On The Eighth Day Of Winter Break...

First I must say that Eighth is the weirdest word ever. I had to google "on the eight day of Christmas" to figure out how to spell eighth. Is that even right? It looks weird. Anyway..

...My Mommy gave to me, a camp out at Ms. Stacy's.

It was preschool day. Since Emily was off, she was coming too. She loves Ben's preschool. She enjoys all the crafts. Apparently, Kindergarten is hard core and craft time is limited.

There was a tent all set up for today's camp out theme.


They played a fun game with flashlights.


They had story time around the "campfire".


They went fishing.



They had binoculars for a nature walk that was postponed due to freezing temperatures and gail force winds. Oh all right, it was 35 and breezy, close enough.



We also made smores, but I was too busy eating mine to take a picture of it. That was my first smore. I always thought the parts were better than the whole. I have to say that I was wrong. It was delicious.

Noah apparently loves camping. He slept the entire time in his car seat.

He's been eating rice cereal for a few days, and he hasn't gone to the bathroom in a few days. He normally never has an issue with that. We decided to forgo the rice cereal and try something full of fiber...sweet potatoes.

He wasn't a fan at first, which I can understand. As Donkey on Shrek would say, "Without marshmallows, sweet potatoes are nothing!" He's a smart ass. But, Gerber does not mix in marshmallows with their baby food. He adjusted after a few bites and ate a nice size bowl. Right as I had a big spoon full in front of his mouth, he sneezed. It went all over me. He thought it was hysterical.




Sweet potatoes are at least amusing if not tasty.

So Close...

Last week, David made a casual comment about how this will be the first year that I haven't been a victim of identity theft since 2004. It's always the same person. You can read about it here.

I've done everything possible to cut this woman off. I have a 7 year fraud alert on my credit bureau, so I can't get credit unless my home or cell number are called. I don't have a checking or savings account. I don't have an ATM card. I have to use my husband's. It's a major inconvenience, but worth it if it stops this woman.

I got home today and there is a message from a collection agency. Dang it. We were 1 day short of making it a full year.

It was for an electric company in Texas. I got excited thinking if she was still there, I could call the Sergeant I was working with previously in San Antonio. Nope, they turned off the electricity in August. Dang it. Another dead end. The bill was only for $194 and let the electric company eat it for giving her credit when they didn't check her/my credit bureau. It's just so frustrating.

So for 2010, seeing that she can't seem to be caught, I'm hoping this b*#!h loses her wallet with my ID in it! That or she gets hit by a truck.

On The Seventh Day Of Winter Break...

...My Mommy gave to me...a trip to our library.

Yesterday we were driving by the library. It's about 1/4 mile off the main road and Emily asked if we could go. I told her it was closed. A small white lie, but I figured it was easier since we had other errands to do. She quickly said, "It's busy Mom, look at all the cars." She's too smart for her own good. I told her we'd go today since we had nothing else to do.

We don't have all of the amenities of a big city here in Prescott Valley. But we do have a great library that was just built. The old library was crammed into a small area of the civic center. You could pay your water bill, sign your kid up for ballet and check out books all at one spot. The new library was just finished a few months ago and it is awesome. The kids get just as excited about going to the library as they do going to Peter Piper Pizza. And since I don't have to feed dollar bills into a machine that spits out tokens, I'm just as excited about going.

I love that the bookshelves are their size.


Emily was thrilled to find a Backyardigans book.
She dressed herself today and who am I to tell her that stripes and leopard print don't match?


I had to limit Ben to three Batman books. He wanted all of them.
He's worn this shirt since Christmas morning. I had to peel it off of him to wash it a few days ago and he cried the whole time.


Time for a little puppet show, but Ben was more interested in his superhero books.


We always leave some time to play on the computers. Ben was still torn between the computer and his books.




It was a fun hour and I didn't spend a penny. I love that!

On The Sixth Day Of Winter Break...

...My Mommy gave to me...my Wii privileges back!

Emily has had a serious problem with staying in her room and going to sleep since, well birth. She had no choice but to stay in her crib, but she has always fought sleep. We've tried everything and nothing has worked. She really just doesn't usually care if I take something away or deprieve her of something. And telling her things like she won't go to the zoo if she doesn't stay in her room doesn't work because then it punishes Ben too and he is a wonderful sleeper.

Two nights ago, Emily came out of her room eight times. We told her she would not be able to play Wii the next day. It didn't stop her. She finally stopped at 2 AM when she got a spanking. The next day she did not get to play Wii and she was bummed about it. Last night, we used the same threat. She did not come out of her room once. The first thing she asked for when she woke up was if she could play Wii. I'm thinking we will ride this wave as long as we can.



Wii is seriously a pretty good workout. Well, for those of us who haven't worked out in years. We've played a lot and I can feel it in every muscle of my body. Wait until I hook up the Wii Fit. I'll be Ruby in no time.

Look who is chillin' out in his jumperoo! He's a little short, even on the shortest setting, so we had to put a puzzle box under his feet.



The Doctor also said to try him on some rice cereal. We tried it a few days ago and he did okay. Today we mixed it with apple juice and he ate up two small bowls.


Now we need a high chair. We're quickly running out of room in our almost 3,000 square foot home. This is crazy!!!!

On The Fifth Day Of Winter Break...

Santa gave to us...a ton of little dolls.

They got:
a batman doll
a princess doll
a doll that spits up (oh no, that's Noah)
a blue beetle doll
a ballerina doll
a doll that pees (oh no, that's Noah)
a batman doll in a black outfit
a doll that sucks a pacifier
a doll that poops (oh no, that's Noah)
a gymnast Barbie
a spiderman doll
a doctor Barbie
two baby Barbies
a baby that cries (oh no, that's Noah)
a Buzz Lightyear
a Barbie who is a dolphin trainer at Sea World
a baby that wakes up every 4 hours to eat (oh no, that's Noah)
a Transformer that turns into a plane
another that turns into a truck,
another that turns into a dump truck,
another that turns into a car,
another that turns into a jet,
another that turns into a monster truck
a Barbie in a bikini (to go with the Barbie pool)
a doll that pees on you (oh wait, that's Noah)

You could see that it was the year of the dolls/figurines at our house.

