Oh the Joys of Raising Boys

Weight Watchers

2012-01-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

Baked Beef Ziti, Sauted Squash, and Broccoli

This was very good and total was 9 points for everything. The squash recipe comes out as 2 points per serving, but I think it is actually less because it does it different on the recipe generator. The only thing with points is the 1 1/2 T of sugar and the rest are 0 points, so I dont see how it is 2 points per person.

See the recipe online here:
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=68091

Baked Beef Ziti
PointsPlus® Value: 7
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 50 min

If you thought you couldn't indulge in your fattening favorites and still lose weight, you'll be thrilled to know that baked ziti is not a thing of the past.

Ingredients
12 oz Ziti, uncooked
2 tsp Oil, olive
2 clove(s) Garlic, fresh, minced
⅓ pound(s) Lean ground beef, raw
1 tsp Dried oregano
1 tsp Dried thyme
1 tsp Rosemary, dried
½ tsp Salt, table
½ tsp Pepper, black
28 oz Canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup(s) Cheese, mozzarella, part skim milk

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat; add garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Add beef and cook until browned, breaking up meat with a spoon as it cooks, about 3 to 5 minutes; drain off any fat and set pan back over medium heat.
4. Add oregano, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper; stir to coat beef. Cook until herbs become fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Spoon a small amount of beef-tomato mixture into bottom of a 4-quart casserole dish (just enough to cover surface); top with half of cooked ziti. Next, layer with half of remaining beef-tomato sauce and half of mozzarella cheese. Layer with remaining ziti and then top with remaining beef-tomato sauce; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Slice into 8 pieces and serve. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Sauted Squash

Ingredients
3 cup(s) sliced summer squash (about 4 medium yellow squash)
1 medium uncooked onion(s)
1½ Tbsp sugar
1 cup(s) water

salt to taste

Instruction

Slice squash and onion and put it in a saute pan let it start to carmalize the onion (5 min) and then add the sugar and salt. Pour in the water cover and let it simmer stirring occasionally until the squash are soft and start to fall apart when stirred. If it starts to burn because the water is gone add a little more water. It will be ready when water is basically gone but is not burning.

68 Degrees in January

2012-01-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

Due to the beautiful January weather here in the south we decided we needed to get the boys outside. We took them down to the park and let them play for a while. It was so nice out and it was nice to see the sun as well.

It's Official....

2012-01-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

I guess I can finally post this as it is now official.. We are a potty trained family!

YAY!!! Caleb has decided that pull up's "are not my favorite" and " I just love big boy underwear" he does not want to wear pull ups at all. We have an occasional wet pants episode, but for the most part we no longer wear pull ups except at night. The day caleb decided he did not want pull ups anymore we actually had a big incident over this. We were putting jammies on that night and he wanted to wear big boy underwear. I told him that he can't sleep in big boy underwear and that all the big boys wear pull ups to bed. He looked at me and said "daddy doesn't wear pull ups to bed" (He got me on this one) so I told him I meant Wyatt and Finn and Benjamin etc... Finally we compromised and he had to wear his pull up but we had to put his big boy underwear on over the pull up.

Caleb's teachers at school consider him one of the Potty trained children as well so I think we have finally reached that point of being a potty trained family at this point. Its kind of nice except when we are driving somewhere and someone has to go because there is not a lot of "holding it time" Overall we are doing really well and had a few accidents but overall it has gone well. It is saving quite a bit in diapers as well as we only use two a night total.

Blue...

2012-01-28T08:10:00.000-05:00

When Caleb was born we just kind of designated colors for our boys.... to know whos was whos or to know whos sippy cup was whos once they were both using them. We just said Benjamin is Blue and Caleb will be Green. Well recently Caleb has decided that GREEN is NOT his favorite color. We are having knock down drag out fits if he doesn't get the "blue" whatever. In one way I am really glad he is doing this because he so far is quite the follower and will just do whatever Benjamin does and say whatever Benajmin says. He ususally doesn't have his own thought or opinions on things either its just what Benjamin thought. We try to have him tell us things before we ask Benjamin just to have him say what he wants first. The bad side of this is that he is throwing ROYAL fits if the cup or whatever is not BLUE.

Recently I have just been making sure they both have the same color of everything just to avoid the fits. I don't want him to get away with these fits either when they happen. This morning Benjamin put his big boy underwear on and it ended up Caleb wanted that blue pair of boxers and nothing else would do. I finally told him that Benjamin picked them out first and if Caleb didn't put the gray ones on that we would have to go put a diaper on and get back in bed.

There is a lot of competition from Caleb when it comes to Benjamin. Every morning we start with a fight over who picks the cartoons for the morning (which I have started picking) and they still fight over it.
Then there is a fight of who gets to sit on my lap while I drink my coffee. I recently have started saying no one in my lap you can sit on either side of me. Then it is a fight of who gets to sit on which side. It is so much competition with my boys. I hope they grow out of it becasue I hate it. They are good buddies most of the time but there will always be some of that.

Sometimes I still question why God thought I needed two boys so close together, don't get me wrong I love them to death and wouldn't change it, but I am also praying very hard for a little girl next time we have a baby. And no we are not trying.

Eeeeek! A....

2012-01-27T11:43:00.000-05:00

MOUSE! Once again somehow a mouse has gotten into our house. The other night i thought I saw something run across our living room but then determined I was tired and was seeing things. I was not! It was a mouse. Last night Brad and I were in the living room talking when a mouse ran across behind the TV cabinet. I ran and got the traps from our last mouse incident we had and we placed them on either side of the cabinet. Brad then tried to make it run out and it did and jumped over the trap and under the couch. So the process continued all around the room, to couches, to the lazy boy, back to the couch and finally he ran down the hall into the closet. One of my friends came over last night and the mouse decided to run across while we were talking and watching TV so it began again to try and get him. We turned the room upside down and barricaded him in the room or so we thought and we did everything possible to try and get him. We never did see him run back out from under the couch and I am wondering if he got up in there and we killed him somehow... I guess we will know in a few days if it starts to stink. So due to this critter I was in a restless dream all night trying to catch him and dreaming he was in my sheets. UGH! I hate to kill him, but he is the one who got into my house and brings diseases with him.. Sorry mr. mouse I will win and if you are not a mr. mouse don't even think about having babies in my house again. I will win!

Yummy!

2012-01-23T19:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight for dinner I made Weight Watchers Crab and Corn pasta and it was AMAZING! The servings were huge and it was just so yummy.

Here is the recipe:

Crab and Corn Pasta
PointsPlus® Value: 9
Servings: 5

Preparation Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 12 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

If you have all the ingredients on hand, this simple supper can be made in 20 minutes, tops!

Ingredients
6 oz Pasta, penne, cooked
1 Tbsp Oil, vegetable
1 medium Peppers, sweet, red, raw, seeded and thinly sliced
2 medium Onion(s), uncooked, sliced
3 Tbsp Flour, white
2 cup(s) Milk, fat free

1/2 cup white wine
10 oz Corn, frozen, kernels cut off cob, unprepared, thawed
6 oz Shellfish, crabmeat, canned, drained
1 tsp Dried basil
½ tsp Salt, table
¼ tsp Pepper, black
2 Tbsp Cheese, parmesan, grated
2 Tbsp Parsley, chopped

Instructions
1. Cook the penne according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
2. In a large nonstick saucepan, heat the oil. Sauté bell pepper and onions until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk; bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, 1-2 minutes. Stir in corn, crabmeat, basil, salt and pepper. Stir in wine and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in penne. Reheat 2-3 minutes and serve, sprinkled with cheese and parsley.

Our rainy day..

2012-01-23T17:28:00.004-05:00

Well we have done quite a few things to try and entertain on this rainy day. Brad made them a "cowboy" lunch which was hotdogs and baked beans. Benjamin was really excited about the lunch though and was the first thing he told me about when I got home from running a few errands. We got out all the play-doh, we have played video games, watched movies, etc... The boys have been really good overall but needed something else to keep them occupied for a while.

So we got bath toys and put them in the sink and while I chopped things for dinner and got everything prepared so I could easily put it all together, the boys got up at the sink and used my scraps to make "soup." They worked on this for about 1 1/2 hours. I got all my dinner stuff prepared and then sat at the table while they played. Since then we have moved on to the bathtub and I am now letting them play in the water while I sit outside the bathroom door blogging. Thank goodness tomorrow is supposed to be sunny! Outside they will go where they can do some running.

Oh the Rain!

2012-01-23T14:50:00.001-05:00

Rain Rain go away... I am running out of ideas today.

Rain Rain go away... my husband needs to work today.

Rain Rain go Away..... my kids need to get out of the house today...

Rain Rain Go AWAY... my kids are couped up all day!

It has been rainging all day, all weekend, all night, at every moment for the last few days. My kids are couped up. I am couped up, there is no where to go with the kids becasue it is either too expensive or they are not old enough for it. Rainy days are hard to deal with. We have played games, watched movies, played blocks, the boys have played together, we have played their video games and downloaded new games on them. I have cleaned up after them, made them clean up and then cleaned some more. We are just bored. Not to mention that days like today when it is so rainy Brad can't work... which never helps. Brad is not the "stay at home dad" type so he looks forward to going to work. Not that he doesn't enjoy time with the kids and me at home. He just likes going to work then coming home and have good quality time with the kids. What do you do? cYou an't control the weather.

What do you do on a rainy day with kids? I need some new ideas.

Weigh in #2

2012-01-22T08:08:00.000-05:00

I got on the scale this morning and I was down to 165.5!! That is 5.5 lbs lost! Yay! I know I said I was going to figure out how to incorporate exercise into this routine but I have not managed to do that quite yet. I am excited about my weight loss. I am averaging 2lbs a week which is normal and means the plan is working for me. I still want to lose 30 more lbs. and will be in my healthy range once I get into the 140's. I was 150 when I got pregnant with Caleb so I can see my goals in the future. I have not been in the 150's since I got pregnant with Caleb so when I get into that range I am going to be really excited. So that is my weekly update.

