He-Man Woman Haters Plague.

Sickness known as the "He-Man Woman Haters Plague" struck my house.

You know about Caroline's pink eye.

You know about Emma's pink eye.

You know about Caroline's double ear infections.

You don't know about Emma's double ear infections {Dr. told us Monday}.

You also don't know that the damn He-Man Woman Haters Plague got me. It all began with pink eye on Sunday morning.

My fabulous BIL was called. He saved my eyeball by calling in some drops.

Off to Target I went with my sister in tow. I went straight to the pharmacy and paid one big fat dollar for my medicine. I ran to the condom aisle {I mean seriously how many people have you ever seen on this aisle? My thoughts exactly} and ripped open the bag. Good thing I read the directions before putting the drops in my eye.

"How many drops does it say to use, Anna?" as I drop one... two... "I don't know. Just do three. You take everything in threes." I didn't question. I finished my third drop and moved to eye number two.

"Upp. Only one drop per eye." Anna quietly says. Fabulous. Now, I have pink eye AND I'm going to go blind from too much medicine.

I finished my shopping trip with my sunglasses on. I would have felt super PIMP {like my friend, Mira who is now rockin' the mini van} if I wasn't covering up an eye that was oozing green shit.

The worse of the He-Man Woman Haters Plague was yet to come and I didn't even now it.

I woke up Monday morning bright and early for Emma's surgery to open her tear duct. This is a whole other post in itself. To make that long story short, Emma did not have the surgery and her doctor was kind enough to diagnose me with cellulitis and bless with a sweet little prescription for cephalexin.

I also felt like I had a terrible sinus infection. Scratch that. I am pretty sure I had a terrible sinus infection. I slept most of Monday. I felt well enough yesterday to take Caroline to a pottery class with friends. Today I helped a friend roll over 100 green bean bundles.

I would like to say that I kicked the He-Man Woman Haters Plague however, that would be a lie. It totally kicked my ass.

VOTE!

Do you remember when I entered the TotRags Messy Kid Photo Contest?

Emma is one of the five finalists! Yayyy!

Click HERE to vote for her. You will see all five finalists. In the upper right hand corner, you will see a place to vote for your favorite child. Just click on Emma!

Thanks guys!

{I will be back soon with posts. I have been sick and I just don't feel up to doing much of anything.}

Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Lafone Family

Randoms.

- Christmas shopping= not done
Christmas= 2 days away

- I titled a post "Plaqued" when it should have said "Plagued"... you know like the Great Plague {bubonic plague, black death, etc.}. At my house, it is called the Pink Plague.

- Big and Bug are feeling better. Thank goodness.

- My bottom half of my Christmas tree looks terrible. It is missing ornaments and the lights are hanging off. It is beautiful. Really catches the eye when you walk into our home.

- We decided on a date for the Bloggy Get-Together and we are really excited. Hope you can come!

- I am addicted to Californication. Watching season one instantly on Netflix has been great.

- My throat is hurting. I hope I am not getting sick from my germ infested children. I probably am.

- We went out to eat tonight with my MIL and FIL. Good thing I was on top of my mama game. I totally had children's tooth paste in my hair. I even had to taste it to see what it was. I knew I never saw Caroline's spit in the sink when I turned the water on.

- If you see me out and about today, I will be shopping for stocking stuffers. I will be with two of my best friends and their children. There will be 3 adults and 4 children ages... 4 months to 3 years. Wish us luck. Why do we do this to ourselves? I will never know.

My lover singing a Christmas carol.

Tim not Alicia.

Just wanted to clear that up for you.


You're welcome.

Chaos.

Here is a video that I debated putting on the blog. I've had it for a while. Bug's hair is out of control... Caroline picks her nose the whole video. It is chaos. However, it is my life. Enjoy.



