I've always been a fan of Chick-fil-a. From their menu to their business plan to their faith-based origins to their playground for kids, I love it all. And much to my husband's jealousy, I somehow manage to eat there at least once per week. Usually I dine-in with my girls so they get a chance to burn off some energy in the play area after we eat, but this morning we spent a while at an open gym day at a local church and the girls had done plenty of running and energy burning so I decided to just drive through on the way home.
We pulled in just after noon, so it was crazy busy. The line for the drive-thru moved surprisingly fast and when I pulled up to the window to pay and get my food I was impressed by the way the employees were working together to move things along quickly and effectively. I got my food and pulled away. Typically when I drive thru, I pull into an empty parking space and get the girls all situated with their food before I begin the drive home, but today (and being Chick-fil-a at lunch time) there weren't any empty spots. I did my best to stay focused on the road as I handed Kyra and Kylie their chicken nuggets, but then I realized that the girls drinks had rolled onto the floor, so about 5 minutes down the road I pulled into a gas station to pick them up and get us all situated. That's when I decided to check the bag with my food. Only when I opened it, it wasn't my food.
I had ordered chicken nuggets and some of those addicting waffle fries, but instead found a side salad and fruit cup in the bag. Talk about a bummer! Had it been a chicken sandwich and fries or even a chicken wrap and fries, I would've just kept on heading home, but alas, no fries so I turned us around and headed back to the busy Chick-fil-a.
I locked my girls in the car (they were in a pseudo trance watching Veggie Tales anyway) and ran in with the bag of healthy food to exchange for my higher calorie meal. I began to explain and right away they announced that they had already realized the error and were expecting me. They gave me a 12 piece nuggets (instead of the 8 piece I paid for) and the fries and told me to keep the salad and fruit too. I was very pleased with the fact that not only did they make things right (in less than 60 seconds from the time I entered the store), but they made an effort to compensate me for the error. As if I needed another reason to heart Chick-fil-a.
When I finally got home and was eating my delicious 12 pieces of chicken, I actually found a bone in one. It sort of weirded me out, but then I thought to myself, "well, at least I know it's legit chicken!" I'm not gonna say this makes onto the "reasons I love Chick-fil-a" list, but it didn't deter me either.
So that was my little lunch adventure today. Who knew driving-thru for fast food could be such an experience?!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Whoooo Wants Cake?!
On Saturday we celebrated with my sister-in-love, Katie, as she and Declan prepare to welcome their first baby in May. The baby shower was exquisite with beautiful flowers and home made decorations adorning the restaurant. All the creativity and time put in by Katie's sister (and my other wonderful sister-in-love), Susan, seemed to pay off as I looked around the room and realized it was the cutest yet classiest baby shower you could imagine. I was honored and excited to make the cake for the event. And this post is about just that.
I've been making cakes as a hobby now for ten years. While I was working as a personal assistant for a lady in her home during my college years, I learned all the basics: how to make frosting (from her mom's bakery's recipe), how to properly bake and freeze (yes freeze) a cake, how to frost the frozen cake, and some basic decorating techniques. She even gave me some of her decorating supplies to get me started on my own. And ever since then I've wanted to learn more. But being as it wasn't my actual career, I never ended up getting any additional training (though I've promised myself I'll take a class this year).
When the opportunity to do Katie's shower cake came along, I decided that training or not, I wanted to try some new things (new to me anyway) with this cake. First, I decided that I wanted to work with fondant. Despite it's unpleasant taste, I have to admit that some of the cutest cakes I've ever seen are done in fondant, so I figured it was time for me to give it a shot. Second, I decided to attempt my first two tier cake. It seemed simple enough in theory. But theory and reality sometimes live a long, long way from each other.
I baked the cakes in shifts throughout the week and had them waiting in the freezer. Then on the Thursday night before the shower I practiced playing with and carving the fondant. Everything went superb that night with the trial run, so I was really pumped for the actual decorating the next night. The second my kids were in bed on Friday, I went to work. I made the frosting for the cake in record time and it was the best I've ever made. I pulled the first two cakes out of the freezer, leveled them and frosted them perfectly. I was beaming with delight. It was the smoothest icing job I'd ever done.