This week our menu is as follows: (these are all weight watchers recipes)

Sunday:
Lunch- BBQ pork sandwhiches
Dinner- Crab and corn pasta

Monday- shrimp and scallion skewers with a roasted red pepper dipping sauce

Tuesday- Chicken and wine sauce with asparagus

Wednesday- we have dinner at our community group with church

Thursday- Chicken Paprikash

Friday- Baked Ziti

Saturday- Beef, bacon and mushroom stew

Sunday- peppercoron pork tenderloin

Sounds like a yummy week to me.

The Grocery Store

2012-01-21T23:40:00.000-05:00

I have a downfall.. its a bad one too.. I get sucked into it and end up with an empty purse. The grocery store! I love to grocery shop. LOVE it. Yeah I know that is not normal. Most people do not love to go to the grocery store. As those of you who read this blog often know I used to coupon and have not been doing much of that these days. I changed a lot of the ways our family was eating and I am trying to continue to make changes. In those changes came a lot of organic foods and there are not a ton of coupons for that. I am still trying to figure out how to budget and eat / feed my family better. I have a few stores that I could spend hours upon hours walking around looking at things and different products and those are Trader Joes, Whole Foods and Earth Fare. I went into Trader Joes a few weeks ago for two pork tenderloins (that was all) and I walked out with a $93.00 hole in my pocket.

Today was a rainy wet day here in the south and it was a really good day. I spent time with the kids this morning, did a little cleaning and then we went to vote in the primary, after that I dropped Brad and the boys off at Frankies Fun Park so the boys could play and I went to Trader Joes. I knew I had to make it a quick trip or I would spend a fortune on food I can't have on weight watchers. Like the chocolate chip dunker cookies.. YUM... I got what I needed for the week and then headed to (the much over priced with a great selection of most everything) Whole Foods. The only reason I went here was because my in-laws know my love of the grocery store and gave me a $75.00 gift card for our anniversary. I had saved it for months so I could enjoy my time there. Enjoy I did. I splurged on some good wine, honey, a warm baguette, and some of my favorite cheese (humbolt fog). I also got a cheese that had an espresso rind that was to die for. These are the little things in life that I really love.. Good bread, cheese and wine. I couldn't wait to dig in. I did of course get other things with my gift card. Some yummy stew meat, crab meat, ground turkey etc. I just loved walking around the store looking at things and wishing I could spend a fortune.

I finally had to go back and pick up the boys and then when we got home made a plate of the wonderful cheese, honey and bread to share with Brad. It was so delicious.
So there you have it my big downfall in life... The love of good food.

Weight Watchers Update

2012-01-21T09:27:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is supposed to be my 3rd week weigh in.. but I skipped last week due wot the fact that I was a bit bloated and knew it would dissapoint me if I didn't have changes etc. So tomorrow I will weigh in agian in the morning and see where I am. I know I have lost more becasue yesterday I was able to get into my size 6 skinny jeans and they were not tight at all. I was really excited. I can see the changes I am making starting to show. It is slow but worth it and I am going to be really proud of myself when I reach my goal.

Last Sunday I went through and wrote out meals to make for the week with the stuff we already had and the few things we would still need to get at the store. I feel like it really helped to have a list of exactly what would be made at dinner so that I would not have to look through recipes etc. Just to give a rundown of how we are eating on this weight watchers here is what this week looked l- ike.

Monday- Pork Picatta with spinach and parmasean bread crumbs and steamed veggies.

Tuesday- I went to the melting pot with my brother and mom for dinner but made lasagna in the crock pot for Brad and the kids and for my lunch and dinner on Wednesday.

Wednesday- I was supposed to go to church and have tacos but Benjamin started getting sick this afternoon so I stayed home with him and had more of the lasagna.

Thursday- we had a dinner at my parents of chineese food. I did well and didn't eat too much of it as to not have too many points.

Friday- Chicken and Dumplings

Saturday- Tonight we will have shrimp quesadillas

Sunday- balsamic chicken with roasted veggies.

I usually have made enough so that I am able to have it for lunch the following day so that I don't have to scramble to figure out what to eat. I am really enjoying being on the weight watchers program and do not feel like I am on a "diet."

I will update tomorrow with my weight loss.

Did we conquer?

2012-01-21T09:15:00.000-05:00

Well last night was a good night. Caleb was so incredibly worn out that he fell asleep within 2 minutes of me laying him in his bed. Before he went to bed Brad told him that he was NOT allowed to get out of his bed when he woke up. He didn't wake up until 6:23 this morning and he stayed in his bed and I could hear him say "daddy?" "mommy?" and after a few times and realizing he was not going right back to sleep I went in his room. Unfortunately he had wet his bed and leaked through his pull up and woke up because of that. I got him changed and bundled up in his covers and told him he had to go back to sleep because the sun was still asleep and after just a tiny bit of fussing he calmed down and went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until 7:40! YAY it was wonderful having him sleep so late. Hopefully we can make this a habit.

Yesterday at lunch we went to Panera and we were sitting at lunch and Benjamin looked at me and said "mommy you look like a princess....almost"
On another note I wanted to write about a conversation we had in the car with Benjamin yesterday. We drove past General Electric and he saw the big white tent like structure they have on their property. Benjamin said "I just saw a circus" so we proceeded to explain to him that it wasn't a circus and that it was like a circus tent. Then the conversation went on to talk about how a circus is not in a tent now but in a big building. I said "it has to be a really big building to hold the circus" Benjamin said what do you mean by "hold" it? So brad said "it has to be a big building for the entire circus to fit inside of it." Benjamin: well is it on the top floor or the bottom floor? Brad: its not on a floor its just one really big room. Benjamin: well which aisle is is on? Brad: "Well buddy it is not a grocery store just a really big room without anything in the middle." Benjamin seemed ok with this concept, he just couldn't understand why the circus was not in a tent anymore because that is how he has seen it on TV and how in the world it fits into a building.

Benjamin is kind of into snakes and books from the library about them so last night I was reading to him and asked him to go get another book and he came back with this snake book (Yuck) not really my kind of bedtime book. So anyway.... we read the book about cobras and then Benjamin sat with me and made up this very detailed elaborate story/scenario about snakes and what he knew about them.

Caleb is very into "helping" mommy. He wants to help every time I cook by sitting on the counter and doing what he can. I love to have him help most of the time. Usually it turns into him just standing at the sink "washing dishes" I am glad he likes to help and it makes him feel important to be able to help with things.

Conquering Caleb...

2012-01-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

Our poor little man is very off schedule right now and a bit confused as to when he is actually supposed to be asleep. This morning he came into our room around 4am and so it began the battle to get him to sleep again. He would throw fits, scream, kick, cry for me to sleep with him. I would lay down with him and as soon as he dozed off I would slowly get up and as soon as I was standing he was awake... Crying that I was leaving. Now it is not that I don't want to lay down with him and cuddle with him, the problem is once you do it, he expects it every night and it immediately becomes a habit that is impossible to break. Brad went in there and finally got him to calm down and sleep.... finally, or so we thought. And then he was up again in our bedroom saying he had to use the potty. Once we get him to the potty he doesn't have to go and instead he says "can we watch cartoons" and this would be a great idea except that the sun is still down and it is pitch dark outside and there is nothing living awake at this time.

So began the battle today of keeping Caleb awake and in a good enough mood to make it all day without a nap so that he would be so exhausted that he might actually sleep through the night. In the car on the way home this afternoon I literally had to tickle him every few seconds or he would be out cold. Then once home we had to battle fits of crying on the floor because he was so tired he couldnt see straight. He is in this new phase of saying "thats borin" about everything. When we told him it was time to eat he said " no thats borin" he completely uses boring out of context and has no real clue what it really means, but it is borin none the less. So at dinner he refused to eat my chicken and dumplings and cried half laying in his chair at the table and only wanted to hold me. I finally sat on the couch with him and held him, while keeping him awake the whole time. We made it though all the way to 7:30 when I layed down with him and sang a few songs to him and he cried that he was having to go to bed when he clearly was not tired and wanted to saty up and read books. He was asleep within 2 minutes. Needless to say Brad and I are very tired from our eventful night of lack of sleep and being up with Caleb. Tonight we are keeping our fingers crossed we can at least make it to 7am without having to get up. FINGERS CROSSED!!

The goings on..

2012-01-19T15:59:00.000-05:00

The day of Caleb's surgery we gave him pain medication once because he kept saying he was hurting and had just been on tylenol. So I gave him the lorotab which was supposed to knock him out and it did exactly the opposite. He was so keyed up I didn't know what to do wtih him. He would bounce off the walls one minute and then he would absolutely lose it and be on the floor crying and throwing a fit the next minute. Finally I got him to bed and was completely exhausted myself. The next day Caleb was also a nightmare. He was out of control this day as well. He didn't feel good, he wasn't sure why, he didn't want to do anything but then was upset becuase he wasn't doing anything. I just did whatever I could to keep him from losing it all the time, to the point that I put his fruit juice in the microwave to make it warm for him. By day 3 we were back to normal except for the 102.7 fever he developed. Everything was fine with that and the ENT said he didn't have an infection it was probably just from the swelling and inflammation.

I have changed my work schedule slightly this year so that I can be a bit more involved with my boys school. So once a month I work different days and then end up with a 5 day weekend. I like it so far as I am in month one of this change and I have a 5 day weekend this weekend. Benjamin developed a stomach virus and started throwing up and has not felt good all day. Hopefully we can keep Caleb from getting it.

In other news my little brother, his wife, and twin boys are moving tomorrow back to California. We have known its coming and we have been dreading the move. It is just such a long trip to see them and it probably will not happen often as it is also fairly expensive. So its a sad weekend as well. I am happy for them and this change for their lives, but I am sad our boys will not grow up together.

That is about all going on here these days. I skipped my second weigh in for my weight watchers last sunday due to the fact that it was "that time of the month" and I knew my weight would not be accurate. I have done well though on the weight watchers and will weigh in again this coming sunday. Hopefully I have lost some more.

