Where's my camera that I asked for?

I didn't put this video in with the Christmas pictures because I didn't want to overwhelm people with pictures and videos all at once. This video is a little reminder that no matter how grown the 3 year old seems to be, she is still a toddler that doesn't understand everything. A little background on the video: for weeks leading up to Christmas, we told Jaden about Santa. This is her first year acknowledging that she could sit on Santa's lap, ask for what she wanted for Christmas, and she would expect to see it Christmas morning. So, she asked for a teddy bear. Then, she decided to ask for a camera (which I had already bought for her weeks before, but she just didn't know that)... So, she went back to Santa and told him that she also wanted a camera. This video is from Christmas morning. She is opening Santa's gift. Even though she got the bear that she asked for, she is upset because there is no camera inside the box with the bear. You have to have the volume on to understand this video. Enjoy!

Peek A Boo

LeCount and I were working all day today, so my mom came by to watch the girls. It sure was nice because we were able to get 4 "shops" done!! If we had had to do the assignments alone, we would have only gotten 2 done today. Anyway, the girls had a BLAST with Grandma Leslie. I got to see one of the funniest things I had ever seen Morgan do when my mom put a blanket on her head. She walked around like a ghost for awhile before taking the blanket off and saying "peek-a-boo". So, she keeps handing me the blanket now to put it on her head. This is a clip of her peek-a-boo game. Listen closely at the end for when she says "peek-a-boo".

Morgan has been mimicking all of the short words and sentences we say. It is so cute, but you have to listen closely, and kind of know the context to understand what she is saying. She'll say "Thank you", "go", "stop" and "I love you", and when she wants something to eat, she says "yum, yum". Today, she even said "diaper". When I thought that is what she said, I asked LeCount to check her diaper and see if she was trying to tell us she was dirty- and sure enough, she was! She's an incredible little 11 month old!!!

My favorite Christmas pictures this year

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas!!!! I have to start by saying something that isn't Christmas related (because it is on my mind right now). I picked Morgan up and tipped her upside down, and she started giggling really hard. As she did that, I saw 2 top teeth!!! Yay for Morgan!!! They haven't actually popped through her gums yet (which explians her crankiness the past 4 days). They should be out in a couple more days though- too early for a picture.
Now on to the Christmas celebrations: On December 24th, we had Aunt Audra, Uncle Clay, Aunt Roxanne, Aunt Chris, and cousin Kacey over. We all had a good time eating, opening presents and chatting. The girls had fun going wild throughout the living room. I put some of the pictures in the montage, but I am going to put some of my favorites up as regular pictures seperately (for those that can't sit through a 2 minute montage of our Christmas pictures).
Today, Christmas day, we woke up at 8:30AM (to Jaden's scream that Santa had come to our house). We had a VERY small Christmas- one present from mommy and daddy, one from Santa, and Grandma Frances left one present for each of them, too. You can't tell we had a small Christmas because they got presents from Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and friends, too. They were inundated with gifts!!
After we opened gifts, we got the food ready, and Grandma Leslie, Grandpa Lyale, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Bryan, Aunt Amy, and cousin James came over. More presents, and more fun for all of us!!!
Thank you to everyone who helped make this Christmas special (including those who are out of town)!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Allergy season continues

Morgan is still suffering from allergies (going on 4 months now). Mine has cleared up for the most part, but Morgan is at the yucky runny nose stage. Jaden has been trying to help me by wiping her nose. It is just so funny to see them interact. I just had to get a video of them.

Christmas in Melissa, TX

I took Jaden to the Christmas Celebration in Melissa tonight. It is going on every night until December 31st, but this is the first time we made it out. It is actually a fundraiser to raise money for Up to Par Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes awareness of teen suicide prevention. The organization is planning to use the money to have 30 assemblies in high schools around the area to educate schools about preventing teenage suicide (taken from the McKinney Courier Gazette Star). They were supposed to have real snow, but were not able to raise enough money. Instead they had a playground, 75 or so lit Christmas trees, a lit up maze through the 7 acres, Santa, and hot air ballon rides (on Fridays and Saturdays). Jaden was happy just playing on the play equipment and seeing Santa. The next day, I was talking with a friend, Dawn, who lives in Anna, too. She said that the fundraiser is actually going to help the man running the Christmas in the Park. She asked him where the money was going. He told her that is was going to help put together assemblies in schools in the area. When she asked what the money was actually being used for, he said it was to pay him for going around to all of the schools to speak... Hmmmmmmmmm... Watch out where you put your money. We didn't donate anything, but now seeing Jaden's picture with "Santa" (who is the man who put all of this together for his own gain) is kind of creepy. Therefore, I removed his picture from this blog.

