Christmas 2009

So, our Christmas was a great one! We got over 20 inches of snow so all of my side of the family's get-togethers/ Christmas celebrations were canceled. I was pretty bummed because I hadn't seen quite a few of them for at least 2 years!

However, it was kind of nice to be snowed in at home, just the four of us with nowhere to go!

For Christmas Eve dinner I made some YUMMY potato soup! The power cut out while we were eating it and we quickly lit as many candles as we could find. After they got over being freaked out at the sudden pitch black in the house the kiddo's really enjoyed the candle-lit dinner! In fact, Elijah is now under the impression that every meal needs to be eaten by candle light!

After Sam went to bed on Christmas Eve we let Elijah open two presents: Thomas the Tank Engine PJ's and a Mr. Potato Head kit!
Elijah played with Mr. Potato Head for awhile, then we enjoyed the power bring back on (for a few minutes!) and played around the Christmas tree. Then Elijah helped set out cookies and milk for Santa and then he went to bed.







Christmas morning came way too soon because Elijah woke up at 4:30, ready to open presents and I had been up to 2:30 wrapping them by candle light.


That is our tree and the presents. It wasn't much but it was all paid for with cold, hard earned cash! And its not like the kids are old enough to notice anyway- we better take advantage that while we can!!

Hey, and look! I was able to afford stockings for the first time ever! They are tiny but they sure were enjoyed!

Here's the boys ready to open their presents!

That's it! Honestly, I was going to put pictures of them opening their presents but I'm beat and it has taken me over 5 hours to write this now because as soon as I get two words down Elijah runs in "Mama! Come here! COME HERE!" or Sam starts whining to be held, or Elijah kicks Sam in the stomach. . . Ugh! This is my life and I'm just the referee!

I'm BAAAAAACK!

For a short time at least!

I finished up my online classes a little over a week ago. Got an A and an A- in them!
I have my final exams in my at-school-classes on Tuesday which I really should be studying for rather than blogging but I figured you guys need some lovin' too and the kiddlets went to bed early (look! its only 7:45 and they are both sound asleep!) so I figured I should do something productive, like blog, after a 4 month break from it.

Anyway, I'm hoping to make blogging more of a habit from now on out (or until I start clinicals on January 25th).

Before I attempt pry myself from the computer to get to work on things that really NEED to be done we all wanted to personally wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

and here's another 'cause I just couldn't help myself! DARN! Never mind for now- I can't get it to work :( I'll post it if I ever get it fixed.

I'm still around!

Hi!
Sorry for the lack of updates. I have just been so caught up with trying to make it through the necessities each day that everything else has been shoved to the side. . . Sorry! I won't promise it won't happen again though because I don't see anything changing in the near future.

School has been crazy busy. Its hard to get everything done between the kids bedtime and before I become too exhausted to function properly let alone read 3 chapters of Cultural Anthropology and 4 chapters of US History! Elijah hasn't been falling asleep until nearly 10 pm and I usually try to get myself into bed by 2 am since he normally wakes up for the day around 5:30-6 am!!!! Ughh! So, that doesn't give me much time to do anything but the most pressing homework. The poor house is looking worse and worse! Its so hard not to let it bother me but school is more important!

Not much else is going on. . .

Guess who snuck out of his room in the wee hours of the morning:

Yes, thats all my flax seed, wheat germ, almond flavoring, and various other ingredients all dumped and ruined! Whatever is all was must have been a bad combination because it stunk!

Eli chasing me with grass!

"What do you want?"

Its nearly impossible to get a good pic of the boys together!

Here Elijah is looking, Sam is not.

Sammy is looking AND smiling but Eli is not (he was actually trying to get the chap stick back from Sammy).

Here they are both looking at the camera but do they look happy? NO!
(Eli got his chap stick back and resumes sucking it out and eating it)

Eli finally has enough and books it outta there!

OMG!!!!!
They are both looking AND smiling!!!!! (Sort of. . .)

Too Fast!

I had the awesome opportunity of seeing my parents for the first time since January! If you are not aware, they are missionaries to Kosova. Dad had to come home for some meetings in Chicago and Mom was able to join him! Mom got into town last Thursday and Dad went to his meetings then joined us on Saturday. Sadly, they were only able to visit through Tuesday! It was a whirlwind of a visit but it was SOOOOOOOOOO nice to see them and visit with them again! They got to get to know the kiddo's a little better (Sammy was only a newborn last time they saw him) and the kiddo's got to know their amazing grandparents a little better!
I am sad they had to leave so soon but so thankful I was able to see, hear, and touch them all at the same time again! I adore my parents! They are completely amazing (now if we could only convince them to be missionaries here. . . )!

