pretty much the cutest thing I saw all day

Charlotte (Charlie) Anne Lee
born 12/30
7lbs even
20 inches long

what's been going on

Sorry dear readers for the lack in updates. I am on vacation in Auntville and will be returning on the first! The bed and breakfast is running smoothly and we are having a grand time!

the clock is ticking.......

is gonna have to have a name in less than 6 weeks. We have narrowed our list of 100 down to 33.

one lucky little lady

"No name baby D." got her first piece of luggage for Christmas and honestly, I am not sure how the gift giver ever got it zipped. As you can see there were many many things in there!!!

The piece of luggage is super cute too. No name baby will be needing this for her time at the hotel and traveling home from PA. I just suspect that this suitcase will get many many other uses as well. SO CUTE!!!!

a few of my favorite pictures

More to come later, but very quickly here are a few of my favorite pics from the last few days.














And.. my favorite picture!! More later, off to build-a-bear with Kaleigh!

a pictorial

Enjoy a pictorial of our experiences from 12/19 to 12/23.
The part of Mr. D. is being played by Handy Manny.

This is SO cool

I had a "This is SO cool" moment today when I went to pull up our baby registry and right above us was sweet Henry's. It's gonna be fun having so many babies in our lives the same age!!

camera catch up

I have been meaning to post all of the following pictures along and along, but have not had the time. So, on day one of my 16 day vacation- I present you with a photo catch up. Enjoy.

This is my latest artsy pic that I have taken. Near our neighborhood is a neighborhood with lighted arches for Christmas. I strategically moved the camera to created this interesting picture. I think it looks a little like Ramen Noodles.


You may not believe this, but Brady's dog house has made it's way to the back yard. It took A LOT of configuring. For those who do not know, Mr. D. built the dog house a number of years ago. The only problem was that he constructed it inside the house and it was too big to get out the door. So, it stayed in the house ever since. In early December, Mr. D. announced that he thought it was time to move it outside. I really didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. It took some readjustments and I think I heard the word "PIVOT" more than once- but here it is outside.
Brady is not too sure about this. He just lays beside it. I haven't seen him go in it since it moved.
This is a picture of Kate and I at a wedding last weekend. I have really got my money's worth out of this clearance dress this year. This is the third event I have worn it to.


This is the display of Nutcrackers this year. I can't wait for Donovan and Kaleigh to get here and start playing with them. Brady has really surprised me. He hasn't bothered any of them. I thought for sure he would have snagged one and chewed it up by now. I guess my little destructo-dog is growing up.

Speaking of nutcrackers and the ballet-- HOW CUTE IS THIS!!!
It's in a 0-3 months. I can't wait to see my sweet whatever her name will be in it. Mr. D. and I have a great baby naming book that we are having so much fun with. Hopefully we will settle on something soon- and then let the monogramming begin!!

I got a new notebook the other day, and look how it perfectly matches the pink polka dots in my phone.

I have been burning photo CD's as a gift to the parents of the children in my class. I also made a master CD and then I was able to delete them off my computer.
I was able to delete 2,945 pictures off of my laptop-- freeing up 2.90gb of memory. It felt good!

Mr. D. bought me something that has revolutionized my holidays. It is this.

It goes under the tree and I step on it to turn the lights on and off. I love it! I am so glad to no longer continue the tradition of crawling under the tree twice a night.


This is a picture of my at school on the last day- Pajama Day. I was showing off a fun gift I got. My dimples seem particularly deep that day. Maybe it was the anticipation of the 16 day vacation ahead??

Speaking of school- here is a picture of the gifts my kids made for their parents.
On night while I was feverishly burning CD's- Mr. D. brought me hot chocolate. It was my first hot chocolate of the season. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
I am not sure if I should take my buttons on cards off of the cards or not. Anyone have an opinion on this??

something I didn't expect to see yesterday

Someone brought a piglet dressed like up like Santa to our school.

tickled pink Christmas

sleep in heavenly peace

Henry

things are looking up

I did not take any medicine for sickness yesterday for the first time in 15 days. This may be a sign that I am getting better (though, my nose is still a little yucky!) GREAT!! Just in time for me to catch up on all of the things that I have neglected to do in the past 1/2 of a month (which is a list in itself) PLUS I have to get ready for:

1) the Holidays
2) the last week of school before winter vacation (including making my part of 29 gifts for the kids to give to their parents)
3) house guest in 13 days!
4) changing an office into a guestroom and a guestroom into a nursery
5) a BABY in around 58 days
6) planning a time to fit everyone else in

Mr. D. is as busy as ever and we are basically two ships passing in the night lately. Of course, my ship by the time I see him at night is usually a nighttime cough and cold medicine induced ship. This last half of a month has been a blur.

I did get out and have fun this week by going to Alice's Christmas program at her school. I also had fun eating my first (ok, and second) Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake of the season. Seriously folks, I live for the day these go out on the shelf because I always want one that is as fresh as possible. They are the best you know! SO, as my evidence to all that I love that this has been the craziest time for me. I stood in the store ( Stay tuned for the story on that one) and I almost started to cry when I realized that it was December 11th and I haven't even had one. It sucked. Though I couldn't dwell on it too long. And now, the story of the store.

