Nutcracker montage

Keep your eyes open at the 1:23 mark, you'll see my little mouse on the left!!

365 - Day 112

1.  Finally being home and turning work email OFF.

2.  Having friends at work I can bitch and laugh with.

3.  Kisses from my 3 favorite people when I got home (even though the littlest one was asleep!)

365 - Day 111

1. After much frustration, cursing, and patience I finally got my laptop back up and running.

2.  Mint Crumble cookie from Panera.

3.  A wonderful night's rest.

365 - Day 110

1.  My husband does a great job of taking care of our little burritos when I have to work long hours during my Quarter End at work.  So glad I can rest assured that he's holding down the fort!

2.  Very thankful for a nice warm house.  It's pouring rain with crazy wind outside right now.  Glad to be inside snug as a bug.

3.  Watching Bridalplasty and very thankful that I am happy with who I am.

365 - Day 109

1.  A decent day that could have been very stressful.

2.  My girl and I had a nice long chat before she fell asleep.  It was very nice to hear what a thoughtful, intelligent girl she's growing up to be.

3.  The most comfortable shoes in the whole world.

365 - Day 108

1. Day after Christmas sales!  I am now the proud owner of a light up family of reindeer.  Gonna be a Griswold Christmas in 2011!

2.  Front spot parking space at the mall the day after Christmas.  Score!

3.  Kids that behaved extremely well being dragged out shopping since Daddy was at the Raiders' game.

365 - Day 107

1. Beautiful Christmas Mass. As the kids said numerous times yesterday, "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!"

2.  Enjoyable Christmas day with the In-laws.

3.  The look of pure elation on the kids faces as they opened their presents. Doesn't get better than that!

365 - Day 106

1.  Baking with my kids. They may have eaten way too many cookies straight out of the oven in the process, but we made a lot of fun memories!

2.  Christmas Eve at my parent's.  Love spending time with my fam!

3. Delicious food! Yum, yum, yum!!

365 - Day 105

1.  I can stop thinking about work for a few days, and start thinking about what's most important!

2.  Belle saying, "OH.MY.GOSH.THESE.ARE.THE.BEST.CINNAMON.ROLLS.I'VE.EVER.TASTED!!"

3.  Christmas movies as the background to my baking madness.

Nutcracker in pictures

365 - Day 104

1.  The smell of cinnamon rolls baking.

2.  One day closer to the holidays and a 3 day weekend.

3.  Time together as a family.

To ooh and ahh over

They aren't mine, but I wish they were!  Introducing the cutest, sweetest puppies ever!  Bella & Kobe.  Don't those faces make you want to run out and buy one?! I'm so happy for my lovely friend who is the proud Mama of these two.  Thanks for letting me get some snuggles from your two babies!  Love them!

The 1st Grade World Program

The first graders have been learning about the different continents and had an evening program a week ago for all of the families to attend.  A few of the kids had speaking parts, and they all sang songs for each continent.  Belle was picked to welcome everyone to the show.  Here's a few little videos from that evening.

The Quiet One Strikes Again

Sunday night we had Omar's cousin, his wife, and their daughter over.  Five minutes before they were to arrive we found the boy COVERED head to toe in Vaseline.  Turns out he figured how to scale his dresser to reach a shelf that is up high.  I had a jar of Vaseline I use on his eczema up there thinking I was smart to put it so high that he couldn't reach.  Not so smart.  I threw him into the bath and shampooed his hair 3 times before our guests arrived.  He had wet hair, and I assumed the Vaseline was out.  The next morning when he woke up I found him looking like a greaser.  Think Grease John Travolta.  His hair was slicked.  It was too late in the morning to do anything about it since I had to get to work.  Off to Grammy's he went with a greasy faux hawk, no pomade required. 

As I often do when searching for tips from other Mommies that have been in a predicament that I'm in, I turned to Google and Facebook.  One home remedy suggested Peanut Butter.  Monday night I locked Elias up in his high chair as I wasn't sure how much he'd cooperate with such nonsense and bribed him with a cookie.  I peanut buttered up his head as instructed.  It took 3 baths but it did the trick!  No more Vaseline!  I'm writing this tip down for future reference.

I love the pictures Belle took while I was getting his head lathered up in peanut butter.  His face says it all!

365 - Day 103

1. Baby kisses.

2.  Puppy kisses...times two.

3.  Pictures that have captured memories in time.

365 - Day 102

1.  I'm able to check off a lot of items on my Christmas shopping list.  The list is getting smaller!  Thank God!!

2.  My Mom.  Poor thing had to deal with the boy today (which I'll explain later).  She's got the patience of a saint!  Thanks Mom!

3.  Google and Facebook for providing me answers on how to remove vaseline from hair.

365 - Day 101

1.  So thankful for our grocery delivery guy, Andy!  Never have I been so glad to have him deliver our groceries.  I didn't have to go grocery shopping in a monsoon!

2.  The Hub's cousin, his wife, and their daughter came over for a little Christmas exchange and visit.  Love them!  Always so nice to get together.

3.  Moms night out with some of my fellow dance Mommies.  We had to go celebrate our dear friend Bev who is sadly moving to Virginia.  We'll miss her terribly!

365 - Day 100

1.  The awesome opportunities my daughter has with her dance company.

2.  My friend Bev.  I couldn't have been a backstage mom manning 16 little mice without her!

3.  My family and the Hub's came to support the girl and watch her perform in the Nutcracker.  It meant the world to her to have them all there.

Sneak preview of my mouse!

365 - Day 99

1. As I previously mentioned, the girl is a mouse in the Nutcracker.  This requires crawling, which results in ripped tights!  I located the last 2 pairs of tights required for her show in the nick of time!

2.  I survived the week and made it to the weekend.  I didn't know if that was possible.

3.  I have...wait for it....NOTHING TO DO TONIGHT!  Well, just packing up stuff for the girls to do behind the stage for the show tomorrow, but that's nothin' compared to all of the busy nights I've had this week.  I can't wait to sit on my butt and do nada!