Happy New Year!

Happy New Year wishes goes out to everyone! I hope everyone has a great time tonight and please be safe...

I know it is always that time of year when everyone makes their New Years' resolution. I was talking today and realized that my resolution will be the same as 2 years ago... get in shape... again. I guess you just kinda get caught up in life and forget about the other things... that is until you have to go the doc and get on that dreaded scale... also when your clothes just don't fit the same anymore (and I don't have any of the bigger clothes in my closet because I vowed I would never go back to those sizes). So starting tomorrow... I am back to the no pop, no french fries... and the elliptical will be getting a dusting off. I guess no more sitting on the couch for me when the kids are tucked into bed for the night. I also guess there will be no more Ben & Jerry's to comfort me....

What is your New Years' resolution?

The Verdict Is In

Last week I found the time to take Zoe to see Dr. Rogerson (Ear, Nose & Throat) doctor in Monroe. She has been having a lot more problems sleeping (restlessness and snoring) lately and we know the culprit... her tonsils. She is starting to mimic Cole from 2 years ago. I took a look a few weeks ago into her mouth and I thought that they had gotten bigger since there was only an opening about the size of a dime. We wanted to wait for surgery until May, but I don't think that we can take the sleeping issues any longer... So the date is set for Jan. 27th. I am not sure how she will do as the first day with Cole was a little stressful and Zoe exaggerates a lot more... Wish us luck! Oh Zoe is all ready to have this done because she wants to bring her tonsils home with us and hang them on our tree... not sure why, but she is excited and we will let her think this for now.

The Christmas Gifts... My Sleep Deprivation...

I don't think that I have had a more stressful and unorganized Christmas as I did this year, but it was the best one yet! I had enough between trying to finish this gift before the big day and getting all the presents wrapped before midnight on Christmas Eve... If anyone knows me, I always have all my gifts wrapped a couple weeks before Christmas and am completely organized. I had all my shopping done right before Thanksgiving, but had a some that needed to be finished before the day!

This was the big gift this year for Zoe... Let me tell you that I wouldn't attempt this again! Todd started to put this dollhouse together a year and a half ago. We knew that this was the time to give it to Zoe because all she talked about wanting for Christmas was a talking dollhouse. Well we knew that this one didn't talk, but it was a lot bigger than the one she wanted. Todd finished this in what we thought would have been enough time for me to paint it... a week and a half before Christmas. Now I told him that I wanted to paint all of the pieces before he assembled, but he thought otherwise. I started painting and realized that each color was going to need at least 2 coats if not 3. And I had to use a detail brush to keep it neat... this wasn't very difficult for me as I grew up around ceramics and spent a lot time creating masterpieces. I would put the kids to bed every night at 8pm and head to the basement... I wouldn't return up the stairs until 1am... I would go to bed and get up at 5:45am to get ready for kids to start coming and then do it all over that night again. Let me tell that I was getting used to being sleep deprived, but couldn't wait until I could sleep a whole night through. I finally finished it on Christmas Eve night at 10pm... and then remembered that I had to clean the windows (without popping one of them out of the frame). I didn't get to put as much detail into the shutters and trim as I would have liked, but maybe in the future. I also didn't finish the interior as I really want to see if Zoe plays with it... if not, it will remain as is. However she was thrilled to see it Christmas morning (as I was because I didn't realize Todd carried it upstairs at 3am)... she played with it all day and again on Friday. She did mention that it didn't talk, but it was huge! She said Santa did a great job!!

Cole had a great Christmas also... Santa brought him a remote controlled truck just like dad's except it is battery powered instead of gas (so it is slower) and his Nintendo DS that he has been asking for since this past summer. No stress on Cole's presents this year except that I couldn't remember where I put the DS when it was time to wrap gifts... and I thought I might have to take a trip to Wal-mart on Christmas Eve at 11pm.
Cole was up at 5am on Christmas morning all ready to open gifts... Todd agreed (I don't know what he was thinking!)... Todd thought we better enjoy all the excitement as we probably only have a few more years before the Santa secret is out of the bag... so we all got up even though we knew that Zoe would be a crab later. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed Christmas with the family.

