Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas and loved having our visitors here to keep it interesting. Let me tell you I am pretty darn sure that 2 kids is enough for us. But it was really fun to see the kids enjoy the holiday and the time with their cousin.



The big hit this Christmas was the play kitchen that Ashley and Ben got from their Grandma and Grandpa Moscho. They both love it. Ashley has been making everyone dinner and snacks with all her play food. I love watching her pretend play, it's my favorite!



Ben got a whole bunch of cars. Wind up cars, squishy cars, big ones, little ones. The kid likes practically anything with wheels!



So Mike outdid himself with the sewing box he made me. He went to buy one and didn't like any of the ones available. So he decided to create his own. I truly love it. The sides fold out with more compartments underneath.



Mike got this really cool set of blocks that are called Kapla blocks. They are really neat and he has had fun creating pieces of art. I thought this one looked like an owl, but he said it was a Chinese building.

Ear, oh dear!

I woke up yesterday morning and poor Benjamin had a fever of 101 degrees. We gave him some Tylenol and some extra cuddles and he was doing fine. Last night, of course cause things always get worse when you can't see the Dr., it was up to 102.5 and he was cranky and not sleeping well at all. It was strange cause he had no other noticeable symptoms either.

So this morning I called and got him an appointment at the holiday clinic on base and sure enough poor kid has his first ear infection. I feel bad cause I just mentioned the day before that neither of my kids had ever had one. Nice one mom! Anyway the nice Dr. gave us an antibiotic and some pain relieving drops as well as recommending a rotating course of Tylenol and Motrin. So hopefully the little guy will be feeling better by Christmas morning.

Alright, i am heading off to take a nap, a much needed one after last night.

More pictures with Santa

Well of Ben anyways. Ashley still refused to sit with Santa so we have another picture of Ben. Ben and his cousin Taylor were not the happiest about pictures but put up with it so we could get a picture of them. Yippee. Merry Christmas everyone! Oh but Ashley did take a candy cane and told Santa that she wanted Dora shoes for Christmas.

Thanks Jen for the Santa recommendation. He was great!

Happy Holidays!

So I had a great birthday on the 15th and was able to really take it easy and relax. It was very needed! I have been so stressed with school and our visitors coming for xmas and of course the xmas gifts we decided to make for our parents. It was all a lot of work and a lot of stress that came along with it. But now we are settling down now again. ...Only to get started again with Christmas, Yippee.

Mike's older sister and her 1 yr old daughter Taylor arrived last night after a full day of flying from Shreveport, LA with 4 hours of delays. Yippee, for holiday travels! They were both so wiped out when they finally got here we had dinner, visited for a few, and they were off to bed.

Mike and his sister are out to a movie today. I think they are seeing....ahh, I forgot... something to do with old men. I'm sure I'll remember later. As you know I hate movie theaters so I willingly stayed home with all three kiddos, who are all sleeping, kudos to me!

I am signed up for my next set of classes which are "principles of management" and "statistics for social sciences". Sounds like fun huh! I am hoping they aren't too bad but who am I kidding online classes always consist of lots of work! I was tossing around the idea of picking up a third class but I wanted to do an in class one but I don't think they are offering any on base that will work for me. darn it~

Ahhha, No Country for Old Men...that's the movie they went to see. I knew I would remember if I had a few minutes.

Jenny will be staying here until after christmas so we have some fun activities planned while she is here including sledding and the waterpark. I love the water park!

Anyways, I hope you are all enjoying your day!

Visiting with Santa

The kids got to see Santa at Mike's squadrons Christmas party. Ashley talked about it the entire night before and was ready with her coat for almost an hour before we were leaving. But as soon as we got there she wanted nothing to do with him. She wouldn't even take her coat off. So we didn't get any pictures of her with Santa. As you can see Ben wasn't the biggest fan of Santa but at least we got a few pictures.

uggh, finals are done

Wow, I am so relieved to have this round of finals done. I finished them up this morning and only have a couple quick assignments left to do. Now I have only 8 classes left to finish up my bachelors. Yippee. That makes it worth it! I am making progress, although even though it often it doesn't feel like it.

So our plans for the holiday include having Mike's older sister fly in to visit and stay for 10 days so that should be fun. His dad was planning on coming but isn't going to be able to make it. I totally have to catch up on housework and getting the scrapbooking/stamping/radio repair shop/sewing room turned into a guest room with room for 2. Yikes that should be a task. I've also got some Christmas gift projects that we have to finish up so we can get them in the mail this week.

