My Seven Favorites!

I was surprised when my friend Katie posted her 7 favorites because I thought I knew her better than I did. So I thought it would be fun to see how well you all know me! Let me know if you know me better than I know myself!

My 7 favorite actors:
1. Brad Pitt
2. Keanu Reeves
3. Matthew McConaughey
4. Sandra Bullock
5. Demi Moore
6. Ashley Tisdale
7. Miley Cyrus

My 7 favorite Movies:
1. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
2. A Lot Like Love
3. Holiday
4. Stealing Home
5. The Cutting Edge
6. What's Love Got to Do With It?
7. Save the Last Dance

My 7 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Brothers and Sisters
2. Prison Break
3. Fame
4. Dawson's Creek
5. Friends
6. Ellen
7. Dora

My 7 Favorite Musicians:
1. Madonna
2. Pink
3. Fleetwood Mac
4. The Cure
5. Violent Femmes
6. Snoop Dogg
7. Britney Spears

My 7 favorite Things to Read:
1. Nora Roberts books
2. Amish books
3. People Magazine
4. Mary Higgins Clark books
5. Biographies
6. someone's scandalous diary
7. Blogs

My 7 Favorite Stores:
1. Janie and Jack
2. Gymboree
3. Target
4. Hallmark store (at xmas time)
5. Bath & Body Works
6. Bed Bath & Beyond
7. Pottery Barn and PB Kids

My 7 Favorite Indulgences:
1. Diamonds
2. Anything for Libby, especially clothes
3. Music
4. Cheesecake
5. Pictures, photos
6. Vacations
7. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll

My 7 Favorite Goals for the Future:
1. To be debt free
2. See Libby grow up and be truly happy.
3. To have my dream kitchen and bathroom!
4. To once again be able to wear all those "clubbin'" clothes I have stored in my attic!
5. Win the Lottery
6. Another Baby
7. World Peace.

Secret Santa Revelation!

Ok, so this really is my last post before Christmas! Since I know the person who I drew for the Secret Santa drawing at work reads my blog, I thought it would be more fun to reveal myself this way! So Michelle Scott...I am your Secret Santa! Hope you and your kids have a great Christmas! See you around the "office!"

Forget Christmas!

I just got a new steam vac over the weekend and with it came Libby's new favorite toy...the box! She loves this box because it is big, it has doors, and little holes (that were originally used for handles) that can be used to drop toys into the box! It's also big enough for her to eat her lunch in, like she is doing in the picture above! You can also turn it up so that it is a house, a hiding place, and I don't know what else! But she has played with this box for two days and eaten two meals in it! I think she already got her Christmas! I'm taking all the stuff I bought her back!

This is my last post before Christmas! I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow and enjoys the time they spend with their family and friends! I love seeing all the kids get excited at Christmas! It's the best! I can hardly wait! God has truly blessed us all! God is so good!

Christmas Party Play Date

Ryan, Ian, Regan, Libby, Jenna with Jayson

My friends from Methodist and I all got together with our kids for a little Christmas party. Our kids are all the same age, the girls and then the boys. So it works out really well when the grown-ups want to get together because all the kids can play together. We've been doing this since they were babies. So we all met at Shawn's house, had a nice lunch and the kids had a gift exchange. This is as close as we could get to a group photo with everyone smiling! It was a little better than last year...everyone was moving and looking in different directions! So 5 out of 6 isn't bad! The kids had so much fun playing with each other, and it was nice to visit with my friends and have some good food!

Gymnastics Meet

Libby had her first gymnastics meet this past Saturday. It wasn't really a competition, it was more like an exhibition for the girls who take classes at the gym. They were divided up into groups according to the difficulty of the routine they were performing. Then after all the groups went, the Kokomotion Competition team performed. That was pretty cool. There were some big girls on the team (amazon big, not Big Delores big) and they were still jumping and flipping like the smaller girls! After the team was finished with their performance Santa arrived to greet all the girls and give them little treat bags! Libby noticed that this Santa was also different from the other two Santas she has seen! She is just too observant! Here are some pics from the day...they didn't turn out well because of all the fluorescent lighting in the gym and I didn't have time to adjust settings because I was trying to run the video camera too! I'm a dork!

