Oh my its been a while

I have big hopes to update and maintain the blog... and if wished were fishes we'd all cast our nets!

My guys say hello!

Pre Valentines... weekend celebration

We had a cookie decorating shindig at our house.  Kristy brought Hayley and Gracie over dressed as disney princesses and the kids frosted a couple of cookies, ate their weight in icing  (butter cream...mmmm), and then ran around the house enjoying their sugar high! 

My treadmill made the best; stage, fort, jungle gym, and homebase you ever did see.

Miles kept trying to touch bellys with everyone... Cinderella (Hayley) told him that "belly buttons were yucky!"  Kristy heard that and promptly belly bumped Miles... he was so tickled!

My boys love Kristy, they know she gets home about 15 mins after we do, so they well watch at the window and wave as she drives past  (im not gonna lie, she spoils them... its all bribery)

Miles decided he was a princess too... he sure has the gams for heels!

Micah's favorite part was the ring her accessorized with!

You'd think the kid were winding down here... nope!

Mason was trying to hind under the blanket and tickle everyones feet!

The Great Bearded Wonder

Micah decided to grow a beard... I love it!

He thinks its so funny to give the boys "whiskers"... he rubs his face against the boys faces and they giggle like loons!

I love this man!

The ER is a happy place...

Wooden train tracks do not make rings!

Mason came to me with his finger stuck in a wooden track, he kept saying "mama pwetty STUCK" nothing worked!  We tried Vaseline, veggie oil, dawn, KY, ice bath... you google it, it tried it! 

His finger started to swell, so I called Kristy to watch Miles (thanks Langworthy fam), then I called Micah to meet me at the ER, and then I called my friend Steph who works in the ER as an RN to get us right in (I'm all about favors in emergencies), she was however in working at another hospital (darn you steph!)  She sent a bunch of texts full of advice.

We got to the ER and Mason work the Nurses like a pro, they snuck us into one of the exam rooms, had a paramedic/fireman take a peek.  We all distracted Mason (Mic arrived right at this moment) and the guy popped it right off! 

WE SURVIVED OUR FIRST TRIP TO THE ER!!

Christmas

We had a fabulous Christmas!  It was simple and family centered, it was wonderful...

The boys got a train table and every Thomas the Train known to man... They were over the moon! 

What Christmas morning is complete without this classic movie!

This is my dear friend Jen!  We had Christmas dinner at there house... she is the perfect surrogate aunt!  She is my emegency contact when the boys are sick, she has lots of fun animals, and she always has goodies for the boys!  What kid could ask for more?

Cookies!

I made sugar cookies that I meant to take around to all our friends (I didn't, but I meant too), we took some with us for Christmas dinner, but other than that we used them as bribs to get Mason to use the toilet.

I frosted a ton of cookies and still had a bunch left over, thank goodness Mason was willing to finish for me!

This was the cookie he made...

He thought it was perfect!  Then he didn't fall asleep until after midnight!

The Train Wreck Tree

I love having a fresh tree in the house, I love the smell of it and the way it makes Christmas a reality.  I grew up with real trees, (even though my parents have since sold out and gone with the fake pre-lit tree) some of my favorite childhood memories are putting up the tree.

I loved out tree this year and Miles had some serious love for it too!

He actually tried to climb it when we first put it up (TIMBER), I have no idea where he got that idea!

When he realized up wasn't an option he figured down was just as good, so the rest of his time with the tree was spent pulling it down. 

The lights and ribbons where constantly hanging off

I bought a train to try and get the  boys attention off the tree, they had it busted by the end of the week... I left the poor broken cars lying under the tree.

Mason decided to add his cars as decoration to the tree... I found all sorts of goodies in the tree as I took it down.

I'm pretty sure there was never such a well loved tree!

Some real shotty work..

We decided that a new tradition was called for this year...  Ginger bread house building!  

In theory it was the perfect activity to do with the kids.

I found a kit, and we followed the directions and got everything ready to build, I had visions of the boys making adorable little windows, and a candy cane lane (anytime I have a vision of how something should go, it always does the opposite!)

Miles was so dang mad he was strapped down.    I finally gave him a taste of the frosting, he was such a good little boy after.

Mason liked the frosting so much he decided to be a bit more creative with it... 

He's a dead ringer for santa!

  

 He got pretty serious, and decide to decorate the candy with frosting before he put it on the house...

Our master piece was so top heavy it needed to be braced with boxes of mac and cheese.

Unfortunately, even the macaroni couldn't save our future vacation home...

We've decided next year we're going big... rice crispy bricks big!

On a happy note, the next morning I came downstairs to find the boys had dug the house out of the trash and were eating it (thank goodness I had had Micah take out the trash the night before, so there weren't and potato peels hanging off it)

Catch up

Life has been really busy around here (honestly, i keep wondering why we are so crazy)  Life was really nuts around finals week, I procrastinated an online class until that week.  I had planned on spending the week hunkered down reading and testing like a made woman...  I did that, but I also got called into work because everyone got sick (double damn)  I worked and studied and on thursday I thought I was done ... I reread the syllabus to be sure and found I had miss read the final project.  At midnight I discovered I had a 10 page paper due at 5pm Friday evening, that I hadn't started (um oh poop).  I dropped the kids at daycare and in 5 hours wrote some of the best BS of my life, I turned the paper in at 4:36 PM.   

I got full credit and an A in the class (oh yeah)    

 We finally got out with the Langworthy's for a double, and this is what we came home to.

How sweet is it that he's holding her arm in his sleep!

I tried my hand at baking... not too shabby!

