Wordless Wednesday

A Picture Catch Up...

Bug at her Christmas party

Aunt Bec's graduation

Ready for the church Christmas program

The Children's Chior with Miss L

Gingerbread mania

Whew!

Computer problems getting better, but not the best!

Stay warm out there...calling for more snow tomorrow!

Post Christmas post soon.

Merry Christmas!

Ok, it's been a while.  Experiencing major computer issues lately.  Evidently I've cram packed the trusty laptop so full of pictures i've never printed and Itunes that it refuses to take on any more.  That, combined with the fact Hubs and I got iphone's the week of thanksgiving (he's been asking for months and I inadvertantly killed my beloved oldschool blackberry) and have been using them for email, the blog has been forced to the back burner for awhile.  Tragic...yes, but we've just been too busy to mess with computer memory...

So, here's our little holiday recap for those of you (if there are any left still checking in with us during the pause) who have been wondering what we're up to!

Little baby niece is doing great!  My kids love her and Hubs has decided he his her namesake and is very partial (their irl names are only one letter different)...he went so far Sunday to steal her away from one of our friends for some snuggles!  I'm cautiously optimistic he might catch the bug :)  The general concensus (after reviewing ACE's baby pics) is that her hair is identical to what his was when he was born, and that we now have a redhead girl in the family!!

Bug and ACE have been LOVING Christmas this year, and for the first time in a while...so am I!  Holidays are usually very stressful for our family due to our crazy work schedules.  This year will be the first time since Bug was a baby that Hubs and I will both be off for Christmas Eve and Christmas day!  The added bonus has been that we are settled into the new house where we have plenty of room for the tree, presents, and lots of baking!  This year we don't have to worry about where presents will go or tell grandparents that if they buy something big...it stays at their house! 

Bug has enjoyed being off of school this week.  She was the primary tree decorator this year, and I let her at it...she was through the roof excited late last week when I came home with a new Christmas tree base that makes your tree spin slowly!!  One of our great friends has a spinning Christmas tree and it was love at first sight for Bug...she talked about it nonstop after seeing it and repeated over and over how great it would be if our tree spun too!

Ace has just been a never ending source of hilarious lately!  His personality has really exploded the last few months!  He cracks us up with his demonstration of the "bow ting" he wants for Christmas, and Hubs and I about lost it when he pronounced (after arriving home from a trip "in town" with Hubs) that Santa had stolen his Transformer bike from Wal-Mart!  For months he has had his eye on the Transformer bicycle in our local Wal-Mart...has to see it every time he goes, has asked for it constantly...and last week it was GONE!  It cracked us up that he would think Santa took it!!  Only time will tell if it shows back up ;)

Both kids have been counting down to Christmas with thier Advent Calendars!  It's a huge ordeal for them to search for the numbers on thier calendars find the little piece of chocolate behind them everyday.  Ace gets very impatient and has been caught climbing onto the counters in the kitchen trying to reach his calendar while Bug was at school. (We finally had to put them on top of the cabinets so he couldn't get to them.)   Tuesday we made gingerbread cookies for Santa and decorated them up fancy for Santa!!  Wait til you see how creative everybody was! We've got some crazy men.

Monday we headed out to the "big mall" oot where they have an amazing Santa...Bug was all over it, did great...Ace talked a big game, but as soon as we arrived at the front of the line, dug his heels in big time.  Hubs and I decided to spare ourselves a little drama, and we now have a lovely pic of Santa and Bug...no Ace.  Maybe next year.

I guess the only thing left to report for now is our "vacation" last weekend!  We all loaded up and headed to watch Aunt Bec graduate college and move her back home!!!  We are so proud of her accomplishments (she graduated a semester early), and over the top excited that she's back home!!  She'll be taking a break this semester to plan her wedding, apply to grad school, and get lots of loving stored up from all the kids.  Who knows where she and Kris will end up next year?  We'll just enjoy her while she's here!

Ok, so we've been busy! (if you couldn't already tell by this rambling, random post) :) As soon as possible I'll try to add a picture journey to our crazy month.

Until then...we'll be soaking up all the magic, excitement, and true meaning of Christmas with our family and friends.  We are truly thankful for all of the blessings God has poured on our family this year, he is truly faithful!  Thank-you for sharing our journey this year...we are very excited to see what 2010 will bring to our family!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love from,

ME, Hubs, Bug and Ace

A Good Day...

A really, really good day.

Today, our family got to meet this girl...

She's gorgeous, perfect, sweet, and the newest member of our family!

Bug and Ace proudly announce their new little cousin B!

