There were two in the crib.....

So my kiddos let me sleep until almost 8 this morning! Right about 7:50 I heard Meli chattering in her bed and then I heard Kyler's door open. So I started dragging myself out of bed. :) When I finally made it out of my room this is what I found......

As soon as I walked in Kyler stood up and looked at me with an uncertain expression - he thought I was gonna be mad cause I've told him not to get in Melissa's bed. But I just had to laugh and ask if I could take a picture! :) Did you notice that Melissa had already taken off her pajamas? I'm just glad Kyler went in there before she took off her diaper and wet her bed!

Scary movie and funny comments

So Disney's matinee movie club is doing this thing over the next couple months where every few weeks for one week they are showing an older Disney movie club every morning at 10 am. A couple weeks ago they showed Mulan. This week it's Tarzan. I loved Tarzan the one time I saw it when it came out. I thought, hey, Kyler would like to go to the movies! I'll take him to see it! Yeah, not a good idea. He was terrified of Sabor, the leopard in that movie. We had to leave about 30 minutes into it. If I'd really remembered how the movie went I probably wouldn't have taken him - it was pretty intense and made me a little nervous. No wonder he was scared.....

Oh well, we'll try again when they show Cars in April. He's seen that one about 20 million times so I'm sure he won't be scared of it on the big screen. :)

Recent comments I've heard from my goofy almost-4-year-old:

"God found my other shoe, Mommy. I prayed and He found it for me."

(Melissa's blowing razzberries) "Melissa, we don't spit in the house or the car. You know better." (She does it again) "Okay, that's a spanking!" (yeah, we had to have a talk about how he doesn't spank his sister even when he's pretending to be the Daddy and besides, since when has Mommy or Daddy ever spanked them for blowing razzberries????)

Today while we were at the movie he told me needed to go potty so we went out and he told me he didn't like that movie. He said, "I hope that movie is over for me but not for the other kids!" I guess he knew that the other kids liked it even if he didn't! :)


By the way, I am sitting here listening to my country songs playlist while I'm on the computer. Just have to say that I absolutely love "I'm Still a Guy" by Brad Paisley. Have ever since the first time I heard it. So hilarious.

My trip

Well, I've been home from Atlanta for two days and have now found the time to sit down and post about it. Let's see....highlights of the trip....almost missed our plane from DFW to Atlanta, that was exciting. Oh, and on the way home there was a Dallas Maverick on our flight. Have no idea who he was - just overheard a woman ask him if he played basketball and he said he played for Dallas.

Went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic and loved it. This is considered a highlight of the trip because I was really glad to get to see it while I was in Atlanta - Amanda was the one who got me into reading the books so it was fun to see it with her!) We got to go to a hockey game, which was really fabulous. Thanks, Amanda, for thinking of that idea! I like hockey. :)

Went to Medieval Times. That was fun even though our knight didn't win and wasn't very cute. Our server was REALLY cute, though. Really should have given him Amanda's number......

Played games and painted a picture (a tryptic (sp?) so that we could each take a piece home with us) Just have to figure out where to hang mine up.........

Enjoyed alot of girl time with my friends who I never see nearly enough. Lots of laughs and talks. Some light-hearted, some very enlightening.

I really loved seeing so many of the places that Amanda spends her time - now I'll know where she is when she says she's at home/work/church. :) Thanks for letting us come, Amanda! I had a great time! Thanks for going with me, Chara! I love you both so much!

Missed my hubby and my kiddos. They missed me, too. Kyler didn't want to leave my side after I came home and they both clung to me when I dropped them off at their classes at Mother's Day Out on Tuesday!

In exactly one week I will be at the airport preparing to board a plane with Chara headed to Atlanta to visit Amanda! I'm so excited to get to spend almost a week hanging out with my two very best friends! We haven't all three been together since the night before Melissa was born, which, unbelievably, was almost 2 years ago. I will miss my babies and my hubby, though, of course. I haven't slept away from him that many nights in a row since we got married. :)

In honor of my upcoming trip, pics from the last time we were all together -

Chara and Amanda painted my toenails that night - to give me something to focus on when I finally delivered Melissa (none of us realized it would be the next day!) Can you tell which feet belong to which face? Chara's are easy....... :)

And a picture of my 9-month-pregnant self that night. I can't believe that little girl who looked like a basketball under my shirt will be 2 in about a month. That's insane.

