Mother's

I most certainly got to be the full on mother experience for mother's day. Starting last Thursday my youngest started getting sick. I took him to the doctor and he not only continued to throw up he also had strep throat on top of that. Poor thing!!!

Friday night, youngest still sick and now dad and big brother are also sick.

Let me say, only a mother can be thrown up on as many times as I was this weekend and never complain and just deal with it as well as I did.

Honestly my entire life I have never handled these things well. I can't be around it, I can't clean it up, and I can't stand the smell. But then we have children and we don't think twice about it. Amazing things....

As of today, Monday, my youngest still getting sick but dad and big brother are all better. I am still asking when my turn is coming. How can everyone get sick (and on me for that matter, I will spare you the details) and I still manage to fight it off.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all you other wonderful moms. Sorry this is a little late, I was a bit busy the past few days.

Easter, Finally...

I know I am way behind on posting our Easter fun. I am on antibiotics and improving but very slowly and being sick just does not work for me. I am a go-go kind of gal so having to slow down is no fun.

The boys had a blast making these Easter cupcakes.
The sugar was everywhere, I think I still can feel it on the floor.

Luke came up with this one all on his own. How cute! Little carrots growing.

Our bunny faces.

Then we colored eggs. Luke is at the easy age for doing this and has a good time.

Doing it with a two year old, not as fun.

Finally they had stickers to add to the eggs. Now that part was fun!
Especially for me as they were both so quiet.

Oh, and don't mind the dinning room mess. Someday it will be finished and I will share with you all the work that has been going into our dinning room.

Valentines Day

We had another year and another valentines day has come and gone at my house.

My husband is so not the romantic type. I new this going into our relationship and I still married this man anyway. I guess since I new this I can't complain.

Saturday, my next door neighbor was out on the roof of his house spray painting a big red heart on his snow covered roof. OK I would have yelled at my husband for doing something foolish, but how cute. My husband sees what my neighbor does and comes inside and say's "our neighbor must still love his wife".... yes this is what I put up with.

My husband finds it more fun to poke fun at love and our relationship than to ever profess his love. He doesn't mean he doesn't love me he just would never do anything like this and he thinks it is very gross. I would say he is more like an 8 year old boy who finds girls gross or at least anything romantic is considered gross.

With that said, valentines day came and went and nothing romantic took place in our house. Typical but just once it would be nice to be surprised.

We did however host a beautiful valentines day lunch at our Church yesterday. The kids hosted it and we all had a wonderful time.

How was your valentines day?

Oh and remember my post on all the things that have been breaking and going wrong in my house, I woke up Friday to find my ruby has fallen out of my wedding band wrap. Yep... the hits keep come.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years!

Wow am I glad Christmas is over but now I have 5 days until Luke turns 7 and he wants me to make his birthday cake. Still trying to figure that one out.

I have missed all of you guys so much and I will be making my rounds here soon and life will be back to normal.

First off here are a few of the things that had me really busy this past month. First, I made 4 little girls purses and I have one more to still make. I made them all different and two of the girls that got them were thrilled to get them. The other one was to busy with other things to care and my other niece was not at Christmas this year so I will not get to see her open hers either.

First up... Princes purse #1.
It is exactly the same on both sides.

Princes purse #2
Front view

Back view.

Princes purse #3
Front view

Back view
(oh and this was my favorite of them all)

Princes purse #4
Front view

Back view
This one came out the best as far as sewing goes
but I think I got better with each purse. The 5th
purse I need to make will be like this one.I also made a Mickey Mouse fleece blanket for Thomas.

I have just really started getting into sewing but I have lots of things I want to try and do.

I think the kids had a great Christmas. Luke got lots of Lego's and that is great because he can sit and play Lego's for hours on end.

I also had two sick kids, one with strep right after school let out for the Holiday's and one that ended up with Croop (spelling), really bad cough and fever that started Christmas day. Figures!

I have this next week off and looking forward to putting my house back in order and celebrating my babies 7th birthday and ringing in the new year.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and wishing you all a Happy New Year. If I find time I will get some more pictures of Christmas up soon.

