Tis the Season!!

I just love this time of year!  I am already in the Christmas spirit and Christmas music has been playing in the car and house all week long.  It is crazy to think that Dec. 1st will be here in just over a week!!! I really don't like how Thanksgiving is so late this year!  Oh well!  It just means I get to start with all the Christmas stuff early.

This weekend I am hoping to really kick it into gear in regards to Christmas.  Our to do list is quite long and I hope to get a few things checked off.  Oh and John's is helping with all this too :)

Here is what it looks like:

• Hang the outside lights
• Cut down our Christmas tree and decorate it
• Get window boxes filled with holiday decor
• Shop for fabric to update a hand me down table/chair set for Elsie and spray paint the chairs.
• Get a start on our Advent Calendar tree-this is going to be a doozy-I would like to at least purchase the supplies for this
• Get at least one calendar done (I make a photo calendar each year for both our parents and all three grandmothers.  
• Construct Elsie's dollhouse and get it painted.  I will leave the decorating for another day.  
• Catch up on the blog-I would like to get at least three posts published over the weekend.  
• Organize the garage so we can put away our outdoor furniture.  
• John needs to get the rest of the cattle out of the pasture
• Dinner and Drinks with some camp friends on Sunday evening. 
• Order our Christmas cards
• Get a bit more Christmas shopping done (I would say I am 70% complete).  I am getting so excited to wrap them up and get them under the tree! 

We only have dinner plans tonight with John's family so I hope we can get some of this stuff crossed off the list.  Oh and Bev is going to be accompanying me tomorrow morning to the fabric shop so I am excited about that.    I'll let you know how much I get done this weekend and maybe get some photos of our progress.    I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend whatever your plans may be! 

House Update

Well after just about 90 days of our homes being on the market I am over it...over getting the house ready for showings, over waiting to hear how the showing went, over dreaming about the new(to us) house, over getting excited about a potential deal taking place, over the emotional roller coaster between excitement and disappointment-just over it!  

When we first listed our house it was exciting, a lot of work but exciting and I didn't mind having the house clean all the time.  After all, I LOVE a clean, uncluttered house.  And at first I was okay with the thought of our house not selling...clearing out some random stuff and getting it ready to show shed some new light on the space that was under utilized-like our basement family room and third bedroom (office).  Well, 90 days later I just want it sold-I don't want to update it or spend another nickel on it-which will be inevitable since I will want to build a fence for Tally if we stay in this house.  

We have had over 20 showings!  Which at first might sound like a good thing-there is a lot of interest-but if out of those 20 showings there has been only one offer that is not good.  And getting a house ready to show takes a lot of work-especially with an almost two year old and a puppy.  And then to find someplace to go during a showing can be a challenge.  We have driven around for the 45 minutes, we go to the shop and hang out, or we try to grab dinner during that time.    

We were SOOO close last week to having this done.  Like inspections were scheduled.  But then their financing fell through despite everyone's best efforts to make this deal happen.  Marc brought the offer over on my birthday-what a great birthday present! But it wasn't too long after the deal fell apart.  We had another showing on Saturday but like many others that have come through they are looking for a bigger yard.  At least this time it wasn't an older couple who didn't want stairs in thier house-which we have had a couple of those come through.  Which is frustrating because hello-our home is multi-level.  There is going to be stairs.  Why waste everyone's time looking at a house with stairs if you know you don't want stairs?  

So our contract with the new house expires next Tuesday (we already extended this once).  So we have a week-I am definitely losing hope that this is going to happen.  I keep trying to tell myself that if it is meant to be it will happen.  If not, we are meant to stay in our home for a few more years...I guess we will have our answer by next week.  So any positive thoughts will be appreciated. 

The New Addition to Our Family

Back on October 19th, we added a new member to our family.  We brought home our little Golden Retriever puppy, Tally.  Like I mentioned in previous posts, we purchased her from a reputable breeder in Nebraska, about an hour and a half from Omaha.

We debated whether we should take Elsie with us but we figured that 8 hours in the car is a long time so she got to spend the day with Brandi, Todd and the girls.  Lucky Girl!  So we set out to SE Nebraska.  It was beautiful day for a drive and we were able to enjoy the fall colors a bit.  WE also talked names quite a bit during the ride-still not deciding one we both liked.

We arrived at the farm and was greeted by Cali-our puppy's mama.  She was so sweet!  And then we were able to meet the dad and oh my goodness his coat was so beautiful!  I was very much in love.  We finally were able to meet the puppies.  We had to choose between two females.  This was going to be a hard decision.  They were of course, so adorable.  One was a little bit bigger than the other but both seemed friendly enough.  The breeder had done an evaluation of all the puppies.  They were based on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being showing aggressive tendencies where 5 was being submissive/passive.  A score of 3 was ideal.  (I actually read about this evaluation on the way to the breeders).  One puppy scored five 3's, a couple 2's and a couple 4's.  The other puppy scored seven 3's and two 4's and a 5.  The breeder said since we have a young child, the less aggressive the better which I couldn't agree more.  So we chose the multi colored collar.  (That is how she identified them-by the color of their collar).  Even though I knew the other female would be going to another family I still felt incredibly guilty-almost like I was rejecting her.  But I also immediately started showering our little puppy with love.  :)

She was micro-chipped before leaving and we snapped a few pics and off we went-taking our little girl home!

