Say Cheese...

Katie D.

It’s that time of year again, Christmas card time!  Ever since the year Tom and I got married I’ve done picture cards. In the days before kids it was easy to get a good photo of Tom and me; if we didn’t have one we set up the timer on the camera and got what we needed in a couple of takes.  Well, as you can imagine, with kids it becomes of bit of an ordeal!  Last year’s card had an assortment of photos of the 4 of us so there was at least a good photo of each of us but this year I was really hoping for one shot that had us all looking AND smiling at the camera!  

Why use a timer and not have someone take our photo you ask? I think the challenge of it makes it fun and crazy all at the same time.  And on top of trying to get that one great shot my husband, for the sake of prostate cancer awareness, has grown a mustache this month.  Most men can’t pull a mustache off and Tom is no exception but in support of Movember I can tolerate it for a month.  The stache will be the pink elephant in the room on the Christmas card and it will be fun to see if anyone actually mentions it!

It wouldn’t be fun to show off the one that made the card but I figure I can entertain you with the outtakes!

So Tom is a little too excited in this one....

Lincoln turned the timer off and captured this gem

I was practicing with the timer with the boys; notice my death grip on them to get them in the shot!

 

 

And then we turned the cartoons off...

 





This is Tom telling Colby just one more photo!

We got the photo we needed and I put the cards in the mail today! Check that off my to do list!!!

Our Little Version of the Griswolds

Katie R.

 

So it's very hard to really do justice to how bright the lights are and how much there is in our yard but here is a photo from down the hill and across the street.

 

 

As I mentioned this is Joe's thing although I did tell him if we have the stuff we should just put it out as he wasn't sure he wanted to put out the snow globe his mom got us last year (may have been a mistake on my part).

 

So this is how I decorate for Christmas:

 

                                          

 

                                       

 



 

 

And this is how Joe does it.  Again it's hard to tell how big these things are because our house sits on a steep hill.  But if you see the 3 little shapes in the picture below to the left of the tree (the tree trunk is the red and white striped pole) you can see how big they really our with Joe standing next to them.  Oh and that tree trunk is approx. 40 feet tall.

 

 



This Santa is 5 Feet tall



  Beth if you are reading this we put the globe up, all 5 feet of flashing light wonder.  We didn't know that it has flashing light in it but it does... constantly.



Felt Christmas Tree

Katie D.

Alright pinterest, I’ll give you credit this time.  I usually consider Pinterest a huge waste of my time and yet highly addictive.  I pin away and yet do none of the crafts, cook none of the foods and not buy any of the must have items that I have pinned!

Christmas time is my favorite time of year and I wanted to do something fun for the boys so I revisited my boards and found this easy activity-The Felt Christmas Tree! It is an easy project for me to put together and has already but tons of fun for Colby and Lincoln. 

Here are my props to the pin http://www.solandrachel.com/2011/12/pinterest-christmas.html I don't know this person but she did a nice job with explaining this and other holiday projects!

The trick to the felt Christmas tree is that felt sticks to felt! Visit your local Jo Ann Fabric store and stock up on your colors; at least 1 ½ yards of green for your tree.  I made patterns of ornaments on paper before I started cutting because I suck at freehand cutting!  I used my glue gun to attach the trunk and star to the tree and then used it again to put the details on the presents under the tree. Let's be honest, you could just use regular glue but a glue gun is just way cooler to use!

 

I hung the tree up in the hallway with pushpins and put the decorations in a gift box for keeping while not on the tree and waited until morning. It took Colby 2 seconds to see it once he came out of his room and Lincoln was quick to follow!  They played with it all morning and it was the last thing they played with before bed.  It's great to have in the hallway so they stay focused with no other toys or TV distracting them while the decorate the tree over and over again. 

 

 

the long skinny hallway makes for side angled photos

 

Well done Pinterest; thanks for adding to my Christmas spirit!

OSU vs. Michigan 2012...Wow How Times Have Changed

Katie R.

Well it’s Ohio State’s biggest game of the season, versus that team up north, and Joe had to work so it was not the game days I’ve had in the past, not at all.  However I’m not hungover at 8pm,  I am not hoarse from yelling, I wasn’t freezing all day and guess what I would be thrilled to be all of those if it meant I was at the game.  The worst part is because we’ve lived out of town for so long it has been “our turn” to go with my dad, who has season tickets, for years but we haven’t been able to attend.

Alas, we weren’t in Ohio so the boys and I ran some errands (aka killed some time) in the morning and then got ready for the game.  Wes took a nap during the first half and Andrew and I watched the game and put up some of the downstairs decorations.   The best part of the day was scoring an awesome photo of Wes, which might even be funnier is if you see the uncropped version with Andrew in it.

