American Girl Dolls...

Anyone who has a young daughter knows the name of these dolls and the stories behind them. And if you know about the dolls, then you know who Kit, Molly, Rebecca, Kirsten, Emily and Julie are too. And if you know who they are, then you've either read the books or watched the movies. You probably could tell me what decade each one is from too.

When Emily was turning 4 yrs old, we got her for her birthday a look alike newborn American Girl doll. Not at all realizing what an impact these dolls would have on our lives.

Then about 4 years ago, Emily REALLY got into these dolls in part because our neighbor girl (and BFF) and her BFF from school all had dolls, and so they have become a part of our lives too. Emily's first big doll was Kirsten, that she picked out for her birthday that year, and let me tell you she has been played with.

Next came Emily for Christmas a year later. I thought it was cute how "Santa" played on the coincidence of the dolls name and our Emily. Plus Emily is Molly's best friend, and our neighbor had the Molly doll.

This year for Christmas, Santa brought the doll, Kit, for Emily. Kit is the original and first doll of the series and the first one to have a movie out.

Emily all year has asked for another doll. And I'm sure that Santa was trying to plan ahead and pay it off before Christmas so had purchased said doll months in advance. When a few weeks before Christmas, Emily announced she no longer wanted anything to do with AG dolls, and that she was tired of them and wanted to give them away.

*gasp*

Now if you know anything about these dolls, or their clothes, or their accessories, you will understand that they cost as much as human clothes and furniture and I'm sure you could buy a small goat for the price of one of these dolls.

Now imagine Santa's surprise at hearing this.

So, Santa braced himself for Christmas morning, to hear the disappointment and the "I didn't want that" when Emily saw her gifts from Santa.

But much to his surprise, he heard "oh my gosh, it's Kit" and ignore all her other Santa gifts for these.

Maybe sometimes we may think we are too old for something that we may still secretly wish for, but when it comes down to it, there's no hiding the joy when it's presented.

I'm sure Santa is smiling, wherever he is!

XOXO

Emily and her new friend...

Emily has this year really shined in the social department. It's been really neat watching her each year develop and something new shine through. For example, one year she excelled in her speech and language skills, and another year she "got it" in the school work department. This past 6 mos have been neat to watch her shine in the socializing. She is very aware of who is friends with who, play dates, sleepovers, cliques, but along with it comes the hurt feelings, tears, "she wont play with me" days. So we have had our share of talks explaining that it's okay to have several different friends, and you don't always have to play with the same ones. Sometimes it's nice to play with someone else. It does not mean they aren't your friend anymore.

This year a new girl moved to our area and is in the learning center with Emily. They became fast friends right away and the teacher was so excited in seeing Emily come out of her shell, she couldn't stop emailing me about how cute they were together and I should really set up play dates. So with her help, we connected with the family and every weekend since, Emily and Hayden have been at one house or the other.

The other day Emily came home in tears with the saddest look on her face I was immediately concerned. And through the tears I was able to gather this profound statement she made "I couldn't play with Hayden at Recess today because she got benched for not doing her math today and I missed her soooo much that I'm heart broken."

Ahhhhhhh....how cute is that??

But seriously, my daughter, the shy, quiet, doesn't say much speech other then her comfortable words she knows, came home and said she was "heartbroken" over missing Hayden. My heart melted immediately and I grabbed her in a hug and wiped her tears, kissed her on the head and told myself I must have done something right in this world with her for her to care so much about someone.

Then, she ran to her daddy and sobbed all over again about how "heartbroken" she was, and then ran to her brother and repeated the whole story. Now, the first time was gut wrenching and oh so cute. But by the 2nd and 3rd time, it became hilarious listening to her so earnestly tell this story and her huge wide open eyes, and watching her so dramatically telling the story. DH and I couldn't contain our laughter behind our hands.

It was then...at that very moment...that I realized the hormones and "PMS" had hit!

Well, the thought in my head was nice while it lasted.

Now I need to go pick her up from Hayden's house and their play date. :)

XOXO

New Years Eve...

