December

What a busy, busy month!

First we celebrated my birthday with a fun afternoon bowling and later with a super yummy Baskin Robbins Chocolate Chip ice cream cake. What a treat. We had so much fun bowling. Brendan fell down on his first turn, Kaeden was awesome about taking turns and he loved pushing his ball down the lane. Audrey did very well practicing to walk and roll the ball down the lane.

Sunday was Kaeden's birthday party again and he was thrilled to see his friends and have cake! He liked his presents too. The kids had fun playing in the backyard and the ones that harvested the most limes won presents. And Brendan didn't have to do it for days! The extra limes went to friends and to the food bank.

The next weekend we drove up to Williams Arizona for a ride on the Polar Express - what a wonderful trip that was. I posted pictures for friends and family at Flickr. The kids were so mesmerized by watching out the window, it didn't bother them that it was dark out, or that it was chilly. We all snuggled up in our pajamas with blankets and enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies while we listened to the Polar Express book being read. All the children were so excited when we arrived at the North Pole and they all crowded the windows on our side of the train to see - it was such a pleasure to share in their joy. There was a huge decorated tree with lots of presents, and buildings made out of Christmas lights - and Santa on his sleigh with his helpers and the reindeer. On the ride home we sang Christmas Carols, Santa came through the train and all of the children a jingle bell, and it started to snow! The children woke up the next morning and opened the drapes of our hotel room wide and shouted about the snow! We bundled up and went to play in the snow - Kaeden did not like his sleeves getting snow on them. Audrey and Kelden had fun running around with other children but we were freezing cold!

The next weekend we drove around to local Big Train Operators that opened their displays to the public for Christmas time. The three we went to had beautiful train set up in their backyard. Kaeden was jumping up and down squealing and Kelden was mesmerized. One yard had a set up so large it filled have their backyard and was running 6 different trains - including a miniature Polar Express.

Christmas Eve Audrey and Kelden really enjoyed tossing out the Reindeer food. Audrey put so much oatmeal out the Reindeer couldn't eat them all and we have had a lot of feathered visitors stopping by for snacks!

Christmas was great fun and the children enjoyed all of their presents. Audrey woke the boys up at 5:30 AM and they kept busy with their recorders - Kaeden calls it his "whistle". They sure were noisy! About 7AM we opened presents and the kids had already sorted them all out into piles of what belonged to whom. Audrey was very excited about her Electronic Snap Circuit set, colored socks and especially her umbrella, Kelden enjoys his board games, and loves his sleeping bag and umbrella. Kaeden was ecstatic about his fishy game, new "Leapster" and football.

Things to Do

On Thanksgiving morning I used our last two eggs to make Pumpkin Pie.

On Friday night about an hour after we put him to bed Kaeden came wandering down the stairs, his excuse was "but. we need eggs. we need to go store and get eggs."

We had a good laugh after we gave him a cuddle and tucked him back into bed.

He must have missed his pancake breakfast that morning!

Go To Sleep Mom!

I know! I know! I should be in bed but I just can't stop laughing about the candles on the cake last night.

Brendan could not find a lighter (which isn't a bad thing in a house with small children anyway.)

So he used matches to light the birthday cake. He had about 5 candles lit when he was running out of match and blew it out. And all of the candles too. We were giggling so much.

So he started over. He had the whole cake lit when Kaeden leaned in and blew the candles out.

So he started over.

Finally Audrey was able to make a wish and blow the candles out all by herself.

Good thing we had enough matches!

I should be....

....clearing off the clutter of the kitchen bar top in anticipation of our birthday guests arriving. We made it simple by allowing Audrey to invite 5 classmates to a sleepover party tonight and only 2 can make it. She is jazzed though.

I decided earlier today that the kitchen floor is not getting mopped (maybe next week after the kids are back in school after Veterans Day - they will just get it all crumby and sticky again fast.)

The garage sale was a bust. I'm kind of bummed about that. I took pictures of some of the large ticket items so I could sell them on Craigslist (the treadmill found a new home last night.) Otherwise I will try again in the Spring when everyone starts getting their income tax rebates. I stored everything in plastic bags and most of it is already priced so hopefully it won't be such a chore to get everything set up again!

