Mean is My Middle Name

A few weeks ago we had a light dusting of snow. Hannah begged me to let her go out and play. Being new to the city life, I was a little nervous about letting her go out by herself and I really did not want to go out. However, I agreed and watched her from the doors. Alex soon figured out what was going on and REALLY wanted to go out with Sissy. That is where I drew the line. There was no way that I could trust him to be out there without an adult. He however found this unreasonable. He soon found his hat and an old pair of gloves and put them on.

He stood at the door, alternating between watching Sissy and crying. Soon, he had enough and went upstairs to play. At least I thought that was what he was doing.

Not long after he went up, he came down with his pants. I'm sure he was thinking seriously Mommy! I got my hat, gloves and now my pants just let me go outside already!! (Side note, I am amazed that he managed to go upstairs, open his drawer, get out some pants and come back downstairs all the while leaving his mittens ON.)

PLEASE oh PLEASE can I go outside? See here are my pants!

Really, enough of this picture taking. Please just let me go outside and play with Sissy. Finally Daddy felt bad and took him out to play, in a t-shirt because he is cool like that.

All the while, I stayed nice and toasty warm in the house.

I Can See Her Future...

and it does NOT involve being a make-up artist! Although who knows. Maybe by then this:
will be what all the A-listers will be sporting. No?

TAG

Here are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer. No cheating {cropping, editing, etc.}!
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

Since I can't follow the rules here are my pictures!

Ok, so it wasn't exactly the fourth folder, but the fourth folder was boring. So I went to the fourth Hannah folder. It was Tony's birthday in 2005. He had just returned from Iraq a few weeks prior. We went to the beach in the evening and took a ton of pictures of Hannah using different settings on the camera. This one is "Holding the Sun."

Here is the fourth picture from Alex's beach folder. Again, Tony had just returned from Iraq and we went to the beach for a day of fun while it was still warm.

Finally, here is the real fourth folder, fourth picture:
Marine Corps Ball 2005. Tony posing with our friend Matt.

I'm not sure who has/hasn't been tagged! So, if you have already been tagged, sorry. I tag Destini, Lisa, Mike, and Emily.

Some Cuteness

I found this video when I was looking through my pictures for the tag. It was just so cute that I had to share it! I just love those chubby legs!!!

Hannahisms

Background: It is Sunday after church and the parking lot is full of snowy-slush. I am carrying Hannah so that she doesn't get all wet and dirty. For some reason Daddy parked way out in the boonies even though we were early and there were plenty of parking spaces. Whatever, we are young and healthy we can walk, but carrying Hannah all the way out to the boonies is no easy task. About halfway to the car this is the conversation we had:

H: Mommy my legs are tired, I can't hold on anymore. (She lets her legs go limp.)
M: Well that makes Mommy's arms tired and I might drop you.
H: And a car would run me over...
M: (Laughing) Well it might...
H: and I would become and angel and go see Jesus!
M: I really don't want you to go see Jesus yet, I want you to stay with me.
H: OK. How about for my birthday you buy me real wings so I can fly up and just visit.
M: (Laughing) I don't think they make real wings.
H: Just look, OK Mommy:
M: OK!

Just One of Those Days

This past weekend was kind of a "relaxing" weekend. I decided that I was going to take the day off on Saturday and not do any housework. Which was great, for the day, but come Sunday the house was disastrous. Which caused me more stress then what my "day off" was worth.

Anyway, back to Saturday. My day of rest ended up turning into a day of stress. On Friday night my nieces and nephew spent the night. The kids had so much fun, but got little sleep. They stayed up way past bedtime and got up extremely early. Which is what a sleepover is all about. However, that makes for a very cranky two year old. It messed up his entire schedule. Nap-time came too early, so by late afternoon he was Mr. Cranky. He was crying and whining about everything! I was at my wits end. I was counting down the hours until bedtime. I had planned on putting them to bed extra early and playing some Wii picking up a bit. However, my plan was foiled.
I found this pile of bodies at 7:00 P.M. I knew it was a bad idea. I knew that if I let them nap they would not go to bed...but. But, it was quiet! There was no crying or whining or complaining. It had just been one of those days where I could not take it any longer. So I let them sleep.

Of course, when it was time for bed neither one of them were tired. That is why I was still putting a mad Zander back into his bed every two minutes and rubbing Tater's back in between at 11:00. Three hours past bedtime. Oh, what one little nap at the wrong time can do.