Here are all the girls after everyone got their metals; Libby is front and center.

Here is Libby meeting Santa and getting her treat bag. The girls would climb up a ladder on one side of the mat, see Santa, then there was a slide on the other side of the mat to go down. They thought that was fun!

Here is my little Mary Lou Retton with her metal! Superstar!

Libby's Christmas Songs!

Here is Libby singing some of her Christmas songs she learned at school. I love it when she sings songs...she so darn cute! I think I'll keep her forever and ever! And no, I don't know why all of my "Libby movies" take place in the kitchen! I think I'm always cooking dinner and need some entertainment! She's definitely entertaining!

Surprise Pics!

Have you ever wondered what goes on in your house when you are at work? I usually don't...Libby isn't up that much longer after I leave for work. But when I checked my camera the other night I was surprised to find these pictures because I did not take them...and they made me laugh! Just what is Libby doing to her poor dog???

Mike was doing his laundry and had apparently just gotten all his hankies out of the dryer, so Libby thought it would be fun to make Ginger a bed and cover her up! Aren't they sweet?!

Poor Ginger, the things she does for Libby!

Meet the NEW Jack!

No, this is not my brother, Jack! This is Vosko's new little baby, John Robert IV, aka, Jack! Libby and I went to Vosko's house Wednesday to meet the new little fella. He was in the swing when we got there...Libby went over and looked at him and quickly decided that Josie looked like more fun! So Libby and Josie played, and Jack was chillin' in the swing. Libby got to help Vosko give Josie a bath, the highlight for Libby being when Josie pee'd on Vosko when she took her diaper off! Libby thought that was so funny! While they were taking care of bath time, I fed the little guy and introduced him to his Auntie Hoover. He thinks I'm cool, way cool! So here are some pics from our night at Vosko's!

Here is Jack after I changed him and before I fed him. Vosko thinks he looks funny in this pic, so don't hold it against him. I think he looks nice because he has his eyes open!

Here's Jack sleeping in the swing. He could really care less that he has visitors at this point! Can you see how huge his hands are?? He's going to be big like his daddy!

Here are Libby and Josie playing together. It's like looking at a little mini Vosko & Hoover! Hahaha! No but seriously...that is a mini Vosko!

Libby decided she might take a closer look at Jack before we went home. Josie was already in bed!

New Night Shift staff

For my work friends...
I thought you would like to know they hired a new night shift wow person. I'll will be doing the orienting, since I am the best person for the job! Here is his resume that he submitted to HR to help you to get to know him better...Oh, did I forget to tell you it was a guy??


Resimay

To hoom it mae cunsern, I waunt to apply for the job what I saw in the paper. I can Type realee quik wit one finggar and do sum a counting..

I think I am good on the phone and I no I am a pepole person, Pepole really seam to respond to me well. Certain men and all the ladies.

I no my spelling is not to good but fi nd that I Offen can get a job thru my persinalety .

My salerery is open so we can discus wat you want to pay me and wat you think that I am werth, I can start emeditely.

Thank you in advanse fore yore anser.

hopifuly Yore best aplicant so farr.
Sinseerly,

BRYAN

PS : Because my resimay is a bit short - below is a pickture of me.

Employer's Response:

Bryan,

It's ok honey, we've got spell check. See you Monday!

Tree Toppers

Here is a Christmas story for all of you to enjoy!

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered. Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the rum. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Hahaha! What were you really expecting?!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

It's that time of the year again! Christmas card time!!! I know some people like to go to a real studio for their Xmas card pictures...but not me! (well I would, I just never have!) Instead, I try to capture the spirit of Xmas myself! This has led to some pretty tacky Xmas cards in the past...I was looking for our Xmas cards from the previous years...If I find them I will post them some other time. I liked them at the time, I think, and I still like them now because it's my little Libby in the pictures. But, I think when she grows up she may look back at them and ask me, not for the first time I'm sure, "Mom, what were you thinking?" So here we go, another year, another Xmas card! I really do think I am getting better! Or is Libby getting better? Either way...Here are some of the pictures that didn't make it on the Xmas card this year! I don't want to call them rejected pictures, because I love all Libby's pictures! But it's just not practical to send out Christmas card posters!!!

We started out well! These are Libby's new jammies! I love them on her! She looks so grown up and fancy in them!

