The Deal of the Century and other things

The title of this post should really be: The Deal of the Century and Is that really MY daughter?

The Deal of the Century
My mom and Dave are visiting for a few days. We actually got our guest room set up now that we've decided Andrew's temporary office is going in our bedroom. The guest room is pretty sparse right now but hey, there's a bed to crash on. AnyWAY, since my mom and Dave were around to watch the girls, Andrew and I braved the Day-After-Christmas-Shoppers and set out on several missions. The first of which was to buy a new tv for the family room (so we don't have to fiddle with the audio cable every five minutes when the tv all of sudden goes mute). We spent an hour at Best Buy and decided on the model. But of course, since Andrew complements my impulsiveness with his very thorough approach to things, we did not buy the tv that day. We'll perhaps be getting it in the next day or so. Okay, I'm completely digressing now. So Mission #2 (and the subject of this post): find a very tall but cheap artificial Christmas tree to put in our family room next year. I was hoping for 50-70% at Michael's or something like that.

We decided to go to the mall/Target before heading to Michael's. Andrew ran over to Sears to compare prices on tvs (again, that thoroughness showing through). I went to run into Target (LOVE that Target is attached to the mall, I think it should be an anchor store at every mall in the universe!) to get a few things. I happen to wander around the Christmas department where EVERYTHING was 50%. We got some icicle lights, 300 for $3! That's a good deal. Then I looked at the remaining Christmas trees. They had a 7.5 foot tree for a pretty good price, but if you buy the display models, you got 75% off! They had a NINE foot tree marked at $149.99. I read the sign a little closer, and it said 75% off the original price, which was $299.99. Okay, who in their right mind, would EVER pay $300 for a tree that lives in your house for one month of the year. I whipped out the cell phone and told Andrew about the various floor models available. He thought the nine foot tree sounded like a really good deal. So he went to move the car closer and came and found me.

On his way, he found someone in a red shirt to help us. Turns out he found the right person for the job. She got the tree down, on a flatbed cart, AND wheeled it over to the checkout area, where she used her walkie talkie to open a lane JUST FOR US!! Then proceeded to help the cashier ring up our tree. She said, okay what was the price? We said, "It was $299.99, but 75% off." She then said to the cashier, "Oh no, its not 75% off, it's 90% off." Um, 90% off!! I believe Andrew and I were both just standing there in shock with our jaws touching the floor. We were quickly processing this. You mean, we got a $300 tree for only $30? No, that can't be right. Oh yes, that is correct! We got a $300 tree for $30!! Then they used their glorious walkie talkies to call someone to help us load it in the car! (Um, am I in Target, or Nordstrom's?) I waited with the guy, our tree, and my cart full of other fabulous buys, and watched as Andrew walked two rows over and got into the car. He had found Rock Star parking in a lot that was completely full all the way to the last spots in Timbuktu! That should have been the first sign that we were going to get a great deal! So thus concludes my novel about our Deal of the Century. Andrew was on a high the rest of the day. He felt like we practically stole the tree we got it for such a good deal. He immediately brought it in the house and now we have two trees sitting in our family room. And I feel like maybe I finally got something back from Target for spending all our money there. ;-)

Is that really MY daughter?
As many of you may know, I am not really a dress person. I tend to wear dress pants and a nice shirt if I can get away with it. And I tend to only dress up when I'm really required to. Just my nature, always has been. My mom had the hardest time getting me to wear dresses as a kid. I hated anything pink or frilly. So naturally, I don't tend to dress my girls in things that are pink or frilly. And they tend to only wear dresses on special occasions. I discovered this summer that Ella does like to wear a dress occasionally and I had a couple cute dresses for her so she was a girly girl a couple times this summer. For Christmas, I had several dresses for the girls to wear to our various get-togethers. Well, since we've had so many in the last week, it seems Ella has gotten used to dresses. She was in search of one to wear today.

