Pre-Christmas Events

December was fairly crazy.  I had Bronchitis all month, I really needed to take a couple of vacation days to rest up and to do Christmas stuff, but work was just insane and I didn't even have time to leave work at lunch to run errands.  I had a much needed little Girls Night Out on the 15th.  We went to Eclipse di Luna (favorite restaurant) and as always had a great time catching up.  Bonus was when I got home Mike and the kids had decorated the tree.  I love it when Mike is home.  On Sunday we did Christmas shopping in shifts, I went out in the morning and he went in the afternoon.  This is year I tried to do as much as possible on-line (what would I do without Amazon?)  Working full-time I have come to realize anything I can purchase on-line just saves me so much time, it means less errands I have to run on the weekend. 

Last week before Christmas was just insane.  I had to get and wrap all the teachers gifts.  Between two kids there were about 10 different teachers to by various things for.  I really love their teachers and staff at the school, so I try to acknowledge them during the Holidays.  I had Tessa's Parent Teacher Conference Friday morning.  She is dong really well and well on her way to learning to read!!!!  Although she's a busy body that can't sit still, it does not hinder her absorption of class material or affect her learning.  She just amazes me.  Due to the Friday Parent Teacher Conference Ga Pre-K was closed, so Tessa got to spend a fun filled day with Omi and Opa. 

Big News............we found a babysitter.  She's awesome and the only down side is that she's in college in Athens (aka she's a Bulldog - barf) so she's only in Atlanta on weekends occasionally.  But it's close enough where she comes home frequently.  She's awesome and the kids love her.  Even Ellis, my Momma's Boy, totally sold me out for her.  Saturday night before Christmas, my parents had a Christmas/Birthday Party for Mike and Bessy.  We had Peyton come and watch the kids and had a wonderful adult time at the party.  I actually had time to talk to people.  What a nice change.

We had Peyton come back Sunday night and Mike and I did some shopping together and had a really nice dinner (Eclipse di Luna again - heehee) just the two of us.  It was perfect.  Very relaxing and nice to just spend time together with just the two of us.  We so rarely get down time like that.

Mountain Weekend (December 8th)

A much over due post from me.  I had a very busy December between work and family life.  I had bronchitis the entire month and finally went to the doctor the week before Christmas to confirm and get some medications.  I'm going to back-track a little and get caught up.

The 1st weekend in December, we went up the Mountains for the Cashier Christmas parade and to cut down our Christmas Tree.  The kids had a blast at the parade.  Tessa figured out very quickly that if she smiled and waved and said Merry Christmas people would throw that sweet little angelic looking girl some candy.  She would then put it in her bag and say 'Yes!' (kind of like 'Sucker').  Ellis went more for the instant gratification.  He would get one piece of candy, then go sit down eat it and then get back up for another.  Eventually he realized Tessa would bring him some candy, so there really was no point in getting up.  At one point, he actually fell asleep in my arms, with cars and firetrucks honking and everything.  Must be that good Mountain air.

The Tree Farm that we really like is called Ty-Lin and is this great little family owned place.  They converted this old fire-truck into a wagon of sorts you ride out into the farm to pick your tree.  And then you can cut down yourself or have one of the boyos cut it down for you.  They'll also come pick it up in a gator and take it back to the truck for you.  Sorry the tree picture is sideways - for some reason I haven't been able to figure out how to get the pictures flipped around on blogger.

       

Thanksgiving

Well - I'm ready for Christmas.  Thanksgiving was a little rough for us this year.  Tessa was off all week, so Omi had her on Tuesday and Thursday and she had a blast.  Ellis threw up Wednesday morning and I ended up not taking him to school.  Although he didn't get sick again. he didn't eat much that day.  Kirsten came over and I made a bunch of stuff for Thanksgiving and Kirsten and Tessa made Dukes of Hazard cookies.  Mom and Dad came over for dinner Wednesday night. 

Thursday was fun, we went over early for breakfast, Bloody Mary's and watched the parade.  Tessa really like the balloons.  Then Mike and Dad took the kids to the playground while the women cooked.....like mad.  We had a wonderful dinner, Tom and Bessy joined us as well.  Everything was really good.

