Friday, November 30, 2007

My kids got elfed! UPDATED!

I've seen this on a few other blogs, and just laugh my head off every time I watch one. I decided to do it myself! :) Enjoy!

P.S. The kids recorded their voice to say Merry Christmas, but it sounds more like a chipmunk. :) Oh, and I think Brett makes the greatest elf. Look at his cheesy grin!

Click here to watch it.

It was requested that Ryan and I join in on the fun. So here you go! Click here to watch us make fools of ourselves!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

I'm gonna get on a soapbox for a minute

O.K., so when this time of year comes around, so do all of the fun cartoons and Christmas programs/shows on t.v. I absolutely love to see what's on, so that we can sit and watch it as a family. My kids are really into it this year, especially Brett. I think last year he was a bit too little yet, so he's loving all of the new shows. (well, new to him anyway)

On Sunday we watched A Christmas Story. One of our All-Time favorites! Ryan can pretty much recite every word in the entire movie. Kind of annoying. (Sorry babe!)



As you can see, Brett was glued to the T.V. He loved it!

Tonight we watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." A cartoon - geared for kids, in my opinion.

Here's where I get on my soapbox. Can you please tell my why the networks think it is necessary to air Victoria's Secrets commercials, movies commercials for movies that are clearly rated "R", etc. while they are airing these shows. I mean, come on, it's 7:00 p.m. and they are airing Christmas cartoons for crying out loud. Can we just have a simple Tide commercial. I'll even take the stupid Head-On commercial over my kids looking at some half naked women, or someone being killed in a movie trailer. It's ridiculous really.

Ryan and I have just resorted to someone holding the remote AT.ALL.TIMES, so that someone can be on "sensor control!" It sounds stupid, but we flip the channel the second we see something inappropriate for the kids.

I guess it's just sad that this is what it's come to. I really don't remember ever seeing stuff like this on t.v. when I was a kid. Then again, my kids probably won't remember it either, but I'm definitely not going to give them the option to remember the crap that's on t.v.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Fisher Price's Geo Trax Rock!!!!


My boys have quite a bit of Geo Trax, and rarely play with them. The only time they really play with them, is if I take them up from the basement and put them in the family room. It doesn't take long for me or Ryan (usually Ryan) to get sick of the Rubbermaid container sitting in the middle of our family room, and then they end up back in the basement.

Well, the Geo Trax have made their return to our living room to grace us with a train around our Christmas tree. I made a track the other day, and my boys are LOVING it!!! I think that Owen has finally figured it out. He still can't get his engine on the track, but at least he's not taking the track apart! :)



I guess the main reason I think these trains are so cool, is because I actually have heard these sayings from my sons while playing together (yes, I said TOGETHER!) with the trains...

Brett to Owen: "You're my best friend!"

Owen to Brett: "Yeah"

Brett to Owen: "Give me a high five!"

Brett to Owen: "We're great train workers!"

I know, it doesn't sound like much, but the last few weeks have been pretty rough with playing and sharing in our house, so this was ALOT for me!! Thanks Fisher Price!!!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Christmas Tree 2007!

For the past 7 years, we have gone the Saturday after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas Tree. We usually go to Michigan to get the tree, so we get up early and meet at the Cracker Barrel at Exit 23 for breakfast!

After breakfast, it was about 1/2 hour drive to Butler Tree Farm. This really is such a nice place. They have alot of animals for the kids to feed and play with, Santa and Mrs. Claus were there, and of course, Brett was thrilled! He just couldn't wait to tell Santa that he wanted a tractor! :) Chloe was excited to see him too. Owen, on the other hand would run and cry every time he saw him.



This picture was taken before he realized that he didn't like him. I couldn't get him to pose for the next one, because he was crying so bad. :(


My nephew Josh thought he was too cool to take a picture with Santa. But Santa persisted, and Josh was forced to join in! :)


Here's our whole group on the tractor ride to go out to get a tree! It really is so much fun to go with all of the family. We have such a great time together! Love you guys!! (I think Ethan is missing - sorry!)


And of course, once we got out to cut down our tree, my batteries went dead. O well - I'll show the finished product in a minute! :)

On our way home we found snow!!!! My kids were so excited, so we decided to pull over at this park and let them play in it! They loved it, and so did Ryan and me!:)





Once we got home, we decided to decorate the tree. I'm not going to lie and say that this was an easy task, because it wasn't. I'll spare you the details, and just show the cute pictures I took while decorating it.


