New Things

Have all my posts been about Noah lately?

I'm home with him everyday, and he's doing so many new things. This weekend we had a big event. Noah ate cereal. Well, he always eats cereal, but never with milk...at the table. It was quite an event.

He has some great motor skills. He only dropped one Fruit Loop on the floor. Is he flipping me off?

Noah and Ben are actually playing together. It's fun to watch. Today Ben was finishing his breakfast, Noah pulled on his shirt and said, "come on Ben". Off they went to dress up like Captain America. We were watching the movie.

David commented that it seems Noah is going to be as into Superheros as Ben. Which I'm sure David is thrilled about because he enjoys the movies and books himself.

Our boys aren't really into trucks or tractors or dinosaurs.

It's all about Superheros in this house.

Epic Failure?

Nothing quite makes me happier than clearing out the fridge. Eating leftovers, watching empty containers go in the sink. It makes me happy. Does it make you happy too? Anyone? Anyone?

I had 1 cup of pumpkin leftover from last weeks final Christmas celebration. I decided to whip together a loaf of pumpkin bread. I used this recipe because I stalk this ladies blog and she always makes such pretty desserts and serves them up on white pie plates. It's her Aunt Lucille's recipe. I don't know Aunt Lucille, but I imagine she serves up a pretty mean pumpkin bread. I halved the recipe because we only had 1 cup of pumpkin to get rid of.

I made 2 mini loves because they cook faster. The timer beeped. They looked good. I was supposed to meet my friend to walk in 3 minutes. I pull the loaves out, do the toothpick test, which came out clean, and went walking. No excuses, remember?

When I came back, my pumpkin loaves looked like a volcano with a giant hole in the middle. Bummer. I tasted an end and Aunt Lucille is spot on. My Mom convinced me to cut them open and bake them longer. After another 15 minutes, they are cooked. Behold - the twice baked pumpkin loaf!

We kept cutting off ends to test to see if they were done.

The bad news is they look awful.

The good news is they still taste pretty good. Extra crispy, but good.

Imagine how great they will taste when I cook them long enough next time.

On another note, I haven't had a manicure since sometime in 2010. Noah gave it a whirl today.

I think he's as good of a manicurist as I am as a baker. I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon.

No Excuses

The motto this season on The Biggest Loser is "No Excuses". Sure, I'm not 100 pounds overweight, but there are a lot of things I want to be doing that I make a lot of excuses for.

Exercise. I got on a kick a few months back that lasted one day. Then, I broke up with my treadmill again and I came this close to selling it on Craigslist. I don't even care if I lose weight (although, that would be nice), but I just want to move. Some days the only exercise I get is walking from the computer to the kitchen. But, I've learned that I really just don't like to exercise. It has to be fun and not feel like exercise or I won't do it. So my friend and I have started walking. 30 minutes, Monday through Friday. No excuses.

Church. We talk about going all the time. David is very picky and can't find any church that he loves. I don't care so much, let's just go. The last 2 years, it was out of the question with Noah due to his health. But, he hasn't had an ear infection in a long time and he would hopefully let us leave him in the nursery at Church.

When David's Mom was visiting, Emily slept in our bed with us. When my Dad and Suzy came for the night, Ben slept with us too. It was me, Ben and Emily in bed. David on the sofa at the foot of the bed. It's the most comfortable sofa ever, so he really had the best spot. In any case, we started talking about church with the kids and God. We asked what Jesus looked like.
Emily said, "He has brown hair and a beard".
And Ben said, "And he wears a hoodie!"
A hoodie. Really? How about a robe Ben? In any case, we need to go to church. No excuses.

And for my father-in-law, here's a picture of the kids after a shower. He checks everyday for pictures. Ben was trying, not very successfully, to cover his chest.

A Chill New Year

The last few days of 2011 were spent busily running around putting up Christmas decorations and cleaning the house. I just wanted to start the new year without a long "to do" list.

One of those chores that needed to be done was haircuts. Ben's was getting long and when faced with the option of me combing it every morning or getting it cut, he chose getting it cut. So, David was first, then Ben. We've tried to cut Noah's, but it never really did much. This time, I tried it and got a nice chunk of hair. So, it was time for his first official haircut.

He was a little apprehensive.