Now came the first tricky part for me. I don't have multiple size cake pans, so I was going to have to hand carve the next two cakes that would form the top tier. I had my cardboard guide and began carving just like I've seen the pros do on Food Network. It was easier to carve than I expected and I was mostly happy with how this top tier was going so far. Then I started frosting it...
Oh the frosting! And the crumbs! And the crumbs in the frosting! My perfectly pink frosting was quickly overtaken with dark chocolate cake crumbs the moment I began putting it on the cake. Because of the carving, the edges of the cake were much looser than I'm accustomed to and the crumbs stuck to the frosting like flies to flypaper. I was horrified. But I took a deep breath and began brainstorming the situation. I've heard of bakers doing "crumb coats" of frosting on a cake before the final layer of frosting, so I decided that even though I knew nothing about crumb coats, that I would try to make this first layer of frosting just that.
I got the cake covered in crumby pink frosting and let it set for a bit. Then I did a top coat of frosting and it actually seemed to be working quite nicely. But after I had finished I noticed the frosting seemed to be sliding down the sides of the cake so that it was way thicker at the bottom than the top. Several times I scraped the frosting from the bottom to again even out the sides of the cake, but the more I did that, the more the crumby frosting underneath began to show. My husband finally advised me to just leave it alone before I made it any worse, so I did. I had already put the dowels (hand cut by my hubby) in the bottom tier to support the top tier, so all I needed to do was put the two together and decorate.
As I was getting ready to place the top tier on the bottom tier, that little voice in my head kept repeating, "Don't do it! You'll be much happier with a one level cake that looks nice than a two tier cake that looks bad." But alas I ignored it. (I seem to be doing that a lot lately and regret it every time! When will I learn!) And as soon as I got the top tier placed it became painfully obvious that it was completely uneven.
At this point (as I'm kicking myself for not listening to myself), I decided to take it back off and scrap it. My husband, who named himself my sexy assistant for the evening, decided the best way to remove it would be for him to lift it off with his hands. It was not. The whole top layer began to come apart all over the perfectly salvageable bottom tier, but we somehow managed to scoop it off in mostly one piece.
I used the little frosting I had left to re-ice the now top of the cake and it came out fine, but not nearly as perfect as it had been just moments before. Now I was FINALLY ready to decorate it. But as I pulled out the fondant it hit me that I had used every last bit of powdered sugar to make the frosting and held nothing back for working with the fondant. (When working with fondant you use confectioners sugar the same way you would use flour to keep dough from sticking.)
So I thought to myself, maybe the fondant won't stick. Wrong.
So then I thought, maybe I could just use flour instead. It can't be that different. Wrong.
So then I just decided to work as fast as I could to get everything cut and on the cake. And that worked.
Was everything as clean and perfect as I had planned and hoped it would be? No. Was it still a really cute and absolutely delicious cake (if I do say so myself)? Yes. Did I learn from this cake decorating experience? Yes. And despite my lack of powdered sugar I still found an affinity for working with fondant and am now even more determined to get myself to some cake decorating classes.
Here are some pictures* of the process and the finished product:
I failed to mention my "sexy assistant" made AND frosted some chocolate cupcakes to make up for the missing top cake tier:
Oh and as for the crumby top tier.... let's just say I had a few eager volunteers to put it away for me:
*Cake pictures at the shower were taken by my friend Lyryn.
I've been making cakes as a hobby now for ten years. While I was working as a personal assistant for a lady in her home during my college years, I learned all the basics: how to make frosting (from her mom's bakery's recipe), how to properly bake and freeze (yes freeze) a cake, how to frost the frozen cake, and some basic decorating techniques. She even gave me some of her decorating supplies to get me started on my own. And ever since then I've wanted to learn more. But being as it wasn't my actual career, I never ended up getting any additional training (though I've promised myself I'll take a class this year).
