Weekend Top Five 2/2/09

I was really grumpy on Saturday. For no reason, just a complete jerk wad to EVERYBODY. I feel so bad about it now, but I feel like I have to at least admit it to everyone, as a way of atoning for my bad behavior. I choose to blame it on hormones, and meanwhile, send off apologies to my poor helpless husband and boys, who didn't deserve the "Wrath Of Mom".



Here's the Top Five list from the weekend.

5. Friday Visit to the Airport
Aaron and I picked up Deb's daughter Hannah from school and headed over to pick Deb up from the airport after a 48 hour mommy break. Aaron and Hannah loved watching the plane taxi in (it was too cloudy to actually see anything land) and they were amazed at the fact that the luggage just appeared out of nowhere up a ramp.







4. Saturday Morning Gymnastics

I noticed Noah being less attentive than in previous weeks and in the afternoon, he admitted that the teacher had threatened that he would have to leave if he didn't shape up. I'm glad she got him back in line.

I still got a few good pictures though.
Noah's splits after a high jump from a trampoline













Aaron's landing from a seat drop on his little trampoline












3. Saturday Afternoon Playtime With Daddy

As my Mommy Madness continued, Daddy was smart enough to zoom the boys outside to play in the snow while he constructed quite the amazing fort. He had Noah dig through and made a full tunnel through the snow.

At the same time, I had a chance to finally sweep and mop the kitchen floor, and then leave for a little while to get some groceries. I was in a much better mood when I got home, just in time to sit down and do some snuggles with Aaron, the one who took the worst of my mania a few hours earlier when he was refusing to take a nap (that he desperately needed).

2. Saturday Night Taxes

Pretty sad when you need tax preparation to get your mind of of being a BAD MOMMY. But that's exactly what I did. It feels good to get it done and to know that we will get just enough to get our mortgage caught back up and set us hopefully back on the right track.

My piano load has picked up so I have hopes that we won't sink so far again for awhile.

While doing taxes, we also discovered that somehow we are now signed up for dental insurance through Steve's work. We just may keep that coverage after all.

1. Sunday Church
Aaron's class recited their bible verse last week in front of the congregation and this week was Noah's turn. The 1st graders recited John 3:16. The only verse that I ever remembered learning growing up that I still can recite to this day.

The first grade class is usually the LARGEST grade in the church with an average of about 12 kids. Several were afraid to come forward but the three (including Noah on the left) were loud and strong and did a great job.



Honorable Mention

A. Even though Noah has been doing great ever since school came back from Christmas break, he kept having one day where something just "went wrong" and he couldn't quite get a perfect week in. But he did it this week and he was super proud of himself. As a reward we did movie night and made brownies. I also got him a little castle guy that he played with the rest of the weekend.


This week will hopefully be a little more calm now that the transition from preschool is over. I think I had a much harder time adjusting to it than he did, and definitely harder than I had anticipated.

Did you post your weekend? Let me know so I can come visit.

So Glad For Friday!

I SOOO needed Friday to come. It has been a crazy week. Both the transitions of Aaron being home from preschool and Daddy being home early and not having babysitters have thrown the household off kilter, but we'll get right back on track.

As for the bakugans, after speaking to the boys who took them this morning, I am quite sure that the they have now lost them. I am not going to pursue it any longer, but when Noah asks why he can't take toys to school, the answer will remain that he can take toys again when he retrieves his bakugans. If he wants to pursue getting them back, then he can. Otherwise, it's time to let it go.

Aaron is so behind in his sleep after two days without a nap, that he is extremely unpleasant and he won't get one today either since we're picking Deb up at the airport this afternoon. I think he (and Deb's daughter Hannah, whom we're picking up from school) will have fun watching the planes take off and land. But you can bet tomorrow will ABSOLUTELY be a required nap for him. If he survives that long. The problem is that the longer he goes without a nap, the less he sleeps at night and the earlier he wakes us ALL up in the morning.

I ate almost an entire bag of Hershey's kisses this week so I know my stress level has been high. Now I have to pay the price in guilt.

I usually take about 100 to 200 pictures in a week. This week I took seven. Not seven hundred, SEVEN. If that doesn't speak for itself, I don't know what will. Here are a few of my favorites though:

Here is Aaron "comforting" Pumpkin the morning after the kitten vomit fest on Tuesday


As far as I'm concerned, the cat's name is no longer "Pumpkin". I am now going to call him "Mutt"













As you can see, Big Sister Minnie wasn't too concerned about little brother Pumpkin's digestive issues.











Noah curled up asleep. He sleeps hiding under the covers every night, but when I went to check on him last night, I loved how the blanket framed his face.










Noah has had perfect days every day this week and if he does great today, he will have had his first perfect week since November. I down played it though so he didn't get too stressed about it. His reward is going to be movie night tonight with white pop and he is going to be allowed to make a recipe from the book that my sister sent home with me on Wednesday. (He LOVES this book, Shannon!)

Have a great weekend and come back on Monday and share. Maybe I will win the Home Depot card from the bloggy carnival and get to paint my living room...hey, one can dream :)

Putting the Letter "F" To Rest

On the way home from school today:

"Mommy, R said sorry for saying that I said the letter F. Mommy, what IS the letter F anyway and why is it bad to say a letter?"

I think this issue is now laid to rest.

More Follow Ups

1. So after talking with Noah about this bad word situation yesterday, I am completely convinced that he didn't say THE WORD. He is completely confused because he is sure that he is in trouble for saying the word "stupid" and keeps asking me what bad word starts with the letter "F". Now I really am afraid that he will go up to the girl accuser and ask her what it is.

I emailed his teacher about it and she got back to me. Apparently, this girl went and told one of the other moms that Noah said it too. Mrs. T completely believes me and will honor my request to move Noah away from this girl and said she will also speak on Noah's behalf to the other mom. These same 11 kids are going to be together for the next 11 years and I don't need bad feelings among the parents (although if this continues I may have a few words for the girl's mom). At this point, Noah still doesn't really know what this all about and I hope I can keep it that way.

2. As for the two missing toys, they are still not back in Noah's possession and he threw a mini fit this morning when I wouldn't let him take any more toys to school. I told him that nothing goes to school until he retrieves ALL of the toys he had given away. Truthfully, even then I am not sure if anything will be allowed to go or not. I will be talking to the other boy after school today and also to his mother if it doesn't come back tomorrow. Whether Noah should have given it away or not, there was still some swindling going on.

3. Pumpkin seems to be on the mend. I went into the basement last night and found a ton more spots where he had thrown up and ended up pulling out a lot of the foam tiles we had on the floor downstairs. It seemed that both cats were trying to show me where they all were, which was kind of strange. I guess Pumpkin has lived through some of his nine lives but had a few left.

