It's 4am...

Well by the time I finish this post it will be.

Why am I up at 4 am you might ask? Good question, and when I find out the answer, I'll let you know. Basically, I can't sleep.

I vowed to myself that I would not blog while I'm off for Christmas break. I really needed some good quality time with my sweet hubby and Caroline. I don't go back to work until January 5, 2009 {one of the many perks of working for a university!}, and wanted to take a break from everything but family.

Something compelled me to log on tonight in my sleeplessness, and I am so sad to see that Mck Mama's precious baby Stellan is in the hospital. I just keep praying for this little miracle child.

So, since I was on, I decide to blog a little.

No pictures, no stories...just yet. I'll get to all that later.

Right now, I just wanted to check in on my sweet friends, and say hello, and "touch base". I hope everyone out there in blogville is doing great.

We'll talk soon!

Much Love,
Alicia

Curiosity Killed the Cat.....

Not literally, we don't have a cat. But I'm going to be a little nosy today.

Tonight I am taking miss Caroline to pick out what she wants to get for her dad and Tab for Christmas. This is basically a "tradition" I have with her anytime we need to get a gift "from" her to someone else. My mom always just told me what I was getting for my dad, friends, or whoever. But I am one of those people that I want to receive what someone wants to get me, not what they are told to get me.

A perfect example would be my wedding shower. You know, we register for what we want, but people might not want to buy those things. A dear friend's mom knew what she wanted to get me regardless of what I wanted, and she did. The best part about it was when I opened her gift, she had gotten me several pieces of Fiesta Ware {which I love and collect}, and I think it was probably one of my most favorite gifts.

All this to say, that I love seeing what Caroline has in mind for her present picking. And no matter how silly it is, I buy it. That's the beauty of it, she gave something she really wanted to give. Last year for Christmas, she picked out UT Longhorn PJ pants for her dad, and for Tab she picked a Calendar. She said that her dad needed bigger pj's, and Tab always rights down things on our calendar, so she thought they needed new ones, which personally I think is super sweet! For Father's Day, she wanted to get Tab a Ninja Turtle, so they could play together. For Mother's Day, she wanted to get a Princess Wand for her grandma. For me, I have a James Avery charm bracelet, and I love getting new charms, so she had both her "dads" take her to get me charms. I got a horse and a Christmas tree. Where the horse came from, I have no clue, but I have such a wonderful memory knowing she wanted me to have it!


Now the curiosity part.....

How do you handle taking your kids to pick out gifts?
And what are some they have picked {if they pick them ;)}?

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Oh...Now I Remember

...why I don't like the cold weather! My hands are super DRY, and CRACKED, and RED, and they HURT!

Uggghhhhh! I seriously think I have put lotion on about 35 times already! I'm going to have to go home and use my satin hands!

Burrrrrrr Baby!

Wow...it is COLD! Now I know for all of you folks who don't live in the south {especially Texas} it may not seem too shocking for you. Let me tell you, it's COLD to us! 28 degrees right now to be exact.

And when I got to Baylor's campus this morning, it was snowing. It was so pretty!

And of course for any non-southerners you usually get around just fine in the winter weather...not down here! It was sleeting last night on my way home, no big deal to me, but the highway was creeping along....I really shouldn't complain though, when I lived in Dallas, there were several times that I sat on 75 {huge hwy.} for 4 hours or more trying to get home because of sleet/ice.

I hope that Caroline got some snow at school and got to see it, it is a rarity, and she loves the snow!

Annual Baking Party

This is a wonderful holiday tradition that started years ago {like before I ever moved down here} with my step-sister, sister-in-law, and some friends. They have done this for years, and I LOVE it! Since I moved down here and I have such a large kitchen, they decided that I would forever be the hostess for the party. Which to be honest, is perfectly fine with me! Anyway, everyone who comes makes something different, and enough to give a batch to everyone else...the result is LOTS of goodies to take with you for all your holiday parties. And it is a complete girl day!

I need help deciding what to make this year, so I have added a poll to my sidebar for your voting pleasure! Help me out girls!

Picture Tag

I saw this on my sweet friend Hollie's blog, and I, too, was very curious to see what I would find.....

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Here's what I found!