When the opportunity to do Katie's shower cake came along, I decided that training or not, I wanted to try some new things (new to me anyway) with this cake. First, I decided that I wanted to work with fondant. Despite it's unpleasant taste, I have to admit that some of the cutest cakes I've ever seen are done in fondant, so I figured it was time for me to give it a shot. Second, I decided to attempt my first two tier cake. It seemed simple enough in theory. But theory and reality sometimes live a long, long way from each other.
I baked the cakes in shifts throughout the week and had them waiting in the freezer. Then on the Thursday night before the shower I practiced playing with and carving the fondant. Everything went superb that night with the trial run, so I was really pumped for the actual decorating the next night. The second my kids were in bed on Friday, I went to work. I made the frosting for the cake in record time and it was the best I've ever made. I pulled the first two cakes out of the freezer, leveled them and frosted them perfectly. I was beaming with delight. It was the smoothest icing job I'd ever done.
Now came the first tricky part for me. I don't have multiple size cake pans, so I was going to have to hand carve the next two cakes that would form the top tier. I had my cardboard guide and began carving just like I've seen the pros do on Food Network. It was easier to carve than I expected and I was mostly happy with how this top tier was going so far. Then I started frosting it...
Oh the frosting! And the crumbs! And the crumbs in the frosting! My perfectly pink frosting was quickly overtaken with dark chocolate cake crumbs the moment I began putting it on the cake. Because of the carving, the edges of the cake were much looser than I'm accustomed to and the crumbs stuck to the frosting like flies to flypaper. I was horrified. But I took a deep breath and began brainstorming the situation. I've heard of bakers doing "crumb coats" of frosting on a cake before the final layer of frosting, so I decided that even though I knew nothing about crumb coats, that I would try to make this first layer of frosting just that.
I got the cake covered in crumby pink frosting and let it set for a bit. Then I did a top coat of frosting and it actually seemed to be working quite nicely. But after I had finished I noticed the frosting seemed to be sliding down the sides of the cake so that it was way thicker at the bottom than the top. Several times I scraped the frosting from the bottom to again even out the sides of the cake, but the more I did that, the more the crumby frosting underneath began to show. My husband finally advised me to just leave it alone before I made it any worse, so I did. I had already put the dowels (hand cut by my hubby) in the bottom tier to support the top tier, so all I needed to do was put the two together and decorate.
As I was getting ready to place the top tier on the bottom tier, that little voice in my head kept repeating, "Don't do it! You'll be much happier with a one level cake that looks nice than a two tier cake that looks bad." But alas I ignored it. (I seem to be doing that a lot lately and regret it every time! When will I learn!) And as soon as I got the top tier placed it became painfully obvious that it was completely uneven.
At this point (as I'm kicking myself for not listening to myself), I decided to take it back off and scrap it. My husband, who named himself my sexy assistant for the evening, decided the best way to remove it would be for him to lift it off with his hands. It was not. The whole top layer began to come apart all over the perfectly salvageable bottom tier, but we somehow managed to scoop it off in mostly one piece.
I used the little frosting I had left to re-ice the now top of the cake and it came out fine, but not nearly as perfect as it had been just moments before. Now I was FINALLY ready to decorate it. But as I pulled out the fondant it hit me that I had used every last bit of powdered sugar to make the frosting and held nothing back for working with the fondant. (When working with fondant you use confectioners sugar the same way you would use flour to keep dough from sticking.)
So I thought to myself, maybe the fondant won't stick. Wrong.
So then I thought, maybe I could just use flour instead. It can't be that different. Wrong.
So then I just decided to work as fast as I could to get everything cut and on the cake. And that worked.
Was everything as clean and perfect as I had planned and hoped it would be? No. Was it still a really cute and absolutely delicious cake (if I do say so myself)? Yes. Did I learn from this cake decorating experience? Yes. And despite my lack of powdered sugar I still found an affinity for working with fondant and am now even more determined to get myself to some cake decorating classes.
