Here and There

1. Trying to be sneaky 2. Caught red handed 3. Contemplating her escape from the laundry mat 4. Checking out guns with her daddy and Brian 5. Tuckered out

Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Christmas Eve was also Rex's birthday, so we spent the day with his sisters Stephanie and Julie, and Stephanie's boyfriend, Brian.  We went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and then cruised around some shops to pick up some last minute things for Christmas.  Later that night we went to Stephanie and Brian's for cake and presents.  I made Rex his dark chocolate cake with orange cream filling and chocolate ganache :) yum!

Christmas morning was wonderful.  Kylie actually slept in until almost 10 o'clock, gasp!  She loved opening all of her presents.  She wasn't thrilled with clothes, if she saw them in a package she would shake her head no and toss it to the side.  We had Christmas dinner with Rex's family and it was especially lovely because we were able to bring Rex's grandma over from her nursing home for it. 

We then headed back to our little trailer where Kylie proceeded to take a two hour nap.  Yes, our child decided to be nice to us.  Rex and I took advantage of that two hours by napping as well.  It was glorious.  Absolutely glorious.  We then went to Jack in the Box for a quick bite (a Rexrode family tradition I'm told) and headed over to his sister's house to open presents with them and a couple hours of Dance Central on their xbox kinect. 

We headed home in the wee hours of the morning and tucked the Bug into bed.  Rex and I gave the chihuahuas some treats and settled in to watch a couple of episodes of Supernatural before hitting the hay.

Reflecting

I'm sitting here in one of our armchairs, sweats and moccasins on.  Kylie is asleep in her pack'n'play a mere three feet away and the chihuahuas are eating their dinner.  Yes, they are little vampires and refuse to eat during daylight hours.  Tell me about it. 

I can hear the rain pounding on the roof of our little trailer we call home for right now.  Lightning is flashing and thunder is roaring.  These storms in the South aren't for the faint of heart, that's for sure.  The whole sky lights up so I can see the whole landscape bright as day for a split second.  A quick relief from the dark storm. 

A few minutes ago I was out in the thick of it, bringing in our bags and quickly carrying a sleeping toddler in my arms, all snug as a bug in her SpongeBob blanket.  It was a long day.  Laundry and dishes at home in the morning.  Working at the daycare all afternoon.  Heading to the restaurant straight after to wait tables until nine o'clock.  Driving my sorry butt to my sister-in-laws to pick up Kylie where I was greeted with a wonderful dinner of grilled chicken and green bean casserole.  We watched The Help as Kylie got into mischief.  Christmas ornaments are quite fascinating.  As are all of the presents that should be opened NOW and not on Sunday. 

Kylie even got a bow stuck on her little butt.  She decided that a box must be unwrapped and opened.  We stopped her from completely unwrapping it, but she had already gotten the bow off and thrown aside and one corner of the present was peeking out of the paper.  In her fit of rage over having the present being taken away, Ky plopped down on her tush right onto the bow, which promptly adhered itself to the seat of her fuzzy jammies.  She didn't even notice so we all had a good laugh as a strange little combination of Christmas and the Easter Bunny walked around the living room smiling at us.

It did my heart good seeing my little daughter with a bow on her silly butt.  Her wide grin as if she were in on the joke with us.  Running up to her aunties to give them great big hugs.  Cuddling with me as we finish the movie.  I love coming home to that.  I know that I at least did one thing right in my life, and I sigh in peace.

Tis the Season

A napping kiddo makes my day :)

to be crazy. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Yep, losing my ever freaking mind over here.  I feel bad.  With me working two jobs right now and Rex with his job, we barely have time for each other, let alone Christmas stuff.  Our little trailer is pitifully devoid of decorations, save for our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  Plus, it's a hot mess.  Clothes everywhere, dirty dishes, junk mail, toys and books strewn about.  The carpet is begging to be vacuumed and steam cleaned. 

Technically, I should be cleaning right now.  The Bug is asleep and the chihuahuas are napping as well.  But I keep finding reasons, because, well, I sure can't vacuum right now because it would wake her up, and so on.  I need to get my butt into gear though, since I want to make some Christmas decorations as well.  I love me some paper garlands and I've been dying to try out some paper snowflake tutorials.

A holiday remix

My darling husband's birthday is Christmas Eve, so I'm trying to figure out how to make his day special and separated from all the Christmas activities.  Plus, I need to wrap all these presents and try to keep his nosy little self out of them this week.

But now the Bug is stirring and I've got some cleaning to do.  Have a good week before Christmas y'all.

I Got a New...

Job!  Yep, that's right.  I got a second job.  It's been really slow at the restaurant lately, like 2 tables a night slow.  Two tables a night equals anywhere from $10-$15 in tips, which does not pay the bills.

When I first moved out to Texas I put in an application at the church day care that my sister in law works at.  Well, they finally had an opening for a teacher and the the director gave me a call last Thursday.  I had my interview on Friday and got hired right then and there.  After the boatload of paperwork necessary for working in the child care industry, I started on Monday.

I'm the new afternoon teacher in the tiny tots classroom.  I have 5 kids that range from 12 to 18n months.  It took a bit of adjusting with dealing with five kids that age when I'm used to only having Kylie around.  Luckily I have some little sweethearts in my class that help me clean up and hold the other kids hands when we go on our walks.

Kylie goes to the day care now since I work there.  She is just there for 4 hours in the afternoon when Rex is also at work.  She really enjoys being around kids her own age and interacting with them.  No one in our family has kid's her age so the chihuahuas have been her playmates in the meantime.  Luckily she hasn't growled or tried to bite any kids yet at day care :)

So that's what's been happening with us lately.  Trying to get ready for Christmas with us working all the time.  Seeing if we will be able to move back to California anytime soon. And so forth.  Busy busy busy!