The beginning of something great...

It's not hard to guess what's been on my mind lately. In fact, I am so consumed by this house project that my thoughts scatter to the wind as of late. Blogging has been a chore I will admit....a chore I'm not willing to stop just because we are busy. Especially since this is such an exciting time for us...I want to remember every minute! Thus me trying to type all of the events of this renovation and moving process. Here is my attempt to share my summarized version (as if that's possible with me writing.) ;)

First of all, I don't think we could have ever survived last week without Aunt Kylie. To put it bluntly, she was our slave. A paid slave....but still a slave. The girl busted her tail when she got home for Christmas break and helped us paint a good portion of the house and keep our girl entertained during the day while we were at work or painting or at Christmas parties. Thanks Aunt Ky! The other day her task was to paint Hallie's bathroom and I was so excited all day to go see the finished project. I walked in and was immediately in love with the color she had painted. I texted to tell her thank you but it ended up sounding a bit more awkward than I'd planned. It said: "Thanks!! I love it! Now everytime I go to the bathroom I'll think of you." But she knew what I meant...I appreciated every minute she spent helping us this past week. Papa Bill hopped on the painting wagon and painted a bedroom and the den, helped Riley put a cement coating on the garage floor and cleaned off the back porch. The boys worked fast together and painted three whole rooms on Saturday alone! I was on Hallie duty after Nanny went to work that afternoon. Speaking of Nanny, nothing would run smoothly without her help. She feeds us painters, keeps the baby and does anything and everything she can to help us. She has offered to clean the kitchen and bathrooms to get things ready to move our stuff over this week. What a huge relief considering I have a busy busy week of work that's growing busier by the second, moving the essentials to live to our new place, going to a party in Enid on Friday and finishing Christmas shopping. Sigh. I just keep having to stop and tell myself that it will all happen. And if it doesn't then that is okay too. ;)

So back to up above where I mentioned Riley and Bill working on the garage floor. It is still a mystery to me how the garage earned a ticket to the front of the priority line. We've been making a list together of "things that must get done" and I could've sworn that the garage didn't make the cut. All joking aside, it does look wonderful and it only took him about two hours to complete...cleaning and painting. He's pretty proud and so am I....mostly because now I have ammunition. He gets the garage. I get new light fixtures bumped up to the top of the list. Sounds fair, right? ;)

Riley's homemade "keep out" sign

So why are we so frantic about getting the house near complete before Christmas?? Like I've mentioned before, we are hosting our first family Christmas eve celebration. My dad, Aunt B and Uncle Spencer are going to spend the eve in Woodward with us. I'm so excited and want everything to be perfect. Of course that will be hard with almost no furniture and a house that reeks of paint. I have a feeling they will understand though. ;) I may have to have someone else do the cooking though because I think my hand is going to fall off sometime in the next week. I've heard of painter's shoulder but not painter's wrist and forearm. Holy shooting pains!!! I'm not the only one feeling beyond my years....Riley has been moaning and groaning all weekend about his back and shoulder aching. Break out the walker and cane....mama and dada are feeling old. But not to worry....we have this precious angel to keep us young.

"So you'd rather paint than hang with me, huh??"

Hallie has made several appearances at our new home but none like the other day. She usually spends her short visits running from room to room inside and usually leaves very shortly after because she's either trying to climb a ladder or pricking her finger on the carpet tack strips. Her dad is a nervous wreck when she's around because of the billion paint cans, brushes and small objects around for her to discover. Riley was working out in the garage on Friday when we showed up. We spotted two larger dogs in our driveway when we pulled in. Hallie immediately began squirming to get out and see what was going on. She waddled toward two rather timid dogs (one a Lab, the other a mixed breed) and held out her hands while squealing a nice warm welcome.

"So you gonna show me around the neighborhood or what?"

I'm not sure where our new friends came from but soon one of them found their way inside our house. Riley was showing us his progress when all of a sudden we saw Hallie standing behind us petting the sneaky intruder. We showed him the door after a few more friendly pats on the head and he was gone. Hal stood at the door with her nose smashed against it watching him wander away. When we headed back outside to help watch Riley load up rolls of old carpet in to the trailer, Hallie took off in search of her new friends. But not before she did some convincing on dada to let her go....

"But what if I never see him again!!!!!!!!"

After a quick search of the yard she had given up on finding her new friend.....

