Man, it's been a busy week. Right at this moment I'm not so sure what's been going on to make it busy, but seems like we've been going and doing every day this week. I thought I was going to be getting back to the gym full time this week, but I only got there once this week and I won't be getting back tomorrow. Oh well, maybe next week. Tonight we're having leftovers for dinner and Diana is dropping Joshua off while she goes to choir practice. Tomorrow night is fish fry since it's Lent, and Saturday we're having a couples dinner at church, so I don't have to cook for the rest of the weekend!

We didn't sleep at all last night, Caden was up a lot and just refused to go back to sleep then Corban woke up at 6:30. I just laid down with him in his bed and rested while he played with my hair. I had to lay down with him at nap time to get him to go to sleep today. That's not something I do often, but sometimes I've got to do what I've got to do to get him to sleep. I need to clean my kitchen, but just can't make myself.

We went to MOPS today. It was our "Spa Day" because the original one got cancelled for the snow. I got a 10 minute massage, got to do my nails without smudging them, and had lots of snacks and fruit in the chocolate fountain. I'm beat! Johnny and I finished up season 5 of 24 this afternoon and I'm "resting" while the boys are sleeping. My kitchen is gross, but I'm not going to do anything about it right now!

Corban has been such a good boy lately! Not that he's perfect, but I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel as far as his behavior goes. Caden on the other hand has been unbearable! He's got the temper going at full blast and nothing seems to make him happy sometimes. Yesterday we were at Chick-fil-a and J had Corban in the bathroom while I was getting Caden in his high chair and getting the food sorted out. Caden threw a complete fit! When J came out of the bathroom, he asked if it was Caden saying "No, no, no!" and of course it was. He finally calmed down when I let him dip his chicken in the honey mustard sauce. It wasn't pretty when he was finished. And while I'm on the topic of Chick-fil-a, let's talk about the play area. I LOVE the play area there and so do the boys. Here's my beef with it, the parents who send their kids in there unaccompanied. These two mamas in particular not only sent their kids in alone, they had their backs turned to the area the whole time AND their kids were the biggest in there! There was another little boy in there who freaked out and another mother had to get him out of the tube b/c his mother was nowhere to be found. She had to take him out in the restaurant finally to get his mother to notice what was going on. Freaking ridiculous!

Well, this post has gotten long enough. Have a great weekend everybody!

My Day

This morning Johnny got up and went to the Y (he's officially lost 19 pounds since January 3!), and I got showered and got the boys up and fed their breakfast. I got on the road at about 10 this morning, I had wanted to do 9, but oh well. I went to the Tanger Outlet mall in Washington, PA. The only reason I really ever care for the outlet mall is The Children's Place, which usually has awesome deals. Today was OK, not great. Let me tell you, if you are gonna have a 6-9 month old next winter, you would be IN LUCK! (Sherry I can't believe it, but I totally forgot about stocking up for Max for Christmas!). I did get Corban a nice coat, the same one that he is wearing now basically. I love it and although I had to pay more for this one, I still think I got a deal ($8.50 this time, $3.39 last year). I think Corban can wear the one I got last year again next winter and then he'll have this one to grow into. Other than that, I wasn't very pleased with the deals, better luck next time maybe!

I did a few more stores there, ate lunch, and came home. Traffic was a bit of a pain, but I did get home before the boys got up from their naps. I helped Johnny get them ready, and he took them to Cabela's in WV with Luke. Actually, he just texted me and told me that they hadn't even gotten through Pittsburgh yet. I hope this isn't a horrible trip, because Luke just found out that his grandfather passed away this afternoon. Caden also got a haircut this morning. He is TOO CUTE and I'll have to get a pic posted.

Corban now knows that his birthday is coming up. Whenever we ask him what's going on, he always says, "My birthday in a few weeks." He is also officially in a big boy bed now. He has been in a twin size bed with a rail since a little after his second birthday, and now his rail is gone. He was playing with it and pushed it and his mattress pretty much off the bed. We figured it was better to get it off completely. We will not be moving Caden into a big boy bed for quite a while though, I can't believe we put Corban in one so early!

