It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas(which is a good thing since its 5 days away)

Hello.
HOW ARE YOU?
It's been awhile, hasn't it?
We are here..just busy.
But isn't everyone this time of year???
We  have also been really sick..stomach flues, respiratory flues, a nice 5 day hospital stay for Miss Collins.
When people ask me if I am ready for Christmas, I look like a deer in headlights.
"Christmas? Christmas? Ohhhhh, THAT Christmas."
Here's hoping Santa's got his act together, because this Mama sure doesn't!

This was Collin's first encounter with Santa.

She did better than I expected.

I thought she was going to fall asleep on his lap she settled in so nicely.

When we got in the car Hollis said," Mom, I know that was not the real Santa. There was a string that attached his beard behind his ears. I almost pulled it to see if his beard would come off but I didn't. But the next Santa might get his beard pulled."

Alrighty then..

And that, my dear readers, is why I haven't taken the girls to see any more Santas this Christmas.

I might just save that special "gift" for their Dad.

That is all I have got tonight.

We are good.

We are healing.

And we are ready for the big day-fake Santas and all.

My Baby Turned One

My sweet One Year Old...
Yes, it has been a year already since she has graced our lives..
it has honestly been the fastest year of my life-in a really really good way.

Since Babygirls birthday did not include any of the hoopla that Hollis' 1st did..

I went to the bakery in town and bought the sweetest cakes I could afford.

Now they have these things called smash cakes..

cakes just designed for the baby to do what they want with it..

and smash it she did.

She would pull some of the icing off the cake and then try to put it right back where she found it!

And try to "share" some of her cake...because she is thoughtful like that. :)

Big Sis shows her how to open a present...cause big sisters are really good at things like that.

I'll love you for always.
I'll like you forever
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be.

Happy 1st Birthday Babygirl
(and someone pass this mama the kleenex)

Birthday Central

Can you believe we celebrate 3 birthdays in a matter of 5 days at this house??
That is a whole lotta Scorpio under one roof...
We used to get all gussyed up and grab a babysitter for the night while indulging in the finest red wine and big juicy steak.
I have officially run out of babysitters, sooooo our night consisted of
The Monkees and Partridge Family reruns and heated games of UNO.

I am so glad I married a low maintenance man.

My sister sent up some BBQ all the way to Indy for his birthday.
Isn't that a great gift?
Even though Jason is a midwesterner by birth..that man loves him some NC "Q".

It is funny how kids get soooo excited about their parents birthdays.
Hollis loves to help out with the planning and card making and streamer hanging and such.
One day I'll call her and say,"Hollis, aren't you coming home for your Daddy's birthday?"
And the answer will be "I'm sorry, Mom, I can't make it this year."
Until then, we will enjoy the buttercream Marsh cake on paper plates and the Elmo birthday hats that were used at Hollis' 2nd birthday and the Happy Birthday song complete with lots and hugs and giggles and more off key singing...
Those fancy steakhouses will always be there, right?

Halloween

Oh my, I'm one embarrassed Mama.
And one baaaaad blogger.
I haven't blogged in so long that I had forgotten my password to get into my OWN blog.
That's a cryin' shame folks.
So where does one start?
Do I still have a reader?
Oh well.
I shall start in the moment and share some Halloween pics with you, OK?

It might be hard to tell if Collins is smiling or crying in the above picture.

She is not smiling.

Oh, there are the smiles.

All hidden among the 1940s sailor girl and moo cow.

This guy was the hit of Halloween night.

He gave out loose change.

They all thought they were rich after that.

How cute is that dog, by the way?

I love the fact that Hollis has "jazz hands" in all these pictures.
Nevermind that most people thought that she was a flight attendant or in a marching band.

Ok. That is it for now.
Here is to hoping I can get my blogging act together before Collins turns "1".

And She's Off....

Today was the big day.
I'm a proud Mama of a first grader.

There have been lots of smiles around here this morning.

And a few tears.

This house is too quiet today.

I feel lonely without my little friend.

I am not quite sure what to do with myself.

Neither is a certain 9 month old who keeps calling out for her sister when we pass by her bedroom.

I am reminding myself  to savor the present.

To marinate in the the joy of the moment.

If I continue to look back on what was, I will miss all the blessings that are here right in front of my very eyes.

Today.

Now excuse me please,
I have a sweet baby waiting to play peek-a-boo.

Meet Me in St Louis...

Hello There.
Life has been crazy busy here in Z-ville.
And honestly I don't want to twiddle the last days of summer away while banging away on this computer.
But...
We did take a little family trip and I wanted to share some pics with you.

I think vacations should be mandatory.
Like singing carols at Christmas and blowing out candles on your birthday cake.
It is just something that must be done, don't you think??
Despite lack of money or lack of time...
Just a little getaway to a neighboring state for a couple of days....
My good friend Leslie just raves about St Louis..so I just had to go see what the big fuss was about.
You know what?
She was so right.
It is a lovely city filled with lovely people.
I can see why she misses it so.

And any city that has an Italian section is a winner in my book.
Jason and I agreed it was some of the best Italian food we have ever had.
Believe me, people, we have had a lot of Italian food(just look at us.)

The Magic House might have been my favorite.
Yes, it was as much fun as it sounds.

I conquered my inner germ-0-phobe when I put Collins in the balls to play.
She was so happy as I quietly chanted my mantra, "She will not get sick. She will not get sick. She will not get sick...."

And Hollis' favorite part was the pretend library.
We played librarian for at least 25 minutes.

She got to push all sorts of buttons and tell me my books were overdue.

My hair has been rather flat since I had Col.

I have been searching far and wide for a good volumizer.

Ummm...Found it!

By the way, Collins hair ALWAYS looks like that.

Seeing Hollis sit in the "Oval Office" sent shivers up my spine.

That is one scary thought.

We couldn't come to St Louis without some Ted Drewes. Even if the one we went to  was in the cultural eye opening side of the city. :)

Grants Farm was one of the city's best gems...

Hollis insisted that Collins ride the merry-go-round with her.

Collins wasn't so sure she about that idea.

You gotta love a place that lets you feed baby goats bottles of milk.

When we got the milk, the sweet old lady looked at Hollis and said,"My, you are really dressed up to come to the farm today."

Oh.  So that's what she meant by that comment.

We had to run through the sprinklers to get all the goat poop off of us.

Then we just smelled like two old wet goats.

Two free samples of really cold beer on a 101 degree day?

It doesn't get any better than that.

We were only in St. Louis for 3 days and I felt like we barely scratched the surface.

I kept telling Jason-we can't leave yet- we haven't even shopped! :)

He didn't listen. We still left.

It was so good to get away.

But you know what?

It was good to come home again too.

It always is.