Happy Halloween 2009

Saturday was a big day with all the
Halloween activities taking place in our house.
We started our day off with a little pumpkin carving.
Notice my kitchen gloves on Luke.
He did not want to clean out the pumpkin unless he wore gloves.

I was a nervous wreck watching this child carve a pumpkin with a knife.
He is just growing up way to fast.

Thomas thinks he is carving on Luke's finished pumpkin.
He was funny!

On Mickey Mouse carved pumpkin. Thanks to me!
Oh and excuse this childs shirt and face.
I don't remember him being such a mess.

Luke's finished pumpkin he carved all by himself.

Our finished products all lit up.

Now it is time to go Trick-or-treating.

One Indiana Jones &

one little puppy.

His little puppy costume was almost two small.
Notice the feet?

And what event out wouldn't be complete
with out a full blown temper tantrum.
He did not take a nap today & is now tired.

If only you could hear him singing the Indiana theme song. Funny!

A couple outside shots before we drive into town.

Let's go!
Thomas was hooked once he new he was getting candy.

This was the first year we were having to keep up
with Luke instead of the other way around.

Remember that nap we missed?
It caught up to us.

Happy Halloween!
I hope you all had as much fun as we did.

ALOHA HALLOWEEN VERSION

ALOHA FRIDAY!

Halloween is about a month away. I started looking and thinking about costumes back in August. One thing I do is procrastinate to the last possible minute for Halloween costumes. Every year I freak out because I can’t find the costume that Luke wants to be. Last year we made our Sponge Bob costume and we were up (OK my husband was up, I quit at midnight) almost all night finishing it for school the next day. Click if you feel like checking out last years home made Sponge Bob costume.

This year we have known for a while now and I still have not made the purchase. Luke wants to be Indiana Jones, I hate the costume and want to find the various elements instead of buying the costume. Thomas loves to pretend to be a puppy so that was an easy choice. I found a really cute puppy costume but it costs way too much money. I found one at Target that is not as cute but much cheaper. I just find that my lack of ability to make a choice and buy the darn thing is what causes me to end up on the short end of things each year.

(LUKE, AGE 2)

So my question:

Have you already bought your kids Halloween costumes?

If they are grown and don’t dress up anymore did you always buy them early or last minute? Oh and when I say early I am thinking before October.

I swear everyone buys them early and is why I end up in the same dilemma each and every year.

(LUKE, AGE 3)

Play along at An Island Life for Aloha Friday. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at An Island Life.

4th of July

For the fourth of July every year we drive to the city to see their fireworks. Now they always have their fireworks on the 3rd and that is fine with me because we can then sit in our backyard and watch the local ones on the 4th.

We get downtown and we find our usual spot but decide to move over a bit into this parking lot that is normally closed off but was open this year. It was nice that it was open because it gave people more room to spread out. At least I thought it was nice before the fireworks began.

We were seated directly across from the fence that was the cut off line for where people can no longer sit. This was such a bad choice. The fireworks started and we are sitting in flying debris central. Seriously, they closed this lot in the past for a reason obviously so why did they open it this year. I got smacked in the face by some large chunk that fell from the sky, Eric got ash in his eye and near us a flaming piece came down and landed right in front of this little boy. Talk about to close for comfort. I was busier watching for flying objects and falling flames than I was enjoying the fireworks.

So now this is my note to self, do not sit in parking lot next year.

Luke loves going to see fireworks every year. The noise has never bothered him but he always wears ear plugs. Now Thomas went last year and didn't react. This year at 19 months old he freaked out. As soon as the bangs began he was climbing me like a cat. Scared to death! We took noise cancellation head phones and put those on him and he seemed to calm down. But his eyes bugged out of his sockets as he clung to me watching. Poor thing!

When the finally hit and the bangs really kicked up I think he stopped breathing because his whole body was so tense and you know he could still hear even with the head phones.

I just hope that next year he isn't as scared. We love the fireworks and I would hate to have to miss them. Of course I would do that just for my babies.

