Leaf me alone.

I love the fall.  Well, technically we’re in the midst of winter now, but fall tends to last a bit longer down in these parts.  Actually, fall doesn’t even really happen until winter here.  Our weather is a little Sybil-esque.

We took a trip to visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop, but after realizing that the line spanned the entire store, we opted out.  I may just find a cute picture of a kid on Santa’s lap and PhotoShop Anna’s head onto her body.  This would be a lot easier than waiting in a long line with a fussy toddler.  Her body rejects Bass Pro Shop just like mine.  10 minutes after we get there, she goes into core meltdown status and is ready to hit the exit.  Like mother like daughter.

After our fun trip to Bass Pro, we headed over to Joe’s grandmother’s house.  She has a fair amount of wooded property with lots of leaf losing trees, so it made for some great photo ops with Anna.  I was able to redeem myself from my Santa FAIL status.

 

Anna is the leaf whisperer.

Maybe one day I’ll actually get a photo of Anna where she’s not all EMO looking.  This child refuses to smile for pictures!  I’m lucky I even got an actual shot where she was looking at the camera.  

Saintsgiving.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I’m finally taking the time to blog about our day.  Now that we’re in December, that’s appropriate, right?

The highlight - other than the food, family and fun – was watching the Saints play the Dallas Cowboys and finally getting revenge on them after last year’s heart breaking loss. 

Here are some pics of my family of Saints fans:

Joe and me before the game!

My little Who dat!

Uncle Glenn, Aunt Clarissa, Chris and Ale

My dad missed the memo that the Saints were playing, not LSU!

Crazy Joe and my child who refuses to look at the camera!  I made her a turkey bow and woven headband to match her outfit.  The headband came off before we even got there.  She settled on the bow and then ripped that out later.

AS usual, she’s trying to get away from me!  I get no love from this child when there’s playing to be done!

Joe’s “sassy” expression in the background owns me.  Anna paused to eat a chip with her Aunt Lea Lee.

Anna and her cousins spent the majority of the day sticking these leaves to the glass windows.

A little saucy pose right before the game started. 

Anna, MiMi and Aunt Lea Lee.  Of course Anna is still eating and not looking at the camera. By this point, I gave up.

Anna is patting her cousin Aydan on the back for a job well done with the leaves.

My uncle’s finger got in the way!

Anna and Paw Paw = BFF

  Do I have the cutest nephew or what?!  He could be a baby model!


She looks all innocent, but don’t let that sweet face or bowl of chips fool you!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It’s a Christmas Miracle!

I’m back, and I’m actually going to blog today instead of pimp out my store!  Aren’t you proud of me?

So, let’s talk Christmas, shall we?  This is the first year that I truly feel like Anna will be in the spirit of things.  And what better way to teach your child about the true meaning of Christmas than to spoil her with a bunch of toys that will get played with once or twice and then shoved into the corner?

Fa la la la la.

Actually, this year we’re very excited that she’ll have some gifts to open up on Christmas morning.  I am absolutely giddy with the stuff I’ve purchased so far.  I’m more excited about her gifts than I ever was about mine. 

Here’s what will be under the tree on Christmas morning.  If you’re still looking for some suggestions on what to get your little one, maybe this will help to point you in the right direction.

Most of this was purchased from Wal-Mart online.  They’re having a fantastic cyber week sale, and most of the items offer free shipping to your home, site to store or $.97 shipping – you really can’t beat it.

I’m already prepping her for a basketball career.  If she takes after me, she will be tall.  If she takes after her father, she will be athletically inclined.  I hope she’s our hybrid.  Otherwise she’ll be tall and clumsy.  That’s wasteful. 

If she doesn’t have a future in b-ball, perhaps she can be an artist.  Or perhaps this chalkboard and whiteboard easel will dissuade her from making crayon murals on our walls. 

Anna’s latest obsession is putting her hand in your cup and playing with whatever beverage is inside.  She may have a mild obsession with liquid.  We’re looking in to it. 

Since daddy’s Rock Band guitar only plays when it’s plugged in. 

I bought this for purely selfish reasons.  I want to play with it.  Who wouldn’t?   Plus, I’m grooming her to be our personal chef/clothes washer. 

The princess theme is debatable, but I couldn’t pass up the stamp stuff.  My child is a fiend for anything that she can stamp on, color on, tear up, etc.  I’m a glutton for punishment, but I like seeing her happy!

When Anna holds me hostage in her room while she “cooks” – I want to have something pretty and bright to look at.  

