Painting - 1 Step Closer

Since we moved into our house last March, we have painted the kids' bedrooms and bathroom, the living room, kitchen, dining room, computer room, and hallway/stairwell. The last area that needed to be painted was the basement. It was painted an ugly taupe color that I've absolutely hated. I got off my duff Monday night and started painting. I had 4 partial gallons of various yellows and whites that I mixed together to make 2 gallons. Dan laughed at me, but I am really happy with the finished product. I finished tonight and it looks so clean, bright and sunny down there. Now I just have one stairwell to paint and the basement bedroom to touch up and our house will be complete!!!!

My Meatloaf isn't "Too Bad!"

Some of you might remember Caden going through a food phase in the fall where I was actually able to bribe him to eat vegetables. Well, it was a phase and didn't last very long. Thankfully, most phases are cyclical and we are back at it (only with mini M&Ms for incentive instead of ice cream since it's so cold). Last night, we had meatloaf with green beans, carrots and rice. Caden very easily ate the green beans, but he turned his nose up at the meatloaf. I offered him 2 M&Ms to try a tiny piece of meatloaf. He begrudgingly put it in his mouth and then declared "Not too bad." Does that mean it's good??? He ate in total about 10 bites of meatloaf and at the end was saying "yeah, it's pretty good." Silly boy! I offered him 5 M&Ms to try a tiny bite of rice, but he decided he was done and wanted to leave the table. I know better than to push my luck!

Ramblings about Bath and growing up

When it was just me and the kids, I had such a system for baths. I could get all three kids in, scrubbed, out and into pajamas in under fifteen minutes. It seemed so hard back them, but I would love to have those days back. Baths have become quite a chore. I think the main issue is that the bathtub has shrunk - or maybe the kids have gotten bigger :). There just isn't enough room for 3 bottoms in the tub anymore. Dan's letting the kids take baths by themselves now or he throws them all in the shower. I've been letting the kids take turns by themselves while the other two bathe together. It's working okay, but I'm still nostalgic for the easier days. In general, I think the kids have gotten harder. I used to have such great control over them, but somewhere over the last year I've lost it. They are still good kids, I just think it's part of growing up and becoming their own little people.

They say the silliest things

Caden has gotten so funny. He cracks me up sometimes. At lunch today, Allie swiped one of Caden's grapes off of his plate. He got very upset about it. I calmed him down and convinced him to eat the rest of his grapes so she couldn't swipe any more. He ate them and then looked at Allie and in an authoratitive voice said "You can't eat my grapes now." Then he laughed the funniest villian laugh "Mahwwahahah...my grapes are in my tummy!"

The kids are very into pirates right now and love to insert pirate terminology into our normal everyday conversations. So...I'm driving us to the grocery story yesterday. Allie spots Giant and yells "Giant Ahoy, Mommy." Get it...land, ahoy! Silly, Silly!

Zoe's Favorites and Not So Favorites

I know I said Zoe was the sweetest kitty, but I've changed my opinion a little. She's no where near as sweet as Sebastian is to me, but she's much sweeter with the kids than Sebastian will ever be. Once she got her pain patch off last week, there was no more cuddling up with me at night to sleep. It makes me miss Sebastian, but anyway, not the point.

Jaelyn is very gentle with Zoe. Zoe will tolerate Jaelyn picking her up to put in her lap. She'll lay there patiently while Jaelyn pets her. Zoe has also been introduced to Jaelyn's top bunk and for the last three nights has disappeared right before bedtime to be found in Jaelyn's bed when she climbs in. Talk about making Jaelyn happy!

Allie is so excited to have Zoe, but her excitement comes out a little too wildly - is that a word? Zoe is scared of Allie and hides whenever she comes near. I feel bad for Allie because she wants her to like her so much. I've been trying to hold Zoe and help Allie pet her gently. It might just take some time for the two to get together. Maybe Allie can be her crazy playing partner.

Caden's treatment of Zoe and her response to him is in the middle of the road between the girls. She'll let him pet her until he gets too excited and then she scadoodles.