Awww! I'm going to get this one printed off to hang by Eli's bed! :)

Mom and Sammy (yes, Sammy likes being upside down!)

Mom playing with Elijah and Sam!

Dad was working on a project most of the time he was here but we still enjoyed having him around!

Mom getting packed up to leave Tuesday

Hey!

The Cloth Diaper Report is hosting its own giveaway when they reach 250
followers!
Details:

Giveaway:

6 NB prefolds & 2 size 1 Snappi
These are PERFECT as doublers for any age if you don't have a newborn. I add newborn PFs to my DD's nighttime diaper in addition to the two inserts!

I am absolutely in love with my prefolds and Snappi's!!! I never
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--OR--
Mommy's Touch regular zippered wetbag in olive green
Fits
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I have one small zippered wet bag for my diaper bag and I adore it! There is such a huge variety of colors and patterns it is so hard to choose a favorite!
I would LOVE to win this because it would be perfect for when the boys spend the night away from home!

Come on over to The Cloth Diaper Report, become a follower and have a chance to win! I am falling in love with this blog!!! They have such helpful posts and reviews and have I mentioned GIVEAWAYS?!?! Who doesn't like winning Fluff Stuff?!!?! :)

ALSO, they are having a whole bunch of other giveaways right now too!!! :)

1. Thirsties Duo Wrap (9/3)

2. Wahmies Diaper Pail Liner (9/8)

3. Wahmies One Size Diaper 2 Winners (9/9)

4. Drybees AIO Hybrid (9/7)

Good luck!!!!

Summer is offically OVER :(

My online classes started today and my classes at school start tomorrow. I'm taking 12 credits this semester! =0 I'm not at all sure how I'm going to do all that I have to do but I will do it (I guess. . . I HOPE!!!).

I went to the Vanity and spent $60 on two new pairs of jeans (I only have one that fits ok on my poor post pregnancy/nursing savaged body). After getting them home I realize I am not very happy with either of them. I think I may have had better luck if Elijah and Sam were not with me acting like wild jungle children. Elijah thought it was great fun climbing under the door into the dressing room then unlocking it and opening the door as far as it would open exposing my stretch mark scarred body to the whole mall countless times. . . Ugh!
Wow, its hard to find a pair of jeans that fit my body well and my style. . . I want to look cute and trendy like all the other 24 year olds out there but my poor 24 year old self has the shape of a 36 year old now. . . Ugh UGH! I don't want to look like a "mother" but I want pants that FIT!!!
Oh well, some day I will be old enough to wear whatever is comfy, no matter how it looks and no one will care 'cause I will be in my 50's.

On the bright side:

Goofy Eli eating cottage cheese with peanut butter on his forehead! Cleaning off the counters (attempting to stall bedtime!):

Mr. Sam reading books and playing with a monster truck!

It's Official!!

SAMMY IS CRAWLING!!!!!!!!!!!


Monday he would take one or two knee inches forward then drop his knees and stretch, drag his legs and/or shove off with his toes to move. But when he woke up Tuesday morning he started CRAWLING and hasn't stopped!!! It's like it just clicked! Awww. . . my baby is growing up *sob* but he does look so darn cute crawling! I will have to post a video sometime soon!

More giveaways!!

Hey, just so you know, there is another giveaway going on over at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer!
Enter by tomorrow evening to win 3 FuzziBunz One size Diapers with inserts. I hope I win! There are so many mama's out there who swear by this diaper that I am dying to give it a try!

Also, the Diaper Discussions Blog is having their first ever Pimp Your Stash Giveaway!
This weeks giveaway is for one KnickerNappies Onesize Diaper. It looks like an amazing diaper and it even has a 2 year Snap and elastic guarantee on it. Wow!
This giveaway ends at 9pm on Friday.

So, what are you waiting for?! Head on over and enter!

Excitement!

