Snow - sort of.

We did not get much snow, but since Rick had Vivian bundled up to go check his traps - we let her walk around in the snow. I think she liked it. She was really impressed that the snow stuck to her boots and that she could see her footprints in the snow. I think Vivian has cabin fever big time - she really wants to be outside, but it is just too cold for her to be out long. I figure come spring and summer we will have a very hard time getting her to stay inside.

And here is Vivian and Momma. As you can see, I was having myself a casual Monday:) The weather calls for much more snow overnight and into tomorrow. Maybe we will get enough to have a sled ride - I am sure she will be up for it. Stay warm bloggers.

15 Months

Dear Vivian,



I cannot believe you are already 15 months old. You have been keeping us busy lately with all your antics. Over the past month you have been so much fun because your personality continues to develop and you keep on getting more adventurous in all that you do.



I am particularly fond of your new hats. I don't know what gave you the idea to wear a washcloth on your head, but who am I to argue with your fashion sense. You do wear it well. I am also glad that you are a pretty good eater - now you try a few more things and seem to like it best if it is something we are eating.







I have not been particularly crazy about your sleep schedule - every other night you are up at 2:00 and do not want to go back to sleep for hours. We are sleepy. I hope this changes soon. It has given us the challenge of completely wearing you out before bedtime and for that we have enlisted the help of Tibbs.







You two are real partners in crime. Whatever one cannot get to, the other can.








As you can see, it does not take long for a clean house to be a total mess.








Tibbs also encourages you to do things that you should not be doing, and no I am not talking about taking off one sock and leaving the other on. The stairs, Tibbs, and Vivian just do not mix. Other things that scare your Momma is the sound of glass breaking when you are out of sight. Luckily it was just a bowl you broke and ran away from - truthfully, I think it scared us both.



You also have added a new favorite movie - KungFu Panda. We now have it committed to memory and we watch it every day. You still love your books though, and often prefer being read to over anything else - particularly in the mornings when Mommy is getting ready for work and you follow me around with a book until I stop and read it to you. Lately we have read a whole lot of Go Dogs, Go. In the evenings when I get home, you want to spend at least an hour with me just playing and reading. I sometimes feel like there are so many things around the house that need done, but then I realize that this time is special.





I have also enjoyed seeing how willing you are to share. You love to try to give things to me and your Daddy. You really like sharing your food for some reason and get the biggest kick out of feeding us - you also share with Tibbs which is sometimes a problem, but all and all I am glad to see this part of your personality emerge.



In closing, you are a super-special kid and I am one lucky Momma. Love you always.

Christmas 2008

Our Christmas started on Christmas Eve with a trip to Romney to visit Rick's family. The first stop was Rick's Dad's house where we fixed lunch and opened presents.



Vivian was pretty helpful - of course she is always pleased when she gives a picture of herself to someone. Here she is describing the picture to her PapPap.



Then it was PapPap's turn to read Vivian's new book to her. Vivian loves her Olivia Pig books. The next stop was at Bobby & Brenda's house on our way to Rick's Mom's house. Vivian had fallen asleep on the way and had to take a half an hour power nap to recharge before opening presents with her Grammy. Afterwards we went to Bucky & Brenda's party and then came home to get ready for Santa.




As you can see - girlfriend really could have used a cup of coffee to jump start her morning. But this....


Soon turned into this:

And Christmas at our house was in full swing.

Vivian really enjoyed all her presents and was pretty good about opening them. She really liked her Curious George and her new books. She also got a new toy box which was disappointing because we would not let her climb in it and a portable DVD player that was really cool when she could watch the Curious George movie on it.



It was also Sgt. Tibbs' First Christmas - as you can see, she was enjoying herself, perhaps a little too much. Tibbs was exhausted from playing with the paper and all of Vivian's new toys. After playing with some toys and taking a much needed nap, it was off to Grandma & Pop's house for lunch and presents.



Vivian really enjoyed Christmas lunch. She made a mess of Mom's tablecloth, but for some reason she always gets by with that sort of stuff at Grandma's house. With all the excitement of the morning, Vivian had to get back into her present groove.



Here she is checking out her new panda that Aunt Shelda gave her. She really liked it but Pop had to get it out of the gift bag for her. The panda was not well received by Peaches (the cat) who woke up cranky and thought the panda was an attacker - it freaked her out but it was pretty funny.