Are You Sick of This Yet?

If not, then I'm sure you will be after this post! I am a bit excited about this room because it is Zander's first REAL room. So, I took a lot of pictures. Mainly all of the pictures are for the grandparents so that they can see all of the details of Zander's room.

First, I want to give you the back story. When Zander was born we were living in NC in a smaller house. At the time I wanted itty-bitty Zander to be in our room, so he slept in a cradle in our room. Then Tony left for Iraq and we moved up to OH where the kids and I shared a room at my Mom's house (crazy I know). When Tony got home and we moved back to NC Zander got into his "own room." However his room was also the office and by this time we knew we would be moving soon so we did not decorate his room at all. However, for Christmas, his grandparents bought him a bunch of jungle decor for his room. Then we moved to OH and again we knew where we were staying was not a permanent place so we did not decorate. Finally, we moved and my two year old "baby" gets his first room! So, even though I kind of wanted to do something a little more grown-up, we already had all of the stuff for a jungle room. It doesn't matter because he really loves his animals.

Without further ado, here is his room:
The brown is not showing up as the actual color. It is more of a chocolate brown and not so much orange. Here is a close-up shot of his giraffe:

Close-up of elephant:

Close-up of zebra and dresser with the vine that hubs hung. (I'm not sure how I feel about it yet):

Monkey and window:

His toy box:

View from other side of the room:

From the other corner:

Hey, wait a minute! Who snuck into the shot. We better take a closer look:

What a ham!

Wii Love to Play

This past weekend my brother and his girlfriend stayed with us. We had such a great time with them. We spent a lot of time playing Wii, and can I just tell you how much fun it is to WATCH others while they play. Seriously, the faces and the gestures are hilarious! So much so that I just had to share a few pictures of my brother from this weekend.

This is Matt and B getting ready to race in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Note we had already played for hours a few games and he had to change into lighter clothes because he was getting too warm.
Here is Matt "running" the race. Is that not hilarious? I should mention that he did beat the world record, so maybe he is onto something with his technique.

Really, how can you compete against that? Maybe that was part of his strategy? Make us all laugh so hard that we couldn't concentrate on the game.
I'm sure that he is going to be thrilled that I posted these pictures. Seriously, next time you are playing Wii, watch those around you. You will thank me later.

From the front porch looking in

Here is a partial tour of our:

Here is the view from the front door looking upstairs.

A view from the front door looking in. On the left is the half bath, the right is a closet, entry to garage and basement. Of course looking straight is the eat-in area.

The front room, with the red wall, is currently empty (for the most part). So I won't show many pictures of that just yet. However, here is Tater showing off her new scooter.

And here is the shrine that hubs built of himself. LOL!

Here is a view of the kitchen and eat-in area. There are two closets to the left. The door that is visible is the pantry, and to the left of that is another one (you can kind of see the bottom of it) which we are using for storage.

Here is a closer view of my beautiful new appliances. Speaking of which does anybody have any good tricks on how to keep stainless looking good? I have noticed it shows a lot of smudges and fingerprints. Also, the crockpot holds supper....taco soup, yummy!

The eat-in area leads into the living room. The living room holds the floor that we replaced.

Here is a closer look at the fireplace. I just love having fires in the evening, so cozy and warm!

We have not even begun to decorate yet. We just hung up pictures yesterday, and now I need to do some shopping for the actual decorating. Any suggestions on what to fill my empty front room with? Or what would look good hanging on the green wall? Our what color to accent that room with? What I really need is a decorator to come and help me.

Happy New Year

Boy 2008 quite the year! I'm going to do my best to recall some of the years highlights.

January: Tony was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. We were alternating staying with my parents and in-laws in Ohio waiting for our house to sell. It actually sold towards the end of January.

February: I celebrated my 27th birthday. This was a big month for Hannah, she started taking dance classes and pooping on the big girl potty. We also closed on our house in North Carolina and officially moved to Ohio on the 22nd.

March: Kind of a slow month for us. Alex finally got his first haircut, getting rid of the mullet that he was sporting. Our niece Leah was also born in March.

April: I found Tonya's blog and contacted her. We ended up driving to Michigan for a little party and met some wonderful families.

May: I finally finished my degree!!!! Hannah had her dance recital.