4. Church went very rough last night. I am so sick of all of the other parents letting their kids spend the entire evening running and screaming through the church. I make a serious effort to keep our kids separate from the chaos, but it sure seems to follow them. Then, by the time we get them home and into bed, it's 8:30 at night and they don't fall asleep until close to 9. Then I have to deal with grumpiness every Thursday morning. BOTH boys had timeouts within fifteen minutes of getting up this morning.

Enough updates for now. I need to go clean the house again and actually make it to the store to buy stamps. I am a bit on pins and needles this morning about these school situations but I need to let them go for now.

Thirsday Thirteen: Since Aaron's Been Home...

13 Things that Aaron has done in his first week home from preschool







1. Helped clean up/reorganize the bedroom by carrying multiple loads of books up and down the stairs

2. Thrown up in the entry way to his old school and then again in the hallway on the way to the bathroom, when we went to return the class mascot

3. Attended library story time, sitting quietly and participating fully

4. Played in the play area at the mall

5. Read books at the book store in the mall

6. Charmed the pants off the employee of the teacher store that we visited to find stimulating activities for him whilst at home

7. Took a nap every day

8. Watched the van go through the car wash because it was "filthy" according to big brother Noah

9. Spent a morning at Aunt Shannon's preschool

10. Played at Grandma and Grandpa's

11. Watched way more television way more than in previous weeks

12. Been allowed to eat cereal for breakfast instead of the required peanut butter for school mornings

13. Snuggled Pumpkin when he wasn't feeling well.

Not too bad for the first week home.

Guess what he hasn't done? Asked about going back to school.

Updates form Earlier Post

1. One Bakugan retrieved, other two have been lost by this other boy. Other boy's class had substitute today so I will have regular teacher send home note with child tomorrow.

2. Pumpkin is eating. I guess that's a good sign

3. Chester has been found

New one: I picked up Noah from school today and teacher pulled me aside and said that another student said that Noah said the "F" word today. Noah has no clue what the "F" word is and is begging me to tell him what it is. Now I am afraid that he is going to ask this girl what it is tomorrow and then he WILL know. UGH!!!!!

Three Worries For Today

This is one of those posts where a person writes down what they're worrying about in order to try to get it off their mind for a few minutes. I have three that I lost sleep over last night.

1. Bakugan Mania

If you dont know about bakugan, think stickers when we were all little, increase the cost per each one by about $5 and you have bakugan balls. Noah got three of them for Christmas and was instantly popular with some of the second grade boys when he took them to school and let them hang in his locker (they're magnetic). I protested him taking them to school, but the teacher said as long as she didn't see them it was fine so I was trumped.

Anyway, yetserday, when Noah got into the car he said,"Mommy, I gave all of my bakugans to "N" and he said he'll give me a SPECIAL one later."

No way. Is my kid really getting swindled already? I couldn't quite decide which road to take...the one where I talk to him about giving away things that mommy and daddy spend hard earned money on, or the fact that he was probably swindled and too innocent to know any better.

I kind of let it go but I did tell him that he is expected to get them back this morning when he got to school. "N" only had one of them and said he would bring the others tomorrow.

I am not quite sure how to proceed from here and I may just let it go with a discussion of leaving toys at home from now on. His teacher told me when I asked her about it yesterday that the day before he had told her he was going to do it and she had told him that she didn't think his mom (me) would like it and he told her that I said it was okay. Now there's a lie in there too.

I will keep you updated as this drama progresses.

2. Pumpkin

As I have mentioned many times, Pumpkin is a nightmare. But now we have a bigger problem. He spent the entire day yesterday throwing up, and instead of his usual craziness running and jumping on everything and everyone, he just wanted to go hide under things and not move.

When we put him downstairs last night, we weren't even sure if he would come back up this morning, and he didnt for a good ten minutes after we opened the door.

We don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on vet bills for this cat so I don't know where this will take us. Will we be explaining death to a six and four year old, or did he just eat something that needs to pass?

At the moment, he is lying near the register not moving.

Once again, I'll keep you updated.

3. Chester

Last week when Aaron was Star of the Week at preschool, he brought home a little stuffed animal that was the class mascot. We were supposed to bring it everywhere and then write in a notebook about his adventures with us. He got left at church Wednesday night and I got quite the scolding on Thursday when he didn't return.

We brought him home from church on Sunday and then decided that Aaron wouldn't be returning to preschool on Monday. So Monday afternoon after school, I went into school to return the bag. As we were walking in, Aaron proceeded to throw up all over the entry to the school and again in the hallway. I threw the bag with Chester in it on the office counter and then brushed Aaron off to the bathroom to clean him up.

After we returned from the bathroom, the secretary seemed extremely preoccupied so I made sure to mention several times that the bag for the preschool was on the counter but then I hurried out before Aaron had a chance to throw up again.

Yesterday, there was a message from the school secretary wanting to know WHEN I would be returning Chester and also to come pick up his left over artwork.

This morning on the way home from dropping Noah off, I got yet another call wanting to know about Chester. I once again made it clear that I HAD returned the bag on Monday but the secretary is insisting that she didn't hear me saying anything an d the school thinks that I have lost Chester.

So now I have to go in and deal with that too.

I know all of these things are just every day issues, but I am feeling a little stressed from them at the moment and I hope they will all work themselves out.

For now, I am going to go curl my hair and Aaron and I are going to head up to my sister's for a few hours.

Have a good day.

Thanks, Shannon!

Wordless Wednesday: Serious Hat Head

Tackle It Tuesday: Two First Days

Both last Thursday and yesterday, I had "firsts" in the morning. And both days, I accomplished a ton of stuff in the first few hours of the day.




Let me share them with you.





As I mentioned last week, I disabled my facebook account Wednesday night and I learned the next morning just how much of my housework I had been neglecting because of the computer addiction from which I was suffering.

In two and half hours, I managed to:

Clean and vacuum the living room













Unload the dishwasher













Dismantle and scrub all of the pieces of the stove














De-clutter and disinfect the kitchen counter (I wish I had a before shot...it was bad!)











Scrub the bathroom floor



















Dust all of the end tables in the living room













Wash, dry, and fold three loads of laundry



Has anyone else noticed that every time I post a picture that was taken in my living room, there is always a cat lazing around somewhere in the picture?






Have enough patience to let Aaron mix the eggs for lunch.

















As I also mentioned, I decided to pull Aaron from preschool. So the first morning home we decided to tackle his upstairs bedroom. On Saturday when the boys were playing upstairs, Noah came down and said

"Mommy, the whole thing just fell down!"