I am still overwhelmed with everything I have to do. Oh well, I think I need to make a list so I can see my progress!

Sledding Trip...Brrrrrr

So we took a drive to Turtle River State Park to go sledding. I went once with my sister and her hubby when they were visiting but Mike hadn't gone yet so off we went.

It was absolutely beautiful but also so darn cold. I think it was 10 degrees but it was quite windy so when we got home and checked the wind chill it was actually -14. Yikes, it sure was cold.

We made a few quick stops around the park after sledding, so yes my hair is quite a mess in this photo, but ah heck.

Here is Boca up to her belly in our snow.

Mike and Ashley heading up the hill, boy is that a big hill!!!

Whooosh, here they go. Ashley loved it when she didn't end up with a face full of snow.

Ben got pulled around in his sled and liked it as long as he was moving. I think when it was moving it was interesting and when it stopped it was darn cold!

I think we only managed to sledd for about 35 minutes because of the weather. BRRRRR. As I write this it is -15 degrees and with the wind chill it's -33 and it's only supposed to get worse.... The Weather channel says -39 for a windchill low over night. Why oh why do we live here???? I feel ya Bev!

Chatting it up

So Ben's newest thing is chatting on the phone. He does it with anything, the remote, the real phone, the toy phones, even the travel wipes container. So I tried to capture it here for you. Enjoy.

Winter Wonderland

Alright, here are a few pictures for all of those who are jealous of our winter weather. I do hate the really cold weather but to me if it's gonna be cold it might as well be snowy and pretty.



Boca loves the snow. She was running circles around the back yard.



Here is our house all decked out for the season.



It was -12 outside when I took this picture. You can actually see my breath.

mom is santa

My uncle sent me this video and I thought I would share.

busy work

Helping with the dishes. It was all I could do to get her out of my hair when I was cooking dinner. But it worked plus she washed her hands and that is always a struggle for her.


Ben was eating a piece of a dinner roll and shared it with
boca



This is when he realized that it was GONE!



Mommy, I need a new bread!



Cheerios for breakfast anyone?

Thanksgiving dinner

I did my first Thanksgiving meal all by myself. Last year Mike did it and the year before his sister was here so we all helped out. But this time I did it start to finish all on my own. So the one thing I learned is that I am missing a few of the essential kitchen tools and I need to stock up on some more serving dishes/platters. Otherwise everything went well and everything was edible! Five Gold Stars for ME!

Ben loved his dinner. He smeared it in his hair and ears, but I spared you a picture of that.

Yummy dinner! Ashley ate her dinner "all gone"!

Snow time. We got a touch of snow today and Ashley was begging to go out and play.

scary

So my little sister works in a bank in Little Rock right off the base and today the poor girl got robbed. It was a really strange situation where the guy seemed to be "high" on something and told her he wanted 75.00. She asked for his account number and he closed his eyes and stood there for a while and then told her he wanted 3.00. Then he reached across the counter to her change rack and took a handful of quarters. He walked out and she told her manager who called the cops and the whole shebang. Then later he came back and waited in line because he wanted to talk to her and no one else...scary. She was able to take long enough with her current client that the cops were there before she had to deal with him. But crazy enough he lit up a cigarette while waiting in line. My oh my. Poor girl!


Then we just got the results from my nephew's dr who diagnosed him with epilepsy. So now they have to decide how to treat it with out causing more problems from the medications. Poor guy. I really hope that they are able to find a happy medium without too much medication or side effects. Yuck!

Oooey Gooey sticky lip gloss

So I was on the phone chatting with my friend Ellen. Of course I was trying to use my chatting time wisely by unloading the dishwasher at the same time. After a few minutes I noticed Ashley sitting at the computer desk so I walked over there to remind her that she is not supposed to be there and this is what I found. Oooey gooey sticky lip gloss squeezed out of the tube all over the keyboard. Yuck. I had to pop all the keys off to clean them because it had melted down in between the keys. It was terrible. Plus the lip gloss has a slimy, waxy consistency that was a pain to get off the keys.

She made me a Mr. Potato Head figure and was so proud of herself so I just had to have a picture. Love the smile too!

Okay, mom are you done yet?

