A Four-day Weekend!

I just had to post this picture.

I snapped it this weekend at my mother's house. Lily was laying on my mom on the sofa and watching Elmo on a portable DVD player. Could she look any more comfortable?

I think it sums up the way everyone feels after a long holiday weekend. After lots of turkey, lots of shopping and lots of family time, everyone just needs to kick back and rest!

In spite of all of that, I could really get used to having a four-day weekend! This was the first time in my life that I had a four-day weekend at Thanksgiving. In the TV business, November is usually a ratings month, which means you can't take time off. So during the week of Thanksgiving, we could either have Thanksgiving day off or the Friday after, but not both. Before I had kids, I would just work Thanksgiving and take Friday off. But once Ann Catherine got here, I stopped working Thanksgiving and worked the Friday after instead. But this year, I got BOTH days off, because we closed the Foundation office on both days.

It was so wonderful!! My mom and I went shopping Friday (in the afternoon, mind you, NOT at 5am!!) I really got a lot done. Chris and I went to Toys R Us today and for the most part, we bought all of Lily and Ann Catherine's Christmas gifts.

We also put our tree up this weekend. I'll post pictures of that later. I have to say, putting those ornaments on the tree with Ann Catherine was one of the highlights of my life. Every time she picked up a ornament, she would say, "Oooh, look at this!" She had so much fun. This is the first year that she has understood it's Christmas.

Christmas day is going to be a blast!

The Birthday Week is Over!

Seriously, how can a one-year-old's birthday last an entire week?!

It all started last Saturday when we had Lily's birthday party. Then a few days later we celebrated her actual birthday. On a side note, I took that day off and it was one of the best days I've ever had. Chris and I took the girls to the mall and had lunch. After that, we walked to the other end to see Santa. Ann Catherine didn't want to sit on his lap, but she did tell him she wanted a Wiggles guitar like Murray. Lily, on the other hand, sat with Santa and got her picture made. We really had a wonderful day!

Friday, we took cupcakes to Lily's school and celebrated her birthday with her class. Just as she did at her birthday party, Lily tore into her cupcake. It was hilarious! The other children still had their cupcake intact, but Lily's was shredded to pieces. I included a couple of pictures above.

Yesterday Ann Catherine asked, "Mommy, is Lily's birthday over?"

"Yes, baby it is," I answered.

Just in time to get ready for Christmas :)

My Baby Turns One!

This weekend, we had Lily's birthday party. It was a blast!

When Ann Catherine turned one, I bought a small cake for her to tear into. She did, but with a bit of trepidation.

Not Lily Baker.

I placed her cake in front of her, and she dug in! She had icing from the top of her head, to her belly. And she just kept stuffing cake in her mouth! It was hilarious! I truly had never seen anything like it. She threw caution to the wind and ate like it was the last supper.

The best part is that once she was through, Chris grabbed her to take her to the tub - and as they were passing through the door, Lily took her hands and shoved what was left on her fingers into her mouth. It was priceless.

I'm sharing some pictures - and then including other ones so you can see how cute she was once she was cleaned up.

It was such a wonderful day! Lily's birthday just reminded me of how incredibly blessed we are to have her. Lily approaches each day as if it's the best one ever. I always say, it must be great to live in Lily's world. She is so happy and full of life. She has filled a void that Chris and I didn't even know existed. And she did it just by being her.

I can't imagine a world without Lily. Luckily, I don't have to. Thank you God for giving us this precious angel!

I Hate the Time Change

I really do.

I have never liked this part of the year, when it's dark at 4:45 p.m. It just makes the day seem so long. And by the time I pick up the kids and get them home, it's dark.

I'm one of those people who loves the sunshine. I loved it this summer, when I would get home from work and still have 3 1/2 hours of sunshine to enjoy the outdoors with my kids.

Oh, well. What can you do.

In other news, I have been absolutely exhausted. I've been working on a huge project at work that I'll blog about later. In the meantime, I'll be on NewsChannel 19 this week. I'll be on the noon newscast Wednesday with Lisa Washington. Tune it to hear more about this exciting new project!