Snowed In!!!!

We are officially snowed in here in Virginia! My grandparents have been here this week and we have had a great time visiting them. My dad and Ben were able to get them to the airport this morning. I spent part of the morning helping to dig out our driveway!

Here's what we've been doing this weekend:

Baking!

Staying warm!

Playing games.

Playing with snow!

Eating!!

Computer time.

I even made a coke with snow!!

More from the snowed in bunch later!

Texas Tales

This was a post I wrote while we were in Texas, I didn't get a chance to post at the time!
     Tate went on her first airplane ride yesterday! We flew to Dallas to see Ben’s family, who were all in town for Christmas. Tate did great! We took her Chicco stroller with us so we could have a place for her as we went through security and everything. That was a good “plan”…didn’t really work out exactly how we thought it would. I had to take everything off (as expected) and we got everything loaded onto the conveyor belt, including the stroller. When I went to take Tate through with me I was told that I would have to take her shoes off too. I was like her shoes? Yes, ma’am they said. So, Ben shoved her shoes into the stroller that was going into the x-ray machine. Then I had to pull her away from me so that they could see that there wasn’t anything between us. We went through fine after that. Ben went through a couple people after me and he got a red light and had to go into the big x-ray machine. By that time I was trying to get things off the conveyor belt, holding Tate! I got my shoes on and starting piling our stuff up. Finally one of the TSA people came over and she got down the stroller for me and opened it up. Ben was still stuck in the machine and they realized he was with me and told them to hurry it up! I guess he looked suspicious!! He came and we got the rest of our stuff down. We took his backpack, the diaperbag (the big one!!) a rolling suitcase (because we had breakable stuff) and the stroller. It wasn’t too bad though, because I put the diaper bag on the stroller and Ben got the other two bags.

     We waited at our gate and had a $23 lunch of pizza and coke! Tate played and ate puffs. We walked around and then I pushed in around until she fell asleep. She slept about an hour while we waited. Right before it was time to board she woke up and I went and changed her diaper. Then she was hungry, because it was almost an hour past her time to eat and I was trying to hold her off until we got on the plane, but she wasn’t having it! We got up to wait for them to board us, which took much longer then I thought! I would have stayed seated, the diaper bag and her were heavy! I fed her a bottle while we stood there. She finished just as we went down the ramp onto the plane. At that point Ben had the stroller and the other two bags to carry, so that was a little tricky, but it went fine. We checked the stroller at the gate and then it was there when we got off the plane in Dallas.

     Once we got on the plane Tate talked and talked and looked out the window. I finally started feeding her puffs because she was talking SO loud!! She was happy though. When we took off she was sucking her paci (she has been doing that a lot in the last week) and she did fine with going up. She has a cold and is all congested. They told us it was a virus and it would have to run its course, I have it too. It’s yucky! I feel horrible and she sounds 10 times worse than I do now. On the 2 hour and 45 minute flight she looked at the SkyMall magazine, ate puffs and took 2 or 3 naps, had a bottle, sucked her paci, looked out and talked to the window and was really happy! She did one little “cry” on the way down, but other than that flying didn’t phase her one bit! There was a 9-month old behind us and she had a rough time, she had at least 2 bottles on the plane! Thankfully, Tate did fine!

Here are the pictures of all we did on our flight!!!

Playing with Daddy.

Hanging out with Mom.

Getting tired.

Sleeping!

Ready to be done!!

     We were met by Ben’s parents, Dee and _____, we are still trying to decide what to name Ben’s dad, when we landed. They started calling him “Nacho”! Then we went to his aunt and uncle’s house in Grand Prairie and saw everyone (all of his aunts and uncles on his dad’s side). They had their Christmas that day and we got to open a few things, eat and visit. It was good to see everyone. One of his cousins and his family wasn’t there, but everyone else was. We should see them later in the week. We were also able to borrow a carseat, pack ‘n play and bumbo from them. Ben’s cousins had babies last year, so there are three 18-month olds in the family now! That was so great that we didn’t have to bring all of that with us!

     Then we came back to Mona’s (Ben’s grandma) and had our “family” Christmas. Tate got lots of cute stuff, including a Little People Noah’s ark. It is really cute! Michael and Emily (Ben’s aunt and uncle) also gave her a new version of the rings toy that lights up and plays music, it is SO cute! She got a blanket, puppet from Peru, puppy dog, books, gift cards and I can’t remember what all else!

     Yesterday we went to church, Wal-Mart and lunch at Two Senoritas. Later in the afternoon I went with Julia (Ben’s sister), Debbie (his mom) and Jon (Julia’s fiancée) to look at wedding stuff. She got some cute stuff and Christmas lights to decorate with. When we got home Tate was in her dress from church with no bow, no tights and looked like she’d been thorough the war!! She doesn’t feel good at all. She had thrown up a couple of times from coughing yesterday when we were getting her ready for church. She is all stopped up and can’t get it out. I am going to have to call her doctor and then maybe take her somewhere here too. We went on Christmas Day to Patient First, but they didn’t give us any meds. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking, eating and rocking!