 

And of course we did have a great time putting up the "kids" tree and Andrew did a lot by himself and was patient as I told him at least 50 times, “Wait until this play is over.”

 
So in the end would I have traded this day of hanging out with boys to be at the game.  Uh… 100% yes.  However we made the best of it.  Now what are we going to do all day Sunday?  I guess hanging out with these two and plan my trip for the OSU vs. Michigan 2014.

 

Kudos to Katie D.

Katie R.

Andrew has not always been the easiest kid to put to bed.  We are pretty strict with his bed time and routine, but as he grows older we have had problems with him staying in bed.  He won't come out of his room but he will yell, open the door, yell by the door, have to go to the bathroom etc.

As I was complaining about this Katie D. gave me some advice.  She suggested we give him some rest time.  So he goes to bed at 7:30 and then can stay in his room and look at books with the light on until 8.  It was a genius plan.  We have pretty much had no problems with him an on days we get to bed late he actually understands if there is no quiet time.

The other night I went in and he was fast asleep with the light on.  Nice work Katie, nice work. 

Yep he sleeps with that much stuff in his bed

Christ at Christmas

Katie D.

It’s been sometime since Colby dropped his first curse word.Click to Remember Colby has come to realize that we (including Tom and I) don’t say that word (at least not in front of him anymore). It’s not a nice word; we have better words to use to express ourselves and it hurts people’s feelings.  And then the Christmas season kicks in and throws the whole Jesus Christ curse word all to hell. I love Christmas, Christmas carols and everything to do with the holiday season.  We have already been listening to Christmas music on our cable music channel.  I’m willing to bet I could out sing most people when it comes to Christmas music.  So while we are having our dance party and singing along and the song says, “Our Jesus Christ is born!” it throws things a little out of whack!  Suffice to say I’ve told Colby that under special circumstances that word can be used but only while singing a song about Christmastime! Yeah, I agree, Colby will be swearing like a sailor through Christmas but it’s my favorite holiday so he gets a pass.

Just a selection of holiday songs that will screw me all season long!

Silent Night- Jesus, Lord, at thy birth…

Away in a Manger- The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay…

The Holly and the Ivy- And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ…

'Tis the Season for Tackiness

Katie R.

One Thanksgiving down and one to go.   We are so thankful to our family for visiting and more importantly watching our kids so we could get away for the night.  To show them how much we appreciate their help I, yes I Katie, made a Thanksgiving dinner all on my own.  It wasn’t fancy but it was good and no one seems sick so I call that a success.  Luckily on Thursday's Thanksgiving Katie D. will do the cooking and I will do the drinking.

So while I was cursing cooking yesterday my husband was working his December obsession… Christmas lights.  Now we don’t come close to matching the Griswolds; however, it is his plan to be there by the time are children are grown.  Each year at the end of the season we add just one more item for the yard.  To date we have a santa roller coaster, 3 smaller figurines, a blow-up Santa, a blow-up snow globe, candy canes and over 9,000 lights (Joe said that is a low estimate). 

So as I was cooking and my mom was watching Wes and Andrew, my husband and father brought up all the lights in one huge ball.  They then asked if we would untangle them while they went to the store.  My mother who is way too nice said yes and because I didn’t want to look the Grinch I agreed to help too.  A small portion of these lights are now all over my bedroom.  Awesome.

I will post some pictures after Joe gets them all up but just to explain how tacky we are here are a few things that happened last year.

-        Our neighbors told Joe “the yard decorations were great and then we can home and saw the tree.  Woo Hoo”.  My husband wrapped the trunk of our 100 foot tall tree, approximately 40 feet of tree trunk, in red and white striped lights

-        I can’t fall asleep at night because the lights hanging from our gutter are so bright

-        I am woke up every morning when the lights go on (set by a timer of course) so that our neighbors can see them on their way to work

-         I had to fight a long battle to get him to stop turning the lights on after the first week of January

-          We are now known as the family in the neighborhood with the lights

So this year we’ll add our new blow-up items and my husband also wants to do something with the chimney and a star, I just stop listening.  He’ll be up on the roof all weekend while I watch the kids, woo hoo.

 

And don't even get me started on the boxes of empty beer bottles for home brewing. 
It's fantastic that we have those in our room.

 

 

Book Worm

Katie D.

I blogged many moons ago about my boys love of books and enjoying reading by themselves or crawling up onto my lap. I’ve been blessed that this love has not waivered! It has taken on a new dimension.  Colby has gotten to a comfort level where he can read (or remember all the words) of books.  Lincoln, of course, thinks his brother is the coolest person in the world and when Colby invites him to join him in the chair to read a book he doesn’t hesitate.  I’ll admit! I’m a lucky mom. 

