I knew this day would come.............

You know, when Cyber Monday is just an extension of Sunday. Just like Black Friday really isn't Black Friday anymore since the sales start on Thanksgiving. I didn't find any better deals today than I did yesterday AND YOU KNOW I LOOKED! But you bet I was probably the ONLY mom in the drop off line at school this morning putting a new tv in my cart! #howsthatformultitasking

I told my friend I really think the kids should be out of school for Cyber Monday. I was so excited to wake up this morning to my favorite day of the year. Then Delaney decided she was not wearing pants to school because "what if Skylynn doesn't wear pants". I told her to put on a jumper and tell Skylynn to start wearing pants!  What Delaney was wearing was not exactly my priority!

Thanksgiving 2015

Delaney was out of school on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Which led to an entire day of asking me every 5 minutes when her cousins would be arriving. At one point, she picked up my phone and asked Siri how much longer it would be. We were able to squeeze in an emergency trip to Macy's for a Thanksgiving outfit #mommaforgottoplanahead before they arrived!

Finally!

The next morning it was time to get up and start getting ready! Cousin Jeremy braided Delaney's hair (while she treated herself to a donut).

I really need to learn how to do this...................

Then we headed to aunt Trina's house for lunch.  Here are the two newest members (I wonder if someone fed them turkey!) We sat and passed around the babies!

My Little Turkey!

Oh these two...............

So thankful I was chosen to be her momma...........

The littles........(and big cousin, Adarrah)

Then it was time to head home before we headed to the "next one". This happened about 2 seconds after she got in the car. No turkey involved.................

The "extended" family rents out a gym to host the "dessert" get together. Last count was 85 people!

Apparently she didn't notice ALL of the desserts...........

Logan and Lexi's mom and dad decided to do some black Friday shopping. I decided I would rather stick needles in my eyeballs and offered to babysit! The three kids are 5, 4 and 18 months. Lexi went down for a nap and virtually slept through black Friday while these two played, and played.....

and played.............(they also got out the Play Doh which mostly ended up on the floor).  It was so much fun to sit and listen to their conversation. Especially this one: Logan said "does your daddy ever come home". Delaney "no, he lives in heaven".................I LOVE THEM!

And these "twinsies" got their picture taken before it was time to say good-bye.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving this year was when we pulled into the driveway at aunt Trina's and we waited in the car so we could listen to our "theme song". Each year, we somehow end up with one (it finds us).  "I got EVERYTHING I NEED and NOTHING that I DON'T"....................."found" us this year and sums us up perfectly! 

Delaney has turned into quite the little "car" dancer/singer!  We were recently pulling in at home (and by home I mean Target) and one of daddy's fireman friends was walking out and "caught" us and walked up to the car and said "what's going on here"! We dance like no one is watching....even if it's in the car! The girl can belt out "video killed the radio star" like no one's business! So if you see (or hear) us driving, don't mind us.........CAUSE WE WON'T MIND YOU!

School Pictures

Pre-K3

2013

 Pre-K4

2014

Kindergarten

2015

(Seriously thought about doing picture retakes for Kindergarten, I mean just LOOK at that hair)

The girl is a hot little mess and she doesn't care!

Just looking at these pictures makes me sing to myself "sit up straight look at the yellow bird"!!

Tis' the Season for ...............STRESS!

I get stressed just thinking about addressing the Christmas cards and wrapping gifts!

I have a "no labels" and "no gift bags" policy at Christmas. 

Perhaps my holiday stress is a bit self induced!

Life Around Here Lately.....

Pretty much looks like this.....

Just in case you're wondering, I don't typically take pictures of the delivery people but I took this for another reason and thought I would update you on what's been going on around here lately.....

Weekend Recap

Delaney is NEVER home on the weekends! She's turned into a teenager with her busy calendar!

She is such a little social butterfly, I just don't know where she gets it :-)

On Friday, I picked Delaney up from school and told her she had a surprise babysitter coming to the house. She made multiple guesses (including her cousin Logan who is younger than her and lives in KY)! She also guessed her cousin who lives in Manhattan! She must really think people will travel far to babysit her. Her babysitter didn't travel far at all; it was the little girl next door babysitting for the first time. Actually, she's not so little anymore---- I can't believe how tall she has gotten (I don't even remember seeing her one time over the summer). Delaney was so excited for her to come over, she waited at the front door on her for an hour (and asked me 500 times when would it be 4:00).