The children will play...

This picture speaks for itself... Todd was taking a shower and I was cleaning... I am not sure what Cole was doing, but we all had a laugh when we seen this!

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to take a moment and wish my family and friends Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!! It is at this time of the year that I really appreciate everything that I have... family, friends and love. I hope everyone is taking this time to make special memories in their families and spend some quality time together. I also want to thank my family and friends for being so great and supportive... without you... life wouldn't be the same.

I have been a little preoccupied for the last week and a half trying to finish a very important gift for a sweet, little girl... but after tomorrow I can let everyone know and see what has been taking up all of my nighttime sleep hours (I have almost 30 hours invested in it - all at night when I should be sleeping). I just hope that the little girl finds it just as cool as Todd and I do.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies

I decided Friday that I really needed to make some Christmas cookies (especially since we are responsible for the special treat for Zoe's class party at school)... Saturday afternoon I headed to the store to purchase all the needed ingredients for 3 kinds of cookies... I got home and started the Christmas music... I decided to start with the Sour Cream Cut Out cookies at 2pm... this turned out to be a mistake. The kids left me after the first batch to go outside and play in the snow with the neighbor kids. I proceeded to make 2 more batches... not really realizing how many cookies I really had. At 10pm last night (I did take a short break to eat supper), I was still frosting and thinking to myself... "what an idiot...". Needless to say I still have 2 dozen to frost into snowmen with all the adorable fixins and really have no desire to complete them. I did get the other 12 dozen frosted before I retreated to bed last night. I have decided to leave the other 2 kinds of cookies for next weekend. So in other words... I have cookies coming out of my ears... and will probably be gaining a good 10lbs in the next couple of weeks.

And now today I am battling a heck of a cold, thanks to all the wonderful little ones in my life... and 2 children that just want to go out and play in the mud since all of the snow has pretty much melted.

Santa

Cole and Zoe visited Santa twice this weekend... yesterday we went to see him uptown and today he was at Cabela's with Comet. Zoe is still not too sure about Santa, but was ready to sit on Mrs. Claus' lap again this year as long as Cole was on Santa's lap. Cole was so happy to tell Santa that he wanted a Nintendo DS and a baby brother... everyone around just looked at me like I had some news to tell... I told everyone to talk to Todd about that. Zoe told Mrs. Claus that she wanted a Go Potty Baby and a talking dollhouse.
Yes this is a real life reindeer... The kids loved it! Zoe again wouldn't sit in the sleigh with Santa unless her brother went with... Good thing Cole is such a great big brother!

I don't want to go to school!

Zoe has said for the last couple of weeks that she doesn't want to go to school anymore. She has also been crying at school... when asked as to why... her reply is that she misses her mom and wants to go home. As much as this breaks my heart, I also know that she needs time away. So last Wednesday when she said that she didn't want to go... my reaction was the same... "School is fun and you will get to see all of your friends." Then the tears started to roll... I let her go for awhile and then I said that it was time to get all of our winter gear on... then the temper tantrum started... I couldn't send her to school like this... We called dad, but that didn't help. I even asked if she would go if Grandma took her... no way! So I let her stay home (even though I didn't want to as I was afraid that this would start a pattern), but I told her that she was to stay in her room until the kids got off the bus. She kept coming out of her room every 10 minutes asking if she could come out or that she missed me or that she wanted to do a project... My reply was to get back in her room... if she wanted to do a project that she should have went to school... I also told her that it wasn't fun to stay home from school with mom and that if she didn't go to school that I was going to work... I let her come out for lunch, but she had to sit at the dining room table by herself... I did let her stay out of her room, but she had to lay down to take a nap... needless to say that school got out at 1:15pm that day due to the weather. She did tell me before the kids got off the bus that she wanted to go school on Monday... it is no fun staying home with mom... So no matter how much I wanted to cry that morning or how much it broke my heart to be so hard on her... I guess I got my point across and the idea worked because she is all excited to go to school tomorrow morning. What a rough day... and with all of this Todd was working all day (inventory at work) and plowing snow all night... so we were on our own for a couple of days.

