Even More Christmas

Today after the morning service, we came home and started back up on the yard. I immediately threw on tacky old clothes and mowed and edged the yard. Then came in for lunch and went back out to work on the Christmas decorations. Man, I still have some work to do on the weeds in the flower beds. Groan. But otherwise, all looks good! Even better when the sun is hiding. ;)

Believe it or not, I still have a few more things to do. I need to bring out the wreath, add a few things to the new garland around the front door, and then of course the much-needed weed pulling in the flowers beds. Then I'll be done!

More Christmas Prep

This morning, Eric let me sleep in to catch up on my lost sleep from the last few nights. When I woke up around 10:00am, this is what I found in the living room. This is what happens when you leave the men in charge!

This evening, we began putting up our lights outside the house. It's going to be one of those 2-day projects, since we're only halfway done. However, instead of putting up the white icicle lights that we've done every year, we went with red C9 bulbs. Still debating on adding the icicles, but I'm thinking we shouldn't. We still need to bring out the snowmen, wreath, red mini lights to stripe the front column like a candy cane, and I need to rework the decoration around the door. But hey, it's a start.

After we were too frozen from putting the lights up outside, Eric came in the house and made some fresh homemade hot cocoa. He puts vanilla and almond extract in his recipe, and it's awesome! So we had some of this and I could feel my fingers again!

I added some fresh clippings that I picked up today at Lowe's to some of the decorations in the guest bathroom. Eric went with me to Hobby Lobby and he found these great bells for the bathroom. Yeah, I said he. I never would have thought, "Hmmm, those huge metal looking bells would look great in the bathroom." But they do!

I love this bathroom. The pine cones are scented with cinnamon and the fresh clippings smell amazing. I'm loving it. It's like a cute little rustic haven with precious touches of Celeste's handiwork.

This next photo is of the tired, pleased face of a girl who finally got a few things accomplished this week! And yes, I earned every one of those bags under my eyes. Worked hard for them. ;)

Thanksgiving Week

Where in the world do I begin? This week has been absolutely full of interesting days and events.

As I stated in my previous post, Celeste was sent home from daycare on Tuesday due to a high fever. I ended up keeping her at home on Wednesday as well, for the same fever. She had no other symptoms, until late Wednesday afternoon when she told me that her throat hurt when she tried to swallow. So we took her to the UTMB after hours clinic in League City, and found out that she has strep.

Ugh, strep. The night before Thanksgiving. And we had to keep her away from family for 24 hours, so we spent Thanksgiving Day at home, in our pajamas.

It was fun to lounge around all day and look at ads for Black Friday. I'd pulled out the laptop and was planning my day on Friday, with Celeste and Eric helping. The kitchen table was covered in ads.

While we were going through the ads, Celeste drew this beautiful picture of a Christmas tree.

Black Friday:
I was able to purchase the Toys-R-Us items online Thursday evening, and finally made it to bed around 10:30pm. Three hours later, at 1:30am, I barely rolled out of bed and dragged my drowsy self into the shower to get ready for the annual early morning trek. Roughly an hour later, I pulled into the parking lot at Fry's and text my Aunt Cyndi (who was making her way to Target).

At first, I couldn't find the line. I was surprised that at 2:30am, with the doors opening in just a short two and a half hours, there was no line. Then I saw it. There were tents. Several of them, lining the front right perimeter of Fry's. And I'm not talking about the tiny ones that could only possibly hold one toddler; there were huge, 3-room tents as well. Seriously. Now that's a bit insane.

This photo is of one of the tents that didn't pack up. The line moved right past him/her.

Funny thing though is, all of these people camped out overnight, and although I was probably the 150th person in line, I was the absolute very first to check out. And when I exited Fry's, my purchase in tow, the line was still going into the building and I was the recipient of many scared shopper stares as they watched me leaving with a purchase before they'd even entered (bwa-ha-ha).

The day then resumed with a trip to Baybrook Mall (Macy's and some aimless window shopping), then Starbucks, followed by Carter's in Pearland and a meandering trip through the Pearland Town Center.

