John David and the Snow

My boys love to play outside. Snowball fights are prime entertainment around here and anyone who goes outside is fair game. These are old picture and there is currently much more snow out there.

Here’s John David holding his first snowball. He was quite proud. For awhile, it didn’t matter where we were – if he saw snow on the ground, you could bet he was going to pick it up and make a snow ball. I’m happy we’re done with that for the most part. There was one day when the boy was quite determined to make a snowman. He started it in the backyard and then decided he wanted me to see what he was doing through the front window. That poor kid rolled the big snow ball all the way from the back to the front (quite a long distance).

By then he was pretty tired, but he still wanted to finish. As he was trying to round it out, a big chunk fell off. I wasn’t out there, but I have to wonder if he didn’t say a naughty word under his breath. I think I would have. I was amused to watch him as he decided to have fun another way. What could be more fun than ripping into the bottom half of a snowman? Running starts and all. And that was the end of the snowman. There have been none since. They are the snow-things of which we do not speak……

Getting Out of Bed on School Mornings

School mornings come early around here. It's so dark and sooo cold outside that pulling back the big down comforter and putting your bare feet on the frigid wood floor is just short of torture. The kids apparently agree (as demonstrated by their oh so convincing "I don't want/need to go to school today" pleas every morning).

When I go into John David's room to wake him up he usually moans something along the lines of, "Ohhhhh, not again!" I "gently" remind him, "Son, morning comes everyday.

Julia is especially hard to get up since she sleeps on the top of a bunk bed that has big side rails. We also have to keep the ladder put away (one word: Joshua) so I can't exactly get to her. If she doesn't want to get up (which is pretty much every morning), she just scoots to the side of the bed that's against the wall and pulls the covers over her head. A few days ago I started stroking her and telling her good morning and she sat up quickly, looked around and, in the most disgusted voice ever, said, "Are you kidding me??? It's morning already? Ughhhhhh!" Of course, she immediately laid back down and pulled the covers over her.

Today, John David's room was especially cold for some reason so I crawled under the blankets to snuggle with him and wake him up. I asked him if he could wake up and go anywhere he wanted, where would he go? He only thought for a moment before answering, "Colorado", so he could visit Grandmamma and Dodie (my parents). So sweet.

On to Julia's room next. My little question had helped John David wake up easily enough so I decided to try it on Julia too. "Julia, if you could wake up today and go anywhere you wanted, where would you go?"

That child didn't skip a beat. "Back to bed," she said.......

And then pulled the covers back over her head.

Christmas at Home

We celebrated Christmas at our home the Saturday before Christmas. We didn’t wake up and go straight to the gifts though. We got dressed, ate our traditional Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (orange is the best flavor!), and even did some cleaning. It was kind of a last minute decision to do it the way we did.

Joshua was super cute opening his things. He got a couple of Diego toys and his very own Buzz Lightyear! He reminds me of his daddy when he opens presents. Very serious and thoughtful. I was glad to capture a little smile when he opened his “Rescue Pack”. We already owned the “Backpack” so now he goes around carrying both of them…..

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Aulora was so excited to get the Miss Goodbee motor home toy. The child is so in love with all things Miss Goodbee. She and Julia also got matching Baby Alive dolls. These dolls came with a little fairy skirt for the doll and a bigger one for the child. Aulora constantly puts hers on on top of whatever she’s wearing. Real clothes, pajamas, whatever. It’s super adorable.

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Julia got her very own Hello Kitty hair dryer (shhhh! Mommy’s been using it too!), her Baby Alive, some clothes, a movie, and a leapster game. She was thrilled about her own things, but was also very excited about everyone else’s things too. What a little mommy she is.

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John David was hard pressed to wait for his turn to open things. (Patience is not yet his forte.) He got a great big Star Wars blanket, some books, a Monopoly card game that turned out to be a lot of fun, and some legos. He was also enjoying Joshua’s Buzz Lightyear. We were reminiscing about how much he LOVED all things Buzz when he was little. So far Joshua isn’t quite as impressed, but we’re working on it. I LOVE Toy Story! (Can’t wait for number three in June!!!)

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And So It Begins…..

All of the catch up, that is. I got a new laptop for Christmas (I can’t tell you how excited I am about that – and how needed it was!), but I told John yesterday that getting a new computer is like moving. All my files, programs, pictures – they have to move. And I’m having to learn how to do things differently now. For all the frustration my old dino computer gave me, we had a pretty good working relationship. We were organized. We knew each other.

