Quinnie is going to give Mia a run for her money

See for yourself:

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner over at my mother-in-law's house on Saturday evening. We also were celebrating Kevin's brother, Ryan's, engagement to his new fiance, Monica:

The 3 older girls (there are 5 girl cousins in all!) decided to have a talent show. Mia went first, then Katherine, my niece. Then it was Chloe's turn and Miss Q decided that, no, it was actually her turn. Too funny... I do wish that Chloe had gotten her turn to do her cartwheel, but she just became really shy after Quinnlan went (and stole her turn, in her words).

Then, the funniest part of all was that Sheila gave all the girls Thanksgiving gifts. So sweet. The first gift was a set of classic Christmas DVDs. The next gift was...wait for it...The Elf on the Shelf. No, I'm not kidding (even though Chloe wishes I was). She did OK, but she did come to me and (standing sideways being 5-year-old-inconspicuous) say, "She's not going home with us, right, Mommy?"

"No, she is not coming home with us. She's going right back up to the North Pole. Don't you worry."

She may kill me for this, but...

Quinn has an obsession. No, it's not Elmo. It's...underpants.

Kevin's and my first baby, Abby, our little mutt (that we had and then had to give to our sweet neighbors in Duluth because she just did not adjust well to having 2 "new kids" in the house when Mia and Chloe were born) had this same obsession. Hence, Quinnie's new nickname----Abby.

Meet Abby

She thinks it's fun when Daddy puts the undies on her head...haha

Oh, and Abby also likes to wear them over her clothes, if we'll put them on her, as well as carry them on her arm like a purse.

These are the things that will be SO fun to bring up at her rehearsal dinner :)

My baby has lost a tooth!

I know when I say "Baby" I'm usually talking about Quinnlan, but this "baby" is my Chloe. She has been talking about her loose tooth for over a month and finally it was so loose that she could push it forward all the way with her tongue, so I convinced her to let me try and pull it last Wednesday. I really pulled, but it was not budging! Ugh! So, Thursday, I had Kevin try (don't worry, Chloe was fine with us pulling on it), and it still was not moving. Then Friday morning, she and Mia were watching Noggin as I was cleaning the kitchen (they both stayed home because of colds) and I heard her say, "Mia! My tooth just came out!" and I think I was just as excited as she was! So here's the before photo:

And here's the after photo:

That night, the tooth fairy showed up and took her tooth and left 2 dollars! (Picture a grandma rocking on the front porch with no teeth here) In my day, we only got a quarter and we were happy...darn inflation! The tooth fairy also sprinkled pixie dust from the window sill, where she came in, all the way up the bunk bed ladder and all over the comforter and all over Chloe's hair and face and pillow! Wow! (After the Elf on the Shelf debacle, she wouldn't even look under her pillow without me being there...she thought the tooth fairy might be hiding under it!)

Oh, and we can't forget...here's Sissy Mia who is having a hard time watching Chloe get a lot of attention:

Photos from a fun week/weekend

Here are some pics that go with the previous post:

The mantle all lit up---minus the pine boughs that I plan on adding when we return from our trip...anyone have any ideas for making a big TV look like a pretty Christmas wreath???

Don't you love when you unpack decorations and find things you forgot you have? I bought this to take to a Christmas party last year as a white elephant gift (you know, where you "steal" gifts?) and I strategized well enough to bring home my own gift! Merry Christmas to me! The girls love taking turns each day and opening the little doors to see what (leftover Halloween) treat is inside!

The girls love the snow globes the best...

I promise Mia has on undies, but, honestly, she is our resident (semi)nudist

Ready to see the Rockettes! Mia is wearing the little dress that we made :)

I still haven't figured out the indoor wreath for the windows... :)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

OK, I know I'm a little early here, but I am sort of taking my cue from the malls with this one.

I normally hit the ground running the day after Thanksgiving ready to take on the Christmas season, not wanting to miss a minute. But this year, because we are headed to Mexico on T-Day and missing 10 days of the holidays, I have to start early...makes sense, right?

I dragged down all the boxes from the attic on Tuesday and got myself organized and decked the halls. It was so fun...I made a Christmas playlist on my Ipod last year and I forgot how much I love all the songs on there. My 2 favorites so far are "Mistletoe" by Colbie Caillat and "River" by Joni Mitchell (until I wear them out and have to move on). An oldie but a goodie is "Heirlooms" by Amy Grant---the words can move me to tears. That whole album is one of the best Christmas albums ever.