I'm hoping Zoe will become more of a lap kitty as she gets older. Right now, she's just so playful. Petting her tickles and then she feels the need to nibble. She's sleeping by my feet at night. It's funny - she stays with Jaelyn until Jaelyn is asleep, comes downstairs to see me and then goes back up to sleep with me. Overall, I think Zoe is going to be a great kitty!

5:30 am is Too Stink'n Early

I miss those early December mornings when it was just starting to get really cold and everyone was staying snuggled into their beds until 7:30. Those days are long gone I'm afraid and the mornings are getting earlier and earlier. Jaelyn was up at 5:30 this morning and in full tantrum mode. She had lost every ticket in her cup by 6:00. I had to get up (can you believe that - at 6) and bring her downstairs in the hopes she wouldn't wake Allie and Caden. They trotted down the stairs about 3 minutes after we did. So, it's now 8:00, the kids are all fed and dressed - hair and teeth brushed, my hair and make-up are done, the dishwasher is unloaded, I have laundry going, the beds are made, Jaelyn's Thursday night's homework is done...

And I'm TIRED!!!

Mom's Home and Doing Great

Thank you so much for your prayers. After only 1 night in the hospital, my mom was able to go home yesterday afternoon. She'll get the pathology results back in a week or so. For now, she's just resting. I'm sure Dad is being a great nurse!

Prayers for my mom tomorrow

Just a reminder that my mom is having her thyroid surgery tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers!

Round and Round we went

We went ice skating today. Dan and I have only been once before in college. We figured it out - 15 years ago next month. We are getting OLD. Dan opted to sit on the bench while I took the kids around the rink. We went with our friends, Chris, Angie and Lexie, so I had help with my kiddos. We had such a blast. I don't know how common this is, but the rink had home-made walkers for the little kids to use (think Grandma's walker made out of PVC with no wheels). The kids held on, shuffled their feet as hard and fast as they could and I helped steady and push them around the rink. Have I mentioned we had fun yet? Because we did and I definitely want to go back. Caden was perfectly happy to stand still and glide around the ice as I pushed him.

Allie was very energetic. She skated her little heart out. She wanted me to let go, but I was too scared of her busting her head open. Next time we'll bring our bike helmets. Jaelyn could become our graceful figure skater. She alternated between skating and gliding. I even let go of her walker for a bit and let her go on her own. For a first time for everyone, we did great! I'll let you know later how my back feels with all that bending over!

January's Photo Album

I'll add more photos throughout the month so check back.

Jaelyn's Story

Have I mentioned lately how well Jaelyn in doing in school? Citizenship wise, she's not doing so well. She just loves to talk too much, but academically she is doing great. She can now count to 100 by 1's, 5's and 10's, she can count backwards from 20, she knows the difference between a penny, nickel, dime and a quarter and the values of each (long gone are the days when I could give her a penny for helping with laundry and she'd be happy). I haven't counted her sight words lately, but she has a lot of them. By the end of kindergarten, the kids are supposed to know their first 100 sight words. I think we'll be way beyond that. Her decoding skills are getting more accurate and quicker. Overall, I'm just totally impressed. For her homework one day last week, she had to write a story about what she would wear and do on a snowy day. I did help a little by prompting her thoughts with basic questions like "would you wear anything else?" and "how would you feel playing in the snow?" This is her 6 sentence story (the words she didn't know are spelled phonetically)...

I will wer a cot. I will wer 2 gluvs and 2 boots. I will wer a hat. I will bild a rascr in the sno. I will bid a snoman. I fel cold in the witr. The end.

Surprise Outside the Door

Dan and I have been married 11 1/2 years. When we first got married, we used to be very "newly wed" and were always leaving notes for each other tucked away places. He doesn't remember this, btw. Those days have been long gone for a while. We have some friends, Chris and Angie, who have been married a year. I love to tease Angie about some of the stories she tells me because they are SO "newly wed." It's been a good reminder of our early days and that we should take the time to be thoughtful again. So, anyway, I walked out the front door this morning to start the car and found this :).

I love you, too!