Conversations with my kids

Last weekend Kyler colored on the seat of my car while we were driving home from a visit with his grandparents. Yeah, I thought he knew that he was only supposed to color on the paper, but I won't make THAT mistake again. Anyway, yesterday we went to pick up my sister and when she looked back at the kids she said, "Who drew all over your seat???"

When I told her Kyler did it she asked him why he did it and if it was a nice thing to do. He just looked at her for a minute and then said, "Daddy already told me this."

She said, "Well, I'm telling you again. Was it a nice thing to do?" And he comes back with.....

"Only one grown-up can tell me about it!"

I don't know how he thought up that rule but it didn't fly with Aunt Kate! :)
______________________________________________

A couple of weeks ago we were at church and they had donuts in the lobby. I had already shared one with the kids before the service but after I picked them up from the nursery, Melissa wanted another one. My dad was holding her and she asked me for a donut. I told her she didn't need another one because we would be eating lunch soon. She scowled at me and turned to my dad with a sweet expression, "Donut, Pawpaw?"

Of course, he told her that Mommy had already told her she couldn't have another donut.

So she scowls at me again. And then....

She leans over and whispers in my dad's ear, "Donut, Pawpaw?"

Clever little thing but still....no donut for Melissa.

Matching

Melissa and I are really going to have to work on her fashion sense....I put an orange and white striped shirt on her this morning. She then comes to me with her pink house shoes and yellow socks wanting them on. I told her the yellow socks didn't match and she needed white ones (b/c she doesn't have orange ones) so then she says, "Wear purple socks!" I said white and she said, "Wear pink socks!" I said white and she then wanted blue. I laughed and asked if she wanted a different shirt on....she said, "Wear orange shirt!" So she decided she would wear the white socks....

THEN I told her she couldn't wear her house shoes because we were going outside and they are only inside shoes. So she picks her boots to wear. That's fine.....

And now her socks are completely covered by her boots so it wouldn't really have mattered what color socks she picked.........Hm.........

:)

Lazy Monday

We're apparently having a very lazy day here today. It's 10:45 and Melissa is still asleep and Kyler's been playing (mostly) quietly in his room since about 9. It's almost the time I normally give them lunch and about an hour before Melissa's usual naptime. Guess our schedule will be a bit off today. Oh well, what are Mondays for, anyway?

We had a very busy weekend and Melissa only got naps in the car - which means only about an hour each day cause that's the longest she'll nap in the car - so that's why she's sleeping so late today. I really really really wish Kyler was still sleeping too so that I could still be sleeping! The past three nights I've gone to bed way too late (around midnight - which is really late for me because I am one of those I-need-more-than-8-hours-each-night kind of people) and 2 of those nights Kyler woke up in the night crying about something or other. And LAST NIGHT he did that and was awake for about 2 hours. Good grief. He kept getting up and turning on his light (He turns his light on anytime he wakes up - even just to go to the bathroom. We're working on that....) and crying. Well, fake crying. It was more a screaming wail than anything else. He's always been a much better sleeper than this...at least since we got rid of the pacifier and he didn't wake up several times a night because he lost it and needed us to find it. Don't know what's going on with him right now but it has got to end because I'm too tired to deal with him in the middle of the night!

Good news - I'm down to the weight I was when I got pregnant with Melissa! Only 5 more lbs to go and I'll be back where I was before Kyler.... and then I can enjoy that for a while before I decide to put on more weight with baby #3. But my goal with baby #3 is to watch what I eat more closely so I don't gain as much as I did with the first two. We'll see how that goes - not sure I can give up my pregnant woman license-to-eat-whatever-I-want. :)

Different topic. Every year Brian does Lent. He's given up sweets a couple times because he has a huge sweet tooth. This year I think he's doing sweets and cereal (he would eat cereal for every meal if I would buy that much). And he wants me to do it with him. He wants us to both give up eating out. Ugh. That would definitely be a sacrifice....I love eating out. So much so that over the last 2 months I'm pretty sure I spent at least 75% of my Christmas money on eating out. I'm thinking about it.........

Valentine's Day

It's taken me a while to get around to posting, but here it is. We had a good Valentine's Day....the kiddos loved the gifts we got them. Usually I would just get them a little candy and maybe a little bear or something but they both found something at Wal-Mart last week that they LOVED and I couldn't resist. I knew they wouldn't play with a stuffed animal, anyway... We got Melissa an Elmo that blow kisses and says he loves her and that she's a sweetheart. It's cute. Not like she needed another Elmo (she now has FIVE) but she loves it, so it's okay. :) We gave Kyler a Disney Cars track that when you push a button, Lightning races down a track and "tips" tractors. And it has "Frank the scary tractor" so Kyler was in heaven. He played with it ALL weekend long.

