What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home

I love Mom Central and the things they are reviewing and asking us very important "mommy bloggers" to review and try out.

Recently, I was sent the What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home as well as a coupon for a package of Clorox Disinfecting Wipes.

I would not say I am a germaphobe, but I do work in a hospital (I am a finance person, but my office is actually in the hospital) and my kids go to daycare. I know how important it is to wash hands for me at work and for my kids at school. Their school is so psycho about hand washing, Ashley has three sinks in her classroom; one for handwashing after the bathroom, one for handwashing after playing, and one for after eating. She is required to wash her hands as soon as she arrives. I am required to wash my hands when I go into Audrey's room to pick her up.

So when I got this guide, I was excited to read about what I could do in my home. I hate being sick (who doesn't?) and more importantly, I hate it when my kids or even worse, my husband is sick.

Lucky for me, this guide includes keeping a healthy home not just in the flu months, but year round.

But I think this guide is really important as we are almost at Christmas and I am sure most of us are spending time with friends and family in our homes. There are some great tips in this guide such as the all important "no double dipping" rule (do you think it's okay to post that next to the bean dip?) and avoiding touching your nose, mouth or eyes as much as possible, especially if Uncle Frank just sneezed...

What to read more tips? Download the guide here...

Happy Saturday...

So yesterday we attempted to get all the "grandkids" of Ray's Mom together for pictures...the result? Not so good...
We tried.

At least we got one sort of good picture of Ashley and Audrey...

Christmas Ornaments

Crazy busy schedule as we travel "home" to Virgina this weekend - Check
Presents wrapped - Check
Kids excited - Check
Successfully have a head cold which makes you feel like crap and then you take too much Airborne which makes your stomach feel like crap - Check, Check

I love the holidays.I love the holidays.I love the holidays.

Anyways, I receive my Secret Ornaments Swap, and I got not one, but THREE ornaments. That made my children, very, very happy. As each of them got to put an ornament on the tree and then I did as well. It was from Sara, and there were two sweater ornaments and a beautiful stained glass present.

The lovely card that came with them explained that she tried to find an "A" ornament as my name and the girls' names all start with "A". Well, only those of you closest to me and Ray know that Ray's first name actually starts with "A" as well...Allen. And no, we absolutely did not plan it that way. I swear. Ashley we just liked and Audrey is a family name. It just worked out that way. Funny, huh?

Anyways, we are leaving today for Virginia, and while we are hoping the traffic there doesn't swallow us whole, we are looking forward to a few days with the kids and family.

What do I have left to do?

This morning Ray and I met with Ashley's teacher for a parent-teacher conference. Back in September, they gave the kids in her Pre-K class a standardized test to check for kindergarten readiness and see what they could work on during this school year. Ashley scored well as she has been at this school and doing their curriculum since she was three.

Her teacher also showed us work she did in September and work she did just yesterday, and it is amazing how far her writing has come. She used to write an "S" backwards, and now she has it down.

We did share with the teacher some of the things Ashley tells us one certain boy in her class tells her. Like yesterday, this boy told her he was going to set her on fire and put her in jail. Nice.

Anyways, left on my to-do list for Christmas:

1. Finish wrapping presents.
2. Oops, finish buying presents (only about 4 more presents to buy...).
3. Then finish wrapping presents.
4. Bake cookies.
5. Pack for our trip to VA on Thursday.
6. Put together the Santa gifts.
7. Grocery shop for Christmas Eve snacks and Christmas Day dinner.

It's not that bad. Only a few little things left to do. We leave on Thursday midday for Virginia and come home on Sunday to celebrate Christmas at our house. My kids think that Christmas lasts a few days as they always get to open presents on multiple days. This year, we will celebrate with my Dad and Stepmom's family on Saturday, then Ray's family on Sunday. My Mom and Stepdad will be here the day after Christmas to celebrate.

And prayers for my Mom and Stepdad, they are en route to Puerto Rico right now. My Stepdad is from there, and they found out his Mother passed away on Sunday. She was 93 years old and lived a good life.

Giveaways...

As most of you know, I write for a Working Moms Blog. Another great Working Moms collaborative blog is Working Moms Against Guilt. And they are doing giveaways this week...go check them out!



And while you are clicking around, go check out Lookit! today for a review on something we all love, Chocolate...

The Weekend is Over

I keep using the same titles over and over again....hmmm...

Anyways, the weekend is over. It was fun with band concerts and parties and more parties.