I knew what he meant but I never went up to investigate because I didn't want to see. So when I went up Monday morning, this is what I found:














After about an hour and a half of ONCE AGAIN, sorting toys, moving furniture, etc. I ended with this:














So I guess both of the "first" mornings were quite productive. I actually am a little worried about not getting as much done now that Aaron will be home in the mornings, but instead, I will choose to enjoy these next few months of enjoying spending time with him.




P.S. How is your carnival craze coming? I have found a few favorites.

Weekend Top Five 1/26/09

One of the biggest struggles facing us this weekend was making the decision to pull Aaron from preschool. We went back and forth all weekend long. Friday was the end of the semester so it seems that if we were going to do it, this would be the time. Finally, Sunday night, we finally decided that he won't be returning Monday morning. I need to call the school to let them know and ask if I can pick up all of his work that is currently hanging in the hall. I don't want to go into full detail and I wasn't worried about his safety, per say, just an overall less than comfortable feeling. Since he won't be five until late October, he still has another year before I plan to put him in kindergarten, so I don't feel the immediate urge to re-enroll him anywhere else. We'll just finish off the year with library programs and activities at home.

Here are some other highlights from the weekend.


5. Report Card Day

Noah's second quarter report card came home Friday afternoon. He is doing so much better this year and his teacher even included an award with his report card commending him on how hard he has worked to show good behavior.









4. Friday Night Game Night

No movie night because the boys just seemed too tired so we did Family Game Night instead. While Steve was giving Aaron his bath, Noah and I played Battleship (he's starting to get pretty good) and then after Aaron joined us, all four of us sat on the floor and played Disney DVD Bingo. What a fun game. The Bingo calls come up on the screen and then after about 10 calls or so they have a WILD moment, where they show a quick clip from a film and then let you pick a space to cover. Each boy won a game and we were still able to get them in bed by 7:15.

3. Saturday Morning Clothes Trial

Gymnastics was canceled this week so we stayed home for the morning. So while the boys were playing, I decided to pull out all of the shorts from last year to assess what we were going to need for our trip to Florida in a few weeks.

What I discovered is that both boys have grown so much this winter that Aaron inherited EVERY SINGLE pair of shorts I bought for Noah last year and has 15 pairs of shorts. Noah has NONE! So I figured we would head off to the mall to get him a few pairs for the trip.


This was a nightmare. All of the shorts that fit him around the waist are WAY too long and nothing is on sale. I can't bring myself to pay more than $8 for a pair of shorts. So I will wait for a few weeks, I think that the stores will put out more shorts in the middle of February and I will try again.

Did I mention the JOYS of getting a six year old boy to try on clothes in a dressing room? I didn't? Oh, well remind me to share it with you some time. Any horror stories you would like to share might bring me some relief :)


2. Saturday Night Dinner

After we left Deb's house (see below), we had a gift card for a restaurant building downtown Grand Rapids that was built in an old warehouse. Quite neat. So we headed there to eat (since I needed to go grocery shopping and was too lazy to go Friday night). The food was delicious and the kids loved going up and then down the stairs.

My favorite part of that little trip was my AWESOME parallel parking job (if I do say so myself).



1. Sunday Church

It was a little bit different of a week. I took just Aaron and left Steve and Noah home since we didn't have bell practice and the church had the annual meeting after the second service, followed by a brunch that our kids wouldn't eat. My youth chime group performed for the early service and it was Aaron's preschool class' turn to recite their memory verse in front of church.

"Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth." Psalm 100, 1

Does it look or sound familiar? If you have ever scrolled to the bottom of my blog, you will notice that that is the verse I asked Shannon at Gabi's World to put on my site when she designed it.

We did nothing else for the rest of the day on Sunday. Just lazed around the house. A true day of rest.

We also celebrated Deb's daughter Becca's 3rd Birthday Party on Saturday. The kids played really well. If you would like to see pictures, head on over to Mom of 3 Girls.

Are you geared yup for the Bloggy Carnival this week? I probably won't be participating as much this time around now that I have a four year old at home again, but MAYBE during nap time?

Feel free to join Mr. Linky if you shared about your weekend.

Photo Story Friday: Noah's Recipe

I am not the most adventurous mom out there. As a matter of fact on days when I am feeling down, like I was on Monday, I would prefer to curl up in a ball and wallow.

Which I did to a certain extent.



Noah came home from school Monday with an idea in mind. As anyone who knows my little boys will tell you, he is a true scientist, the way his mind works. It amazes me how much he loves to learn about how things work. On Friday last week when his class filled out a paper honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. they had to fill in THEIR dream. Noah's was to be a chemist to make medicine for people (with quite creative spelling I must say).

So that must have been on his mind when he saw me embedded in the couch and headed into the kitchen because he decided that he needed to cook something. I kind of blew off his request because I was in a very bad place and didn't feel like dealing with the mess.

I know...Bad Mommy!

But he headed into the kitchen anyway. I didn't really think he would do anything until Aaron came tattling "Mommy, Noah has eggs!"

Okay, apparently I am not going to be allowed to wallow and actually have to deal with this after all.

I realized this might be a teachable moment and told Noah that if he writes out a recipe and shows it to me, I would let him make it.


I had to alter it a little...

15 eggs became 1 egg

1 cup became a half cup.

Juice instead of jelly

A whisk would work better than a spoon





In goes the flour













In goes the soda (one of Steve's cans of Sprite)












After these, I decided to add a little bit four and some brown sugar, just to maybe spruce it up a little.

Then he wanted to taste it. The raw egg kind of worried me a little so I made another suggestion


Try the microwave













At which point little brother was totally jealous and needed to get in on the fun











It came out very hot but Noah was determined to convince me that he liked it



Never mind the messy counter in the background...I was having a very bad day.










Aaron had his own unique way of trying it. For some reason he was having a momentary evasion to using a spoon

















Aaron gave it his thumbs up because he didn't want to admit how yucky he thought it was

















But Noah finally decided to tell the truth

















Are you wondering if I tried it?

The answer if yes, a little. It actually wasn't bad. I think the idea of adding sprite to add sweetness is intriguing. And I think maybe the oven to cook it for awhile before we try it.

As I was pouring it down the drain, Noah told me he wants to try another one the next day.

I am glad that I got my bum off the couch and let him try the experiment. Like I said at the start of this, I am not adventurous and unfortunately, I think I say "NO" way too often to these curious minds.

Who knows, maybe these experiments will lead to amazing undiscovered recipes that will become world famous. And you can all say you knew him when...

Have a great weekend.



P.S. Did ya notice the new curtains? We have a much warmer kitchen thanks to all of your encouragement last week.

Pumpkin Goes To School

I have mentioned so many times that Pumpkin is driving us nuts. He is destructive and mean to Minnie. There is rarely a time when I am on the computer that I don't hear Minnie hissing at Pumpkin because he is being a pain.