Here's the kids waiting ever-so patiently for the tree to come in!

And here's Ryan carrying it in through the porch.

It was Brett's year to put the angel on, but he said Chloe could do it.

And he settled for putting on the first ornament!

Owen could care less what he did - he just loved all the lights.



And here's the finished tree - "a little full...a lotta sap!" :)

I just know that these are going to be some of the best memories that we are making for our kids, and I love it!

Friday, November 23, 2007

I'm a newbie at this Black Friday thing.

And I'm not sure that I liked it.

Now wait!! For those of you that absolutely LOVE it ~ hear me out! :)

A little bit of info. about me - I'm competitive - VERY COMPETITIVE. Ask Ryan ~ I don't like to loose. I had my mind set on starting out at Circuit City to get a laptop for $299. You also got a free printer, router and security software! (I LOVE FREE!)

Melanie and I got our plan mapped out on Thursday night, and we were set to meet at Circuit City at 4:00 a.m. I took two benadryl at 9:30 so that I could fall asleep. That didn't work so well, so needless to say ~ I got a maximum of 3 hours of sleep last night. I got up at 3:00, made a pot of coffee and ran out the door. I got to Circuit City at about 3:45, only to see the longest line ever. Surely they all weren't there for the same laptop for $299, right? Nobody looks at those sale ads, right?!? Little did I know that I should have pitched a tent (like some people actually did) in the hopes that we would get a voucher for the laptop, and had so much fun. We were absolutely freezing, but it was so much fun to joke with our newfound friends in the line behind us. I think I had more of a cardio workout this morning at 4:00 than I've had in my whole life! :) We were jumping around to keep our feet warm. My friend Katie ended up showing up near 5:00. We ended up going into the store once it opened, just in case we missed something, but we ended up not getting the laptop special. Not the end of the world, but I really felt defeated.

On to Old Navy. They were giving out free MP3 players for spending $20. Surely people wouldn't go to Old Navy on a morning like this. Wrong-O! They were gone by the time we got there - which was about 5:15.

Next stop Toys R' Us. We waited in a line for just a couple of minutes, and then made it into the store. Mel and I were looking for specific things, and we were very determined to get them!! We wanted to get the Fisher Price Pixtars for Brett and Ben. Orig. $40 - On Sale for $14.99!!! Got 'Em!! We were so excited! We also found some other really great deals. By the time we had to get in line, we couldn't find the end or should I say the beginning of the end of the line. Anyway, apparently Toys R' Us ran out of the blue tape that directed people to the check-out line. They were directing people every which way, and it was just chaotic! Don't they do this every year? Are you telling me that you couldn't have gone to Home Depot across the street for some more blue painter's tape? They really need to get their act together over there. We ended up waiting in line for 1 and 1/2 hours! It was crazy, but again, had alot of fun with the people around us in line.

Next stop Wal-Mart. By this time it was 7:30, and the rush was over, so it was actually quite nice to somewhat leisurely shop. We found what we were looking for and a whole lot more at this store. Some pretty good sales there.

Overall, I'm just not sure if it's worth it. Sure, I saved alot of money at Toys R' Us, but was it really worth the sore arms, because they ran out of carts and we had to carry our stuff the ENTIRE time we were in line? And did I mention that the line weaved in and out around the ENTIRE store? And yes, I got a printer for $25 at Wal-Mart, but was it really that important that I couldn't wake up at 7:00 and go then? And I'm so bummed that I didn't get the laptop for my inlaws, so I'm ticked that I got up at 3:00 and waited in line for absolutely NOTHING!

So, I'm just not sure how I feel about the whole thing. It was definitely ALOT of fun! I know that sounds dumb, but because I've never done this before, I just didn't know what to expect. We just laughed and had so much fun while trying to stay warm.

When I was driving to Circuit City in the morning I was on the phone with Mel, and we just couldn't believe the amount of people out. It was crazy! The line for Kohl's wrapped around the store! Now tell me - what is so important at Kohl's for that many people to go there at 3:30 in the morning?!? Am I missing something? Maybe I wasn't looking at the sale ads properly the night before. And maybe the stuff that I really want just wasn't on sale, because after Wal-Mart, I was done. I wasn't going anywhere else ~ but to decorate Christmas cookies with my family at my in-laws house.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Today I am thankful...

Today I am thankful for my husband....and the fire that he's building in my fireplace right now...for providing for our family as well as he does...for trying to make me smile through the rough stuff...for loving me just as I am...and for just being my man that I love so much.