The funny thing about garage sales is the "stuff" I thought would never sell sold the best and the stuff I thought would be easy to get rid of is still in my garage.

The true relief is that it is all over. The election on Tuesday went well for our local candidates and I look forward to a quiet two years before the process begins again - by then I will be looking forward to getting involved again.

This week I get to finish my Christmas Cards, spend Veterans day with the kids and hopefully get over my cold.

But first we need a birthday girl........
(her Girl Scout event went late)

Ice Cream - you scream

Audrey was told in October that her tonsils must come out. The things are so darn huge she can't breathe around them while she sleeps. The doctors keep implying that her tonsils (which were fine when they removed her adenoids 18 months ago) will keep growing bigger.

So the doc advised to allow our little patient to eat all of the soothing soft foods as she will eat during her recovery - specifically ice cream, popsicles, yogurt, jello etc...

Soon after the doctors visit Audrey was with me grocery shopping and began requesting her flavors. I reminded her that we can not buy anything that is not on the list so she said:

"But mom! I want to practice!"

That will make you smile for sure. And everyone I tell that story to is shocked when I stand firm in that I did not give in. Poor kid, it's not going to be a fun recovery. But it gets her out of eating Thanksgiving Dinner which she only picks through to get to the pumpkin pie anyway.

That Audrey, she's a bright one!

It's Past That Time of Year Again

For those of you who receive my Christmas Cards and never noticed, they are all handmade. All 60 of them. I do not sew Halloween costumes and I do not make class treats for every grade school event. I rarely even make a family dinner - however, if my family would agree on one dinner that they all like I will make it. Cheese Fondue comes close and we do have that for fun occasions.

What I do make are scrap books, full of stories about our day, places we enjoy and friends we love. Card making is the younger sister to Scrap books, same papers, same glue, similar creativity.

So every summer I endeavor to make 60 Christmas Cards before September, and have as many pre-addressed envelopes as possible. The year Kaeden was born I was rocking the process. Not only were all of the cards completed in mid summer but the birth announcements were mostly planned - except for knowing if we would be using blue or pink paper. Both sets of envelopes were preaddressed. So when baby Kaeden came home he snuggled in my lap while I printed letters for the birth announcement and letters for the Christmas card. And then assemble and glue them together to be mailed out within a few days of his glorious arrival home. I felt so accomplished. Being sent back into the hospital for Christmas and not able to see the children was a punch in the gut but at least I felt I could rest because all of the work I needed to do had already been mailed.

I believe this is the sixth year of home made Christmas cards, I am sure I have a sample of each one here some where but not in any organized fashion. I thought the Oh Christmas Tree card of 2007 was spectacular and I was pleased with how well it looked. This year the style is different but I think it has a formal look and I can't wait to get the first one completed so I can see how it matches my imagination. I am probably 50% complete with the whole process.

This year is the first year in a long time that I have been working on Christmas cards so close to Christmas. I used to always have them complete before September because October, November and December are really photo months and Scrapbooking becomes a priority!

But this year the local city elections threw a wrench into the timing. And on top of that the community is hosting a garage sale. We have tons and tons of baby gear and toys that all needs a good home. So this week I am sorting, dusting, pricing and hunting down anything in my home that we have not used in the last year or two. A lot of the good toys are going to go but they are in good shape and they bring much laughter and play to children who like it.

Audrey is the hardest child to buy toys for. She loves to check them out once and then she moves on. The science kits that challenge her require adult supervision. If any of you knew Brendan as a child you would understand how very very important it is for any of his offspring to be well supervised when around chemicals and opportunities of science.

Between the garage sale and furniture posted on Craig's List we hope to make a little cash cushion for our checking account. We had decided to buy Audre and ipod shuffle for her birthday - unless Brendan buys a lot of songs for it, it should come out to be a cheap present.

But we can't have a child with a cooler gadget than "ours" so Brendan got "him" an itouch so he can surf the internet and listen to books on tape at the library and other fun stuff. So now the goal is to make enough money on the garage sale to pay for the new gadget!

