Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

Do you do much to celebrate on New Years Eve? I never really have. I'm not a big fan of getting smashed drunk like some people do. I'm not a bar person. Usually we have pizza rolls and sparkling grape juice. I skipped the pizza rolls, but made some for the boys. Then I found out Mica and Isaak do not even really like pizza rolls. We never have pizza rolls except for New Years. That tradition will end up going bye bye.

On New Years Day Daddy watches football. I don't watch football. I'm thinking I will take all the Christmas decor down. I'm planning on playing with the kids. Mica got a magician set for Christmas we haven't played with yet. I want to play with some of Isaak's Christmas presents. Sometimes I think kids have to be shown how to play with some of their gifts to really get into them. 

Happy New Years to everyone. I do hope for happiness and families spending time with one another.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Funny Things They Say

In the car on the way home tonight I said, "Well maybe we should start taking down Christmas stuff tomorrow. Do you guys want to help me?" Mica said, "I will Momma!" Isaak said, "We can't take Christmas stuff down until next Christmas when Santa comes again!" I said, "Sorry son, we do have to take Christmas decorations down. He pouted.

We got home tonight and Mica went up stairs. Then he ran back down stairs to tell me, "Mom there's a telegram for you!" It was the answering machine.

Then he says, "I just wanted to tell you to listen to it. It may be important information!" I said, "Mica you're so cute!


Pool

Daddy had to work at the gallery where his work is at tonight. He did find out that he sold a $50 sketch.

I wanted to take the boys swimming at the YMCA. Earlier I kept thinking about how I was going to take them by myself?" The thing is, Mica is too young to go through the men's locker area and do everything himself. He's also getting too old and aware of nudity to go through the women's locker area with me.

Isaak didn't have a nap, so he was really testy. I was thinking about skipping the pool idea all together. Instead I decided to go.

I asked the front desk if they had a family room that lead into the pool? They do, but it's inside the women's locker area. I was thinking, "Ok!!"

I just lead my son through the women's locker area with a towel over his head - Michael Jackson style. Some lady looked at me odd. I said, "Hey he's a 6 year old boy; I didn't know what else to do!"

We shower and go to head in and the door was locked to get into the pool. Again I was like, "OK!!"

I have the boy's step back in the warm shower. We try again in 5 minutes and it was open.

We swam for 15 to 20 minutes. Then a lifeguard comes up and says, "We have to close down the pool; the chlorine levels are too high." Again I was thinking, "OK!!" Why didn't they test it before all the families got in is beyond me!

Out we go to get dressed once again. Mica leaves with a towel over his head again. I wanted to call him, "Blanket."

Then we had to go home to shower, get pjs on and go to bed.

Chuggington

I have to say that I've refused to buy our kids more trains. They have loads of Thomas, The Polar Express that hooks up with Thomas, The Little Engine that Could Train and Team GeoTrax. Trust me, I did not buy most of it. Grandma Spiehs bought a lot for Cousin Ethan. His stuff was handed down to Cousin Evan and Mica. Then she kept buying. The boys love trains! I'm not complaining.

I just didn't want to get into the new train series Chuggington. We just had enough. We got one DVD for a road trip and now the boys have been singing and talking about Chuggington. Mica wanted a set for Christmas and I said, "Nope!"

Yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs' house they watched their Chuggington DVD. Mica drew this while or after the movie was on:

If you are not familiar, here's what the DVD looks like:


Uncommon

Last night I picked out $50 worth of stuff at Uncommon Goods. I won a $50 Gift Certificate through Jumpin Beans. They have great products that are upcycled, artist made and just plain cool! The only downfall is that some of their things are higher priced because of the custom factor.

You would think all shopping would be over. NOPE! I have one nephew that has a birthday on Christmas Eve, my niece had a birthday yesterday and another nephew with a birthday in January. This time of year is spend, spend, spend.

I already took care of my nephew that had a birthday on Christmas Eve. We got him a microscope set at Costco.

My nephew that is in sixth grade is getting this:

He wanted a bonsai tree kit. I found a really good one here. His Mom, my sister is picking up the bonsai scissors. It's kind of odd the kit came with everything, but them. This is the best, affordable kit I could find.

On to Uncommon Goods. My one and only niece in high school wanted this:


I got it for her room. We always celebrate her birthday with her brothers in January. That way it's a little further from Christmas.

That clock wasn't the full $50, so I picked out a few other things.

Socks for me. I just love the mismatched socks they have:


I looked at socks for my nephew Emerson to. They were kind of expensive, he got some socks for Christmas, Aunt Terra says some socks are too tight around the top part and lets face it if they don't work for him online stuff is harder to return. So I refrained from the cuteness of these tube socks:


Instead I finished off my $50 with a book for my Dad. I'll give it to him in March for his birthday.

