Where oh Where Have We Been?!?

Well Disneyland of course..

So what's the word..

No baby this month,

but all that means is Thomas & I can reserve our vacation in Vegas for our 5 year anniversary!

It will be our very first night away from the Isa-pie.

And of course we're scheduling it so hopefully

"What happens in Vegas.. is delivered 9 months later"

Not too much else to blog about.

Thomas' shift is back on nights,

and our little darling is having a very rough time with the change.

In other news, we will get to visit with my family over

the Sundance Festival

AND DISNEYLAND!

Isa-pie is going to go ape when she discovers she gets to visit

Toodles (Mickey Mouse) so soon.. and with her cousins that she misses terribly.

Everyday she asks for Max and Coco (Chloe)

What a fabulous January we have to look forward to!

So what's the news??

Sorry ya'll...

For those of you on my Twitter and/or Facebook, you've been checking my personal blog for

some juicy tidbit..and still I have no news..

Later this week hopefully I'll have some news,

until then go check out

Flickr for a taste of our Christmas.. more pictures to come there as well!!

Thomas tracking Santa on Norad with: Max, Isabelle, and Chloe.

Hands down my favorite Christmas picture this year!

I love how our stinker is just peering out to watch.. such the Drama Queen!

Holiday Decorating With A Busy Toddler

We love the holidays around here. In fact we put the decorations up as soon as we can and are quite poky about putting them away.

Isabelle cried when we put the Halloween decor back into storage, so I knew Christmas was going to be heaven for her.

Alas we need the toddler gate as her fascination much akin

to the curiosity of a cat, and leads to an equal amount mischief.

Her favorite part of the decorations?

A Dora or "D" ornament

that we had a couple years before her...not sure why we have it, but it gives this little girl a never ending supply of joy to point to the Christmas tree and shout "D".

Her other favorite was trying to eat the "snow" for the Christmas village. Eerily similar to her Daddy's favorite part in the holiday movie "Elf" when Will Ferrell's character munches on cotton balls.

Thankful

I am thankful for being back home with WiFi access :o)

I am thankful for my loving husband, amazing daughter,

incredible parents, and the friends & family that know me and still love me.

I am thankful that my husband's company is strong

and that Etsy allows me the opportunity to work at home with my daughter.

I am thankful to know my parents will soon live minutes away, not days.

I am thankful for our health.

I am thankful for the hope and dream that 2010 will start

off with a bang or rather a pink plus sign.

I am so very thankful.

Thank you TLC!

I was never a huge fan of the Jon & Kate Plus 8 show. I watched it now and then before Isabelle was born. And after we had her, I would watch the show to feel better about my piles of laundry, the nights when frozen meals were called "dinner", and my belly that will never be the same post 1 baby. If Kate could wrangle 8 plus a half involved dad, I could absolutely be a good mother to my 1 daughter and extremely helpful husband.

So often I read and heard Kate labeled a bitch. Really? You think so? I'd love to know how many mothers really feel that way. As involved as Thomas is, when we travel I do all Isabelle's packing. If I forgot it, it ain't there. If the prescriptions weren't refilled by me, it ain't there. And a ton of other things. I'm not complaining, I'm simply stating a fact. I am our children's primary caregiver. And when we travel, I'm a bitch. I'm stressed before we get into the car. Did I remember everything? Is Isabelle going to pitch a fit? Is she going to nap okay? Is she going to refuse all food while on vacation, AGAIN? Now people, multiply that by 8.. I don't think we would still be married. I'd be on tabloids labeled a monster and have my hair ridiculed. And for what? Having a pretty normal reaction to the stress of motherhood.

Kate, I have your back. From the episodes I did watch, I don't honestly think I'd be that different. Maybe that doesn't say too much about me, but I'm being honest.

I wish TLC had the fore site to cancel this train wreck 2 years ago. My heart breaks for those kids. I'm sure they would have chosen a different life for themselves. Who wants to be under a microscope and the have your parents scrutinized along the way?

I truly hope this family can find some peace, even Jon. Don't get me started on Jon... Ugh. While I no longer will have my go-to show to feel better about my slip ups a SAHM, I'm relived we can close the window into their lives.

Best of luck Kate + 8 (and alright Jon, I wish you some luck too.. well definitely therapy)

Thick as Thieves