He was moving all over the place.

Next time, I'll put a movie on. But, it came out pretty good.

Then, he yelled at me for missing a spot and left without leaving a tip.

Whatever.

David took his Mom to the airport this morning. The house is kind of quiet and it's a low key day. The kids go back to school tomorrow. We spent the day relaxing.

I'm liking 2012 already.

Our Fourth (and final) Christmas

My Dad and Suzy returned from New York on Wednesday. They came up here on Thursday to celebrate Christmas with us.

The kids were more than happy to open presents....again.

Emily got lots of Barbies to go in her new mansion.

Noah was digging his new Elmo.

Ben got more superheros.

They actually got everything they've been eyeing at the store. I went shopping with Suzy before they went to New York and she had me pick out whatever they wanted. It was so much fun. It's really nice to spend someone else's money!

But the best gift was Noah's spiderman house that came with 20 balls. Of course, 20 wouldn't be enough, so Suzy and picked up an additional 100. Am I crazy?

I figure if all I do for the next 3 months is pick up 120 balls 2-3 times a day, I'll lose 10 pounds.

In any case, it was a great night spent with my Dad and Suzy. The following morning I had the kids get in a photo with 4 of their 5 grandparents.


The Christmas decorations have been put away. The house is back to normal. The kids start school in 2 days. Grammie Gwynne leaves in the morning. Everything will slide back into our routine. I like our routine. I love our life.

2011 was a great year for us. The latest accomplishment was Ben learning to swing!


I'm looking forward to the new year and all that it will bring.

Our Third Christmas

Our first Christmas celebration was with my brother and sister on Christmas Eve. Then came Christmas day with our family. The third Christmas was when Aunt Pam came up the day after Christmas.

Aunt Pam always gives books and pajamas for Christmas. It's a perfect gift after an overload of toys.

Noah has this whole wrapping paper thing down.

Emily got a collection of Ramona books. She was thrilled.

Ben got a few superhero books. This one is about a little boy who becomes a superhero every night in his dreams. Just like Ben.

Here they are looking good in their new pajamas. Emily got Hello Kitty ones.

Ben got a new set of Spiderman and Captain America pajamas. He was ecstatic.

Noah had a moster theme. Very appropriate.

Then, it was time for Just Dance 3. Wow, is that fun!

We still have another celebration with my Dad and Suzy. I think we'll be Christmas'd out by the end of the week, but in a good way!

Our Christmas

Our Christmas started with leaving cookies for Santa.

Emily wrote a note in her poorest penmanship. I personally like the arrow, so Santa will know exactly where the cookies are.

Have I mentioned yet that David's Mom is visiting? She's been here for awhile and the kids are loving the extra attention.

With David's Mom (Grammie) and my Mom (Granny) both here, it means we've been playing musical beds. Granny is in the guest room. Grammie is in Emily's room. Emily is in mine and David's room. Emily is a very light sleeper which made things really difficult for Santa come Christmas night. But he managed as he always does, and everything went off without a hitch.

At 7:39, Ben came running in the room to wake up me and Emily. David had already been awake for awhile and Noah was up. The chaos was about to begin.

To my surprise, the kids didn't want to tear into their big presents from Santa. They wanted to find the gifts that they bought for everyone at Santa's workshop at school and give them to everyone else.

They handed out gifts to each other, to Mom and Dad and grandma's. I was shocked. On a child's most selfish day of the year, my kids were thinking of others. Maybe we are doing something right.

Their turns came soon enough and they were happy to open all their gifts.

Santa brought a big train table.

Emily got a "brown" doll as she requested.

Emily also got a Barbie mansion which I've enjoyed playing with.

This train table almost brought me to tears. Screws the size or a pin head, a missing part, I was cussing out Santa by 1:00. But, it finally got done and the kids love it.

I love Christmas. The get togethers. The anticipation. The magic. It's all wonderful, but come the 26th, I'm ready to pack it up. Once the day has passed, all I see is clutter and craziness. The superheros have invaded the Christmas Village.

And Ben dumped out half of his 1600 piece Lego set on the floor. Then, Noah dumped out all of the canister of popcorn on top of it.

Yep, I'm ready to pack up the chaos and put it away for the next 11 months.