Surgery

2012-01-13T14:58:00.000-05:00

Last fall Caleb went to the ENT because I noticed he would hold his breath for extended time when he was sleeping (apnea) and he was also waking up a lot at night. We came to the conclusion that he would need to have his andenoids removed and that they were probably enlarged.

Yesterday we went for pre-op at the ENT and found out we would take out his adenoids but also place tubes in his ears due to him still having fluid from an ear infection and the fact that he would probably end up with many ear infections while he was healing from surgery.

On our way to the hospital for his surgery. He was playing his video game and holding his penguin and doggie.

Reading Field and Stream magazine with daddy while we wait.

Getting things going and making sure all papers were signed etc.

All changed and ready to go back for surgery.

Playing a game with daddys watch

Rubbing noses

After he came out of surgery we were on our way back to recovery where he was waking up and we could hear him screaming outside of the door. The whole room was filled with his screaming. They prepared us for this as children often come out of surgery and are very confused and feel weird etc. He had an iv in his arm and kept trying to pull it out. It was uncomfortable and he just wanted it out. It took about 15 to 20 minutes and a shot or morphine to get him to calm down. Finally we got to leave to come home which Caleb was happy about. In the car he was pretty talkative but still out of it. He told us he wanted to go to the pet store and buy fish so we could chop them up and all eat them for dinner. I think he was a bit strung out on the anesthesia and pain medication.

Once we got home we were cuddling on the couch and he was almost asleep and all the sudden he popped up and said "my lollipop" - he was referring to the lollipop nanna got for him for after his surgery and because he LOVES lollipops. He took about 3 licks and laid it down on the couch cushion.

After that he was out like a light and snoring very loud. He slept for a few hours and now is laying on the couch watching a movie. It takes a lot for Caleb to watch a movie because usually he can't sit still for more than a few seconds so it is kind of nice to just be sitting on the couch with him and cuddling.

Some days...

2012-01-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

Some days this is exactly how I feel about everything... House work, laundry, dishes... Once I get it done it seems like I have to start all over again.

Weight Watchers Update...

2012-01-08T21:10:00.000-05:00

Today was weigh in #1. I lost 3.5 lbs! Woo Hoo! I will add in some exercise this week and hopefully be on the same track this week. I am proud of my loss and I am proud of myself for not cheating even a few times when I wanted to. I really like weight watchers and can see my goal in the future! 32.5 LBS to go... I can do this!

Weight Watchers

2012-01-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

Well one week ago I started weight watchers "officially" online and so far so good after only a week.I didn't want to go to meetings only because I feel like I don't have that much to lose compared to a lot of the people who may be doing the program and I felt uncomfortable with going to meetings. I think I will be able to do it fine online on my own at home. If I start cheating a lot or something like that I will make myself go to the meetings, but if I am able to do it online I will stick with that. I will have my first "weigh in" tomorrow morning and I am excited to find out how much weight I lost in this first real official week. I did not get to walk or exercise like I hoped to due to the fact that it is dark when I get home from work. This second week of weight watchers I am going to work on trying to exercise/walk or something like that more. I have not had a hard time with the first week and feel like I have eaten very well. I can have something for dessert at night and that meets my sweets cravings and I dont have to feel guilty about it. I think you can expect to lose around 2 lbs weekly on WW. I think the first few weeks it is not unusual to lose a little more than that. I feel good about it though and I am looking forward to moving into week 2! I will try to post some pictures as I go to track my progress as well. Yay for Weight Loss!!

I feel...

2012-01-05T22:16:00.000-05:00

I feel like recently my blogs have all been catching up and just posting pictures so that I make sure I have them. I take each year of my blog and turn it into photo books. So far I have done the first 6 months of the first year because it took me so long to put into photo book form and get all the pictures in order etc. It is very time consuming. I am working on the second book now and that year will have to be split up. Anyway I feel like I used to have so much content to what I would write and say and now I just feel like I am trying to scrape by. I will try to get more exciting as time goes on.

As for some new things. I have started weight watchers. I finally decided I have had enough complaining about not losing weight from when I had my boys and it is time I am going to do it. I have 36 lbs to lose and this time is the last time. NO more trying this or that diet. I am not a dieter. I dont do well with it. You tell me I cant have something and that is all I can think about. I watch biggest loser and feel so motivated while I eat a bowl of ice cream but then the next day do nothing about it. So I did a little WW trial before the holidays and a friend from church let me sign in under her account and track everything. It works and it works well. I maintained through the holidays and now I am in full swing of WW. I signed up for the online program. I am determined and I dont cheat. So far I have not had a weigh in yet, but I am excited to find out after my first full week what I have lost. I feel like this way of eating is a lifestyle change more than anything. I am excited about it. and feel like it is really something I can stick to.

January Fun..

2012-01-02T17:08:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow I go back to reality and back to work but it has been fun being home with the boys. Brad was off work today and we watched the Gamecocks win the bowl game they were in and I have had a very productive day all around. I hemmed all our curtains ( I made them about 3 years ago) and just got around to hemming them. Then I made curtains for my kitchen. I have had the fabric for over a year and just never made them. I have done laundry, cleaned, cleaned, and done more cleaning.
The boys have had a good day playing outside and after the football game Brad made a fire for them in the fire bowl. (supervised) not just for them to play around. It has been a good start to a new year. I am hoping that this year is a good one for us. I have hopes at least for it. May the Lord bless us in 2012!

A New Year 2012

2012-01-01T20:33:00.000-05:00

I am ready for 2012. I need a new start to a year. Start new and fresh. I have never been one for resolutions (mostly because I can't stick to them) but I have a few this year that I plan to stick with. We have never been big celebrators of New Year's Eve. This year we were invited to a friends party but couldn't find a baby sitter so we just stayed home. We rented a movie, picked up Chinese food, cuddled on the couch and kissed at midnight. After that I was in bed asleep within minutes. It was a great way to spend New Years Eve in my books.

Brad and I have been working what feels like all week to get our house clean and for some reason it is still not done! I feel like it has been all we have been doing lately. The weather has been really nice and been more like fall then winter. I of course have complained about it because I want it to feel like the season that it is at the time. Brad reminded me that it was a blessing because we always say fall never lasts long enough. So I am trying to look at it positively. We ended our year yesterday with the kids outside in the yard, at lunch outside on the porch, and then spent the afternoon with the kids at the park with my mom and nephews. Brad stayed home and did projects around the house.

So onto my resolutions. I try not to make many but I have a few this year

1) Join Weight Watchers and finish losing weight: This one I started actually in November and it was working well (I had not joined the program) but I was losing and then the holidays hit and it is just hard to eat well with so many dinners to go to etc. So i worked to maintain my weight knowing I was going to join weight watchers after the holidays. I have 36 lbs to lose. The program is paid for so I am going to do it! ( I joined today so here we go)

2) Change my reactions to my kids- I hate to admit that I am a yeller. I really have to work hard to not yell when I am mad. This is probably my biggest resolution/change I am going to make. This is something I am going to do because I am not going to live with regrets and this is something I want to change in myself I dont want my kids to learn to yell or to remember that mommy yelled a lot. This is a change only I can make in myself.

3) Become a stay at home mom- this we have been working towards for a while, but this year it might finally happen. I am hoping by my 30th birthday I will be able to stay at home with my boys.

4) Read 20 books this next year. I have been reading a lot more lately and I love it. This is not really a resolution, but more of a challenge to myself.

5) To get a new (or used but new to me) car. I dont think our cars will make it through 2012.

I think that is a good list for the year. We will see how it turns out. I ate my collards and black eyed peas for dinner tonight so I should be good for the year :)

Here we go 2012 let it be a good year!

Christmas Morning 2012

2011-12-25T13:33:00.001-05:00

My boys woke up around 7 on Christmas morning and we had agreed to not go downstairs until 7:30 so all the kids could be there at the same time. Before we came downstairs Brad and the kids and I got in our bed together and read the Christmas story of Jesus birth. It was a good reminder and way to start our Christmas morning. I took a video of the boys coming down the stairs and their excitement that Santa CAME! The boys were overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin. We let the boys go through their stuff and open their gifts first.

A football... the only thing Benjamin asked Santa for this year. Clearly he was excited Santa listened and this is what he got.

Caleb got the bike that he could not wait for. He was so excited that santa brought him a big boy bike to ride like Benjamin.

Outside to ride his bike for the first time.

He thought he would ride it down the driveway and was working his way up to the top. We didn't let that happen though.

He did end up standing on the back and riding backwards down the bottom part of the driveway.

Breakfast Christmas Morning was a feast. Egg souffle, blueberry french toast bake, eggs Portuguese, eggnog yogurt with granola, bacon, etc.. it was wonderful.

I gave Benjamin, Caleb and Brad Nerf guns for the wednesdays when daddy is home with the boys. This seemed like a good idea for daddy days :)

Playing their mobigo's

All of us going through our Christmas Stockings

Brad couldn't wait to get out on the back porch with a fire and a good book.

Caleb gave pawpaw his stuffed animals to sleep with

Christmas evening aunt Kathryn made it up to the lake house and we gave her, her gifts.

After all the kids (except Benjamin) went to bed we went out on the back porch and played apples to apples by the fire. It was a lot of fun.

We had a wonderful Christmas with family and it was fun having it at the lake this year. We enjoyed our time together.

Christmas Eve 2011 Part 2

2011-12-24T22:44:00.001-05:00

Around 6:00 we got the boys loaded in the car, turned on our Christmas music, and headed to the lake house to celebrate Christmas with my family. We decided to do Christmas at the lake house this year as something different and because Brent and Anne would be moving to California soon after Christmas. It was just something different and not the norm of what we do. When we arrived the boys were so excited and were running around squealing with excitement. Below Nanna is telling all the boys her "rules" it usually seems to work a little better coming from Nanna then from mommy and daddy.

This is the 14 foot Christmas tree my parents got for free for the lake house. It was so beautiful and magnificent all decorated for Christmas.

Mom and I

My older brother Brandon and my mom.

The living room at the lake house all decorated for Christmas. Looks so cozy with the fire going.

