All is quiet in CoMo - Chaney Christmas catch up!

While Addie is snoozing I will sneak in a post about what's been going on with us Chaneys the last week.

We are currently in Columbia, MO (hence the CoMo) visiting Sabian's family. I'm hanging out with Addie in our hotel room while she is taking a MUCH needed nap. She's been a bit crabby today and I am hoping she'll wake up a happier girl.

It's always a whirlwind, getting ready for a trip, and no less so when you throw Christmas festivities in the mix. We designated the Friday before we left to be the day we would celebrate our little Chaney Christmas so Thursday night we were busy staging the set up.

You'll notice I look a little crazed in one photo. It's not because I was overwhelmed with what was left to do - all I had to do was wrap presents and as far as trip preparation, at that point I was feeling pretty good about that, too. No, it was probably more so because my stomach was killing me. A certain place I like to eat in town always tears up my stomach...but I keep going back for more. I distinctly remember saying to Sabian that night, "Please remind me of this the next time I want to eat at..." We'll see.

Sabian was putting together Addie's car while I wrapped. You might also catch a glimpse of my advent calendar in the first photo. I decided to tackle making an advent calendar since I wasn't quite finding one I liked and the ones I did like were pretty pricey. It isn't completed and we didn't even start it on time, but we filled it anyway and let Addie go through it the morning of our Christmas. We quickly found out how much our girl loves Laffy Taffy...next year it will be in moderation. This year, I figured a little candy for breakfast was okay.

We had fun opening gifts with Addie. She was fun last year but knows more of what to do this year and she helped us, too. Knowing that ours was just the first of three Christmases we would be participating in, it made me even more excited that we would have more fun with her with our families.

The rest of the weekend was a busy one. Sabian was wrapped up with something our kids were supposed to be part of as Wewa's Christmas celebration. It involved standing outside all day and it just so happened to be a cold, rainy day. Needless to day, it wasn't ideal, but they got through it in time for the evening fun. That night was Wewa's Christmas parade, which, again, Addie was able to enjoy more this year.

You'll have to excuse the poor quality of the photos. I still don't know what setting is best for our camera at night and quite frankly, I just want a new camera. But, this one does for now. Addie ended up with all the beads she could wear and all of the candy she could eat and some weird, naked doll with an afro that the Shriner's handed to her. When the guy gave it to her, you should have seen the look that Sabian and I exchanged.


From there our focus turned to getting through the rest of the weekend and preparing for our trip. Now we are in coooold Missouri and will head to coooold Illinois tomorrow after our Christmas festivities with Sabian's family. Addie is enjoying playing with all of her cousins, so much so that it has been hard to get her to sit down long enough to eat at times. I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family and seeing some friends along the way. I'm just hoping this winter weather they are predicting won't hamper our travel plans. On the plus side, we could have a white Christmas!

This may be my last post before Christmas so...Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing time with your family and friends.

I am thankful!

Have yourself a crazy little Christmas...

Last Wednesday night instead of regular youth service we had our youth Christmas party. 

Mayhem ensued. But, that's what you get when you have a group of teenagers creating human abominable snowmen (not pictured), bobbing for marshmallows in whipped cream (guys against girls), Siamese gift wrapping and just generally having some good ol' Christmas fun.

 We also did one of those "guess how many pieces of candy in the jar" contests and the girl above guessed right on the dot! Now that takes talent.

We had a good time, as we usually do, and got everyone full and happy on cookies and cupcakes.

I am thankful for our youth group!

A peaceful moment and an edit

First, the edit. In my last post I said, "Well, Christmas is certainly upon us. Complete with cold temperatures even here in Florida..."

As it turns out, it is 70 degrees here today. I promise, we have had cold temperatures and I haven't been complaining, but today isn't bad, either.

While Addie is down for a nap I am taking some time to work on some edits for a freelance assignment I did last week and I figured I might as well indulge in this:

I'll even admit that this is my second pint of the season. But, what's a girl to do when it is limited edition and my coupon was for $1 off TWO pints? At least I can say I haven't eaten them in one sitting. In fact, I just cracked this one open. But, I may need to polish it off before we leave for home. Wouldn't want it to go bad or anything...

Addie and I spent the morning on some fun visits, deliveries of sorts.

We were delivering these:

 

Cinnamon honey butter. Thanks to my friend Lee Ann, who introduced me not only to this recipe but the blog that it originated from, our little tokens that we try to give out each year were made fun and relatively easy. Lee Ann made cinnamon honey butter last year and passed it on to us along with rolls she made. When I was thinking of what to make this year my mind went back to that butter, which was really good. Last year I baked a few different types of cookies, dipped pretzels - the whole big baking deal. I like doing it, but this year I wanted to simplify. This was perfect. We still have a few to give away but we had fun delivering and visiting this morning. On our first stop Addie wasn't too willing to hand over the cute little Christmas bag she apparently became attached to between the car and the house, but by the second house she had it down. I'm looking forward to delivering the rest.