Here are some pictures* of the process and the finished product:
I failed to mention my "sexy assistant" made AND frosted some chocolate cupcakes to make up for the missing top cake tier:
Oh and as for the crumby top tier.... let's just say I had a few eager volunteers to put it away for me:
*Cake pictures at the shower were taken by my friend Lyryn.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Love for my Little Girls
Thanks to Aunt Susie, Aunt Katie, Pop Pop and Mom Mom Witmer and GP and Grammy Winfrey for showering my little girls with love this Valentine's Day. Kyra and Kylie thoroughly enjoyed the cookies, cupcakes and cinnamon rolls from their super sweet aunts and the cards, stickers, and candy from their thoughtful grandparents.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Daddy's Birthday
I know I already blogged about the wonderful weekend Jim and I had alone for his birthday, but Jim's birthday really wouldn't have been complete without love from his girls.
This year, we got a little crafty and not only made some of daddy's presents, but we made a card and wrapping paper too. Here are some pictures of the wrapping paper project and daddy opening his gifts. The girls each painted a picture mat which I used to frame a picture of them for Jim to hang in his office at work. Kyra and Kylie both enjoyed painting and I wish I had some pictures from that, but alas, I opted to keep both eyes and hands on Kylie at all times as she wielded her paintbrush.
(Kyra glued all the letters on by herself. I love the way this turned out.)
This year, we got a little crafty and not only made some of daddy's presents, but we made a card and wrapping paper too. Here are some pictures of the wrapping paper project and daddy opening his gifts. The girls each painted a picture mat which I used to frame a picture of them for Jim to hang in his office at work. Kyra and Kylie both enjoyed painting and I wish I had some pictures from that, but alas, I opted to keep both eyes and hands on Kylie at all times as she wielded her paintbrush.
(Kyra glued all the letters on by herself. I love the way this turned out.)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Birthday Blizzard
This past Saturday was my husband's birthday. Last year he turned 30 and we did a huge surprise party shin-dig with lots of friends and family. This year Jim wanted to do something a lot different.
When I asked him in the weeks leading up to his birthday what he wanted, he told me several times he just wanted a day alone with me. That sounded like it would be as much of a gift to me as it would be to him and so at first I didn't really pursue making it happen. However, it began to weigh on me as I thought about it. This year Jim made my birthday the most special one I've had since we've been married and I realized that if a day with me was truly what he wanted, he completely deserved it.
Knowing that a full blown noreaster was scheduled to hit our area on Friday night, my amazing in-laws agreed to take our girls in spite of the weather. Jim and I dropped them off around 6 and headed to dinner as the snow was gently falling down. After dinner we naively decided to catch a movie at the theater (in an attempt to take full advantage of our time sans kids). It was less than two hours long, but when we emerged from the theater we discovered that several inches had accumulated on our car and the roads during that time. Fortunately my husband has mad driving skills (that are totally different than my mad driving skills) and got us home safely.
The next morning (Jim's birthday) we awoke at the crack of 9 am and were giddy over the fact that we "slept in". We took our time making eggs and bacon for breakfast and then enjoyed watching the snow falling down as we ate it. Afterward we got some ribs going in the crockpot for Jim's birthday dinner later on and then baked Jim's birthday cake together. The day moved at a much slower pace than usual and it what a nice pace it was. We were able to just enjoy being with each other and talk about nothing and everything. We wondered out loud why we didn't appreciate our time alone together more before we had kids and concluded that to a certain extent, it's the having the kids that really makes you appreciate the time alone with each other.
As the afternoon rolled around we began to prepare for going to pick the girls up. Jim shoveled the driveway and I vacuumed and cleaned the house. I called my mother-in-law to arrange the kid exchange, but instead she dropped a huge blessing on us by volunteering to keep the girls for ONE. MORE. NIGHT! I couldn't believe it. Never in my life had I gone an entire day without seeing my kids. Not because I'm a crazy obsessed mom or anything, but just because I'd never had an opportunity to get away over a weekend or anything like that before. But this was even better than a weekend getaway! I was snowed in at home with my husband on his birthday and without any kids for a WHOLE DAY. 24+ hours. This was a big deal to me. A priceless gift.
To round out the day we enjoyed a gourmet dinner at home by candlelight and just let the minutes pass by. Not because we wanted to waste them, but because we could afford to. There would be no getting up a dozen times in the middle of the night to find a bear or a binky. (At least not at our house - my in laws graciously dealt with that though). Every second was ours to do with as we saw fit. And it was so relaxing.