The booty shop

We took Jaden to the booty shop today (her words, not mine- she can't say beauty, so she says booty). She got her hair braided, in time for Christmas. She hates the process, but she hates getting her hair done in general. She cried and complained the whole time (1 1/2 hours), but at least it's over now. Kara, the hairdresser, gave her the head she practices on to keep her focused on something else. It worked for about 5 minutes. The rest of the time, we had to sing songs and try eveything to distract her... We won't be doing that again for awhile- I am EXHAUSTED!! But, it was worth it.

A look back- Baby Jaden

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

">
I put together this little montage because I don't want to leave out Jaden's milestones. When Jaden was born, I wasn't blogging. I missed blogging about the first 2 1/2 years of her life. This is a recap of what was missed. This is from birth to 6 months. I don't want to overwhelm you with precious baby pictures all at once, so I will put them on here in 6 month increments. Jaden was born August 5, 2004 at 3:16 PM. She weighed in at 9 pounds, 15 ounces. Enjoy!

Mommy Jaden

Jaden has been doing this for awhile, but last night, I decided to take some pictures. She loves to play mommy to all of her baby dolls and stuffed animals. She sits them up in chairs to eat or watch T.V., and then, she puts them down for a nap. It is so sweet because it is all for real to her. She gets upset if Morgan disturbs her baby while her baby is trying to sleep. Usually she'll have 3 babies asleep at one time- all laid out on the couch, floor or bed. This is just a small look at her work.

Playing at Willow Bend

Yesterday, Saturday was a big working day for us, and so is today. LeCount and I have an assignment to do a theatre check at the Dallas Cinemark on Webb Chapel. It's an all day check of "I am Legend". LeCount can't stand Will Smith, and since he is the main character, it is kind of funny that we got that assignment. LeCount did the check yesterday. He took a break at about 5 PM and met us up at the mall. I decided to take another video of Morgan's walking because she is walking 90 % of the time now. As you can see, she is still a little wobbley. The girls had fun seeing Daddy, but they paid more attention to the toys than their parents. Hahahahaha!!! At one point, Morgan knocked a little girl down (the little girl was probably about 16 months or so). After knocking her down, she pinned her down. She had her whole body on top of her, and then, she gave her a big, nice and wet kiss!!! I would have gotten a picture of it, but I was too busy trying to break it up. Everyone around her was laughing and saying how cute it was. The little girl that she tackled just laid there. Even after I got Morgan off of her, she didn't want to get up. I guess she wanted another kiss (that is what I was afraid of). Morgan loves to kiss everyone, but I have to draw the line on kissing strangers... They could have a cold or something!! Hahahahaha!!
Today is my turn to view "I am Legend" all day. I am going to have to accidentally on purpose go into some different auditoriums, because that is not my kind of movie. Some of these theatre checks are long and drawn out, but this is our worst one (and best one in terms of money) yet. I have to be at the theatre by 11:30AM, and I will be done with my assignment by 3:00AM tomorrow morning... So, about 15 1/2 hours!! But, this is our work for now. At least. for the most part, it's pretty laid back during the day. The hardest part is after I get home. I'll get home at about 1:00 AM (If the manager cooperates and gets me a report on time), and I will spend 2 hours working with numbers and entering the information on the computer.
Well, 9 more days until Christmas!!! Jaden is so excited!! Everyday she asks me if it is Christmas yet. Of course, Morgan is clueless about what is going on... It will be fun when both of them understand.