But he is also a beloved part of our family. How can you bring something into your home, love it, and then shoo it aside?


Aaron was determined to have Elmo in this picture when I took it








A few weeks ago, Noah asked if he could bring Pumpkin to school for his next show and tell. As luck would have it, his show and tell day fell on the same week that Aaron was Star Of The Week for his class. He has been waiting for it all year long. As Star of the Week, you are allowed to bring your pet to school.

So this week, Pumpkin logged quite a few travel miles.

On Tuesday, it was to Noah's first grade class.


First Noah sat in front to answer questions. I should have called Deb to ask how old Pumpkin was since I didn't remember when he was born and made a guess.
















Then he carried him around in a circle to let every one pet him











But true to cat personality, Pumpkin preferred to roam on his own.












Look at this picture and tell me that Noah wouldn't be scarred for life if Pumpkin went away. He is cradling him just like a baby with the sweetest look on his face.











He was so proud the whole time.

The entire time, Aaron was pouting because HE didn't get to pet Pumpkin. It didn't matter that he gets to pet Pumpkin every day of his life, the fact that he didn't get any attention while Pumpkin was in Noah's class was quite upsetting for him.

Which is why it was good that the next day on Wednesday, it was Aaron's turn to bring Pumpkin to school.

I figured he would be so excited. And he was, when I walked in the door. He sat down in his special Star of the Week chair and started talking about Pumpkin.










Then he was determined to be the one to hold him.












That's when the trouble started.

Just like the previous day in Noah's class, Pumpkin didn't WANT to be held. He wanted to be off and exploring.











Aaron got so upset, actually embarrassed I think, and started crying shouting "I want to go home". He had so much trouble getting calmed down, the poor kid actually had to go sit at a table while I carried Pumpkin from kid to kid in order for them to pet him.








So it was not quite the best experience for Aaron, but it is also another little piece of the puzzle of why I am still struggling with the decision to pull him from preschool. But more on that another time.

So Pumpkin got two days in school. And he was VERY happy to get back home and be subjected to a bath by big sister Minnie when he returned.

I Made A Bold Decision

I have pulled myself from Facebook.

Facebook started out as a fun tool to meet people whom I haven't talked to in many years.

I found the very few friends that I had in high school and really enjoyed getting to know them again.

Then people close to me joined.

Then I had so much fun talking to my family and keeping in touch with them. I felt very lucky that we had this quick way of keeping in touch.

Then I learned fun things about people that I hadn't known before.

Then some of my bloggy friends hooked up and it was fun to communicate with them in another way.

Then I connected with people I used to be friends with and started talking to them again.

Then my son begged me to not sit at the computer when he was home

Then we got a nasty virus that destroyed our entire computer.

Then people I love got hurt.

And so did I.

I am so glad that facebook is there for everyone who can be responsible in how they use it.

I am not one of those responsible people and made the decision to let it go.

I feel good about the decision.

Good bye friend. I will miss you.

Wordless Wednesday: "I'm a Ductor" (Conductor)

Think he's been watching Mommy at work too much?

Weekend Top Five 1/19/09

Another somewhat uneventful weekend. We have about had it with the kitten and have begun in earnest trying to find him a new home. Noah is very upset and I am not sure how to go about this without scarring him for life. More about that later.
The other non-event for the weekend is that a couple of weeks ago, we made a promise to Noah that we would leave the computer completely off on Saturdays. It made us show up at a restaurant on Saturday that wasn't open for another two hours, because usually we would check the website before we go anywhere new. But I think it is a worthy commitment to the boys and shows them that we really do think that they are more important than a computer screen

So here were the top five of the weekend.

5. Friday Lunch Mom

Usually when I go in for Friday lunch, Mrs. T does a little computer work and then leaves for lunch while I take the class outside for recess. Since they couldn't go out for recess, they had it in the classroom. Mrs. T left and the kids were a bit rowdy so I started a hangman game on the board while they were eating. They loved it and when they were finished eating, started getting out other games to play with me.

Mrs. T hadn't left after all and came back a few minutes later. I decided to stay anyway and spent the entire recess time teaching five kids how to play chess. It was quite fun for everyone and I felt bad when I looked up at the clock and noticed that recess was supposed to have ended five minutes earlier and neither myself nor Mrs. T had noticed. She was cracking up because the room was so quiet that she wasn't even watching the clock.

4. Friday Movie Night

I decided that if we are leaving for Disney in eight weeks, we should probably be familiar with Disney characters. I generally limiit Disney movies in our house. They really can be quite inappropriate for children. Violence, rude talking, scary situations, etc. and it drives me nuts. But nevertheless, riding a ride centered around a character would make much more sense if the kids are familiar with them.So we rented Peter Pan to prepare for Peter Pan's Flight.




3. Gymnastics/ Dance Class

Noah had the regular teacher this week and she kept them moving big time. They did all kinds of running, jumping, swinging and it was fun to watch Noah having such a great time.

This is my best shot from his class this week. I finally found a setting that works for these classes






I didn't really get great pictures of Aaron but he at least got to jump on the mini trampoline and hang on the bar before they went into their dance portion this week.


I did find out that the last class we will be able to come in and watch and take pictures of the little "routine" he is learning.





2. Saturday Library Program

The library has programs each Saturday until the middle of February. I think we will leave Aaron home for a nap for the rest of them because he was quite grumpy, but Noah loved it.

Each week has a different theme, and this week's theme was "nature." The boys made bird feeders from pine cones, peanut butter, and birdseed



Proud Aaron with hat head.












and they "planted" bean seeds in paper towel jars. I don't have a whole lot of hope for them growing, but the kids are enjoying imagining them doing so and I don't want to burst their bubble. It would be neat if they do grow. Maybe I'll have to report on them in a few weeks and let you all know.

Noah pouring his own water





And Aaron was excited to hang the bird food outside and sit on the porch waiting for the birds (that never came, of course)












1. Snowy Sunday

Steve had a singing performance Sunday afternoon and took the van so we stayed at home. It was finally warm enough to get outside to play for awhile.

Noah desperately wanted to make a snowman but the snow wasn't wet enough so he found our "snowman making kit" in the garage and made it his own way...using a snow pile on the edge of the driveway

snowman kit courtesy of Chris at Dad of Divas







and Aaron was happy to finally swing, even though the snow came all the way up to the bottom of the swing

















This week will be an interesting one. It may be Aaron's last week of preschool as he's the star of the week, which is one of the two things I was waiting for. Both kids are bringing Pumpkin for show and tell this week, as I will be feverishly seeking a new home for him and trying to find a way to ease Noah's pain along the way. We also will be getting Noah's report card this week.

As always, let me know if you played along this week.

