Watch out for Turkeys!

My brother brought home some balloons that they had at his work (for Black Friday sales) and my boys think they are the best thing ever!   At least they don't take up much room in my house... ha ha ha ha!

 Seriously, these things are huge... the are as wide as a doorway!

Ever feel like you are being watched? 

Look Mommy, it is a Turkey Horsey! 

Boys, Legos and Trains!

It is days like this that I am so glad that Colton has friends who live so close to us and can come over for play dates at a moments notice!  I am also thankful for the two giant bins of legos that we were given from a friend of the family because her boys grew out of them and the endless number of wooden train tracks.   These three boys have been playing so nicely for quite some time now (without electronics to entertain them believe it or not) and I was actually able to get some cleaning down and even sneak in a quick blog post!  Happy Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving with family which is the exactly the way I want it to be forever!  We enjoyed an amazing meal (my favorite meal ever), a game of Mexican Train Dominoes, ate more pie than I care to admit, skyped with the grandparents in Vegas and of course shared some great laughs.  Mason spent his morning decorating Grandma's tree with Daddy and his cousin Jaclyn.  Mason is all about Christmas decorations so he was thrilled to see Grandma's tree set up and ready for him to decorate!

I have so much to be thankful for again this year and I feel truly blessed to just be living the life I have been given!

 Mason and Auntie Jaclyn took a two nap on the couch together... so cute!

 The boys ended their night with a sleep over at Grandma Lori's house with their cousins so we could do some early morning Black Friday Shopping.  I decided to boycott any store that opened on Thanksgiving day which took the employees away from their families so all  our Christmas gifts this year will be coming from Menards, Fleet Farm and Home Depot!  

Celebrating the Memories

Tonight I celebrate with a trip down memory lane.  Today is my Grandma's birthday and this is the first birthday she is celebrating in heaven.  I think about her almost daily and many of those days result in tears, I miss her so much and the pain of losing my Grandma hasn't seem to go away at all.  I know it will never go away but I keep thinking it will get easier to accept but not yet.  So today I am going to celebrate her birthday by keeping the memories alive.  I thought it might be fun to document a few of my favorite memories of my Grandma.

*  One of my favorite things to do with my grandma was work in her garden. She had a big garden and I loved spending hours out there with her picking strawberries, digging up carrots, onions and potatoes and of course pulling weeds!  Now that I have my own garden and I am passing on this fun tradition to my boys I think I realize even more how important this memories will be to them.  I didn't realize back then that those simple conversations we used to have out in the garden were ones that would cherish for a lifetime.  

*  Another favorite memory was going over to Grandma's house during the day and playing board games.  My siblings and I would bike over to Grandma's and play games like Sorry, Tiddlywinks, Connect Four and PIT!  My grandma didn't always play these games with us as she was busy doing housework or cooking or something but she was always around and just being at Grandma's was part of the fun.  We would also spend plenty of afternoons down in her basement playing on the piano, playing air hockey or playing endless games of pool (yah, my grandparents had one of those old Lion Footed Pool Tables).

* I have many many fun Christmas memories with my Grandma, it was her favorite holiday after all!  My Grandma used to gather all the grand kids into her living room on Christmas Eve and we would sing Christmas songs such as Rudolph, Jingle Bells and Silent Night.  Sometimes we sang them as one big group and other times we broke out into smaller groups of kids and each group got a song.   I remember one Christmas she took a bunch of the grand kids into her room and she gave each child a piece of the nativity scene and then as she told the story of Christmas each child would bring their piece to place in the Nativity Scene as their character was called.  I remember I carried Mary to the Nativity Scene that year.    Another tradition that my grandma loved was that each family was required to make an ornament each year to bring and hang on her tree.  It was fun to see all the ornaments that everyone brought and for some reason the other ones always seemed to be so much cooler than ours!  Year after Year it was fun to look back on the ornaments that were created in the past, especially the ones that had pictures in them... we would often make fun of how dorky we looked as if we were any better that next year!  This is one tradition that I am also carrying on with my boys... most ornaments on our tree are ones that Colton made in school or ones that I purchased to commence a milestone just as marriage, new home, first Christmas for each of the boys, vacations and then a family ornament each year!  These ornaments have a lot more meaning than some matching store bought ornaments.