American Girl

Daddies just can't appreciate a store and restaurant built around dolls!! We went to American Girl at the Galleria. They have tons of dolls, doll clothes (and matching clothes for the girls to wear), accessories, books, and everything else that pertains to dolls. They have a restaurant where you get to have your "baby" eat with you, too. If you don't have an American Girl doll, they provide you one to have at the table. Here is the web-site: http://www.americangirl.com/
Just like you doll- the only one that comes semi-close to looking like Jaden:
http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/html/ProductPage.jsf/itemId/113382/itemType/FG/webTemplateId/3/uniqueId/86/saleGroupId/127

Bitty Baby doll that comes close to looking like the girls:

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/html/ProductPage.jsf/itemId/114208/itemType/FG/webTemplateId/3/uniqueId/95/saleGroupId/129

The girls had fun, but, of course, Jaden was disappointed to be leaving the store WITHOUT a doll. The cheapest doll they have is the Bitty Baby doll for $42. It gets higher than that when you have to buy them outfits and shoes. They are really cute dolls, though. Maybe one day...

Christmas in Corinth, TX

Christmas came early in Corinth. LeCount and I had an assignment at Grapevine Mills on Friday and Saturday (12/7/07 & 12/8/07). While LeCount and I were surveying people at the movie theatre, we needed some babysitters. Grandma Leslie, Grandpa Lyale, and Uncle Kevin watched the girls on Friday. The girls had a lot of fun, but they wore grandma out. Since grandma has a broken leg, she can't keep up with them like she thought she would be able to.

On Saturday, we switched up the babysitters to give grandma a break. Aunt Janet & Aunt Reita (good friends of ours, not actual aunts, but that is what we call them) watched them. When LeCount and I got back from doing our surveys, we hung out and talked with them for awhile. When we were about to leave (about 10 PM), Aunt Reita asked if she could go ahead and give the girls their Christmas gifts, since we might not see them again before Christmas. Jaden has been asking me for about a month now when it is going to be Christmas, and every day, she checks with me to see if it's Christmas yet. So, I told her that Aunt Reita said that it was Christmas at her house. Jaden went crazy with joy!!!! Aunt Janet & Aunt Reita got the gifts out for them, and they tore through the gift bags. Morgan was enjoying the tissue paper, and Jaden liked the cars the best. I think they had about 10 gift bags full of toys and clothes total... Plus a gift for the parents: diapers we won't have to buy!!! And a Walmart gift card that we can use to get a discount on gas (after all of our driving back and forth that day, we used up about $25 of gas, so that was great!!!)

Santa's Village in Richardson, TX

We went to Santa's Village yesterday. Jaden had a lot of fun going to all of the pretend shops. Her favorite part, of course, was Santa. She asked him for a bear. Morgan sat on his lap with her, and she didn't even cry! Morgan sure gave Santa a look, though. She was looking at him like she was saying, "What is the up with your face?" It was too cute!! We went on a Thursday because I thought maybe the lines wouldn't be so bad, but I was wrong. Jaden and I waited in line for Santa for about an hour.

The Marrs came with us, but we didn't get to see them too much during the chaos of standing in all of the lines. Grandma Leslie broke her leg a couple of weeks ago, so she had to spend most of the time sitting down. So, we headed over to their house afterwards, so that we could spend some time with them.

Fun for everyone at Backyard Adventures!

We had fun visiting Wooden Swing today. They sell "Backyard Adventures" outdoor play systems. This was the first time that Morgan has ever been in a swing. She was so excited!!! I guess we'll be making more trips to the park so that she can swing.

Jaden asked Daddy to go down the slide with her. He didn't want to. However, with much prodding from the sales lady and myself, he finally gave into the peer pressure. What a wonderful daddy!!! Of course, it made for a funny picture, too.

These are great play systems, and they are on sale in December for 20 % off (plus free delivery & set up). So, for the low price of approximately $3200 you can go with the basic slide and fort (swings not included). You can always add on to your play system later, or they have financing options available as well. You can have a $20,000 play system in your backyard if you want. Hahahahahaha!! In case anyone is interested- They do come with a lifetime warranty.

I think we'll just stick with what we have, but we did have fun pretending to be interested (as part of the mystery shopping- see other blog below).

Mystery shopping

I have been busy with assignments lately. This is just a mini overview of what I have been up to and what is coming up in the mystery shopping world:

Last Saturday I spent the day in Bonham at the Majestic 6 watching the movie "Enchanted". It was a covert assignment. I had to count how many people attended each show time that day (4 show times total). I also had to somehow not get found out. At first, I thought, "How in the world can I go to a small town movie theatre that only has 6 screens, and nobody notice that I have been there watching the SAME movie ALL DAY!" Well, I don't know how I did it... Mission completed!! "Enchanted" was an average movie. After seeing the trailers, I expected it to be wonderful, but most of the funny parts they already showed in the trailer. So, I give it a C+ (If my opinion is worth anything).

