Homeschool Christmas Party

Today was the long awaited homeschool group party. We were supposed to do it last Sunday but a couple families couldn't make it. Then it was scheduled for today but a couple families weren't going to make it either. AGH - what to do?!? We went ahead and had it anyway. We were only missing one family when all was said and done (and we did miss them!!).

But let me back up some. I had woke up with a cold or something yesterday. I felt stuffed up and icky. I thought it might be something more in the afternoon when I got cold to the bones and couldn't warm up. I ordered pizza for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook. After eating, I did feel some better but not quite good. I went to bed early and J woke up almost immediately. Daddy Piper tried to comfort him but at night, he usually only wants his mama's milk. I got him and crawled back into bed. He and I slept wonderfully for the next 3 hours!!! Daddy Piper came to bed, moved J back to his bed and back to sleep I went until 4 this morning. I got up at 4 for the day. J got more of his mama's milk and went back to sleep until 8:30 - WOOHOO!! I napped a bit on the couch until the kids all started getting up. I woke up and felt super great. I think I was just extra run down with the holidays and stuff. I got up and got the morning going (the fire was already going since 4 - thank you Daddy Piper for cutting all the wood yesterday!). I had a ton of stuff to get ready for the afternoon. I had some good helpers though so it helped. My niece came down to spend some time with us. L & S had fun making the peanut balls and L helped decorate the pretzels. I lost my cool and was frustrated for a couple of hours, just trying to get ready. I finally gave up feeling overwhelmed and things went smoother. I will never learn, it seems, to relax and enjoy the process of getting things ready. Treats got made (yummy peanut butter balls and chocolate dipped pretzels) and I got the food set out. I also made pico, which was yum!

After showering while the kids napped, I got the rest of food ready. We had burgers and dogs with chips and salsa, veggie tray and a scrumptious salad. Everyone started showing up at 4 and the show got on the road. It lasted until about 7. We had a great time. The kids played well, food tasted wonderful, all the dads got along beautifully. We are so lucky to have built such a wonderful group.

L has seemed to find a kindred spirit in another member of our group (GL). It is so neat to see them play together. She grabbed his hand while running out to play. I so enjoy seeing her so happy, playing with him and the other kids.

L did mention today that her fish was the wrong color. She had asked for a gold one - yikes! This is the second time Santa messed up her request.

S enjoyed the company of all the boys from our group. He has grown into himself lately. He used to be really uncomfortable around groups of people but not anymore. He enjoys the other boys now and plays very well with them.

J spent most of the time with his Daddy. He has become a Daddy sidekick lately, truly loving being outside. He helped start the fire :-)

Now my niece is out and about with some friends. I have another hour or so to wait up for her before going to bed. Thankfully it's years before I have to do this with my own. And who said you get more sleep once the kids outgrew the baby stage???

Merry Christmas 2009!

