Getting ready for Valentines Day

While I was making dinner last night Cecelia decided she REALLY wanted to make her Valentines Day cards for her classmates. Since all she really had to do was sign her name and tape a piece of candy to the card I figured I would let her do that. My mom got her Hannah Montana Valentines this year. Then we just went and got a big bag of candy to tape onto each card. The thing is that Cece only has 20 kids in her class and the bag contained 50 pieces of candy...so tempting and not good for my diet. Apparently we don't need to make a Valentines card box. I guess in the past some of the children either forget their boxes or they didn't make one at home at all, so to keep kids from feeling left out they just decorate white bags at school before the Valentines party. I was a little disappointed to hear that because I remember making very elaborate, festive boxes every year for Valentines day. I understand the teachers dilema and I certainly don't want other kids to feel left out either.

My sleeping beauties

My sleeping beauties. At this age Cecelia rarely takes a nap on the weekends but when she does it is so adorable! Cecelia fell asleep watching I was Bitten. She loves that show, actually she likes a lot of shows on discovery health. I wouldn't be surprised if she grew up wanting to be a nurse just like her Mom. Anytime I have my nursing books out she quietly sits and looks at the pictures in the texts, occasionally asking me questions about the pictures. Stanley is usually such a cuddle bug but that particular spot on the back of the couch is Stanley's favorite spot to sleep at.

Issues in our house this week

Our washer and dryer in our home are only a few years old. So imagine my surprise when Aaron's sister who was doing laundry at our house, informed me that the dryer stopped working. For the last few months I have noticed that it hasn't been drying as quickly as it was or should be. It wasn't bad enough to where I was really worried about it though. We were debating whether or not to buy a new set, buy a used dryer off of craiglist or try to get it repaired. Well, we didn't really want to invest in a new set (honestly who wants to spend their disposable income on that?) mainly because we are going to be buying a house next year and it may come with a washer and dryer. In this housing market people are frequently including brand new appliances in order to sell their home. Plus, if we did end up needing to purchase a new set, I wanted to get a pair of front loaders and those are typically pretty expensive(for a quality brand and model at least). Right now we just didn't really want to spend that kind of money. So we looked on craigslist and didn't really find a whole lot. The ones we did find were snatched up before we could even get in touch with the seller. So we decided to try and have it fixed and if that didn't work than we would buy a whole new set. Aaron found a really friendly appliance repair store to fix it for $45...so cheap! Apparently the problem was a simple fuse. It probably cost just a few dollars for the part and it took 5 mins. to fix. Plus Aaron watched him fix it so he knows how to do it himself for any future issues I guess. The best part of all is that it works better than it did before it stopped working. Apparently the fuse slowly goes out. I'm so happy we didn't have to spend a ton of money unexpectedly.

The second issue we had this week was with our new T.V.. The picture was looking kind funny to us. I talked to my friend Rachel and after describing what it looked like she said her T.V. had the same problem and that she thought it was just LCD TVs. Aaron and I discussed returning it and buying a different brand or perhaps a plasma vs. an LCD. Well before going through all the work of researching other TVs, and boxing up and returning the old one, Aaron called the Phillips customer help line. The representative walked him through how to change all the settings to get the best quality picture and he fixed it completely. The picture is 100% better. Plus I called my friend Rachel who was complaining about the same problem and she is having her boyfriend fix hers too. Unfortunately for her, she has had had her TV for far longer than we have and didn't know there was a way to fix it up until now.

I know this is nothing to brag about but it's part of what you have to deal with as a parent.
Cecelia said her first naughty word at school. Well, technically it was at kids club. It was bound to happen someday. Kids repeat everything they hear, and up until now we have never heard her say any profanity. In her defense it wasn't the worst word she could say. I was absolutely shocked and mortified when they told me what happened though. They weren't upset at all. Apparently they hear alot worse all the time:( She knew she was in trouble right away. She didn't deny what happened at all and she told me the truth when I asked her about it. She lost her TV privelages for 2 days because of it. I asked her what punishment she thought was fair and she willingly accepted it. We talked at length about how little girls and any child for that matter shouldn't say those types of things and that sometimes she will hear adults or other people saying those words but that she knows right from wrong and that that's wrong. She usually calls her dad when she gets home from school but she didn't want to call him last night after we got home. She knows that her dad is much more strict than I am ( for example she isn't going to be allowed to date EVER apparently). I just find it hard to keep a stable balance of disciplining but yet allowing your children to be kids and also what are acceptable punishments for children at different ages and developmental levels. Plus what works for some kids doesn't work for others. We have pretty much phased out time outs. At this age she enjoys her DS, watching TV, playing learning games on the computer, playing board games with us, staying the night at her cousins' or having her cousins stay the night at our house, shopping and playing Wii. So we have have lots of opportunities to take away privelages. Hopefully we won't have to very often.
Last night as I was reading Oh the places you'll go by Dr. Seauss, we were talking about how it's important to be successful in school and college. We were talking about college and she said "yeah, college is hard but the parties are fun"...seriously? We may just have our hands full with this one. It's not always easy being a mom but I wouldn's change Cecelia for the world. She has the most amazing personality ever. She is constantly making us laugh with her sense of humor. We have always referred to her as an old soul because since she could talk we have always been impressed by how mature she has always been.

