Winter Energy

One thing I really hate is winter. We are all stuck inside (way to cold outside) and the activity level goes way down. However little kids still have a lot of that energy that they really do need to burn.

Grandma bought the boys this adventure game for the Wii at Christmas time. It comes with 25 activities and a play mat that they have to run and jump on to do the activities. They have so much fun and it really does get that energy out that they have all built up.

Have a look and tell me this doesn't look like lots of fun.



If you noticed someone thinks he is Indiana Jones. He has a hat, whip and everything, hence the singing with the adventure. I love it!!!

The only bad thing about the game is the mat walks all over the room and the boys never reposition it until I make them, so someone is always jumping right next to a piece of furniture.

Oh and we do have the occasional melt down when someone doesn't win. Oh well they have to learn someday.

NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone, just a little late I suppose.

I have lots to share but no real desire to get the camera card out, edit my pictures and post them. I don't want everyone to think I have dropped off the planet, just lacking any drive to be on the computer. I do have a lot of drive for many other things including working out more, reading my Harry Potter books I got for Christmas, yes I know a 36 year old reading Harry Potter but I love the movies and decided I must read the books. My husband and I have also committed to spending more time for just us because with kids we tend to not do that as much as we should. I am also trying to put myself first, not to sound selfish just find that I put me last and I need to give myself a little extra attention as well. So lots going on in my life these days.

We had a wonderful Christmas, Luke also turned 8 years old. Where has the time gone. We had our first ever all boy sleep over at our house on Luke's birthday. 6 boys in all and let me just say 7 & 8 year old boys are very loud and they can stay up very, very late. They seemed to have a great time and I am glad of that. We are at the age now where unless Luke has a friend over to our house we are not going to see that child much because he is always being invited to someones house. I really like all the families of Luke's friends. I am hoping that I can make some mom friendships out of a few of them. I am one who really keeps to herself and I shy away from letting people in and I am really going to try and work on that also.

Soon I will bust out the photo's but for now all I have is a very late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Holiday Fun

Winter is not my favorite time of year. Driving on bad roads, the bitter cold, the very dry house, feeling trapped in side, just not my idea of fun. However we have been making the most of the winter weather and getting into the holiday spirit.


Our first snow was two weeks ago, and here is some fun we had outside. We made this huge snowman but my camera battery died before I got a good picture. He is still standing in the yard but has melted a lot and now you see all the grass and leaves we picked up along the way as we rolled our snowballs. He is not picture pretty anymore.

To get into the holiday spirit and to add a few personal touches to the decorations we decided to make snowflakes. A little paper, a couple glue sticks and this great glitter I found at Target that is in these little tubes that have salt shaker type tops.

Thomas did is own cutting and made his very own snowflakes. His favorite part however was the glue and glitter sprinkling. See my table....

Luke was a lot more neat about it and he made a Santa snowflake that was really cute also.

One of Thomas's finished snowflakes. Turned our really good!!!

Luke made lots and lots of little ones.

Our very messy process and my glitter table. Note to all, if you try this, cover your table first. I still have glitter stuck on my table. That might be because I got the bright idea to put glue on the paper and then had the boys turn it over and rub it on the table top to pick up all the excess glitter instead of shaking out more. Works great to stick to the snowflakes but it also does a great job making it stick to the table.

Then we hung them up in our entry way. Looks great! See Luke's Santa on the right.
These were lots of fun but every day I have a lovely glitter collection all over my floor as it falls off of the snowflakes.

Here are a couple more pictures of our snow fun.
Our dog really loves the snow. She is getting old but it doesn't stop her from getting out and rolling around in it. She is a golden retriever and the snow just cakes to her fur. Not very fun when it is time to go inside.
Then the babysitter had a party for all the kids and families she watches at her house. Guess who made a surprise visit. Thomas went nuts when Santa came in. There is no fear of Santa with this child. Luke wasn't so sure about Santa at 3 but Thomas was having a fit as Santa called each child, one by one to sit on his lap and Thomas was not getting a turn.

Luke was one of the first.
Finally, it was Thomas turn and he was so excited. Now he is telling me that Santa is going to bring him a motorcycle. Where did the motorcycle idea come from, no clue. Not sure what to do here because he thinks Santa is bringing him a real motorcycle. Hopefully he is not disappointed on Christmas morning.

I sure hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas season and enjoying the fun of the season. On my list of things to do this year, I have about 10 different cookie, fudge, etc... type recipes and we are going to make a bunch of them up. Then the boys and I are going to head out and make deliveries and spread a little holiday cheer.

Have you been having some holiday fun baking, decorating, whats on your holiday list of things to do?

Our Path.....

I believe that in my life I have been given a path that has brought me to where I am today. I was thinking about this the other day as I can remember a big life changing moment in my life. It changed everything for me and I believe is how I got to this point in my life today.