After a while, I met up with Eric and Celeste and we went out to do some more shopping together. Celeste was feeling much better, was no longer contagious and ready to get out of the house. And I must say, she was adorable.

It was a gorgeous, cold and sunny day. And it was amazing.

Gettin Sum Edumakashun

So this evening, I'm screaming inside with excitement and just have to let it out. Facebook isn't quite appropriate for this, and since this is mainly only read by my family and a few close friends, here goes.

My Day:
Ms. Linda called today just about lunch time to inform me that Celeste was running a 102.0 fever. So I left work and picked her up, and set her up on our bed with all the Netflix kid's movies she wanted to watch at her fingertips, some juice and medicine. Believe it or not, my normally on-the-go daughter stayed in bed for the remainder of the day, burning up. I think it's just one of those 24-Hour bugs that kids seem to get, so I'm going to wait it out and see how things are in the morning before taking her to the doctor.

Being Thanksgiving week, most of the classes at school have let out for the week. However, one of my classes was still having our weekly session at 4:00pm, and after Eric came home I made a mad dash up to the campus.

Managerial Accounting:
So I have this great group of girls that I study with in my Managerial Accounting class. They are awesome. We studied hard together for the last couple of tests because we all knew we had to do something after our first exam. And the study group worked; it has really paid off. I made a C on the first exam (the class average was a low 60, a D), and then an A on the next two (last week's included).

Now, the big news. At the beginning of the class, while I was still at home with Celeste, Maricela (one of the girls) had text me and let me know what my grade was on last week's exam. She asked me the last four digits of my student ID, and I waited...

...and waited

...and waited

...all the while staring at my phone, just waiting for it to light up showing her response. And finally, after much anticipation, it came.

A 100!! I was the only one in the class to make a perfect score!! I'm so ecstatic! And the class average on this exam was a 66!

I'm just still in shock. The professor isn't counting our first exam grade at all, it's been thrown out. So in a class that freaked me out after the first exam, I'm now passing with an A+ average.

It may not be a big deal to you, but it is to me! I'm loving it!

After School:
And then after class, I came home to find my sweetheart snuggled up in our bed, thumb in mouth and blanket in her other hand. She was still warm but still sat straight up in bed just to give me a tight hug and tell me how much she missed my being gone. She warms my heart.

Christmas Weekend

This weekend began with another Thomasson family tradition, the Friendswood Christmas Homes Tour. We met at one of the houses shortly after 1:00pm on Saturday and "Ooohed" and "Awwwed" over the decorations, and there were a few stunned gasps. After the first house (which had a Christmas tree decorated like a Santa Claus), we made the trek to Starbucks and spent a little family time drinking the warm drinks of the season. Then we visited the remaining three houses. I love the tour. It's so much fun every year.

Our day ended with bringing down the Christmas decorations in the Taylor household from the attic. Man, do we have a lot! Celeste was ecstatic about putting up the tree and the train that we have that goes underneath, so we began decorating the house. While we were getting the decorations sorted out, Celeste was playing with her little nativity figurines that were handed down to her from my cousin, Emily. Emily played with this set when she was Celeste's age, or a little younger. Now that she's in college, Emily's graduated to a different type of decorating interest and has graciously shared these little guys with Celeste. Celeste's first thing she said this year when I gave her the little set was, "Mom! Where's the other Jesus?!" As if there were suppose to be two. Ha!

While we were putting together the tree (I somehow forgot to take any pictures of the tree), Celeste was filming us. Of course, this was after she'd given up on hanging ornaments on it herself.

And then I began working on the guest bathroom. It's Celeste's bathroom, really, and I think I'm going to go with a theme more about her this year where I can. In the bathroom, I've hung up a cute little foam wreath that she glued together in Christmas 2008 (she was two), and also a Christmas tree made of her hand prints that she created at Ms. Linda's last year, in 2009 (she was three).

I still need to bring out the garland, and there's a but more to do in here. But for now, it is slowly starting to come together.

Okay, I didn't have these present things meant for the dining table, but Eric likes them so they're staying. I need to work on this a bit more if it's going to stay this way as well. I'm thinking some ribbons? Maybe some picks, I don't know. We'll see!

