Meikee/Pirates

The beloved blanket. We practice 'ba' 'ba' 'blanket'. 'Ba' 'ba' 'bankie', and she says 'ba' 'ba' 'meikee!'. I love it, she SO has her own little personality. Right from the beginning, big personality. Screeching like a little pterodactyl... She is talking more and more everyday. It's so much fun. She is really proud of herself as she gets better at communication. She did not enjoy being a baby, this age is much more pleasing to her.

Ty got some really good pirate stuff for Christmas from Grandma Nan. He and Gramma P were reading one of the books about pirates and their ships. It's more informational than a story, but in a kid friendly way. It was amazing all the things he already knew. He really pays attention. He called out Grappling Hook before Gramma P even knew what he was talking about. He is so smart! He knew a bunch of correct dinosaur names when he was 2. Pretty impressive. This kid may be smarter than I can handle! I'm worried he won't be challenged enough in school, or at home.

Welcome to our home

We've painted the living room and the kitchen. And even have some things hanging on the walls. The new stove and dishwasher are in place. I don't know if any of our house will ever be officially done, but these parts are good for now. They feel fun and cozy. After the Christmas decorations are down, we'll hang some more things on the walls. And hopefully sometime in the fairly near future we'll add base boards where needed. Then we're set..... for now. Anyway, here's some pics.

" It's not Christmas 'till somebody cries

... And usually, that someone is me" Or so says Donkey from Shrek the Halls, a very favorite around here. I may have somehow forgotten to mention all the crying and time out having that went on yesterday. We were assured by friends with other 3 to 4 year olds that it's all part of the fun. Oh goodie! There's nothing like a cranky kid to make you feel good about all you've done for them. I had a good cry, after the crying kids went to bed. And we start over fresh and new today. It's amazing the amount of emotions that can exist in such a short amount of time. Daddy is working from home AGAIN today! He took a lunch break to snow blow the driveway, and me and the kids ran around chasing Seibu. It was good. I love it here. The snow is piled so high in the trees, when the wind blows or new snow knocks into it, it all falls down in big avalanche clumps. I could watch it for hours.

The snow on the truck is all from yesterday and today! Fun, fun!

Ahhhhhhh

Picture perfect, this morning.

Christmas night. There's so much to say! It's 6pm and the kids are tuckered out, sitting on the couch, together, watching Frosty the Snowman for the last time this season. There are toys scattered all over the house that I should probably get around to picking up. And Dad's outside trying to fix the little snow blower our neighbor lent us when she saw how much trouble Daddy was having with the one we just got off craigslist. Yep, ours wasn't working right so she thought she'd let us ruin hers too. Isn't that sweet? And I'm sitting here at the kitchen table on Daddy's work laptop. Just soaking it all up. All the Christmas-y-ness.


First, Ty came home from the trip to pick up the snow blower and told me "WE GOT A SNOW GLOWER!" He still has to stop and correct himself a week later. I love it, I hope he calls it a snow-glower for a long time. By the way, anyone one know where I can get a snow-glower? Sounds fun.

The kids have had colds for over a week. Aubree's nosed stopped running for about 2 days, just in time for Ty to hit his worst and give it back to her. Yay. Do you know how much fun sick kids are? It wasn't so bad at the beginning and then Grandma Nan came to visit, that was awesome. For more reasons than just distracting the ever more whiny children. But I tell ya, there was a day I don't think I could have made it through without her! She left last Thursday morning, Thursday and Friday were long days. Luckily for me, Krisha's kids were sick too, so she was up for hanging out. I think our kids will be swapping colds for many years to come.

Daddy got to work from home yesterday, so it was almost like a 4 day weekend. I wish every weekend was a long weekend. It was so great to have him around. We had fun, we got things done. We all like having Daddy around a lot! Krisha's family has adopted us this holiday season. I couldn't be more grateful. We had such a great time with them all last night. Good food, great company, and a snowy Christmas. I don't know how we'll ever thank them for taking us in. They even got the kids some presents to open so they wouldn't feel left out! I almost cried.... Here's a pic of Aubree from last night.


