Random Christmas bits

More odd things happened around Christmas.  Someone at work lost their mom to a battle with cancer.  A friend of Steve's family lost their dad on Christmas Eve.

But we were able to celebrate the joy of the season - first by surprising my parents (well, more my mom) on Christmas Eve with my brother, who had furtively dodged the question of what he was doing fofr ht eholidays for several weeks.  Dad had figured it out because I made a wise crack about my present being better than his.  She almost figured it out because of a comment Kyle made to her but didn't want to get her hopes up.  It was fun because we surprised her at work, even getting her friend Karen in on it since the receptionist wouldn't let us go up.  I thought about just bolting up the stairs but we didn't want to get in trouble with only 2 hours left of their 3 hour work day.
That afternoon, Steve, Beca and I drove to Wilmington.  Beca had so much fun playing with the kids of Steve's cousins.  We ate, opened presents that had our names on them and then played Dirty Santa or Chinese Christmas or whatever they called it.  Steve had an early number and kept getting his items stolen until he opened a clock and thermometer set - pretty nice pair.  I had a late number and got a gift card to dollar tree with some candy!  The best part was that we each took a Snuggie and Steve's great uncle stole one of them from a family friend so we convinced her to pick the other one!  Steve's aunt and cousin always do a crazy Christmas present and poem to each other but once that was over, the kids were all getting ready for dancing sugarplums in their heads so we headed home. No matter how tired Beca was, she wouldn't close her eyes and go to sleep until we were home.  But we made it, she went right to sleep, and we finished the wrapping, etc. that needed to be completed - well, I pulled all the wrapped presents out that I had and Steve had to wrap stuff from him (basically, the presents for me).

Christmas morning, Beca woke up and told us Santa had come, even though she hadn't been down stairs yet. We made it down and let her open her presents from Santa only - she got a Tiana doll AND a Prince Naveen doll (from the Princess & the Frog), and an easel with art supplies.  The rest of the presents from us and others she got to open once my parents and Kyle had arrived and we had gotten some breakfast to eat.  Zoe was completely confused, as Christmas usually makes her.  We were a pretty dreary bunch though, matching the weather.  We watched White Christmas (at least twice it played through), Mom and I built a Cinderella's castle 3D puzzle that we started on I have no idea how long ago, ate steaks and cheesy ranch potatoes, and just relaxed.  Beca waited until Daddy got to sleep during nap time and then she snuck out of the room to come find the rest of us.  She kept telling us she wanted more presents and we kept telling her she had enough.  she also managed to convince Oma, Pop-pop and Uncle Kyle to play her new Horton Hears a Who game with her, which means you have to wear an elephant hat and use the trunk to get a little clover to stick to it.   It's really funny and hopefully I can remember to get the right memory card in so I can get pictures on here!




True story from Christmas day - as emailed from Melissa's mom, Kristen.  Melissa's big sister is Beca's BFF Kate and Melissa is 2-1/2:

Melissa Rose was a bit tired Christmas morning. After all the presents were opened and my whole family had arrived and was eating brunch, Melissa was clingy and grumpy and wouldn’t eat. She kept pointing up to the kitchen desk. I finally lifted her up so she could show me what she wanted. She reached for our basket of Christmas cards we have received. I brought the basket closer to her. Melissa reached in, pulled out the card from the beautiful Cottle family, and held it against her chest. She smiled, asked to be put down, and walked around for a good 15 minutes holding the card near her heart. After that, she put the card back in the basket and was pretty happy the rest of the day.  You have special powers.

Haha!  That made me so happy - at least I could make one kid happy on Christmas Day!