Uncle Ashby also helped Vivian with her presents - I think he wanted to keep some of them for himself:)

Vivian was particularly happy when the presents were cleared out from in front of the tree so she could check out the ornaments on Grandma's tree. Grandma was keeping watch, but Vivian was pretty good and was just looking. SEE.

Here she is with her new rocking chair. Vivian has really enjoyed it, although it appears from the picture that she is about to rock herself to sleep.

After all the presents were open, Vivian got to visit with Sassy and check out her jingle bell collar.

Finally, we had Ashby take a family shot of us. The picture sort of has an American Gothic feel to it (replace that sled with a pitchfork and it would be spot on), but I enjoy it and I really enjoyed the holiday too. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

And we're spent. Two days of Christmas can really wear a girl out. She was a champ and I will post lots of pictures from Christmas later.

In the meantime, I have thought about my fellow bloggers today and I hope you are having a great Christmas too. Cannot wait to see all the pictures. Enjoy.

14 Months

I know this is a little late Vivian, but the day you hit the 14 Month mark, we were busy folks taking your Christmas pictures. It was a great day and I love the look you give me when you know we are about to do something different, it is like you are excited and skeptical all at once. The photo shoot went well. You are very curious which is very good and you were very happy out in the woods looking around and watching your Momma as she belly crawled across the ground to get a picture at just the right angle. I particularly liked it on the way home when you just kicked back in your car seat and enjoyed the ride on Smith Creek.

I am so happy watching you this holiday season. Your new favorite word is SEE - anytime we pass something that catches your attention you point to it and say SEE!!! It is really cute. You have been a very good girl with the Christmas tree even with Sgt. Tibbs showing you lots of bad things you can do with the tree (like drinking the water and trying to pull the lights off). I cannot wait for Christmas because I think you will really enjoy it this year.

You have definitely been entertaining in church on Sundays. Last Sunday you were a wild woman - not in a bad mood, just not in the mood to sit still and be quiet. For your grand finale - you blew spit through the entire singing of Joy to the World which was both loud and messy. The Sunday before that you were throwing your binky and crackers into the pew in front of us to get the attention of the people sitting there so they would turn around and talk to you (you have quite an arm). You insist on reading the hymn books during the service and will sometimes clap after the choir finishes singing - what a nut.

As for walking - you are getting better and faster - but the wobble thing really makes people nervous. When you take off you wobble pretty far side to side - I am not as worried anymore because I know that it works for you and that you usually can stay on your feet or at the very least fall down gracefully. Teeth are still giving you trouble - I will be glad, extremely glad, when they are all in.

Finally Vivian, thank you for being you. You are very special to me and your Daddy and we love you lots. Your presence in our lives is a wonderful gift and we are very thankful to have you. Love you.

10 on Tuesday

1. As some of you may recall, I have promised Christmas pictures for a while. Well, I finally got some on Saturday. I had my heart set on taking an inside shot in the sanctuary of our church which is usually decorated with like 30 poinsettias and is awesome looking. This year - not so much. I think there was some sort of poinsettia issue and there were only a few in the church this year. Bummer. Particularly since I had been waiting for this location and it never materialized. On to plan B - an outside shot and thankfully Saturday gave me an opportunity to pull it off. Mom accompanied Vivian and myself on the search of a good spot in the woods to take a few pictures. Luckily we found a spot that was easy to get to and the lighting was excellent.



I had pictured the shots a little differently, but Vivian was not too keen on standing up for some reason. Oh well, I like these just fine. I think she really enjoyed herself and had fun being outside.

2. I am getting excited for Christmas. I cannot wait to see how Vivian reacts to it all.

3. I am also way behind on getting things together for Christmas. I do finally have some gifts, however, I have yet to find an opportunity to get them all wrapped up. I used to not get things done because I was a procrastinator - now I cannot get things done because I cannot find a minute to do them. Weird.

4. Must rant about Walmart. Walmart is not my first choice for picture development, but King Photo is usually not an option unless I happen to get by there on a day off. I just wanted to use the Walmart Kodak machines because I needed some 2 x 3 pictures made. So, Sunday afternoon we went to Harrisonburg and Walmart was our last stop - it would appear that since it is such a busy time for people wanting pictures that these rocket scientists turn off their machines at 7:00 pm - which makes those folks who do not know about this crazy policy and who arrive at 7:04 pm highly pissy. So after checking both H'burg Walmarts, I went to Moorefield yesterday only to find that one of their machines was broken and the other was being piloted by someone who did not know what she was doing who brought along her friend who "pretended" to know what she was doing but clearly did not. Ugh. After watching them continue to crash the machine - I gave up. Still need my 2x3's.

