Days 'Til Xmas: Day 25

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you and your family enjoyed the special day. Santa came through our house. That's a wrap!

- Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 24

Happy Christmas Eve! Apparently now that I'm a mom, I'm going to need more cookie jars, so my mom gave me this one today. She seemed a little sad when she explained that she realized he didn't have a hat. I didn't care; I had a fix for that. Plus he looks cute without a hat. He was even cuter after I found out he came preloaded with shortbread cookies! Yum!

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 23

I'm trying to "secretly" wrap gifts today during a big storm. The kids have cabin fever and itchy fingers. I can already predict that these gifts aren't going to make it.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 22

Diego's last speech therapy of the year, and he cut it short by pooping in his diaper and then refusing to give back this little guy to his teacher.  She let him keep it.  Man - is he going to LOVE his stocking stuffer!

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 21

Well, if you're reading this post it means that the world did not end 18 minutes ago according to the Mayan Apocalypse theory.  However, Mateo did utter his first word:  "Bubble" which was very similar to an apocalypse.  My parents told me about his new speech, and I - the naysayer, the doubter, the Negative-Nancy - wrinkled my nose and shook my head in doubt and said in a very unconvinced tone,

"Yeah right; he said Bubble?"

Not even a millisecond passed, when Mateo screamed "BUBBLE!"

He rested his case.

He doesn't like naysayers, but he does like bubbles.  I'm a turned apocalypse believer.  The world may now end.

-Nancy Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 20

Let's pretend I posted this yesterday - shall we?  Now that Tater is a tot, he's supposed to be moving on to cow's milk and sippy cups.  Last night was the end of an era.  We bit the last bits of formula dust.  These Tommee Tippee Bottles (3 in total) have been through thick and thin.  Other than the deteriorating paint indicating the number of ounces on the bottles, they've held up pretty well.    They've earned their retirement.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Days 18 & 19

Once again, I dropped the ball yesterday so today there are two Santa hat pics.

Day 18:  Diego's main Xmas gift has arrived, I think the hat brings out his eyes. 

Day 19:  The frost on the roof of my car this morning indicates that winter has finally reached California.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 17

What a great day to get back in the spirit!  Today we filled and wrapped gifts (yo-yos, play-doh, socks, etc.) and built bikes for tots at work.  Everyone deserves a gift on Xmas.  Everyone.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 16

A sneak peek at my Xmas crafting project over the weekend.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 15

He sat there in wild-eyed wonder, screaming, "Mama! Bird! Bird!" and pointing to the TV screen last night. "Toy Story" was on and it was the scene where Buzz and Woody are trapped in Sid's Room. It was the decapitated head of a Pterodactyl bird in the corner of the screen that made his adrenaline rush.
It validated my stocking stuffer choice to compliment his Xmas gift: a Godzilla action figure.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 14

After hearing about today's school massacre it's been hard to function. I had appointments to take Diego to speech therapy and Mateo to his one year check in. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be around extra kids today, but their innocence is so refreshing and they really know how to make you better. So what if Mateo didn't observe the sign in this picture and pulled the bulb off as I scrambled to stick it back on.

So what.

I gave him a huge hug and thanked him and Diego for being in my life.

Holding on to Xmas spirit by a thread today - Shirley 

Days 'Till Xmas: Day 13

It's been awhile since I've bought myself a present but it had to be done.  My previous one was 3 years old and shedding like crazy.  I can only allow my Golden Retriever to shed.  There's only room for 1.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 12

I really enjoyed my team offsite at work today.  We went to a cooking class.  Don't adjust your screens.  That's not an extra raspberry on our chocolate souffle!

-Shirley

Days 'Till Xmas: Day 11

One of Tater's birthday presents, the Twilight Turtle set the Christmas mood last night with a green, starry night and a tiny, red santa hat.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Days 9 & 10

Yeah, I totally failed on Day 9 so today you get two!

Day 9

Day 10:  Today I started a new project at work:  Getting the system that I support to play nice on one of these.  Say hello to my new work toy.  She's festive.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 7

I'll give you one guess why my daily Santa hat pic is late today...

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 6

I've been working on an internal audit this full week at my job.  Still trying to keep the spirit alive though.  Even at work.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 5

Christmas:  I'm lovin' it!

-Shirley

Days Till Xmas: Day 4

I was trying to think of something to take a Santa Hat pic of today, and brought a hat to work in case the idea just dawned on me.  Well it didn't happen at work, but it did happen during Diego's speech therapy.  They were giving out Xmas teddy bears to all speech therapy students.  I didn't feel that the bear was festive enough until the Santa Hat was on him.

Ahhhh, that's more like it.  Season's greetings - Shirley

P.S.  It's a coincidence but the company I work for sponsored this bear give-away (ribbon).  It's like they said, "We know you skipped out for a bit to take your son to speech therapy.  Big Brother Bear is watching you!".  Not really - LOL!

Days Till Xmas: Day 3

Qori says: Bah-humbug!

-Shirley