Elmo the Snowman

If you didn't know already, I'm telling you now: my daughter loves to be outside! Luckily she has a wonderful and talented daddy that decided to 'show up' my wimpy 'snowhead' (as McFrosty so aptly put it).

When I went outside after a quick jog on the treadmill I was met with Elmo the Snowman, larger then life, in my front yard. It isn't be best picture, but you get the idea.

Abbey refused to pose for a picture with Elmo the Snowman and instead wanted to sit by the beginnings of Cookie the Snowmonster. I'm sure this will be something fun soon.

BTW, as nice as it is to have a child that loves to be outside it is a miserable experience to get her to come back into the house! Talk about screaming your head off! The neighbors must think we're killing her.

'Snowman'

Right now one of Abbey's favorite movies is Frosty the Snowman. To her, all snow is 'Frosty the Snowman'. Unfortunately the snow we've had hasn't been the best for making a snowman, but that hasn't stopped us from trying!

Christmas Day Fun

We've had a lot of snow here over the last couple of weeks. So Christmas afternoon Eric and I took Abbey outside for a little fun in the snow. Abbey was hesitant about the sled, but agreed to sit on it if she was on my lap. Eventually agreed to go down the sled run (our front yard) by herself. Check out her response:

Christmas '08: Pictures

Christmas Eve: Our first gingerbread house

[Remember there were three people--including a 2 1/2 year old--working on this house.]

[Abbey has candy in her mouth, which is why I think she is making this face.]

Christmas Eve: New book and new PJs

[For some reason, Abbey was very excited about the tag.]

[Abbey in her new PJs. She insisted they go over her clothes!]

Christmas Morning: Elmo and Ernie

[Home movies to follow shortly.]

Christams Tag

I was tagged from my sister Melissa. Here are my answers:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Always.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I prefer real trees, but we have an artificial tree because we're too cheap for the real thing.
3. When do you put up the tree? This year? About the 15th of December. Most years, the day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? About a week after Christmas.
5. Do you like eggnog? Its been so long since I had it I can't remember.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Mini Kabbage Patch Doll.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My parents.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Abbey!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? An alarm clock. [In 'Santa's' defense, this was the year we were building a new house. That year we got 2 TVs and Russ got a Nintendo--which I played all the time.]
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year I started shopping online Thanksgiving day.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I remember.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Candy.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes. Plain white lights.
17. Favorite Christmas song? I'm not sure that I have just one favorite, but I love the Gene Autry CD we used to listen to each year when I was a kid. I LOVE that my mom found it and gave it as a gift to each of us. I've loved sharing it with Abbey.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We used to travel--until we went off the highway Christmas '06.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Abbey opens new PJs and a new book Christmas Eve, everything else Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowds and traffic.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Our tree is very simple, with red and silver balls. As a child I loved all the fun ornaments we had. [Several years ago my sister and I had a good laugh about those ornaments. BUT I know for me I wasn't making fun of the ornaments as much as I was just laughing about how silly they were and how much we loved them anyway.]
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Rolls.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? [I already received what I wanted.] To see Abbey's smile at what 'Santa' brought her!

Say What?

The other night Eric and Abbey had to pick me up from work because the battery on my car died. On the drive Abbey was asking if I would hold her. She said:

Abbey: "Mommy hold you."
Me: "Yes, Abbey. Mommy will hold you when we get home but you have to stay in your car seat."
Abbey: "Hold me on the couch."
Me: "OK, Abbey."
Abbey: "Mommy, I want to sit on your lap and spit."

WHAT?!

That's when Abbey started to 'spit' or do raspberries and I remembered: Elmo!

We have the movie Elmo in Grouchland and in one part of the movie Elmo has to do 100 raspberries in 30 seconds before he can go to the next part of Grouchland--where he is trying to find his blanket. When Abbey does raspberries its like she is spitting and I often have to ask that she not spit. So I'm assuming her comment to sit on my lap and spit was her way of telling me she wanted to watch her Elmo movie. But couldn't she just have told me that?! :)

Kitchen Update 12/21/08

It seems like Eric works around the clock on the kitchen. While it might not seem like much right now, he's been keeping very busy. He's had to move plumbing and electrical and is doing a fabulous job! Ignore the mess, it's all a part of the overall process, and check out how things are coming along...

[Sorry, only one picture this time. I post more as things continue to progress.]

Kitchen Remodel Redo

So apparently in Sunday's post I got ahead of myself. What was I thinking when I thought this wouldn't take all month long?

