Our elf arrived

Last year for Christmas my mom gave me an Elf of the Shelf.

Yes, I asked for it for Christmas.

I love their vintage look and the sneaky facial expression.

Plus, I love the idea of passing the buck to the Elf for keeping track of the kids behavior.

I'm not above it.

Last year the girls decided that our elf was a girl {of course} and her name is Harper.

Harper stayed with us for a few days last year and then had to head back up to the North Pole to spend the next 11 months hanging our with Santa.

This morning she showed up, sitting so mischievously at the top of our Christmas tree.

The girls all but flipped out when they spotted her.

Ainsley swore that she saw Harper blink and that she was watching her every move.

Yay, nice move Harper, nice move.

The girls are on alert, good behavior is to be had.

{pretty please!}

coffee + me = bff 4 ever. Alternate title: Yay caffeine and the thought chaos that follows

Hey there lovelies!

Good news, I am feeling better, yay prescriptions!

Bad news, I have now coughed so much I feel as though I have broken a rib.

I have also apparently broken my brain or at least that's what K thinks has happened after he looked at me like I had lost my mind for considering going to the gym today.

Seriously, Danna ... do you think that's a good idea?

I wish you could have seen the look on his face, I love him and his exasperation at my me-ness.

Yeah, Monday I finally made it back after a three week hiatus.

It was rough.

But, I did it, after multiple breaks and gulping down my weight in water several times.

I had a weird aha moment yesterday:

Why is it that I can't sleep at night yet cannot stay awake during the day?

Last night while we were checking out at the grocery store K held up a bottle of Coldstone Creamery coffee creamer looked at me and said:

Seriously, Danna ... do you really need more, didn't you just buy some the other day?

I think you have a problem.

Then I responded by saying something along the lines of:

Don't question it, I need my coffee plus I like to be prepared, I can't run out. 

I need all the help I can get, man, this mothering thing is h-a-r-d.

Like whoa.

It feels like juggling, or what I imagine juggling to feel like as I can't juggle.

I'm constantly trying to just keep everything up in the air and smoothly going from point A -----> point B.

Okay, so, see the picture above?
That's Ainsley's La La Loopsy named LaLa.

{we are a creative bunch aren't we}

Poor Lee, she accidentally pulled her arm off while changing LaLa's clothes last week.

Lee is bummed that her favorite doll broke and has been giving her extra cuddles since then.

Well, lovelies, I'm off to make some more coffee and watch some Mirror Mirror with my girls.

xo

Insta-Friday

Hello lovelies, sorry I have been gone.

After my feeling better/getting worse sickness continued, I finally dragged myself to the dr. {with quite a bit of pushing from K and my mom}.

I have bronchitis.

Yay me!

I have been really really really sleepy lately and with all of the busyness of right now blogging fell by the wayside.

Sorry loves.

This past week, well, it's been a mix of busy and super laid back.

Last Friday was Princess Abigail's birthday.

Did I tell you that she now wants be called Princess?

Yes, regular clothes have gone by the waysaid and she only wants to be wearing her princess clothes and sings her princess song, oh and she carries her favorite princess everywhere we go.

Yep, Snow White and Cinderella are along for the ride.

Abby's birthday cake.

Funfetti cake with Rainbow Chip frosting, decorated with stars and star candles and her fairy princess wand that our ped and his nurses gave her.

She had a wonderful birthday and told everyone who asked that she turned 3 1/2.

It's an improvement from the day before when she would tell you that she was two and would give you the bird.

Awesome.

Our cat, Chloe, is the most laid back kitty.

She doesn't mind the kids holding her and playing with her and when she's had enough she finds a quiet place to take a nap.

She also lets K dress her up like Darth Vader or as we like to call her Darth Chloe.

Not feeling well calls for comfort food and man have I been cooking a lot more lately.

One of my all time, childhood favorites is Eggs on a Raft.

I made mine this time with sourdough bread and butter with sea salt and olive oil in it.

Holy smokes y'all, this was so good.

Adison made this sign while doing some weekly cleaning last weekend.

It looked all serious and forboding until Abby decided to decorate her sign with princess stickers.

Sorry Adison!

Chloe playing dress-up again, this time Ainsley and Abby decided she need to be a princess.

She looks less than enthused but quite regal I think.

This is a pretty accurate pic of what I did this past week.

Blanket, warm drink and sitting on the couch.

