White Christmas - In more ways than one

It looks like this term will have a dual meaning for us this year. First of all, we are staying home for Christmas and we are all very excited about it because we will actually have a White Christmas. You know, every year we buy a tree and decorate and get ready for Christmas, and then we leave it all to spend the holiday with my family or with Clif's family. And that's always nice, but it definitely is not as much fun to decorate your own home and get ready for Christmas when you have to leave it all behind.

So this year, I was so excited about decorating because we're actually going to enjoy it. Here are some pics of the house.

Our tree, which has a gazillion ornaments on it. I've gotten one every year from the time I was born. My Grandma Pugh always did something special. She either made them or had them engraved or picked a special picture...but always our name and year was included. Then when she passed away my mother continued the tradition with always buying us one special ornament that had our name and the year on it. So the year my softball team won states, I got a little glove and ball with the year on it. Then when I joined a sorority I got a turtle with DZ written on it. When I was pregnant with Ainsley I got a hen sitting on an egg knitting. And so forth and so forth...you get the picture. It was always something special and meaningful. Decorating the tree is definitely my favorite part of Christmas decorations because I get to remember each ornament and what it means. We started doing the same for Ainsley, but considering my mom gets her an ornament and my in-laws get her some every year...we've decided to leave that tradition to the grandparents. Just like our grandparents did for us when we were growing up.

Next to the tree, I decorated the TV stand a bit. Nothing much.

Here are our stockings, which I LOVE!!! I just bought them this year because we've never had a need for them before. Now hopefully, next year when baby brother arrives we'll be able to get him one to match. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a pet stocking for Brinkley. I did find some on line but by the time I looked there it was too late to get it here by Christmas. So I think Gatsby and Brinkley will be sharing this year.

I hang the cards on the banister, high above little fingers reach. I did not get around to sending cards this year. I tried...I got my list mostly ready, but never got a chance. I hate not sending cards, so there is a slight chance I will snap a great picture of Ainsley on Christmas day and get them out afterwards. So if you get a Christmas card from me next week...well, sorry it's late. And if you don't get one...you didn't make the cut. Kidding...just didn't send them.

I have two nativity scenes...actually I have three. I just couldn't find a place for the third one. All three my mom gave me. These are kind of out of the way from Ainsley so she's not all over them all the time. She does like the little one though. She carries baby Jesus around and talks about his birthday.

Here is one of Ainsley's advent calendars. We bought her a very cheap one, which you'll see in the next picture, and then decided she needed one with chocolate. Christmas wouldn't really be Christmas without it.

This is the island in the kitchen. Funny story about the bowl. I bought this like 3 or 4 years ago to put on our coffee table with floating candles. Well that idea kind of sucked. It was just messy. So this year I said to Clif "I think I will buy gold ornaments to go in the bowl." Well I pulled it down from the cabinet tops and it already had gold ornaments in it. Apparently I thought of this a year or so ago.

Notice that the cookie plate looks much barer than before. And there is the other advent calendar.

These are Ainsley's Christmas place mats. The Rudolph one was Clif's when he was a little guy.

Ainsley helped me put up these clings on the window. She loved helping me with it.

These are the White House ornaments that Clif's parent's get us every year. They are so pretty that we don't want them to get lost on the tree so we try and display them elsewhere. Unfortunately, I did not get a great picture of them...but they really are pretty and unique.

This is the plate and cup for Santa's cookies and milk. I think Denise bought this for us last year. Who knew they made such a thing? As a kid we just put ours on a napkin.

Finally, here is the wreath. Why is it inside my house? Well, I made this wreath a few years ago, and I thought I should buy a new one this year. Well, I never found one that I really liked at a price I liked, so it never got done. I hung this one inside while I was looking and never moved it. Since our lights outside were a big bust this year, I figure we'll just have decorations inside the house.

The second type of white Christmas, is actually a white Christmas. We got a ton of snow dumped on us this past weekend, and it doesn't look like it's going to be gone by Christmas. Let me preface this by saying I am not a snow person. I like snow if it is pretty and I don't have anywhere to go and if it goes away quickly. However, now I have a child and children love snow so we bundled ourselves up on Sunday and took Ainsley outside. Warning: you will laugh at these pictures...please keep in mind that we live in Richmond, VA and that we get a snow like this maybe once a year...but more like a few times a decade. So I don't buy snow gear for any of us. I realize she looks like a little ragamuffin.

