what I'd hoped to never do. I spoke with Bailey about what happened and this is one of the things that had set us both off in the beginning was that she refused to talk to us, and that gets her in a LOT of trouble lately. She wouldn't speak until I asked if she'd like to go back into the mall and get a toy out one of the machines and she was very excited, ears perked up and made the funniest of happy faces. And then I threw out, "but you need to sit with Santa first." Her expression turned quickly to a sad and desolate one and I realized this wasn't just a dramatic fit where she acts shy when she's not. There was a bit of genuine hesitancy on her part.

So, after enough of my talking and persisting she spoke up and said she'd wanted us to sit with her with Santa. Now, that was annoying because we'd offered SEVERAL times. Finally, I asked her if she'd like to try again and she said she did. And then I told her, that even if she got up to him and changed her mind, we'd go ahead and get a pretzel and go play for a bit because it was our family time and there's nothing wrong with being afraid. I wasn't sure I wanted to ruin our day over fear.

Now if you'd like to know how we went from one extreme to the next, I really thought about how I feel about children being forced to sit on Santa's lap as they're screaming, crying and scared (which I refuse to do to her) and that it's illogical to punish someone for their fears. I also thought about when my little brother screamed louder than a child could ever scream when he was forced to sit on Santa's lap and how horribly angry my father was for the embarrassment. And I realized, even though we hadn't acted quite the same, it was closer than I'd ever wanted to. (In our defense, Bailey has been having an issue with saying one thing and then changing her mind once it's too late, so we were originally reacting to that.)

But we went inside with a different mindset and Bailey did too and as we went towards Santa and up the empty line and approached the big guy for the third time, expecting it to all go the same, here was Santa on the floor.

He asked her about her shirt and played a game about what was on it and she finally informed him it was a penguin, since he obviously couldn't tell. And Bailey asked us to sit with her and she fully intended to sit on one of our knees, until Santa asked while we were on either side of him if she would mind sitting on his lap for a picture for us, and she nodded and did so easily. We both crept away, shocked beyond our wildest dreams and the picture lady hadn't a clue what was going on. The mother before us was taking her sweetest time going through the shots, not able to make up her mind which one she wanted. Neither one of us cared anymore about the picture, we were too busy being astonished that the third time was the charm.

Then the camerawoman looked up and was just as shocked and even said so. Santa had been telling Bailey the story of Rudolph and she'd told him what she wanted for Christmas (Pixos, an alien maker, a swimming puppy, Elefun, and Gator Golf) and now they were on to another story. Bailey even faked a smile for the photo before she went back to her story. I told the camerawoman we weren't all that picky about the photos, so she got what she needed and allowed Bailey and Santa to continue with their moment together. They had bonded like nothing any of us had ever seen.

The lady at the counter and the camerawoman both wanted to know what had happened and how this all came to be. I told them that I don't believe in forcing children to sit on Santa's lap and they were grateful (as they are each year that I feel this way) and I told her we were forcing her in other ways though, and I decided to switch methods and try it again without any bribery or fear of punishment. I told her after careful thinking, I did what I knew I needed to do and always believed in. You can't make a child think they're wrong for not wanting to sit with a stranger when this is what they're taught any other time. Bailey didn't *have* to do it. While talking, all of us just kept watching Santa and Bailey together reading a book, mesmerized this was happening at all.

After Bailey was finished, Santa summoned us over and had his own burning question. He asked us what we said to her and what we did. We were both confused because we thought he did it. He's the one who magically got her on his lap. We had nothing to do with it. I told him that after we talked, I told her she didn't have to do it. He seemed please to know she chose to do it on her own and to give him a third chance and you could tell that it kind of made him sad the first two times that she wanted nothing to do with him at all. His face seemed brighter knowing she came back without in intent to sit on his lap alone and that she changed her mind after actually meeting him. And that's why he's smiling so large in those pictures.

I was too busy being starstruck that Santa asked me what kind of magic I was working with. It was a magical moment though, and a lesson was learned. A big one.

Kid's Day...err...Hour Out

Yesterday was Monday. Monday is Kid's Day Out. We haven't gone on Monday for at least a couple weeks now and since yesterday was the last Monday until after the new year that we could go to, we decided maybe we should do just that. So, obviously we went. We arrived around 11 because we were doing things before that and we arrived only to discover that they were actually all leaving at noon. The teacher apologized profusely and I'm sure my face looked bewildered and fragile. I asked if I could pick her up within an hour because I knew there would be a kicking, screaming feud if I forced Bailey to go home right then.

I did things in that hour I didn't know I could do. I went into one store and then to the Retail Giant and at the Retail Giant, I managed to buy food and household items for two families and checkout all in thirty minutes. They said it could never be done. I thought it could never be done. I powershopped like a powershopper has never powershopped before. And then I picked my child back up.

It was our last Kid's Hour Out for the year and at least it was a productive one. Regardless, I think next time we shoot for it being a day.

