Advent

Last year I saw and idea on another blog where someone gave their kids a book for every day of advent. I thought it was a great idea and decided to do it this year. As soon as Christmas was over last year, I started buying Christmas books second hand. I won't stand on my soap box about this, but I love buying books second hand. They are a fraction of the price, like 90% off retail, and most of the children's books I buy second hand look brand new. And to be honest, my kids destroy books and at the rate that they do, it seems wasteful to spend $10+ a book. But back to Christmas...




So I started buying Christmas books as I came across them. By mid-summer, I had all the books I needed. I paid anywhere from $1 all the way down to free for the books. About the free one, apparently when you try to buy one Christmas book at a garage sale during the summer, the people will just give it to you! On average I paid about a quarter for each book, making this a pretty dang cheap activity. 

Tonight Connor was pretty excited to get a present, Isla could have cared less. As soon as Connor saw that it was a book, he dropped it. Isla picked it up and looked through it. I read it. Then Connor picked it up and "read" it out loud. I was impressed. He was paying more attention than I thought when I read it to them. It was fun and I look forward to doing this every night until Christmas. 

Now I realize this isn't something I can do every year, as my kids don't need that many Christmas books, but I like the idea and think I am going to run with it. Picking a different theme each year seems a lot more fun than buying a chocolate advent calendar...though I have to admit, getting a piece of candy every day was pretty dang exciting for Connor last year! 

Nuby Medical Kit & Nail Care Set {Nuby Product Review}

When Connor was a baby, heck all the way until he was almost two, he had to take medicine a couple times a day. Because of this, I quickly learned the easiest way to give him medicine. It came in the form of a little medicine bottle. Thankfully with Isla, she has rarely ever had to take medicine. With her two year molars coming in a little early, I have given her medicine a time or two to help calm things down a bit. And let me tell you, the girl does not like taking medicine. Come at her with one of those medicine syringe things and chaos ensues. That is when I broke out the Nuby medi-nurser from the Nuby medical kit. She loved it. It gave her the control and makes giving her some pain relief so much easier. 

The medical kit also contains a medicine dropper, nasal aspirator, ear syringe, and medicine dispenser. I don't know about you, but as a mom I always think it is smart to have extra medicine dispensers handy because I always seem to loose the ones that come with the medicine! Plus, this one is way nicer and sturdier than the free ones you get with medicine. 

Another thing I cannot have too many of as a mom are baby nail clippers. I kid you not, I have so many pairs of them. The honest reason is because I lose them all the time, but also because I like to have them in the kids rooms, as well as the bathroom and I have a pair in my room for good measure! I told you I can't have too many! Nuby has a nail care set that includes not only baby nail clippers, but also little scissors and emery boards. 

Now I will be honest, as obsessed with baby nail clippers as I am, I have yet to ever use anything else on my kids nails, no scissors or emery boards for me, though I know people who prefer those methods to nail clippers. But about the nail clippers, I love the fun designs on them as well as the little safety cover that comes with them. That may have been my favorite part. I have never seen a cover before. So cute! 

You can purchase the Nuby medical kit at BuyBabyDirect.com for $6.99, as well as from Amazon. And you can purchase the Nuby nail care set at BuyBabyDirect.com for $6.99.

I am writing this post as part of the NUBY Mommy Blogger Program. I did not receive compensation for this post, although as part of the program I may receive items to sample or review. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Lately {in photos}

1. Riding on a mini carousel

2. Figuring out his new scooter

3. Isla trying out chopsticks

4. And Connor sleeping thru our entire sushi dinner

5. Connor climbed onto the counter by himself 

6. Isla know where the good stuff is

7. Another day, another mini carousel

8. Connor likes those carousels too

9. Ian enlightening us with his coffee knowledge

10. Connor checking out our neighbor's snowman

11. Isla helping me clean

12. Connor just being cute

What I Wore {thirteen}

There is something about it being cold, but not too cold. You know, when you can wear long sleeves and look cute...and not bundle the heck up. It's kind of like being warm, but not too warm. When you can we are jeans and a t-shirt and not have to bring a sweater. Both non-extreme forms of weather are bliss to me. I guess you could call me a non-extremeist.