This appeared to be going so well with all the boys listening to a Christmas story.. It just so happened the picture was taken while they were being still.

Then after the story the doorbell rang and one of Santa's Elves left bells for each of the boys on the doorstep

Then we put out cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. The boys decided to start eating the carrots for the reindeer.

Then the boys hung up their stockings for Santa by the fireplace

One group picture before heading up to bed with all the excitement of Santa coming.

Our boys had a very very hard time getting to sleep. They were just too excited.

Santa came!

Santa brought Caleb a big boy bike that he had asked and asked and asked for. It was the ONLY thing he told Santa he wanted.

Christmas Eve 2011 Part 1

2011-12-24T21:10:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve we always go over to Brad's mom and step dads house. I love this day with his family. We eat and hang out and open gifts and there is always a fire in the fire place. The boys really love it too. They get to spend time with Great GiGi, and see great aunt Krystal. They also get to spend time with their cousin Madison. They only see her about 3 times a year so it is special when they get to see her.

Benjamin showing GiGi how to use his new Innotab. He played on it all evening.

Brad's mom and I. We took about 10 pictures because one of us was always doing something unintentional to mess it up.

Papa playing on the floor with Caleb. Caleb loves when papa gets down on the floor to play with him.

Brad had to open his big christmas gift from me at his moms house because we went up to my parents lake house for Christmas and his gift was way too heavy for me to cart all the way there and all the way back.

I got him one of those stacking tool chests that he can lock all his tools in.

As Caleb was opening gifts he kept saying "this is exactly what I wanted for my birthday" it was pretty cute

I ask for one nice Christmas picture with my husband and below is the picture he takes.

Two Days Before Christmas

2011-12-23T20:49:00.001-05:00

On December 23rd we went to Brad's dads house to have our Christmas with them. We had a delicious lasagna and spent time with them. Then we opened gifts and just hung out for a while.

The Boys with uncle Andrew

With Grandpa and Jacquelyn

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-22T20:33:00.001-05:00

I wanted to make cookies with the boys before Christmas, so they helped me in the morning make the dough. Each one got to put ingredients into the bowl and then we had to wait for it to chill. And wait... and wait... The boys actually played outside while we waited because it has been so unusually warm this year. Finally it was time to make cookies so we got everything out and each of the boys got to have a mat to roll out dough and press cookie cutters into it. Usually it ended up while I would help one the other would just use his dough to make a collage of overlapping designs with the cookie cutters and we would just roll it out and start again. Once on the pan they got to decorate with sprinkles. Caleb would very carefully decorate his cookies while Benjamin would just dump sprinkles on his. Every once in a while I would notice Caleb with the opening of the sprinkles in his mouth pouring them in, in hopes I would not notice. You will see in the pictures what Sugar turns Caleb into. It was fun to make cookies with them and have them ready for Santa to arrive.

Caleb right after eating sprinkles from the container....

Caleb once the sprinkles are absorbed into his system.... and what the rest of the day was like!

Biltmore House

2011-12-19T23:32:00.001-05:00

For moms Christmas present this year we had a girls night from dad. Mom has always wanted to see the Biltmore House at Christmas. We got two babysitters to watch the boys until our husbands got home and while we girls left to drive to Asheville, NC. We had reservations for the formal dining room at the Biltmore Inn where we had the most amazing dinner I have probably ever had. If not the most amazing, it was in the top 5. The chef is an iron chef and it was just unbelievable. After dinner we drove over to the house and got to see everything all decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful and mom loved it! It was a great way to get Christmas started.

The picture below was taken at the house since you are not allowed to bring cameras into the house. From Left to right Kathryn (Brandon's girlfriend) Anne (Brents Wife), Mom, and Myself.

This is the Tree that they decorate in the front of the house outside. It was so beautiful and I believe they said it had 40,000 lights.

A Nest

2011-12-16T22:52:00.000-05:00

As a child my dad would always tell me I would sleep in a nest. I would put pillows around me, and make a soft little area all around my bed for the best possible sleep. The other night I went in to check on the boys before I went to bed and I found Benjamin in his own little nest. I had to get a picture since it reminded me of what I used to do when I was younger. If I could I would still make a nest out of pillows and blankets, but I don't think Brad would sleep very well if I did that.

The Best Christmas Pagent Ever...

2011-12-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

Th boys had their Christmas program at school and were very excited about it. They got all dressed up and kept asking if they looked handsome. Then on the drive over Benjamin kept telling me about the "shefford shuffle" and I could NOT understand for the life of me what he was trying to tell me. Finally he said "oh mommy you will just have to wait and see" it ended up being a song called the Shepherd Shuffle. They did a great job. Benjamin was dressed as a shepherd and Caleb was an angel. They were so proud of themselves after their performance. The pictures are not great my camera was not working well for some reason.

A Christmas Card in the Making...

2011-12-12T23:28:00.000-05:00

These pictures make me laugh because there are many things about them that you would never know from our Christmas card this year. First of all the boys shirts are like 3 sizes too small. Benjamin's only came 3/4 of the way down his arm and was super short on him. It was the only "Christmas" looking shirt I could find. The boys actually are not even wearing pants in the pictures because I knew they would be in the box. The boys are sitting in a Tupperware container wrapped half way with wrapping paper. I wanted it to look like they were in a package. It just was not coming together. Then I thought I could just edit pictures and make them look good. Yeah not so much. Then the fun of trying to get them to both look at me. Here is the way the pictures went.

Hey this is going to go well.. the first picture isn't too bad but the lights were blurry..

Caleb don't smile so much... just do a nice smile

Caleb put your hand down

Caleb just smile normal.. dont make funny faces

Blurry and Caleb looks mad

Caleb open your eyes... Benjamin close your eyes a little

Caleb look at the camera

Not a good expression caleb

NO caleb.... a NORMAL smile, Benjamin smile

Boys look at me

OH Caleb... I give up.. put your hand down

Look at..... Me

No leave the shirt on Benjamin.. I know its too small but just leave it on.. And caleb please do a normal smile.

Caleb quit screaming.. and look at the camera

Caleb open your eyes a little, not too bad though

This one might just work! I had to bribe with lollipops for this one

Put your heads close together... oh no too close benjamin.. Caleb look at mommy

Ugggh not again...

Hey boys want a lollipop? -shoot the tree blurred

Ok hug each other... not so tight Benjamin I can't see Caleb's face

Benjamin look at the camera.. Caleb just smile

I didn't mean sit down so low.. just sit normal..

Benjamin sit higher, Caleb sit lower

Dont give up Caleb.. we are almost done.. we might even have 1 picture we can use.

Much Better

almost done.. I just don't know if we have one that is good yet

Now put your faces close together.. and laugh.. this is funny

oops too much of a squeeze

Ok thats it we are done.. now I can see you are just in Tupperware..

It only took about 500 pictures to finally get one that would work. What a process it is. After all that hard work I sent out half of my christmas cards and left my list at work so I didn't konw who got them and who didn't so I couldn't send out the rest of them. Oh well maybe next year we will get them all out.

Gamecocks at it again...

2011-12-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

Gamecocks.. our elf was at it again recently when he got into the candy machine and ate some of the M&M's.

Another day we found him asleep in the kleenex box taking a nap he must have had a really busy night the night before.

Other things our elf did: got into the toilet paper and wrapped it around the tree and in the house, got into the marshmallows and spilled them. Got into the lucky charms and made a trail from the pantry to the table, Got into the candy bowl and ate a bunch of the candy in it. Got in the fridge and was hanging on the milk carton. He also got the dry erase markers and wrote a note on the bathroom mirror for the boys reminding them that Christmas was going to be here soon. Caleb would always say "where is that silly elf?" and "that elf is silly" the boys really love seeing what he has gotten into the night before.

Decorating the Tree

2011-12-11T21:49:00.001-05:00

We get dressed in christmas jammies and put christmas music on and let the boys decorate the tree. All the ornaments end up at the bottom of the tree so they have to get moved around a little. The pictures don't do justice, but this year our tree was HUGE. It was a beautiful tree.

It was a fun time getting our tree ready for Santa to come even though we were not going to be at our home for Christmas this year.

That Silly Elf...

2011-12-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

Our elf was at it again last night... the boys woke up to him having put some of their underwear on the christmas tree. The boys thought this was so funny!

Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight we went to get our Christmas tree. Once again we got a tree that was not out on the lot but still wrapped up so that we would be surprised when we got home and could see what it looked like. It is really fun and a good tradition to have in our family. Once we get it decorated and everything we will give it a name.

The boys being silly

After getting the tree we headed over to the roper mountain holiday lights and drove through. The boys loved it. After driving through we went to see santa. Caleb was a little apprehensive at first but told him that he wanted to have a big boy bike like Benjamin and Benjamin told him he wanted a football.

We got our tree home and in the stand and cut the rope to let the limbs fall.

So far it looks beautiful and actually is really really fat! Just like I like a Christmas Tree

This was after about an hour.. The elf found his spot on the top of the tree.

We will decorate later this week and get the tree all dressed in lights and ornaments for the rest of the season. I love Christmas Time! LOVE IT!

The Parade

2011-12-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we went downtown to the Christmas Parade. We went last year and the boys love it. They absolutely couldn't wait to see Santa. Santa is becoming somewhat of a celebrity in our house. They couldn't wait to go down and see everything. This year it was not freezing cold like it was last year so it was a little easier to sit outside and enjoy it since the wind was not whipping our faces.

Caleb running across the street before the parade started. (don't worry the roads were blocked off)

Having fun with daddy

Sitting with Papa watching everything go by

My birthday boy! Today was Benjamin's 4th Birthday. He enjoyed going to the parade on his real birthday.

Caleb kept getting up and putting his hand out for candy. We actually collected a lot of candy

I tried to get all three of us but didn't quite get it.