It started Friday with my band concert. I think we played the best we have ever played and we had a sold out concert (really because we had a kids group singing with us, so their parents and stuff were there, but STILL). Now I have a few weeks off from band and we have our first ever party in January for all the members. Oh, and did I mention I am going to serve on the Board next year....just don't tell Ray.

Saturday morning the kids had a birthday party to go to (Ray took them for a little while and then we switched off) while I frantically tried to clean my house. Ray was going to be showing houses all afternoon (who looks for a home in DECEMBER?) and we were hosting a PJ exchange for a couple of neighbors on the street. The common demoninator all six families involved in the PJ exchange is that we all have daughters and we all have a daughter going to kindergarten next year. So there were 10 girls and 11 adults in my house.

Do you think they are ready for presents??

Audrey really had fun opening her PJs...
This is Jessica...she was the oldest there, and I tutor her on Wednesday nights. And that is the playroom in my house...luckily for me, everyone pitched in and it looked cleaner than usual by the time everyone left. (we have a keyboard with a microphone that everyone seemed to like playing with the most)

Here are a couple of shots of the girls in their pjs...Audrey's didn't stay in hers very long as she decided to eat a discarded tag off of someone's pjs, gag, and throw up everywhere. Fun times. That and we had Tootles the dog locked up in our bathroom and she decided to eat through the door frame. More fun times. I couldn't get a shot with everyone looking at the camera...I did the best I could. I think everyone had a great time. I know my kids were worn out after it.

Sunday was the Cantata at church with lots of music and such. Then that evening Edie and I took Hayden and Ashley to a Baby Jesus birthday party at church. It was more chaos as about 30 or so kids were there.

And now we are in the home stretch. I luckily got a ton of wrapping done yesterday while Audrey was napping and Ashley was playing at Edie's house with Hayden. Tonight I have my work party and then on Thursday we leave for Northern Virginia for the weekend. Tomorrow is parent teacher conference at Ashley's school, and at some point I need to make sure everything is done on my list. Oh, and I have to work. At least my classes are done until after the New Year.

Crawling by Elisha Cooper

I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of the book "Crawling" by Elisha Cooper from Mom Central.

I got the book in the mail on Monday, and I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it.

Elisha Cooper is an award winning children's author who decided to write about a father's first year of parenthood, his first year of parenthood. The book is funny, thought provoking, and just in general a good read. I was skeptical at first reading a book from the Father's point of view, but I think that's what made it more interesting.

The first paragraph dragged me into the book, and then I couldn't put it down...

"There's a head sticking out of my best friend....Anybody who says this moment is the most precious wonderful thing in the world is delusional."

Great book, great author, I would highly recommend this book to everyone, whether they have kids in college or just starting out.

Look for a giveaway on Lookit! next week, you just might win an autographed copy....

I don't have no stinking pictures...

Sorry. I am a total slacker. I have tons of excuses though. I promise a regular helping of pictures on Fridays in the new year. It's just this week was another crazy one. Wednesday we went to a play with Edie and Dave. Last night was band practice. Mix in there a potluck at work in which I made this cake (although mine didn't quite look the same...)

and we mailed out all of our Christmas cards. So it was a bunch of nights up until midnight, none of which I bothered to download pictures off of my camera.

And tonight is my Christmas concert with the community band I play in. I am really looking forward to just getting it over with already. I feel like I have been playing Christmas music for MONTHS.

But I do have a story to tell.

Last night was Parents Night Out at the girls' school. We could leave them there until 8:00pm. We didn't sign them up because I have band practice on Thursdays from 7:00-8:30pm, so it would really not do us any good. Plus Audrey probably would have been pissed if we had left her there that long.

So I go to pick up Ashley yesterday and she immediately runs up to me asking me where her PJs were (they were going to change into PJs, have pizza and watch a movie). I told her she wasn't staying, and you would have thought I told her I was going to cut off her arm. She immediately melted down. Her really good teacher offfered to ask the owner if Ashley could be added to the list, and off she went to ask while I tried to calm Ashley down. And of course she was allowed to stay, and she could not have been happier. I didn't realize that 95% of her class was staying (none of Audrey's class stayed) and that the kids had been talking about it all.day.long.

So Ashley stayed and off Audrey I went.

When Ray went to pick her up a little before 8:00pm, she still didn't want to leave. Ray had to drag her out of there kicking and screaming. I guess she really does love school (or more importantly, pizza, cookies, and a movie).