Down Again!

Just a note to say that my computer is down (AGAIN!!) and I cannot post any pictures and getting online to blog is a bit of a challenge. UGH! I have some really cute Saint Patty's Day pics to post and will do that as soon as I can figure out how to post them through someone else's computer.


More to come.......

Happy Valentine's Day

We don't really do much (outside the norm) for Valentine's Day, but hubby and I did sneak out to dinner and a movie while the little princess stayed with Mammaw. We got her a few small gifts, which she loved, although she came up with some creative uses for some of the items. Here are the gifts:









An Elmo Valentine book.




















A little cupcake trinket box.....







.....complete with ballerina necklace and bracelet.


















And the creative uses for said gifts:











To dress up dinosaur flashlights with.




















To feed dog #1 with.


















And dog #2.






















And, umm, dog #3.




















And why not dog #4 as well...?























If none of the dogs are interested in your cupcake, focus your attention on feeding the cat instead.

My Little Ballerina

We signed Annabelle up for ballet today and she had a BLAST! She was somewhat hyper today....to the point that the assistant instructor had to hold her in her arms a couple of times (is that the ballet equivalent of sitting in time out?) but the instructor assured me that that hyperactivity would quelch itself in a matter of weeks. I guess with the newness of it all, combined with lots of new faces, was just too much for my little girl to resist. Plus, whenever she caught a glimpse of me, she made an immediate beeline towards me yelling, "there's my mommy!!" so the instructor had to close the door most of the way, leaving it open just a crack. Most of my pictures were taken through this barely open door, so I don't have a lot of good shots of her in action, but I did get a few. When she calms down in a few weeks, I should be able to get more. All in all, though, she had a great time and I am really happy with both the instructor and the way the class was carried out. They did some silly singing and dancing for the first half hour or so and then, for the remaining 15 minutes, they do some actual ballet moves. They have a recital coming up in a few months but, unfortunately, I didn't get Annabelle signed up in time so she was never measured for a costume. That's OK, though. We'll go watch the performance this year and then that will give us a better idea of what to expect next year. I'm excited!!







She's so excited she can barely wait to get inside!










Being held by the instructor is the equivalent of being put in time out.









Annabelle is too busy admiring herself in the mirror to realize that she should be clapping right now.









The girls had to jump over a little stuffed frog. After Annabelle stopped and straightened the frog, she was more than happy to jump over it.









I had to take this shot of their reflection in the mirror, as I was unable to reach my arm all the way around the door to get a clear shot of them.











Annabelle had a blast at ballet and is looking forward to going back again next week!

Mommy's Melted Heart

Annabelle is at that age where she says the cutest things. My mother loves to teach her funny new phrases, and she picks up all kinds of things from the cartoons she watches.

Last week when I was putting Annabelle to bed (I stay in the room with her for awhile until one of two things happen, either 1)she falls asleep or 2)I get tired of waiting for her to fall asleep and I leave.) All of a sudden I hear:

"Knock knock!"

I pause, unsure of what my little girl has just said to me. Then, a few seconds later:

"Knock knock!"

Just for giggle, I respond:

"Who's there?"

"Oven." Huh?? Oven?? OK, I'll play along.

"Oven who?"

Then I hear something incoherent followed by excited giggling.

Well, later on that night I explained to hubby what was going on with the apparent Knoch Knock joke and he knew right away what I was talking about. The joke appears to be from one of the cartoons that Annabelle watches regularly (Super Why) and the joke, when said correctly, goes like this:

"Knock knock!"
"Who's there?"
"Ivan."
"Ivan Who?"
"Ivan Working on the Railroad!"

This joke makes Annabelle giggle in such a cute way and, although she can now pronounce "Ivan" much more clearly, she still can't control the giggles long enough to say the punchline. So now, every night when I put her to bed, we go through the Knock Knock routine:

Annabelle: "Knock Knock!"
Mommy: "Who's there?"
Annabelle: "Ivan."
Mommy: "Ivan Who?"
Annabelle: uncontrollable giggles

It is absolutely adorable and just melts my heart!


