Snowmen

    David and I made this craft yesterday morning. I had originally intended to make only one snowman, but David insisted on two when he saw how fun it was. I was so touched when he had wanted to make a little one to go by the big one, assuming that he was making a mommy and a baby. Daddy was silly enough to think that it was a Daddy and a baby snowman. We were both wrong (and a little hurt too) when he told us it was Monga (grandma) and "her boy".

Wanna hear something gross (but funny)?

Max is still pooping wrapping paper and glitter from all the Christmas tree ornaments and gifts he gnawed at on Christmas. Hehe.

Christmas morning

Here comes the Christmas highlight reel:

The first time Max saw the tree

The first time David saw the tree.

Daddy told them they got presents if they smiled at him. :)

David got a new football jersey...

...To match the one Daddy got for Christmas.

Opening his motorcycles.

He got the teeniest piece off at first. He liked the ripping sound,
but he was very slow about opening his gift

...So David helped out.

Max did a trick while Daddy opened the box.

David played with his 3 new motorcycles...

...Until Max tried to touch them. Then it was over.

Max and his new bulldozer tried to tip the tree
while I was making breakfast.

My Christmas Gifts

My Christmas gift this year from the hubby was the ability to do anything I wanted this Christmas without hearing any complaints from him. :) This included (but wasn't limited to) him posing for nearly 150 pictures with the kids during present opening on Christmas morning and letting me have free reign on decorating the house with surprises for the kids. I put them to bed on Christmas Eve and then got to work.

We decided that we weren't going to do a tree this year because of kids, but I was just plain sad every time I thought of our gifts having no special place to sit and wait for the kids and not having a picture in front of the tree for Max's baby book. How sad is it when you don't have a tree for your very first Christmas?!? 

I just couldn't sit there and not do anything for them so I tucked them all snug in their beds and set to work. I figured the tree wouldn't be too much of a problem to just have up for one day so I unpacked it from the closet and set it up. I had told David I was just going to set up a bare tree with just lights, but when I got started I just couldn't stop. I went all the way.  We had lights, ornaments, tinsel and a big, red bow on top. I figure if you're going to do it, do it right! It's just the kind of mom I am I guess. I just wanted them to be excited on Christmas morning. They were so the 3 hours I spent transforming our living room was worth it. :D Once it was set up and ready, I wrapped their gifts and tucked them in under the tree. How happy does this make my living room look??

I also hung big softball-sized Christmas ornaments from the doorway...

...And paper snowflakes from the ceiling. The living room is covered with these!



I added this year's ornament to the tree very last. It was a gift from my sister.





 My Christmas gift from the boys was a very special one. They went down peacefully and without a fight for their naps in the afternoon. Even better than that - they napped AT THE SAME TIME!! This hasn't happened in what seems like months so it's a real treat. :) They are great gift givers.



Christmas Eve gingerbread house

It's Christmas Eve tradition at our house to make a gingerbread house together. It was really fun this year because David was old enough to help and really enjoy it. When he realized everything was edible and he was allowed to snack on it, we didn't get much building or decorating help from him anymore. He thought he was being so sneaky taking things when we "weren't looking". It was such a fun night. :)

Let the snacking begin!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

Me:  "David, today is Christmas Eve. That means tomorrow is Christmas!"

David: "Whoo hoo!" (as he jumps and waves his arms in the air)

Me: "Do you know what Christmas is? It's Jesus' birthday."

David: "Pray to Jesus...Jesus' birthday?...That's silly...Whoo hoo!" (more waving and jumping)

Me: "Christmas is a very special and fun day."

David: "WE'RE GOING TO MONGA'S HOUSE?! WHOO HOO!!"

