Cheese!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jeniferlawson0117

Carmen received a very cool gift this Christmas from Papa, a digital camera all her own! She loves it and it seems quite indestructable. It has a rubber coated outside that is supposed to be drop proof and water resistant. Perfect for an exploring 4 year old! Anyway, she want to take it everywhere with her and take pictures constantly. She hasnt figured out that you have to wait for the flash to charge, oh well, she will catch on someday. Anyways since she has taken over 250 pictures the last few days I thought i would add them via picasa. So if I get it figured out I will add the link to this blog so you can check out how Carmen sees the world.

wonderful creations

As you may have read, its snowed, iced over and snowed again. Well last night it warmed up enough to melt off the snow but it wasnt warm enough to melt the ice. This process has left behind some interesting ice formations. (of course its snowing again so we will see what tomorrow brings) But I thought todays formations were well worth noting... just thought they were cool...

Crystal Ball

Merry Christmas everybody. I received an interesting gift this year, the gift of a glimpse into my future. I got to see what Christmas's for the next few years will entail. At first it was awe.. then disbelief, then frantic screaming, laughing, then yells of "Mine!", "Mommy, shes touching my toy!", and my favorite, "NOOOOOO!" So again I repeat, I have seen my future. My mother promises that this too will pass, that as they grow older they will understand more and be less likely to interfere with each others toys. I am not so sure, having the same sex kids has produced unforeseen problems. They both gravitate to similar toys, I think we will have many more Christmas's with this same problem. (Jim misses out on all the fun..)

That being said, it was fun for the kids. We video taped them coming into the room for the first time for daddy. There is about a minute of nothing (other than commentary if you can hear it) where there was a misscommunication with when we were coming down the stairs. Oh well. its still fun.

Carmens big gift was a tea table and accessories. Rosemarys big one was a rocking lion. Both were under-impressed but eventually warmed up to the whole idea. After a while (and a time out in her room) Carmen even shared her tea set with Rose. Now THAT is Christmas for me...

Carmen showing off after giving Rose a teacup.

Rose on her rocking lion

Climbing in her box... well the box the lion came in, its the simple things...

Carmen all dressed up and ready for her first tea party!

Chillin in the box, what a cutie!Sitting like good sisters do, chatting over tea and cake.

Rosie Cheeks and Wet Bottom

Cabin fever won out and we headed out this morning into the 2 feet of snow. The girls did surprisingly well. More specifically Rose liked it till she bent over and fell face first into the snow, poor thing, the snow was just too deep. Carmen loved every minute of it. She tried to make snowballs the way Uncle Travis taught her but the snow was just too light to do anything with. She kept picking up pieces of ice and telling me what shapes they were. We walked the block distance to the mailbox and back, by that time it was time to go inside. Hot chocolate and cookies called our names.

SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW!!!

Today is Sunday evening, but lets take a journey back in time to Thursday night, it started snowing. Light and fluffy, pretty little flakes of Hollywood movies. It snowed all night and into the next day. Friday was mostly clear but in the afternoon things started to turn. Since Friday night it has snowed pretty much non-stop. We accumulated 14 inches as of Saturday night. It was amazing I don't think in my whole life I have seen so much light fluffy snow fall at one time. Sunday was another story, we got 1/2 inch of ice on top of the snow and then it snowed another 3 inches on top of that!

(This is my moms truck parked on the street in front of my house Sat. night)

One of my neighbors thought they would try to get their sedan (without studded tires OR chains) out into the street, well they made it half way there and got stuck. And in the process of trying to get his car back into his garage he shoveled, sanded and dug out down to his grass. At one point he was driving forward and caught traction and ran over his shovel, it flipped over and stuck into his radiator. Poor guy, it just wasn't meant to be.

(This is Carmen's trike, covered in snow up to the seat)

As Monday quickly approaches the girls and I are going insane. We started prepping for this storm back on Wednesday and haven't been out of the house since Friday morning. Most all of the towns and businesses and even roads are closed down right now. People talk about getting to work tomorrow and I honestly don't see how that is going to happen. The weather dudes are saying we should get another 6-10 inches by noon tomorrow. It just isn't letting up.