By golly, it’s a Christmas miracle – paint that doesn’t actually paint!  My house (and cats) will be happy to know that Anna can’t do much damage with this set.

I pray that this laptop will be a good replacement for my laptop.  Anna has a mild obsession with all electronics, and she spends her days and nights trying to hack into my work laptop.  It says her name, so hopefully that will grab her attention long enough for me to put an anti-Anna virus protector on my computer. 

One of the coolest gifts my mom ever got me was a personalized crayon/coloring book holder.  I couldn’t find an exact replica, but this is close enough.  She’s getting the cherry bag (far left).  Check out this Etsy store if you want something similar – Kirk’s Korner.

To go with her new kitchen, of course! Check out Baby Paige’s store. 

It became glaringly obvious to me as I was writing this post that I may have gone a little over board this year.  I’m making up for last year when all I gave her was a used spatula.  Christmas comes but once a year, and aside from her Satanna moments, she’s a great kid.  We are truly blessed with this little girl. 

OK, so spill it – what are you going to spoil your little one with this year?  

Happy Black Friday.

If you’re one of the non-nutso people who decided to stay asleep in your warm bed instead of battling the crazies on Black Friday, you should be rewarded.

 

My Etsy shop, Piggy’s Place, is having a 20% off everything sale (including custom orders) today only.  Enter “FRIDAY” at checkout to receive this discount.

You can cross one or two more names off your Christmas list and not even have to battle the crowds to do it.  Win-win, right?

 

Click here to go to Piggy’s Place

Belated.

Anna’s 2nd birthday came and went, and here I am, nearly a month later, finally getting the chance to write about it.  As a means of mental protection, many veterans of war often block out horrible images and periods of time - I’ve done the same with Anna’s second birthday.

Why, you ask?

Because my child is no longer Anna – she’s Satanna.  And Satannna and her little terrible two minions were out in full force on that scary day, October 10, 2010.

I stayed at my mom’s house that weekend since the majority of our family/friends live in her area.  It just made the most sense logistically.  Since I’m mother-of-the-year, I waited until the last minute to basically do everything for this party.  With the exception of the cute decorations, everything else was a last minute ordeal.  Crap!  I need to order the cake!  Crap!  We have no plates or utensils!  Crap!  We have no food!

So, we made a mad dash to Wal-Mart (hell on earth) the day before the party.  Satanna was out in full force there, so our shopping experience was super pleasant (dripping with sarcasm).

The morning of Satanna’s birthday started out innocent enough.  I walked into the bedroom to sing Happy Birthday to her, and she seemed to enjoy it for the first 20 seconds or so.  Then Linda Blair’s demons entered her body, and she started growling and snarling at me.  I knew we were in for a lovely day. 

All morning long it was a battle between good and evil.  “Anna, let’s get dressed.”  “NO!!!!!!!!” (screams, rolls on the floor, froths at the mouth).  “Anna, let’s brush your teeth.”  “NO!!!!!!!!” (screams, rolls on the floor, froths at the mouth). 

When I finally did manage to get her dressed, she refused any photo ops, so this is what I got:

At least the Golden Girls are happy.


Here she is walking, nay running, away from me.  At least you can see her 2!

Again, she refused to look at the camera.

The silver lining at this point was that her party was a very small/intimate affair.  I’d only casually invited a few close friends and family members over, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for them to see me have my mommy mental breakdown over Satanna’s antics. 

We did the cake and gift thing and prayed that no serious altercations would occur during this time.  We lucked out.  Anna cooperated, for the most part, even though I’d still see glimpses of Satanna come out.  That’s OK, though, because by that point, I became a little less than angelic.

Here are some pictures of the decorations:

Anna’s smash cake

Anna is two sign.

Overexposed picture of the Golden Girls.

Cupcake toppers

Anna liked the cupcakes.  She also liked taking the toppers out of them.
 

Anna with her floor sweeper.  She loves to help me clean!

Blowing out the candle

Success!  And do I see a little bit of a smile?!  And a random eggplant?

Enjoying the cake!

And here’s the typical family photo where I’m the only one looking at the camera.

Now Anna is the only one looking at the camera.

There’s that darn eggplant again.

So, Anna had a wonderful 1st birthday and a crazy 2nd birthday, so we have a wash.  Hopefully next year will be wonderful, and we’ll be past the terrible two phase of life although I’ve heard 3 is even worse.  Help me, help me, please!

PS
Don’t forget to check out Piggy’s Place!