She wore tights, leggings, jeans, 2 shirts, a jacket, a thick vest, some of my gloves wrapped with Ziploc bags and duct tape. She did have a pair of snow boots which were handed down to me from a work friend.

The dogs love the snow and are constantly asking to go out in it.

Clif taught her to throw snow balls...though with the Ziplock bag hands, it was tough.

I think she had fun. However, she was done when we decided to go inside. There was no fighting to stay out longer. She couldn't walk because the snow was up to her thighs. Mostly she liked to eat the snow and make snow angels.

Here's a video of Ainsley's first snow angel...

Clif also started to build a snow man but it turned into a snow sofa. Whatever, Ainsley liked to sit on it.

Well that's about it. We are busy, busy, busy getting ready for Santa's arrival. I probably won't post again until this weekend where I'll have lots of Christmas pics. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and I wish you could all be with us.

Christmas Cookies

This year I let Ainsley help with the Christmas cookies, so beware if you eat any cookies at my house...we lost an egg shell in some batter, we melted Hershey kisses all over our hands and we did LOTS of taste testing.

Sometimes Ainsley is very into the baking...other times not so much.

We only made three types this year: Chocolate Chip (which I have to say are the best I've ever made...I am not really a baker, so sometimes my stuff does not turn out the best), Peanut Butter Balls and Peanut Blossoms. I may still make sugar cookies so Ainsley can decorate them, but it will really just depend on time. We'll see.

Ainsley was very good about unwrapping the Hershey kisses for the Peanut Blossoms

She only ate every 3rd or 4th one.

Ainsley loves the peanut butter balls...they are definitely her favorite.

Here is the finished product, but right now it's not so pretty...the plate is mostly gone.

Good News

I need to post about cookie making and decorating and such but this is just a quick post to tell you all some good news.

As most of you know, I had gestational diabetes with Ainsley. Well, I took my sugar test on Friday and NO DIABETES!!!!!! Yay, I'm so excited. That means no specialists, no needles, no insulin and all the sugar I want!!!!!! Kidding, I don't need to gain 50 pounds. However, I would be really sad if I could not eat any of the cookies Ainsley helped make or drink a milk shake when my heartburn gets so bad I can't deal.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Cinderella Make Believe

Aunt DeeDee and Uncle Mike came to visit yesterday and brought Ainsley her Christmas presents. They got her a Cinderella dress up outfit. Ainsley, as you can imagine, adores it and asks to put on her "bwue petty dess" every 20 minutes.

Instead of writing all about it, I will just show you these two videos. Enjoy...

And what Cinderella outfit would be complete without glass slippers...

Not So Perfect

There are 2 reasons that I keep this blog. First - to keep you all up to date on Ainsley and us. I don't live near any of my family or Clif's and I want them all to know Ainsley like we do. Second - I suck at keeping up with baby books, scrapbooks, journals, etc. So this one day will be my children's memory books. And I have to keep up with it or I hear it from you all :)

So the point of this post is just to tell a funny story about Ainsley. I know I complain about her sleeping habits, but aside from that she really is just the best little girl. She is so well behaved and so happy and so loving and caring. I really don't know how I deserved such a perfect little girl. Well, okay, she's not PERFECT...but she's about as close as any kid could get. This story is about her not being so perfect...but man is she cute!

While we were visiting Nanny and Poppa Ainsley picked up a new phrase...I'm not placing any blame here, because I'm pretty sure I've never heard my in-laws say this, however, it may be Cameron's fault. Just kidding Uncle Cam :)

Ainsley likes to go into their basement and jump on the small trampoline that is down there. Sometimes Caitlyn or Amanda or I will take her down to "jump-jump." However, my in-laws often keep that door locked. So we are all sitting around the den at one point and Ainsley walks over to the door and tries to open it.

"What the hell?!"

We all kind of looked at her and looked at each other. I wasn't exactly sure she had said that because it came out more "What da heel?!" And I thought, no, where did she hear that? I'm pretty sure Clif and I don't really say that. So I let it slide.