(This is the girl's castle and the backyard table covered in 14 inches of snow, soon to be more)


Our Christmas, one way or another, is going to be a white one! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Wonders Never Cease

We have been snowed in (check out the last blog) and well the kids have cabin fever bad. Rose is getting inventive on finding new things to play with. I have pictures of Carmen doing the same thing, Im so proud of my girls!!!! ;0)

Winter Wonderland at PIR

Ok, so this is a spoiler of sorts. We went toe Winter Wonderland at the PIR raceway in Portland last week. It was advertised as being 5 miles of lights and excitement. We got there, after weaving through traffic cone, and found out that it was actually $16 per car!! We were too far in to turn around, and luckily had some extra cash because (of course) they don't take anything but that. As a consolation they said that we could get a free Christmas music CD. Not bad.. that makes up for it. Well, more specifically we got to "borrow" the CD, and had to return it when we were finished.

There were too few lights, they were seriously too spaced out and it was too short for the amount of money we spent.

I was really disappointed in the whole thing. It took us a total of 23 minutes from start to finish. So consider this your warning... it would take you longer and cheaper to go do a drive by Peacock Lane.

Yes we are proud...

Many parents out there think that their kids are talented, well I have proof that mine are!

We call her Two Pacie Rosie

She just learned how to ride the rocker herself, look how proud she is!!

And not to be outdone by her little sister... (yes we are proud of her too)

and the hunt begins

Since we are currently in the Northwest I decided that we had to get a real tree this year. Its frowned upon in TX as its a big fire hazard AND the trees are actually farmed in from OR... sad but true. Anyways, the girls and I ventured out for our first Christmas tree hunt. Now keep in mind that in my adult life I have never actually purchased a Christmas tree. Its always worked out that someone else got a real one or we had a fake one for years. So I wasn't sure how this was going to work out and that I drive a sedan perplexed me. How was I going to get this thing home?

Well the answers were simple enough. The tree lot we went to was empty (of people, not trees) and so the gentleman was completely ours. He offered to walk around and hold up the trees so that we could find the perfect one. Carmen, however, thought the first one we saw was the best (easy to please, if only she could stay that way). He shook out the dead needles and then trimmed the bottom all nice and flat for us. He then stuck the tree in my trunk!!! Yeah, its a 6.5 foot tree and all but 3 feet fit perfectly into the trunk. Imagine that... So we headed home to "Christmas up" our house tree and all.

The tree made it soundly home, getting it out was a little of a struggle, its alot heavier than it looked. I got it set up in the stand and watered it... then realised that the top piece was kind of off. Oh well, its stable and if it looks like its leaning.. well it is, kind of. lol

The lights went on with no problem and the ornaments were a snap (other than the need to constantly tell the girls "no don't touch that!")

I decided that it needed protection though and pulled out a folding gate/cage thing I bought years ago. It fit perfectly around the tree and for the most part keeps the kids from touching much of the tree, mostly.

I took pictures of it during the day and then that night. The night ones are fun because they look like you are squinting your eyes and shaking your head!! fun times...

The other parts of the house got a little Christmas-fying too. The banister that leads upstairs is in our entryway so I added swags of garland with ribbon and bows from my wedding. I have a small table in the entryway also and put our stocking holder train set up there. I had to get sticky wall hangers for the stockings this year, so the train set is just for decoration.

Santa, Santa, Everywhere!

So, tradition must be followed and we visited the local Santa for the traditional kid scream fest. It was... well loud. First off Carmen was really shy. She wanted to see Santa but wasn't so sure she wanted to be near him. She finally warmed up to him (he was an amazingly patient guy) and Carmen sat on his lap. The moment he looked at Rosemary and spoke directly to her she started to scream. I was laughing so hard I had trouble getting her into his arms so I could get a picture of them together. Too funny. So here is proof that we made our way to Santa this year. (Check another to do off the list!)

Dora Explosion!!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY CARMEN!!

Carmen is 4!! Hard to believe that the little heathen could have made it this far but she has. :0) She loves Dora the Explorer and Diego so we stuck with that theme this year. It was a budget party (as most things are right now) and I was amazed that with some time, bargain hunting, and some thought it ended up only costing about $50 for the whole party including purchasing a cake (I know, I know.. but I was busy this time around, next year I will make her cake) AND a large large arrangement of balloons!! Go me!