June: Quite a busy month for us. We went to the LPA convention, while we were there Tony got a job!!! He also bought a motorcycle towards the end of the month. We went on a family vacation to the OBX, where Alex learned to "swim" by himself. My credit card was stolen.

July: Hannah turned 4! Hubs and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. Hubs "moved" to Columbus and started his job. We started the LONG process of house hunting.

August: Another slow month. We spent a lot of time at my in-laws swimming. We did some major house hunting and I was adjusting to being a "single" parent.

September: Tony turned 28. My sister got engaged.

October: Alex turns 2!! Our offer was accepted on the house. We had another party up at Tonya's and met the Hedgers. We celebrated my Grandparents 60th anniversary.

November: There was a lot of waiting on the house. We finally closed on the 24th, and moved the weekend of the 28th.

December: Mostly spent unpacking and settling in our new house.

Christmas

I think I may have made too many Christmas cookies this year. Considering the fact that we just moved, so we don't know anybody yet. Meaning there was nobody to share them with. So, um hubs and I ate almost all of the cookies ourselves. It all started the week after we moved in and my Mom came for a visit. While she was here we made a TON of Christmas cookies. We made three batches of sugar cookies and some oreo dippers. Then after she left I made another batch of sugar cookies with my SIL and kids. Then I made some more oreo dippers and finally I made some chewy chocolate drops.
The kids really enjoyed making the sugar cookies with Grandma. I'm not sure why both of my kids have no pants on. I'm sure it had something to do with Grandma visiting and the kids running wild.

Alex would get so excited every time he cut-out a cookie. He would proudly hold up his cookie and say "LOOK!" Of course this resulted in most of his cookies looking more like a blob then anything else.

Hannah was so serious about cutting out the cookies. She would get upset if her cookie didn't turn out perfect. It was kind of cute and scary at the same time.

We waited to ice the cookies until Zander took his nap. I'm not sure why we did that. Maybe because I am smart bad mom and didn't want to have to clean up the mess he would make.

These are some of Hannah's beautiful creations. She worked so hard and used almost an entire bottle of sprinkles on her creations. When we were finished she said that she wanted to give some to B (my brother's girlfriend) buy not Matt (my brother). So we wrapped up a plate and sent some to "B ONLY!"

The next day we made the oreo dippers. Alex worked so hard creating his oreo ball. Only they did not turn out very round;)

Hannah loved squishing the dough together to start the ball. It was so fun watching these two make cookies.

We had a hard time finding a tree this year. Normally we would go to an awesome tree farm where we cut our own. This year since we were new to the area we were not sure where to go. Hubs was sort of a scrooge and did not want to mess with finding a place, he wanted to just get an artificial tree. I love real trees, so I vetoed the idea and he told me that it would be my job to find one then. So, my Mom and I trekked out to find the perfect tree. However the first place we went to was outrageously expensive. I refuse to pay more than $40 for a tree that is only going to be up for a short period of time. So, then we went to a nursery nearby. They did not have a very good selection, so I said we should go home and do some research. I found a couple of places online and then off we went. However, when we left the house it started raining. Yuck. We didn't want to take the kids out looking for a tree in the rain, but we decided we would drive and find the place anyway and hopefully it would stop raining by then. On the way we passed Lowe's and my Mom saw that they had trees. We decided to stop in and see what they had. We ended up finding one, it was kind of short but I prefer fat trees over tall trees anyway so we decided to get it. Somehow, in all of that madness we ended up forgetting to check the trunk. Big mistake, as it was very crooked.

Shortly after we put up the tree it toppled over smashing some of my favorite ornaments. I was so worried that it would fall again that I decided we would have an old fashioned tree. Complete with popcorn and candy canes. Hannah and I really enjoyed stringing the popcorn together. However, she lost interest before we were done and I had to finish it myself. Which was kind of boring, but it was SO easy to take down the tree this year that it was worth it!

Christmas morning I made the kids wait on the steps while I got the camera's ready. The were so adorable and so patient. I had charged the batteries the night before, however I forgot to check the tape on the video camera and ran out of film before they even made it down the stairs. So they had to wait some more while I ran around trying to find a new tape.

We had a relaxing Christmas morning at home. The kids were so much fun. Although Hannah was kind of confused because we gave her lots of presents and Santa only gave her one. He was supposed to give her lots. She kept asking why we gave her presents and why Santa only gave her one.