This pic was taken by Sharon-the breeder.

The ride home was pretty uneventful.  We stopped once to take a potty break for the puppy (who was still nameless at this point).  

We finally got home a little after 7:00 PM.  Bev had went and picked up Elsie from Brandi and Todds so she would be there waiting for us when we got home.  Ohhh Elsie was so excited to see the puppy! However, I think the puppy was a little bit startled by this noisy, squealing little girl so she stayed real close to me.  Of course, Elsie wanted to be right next to the puppy so I had both my girls in my lap :).  Eventually, we convinced Elsie the puppy would still be there in the morning and that it was time for her to go to bed.  So we had some time to play with Tally before going to bed ourselves.  However, before we hit the hay for the night we decided our pup's name would be Tally.  John tried it out and said he just couldn't stop calling her that so Tally it is.  We originally wanted the name to be derived from nature but nothing really stuck.  Names we thought of were (Tansy (from Tanzanite, one of December's birthstones), Tilly, Luna, Stella, Nova, Pearl, and then thought about some of our cast off girl baby names like Nora and Lilly and then John said he really liked the name "Callie" but our puppy's mom's name was Cali so it evolved to Tally.  Her registered name will be "Sha-Dy Acre Tally Ho is 4 the code".  Code being the theme for this litter chosen by the breeder and 4 includes part of Tally's daddy's registred name  (JJ Speaks 4 Sha-Dy Acre).   Which fits because Tally Ho has many canine associations but  what I like best is that Tally Ho is now used as an expression of encouragement and enthusiasm.  Which is perfect for our little puppy.  I have so much more to share about the first few weeks of having Tally with us but that will be for another day :)  

Elsie Marie- 21 and 22 months

I decided to do a combo post again-mainly because I have been working on this post for weeks but failed to get it completed so it is all blending together.  She is growing and developing leaps and bounds and she is so much a toddler and at times see this little girl.  I am soaking up everyday because she is just so much fun!!!!!

GROWTH:  Elsie is definitely in 2T clothes and size 6 shoes.  Her boots are size 7 and seem to work okay which is nice so she can grow into them over the winter.

EATING: Our days are hit and miss in regards to food.  I do know she prefers things seperated vs in a casserole or soup.  She still doesn't like potatoes or beans and absolutely loves apples.  She could eat them all day-good thing they are in season right now.  Sometimes at dinner she hardly touches her food.  I am okay with that but require her to stay at the table until  John and I are done eating.  Most of the time she will eat more while sitting there. I feel pretty good that between her 3 meals a day and two snack times she is getting plenty of nutrition.

SLEEP:  There have been a few changes in the sleep department over the past couple months.  The first being that at home she will sleep for two hours for nap instead of 60-90 minutes!  It is so nice and she wakes up so much happier!  I am not sure what triggered this change it just happened.  She is still going to bed between 7:00-7:30 and goes down without any protest.  She is waking up anywhere between 5:30-7:00.  I would say around 6:00 is the norm and when she does wake up earlier than that she will lay with us in bed and doze some more.  One of our biggest challenges is she would wake up throughout the night crying for her paci because the one she went to bed with fell out of the crib.  To solve this problem we now put a pacifier on each corner post of her crib and she knows if she needs another where to look.  It is kind of fun to watch her in the monitor.  The first time she did it I was so excited to have found a solution to a problem that we had been facing for some time and for her to remember where I put it.

DEVELOPMENT:
Wow, I just don't know what has happened to my little baby!   I love how her little mind is developing and seems to come up with something new every day!  She is definitely becoming more independent these days.  Her favorite phrase is "I Hold It/I Get It/I Do It".  She wants to do everything herself which can sometime lead to battles when it isn't appropriate for her to do it/hold it/get it.  I am also allowing her to make more choices.  I will let her choose between two different things like which sleepsack, which pajama, etc.  The clothes wars have begun in our household so this is helping with that a lot.  Especially with shoes.  One day she was upset because I picked out a coat that she didn't want to wear.  Well finally I found out why..she said she needed a hood because it was windy out.  Well, not is so many words I think it was more like "Hood Up" "Windy" so once I got her a jacket with a hood she was happy.

One thing we struggle with is counting.  She will count 1, 3, 9 instead of 1, 2 3.  I am not sure where she got that from but we have been working on it for the past few months and has gotten us no where.  One of these days it will just click I'm sure.  We have also been working on colors but this too is coming slowly.  Just when we think she has a color down she calls it the wrong thing.

