Why tonight?!?

Nugget, for the most part, is potty trained. He's golden during the day, but I slap a diaper on him at night, just in case. No matter what time I cut off drinks, he still has a full diaper in the morning.

Today was sheet-washing day. As he crawled into bed, I said, "OooOOOoHHHhHH! Doesn't it feel good to have nice clean sheets to sleep on?" Then remembered that I had not diapered him. Oops! Let's get a diaper on!

Nugget's response?

"No. No diaper a day."

Ugh. I hate to fight him on this but really?! Could you not have made this decision LAST night when they were on the last night of filth?! Instead, I have a SUPER clean set of sheets on your bed (with no spare set) and fully expect to have to wash them (again) in the morning.

Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath.

The secret to Christmas card perfection

I apologize for not sharing my secret to success sooner, but maybe this will help you get prepared for next Christmas. It's only 11 months away!

Last year, I shared my 15 easy steps to creating a Christmas card. This year, I've cut out a bunch of steps and made life easier (and this year, I didn't need ANY smarties).

So here ya go!

1. Realize that it's already December and your kids don't have any cutsie Christmas clothes.

2. Pull out the kid sized Christmas aprons and whip up a batch of frosting.

3. Sit kids and dog in front of the Christmas tree. Give each kid a whisk full of frosting.

4. Sit with camera in the same spot, make sure everyone is in the frame and just start snapping as they (including the dog) clean off the whisks.

5. Take whisks from kids before they (including the dog) puke.

6. Upload pictures and realize there is not one single picture of both kids looking at the camera.

7. Put out a plea for Photoshop help on facebook.

8. Send two of the best pics to high school buddy who has mad photo shopping skills.

9. **Most important step** Have said high school buddy switch heads in the photo. Now you have ONE picture with BOTH kids looking at the camera (Muhahahahaha ::evil laugh::).

10. Upload to shutterfly, pick up at Target in an hour and voila! Super mom!

Now, some might call this cheating, but I think it's just using available resources. It's not like I used photoshop to make my kids cuter (because they couldn't be any cuter if they tried) and I didn't make it look like we were at our winter homes in the Alps, I just made it look like both kids were able to look at the camera at the same time, making this year the FIRST year our Christmas card photo shoot could actually be described as "merry!"

Forgot one!

So this is from the beginning of December. Nugget has come to the point in his life that mothers of toddlers dread-nap dropping. If he took a nap, he couldn't settle down until later in the evening, but if he didn't take a nap, he became a maniac monster around 4:45 pm.

This was a maniac monster day. As I'm running around behind the tasmanian devil, I see him go over to the fridge. "Do not open the door!" I say, as he opens the door. Before I could get over to him, he had pulled out the Costco size package of hotdogs and was holding it upside down. There was a hole in the bag small enough to keep the hot dogs from falling out but large enough to let all of the hot dog juice (which smells disgusting) drip all over the floor including the carpet in the next room.

AHHHH!!!

To keep him contained, I put him in time out and told him he had to sit there until I got the mess cleaned up. I attacked the floors and went to scrubbing. I noticed he got really quiet. Before I cold finish the floors, I looked over and saw this:

Poor little buddy! And as I went to grab my phone to take a picture, Strip, seeing Nugget on the floor, disappeared as well...

Sweet sister! She got him all tucked in with Figment to snuggle with. And, yes, don't worry, I moved him to the couch after our 2 minute photo shoot.

The thrill is gone

Last year, every time a flake appeared in the sky, the kids went nuts and would want to bundle up for some yard time. This year? Not so much.

Our first big snow was kind of slushy and gross, but the next one was beautiful! Strip got some new pink snow pants, so I thought she would be thrilled. As much as I didn't want to "play" outside, I got the kids bundled and 15 minutes later, we were ready to go. I really needed to shovel the driveway because it's steep and if it gets icy neither of our cars can get up there (side note-- extra wide driveways and added garages are GREAT for things like sidewalk chalk, extra storage, car races, etc but they STINK when it comes to shoveling!).

Last year both kids fought over the orange shovel, so I was excited at the prospect of having two little helpers get the job done. However, this year? Eh.

Nugget went right to work shoveling as Strip perfected the art of snow angels. Nugget, seeing Strip, decided that looked like more fun, so he joined her in rolling around the front yard. And, because they were wearing craptastic $1 aisle mittens, about 15 minutes into the shoveling, I hear, "My hands are cold! I'm cold! I want some hot chocolate! Shoveling is booooorrrrriiiinnggg. WAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAA!"

What happened to the kids I had to DRAG in the house because it was 0* and Nugget's drool had frozen to his jacket?! They both started to loose it when I had about 33% more driveway to shovel AND it started snowing (hard) again. I told them they had to hang with me for a few more minutes outside, to which Strip replies, "Fine! I'm just going to sit in the garage then!"