The Sweetest Kitty

Ok, Mom, we have confirmed it. You can tell Sebastian he is for sure not the sweetest kitty out there. Zoe wins the contest hands down. She's been sweet (with her pain patch that's 10x the strength of kitty morphine), but now that her patch has been taken off, she has gotten so much sweeter. She's also playing more and is so alert. I'm loving this kitty! She woke me up in the middle of the night last night purring and nudging my face. Then she nibbled on my fingers when I was trying to pet her. I know some people might not think being woken by a cat to play in the middle of the night is sweet, but I do...especially since Jaelyn got up right after that and kept me up the rest of the night :( I'd rather play with a kitty at 3 am anyday over dealing with a tired, cranky, border-line tantrum throwing Jaelyn any day of the week.

Teeth, Spitting and Pirates that fight with Swords

Jaelyn lost another tooth...her second bottom central. It came out at dinner tonight as she was eating a pickle. Her 6 year molars are working their way in as well as the first of her permanent bottom centrals. Why does she have to grow up so fast?

Allie got in trouble at preschool for spitting on a little boy on Friday (she didn't actually spit on him, she stuck out her tongue and blew so I guess he might have gotten a little spit on him, but it wasn't like nasty boy spitting). What am I going to do with her? She came out of school today and told me "I had a good day and didn't spit on anyone." Silly Girl!

Caden is into sword fighting these days. Anything will work on a sword, reomote controls, straws, pencils, even imaginary swords. He's funny though. He'll find something and say "Mommy when I poke you with my sword (straw), say "ouch." And then he says "poke" and pokes me and I have to say "ouch." He's very into directing the play. He'll also come to us and say things like "when I say 'boo,' you say 'ahhh.'" And if we don't do it, we get into serious trouble.

Monopoly Queen Dethrowned!

We've been playing Monopoly Junior for several months now and in that time, Allie has never lost a game. And not only has she not lost, she has always won - never placing 2nd or 3rd...Until today that is!!! Not to toot my own horn or brag, but I dethrowned the Monopoly Queen. She ran out of money, Jaelyn had $7 and I, as the winner, had $60. Hurray for Mommy. I know, I know, I should let them win, but I am ALWAYS the Monopoly loser so it feels good to win! Tee Hee! I'll let them beat me at Uno tomorrow to make up for it.

Zoe is home

Allie, Caden and I picked up Zoe from the vet today and brought her HOME. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to have a cat again. I've missed having a fur-baby. Anyway, we got her home and put her in my room. I made the kids sit against the bed because I didn't want them to scare her. Zoe had other ideas. After coming out of her cage and rubbing all over my legs, she headed straight for them and started loving on them. Awesome! She is the sweetest kitty. She did the thing where she rubbed up against Caden and then flopped right into his lap. Talk about making the kids happy. I did my best to get a few good pictures to share, but she was too busy rubbing and loving on us to sit still and say cheese.



PS Encase you are wondering, Zoe was spayed and front declawed on Wednesday and the blue around her is a mesh sweater holding a morphine patch on her for pain.

Stairs + Ceramic Tile = Bad Combination

We had a scare last night. Jaelyn and Allie raced each other up the basement stairs just like they do all the time. We aren't totally sure what happened, but Allie lost her balance and went tumbling backwards down the stairs. Dan saw her land on her back on the stairs and then saw her feet go back over her head as she continued flipping down the stairs. She landed on her forehead on the ceramic tile. Crack!!!! She got an immediate goose egg and a bruise. We held ice on it for an hour and gave her motrin. She was fine, answering all of my questions and counting my fingers. I got her up several times in the night to talk to me. She's fine this morning and says her head only hurts a little. There's still a huge knot, but the original bruise has faded. Dan joked later that her forehead broke her fall, but I still don't think it's funny. I shudder when I think about her much worse she could have been hurt.

Happy Birthday, Mom

I'm not sure how often my Mom reads my blog, but encase she reads today, I wanted to say Happy Birthday!