Then shit started hitting the fan.  My stomach was upset and I thought it had to do with the combo of alcohol I had that day (Bloody Mary's, Firefly and Lemonade, wine, etc.).  I got sick once and decided to go home.  I threw the kids in the car, Mike followed.  I have never been that sick in my entire life.  I couldn't stop throwing up.  Mike put the kids to bed, thankfully and they fell asleep fairly quickly.  I finally decided to go to the ER around 2:00am.  So we called Kirsten to come stay with the kids.  She threw up in the car on her way over.  So we called Mom to come over. 

I got out of ER around 4:30am hydrated and medicated.  We did Black Friday shopping at CVS (to fill my prescription - snicker, snicker).  Kirsten was still throwing up, so I gave her some of my medication.  It eventually helped.  Friday was a day of survival for the adults.  Kids were well rested and ready to go.  Kirsten and I were recovering and Mike hadn't slept at all.  I barely remember Friday and Saturday.  My body was very sore and achy from being so violently sick.  I am so thankful neither of the kids had it that bad, Tessa didn't even get a touch of it which is a total miracle with as much time as we spent together.  Mom and Dad got a little bit of it as well, being sick and some nausea.

We all recovered enough by Sunday, though.  I managed to get Christmas decorations up with the help of my awesome sister and husband.  Then everyone came over for dinner on Sunday night and we actually had a really nice, low-key dinner.  The best part was that afterwards, we gave the kids a bath, Mom cleaned up the Kitchen and then we all went outside (kids in jammies) and looked at the lights on the House in the dark.  It was really cute and the kids thought it was awesome.  It was a really nice ending to a long weekend.

Holidays

GA Pre-K is closed this week so Tessa gets to spend a couple days with Omi.  Here she is at the river with Omi on her new bike.  They brought a picnic too.  (I can't seem to get the picture flipped, I'll work on it)

Special Surprise

So - Tessa completed her 10-day trial period and we are successfully sleeping without a pappy and had VERY little drama with the transition.  On Sunday morning she got to put her 10th sticker on her chart that I made (pics to follow) so we took her shopping for her special gift.  I told her we would get her a bike (which we owed her form her Birthday anyways).  She was so-so about the bike but then saw the Barbie isle (BARF).  Needless to say she got some Barbie Rockstar, thanks to Daddy, and a bike thanks to Mommy.  She was excited that there was a little seat on the back of her bike that she could put her Barbie in.  I need to get some pictures and post.

Ellis continues to pee on the potty at school.  Friday he peed twice, yesterday he peed twice, so proud of him.  He continues to REFUSE to pee on the potty at home.  I can barely get him to sit on it.  We'll have to work on that.  He is supposed to transition to his next class next week and that is where potty training starts in earnest.  We'll see how it goes.

Either way, I love both of my babies so much and am so proud of both of them.

Frozen Hell?

So - this might be a little embarrassing, but that's what parent's are for.  Tessa is over 4 years old and she still sleeps with a pacifier at night (we call it a pappy).  Well - she did until about a week ago.  I hate the damn things.  She's always losing them, I'm always searching for them, I think she's too old, Mike said she'll quit when she's ready, etc.  We tried quitting about four months ago and it was a disaster, crying all night, I finally gave in.  I didn't want to have to do this by myself, I decided to wait until Mike was in town and he could "help" with that process.  She will frequently say "Guess what Mommy, I'm going to sleep without my pappy tonight"  Mostly because she REALLY likes praises and want us to be proud of her all the time.  Then when night comes, she says "I have a great idea, how about I sleep without my pappy tomorrow night?"  Which, of course, never happens.

