Giddy

Yesterday, I talked to my Dad and we finalized a plan to go to thier house for Christmas. I can't wait, Jen (my step-mom) has not seen Adrien since he was I think 4 or 5 months old. Isabella since she was 2 weeks... and I am not so sure I count that time because it was so hard for everyone. She loves babies and kids and I can't wait for them to start a relationship together. Also, my little sister, Heather. Whom I have not seen since Grandma's service as well. I can't wait to see her and to talk to her about upcoming Senior Project, which she has asked for my assistance with. I am excited to find out what creative ideas she has.

There is one hitch and I am sure you can guess what it is... the WEATHER. The SNOW, or chance of it. The RAIN. The ICE. All very bad words in my book right now. So we are keeping a close watch and hoping with all of our might that the storm rolling through tonight is much milder than they expect.

Here's hoping that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all around and to safe traveling for all!

below zero

Today we woke up and found that the house, despite keeping a radiator and a fire going all night was freezing. Not just "man, it's cold" but the kind of cold that makes you want to crawl into the fireplace and set up camp. Scott had to take a class in town today and when he started the car it said -6!! Yes, that's right, 6 below zero. That is insane. We are still cold... but gradually warming up. Hopefully it isn't that cold for everyone and hopefully it stops soon, we are going through so much firewood as I am sure so many others are too.

Loving right now

Things I'm loving right now

1. That my head aches are gone! Whoopee!!


2. These icicles on my roof... they are so beautiful but my camera does no justice.

3. My Husband!!

4. This little guy's love/hate relationship with the snow. He loves to play in it and eat it, but the second any of it touches his face he freaks out.


5. Sibling love... and maybe not so much love. Do you see the look on her face?!



6. How much these kids love their Daddy. They hold still to take a picture with him, but when we switch it's a whole other story.



7. Just how cute my daughter is.


8. Did I mention I love how cute my daughter is?



9. The tub toys that Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Jeff and Clover sent the kids for Christmas. We opened them early because I knew just how awesome they were going to be. The kids love them!


10. The fact that we are headed out to see my parents soon! I can't wait, I keep wishing away the storms so that when they're ready we can just hop in the car and go. Thankfully though, we have chains now and don't have to worry too much about the weather anymore.

better and deeper

I am feeling so much better today. It is amazing. I awoke this morning with some slight back pain and took a few ibuprofen and then have been out in the snow most of the morning stacking wood and building a "snow dude". The snow started again last night, probably around 1 or 2 am and has not let up since. Right now I think we are about at 2 to 2 1/2 feet. We have just started getting little breaks for a few minutes at a time so maybe it will stop sometime today. Either way, I love it. It is so peaceful and beautiful outside, I just wish it were a bit warmer.

Head case

New to the world of migraines? Me too. I have been getting them the past two months more and more frequently and worse in severity. Over the counter meds have stopped working and yesterday and last night were my worst since they started almost two years ago when I was pregnant with Isabella.

I went to the doctor today and have found that stress is probably the reason, along with not enough water and sleep. Stress, not enough sleep and water... now, how could that happen? I left with a prescription to try and ease the pain. After sitting at the pharmacists for an hour waiting, I came home and took my pill. Twenty minutes later I felt worse than I did before. Scott reigned the kids in as quietly as possible for an hour while I hid in our room attempting sleep and still. I emerged with a woozy stomach and aching back, but the pain in my head... finally! GONE. A bath and a small back rub later I felt almost better. I have had to take the evil pain relieving pill one more time tonight and am hoping that I do not have to take it again for quite some time. Scott has promised another back and neck rub for me in a few minutes and then I think I am headed to bed.

Many people in my family suffer from migraines and up until now I am have been so lucky to not be in that group. I have a whole new and deep appreciation for the strength it takes to look someone in the eye when you feel that badly.. or drive home, work, make dinner and raise 5 kids. How amazing and crazy you all must have been to even get out of bed in the morning.



p.s. Isabella's new thing is to sit on the couch and rub her head on some cushions for a minute or two until she gets this hair do going... I found it utterly appropriate for this posting.