5. This time of year entails hitting the Christmas Party Circuit at work. Since we are in several counties - we have to party in all of them. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to Tucker for their legendary Christmas party. I hope the weather holds out because we also have some cases to hear in the morning. Thursday it is the Grant Co. Magistrate Court party and Friday is the Mineral County party. Plus we have already been to the Pendleton County party. Too much good food all in one week:)

6. Sgt. Tibbs has taken over our home. This cat is everywhere all the time. She is very fun and a good companion for Vivian.

7. Our friend Danielle is home from college and it has been very good to see her. I also got to talk to Krissy last evening - I miss that girl. For once the time zone difference worked in my favor because I cannot call too many of my friends at 11:45 pm:) - but since it was five hours earlier there she did not seem to mind.

8. I really enjoyed Nancy Lee's post about her favorite Christmas memories. That rocked - you are quite a good writer.

9. Only 9 days left until Christmas.

10. Have a great day everyone and be safe in this nasty weather.

A Christmas Riddle ...

What do you give someone's kid who you don't see very often? Give up?

A kitten of course (or a puppy as my Dad tells it - he is always full of wonderful gift suggestions).

Meet Sergent Tibbs. And before all you who have sent me Christmas cards get antsy thinking Sgt. Tibbs will be your child's Christmas present, fear not - this kitten is now settled in on South High Street for as long as it chooses. Sgt. Tibbs was left near our house by her mommy (a cat we feed in the neighborhood) who wanted to wean her kittens. Tibbs was right wild last Saturday, but is now tamed down and spent this evening pulling the ribbon off of the lower branches of our Christmas tree and playing with Vivian. I named the cat Sgt. Tibbs after the cat in 101 Dalmatians (a movie I have seen one to many times).

So, time to catch up a bit. I have been MIA on the blog lately, but it has been pretty hectic here in the evenings. With Rick working 2nd shift every night, I have Vivian in the evenings on my own and lately she has been very clingy every evening (1st year molars are trying to come in - not fun). When you add in getting Christmas ready to all the usual stuff to get done, well, there just is not enough time to work in blogging (but I am really enjoying reading everyone elses blog).

Last Saturday, we headed over to the church to and helped out with the free toy store for folks who are having a hard time affording gifts for their kids. We had a good time trying to put together some of the toys - so much so that I am considering getting Rick the car track that he helped put together - he really seemed to like it:) In the afternoon, we took in the Franklin Christmas Parade and baby - it was COLD outside.

Here she is waiting for the parade to start. She was being very patient.








Finally, the color guard arrived and the parade was on.





Vivian watched the parade candy fall on the ground, but she is still a little small to pick it up.





Finally, the big guy arrived in Franklin, and it was time to form a line to tell Santa what to bring on his next visit to town.

Vivian was not to sure what everyone was waiting for.

And when she got to the front of the line, she was not sure it was worth the wait.

This week I have tried to get some Christmas shopping done. I am really liking online shopping, but Thursday I took off with my Mom and Vivian for some in store shopping. We had a pretty good day and gave Santa another try - Vivian was even less amused in her picture although after the pictures were taken and she was off Santa's lap, she really enjoyed talking to him - weird. It seems like Vivian is the easiest person to shop for, so she is going to get lots of cool stuff this Christmas. One very cool thing that I already gave her and incorporated into my decorating was the Little People Nativity/Inn at Bethlehem/3 Wise Men set. I figured it gave Vivian something she was allowed to play with, and she loves it. Every time we go through the Christmas story, she laughs. She also really enjoys dancing when the nativity plays Away in a Manger. Tonight I got a picture of her in action.

Lately, Mary has been hanging out with the wisemen, and the shepherds have been far away in another room of our house - Bethlehem was not ready for Vivian. You can sort of see our tree in the background. I will post better pictures sometime. I was disappointed that the tree would not hold ornaments well, so I decorated with lights, ribbon, poinsettia picks, and other stuff and put our ornaments on a small artificial tree out of Vivian's reach.

As for my Vivian Christmas pictures - hopefully I will be able to get the pictures I want in the morning - I will explain it all later. In the meantime - stay sane and enjoy the Christmas season.