A Day at the Galleria

Daddy was back to work today and we decided we had to go the mall and find Santa. We invited MawMaw, Nanny, Aunt Kat and another family friend and off to the mall we went in a mini van. We were a sight to see but all-in-all it was a great trip and we accomplished all we set out to do, and then some!

First, Santa was going on break for 1 1/2 hours when we arrived so we made our way to Build a Bear (K2's first experience) and the girls had a great time making "Katie" and "Hollie". Here they are getting stuffed:




Here they are jumping around to prepare the animals' hearts:


And, lastly, bathing them and cleaning them all up:


Then, we shopped a little bit and made our way to Chick-fil-A for lunch - guess who was there? the Cow!


Next it was time for Santa's return so we waited our turn in line and finally got to sit on his lap and tell him our wishes (remembered a few we forgot to mention but I promised we could write him a 'follow up letter') and snap a couple of pictures:




Then, K1 remembers seeing a man at a kiosk who was "curling" little girls' hair - so we went there and got some curls:




Lastly, we couldn't leave the Galleria without a ride on the reindeer carousel -




It was a great day and we are continuing to enjoy our extended Holiday weekend and feeling completely blessed to have our health and our family to share such sweet memories with - hope you are doing the same!

Decorating for Christmas

Today has been a great day - although it's always fun to spend time with family it was sweet to get up today and have no where to go - we have not left the house all day. We did some much needed clean up and after the Iron Bowl (ala vs auburn game) we started decorating for Christmas.

The girls' MawMaw made them these awesome "Ornament Boxes" and they rock. Each girl has her own box and that is where she keeps her Christmas ornaments and "nick nacks". They had SO much fun decorating the tree with their very own ornaments.



Of course, little one puckered out and couldn't stay up to watch all of the excitement while Daddy stayed in his recliner watching the movie, Elf.


We made these wonderful brownies during all of the fun and had a great evening kicking off our Holiday Season.


As for the outside of our house, several years ago Heath and I came upon a man on the side of the road selling yard decorations and I HAD to have these angels (little did I know that one day we'd have 3 angels of our own). We've had them several years and the halos and words needed some touch up this year so K1, K2 and I painted them - it turned out pretty good for the three of us!



So, (other than the two bushes that have grown so large they're taking over our house) we think it's a pretty good start for the Calvert Abode!

Hope your Holiday Season is off to a great start!

It's Been Awhile!

It's been a few weeks since our last update so I thought I'd quickly recap. K3 turned 10 months old and has started taking a few steps on her own:


K2 was able to make a grand return to the sport of soccer (she broke her arm after the 2nd practice but due to the many rain delays the season went longer than expected and she actually got to play in 3 games, she was very excited - check her out, #3)




It was cold at the soccer field but the family enjoyed watching:



K1 had her annual cheerleading competition and her squad came in 2nd place - they were beat by a squad that did a tribute to Michael Jackson and all the girls wore a glove on one hand - it was definitely creative and a crowd pleaser.

Heath and I got away to Nashville for a night last week and enjoyed our trip to the CMA Awards. It was a different experience for us and was really neat to be part of a live TV production and in the same "house" with so many famous entertainers. It was neat to see Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood but my favorites were George Strait and Martina McBride doing a tribute to Barbara Mandrell. I think I'll always have a liken' for Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap and Kenny Rogers. Speaking of Kenny, do you remember that song "Lucille"? I think I was literally in my 20's before I realized that he wasn't saying "four hundred children and a crop in the field". Too funny!

Have a great night!

Boo!!

Well, after much pondering the girls decided what they wanted to be for Halloween - K1 immediately knew she wanted to be a Genie and K2 (after we couldn't find a monkey costume) decided to be a bride, but not before she dressed up like Tinkerbell for her school party.



K3, at mommy's selection, was a banana
and Mommy just reached to the darkest, deepest corner of my closet and pulled out some old black leather pants and threw on some other black stuff (including the hat). I asked Heath what I looked like, hoping my costume would bear some sort of a character; unfortunately, his reply was "a dork". But, as usual, the girls pulled through and appreciated my lame attempt to dress up - K2 decided I looked like "a driver". I'm not sure what that means but I'll take it over a dork any day, ha!




I didn't get out of the house without surprising K2 by wearing my wedding dress so we could be "bride's together" for a picture - she loved it (it happened very quickly as I wasn't able to "suck it in" for very long). We had a fabulous night, the neighborhood is always filled with hundreds of kids and our girls idea of trick-or-treating is just as much about giving out candy as it is about receiving it themselves!




