Cranky Pants

It's been a long week for the Schneiderheimer household. I guess it's just that time of year. Money is tight with Christmas approaching, work is getting hectic for each of us and Ellie ... well, she just gets cranky sometimes.
It's so easy to get caught up in all that and let it ruin a day. I know I've let that happen a time or two in the last week.
But last night, I came home armed to be in a good mood. I thought that I'd just set my frustrations from the day aside, give some hugs and kisses and settle in for a quiet, relaxing night with my gals.
Dorothy's stomach, however, had other ideas. Maybe it was the novacaine from her dentist's appointment. Maybe it was something she ate, but Dorothy was in agony and went to bed about 6 p.m. About an hour later, she (how to put this nicely), got some relief from her stomach issues and came back down to the living room.
Now, Dorothy likes to make a lot of what a baby I am when I get sick, but she may just be worse. She sobbed a little because she didn't feel well and cuddled up to watch the Glee Christmas show. In the most pitiful little voice, she mentioned that she might be able to have some ice cream, though we didn't have any in the house.
So, out I went, looking specifically for "vanilla with chocolate chips, but not big chips. It should be the shaved pieces. Real thin."
When I got home, Dorothy had broken down. She was sobbing while watching Glee. Is that a paradox, or what?
I didn't understand until this morning, when she explained that Glee was Mrs. Lizer's favorite show. Mrs. Lizer, the mother of one of Dorothy's closest friends, lost her battle with cancer just before Thanksgiving. This was only the the second episode of the show she has missed.
Immediately, the ridiculousness of the things I'd been annoyed about vanished. I'd been spending time and energy, and acting cranky, about clutter being left around the house, or having to do dishes while Dorothy talked on the phone. Those things aren't important.
I don't think I have to explain much further. But the Grinch of this Christmas has left the Schneiderheimer household. We have a limited number of days, Christmases and special moments on this Earth. And it took an episode of Glee and a sobbing/pukey wife to show me.
That's not to say that I won't get annoyed about the dishes ever again. We're human, afterall. But hopefully my new perspective will kick in.

Holiday party

As I post all of these pictures I'm realizing just how fun-filled our weekend was! On Saturday we had a few friends over for a "wine and cheese" holiday party, where each guest contributes a bottle of vino and some cheese for all to sample. Brian and I had a good time drawing comparisons between this event and previous ones we've hosted... where we didn't have toddlers on scene!
But Ellie had fun and even had a friend to enjoy it with — 15-month-old Max... who Ellie felt the need to bully :( They played together OK at times, but often we had to intervene when Ellie snatched toys from Max or tried to push him off her musical chair, etc. (sigh) This picture below where she's giving him the stink-eye sort of sums that part of the evening up!
Here's the impressive spread we put out, including swiss fondue, more than a half dozen kinds of cheese and some cheese stick jr. dippers!

A couple pre-party pics, too.

Ellie wasn't thrilled about this attempt at a family pic, or maybe because she was the only one without a wine glass...

Doggie in the window

This is from our Sunday afternoon at a friend's house for dinner. Ellie is a huge fan of the big windows, especially with the dogs outside to entertain!

-Dorothy

Little groupie

We went to a charity soup dinner on Friday night and Ellie was a hit with the crowd. She was also enthralled with the Purdue jazz quartet performing for part of the night. ... A little too interested at one point and I had to stop her from getting up onstage with the band!
Here she is enjoying her milk, but she also tried a half dozen different kinds of soup. It was fun for Brian and I to reminisce about taking her to the same event a year ago, when she was still on milk-only, slept through most of it and was happy being carried around by our friend Kristin. This year she was eating everything in site, charging around the room and (unfortunately) not excited about the idea of being picked up by anyone other than mom or dad. But we all had a great time!

Daddy on board

So, I haven't blogged in forever. This is Brian, in case you were about to call Dorothy a liar. SHE blogs all the time.
This was originally supposed to be a joint venture, but I fell off the map sometime last year. Will me new zeal for blogging last? We'll see.
I will have more time for such things, for sure. We just dumped cable last week. No more sitting in front of SportCenter in the morning with a cup of coffee and Muzzy on my lap. I could play the Wii, but I don't want to bounce around and wake up Ellie.
Losing the cable is a big deal for us. We are usually glued to the television at night. We pick way too many shows to follow, and even when they turn out to be bad, we have a hard time letting them go. You get invested in the story lines. You've been there.
But I'm letting go. I'm cutting the cord. I've dumped several shows myself lately and may have a couple more on the block soon. Dorothy hasn't let them all go. And that's fine. I think we need to have some individual hobbies from time to time. I'm just not sure what those will be.
So, feel free to drop some ideas. And check back here to see if I keep up the blogging. Maybe the pressure will keep me coming back.
- Brian

Puppy crate

Finally! Proof that we don't put Ellie in the crate... she does it on her own. And I even help her get out!

Sam's snacks

She's not quite ready for pretzel nuggets... but I found this vat of animal crackers for her at Sam's Club this week. I think it'll take a few days for her to finish. Any friend of the Schneider family will appreciate that I'm already buying snack food in bulk :)