New Years Eve Party

Nick and I do not like New Years Eve. We hate going out to parties, and we definitely hate spending triple what we would normally spend on dinner just because it's New Years Eve. Taylor and Shea are only with us every other year. We have THE BEST time when we have them. We have always had a mini party when it was just the 4 of us. Then it was the 5 of us, and now all 6 of us will celebrate. (It's questionable whether Nicholas will make it to midnight.) Tonight we are making our own pizzas, and then we will head downstairs for some serious Guitar Hero competitions, and Wii Games. We always have a pinata that we all get to take a swing at. Nick is usually the one who finally breaks it because the kids get tired of trying. We dress up in crazy hats and blow noise makers and pop party poppers all over the basement. The mess is horrendous, but it is so fun, I don't care. We have sparkling grape juice and let the kids drink from fancy Champagne glasses, and they love it!

I'll take this celebration over going to some fancy dinner party any day!!

Christmas Part 4 - Christmas Day with Family

Christmas Part 3 - Christmas Morning (Taylor & Shea)

Christmas Part 2 - Christmas Morning (Isabella & Nicholas)

Christmas Part 1 - Christmas Eve

I have just started to recooperate from the Christmas festivities. The house is starting to get back to normal. Not really. Toys are strewn all over our living room, and the Christmas tree is still up, even though it has become a huge fire hazard. We are a work in progress.

Let me preface by saying this was a fun Christmas, but so hectic it was hard to enjoy it. This year, Taylor and Shea were with their Dad on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. They arrived home at Noon. They had less than 1 hour to open their gifts before we rushed out the door to go to my In-Laws house for dinner. From there, we rushed out again to go to my parents house for another dinner. We got home at 10:30 that night, and the kids were finally able to look at what they received from everyone for more than a couple seconds.

We are in the process of trying to determine a better way to celebrate Christmas with the whole family and still enjoy our time with everyone. We hope that next year, and the several years to come, we will be able to spend quality time with everyone in our family on this special holiday, and not feel like we slighted ourselves and our children from building our own family traditions.

We spent Christmas Eve at our house with my parents, sister and her family. Chloe brought Reindeer dust and the 3 girls sprinkled it all over the front yard. It must have worked because Santa came!

Our Weekend in a Nutshell

As of last Friday, we had one joint gift for two of our children, and one joint gift for our Nephews, and one joint gift for our Nieces. Being 6 days before Christmas I was starting to do my usual freak out for my own procrastination.

We had Nick's company Christmas party on Friday night. My parents graciously offered to babysit the kids so that we could get all dressed up and go to a cocktail party. It was so nice to go somewhere and talk to adults, eat delicious hors d'oeuvres and drink a glass of red wine. I did not have to think about the kids at home because I knew they were well taken care of. (Just to clarify so I don't get into trouble later, Shea was at a friends house for the night, but Taylor does not need a babysitter. She just enjoyed the company of my Mom and Dad and helped them out with Isabella and Nicholas.)

Saturday we went shopping with all the kids for SEVERAL hours. I had previously promised the kids that we would make our Christmas cookies that night. At 9:00 P.M. we started baking. At 11:00 the kitchen was trashed. At 11:45, we went downstairs in the movie room to watch Shea and Nick play Guitar Hero. Within 10 minutes of my chair being reclined and my blanket on, I fell asleep. Sorry Shea, Midnight is my limit.

Sunday morning Taylor and Shea went to their Dad's house for the rest of the week until Christmas. We got a babysitter for Isabella and went out into the blistery cold 10 degrees for more SHOPPING! We only had the babysitter for 3 hours, so we had to come home, pick up Isabella and head back out. Nick's parents offered to watch the kids, which was awesome, because we ran around like maniacs and got almost everything done.

Nick was a trooper the whole weekend and didn't complain once when we were at the mall two straight, long days in a row. Well, maybe he complained a little, but I did not see the sour puss face that he usually wears when we go to the mall. Okay, I saw the sour puss face once when we were at DSW Shoes with Taylor and Shea looking for new shoes. That's okay, it's a lot to ask of him to walk around a hot, crowded store full of women while carrying a very heavy diaper bag and a kid. That was at the beginning of our outing on Saturday. I was a little concerned but he was able to turn the mood around and finish the rest of the day with a smile. (Or was that a grimace?)

Now I have to wrap all this stuff. If you're looking for some fancy glimmery fabric bow - you're not getting it. You will receive a nicely wrapped present in pretty paper. But you will get a prefabricated bow stuck on the center of the box. I may switch it up a little and put the bow on the corner of the present every once in a while. I remembered to buy some scotch tape, so I will not have to use packing tape cut into small pieces this year. Just call me Martha, people.

Nicholas' New Favorite Game

Very Good Recipe

I have made this twice and the kids really like it. The tiny meatballs are kind of a pain to make, but it's worth it.

Orrechiette with mini chicken meatballs

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22454417/from/ET/

Annual Family Christmas Party

Last Saturday we went to Nick's family Christmas party on his Dad's side. Nick's grandmother has a lot of sisters and all the families go to this party. The kids made a bird house after dinner, and then Santa arrived with gifts. Isabella was not comfortable sitting on his lap, but she did talk to him and wish him a Merry Christmas.