(SORRY I TOOK NO PICTURES THIS YEAR) I don't know what is wrong with me here lately I have keep forgetting my camera.

Happy Mothers Day

Here to wish all of you a fantastic MOTHERS DAY!!!

Here is a fantastic U-Tube Video to tribute mothers day. I saw this in church this morning and it is so funny and so real. Hope you get a chance to watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFAPWJeeOgs

Oh and make the most of your day.

Easter Photos

As I promissed Easter photo's to share with all of you. I must have gotten sick of lugging around the camera because I only took pictures of the first two Egg hunts we went on and skipped the Egg hunt photo's for the last two and I didn't take any photo's of them finding their baskets Easter morning. My husband took a video clip but I am half asleep in it and I just rolled out of bed so I am not sharing that with anyone.


This was our first egg hunt at a local park. I didn't even know they did an egg hunt until Luke brought home info from school about it. It was crazy and we arrived just as they blew the wistle. One minute later and it was over. Lots of kids!!!
This is Thomas's first time egg hunting and he just isn't sure what to do here.

He likes the basket!

I had to chase Luke everywhere. He was off and running and it was so busy I was nervous about lossing him in the crowed. I am glad Eric went and had Thomas because I couldn't have done both.

Saturday we went to Grandma's house. We egg hunted with our cousins. It was great that my niece was their considering she just spent the last week in the hospital. On this day she was doing great. Something to be so thankful for.

Thomas has figured this out now. Oh boy I need to hurry and grab those eggs. "Hey mom, whats up with this big basket?"

Yeah, I should have stuck with the little basket.Luke loves trying to get the most eggs. I have a picture of him on my fridge of his first egg hunt at my parents. He was just about Thomas's age and it is such a great memory.

You can't tell but Thomas has discovered that it is really fun to take the eggs he has collected and throw them out into the yard.

Finally we sit in Papa's bar in the Jeep. The battery is dead so their is no riding today. Poor Thomas just wants to ride a power wheel so bad. He sits with his cousin who is one month younger than he is. They are so cute together.

Thanks for letting me share some of our Easter fun.

Easter Weekend

Vacation is over and it ended in a whirlwind holiday weekend. I love family get together but they can also be tiresome especially when everything requires a decent amount of travel time.

Saturday we went to my parents house for Easter. They had a family lunch and then a bon-fire cook out at dinner time. Unfortunately we did not get to stay all day for the bon-fire because I had way to many things to finish doing for Easter Sunday. The kids had a lot of fun hunting eggs and then playing together for the afternoon.

We left my parents and went to my in-laws to pick up the new bike we had bought for Luke. He is 6 and it is time for him to learn to ride a bike. We don't have any place for him to really ride a bike so we are going to have to take him out riding. We had Luke go off with Grandma while we put the bike in the back of my SUV and cover it with a blanket. Not the best move on our part. That boy wasn't in the car 2 minutes and we get in and he says "Who's Hot Wheel bike is that?". Arr.... OK, I laughed but still it ruined the surprise.

Saturday night I put some plastic eggs out with candy and quarters in them. Only a few with candy because I have bad dogs and they would be eating candy while we all are sleeping. Morning comes and Luke is up at 7. He is running around shaking eggs and will only take the ones with money. If it didn't have money he left it for his brother. That kid is all about the money these days. Then it was off to Church and for once we actually got their early. We are never on time let alone early. Church is over and we have another egg hunt. Then we drive home pick up Eric and we drive an hour to his families Easter where the kids do yet another egg hunt. Can I just say the candy is worse than Halloween. I am trying to get into better shape and the candy is not helping. Arr....What will happen is 50% of it will go in the trash after about a week. Everyone will pick out what they like and then the left over stuff I toss because no one will eat it.

Getting up this morning for work was rough so I forgot my camera card. I have lots of great pictures and I will post them tomorrow as I will be home taking yet another vacation day. My sitter is still on vacation and wont return until Thursday. Talk about making life difficult. I hate paying Daycare rates yet they never go on vacations like a home sitter does.

Did anyone else travel for Easter? Do you have way more candy than you or the kids will ever need?

