Christmas 2010

So it is December 30th and I am finally getting around to posting Christmas memories for this year. I am behind. Go figure.

K was so excited for Christmas. This is really the first year that he has understood from beginning to end what is going on. Miss Allison at his preschool gave him a picture of a tree and some foam stickers as an advent calendar. So we had the countdown each day that caused some excitement. The week before Christmas he had his school party. Miss Allison had the kids draw names and he couldn't have been more excited to give his little gift to his friend. It was so sweet to watch how excited he got. Then a couple of days before Christmas, he said that he wanted to get something for Daddy, T, Grandma, and Uncle D. I suggested that he might want to get a present for D too if he was going to do that. He sighed and said okay. He picked out the presents he wanted for each person (which just happened to be things he wanted for himself...Reese's PB Cups, etc.)and was so excited to wrap them and put them under the tree.

Christmas morning came and excitement reigned.

We were blessed to have good friends and family that helped us this year and because of them our kids had a marvelous Christmas! We were overwhelmed by the generosity of the people we know and of people we don't know. We are blessed!

December 2nd, 2010

Okay, so the baking season has started at our house. We've got the first family party coming up on Saturday. One of the traditions is to exchange goodie boxes. So my mom and I are doing a few things each and then splitting the batches. Baking season is a fun time for me in usual circumstances. However, things have gotten a little more complicated since I gave birth 6 weeks ago to T. Since D and T are so close in age, I'm a little overwhelmed. So the plan is to just bust out the breads and candies tomorrow while B is home from work. Then Saturday can be dedicated to cookies.

Not only do we have the party this weekend, but T's blessing is this weekend. I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I've got to do the baking this weekend, plus make as much as I can of the dinner ahead of time. That way no one will have to wait too long for food after church is over. *big sigh* I am overwhelmed, but I thrive on stuff like this. I do much better all around when I am busy, busy, busy. To the point of insanity busy.

Today was preschool day for K. Apparently he got in a fight (again) with a little friend there. I talked with his teacher and she said they just feed off of each other. Today it was K's fault. He just walked up and knocked over this kids blocks. Next thing they were rollling on the floor. Ugh, I just do not know what to do with that child.

To end on a positive note, B's last day at Walmart is tomorrow. *HUGE sigh* He will be home in the evenings for the month of December. Then it is school. It will be nice to have him home for a little while.

Mama's Holiday Wish List

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
My honest wish is for B to get a job that pays the bills. This last year has been hard with him losing his job and (thankfully) getting a new one that doesn't pay enough for us and the boys.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?
Well, we are just getting into the tradition end of things with our little ones (K, our oldest, is just 3) but we wait for Grandma to come to the house, then we read the Christmas story and let the little ones loose!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
Hmmm...I think I would ask for a Shelby Mustang. I'm a car girl and have always loved the Shelby. Even though I wasn't born yet, I still haven't forgiven my dad for selling his. I'm sure that even in the womb I was horrified when he did that!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
We have a tradition that every year we perform acts of service as a Christmas gift for my mom. It makes us focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place and is the thing that we remember about the holidays.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
My family wasn't a big gaming family. The only one I remember us even trying was Chutes and Ladders. Games just didn't work for us. But once I married B (who comes from a big gaming family) our favorite games have been Settlers of Cataan, Ticket to Ride, and anything Mario related!

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
We always opened one present on Christmas Eve. It was always pajamas. Even though we knew what it was going to be, it was still exciting to open that gift.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?
Hmmm...that's hard. I like being home for Christmas. I suppose that if we were to go somewhere, I would pick a warm cabin in the mountains with all of our favorite people.

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

Definitely Active 2 for the Wii, Xbox 360 with Kinect, and Sesame Street: Elmo's A-to-Zoo Adventure (Always got to keep the 3 year old in mind).

June 2nd, 2010

Chronicalling the life of a depressed stay-at-home mom is depressing.

Yesterday was a typical day for the most part. Planning my mom's retirement party/open house has been an overwhelming yet fulfilling task for me. I feel as though for at least a little while, I have a reason for living. Oh, yes, there are my children. But there are days...most days...that I feel as though I am just existing to be a mom and have no other purpose in life. I am not helping bring money into the household. I am not teaching my kids what I would like they to be taught. And all I get from K is full-on backtalking now. Ugh.

Yesterday was my aunt and uncle's anniversary. They were married for 3 short years before he passed away unexpectedly from an anneurism while they were on vacation. I called her yesterday to talk about Mom's open house and what day it was had slipped my mind. She told me how thoughtful I was to think of her and all I could think was what a snot I was for not remembering in the first place. It was just coincidence that I called her. Someday I will write all these things down and remember the stuff that I always seem to forget.

K is on one. For the last week he has backtalked me and told me no to everything. I am going insane! I know that he is almost 3 and this is typical, but I am going to freak out.

Today it is pretty out. I am hoping to get out of my funk enough to take the kids somewhere. Anywhere. I made a commitment to take them out a lot and it hasn't happened so much because of the weather. Excuses, excuses...right?

April 22nd, 2010 Earth Day

Okay, so my favorite radio station 101.9 The End has gone belly up. So now it is itunes time for me all the time. This is why radio is dying. They get rid of good staff and funny people and replace it with crap "Gen-X" stuff from the 90s. Hello, let's lose that decade of music already!

Okay, rant over. Yesterday while D was taking his morning nap, K wanted to color. He brought me his bag of crayons and asked me to open it. After opening it and giving it back to him he looks at me and says in a seriousness, "Thank you, honey." I looked at him and asked him what he had said and he repeated himself. He makes me laugh. I always call him honey and apparently it has stuck.

D is getting closer and closer to walking. He pushes his little walker around the house and laughs the whole time he is doing it. Once I can get him to stand on his own he will be on his way. He will stand for a few seconds and then grab for something to hold on to. Closer and closer....

I have therapy today with Brian. I'm not sure how it will go. I'm tired of feeling like crap all the time. However, I've come up with a plan to get back on track food/weight wise. I know that my therapist wouldn't like it if I were to tell her about it. But I'm not planning on telling her about it. It will get the nutrients needed for the baby and sustain me. But hopefully it will help me lose everything I have gained.
Plan is: 1 yogurt (110), 1 c great northern beans (299), 2 cups cabbage (66), 1.5 c fruit with vitamin c (73-86), 4 oz salmon (168), & 8 oz v-fusion juice (110) = total: 839 give or take 13.
Adding an hour of exercise after the kids go to bed is the next part of the plan. The kids are in bed by 8-ish usually, so I can totally do this. That will give me a little while to wind down before going to sleep. I will be turning off the computer at 5 to spend more time doing things that matter.

This is completely doable, then I can do the same thing while I nurse. Hopefully that will give me enough milk to nurse. If not, I can up it just a little, otherwise we'll have to figure something out.

April 8th, 2010

Today is day just like any other. I am, of course, anxious about everything and I am unsure as to how to curb that tendency. The boys are keeping busy in their room by taking out everything that they own and throwing it on the floor. D is sitting his 10-month-old self in the middle of the pile and rifling through everything. K is taking things out and building the pile up. Both are content and happy. It would be nice to be that content.

I feel tired most of the time. I'm hoping that I will snap out of it this week. I'm now 13 weeks along in the pregnancy and still sick most of the time. But I am able to function and take care of the boys and that is all that matters. I am going to need to suck it up and go to the store either today or tomorrow. That means leaving the house, which I don't enjoy. However, we are out of several things and I need to take care of it.

Beautiful day today. It really is. I'm hoping that I will be able to let K go outside and play for a while. It is so much fun for him and he needs the vitamin D.