I set up everything the night before after the girls had gone to bed and so got to see the surprise on her face when she got up in the morning. I caught it on tape since Daddy couldn't be there to share in the moment, enjoy...

The decorations were very bright to put it mildy. Carmen loved every minute of it. She just had to get in on this picture. She is such a cheese!

The opposite wall had these 4 foot tall characters. They were surprisingly cheap (about $4) and since they are so large the make a big statement. Again Carmen loved them, she tried to talk me into putting them up in her bedroom, but I couldn't imagine her sleeping with these things staring at her all the time.

I had purchased ball pit balls years ago for a party and am glad i have held onto them till now. blew up our little kiddy pool and added the balls to it. The girls dove in first thing and then all the kids fought over space in the pool for the rest of the day. Carmen was rather unimpressed with me the next morning when I had put it away.

house of glass

K, so I will start at the beginning of this story, the townhouse that I am renting right now has some amazing windows in it, but two of them are right in the front of the house. And this leads to some privacy issues for me.

I expressed my concern with my mom and she mentioned that I could do stained glass pieces in the windows, that would allow the light to still come in but give me the privacy I need. Well since I wont be living here all that long it isnt cost affective for me to do that, but she had a great second choice its called Gallery Glass. Its a liquid that when hardens looks just like stained glass!

What a great idea. I jumped right on that band wagon but couldnt find any design that I really liked... typical me, I decided to create my own design. My mom had already offered to make the pieces for me I just had to draw them out.

SO... I decided I wanted a sun like picture in the window but also fell in love with the idea of a mermaid. Since I couldnt choose I went for both of them. :0) I drew out the pictures and mom created them beautifully. Thanks again mom!!!

She actually liked them so much that I drew her a mermaid design for her bathroom. She is still working on the finished product but here is a picture of the design that I drew.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I was so excited to see this that I just had to take a picture... and surprisingly enough, the people around me didnt even take a second glance that I was taking a picture of this.. haha...

Missing Daddy

Carmen is at the age that Daddy's presence is now missed. Before when Jim deployed he was just gone, but now she remembers him and misses him. She doesnt know how to express it most of the time but we are starting to talk about how its ok to feel sad because Daddy isnt around, and that if she feels that way that I am here to "hug her better".

The last time Jim deployed it was to Iraq and while he was there he picked up a dogtag necklace for Carmen. She never put much thought into it till about two weeks ago. She asked me what it said and who it was from. I told her it was from Daddy and that he wanted her to have it so she could wear it when she missed him so he was always close to her.

It has been christened the "daddy love" necklace by Carmen and she never takes it off. We actually had a round-a-bout about take it off for bed the other day. I wouldnt mind her wearing it but i have worn necklaces to bed a have almost been chocked by them so I am not really excited about her wearing it to bed. I won... but it sits next to her bed and the first thing she does in the morning is put it back on.

Imagination Movers

So if you have kids you have seen and know who the Imagination Movers are.. they are a band (literally a band) of 5 guys who sing, dance and have a new show on the Disney Network. They kind of wig me out and I avoided their show for a while but Carmen had other ideas. She adores them and decided the other day to dress up like them.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving has come and gone, thank goodness. I love the holiday but the lead up to it is always daunting and all consuming. As I was scrubbing toilets Thanksgiving morning I was thinking of what I was thankful for. Home, Family, Friends... all the typical ones.. you might ask, what about health?

Thats a touchy subject since last summer. Carmens health is always foremost on my heart. She is doing much better, her blood work shows that we arent at the level they want her at yet, but she has stopped having the "leak through" seizures and her all around mental issues are getting better. She still struggles with her areas, but as we are recognizing them its easier to work with her to improve them piece by piece.

Since the middle of April she has not gone more than two weeks without a siezure of some kind. It dawned on me that its been a while since I had had to write her her siezure journal, so I pulled it out and checked. Carmens last seizure was in the middle of OCTOBER!!! Its been over 6 weeks! what a blessing. I was so excited to see that. God has his reasons and his timing, praise Him for all his blessings.