Perfect - this was a perfect Christmas from start to finish. I don't believe I have ever declared a holiday or any special event perfect before. The morning started out with L running in yelling "He brought me a fish!". Santa had brought her a fish - just as requested. I got up and came out (so thankful I put the coffee last night!) and then L woke up S to see his requested item, a GraveDigger Monster Truck. Daddy Piper got up quickly to attend to the fire mishap. I had started a fire but forgot to open the damper to release the smoke. I hadn't ever had it closed on me before and when I started the fire this morning, smoke filled the house - oops!! Anyway he got up, I got J and we started our Christmas morning. Thankfully all this happened at 8 this morning - not too early! S was classic waking up - he stumbled down the hall, almost crabby for being woke up, only to find a GraveDigger Remote Control awaiting him. He rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe his own eyes. It was so cool to see him this way. If I had been more prepared, I would have grabbed the camera only 2 feet from me but I didn't. I lived the moment instead. J was super excited to see his own Pottery Barn chair. All the kids have them. They are worth every penny. We didn't have to buy this one though since Santa brought it : -) We spent the next couple of hours opening gifts, hear glorious squeals over the socks and undies in the stockings (S was sooooooo excited over his undies - he opened them and checked them out one by one). Their stockings were so full this year, Santa couldn't even hang them back up, he had to sit them by the fireplace - what a problem indeed!! We gathered close to the fire and finished opening all the goodies, which included things like the socks and undies, moon sand (bad idea Santa), glitter glue, Transformer trucks, sippies for J, nail polish and lip stuff for S, movies and Playdoh. Santa included only one candy gift this year. He gets smarter and smarter each year : -) It was easy to say yes to the pixi stick stuff. J's had some gummy Lifesavers. He started saying "Candy" and improved his "More" this morning. The neatest thing was all the stocking stuffers cost Santa almost nothing!!! Next up was gifts. For a year that has been super lean for us, the tree was loaded with gifts for the kids. L got some cute clothes, jammies, lunchbox, Tinkerbell movie, Connect 4 game, art case from Grandma, purse and goodies from Auntie LW and Fancy Nancy as her special Christmas book. S got Leapfrog tag reader with 6 books, jammies, lunchbox, Hungry Hippo game (which J loved!!), Santa Buddies movie, Tball set from Grandma, remote control car from Auntie LW and his special Christmas book was "Snow". J got his library bag, some books for his Leappad touch system, an Elmo phone, a telephone from Auntie LW, a HUGE dump truck from Grandma and a baby Christmas book. By the time we got all these fun things opened, I realized we were going to be late for my sister's house. I had to call her and tell her. No biggie. I then had to call my mother and tell her Merry Christmas. This was a terrible thing. I should have just text her. This was the only glitch in the day. She was mad because we were going to be late. No asking about the kids' Christmas morning or anything - just upset attitude. I wouldn't even discuss the call with Daddy Piper. I REFUSED to allow this to bring down our day. We opened our gifts from each other. The kids made Daddy Piper a picture frame and their cute picture and got him a Transformer shirt. He went all out with the gifts he got me. I got a dish rack and wooden kitchen utensils (just as I requested) and he included some grilling utensils and a new ironing board cover. He had these wrapped in a huge box so it threw me off totally!!! He did include my ring pop. I get jewelry every year - We have diamond years and we have ring pop years. This was a ring pop year!!! Daddy Piper called his mom to wish her a Merry Christmas, I started breakfast and the kids played in the room where ToysRUs threw up : -) We had toys and stuff all over this house. It was truly the things Christmas mornings are made of. There was laughter, playing, fighting, fusshing and lots of fun!! We forgot to put out the bop bag thing. Daddy Piper quickly got it out and ready. The plug came out of the bottom and water went everywhere. On the second try, it worked great : -) S was super excited about this, because it was just like Daddy had when he was a boy!! Breakfast and getting dressed went quickly then it was time to gather a couple of toys and hit the road to Auntie DP's house. L was insistant on bringing her red purse from Auntie LW, filled to the brim. I think that is one of her most prized gifts. It is a super cute purse, just perfect for her lipstuff and phone. S LOVES his Gravedigger Monster Truck from his stocking. He brought that along with his new water bottle. The drive went pretty quick. Well as quickly as it could go with L asking "Are we there?" "How much longer?" "Where's the tunnel?" "Are we there yet?". I got car sick driving up. I had a sinus headache when we left and this contributed to that yucky, nauseous feeling.

L hates going to DP's house because she usually gets trampled by the dogs. We reassured her it wouldn't happen. Today was S's turn to get hurt. He got hurt this time - he fell on a rebar and scratched his cheek.

We spent about 4 hours at my sister's. It was wonderful. Everyone was in a great mood. J wasn't too sure of anyone at first but came around pretty quickly. We opened gifts with them almost right away. Tons of fun stuff from both my sister and my mother. My sister put the dogs away and the kids enjoyed playing outside with SP and RP with their new remote control trucks.
I spent some of the time helping with their laptops. We got them hooked up wirelessly with Verizon. That was quite the ordeal but we got it worked out. I love working on computer stuff like that.

All 3 kids make themselves at home at my sister's house. They go right into RP's room and play with his toys. I am not sure he enjoys that all too much but he tolerates it okay. All 3 kids are also flooded with sugar from their Auntie. I try not to intervene too much but seriously, I don't think J was without a sucker for most of the 4 hours we were there : -)

The trip home was quiet for the most of it. J and S slept almost all the way home. L sang Christmas carols and complained loudly that it was too dark to draw or read.

Tonight S was going to feed the fish otherwise known as Cookie. He grabbed the food and the top popped off. It went everywhere. This was a classic moment when I would have gotten upset but chose not too. It really is a choice, most of the time. He started crying, I grabbed him and hugged him, got the Swiffer and cleaned it up. No harm done. It felt great not to be upset. S was quickly comforted when he saw I wasn't upset. I need to work on that - not getting upset over the minor stuff. And truly - spilling fish food accidentally is minor stuff.