Have a great Monday!

Photo Story Friday: Breaking A Parenting Rule

I read a study somewhere that if a family eats at least seven meals a week together, the likelihood of children finishing high school is astronomically higher. It makes sense, taking time as a family to talk about the day.




During the weekend, we do a really good job about eating together at lunch and dinner pretty much every weekend, since we're all home and budgeting requires us to plan our meals for the weekend ahead anyway.


We have a great prayer song that we have been singing since the boys were newborns and the boys get upset if we don't sing it before a meal.




The week is a different story:

Breakfast doesn't work. Steve is already gone, I am running around getting stuff ready (like backpacks, take home folders, and lunches) and the boys are sitting separate because morning is the time that they pick fights with each other, for some reason.

For supper, Steve is a single parent while I am teaching, but he does a pretty good job (most nights of eating at the table with boys. As far as I'm concerned, that counts.

Lunch is usually Aaron and me, and I too make an effort for the two of us to sit together and eat talking about how preschool went that morning. I think that counts too.

Now, I need to turn our attention somewhere else. But I'll get back to this in a minute, I promise.

We live in a pretty old and drafty house. We have had to make some adjustments to make it livable while our temps are hanging out in the single digits.

We have tried that plastic covering at times, but it doesn't seem to work too well and the kitten would probably rip it with 2.3 seconds of putting it up anyway.

We have a very large picture window in our living room. Since I hung curtains, the temperature in that room is comfortable, but we always have to have the curtains closed, which makes it always feel so dark and I muss the sunlight.









Our upstairs dormer room runs the length of the house with a window on either end. It is very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. We put blinds on the windows to try to make it a little warmer but it doesn't work that well.






( I just noticed this picture uploaded upside down and I already deleted the pics....it still gets the point across)








So if you open up the blinds, this is what you'll find

Yup, I have had to stuff a twin comforter in each window to attempt insulation. At least ice doesn't gather on the inside of the windows anymore. But once again, the bedroom is extremely dark, adding to the somber feel of our house.

But it is a little warmer.













Let's go back to the previous story now, shall we?

Remember how I was telling about how we have been somewhat good about family meals?

This is how my son has eaten his lunch every day this week




Never mind his clothes. It was pajama day at school









You want to know why?




That's ONE....TWO...
















THREE...FOUR...FIVE...









Five uncovered windows in our kitchen. In our little tiny house, we have a HUGE , bright, cheery kitchen. The happiest looking room in the house. (my pretty green paint job doesn't hurt either :) )

What else is it?

FREEZING!

This kitchen is easily at least 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. I actually have blogged way less than usual just because my right hand seems to get frozen numb most of the time while I'm at the computer. My kids have not been allowed to do as many crafts as they want because I don't want them (or myself) to freeze.

I know the solution is to buy curtains for the kitchen, which would look nice and definitely warm it up, but with some outstanding debts that are seriously pressing, the last thing I can do is blow $50 on curtains.

So until it gets warm again, I am quite sure there will be many more "picnics" in the living room.

I console myself by saying, at least we're still all together.

Thursday Thirteen: Generic No-No's

I am cheap. No question about it. I need to save a buck wherever I can. But from experience I have learned that there are places you can and place you absolutely CANNOT go generic. Here are thirteen things that I will NOT go generic.




1. Cat Litter (Fresh Step, all the rest leave too much residue)
2. Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft deluxe)
3. Maxi Pads (Always with wings)
4. Deodorant (courtesy of my husband...he says generic falls apart)
5. Canned Vegetables (generic have yucky hard pieces)
6. Canned fruit (generic is too stringy)
7. Toilet Paper (Scott's 1-ply is the only one that doesn't clog out toilet)
8. Jelly (Smuckers Squeeze is the only low sugar one that has no red dye)
9. Peanut Butter (Jif is the easiest to spread on bread)
10. Yogurt (Yoplait Kids or Dannon Light and Fit are the only ones that have no red dye and are low in sugar)
11. Quaker Granola bars (the generic don't have low sugar versions)
12. Diet Soda (generics just tastes icky)
13. Pull Ups (Aaron has a big bladder at night)

Do you agree. Do you have others that I didn't list that need honorable mentions?



Thanks to Jenn at My Kids Are My World for doing this T13 post last week on new T13 headers.

Believer in Magic

Have you ever blogged a story just so that you had it for your own memory for the future? This is one of those special stories that I think is so beautiful but it may be only in my mind.

As you know, I have a six year old named Noah. He is in first grade and way too smart for his own good.

He always wants to know how things work and is a very concrete thinker, just like his mommy.

So when the discussion in school centered around the existence of Santa Claus, Noah came home and was very deliberate in his questioning as to the existence of Santa.

Before I had kids, I actually did NOT want to use Santa. But I got overruled by pretty much everyone and Santa has been given credence in our home.

Christmas 2005




So when Noah came to me and said "Mommy, S doesn't believe in Santa and her parents buy her presents, so why should I believe?" I told him that those who don't believe in Santa get presents from their parents and those who do believe in Santa get presents from Santa and their parents.

I figured from then on the only reason he believed in Santa was to get more stuff. Which was fine for now. At least he played along for the sake of his little brother.

Noah 2006

Then came Christmas morning.
(Now is when the actual sweet story starts)

When we put our Christmas decorations up each year, we put them on a timer to come on around 5:00 PM each night and go off around 11:00.

But on Christmas Eve before I went to bed, I thought it would be fun to set the timer to come on around 6:45 AM so the kids knew when it was late enough for them to get up.

Little did I know that my sneaky 6 year old was intending to get up and see Santa for himself.

Around 5:45 AM, Noah came into our bedroom (thinking it was still the middle of the night and that Santa hadn't come yet) and told us that he was going to sleep on the couch and wait for Santa. Steve did the same thing every year when he was a little boy so we gave Noah the go ahead to sleep on the couch.

Aaron 2007




Our living room is very dark and there weren't that many presents this year so Noah didn't see anything under the tree in the dark, assumed Santa hadn't been there yet, and set up a little bed for himself on the couch.

I don't know if he fell back asleep or not, but around 6:45, MAGIC HAPPENED!

Suddenly, all of the Christmas lights magically came on and there were presents under the tree.

Santa had come right before his very eyes!


Christmas 2008




At bedtime Christmas night, when I asked Noah what was his favorite part of Christmas, assuming he would rattle off his favorite gifts, his answer surprised me:

"The best part of Christmas was that I got to see Santa"

He is now a full believer.

Storytime

Steve took some pictures tonight. I generally avoid the camera like the plague, given my current weight situation, but these pictures turned out so cute that it made me put a story together in my head.

