Lifesong

Cookies!

Today we decorated cookies with McKane and Riese. Well, sort of. They decorated for a little bit, ate cookies and icing, then played, and Kelly and I decorated the rest. It was fun though. I was very impressed with how well Ansley, McKane and Riese played together. We literally decorated for hours, and there was no crying or screaming at all. It was amazing! It was a lot of decorating, but we are making the cookies to give to our neighbors, so it was all worth it. :)

Here is my sweet girl walking over to their house this morning. Last night when I put her to bed, I told her that in the morning we were going to McKane and Riese's to decorate cookies. So this morning when she wakes up, she says "Kane and Riesie cookies!" She remembered - how fun! She is carrying the gingerbread dough, and was very insistent that she carry that, and the rest was "too heavy" so "Mommy carry".

They all wanted to watch the mixing of the icing, so here they are on the counter. We had a fun time - now we will need to deliver the cookies! 

'Tis the Season...

to be busy! Sooo, who came up with this crazy idea to blog every day anyway? Oh yeah, guess that was me. Ooops! We have had a very busy weekend, so I have not had time to update John's mom came here for the weekend to watch Ansley while we got a TON of stuff done. It was SO nice. Thanks, Tiana! :) We had John's work party Friday night (Ansley stayed home with Tiana). Saturday during the day John and I went Christmas shopping and got so much accomplished. It would have taken us a week to do all that with Ansley. Ok, maybe not quite that long, but it sure was an enjoyable day, no rushing or whining (well, maybe John did a little whining LOL) - just enjoyable shopping. Fun, fun! Saturday evening we had a family Christmas party at the Jansen's - we had a great time, Mark and Ashley! It was our old small group "reunion" party, so it was great to see everyone and catch up. Sunday we had a birthday party to attend - happy birthday Madeline! and that evening we went to Christmas Traditions at Northpoint. There's just one word for that - AWESOME. It was incredible, as always. So that was a real "date night" for us, just to relax and enjoy and watch the amazing performances.

So, that's our weekend, in a nutshell. We hope that you all are slowing down (don't take any lessons from us!) and taking time to really enjoy and savor the season. Merry Christmas!

Remembering.

Partly because I don't have my camera today, and partly because I'm nostalgic by nature, I decided to use today's blog to post some pictures of last year at this time. I can't believe it! Even though I was actually there and taking these pictures, I can't remember a lot of them. I remember the Santa experience, but I don't remember what we were doing when she was sitting on the fireplace. Looks like she's eating something, but I can't be sure. It seems like so long ago, and she looks so little, it just cracks me up! Anyway, hope you enjoy today's trip back in time.

   

Packages!

We got UPS packages today! Yippee! We're so excited. They are Christmas presents from my Mom and Dad. Unfortunatel y, I'm having a little trouble with the delivery of Ansley's Christmas present. I'm trying to contact them now to find out what's going on.

So I got a little behind in my daily blogs. I was doing so well! Last night John and I went to a retirement dinner for a good friend and mentor of ours. Our good friends Mark and Ashley watched Ansley for us. It must have been some night for them, because I had to wake Ansley up this morning at 8:30 so we could go to gymnastics! Thanks, Maak and Ashee - you guys are awesome!

This morning after gymnastics we hung out with my friend Christina and her son, Alex. Ansley had a great time playing, and even though Ansley and Alex don't quite play "together" yet, I know it won't be long and they will be great buds. Thanks for a fun morning, Christina!

