Baby Charlie

This is Baby Charlie. He was found roaming the streets around our school this morning. One of the teachers picked him up and went door to door asking if anyone knew this puppy or where he belonged. They got nothing, so they started looking for a home for him. I went to the 6th grade room, and he ran up to me! This was the first I knew of this puppy. He was cute and I wanted to play with him so I asked if I could puppy sit for the rest of the day. She of course said sure, and I took off with him. My kids did really well having the puppy in class. Luckily, when they first came in and saw him it was their lunch time, and so it was okay for them to mess with the puppy. (We eat lunch in our classroom)Once I got them all settled and eating I told them if they couldn't leave the puppy alone during class time I was sending the puppy to the 2nd grade. They wanted that puppy in there so bad, it was probably the best they have acted since Christmas break was over. Maybe I need him everyday.... New class pet?? I doubt my principal would like that. Anyway, Michael's cousins saw him on my Facebook page, and wanted him! They are coming to get him on Thursday! So we are puppy sitting, and I'm having a ball. He is the sweetest puppy!! Alexis named him Baby Charlie, and he has slept most of the night. Alexis has been such a good helper with this puppy. He sat in her lap in the car, and was a little angel on the way home from seeing Michael at work. This puppy has been pulled on, drug around, and loved to death by this little girl. He is going to be a great dog! When we got home I put an old collar of Piper's on him to take him outside, and Alexis wanted to walk him. Since he is about 5 lbs., I let her. She was great with him. She walked him, and he went pee pee. She said, "Good boy Baby Charlie! Let's go inside now!!" She's given him treats, played fetch with him, and hidden his toys when she thought he "needed to stop playing and rest" She opened the huge bin of dog food, and filled the dog bowl to the top with food. They she tried to stuff the food in his mouth when he wouldn't eat. " He needs a snack Mommy, to get strong!" And, when he was crying in his dog house while I gave her a bath, as soon as she could she ran to his crate and said, "Don't cry Baby Charlie, I will come back to love you soon." It's been precious watching her be so careful and loving to this little puppy. I almost hate to see him go. Almost. If she's this much help with a new baby, then Michael and I will be in good shape! This sweet little dogs life has changed forever, and he is just soaking it up!

Christmas in Florida: Christmas Day

Oh good grief! I give up posting about this in detail. Long story short. We went to Animal Kingdom after opening Christmas gifts at the condo. We had a wonderful day, except Michael was a little sick, but he was a trooper and we saw pretty much everything we wanted to. Then we went to my grandparents for a few days, and we got to see my cousins, who had never met Alexis before, and she was able to charm them for hours :). We had a wonderful trip, and we have wonderful memories! I will post some pictures eventually. The End.
Whew...

Christmas in Florida: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was much different for us this year. We had planned on spending most of the day at the pool. (It was heated) But, it was so cold that we didn't want to have to walk back to our condo wet, or eat lunch wet at the pool.So we just relaxed in the condo that morning. We ate lunch at Chili's, and then we decided to go back to Downtown Disney. We just wanted to do some more shopping down there. So we went, and Michael made a cute shirt at the t-shirt design place, and we ended up getting three. So yes, we were those people with the matching t-shirts the next day. :) I ended up (finally, I'd been looking for almost 3 years) getting a really good milk and cookie platter for Santa. I'd been looking for one that I could use for years with all of my children. I had a plastic one from Target that I knew the writing would all eventually come off. So, now we have a glass one. Then we went to Goofy's Candy Factory, and we bought our traditional snickerdoodle cookies (that Alexis and I normally make homemade). See, told ya it was different for us! And, we ate dinner at a sandwich place. Then we got home pretty early again. We got baths and set out our cookies and milk, and Daddy read The Night Before Christmas to us on the ipad. Then we went to bed (all of us) because we were exhausted and Christmas was going to be a very busy day.

