Emma Happenings

Emma is still not talking at school.

She has literally said one word all year.

Seriously.

And we took her to Pizza Villa to celebrate her talking at school.

It hasn't happened since.

It is a control thing.

She will also wait until I pick her up to go tee-tee.

Her teachers say she sits on the potty but will not go.

I get there. She tee-tees.

I have no idea where she gets her stubbornness (that is a weird word to spell. I had to google it) from.

I tell people she gets it from Ryan.

We all know better than that though.

Caroline Happenings

I don't know where she gets it from.

The whole "casually smile as I'm walking on the beach and still look like a movie star" smile.

I, on the other hand, am a freak in front of the camera. I guess that is why I am always behind it. It is better that way.

This Nugget graduates next week.

Her preschool career is over and she is moving on to bigger and better things... aka elementary school.

Where has the time gone?

Scary, right?

We finished the Kindergarten registration process a few weeks ago.

Caroline had to go in and be assessed.

I quizzed for days.

What is your WHOLE name?

What is your address?

What is your birthday?

What is your phone number?

We did math. We did sounds. We.did.it.all.

As she walked in the gym with the teacher that was assessing her, I said a silent prayer that all would end well.

I sat on the grass outside of the gym, staring at 5 other parents that had been there when I walked up.

I made myself comfy...

7 or 8 minutes pass and no one had come out yet.

The door opened and we all look up to see who it is.

Caroline.

Totally not expecting that.

Nugget was done before I thought she had time to begin.

What the hell?

The teacher was all smiles and said she adjusted well. (We had a little episode about going in a strange place with a strange teacher.)

I smiled and thanked the teacher.

I felt eyes burning the back of my head. All of the other parents still waited for there kids. I'm sure they were thinking "why was she so fast?"

I got my thoughts together as we walked to the car.

As Caroline licked her lollipop in the backseat, I took a deep breath and dove right into the questions.

From what she tells me, she had to tell her name and birthday. She had to hop on one foot for 5 seconds. She had to stand on one foot with her eyes closed for 5 seconds. She had to walk on a line. Then the teacher read her a story and asked her questions.

I came home and told Ryan.

"Our child was in and out in NO TIME! I just don't know how they did all of that in 8 minutes. OMG! What are we going to do?"

He didn't seem to think it was strange that she had finished so quickly.

My judgement: She either did AMAZING or they just stamped LD on her folder and moved to the next kid.

You just never know what an extremely smart 4 year old is going to do.

You just have to cross your fingers and say your prayers.

You also have to pray she doesn't say a profanity of any sort.

I'll keep you updated on her student status.

Zoey

I haven't blogged.

I don't know how to get back into the swing of it.

I hate that it has come to this.

I've lost followers (only a few) and I hate that even more.

Ugh!

I am a random blogger. Gross.

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

On to more important things...

In the month since I've been missing, we have been busy.

I feel like I stay that way these days.

I can't seem to catch up.

There are some days that I realize that I haven't tee-teed all day.

Caroline has graduation next week and Emma has an end of the year program.

I have a day in between those two events that I get to spend at Chuck E. Cheese.

Can you sense the excitement in my writing? Doubtful.

We gained a new family member.

Meet Zoey Pearl Lafone...


Black lab. Lover of dirt, Duck and knot rope. Loves to chew.


Finder of random roots and sticks.

She is also a shitter.

We tried to make her a house dog. She was so sweet, soft, fat, and cuddly.

After pooping on my rug THREE times in two days, I declared her an outside dog.

She loves being outside.

I love not cleaning poo all of the time.

Here she is on her first beach trip...






On schedule for tomorrow... Caroline Happenings

The post where I admit I made an ignorant decision...

Sunday I was in the car with a friend.

Our 4 and 5 year olds were in the backseat chattering about the birthday parties they had all day long.

We were all jacked up on cupcakes and cake and slowly crashing from our sugar high.

My friend and I began talking as we made our trip back home.

"Hey, why did you move Caroline to a booster seat?"

Ummmm.

Ahhh.

Yeah, I don't know.

"Well, she is 4 and she is 40 pounds so I moved her."

Caroline was in a high back booster seat.

My answer bothered me to no end.

I thought about it the rest of the day and night.

Why is Caroline in a booster seat?

Because it is easier to move from car to car?

Because she is 40 pounds and 4 years old? What does that even mean?

What stupid answers, Hailey.

I finally had had enough of beating myself up.

I did what all normal parents do in a crisis such as this... I googled.