Dinner was frozen pizza then it was quick baths and off to bed. Goodnight prayers, hugs and kisses then they were off to snoozeland. Or maybe not. Daddy forgot the damper thing again and this time the fire alarm went off, LOUDLY. L slept through it. S hopped up to investigate. J just kept hollering "Daddy?Daddy?Daddy?" from his bed. Daddy comforted everyone, got the alarm shut off and opened the damper : -)

This was a wonderful, special holiday with lots of fun memories to hold onto forever. I am so thankful for my family this year. Attending the Christmas service last night meant so much to me. I am looking forward to learning more about God in the coming year as I attend a Bible in 90 days study thing Jan-March.

Life is good. God is good!!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve

Today went off just as anticipated. Daddy was determined to go through the day with no yelling and he managed to do just that. I did get frustrated early in the day but managed to get it under control and the rest of the day went off without a hitch and just lots of fun!

This morning we made some yummies for the neighbors. Daddy Piper and S got more wood for the fireplace while J, L and I finished the treats. We had a snacky kind of lunch since we were going to have an early dinner. Well that turned into a full lunch. I was worried no one would have an appetite at 4 for dinner. No worries - dinner wasn't until 5 anyway :- ) Daddy Piper and the kids delivered the goodies (**how funny - story below**). While they were gone, I was finishing up dinner, mainly the whiskey sauce. I couldn't find the beef stock to make the sauce. I had everything made up to the adding the stock. I couldn't find that stuff anywhere. When I got home from Target last night, Daddy Piper helped put away the stuff. He didn't put the stock away where I would have put it. So today while making the sauce, I started to get super upset and then put it into perspective and let it go - not worth getting upset. I text him and he sent L home to tell me where it was : -)

Dinner was a ribeye roast, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes and fresh fruit. It was delicious.

J has been running a fever. Poor guy. I think it's just his teeth.

Tonight was the service at church. We attended as a family!! We did leave early though because J's fever spiked again :-(

Tonight we took the pic of me with the kids in our matching jammies - an annual tradition from L's first Christmas.

*** The neighbor brought over a goodie box. I had told Daddy Piper I couldn't imagine him delivering my baked goods for me. Then later in the day - that's exactly what happened. It was pretty funny.

Fun gifts

I made these fun gifts for our neighbors and some friends. They were super easy and such fun to make with L & S (J tried to help but kept eating all the choco chips!!)

Christmas eve has gone well so far!! We have made these fun things for the neighbors.

Wonderful Wednesday

I am curled up in front of the fire, staying warm, hoping my baby boy gets over his fever quick. These teeth he is cutting right now are coming in sooooo hard, poor guy! I wanted to catch up the photos frome the last week or so. Things are good around here. Super excited for Christmas. Happy to be a wife and mom this time of year, happy to be a family. We have had 2 couples that we are friends with divorce or separate in the past few months. I am extra thankful for my family right now.

J helped Daddy Piper work on the big truck. Okay he didn't help but did get in the way a bit. He did help by adding a layer of laughter into the hardwork.

All 3 kids helped make Christmas goodies. Even J got involved in the fun.

I let the kids watch Prep & Landing on Hulu on the laptop while they were in the bath the other night. It was a fun treat for them!

We made our gingerbread house, without the K family - SAD! But it was fun nonetheless, just less fun than usual.

Yesterday after nap, I found S with J in J's crib. He was trying to comfort him until I could get there!

Totally Tuesday

My niece came down to do some shopping with my sis yesterday and pic up their new (or new to them) car. My wonderful sis let my niece stay down and drive home herself for the first time!!! It was nice to have her here for the afternoon and evening. We got so wrapped up in her coming that we almost forgot about the kids' art class. I woke them up from nap quick and we ran to art. S almost forgot to put his pants on before we left!!! Oh and we got home from running errands (trip to Peterbilt and then to Target for some last minute gift shopping by Daddy Piper) anyway after the morning and half the afternoon running errands, when we got home there was a chicken in our yard! S and Daddy Piper chased that thing up and down the fence line, trying to get it back in the neighbor's yard. It was so comical to watch them chase that chicken. I was on the phone with my awesome friend JF from MN while all this excitement was going on. So the kids got settled down for naps just to have me wake them up to run to art. Art class went great, as usual. L is super creative so it's a great outlet for her and S just has fun.

