(not completely)Wordless Wednesday ~ Snow Play

She can walk...

Top of the man made hill...
At the bottom!

Helping dad make a snow fort.

making a snow man...

helping with the snowman.

jumping in the snow.

almost finished product.

and down she went and I of course, had to get a picture.

Pigtails!

Peanut finally has hair long enough for pigtails. I am totally digging the cuteness of her pigtails. However she likes to take them out for some reason so I only got a few pictures. Behold her cuteness! The pictures were taken a few days ago and Red kept trying to get in them....little stinker ;) Also in the last day or two she has started putting on head bands...my or GG...also too cute! The video is from today I finally got it on video!!! So does she sound like she is singing Happy Birthday?



I just realized that I should of gotten her saying YES on camera because it is hilarious. Next time I will. She says "yes" for everything you ask her and J has asked her if she wanted to be hog tied! Her response was yes.

another update...

I just can't seem to keep up with this blog when the kids are home with me. I haven't even uploaded the pictures from Christmas and beyond onto the computer. Trust me there are some really cute ones! Yesterday was the last of the Christmas celebrations making it five total this year.

I mainly wanted to update because GG and Monkey got to go skiing today with J and my dad. They got semi private lessons for an hour to start the day off. Then Monkey went down the hill with my dad one time and my dad ended up falling on him. I'm glad he didn't get hurt from being landed on by a person who weighs about 200 pounds more then him. I was also told that GG almost fell off the chair lift. Her and J were going to the top of the hill and J sat down and she got caught on the chair and was being dragged by it until J noticed and pulled her to safety. I take it the above happened in a matter of seconds. All in all the kids had a great time and I believe they didn't fall too much to deter them from wanting to go back. While they were gone the little kids and I went to church and then my step mom came over and we watched Mama Mia and hung out until it was time to meet them for dinner at Panera!!! Yum YUM :)

What we've been up too!

Well I will say that I did get to clean and purge the rooms and the boys got a new bunk bed and so now we have 4 beds for the kids!!! Exciting, I know ;) Christmas Eve we went to my mom's to celebrate and then we went to the church I went to youth group in and were J and I got married for the Christmas Eve service. Then we came home and the kids to go open one present before they went to bed. Guess what they were??? New Pajamas!!! It was really cute because after they opened them we told them to go get in bed. Monkey said, "But mom you need to wash them first." I looked at him and said, "I already did!" He got the biggest smile on his face he got Spider man pj's. Then Red was cracking me up because he got Incredible Hulk and he kept calling him Incredible Honk.

Christmas morning the kids stayed in their rooms and read books. Ha! Now they are going to listen to me and read books until we get up...silly kids. J got up before me and got the kids out of bed. I came out a few minutes later and suggested that we let the three open their stockings and Peanut could do hers when she woke up. I was told no. We let her sleep another 20 minutes and the kids were going bonkers. I finally went in and woke her up about an hour and a half earlier than she would of gotten up. Oh well. She did a great job opening her presents without assistance. I was very happy about that. The kids all loved their gifts, just like I knew they would! Then I opened all my gifts and I loved them all too. After I finished with the last gift I was sad. The only thing I had asked for was a heated blanket for our bed because my feet are always cold at night and I can't fall asleep with them cold. I didn't open any heated blankets. Then J jumps up and grabs another present that was hidden. When I opened it it was a HEATED BLANKET. I was so excited. J laughed while opening the presents from me. I mostly gave him money for his new guitar. I thought of different ways to disguise the money! I thought I did pretty good but by the four present he was on to me.

Today GG and I did a major shopping trip. We needed many things from the store I believe we only had 2 rolls of toilet paper left. And of course groceries. We were gone for 2 hours, I couldn't believe it. After the kids naps we got them all bundled up and took them outside for some snow play. Peanut was too stinkin cute in her snow suit. She could barely walk but she could do it. We had a snowball fight, made snowmen, built snow forts and went sledding down a daddy made hill. Great fun. Then we decided to take the kids to Gino's East for pizza. We have been talking about taking them there for at least 2 years now it just felt like the right time to go! Now it is bedtime for the kidlets. They have been up way too late the past few nights and I can tell by their attitutes/behavior/demeanor that they are tired. J and I are going to play the Mario Kart for the Wii...

What was I thinking...

We are now on day two of the room swap. I cleaned and purged all their books, toys and clothes yesterday and put all the stuff in the living room. We have 4 garage bags to donate and we threw another bag full away of broken stuff and unusable stuff. Today we began the moving of furniture. The girls new room is almost done. I just need to get J to make book shelves in the closet for their books so we can get rid of the bookcase we have been using. Another thing I hope to convince him of tonight is to just get the girls bunk beds now. When Peanut turns two she will be moving out of our room so it is only 9 months away. Then we don't have to take down the bed in the room now to move them we can just put the new bunk beds up in the boys room. I know J doesn't want to spend the money now though. I'll use my Christmas money for now and then reimburse myself later :) Can you tell I want the bunk beds now? Well both the little kids are sleeping in my room now...I was on the internet until they fell asleep. Must get back to the room swap!!!