After spending a few hours researching, reading, watching youtube... I decided that moving my 4 year old to a high back booster seat was one of the most stupid and ignorant things I have ever done.

Caroline needed to be in a 5-point harness car seat.

I simply switched her to a booster for the convenience and because the law said it was "ok".

Not once did I realize the extreme danger I was putting my child in.

I guess I thought "She is safe. She is in a seat belt."

Then I saw this video... (for the record, there is no sound. YouTube removed the music.)



WOW!

What was I thinking is all I could ask myself over and over again.

Then, I watched this crash test...



The child on the right is in a 5 point harness car seat while the child closest to us is in a booster.

With a child in a booster seat, the child is at risk for "submarining". This happens when the seat belt is not properly in place. During a car crash the child slides under the seat belt causing serious injuries.

Other things that was drawn to my attention during my research:

- Pay close attention to the maximum weight and height restrictions on ALL seats.
Being that Caroline is 41 pounds, she exceeds the weight max on all of her 5-point-harness car seats. Therefore, I searched and found a decently priced Graco that holds up to 65 pounds. I also know that Sunshine Kids makes a 5-point-harness car seat for a maximum of 80 pounds.

- Make sure your child's harness is snug. Per federal requirements, current instruction manuals define a snug harness as: "A snug strap should not allow any slack. It lies in a relatively straight line without sagging. It does not press on the child's flesh or push the child's body into an unnatural position." Do the pinch test. If you can pinch a fold in the harness above the chest clip, the straps are too loose.

- A friend saw a picture of Bug on my FB. He immediately messaged me to let me know that I had the shoulder straps on Bug's car seat set too low.
Moving from rear-facing to forward-facing was very confusing to me. I knew that in a rear-facing seat Bug's straps needed to be at or below her shoulders. Therefore, I assumed it was the same with forward-facing. However, for forward-facing car seats, you use harness slots at or above child's shoulders.
Thank goodness he pointed it out to me. (His wife is the friend that brought about this whole post ;-))

- The chest clip was also not a big deal to me. I thought if it was clipped, the children were fine. Pshhh! Wrong again. Make sure the chest clip is fastened at armpit level.

- Seat belts DO fail so use LATCH and Top Tether when available. There is conflicting findings on the LATCH system. Some say it will hold up to 40 lbs. After that, the use of a seat belt to hold the car seat in place is necessary. Some findings say that 48 lbs is the max. If you have any information on this, please share with the rest of us.

I point all of these things out for the simple fact that I thought was doing everything right. My 2 year old was in a car seat. My 4 year old was in a high-back booster seat.

I am not saying that you are doing it wrong. But as a parent, we do everything we can to keep our children safe.

I learned so much in 2 hours of googling than any car seat manual could ever teach me.

I also learned that just because the law says it's "ok", doesn't mean that is what is best for your child.

My not having a good answer to the question, "Why did you move Caroline to a booster?", was reason enough for me to move her back to a 5-point harness.

My hope is that at least one of my readers questions and tests there child's car seat.

Driving is the most dangerous situation we put our children in everyday. It takes seconds to make sure they are properly strapped in and hopefully your child will be in a 5-point harness.

PS- Caroline has a new Graco Nautalis 3-in-1 Car seat on it's way. And yes, it is pink and is complete with pink and purple flowers.



** And thanks to my friends, the Laws, for opening my eyes ;-)

Jehovah's Witnesses

My husband has given up holidays this year.

Seriously.

I only write about it so that I can remember exactly when he decided it was time to give up holidays.

After my surprises at Christmas, he has not acknowledged any type of holiday.

February 14th passed without a "Happy Valentine's Day" much less gifts.

March 26th (my birthday) passed without a "Happy Birthday" much less gifts.

My 5 year anniversary is a week away (April 21st).

If he doesn't acknowledge this, that is it. I will began telling everyone he is a Jehovah Witness.

"Hey! Meet my husband. He's a Jehovah Witness. No need in worrying with his name."

Jerk.

Sun Hat

Guess what??

It is time for sun hat season! I couldn't be more excited!!


Be sure to order yours from Cole Baby Tutus. ;-)

**Picture of Bug in the hat are coming soon!

Venting

I could have sworn that it was full moon.

I just googled, it's not full moon.

Gosh! I was totally hoping it was. My children are acting like nutjobs and I always love to use the full moon as an excuse for that. Otherwise, I blame myself for being a bad parent when they act so crazy.

Right now, I am running on very little sleep.