I ordered my Christmas card pictures from Winkflash about 10 days ago. I love Winkflash - if you haven't used them for your digital prints, I highly recommend them. They are 12 cents per print, 99 cents shipping no matter what you order, and usually arrive in 2 or 3 days (plus great quality). I say usually, because I still haven't received my Christmas pictures. So I sent them an email on Monday, never heard back. I sent another email, not quite as nice as the first, but not mean, and they sent me an email back promptly, apologizing and giving a FULL refund on the price of the Christmas pics. WOW - now that's customer service! So, I will continue to be a big fan of Winkflash. :)

We received our first Christmas card today - how exciting! :)

Lots of activities going on this weekend, so I will continue to do my best to keep you updated. Hope you are enjoying this wonderful time of year! I hear there could be SNOW here - could it really be possible? HOW EXCITING! You know if that happens there will be a huge blog on nothing but snow pics. And how much I love snow! :)

Here I Come!

Ansley LOVES to play hide-and-seek. I introduced her to this game a week or so ago, and ever since then (when she's not coloring or playing with her Little People) it's all she wants to do. She runs to the kitchen (that's base) and counts "one, two, three..." all the way to ten, and then shouts "Here I come!" (she leaves off the ready or not part). She wanders around the house (we just play downstairs) calling out "Where aarrreeeee you Mommy?" and I'm under some table or jammed in a corner, stifling a laugh. She cracks me up! Occassionally, for reasons I'm not sure of, she will want to hide and have me find her. But I laugh and laugh, because she will always choose to hide in the same exact place. Here, however, she chose a different place, and it was very difficult to find her, as you can see. I love the way a two year old mind works - oohhh yeahhhh behind the stocking! That's a great place to hide - Mommy will never find me there! :)

This morning we went to the mall with some friends, and as always, the reward for good shopping behavior and staying nicely in the stroller is a ride on the carousel. So far, this is working magically. She stays in her stroller, never whines or fusses, and waits til we are done shopping and then says "Ansley's turn!! I ride horsie!" So we got to ride the horsies with her friends, and she was delighted. I wish I had a picture of that huge smile on her face as we go round and round. I love these things that delight her so much!

Today we are expecting Ansley's Christmas present to be delivered. Can't wait!! :)

Bird Watching

So today there's nothing festive to report. No fun outings, get togethers or anything remotely Christmas related. I guess I just said I would record the events leading up to Christmas, and not that they would necessarily be Christmas related every single time. :)

The major excitement around here for today: about a week after leaving treats for the birds, and having Ansley get excited every single day waiting for the birds to arrive, they finally have arrived! Tons of them, all over the feeder and treats. Ansley was SO excited. This to a two year old must be like finding a huge bargain to an adult...ok, an adult female. Because she was ALL about the birds. I mean, screaming, jumping up and down, yelling, knocking on the window and yelling "HI BIRDIES!!" at the top of her lungs (which really makes them want to stay and eat!). Yeah, that kind of excitement. This is one of the more subdued photos, but one of the few that didn't come out blurry because of all the movement (I wish the umbrella wasn't in the picture, but it was around 40 degrees this morning, so I wasn't going to go out and move it just for this picture. Sorry!:)) We spent the majority of our morning watching these birds. Little birds, big birds, and even a woodpecker. So much happiness for this two year old. Which means so much happiness for this Mom's heart.

Gingerbread House

This morning we went to church, and Ansley really enjoyed her Sunday School class. We are so happy that she enjoys it so much! Her teachers are great, and when we went to pick her up, she was standing there at the door, looking up and down the hallway for us, with a big smile on her face. Made our day!

After naptime, we pulled out a gingerbre ad kit we purchased a few weeks back, and got ready to decorate Ansley's first gingerbread house! She had a fun time, eating candy and icing, and putting the  candy on the house . It was a great rainy day activity (lots of rain here!) for us all. Ansley gets so excited over new things, so it was so cute to see her reaction to this new event. She probably did more eating than decorating, and was even swiping some of the icing off the house! Needless to say,  it was still a fun Christmas-time activity, and one we look forward to enjoying for many years to come.