Celeste is so excited about Christmas. Now that we have the tree up, she keeps asking me if it's Christmas time yet. Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet!

Family Outing

With the work week behind us, we took a little time to relax as a family this evening at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, 888 Bistro. Here are a few photos from the evening.

One of the many perks about 888 Bistro are the little treats they bring you when you've finished your meal. The oranges are sliced and topped with cherries. Yummy!

Just a Few Years Ago...

Three years ago this month, I captured this sweet little video of Celeste playing on our kitchen table. The table was tiny, the flooring still our original builder's carpet, but I wouldn't trade anything for these moments we had with our baby. She was climbing all over the table, saying, "Oooooh, Daddy!" and just being adorable. I miss those precious nearly two-year-old moments!

November 2007

One Little Indian

This evening, as I was walking up to Ms. Linda's house to pick up Celeste, she came running towards me with this cute little hat she'd made flopping behind her. My little indian. She kept singing that she was a girl indian and she had made her little indian feather hat.

I had this huge craving for soup (it's one of those cravings that I can't seem to satisfy, so we made a pit stop at the awesome HEB in Friendswood. Everyone we passed smiled at Celeste and her indian feathers.

The soup ended up being delicious. I threw a lot of things together, and it was packed full of chicken. SO YUM! Okay, time to go to bed. Night all.

Six Years

Yesterday marked the sixth year that we've been married. I didn't know what we were going to do, but Eric had told me that he had something special planned for us. The day began with a quick Christmas ritual - a trip with my Aunt Cyndi to Jackie's private show in El Lago.

Then that afternoon, we took Celeste to my mom's and we went for a nice little trip to Starbucks in Baybrook and walked the mall a bit. And after, we drove up to the Spindletop restaurant at the Hyatt Regency for an amazing dinner and a wonderful time.

Dinner began with the Spindletop's Signature Avocado Dome, and Eric had the Blackened Red Snapper while I had the Filet Mignon. We were stuffed, and weren't planning on doing dessert there because we'd decided on going to The Chocolate Bar afterwards. However, our waiter brought us a Chocolate Souffle and wow, it was incredibly delicious.

Those are rose petals on our table.

Afterwards, we went to the Chocolate Bar anyway, and purchased something small for Celeste, and then we drove back to our part of town and saw "Megamind." Yep, a kid's movie. But man, was it funny!

The day turned out to be quite wonderful, and I really enjoyed it. And the weather was so nice!!! These six years have really flown by fast.

Chocolate Heaven & Randomness

So tomorrow is our big day. At shortly after 2:00pm tomorrow afternoon, Eric and I will have been married for 6 years. It's hard to believe, the time has flown by. More about that tomorrow.

About a year and a half ago, I decided I was fed up with my weight and shape and decided to do something about it. Along the way, I lost about 30 pounds, went from a size 12 to a 4/6 and began working out 4-5 days/week. It was great when Eric began working out with me, too. We'd meet at the gym at the end of our work days and motivate each other. But slowly, things in life have happened to where we don't really do that much anymore. To be truthful, it's 1-2 times/week that we go now, and I wish it was more. This week, I've been sick and those of you who workout know that when you're sick, it feels like you can't do anything when you're working out, or that your have horrible workouts. But last week, we were just busy or too tired. I really miss going to the gym every day!

Why did I say all of that at the beginning of a blog called "Chocolate Heaven?" Here's why. One of my guilty pleasures is chocolate. I love it. If it's in the house, I'll eat it. One of the things I had to change about my eating habits was to make sure we didn't keep any chocolate in the house.

So my dear, sweet husband brought me home a surprise the other evening. He walked in with this bag, and I knew. The purple bag carried the gold metallic logo of one of my favorite dessert places, ever, The Chocolate Bar.

What laid there in waiting were four layers of chocolate cake, each held together by difference types of chocolate filling, and a rich chocolate icing on the top and side, with a smattering of toffee bits on the top. There isn't much about food that really excites me, but this ... is ... amazing! And it's huge, larger than my palm completely spread out.

