Here Comes Santa Claus

Only one more day and Santa Claus will be here. We are so excited!! This Christmas has been so much fun since Sallie really seems to understand Santa Claus as well as the birth of Jesus. She has been singing Happy Birthday to Jesus nonstop. I had to call Santa yesterday when Sallie was being ugly to Anna and tell Santa about this. It really did not seem to impact her at all so we are going to have to work on that. We have been to see Santa Claus two times and got a cute picture that I will post. Anna was not having it and did not like Santa at all. She had to death grip on me both times. Sallie's only request for Christmas is a Disney princess keyboard vanity. This is all that she talks about all the time. I have tried to put so many other gift ideas in her head and she is not having it. Unfortunately Santa has tried really hard to bring her this toy however this toy is sold out everywhere in the country. This toy is such a hot item that people are selling this $89 toy on ebay and amazon for $269 and we were just not going to do that. We did this computer Santa chat with Sallie and Santa and we typed in Sallie's name and a picture of her and Santa talked to her via the computer. We put in a gift that she wanted and Santa read off a list to Sallie and said "so I hear that you want a princess bike". Sallie was talking to the computer saying"no Santa, I wanted a princess piano". It broke my heart because it is just not going to happen. Oh well, hopefully she will forget about it. If not, we will have a backup letter from Santa saying that he will bring it and deliver it another day. We are looking so forward to tomorrow morning and the excitement of Christmas. We have been going, going, going nonstop since last week so I am sure that we will all crash after Christmas is over. I can not believe that it is finally here!! Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

It is beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food and family and enjoyed every second of it. We started off the festivities with Thursday lunch at my parents house and then Friday diner with Ward's family at our house. My sister and I did black Friday shopping Fri at 5 am and had a blast. I also got a lot of shopping done for the kids. We got our first real tree this year and set it up today and got it decorated tonight. It smells heavenly!! I had a real trees My entire life and then started using a fake tree about 6 or 7 years ago. We decided that when the kids were old enough to get it, we would go and get a real tree. Well, this was the year so we all packed up and went to the Christmas tree store. We looked around the lot and found the perfect trees for our house. Sallie was enthralled with the Santa Claus that was dancing around the lot. Anna just wanted to go and touch all the trees. We had a fun day of Christmas music and decorating the tree planned that was fun for about the first 5 ornaments. Then things starting falling and ornaments starting breaking and that was the end of that. We did get the tree decorated however with little assistance from the girls. Anna has since pulled many off that are low to the ground. We got the blow up in the front yard and I love it. Ward actually even admitted that it looked pretty cool. Maybe adding to the blow up collection next year is more in my future than I thought. Anyway, Sallie is really anxious about Santa Claus this year and not scared at all. She can not wait to sit in his lap and tell him that she wants a princess bike now and a jumpy castle. She said the one like they have at leapin lizards. Wow!!! I tried to explain to her that Santa knows what will and will not fit in our house so he may not be able to get that from the north pole. We will see how that goes over Christmas morning. We brought out the elf on the shelf this weekend as well and named him "Roddie". Not sure where this name came from but this is what Sallie wanted to call him. Anna has finally started saying Mama in the last day or two. Now we really know what she wants as she was saying Daddy for everything. She went into the church nursery today without crying at all and even hugged one of the nursery workers that she usually screams with. That was a huge success and relief to me. I always hate leaving her because she acts like that and it was so nice today to leave her happy. We are so excited about the upcoming weeks and all the fun Christmas things going on.

Finally walking

Well, I am a little behind on my posts but with good reason. Ward's computer crashed and then mine crashed shortly behind it. Lots of computer problems in the Warren household. We have also been really busy lately and I just have not had the time. But I do have lots to tell so I am going to try and remember all that has taken place since last entry. Well, Halloween of course....We had a wonderful Halloween with lots of celebrations before and one after the occasion that kept us busy. We did trunk or treat again this year in Lexington and it was lots of fun. Sallie was a "fairly princess" and Anna was a ladybug. For everyone that has now seen the ladybug three years in a row, it has officially been put away for good. Sallie loved her costume and we kind of just called it a fairy princess. It was really called a Garden fairy from k-mart for $7 but she loved it and was a fairy princess. How dare you just call her a princess. They were both adorable and had a great time. At their school Anna dressed up like a dalmatian and all the kids had a dalmatian parade around the school. Sallie's class wore their costumes and trick or treated outside around the school. Parents dressed up and gave them candy. I was a good sport this year and dressed up like a butterfly. Sallie was so proud and told all her friends as they came around that the butterfly was her Mom. It was really cute but my camera died right before she came around to my spot so I did not get pics with my camera. Sallie ate way to much candy on Friday night before Halloween and threw up at 2 am that next morning. She went back to school on Monday and the first thing that she told her teacher was that she ate too much junk and threw it all up. It was pretty funny. I guess a good lesson was learned by all. Ward and I had gone out the night before and had a couple of drinks so a wake up call at 2 am to clean up throw up everywhere was the last thing that we wanted to do. Anyway, Anna finally decided to start walking last week. She is in full swing and all over the place. She loves it and I really love it too. I felt like Anna was attached to my hip all the time and now I can put her down and let her go!!! Don't get me wrong she does still like to be held but she also loves to run and play with Sallie. We are getting in the Thanksgiving mode and looking forward to some time off with family. Sallie has been learning about the Indians at school and we had to make up Indian names for the family so that she could take it to school and talk about it. I am River, Anna is Arrowhead, Ward is Chief and Sallie is Squanto. They made picture books that she brought home to read to us. She opened the first page and said "this is King James, and he was a very mean person that wanted everyone to come to his church and he took their money. Then the next page was some pilgrims that got on the mayflower and came to America. The story went on and on and I was in awe the entire time. I could not believe what all she had learned.

