Out Sick

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Teacher's Gifts

Next week is Emily's last day in preschool so I decided it would be nice to give her teachers a little gift to say thank you for teaching her.  I totally stole this idea from my lovely sister-in-law and her fabulous blog (thanks Cherie!) and she found it somewhere else, but whoever thought of it is great!  It's such a quick and easy and affordable gift.  You take a bottle of lotion, soap, or hand sanitizer and peel the lables off, get a bunch of cute stickers and some cheap ribbon to personalize it, and in a few minutes you're done.  It was really fun because Emily was able to help pick the stickers and put some on, and they turned out cute!  My favorite is the black one, it turned out kinda fancy looking.  :)

Emilyisms

She's really into knowing the names of songs on the radio and announcing if she knows them or not. This morning we got in the car and she didn't recognize the song, so here's how the conversation went...

Emily, "Is this a new song?"

Me, "Nope."

Emily, "Is this an old song?"

Me, "Not really."

Emily, "Is it French??"

Apparently that was the next logical thing after old and new.  :)

Happy After Valentines Day

I am so ashamed of myself, I have no pictures of anything we did this weekend!  You'll have to excuse the forgetfulness, I had a serious lack of sleep by the weekend.

Well, we had a fun weekend anyway!  Friday night was Valentines Day for me and Alex.  Emily spent the night at Tina and Doug's and we had dinner reservations and tickets for Phantom of the Opera in LA. Unfortunately, It was pouring rain on Friday and the weather backed traffic up like you wouldn't believe so we couldn't even drive up there!  We certainly weren't going to let that bring us down on date night so we came home and Googled.  :)  We found a nice restaurant close to home that we were able to get right into, did I mention I love Italian food??  It was a good food and we were able to relax and have a real grown-up conversation the whole time.  After that we had thought about seeing a movie but decided not to so we got some Cold Stone ice cream and cuddled on the couch watching some shows that we had waiting for us on our TiVo.  It was great!

Saturday morning I went and picked Emily up and took her to her swim lesson.  I could tell she was tired from playing with Alexis the night before and she didn't want to try anything at her lesson, it was frustrating.  That was the last lesson of her 8 week session though, and she starts a new one this week. Her teacher was very sweet but I don't think she was right for Emily.  She would ask Emily if she wanted to do something, Emily would say no, and then she'd pretty much just move on.  She'll have a new day and a new teacher starting this week, and hopefully they'll try and push her at least a little bit.

Saturday night we went back over to Tina's, but this time it was so they could have a date night and we could watch Devin and Alexis.  We had a lot of fun!  We made Pizza for dinner, tried (without success) to put together the T-Rex model skeleton we got Devin for Christmas, built some lego cars, and watched the girls pretend the whole living room floor was hot lava so they had to find a million things to use as stepping stones and not get burnt.

Sunday was kind of a rough day.  Emily was up really late two nights in a row and she was cranky! Then there was my issue of not sleeping much last week and I was pretty cranky too, not the best combination.  :)  I attempted to make heart shaped pancakes Sunday morning with these little molds I bought but I did it wrong and ended up with...pancake amoebas is more like it, haha!  The thought counted and they tasted good so that's ok.  The rest of the day we were pretty zombie like and didn't do a whole lot besides the occasional cranky outburst from Emily.  We sure slept good last night though!

I'm A Very Lucky Girl

After much talk and consideration and job hunting that has led nowhere in this horrid job market, we've recently come to a big family decision. This is Emily's last month in preschool, after that she gets to hang out with me until Kindergarten this fall. I'm really excited about it! The thought of how much I've missed out on from working full time and having her in other people's care for the last three years has always been bugging me somewhere in the back of my brain, but it was always necessary so that's what matters. I am so lucky with the life I have now, and so very grateful for the chance to teach Emily on my own and spend a lot of one on one time with her that we both need! I have the best loving and supportive husband who just wants best for our family as well, what more can I ask for? Life is fabulous! I really appreciate everybody and everything I have in my life, and I'm so excited to get tons of time with my little monkey. After all, who wouldn't want to spend more time with this face...

Just Like Mommy

I proudly admit to the world that I am a Starbucks hot chocolate junkie! Coffee, no,  I love the smell but can't drink the stuff.  Hot chocolate...the third love of my life (behind Alex and Emily).  Now you'll understand why today was such a special day...Emily had her first Starbucks hot chocolate! :)  She wanted a drink like mine, and they just happen to conveniently make a little kid's size and at a cooler temperature so they don't burn their little tongues.  You have to teach them young. ;)

A Fun Sunday Night

I absolutely love my husband and daughter to death and really adore all the time that I get to spend with them and love everything we do together, but there's just something a little special and stress relieving in a different way when it comes to having a girl's night.  My sister Kelli invited us girls to her birthday dinner last night at this super yummy Italian restaurant, it was fun!  Just a small group of us talking about silly things and most likely laughing way too loud for the other diners. As always I was feeling lucky to get to come home and cuddle with my hubby while making fun of the people trying out for American Idol before we went to sleep.

My lovely sis-in-laws, Trisha & Cherie

The birthday girl and me

Me, Trisha & Cherie

Cheri, Trisha, me & Kelli

This dessert was SOOO good!

"Warm dark chocolate cake infused with a Gianduia Praline Truffle, softened with Italian Vanilla Gelato"