Isn’t she adorable? Flat Stanley thinks so.

Kara has been a friend for a long time. She lives out in California now, but we still keep in touch … mainly through texts, but I have had the chance to see her in person twice this year.

The thing I like most about Kara is that she makes me laugh. A lot. Like a few weeks ago when I got this photo on my phone.

According to the accompanying message, her cat had too much Fancy Feast and passed out into the back-end of a stuffed dog. Dan and I had just come home from a date night, and he also had too much Fancy Feast. (Or scotch. Whichever.) So I took a photo and sent it back to her with a note that said “I staged this just for you.” (Sorry, Dan!)

The next day, Anabella was working on a school project — Flat Stanley — that needed to be mailed out of town. So, of course I thought of Kara. She would make it fun. I sent her this photo and asked her if she would mind helping Anabella.

She graciously accepted … and didn’t even point out that I was asking a woman who was nine months pregnant to do homework. And then I got this photo back.

A true “LOL” moment. I did tell her that she and her hubby Mike had way too much time on their hands. But I have to say, that was the best laugh I had in weeks.

Since Flat Stanley arrived at their house, she has been taking him all over town and sending me and Anabella photos from all his adventures. He sang with a band, performed in a magic show, hit the gym, enjoyed a spa day, visited the state capitol … he’s never going to come back.

He even went with Kara to the hospital last night, where he is waiting for her to have her first baby.

Kara, you are a great friend … and you are going to be an excellent mother!

P.S. This was one of the gifts at her baby shower. A take-off on the diaper cake, but so much hipper!

I have an excuse for my extended absense this time … we just got home from 10 days of vacation. I wouldn’t call it relaxing, but it was mostly fun and the girls had an amazing time, and that is what is important.

Here is where we stayed in Anaheim for the first three days.

The hotel left “Princess Anabella” a note on their letterhead and then asked to take her photo by the sign so they could post it to their Facebook page. Anabella was beside herself with excitement. I had to check Facebook every hour to update her on her “likes” and “comments.”

And, of course Scarlett’s dreams came true when she finally met her hero, Mater. Yes, Mater. I know.

She told him she loved him as she walked up to get this photo taken. It was pretty adorable.

We rode a lot of kid rides, met a few princesses and did all the usual Disney stuff. Scarlett also got to try her hand at driving and I have to say, she is really good. Scary good. She was all “faster, faster” and barely ever hit the median. So I anticipate that this will be the child who sneaks the car out before she has a license.

We then flew to Maui for seven days. It would have been great if I had not gotten deathly ill on the plane. I spent the first three days in bed, but the girls had fun and spent most of their time here …

I managed to rally on day four and forced myself to at least go out to the pool every day. On our final night we took the girls to a luau. Here they are up on stage learning to hula. Again, pretty friggin adorable. And they loved being on stage. Total hams!

As for me, I am still recovering from the illness from hell, but I am starting to feel normal again. However, Dan and I definitely could use a vacation from the vacation.

Merry Christmas, friends! I hoping you are all enjoying a wonderful holiday full of love and laughter.

Ours has been a lot of fun … we decorated a gingerbread house, made cookies for Santa and this year Christmas Eve was extra special because the girls were baptized.

Today was a low-key day with family. We enjoyed a very nice lunch that included a 5-pound beef tenderloin (it rocked and totally kicked the crap out of having turkey).The girls got everything they wanted and yet still found time to fight over a few things. Despite that small setback, they were truly in the spirit of the season this year, and I am very proud of what giving, thoughtful little girls they are. Even Winston and Frankie had holiday cheer today.

Tomorrow we are back to reality … Anabella will be having her tonsils removed, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Her mommy would appreciate it.

So November got away from me. There were several times that I MEANT to post this month, it just didn’t happen. Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of what’s been going on:

PhoCusWright
Weird name, but the PhoCusWright conference took me to Scottsdale for almost a week. It was a combo of all the things I love … travel, technology, social media and several glorious nights sleeping alone in a bed. However, Scottsdale itself was like being on a different planet. At first I was really thrown by what appeared to be the AC units on top of all the houses. (My dad can give you the real explanation, but apparently it’s some sort of cooling system that works really well in the desert.)

And of course, all the yards look like this.

And they have cool street names like “Thunderbird” and “Cactus.” AND, most importantly, I had the best dessert ever at a local restaurant. It was called “Mexican Apple Pie.”

It came out on a sizzling fajita platter, and when he put it down in front of me, he poured a cup of “Mexican Brandy Butter” onto it. The cinnamon ice cream with the piping hot apple pie and booze butter was top notch. Ridiculously good.

Oh, and all the views in Scottsdale are pretty nice. I was stuck at an Embassy Suites and here is my view. Too bad I’m not a golfer because they have like one golf course for every 10 people in Scottsdale.

Work
Still awesome. Still loving it. Still exceptionally happy that I made the move. Missing my telecommute days and my 40th floor view a little less.

Thanksgiving
It was awesome this year. Had friends and family over for the entire day. The girls were super excited and made little hand print turkeys for everyone. The Texans won. The Cowboys lost. And because Dan, the best husband ever, bought me a new refrigerator while I was in Scottsdale, I had a perfectly good and empty fridge in the garage to store all the leftovers in. Which meant I didn’t have to clean up too much until Friday. Yeah.

So November was a good month. Now on to Christmas. Can you believe it is effing Christmas already?

Anabella and her girl scout troop are decorating and riding on a Holiday parade float in Pearland this coming weekend. 15 seven-year-old girls… I’m sure nothing is going to go wrong there. Ha!

Saw this while pumping gas at Bucee’s recently.

Totally awesome, right? Unless, of course, you are the guy working at Bucee’s and come outside to find your car shrink wrapped.

What a pain in the ass.

Winston has been driving me absolutely crazy lately, and although I understand his incontinence issues are a product of old age, I decided to take a page out of Scarlett’s playbook and do something passive agressive. (If he had a closet, I so would have farted in it.)

Therefore, I give you Winston’s submission to the Dog Shaming site.

Yesterday morning was my first day on the new job (more about that later), so I was a little nervous and excited while gettng ready. As I go to shut down my laptop and pack it up for work, I notice something new …

Scarlett. I walk into the bedroom where she is snuggling with daddy and give her a good talking to. I’m disappointed, this is why she isn’t allowed to play with real markers, it won’t come off and this computer belongs to mommy’s company, etc. etc.

She’s not happy. I’m not happy. I finish getting ready and Dan miraculously gets the writing off the laptop. Once I am ready to go, I sit her down so we can make up and not be mad at each other during the day.

Me: Scarlett, I’m sorry I got angry with you, but you know better. Please write only on paper with markers. Okay?

Scarlett: Okay. (sad face)

Me: Let’s make up because I don’t want us to be mad at each other today. What do you think?

Scarlett: Okay, mommy. (still a sad face, but gives me a big hug)

Scarlett: Mommy, there is one other thing I did.

Me: (Bracing myself to hear that she wrote all over something else in the house) Okay, what is it?

Scarlett: I farted in your closet.

I have been organizing photos on my new computer and noticed a trend in the recent photos of Scarlett. She seems to have one special look developed.