Tonight, shortly before bedtime, Annabelle ran into the bathroom, crawled up onto the toilet and from there, onto the bathroom counter and then plopped her little tushy into the sink so she could sit there and look at herself in the mirror. This is her normal routine and is expected. She stares at herself and babbles, and carries on conversations with her reflection. Tonight she looked into the mirror and told herself, "Mommy is my best friend."

Can somebody help me mop my heart up off the floor?

A New Life

Once again, I managed to drop off the face of the earth....or at least out of cyberspace. Life has a way of throwing us a curve ball from time to time and, unfortunately, some of us get curve ball after curve ball after curve ball with little to no time to react in between. This month marks the one year point since hubby was laid off from the only career he's ever had. We've gone into severe debt, lost our home, and uprooted our family to another time zone in order to maintain some semblance of a normal life.

So, the three of us are now living with my parents here in south Georgia (which I hate, by the way!) in a house just outside of town, right on the lake. Life has changed for us, that's for sure, and we are trying to make the best of it. We've been here for two months now and and are doing as well as can be expected.

We found a new church here. I really, really, REALLY miss our old church. I don't think I will ever find a new church that comes anywhere near what our former church was.

I was able to get a transfer with my job, so I am now the only employed person in the house. Hubby is still on the hunt for a job. He's been close several times.....made the final cut with several companies, but in the end, he's still unemployed. I don't make a lot of money where I'm at (I'm only part time) but I have excellent health insurance (yes, I get excellent insurance as a part timer!) so I choose to stay.

Annabelle is adjusting MUCH better than I thought she would. She absolutely adores her Mammaw and Pappaw, so she LOVES having them around all the time now. Christmas was great (Annabelle made out like a bandit!!) and pictures will be posted shortly.

Annabelle started ballet today. We went to observe before we actually signed her up and she LOVED it! She cried so hard when we left! I felt so bad having to drag her out of there. She won't be able to participate in the end-of-year recital (the costumes had to be ordered back in December, so we missed the deadline for that) but she can still participate in the weekly practices. It's going to be tons of fun, I just know it! It's disciplined and orderly, unlike the gymnastics classes we had her in back in Arkansas. I honestly feel that some parents used those gymnastics classes as a socialization hour where they would just let their children run amok while they spent the entire class chit chatting with one another. It was a constant source of frustration for me whenever that happened, as children would run around the mats with no supervision at all and would ruin the Mommy-Daughter experience for Annabelle and me.......well, ok, they ruined it for me, but probably not for Annabelle. It was distracting and I ended up spending more time trying to prevent her from following them than I did trying to help her with the actual gymnastics aspect of it. Ok....enough of my complaining. The whole point of this paragraph was merely to state that I have a good feeling about the ballet lessons. We'll see how it goes next week, when she actually gets to participate!!

R.I.P. Steeler (June 14, 1996 - March 25, 2009)

Losing a loved one is always hard and it is something that we never completely recover from. Even when our loved one has four legs and and a tail, the loss is no less devastating. This morning when I woke up, I began my daily ritual with baby and dogs. Steeler was diabetic and arthritic, with limited vision and hearing. He was on a special diet, so I began every morning by preparing his food. As soon as he heard his dry dog food hit the bottom of his metal dish, he would come running and would be constantly under foot until his meal was finished. Then he would race me to the bathroom, where he ate his meals every morning and every evening (this way I could shut the door and not worry about a baby or animal getting in there and interrupting his meal!) After each meal, every dog would get a Milkbone (Steeler was special, so I always gave him two!) and then I gave Steeler his insulin injection. It was a good routine. This morning, however, Steeler didn't come running at the 'kerplunk' of his food falling into the dog bowl. I found his lifeless body in the living room, where it appears he simply collapsed while walking to the water bowl. My poor, unbelievably sweet little "puppy" has gone to the Rainbow Bridge and I am absolutely heartbroken.