I like how he equates special and fun days with trips to Grandma's house. He loves his grandmas. :)

12 days of Christmas

Forget the stupid turtledoves and the useless lords a leapin'. My 12 days of Christmas would look something like this:

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

A restful night of sleep.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Four new sweatpants (cuz mine are all stained with spit up),

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

FIVE MINUTES ALONE!!!,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE!!!,

four new sweatpants,
three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Seven catered meals so I don't have to cook all week,

six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Eight funny blog posts,

seven catered meals,

six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Nine grocery shopping trips without kids,

eight funny blog posts,

seven catered meals,

six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Ten pretty painted toenails,

nine shopping trips,

eight funny blog posts,

seven catered meals,

six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Eleven willing babysitters,

ten painted toenails,

nine shopping trips,

eight funny blog posts,

seven catered meals,

six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Twelve uninterrupted smooches from my hubby,

eleven willing babysitters,

ten painted toenails,

nine shopping trips,

eight funny blog posts,

seven catered meals,

six hot showers,

FIVE MINUTES ALONE,

four new sweatpants,

three Starbucks lattes,

two matching socks

and a restful night of sleep.



Peek-A-Boo!

    David taught Max how to play peek-a-boo at lunch today. It's probably the cutest thing those fat little hands have ever done. Not kidding. He is so proud of himself for learning a new trick. He and David clap every time he pulls his hands away from his face. There is a whole lot of "peek-a-boo" shouting and clapping going on here today. :)

Letter G

"...God is love."

1 John 4:8

    What a great verse, right? It's short, simple and to the point. And very powerful. It is one of the foundational verses for believers and when believed - really believed deep down in your heart - it will change your life. I want so badly for my boys to grow up knowing that being a Christian is not about "following rules" or "not having fun" as the world would have them believe. It's about love. God's unending, unfailing, unconditional love.

    We've been talking about how God and Jesus (because to him these are still two different people) love David very much. Even more than Mommy and Daddy love David - and that's a lot! We've also been talking about how David can be like God and show love to his friends. That means being kind and gentle, not pushing or shoving, never hitting or sitting on our friends and always saying sorry. Mostly this has been directed at Max since he's most often the recipient of David's unloving behaviors. :) He's really into it and when reminded of his Bible verse, he tries really hard to be kind. He's such a sweet boy.

   I kept the craft part of this letter really simple because I didn't want to overshadow the awesomeness of the scripture. Grapes are a pretty easy letter G subject so I drew a bunch and turned him loose with a purple crayon.

Baby Jesus craft

You will need:

• An empty toilet paper tube
• A brown crayon or marker
• A 3" x 3" piece of white felt or cloth
• Scraps of yellow construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• A paper person (ours was a die cut paper person leftover from scrapbooking, but you could use anything from large craft stick with a drawn on face to just a paper circle head with Sharpie eyes. You won't see his body so that doesn't matter.)

To assemble:

      Color the outside of the toilet paper tube with brown crayon. It doesn't need to be filled in all the way. Large gaps or scribbles work nicely too. :) Cut the tube lengthwise and glue the rounded parts together. One portion should scoop upwards to form a cradle for baby Jesus and the other should scoop downward to form the legs of the manger.

     Cut the yellow construction paper into thin strips to resemble straw and glue to the inside of the cradle part of the "manger". Wrap your baby Jesus in the piece of white felt to create his "swaddling clothes". Glue the ends of the felt so it stays around him. Glue the back of Jesus's swaddling clothes to the "straw".

Viola! You have a baby Jesus in a manger.

...She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger...
Luke 2:7

      This only took about 15 minutes for us - even with David doing most of the work. We had a super opportunity to talk about Jesus. It was such a precious time. I love planting seeds for Jesus at Christmas time. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :) No joke. Warm and fuzzy.

      I told him a very scaled down version of the Christmas story. He was really bummed when we got to the "no room in the inn" part. He let out a very disappointed "oh, man" and then asked where they went. I told him they slept in the barn and Jesus' mommy and daddy made a bed for him (appealing to the fix-it side of him) in the manger by the animals. I asked him if he knew what a manger was and he said "I have no idea, Mom." I explained that it was the animals' food dish. To be honest, I think at this point he was probably more caught up with the fact that the cows then had no food than the fact that sweet little baby Jesus was laying in a nasty manger. What a little boy - stomach and food first, compassion and emotions later. :)

OCLD

Hello, my name is Lauren and I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Labeling Disorder (OCLD). As hard as I try to refrain, I just can't stay away from clip art pictures and that super fun Word Art.