Andrew was upstairs with her, she saw some hanging in Lily's closet and wanted to wear one of those because I didn't have any hanging in her closet. There was one dress that Ella wore to Lily's baptism almost a YEAR ago and Andrew helped her put it on. It is practically a miniskirt now, where it went to mid-calf at the baptism. Then, she insisted she MUST have tights on. Well, her one and only pair of tights are still dirty from Christmas day. She proceeded to meltdown because she couldn't wear tights. UM, really, is that MY daughter? I don't hardly even wear pantyhose when I do happen to wear a skirt or a dress. And MY daughter is screaming her head off because we don't have a pair of tights for her to wear? She settled on socks. Now, about an hour later, she is currently asking Andrew for something else to wear, she wants pants on now. Okay, now THAT is MY daughter. :-)

I know this post is forever long already, but I do want to throw out two congrats. 1) to Heather, Peter and Matthew for welcoming little Max to their family on December 16th! We are all so happy he arrived healthy and safely. And 2) Matt and Allison, congrats on your new little arrival, Lilah, on December 26th, three weeks early! We can't wait to meet both of your new little ones!

Everything "Christmasy"

We moved in on Sunday the 10th and have been unpacking ever since. Things are at least liveable now and the girls are getting acclimated to their new rooms. I have invested an ungodly amount in Target products this week. When will I actually buy stock so maybe I can earn something back?!

Andrew celebrated his 30th birthday on Monday. The actual day was a little unceremonial, but he did get a new house for his birthday so no complaining. :-) We actually celebrated Saturday night by going out to the Green Mill restaurant with my dad, Clare and Grandma Mazie.

Sometimes it really is the little things that make you happy. Kind of like those Mastercard commercials. This would be our version:

Cost of a new house in MN: an amount much more reasonable than a house in Southern California

Cost of moving: too much STRESS

Being in a new house for Christmas: Priceless

Having your own non-coin operated washer & dryer for the first time in 11 years!: WAY BEYOND Priceless

Anyway getting back to the title of this post....Ella loves the word "Christmasy". To her, anything and everything holiday related is Christmasy. Including Santa. She could say Santa last year, but not this year. He's just Christmasy. Holiday lights on houses at night: Christmasy. Packages under the tree: Christmasy. It's actually quite cute.

I had a funny conversation with her the other day. She's been a little less than good lately. I'm just going to blame it on transitions in her life right now, and not the fact that she is just very defiant with me. So I was having a little talk with her the other day about how Santa only brings gifts to little girls and boys who are GOOD. And that it was especially important to be very good right before Christmas because Santa was still paying attention. And if she wasn't good, he wouldn't bring her any gifts. (Gina: I almost used your "I'm gonna call Santa and tell him not to bring any gifts." trick)

Later on, we went to the grocery store and she was particularly well behaved. I told her how much I appreciated her good behavior and her response to me was, "uh huh, Christmasy." (I had not mentioned Santa at all in this conversation). So then I said to her, "Oh, so are you only going to be good in December now, until Santa comes?" She said, "All right, Christmasy." That will teach me. She's way too smart! :-)

Lily is hanging around too, she just sort of goes with the flow. She loves all the holiday lights when we drive around at night. She points and "oohs" and "ahhs" appropriately. They both love the Christmas tree in our family room. Ella helped me put the nonbreakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree. Right now I have a gate around the table the tree is on so they won't open the gifts prematurely. Ahem, like they did at Aunt Gail's house last Saturday. (SORRY, Aunt Gail!)

Andrew took the girls to Madison to vist with Aunt Gail and all the Isaacson clan. They had a great time! And we look forward to visiting with everyone again this Saturday for Isaacson Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is almost here already! Hopefully things will really slow down for us after the New Year. I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit. We'll see! ;-)

Since I'm sure I won't get another post in before, we hope everyone has a fabulous holiday (whatever holiday you celebrate) and ring in the New Year with gusto!

Cheers!

Deal is sealed!!!