Aunt Flow came to visit this week causing extreme mood swings and headaches like no other.

My ear hurts.

Caroline does not listen to a word that I say.

Emma eats constantly.

If they slam another door, I might combust.

My house is a disaster. By disaster, I mean that there is half a bag of Cheetos spilled in the middle of my kitchen floor, half a box of nerds also in the kitchen floor and the other half is in Caroline's carpet.

I've cried twice today and it is not even 3pm.

Ryan you ask?

Oh, he's napping.

Hoover is back!

I have a terrible hair loss issue.

I swear, some days I wonder why I'm not bald.

After googling, I have come to the conclusion that I don't lose an extreme amount of hair. It just appears that way because my hair is so long and black.

Anyway, with that said you can only imagine the pain and suffering my vacuum cleaner goes through.

We have been married for 5 years (on April 21st to be exact) and I have had 4 vacuum cleaners.

I wish I could bring myself to buy a Dyson. Any time I go to Lowes or Target, I take a stroll down the vacuum aisle and affectionately pet each Dyson I pass.

When we moved, I announced it was time for a new vacuum. Reason: I could have made a wig with the amount of hair that was wrapped about the spinning brush on the old one.

No Dyson, but Ryan did purchase me this bad boy. It's a Hoover. I am partial to the name Hoover for the simple fact there is a Dr. Hoover that could pass for McSteamy. No joke.

Anyway, we took her out of the box and carefully put her pieces together.

I vacuumed... three times and she broke down.

Of course when I yelled that she was broken, Ryan said choice words and ultimately blamed be for breaking her.

I cried... knowing it wasn't my fault but still very sad that a vacuum that I used three times BROKE! (FYI: The spinning brush would not spin and neither would the belt. The belt was not broken, it just would not spin.)

She sat in the corner for a week... alone with a canister full of dust.

I finally found the receipt so that Ryan could take her back and get a new one.

I was so excited.

I put the new one together and gently placed it in the corner so that she could set sail on her maiden voyage the next morning.

The next morning, on my way home from preschool drop off, Ryan called.

"Hello?" I said.

"You've broken the damn vacuum cleaner again." he forcefully said into the phone.

"I haven't even used the damn vacuum cleaner yet so shut your face. What is wrong with it now?"

"The cord. It won't go in and there is no button to make that happen." he said.

"Pshhh. Are you kidding me right now?"

Silence.

In my best mocking tone I said, "Slowly, pick up your left foot. There will be a lever on the vacuum that you will hit when your knee and hip are almost level. Hold that button down with your foot and..."

I heard a loud "ZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPP"!

I started clapping.

CLICK!

He hung up on me.

I'm married to a man that can do insane math in his head but can't figure out how to work the retractable cord on a vacuum.

Be jealous.

Caroline and Jesus

For those of you who have ever wondered about Caroline's personality, here you go...

I overheard a play session between Caroline and Emma.

Emma: "Let's play babies. I be the mama. You be the sister."

Caroline: "NO! We are not playing babies again."

A few moments of silence.

Caroline: "Ok, I know! Let's play Jesus. I'll be Jesus. You can be Jonah. He got eaten by a whale, Emma. A big fish came and ATE HIM!"

Great, Caroline. You be our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the rest of us are just peons.

Obviously, she thinks very highly of herself.

daily laugh

In our new house, we have a pretty big master bath.

I'm not talking like Mariah Carey's closet BIG but it is bigger than the shoe box of a bathroom we had in our apartment.

I can do jumping jacks in my bathroom which is a big deal to me. Not because I'm going to exercise though. I just enjoy having room to dry my fro every 3 days.

Anyway, in this new bathroom we have a window. Again, this is something I'm totally not use to. We had 8 windows in our apartment. That is it and of course NONE were in our yellow and gold 1974 bathroom.

So, today was day 3. The hair had to be washed, dried, straightened. This in itself burns about 2000 calories.

Anyway, I was stepping out of the shower and realized I hadn't shut the blind.

There stood my neighbor's boyfriend.

Classy.

He just turned and went about his business.

I stepped away and wrapped myself up.

I ran out (dripping water all over the house) and yelled to Ryan.

"What?" he answered.

"Our neighbor's BF totally just saw me naked getting out of the shower."

Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and went about his business. He could care less.

"Well, obviously the neighbor didn't care either because he just turned and went about his business. Damn you saggy boobs and stretch marks. Damn you."

Reason #85 I need a boob job and laser stretch mark removal therapy.

