Jacob - 2 Months

Jacob is 2 months now! Wow..it's going fast..he's outgrowing clothes now and changing so much. Here is a picture of him on Thanksgiving when he officially turned 2 months:

The Great Plate Fiasco

OMG..this morning I went to fix Lily a bowl of cereal. So I go to open the cabinet that contains the bowls and all of a sudden it started raining plates and all I hear is crashing. It took me a minute to digest what was happening...the top shelf somehow came loose in the night so when I opened the cabinet everything on the top shelf came crashing down. Thankfully not much was up there - just 12 coffee cups (from our everyday dishes) and some pasta bowls. So, not dishes we use often. However, they made quite a mess and scratched up some other dishes (and my floors!) on the way down. It was crazy!

I screamed as the mayhiem was ensuing and the girls got upset and ran up to tell Paul who was in the shower. They ran up the stairs screaming "Mommy broke the dishes! Mommy broke the dishes!!" So Paul runs out of the shower, shampoo in his hair, thinking I'm hurt or something and comes down to see the mess. Thankfully I was fine and wasn't holding the baby or anything.

Sadly there were no survivors. There was one cup that stayed pretty much intact except for a couple chips but Paul said we didn't need to keep it. Everything else was destroyed. Good thing we never use those cups! Check out the pics:

Keep 'em Coming...

I just brought the boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic in anticipation of decorating this weekend. In the boxes I found the basket of Christmas cards from last year. One of my favorite things to do when I get the decorations down is to go through last years cards and letters. I like to remember what my friends were up to the previous year - it gets me excited to start receiving this years batch of cards and letters. I love to get Christmas letters..I know some people find it braggy and annoying but I love hearing what my friends and their families have been up to this past year. I also love the pictures people send and I actually keep all our pictures and scrapbook them in our yearly family albums. When we get pictures we always post them in the kitchen so we can look at them all season long. The kids will ask me a million times who is who it the pictures but it's still fun to have them up to look at.

This weekend we'll work on our Christmas card pictures and letter with hopes of getting them ordered this week. Hopefully we'll start getting some cards and letters in the mail soon...oh how I love this time of year!

Friends

I forgot how much I love "Friends" the TV show. TBS is showing a bunch of Thanksgiving episodes and OMG they are FUNNY!! I was a faithful fan of the show from the first season. I was sad when it ended but it probably needed to end when it did. I don't watch the reruns very often but when I do I always remember how funny it was. In my opinion there hasn't been a sitcom as funny as Friends since though Samantha Who is coming pretty close...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sitting here on the sofa watching old episodes of Friends, feeling VERY full and VERY thankful this Thanksgiving evening. The house is finally quiet..just Jacob and I are still up. It's been a fun day...ate way too much, played a lot of wii, visited with family..good times. Seems like it was last month that we celebrated Thanksgiving last year...this year has gone by so fast! Didn't seem so at times but it really did go quickly. This year has been very interesting..lots of changes..some good, some not so good. But all in all I have so much to be thankful for: I have 4 great, healthy kids, a husband who works hard to provide so wonderfully for us, a nice home, a great family..the list goes on and on..I hope your day has been blessed and that you're finding much to be thankful for this year too.

Boys are Hard

So seems like Jacob can't stand to ride in the car. Seriously almost every time we get in the car, which is a lot between all the school drop off and pick ups, he cries. He'll be perfectly happy then we get in the car and he loses it. Almost every time. Loud, unpleasant crying. Almost every time for at least part of the trip. Fun times.

The other day the whole family was in the car going somewhere and Jacob started crying. Emma asks why he crys in the car all the time. To which Lily replied: "Boys are hard..that's why...a baby girl would be much easier." Oh Lily..glad you're learning some life lessons early..boys are hard...