Caden is the Man

My big three year old Caden had to go to his friend's house for the afternoon while I worked in Allie's preschool on Monday. Normally, the visit would begin with a total meltdown for an hour before he settled down to enjoy himself. He is still so Mommy centered, but can you blame him? I've been his #1 Go-To-Girl for a long time. Anyway, it was his birthday, so we baked cookies for him to take with him. He started sniffling when he figured out I was leaving, but managed to hold it together with the promise of a birthday present from Lyssie to open. I left and returned 4 hours laters to a happy little man who hadn't had a single meltdown without Mommy! Maybe three will be the year he branches out and lets go a little, but not too much, because that might make me sad :).

Tantrums, Hissy Fits and Just Plain Ugly Attitudes

And I'm not talking about me :). We have seen an escalation in Jaelyn's tantrums in the last few months. She's always been able to pitch a doozy, but instead of getting fewer and further between as she gets older, they are getting more often and are lasting longer. I think most are related to hunger and tiredness, but knowing that doesn't make dealing with her any easier. Some mornings, she starts with a 45 minutes tantrum at 6:30. Talk about a bad alarm clock!!! We've gone back to our ticket system to help reward good behavior (along with making sure she always has food in her tummy) and it seems to be working a little. I was very proud of Jaelyn on Monday. She came home with a yellow light for her citizenship. Normally asking why would send her into a tizzy that would last long into the afternoon, but that wasn't the case. Instead, she very matter of factly told me she earned the yellow light for talking during rest time and then she went about her afternoon. There was no crying, screaming, or stomping her feet. She still received her same consequences for the yellow light, but she also earned a ticket for being a big girl and telling me the truth. She came home better yesterday as well and managed to contain several near meltdowns. Maybe we are finally making progress. I hope so because I would love to help her express herself better now than deal with a 15 year old who hasn't learned to express herself! Not looking forward to those hormonal teenage years at all!!!

Happy Birthday Caden

At 2:22 pm, Caden will be 3 years old. Well, actually, he was born at 2:22 pm German time, which would have been 8 hours (I think) ahead of Eastern time, which means at 6:22 am this morning Eastern time, Caden turned 3. Follow that???

My 5 lb 13 oz tiny baby has grown into a sweet, spunky 3 year old who is finally hitting his terrible twos. What's up with that? Where did my mild mannered toddler who always did what he was told go? He's been replaced with a head strong little boy who likes to do as he pleases. Don't get me wrong, he's still sweet and lovable, but he is definitely becoming his own person with his own feelings and an ability to express them. Caden loves to play pirates and super heroes. He is currently running around with a blue cape on his back calling himself "Super Caden." I must be the "bad knight" who locks Super Caden in the dungeon (under the play table). Super Caden also has the sleeping super power and can put anyone to sleep. I am working hard at dodging it though since Super Jaelyn with the power to wake people up isn't home.

Caden continues to amaze us with his verbal skills. He's been talking like an adult since he was 2 practically, and now his reasoning skills are improving. There's more logic in his reasoning and he actually makes sense when he explains why he must do something. One of his favorite words is 'cause. I especially see improvement when he's talking on the phone. He talks in complete sentences instead of just giving a 1 or 2 word answer. He also asks the person he's talking to questions.

Caden is going through a funny phase with his words. He likes to add a "y" sound to the end of his words. His naps are called nappies, blanket is blanky, pillow is pillowy, etc. At his birthday party, he was running around playing with his balloony.

Caden knows all of his letter and their sounds (thank you Leap Pad Letter Factory) and knows most of his numbers. He can count to 12 without a mistake and can get as high as the lower 20s with a mistake here and there. We are still working on colors. That might take a little more time.

Happy Birthday, Caden! I have been so blessed to have you in my life. I thank God for you everyday!

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

We've been thinking about getting a kitty for months now. We finally decided it was time so I've spent the last week browsing pet finder sites, calling local shelters and visiting cats at Petsmart. Today, we went to a local animal shelter and picked out our new kitty. We haven't decided on a name yet. Her name now is Quinones - how odd. So far, our top choices are Zoe, Callie(she's a calico), and Jazz - short for Jasmine. She's about 1 1/2 years old and is a tiny little thing. She was very easy-going, letting the kids pet all over her. She will be spayed on Wednesday and we'll get to pick her up from the vets. I'll post pictures when we bring her home!