Maybe then the husband will care if the neighbor's BF sees me naked.

No need in rubbing your eyes... it's really me.

February 9th. That was the last time I blogged.

Do you know how many posts I have started and never finished?

I have been extremely negligent to my BS.

Our lives haven't changed much in the past few months.

- We are in our house and loving it. I mean who wouldn't when you were moving from a 2 bedroom apartment complete with a 1960's yellow kitchen and wood paneling throughout. Pimp! I promise to post pictures soon. I just feel like nothing is complete enough yet to post the before and after pictures. I am actually getting pictures on the wall which makes things seem so much more homey. So give me a little more time.

- The girls are still the same. Bug is as clumsy as ever and Big is wild as ever. Most days, I don't know how I survive... seriously. I count down the minutes until bedtime and drink wine.

- Emma is doing great in school. However, she does not talk. Yep. You heard me. The girl goes to school and will not say a word. It's her way of saying to me, "Look, I know you are going to make me stay here but I will be damned if you can make me talk while I'm here." Her teachers asked if she talked at home. I sure there was a little concern with her being 2 and 1/2 and they have never heard a word come out of her mouth. I laughed. Yep! She talks.... and talks... and talks at home.

- Caroline is going through a clingy stage. I walk her to her classroom every morning and every morning it is the same song. I have to peel her off of me. I am pretty sure her teachers have seen my boobs more than they would have ever liked to. Her teacher pulls her off of my while she rips the clothes from my body. Why this is happening? I don't know. I feel like if I ignore it, it will stop. Who knows. No biggie now since her teachers have seen me almost naked. It can't it any worse than it already is.

- During my time of being incognito, I have read a few books and expanded my vocabulary. I feel so good when I read. Some people exercise to feel good, I read. It doesn't elevate my heart rate and it doesn't make me lose my breath. It's much easier. Ryan Someone said recently that they had never read an entire book, cover to cover. How they made it past the third grade is beyond me. Then I had another person ask what was so great about reading. Ummm, well... you can get lost in a book of Chelsea Handler's one night stands and stories of her smoking the reefer with her dad. Fun times people... fun times. That is what is so great about reading. Now, Chelsea is my new BFF.
I have ordered The Hunger Games, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Pioneer Woman's: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, and of course Chelsea Handler's newest book Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me. What is on your reading list? These were going to be my summer reads but I have a feeling they will be read before summer.

- I have done some photo shoots in the past few months. It was nice to finally pick up a camera again. I think I went a little over a month without holding a camera. Thank goodness, it is like riding a bike... you never forget how to do it. I will share those pictures in another post.

- I hope I haven't lost a lot of readers. Everyone asks for me to blog again. I hope I haven't lost my sense of humor either. These last few months, I just haven't felt funny.

- I'm making no blogging promises. Here is a post. You are welcome.

Potty Training.

I do not have all of the answers.

I can't even say that what I did was the "right" thing to do.

However, Caroline was completely potty trained at 21 months. Emma was right before she turned two. We are just now finishing up night time potty training. We are on night 5 or 6 (I've lost count) with no tee-tee! Yayy!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. A friend of mine posted a picture of her new potty that she was buying for her little one. It brought back a lot of memories. I truly enjoyed potty training. It is difficult at times but totally worth it in the end.

My kids my suck at sleeping but they love peeing in the pot.

Here are a few tips...

1. Buy a pretty potty, potty seat, or just use the toilet you have. Either way, you and this potty are going to be BFFs so make sure you like it.

2. Buy lots of "big girl pants" or "big girl princess panties". Act like these things are the greatest thing since sliced bread. "Look at Bug in her big girl pants! She is soooo big!" Talk them up. "Caroline, you look soooo beautiful in your big girl pants!" Act like these panties are the shit.

3. If you buy a new potty, let your kid play around with it... explore it. This potty will become their best friend. Let the potty become their TV chair. Let them carry it around. Just get them use to the potty.
If you are using the big potty, talk it up. "WOW! LOOK AT THAT BIG GIRL POTTY!" Be sure to flush the potty. Flushing is a scary thing to a little kid.

4. For the first week or so, sit your little one of the potty at certain times during the day. For the first few days of potty training, we always started with bath time. I would sit Caroline and Emma on the potty at night as we were getting in the bath. After night 2, they were all about sitting on the potty "LIKE A BIG GIRL! YAYYY!"