Sweater: Made Well

Tank Top: Michael Stars

Jeans: Made Well

Scarf: gift

Shoes: Old Navy

There is also something about my colored jeans. I really believe them to be my best clothing purchase in years. I love them. I love the pop of fun they add to my outfits. I love that they are like wearing jeans, yet not (especially how much they show stains!). I love how I feel when I wear them. I just love them.

Christmas?

I'm having a really hard time believing Christmas is well on its way to us. And that's weird for me. I am usually the one decorating for Christmas the evening of Thanksgiving and all about the Christmas music. But something is different this year and I am thinking it is the weather affecting me. The leaves are barely falling from our trees. The weather is still in the high 60's. It's just weird. I feel like fall is just coming, not Christmas. And what's with Thanksgiving being so early this year?! Everything feels off. But I will get there. I am getting ready to wrap the kids advent presents and I have our 12 dates of Christmas all planned out. I even ordered our Christmas cards today. It seems in action I am there, but in my head, I am not quite. I will get there though.

Thankful

I have a lot to be thankful for this year...
First and foremost these two adorable little people. They may cause loss of sleep and make me feel like I am a full time referee, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
And my hubby, who is such an amazing man. Always there to take over the parenting duties when I need a little more sleep or need to get out with some friends. Not to mention, he always rubs my feet when I ask!
We have our health and for that I am infinitely thankful. There may have been some hiccups lately (hello, double ear infection!) but nothing major and for that I am thankful.
I am thankful for my little house that I love. Our street may have its share of crime, ok more than its share, but we have some great neighbors and live in a great neighborhood.
Then there are our families. Both equally amazing in their own ways. We really were blessed to be born into such great families (and marry into great ones too)!

The list could go on and on. For some reason, this year I have really reveled in thankfulness. Maybe I am just getting old growing up maturing, but I really feel thankful for this life I have been given.


And just so you know life isn't all peachy keen over here, here is the first photo we took. Isla is getting her two year molars at THIRTEEN MONTHS! She has been an awful mess. Two are mostly in and a third one broke through today. Hopefully she will get some relief soon and we will have a little more peace again soon as well.

Cause seriously, this picture about sums up my life the last few days.

Connor's Birthday Celebration

I am not a big party person, but I still wanted to do something to celebrate Connor's birthday and make him feel special. So what I decided to do was take him and a friend out for a couple hours of fun.

I took them to Funworks and first let them play in the soft play area. That was fun and easy. I could basically sit there and watch them run around. It was funny to see their differences in personalities come out as they would both want to play with different things and would be yelling for each other to come with them.

Next up was games! I thought this would be easy, but I was wrong. Two three-year-olds running in opposite directions is anything but easy! And once I would get them to settle on a game and put a token in, then would both take off, leaving me there to play the game by myself. In the end, I found the older kid games were easier and better for them. They both got a kick out of this helicopter game...the car games were too hard because I had to press the pedals the whole time! And though skiball was entertaining, it was dangerous for anyone around us, as they threw the balls at the targets. And good 'ole ride on cars are always a hit!

After the kids were done playing I was worn out and ready to sit for a bit, we headed to In-n-Out. Both boys were super into the stickers they give you and sat there quietly playing with the stickers while we waited for our food.

On the way to take Connor's friend home, Connor zonked out in the car. That rarely happens so early in the day anymore, but he was obviously tired and I was happy to let him catch some shut eye so he would be ready to go that evening.

Ian's parents, his brother and my brother came over for cake and to sing Connor happy birthday. Before we even got around to lighting the candle, Connor stuck his car in the cake.

And apparently Connor takes after me...about halfway through us singing to him, he covered his face in embarrassment.

Connor blowing out his candle turned in to quite the debacle. He wouldn't get close enough to blow out the candle. After going at it for a couple minutes (NO exaggeration!), he finally got close enough to blow the candle out. And he then didn't waste any time and went in for a bite of cake!

I hope my little birthday boy felt loved and celebrated and enjoyed his third birthday.



Unfortunately it appears I have hit my photo limit on my little blog. So, until I get that sorted, no more pictures of Connor and his cake! Hopefully I can get it sorted tonight so I can add the rest of the pictures.

Update: Picture debacle sorted!