Brian and I had a home date Saturday night. Got pizza and wings and watched a movie and just snuggled together for a while. Rented Nights in Rodanthe. It was okay, book was better, of course. :) And then Sunday Brian surprised me by having Kate come over to baby-sit and we went to lunch at Chili's and went bowling. But I bowled a 60. Are you kidding me? A 60???? It was horrible but not really my fault. The bowling place had crappy balls. I'm weak so I needed a light one but all of the light ones had holes that were too little for my fingers/thumb. And I have small fingers! Anyway, it was fun regardless..... I think I'll stick to Wii Bowling though...it's easier and WAY cheaper. I can't believe how much bowling costs!

Oh, here are a couple pictures from when Hannah was over...

It went pretty well but there are alot more things to think about when you have three kids! At least when I have baby #3 I will be starting with a newborn and my kids will be older - not adding a 14 month old in with my almost-2 and almost-4 year olds! I took the kids to Wal-Mart with me because I needed a few things and I swear people were looking at me and thinking, "Wow, she's been busy!" Come on, people, it wouldn't even be possible for the girls to both be mine!

Okay, I've really gotta get ready to go to work! Have a great day!

Tornado

So, last night was the first time I have ever hunkered down in the bathroom with my family to wait out a storm. Thankfully, the tornado(e?)s passed right around us and we were all fine. But we got the kids up out of bed and snuggled them into the bathtub for about half an hour until we knew it was clear. Kyler thought our grand adventure was rather boring - he just wanted his pillow and blanket in the bathtub so it wouldn't be so hard. Melissa loved being up when she was supposed to be in bed. Once the storm was clear we said it was time to go back to bed and she looked at us like we were crazy and said, "No!"

Anyway, so we were up late and I'm tired! The kiddos are still asleep (yea!) after getting up in the night. I'm up waiting for my brother to drop off my niece for the day. They needed a fill-in baby-sitter so I will see what my life would be like with 3. :)

I have recently been trying to lose the last 10 lbs of baby weight from my pregnancies. I've been doing pretty good, too, counting calories and working out with WiiFit. Problem? WiiFit tells me that my ideal weight is what I'm at right now. It's not where I want to be but when it keeps telling me I'm at my ideal weight I don't try nearly as hard...... And today I'm going to a Valentine's get-together with my MOMS Club and we're all bringing sweet stuff....ahhhhh....yeah, guess I won't be counting my calories today!

Oh, better go, Hannah is here to play. :)

A conversation between my kiddos

I walked into the kitchen this morning to hear Melissa (who was sitting in her high chair) ask Kyler to open the pantry. We have a doorknob cover on it so he can't open it. He told her that he would "open it when he got bigger." And then he runs over to her and says, "Melissa are you going to be a mommy someday?" She said, "Yeah." And then he said, "Yeah, you can be a mommy and I will be a daddy someday. And I will have a beard!" So cute that he wants to be like HIS daddy!

Of course I didn't think Melissa really even knew what she was answering Yeah to but when I went to get her out of her chair she said, "Me-issa be Mommy?" Oh, my heart - these kids are growing up too fast!

And now for a picture to begin the day - Melissa's first pigtails.

No church for me today

Melissa had a runny nose yesterday and this morning she was congested and yucky sounding, so I stayed home with her from church. At least she'll get down for her nap at the normal time today which always makes her happier....although since she's congested she might not sleep well so then she'll be cranky cranky cranky.

Anyway, I'm being very productive this morning since I wasn't able to go to church - I'm about halfway done with the laundry and I washed the dishes from the last couple days (by hand because our 2-year-old dishwasher is having issues and I can't afford to pay someone to come look at it right now......). And I put some meat down to thaw for dinners this week. Brian will be happy about that because he's sick of me asking what he wants for dinner and hearing, "We can't have that because the meat's frozen" when he picks something. :)

OH OH yesterday I went to the The Well, a coffee lounge and sandwich shop in downtown Royse City. I'd never been but I got a gift certificate for it at my Pokeno game last weekend. I got their chicken salad sandwich and it was SO good. I'm totally considering going to get another one this week.....if you live in Royse City and you've never been there, go check it out!

