Happy new year to all!

What a year it's been for us. PeopleSoft ended as a company. I began to work for Oracle. I quit! We moved to Georgia. Rene is working for Club Car. Lauren started walking and talking. Erin had her first dance recital. We're grateful for each other, our families, our health, and our wonderful friends. 2006 is the year that Erin starts kindergarten. Who knows what else the year will bring?

Today I joined Weight Watchers (again). With the new year I hope to lose weight. I've added my 2 favorite weight loss sites to my list of links.

Here's to a happy, healthy, skinnier new year!

It wouldn't be the holidays...

without someone being sick. The day after Christmas, Erin was sick, and I didn't feel so hot myself. Luckily the next day we were feeling better.

This morning I got up early with Nanna and PopPop and drove them to the Columbia, SC airport. Their plane left 1/2 hour late, but hopefully they'll be home soon.

Last night there were tornado watches for the area. The power went out momentarily. A reminder that we need to have a few flashlights in strategic places. We then decided to take out Chinese food. As we were driving through the torrential rain to pick up the food, Erin said, "Who would go out in this weather to get Chinese food?" Crazy us, that's who.

We have almost a week until Erin starts school again, and we'll have to come up with some interesting things to do before then. Erin is very creative. Yesterday, on her own, she taped some cone shaped coffee filters together & painted them to make butterflies. Still, there's only so many things we can do with paper plates and coffee filters!

Christmas in Georgia

Hey y'all. We had a great Christmas in Georgia. We had prime rib for Rene's birthday on the 23rd, salmon on Christmas Eve and a big ol Turkey yesterday. A few neighbors dropped by baked goods over the past few days to welcome us to the neighborhood, so we've been eating well!

Christmas Eve we put out reindeer food on the lawn, and left out milk and cookies for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. We watched polar express which was fun. Erin and Lauren went to bed early, which is a good thing, because Santa won't come if you're awake!

Lauren woke up at 5 Christmas morning. I took her into bed. Closer to 6, we heard a loud beeping noise. Rene was running around trying to figure it out. It was Erin's alarm clark, she must have played with the buttons. He yanked it out of the wall, and it still continued to beep (battery backup). Finally we silenced it. Erin slept through all that but she soon woke up and we went down stairs to see that Santa had come! Erin was very excited. Finally we told her she could get Nana and PopPop. She ran up into their room and said "Santa came! Santa came!" Erin's big gift was a huge princess tent that fits two sleeping bags in it. Erin and Lauren spent a good part of the day lying in the tent in the playroom. Lauren got a tricyle, so now she can ride a bike just like the other kids on the block! Hooray! We also have a slew of Polly Pockets and their dam teeny tiny shoes all over the place.

We had decided to go to an 11 am mass on Christmas at St. Mary's. That was the most convenient time. The church was not the one we go to every week. I took my parents and Erin. Lauren was fussy, so Rene stayed behind with her. I saw St. Mary's school, and next to that everyone was piling into the church parking lot. We went in, sat down, and started singing the usual Christmas carols. 10 minutes in, my mother looked at the bulletin. We realized we were not in St. Mary's, but a Methodist church. We sang a few more songs, but Erin was getting antsy, so we left, walked across the stree to St. Mary's. My parents went into Mass, and I stayed in the lobby with Erin. She saw her friend Claire from school there. So we got two church services for the price of one. Why St. Mary's school is not next to St. Mary's church, I don't know, but it threw me for a loop!

Today my childhood friend Kara and her two children come to visit overnight. Kara's in-laws live not too far away in South Carolina.

I forgot to mention earlier that Nana got to witness Lauren's first haircut! Lauren still does not have as much hair as her younger cousins Lara and Samantha, but it needed a little cleaning up. She did not enjoy her haircut, but she looks cute now. Will try to post some pictures soon. Erin loves haircuts and happily got hers cut.

Hope all our friends and family had a wonderful Christmas!

Bathroom update

Well I've lost track of how many people have come or said they would come for the shower, but we think we have a winner! We ordered the new showerpan yesterday. ETA is 6 weeks. So I'll get to take a shower in our master bath in 2006. Whoo hoo!

Holidays are here!

And they came with a fever. Lauren had a 103 fever yesterday, but was in good spirits with some motrin. Still we stayed in and had a "sick day". I ended up doing grocery shopping after Lauren fell asleep last night. She slept well and seems to be better.