Dinner was crab, a rice pilaf and yummy green beans. The house REEKED like stinky seafood all night and into today. (Now I can smell our wonderful Christmas tree!!). After putting the kids to bed, my niece SDP and I went to see a movie. It was just an excuse to have some time alone really. We chose Brothers (which was a great movie but I cried and it made my heart hurt with all the emotional stuff). We had great conversation while waiting for the show to start. She is growing up so quickly. I was there to witness her birth, hold her during her first sunrise, all her first and now she's facing some grownup firsts. I am glad to be a part of her life.

Our neighbor dropped off a little gift last night. It was a DVD and 2 movie tickets, with childcare included for a date night for Daddy Piper and I!!!!

So my silly sister forgot something in the car they left with my niece so she had to leave pretty early this morning. It did work out though since this afternoon a rainstorm rolled in. We spent the afternoon hibernating in our house and enjoying the great chilly weather!! I did get a bit of a nap in that was interrupted by Daddy Piper yelling at S. Seems S went in to play with J while they were both supposed to be napping in separate rooms :-) When L & S got up from their nap, we put together our gingerbread house. We usually do this with the K family but they are battling illness right now so we did it at home this year. It was fun! I did let go of perfection and we had fun again.

Tonight will be chili for dinner with yummy cornbread (or cornbread for me - crackers for everyone else since I am the only one who likes cornbread).

The kids are playing campout/sleepover right now. I think L will be having her first sleepover soon with the K family for SK's birthday. Should be fun!

Oh and the nightly prayer time continues. It was so inspiring to see our family praying together. God does work miracles, every single day!

Momentous Occasion

Today was a first in our household. We went to church together as a family! The kids had their Sunday school program and Daddy wanted to come with and see it with me. I didn't invite or pester - he volunteered to come along. It was amazing to have him experience it with us. The kids did great with their singing. L did try to make shadow puppets during the performance : -) J wasn't happy about being in the nursery but having Daddy Piper along helped when J wasn't too quiet during the service. The kids were all so happy to have us there. They were waving and smiling during the whole performance!!!

After church, we went out to brunch. It was nice to have a lunch out that was prepared by someone else!!

It's been a nice week.....

I didn't post much this week since Daddy Piper had work ALL WEEK LONG! We had a great week, with a sense of normalcy that cannot be described unless you have been there. Having only worked a handful of days in the last 5 months, working all week this week really improved Daddy Piper's mood. With his mood better and my financial stress lessened - things were wonderful around here!!!



Friday we went and got a special ornament for the K family and finally got J his first Christmas ornament - yep only a year late! I didn't realize I hadn't gotten him one last year until we unpacked the box this year. Oh well - he'll never know, right?

Holy Cow!

Things are a changin' 'round here.... Daddy Piper had work 2 days in a row and is booked out for tomorrow - WOOHOO!!!!!!

Baby J

Today was Baby J's well check. He weighed 26 pounds - 10 ounces, 32 1/2" long and I forgot his head (poor 3rd child!!). He was in the 75-90% for all 3 areas. I can't believe that. He was my smallest baby and I just knew he was going to be short like his Mama but doesn't appear that way. He is growing like a weed!!! He did have to get 4 shots, poor guy. He wasn't too happy about it. He was more upset about being held down than he was about the actual shot though. He came home and took a short nap and seemed better when he got up.

Things S says...

L & S are out back playing. S is sitting on the picnic bench under the playset; L is sitting down on the sand box part.

Mama: "What are you guys doing?"
S: "Oh L is getting her beauty on so we can go camping!!"

The things kids say!!!

Super Saturday

The morning started out absolutely wonderfully amazing. I slept from 9:45 until 4:30 this morning. Almost 7 hours straight - Hallelujah and AMEN!!! It was marvelous! Daddy Piper got J at midnight and got him back down without needing any mama milk and then J went on to sleep until 4:30 this morning. When he woke up at 4:30, he was greeted by a happy mama : -)

I got up and got the fire going to warm up the house and made my coffee for the morning. J ate like one hungry monkey. He devoured his mama's milk and then went back to sleep until 8:30! L was up with the sun and S shortly after. I love that they wake up so happily, when they wake up on their own anyway. S is a complete bearcat if he is woken up. S gets up, eats something and then he is ready to get dressed and get outside for the day.

