Funny Things the Boys Have Said

OK, this is the third time I've tried to write this, and it's nothing but a list! A short one at that! * Corban has been eating really well lately and we've had coleslaw a few times in the last weeks. He loves it, and always calls it clo saw. * Caden always calls band-aids, dandaids. * Johnny to Caden: "You're welcome son." Caden to Johnny: "Me not son. Me Aiden!" * Corban to me: "Mommy, Caden said stupid!" Me: "I don't think he said that." Caden: "Oh yeah, me said stupid!" We had a bit of a rough day today, hoping for a better night's sleep and a better day tomorrow! Oh, and better weather would be nice too!

Can I just say that if the weather doesn't straighten up, I'm going to fall into a deep dark depression of which I will never be able to return? The days it's actually a little warmer, it's raining... or snowing... or hailing. The rest of the time it's just dang cold. I'm tired of it. Anybody got a house in Florida? Other than the weather, things are pretty much the same around here. The rest of this week is going to be pretty busy. Today Corban has school and I'm keeping Joshua for Craig and Di. He'll be here at 10, not sure when he's leaving. Then we have prayer group at church tonight. Tomorrow Johnny is going fishing and I've got Tanner, the 7 month old, all day long. Saturday I'm doing a trade show until early afternoon. Busy busy! Corban has pretty much given up the nap now. I know that he's 4 years old and it's time, but oh, it makes life hard. We've had to really work with him to stay in quiet time in his room while Caden is napping. I've got to have at least an hour in the day without kids! We bought him a little nerf dart gun that he can't have until he gets 10 stickers, one for each day he's a good boy in quiet time. That's helped, and so have the legos. He got a box of legos for his birthday and he's been LOVING them. I let him take them up into his bed and that keeps him pretty occupied. In fact, I went up to let him out of quiet time yesterday and played with him for a bit. When I had to come back down to get dinner in the oven he stayed up there for another 20 minutes or so! I can't believe how much of a big boy he is! Caden is as wild as ever. He's defiant and obstinant, but he's so sweet at cute at the same time! Potty training is NOT going well with him. He goes on the pott a lot, he just won't tell me when he needs to go. I guess I'm waiting until it gets warmer to do the naked training. He's got to be trained before fall or he can't go to school. I was just telling Corban to sit still and Caden says, "Mommy, you don't talk to my friend brudda nasty." Can you tell this boy has attitude?

Things That Bother Me

1. People who bring strollers, especially double strollers, into the Mr. Roger's Play area in the mall. There's a sign right there that says not to bring them in! It doesn't bother me so much if there's an infant in the stroller, in fact, I think I've done that when Caden was little. But when you just don't want to leave your stroller outside of the area (where you can see it the whole time), I get annoyed. When 5 or 6 people bring them in, there's no room for the kids to run around and play, which is you know, the whole point of a PLAY area. 2. Women who wear pajama pants as if they're real pants. They're not. 3. The kid who was hissing at all of the kids at the play area today. He's been there before when we were. 4. The father of the kid who was hissing. He sat in the corner on his phone the whole time, not paying attention to the fact that his kid was hissing at all the other kids. 5. Taxes. We've got to get ours done tomorrow, I'm worried.

Birthday Week

OK. These pictures got totally out of order, so I'll just talk about them in the order they appear. This is out new van. I know, I KNOW, I said I would never drive a van. That was before we were a one income family, hoping to have three kids, and realized how expensive an SUV would be that could deal with us all! I'm not in love with the body style of this thing, but I LOVE the inside and the extras we got!

This is just Caden being silly after he woke up from his nap. He's got such a temper, but he can also be so silly! My favorite thing that he's saying now is "Oh yeah you do!" He says it whenever things are going quite his way. Like the other day he asked for fruity snacks in the van, and I told him we didn't have any. He said, "Oh yeah you do have fruitys!" The inflection is just the most hilarious thing! Last Sunday we drove to Williamsport to surprise Johnny's parents for their 40th anniversary. They knew we were coming, but we dropped the kids off at Libby and Cameron's with babysitters and took his parents out to eat, just the six of us. We thought we had reservations someplace, but that fell through and we ended up going to Red Lobster. We had a great time and I think that they were really surprised and appreciated it.

Corban blowing out his candles at the party we had for him at Johnny's parents. He was such a good boy. He said "Thank You" after he opened each present, and when he was all done, he stood up, said thank you to everyone again, and then said, "I really appreciate everything. Now let's have cake!" Caden blew his candles out the first time, so we had to relight them and let him blow them out!