Alrighty, I'm gonna go see if my little one is done eating her lunch.....oh, by the way, I find it hilarious that Melissa says Amen instead of The End when she gets done with the last page of a book.

Sleep is good!

So, I'm the type of person that needs alot of sleep. Brian was actually the one to get up and feed Melissa most nights because he is usually good running on 5 hours of sleep and I am not. At all. My parents will tell you that I was always a horrible grouch when I came home from sleepovers or camp because I never got enough sleep and it made me cranky! They were probably glad when I would come home and go straight to bed so they didn't have to deal with me. :)

And I HATE HATE HATE being woken up. It makes me tense and annoyed because I then have trouble getting back to sleep because I just expect to be woken up again. When Kyler was a baby (and until he was 2 when we got him off the pacifier) he would wake up several times a night crying because he lost his paci and couldn't find it or get it back in his mouth. And he took the shortest naps ever. That whole sleep-when-the-baby-sleeps thing? Didn't work for me because I was too tense waiting to hear him cry that I couldn't fall asleep. I was so thankful to discover that Melissa has NO problem keeping that paci in her mouth or finding it if she drops it! And, once she started sleeping through the night at 2 months, she never wakes up during the night unless she's sick or getting sick. And she's an awesome napper! Anyway......

Kyler rarely wakes up in the night anymore but now that he's potty-trained there are the occassional nights that he can't hold it all night and he'll actually wake up to go potty. Problem? He thinks it's morning and turns all the lights on! This morning at 4 am I woke up to bright light and the sound of Kyler lifting the toilet seat. Grrr..... I went in there and told him he needed to get back in bed. And he asked for a book. Uh, no. Go back to bed and SLEEP! He said okay and I was getting him back and bed and discovered his PJs were wet. And his sheets. Grrr some more. Not sure what happened but apparently before he woke up to go potty he went in his pull-up and it somehow leaked out. That hasn't happened since he was a baby...... So then I had to change the sheets and his PJs. Annoyed, the whole time, of course, because I want to be SLEEPING and I know that it will take me forever to get back to sleep....sigh. But at least I did fall asleep eventually. And at least Kyler went back to sleep instead of trying to get back out of bed to play.......

Bragging on my husband

I just have to say that I have an amazing husband. The past two nights he has readily, if not joyously, ushered me out the door for time with friends and stayed home with the kiddos. He is so good about doing that but I don't usually ask him to twice in one weekend! I have just heard so many women talk about how hard it is to get away without the kids - and for many, it's not that husband can't watch them, it's that he can't because of work or whatever. But for some, their husbands just don't want them to leave him with the kids. I can honestly say that this may be my very favorite thing about Brian - he knows that I need some time away from the house and kids after a while and he is more than willing to give it to me.

Friday night I went with some MOMS Club friends to a yoga studio in Rockwall for a private class. I really love yoga but I don't have the money to do it reguarly like I want to. The class was interesting - this studio does hot yoga. It was about 90 degrees in the classroom! It was an hour long class and I'm so sore!

Saturday Brian and I went to see Inkheart. I was really pleasantly surprised by it. It's based on a book I loved, so I went in not expecting much from the movie - movies based on books typically disappoint me. But I really liked the movie. Although, I haven't read the book in quite awhile, so that probably helps - when I reread it I'll find all the things they did wrong!

Saturday night Brian let me go out again - I went to a friend's house to play Pokeno with some ladies from church. I'd never played before but it was easy - like Bingo with playing cards - and alot of fun. And we had yummy food, too. What more can you ask for?

And, to add onto the amazingness of my hubby - he's letting me go out next Friday night, too. I'm going scrapbooking at my aunt's church. I'm excited - haven't done any work on my scrapbooks since my retreat back in November. I'm so very behind. I'm still on October of 2007...and now we're in 2009. The thought of all those pictures piling up makes me want to go hide under the covers in my bed. But I will get them organized and I will go to the crop Friday night and work for 7 hours and maybe I can make some headway -maybe I can even get into the 2008 pictures!

Recipe sharing....

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 10.75-ounce cans condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 14-ounce can chicken broth
1 onion, finely diced
1 10-ounce package refrigerated biscuit dough

Place the chicken, butter, soup, broth and onion in slow cooker. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on high. One hour before serving, open biscuits. Roll each one to be about 1/4-inch thick and cut into 1/2-inch strips. Add to the slow cooker, laying on top of chicken and liquid. Overlapping strips of dough will occur. Continue cooking until the dough is no longer raw in the center, about 1 hour. Note: Dough will not cook into biscuits as you might think. It will become like traditional dumplings. Serves: 6 to 8.

