That's right..I think I've finally kicked that bronchitis to the curb...for both and me and Little Bear. No, scratch that...we did kick it to the curb!! Thank goodness!!!

So, I know it has been a little quiet over here and not so chatty about my daily happenings. Sorry about that but when im sick, well, im sick. Ha! I dont have much energy or motivation to do anything. I was lucky I was making it into work. Ha! But it's gone so we can resume our regularly scheduled programming. ;o)

Let's see, where to start? Hmmm.......

Well, gosh. A week's worth of happenings seem to be a lot to catch up on. How about I just dive right into the nitty gritty of yesterday? You know, Valentine' Day!! or as I like to tell Little Bear Love Day (thanks for the inspiration of said name Stephanie )

Our Love Day morning started off on the right foot. We decided to give Little Bear one out of her three gifts early. She was feeling artsy fartsy and so we thought this gift would be a good one to give her now so that she could enjoy it all day while we were at work...





It's a reusable sticker album and as you can see, quite happy to have one! (Hey! Have ya'll noticed that you cannot find any of the "good" toys that we had when we grew up around?!? I could not find one of these ANYWHERE). One seller on ebay had them...it's a 5x7 not like the 8x10s we were used to. and the sad part, the pages were only one sided reuseable (she did not specify in the description which kind of upset me). It even came with a whole boatload of stickers that she got to use for her album. She loved it!!!

After showering her with this wonderful delight it was off to work I go.  What a pleasant surprise that after two hours of being at work, and two flower deliveries later that I was called to the front desk. What did my wondering eyes appear....



A bouquet of my all time favorite flower...Stargazers!! Here's the kicker, they did not come from the Poppa Bear (He has told me since Day 1 of us dating that he does not do flowers. They are a waste of money. He rather spend money on gifts i'd want/need like, oh, i dunno, a new toothbrush, shoes or purse. Ha) This beautiful arrangment came from a very close, very dear friend. =) It was such a sweet sentiment that I actually cried. LOL! I'm a dork, I know.

I don't know about you, but this flower arrangement reminded me how much I love having live foliage in my office. Pretty flowers brighten your day and your environment. They also make your office smell SUPERB! Once these decease, I think i'm going to make sure to purchase myself an arrangement once a week (even if it's a single bud flower in my single vase) or perhaps get a plant for my office also (But what plant requires no sunlight? my office doesnt have any windows!)

Anyway, I could not wait to get home so that Poppa Bear and I could give Little Bear her Love Day gifts! When I came home and got settled in, I immediately went to the office and took care of my procrastination with wrapping said gifts. When I came downstairs, the look on her face was priceless. She knew they were for her. 



We gave her our gifts and then she was off....















She loves, loves, loves Tinkerbell and owned all the movies bu tthe first one. Now, she has all of them.  Of course we had to get her a new book "I Love You Through and Through" such a cute little book! Needless to say, she was one loved and happy Little Bear. I had to immediately read her the book followed immediately by putting the DVD in the dvd player. Ha!

And before ya'll ask where the chocolate is in this post, well, PopPop and MomMom made it a point to stop by Sunday afternoon to give Little Bear their gifts. One of them was a huge chocolate Hershey Kiss. She seemed to enjoy the few bites immensely...





I tried to capture the "chocolate face" but she was being a little too difficult. Ha!

As for the Poppa Bear and me, well, we just had a nice little dinner together after Little Bear went to bed. His gift to me was a new Philips Sonicare toothbrush since mine, after seven years, bit the bullet this weekend. (As in, too much mildew and crap in the base between the head and motor that I was unaware was there until I took it apart to put in a new head. I did not even know that saliva, etc. could get in there. It immediately went into the trash.). My gift to him was a new pair of Sketcher sneakers for his workouts.

To cap off the night, I decided that I was well enough to resume my Girls Gotta Move 5k training program.  I went into the training with the intention that if my lungs were not ready I would quit but also if my lungs were ready but still alittle week I would take it down a notch (ie, start back with workout one in the week that I completed last..in other words, redo week 3's training) Folks, I'm here to tell you that I did not have to do that. After 10 minutes in I realized I was going to be able to finish Week 4, Workout 1's training. It required 30 minutes of Run for 4/Walk for 2. I did take the pace a little easy at times...The walking segments were at a 3.6 and the running was started at 5.0-5.2 segments but ended up being in the 5.5-6.0 for the second half.  After my workout I felt GREAT!!!!!!!! My lungs showed no signs of weakness or crude. My stamina actually was, dare I say, better than before I got sick. Yayaya!!



