Family Updates

Today was a pretty lazy, laid back & gloomy day here. Kainan and I laid around watched t.v. most of the day. We also played with some of his tool set. Quite the handy man I have! I should have cleaned the house instead. But when your children are pulling on your pants and wanting you to play with them...well, the dishes can wait.

Jim was gone before daybreak and worked out of town all day.
I let the kids play outside after it rained and if you have read this post, you know Kainan didn't fair too well! But his big sister was quick to the rescue! Camden carried him up to the porch where I met them to see what all of the commotion was about. Kainan was not happy when I told him to hold on so I could run and grab the camera.

Camden and I met a parent of Ohio Connections Academy, who happens to live in town, at McDonald's. We left with a lot of great information and answers to a couple of questions we had. I think Camden enjoyed the most just getting out of the house for the most part. But I think she has already made up her mind that she will love the new path we have decided to take. What enthusiasm! I feel bad because the meeting was supposed to last from 7-8 p.m but we managed to keep her there til nearly nine p.m!

I keep looking at the weather forecast for this weekend and then back at the calendar and then to the weather forecast and back to the calendar. Will it rain on Easter Sunday again? I hope not! If you're experiencing warm weather and sunshine, could you spare some, box it up and send it this way? It would be much appreciated!

Also, I'm finally out of the funk I've been in. It's no secret that I've been horribly homesick for a week or two. I think the one day we managed to have sunshine brought me back!

Sh*t Talk

My husband had a doctor's appointment today. I decided to go with him. It's Monday and raining and I'd only end up sleeping most of the day anyhow. His appointment was for 10:20 a.m, we get there early for paperwork and such.

Shorty is containing his boredom very well. A lot of 3 year old boys wouldn't do so well in such a boring place. Hell, I wasn't doing so well in such a boring place.

He decides he has to pee.

Husband takes him to pee. Naturally, the nurse calls hubby's name while he is in the restroom with little britches.

So we hurry on to get through this appointment. The sooner we're done, the sooner we can go grab some food somewhere! We get through all of the initial "history of this and that's, yes or no's" with the RN and are taken to sit and wait in an exam room for the doctor for an eternity.

To my great shock and surprise we were barely seated when the Dr. arrived. I know, amazing right!?!?!

The doctor is cool. Looks mean as heck, but comical. Which is nice, because he actually is funny. Which makes the appointment start feeling like time is at a complete stand still. And short britches is starting to become irritable and restless.

A few threats of a spanking buys me about 90 seconds when through mumbled conversation with the boy I hear, (whispering through clenched teeth) "Mom, I gotta poop."

Me-"Can you hold it?"

Britches-"No."

Me-"Just hold on a little longer, we're almost done here. Then we will go find a restroom. Okay?"

Britches (annoyed now)- "Ooookay." (sigh)

About 15 seconds later....

Britches-"I got TO POOP!"

Me-"Okay, are you sure you can't hold it for a couple of minutes?"

Britches-"No, I have to poop."

I interrupt the doctor find the nearest bathroom, which is occupied; Go back into the exam room, grab my purse and tell hubby that I'll just meet back up with him in the lobby.

Finally, a bathroom. Britches hops on, takes a pee, looks at me and says, "I'm done." To which I reply, "WHAT?!?! I thought you had to POOP!??" "OH yeah." (kerplunk & splash) "Now I'm done", he says.

So, I sit down and pee. While I'm peeing he says "Moooooooooo!" (I'm sure everyone in the lobby hears, as the echo bounced off the walls several times.) And immediately I'm like, "Sssssh! Why in the world are you MOOOING at me?"  His reply............



E....I....E....I....O!

Yep, he's my kid alright!

Another outlet

out·let[out-let, -lit]-noun  a means of expression or satisfaction: an outlet for one's artistic impulses.

Scrapbooks:::Both of my children have one and I have one for my husband and myself that is pretty much just a family album. I'm not the greatest page designer but I love doing it. Like blogging, it is an outlet for me. Once I zone in, I have to be pulled away. [that may have something to do with the fact that I let it all get piled up and get so far behind] I have a half way decent camera now so I hope to be doing some more scrapping. Here are a couple of pages. I could have sworn I posted these before, but if I did, I didn't label them. [I also didn't feel like scrolling through months of pages to find out!] So if you're seeing these twice, I apologize!

Wordless Wednesday

♥My loves♥

What is love?

love

/lʌv/ Show Spelled [luhv] noun, verb, loved, lov·ing.

–noun

1. tender, passionate affection for another person.

2. of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a child, or friend.

3.sexual passion or desire.

Definition compliments of dictionary.com

I did a Valentine's Dayish activity with the kids last night. I printed a heart template off the internet and asked them each this question. What does love mean to you? I was curious what their answers were going to be. It's always fun to hear what kids think about certain things and what it means to them. I had two extra kids here so we have four different answers. I sat them down individually, in separate rooms so they couldn't "steal" answers. And asked them in the order of youngest to oldest. These are the responses I got.

What does love mean to YOU?

F.F.F. Dis. (pointing to template)-boy 2 1/2 years old.

In my heart. In your heart mommy. Kiss. Cute. Bunny. Kainan. Mommy. Camden. Daddy-boy 3 years old.

Love means Valentines. Forgiving. I love you too.-girl 4 1/2 years old.

Caring. Love comes from the heart. Love is forgiving. Love is being thankful. Gifts from the heart.-girl, nearly 10 years old.

I loved that each of them had very different answers. So tell me...what does love mean to you?

