Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas 2009 was, at the very least, quite eventful.

On Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for our family party. Sadly, I don't really have any pictures from the party this year. I decided to put my camera down and ENJOY. Besides...it's nighttime and indoors - not the best conditions for picture taking.

So, you will have to settle for these two pictures we took before we left:

After the wonderful party, we returned home, left cookies out for Santa, carrots for the reindeer - we only left one carrot, but we cut it into nine pieces...Emily's idea - and the girls went to bed. While Eric and I were taking care of some "stuff" downstairs, our youngest daughter was having a little trouble falling asleep. After a few attempts of trying to get her to go back to sleep, I decided to give her some Benedryl. She had been a little stuffy, and I thought that this may be the reason she was so crabby.....not so much. The Benedryl came back up, as did the rest of her stomach contents. Lovely. And she was now screaming. So, there was much panic in the house. Bed stripping, child washing, sheet washing, and finishing up our business downstairs. And, by the way, Emily slept through ALL OF IT. My champion sleeper.

So, a tired crew woke up on Christmas morning to a mound of presents. Paige was most excited about her Elmo underwear - which I neglected to get a picture of, because at that point she was still on my lap. Emily ripped through her gifts in about 3 minutes. Then she ripped through Paige's - Paige literally stopped after opening the underwear...and that was the first thing she opened.

After a while, things calmed down. And little children got caught up in all their new stuff.





And now, I am recovering from Strep Throat. Yes, the fun around here never ends. But, I am feeling MUCH better than I was last night. I am hoping the throat pain subsides soon...I am REALLY sick of jello, popsicles and soup. I WANT PIZZA!!!

Hope your Christmas was magical, and a lot less messy!!

Friday, December 18, 2009

a couple videos...

I shot these videos this past week - but with everything going on, this is the first time I could post them. Enjoy!!



Thursday, December 17, 2009

the rest...

Emily had a WONDERFUL Seventh Birthday. She wore another birthday crown all day at school - missed her name being read during morning announcements because she was at computer class...oh well, got serenaded by her whole class, received a free ice cream from the principal, got lots and lots of very nice gifts, some pretty cool flowers, and her favorite chocolate-chocolate cake. She also had a very nice dinner at Red Robin with us, Grandma, Aunt Teresa and Uncle Denny. A FULL day. Also a school night - which meant that Emily had to go to bed without really getting to play with her presents. Poor girl. Well, she has a whole two weeks off of school starting Friday afternoon...so I don't feel too bad for her. She's going to need that amount of time just to put together 1/2 of the Lego set that she got from the Marcikic clan!!

Some more pictures:



Paige helped Emily with her candles....

Emily FINALLY got her Bendaroos (from Grandma)...

The aforementioned Lego set...

AND, a couple pictures I took of Paige this afternoon....

And now...ON TO CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

SEVEN

Emily is SEVEN today. Actually, she'll be 7 at 7pm. But....we started celebrating this morning.

But first, on Sunday night, she left me this note:


Okay, Emily. Queen for the day it is.....

And because there wasn't really time for birthday pancake this morning...we had birthday scrambled eggs.
We made "E" cookies for her birthday treat at school today. There will be much celebrating tonight - we will be having dinner at her favorite place, Red Robin, and then chocolate cake, ice cream and presents at home.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, crazy, silly, creative, imaginative, super-smart, super-adorable, girl. I can't believe seven years have passed since the day you were born.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Brunch with Santy Claus

So, let's just say that my instincts were correct....Paige and Santa....not so much. And can I just say one thing....I LOVE my husband - BUT - I offered to hold Paige next to Santa. And why did I offer this? Well, because, I would have made sure that my sweet girls dress was not hiked up. If you really want to know, I think THIS is the real reason she was crying. :) LOVE YOU HUNNY!!!

At least my Emily was totally into it.
She was completely nervous sitting up there. She forgot to tell Santa that she wanted new roller blades. So, when the line died down, Eric took her back so she could let him know.

I asked her, "Em, do you think that's the real Santa?"
"Yes, Mom. BUT, where's his sleigh? I didn't see it parked out front."
"Oh, the sleigh is back at the North Pole getting loaded up with presents." Eric says.
"Santa probably flew coach."

Coach. Really??

Friday, December 11, 2009

yesterday

This was the scene yesterday morning - a dusting, if you will. The first one of the season. And, to accompany it - FRIGID temperatures. It's all gone this morning, but the freezing temperatures have stuck around.

Well, HELLO there, Old Man Winter. Be gentle this year, okay?

Have a superb weekend - the girls are visiting Santa on Sunday morning. Should be interesting. Betcha Paige is not amused.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

not so traditional


So, by now, those of you that are on my list, have received your Gottlieb Family Christmas card. And, although, I was very happy with the picture we chose, the above photo...was my favorite. I was trying to be a little different. I thought it was cute. But, we decided to go with traditional.....oh well.