We baked cookies for Santa and cleaned the house so it would look decent in pictures the next morning. LOL Mrs Santa really enjoyed the cookies after taking a fall in the basement. I laid there on the floor in the back storage area of the basement wondering if I had been really hurt, how long would it take Mr Santa to come looking for me. Luckily, I wasn't really hurt. Just hurt. I seem to be recovering well today, I was worried I might be whacked out for the week.


The kids were so cute this morning. Aubree loved all of Ty's toys. Of course. We had some sharing issues, but after nap time things got much better, for all of us! Even after coffee, Daddy and I were ready for naps before 11am. Ty had a great time playing with all of his stocking stuffers and almost forgot that there were presents under the tree to open. Then he ripped through them faster than you can blink. Clearly enjoying the process of opening more than the presents themselves. But he's had a good time with each and every one as the day has gone by. I think the big, awesome garbage truck is the big hit this year. Out of no-where Ty told me he wanted a trash truck for Christmas. ???? Where do you find that! Online of course! I love you Amazon.com. Aubree seems to like her Tinkerbell 'make-up' bag the best. She won't let me put any of the sparkly lip glosses on her, but she really likes putting them in and out of the cute little bag and giving them to me, and taking them back etc..


Aubree and I made more cookies today while Daddy and Ty went sledding. We put the red sprinkles in the cookies and the green sprinkles on top. Oh, and it snowed all afternoon long. Beautiful big chunky snow. Freaking awesome.

Several years ago I looked up Pagan holiday traditions, since all of our current holidays stem from them. It was really cool to know why we put up Christmas lights and things like that. I hope I keep looking things up as the years go on and the holidays go by. I really appreciate putting up Christmas light and having a Christmas tree so much more after learning why the heck we have these traditions!

Our visit with Grandma Nan was wonderful. I think after living together for a while we were all grateful to be back in our appropriate rolls. She did awesome Grandma stuff and it was enjoyed by all. She and the kids did Christmas crafts together. She got Ty the most awesome pirate ship. And books, tons of new books to read! Both the kids are thankful for that. And she got Aubree a new baby. She LOOOOOVVVES babies. The baby came with bottles and a moses carrier, and another stroller. Now Ty and Aubree can race the babies around the house together! It's just what Seibu has always wanted. Ha! Did I mention that the Seattle Santa brought us a new to us flat top stove and a dishwasher that belongs in the kitchen, not next to it! Justin spent that entire weekend happily installing appliances thrown out by others who were updating their own kitchens. We love you Santa!

I've been on a crochet kick since it's been all winter-y and I live in my own home again with my own things and crafts are possible. I was putting the finishing touches on a new afghan for our living room when Grandma Nan arrived. So I asked her if she'd be interested in having one. She was! We bundled up the kids and all went to the Michael's to pick out yarn. Then we came home and she planned it all out. And let me tell ya, she did a great job. I need to remember to take a picture of it before I ship it off to her. Yes, I finished it the day after she left. Bummer. But there was no way I could get anymore done than I did. It turned out beautiful and snugly warm. I love making things that feel so good.

I'm sure I could go on and on forever, but I think jabbered on long enough. It's much easier to write about my life when I'm sitting in the middle of it. Our computer is in the basement and sometimes I just can not get inspired down there. I'll post more pics in the link on the side of the page.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot, I dyed my hair brown. Yep, no highlights or anything. I am very happy with it and excited to have less hassle and less cost. I'm feeling beautifully brunette.

Merry Christmas!

POOP

Aubree pooped in the bathtub, with Ty in it. ACK! This is our first real pooping in the tub experience. And it was a whole green log too. EEEWWWWWWWWW. Daddy is cleaning up the mess while I blog about it. He took a picture, I even thought about taking one. I'll will be sure to NOT post it for you all. Ok, I should probably go help get things back on track. But you can sit back and have a nice laugh on us.