weird day

Without using any names, it was a weird day.  I didn't work a whole lot but had to cut a conversation off that had gone on way too long with someone who was just killing time.  Since I was the only one in my area, I was the one he was killing time with.  Oh well.  It was a good conversation.  Then I had a meeting with someone and I mostly just shook my head at how inefficient the use of many different programs and spreadsheets for one task that should be easy to pre-populate or at least run some nifty Excel macros on.  For the short term, I taught someone the magic of format painter and offered to answer any questions whenever I could.
Then I had lunch with a good friend and we had a great time talking about kids and an organization that we both have in our hearts but it just can't fit in our lives.  It basically boiled down to "if everyone would just listen to us and do things like we wrote the list out, then there wouldn't be so many problem."
I've had a friend have a miscarriage recently.  One of the most difficult things a person ever has to go through.  There really is no explanation, no cure, no one to really blame.  1 out of 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage.  That's 25%.  I'm doing better than average in that case.  Or worse, epending on your point of view, but that just means someone else doesn't have to go through it if statistically it all washes out.
Then I had a friend tell me a grandparent had passed after several medical issues over the weekend.  So much sadness for so many at this time of year.  But it's one of those things that you have to look at and say "yeah this sucks right now, but that doesn't mean that Christmas is ruined forever".  You have to look for the smallest of miracles in every situation.
Steve and I got to pick up Beca from school a little early, which is always special for her - she loves it.  and then we went to run an errand to buy something for a dirty Santa game and bought something that I NEVER thought I would purchase.  We were in the middle of Crossroads plaza and pulled a fast one on all the yahoos in the parking lot by scooting around the back of REI and ToysRUs and coming out at a green light - Breakin' the law, breakin' the law!!  well, not really.  but it felt so sneaky...  Beca and I voted for Red Robin for dinner.  Nothing odd about that, except that all dinner plans we had made for tonight had been cancelled due to family tragedies and all we can do to help is pray for continued healing and comfort.
And then it got really weird when we got home.  The banshee inhabited Beca again and she kept screaming at Steve that he needed to stop screaming for her to go get her pajamas and put them on, in between yelling about how cold she was.  I couldn't here what he was saying from downstairs but I could hear every word Beca shouted at him.  An out of the blue phone call and a comment posting from people I haven't talked to in ages made the top of the weird list of the day.  Plus a call to tell me that a plane with a very special package was arriving tonight on schedule!!
And now I'm realizing fully that tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Other than Beca's presents, I have no idea where I put half of my stuff, I need to find some more bags or something, there's tons of laundry that needs to get put away (which is the absolute hardest part for me for some reason), there's tons more laundry to actually do, we don't have anything really for Christmas Day to eat in the house, and oh, I don't know what all else.  Don't you just love Christmas time????

a certifiable

I'm certified - again.  Both through ASQ (American Society for Quality).  It just means I can take a multiple-choice, open-book exam after almost 10 years out of college and in quality.  It also means I might actually be retaining some of the statistical rhetoric I have been fed in class after class at various jobs.  This time it is for my Six Sigma Green Belt, which is supposed to be a good way for me to assist others in improvement projects, I think.  I need to see if there's something around the house that I could apply this stuff.  Nothing at work fits the normalized bell curve.  Kind of hard to evaluate the capability of a process that way.  Which I actually learned when I was certified the first time - that one is my CQE (certified Quality Engineer), which was one of the hardest exams I think I ever took because I was about 11 weeks pregnant with Beca and I couldn't stand the smell of the paper in the books so I gagge every time I had to look up a question.  And I really shouldn't trivialize this stuff.

Beca favorites

Last night, I had the best time listening to Beca during her playtime in the bath.  She was playing with her Ariel and Cinderella bath Barbie dolls and she was making them each be the Hanes sisters from the movie "White Christmas".  I couldn't tell which had to be Betty and which had to be Judy but she proceeded to sing the entire song "Sisters", stopping only for a few moments to sing the same word over and over until she correctly remembered the rest of whatever line she was stuck on.  She was even doing the motions.  It was great!!  Of note, she has watched "White Christmas" in its entirity at least 10 times since the beginning of December.  I really enjoy when she sings "Back in the Army" too.  One of these days we'll get that on video.

Another favorite is saying "delicioso" with a very dramatic flair every time she believes something is particularly yummy.  This word apparently hails from about 5 different languages, including Dinosaur.  She  picked it up from the PBS Kids show "Dinosaur Train" but changes what language it is in every time I ask her.

