Gearing up to go out in the snow.....Pure JOY!Caroline catching snowflakes with her tongue

Trying out his new "playground" that Santa brought-aka Gramps found on the curb the other day.

Snowy bum!

He hit his limit, his hands were cold but his heart was willing, how about we go inside for some hot chocolate.Snowy boots and Cricket is trying to eat the snow right off of them.A nice warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows
Enjoying the warm chocolatyness!

Reading Christmas stories with dad before Santa comes......

Now off to bed so Santa can come!

'Twas the night before Christmas

and a lot of threats were made....if you don't take a nap right now Santa won't come, if you don't get in your carseat right away Santa wont come, if you don't stop yelling...well you know the drill. It has seemed to work pretty well and has even brought tears on, in one occasion. What am I going threaten after tomorrow, I guess I will have to go back to my Strong Willed Childed plan, good thing I highlighted the important parts of the book!

The CRAZY thing is, we might have a white christmas!! It has snowed all day and it is starting to stick!! I'm so glad I don't live in the snow anymore, getting two kids out in the snow is a pain in my(insert your own word)!!! I did let Ry play in it for a couple minutes on our way out the door!

Look at those snowflakes and the pure joy in his eyes!

Here is our tree, I like the way it turned out!


My sweet 10 month old little girl! I can't believe that she is 10 months old today! She is just starting to cut one tooth!

Who needs presents when you have a bag of diaper wipes, a bikie and a neck full of necklaces!!

The stockings are hung

Caroline's-I love Pottery Barn!

One of our ornaments from one of our trips, I have loved collecting an ornament from each of our trips instead of some useless souvenir! It has been fun to get them all out and remember the different trips!

Merry Christmas to Me!!!

Jared got me a brand new Laptop! I'm so excited I can't hardly stand it!

It is so tiny and perfect!!

Cookie Exchange

I love me a cookie exchange!!! Tuesday I was having cookie exchange so I busted my B.U.T.T. cleaning the house but things just weren't going my way. First my brand new vacuum decided to stop sucking, which is never a good thing for a vacuum to do. It took me over an hour to diagnose the problem and then take the entire thing apart and put it back together-but I'm happy to report it is sucking perfectly now! Then while in my vacuuming splendor I failed to hear my darling two year old flush the toilet maybe a hundred times. Ryan came into the living room sheepishly and said," ut oh mom, toilet wet, floor wet!" Immediately panic alarms were ringing in my head! I ran into the bathroom to find about an inch of water covering the entire bathroom floor! L.O.V.E.L.Y.!!!!!! Of course on the day when I need to get EVERYTHING done, everything goes wrong, oh and Caroline was super whiny and clingy.

I was in the home stretch, I just needed to shower, put on makeup and finish making my 6 dozen cookies. At about 5 there was a loud knock on the door, I looked out the window in the door and didn't see anything but I was sure I had heard a knock so I opened the door. On the ground there was a baby in a basket with a bag of marshmallows!!! I was shocked it looked like Reese but it couldn't be her they weren't coming until Sunday and I had just talked to Katie last night, this couldn't be Reese, but who else could it be? I think it is Reese.....just then Delaney and Katie jumped out from behind the bushes!!! I was shocked, beyond shocked I had NO clue they were coming early! It was the best surprise ever! She got here just in time for the party! I was so excited that she was able to come early to hang out with me for a few days before all the Christmas festivities begin. On Wednesday we had a blast at the new Fort Worth Children's and Science Museum. We got there at 11 and left at 5-it was a fun filled day and everyone was happy! Today we just hung low and had great time. All 3 nights all 4 kids were in bed by 6:30, it has been perfect!! I miss my sister so much, so it is so nice to have a the space for everyone to come and stay at my house.

one of the best days

We went with some friends to the Fort Worth Club for a pancake breakfast with Santa. Ryan was so excited and Jared and I were so excited for him. He has been saying for months that he wants a Woody doll(from Toy Story), I thought for sure his little mind would change a thousand time in the last couple of months but he has held true to Woody.

They had Elves there make all kinds of cool balloon art (fishing poles with fish on the end, mermaids,dinosaurs, the list goes on and on) and Ry wanted a sword so he could fight with the big boys!

They also had a petting zoo set up with goats, ducks, chickens, baby pigs, bunnies, which Ry loved.

Here is Caroline in all her Christmas glory!! I was so excited about her outfit, I didn't want to go to the club in an outfit from Target(well Ryans was and part of hers was), but I wanted her to be different. Soooo, I made her this skirt for a whooping $4 and her headband out of faux leather strap and a picked apart flower, oh and her matching bracelet! She was SO stinking cute it was ridiculous!!


Family picture and of course both kids wanted ME to hold them-it's so fun to be popular!

