Goodbye to 2011

2011 was a good year, we got a new car and bought our first house.  We celebrated Lyla's first birthday and my sister got married.  There was lots to celebrate in 2011, but we also said lots of goodbyes.

I lost my grandma and I lost a woman who was like a grandma to me.  I lost both of my cats this year. 

We said goodbye to our apartment.  Our apartment had been home to us for five years.  There are lots of special memories there.  I would be lying if I said that I don't miss that place.  I can't even bring myself to drive past it.  And I have to go near it every day to get Lyla at daycare!  Gary took this video on his phone when he went to do the final walk thru and turn in our keys:

We had to say goodbye to Lyla's infant room at daycare and move her up to the one year old room.  We miss the girls from the infant room a lot!

I guess at the end of the day (year), goodbyes are just a part of life.  Sometimes they are easier than others.  Sometimes the memories are enough to carry on with you and sometimes the pain sticks around for a long long time.  I've never been very good with change, but I'm getting better. 

So bring it on 2012 and hopefully there are less goodbyes this time!

Merry Christmas!

We started off our Christmas weekend Saturday afternoon at my mom & dad's house.  Lyla wasted no time getting in to opening presents!

Auntie Em got a new robe and was excited to model it for us!

Auntie Em and Uncle G got Lyla a sit & spin and an Elmo drum set, so naturally Gerald had to build them like he has to build everything for the Bean!

Em & Lyla playing.

At one point Lyla decided the best thing to do would be to just take her toys and go home!  She kept carrying her sit and spin over to the door.

All I really want is one nice family picture of the three of us.... maybe someday!

Lyla - Such a Lady!

Erin and Andy came up to visit for a little bit, I know this picture is blurry but I still think its cute!

Saturday evening we went to my Aunt & Uncle's house and had dinner and presents there.  Then we had to go home so we could be here for Santa to come!

Sunday morning we got up and went downstairs to a living room full of presents!  There was a race car track, her drum set, a new stuffed Abby doll, new books... all sorts of things!

After presents, Mom & Dad and Em and Gerald came up for an early dinner and to play.  Lyla played her drums for us! 

She needed help from her Pap-Pay (she says it now with a french accent & its hilarious)!

Another attempt at a family picture, this is probably the best one we have had in a long time!

The girls!

The boys!

The boys plus a bean!

When everybody left Lyla was exhausted.  She missed her nap with all the excitement.  In an attempt to keep her from going to bed too early we took a bath with her new toys.

But come 6:00, this is what I found on the couch:

She couldn't stay awake another second!

Monday we spent the day in West Virginia with Gary's family.  Lyla was very excited to go for a ride!

We started off opening presents at Gary's mom's house.  She got Lyla a singing Elmo and a new play kitchen.  Then we went to Gary's Aunt & Uncle's and had lunch and opened presents there.

When we left there we went to Gary's friend Jason's house and spent some time with his family.  Then we ordered pizza for dinner and headed back home so I could get up for work on Tuesday.

Its been a crazy busy weekend/week!  Sorry this was just mostly pictures and quick descriptions but that's all there is time for at the moment! 



The result of a 6:30 bedtime...

So, want to know what happens when you put your kid to bed at 6:30?  They get up at 2:00 in the morning wide awake!! Then it takes until sometime after 4:00 when they finally fall back asleep, in your bed of course.  So when the alarm goes off and you have to get up and try to look somewhat presentable for work, this is what you get to look at while getting dressed:

She has such a rough life don't you know??  :)   Happy Monday!

Santa Fail, Fried Dough & Chuck E Cheese - Oh My!

Its 6:30 on Sunday night and we are winding down from yet another busy weekend.  If its any indication of how busy we were, I just put Lyla to bed for the night!  She usually goes to bed at 8:00, at the earliest!  She just couldn't stay awake another minute!