And it even looks like she'll be the first redheaded girl in the family since Grammy!

Congrats JJ and Christel!

You've loved our kids so much, we can't wait to return the favor, you'll be great parents!

Thankful...

That Thanksgiving is over.

It was hideous.

Hope yours was better.

Come on Christmas!

And the Pilgrims ate...Pizza?!?

I know, I know, that's not what they taught YOU in school.

On Friday I went to join in Bug's "Modified Thanksgiving Feast" at school.  The menu...Pizza, carrots with ranch and cookies...every kid's dream!

She looked super cute in her Pilgrim hat, and had a great time showing me around and telling me all about her classroom.  I pulled the bad parent card, though, and signed her out after lunch (in my defense, most parents there did too).  We had to rest up and get pretty, because Bug's dance studio was scheduled to open for Santa'a arrival at the mall.

Did I take pics, nope, sorry...I will take pics when we get all prettied up for the Christmas Recital though.

Gotta keep you coming back for more! :)

Mama mania...

Well, as I blogged abour previously, I'm a big fan of the Twilight books, and joined in on all of the craziness Thursday by hitting the midnight premier of New Moon with my friend Nat!

We had a great time and I was shocked at all of the other Mama's and even Grandma's who joined in!  I figured we would mostly be surrounded by teenage girls, and don't get me wrong, there were plenty there, but there was a huge assortment of people...even guys!

That's us in our seats waiting and waiting.

I arrived at the theater at around 9pm after many back and forth txts from my great friend who had been in line since around 5pm (she's a dedicated one!) and the line literally wrapped around the whole building!  Everyone was nice and calm and super excited.  And I enjoyed some quailty time with my Kindle and then visiting once Nat arrived from work.

The movie was great!  I thought it was much better than the 1st, and cracked up everytime the teenage girls screamed when there was a male actor with his shirt off (which was pretty frequent...thank-you wolf pack)!

I have a very big thank you to the MOST WONDERFUL Hubs who was so kind as to let me sleep til 10 and take a nap after getting home around 3:30am he is just awesome (and super thankful I didn't offer to drag him along with me)!  Thank-you Hubs...I know you're reading!

So, did any of you get in on the fun?

Not Me Monday...

Hello all, I've decided to purge myself of some goofball stuff by being brutally honest with Mckmama this morning, hope you enjoy!

I totally did not wrap up my industrious day yesterday by whining about it on my blog for all to see, not me.  Deep inside I love cleaning, and would never ever let dust build up on my ceiling fans and beautiful blinds, I'm just way too on top of things for that to happen.

I am also not blogging right now instead of continuing in my quest to thoroughly clean this place up...I don't ever waste time, and I never procrastinate...Not ME.

My son is not currently on his second glass of Dr. Pepper this morning.  I would never think to myself that the sooner he finishes drinking the last 1/4th of the 2 liter he'll quit asking for more...whew...does that make me a bad mom...wait, don't answer that (and don't call the kids dentist and report me either) :)

And finally, I totally did not waste use a perfectly good PTO day for Thursday this week to avoid middle of the night texts at work from all my Twilight buddies who will be at the premier about how awesome the movie is.  Since I'm such a mature mother of 2 and didn't get wrapped up in the Twimania, I never would have purchased my tickets for the midnight premier 2 months ago just in case I could get the night off.  Nope, I'm saving up all my PTO time for my sister's wedding in June and our vaca.

Ok, that's it...have a good Monday everybody!  I'm sure glad I didn't do any of these things, by the way...enjoy a week of your own Not Me's!

Help, I've Been Possessed...

Something is seriously wrong...

I should be knitting, or reading, or sleeping...

watching Big Love with Hubs...

Anything!

But no, I'm headed to the shower...

in the course of the last two days, I've cleaned.

Yesterday was the kids side of the house, living room and kitchen.

Today, the blinds in the living room and kitchen, ceiling fans in our room and the living room.

I tried to talk Hubs into just buying new ones...but #1 Lowes was already closed, and #2 he told me how much those stupid dirt attracting blinds I thought were so cool in September when we moved in cost! Wowzers!

I HATE cleaning...

anyone who does needs some serious help,

maybe even some therapy.

I really should have given the bigger house thing some more thought.

I hated cleaning a tiny house...

"Hello Self, what were YOU thinking doubling it?"

Do I feel better that (with some help from Hubs) the big blinds in the kitchen and living room are shiney white and clear of dust...

Nope,

Am I proud that the three fans in my house are shiny and bright...