*  My grandma loved to play cards with us.  When I was younger we would sit and play the game of "Golf" for hours on end.  And then as I got a little older she taught me how to play 500 rummy and Ace to King.  Every Christmas we would set up a table in the middle of the living room and we would play cards... and we even played for money - a penny a point so sometimes I would lose as much as $2.00!  My Grandma often won and she made sure she collected from everyone one of us.    Back in high school I made a trip up to spend the day with my grandma and she took me with to one of her card tournaments.  I got to her house early so she could teach me how to play the game that was going to be played and after lunch and about 2 hours of practice I was ready!  We jumped in her car and drove to a bar in the neighboring town.  My grandma was so excited to introduce me to all of her friends... it was me and about 40 other Grandmas!  It was so much fun to listen to these ladies and their stories and then the tournament began. I didn't do so well... those ladies were some card sharks to say the least but I had a blast and it is a memory that I will always cherish. I was able to spend the day with my Grandma doing what she loved most... playing cards!

* My favorite memories from recent years was seeing my Grandma with my boys.  Colton loved his "Grandma on the Farm" as he referred to her.  Mason didn't get the chance to really get to know his Great Grandma which sucks.  I do regret not going to see her more in the past couple years... we only lived 2 hours apart which isn't that far but with busy lifestyles we just didn't make the drive as much as I wish we would have.  I am not going to dwell on that though because I can't change it now. Just going to cherish the moments that my boys did spend with their Grandma and keep her memory alive for them.... even if that is just by sharing pictures and stories.

So tonight as I sit at home thinking about my Grandma on her birthday I realize that she is gone. She is heaven celebrating her birthday with those who she was ready to be reunited with like her two sons who passed away from motorcycle accidents when they were far too young and her baby daughter who passed away just hours after she was born.  I know my Grandma is now pain free and she is happy to be reunited with her kids but selfishly I sit her crying and wishing that she was still here with me.  I am not ready to accept that she is gone.  I want to go see her and play cards and laugh and have my boys crawl up in her lap and take pictures of them but I can't and that hurts so much.  She was a wonderful woman and know that I now have one of the most amazing guardian angels but that doesn't make the pain any easier to handle. 

Happy Birthday Grandma, I love you and miss you so much.  It is going to be a hard holiday season without you but we will be sure to celebrate with family just the way you would have wanted to!

One more thing that I just needed to add.  It is about 10pm on Wednesday night, I am sitting down in the family room with my boys.  They are having a slumber party in the family room tonight and are laying down watching a movie.  Well they are supposed to be anyways, Mason is up moving around and playing with some toys even though we have most of the lights off.  He has his baby and is quietly playing and talking to himself.  I was just sitting in the chair typing away on this blog  (hadn't even got to adding pictures yet) when out of the blue Mason stopped what he was doing and said " Mommy, where is Grandma?".  It caught me off guard as I was in the middle of this post (and crying).  I looked at him and asked which Grandma?  He just looked at me for a moment and then looked around the room but said nothing. I asked him again, "Which Grandma Mason?".  He said nothing and then just like that he went back to playing like nothing happened.  So weird. I don't know what to make of it.  Maybe he was just thinking of one of his other Grandma's as he saw them both today or maybe my Grandma was here watching over us and he knew that she was here.  Believe what you will, I believe that my Grandma is watching over us everyday in everything we do.  

Frequent Fliers

Sometimes I feel like I need a Frequent Flyer card for things and right now I think it would be appropriate to have one for the Clinic and the Pharmacy. Yup, we were back at Urgent Care last night... for Mason again. He now has a confirmed ear infection (which he has been complaining about his ears over the weekend but we figured with a cold and then throwing up it might be just from that) and he also has pink eye in both eyes! Are you kidding me? This poor kid just cannot catch a break. Now he is on antibiotics and drops in his eyes every 3-4 hours. I would like to say this has to be it but somehow I don't even think it is worth saying. I will say the countdown to island vaction is on.... it seems like those two weeks of ocean air are when we finally kick all the winter sickness but that vacation is still over 3 months away which means I better get to creating my Frequent Flyer Card.