Christmas #2 done...

We just got done celebrating the 2nd family Christmas with J's family. Yesterday we celebrated with my dad. We get two days of a break and then we go to my mom's and then it is the actual day of Christmas. I'm tired to say the least but also having so much fun. My goal for this break is to get the boys and girls' rooms switched so that the girls get the bigger room and Peanut will actually be able to play with the big girl toys like the kitchen and baby stuff that GG has in her room but since it is so small it is always a mess and little pieces everywhere. I want to get them switched and organized so that I am at peace with the rooms and all the kids are happy! I would just love to buy a bigger house but that isn't going to happen anytime soon unfortunately so we are trying to make due with what we have been blessed with.

Snow Day

What was to be the kids last day of school turned out to be a snow day. So they will get to have their Christmas parties and program (pre-school) in January when they return. That should be fun! It was a little interesting this morning with all 4 kids home because I needed to make so many cookies and brownies for various events and gathering over the next few days. They did really well playing together and keeping Peanut occupied so I could cruise on the baking. I got everything done by lunch time. I made 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 5 dozen snicker doodles and a double batch of butterscotch brownies! I only ate one cookie too. I left the cookies for our families consumption on the table with no lid on it and the next thing I knew Peanut had it on it's side and had two cookies, one in each hand! I was being nice and let her have one of them but I ended up eating the other since she took a bite out of both of them I couldn't put it back in the container. When she saw me coming she tried to run from me with both cookies and ended up braking them each in half. I have been trying to get her singing on video because I swear she is singing the Happy Birthday song. When I get it you'll have to let me know if I am crazy or if she really is singing that!

Tonight J told the kids he was going to take them sledding so we'll see if that happens. He said to me that he wanted to clean the house since we won't be home tomorrow and Sunday we are having company over. I am thinking that I will stay home with Peanut and clean and he can take the other three? We'll see. I would like to go and take Peanut for the first time. She has a really cute purple snowsuit though she can't stand in it! And I'm so excited because right now my nephew and bil and sil are on there way here. They have to drive 15 hours to get here but they'll be in town by tomorrow and my older brother and his family are coming in tonight. I will get to see them tomorrow for the whole day! I just wish they lived closer. Maybe one day. If I'm not on here much it is because I am enjoying the company of family.

The Love of my Life!

***Warning this may be mushy, not really sure where I'm going with this yet***

Today marks 9 years of marriage for J and I. This will be our last year in the single digits so exciting. I've always felt if you can make it to the double digits you are on the right path! Over these past 9 years we have gone through many good times (the births of our children to name a few) and many hard times (loss of baby and other junk). We (I) are currently struggling through my health issues, J has been my rock. When I'm hurting he just takes over doing what needs to get done without complaint. I know he wants me back completely healthy and we are working on getting to the problem but it is just taking SO long and I'm getting frustrated, it's been a year now. I've learned to cope with the pain but I don't want to just get by, you know. I can honestly say he is not the same person I married 9 years ago he is a better, stronger, wiser version of him! God truly blessed me the day I got married to J he knew we were the right person for each other. But like I said earlier we've had our downs and they were really down but the ups have far outweighed those bad times. I look forward to many more fun and exciting years ahead with this man, Lord willing!

Oh yeah we went out to lunch yesterday to celebrate and we got a joint gift of a new video recorder. The one we had was 8 years old...we bought it right before our first was born!

today is Tuesday right?

I don't believe I mentioned this but yesterday I moved all the Christmas presents in our room to make some room for the crib mattress to go in the corner so that Peanut will have a bed of her own to sleep in. She has been waking up for 2 to 3 hours a night for the last 2 weeks and we are both exhausted. Well last night she started out in her little bed until about 1am. Then she woke up and instead of walking to our bed she started walking through the house crying. I got up and got her to bring her to our bed. I quick nursed her (I know I was backsliding) and then handed her over to J's side of the bed. She quickly went to sleep and slept the rest of the night!

This morning after taking the two older kids to school Red, Peanut and I went to our friends house to play. Her oldest turned 4 at the end of October so he is about 7 months older than Red but they usually play pretty well...except for today. They had this love/hate relationship they basically hated each other the whole time we were there until I said it was time to go. Then they clung to each other for dear life. BOYS. We were the first to leave because we needed to get to Peanut's doctor's appointment.