And this new, beautiful thing I have…..well, we’re still getting to know each other. Which means I’m kind of slow. What I know from this morning is that there HAS to be a better way of downloading and organizing my pictures than what I just went through. Seriously.

How about I leave you with a few images for now until I can put together some posts later on today?

Here’s John David using the snow blower after our first significant snowfall back in December. This amount is “cute” now.

Joshua has learned to take off his pajamas and climb out of his bed. We are also dealing with him not taking naps currently. I’ve even foiled (GASP!) his windows to make his room darker in the hopes of improving napping conditions. It worked once. 

Julia looks totally adorable in her snowsuit. (I’ll take this opportunity to shout out a big THANKS to the grandmas who bought all the various things she has on. Yea for grandmas! And yea for big sales at Kohl’s too!)

And of course I have all the Christmas pictures to post. This year we traveled all the way down to the Tulsa area where we spent two weeks with John’s side of the family.

We were looking forward to some warmer weather and no snow……Oh well………

The Girls Sing and a Snippet of the Christmas Program

We're so excited here at our house that Christmas is only 7 days away! After school today, Julia decided to throw a birthday party for Jesus with Aulora since Aulora didn't get to have a school party. They put stuffed animals in all the chairs and set out treats and decorations. They even had a goody bag ready in the corner. I heard them from upstairs and Julia was leading Aulora in singing the birthday song. Too cute! I had them do it again for the camera. You'll see in the video that Aulora was a little busy enjoying her treat to sing again.

The school program was last night. It was very sweet and the kids were pumped about the night. I tried to take more video but I had a little too much help from Mr. Joshua. Enjoy. =)

Man in the Making

My boy, "Little", is morphing into a man and I'm not so sure how I feel about this. One of his classmates (of the girl variety) got him Bath and Body Works cologne for his birthday. He was not at all impressed about it at first, but he changed his tune pretty quick. Multiple times a day he goes into his room to spray that man stuff all over him. Once he's gone to school and I go into his room to pick things up, his bigness lingers. And I don't like it.

He's been practicing the piano a lot lately. He was on the verge of complaining about it one day until I mentioned that girls really liked it when a boy could play the piano. Well yeehaw, that little bit of information seems to have launched his musical career. When, exactly, did he start to care what girls thought? Last time I looked he was totally into whatever creeped or grossed them out. (Perhaps I should tell him that girls also like it when a boy takes a shower.)

Then yesterday was an "un-uniform" day for his class because they won the box top challenge. (If you would like to donate box tops please send them our way! Our school has raised well over $500 already this year and that's with just 30 students!) He took a little longer than normal getting dressed and when he came down he had on his cologne (of course) along with a very well thought out outfit, complete with pearlized snaps and a really cool hemp necklace. He was extra tall somehow and I'm pretty sure his legs looked hairer. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. And for some reason, on this particular day, I didn't mind his bigness quite as much.

It made my heart feel full.

And proud.

And a little old.......

No Apologies

There were great plans for major updates yesterday but I ended up spending about four hours playing Monopoly with John David instead. Oh yes. Monopoly.

(And I loved it! Shhhhh!!!)

We made special memories and laughed and loved. It was fun. When Daddy finally came home at 1:00 am after studying and taking practice tests all day at school we were still playing!

John David was sad that I couldn't play again this morning so he's been teaching Julia how to play and they've been doing great.

We had to skip church today because Julia was sick all yesterday and was still throwing up through the night. She woke up at about 11:30 and seems to feel good again. She's always been funny that way with quick little bugs.

It's so weird that here we are in December, in Northern Indiana (only a few minutes from Michigan actually!) and we've only had a couple of snow flurries so far. Nothing that has even stuck. The kids are sad but we keep telling them that we'll be tired of lots of snow soon enough. Meanwhile, all our friends and family in Texas enjoyed snow and even built some snowmen! Now that's strange!

I slightly panicked a couple of days ago when I realized there were things we needed to do to get our house ready for the winter that I hadn't even considered. For instance, cleaning out gutters is a very important thing. One company wanted $250 for the job. Uh, no thank you. I found a 20 year old guy from Craigslist who did the job for $25. I had to give him multiple bowls of hot water since the gutters were already a little frozen but it's done.