I go back to being in Junior High 8th grade to be exact. I loved music at this age, my favorite class was choir. I love to sing. At that time I believe I was pretty good because in a couple of concerts I had a few solos of my own. Clearly your music teacher has to believe you have some talent if you are selected for a solo part. Now fast forward to the end of Junior High where every student who wanted to be part of the High school choir had to try out.

My love of singing of course led me to try out because I wanted to be in the choir. However, this was not my path to take. I did not make it into the choir as my tryout did not go very well. I am a very nervous person and I was very nervous at the tryout and I did not do well because I could not get past my nerves. My music teacher was shocked and very disappointed that I did not get selected, she even told me so. Giving me the advice to join the girls choir and prove myself to the teacher so that I would be part of the choir in 10th grade.

I had the option to be part of the girls glee choir in high school but I did elected not to be part of this due to trouble with some other girls who were also in the girls glee choir.

So because of that, my singing came to an end in the 8th grade. Who is to say I would not have done a lot more with music had I made it into the choir but instead I walked away from it all.

Because I walked away I became involved in other activities that lead to an entire new group of friends, that lead to meeting my husband, and the rest is history.

Had I not been part of those other activities (if I did music I would not have been) I would have never made those new friends, I would never have met my husband and so on.

So yes, I do believe we have life changing moments. Sometimes I think they are very obvious and other times not so much. Way back when, I did not see that moment of not making the choir as a life changing moment. Today, I would say this moment has most certainly brought me to where I am today.

Have you had a life changing moment?

I was tagged about a week ago by my friend T-Rex mom to play along with this fun posting game. What I have to do is answer the four questions she has given and then ask four new questions before passing it along.

So here goes.....

1. What is one of your most embarrassing mom-moments? After Thomas was born and I returned to work I was still breastfeeding. Lucky for me I have a private office but I work with 4 men all in the age range between 49 and 60. We are a small company. My first day back I took my pump into the office and sent an email telling them all that if my door was closed do not enter because I will be pumping my milk. Not exactly an email I wanted to send but I didn't want anyone walking in on me either. Don't worry they all stayed away. I think they were all fine with it except for one of them was made very uncomfortable from it. A side story, I got a good laugh from one day. I had my door closed and the warehouse next to ours had a very loud air compressor running. One of the guys said to the man who was always uncomfortable with my pumping "that noise must be Nina's new pump". I got a good laugh from it but I guess he ran away from that moment so fast.

2. What is the weirdest advice anyone has ever given you regarding parenting or regarding your child? What was your response? My mother-in-law was not a fan of breastfeeding. She didn't do it and she didn't want me to do it. I can remember her telling me after a couple short months of feeding Thomas that I really needed to switch him to formula. Oh how I drove her crazy as I nursed for about 16 months.

3. While you were pregnant, did you ever have the random stranger stop and tell you the most intimate details of the birth of her child? How did this make you feel and did you say anything in response? I do not remember ever having anyone do this to me. I was never real big when I was pregnant so I am not sure people felt it was time yet.


4. What do you do to maintain your sanity when you've had a long day and/or night with the kids? Oh how I love the ice cream also. At the moment I can not think what I do but often I give myself alone time when I have half work days and the kids are still at the sitters and school. Thomas is napping at that time so I don't rush to pick them up, instead I have some me time. It is very nice!!!


Please join in and answer any of the above questions or my new questions below. I'd love to hear your experiences. As for Tagging.... I am inviting any of you to play along if you would like.

Now for my questions:
1. What was your favorite childhood television cartoon? Scooby-Doo Where are you? I loved Scooby and now I am watching them all over again as Thomas loves Scooby. The funny part is we have Scooby cartoons starting from 1969 all the way to 2010 with the new episodes. Amazing that a cartoon can still be so popular after all theses years. Of course I think the original 1969 "Where Are You?" are the best ones.

2. Are you a minivan mom? LOL.... my mom always had a minivan and still does today. As a kid this was the best thing because my mom took us all everywhere. Me, I refuse to ever own one. I have a small SUV and I can only haul two children in my car but I don't care. My next car (in about 4 more years) will be one of these new crossovers with three rows of seats because we are fast approaching the age of friends and the need to take more than just my two children.

3. Do you find time for exercise? I try but lately I have not. I do find when I make that time for me and squeeze it in, I am happier and more motivated. A new gym opened near my work and it is actually a great monthly price so I am seriously considering joining. I will always go on my half days and occasionally on my lunch hour.

4. Do your children still believe in Santa? How old were they when they stopped believing? Luke is at the delicate age as he is about to turn 8 and is in second grade. Last year one of his friends told him and his other friends there was no Santa. We did a good job convincing him other wise (thank you Polar Express). It has not come up this year but I have a feeling it will. I am not sure I am ready for him to know the truth but at some point he is going to know. A friend of mine tells her oldest that he will get no presents if he doesn't believe because she doesn't want him ruining it for his little sister. I do want to make sure that magic is in Thomas for many years but it will be hard with an older brother.