So the Christmas Cards - I am half way done with making them. So thrilling. Tuesday is the election and our one last push to get the voters to recognize our candidate in the hopes he'll get the vote in the polling booth. So Tuesday will be a busy day - but we've done long hours of walking door to door in many neighborhoods so I have put my time in for certain. Audrey even had fun helping too.

My life will change dramatically after November 9th. The election will be over, the garage sale will be over and Audrey's birthday sleepover party will be done. Leaving me with 2 weeks to finish making any of the rest of the Christmas cards completed before Thanksgiving.

Once that is done I will debate if I want to make another afghan for the family room - if I can find a good After Turkey sale!

First Day of School

Yike - I need to make a detailed post about our recent vacation. In the meantime, here is how the morning of the first day of School 2008 went! Kelden started Kindergarten and Audrey started 2nd grade - she thinks that is big deal!


Kids were up early and got themselves dressed - Audrey even helped Kaeden.

They ate breakfast. Sandwich was so excited about his new backpack he gave his sports backpack to Kaeden. It was so cute until Kaeden refused "No! Don wan it!" hmph.

Then as the morning wore on and breakfast was done Kelden was frustrated about how the stuff in his backpack fit (because he has to bring a few supplies that were bulky but really light) so he sat on the tile and cried. Kaeden came over to him, wrapped his arms around him and said "it's okay, it's okay Ke-den".

Then it was off to school and Kelden was convinced every car on the road was trying to make us late. I took some fun pictures in front of school and we all got to say hi to other families we haven't seen all summer.

Kelden did fine in his classroom and was ready for me to leave (I didn't linger I just walked him through the procedure of putting his stuff away). Kaeden and I popped into Audrey's classroom and said goodbye to her. Kaeden ran over to get a big hug and I got a picture of them giving each other a kiss.

Then Kaeden and I headed home and I heard this small, tiny, sad voice from behind me say: "where's Ke-den?"

Sticker Head

The boys are finishing up swim lessons for the year. Kaeden's lessons are every weekday and as grateful as I am that he can swim, I will be glad to not have to drag him up from his nap to get there on time.

On Tuesday the little boy who swims after Kaeden handed him a Tigger sticker when Kaeden was getting out of the pool. Kaeden was still mad that I made him swim that he refused it. So I thanked the little boy and kept the sticker on my finger while I soothed and cuddled Kaeden.

After a few minutes I hear this soft, hesitant, tiny voice saying "sticker?" So I gave Kaeden his Tigger sticker and having nowhere else to put it he stuck it on his forehead.

The next day when Kaeden got out of the pool he asked for a sticker. So the little boys mom pulled a Piglet sticker out of her bag for him - so sweet. And again Kaeden stuck it to his forehead. It was there when I left last night and when we woke up this morning the sticker was still on his head.

If you ask Kaeden if he has a sticker he will say: "Yes, on da head" and smack his forehead gently. Brendan thinks this is the funniest thing.

Protein. Yum.

I never thought it would happen but I finally swore off fast food.

My last trip to Taco Bell (for food) was almost three months ago. It was such a monotonous routine that I can not remember when I was there last. Now the kids think 'Donald's burgers and fries are the best food on God's green earth so we do go there on occasion. And my boys really need the calories - I just keep the fries to a minimum and try to supplement their meal with fruit. We bring that stuff home, it makes it easier to add the fruit and the milk at home is way cheaper - plus I eat a healthier meal that way too. Although I think I had McDonald's twice in the last three months.

I traded in the grease and the grime for spinach salads, vegetable snacks and "Carnation Instant Breakfasts" which are about as close to a protein shake as I can get. I may be eating healthier but I am still not sacrificing flavor.

So after the diet upgrade I went in early May for an update with my fitness trainer. I had lost 5 pounds (yay) and 4 inches off my waste (awesome). But her calipers said my weight loss was mostly muscle. Egads. Since I lift weight so much, and it is the only exercise I really enjoy, I was told to increase my protein intake - targeting 105 grams a day.

My protein consumption before was abysmal and mostly from cheese, milk and occasional chicken, beef or pork dishes. So it was a challenge to find 105 grams of protein to eat. Of course I did my research first. Using formulas and variables that allow for extensive weight training my target protein intake came out to 95.

So that is my target range - between 95 and 105 grams of protein.

