As Christmas approaches the weeks get crazier and I don't have enough time in the day. My mom reminded me that I hadn't blogged in awhile. So here are the highlights. Saturday Nick had to work overtime. I did not want to spend the day at the house but the weather was icky and I hated to drag Gabby out and about in it. So, what do you do on a cold and rainy day? You go swimming! Before I kept Daniel, Damon and Whitney, I would get up and go to water aerobics at the Wellness Center every morning. I love the water and apparently I have passed that to Gabby. I can't take a shower without her trying to nose-dive into the tub. She is fearless. She doesn't mind putting her face in the water. I happened to remember that they have family swim on Saturdays. She ate, took a long nap, and when she woke we headed to the pool.

Gabby LOVED it! I would stand her on the side of the pool and she would jump into my arms and kick those little legs. She would scream with excitement and her voice would echo through out the pool area so of course she would scream just to hear it. After about an hour and half of constant playtime, I had one tired baby on my hands. We loaded up and headed home. The best part was that she took a two and a half hour nap afterwards. After hearing all those cases of children "Dry Drowning" I was paranoid so I peeked in on her every fifteen minutes to make sure she was still breathing! This was the first time in a long time she has napped that long and of course I didn't get anything accomplished. When Nick got home we loaded up and headed to the tree farm. It is so important to me to make memories with Gabby and although she won't remember, I wanted us to go, pick out a tree, and cut it down ourselves for her first Christmas.

I spent today decorating it while she "helped" me. She FINALLY said "Mommy" last week but when you ask her to say it she says Daddy and grins. Tonight, I was trying to get her buckled in her car seat and she was kicking and throwing a fit. I sat her back in her car seat and said "No No Gabby." She looked at me and yelled, "NO!" I am not sure but I think I have trouble ahead. Friday, Nick surprised me with my Christmas presents. He can never wait till Christmas. He got me a photo shop program for my computer so I can edit all of Gabby's pics and Gabby got me a Pandora charm bracelet and charms. I had been wanting one but never mentioned it to Nick. I was so shocked that he picked out such a thoughtful gift on his own.

How to Make Peanut Butter Kisses ( With Two Three Year Olds)

First, gather everything together and measure out your ingredients. Can you imagine how messy that would be? I used a peanut butter cookie mix because it was easier and got it for free when K-mart was doubling coupons up to two bucks! Next, make sure they wash their hands. You never know how many times they have stuck their finger up their nose today. If at all possible, get the same color spatula. If not, they will fight over who gets which color and finally decide that tomorrow when they switch places and Daniel becomes Damon and Damon becomes Daniel they will have the opposite color. (??? How do they come up with this stuff??) Next, let whoever didn't get to choose spatulas pour the first ingredient in. Be prepared to answer several questions like, "What is this? Where do eggs come from? Can I touch it?" and etc. Next, let them take turns mixing.







No, they aren't really getting anything accomplished but they feel big and you can REALLY mix it when they are done. Take a hand washing break because you saw one of them, out of the corner of your eye, pick their nose and they are both denying it.






After that, roll the mix into balls, not squares, not snakes, not dinosaurs, just regular round balls and cover them with sugar. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. While you wait, unwrap the kisses. No, you can't eat them. No, they won't fit up your nose and no, if you drop one on the ground you still don't get to eat it because I will know you dropped it on the ground just so you could eat it . Then wait....

And wait.




And wait.(they decided after the second picture they wanted to tell me how the should pose) Finally, take out of oven and place kisses in the center of cookies and let cool.

Enjoy!!
Even though you know you have a mess and the floor that you got on your hands and knees and scrubbed earlier today is covered in sugar because the boys decided they would wrestle in the floor while the cookies baked and before I could grab them to wash their hands. Enjoy not only the cookies, but also in the fact that you got to make a memory with two special little boys. I know you are asking yourself,"Where was Gabby while all this was going on?"