Here's the scoop: Eric looked at the plans and determined it would be less work to move the sink to where it is on the plans. So we agreed: change the plans. Keep the new sink in almost the same location as where it was--to avoid the extra plumbing work--and move the other base cabinets in around it. Get ride of the filler at the end of the counter top--that camouflages the dishwasher--and not have to build the wall out as far. Great plan. What ever saves time, right?

Wrong.

We weren't thinking straight. Eric, because he'd been working around the clock at work and on the kitchen. And my excuse? I just wanted things to go quickly and smoothly.

Here's the problem: neither of us stopped to think about the cabinets above. Um yeah, those kind of have to match where the base cabinets are! [Read very sarcastically.] Otherwise we'd be doing dishes with our foreheads resting on the cabinets. Not good.

So: Eric does have to extend the pipes to the sink, the dishwasher can't be between the cabinets, we do need the filler to camouflage the dishwasher, the wall does have to be built out and Eric did have to redo some of the work he's already done. Now I know why people pay someone else to do this kind of work!

[OK. Let me be honest. Eric is an amazing, creative, hardworking man. I am nothing if not impressed by his ability to do these things. Things no one taught him or showed him how to do. Yes, this is inconvenient, but I'd rather have Eric do--and redo--the work then to pay someone else.]

Kitchen Project Progress

I thought I'd give a quick update on the progress of our kitchen project. Eric has been working almost nonstop since Friday afternoon, and while the pictures may not completely show it, he has done a lot.

First things first. This isn't the final location of either the refrigerator or the dishwasher but during the renovation this is where they are. Yep, we're livin' like slobs.

I thought you might like to see how we've been living the past couple of days. The microwave is plugged in, the oven is not. Currently there is also no running water in the kitchen. (The window above the microwave will eventually be removed and the refrigerator and another set of cabinets will be in this location.)

Eric had to open up some of the walls to move some of the electrical outlets.

From this picture you can see how Eric removed the false lowered ceiling (does that have a name?) so that we can put in cabinets that are a foot taller. Also, we walled in the 'window' that looked out from my kitchen sink into the livingroom.

This open space between the cabinets is where the dishwasher will be.

Here you can see the lazy susan and the extra storage space we're gaining by this little remodel. The stove will be on the left side of the picture. This was a blind corner with no storage space.

Close up of the new cabinets.

Happy Time, Sad Time

[I know I said I'd take a break, but I decided to blog tonight. Not because I have to, but because I want to. This is for you, Mom!]

Growing up one family 'tradition' was for either my mom or my dad (depending on who put us to bed) to ask us about how our day went. More specifically they asked us about our happy times from the day and our sad times from the day. We called it "Happy Time, Sad Time."

I loved this time to talk to my parents about my day. Well, I had one of those days where I wish I could talk to my mom. With her in Peru it isn't that easy. So dear blog readers (i.e. MOM) here's my happy time, sad time for the day. [BTW, as a child I was given the choice to tell either happy times first or sad times first. Tonight I choose sad times first.]

Sad Time
At work I had to fire two (2) people--back to back. While the reasons for letting a person go are always valid, it is nonetheless not an easy task to do. But two in one day?! Prior to today I'd only fired two other people. That's right. Doubled my record in ONE day! That hurt.

There is more, but I'll spare you as they are all related to work. Yuck.

Happy Time!
On my way home from work I talked to my sister Andrea. It's always nice to talk to family. This was a happy time.

When I got home from work my Little Miss Abbey was still awake and talking to herself. Being the bad mom that I am I couldn't resist--at 10:30pm at night--and I got her out of the crib. She told me about her day (she had food at Monica's, she did puzzles and read books with daddy, daddy brushed her teeth with the yellow Elmo toothbrush and she brushed her teeth with the orange Elmo toothbrush) and we made plans for tomorrow (when she wakes up we will look outside to see if there's still fog, she'll watch 'Frosty the Snow Man' and maybe 'Letter Sound Songs'). She also told me about the Elmo Eric and I drew on the sidewalk for her on Thanksgiving day and when I told her I was going to go to bed she asked "After you put jammies on?" This was my happiest time!

And then to top it all off, I noticed the camera was connected to the computer (it isn't always) and I when I looked in the computer files I found...

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Tonight Eric and Abbey opened the Christmas package from my mom and even though when I'd asked Eric to take pictures (because I was at work) and he had refused, he did it anyway! OK, this was my happiest happy time.

My happy times definitely outweighed my sad times!