She had a little bit of a rough week last week on Monday and Tuesday.  She got into trouble several times, we had multiple conversations about it, lots of tears and I'm sorries, etc.  Then she did really great for two days, no issues, making good choices, no name on board, etc.  She was so excited and said " Mommy, I made good choices, didn't put stuff in my mouth and used my listening ears!  Are you so proud of me?  And tonight, I'm going to sleep without my pappy!"  I blew it off since I had heard her say this before, but when she went to bed that night, she didn't ask for it.  We laid down, read a couple of books, and sang some songs and then she finally went to sleep.  The next morning she woke up and said she had slept with out her pappy.  I told her how proud I was, but was worried about the next night.  Well, she did it again!  So I told her I would make a chart and we would put a sticker down for every night she slept without a pappy and when she got 10 stickers she could get a special present.

Well - we have EIGHT stickers now!  She has not slept with one since.  Hallelujah!

The, to top all of this great development off!  Ellis is in the very infancy of potty training.  Generally, he screams NO if asked if he wants to go potty.  I have gotten him to sit on it a couple of times, but not much after that.  At school, one of the teachers is working with him, but aside from a one-time fluke, we haven't gotten much "action".  When I picked him up yesterday, he had peed on the potty TWICE!    Seriously, Hell must have frozen over if my daughter is sleeping without a pappy and Ellis is on his way to potty-training.

I probably am jinxing myself by writing this post, though.  We'll see.

My little Patriot (and Mandarin Speaker)

Motivation

So - I've started running again.  I really loved running when I was younger (I didn't start until I was a Senior in High School).  Mostly, I run on the treadmill at the gym during my lunch break.  With Mike still working in Nashville, I can't really run in the morning or evenings since I have the kids.  The problem is that when I do run in real life (aka outside) I feel like an elephant trying to run like a cheetah.  I've been kicking ass on the treadmill and was VERY discouraged when I tried to run while we were at the beach (on pavement).  Since then, I've been putting the treadmill on a slight incline to get a little more resistance. 

When I was doing WeightWatchers, we discussed motivations and how some times you don't feel motivated to go work out.  She said that you never you regret going.  You may not have the best work-out, but usually once you're there you get into it and you never regret going.  This has helped push me through a lot of tired days.  Even today, I almost bailed and finally decided to just go and if I wasn't feeling it 10 minutes into my run, I would quit.  But I didn't quit and I ran pretty hard and definitely don't regret going.

I'm running in my first 5K in two weeks, I may regret doing that, but we'll see.

First in Flight

I know, I know, I totally stole the title from the Wright Brothers, sue me!   When Tessa and I went to Chicago for Aly's wedding celebration (will be discussed in a future post) it was T's first time on an airplane.  We flew out to see Kirsten once when she was 10-weeks old, but she didn't remember that.  She was so excited and we talked about it for months.  Omi and Opa were on the same flight as well, so that made it even more fun.  She was great!  She played on my iPad some, but mostly she colored.  She really liked the tray table and of course the snacks they brought.  It was also only a 1.5hr flight, so that helped.  On the flight back from Chicago she slept in my lap the whole time.  It was right in the middle of her usual nap time AND we didn't go to bed until about midnight the night before.  We just had such a great time and I was very relieved with how well the flight went.

We saw the pilots waiting at our gate, so Opa took her up and introduced her.  Not only did she get her first set of wings, the invited her into the cockpit once we boarded!!!  She thought that was really cool.

Guess who got the window seat?  Omi and Opa were right behind us.

She, of course, had to let Helmuth the Hase look out the window at the clouds and the country side.  He also was buckled in with her most of the trip.  It was his first flight as well (he didn't remember the San Antonio trip either)

She also got to ride on the L (Chicago Subway) and it was her first time on a train.  We met Aunt Kirsten at the Air Port and she got to ride with us, although next time if we fly into O'Hare we will be taking a cab.  We had to change trains with all of our suitcases (and Tessa).

I love this picture.  This is when we got back to Atlanta, and she was just the perfect little traveler.  I'm so proud of her.

Video Clips

Ellis showing his 'emotions' he learned in school.  'Funny' is my favorite.

Watch out Ludakris, Justin Bieber may have just found your replacement.