The book is both funny and true. My Dad always says, "You can tell a lot about your poop." It's gross, but so true. He also has told me, "If your pee is very yellow you need to drink more water!" After I had kids poop and pee are ok to talk about. Heck I had to describe poop to the doctors when each of my kids were in the hospital and weigh each of their pee diapers. Isaak insists I say, "Goodbye" to his poop when it's flushed down. It's just part of being a mom.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Tonight After Work It Was Raining

I went into Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs' house and went to wake up Sleeping Beauty Isaak. He usually is awake, but doesn't want to get out of the bed he sleeps in.

I said to Isaak, "Come on lets go! It's raining cats and dogs outside!" He sort of got ready once I told him it was raining.

He told me minutes later, "Come on lets leave! I want to see the raining cats and dogs!"

I had to break it to him that, "It's raining cats and dogs" is just a saying. Then went on to say it's just raining. There are no dogs and cats to see. He looked so confused.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Today Daddy Found Out Our Name Has Been Tagged

Many, many times people have been using our last name in graffiti. I'm not even sure why. Kind of interesting. Maybe a graffiti artist has our last name. Daddy just typed our last name under Google Images and this is what he found:








Another fun side note: I had a fortune cookie today. If I would follow what it says, I would totally get myself fired! It says, "Never jude a work of art by its defects." HA HA! I'm a college art instructor. It's kind of my job to judge a work of art by its defects. It's called critiquing and grading.

One Child is Simple, While the Other is Complex - When it Comes to Their Play

Last night I picked up Isaak's penguin gift name tag. He said, "Mommy that's mine! See it says 'Isaak.'" He proceeded to spell out his name for me. He asked for the tape to be taken off the back of it. He held it in his hands for 20 minutes.

You want to know what I found under our Christmas tree a few times? A bowl full of plastic babies from my cousin's baby shower that was months ago. Who put it there? Isaak did.

A simple feather will occupy Isaak for 2 hours.

Mica's the opposite. He's the type of kid that will dive into his toys. He'll only pop his head out for help or to ask, "What can I do next?" He wants to stay busy.

Not only does Mica play with his own toys, he plays with Isaak's to. Isaak got a building set of some kind from his Great Aunts. Guess who put it together last night? Not Isaak. Mica did. Mica's been playing with Isaak's Chuggington lap top that I won. Isaak will turn it on and say, "Listen Mommy it plays the Chuggington song." Then he turns it off to here it say, "Goodbye."

Sick

A few weeks before Christmas Cousin Emerson was sick with a cold. He was put on antibiotics. One week before Christmas most all of Aunt Terra's family had the tummy flu, our Daddy had a cold, then I got a cold.

1AM on Christmas Eve Isaak gets the tummy flu. His personality bounced back, but he wouldn't eat for two days. Grandpa Spiehs gets the tummy flu on Christmas Eve and missed out on all the Christmas activities.

Mica got a cold somewhere in the middle there and lost his voice on Christmas day. He sounded like a little old man talking.

The day after Christmas Grandma Spiehs felt blah and I got the tummy flu. I was really down yesterday, but came to work anyhow. No one is at work. It's more quiet and restful here then it is at home. I'm now feeling much better. Emerson is back to having a cold. That poor little baby is well, sick, well, sick and so on.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

WW - Pajama Time {Linky}

It's a ritual for the kiddo's to be in their pajamas while opening up presents. Their first gift was their new pjs. We got after Isaak for moving around all over. That is why he's grumpy in the second photo.


Mica's really into Lego's this year!



Isaak got Automoblox cars and a puppy that breathes.

Christmas Morning


I woke up then Mica woke up shortly after. He so wanted to dig into his stocking. I wouldn't let him. Not until Isaak and Daddy got out of bed. I wanted Isaak to sleep as long as possible considering that around the holidays, naps are non existent.

Mica thought it was funny that Santa left our fireplace open AGAIN. He laughed at the soot on the ground. He looked up the chimney and asked, "I wonder how Santa gets down and up the chimney?" I just said, "His belly probably shrinks. I really don't know all of Santa's secrets Mica."

I said, "Mica you better go check and see if the tooth fairy left any money in your tooth fairy box!" Sure enough she did. Mica didn't even bother to count the money. He quickly put it in his bank.

Mica helped me get breakfast. Grandma Spiehs always makes cinnamon rolls for us. I added a protein and drink and we were good to go.