"What we need is some doggy treats, mama"

"Here doggy, doggy!!"

I think Riley was a little jealous of our carefree adventures as he lugged the giant rolls of carpet by himself into the trailer. Honestly I would've loved to lend a hand but little miss dog catcher is way too fast to take my eye off of her for a second.

"Don't worry, I've got it."

Who needs dogs when you have a play kitchen that was left behind in the garage???

"So it's true what they say...one baby's trash is another baby's treasure."

As you will see in the picture below, her friend returned after he could smell the yummy aroma of food coming from her kitchen. She was cooking bacon to lure him back and it worked....

"So tell me again why we are getting rid of this stuff.... because it looks kinda fun to me."

Something as simple as chasing her around in the driveway and watching her explore the front yard was such a special moment for me. I felt almost normal again. Like I did when we lived in Mustang. It's an overwhelming feeling to think that we will be in a home again...of our own....in a week. If you have been following Hallie Time for the past year then you understand just how important this is to us. It means so much more than having a larger space to live in. It's about having a place to call home. It's about clicking the "permanent" button instead of "'temporary" when changing our address. It's about feeling settled. I could go on and on but it's undeniably true how comforting the feeling of a home can be. I'm ready for that feeling again.

Yesterday Riley left early to begin painting while Hallie and I got ready for church. Today was the day Carmen, Luke and Katie lit the advent candles during church service. They did great and looked great too! After church we all met Riley for lunch which proved to be a little too much for our sleepy girl. Lunch reminded me of why we don't go out to eat anymore. After several screaming outbursts, one spilled drink and many mouthfuls of water from a straw purposefully spit into my lap, Nanny decided it would be a good idea for her and Hal to head home to get some lunch in her belly. I forgot to mention hungry too. Hungry and tired do not make a happy Hallie. She napped at Nanny's while Riley, Bill and I worked our tails off to get everything ready before tomorrow. We had rooms filled with paint cans, rollers, tape, tools, pans and ladders. All of this needed to be sorted and moved out along with finishing touch-ups and closets getting a fresh coat of white paint. I thought I'd share my method for keeping your clothes clean while painting......

Wear matching pants!!

Hallie and Nanny showed up after her nap and I couldn't help but give her a sympathetic look...Nanny claims that she was dressed in her dollar store outfit. Yellow tight pants, a blue shirt, purple socks and black polka dot shoes. Hallie had better watch out for Stacy and Clinton....What Not to Wear: Baby Edition. ;) It was a far cry from her fabulous zebra pants she wore to church that morning......

Miss Runs-a-lot made her laps around the house and then decided it was time to do some climbing. The girl climbed up the ladder all by herself with me holding onto her back. Dangerous?? Yes, very much so. Talented?? Oh my, she's a daredevil! Shockingly enough, Riley humored me and took a picture with my camera of her proudly clapping for herself at the top of the ladder. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why she doesn't hang out at the house a lot while we are working.

"Are ya kidding me!?!?"

She finds a way to get into mischief or scare the living poo out of us. And then of course there's always a little comic relief in the mix.....

"This goes here, right?"

"I won't let you fall"

My stripe guru (Riley) was busy yesterday measuring to tape off for the stripes on our bedroom wall. He still hadn't bought into my stripe plan to add a little pizazz to the room until after he had painted them and ripped the tape off. I'd say he's a fan now.....

I caught the Grinch stealing our gifts and Christmas tree today. Sneaky little Grinch....

All the whos down in Whoville will be awfully sad

Kylie and Nanny did a tree relocation today while I was working. Bless their extremely generous hearts! I almost started crying when I stopped by the house after work to check on the progress of the tile layers. I found the tree all set up and glowing when I walked in the door. We may be living in a controlled mess but one thing's for sure....

......we are ready for Christmas.

Uh Oh Cheerios

Despite my efforts to keep her as clean as possible during mealtime, we usually end up needing a bath after every meal and a clean up on aisle two. Breakfast is her cleanest meal of the day....usually. One morning this past week she was munching on her bowl of Cheerios practicing her best spooning techniques. She's a good little eater in the mornings....

 But who said being good was fun??

"Now we're talkin'!!!"

Giving a whole new meaning to throwing back a meal....

"I immediately regret this decision"

I don't think she expected her breakfast to go flying down the front of her and onto the floor. Oh but wait!! It wasn't all gone.....