I started out with lean chicken and threw in some nuts and beef jerky - but those were hard on my gums. I have been eating more deli meat and cottage cheese along with larger meat portions at dinner. I think the key to my success is drinking more milk. I have easily been able to consume 100 grams of protein a day but I have to admit, often times I have been eating protein rich foods when I was not hungry at all.

I get measured again in another week so I will stick with the same diet to see where I am at and then I will adjust accordingly to see what is ideal for my body. I did gain a pound or two this month so I will be curious to see if I gained muscle or not.

Either way I think I am eating too much and after the next measurement I will make some more changes.

Who needs Disney Land when you can go furniture shopping instead

Big transitions will be hitting the household this summer.

Audrey is quite the slob so it is going to be a boot camp summer. With vacations and events sucking up 3 weeks of her 8 week summer break the rest of the weekdays will all begin with big chores. I know she can clean up after herself in school, so she can do it at home. All school year it has been a push and pull with her to clean up after herself and most days I let her mess sit until she got home from school. Using the "get it done or you can't play with your friends" technique she always picked up. But it is time for her to learn to do it out of habit. I think I am going to start with the bathrooms since she is so messy with her toothpaste, and her brothers make a mess in there. She needs to learn to take pride in her work and understand how it feels when someone comes along and messes it up. It is going to be fun!

Kaeden is just amazing. At 2 years old the child can clear his plate into the trash and then put it in the sink. He needs to teach his 7 year old sister this technique.

Bedrooms are changing too. We have decided to close up the loft wall but have not decided when. Due to noise I think it should wait until Kaeden has outgrown his nap routine, so hopefully it will be awhile. Currently we plan to put Kelden and Kaeden in the same bedroom and move Audrey back into her original bedroom where Kaeden is now. This will open Audrey's room as a guest bedroom (and more storage!) again.

The economy here is holding well but I think spending is down. So it seems everyone is having big sales on big ticket items, and we are taking advantage! We had a security front door installed and it looks really pretty. It is so nice to have the breeze from the front of the house now. We also bought two boys bedroom sets. We got two captains beds, two dressers and two nightstands - all matching. The boys are going to share the room and we are probably going to decorate with a train theme. The furniture that doesn't fit in the boys room will probably go in the spare bedroom. I figure eventually they will want their own space and this way they both have enough drawer space and matching furniture. When that happens the loft will be enclosed and will be usable as a spare bedroom!

My other goal for the summer is to install cabinets and a counter top along the short (7 foot wall) in the loft. This will be the location for doing homework, "minor crafting" and the kids computer. And hopefully this will make sure I don't find Audrey's bedroom floor covered in stamping ink again.

When we went to the furniture store to look at the options the kids just went nuts climbing the bunk beds and the loved climbing through the "storage" doors in a lot of the furniture. There is some neat stuff out there and I bet we are going to find our K's hiding inside their captains beds when they are installed. Kaeden loves to hide in the tall cabinet in his diaper changing table. The kids would not calm down, we made sure that Kaeden could get up and down on the captains bed well enough, then Brendan took them out to the van for containment.

We stopped at a restaurant for dinner on the way home and the kids went all ga-ga over a 3 month old baby at the table nearby. They were really sweet blowing her kisses and giving her lots of smiles. The family was very receptive and turned the car seat so the boys could get a clear view too. They all entertained each other for a good while.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day just never goes as planned.

This year I secured lunch reservations so we could skip the crowded wait, and hungry and cranky children.

The morning started off unusual. Audrey woke up early and came into our bedroom like an elephant - she started me awake and she reacted to my startle by screaming. Freaked us out.

Since I was up late with Kelden I did not get enough sleep!

When I did get out of bed Brendan informed me that Audrey was running a 102 fever. Pair that with her recent coughing and it was obvious to me that she has ANOTHER sinus infection. The blessing about sinus infections is that I do not have to worry about the boys catching them too.

So Grandma came over to stay with her while we went to lunch, and the boys decided grandma would be way more fun to play with than sitting at a stuffy restaurant. So what was supposed to be a Mother's Day celebration turned into a date. We had a lovely time.

