O Christmas Tree

Hailey and I put our Christmas tree up last weekend. We have the Anti-Christmas Tree: an easy to assemble pre-lit one, so it takes me all of 10 minutes to get it set up and lit.

And once it was lit, the "oohs" and "ahhs" came pouring out of Hailey. I let her hang the first ornament, which is a plastic Elmo one. She refers to Elmo as "La La", so every time she sees him on the tree she points enthusiastically and says "La La". So cute!

We toyed with the idea of no ornaments on the bottom half of the tree, but instead we put all plastic ones on the bottom. She's been good about not touching them (too much)!

Snow day

Yesterday was a great day in the Chicago area if you love snow. And I do...as long as I don't have to drive in it or shovel it. RJ loves the snow even more than I do, so he was happily elected for snow removal duty years ago. And since I work from home, I get to skip the driving in it part most of the time.

As soon as RJ got home from work yesterday, Hailey asked him (okay, I asked for her) to take her outside and try out her new snow gear. It turns out she loves the snow too!

Hailey and her Daddy played outside in the snow for about 45 minutes. RJ tried to bring her in a few times, but she kept saying "no". So they kept on playing!

Luckily her winter gear turned out to be good quality...her fingers were a bit cold, but everything else was toasty warm.

I look forward to the day when Hailey & I can share a cup of hot cocoa after a snowball fight!

Don't worry...I'm alive

Shame on me! I haven't posted in a bit, but in my defense I get so busy around the holidays. As does everyone, I'm sure, so it's not really a good excuse.

My Thanksgiving weekend was fabulous! My sister Lori hosted Thanksgiving this year. Her and her hubby made turkey and prime rib (yum!) And Hailey had her first sleepover at Aunt Lori's!

Amanda and I went shopping on Black Friday. We got started at JCPenney at 4 a.m. and shopped until about 9 a.m. Wal-mart was the craziest store...we even lost each other for about 20 minutes or so. But, it was all worth it because my shopping is 98% done and we got some great deals.

My dear little Sparky had to go to the vet yesterday and she's now on anti-biotics and cortizone from an infection. Last week she got away from me when I was letting her outside and tried to attack a dog 10 times her size in the backyard. Needless to say that wasn't a smart move on her part. She got bit on the back, the ear, and on her muzzle.

I wish I could say that will teach her to mess with bigger dogs, but she's been doing this ever since I can remember. She's almost 11 now. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.