Smilebox

I just found out about Smilebox.com and I have been playing around with it tonight. I think this is such a cool website and so many things to create!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Optical Illusion or Just Freaky??

My good friend, Elizabeth, was helping me adjust my camera the other night, so that my pics wouldn't be so blurry when there is movement... She was testing out the camera and came up with this pic...

Does anyone know what happened to my arms???

Snow...Snow...Snow...

I really do enjoy this time of year, but that is only because I don't have to venture out in it every day. The kids were so excited again this morning when they awoke because there was snow on the ground. They were even more excited when we said that it was going to snow all day and would probably not melt within the next 24 hours. They couldn't wait to go out and shovel... we finally got tired of hearing them ask, so we sent them out. They didn't spend more than 30 minutes outside, but that completely satisfied their cravings. Cole is already asking if he will have school tomorrow because of the snow... I told him if I had anything to say about it... he would definitely be going. The only unfortunate thing about the snow is that Todd will be leaving home about 11:30pm tonight to head to Freeport to plow... so he will be pulling an all-nighter and won't be home until tomorrow night after work (since he has inventory this week also). Anyone want to come over at 5:30am tomorrow and help me shovel???

Friends...

It is so wonderful to have such great friends... We had everyone over on Saturday night because Jake, Abby and Jack were back for Thanksgiving. It is always great to get everyone together for pizza, grasshoppers, wine and the wii... It was an interesting night to find out that many of your friends are over 50... and even some are considered 80 yrs old... I won't mention any names because you know who you are... hahaha. It was also a time for us to visit with Abby one last time before their new addition arrives next month. The kids had a great time playing and at times you would have never known that there were 8 kids in the house... the men retreated to the garage... and we, the women, played the wii... We all had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again!!

(Jen was trying her luck at boxing... this was before we attempted bowling.)

The Reward Party

The school held a reward party last week for the children that sold 5 or more items for their fall fundraiser. This is the first time that they have held a party like this and I hope that it continues. All the children had a blast! Mr. Z's, the fundraising company, supplied 5 inflateables and the school coordinated a lot of festival type games in the cafeteria. The grades were split by the hour so that the little ones didn't get trampled by the older kids... I think my kids slept the best that night that they had slept in awhile. It was great to see the kids get to spend some time with their friends without being in school.

I caught the boys (Cole and his friend, Jacob) singing and dancing to Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana... I don't think they will want to admit to this 10 yrs from now, so I took the pic.

Here is Zoe with her friend, Kalli... Zoe really enjoyed singing and dancing to "Who Let the Dogs Out..."They did take a break after about 30 minutes to bring all the kids together... It was so cute to see all the kids doing the chicken dance until it we were told it was the parents turn to do it.

Happy Thanksgiving

I thought I should take a break out of my thanksgiving preparations to just say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am currently waiting on a pan of potatoes to finish up my dishes... The turkey is in the roaster... The ham is in the oven... Half of the mashed potatoes are complete... Munchies are complete... And my house is clean... Oh yeah, I just remembered that I have one more thing left and that is to do something with Zoe's hair.

Our family wishes you and your family cherishes your Thanksgiving however you may be spending it... Have a great day and appreciate all that you have to be thankful for.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

The kids awoke to snow today!! They loved it and couldn't wait to go outside to wait for the bus because that meant that they could play in it... Me on the other hand said "ugh"... The snow meant that I had to drag out the snow pants and boots from the closet which all still had tags on them. It also meant that we know would have to get ready 5 min earlier so that everyone could get all their winter gear on (even though I knew that the bus would be late because of the roads... and it was about 15 min late!). I love snow as long as I can sit on the couch by the fire drinking hot cocoa and watching movies all day! I guess I should love it more now that I am home because I don't have to go anywhere the majority of the time... I guess it isn't all that bad...