As we went to bed Saturday night Jim declared that he had a great birthday. I really think he had the best 31st birthday he could've asked for. A million thanks to my mother, father, and sister-in-law for making it all possible.
When I asked him in the weeks leading up to his birthday what he wanted, he told me several times he just wanted a day alone with me. That sounded like it would be as much of a gift to me as it would be to him and so at first I didn't really pursue making it happen. However, it began to weigh on me as I thought about it. This year Jim made my birthday the most special one I've had since we've been married and I realized that if a day with me was truly what he wanted, he completely deserved it.
Knowing that a full blown noreaster was scheduled to hit our area on Friday night, my amazing in-laws agreed to take our girls in spite of the weather. Jim and I dropped them off around 6 and headed to dinner as the snow was gently falling down. After dinner we naively decided to catch a movie at the theater (in an attempt to take full advantage of our time sans kids). It was less than two hours long, but when we emerged from the theater we discovered that several inches had accumulated on our car and the roads during that time. Fortunately my husband has mad driving skills (that are totally different than my mad driving skills) and got us home safely.
The next morning (Jim's birthday) we awoke at the crack of 9 am and were giddy over the fact that we "slept in". We took our time making eggs and bacon for breakfast and then enjoyed watching the snow falling down as we ate it. Afterward we got some ribs going in the crockpot for Jim's birthday dinner later on and then baked Jim's birthday cake together. The day moved at a much slower pace than usual and it what a nice pace it was. We were able to just enjoy being with each other and talk about nothing and everything. We wondered out loud why we didn't appreciate our time alone together more before we had kids and concluded that to a certain extent, it's the having the kids that really makes you appreciate the time alone with each other.
As the afternoon rolled around we began to prepare for going to pick the girls up. Jim shoveled the driveway and I vacuumed and cleaned the house. I called my mother-in-law to arrange the kid exchange, but instead she dropped a huge blessing on us by volunteering to keep the girls for ONE. MORE. NIGHT! I couldn't believe it. Never in my life had I gone an entire day without seeing my kids. Not because I'm a crazy obsessed mom or anything, but just because I'd never had an opportunity to get away over a weekend or anything like that before. But this was even better than a weekend getaway! I was snowed in at home with my husband on his birthday and without any kids for a WHOLE DAY. 24+ hours. This was a big deal to me. A priceless gift.
To round out the day we enjoyed a gourmet dinner at home by candlelight and just let the minutes pass by. Not because we wanted to waste them, but because we could afford to. There would be no getting up a dozen times in the middle of the night to find a bear or a binky. (At least not at our house - my in laws graciously dealt with that though). Every second was ours to do with as we saw fit. And it was so relaxing.
As we went to bed Saturday night Jim declared that he had a great birthday. I really think he had the best 31st birthday he could've asked for. A million thanks to my mother, father, and sister-in-law for making it all possible.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
HELP! I Just. Can't. Take it. Anymore.
I know its been a while. And I have a lot of good excuses for not blogging, but in reality, it all boils down to the fact that I just haven't felt like it.
Until now.
I'm so fired up, ticked off, freaking out, at the end of my rope, that I couldn't stop myself from running to the computer and getting on here to vent all the frustration. So, I'm sorry my first post in a while isn't based on something cute or happy, but I need to get this off my chest and out into cyber space before I explode into a million pieces all over my house (because I'll end up having to clean it up).
It's Kyra.
Yes, my cute little 3 year old daughter is the one who has me so upset I can't even think straight.
She won't stop peeing in her pants. And I've been really struggling lately with feeling that she is doing it to spite me. I don't let her have a piece of candy.... she pees in her pants. I take away a toy because she won't share... she pees in her pants. I spank her for disobeying me.... she pees in her pants. I don't know what to do anymore.
I've tried forcing her to sit on the potty when it's been hours since she's gone last, but most of the time she fights me the whole way. Even if she does actually go, she sits there yelling and crying "I don't have to go pee pee!" as she's going in the toilet. Other times she holds it and pees in her pants 5 minutes after she gets up off the potty.