 

Don’t get me wrong; they are not these glowing angels all the time.  The epic meltdown later that day because we had to come inside ranks in the top ten freak-outs! 

Bathroom Vegas Style

Katie D.

Me: Colby, did you poop?

Colby: Just a tiny little poop!

Me: Did you pee?

Colby: Yeah Mom, I peed everywhere! On the rug, on my legs, on the shower curtain!

Me: Awesome budy, don't forget to flush!

If only the bathroom was like Vegas, what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom!

There are no words...

Andrew (in a tiny little non-Andrew voice):  help

Me:  What Andrew I'm downstairs helping daddy?

Andrew:  help

Joe:  What is it Andrew?  Mommy is helping daddy hold trim for a second

Andrew:  help

Me:  Ok I'm coming

Me (as I reach the top of the stairs):  Oh Dear God

Andrew:  I'm stuck and I'm scared

 

 

Also please note that I handed him his clothes and told him to get dressed.  It appeared logical to him to put on his long sleeve shirt first and his undershirt on top of it.  Oh well it was Sunday and we weren't going anywhere.

 



List for Santa

Katie D.

Poor Santa, he has his hands full this year. 

I’ve haphazardly said to Colby over the last few months that “sure, buddy, we’ll put it on the list for Santa!” Well, the list has grown and I thought that he would forget about some of the things on the list but nope!  Because I am in such good regards with Santa I have expressed my concern and he has told me to not go overboard. Of course Santa is right but keeping an almost 4 year old for going over the edge is hard. 

For example, today the family went to JCP to look at pj’s for the boys for when we go to the Polar Express in a couple of weeks. As I was distracted and tried on a coat, Colby spied a remote control helicopter.  He proceeded to show me, Lincoln and Tom and told us how much he wanted it.  I reminded him that we were just looking and then he asked if we could put it on the list.  As much as I wanted to say sure so that we could continue shopping and enjoying our morning I said,” I think we have enough on our list to Santa!” As you can imagine that didn’t go over well and the melt down ensued. 

Our fun family morning was over and we headed to home.  I was able to talk Colby off his cliff of insanity about the helicopter (with the help of candy and TV) but I’m positive it won’t be the last I’ll hear about it.  I can’t make Santa the bad guy so I guess I’ll have to do.  

*note, this is not an invitation to family to buy this toy for my child!

The Perfect Day... Until It Wasn't

Katie R.

This is the last weekend we don’t have plans before the New Year so we decided to get things done around the house, run errands, etc.  I originally wanted to go to Boston, but Joe reminded me that these ideas are always better in theory and I am sure he was right.

So we woke up the normal time and Joe worked on getting some trim done before we divided and conquered.  Joe and Wes went to the dump, Panera and home for a nap.  Andrew and I went everywhere.

With a 3 year old, especially my 3 year old, running errands is always questionable.  Physically he’s able to handle it; it’s the mental part that is the unknown.  First we went to a holiday bazaar close to our home.  It’s very small but we like to support the local churches, schools, businesses as much as possible so we stopped by. I found 2 necklaces, Andrew found a gift for his grandmas, he chose an ornament for “me-self”, a pumpkin whoopie pie, a US states game, a puzzle and then we scored the motherload, the Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus from Rudolph.  And our grand total for all of this $9. 

 

Santa and Mrs. Claus

In good spirits we headed to JCPennys to look for some curtains.  Fail.  Andrew was fine we just didn’t see any we liked.  Next we were off to Quechee for some Christmas gift shopping and lunch.  We were there for over 2 hours and Andrew was perfect.  Yes, you heard me correctly, I couldn’t believe he was my child.  He listened to everything I said, sat and ate his lunch like an angel and we shopped for hours.  We made one more stop on the way home which again took over an hour and again he was great.

Riding an "antique" Chuckie Cheese ride in Quechee.  Pretty sure it could fall apart at any minute

We got home to a sleeping Wes and Joe took Andrew out to play and on a walk.  I was on the phone with my mom saying how great Andrew was and Wes was being really good too.  A few minutes after they got home we told Andrew we weren’t going back outside and he lost his freakin’ mind. 

For the next 2 hours, which were the longest 2 hours ever, he would be ok for about 5 minutes and then would throw a fit for the next 10 minutes.  Dinner was whatever we could throw together because both kids were cranky.  Finally he took a shower, had a glass of water and was in bed by 6:45.  I went in at 7 to tell him to turn out the light and give him one last kiss and he was asleep with the light on… with Santa and Mrs. Claus tucked in his arms of course.