Then I heard multiple stories of her saying it over the weekend when I wasn't around and was soon convinced, when she dropped a toy on the floor and exclaimed "What da heel?!" that, she indeed was saying what we thought.

Well, fast forward to the day we get our Christmas tree. We're getting the living room ready, since the tree needed to be where a couch was. As Clif pulled the couch around to the other side of the living room, Ainsley stopped, looked at him strangely and said "Daddy, what da heel?!"

Clif was no help...he turned away and started shaking in laughter. So I reacted as quickly as I could, grabbed her and said "Ainsley, in the corner! We DO NOT talk like that."

She seemed very confused and didn't really understand why she was being punished, but she obliged and stood in the corner for a few minutes. Afterwards, I explained that we don't talk like that and we should ask nicer questions.

Later on, as we were getting ready for bed, Ainsley said "Mommy?" in a very sweet little voice, when I responded she said "What da heel?! We DO NOT say dat!"

I didn't punish her this time, just tried not to laugh and said "That's right Ainsley." And she hasn't said it since. However, I find myself thinking that "What the hell?!" is not such a bad curse word as potty language goes. And it is just so freaking cute the way she says it...maybe it wouldn't be too bad to encourage it?

Joking...kind of.

Cinderella Barbie

When we visited my Aunt a couple of weeks ago, Ainsley found a Barbie doll that was dressed as Cinderella. My Aunt gave it to her at the end of our visit and let me tell you, she has not been the same. She LOVES that doll. She dances with her, kisses her, hugs her, carries her around the house and tries to sleep with her. Since she usually ends up in bed with us, Clif was not down with the idea of rolling over on a hard Barbie doll. So to keep her from crying, I told her we would make Cinderella Barbie her own bed and put her to bed the next night.

Well remember that memory I mentioned in my last post? She does not forget. I had no more than taken off my coat from work the next day when she said "Mommy, make bed for Cinderella Barbie?" So I went to work.

You see, when I was a kid my parents were flat broke, but I loved me some Barbies. So I didn't have any of the fancy Barbie stuff. My mom made a lot of the Barbie clothes. However, there was a girl in my neighborhood who had every possible Barbie accessory, but she was also fairly annoying. So like any kid, I really only played with her because of her good stuff. So when I couldn't stand to be around her anymore I went back to my own Barbies with handmade clothes and I would build elaborate houses/rooms/towns for them using shoe boxes and towels and bowls and thread spools. I got very creative.

I found a shoe box and grabbed a couple of old pillow cases, a hand towel and a burp cloth. Voila, Cinderella Barbie's bed...

Now every night we hug her and kiss her good night. Then we tuck her in and she sleeps in her own bed on top of Daddy's dresser.

If only we could get Ainsley to sleep in her own bed...that is coming soon.

Trimming the Tree

This past weekend we ventured out in the cold rain to get our Christmas Tree. It was not really the Christmas-y weather you'd hope for when Christmas tree shopping, but sometimes your schedule is limited and you don't have much of a choice.

It actually wasn't too bad. Even though we had to deal with the wet conditions, there was no one else there. So we got personalized treatment from the staff and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

We did not take pictures of the actually Christmas Tree purchasing adventure, due to inclement weather, but we did take some when we got home.

Here's Ainsley placing one of her ornaments on the tree...

And here's a picture of Ainsley's favorite Christmas tree branch...

I can only assume it's her favorite because she put 7 ornaments on it.

While decorating I started telling Ainsley about Santa and how he would come and leave presents for her while she was sleeping. Well, big mistake. She wakes up every morning saying "Santa come my house and peasants for Ainsley?" I guess I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. She definitely is getting a better memory.

We also went to the Grand Illumination in downtown Richmond on Friday night. If you've ever driven up 95 through Richmond during this time of year, you know that all the buildings are outlined in white lights. The Grand Illumination is when all those lights get switched on. It was fun and Ainsley seemed to enjoy it. She was most excited that Santa was there. I don't think we'll have a repeat of last year. I think she will gladly sit on Santa's lap this year. When she saw him she said "Mommy, der Santa! My go see him! Santa yove me, mommy!" (Mommy, there's Santa, can I go see him. Santa loves me!)

Yes Ainsley, Santa does love you!