A Temporary Reprieve

We received some fairly good news today on the job homefront. It seems we will be getting more unemployment benefits than we had originally been planned. The amount that we will evidently qualify for will be enough to cover the mortgage on our house. YAY! This means we can stay in our home for a little while longer before packing up and moving out to Georgia. We will have a little more breathing room than we were originally expecting, although we will be pinching quite a few pennies to make ends meet. That's OK, though, because we will be able to pay our mortgage. That was my biggest concern. I couldn't care less at this point whether or not our credit card bills get paid. Yes, there was a time when I did care that they were not only paid, but paid on time. It's amazing what a layoff will do to a person's priorities, though. Now my main concern is making sure we have a house to live in and food to eat every day. Hopefully I'll be able to prepare that food in a well lit room, providing we had enough money to pay the electric bill, but if not then....well, if we have a warm, dry place to sleep at night then I'll forego the lights. OK, I know it will never get that bad...but those kinds of thoughts run through my mind when faced with the very real fact that we have no reliable source of income right now. It is a scary and unsettling feeling. Anyway, now that we will be able to make the mortgage payment, we have decided to stay here in Arkansas until July and then, if Hubby is still unemployed at that time, we will put our house on the market and head on out to the Peach State. It was important to me to wait until July because I wanted to have Annabelle's 2nd birthday party out here where all her friends are.

And speaking of her birthday party.........yes I know it's still 4 months away, but I'm already starting to plan it and I'm thinking that this year we're going to do an "Abby" party. Abby Cadabby (from Sesame Street) is so cute and I think she will make the perfect theme for a 2nd birthday party. At this point in time, Annabelle does not show any preference for any particular character, so anything's a go right now. I really do appreciate these baby days when Annabelle is so easy to deal with. She'll be a teenager one day and during those days, when nothing I do will be good enough for her, I will look back fondly on these sweet, innocent Sesame Street days. Children grow up so darn fast and I want to cling to and treasure every moment in my little girl's life.

One Quarter......

.....of our time here in Arkansas is over. Since Hubby was laid off, we've given ourselves a two month time limit (when he will cease to continue being paid by his former employer) to find another job here before we have to (reluctantly) pack up and move. Hubby has now been out of work for a little over two weeks, making it one-fourth of our two month time limit. He's been searching and searching for a job, with no results. It's so frustrating, knowing that this economic downturn will eventually pass, but not knowing how long it will take just makes it a financially irresponsible decision for us to stay here and try to ride it out. If he doesn't find a job within the next six weeks, we are going to have a huge yard sale, sell everything and head on out to Georgia. My parents have a vacation home out there that they are offering to give us. They own it outright, so there will be no mortgage to worry about. Eventually, they will sell their house out here in Arkansas and move back to Florida. It will be so sad, not being able to see them every day (which I can do here, should I choose to!) but the location of their vacation home and the location of where they would like to purchase their next home, we will only be 1.5 - 2 hours away, so Annabelle will still get to see her Grandma and Grandpa on the weekends. I'm still so angry at Wal-Mart and have sworn to never EVER spend another penny in any of their stores EVER again! Target will get all of my business from now on! This was nothing but a greedy corporate move on their part.
Even though we still have 6 weeks here, I think I've pretty much got it set in my mind that Hubby isn't going to find a new job. Maybe he will, though, I just have a feeling that this isn't going to turn out well for us. I finally found a place I love...a place to call home....and I am being forced to uproot my life here and start fresh again somewhere else. I hate the ominous feeling in the pit of my gut. I am, however, eternally grateful to my parents for generously giving us their vacation home. They could have just as easily packed up and moved out there themselves (where they love it there so much more than they do Arkansas, which they hate!) yet they are allowing us to move out there instead, and choosing to stay behind in a state that they hate, just so that we won't fall into financial ruin due to our unfortunate circumstances. I am so blessed to have such incredible parents!

I have decided to go back to school to become certified as a pharmacy technician. It's a growing career field with very flexible scheduling options. My goal, if I manage to accomplish it, would be to work the overnight shift in a hospital...part time. It will give me something to do while earning a little extra money on the side. It's only a 48 hour course, which takes place over a 2 month span of time. Pharmacy technicians doen't make fantastic paychecks, but pharmacology is something I have always been interested in and becoming a pharmacist is out of the question for me at this point. But I'm leaving that dream open for another time. Ultimately I'd like to get into the field of nuclear pharmacology....making the radioactive medicines required for patients undergoing chemotherapy. We'll see how it goes, though. If we stay here in Arkansas, the training program begins in May and then again in July. If I am unable to stay here, I'm sure I can find the same training program out there in Georgia.