New Year's Eve in our home has some standing traditions that we do. We have celebrated with our very dear friends and neighbors next door for the last 8 years and it works out great because we don't need sitters as the kids play together, no one has to drive anywhere as we just walk from home to home, and its all great memories!

We start off each year at the neighbors home with dinner and board games. This was our appetizer:

The kids all play video games or dolls and snack all night long:

Then about halfway through the night, we move to our home for the more serious drinking and more adult games like Beer Pong or Pool Table. The kids love the change of scenery and new toys/games to entertain them, and we hear no complaints. I host the dessert and midnight snacks here while we play.

And the night is never over without someone starting some kind of Baby Powder fight, beer cap flinging fight, poke each other with pool cues fight, or falling down drunk!

And then at Midnight when the bell tolls, we run outside with our noise makers and fireworks and light the sky up with sparklers.

It's usually soon afterwards that the kids start nodding off, the drunks start falling down, and we run out of chocolate, so the night usually wraps up about 1:30-2:00 am.

Then we all wake up the next morning asking ourselves "why?". LOL

I hope your New Years was just as eventful.

XOXO

Happy New Year 2012...

Where has the time gone? Christmas and New Years flew by, and school started back up, homework, sickness, and sports have consumed my life. I really need to get a job and have a reason to leave my home other then for doctors. I need the social interaction with ADULTS! :)

Don't get me wrong. I am enjoying my time home, and have really been able to do things I would not otherwise be able too. But I am a social butterfly. I need to meet people, talk to people, socialize. In other words, LIVE LIFE.

Did I mention that Austin is playing Rugby? Yeah, my son who has played soccer and baseball his whole life decided that this year he didn't want to play either, and surprised us by going out for Rugby. Go Figure. He didn't want to try out for Football to be the kicker, because he might get tackled, so he plays Rugby which is Football without pads! :) he loves it though. He is having the best time. I am really excited for games to start and see him in action.

Emily has had quite the time recovering from her hospital stay and new meds. Every medication comes with side effects, and she's on a few different ones that it's hard to tell which one is doing what so we can change it. So unfortunately, it becomes trial and error. I hate doing this to her. But we are hoping one of these days we find a combination that works. She has also made a new friend, and we have been busy getting to know the family and having play dates and sleepovers. her friend is "special" also, so it's quite a handful with the two together. But they get such joy from each other, it's hard saying no to them.

DH and I have been busy taking down all the Christmas decorations, getting the house back to normal, and trying to make plans for the new year. Along with a new year, comes Health Insurance decisions, Tax decisions, Deductibles, planning health care out for the year, planning finances and hating trying to second guess what the economy and the future year is going to do to us and making the adjustments. One of them being out dental insurance. Can you believe for our family of four, we were paying $150 a month for dental insurance. And that's through an employer who is paying part of it. That comes too $1800 a year for teeth cleanings. Are you kidding me? Our deductible on the insurance had us still paying $40 a cleaning out of pocket on top of that. So tell me what exactly were we paying for??? So i paid almost $2,000 a year and i only got 50% coverage? yep, dropped that coverage! Now lets hope no one cracks a tooth this year.

So 2012 is looking up for us. I mean, it has too, right? We have certainly seen our share of hard times, i mean, who am i kidding? We've seen our share of IMPOSSIBLE times, HORRENDOUS times, SAD times. So 2012 has to start off good, maintain that momentum, and end with a great promise. I'm going to do my best to remain positive, change my attitude, embrace the life I've been given, put myself first and take care of myself, and love harder. I'm going to do my best to get a good job to help carry bills, support and cheer my children on, and remain my DH's cheerleader. I'm signing Emily up for Special Olympics this month so she can join in some sports and activities, cheer Austin on at Rugby which goes for 6 months and exercise and eat healthier.

I have realized in the last few months, that my life is what I make of it. I only get one shot at this life as I am always telling my son, so I need to use my own advice and make changes to embrace it. I want to enjoy life, look forward to the tomorrow while living the today, and loving the yesterday. And only I can make that happen.

So here's to a New Year!

Happy 2012 to you and yours.

XOXO