Christmas cards

I wanted to wait and post this after I had mailed all the Christmas cards out because I wanted everyone to be surprised by what they got. I worked really hard for about two weeks in order to get all of my cards done on time. I usually only make one or two handmade cards and then send out the store bought ones to the majority of the people on my list, but decided that I wanted to make them all special for this year.

There was no rhyme or reason to who got what card, except for my MIL who saw the majority of the cards I had made, so I made an additional one so she could be surprised as well. Hopefully she likes the new one as much as she liked the ones she saw. I made three of each kind of card and have finally figured out that the more simple the card is to make the better it usually turns out. So for all your enjoyment here are all the cards I made and I apologize in advance if you didn’t get one you liked.

Being Santa’s Elf

I know I have mentioned before how much I love Christmas and now that my oldest son is in school I have the pleasure of being able to volunteer when I can to help out and be a part of this foreign little world that exists to my son without me in it. So when the opportunity arises and the call comes for help, I try to fit volunteering at Jack’s school into my hard to manage schedule.

Upon learning that I would be helping out at his school, Jack told me that he “is getting used to me being at school.” I asked if he liked that I was there and he said that he did.  Although I didn’t get to see my son or interact with him apart from him walking by and waving at me on his way to lunch, I was at least there when they needed help. I, along with three other parent volunteers, hot glued together 62 graham cracker houses to prepare them for decorating on Friday by the kindergarten classes.

I must say that it was long and tedious work and after two hours of squeezing hot glue through a difficult little gun my right hand was left practically paralyzed. It was all worth it though when he came home and the first thing he said when he walked through the door was that he saw me at his school. He said it with a smile and I couldn’t ask for anything better.

So although I can’t be there for everything, I am at least trying and my son can see that. It puts a smile on his face and that makes me happy, even as I nurse my poor sore hand.

Christmas Parade

New Berlin had a little Christmas Parade this year. Last year they didn’t because of the lack of funds, but some generous soul who lives here decided that the city needed another parade and raised  enough money to make it happen. It was a small parade, there were more floats than what I have pictured, but it only lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. There were four different bands and lots of candy being handed out.

It was just the boys, myself and their Grandma Ann who went as Andy had to work the entire day (BOO), so we just found a spot in a church parking lot with a good view and watched from the warmth of the mini van. A couple of times we got out so the kids could go catch some candy or pet a dog or say hit to a person in costume, but we stayed in the van the majority of the time because it was just too cold outside.

Of course, at the very end Santa came and was pulled by two of his eight reindeer and we definitely got out of the car to wave to him.

After the parade we went to the fire station down by City Hall and got a stocking full of candy for each of the boys and Alex saw Bert from Sesame Street and was just amazed that he was there. He shook hands with him and stared at him in awe, but wasn’t so impressed that he would stand up right next to him for a picture. Jack has always been this way with people and has never let a costume dissuade him from the fact that it is actually a stranger inside. Smart boys. Fun day.

Snow much fun

We finally had our first snow and thank goodness it was a complete contrast to the first snow last year. Last year I was cursing Wisconsin because I didn’t have a snow  blower and the first snow was the very wet and heavy kind that is extremely hard to shovel manually. This year was a piece of cake with the light powdery snow that gently fell from the sky. I shoveled the driveway without the use of the snow blower and even though it just covered it up over the following two hours, at least I wasn’t sore from the cleaning. Later Andy, Jack and I went back out and cleared it away again with just the shovels.

Of course, with the first snow of the year comes the super excitement from the kids about wanting to go outside and play in it even though the temperature reads a balmy 23 degrees. So on go their snow boots and jackets and hats and gloves, the snow pants came out the next day after I found them, and out they went to enjoy their day. Jack stayed out longer than Alex because his “skin is made for the cold weather” and Alex takes after his Mommy and doesn’t like being cold, but hates to miss out on the fun.

I do not like the cold, but found that it is much more manageable when you have snow pants on that keep the wind from getting to you. Maybe I can go outside more this year with this newfound knowledge and build a snowman with my kids when the snow gets a little more clumpier.

On Sunday when Daddy didn’t have to work Jack helped his Daddy clear the rest of the snow and used it to create the beginnings of his fort, which he hopes to make a little bigger after each additional snow fall. It is just big enough to fit him and his little brother Alex.

We got the boys some new snow boots this year that kept their feet extremely warm, that plus the addition of the snow pants made the winter weather tolerable enough for Alex to want to stay outside and play with his sibling and Daddy in the snow.

Afterwards they came in and were toasty warm despite the cold except for their bright red cheeks which were so cute, but really difficult to catch on camera. You can just see it on Jack’s cheek how red they were.