Isaak and Daddy got out of bed. It was stocking time. Then it was present time. Mrs. Claus wrapped all of Mica's presents in graphic red and white Santa paper and Isaak's in classical Santa wrapping paper. Mrs. Claus cut out an "M" in Mica's wrapping paper and an "I" in Isaak's wrapping paper. Then Santa left the letters on the coffee table. Mica understood Santa's code. Mica was a speedy unwrapper. Isaak was slow to unwrap things.




Before too long Mica disappeared. He was off to build with Lego's. Between yesterday and Christmas Mica built a Cars 2 Lego set Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs got him, a Rocket Lego set Santa got him, a small Indiana Jones Lego set we got him and he started a Kreo Tranformer set that Aunt Terra got him. I think it's fair to say that he likes to build!


Isaak played a bit with the Automoblox cars Santa brought and the "MikerDonalds" set that Grandma and Grandpa Apel got him. He's kind of unpredictable. Gifts I thought he'd get into that I bought him, he played little attention to. He did really like the cash register that Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs got him. It was a little delayed because it needed batteries that we didn't have until yesterday. It's pretty cool because it actually counts money, adds and subtracts.

Mom's favorite that the boys got from Santa were these sweet lunch boxes that came with a plate, a mug, a bowl, placemat and silverware! I considered it to be a steel! The sets from The Piggy Story were originally $36; Santa got them for $14.99 at the discount store Zulily. They have really cute crayon holders, aprons and other stuff on their site. I love that all the dishes are ceramic, the plates are a perfect size, the mugs are 2 handled and each set comes with a story!

The dragon one is Mica's.
The puppy one is Isaak's.
At 1 pm we went to Great Aunt Sam's for yet another party. There were 2 pregnant ladies, 2 boy babies, 4 boys, 1 girl, 1 6th grade boy and 2 high school girls. Boy's pretty much rule in that generation! Add on all the adults, and we had a very full house.

We ate, talked and the younger kids got to pull out gifts out of a BIG HUGE box. They had to answer a question Great Aunt Becky asked first. Some of the answers weren't what she expected. They were accepted though. Becky, "How does Santa get into your house Evan?" Evan, "With a magic key." Becky, "Well of course! Go get your gift!" I think she was expecting, "Through the chimney."

You can see how big the box is. It has a lot of little gifts inside.


A heartwarming Christmas story:

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve

Isaak woke up from his nap cherry. It's as if he didn't get sick at 1 AM. Daddy and Isaak were able to meet up at Aunt Terra's with us. Then I found out Grandpa Spiehs was sick. :( He had to miss all of Christmas Eve. I don't remember a night without him in the picture for a long time.

Hopefully no one else gets sick!

We had 3 or 4 different soups to choose from, shrimp, crackers, cheese and veggies.

Aunt Terra's Christmas Tree loaded with presents.
Unwrapping presents wasn't a complete mad house. The boys are all now old enough to take care of their wrapping paper and were nice about saying, "Thank you!"

Waiting to dig into their stockings!




Mica's eyes lit up with a Kre-O Transformer and Cars 2 Lego set.

Isaak's eyes lit up with most everything. He was the slowest to unwrap his gifts. He couldn't understand why he couldn't take things out to play. We do our best to stash stuff away, so it doesn't get mixed up with the paper or other kid's toys. Plus if each toy were to be played with we'd be there until midnight. Isaak seemed most interested in the penguin gift tag that Grandma Spiehs used for the 2nd year in a row. We had a good laugh at that.

I enjoyed all the cousins, except Emerson getting a face plate from us. I try and find different things to get them. Something they can use, have fun with, but isn't always a toy. Emerson got a squeak Teddy Bear and Tree onesie.

I think I liked the red hand mixer gadget the best!

One highlight of the night was when Mica lost his second tooth. I mentioned to him during church that it would be funny if both Santa and the Tooth Fairy had to pay a visit to our house. He was busy wiggling his tooth to try and make that happen.


We had a busy night.

Santa ate some cookies, drank some milk and left the fireplace open AGAIN. This time there is soot on our floor. He's always messy!

Tomorrow we have our own little family Christmas. Then we get to celebrate with extended family on my side.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

I'm Not Sure How Tonight Will Pan Out

Last night, well morning at 1 am Isaak awoke, but not with sugar plums dancing in his head. He was fussy. I took him potty. Thank goodness boys go pee standing up because right after little man had stuff come out his mouth. Woo Hoo, no clean up! Woo Boo a sick kid!

This morning he didn't want much to do with eating. A banana and Jello juice is all I could get him to eat/drink. I put him down for a nap early and he's still sleeping.

I'm not sure if he'll be able to join us for Christmas Eve festivities or not?! Daddy staying home with him, while Mica and I go to church with the rest of the family.