3 Packet Roast
This one may sound weird to you – I wasn’t sure how it would be but it was the BEST roast I’ve ever had. We love it. It makes a fabulous brown gravy to serve with the meat and over mashed potatoes.

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
1 packet dry brown gravy mix
1 beef roast, any cut

Place the roast in the slow cooker. Sprinkle dry mixes over the roast. Pour 1 cup of water into bottom. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Barbecued Pulled-Pork Sandwiches
2 lb pork loin
1 onion, sliced
1 cup Coke (or Dr. Pepper or Pepsi)
1 cup BBQ sauce
8 hamburger buns

Combine soda and BBQ sauce in the slow cooker. Add pork and onion slices.
Cover and cook on high 5-6 hours or low 8-9 hours.
Drain and serve pulled pork on hamburger buns.

Lemon Poppyseed Chicken
2 lbs chicken breast, cooked and shredded
16 oz sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crushed
2 Tbs poppy seeds
2 sticks of melted butter

Combine chicken, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and lemon juice.
Spread into 9x13 pan.
Sprinkle with crackers and poppy seeds.
Drizzle butter over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

This recipe can easily be halved for couples or small families – I often do this and bake it in a 8 inch square pan.


Let me know if you try any of the recipes and if you like them! Anyone have any recipes they want to share?

Random stuff

The kids are napping (well, Melissa is - Kyler's at least quiet in his room :)) so I thought I'd take a second to share some random info.

-Went to church this morning. I really love my church. I enjoy the discussions we have in Sunday School and our service is always fabulous - we have a great music minister and an awesome pastor. The kids are learning more and more about God and Jesus which is wonderful - Kyler's still on Christmas, though. We are continually discussing the birth of Jesus in a farm (what he always calls barns). It's good to hear him talk about it. He told me last week, "Mom, did you know Jesus was born? And then He grew up to be our God!" I loved hearing that!

-Kyler is growing up too much. Yes, he does call me Mom these days, instead of Mommy. It makes me sad but it sounds cute coming out of his little mouth. :) He's talking about his 4th birthday already (actually he has been since about September -and his birthday isn't until June!) I didn't realize the hurrying to grow up started so early!

-Melissa....she's such a mess. Drama queen, if ever there was one. Everything is, "Miiiiiiine!!!!" - in an extremely ear-drum-shattering way! I cannot believe she will be a 2-year-old in three months. That's insane. Seems like just yesterday I was waiting for her to make her appearance....

-I just finished my WiiFit workout a few minutes ago. I really really love WiiFit. Bill and Sharon, my dear in-laws, if you are reading this - thank you for our WiiFit! It makes exercising fun and it really can give you a good workout. Just for reference of anyone considering buying it. :)

-I went to the movies yesterday with my sister and my momma. We saw Bride Wars. It was pretty cute and mostly clean, which is nice - I get so sick of seeing sex and nudity and hearing cussing all throughout movies. But I really hated Kate Hudson's hair in the movie. I personally think it looked awful. But maybe it's just me.

-Going along with that....I really like hanging out with my family. It was fun to go to the movie with Kate and Mone. And then Kate spent the night so she could go to Sunday School with us. I like hanging out with her. And I think my family should come over soon for a family game night. I love playing games. Although I think they just come over to play with the Wii....and the grandkids.... :)

-I really need a job. I want to teach but I'm getting very tired of applying for jobs and even going for a few interviews and not getting hired. I am a GOOD teacher, people! Just hire me, for goodness' sake! On the bright side, I really LOVE the job I have right now working 2 days a week at Mother's Day Out. I work with 4 year olds. I love the kids and my co-workers. The lady that teaches in my class with me is so much like me so we get along great teaching together. And it helps that we have an amazing group of kids to teach! And I LIKE being home with my kids the other 3 days (and knowing exactly who is taking care of them the 2 days they are at MDO with me) Right now I'm looking into finding something I can do from home in the time that the kids are playing quietly or napping. Editting or something. Something I can pick up when I am able to sit and work for a few minutes - not something I have to schedule time for in my day. That just doesn't work with 2 kids - I never know when they will need me and they do come first! If anyone has any ideas for me, let me know!