ECFE

Early Childhood Family Education

It's a program here in MN, run by the county?? Anyway, it's awesome. I signed up for a class with Aubree and Ty goes to the sibling care playroom. He loves it. And I love getting to see another side of her personality. A side of her that is not reacting to or following her big brother. I love that she thinks the world of him, but I think it's great for her to get to be social without him. I think I watch her with hearts in my eyes the whole class! The class does some group singing and playing then they set out activities for the little ones to choose from. They can do whatever they want. Aubree LOOOOOVES the baby dolls. We've been 3 times and all 3 times she collects up all the baby dolls and gives them to the person of her choice. She got really comfortable with the teachers very quickly which is exciting. And get this. When it's time for the Mommies to leave the room and have our 'parenting education', she doesn't cry! All 3 times. It's so fun to see her grow and change. She always cries when I leave. Even if she's staying with someone she likes. A lot of times she calms down very quickly, but this class is the only time I have ever left her without a single tear. She has such a good time. And then, at the end, when they walk the little ones over to the room we're in... Ahhhh she is so freakin' adorable! I love to watch her look around the little room for me and when she spots me her whole body lights up. She runs over and gives me a huge hug. Pure heaven.

I should video tape this so I can play it to her when she's a teenager and says she hates me. Then she can see for herself that she did indeed love me at one point in time! Eeek.

Oh and the other cute thing. She cries when we drop Ty off at sibling care or Preschool. I should video tape that too! Show them how much they liked each other before they were teens. ~ Well, I'll just put it out there to the powers that be, that they are close and loving and will easily get through whatever little tiffs they get into. That they really will be friends.

I'm the Mommy!

First, Aubree is saying Ma-mee in the most adorable way I could just keel over and die. Laying with Ty at bed time gives me the same feeling. He holds me so tight and puts little soft kisses all over my hands and my nose. These are the moments when joy is almost painful. It's so awesome your body almost can't contain it, and sometimes it doesn't. We all know I'm a crier.

I was just locked away in our 'spare' room in the basement where we have all the Christmas presents hidden. I'm sorting things into piles of what is for who and how much wrapping paper do I have and what will I need to get so that everything will look SUPER? Our first Christmas as parents was pretty fun. But this year really seems to have swept me away. I love how Krisha described Thanksgiving as the event that kicks off the Christmas season. And that's exactly how it felt this year. The air started to cool, Halloween was a blast. Fall is in full effect and while we had no family around we were taken in by friends for Thanksgiving, and we were, so thankful. Then the snow started and the temp dropped and we put up lights and decorated the inside of the house on Thanksgiving weekend. The first weekend in December we went in way below freezing temps to get a Christmas tree. I think it was the fastest tree pickin' ever! The kids were so excited to get it up and decorated, Ty more-so of course. Now we're getting ready for guests at the end of this coming week. Wondering if we can get our crap in order in time. Crap, that is another thing I wanted to post about. We got rid of a lot of crap before we moved this time and there is STILL too much crap. Crap!

Ok, let me get back on track here. I was locked away in the hiding spot scoping out the situation, planning what paper to use and when to start bringing presents out. I need a few things yet and I want pretty ribbon so I can wrap everything beautifully, and that's when it hit me. I'm the Mommy! Clearly, I knew this before. But, this is the first Christmas that I feel like it's all about our little family. We have one Grandma coming before Christmas, and one after. But the actual holiday will be just us. This will be the first time since having kids that it will be just our family on Christmas morning! I am so excited. Don't get me wrong, I'm also EXTREMELY excited to have family coming. But it's fun to think of being the only ones who get to watch the kids freak out over all the stuff. Just us, our family. I love our family! I love the snow, I love that it's freezing cold out. It feels like Christmas. I haven't felt that way since before we got married I think. Yay Christmas!

Twirling & Other fun things

Aubree has learned the endless joy of twirling. Oh my god, it has to be the cutest thing ever. She sooooooo enjoys it. And the sound effects are to die for. Whoooo, wooooo, wooooooo! This little girl thing is pretty damn fun!

Ty knows how to do every gross boy sound effect that has ever existed short of farting with his hand and armpit. I'm sure it's just a matter of time! While I don't usually enjoy this as much as the two of them spinning circles together in the living room, I find it quite impressive in it's own unique way.

I am so grateful that I get to experience both worlds. And obviously, I got the two best kids to experience it with. I did not even bribe them to do this. They did it all by themselves and I was lucky enough to snatch up the camera in time to capture the moment. Awwww.