Every day I am truly amazed at the way my little Princess is growing and changing. She can say a handful of words now, including "juice", "tea", "baby", "bee", "bubble" and "doo doo" (which we learned during daily diaper duties!) And she can understand simple commands like "close the door", "throw that away", etc. and she will fetch objects when I ask her to (a book, her shoes, a particular toy, etc.) She is such a happy baby and an incredible blessing in my life. I honestly don't know how I ever managed to be happy before she came along and, upon closer examination of my life, I realize my definition of "happy" has changed since her arrival. She completes me.






Annabelle honestly thinks these Mr. Potato Head glasses were made for her face!








Annabelle's new favorite place to sit......the dog's empty food bowl!






Annabelle loves to wear Mommy's shoes, even if they are on the wrong way!







What is it with Annabelle's obsession with the dog's food bowl??







Bedtime has become an interesting event....with a new stuffed toy required every night. What happends when Annabelle can no longer fit in her own bed??






Annabelle and her friend, Wesley, wreak havoc in Mommy's kitchen!

"Restructured" Right Out of a Job

I guess it was only a matter of time before we finally felt the effects of the economic downturn. Hubby was "restructured" right out of his IT position at the Wal-Mart headquarters. After eleven years of faithful service, his position there "has been eliminated" and his services to this company are "no longer needed". UGH! What reason is there for a company that is making record profits to go and eliminate over 800 jobs?? Oh yeah, that's right....so they can make even MORE money! So now what? With over 800 displaced workers released into the realm of the unemployed, what are the chances that Hubby can find another job like the one he had? Over 100 of those 800 are IT people from Hubby's section, so that makes over 100 people applying for the same, oh, 4 jobs that MIGHT currently be open for IT people?! That's in addition to the hundreds of others who have been laid off from other companies. If Hubby can't find another job within the next 2 months or so, we will have to put the house on the market and move. I can't afford this house on my earnings alone. It's really sad that things have come to this. There was no reason at all for Wal-Mart to lay off so many people...not when they are one of the few companies still making obscene profits. And if we have to put the house on the market, we are going to take a serious hit. This house will probably not be appraised for anywhere near what we paid for it. We will lose money, no doubt about that, but we are trying to avoid a foreclosure (which is what will happen if Hubby can't find another job!) AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! If we do have to sell the house and leave, we will be headed back towards the east coast.


Annabelle is on this new book kick ... "Goodnight Gorilla". As soon as she goes into her room, she will immediately pick up the book and wait for me (or Daddy!) to sit down so that she can sit on a lap and have this book read to her. Fortunately the book doesn't have too many words, so it's kind of hard to get sick of the story. The illustrations are adorable, though. It'S really a cute book and Hubby and I get a kick out of alternating the voices of the animals, as well as throwing in some sound effects for good measure. Then when we're done, we have to start all over again from the beginning. This goes on and on for several readings. It's so cute!

OK, it's almost 2am and I am still on the computer. There is something wrong with this situation! I'm off to bed to try to get a good night's sleep in the midst of all the emotional chaos going on over here. Goodnight everybody!

