End of the year excitement

For those of you who don't know, I will be starting a new job at the beginning of the year. This wasn't exactly my choice, but it is what it is. It is actually an extremely disheartening story that involves many moral and intelligent dilemmas. I used to work at The Therapy Place and now I don't. Not exactly sure the real reasons they wanted to get rid of me but perhaps I will never know. All I know is the reasons stated were "financial" and I was offered less money and had to work more hours. Enough said. If you would like to hear more on this story please do not hesitate to ask. There are many other issues involved, along with some honesty issues, and I would be happy to share. Just don't want to say too much here.
All I know is....I am a damn good OT if I do say so myself. I have always received the highest respect from previous employers and the parents of the children I treat have always been impressed. Because I have been doing it so long, I might not know the newest treatment, and I am definitely not anal retentive about my therapy, but I think my laid back style works for a lot of kids! So....personally I think it is their loss.
I am now doing home care for Easter Seals. I used to work for Easter Seals when they had a clinic and when the clinic closed I left. Easter Seals has always been wonderful to me and I am so happy to be a part of the organization again. I have been receiving lots of referrals and love the independent atmosphere and the ability to make my own schedule. I also love love love the flexibility and that I can see my children when I want and leave the house at a good hour and pick them up at a decent hour. Being a mom is the best job in the world and having the time that I need with my two precious children is priceless.
So enough about that. Ready to shed the bitter feelings and move towards my new exciting job. As I am writing this, it is actually my second week into the job and I wouldn't change a thing. The children and families are fantastic and everything is amazingly working out. This is wonderful.

Annual New Years

We celebrated with the Crosbys again for New Years. This is the first year since Delaney was born that we have done it child free! The girls went to Grammys and Steve and English's kids went to her sisters. They came over to our house for appetizers and drinks and our big plan was to go to the First Annual Famously Hot New Years downtown. The headliner was George Clinton!!!! Well....the plan seemed good. We headed downtown to find LINES of people waiting to get in. We waited in line and then split up and waited about 40 minutes to get a glass of champagne. We couldn't see the stage because we were like a bunch of sardines. The people there were very nice, mostly middle-aged black men in leather jackets, but it was MUCH too crowded. The news the next day said 20,000 attended and it was in a two lock radius!!!! We never saw the music because we got out of there before it turned midnight. We ended up having an awesome time as we always do with Steve and English but wish the festival would have been a bit better. Randy did some fireworks at home which he has been dying to do so that was good. I know we will spend it with them again next year but unless they change the festival to a larger space, we will probably vacation again with children. Either way...we love spending time with Steve and English. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

** No pics from festival because it wouldn't have been too exciting to see mobs of people and no stage. Guess I probably should have captured that though......

Goodbye to Chanukah with a song

For years we have forgotten to play the Adam Sandler Chanukah song and we finally remembered this year. Delaney danced a little ballet to it.

Bikes, Basketball, and a little alien

Maya feels like such a big girl on her new bike.

Delaney was already leaving her daddy in her dust.

Belle loves going for a spin.

The girls show off on their new Christmas bikes. It is so exciting to have a bike where we can push Maya versus putting her on Delaney's old one and leaning over to not only push her but hold her on. And of course Delaney loves her princess bike that can hold a real Disney princess doll. Thank you Disney for making that a necessary item. ;)

For all you safety peeps, we have since gotten Delaney a new helmet. The one pictured earlier was an old one of a friend of moms and it was broken. She now has a matching princess helmet and a bell. She loves her princess helmet. Randy groaned a little at yet another princess item but I knew she would wear it if it had her favorite princesses on it. It's true. Told ya.

Bubba got Delaney a basketball hoop for Christmas. She already is getting nuttin but net.

Mom got Delaney ET for Chanukah and she watched it with her Grammy and her Nana. The hand holding was more for the older two versus the little one. As she kept saying, "He's not scary". As a side note, Delaney is now obsessed with ET. She quotes him all of the time "Elllliiiooottt, ET..ET...ET, Ouch, I'll be right here". It is really cute. And Randy and I are loving watching it. Goodness it makes you cry.

Christmas!!!!!!

Our annual video to see what the girls' reaction was on Christmas morning. Delaney was sooo excited about her bike (not sure how she pronounced it) and her "green" Barbie from Santa.




This post is a little backwards. I attempted to fix it a million times but the end comes before the beginning. Just ignore. It was too troublesome to fix and I just wanted to get Christmas posted already.



Trying on the new Kermit beanie.

Grammy brought her now annual Christmas breakfast of breakfast casserole and other yummy treats including Mimosas.

A little karaoke mike action.

Delaney resumed her position to open Christmas presents.

Maya's new remote control car.

The Dora ball pit for Maya which would soon become a favorite for both girls.

We had started A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve but didn't get to finish it so Delaney finished it with Grammy.

Mia got a little treat in her stocking from Santa.

Wow. That's a face.

Delaney got a Belle doll to ride with her on her bike. She loved her. I had agonized over which Disney princess doll to get her and decided on Belle. Don't even ask how I came to this decision. It was obsessive and strange about color schemes, etc....Anyhoo...Delaney told me about 3 weeks before Christmas that she didn't like Belle. I freaked out and then started obsessing that I needed to get Ariel. Thank goodness Randy put me in my place and said that was ridiculous. Of course Delaney LOVED Belle. I need to relax sometimes. At least I am aware.

Ball pit action.

Dave brought the kids over on Christmas and Morgan and Delaney, and sometimes Maya, spent the entire night in it. Bubba and Nonna came over for Christmas dinner and we had such a good time with them.

Maya loves Bubba. She immediately went to him and it was so sweet. Big D said "Her big sister wouldn't do that". Yes---true. My little pumpkin definitely is the huggy one in the family.

Some dot dot between cousins.

Kermit and a book.

The monster, a.k.a. Davis, tries to invade the ball pit.

Delaney and Morgan are the cutest together. And loud. Did I mention they are loud?

Tried to capture a cute big of the girls together in their matching outfits. Tried being the optimal word.

Delaney was like a pro already on her bike. She even loved the helmet.




Maya also climbed on her bike immediately.

After the bikes, we headed into see what Santa put in our stockings. We had some fruit too, Maya deciding to eat hers with her mouth versus her fingers. Notice the girls matching tutu outfits. Love em.

I enjoy getting my new Pat Benatar CD on Christmas morning (please ignore the attire and voice and words of the song) while Delaney jams out on her new recorder that was in her stocking.

Randy is not really sure about the Squinkies that Delaney got.

Maya likes her baby sock monkey.

After opening the doggies' stockings, Maya decided to take Tyson's new toy for a little walk.

Christmas Eve

The day was spent doing a little relaxing. Delaney's shirt says "I'm on the NICE list" so she was prepared.

We went to Chik-fil-A for lunch and Maya tore up her nuggets. She actually put a whole one in her mouth when I wasn't looking and I got a little nervous but she handled it.

Maya loved the cow watch that came in her kid's meal.

Maya's first time in a fast food play thing was hysterical. You don't see this, but Delaney placed her shoes in the little cubby where they are supposed to go and then Maya promptly placed her meal prize in a cubby. She was loving it. The cars going by in the drive-thru lane were loving it too.

After a long day of playing, my baby was exhausted.

Randy and I had a little wine while playing Santa. If you don't have wine, the process can be tiring. If you do have wine, it can be a lot of fun.

We are ready for Christmas!!!!!