Let it snow

Did I mention that it snowed last night?


It did...



About 6 inches worth altogether....




Momma's snow angel...

Adrien's attempt...



Snowed in Tricycle...

And this morning we went out again.



He was supposed to be helping Scott get wood but I knew that he wouldn't.


Five minutes later, he was gone... in the grass. He had to be carried back in kicking and screaming to put warm clothes on.


Then he discovered the joy of eating snow.




And these little bird feet were found on our deck this morning.

At last

At last Adrien is putting himself to sleep, it only took two years and two months but we made it through. He does still come into our bed sometimes but I am willing to deal with that. He is such a grown up little boy. We are starting the potty training process, inspired by Melody over at They Call Me Mama and her experience with Elliot. We did a few test runs with him to see if he was really ready for it and on Monday we are planning a whole day of it for him. I am hoping that he will be completely trained during the day by the time we get to Oma and Ompa's house for the holiday. I don't know what day we are leaving, but I know that it will be after Saturday next week and I think that if he can do it, he will. We have of course decided to take it pretty easy on him, he is just now 2. If he starts to show signs of unready and/or unwillingness I believe we will keep him in diapers a bit longer. So far though, he is stoked! He loves the "big boy" underwear and has already tried going pee standing up. He has always caught on to the physical side of life faster than the verbal so I have high hopes that this will go just as easily.

In the meantime, we are going to finish up some sugar and gingerbread cookies tonight. Tomorrow I will bring some to the nieghbors and then I am going to make some shortbread cookies. It is snowing and so I know we will be bundled up here for a few days so the worst of the storm will be spent knitting a few gifts, watching movies, making popcorn and hot cocoa. I have enchiladas in the oven and tomorrow it is chili and cornbread ( can you tell Scott is home? Much more "Man Food" on my menu lately, that's for sure. ) I think after that I am going to make some chicken soup and put some in the freezer.

We were gifted about half a cord of cedar today and just in time, too. We bought wood a few weeks ago and got jipped by about a third of a cord, which is incredibly frustrating. I didn't know, as I haven't actually seen a cord of wood before and was home alone with the kids when the wood was delivered, but that's life and we have chalcked it up to a learning lesson... expensive as it was.

It's beginning to look and feel a lot like winter here... makes me long for the summer.

holding hands

Scott and I have been a bit busy since he came back home. Well, not too busy. Just enjoying the company of each other, really. It is so nice to have someone to share the kids little moments with. For instance, today Adrien was holding Isabella's hand and walking her around the house. They were pointing to things and talking and laughing and yelling. Then when she wanted to walk by herself she got free and RAN for it. It was so sweet and then so hilarious. She was sprinting with her little belly out and making the funniest face... then she tripped and fell. But instead of watching this interesting event by myself it was shared with Scott and that made it all so much better.

Oh brother

Given the recent amount of girlish screams and brotherly growls amidst all the hitting, kicking, squashing, yelling, biting and sometimes head banging "play" that goes on around here I have had to adjust some of my rules.


For instance, Isabella now knows what a time out is. She loves to bite Adrien in self defense or maybe just because... She sits better than Adrien does, which is weird if you ask me.


Adrien in turn, has had to start giving his sister hugs and kisses after timeouts and say he's sorry. He is starting to like the time outs, I think it actually gives him some time to himself. In light of this, I have started to make them a little longer. Instead of a two minute time out, he now has a three minute time out. I have noticed that he starts to understand at about 2 1/2 minutes that it is a punishment not a trip to solo land.


On a brighter note though, he does seem to be listening to me much better. He tests, as every kid does and usually I have to say something three times to get it through. I feel like we are making progress with him though.

We'll see how it works out.

cookies, the hair, the timeout chair

The other day I made some oatmeal cranberry cookies and Adrien helped. He had his own little bowl and I put in a bit of brown sugar, oats, flour and vanilla. He loved it! He has been so excited about cooking recently. Every time I am cooking he pulls up a chair to watch and add something. I have learned to keep a little bit of water in a measuring cup so that he can help add ingredients without ruining anything.