Winter Band Concert

Shea plays the percussion in the 7th Grade Band. This instrument could not suit her more. She is reckless, wild, eclectic and LOUD. Here is a zoomed in picture of her playing the Timpani Drum. She played all her parts perfectly!

He Laughs at My Barricade

I completely underestimated his talents....

The Christmas Season is Upon Us......

This weekend we decorated our house for Christmas. The wreaths are up, the mantle is decorated, and the tree is up, lit, and decorated. I have no feelings of holiday nostalgia. Every year, I have visions of our family going to some farm and finding the perfect tree, cutting it down and dragging it back to the car on a sled; putting the tree up while Christmas music is playing in the background as we sip hot cocoa. All of us joyfully laughing just because we are together. I know it's stupid and very Cleaver-like.

This is how it went. We drove to the local strip mall where Kiwanis sells trees, picked the tallest one they had and the men all strapped it onto the car while the wife and children sat in the car watching Barney for the 100 Millionth time. The two oldest in the back fighting over who knows what. When the tree was secured to the roof, one of the men wished us a Merry Christmas and one of the kids commented on how it would be Merry, because she was expecting a certain gift that she was sure to receive. I was horrified and sad at the same time. We decorated the tree the next day. Nick and I put the lights on, and the older kids were no where to be found. Taylor finally surfaced shortly after and she and I and put the ornaments on the tree. The evening turned into a big argument and was about as unfun, and unmerry as you can possibly get. How does this happen? How easy it is to forget what Christmas is about. Are we all that selfish that we forgot how lucky we are that we have a great family and can celebrate this season together?

We all need a wake up call, myself included. I am going to give it to us before the Big Man does first. This season is going to be about giving to others who are not as fortunate. It will be about telling people that we love how grateful we are that they are in our lives. It will not be about what is on our Christmas list or how sorry we feel for ourselves that life is not conforming to our master plan. We have a roof over our heads, food on our table, and the six of us are healthy. Any more than that is a blessing.

Tonight I completely turfed the lawn of my ex-husband's driveway while attempting to back out. Crapity, crapity crap, crap-ola! Shea advised me to not tell him, and that he would never know it was me. NOT the message I am trying to teach the children, so of course I called him immediately when I got home, but for some reason, he didn't answer his phone. He still doesn't know, but when he leaves for work tomorrow morning, he will be using my name with several expletives before and after it.

Mouse #2 - Enema #3

I thought our house was void of any mice. The traps were all empty for two days. I was just about to collect them all and put them away for the next rodent to dare enter my home, when I found a disgusting mouse upside down, rigor mortis already set in, in the trap in Shea's room. The worst part is, when I found it, Shea was still in bed sleeping. I snuck in with tongs and a garbage bag and scooped him up while she slept. I debated not telling her, but she knew when she came downstairs and Taylor and I were staring at her with horrified looks our of faces.

I promise this will be the last time I discuss the pooping habits of my children, but Isabella had her 3rd and hopefully final enema today. I question her psychological state after the trauma that we have created for her. If she didn't want to poop before, she is really not going to want to poop after this experience. Back on the Miralax tomorrow, and hopefully we will have a happy and regular child again.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday was a busy day in our family, but we had a great time with both of our families. We started our day at Joe and Heidi's house with Nick's family. We visited for a while and had appetizers, and then headed off to my sister's house for dinner.

We got home at 10:00 last night, and luckily both Isabella and Nicholas fell asleep in the car and I was able to carry them both into their beds without them waking up. We were all exhausted and went to bed shortly after that.

We really enjoyed seeing and spending time with both our families, and the food was outstanding!

My Dad's Birthday Celebration

I am a little behind on posting my Dad's birthday, but I was waiting for a picture from my Mom since mine were all terrible. My Dad's 74th birthday was on the 20th, and my parents, my sister, Isabella and Nicholas and I went out to lunch to celebrate on his actual day. On Sunday, we celebrated at my parents house with the family.

My Dad is such as awesome man. He is a great Dad and Grandfather (the kids call him Papa). He is patient and kind, and the smartest person I know. He also has the best imagination I have ever seen. He is so fun to be around. He loves to laugh and have a good time. He plays with the kids like he's one of them, and creates the coolest games. In my opinion, some of the games cross the line in the dangerous category, but the kids and my Dad think they are harmless.

Happy Birthday Dad, you are truly the best father anyone could ever wish for.

Never a Dull Moment in Our House

You are not going to believe this! This afternoon I set four mouse traps upstairs and 2 downstairs by our T.V. The kids and I went to the mall, and when we came home at 8:00, the mouse was not in any of the traps.

Let me back up a little bit to this morning at the doctor's office. Isabella has been having some pooping problems. She has decided that she doesn't like to poop, and refusing to do so. We have tried fiber cereal, fruit, apple cider, etc. You name it, we've tried it. We started giving her a laxative everyday, but she still refused to go. This morning, the doctor instructed us to give her an enema because she was really miserable. As you can imagine, this was one of the more unpleasant things I have had to do with one of my kids. I waited until this evening when Nick was home from work, and we did it together. We were upstairs in Isabella's bathroom performimg this horrible deed while she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Shea ran in, in a total panic and told us that the mouse had stepped into the trap next to the T.V., and it's foot was stuck in the trap. The mouse was running around behind the T.V. like a maniac with the trap stuck to his leg.