Okay, I just heard Kyler's door open so that must mean he is not going to take a nap today. Oh, apparently he was coming out to go potty for the 3rd time since I put him down for a nap. It always amazes me how long he can hold it other times but during rest time he thinks he needs to get up and go every 15 minutes or so! :)

Gonna go hang out with my boy while Meli is still napping! Have a terrific week!

Tattoos

3 of my family members just got new tattoos last week so I took pics and I want to show off our family tattoos. :) There are actually 2 missing from these pictures because my brother, Chris, has 2 but I haven't seen him since I took these pictures so I don't have any pics of his!

First - my daddy's first tattoo....one that he got when he was young and stupid. :) It's on his upper arm.

And here's his new one - it's on the opposite arm.

Mone's (my mom) first tattoo. She got this one about 2 years ago - I got it for her for her birthday. We had planned to go together to get tattoos then too but I got pregnant with Melissa before Mone's birthday came around! She designed this herself, by the way. It's on her shoulder.

This is her new one. It's on her wrist which she said hurt alot. :)

My brother, Zach, our newest family member to get tattooed. :) Obviously he got this on his hand, which I think is CRAZY but it looks cool.

And this one is mine. It's on my shoulder and I got it almost a year ago. I love it and I'm trying to decide if I want a second one.......

Now Kate is the only one of us without a tattoo. I have a feeling she'll be getting one after she turns 18 in a couple years!

I admit it, I'm a total nerd

I love math. Really. Especially Algebra I type stuff. I used to even like balancing the checkbook and paying bills (I liked it before we were always out of money - it's no fun if when you get done you have no money left....)

I've been helping my sister (who is 15) with her math work and it just makes me want to do more! One night I got online and looked up an algebra worksheet so I could do some. (Although Kate has offered to let me do hers for her, I have not yet given in to that temptation....) I told Brian not long ago that I've always wished for an algebra book that I could write in. Sounds dumb, but it's true. So I open up one of my Christmas presents and what do I find? Two retired algebra books! (Algebra I and II) They're all mine and I can write in them all I want! It's very fun....honest! I'm on chapter 2 of the Algebra I book now......





I know, I'm a loser. :)

Fun girly pictures

I love to take pictures. And my sister, Kate, likes to have pictures taken of her. So yesterday while we were at our Pawpaw's house she asked me to take some pics of her......

And here are a couple of us together and with our mom, Mone'

Can I move?

Well...I've had a Xanga for almost 5 years...am I really ready to leave that and start over? It seems that not many people are over there anymore so I think I shall begin anew and gather a following again, maybe? :)

Christmas is over. Sad, but true. We enjoyed it, kinda. I say kinda because Melissa had a sick Christmas. Her second, in fact, because she was sick last year too (and that illness included an ER visit and an RSV diagnosis). She has not yet gotten to really enjoy Christmas. Maybe for her third. I'm going to begin praying for that now! Anyway, she was miserable and whiny and hurting for almost all of our Christmas events and wanted Mommy (and ONLY Mommy) to hold her at all times. Fun for Mommy, right?

A picture of Melissa trying to enjoy some of her toys while doing a breathing treatment....

Today I was able to get her in to the doctor and she had a double ear infection. They also tested her for strep (it was negative) and gave me some stonger nebulizer medicine because as the doctor said, "her ears and throat all look horrible and her chest sounds horrible." Within a couple of hours of starting an antibiotic and the pulmicort (for the nebulizer) she was feeling much better. She actually enjoyed herself at our very last Christmas get together today!

Kyler definitely had a good time - he got tons of cars, cars and...more cars. Oh, and a helicopter and a pirate ship! He has been having a blast playing with all his new toys! He also got a bike which he's trying to figure out.... Melissa got babies, babies and....more babies! Oh, and a kitchen, food and dishes, clothes, necklaces and shoes. And a tricycle which she is also trying hard to figure out. They don't quite get how to push the pedals and make it move!

Brian and I go WiiFit which is AWESOME! We are loving it and actually exercising (which is a miracle, to be honest....). I got a couple of books (Inkheart, the new Artemis Fowl book) and movies (Kindergarten Cop!), some pictures that I really wanted for my bathroom and a quilted blanket that I LOVE. And my honey got me a beautiful James Avery necklace that I wanted.

A picture of us when we opened WiiFit (although really we're faking cause we already knew we were getting it....)

And my beautiful new necklace.....