Audrey had been crafting all week so I believe the final count was 15 Mother's Day cards from her, Kelden made a "jewelry box" at school and then all three decorated a scrap book page.

Kaeden said some really cute things worth remembering:

Momma. Sit here.
Up.
Hug. *big hug*
Love you too Momma.
*kiss*
*gets down*
Stay there Momma. Ok?
*wanders over to Daddy and gives him a hug.*
*comes back and does the process over again*

I just sat there and enjoyed it.

I'ts Coming! It's Coming!

Kaeden, please do not outgrow this cute toddler stage. Audrey and Kelden are certainly still very cute in their own way too. I am so glad I wrote down their toddler stories and took a lot of photos for the scrap book too.

Kaeden likes to delay bed time and he is almost as good at it as Audrey was. Somehow he has suckered us into a hide and seek game every bed time. He does not have any interest in playing in the middle of the day. It has to be at bed time. There is a cabinet section of his changing table that is almost as tall as he is. When he is ready to play he runs off towards his room shouting:

It's coming! It's coming!

He runs and runs glancing over his shoulder to make sure I am following. He emptied out the cabinet and he hides inside and directs me to hide behind the door. Then he creeps out, finds me, giggles with uncontrollable glee. Then he runs back to the cabinet shouting:

It's coming! It's coming!

And we play again. He never gives up until I tackle him, turn off the light and put him to bed.

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Kaeden tried watermelon for the first time yesterday. He liked it as slices on the rind but today he did not like it cubed on the plate today. I got an awesome picture I will put up on flickr next chance I get.


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Kelden has been enjoying watching his Dad play World of Warcrap. Not my preference for time spent. He is looking forward to taking a break from school and Audrey has him nervous about the bears at Yellowstone Park. Thank you Audrey.


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Audrey got her first sunburn yesterday, it cleared up a lot over night so it should not bug her much at school tomorrow. She was so tired tonight, she played hard all weekend. I think I barely saw her. She was swimming at a friends yesterday - hence the sunburn since they didn't put sunscreen on anyone. And today she went to a movie with a friend. Usually the kids hang out here so it was nice for her to be invited places.

She and I have plans to make some home made cards as teachers gifts.

Cute things Kaeden does

Just a collection of cute things little Kaeden does.

Mommy: Who is my cutie cutie!
Kaeden: Meeeeeeeeeeeeee!

When he is about to run off he will make a wooooosh sound that Brendan calls his "jet assist" which is probably from the movie The Incredibles.

Kaeden likes the Scooby-Do song as his lullaby. This is because we call our iRobot Scooba "Scooby", and he thinks Scooby is cute.

Maiden Post

Another boring blog about a happy family - at least that is what most well read bogs like to make fun of.

For my purpose this blog is to keep track of regular events for family, friends and of course my scrap book. Don't worry this won't turn into a "On Again, Off Again" list of (American) Idol musings like Brendan's. *g*

Recent events to keep track of:

There was a B-24 airplane at our local airport - since my Father's Father was a waist/tail gunner crew on a B-24 I was given a personal tour. They let me sit in the tail gun seat and was it ever a tight fit. Even at 5'3" it was hard for me to climb into the seat - especially avoiding banging my camera around. I got to hold the trigger switch and it ergonomically reminded me of a steal version of a Nintendo controller. There were foot pedals to pivot the guns and electric outlets for the crew to plug in their heated suits, and of course an Oxygen tank. I met a gentleman there who also was a tail gunner and he explained how cold it was, the planes flew so high. He also said he probably never hit a single plane, the fighter planes flew so fast they stayed ahead of the bullets. The waist gunner's had to stand, their bullets stored in boxes with marking holes so they could see how many rounds they had left. The waist gunners had to be careful so as not to shoot the wings or tail of the plane.

I will post the pictures to our flickr account soon.

Friday was "Dress Like a Storybook Character" day at Audrey's school and she chose to be Pippie Longstockings. Brendan bent up a wire coat hanger and I braided her hair around it - it stuck out straight from the side of her head - she looked so silly. I added some freckles with a brown eyeliner pencil and we found her some mismatched clothes. She got a lot of attention and everyone wanted to know how her hair stayed like that.

Those pictures are up on flickr already.