Solo

She may not have all the words, but she's definately got the tune and the important ones. Enjoy.

I think she may say, "but Addy's (or Daddy's) strong" instead of but He is strong. ;)

Christmas 2007

Whew, it's over and I'm exhausted! I can't really believe that Christmas has come and gone already. It always seems to come up so fast and then it's over just as fast. We had a great Christmas this year. I'm going to try and wrap up all of our Christmas gatherings in one post, so this is your warning, it may be long. You may want to grab a cup of hot chocolate and settle in.

Christmas Eve we went to Chad's parents to visit with some extended family. We didn't get to stay long because we had to get back to our house and get dinner ready for my family. We had a wonderful dinner of roast, mashed potatoes, noodles, salad, rolls, and corn. After dinner we opened gifts. It was crazy to say the least. 4 kids 4 and under. And I'm sure next year won't be any different with another kid. Crazy, but fun too. All the girls wanted to help everyone open their gifts and they all did a really good job. After gifts we put Addy down and the rest of us enjoyed some yummy homemade ice cream, cookies, chocolate bundt cake, as well as some yummy snacks like shrimp cocktail, crab dip and taco dip. After snacks and desserts Chad and Presley sprinkled the Magic Reindeer food out on the lawn, unfortunately we had no white Christmas here. :( Then we got a plate of cookies and some carrots ready for Santa and his reindeer and were off to bed. Chad and I got busy untying all those annoying plastic ties that hold toys inside the boxes and set up the big gifts that Santa delivered. We didn't get in bed until after midnight.

We had to wake the girls up the next morning so we could do our own family Christmas before the rest of the family came for brunch. We woke them up around 7:30 and I think they were still a little sleepy when we first came downstairs. They both smiled and walked right to their toys, but no loud excitements from either of them. Just big smiles. After gifts we started getting the breakfast ready and cleaned up the house, set the table, got showers and ready for the day. Chad's family came over and we had brunch - egg casserole, hashbrown casserole, sausage, fruit, muffins and cinnamon buns around 10. Presents followed where we all got so many wonderful gifts. After gifts Addison and Presley were both exhausted and went down for naps and napped for 4 hours! The rest of us had more yummy lattes and relaxed.

Here are some of the gifts that I recall.

Addison - a 5-in-1 play set, flashlight, doodle pro (both the travel and full size one), JoJo figurines, house & car, bunny slippers, dress up clothes and jewelry, Pucci Pup, clothes, pajamas, socks, books, toaster, food and mixer for the play kitchen, toy drum with instruments, medical kit, and sheets, blanket and quilt for when she gets her big girl bed, a DVD, and Mega blocks.

Presley - a desk, digital camera and case, vanity, Barbie travel vanity kit, big girl undies, My First Leappad and a few games, remote control tractor, a Yogi backpack, bunny slippers, clothes, pajamas, socks, a few DVD's, books, monkey and swing, games, Build-a-Bear accessories and beauty kits, Word Whammer, and a Hannah Montana Barbie.

Both girls got a sled and gift cards to here and here.

Chad - Ipod, air compressor, clothes, gift cards here and here, and a DVD

Me - this bag, this bag, and this wallet, calendar, candles, perfume and body spray, this cd, slippers, maternity clothes, and a gift card here

Together we got gift cards here, here, and here . Wow, we are spoiled.

Here are pictures of the last few days.

We are slowly getting the house back together and cleaned up. I'm ready to take down our decorations and get the house back to normal, but Chad is working lots doing Driver's Ed this week, so I think we'll wait until next week when he's off to help me. I had another Dr.'s appointment and have gained another 2 pounds, so I'm up 4 now. I didn't think that was too bad especially following all the yummy food and snacks I have had during the holidays.

As a sidenote, I have been working on this post since Wednesday a little at a time...I don't think I've ever spent that long on one post. It takes forever finding all the links. Hope you enjoy the work. ;)

and the winner is....

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Our updates and pictures will be coming later hopefully tonight. This is the picture we ended up going with for our Christmas card this year. We were really happy with a lot of our pictures and had a hard time choosing one. These were the three runners up that I really almost liked better but wondered if they were close enough for cards.

half-way there

(Please don't mind the face in the picture. Swollen, pasty, less than enthusiastic smile...it was taken at the end of a LONG day.)