How perfect! This is one of my favorite pictures ever! To understand why, you will have to read this. I will explain a little more. My mom passed away 7 years ago. At the time I had a very dear friend named Heather who helped me through the hard times. She lost her brother only a year before, and knew what I was going through. She told me about seeing butterflies after he passed, and that they mean eternal life. From that point on, she and I would always see 2 butterflies together. To us, it was our loved ones watching over us, and just stopping by to say hi! When I had Caroline, she and I carried on telling Boog about the buttlerflies, thus she thinks that any butterfly she sees is my mom coming to say hi to her! Soooo, when I took this picture, it melted my heart...Caroline told me that my mom was kissing her {tears in my eyes now!}, and she was so happy!

Weekend Please

Is anyone else ready for the weekend?

I sure am! Ready to wind down a little, although I'm not sure how much I will get to "wind" down. We are driving to Sugarland tomorrow, spending the night and then driving to Galveston to pick the parents up from their latest cruise. They flew overseas to get on the ship and sail it back here, and normally they would just get a rental and drive home. But since Galveston hasn't yet recovered, there are no rental car places open, and no way to stay unless you want to spend over 300.00 a night {no, thank you}! So they offered hubby and I a night away on them if we would drive their car to get them. What an awful deal huh? I night away alone, and driving their car {which is already filled with gas}...LOL!

So those are our plans for the weekend. Hope everyone has a great relaxing weekend!
{sure, who gets to relax this time of year?}

Letter to Abby

I have no stake in this. But, I might have some wisdom to impart on you. Please read this knowing {I'm about to sound so mean, but I'm not trying to be ugly!} that I don't care who he is with, I just want him to be a good dad, and he really wasn't. Your decisions are your own, and no one elses, so don't let anyone influence you, or make you feel bad about your choices.

People are complicated creatures {as if you didn't already know that}, and it takes a great deal of time, patience and understanding to build a strong foundation for a relationship. There will ALWAYS be rough times, but what you have to look for are the good times. They may not always come easily.

We were never meant to be. We both knew that but gave it a try regardless, we had a little one at stake. There are things you will learn about him that will bother you, things you will wish you had been a part of, and things you will wish you could just erase.

He is to say the least, a very complicated person, who has lead a very emotional and complicated life. There is no changing that. You have to look forward to what the future might be. Certain people can't help, or be good for each other, and that was our situation {well that, and a lack of love}. You have to reel him in, and make him be responsible for things. He hasn't quite figured out how to do that on his own. Becoming an adult, parent, and mate are not easy things, and he needs help.

I'm not saying that you are or you aren't the person for that. Only God knows who is. Love isn't just about how someone makes you feel either. It's about sooo much more. If you truly love him, then you will find your way.

You can't let yourself ever get caught up in what people that are looking in have to say. You have to make choices on your own. I'm saying this simply because I know I have been very honest about a lot of things, and you can't let that sway you. People are different when they are around different people. Different people make us want to change.

He has lots of things to work on, boy do I know, but things take time. I'm not sure exactly how your feeling, and I don't want to know. But I do know that he loves you. For him to tell me he lost the love of his life, I know how he feels. I can start crying just at the mere thought of not having Tab in my life. I absolutely cannot picture any of my future without him. That's the biggest question you have for yourself. Can I truly picture my life without him? And that's a hard question to ask.

You will always want to be more stable in certain areas of your life, but don't let that cheat you out of love. It takes time to get where you want to be, and don't ever expect it to happen in the next few years, it won't. You are so young, and it will take so much time to build your life the way you want it. There is not a single person I know that has what they wanted at your age unless they settled for wealth and maturity over love. I'm not saying it's not possible to have it all, but don't expect to be really stable and settled at your age, you might set yourself up for a huge heartbreak.

I did. Growing up I never wanted for anything, I just got it. I didn't value anything, I just had it. When I met him, I expected to have my life not change, just add him to it. Yea, that didn't happen, and it started years of fighting and unhappiness for us both.

You'll find your way. And I commend you for taking a stand and saying you've had enough. I wish I had too. Just remember that its a long road to go down, and you have to do it together. It can't ever be one sided, in any part of your relationship. No matter what life brings you, or rather what road God takes you down, you'll figure it out...