Just. Can't. Do. It.

Just look at what I did to my poor kids' toys. Do I get mad when they mix up the sets or tear off the label tags? You betcha.

I also took to the computer to whip up some tags for my homemade laundry soap. I have made a liquid version of this soap in the past, but over time I wasn't happy with it. I switched back to store bought stuff over the summer while I found a new recipe, but now I'm back at it again. I'll let you all know how it goes!



Where do kids come up with this stuff?

Nothing was wrong with his head. That is pure made up, I-want-chocolate-milk-so-bad-I-could-explode, fakey fake stuff right there. Is this what he's thinking about when he's laying there refusing to sleep at night?

P.S. He took 3 little sips and then exclaimed "David's owie head all better!".

A celebration dinner

David's semester is over!!!!



     We are now officially on a 2 week Christmas break! It is going to be so nice. We've hit a bit of burn out here and we're all sick again. We're feeling really worn out from everything we've had going on lately. It's just colds for lil David, Max and I, but David has a sinus infection. :( Still, it will be nice to have a couple of weeks to catch our breath before we start the next round of classes.

     Next semester is going to be even harder than this one. Instead of 9 credits like this semester he'll be taking 13 credits next semester. Most of the classes he's taking are the "part two" classes of the ones he took this semester or has taken in the past. It's somewhat good because the subject is fresh on his mind, but also bad because they are the harder level of classes.

    We're not looking ahead too far though. Right now we just want to celebrate a semester well done and have a good time. Naturally, this means a steak dinner! :) On Wednesday night, after David's last class, we put the boys to bed and made a steak dinner for ourselves. Not only was the food delicious (and we got to eat it while it was hot!), but we did so in peace and quiet. It was heavenly. We did feel sort of silly all bundled up and grilling in the snow, but it was sooooo worth it!

Max K. Schrute

Come on Office fans, how awesome is this?! Max has Dwight hair!



Dwight K. Schrute of Dunder Mifflin



Candy Canes

We finished our candy canes! How cool do they look?! We made 10 in all. They are now happily hanging in the kitchen window right above my sink. I love how cheery it makes the kitchen feel. I love Christmas.

The snow removal people were here at 5:45 this morning. I like that they were on top of things and that my car is now dug out and ready to go, but they woke my boys up. I really can't handle starting every day for the rest of the winter before 6am. I can barely pull my booty out of bed to just sit here and drink coffee. Getting up that early to begin the day right away with crying boys who are scared of the snow plow man is just too much. Max went back to sleep this morning, but David did not. I really needed to keep him busy (and quiet) so that he wouldn't wake Max up so we pulled out our beads and pipe cleaners and finished up this project.

He is so chatty in the morning. Wow. He talked non-stop the whole time we were working. He talked about grandma and her house, Dog, yellow, Handy Manny, church, apples and the snow outside. I need coffee.

Letter F

"Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Colossians 3:13

Who doesn't love a cross-eyed forgiveness fish? I put together a fish and let David pick out some sequins and eyes and stuff to put on it. His favorite Bible story is Jonah and the big fish so he has a special love for fishes right now. I think he only likes the story because the big fish spits, but hey whatever gets him in the word.

He was feeling super chatty tonight when we did this so we had good conversation about forgiveness. We talked about how Jesus forgives us when we are wrong, no matter how naughty we were. We also talked about how it's important to forgive our friends when they are naughty and mean to us and how we should always say "I forgive you" when someone apologizes. Pretty deep stuff for a little guy.

Letter E

"Do Everything without complaining or arguing"

Philippians 2:14

Ok, so this one doesn't start with the letter E, but there's a keyword that starts with E. David has a problem from time to time with not wanting to pick up toys or help out with putting things away so this verse was a big help. It served as a great reminder that all things should be done without a drawn out argument first. I love it when he obeys without talking back first. :) It makes me so happy.