Books and reading have always been an important part of our children's lives. We were those parents that read to our babies the day they came home from the hospital. We would always seek out books that babies would enjoy and Noah, especially, had definite favorites.








It got harder trying to read to two of them as they got older, but we always made it work.












Noah was always more interested than Aaron at sitting and listening and he would sit for twenty minutes or more WAY before he even turned a year old.

Aaron still takes a little more coaxing and after hearing the story once, he would rather "read" it himself most of the time.






And they can often be found sitting and reading together through no parental suggestion.












Bedtime has always included books. When I am home for bedtime, we split them for one on one reading, which I think both of the boys cherish.

In the last few months, I have expanded things with Noah. Lately, I have had him read a book to me, and then I will read to him. I hope as he continues to grow as a reader, he will continue to enjoy being read to as well.

So as he was reading his book tonight, Aaron came running out from his bath and interrupting, so I told him that if he wanted to stay in the living room, he needed to join Noah and me on the couch. So up he climbed.









And soon he was interested as I helped Noah with a difficult word in the story












Until he finally gave up and snuggled up with his buddy Elmo to listen












This last one will be my favorite one for awhile. Have a great day!

Weekend Top Five 1/12/09

Quite the uneventful weekend in our household. The boys are getting further and further behind in their sleep now that school is back in session. I think that's why they were so well behaved over break. We're still putting them to bed nice and early (lights out by 7:30) but they still don't go to sleep until quite a bit later most of the time, even when they have been yawning all day.



So for that reason, we really didn't do much this weekend...they're just getting too grumpy.
On top of that, Aaron has picked up a nasty cough so I am limiting his exposure to others anyway. So, for my top five, I came up with:

5. Friday Morning blast from the past

Aaron and I went to the mall for a quick stop and I ran into someone who used to be a pretty good friend and then as we went into store, I ran into a parent of a child that didn't return to Noah's school this year. It was weird running into not one, but two people from the recent past that I often wonder about. One of them I have even connected with on facebook

4. Friday computer woes

Speaking of facebook (above), it turns out that when that virus hit our computer, the hacker actually installed bad software on our computer. We got an email from Comcast saying our computer was sending out spam. It had to be completely stripped and reloaded. So I spent most of the afternoon Friday changing my email settings and reader sites to prepare for the BIG WASH.

3. Saturday gymnastics and dance classes

I decided to sign Noah up for an all-boys trampoline class through the Community Education program. I got a call saying that they didn't have enough kids so they would put him into a regular beginners class. He was a little more hesitant, but ended up loving it.

It's quite challenging to take pictures through glass with no flash, but I got a few that turned out okay. He is excited to go next week since they are going to be swinging on ropes.











He wasn't quite sure about crawling on the balance beam, but he really tried his best and I was proud of him












I decided that since we had to be there anyway, I would check to see if there was a class for Aaron at the same time. There was one for three and four year olds that was a combination of gymnastics and dance. He would be the only boy so I wasn't sure, but I went ahead and signed him up. He had fun, but I couldn't get any pictures since the dance part is done in a room with no windows and the window to the gymnastics part has a covering making it nearly impossible to take pictures. I hope they will let us in at some point to get some pictures before the class is over.

2. Church and Cherubs

I am quite upset that I don't have a picture from Cherubs singing this morning. Aaron decided to participate with Noah in choir singing in front of church and they both sang out amazingly. It was awesome!

1. Creativity

I know it's not a big deal, but I always seize the opportunity to share Noah's creativity. Since we were home most of the weekend, the boys had a lot of time to play in the house. I came into the kitchen from somewhere (I don't know where) and found him taping paper together and creating a landing strip for the transformer he conned Aaron out of. It is complete with a label for airport and a hospital (I'm not sure why)











I hope you all had a great weekend too. I don't know if anything interesting is happening this week to share. Possibly the joy of paying December's mortgage.

Have a great week and as always, please let me know if you post about your top five this weekend.

Thursday Thirteen: What I DIDN'T Do During Christmas Vacation

Noah went back to school on Monday and had to write in his journal about what he did on Christmas vacation. I came home from dropping him off that same morning and took one look around the house. What I saw was a huge list of the things I DIDN'T do over Christmas vacation that all needed doing in the three hours that Aaron was at preschool the first morning back.

Here are some things that I did not get done:

1. Putting Receipts into the checkbook (no overdraws though, thankfully)














2. Mailing Christmas cards addressed but never sent (did anyone notice?)














3. Recycle the newspapers














4. Aaron's preschool homework (I found while piling up the newspapers above)














5. Christmas portrait of the boys (This is last year's still on the wall)



















6. Taking books back to the library














7. Clearing snow from the driveway (actually it's all ice now)














8. Unpacking after our trip to Chicago last weekend














9. Returning lights that I bought after Christmas that didn't work (now it's too late)



















10. Teaching Noah some new songs on the piano (we're all getting sick of Old McDonald)














11. Taking down the rest of the Christmas decorations (I think we'll just leave them up)














12. Paint the living room and hallway (my goal for Spring Break at the moment)














13. Laundry (Actually I did it, but it piled up so much faster while everyone was home all day every day, or maybe it's just that I didn't keep up with it as much)














So you must all think that I failed miserably as a housewife this holiday.

You know why it was all worth it?



















Happy Thursday

Happy Blogiversary to Me!!!!!!!!

Yup...it's a year ago today that I entered the world as a blogger. I had been following Deb's blog for quite some time and she kept telling me to start my own. I KNEW I couldn't handle a blog of my own, but I finally gave in. What a year it's been. Here was my first blog entry 1 year ago today:

Sunday, January 6, 2008

My first post

So I finally have a blog. I didn't know I needed a blog. I still don't know if I need a blog. My friend, Deb, has assured me that I have enough silly events to fill a land mine and it would be worth it to share them with others.
Now, I'm not sure that sharing events like going out shopping last Friday in my slippers because I forgot to put on shoes is the most important topic in the world, but I guess it's good for a laugh.
I think of blogging as a way to remember events for myself. What do I hope to achieve from blogging? Ummm...

1. I would like to find reassurance that the rambunctious and sometimes frustrating activities of two young boys are not only normal, but also endearing
2. I'd like to hear about other moms' (and dads') ideas of how to handle certain...challenges that show their face during child rearing
3. I'd like to chronicle the special moments that make us who we were, who we are, and who we hope to become.
4. Most of all, I'd love to connect with family and friends and meet many wonderful new people out there waiting to be discovered.

A quick note: I am a terrible typer and I do not always check all of my spelling. Please be kind, oh blog-mates, and know that if I would slow down, I can actually spell.

So here's to wonderful future of blogging. May we all become better people for having shared a piece of ourselves with others.

