What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?....

December is almost over and feel like the whole month has slipped away from me.
Christmas has come and gone. It was so much fun. Hanging out with family, playing games, eating until my food baby was ready to pop, watching tv, talking, playing with kids, and most of all seeing the faces of the kids christmas morning when santa had arrived. LOVED IT ALL.
And now it's time to catch up on sleep, put the decorations away, and get ready for the boring winter months ahead....maybe I'll work on a Happy New Year newsletter and family picture...cause you may have noticed a lack of a christmas card from Q and I this year...
see what I mean about the month just passing me by.

i heard it through the grapvine...

This past Saturday was Emily's big birthday bash and it turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

We had lots of people come, and a majority of them actually came in costume! It was super fun. We had areas for games, karaoke, lounging, and of course a dance party. We had plenty of food, treats, and pop

...good times!

Michelle, from work, was kind enough to watch Q overnight so momma got to participate in the festivities and even sleep in a little...it was weird.

but any night that end with this

is a good time indeed!

Party go-ers came as everything: twinkie the kid, the red baron, morton salt girl, mr. peanut, sugar daddy, doublemint twins, flo the progressive insurance lady, the wal-mart smiley, milton bradley, the pringle guy, tony the tiger, a shredded wheat, and the bubble bee tuna bee.

Michelle as "a poptart"


Emily as "Wendy"


Me as "the Sun Maid Raisin girl"

Happy birthday Em!

Flashing...lights...lights...lights...

I mentioned before about Qiana's rough day with her 1 year (approximately) pictures. Poor Melanie had to try and get some cute shots, amidst the crying, dirty looks, and complete fussiness of my child. But the final product is in, and I am so very pleased!














she is not smiling in this next picture, but this face cracks me up so much that I had to keep it. look at those eyebrows!

Ain't nuttin but a gangsta party..party

Jared is famous for giving his children multiple nicknames...and apparently I have inherited it.

Lately I have been playing around with Q's name and making up all sorts of nicknames using word play.

Q short
Q diamond Phillips
Q-san Lucci
Q live crew
Q bega
Q ball
Q edition
Q kids on the block

You get the idea...

but my favorite one, made me smile instantly and inspired this picture...





Q-PAC SHAKUR!

This is what happens when Em and I get bored. :)

i miss you most at christmas time...

You would spend so much time making sure all of us kids had the same amount of presents, so that no child would get done first in the present circle.

Each child would have the same amount of money spent, so that we knew we were equally loved.

You would write "From Santa" on the present, but we knew it was your handwriting.

When I got older, you allowed time for me to get ready christmas morning, so that I wouldn't look bad in pictures...you understood.

You knew that decorating the house and tree was incomplete unless the Jackson 5 christmas album was playing

You would keep your tree up, for weeks (sometimes months) after christmas because you "liked how it looked"

You always made sure we had the chocolate advent calendars. I loved those.

When buying things before christmas you would always say "okay, but this will count towards your christmas"....but it never did. You couldn't resist getting everything we wanted.

You would watch each child open their gifts with a smile on your face, just as excited about our reaction as we were about the actual gift.

You always supported our participation in the Earl Family christmas eve talent show...even the year I thought it would a good idea to play the clarinet. I cried, but you were so proud.

Shopping for you was always so difficult, because you never asked for anything

...just the family... together and happy.

'Cause I'm real (The way you stare, the way you look, your style, your hair)

Q debut her winter coat today. It's Auntie Em inspired...cause we all know she loves shiny, furry, and slightly "hood" looking clothing items. :)

But I think Q pulls it off nicely.

Now all she needs is some tight jeans, hoop earrings, and high heel boots.

i'm safe up high, nothing can touch me, but why do i feel this party's over?

I haven't taken a single picture in a whole week, and thus I feel at a loss of what to blog about.

Thanksgiving was good. calm. It was a small group, but nice. The rest of my weekend was filled with comfy pants, tv, and time with Q.

I was planning on decorating for christmas on sunday. Then I got sick. I am really getting sick of being sick. I will decorate later this week when I feel better. Besides, I really should decorate when Q is asleep...I have a feeling the trees, ornaments, and lights are gonna be a huge temptation for her. uh oh.

The harlem globetrotters are out of the amazing race. Do I even care to watch the finale? Can i stand to hear "shut up dan! shut up dan!" one more episode..I don't know if I have the strength.

I love glee. It is single handedly saving my sanity. I wait in anticipation every week for wednesday night. I have all the songs downloaded. I change my status on facebook to a quote for each episode the moment I hear it. I love it. love it.

I have settled on a costume for Emily's "advertisment mascot" birthday party. It wasn't one of the my original choices. But money, options, and sewing skills are all lacking so I had to come up with something.

my wig should be here soon.

I could brag that I'm pretty much done with christmas shopping, but I only had Q and a sibling to shop for...so it wasn't really a huge feat. Although that sibling was Jared...and he is NOT an easy one to shop for.

I have started playing my christmas mix at work and it makes me happy. When those jingle bells kick in on 'all I want for christmas is you' I instantly smile. Oh Mariah! Although I have taken a major liking to "holiday road" this year..maybe it's because Jimmy Fallon and the Roots sang it on his show...but man I love it.

Is it bad for me to like Justin Bieber's music. Sure he's only like what 15, but man that little kid has stolen my heart....in a very non-creepy way...I promise.

I have absolutely no trips, vacations, or fun activities planned in the near or distant future. This depresses me. I feel it's easier to get through the boring day-to-day happenings of life knowing you have an small escape coming soon. I don't have an escape.

I have always been a little on the pessimistic side, but my job has really made me not trust people even more. Some shady shady people in this world.

I understand the economy sucks right not, But hearing the word "economy" is like nails on a chalkboard for me. It's now on the same level as "bling" "connection" and "bromance" as most annoying and overused words ever!

Speaking of this economic situation....I watch tv to escape reality. So all you tv writers quit writing the recession, or references to the recession into your scripts cause it just bums me out. Especially you Nip/Tuck...I don't watch your show for it's realistic portrayals of life, so just get back to normal and quit making sean and christian go through money issues. it's depressing.

I watch a lady write a check for $450,000 on "Million Dollar Listing" last night...as a down payment on a condo....try telling her we are in a recession!

My new favorite guilty-pleasure show. "Platinum Babies". Think Platinum weddings but for baby showers, nurseries, and baby photos....oh my gosh talk about an absurd spending of money. wow! and has anyone else ever heard of a "push present"? apparently the husband is supposed to buy his wife something nice *preferably diamonds* as a thank you for "pushing out his child" and to make her happy after birth. WHAT!

hey look at that....I guess I did have something to say after all.