Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving

Well, I have a lot of pics to share, but these are definitely not representative of everything we did or everyone we celebrated Thanksgiving with. We had a GREAT time in Bartlesville, and only wished it could have lasted longer. Staying in Houston for Christmas will definitely be bittersweet.
Here are the girls in their turkey shirts I made for them. I stole the idea from a friend at church, Sarah Craig. I have some pics of the shirts without the girls in them, but they aren't accessible right now. Anywho, it was fun to dress them in something so festive. Julia got a bike from her Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Andy over Thanksgiving break. Her birthday is this Friday, so she got some gifts a little early. She loves it!

This was Thanksgiving day at my parents.


We helped my Mom put up her Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day as well. It was a lot of fun and somewhat therapeutic for me because I will not really be able to put up many decorations around our house this year. It was really cute that both of the girls were involved in hanging ornaments and hanging lights. They really enjoyed it.


The girls also got one early Christmas gift. They are both pros at opening gifts now.


This was the finished Christmas tree product:






We also went to Woolaroc the day after Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and so much better than the Galveston's Festival of Lights. In comparison, there was tons to do and see. Julia loves buffalo, and they were very close to us. (We were in the car still.)



Julia loves this playground.



Lydia loved the animals!! She stared at all of them, and was only willing to move on when she saw there was more see.



Here's the Woolaroc Santa Claus. When I posted pics of Julia with this Santa on facebook last year, my friend Lela said "this was the scariest looking Santa" she had ever seen. Lydia obviosly agrees with her. Julia loves Santa, but Lydia was only gung ho about him until she was actually in his lap. They both enjoyed the candy canes though.

There were also a lot of characters at Woolaroc this year. Here is Julia with the gingerbread cookie people. She loved all the characters and hugged several of them more than once.
And, here is Lydia's reaction. She was in my mom's arms, and seemed happy to go, but not so happy once she was there. Poor kid, all this fun is so torturous.
Here's one last pic of my parents with the girls after the hay ride. We were in the Frank Phillips lodge in this picture.
Well, like I said, we had a lot of fun with family and friends over the last week. I know that I have some pics of some celebrating at Ruth's house, but they are on our external hard drive, so hopefully I will get to post some of them soon. Happy belated Thanksgiving to all and Merry Christmas!












Sunday, November 22, 2009

Bartlesville

It officially feels like the holidays now that we have seen family and friends and are having such a nice time with everyone in Bartlesville. We are so excited to get to stay for the week. Turkey, here we come! (I'll post some pics soon.)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Sleep, Slumber...Zzzzzs

Sleep is such an interesting concept to me. Some people are so prone to it, and other's fight with it and for it. I've never been a person who can go to sleep in 2 seconds, and I've always been a light sleeper, but ever since I had Lydia, I have definitely fought with and for sleep. It takes me at least 30 minutes to sleep at night, and if one of the girls wakes me up at night, it usually takes longer. Also, I can hardly sleep through movies or in the car, like some people. It's a rare occassion for me to catch up on sleep like that.

I had some crazy insomnia when I was pregnant with my little Lydia, and ever since then, I don't go to sleep easily. I was attempting to sleep for two hours right before going into labor with her. Those hours of sleep would have been precious to me.

I usually go to sleep listening to Dave snoring beside me. He can go to sleep instantaneously. I'm the kind that can't get myself to go to sleep, while he's the kind who has to keep himself from going to sleep. It doesn't matter how exhausted I am when I go to bed- I can hardly ever fall to sleep quickly. I've tried to convince Dave to rub my feet every night before he goes to sleep (as this usually helps), but he just murmurs something about getting up and 6 a.m. while drifting off into sweet slumber.