{PS- I have done all of my recent videos with the Kodak Zi8 HD pocket cam. I won it in a name contest for the camera. They liked the new name I picked for the camera, I won a camera. Anyway, it rocks. We absolutely love it. I know this is a little late but if you are looking for an AWESOME Christmas present for your loved one... buy the Kodak Zi8. It is totally worth it!}

{PS- I was not asked, paid, or given anything to talk about this camera. This is just my opinion that I am publicly posting. Thanks.}

The bark.

The little nugget is glued to me.

I cannot eat, sleep, pee, shower, move, breathe, etc without her being stuck to me. As I sit and type, she is sitting in my lap pulling my hands away from the keyboard... all while dropping Fudge Round crumbs all in between the keys and wiping her disgusting chocolaty hands all over my body.

I have taken her off of amoxicillin because I am a doctor and all because she has an upset stomach and a terrible diaper rash. We called it quits on the amoxicillin last night when when we noticed she had broken out in a rash all over her body. Fun times.

I am the one that changes the diapers. Ryan has only ever changed one in Bug's whole life therefore, I am the bad guy. She kicks, screams, shakes. The kid is in pain and she is screaming for her "Dada" {aka non-diaper changer} to help her. He marches his happy ass over to get her so that he can say, "mean mommy" and make the world rainbows and sunshine again. Jerk.


She has cried and whined most of the day. This has led me to lose a little bit of my brain. During one such crying episode, I could not make her happy and so I did what any mother would do. I barked at her like a dog. It scared the poo out of her but she got quiet.

Now, excuse me while I go wipe the dried snot off of my face, clean the boogers out of my hair and bark at my child. Oh, I am also going to go sit by the door and wait for the non-diaper changer to get home so that I can go tee-tee alone. I am soooo looking forward to it.

Caroline & Bug's tree.

I got this little white tree at an after Christmas sale for $5. You can't beat that right?

The pink and red {and sparkly} tree skirt came from Pier 1 during there close out sale for a whooping $3.

I spent more on the ornaments than I did the actual tree and tree skirt.



Every year, I would get a Holiday Barbie with the matching ornament. Thank goodness because all of my Holiday Barbie ornaments were all we had our first year of marriage.




To make the tree super girly, I made sure to have TONS of glitter. The girls love it and so do I.

Plagued.

Pink eye with possible infection of the soft tissue around the eye.

She has had no fever so there isn't a huge concern for infection. So, eye drops and amoxicillin should do the trick.

I am sick of sick babies.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!

Faith is hosting a Christmas Card Carousel. Our Christmas cards were put in the mail Tuesday.

Hopefully, everyone has theirs.

Here you go my bloggy friends...


Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

PS- snapfish did not print them on the card stock I wanted but they were still beautiful. :-) SUPER HUGE THANK YOU to Fern for making exactly what I wanted. She was awesome to work with and I will DEFINITELY be using her again in the future!

Wanna see...

... what a double ear infection with pink eye looks like?


Pray that Caroline recovers quickly. This is our first ear infection{s} and first case of pink eye EVER. It has not been fun.


PS- We are missing our preschool Christmas program and party today. She may have thrown a fit in the car on the way to the doctor when she heard me calling her preschool. Fun times.

How the Mama got her babe to wear piggy tails at Chirstmas.

She turned around fast and she heard someone say hey.
Lil' Emma Rae,
Who really liked to play.


She stared at the Mama and said, "Mommy, why? Why are you putting my hair in piggy tails? Why?"


But do you know, that ole' Mama was so smart and so slick, that she thought up a fib and she thought it up quick.

"Why my sweet little tot..."

The silly Mama said...

"...all princesses wear a piggy tail. And you my sweet dear, really do, wear them so well."

Caramel Popcorn.

Baby hands were all in the popcorn bowl when we made THIS today! It was so easy to make and it was super yummy!

Mike's Farm.

Last Thursday was my FIL's birthday,
this is how it was spent...
I threw a bow in Emma's hair,
and off to the farm we went.


The signs were funny,
the mood was light.
We knew it would be
a fabulous night.




