Carly laughs

And it's contagious.

I called that one

Okay. Maybe I didn't actually "call that one", but I should have been able to.

I wasn't surprised when it happened.

Carly bit the inflatable pool/makeshift ball pit and deflated the upper ring.

Good thing I only spent $3 on that pool.

Now...where can I find another $3 inflatable pool in December?

December To-Do's

To do or not to do...How about half-do?

My November to-do list is half done. Actually, more than half. A few things on my list were WAY more time-consuming than I expected.

1. Organize my digital photos, including updating my digital picture frame.

Photos have been organized in to folders by year and sub-categories and saved to cds AND an external hard drive. I have not, however, updated my digital picture frame. But I will!

2. Clean out master bedroom, bathroom and closet from top to bottom.
I'm not talking about making my bed and putting away the laundry here, folks. I was moving furniture and vacuuming underneath, I dusted places that my eyes have never seen, I scrubbed everything by hand with a lot of elbow grease and I even broke out the Mr. Clean Magic eraser on the doors. Bedroom - Check. Bathroom - Check. Closet - no check. Okay, half a check, but it's Freddy half.

3. Fix/Replace the broken blinds in our bedroom and the ones in the kitchen that Lola chewed and ripped apart.

Thank you, honey!

4. Do something new, cool and fun with Miss Carly D.

We built a fort in the living room.

And now for December...

1. Finish my November to-do list

2. Make a homemade Christmas decoration

3. Organize recipes on my Demy (digital recipe organizer available on amazon.com)

4. Try a new recipe

There you have it, friends. Please hold me accountable and tell me what is on YOUR to-do list this month.

Do something Fun, new and exciting with Carly

One of the items on my November To-Do list was to do something new, fun and exciting with Carly.

As the clocked ticked down to December, I struggled to come up with something.

Originally, I had something GRAND in mind. Then I got to thinking- GRAND would likely not fly with my never-sits-still 20 month old. GRAND would go un-noticed by little eyes that are drawn to Christmas Trees in Wal-Mart rather than scenery.

So I came up with this: build a fort in the living room. Fill it with her favorite toys, give her popcorn, brownies and milk and Vwa-La!

Freddy built the fort. I made the brownies and popcorn.

Carly really liked it. Notice I didn't say that she loved it, but she really liked it.

She played and even kicked back in the fort.

But when the fort came crashing down, the flashlight stole the show.

Too bad I didn't get any pictures of daddy's shadow puppets.

Lola is FIVE!

Our first baby, Lola, turned FIVE on December 2nd.

Lola is sweet and has more personality than any dog I have ever known.

She is Carly's best friend and my running companion.

Best of all, she is going to live FOREVER. Yup, forever.

Of course I got her a cake! I get her one every year.

This year I accidentally ordered her a Large cake. Oops!

I cut it up, froze most of it and have been giving some to Lola every couple of days (she's had three "servings" so far).

This morning's conversation with Freddy:

(note: Lola sleeps in our bed, above my head, on my extra pillow - she's a Diva Dog).

Freddy: Lola doesn't need any more cake.

Me: Why not?

Freddy: I could smell peanut butter coming out of her pores all night last night.

Me: But I have half of it cut up in the freezer.

Freddy: Chunk it.

Personally, I don' t think that it was coming out of her pores. I bet he was just smelling her breath, but I didn't argue that point because I didn't think that it was a good one.

Happy Birthday, Lola!

I hope you enjoyed your cake, complete with a Carly hand print.

Puppy Love

Despite the emotion displayed in this first picture, Carly LOVES Lola.

Lola LOVES to give Carly kisses and Carly LOVES to receive them.

What can you do?

Carly's new favorite pastime

Reading to Lola.

On this particular night Carly was reading to Lola about manners.