The boys did get to unwrap one gift this morning. Their robot PJs for tonight. I told them it wasn't too exciting of a gift. Mica thought it was great though! He took his clothes off right away to put his new robot PJs on. Isaak didn't much feel like doing anything, but he liked them.

It seems like there is one kid always sick during holidays. If it's not in our family, it's Aunt Terra's.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays Everyone!

No matter what you believe in, have a great winter break and holiday!

Mica drew this. I think it's pretty good for age 6.

It is more Christmas(y) since that is what we celebrate.


Our boys can not wait for Santa to come! They are so excited!!!

We leave out carrot cookies for his reindeer. Last year Santa left the stove open a crack. He seems to always forget to close our fireplace! Santa wraps all his gifts to the boys in paper that has Santa on it.

Mr. Popper's Penguins

We rented this a few weeks ago. It's a really cute and funny family movie. One that adults and kids will like. I have to say that Mica got way more into it than Isaak. I think it was slightly over Zeek's head. He's never been as big of a movie watcher as Mica anyhow.

Mica asked if we own the movie? We just rented it. Mom Spotted is giving one DVD away as well as an penguin ice cube tray.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Bounce

After Mica and Isaak got their pink poodle purses this last weekend, we went up stairs and bounced.


When the boys saw that a bounce house was set up in the YMCA gym, their little eyes lit up like gigantic saucers.

I told my boy's, "Bounce over towards the edge, so I can get a picture!" Five minutes later I heard the guy in charge say, "Don't bounce towards the edge, that's against the rules. You can break the net!" I always feel crappy when I was at fault for my boys getting in trouble!



Then I try and justify my lack of common since with thinking, "Gee wiz you should of told them the rules before going in!" Looking at the above pictures I can totally see why it's against the rules to pull on the net!

They bounced for a very long time! Mica in particular has lots of energy! The boys are with my parents this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. When Mica gets too wound up, Grandpa Spiehs takes them outside to run up and down the hill (which is steep).

That weekend I learned that most outsiders think our boys are older than they are. They can't believe Mica is 6 and Isaak is 3. Santa thought Mica was in first grade. He could have been (he has an August birthday). When I signed them up for swim lessons, the lady at the desk said, "Ok for a 7 year old and 4 year old?" I'm like, "Nope!" Later we went to a gallery and the lady there said the same thing. When I tell people how old our boys really are, they look at me and say, "Really?" Our kids are tall!
 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My Aunts Are Great!

My Aunts (Great Aunts to the boys) volunteered their time last week to go over to my sister's house (Aunt Terra to the boys) to wrap all of her Christmas gifts.

It's pretty hard wrapping gifts when you have this little baby around:

Kind of an old picture, but it's the most recent I could find.
My nephew Emerson (Cousin to the boys) is doing great this week. I say this week because he sometimes gets sick and doesn't do as well. Then he's back to doing good again.

He now smiles. Terra just asked to borrow my exersaucer. He plays in it. They recommended him being in one to help build his neck muscles.

Little Emerson is almost 6 months old! No one thought he would live, so this is pretty big deal. I'm so glad he's around to celebrate Christmas with us!

Holidays at Tropical Traditions

I wanted to let you, my readers in on the fact that Tropical Traditions has a 32 ounce of Coconut Oil for free. Just use this link to get it for free. It's usually $40. It's a Christmas gift from them.


Just to warn you, you do need to buy at least $16 worth of other stuff. I bought more Citrus Lotion and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. Mica's in love with their Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. I'm in love with their Citrus Lotion! They have a lot of other stuff to choose from; if lotion and peanut butter are not your thing.

I use their Coconut Oil almost every time I bake. It's yummy and is much better for you than butter! When I first got it to review, I had never heard of it. Now it's a staple in my kitchen.

Now if only they would get their Coconut Peanut Butter back it! I'm addicted to this soup!

They did not give me anything for posting this. I just wanted to let you in on their holiday special.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

WW Santa and Pink Poodles {Linky}

This past weekend the boys and I got to eat breakfast with Santa at the YMCA.

Mica sort of dominated the conversation. LOL Isaak just sat there really nice; waiting for a turn to talk.

Mica wants EVERYTHING! When you ask Isaak what he wants he says, "A present."


Then a nice YMCA lady offered to take our photo. Mica has a cheesy smile (he's probably thinking: You mean I have to shut up and look at the camera!) and Isaak has no smile at all (he's probably thinking: I'm done with this already!)


They called off Mica and Isaak's names to pick a prize under the tree. There were cool red bags that they could of used for their swimming lessons I had just signed them up for. NOPE, they both decided that they wanted pink poodle purses. I just had to laugh.



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