The New Year

The year 2010 was pretty good, I have decided after long and earnest introspection. Ha. To be truthful, I have only briefly thought of last year, and only after seeing other bloggers write out reviews and recaps of 2010. All in all, it was a good year. We have made progress in several areas of our life, making headway in reducing the drama, being better parents and increasing our financial stability. Baby steps in all areas, but strides forward none the less. We ended the year in a better place than we started it, and you can't ask for more than that.

What's in store for us in the year 2011:

~Brittany will get braces, with the spacers going in today. Yay! So much for that financial stability I was just talking about.

~Taylor starts kindergarten.

~Possibly we will move to a bit nicer neighborhood. I have great hopes.

~We are planning a visit to the great-grandparents on both sides in MO, but I am hoping to squeeze in our first short "adult only" trip somewhere. Anywhere. wink wink.

Happy New Year!!

The Return of "Teddy"

Maddie has developed a sudden and complete love for the little (now quite mangy) stuffed bear (koala?) that I carried around as a young child. Mom has many stories of this bear and I, including the new nose and "hat" she had to sew on when the dog chewed him up. He is 32 years old, I believe, and his fragility limits his play time. Which is probably his appeal to the girls. He is basking in the new love that is being heaped on him despite his grunginess, which reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit story.

What Kind of Mother Forgets the Camera on Christmas?

This kind.

It's true, I forgot to take my camera to my mother's house on Christmas Eve. Therefore, I have no pictures of my many children opening their many presents on Christmas morning. I know, I know. You all watched your own children open their presents, why do you want to watch my four children open theirs? It was fun, that's for sure. I would have liked to have a picture of Taylor opening her unicorn Pillow Pet. She saw them months ago at Walmart, and has not stopped asking for one since then. She (I) wrote it on her Christmas list that was posted on the fridge for the past three weeks. So, you can imagine her face when she opened that one. Unfortunately, that's all I can do too. Is imagine it. Because I forgot my camera on Christmas. What kind of mother does that??

The Favorite This Year

This was their gift from Grandma, and as you can see it is a huge hit. You should have seen Maddie whisking away. That is what she is doing in the last picture. As a matter of fact, you can see that she refused to turn around and look at the camera. She was too busy cooking!

Things I Have Learned This Week

1) It is actually better to buy the cheap diaper rash cream, I realized this morning as I was cleaning Boudreaux's Butt Paste for the second time this week off of the recliner. The cheap generic stuff is much thinner and easier to wipe up.

2) I can now fully understand why my mother never had the same excitement and love of Christmas that I had as a child. When you are the mother, not the child, Christmas brings loads of stress. The tree is coming down the day immediately following Christmas.

3) I have spoiled Madison, and coddled and babied her to the point that now she thinks she can get away with absolutely anything. And now that she is two, and can use logic and problem-solving to reach things she shouldn't, this is a big problem. She is in the full blown terrible twos.

4) My husband truly is a thoughtful, selfless person. I already knew this, but my appreciation for this facet of him has been renewed this week.

I can finally say that I am completely done Christmas shopping. And it is only the day before Christmas Eve! Plenty of time. There is definately no need to start earlier next year, nosiree. Plenty of time.

***eyeroll***

Somebody Call CPS!

Quick, someone call CPS--"Computer Protective Services".

Maddie ripped four keys off of the computer I am currently using, an old laptop that belongs to Corey's office. Suffering the same fate that my laptop suffered. Perhaps if we intervene now, this one can be saved.