We still have to get all our storm windows back on and get the snow blower serviced. I'm getting a little nervous! Like, should I be stockpiling a month's worth of food in the basement in case we get snowed in? Seriously?

Another winter problem is Joshua. The child does NOT like to wear a coat. At all. He screams! It doesn't matter which coat either. Not sure what to do about that. So far I've mostly just dressed him warm and then thrown a big blanket over him but that can't continue.

Gotta run now before Aulora puts another roll (as in whole roll) in the toilet.

I should seriously consider having some circus music play on my blog.......




PS. Thanksgiving went great. I cooked a whole holiday meal on my own! (Until my mom got here about 30 minutes before we ate anyway. Does it still count?) It certainly wasn't the fanciest and prettiest feast our family has ever had (sorry, I don't own a gravy boat and we didn't bring out the fine china) but we were together. And black Friday shopping? Nope. I slept in. It was great.....

Going Well.....I Think

The house is still standing and the smoke alarm hasn't gone off yet. I'm impressed. (Especially since we started our first fire here and there was quite a bit of smoke. These Southerners are only familiar with Duraflame logs and we're now using wood from the rank we had delivered.)

I've made the pies and the homemade cranberry sauce. The sweet potatoes are baked and ready to be glorified tomorrow and the gigantic pan of cornbread is in the oven for the dressing. I even made some fudge! Sadly, it's on the gooey side so I won't have pretty little fudge squares.

At this point, I mostly worried about cooking the turkey, and also trying to have everything hot and ready at the same time. I should probably do a little cleaning at some point too. Children have been having their way with my house as I've been in the kitchen. I'm kind of scared to go down to the basement.......

My First

I think I'm officially growing up this week.

That's right. I'm married. I've got four kids. A mini van. A mortgage.

But I'll finally grow up this week.

Because I'm cooking all of the Thanksgiving dinner. By myself. All of it. Alone. No help. (Breathe!)

I'll start the cooking today, because I think that's what I'm supposed to do in order to eat before midnight tomorrow.

My parents are flying in and driving over from Chicago tomorrow afternoon to join us. And my lovely husband invited a friend from school to come too. I hope nobody has very high expectations!

Today I have errands to run, a little one that probably has to go see a doctor, and for sure a library trip is in order to borrow plenty of movies to entertain all the monkeys while I try to not ruin our Thanksgiving! This should be fun! (I think I may add to my to do list: "Compile list of restaurants open on 11-26")

My mom gave me a wonderful mixer for an early Christmas present so I'm pretty excited about using that. All I've ever had is the little $5 hand mixer from Walmart. I told you - I'm growing up!

Is anyone else cooking for the first time?

Happy Thanksgiving to all.....

My Leaf Pile is Bigger Than Your Leaf Pile.....Guaranteed

Do you see the kids at the top of the hill?

That's John David and Julia, but that's not a hill.
It's a leaf pile!

The whole thing is just leaves. For real!
There was a big group of volunteers that raked leaves all over town on Saturday.

This was the pile they raked at the park right down the street from our house. I've never seen anything like it! I guess the big leaf trucks will have to come suck it up now!

Kid Lovin' Healthy Foods

We've been working to make our household more healthy and while this has been a frustrating thing a lot of times, I've been excited to find some great alternatives for the kids. I'd love to hear what you've found for your own families too!

I do most of our grocery shopping at Walmart (you can't beat their prices!), and although they've started carrying more healthy choices, there are still some things I have to buy elsewhere.

Our kids have always loved yogurt. I never really payed much attention to what all was in there though. Yogurt just seemed to equal nutritious.

WRONG.
Read the labels! Not all yogurt is created equal!

I'm no expert, but here are some things I've found and that all or some of our kids like:

• Horizon's "Little Blends" is an organic yogurt that mixes a veggie with a fruit. It sounds gross but it's actually pretty good. It's made specifically for babies and toddlers.
• Stonyfield's "Yo Baby 3 in 1 Meals" is another organic yogurt that combines veggie and fruit. It's bigger and the flavors are different. They are sold individually for about $1 apiece. Joshua scarfed it down the first time I gave it to him!
  
