Santa Pic

Here is the long awaited Santa Pic!!

Snuggly J

I had the pleasure of nursing and snuggling with my sickie tonight. J isn't too much into snuggling and being a cuddly baby these days so this was a supreme treat for this mama!! He fell asleep while nursing and that warmed my heart :-)

Now I am sitting on the couch watching a show with my hubby and hoping all the kids stay asleep awhile for needing me again.

We are going to have to sit out the homeschool group fun tomorrow since I am sick and J is sick now too. I hate missing our group.

Tonight while putting the kids to bed, they didn't want to stay down and needed a million things before finally settling down an hour after being put to bed. L was negotiating for water. I told her no and she cried out that she was super dehydrated. Oh my goodness dear. I did deny her water since she was playing games. I felt bad and went back with water a few minutes later. She was greatly pleased : -) I just hate giving in to every request at bedtime since it seems to drag it out longer and longer. They need to just go to bed. I napped today from 1 till 3. I guess during that time, they were monkeying around during their nap time and had computer time taken away. Computer time is a privilege around here. And taking it away as punishment is usually a productive tool. They were so upset with no computer time but I bet during nap tomorrow, they won't be disruptive!

Oh and all of this was posted from my new laptop - WOOHOO! :-)

Sickie Tuesday

I am now getting sick. I thought all morning that it was just allergies from our dirty air and the trees blossoming all around us but nope - after puking half the afternoon, I am thinking I am sick.

This morning, I took the kids to a homeschool PE class thing to try. We went with other families from our homeschool group. S wasn't too keen on trying it out to begin with but got into it shortly after beginning. L got right into from the get go and loved it. I thought S was a bit too young but he truly enjoyed it. About half way through, he ran over and said "I love this Mama - I want to do it every week!". How great! The other kids from our group weren't too interested so that's a bummer. It is fun though since there is another little girl in the PE class that we have known for awhile, since the girls were about 2 I think.

J just woke up with a 102 fever so I guess he's sick now. Gotta go.....

Christmas Lights

We went tonight and got ice cream and drove around to check out the local Christmas lights. Not very many people have their lights up yet so it was kinda a flop except the family togetherness was nice :-)

Monday Musings

This morning we had the pleasure of watching the kids of some dear friends we met through our homeschool group. The lucky ducks had the pleasure of signing the papers on a new house - yea them!! I was pleasantly surprised how well the time went with 2 more kids here. We had a minor incident with one pushing J down but after a quick time out, it never happened again. Both boys listened so well to Daddy Piper and I. It was a fun couple of hours. I could so be a mommy to five kids, even if 4 of them were boys :-)


Art this afternoon was fun. The kids made these snowman things. I think they are cute enough to keep forever!! We are hoping to continue the art portion of art/music class. Hopefully we'll find out more tomorrow. I do think the kids get alot out of the class - the learning from someone else and practicing their listening skills.


J is such a cute little stinker. He loves to scream his head off and most of the time for no good reason. He and S have been playing more and more together lately. J was super excited to see S when he woke up this morning. S came walking down the hall and J saw him and was just squealing and screaming and laughing with delight.

Life is still unsettled around here. We are hoping for some good news tomorrow or at least some news of upcoming good news. I hate what the stress has done to our marriage. We are in the "for worse" of the "for better or worse" part of marriage. I do hold out high hopes that things will get better though. If you don't have hope, you have nothing! We are snippy and short with each other more often than not lately. I am just as much at fault, if not more. I read that the Mama has such an influence over the mood in the house and I do believe that. I have tried to get better with my mood - even in the present circumstances.

Dinner, Baths, Bed, Blogging...

We had family prayers again tonight. I think this might become the routine and I am so glad for that!!

Dinner was a quick throw together thing. The kids were playing outside with Daddy, admiring the Christmas lights so it was a fast dinner but still everyone enjoyed it. We are planning a Christmas light date tomorrow complete with ice cream cones for the driving around : -)

I guess I have nothing more to say, Desperate Housewives is distracting me : -)

Sunday Stuff

It was a long night without much sleep due to an arguement with DH and then J didn't sleep well. I was able to sleep from 5:30 till 9. When I woke up at nine, I was so tempted to skip church but was driven to hurry my butt up and get out the door. We only left 5 minutes late so that worked out okay. Church was a tad chaotic. J didn't want to stay in the nursery today so he stayed with his mama, which made for some dispruptions during the service. I met the pastor today. I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting him yet. He made sure to welcome me, even with my disruptive, unruly child :-) L & S loved Sunday School. In the beginning, there was a skit by the older kids about Moses freeing the people in Eqypt. I wish I knew more about the bible. I am thinking of doing a Bible study beginning on January. I do know I want to get confirmed.