Ryan was dieing to see Santa, we had been waiting in the line for quite awhile and Jared need to step away for something so I had both kids. I was talking to Ry and I looked away for a second and then looked back and he sawing his opening and made a be-line for Santa yelling the whole way up there,"Santa I want a Woody!" Lovely, of course I don't have the kid who is shy and bashful, it only make sense, right? Everyone in line was cracking up.

Caroline was in awe!

Finally, it was his turn for real!

I just think she is so darn cute I had to throw in another pic!

She was so well behaved especially since she had been up since 6 and she was running a little fever(I keep thinking that she is going to get teeth any day now but to no avail)

i should be in bed but instead i'm blogging!

I moved to Texas to get away from the snow and look what I woke up to the other morning! I was so annoyed by it that I didn't even let Ry go out and play in it! Mean Mom! I know, I know! But in case you didn't know I hate the cold, unless I am skiing! Mac and Cheese face playing with his new Thomas the Train set he got from my grandma his GG. Little did I realize what an investment this little train track is, and this boy has no flies on him once he opened it, he turned to me and asked," mom where's the tunnel and the bridge?" Well out come the blocks and a dandy bridge we had!! He LOVES his train thank you GG for the early Christmas present.

This little girl can SERIOUSLY CHOW with her toothless little mouth!!

I think this is one of the best pictures he has taken in a very long time, he's getting so big, slow down my little man~

We had PILES AND PILES AND PILES of leaves in our yard. Did I mention that we had PILES of leaves. Ryan and Delaney had a great time playing, throwing, jumping and running in the leaves!

Safety Town

We went to Safety Town in Frisco yesterday with my family and with our friends Leah and Mike from Utah. The kids LOVED IT!! They had this big fire truck that they could climb all over. They also have this little mini town built outside that explains how to get through the city, stop at lights and all sorts of different things. me and katie all dressed up!

She's ready for a ride

My handsome fireman~

Thanksgiving

What am I thankful for.....

my family

hard working husband

happy children

home cooked food

cars

the zoo

church

books

talking in bed

family living close by

train rides

clean kitchen

potty trained 2 year old

costco

sewing

pictures

good advice

feather pillows

good tv shows

fun things to do

smiles

kids that take naps

feeding the ducks

a babbling baby

schedules

menus

going out to lunch

trips

my sister

computer

craft projects

losing weight

sweet little "thank yous"

conversations with a 2 year old

watching tv with jared

reading bedtime books as a family

watching Jared play with the kids

Carolines sweet and easy disposition

Ryans eagerness to learn and discover new things

reading scriptures

good friends

the list goes on and on and on

Just so I remember

the other day we were driving in the car and ry kept trying to tell me something, and I just didn't understand what he was saying. All the sudden I heard a sigh and ry said,"nevermind mom, just nevermind."

Ry found a little lunch box the other and started to carry it around here is our conversation surrounding the lunch box

RY: bye mom i'm going to work.
MOM: bye hon have a great day.
(Ry walks to the garage door)
RY: hon, where are my keys! i can't find my keys, hon do you know where my keys are?
MOM:here ry here are some keys.
RY: oh, thanks hon(he walks back to the garage door and opens it)
RY:OH NO MY JEEP, WHERE DID MY JEEP GO? MY JEEP IS GONE!!!


Ryan was leaving yesterday to go fishing with gramps
MOM: Bye Ry be a good boy and listen to gramps. I love you!
RY: Bye hon, have a good day, i love you too!

he has been talking up a storm and it's so fun to hear all the crazy little things his mind thinks up!!

Strong Willed Child

The best book I've read in awhile!!! We have a totally new kid in our house and it is amazing. He listens the very first time or else he knows there will be a consequence right away! I feel better because I'm not asking, yelling, begging, talking, or explaining over, and over and over again-I say it JUST ONCE! We went out lunch yesterday and I explained to him how I wanted him to behave while we were eating lunch and that if he didn't act that way, I would take him into the bathroom and give him a spanking. Well it worked like a charm, Ry sat in his chair quietly and played with his cars and ate his food nicely. He did get one spanking in the bathroom because I was being a super stickler and he was standing up on the rungs of his chair. After that it was smooth sailing and I got to sit at lunch with my friends and talk for over an hour with little interruptions!!
The other night after I finished reading the book I explained to Jared how things need to operate from now on. Ryan woke up from his nap and we were off, we were about half way through the night when Ryan exclaimed,"Mom, I'm a HAPPY BOY!" while jumping up and down! At that moment I was sold, I knew it was working and that we would stick with it!!

