Case of the blahs...

I don't like January. No offense to anyone who has a birthday this month but January is just BLAH! It is cold, boring, and slow.
It took us forever to take our tree down. It wasn't a challenge; I just wasn't ready to let go. The presents are opened, the food is eaten and Christmas is over. It is a little depressing. We finally took it down on the 7th.
So when January rolls around I go looking for things to pick me up. Little things, big things, non-boring things. Here is what I have been doing so far:

1. New make-up. I know it's weird but I love it when I get down to the end of a bottle of foundation or the end of my eye shadow and I get to buy new stuff. (I know, the little things.)
Here is what I found...
This stuff makes my skin look and feel so good. buy it! Now! (No, I am not a paid sponsor for Neutrogena. I just love this stuff.)

2. Cooking,
I have discovered a new love of cooking. I am always on foodnetwork.com. I am a huge fan of Ina Garten and I love food. Case in point, I found an awesome recipe for apple turnovers over at The Daily Grapefruit. They were amazing!!!

I also found the best recipe for shrimp and grits. I could like to plate they are so good. When Kevin and I went to Asheville my favorite parts involved food. Tyler Florence's crunchy granola is now a staple in my pantry. Wow, now I'm hungry...

3. Camera
If I have to stay indoors because it is so cold outside I guess I will make the most of my windows. Love the yummy light on Caroline.

4. Music
My favorite Christmas present is a CD my friend Peg makes me every year. It has some amazing bands and amazing songs. This year's CD is now a permanent resident of my car's CD player. My great loves right now are: Warpaint, Throw Me the Statue, The Everybody Fields, Avett Brothers, Iron and Wine, Death Cab for Cutie, Matt and Kim, Ray LaMontage, etc.

5. Books
I love to read. Our book club just met to discuss The Book Thief (AWESOME!) and planned out the rest of the year. My goal is to read all of them. On the list so far, The Glass Castle, Fast Food Nation, 1776, The Lovely Bones, Water for Elephants, The Red Tent, etc. Some of these are titles I have wanted to read and now I have an excuse.

OK, dear Internet. That is my list of things that make me a little happy during my cabin fever. How about you? What helps you make it from January to mid-March?

3..2..1..

So,

What did you do for New Year's?

Caroline and I stayed in our pajamas until about 2:30 PM! on New Year's Day.

Life is good!

You better watch out. You better not cry...

Well,
Caroline must have been good, really good this year.

Like, found a cure for cancer good.

Santa came, and Grandmas bought and Mommy and Daddy indulged and Aunts spoiled etc.

Our car was loaded down when we came back from Wilmington.

Bedtime on Chirstmas Eve

My greatest wish is that this Christmas found you surrounded by your loved ones. That was the best present I received.

To Do List...

Well...
I looked at the date of my last post and then looked at the calendar and all I can offer is my sincere apology. We have had such a busy month and then it became a new month, just like that.

That wasn't fair.

I was just getting the hang of November and then BAM! December drop kicks me in the head.
I will give you an update in the form of my to do list since that is the only writing I have been doing lately.

1. Have a great Thanksgiving! {Check}
We had a lot of family join us for Thanksgiving this year since Kevin had a crazy work schedule. We got to feel just how many square feet our apartment has. We had good food, good conversations and swimming! Kevin's family rented a hotel here in town and got one with an indoor pool. I highly recommend it! The next day we did some sightseeing before everyone left to go home. My favorite part was watching Caroline and Katy play.


2. Spoil my new niece, Ava Grey {To be continued...}

3. Halloween...
When we explained the whole trick or treat process to Caroline you could see the gears turning in her head. "So I get to dress up in my new Cinderella dress, ring someone's doorbell, say "trick or treat" and I get candy? And why can't we do this everyday?"

4. Take Christmas pictures for others...
This has been a lot of fun. Head on over to my website to see the end results:
web.mac.com/toni.walker click on "view images"

5. We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. You can come too, too, too...
Caroline's preschool took a field trip to the Nature Center here in Greensboro. The girls have been learning about different animals and this let them see some up close. They had a blast. The weather was great. We packed a lunch and just let the girls run and play until they literally dropped.

6. Play new game with Grandpa {Check}

7. Test out new rain boots {Check}

8. Be better about updating my blog...

While she is sleeping...

I just found the greatest website. I won't describe it because you just need to go there and play.

picnik.com

Check out my masterpieces...

I love this one. It looks like a 1960s photo.

Fast Forward

{Sigh}



I knew that Caroline loved letters, and numbers, and books. I knew that she would love school but I wasn't prepared for this.

She loves her teacher, Mrs. Shelley. She loves learning about different subjects. She loves her classmates.
When she gets home I can tell what the lesson was about or what they did that day. When she told me I could be Leader #1, I assumed she was line leader for the day. Just today I found her reading a book to her toy puppies. She would "read" the page and then turn the book around for the puppies to see.

I took this picture on her first day of "school". She was so proud of her pink Dora backpack and her blue lunchbox. I have to admit I got a little teary-eyed. She is growing up so fast. She is so independent and so grown. I love her so much, but where did my baby go?

{Sigh}

Caroline says...

{I am totally stealing this idea from Andrea and Shelly. Thanks ladies!}

Caroline was taking her shoes and socks off so she could put her princess dress up shoes on. Kevin suggested she could just leave her socks on. She says, "Daddy, princesses don't wear socks."
Indeed they don't.

We had apples with dinner one night and Caroline asked me to cut the crust off.

(During a quarter moon) "Mommy, I think the moon is broken. I think we need some glue to fix it."

I was trying to make Caroline laugh using her stuffed animal. She had a great belly laugh and then says, "Mommy, you knock me down!"

I was driving to the library when my phone died.
C: Mommy did your phone break?
M: Yeah honey
C: That's ok mommy. You can get a new phone. Do you want an iphone?
M: (laughing hysterically!)
C: I know. How 'bout we go home, have lunch and then we can go to the phone store.
Caroline, if you are buying I am there!