Corban got this get-up from PawPaw and Grammy. He's such a goof!

We just had a party for him here at our house last night. It was just my parents, Diana and Joshua, Nadine and baby Levi. I got a few videos, but my still camera's battery was dead and I just didn't get out my phone. He had a great time, and it was really low key and enjoyable for me (except for the pizza issue). He got several toys, but it is really surprising me how he's getting into the "playscape" toys. He got a spaceship Imaginext toy that he and Caden both played with for quite a while. He also got a "cramra" from Poppy and Nana that he's really enjoying. We've got a BUSY week ahead of us, and I don't know how I feel about it. I'm keeping Tanner two days this week, which I don't usually do. And I have to admit, keeping another baby is NOT as easy as I thought it would be. It's just dang hard.

Oh, the pizza issue. There's a place here that we really like to order from, it has more "gourmet" type pizzas and sandwiches. One time I was here with Christiana and Diana and the three boys and we ordered from there and it took them over an hour to deliver... and we had three screaming kids by that time. They didn't want to do anything to make it right, but I think that they finally comped the meal, or at least part of it. Last night we ordered from the same place and did it online. We called 20 minutes after it was supposed to be here and they said they had never gotten the order. They were taking our order over the phone I asked what they were going to do to make it right. After the guy got an attitude about it, and said something about the comped meal the other time, he said "You're killing me here," and offered to take a whopping $2.28 off our total. Seriously dude? When I said we weren't going to place our order there unless they made it right, he said, "You would have to pay full price if you got it someplace else." First of all, Maribeth would have died before she spoke to a customer like that. Secondly, what happened to the whole "pleasing people" idea in the service industry? Cracker Barrel managers would get upset with me when I didn't give the customer something free when they complained. So, I hung up the phone and we ordered from someplace else. I'm thinking about writing a letter.

Well, I think that's enough rambling for the day. Oh, except to say that our temps are going back down into the 30's this week and I am NOT happy about it!

Today has been crap. I've been reminded all day though that I praise Him and say that He is good when things are going my way and the outlook is bright and promising, but He is just as good when things are gray and it feels like everything is caving in around me. God is good. Period.

Oh, but it's gonna snow 3-5 (some forcasts are saying more) inches tonight and tomorrow. I wouldn't mind if He would take that goodness someplace else for a while!

I had a Thirty-One party at the house today. It's nice because I am sitting in a clean house, we got take out for dinner, and I've got company planned this week, so I'm a little ahead for that! Johnny took the boys to the zoo while I had the party, they were EXHAUSTED! Caden fell asleep on my lap before 8, and Corban went to bed not long after. In fact, Caden fell out of the bed a little while ago and I don't think he even really woke up - just whimpered a bit and went back to sleep! Johnny and I have watched a bit of TV, I got Sunday School and Church Nursery lessons together, and we're watching "The Karate Kid", the original.

I did take pictures the other day, but I'll spare you the details. Caden is potty training and I sent Johnny a picture as proof of his achievements! It's not going quite as easy as it did with Corban, but it's winter and that just makes it harder. He's improving though, and if I can keep him from getting confused with having to wear a diaper some, we'll be in good shape!

Corban is being such a big boy lately. We've been swimming a few times at the Y and he's not even using a "bubble" anymore. I can't believe that he's going to be 4 in just a few weeks! Well, I had better get to bed before too long, we've got a big day ahead of us... it's Super Bowl Sunday! Goooooo Steelers!

Groundhogs and sleep

I never knew how much I hated the snow until I had kids! I've never been a fan of the cold, but once we had kids it just makes things so much harder! The time it takes to get them out the door, and since we don't have a garage, the times I have to get after them just to get to the car is incredible! I long for summer days when we can throw on shorts, t-shirts, sandals, and head out the door! It's coming though, if Old Phil has anything to say about it!

On a better note, we're all sleeping better these days! The boys are going to bed with hardly a fuss at all. Best thing is, they've been sleeping all night too! They go down at about 9 and sleep until almost 7:30 every morning. I am so thankful for the sleep I've been getting lately.

I don't have any pictures, but hopefully I can take a few and get them posted soon! Oh, and it's SuperBowl Sunday coming up! I'm sure you're all cheering for the Steelers!