Migraines are yucky!

I have only had one other migraine in my life, but I got another one last night. I don't know how I managed to do it. It started while I was trying to clean up after dinner. It's like I was seeing bright spots and no amount of closing one eye then the other, rubbing my eyes, etc. would make it go away. It was starting to make me really light-headed. So I quickly finished up and went to hang out with Ava in her bedroom, closing my eyes as I sat in the rocker and she told me all about the Christmas cards she was playing with. Soon Elliott came to put her to bed (I had already gotten Lily down) and I went to lay down in bed. I kept the lights low and managed to get it under control (I thought) but when I ventured back out into the living room to watch some evening TV with Elliott it came back full force. I ended up just going to bed, because my head hurt so bad that it was making me sick to my stomach. Yuck! I couldn't think of anything else to do besides Tylenol, a cold washcloth and the dark.

When I woke up this morning the migraine was on its way out, although I still tried to be careful which lights I turned on so as not to aggravate it. I don't think I have taken this much pain reliever continuously in a long time. I have so much more sympathy for people that have migraines, especially consistent ones. This episode pretty much laid me low exactly when I have lots of packing to do. But what can I do? Hopefully my head will be completely clear by tonight when Elliott will be home to kiddy-wrangle. Until then I guess it's refereeing from the couch.

The girls love each other!

Christmas #1 - Our Las Vegas Celebration

BEFORE- Nice and orderly (notice the coordinated wrapping paper)

AFTER - utter chaos (and astonishment that Lily didn't eat alot more wrapping paper than she did)

We celebrated our own family Christmas yesterday before we head to Utah to celebrate with all of Elliott's family. As you can see from these pictures (and those in the slideshow at the bottom of this post) we all had an excellent time. Here are some highlights and lessons for next year:

* We had a complete haul of Christmas goodies for all of us, on a budget! Our splurge was the laptop and wireless internet, but beyond that all of the other presents came to under $100, I am sure of it. I had slowly accumulated toys and clothes throughout the year and even made several things for the girls (an apron for Ava, hand puppets for both, and tote bag for Lily).

* The best family present - a free vacation to San Diego! I managed to keep this a surprise from Elliott, so that made it even more fun. It all came about when I was visiting with my mom about the possibility of using her timeshare week to go to Sedona, AZ for vacation with the Kay family. In the end we decided to pass on the Sedona vacation (extra cost, lack of desire to haul the girls out into nature) but mom went ahead and surprised me by booking us something anyway - a week in San Diego. The best part if it, we will be able to celebrate Lily's first birthday in the same way we celebrated Ava's first birthday - at the San Diego Zoo. I have to admit, this might be a fun tradition to keep up!

* Ava is on overload for her presents I think (note to self - she doesn't need that many next year). Her favorites - the ladybug rocker that I bought for Lily at a garage sale; a play mixer for her toy kitchen and knock-off My Little Ponies both of which I got for a couple bucks at Walgreens). She also got a tricycle (garage sale find) that we will enjoy when the weather gets warmer.

* Elliott made waffles for a fun family breakfast for all of us. Yummy!

* That evening we went to Sunset Park to drive through their Holiday Lights display. Ava was a little cranky, but we pushed through. I think it will make for a nice family tradition for future Christmases (and I really enjoyed it; it took me back to my own Christmases past when we drove through our local park to see the lights.)

My Craftiness

I created this photo collage recently to dispaly in our front room and I am very happy with how it turnedout :

* I used photos from our recent photo shoot with my friend Ashley, who captured some fabulous shots.
* I got all of the photos for free (including an 11x17 print, which is normally a little costly) by scoping out deals online stores such as Snapfish were offering.
* The beautiful frame came from my friend Babette. She inherited many decorations with her new home and didn't need the frame or artwork. You can't quite tell, but it is quite large - about 3'x4' (Thank you Babette!!)
* Instead of paying $65 to have a mat professionally cut for each photo, I used the existing plum-colored framing mat and then bought a $5 (minus 40% coupon) white mat to which I simply glued the pictures onto.
* And finally I printed a Bible verse I thought was inspirational and timely (1 John 4:19) onto vellum (which I had leftover from our wedding invitations!) and glued that onto the mat too to complete the look.

So there you have it - under $5 for this gorgeous display. I can't tell you how much I love it! It is the first thing you see when walking through the front room on the way to the bedrooms, and I can't tell you how often per day I do that! Love it!

Lunchtime with the Girls

Today is a lazy day. This post finds me blogging from my couch with our brand-new laptop and wireless internet connection and Ava watching "Super Why" while laying on me. I am not sure life gets much better than this.

