E L E V E N

Eleven years ago today at 5pm in a 100+ year old historic little church just outside our Nation's Capital I wed my sweetheart. It was a beautiful, crisp, December day (thankfully without all of this crazy snow we have today!!).

Each year for our annversary I get an engraved pewter or silver-plated ornament with the date and what anniversary we are celebrating. It is a neat tradition and so special to hang them all on the tree each year and then add the new one.


Eleventh anniversary ornament


First anniversary ornament

The girlies have a sleepover at a friend's house tonight so Paul and I can go out (and come home!) alone :)

Happy eleventh anniversary, babe!!

Found!

Yep... I found it. I just love how God cares about the little things that matter to us. Not only did I find it once, buy actually twice- and it's still impossible to find.

I still hadn't received another "back in stock" message, but decided to check the company webstore. It was available (what??) so I quickly added it to my cart and checked out. As soon as I was done it was back to being listed as backordered. And on what day did I find it- (Monday) the last day for shipping to get it here by the 24th. I was still nervous that the order might not be processed or it might not arrive in time, but I felt pretty good. The next morning I had a Dr. appt on the otherside of town by the big box toy store. I decide to check just in case. Guess what- the delivery truck had just unloaded two and I got one. Perefct timing the sales clerk said. People have been after that pyramid for the past month. Boy, do I know! So now I have one in my closet. I'll return it should the other arrive in time. It's a silly thing, but I'm giddy that I'll have the present I wanted to give under the tree for my girlies and it was so much fun seeing how He provided.

Wordless Wednesday

The Hunt is ON

I do usually enjoy the thrill of the chase when it comes to Christmas gifts. A few years ago when B@rbie was one of 12 dancing princesses that the girlies completely loved (it is a great movie for girlies) I had a blast hunting down all 12 dolls. I searched every store for almost a month and was still short Ashlyn. Three of the 12 were next to impossible to find. I was so lucky to get two of them, but I was still one short. I ended up connecting with a woman on one of the mommy chat boards I was then active on that worked as a stocker in a toy store for extra seasonal money. She volunteered to look as she unpacked the boxes for me. That dear woman found the impossibly hard to find doll, bought it for me and then I paid her and she shipped it in time for Christmas. That same doll was so in demand that it was selling for $80+ on eB@y- and she knew it and still picked it up for me for $12.99.

I haven't been that crazy since, but it's still fun to search for the perfect gift I know they will love. This year I thought I had it easy. Their lists are very vague, so I have picked the specifics. It was supposed to be easy. None of the craziness this year... or so I thought.

The girlies have become enthralled with Playmobil. My brother had a bunch of boy sets (cowboys and Indians mainly) that they play with when we visit Nana and Grandpa's house. So they requested Playmobil. Back in October at conference time it was suggested that we engage Pip in more non fiction reading. After a library trip to the non-fiction section, she decided to learn all about ancient Egypt. I loved learning about Egypt as a child, and my mom had saved tons of neat books she had purchased for me and my brothers over the years. So how cool was it to discover that Playmobil made an ancient Egypt collection!! I looked at it in stores a few times. Read reviews on line (glowing- the best set ever made). That would be the big gift from the big guy, if you know what I mean. Ready to make the purchase back in mid November, I was shocked to find it sold out, everywhere. I have been on the waiting list (first in line- Whoo Hoo) for the Pyramid set at a local specialty toy store. They ordered 4 back in late October. I got on the list right before Thanksgiving. If they get one in, it's mine (oops- the girlies) but they have no idea if their order will be filled. I was able to get a few of the side sets (the Sphinx and the Pharaoh's temple, an extra Pharaoh and an Egyptian family) from playmobil dot com before they all sold out too. I'm on email alert directly from the company and I was hopeful for a moment. This morning I awoke to an email from overnight that they were back in stock and available for direct order. I logged in and added to my cart for a few seconds before it was again back ordered. Darn!! Still hopeful that the store will get it in for me before Christmas.







I can't wait for years of fun, should we be able to get our hands on the darn thing. At least I'm not hunting for one of those impossible to find hamsters that are all the rage.

Anything you are searching for???

Princess snow angels

Can you tell the girly girls wished all of this rain had been some snow??

Pip remarked at breakfast this morning "Look, the princess is making a snow angel" as she swooshed her princess gummy vitamin back and forth in the pile of powdered sugar on her breakfast waffle plate.

(note- picture was recreated by Tea. Pip ate her princess before I had a chance to take a picture)

Reminds me of the time when they were 1 and 2 1/2 and Pip climbed on the cat food container in the pantry to get the 5 pound bag of sugar out which she dumped all over the kitchen floor. She then had her partner in crime lay down with her in the newly white floor and make snow angels in the kitchen. And I was only in the laundry room 2 minutes to switch loads!! Wish I had taken a picture, but I was so freaked out that at the time I didn't appreciate what "out of the box" thinking had taken place. I just saw sugar e v e r y w h e r e. Oh what fun that mess was to clean up! If they have to make snow angels in sugar, I much prefer the vitamin on the plate variety!

Ralph is back

Who??

Ralph. He's our elf. He came out last night to rejoin our family. Have you ever seen The Elf on the Shelf? I came across the gift set last year at a book store. It's a book and this elf figure dude. You get to name your family elf. We chose Ralph. It's my standard "funny" name. (Apologies to anybody named Ralph, but it's a name that just cracks me up and makes me giggle.) The cute story says something to the effect that Santa needs elf helpers to check on all the kids so our elf watches the girls each day and reports back to Santa each night and reappears in a different place in our home in the morning. They LOVE finding him each morning and it helps make getting up go much easier (we are NOT morning people). The story also says he can't be touched, and tells Santa of good deeds as well as mishaps. A gentle reminder when they start to bicker that Ralph is watching or a word of praise for a job well done noted that Ralph will be sure to let Santa know boosts behavior. It's a cleverly written story and since the girly girls still solidly believe in Santa, Ralph works for us.

Now I just have to make sure that I remember to find a new hiding space for him each night before I go to bed.