After we had Isabella under control, Nick and Taylor got the mouse with our Kitchen tongs and threw him in a bucket. Shea, Isabella and I stood on the coffee table and watched. Nick pryed the trap off his leg, and we walked down the street and let him go in an empty lot.

Hopefully, he was the only one, but we will be setting more traps over night just in case!

The First Day of Thanksgiving Break (It wasn't pretty)

Yesterday was the kids first day off from school for the Thanksgiving break, and I had visions of spending an entire day of fun with the four children. It didn't exactly go as planned. The day started poorly when I woke up, and noticed it was snowing really hard. That's not a huge deal, but still a pain to drive around in and get babies in an out of the car in a blizzard. While feeding Nicholas his morning bottle, a very loud ear piercing alarm started ringing somewhere in our house. I discovered it was coming from the basement where our water softener and well pump are. Apparently it was the grinder pump, which is for the basement bathroom that we never use. The plumber said that he could come out and look at the pump sometime in the afternoon. That blew our day for leaving the house. A bummer, but still not a huge catastrophe. We would just postpone until Wednesday.

I decided to make some brownies and as I poured the oil into the measuring cup, I knocked the bottle of vegetable oil over and spilled 1/2 the bottle all over the counter, down the cabinets and onto the floor.

The three girls went outside to play in the snow. Shea decided to come in after 30 minutes, which started an argument on the deck. I had Shea watch Nicholas in the house so that I could go outside to play with Taylor and Isabella. I went down the sledding hill one time. (I have to admit, it was really fun.) Shea ran out on the deck screaming for me, which sent my heart into full panic because I thought something happened to Nicholas. Nicholas was fine, but we had a mouse running around in our living room. Now, if you want to send me into full freak out mode - put a mouse in my house. I turn into a complete lunatic. When I got inside, he was hiding behind our T.V. I could not find a mouse trap anywhere in our house, so I drove to the corner gas station/mini mart. They don't carry mouse traps. I didn't want to drive 10 minutes farther into town because I was waiting for the plumber to arrive, and I didn't want him there alone with the kids. Taylor was extremely pleased that I had not bought a trap being the animal rights activist that she is. I googled "How to humanely catch a mouse", and there were several hits. Can you believe that???? Taylor and I set up a complicated contraption with a cardboard ramp, toilet paper tube, cracker and peanut butter, and a tall bucket. Then we waited. Taylor stuffed towels into every crack of the entertainment stand so that he couldn't escape. The entire time, Taylor commented on how cute he was and that when we caught him we should keep him. I think she watched far too many Disney movies as a child. In my head, I continued to curse the little S - - T for having the misfortune of entering my home. Two hours went by and we still did not have a mouse in our homemade "humane" trap. We also had not heard from our plumber yet.

I had promised Shea that she could go to the basketball game with her friends at 4:00, so I left the house with 3 children and told Taylor to watch the mouse and make sure he didn't try to bolt from under the T.V. I called the plumber and told him that I would not be home for the next 45 minutes, and took off in the blizzard to drop Shea off at her friends house. I bought 2 traps at the drug store on my way home and was confident that he would be dead shortly. When I got home, the mouse was no where to be found. Spectacular!!! The plumber arrived shortly after that and told me that the pump was broken. I mentioned previously that we never use the bathroom, so how can a pump be dead in 3 and 1/2 years? It appears that when a pump is not used enough, they go bad quicker. Go figure! And how much is it going to cost to replace, I ask? $800!!! Is it under warranty, I ask again? No! Not as of 5 months ago!! So, he fixed the pump for the bathroom that no one uses, and I scurry him out of the house so that I can leave again to meet Shea at the middle school for her teacher conferences. Back into the blizzard I went with Nicholas. Isabella stayed with Taylor.

As of today, we still have not caught the mouse. Taylor woke up at 4:30 in the morning and said that the mouse ran out of her room into the hallway. Is it possible that a tiny mouse can hop up an entire flight of wooden stairs? Or do we have more than one? Or did Taylor dream it? Nevertheless, I will be purchasing several more traps today, and will be setting them in various places around our house. This mouse is not going to survive another day in my house.

Winter Has Arrived!!!!

They are expecting another 6 inches tonight. The kids are praying for a SNOW DAY!!

A Long Day.......

Isabella's First Haircut

Ballerina Princess and The Troll

You're Never Too Old to Play in a Leaf Pile

One of the Many of Reasons Why I Love My Husband

I called Nick at work at 12:30 this afternoon on a whim and asked him if he would like to come home for an hour or so to have a picnic outside with Isabella and me. (Nicholas was sleeping)

15 Minutes later, he pulled into the driveway. What can I say? He's the best.

Mommy's Helper

Washing baby bottles is a messy job in this house. This picture does not do justice to the massive puddle of water all over the floor.