At her doctor's appointment Red was a holy terror...I thought about making the appointment for when he was in school but that would be in January and I wanted to get it done so I went today. Since she was a new patient I had so many papers to fill out and Red was climbing on the wheelchairs and playing with the drinking water and bringing Peanut down with him. So annoyed. I even told him at the beginning when we got there if he could be a good boy I would take him out to eat for lunch. Well that didn't happen. Ok back to her appointment. The doctor checked her motion in her hips and he said that looked good. She showed him how she walks and then he had her get an xray. That pretty much freaked her out. They had me take her diaper off and lay her on this cold metal bed and then hold her chest and legs down. The xray showed that everything looked good. The doctor wants to see her in 2 months just to make sure everything is the same or better. That is so good to know that there isn't anything majorly wrong with her hips.

As for me I have decided that I need to start working out. I am so active in the summer and I feel good during those months and then it gets cold and I shut down most phyiscal activity. I did a 20 minute work out today and will probably be really sore tomorrow but tomorrow I'm going to do 30 minutes. We'll see if this helps me. Just wanted to document when I started this journey.

Well going to go serve dinner that just got done and then it is family movie night with Babes in Toyland! Oh yeah couch snuggle time :)

Sunday and Today

I was able to go to church, though we had to be there super early, for the kids to have their last Ark show. I must say that they kids did a great job. They really enjoy performing and I really love hearing how well they did. I had so many people compliment me on GG's singing voice and just how sweet she sounds. Monkey didn't have a solo this time but maybe next semester he will get one too! But I did have a mother tell me how well behaved Monkey was during all their practices, she was a helper so she was there. That was nice to hear as well.

Today Peanut and I only had to make one run to the store because we went grocery shopping yesterday as a family. I figured that since she is feeling well I should take her in for her 1st year appointment...only 3 months late not too bad! Once she started walking I noticed that she pushes her left hip out when she walks. I asked the doctor about it since they told me to be aware of her hips because of her being breech. She now has an appointment tomorrow with a specialist to see if there is something wrong with her hip. I think she will have to get an xray done but other than that I'm not sure what else to expect. I really hope they tell us she will out grow it or that it can be fixed with physical therapy. I will try and update you tomorrow.

Christmas Party

Today J had his department Christmas party. We got there and ate lunch and then they started the entertainment of this guy on different size and types of bikes. This was the smallest bike he rode and it was tiny.

He called up a bunch of volunteers and this time he called GG for help! She was pretty excited. He has her hold a red ball and he had the other one and when she opened her hand she was holding both the red balls.

Then he called Monkey up. He showed everyone how he could put a whole in his shirt and then fix it. Monkey was hilarious when he sat back down he was checking out his shirt, like how did he do that!

Then Santa came out and called each kid up one by one with a present for them. As you can see Peanut was then the excited to be near that strange man. But she did real well opening up her present!

This little girl is a goof...she says you brought that present because it is the same wrapping paper we have at home. I couldn't believe she remembered that. Stinker!

Of course after he got his present he said the exact same thing...not sure if he heard his sister or he picked up on it on his own.

This one practically attacked Santa when he called his name. It was really cute.

Here is my crew with the big jolly guy. Peanut still isn't liking the thought of being near him even with big sister with her.

This is the whole group of kids at the party today.

So the two older kids were already suspicious about Santa and then at dinner J asks the kids how they liked their presents from Santa and then proceeds to tell GG that there was a darker pink colored shirt but it wasn't the right size for her. I looked at him and said, "What are you doing?" He gave me this look like "oops" and I laughed. GG says, "See you bought us those presents." J tried to cover it by saying that Santa came to the department to buy them for the kids. It was just too funny. Those are the only presents my kids get from Santa because he doesn't stop at our house.

So much better!

I woke up this morning feeling like I could eat! What a wonderful feeling. I did have J take the kids to school when he went to work which meant they had to go to morning care for about 20 minutes. I felt bad doing that but I knew I needed to get that extra hour of sleep and it sure did helped. I have to brag on my kids. When Monkey came home from school yesterday he said, "Mommy we prayed for you at school today and I'm going to ask if they can pray for you tonight at church." What a sweet little boy, he truly hurts for the hurting. I also learned from reading my hubby's blog that last night when they were walking out to the van J slipped and fell holding Peanut. Being the good dad he is he maneuvered his body so that she was safe. Though he got hurt pretty bad and is going to his doctor tomorrow, he twisted his knee and landed on his elbow. He never goes to the doctor. As soon as he went down GG yelled for help, he said no one heard her but he did and that speaks volumes to him and me. And all the kids rallied around him to help him up and with Peanut. I love my kids so much and I am so blessed that God placed them in my care. I love seeing them give each other hugs and kisses just because and winking at each other which in our family means I love you. The sweetness that comes from them far outweigh the days they can be annoying a handful.