And I was so excited to meet Julie for round 2 of her birthday celebration!

I actually had to change out of my work clothes (yoga pants) to head to happy hour!

She asked me about the babysitter situation and "who I got" (she knows the babysitter) and asked me how old she is now and I told her I had no idea! I guess I should have asked....I did tell her how tall she'd gotten (as if a tall kid had to be old enough to babysit)! I later found out she's in middle school.

I had NO IDEA how much I was suppose to pay a babysitter!! And when your ATM only lets you withdraw 20's, the going rate is apparently $10 an hour (thank goodness happy hour lasts just 2 hours)! 

Delaney and I watched Poltergeist which is probably not the best Friday night family movie but she loves scary movies just like her momma! I told her not to tell anyone I let her watch it and she said "but what if I do".

Operation clean up the playroom came to a screeching halt Saturday when it was time to head to grandma and grandpa's. I made the usual empty threats telling her she wasn't going to go if  it wasn't cleaned. She knew I had plans, she knew she was going! At one point she said "mommy, I just feel like I need a night away from you"( I was thinking a week seemed in order in the moment)!

I took a video and sent it to grandma to show Delaney (apologizing for our bad day).

This is what I got in return.

Clearly, I was more upset over how things went than she was!

The next morning I picked her up after "breakfast club" (breakfast rotation with friends) and the very first conversation we had went like this:

"Mommy, Kelsey at school was talking to me about the father/daughter dance and I told her, tell me more about this on recess. I asked her if there is a mommy/daughter dance because I don't have a daddy, well, I do, but he's in heaven and Kesley told me she was so very sorry to hear that and I told her she doesn't have to be sorry, it's not her fault". (I melt.....)

And here I thought our conversation would go something like "did you have fun last night"!!

Ok, wipe your tears, because you know in true Delaney form it gets better........

I said, "Delaney, you know that daddy's friends would line up at the door to take you to the father/daughter dance don't you"?

"Yes, but I think I just want grandpa to take me"!!

(And for the record, I know nothing of a father/daughter, make that grandpa/granddaughter dance)!

Later, we were driving and she said "Dear Jesus, thank you for my daddy, please watch over him". AND THEN...............

"Dear Jesus, thank you for the people who made my little baby (a/k/a her baby doll).

Never EVER a dull moment around here.......

Then Monday rolled around and I got home and saw this on the front porch.

You can imagine how excited I was.............until I noticed a note on the front porch from one of the fireman Dave worked with who was in the neighborhood and just stopped by to check on us!

Nordstrom, you made my day for a millisecond, but I'd take a lifetime of those notes over a pair of Joe's (jeans) and a super hideous award winning (hopefully) ugly Christmas sweater!

We have gotten into a bad habit of doing homework too late at night. And by bad habit, I mean when we got to the last page, Delaney said "mommy, I think this worksheet is going to be easy peasey lemon squeezy and I don't think we'll fight over it at all"...................

She reminded me that the letter this week at school is "R" and that meant she had to have something for dinner that started with an R and the only thing "she" could come up with was a Reese's Cup! After I got done laughing, I realized, she was right! 

I better add radishes to the grocery list!

Progress

Delaney has been cleaning (or suppose to be cleaning) her playroom since Thursday......we were NOT burglarized!!! I took this picture following this conversation..........

"Mommy, I can see we're really starting to make some progress"
"Are we in the same room, I'm not seeing it"!!!

Saturday Selfie

And the box monster!!!

Target really does make some cute little monsters!!

Grandparents Day 2015

I was warned Grandparents Day is a BIG DEAL at Delaney's school. I was also warned the best thing to do was to drop off and pick up the grandparents because the parking lots fill up quickly. So it was a double drop off/pick up day for me today (for Delaney and then the grandparents).

Grandpa may have text me they were finished a bit earlier than expected and I may have still been at lunch discussing very important things like HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU COOK A TURKEY! Julie and I have no idea how we have gone 40 (and 41 years today) and never cooked a turkey. Apparently, a cooking bag is the way to go. And we both agreed that cooking pies should be left to Bob Evans because like turkeys, we have never baked a pie!

Delaney this morning before school.................(her skinny legs did NOT come from her momma)

Or her silly little (but BIG) personality.............................

