Merry Christmas!

This was our first Christmas with no family at all.  Once in Cheyenne we couldn't go home because Paul had an alert the day after Christmas, but my sister Michelle and her husband came out that day from Colorado Springs.  So it was different, but also special. 

I grew up with my Grandma Cowan giving us the "12 days of Christmas" and so my mom did her version of it this year for Hayden.  She got her a makeup bag and brushes that look a lot like moms.  Hopefully this keeps Hayden from stealing mine!  The last day she opened up these jammies and refused to wear anything else but these.  We ran all of our errands in jammies on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve we I made my Grandma Cowan's fancy rolls, which were delicious!  We got a Honey Baked Ham and ate soup as well.  It was delicious and fun to use my Christmas plates.  After dinner we opened up jammies from Grandma Anne, read the Christmas story and went on a drive to see the lights.  Then we waited for Santa!

Hayden loves jammies because she wanted these on immediately too!

We also left cookies out for Santa...

 Paul and I decided to peak and see what Santa brought Hayden before heading to bed.

Hayden went on a nap strike for 3 full days before Christmas and hit a wall Christmas night!  We woke her up at 8:30 am to get going and as you can see she was still a little tired.  But she quickly got over that and started exploring her stocking!

 Hayden was so excited about all her presents that she simply had to hold ALL of them.  It became really difficult to open new presents because she didn't want to let go of any that she already had opened!

 After church Christmas morning

 Hayden shocked at her new microphone from Grandma Kathy

 Hayden watching one of her new movies and comforting her new baby doll from Grandma Anne.  That night after Hayden's nap we went to spend Christmas evening with our friends the Barnes and their extended family.  The dinner was amazing and it was nice to be around a big loving family.  I made a carrot souffle, sweet potato cheesecake, and brought drinks.

We got a barbecue from the Pratts this year and Paul has been so excited to use it!

It was a great Christmas and it has been so nice to have Paul home for over a week! 

Gingerbread House

When Paul and I first got married, we thought it would be a fun tradition to make our own gingerbread houses from scratch as a Christmas tradition. 

Well, you can see how that turned out.  I don't remember, but Paul says I tried again the next year and it was another epic fail, I must have blocked out the memory. 

Since then we have always bought the gingerbread house kit at the stores and each year I am a bit sad that I am so incapable of making homemade gingerbread.  Well this year I decided to try once again.  The first dough mixture would not roll out and was way too sticky and I thought to myself, "seriously, I know I am capable of making this!!!"  So I tried again, added about another whole cup of flour than the recipe called for and it worked! 

 

Hayden ate more candy while decorating the house than she has eaten her whole life!  She LOVED all the candy and loved dipping it in the frosting and making the front bushes and lights along the trim of the house.  The house is still standing the next day, so this is a good sign!  I think I finally got the hang of it!  Sorry no pictures of me, day 2 of antibiotics and my eyes are still blood red and disgusting!

Pink Eye Part II

Formal name: Conjunctivitis.  Progressively got worse last night and was so painful that it was difficult to sleep.  Continually wiping away the goopy stuff all night long.  Go to urgent care and pay a wonderful $130, but don't worry my health savings card would not work.  Clinic would not see me until they were paid, called HSA and there was a freeze on my card because someone entered the wrong pin 3 times over the course of the year.  Wait for 30 minutes for HSA to unfreeze account and proceed to doctors office.  Dr stated I should have come 2 days ago and it's the worst case she has seen in quite awhile.  She said I must have a high tolerance for pain and discomfort...Offers a steroid shot that will immediately take down swelling and pain but upon learning other important factors about my health, suggests I don't get this.  Gives me the strongest prescription of antibiotic and a coupon since it is a $200 prescription.  Get to the pharmacy, wait 20 minutes, go to pay and pharmacist asks if I am still allergic to Levequin.  I answer "yes" and he states that the medication just prescribed is in the same family and calls the Dr. back to revise prescription.  Wait another 20 min, pay and drive home.  Hopefully the antibiotics work soon and no one else in my family gets bacterial conjunctivitis!

Pink Eye

You'd think this post would be about Hayden, but it's not, it's about me!  Yep, I have pink eye and it is no fun.  But I'd much rather it be me than Hayden because I can hopefully contain this nasty virus.  I woke up Monday and although I felt rested my eyes ached when I opened them up.  I went to brush my teeth and my eyes were extremely puffy.  I chalked this up to Christmas Tree allergies and went about my day.  Well by Tuesday and now Wednesday they are really red, glued together each morning, itchy, blurry vision, all the typical signs of pink eye.  I don't think I have had this since I was a little girl.  The first day I looked like I got punched in the face and now I look like I have been crying for hours.  I hope my clients are not scared to look at me tonight because it is quite a ghastly site!  Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow, if not it is back to the Dr. for bacterial pink eye :(

St. Nicholas Day

We started a new tradition this year and that is to celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6th.  My friend Kim Smith has always done this with her family and I have always loved it.  We used to put a new ornament in our stockings each Christmas, but then you don't get to enjoy it on the tree for another year.  So instead we will now fill the shoe with a new ornament!  Here is how the day is described on Wikipedia:  "St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets overnight, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch in their boots instead."