PLAY:
Ahh she is so much fun right now!  Seriously!  I loved her and had fun with her when she was younger than 12 months but from 12-22 months it has been a blast.  She still loves books and likes to pick out which books we read before bed from the bookshelf.  She loves playing with play-doh.  I found a big bag of playdoh toys at the consignment shop for super cheap but they are really random items but she loves it!

She likes to sing, especially in the car.  We have a list of songs I have to go through by her request just about anytime we ride together.  First, Wheels on the Bus, then Five Little Ducks, and finally B-I-N-G-O.  How she asks "Bus, Duckies, and Doggies"  The other day on the way home from JoJo's I was just listening to her sing.  I finally, asked what songs she was singing and she replied "Rosies"-Ahh Ring Around the Rosie.  In addition to singing she loves to dance.  The other day I put a dress on her and she ran over to the radio, turned it on and exclaimed "Dance".  In the kitchen I will plug my phone in and play some "dance music".  Her favorite song to dance to right now is "Chugga Chugga" which totally reminds me of my days working at Camp Manitou!

She loves bath time and loves her bath toys.  I think bath time could last well over an hour if I let her.  She likes to color with her bath crayons, sing, play with bubbles, and splash in the water.  She is more sensitive to us pouring water on her head than she was previously.  However, she doesn't mind sticking her head under running water.

Oh and he hugs are getting soooo good!  She now puts her arms around your neck and gives you a good, long squeeze.  I just can't get enough...and to top it off she is saying "I Love You".  No perfect, more like "I-OOOOH"  :)  and them sometimes it sounds perfect.  I guess it depends if she wants to be lazy.  She also loves to give kisses.  We are actually working on getting her to not demand kisses so much from everyone.  Like for example:  One day Owen came over to play and we were saying goodbye.  She grabbed his face and planted a big wet one on his lips...not sure he was ready or wanted that.  So kisses are reserved for family :).

She loves for us to swing her in her blanket like we showed in a previous post video and she is really into helping me do things around the house like cooking and cleaning.  We have been making muffins a lot and she loves to eat them.  Another one of my favorite moments of the month is when we talked about the word "special".  I LOVE hearing her say this word.  One night at dinner she went through the whole family and asked if they were special with a little bit of questioning in her tone.  I just about died from laughter.  It was so sweet.  After family, she moved on to friends :).

POTTY TRAINING:  
We still aren't really potty training.  Most of the time she asks to go potty every time we change her diaper and pretty much goes every time. We always make a big deal of it.  By no means is she dry when we change her diaper so she doesn't really get the idea to tell us when she has to go and I will admit sometimes she says potty as we are walking out the door and we dont' take her.  I know this has to change but for now we will take it a step at a time.  I am not ready to potty train both Elsie and Tally at the same time.  Once we get Tally down, it will be Elsie's turn-hopefully around her 2nd birthday.

Race for the Cure 2013

This past weekend John, Elsie and I participated in the Race for the Cure in Des Moines.  I can't say I have done this every year since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time in 2007 but have done it more times than not.  In addition to the Race for the Cure I have also participated in the 3-day event as well (I hope to do this again in the upcoming year or two).  Obviously this cause is near and dear to my heart.

It was a beautiful morning!  A little brisk but the sun was shining.  We bundled up and headed out!  We met up with Hillary and Owen, Sandy, and Tim and Asia.

Good Morning Des Moines!

All bundled up! 

Carving Pumpkins and Happy Birthday Bev!

This past weekend we have John's family over to carve pumpkins and to celebrate Bev's 64th Birthday!  Elsie loved having her cousins over to play!  I do not love Halloween and to be honest, I wasn't really into carving pumpkins--it is something I could do without if I had to but I definitely enjoy it more when we have family over to join us.  I also think I will start to enjoy it more that Elsie is enjoying it.  It is so fun to see her get so excited about these kinds of things and enjoying herself.  Which she definitely had fun on Sunday night :)

Grandma Bev helped Elsie carve her pumpkin while John and I worked on ours.  I think she thought it was a puzzle because she kept putting the pieces back in :)  She also kept hugging her pumpkin.  It was pretty cute.  

And no pumpkin would be complete it it didn't get colored on a little bit.

Olivia's Final Product! 

I bought one of those kits this year from Walmart that had some designs you could use to carve your pumpkins and I think they turned out pretty well.  In fact, we got quite a few compliments on our pumpkins on Halloween from the parents of trick or treaters.  

Like I mentioned, it was also Bev's Birthday.  When I went to take Tally outside they couldn't find my birthday candles so they settled for one of my centerpiece :)

Hmmm what to wish for

The final pumpkin products:  From Left to Right...Elsie's, Emma's, Mine, Dale and Bev;s, John, and Olivias.

 

All Lit up!

Thanks again Brandi and family for coming over to carve with us and Happy 64th Birthday to Beverly!