Bye bye 2008 - Hello 2009!!!!

I tried really hard to get a better picture of what these two trouble makers were watching.... they are busy watching the birds attack the bird feeder outside... though they are really brave and fearless hunters - the snow tends to make them think twice!
They are wishing for a warmer and less-snowy winter in 2009!

Happy New Year to all!

Finding a better method....

Anyone have any great ideas on how better to organize the kids information in one place???? I wanted to put a copy of their b. certificate, ssn, shot records, IEP's and report cards... not really memoriblia stuff - mostly boring records and paperwork.....
Currently, I "try" to keep it in a 3 ring binder for each kiddo.... but I really want a backup plan in case of a fire or major disaster....

What do you do??

The rest of the aftermath! - notes to self!

I need to make a mental note to self.....

#1 - Don't forget how over stimulated two boys get when the holidays come around! Arghhh....
Though it is a wonderful and enjoyable time of year, it is also incredibly stressful and can make parenting these two tougher than usual!
Two days in a row - Big A had major "challenges" that made some of his visiting time with his cousins very limited! Todays incident was biting his brother... hard enough to break skin - and his brother was wearing his snow gloves - so you know it was hard!

#2 - Cut back on fun gifts or make each boy get EXACTLY the same thing - right down to the color!
Little J is very vocal when someone else (aka his brother) gets something that HE may have wanted for 2 seconds in the last 8 years of his life... this causes a bit of a mental meltdown that always takes more than a few minutes to blow over. Maybe extra duct tape to keep him quiet would be in order!

#3 - Consider just letting Santa do his job... if he does not show... oh well!
I'm getting tired of the old naughty and nice list threat! Maybe next year I will hold fast to it!

#4 - Purchase ear plugs, dead batteries and non-functioning screw drivers!
That way - what is noisy that does not have batteries won't be heard, what needs batteries won't work, and what needs to be opened to put batteries in can't be opened... until the next day the store is open! :)

Anyone else got any great holiday tips?????

Aftermath of the big day - Part 2

Here are a few more photos of Christmas Day!
We had Christmas dinner at our house... ham and all the fixings! I have to say that the ham was ultra yummy! Alex raised one darn good and yummy pig!

Miss O got a BIG BIKE from Santa - and she is on it ALLLL the time! Since she cannot ride outside, we have let her ride it in the house! Luckily it has training wheels and she does not go too fast, yet!

Santa brought Guitar Hero for the whole family! It came with two guitars, but apparently, Miss O thinks that her Barbie guitar will do just fine!

Papa got alot of "Papa... HELP me!" He was busy busy busy putting things together and installing batteries!

PJ was ultra thankful that Big Al got him some dog treats! Unfortunately, they were wrapped pretty tight and he needed some help!

The Aftermath of the big day! Part 1

Here are a few pictures from Christmas! I was trying to download more - but for some reason it kept kicking me out! Here is the first set!! Enjoy!

A traditional Holiday Staple.... PEZ!
Christmas

Prior to wake up of the kiddos... the cats check out all the goodies under the tree!

Christmas eve we exchanged family gifts and those from the Grandparents

Big Al was concerned about getting more clothes!

A certain Little J is ADDICTED to the Dangerous Books for Boys!

Even PJ, our beloved dog gives presents! Every year he wraps up the traditional pajamas for each kiddo!

Miss O is always VERY thankful for gifts she receives!

Little J got her a Tinkerbell puzzle - boy was she psyched!

We made gingerbreak cookies, and the left over dough made a big O - so Miss O got the "O" cookie, and she was pretty happy about that!

Outside our house on Christmas eve Day!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a joyous and wonderful Holiday Season!

brrrrr...... and fun in the snow!