Beca's magical season

Besides the typical 4 year old doesn't understand the whole spirit of the season (it's about giving gifts, not getting them), Beca has been so much fun to watch with lights and decorations for Christmas so far.  She needed to be intricately involved with every aspect of helping with lights on the tree and putting ornaments up and setting up her own little tree in the bonus room and checking on Daddy's professional light job out front (those blasted LED's are bright!).  And today we got our first Christmas card from my aunt and uncle (Beca's godparents) and my youngest cousins, Andrew and Rachel, who Beca's just calls her cousins because its easier and they are much closer in age.  I read her the outside of the card "It's for the Cottle Family" and she said "ooh, that's us!" and then I showed her the card.  "That's my Aunt Dee and Uncle Troy and my cousins Andrew and Rachel and oh, look at their cute little puppy.  Awwww." The rest of dinner and after, she kept saying "I got an invitation from my cousins Andrew and Rachel.  They are my cousins.  Did we get any more invitations for Christmas for the Cottle family?"  Isn't that sweet???

On the other side of her magical season is our Elf, Smith.  Smith sits on the shelf and then he reports back to Santa Claus each night on whether the kids in the house were good or bad.  Smith was named after a joke in Mary Poppins (if you don't remember it, watch the movie again - it's good for the soul to sing along).  So we have to remind Beca that we can talk to Smith and we can tell him good or bad things.  Some of the tantrums are shortening significantly with Smith around.  I'm going to miss him when Santa takes him home to the North Pole.

Clear My Head

Usually I think products that certain doctors and such carry is "crystal-gripping, hippy nonsense" (per Kari on Mythbusters).  But my PT's office has one that I love!!  It helps me sleep all night.  It is simply called "Clear My Head" and it's a combination of oils and herbs in a jar.  You just open it on your desk or wherever and then close it up when you go away to help maintain it.  And it really clears my head!  They've also got this little roll on for headaches.  That has worked for certain kinds of headaches pretty well.  So, if you are looking for something to clear up the stuffiness in your life, try this stuff.  And I haven't found it cheaper online than what Total Body Rehab in Cary is selling it for.  Kelley probably owes me money for this.

Princess Possessed

So, Beca has taken to getting very angry when she doesn't get her way.  And then she becomes possessed.  Like little demons have invaded her body.  And she will spend hours screaming at us - things like "I hate you" and "You are awful/bad/horrible/mean parents" - and then general screaming and shaking and "ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH".  On one hand, it's amusing.  On the other, it's rattling.  While we usually just have her suck it up, there have been days where we are all exhuasted from the fits.  We used to be able to stem it off by "pulling the crabbies off" of her but now its just screaming.  We're sort of enjoying telling her "no" and creating an environment of disappointment.  But then, we innevitably cave at some point (because I just want peace and quiet sometimes!!) and she gets the object of her desire.  And we start all over again.  *sigh*

Christmas wishes

Beca has a long list of things she wants, as any 4 year old does. But I've been trying to keep track of her favorites as everyone asks - "what does Beca want for Christmas?"

Definitely good things:
*Ballet themed items - she loves ballet.
*My Little Pony - she especially wants the baby pony that has a bottle/paci, but any MLP's would be fine
Games - she's enjoying more games now.
Puzzles - she's bored wth 25 and under pieces. 50 is getting easy for her too.
Crafts - Beca loves to build, make, paint whatever. We are trying to encourage good writing skills so we'd prefer no marker projects.
Books - Beca has lots of Board books - now we need longer stories. We have some good ones but we don't have Pinkalicious or Purplicious and Fancy Nancy books and Charlie & Lola books. she's got gobs of Disney books (because I found my stash from when I worked at the store). Just send me a note if you want to check on a specific title. UPDATE 11/29/09 - I bought Pinkalicious - it came with some PJ's in a store where everything was 1/2 off.  It was too good of a deal.
Pajamas - nothing smaller than a 6 - she's too long. She would most love nightgowns but gets cold in them so I prefer PJ's.
Dress-up stuff - we have a bunch but more is not a bad thing as she is outgrowing the smaller sized stuff.
Lego's - She's ready for legos that are not the baby legos. And Daddy will be so proud.


Not needed:
Stuffed animals - we are donating 2 large bags of stuffed animals soon. Her allergies mean she shouldn't have a whole lot of stuffed animals around her.
Figurines - We have lots
Little dolls with plastic clothing - Daddy dislikes these very much and they end up thrown away because they are torn easily.
Clothes - she has a lot of clothes but if you find something she has to have, pants are a regular size 5, dresses size 6, shirts size 6.


