Back again

Oh man, it's been awhile since I've added a new post here. It's like when you have a friend that you want to call and catch up with and as time passes you have more and more to catch up on so you can't just make a quick call, but you need to find time to really talk and you keep putting it off until you find that perfect time. That how I feel when I blog. I'm catching up with friends and sharing my life so when I disappear for a few weeks it's hard to get started again because there's so much to say. We've had a busy few weeks. Lots of stuff that if I had the time or energy (the energy is key, because technically I had time) to share about while it was happening I would have been posting alot. Nothing life changing, just some funny kids stories that I've now forgotten, a really good conference that Matt and I attended (I just might post about that because I'm still processing it), some great episodes of my favorite tv shows (The Office and Grey's Anatomy were both great this week!) and questions about controlling the tantrums of a two year old.

I figured I just needed to put something out there- to break the ice, make the call. I'm recovering from a long weekend - we drove to Baltimore and back Saturday night. Matt and I went down for a surprise birthday party for his dad. It didn't start until 7pm so after driving in the dark for two hours I was tired when I got there. I was barely functioning on the drive home but forced myself to stay awake for Matt's sake (I know, you're thinking - how nice, but really I don't want to fall asleep and then have us wreck and die because he fell asleep too).

Matt isn't one for conversation in the car, he gets in a zone and drives. That's something we've worked through over the years because I like to talk. But he knows when we're driving late at night if he wants me to stay awak we have to talk. So last night we passed the time by talking about our Christmas wish lists as well as the kids. It's always a fun thing to do this time of year because both of our families ask for lists. I've had fun making a list for Ella. Half of it are things she tells me she wants (a broom, a guitar, a babydoll, a motorized car) and half of it are things I've decided she wants (Play Wonder kitchen and store from Target, a desk to draw and color at, dress up stuff). I remember getting excited as a kid to get the JC Penney or ToysRus Christmas catalogs to look through all the toys - I feel the same way now. I probably won't buy them that much but it's fun to try and find the best deal.

What do your kids want for Christmas? What are they getting? What do you want? Do you and your husband exchange Chistmas gifts? Matt and I say we don't (we just bought new windows for our entire upstairs, that's a Christmas gift in my mind) but he'll still buy me something so I'll get him something. We both love to give gifts and pick out things for people that we love. At this point we both buy for everyone in both of our families. It's always tight on the purse strings, but we don't buy birthday or anniversay gifts so this is the one time of year that I get to pick out clothing for my brothers (just kidding Mike, I wouldn't dare buy you clothes when you get them from my husband for free) or something fun for my sister in laws. How does your family do the gift thing? Name exchange, buy for the kids only, buy for everyone, only for your immediate family? I'd love to hear from you...

One last thing to leave you with. Tonight Ella was watching the Little Einsteins. They were on a mission to the pyramids in Egypt and they had to find the Great Sphinx. One of the characters asked us out in TV land if we could say "the Great Sphinx" - Ella of course tried her hardest and repeated "the Great Stinks" That was definitely my laugh for the night!