Merry Christmas

December Daily 12/22/2008: My Favorite Things

Seeing my baby waking up all smiley,

Watch Wow Wow Wubbzy! and cuddle with Riley,

Big cups of coffee with sugar and cream,

These are a few of my favorite things.

Freshly scrubbed children,

and big toothless smiles,

NPR programs that help pass the miles,

Playing Mario alone on my Wii,

These are a few of my favorite things.

When I'm stressed out,

Nothing goes right,

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things,

and then I don't feel so bad!

Frizz free good hair days,

and funny news stories,

small dogs in outfits and underdog glories,

Hearing Thomas 'talk' to Riley while he plays,

These are a few of my favorite things.

Time with my husband and book club discussions,

Last minute wins on a great ebay auction,

Being reminded of all my blessings,

These are a few of my favorite things.

When the storm blows,

when I feel alone,

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things,

And then I don't feeeeeeel ssoooooo baaaad!

December Daily 12/21/2008: Here Comes Santa Claus

Today we decided to take the kids to see Santa Claus. Riley loves watching the Santa video that we personalized for him (you can find it here) So we thought he would love seeing Santa. We got to the Concord Mall and waited maybe five minutes - they had an excellent set up, were very friendly and patient (although Santa himself did not talk AT ALL - which was a little kooky since I was trying to talk to him...asked him questions even...). Brenna could have cared less what we did and easily went to Santa. Riley on the other hand was terrified and hid behind me the whole time. Maybe next year! Later when we asked him if he still wanted Santa to bring him presents, he kept saying, "No, you do it". I think now the whole idea of this fat old man sneaking into his house at night has totally freaked him out. :-)

I'll post a pic if I can get the scanner to work!

Give it Away Sunday: Saturday Edition

I'm at work cleaning out my coupons (yep, we are that busy!) and I have a gazillion coupons for diapers and diaper related accesories. I'll never use them all in time - so who wants them?? I have coupons for both Pampers (regular diapers and Easy Ups) and Huggies (diapers, wipes, and bathing products) Infant's Tylenol, Infant's Motrin, Mylicon, Balmex, and "any Johnson's baby product".

The awesome nurse that took care of me when I had Brenna gave me stacks of those hospital goodie bags, so I'm left with oodles of coupons. Email me at bethanyrudd@comcast.net with your address and which ones you'd like and they are yours!

December Daily 12/19/2008: Cookie Boy

Wednesday Riley and I made sugar cookies with vanilla and chocolate frosting to decorate. Riley was really excited about putting on the 'prinkles'! Once I had finished mixing the chocolate frosting, I gave Riley the beater to lick then went to work on my laptop. After a few minutes, I looked up and he was still working on the beater so I went back to work...then I heard his stool scoot across the kitchen floor. I looked up again just in time to catch the rascal. He had been dipping his beater in the frosting bowl and getting out big glops of frosting to eat. I had no idea! Sneaky snake! He was WIRED that night!

December Semi-Daily 12/17/2008 - Packages

I just have to give a shout out to Abrah and Brittany who are totally rocking out the blog posts with the December Daily! You two are supermoms!

Today my favorite man in brown (the UPS guy) brought me several boxes. One was my MK order (hooray!) the other was a mystery box (and a bonus mystery envelope).

The sender is overstock.com. I have a feeling there are Mighty B presents inside....MUST...NOT...OPEN...BOX!

And proof that the best things come in small packages with cereal covered faces.

Give it Away Sunday

Hi, My name is Bethany and I'm a stuff-aholic.

(Hi Bethany!)

I've decided that I'm going to start a new feature on the Mighty B - Give it Away Sunday. I've got great stuff! Just too much of it. So if you want it, it's yours.

For the first give away...I've got samples! My cousin Deanna blessed me with her Mary Kay things when I decided to start my business. I've got some really awesome stuff and I'm running out of room to store it. So, let me know you're skin type (normal to dry, combo to oily), skin tone (ivory, beige or bronze), any skin issues you need help with (blemishes, uneven skin tone, under-eye bags, etc.), and your address and you'll get a goodie bag from me. Email me at bethanyrudd@comcast.net.

A little free post-holiday pampering!

I want to encourage my fellow bloggers to start their own Give it Away Sunday! We all have too much stuff, it's the American Way! Giving it away is a great way to bless others with something they may need and bless ourselves with a less cluttered home! I'm going to work on a button for it, I'll post it on the side of my blog for you to copy and paste into your own blog. Who's with me for a less cluttered 2009??

December Daily 12/14: I love Christmas Music

I break out the Christmas music as early as possible. This year I've been listening to my Jim Brickman Christmas album quite a bit. It's so beautiful to listen to! It doesn't hurt that Mr. Brickman is one handsome guy! There's nothing sexier than a man who plays the piano ... except a man who plays the trumpet, right Jeff? :)

So cool!

This is the coolest thing ever! Riley has had us watch it a ton, he loves it! Especially the reindeer!
http://portablenorthpole.sympatico.msn.ca/home

December Daily: 12/12/2008 - Ugh

I have been trying to post for a week now and Blogger will not save or publish my posts. After reading Haley's post, I'm wondering if they were having issues...who knows! I'm going to keep this rather short, because honestly I have no idea if anyone will get to read it or if it will be sucked into the blogger black hole, never to be seen again.

Here's a small recap of what's been going on in the hive...

• I finished my 30 faces in 30 days for my MK goal and got some sweet bling! Thanks to all that helped me reach it! If you weren't lucky enough to get a facial from me, let me know! A new challenge begins 12/16!
• It's been so fun watching Riley learn everything about Christmas. All those Christmas specials we've watched a million times are new again. It's great.
• We got his train table and trundles from UPS today - can't wait to see his face when he sees them on Christmas! Also got Brenna's Laugh 'n Learn Kitchen at an awesome price and free shipping! I just looked at it again and they are selling both items for twice as much as I paid for it and you have to wait 2-3 months for shipping! WOO HOO! Good Timing B!
• Brenna is getting so big - and getting her first tooth!

On a quick side note, I wanted to address all the mom's that read my blog. In light of things that have been happening in my area, I've really been thinking about my role as a mom and what it means to be a good mom. Some things have really been laying heavy on my heart lately. We are constantly being pulled in every direction and immersed in guilt of never being good enough...our houses aren't clean enough, we're not thin enough, our kids don't eat right, we're not giving 100% at work...

Some of the best advice I've ever gotten was from my sister before I had Riley.

There is no way to be a perfect mom.

But there are a million ways to be a good mom.

Our houses may not be spotless, our kids may not be eating a well balanced meal, (if anyone can give me an idea on how to get Riley to eat something other than chicken nuggets and marshmallows, I'm all ears!), and we may now be a little squishy around the middle... but at the end of the day if our kids are safe, warm, have something in their bellies, and know they are loved, we have done our job.

You are a good mom.

Love,

The Squishy B

December Daily 12/7: Good, Good Day

I posted on Saturday from work and somehow managed to delete all my December postings! I can't figure out how to get them back....so here we go again!

Today was a very good day. Sundays are my 'catch up' days, and I got a LOT done. Laundry, took the recycling in, a little Christmas shopping...then made some popcorn and watched "Olive the Other Reindeer" with Jeff and Riley. I love how everything about Christmas is so new to Riley. Tonight he actually got the idea that Santa's reindeer fly, "In the sky - like an airplane" (that's how he put it!)

I've nearly finished all my Christmas shopping and was able to get the kids exactly what I wanted to get them at very good prices! I'll post more on that later...time to hit the hay!