My Christmas wishes:
Mostly, I just want more time to get all my little projects done. I know, it's impossible to gift that.
So, I have really been enjoying music more and more lately - I especially like my iTunes. So I know asking for gift cards is hokey but I really just want to download lots of fun stuff from iTunes. And I'd love suggestions of music with them. A favorites music list would mean a lot from whoever gives me that.
I like to eat. And I like to eat out and meet friends for lunch. Or take Beca out - which she loves to do too.
I also like seeing live performances - musicals, plays, etc. top the list.
I mostly enjoy time with friends and family - meeting for dinner, etc.
We have so much stuff that I am recycling right now but so much other stuff that is just not useful and has to be thrown away. So, this Christmas, consider reducing, reusing and recycling or personalizing to find unique gifts rather than just something to give to someone. I know I need less crap in my life.
ADDITION (12/2) - an electric hot water pot - I could warm up my tea at my desk this way.


Addition - Steve's Christmas
Starbucks GC, iTunes GC, World of Warcraft subscriptions, Starbucks, Lowe's GC, Starbucks, Best Buy GC, Starbucks.  He wears XL Tall shirts - anything that isn't tall doesn't last long.  Other than that, he claims to be content.  Without a PS3, which is what he really wants.

hiatus

Good gracious - that was a forever break from blogging. I've actually missed typing something in on here. I've been actually obsessed with several things but one main thing was watching all the Grey's Anatomy episodes. Lifetime aired them starting in September and ended with the last of the 2008-2009 season in late October - with 2-3 episodes taped every day, I was obsessive about trying to keep up. Then I started this season too. I realized I never started watching it because it started when Beca was born. I just didn't do much of anything else for a while that wasn't directly related to a task that had to be completed for the next day. Like, finishing my scrapbook from our Disney cruise before we went back to Disney. The cruise "album" ended up being 2 volumns and was finished last night, except the journaling. I've also been making cards on occasion, though I enjoy collecting that stuff almost more than I enjoy using it. And then there was the disney trip the end of October, then a beach break the weekend after. Just craziness.
So, now our DVR programming is more in check. Our bonus room is finally painted (3.5 years after moving in!) and can currently be used for all kinds of activities, including watching TV - we now have 2 working TV's in the house again. Coming up - more house work! There's not much wall space left that we haven't painted and it is looking sad and ugly! Oh yeah, and Christmas. Not entirely sure what we are getting Beca for Christmas - so many ideas (most of which go with our bonus/play room) and we have to narrow it down to something soon!! But I know it will be fun!!

Another picture for Stephanie

Everyone will appreciate the irony of this dress, although Beca told me one of her teachers does not like it (not entirely sure if the teacher was kidding or not). The nurses , doctors and staff at the ear doctor thought it was very funny. The dress started out well below her knees but the 3+ inch growth over the summer means that it actually just below her knees already.

A close up - the fabric is a david & goliath pattern with the little girl's hands over her ears and it says "Not Listening". Highly appropriate some days.

Fun visit with the Spruill girls

Beca was so excited to go visit the Spruill twins! She worried over Evelyn crying and helped with blankets and was really good. After the girls ate, she got to hold them.
Here's Jessica:
Holding Jessica with Jason making sure they are both good.

Holding Evelyn, with some paci help from Cynthia:

Cuddling Evelyn:

Beca agreed to give some of her old sunglasses to the girls - Evelyn's pretty sure she needs to grow a little to fit into them but she likes being a cool baby!

Pictures (mostly for Stephanie)

Forever ago, I promised Stephanie I would post some pictures of Beca in the dresses that were made for her. So, here they finally are - Stephanie's sewing work, which will conveniently be passed down to Emily!




And a few others of Beca, opening presents, getting her hair braided, twirling, and nap.

Dance Dance Wherever you may be

So my own little Angelina Ballerina took her first ballet lessons yesterday. Oma gave the lessons to her as a present, bought her a pink leotard with a skirt attached, pink tights, and black ballet shoes. The black was my request. I love the contrasting pink and black together. The little girls loved running around together. Beca's class is her best friend Kate and 2 other girls. This is going to be really fun!

My baby's in Fortune magazine!!