I am a little bummed that we will not be having our Christmas tree in our family room this year---Kevin is so happy, he has wanted to put it in the front room (playroom) every Christmas since we moved here, but my whining and complaining about how my favorite thing is to stare at the tree has won out in the past. Not this year, though. We bought 2 chairs for our family room last winter and if Kevin thought the room was too crowded with the tree in there before, he is definitely right about it now. No room in the inn...I mean family room (smile). It will be in the playroom. I just have to figure out a way to gate it off so little Quinnie hands don't pull it over. To compensate for no tree to stare at, I have lit up the mantel. That is working ok for me, but I need MORE. I am thinking of hanging a large wreath (or maybe 3 normal sized ones) from our curtain rod that goes across a set of 3 windows behind the couch so it can be more festive...hmmm...we'll see how that goes. Time's a-tickin'.

My mom and I (mainly my mom) made these precious little Christmas A-line shift dresses for the girls. They are so cute, I must say. I found the pattern on etsy.com and it was pretty easy! My new favorite fabric store has been within walking distance the whole time I've lived here---Intown Quilters (on Mistletoe as you are entering North DeKalb mall's parking lot). It is a goldmine of amazing, fun, beautiful fabrics---if you're into that kind of thing :)

I wanted to start off this holiday season with a new family tradition of The Elf on the Shelf. We have always talked to our elf (called Cindy) and even written her letters in the years past, but she was always invisible. I could call out, "Cindy, do you see how Mia is not sharing with Chloe? Make a note of it for Santa!" or "Cindy, did you see how Chloe took her dishes to the kitchen without being asked?" and it worked wonders...even better than the old "Santa's watching, you better be good!". So, this year, I asked my mom for the book and elf doll set because I thought the girls would LOVE it. Um, no...not so much.

I hid the doll in the playroom and wrote a letter to the girls from Cindy and then I knocked on the door and "answered" it and brought in the letter and the box to them. Basically the letter said that Cindy was so happy to finally meet them in person and that she couldn't wait for them to find her. We read the book and then we were off to see where she might be hiding. When we found her, I told her hello and so did the girls. I could tell that Chloe was a little nervous, but she did talk to her and she was smiling, even if it did look a little fake. Then Quinnlan woke up, so we told Cindy we'd be back later (you can't touch her or she'll lose her magic and she can't fly back and forth to the North Pole every night to report to Santa). When we got up to the nursery, Chloe is pacing and she comes to me and here's how it went:

C: Mommy, is Cindy coming to Mexico with us?

Me: No, she'll stay here, we wouldn't want someone to accidentally touch her and for her to lose her magic.

C: OK (chewing her fingernails)

Me: Is everything ok? You know she's very nice, right?

C (whispering in my ear): Cindy is kind of scaring me.

Me: Hey, if we whisper, she can't hear us, so let's go talk about it (I totally thought I could talk her into having this little elf live with us for the next month---boy, was I wrong)

So, we go to her room and she begins to cry and is whispering saying:

C: I don't think I want her to be here. She is really scaring me.

Me: What is scaring you? (Like Kevin said, a little freaky-looking elf that just stares at you and watches everything you do and hears everything you say and you can't touch is pretty scary...ok, maybe he's right, but scary can be fun sometimes, right?)

C: Her face looks like rubber and her cheeks are so red! (all of this is being said in a near-hysterics whisper)

Me: Do you want her to go back to the North Pole?

C: Yes, please, please have her go away and never come back.

So, we wrote Cindy a letter asking her to leave and we had to tell her goodbye (Chloe's smile was trembling and fake again) and she is gone.

The poor child was so relieved.

Mia was a little bummed. I can handle that, though. Mia asked if she could come back next year when they are six and I told her that sure she could and Chloe came running down the stairs bawling and whispering, "NO NO, I never want her to come back into our house...she is so scary!" So, we decided that if she did come back, we'd have to invite her and we can talk about it next Thanksgiving if they want.

I think she may need therapy for this one. Way to go, Mommy.

It reminds me of when she freaked out about sock monkeys at Nana's when she was 2 and when she freaked out seeing Cinderella at Disney World ("her big fat blue dress is so weird, Mommy") when she was 3. I have so many "Parent of the Year" awards :)

Tomorrow, my mom, my grandmother, Mia and I are going to the Rockettes at the Fox. I am very excited. I wish Chloe was going, but, she didn't want to go. In her words, "I already saw it on DVD and I'd rather go to the Nature Center with Daddy." Really?!? Who are you? Anyway... So, Chloe and Kevin are going to her fave, Raging Burrito (the Nature Center is closed that late) and we'll be heading out for a fun matinee show.

I'll post pics later with pictures from tomorrow and maybe some of my Christmas decorating if/when I get those wreaths up!