Alicia

I Know, I Know.....

I am pathetic! But she is just so darn cute, and she makes my heart so happy!

Catching Up....

I made a bunch of posts today, so you can catch up here by clicking each link, or you can just scroll through my blog and read what you want!

Long Overdue

Christmas Dress, O Christmas Dress

Handmade Christmas

Long Overdue

I am so bad sometimes.

A month ago I went to Dallas, to spend the day with my oldest friend, Sarah. Not old in age, in years of friendship! Sarah and I met in the 5th grade, which I knew was a long time ago, but never thought much about it. On the drive up, I realized that with her 31st birthday, we had been friends for 20 years! Wow! I was in shock. I mean I knew we have been friends forever {ha} but not 20 years!

Anywho, she was spending some time with her parents in her childhood home, and I went to stay with her for a night. She has the most precious little girl, Miss Ruby {who I could just eat up} and I got to spend time with her too! I was so excited to have this time with them!

We took Ruby to the park, lounged around the house, and went to have dessert at Macaroni Grill. It was so great to see them! Here are some pictures from our time together!


Miss Ruby on the swings

Sarah & Ruby

Ruby & me

Miss Ruby on the see-saw

Sarah & me

Our dessert {we had a glass of champagne to celebrate!}


The next day we took a walk and Ruby was so cute, she loves to be outside!


Playing in the leaves



Playing with Grandmama and Charlie {the dog}

Christmas Dress, O Christmas Dress

Okay fellow moms. You may not want to admit it, but I will. We love the pretty Christmas dresses for our daughters. There, I said it.

What I don't love is the price tags that go with those pretty dresses {which, I'm sure you will all agree}. Don't get me wrong, Caroline has had her fair share of them, 5 to be exact. But not this year. I just can't do it. Call me cheap frugal, but I refuse to buy a dress this year.

But I did make one!

Now, its not beautiful and fancy, but it's cute, and Caroline loves it, and that's all that really matters! Plus she thinks its really cool that I can make her stuff...she may not be that way in a few years, so I'll take it while I can get it!

Now, keep in mind that she will be wearing a white collared blouse under the dress. Also, she really has a thing for long dresses {I hope that sticks!}, so it is very long.





Front



Back

Handmade Christmas

My {step} sister, Tracy {who I just call my sister}, had the wonderful idea of making our Christmas gifts for our gift exchange this year! Which to be totally honest, is quite hilarious. You see, there are only 2 "artsy/crafty" people in the whole of our family...my brother {Ron}, and why me of course! So for Tracy to decide she thought we should make gifts, literally was hysterical.

Now, in her defense {and the rest of the family's} I'm sure they are all quite creative, they just don't pursue it the way Ron & I do. I am super excited to see what everyone has come up with!

I suppose I should get to the real point by now, which is that I have a sneak peak of what I have made...now I can't show it on the ol' blog because I know my family reads this, but here is a little preview.....




Can you guess what it is?

3rd times not Always a Charm

I right this post with great sorrow.

You know the old saying that the 3rd times a charm?

Unfortunately not this time around. Remember the post a few weeks ago asking for your prayers? Well we went for out 3rd try to get pregnant. We have anxiously been waiting till this Wednesday to take our home test. This morning we knew there was no need. I keep telling myself that it is going to be okay, that God has a plan for our family. I know deep down somewhere that's true, but right now it just doesn't feel that way. We want this so badly, and it just hurts so much.

The worst part is that we are probably coming close to the end of the line. For those of you who don't know much about the infertility process, it is very expensive. We are reaching a point where we may not be able to continue down this path. It breaks my heart. I'm not going to go on and on about this, but I just wanted to tell those of you who have been keeping up with our tries to bring more love and joy into our family. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers

Love, Alicia

M-O-M-M-Y

I have a new name......M-O-M-M-Y. Yes, that's right, Caroline is so proud that she is learning to read and spell things that she has resorted to spelling mommy when she wants to talk to me.

Now its not like spelling mommy is something new for her, she's been doing it since she was 3, I think she could write mommy before she could right her own name. But for some reason, she thinks its really "cool" to spell it out when she is talking to me.