Today I am thankful for Chloe...and the wonderful big sister that she is...for turning into such an awesome little girl that loves God...for striving so hard to please us...for all the times that we can have "Mommy Chloe Time"...and for being such a sweet girl that I love so much.

Today I am thankful for Brett...for his sleep walking last night that led him to my bed to snuggle for a while...even through all of his whining, their is such a sweet little boy underneath, that I love so much...for his hyperness for things that he is passionate about...and for just being my Brett that I love so much.

Today I am thankful for Owen...for the sweet little boy that he is becoming...for the way that he says "No no no no no no me" when he's really trying to say "you don't say no no to me!":)...for being such a cuddler...for his patchie and blankie that he still has, and I'm O.K. with that...for being such a calm, good natured little guy that I love so much.

Today I am thankful for the french toast and sausage that I made for breakfast...and my kids who are gobbling it up.

Today I am thankful for the parade on t.v....and the warm dry house that I live in to watch it.

Today I am thankful for the sweet potatoes and pecan pie that I made...and the families that I will enjoy eating them with.

Today I am thankful to God for blessing me with all of these things - and so much more!

Monday, November 19, 2007

I actually had fun in a McDonald's Playland?!?!

I know, it's a crazy title.

Last Thursday, Chloe had half a day at school. The boys and I ran some errands, and still had time to kill, so I thought I'd take them to the Playland in McDonald's. I've only been one other time, and that time it was dirty and VERY crowded! On Thursday, it was about 10:20, so I thought I'd give it a try, and hope that it wouldn't be to crowded - or dirty.

I was pleasantly suprised! We were the only ones there, and it was very clean! The boys were thrilled! I found myself a bench, and parked it right there, hoping for a bit of down time while the boys were playing. Yeah, it didn't quite work out that way. Owen wasn't able to climb up on some of the stuff, so the only way for him to have fun was if mommy joined in and helped him out a bit. Yep - you heard that right - Mommy played in the Playland at McDonald's! It was actually quite fun! The boys were having a ball, and I was actually quite suprised that I fit in that thing! :) Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures - you'll just have to imagine my big butt in the tunnels! :p

Friday, November 16, 2007

Bye Bye, Durango!

Before we had Chloe, we bought a Dodge Durango. It served it's purpose very well, for a couple of years and then we had Owen. Ryan suprised me at the hospital after I had Owen with a new mini-van! The Durango took it's place at the end of our driveway - never to be driven again - for TWO YEARS!! Well, this past weekend, my brother-in-law bought it, and came to pick up the Durango! YIPPEEE!!! It was dark out when he came to get it so this picture isn't the best...




Chloe came in the house bawling after it left. She was sad that it left and she said that she wanted it for when she was able to drive! :)

It's actually quite nice now to pull out of Ryan's side of the garage and not have to go on an angle to avoid the Durango! ;) Thanks Dan for taking it off our hands/driveway! :)

The last days of Fall!

We have had an awesome fall! It's just now starting to turn cold (which I'm secretly loving this year!) Ryan had just gotten done hunting and he took the two boys out to rake the leaves. Chloe was sleeping at her cousin's house, so she wasn't home to join in the fun. :( Here's a couple of pictures of the boys playing in the leaves.






I just love this picture! Brett didn't realize that he had a leaf on his ear, and I didn't notice it either ~ until I loaded the pictures on my computer! :)




This one is one of my favorites too. I'm not sure what Brett was telling Ryan, but he was really into what he was saying. He was using tons of hand gestures. (he gets that from Ryan!)

The finished product!!

I know I promised pictures of our craft, and I'm not even sure if anyone even cares about it. But - because I promised, here they are...

I guess you could call it Candy Cane garland?!?! I chose to hang it on my mantle, and it looks really cute. Their are clips on the back of the canes so you can clip Christmas cards or pictures on them.




Here's some close ups of the candy canes...


Monday, November 12, 2007

Creative Activies Leader

My sister and I are the Creative Activies Leaders at my church for our MOPS group. It basically means that we have to provide a craft every other week for roughly 40 mothers ~ on a budget! At times it gets really crazy, but most times, it's really fun to plan it all out, and make it come together. Here is our craft from our last meeting:



This craft was alot of fun to pull together (minus taking 6 kids to Michael's to get 42 pumpkins!) We did it though! :)

And this next craft that we are doing on Wednesday is going to be really cute, but man was it a pain! (Shawnie and Mel offered me much help, but I guess I'm just too stubborn to accept it !) :)






3 cans of spray paint later and we have 500 white candy canes!! I'll post a picture of the finished product after our meeting on Wednesday morning!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

The definition of frustration

I went to bed last night, after everyone else, and I was beat. It felt so good to get in my bed! I, of course, couldn't fall asleep right away, and here are the reasons why:

1) About 15 minutes after I got into my bed, my oldest son yelled, "MOM! Could you leave the bathroom light on?!?" "Sure honey!" was my reply, and I got out of bed to turn on the bathroom light.