Stockings were opened last. I managed to get both kids to pause long enough to snap a picture. However I am a little sad because I was trying to take video and pictures by myself so I didn't end up with very many good shots of the kids opening their presents.

After a leisurely morning we packed up the kids and headed to my parents house for about an hour, then we headed over to Tony's parents for the rest of the day. We spent Thursday night and Friday night at Tony's parents house, then we headed over to my parent's house on Saturday for my family Christmas. We had some drama on Christmas Day involving family. I can't really go into it here because I'm sure the person who it involves reads this. I will say that it involved a little miscommunication, too high of expectations and a little bit of selfishness. All of it resulted in Tony and I deciding that next year Christmas Day is OURS. We will not be making any plans on that day other then spending OUR time how we choose. If that means we stay home most of the day or travel all around the country it will be up to us how we spend it.

Word of Advice

Yeah, I know I suck already! Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Geesh, I said I would be MIA for the next couple of weeks. Alright so five or six weeks might be a little longer than a couple but whatever. It has been pretty eventful around here. Not to mention that moving between Thanksgiving and Christmas has got to be the worst time to move. EVER. So, just a word to the wise, if you are planning to move in the future, try to avoid the holiday season.

So, what have I been up to. Well we moved the weekend of Thanksgiving. That week was spent unpacking and unpacking some more. We also laid a floor, got appliances, and hung at least 15 light fixtures. We bought a live tree and decorated it, only to have it come crashing down the very next day and smash some of my favorite ornaments. Bah! Our basement flooded on the 19th, on the 20th we had a Christmas party, on the 21st I started painting Alex's room and Alex got sick. (Have you ever tried to paint a room with a sick two year old? Not fun.) So that was a really great weekend. Alex was sick for three days, but thankfully nobody else contracted his plague and we had no sickness for Christmas! We had five Christmas gatherings mixed in that as well.

So, I found myself having no energy to blog. Normally I blog when the kids are asleep, but with all the unpacking and organizing I have been doing there just was not time. So now that things are starting to settle down, I should resume my normal posting schedule. Hopefully soon I will have up a Christmas post and some pictures of the new house.

It's getting closer...

Because I wouldn't want to forget them!!!

I might be MIA around here for the next couple of weeks, you know with trying to move and all. Right now my house is filled with boxes, most of them empty. So, yeah I really need to get busy. However, for some reason I cannot seem to get much done during the day. Hmmm, not really sure why. Oh right, because of two small "helpers".

Also, I updated my blogroll, please let me know if I forgot someone. There are so many blogs these days that it is hard to keep up with them all.

Freedom is NOT Free

Happy Veterans Day. Although, I think that statement contradicts itself. How can somebody be happy that they are a veteran? That they fought in a war? So, I guess the proper thing to say would be: thank you. Thank you to those past and present for serving our country. Thank you for giving up your "freedoms" so that we can all continue to enjoy ours. Thank you to all of the faithful wives/husbands of veterans for proudly standing by your solider.

On this day, we remember those who have served and who are currently serving. I for one am grateful for your service. I just don't think that thank you covers it.

The HOTTEST of them all ;)

Christmas, Christmas time is here...

Well, it is almost here anyway. I seriously cannot believe that stores have their Christmas stuff out in full force already! Of course my children love to go into said stores and marvel at all of the gaudy decorations. Needless to say, all the Christmas decor has made me realize that Christmas truly is around the corner and I need to get busy shopping. However, I am hoping to score something for myself (and possibly others) over at 5 Minutes for Mom. They are having an awesome Christmas giveaway throughout the month of November. Hop on over there and check it out!

Happy Almost Birthday

The USMC birthday is coming up and it makes me a little sad. Normally we would be celebrating this occasion by getting all geared up for the Ball. Obviously since Bologna is no longer in the Marines, we will not be attending and that is partially what makes me sad. What it really boils down to is that I miss being a military family. I miss the community, the understanding between the wives, I miss NC and I miss our friends. However, there is not anything I can do about that. What I can do is wish all the Devil Dogs a safe and happy birthday. As well as a big Semper Fi!

To keep with the military theme here, I was thinking the other day about when Bologna was deployed to Iraq. I was thinking about how it almost seemed easier then the current separation we are in. I'm really not sure how to explain it. He was deployed for seven months, in a relatively "safe" area. However, there was no choice involved. He had to be there. Right now, it is more of a choice for us because he is only two hours away. Really we could be together if we wanted to. I mean he is paying to stay with friends. We could pay for something for all of us or drive up and see us more.