New Schedule

Okay so after my hellish week I decided that we needed some major changes in our house!! I have become pretty lazy and letting the TV take over our lives. I love TV and I love that my kids enjoy watching TV, but on the days that we didn't go anywhere it was all that we did. Ry is starting to be pretty difficult, sassy, defiant and so I realized that we needed some major changes in our life. It's a change that I have been resisting for two years now, it's something I've never enjoyed and haven't wanted to be held too and that thing is a SCHEDULE!!! So here is our new schedule!

7am: I get up and get dressed


7:30: Ryan gets up goes potty and gets dressed


7:45: We make breakfast and sometime in there Caroline wakes up.


8: Ryan plays with a toy of my choosing


8:30: Clean up and read books to both of the kids


9: we go to the park or library or run an errand. This might also become the time I go to the gym,but we will see.


10ish: Caroline goes down for a nap and Ryan and I start school time.


We do ABC flash cards, shapes and numbers, read a book about the theme for that week, do an art project, and read another book-this time is changing and evolving as we find what works for us.


11: Ry plays in the family room with blocks or legos while I get lunch ready and Caroline wakes up sometime during this period.


11:30: We eat lunch


12: ry reads books while I play with Caroline


12:30:We all play together sort of.


1: they both go down for a nap in separate rooms and I rest or clean, but most likely rest.


3: We get out of the house again and do something just depends on whats going on.


5: Caroline takes another little nap and this is where the day get a little sketchy I'm not sure what goes on, usually I clean while Ry plays


6: I make dinner


6:30 We eat dinner


7: The kids take a bath


7:30 Jared read books


8: The kids are in bed fast asleep!

If you didn't notice there was no TV in there!! We did it all week, and it was great Ry didn't miss it and I didn't miss it too bad. It's a lot of work to keep him busy all day(and I'd go to bed exhausted) and today I decided that Saturdays are TV DAY, I'm just to tired to try and keep him busy all day today too. It was a lot of work but everyone was happier and alot gentler. That's been part of the problem Ryan has been really rough and aggressive, but I think it has helped, so that's great. The funniest thing was Caroline was the MOST excited today to watch TV, she was kicking her legs and flapping her arms and laughing when she saw the TV on this morning. She just sat in her high chair and ate her breakfast(for over an hour)!

So this is a rough draft and what I'm trying to stick to, things have been better and I've noticed a difference. I now there will be changes, things will happen, we will go to the zoo,mimi's, or whatever but at least I have a plan for my day and that has seemed to make a difference for everyone involved.

Check back with me in a couple of weeks and see if we still have our schedule, but for now it's working!! One week down infinity to go!!

This is what nap time now looks like!

All smiles all the time!!

I can't believe that this is the same little girl I had nine months ago!!! She is going to be nine months on Tuesday and boy have things changed!! Here's a list of all the fun things she is doing at nine moths old

• pulling her self around the floor
• drinking water from a sippy cup
• saying "dadadada" and"og,og,og"(dog)
• eating ANYTHING you put in front of her and most of the time she finishes her brothers meal too!
• she is a great napper and sleeper(minus the new trend of waking up at 4ish for a bottle)
• she LOVES to watch T.V. especially Sesame Street
• she loves going anywhere in the stroller
• she LOVES her daddy, and gets so excited to see him and will find him in any room.
• she loves taking a bath and splashing
• she loves bouncing in her jumping chair
• she can sign "all done"
• loves the binky
• loves her bottle
• Loves dogs
• likes to read "short" books
• LOVES to steal her brother's toys
• she loves to be held and tickled
• she still doesn't have any teeth(but has been able to eat anything that is put in front of her)
• she like to get her brother in trouble-she will cry anytime he comes near because knows that it will result in her getting picked up.
• she loves to suck on my keys

she is just a happy baby and we are so glad that she is a part of our family

umm where did she go?

Ryan and Caroline were in their room playing and I walked out of the room and came back and Caroline was gone!! Where did she go? Any guesses? Do you have a guess now?

"keek a boo sister keek a boo."

There she is!! She is really starting to get around, and REALLY fast!

Where do I begin?