"So thats what that pouch is for. Hmmm."

Too bad dogs don't like milk because I may have had a few helpers to clean up the bowl full of milk that ended up on the floor....

No food is safe when I stop and think about it. Yogurt for example....

"This is most certainly an acceptable way to eat. Who are you to judge?!"

"And this is too....."

"All gone"

No food is safe when in the hands of Hallie Grace. Alas, I have come to terms with the fact that messes will be made and cleaned up. That's what moms were made for right. I'm sure when my baby is eighteen and fending for herself in college I'll be wishing she was there making a huge mess for me to clean up. ;)

The Science of Feeding Dogs

When it comes to doing chores around the house Hallie is always willing to lend a hand. ESPECIALLY when it involves the puppy dogs. She hands out treats to each dog and thanks to her dear ol' dad she is now able to feed the doggies their dinner. Last night I brought in a scoop of food to put in their bowls and little miss helper was grunting and reaching for the cup. I gladly handed it to my eager assistant and watched as she simply set the cup in the bowl. Hmmm, I had another method in mind but that works too...as long as Lucy doesn't get her snout stuck in the cup. I asked her to pour it in the bowls and instead she began placing it in piece by piece. This made for quite the entertainment. I am not kidding, I was enjoying it so much that I just plopped down criss cross apple sauce on the kitchen floor and watched as she dropped the food in and looked up at me for approval after each piece.

I'm so adding this to her "top ten cutest things EVER" list. This kept going for a good five minutes until she decided to give more generous handfuls to the pooches. They soon caught wind of her duties and made their way in to see if they could sneak some grub. She graciously fed them handfuls from her little scooper. Such a cute little stinker! She would giggle really big giggles every time one of them would eat out of her hand. A lightbulb must've turned on in her head and she decided that she had found a better, more efficient way to feed them.....

"That oughta work"

She smelled  like a sack of dog food after her feeding sesh so a bath was definitely in order to get the Science Diet out of her hair. I took a couple ridiculously funny videos of the munchkin helping out but I do not have the patience to wait for the blog site to upload them. You will just have to use your imagination. Oh and I can't forget the part at the end when she decided to take a little swim before bathtime....

"This counts as a bath, right?"

Ruff ruff.

Christmas Parties Galore!!!

Tis the season for family, friends, food, fun, baby Jesus in a manger, lights, trees, shopping, pretty packages and bows, cookies and candy, hustling to and fro, candle lighting at church, Christmas music and movies, indulgence.......AND PARTIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This year did not disappoint as far as holiday celebrations went! I was thinking back on Riley's past company parties and wishing that we could just crash in on the OPECO party this year....it's always been such a blast in the past. Only kidding about crashing it obviously but I was really hoping that we could find a way to replace it with a new fun tradition. I think we did just that. I'm going to be honest and admit that it made me a bit nervous to relax and have fun instead of my usual evening painting duties. We've been so busy that it's hard to believe that Christmas is only a week away....we will definitely be doubling up on the Christmas spirit next year to make up for what we lacked this season. But for Thursday and Friday night this past week, we were fully immersed in the Christmas spirit and forced to put down our paint brushes, have a drink or two or three and just RELAX!

We celebrated in yummy fashion with my coworkers at my boss Arron's house on Thursday night. He catered in some delicious Cake Lady goodies and we were entertained by our very own comedians Mr Alan Case and the ever so famous Matt. The two fellas were the life of the party and showed off their Dirty Santa gifts for all to see......

Who says you can't look tough in a Forever Lazy?