Nope,

because I'm pretty sure about 40% of the dust is now down my shirt...

I really think I need some help.

I don't clean like this, ever.

Ask anyone I know, they'll tell you.

And no, I'm not nesting, for those who think bizzare behaviors are related to being preggers.

I tend to do bizzare things all on my own.

Ok, I'm done ranting and raving now.

I guess every once in a while you just have to pull yourself up by your grown up boot straps and do stuff you'd rather not...I'm going to go shower now, and sleep, who knows where this cleaning streak will lead to tomorrow...I'm scared to even think about it right now.

Good night everybody.

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday, because sometimes I overachieve like that!)

Abandoned...

Tonight I've been abandoned...

Left to fend for myself until Monday...

I've been abandoned...

Sure, I've got to work...

Sure, I've got to sleep...

But for now...

I think I'll wallow in my lonliness the only way I can think of...

Pardon me while I go celebrate cope the only way I can think of...

Two solid, uninterupted, glorious hours of Greys's and Private Practice on the DVR...

I'm pretty sure I'll be ok.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

A (kids) Tour of Our Living Room

I've had a lot of people comment that I haven't really posted many pictures of our new house.

Well, there's really not a lot to post about yet.

Some of the rooms look a little silly because, for now, we're just using our old furniture from our old house that was 1/2 the size, all of the walls are the same color, and until BFF came over several weeks ago to help me hang some pics and decorate it was super bare!

(For those who don't know me well, I am not a decorator...and even though I can knit...that doesn't make me crafty, it makes me a good instruction follower)

So, while I was going through our Halloween pictures, I found that the kids had once again gotten ahold of my camera and taken random pics of our living room.

So, to quiet the crowd, and reveal a little more of the new house, I give you...

The (Kids) Tour of Our Living Room 2009!

So there you have it, adoring fans, our living room via the kids! :)

(Oops, I just realized that I exposed the laundry folding corner...please know that they are all folded and put away now!)

We Love Our Football!

Hubs and I have had season tickets to our local HS football games for years, so as we've added on to our family, we've just bought more tickets.

The kids love to go to Bearcat games, and look forward to football season all year long.

What makes it even more fun is that a lot of our friends and family have season tickets around us too!

Well, Friday was the last home game of the season.

Hubs had to work, so we picked up my nephew Ry, bundled up in our warm coats, and went to cheer on our Bearcats, in what turned out to be the best game of the season!

(and the most fun for the kids because so many people stayed home due to the weather, that they had plenty of room to move around and cheer!)

Granny Lin was the hero of the game with Nachos for everyone!

And Bug wrapped up the game by cheesing with her favorite cheerleader who was also one of her dance teachers last year!

Halloween fun!

We had a fun filled Halloween this year with our little doctor and ladybug!

We had a lot of rounds to make this year...and kicked off at Granny and Poppy's house...except when we got there...

We were met by Poppy and "Mimi"!

Granny dressed up as Mimi from the Drew Carey Show.

The kid's got a big kick out of it!

We also made it to Granmother and Pop's,

Nana's, and Gram and Grandpa's!

It was a very busy night,but filled with lots of candy and fun.

Here's the whole gang together...

Ry, Ace, Rissa, and Bug!

Ry was Optimus Prime...and yes, my all to clever brother spent 3 weeks making his costume!

Nobody is cooler and more creative than Uncle JRod!

And just for a giggle, here's

Opti-"miss"-Prime

Hope you all had a fun filled Halloween too!

Pumpkin Procrastinators...

It's no secret in my family that we tend to procrastinate, but seriously, who doesn't?  We're working on this problem everyday, but this year, procratination paid off a little!

Bug pronounced earlier this week, in her own very frank way, "Sure would be nice if would could go ahead and get our pumpkins, huh?"

So, after a 10 minute kindergartener lecture on the finer points of how to carve a pumpkin, and a sincere promise from said kindergartener the she would absolutely clean all of the slimey guts out of her own pumpkin, we made a pumpkin patch date for Thursday before dance.

this is ACE's pumpkin

(Bug's didn't get a before shot from some reason)

She ended up being mostly good on her promise...

I did end up getting a little slimy.

ACE, however wasn't too sure about the whole pumpking guts thing...

He tried to refuse...

But in the end, he did his fair share...

After we were all gutted out, we hit the google for some super cool pumpkin stencils, because ordinary pumpkins just weren't going to cut it this year, we wanted "Cool Pumpkins" (according to Bug).

Once Hubs arrived, just in time for the carving part, he scrapped Ace's stencil and went old school with a bunch of triangles.  Bug picked out a pig stencil, we figured with all of the swine flu hype, it would be appropriate!