Grandma T sent me this picture of Delaney cleaning up the table. And here I had no idea the girl knew how to do that (enter sarcasm) Oh, and where did her sweatshirt go? She was hot.....
This is her morning classroom. In the afternoon, they switch rooms with the other kindergarten class (same teachers). Apparently 5 year olds are easily distracted and need a "change of scenery".

How "convenient" book fair is during Grandparents Day. I sent Delaney with $5 which bought NOT THIS BOOK! #girlcanworkit

I know one quarterback who can't keep grandpa away from his girl!!!! (But hurry up and heal Andrew)!

Introducing Our New Lake House

Delaney had to draw a picture of our house.....she made it a lake house (the boat came with it)...........

Don't let the pictures fool you............

Minutes later, 22 of them to be exact, she was still not dressed because she didn't want to wear pants because A. What if Skylynn didn't wear pants and B. She didn't want her pants to touch her body!

Once we finally made it out of the house, IN PANTS, we headed off to school.

Where Skylynn's mom just happened to be in front of us and well wouldn't you know, she hopped out of her mom's car wearing a jumper! 

I was signed up to be a "parent helper" today where Delaney assured me all I would have to do was pour orange juice! There was juice all right at the very end of the day after A LOT of teaching!! I had to go over their sight words with 28 kids, and then there was homework sheets and all sorts of nonsense.  I told my friends it was like going to boot camp! Man those poor kids don't get away with anything and they get lots of play time taken away for poor behavior.  So here are the funny moments:

"Did you do Delaney's hair, did her daddy do it"?

"No sweetie, no one did her hair today that's why it looks so awful"

"I'm Delaney's friend and she wants us to have a sleepover at your house"

"Nice try, but I'm not ready for that"

"I farted" (a boy, of course!)

"Um, we don't use that word"

"Mrs. Newsom, my tooth is loose and it feels funny when I do this"

"Then stop doing it"

"I like your lips"

"Thank you, but you're too young for lip gloss"

My personal favorite was the little boy that came to my work station and yelled out how he is getting a dog in four months! 

"I'm probably not the best person to talk to about dogs"

Delaney didn't waste any time getting home and telling me that Skylynn wore a jumper to school!

I do not know what it is with little girls and pants!! One of the girls switched out of her pants and into a skirt because her pants were making her leg itch! (I thought she peed her pants!).  The kids lose (in class play time) for poor behavior in two minute increments.  There was a handful of kids that had to "go sit at the brown table where our parent helper is"...............Longest two minutes of my life! I felt so bad for the little kids I couldn't even look at them.  Then I got one little girl in trouble by telling her she could move a chair from one table to another.  They don't get away with anything in Kindergarten. They have three teachers who keep their eyes on them at all time. 

Kindergarten has changed slightly since 1980.  There was no cutting, coloring and pasting going on! They were learning about fiction---isn't everything fiction when you're 5!?!

No wonder Delaney comes home tired, "boot camp" is exhausting!

Frozen....Lake (but not a frozen lake and I have no idea why the formatting is messed up)

On Friday, we didn't waste any time (and as you can see, some of us didn't even have time to change clothes) and headed to the lake!  Speaking of clothes, not sure what's going on with Delaney's pants, they are NOT the ones she was told to wear (I found those on her floor)....It was her first day to wear uniform pants so you can imagine how the morning went.

Sweet Cousins........

Speechless................

We went to check out what we "hope" is going to be the new lake house and look who showed up! The girls just pulled on up in the golf cart and decided to trespass with us!

Delaney has been excited all week to head to the lake to check out the golf cart (or, as she would tell you "her" golf cart) And, as of Friday, it is "the guy who works at city hall" inspected and road ready! Because you know, that would have stopped her! 

And just as soon as that little foot of hers can safely reach the peddle, she'll be taking it down the street to pick up the pizza!!!

Delaney had her first classmate birthday party this weekend too!
I was all set on staying at the party since you know, they are strangers and all....
But the other moms left and I decided I felt comfortable leaving (and by leaving I mean sitting in my car parked down the street!)
Ok....I didn't, I thought about it, but then I noticed my nails needed painted and then there was the beeping gas light so I left my child with complete and total strangers and off I went for two hours!