I know I haven't posted anything in a while and I'll try to catch up at some point but we got the coolest news today!! Beca is going to be in Fortune magazine! Well, her picture - not really anything she did, except hold up her art! She's on the left, not looking at the camera (per her usual). She was involved in both days of photography that were done at Children's House!

Worst plane flight ever

Singly, and for so many reasons, that was my worst plane flight ever. I've been on the ground for 40 minutes and I think it is going to be a while before i get that picture out of my head. Quite simply, the poor kid next to me threw up the entire plane ride from Minneapolis. The whole time with his head in a bag. And by kid, I mean maybe 13 or 14. And his parents were sitting with his 9 year old sister and not even 2 year old brother in the row in front. So not only did their eldest throw up (or at least spit repeatedly) into a bag, their youngest screamed and threw himself. Not the best time to take a toddler on a flight, I can guarantee that. I felt really bad for the older kid though. My only saving grace was the seat in between us. Neither parent offered to come back and sit with him. Not sure if they felt trapped by the tiny tyrant (understandably because it was WELL past his bedtime and you could hear in his cry that he was beyond overstimulated) or if they were just ignoring a behavior employed by the eldest to gain attention. After he couldn't just suck it up and we were in the air and got the cool air jets on him and cool cloths (oh and by we, I mean the flight attendant and myself) and tried to get him a little to drink, I finally resolved it was largely a party trick crafted for attention. Either that or the stomach bug. I have never, ever, never, ever, ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER been soooooo happy to get off a plane. Which by the way unloaded us into RDU's brand new terminal - very beautiful. I would highly recommend if you get there with plenty of time and need a little spa treatment, run by the XPress Spa shop - the girls are nice and it is really a peaceful little spot. Especially when you need to have your nails done before a business trip.

Fun with the Leahy twins!

So while big bro Aidan was galavanting through rain with his Nana and poor Daddy Leahy had to stay late at work, Kristin brought the 6 month old twins, Addison and Alec, over to play at my house last night for dinner. It was so much fun watching them! Oma and Pop-pop came to visit for a little while too.

Beca got another birthday present! Tinkerbell exploded on our floor! Way cute stuff from the Disney Store! Kristin is AWESOME!

Beca was starving after swim lessons so my parents hung out with the twins while the rest of us ate my version of chicken parmesan. Beca's reward for eating all her food (or whatever amount of it we said she had to eat) was to get to hold the twins. They were definitely bigger than the last time she asked to do that!! She wanted to hold "the girl" first.

Alec is a big giggler. It's very funny - got some good smiles out of Addison too!

Beca helped Kristin try to feed Alec his solid food but he didn't really want a second meal that day (they are just starting solids) while I fed Addison who is totally into eating, even if she laps it like a doggie (her mom's words).

Feednig cereal early on is messy - I forgot how messy. Alec was done first eating so he got a bath first while I finished Addison's eating. I then took Alec to get him dressed and Beca helped wash Addison - she was very good at it. The tricky part was what to do with Alec for a minute when I went back to get Addison to dress her - thankfully they don't roll far, yet. Beca tried to help feed a bottle but it was difficult because alec was already trying to fight sleep. While Kristin cleaned up, Addison snuggled down on me and fell asleep and Alec just sat and watched the happenings, fighting sleep the whole way. He finally shut his eyes when we put him in his car seat and there was nothing interesting to see.

I can't imagine doing that every night but as my mom sent me recently - "The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God cannot protect you". At least some parts get easier as they get older!