Miles was my helper, he was the best spoon licker I've ever seen, he is also a stealer of ingredients

He knows to go for the good stuff

I love his I didn't do it face

I whined alot about our across the street neighbor, whose house looked like this 2 weeks before Christmas!  I'm serious, I was going a little crazy!

Thanksgiving

We changed our plans kind of last minute (sorry Kellie), and decided to stay home and have some family time.  Micah has been so busy with work and traveling that we haven't had much time together as a family.  In fact he has been gone 3 of the last 4 weeks.  Life is incredibly busy!  

Any who, back to thanksgiving, we stayed in Eugene and I cooked  (AAAHHHH)  and I burned the bacon for the green beans, and that was it!!!  Don't worry I had more bacon and I had plenty of little fingers and a couple of big ones that were happy to take the crispy bacon off my hands!  Seriously, I didn't ruin one darn piece of our dinner!  

We enjoyed our time together so much, so very much!  We played games and worked with Mason on his speech.  We built forts, and wrestled... we enjoyed cars 2 for the millionth time... and for the most part we just enjoyed finally being together and having time to enjoy each other! 

I don't have one picture to share, I didn't once pick it up!  I was busy loving my family and building a few treasure memories.

I hope you all had a wonderful vacation, and that your treasure chest of memories grew too!

Can I decorate now?

Micah and Kristy have ganged up on me this year and I am itching to get out the decor boxes! 

 PLEASE!!

What can I promise/trade to get a pass?

38 sleeps till Christmas!

Oh Miles...

I finished my 3rd A and P test today, the term is flying by and I feel so good about the whole term!  Its nice to feel like I am juggling things well! 

My life is twice as busy now than a year ago, and I feel like because I have to manage my time better, I spend more quality time with the kids.  Micah's hours are through the roof right now, but even he usually makes it home by 6 for dinner and family time. 

The boys are growing by leaps and bounds and with each new stage I get to know my boys better.  They are forever changing and growing.  Miles is in the pre-twos stage and it is so fun.  I was horribly sick with Miles when Mason was going through this and I didn't have the patience and energy to enjoy it.

Can I just say how very much in love with Miles I am.  Tonight we had a growling war, he would get right in my face and cover my glasses with spit and growling for all his little heart.  

He loves to be tickled, and now he will tickle back. 

He is talking like crazy and we love to listen to Mase and he talk (I couldn't translate if I tried), we are sure they are planning a hostile take over.

 He was so mad going to bed, he fell asleep on the floor (he really showed me)

I just wanted to snuggle up with him on the floor... instead i moved him to our bed.

So presh!

Our New Place

Our new place, well its still kinda new to us.  This post is for my mom so she can get an idea of our living space!

The kids are loving the extra space and I have high hopes of one day getting Mason to sleep in his own bed!

The front of our place...its a little older but we love it!

Awe my poor uncarved pumpkins, I swear I left them uncarved because I wanted them to make it thru to fall decor (it couldn't possibly be that dealing with the kids around pumpkin guts was just too much for me )

I took this picture standing next to the pumpkins... that is one of my BFF's  home.  How very lucky am I to live this close, how lucky is she to have me so close? 

 Our lives are so busy, and we struggled to see each other when I lived a mile away.  Now we stop by in the evenings and our kids play in the driveways and street, when we first moved in (during the warm summer evenings)  we would break out the camp chairs and cheer for each child as they ran past!  

The next few years here while I work towards my RN and Kristy works towards her Masters, are going to be so much fun! 

I have visions of a shared driveway in our future... now to get Micah and Cam to agree!

Just a couple of patches...

We took the boys to pick out pumpkins the weekend before Halloween, it was such a blast and the boys were so adorable! 

I love that the Pumpkin Patch is becoming a family tradition and that the boys are finally really starting to participate. 

These moments make my heart smile, on days like this I feel so thankful to be their mother.

The Hay Maze was a huge hit!  The boys would probably still be their if we would let them!

The Hay Ride, was a hit!  Miles made friends with everyone around him, he is our little show off!

He has a Mouth for Pie!

Awe presh!

Our little family, I am out numbered... just a little bit!

Well hello November

Where has the time gone... I keep thinking I need to get crackin on my Halloween stuff, and then I remember we took it all down already.  Holy Hannah where in the world did October go, I swear it was just here.   

I still need to do a quick recap of the spooky holiday

I originally wanted to dress the boys like hobo's and have them walk around carrying signs " Occupy Trunk or Treat"  and " Fill my bucket or I'll Occupy your yard" ... seeing as how the Occupy movement is a hot topic and I have a short temper we recycled costumes and the boys cared not at all!

The boys did not want pictures taken, so I tried and then just gave up!  Miles trying to get behind the couch and hide from me... 

Mason removing his costume for the 3rd time... he just wanted to go as a little boy... um NO!!!

Miles figured out the Cake walk fairly quickly, Mason didn't bother he just stole cupcakes and ran!  I think he was the only person on a number, and he was just waiting for them to call him up...such a cutie!

After we realized what Mase was up to, Micah took him through the spook alley to distract him.

For the next week he would tell us all about it and then he showed us over and over again how the monsters growled... Micah and I have been laughing since the party.  His scary growls are hilarious, and the way he says scared is adorable (imagine over emphasis on each letter, long and drawn out).

The kids made off like bandits, and I let them pig out Friday night... then I traded them all of their candy for Cars 2 (not the best trade, but it worked!)

Well thank goodness Halloween is over!  Its my least favorite holiday... now on to the good ones!!