Last week I officially passed the half-way mark for this pregnancy. I am now over 20 weeks (21 weeks and 1 day to be exact.) Seems to be going fast again, which I'm sure is due to the fact that I stay so busy. I am a little tired, but I could attribute that to the fact that I am working full time and taking care of two little girls after that. ;) Except for getting strep throat twice since being pregnant (and never before that), I have otherwise felt pretty good. I'm so thankful that I have once again seemed to escape the terrible morning sickness that seem to get so many women. Occasionally I feel a little nauseous or a smell will get to me, but that's about it. I do get heartburn too sometimes, but it hasn't really started to much this time around yet.

This little girl is definitely getting more active. I felt her move a long time ago, but not really consistent until recently. I was actually a little nervous, because with my other two girls I remember feeling them move all the time much earlier than this. But this little one is catching up. :) It could just be the fact that I am on the go all the time, and don't sit still long enough to feel anything too. But rest assured, she is making her presence known now.

Presley seems to know that there is a baby in my tummy and will bring it up every once in awhile. She will say, "When she gets bigger she will come out and play with us." Or when Addison is getting a little rough with me, she will say, "You got to be careful of Mommy's tummy, there's a baby in there." She knows when asked where Mommy's baby is, that she is in fact in my tummy and she can't come out until she gets bigger, but I think that's about the extent to what she understands. Addison on the other hand....not a clue. She just knows there isn't as much room on Mommy's lap as there used to be. :)

We put our second crib up on ebay 10 days ago and had a couple of bidders. Finally sold it tonight. We are happy with what it went for, but that means, we for sure have to get Addison into a big girl bed with a rail before we can put the new baby in the crib. I'm not worried about it. We usually have the baby sleep in the bassinet in our room for the first couple of months anyways, so that should give us plenty of time. Addison will be close to 2, and I think Presley could've switched at that time, we just didn't have a reason to switch her yet. This was our first time selling something on ebay. We have bought several items, but not sold. Next up for us is selling the mattress and the bedding. We already had someone from ebay email us and ask us about the mattress, so hopefully that will go quick too.

So now that we are over half-way there, we should probably start talking about names. We have a couple of ideas, but haven't really discussed too much. So if anyone has any ideas, let us know. We are open for suggestions. Although, you won't know what we choose until she is here. Hey, we have to keep some things a surprise. :)

Santa's Early

Santa came a little early this year. He stopped by and saw the girls at Mawmaw's today. I guess Presley did really good with him. She didn't cry and even sat on his lap. Addy sat for awhile, but wasn't too sure about him. Both girls must've ended up on the nice list this year. Addison got this and is in LOVE. Now she has both her Panda and her Tiger that she got for Halloween, in her stroller when she is walking them around the house. Presley got a couple of games. She loves them and even declared, "I got everything I wanted." I guess we can all just take the rest of her gifts back. ;) We had to play both games tonight several times. She's a little cheater when it comes to Hungry Hippos. She takes the marbles and puts them right under her hippos mouth so she can eat them all up. Stinker.

In other Presley news, after daycare today I picked the girls up and did a little running around with them. Both girls were so good in the store and we were talking about how proud I was of them on the way home. That lead us somehow to talking about their day...lead to Santa visiting, etc... Anyways, Presley said, "Santa is coming to town." I said, "Oh yeah?" She said "Yea, God told me not to go to town." ??? Huh? I asked her later about it and she said, "Yea, kids are not to go to town." I'm thinking she must be mixing up her lesson in Sunday School with the song Santa Clause is Coming to Town. But I can't figure out where her lesson must've been telling her not to go. Silly girl.