I think that is what makes it so hard. That we could be together and we are not. When he was deployed we were so in love. When we would correspond or talk it was similar to when you first start dating someone and everything is all sunshine and roses. I'm not saying we didn't argue, because we still did but it was different. It is much harder this time. There seems to be such a strain on our marriage. We are still in love, but we have to fight for that love.

I am just so excited that this is almost over. That we will soon be living together again and instead of missing him all of the time I will probably be wondering why I missed him so much in the first place!

Fall Fun and Other Ramblings

Yesterday we enjoyed some awesome warm weather, so we decided to take advantage of it and play outside. All. Day. Long. (Except nap time because I'm not crazy!) We had such a wonderful time; raking the leaves, jumping in the leaves, throwing the leaves at each other, burying each other in the leaves, basically doing all things involved with leaves.
I managed to get some good shots of Hannah. I could post quite of few of her in the leaves because she is such a good subject. She will comply when I ask her to sit still for a few minutes.

Alex on the other hand is a different story. Being his two year old self it was hard to get a good picture of him. He was a ball of constant motion. So, I finally gave up, put the camera away and just enjoyed my kids.

We had such a fun time together! The downside was that the house got a little neglected. Never mind the fact that we spent all the daylight hours outside, there still managed to be a big mess! Oh well. It was worth it and I will gladly choose spending time with my children over housekeeping any day.

Also, I somehow forgot that since I was the one responsible for making beer bread for a Tastefully Simple party tonight, that I would you know need beer. Of course I did not remember that small little fact until well after the kids were in bed. So first thing today we ran out and bought some beer so I could make the stinking bread. After only 30 minutes in the oven (it is supposed to bake for almost an hour) I started to smell burning bread. Uh-oh, sure enough it was a little burnt. Again, oh well. We'll just scrape that part off!!

Lastly, some house news. It is finally official, I think. We have a closing date!! We will finally be closing the week of Thanksgiving, which will make for a busy Thanksgiving around these parts. Of course it will be worth it to finally be living together again.

Why Mommy?

When I met Lisa recently one of the things we talked about was talking to our daughters about the fact that they were different from other kids. She said that one of the tools she uses is watching Little People Big World with Lizzie. Unfortunately, we do not have cable so that is not really an option for us. I have talked to Han before about how she is special, that God made her look different, but that she is just as smart and can do just as much in her own way.

When talking to Lisa, I said something about the fact that Hannah had not yet noticed that she was different then any of the other kids and that I was not sure if I wanted to ruin her innocence on the matter just yet. I just wanted her to remain worry free for a little longer. I do not know if that is the best approach, and I was struggling with what to do about it. How do you make a four year old understand what most adults don't understand?

Well, recently she has started to notice things. Like, that her two year old brother can reach the light switches and she cannot. Or that on most bikes/trikes she cannot reach the pedals while most kids can. This has caused her to start asking questions.
"Mommy, why can Alex reach the lights and I can't? I even stand on my tipey-toes and can't."
"Mommy, why can't I reach the pedals like Dax (our next door neighbor)?"
"Mommy, why am I different?"
"Mommy why are my legs short and Anna's legs long? I don't want short arms and legs."

Although it is a little heartbreaking for me to hear her question and express these things, I keep reassuring her that she can do those things with a little modification. Such as using her light wand to reach the switches, and her pedal blocks to reach the pedals. I also reiterate how special she is, how much I love her and that she should not let her difference hold her back. That one day she will be able to do these things and until then she gets to do them her own special way.

She still questions why she has short arms/legs. I'm not sure what more I can do for her, other than surround her with love so that she can realize that, short or not, she is an amazing little girl. Now the pressure is off on how to tell her she is different, but the pressure is there on how to help her embrace her difference. Any great suggestions?

We Rocked the Vote

I VOTED....with a two year old on my hip. It doesn't get much harder than that, so really there is not excuse as to not voting.
(Apparently it is harder to take a self portrait in the mirror than I thought. This was the best out of a million shots, and even then I had to crop it.) Also, in case you were wondering if I left Tater at home by herself while the boy and I walked downtown to vote, I didn't. She was with her Grandma Cath and got to vote with her. Although, she wasn't sure what a vote was and got quite anxious in line since they had to wait 40 minutes. We on the other hand walked right in and voted.