Aydan laughing

Aydan can wave now!

Our Snow Day

We have gotten a little bit of snow lately. We pretty much stayed inside all day...except for Mark trying to put a dent in the shoveling. Not sure how many inches....or feet we got, but here are some pictures:)

Lots of pics...and a few videos.

Charly, after we finished putting up the Christmas decorations!

Last weekend we went to the Hoffmann Christmas. It is such a large family. It is always crazy and fun! Lots of kids, food, and laughing.

Here is Zion, my nephew

And of course, Aydan

Charly and Luke...horsing around...or shall I say....Luke putting up with Charly!

Luke and his momma, Mindy

Here is part of the Hoffmann family eating dinner.

Great Oma feeding Aydan

We had made plans a while ago to have Luke for an overnight, so we brought him home from the Hoffmann's. We have never had him over while his parents aren't, so it was fun for us.

Luke, looking cute.

Charly trying to brush both of the boys hair!

Eggs and toast in the morning!

Luke and Charly ready to go to church.

Luke playing with the guitar. He got so excited when I pulled this out.

Luke and Aunt Kari!

Spaghetti dinner

First picture with Santa!

Charly and Santa

Nausea

The last couple of days I have been very nauseous. I really had no idea why. I have also had the heightened sense of smell that goes along with it. Particularly..I smelled a green bean that had gone bad and ended up in the bathroom about to hurl. Now I have aversions to every other food I come in contact with. I go from feeling bloated and nauseous to feeling bloated and starving. Up and down all day. I get a certain whiff of stuff and I feel like I am going to barf. It is totally reminiscent of being pregnant. I am really ready for it to be over with. All my pants are uncomfortably tight.
And before I get any one's hopes up...or jaws drop...I am not pregnant.
But...with a little google search, I have found out that it is not entirely uncommon to be nauseous....among other symptoms...while ovulating. I knew that I was ovulating, but didn't realize all that could happen.
So...hopefully all this craziness ends soon, and doesn't happen EVERY month...cuz that would be annoying!
Ok, this salad was tasting really good...and now all of a sudden its not...ugh.

Venting

I think I only use facebook to vent. It is a nice little way to get out a little frustration that I need to do at times.
My life is full. I have made it that way. Sometimes it gets a little too full...mainly when those two kids of mine are attacking me from both sides;) And I think I have vented to family members so much, that I don't want to anymore. I mean really...its old news;)
So, a little venting on facebook and I soon feel better. I used to vent in blogs more, but ha! I don't really have the time to type them out. I am still trying to get around to blog about Thanksgiving...oh, maybe today.
Anyway...on a daily basis, my patience wears thin. My head gets clogged. I forget to breathe.
I vent a little...and then I slowly start to remember my priorities. I can start to put things in perspective. I let one call slip by....I push a non urgent issue aside for the time being. I can wait on some things. I do not need to be Wonder Woman all day. Ten minutes set aside to just concentrate on my daughter and nothing is else is sometimes the only therapy I need.

Most of my days are easier then they have been in the past. I think I have learned to adapt and cope. I take the days in stride...most days;)
Getting all my work issues organized helps A LOT. I feel like I can stay on top of things a bit easier...and it isn't a daily struggle to get caught up anymore. My second job's duties has changed a little...and I am not able to get them done at the same time as my first job anymore. But, I will work my way in to a pattern...but right now it is taking some adjusting.

In due time...there is always a way!

Size

I have come to realize that I just didn't appreciate the body that I had when I was a teenager. I remember feeling fat and awkward. Ok...awkward was correct for a while...but I definitely wasn't fat. And now...when I have sooo many pants that I can't fit in to anymore. I realize that I really should have enjoyed what I had when I had it!

Second thought:
What if I'm not enjoying what I have now?
I mean...really, I should realize that I am going to have more pants that I can't fit in to in ten years, so I should appreciate what I have now, right?

I need to stop thinking to myself...well, soon I will start to exercise...ya know, when I have a bit more free time. I should come to the terms...that isn't going to happen soon! And exercise should really be more for health reasons. NOT for vanity. I need to appreciate the body the Lord gave me and stop day dreaming about this tight little body that I think I need.

Appreciate the rolls...they remind me of those two amazing kids I birthed!!:) And not even to mention all those amazing meals I shared with my amazing family!

The weekend.

We didn't have too many plans this weekend, which is nice. Especially going in to the holiday's, it is nice to have some down time first. We did however have plans to come down to Indiana to dogsit for Mark's sister.

Friday night I had some work that kept me working late, so I decided to just keep working and get some much needed "organizing" done.
I whittled my work email inbox from 522 emails to 18 emails. It felt really good. In the past I had set up separate folders to hold different emails and back them up, but I had yet to whittle through all the remaining emails to determine what is important and what could be deleted, backed up, or set aside for review later.
When I have such a full inbox it is a bit overwhelming only a daily basis because I feel like I have so much lingering in my mind. Some issues are still pending and some are resolved, but until I had looked at each email...well, I couldn't just delete them. Some, are needed to look at later when trying to research certain problems.
So, for now...all incidents are documented and I have all the emails I need and I have the rest in a folder that goes back six months...anything older I delete.I also got a few things done for my second job that I had been putting off that had been not quite so urgent.
So, Monday I will be more then ready to go at it, and will not feel quite so overwhelmed. It was definitely worth staying up until 2 a.m. to do.