Bogus

That is what today was...I woke up at 4am with the worst stomach ache and when I went to the bathroom I knew I was in for a rough day. Without too much info let's just say I wasn't able to keep anything in me all day, it came out one way or the other. I will say though that Peanut did an awesome job having a sick mommy take care of her. She slept from 9:30am to 11:30am and then again from 2:45pm to 4pm when everyone came home. In between naps she cuddle with me on the couch. She also went poop in the potty again today. This evening J took all 4 kids to church and I stayed home and tried to sleep but my tummy was hurting so much I wasn't able to actually fall asleep. I really hope I can sleep tonight. I felt so sad about missing Monkey and GG's first Ark performance at church but I am getting a copy and I will hopefully get to see it live on Sunday morning. Well my hubs and kids are home with some Sprite for me. Later...

Wordless Wednesday ~ Shades

She was having so fun with big sister's sunglasses!

Seriously

I don't understand my baby girl! Since I put that picture of her on the potty pooping she has gone maybe 10 more times in the potty. I'm totally not starting to potty train her it is just a matter of me catching her poop face...you know the one your kid makes as they are trying to push it out! Well this morning she got up too late for me to change her out of her pj's before I had to take the kids to school. Which was fine because I was going to give her a shower with me when we got home. Well we got home and I took her diaper off, the one she wore all night, and it was completely dry. I was shocked because she had been up for an hour by this time. Literally, two seconds after the diaper was off of her she started peeing on the bathroom floor. I called her name and she stopped. I put her in the tub so I could clean it up. She finished peeing in the tub. Fast forward to this afternoon right before the kids need to be picked up she needed to poop. Well she didn't make the potty this time but as I laid her on the ground she peed all over the floor AGAIN. Twice in one day is way too much for me. She isn't even 15 months old. Though I will say she knows when she is peeing because each time today she looked down at what she was doing and then she stopped when I called her name. Is she ready? I think the better question is am I ready? Oh it would be so nice to be done with diapers....

Things that make me day...

Last night on the way home from church J wanted to the kids to be quite. So he told them the one who was the quietest the longest would get to be the last one in bed. Well Red being 3 years old only lasted about 3 minutes of the 20 minute drive home. It was quit funny listening to his commentary. He says things like, "Oh Peanut is the first one out, she loses." "You talked mom your out." To which I replied, "Red you've been talking the most and you are completely out of the game now." He wasn't very happy with that fact. So he says, "Ok ready, set, go! Now be quite." Thinking he is starting the game all over again since he lost the first one. Then starts all the comments again about who is out. It was just too stinkin funny...J and I had to cover our giggles!

In other random news I filled my van up with gas for 26 bucks! It was 1.64 I was so excited as this is completely obvious. If I would of gotten a car wash it would of been 1.29 a gallon. I almost got the van washed :)

Update

First that isn't our Christmas card picture in the post below! I have so many things in my head I want to get blogged so bare with me! Yesterday we had a funeral for J's Aunt Judy and it was an all day event with Awana clubs at church putting us home at 9pm last night. Tonight J and I are going to our church Christmas Banquet we get to get all dressed up and hang out with church friends very excited about it.

Today Red and I, with Peanuts very little help we made cookies for our cookie exchange tomorrow morning. Red was so excited to help and he did a really good job if I do say so myself. I only got pictures of the kids cooking as I was taking the pictures and no one was home to take one of all three of us!

He is wanting to eat the carmel chips...

Peanut just glad to be on a step stool! Look at that cheese of a smile :)

Well I didn't get this posted yesterday and it still isn't completely done but I don't care. I did get a few pictures of J and I before we left for the banquet. Have a great weekend! I will be busy yet again. We have a birthday party Saturday and we're going out that night bowling with church friends!

Monkey took this last picture and I think he did a good job!

This morning Peanut and I went to church and I had my last Bible study for this year...we had a huge breakfast and did the cookies exchange. I now have so many cookies!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Christmas Tree

Back into the swing of things...

Poor J got out of bed way earlier than normal so he could go shovel the driveway and sidewalks. I really don't feel that bad for him he LOVES the winter weather the best. I just feel bad because Peanut didn't sleep well last night so neither one of us slept well last night but I got to sleep a little longer since I didn't have to shovel. I so did not want to leave the house to take the kids to school and then run the many errands Monday mornings usually bring. But I can happily say that our cupboards are loaded for the week and I don't have any more errands to run for the rest of the week. Which is good because the only other day that I do stuff is Wednesday and we are going to be busy with family (a funeral) that whole day and that evening is Awana Clubs at church. Peanut is sleeping and I am trying to decide if I should join her, clean, or read my Bible. I think I will read and then go join her...cleaning can wait! What a boring post...sorry...too tired to be funny or witty ;)