Just in case you need an image of my life right now.... here it is:

My Christmas Village

One of my favorite holiday decorations is my village.  I love to just sit on the couch and stare at it all lit up, it is like I get lost in the tiny little city that is living in my bay window.  There are kids sledding, people skating, people shopping, kids building a snowman, flags blowing in the wind, snow covered trees and houses/stores/churches glowing bright.  It is a perfect little winter world which invites the imagination to wonder and get lost.  The boys love the village, I have caught them both just starring at it and I can only imagine what their little minds are thinking.  I have also caught them rearranging the people from time to time which I am totally okay with!  It is fun to sit on the couch and realize that some of the village people have moved around.... makes it all seem even more real.  I am ready for the holiday season and hoping the both Mason and I are healthy soon and stay that way for the rest of winter.  

Sick again?!

So it seems like Mason and I have already started the same vicious cycle that we did last year... he gets sick, I get sick, he gets sick, I get sick while Frankie and Colton stay healthy as can be!  I am still struggling to kick this damn Croup and go figure Mason is sick once again.  He must have got gotten sick during the night Saturday night and didn't really wake up cause we didn't hear him but Sunday morning when he cried out "Mommy" I knew something was wrong.  By the time I got into his room he had thrown up again and he was covered in it which he really did not like.  He continued to be sick all day long.... seriously, he took in a ounce of liquids and 15 minutes later it came back out but he was so thirsty and kept demanding water/juice so I kept giving it to him.  He wasn't able to keep down anything the entire day.  And as the day went on his fever started to spike as well, which made him even more miserable.  It was a long day full of snuggles and laundry and more snuggles and cartoons... Little Einsteins and Rudolph all day long!!  He fell asleep on the couch at 7:30, woke up at 10:30 just long enough to take another dose of Tylenol, a drink of water and get into his bed.  He slept through the night and seems to be on the up swing now (yes I posted this one on Monday as I just didn't have the energy to do it Sunday night)!

Nothing like a good pie... in your face!

So this past Thursday at our Scout Meeting the boys were awarded with badges and belt loops that they have earned in the last month or two.  Colton earned his Archery and BB Gun Belt loops from when we were at camp last month.  He was pretty excited.  And then the fun news came... all Scouts who sold popcorn and hit their initial goal by a certain day was told they would be awarded with something fun.... well that something fun as throwing a pie in the face of one of our leaders.  Colton was more than thrilled to learn this and when it was his turn he made quite the production out of it (like he does with everything).  He also was the last of 6 kids to throw the pie so they filled his tin with all the Redi Whip that was left!  It was fun to the watch the boys get so excited and cheer loudly after after each pie was thrown.  Scouting really is a lot of fun and I am so glad that we have gotten involved!

2nd Degree White Belt

Colton started Karate this year and he really seems to love it.  I didn't know if he could stay focused and quiet enough for Karate but his teacher is amazing and Colton really took to the sport quite quickly.   He finished the fall session and has earned his 2nd Degree White Belt, all kids start out as a 1st Degree White Belt.  He says he wants to continue with Karate until he earns his black belt.... which will take many years but as long as he enjoys it I am okay with it.  The teacher spends 10 minutes each class talking about ways for the kids to protect themselves against danger, the point of these Karate Classes is self defense and she stresses many many times that these karate moves are never to be used on siblings, parents or classmates which I think is great because you know when you teach little boys some fighting moves they are going to want to try them out on someone.   Here are few pictures of Colton from our last night of class... he earned all three ribbons that were achievable throughout this session and is very excited to put them on display in his room!

What's the Diagnosis?