So I guess I will take 10 hours of a great Andrew followed by 2 hours of a the not-so-great Andrew.  Or next time we just put him to bed at 5!

See I can be positive (Joe you better read this)...

Katie R.

So my husband told me that I was going to give my kids a complex because I never write anything positive about them.  I then informed him that they can’t read but did promise I would write something positive every now and again. 

I have been waiting for a time when we had a good moment to write about and last night was pretty sweet so Joe if you are reading this, which I know you won’t, please note how positive I’m being about our kids. 

Tuesday night I was at our monthly girl’s night out and Joe put the kids to bed which included bath and books.  He said that the boys cleaned up and went to bed wonderfully which was good, unusual, but good. 

So last night I put Wes to bed and was going to grab a shower.  I was in the bathroom and I heard Joe say “Mommy will come in and you can show her after she gets out of the shower.”  I curse under my breath, throw a towel around me and go into his room.  The last thing I want to have to do is go in once he is in bed because then he’ll want 8 million things.

I walk in and he is standing with his Make Way for Duckling book, which is a book about Boston.  He is saying “I don’t know what pages it’s on.”  He keeps looking, and looking, and looking and finally I ask him what he is looking for.  He responsed that he’s looking for “the place that Daddy married you.”

I then realized Joe must have told Andrew the night before that he proposed to me in the Boston Public Garden, which is in the book.  We then looked together until we found “the tree.”   I then asked him if he knew what Daddy gave me when he proposed and he looked at me and thought for a minute and said “A glass slipper?”

Ok that was pretty cute. And pretty sure a glass slipper would have made one hell of a proposal.  I showed him the ring daddy really gave me and he was less than impressed. 

Here are some more “positive” moments

Snuggling Wes

Sharing his pirate hat with Cheer Bear

Playing on the Green in Hanover

Halloween as a Care Bear

So as you can see we do have moments but don't get used to it, today Andrew threw a fit under the ottoman for 30 mintues and Wes screamed so loud in KMart that someone came to see if he was ok.

 

 

 

 

Little White Tee

Katie D.

It's the little things that make my smile. Laundry does not usually make me smile but today it did.  I grabbed one of Tom's t-shirts folded it and moved on to the next shirt but it wasn't one of Tom's t-shirts it was one of the new little t-shirts that I got for Colby.  I folded it and put it on top of Tom's. It made me smile to see a little version of the t-shirt that he will wear for the rest of his life. Colby is growing up and it's these little milestones that remind me of that!

What There Was A Hurricane?

Katie R.

So on Sunday we were hanging out at Katie D’s for Sunday pizza (Friday pizza was cancelled because we were buying a truck) and we were telling the boys how exciting the Halloween party would be the next day at school and talking about Hurricane Sandy.  Little did I know then the perfect storm that would happen in our house.

Andrew goes to bed at the usual time and tells me as he goes to bed how excited he is for this week.  Then at 3:00 in the morning I hear “Daddy, daddy, daddy” followed by a horrible noise which was of course the sound of Andrew puking all over his bed, blanket, pillow.  We change the sheets and at this point we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it’s just something he ate.  Nope.

So I feel terrible for the little guy who is tired, sick and then the worst part…when I have to tell him he can’t go to his Halloween party.  He cried and cried and even asked if he could go and just bring his puke bowl.  I felt so bad for him I almost cried which is way out of the norm for me but I was really tired and starting to not feel 100%.  Yep, that’s right I started getting sick too so there Andrew and I were at 5 am both sick and watching cartoons. 

Joe went to work and I called at 10 begging him to leave as soon as he could.  He tells me he’s leaving now and I said “awesome” to which he replied “I’m sick and I have to come home now.”  Ughh…

The good news is that Wes did not get sick.  The bad news is that we were all sick and Wes was his usual energetic (aka out of his mind crazy) self.  We basically just wanted him run around and tried to make sure he didn’t break a limb.  Katie D. generously offered to watch him but I wasn’t sure if he was going to get sick and we didn’t want to chance infecting them anymore than we already had.

Luckily it was basically a 24 hour bug and by Tuesday night everyone was feeling better.  Apparently there was also a hurricane during this time but we didn’t know as cartoons and movies were on 24/7 to try to keep the kids happy (the sick one from feeling bad and the little one entertained for a couple minutes) and we feel asleep instantly when the kids went to bed.  Luckily our area wasn't hit as hard as the coast and the southern party of New England.

Wes hasn’t taken a pacifier in about 8 months but decided maybe we would pay attention to him if he was a baby again.  No such luck little guy.

And on Tuesday back to his happy self.  We carved pumpkins at 7am because he asked and I was just so happy he felt better so I said yes.

Wes seems to be ok with the fact he was ignored for 24 hours.