The problem is that when I am laying in bed trying to sleep, I think more clearly than ever! Maybe it's the only time I actually think all day! I wish I could invent a machine to hook up to my brain to record my thoughts as I am going to sleep. I can write an awesome to-do-list, design a whole house, and have real revelations about God, all while I am trying to go to sleep. All of this thinking is wonderful; but I am always so tired. I wonder how I could keep these two events seperate during my day. I mean, I would love to be able to adequately think and sleep daily. I'm pretty sure my brain invention is the only way to go. Then, I won't have to fret about whether or not I will remember what I am thinking about. We'll see how that goes. :)
This is Dave sleeping while holding Lydia on the chair over a year ago. He just closes his eyes, and he's asleep. I have a lot of pics like this one. He always hiked his leg up for extra support in holding Lydia, just in case he took a little nap.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

You are Stupid.

Chocolate!! Lydia almost always goes to sleep in the stroller when we go for walks. I guess she gets that from Dave.


Today Julia walked into the room that I was in and said, "Mom, you are stupid". And then, as quick as she said it, she walked away. I called her back to talk to her about this lovely new word she just used, and could tell as she came back to me that she was just trying it out to see if it was acceptable. She has no idea what it means, accept for now she knows not to say it. So, now she has been saying, nearly continually, "Mom, I won't say stupid. Stupid. I won't say that anymore. I won't say stupid". She's getting the hang of it, I guess.


We just discovered today that Lydia has her first few molars! No wonder Dave and I have been sleepless zombies lately!! Why do teething children sleep so much better during the day than they do at night? It's a great mystery to me!


Other than these little updates, we don't have a lot more to share. We are excited to go to Bartlesville and see family and friends over Thanksgiving week! Julia has been talking about going to Woolaroc daily. Her Papa promised her, and she can't wait. She daily says, "We're gonna go see the buffalo with Papa. We can go right now, if you want to." Thanks for reading!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Uppercase Living

Hey everyone. The holidays are here in full force, and the pressure of Christmas is already on. I personally love all the hype and everything that goes along with it, but I definitely also realize that I am an odd duck. I just wanted to remind those who know and enlighten those who don't know - I sell Uppercase Living. I too am wondering if you would like to purchase some of your Christmas presents through me. :) My business has been pretty slow since I moved to Houston, so I would like to get back to consulting others on how to make their homes more beautiful. I just got in new catalogs and Christmas flyers if anyone is interested in them. You can order personally or have a party. Of course, the parties are fun because you get a lot of free of stuff. I know you all know the drill. I just think that Uppercase Living offers something a little unique and fun. So, please give me a ring or shoot me an email if you would like to. My number is (918) 440-7977. www.uppercaseliving.com (You can also order online.) -Amber

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Day in the Life

I hope this video loaded correctly!! I love these girls.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Daylight Savings Time

So, I officially detest Daylight Savings time. Before having kids, I hated springing forward, but loved falling back. Now I equally dislike both! Lydia woke up at 5:55 this morning. How am I suppossed to gracefully deal with that? You know, I really don't like the sun before 8 a.m. Why would anyone need it to rise any earlier? (Rhetorical question.)
Anyway, I don't know why I'm complaining. The fact that Lydia woke up super early is beside the fact because I was already awake. I mean, it's always a pleasure to awake to traffic traveling by your house at 5:20 a.m.
Well, while Dave and I contemplate putting sheets over the windows to keep our room and the girls' room quiet and dark in the morning, I keep praying that we will just move soon and forget about having to do all that.
Here's a pic of the house we would like to purchase in Sienna Plantation. Here's the fireplace. It's a 2 -in-1; it goes through to the other room too.
Here's the dining room that I can't wait to get my hands on....


So, please know that this post was not written just to complain or vent, but to continue to ask for prayer requests. :)
I took some pics of how "packed" things are for us at the Chetman place:






I miss all the stuff in those boxes. I mostly miss my muffin tins and my crock pot.






I decided to take these pics about a week ago...I wanted to have something to look back on and to remind me to be thankful- after we move. Well, I hope that daylight savings time is treating the rest of you well, and that our family is the only one that was negatively affected. Hopefully today is the last day it will bug us. Thanks all! Tootles!