It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Madelyn couldn't wait to put up the tree and decorate the house for Christmas on Saturday. I, on the other hand, was seriously thinking about finding a small tabletop tree to put on the kitchen table. It is rather scroogey of me, I know, but putting up the Christmas tree is more work than it is fun. You know the saying "fake it, until you make it"? Yep I sure had to do that to get in the mood for putting up all the Christmas garb. Once I got going it wasn't terrible. Thankfully Madelyn is at an age that she really is helpful and could do a lot of the decorating by herself, if I would just let her. After the inside of the house was complete with decorations Ryan and Madelyn worked on the outside. This year the deer were put up and only one strand of lights. Ryan is more scroogey about the Christmas decorations than I am, and since he is the one responsible for the outside lights I won't push my luck.

 Being all festive wearing her Santa hat. She is festive all year round because she insists on wearing that hat to bed most nights.

Looks like I had been shopping for 12 hours the day before..hmmmm.

 The finished project. Not too shabby.

In about 10 years I'll be wishing Madelyn was begging me to decorate the tree. Just as the song goes "You're Gonna Miss This" and I'm sure I will.

Black Friday 2010

Kris picked me up at my parents' house at 4:45pm Thanksgiving evening and we made our annual trek to Kelli's house in Topeka. We started our evening with our gift exchange, then had a few beers and some wine that Kris had bought each of us. By 10:00pm we (I had to be convinced) had decided we needed to drive in to Topeka and check out the sales at Toys R Us. Kelli's husband graciously agreed to be our chauffer. Well the trip was short lived when we arrived at Toys R Us and discovered the line was a mile long. After we arrived back to Kelli's we had some pizza and then called it a night. Kris, Robin and I all shared a queen bed and that is always cozy and restful...not so much. It was a very short night as my alarm went off at 2:30am. We took showers and got around and were out the door by 3:30am. Robin and I were hoping to get the $198 laptops at Wal-Mart but by the time we arrived at 4:00am there were all spoken for by people that arrived earlier and were willing to wait in line for hours before the actual sale at 5:00am. Darn the luck. We did however manage to get the other laptops (which I'm happily using right now) that were a little more expensive, after we waited in line for an hour. We were entertained by some nifty highschool punks while we waited. After several hours at Walmart, we made our annual stops at K-mart, Target, the mall, Kohls and Gordmans.  And of course the best part of the day lunch and margaritas at On The Border.  In the morning we were making good time and figured we would be done early, however after lunch we were pretty much spent and our progress slowed immensely. We finished up our shopping by 3:00pm, all exhausted, but pleased with our purchases and of course for the time spent together.

 Happy with their new loot.

 A Kelli favorite, cauliflour, cranberries, peanuts and miracle whip (it is not as bad as you think)

The young punks at Wal-Mart. They had been there since 10:00pm and decided they needed a cot from sporting goods to use for a short nap.

 Breakfast at Target, an annual tradition. I had a stale hot dog while the gals had cinnamon that Kelli's husband bought us.

 Robin attempting a nap while waiting for Kelli to finish up shopping in Bath and Body. 

I love BF with my BFFs!! 

And just for fun..... the first one is a lady and the second one told us he had been growing that rat tail since 1984. I told him he should think about cutting it and donating it to locks of love.

Thanksgiving 2010

Me pretending to help clean up.

 Kaitlyn got a hold of my camera and took several self portraits.

 The boys cleaning up after dinner. Ryan washed all the dishes and Terry dried them all. Good boys.

 Brotherly love at the Muhlig house.

Ryan and his sister showing some love

The food was delicious and the company delightful. My mom cooked enough to feed a small army and I'm pleased as punch to have some yummy leftovers.
Unfortuntaley I did a pretty lame job on taking pics of everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we have Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. I'm so excited to eat some of my mom's cooking. My mom is the best cook! It will be great to hang out with my parents and my sister and her family too. Although we live just a little over an hour from back home we rarely make it back to see everyone. After stuffing ourselves until we are sick and spending some time with my fam, we will go to Ryan's parents' house to see the Muhlig clan. Then I will be anxiously awaiting for my BFF, Kris, to arrive Thanksgiving evening to make our annual trek to Topeka for a slumber party at Kelli's house.  Then me, Kelli, Kris and Robin will be up at the ass crack of dawn (sorry mom) to do some serious black friday shopping. It actually is all about the laughs and good times rather than getting the good deals and it is one of my most favorite days of the year. We will laugh until our sides hurt and annoy the crap out of all the grumpy shoppers. I. Cannot. Wait.