This morning, as I am getting ready, she walks into my bedroom and says, "M-O-M-M-Y, can I have cereal for breakfast?" Children can be so goofy. I just started cracking up, it was just too funny to see her standing there in her jammies with her crazy morning hair spelling mommy!

Here are a few other examples of her spell-a-thon:

*When she is talking to Tab, she'll say, "hey T-A-B"
*She calls Avery, A-V-E-R-Y girl
*She tells me that the wood-burning stove is H-O-T
*When we get close to a stop sign its, "M-O-M-M-Y you need to S-T-O-P"
*And if we are going to a store it's, "are they O-P-E-N?"


Have I ever told y'all how much I love her? More than words...

Seriously...my bra broke!?!?!

Men totally take for granted how easy it is to be a man, really they do. Do they:

1. Have to worry about fixing there hair?
2. Shave their arm pits and legs?
3. Put on make-up {because lets face it, we all can't go without}?
4. Matching their accessories?
5. Have the visit of the most evil thing every month?
6. Go to the bathroom sitting down {always}?
7. Paint their toenails?
8. Wear panty hose {okay, this one is slighty unfair....I can NOT remember the last time I wore hose}
9. Carry a baby 9 months then labor & birth it?
10. Wear a bra?

I'm not usually this resentful towards men. Only once a month. But as I am sitting in a meeting yesterday afternoon talking about website redesign, I reach up and rather nonchalantly go to adjust my bra {which was stabbing me in the side of my boob} when I feel it rip. Yes I said RIP!!! I seriously wanted to scream. I am sitting in a room with 3 guys, and my bra breaks....great. Now the only positive thing about this is that it didn't completely rip. You know the little piece of fabric in the middle {in the front}, well one side of that ripped away from the underwire. So at least I still am "contained".

When I get back to my office I text the hubby to tell him of my misfortune and ask him if he can get Boog so I can run to Victoria's Secret. What does he do? He calls me laughing.

Thanks honey, I needed that.

So not only am I worried that in the next hour it will totally rip and unleash me, but I have to go spend another $48 bucks on a good bra, all the while my husband is laughing at me.

Men have it so easy.

My Favorite Thing

As I am coming out of the bathroom this morning like a mad woman, trying to get Caroline and I both fed and dressed so we can be out the door on time, this is what I find. Does she look dressed and ready to you?




Nope, but how can I be mad at a face like that? I let it slide this morning....

Whew....Let me catch you up!

Wow! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...we sure did! Working for a University has its advantages, we got 3 days off for the holiday! So, needless to say it was so nice to have the time off! And boy were we busy! First thing Wednesday morning, the hubby and I had some stuff we needed to do out of town, so Boog went to play with Avery for a little while, which was great {we took advantage of that time to get the last of her shopping done}! Then later that afternoon, I drove her to meet her dad so she could spend some time with him and his family. And yes, it is sad to not have her around on Thanksgiving {especially since she is one of the things I am MOST thankful for}, but her dad's family really does Thanksgiving BIG, so its nice for her to be there with them.

Thursday I was up bright and early at 6am cooking! But if you know me, then you know I love to cook, so I'm not complaining! Then we were off to my brother and sister-in-laws house for the feast! It was so yummy! We ate, watched the game, laid around, and ate some more. And yes, I know I am silly, but I took some picks of the yummy food!

Here are my nephews {Blake & Dillon} breaking the Wishbone

Friday was pretty quite, and I took complete advantage of that and got some painting done. I refuse to go out into the masses and shop on Black Friday, although I did have to run into Target to get some prescriptions, but it wasn't so bad. Tab and I had a "date" night too, which is always nice. We just got some food and rented some movies and enjoyed our time together.

I went to pick up Caroline on Saturday afternoon {and in case your wondering, Tab normally does go with me, but he's on call with work and has to be at the house} and we headed to visit some friends that night. Caroline had a lot of fun with her friend Makayla, I was very glad they got in some good "play" time. Sunday was the designated day for Christmas decorating. Woo Hoo! I love to decorate for Christmas! For the 1st few years after mom died, I hated it, because that was one of the things we did together and her house was always beautiful on the holidays, but I have finally gotten my love for it back and have a good time pulling out her ornamants and remembering her as I put them on the tree.

Here are a few shots of our pretty decorations!