Arkansas Ice Storm

There has been a lot of freaky weather lately all over the country it seems. Arkansas did not escape unscathed. While it does manage to snow every winter (for a day or two here and there) our winters are generally pretty mild compared to northern states. When it comes to ice storms, however, Arkansas reigns supreme. A few weeks ago we were hit with an ice storm that knocked our power out for about 3 days. We were VERY lucky though, as many people lost their power for 2-3 weeks at a time. We had several inches of ice layered over our driveway and all of our plants were killed in the storm (my fault for leaving them out there!) I put two brand new gallons of milk outside so they wouldn't spoil, along with the rest of the contents of the fridge, and the darn things froze solid! Two gallons of milk, frozen solid! I wasn't expecting that, as I had only put them out on the back deck AFTER the ice storm was over. I didn't even bury them in the snow or put them in the shade....they were right out in the Arkansas sunshine! It took several days for them to thaw out in the fridge. On top of that, there was not a bag of salt to be found anywhere.....three counties completely sold out of salt! It got to the point where we were out there with the Morton's table salt, as well as the last 2 boxes of ice cream salt that we were able to find at Wal-Mart. That was definitely *NOT* fun! And then when we lost our power and when I realized we were going to be out of power for quite awhile, the hunt was on for "D" batteries. Normally I keep batteries on hand, but I had used the last of them for one of Annabelle's toys and completely forgot to replace them. Sooooooo, my search for 6 batteries took me to 4 different stores where, I am firmly convinced, I purchased the last 6 "D" batteries in this town. During the last ice storm, I swore I would be more prepared for the next one. That didn't happen and I can only hope that I have learned my lesson and will be better prepared for the next ice storm!

Another Hiatus

Once again, I find myself apologizing for my extended absence on Blogspot. I was the fortunate, yet unexpected, recipient of a free ticket to Germany for the winter (i.e. Christmas, my anniversary, New Year's & my birthday!) holidays....an offer that I found myself eagerly and greetily accepting. Soooooo, Annabelle and I boarded a plane and spent a large portion of the winter freezing our butts off in the snowy and icy region of Munich. Hubby couldn't request time off on such short notice (I doubt his request would have been approved anyway) so it was just Annabelle and me. It was an interesting trip and, like all vacations, had its ups and downs. One of the major drawbacks was Christmas itself. Without my family nearby, it almost felt like I skipped Christmas altogether. That was the most upsetting aspect of the trip. Other than that, though, it was a good way to meet up with an old friend and experience Germany at Christmastime. I have over 1000 photos (7 or 8 CDs full) that I need to sort through and when I do, I will post some (I will, by no means, post them all!)

Annabelle handled the plane ride like a champ (on the way over there) and I was so proud of her. On the way back, though, she flew back with a double ear infection so she was understandably cranky on the way home. Our flight was delayed a couple of times, making me a little bit cranky as well. All in all, it was a fantastic trip, but there's really no place like home!

I will post more within the next coupld of days. :-)

Annabelle's 15 Month Portraits

I had Annabelle's 15 month portraits taken last month. She was scared and crying in the beginning (you'd think she'd be used to this by now!) but warmed up towards the middle part of the session. The photographer shot 78 different poses, of which the following are my favorites.

Oklahoma City (My Rant!)

Well, obviously I didn't make it back on here last night, but I guess this is the next best thing...early the next morning! :-) Of course, I'm starting this entry early in the morning......there's no guarantee that I'll be able to actually post it this morning, though. Those of you with litthe kids will totally understand what I mean!

Hubby and I took Annabelle to Oklahoma City this past Monday to introduce her to a couple of relatives who haven't met her yet and let me tell you......we will not be doing *THAT* again anytime soon! Actually, let me rephrase that....we *ARE* planning a trip back out to OKC in January, but some of the relatives will be crossed off our "To Visit" list. I know there are relatives in OKC reading this blog, and I know there are relatives in Guthrie who are also reading this blog, so that means I can effectively use this blog as a means of communication since nobody up there bothers talking to each other.