As I indulged in every bite (of course I shared it, couldn't put this away by myself), I closed my eyes and just focused on the delicious chocolate symphony in my mouth. It was divine. It wasn't until I neared bite 9 or 10 that I thought, "Oh my God, the calories I'm putting away!!" and I stopped. But those bites were heavenly. And yes, my husband is a sweetheart for being so thoughtful.

Poser

So today, Celeste and I had the luxury of staying home while Daddy went to work. We played, giggled, watched movies, made messes, drew pictures, grabbed Chinese food for lunch and had a fabulous day.

One of the things she and I do together involves making funny faces, lots of tickling and running around the house. This afternoon, she and I were on my bed, watching "The Velveteen Rabbit" together on our new wall-mounted TV (that only cost us $44). We started making our funny faces, and hers were so cute! We took pictures and sent them to Daddy while he was working.

She is quite adorable, if I do say so myself.

Special Book

When she walked in the door this afternoon, Celeste was bouncing with excitement about her book that she made at Ms. Linda's. She showed me the cover first, and slowly read through what was printed on it, "This book be-longs to Celeste!" Then she asked me to sit down and she flipped through every page for me, proudly displaying her handiwork. Ms. Linda had given her lots of magazines, etc. full of pictures which Celeste had carefully selected and cut out, then glued onto each page.

(And yes, for all of you who will notice, I'm wearing my Deer Park sweatshirt! Haha)

Sweet Prayers

Yesterday, I was in my Managerial Accounting class at UHCL when I missed a phone call from Ms. Linda, Celeste's daycare provider. So I stepped out of class and found a spot in the atrium where I could get signal, and returned the call.

Imagine, Ms. Linda does not usually call unless something is wrong. So my heart was racing. Millions of thoughts were rushing through my mind. So when she answered, the first thing Ms. Linda said was, "You know that area in the daycare where I keep the foam blocks? Next to the metal shelves?"

Panic. My heart began pounding. "Yes?" I said.

"Well, your daughter was over there playing and she cut herself. It was a very tiny cut on her finger, but she did the cutest thing!"

Relief. A tiny cut, whew! No trips to the ER tonight.

Then Ms. Linda continued, "She said, I have to go pray for this, and she went and knelt behind the little cubby and literally prayed for her tiny cut!"

I can just imagine her now, eyes closed, hands clasped and asking Jesus to take care of her little tiny cut. So cute!

When I asked her this morning to show me how she had prayed for her cut (I'd wanted to take a picture of her pose), she said very matter-of-factly, "I can't remember what I said."

I love her. With all of my heart.

Ribbons and Bows and Tea Parties

This evening finds me sitting in bed, surrounded by a mound of pillows and an array of textbooks, laptop in hand. School work isn't easy when you have a family and a career, but it's important so here I am (writing a blog, haha).

Celeste came in here while Eric was out getting something for us to eat, and in her extremely excited way, she shouted, "Mommy! Mommy!! Come here and see what I made!" Then she took off running, her little feet making that soft pitter-patter sound on our wood floors. I followed her to her bathroom, where she had arranged some of her tea set on the side of the bathtub, and had placed her hair ribbons and bows carefully on each piece. She was so excited about her handiwork that I had to take a photo and share it.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day at a Leadership Training Conference at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. It's part of my requirement, and the best part of the conference was hearing Troy Stende. He was a great speaker and was very motivational. One of the things that he said that has really stuck with me was "The things that we say affect us on a cellular level," and he showed how positive words are very empowering. He handed all of us these blue ribbons that said, "Who I Am Makes A Difference," and today, I gave one to Celeste. I sat her down, had both of her tiny little hands in mine and I told her how special she is to me, and how much I love her and adore her. She's the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen and has the best smile and personality, and I made sure that she knew that today. I would say that I wish you could have seen her smile, but she kept that same smile all day; she was shining from the inside out. And she has not taken off her little blue ribbon.

She is the most beautiful person and I hope that I never forget to let her know that every single day for the rest of her life.