I took some flack for using the word "typer" instead of typist. In general, this blog has been a very good thing for me, and I have met some incredibly supportive people that I have come to know as friends. Thank you to Deb at Mom of 3 Girls who got me into this, to Shannon at Gabi's World for giving me a new look, and to all of you at the right sidebar who have bestowed upon me some bloggy love.

Here's to another great year of blogging!

Tackle It Tuesday: Messes in the Bedroom

I tackled two problems tin the bedroom last week.

The problem with Christmas is that kids get STUFF.

In past years, the STUFF the kids got for Christmas was pretty big, and it sent me to Target in search of bins to keep the STUFF in.i.e. legos, game pieces, Little People pieces, etc.






This year, the STUFF was littler, so I couldn't justify buying a whole bunch more bins. Instead, my thought was, "Let's just sort out the stuff we don't use and reuse those bins.

So without warning the boys on New Year's Day, I went to work. The first thing I did was tell Aaron to pick up his books.

This was his idea of "picking up"


Believe it or not, this is actually an improvement on before he went into the room.









At least he tried, so I shooed him on his way, feeling good that I at least made him help. I re-picked up and ended up with this:














How long it will stay this way remains to be seen.

I don't have a before shot of the wire shelves before the weeding, but I will say that it involved taking two bags of toys and a stuffed animal that Deb's daughter Becca has always loved to their house. I knew they would play with them and it made much more room on the shelves.















The best tackle however, was quite a feat and one I am proud of.

An ongoing problem in any home with children is the stuffed animal overload. I am not talking about the problem of what to do to get rid of them, I am talking about the first problem of weeding them out. Any time the moment for weeding begins, EVERY "buddy" (what our boys call stuffed animals) is officially their favorite.

We have tried everything for these buddies....
A. The ceiling corner net- doesn't work because the kids want to play with them
B. The net stacker that hangs down from the ceiling-doesn't work because the hole
openings aren't big enough for the buddies
C. A big pop-up basket- see below...



















So I brought the boys into the room to show the problem. We have so many buddies, that there wasn't even any room left in the hamper, so they were spilling out all over. I told them that the task was to end up with less buddies than it takes to fill this hamper.

This is what I told them:

"You may each pick out your five FAVORITES and I will start sorting after that. At first they panicked thinking I was going to get rid of things they wanted, but then Noah got into it BIG TIME. He was actually having fun looking at every single one and making a choice. And some of the choices surprised me.



















He not only sorted them out into what should be kept and what shouldn't, he wanted to keep going into the other rooms where there were buddies and sort those out as well.

Do you want to see the finished buddy basket?



















And the boys have played with the remaining buddies every day since. I think they were happy to have the "bad" ones weeded out.

(Of course, Monday afternoon, Noah came home with a new buddy, a stuffed animal; Clifford that his teacher had given him as a Christmas present. They just keep multiplying!)

I overrode one of Noah's decisions however....

I did not weed out Karina Gayle, my Cabbage Patch Doll from when I was 9.... no matter how hard Noah tried.

Did anyone else tackle the toy dilemma this week?

Let me know.

Weekend Top Five 1/5/08

After two weeks of vacation, thinking about heading back into the rat race got to me so I decided to make an impromptu trip to Chicago to visit my brother's family. Steve had to work so the boys and I headed out Friday morning. The portable DVD player was missing a cord (which has since been found on top of the fridge...strange that my 5'4" self didn't see it) but the new leapsters and games made a previously rough trip very smooth both ways. I was amazed at how well behaved the boys were the entire trip. I was so proud of them both.

My top five has a few of the more memorable moments from our quick little jut away.

5. Facebook Worries

After becoming the victim of hackers through facebook, a large amount of my weekend was spent worrying about passed information and changing all of our passwords everywhere. I am praying that they didn't get my email accounts and do the same to all of the people in my address book. I feel so victimized.


4. Cousin Fun

Other than lunch out and a quick trip to an indoor playground, the bulk of our little trip was cousin play time and good talks with Jenny and Matt. The kids played so well and five kids really didn't feel as overwhelming as it has in the past. Here are a couple of my favorite shots...

Aaron and Cousin Kira













Noah and Cousin Odin














3. Mamma Mia with my Brother

What an adventure it was! I rented Mamma Mia on Thursday for the weekend. Steve and I watched it Thursday night and then I took it with me to watch it with Jenny (my SIL). My brother settled in to watch it with us, laptop in lap.

I don't know which was more amusing; watching the movie, or watching my brother watch the movie. Every time a particular goofy part came on, there he sat, furiously typing away. (If you have friended my brother, you have got to check out his running commentary. It is quite amusing) He knew all of the songs because of a crazy 80's techno group that had recorded the songs years ago, and I suspect that he enjoyed it more than he let on.

2. Choo Choo Johnny's

A fun little diner restaurant we went to for lunch before we left. It is a long counter set up like a Big U and there are several trains throughout the restaurant. There is a big one behind glass to watch, one traveling long the edge of the ceiling, and the most fun, a train that comes around and delivers your meal. There are also several games (chuck e cheese type) for the kids to play while they were waiting.
Our group sat down at the long counter













and watched the train deliver lunch to every other group sitting nearby












until our finally came













and they even got spoiled with ice cream for dessert.


















1. Back To School Supper

Noah is pretty upset about school starting again. As soon as we started talking about it, that little boy with all the problems magically came back. I was trying to think of something fun to make our last day special for him. Meanwhile, Steve was nagging me about what to make for dinner.

I remembered something my step mom had bought for us for Christmas dinner that we hadn't used yet...

Chocolate Pancakes!













Oh my gosh...how good these were! It was a special mix from the Market store we had gone to.

I am quite sure that we all had brownies for dinner for how good they were.

We won't have them often, but I think I will get some more of this mix for another special time.

So here we go. Back to real life. I have to make a half dozen calls, try to find a way to pay some bills, make some important decisions, and take Aaron to get his blood drawn for allergy testing.

Nothing like a slam back into reality.

Happy Monday!

Back To School

It's that time again. Back to school after two weeks home. Before school got out, one of my sons had started getting in trouble on almost a daily basis and the other was having hourly screaming fits.

I had hopes that two weeks at home would straighten them up. My hopes are still here. One son has become much more obedient and less mouthy, and the other one has stopped his screaming fits and "na-na-na-boo-boos".

Now that both of them are "fixed", I actually have to send them back to the establishments that create these problems. It is creating much angst in my mind and heart.

As far as Noah is concerned, I know he can behave and he learns so much and has a great teacher that I can only hope he will try harder. But as for preschool for Aaron, if the problems start up again, I have made the decision to pull him for now. It is not a decision I make lightly, but one I think may be in his best interest. I have not shared with you all of the problems with this preschool, but it has not been the best place for him to be and the reasons for sending him there no longer exist. I guess we will see how this week goes.

