The BIG one!

Yup. I'm older than I was at my last post. December 10th, I turned the big 3-0! Not too eventful, not even that traumatic. I don't like the sound of it, but what the heck. I definitely wouldn't want to be 20 again, though. We went to church, went to my parents' for dinner and then Ryan's parents brought pizza to our house for supper. Ryan and I went shopping and out to eat the night before. Just can't believe I'm not in my 20s anymore. Looking back, my 20's were rough on me...which may explain my new found wrinkles next to my lips. They are (for sure!) from smiling and laughing...that's what I'm telling my self anyway...Better to be happy and smiling than crabby and down in the dumps! My early 20s were probably when I felt the 'oldest.' I went through things a lot of people have to experience, but usually not at such a young age...maybe this example explains the 3 WHITE hairs I made Ryan pluck from my head a few months ago!!! Face it...I'm old....but not as old as RYAN!!!! :)

I can't remember a lot of the last week. Don't know why. For some reason, Ryan and I both thought it was a loooonng week. I'll be glad for March to be here! We have our Christmas shopping done, the house is all decorated, the kids are getting terribly excited...oh, that's one thing we did...or did I tell you about that already, we went to see Santa. He was at the Eldora Welcome Center...(dumb spot to have it but oh well.) Drue was all psyched up to see him, assured us she would, blah...blah... well, Ryan puts the truck in park, we unbuckle and Drue says..."I'm not getting OUT!" Like, I thought we maybe could do this from the car...Well, we went in, she held on to me like a monkey and wouldn't let go. She cried and screamed when we tried to let Lane sit on his lap. DD said, "Digga doesn't want to sit on Santa's lap!" So, we didn't make anybody do it. Luckily, she still got her Santa Bag and we walked out. I have the funniest picture of her outside the building, smiling her biggest, proudest smile...right after she said, "That was FUN guys!!" Seriously.

I had TTT last night, we had hundreds of cookies to give to our camp girls. A few friends and I went out for an hour afterwards. It was nice to have some adult talk...even though all we talked about were our kids. The big discussion was preschool and Junior Kindergarten. Ughh... Can't believe it's that time already! I can't bear to think about it. Breaks my little mommy heart!

We're looking forward to a pretty boring weekend. Nothing on the calendar. Probably wrap some more presents and we may try to get together with some friends and let the kids play. We also will be doing some light cleaning/ laundry folding, etc... because we show the house again on Monday night.

I suppose I better go... My afternoon plans changed...I was supposed to go to IA Falls and pick up a 1/2 of a hog (for you city girls...it's frozen pork) as part of Ryan's Christmas bonus. He told me to be at the office between 9 and 3 today. I get there, tell them who I am, explain why I'm there, etc...The lady looks at me like she doesn't have a clue and then I find out it's TOMORROW... So, I call my lovely husband and tell him and we got a good laugh. Unfortunately, Mom took the afternoon off so I could run some errands without kids, put the 3 big boxes of meat away without kids falling down the basement steps, etc... So, they took a wagon ride to Deer Park and I'm putting clothes away and doing my 'chores.' :) like feeding Cash...our dog, and the cats, Thomas, Turtle, Pickles and Baby Pickles. :)

Have a safe weekend! ~kbl

My love for Kenny

You know it's officially "Christmas" season around this house because I have dug out the Kenny Rogers Christmas CDs....Oh, I love that man! Not the "new" plastic face Kenny, but that cute, old, chubby Kenny...ughhh, I thought he was so handsome in the good ol' days. :) I get so much energy listening to Christmas songs. I can clean in no time...in fact, I remember Mom listening to seasonal stuff out of season to get a quick buzz. :)

Since it's been almost a month since I've posted, I'll fill you in on some Drue and Lane happenings....

We enjoyed a nice meal at our friends', Todd and Pam. I travelled up to Ryan's work headquarters in MN with him the Wed. before Thanksgiving. We played a compelling game of "Name that Tune & Singer" on the way home while Ryan was scanning the radio stations. Hard to believe he won...Well, I think he won, I was starting to get suspicious when every rock song we didn't know he'd shout out "Corn!" or some other strange group that I didn't even know he knew existed! I couldn't prove him wrong so he got the point. Bummer.

We spent Thanksgiving Day at my parents' with both sets of grandparents and my aunt Cindy, Randy, Jamie, her boyfriend, Brian and Scott. 16 people total, I think. Yummy! I ate too much as usual, but there's nothing better than turkey and mashed potatoes!

