Baby All I Want for Christmas..

What an amazing Christmas we had! Madeline and I spent the week before Christmas in Lynchburg with our families. We had almost two feet of snow and was stuck inside the house most of the time! Madeline was spoiled rotten by all of her gifts! She got blocks, a Vermont bear (which she LOVES), beautiful outfits, the bouncing turtle, ornaments, a snowglobe and books from my in-laws side of the family. My mother in law got Taylor and I a Wii (which I am terrible at!!) My mom had actually got us one too which is pretty funny, but she returned it! My parents got Madeline Pottery Barn dolls, a sock monkey set, books, shoes, PJs, crayola sets and gosh so much more I can't even remember it all! She got me loads of goodies and Taylor an MP3 player he had wanted. Madeline's main gift from Taylor and I was a climber with a little playhouse type of thing attached. She loves climbing up the slide and going back down it, but I think the main thing she likes about it is collecting any and everything from the room (I found the dog harness in there this morning) and putting it in the house and closing the little door. I had been searching for one of these stinkin' things on Craigslist for atleast 6 months but never found a nice one so I got stuck paying the full price from toyrus.com, but she loves it so thats all that matters! She also got a Cabbage Patch baby that she loves to carry in its carrier and give her ba ba. I say "where's your baby?" and she runs and gets her! It is adorable!
Taylor and I had already "exchanged presents." He got a 52' Sharp Aquos and I got a keurig coffee maker, pottery barn stockings and diamond earrings. So on Christmas we just did stockings which included electric tooth brushes, lots of candy and his had a pizza slicer haha! We promised to do wrapped gifts next year but I honestly don't care! We woke up Christmas morning and had cinnamon rolls.. YUM! Then we sat around the house all day watching a Christmas Story and Home Alone. We went to a Christmas Eve service at a church on the bypass and I was really disappointed. I personally go to a Christmas Eve service to sing songs about Christmas and hear a nativity story. I got there and was informed the wise men didn't come on Christmas, there was no Santa because parents only give gifts as a reward not a gift and I didn't hear one Christmas song. Needless to say I was very sad about it. After Madeline went to bed we played my new game Pictureka and Skipboo! It was a great day and I was so glad to spend it with my little family!

These are some pictures taken by my very talented friend Mallory! Thank you!

Beautiful Kitchen Chandelier

My mom just had this beautiful chandelier installed in her dining room. Okay so it isn't yet perfect (notice the difference in paint color from where the old ceiling fan!) I added the lamp shades and applied the fabris. I think they turned out pretty great although I still need to add ribbon along the edges (since we have two feet of snow on the ground I haven't yet made it back to the craft store!) I then added the ornaments with ribbon and strung ribbon around the base of the chandelier. I think it is pretty beautiful myself! I will be back soon to post pictures of my beautiful little girl hating the snow and the ornament wreath I made!

I'll be home for Christmas..

In case you didn't know, I have an amazing husband. We have been together five years now and through all that time he has never said anything nasty to me and he still treats me like a queen every single day! No matter how much nonsense I have talked to him, he just looks me in the face and says "I want to be with you forever, so lets figure this out." He does anything he can to make my daughter and myself happy and he doesn't get enough of the praise that he deserves!! I love you John Taylor!

Taylor got stuck working for ten days in a row so Madeline and I headed up to Virginia to spend the week before the holidays with our family! Hopefully Taylor gets off for Christmas Eve so Madeline and I will go back to spend the night with him! Before we came home my friend Mallory took some amazing Christmas pictures of Madeline on the beach! Smart ol' me forgot the cd with the pictures on them in OBX so I will have to post once I am back at our house, but once I do you are in for a treat! Thank you Mallory for doing that for me!

They are calling for between 9 and 18 inches of snow tomorrow so we will be stuck at home for a few days. Luckily my mom bought a ham dinner and turkey dinner for a make up Thanksgiving and Christmas so we have plenty of food at the house! On a not so lucky note I did not bring any of Madeline's fleece hats or gloves so unless I sneak out to Old Navy in the morning she won't be able to play in the snow!

Crafting Attempts

As probably everyone who wanders into this blog has figured out my husband is in the Coast Guard. For our family that means he works 24 hours on/24 hours off and everyother weekend. And by working I mean gone away from the house for a full two days. So that means pretty much half of the week its just Madeline and I, and the other have we have a husband/daddy around. I am insanely afraid of the dark and hate nights that Taylor isn't sleeping here (and of course I miss him during the day too!) but I have finally started to accept this is military life and I am getting used to it. So half of my nights I have a lot of free time (Madeline goes to sleep between 7 and 8.. I go to bed usually between 12 and 1.) I'm not a tv watcher so a lot of my time has been spent reading crafty people's blogs. So I have decided to try my hand at it and I made my very first Christmas ragamuffin garland! I am still going to hang an ornament or two on it, I just haven't decided which one yet. I tied mine around the lamp that is beside my front door. Although it isn't as full as I had hoped (I cut my strips too short evidentially) for my first attempt I am very pleased!

Note: This table would normally be filled with my little odd collections, but my 15 month old enjoys taking all of those things off this shorter table. So it is bare..

Big Cups

My little girl got off of bottles about a month ago. We just got rid of them and she adapted very quickly. She is great at using a straw, however those cups are much more messy than the sippy cups. So whenever I have given her a sippy cup, I have to tilt it for her to get drink. When she wants drink she gets her sippy cut and just wacks me with it until I tilt it into her mouth. The past few days I have refused to give it to her except at meal time in her seat. And today she started tilting her own sippy cup to get drink! Wohoo!! I feel like I finally have an independent big girl!

November Nor'Easter

As you have probably have seen on the news the Outer Banks and the Hampton Roads area got pounded by a November Nor'Easter this week. Virginia Beach got the brunt of it, the water was up above their car's windows! Here the Beach Rd in many places is so flooded it looks like a river! The worst part for me was that Madeline and I were at home alone since Taylor was on duty! I was so paranoid I roof would blow off or we would lose power and I would panic ha. It is pretty amazing how much damage mother nature can do!

Madeline and I got home on Monday from spending the week at my parents house! I got my hair cut a little above my shoulders and a bit blonder.. I am learning to love it. Madeline has been constantly saying "uh-oh" to everything "bad" that happens. She will hit the dog and go "uh-oh" as if it were an accident! She is lucky he is so patient with her because she pretty much abuses the poor thing.

Lynchburg, Lynchburg

Madeline and I have been at home in Lynchburg since Monday. I must admit it is hard staying at anyone's house other than my own, even my parents! We are headed home Monday morning and we are ready! Poor Taylor had a horrible day at work, he recovered his first dead body! Ick! And he managed to lose his wedding ring on the beach, he was so irritated! Hopefully tomorrow will be better for him!

Madeline and I have been all over this week. She stayed two days with her Grandma Sharon. My mom works all of the time now, so the rest of the week I went around spending times with old friends. It was a much needed breather from "real life!" I love our life in the Outer Banks, but it is nice to come home and relax with friends who I have known for years!