Yesterday morning we made one last attempt to get her to mall and get a picture with Santa.  We knew that he got there at 10:00 so we went up early and got in line around 9:30.  We were first in line and Lyla was anxiously awaiting his arrival.  Santa... Santa... she kept saying.  Santa's helpers got there ahead of him and were loving on Lyla and letting her play with some stuffed animals they had and a light up ball.  Then the big guy finally showed up!  She was so so excited!  And then he got close to her.  And then I had the nerve to try to put her on this weird guys lap....  She didn't cry, but she clung to me and there wasn't any way I could put her down near him!  I sat on the bench next to him thinking she might sit on my lap.. no.  He hid behind the bench so she could sit on it herself and maybe not see him behind her.. no, she is too smart for that trick!  So we did not get any pictures that they took there and the best Gary could get were these two on our camera...

So after that fiasco we came  home and did some things and then went to my friend Maria's house for her annual Fried Dough Party!  So much fun!  Lyla was a little party animal and hung out until 10:00 when Gary and I decided we better take her home because she could hardly walk without falling over at that point!  But we had such a good time.

Then we got up this morning and got ready because we had a date planned with the Canons!  We went and met them halfway at the Chuck E Cheese.  The kids had a blast!  And we loved getting to visit with Jim and Karla!  This was Lyla's first time there and she did pretty good.  She seemed to really like the cars more before you put a token in them.  When they would start moving she would freak out and you would have to take her out!

Lyla and Nathan played some games together including skeeball which is my favorite game!  Neither of them seemed to really get the concept, but they still had fun!

There was one ride that Lyla wanted to do, so we put her on and when it moved she spazzed so we took her off.  Then later Naomi was on it so Lyla thought, hmmm, if Naomi is doing it then maybe its ok.  So she would only get on with Naomi and Naomi had to hold her hand the whole time and she loved it!  Those two are just so cute together!

I think her favorite thing there was the carousel.  It just went in circles, the horses didn't go up and down.  I can't tell you how many times she went around on it.  Before we left I thought it would be really cute to put her and Nathan on the same horse and take a picture.  Lyla had other thoughts and tried to push him off!  Good thing both daddies were standing right there and the thing wasn't moving!

So that's a look at how our weekend went.  I'm now going to get a shower and get ready for bed myself.  I'm pooped!

Heard Around The House #4

Ok, I call these "Heard Around the House" but they aren't always in the house.  An email between me and my mom this afternoon:

Me:  So I just read that Britney Spears got engaged!  That's fun!

Mom:  I heard that last night.

Me:  And you didn't call me????

Mom:  Oh, you never answer when I call in the evening.... and I figured Britney probably wanted to tell you herself.

Me: hahahaha, oh yes!  Good point!

Totally LOVE this article!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shunning-facebook-living-tell-000204976.html

I can really relate to a lot of it!

Typical Weekend in December

This past weekend was pretty crazy, which I think is pretty typical for a weekend in December. 

Friday night I had my work Christmas party so Gary and Lyla were on their own.

Then Saturday morning, Mom and I went Christmas shopping.  Saturday night Gary went shopping.

Sunday morning we helped Lyla make a gingerbread house.  We got the stuff out and she promptly bit off the gingerbread man's head! 

She did a really good job with it.  I was kind of surprised how good she did!  We just put a bunch of icing on and would hand her pieces of candy and she just stuck them right on! 

She was so proud of herself when she was done!  And I think that this age is so funny for pictures.  She is old enough to know that she is supposed to smile for a picture, but she doesn't really know how so it always looks painful!

Sunday evening we went to the mall to see Santa.  Well when we got there he was out feeding the reindeer so we went and walked around the pet store.

Then we got in line....

And we waited there for about an hour... we only were halfway to Santa at that point.  So we gave up and went home.  We will try another night this week!

When we got home Lyla thought it would be a good time to sit in a box and play while I got dinner together!

After that we rounded out the weekend with some of Grandma's homemade lasagna (mmmmmm)!  Then we got our baths and went to bed!

The End!