5. Every time you go to the bathroom, let them go with you.

6. Keep their attention while they are in the bathroom with you. Tell them what you are doing "Mommy is tee-teeing in the potty like a big girl! Yayyy!" or even sing a song.
Here is our song... no judgement please...
"TEE TEE IN THE POT-TEE. TEE TEE IN THE POT-TEE." We would sing and dance around over and over and over again.

7. Let your little one wear their big girl pants as much as possible. Let's be honest, tee-teeing in a pull up is no different than tee-teeing in a diaper. Now, big girl pants are a different story. After they tee-tee in them that first time, they will know very quickly that it is NO fun. Little girls do NOT like tee-tee on their little legs. (A secret... I didn't buy pull-ups at all for Emma. Not even one! Yayy me!)

I know this is a hard one if you are a working mom. You have to start somewhere though. Start on a weekend when you are home. Monday morning, send your little one to preschool or daycare like normal. Let your childcare provider know that you are beginning to potty train. Tell your childcare provider what you what them to do with your child. When you get home from work, throw on those BEAUTIFUL big girl pants and keep with the routine.

8. BEWARE: Potty training= pissy and poopy carpet. Prepare yourself. Go ahead and buy loads of Spot Shot. Again, it is not a long process and it is totally worth it.

9. Never punish your child for having an accident or for not tee-teeing in the potty. You don't want to scare them about the potty. This is a big event in their little lives and you don't want to embarrass them either.
Let me add, if you threaten your children with the bathroom when you are in public... stop. "I'm going to take you to the bathroom if you don't stop throwing your food!" "Be quiet or I am going to take you to the bathroom." This type of talk makes the bathroom sound like an AWFUL place. You want them to think of the bathroom as a fabulous, cool place to be.

10. Always reward your child. Keep the rewards within reason though. Our reward was toilet paper, flushing and washing our hands. Sounds crazy, I know. Emma would sit on the potty while we sang. She would yell YAYYY even though she hadn't tee-teed. Then she would want to wipe, throw the toilet paper in the potty, flush it and wash her hands. These were all rewards for her because she loved it so much. She was only able to wipe, throw paper in the potty, flush and wash her hands IF SHE TEE-TEED! These rewards worked for Caroline too. We tried candy with Caroline first. One M&M turned into 4 M&MS and it just got out of hand. Ha!

11. Consistency is key. Again is was easier for me because I was a stay at home mom. Here was our what our schedule looked like...
7:30- Wake up with soaking wet diaper.
7:30- Sit on the big girl potty and try to tee tee.
8:00- Sit baby back on potty
8:15- Sit baby back on potty
8:25- Sit baby back on potty
8:30- Sit baby back on potty
WE HAVE TEE-TEE in the potty.

Then our 30 minutes would start over. The key is to get them to tee-tee in the potty just one time. Make a HUGE deal out of it and they are going to want to do it again. By putting them on the potty over and over again with less and less time between each potty visit, you are increasing your chances of your baby peeing in the potty.

Keep your child on the potty for as long as they will sit. Sing, read books, play a silly game. The longer they sit on the potty, the greater the chance of them tee-teeing.

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

So there you have it. Hailey's Crazy Potty Training Tips.

This will be one of the craziest times in your life as a parent.

Hold on tight and don't give up.

Pull on YOUR girl girl panties and be strong.

Let your little one wear those big girl panties as much as you can no matter how bad you want to throw a diaper on that little butt.

For those of you that have potty trained... leave your words of wisdom in the comments for my friend. I am sure she would love to read tips and encouraging words.

PS- Sorry. When it comes to boys, I have no idea what to do. I don't even know if you are suppose to wipe them after they tee-tee. Weird. Haha! If you have boys, comment too. Tell me how different boys were to train.

Gross.

I hate that I go weeks without blogging.

I've tried promising myself and others that I will blog. Gross. That is crappy of me.

I never follow through.

It's the same old story. "I'm so busy... BLAHBLAHBLAH!"

I haven't picked up a camera in almost a month.

Therefore, my blog is photo-less.

We are enjoying our new house. My garage still looks like a war zone but what to the ev. Nobody goes in there anyway.

On a lighter note, I am posting a potty training post tonight for a friend. She is beginning her journey in potty training. Be sure to post your comments and tips for her as well.

Yayyyy! for maybe blogging again. Maybe. Fingers crossed.

Surprise!

Oh my gosh! I haven't posted since January 10th. Ugh! That is slack and I am sorry.

We have been so super busy.

I have BIG news!

We were waiting to tell everyone until we were 100% sure...

so....

are...

you...

ready...

for...

the...

big...

news???