A power shovel later, and the driveway is cleared. I get everyone inside and stripped down, then pour two cups of hot chocolate. We snuggle up on the couch and later, I let them play some wii. It was then that I remembered that I forgot to get the mail when I shoveled down that way. I go to the front door, and what do you know, the driveway, sidewalk and steps are nothing but a blanket of snow.

I told them for the next big snow, I'm putting pool toys all over the yard so they will get buried and the kids will have to dig them out. Both agreed that my idea sounded fun. I'm wondering if I can convince them that some are hiding in the driveway so they will be productive instead of digging up the yard!

Recap post

Sorry, I've been out of touch lately. We've had either a revolving door of company or been on the road since, oh, October? Add in Christmas and New Years and there's no time for blogging. So I'll do my best to highlight the last few months in this post, and if you want to click on a link to read more, be my guest! If not, here's what you missed in the life of Nugget and Strip:

Let the revolving door begin! The first week of October, we headed to my hometown for my class reunion. Then we headed home with JUST enough time to unpack and repack for a trip to the mountains for a Hubs' sibling reunion. Then it was back for our buddies from FL to visit. A couple of weeks later, we were heading home for the great family visit, AKA Thanksgiving where we had an H1N1 scare, and then home again to prep for Christmas!

We've been having lots of fun potty training Nugget (don't be afraid to click, no gory details, I promise!), and he's doing quite well. Both kids needed some serious turkey detox after visiting all the grandparents, so we were happy to have Felix, our Elf on the Shelf, come back. Although this year, it's going to take a lot more North Pole magic to keep these two on the "nice" list. Both kids participated in the preschool's Christmas program and Nugget even joined the church's cherub choir for in impromptu performance. We had the best Christmas ever according to Strip and I've even decided to show a picture of myself because of it , then headed south for NYE in ATL.

And 2010 looks like it's going to be a good but crazy year, too. We shall see! Happy reading!

All the single ladies!

**Sorry, but every time I hear Single Ladies, I see this SNL sketch in my head and it makes me giggle, so I had to use this image. ****

Congrats to Hubs!

Shortly after New Year's we found out Hubs got a new job within the company (yay!) which means a TON of travel for him (booo!). The majority of our relationship was long distance and when we were in FL he was traveling too, so this is nothing new. It will be tougher this time around because the kids are older and will REALLY miss him. And I've become accustomed to him having around on a normal basis.

It's been great knowing that most ballet days, Hubs can get home to hang with Nugget and on nights that I need to work, 98% of the time, Hubs can be home to feed and put the kids to bed. Not for long! He got the promotion on Monday and by 1:00 he was already in the new job. He already has two weeks of travel scheduled. The good news? The weeks he's out of town, I make a giant vat of spaghetti and we just eat that all.week.long. Love it. And even though I know he's probably out eating filet on the company's dime, meal planning is much easier!

It's going to be a very interesting start to the new year. Thank goodness I booked my plane ticket to visit a friend in Jersey the night before he got the promotion and he was able to adjust his plans to make it back before I leave. Let the tag-team-parenting begin!

Garth can keep is friends in low places

'Cause we got friends in high places!

Happy New Year! PaPa and UP hit the road the day after Christmas, but Ma stayed here to hang with the kids. Hubs and I drove down to Atlanta for his cousin's wedding. Most people said, "Oh, a wedding on New Years? That kinda sucks." But we were stoked because we knew it was going to be an AWESOME weekend. Smack in the middle of downtown Atlanta with the top of the building all to ourselves, we were ready to party and celebrate with the Fam.

There were some other friends in *high* places there as well because the Panic weekend patrons were also staying on our floor. It was fun sharing the elevator in a Badgley Mischka dress and super tall shoes with a girl who had no shoes, no bra and dreads. Clearly we were not going to the same event.

Anyway, the wedding was beautiful, the party was great and at midnight, we all went up the the helipad to toast midnight. Let me tell you, Security was not pleased that we were up there. And when you think about it, a helipad is NOT the safest place for New Year's party-ers to be. Unlike the top of the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building, helipads have no guard rails, obviously because that would make it a little difficult for the helicopters to land. So instead of a large fence or barrier, we had this:

This picture really doesn't do it justice because I had my zoom on, but it's basically a tiny net that on the left side of this picture stops and you would fall to your death in the middle of Baker Street. Security became even more worried when the boy cousins and the bride teetered to the edge of the building for a picture. Then the bride screams, "Pick me up!!" so they did and I've never seen the men in black jump so high!

We had such a good time hanging out with the family, especially the cousins who we don't get to see much. We all ended up in the Honeymoon suite hanging with the happy couple, then we all made it back to our rooms. Hubs and I got into a "heated discussion" for lack of a better term that was REALLY something that needed to happen, but I hope it doesn't turn into a New Years tradition. We hugged everyone goodbye on Saturday and had a nice, leisurely drive back. I've got to say, a 9 hour drive feel a lot shorter when I'm not constantly turned around to pick up a car, open a snack, hand back a juice box or stop every hour and a half for a pit stop.

And now it's back to reality (and laundry, and cooking, and scrubbing toilets...). Wouldn't have it any other way!