Looks like the boys may like spending more time outside in the winter time then they do in the summer time. I bet they won’t be able to contain themselves when it comes time to go sledding, especially since we got an all new family sized sled we can all ride on at once.

Red Fox

Okay, so when I picture foxes, I always picture them like this one, as tiny little dogs about the size of a cocker spaniel. So imagine my surprise today when I was in my bedroom talking to my husband and playing with my three year old and I just happen to look out the  window, which has a fantastic view of my back yard, and see a large red dog running across my lawn. At first I thought I was seeing the neighbors dog as they like to let it run free (I don’t care as long as it doesn’t poop in my yard), but then I took a good look and this dog was much redder and larger than the neighbors dog.

“Holy crap a red fox,” were the words that came out of my mouth to my husband.

“Where’s your camera,” my husband said to me.

I ran to get my camera and in just those few seconds that wily little fox had disappeared to the side of our neighbors house. So I ran to the front hoping to catch a glimpse of him when I saw him across the street sniffing around another house. The pictures a little fuzzy, but pretty good considering he was a good four to five hundred yards away. See how much bigger he looks then the picture above? He is clearly well fed!

He was surprisingly large from what I imagined him to be. More about the size of collie. I know I am told time and again that nature is more prevalent here in Wisconsin then in San Diego, but it always comes as such a shock when I see wild animals in my own back yard.

In the summer, before they all migrated south, we had three rather large Cooper’s hawks that would leave our backyard a mess with all the parts of their captured prey that they didn’t eat. More than once I have had to get my gloves and pick up a little bird head and throw it into the woods so that my kids wouldn’t go out and find them and start playing with them. This is actually a picture of all three when they were in our back yard. They must have just snagged a kill because it was really rare to see them all together at once.

Besides these beautiful animals I have also seen huge amount of deer nearly everywhere and a bobcat crossing the street a half a block from my house as well as a coyote carrying what looked to be a rabbit in its mouth down the road a bit. My children are officially not allowed outside once the sun goes down. I’m sure this fox could have easily carried Alex away. I’m just joking… a little anyway.

Alex too

I thought we were going to escape unscathed , but it seems that whatever bug that took out Andy and Jack wasn’t done. Alex woke up this morning and started telling me how much his tummy hurt. He laid down for a bit on the couch and then was up and running around like normal so I didn’t think too much of it. About mid day when we were having Arby’s for lunch, he loves Arby’s, he started complaining again. I was escorting him to the bathroom to be on the safe side and we were around four feet from the door when the poor thing threw up all over himself and the floor. So now he is down for the count and was out by six p.m. Hopefully this will be just like Jack and he will wake up tomorrow feeling like himself again.

Up goes the Christmas Village

I am actually doing a pretty good job of taking things slow with the decorations this year. I usually put everything up all in one day and wear myself out, but I am successfully done with day two and still have another day or two to go.

Today was the Christmas Village and it is my favorite thing to do and the kids get so excited to help set it up. Except for the unboxing of everything, I love deciding where things will go and making this little town come to life. The kids love it when we put up the village and like to see it lit up when all the lights are off in the living room so they can get the full effect.

We have several different kinds of trees and buildings and even have a bunch of lamp posts that light up as well. We only just started the Village just before we left San Diego so this may be the fourth year that we have had it. Every year my village has grown by at least one building. Usually no more than that as Andy likes to help pick them out and he is very particular on what looks right and what doesn’t. Also, we try to get them when they are on clearance after Christmas and it makes our choices limited.

We found a great 1920’s buffet when we were in San Diego that fits nicely in the living room and it makes the perfect spot for our little setup. I still see a lot of white so it looks like we aren’t done yet. I kind of want the ice skating pond, but I think it might be a little overwhelming not to mention the space it takes up. I guess I’ll just have to shop around and see what I find when the holidays are over.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

I can’t help it. I LOVE the Christmas holiday. I like shopping for gifts for people, especially my kids, and even though every year I say we will not get them very much because they already have so much, I can’t help myself and neither can my husband. It becomes much easier at this time of year to throw the threat of Santa not showing up in order to make my children behave. It also is so much fun to see the joy in their tiny little faces when they look through the toy catalog and pick out the things that they wish for Christmas.

I love to hear the Christmas music, though not constantly because everyone needs a break from that, and enjoy the mood it puts people in when they hear it too. I like that sometimes when I am by myself I will start singing a Christmas song in my head and even though I don’t know all the words it still puts me in a Christmassy mood.