There is nothing I love more than a theme. This years Christmas theme became obvious to me in early November and I have been so excited about it from the get go. In one of my grouchier moments of my illness I even told my Momma NOT to be bringing her non-themed wrapping paper into my house because it would just be ruining my Christmas decor. I guess this is why Mothers have unconditional love. Though I may have found a more tactful way to put it had I not been in the state I was in-- I totally MEANT it. This is the FIRST year that we are having Christmas at my house. Well I mean we have it at my house almost every year but it is just Mr. D., Me and My Mom. We started having Christmas the year my Daddy passed away because we didn't want to be at my Mom's for Christmas any more, and well it just kind of stuck. We open gifts, we watch a Christmas story, we eat, we don't talk about how sad we are. It's kind of going through the motions stuff. BUT, this year- we are getting the treat of a lifetime, My Brother, Sister-in-law and Niece and Nephew are coming!! I haven't seen the kids in a year and a half and I get SEVEN blissful days with them. Anyway, back to the theme, the gift wrap and the story of the store.

The theme of the D Family Christmas this year is ...................(wait for it)..............................A TICKLED PINK CHRISTMAS!!!! (for obvious reasons).

So began the search for the PERFECT gift wrap for the theme. The perfect shade of pink is a quest in itself, but I had to add that I wanted the perfect shade of pink and foil paper as well. Nothing like making the difficult impossible right. I looked at a few places around town when I happened to be there. One afternoon this week I stopped in at Hallmark- no luck (but I did get a great deal on those animal shaped bracelets). I looked online. I looked online again. I was beginning to get discouraged. Then yesterday, I had to work from 7-3 and then be back at school from 5-9. So I had a two hour window that I was going to devote to shopping since there wasn't enough time to go home and come back. I wanted to be shopping in all of the baby boutiques in the little town I work in, but no such luck for me. I had to get into the trenches. I am behind on everything you know. So I thought of a place that might have the paper. It was relatively close to work, but NOT in the best area of town. In fact a friend of mine once got mugged in the parking lot. But, sometime a girl has to do what a girl has to do. I did tell Kate where I was going in case I never made it back and she could at least tell the police where I had been.

I felt relatively safe going in since the it was surrounded by police cars and police with guns drawn arresting a guy. I knew no one would try anything with that kind of action going on. I ran from the car to the store. OK- it was one police car with a guy in the back being arrested, but I thought the other tale illustrated the true danger I was placing myself in. I made a plan that I would not buy anything more than I could carry in one hand in case I needed the other had to defend myself on the way back to the car. You know how most stores have the columns where you can check the price of stuff, well on this store's columns, there was a button you could push if you needed security. I think it's kind of cool that this store doesn't try to hide the fact that you are in danger. I guess if you are going to be a dangerous place, you might was well own it. So anyway, I had to find a few things so I shopped for them first, then the gift wrap. I had to get fruit loops for necklace making at school for the evening. I also got the Christmas Cakes, a two liter of diet coke (thought it would hurt if I had to hit someone with it), a bag of maple nut goodies and two kids games. Then I went over and started inspecting roll after roll of wrapping paper.

Santa- NO
Christmas Trees- NO
Disney Princess, candy canes, Christmas cats- NO, NO and NO

I was off the main row of boxes of wrapping paper and NOTHING that was perfect or pink or foil. Then I saw a name that I trusted (though I would NEVER take a stock tip from her) and I thought she might just have something in her collection. And OH HOW I WAS RIGHT!!! I grabbed the only three rolls they had and get the hell out of there.

I called Kate to let her know I was safe and then picked up the pizzas and headed back to school.

I know you are DYING to see the paper..................... but you have to wait. I will wrap some presents this weekend and do a detailed blog entry on it soon!

help from a couple of elves

This afternoon I got a special treat with a visit by a couple of Santa's Elves. They came eager to help with decorating. Eden worked on finding the perfect spot for the nutcrackers. (If you look you will see a pic of Mr. D. on the wall.)

Little Miss Alice worked on inspecting the ornaments on the tree. They met her approval. After the girls were dressed and ready, we went to Alice's school Christmas Program. We met Mr. D. after at Cozumel. It was such a fun night.

slow movin'

Christmas is coming along- but seems like an uphill road. We are decorating- slowly, but surely. I am trying to spread the Christmas throughout the house so it doesn't seem like over load. Here are a few pictures to show our progress.

The holiday plates are on display.

The Nativity is set up, complete with the pregnant Mary.

Here is a scene from our bedroom. Yes, those temporary firework pictures from July are still up. Maybe in the new year we will get out new pictures in the frames. I don't see it happening in the next couple of weeks, but maybe.

I put the ornaments on the tree tonight, but haven't tied the bow yet- so it's not blog ready. As for the nutcrackers................................................. maybe I will figure that mystery out tomorrow.

In the meantime, I am shopping, cleaning out the nursery, moving the guest room into the office room, planning and prepping. More photos later!

our newest addition

We proudly welcome the new addition to our nutcracker family. Now, if only he would climb up in the attic and bring down the rest of the crew.

the girl next door....

imagine a friend who would....
....come out at ten o clock at night
..........in the freezing weather
just to watch me push my new pink baby stroller around in the drive way.....Yep! That's my Julie!!