The moment of the day! Santa on the back of a "real" firetruck! My boys could not get any more excited about something.. Santa and a fire truck.. life doesn't get any better

Happy 4th Birthday Benjamin

2011-12-04T08:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Dec. 3rd we celebrated Benjamin's 4th Birthday! I can't believe he is 4 years old. We had a pirate party this year and it was a really fun theme to do for a kids party. Benjamin had a blast. The cake was the quickest one I have done so far. I had fondant left from a cake I recently made and was able to use it. It was not as good as when I make fondant and use it right away, but it turned out well. For three days prior to the party I tried to get refrigerator boxes from Lowes to make pirate ships and on the third day of them telling me they would save them if I was there at 8am I called before going over there and the lady said "they told me you came and got them so the one's I put aside for you got crushed" I was so upset! I was trying to take trash off their hands and couldn't get it! I called every store I could think of that might have boxes and no one had anything. It was really frustrating and we ended up without pirate ships. Brads dad also known as Grampa dressed up like a pirate for the party. It was so fun to have him dress up for Benjamin. The kids went on a "treasure hunt" for golden glooms (which is gold coins and what they call them on Jake and the Neverland Pirates), they played in the jump house, and made pirate hats. I had a pinata that was a treasure box and the kids had fun hitting it. It was a really sturdy pinata and even after some help we still couldn't get it to bust open until I just opened the bottom of it for the candy to fall out. We ate chili and hot dogs and had a great time watching Benjamin open his gifts. After every gift he would say " this is exactly what I wanted." He was so sweet and went around and gave everyone a hug and kiss and told them thank you for his gift and coming to his party. I found these really cute pirate masks that the kids got to wear. I never got pictures of him with his cake or anything because my camera died (of course). I am going to have to get pictures from someone else. After his party we took toys out of the boxes and Benjamin was so excited to play with them. He played until bedtime and never stopped except to eat his dinner. He cried when he went to bed because he just didn't want it to end. It was a really fun party and the kids had a blast.

Gamecock Where are You?

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Our Elf has been very busy watching the boys and looking for places to hide. He has been on the book shelf reading books, on top of the TV and he also got in the boys airplane and flew around the house before getting caught in the garland above the door frame.

Gamecocks... our Elf

2011-11-27T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well we have started doing the Elf on the Shelf. I got it last year and someone had written in the book and so we had to return it and never started it. This year I couldn't wait to start it. Today we skipped church (ok not really because both our children have croup and we couldn't take them) we got all our decorations down and started decorating for Christmas. I LOVE to decorate for Christmas... Love Love Love it! I fell like my house transforms into a warm holiday oasis. So there didn't seem a better time to start the elf on the shelf then today. I snuck into the office and typed up a letter from Santa and then put the elf in a gift bag and put it out on the front porch. The boys came out with us to hang lights and went straight past the gift. Eventually they realized it was there and got all excited. Brad and I were like "what is that and where did it come from?" Then I told them the letter said it was from Santa. We took it into the playroom and read the letter from Santa and then opened it. We read the book and then the boys had to come up with a name for the Elf. At first Benjamin wanted to name him "Brockstack" and with a little persuasion to not name him brockstack the boys decided on naming him "Gamecocks." Brad was thrilled that this was what they decided to name him. I told them that they couldn't touch him and that he would just get out of the box by himself.

After about an hour the boys wanted to see the elf again and sure enough he got out of the box and the boys found him in their little mini Christmas tree in the playroom. Caleb doesn't quite get the "don't touch the elf" concept and pulled him down out of the tree.

I want our elf to be fun so tomorrow they will wake up to this... The elf got into the toothpaste and wrote Ho!Ho!Ho! across the sink and counter in their bathroom. They will think it is great. I am going to have a lot of fun with this elf this next month. Benjamin really is into this whole elf thing. Today he came running in and went straight to the elf and said "elf... Caleb isn't listening to daddy" I just started laughing and said "Benjamin you are not supposed to tell the elf when someone is not being good.. We don't tattle to the elf"

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T22:15:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving this year was low-key and enjoyable. I spent the entire day before cooking. This year I sat down and kind of divided up Thanksgiving and who would do what then talked it over with Anne and sent out an email to my family. I wanted to take some of the stress off of mom so she would not have to make the entire meal. This year I made corn pudding (like corn casserole) sweet potato souffle, a Hoosier sugar pie, marshmallow praline sweet potato pie, and pumpkin bars. I did all my cooking the day before and cooked all day while the kids played. Thanksgiving morning we got up and put the parade on for the kids. They thought it was amazing. I tried to get it on video, but Benjamin was standing in front of the TV trying so hard to dance along with all the performers. It was so cute to watch him. Brad took the boys over to his dad's house for a few hours and then we headed to Brad's moms house. Caleb got croup the day before Thanksgiving and was on steroids for it and for some reason he was just really laid back and calm. It was a lot of fun and a delicious meal. We got our family picture and then let the kids play.

I played Diego Bingo with the boys on the kitchen floor. It was fun. Caleb didn't quite get the concept, but had fun anyway.

Later in the afternoon we went over to my parents house for our second Thanksgiving meal. Brandon's girlfriends parents joined us for Thanksgiving. It was a fun time with them and getting to know them. The kids had a puzzle competition. That evening Brad and I left with the boys and went to the lake house. My younger brother Brent unfortunately was sick on Thanksgiving and spent the entire morning in the emergency room trying to get diagnosed and they told him it was nothing and sent him home.

The Love in my life.

The second love of my life

"aunt Kathryn" Brandon's girlfriend posing for pictures Benjamin was taking.

Caleb and PawPaw

The Third love of my life

This was the picture Benjamin took "close up" of me.... Its a wonderful picture I know.

Brad and I have a tradition that we have been doing ever since we were dating, and that is on Thanksgiving night we watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and that is how we start our Christmas holiday season. It is also tradition that I fall asleep on the couch while we are watching it and never make it to the end of the movie. Last year we had two copies of the movie and this year we couldn't find either of them and had to rent it online in order to watch it on the computer. Oh well. I have another year to find the movie. Thanksgiving was wonderful and it was a great time with family.

Thanksgiving Program 11/22/11

2011-11-22T21:23:00.001-05:00

Benjamin and Caleb had their Thanksgiving program at school and it was so cute. I was sure that Caleb would just stand there and not sing at all, but he actually got into it and sang and did the hand motions for his songs. Benjamin was dressed up as a little indian and Caleb was a pilgram. They were so proud of themselves. I actually was able to get the first half of the day off of work and it allowed me to be at the program and have lunch with the kids. The boys did such a great job.

At the end of the program they all get up there and sing together. It was a lot of kids. Caleb was able to spot Benjamin a few rows above him and kept turning around to see him. After the program Benjamin gave him a big hug and said "Caleb I saw you singing and you did such a good job"

Bedtime equals Dreadtime....

2011-11-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

When your kids are babies there is something so sweet and so amazing about bedtime. Rub them down with lotion, read books in the rocking chair, sing to them while they reach up and touch your face, it is just a sweet time with them. Then something flips and they hit this age where you say bedtime and all the sugar in their bodies from the whole day decide to kick into full gear. It is a struggle to get jammies on, you fight them to brush their teeth ( I have actually had to hold Caleb down so I could hold his mouth open to brush) then you try to read stories (which recently all turn into talk about my boys favorite topic poop, so I quit reading.) Then there is the battle of trying to get them in beds and put covers on them which turns into yet another battle kind of like trying to put a cat in a pillow case. By this time I feel so frustrated and exhausted that I dont care what they do and I figure they will finally wear out.. After a while and still hearing them jumping around their room and opening drawers (which means they are throwing all the clothes out on the floor) they get a lecture about going to bed and behavior etc. It always continues and then finally they have to get a spanking. I DREAD bedtime every night. What happened to a sweet time with them where you get to hold them and feel close to them? The other night I we went to bed and Benjamin was still awake... I have no clue what time he finally went to sleep.

On another note.... the people who created daylight savings time obviously did NOT have children. I feel like we just got Caleb to where he was sleeping from the spring time change and now we changed it again. Caleb now thinks it is fine to get up at 5:30 A.M.!! This morning at 6:30 I could hear the kids up laughing and went in there to find them in the closet hiding and playing. Seriously?? I know this is all for a time and it will pass ever so quickly and I will look back and say "it wasnt so bad" however, right now it feels like complete and total torture.
BEDTIME EQUALS DREADTIME!!

Playing with Alligators

2011-10-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

Last night we were riding downtown in the car and we passed an old church with a graveyard next to it. Here is how conversation went
Caleb: Wow that is a beautiful castle!
Benjamin: Thats not a castle that is where they put people when they are dead (the graveyard)
Me: Benjamin how did you know that?
Benjamin: Because I am smart.

Also the boys were talking and singing and Benjamin said firemen have donations!
Brad: Benjamin do you mean dalmations?
Benjamin: Yes dalmations!

I have to go back and record a story from this past July. I was out in Seattle visiting my friend Cristy and got a call from my dad and here is the story he told me.

Benjamin and dad were at Publix getting some groceries and Benjamin knows that they give free cookies at the grocery store so he told PawPaw that he had to get one. They went over to the counter and there was a line so they were waiting and Benjamin noticed the guy behind the counter. He was a fairly young guy who had recently had his arm amputated. Benjamin loudly said Paw Paw I think he broke his arm off. My dad was of course embarassed and was trying to get Benjamin to be quiet and told him that he shouldn't say stuff like that so loundly and he might hurt the guys feelings. The line was not moving so dad decided to go get groceries and hope that Benjamin would forget about the cookie. They were about to check out when Benjamin said Paw Paw you forgot my cookie. So off they go back to the bakery. They told the guy without an arm what they wanted and Benjamin looks at my dad and says "paw paw.... I think he's been playing with alligators!"

I have to preface this next little story with the fact that race is not an issue in our house or a concern. We have talked with the kids about the fact that people are different and can be different colors etc... Anyway my mom had filled up sippy cups and was trying to remember which one Benajmin had so she said "Benjamin which one are you Red or Blue? He looked at her and said "Nanna----- I'm white!"

Kids say whatever is on their mind.