Oh my gosh has it been cold!!!!! The highs during the day have been in the teens! While we have about a foot or so of snow on the ground - it keeps snowing a little more each day! So, it is guaranteed to be a white Christmas! The really cold weather has limited the kiddos time outside - as frostbite is a huge concern! Last thing I need is another ER visit to do something un-necessary - like amputate a finger or something!!
The kids were able to play in the snow a bit and the boys worked on their sledding hill. With the weather so cold, all the snow is really light and fluffy - which is great for driving - but not as great for sledding! They don't care - they are having fun anyways! Here are a few weekend pictures!

Big Al helps Miss O walk up the hill... she only went down a couple of times - she was pretty scared going down!

Alex pulls Papa and Miss O back down the hill when they got stuck!

"Owa coood - need hod coco!" She told Papa that she was done and ready to go inside!

Little J takes a break long enough to let Phebe give him a slimy, stinky dog kiss!

Someone really likes to be outside - regardless how cold it can be!!

Little J patiently holds a filled to the brim bird feeder - as the poor little birds have nothing!

Papa finishes installing a new (safer and higher) bracket to hang the bird feeder off of - so that a certain black Lab will leave it alone!!

I hope that everyone is enjoying THEIR winter weekend!

Happy Birthday MISS O!!!

" NO TREE - OWA DOOR!"
That was what I heard the most of today! She is very happy that she is official FOUR! Here is a quick picture of her in her crown from preschool....

And here she is two years ago to the day on her 2nd birthday in Ukraine! She has really changed!

Happy Birthday to our Little Princess!

Tagged.... oh dear!

Darn you Deb!

I was tagged by my pal Deb, who will be traveling next month to Ukraine to bring home her daughter! The "Challenge" was to pull the fourth photo from my fourth file off my computer! And to pass this challenge along to at least two other people...So, here it is!

This picture is of Big Al, who received a slinky from the Easter Bunny.... I remember this pretty well, as the slinky lasted about 15 minutes! The Easter Bunny has learned yet another trick about gifts... no slinky's!!

I am passing this challenge along to the following lucky folks!

Jenn, Charissa, Christine and Christine!

Amy

Cutie-pa-tutie has a birthday party!

Today we had a little birthday party for Miss O's 4th birthday! Though her "true" birthday is not until Wednesday.. with everything going on this week, it just seemed easier to do it today!

Pj is ALWAYS in on the action! He really enjoys "party favors" (aka cleaning off the floor after the kids all eat!)

Miss O shows off her crown and her Diego Birthday Cake - which she picked out all by herself!

Miss O received a wonderful little Princess Dress-up kit and just HAD to try it on right then and there! Too cute!

Blowing out all four candles!!! The cake was almost bigger than her!!!

She had a fun time opening gifts! Each one was fully opened and were played with immediately!

She had a blast just playing with balloons before and after all her guests arrived! That was probably the best buck I spent on the whole party!

A better weekend... so far!

I guess that last week was pretty busy! Not one post since Monday! We have been pretty busy with all of the functions getting ready for the holidays!
Wednesday, Big Al started up wrestling again... a lot earlier than I had planned, but it will give him something to help burn off some steam when he can't go out and play!
Little J went to a birthday/swimming party yesterday and was thoroughly worn out when done! (whoo hoo!).
Last night, we FINALLY got our tree up and decorated! Even though we bought a "living in a pot" tree - we changed our mind! So, we bought another faux tree that is a lot nicer than the old one! We set up the old one in the tv room for most of the kids "treasures"!


The gruesome threesome got the main tree all jazzed up and took a photo break before going to bed!

The hubby actually used the camera last night and got a rare photo of me! hehe! I was trying to get some of those darn little ornaments put back together!

Rexie the kitty decided that she enjoyed hanging out under the tree this year! Last Christmas, she and her brother were just little kittens, and they actually CLIMBED the tree!