I am trying to post about our our day but I am laughing so hard to Comedy All Star on Shotime right now. I am crying I am laughing so hard. I am sure the kids are going to come out and wonder what is going on out here!!!!!

So after the morning started out on a good note, I had to shower quick to get ready for L's Daisy event this morning. We were going to the holiday bazaar to get gifts for each other to give at the party next week. Daddy Piper showered and I got dressed. J ran in and grabbed Daddy's water from his bedside table and went running. He has this funny little look and thinks he is hot stuff. Unfortunately, he has no balance carrying a water glass so water gets dumped almost immediately. I cleaned it up and got L dressed and off we went. W left the boys home to finish the tire thing Daddy Piper is building out back. I had thought we were so late and here we ended up being 15 minutes early :-)

We rode with the troop leader and 4 other little girls. L enjoyed that immensely. They had fun singing songs and playing the "Yellow" game. We got to the bazaar and it was packed. There was tons of fun crafts for the girls to choose from. L wanted to look at everything before picking out her gift. She chose a pink jewelry box. They had gift wrapping stations and I let the girls wrap their own, with no help. It was fun to watch them to this for themselves. We traded the cake walk for getting donuts. This created a bit of a stir. The other leader was concerned the girls would be disappointed in not winning (if that was the case). I think not winning sometimes is just fine. Oh well - they got donuts and we rounded them up and headed home. We finished early so we drove around and drop the girls back home. On the drive though, the girls were being typical little girls and raising their hands for different things. One of them said "If you got to X elementary school, raise your hand" Of course - all the girls except L raised her hand. I started to feel soooo bad for her. No one likes to feel left out. She recovered nicely by saying "Everyone homeschooled, raise your hand." and raised her hand very proudly, without hesitation. Then all the girls started asking about homeschool and she was so happy with herself. I didn't feel bad anymore : -)

We got back home early. Daddy Piper was just getting J down for his nap. S was out back playing (shock - shock!), climbing on the tires. It was nice chatting with Daddy Piper about our morning. I finished the dishes (from last night - GASP!) and then started lunch. I called the kids in for lunch. S came running in and I glanced at him running in the back, he was filthy. I could not believe how dirty that little boy got today playing outside. And he was even wearing his "work" pants. He did get mad though since it was L's day to pick a movie. Oh goodness - his temper flared. I talked him down though. He eventually agreed to sit and watch L's movie with her - just barely though. He is mighty proud of himself these days. He can reach the light switches, on his tip toes and by turning it on but not off yet.

The big kids went down for a nap. I found a code for a free photo book. (I have gotten so many free photo gifts this year. Thank you to all the photo companies for the great coupons!) I created a photo book of our pictures from my good friend. After that was done, I printed a coupon for B&N and headed there with my GC from my MIL from my birthday back in May. I was able to get the kids' Christmas books for nothing out of pocket. J rode along with me. When we got to B&N there was a golden retriever rescue outside and two of their puppies followed us into the store. Those puppies were so adorable. I guess they weren't puppies, older really and great listeners. Hopefully we can get a dog again soon - when things settle down some, I suppose. Anyway - at the store, I think J said his brother's name. I was trying to find a book for S and J said his name over and over. He is growing by leaps and bounds.

S said tonight "I see your mouth moving but I ain't hearing the words coming out of your mouth" - nice S!!!

Okay - the comedians aren't too funny so I got to finish my post. We are off to church tomorrow morning and then a bike ride in the afternoon. If the weather holds out, Daddy Piper will have work on Monday - THANK YOU GOD!!!!!

Pico

Pico is this yummy stuff that is like salsa but not blended together. I make it using equal amounts of onion, tomato, cilantro and 2-3 jalapenos and then lime juice and salt to taste. This tastes super yummy with Tostito chips and a Dos Equis beer to wash it down : -)

Stinkin' Thinkin'

I am in an abnormally crabby mood today. I am not happy with some stuff right now and am just waiting to see what happens.... Cryptic yep but can't get into details just know that some stuff SUCKS!

And I ate an entire bowl of Pico for lunch today. And my pants are tight. And I need a nap. And some clean socks.