Happy 6th Anniversary

2011-10-22T08:48:00.000-04:00

Six years ago today I walked down the aisle and met Brad standing there ready to commit our lives to each other. We made our vows and said I do and our life together began. It doesn't seem so long ago that we celebrated this wonderful day. I love him as much today (actually more) than I did six years ago. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the one I love!

Let the Blogging Begin!

2011-10-22T08:41:00.000-04:00

I am so excited because I can finally blog again! For our 6th Anniversary Brad got me a new lap top so that I could finally blog again. We had a very old computer that kept filling the space and we couldn't do anything untl we got rid of stuff on the computer. This is how we ended up losing an entire years worth of our boys pictures. We thought they were being saved to our external hard drive and they weren't saving. We took our computer in to have everything recovered if it could be. Some was recovered and a lot was destroyed when deleted. Anyway I am back now that we have a computer I can take with me and is not in our office. My kids hate for me to be in the office and they are not allowed in. They stand at the door knocking etc and it was impossible to ever do anything on the computer. I am going to slowly start to catch up from the past few months since I have not blogged in a long time. Anyway I am so excited to be back.

The first days of the sprinkler...

2011-06-16T22:49:00.001-04:00

Brothers... enough said.

Benjamin decided one evening to take his riding toy and ride straight off the stairs on the deck landing on the concrete and causing quite the boo boo on his face.

Why would you eat your spaghetti O's any other way?

Because it is so funny!

And it makes him so happy!

Benjamin doesn't eat his that way.

Our pet for a day.. found in Nanna's yard. We ended up taking him to the property the next day and releasing him. We named him Franklin

Madison's Birthday

2011-06-16T22:40:00.000-04:00

My little snuggle bug.

Caleb trying to jump up and touch the pinata...

Madison trying to hit the pinata.

Benjamin gets a turn.

Happy Birthday to you!

On a little hike with Papa

Back home playing on the swings.

A few pictures

2011-06-16T22:31:00.002-04:00

One Handsome Fellow

Helping daddy sand the table

First Party

2011-06-16T22:23:00.000-04:00

Benjamin got invited to his first birthday party for a friend from school's birthday. He was SO EXCITED! Dylan is Benjamin's best friend at school. They play super Dylan and super Benjamin together and apparently are inseparable at school. The party was at playnation and they had a blast.

Spring is in the Air...

2011-06-16T22:13:00.000-04:00

I love spring evenings when the kids can run around in the yard while I make dinner and we can go outside and eat on the porch before the bugs have emerged and started biting and the heat is not so intense it is not fun to be outside. I have to say this dinner was a pretty dinner. Fish tacos with mango salsa.. delicious!

Shirtless boys enjoying dinner.

After dinner and with the kids in bed, Brad and I went outside on the porch in the cool evening and enjoyed one of the best beers I have ever had.

Catch-up again!

2011-06-16T22:01:00.000-04:00

Giggle Bugs with Wyatt and Finn.. The kids had a blast bouncing around and having fun.

Caleb sliding down

Into the tunnel

Caleb's 2nd Birthday Party

2011-03-25T08:30:00.000-04:00

On Saturday the 19th of March we had Caleb's 2nd Birthday Party. We did a construction theme and were ready for the boys to have a wonderful party outside.

Here are the invitations I made.

My little construction worker ready for work.

I worked hard to make Caleb's Cake. There were a few disastrous moments with Caleb trying to "Help" and by that he meant get into the black icing dye and rub it all over his face and hands. Prior to that he wanted to help with the dishes and ended up getting a knife out of the drawer because he had a chair next to it and could reach it. And right after the dye incident he decided to get into the fridge and shake all the soy sauce out of the bottle onto my kitchen floor. All while I was trying to make his cake.

We planned for an outdoor party in our backyard because there was only a 10% chance of rain. The entire day was beautiful until about 10 minutes before the party was starting and the sky opened up. Right as I put the last thing outside the raindrops started. I was able to quickly get some pictures before we had to undo everything and take it inside.

The dump truck centerpiece filled with brownies

Caleb showing off his party shirt that is so perfect for him.. it says I Love Dirt

Caleb with Nana

The men standing outside under one of the tents in the rain

After the rain stopped we moved everything back outside and got the party started.

Uncle Boy and Jo Jo

Nana wearing her construction hat for the kids

Brad's Aunt and mom

My dad and I

Opening gifts

Caleb was really into the gift opening... he loved it.

The pirate ship from big brother Benjamin

Time for cake!

Acting shy with everyone singing

Blowing out the candle

My Handsome Husband with his dad

Brad with his mom and grandmother

My little Birthday Boy

A family picture after a long day of partying

The day ended with a bath and squirt guns. Caleb had a wonderful birthday!

Thank you to all our family and friends who made it to the party. We had a lot of fun despite the rain.

A Weekend Project...

2011-03-18T14:56:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday morning my dad came over around 9am. At 9:30 dad and Brad started to put together the new swingset we got the kids with money they got for Christmas. Little did we know what an undertaking the whole project would be.

Benjamin and Caleb wanted to be right in the middle of everything "helping" I eventually had to get them out of the house and took them to the park with my mom, sister-in-law and nephews because I couldn't keep them out of everything.

Caleb had a chair out in the yard eating goldfish and watching. I was sitting on the ground next to him and he asked to take off his shirt. So I took it off and he looked at me and said "mommy you take your shirt off too?" I had to laugh.

When we left at lunch time to go to the park this is about all that had been done.

This is a pretty flower Benjamin picked for me.

When we came back from the park around 3:30 this is where the guys were...They were beyond frustrated because the directions would show something built one way and they would turn the page and it would show the same picture with parts built on the opposite side or something like that so they would take apart what they did and redo it to find it switched again on the following page. The directions were VERY confusing.

At the start of day 2 this is what it looked like. Brad's step dad also came over on day two to help.

it's coming together

Dad spent a little cuddle time with the boys on the hammock

Almost done

Benjamin desperately wanted to help

While the swing set was being put together I utilized dad to help me with our garden boxes and getting the lattice under our deck.

Finally the swing set was done and the boys were so excited!

Now that the swing set is done we are ready for Caleb's birthday party next weekend.

A simple gift...

2011-03-16T23:18:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I had a patient that was 36 years old and mentally handicapped. I was really nervous about working with this person, as I have never had a handicapped patient before. I wasn't nervous because of her condition, I was nervous because I didn't want to insult her treating her different, or something like that. Anyway I think it was a little gift from God. This person is 36 and has no ability to talk, or ever be on her own. Her mother was with her guiding her and caring for her and she has for the past 36 years. What a sacrifice this mother has made. There is nothing like a mothers love for her child no matter how old. Her mother had to go into the bathroom with her, she had to help hold her mouth open for me, and instruct her on what to do. Her mom held her hand the entire time to make her feel comfortable. This patient of mine did nothing but smile most of the appointment. She was excited about her teeth being cleaned and would make noises to her mom and smile at her mom and as only a mother would know, her mom told her that her teeth looked so pretty. As I was cleaning her teeth I couldn't help but sit there and think about this life and how she only has one opportunity to spend on this earth and it is in a body she doesn't have control over, but she was happy. The entire time she was happy. I wondered if maybe in some way she was the lucky one because she gets to live her entire life with a childlike innocence never understand the responsibility of life, paying bills, meeting deadlines etc. She gets to be happy and excited over the simple things in life. She never has to know of the sadness in life, the evil that is all around, or the horrible news that comes on each night. There is something I envied over the fact that she never has to feel those things. Not that she is never sad or frustrated because I know she is, but just living life as a child and never knowing that there are grown up things in life. Then I watched her communication with her mom and it was just amazing. I had to have her step out of the room so I could take xrays on her mom and she wouldn't leave without giving her mom a kiss and she was just going to stand outside the room for about 1 minute. The whole situation just spoke to me in many different ways. As a mom, the sacrifice it takes to care for your children. As an adult, seeing someone older than I am with the mental capability of my youngest child. As a believer knowing that someday she will be healed of everything she can't experience in this world. And most of all I just took note of how happy she was. Happy to just have her teeth cleaned, happy to get a toy out of the toy box. She just sat as I cleaned her moms teeth and smiled. I wondered if she understands happiness in some way that we will never understand. Almost like God gave her that one thing, happiness, as a trade off for having to live her life on earth this way. At the end of the appointment with them she thanked me in sign language and made me feel appreciated. She made me think about the simple blessings in life and I am so glad to have met this person yesterday she made me feel blessed in my life.

Two Years Ago Today...

2011-03-15T22:39:00.000-04:00

Two years ago today I woke up at 4 something in the morning and headed to the hospital to bring Caleb Thomas Buczkowski into this world. My labor was not too long and I only had to push 1 1/2 times before my tiny little boy was born. What an amazing day that would change my life forever. My little 6lb 7oz bundle of joy!. I had to get preemie clothes to fit him, but his arms and legs were so long they stuck out of the sleeves. His little hands and feet seemed huge for his tiny body.

He was so tiny and this was the best picture to show it.

Caleb looked like a little old man when he was born. He didn't quite seem to fit into his skin and was wrinkled. I remember all the nurses commenting on how pink and defined his lips were.

He was attached to his daddy from day one decked out in

Today two years later my little boy is an active toddler! Where did time go? Tonight Caleb pulled up a chair to the counter to "help" me make his birthday cake. He is a baby no more, I now have only toddlers.

Caleb doesn't want to do thing with help, he wants to do it himself "I do it" seems to be what I hear these days.

Now my little baby is two and my heart feels a little heavy that time is slipping away too quickly.

This is Caleb trying to tell me he is Two today.