I couldn't wait to pick her up to hear all about it. As I walked up to the door, all I heard was 13 five year old little girls' LOUD voices. It was so much fun to see Delaney interact with her friends.  She said "mommy, come here I want you to meet my friend, Brooklyn".
I didn't get any pictures from the party because A. I left (still can't believe I did that) and B. I was too worried about Delaney getting blue sprinkles on their WHITE carpet! They had a white chocolate fountain and cake and ice cream and all sorts of really cute touches that didn't get past this party planner!! They set the bar high folks!! Real high....

When we left, we headed out to finally meet our new cousin, baby Elise.
On our half hour drive, Delaney decided a little of this was in order!
And normally I would have been just fine with that but I wanted to interrogate hear how the party went.  I did ask her if she ate and she said AND I QUOTE "No, I didn't eat, they didn't have anything I like, they just had sweets and you know how that rots your teeth".
So I'm just not sure how she got blue icing all over her lips.....hmmmmm.

Delaney was still asleep as we pulled in the drive! 

Two seconds later, this was happening!

Such a proud new cousin, she said "I just love her". 

I'm not so sure in this moment, the feeling was mutual! 

I think Delaney was a little more excited to hold Elise than Elise was!
Disregard her leg warmers, Delaney prefers to use them as knee guards and as you can imagine, she "doesn't care" that she looks ridiculous! 

Delaney said "I wish she was ours"

Here is one of Delaney's party favors.  

They also made tiaras and got Olaf snowmen kits (like I said, the bar is high).  

I can't believe we have entered the school friends birthday party phase! 

I learned that the birthday girl is also an only child like Delaney (oh, and that she has a princess bedroom). Her parents were "older".....you know, like me!!!

I always worry about being an "old mom" but I really just need to "Let it Go".

I think Mia's mom and I could be great friends, especially if she let me borrow her cute Tory Burch shoes she was wearing!!!

It's been such a great weekend, funny how they happen right when you need them......

We had a rough week. So grief, if you're "listening"....thanks for stopping by, nice try, but there's no room for you here, so move along............

Delaney, however old you are when you are reading this, know this.....

NOTHING CAN STEAL OUR HAPPINESS, NOT EVEN GRIEF!

And just as soon as I figure out how to fly to heaven, we're on a first class plane to see your daddy sweet girl!

Speaking of my sweet girl, my favorite part of the weekend was when two of the birthday "party helpers" told me how sweet Delaney was. She makes me one proud momma and I never miss an opportunity to tell her how proud she makes me. To hear it from well, total strangers (oh gosh, what was I thinking leaving her alone there!?!?!) warms my heart! I asked Delaney if any of the other moms stayed and she said yes. I felt bad about that as I was staring at my freshly painted nails.....in my defense, I told Mia's parents Delaney knows my cell number and made sure they had working smoke detectors before I left!! #nerdmom 

Welcome Elise

The new "newest" member of the family made her arrival on Monday. We have new babies to sit and stare at now for the holidays!! Delaney and I haven't gotten our hands on Elise yet. I was told I can't go see her while Delaney was in school.

"Oh, hi world, I'd like to introduce you to my poutty face"..,,,,,

And one proud new big sister!

Now you can see this family is about the brides and the babies! And, who doesn't love a baby born just days before her parents' one year anniversary?! #takingcareofbusiness

We have had large masses of group texting going on in the family between the two new babies and the wedding!! Cousin Jenny sent us the "we're headed home text" today and I suggested she show Elise her closet when they got home to start the bonding process! I am sure that's a real thing....or maybe I just did that because I had no idea what to do with a new baby!!! 

Speaking of closets, the other day as I was packing Delaney for our trip to Kentucky, I decided it was also a good time to purge her summer clothes (insert sarcasm) and get it organized. Delaney took one look at it and said "where are all my now season clothes".....I told her the jumpers, skirts, and polos that now fill up her closet ARE her "now season" clothes.....she replied "well that's not very much" and she may be onto something since she went to bed wearing a slip!!!

Elise, we love you, we'll see you and your closet soon!!!

"Eye" love this girl.......

Delaney had an eye exam today....

Where she practiced a little whip nae nae while waiting on the doctor.....

And then she was told she doesn't need glasses.......

And it all went downhill from there.....

Of course this could have been avoided if Rachel and Savannah didn't wear glasses......