We heard great things,
about the food they prepared.
It was family style,
so we all shared.

The mac & cheese
was to die for.
If you have a similar recipe,
I need it for sure.

Fudge galore,
10-layer cakes,
It makes you wonder
how long someone bakes.


Hay rides,
and Christmas lights.
It was a cold, Christmasy,
wonderful night!


-------------------------------------------

Mike's Farm was awesome. This was our first visit. The children loved it... we loved it. We can't wait to go back again.

If you live in the Eastern NC area, this is a must do! Put it on your list of places to visit in NC. {Did you know they were featured in Southern Living? Yep, they were!}


PS- Don't forget to eat all the mac & cheese you can. PPS- If you are going, let me know and I will send a few Tupperware containers with you. You can sneak me some home.

WTH?

Dear Disney on Ice people,



Saturday we went to your show. It was awesome. Caroline and her friends loved it. She dressed up in her Cinderella costume and was adorable.

{If you make the picture larger, you can see Britney's gum.}

She was so excited about seeing all of the princesses. This is where we have a little problem. You had all of the princesses. Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine, Tinkerbelle, Tiana {the new princess}, Belle, Alice. We even saw Lilo and Mulan. I don't really consider these people princesses but whatev. Who did you NOT include in the show? Aurora... aka Sleeping Beauty. I mean, WTH? Do you know how awesome it was to have to explain why Sleeping Beauty wasn't there? It sucked actually. During the Valentine's day portion of your show, my kid didn't enjoy the last half of it because she was so concerned about Sleeping Freakin' Beauty.

Just tell me this, how do you remember to include someone like Mulan in your Disney on Ice show but totally forget to include Sleeping Beauty?

You might want to reconsider your princess choices. Caroline and all of the other little girls would greatly appreciate it.

Also, the fact that I spent $15 on a snow cone and $22 on a spinning toy was not ideal either. We are in a recession, people! My friend bought a 20 oz. Diet Pepsi. Guess how much she paid for that bad boy? FOUR DOLLARS and some change. I would rather you charge more for your tickets and less for your concession items. Just something to think about. I mean really... I can buy three 2-liter Diet Pepsi's for what Arrin paid for her 20 oz.


Anyway, other than that we had an awesome time.

Two hours, one intermission, $37, and one blue mouth later... it was totally worth it.


Love,
Concerned Mom

PS- How smart was this guy {pictured below}? However, I'm betting he paid at least $7 for that one beer. I'm.just.sayin.

Guest Posting.

Hey y'all!

I am guest posting for Holly at Her Southern Heart today!

It is a post I wrote a while back but it is one of my favorites. I am hoping her readers will enjoy it too!

Head OVER THERE and leave me some lovin'!!!

Christmas Meme.

Lindsey at McAulay Moments tagged me.

Here it goes...

1.) Have you started your Christmas shopping? As of this past Friday, I can say yes. Yes, I have started my Christmas shopping.

2.) Tell me about one of your special traditions. On Christmas Eve my family, Mom, Dad, Anna, my aunt Lesley, uncle Keith, Carey, Mary George, Nana, Daddy George, and uncle Brandon all spend the night together.

3.) When do you put up your Tree? I usually do it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We were a little late this year.

4.) Are you a Black Friday shopper? No. However, I do want to go one year just to see what I can find AND so that I can say I have been.

5.) Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home? We stay at home. Well, we stay in our hometown. We travel 5 minutes down the road.

6.) What is your funniest Christmas memory? Telling Caroline that Santa was watching her through the window and she cried for 30 minutes. She was scared to death. We thought it was hilarious.

7.) What is your favorite Christmas Movie of All time? Elf. "I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands."

8.)Do you do your own Christmas Baking, what’s your favorite treat? I love to bake. I love to make chocolate bark, mini turtles, Honey Bun Cake and Kelly's cake balls.

