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!

Christmas (Things I left out of the first post)

I just couldn't pass these pictures up. This one is after we had done Christmas presents here at our house with Mom and Dad on Wednesday. Both boys got pillow pets from Nana and Poppy and little magnadoodles from Nanny. They loved both! I don't know why Caden wanted to wear the ski cap to open presents, but it was cute!

This was their big gift from Santa. Corban came out, picked up the ball, and made a basket. Of course I don't have pictures of that!

Christmas and 2011

I had this long post about all of the things that we did over Christmas vacation, but I lost it. Honestly, it was boring anyway. We got to spend a few days in Williamsport with family before and after Christmas. We got together with both sides, and had lots of good alone family time too. This is Grammy and PawPaw with all the kids. I think that they were watching, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Grammy had it and Corban LOVED it! The boys really enjoyed Christmas this year. Corban is really getting into it and Caden is just excited if Corban is! This is Corban with the foam sword and shield he got from Santa. Both boys got them and they are a favorite.

This is Caden with Santa, who made an appearance on Christmas Eve. He did fine with him, but you can tell he's a little confused.

Corban did GREAT with Santa. If I can figure out how to edit and upload the video, I will do that because it was just hilarious.

This picture just cracks me up because Corban took it all by himself. He was sitting on my lap taking pictures with my camera and a few of them came out pretty good, so I let him walk around with the camera for a bit and I found this one of Kenan later.

We stayed home for New Year's Eve and really enjoyed it. We watched "The Lion King" and went to bed before midnight. I woke up when the fireworks started going off though! I'm with Kim in that I don't care much for resolutions, but there are a few things I want to work on this year. 1) I want to be more deliberate about doing the things I do with excellence, even the things I don't like to do. 2) I want to be a more patient Mommy. It kills me when I lose it with them and while I know that I can't expect to not lose my patience with them at all, I can at least work on not coming completely unglued. 3) I know I had a third one, just can't think of it!