Well, lets just start with last week was the week from HELL....yes I even spelled it out, not trying to sugar coat it!! I thought the week would never end!! Let me start at the beginning of this very lengthy post, Sunday Ryan pooped his underwear, count um THREE times. Totally frustrating because normally he doesn't poop that much and he didn't tell us any of the times before or after, and one of the time was at church. Let me remind you this is just the beginning! Monday, Monday, Monday as I'm sitting here typing I can't even remember Monday or the events of the day it seems like years ago. TUESDAY, Tuesday is the day! When I woke up I thought to myself I should just ignore the yelling kids in their cribs and go back to sleep, I could tell by the way Ryan was yelling for me at 8 that he was in a mood already and it was going to be an uphill battle ALL day!! I had plans with a blog friend who I've never met but been trying to get together with for over a year, so despite the mood of my two year old I wasn't going to cancel my plans for the zoo, and I thought maybe, just maybe the zoo could pull him out of his two year old funk! We got to the zoo and met up with our new friend and had a great time getting to know her and her sweet little boy(I knew her husband from high school), and my plan seemed to work of getting Ry out of his little funk. He was doing so well I decided to let him feed the parrots in the Parrot Paradise. I was holding Caroline and Ryan was running around the boardwalk terrorizing the birds and trying to knock birds off of other children's food sticks. I was walking over to get Ryan from a group of children, when all of the sudden I was on my back and Caroline was lying a foot away from me screaming bloody murder, and all I could hear was a man in the background yelling,"OH MY GOSH SHE FELL SHE FELL, OH MY GOSH SHE DROPPED THE BABY, SHE DROPPED THE BABY, SOMEBODY HELP HER SHE DROPPED THE BABY!" I stood up a little shocked and not quite sure how I fell AND dropped my baby, some one handed her to me and I walked out of the exhibit to look her over and talk to security. Somewhere in the shuffle of it all I forgot about Ryan and some one brought him to me, maybe my friend I was with but I'm not sure( she was on the other side of the exhibit and miss all the excitement), but he didn't have his Buzz Lightyear(which he got for finally going poop in the potty) Caroline was fine just a little bruise on her cheek and very hurt feelings. I noticed right away that we were missing Buzz and went into panic mode! I'm sure I looked like the crazy mom that wasn't too worried about dropping her baby but crazy about finding stupid Buzz. Okay so you are think wow that's awful, and I'm sure it couldn't get much worse but it does, just wait. So we finish up at the zoo, my friend invites us to lunch and we join her. We eat lunch and are just throwing away our trash when I realize Ryan has poop running down his leg!! Lovely!!! We say our goodbyes (quickly) and I take my kids out to the car, strip Ryan down and try and find a starting point to clean up the mess since I made even more of a mess just taking off his underwear. Now one might ask if I know he's had this problem why wouldn't I just put him in the pull-ups, I just don't believe in them, I think he would just treat it like a diaper. I'd rather clean up a few poops and get it over with. Anyways.....so I'm cleaning him up trying not to get angry, so as not to discourage our new found potty training efforts. A man walks up and clears his throat, as if to suggest that he needs into his car. I turn to him and say, " Look you are just going to have to wait because I'm up to my elbows in poop and it's going to take me a little while!" The man looks at me blankly and I turn back to cleaning up my two year old! I get everything in zip lockbags, new underwear on Ryan, buckle him up and head home!! That's not the end of the story either! I get home get my white trash child out of the car, throw my keys in my diaper which is sitting on the passenger seat, get out of the car close my door walk around the car to get Caroline out and to my shock realize I have locked Caroline in the car with the keys!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! Not only did I drop her but I have locked her in the car!! I am the worst mom ever, this totally negates the hours I spent making beautiful costumes and all the other mom stuff I do!!! I think about braking the window but realize we have NO money and that would make my ghetto car even ghettoer(not a word I'm sure)! And Jared doesn't have a spare on his key chain and it's like a twenty minute drive. So I quickly decide to call 911! Luckily it wasn't a hot day but it was warm enough. Then I remember my white trash kid running around in his underwear, I didn't want to give the firemen the impression that I was a totally unfit mother, so I rushed inside and got Ryan some dirty clothes out of the laundry. By the time I got him dressed we could hear the sirens coming up our street. Ryan was so excited to have the firetruck parked right in front of our house and pointed out all the different hoses and ladders to one of the firemen standing around while the others worked to get the door open. It took maybe a minute or two and Caroline had no clue what was going on! Needless to say after our eventful day everyone took a really good nap!

After a day like that I vowed to myself that I wasn't going ANYWHERE the rest of the week! I held true and we stayed home to get the potty training under control. The rest of the week was less eventful, but stressful none the less. I think we turned the corner with the potty training and I'm hoping this next week is nice and mellow.

So if you know where to send the mother of the year nominations please let me know, or you can just forward this on!

training for the polar bear swim

today was so beautiful, the pool was just saying ryan's name! yes it is november 4 and ryan was playing in the pool at 5pm! the first couple times he put his feet in, he'd quickly jump out and tell me his feet were cold, but once he fell in face first he was fine!! luckily Mimi and Gramps pool has a big splash pad so i didn't have to dive in after him. playing with everything a boy LOVES: the hose, a bucket and his trucks, and a fountain-it's the perfect recipe for fun!

while ry waded, caroline snuggled with mimi, and watched her brother splash away!

getting a little extra love~

look at those girls!! i love that cricket loves being with her mimi!