Oh, I forgot a story about what happened with DD the day Ry and I were in MN. She was having a "gonna do it myself" day. She got dressed herself, went potty herself, several things, including painting her nails by herself. This isn't usually a new thing, she actually paints her nails often, the only thing is that someone opens the bottle for her and supervises the activity. She went in my Mom and Dad's room and did it all her self, this time! We know this because her Little Tykes vanity is covered....COVERED in bright pink polish, so was the roll of toilet paper she grabbed to quickly clean it off her hands! When we got home that evening, she proudly showed us her hands, her nails were not polished anymore, more like wiped off and the only trace of paint was around every nook and cranny of her hand. It was like someone sat down and painted an outline of her hand...very cute though. I won't be able to ever take that polish off her vanity for sentimental reasons. There are perfect little finger marks on it where she tried to wipe it off. Mom is so patient with her and Drue never thought for a minute that she was in trouble or doing something wrong. She was just doing one more thing by herself that day! :)

Lane has a new shirt that says "I do all my own stunts" on it. I thought this was appropriate after his fall from my folks' open stairs...for those of you who don't know, he fell off the sides of the steps, not down the steps. This was over a month ago, he's fine, never even had a bruise, but gave his mom a scare! Dig is also getting very excited about going potty in the Big Girl (soon to be Big Boy) chair. If I say, do you need to go potty, he'll run in and hit the toilet lid, I even sit him on it and he acts like he's going, grabs for toilet paper, sticks it between his legs then gets off and he flushes it. He'll also grab a diaper if I say, "are you poopy?" and he is. He'll be 15 months old on Dec. 15th so it will be about 3 more months before we actually start potty training, but so far, he's enjoying exploring the bathroom!

We put our tree up the Fri. after Thanksgiving, which my friend, Amber has officially dubbed, "Christmas Tree Day." Ryan and DD put the tree up, the kids and I decorated it. Looks very cute. It always seems so cozy with the tree up. I always feel like there is such a void when we take it down. Of course, we listened to Kenny, and other Christmas tunes, had cocoa, nibbled some candy canes and watched Lampoon's Christmas vacation, as we do every year. We also watched the kids' Nativity story movie before bed. That weekend we wrote letters to Santa. Drue told me what to write...something to the extent of..."Dear Santa, Happy Ha-Ho! (??) DD was a Parrot for Halloween. For presents I would like, a Deigo Rescue Center, a Princess camera and a pink sled. I'll make you cookies. DD is nice to Dig. I'll have carrots and apple for the deer. The magic key will be hanging on our door knob. I love you." When it comes down to it, I know she won't sit on his lap or anything. She does call the local telephone company's Santa hotline though.

One night I was in the bathroom and here comes DD with a section of the ribbon from our tree...on the other end...her brother. They were giggling, running, laughing, screaming, and yes...don't forget the occasional cry. I think someone was a horse...because while I was fixing supper, I saw Ryan crawling like a horse with a little cowgirl on him. Then I had to put a little water in an Easter basket bucket and I saw Ryan had a piece of the 'straw' from DD's play broom in his mouth. Dad was a horse. He soon had the tree ribbon tied to him so he wouldn't escape and when I went in the living room to let everyone know dinner was ready, I was quickly corrected. I said, "DD can your horse come in to eat?" "no, he's tied up right here, not get out." "Can't he come have some spaghetti and garlic bread so he's not hungry?" "Actually, Mom...Horses eat hay!" I stand corrected. Although, he did have to wait to be untied, the poor horse eventually got his supper.

Friday, December 1, The kids and I drove to Corydon to see my friend Heather and her girls. Drue was so excited to see Sarah and little Suzie sure loves Lane. We went to a photographer and had the kids' picture taken in front of the gingerbread house. It was quite entertaining watching Myra chase after 5 kids! The kids loved it...ok, not Lane. He cried the entire time so the pics. will be very entertaining. I was hoping for a candid shot, like the kids looking at the house, candy, etc...but Myra tried to get them all smiling, looking, etc...a little more drama than anticipated, but the pics are sure to be a hit with such a cute group! I'll be sure to scan the pic on when I get it. Myra has such cute little scenes every season, I'm sure we'll be back several times.

Ryan hunted today (Sat...I guess technically, it's Sunday now) He shot at a deer but missed. I don't know if he'll go out tomorrow or not. My Mom and DD and Grandma Mary and I are going on the Eldora Tour of Homes, all the houses will be decorated for Christmas and the money goes to the new aquatic center. I'm looking forward to it, but it's supposed to be freezing cold. We'll stop at the Lodge at Pine Lake for cocoa, appel cider and cookies before returning home. My Dad is going to play baby/grandpa-sitter and watch both Lane and Grandpa Harold. Unless Ryan doesn't hunt.

We showed the house Saturday morning and have another showing Monday morning. I'm so proud of our realtor. She's shown the house at least once a week the entire month it's been on the market. Good incentive to always have the house clean and something yummy baking in the oven...although, she's known to eat a muffin or two before she leaves! :)

Ryan and I have a lot of shopping yet to do... Always seems to creep up on me. Well, since I probably will hear a little boy crying for me in the next hour, I better go back to bed.