My knees are starting to act up tho so I think i'm going to look into a podiatrist and see if I need some orthotics. I already know I am wearing properly fitted running shoes. If the orthotics prove to work, great. If not, I'll look into an Ortho and see just how bad these meniscus tears I have in my knees really are. For the most part, when I wear the knee sleeves when I run i'm okay and they dont bother me so much but last night they were agitated a bit. Is it because I had a week off? (Also, I had been wearing my KSwiss sneakers all last week. They have no arch support and I found that after wearing them for a week - even tho i wasnt running, my knees were starting to ache) I don't know but it doesn't hurt to look into orthos to see if maybe that will help or if I need to take it a step further and actually see an Ortho.

Alrighty, well, I think i've left ya'll with enough of a lengthy post for today. Ha!!! So, I'll end on this note...

How was your Valentine's Day? Do you have any special tradtions for this holiday in your family? Do you and your significant other exchange gifts or keep it low key?

Just before the holiday's we celebrated a birthday in our lil cave. Little Bear turned three just before Christmas.  A child's birthday so close to Christmas kind of well, sucks, but really if anyone were to have a Christmas (or close to) baby it would be me..also known as Little Miss Christmas to friends and family because I love it that much. 

We celebrated her birthday a week before Christmas and she couldn't have been happier. I must say that this birthday was pretty darn awesome!!! She is so much fun and really took it all in and just enjoyed being surrounded by family that loved her.  She's fortunate enough to have a large immediate family..a total of 34 people. Needless to say, any small party will include that many at least. A little difficult for a Winter birthday but we've managed to pull it off ever year so far.

Once again, I took made her cake and I must admit, each year it gets better and better. This is certainly the best one yet (and even took much longer too! A two day process with the decorating taking up about three to four hours..yikes!) and I haven't even taken any Wilton Cake Decorating courses yet.



Little Bear wanted a Dora party but those doll pans are just so small!!! I tried to stencil her on a sheet cake but truth be told, I couldnt get the flesh color on her to go well at all. I even tried taking a Dora Doll and using that as the doll cake. All with no luck! What we improvised with was the below (in her FAVORITE color..BLUE!) and Dora decorations. It turned out GREAT and she was THRILLED (and that's an understatment!)



There were lots of presents, lots of laughs and lots of cake and ice cream consumed.













Overall, she had a GREAT birthday and Momma cant believe it's been another year already. Happy 3rd Birthday Little Bear! Momma and Poppa Bear love you lots! You're growing into such a wonderful little girl...full of personality and love. You're free spirited and strong willed and I cannot wait to see what you bloosom into and make your mark on the world. You truly are our miracle baby! We Love You!

Easter Celebrations started early for us. We had more of an Easter Weekend Celebration than an Easter Day Celebration. It all started on Friday.

After work Friday, I came home and we had a visit from Little Bear's Great Aunt Debbie.  She had a special basket just for her.  Of course the Little Bear dived into it too quickly and I couldn't take a snapshot before she attacked it. The aftermath of said basket was this.....


Aunt Debbie filled the basket with a ton of water squirting toys, a pretty floral sundress, a blue marshmellow peep and a few packs of the Welch's Fruit Snacks that she loves.

Little Bear and I had at least two hours of paper filling throwing fun after the festivities were over. Oh the fun that was had and the mess that was made. LOL! I'm just glad it was the paper filling and not that plastic stuff. After the clean up we baked cupcakes together and called it a night.

Saturday we spent the day decorating the cupcakes with yellow icing and Easter/Spring Sprinkles. Oh did she enjoy that!!!! But certainly not as much as the Easter Egg Dying fun that was to be had next.  Little Bear just LOVES to dye the eggs. Last year, she only dyed a dozen. This year she dyed two dozen. Too bad it did not last very long. She was so excited that she went through them all in about 10 minutes or less. Crazy right? 
Yes, my friends, there is a lot of blue and green in there. Little Bear was given tons of colors to chose from. We had Yellow, Blue, Green, Dusty Rose, Violet and Teal. For some reason this year's purple and pink didnt come out very well - not that it would have mattered. Little Bear's favorite color is Blue right now and she associates the dark colors with Blue too so it was only natural for us to have the eggs be mostly that.

I do believe Saturday was exceptionally fun for Little Bear and I'm glad she had such a fun-filled and exciting day. I know Saturday night this Momma Bear was POOPED!!! I think I fell asleep as soon as we put her to bed - 8:30 because I woke up at 10-something and realized I still had to fill the Easter Eggs and get her basket together. Yikes!