The past week Sammy has really started to move!!!! He has been able to roll around the room for a while now but he just realized he can get around easier by taking a few "real" crawls then he drops his knees and does the army-ish crawl the rest of the way to where ever he is off to. It is so cute and amazing! I feel like he is too young to be doing this but really he's not- he is 9 months old after all! I just want him to stay my baby! He seems so happy to be moving. He loves following his brother around but his brother hates it!!! I think I will be dealing with that for a very long time.

I am currently working on clearing/ cleaning out the front room in the basement. I am going to turn it into a play room for the boys! I am getting so sick of the house being completely taken over by toys. There is hardly room to move in their bedroom! I am really hoping I can get it done before school starts on the 24th.

Oh my gosh! I just realized that the 24th is Monday not Wednesday like I had been thinking! I am going to be taking four classes. Two online and two at school. I am looking forward to it. I guess I am one of those weirdo's who really enjoy being in school! I know things are going to get rough around here (oh wait, aren't they already?!) with even more on this mama's plate, but its been done by others before me so I will overcome!
(Or at least I'm really hoping so. . .)

I will end this post with some pics:

Here is a self portrait by Elijah from when he got a hold of daddy let him play with the camera (grrrrrrrr!)

his feet:

A pic of Daddy (not too bad of a pic for a 2 year old if you ask me!)

And of course he had to take a pic of Zuki!

Here are some pics of Sam now (that I obviously took!)

Sammy helping me fold diapers fresh off the line, ahhhhh! :)

Here is what happens when you leave a 9 month old with his food and spoon while you attend to another child for 2 minutes:

I'm not at all sure just how he did it, but somehow Sam got these sweat pants on his back! He was mighty proud of himself!

Here comes trouble!!

Goodnight all! Love you!

Circles!

If you happened to stop by my house for a visit and leave around the boys' bedtime then come back the next morning you would probably think I got nothing done. That however is as far from the truth! Take last night for example: By 8:30 both boys were in bed sleeping. As soon as they were out I was out the door and up at the garden in the quickly fading daylight harvesting getting attacked by trillions of freaking annoying mosquitoes while plucking tomatoes, carrots, beans, and peppers from their homes as quickly as I possibly could! I then brought the war loot inside. Then I gave forced antibiotics down the throats of all four kittens. After that I fed and watered the chickies. After that I headed inside and cleaned all my goods from the garden. Chopped and steamed the carrots and beans. Then pureed them in my Vit-a-Mix . After that they got scooped into ice cube trays to freeze into perfectly sized portions for Sam to eat. Yup , that's right! Homemade baby food!! It is soooooooo yummy! I always have to snitch some! Honestly, its not that hard either. I find it MUCH easier than getting myself presentable, packing up the kids and going to the grocery store for it. Plus I love knowing exactly what is going into my precious baby's helpless body. Did you know that all those little plastic tubs Gerber packages their babyfood into contains BPA (bisphenol-A)?!?! If you haven't heard much about this toxin being fed to millions of babies a day, here is a good website: http://www.bisphenolafree.org/ or do your own Google search. NO THANK YOU Gerber! You can keep your toxic chemicals and shove them *you know where*!!
After making Sam's supereasy, healthy meals, I chopped up tomatoes and now they are also in the freezer waitng to be enjoyed at a later date (Guess what? There is also BPA in 99.9% of all canned goods, oh that AND MSG!!!! I am learning everyday of more and more ways oh how our government is intentionally, slyly, "controlling" the population.)




y

After all that I loaded up the dishwasher and cleaned of the counters. Guess what time is was after doing ALL that?! ONLY 10:30!!! I was absolutely amazed at how much I got done it 2 hours!!!

I think something most people over look is all the mundane, continuously needing to be done jobs mothers must do. Everything I do must be done over and over and over again and then I must start back at the beginning the very next day within the hour. Dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning up poopy diapers. . . All are something that all must be done multiple times a day and as soon as you do one of them you mess up another and you go round and round!!
The husband leaves for work and when he comes home many hours later, yes, it looks like nothing got done, but honestly, everything probably went through The Cycle at least twice while he was gone!!
As hard as I may try, my job will never be done but hey, thats fine with me. I saw my successes of the day. I saw how impossibly messy the kitchen counters were but then I toiled and scrubbed and sobbed and I gazed upon my handiwork and I gleaned the strength to do it again in 3 hours!

It's all for this:
:)

Two Ends One Beginning.