2009 Valentine Day Swap

Over at An Island Life she is having a Valentine Day Swap.

If you’d like to participate here's how it works, go to An Island Life and get all the details.

I have decided this sounds like fun especially since my husband labels Valentine's Day as a Halmark holiday and he will not do anything on this day. He doesn't want to be told he has to do something nice on a specific day... ok that is fine except he should pick a day or two at random through out the year for this. He doesn't .... oh well, I knew this when I got married.

So I am very excited because I will be getting something in the mail for Valentine's Day... Yeah!!!

Here are my answers to the questionnaire: (I hope this helps)

What is your idea of a romantic Valentine’s Day?

Any dinner with out children throwing food is a good one.

In reality, what is your Valentine’s Day really like?

It is just another day in my house. I do something for my boys because I am going to raise them to not be like their father. LOL

If you could have a lifetime supply of your favorite sweet indulgence, what would it be?

I love Dark Chocolate.... anything with a creamy center just makes it even better. I also love the Converstaion Hearts... it is one that I get to enjoy one time per year.

Is there any sweet treat you absolutely do not like?

Black liquorice, anything with coconut and white chocolate.

If you fell into a pool of chocolate, how would you get out?

I would eat until I was sick and then eat some more....

The Bouncing Birthday Party

Saturday was the big birthday party for Luke. I spent a fortune on a bounce place for a couple hours of bouncing fun. The kids had a blast and it was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures…..

Here is Eric shooting the kids with nerf balls.

I think dad was having more fun than the kids.

This was called the spider web.

It was a huge netting system the kids climbed & then slid down this big slide.

(I didn't get any pictures of the kids on this slide).

I have no clue what I was doing.

Eric had to help the kids up the net's. This was a work out for him.

Another fun slide.

Luke at the bottom with one of his friends right behind him.

Luke blew out the candles as soon as they were lit.

Finally the big king gets to open his gifts.

Sorry I have so many other photo's but I don't post photo's of other peoples kids. I just don't feel right unless their parents said it was ok.

Now for my complaining part of this. I know Luke had a lot of fun but our turn out was awful. I could have up to 25 kids and we had 17 including my two. I was very disappointed that so many of the kids that have gone to Luke’s past birthday parties were no shows this year. I don’t know if it was my fault for having it on January 3rd. So many people were off that week that it could have easily been a travel day for people who went out of town for New Years. I should have planned a little better.

The place was fun and it was our first time their. A few things I didn’t like about it, I took my 1 year old down the slide and the kid at the top looks at me and says do you have a wrist band. I look at him and say “I am an adult do I need a wrist band to play?” Apparently I did but not one person said that to me or many of the other parents that came signed their kids in. Yet parents are encouraged to play also. I was a little annoyed by that especially since another local bounce place doesn’t require anyone but the kids have wrist bands.

My second complaint was when I paid the bill. This place cost me $280 for this birthday party… yes, yes I am insane for spending that much money on a 6 year olds birthday party. Luke has asked 3 years in a row to have his party at one of these places and I have avoided it this long. Trust me I won’t do this again for a long, long time. Anyway the girl rings my bill and says you can leave a tip for the helpers of your party and they split it. Wait, you want me to tip after I just spent this much money???? I am not the type of person who will stiff on a tip so I tipped the kids who gave me and my guest’s attitude over wrist bands. I just wish the place would have been a little more organized and informed everyone of this when we arrived.

Wii for Christmas

OK so Christmas is over and boy am I glad. We bought a Wii for the family for Christmas and I got a Wii fit for Christmas. It has been none stop Wii in this house since Christmas and I am just about sick of it. Luke and his dad have been playing Indian Jones Lego's non-stop. Eric can play for hours on end and I am quickly discovering Luke is going to be the same way. I need a timer that I can set and make them get off when the bell rings. I hate these games that don't just let you save at any point in the game. I curse the game inventors for that.