2) My husband was snooring so incredibly loud! I tried so hard to just ignore it, but I just couldn't!

3) Both of my sons were coughing in their beds. Not too loud, and not too severe, so once again, I tried to ignore it. I finally couldn't stand it any longer, so I went downstairs to get a cup of water for them ~ only to find them sound asleep the minute I walked into their room.

4) This is the most stupid reason that I couldn't fall asleep! I was writing blog posts in my head! How stupid crazy is that?!?!? (Please someone tell me that I'm not the only one who does this!)

5) I finally woke up my youngest son, because he was coughing so much. Gave him a drink of water, and snuggled him back in bed. That was the end of the coughing for him! :)

The last time I looked at the clock, it read 1:08 a.m. I went to bed at 10:50 p.m.!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

She beat me to it!!

Well, I had this post, once again, in my head and my sister had the same idea and beat me to it. Visit this post to see what I'm talking about!


Here's a hint: Congratulations Melissa and David!!!!!! :) Melissa is the one who was in this Throwback Thursday

O, the weather outside is frightful!?!?!?!?

um, yeah, not so much...

Today on the way to bring Chloe to school we were listening to Christmas music on the radio. Personally, I think it's kind of crazy that they already are playing Christmas music and we've barely passed Halloween, but hey, I do love Christmas music, and the kids are really excited about Christmas this year, so I thought we'd listen to it.

The song "Let it Snow" came on. "O, the weather outside is frightful..." I wish. I live in Indiana, and let me tell you, it is anything but frightful! Today is a high of 55. Isn't it supposed to be about 30 this time of year? I can't imagine living somewhere warm during this time of year. I love curling up to a warm fire by the Christmas tree.

Hopefully soon, we can get a little "frightful" weather! :)

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Wordless Wednesday - The result of my leaky kitchen sink...





For more wordless wednesday visit 5 minutes for mom!

Halloween, etc.

Here's a few pictures of the kiddies on Halloween. We had so much fun! Grandma and Grandpa T. came over to go with us, and then we had dinner afterwards.





Chloe was Cinderella. I really envisioned her with her hair up and curly, but since she got her hair cut, we cant put it up. I think is still looks cute though.

Brett wouldn't let me take a picture of him, so this is the best I got! ;)

Owen was such a cutie! At each house he would say "rick or reat!" "nank you!" So polite. The neighbors got a kick out of them! :)

Now, onto my funk. I really thought that yesterday I was coming out of it! I actually cleaned the basement (which was no small task, and WAY overdue)and managed to get about 5 loads of laundry washed, folded AND put away! (I still have about 28 to go - JK, but I do have quite a bit!)

Fast forward to this morning - I was getting Chloe ready for school, while doing a mixture of making french toast, doing the dinner dishes (because I was too lazy last night to do them)and making C's lunch. (All before 7:30 a.m. - I guess maybe I'm not too lazy :)) Anyway, got Chloe out the door, and went to start my dishwasher. I went under the sink to get the Cascade tablet, only to find a stream of water coming out of the pipe! I cleaned everything out, only to realize that this has been going on for some time now - there was a little bit of mold. I can't believe that I haven't noticed this before! It's a good thing though, right?!?! It FORCED me to clean under my sink!:) I now have realized that I have WAY to much (3 cans) of Bar Keepers Friend and 2 HUGE bottles of Pine Sol, and 3 boxes of garbage bags! I guess I need to stop buying those for awhile.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

I'm in a funk...

I don't know what it is lately, but all I can say is that I'm in a funk. I'm just so tired and lazy lately, and blogging just hasn't been a priority for me. So sorry. I was doing so good with putting new posts up, and I have tons of new ones running through my brain, but just not the energy to post them. I think it might just be the changes of the season, but either case, I promise to get some new posts up!

I haven't forgotten about Halloween, and I know it's almost a week later, but I will get a couple of pictures up for the Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunties and Uncles to see them! (They were adorable) Maybe tonight I'll do it! :)