Today the girls and I drive to Columbia, SC to pick up Nana and PopPop (or "Pop" as Lauren calls him) from the airport there. There's a direct flight from Laguardia to Columbia and it was cheaper than flying to Augusta. It's a little over an hour drive, not bad.

Erin's so excited about Christmas. She keeps making things for us and giving them right away. We tell her we'd like to wait for our presents, but she wants us to have them right away. On Monday we went to the mom's club holiday party and Erin made bookmarks. I told her to give them to daddy for a Christmas present, but she gave them yesterday. She also made a nice serving tray for us that we've opened already. As per Erin, "You could serve brownies or cookies on it, if you like." We have two advent calendars and every morning Erin is excited to open the "doors".

Lauren is talking so much more. She says Erin "Eh in" and stuck "guck". It's amazing how many things get "guck" throughout the day. She also says gone a lot. For example, if Dora is on tv, and then it is over, she says "Gone". Last week when Erin was at school, Lauren found a pair of Erin's shoes, brought them to me and said: "Erin. Shoes. Gone."

Picky, picky...

We will eat the raisins from the Raisin Bran, but not the Bran Flakes. (When served Bran Flakes however, we will eat them).

We will not eat "skin". Which means apples must be peeled. Grapes are out of the question. Too much skin, not enough guts!

We will eat carrots and spinach if dipped in "dranch" dressing, but the dranch dressing must be in a particular spot on the plate.

We will not eat the crust.

For hardboiled eggs, Erin will only eat the yellow, Lauren will only eat the white. (This actually works out pretty well.) No one will eat the shell.

Plumber update

Well the plumber came and went 2 weeks ago? Hard to keep track. Determined it was not a plumbing problem but the shower pan must have been installed improperly so we need someone to install that. Soo, had one guy come, and the estimate was sky high! So, now been trying to get another person to come. Missed an appointment yesterday and he claimed he kept trying my phone, but couldn't get trough, couldn't even leave a message. Odd, isn't it? I only got through by calling his cell. We'll see if he shows up today. Grrrr.

Updates for the week

We've had a busy week. On Wednesday, Erin had her Christmas singing performance at school. Rene was able to come as it was at lunchtime. The kids were very cute. They ended the performance with a few kids saying "Merry Christmas" in differerent languages. Then all the kids said, "Merry Christmas ya'll from Georgia!"

Erin started ballet class after Thanksgiving and it's been going well. Last night I got to observe the class with the other parents. Again, very cute. Erin's friend Sam (Samantha) from school switched classes so now Erin and Sam are in the same class. Lots of giggling going on!

I don't think I mentioned it, but Rene purchased a rider mower. It's a big job keeping this yard free of leaves. I'll have to post a picture.

Today is Friday, the last day of school before the Christmas break. boo hoo! But it's my morning to myself as Friday's Lauren goes to school. Lots to do do! My parents fly here on Wednesday.

It's official

It's official, this must be home! Both girls have now thrown up in their new house. :(

On Saturday at 2:00, I left Rene and the girls to drive to Woodstock, GA, outside Atlanta, to visit my childhood friend, Kara. She was throwing a surprise 40th birthday party for her husband, Walt. The party was fun. It was great to see Kara and Walt and their two cute kids, Samantha and Sean. I slept in the bonus room. At 8:30 the next morning, Rene called me on my cell phone. Erin had been getting sick all night. So I hightailed it out of there and was back home by lunchtime. Erin still wasn't feeling well, but seemed better by bedtime. We stayed home from school on Monday just to be sure. Rene did a good job while mom was away.

It's official, Oprah rules the world!

At Walt's birthday party, the drink of choice was a pomegranate martini, the "Oprah" recipe. I guess Oprah had talked about these on her show, and everyone knew about them. Kara's friend, Amy, aka "Martini Girl", said that stores were suffering a run on pomegranate juice since Oprah talked about the recipe. I haven't watched Oprah in a while, but I have a feeling if she told everyone to run out and buy combat boots, there'd be a run on them.

It's official, I must be a SAHM (stay at home mom)

I've been stamping. One of the mom's from the mom's club invited me over to learn how to "stamp". You use rubber stamps, paper, markers to create notecards. She was creating notecards as Christmas gifts. I have to admit, it was kind of fun. I may attempt it on my own in the future. I don't feel this is as intense as scrapbooking seems to be. That seems to be another whole subculture. If I attempt scrapbooking, I'll know for sure I'm a SAHM.