It won't be long before I get to pull out all my Christmas decorations and I am really looking forward to that this year. I think that Ward forgot but I bought a blow up Santa Claus last year and I am so looking forward to putting it front and center. The kids will love it. I bought it at the end of the season last year and just put it up so I can not wait to add to my blow up collection. I really want the carousel :)

We had some friends over this past weekend to watch the game and spend the night. We had so much fun!! Sallie had lots of fun with Sienna and Piper and Anna was trying to keep up with McRea. Sweet Boone hardly made a peep but I am sure that it won't be long before he is running to keep up with all the girls. It is always fun to be able to all get together and hang out. Thanks everyone for coming over and making it so much fun!! A blimp flew over the house while the game was going on and the kids and adults thought it was so neat....

Happy Early Birthday to my Dad who turns 62 tomorrow. I love you and hope you have a wonderful day and many many many more!

Wooly Worm 2009

Well we did it! The first Annual Wooly Worm 2009. It was so much fun and we plan on making this a annual event. We did have a blast on the trip but I will say that it was not a easy trip at all. I think that next year the ages of the girls will make it a little easier. We stayed in a comfortable little house right outside of Linville. 49 Larch lane was a cozy little place and we will definitely stay there again. We were really close to my sister's in laws house where they stayed so it was nice to be able to hang out there with them and do dinner together Saturday night. My Mom made the trip with us and stayed at my sister's house. My Dad was not able to make it this year but hopefully will come next year. We have such special memories of the mountains and saw some of the places that we used to go as kids while we were there. The road trip there on Friday was one of those trips that I do not want to remember. We started out at about 2:00. Ward had late cases so he had to drive separately. My Mom, the kids and I drove together. The kids slept for all of about 30 minutes of the trip and from then on it was wide open. Anna fussed close to the the entire 3 1/2 hour trip until we stopped at a gas station and had to turn her seat around so she could watch a movie. Sallie just wanted something the entire way. Finally about 30 minutes away from our little cozy house, we got lost and could not find the place to pick up the key. We tried to call and call with no answer and then no cell service. Sallie is screaming in the back seat that she has to poo poo. I am telling her to quit screaming and we will be there soon. She finally starts sobbing saying her tummy hurts and that she has to go poo poo. We have to pull over on the side of the mountain and let her squat in the freezing cold. She was having issues and had to squat for about 30 minutes. We then had to put a diaper on her for the rest of the way as she was not sure she was finished. About 15 more minutes and she is crying again saying that her tummy hurts. She then pukes in a bag of grapes. I am driving so my poor Mom gets to handle this one. Finally we find our way after much help and arrive at larch lane about 7:30. It was a long day and I have never felt more anxious like my head was going to pop off in my life. Anyway, we went to the Wooly Worm Saturday and had a blast even though it was very cold, wet and muddy. We then ate at the best Barbecue restaurant ever. After touring around Blowing Rock, we ended the day with Pizza and watching the USC game. We woke up Sunday morning to snow which was so beautiful. We made snow cream for Sallie using coffee because this was all we had. She did not know the difference. We went on a short hike and then headed down the mountain toward Columbia. Oh I almost forgot the best part ever. We went to the Candy Barrel and got our candy. And as Sallie will tell you, this was the best part of her first mountain trip. Go figure, something we could do here!! Anyway, she got candy for everyone including plenty for herself and ate it all on the way home falling asleep with a sucker in her mouth. A great time was had by all!!! Thank you Jennifer and Scot for hosting us at the Wooly Worm and to Mama for all your help. You were a trooper after getting thrown up on, almost pooped on, and falling in the mud.