We have a new house!! I haven't said anything very solid on here about our new house for many reasons. One, I didn't want to jinx anything, and two, its has been the most up and down rollercoaster we have ever been on. The short version of the story: we had a buyer in CA, so we put in an offer on the house of our dreams here in MN. The buyer backed out and we had to scramble to find a new buyer within a week or risk losing the MN house. We were lucky enough to find a new buyer. But various paperwork issues and errors happened and the closing of the house kept getting moved forward and backward and then delayed three weeks and then back to being a week away. It was a nightmare of Elm Street proportions!! But today as of 1pm, we are the official new owners of a beautiful home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. And it was all worth it! Poor Andrew has been so stressed dealing with all the minute details of this process. I can't say I have the first clue about half the stuff he was negoitating about. But he did a wonderful job, and I am so thankful to have him! Now, its my turn to do the hard work of unpacking and figuring out where all of our mountains of stuff will go in the new house!

Hopefully we will have our Christmas cards out in the next week with our new address on them! As soon as we get settled, we welcome visitors anytime!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us and offered kind words and positive statements during this transition time! And a special thank you to my dad and Clare for letting us invade their home for the last two and half months! Hopefully we'll get some photos posted very soon!

More Holiday Fun

I know I posted this last year but I feel like it deserves to be watched again! Ella thought it was pretty cool when she watched it this year.

Deck the Halls

Although I haven't been posting much lately, its not for lack of stuff to talk about. The girls and I have been a little bored running errands and everyday things. But we've thrown in a few fun holiday excursions. Last week, we visited the Mall of America to see the World's Largest Gingerbread House, a replica of the Polar Express train engine, and well, the good man himself, Santa. I was glad we didn't have to wait in a long line for the Gingerbread house because I thought it would be more than one room on the inside. It was pretty cool on the outside with real gingerbread and candy glued to it. They were handing out candy canes as you walked in and Ella matched her candy cane up to each and every one glued to the outside. We were met by a couple elves in a candy factory on the inside where I was most excited by the giant tin of Dots (my favorite candy) sitting on the floor. We just looked at Santa from afar because there was a long line and Ella had already visited with Kris Kringle at the Eden Prairie mall and told him her wish list (She wants a "whoo hoo". That's choo choo or a Thomas train in Ella-speak).

We also visited the aquarium again (did I mention we're all members now--each with our own photo member card, including Lily). :-) And this time Ella actually took her time and really looked at everything. Usually she likes to run through the whole thing just to get to the gift shop and play area. And we actually learned something new. Did you know that there are sting rays that live in fresh water? I thought that was quite interesting.

Last Satureday, we went to Lockhead Martin, where my stepmom Clare works, for their family holiday party. Everything was decorated with big balloon arches and balloon candy canes, hersey kisses, stars, and more. All the kids got their picture taken with Santa (except for Lily who is petrified even if you take one step closer to the jolly old man). Ella also made a reindeer ornament, correction: I made a reindeer ornament and Ella watched me. She also had both cheeks and her nose painted, frosted a cookie all by herself, and colored a holiday card. Lily sort of wandered around enjoying the atmosphere. They both received a cuddly little bear blanket and a very nice book about Lily the rabbit and her friend Honey Bear which I thought was quite appropriate for our Lily and her lovey Bear. All in all, we had a great time!

We look forward to perhaps putting up our own tree in our own house in the very near future! But that is all I'll say about that for now so I don't jinx anything. More on that later.... ;-)

Standing on my soapbox....again

It's the holiday season again and that means that your local Barnes and Noble may be doing a children's book drive. Yesterday, the girls and I went for the last storytime before Christmas. (And the last time to play with the Thomas trains before they put the table away for the holidays.) In the spirit of the season and giving, Ella helped me pick out a Barbie Mermaidia book for a three year old little girl. I explained to her that some little girls' mommies didn't have the money to buy them books so we were picking out a book to give to one of those little girls. She really seemed to understood me and thought someone would like the Barbie book. Lily and I picked out a Lift-the-flap shape/color book for a 2 year old little girl.

I encourage all of you to get in the spirit of the season and purchase a book for a well-deserving little kid!