Scott and I have noticed an increasing amount of testing coming from him as well. We do this thing where we count to three and if he hasn't started to do what we ask by the time we get to three he gets a timeout. This last weekend, Adrien was bouncing with a little grin on his face while Scott was doing the counting. Funny but annoying all at the same time. So, to the timeout chair he went.




Isabella finally has enough hair for me to do something with!! I am so excited, I picked up some barrettes at Walmart and have been trying a few different things with it. I feel sorry for her, but in the end she looks so cute! She has been so excited about walking lately, especially outside. She loves to stomp in the grass and fall in the mud. She tends to go the exact opposite way as Adrien though so to keep an eye on them both outside is starting to get difficult.




Well, hope all of you have a lovely day and if I don't get to post again before Thanksgiving have a good one.

Well...

Scott is off for his third week of training. Last week I was enjoying the time apart and this week it is the exact opposite. I don't know if it is because of the upcoming Holiday, which always make me think of family and my Grandma or if it is just because this training feels like it has already gone on too long. Either way, I wish we were done with it. But then I think of my younger sister whose husband is in Iraq, how strong they both must be to not only endure such distance but also such danger in the unknown. It must be hard.

Today, Adrien and I started to make some of our Christmas cards. This year I am doing something a little different, it's always fun getting something a little different from people. We are using some manila filing folders that I had left over from doing the refiling a few months ago and coloring all over them. Then we are going to cut out photo sized cards and a few hearts and trees and what not. I will write Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or some such and then we will sign them and enclose a photo of our family. Adrien is definitely having fun.

He is starting to say so many new words and besides "Gross" his new favorite is "Chooch Choo Choo." There is a train that passes by our house, almost mile away but you can still see it and hear it. Everytime, Adrien says that. He also has a shirt with some trains on it and a little Tomas the Tank engine toy thing too.

JUST LISTED

Hello everyone!

I have just listed my washcloths with some fresh new pictures so hopefully they will sell. They are priced very fairly at just $9 for a bundle of 3, shipping is $5 but if you buy more than one item it is only $3 per item.


You can find them HERE.

Warmth

VIA Mother in Law. She bought us a radiator and let me tell ya, our whole house is warm finally and not just the downstairs living room. We are using so much less wood.


THANK YOU!

mon petites

The other day, I was able to take a few pictures of the kids and they turned out so great! I really have such beautiful and happy babies!
He was playing Monster... but still very cute!

The winner of the washcloth give away is of course, Melody!! Not only because she was the only one to try, but because she is such an entertaining and honest blogger. So Melody, you'll be hearing from me tonight! Congratulations!

Must have been a good one

Alright already

The first mistake was the batteries... the second was sitting on the couch after I got the kids to bed. I was so exhausted and did not even realize I had fallen asleep until about 9:45 pm. Woops! So after getting the fire going again for the rest of the night and checking all the doors, turning off lights and making sure there is no hidden snacks in cupboards, I have made it upstairs to do the giveaway!! Woohoo!!

Ok, up for grabs is a set of three hand knit, 100% cotton washcloths. They are soft and plush and would be a great gift for a baby shower or just anyone looking for a soft face scrubbie. Two of the cloths are unbleached cotton and the other is bleached. The picture is of only one of the unbleached cloths as the other pictures are so awful they warranted a trip to the recycling bin.




To win this wonderful little package all you need to do is leave a comment. I will then use the random number generator on Saturday at approximately 10 am to decide the winner.

And you thought I forgot

OK, I did not forget, but my camera isn't working, I have to go pick up batteries. So if you check back, I should have the give away posted by 8 pm tonight (pacific standard time).

And just a little hint, it's a knit item!

Reminder

Just a quick reminder that I have a give away happening tomorrow!!


Pay attention and you just might win...