::cough cough::

I did rally for a couple of hours on Tuesday and managed to get the Christmas tree up.

The girls were chomping at the bit to get it done and who could possibly say no to these faces?

I put up way less of our decorations as usual and am liking it.

Does anyone else do this, more some years than others?

I have super sensitive lips, they freak out to most chapsticks.

When I mentioned to K as he was headed to the store that I needed more, I tend to run out quickly I blame it on my full lips ;), he grabbed some of this stuff for me.

1. The teeny tiny little pot of it is just too cute for words.

2. I love this stuff.

Last but not least, we celebrated Thanksgiving.

Our celebration with family is coming up, but for actual Thanksgiving it was just the five of us.

We had a bit of an untraditional Thanksgiving: rotisserie chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted carrots and pie.

It was good.

How was your Thanksgiving?

xo, Danna

Insta-Abby

I was planning on linking up for InstaFriday, but then, I thought it would more fun to do an Insta-Abby.

Ah, the joys of technology.

They didn't have any of this fancy technology when I had my first and I didn't have a cell phone with such a nice camera when I had my second born.

My third, well, the first three {eek!} years of her life have been documented using Instagram quite a bit.

This is one of the first pictures I took when I started using Instagram.

It is still one of my favorite pictures.

Look at those baby cheeks and the nose and well, the everything.

This girl, holy smokes.

The pigtails, I die.

Dollface.

I have no words.

I love this pic so much that it's my lock screen on my phone.

The scrunchy nose, the pigtails, could she be any cuter?

Summer fun at the pool.

Big girl wearing mama's sunglasses.

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house, she was roaring at us.

She was terrified of the fireworks, homegirl was not a fan.

She was a fan of Daddy holding her and holding a sparkler.

My mom came in town to celebrate all four girls' birthdays.

All four girls' birthdays {my niece included} are within about 6 weeks of each other.

I recently took this one, I love her excitement at a new coat.

Our little super model was telling me that she was 2.

Her first picture as a 3 year old.

Wow, my baby is 3!

This morning she had her 3 year check-up, homegirl is healthy, praise the Lord!

Our pediatrician and his nurses gave Abby, Ainsley and Cameron {niece} little tiaras and fairy wands.

They even gave Abby a birthday cake sticker.

Happy Birthday Angel Face Abby.

{That's what my dad calls her}.

You are such a delight, your spunk, sass and liveliness bring just joy to us.

I thank God for you my sweetheart.

Love,

Mama

Most/Least

The other night, in a cold-med induced haze I thought this idea of least/most could be fun.

I had a weird cold where I would feel pretty good, thinking that I was on the tail-end of it and the next day, WHAM, feeling horrible.

Today, I'm feeling pretty good, praying that the end really is near and tomorrow won't be a WHAM day as it's Abby's birthday tomorrow!

Homegirl is going to be 3 tomorrow, can you believe it!?!

Quotes from today

Most: Abby- Mama, God painted the sky. Me- That's right, Abby. Abby- No way he-zay, it was GOD! {I have no idea about what this girl says, she cracks me up!}

Least: NOOOOOOOOOOOO! said by any and all three of my children at least once today

Smells

Most: freshly cut grass, the smell of a new baby's breath, freshly baked bread, the smell of Christmas- a piney, peppermint-y, gingerbread-y smell.

Least: tar, bleh. I remember when I was at college they were re-tarring a roof there and the smell of it made me so nauseous and gave me an insta-headache.

 

Food

Most: avocados, cheese, zucchini, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, country gravy.

Least: the texture of onions, citrus fruits

Holidays

Most: Christmas, I am so ready to decorate!

Least: I love all holidays, but if I had to choose a least favorite, I would say Halloween. I know, I know, it's a favorite for most, I do get excited about it, but not Christmas/Easter/4th of July excited.

Time of the day

Most: Mid-morning or around 9 pm.

Least: first thing in the morning or about an hour before K is due to get home.

Movies

Most: Mirror Mirror, Anything with Colin Firth, Pride & Prejudice, Steel Magnolias, I Remember Mama, oh I could go on and on and on

Least: Anything Pokemon, Barney

 

InstaFriday

Happy Friday lovelies!

How has your week been?
Mine, well it could have been better and it also could have been A LOT worse.

Doing the math, I'd say that it was a pretty good week.

I've been feeling kind of crafty lately.

