Christmas, 2007!

Kids make Christmas fantastic...and fantastically exhausting, too. :) We spent Christmas with Ethan's family this year, and it was a great time. Ev and his cousin Miles played and played and wore each other out. Tate did a great time sleeping in a new place, and we had an all-around good time with family. I'm lucky to have married into such an awesome group...everyone is unique, spectacular in their own way and I love each and every one of them all...I can't imagine life without them as my own family.

You'll have to forgive me as I write in stream-of-consciousness form...I haven't slept much and remembering everything in order is too much. :D Some of my favorite memories: I was helping Everett take his nap, and I cuddled up with him to sing to him, and he started to stroke my hair and said, "My sweet Mommy....My sweet Mommy..." I mean, a heart melting moment...I will always cherish that memory.

It was fun to watch Everett open up gifts...he LOVED his Noah's Ark and his animal puzzle. (Thank you to oompa toys dot com for having amazing toys for kids, by the way.) He plays with his toys so well, and really uses his imagination to have them do fun things...like go to Chick-fil-a if they obey. :)

I loved to watch Everett give Tate "loves" and interact with all of his older cousins, too. He thinks they're way cool, obviously. :) I think what he really appreciates is being able to play hard and wrestle and run...and he doesn't end up smashing them because, for once, THEY are bigger than HE is! :)

Christmas Eve service was great, too. The Church obviously knew it'd be packed with families with small children, since the service was 30 minutes long; but it was great with good songs. Everett loved watching the lady play the violin. And eating all of Miller's Cheerio's, too. He was unsure of what to do with the candle, and tried to blow it out the whole time...it was quite cute, since he actually CAN blow out a candle. He thinks it's cool.

We had fun seeing our good friends, Andy and Shelley, if even for a short while. They are dear to us, for sure.

Ruth got a Wii, and we ALL had a great time playing...from the youngest to the oldest! I won in Bowling, even beating out my way cool nephews!! :) Tennis was fun, although playing with 4 can be confusing.

Ethan played rounds of basketball with the older nephews and brothers-in-law ...I think they could have kept going and going.

We ate lots of cookies, had great breakfasts, mostly prepared by the amazing Kirsten...she makes some mean eggs! Speaking of Kirsten, it was so nice to be up in the morning and have her company along with Brady! It can stink to be the only one awake for hours and hours, so having her to talk with and have coffee with was so great. She's fantastic, and I only wish I could have her disposition.

It was great to spend more time with Kathleen, too. I think I get jipped on spending as much time with her as I'd like; I think she and I have a lot in common and I enjoy her company. Her kids are so great...you should see Caleb with his younger cousins. He's gentle, fun and involved, which is a lot to say for a 15 year old.

Megan's cookie party was delectable. It was fun to catch up with some of her friends and have treats at the same time. Megan is great at bringing people together for a fun time. She's a great sister in law and Aunt to my boys. We share lots of laughs as we bring up boys together and there is a lot to be said for commiserating together, too!! :)

As per usual, we spent a lot of time at the park. That park is worth it's weight in gold. :) It was so fun to watch Everett take Bella for a walk while we were there...although, I think Bella took Everett for a walk, if the truth be told.

Everett also watched his first full-feature film..."The Polar Express"...and fell in LOVE. All he talks about is the "story of the train...chuga-chuga-CHOO-CHOO!" :) We're going to have to buy it, now. He and his daddy bonded as they watched it together for the first time. It was really sweet to see them lie down on the couch all cuddled up in blankets and watch a movie.

I did miss seeing my family, but I know that what they were doing was so important. They went to AZ to help re-do Jeff and Cindy's house. That's what we did for Christmas, instead of giving gifts and the like. I'm glad for the generosity and self-sacrifice of my family!

I can't think right now, so I'll have to come back and add more later...with pictures! :)

Poor baby!

There's nothing like your kid getting hurt to make you ache all over and really just worry and worry.