What to do

Today we dropped Scott off at his Mom's house to start his way back up to training. He will be there for four weeks, coming home on the weekends if possible. To tell you the truth I am actually looking forward to the break this time. I think Scott and I are getting pretty sick of each other since he's been off work for so long now. On the bright side, he has had two dispatch calls since being home, so as soon as he is done this time he just may get a job faster than we thought. Cross your fingers.

The kids were totally fine today after we came home. No fits, no "Where's Dad?!" and then a screaming fit. Just good, tired but refusing to sleep children. I did finally get them to bed.. before eight which is in this house a miracle. If you've ever seen how Adrien fights sleep you know what I mean. Now, I am just sort of pondering what to do with my time. I want to knit, but so far today I have had to unravel a portion of my sock three times... so I am wondering if that is even a good idea anymore. You never know, maybe I'll go to bed early!


Hah... that's funny. We all know one of them is going to wake up just as I get comfortable.



And by the way, I know you saw that Obama won!! Isn't that amazing. I am so happy that I was able to vote and be a part of such a historical time. Scott and I bought a newspaper the next day and each wrote a little of what we were feeling to remind us when the kids get into school and ask us. I can't wait. You never know, maybe by that time we'll have a female president...

good, cool Mama

Yesterday I was reading a blog that I get a lot of inspiration from. Inspiration to do things that are beautiful and good not only for my children but for other people's as well. SouleMama has come up with a very cool, very good project for all the Mamas out there. The idea behind her project is pretty simple and rural. It is Mamas doing good for other Mamas. Something that before the age of technology and silicone valley we all were doing anyway. Somewhere along the way that stopped or rather slowed to a halt. And why? What for... really. Have we become too feminist in our ideals to accept help from other women. No one can do it all, not even a man so why are women out there trying? And why are we who are living in an intensely more fortunate world not helping those who are living not just in poverty but in filth and danger every day? That is the idea behind Mama to Mama. It is is a woman with more helping a woman with less. It could be many women with more helping many women with less if we all put the word out in whatever way that we can.
CLICK HERE to be taken to the website for Mama to Mama and check out SouleMama's first project. It's The Caps to Cap-Haitien Project: A Partnership with Konbit Sante. A few old tee's and a sewing machine or possibly a 100% cotton ball of yarn can make a cap for a newborn baby and possibly save it's life. She has a pattern and a list of questions and answers. If you have more please email her. It's a wonderful project and I hope that all who can help, will.

Hey Lady

Yesterday Scott, Adrien, Isabella and I were at WalMart getting diapers and such. I was browsing the clearance pajama bottoms and Scott and Adrien walked up to me. All of a sudden Adrien gets his excited face on, gasps and walks quickly away from us. Scott turns to go get him and sees him about six feet away talking to a young lady, smiling giving it his all. Then he decides it's time for him to go so he says "bye bye" and blows this lady a kiss and pats her hand as he leaves to come back to us. He was so proud of himself, his little chest was all puffed up and he was standing tall.

Two years old and already he's a ladies man... we sure have some problems headed our way when he gets into high school.



ps the give away has been delayed one week due to the ladies man being 103.8 degrees under the weather the past few days. Rescheduled for Wednesday, November 12th.

Frog Love and Socks

Yesterday afternoon as we were unpacking groceries, Scott saw a tree frog outside. He decided to bring it in for a few minutes to show the kids. As you can imagine, they were very excited. Adrien was very loud about the whole thing and scared the frog just a bit. Isabella, as always, was very calm and curious. She has always been this way around animals.




We watched the little guy jump from our living room all the way to the kitchen and almost under the refrigerator. Poor Isabella hardly got to see him at all because Adrien was all over the place. At one point Scott tried to let the kids touch him, Adrien freaked out and said "GROSS!" He is definitely my son.

Isabella really liked it though and I was able to get this shot of her attempting to touch him again.
Other than that though, we are laying low for Halloween. It is easy to do this year since the kids are so young. Scott and I don't think we are going to be so lucky next time. Adrien is picking up on holiday events very fast and is intensely curious why everyone is dressed weirdly. The weather has taken a turn for the wetter and we have been staying mostly in the house. We were able to get almost all of our wood split, chopped and stacked before it got too wet.