Last Friday I started to get a little cough but figured it would run its course and go away. Mason and I were both under the weather on Saturday - coughing constantly.... in perfect harmony half the time.  Sunday mine got worse and his seemed to be holding steady.  Monday mine got worse and his got better.  Tuesday mine got worse and he was starting to clear up.  Wednesday I felt like there was no end in site and his was pretty much gone.  Thursday morning I woke up and thought that I was dying..... I had been up all night coughing endlessly and my head was pounding from all the coughing.  I decided this wasn't something that was just going to "go away" so I made a doctor appointment.  Well the doctor cleared me of any kind of bacteria which meant antibiotics wouldn't help me.  Then she gave me the diagnosis - Adult Croup!  What the?!??!  I thought only small children could get croup - yup only children and in rare cases adults!  Why do I always feel the need to be special?  And to make it better... there is no magical medication to make me feel better.  She gave me some tips like hot showers cause the steam will help relieve the tickle and stop the coughing, use a humidifier, sleep propped up and then she said I could try Prednisone as it should help reduce the inflammation.  I figured it can't hurt so I had her send me in a prescription.  I just want to be able to walk outside without being sent into a coughing fit that ultimately tries to get my kidneys out of my body (seriously, I feel like I could start coughing up organs any moment now).  I can't get through a conversation without coughing and saying excuse me about 10 times and sleeping is horrible as I wake up several nights because of some crazy ass coughing fit.  Frankie even threatened to have me sleep on the couch cause he is scared of what might attack him in the middle of the night... apparently organs flying at him is one of his worst nightmares ;)  Ugg, here's to this going away soon so I can get back to my normal life and breathe easy again (literally)!

It's a Wreath Takeover!

So like I have mentioned before, I don't know how to say NO!  When our Cub Scout Pack was in the need of a new Wreath Coordinator I quickly said "We can do it" (not sure why)!  So back in June I contacted our vendor to let them know that we would be selling wreaths through them again this year and set our selling dates, delivery dates and ordered our sales brochures.  Then in September I explained all the sales information to our Pack and our boys went out selling.  The boys did awesome - 17 Scouts sold wreaths and sold a grand total of 188 wreaths!  Now I told the Pack that the order forms were due to me by Nov 1st (knowing that there would be people that didn't get them in on time and I was right... two days later people were still dropping off their order forms but I didn't need to have the order in until the 5th so we were okay)!  It took me a couple hours to tally up each order form and compile it into one Pack order to submit to the vendor.  Luckily the last Wreath Coordinator was extremely organized and had this awesome spreadsheet already created so all I had to do was update the Scout Names and cost/retail pricing of each wreath and then enter each of the Scout orders to the spreadsheet.  I was so nervous I was going to miss some and not get the order right.   Not to mention all the money that I was holding onto now that I had all the orders in my hands (seriously, over $4000 cash in my house is too much for me to sleep comfortably and I was happier than ever when I was able to turn it over to the treasurer).    Well this week was delivery week.  The Vendor came last night and dropped off all our orders - all 188 wreaths were piled into our garage which meant our cars had to spend a couple nights outside which doesn't happen around here very often!   Tonight after the boys were in bed Frankie and I headed outside to sort the wreaths by Scout so that when they came to pick up it would be super easy.  It only took us about an hour to sort the wreaths into 17 separate piles and thankfully all orders were complete - I didn't miss any!  Tomorrow night the Scout Families will be coming over after the Pack Meeting to pick up their wreaths and can start delivering!    This really wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and I look forward to being our wreath coordinator for a couple years to come.... as long as Colton continues to enjoy Scouting.  