What goes better with the letter E than elephants?? Nothing. We made 2 so that there was a momma elephant and a David elephant. He picked out the craft foam and told me it's the coolest yellow he's ever seen and it would make him so happy to use it for an elephant. How could I say no? Sometimes he really cracks me up. He wasn't satisfied just making elephants that day (and was too bored with it to make bodies too) so we filled in the empty space with letter E stickers and some other random shapes.

Fruit loops, Christmas lights and Baby Jesus

Boy oh boy do I have things to tell you about tonight. We've had a very busy weekend and I haven't had much time for blogging, but all 3 of my men are in bed and sleeping right now so I have a moment. Let's get to it.

David, Max and I played Joseph, Baby Jesus and Mary in our church's Christmas drama this morning. It was so fun. Max took a nap right before church so he was all rested up and performed very well. He's a natural. I'll admit, it doesn't take much to play baby Jesus, but he nailed it. He's got drama running through his veins (his daddy blames that on me :P). Have you ever seen a cuter baby Jesus???

David made his very first fruit loop necklace a couple of days ago. He wanted nothing to do with putting all the cereal on the string so he snacked while I made one for him. Once he saw it, he understood what I was trying to get him to do and he was all over it. He made one by himself and munched away. I stumbled across a great tip for making these - tie a spoon to the end of the string. It weights the end down so the cereal glides all the way to the bottom (David loved watching that part) and it keeps the cereal from falling off while the kiddos are working on it. It's fabulous!

We aren't doing a Christmas tree this year because of the boys. David is so....David-y and Max is still crawling and pulling himself up on everything. I don't want a tree crashing down on them and I also don't want to pick up a toppled tree 34 times a day. It's a battle I choose not to fight. Instead, we are decorating the inside of the house with lights and such. Well, so far it's just lights and a wreath, but we're working on more. Little David and I made bead and pipe cleaner candy canes tonight to hang in the kitchen window. We'll finish our project tomorrow and get them hung up.

David is such a little handy man now. I blame his obsession with Handy Manny. He likes to fix everything in sight. He filled this toy shopping cart with buckets and tools. He had all hammers in one bucket and screwdrivers in the other. He pushed that cart all over my house "fixing" things. Any time he came across a screw hole in something he'd stop and rummage through his things finding just the right tool. Then, he'd pretend to turn the screw and "fix" it. He's such a stud.

Lastly, how great are sleeping babies???

Books

My mom and sister found this story hilarious and laughed until they cried. I did not. I have to share just so you feel better about your own kids.

A couple of days ago, David and Max were sitting very nicely and quietly reading books. I was doing dishes and was keeping busy in the kitchen. With the water of the faucet and the washing machine running (located right in the kitchen) I really couldn't hear much of what was going on in the hallway. I was checking in on the boys often and felt pretty comfortable leaving them to read while I finished what I was doing. That was a horrible mistake.

From time to time, I was able to pick up bits of their conversation and hear that they were still happy. No one was tackling his brother, no one was crying. We were in the clear - that is until the giggling started. You know by now that it's never a good sign when my children giggle. Laughing is generally ok, but giggling never leads to good things. I dropped my pots and pans in the sink to soak and took off to catch them in the act  see what they were doing.

I was horrified and fuming mad when I found them. They had ripped Genesis right out of the Bible. It was just one of the many kid's Bibles that David owns, but still, I was angry. Everything from Adam and Eve to Moses and the 10 commandments was gone. David was tearing out the pages and giving them to Max. From there, they were both ripping the pages into little bits and tossing them in the air yelling "Happy Birthday to you!". Stop laughing. I'm angry.

I immediately stripped the house of every book we own and locked them away safely in my bedroom. It is going to be a looooooong time before they see them again. I guarantee it.

Mascara

They found my mascara. Need I say more?