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Friendships

This evening we had our friends Ron and Kelly over for dinner. Their children, McKane and Riese, are some of Ansley's favorite playmates! This past week they were out of town, and EVERY morning and afternoon, Ansley would say "Kane and Riesie home Mommy?" and I'd respond "soon sweetie." But not soon enough for Ansley! Thankfully, they are home, and Ansley couldn't be happier! They had such a fun time together - dancing, laughing, playing, and w earing each other out! When we tur ned on "Jingle Bell Rock" they were all dancing around the room - it was quite a sight! At the end of the evening, we got them all to sit on the fireplace for a photo together. It was quite an entertaining photo shoot to get three toddlers sitting and being still and smiling all at the same time. Here's the best we could do (but don't worry, there were brownie rewards afterwards!). It is so sweet to see Ansley play and have such a good time with these two friends. It's fun to see her start to develop the idea of having friends, learn how to treat friends (well, ok, still learning), and how to play with them. It will be so fun to see these friendships develop over the years! I couldn't resist this photo of Riese and Ansley hugging. So sweet!

We hope you are all having a wonderful weekend enjoying what makes you happy!

Ornaments and a little girl.

Last night was Bunco at my friend Ashley's home. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas, and had a Christmas theme, so it seemed the first "official" Christmas party. Bunco is always lots of fun - such a great group of girls. It started out as me asking frien ds to join, and then some of them asked some of their friends, and almost a year later, we're still going strong. So nice to have a fun night once a month with such cool girls. All of you! :)

Oh, and this is the prize I won for "Most Wins." It is getting a little crazy, I admit, but I seem to win a prize at almost every Bunco. Last month I think it was "Most Losses", the month before that it was "Most Buncos" and "Second Most Wins." And if there were any skill to Bunco, I'd take credit, but there's absolutely none. I don't believe in "luck", but I guess I am just lucky when it comes to Bunco.

Ansley woke up this morning, and I asked her if she wanted to see what Mommy won last night. (She, by the way, had an awesome evening with John and "Mr. Chris", dancing and giggling the night away, until bedtime). So she responds "yes m'am, yes m'am" and I show her. She says "Wowwwwwww, Mommy!" And was quite fascinated by it. So, awesome prize, Ashley - for me and Ansley! :)

Ansley put up her second ornament on the advent calendar, and was very excited to do so. She's also very happy that our neighbors, and her playmates, McKane and Riese, have returned from their week-plus long trip today. I'm sure there will be some friendly playing soon!

In other news, I received my first offer (unsolicited) to make a scrapbook for someone (and be paid for doing so.) Still trying to figure out if I can fit it in my schedule (it's needed by the end of the month) but I was pretty excited someone is willing to pay me for doing something I love (what a concept huh?!) I so enjoy scrapbooking, and just having that creative outlet, so we'll see where it goes.

Happy Second Day of December! :)

Documenting Christmas.

So I'm challenging myself to document all the details, events, happenings, fun, mishaps, and  excitement leading up to Christmas. Journaling Christmas at the Greiner's - what's it all about? - with the hopes of creating a scrapbook on all this eventually. But not now, there's no time! So I'll record it all on my blog, and then I'll have it, when I have more time to scrapbook. My goal is to record the daily events of December. We'll see if I can keep up.

This is our advent calendar. My mom made it a couple years ago, and I love it. We had one growing up, that my Mom also made, and Jonathan and I LOVED putting up the ornaments every year. I should explain, in this advent calendar, you take out an ornament every day and hang it on the tree. The last ornament is December 24, and it goes on top of the tree. Jonathan and I would take turns  putting up the angel. Now, it's a star. But this morning after I explained it to Ansley, she was so excited to get it out of the pocket and put it up. Then, of course, she wanted to put them all up! I explained that we do one a day, and she shook her head. Next thing I know, she's dragging the calendar behind her, saying "Mommy, I hang orments (misspelled on purpose, that's how she says it) now." Again, with the explanation. I so love passing on things like this to my own daughter that I enjoyed so much as a child.

Here's to finding child-like wonder this Christmas!