We bought a house! Yayyy! Most of you already know by now. I forgot all about my bloggy friends. What a shame. I am a terrible friend.

I did however tell our closest friends just the way I told you... "We weren't going to tell anyone until we were 100% sure but... WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!" I told one friend in the car and I swear I thought she was going to have a stroke and wreck because she thought I was preggo. Haha! Too funny!

We are super excited. Everything happened very quickly. Seriously.

We closed January 10th.

We painted the whole house and other things in one week.

We are still exhausted but oh so happy.

I will post pictures asap. I have the before pictures but I haven't taken the after pictures and I want to post them all at the same time.

In other news, during this hell of a week of moving I've lost 3 pounds without even trying.

Yayyy me!

So, my advice for today: Want to lose weight? Move. The stress will eat away those pounds every time. ;-)

Christmas Catch up

Christmas is a pretty serious situation in our family.

Our family... meaning all 15 people on my Mom's side of the family.

List? Yes, please.
1. Nana
2. Daddy George
3. Karen- My Mom
4. Jay- My Dad
5. Anna- Sister
6. Me
7. Ryan
8. Caroline
9. Emma
10. Lesley- Mom's sister aka my aunt
11. Keith- Lesley's husband aka my uncle
12. Carey- Child #1
13. Mary George- Child #2
14. Brandon- Mom's brother aka my uncle
15. Caitie- Brandon's wife

It is totally normal for us to congregate at least once a week and eat at Nana's.

Christmas just adds to the chaos.

We all spend the night together on Christmas Eve.

Thank goodness we now spend the night in a house that has more room.

Santa comes to Lesley's for everyone.

The children (Big, Bug, Carey, and Mary George) get the formal living room.

The adult children (Me, Ryan, and Anna) get the foyer.

The adults (Brandon, Caitie, Nana, Daddy George, Mom and Dad) get the formal dining room.

Lesley and Keith throw their gifts in their bedroom.

Talk about chaos.

But it is so fun and we wouldn't trade it for the world.

No pictures capture the true chaos of the situation. Maybe I'll try next year. Here is a small attempt...









Santa and everyone else were great to the girls. I always love to hear what everyone else got so I will make a little list of what the girls got...

Caroline got...
- MobiGo- This little thing is awesome. She sits in her room and plays it for hours. Seriously. Amazing!
- Dollhouse
- Princess tent and tunnel (Thanks Dad!)
- Portable DVD player with pink headphones
- Small talking Jessie doll
- Puzzles
- Books
- UNO Moo
- ZhuZhu pet with costume and ball
- Microphone
- Clothes
- Savings bonds (Yayyy!)
- Pinkalicious Madame Alexander doll
- Cash register
- Uggs
- Zebra Sanitas
- PJs
- Play-Doh sets
- Books... namely Presenting... Tallulah by Tori Spelling
- Cowboy boots

Emma got...

- Dollhouse- This was their big Santa gift together
- Princess tent and tunnel- Another together gift
- Portable DVD player with pink headphones (when you buy two of everything no one fights right? haha!)
- Big talking Jessie doll- This is the only thing Bug asked for. Let me just say, she LOVES that doll.
- Woody pillow doll with Woody Blanket
- Toy Story 3
- Boots toy- Ryan says she looks like Boots from Dora so Santa had to bring a Boots doll
- Uggs
- Swing for tree outside
- PJs
- Shopping cart
- Clothes
- Books
- Puzzles
- Toy Story Memory Game
- Big Wheel
- Eloise Madame Alexander with SkipperDee and Weenie
- Savings Bonds
- Glitter shoes
- Melissa and Doug animal farm (LOVE Melissa and Doug)
- Melissa and Doug cookie set
- Books... namely Birdie's Big-Girl Shoes by Sujean Rim (fabulous book!)

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff but you get the idea. They got more than we know what to do with. My house is literally screaming.

I told Ryan that we were not exchanging this year. There wasn't a big discussion about it so I thought he agreed. Pshh! Nope.

Emma got me a Special Edition Keurig I've been wanting. Caroline got me the perfume I've been wanting. Ryan got me a pack of K-Cups.

So sweet! I was so excited. I guess I was so excited since I didn't expect it and it was such a surprise. On top of what the girls and Ryan got me, I got way more than I deserved.

PS- I got my boots! Yayyy! I totally rocked them Christmas Day and have rocked them like everyday since then. :-) Thanks, Mom and Dad!

PPS- I also got another special present that I will blog about later. It needs its own special post.