Above all else though, I love the decorations. I love putting up the tree and I love putting up my Christmas village and I love driving down the street and seeing all the decorations other people have put up in their yards and all the different lights that turn an ordinary dark night into a winter land of color. I love seeing Christmas trees lit up through the windows in people’s houses and the big blow up Santa’s and Snowmen that are so popular now in the front yards. I saw a 20 foot snowman I wouldn’t mind tying between the two trees in my front yard at Menards and had to hold myself back from actually purchasing it.

The hardest part of the holiday is when I see other people putting up their lights and their trees and Halloween has only just passed and Thanksgiving has yet to arrive. I always think to myself what difference would it really make if I put my decorations up before Thanksgiving happened, but then I have to remind myself that it really isn’t right to rush through a holiday as important, but seemingly forgotten as Thanksgiving. So I refrain from putting up the decorations and give Thanksgiving it due respect and remember that Christmas will come in its  own time.

Now, however, it is two days after Thanksgiving and all bets are off. I have my tree up and decorated and the stockings are hung along with a couple of wreaths on the door. I am trying to take my time this year and spread it out a little so I don’t get overwhelmed and tire myself out like I sometimes tend to do. Tomorrow I will work on my village and finish hanging the garland as well as the miscellaneous lights in the windows.

Christmas is here

Be of good cheer

La la la la

Merry merry merry Christmas

Merry merry merry Christmas

Birthdays on the mind

So Jack attended his third birthday party of the year and it has me thinking about what exactly we are going to do when his birthday rolls around. For all his other birthdays it was just an immediate family affair that mostly consisted of myself, Andy and the two boys and sometimes Ann when she was able to be in town. Now that he is getting older and has already been to three birthday parties for his school friends it seems that he wants to go a different route than what we normally do and I am not sure what to do.

One of the birthday parties he attended was at a big party place called Jump Zone. He, of course, loved this and immediately started asking if he could have a party there as well. I do not have that kind of money to put out there for what amounts to an hour and 45 minutes of kids running wild over blowup slides and trampolines.

The other two were held at the kids houses and seemed like they had plenty of fun there as well. The only problem I have with this option is that our house isn’t exactly “party ready”. We only have the one bathroom in working condition as the other bathroom is in the middle of being remodeled and will probably be nowhere near completion when January rolls around along with Jack’s birthday.

The basement is the other option, but the problem remains the same that we do not have another bathroom and I am afraid to have that amount of kids and only one restroom. Plus, call me whatever you want, but I get a headache just thinking about the amount of noise that having all his friends from school will create.

The only other option I have come up with is maybe having the party at McDonald’s so that the kids can eat then run wild in the Play Place. This seems like the best option right now, especially since in January it will likely be snowing and freezing outside and having the kids in our backyard frozen to death is not very appealing. The bad thing about this option is that it requires the adults to basically stay the entire time and many parents really just want to drop their kids off and go. Not that I blame them. It is hard to stay around that many screaming children for any amount of time, much less the two or so hours that a birthday party occupies.

So I am looking for ideas on what to do for a party and figured that the sooner I start the better. Christmas will not even be a fading memory and then Jack will be six. What I do this year will probably set the precedence in the years to come. I want it to be fun for the kids, especially Jack, as well as easy on the adults. I am open to anything as long as it doesn’t cost too much money. I am not one of those parents who will spend hundreds of dollars on a birthday. I am more of a give them cake and ice-cream and call it a day kind of person.

Thanksgiving Day Blues

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and unfortunately for us, this one was not quite as successful as they have been in the past. The day before Thanksgiving Andy got sick and spent the entire day in a completely lethargic state. To make matters much worse, Jack began complaining that his stomach hurt early Thanksgiving morning. He didn’t seem to be acting any differently than normal so I thought he was just playing around and copying his daddy. However, by the time we made it to his Grandma’s house he had lost his energetic disposition and after vomiting a couple of times spent the rest of the day in bed. Andy was able to make it through the meal, but did not eat very much.

By the next day everyone was feeling fine. Not sure if it was food poisoning or a virus of some sort, but Alex and I escaped without any symptoms. Hopefully next year we can be thankful for good health on Thanksgiving Day along with all the good food.

We did get to make up for it the next day when Andy’s parent’s and brother invited us back over for freshly caught Bambi steaks. Delicious.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

 

We have a funny story about our anniversary that has seemingly made its way into tradition though not on purpose. The whole reason we were married on November first was that it was exactly a year from the day we met. My thinking was that it would make it easier to remember if we had a date that held more than one memory for us. It does work. I remember my anniversary no problem and so does my husband… that is, until the actual day of our anniversary. We always say we will plan something special or go out to dinner, but inevitably we end up exhausted and busy at the end of a long day and completely forget the entire thing. On November 2nd we usually both remember and then go out to dinner. For the first five years this was the scenario every single time.