a good lesson

Chad has his last boys home basketball game tonight. His team ended up winning by 8, which was great. He is now 6 and 2 with two more regular season games and then a tournament. The even greater thing came with the lesson his team saw in the other team. A little background....Chad has a kid on his team with down syndrome. He didn't have to keep him on the team, and in fact the athletic director kind of discouraged him from keeping him. He tends to get in trouble at school. But, this kid LOVES basketball. So, Chad kept him as a manager basically and occasionally if they are winning by lots or losing by lots, he puts him in. It's not always been easy and he needs to be watched constantly. The guys on the team are pretty good at helping him out. Fast forward to tonight and Chad's team is up by 8 and the other coach pulls Chad aside and asks him what they can do to help this kid score. Chad told the coach he actually had a pretty good shot if he just got the ball and was open. So the other team takes the ball out of bounds and throws it right to him. The kid turns around and basically shoots from where he is, beyond the 3 point line...needless to say, he didn't have that good of a shot. But I'm sure he was happy just to have the chance. Chad used that example of the other team to have a good talk with his team about character tonight. What a great lesson.

This Little Light of Mine

Even though we got lots of snow last night, we were still able to make it to church for Presley's singing debut this morning. We were worried that if she saw us she wouldn't want to stay up, so we picked a seat where we could see her, but we didn't think she would see us. Well, she didn't cry, but she didn't do much singing either. Her finger was stuck in her mouth pretty much the whole time. She did take her finger out to sing a little and do some of the motions to Away in a Manger and This Little Light of Mine. Oh well. We were still proud of her. Here's a few pictures from today and a little video.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Just wanted to wish Papa a very Happy Birthday today. We love you and hope you have a very special wonderful day! You're the best Papa! Can't wait to see you in a little over a week.

packed-full day

Look who we found today? Chad and I both took a personal day off of work today to do some Christmas shopping and take the girls to see Santa. I guess it's becoming a tradition for us. We did it last year too. It just seems to work well for us. This year I knew it was going to be crazy busy as we hadn't bought one Christmas present yet. Can you say behind? We slept in a little bit this morning and then took the girls here for breakfast. They both did really good for breakfast but as soon as we were done, it was defiantly time for Addy's nap. So we dropped both girls off at daycare with Chad's mom and started out. We did really good today. We power-shopped, that's for sure. I think we pretty much got everyone done. We still need to buy for 1 more person and then finish up another. But that means we got 13 people completely finished. That includes family and school friends. I still may pick up a few goodies for my aid at school, and then we need to take a look at what we got the girls for Christmas and see if they are done or not. I haven't picked up anything for Chad yet either, but I have something in mind. (and no, I'm not going to link it here because I have a feeling Chad will read this. ;) But we are really close to finishing up. I'm sure we will find we still need to get a few little things and I know I want to get some family pictures printed out too. But we are close. We did find some really good deals today it seemed and got some cute stuff. Now I just need to go buy some wrapping paper and wrap them all. That is definitely NOT my favorite part of this season. We also still need to choose our picture and get our Christmas cards ordered, addressed and mailed.

When we were finished we went and picked the girls up and took them to the mall to see Santa. We got there right in time because as soon as we walked through the gate, they blocked it off and put a sign up that Santa was going on break. There were 2 people in front of us in line, and then the lady that worked there said that Santa would be going on break in 10 minutes and hopefully we would get our pictures taken by then, because if not he was going to be gone for 45 minutes. This got me thinking back to what Shannon said happened to them. I asked the lady if he would just finish up who was already in line, and she said, "Unfortunately, No." Apparently he leaves for his breaks RIGHT ON TIME no matter who is waiting. Santa's got a schedule to stick to, you know. We were worried because the ones who were with Santa at the time were having a hard time getting there little girl to smile and they kept wanting to re-do the pictures and then spent time debating if they liked it or not. But thankfully for us they found one that would work. And the best part was the little baby right in front of us was full of smiles for Santa, so they only had to take two pictures of her and then Santa was able to see Presley and Addison before he left for break.