Weekend fun and not so fun

Our weekend started out on a high note and ended on a well, pretty low note. Friday afternoon, I pulled Little J out of school about an hour early (they have those WONDERFUL early release days! Don't get me started on my feelings about those!) and I took him with Miss O and I out to lunch. I figured that since Friday and this coming Friday were early release days that I would pull each boy out a bit early to have lunch with me.... Well... Little J was ok with it - not estatic, but just ok.... I had hoped that he would have enjoyed this more (oh well... I know that Big Al will be THRILLED this Friday!) Anyhoo... after lunch, we stopped to pick up the living tree (in pot) at the nursery and take it home. Little J got to play outside and have some time to relax before Big Al got home.
Saturday morning - we divided and conquered a few holiday activities. CWU put on a kids craft extravaganza and kiddos got to make all sorts of neat holiday crafts. The hubby dropped Miss O and I off, while he took the boys to make birdhouses at the lumberstore with Santa.
The boys enjoyed their "boy" time, got treats, made birdhouses, talked to Santa and Jason smashed his thumb with a hammer! After they were done, they headed back to CWU and joined us girls. The boys had fun making crafts, eating goodies and seeing other friends.
Later that afternoon, Little J had a swimming party at the pool... so he was pretty psyched about that!

Miss O made a cute pinecone birdfeeder! Unfortunately, I hung it out on Sunday and Phebe the overly destructive lab half climed the tree, pulled it off and ate it! (Yep- the whole thing!)

Miss O is very serious when it comes to putting stuff together! She did not want any help!

The boys showed off their birdhouses with Santa! Little J commented that Santa sure is quick about getting all over town to many stores on the same day!

A smile break as Big Al finishes nailing his birdhouse together! The hubby installed the birdhouses outside yesterday... I bet that made the cats happy!

Sunday. One of those days that you wish you could erase! We had lots of plans to get the tree set up, lights up, house decorated, go see Madagascar 2... just a fun day. Unfortunately, Little J was in one of his "ruin it for everyone" moods... and he accomplished that well. So - we just hung out in the house and outside while Little J spent time stewing in his room. Oh well, life goes on - there is still a little time before Christmas to get stuff done! We did put up the swag on the door - but I guess that is our only evidence of holiday spirit so far! uh oh!

Early scenes of the holidays!

I am going to give myself kuddos for actually accomplishing ONE of my New Years Resolutions from last January... I vowed to keep the blog updated more often! Here is some of the things we have been doing in the last week!
Today - we "tried" to take some Xmas themed pictures with the kiddos... they did not turn out like I had envisioned - so we'll try something else tomorrow... I am running out of time to get the picture made into cards and then MAILED! Maybe we'll do New Year's Cards instead????? Dixie also did not want to stand too still and look at the camera... she's worse than the kids! At least she did not mind the antlers or the Santa hat on her head! She is a real sweetie!

This picture cracks me up! Miss O is very serious when it comes to crayons and drawing! While we were out at dinner a few nights ago, I captured her serious look!

My kids LOVE playing Jenga! Even at 3, Miss O has the concept down and is actually pretty good!

The kids made centerpieces at last weekends Holiday Kickoff... Miss O got the last candle they had.. better her get it than 2 boys fight over the last one! (and they WOULD!)

Big Al is working on his centerpiece. The base is a potato. The kids have to use a screwdriver to poke holes in the potato, then shove greenery into it.....

Little J got his centerpiece flocked in gold... the smell was pretty strong!

Someone was VERY proud of her centerpiece! Unfortunately, the flocking was not dry and got all over her coat!

Little J talked to Santa.... he was a little concerned because his beard was falling off - hence the skeptical look! All our kids know that Santa will NOT come unless you believe in him!

Miss O enjoyed Santa! She told him she wanted a "biiiiiiiiiiigggggggggg bik" aka big bike!

Of course Big Al had to get into the action too..... I wonder how much longer he'll think its "cool"!

We will be getting ready for another fun weekend... Santa seems to hang out in our small town.. he comes alot more than one time!!! :)

Have a great weekend!