Beca's Birthday Bashes

Beca has the luxury of celebrating her birthday over an extended time frame. She's been getting presents occasionally since the end of May. It would have been earlier (like the beginning of May) but I made her save the presents from Grandma and Aunt Dawn. And we knew we'd be seeing Pop-pop's side of the family at the beach the end of June. A 2 month celebration is taking it a little too far, don't you think? However, I will state that I am all for birth month celebrations.
Bash #1 -
the first big celebration was a family party, which started early in the afternoon with the arrival of Emmaw and Aunt Jenny. Beca also had her friend Joliana over for the afternoon and it was fun just to have a small play time. I had a slight hiccup int he day when we went for the cake - they had never gotten my order - but they did a great job getting one together in time for my parents to run by and get it (just chocolate with vanilla buttercream iciing and pink flowers). Next, Allie arrived with her entourage (Joe, Erin and little bro Andy). We were opening some presents then. I was also in the middle of baking cookies (partially for the party but mostly for the Spruills because I believe in the healing magic of chocolate chip cookies when you have had a baby). Mom and Jen had to leave (always too short of a visit!) and then Jolianna had to head out too but no worries - the Horman and Queen families arrived! And then the Blooms! Yeah! Steve made kabobs - and they were good! Of course, the cake and presents were Beca's favorite parts! And she hadn't worn the pink birthday girl hat since her first birthday - I kept forgetting to pull it down! But she knew it was up there this year and had told us she needed a special pink birthday hat.
We used the bounce house for a while - always a crowd pleaser!
A cake fromm Blue Moon Cafe-yuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmm!


Princesses all over the cake!
Andy and his Daddy
Beca and her "Nici crackers" - or crackers that Jan makes - or seasoned oyster crackers. but Nici crackers is so much cuter!My favorite party favor: (I ordered these from mymms.com - I'm not getting paid or anything, I just think these are the coolest gift for personalizing!)


Princess Isabel modeling one of my other favorite favors!
The next day we went to another birthday party - this time for Anderson Cole! He turned 4 and it was so much fun to see the Cole and Pipan families - I've been friends with Emily, Mikey and Mary since high school! Here's some picts of the birthday boy and his cousin Maddox, plus Beca on the playground:



Bash #2 -

OK, not so much of a bash but its nice to do something quieter with just our family group. So on her birthday, I wanted to do something that was sort of special but everyday too. First, we had lunch with Beca at SAS - Mommy, Daddy and Oma. With mini-burgers! she loved that. Then we had cupcakes with her class and Beca got to serve them to her friends after they had eaten their lunch. After sugaring up the kids, we took off so they could "nap". After school, there was supposed to be swim lessons but the weather was not cooperating and lessons were cancelled after we were already there and dressed. Beca took it ok when Denise explained it to her but that was only because she had gone through the meltdown earlier when there was thunder and lightning as she was leaving school. Oh well - we did get to talk to Grandma, who sang Happy Birthday to her. We headed to dinner - Beca's favorite restaurant is Torero's - chips and salsa, milk, and a chicken soft taco with only rice and no tomatos. And she will order everything herself, thank you very much. We did presents from Oma and Pop-pop and some clothes from Mommy and Daddy. Mostly nightgowns and a pink Disney princess robe (personalized, even) but some other clothes too - Hanna Andersson dresses that I was going to give her regardless but it was way more fun to wrap up. We had already given her the pink Jeep and the bounce house. Spoiled much? Whatever...



Bash #3 -

Princesses!! Except Beca just wanted to wear her Easter dress to start out. I knew that would change once the princesses began arriving. We had fun playing outside in the Jeeps and on the playground. Steve made burgers and dogs for the adults and the kids mostly had princess and unicorn PBJ's!

Queen Rebecca to the rescue with glitter for all the princesses!

Our token prince - Harrison

Caroline Grace shows everyone how to eat a cupcake: Beca and Kate

Beca and Caroline:Payton, Beca, and Kate:
Princess Kate:
Princess Caroline
Princess Flora
Princess Payton
Princess Alice (Beca)
Melissa Rose and Harrison wondering what in the world their parents are trying to do - and before Melissa figured out that this was her friend Harrison from her class.
Princess Flora
Beca with her flowers that she picked out to have at her party (and the like 4th wardrobe change):
Cupcakes - Beca assigned the princesses to each -Kate got Ariel, Caroline got Snow White, Flora got Aurora, Payton got Cinderella, Melissa Rose got Belle, and Beca took Jasmine. The one with the candles on it went to Harrison - it was cute and little! There is a 5th candle there - a princess castle.
The Princess line:
Princess Payton decides to smile
Princess Melissa Rose

It was such a fun day, even if it got a little muggy. The bounce house came into play again after the cake and presents. Beca's favorite toys were an MPG princess player, Cat in the Hat game and Cooties game! She also loves her new music box (which I sing little Einsteins songs to). there was actually a real nap time that afternoon in our house, which after a 5:30 AM wake-up seemed perfectly reasonable!