Christmas in Florida: Magic Kingdom

We got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot about an hour before the park opened, which was perfect. We parked in the first parking lot by the gate, we were able to easily get a stroller, there was no wait in line for tickets, and we walked onto the monorail. When we were getting tickets the lady gave Alexis and Michael first visit buttons, and a tip on the parade that Santa Clause would only end the 3:00 parade. So that was the one we aimed for. When we got to the main entrance of the park (right when it opened) there was NO ONE there. We were very shocked as Christmas time is usually almost as busy as summer at the theme parks. We were sure that it would get busy in no time at all, but it never did. We walked on and off rides all day, we meet characters, and the only two things that we didn't get to do that we wanted to were Peter Pan's Flight, and Space Mountain because both of those lines were 75 minutes long. Everything else was about 10. Out of the character's we got to meet all three of the princesses that were there, Belle, Cinderella, and Jasmine. We were able to just walk right in to meet them, and as soon as we walked in the room Alexis started yelling, "Cinderella, Belle Mommy, BELLE, BELLE, BELLE!!" Belle was not meeting anyone yet, (We were third in line) so she came over to the line to talk to Alexis, and gave her a little special attention, and gave her a big hug! It was very nice of her to do that. Alexis was not afraid of the princesses...she was in awe of them! She walked right up to them all, but she didn't talk much. She just had a huge grin on her face, and a look of "I can't believe I'm talking to the princesses!!" It was so worth it, and of course no wait which made it perfect! Then we went over to the fairies. We had to wait a little bit for them, but not more than 15 minutes. Alexis' reaction was priceless. God bless whoever decided to put a video camera on the iphone 4 because Michael was able to catch all of her precious reactions. I may try to figure out how to post them on here from his phone. She was beside herself, excited to meet the people that plaster her bedroom and bathroom. She was so excited about meeting them all that she couldn't concentrate on the fairy that she was with, she kept looking onto the next fairy. Again, she walked right up to them, and was speechless. :)All in all, a perfect day. We rode all the rides we wanted (except the two), saw the parades, met characters, saw shows, and just had a lot of fun. We also saw them light the castle for Christmas, which was magical and beautiful, and we had to race to buy sweat shirts because it was freezing!! That we weren't expecting because the weather was suppose to be in the low 70's. I will post pictures of this later. All of the pictures are on Michael's computer, and I am writing this on mine. So, the next day was Christmas Eve...our day of rest.

Christmas in Florida: Downtown Disney

I haven't had a Christmas in Florida for a very long time. Every other year we would go to Florida for Christmas to visit my grandparents (for a while both sets), great grandparents, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. But, it had been a while and this time I had my husband and daughter in tow. When we got to our hotel we decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner. We had been to Downtown Disney as a family once before. The previous summer when Alexis was just 1 year old. When we got there Alexis started shouting "Disney Mommy, Disney!!" She was so excited. We had been talking about Disney a lot leading up to our trip, and she was excited to get to go to Disney early for dinner.




This was when we arrived at Downtown Disney,and then we headed over to Rainforest Cafe, the same place that we ate last time. Alexis got really still during the rainstorms, but she never cried. She just held onto my arm really tight. We sat in the elephant room, and paid way too much for burgers. But, it was fun, and Alexis gave it two thumbs up!



Then we did some shopping, and looked at all of the neat things they have there. We even found a Lego German Shepherd!


Alexis picked out her Mickey Ears for the next day, and Alexis couldn't wait to meet the Princesses so we improvised.



When we went to the big store they had a Bibbidi-Bobbidi- Boutique where little girls (3 and up) can get their hair, make-up, and nails done like a princess. They also get a princess dress of their choice. Alexis was not old enough, nor did she have enough hair, and wouldn't hold still long enough for her to get her hair and nails done. So, she met a "fairy godmother in training" that sprinkled her with pixie dust. Which, was purple glitter, and by sprinkled I mean poured. She even put a visor over her face so it wouldn't get all glittery. It took a good 3 weeks to get all of the glitter out of her hair, but it made her night. She was so so happy, and it really didn't matter that her hair had purple glitter in it for so long. Or that everything I washed with those clothes sparkled a tiny bit either. :)We left pretty quickly from Downtown Disney because the next day was Magic Kingdom, and we needed to have Alexis good and rested. It was the perfect start to our vacation.