Way to jump start the weekend

So, I've had a somewhat eventful day. Kainan has been potty trained a couple of months now. Last night, he peed on the bathroom floor. Right in front of the toilet. AFTER he took his underwear off! This morning however, he decided to pee on the kitchen floor. AFTER he took his underwear off. But tonight, oooooh tonight...he pooped, yes pooped on the bathroom floor, in front of the toilet. AFTER he took his underwear off. I would feel a little better about it if I thought he was going into the bathroom but just couldn't make it. But that's not it! He told me this morning that he had to pee, after last nights flooding peeing on the floor I decided I was going to take him in and SIT him on the toilet myself. That way I knew he would make it...but no, he apparently decided to stand up and pee on the floor. Normally I don't sit him on the toilet because he has just started going standing up. He was so happy and proud that he could do it standing up. Now this.....((sigh)) I am going to take a deep breath and hope for a more successful tomorrow! Wish us luck here!

On the plus side, Camden has raised her grade in math!! Her other grades fell in the process but I can deal with that while we work on math. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Quick Pics

I have collaged (yes, I'm aware that's not a word, lol) a few of the photos of the kids and their Christmas gifts and here they are for your viewing. I didn't add as many to Kainan's as I did to Camden's because picasa kept chopping the tops of the pictures off. :(

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today we went to visit Santa at the movie theater. Camden didn't really care either way, the look on her face told me she may be losing her sense of belief. :( She is after all, 9 years old. And Kainan was shy or scared, I'm not sure which. So needless to say, I didn't get a photo with just the kids and Santa. But this was the most awesome, realistic Santa I've ever seen!

After we saw Santa, we came home to build and decorate the gingerbread house. Daddy built it and me and the kids decorated it. This year I'm totally overlooking the little imperfections. Because, those imperfections is exactly what makes these little moments perfect. :)

Click this photo to see it larger!

We still have to finish our shopping. Which we won't be able to do until Wednesday!! Yeah, the 22nd...so even though I wanted to have everything done weeks ago....it turns out it just isn't going that way. ((sigh)) What do you have left to do before Christmas? Are you finished with everything or are you a last minute type of person?

Wordless Wednesday-Snow!!

Click the picture for a larger view! :)

Christmas Collages

As I stated in my last post or was it a facebook status update?? I believe it was the latter...anyhoooo, the kids and I created cinnamon Christmas ornaments last night. They had so much fun and it filled my house with the wonderful aroma of cinnamon!

Busy (& excited!) little helpers

We also brought out a bit more of our Christmas decor. Nowhere near what we have though. A lot of it is still sitting in the shed. Jim has a fondness for the ceramic village scenes. I never really got into them but they remind me of Christmases past, when I was a young child and most all of the older relatives we visited for Christmas displayed them. And they are getting harder to find now. Walmart no longer sells them here, which makes me sad as I've grown to like having them displayed at Christmas. I'm thinking I'm going to buy him some more to add to his Christmas gift this year. He would like that. I don't have to worry about spoiling the surprise here though because I don't think he's ever read a single of my blog postings. 

A small portion of our decor


If you click on the photo above, it should open it in a new window to enlarge it.

Post it Note Tuesday

As always, by clicking the button above, you will be linked to a page with more information about this blog hop! 

Wordless Wednesday-Kainan

Hello again

It has been a good while since I've posted anything here. I've just not had a lot to say. (Believe me, I was just as  shocked as you are!)
There has been a lot going on, but nothing really noteworthy. Until just the last couple of days. :)
Kainan had his annual echo cardiogram and ekg last week. He has a mild aortic valve stenosis. If you don't know what that is, you can read about it here.
I am so, so, so proud of him! As you may guess, last year he had barely been two years old when he went in for his appointment. You try getting a 2 year old to sit still for that long!! It's not easy!
After his appointments, we met with the doctor where she proceeded to tell us that there hasn't been any change since he's been seeing a cardiologist. This is GREAT news! It means that his stenosis hasn't gotten worse! She also told us that since he hasn't had any problems and nothing has gotten worse that he PROBABLY wouldn't have problems with it or need surgery! PRAISE GOD!!! They will continue to monitor him annually but there is not a need to continue the echo cardiogram unless there is a change!! WOOOOHOOO!

Camden really wanted her hair cut...short. So, courageously, I began the journey through her long hair and ended up with this:

Before

After (but before cleaning up!)

 I realize that it isn't exactly even on each side, but I didn't go to beauty school either...

Jim celebrated a birthday Monday. I won't post how old (or young) he is....not that I think he would really care. :)
Kainan celebrated his 3rd birthday yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has gone!
November is an unusually busy month for us regarding birthdays!! Here are a few shots from the festivities:

        

       

      

      

      

     

Halloween weekend

The Halloween festivities have come & gone,  It's been fun! I've gone through and picked my sorted and inspected the kids' candy from each of their buckets. The kids have been to the town trick or treat and the church trunk or treat where there was a judging and a very frigid hayride!  The kids racked up a ton o candy! (Score!) Here's a look at how our trick or treat activities turned out. First of all, the costume making. Kainan was a robot. And Camden was a cheerleader. I love that her costume can be used for spirit week at school in the future. :)

This is how Kainan's started out:

With a can of metallic spray paint, some computer circuit boards, a couple of reflectors & some battery operated Christmas lights, Kainan's ended up looking like this:

And Camden's costume started like this:

and turned out like this:

I used an ink jet iron on transfer to make the appliques for the turtleneck, added some black tights and helped my good friend Amanda from All Brianna's Style make the tutu for the cheerleader skirt. I had so much fun making the costumes!

Here are some more photo's from this weekend.

Now that Halloween is over {weird saying that being that this post will have a post date of Oct 30 and Halloween is dated on the 31st!} I can look forward to Thanksgiving and my favorite holiday of the year, Christmas! I am so looking forward to the smell of the goodies baking in the oven, decorating the house, singing Christmas carols and worshiping! It's the most wonderful time of the year for a reason! I can't wait!!!