Well, I am going to figure out what to do for dinner and maybe take a bath and watch a movie. I don't get this time alone very often, so I need to make the most of it!

Random

Just a few things to mention.

1) Why do sea gulls seem to congregate in Wal-Mart parking lots after a snow? I've noticed this everywhere, not just here. It's very disconcerting to me.

2) If you follow MckMama (www.mycharmingkids.net) you'll understand what I mean, but I am not a fan of MckDaddy's writings. He might have some decent things to say, but his style of writing is hard for me to deal with.

3) I have been playing wordtwist on Facebook with Diana and Nadine, and I have been totally stinking it up lately. I believe I have noticed a decline in my mental abilities after being home for almost 4 years.

4) I totally forgot to boil noodles for the chicken noodle soup. Crap, I've got to go do that.

5) I finall get to go shopping tomorrow! I was bummed b/c my coupon for The Children's Place had expired, but I found one online.

I have not been out of the house since last Tuesday. Today is Monday, it's been almost a week. It's been too long. Johnny took me and the kids to the mall Tuesday basically to get out of the house before the next snow hit and we were stuck inside again. Then the snow came, then when it was decent enough, Caden got sick so he couldn't go anywhere and I was too nervous to drive on these roads by myself, so I just stayed in. Today it's back to regular schedule though, except for going to the Y. We get a discounted rate there due to our income level, but we have to show them our W-2 before they will renew our membership and we haven't gotten our W-2 yet, so I'm not going there.

The boys have actually been great since we've been snowed in. We get out and play some, but it's so deep that it's not much fun for them. J did finally get the sleds out and shoveled a path for them to walk to that they can sled some. We did Valentine cards for a few people (but I forgot to mail them and take them to church to pass out), Corban helped me cut out heart sugar cookies, but he didn't want to help decorate them. I took them to church and shared with the other kids there. I got the boys a new set of Bible song CDs the other day and put one in while J and I were cooking dinner and picking up the house. The song, "Walking in the Infantry" came on and Corban totally started singing it like he knew it. I haven't taught it to him, someone at church must have. Anyway, since then he's been marching around the house singing just part of it. He says, "I may never fly over the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army. Yes sir!" and he says it over and over and over! P.S. we totally learned that part "I may never soar in the air force." Caden is wearing his gloves again, and needs a haircut desperately.

We're up early this morning too. They were both sleeping pretty decently, but they're getting up at 6 and 6:30 anymore. I don't like that at all. When it's just one of then, we can put them in our bed and turn on some cartoons for a while, but when both of them are up, that's just no fun.

Winter Wonderland

So, this is the snow that we got last Friday. We've actually gotten more since this, about 4 inches in the night last night and a few more through the day today. It's hard to tell because there's so much out there and it's drifting. What we have now doesn't even really look like this because it has mostly fallen from the trees.

These top two are of the back yard... notice how high it piled on the fene in the back yard. It did this weird thing on Monday where the snow started CURLING in different directions on the top of the fence. It looked spiralled in a way. The next is on our deck, I actually took a picture looking straight up into the tree over the deck, but didn't upload it. Maybe I will do that in a few because it was a really neat picture. This poor pine tree might have to come down after this snow. It's been looking pretty sad anyway and I just don't think it's going to survive the weight.

This was right out our front door before Johnny started shoveling. Oh, I forgot to put in this same shot after he cleared it out for us. I might add that too. I remember seeing a snow like this in KY a couple of times when I was probably in middle school. I didn't think that anything could shut Pittsburgh down, but this sure has seemed to manage that. They haven't had school at all this week and I don't see them going on Friday either, tomorrow is already cancelled. This all started at about noon on Friday with some flurriese and sleet. We were on the line between expecting 1-4 inches and 4-8 inches. It started sticking at about 5 pm, and we had about 24 inches by the next morning. Well, Luke and Nadine just got here for dinner.