Oh, and Addie really did help:

I think she had more fun playing in the usually forbidden silverware drawers since she was at perfect height to do so. She probably also thought it was cool to stand on a chair. Last night it was not so cool. While at church she fell off of a chair and apparently bit her lip, causing her to bleed. A lot. I didn't see it happen, but two of the younger girls went over to check on her and I saw it all as they were crouched down talking to her and then announced she was bleeding. There were a few tears and many paper towels, but shortly afterward she was back to her old daredevil self. This morning the only proof she had a fall are a couple of small spots on her lip. Phew. I'm not naive enough to think that that is the last time she will have something like that happen, but I'll be okay if it doesn't happen again soon.

Time to finish those edits and then wrap a few presents. Especially Sabian's goodies while he isn't home!

This is getting me in the mood:

I am thankful that Addie's injury was nothing more than it was!

Merry Christmas begins

Well, Christmas is certainly upon us. Complete with cold temperatures even here in Florida, runny noses (Addie sneezed a big one as I typed this) and the hustle and bustle of getting ready to leave to visit home next week. I thought these runny noses (mine and Addie's) would put a damper on our week but we seem to be over the hump. Still drippy, but getting better.

We have a few Christmas-y things happening this week in the midst of getting things taken care of so we can leave. Last night was our youth Christmas party, Wewa's Christmas parade is this weekend and we are also celebrating our little Chaney Christmas this weekend. Addie and I are also hoping to make some "deliveries" today...stay tuned!

Christmas came a little early this week when we received a visit from our neighbors, the Millers, and they brought this:

Complete with ears that, if pressed, make him neigh, play galloping sounds, move his head and swish his tail. Addie has yet to ride him...I think it kind of freaked her out at first. But, I think she is warming up to him and before we know it I am sure we will find her rocking away.

Just another reason we live next to the best neighbors ever. It was so sweet of them to bring this gift to Addie and she properly thanked them with lots of hugs.

I am thankful for such thoughtful, giving neighbors!

Raindrops on roses and sniffly noses...

I don't like leaving the blog dormant for a week due to laziness. If gone on a trip or sick or tending to a sick someone then yes, no problem. I will say that we've been busy but at the very least I could have posted a tidbit of something.

Alas, here we are, battling the sniffles and cooped inside because of those sniffles and the cold. Yes, it is cold here in the panhandle. Addie's congestion was threatening us on Saturday night, made a full on appearance on Sunday and is still running strong today. We are going on our third day of not leaving the house. Yesterday I thought, "hey, I'm doing pretty well with this," and today I realize that positivity is waning. I just want Addie better. It never fails, just as we are to head out of town, she gets sick. I've been praying that it stays where it is, doesn't develop into an ear infection and that what needs to get done this week (a lot) will get done. She's doing pretty well, considering, but as my to do list is long and her attention span is short, sometimes the two just don't mix. Oh, and did I mention I now have the sniffles, too? Popping the decongestants as often as they allow...

But, we barrel along. We were busy this past weekend. I took some of our high school girls out while a some of the guys stayed behind and trashed, er, got comfortable, in my house. Addie hung out with Sabian and the guys and from what I hear, had a blast. Us girls had a good time, too. We did a little shopping, saw Tangled (pleasantly surprised!) and had some food. It was a late night, but a good night. Too bad we forgot our cameras.

Saturday we ran errands but took some time out to see some more lights. These lights are at the marina in Panama City.

Earlier that day we were at the mall taking care of a couple of things (as quickly as possible - malls + Christmas = reminders of my retail days) and passed by the arcade, which, of course, drew Addie in. We thought she would love playing in the balloon pit (?) and all signs seemed to point to yes, until she got in there.

She wasn't thrilled. Even when Sabian went in with her she was still not too excited. They employee at the counter graciously offered to refund our $2, which we accepted. She was much happier "playing" the driving games, which was further confirmation that she will love the car we got her for Christmas.

Yesterday Sabian brought home a pet.

While helping some of the ladies set up for an event at church, they stumbled across this little guy. Not so much stumbled as screamed, but Sabian felt bad for him because he was so cold and brought him home to show Addie. He stayed in the cup most of the day before Sabian took him back.  I was sure I would glance in the cup at some point and he would be gone but thankfully he remained in the cup.

Well, that's us for now. Back to my list. Addie and I were going to make the trek to Panama City today but I think we'll wait until tomorrow when it is supposed to climb into the 50s. Maybe we'll at least make it to the post office!

I am thankful for what I have been able to get done so far...and looking forward to more!