 We like to give an ornament that reflects the person and since Hayden is obsessed with stars right now and points them out wherever we go, this was her ornament.  

 I found this Auburn ornament for Paul and he found me a gray squirrel!!!  I think it is a little to soon to be funny, but someday we will look back on that ornament and laugh, right???

It is so neat to be able to start traditions with Hayden.  We also have an Elf that watches over her during the day, but I think she is a little too young to understand what is going on right now.

The Stockings Were Hung

It took me awhile this year to get the ball rolling on the Christmas Season.  But as of Sunday, all our decorations are up, Christmas plates out, most of our Christmas cards are sent and our Tree is lit up :)  Aside from believing I am most likely allergic to Christmas Trees, ours is beautiful and Hayden is in love with it. Tonight she said, "night night tree, I love you..."  It is pretty special this year to pull out our decorations because last year they were all in storage.  It was so fun to open up the boxes and see everything that has been hidden away for 2 years. 

Here are a few pictures of our decorations:

That Christmas Tree on the wall holds Christmas Cards, my best after Christmas find ever!

This was my Christmas & Birthday present from my mom a few years ago.  LOVE it!

I actually made this in Relief Society a few years ago and finally got it framed this year.  Don't worry, I took my work with me to the store to find a frame and left it at Michaels!  

As you can see, I really need some more stuff up here! 

Anyway, that is most of it.  We have a total of 9 nativity scenes in our house which is pretty awesome and a good daily reminder of what the holiday is all about.

Sunday I decided to put Hayden in her Christmas dress and she LOVED it (I got it after Christmas last year for $5).  She refused to take it off all day and for anyone who knows Hayden knows she always prefers her birthday suit to any outfit.  I even put her in a hand-me-down pair of shoes that were a bit to big, but again she loved them.  They sound like tap shoes as she walks across our hardwood and she was just tickled at the noise they made.  

My least favorite part of putting up the tree, thank goodness Paul is a bit obsessed with this task!

 Hayden decided she needed a blue hair bow for awhile and then I tricked her back into red :)  She loved holding all of the ornaments.  The leg lamp from "The Christmas Story" and a bell were her favorites to hold.

 Hayden also carried around the star for most of the day and was excited to put it on top of the tree.

I couldn't get a picture without the lights going crazy!

Here was my attempt to film putting the star on top of the tree:

Thanksgiving Fun

Thank goodness all our terrible house drama happened around Thanksgiving because it helped me refocus on the good and I got to avoid thinking about the bad.  It was hard one day though because one of the squirrels must have died several days ago and a terrible rotting smell filled our room for a few days.  Paul found it but couldn't reach it and the squirrel removal company we are working with couldn't come out until Monday.  It was pretty disgusting, but at least we are now 2 squirrels down and hopefully just a few more to go! 

Thankfully our guest room smelled fine.  We were so lucky to have my cousin Becca and her husband Ben join us for Thanksgiving this year.  We went out to their house last year and they made an even longer drive to be with us this year.  I started cooking on Wednesday and made: pecan squares, cheesecake, grape salad, and attempted a pumpkin pie but needed Becca's expertise to finish up the job (for some reason, even with her help my flour, oven, or who knows what, was not helping out our pie crust at all).  That night we made my grandma's amazing rolls as well. 

 Hayden had so much fun helping me measure, stir and cook (I can never get her to look at the camera)

This was our 1st Thanksgiving at our own home and thus our 1st ever turkey.  So that night we also started by applying the brine to our turkey.  I got a recipe out of The Food Network Magazine and it worked great.  I was so impressed with Paul and his ability to deal with the rawness of the turkey.

 Becca also got in on the action and tried to help Paul pull out the necessary things.  Even so, we found the giblets still inside the next day after cooking :(

Thanksgiving morning we made some quick breakfast burritos and then got cooking the rest of the food.  Our menu included: green bean casserole, carrot souffle, mashed potatoes, wild rice with almonds, stuffing and the turkey of course.  

This is a table cloth Paul brought back from his mission from Paraguay and the fist time we have used it.  Also I finally found a reason to pull out my china and stemware!

Paul had had enough of the turkey, so Ben cut the rest of the meat up for us after dinner.

That night we headed out for my 1st year of black Friday shopping.  I think I am hooked, I got way to many good deals.  Wish I had some pictures of the fun night out.  We shopped a bit more Friday morning and took it easy the rest of the day.  We played our favorite game with Ben and Becca, Speed Scrabble.  I am definitely the worste at this game but I still always have fun.  

Saturday we went out to the city and went to Little 5 points and the Olympic Park.  Hayden had some melt downs, but was in heaven once we got to the park.  Ben and Becca were kind enough to take pictures of Hayden while she played.  They are amazing photographers so I'll post some of our favorites sometime soon.  Hayden was pretty obsessed with Becca for most of their trip and loved petting Ben's arms for some reason.  She even called Ben Becca most of the time. 