This afternoon I napped for a bit. It was nice. L rested, J rested, S napped and Daddy watched football.

Elmo just scared J. It's the Tickle Me Elmo and it came alive when J bumped it and he was freaked out! L is now telling Daddy that we need to put away the Elmo becuase J doesn't like it. Now Daddy is eating something chocolate and J is freaking out wanting some - must he his Auntie L's blood shining through.

Now I need to hop off and do the dishes before figuring out dinner. So goes the life of a mom I guess.

More Wireless Fun!

I am loving this wireless internet stuff!! Now I am laying on my bed, watching What Not T o Wear. We drove my niece back to her neck of the woods this morning. I miss that girl! She is so busy with high school, work, college classes and her boyfriend - just like her life should be at 17. She is so pleasurable to be around. Truly a wonderful young lady!!

The kids saw Santa today. L knew immediately that he wasn't the real thing. I had to tell her that the real Santa is up north working on toys and stuff for Christmas. J screamed when I sat him on Santa's lap. The picture is super cute. I have to scan it and the scanner is in the office and I am just too lazy to go do it right now. Our Sleep Number bed is just too comfy. So the kids saw Santa today. Everyone reported what they wanted. It was fun to see them seeing Santa.

Life has been so bizarre lately. We are in a transition stage, it feels like anyway. If work doesn't pick up here then we'll head up North for work next summer. It doesn't help that we are in the same field of work and construction has been one of the hardest hit with this recession. We just hold out that work will improve here in our home state and there will be no relocating under duress, just a relocation when we are ready to, if that makes sense.

Tonight I let the kids where the Christmas jammies for fun. They had a fun bubble bath before settling in for bed. It was another night with goodnight prayers with the whole family - so wonderful.

Next week will be super busy. We have major plans each day, except for Friday. We have a cookie decorating party, 2 homeschool activities, friends over on Monday, a Daisy activity, soccer, end of soccer party, and Girl Scout cookie training for me. I am tired just thinking about it.

J has started screaming lately. He will get super vocal when he thinks he's not being heard. He really makes things interesting though :-)

S is all boy right now. He loves to dance and play the guitar and play fight. His kung fu fighter thing for Christmas should really make good use of his fighting energy, or I hope so!!

L is super creative these days. She is forever coloring or gluing something. I think it is fun to share this with her since I am not at all creative. Her interaction with her brothers is amazing. She is so thoughtful with them from helping J up when he falls to giving S a drink when he asks and I can't get to him, like in the van on our hour and half drive today. I consider myself so lucky to be her mommy!!

New Laptop/Black Friday

I am in the kitchen blogging from my new laptop I acquired from an awesome Black Friday deal last night/this morning, thanks to my awesome sister. (Which is so cool because usually I was at the desktop in the office and now I can be anywhere thanks to wireless internet!)

Well now I am on the couch after making some pico de gallo for my niece that is staying with us for the night. She came down to watch our kids. We went out to a nice dinner and shopping at ToysRUs for a kung fu fighter thing for S. He saw a pic of his daddy with this bop bag thing and wanted to have one just like it, so off we went to find something similar tonight.

Anyway back to Black Friday. I headed up to the Walmart by my sister's house to wait with her. She was planning on getting my niece and nephew a laptop for Christmas. She lined up at 10! I left our house about 10 and went her way to wait with her. Well on my way I pulled over by a cop for speeding!!!! Yikes! But he let me go. What a nice cop. I was super grateful for that. I made it to Walmart by 11. Her and my niece were waiting around for someone to figure out what was going on. This particular Walmart isn't open 24 hours and with the death last year, they were making major changes to the shopping process. We lined up in one spot (first in line!!) and were moved then lined up in another spot only to be moved again later. We were not prepared for waiting outside and got super cold. We did take turns walking around in the store to warm up though so that helped. The grocery store nearby opened up their Starbucks at 3 so we were first there too. After waiting for 7 hours, we were rewarded with 3 laptops. My sis got me one too!! It was a fun experience. Thankfully everyone was in the mood for fun so there wasn't fighting and fussing over stuff. The only major glitch was Walmart tills freezing up when we went to pay for the electronics. I guess it was a nationwide problem. We had cash so it was fine for us but not for people that were paying with credit cards. I was so tired by this point, having been up for about 25 hours at this point. We headed home. I was able to drive most of the way but had to have my niece take over driving about an hour into the drive. I came home and she took care of my 3 babies while I napped - yeah for a wonderful niece :-) Tonight she watched them while we went out to dinner and shopping. We came home to kids with full bellies from her homecooked dinner of ramen noodles and mac-n-cheese, fresh from a bath, watching Snow While while eating popcorn while she was cleaning up the kitchen - WOOHOO!!