Beach Pictures

The whole family got to go to the Outerbanks this year. All four Hartley's, Kirsten, Mom and Dad, and Aunt Chris and Uncle Tom. It's been a really long time since we (or I) got to spend some quality time with Aunt Chris and Uncle Tom and it was just so awesome to have them there. I felt like a kid again when we used to spend summers together or every Thanksgiving our families were together. It's a lot harder now with the kids and their many grandkids, etc. Weather was perfect, not too hot, evening thunderstorms (check out cool pics below). Mike and I even got away on a date night!!!! Tessa loved the surf, but didn't want to actually go in the Ocean. Ellis was scared of the surf at first, but then loved it and even loved going into the ocean (with his swimmies on of course). He even wanted to swim by himself in the ocean. YEAH RIGHT, like I would let my sweet little boy go in the water.

We had two units which also helped. Last year was a tough week since there were six of us crammed in one unit and Ellis didn't sleep the whole week. Everyone was cranky except Tessa. I think Omi is still recovering from that week. It turned out that Ellis had Hand Foot Mouth and I didn't know it (bad Mommy) until the last day when I finally took him to the Doctor. But this year worked out perfect, so well in fact that we have even gone ahead and reserved the unit for next year already. The other fun aspect of the OBX is that with a timeshare you always see the same people and it's so nice to have that to look forward to as well. You know you're going to have good company.

Every evening we had Nachos (courtesy of Opa) and wide selection of adult beverages. With Uncle T present, Bloody Mary's were my drink of choice, but Dad was blending up his Margarita's as usual (yes, his girlfriend Rita joined us) and we had a whole case of Kim Crawford to enjoy as well.

Thank you so much to my parents, Kirsten, the Sowers and Mike for making it such a wonderful vacation. I just love that family vacation and the Outerbanks so much!!!


Tessa discovered Sand Critters this year. I'm pretty sure that is NOT their scientific name, but it's what we always called them. Ellis liked to look at them, but not touch. He's not big into bugs, especially when they start moving.



Lots of chairs for lots of people. We had such an awesome time.

Mommy's little workers

This is what happens when you leave your hard hat, safety glasses and vest in the back seat of the car. They have literally been fighting over the hard hat for the last two days.

GA Pre-K

Today was Tessa's 1st day in GA Pre-K. The school she has been attending since she was 4 months old, West Cobb Prep Academy, offers both Private Pre-K and GA Pre-K. We went back and forth and ultimately decided on GA Pre-K (aka free) since we are planning on sending her to public Kindergarten anyways. I've had my doubts about this decision, but she's very bright and adapts to any situation with ease.

On Friday we met her teacher, Ms Raquel and learned that her class is one of the three classes that is part of a Georgia program that has foreign students as Assistant Teachers and they are immersed in the language throughout the day. Tessa's Assistant Teacher is Ms An Chi and she is teaching Mandarin. Tessa has already had some Mandarin with Ms Lee in her previous classes, but those were the 1-hr type classes. I'm really interested to see how much Mandarin Tessa will be speaking here. I might have to learn some myself since I know ZILCH about Mandarin. Also, the way the program works is that West Cobb families who have been in the daycare have 1st choice of the GA Pre-K slots, after that it's lottery driven for the local families. That being said, Tessa will also have some excellent Spanish skills, which is another great plus.

The other piece of good news was that when talking to one of Tessa's teachers on Friday, she had asked who Tessa got and I told her it was Ms Raquel and she said that she is by far the best one over there (there are 7 GA Pre-K classes vs the two Private School ones). She said all of the staff members that have kids all want her and all of the kids really like her. That bit of information, combined with actually meeting Ms Raquel made me feel a lot better about our decision. We'll probably have to do some practicing at home as well to keep her challenged since she seems to master stuff fairly quickly anyways.

I'm so excited to see what this year brings for big T and I'm so proud of my little booger butt.

Police

Tessa spent the night at Omi's on Tuesday and had a fun day going to the Aquarium (including the Dolphin show) and swimming at the pool. Mom apprently stopped at the gas station to fill up and Tessa asked her if she was going inside, and Mom said that no she was just filling up and would be right there. Tessa sais "If you go to the gas station and you go inside and leave me in the car, the police will come and arrest you!"