My Sweet Caleb,

You were the best surprise that I have ever had. You were not planned by me or daddy, but you were perfectly planned by God. He knew exactly who you were going to be before I ever knew I was pregnant with you. Today you are two... two whole years you have graced us with your beautiful eyes which are so full of life, your amazing smile that never seems to go away, your feisty personality full of spunk and love. You wake up smiling and you go to bed smiling. You have an extremely tender side to you and I love when I see little pieces of it. Two nights ago I was laying in your bed talking with you and you said "mommy I like your eyes, mommy you a pretty mommy." it is the moments like these that I want to hold on to and freeze in time. You also have a side to you that is feisty and hard to deal with, but I am learning daily how to battle your battles. I want to savor every minute of your life while you are little and growing, but it is so hard when life is flying past and things are supposed to be getting done. I want to freeze you in time so that I can hold you and cuddle you, because I know one day you will be too old and too big to cuddle and I will miss these days. My heart is a bit sad as I realize tonight that tomorrow you begin your third year of life. You will discover new words, have new tantrums, and search for life to the fullest. You will discover dirt and worms and how things work, you will start talking like a little person and more clearly. So here is what I wish for you on your second birthday:

As you enter your third year of life,I pray that you will have eyes that discover the beauty of God's creation. I pray that you will see everyone as an equal and never notice the color of skin or that someone is different. I hope you never have to see the evil in this world but that you will see the good in others, and that you would see the grace God has given to all of us.

As you enter your third year of life, I pray that you will have ears that listen. Listen to the whispers of God in the wind reminding you that you are loved. Listen to the music of your heart, allowing it to guide you as you grow. Listen to the wisdom of those around you, God placed them there for a reason. And most of all listen to the word of the Lord because it will never fail you.

As you enter your third year of life, I pray that you will have a mouth that will never fear to claim the Lord. I pray that you will have a mouth that speaks wisdom and truth. I pray that you will have a mouth that only knows kind words and is never used to belittle others or cast a hurtful word. I pray that you will have a mouth that is able to stand up for those who are picked on, even at the cost of your reputation or friends. I pray that you will have a mouth filled with God's love and never afraid to claim the Lord as your savior.

As you enter your third year of life, I pray that you will have hands that help carry the burden of those who can not. I pray that you will have hands that are gentle but strong. And I pray that you have hands that will always bring glory to the Lord.

As you enter your third year of life, I pray that you will have feet that will carry you wherever you dream. I pray that your feet will lead you down paths of grace, and love and truth. And I pray that your feet will carry you beside the Lord.

And as you enter your third year of life, I pray that you will learn to share, to not hit or pull hair, and I pray that you will stop biting your brother. I pray that you will start sleeping through the night and I pray that you will stop throwing your dinner. I pray that you will ask me to read to you more, or to hold you more. I pray that you will continue to always wake up with a smile and that you will always be healthy. I pray that you will continue to love this life you are only starting to discover because I realize you are only two and that you are only starting your third year of life. The things I pray for you now, are things I want for your life as a whole and it is never too early to start praying. Caleb Thomas Buczkowski I love you with all my heart and I will my entire life. Thank you for being you, even on the days that are tough. Happy 2nd Birthday sweet boy, I love you!

Over the Hill...

2011-03-14T14:52:00.000-04:00

My 1998 4Runner has now officially stepped over the hill! I have been waiting on this milestone and happened to look up before starting my car to go somewhere and noticed my car had passed it's prime

I am finally at 200,000 miles!

Unfortunately it is time for a new car... New as in used but new to me car.

An Early Birthday Gift...

2011-03-14T14:49:00.000-04:00

Caleb got a package in the mail and it came a little early for his birthday, so we decided to let him open it. The gift was from my cousin Carley, who they think is called aunt Charlie. So Aunt Charlie this post is for you!

Benjamin of course was all in on the excitement and couldn't wait to see what it was!

A BULLDOZER!! There is no better gift for my boys.

This morning this bulldozer even got in bed with me!

THANK YOU AUNT CHARLIE!!!

Family Movie Night...

2011-03-14T14:42:00.000-04:00

Recently we have been having "family movie night" which means we either set up the computer in the boys room and we pile in on one of their beds and watch part of a cartoon movie, or we will gather on the couch and watch something. The boys think it is great. They get their bath, get jammies on, gather all the pacifiers, water cups, blankets etc and prepare for time together. We watch about 20 to 30 minutes before we tuck the boys in for bed. Our most recent movie has been the jungle book. Benjamin has even started asking "is tonight a family movie night?"

The lights were out in the boys room, but the flash made it look like they were on.

No Fuss Chicken...

2011-03-14T11:19:00.000-04:00

Here is a delicious crock pot recipe for you.

The Ingredients (skinless chicken-i took the skin off of it.) This recipe is great for any types of chicken pieces, thighs, legs, breasts etc. Use as many as you want, just make sure you have enough sauce to cover it in the crock pot.

Chicken

2 cans chicken broth

sage,rosemary, basil, parsley

1/2 cup flour

salt pepper (not pictured)

Butter

Add flour to a shallow dish and add 1 tsp of each herb.

Mix well.

Add butter to pan (sometimes I will use butter and olive oil) and let it melt but not burn. You want the pan hot so there is a nice sizzle when the chicken is placed in it.

Roll chicken in the flour mixture until nicely coated.

Place into pan and let brown. You may have to turn the heat down if the butter starts to get too burned. Also add more butter or oil if needed

Once chicken is in pan let it all brown very well

Turn it over and let the other side brown.

Place chicken into a crock pot

Place pan back on burner with the oil and butter remaining in the pan.If there is not much in the pan you are going to need to add more.

Add flour to the pan. Because I was taking pictures my butter started to burn. I add a little flour at a time and cook it down about 1 minute stirring constantly.

Below is what you want it to look like. It easily clumps up and if it starts to do this start adding your chicken broth.

You can see the clumps of flour, so I added broth and wisked the clumps out.

Here it is nice and smooth.

Let it come to a boil for 1 minute and stir often.

Pour gravy over chicken until it is covered.

Once it cooks down the chicken will appear again. Let it cook on high for 5 hours or low 8 to 10 hours.

Serve over rice. This is a great meal to take to someone who has had a baby or surgery or something. It cooks all day and may not be the best looking presentation, but I promise taste will make up for looks.

A Caleb Morning

2011-03-14T10:35:00.000-04:00

Caleb really likes to have some one on one time with me and this morning we got to have quite a bit before anyone woke up. We read books and played with this little frog that jumps and we fed dinosaurs and farm animals and read books. It started our day off well because Caleb got that one on on time with me.

Look how happy he is :)

This is Caleb's new attachment item. It is a scratch and sniff Christmas book from the dollar bin at Target and he takes it everywhere with him now. Whenever he gets tired he wants his blanket, 3 pacifiers, and now this book. He takes them all to bed with him as well. I hope we won't have many more items we need for bed because it is getting hard to find all of them when we need them.

Bonless Skinless Chicken Breasts...

2011-03-14T10:04:00.001-04:00

One thing people don't know is how easy it is to take chicken off the bone and how much it saves you. It takes just a few minutes to do and is a huge savings. This pack of chicken cost me $4.19 and there are 5 chicken breasts in the pack. That is $0.83 per chicken breast. Along with each breast is also a chicken tender (the ones that are packaged for you to buy at the store) I am going to take you step by step through the process of taking chicken off the bone and to an even greater savings.

Below I took 1 piece of chicken and turned it over so the bones are showing.

Step 2. locate the bone running the length of the breast and off to one side. My knife is sitting between the bone and the meat.

Step 3. cut straight down along the bone the length of the chicken. You will not be able to cut along the entire top of the breast there is a bone that runs sideways at the top.

Step 4. Pull the bone to the side letting you see what is still attached to the bone.

Step 5. Locate a small bone that runs about half the width of the chicken breast. My finger is touching the end of the bone.

Step 6. Cut under this bone allowing the meat to separate from it. (my knife is under the tip of this bone and I will cut straight along the underside of it.)

Step 7. After cutting under the small bone cut straight down and the chicken will completely separate from all the bones.

It looks like a lot of meat remains on the right side(the bone), but it is just a little meat still attached to the bone. You may have to cut through a little skin.

Step 8. There is a little piece of meat on the chicken breast (see the line where my knife is pointing) it runs the length of the breast. This is the chicken tender. Just pick up one end of it with your hands and pull it.

The tender comes right off the breast.

Below is what it looks like. It will have a little white line down the middle of it.

Step 9. Turn the breast over it is time to remove the skin.

Step 10. Start at one end and grab the skin and pull it the length of the breast. It will peel right off.

You are Done and have 1 boneless skinless chicken breast and one chicken tender. Wrap in tinfoil and put in a freezer back for an individual serving. I wrap each breast separately, so I can get out what I need for a recipe. To take the bone off , get the tender, and remove the skin takes about 30 seconds each. It will take a little longer at first until you get the hang where the bones are etc.

Good luck and let me know if anyone tries this.

The Hoozie!

2011-03-06T23:49:00.000-05:00

The Hoozie

I have waited a while to post about this, but everything was in the clear for me to post it a few months ago and I have not had a chance. Ever since I have known Brad he has had this idea for the Hoozie. A hooded sweatshirt with a built in coozie where you are able to be hands free. It is also designed so that it holds an ipod perfectly and even has a way to run the headphones through the sweatshirt and hook them into the hood so that the earphones stay in place. It is perfect for jogging and the opening seals shut to hold other items in the pocket. Right now they have Carolina, Clemson, Plain gray that you can have screen printed yourself, and College ones. It is really fun to see his idea come to life. Check out the website to find out all the features and get one for yourself. The website is www.myhoozie.com

Check it out!

Boom Boom Boom

2011-03-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

Caleb has all the sudden become very attached to his pacifier. VERY ATTACHED. He now has decided he needs it all day and he not only needs one in his mouth, but he needs one in each hand. At night he likes to take the two in his hands and he pushes them under his tummy and the mattress. I am guessing so that he can feel where they are at night if he wakes up without one. At night when I rock with him he will lay facing me and he will tuck his hands between me and himself and leave his pacifier there tucked nicely between us. As he is dozing off he will check to make sure the pacifier is still there tucked exactly where he put it between us. I really think it is cute and a sweet memory to have. He better enjoy them though because in a little over a week we are going to pull the plug on the "boom boom's" as my children call them and try to ween Caleb from them.

Grocery Shopping.