Here's the finished project...

And all aglow...

In the end we were all happy and eating toasted seeds.

And just to prove that sometimes procrastination does pay,

the pumpkin patch was having a 1/2 price sale, we saved 8.50!

Happy family...

The kids were at the table tonight with gourmet grilled cheese and homemade Dora soup ;) as I gathered up my hugs and bye kisses, grabed my bags, and headed for the door when Ace blurted out...
"Why you not stay home with you happy fambily?!?"

While I was pretty sure the dynamics of utility bills, mortgages, impending Christmas, etc would be a little in depth for a 3 yr old, I came up with the more understandable/realistic answer...which, of course, is what makes working full time doable for me on the days it's tough to leave the house...

"Because all those new mommies need someone to help them with their new babies!"
His response..."OK, YUB YOU! Bye!"

Very glad to have a job I love, and an understanding family tonight!

Zoo day!

Bug had the day off of school Monday. The calendar said "Fair Day", but, the Fair ended on Sunday...hmm. So, we decided to declare the random day off "Fun, Family Day" instead!

The kids and I got up and met Hubs at the Fire station and headed off for a day of family fun and adventures! Starting with a trip to Cabelas to feed the trout! They have the biggest trout you can imagine in the pools there, and the kids always enjoy feeding them...and if there mother was a better blogger, she would insert picture proof of the large fish feeding...but, alas, she was off to the side blowing her nose, coughing, and trying to unclog her ear for the 100th time...sorry kids.

Then it was off to the zoo...

The kids did great! I was one proud mama!

The added excitement was we had no whining, crying, strollers, waggons, or...diaper bags to deal with!

Check it out!

Yes, as a matter of fact, those are batman "unnerwears" sticking out the top of big boy pants...not pullups!!!

I hesitate to say too much, but I feel like we're turning a potty training corner!

After our fun at the zoo, Hubs let us have a short nap on the way to Bass Pro Shop, where we finally tracked down the right patterned camo bib thingies he'd been looking for...on sale! Now if only we'd have been so lucky on the new pair of boots Ace has been asking for since he got bday $$ our day would have been super complete!

Our Big Chicken Is Getting Brave!

It is no secret to those who know us that Bug can be...

Cautious
Dramatic
Afraid
Prone to Panic...

In short, A Big Chicken!

Well, as I have mentioned before, with a big thanks from VBS teaching us to "Fear Not" mixed in with a little Kindergarten, she is improving on her Chicken status!

Here she is with a real live bear! Note, no panic, shaking, screaming!

And here, she's advanced to being just a stick away from a wild bird! I'm pretty sure she looks as shocked as we do!

And the grand finale...

Prepare yourselves...





Yes, be as shocked as we were, that's Bug holding a real-live, dirt covered, wiggling wild worm!
(Sorry for the fuzziness, but we work hard everyday to teach Gram how to work her fancy digital camera, we're super proud she can turn it on!) (You know we love you Gram!)

She ran in with the beast and pronounced to me and Gram..."Look how brave I am! I caught a wiggle worm!" followed by "Lets hurry and take him to our house!"


I am so proud! (and glad she didn't ask me to hold it for her :)

Baby Shower!

Our family has been super excited since Easter when JJ and Christel announced that they were preggers! Even more excited when we found out they were having a girl!

So, since Miss Brady Jordyn is set to arrive early December, we celebrated this weekend with their first Baby Shower!





Cousin Heather, Granny Lin, Gram and I all spent Saturday morning making these super cute cupcakes for the shower!



Bug even got in on the decorating with some special cupcakes Granny Lin set aside!

Here's the happy Parents-to-Be!




The table turned out super cute! And yes, as a matter of fact, that is HOT PINK chocolate in the fountain! Heather hand carried it on the plane from WTX special, just for our Christel! It was very fun!

The shower was great! JJ and Christel got a ton of cute, practical and fun stuff for Brady...and probably for the first time ever at a shower, didn't get a single duplicate gift. A miracle!

Finally, by popular demand...



This is the cute sweater and hat I made for Brady! The ever-so-patient girls at work have been observing this project from mere balls of designer yarn...and, because of my genetic procrastination disorder, mixed in with a little help from my Kindle, never got to see completed.


I was very proud of how it turned out, and I can't wait to see her wear it! You can't tell by the picture, but it's really tiny! Hubs kept reminding me about our family talent of growing big babies,but I'm sure she'll get to wear it more than once!


Can't wait to meet you sweet girl!