Christmas Vacation Pictures

Click on the slideshow to see them bigger.

The Tooth Fairy Came

On Friday morning, December 17th, Jaelyn woke me up so excited! Her tooth fell out. She said when she woke up her tooth was way forward so she pushed it back and out it came. She spent the night at Grandmother's house that night so Grandmother helped her put her tooth in her special tooth fairy pillow Aunt Cathy gave her for Christmas (good timing Aunt Cathy). The tooth fairy came while she was sleeping and left her "one gray dollar bill." The tooth fairy must have been out of clean, crisp green money ;).

Our Christmas Vacation

I had the best of intentions of keeping my blog updated with our daily antics, but it just didn't work. Our schedule was insanely packed and so much fun. Here's a run down of what I can remember : ).

12/19 - Wed - fly to Pensacola. We had lunch with Dan's family and then spent the rest of the day settling in at my mom's.

12/20 - Thurs - Dan and I had a meeting while the kids played at Grandmother's house. We took my grandmother lunch and we got to eat at Moe's (because you know going home is all about where you can eat!!!)

12/21 - Friday - We went to the beach in the morning and then had lunch at Santino's (again about the food). We had dinner with Dan's family and opened Christmas presents...and toy overload begins!!! The girls spent the night at Grandmother's to play with Caleb, their cousin.

12/22 - 12/24 - These days are fuzzy. I know Dan and I got a date night to Coach N Four (still good food, but way too expensive now) and we took the kids to see Enchanted one day. We probably did other things, but I honestly don't remember.

12/25 - Merry Christmas - This was such a fun day. The kids woke up around 7 and we opened presents - more toy overload. We went to the big Beasley Family Christmas (Dan's Grandmother's family) for an hour and then went back to my mom's to help cook. We had a house full at my mom's: Chad, Karen and the boys, Grandpa and Doris, and Uncle Larry and Aunt Sandy. It was a really fun day! After the toy/food/people overload, we left the kids with my parents to put to bed and Dan and I snuck off to see a movie - Treasure Hunters.

12/26 - Wednesday - My mom and I snuck off to do a little shopping on our own in the morning (there was a lot of sneaking going on :). We wandered around the exchange and hit the dollar store to get things for Caden's birthday party. We had lunch at Grandmother's house and then had dinner with Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate out friend Jackson's 7th birthday!

12/27 - Thursday - What a fun day! The kids and I went to Malbis and met Sarah, Hope, Halle and Hudson for lunch. It's been so long since we've seen them and it was so much fun! We shopped with my parents in the evening at Kohl's (I spent way too much money on summer clothes for the kids but everything was clearanced). Then we had dinner at Cock of the Walk with Grandpa, Doris, Uncle Larry, Aunt Sandy, my cousin Dawn, her husband Ed and their daughter Sara.

12/28 - Friday - the day we've been waiting for - SPA DAY! We dropped the kids off at Joan and Larry's and headed to Destin with our friends Jennifer and Rich. We had lunch at McAllisters and then went to my favorite place: Serenity by the Sea! Jennifer and I left a mellow Dan and a nervous Rich and headed to the girls side for some girl talk and giggling (lots of both!). I had a massage and a facial. It was great. Dan didn't enjoy his as much because the girl used her elbow again. I told him to be a guy and tell her to stop, but I guess that's not macho. Rich had hilarious stories to tell about his facial (the extraction, getting electrocuted and being wrapped with seaweed) and I'm sure we'll be laughing about them for years to come. We had dinner at Hemingways in Pensacola Beach and ended the day with hot Krispy Kreme donuts! The perfect day!

12/28 - Saturday - It's a little early, but we decided to have Caden's birthday in Pensacola with all of our family and little friends. It was so much fun. We had a house full of kids and lots of yummy cake and ice cream. We were now way past toy overload and I wasn't sure how we'd get everything home the next morning.

12/29 - Sunday - We had a very early and un-eventful flight back to Maryland. It's good to be in our house, but we miss being "home."