It's fun to work the creative juices and make something.

Sure I sliced my finger on the outside of the scissors {I didn't know you could do that} and Lee cut my hand with the same pair of scissors.

I think we just get rid of them, they are obviously possessed or something.

I will need to share pics of my crafty goodness.

Last week, for like a day it decided to get cold.

We have somehow lost Abby's winter coat.

I have no idea where the darn thing is.

I snagged this super cute coat for her online for $5, yes $5.

Mama loves a deal.

This pic of Abby cracks me up, homegirl is flashing some gangsta signs.

You've got to watch this vlog from C. Jane Kendrick, the songs starts at about the 5 minute mark.

Enjoy.

Earlier this week I wrote about my personal goal to get dressed in non-yoga clothes more often.

I did really well at it, until Wednesday {read TWO DAYS} when I caught the cold the girls had.

I had to laugh at myself when I realized this while at the library wearing my comfy clothes.

Today though, I'm back on the bandwagon and working on it.

Our teeny tiny kitty, Zoe, loves to sit with her tail curled around her legs.

It's one of my favorite little things about her and when I realized that I didn't have a picture I had to remedy the situation immediately.

Look at how tiny her little feet are.

She is a full grown, 8 year old cat and she weighs 3 pounds.

Kitty is tiny, so tiny in fact that when it gets remotely cold she likes to climb under the blankets when I go to bed at night for extra warmth.

I would like to preface this photo with asking you to please ignore the mess that is my van.

It's a mess, a messy mess.

Someone, who shall remain nameless, decided to write on the car seats and arm rest with crayon.

Now, I won't tell who the perpetrator was, but I will tell you that she was very sorry and tried to clean it off with her remorseful tears.

Her consequence is to help mama clean up the crayon and then help pick up the mess that is the van.

Quiche.

I love it.

I'm slightly obsessed with eating it right now.

Earlier this week I made a sausage, cheese and broccoli one.

So good, so so so good.

I'm thinking I need to make another.

This had to be said, again

Updated: We all know the election took place last night. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of people that are disappointed in last night's results. I am sure that there are some Republicans that have said some snotty things regarding the results, I do not condone that behavior, not at all. What I am having a hard time with is the gloating and insensitivity of the Democrats. Last time I checked no one likes to be belittled, ridiculed or put down. At least, I don't think anyone does, I know that I don't. I also think the old adage of: You will get more bees with honey than vinegar holds true as well. Folks, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat we are all Americans. This is our country, our home. My hope would be that everyone wants what's best for our country, snarkiness does not help promote unity. Please keep that in mind. We need to be loving our neighbor, whether they agree with our personal views or not. It doesn't matter. There is no where that I have read in the Bible to "Love your neighbor...but only if they agree with all the same things that you do." I haven't read that anywhere, that's because I know that isn't true. "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." 1 John 3: 11 Please keep this in mind, love folks.

******************************** 

Growing up my Mom used to call me a diplomat.

I don't like stepping on other people's toes.

I like for people to get along.

I don't like being controversial.

But yet I have very strong thoughts and opinions on things.
Opinions that I don't readily share unless there can be a mutually respectful conversation and currently there is little of that.

It's election time.
Like all presidential elections this one is shaping up to be a doozy.
People have strong feeling for or against a certain candidate.
I get it, I have my own strong feelings.
I have my own opinions and thoughts.

Having my own opinions on a candidate that someone else doesn't have doesn't means a couple of things:
1. That it is okay for me to be rude and disrespectful towards you just because you have differing opinions.
2. It is not okay for YOU to treat ME that way either.

It's called being respectful you guys.
It reminds me of the childhood phrase, 
If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all. 
It's still a relevant rule to live by in adulthood.

I thought about posting this on Facebook in regards to people who feel it's okay to bully others because of their political leanings {because that seems to be where the majority of this is going on}:
Since when does berating and belittling others ever help? Does verbally beating someone up because they don't think exactly the same way that you do help anything? Does it create an environment for open communication and debate?

But then I panicked, because putting myself out there to be berated and belittled for having my own thoughts and feelings does not sound like a fun idea.

It also goes against all of my diplomatedness.

{Is that a word?}

I have had this feeling of unease pressing on me.

Why does this season have to bring out the worst?
Why should we be afraid to express our thoughts?
What makes one person's political leanings so much worse or important than someone elses?
Isn't that the beauty of this country, that we have the freedom to have our own thoughts and beliefs?