Saturday morning we got around and packed bags. We left about 9 a.m. and dropped Aydan off at Grammie and Papa's. Then Mark, Charly, and I all headed down to Indiana to Dana and Dan's house. The roads were a bit slick starting out, but we just took it slow. We saw probably about a dozen car/trucks in ditches.

Before we got to Merrillville, we stopped at The Bass Pro Shop . We went in and saw all the animals(stuffed), and the big fish tank(real). Charly loves looking at all that. She was a little scared of the stuffed bears though. They did look pretty real;). She saw the big Christmas tree and ran over to it "Mommy! Daddy! Christmas tree!" When she started looking at it, she noticed all the stuffed animals in it. We looked at all of them going around the tree and tried to identify what we could. We got to the beaver and she was brave enough to pet the animal.
We walked down the store and she saw a bobcat. She wanted to look closer at it, and then she said the bobcat was hungry. Yeah...probably;)

Well, we made it to the back of the store to Santa's Workshop. We found out that they did free santa photos, so we thought, why not? We weren't sure how Charly would do. Would she be afraid? Or would she enjoy herself? The line wasn't long, so we decided to give it a try. Charly got up on Santa's lap with no problems. It probably helped that Santa gave her a couple mini candy cane's to start out. She wouldn't smile for the camera, but she also wouldn't stop talking to santa. Telling him about mommy, and daddy, and talking abour her boots. Santa was very impressed and said that she was a very intelligent girl. Awe Santa...I bet you say that about all the little kids. We actually felt like we were rushing Santa...we were telling Charly it was time to go and he was still chatting away. It was fun. She made off with a few more candy cane's from Santa and we were on our way.
Well, we did go around the "workshop" for a bit longer. She colored a picure. We tried to get her to shoot a gun, but she didn't quite get that. She played with the remote control trucks. She went in to the kid's tent that was set up for a sale. She got on the four wheeler's to try them out. She got on a pontoon and didn't want to get off. She went straight to the driver's seat to drive the boat;) We mosied out of the store, although...Charly wasn't quite ready to leave. She is definitely a Papa's girl...wants to play at the Bass Pro all day;)

When we got to Merrilville, we met up with Dana and Dan at the mall. They had been finishing up some of their Christmas shopping. We walked around for a while and continued to get some Christmas ideas.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the food court. I think we all got something from a different place. Charly and I shared some chinese food. I had a chicken dish and Charly ate a lot of my chicken. Plus some french fries of her daddy's.
Well, while we were sitting there, there was another little girl about Charly's age at the table next to us. Charly had gotten up to go try and find Dan (we had to reel her back) and in the meantime started a "conversation" with the little girl. Charly went up to her, put her hands on both of the little girls cheeks and gave her a kiss right on the nose! Yeah...I mean, what do you do at this point? The little girl was not offended at all. I tried reading the mom...but she didn't seem to mind too much. Especially when Charly continued to put her arm around the little girl and give her more kisses...mostly on the cheek. I tried to tell Charly..."that's enough"...without making too much of a bid deal about it. It was quite amusing, but how do you tell a kid about "etiquette" with new people? Ah well...makes a nice story. After about 5 or 6 kisses she stopped. They did as little kids do. Look at eachother and try and figure eachother out with not much words. Then the little girls dad came back to the table and they had to leave.

We went back to the house for a bit and then Dana and Dan left for their Christmas party they were going to. We ended up going back out for a bit and did some more browsing around some stores.
We went to The Albanese Candy Factory candy factory for a while. Charly was in hog heaven, of course. She wanted to know why we couldn't touch the chocolate fountain and she saw the bucket of suckers and wanted to just go to town. She went over to the bulk bins of gummy worms and had the biggest eyes, so the guy behind the counter gave her one to taste. She picked out a few 10 cent pieces of candy and got a 50 cent bag of gummie bears. She even paid for them herself at the counter. She had fun and was so excited.

We also went to the bookstore, Borders. Mark went off to have some "Mark time" and read his political books. Charly and I went to the kids section to look around. I let her just get in to everything. She was picking out books and checking out all the stuffed animals. I read a few books with her and she just checked everything out. At one point she was dancing around with Curious George to the music. Fun stuff.

We were all a bit beat by this time, so we stopped at Potbelly's and picked up an Italian and a Ham and Cheese and went to Dana and Dan's house. We put in Raiders of the Lost Ark and relaxed. Charly was so beat, after a while, she asked to go to bed. I am not sure what time it was...it was probably right around 9, her bed time, or a little before. I faded pretty fast after that and didn't even make it through the whole movie.

Well, it is Sunday morning and we will mosie around for the day and head home later.

The Artist

Ok, unless some other child...or scribbly adult colored this. I think my daughter is pretty good.
She was coloring on the table...on the paper at the table and she pointed to her drawing and told Mark "he's sad face".
Mark and I were trying to figure out how the face could have been drawn by someone...but nothing comes to mind. It must have been Charly. Up until now it has pretty much been scribbles and circles...that she sometimes calls flowers, or daddy, or mommy, or Charly. She draws a lot of pictures "of" things, but you can never really decipher anything.

Well, this one went on the fridge. We are proud;)