Make-up lesson

Sunday morning, the kids woke by their usual 7:30 time and I was not ready to get out of bed yet. Adam was already in the garage working on some project, so I had to deal with the kids. By dealing, I mean turn the tv on for fletcher to watch cartoons and listen for brynlee as she 'plays' between rooms. B was back and forth a few times and then she disappeared. I thought she was reading books in her room, since it was quiet, and this is a regular occurrence for her. Then I remembered that fletcher went to the bathroom before coming in my room and I didn't remember hearing the door shut when we was done. I quietly got out of bed. Tiptoed to the bathroom and saw baby girl playing with my make-up. She was trying a new look with mascara, that I think she still needs to master. Needless to say, she was stripped and put in the tub...after I took pictures of course.

thanks, santa!

Way late with this, but it needs to be documented.

santa came a few nights early, since we were heading out of town on christmas eve day. it's easy to do since the kids don't really know when Christmas actually is, with all the festivities we attend, I barely know when Christmas is for that matter.
Anyway, mr Claus and I talked up the evening and told the kids all the things parents say on Christmas eve, just to get the kids all excited. We decorated cookies earlier that morning. Before bed, fletcher drew on a styrofoam plate and signed his name (and brynlee's) and we left chocolate milk, a beer, cookies and also some carrots for the reindeer. Nothing like getting them all excited before putting them to bed.
So the children were finally asleep when the mr went out to assemble the kitchen and scooter for the wee ones. I did stockings and then had the pleasure of putting on all the stickers to the kitchen and getting the placement just right for everything.
The next morning when the kids woke up, they were excited to see what the big guy left. They were also excited to find gus, only to realize he went back to the north pole with Santa. But he was quickly forgotten when they saw the goods that were left.
Another good year from Santa, but we discovered that it is getting harder as fletcher starts asking for more bigger and complex things that are not quite age appropriate, but are cool with 'the big kids.' I'm sure sooner than later that he will be crushed, but until them...HO, HO, HO.

christmas, a month later.

christmas day, we head to my parents' house for the day. this year my brother and his family were there, so all the grandkids were present, minus the oldest. it was a full house with everyone there, plus, my grandparents and aunts and uncles came for a while to join in the paper flinging fun of gift opening. 

we sit in families so we can assist our kids, which means we never get pictures of our own kids. i had a brilliant idea this year, that my sister and i should give each other our discs, and snap pictures of each others kids. when we swap discs back, we have our own kids opening gifts, and a few other snapshots. genius!!1

 momma got a kindle fire. 

 all the grandkids, minus the oldest. (22 months-19yrs)

christmas traditions

everyone grows up with some sort of family tradition. they are something that i look back on and have great memories of. i knew i wanted to carry on some of those same traditions with my kids and that i wanted to create new ones. as the kids get older and understand more, it is much more fun to see these traditions continue. in keeping a few, we have also added a few. 

one thing my family always did, was make christmas candy. my parents make fudge and caramels that people rave over. i remember always being in the kitchen when my mom was making caramels and my brother and i would fight over the 'tester' piece. when they were set and cut, we would sit around the table and do the dreaded wrapping. as a kid, it wasn't fun, but it is something that i enjoy being a part of as an adult. i didn't get the caramel making gene, but i do enjoy making other types of christmas candy/treats. one of my favorites is the pretzel, white almond bark and m&m's. very easy and with littles around, a pretty quick task. cookies, grinch treats, and apple bread was also on the list.

i always had an advent calendar growing up. the one with the days numbered on little doors you opened on that day and then there was a little chocolate inside. my mom has searched and i have searched and we can't find them, so i came up with my own version of an advent calendar. i saw it on pinterest last year and just put my retired elementary teacher/crafter skills to work. it's cute for now, and the kids love putting on a cotton ball each day. the only problem, they both think they need to do it. i have a few other ideas for the future, but this will work for the next few years. 

along with the advent calendar, i did a little thing with the twelve days of christmas this year. for each day, we had a christmas book that was wrapped and the kids took turns each day unwrapping a book and then we would read it. sometimes i read during snack time. sometimes at bedtime. sometimes we even forgot and then opened and read two the next day. this was fun, but maybe a bit advanced for their ages. as they get older, i'm sure the books will hold their attention better. i had many of the books from my teaching days, but some of them i checked out from our library. i just had to make sure they were opened sooner than later so i could return them on time. 

and my favorite tradition that we started in 2011, is the elf on the shelf. when i bought him, i wasn't sure how well i would do, but i really do love finding a new place for gus and using him to make fletcher behave a little better. it's also great to see the kids try and find him. brynlee really got into it and sometimes found him before fletcher even had a chance. i've had to be a bit careful with my placement of him, since baby girl likes to not listen and touch when she's told not to, which makes a little boy flip out because he gets it more than than she does. some of the ideas on pinterest are too fun not to do, but until i have two children who will 'play' along with the rules, those fun things won't be happening. 