Easter Sunday, Little Bear awoke to a purple (her other favorite color) easter egg in the middle of her bedroom floor. "Mommy, what's that?" she said. To which I responded "The Easter Bunny must have come last night. Let's go see." We went to brush our teeth and "Oh My! He must have came, look there's an egg on your stool." Oh the excitment was building for this little one.  She found one more on the landing of our steps and then when we got down the steps she saw all the eggs throughout the family room and living room. (We had our hunt indoors because it was way too cold outside). She loved that she never knew what she would find in the eggs -- stickers, jelly beans or money!

Today' is not just a special annual celebration in our happy household...Today also marks the 7th Anniversary of Poppa Bear and I's engagement. That's right folks! Poppa Bear proposed to me on St. Patrick's Day. Guess it only made sense - I am quite a bit Irish. lol

I hope that each of you has a fabulous St. Patty's Day. Did you remember to wear your green?!

I'm a little late in posting this but it's to be expected when you have a child's birthday so close to Christmas.

Little Bear's birthday is on the 20th of December. Pappa Bear had to travel on the road for an assignment and probably wouldnt be back in time to celebrate. What we did to fix that was we had her birthday party on the 12th. It was very nice. Even with immediate family we had 22 people. Little Bear is soooo blessed to have so many surrounding her with love.

Here's some of the fabulous times we had during her special day.......

....and yes, I made the cake all by myself. Far better than last year's. Here's hoping next year's will be an even bigger improvment on this year's.













Thank you Little Bear for another year filled of laughter, happiness, cuddling, playing and reminding me to look at the world as you see it in your eyes. Thank you for choosing us to be the ones to guide and teach you about life. I cannot wait to see what the future brings. We love you so very, very much.

It's always so much fun to see what other's ask Santa for Christmas. I thought it would be a good idea to post some of what I would like Santa to bring me as well as hear what is on your list.

new calendar- I am writing activities on post it notes for next year and can't wait to get a fresh new one to fill with our activities. This is my favorite calendar of all after having it this past year thanks to a recommendation from a previous blogger. It is also one of my most used items in our house. It is the perfect size to tuck in my purse and has pockets for business cards and random receipts. It is also durable and has survived all sorts of spills and messes because of the waterproof cover. ($14.95)

new purse- I used to love my Jen Groover Butler Bag. It has dividers in it which makes it perfect to find things and keep them organized. It also has two open slots (one on each side) for other misc. items like a day planner, bills, checkbook, etc. It was convenient for awhile until recently. Now, I just can't stand the thing! Every time I go to bend over to get something or fix Little Bear's coat, etc. when I go to go into my purse all the stuff in the dividers fell out and alas then im stuck putting them all back. It's just become more of a hassle than a convenience. This purse is oversized and although some might find that crazy I find it fabulous! It is the perfect size for a "Mommy Purse" it can easily hold my stuff and Little Bear's with room to spare. I fell in love with this the minute I saw it at Tar-jeh a few weeks ago. I had to put it on my list. ($29.99)

new slippers- I already own a pair of these in tan. They are the most comfortable slippers ever and are basically the Ugg look-alike/twin of the Tar-jeh world. After wearing them for abit I realized I have to have one pair in Black and maybe even a pair in Grey. ($11.88)

Super Mario Bros for the Wii- When I was offered my new employment here DH and I celebrated. We went out and got the Wii along with the Wii Fit, a ton of accessories and quite a few games. Yes, Dh can spoil me rotten! When Super Mario Bros came out for the Wii...well, I just had to ask for it. You see, I cannot stop playing Super Mario Kart...sooo much fun. Back in the day, I was also never really big into Nintendo or the likes but I could play me some Super Mario Bros for hourrrrrrrrrrsssss. When I saw this came out...I was soooo giddy....it immediately went on my list. ($59.99)

Deep 12" Skillet or Fry Pan - I love, love, love my current skillet. I love it so much that i've worn it plum out within the last four years. I also found that it isnt nearly as deep enough as I need for a good portion of Dh's favorite meals. Alas, I ask Santa for either a much deeper 12" skillet or Frying Pan (preferrably with lid). The one linked here and pictured above is not the one I am asking for but I needed a link and picture for this post so..... (Roughly $19.99)


Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD - I'm a huge, huge, huge Harry Potter fan. Own every movie thus far and have seen each one at least six times. But would you believe I have yet to read the books?!?! Crazy, right? I'll get around to them eventually. I am just so glad it came out before the holidays and could add it to my list to ask Santa. I've been waiting to see this since it came out in the movie theaters. Dh and I have a really good entertainment set up at home and it would be a waste of money to go to the theaters when we can watch it better at home when it comes out onto dvd. ($19.99)

What made your Christmas List this year???