My Snuggie selection that made Alan a happy (and comfy) man

There was no shortage of laughs while we watched the guys fight over the gag gifts that popped up throughout our Dirty Santa exchange. I won't really go into what exactly was unwrapped that night...let's just say....well, I won't say. Lol! But I can say that Riley came home with a lovely oversized pair of men's underwear. This is after me joking earlier in the week that I would end up with a huge pair of granny panties. ;) Riley and I both had a great time with everyone and really didn't want to leave but we wanted to get home to relieve Aunt Kylie who was at our house watching the Halster. It sounds like Hal was a little too excited that she had a new playmate for the evening and stayed up way past normal. The girl was snoozing when we got home though and it didn't take long until we followed her lead. ZzzzZZZzzzzzzzZZZ!
Friday brought two parties our way and I would be lying if I said that I was in any way, shape or form prepared for them. :( I was not short on excitement though....I'd been looking forward to a night out for awhile now. My only problem is that I hadn't thought about what to wear with everything going on this past week. So needless to say it only took me a good 45 minutes to tear apart my closet while I searched for something that I didn't hate. Ugh, dontcha just hate those days when you look in the mirror and you feel like you've gained twenty pounds overnight??? Well, yesterday was one of them. I did what any female who feels fat would do......tights to the rescue!!! Lcckily I found a holiday-ish dress that would fit for both parties. Riley gave me a nod and smile of approval and said "you look like you're dressed to go to China." Hmmm, not sure how to take that one. Lol! Aunt Kylie was our savior yet again last night and put our silly girl to bed while we took off for Riley's work party. It was at the Pioneer room in Woodward. Lots and LOTS of faces I didn't know, but I was happy to see my favorite familiar faces and friends.....

Cari, me and Kelly

They had a huge, and I mean huge, spread of food which left you needing three plates just to hold it all by the time you got to the end. Have I mentioned I love holiday parties!?!?!?!? An excuse to eat insane amounts of yummy food without an ounce (ok, maybe a little) guilt. Most of the night was spent watching employees receive service awards and handing out door prizes. No excitement in that since members of administration aren't in the drawing. Ha! It's not as much fun to watch someone else win a TV! Some danced, most drank but our little crowd hung out in the back of the room and chit chatted most of the time. Riley "it's past my bedtime" Fanning was obviously ready to hit the hay at 9:00 but he knew that I wouldn't let him off the hook that easily. ;) The Earleys, the Wallaces, the new hospital physical therapist Jason, and us drove over to our second stop of the night at the Alexanders. What a beautiful place to have a party! I was curious if being two and a half hours late is still considered fashionably late....or is it just rude late. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that everyone at the party had had enough drinks that Garth Brooks could've walked through the door and nobody would have noticed. ;) It was a fun party, great food (again from The Cake Lady) and great friends. Look who I found!!!

Lacy and I

Riley started giving me the "let's go because I have to get up early and paint" eye around 11:00 but I just wasn't ready to go yet. The girls and I decided that I'd just play dumb and not make eye contact with him. It worked for about another 45 minutes when I gave in and decided that I was getting tired too. I had to get a picture of us ol' fogies out for the night before we turned back into parents wearing grungy paint clothes....

I love this handsome man

We dropped Jason off at his car and made it back home before our carriage turned back into a pumpkin. Yes, I'm comparing a night out with my man to a fairytale. It had to end some time. ;) I hope that your Christmas season has been full of blessings so far. As much as I joke about things being crazy right now I do make it a point to stop and thank God for everything we have been blessed with this season.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

What Will She Think of Next?

Story of the week....so far. 

This morning as we rushed around getting everyone ready to get out of the door to work, I noticed that my little entertainer was bending over the bathtub (looking for toys probably) with her baby butt crack peeking out of her diaper. I nicely informed her by saying "baby girl, your crack is showing!" Instead of being a lady and fixing her problem her head shot up from the tub and she looked at my wide-eyed while she said "cracka?!?!" and took off towards the kitchen for a snack. Never a dull moment! She always leaves me thinking and saying the same thing: "you are just like your dad."

This is a huge compliment in Riley's eyes. His usual response is this: "why, because I'm so adorable??" Hmmmm....how about they are both insanely silly and always have me laughing. I can't claim responsibility for most of her silly tricks...those are courtesy of her dad. Like the time I left for the weekend and he taught her how to flush the toilet and walk in big person sandals. They added to her reperetoire this past weekend by learning how to feed the dogs by placing each piece of dog food in their bowls piece by piece. Not efficient at all, but oh so cute! He said every now and then she would stop and offer the dogs a piece and feed them out of her hand. She also learned how to play peek-a-boo the traditional way. Since she's been a wee little one we've been playing this favorite game by hiding under blankets or behind objects. She is now able to use both chubby hands to cover her eyes and play. When I open her door first thing in the morning she is always standing up at the side of her crib with her hands over her eyes. When the light comes on she pulls her hands away and smiles a huge "good morning" smile.

She has started a book study club if you are interested in joining. The first book on her list is The Help. She seems to be working hard at preparing for the first club meeting.....