Monday, I shopped Centex homes in Prosper. I had to pretend to be a single person looking to buy a home. That went well... Except... I wish I could buy one of the homes!! They were gorgeous!!! If you are looking for a new home, and want to move to Prosper, you can check out the homes here: http://www.centexhomes.com/Dallas/N46339.asp They have 27 house plans. If you are looking for a one story, check out the model home called Taylor.

Tuesday (today), Jaden and I shopped Tommy Hilfiger. We had to shop 2 different stores (and they require a reimburseable purchase). At the kids store, Jaden got a beautiful holiday dress. At the adult store, I settled on a plain long-sleeved t-shirt.

Tomorrow will be fun for the girls. After jaden's soccer practice, we will be doing a shop in Dallas. We are going to the Wooden Swing Company. http://www.woodenswing.com/

We don't have anything scheduled for Thursday yet. However, Friday and Saturday we will be in Grapevine Mills at their theatre. While we are there, we will also be shopping Kid Abercrombie. http://www.abercrombiekids.com/kids/index.html

So, as you can see, it seems like a full-time job to me. It's fun, and everyday is a new adventure!

Baby steps

These past few days, Morgan has spent a lot of time practicing her walk. Her is a short video clip from today.

Gooooooaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!

This video is from last Wednesday. The coach told Jaden to take her orange ball, and kick it to the other side of the gym. Once she gets to the goal, she is supposed to kick the ball into the net. However, the play didn't go quite like the coach had in mind... Hey, the finished product was the same though! Hahahahaha!!! One point for Jaden!!!

Where's Morgan?

Morgan's way of hiding... You can't see her, right? I have been looking for Morgan for days and can't find her anywhere!!!

Futbolito (Little Soccer)

Jaden started soccer today. These pictures are of her first practice, and that is her coach. There are seven 3 & 4 year olds, so it was really funny to watch. I don't know how much she learned, but she had fun anyway. They dribbled the ball, and made shots into the goal. He taught them to do toe taps and freeze with their foot on top on the ball. Jaden did about 1/4 of what he said. The rest of the time, she was off in her own little world, fascinated with the soccer ball. One day, she may be the next female David Beckham.

The class is run by coach Camilo Ardila and is part of the On The Ball organization. You can find out more information at: http://otbsoccer.net/aboutus.html

Minute Clinic

What do you do if you find yourself sick and without insurance? Well, you could go to your primary care physician. My doctor said the visit would cost between $170 & $400, and they need the money at the time of service. Then, if you need prescriptions, well, it could easily get to $1000 total. I have been putting off going, but I have been sick for 6 weeks. Now, I know I have sinusitis and my lungs hurt really bad. So, I had to go somewhere, so that I wouldn't wind up in the hospital with an even bigger bill.
I went to Minute Clinic. It's a clinic inside CVS. I had never been to one before. While I knew it would be the same service as my primary care physician, and was shocked at the big difference. I was seen by a nurse. No doctors in the house... She listened to my lungs and checked my vitals. She then entered the information into the computer, and the computer told her what to do... Huh??? Well, it is called "minute" clinic, but good grief! I guess I got what I paid for. For $59, I walked out with a diagnosis (sinusitis and bronchitis) and a prescription for an antibiotic. The starngest thing that happened is when she asked me if I had ever used an inhaler. She told me that I had wheezing in my lungs. I told her that my daughter had the machine at home and the Xopenex that goes with it. She told me to use her medicine... Huh? Is this for real?
It was a very surreal experience. Anyone who has not seen the Michael Moore documentary "Sicko", check it out today. http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/index.html It is great!!! It is not about unisured people, but underinsured people. However, it covers a problem that we have in America. I had access to Cobra after I was laid off from Countrywide. However, our insurance was so bad that I would have had to pay a lot of out of pocket expenses plus the premium ($1110 monthly for our family of 4). So, I didn't see taking the insurance as an option.