Who gets the red plate today?

Well, we tried to start the red plate tradition in our house about two weeks ago and it just has not happened. With all the work on our kitchen we have had to eat out so much but Sallie was supposed to eat off the red plate for giving up her passy. Sallie finally got to eat off the red plate yesterday for lunch for giving up her passy and for getting a really good report from her teacher. We had parent teacher conferences on Thursday and her teacher said really good things. Sallie really enjoyed eating off her red plate. Ward gets to eat off it on Monday night for getting new business Friday. I wonder when I will get to eat off that plate? I guess Anna will get to eat off of it when she decides to walk. We may be waiting a while for Anna's turn.

I had a conference with Sallie's teacher Thursday. After missing my original appointment on Tuesday which I felt awful for, it was so refreshing hearing from the teacher that Sallie is on target with everything. Her teacher, Mrs Vickie, said that a day without Sallie in the classroom is very dull and she really misses Sallie when Sallie is not there. She said that Sallie is a joy to have. She also said that Sallie is very head strong and independent (wonder where she gets that from?) Sallie loves to be the line leader and especially the door holder. Sallie can recite two bible verses now which is wonderful. she is keeping me on my toes when it comes to this as well. She said that Sallie's biggest obstacle is sitting still in circle time and they are trying to work on following directions. These are the same things that we are working on at home as well. So far she is having a great year!

I forgot to post pictures when we went to see Sesame Street live a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time however it was a little lenghty. Sallie ended up falling asleep toward the end. I think that she was more excited about the little treats that I packed in her pocketbook rather than the show. Oh well, we had fun anyway and it was nice one on one time with Sallie. Anna stayed at home with Ward.

We are going to the mountains next weekend to go to our first Willy Worm festival. Not sure what this is exactly but my sister has been and says that it is so much fun. Will blog about this when I return. They have real wolly worm races. Sallie is going to love this. I can not wait!! We used to take mountain trips annually with my family growing up and I always looked forward to it. We would go to this place called the candy barrel and it was a store with barrels and barrels of candy. We got to each get our very own bag. I love that place and plan on taking Sallie and myself there the first day. It is still there and I am excited :) I took the kids to the Governors Mansion on Thursday to get some pictures. I did not get many good ones but got a couple of framers. It is really hard to get both to look at the same time.

Here you go Nemo

Sallie finally gave up her passy last weekend. We went down to Charleston for the night so Ward could go shrimping with some friends. While we were there, Sallie was attached to her passy all day. It was like she could not let it go since we were around the house for most of the day. I kept taking it from her and telling her that if she wanted her passy she would have to go to bed. She would say ok, and go lay in bed. That was not the response I was looking for. Anyway, Sunday morning I told her that Nemo was swimming in the water and really wanted a passy just like hers. She went out to the dock with Ward and threw her passy overboard. She has talked about it 2 times since and tried to use Anna's one time and that was the end of that. If I had known it would be so easy we would have tried that a month ago. Anyway, my goal was to be rid of it by 3 and we were close enough. She got a really cool Ariel doll that goes in the bath tub for giving up her passy. She has really liked her Ariel and telling her story of giving her passy to Nemo. Way to go Sallie!!

We just had our kitchen gutted and re done. Our house has been a mess and this has driven me crazy this past week. I will be so glad to be done with this and the job be completed by Monday. It looks great so far and can not wait to see the finished project.

Both girls have had a pretty yucky cold this past week. Anna especially has been coughing a lot. I almost took her to the doctor Friday but they said to wait it out due to all the children that are much more sick with the flu. We are going to get our flu shots Tuesday so hopefully we can avoid it and then we will see when we can go back and get the swine flu shot. We have a very busy October with Birthday parties, trips planned, and work. I can not believe that Christmas is right around the corner. I look forward to the upcoming weeks of fun and pray that we stay healthy.

Fall is here and we are enjoying it. We have been able to open windows and doors at night and that has been great. All the pumpkin flavors are out and I have already tested out the pumpkin ice cream at Baskin Robbins and the pumpkin coffee drinks at Starbucks. I am a sucker for pumpkin.

I walked in the First ladies walk for breast cancer today. It was a great walk and there were so many walkers. This was my third time walking this walk and I really enjoyed it.