"That is absurd!!!'

"This should be a best seller for sure!"

In all seriousness, she did grunt for me to hand her my book the other morning. She grabbed a pen off of the counter and pretended to write on the pages. That's some advanced reading material right there! ;) Maybe the girl can just read it for me and keep me updated as she reads along. Momma's big helper. She gave me a hand yesterday by placing our groceries on the belt in the checkout line. After I moved the basket forward to load our bags I turned around to find her trying to pay for our groceries by pressing buttons on the keypad. All she was missing was a debit card. Now that's a scary thought!

"I'm not sure if my allowance will cover this mom..."

We can often be heard calling out animal noises. In fact, that's something we practice at least 20,000 times a day. She is catching on pretty quickly and can do a string of five animals in a row when asked. Cow, pig, horse, sheep and lion. Lion elicits the best response. The girl's a great lion!! I've been trying to catch her performance on video all week but have yet to be sneaky enough. She freezes up once the camera starts rolling.

Well I think that's about all my little mind can come up with at the moment. After all, we really haven't got to spend a whole lot of time together with our girl this past week. Hallie has been exhausted after daycare and has gone to bed as early as 6:00!!!! All of those neurons sprouting off makes for a baby in need of extra sleep.

Christmasy Cousins

We began a brand new tradition Sunday night. A very cute one I might add. Ya see, Katie and Nanny picked out some festive outfits for the baby girls. We have been thinking about getting them together for a Christmas photo shoot for a couple weeks now. Tonight we made it happen. Well, kind of. The girls didn't seem to share in our excitement. Not that we expected a four month old and a 16 month old to be on the same page. Carmen had the smile bug tonight thanks to some silly noises from her mommy. Hallie, on the other hand, was not going to give me a smile for nothin'. She was a tough audience that Hal. We ended up with some funny, cute and just downright chaotic shots. All perfect through our mommy eyes.

In the beginning.......

"Yo Carm, they want us to look at the camera"

Hallie Grace was not a fan of her Santa hat, unlike her mommy, but was a semi- good sport for a few pictures by the tree by herself while Carmen had a snack....

The serious face

The annoyed face

The distracted face

Carmen was done with her snack and it was time for a cousin moment. The amount of captions I have for this next photo are endless......

"I don't think I can take much more of this Hallie!"

"Get used to it Carmen. It gets worse."

Even with some tickling and silly noises I still couldn't get her to muster a smile for a picture with dear ol mama....

Can you guess which of the two little ladies was happier to be taking pictures???

Yep, you guessed it.

Content would be a better word for it I guess. While Carmen just laid back and chilled, Hallie had more important things to do I guess. It left Carmen and I wondering the same thing....

"Does that girl ever listen to you??"

More important things like remove the baby jesus from the manger scene.....

"Baby"

"you can return this right back where you got it from mom...I don't think I'll be using it"

Hal had her way so I decided to snap some pics of my sweet niece by her lonesome. She makes a pretty darn cute subject if you ask me....

Miss Defiant was searching for trouble. She spent her time avoiding me by "popping wheelies" on her horsie..

"I'm a baaaaad girl"

This was the closest thing I got to a smile. I'd call it a smirk really.....

Time for a new outfit!!

While Carmen had her wardrobe change, Hal ran off and forced me to chase after her to find out what she was doing. I suspected that she had just wet her diaper after I'd put her on my hip but she'd wiggled out of my arms too fast for me to fix the problem. No need to worry, Hal has this one under control....

"I may need help with the whole wiping part but other than that I've got this operation covered."

The little stinker was found in the spare bedroom pulling out her changing pad that Nanny puts on the bed to change her diaper. She lifted it up and handed it to me. Duh mom. The youngest cousin was dressed and ready for the rest of her photo shoot. This outfit was my favorite......

"Ok, what's in it for me, huh?"

Once we got the girls together again they proved to be quite the combo. When Carmen was unhappy, Hal was looking ticked off. When Carmen was smiling, Hal was looking ticked off. And when Hal was alone, Hal was looking ticked off.

"So you are saying that I won't get any presents if I don't smile??"

Hallie mid-fall

Needless to say we mommies got a good workout chasing/feeding/posing/tending to our little ones. We are already planning for a much more cooperative year next Christmas season. Unless Carmen decides to take pointers from her big cousin Hal......

"Peace out. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!