Just Like Daddy

Bailey announced quite loudly that she had to go potty. Then she told me she was going to read her book because she's never done that before. I thought that switch of topics was a bit confusing, but hey, it happens. Then she said, "because when Daddy goes potty, he takes a newspaper. I'll be just like Daddy."


That's Daddy's girl...



Am I going to be the only one in the house who doesn't need reading material in order to use the potty? Things to ponder...

The Household Disciplinarian

"If you're not going to follow the rules, you're not going to get to play the game, do you understand?"


Said by Bailey while scolding Daddy as he was playing her Leapster L-Max this evening.

Isn't she too young to ask me this??

During ballet practice, Bailey approached me abruptly with this question:


"Mommy, someday can I go skydiving?"

It only took two years to do this...

Two years ago, we finally purchased a digital camcorder with the very best intentions. And then came a couple days later when I tried to take the video off the camcorder to no avail. The directions didn't help. My husband didn't help. The Internet didn't really help. Periodically, I'd bring it up again and again with again, the very best intentions. I started to resent the camcorder since it seemed I'd never retrieve anything from it in order to share it, which was my intention. I gave up.

Then, Friday night, I took the camcorder with me to Bailey's recital despite telling everyone I wouldn't. And with that on there, I knew I HAD to get it off from the wicked camcorder and find a way, no matter what because I was really tired of saying, "what's the use of videotaping anything, I'll never get it onto the computer anyway."

We came home and I was on a mission and after some heavy duty research I discovered that many people with my same Sony handycam model had the same issues and they too were discouraged and angry. The biggest flaw? The manual never tells you to use a firewire cable, nor did it come with one. It just told us to use a USB cable over and over again with pointless results.

So rambling aside, and after a little extra work, Houston, we finally have video. Just don't expect us to use it that often, because then you'll be the disappointed ones. And yes, I do realize it's incredibly small. In another two years or so, I'll make the files larger.

Enjoy.

You can also view this video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2kF9KQlFc

Wrongly Accused: Grandma's Story

Last week a blog entry was written about Grandma and Grandpa's special gifts to us. Grandpa's was taking a photo on Thanksgiving and sharing it. Grandma's was teaching Bailey how to blow off straw wrappers in public establishments, a worthy trait, indeed. It was also written that both were truly appreciated.

Today, Grandma wanted to set the record straight. First off, Grandpa taught Cousin Kona how to blow off the wrapper and while we were out in public and Grandpa was getting drinks and Grandma sat with the children, Kona used the knowledge he learned from Grandpa as Grandma merely witnessed such an act. Bailey then obviously followed. Grandma was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. An innocent bystander, of course.

And as for the photograph, it was one of those Iwo Jima misunderstandings. Grandpa took the photo Grandma asked him to and somehow managed to get the credit for it. And if it hadn't been for her quick and crafty thinking, such a photograph would not have existed.


Now you've heard the rest of the story and hopefully cleared Grandma's name.

In Pieces

Bailey discovered one of these teeny tiny pieces yesterday afternoon and instantly knew what it was from. It started with a gasp, followed by, "Fudge's drawing!"

In case that means nothing to you, Bailey had drawn a picture for Fudge on a square of blue foam, which was from Bible School, and on this was a picture she had deemed especially for our little canine. She even went as far as putting this picture numerous times on Fudge's kennel or in front of it because it was hers after all. (And lately, Bailey's been putting all kinds of pictures around the kennel and when we return home after a day out, Fudge is covered in paper scraps.) Bailey seemed bruised and battered when she added, "I don't think she liked her picture."

Now I of course needed to play damage control and point out, that she must have liked it because Fudge only chews up things she likes. Finally, Bailey believed me. I mean, obviously the dog REALLY liked it, this is about all that's left of it.

A Preview

Tonight is Bailey's ballet recital with a local orchestra. She'll be on stage long enough for "Jingle Bells," and for everyone in the audience to go, "awwww," and then she'll be done. The orchestra has a reputation for having long shows, until the wee hours. Yeah, we'll be long gone by then. But I wanted to give everyone a preview of what is to come.


It's been a long road ahead. First, we missed three straight classes in a row due to tonsil surgery and our Daytona trip. At least one of those weeks included an extra recital practice.

Once we were able to start practices, it's been a long and winding road. We have normal classes, then there have been all those practices. And NOTHING starts on time. Then when she is on stage, there was the night she didn't want to perform because she didn't have the color of bells she wanted. Or because she spotted us in the audience. Or she does perform and we missed it because we were hiding so she wouldn't get mad that we were watching her.

Bailey promised that tonight she's going to do a really good job so she'll get a surprise. Her thoughts on this?

"Yeah, or I'll get some eggs as a present. Ha Ha."

So, I better go get her hair ready. We've been ordered to use massive quantities of hairspray, enough to make a seven layer dip of the ozone. And makeup was an option, one we're obviously not taking. There's a reason I'm not a pageant mom.

But a ballet mom? I'll just go with "proud mom."