9.) Fake or Real Tree? At first we were fake tree people. I think Ryan just didn't want to deal with a real one. Last year, I talked him into a real tree and now he loves them. They are absolutely beautiful and they smell amazing!

10.) What day (as a Mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done? Today. It has set in today.

11.) Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve? Most definitely.

12.) What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas? I love Christmas Eve. It is a laid-back night. It is so fun to be with family.

13.) What Christmas craft do you like the best? Dough ornaments.

14.) Christmas music. Yes or No, and if yes what is your favorite song? Yes. As I shared with you earlier in December, Taylor Swift's Silent Night is my favorite.

15.) When do you plan to finish all your shopping? I am sure it will be Christmas Eve.

I tag everyone who just wants to play along!

Ice cream is better anyway.

Visiting Santa was a big ordeal.

Part of me knew they wouldn't sit in his lap.

At least they could ride the train though, right?

Well, actually, not right.

Emma was too young. The sign said AGES 3-12. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Whatev.

At least Caroline could ride, right?

Well, actually, not really.

It took 4.3 minutes of talking to get her on the train. She would have much rather gone to the doctor and gotten a shot than ride that train.

I had to promise to walk beside her.

However, the train was just too fast. I couldn't keep up. She lived. She loved it. It was over.

Lord forbid we ask the nuggets to talk to Santa. They might have gone nuts on us.

Instead, we went and ate ice cream.

Which got me thinking. Why do we even ask/push our children to go see and sit on Santa's lap?

You know, if you think about it the whole tradition is a bit morbid and weird.

"Hey, if you want presents you have to go see on a big, fat, smelly old man's lap."

What? Who came up with that?

Caroline and Bug, Santa will come see you regardless. You don't have to sit on Santa's lap. I will never make you do it if you don't want to.

I'd much rather just go out for ice cream anyway.
-------------------------------------------

The pictures were terrible... all two of them.


Don't you worry. Britney had her gum in her mouth that day.

promise.

i have no time to blog.

i am pooped tonight.

tomorrow i will blog.

promise.

night at the farm.

christmas shopping.

disney on ice.

we have been busy.

i must sleep now.

see y'all tomorrow.

promise.

I met an angel...

... smacking gum with cute pink kicks on. Just call her Britney Spears.




Don't think that little Britney stopped smacking the gum to ride in the parade. Pshh! Whatev.




Smack away BitBit... smack away.

I heart TotRags.

TotRags is having messy photo contest. Y'all know I love a good picture contest. When I saw it, I immediately thought of this picture of Emma in her TotRags bib after she had eaten lunch.


Head over to TotRags for your chance to win! Good luck!

It is not always rainbows and sunshine.

"Why can't I ever find what I am looking for?"

"Because you have too many clothes. I mean really, Ryan, you still have a shirt that you wore in the 9th grade. That is ridiculous."

The fight continued. It turned into me "not washing clothes, not being organized, blahblahblah."

"Like, where are my blue pants I just bought?" he asked.

"I don't know."

He rolls his eyes.

"I remember washing them. They are in this room somewhere. Maybe if you didn't throw all of your clothes on the floor as you search for one item, you would be able to find them," I said.

"Well, where are they?"

The fight continued... and continued... and continued.

I still could not find the freaking pants.

"I think you sit around and try to think of things that you "can't find". Like "where is that blue long sleeve shirt?" Do you know how many blue long-sleeved shirts you have? A million. I am just going to throw all of your clothes away. You wear 5 of the 467 shirts that you have. You wear 2 pairs of the 78 pairs of jeans you have. I am done. I am over all of your clothes."

"Well, where are the blue pants?"

I really was done. I did want any normal, angry wife would do. I said, "I ate them."

30 minutes later, we are no longer speaking. I go downstairs to fold a load of clothes. I open the dryer. The blue pants were there.

Enter rainbows and sunshine. My life was good again.
---------------------------------------

Are any of your husbands nutjobs that keep clothes that they don't wear? Lord forbid you box any of them up and make room for other stuff. It is driving me nuts.