My battery died on my computer earlier and I was dealing with a lot of stuff going on in the house, so I just left my last post in the middle of the sentence. Everybody is still here, but their power is all back on, so we'll go to Dale and Gail's for a birthday party for Nadine and the Super Bowl. Johnny is exhausted. He has literally not stopped since 6 am yesterday morning. We're hoping that tomorrow can be a little more relaxed for him. We didn't have church today, so his sermon is finished for next week at least! My shoping trip was obviously cancelled, but I'm thinking I might be able to go sometime this week instead. I won't have a coupon for Children's Place, but I'm hoping to score some sweet deals anyway.

Kim, gotta tell you that I wore my cheap Wal-Mart Uggs with my jeans tucked in yesterday and today. To be fair though, I was playing in 2 1/2 feet of snow, so I'm taking it as justified. :)

I totally just had this post written about all that's gone one this weekend, and I lost it for some reason. Anyway, I'll recap. We've got a house full of guests. Craig and Diana's power went out Friday night and he was at work. Diana finally got to her parent's house, but they had already lost power. So last night, Craig, Diana, Joshua, and Christina all came over here. Every bed in our house is being used. We will probably end up hosting a Super Bowl gathering since I don't think anybody's power will be back on for a few days. When the gang got here last night, Johnny was out getting Luke's Mom and Grandmother to Luke

Snow, snow, go away!

It started snowing last night at about 5. By the time we went to bed last night, we had over six inches. This morning, we have more than 20 inches. Not sure the "official" total yet, and we haven't ventured out in it yet to find out! It's supposed to keep on coming down until about noon today, so we're looking at possibly going onto 3 ft. TOO MUCH SNOW! Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and all, but it's so danged annoying to get out in when we have to get out in it. Every time we go to get in the car, Corban is bound and determined to walk through the highest drift he can, and then make a few snowballs to throw up in the air. When Johnny and I are together, it's no problem, but when I'm trying to take them out by myself it can get to be too much! I'm really hoping that they are able to get the roads back into good condition this afternoon and that we can dig the truck out, because I had planned a trip to the outlet mall on Sunday. I just plan to go to The Children's Place, Carter's, and Old Navy before we are coming back here to go to the Bizub's for dinner and the Super Bowl.

This morning Corban slept until 7:45! YAY! Of course, Caden chose this morning to wake up at 6 am and not go back to sleep. YUCK! Doesn't that just figure? Caden usually wakes up around 7:30 or 8, so we could have possibly had a wonderful night. Oh well, I have hope. Well, I need to think about breakfast, and getting the boys ready to go play in the snow with Daddy. He said I didn't have to come out with them, but he said it very grudgingly, so I think I had better at least make an appearance. Yuck again!

Have I mentioned that Caden is putting words together? So far he's said, "Mine juice" and a few other things. He is just the cutest little thing! He has also started telling me "No, no, no" a lot. He cracks himself up with that one! I got new cloth diapers in this week. I debated and struggled over which ones to get, but finally got a brand called "econobum." They're diaper covers with cloth diapers that you just lay in the cover. They are super simple and are doing a very good job so far! They are "one size fits all" so they'll last through Caden and hopefully another baby too! So far we've had one leak, but he had been wearing it for 4 hours and had had 1 1/2 sippy cups of juice. I'm not sure a regular diaper could have held all of that! I still put him in a disposable at night because he is a super heave wetter and they are just more likely to handle it all. Anyway, that's the most exciting thing that has happened to me this week!

Corban isn't feeling 100% today. He had a low grade temp last night and has held onto it this morning. He's not got any other symptoms, so I'm not sure what's going on. He's seemed to do this every couple of weeks, had a low temp with nothing else wrong. He plays pretty well and doesn't seem bothered by it, so I'm just trying to make note of it. Speaking of Corban, he's awake and J is gone, so I'm going to try to work on his Valentine's Day present. Thanks for the idea Sherry!