This morning I met some other Bible Study leaders at Starbucks for a morning coffee and catch-up while my friend Lisa watched the girls (ok, technically Lily slept for her whole visit) at our house so I could go out. After I got back all four of us went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe', where we enjoyed a nice time out with some yummy vittles. Since I had my camera on me, I decided to capture this moment, as I just thought the girls lined up next to each other were just so cute:

So I officially decided to take a day off from being productive since Elliott and I are going out tonight for a pre-Christmas date and won't be cooking dinner anyway. So laundry, you will just have to wait until tomorrow. So will you wrapping paper. Mom is taking a break.

More Snowy Pictures

The snow continued Wednesday night, blanketing the Las Vegas valley in about 3 inches. The "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign lost power and went black, flights and schools were closed, and we had to go outside and beat the tree branches in the backyard with a broom so the limbs didn't break with the heavy, wet snow. By Thursday morning school was still closed, but the roads were clear and the snow had stopped; by this afternoon you would never have known we had snow - it's clear and cool. Crazy weather!

WFMW: Cereal gift boxes

I read a hint in a magazine last month and have been employing it this holiday season with great success:

Save your cereal boxes and use them to wrap presents in. Why did I never think of this before? They are a perfect size for clothing and I am constantly recycling them at our house. So this year as wrapping paper comes flying off, people will be wondering if they got Rice Krispies or something better.

That's what works for me! Check out the entire Works For me Wednesday line-up over at Rocks In My Dryer.

Snow in Vegas!

Yes, you read that headline correctly - it snowed in Las Vegas on Monday! And it was actually sticking a bit where we lived. Ava woke up late that morning (yeah for me!) and had such a great time waking up to that surprise. So I bundled her up and sent her out to play. She had a great time and only came in when I decided that she was just too wet and it was time to eat breakfast. She is very much looking forward to Christmas in Utah where we are expected to have lots of snow.

Raking leaves - in December

Sunday morning Elliott decided to go out front and rake the leaves that had been accumulating in the front yard. The girls decided to help too. I don't know how much help they were, but they certainly had a lot of fun!

What's New With Us

I feel like I have been devoting all of my blog time over on my other blog, The Budgeteer, and have been neglecting my family and friends on this end. And that is absolutely no indication on the stories our daily life produces. Some days (ok, all days) it just goes by so fast after awhile I just sit back, amazed that I have forgotten to tell you all about it. So thank you for the reminder emails and phone calls demanding some news. Ha ha!

Where to begin? Lily had her 9 month doctor check-up last week and is still fit as a horse. 90th percentile (meaning she is bigger than over 90% of other babies her age) and almost 22 pounds. She is quickly outgrowing her 12 month clothing; today I actually busted out some 18 month onesies and they worked great. She has a total of four teeth coming in up top, but only one is actually visible. We call it her fang, as it one of the teeth that is off to the side a bit and she looks endearingly lopsided. She tries harder and harder everyday to try and walk on her own, thanks to her daddy's tutelage, but generally she just gets so excited that she forgets to take any actual steps and simply falls forward at you. She does love to use her push-walker though (as well as the high chair, which rolls around the kitchen) to practice her mobility. Her sleep at night is better too, although she routinely wakes up at least once. She is back sleeping in the office, as she goes to bed earlier than Ava and this is just the easiest way of solving this issue. She is 100% a momma's girl right now. She can find me wherever I am (which happened to be using the potty one day) even if I have hightailed it to the other end of the house. She will be perfectly content if hanging out with daddy until mommy shows up, and then all bets are off. Fortunately Elliott is unfazed by it and is still grateful that she is more cuddly than Ava ever was.

Ava is full of precociousness. Full of it. The other afternoon she and I basically had a screaming match at each other (Should I post that here? Will Child Services come and get me?); what can I say but I was tired and could not scrounge up a more appropriate response. She likes to tell me no to whatever it is I have told her to do. Ava, you need to stop whining. No, I no stop whining. Yes, you have to stop whining. NO, I NO STOP WHINING!!!, etc., etc., etc. On the flip side she can turn on a dime and be the sweetest, gentlest creature God ever made. I was having an emotional moment the other day and she was utterly concerned. Mommy crying, she kept repeating to Elliott; Mommy sad. Then when I emerged from the bedroom she ran to me and I picked her up and hugged on her (which I needed) and she kept giving me sweet little kisses on the cheek without prompting, saying, Mommy all done crying. Melted my heart away! She continues her love of singing, now adding dancing and pretending to use the microphone to her performance. Seriously, I am not sure where she picked up the microphone aspect of her routine but the funniest thing about it is that her microphone are pacifier clips. She adores the Veggie Tales CD her Aunt Tracy and Uncle Matthew gave her for her birthday (although Tracy and Matthew, I am personally growing a bit weary of it as Ava refuses to listen to anything else in the car - anything!) and sings many of the songs now, including Peace Like a River, I've Got the Joy Joy Joy (Where?), and There's Nothing Our God Can Not Do. It is however a little disconcerting to have a temper tantrum from her and then hear her singing from the time-out corner Jesus Loves Me (when mommy is not so sure she has that much love at the moment; talk about convicting).