After our fun times Saturday we picked my college roommate up at the airport.  Ben and Becca headed Sunday morning and Jenny Willis got to stay with us until late Monday night.  I had such an amazing time catching up with her.  The last time we saw each other was when I was pregnant!  For most of the time we simply talked.  But we did manage to go to an awsome spin class and she treated Hayden and I to lunch at Panera as well. 

I think for as long as I can remember we have done a close up picture each time we visit one another.  Jenny is the only person who will ever understand my Occidental College experiences and for that we are definitely bonded for life!

Squirrel Nests

Sorry, but this post will make some renters NEVER want to buy their own home.  But don't worry, I just have terrible luck, you will be fine!  When we first moved into our house, some mornings I could hear something running above me.  Our bed is really close to the roof, so I assumed it was the squirrels in our backyard running on the roof top.  Then in the summer I didn't really hear anything so I didn't give it much thought.  Then in the late summer our neighbor asked, "have you gotten the squirrel problem in your attic under control?"  I was kind of confused about that until this fall when I have been hearing all kinds of craziness in our attic.  We tried to handle it ourselves and Paul even shot one with a BB gun.  But to no avail I decided it was time to call in the professionals.  We did a lot of research and feel confident that we have a fair and honest company now.  But guess how much?  $1,625 and that is just to have them trapped and relocated and then have our house squirrel (or any other animal) proofed.  I guess the housing codes in Georgia are not very strict and you can have up to a 4 inch gap between your gutter and roof.  Ours is about an inch which is apparently plenty of room for squirrels to get in. 

The professional found 2 "nests" (how gross does that sound) and he believes that I most likely only heard things occasionally in the beginning of the year because it was just the mom, then she had 4-6 babies, and now the babies are big enough that I hear them running around like a normal toddler would.  The worst part is that they mess up all the insulation and that is the big cost.  To remove and blow in new insulation he said it is about $4,000 for the square footage in our attic.  He also said that this has been going on for way longer than we have lived here, thanks home inspector!  And of course this also is not covered by our insurance (wish we had Allstate, have you seen the raccoon one?) Not to mention that we haven't even fixed the foundation crack yet.  I was so depressed yesterday that I just slept all afternoon.  I guess I am suppose to learn that you don't need anything fun in life but the bare essentials.

Three positives:  1)  We found a good company (you should have heard the other quotes) who offer a 2 year warranty and if any animal gets in they cover the total cost.  We can also pay $95 and extend the warranty another 2 years. 2)  Usually the squirrels chew on the electrical wiring which is very costly to repair and can cause fires but our sweet squirrels spared us that misery and 3)  Apparently "roof rats" are a big problem in Georgia too, so thank goodness we don't have those!  They carry lots of diseases and their bodies can be 4-6 inches and their tails can be 6-10 inches.  The professional said they can climb up anything but glass because of their enormous claws.  They are also much more destructing.  Just writing that makes me shiver!  

So with all that said, we never would have bought this house with the foundational and squirrel problems.  We moved in thinking that all it needed was some new paint and carpet.  We looked over our home inspection and the professional we talked to said a good one is 20-40 pages or something like that and ours was 24 pages, so I just don't know how we were suppose to know whether he did a thorough inspection.

Ouch

Hayden has been saying this word a lot lately.  She is getting her 2 year molars in and is not doing it gracefully.  She has had a fever, diarrhea, and it seems like her whole mouth hurts.  On top of that, she was playing around Sunday night and slammed her mouth into the end table.  She cut the part of the mouth that connects the top lip to the gums and it bled forever.  We finally got it under control and then she woke up the next morning with more blood plastered to her face.  It kept bleeding every time she tried to eat or drink something Monday, but today it seems to have finally stopped.  I hope this girl isn't accident prone like her momma!

 This picture of Hayden sitting on the potty matching colors and shapes does not do her lip justice.  It was so swollen after the unfortunate accident occurred.  

The next morning.  She would not let me wipe the blood off!

Amicalola Falls

Saturday the Pratt Family had a great day spent outdoors.  We went with our friends to Mendenhalls to Amicalola Falls to do a little hike and enjoy a picnic outside.  It was a bit chilly, but once we started moving we all warmed right up.  Hayden is just like her Great Grandma Joye.  She REFUSES to wear jackets.  She'll humor me for a few minutes and then she is ripping it off because she says she is hot.  She was even rolling up her sleeves at one point which is when it hit me that she must have Grandma Joye genes!  The cold doesn't seem to affect her at all. 

Anyway, Hayden walked a bit, but spent most of her time on dad's shoulders.  She has really started becoming a Daddy's girl lately which I love!  It makes Paul feel great and I get a break :)

The last part of the hike was all up stairs.  Over 400 each way to be precise. My calves were hurting the next day just a bit!

 Our little family at the waterfall 

After we finished all the stairs

 Hayden loved finding little rocks to make into seats

 Boston

 Kimball, Porter, Boston & Hayden

After the hike we drove a bit longer to Ellijay, GA which is where all the apple orchards are.  We missed picking season this year, but that didn't stop us from enjoying apple fritters, apple donuts and apple cider.  It was delicious!