January - Blahs, Blunders, and Birthdays

Bear with me, we, as everyone else, had a lot going on this month. It kind of all hit us all at once so I couldn't really blog about it until now. Now that I have a chance to breathe. . . . ahhhhh.

BLAHS

We had 2 weeks of illness at our house at the beginning of January. Ella had the Flu with fever and chills for 5 days. The following week Aidan and I both decided to join in. Aidan and I spent a good 3 days in my bed with a nightstand full of Motrin, Tylenol, cough medicine, juice, etc) and a thermometer. It was so fun to have fever and chills at the same time.

I went downstairs to fill up on water and when I came back Aidan had fallen asleep watching Cars like this. He was really out to fall asleep to Cars.

To top it off, I got eye infections in both my eyes. I had to tell people, "I'm not on drugs." You cant' tell here but they were bloody red - both of them for about 9 days. I looked lovely!

BLUNDERS

Aidan's nail biting had gotten out of control. We resorted to mittens. He was so good about keeping them on. But as soon as they came off, back in the mouth went his fingers and back to Thum nail polish it was. This is is a full time job.

Seriously, how does one lose three teeth before the age of five?? Ella asked one night, quite apprehensively, "Mommy, will I look funny with big teeth?"Of course, I said she would look beautiful but I guess all of us telling her she would start getting her big teeth was taken quite literally; the thing we say to our kids.

Just a cute photo opp. of our dog, Bo. He is truly a loving, mellow dog. He sat still for quite some time allowing Aidan to use him as a rather large mountain for his race cars! NO GLOVES!

BIRTHDAYS - Hooray!

I have always made a huge deal about birthdays and it can go on for days. Ella and I have ours 3 days apart. She was born 1-23-04, easy to remember! It was a celebration that lasted 5 days with our birthdays combined. Thanks to all those who sent me birthday wishes! :)





I have been feeling bitter sweet with each birthday my children experience. I don't want to let go of early childhood. It is so magical and so short. I just keep reminding myself that there is so much to look forward to (all the firsts). Ella turned 5 on January 23rd. She is no longer a toddler - at least I have not seen 5T anywhere.

Our house was filled with the most darling princesses!

No, I'm not 35 but it was Nicholas' idea. What 's shameful about 37? :) I know my younger friends (and they're just about ALL younger) think this is old but you just wait, 40 is the new 30.

Every year since my first brithday with Matt I look so forward to my birthday cake. I want nothing else but Matt's variation of chocolate cake from scratch. Sometimes there's bits of chocolate inside, buttermilk chocolate frosting, shaving of dark chocolate on top, etc. It is always a four tier cake! I catch myself acting like a child asking every 20 minutes, "Is it done yet?!" I never know what I'm going to get but it is always so sinfully yummy!

After all, that, we're back to gloves. This time they stay on for a week. Is it 21 days to break a habit? Oh my, whatever it takes - I'm all over it!!

A Broken Record

I was just thinking how our house must sound if an audio recorder was in our house and it must sound the same every day (lately).

I swear I must say the following over and over - my poor kids:

1. "Aidan, go potty." He holds and holds until he seriously is doing the potty dance. I just see him do a little jig and it's "Aidan, go potty." I say this several times before he actually goes.

2. "Fingers, Aidan, fingers!" Aidan has a really bad habit (it has gotten worse the last 2 weeks) of biting his nails. He actually had his thumb infected a few weeks ago. I've tried everything from Thumb nail polish which is supposed to taste bitter, to a sticker chart for every 10 minutes he goes without biting, to mittens, to bandaids - ARGH and help!!

3. "Nope!" When Ella asks for something sweet which is everyday. Not that I don't give in. I have this "healthy" dark chocolate (unprocessed/non-alkallized cacao powder) with tons of antioxidants and an ORAC value of 3,120 AND 3g of sugar. We're trying to keep our sugar grams down to 7 per serving. So, often times the kids ask, "Can we have a healthy chocolate?" I know. It sounds like an oxymoron.

4. "Honeyboy!" and I say it with enthusiasm. It's what I call Aidan. I just like to say it out loud sometimes because I like hearing it.

5. "Did you do your homework?" asked to Nicholas everyday; not that I have to ask because he always does but I feel like a better mom for asking.

By the way, speaking of Nicholas, he got asked to the Winter Formal at Timpview by 5 different girls. Of course, he said yes to the first girl that asked him. I just think it's pretty funny that he has been on two dates and they have been girls asking him.

6. "Leave the cat alone." Seriously, Aidan treats our kitten like a puppy. Luckily, he's pretty mellow.

How We Stay Young?

We were at a party a few weeks ago and a nice friend came up to me and asked, "How do you stay so young? You get younger everytime I see you." Now this friend was being quite generous with her compliment, of course, (either that or someone spiked the brownies and her judgement was being impaired) but it did make my day (as I see the fine lines and age spots begin to appear). I did replied, "Uh, we play with our kids?"

I found this video of Matt and the kids and it made me chuckle. I hope it makes you smile as well.

2008 Highlights

Now that the holidays are over, I can breathe and get back to structure. I've neglected my blog and have missed it. Actually, my dinosaur of a camera died so blog postings were put on hold. Matt gave me an amazing one for Christmas and I absolutely love it!!

