Last day of 2008

What a year. As far as parenting its been good and bad. Both of the girls hit some tough patches this year but I think we survived without to many emotional scars. 2008 has gone by really fast, it seems like just yesterday we were getting ready to celebrate Kate's 3rd birthday and finish up school and looking forward to a fun summer in the sun and now its Dec. 31st already. The school year is going great for both girls and I think we're all ready to get back to school next week, its been a long 2 weeks off. But dad is home for the next 4 days so we'll have some fun family time.

I've already started taking down all the Christmas decorations, its always so sad. I just love having all the lights and fun stuff around, but the time has come to put it all away again. I did score a 7 1/2 foot tree on the 75% off rack at Target for next year, I can't wait. We've had our little 6 foot tree for the last few years but its getting so full of ornaments (many that the girls have made us) that we need something a little bigger. So look forward to next year when I can put it up.

I wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year. Hugs and love to all.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning could not have come early enough. The girls were so excited that they snuck down stairs as soon as they got up (around 645am). We're not sure who got who up but they both went down stairs to see what Santa brought them, what a fun Christmas memory for them. At 7am we opened our door and they were in the hallway waiting for us with the biggest smiles on their faces. Here is a video of the girls going downstairs (for the second time) to see what Santa brought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jriSea85Y-k

It was a fun morning of opening presents, eating great food and hanging out with the family. (see Christmas eve post for more pictures).

Christmas eve at the Lyons house

What a fun Christmas eve we had. It started with the arrival of Uncle Jord and Grandpa Dana, the girls were so excited. Then shortly after that Grandpa Ken, Grandma Janet and Aunt Nan arrived and the girls were so wound up. We hung out and played all day and watched Santa on the NORAD website to see where he was in the world. Aunt Nan helped the girls write a note to Santa and leave the cookies and milk out for him. We then went outside so Kate could leave the reindeer food/glitter so the reindeer would know where her house was and Hannah left a bowl full of reindeer food so they would have something to eat, it was fun. And then it was time for the girls to go to bed. But before they did that they got to open their Christmas eve gift from mom, a new nightgown for each of them, they loved them and put the on quickly and then off to bed. They only came out of their rooms once because they were so excited for Santa to come.

Greg and Grandpa Ken put the doll house together while the rest of us finished wrapping gifts - it was a fun Christmas eve. I had no trouble going to sleep, I was tired and knew that Thursday was going to be a big day.

Here are pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas day:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012744&l=a323f&id=1122309468

Put the kids to work

Having to keep two kids busy while trying to get the house ready for guests is almost impossible. And my girls are better than most, they will play for a while by themselves so I can get a few things done here and there, but having to stop every 20min or so to get them refocused is hard. So today I put them to work. My to-do list was long and they needed something to do so I handed them the dusting wand and told them to go to work. I was very impressed on how well they dusting everything from their eye level down, so one more thing off my to-do list. Next was window washing, now I really didn't know how they would take to this since I hate it so, but they thought it was fun and washed the playroom windows, the windows on either side of the front door and on the back door - it rocked. I'm going to have to remember this one for the future. So now my to-do list is getting smaller. The last thing to do are the floor, this is Kate's favorite. I have a small cordless vacuum that she loves. So she pulled that out and ran it all over the house. So 3 things down and if I just put a few on Greg's list then I'm done....TA DA!

Now bring on the family!

The big count down

The girls are getting giddy about Christmas. Every day they want to know how many more days until Christmas???? And when is the family getting here???? Its been really fun to see them get so excited. We already have so many packages under the tree and the girls have been so good about not touching or asking to open them, I can't say the same for me. I can't wait for Christmas morning to open gifts. And apparently Santa's eleves have already come and filled my stocking - hmmmm I wonder what they could have gotten me. Kate keeps saying "mommy don't look in your stocking because nothing is in there, oh and don't look under my bed because daddy did not put stuff their either." She is trying so hard to be a seek keeper (secret keeper) and not a break seeker (secret breaker). I just can't wait until they come down stairs and see all the fun things Santa (aka Grandparents) have gotten them. What fun Christmas morning will be.

Being needed as a mom

I know my kids need me, but every once in a while I really feel it. Kate wasen't feeling so great today. She has a sinus infection and was up most of the night because she couldn't breath. So needless to say we didn't get much sleep last night so we were all running a bit slow today. We had a slow morning and then dropped Hannah off at school and on the way home Kate said to me "mommy I'm really tired, will you lay down with me and make me feel better?", that was just about the sweetest thing that kid has ever said. She wanted me to make her feel better, she does need me. As much as she fights me she really does need me - ahhhhh. It just really made me feel needed and that in the end I'm doing all the right things.

The girls and I (and Greg too) are getting really excited about Christmas that is in 1 week. I can't wait. Greg's family is coming down from NJ, Jord and Laura will be back from Croatia and Dana is flying out from CA - we're going to have a big family Christmas, heaven help me :)

Croup for Kate

The sickness never ends in the Lyons house. Kate woke up with Croup in the middle of the night. Barking like a seal and feeling lousy. I sat with her in the bathroom for 20min with the steam shower on and then woke Greg up to take her outside for 15min in the cold. I know I know it sounds like I'm a horrible wife but I had taken a Tylenol PM and I couldn't keep my eyes open so I thought it actually might be safer if he took her outside otherwise you might find Kate and I curled up in the hamick in the morning. So Greg took her outside and hung with her and then put her back to bed. She sounded much better in the morning but I still needed to take her to the dr. to get some prednisone so off we went to the drs office for the 3rd time in as many weeks. We got the RX and she is feeling much better.

Hannah is just about done with her second round of antibiotics for her ear infection. She is feeling better and sleeping better which helps her mood. She was beginning to be a crank pot during the day and it was tugging my last nerve. But all is better now and we're all looking forward to a fun Christmas with most of the family.