The boys have spent these two weeks learning how to sleep in for the first time in their lives. Now I have to start getting them up to an alarm WAY too early again, rushing them through breakfast that they don't want to eat, rushing out the door into cold snow that they don't want to feel, stressing about behavior that they are stressing about enough already, and dealing with teachers who look down on me if I happen to forget a backpack once in awhile.

So, because I am SOOOO stressed about tomorrow, I will now take a chance to remember the wonderful memories of Christmas vacation and try to savor them for awhile.

Snow day on the last day of school, starting vacation one day early
Several trips to the children's museum
Family trip to the Public Museum
Noah's first visit to a planetarium
Craft day with friends
Play date with friends from church
Christmas Eve at church with Noah reading while lighting the advent candles
Christmas Day making two little boys VERY happy
Successful bell performance with GR Symphony members
Homemade New Year's Party
Trip to Chicago to play with cousins

Yup, it was a good time for being together. Now only 10 weeks until we leave for Disney World. And if you notice, I have added the tickers for Spring Break and Summer Vacation....but who's counting?

Photo Story Friday: New Year's Eve

We decided to stay at home this year for New Year's Eve and create our own party. We invited Deb and her family to join us.

I spent the entire week trying to figure out a way to create a party in our basement. But when I went down on Monday, I decided it was way too cold and spent the next 48 hours trying to devise a way to put on in the living room. This is what I came up with.

A shower liner with balloons taped inside and strung from every door and window hanging
in the room











Steve had been asking to make homemade pizza for awhile so I thought it would be a good night to try it. Deb and I each got a pizza making kit from Chef Boyardee and they looked great coming out of the oven.



















The kids were excited when they smelled pizza and sat happily at the table waiting for us to dish it up.














Unfortunately, the cheese that came with the kit was icky and Deb's pizza turned out to taste nasty. I had used some left over mozzarella in our fridge for ours. This was the first of many mistakes I made this night. I should have waited to see how theirs turned out before we dug into ours, but I didn't and the girls were not happy to eat the yucky pizza. I still feel bad about it. I really am sorry Deb:(

They did eat anyway though, when I pulled the chocolate cake out and put it on the counter...quite the motivator!

The little ones though (Aaron and Becca) ate every bite of theirs and were very happy with their little meal.














We decided to set the timer for an hour until "midnight" and sent the kids off to play. After about ten minutes, the kids were starting to come hang on parents in the living room. Steve entertained everyone by trying to catch the leis on his head...



















and dressing the cat up for the celebration.














After awhile, we realized that another 45 minutes until we celebrated was going to be too long for some of them so we moved the clock up.

Then the party began...

Balloons everywhere!














Crazy dancing!




Y.M.C.A














And even some rockin' and rollin'



















There was a funny moment of Becca trying to "hoard" all of the balloons and the rest of the kids taking them that I hope Deb posts pictures of because it was very funny. I was laughing too hard at the time to take any pictures.

Steve started getting silly with balloons















and then decided to start popping them with his bottom



















Aaron struck his typical loud noise pose



















while Becca sat herself right in front of Steve clapping and cheering for each pop. I didn't get any pictures of her cheering, but it was extremely cute.

After almost all of the balloons were gone (Aaron was upset that he wanted to have some left) we headed to the kitchen for chocolate cake.

And then we settled in for a movie. We had bought Wall E for the boys and hadn't watched it yet so everyone set up sleeping bags in the living room and we turned out the lights. Each person enjoyed it in their own way...

Unfortunately, by the time the movie was over, everyone was very ready for it to be done and I know ALL of the kids were ready for bed.

It was a fun night. I don't know if it was especially memorable, but at least the kids will have something to say when asked what they did for New Year's when school starts up again.


Happy New Year!

Thursday Thirteen: Most Blogged About Stories of 2008

This week holds the new year and also my one year anniversary in the world of blogging. It was so much fun to go back and read through my blog over the last year. There were so many funny stories that I had forgotten and I was able to look at things from 9 months ago and see how far they've come since. Here are some of the most common post topics from my first year.

I'm curious if my readers remember any of these.


13. Potty Training Trials
I hadn't realized how much an adventure the first half of 2008 held while potty training Aaron. It really is so far from the mind now, that it was interesting to go back and read about when it wasn't so great. I had forgotten that I named bowel movements "flowers" for the sake of blogging.














12. My unsuccessful attempt at weight loss.

I was successful for about two months and then fell off. I am going to try again to make myself presentable before Disney, but I will not blog about it this time. It put way too much pressure on me.

11. My Little Hydrangea
Boy, this little guy got a lot of time for awhile. It all started with trying to transplant a plant that I thought was dead to another location, and then it took on a life of its own. For awhile, I thining my hydrangea had more readers than I did.









10. My health

I discovered my lack of ovulation, but never the reason for it. I blogged the struggle over going onto hormones and how much I was fighting it, but I also blogged often about how much better our life was after I was regulated.

9. Vacation to St. Louis
Oh so many wonderful posts about the places we went. I can imagine the Disney ones will be even more so.

















8. Noah's behavior

I spent way too much computer time venting over Noah and school last year. I have made the conscious effort to not do that this school year and it has made us all more relaxed.

7. Injuries
Noah's broken arm that I didn't take him for an x-ray right away for and Aaron's head bash that required staples to close.
















6. Numerous Van Breakdowns

I bought the van under duress, and the struggles that resulted this year were major and frustrating. I subjected my readers to all of them...sorry!

5. Bedroom Switches and Aaron Sleeping Issues
I think which in kids are in which bedrooms changed a total of five times in the one year. I also realized while reading back through, how many different strategies I tried to make survival happen. I can't believe we are on the other side of those battles now.








4. Church Struggles

I probably should have been more discreet in sharing details about the many church events in 2008, but it was a big part of our daily life and continues to be.

3. The Blog Change

Due to censoring because of readers from both church and my in-laws, I felt the need to change blog sites. It was the best decision I made and I have felt much freer to be myself since the change.

2. Cats
Our first cat Minnie, had gotten several posts, but then over the summer when the kitten Pumpkin joined our family, they because almost a weekly post topic while the two were "getting to know" each other.









1. Birthdays and Holidays

Although I won't do big birthday posts for everyone in my family this year like I did last (I used up all my pictures, it was fun to go back through and read them. I did like using the blog to catalog the pictures from each of our family holidays though and I will continue to do that this coming year.

What a fun trip down memory lane. Unfortunately, if you are a new reader, you missed the ones at the old blog. I will open the old blog up for awhile so you can browse if you are interested. the site was Music Mom Of 2. My new site is definitely nicer...I love it.

Happy New Year!!!