Here they are frantically ripping into a gift for both of them.


Here's Noah with a stack of gifts almost as tall as he is.


Ben is now obsessed with Batman and hasn't taken off this shirt since he opened it. He thinks the rug is Gotham City and he flies around it.


Emily was so happy with herself. She went shopping at the santa's workshop at school and bought all of us gifts, including herself. She even wrapped the presents herself with 60 feet of tape per present.




The house went from this:


to this in about 45 minutes.


Now I need to find places for everything and get the decorations put away in the next week.

It was a wonderful Christmas and I'm always a little sad to pack everything up.
But there's always next year...

On The Fourth Day Of Winter Break...

...my Papa and Grandma Suzy gave to me, a brand new Nintendo Wii.

We drove down to my Dad's in Phoenix for Christmas Eve.
This is what the drive down looks like to me. David always drives. Roxie (crazy prozak dog) hyperventilates for 2 hours. Emily and Ben watch movies in total comfort. And I sit in the back with the baby in case he screams.



Lucky for me, he did this the entire way down and back.



My Dad got to love on Noah the whole time.


The kids got way too many presents.



It was a great day. Capped off by a visit from Santa.
More fun to come...

On The Third Day Of Winter Break...

...we gave to our Mommy...two angels in the snow.



We got a little snow last night. Not a lot but enough for the kids to have some fun. It's melting quicker than their gloves are drying.





Noah also had his 4 month well visit today and follow up from his bronchitis and double ear infection. He's looking excellent! No infection. The x-ray of his lungs was perfect. He's 12 pounds 12 ounces which is in the 10% range for a 4 month old. Developmentally, he's moving right along. The Dr. said he is doing some things of a 2 month old and some of a 4 month old, so there is no concern there. He still needs 1 breathing treatment a day, but the Doctor said it's more of a preventative treatment for the next month since this is peak season for illness. Fine by me. I'd rather prevent another illness from coming on than have to deal with all this again. The Doctor even recommended trying him on solids, like infant cereal. That should be interesting.

Now if we could just get him to sleep through the night.

On The Second Day Of Winter Break...

...My mommy gave to herself...a shopping spree at Old Navy.

By shopping spree, I mean I spent $55, but it rhymed so I just went with it.

We had some errands to do in town and so did our friends (the same ones we went to the zoo with yesterday), so we decided to meet first at the Prescott Resort. It sits high up on a hill and is one of the nicest places to stay in Prescott. They also have a casino in there. I should go gamble sometime. But that's not what this post is about...

Every year at Christmas, they have a gingerbread house contest. This was the first year we went and it is so cute. If I could have 10% of this creativity, I would be happy.



This train is set into the display of all of the entries. Isn't Josh sweet? He's helping Ben to see the train.


The kids liked this one of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. Forget blowing the house down, I was ready to eat the mint roof right off!


This one is too cute. It's of our Courthouse Square and Thumb Butte Mountain.


My best attempt to get the kids to look at me and smile.




Emily and her best friend liked this house made out of peeps the best.


As we were leaving the resort it started to snow. We are supposed to get a storm overnight with a few inches of snow. I hope so. We all love when it snows.



I told Ben to put on a coat. I think he finally gets the idea that I may be right.


As I post this, the snow is coming down nicely. The fireplace is going. The kids (including Noah) are watching a cartoon. And Ma's in her kerchief, ah, just kidding, I'm drinking some coffee. What is a kerchief anyway? David will be home in an hour and starts his 6 day vacation. And Christmas is right around the corner.

Life is good.
And Ben just ran in the room and mooned me.
How do boys know how to do this stuff?

My New Nephew

My lovely sister in law Alisa and her husband Daniel, had their Christmas miracle come 4 days early.


Introducing: Gregory Patrick Allen
9 pounds 2 ounces, 21 inches, born 12/21/09 at 11:54 a.m.


Grammie arrived in time to witness the birth!


He is beautiful and healthy and already busting out of a newborn diaper! Congrats to all of you and big sister Rachel. What a lovely family and I can't wait to meet him in March.

On The First Day Of Winter Break...

...My mommy gave to me...A trip to our little zoo.

Being off for 2 weeks means me slowly losing my mind. Luckily, my friend invited us on an outing to the zoo today.

Emily and Alanah are best friend. Josh watches out for Ben and protects him from evil forces, like the free roaming peacocks.



The ostrich behind Ben is clearly camera shy.


Okay, why don't my kids look at the camera? Her kids are trained better.




The snake house. I let Dakri take the kids through and I wait outside. Snakes and enclosed spaces are not my thing.


There is a nice playground at the zoo and it's always the kids favorite part. Seriously, I could do that for free at a park. They are playing on the spider web.


We have monkey bars in our backyard. Emily loves to try to do them, but she has never had the upper body strength. David helps her. She has them at school too and she's mentioned several times that she can't do them. Today at the zoo, a little girl their size went across the monkey bars. Not to be bested, Emily tried it and did it. She came running to get me so I could watch. She didn't make it all the way across again, probably because she was getting tired and her hands were sore. But, she did do really good. She's getting the hang of it! She was so proud of herself. She told me when we got home, "Mommy, I'm really happy because I did the bars."


The man in the background was the grandpa to the little girl who was able to do the monkey bars. So cute that everyone was cheering her on.

Now, what to do with the second day of winter break...