That's right Tessa, you keep Omi on her toes. Funny thing is that I have absolutely no clue where she heard or picked that up from. Maybe they discussed it at school since it's so hot and they are trying to teach kids to remind their parents not to leave them in the car. She just cracks me up.

Chip off the old block

It appears that Tessa has some amazing math skills. Recently she was talking about our family and she said "There are two boys and two girls and that's four. Then we have Dixie, Sassafras and Gretchen and that's Seven" I was so impressed by this but then she said "Then with Omi and Opa that's.......nine" She was doing the math in her head fairly quickly.

Recently they've been doing a lot of number related concepts (ie which one is larger, what number is between these two numbers, etc) Her teacher noted that she had done an exceptional job and that these were fairly advanced exercises. I'll post some pictures of he worksheets, but she just amazes me. AND I'm glad she's good at math, I love math.

Rhinoceros Beetle

What in the hell? Apparently there are these GINORMOUS beetles called Rhinoceros Beetles. The like wooded areas and for some reason I have NEVER EVER seen one until recently.......where I've seen four now.....ALL on my back deck. Our daycare saw one as well and took a picture. I've been scouring the internet for Southern Infestations but all I can find is that they apparently make great pet beetles. Yeah, that's right, I said PET beetles. I have no idea what possesses any sane person to try to domesticate a beetle.

According to my research, they tend to me nocturnal, they fly and apparently are not good at landing. They live for about 24-30 months, but most of that (~18mo) is spent in the larvae state. Another gross fact that you dooms-day preppers might want to note is that in the larvae state they have an extremely high protein percentage (40%) which is much higher than chicken or steak. The males have horns that are just for show (HAHAHA go figure) and for fighting other males (again, not surprised by this fact that seems to permeate ALL make species on this planet. They don't bite or sting, which per my google sources is another reason they make good pets.

I've included two pictures I took this evening so you can see the scale (pardon the trim-work which is in dire need of repair)

Summer Fun

This looks like SOOOOOO much fun, wish my fat butt wouldn't crush the sweet little baby pool. And again, I know I have said/blogged this before, but I am SO glad Mike splurged on the $40 baby pool with the slide! I would have bought the $20 one, but the kids have the best time on the slide.



Sweet Sassafras.......



Fun morning at the big pool, followed by long nap, and a long wake-up time from said nap = LOT'S of cuddles for Mommy.

And so it begins......

Saturday morning one of my nightmares....OK, nightmare is a little dramatic...how about a not so pleasant dream was realized. Ever since Tessa was born, I had these weird, very realistic dreams, that one of the kids would walk into my room in the middle of the night....but they were in a crib and shouldn't be able to get out. Once you get over the whole I'm-freak-out-about-SIDS-issue, cribs are awesome. The babies love them, Mommies know their babies are safe and snuggled up with their precious blankets and stuffed animals. I know if Ellis wakes up crying, he usually goes back to sleep and I don't need to worry. When Tessa was still in her crib, I knew I could take a quick shower while she still talked to herself before she got really demanding.

Although Tessa certainly had the skills, she never climbed out of her crib. My crib is low to the floor so I never worried about physical harm, just unattended toddler was all I worried about. She climbed out of a pack-a-play up in the mountains during nap time, so we put her in the big bed where she slept perfectly. Ellis had just been born and we needed to move her to her big girl bed anyways (already set-up in her room). As soon as we got home, I moved the crib back into the nursery and Tessa has slept in her big girl bed ever since. For about a year, we used a gate in front of her door as well. Again, she could easily climb it and she tried it a couple of times, but on the 2nd time she got her little tow pinched and never tried again. We finally took the gate off last year since she was potty trained and needed to go potty sometimes, etc.

We've casually discussed Ellis moving to a big boy bed. There's no rush since we don't need the crib and he loves his crib and is a great sleeper. He's also never tried to climb out of it...............until now!