I've tried asking her every 10 minutes all day long, "Kyra, do you need to go potty?". To which she replies, "No. I can't go potty." 99.9% of the time. And lately within a couple minutes of me asking her and her saying she doesn't need to go, she goes. In her pants.
I've been told you aren't supposed to punish a child for potty accidents. So I've been doing the best that I can to stay calm and tell her, "It's okay. Next time you really need to tell mommy that you need to go potty so we don't wet our panties." But I am having trouble keeping my cool any longer. The instant I feel or see the pee in her pants I feel my blood start to boil. I have to fight the urge to throw her over my knees and spank her soaking wet bottom. But it just keeps getting worse.
Allow me to paint you a picture of what I've been dealing with. In the last 10 days she has peed in her pants an average of 4 times per day, but often as many as 6 times. At the end of each day I have a pile of pee soaked panties, pants and sometimes shirts and socks on the floor of my laundry room. I have to laundry every single day now. Kyra peed in her pants at the American Eagle store at the mall after I took her to the bathroom twice right beforehand and she insisted she couldn't go. This morning as I was meeting with a Mary Kay rep, Kyra climbed up on my lap and peed all over me. And just a few moments ago during her "quiet time" Kyra peed in her pants, so I had her sit on the potty where she protested that she didn't need to go pee pee anymore and she wanted to take a nap. I allowed her back into her room after only a couple minutes on the potty and when I went to check on her 5 minutes later, she had soaked the new panties and pants I had just put on her and even got a good bit on her sheets.
I stripped her down, put her in a diaper, and ran to my computer. I'm seriously at my wit's end. I need prayer. I need help. I need someone who has been down this road before to tell me what's going on here and how to fix it. Because this is sucking the life out of me. It's consuming my time, my energy, my sanity and I hate it. But I love Kyra. SO much. And I need to figure this thing out ASAP so I don't end up doing something in a moment of frustration that I'll regret for a lifetime.
The crazy thing is she has these moments during the day where she'll take herself to the bathroom, lock the door and go pee in the potty all by herself. Granted, she ends up unrolling 1/4 the roll of toilet paper onto the floor, but still. She knows what she's doing. She CAN use the potty when she wants to. Which is I think what makes the pants peeing all the more frustrating.
Anyway.... not the astounding post I'm sure you were hoping for, but that's where I'm at. So...... now "quiet time" is over and I've got to go scrounge up a clean pair of underwear for Kyra to put on. So she can pee in it later. Awesome.
Until now.
I'm so fired up, ticked off, freaking out, at the end of my rope, that I couldn't stop myself from running to the computer and getting on here to vent all the frustration. So, I'm sorry my first post in a while isn't based on something cute or happy, but I need to get this off my chest and out into cyber space before I explode into a million pieces all over my house (because I'll end up having to clean it up).
It's Kyra.
Yes, my cute little 3 year old daughter is the one who has me so upset I can't even think straight.
She won't stop peeing in her pants. And I've been really struggling lately with feeling that she is doing it to spite me. I don't let her have a piece of candy.... she pees in her pants. I take away a toy because she won't share... she pees in her pants. I spank her for disobeying me.... she pees in her pants. I don't know what to do anymore.
I've tried forcing her to sit on the potty when it's been hours since she's gone last, but most of the time she fights me the whole way. Even if she does actually go, she sits there yelling and crying "I don't have to go pee pee!" as she's going in the toilet. Other times she holds it and pees in her pants 5 minutes after she gets up off the potty.
I've tried asking her every 10 minutes all day long, "Kyra, do you need to go potty?". To which she replies, "No. I can't go potty." 99.9% of the time. And lately within a couple minutes of me asking her and her saying she doesn't need to go, she goes. In her pants.
I've been told you aren't supposed to punish a child for potty accidents. So I've been doing the best that I can to stay calm and tell her, "It's okay. Next time you really need to tell mommy that you need to go potty so we don't wet our panties." But I am having trouble keeping my cool any longer. The instant I feel or see the pee in her pants I feel my blood start to boil. I have to fight the urge to throw her over my knees and spank her soaking wet bottom. But it just keeps getting worse.