Fishing Girl

Lily's preschool had their annual Thanksgiving Feast today. It's a cute event that's basically a pot luck lunch. The 4 year old classes make Indian outfits and headdresses to wear. They have been learning about Native Americans all month and even had a visit from Pocahontas a few weeks ago (Lily told Emma that Pocahontas from Disney World was coming but afterward said it wasn't the real Pocahontas from Disney just someone dressed up like her). Lily's class gave themselves Indian names and Lily chose Fishing Girl. Other girls in her class had names like Happy Heart and Singing Princess. Lily is Fishing Girl. Whatever. Here are a couple pictures of her. I used my little camera that is clearly on it's last leg so the pictures kind of stink but you'll get the idea:

Lazy Weekend

Paul is working his last weekend at Dick's this weekend and we've really had nothing to do..which has been good and bad. It's been nice not to have to do anything or really be anywhere (except for girl scouts this afternoon) but the kids get a little nuts when they are inside so much. We did get outside yesterday to enjoy the nice temperatures while it was sunny. We went to church last night so Paul could go with us. Josh Hamilton was a guest and if you don't know who he is google him. He has a really inspiring story of how he overcame drug addiction and is now a great MLB player.

The kids did some cute things this weekend..Emma volunteered to change Julia's dirty diaper this morning. I told her to go for it..she used about a box of wipes then couldn't get Julia's pants back on but all in all she did a pretty good job. I think I'll be calling on her again! Also, the girls found worms in the driveway yesterday and proceeded to pick them up, name them and play family with them. That's right..I said worms...so gross to me but not Emma. She was all about picking them up. Lily, on the other hand, was a little timid about it at first and squealed like crazy when she finally did pick one up and it moved in her hand. Guess my girls aren't as girly as I thought.

In other news I'm having a bit of a breastfeeding crisis. It's just not going as well this time around. I'll spare you the details but it's very painful and I don't know how much longer I can take it. I'm trying but oh..it's hard. I'm having all sorts of guilt issues about it which I'll save for another post...

Off to take Emma to girl scouts and do a couple errands..trying to get a head start on my Christmas shopping while my sister in law is here to help with the little ones.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great birthday thanks to my wonderful husband. He's still in a good mood (despite injuring his knee on Saturday in flag football game) from his new job so my birthday came at a good time! The day started off well when Jacob slept for 6 hours. It's amazing how much good a long stretch of sleep can do for you. It's also amazing that I'm calling 6 hours a long stretch of sleep...

After we dropped Emma off at school we went out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Got to do some baking in the afternoon while Paul napped with Jacob. Paul picked up Emma from school and then surprised me with a Whole Foods birthday cake. You may recall that I love, love birthday cake, especially birthday cake from Whole Foods (he got the same cake after Jacob was born). That's a picture of my cake..doesn't it look delicious?? My mom came over to sit with the kids..all of them..and Paul took me to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner. Yummy!! It was such a nice time.

Oh, and for my gift, which was totally unexpected, they gave me a handheld Dyson vacuum!! I have been wanting one for eons mostly because I'm lazy and hate using the big Dyson to do the stairs. Plus my kids are so darn messy that I need a good handheld for quick clean ups. My new handheld is in pink to match it's big sister my upright Dyson..also in pink. I feel so lucky!

35 Years Young

Do ever look at your life and think "how did I get here?" I mean how did I get to be a wife, mother of 4 (!) and stay at home mom? Aren't I still in my mid 20's? Wasn't college graduation a few months ago? The last 10 years have been such blur. Don't get me wrong I'm so very blessed and thankful for where I am and it's exactly where I want to be. I wouldn't change a thing...it's just hard to believe how fast time flies. I seriously can not believe I've been driving for almost 20 years, that I'm closer to my 20 year high school reunion than my 10 year and that kids I used to babysit are now married with their own kids. Where does time go??

Today I'm celebrating my 35th birthday - holy cow - mid thirties (!!). I love my life (most of the time..I had a lot of sleep last night so I'm in good spirits today), I love my family, I love my friends and I thank God for the blessings he's given me. So here's to being 35 years young and still feeling like a twentysomething!!

Jacob - 6 Weeks

Paul took the girls to my sister in laws yesterday afternoon so I had a chance to spend some quiet time with Jacob. Bless his heart, he doesn't get too much floor time when all the kids are around (it's best for his protection). So since they were gone I gave him a chance to stretch around and I got a chance to take some pictures. Here's our little man at 6 weeks:

Out of Africa

I've been wanting to take the kids to the zoo for a long time but we could never find the right day. With the beautiful, warm weather we've been having I thought this would be a good week to go..the leaves are so beautiful right now and it's been so warm. I wanted to take Emma out of school for the day on Friday but Paul wouldn't hear of that but, I did convince him to let me check her out early. So, after lunch I checked her out and we headed to the zoo.

