A Very Miri Christmas

I can't believe that it is December 26, another year has flown by almost in the blink of an eye. Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year (once you take away all the stress of getting it ready and all!) I love the music, decorations and spirit of peace and joy.



As I am sure you can guess from the title of the post Christmas at our house was all about Miri. She had so much fun and watching her tear through her gifts was a sight to behold. Santa brought her her first doll house. And after she opened the gift from Mommy and Daddy with additional furniture in it she was set. In fact Ryan and I opened our gifts to each other while she happily played with her house, we had to beg bribe, and even "assists" her through the opening of the rest of her packages. Guess my budget would have been happier if all we got her was the doll house and furnishings!! But it is fun to watch her get so much joy and excitement from her new toy. Today while I was trying to get her down for her nap she kept asking about "my new house" I assured her she could play with it when she woke up.





Miriam went to see Santa a couple of weeks ago and for the first time didn't scream the second she was put in his lap!! She was pretty quiet but she did tell him she wanted a stroller with a baby doll. So that was her other big gift. And another big hit. At one point yesterday she was pushing it around with her new doll, all of her little Care Bears and Backyardigan stuff animals in it along with a diaper bag, books and several My Little Ponies stuffed in the basket below. I am thinking that whenever I took her out in the stroller as a baby maybe I over packed just a tiny bit!!!




We spent the morning at our house enjoying each other's company and watching our little darling play with her new found treasures. In the afternoon we headed for Ryan's brother's (Evan) house for Christmas with the Wilbanks family. Evan recently bought his first house and was an excellent host for Christmas dinner. Miri and Annabel played together and were sufficiently spoiled by their Nanny, Uncles and Aunts.

The only unfortunate part of the afternoon/evening was we couldn't stay long and soon after dinner we packed up and headed to my parents house for dessert and round #3. Another wonderful visit with my family. Cat was so excited to help Miri unwrap her gifts from Grammy, Pop-pop and J&J that she almost forgot about her own gifts from us. (almost!)

The only stress over the whole day was basically having to pack-up and do three different Christmases. Especially when all Miri wanted to do was play and Ryan and I feel like we don't get to spend enough time visiting with our families. This year Ryan and I's big gift to each other for our anniversary (9 years on the 17th!!!) and Christmas is the commitment to find and buy a new house. One that we can both agree on and that has a lot more space! We have been looking off and on for about 2 years now and we get frustrated with what is out there in our price range in mid-town (where we would like to stay), then we start looking in the suburb areas around and start the whole buy existing vs. build our own circular argument. It isn't that one of us is for one option more than the other, it is that we both see the benefits and negatives of both and just go around and around! BUT this time we have fully dedicated ourselves to the search. I am hopeful that it is short and fruitful, but I am also realistic that it might not be as short as I would like for it to be. I am hopeful that Christmas 2009 will be hosted in our house with room enough for both families to congregate together.

One of those days….

Ever feel like life has turned upside down? Right now I feel like I am in a constant state of upside down and disorganization. I don't know if it is because I am super busy at work, or just really bad a balancing, but I feel like I can't get anything done, here at home or at work and it leaves me feeling discombobulated!

We took M to visit Santa last weekend. She did much better than I thought she would. For the past two years she has screamed the second she sat on Santa's lap, but this year she didn't! Not that she shot a thousand watt grin at the camera either, it was more of a "deer in the headlights" look. I had intended on posting all of her Santa pictures to get a progressive feel, but I can't find last years anywhere. *sigh* I HATE the disorganization that has engulfed this house!!!

So I am sure some of you are wondering about Christmas cards, well those aren't happening this year either. I have lost the ones I intended to send. So then I thought why not order a photo card. But getting Miri to sit still and smile for a picture is much more trouble than it is worth. I actually found myself begging and pleading, screaming and then bribbing her to just "sit still and smile for mommy....." I should have known it just wasn't going to happen.

Oh Well, maybe next year I will be more on the ball.....

Good grief - it's been six weeks????

Yikes - six weeks goes by so fast!

Let's see what has happened since 11/4 in our lives:

Ryan: Saw the shores of Erie for the first time - but not in Ireland. He's picked up the slack of an incomplete project left behind from a co-worker no longer with his company while finishing his own. He's smoked two succulent turkeys for Thanksgiving. He helped eat said turkeys on Thanksgiving and the week after (in the form of smoked turkey enchiladas!) He's also watched our fence blow down thanks to mother nature (and such quality materials choices from the installer of the fence.) Another fence is in dire need of attention, but hopefully the braces I've put up hold (at least through the next round of windy winter weather.) He's also enjoyed the 60+ point per game rampage of his beloved Oklahoma Sooners football team. He's also proud of Sam Bradford (as both a Sooner and a 1/16th blood Cherokee) hoist the Heisman trophy.

Miriam: Is busy being two! She has been sick off and on, but not too bad, just a constant runny nose and stuff like that. Her vocabulary has seem to taken off again, she is holding conversations that are very coherent and her memory is really developing too. She is still not too interested in potty training, I am trying to keep it low pressure but my competitive spirit makes it hard! I think potty training will be much like walking, she is going to wait until she can do it perfectly the first time - no accidents!! At least that is what I am hoping for. Miri had "links" evaluations and testing done recently at pre-school. She is above age level in most areas. The evaluators were very impressed with her communication level. She is excited about Christmas, she loves looking at the lights and gets excited every time we see a decorated house. She has decorated and undecorated our tree several times in the past week we have had it up so I am glad we aren't putting presents under it until much closer to the 25th!

Sarah: I have been working like crazy to get the end of year bills wrapped up for the office so we can have a 2 week vacation during the holidays. I am also working on getting everything ready for Christmas, shopping is DONE! So that is a relief. The year we did an "adopt a family" project from Emergency Infant Services. I think I had more fun shopping for this family than I did for anybody else (including M!!!) We will be delivering the presents and food basket to this family right before Christmas, I think even at age 2.5 this will be a wonderful experience for Miri, I know it will be for the rest of us. We have also begun the process of looking for a new house - I hope we can find something that we can agree on soon, because this place is way to cramped right now.

So we are all still here, just busy! Every time I sit down to blog I get distracted or the laundry needs swapped, or Miri has destroyed something, or I am on the phone, or I am looking for a house and/or lot ect ect ect - you get the picture!!! We promise to be more current on this and posts some pictures of our little miracle.