Allow me to paint you a picture of what I've been dealing with. In the last 10 days she has peed in her pants an average of 4 times per day, but often as many as 6 times. At the end of each day I have a pile of pee soaked panties, pants and sometimes shirts and socks on the floor of my laundry room. I have to laundry every single day now. Kyra peed in her pants at the American Eagle store at the mall after I took her to the bathroom twice right beforehand and she insisted she couldn't go. This morning as I was meeting with a Mary Kay rep, Kyra climbed up on my lap and peed all over me. And just a few moments ago during her "quiet time" Kyra peed in her pants, so I had her sit on the potty where she protested that she didn't need to go pee pee anymore and she wanted to take a nap. I allowed her back into her room after only a couple minutes on the potty and when I went to check on her 5 minutes later, she had soaked the new panties and pants I had just put on her and even got a good bit on her sheets.
I stripped her down, put her in a diaper, and ran to my computer. I'm seriously at my wit's end. I need prayer. I need help. I need someone who has been down this road before to tell me what's going on here and how to fix it. Because this is sucking the life out of me. It's consuming my time, my energy, my sanity and I hate it. But I love Kyra. SO much. And I need to figure this thing out ASAP so I don't end up doing something in a moment of frustration that I'll regret for a lifetime.
The crazy thing is she has these moments during the day where she'll take herself to the bathroom, lock the door and go pee in the potty all by herself. Granted, she ends up unrolling 1/4 the roll of toilet paper onto the floor, but still. She knows what she's doing. She CAN use the potty when she wants to. Which is I think what makes the pants peeing all the more frustrating.
Anyway.... not the astounding post I'm sure you were hoping for, but that's where I'm at. So...... now "quiet time" is over and I've got to go scrounge up a clean pair of underwear for Kyra to put on. So she can pee in it later. Awesome.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Counting Down to Christmas
Our lives have been a whirlwind the last couple of weeks. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Jim's family, had Kyra's 3rd birthday party, and decorated the house for Christmas. I can't believe we're almost a full week into December already and I know this month is just going to pick up speed as we near the 25th.
Its so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and let December fly right on by. Before you know it, its Christmas morning and you find yourself trying to remember how you got there and what you did all month. This year, thanks to my amazingly crafty sister-in-love, Susan, we're taking a moment every day this month to slow down and remember what Christmas is all about.
Susan made Kyra (& Kylie, though she won't really appreciate it until next year) an Advent Calendar to help her count down the days until Christmas. Every morning we go into the front living room and get down the calendar and open another day. Inside each container is a little treat (usually candy, which is Kyra's favorite) and I tell her the number on the container means we're one day closer to Christmas. I also explain to her that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. And all the decorations and treats and presents are for Jesus' birthday party which is also called Christmas. I'm not sure how much of what I tell her is actually sinking in, but I enjoy talking to her about it anyway.
I have been documenting each day with my camera and have an album on facebook that gets updated daily with the latest pictures. To see the pictures and follow along with our countdown to Christmas, click on the following link: Countdown to Christmas.
Its so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and let December fly right on by. Before you know it, its Christmas morning and you find yourself trying to remember how you got there and what you did all month. This year, thanks to my amazingly crafty sister-in-love, Susan, we're taking a moment every day this month to slow down and remember what Christmas is all about.
Susan made Kyra (& Kylie, though she won't really appreciate it until next year) an Advent Calendar to help her count down the days until Christmas. Every morning we go into the front living room and get down the calendar and open another day. Inside each container is a little treat (usually candy, which is Kyra's favorite) and I tell her the number on the container means we're one day closer to Christmas. I also explain to her that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. And all the decorations and treats and presents are for Jesus' birthday party which is also called Christmas. I'm not sure how much of what I tell her is actually sinking in, but I enjoy talking to her about it anyway.
I have been documenting each day with my camera and have an album on facebook that gets updated daily with the latest pictures. To see the pictures and follow along with our countdown to Christmas, click on the following link: Countdown to Christmas.
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