Well..that was the plan..we actually got delayed by an hour because Paul was dealing with the Walmart job offer stuff. So, we finally hit the road and got to the zoo about 2 1/2 hours before they closed.

It's been years and years since I've been to the NC Zoo. I had heard the Africa side was better so I wanted to park there. Unfortunately the lot was closed so we parked at North America. I told Paul we should take the tram to Africa and he said lets just walk. So, we had no idea how big it was or how far you had to walk to get to Africa! We saw a bunch of animals in North America and finally got smart and hopped the bus to the Africa side. The Africa side, in my opinion is much better. We loved seeing the elephants, zebras and giraffes. Lily was wearing a giraffe shirt and she kept saying she wanted to show the giraffes her shirt.

Since we didn't have much time it was a whirlwind trip but we enjoyed it. Hopefully we can go back in the Spring and see more!

Selling His Soul...

Paul sold himself to the devil today and accepted a job with Walmart. That's right..I said Walmart..You know the "evil empire", the place I wasn't "allowed" to spend his hard earned money in last year. That one. Turns out they aren't so evil after all.

Before Paul started with Dicks he met someone who worked in a corporate position and he gave him is resume. Like 3 months later a recruiter contacted him and he interviewed for a market position (an operations position, not in a store). It went well and last night they offered him the position (and a sign on bonus..grossed up so we get the full amount after taxes)! He's been somewhat unhappy at Dicks - it was just so small and he had to work so many nights and weekends. This position is mostly Mon-Fri and he'll get a company car. So, needless to say we're very excited. He gave his notice at Dicks today so in 2 weeks he'll start the new job.

I'll still be shopping at Target because it's still my favorite but a discount at Walmart rocks. You just never know what kinds of twists and turns your life will take...never say never!

Lunch Lady Lily

We get home today around 11:45 and Lily asked me to fix lunch..she was hungry..which she always is..I tell her I want to change over some laundry and then I will come down and do it. She said.."That's OK..I'll fix lunch for me and Julia." I said OK..go for it.

I go upstairs and work on some laundry. When I come downstairs she and Julia are sitting at the table eating. She indeed did fix lunch: carrots, yogurt and cheese. It was so cute! Then she says "I had to put it on napkins because I couldn't reach the plates." Bless her heart..she's can be so sweet and helpful (on her terms that is).

Trick or Treat

We had a really fun Halloween. My mom and mother in law came over. We had pizza for dinner then Paul and I took the girls out for trick or treating. Usually Paul takes the kids out and I stay home handing out candy. But this year my mom was in town so I asked her to come over and hand out candy so I could go out with the fam. My mother in law came over too to get her some Jacob cuddle time so we could leave him at home. Neither of my older girls wore the costumes we'd bought for Halloween. Whatever. Emma decided to be a fairy and Lily Sleeping Beauty. They looked super cute. We hooked up with the girls BFF's Vanya & Meri and we headed out. The girls were literally running from house to house. I can't tell you how many times we had to yell at them to wait so we could catch up. We had Julia in the stroller and she just enjoyed the ride. We also brought along extra bags for when the candy got too heavy for the kids to carry. Emma dumped her bag several times but not Lily. Oh no..Lily, my hoarder, would not give up any of her candy. Paul must have asked her a 100 times if she wanted to dump her bag but she would not. I think she was afraid some might get missing. It was so funny. She was exactly the same way last year. I ended up leaving them to come back home to feed Jacob but Paul said finally by the end of the night Lily let him help her carry the bag. She, however, was not letting go of the bag. At all. We all got home and the girls sifted through their candy. While the girls were going through their candy Julia kept sneaking pieces of it. Every time we turned around she had something else in her mouth. It was hysterical. Overall they got a ton of candy..Paul and I took our favorites and slowly I'll take some of their candy away and let Paul take it to work. It was a great night!