Now as for the Wii fit, I am loving it, sort of. First it asks you lots of questions, and you create a Meme profile. I was pretty happy with most everything it said about me. Their was one part that really ticked me off. After it asks you questions it puts you through a little fitness test and then gives you a Wii Fit age. That dame machine gave me a fit age of 50. 50!!! Seriously, I just about had a fit especially since I am only 34 years old. My husband gets on and he is given the age of a 42 year old and that ticked me off because he can't be fitter than me. I did get vindication however when it measured his body fat and it fattened up his MeMe. I laughed at that one just because he made himself thinner and it wouldn't let him be thinner. hehe...

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

I am working until noon today and then I am off until January 5th. I love these holiday breaks.

(Don't worry I will find lots of time to blog between now and the new year.)

Tis' the Season....

So this year I have been dragging my feet on the shopping and everything related to Christmas. I have come up with every excuse possible not to have to get out their and go shopping. Well I finally got myself out shopping to try and get some of it done. Let’s just say it has not been a pleasant holiday shopping experience.

I took both boys to Kohl’s one evening to get a few things on my list. My mom wanted a can opener that you mount under the counter. They had a really nice one at Kohl’s but they only had the display out. Do you think I could find a single sole to help me? Nope, not one… I thought I will go back to customer service and ask for help, the line was forever and a day long so I wasn’t doing that. Finally after about 30 minutes I gave up and went home. I can’t deal with that especially when Luke is begging me to buy him some Sketcher’s tennis shoes. He has new shoes and they fit fine so he doesn’t need new shoes. He has a big fit over the shoe thing and it made for a not so fun trip.

Friday afternoon I pick Luke up from school and we go to Meijer to do a little shopping while his little brother is at the sitter. We find a few things and then Luke tells me he needs to potty. Meijer’s restrooms are between the front doors of the store. So I park my cart off to the side and take him potty. We go back to our shopping and not even 10 minutes has passed and he tells me he needs to poop. Seriously, were we not just in the bathroom? I was not a happy parent so I tell him we are checking out and then he can go. I quickly check out (not finished shopping) and then I take him potty again. Well at this point I am done trying to shop with kids and we just go home.

Now for all the crazy shoppers out their… two crazy ladies tried to run me down in the Meijer parking lot. One was just oblivious to who had the right of way… that’s OK my breaks work so I will be happy to slam on them for you. Then while at Kohl’s I got lucky and got a good parking spot. As I am leaving some girl wants my spot. As I am backing out she keeps pulling up closer, not giving me an inch to get out. She is right smack in the center of the lane and still moving forward… hello you can’t get in the spot if I can’t get out. Seriously people… a little patients’ goes a long way.

The trip to the grocery store… I pull into a spot and another girl is pulling into the same spot on the opposite side of the lot. She calls me a Bi@#@ because she can’t pull through. Obviously she doesn’t know how to back out of a spot because that was just uncalled for. So then she backs up and parks in the spot right next to that one. Makes no sense to me and she didn’t need to call me a name.

Took the boys to see Santa on Saturday and the line was nice and short. I spent $10.00 on one 5x7 picture that was not very good but they wont let you use your own cameras. When did Santa becomes so commercialized? When I was a kid we saw Santa to tell him what we wanted, not to take over priced pictures. As we are leaving we are going through JC Penny’s. It was a pretty busy store and some lady is in standing right smack in the middle of the isle talking to someone standing in the cloths. She get’s all pissy because she has to let people walk through. If I could have recorded her it would have been great. The attitude she was reflecting was so childish it was almost funny. Then I have a big mouth because after we walk past her snotty jesters I say to my husband, “I didn’t know we were being such an inconvenience needing to walk down an isle. Someone needs to grow up!”

Needless to say, I have had my fill of shopping/shoppers and I am still not finished. I am going to head out at lunch time today, freeze by butt off and just get it done. I can’t keep doing this. Hopefully everyone is a little nicer today.

Have you experienced the crazy shoppers or unpleasant store help? Have you just experienced something totally bizarre this shopping season? I hope for all of your sakes, you comment with good shopping experiences because I have to believe there is good in this world and everyone isn’t this uptight.