As some of you know I am allergic to my wedding ring set. :( My skin has a bad reaction to white gold worn over a long period of time. We tried everything the jeweler said to do, but none of it worked and we ended up getting a yellow gold wedding band for me to wear when my finger broke out. It works pretty well, and I just switch them out when I need to. Well, one day my finger was itching and I took off my wedding bands while I was cooking dinner. I set them on the counter. The next day I went to get them to put them up, and they were gone. I searched everywhere I could have moved them, and even some places that I've never put them before. They have been gone for a good 5 months. I was so upset, and I ripped our house apart looking for them, and they were no where to be found. After a couple of weeks of looking I told Michael. He wasn't really upset at all. Which, made me feel worse, because I was upset and I guess I wanted him to yell at me or something, but he didn't. He just said that he knew I didn't do it on purpose and these things happen.

Anyway, last night I was getting Alexis' money that she's been earning ready to roll. She's been doing little chores around the house all year, and we told her that she could use it for extra souvenir money on our trip. When I dumped out her change OUT. CAME. MY. WEDDING BANDS!!! Alexis said, "My pretty money yay!!" I was so excited I asked her if she put these in her piggy bank, and she said "Yes Mommy it's pretty money." I told her that it was not money they were my wedding rings and I thought I had lost them forever. It was so funny...well since all is well and I have them back. And I am so glad to have them back, and I will make sure I will put them where she can't reach them from now on!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was fantastic at our house. Michael had to work that day so while he was at work Alexis and I were busy cooking up a storm, and watching the parades which she loved! Once Michael got home that afternoon we ate an early dinner, and then we headed out to go see Tangled. We all loved that movie! It was worth the drive in the rain. Ever since the Rapunzel dolls started coming out Alexis has been very excited about another princess movie, and she has talked about that movie ever since. We also found out that they've added Rapunzel and Flynn to the characters that you can meet at Disney, so if we get a chance to meet them in particular it will make Alexis the happiest little girl in the world. :)

That evening, well on Friday, we asked Michael's dad to come over and sit on our couch while Lexi slept, and Michael and I went to Wal-Mart at midnight to try to get Alexis a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep, they had a small one on sale. Michael had never been to a Black Friday shopping event, but I never miss them! When we got to Wal-Mart he was amazed at the number of people out, and I was thrilled that it wasn't as crowded as it could have been. I mean, there was still parking in the parking lot, so I figured we'd have a good chance. It seemed that Wal-Mart decided to keep the Jeep's in the garden center, of course, in the cold and I was glad we only got there 10 minutes early. And, then it began. The cellophane was ripped off the boxes and people went CRAZY. I stayed with the cart, and I sent Michael in the mix. My poor husband, he got knocked down, and I tried to see if he popped back up. Then he got hit in the head with a box on accident. Then he got a Jeep and got it ripped out of his hands. Then he turned around and there was one that was forgotten. :) We came out winners, but I did feel bad Michael got so beat up over a toy. But, as he has wanted Alexis to have a Jeep "like his" since the ultrasound tech. told us that our baby was a girl it was worth it. And it will be sitting in front of the tree when we get back from Florida all put together, because we can't fit it in the car. And she will love it! Michael said that he was glad to have gotten the Black Friday experience, but that he never wanted to do that again. :) So we went home, put the Jeep in our closet, and went back to bed. I was going to go back out to Little Rock later, but I wanted to sleep first, but that didn't happen because I just. was. too. excited!! So off I went to Little Rock, and hit up Toys-R-Us, Target, Old Navy, and Wal-Mart again. I got to each store about 2 hours after it opened so I dealt with no more craziness the rest of the morning. Oh, and when I got to Little Rock there were 2 Barbie Jeeps just like the one we got sitting on a shelf with no one around them...of course.