(and by "we", I mean, Eric. Ho hum.)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

i stuck...

One of the cutest things on two legs...in my completely unbiased opinion. She likes to put herself in small places and tell us she's stuck. She also does this in my office - she puts half her body under the couch, and then says, "I stuck Mom." I think it's pretty funny.



(Also - she loves all things stripey. No DNA test needed....definitely my kid)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

splish, splash

The ENTIRE bathroom was covered in water...but they had FUN!

Have a GOOD, CLEAN Tuesday!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

weekend....

We had a somewhat relaxing weekend....somewhat. We didn't have any major plans. I wrapped a bunch of presents on Saturday, finished up a big part of my shopping, and had a little birthday party for Emily today - she made gingerbread houses with her buddy Jenna. (Yes, I know Emily's birthday isn't for ten days, but this was a good day to get together and celebrate with her friend, so it worked out.) So that was relaxing to us this time of year.

Paigey this morning. She is so dang CUTE. If I could eat her with a spoon I would. She loves to help out in any way that she can. She is talking up a storm. And she is getting pretty good at smiling for the camera.
Her signature pout of course....


Emily and her gingerbread house - 100% her decorating.

And this is the creation of the three adults who sat around and watched the girls decorate their houses....and could not stand it any longer. So, we made a third house. Just for the adults. I decided that next year, we would have a gingerbread house decorating party for both KIDS and ADULTS. It was way too fun.

Then of course, there was CAKE.

And it ten more days it will be for real. Seven. SEVEN!!!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

this is getting to be a habit...

Yes, I am getting to be a bad blogger. But I have lots and lots of excuses if you are interested....you are? GREAT.

I had lots of people over to my house for Turkey day. Perhaps you were one of them. We had such a nice time. Just they way a Thanksgiving should be.

And we took at least 20 pictures to get this one where almost everyone is not making a goofy face. For this, I am thankful.

Then on Friday, Christmas rolled into town. AND, even though most of the world was out bargain shopping, I did not even leave my house. It was DELIGHTFUL. I am a BIG fan of getting my shopping done early, and cyber-Monday.
Emily was a BIG help this year. She decorated a lot of the tree with me. And Paige "helped out" when she woke up from her nap.
On Saturday, while I was at a twelve hour scrapbooking event, Eric and the girls kept themselves very busy. They went to the park, did some Christmas shopping, and returned a bib to Miss Emerson.



On Sunday, we took our Christmas picture. NO, neither of the following pictures are featured on the card. They are just so DARN cute, I had to share. Then we went to my Mom's place and helped her set up her tree. Then we went home and collapsed. Oh, Eric collapsed AFTER he drove back to my Mom's house and got my purse....oops.
And that was our Thanksgiving weekend. Fun, Family, Food, Festivities, and FATIGUE. Must be all that turkazoaic acid. :)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Play

Emily's Thanksgiving Play and Feast was yesterday. It was totally adorable - and my girl - Narrator #2 - totally ROCKED her three lines.

This is what she had to say about it:


When I got to the classroom, she was seated with her class in the front of the room. Then they all left and the play began.
These two came back in and delivered their lines with EXPERTISE. :) Then the pilgrims came, met the Indians and decided to get together and have a FEAST.

(I have TONS more photos...but they don't have Emily in them, and do you really need to see them??)
Sitting at the "feast".
Singing a Thanksgiving song with her buddies.
Then we had the real feast - Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets, tater tots, corn, sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, ham, turkey, cookies, pie, and CHOCOLATE eclairs. Delish.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving - and hope your feasts are as good as the above....because no Thanksgiving feast would be complete without Mickey chicken. ;)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

sorry for the interruption....

I was not really intending on taking a blog break, but has just happened like that. We have had so much sickness around here - and then the minute everyone got better, we are off and running again.

Some pictures from the past week:

Paige reading bedtime stories to her babies.

Storytime at the North Branch library. There's LOTS of dancing at this storytime, and she LOVES it.

Making fake phone calls on my old cell phone.

Emily went to a Lego building contest at the library on Saturday - and she WON!! They had to build an amazing toy. So she built this car thing. She was so surprised when they called her name. And so were we. She won a little Lego kit. I am so very proud of her!!

Made the infamous rolls for Thanksgiving on Sunday. They didn't turn out, so I had to re-make them with my Mom yesterday. I guess I rolled the dough out too thin, and they didn't rise enough. Oh well.

Eric put out the rest of the OUTSIDE Christmas decor on Sunday.
Emily had to make an Indian vest for her Thanksgiving play at school today. We had no time all weekend long, so Eric and Emily ended up making it on Sunday night - total last minute.

Rolls from yesterday. This is what there supposed to look like when they are finished. Mine were half that size, and weighed twice as much. We also made Peerogs - the ones with bacon inside - as well. I am EXHAUSTED.

Our house all lit up.
Have a GREAT Thanksgiving everyone!!