abbygraykit's Profile

I painstakingly painted a Craigslist Jenny Lind bright red too for my girls & we love it. I want the azure one. LOVE!

I like Garnet Hill b/c they have great prints but I wait for their sales!

I made gingerbread house with my kids last night & they turned out amazing-even the 3 yr old's! This is our 4th yr in this tradition. I used a hot glue to assemble the house first which worked out beautifully. Icing takes several hours to harden and we've had fallen roofs & sliding walls in past yrs which made the whole experience not so fun. This year, they were set up in 5 minutes but obviously, they can't be eaten. Also, leftover Halloween candy makes an excellent addition to the decorating stash. Last tip- we bought the kits. The 3 yr old's was pre-assemble from Walmart. The others were from Toys R Us and included pre-mixed icing in a tube requiring just a snip of the corner...easy-peasy.

I remember that Christmas. I wanted a CPK So bad, specifically a redhead w/ pigtails & green eyes. I remember, first, opening my stocking which held stickers that read "I *HEART* MY CPK" but I was convinced there wouldn't be one under the tree since they were in such high demand. Thanks to some very well-connected friends, my Dad (err, I mean Santa) was able to find me Morgan, my redheaded pigtailed CPK with green eyes! I was SO happy!

Don't invite your family because they will promptly give you a call afterwards giving a full review of what they thought of your get-together. The criticism will range from how they couldn't eat because you're obviously filthy since you have an inside dog and animals belong OUTSIDE the house even when its 50- degrees and raining, the mash potatoes were lumpy, the leaves weren't raked, your back door was nasty from where the dog jumps on it & you should've remembered to swipe it with Windex before they arrived and the string beans tasted like they were from a can. These will be reeling through your head as you prepare this years' meal for these ungrateful folks. Oh wait-maybe that's just MY family. ;)

Wait. $17 per hour?!!! Where do you live?! The going rate for a sitter around here (Richmond, VA) is $10 per hour and I have a hard time with THAT amount!

My babies get in the tub with me. Sure I've gotten sprayed with newborn poo once or twice but...

I am thinking that the people who commented about sweet, generous grandparents and being ungrateful children/grandchildren have never had to deal with this problem. My Mother decided years ago that she was going to start Christmas collections for my children...each one. For my daughter, she decided on Byer's Dolls. These are heinous Colonial Williamsburg-ish figures dressed in dark tones (just so happen to match the colors of her home) They have these creepy paper mache faces with their mouths in O's as if they're singing. This collection became set in stone when my daughter, as a tiny toddler, imitated their faces (I never ceased to hear this story) when she unwrapped it. I have 10 years worth of these figures. For my son, she started collecting those little lit porcelain houses that people set up as Christmas neighborhoods in a bay window. She was "terribly hurt" when I mentioned that these were much more fitting to her decor and I felt like I was being overtaken by her choice for Christmas decorations. I hate hauling them out each year. On top of that, my Grandmother has decided a great collection for them is the musical Hallmark animal that they come out with each year. Groan. Needless to say, Christmas decorating is miserable each year with this pile of crap displayed around my home. Wouldn't want to seem ungrateful, right?
Add that to the fact that my Mom thinks that babies under age 2 should only wear smocked clothing & HUGE bows, I'm going nuts over here. She buys these things with lace and smocking & expects my kids to be dressed in them every time she sees them. She is even more more verbal if whatever it is that doesn't meet her approval is a color other than pastels. I will never forget our first outing-a family get together to introduce my baby to the family. My Mother walked in the back door and exclaimed loudly, "WHAT does she have on? WHY would you dress her in THAT?" It was a pale Polo dress to match the Polo my hubby was wearing (we were told to match for photos). She took her from my arms and immediately re-dressed her in an over-the-top lacey smocked # she'd brought as a gift. Ungrateful for their "generosity"? Somehow, I don't think so.

Missoni chevron-I can only thing of Charlie Brown's shirt...
I heard about the Target hype. I still don't undertsand it.

We have a chalkboard (originally from an elementary school) hanging in our dining room. This is the best way to homeschool! Our oldest taught her little brother mathematics from her own schoolbooks. Last year (his 1st grade year) was the first year I actually bought him his own math curriculum and he tested straight into 3rd grade math! LOL!