Awkward/Awesome {eleven}

Awkward: Connor running away from me at the grocery store

Awesome & Awkward: The lady in line after me running after him as my hands were full

Awkward & Awesome: The old lady behind her yelling "run little boy, run"

Awkward: That moment when someone knows your name and is going in for a hug and you have no clue who it is

Awkward: My brother farted really loud and asked Connor "Who did that?" and Connor said "Mama!"

Awesome: Being awoken at 9am by a text and realizing your kids let you sleep until 9am! 

Awesome: Running into a former teacher and catching up

Awkward: He was trying to sell me something

Awkward: When the car in front of you in the Starbucks drive thru turns off their car

Awkward x2: All I wanted was a simple coffee

Awesome: Every single stinking time Connor goes poop in the toilet. I still can't get over the magic that is one less in diapers! 

Awesome: I got my car washed

Awkward: I called it correctly when I said it would rain since I got my car washed

Awesome: I love rain and was so excited to actually clean the inside of my car, so no harm done

Awkward: I went to mail my Christmas cards at the post office and the parking lot was full 

Awkward x2: I decided to suck it up and go in anyway

Awesome: I walked in and NO ONE was in there

Awesome x2: I told the lady helping me it was a "Christmas miracle"...seriously, I probably said it a little too loudly and excitedly, but whatevs! 

Anything awkward or awesome been going on with you?

Chaos

There is nothing like adding to the chaos that is the Christmas season by doing a diy project in your house. Good timing on our part, right? Sure I wouldn't have chose this timing, but while dog sitting a week ago, a dog scratched up our bathroom and kind of lit a fire under us...well, really Ian, I could have lived with it for a bit. And it really is unfair of me to blame all of this on a dog. Just the timing is the dog's fault. Everything else is really bad quality by the people who flipped our house. The paint in the while house is pealing, so slowly we have been sanding and redoing everything. Maybe I should clarify, slowly Ian has been sanding and redoing everything while I take the kids out of the house. 

Now that demolition has begun and I have bathroom stuff mixed throughout my house like Christmas decorations, I am rethinking our timing a little. I can only hope things are complete by Christmas, but I am guessing it will more be the days after when Ian has some time off work. In the mean time, I am hoping Connor gets the hang of stepping over the shop vac because he is constantly managing to trip on the cord and make a ruckus when his sister is sleeping. 

And on a semi-related note, we ripped out the shower doors on the bathtub, which I am so excited about. Those doors are just not conducive to bathing children. Anyway, apparently the door tracks weren't calked on the inside of the shower. It makes me sick to think of the grossness that has been right next to my kids. I thought about posting a picture, but decided it wasn't necessary. I decided you would prefer seeing a cute picture of my fireman in the bathtub, rather than the nasty mold that was surrounding my bath. 

Christmas Lights

Tonight we decided to go check out some Christmas lights. We drove to a neighborhood that has their lights set to music. Connor was talking about them in the car, but not super excited. I decided to pull him out of the car and stand in front of the main house with him. I am so glad I did. He was AMAZED by it all. Here is a little snippet of his excitement.

Next time I plan on bundling us up so we can stand in front of this house all night long. Just watching Connor's excitement spills over to me and fills my heart with such great joy. This seriously made my day.

The Twelve Dates of Christmas {2012}

Last year I tried something new in December with Ian. I copied someone else and did the twelve dates of Christmas with Ian. I really didn't put much planning into it. I basically decided on the day what I wanted to do and wrote a note to Ian telling him what we were going to do. Between having a newborn and the lack of planning of dates, we didn't do twelve dates. So, this year I decided to plan. 

First I listed out all my date ideas. I knew I didn't want any two dates alike (i.e. only one dinner date, etc.). I also knew six dates were going to happen at home because lets face it, baby sitting twelve times in twenty-four days is just a little much. Then I took a december calendar and started filling in days with dates. Lastly, I decided to up the ante a little bit and made a book for Ian that holds the information for each date. 

Each date is enclosed in an envelope, so they are a surprise. On the outside of the envelope is the date the date is going to happen (follow that? date, date...yep, you got it!). And I normally let Ian open the envelope an hour or two before the date so he knows what to expect. 

So far we have been on three dates - breakfast at a restaurant, wine & cheese at home (after the kids were in bed!) and a dinner date. I can't tell you the rest of them as Ian doesn't know! But I am excited. Though I mostly chose things we love, I threw a couple in there of things we never do, so it should be fun! Now I feel like I am not only keeping Ian in suspense, but all of you as well...fun times! 

Oh How Our Family Has Grown

After we got our family pictures taken a couple weeks ago, I went back and started looking at pictures from the past couple years. Its fun to see how quickly our family has changed in such a short amount of time. Especially because it seems like this is just how it has always been. It feels so right.

I'm glad we have had our pictures taken in the fall every year and hope to continue to do it. It is a fun and easy way to watch all of us grow and change.

Of course, at the same time, the sentimental sappy side of me comes out and starts thinking about how quickly the past three years have gone and how before I know it, all my kiddos will be gone...there I go again, already worried about empty nest syndrome. Maybe I will get lucky like my mom and my kids will never give me a moment of peace leave me alone!

A Little Visitor

Today while I was making dinner, I hear Connor yell from his train table "Mama, there is a turtle on my train". I went in there to find a ladybug on Connor's train. 

It was cute how enthralled with it he was. Yet at the same time, I am sure this little ladybug was scared for its life. You see, when it got off the train, Connor proceeded to chase it with the train. When it went off the track, his train followed. Of course, he would also pause to take close up looks for himself. Finally the little ladybug smartened up and flew away...of course, it is still trapped in our house somewhere! 

It was a pretty darn cute little scenario. And it warms my heart to be able to relive things like this through my kids eyes. Sure I do still get excited when I see a ladybug, but not that excited.

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!