Holiday Cheer

I know we haven't even had Thanksgiving, but already the Christmas season has begun. Especially for the retail industry! What memories!!!! I am SOOOO excited that we won't be in a mall this year. That we won't have to deal with unhappy people, and large crowds looking for a Chick-fil-A sandwich. Hopefully, our YMCA members will be happier people because of the natural increase in their serotonin levels from working out.
I am trying to get all of my shopping done soon, so that I don't even have to think about doing any of it the week of Christmas. I DO NOT WANT to fight the crowds, search for parking that's not there, or sit in a parking lot trying to leave the mall!!! (One year it took me 45 minutes to get out of a Target parking lot. CRAZY!!)
Remember to be nice to your Chick-fil-A people if you do decide to brave the crowds!!!! It is tough working in the mall and trying to please everyone!

Sick

There is absolutely nothing worse than when your daughter's school calls you and tells you that your little one is sick and to come as soon as possible to pick her up. Micheala has been fighting a cold for what seems like weeks. After my health insurance finally cleared, I had enough and decided to bring Micheala into the doctor. (Under the "advice" of the childcare workers at the YMCA Child Development Center) I knew that when I brought her that she would probably be fine, but I brought her on the off chance that I was wrong. Luckily, I wasn't this time, and she just had another cold. Still, it is difficult watching your little one recover.

Luckily, our visit to the doctor didn't ruin our plans for the day!! Josh took off of work and we all went the Houston Zoo. And, although Micheala seemed to enjoy her time at the Zoo and was in awe of the animals, she wasn't as excited as I hoped she would be. The monkeys were her favorite part. She made sure to say Hello and Goodbye to every monkey in the zoo. Regardless, I was in heaven!!! We so rarely get the chance to spend the day with Josh. It was a true blessing.

Candy!!!

We couldn't get Micheala to look up at the camera. She was too busy trying to figure out which piece of candy she could open without anyone's assistance.

My cute little punker! She loved it when I did her make-up! I'm in trouble.

Our first house!

I fully intended to sit this Halloween out! Micheala is just barely two, and I wasn't keen on the idea of buying a costume that she'll only wear once for $40. My dad came home Wednesday with an Elmo candy bucket and insisted that we go trick or treating. So with the help of Walmart and my YMCA buddies we transformed Micheala into a punk girl! A very very cute one at that. She especially loved it when I started dressing her. I was certain that she would pitch a fit when I started layering her up. Instead, she kept commenting on how pretty her leggings were, and that she wanted her shoes on. Yes, she told me, "Shoes, on". She is becoming extremely verbal and starting to put words together to form sentence fragments.
Her hair was my favorite part! I was going to give her a Mohawk, but her hair is SOOO curly that I couldn't really get it to stand up. Putting product in it just intensified the curls. She didn't like the purple spray, but she let us do it anyway. She loved the make-up!
Micheala wasn't real happy about holding her Elmo bucket that her Opie brought her UNTIL...the first house!!! Once they put candy into her bucket, we couldn't pry Elmo away from her. Once she figured out that she got candy when we rang doorbells, she was running up the driveway. She was the cutest little punk rocker I've ever seen! The best part was that her daddy got to join us. Josh is so busy building his hours that I was sure he was going to miss out on this holiday.
Now, I have to figure out what to do with all of the candy?!