Come out come out, wherever you are.

If you are a blogger in the Eastern NC area and want to get together for a girls night... e-mail me or Carrie at bloggygettogether@gmail.com

We will add you to our private blog list to discuss dates and other information.

I just started a discussion about the date.

Come out of the wood works guys! You can participate even if you aren't a blogger. Maybe you just read our blogs but don't blog yourself. That is fine. We would love to meet our readers! The more the merrier.

E-MAIL ME! bloggygettogether@gmail.com

~ Hailey

Tuesday Randoms.

1- I still don't have my Christmas decorations up. What can I say? I'm on top of things like that.

2- No, I have not started Christmas shopping either.

3- I did help my Nana put the lights on her tree. That counts for something, right?

4- I don't know how much longer the "Santa scare tactic" is going to work on Caroline.

5- She had multiple meltdowns today. She pushed her friend down at school, she ran away from me and hit me all within a 2 minute period of time. Let's just say, today was not her day.

6- I just watched Four Christmases. {It actually took me all day to watch it.} It was a great movie. I highly recommend it.

7- I have taken no pictures this week.

8- I have an idea of an excellent Christmas gift for Ryan. {Sara Bersticker, I might need your help with this one.}

9- I am hopefully getting some new glasses tomorrow. Mine are broken. I can't see anything. I drove to dinner the other night and Ryan almost grabbed the wheel 4 times. He stresses when I drive. Heck, I stress when I drive. I have got to get new glasses like ASAP!

10- I had a lunch date with my sister Saturday. We also had Starbucks {Caramel Brulee latte}, did a little shopping at TJ Maxx and had pedicures. The pedicures were fabulous. I decided on OPI Got the Blues for Red. It is my favorite red polish. {You already know that Russian Navy is my all-time favorite polish though}

11- Ashlee Simpson on Melrose Place is just painful to watch. Maybe tonight is her last episode.

12- Who is excited about The Hills?????

13- This is the most boring post I have ever written. I hope you enjoyed it.

Sneak Peek.

 

All 8 million pictures from the photo shoot with the girls a couple of weeks ago.

They cooperated well which was an accomplishment in itself.

Once the actual cards are been sent, I will make the big reveal!

Not Me! Monday.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
--------------------------------------------------------
I did not beg for a date night. It has not been 3 weeks since our last date night.

Ryan did not surprise me by saying he wanted me to choose between Koi {a little Asian bistro} and Southern Exposure.

Where Southern Exposure is located, is not a semi-long drive. I did not choose it anyway.

It is not an eclectic little getaway, tucked away in a little Southern town with a population less than 800.

It was not awesome... as usual.

I did not get the usual pork chop with BBQ drizzle. The meal was not complete with the mac & cheese noodle cake and collards.

Ryan did not have crab cakes.

After everyone went to bed that night, I did not eat 3/4 of a Kit-kat.

Saturday morning, I did not blame it on Emma knowing she had only eaten 1/4 of it. I am a better mother than that.

I did not get my Christmas cards in the mail Saturday. Now, I just have to address them and put them in the mail. Hopefully I will not get it done by the end of the week.

Do you want a sneak peek? I'll think about it.

We do not need to go buy our Christmas tree.

I do not need to go buy laundry detergent.

When I run out, I do not intentionally forget to tell Ryan to go buy more because it gives me a break from washing clothes. I am not on day 2 of my break. ;-)

We did not have another birthday party last night. This one was not for my Nana. My mom did not cook her chili. I did not cook dark chocolate mini cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Everything was not delicious.


Bug did not think that it was her birthday and that everyone was singing to her.



November and December are not busy birthday months for us. Listen to this... we do not have 3 birthdays to celebrate between Christmas Eve and News Years Day. You heard me. THREE! What can I say? We do not love birthday parties.

It was an awesome weekend. Maybe I can get my house all decorated for Christmas so that I can have a great week!