2008 was a low key but great year for us. First of all, Aidan turned 3 and started wearing underwear! Oh my goodness, we no longer have anyone in diapers - Yea! And although, Ella & Aidan may clash in their attire at times, they can also dress themselves!

Nicholas' football team (Timpview) took State this year and it was a blast watching every single JV and Varsity game (he plays both).

Ella turned 4 and lost her two front teeth! Where did my baby go?

We already know about Aidan.

This year we enjoyed staying close to home except for a couple trips to California and Washington. We decided to put money into our basement and back yard - still not complete. Matt and Nicholas' great accomplishment was ripping out our small wooden deck and buidling a larger version with Trex (20') 10' from the ground with stairs to the back in the middle of the smoldering summer heat. I'm excited to get my English cottage garden this spring! I have the plans all drawn up. I have spent countless hours researching plants, shrubs, flowers rocks, etc. Now I'm just patienly waiting for sun!! I'm already excited to post photos. I am just patienly waiting for sun!!

Here are a few photos of the year:

My mom is a kid at heart. I have fond memories of my mom playing with us tickling us and being silly. Seriously, like making silly faces, chasing us, scaring us, etc. I love my mom!! Here she is at 64 burying Aidan in the sand at Lovers Pointe Beach in Monterey, CA. He's loving it!

It was abnormally hot for Monterey (100s). I could not get the kids to come eat for the life of me. They loved climbing the rocks, playing in the sand and catching crabs!

Aidan's first birthday party - age 3. I think people thought I was brave to have a bunch of 3 year olds at the house but it was a blast!

The Sandy Aquarium was surprisingly fun. We all enjoyed touching the manta rays, seeing the sharks, seahorses and more!

Ella is absolutely in love with horses. She is in heaven here at a family wedding in August.

We decided on a whim to to self time a family Christmas photo since our original plans turned out to be quite comical. (A long story) It didn't turn out too bad.

Nicholas and Matt hit the slopes Christmas Eve. Nicholas, an avid snowboarder didn't earn enough money for a season pass this year. It was either a season pass at Sundance or I pay for his State Championship football ring. Guess which one he chose?

This is the first Christmas Aidan understood a little about Santa and presents. We were suprised how happy he was (of all things) to get Kung Fu Panda. I think I bought it more for me than him.

Our little princess was ecstatic to get another princess doll to add to her collection.! She is ALL girl.

Finally! Thanksgiving in Arizona

I'm asking Santa for a new and imroved camera this year! Mine was having problems so I wasn't able to upload my photos in a timely matter.

Every other year we go to Arizona for Thanksgiving to visit Matt's family and friends. I love this visit because not only does he have a great and huge family but I love his friends and we always all get together and laugh and talk. This year we did it without 50 kids running around so we got to visit a little longer without the usual interruptions.

Okay, I also love the weather this time of year in AZ. We wore shorts and t-shirts, played in the water, visited a favorite lake and ate too much! Here are some photos, finally.

At Saguaro Lake - notice the cactus in the background. Ilove it!

We stopped and skipped lots and lots of rocks. Matt won but I was a close second!

The kids loved running and dodging these mini fountains that spurted randomly at a local outdoor mall.

This ginormous Christmas tree was a great photo opp!

Timpview Takes State!!!

YES!! Nicholas' team took the State championships just before Thanksgiving break and it was soo exciting! We played Cottonwood High. The score was . It was truly a great game to watch. They all looked so seasoned out there. I felt like I was at a pro game.

I stood up the entire time because I wanted to be by the students and cheer! Students kept looking back to see who the loud mouth was and I just smiled. Matt was glad to sit a row behind me :). I cheered, jumped up and down, and froze trying to keep warm - I must have burned several hundred calories!! Yeah for our local high school. They deserve our applause!

Tee awesome photos I took are corrupted (whatever that means). I'm so sad :(

Ahhh, Tuesdays . . .

Tuesday is just about my favorite morning of the week. Why? It's the only day I have somewhat open. Monday - vaccuum, and clean bathrooms, then gym to teach and work from home. Wednesday - laundry, mop floors and dust, gym to teach then work from home. Thursday - Walmart (groceries), do preschool with kids, work from home. Friday - gym (for fun), work from home. Saturday - work from home (most of morning). Of course, there's all the in between stuff, like stimulating your children physically, mentally, spiriutally, and socially. Obviously, I feel great comfort in structure, but I also love my no plans Tuesdays!

This moring, after feeding the kids, kissing Matt goodbye, paying bills, and getting dinner in the crockpot, I started on a soup I love for lunch to avoid the whole meal rush at lunchtime - Yes, three meals down and it was only 8:30. After that, Aidan and I made gingerbread men cookies while listening to Christmas music. I love Christmas music and the feeling it fills our house with. It was so peaceful, meditating (I love to cook/bake) and fun. Ella chose to draw instead as she is in love with our nativity scene constantly playing with it. She was all set to draw every character. I think I'll frame this one. I treasure my Tuesdays. I treasure mornings with no plans - who knows what peace and fun they can bring.

Photos to come