Ashley insisted on eating a watermelon war head sour candy that she got for Halloween. It was too funny. Apparently she didn't like it too much cause she set it on the table...I turned around just in time to see Ben pull himself up to her table and pop it in his mouth....

and no I didn't get a picture of his sour face either because I was too concerned with getting the choking hazard out of his mouth. But here is a smile for you.

my curbside treasure...

So I was coming home yesterday and noticed that someone had put something out on the curb. I slowed as I drove by and my heart started racing. What was it you ask, a treadmill! I went home and very sweetly asked my hubby to go and get it. He not so sweetly told me he wasn't going to go down there and pick up a 200 pound (exaggeration alert) broken treadmill and drag it home, unless I went and knocked on the door to find out if it was functional. So I put my on walking shoes and marched my butt right down there and rang the bell. Sure enough I was told that it worked they were just tired of walking around it in the basement. So my hubby drudgingly drove down there to get it (I don't think he thought I would really go). We got it all set up this morning and yup, it really does work.

I love curb shopping!

My little plumber

Is that not the sweetest thing ever ;) I had to snap a picture of that.



My messy little boy

"wheelie tall, mom"

I knew there had to be another use for the blocks that Stampin Up sends with my orders....and Ashley was just the one to figure it out! Blocks!!!!


She was so proud!

Uggh

So after having Ashley potty-trained for a month we have since gone back to diapers. I am taking advice of others and letting her be the one in control. Plus I was getting sick of trying to keep up the laundry when she would pee in her pants sometimes 10 times a day! So I am now giving her the choice whether she wants diapers or big girl pants and we can try again in a little bit.

It's really frustrating! But I realized that I was the one fighting going back to diapers because that meant I was admitting I had failed. But I am not the one potty training, she is, and she is the one to has control over her actions. It took me a while to realize it but now that I did I feel much better about it. It just seemed as the more we pushed and encouraged the more she quit trying. So that's how it will be for a little while.

Otherwise nothing much going on here. I am in the thick of another round of classes so I am busy doing homework and writing papers, and taking tests. Oh so much fun! Oh well, I am on the final stretch of my degree, YIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Oh and Ben cut his second tooth 2 days before Halloween. I thought he was just trying to get ready to eat some candy. He did try one sucker and boy did he love it. He screamed so loudly when I took it away.

Ben crawling

So here is Ben's version of crawling. I will have to try to capture some of him coming at me because it looks quite silly from that direction also. It is really funny when he gets moving fast.

Carving Pumpkins

She has the cheesiest smile lately. I love it. I think all kids go through a stage where they do this.



Ben just wanted to eat the pumpkin guts. Hehe, it's a vegetable right? One serving down


So here is Mike and Ben at 11:30 last night. Yes, Ben was awake at 11:30! He does a wierd late nap thing where he goes to sleep at 7 (like Ashley) but then wakes up around 9 to play for an hour or so and then hits the hay again. I don't mind too much because I am up anyway and then he sleeps in a bit longer in the morning.


Mike did this one and I just love it. The pumpkin is all warty looking so it looks cool even during the day.


This one I made for Ashley. I thought it was pretty cute.

My chuckle for the day

I saw this and it made me laugh. Enjoy!

Potty training HELP!

I am calling on all my more experienced Mommy friends for some potty training advice!

Ok, so here is the issue. Ashley did great the first few weeks of potty training with very few accidents. We did a potty chart that she filled up and earned a trip to the water park. She was staying dry most nights although I was still putting her in a diaper for bedtime. Everything was going too smooth :).

This past week she is peeing her pants constantly. Most times without even saying she has to go or trying to get to the potty chair. I tried to bribe her with a piece of candy corn for everytime she went and it worked for the first few days but now she is doing it again. I also tried to resurect the potty chart and still she's not too interesting in going to the bathroom.

So my question is what should we do. First response is to get mad and try time out or something but I know there has to be a better way! Help, I need some advice!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Ben is so into balls he never wants to put them down. His new favorite toy is the dinosaur ball toy. Mike's sister M got it for Ashley when she was a year and boy he loves it way more than she ever did!


We took the kiddo's to the pumpkin patch. Ashley is hard to get pictures of now because she moves so quickly. Even if you get her to stop and smile it's only for a half second and then she is going again. Most of the pictures I got of her were either blurred or I got the back of her head.


Here is Ben in his bumble bee costume. It barely fits. But it will work for this year! It looks so cute because he is so rolly-polly.

He found a pumpkin and wouldn't let it go, of course, until his big sister Ashley stole it away in the wagon. How sweet huh!