• Stonyfield's "O'Soy" soy yogurt is surprisingly good if you're trying to do the vegan thing. It's just a fruit and isn't marketed to kids but my younger two like it. (The older two have had the sugary kinds too long and are taking longer to win over.)
• Stonyfield's "Yokids" organic fruit yogurt. The packaging is obviously trying to appeal to kids. It's good! (It still has a hard time competing with the stupid Trix Rabbit.)
  

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find these next things!!!

• We use the twisted fruit (which is like a twizzler candy but is all fruit!) as a reward for eating dinner good without complaining. What a difference these have made in our home! You'll find them right with all the "fruit" snacks and granola bars.
• Fruit Roll-Ups now has "simply fruit" roll-ups that are 90% fruit. The big kids were opposed to these at first since they knew there were a healthy kind, but once they ate one they loved them! So far I've only found these at Target.
  

• Kashi cereal bars are like Nutri-grain bars but so much better for you. Nutrigrain bars was another thing that just seemed healthy and I didn't think much about. But then I read the label.....
• These Kashi "Dark Chocolate Coconut" bars are absolutely delicious! If you have a sweet tooth and you're fighting cravings you should check these out. Trust me - I should know!
  

• Another Stonyfield product we buy is "Yokids squeezers". These are just like the "'gogurts" (the tubes of yogurt with ScoobyDoo on them) but they are organic and don't have the corn syrups and other junk in them. Walmart doesn't carry them - not ours anyway. =(

• Cascadian Farm Organic "Dark Chocolate Almond Granola" is my favorite breakfast cereal now. I eat is everyday and it doesn't get old. At less than $3 a box I really like this one.
  

• Yea for Capri Sun who finally made 100% juice drinks! Again, my older two don't think these are near as good as normal Capri Suns, but I won't buy them those so they may as well learn to like the new kind!
  

• These all natural fruit strips by Stretch Island Fruit Co. are kind of like fruit roll-ups just a different shape. They come in several different flavors and they've been a bit hit too.

These are some of the new food that work for me! I'd love to hear what's working for you......

Joshua Melts Me

As a mother there are certain moments that give you some great highs.

The first time they hold your finger.
The first smile (even though everyone says it's probably gas!).
First steps.
First time to use the potty.
First time they read.
First crush.

The list goes on and on.

You know what my favorite is?

When they learn to say I love you!

Joshua said it for the first time last week. "Love you, Mommy!" And then a sweet little slobbery kiss.

Sigh. Can I freeze time please?

In an effort to come back to reality from my super "Love you, Mommy" induced high, here are some other Joshua moments.

The child adores rolling around and digging in the cleared out vegetable garden.

I guess the soil is good too since he keeps trying to eat it.

And then there are markers. Oh the markers. Where do they come from??? Where does he get them??? Why does he lick them???

More importantly, why does he write on our floor with them???

(This would be just one of the many areas he "made his mark"......)

Sweet Julia

My precious six year old offered to carry the very full and heavy laundry basket from the basement up two floors to the bedroom for me.

I thought that was all she did (which would have been just wonderful as my legs don't always appreciate the stairs!), but later when I went in my room I found this:

She had done her best to fold two of the towels from the basket and then left a card for me on the pillow.

On the inside she had drawn a "sculpture" she said.

Each day she becomes more and more helpful. She delights in doing things for me and being a little mommy. I love having her help me with dinner and it brings to mind memories of helping in my own mom's kitchen. I can hardly wait for the day when cooking dinner means spending time with both of my girls - talking, laughing, sharing our lives.

For now I'll enjoy showing her how to do simple things like set the table and make the bread. These are the things that make my life sweet.......

Craigslist Funny

This isn't a "roll on the floor" kind of funny, but it certainly amused me this morning. When you post an ad on Craigslist you are supposed to fill in a blank that tells people the location of your item. Like "Chicago" or "Southeast Houston". Look at the location someone entered for their piano they listed.

Some people are so helpful......

Leaf Trucks

Well, here it is - the coolest fall thing ever! (remember, I'm easily impressed.) The city sends big trucks through a few times in November and they suck up all your leaves! All you have to do is rake them (or use a leaf blower - woohoo!) to the curb.

It was so mezmerizing to stand at the window and watch!

I will point out that there was still a lot of work involved on my part. It was no easy task getting all the leaves from the backyard to the front curb! I'm so thankful we didn't have to bag all those leaves though......