Here's what happened: Hubby and I got up extra early for this trip. We got the baby fed, got the dog fed, packed a large bag of toys and snacks for Annabelle, gassed up the car and headed out. We stopped for breakfast shortly after we left and let Annabelle get out and run off some excess energy. Then we hit the highway and began the 4 hour trek to Oklahoma City. Our first stop was Grandma Margene's house. She seemed happy and excited about Annabelle and made a concentrated effort to find playthings for her great granddaughter, including a bottle of aspirin and plastic Wal-Mart bag. OK, that aside, she really did seem happy about Annabelle. Margene took us out to lunch (Thank you very much for that Margene, it was delicious!) and we had a nice conversation. Until we announced we had to leave to go visit Grandma Mercedes who, by the way, only lives about 3 miles away from Grandma Margene. Why couldn't we get both grandmothers together and spend one long visit with both of them together instead of two short cisits with each of them individually? Well, that's not possible because Margene and Mercedes HATE each other with a passion and refuse to even be in the same room with each other. So, for that reason, we have to cut our visit with Margene short and leave to go see Mercedes. I could tell that MArgene didn't want us to leave but, since she refuses to associate with Mercedes, there is no other way for us to do this. So, Margene stalls.....takes her sweet time getting out of the car.....tries to make last minute conversation....invites us in for "a little while".....offers her bed so that the increasingly tired and cranky Annabelle can take a nap before we go to see Mercedes, etc. We tell Margene that we really do need to head on out, so she reluctantly gets out of the car and goes into the house. We head over to Mercedes and along the way, Annabelle falls asleep. So we drive around for about 45 minutes, hoping she'll be a little bit refreshed when we get there.

We get to Mercedes' house and are greeted with open arms by a very sweet lady. I have never met this woman and Chris has only recently been back in touch with her. This is Chris's maternal grandmother (Margene is his paternal grandmother...I claim no relation to these people other than by marriage!) There is a rift between Chris's mother and *her* mother, Mercedes, that has been going on for 27 years. Nobody knows exactly what started this rift because everybody's version of the story is different and the story has changed several times over the course of time. I'm not even sure anybody remembers what the original argument was about. Anyhoo....

We spend a very lovely afternoon with a very sweet woman. She immediately presents Annabelle with a cute little pony purse that Annabelle loves. How very sweet of her to go out that morning and purchase it for our little girl! Thank you so much Mercedes! And, of course, I had to take a picture of the cute little pony purse, so here it is:




Mercedes invited us to dinner, but we already had dinner plans with George & Laura (Chris's brother and sister-in-law) and Grandma Margene. Mercedes didn't know that we were spending the evening with Margene and, for some reason, Chris didn't want to tell her. OK, whatever. Upon leaving, Mercedes also stalled and very clearly didn't want us to go. I can understand this, though, since this was her first time meeting Annabelle & me and we really didn't get to spend a lot of time there with her. She watched out the window until we were completely out of sight and I have to admit that I felt so sorry for her. She is so lonely and is ostracized from the family for who-knows-what reason. So we leave her house and head on back over to Margene's house, as were are to pick her up for dinner and then head on over to Red Robin to meet up with George and Laura and their 3 year-old son, Sam. Well, we are driving and shortly before we arrive at Margene's house we get a phone call from George. Let the stupidity begin.......

George informs us that he just received a phone call from Margene. Margene evidently does *NOT* want to join us for dinner because we had the gall to go over and visit Mercedes. Ummmmm......WHAT?!? She doesn't want to join us because...WHAT?!? I couldn't believe what I was hearing! *THIS* is the degree to which the pettiness and childish behavior run. People in this family stop associating with you if you have the nerve to speak with someone they themselves don't like. Well, long story short, George talked Margene into going to dinner with us anyway. Margene made it a point to sit next to me and get all snuggly and sweet with me. I just found out that this woman's animosity towards Mercedes is stronger than her desire to be with my daughter, and now I'm supposed to accept her snuggles and make nice-nice with her? That was irritating. However, the evening wasn't totally shot. George and Laura are the sweetest people in this family and their son is absolutely adorable. We had a wonderful time with them and would love to go back and visit them in more depth. They are fantastic parents and just overall good people. They gave Annabelle a nice gift bag filled with books (Annabelle's favorite!) and a cute little pink giraffe:




So, with everything that happened on this trip, Chris and I have decided that things will be much different the next time we go to Oklahoma City. This blog entry is to inform those relatives in Oklahoma that we don't appreciate some of this immature behavior and we aren't going to waste our time getting stuck in the middle of these ridiculous decades-long feuds. Chris & I spent a lot of time planning this trip out there, having to rearrange our schedules several times, only to be disappointed by the attitudes of those who are supposed to be our elders and, in essence, wise. So, here's what's going to happen the next time we go out to OKC. Margene...we will *NOT* be coming out to visit you anymore. If you ever want to see Annabelle again, you will have to make the 4 hour trek to Arkansas to see her. If you are going to get *THAT* upset that we are visiting Mercedes, then we will simply not inform you of any of our upcoming visits to OKC. We will visit Mercedes and George, Laura & Sam. You are no longer on our "To Visit" list.