Our Day with Race

We had the wonderful opportunity to spend the day with my nephew, Race. My sister, Tracy, wanted to have a fun day, so I said I would take the little guy for a day. We had a ball... he didn't sleep much since he was in a strange place, but we still had fun playing. I wasn't used to having a little one around the house since the youngest kids I watch are 20 months, so I also had to adjust. I think after about an hour of being at my house he realized that mom wasn't coming back anytime soon as he started to cry every time one of the other little ones did (he doesn't normally do this at home)... I finally just laid him down in his pack 'n play for a little rest. He awoke all refreshed and fine with the idea of being with me. I think I even see a little smile on his face in the picture to the left... I think he had fun playing with Zoe and I that day. We played and played and played... We played so much that he slept for about a half hour in the afternoon and then we played some more. All my daycare kids loved having the baby around for the day, but the excitement had wore off about a 1/2 hour after he arrived. Zoe however loved having him here for the day and played with him all day long!

Grandparents Day

(Grandpa & Grandma are ready for the day!)

Wednesday of last week just happened to be Grandparents Day at school for both Cole & Zoe. Cole was excited to have Grandpa & Grandma come to see his classroom and spend some time with him. He loved getting up on the stage to sing the songs they had rehearsed. He really loved having them come to his classroom and sit with him at his desk. He loved it so much that he didn't want them to leave!

Zoe was also excited to have Great Grandpa & Grandma and also Grandpa & Grandma in her classroom. She was a little apprehensive that morning as she said she wasn't sure if she could get up on the stage to sing, but everyone said she did great! She also wanted everyone to stay just a little longer.

(Zoe with Great Grandpa & Great Grandma)

It is so great that the kids can have this special time with their grandparents!

(Zoe with her teacher, Mrs. Freedlund.)

Thanks Uncle Mike!!

Cole and Zoe had to take pics of their new attire... Uncle Mike wanted to show the kids that he could buy them the jerseys they wanted because I wouldn't as I said they were too expensive. Anyways the kids love them.... Just more Bears attire in the house... Go Bears!!

Another Visit to Grandma & Grandpa's

Well we took another trip to my grandma & grandpa's yesterday, but with an agenda to see my Aunt Pam, cousin Angie and cousin Jazmyn. It was great to see everyone again! The kids had a great time playing.... you didn't even know sometimes that there were children there and other times it sounded like there were 10 of them running around. Jazmyn is a year older than Cole, but Cole thinks it is cool that he is still taller than her.

Bring a Friend Week

J&J's in Pec had bring a friend week for tumbling... Zoe chose without hesitation to take her friend, Sarah. They had a wonderful time! The were able to do an obstacle course, the foam pit and the trampoline. They also had a surprise waiting when they got there... J&J's had rented a huge blowup activity for the kids to venture into also. Zoe & Sarah didn't visit too much during the time as they were kept busy... Zoe kept asking the whole way home when the next bring a friend week was since she had such a wonderful time!

Who does this child belong to???

Any ideas??? Whoever she is... She must take after her father!!! I am not sure where this idea came from.... The knitted hat is a newborn one brought home from the hospital almost 5 yrs ago (at least that is what I am guessing her age is...). She is also about 3'7" in height and about 40 lbs. She has got to be missed by her family... Who wouldn't miss this beautiful face?!?!

Turkey Time!

I have a Thanksgiving reminder the has helped me the last 2 yrs... In November, if I look across the street at the right time... I will see a wild turkey roaming around in our neighbors' yard. Last year the daycare kids had a ball watching this turkey for about 30 minutes. The turkey was smaller and I had heard that it made its way uptown by the railroad tracks. This years turkey is much larger and has made its way to Polhill Park (Todd spotted it when in town). The daycare kids only watched this turkey for about 15 minutes, but that is because the turkey and a cat was playing cat and mouse... it was really quite amusing the watch the cat sneak up on the turkey only for the cat to retreat and the turkey to follow it. They eventually disappeared behind the neighbors house and only the cat reappeared. Who knows maybe it is the same turkey from last year...