Looking and Dreaming

So Frankie and I spend many nights sitting on our couch searching the home for sale listings dreaming of someday moving into our dream home!  We of course know exactly what we want and every house we look we find ourselves saying NOPE! Either the kitchen isn't right or it is only a two car garage or the yard is too tiny or not enough bedrooms or too dated or needs too much work!    We learned with our first home what we love and what we hate and so the next time we buy our home it has to have everything we want.  And over the last 6 months we have not been able to find that perfect home.... well at least not in our price range.  We know the community we want live in so and we aren't willing to change that so we have limited ourselves in that aspect as well however we also aren't in any kind of rush to be out of our home so we are fine with looking and looking and looking until our dream house comes along.  Well recently we stumbled across a model home in a new development that we both loved.   The house itself is perfect and has everything we want.  The neighborhood is perfect and is only about a 1 mile from my sisters hour.  I have a friend who recently built in this new development and I have talked to her about her feelings and she only had great things to say about this builder and the neighborhood and said it is a neighborhood full of young families which would be so amazing for the boys as they don't really have any friends in our neighborhood right now.    There is a school and park within walking distance which is great as the boys love going for walks after dinner to local parks so we would hate to buy a home that didn't have a park nearby.  We both bring up "the house" all the time and we have even driven through the development a time or two just to look at the houses and available lots!  I think we may have finally found our dream home but not sure we are ready to make the move.... it is a big commitment and we plan to make it our forever home.  For now we will keep this home in our heads and maybe someday this dream will become our reality (although the very idea of moving makes me cringe, we have accumulated a lot of stuff of the past 10 years in our house)!  

Time to Catch up!

So this past weekend I didn't have much planned, which is very rare for me!  My goal for the weekend (and my Monday off) was to get caught up on some past photography shoots so that I could get them all in the mail and head into the holiday season with only my own photo's to deal with.  Well I came down with a nasty cold which did slow me down a little but none the less I was able to get caught up on my editing as well get caught up on some extra rest to try to get over this respiratory nightmare that is completely draining me.  I don't want to share any new ones as I like the families to see their pictures before I share them but here are a couple previous shoots that have already been sent out.  I seriously had so much fun working with these guys as I do with all my awesome subjects, I love photography in case I haven't mentioned that before!!  

This little guy was 3 months old and full of smiles!

  

 This little sweetie was 6 months old, full of smiles and had just discovered her tongue!! 

Operation Christmas Child

This is our 3rd year participating in Operation Christmas Child.  If you have never heard of this program here is a brief description:  Since 1993, more than 100 million boys and girls in over 130 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan’s Purse works with local churches and ministry partners to deliver the gifts and share the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ.

It is an awesome program and we love participating.  We let each of the boys create a gift box for a boy their same age.  We have done this program through our church for three years now and it is a great opportunity for the boys to pick out toys, school supplies and personal hygiene items for a child that they will never meet just to spread God's love.  Colton loves picking out the items and always gets so excited when he thinks about how much his "friend" is going to love the particular toy or item he has chosen. He also usually talks about how sad it is that there are kids in the world who don't have toys to play with all the time like he does, this is a great reminder for him to remember just how lucky he is to live the life he is living and it is a great reminder for me as well.  We have so much yet it never seems to be enough and we are always working to "get more" but there are others in the world who have far less and are still truly happy.  Sometimes it is nice to get the friendly reminder that possessions are not as important as friends, family and good health.  

Don't Break the Ice!

Well my Saturday night plans changed a little when Mason and I both woke up with horrible coughs and still weren't feeling good when evening rolled around.  We had 4 tickets to the Gopher Hockey game and I was looking forward to our family night out but I knew it wouldn't be fun for anyone with Mason and I need feeling good.  So Daddy and Colton called up Grandma and the 3 of them went to the game while Mason and I stayed home.  We enjoyed some popsicles, lots of cuddles and cartoons and he even convinced me to play "Don't Break the Ice" with him.  He loves this game and it was so much fun to see his excitement when he knocked down the little red guy, little does he know that you lose when you knock him down!  Now this game is fun but it does take a while to set it up each time and then Mason just goes crazy and knocks down all the ice in about 9 seconds (if that long)!  So after about 10 rounds we decided to play a different game..... Angry Birds was his next choice which really isn't any better as you have to build a wall for the pigs to sit on then you have to launch the birds to try to knock them down.  Luckily Mason doesn't have the best aim so these rounds lasted a little longer. 

It was fun to just spend some time hanging with my little man tonight.  With life always moving so fast and so much going on all the time I don't take the time to just sit down and play with him as much as I should.  I know I need to do this more often and I plan to make this a priority as much as possible this winter because he will be grown before I know it and then he won't want to be home on a Saturday night playing games with his mama!!