To Dan & Linda (Chris's parents for those who don't know): I know you're reading this blog. Keep in mind, this is *MY* blog and I have every right to say what I want. I realize you both have a problem with me speaking my mind. You'd prefer that I sugarcoat everything and make it sweeter to swallow, but that's not gonna happen. You voluntarily chose to walk out of our lives several years ago for reasons that are still unclear. When you did this, you also walked away from any future grandbabies that might come your way through us. We don't know if you realized this when you disowned us, but it appears now that maybe you might be realizing that this was not the wisest decision you could have made. You are missing out on a lot. Annabelle is the sweetest and most loving baby alive...and you are missing it. I feel sorry for you. You missed her entry into this world. You missed everything in the first year of her life. You missed the first half of her second year of life. You missed her first smile. You missed her first giggle. You missed her first steps. I hope it was worth it. You both need to realize a few things...you will never get to Annabelle without going through me first. This means that calling Chris in the middle of the day while he's at work, i.e. when I'm not around, isn't going to get you any closer to meeting her. Your little trick of deciding to "stop by" one day when I just happen to be out of town....well, that's not going to work either. Seriously guys, think about what you're doing. Is your animosity towards me really so strong that you'd sacrifice a relationship with your granddaughter just so you can stay angry at me? If that's how you want it to be, then so be it! Annabelle has a set of grandparents who moved all the way out here from Florida just so they could be near her. She has grandparents here who love and adore her, and whom she loves and adores. So, that being said, we are awaiting a package from you. I suppose that's a first step but keep in mind....you backed yourselves into this corner, we never forced you in. In fact, we begged you not to go down this path but you refused to listen to us. You owe us an apology. You will get NOWHERE without one. So now you have to decide how important your granddaughter is to you. If you refuse to apologize, then you are also refusing a relationship with Annabelle. If that is the case, then you have no need to continue reading my blog......this blog is my gift to her and if you don't want to be a part of her life then I don't want you stalking her through my blog. At that point, it will only be a matter of time before I privatize it and lock you out. Think about that before you make your decision.

A Very Belated Halloween

Wow, am I behind on my blogging! I finally got my computer back - again - and it is working....for now. I sure hope it doesn't break anymore since the warranty has now run out. I will have to pay for any repairs from here on out, which could add up to some serious money since my computer likes to break often. I brought it in to have the motherboard replaced - for the fourth time! - and while it was in the shop, the repair guy burnt it out again. So, the motherboard was replaced twice while it was in, as was the wireless card. UGH! There is not one original part left on this computer! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, has been replaced at least once on this wicked machine! Gotta love technology!

Some interesting events have either taken place these past few weeks, or will be taking place in the next few weeks, including a trip to Oklahoma to introduce Annabelle to family members who have never met her, as well as a trip to Germany (for the same reason.) But before I get into all of that.....I just GOTTA post Annabelle's Halloween pics. This year, for her second Halloween, Annabelle played the part of a ladybug fairy...and she played it pretty well if I do say so myself! She was a bit unsure of what to do and on more than one occasion we watched her pull candy out of her bag and put it into the bowl that she was supposed to be taking it out of! It was really cute! Since we don't go door-to-door, we went to Hubby's workplace (i.e. cubicle-to-cubicle) where they had decorated the place to the nines and we also went to our church for the Fall Festival. The weather was gorgeous (unlike last year when it was so cold we had to leave early) and we all had a lot of fun.

These are the pictures taken in front of the house before we left:















And some pictures taken at Hubby's workplace and the Fall Festival at church:













We had such a hard time pulling Annabelle away from this duckie pond! She threw a fit when we left! She absolutely LOVES to play in water!






















I will make every effort to get back on here tonight and get this blog caught up, but I really wanted to get these Halloween pics posted, as I know there are people reading this blog who haven't seen them yet.