L was not happy about the new laptop. She thought it should be for her. I told her to get her mitts off my computer. There are 2 almost brand new computers in the office for the kids.

Now I sit next to my hubby on the couch, with SP in the chair switching our cellphones around and enjoying the new computer. Life is good with much to be thankful for. Not the material things but the fun memories made last night and today!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

This was the most wonderful Thanksgiving. We had no drama, after all the drama and crap leading up to the day, it turned out to be a peaceful day. Thank you S family for joining us today!!

PEECH Thanksgiving Event

Today was the homeschool Thanksgiving event. It was so great. Another mom hosted at her house, RG, and she is such a wonderful hostess. We love going to their house. I guess we enjoy going to any of the homes of our homeschool families. Everyone is so welcoming that we are comfortable everywhere! We do feel extra blessed for our homeschool group, our homeschool family. They are so wonderful and supportive of this endeavor of ours. Enough sappy - details!

One mom read a Thanksgiving story followed by another mom telling a Thanksgiving story and having each child list 5 things they are thankful. It was fun hearing the things kids are thankful form, such as "my mom, my brothers, my toys". For lunch, the kids made their own pizzas. There was lots of fellowship and great fun for the kids. J was a bit separation anxiety ridden. He didn't want me to leave the room without him. S got hurt on the trampoline when one of the boys swung him around and hurt him "in the crotch" as he put it. L was teased during lunch and then another boy GL made her feel better by whispering in her that he would be nice to her ; -)

Times are pleasant with our homeschool group. I do enjoy the company of the other women and the kids enjoy their friends - a win win for everyone!

Shopping, Art, Couponing, Otherwise known as Life

Last night was a rough night with J. He isn't sleeping well these days. He truly wants to nurse all night and that is not okay with my sleep schedule as it means I ain't getting any sleep. He was cute though when he got up about 11. He was so delirious with needing sleep. He was stumbling around and so giggly. He would lay his head on the floor then pop up just laughing. Daddy Piper and I had a blast watching him be so silly. L was up by 6 but not allowed any computer time this morning since her behavior yesterday was unacceptable. Taking away the computer is the only thing that really bothers her right now. S had his morning computer time then went outside to play. He and his dad were butting heads almost immediately so I was planning on taking him with me to Target for some one on one time. L got upset so she came with. Yes I am a sucker for my kids' crying jags. We took their shopping carts and off we went - while J stayed home with Daddy Piper and napped. It was fun!! They both enjoyed the shopping trip way more that way. It does take twice as long when they have their own carts but the fun they have is so worth it!! Oh and the coupon shopping at Target totally rocked too. Spent $22 and saved $56 and that included getting ink for our printer - WOOHOO!!

This afternoon was art class. The kids enjoy their homeschool art class program. Today they painted these wood/cardboard house things. J ran around the lobby like a mad man. He sure had fun though, drinking water and strumming the display guitars.

And tonight was another bedtime prayer success. We remembered to do it and the kids remembered the words : -)

Church and stuff

Today was another round at the local Lutheran church. Everyone did great in their designated spots so I was able to listen to the entire service!!!!!! J fell asleep before leaving the parking lot. L & S enjoyed Sunday School. I think this church thing might work out after all : -)

Tonight was dinner out. We don't do this very often anymore due to a) budget constraints and b) frankly my cooking is better than most things we eat out usually. I enjoy the eating out part because someone serves me AND does the dishes afterwards : -) J did great eating out - he sat nicely while we ate, even after he was done. L & S are both well mannered when eating out so we don't worry about them. Everyone enjoyed themselves. It was a bit late when we got home but we muddled through okay.

After more mother drama, it seems she is going to join us for Thanksgiving. Oh joy.....

Cinnamon Pine Cones

I have been coveting these yummy smelling pine cones at a local grocery store for the past month. Every time I walk by them, I think about picking them up and buying them - knowing that the $4 I would spend would bring me utter happiness yet not able to do it because $4 seems like alot right now. I do think if I spent any money on pine cones my hubby would kill me considering we have 20+ pine trees in our front yard. I got the wise idea today to make my own. And guess what? I DID! I make 2 batches of pine cones for less than a dollar, saving me $7 and cleaning up our yard in the process :-) And the best news.... they smell divine!!! I see scented pine cone gifts in the future.