Mommy/Daughter dinner

Tonight, Caitlin and I went to ihop for dinner, just the two of us. We really had a lot of fun and I definitely plan on more mommy daughter nights out.




Caitlin was hungry and really wanting her food.




Caitlin loves the funny face. Here she is making a funny face with her funny face pancakes.

We passed the time waiting for our food by taking some pictures.












I said for us to do fishy faces. Instead she is being a shark eating my fish. LOL


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Oops, Thanksgiving

Oops, just found some pictures from Caitlin's Thanksgiving program from school that I never posted.  :)

Circus Fun

I took Caitlin to the circus on Saturday.  I remember going as a kid and Rusty and I went once while we were dating.  This circus had all of the regular things you would expect from the circus.  It had animal tricks, tight rope walking, acrobats, and trapeze artists.  But it seemed to take everything to the next level.  They would things to impress you and then kick it up three notches to totally WOW you.  It was awesome and I think I enjoyed it more than Caitlin, even though she did tell me it was her best day ever!

You can't see this one really well, but there are SEVEN motorcycles in there at once!  They started out with four and they were wearing neon costumes and they lowered the lights.  That was cool how fast they were going and that they didn't run in to each other.  Then they added three more!



This one was cool.  Later in the show, they stood on each others shoulders and the guys on top help the bar and they did flips that way too!


But I think the elephants might be my favorite!

Caitlin's report card

A few week ago Caitlin got her second report card for the year. (They don't do a report card every six weeks anymore. Now it is quarterly.) Her first six weeks, she did well but had a few categories that she could improve in. This time, she was doing great in every category. Her teacher comments were that she was a joy to have in class and that she was a sponge soaking everything up that was being taught. Rusty and I are so proud of how far she's come. She has finally caught on to the reading and is reading everything around her!


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Alaina

Last night, Alaina was SO funny!  She was in rare form so I took some videos.  This is her true personality.  Stubborn and mischievious!!

Playing basketball.

More playing

Climbing the stairs

Trying to get through the baby gate.

Notice at 1:18 she toots and then giggles when I call her on it.  And at 1:39 she says MOMMA!

At 1:53 she does her weird babbling that I just love and at 2:40 she walks!

Is it bad that when she's so cute like this, I just don't want to put her down for the night?  I just let her stay up and entertain me!

Caitlin getting ready this morning!

Valentine's

The stores finally put out their Vanetine's candy and I could fill my glass vases.  I bought a TON of candy and look how empty my jars look!!  I need something that I can put in there as filler to take up some of the space.  I'm thinking styrofoam cylinders.  Any ideas?

Also, I made these Fortune Tellers (aka Cootie Catchers).  Do you remember these from when we were little?  Caitlin thought they were the coolest things ever!

Product Endorsement

If any of you have had trouble with your dishwashers, I have a product for you to try.  For a while, I have been struggling with my dishwasher.  It kept leaving a film on all the dishes.  I tried switching detergents and that didn't help anything.  Rusty looked on the internet for problems with the dishwasher model that we had and didn't really find anything that matched.  I had resigned myself to handwashing dishes and for some reason had just put off calling a repair man.  Then Rusty googled again but this time looked for just info on the while film.  People said to try a product called Lemi-Shine.  So off I went to Target and Publix and neither had it.  So, just for an experiment, I bought this product:

I left some of the caked on dishes in the machine and ran it per instructions.  I was AMAZED when I opened the dishwasher to find a sparkling, brand new looking inside!  The dishes that I had left in there were caked with that film.  I had soaked and handwashed these numerous times and couldn't get the stuff off.  They ALL looked brand new.  I now have several of these in my pantry for when that film comes back.  I am so excited to have found it!!  It saved me a needless repair visit and all my dishes look brand new again!!!!

My New Mantel

For a while now, I've been wanting to redo my mantel. For six years, we had a huge framed Monet on the mantel. At Christmas, we would change it up but that was all. After the Christmas decorations were put away, I started thinking again about redoing the mantel, so I didn't put the Monet back up. Instead I headed to TJMaxx and Michael's. I bought enough things that I could leave out year round and then some valentine specific things. I love, love, love how it turned out!!!



Caitlin helped me put everything out and we had a lot of fun deciding where everything should go. Two things that I really like are the little mailbox and the two heart boxes. Caitlin already wants to create some valentines to go in the mailbox. And I think I will have to come up with some surprises that I can leave for the girls in the heart boxes on valentines day.

I also got these great vases. I'm going to get some yummy valentines candy to fill them. They will be decorations and sweets. :)


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Christmas Traditions

For years, our Christmas traditions have been a big breakfast and presents at my mom's house.  The bigger my kids get, the more I think it's time to start our own traditions and have our own Christmas morning.  So I've been thinking about things to start doing in 11.5 months.  I already have a few traditions that I do, like decorate the tree with Caitlin with Christmas music playing and taking the girls to see Santa.  But I'm thinking of adding some more.  I want some to be just plain fun but I want our Christmas to be Christ centered as well.  Here are some I am considering:

• Pajamas on Christmas Eve: Many families have a fun tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, and that present is always the same — pajamas. The kids always know what it is, but it’s still fun to see what kind of jammies they’ll don on Christmas morning.
• Take a photo of your children standing in a particular spot each year (in front of the tree, by the front door) anyplace that will be consistent from year to year. Make a special holiday ornament or scrapbook album that depicts the growth and change of your family each year.
• Ask each child to write a Dear Santa letter. (Small children can draw pictures). Keep a special record of these letters in an album or treasure box.
• Cut snowflakes from wrapping paper, festive holiday advertisements, or holiday cards, and string them together into a festive garland.
• For fifteen minutes, write down things in your life that you are grateful for. Ask each of your family members to join you in creating their own lists.
• Make garland with construction paper
• Go for a drive and see who wins for the best lights in town.  Make an award for the winner and present it to them.
• Let your child decorate their bedroom door for Christmas. A wreath with some small trinkets on it is charming on every door inside the house, too.

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?