My nephew Sam turned 6 yesterday and we went to his Scooby Doo birthday party last night. I did not get a single picture but I will post some when my Sis sends them to me. I can not believe that Sam is 6. Seems like just yesterday I was carrying him around Columbia babysitting thinking how cool it was to have a nephew (it still is cool to have a nephew). He loved him some Aunt JuJu! Happy Birthday Sam. I love you so much and can not believe what a big boy you are.

the trash collector

Ok, so you can officially call me the trash collector. Look at my new find on someone else's trash pile. This is just what Sallie has been wanting and we had been looking at these for her birthday that just passed. Guess we do not have to look any further....

Nana's 60th Birthday weekend

We went to Anderson this weekend to celebrate Nana's 60th birthday and had lots of fun. We went to the Upper state fair in Greenville on Sunday before leaving. It was some good people watching...and Sallie enjoyed the rides and the petting zoo and I almost forgot about Pickles the clown! I felt like I needed a really good shower when I left. It was really nice to get away and enjoy time with Nana, Ward's brothers and their families. Anna got tubes in her ears on Thursday before we left and so far so good. We really hope that this will help with all her ear infections as she has had 5 in the course of her short little 12 month life. Sallie's tubes worked wonders so we are praying for the same thing for Anna. We got to stop through Easley on the way back to Columbia to visit with Grammy, Ward's grandmother who is in a nursing home with Alzheimers. Grammy looks great and seems to still know who we are. She smiled as soon as we walked in the door and really enjoyed watching Anna play with her wheelchair. Anna was named after Grammy, whose name is Ann, as well as my Mom who is Peggy Ann. Grammy has only met Anna two times so we try to get her by there as often as possible. Anna got her first pair of walking shoes while we were in Anderson. Nana likes to get the girls their first pair of shoes at the same store that she got Ward and his brother's first pair of shoes. They are precious and she has really been getting around well in them. She gets frustrated at times but I give it about another week before she is taking off. She wears a size 3 1/2. We've enjoyed a little break since Sunday as Sallie stayed in Anderson until tomorrow with Nana. The house has been really quiet and I really miss her. It has been a nice break but two nights is all I can do right now. I miss her laugh and her little sweet voice already! I am attaching many pictures from our weekend as well as from Anna trying to figure out this walking stuff. It was a great weekend had by all. Happy 60th Mary Carter aka"Nana".

Happy 1st birthday Sweet Anna

Seems like a lot of happy birthday posts lately doesn't it? Well with two August birthdays 5 days apart, that is what we do in August. I have had a lot of fun planning and doing, but am really glad that we have another year before doing it again. Happy 1st Birthday Anna! Today was all your day and you had a blast. Your ice cream party was so much fun. You especially loved your cake. You ate and ate and ate and loved every bite. You got icing all in your hair and we had to give you a bath because you were a mess. Anna, I honestly can not believe that you are 1. How did this day get here so fast. This day a year ago, we were at baptist hospital loving on you and your little 6 pound 15 ounce self. You personality is still in the works but what I can see, at one, it is going to be so much fun. You love your sister and you love Jack. You do not like loud noises and you really don't like to be put down. You like to be held most of the time and you really like for me to be in the room at all times. You have not mastered playing on your own yet but I guess that will come with time. At walmart or the grocery store you do not want to ride in the cart but you want me to hold you and push the cart. Even though this is kind of hard, I do love that you want your Mama. You laugh a lot and are really close to learning to walk. I think about a week or two and you will be all over the house. You will eat anything and you understand everything I say. When I say "Do you want a bottle?", you start to fuss and point toward the kitchen. When I say "Are you ready for bed, you start to fuss and I know that this means yes. You love to play on my bed and "roughhouse" as Sallie calls it. Your sister refers to you as Anna Banana and even told your sister that this is her name. I am sure that you will not like this name later on in life but for now it is kind of cute. You are a true joy Anna. Your first year of life has been filled with little sleep, laughter, learning, juggling, and lots of smiles. I can not wait to see your little personality continue to develop. Youaare a true blessing to me and your Daddy as well as your sister and I am so honored and lucky to be your Mama!! Happy Birthday baby girl......

A recap of our busy birthday

Wow! Today was a really busy and fun day. Sallie has literally celebrated her birthday from the time that her feet hit the floor this morning until tonight at 9 pm. She has milked this day for all it is worth. Here are some pictures to show you what she has done. We started with gift opening, then went to her first day at school, then came home and ate the last cupcake from school for lunch. this is cupcake #2 for the day. Woke up from nap and went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream with Peppy and Pops, answered lots of birthday phone calls in between, had a watermelon birthday celebration with Daddy with sparklers, played with Ella and got to open presents from Peppy, Pops and Ella and Sam, hopped on my bouncy ball all day long, and finally went to bed with no supper and a belly full of junk. Now how could anyone ask for a better day? She is now asleep with a new watch on and a bouncy ball on the edge of her bed waiting for her in the morning.

g