Hope you had a great time - Happy November!

Birthday Party Mania!

Today was all about fun as we juggled two friends' birthday parties in the same afternoon. The first one, a friend of K2's, was at the local skating rink and hold on to your seat cause Daddy took his roller blades. I was a little nervous since K2's arm is still restricted to a removable splint but everyone had fun and made it through without injury. Going to a skating rink certainly brings back memories of my hot pink racing skates (sorry, I couldn't find a picture to share).




Then, K1 and I (with K3 in tow, of course) took off to Froggy's (an inflatable party place) for her friends party. She had a great time and baby sis' got in on a little fun, too!





Hope you had a great weekend!

Miley - a Mastercard Moment

Remember those commercials that played on your deepest emotions about overly expensive things and concluded that the monetary cost shouldn't matter because the memories far out weigh the cost?? Well, I have to say that the "Girls Night Out" K1 and I had Friday would definitely fit that category - it was a Mastercard Moment (since we bought the tickets over 4 months ago they were long paid for and I opted not to spend $35 on a t-shirt, or $400 for a limousine ) but no matter what the cost the GNO was well worth it.

It was a rite of passage so to speak - I had so many thoughts during the 90 minute show that had absolutely nothing to do with a Hannah or Cyrus or even Disney - to watch my oldest daughter walk into the Civic Center and stand in awe as she looked at all the thousands of people was amazing! To watch as she finally (after about the 8th song) realized it was okay and appropriate to raise her hands in the air and sing out loud to "Party in the USA" was a moment of pride. I was so thankful and excited to be a part of a somewhat special experience for her. In the grand scheme of life her first music concert is definitely not the most important thing - but it was neat, it was a "life memory" and we had a great time. Miley even performed Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which I'm convinced was for the mom's in the crowd, so I got to sing along, too.



All in all it was a great night and I wouldn't trade it. She was old enough to enjoy the event but young enough to enjoy being with her mom (although she did ask me once if I was going to the "Mommy Room"). I know these times will fly by and all too soon she won't want me to participate in her "new experiences" so, while I can, I'll take every "life memory" I can get. I wrapped my arms around her and together we swayed and hummed along to These Four Walls (of course, I'd never heard that song but the artist or songs didn't really matter at that point) - it was a great mom/daughter moment!!

Below are some photos of K1 and her friend KG as we were leaving the house for the concert - they were so excited and all decked out with sparkles in their hair and lip gloss!!




Have a blessed night and don't forget to soak up a "life memory" every chance you get!!

Thursday Rambling

I have some cute pictures to go along with activities over the last couple of weeks but I'm too cozy on the couch to get up and get the camera and plug it into the computer (lazy, huh!). I'm disappointed in myself that there was no Travelin' Tuesday entry this week - it's not due to my lack of checking for travel deals as I'm always looking. I'll be sure and make it up to my 2 readers next Tuesday.

Tuesday night a little drama/trauma in the Calvert Abode when K1 tripped and fell in the basement and broke her front tooth. Thankfully there is a pediatric dental hygenist in the neighborhood - we went the following morning and the dentist fixed it right up and it looks great (just no apples or corn on the cob for the rest of her life). The good news is that she didn't break her nose and there was no blood on the scene.

Wednesday night was a make-up little league football game and, unfortunately, our undeafeted Rockets lost 33-25. It was a nail biter but I've really enjoyed watching the boys play this year (and the girls cheer).

Tomorrow night me and K1 are off to the Miley Cyrus concert - I'll let you know how that goes.

Today's gripe: Why does everything have to have some "super duper secret sensitive password user id secret question personal photo" method of access? I can't begin to tell you (you already know due to your own experiences I'm sure) how frustrating it is to honestly have to maintain a spreadsheet with all of your personal passwords. And, to make matters worse, there is absolutely no "super secret industry standard" - I mean why does each one have to be different? Some have to be 6 letters, others 8 characters that must have letters and numbers, yet others only 7 characters but must have letters, numbers, upper case, lower case, and a special character...for heaven's sake I'm hurting just thinking about it.

And, then, when the password expires (and it seems like one of them is constantly expiring) you are forbidden to select a new one that in any way resembles one that you have used in the past 16 years. To top it all off, after three unsuccessful attempts you become locked out (which is what happened to me tonight when I tried to pay a bill online) and you are forced to call customer service to have your account reset (which requires you choose yet another new password that you won't remember).

Forget national healthcare, we need a national standard for passwords - please, bring on some needed change!!