Introducing Michael Marshmellow

This year my mom, who is the best grandma around, bought us our very own elf on the shelf. Wendy named him "Michael Marshmellow." She said she chose "Michael" because "it's such a brotherly name," and "Marshmellow" because "she loves sweets and so do elves." (She loves the movie "Elf" and Will Farrel has taught her that elves love sugar- I seriously believe she would eat the maple syrup, chocolate syrup, marshmallow, m&m, pop-tart spaghetti for dinner if I let her). 

 

The month of December is so fun and exciting with a 4 1/2 year old in the house. Every morning she wakes up with a twinkle in her eye. She runs out into the living room and searches for Michael Marshmallow. She giggles with excitement when she finds him and runs back into our room. "Mom, close your eyes and hold my hand. You HAVE to see this!" Then, she literally drags one of her parents out of bed and down the hall. We pretend to keep our eyes closed and shuffle along behind her. I can't help but smirk at her excitement. When she finally gets to wherever he's hiding she tells us to open our eyes and relives her excitement as we get to discover what mischief he's been up to for ourselves. Just the expression on her face is enough to melt me... I wish I could bottle this up forever.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lately, I've been thinking about how the last 365 days that have flown by and all that I've been blessed with this year. Ryan and I have been reminissing about what we each think the highlights of the year were. These are my top 5:

1. Our trip to Paris

2. Mommy-daughter dates to Disneyland



3. Antoine Dodson

(he cheers me up every time)






4. Growing this little guy and the fact that he seems to be healthy and growing properly

5. Ryan going back to school, pulling A's & B's and actually enjoying it!

As for my new years resolution... of course there's the "lose weight" thing (for me it's more like, "Don't gain as much weight as I did when I was pregnant with Wendy and lose it faster than I did"). There's also the generic "Be more optimistic and patient," which I also want to do. But my cousin Cambi makes a REAL, do-able and measurable resolution each year (in 2010 she didn't drink any soda). So, this year, I think this year I'd like to do that. For 2011, I'm going to give up rated R movies. I haven't seen one in a long time, but I'd like to see if I could do it for a whole year. Then, who knows, maybe for the rest of my life.