Oh my silly Kate

I just had to share a quick thing that Kate did yesterday. We were all sitting at the dinner table eating. Kate was being silly, like she always is, well when she's not yelling, and she suddenly held up her hand and looked at it and with this really funny look on her face she said "WHAT" and just stared at ther hand. Greg and I kinda looked at eachother, it was like she was seeing her hand for the first time. Like hey, how long has this been here??? It was just very silly and so Kate.

Lets talk Turkey

I just had to share this picture that Hannah drew today. Its a turkey laying eggs.

Hannah's ear infection and more time with Santa

We've had another busy week. Hannah had Tues and Thursday off of school for parent teacher conference days. I had my conference on Tuesday and the teacher said that Hannah was a teachers dream. She follows directions, asks questions, gets along with all the other kids and is always smiling - made me a happy and proud mom.

Yesterday Hannah was not acting quite herself. She was acting, well, like her sister. A bit crazy and out of control. So I called the doctor and made an appointment for Thursday morn. And sure enough her ear infection hasn't gone away so we have to do a heavier dose of meds. But the pink eye is gone so thats a plus, and a bigger plus is that no one else in the family got it - whew I was glad about that.

Kate has been busy busy busy this week dancing and singing up a storm. That kid loves to perform. She keeps all of us in stitches, such a little comedian. And she is constantly saying "he's the deal, you do X and I'll do Y, that's the deal okay" not really sure where she got that line but she tries to use it all the time.

Today we went to the retirement community again for the MOMS club Christmas party and to visit with Santa (pictures). Both the girls had a great time. Santa even gave them little gifts (that mom wrapped and brought with) they where so excited to get their very own lapstick (translation is chapstick). For some reason Kate calls it lapstick and its stuck.

Fun day at the Bass store with Grandpa Len

Grandpa Len is in town this weekend and the girls are having a blast with him. And I bet he is sleeping well at night with all this crazy energy around him.

Yesterday we went to Loews and bought some outdoor decorations and the girls had so much fun riding on the flat bed wagon while Grandpa pushed them around - it was fun to watch.

Today we decided to take Grandpa to the new Bass store http://www.basspro.com/homepage.html
Its the new hang out for families and kids so I thought we should check it out. It was a bit crazy because of all the holiday shoppers and they had a Santa village that made it a bit extra crazy. But we stuck together and no one got lost, although Grandpa wondered off a few times, but we found him safe and sound. We walked all over the store and took pictures on the big boats and 4 wheelers. We then ate in the restaurant that is attached to the Bass Pro shop. We all ate alligator and calamari and loved it, Kate kept calling it chicken. We then headed home and collapsed from a crazy afternoon. Greg and the girls watched Christmas shows and Len and I took cat naps - it was a nice day had by all.

A busy Friday

Hannah stayed home from school today, although she is much better and could have gone to school I thought another day at home could only help, but we really didn't stay home, we ran around town all day. Kate had school this morning and I opted to send her all day because I just couldn't face having both of them run errands with me today. So Hannah hung out with me and Lise while Kate played at school all day. She had a blast and didn't seem to phased by it, and it worked out great for me. Win win.

Lise, Hannah and I ran all around town. We stopped in a few Thrift stores and then went and checked out the final sale at Linens-n-things and then our last stop was Target. Hannah was a trooper and hung with us all day and never complained. Although she had the life when we walked around Linen-n-things. She was in the shopping cart, laying on a pillow that Lise was buying and watching cartoons on my phone, I wanted to curl up with her she looked so cozy.

I bought a few little things for the house and some Christmas decorations, but not much. It feels so good to be done with Christmas shopping so early this year. We really cut back allot and it feels good to not stress. I'll have to remember this for next year.

Two good quotes from the girls - and a sick Hannah

Both of the girls have had great quotes in the past day.

Kate's was yesterday morning when she was hanging out with her dad. She was laying on her tummy with her hands on her chin when she said "you know dad, sometimes I'm a LOUD WOMEN". Greg said he laughed for several minutes just from the way she said it.

Hannah's was today. We went to Target to pick up some RX (more on that at the bottom). I told each girl they could pick something out of the $1 spot. Hannah picked out a little Hello Kitty pen. When we got to the car she was opening up the pen and noticed that the little kitty hanging off the top has a mirror on the other side and with that she said "mom this pen has a mirror so when I'm writing I can see how beautiful my hair is." It was classic.

Yesterday Hannah's eye was looking a little funny. It was very red with some yucky green stuff coming out of it - not a pretty site. I called the dr. this am and got right in. She has a great case of pink eye and also an ear infection - poor little thing. She was so big and barely complained. So now we're stuck at home for 24 hours until she can get a few drops of meds in her. But its already looking better.

A little late, but worth the wait

The Grandy family was here over the weekend and we had a great time. We started the weekend off with seeing santa (see earlier post). They where only suppose to stay 1 night and leave on Saturday but we just couldn't seperate yet, oh and Hannah cried when she heard that they where leaving on Saturday morning, she really got upset - such a sensitive little thing. So they decided to stay until Sunday morning. Greg and Adam decided to take the kids for the day so Steph and I could have some girl time, it was awesome. While the guys took the kids to belle island (see link below for pictures) Steph and I did the last of our Christmas shopping and then decided to go to Color me mine and make something for the kids. Color me mine is one of those great places that you can paint pottery and then they glaze it and do all the others thing to it and then you just pick it up. I decided to make two small bowls for the girls (see link below for pictures). And Steph make a really cute tray for Jack (kinda like the valet his dad has), he will be a big guy just like his dad. It was a fun time and so great to see the Grandy's - Thanks Grandy's for making the trip.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011219&l=c26e9&id=1122309468