The Best Christmas Movies & Specials of All Time

Ok so the title is my opinion but still that is how I feel. This year I have really been enjoying watching the various Christmas specials on TV. I decided to make this weeks Thursday Thirteen my top Thirteen favorite Christmas movies & specials of all time.

First we have animated children’s classics. Most of these are ones that I grew up watching as a child myself. I can remember how excited I would get watching them every year on TV. I love that they are still around today and I hope they are timeless classics that are around for another 100 years for many more generations to enjoy.

1. Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer (1964)
This is one that warms my heart every year. I love watching Rudolf with my kids and they seem to really enjoy it also.

2. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Charlie Brown is one of my all time favorite cartoon characters. I love the little Christmas tree, the speech given about the true meaning of Christmas. I am so happy that Charlie Brown is still on because so much has been taken away from the real meaning of Christmas. Our kids need more of this. Maybe if we all had more faith our world would not be in the disarray that it is in.

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Who doesn’t love the Grinch and all the Who’s down in Whoville.

4. Frosty the Snow Man (1969)

5. Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)
Watched this one on ABC Family Tuesday night. It isn’t one that runs on the main stream but it is still a great one. It is a great way to tell the Christmas Carol story to the kids.

6. Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town
I love how it tells the tail of how Santa came to be.

7. Polar Express with Tom Hanks (2005)
I will never forget the first time I watched this with my son. He was 3 years old and loved trains. The funny part is he didn’t want to watch it but sat in our bedroom on our bed and every time I looked back he is looking into the living room watching it.

8. The Santa Clause (1994)
Tim Allen makes a wonderful Santa in this movie. My 5 year old has watched this about 4 times this year. It has been on TV a lot. He was reciting lines from it the other day when it was on.

9. Home Alone (1990) with Macaulay Culkin
Not a traditional Christmas movie but who doesn’t love watching Macaulay Culkin standing in front of the mirror singing the Christmas song and dolling himself up. Such a cutie!!!

Now the grown ups have to have their favorites also. It can’t be all about the kids all the time. So here are some of the best grown up Christmas classics.

10. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
I put this one on my list for my husband. He watches it every year and I have only ever watched bits and pieces. I know it is supposed to be great but I somehow miss the entire thing every year.

11. A Christmas Story (1983)
I think I have seen this movie every year for the last 15 years or more. I love this one. The boy and his beebe gun, his father and the sexy leg lamp. Oh how this one just makes me laugh.

12. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) with Chevy Chase
The best Christmas movie ever. All of Chevy’s National Lampoons movies are great but this one is by far the best. We have this on DVD so we sit down and watch this one every year.

13. Scrooged (1988)
Bill Murray made this a great movie. I watched this many times when I was younger but I haven’t seen it in a really long time. Maybe I will catch it on Cable this holiday season, if not I may need to rent it. I loved the song that was sung at the very end and I can’t remember it either or who sang it.

So this is my list of must see Christmas movies and specials. What specials do you and your family love to watch this time of year?

Christmas Card Photos

On Monday night I had the tree all decorated, got the boys all dressed for photos and I couldn't find the memory card for camera #1, I thought well I can use the old camera but I couldn't find the battery for it. Lets just say I was one mad person before I gave up and got the boys ready for bed. My husband had the memory card with him and he really got yelled at when he got home. So last night we tried again. We did our annual Christmas picture in front of the tree for our Christmas cards. I have done this with Luke since he was 11 months old.

First we tried the photo on a stool in front of the tree. Not bad but Thomas does not want to stay still.

Now poor Luke is doing everything he can to keep Thomas contained.

I switch things up and put them both on the floor. This really wasn't working because Thomas was getting mad & didn't want to sit.

45 minutes later I get an idea....

The rocking horse will keep Thomas in one place. LOL...

Of course now Thomas just wants to make the horse go.

Forget the picture thing...I have riding to do.

Finally, we get a decent picture with the exception of the silly faces Luke always makes when getting his pictures done.

Now I need to get it together and get my cards done before it is to late. So do you make your Christmas cards each year, do you use photos or do you take the easy route and just buy a box of cards and mail them? I miss the days of the box cards, so much easier....