I have been busier blogging over at The Budgeteer blog because I am really focusing on this whole coupon, saving-people-money game. I was head-hunted (I just want to say I was head-hunted once in my life) by a company called Grocery Smarts here in Las Vegas. Grocery Smarts is a free website which matches coupons up with the sales ads in Las Vegas (and Utah). On top of that they have instructors which teach home-party type coupon classes for free, teaching people how to combine their service with coupons from the Las Vegas Review-Journal to slash lots of money off their grocery bill. Heck, I've been doing that for free because I get a kick out of it and now I have the opportunity to make some extra money? Sign me up! I attended an instructor training class last Friday and am excited to start teaching classes as soon as I attend one regular class and then get the green light from the area manager. I feel very confident about the subject matter; in fact, I think my weakness may be learning to curb all of the couponing ideas and schemes I have and break it down to the very basics for people who don't know that the Sunday paper has coupons. I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime feel free to pass my info along to all of your Las Vegas contacts and I can set them up to start saving lots of money.

I also am almost all done with the Christmas shopping and wrapping. It isn't feeling too much like Christmas this year with the absence of a tree (Lily learning to walk + tree = disaster waiting to happen) and the Little People nativity scattered throughout the house. Oh well, I can enjoy other people's Christmas light displays and know that someday the activities will be more prominent as they will mean more to Ava. But even though she is little she does recognize snowmen and Santas, sings Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells, and is very excited about going to Utah for Christmas. I had to come up with some way to deflect her millionth whine about it so I created a calendar for the fridge and we are marking off the days until we leave. So when she starts to whine about Christmas I simply say Let's go look at the calendar and see how many days we have left, and the counting process plus the time spent running to the kitchen usually helps the moment to pass.

Whew, OK I am going to end this post for now. I have lots more to tell you, including pictures and videos (which will hopefully upload), which I will post in a bit.

Christmas on clearance - ALREADY??

So I am going to stand on my soapbox for one minute -

I went just now to try and find a matching Christmas dress for Ava at The Children's Place online. I saw their ad in a magazine recently and thought they might have a dress that would nicely match the Christmas dress I have put aside for Lily. Children's Place has them on clearance. What!!?? And not only that, they are now all out of stock!

So I call my local store. Nope! They shipped all of their stock to the outlet because they were clearanced our. So I called the outlet. They are sold out!

OK, so I know there is somebody out there who can feel my pain. I pride myself on thinking ahead - for crying outloud it is only December 4 today! - and didn't think I was leaving this until the last minute. Well, I guess you better start skipping Thanksgiving if you want anything that has to do with Christmas. And that is just something I won't do.

Maybe I will write to Children's Place .....

Ava's Imagination

Ava's imagination is really starting to take off. I love watching it take shape. Tonight she has wrapped a blanket around herself, flapping the corners and exclaiming "I'm a butterfly." When she was also talking about parrots I said "be a parrot now Ava". No mommy, I be a butterfly.

She has also started to pretend to sleep, closing her eyes (leaving just a small eye slit and a sly smile) and making fake snoring sounds.

Ava also is really developing a mind of her own and attitude to match. Today she was whining and whining. I said "stop it Ava!" and she said "I no stop it". So I said "fine, then you will go in time out. I no go in time out. Then you have a choice: stop whining or go in time out. I stop whining. That's a good choice Ava.

She shows great love and concern for her sister, which I think is the sweetest moment to witness. Today they were sitting toe to toe and Ava was saying "I love my sister" and leaning over to give Lily hugs and kisses, which Lily was just eating up with a huge grin on her face. The other day Lily was crying over a small tumble and Ava came running into the room . What's the matter Lily? What's wrong? Oh, Lily fell down and went boom. I suppose that's better than her inquiry today of "what's your problem Lily?"

And right now she is jumping around the guest bed as I type shouting "this is so much fun! Did you see mommy?" I love my little girl!

Is it December??

Seriously, IS IT DECEMBER ALREADY? I went to the store today and both the checkout girl and I had the hardest time figuring out why my coupon wouldn't scan - it had expired. What??!! It isn't November anymore? What??!! Where did the time go??

Our Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful (and relaxing, if you ask me) Thanksgiving weekend with Elliott's parents, and his brother and family. Dinner hit the table almost on the dot (only 10 minutes late, of which I am very proud) and we spent the next four days stuffing ourselves with leftovers. The plethora of turkey and pies would be anough to send anyone into a food-related coma, which we are only now waking up from. I hope everyone had as good of a time as we did!

Cousins Julia, Xander and Ava take in WALL-E (what would the holidays be like without an animated movie?). Did you notice the absence of pants? The kids all snuck out into the wet backyard when Elliott had his back turned.

I ha to try and make it into at least one picture (isn't that how it always is, moms?). Here we all are! (Ava never did put on pants.)