What a little princess

Just a few new pictures of Cecelia. The first picture is of her hair after she got it done at Sweet and Sassy. She went to a birthday party there for one of the girls in her class. While she was at the party my sisters met me at the nail salon next door and we got pedicures. Then after we were done we all went out to lunch at Wheatfields. What a perfect Saturday afternoon. I love Shadow lake town center. It doesn't have as many stores in the outdoor mall as I would like, but it really is overall pretty convenient. I later found out that Cecelia blatantly refused to change into the "costumes" and participate in learning a dance and song with the other girls at the party which was videotaped. Apparently she was very entertaining while all of this was going on. She is just so strong willed. If she doesn't want to do something she puts up a good fight. She later told me she didn't want to get cold in the dress they wanted her to wear. Completely understandable. The second picture is of her after I got her ready for a baby shower we were attending. I curled her hair, pinned it back from her face and hair sprayed it. Then she got a little mascara and lip gloss. She loves getting all dolled up! The last picture is of her after the bath with a towel wrapped around her head (just like mommy does). She does this quite often. She imitates me all the time. She likes to refer to herself as my "assistant". She likes me to ask her to do things or help me get things done around the house. It's so cute. She just got a hair cut a few days ago. We took off almost 3 inches. Aaron and I have talked about cutting her hair to about shoulder length, but I just couldn't bring myself to have them do it. She has a beautiful golden dark blond hair color and I'm not ready for such a big change yet. Last year Kiley cut some of her own hair when she was at her mom's house. So they had to take her to get a hair cut. To fix it they had to cut a lot of length off. Since then Cecelia has occasionally asked if she could get her hair cut like Kiley's was. However since Kiley's hair has been growing back out Cecelia hasn't asked about it the last few months. Cecelia really looks up to and loves Kiley. It's so sweet. I can't wait until Cecelia has another sister (or brother) that she can adore as much as she adores her sister.

Stanley being a little stinker!

Stanley-parked on the back of the sofa, licking a huge wet spot into the couch. It's so gross! This is what Stanley does...I have no clue why either. He is so adorable though. It makes it really hard to stay mad at him. It makes it easier for me not to be too mad at him when I find that he has done this because it doesn't stain at all. Every few months I take my little green machine and clean the sofa and wash the cushions anyways. Between cleanings we just febreeze and all is well. I love this little guy, he's like a son. I was never a dog person before Stanley. Now I love dogs. When we buy next year we will either get another Shih Tzu or a Cocker Spaniel. We'll see, they are both such beautiful, kid friendly breeds.

Stanley got a hair cut

Stanley will never be the kind of Shih Tzu who has really long hair. I say this because he absolutely despises being brushed. He doesn't mind his head and back being brushed but he doesn't like his legs or his tummy being brushed at all. Because of this he has to have a haircut at least twice a year. Usually in the summer time we shave him down (this helps keep him cool too), then in the winter we have to get his hair cut again (I trim up his face, paws and potty parts when they need a trim at home with the clippers). This winter though he had to be shaved, I didn't want to have to do it because I was afraid he would be too cold. However he had so many tangles on his legs and in his armpits we had to start from scratch with a very clean short cut. He is always so soft but when his hair is short he's even softer. My sister gave me the name and number of a really awesome groomer who is just a few miles from our house. Plus, this groomer is about $20 less than what pets mart or any other groomer that I have used or called would potentially charge.

Happy Valentines Day:)

I gave Aaron his Valentines Day present early (coincidentally in time for the super bowl). We got a new Phillips 47" LCD T.V. and since the TV is so large we had to get a new entertainment center too. It has totally transformed the look of the living room. The first night we had it we watched the Grammys and we were stunned at the amazing picture. Then last night we played a game of Wii bowling with Cecelia. It's so much funner on the big screen than on our little 32" in the den. I know I went a little overboard but Aaron works so hard to take care of all of us girls, he really deserved it! Plus, it was about time for a new TV anyways. I'm not quite sure of what all I will be receiving from Aaron for Valentine's day, but all I can say is that I better be getting spoiled all year long...I'm not worried though. I'm pretty lucky, Aaron always gets me great gifts and it's usually exactly what I wanted!