Laundry Fail

The other day I didn't have time to eat breakfast. So, I threw the vitamins I usually take in the morning- a multivitamin and a fish oil softgel- in the pocket of my black dress pants and decided to take them at lunch. At lunchtime, which was eaten in my car on the way to a meeting, (welcome to the life of a school psychologist) I completely forgot about the vitamins.

Once I got home that afternoon I decided the laundry that was piling up on the floor needed to be taken care of. I took off my pants, threw them in the wash, and .... completely forgot about the vitamins.

How do I even begin to describe to you what the laundry smelled like when I opened the dryer after that load was done? Fish oil geltab that dissolved in my pocket. Hot, damp laundry shut up in a small space.

Bless.

I redid the whole load but washed the black pants separately. With the strongest smelling detergent I could find in my laundry room. On the heavy soil load. With an extra rinse.

I'm still not 100% sure the smell is completely gone. So, if you're sitting in church on Sunday, and you smell a fishy smell you can't quite put your finger on, look around. I'm probably sitting in the row behind you. Wearing my black pants.

Ella's 6 Month Pictures

Last weekend we had Ella's 6 month pictures taken. As a bonus, we also got a few great sister shots and family shots. We could not be more pleased with how they turned out - they are beautiful. Our photographer was Mary DeCrescenzio of Callan Tinsley Photography. We would definitely recommend her to anyone!

Lovin' the Snow Days!

We have loved the past three days! Due to the snow, the four of us have been couped up inside and have had nothing to do except spend time together - fabulous! During the past three days we've: eaten big bowls of grits with butter and cheese while watching the snow fall, stared out the window, played together, been lazy, watched TV, lived in our pajamas, played games, taken long naps, watched two Tinkerbell movies, drank big cups of hot chocolate, made chocolate chip cookies, played in the snow, cleaned up, made messes, snuggled, played in the new playroom, and enjoyed (almost) every minute of our time together!

Some Thoughts on Christmas

1. The Christmas season this year was hard for us. I remember doing the advent box with Camryn on Dec. 1, Dec. 2, and Dec. 3 and thinking, "Wow! These days are going by pretty slowly. Maybe this year the Christmas season won't fly by!" The next two weeks after that are a blur of sicknesses and things that went wrong or broke. We finally started to see the light at the end of the tunnel the week before Christmas, and then before I knew it, it was here and gone.

2. If you didn't get a Christmas card from me this year, please don't be offended. No one did. I usually get Christmas cards out the 2nd or 3rd week of December, and if you will refer to #1, you'll understand why that just didn't happen this year.

3. Christmas cards were just one of the many things that didn't quite happen this season.

4. We spent way too much money this year on Christmas but realized this is the first year since we've been married that not a single bit of it went on a credit card. Every penny was paid with cash. Thank you, Dave Ramsey.

5. On Christmas morning, there was a moment I stood up and surveyed the room. There were toys everywhere and two sweet little girls in the middle of it all playing contentedly side by side. It made my heart happy.

6. It was hard to get Camryn excited about presents this year. It was almost like she turned 14 overnight and didn't think it was cool to be excited about her gifts. However, one of the best moments of Christmas was when she opened her Leapster and said, "I've always wanted one of these" (translation: I've wanted one since October when I played with it in Target). But after she said that, she looked up, paused for a minute, then practically threw herself on her daddy and hugged him for the longest time and told him thank you. Then she came over to me, put both her arms around my neck, hugged me so tightly and told me thank you ... all unprompted. I had to wipe away some tears.