Todd's Project

Todd finally finished his project... An insulated, fully fuctional garage. He has been working for about a month refinishing his garage. His thoughts were to insulate and organize the garage in order to leave his "fun car" parked in there for the winter; however, since it is now done... there will probably not be room for it. Our living room tv was on the brink so he moved our old big screen tv to the garage (until it crashes for good) and even hooked up cable to it. When our heating and air is finished in the house... the old furnace will be moved to the garage. I am starting to feel that Todd is creating this "homie" feeling in the garage to retreat at times or maybe for good. He doesn't realize that with this comes the tagging along of kids because now they can ride their bikes in the middle of winter in the garage. He did a great job as to create shelves, new windows while eliminating some and new doors. I think I may enjoy the space also as now this may be the party place...

Fall Fun

The kids always seem to love to play in the leaves... This year we didn't have to make 2 piles (one with dog poop and one without) so that we are sure the kids stay mostly clean and not stinky. They would spend hours playing if we left them... however it is a little chilly this year so a 1/2 hour here and there will have to do. Every year we seem to accumulate more leaves than the year before. They can't wait until next year!

Day 12... No Relief Yet

Okay so this is Day 12 of me not feeling well... I went to the doctor on Monday and they said it is reflux. I have never had reflux or heartburn (not even when I was pregnant)!!! I am taking some antacids in hope that it will relieve some of the nausea that I am feeling... So far it is doing an okay job, but it would be so much better if it would just go away all together. Someone told me they thought it would be my gall bladder... I said sorry because that has been gone for 2 years now. I do know that I don't have a sinus infection or strep... I was able to get my flu shot while I was there so that I don't have to return next week.

For everyone out there that has their own doctor opinion... they said that I couldn't be pregnant as I would only be 5 days and I wouldn't be showing any symptoms yet... plus we are not trying (remember... Todd doesn't want anymore kids)!!!

So the wait continues... my normal doc returns mid-November so I will be taking another trip to the clinic if things have not improved.

What happens when your children wrestle each other...

Sunday morning I left my children in the hands of their father (I always get blamed for not watching the kids close enough when they get hurt with me)... Cole and Zoe were wrestling in the living room and Todd kept telling them to stop as someone was going to get hurt... And then it happened (10 minutes before I walked in the door). Cole went flying into the brick hearth face first... Here are the results... no stiches as we treated at home and it wasn't really bleeding that bad. We have scratches on the forehead and the neck... and then the huge gouge in the chin area. He only cried for about an hour and complained that it hurt when he chewed... but then he was up and running around at my mom's birthday party. Guess what they were doing that night when it was almost time to go bed... Yes the kids were back to wrestling, so no new lessons learned here. Zoe is pretty proud that she won the fight this time... (however she did cry right after it happened because she knew that she had contributed to him being upset) Since Cole is a lot like his dad... Let me rephrase that... Since Cole is a clone of his dad, I am sure that this will not be last... as this is not the first...

Surprise 60th Birthday Party

The surprise 60th birthday party for my mom was yesterday (and also part of the reason I was behind on my entries). Dad had the great idea to throw this party, but left it up to me coordinate and keep it a secret (even though I have a 6 and 4 yr old that have a very hard time keeping secrets). We did have success in keeping it a secret and mom was very surprised! It was a wonderful time and it is always great to see friends of the family that you don't see every day. She received some wonderful gifts including the diaper... you never know when you might get on a hot machine when in Vegas and might need one! My parents and friends are going to Las Vegas next week to celebrate... what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Halloween

Oh the kids have such a great time at Halloween! It is so fun that we can walk around the whole time trick or treating and when we get home... the kids are just wiped out! Cole and Zoe both love getting dressed up each year... and this year we didn't have to wear coats as it was beautiful outside! I did however have a few comments made to us at a few houses about the choice of costumes, but most homeowners loved them! The kids are already talking about what they should be next year!