Eating a half frozen waffle.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Thursday, after Nick got home from work, we loaded up some hot chocolate and cookies and headed up to the square to take Gabby to her first Athens' Christmas Parade. I never cared too much for it but now that I have a child I want to start the tradition of going. We met Mom, Dad and Nanny up there. We waited for the parade to begin in Lance and Tommy's office(thank you April!) It was freezing! Gabby did pretty well. She stayed all bundled up with Nana Deb.

In a truck beside us, sat a man with his lawn chair and propane heater. Mom and I took bets on whether or not he had a cooler full of "goodies" with him. At first, we thought he knew several people in the parade. It didn't take long to realize he just was reading the signs and yelling,"Hey Christy, Hey Evelyn!" and so on. When the 96.9 van came around he yelled," 96.9! Ya'll are my favorite radio station! Ya'll play the best mix of soft rock around!" By this time, Mom and I were rolling! Mom missed it when the Chick-fil-A van came around because he got up and chanted, " Throw free coupons, throw free coupons!" Nanny went "MIA" so mom went looking for her. We found her sitting on a couch in one of those offices on the square. My niece, Kynsleigh was in the parade for winning, I think "Little Miss Limestone County". I will have to check and make sure. When Gabby saw her, her face lit up! We left shortly after and headed to Village Pizza for supper.

I told myself that I HAD to blog real quick before I went to bed. Even though I am about to pass out from exhaustion. We had a great Thanksgiving. Thursday we mainly spent the day at Mom and Dad's since Nick's family wasn't doing their Thanksgiving dinner till Friday. It has kind of become a tradition to sit down at the kitchen table with my sisters after lunch and look at the Black Friday ads. We make a list of everything we want to buy and map out all the stops for the next morning. This year I was up at 2:30!! Pam, Paula and Meredith braved the crowds with me this year. We hit Kohl's for some 1/2 toys and $2.50 BIG towels then headed to Wal-Mart for DVD players and Princess Barbies. We ran into the Breedings at Kohls at 4:00 a.m. and then again at Wal-Mart. Next was Target. Nick and I wanted to get Gabby a Radioflyer wagon for Christmas. I found the one I wanted, regularly $100 bucks, on sale for $64!! My mother-in-law's sister didn't make it down for Thanksgiving this year but Pam stayed on the phone with her getting the low down on all the deals. We finished up with breakfast and an afternoon nap. That night, we headed to the Miller family get together. This is a picture of Gabby and her great-grandmother and her great-great grandmother. I will have to get my mother-in-law to send me the picture of my niece, Kynsleigh stealing Grandmother Miller's walker! We finished the night with a late movie in Athens. Could this weekend get any better? Oh yeah, it did! Saturday Alabama whooped some Tiger tail! It was nice giving those Auburn fans their seventh....loss. Oh come on! You Auburn fans know you would have rubbed it in too! Sunday and Monday night I worked. It has been so crazy at the hospital. We didn't have an empty bed in the whole house last night! They begged me to work tonight and although that incentive pay sounds good, I know that their was no way I could stay awake all night. God has blessed me with a job that I can work as much or as little as I want. Tuesday we had an appointment with the pediatrician. My car was making a funny noise this morning so Nick took it to get it checked. When we got to the doctor, Gabby had the biggest poopy diaper and I had no diapers in my bag. I had two packs in the car. Unfortunately, half way out to the car I realized I was driving Nick's. I had to bum a diaper off a mom in the waiting room. I felt like the worst mother! Thankfully, Gabby had a good check up. She was in the best mood when Dr. Crowell started his assessment. But when he put the otoscope in her ear she showed her attitude. She has been really bad about slapping us in the face. Monday she did it to Nick and in the middle of him getting on to her, she put on her pouty face and gave him a big kiss. You could tell she was hoping that would get her off the hook and it did. We laughed so hard! She is already playing us! She weighed 18.4 at the doctor!! She gained over four pounds in three months. That is the biggest gain she has had so far. Login and Kyns came over this afternoon. I am hoping Gabby will be so tired from all the excitement of the day that she sleeps through the night.