I'm not exactly sure why the caged bird sings?

I did something today that's totally foreign to me.  I spent the afternoon alone!  Crazy, huh?!  Well, it was only about three hours, but it was really nice.  A few months ago, I was leafing through the magazine "Country Living," and read about the nation's top 50 craft fairs.  I was excited to see that one of those, The Big Crafty, was here in Asheville.  I made a mental note that I would go to it when the time came.  Well, it kind of snuck up on me and before I knew it, the day had arrived.  Mark was busy with a work thing until after noon, but when he got home, he told me to go have some fun.  I was a little nervous to go on my own (the introvert in me was rearing its ugly head) but I went and I'm really glad I did.  I did a few errands on the way, had a nice lunch and then headed downtown.  Everyone there looked like my yoga instructor, smelled of patchouli and were much cooler than I ever could even think of being, but it was nice.  I found a few little treasures, which was a plus!  I've been feeling a little bit like a caged bird lately due to being housebound with Rosie and Kiki, so the chance to get out was VERY welcome.

When I got home, I was greeted by two little homeless looking children.  I guess that's what three plus weeks of sickness will do to you.  They just looked very dirty, grubby and ragamuffiny.  Nothing a little TLC couldn't cure, and by TLC I don't mean the 90's girl group, although the song, "Waterfalls" was pretty awesome.  I made it my mission for the rest of the afternoon to try to get them back in order.  A bath, a haircut, and a mani/pedi later and they were good to go.  They are still not well, poor little things.  You can see it in their tired eyes.  It just breaks my heart.  They haven't been 100% in weeks and I'm really hoping we are over the worst of it.  Here are a few photos from our journey through the "plague"...

 Ragamuffin #1 - Enjoying her popsicle.  

 Ragamuffin #2- Tasting her very first popsicle.  She's a fan! 

 Nothing makes a sick girl feel better more than cuddling up with a good book underneath the Christmas tree.  

Sickly Sisters

This picture just kills me.  It really hit her hard! 

Kiki's first pedicure tonight!  She seems proud of her pink little toes. 

Today was day two of our Advent Calendar and the girls are both loving it.  If you remember back from this post, I wrapped different Christmas books and the girls get to unwrap one of them every day of December.  I had a few extra, so some days the girls get a bonus book.  The stories are definitely putting us all in the Christmas mood.  The house all decked out for Christmas helps, too.  It is so cozy in this place!  

Both of the girls LOVE everything about Christmas (except Santa, but that's a story for another day).  Every morning when Rosie comes down the stairs, she gasps and in her most awe-filled voice whispers some form of, "The Christmas tree is so beautiful/magical/perfect/wonderful."  Kiki is mesmerized by the ornaments.  She considers each of them her property and has made it her job to find other homes for them.  I've found ornaments in the pantry, in the laundry room, in the couch cushions and in the toilet.  Yes, the toilet.  That one now lives in the trash.    

Daddy and Rosie cuddling and reading.

The Tree (Please ignore our crooked star.  For eight years, I have tried everything to make it stay upright.  As you can see, nothing's worked.)  

When I was home a few weeks ago, I found my first ornament, circa 1980.  Now it lives at our house!

The day after Thanksgiving, Monroe and the boys helped me paint craft sticks so that I could make this.  I just used hot glue and some ribbon.  It cost me nothing!  I love a free project. 

The Ornament Bandit...caught red-handed

The day the plague hit, before I realized it was upon us, I tried to get some pictures for our Christmas Card.  Needless to say, it didn't go well.   I wasn't able to use any of them, but I think I might try to do this little session again when there is no 103 degree fever involved.    

This was the only one I was able to get of Kiki on the chair.  In all of the others, she was on the floor face-down crying.  That should have been my first clue.  

This should have been my second.  

  

Well, I've got loads of laundry to fold.  Have a great night and a wonderful week!  I'll leave you with some pictures that made me smile.  

Mark and I were reading to Rosie on the couch, while Kiki played.  We heard chairs being moved, but didn't think anything of it, until we looked up to find this happening.  No fear here people.  

I'm still trying to get a handle on this curling wand thing.  It's pretty tough to maneuver the curls in the back.  Lucky for me, I have my own in-house hair guy.  Gotta love him...yes, that's a protective glove:) 

Three in one day!!!

Wow, three posts in one day!  I'm on a role.  It must be all my free time now that I'm not a worrier.

This afternoon we got my phone fixed and I couldn't be happier.  All it needed was a new SD Card, but for some reason it took me about three months to get that taken care of.  I can officially take a picture on it again!  I'm super excited to rejoin the world of Instagram.  I've missed being able to take part.

We ran to target and spent our life savings on diapers.  I'm so ready to be done with buying those silly things!  I also ran in Goodwill to see if I could find any Christmas books for the Advent Calendar from my earlier post.  I hit the jackpot!  I was able to find the remaining ten that I needed, so I'm all done!   There were some really good ones.  I know some might shudder at the thought of buying anything from Goodwill, but I'm a big believer in buying books from there.  It all started when I was a teacher trying to fill the bookshelves in my classroom for cheap.  You can find new and almost new books for almost nothing.  I sanitize them and they are good to go.

I got all of these books for $5.00!  The Polar Express was brand new!

Today at lunch, Kiki had finished up eating and wanted to play, and Rosie was still working on her food.  I ran upstairs to get something and while I was up there I started hearing the loudest shrieks ever.  I quickly ran back down to check on them and was greeted by Rosie wailing as Kiki ran away with her veggie corn dog.  It was pretty hilarious to witness.

Scary Kiki with the stolen corn dog. 

Rosie really loved the outfit she was wearing today.  There was lots of twirling happening.  I had to get a few pictures of it.  I can't believe how old she looks!  

I'm so glad it's the weekend.  We don't have any huge plans.  Well, actually we are going to go to the state fair tomorrow night.  I have a feeling there will probably be some deep-fried something in our future.  I'll try to get some pics.  Happy Weekend!!!

Advent Calendar

I love Advent Calendars.  I think they are such a fun way to get the kiddos excited about Christmas and a great tradition to start with your family.  I've seen so many fun ideas on blogs and love them all, but a few years ago, I found one that I especially loved, but haven't been able to do until this year.

Throughout the year you collect Christmas related children's books.  Then you wrap them up in fun wrapping paper.  Every day of December your little darlings get to open up a book that you read together as a family.  I imagine us all drinking cider or hot chocolate while reading our special book for the day. I've added my own little twist on it, too.  I am only collecting 24 books and for the 25th book I will wrap the Bible in an extra special way.  Then we will read the Christmas story together on Christmas day.  I can't wait!

I really love this idea because you can reuse the books every year.  The idea of finding and buying 24 Christmas books may seem a bit overwhelming, but I'm over halfway there and it hasn't been bad/hard/expensive at all.  We already had a few Christmas books and I've found the others on sale at Barnes & Noble or at Goodwill.  If you don't want to worry about buying them, you could always borrow them from your local library, which equals...FREE!

So, anyway, I thought I would give you an early heads-up on the idea, just in case you wanted to join in.  Merry Christmas in September:)