So, back to Saturday morning. Mike was still working so I was home by myself with the kids. Tessa had woken up and came into my room at 5:00am and gone back to sleep (anytime after 5:00 she can stay in our room, before that it's back to her room). Something woke me up. It was one of those noises you think you hear but then aren't sure if it was in a dream. I thought it sounded like a door handle, but Tessa was right next to me. Then I heard some other noises and thought maybe Gretchen was on the roof of the front porch and scratching at the bedroom window, but then I realized she was sleeping at the foot of the bed. Maybe it was squirrels or birds flitting around outside. Then I heard "Boingggggg, Boingggggggg, Boingggggg" and I knew immediately and jumped up. I opened Ellis' door and he was standing there with his big, goofy grin playing with the door stop in his room. I asked him "Did you climb out of your bed" and he said "No" Crazy Moose! It just surprised me because he hadn't been awake for a while with me ignoring him and he wasn't calling my name. He just climbed out, tried to open the door (that's what woke me) and then played with some stuff in his room, looked out the window, and then found the door stop. Luckily he hasn't done it again, but I'm on total red alert now and every time I hear a noise or hear him wake I am wide awake. I try to go in right away to put him back to sleep so he doesn't get into a habit of climbing out, but it looks like we are going to have to buy some big boy furniture sooner rather than later.

Sweet Memories

One of the sweet little memories I have from Jekyll was on Sunday while I was working at the Conference, Mike and my mo brought the kids by our booth. All of the sudden I hear this familiar "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" and Tessa comes barreling down towards me with arms outstretched, wearing her cute little blue sear-sucker summer dress and she was just so excited to see me. Then I heard another familiar "Mommy, Mommy" and here comes Ellis. I guess since I'm with them most of the time, I rarely get those excited to see me moments (like Daddy gets every Friday night when he comes home). It was just really sweet. Ellis was so excited about the Turtles they had visited at the Turtle Center. Tessa was showing me all the cool little give-aways she had received from other vendors. But it was just so cool how excited they were to see me, and I was so proud to show them off.

Jekyll Island

OK - I was TERRIBLE this year about taking pictures while in Jekyll. It's so beautiful there, but somehow I just keep forgetting to take pictures. Next time (hopefully I will get to go again) I will take my camera out one day while the kids are napping and just go to town.

We had a wonderful time. I drove down with my parents and the kids and Mike drove down on Saturday since he was coming from Nashville. Had a fun dinner at the Wharf in Jekyll Friday night. My Dad's co-worker Carla and her family were there and Tessa really loved playing with Evan and Katy. When the band started, Katy and Tessa out-danced everyone there. We spent Saturday morning at the pool then everyone took a nice long nap.

We agreed to a Baby-Sitting swap with Carla and Ben, so the first night Carla and Ben went out while we watched the kids and then Mike and I had a really nice, grown-up dinner with Mom and Dad the next night. It worked out great. Our rooms were right across from Carla and Ben so that made it super easy. Tropical Storm Beryl was approaching so we got a little bit of pool time Sunday morning. I had to "work" at the GAPPA Conference Sunday afternoon and the spouses (Mike, Omi, and Ben) took the kids to the Turtle Rescue Center. I think after the pool, this was Ellis' favorite. He still talks about the Turtles. Beryl came ashore Sunday night, although there was minimal damage and some minor flooding, there was spanish moss every where. It's amazing to see the pristine grounds one day and then covered the next.

All in all it was a great trip and can't wait for next year.

Here a few of the pics......

Ellis in the pool with Opa, blowing bubbles. Ellis did awesome. It was his real first time as a grown-up swimming in the pool(he's only 2, but last year he was too young to really swim). He had so much fun and was just paddling his little butt all by himself.





Tessa's Fabulous Purple Birthday Cake for her Jekyll Island Birthday Party.



Her new buddy, Evan. She's totally in love with him and keeps calling him her cousin. She also liked that he knew how to navigate the iPad on his own. Also, thank you Carla and Ben as Tessa now wants her own iPad. I explained that Evan doesn't have his own, it was his Daddy's.