So, I am pretty discouraged. There won't be any pictures in this post because my camera has been having a hard time the past 2 months or so. It only turns on about 1/3 of the time. The times it doesn't turn on I always take the batteries out and throw them into the charger for 8 hours and that usually does the trick. Of course, the times one of the boys is doing some thing really funny/amazing/naughty is the day that the camera decides to call in sick. "I have to get a picture of you doing that! Stay right there Sammy, this will only take 8 hours, don't move a muscle!" Ha ha! If only that would work! So now I am not even sure where the dumb camera is. I was going to take a picture of both the boys in their car seats the other day but it was taking a personal day and I don't remember if I chucked the freaking thing against the cottonwood tree, if I forgot it on the roof of the car, or if I placed it under the back left tire. . .

We have to turn the keys into the apartment tomorrow. I pretty much have the place spotless, I just have to wipe off the kitchen counters, then sweep and scrub the kitchen floor and then we are out of there!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! It was a LOT of work. They had a whole longgggg cleaning check list that we had to complete: "Towel bars in bathroom must be shining and spotless or you will be charged. Light covers (like the ones on the ceiling) must be clean. Inside of stove fan hood must be spotless or it will be replaced at your expense."
Oh my GAWWWWWD!!!! I thought I was going to turn into a scrub brush with all the scrubbing have been doing over the past week!! Believe me, that place is 20 times cleaner now than it was when we moved in last year!!! Hopefully we get or deposit back!! I am hoping I can claim it (before Rich does) and get myself a nice reward for all that work- I was cleaning two houses at once for goodness sakes!! I had to clean this house after getting the kids in bed then drive over to the apartment and clean that! I believe I deserve $200!!!!

So for supper tonight we had McDonald's. I hadn't had that in a while just cause I think 98% of their menu items are disgustingly dripping in grease. I got 2 Honey Mustard Snack Wraps and a medium fry. I should have just gone with the wraps but all that salt and fat lured me in. Then they neglected to give Rich his Coke so we had to turn around, drive back and get it and they gave us 2 apple pies for the bother. I ate one. I was *this* close to eating the second but made myself give it to Rich. I was feeling so fat and flabby and tubby that I actually, amazingly opened the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD that has been sitting in a drawer for the past month. I only did Day One at Level One but I am so proud of myself!! It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong, it was difficult and I had to stop more times than I would ever admit but I feel like this isn't a workout video that I will quit in less than a week. I will keep you posted on my progress!

Rainy Day

Elijah woke up at an insanely early hour this morning and preceded to wake up his brother. So that meant I had to get up. :( After breakfast and diaper changes Elijah insisted on going outside. So I threw Sam in the mei tai and we headed out for an adventurous time of clambering on the mower, running through the clovers, hanging out in "Elijah's car" (Sara's Fox that is resting to the side of the drive way), and picking mulberries. Yes, I'm an adult, the mother of two children and I still love eating mulberries! I long for a handful of those luscious, juicy berries in the dead of winter. I swear when I'm 90 I will still be climbing mulberry trees, instilling a love for this wonderful summertime treat in my grandchildren! I would love to be buried under a mulberry tree often frequented by children (but that would probably creep kids out, leaving every last berry to the birds so maybe its not such a good idea. . .).

After a while it started to rain so we headed back inside for lunch and nap time. After Elijah's nap Rich took him to spend the night with Grandma Debbie and Aunt Candace. I started rearranging the boys' room- I am still trying to make it functional.

Not much else happened today. . . Sammy is getting some "sleep training" since his brother is gone. The crazy child thinks he is a small infant who needs to nurse ever 2 hours at night. Sorry kid, you are almost 9 months old!! I felt bad for you while you were sick, but now that you are nearly 100% again there is no reason for this! I think it is about time you learn to sleep for at least 4 hours without a boob in your mouth!

Here's a few pics from that past few days.

The boys swimming in the backyard.

Funny face Sammy!

Ha ha! What a goofy face on Eli!

Checking out Dodger

Eating grass, his favorite pastime!

Here's how Elijah gets into "his" car:

"I'm in!!"

Spacing out. . .

What a smart driver! He even buckles up!

Playing on the mower

Model pose!

Sammy is finally feeling better!

Concentrating! This learning to crawl is hard work!

The boys mowing with Daddy! Sammy is in the mei tai.

Making a stop for mulberries!

Serious faces.