This pic DID make the card, but I wanted to explain what she is doing to Ginger...
She is trying to make her smile! Isn't that too funny?!



I think this is only Ginger's 2nd year in the Xmas card. She doesn't quite get the concept yet! She is also wearing her little Xmas snowman tshirt and I couldn't get her positioned so it would show up in the picture.
And then we take a short break for a change in outfits! Yes, I do all this to my daughter right before bedtime!

Now we are back and Libby is wearing her new princess dress. But she's not ready to pose for pictures, she's ready to dance!

She's a dancin'...

...dancin'...

...dancin' machine!

Still dancing? She's losing steam!

I really like this picture! She looks like a princess with her dress all spread out around her, and she's just looking up at me like she's the sweetest, most innocent girl (like her mommy)! This was actually one of my pics for the Xmas card, but I couldn't find a card that would hold 4 pictures. SO it got bumped!

Libby has had enough of the smiles...she wants to make funny faces!

This was a concept that we couldn't quite capture on film...

She is blowing kisses...mmmmmwaw!

I think she was getting hostile!

This is her "on-demand" fake smile. I try to explain to her there is such a thing as too much smile!

I do like this picture, but it is too serious for a Xmas card. She looks like a little doll...her eyes look really blue and her lips are nice and rosy!

Notice the facial expression and the hands on the hips! If she were standing up, her foot would be tapping, too!

I'm not sure what's up with the disco finger! I'd say she was dancing again, but she is sitting down.

This picture was a close runner-up, but in the end it didn't make the cut due to the borderline too-cheesy smile.

This was actually a good picture, but it's so hard to see ginger because she's black and Libby's dress is black. So many things to consider when trying to get the perfect Xmas card! You all thought I just took three pictures and threw them on the card! I think I took something like 43 pictures! And aren't you glad I'm not posting them all!

Libby wanted to me to take a picture of her big straddle. Gymnastics filters into everything she does!

This was actually the next morning. She wanted me to take MORE pictures of her...can you believe it??? So her she is modeling her antlers with the bells. This could have gone on forever, luckily my camera card was suddenly full!

OK, so I deleted a few pics to make room for more... Here is Libby standing next to her stocking that I made her. And yes, it does get filled, really it gets overfilled believe it or not! Last year it actually pulled the hook off the wall! I know I need to practice a little self control, but I love doing Xmas...stuffing her stocking is probably my favorite part!

Snow Day!

Libby was very ecstatic to wake up Sunday morning and see snow! I had been working Saturday night and was planning to stop at Lowe's on the way home from work to pick up some new outdoor Christmas lights. While I was picking out the lights I get a call from Libby. She wanted to know what shoes she should wear outside!We had just given her snow boots to my niece because Libby had outgrown them and we hadn't replaced them yet. Oh crap! I'm trying to think which shoes would be best for snow and Libby suggests her rain boots. I guess that's better than tennis shoes! Go ahead! After leaving Lowe's I feel guilty that my baby is going to be playing in the snow wearing rain boots. So I stop at Target on my way home and pick her up some snow boots...and some Xmas decorations...and Xmas presents...and a new outfit...I remember why I never go shopping after working all night! My brain is no longer able to rationalize! When I get home, Libby is already outside playing, Mike is plowing the drive, and they have already built a snowman...it is almost 10:30 when I get home! I bribe Libby into coming inside so she can wear her new snow boots and she immediately heads back outside. I follow her with my camera so I can get a few pictures of her playing in the snow then I head back inside to bed! After all, I should have been in bed 4 hours ago! That damn Target!

Libby and her snowman.

Libby hugging her snowman!

Now she's throwing snowballs at my truck. One of them made me duck, it went right by my head!

Another treasure from Target... A snowman t-shirt for Ginger! Libby thought that was hilarious!

We also put the Xmas tree up last night. But half of the lights on the tree weren't working so we had to go to Lowe's to get more lights. Libby was not going to wait one more day to put the Xmas tree up! While we were looking around at all the Xmas stuff at Lowe's, I found these sleigh bells. Being the creative mommy that I am, I put them around Libby's waist so she could wear them as a belt. Watch the movie below to see the Xmas monster I created!

She's my Jingle Bell Baby!