From our turkeys to yours...Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wordless Wednesday

False Alarm

Very early this morning, as in shortly after midnight the Muhlig household got a little more exciting. Ryan had been smoking deer sticks earlier in the evening but a mishap with the smoker caused that process to be delayed for a time. He had to transfer the deer sticks from the smoker to the oven halfway through the process. I finally called it a night around 10:00pm and left Ryan to his own devices. But shortly after midnight I was awakened abruptly by the sound of our smoke alarm I believe I said "damnit, Ryan," and simultaneously I heard a gut wrenching scream and little footsteps hitting the floor.  I have never ever in my life heard Madelyn scream in such a way. I new she was terrified. I heard Ryan say "Madelyn, Madelyn, it's just the smoke alarm, it's okay." She was still screaming. I was immediately out my bedroom door like a mama bear protecting her cub and shot Ryan daggars and I quickly picked up Madelyn to console her. She calmed down quickly and we chatted about the incident and then she spent the night next to me in our bed.
This morning all was calm in the Muhlig household again. Ryan said the deer sticks were finally done cooking around 2:00am and then he went to sleep in Madelyn's bed. I did observe the smoke alarm was no longer attached to the ceiling.  I guess Ryan showed it who was boss. My back is also a little sore and I figure that is from picking up my almost 70lb child. It was amazing how quickly my protective instinct kicked in when I heard that blood curdling scream, it made my heart hurt that she was so scared. But I do feel a bit reassured that Madelyn will be able to hear the smoke alarm in case of a real fire and will know to get the heck out. She even mentioned that she forgot to grab honeybear and piggie when she heard the alarm. I praised her for not grabbing them because they are replaceable but she is not. Whew that was an adrenaline rush, for sure.

Weekend Fun

Last weekend Ryan and his buddies made their annual trip to Plainville for opening day of quail and pheasant season. Madelyn and I stayed home and enjoyed a vist from Jen (Aunt Bun-Bun) and Garrett. They arrived Friday evening and hung out with us until Saturday afternoon. Garrett and Madelyn had a great time playing together and I always love catching up with Jen.

 Madelyn showing Garrett and Aunt Bun-Bun her baby book for the 100th time.

Lunch at On the Border... Madelyn really does love her Aunt Bun Bun.

Me and my most favorite youngest nephew. He is a hoot!

Our Lil Reader

Madelyn LOVES to read! I'm thrilled that she inherited that trait from someone in our family. I started reading to Madelyn when she was inutero and we have continued to read to her since. Her nightly routine, even as a newborn, consisted of us reading to her every night. The routine has changed a little because now she reads to us which we absolutely love. But I also love that she can read silently to herself too.

Bringing Back the 70s

If you know anything about my little family you probably know that I rarely partake in home modifications, especially if it requires physical labor. Ryan does an excellent job with home mods so who am I to interfere. Well this past weekend a first happened in the Muhlig household...wait for it.... I painted the entire bathroom all by myself!!! Aren't you proud. I had decided a week prior that I was sick of looking at the lavender walls and striped shower curtain. It was time for a change. On Friday evening I made a trip to Target (Tarjay for the french folks) and picked out my most favorite shower curtain and all the accessories. I then went home and took down all the towels bars and such and then taped off the trim. Then on Saturday morning I went to the local Ace Hardware with my shower curtain and picked out a paint color that would look fabulous with the curtain. Then I spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday painting the bathroom.

The before....

And the after......

I still need to purchase a few accessories for the walls and a new toilet seat but other than that my first home mod is complete. I love it!!! Ryan, on the other hand, gave me his honest opinion and said that it looks like something from the 70s and if we ever want to sell our house it will have to be repainted. I completely disagree.

This little weekend project of mine only confirmed that I'm blissfully content with Ryan doing all home mods. Anything that requires physical labor is all his!! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Family Adventure

Wednesday evening we decided to skip our weekly "church" night and went on a family adventure. After eating at our favorite mom and pop restaurant in town we headed to the glorified mud puddle known as the Augusta lake. The lake is really low right now so we walked along the shore where the lake had receded. Our adventure was looking for bobbers, hooks, lures and such. We made it a quarter of the way around the lake before we had to head back because it was getting dark. But the adventure did not disappoint and we came up home with numerous clam shells, bobbers, lures, 2 bowling balls, and a geocaching thing.

 Although you are only supposed to sign the paper and leave the geocach?? where you found it we decided to take it home since after the next rain it will be at the bottom of the lake. Maybe we will have some geocachers stop by our house.

This crawdad did not want to let go of my sweatshirt. He was lucky to be released back into the lake and not be stuffed in Madelyn's backpack as she would have preferred.

Our goal is to make it all the way around the lake before the next big rain but I'm not sure if the weather will permit us to do that before winter sets in.

Halloween Weekend

On Friday I attended Madelyn's class party in the morning......

My little "Army Girl."

 Madelyn and her friend, Kariana

.......Then I spent the day getting some much needed retail therapy. I accomplished some Christmas shopping and some me shopping. It was so nice having the majority of the day to myself and getting to spend money! Love. it.

Saturday Madelyn and I went to Trick or Treat street in downtown Augusta.

 Then Madelyn and her daddy did their annual pumpkin carving....

 Saturday night Ryan and I participated in the annual adults only Halloween party. I was a gothic, gangster girl (thanks Jen for the idea) and Ryan was a construction worker (lame), but, everyone thought he was one of the village people.

 Sunday night we started the evening trick or treating at the apartment complex that Ryan used to manage in Towanda. Then we stopped by the Augusta police station and drove to a few friends houses for treats. We then met up with our friends and their kiddos and finished the evening walking house to house for treats.

Although Madelyn is not a huge fan of candy, her daddy and I are sure enjoying her Halloween treats!