I have been very busy today. I started with casting on for my very first sock knitting. I am so excited! I have not only taught myself to knit, but I am now teaching myself how to knit a sock with five needles. Quite frankly, I am feeling pretty proud of myself right now.


Then I attempted to make a sour dough, which I unfortunately let get too warm during the rising process and killed my starter yeast. This really sucks because I can't try again for about a week as I used almost all of my starter in the dough and am now making another. I was really looking forward to some bread tonight...

Oh! That reminds me. I am doing a giveaway on Wednesday, November 5th (my birthday) of some new things I will be posting in my shop this month. Keep your eye open for some cool things coming up!

Walkin and talkin

Isabella has officially started walking. For the past few weeks it has been more of a chance occurrence, but the last few days she has been trying to walk everywhere she goes. It is very cute. So much different from how Adrien started, which was fast and furious. Isabella is much more deliberate and slow. She makes sure that she can put her feet down on a particular spot and if she does go fast it is pretty funny. She holds her hands up like she is going to fly and kind of just moves her feet as fast as she can. Usually this ends up with her face meeting the carpet, but that's how they learn, right?

Adrien has also hit a milestone of late. We are constantly hearing new words fly out of his mouth. The favorites of the week are "uh-OH" and "HELP." The other night Scott was holding him, trying to get him to calm down for bed time and he gave me this very sad look and said "help..." while reaching his arms out to me. Of course I didn't because he needed to go to sleep, but it was cute.


Other than that, we are continuing to chop wood and stack it. I am working on two essays, one for my application and one for a scholarship. Scott is looking to get some testing done pretty soon here so that he can get his Crane certifications and become a full fledged crane operator. OH! That reminds me, he passed and received his CDL license! What an achievement it was too. The truck he had been practicing on for two weeks, broke down two days before the test. So he had to take the test on a much larger vehicle than he was used to. He did well though.

Have a good day everyone and enjoy what's left of our sunshine!

firewood, fire

I mentioned last week that we received a large amount of wood, and this weekend was spent chopping our way through quite a bit of it. The wood was still in rounds from the tree and was sometimes a bit hard to get through, but we managed to do about half of it. And our wood pile continues to grow. This week we will go do some work for another person's house in exchange for a few more trees worth of wood.


On Sunday morning we had a small but significant scare. Our back porch caught on fire because I accidentally left ashes on a stair thinking I would get to them in a few minutes. We were awake, thank God at 4:30 that morning and the house was smokey. After checking the fire in the stove, we started to look around the house. As we made our way to the bathroom Scott saw flames shoot up off the stair outside. We dumped water on it and then filled up the tub to dump more water with buckets. We called the fire department, but it was out before they came. We were very lucky in that we are safe and there was hardly any damage at all. We do have to replace a stair, a few 2x4's and put siding back on the house but that's it. I don't think I have ever been that scared in my life, though. I did run to the neighbors house with Isabella, all the kids clothes and Adrien and Scott came just a few minutes later. We did learn a very, very valuable lesson and are so grateful to be safe and sound.

wonderful people

A few days ago, I was looking at our wood pile and thinking how low it got so fast. Yes, the one we just stacked is almost gone. It is amazing how fast wood goes when it is your only source of heat. I have been incredibly worried about the lack of wood here, it gets very, very cold in our house. With Scott in training for another month our outlook for getting wood seemed very bad.

On a whim, I decided to post our need in the wanted ads of Craigslist. A few days later (also known as yesterday) a man called us back. He is willing to trade us wood for some yard work and can give Scott some on the side business. I am so excited!! Today they brought over a load of wood. It is HUGE! We received, free of charge, about a half a cord of wood. Next week I am headed over to their house to do some yard work for the wife. She was injured recently and is unable to do it. After talking to her today, I found out she and her husband are from the California High Desert and moved to Washington the same time we did but under far worse circumstances. They were homeless and had no other option. They were unable to find work in California and now they own a business together and have a beautiful home after only two years. They saw our ad and felt like they "just had to help." We are so thankful and a lot warmer because of it. I can't wait to return the favor next week. I feel like maybe Grandma had a little something to do with it.