Ev's not been sleeping well, so he's very tired and clumsy as a result. He tripped over his blankie this morning as we were making his bed and landed with his chin on his bed railing. His poor chin is HUGE and bloody and I've never heard him scream and cry like that. I mean, this is the kid who never cries due to being hurt physically; in fact, we joke that he feels no pain at all, much like me. :) He'll fall and just keep on running most of the time, so when he cries, we know it's for real. The crash was so loud, I thought he'd broken his jaw so I paged Ethan...Ethan came home and Ev is just fine...but...oh, it hurts! Putting ice on it hurt him, and cleaning the wound with hydrogen peroxide was horrific for him. He's got a nasty blood blister on the inside of his bottom lip and his chin is about twice as big as it normally is. *sigh* I just feel for him, poor guy. Thankfully, he's napping now. Maybe he'll catch up on some much needed zzzzz's.

And now, off to do laundry...

So, some days are just hard...

Today would be one of those days...it follows a string of long, hard days. I can honestly think of nothing that is harder than mothering. I've done a lot of things; canoed through level 4 rapids in an open canoe, hiked a few 14ers in Colorado, run marathons, worked at a marriage, had a successful career in Tax, passed the CPA exam...but this is the hardest thing I've done. It's not that it's just hard, it's that the emotional investment is SO much bigger than I can even begin to understand, and I'll never know if I'm doing the right thing until my kids turn 30...

Everett has a hard time sleeping, and when he does sleep he wakes up between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. So, we have decided after several weeks of this and me finally being so exhausted and stressed that I broke out in shingles, that we'd push is bedtime WAY back and see if that helped. So...he got 9 hours of sleep last night, which...he usually does better with 11. I thought that would mean he'd have a great nap, but to the contrary, he refused to sleep. I told him he'd lose all of his TV watching time and any special treats if he didn't sleep and he just laughed. He thought that was funny. Which just made me angry... Anyway, now he's behaving like a hellion and I sometimes just don't know what to do with that. There are days when I just want to throw my hands in the air and give my resignation. But that's just what it is that makes parenting so hard...there IS no out...you HAVE to stick to it. Not that I would want out because I love my boys to death...I just want a day or 5 by myself.

I guess it's time to take a vacation...

Until then, I'll just enjoy the 5 minutes it took me to write this and the hot cocoa I drank...

And now it's back to managing my hurricane...

*sigh*

He IS an adorable hurricane...even if he's tired.

So, I'm lying down on the floor...

...because I'm SO tired. Been awake since 4:15 and am a little grumpy, to say the least. Ev is playing with his new cardboard box "car" that we made and having the time of his life. He looks over to see me and sees that I'm falling asleep, so my SWEET boy goes to get me a pillow and a blankie!! :) He's so cute, though, because he can't yet say his L's so, he says, "I go get you a PIDDOW, Mommy!" It's adorable...

Then, now that I'm waking up, he decides we need to play a game of Cagola. (Uncle Paul and Aunt Tamy Dillon got it for him when he turned 2 and he loves it!) Anyway, he takes the dice and a little piece of the game to make a chocolate cake for me because now we're pretending it's my birthday. He runs to the kitchen to grab a fork, brings it to me to give me a bite, and then pronounces in his loud toddler voice, "It's DEEEEE-WICIOUS!" I think I lauged until I cried!!

I must say, I have adorable kids. Not that I'm biased in any way, shape or form...

Although, it was a tough day trying to go shopping with two kids...it seems that if you have a stroller, you're not really allowed into anything but kid stores these days...but that's another story for another day.

:)

Tate's New Noggin Warmer

I just had to post this picture of Tate wearing his new hat! My friend, Katie Cantrell made it for him. Isn't it ADORABLE??!! You've never seen a cooler kid. :)

Ev's funny for the day

So, I thought I'd try to use this to keep a record of the funny things the boys are doing...

This morning, I was playing with both boys, when Ev decided to take a walk and go play by himself. All of the sudden, I hear funny noises coming from our bathroom...only to walk in and find Ev all covered in hand soap. He LOVES hand soap, it seems...

So, I go in there and clean him up. I tell him he needs to have a spanking because he knows he's not supposed to be in our room or bathroom by himself, much less playing in there. He says, "OK!" and runs to his room and lies down on his bed awaiting his spanking...and on his way, he passes Tate and says, "I disobeyed, Tate! I'm getting a spanking!" You'd think he was getting ice cream. :) It was so funny, I had a hard time administering his discipline. :)

Just Starting Out

Okay, not sure how this whole thing works, but I thought we'd give it a try anyway, and see what happens. Not that the whole world is interested in what's going on in our little corner, but it might be fun just to write things down. We'll see where this goes...