Both girls let me set them on his lap and stayed there for about 3 minutes before Addison started crying. Presley never did cry, but she wouldn't smile either. I even had to jump in for a couple of pictures to hold Addison. So we got a picture that is very similar to last years picture. Both girls looking at the camera, but no smiles. Hey, at least there are no tears. I'm thinking we MAY go back this weekend and try again, but we'll see. I want to run to the mall to pick up matching p.j.'s for the girls to wear on Christmas morning. Chad thinks it's silly, but I like to think of it as tradition. :) I want to do this every year. I think it looks cute in pictures. I found a pair that will work here. Not the greatest, but I think they will do, especially for the price if only I can convince Chad that this is in fact a Family Tradition and not just an excuse to spend more money. :)

This next one looks like Addy and Santa are having a conversation. I was standing right there just hoping she wouldn't pull on his beard. She was touching it wondering what it was, and I was worried. Presley looks worried too, doesn't she? "Enough with the pictures already, get me off of this guys lap."

updates

I'm starting to feel a little better thankfully. I ended up going to school on Tuesday because I just don't have enough days left in my sick bank to take off and still be able to take the rest of the year off when I have our next baby. So, I feel like I need to go pretty much everyday. Plus, I knew that Chad and I had already scheduled to take a personal day off today (Wednesday) to do some Christmas shopping and take the girls to see Santa. Tuesday morning I woke up not feeling good at all, but went ahead anyways. Thankfully as the day went on, it got a little better. The Dr. had told me to gargle with salt water to help my throat, but I thought that one of these would taste better. ;) So I gave it a shot. And I think I was right. It did taste pretty good.

Haven't posted on Chad in awhile and I think it's about time. Chad's team is now 5 - 2. He is pretty happy with how his team is playing together. They have even come back and beat a team that they lost to the first time around. He has about 3 more games left before the final tournament. They are having lots of fun. As soon as the boys are done (actually a little before they are done) he starts with the girls. They actually overlap for about 1 week. He really enjoys working with the girls too. Plus, that season is shorter and he gets paid the same. I'm sure that helps too.

Presley - Let's see what she's up to... She is singing in church for the first time on Sunday. I'm not sure how that's going to go. We weren't sure if it was for her class or not when we saw the Preschool choir was singing in the newsletter a couple of weeks ago. But when I picked her up from her class on Sunday there was a note saying she needed to be there a little early to line up. I'm wondering how she will do. Chad and I agreed that everyone she knows will probably have to hide so she can't see them or she will start crying. I'm hoping she stands up there with the rest of the kids and doesn't cry. I'm not too optimistic that she will actually sing. But, hopefully she will prove me wrong. We've been working on singing the songs she will be performing all week, and she only wants to practice one of them, This Little Light of Mind. She likes the part where we sing, "Hide it under a bushel, NO!" We have to sing that chorus over and over and over. They are also planning on singing Go Tell it on the Mountain and Away in the Manger. I think there may be a 4th song too, but I can't remember it. Anyone who wants to come and watch is invited. They are singing in the 11:00 service. Let me know.

Addison - She is working on her 9th tooth. 5 on top and 4 on the bottom. She had one pop through a couple of weeks ago and then last week I noticed she had one of her molars in too that I didn't even know was coming. She is also Miss Independent, that's for sure. She wants to do everything that Presley can do by herself. If Presley is walking in a store, then Addison thinks she can walk too. If Presley is pushing her baby around in the stroller, then Addy wants her stroller too. I love this age she is at, where she is finally old enough to play with Presley. I know I have mentioned how they seem to be fighting lately, but it's not all the time. They really do play together really good most of the time. They entertain themselves a lot. And you can tell that they love each other.

these two

The other night I heard Presley say to Addy, "I'm gonna crush your head." I couldn't believe it. I asked her what she said, and she repeated back to me. Sent her right to time-out and had a talk with her. I almost laughed when I was sure what she said, because I couldn't believe this cute little girl would come up with something like that. I'm not sure where she learned/heard it from. I'm pretty sure she isn't learning it from any of the Disney shows she is watching or books I am reading to her and I don't think she heard it from either Chad or I and I'm hoping she didn't pick it up at church or daycare, so I'm not sure. I had to call Chad (who was at his game) and tell him, and he thought it was hilarious. Just coming from someone so small. He then had a talk with her over the phone about it. So we talked about being nice and not saying mean things. The next day when I picked them up from daycare, we were in the car on the way home and Presley said, "Mommy, I didn't crush Addy's head today!" Good job Pres!