It really does go to show you that if you just put yourself out there more than likely someone else will understand and do what they can do to help.

Adrien's Birthday

Adrien had Mud Pie for his birthday instead of cake and it was definitely a hit. He especially loved the gummy worms. He did about 6 circles around the dinner table after eating a few bites

yea!

I finally figured out the pictures... And to start with here is Isabella on her birthday (Wednesday the 15th).

Doesn't she look angelic? This is before she started to eat my carrot instead of the cake.



Great Grandma Marcia stole a piece and Isabella gave her the look...



She did finally enjoy her cake the next day... and then had a bath.

sorry dady

Arggh.. my pictures aren't downloading, I am going to need Scott's help tomorrow.

Sorry

horrible

Today is turning out to be quite horrible. Adrien fell a few steps from the bottom on the stairs and has a weird bruise. Isabella got bit by a wasp that flew into the house and has been screaming ever since. I have not had a chance to shower, let alone even eat breakfast this morning. I am sitting upstairs listening to her cry while trying to go to sleep. I have done everything I can for her, still she just won't stop. The doctor's office said she should be fine. Adrien has just finished his lunch and is now watching a movie while I go up and down the stairs to check on Izzy.

This sucks. I had felt quite confident this morning about being alone all week and now everything is bad.

What's This?

Today, Scott had to go to the doctors to get his CDL (commercial driving license) physical taken care of. Since I had to run a few errands anyway, I figured I would take the kids and we would just wait for Scott. Two hours later, I had heard "What's this?" from Adrien so many times I wanted to scream and we didn't even go into the office with him! And it didn't stop there, all day long we have been hearing this, over and over again.

Then all of a sudden at dinner, he was standing in his chair and took a huge gulp of milk. He looked at Scott with surprise and said, "Nice! Ahhhh... Hmm Umm." It was pretty cute and definitely a relief from all the "what's."

We are actually very relieved he is beginning to commmunicate because his temper tantrums have decreased considerably. If he can't say what he wants and we don't ask him if he wants it he trys to point us in the right direction and say "this." Things have been much easier around here since his little speech bubble popped.

Five things I'm loving

I am taking a note from SouleMomma's blog here and showing you the things I am loving right now.







1. This is actually a picture from last week. We had a very warm day and had taken the kids to the park. This is one of my favorite parks in the area. Isabella was finally allowed to play on the structure. She really loves going upstairs lately and we figured this would be a very good place for it. She would crawl up the stairs and then go down the slide. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of her going down the slide. I was catching her instead.








2. A salamander or a newt... we weren't sure. Which is probably a sign that we should have paid more attention in biology growing up. We found this little guy under the recycling bin as we were cleaning up after a windy storm yesterday. We tried showing Adrien but he just kept asking us "What's that?" repeatedly.






3. Wood piles. This is more of a love hate relationship actually. I love to have the wood heat, I love the way a neatly stacked wood pile works, but I hate when they fall over. Scott and I had just moved our wood and built a new holder for it, and it broke the very next day. The screws we used were not strong enough. We have rebuilt and now Scott is on his way home with more wood.






4. Accidental forts. I was actually trying to get this blanket to dry today and threw it over Adrien's table in the living room. He hid in there and decided to take a nap. Very cute. I was able to coax him out for some lunch though.

5. My babies. Isabella's first birthday is coming up next week and I am excited to make her a little cupcake. Adrien is going to be two the week after. It is just so amazing to me that these two tiny people are in my life. They are hard work but fun.

**as a side note, I have a phone meeting with the admissions department for the Art Institute of Seattle. I am looking into their culinary program. They have night classes and I so want to go back to school next semester.