Finally, this year we managed to break the cycle, but not without a little help. My Mom posted a Happy Anniversary post on my Facebook wall a day early, which I happened to read the day of, so I had time to go out (it was my day off) and preplan a nice steak dinner at home. I had thought about going out, but like normal just didn’t feel up to it and what better way to celebrate then with my family? So we had a nice dinner and even a little visit from Andy’s brother Mark.

I can hardly believe that it has been six wonderful years since I married my husband. It certainly doesn’t seem like so much time has passed, yet everyday I am reminded of our time spent together just by looking at our two precious boys. Andy is a fantastic father and a great husband. He makes me laugh and is my best friend. There is no one else I would rather spend my time with. Our boys can’t get enough of him and he is like a big child himself when he plays with them. It has definitely not always been easy, but it has always been worth it.

One month into our marriage.

A little over one year.

Two years  and one and three quarters kids.

Three years and our family is complete.

Four years together.

Just over five years. (Weird, I have very few pictures of Andy and together.)

My poor little Frankenbaby

I knew that having boys meant that there will automatically be trips to the hospital, but I did not expect them to start so soon nor did I think that it would be my three year old who would be first as Jack is a bit more adventurous.

After getting a frantic phone call from my husband about the location of the insurance card he told me Alex had taken a six foot drop from off the ladder in our garage that goes up to the attic and had landed on his head. Of course I immediately left work and met them at the urgent care.

The doctor was really nice and said she didn’t think there was any major damage done, but just to err on the side of caution she wanted him transported via ambulance to the Children’s Hospital for a more in depth look. Alex did really well though he made the paramedics a little nervous because he kept wanting to go to sleep in the ambulance, which is not good considering he had a concussion. Thankfully it was a game day so the emergency room was not busy and they took him right away.

He ended up having a CT scan to check for damage on his brain and skull and there was a fracture found on the skull, but lucky for us there was no movement of the bone. The doctor said it would take about three weeks to heal and there should be minimal swelling of the brain, but to observe him for any altered behavior and bring him back in if there is.

He also had torn the top part of his ear from the impact of the fall and had to get four stitches. He did so good even though the whole trip to the hospital exhausted him. In the end he had a big hematoma on the left side of his head, a concussion, a fractured skull, and a torn ear, but it could definitely have been a lot worse. We were lucky that Andy was right there when it happened as well as his mom who was a big help just in taking care of Jack and being there for us. It was amazing the group of people who helped us with Alex. They were all both professional and very compassionate towards our little boy and made a heartbreaking situation much more bearable.

While we were waiting at the hospital to be picked up I asked Alex what happened and he said: When I was putting the pencils away I was on the ladder and then I just fell down. That he remembered what happened is an excellent sign that he is going to be okay.

Alex will be fine and he is talking like nothing more than a bump on his head happened, although he has been tired a lot. Of course it is hard for him to get a good night’s sleep when every time you roll over you lay on a stitched up ear and a bruised noggin. Except for the ear and a little redness on his forehead he doesn’t look half bad.

He’s lucky that the scars from the stitches will be hidden in the crease of his ear.

Now he is just enjoying having Mommy and Daddy at his beck and call.

Carving a pumpkin

Jack has been super excited about his class field trip to Swan’s Pumpkin Farm ever since he had to bring home the permission slip to go. He got up almost an hour earlier then normal on the day of the trip and we had everything ready before the bus even showed up. He had to take a cold lunch to school because they would be spending nearly half the day at the farm doing things like hayrides and a corn maze and picking out their own pumpkins to take home.

He had some homework that he had to complete using the pumpkin he picked out but once that was done he was very eager to carve out the pumpkin and make a Jack O’ lantern as well as roasting the pumpkin seeds for a tasty snack. He was very nice and shared the project with his little brother Alex who eventually was turned off by the slimy grossness of the pumpkin guts and didn’t really want to participate until Mommy started carving.

In the end we carved two faces on the opposite sides of the pumpkin, one designed by Jack and one designed by Alex with a little help from his Mommy. There will be more pumpkin carving later on when their Uncle Mark comes for a visit, but this just could not wait. Here’s hoping it lasts until Halloween.

No one does the look of disgust better than Alex.

Jack is a trouper. He cleaned out all of the insides by himself once Alex discovered how gross it was.

 

Alex and his design.

 

Jack and his creation.

 

My three punkin’ heads.

 

Delicious roasted pumpkin seeds!