 

 

Really.... I mean, Really?!?

This week was a long one to say the least!  I was very busy at work so the stress was building a little more than normal.  And Frankie was in Utah on Wednesday and Thursday which meant I had to get the boys up and ready and off to school/daycare in the morning (which is a lot more work than just getting myself up and ready).   We had sports a couple nights during the week and I was starting to come down with a horrible cold.  Thursday nights traffic made me want to scream... what normally takes me 20 minutes took me almost 50 minutes.  Really, I mean really?  Yes the road curves, but it curves every day in that same spot so I don't think all three lanes need to come to a stop before we enter the slight angle to the left!    What is the deal with this week?  Well, we made it to Friday and I was very happy!  Frankie was back home which almost didn't happen, his flight from Utah was delayed by 35 minutes which means he was only going to have 25 minutes to catch his connecting flight in Denver - he made the flight with minutes to spare (he was the last person to get on as they pulled away from the gate about 90 seconds later)!  I got myself all caught up at work so I didn't have to worry about that over the weekend (or feel guilty for taking next Monday off because I have to burn up some vacation time)!  Friday evening I took Colton to Karate class and then afterwards we picked up Frankie and Mason and headed to Apple Bee's for dinner.  I was just too tired to even think about preparing a dinner so going out to eat seem like a good idea even though we knew Mason didn't take his nap that day and it might not be the smartest choice.  Dinner was going good, appetizers consumed and half of our entrees were eaten and then all of a sudden Mason stopped and gave us "the look". Oh crap, his stomach was hurting and this wasn't going to turn out well.  Frankie handed him to me and I quickly headed for the exit as the bathroom was way on the other side of the building.  We made it through the first door and then all hell broke loose.  It was like a volcano erupting... I was covered, he was covered and the front door to Apple Bee's wasn't exactly as clean as they would probably like it to be.  I got him outside and across the sidewalk where he continued to decorate the bushes.  Really, I mean Really?!?  You have got to be kidding me.   So now I am covered in his dinner and I have to somehow get Frankie's attention as Mason is freezing and I need to get the keys to get into the van. I finally get Frankie to look out at me and bring me my purse.   Also, you can only imagine what was going one inside when I left quickly with on kid and then minutes later Frankie leaves the building with my purse!  I am not sure they knew what to think as both adults had left without paying and there was a 7 year just sitting at the table eating still!  Ha, I guess when Frankie walked back in he heard them say, nevermind he came back!  Really, did they think we were going to leave our child there!?  Also when Frankie walked back in he said "You might want to get someone to clean that up, it is everywhere!"  I don't think we will be returning to that place anytime soon!    Anyways,  Mason and I head to the car where I stripped him out of his clothes, buckled him into his seat and cranedk the heat so he would stop shivering.  I on the other hand didn't think it was a great idea to strip down to my underwear in the parking lot, although I considered it, so I decided to ride home in my decorated clothes.   We got home and went right to the shower... I think I went through half a bottle of body wash trying to get "that smell" off of us!  I guess it was the only way end to my week but really, I mean really!  

Scouts can build!

So one of the things about being a den leader is always needing to have something planned for each den meeting.  Some meetings we just work from our book and cross off requirements that need to be done, some meetings we plan outings to local business/parks and some meetings I have use my imagination to come up with something fun.  Tonight was one of those nights.  Last week I asked the boys what they wanted to do this week and they said they wanted to build.  Well when you are dealing with 1st and 2nd graders that isn't exactly easy to do.  So, we built houses out of Marshmallows and Bamboo sticks.  The boys had so much fun and it was awesome to watch them all create their own unique creation!  My co-den leader did bring some nice cardboard squares to build on and some sea shells to decorate with so before we knew it most of the houses were built on islands.  Love it, being a den leader is a lot of work but also a lot of fun!  Looking forward to many years of scouting to come!

The boys in my den are great, there are 8 of them and they are so hyper and fun and crazy and really keep me on my toes at all times which is awesome!