blah...

...is pretty much how i feel about this holiday season. i usually like this time of year, but this year, not so much. i'm not really feeling the festive love. i'm sure it's a combination of a lot of things... homesickness, the fact that malcolm is too young to love christmas yet, and alanna is too old to still have any fun with it, and that we're constantly dealing with financial stress (but isn't everyone these days?). plus danny has been working so much lately, that we hardly even see him at home and when we do he is ornery and stressed out. i never got a good photo of our family for christmas cards, so i haven't sent any out yet. and i've only bought a few gifts for the kids... which means that i'm gonna get stuck shopping in all the madness, with a cranky toddler, when it comes down to crunch time. ugh. sorry for the vent. just feeling a bit bah humbug right now...

wild things

alanna and i finally went and saw "where the wild things are" today. danny stayed with malcolm, while the kiddo and i drove about 30 minutes to the only theater in our area that had a showing. i'm glad we were able to see it before it leaves the theaters. and we were the only ones in the theater, which was a bonus. the movie was good, but i didn't love it as much as i thought i would. i liked it, it made me cry in the beginning and at the end, but the middle was a little long and kind of boring. it actually made me sleepy. but i'm glad i saw it. i just don't think i would want to watch it again.

tonight i made cupcakes. alanna helped me decorate them with vegan cream cheese frosting. they turned out delicious!

halleluiah!

once upon a time terry's chocolate oranges were vegan... and i loved them! my mom would buy them for me around the holidays, and she always put one in my stocking. for years i looked forward to them each christmas season. and then one day, my mom gave me one, and i just happened to look at the ingredients, and to my sad surprise, they were no longer vegan. so sad.

but oh my goodness, trader joe's has come to the rescue, and made me one that is vegan! oh trader joes, i love you oh so much!

winterfest

last night we went downtown to raleigh's first ever winterfest. the weather was a little bit chilly, but we were glad it wasn't raining. we saw santa, had our photo taken, watched the tree lighting, listened to some terrible music, haha (which included michelle branch, do you even remember her 15 minutes of fame?), explored the bb&t building while we waited for our photo to be printed, and checked out the store/cafe fronts while we strolled down fayetteville street. it was a good time.

22 months

it's been 4 months since i made a post about what malcolm has been up to lately. he is 22 months now, and it's a little hard to believe that he will be turning 2 in only two short months! wow, time flies. he is constantly learning and trying new things, and every time he does something new, or funny, or oh so smart, i think to myself "i need to write this down, so i won't forget to blog about it", but then i forget. life is busy with a toddler (and a teenager). so here is a list of the most recent things that i can remember right now.

• his new words are "jack", "tattoo" (he also points at them, and tries to wash them off when i give him a bath), "popcorn", "tofu", "peek", "no" (which means NO), and "noOooO" (which means YES, haha!), and "yesh" (but he doesn't know that it means yes)



• he can walk down the stairs unassisted (but uses the wall for support)



• he goes to bed silently, without any tears. the "cry it out" technique was the best thing that ever happened to us, haha



• he can take off his clothes, and he loves to run around naked, especially after the bath



• he likes to sniff things, he really enjoys discovering new smells



• he tries to spit water out of his mouth while in the tub. daddy taught him this, and it's pretty funny to watch



• he will sit quietly and watch tv (pbs kids) or a dvd



• he can jump (both feet off the floor), do a belly-flop (usually onto daddy), karate kick, spin in circles, and bounce onto his bum (sometimes all at the same time!)



• he claps, laughs out loud, and gets excited when he sees something he likes (he never really did this before, until now)



• he can open the fridge and climb inside, so we had to put locks on it and the oven



• he loves to look at books and have them read to him



• when he farts, or anyone else does, he cracks up and laughs, he thinks it is hilarious... and i think he is too



• he loves pushing the furniture around, like the dining chairs, side table, and coffee table



• he loves to help me clean the house, he dusts, and tries to sweep and vacuum (i need to get him some play cleaning supplies for christmas)

i'm sure there are lots of things i forgot, so i will try to update it later :)

carb coma

this is the meal i made last night! tofurky (with carrots, potatoes, and onions), mashed potatoes and gravy, and yams with brown sugar. holy carb fest, haha. it was a little exhausting to eat, but it was delicious! i also made a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert too, since the other two that i made last week were for other people to enjoy.

we spent the whole day inside, because of all the rain, and we watched this little gem over and over. we love this movie! (i couldn't find a clip of my favorite part, but this one is pretty funny)

mail

oh, how i love to receive packages in the mail! especially during this time of the year, when i am ordering gifts online, and waiting patiently for them to arrive. two lovely items arrived last week, that i had ordered from etsy, but i cannot show you them because they are gifts (no peeking!)

yesterday i received this giant box of goodies, sent to me by our good friend jayme! holy crap, christmas came early for me, haha! in preparation of her move across the country, she was cleaning out her apartment, and was kind enough to add all of this awesome stuff to my nightmare collection. thank you so much jayme! i just put the string of lights on our christmas tree, and they look so cute. i will post photos of it later.

i got this great eric carle pop-up advent calendar on ebay. each day, you open a door, and there is a tiny paper ornament inside that you can hang on the tree. so cute! plus the little boxes open, so i will put some little treats in them for alanna. we will start it today when she gets home from school.

and i got this adorable woodland kit on etsy for us to make. i think they will be the cutest little ornaments. heidi kenney's blog is one of my favorites. i love the little treat that she included in my package too, so rad!

malcolm's newest friend!

our friend lynn gave birth to her first child yesterday! her husband justin is one of danny's closest friends, and we are all so very excited for the both of them! they live in charlotte, about 2.5 hours from us, so we will be able to visit and see him soon. i can hardly wait... i love that new baby smell, haha! congratulations justin and lynn! he is beautiful, and looks just like his papa!

dexter ruggles pope

born: november 30th, 2009 @ 6:52 pm

6lbs 3oz