This is something that I just don't understand and it annoys me to no end.

Where did this disdain come from?

I know that many do not agree with my political leanings.

What I don't agree with is the hatred and meanness that others feel is there right to spew upon others that don't agree with them.

Why is it okay for others to feel like they are RIGHT and everyone else is WRONG?

I don't mind one bit if others disagree with my ideals.

We, as adults, should be able to discuss our thoughts and feelings without being lambasted by others.

I am as much entitled to express myself as anyone else out there.

Me feeling a certain way or having differing political views does not make me less of a person or ignorant.

We just think differently.

That's okay.

The anger is saddening.

The hate is unnecessary.

This is a time of of big ideas and big changes.
While in some ways this election is similar to previous ones, in other ways this election has the capability to vastly change things.
It's up to each and every one of us to research and do some deep soul searching.
To decide for ourselves which candidate closely matches our own ideals.

I can tell you something with almost 100% certainty, belittling someone else is a good way to ensure that they never and I mean never really listen to what you have to say.
Spewing meanness and hate doesn't serve anyone.

I choose to love one another.

This was requested by One far greater and wiser than myself.

What do you choose?

Shopping my closet

This picture makes me happy:

Sunday

Fall

Coffee {in my Agent P mug}

Pink Converse

Blue jeans

Polka dot scarf 

Stripes

It's a new favorite of mine.

Yesterday was the first time that I had worn it and now I am wondering why I haven't worn it before.

I'm going to try to start shopping my closet more.

Start trying new things and try to stay away from my old standbys.

I'm trying to work in some more color, I'm a big fan of grey and black.

I love color and need to try to make it pop in a bit more.

I'm currently loving mustard yellow.

What's one of your favorite colors to wear right now?

 

Baaaaaaa

This afternoon, after consuming sprinkle pancakes, we went to Sam's Club to pick up some groceries.

The trip was a uneventful as it can be with an almost 3 year old and a five year old.

The 10 year old was easy as pie, shocking, isn't it?

Needless to say, K and I were feeling a bit harried and very ready to get the kids buckled and headed home.

We got the kids in the car and K and I started unloading our cart and talking.

Out of the blue we heard a very loud, "baaaaaaa".

It was so loud that I jumped.

K quickly looked over at me like I had lost my mind.

What are you doing?

What? That wasn't me!!! I said while laughing hysterically.

Turns out that a truck behind us had two sheep in the bed of it.

I would love to know what in K's mind made him think that I was loudly baaaa-ing out of the blue so loud.

Seriously husband.

Halloween 2012

How was your Halloween lovelies?
Ours went very well!

We started off our Halloween morning with a parade and a party at Adison's school.

The little girls love looking for Adison and shouting out what the other costumes are.

It's crazy to think that next year I will have two kiddos in school, eek.

After the parade/party we headed back to the van, which you can barely see in this picture.

I thought that this picture of Lee was so sweet, I played around with it a bit on my phone.

We had lunch, rested/napped, had dinner then went over to my Dad and step-mom, aka Morning according to Abby, house.

It was their first trick-or-treating of the day.

I even got some candy, score!

My dad {who shouldn't be doing yard work!} just can't help himself when the girls are over, he had to rake up some leaves so they could jump in them.

He's quite the kid himself, I think it's what makes him such a fun Papa.

This child, she slays me with her beauty, spunk and goofiness.

It was a gorgeous night out, I think I took five or six pictures of the sky alone.

We went out ToT-ing with some friends/small group members.

The girls were so excited because they each had a buddy to run house to house with and scream like terrified banshees.

K, who is such a kid himself, dressed up like a Jedi.

You should have heard the kids commenting on his costume/light saber when it got dark out.

Hysterical.

K and Kip had a light saber battle, luckily no limbs were lost in this epic match.

But then Abby took K on with her glow in the dark fairy wand and I think it's safe to say that she won.

Fair and square.

Trust me, you do not want to duel with a fairy princess.

Speaking of Babs, she was a riot.

Homegirl would raise up both of her arms and come running to us saying, "I GOT CANDY!"

Abby the fairy princess, Adison the NCIS agent and Ainsley the Barbie princess.

Have I mentioned Abby's princess song?

If not, this is what she repeatedly sings while dressed as a princess.

It's awesome.