Wordless Wednesday-my babies

Visiting Santa

As the second week of January is upon us, I feel like I should post about our December happenings. Here goes...

Our zoo does a meet Santa thing each year. Since there was going to be a REAL reindeer there, I thought I'd take the kids. The day I was going, I was picking the kids up from my parents' house, which mean they are off MY schedule. I didn't even think about early naptimes, long lines and uncooperative toddlers when I had this great idea.

As we pulled in the parking lot, I didn't think there where very many cars, until I saw the lines. As we got in line and proceeded to wait for over thirty minutes, I was asking myself, 'why the heck did I do this by myself?'. It was awful. Brynlee was so tired and whiny that I just wanted to leave, but I knew that Fletcher would be disappointed.

At least the reindeer kept Fletcher amused for our wait and the annoying kids behind me were entertaining. Their dad did a great job of coming up with ridiculous responses to their questions and I just smiled as I thought of what my response would be. I may or may not have mumbled a few times. I was that annoyed with the situation.

We finally got to Santa and Fletcher went up to him without hesitation. Brynlee on the other hand clung to me like a baby monkey holding on for dear life. I at least got a picture of him. The missing sister will explain how the year went when we look at Santa pictures in the future.

As we were leaving u really tried to avoid the reindeer picture line but I got the whiny 3 year old that time. The line was much shorter and the guy with the reindeer seemed to be moving the kids through quickly. I went for it, after all, it couldn't be much worse than the Santa experience. The wait was less Han 10 minutes and the pictures I got where worth it. The reactions made my day better, however, I was still mad I ha to do it all by myself.

The End.

new~again

so, you know how you feel when you have all these thoughts in your head and something finally clicks and your fingers just type it out in a matter of seconds, without sounding boring or having to delete five hundred times? well, i had one of those posts ready and some little boy came over and bumped the laptop and now it's all gone.

you now get the quick.

we had pictures taken in october. i want to display them, so i changed the picture on the o'blog. along with the picture, i felt i needed to change everything else. except the stinkin' post title color wouldn't change for me...didn't even give me an option and i know that it can be changed.  anyway, i'm happy with how it looks, and i can see through the blue...for a period of time.

here are a few more pictures that were taken at our photo session. enjoy!

the last five months-august

august was packed full of fun. we had to make sure we did all the last 'summer-ish' things before school started for flether and our days weren't so open. 

one day in early august, adam's dad was up doing some things to the house (we were still moving at this point) and he heard some music in the distance. when he caught sight of what it was, he came inside to see if the kids could have ice cream. this is a very rare occasion so all three of us joined him outside to get a treat. 

in the middle of the month, my parents had my niece and nephew (brother's kids) for a few weeks. they decided to make a trip to the omaha zoo and the kids and i were asked if we wanted to tag along. since adam was out of town (big surprise), we did. we were only gone for one 30 hours, but we were on the go. we headed to the air and space museum to check out all the old planes...four kids and two adult females were bored out of our minds, but my dad sure enjoyed it. 

when we left the museum, we drove next door to mahoney state park where we were staying at the lodge, checked in and then thought we would go to the water park for a bit. this was a major hit. 

checking out the map of the grounds. there is so much to do that they want to come back. 

the following morning, we got the crew ready for a day at the zoo. 

the iowa state fair starts the second thursday and goes for the next 10 days. it's kind of tradition for us to go and do certain things every year. the kids are getting older and having more fun seeing the animals and doing  some of the activities 

camping at camp pops and nana's

my grandpa's 89th birthday. we had a family party for him and all of his kids, grandkids and greats were in attendance. 

grandma and grandpa with the greats. seven kids, nine and under...oh, the joys.