     Last night I learned how to play a game called Mexican Train, it was fun! Tate fell asleep and when I went to get ready to lay down she woke up and needed a bottle, so we did that and then she was so fussy. Ben came in and went out of the room and she screamed and cried the saddest cry! She wanted him, it was so cute!! Poor baby, (and Ben!) every time he went to lay her down, she started crying. He finally left her half swaddled and at some point she fell asleep. They are both still out, as I type this!! Hopefully, we can get her some meds. I’ll update more later!

Home sick....and weekend update

Well, I actually did get off my butt yesterday and get some stuff done! I was impressed with myself. Saturdays are a blessing and a curse for me...I love the day off, but if I don't DO something then I feel awful and get grouchy!! So...yesterday, I separated all the meat with Sam's that I bought, (10lbs of hamburger and a package of steaks) into ziplock baggies. Then I made pudding, a first for me, I think!! Cleaned up the kitchen, put out a few things for Valentine's decorating, and cleaned up downstairs a little bit.

Then we all got dressed and out the door. I ran into Marshall's, I bought the cutest cowboy boots and I'm afraid they are a little too big but I've never worn cowboy boots to know how they are supposed to fit!! I wanted to see if they had any others to exchange. They didn't...and they were only $20, so I think I'll just keep them! Then we went to ROSS!!! I LOVE Ross...I got two clearance outfits for Miss TaterMack.

After that we went to dinner at TGIF. They have a salad that I wanted and it was the "least" deadly thing I could eat. I really wanted shrimp at The Cheesecake Factory, but that was not in the budget or on my Weight Watchers "plan"!! I had a lot of points left for dinner, BUT that was still way over!! I ended up with the salad, which was good. The service...well, anyways.

This morning, Tate and I are up. She is actually down for a nap in her swing right now. She had a rough night. She is sick and Ben was up and down with her a lot last night. She was up and playing, but got fussy. She fell asleep watching me do the WiiFit. I did 31 minutes! I haven't gotten that thing out in almost a year personally!! I have done the Wii, but not the WiiFit. I did it the other night at my mom's. We were doing the STEP, it was fun. SO...I got mine out and did it today.

I'm going to go watch church on t.v. now!

Saturday

I am being a little lazy today and sitting around. It's almost 1 o'clock and we are all still in our pj's! I have been sick this week and now Tate has it too. Ben said his throat hurt, but that's all for now! I hope he doesn't get it too. Poor Tate is full of snot and is sneezing and coughing up a storm! I know she was up some last night. I am basically useless at night (I take a sleeping pill) so poor Ben has to be up with Tate 99% of the time. She has been having a rough time with her sleeping schedule since we got back from Texas.

I am trying to decide what we are going to do today. We need to finish catching up on laundry. That is a constant battle in the house. I detest hate doing laundry! It is a never-ending battle! Ben does our laundry most of the time. I don't mind folding, but the actual "doing" it is horrible. Ben hates to fold, so if we work together it's not too bad. Umm...if we do it!

I finally got a big basket for Tate's toys downstairs. They were everywhere after Christmas and I needed something to contain them. Mom is going to make a cute liner for it that matches my curtains, but for now the toys are just in there! It makes things so much neater downstairs. I love it! Tate got lots of fun stuff for Christmas from all the grandparents, Santa and us and it was taking us over!!

I am trying to do a better job at keeping things straightened up and organized. I got Tate's room back in order, it was the gift-wrapping room during the holidays! I put away all of her clothes that she has outgrown. It was sad to back up her little newborn things. It's amazing that those outfits were big on her at first!They seem so tiny now! Mom came over and helped me on Monday (I had the day off for MLK day) get things organized and take my Christmas stuff down. We have construction workers here this week, doing our 1-year "warrenty" fix-up. They did a good job. There are still a few things that they need to come back and finish up, but for the most part they are done.

Well, I better get moving and get my day "started"!!

It's been too long!!

Just a quick note to say it's been a long time and I'll be back. I've been out of school the past two days because I am sick. I have a sinus infection and a double ear infection. My ears seem fine, but  the sinus infection is a killer! We are spending the day at Mama Sherry's, while Ben is at work. So, I don't have my pictures on here or my post that I wrote while in Texas on my NEW LAPTOP!!

I have lots to tell and lots of picture to upload of Tate's first Christmas and our trip to Texas. She did great on the planes. The past few weeks of getting her back on her "schedule" are proving to be difficult though!

And I  have a 7-month post to do for her too! She's getting so big!!

Catch you later!