So many reasons to LOVE this time of year. But, by far, the best reason is because it is my Savior's birthday. Now that I have children of my own, I am in awe of a God that loved me so much (being the pitiful mess that I am) that He sent His only son to this earth as a baby to live here among men, to touch lives and to teach us how to live, then to die (how did his mother, Mary, bear that??? Can you even imagine watching your precious child die on a cross???) so that we can live in Heaven with Him forever. Unreal... I am so very thankful.

Here's to The Reason for this Season...(clink clink)

A Change in Plans

Well, there has been a change in our November travel plans. In the summer, we had planned an 11 day trip to New Zealand for this month. You can link to that whole process here.

As the time got closer to begin planning our itinerary, we just weren't passionate about what our trip would entail. And passion is something that we thought that we should both feel about a trip that could possibly end up in an international move, right??? Also, I was having some anxiety about leaving our girls for that long period of time...I have never been away from Baby Quinn for more than 2 nights...So...long story short, we made a change and now we're headed to Mexico!

We are very excited about this family vacation...I am extremely excited for Kevin to be getting 10 days away from his job. It has been especially busy for him with all of the rain that we have had this year and he has been working so much that he really deserves a break! I am thrilled about the Kids Club for Mia and Chloe as well as the Baby activity center for Miss Quinnie. Woohoo...I can't wait to sit and read a magazine or (gasp!) a book by the pool...that is pretty much a thing of the past since having kids. No offense, girls...

The Heimlich

Kids can literally give you a heart attack. Especially when they are your own kids and you love them with every ounce within you.

With that said, I was showering and getting ready for Kevin's and my weekly Wednesday datenight while Kevin started dinner for the girls before our sitter arrived. I came bounding down the stairs excited that a) I didn't have to cook OR clean tonight and b) I was getting to spend an evening out to dinner with my main squeeze.

When I came into the kitchen everything looked normal...then Kevin said:

"I just had to do something I never thought I'd have to do."

Me: What?

K: I had to perform the Heimlich on one of our kids.

I immediately turn to Quinnlan who is sitting in her highchair to see if she is ok when he clarifies:

"Not Quinnlan, Chloe"

Me: WHAT?!?!?

Then he proceeded to tell me that she was having a pre-dinner snack (appetizer?) of pineapple when she comes into the kitchen where Kevin is at the sink and is spitting on the floor. Kevin tells her to stop---thinking that she is doing that because she doesn't like what is in her mouth (gross), but then she looks up at him and is waving her arms around and he realizes she is choking. He grabbed her from behind and had to do the Heimlich 3 times before the chunk of pineapple flew out of her mouth "just like in the movies" (he said).

My. Heart. Stopped.

I could not stop thinking about it for the rest of the night and the next day and truthfully, I keep thinking about it.

How quickly things can go wrong and our lives can take a turn that we never would expect.

I am so so so very thankful that God protected our precious child that evening. I am so thankful that Kevin was there and able to help her. I always wonder if I would react in the way that I should in those situations.

I remember when the Mia and Chloe were maybe a month old, my mom was over and I was walking down our stairs holding Mia and I slipped on a step and slid down about 5 steps. All I could do was cry thinking, "What if I had thrown her or dropped her?" My mom was there, thankfully, and she kept reassuring me that, no, I would never have done that. My motherly instinct would be to hold tighter.

I want to believe that I would immediately do what Kevin did, but I am also afraid that I might panic and do something stupid like pound her on the back. I guess that is where we just have to trust our instincts that we would do what we would need to do to protect our children...Mama Bear Style.

Halloween 2009

This year, Halloween was especially fun! It reminded me of when Mia and Chloe were Quinnlan's age at Halloween (2005). I remember being at Babies R Us and having them try on costumes and dying laughing at seeing my babies dressed up. I felt the same way with Little Miss Quinnie this year.

The past 2 years, Mia and Chloe have been princesses...Belle, Snow White, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty. This year I was SO over the whole Princess thing. I was thrilled when Chloe told me she wanted to be Wonder Woman---my childhood idol. Yes...

Mia's favorite book is Pinkalicious, a story about a little girl that turns pink when she eats too many pink cupcakes. She decided she wanted to be Pinkalicious.

Quinnie didn't really have a choice, so she was a ladybug.

My friend, Jennifer, and I got crafty and made tutus for our littlest ones (her daughter was a black cat---precious) to wear as part of their costumes.

Because Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, it coincided with the Georgia-Florida game. Some great friends and neighbors, the Shokats, are big Florida fans, so we invited them and some other great friends, the Hickeys to come and watch the game and then go trick-or-treating.

It was so special to see our children play all day with their good friends. Here are some pictures from the fun-filled day...

We FINALLY carved our pumpkins on Halloween Day---better late than never!