I was cleaning the bathroom when David very sweetly came and talked with me for a while. He wandered off eventually and then I heard him and Max giggling. Like I've said before, that is never good. I entered the living room to find this mascara mess everywhere. Poor little Max. :( He had no choice.

Tomorrow morning (when I have a little more time) I have a great story to share. Stay tuned...

One of those days

I'm having one of those days where I can't trust David in a room alone long enough to go pee. Something gets beaten, broken, jumped onto, jumped off of or smashed everytime I try. One of us is not going to make it through the day alive. It's too early to tell which one of us it will be.

Maximize Your Morning challenge: Week Three

So last week didn't go well. At all. It was a combination of lack of trying and a sick son. Max developed an ear infection and a super high fever on Tuesday and by Thursday wasn't sleeping or eating at all. He was feeling pretty crummy and it really took a toll on me. I quit setting the alarm altogether and just slept when he gave me the chance (which wasn't often). It is SO exhausting to have sick children. I must have looked like I really needed encouragement because nearly every mom I saw last week told me to keep my chin up and keep pressing on. I was assured over and over that this is just a phase of life. It is merely a season and it will pass eventually. Some were even crazy enough to tell me I'd miss this someday. I guess they think having a family and raising small kids is a blessing or something. ;)

Despite being a horrible week to choose to back down on caffeine, I did ok on that goal. I set out to drink no more than 10 cups of caffeinated drinks and I almost made it. It was tough. I just passed my mark at 10.5 cups this week. For me, not sleeping and excessive baby screams are hard to handle without coffee. Yikes. That's all I'm going to say.

This week the goal is to create exercise goals for myself. I'm setting the bar low since it's been far too long since I've done any sort of regular working out. I hope to get my body moving 5 days this week. I'm keeping the workouts very short and simple so hopefully this will be something I'm actually able to do with kids running around here. I'd love to be able to workout before the boys woke up in the morning, but that's probably not going to happen with everything else I'm trying to do too. Ah well, I'm sure I can figure something out.

I'm continuing on with my Bible reading in 1 Samuel. Did I tell you I was in 1 Samuel? I opened my Bible and let the Spirit lead a couple of weeks ago and this is where it took me. It's been really good and actually kind of nostalgic for me. One of my favorite Bible stories for my mom to read to me when I was little was the story of priest Eli and little Samuel. I can still hear her voice in my head as she pretended to be the Lord calling to Samuel. "Saaaaamuel" she'd call in a loud whisper. Ah, good memories. It was sort of funny to be sitting in my kitchen as an adult and thinking of the kid version of this story. Like I said, good stuff. I'm taking it sort of slow and I got set back a bit when Max was sick, but I'm up to chapter 20 where David is running for his life as Saul is trying to have him killed. Oh that Saul. Talk about anger problems! Yeesh.

Christmas Tea

I hosted a table at my church's Christmas Tea again this year. It was so fun. I planned and decorated it with a friend of mine. We chose the theme "The Apple of His Eye". It was based out of Psalm 17:8 where the Lord's people are called the apple of His eye. It was a fun theme to go with. We served apple pie (that was supposed to be delicious, but ultimately wasn't), apple cider, fresh apples with cream cheese dip and apple cinnamon tea. We decorated with miniature glass apples and carved out real apples to create candle holders for our tea lights. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I used this tea as a challenge for myself. I could have easily filled the table and them some with family and close friends, but I didn't (ok, that's a lie. I did invite my mom and sister). I left the rest of the seats at the table open though for the ladies of the church to randomly sign up for. I really wanted to break out of my comfort zone and sit with someone new. It's sad and tad pathetic to admit, but I don't tend to talk to new people unless forced. I'm such an introvert. It's a work in progress. The ladies that ended up sitting at my table were fabulous. I didn't know 3 of them. What is better than making new friends and chatting over a cup of tea? 

Cottage cheese messies...

I gave Max cottage cheese for the first time today...it was messy. And fun. :)



 Yeah, it's in his eyebrows...and lashes and hair...and on his chest and belly...and piled up next to him in the chair....