2011-03-06T23:34:00.001-05:00

I needed to go to the grocery store so bad over the last few weeks, but the deals just were not very good. It was not the best week, but it was worth the trip. I went to both publix and bi-lo on this trip. The table is slightly split the left was bilo (from the orange juice over to the left) and the rest was publix. My total was $173.00 before any discounts and after coupons and discounts my total for everything here was $62.00 and some change. I was pretty happy with my deals. It felt good to shop again with coupons since I have been taking a break for a while now.

A day with the Boys...

2011-03-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

Brad had a day with the boys and took them to a little park off Highway 11 where there is a great little trail and he went hiking with the boys. The morning started out with breakfast outside. We have had some unbelievable February weather that has been in the 70's. This was one of those mornings and we took full advantage of eating outside this morning.

Here are the pictures from their boys day.

I am pretty sure they had a great time. They were all muddy and worn out when they got done.

The Blue Paint...

2011-03-06T23:22:00.001-05:00

Brad may never live this one down. We have had our house up for sale since last summer. Before it went on the market Brad went over there and got out the paint to paint baseboards, doors, etc to make everything look nice and just touch up areas that needed a little paint. Well after that we never went back inside the house until recently. When I went in I was walking around and my reaction was "what did he do? and why would he do that?" That is when I realized that all the painting Brad had done was BABY BLUE not white! Brad is color blind to shades of color. He can't tell the difference in black and navy, or shades of green or different shades of many colors. Well this is one of those times. He couldn't tell that the paint he was using was baby blue from when we had our boys. I will give him that in the can it does look more white, but dries a lot darker. Anyway after seeing this I was not surprised our house had not sold. Not to mention that he had painted parts of doorways, sections of base boards, and little areas here and there. Since then we have been back in and did a lot of painting. Hopefully it will help it sell in the future.

A day at the museum...

2011-03-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

One friday we decided to take the kids to the children's museum. It was the first day after we knew for sure we were virus free in our house and the kids needed to get out and so did we. We took them to Taco Casa for lunch and then went to the museum. Brad had never been, so he was having a ton of fun with the kids. Not that I wasn't :)

It was a fun filled day out and the kids were exhausted after our day at the museum.

A little random...

2011-03-06T23:09:00.000-05:00

A few random pictures.

I love the expression on his face in this one. He was trying to be funny.

Benjamin is into "building" right now and anytime he builds something it is a lakehouse. Here is the lakehouse he built with his jumbo legos. He was very proud of it.

A new table.

2011-03-06T23:07:00.000-05:00

Our eating area is in our kitchen and we had a round table in there and it just took up too much of the space. Pier One was having a sale on this table and I had a coupon so I got it. The sides fold in and it is big enough to pull away from the wall to fit many people around it. It was the perfect table for my needs.

A Dirty Day...

2011-03-06T23:03:00.000-05:00

After being cooped up in the house with the snow and being sick I got the boys all bundled up and let them go outside to get muddy and play. (This was one of the days I thought we were done with the viruses so I let them go play only to have the vomiting come back that night) Anyway I didn't care how dirty they got, I just let them have fun.

Caleb of course ate the dirt.

then the boys decided it would be a great idea to bring the dirt up on the porch and decorate the door. It was like finger painting to them. They loved it.

As soon as they were soaked through and cold enough we had a hot bath waiting on them and then got them all snuggled up in cozy sweats for the rest of the afternoon. At least they got to get outside and play.

No More Cribs

2011-03-06T22:59:00.000-05:00

The weekend after the snow storm we went and got my brother's pick up truck and headed to pick up bunk beds from a friend I work with. I just happened to ask at lunch one day if anyone knew someone who had bunk beds they didn't need and someone at work had some that were just sitting in storage. I was very excited to get them. It was time to move Caleb out of his crib into a big boy bed. We went and got the beds and that afternoon I went to big lots and got serta mattresses for the boys beds. I also took the boys to Target because we didn't have any sheets for a twin bed and let them pick out the sheets they wanted on their beds. We got home and the boys were all about helping daddy put the beds together. Brad very patiently let them help him with the chore.

Brad has a mullet

Caleb couldn't wait any longer and fell asleep waiting on the sheets for the beds to dry.

Once we got Caleb up off the floor he got a second wind and was all excited about his new bed. Both beds are the same color, but one looks darker in this picture. The camo blankets were all I had to put on the beds for covers. I still need to get comforters for them.

Finally they fell asleep.

And Caleb spent his first night in a big boy bed. It made my heart a little sad that my baby is no longer in a crib.

The next night the boys decided to cristen the beds with the stomach bug. It was the worst virus ever. Benjamin got it first and Caleb followed. High fevers, vomiting, diarrhea. Then Benjamin didn't throw up one night and that night Caleb started. Then Caleb stopped and we thought it was all over and Benjamin started again. This went on like this with three trips to the doctor and 14 total days of vomiting. The doctors said sometimes little kids bodies just can't kick the virus and they often see it stop and start back. Our boys just decided to do it on opposite schedules so that it was a full 14 days and about 100 loads of laundry. We finally got through it though and the beds were officially broken in.

The Big Snow!

2011-03-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

January brought with it a huge snow. Of course I was in Heaven! I love when it snows. It makes me want to get something hearty cooking in the crock pot. Some sort of soup or stew. The aroma fills the house all day while it is cold and wintry outside. I just love it. I like to get laundry going and have a good movie on as well. I also like to get out in the snow and play in it. This snow came with unexpected depth and unexpected length. The snow started on Sunday night and snowed all day Monday. I finally went back to work on Thursday and the roads were still really icy and dangerous. I am sure the insurance companies were loving it after all the car accidents happening. On Monday when we woke up to such deep snow we of course wanted to get the kids out in it. They thought it was amazing!

Caleb had a hard time walking in it.

Caleb's little face was so cold. He had tears running down his face from the cold hitting his eyes.

Oops I zoomed in way too much, but I think it actually turned out to kind of be a cool picture.

We got the sled out and it proved to be perfect sledding snow.

Caleb had to go inside and get warm with daddy, but Benjamin couldn't get enough of the snow.

I finally got Benjamin to come inside and we made Taco Soup in the crock pot.

After naps we got the boys bundled up again and put them on the sled and we went walking around the neighborhood and to the track at the middle school near us. By the end of it we were all frozen to the core, but had a great time.

I love him!

This was the only day we really got to play in the snow. That night a layer of sleet fell and it turned the top of the snow to ice and the boys couldn't walk in it at all. It was really fun while it lasted though.

A New Do

2011-03-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

On Jan. 8th I went to get my haircut and told her I just wanted something different and needed a new look. I told her to do what she thought and that I was thinking somewhere around the shoulders. We went a bit above the shoulders and I love my new haircut. This picture was from my phone and a bit blurry. Brad had never seen me with such short hair and I have not had it this short for 11 years now. It was a good change

A new stage..

2011-03-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

As a mom (especially of boys) you expect to have some hard stages to go through, and somehow no one ever explains them to you very well. Probably because the population would probably start to decline from lack of people having children. However as these stages arrive they bring with them big challenges that make you feel completely inadequate to be a parent in the first place. Welcome to our newest stage...BITING! Yes using teeth to inflict pain out of frustration. Caleb has started biting and not just little bites, but bruise and break the skin kind of bites. I put the boys in the playroom and thought I would have a good 15 minutes to get in the shower. As soon as I turned the water off I heard the blood curdling screams of Benjamin coming from the playroom. I grabbed my towel expecting to find something fallen over on top of him, or a broken bone or something and that is when he said in between sobs, "Cayub bit me!" And sure enough Caleb did bite Benjamin right on the cheek. Not just a little bite, but I could see where he had bit, released and bit over and over again, leaving new teeth marks in the same area. Benjamin's face was already a blue color from the bruising force of the bite. It was awful to say the least and it was just the beginning. I even had to have my mother-in-law explain what happened to Benjamin's teachers when she took him to school because it was so bad. Below is a picture of the bite a few days after it happened.

They made up and were buddies again.

Poor kid still had bruising weeks after it happened.

He looks sweet, and he is sweet, but he bites!

This happened in January and I know I am posting in March, but as an update the biting is getting a lot better with Caleb. Benjamin actually bit him back one day and it has gotten better ever since that. He still does it and we finally had to tell Benjamin that we never hit or push Caleb first, but if Caleb is biting you, you can push him off of you to get him to stop. Benjamin is very passive and never fights back, so we are learning a fine balance teaching him to stand up for himself and hitting or pushing out of being mad at someone. Raising boys is SO HARD. I wish someone had prepared me. Not that I would change it for the world.

Charcole Apple Anyone?

2011-03-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

January started with some bundled up days outside trying to enjoy any sunshine that came our way. The boys get so cooped up in our house and I have to get them outside sometimes. Our backyard is completely fenced in so I am able to wash dishes or clean the kitchen and do laundry while they play outside and I can watch them from the kitchen. Well this day I had given them apples to eat and they took off with them and then I didn't hear them for a while and thought I should go out the door and make sure they were ok. That is when I heard them talking to each other but couldn't see them. Finally I realized they were under the grill on the deck. I quickly grabbed the camera and made them come out.

When they came out they had black faces and apples. I found out they were rubbing their apples on the underside of the grill collecting all the soot and charcoled bits that had fallen down. I know my mom is going to say "sounds familiar" as I was known for eating soot as a child among other things.

A few changes to end the Year.

2011-03-06T21:38:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention that the end of 2010 had something unexpected and great at the same time. In early december I got a call from the office manager at a dental office I had done a lot of fill in work for and the sister office to the one I worked for in Berea. Well they offered me a 3 day a week position with monday and friday off to be with the kids for a long weekend every week. It is exactly what I was looking, hoping and praying for over the past year. I became official there in late december and I am loving my new job with Carolina Oaks Dental Care.

On another good note we also found out that Brad would not have to live in Columbia this semester and would be able to get all his classes online. It has been quite a change having him home after having him gone all week and home on the weekends last semester. It has also allowed him to work a lot more and makes a HUGE difference. I am thankful for both these good changes.