I'm pretty sure both girls don't realize about Santa's Nice or Naughty List. Because lately, they haven't been the nicest to each other or to their friends. I think Addy is getting back at Presley for the months when Presley would bother her or hit her or push her down and now Addy can do something back. So she is walking around and just randomly pushing people down. I guess yesterday right before I picked them up from daycare they were wrestling on the kitchen floor. But when I got there they were kissing and hugging each other. It's like that with them. One minute fighting and then next best of friends.

Tonight when we were trying to pick up the toys I asked Presley to help and she said, "That's ok Mommy, maybe later." :)

can you believe it?

Again. I have strep throat. I've never had it my entire life and then twice in less than 4 months. What is wrong? Ugh. Saturday night I noticed my throat starting to hurt a little, not like a normal sore throat, like what the beginning of strep felt like before. Sunday woke up to a little worse. Monday woke up even a little worse, this time with the chills and neck ache. Went to our free clinic after school. The nurse practitioner looked and my throat and said, "I can pretty much guarantee you don't have strep. I don't see any open lesions, but we'll do a test anyways." Sure enough the results came back positive. I'm not that surprised. When I got to school this morning my aid had left me a message saying she wasn't coming in because she had strep. I had seen her at our staff Christmas party this past weekend (so much fun by the way). So they gave me an antibiotic (free) and sent me on my way. As I walked out of my room, I saw my friend and her husband sitting there. She teaches in the room right next to my class but was out today to attend her grandma's funeral. Anyways, she said she was sick too. After I got home, she called and said she had strep too, and they gave her extra medicine because her husband was sick too. Double UGH! Trying hard to stay away from the girls as much as possible (so hard to do) , at least away from their faces and hands. Making sure all of us wash our hands lots. So, I'm off to bed early tonight, hoping to feel better. Now my ear is starting to hurt too, but hopefully this antibiotic will take care of the throat and the ear.

Santa's Elves

Did this last year and got a kick out of it. Enjoyed it again this year.

The Brugh Family Elves

another one

Got another picture up in the girls' room tonight.

Snowball Fight

It snowed here yesterday so we all thought we would enjoy an old fashioned snowball fight!........Enjoy!

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

this guest blog thanks to Chad

a few more

pictures that we didn't choose. (Notice Presley's tongue in the second picture? That little stinker.)

Santa

I love this picture of Addy looking up at Santa. I think she's in love. ;) Just wait until she meets him in person.

re-decorating

I got my order in from my Uppercase Living party from last month. They came last night and I had a meeting late tonight so I didn't get a chance to deliver all of my orders but I did have some time to hang a couple that I ordered. I am hoping to be able to deliver the rest of the orders tomorrow, so if you ordered something, I will try and get it to you tomorrow after school. I am really happy with them. I still have a couple more to put up, but thought I'd show you what I have so far. The top picture is above our fireplace.

The next saying is above the doorway into our dining room.

And the final picture is in our basement. I'll take more pictures when I get the others done.

Like her Daddy

Most people agree that Addison looks like me, but I think that is where the similarities end....at least for now. Addison is a lot like her Daddy in lots of areas. Mostly dealing with food and what kinds of food. One of her favorite foods is pizza (same as Daddy.) She would probably eat it everyday if we let her. And when we do have pizza she normally eats more than me. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of pizza and don't eat much, she normally eats more than I do. She dives right in and has a blast. Here's some proof of the aftermath. We find it easiest if we just strip her down and let her go to town and make sure to have pizza on bath nights.

photo shoot

We had our first ever family of 4 photo shoot this weekend. Actually we had two. One Saturday and then another one on Sunday. Thankfully my sister agreed to attempt to take our picture. I am really nervous about going to a place and having someone take our pictures as I know that our girls are not at the age of "sitting still and smiling for the camera." I dread having to pay money to someone and not getting any pictures I like. But these pictures I would've gladly paid money for. I am really happy with how they turned out. Especially Sundays pictures. We were on location Sunday. Saturday we did some shots around our home. I have a talented sister. :) We haven't narrowed down to our final picture for our Christmas card, but we have ruled some out. So here's a glimpse of a picture we didn't pick. Maybe I'll add a couple more we didn't go with in the next few days.**This top picture is from Saturday and the bottom picture from Sunday.