January 23, 2006
Moved
We have upgraded to new blogging software, so this page, and this RSS feed are outdated. Visit the site for new links.
It's hard for me to say I'm sorry...
And how many times do I have to anyway?? Okay, so last Thursday I was a bad mommy. Taylor's been fighting a cough/cold/croup thing and I forgot her medicine. I wasn't going to worry about it, but I did and Brian did so I took it to her. The teacher left the medicine sheets out front (She was basically saying, "Hint: leave it out here, don't let Taylor see you.") I didn't get the hint. I felt I had to see my baby. As a result, leaving was horrific and I finally had to just leave. There was no consoling her - even with the promise of lunch. That day - I apologized to Sheila (the teacher) and I apologized to the assistant director and to Sheila again. I also apologized to Taylor when I picked her up that afternoon (I got back to work and told Brian I would pick her up - didn't ask, told him!). I had finally quit reliving the memory in my head and feeling awful about it when, this morning, the daycare director stops me and tells me how rough it was on Taylor and how they "like to never got her settled down." I apologized to her and reassured her that it would never happen again. I really had no idea that her reaction would be that bad! It hasn't been in the past, but she's also older and one day she likes a food and the next day she doesn't, then she does again. Well, lesson learned.
For all you new parents and parents-to-be out there... don't do what I just did!!! It may be difficult and break your heart to walk into the building you know your child is in and not see him/her, but it hurts more (you and young un) to have to leave them screaming.
January 18, 2006
Happy Birthday Taylor (Post #300)
We've hit blog post #300, just in time for Taylor's 3rd birthday party pictures. Hold on to your hats, this one'll be a big post.
We held the party at the Gardendale Chick-Fil-A. It's a great place to have a party, and as Kenny noticed, a very wise place to have a party.
Her parents have the right idea. Host this at Chick-fil-a. No straightening up for guests, no cleaning up after guests.
Busted! Oh well.
The party went off very well. Mimi and Papa drove up Friday for the weekend, godparents Ja and Christy zipped over from Atlanta for part of the weekend, and Cousin Ariel got to come down Saturday morning to spend the day and night with us.
Beautiful birthday cake. Elizabeth will have to share those details. Forget the megastores - we have a favorite cake bakery person here now. Elizabeth's details: I was lamenting to a coworker about how lame the Strawberry Shortcake design was at the local grocery store bakeries and had decided to go with a modified Tweety Bird - as in, paint it like this but leave off the Tweety Bird stuff and add a couple more butterflies, I'll buy a Strawberry Shortcake candle! She told me about the lady she uses and even called her for me - on the Thursday afternoon before the party. "Yes, I can do that" and she named a surprisingly low price. The reason I wasn't completely worried about it is that this coworker is notoriously, perfectionisticly picky (used to be a photographer... at a fund raiser shoot of her children, she was telling the photographer what to do so much that he finally said, "Would you like to do it?" To which she said she would and she did!) The cake lady did a great job and we'll definitely use her again!
Final touches for the party
A very patient crowd.
Eating their lunches; Ariel eyes the ice cream
Make a wish!
Ja gets Taylor ready for ...
.. the playyard structure thing. A very popular item.
It's just not a party without beads
Jordan's little brother, Carson, was a popular one with the grownups. Especially the childless ones.
Everyone loved the Chick-Fil-A cow. Except Taylor. When the cow left, she said "Good, the cow is going home."
Even Carson. He thinks.
It's a pair of Jordans! And these are cuter than any pair His Airness ever endorsed.
Geeks and their toys. If you ever wondered what my camera looks like, just check out Kenny's. We just got lucky that way.
You're better off not asking about this picture.
Remember what I said about Carson being popular with the childless ones? Lauren, in particular, likes this lil kid.
The presents. Ohhh, the presents.Little girl did well for herself.
She loves this music box.
Love-a-lot Bear was a huge hit.
I've lost count of the hours I've spent sitting at the dining room table trying madly to keep the Play-Doh colors separate.
Trying to get Taylor to show off her presents for the camera, and all she does is hide behind them.
These rubber duckies, from Ariel and her family, are a popular addition to the nightly bathtime ritual.
Candyland is a fun game for kids, but Taylor keeps asking when she gets to eat the candy.
Back home, Taylor sees another of her presents from Mimi and Papa - new bed coverings
Lots more pictures from Kenny - click the More link to see them.
Continue reading "Happy Birthday Taylor (Post #300)"More birthday weekend pictures
Couple more pictures from the weekend:
The doctors are in the house.
Don't think I'm ever getting these shirts back
Early Sunday morning, the girls join me for a cup of coffee and a morning Blue's Clues episode.