Zoe was showing us a cheer that she "thought up in her head".

A Little Behind

Okay so I am a little behind... I got caught up in the week of doing everything last week and didn't have a chance to update, so today is the day. Last week on Wednesday I went to the school for Zoe's Halloween parade/trick or treat uptown. The kids had a great time; however, you couldn't tell a lot of the costumes because the kids had to wear coats, hats and gloves as it was a little chilly. Zoe is really enjoying school and having a great time!

Sorry I don't have any pics from Cole's parade on Friday... Mom took Zoe to the school in the afternoon to watch the parade. I heard that Cole had time to stop and give his little sister a hug though.

My Weekend

Well the weekend would have been better if the weather would have been a little nicer... We seen snow today! Wow what a shocker! I don't ever remember getting snow on my birthday, ever!!

Any who... On Saturday after swimming and tumbling lessons, the kids and I ventured to Rockford to find winter coats and football socks (Halloween costume). We succeeded and also managed to meet my brother, Mike, and niece, Michaela, at Red Robin for lunch. We arrived home a little after 3pm. Todd informed us that he was done working in the garage and would be in to take a shower shortly... to my surprise he let us know at 5:15 we were leaving to go get something to eat... even though I told him that I was not the least bit hungry. He had a big surprise for me for my birthday. We dropped the kids off at one of my good friends' house, Mrs. Farmer Foley, to play (thank you, thank you!). Todd then proceeded to drive to Freeport without telling me where we were going... I was hoping it wasn't really fancy as I was wearing jeans, tennis shoes and my Le-Win Panther wind jacket. We ended up at the Fieldstone restaurant... I will leave my comments to myself about this place as we have tried it before and not been impressed... Todd thought maybe it had changed... it didn't. However, we did have a good time having some time to the 2 of us... It is always hard to find things to talk about after you been talking the whole way to Freeport and when you don't have kids to yell at. We picked up the kids after a couple hours and they had a wonderful time!!! They ate pizza and made me a very special and large birthday card!!! (Mrs. Farmer Foley - Remember the standing invitation for a future date as your birthday is right around the corner!!!)

Today we went to see the HSM 3 the much awaited movie. It was good and the kids loved it... I think I prefer the original movie, but they love them all! I think we discovered that Cole should play the drums as he was practicing every time they started to sing. Zoe stood up a few times and started to dance. Well we are home now for some much needed r&r after this weekend... and ready to start the week again! And prepare for Halloween...

HSM 3

Well the excitement is here for Cole and Zoe... They have been waiting months to see High School Musical 3. I had told them that I would take them the weekend it came out... I didn't realize that it was my birthday weekend. I made a promise and I am going to keep it... My Saturday filled up quickly, so quess what that means? I get to take them on my birthday! Once I thought about this idea, I realized that I wouldn't want to spend the day any differently... I get to spend time with my children and my mom (because she will be joining us for the excitement)... and then come home to spend time as a family with Todd. Anyway this day only means that I am, once again, another year older... I am glad that Cole & Zoe get to see the much awaited HSM 3 and that I am able to make that happen.

Playhouse Disney

A little over a week ago the kids, Kili and I ventured to Rockford to see Playhouse Disney at the Metro Centre. We were 6 rows from the stage, so the kids could really see everything!It was a good show and the kids loved it...

Cole was was up and dancing out in the aisle the whole time... While Zoe took some relaxing moments on Kili's lap. We got to see Tigger, Pooh, Darcey, the Little Einsteins, Handy Manny (and his toolbox), Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck and the postmaster. He had a great time... along with some wonderful souvenirs. I think Mickey was Cole's favorite and Goofy was Zoe's.