December 1st

December 1st marks the official start of the Christmas season. At least in my family's book it does. No Christmas talk until after Mom's birthday (Nov. 30).

So what did I do when I got into work today? Cranked up the Christmas music of course!

John Denver and the Muppets? Check!!
Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong cd? Check!
Martina McBride's Christmas stuff? Check and check!

I've heard the "Christmas is Coming" Muppet song about 14 times by now, and I'm still loving it. Are my coworkers enjoying my singing? Probably not. Oh well. It's only for about 3 weeks or so. I've got my hot chocolate and plenty of Andes Mints to stir in. Mmm!

My next hurdle is Christmas shopping. I don't know if you know, but I'm starting school on Dec 12th. It's night school. That doesn't leave much room for shopping. There are a few things that I'll be sewing/creating on my own (yikes!), but times is running out very quickly to get those wrapped up (pun intended).

This weekend is supposed to be nice, sunny and crisp. With highs in the upper 40's, it won't necessarily be warm, but it will be great weather to get those Christmas lights up! We probably won't see weather like this again until June. Better take advantage of it. Besides, who want's to put Christmas lights up in June?

I can't wait to take Lily and go hunt down that perfect Christmas Tree. You know, that one that has that beam of sunshine shining down while the angels sing "Aaaahhhhhhh". Yeah, that one. Can't wait to find it!

What traditions are you looking foward to this Christmas?

Crayons and Scrubbing

Last night my little girl learned a valuable lesson on how to clean crayon off the walls.

She was sitting at her picnic table innocently coloring her pages (so I thought). I was cozy on the couch watching whatever I was watching. A familiar "scratch scratch" got me up off the couch and into the dining room to inspect the damage.

I decided to test out the stuff we learned in our Love and Logic classes that we've been taking.

First, she had to sit on the stairs (her timeout spot) for a minute or two. Then I told her that she's going to have to figure out how to clean the crayon off the wall.

Her first idea (a dry paper towel) didnt work. So what's better than a dry paper towel? A wet paper towel! Nope, didnt work. We even tried the Green Works cleaner. Honestly, I think the dry paper towel may have had a better effect.

The next plan was for her to call Grammy and ask her if she knew how to get crayon off the walls. I dialed Grammy, put it on speaker and let Lily do the talking (with a little prompting). Grammy gave her a suggestion, and she proceeded to scrub the crayon off the walls (Mommy helped a little).

I think it worked. Even though I think she kind of enjoyed figuring out how to fix this, she learned some lessons.

I mentioned it again this morning and asked her what she learned from the experience and she said "Don't color on the walls, or you have to scrub, scrub, scrub!"

Success? In my opinion, yes!

5 Years

5 Years ago, I married this crazy, kooky guy. We've had quite the adventure together so far.

I've been blessed to have him in my life. He's an amazing husband.

And a fantastic father to our beautiful little girl.

I wouldn't have it any other way. Here's to many many MANY more! I love you!

Happy Halloween!

Lily has been talking about how she's going to be a kitty for Halloween for the past week or two. She's been so excited. Especially since it was her first Halloween all over again.

Honestly, those first couple Halloweens don't count. You know, those ones where the parent carries around a baby in an oversized lobster or something and the kid just becomes an accessory to the parent's costume?

So she was really excited when she got to have makeup AND ears on. At the same time! She really did turn out to be the cutest kitty of all time. (Not biased. Nope. Not at all.)

We went downtown Newberg to Trick or Treat on First Street. We got there right at 5pm, right when it started. I wanted to try as hard as possible to miss out on the big crowds that seem to accumulate as the night wears on.

We all ended up wearing black and drawing whiskers on our faces. One of us had a little more fun with the makeup than the other two (girls) did. But we won't linger on that.


It didn't take long for Miss Lily to get into the Halloween spirit. The first couple stops, they got a tight-lipped shake of the head when we said "Say Trick or Treat!". But she quickly caught on that if she said the magic words, she'd get candy, candy and more candy. We went home with a grocery bag full of candy, mini pumpkins, glow bracelets, and stickers.

Next stop was the church's Harvest Party. We chowed down on hot dogs, chips, and grape Koolaid. There were games, bouncy houses, and a cake walk (which she won).

There was a special section for kids under 6 that had slides and other fun things to play on. We had a hard time peeling her away from the slides to do some more trick-or-treating around the church.

This kid will not be lacking in candy for the next couple of months. Yay for potty training treats!

Hope you all had a great Halloween! We sure did!

The Dentist

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow. Yuck.

I was a regular at the dentist when I was younger along with a 4 year stint as an orthodontic patient. I've had the pleasure of having my molars sealed, a tooth capped, a bridge, and the occasional filling. I can tell you that the dentist is not my favorite place to hang out. Spending the day being saggy faced, drooling and numb up to your eyeball is not my idea of a fun time. In my opinion, it's a necessary evil.

While I wasn't really one of those kids that grew up knowing what they want to do with their life (heck, I still don't know!), but I can tell you this. Being a dentist was NOT on my list of to-do's. Now I know we need dentists, and that they are a vital part of our healthcare. But there's something a little morbid about waking up one day and deciding that you want to spend your working days digging crap out from between peoples teeth, shoving giant needles into people gums, and smelling that ground teeth smell. Not really a career path I would chose. Some people love it (you'd have to to stick with it), and that's great! Hats off to those guys!

We're also coming up on that time when Lily is going to need to go to the dentist for her first ever check up. I've heard raving reviews about the kids dentist in Sherwood, something about a Wii in their waiting room and toys galore. I remember being super young and loving going to the dentist. Those flouride trays with the orange creamsicle-flavored foamy stuff? Yes please! Remember the sucker thing? Remember how if you breathed in just right, you could get it to make the most fantastic pig noise? I can only hope and pray that Lily sees the dentist as a fun time. Hopefully she will be on the "No Cavities Wall" (if they have one) as I was as a kid. There was no greater joy than being able to give the dentist's assistant a bright and shining smile for a picture after the Dentist has declared you officially cavity free.

But something happened when I got older. I always brushed my teeth (still do, ha), thought I took good care of them. But for some reason, I started to have issues. There was even a point where I had to have a gum graft because my gums were receding so much. I'll spare you the gorey details, but I can tell you this: that post-braces retainer came in really handy for protecting the stitches on the roof of my mouth!

And now, with this whole being grown-up thing, there has been a new issue. Turns out going to the dentist is expensive! And there's a little thing called dental insurance. I don't get it through my work. However, Jesus' employer offers it, and we've been able to put us all on it. So no more excuses. I gotta go. Gotta do it. Boo.

So wish me luck tomorrow as I sit there with my mouth gaping open for the whole world to see. It's not going to be a pretty visit, I can tell you that. But I'll feel so much better with bright shiny, freshly and professionally cleaned teeth.

Bike Riding

The rain decided to let up a little bit this weekend, so Lily was more than excited to wear her new "helmet for her head" and hop on her bike. We raised her seat a little bit, and she's scooting along like a pro.

There's a good chance that this could be the last bike ride of the year.