After a homesick moment late Sunday morning, the girls are distracted with a Strawberry Shortcake movie. It's another favorite.
Still more birthday pictures
Here's the complete batch of pictures from Kenny's perspective. One seems to get better angles when it's not your child's party. Or Kenny's just a better photographer than I am.
January 06, 2006
Family picture
While on vacation in Massachusetts, I found an old photo of extended family. Just got the scanned version yesterday. Best I can figure, this picture was taken around 1982. Family, feel free to correct me.
Adults, from the left: Leonard McAlister (Pepa), Olive McAlister (Mema), Tom McAlister, Janet McAlister, Judy Johnson, Gladys Buchanan (GayGay) (thanks Paige!), Virginia Johnson (Grandma), David Johnson, Keith Johnson (Grandpa).
The kids, from the left: Mike McAlister, Amanda (Johnson) Gentry, Paige (Johnson) Wallis, and yours truly. Now do you see where Taylor gets her blond hair from?
How the tree branches - my parents are Tom & Janet. His parents are Leonard and Olive. Mom's parents are Keith and Virginia. Dave is Mom's brother, Judy is his wife, and Paige and Amanda are their daughters. Gladys is Judy's mother.
For a higher-res (621KB large) version for printing or what not, click here.
Christmas Pictures - finally
I haven't posted pictures in awhile and my darling husband had to remind me how. On top of that, he went and upgraded our ftp program and it wasn't playing nice with me. Come to find out, yes, it was user error. You don't connect on the newer version like you did with the older version. *sigh* Okay, now for the pictures!
First, we decided to go very very simple this year with our Christmas tree. We got a tree the week before Christmas and got lights on it then decided we actually liked it with just the lights... which was good because we couldn't find all our ornaments anyway!
We did manage to come up with one truly cute ornaments, however:
They made these at her daycare!
Christmas Eve arrives and I have the awful fear that the dress a coworker gave me for her won't fit. I hadn't tried it on her! At first look, Brian and I both had the same reaction. "This is way to big for her!" Alas, it fit her beautifully. Our baby girl is really a big girl now. A little explanation on pictures - if it looks as if she'd been crying it's because she was. She did NOT want her picture taken. We finally got a smile by me making funny faces. We got her to quit crying (some) with the threat of no church and going to bed. Here they are:
BTW, the pigtails were requested and it took me forever to do it. We dropped her off in the nursery at church and went down to the service. After church, we went to get her and the nursery workers were apologizing profusely! "She pulled the pigtails out and wouldn't let us put her hair back up!" I actually apologized to them and told them that I should've warned them they'd come down and that it would be alright.
Christmas Eve service was interesting. We went to the 5 pm service at Cathedral Church of the Advent. Per instructions from other members, we got there about 4. The closest seat was near the back and 10 minutes later it was standing room only! It was a lovely service to say the least.
Christmas morning was fun. We thought we were going to have to wake Taylor up - it was 9 a.m. and she was still asleep and we were ready to open presents by golly! Stockings are first, of course.
One special present was a bicycle. We'd wrapped the helmet and gave it to her saying, "Taylor, Santa told us you might need this." She opened it and we asked what it was ("a he'met"). "Why would Santa think you need one of those?" Her: "I dunno." We suggested she look downstairs in the garage and here's her reaction (and bike pictures):
height=375>
"There's a bicycle down there!"
Of course, we had to go immediately and try to ride it:
We're working on her peddling technique.
After all the fun here, we packed up and went to Huntsville. We were slack with the camera, though. Here are the only pictures I have from our Huntsville trip:
Among her goodies were a Thomas the Train set with Thomas (and he puffs steam that's cool to the touch!! Okay, so it's really a mister, but it's still neat!). Another favorite was a semi-truck that came with 12 matchbox-type cars, a walmart semi and has additional space for 12 more cars. She also got a doctor kit and some new books. I can't remember what else all, but I know those were some of her favorites.
In anticipation of new toys, I went on a cleaning rampage the Friday before Christmas and New Year's weekend. Taylor now has toys up in her room and a few downstairs. I also got storage containers for them. I was looking at toy boxes then realized the rubbermaid-style containers are great. One funny I found on the inside lid of one of them was a warning sticker.
Hm. Doggoneit... and I thought I could store Taylor in there! To me, that one's right up there with instructions on how to close up a baby stroller (Step 1: Remove baby)
Merry Christmas all and Happy New Year
btw, Christmas cards ARE coming... there's a reason I picked a style that said "Happy Holidays" :)
January 02, 2006
Best blonde joke ever
Just saw the best blonde joke of all time. Check it out here
