Kim's Visit

My sister went to St Louis with her family for Christmas, and since we're only another 3 hours away, they all came to our place for a few days afterwards. They mostly came to see the new basement, but since that was accomplished in the first 30 minutes...

 

We had quite a few movie parties in the new theater. The kids also played and played (bring on the new Christmas toys!), and the moms and dads talked and talked. It was great fun. We miss living close to them!

 

We've also been wanting to visit the new Caterpillar Visitor Center downtown, and what better time than with visiting family.

 

There isn't really much to say about each picture, so I'll just let the photos do the talking.

 

 

Thanks again for coming, Kim and family. Brennan keeps asking for "Anna." We miss you guys!

Nine!

We can now say we've been married nine years. Isn't that nuts!? And what does this couple do to celebrate their anniversary?

Well, Ryan went running with a friend this morning and brought his teenage-daughter home with him. Yep, she was here at 7:30 in the morning! We went to breakfast at a little diner nearby. We are totally missing his uncle's place in Vancouver, but this was passable. I love eating out for breakfast.

After breakfast? We went to Kohl's to return a shirt, but couldn't find anything to buy with the gift card. We went to Best Buy to spend a gift card, but couldn't find anything we wanted. We went to Lowe's for...  wait for it.... night lights (my sis is coming tonight and her daughter needs a night light to sleep with) and furnace filters. Ha ha.

Furnace filters and night lights for an anniversary? Yep, that's nine years for ya. Who needs diamonds and special trips? I have Ryan, and that's all I need.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my amazing husband. We have had a crazy last year; it has literally been the best and worst year of our nine years together. We had our AMAZING trip to the Bahamas in February followed by the HORRIFIC four-month separation of Joliet. In the midst of those events (and after almost five years of planning and dreaming), we finished our basement to perfection.

And through it all, we have grown to love each other more and more. I love you, Babe. I can't imagine life without you. Happy anniversary!

Merry Christmas!

We headed to St Louis this year for Christmas. It was a quick trip, arriving the morning of the 22nd and returning the morning of the 26th. We were joined by Rob (youngest bro), Jared (younger bro)and Kim (sis). Rob's friend visited part of the time, and of course all of Kim's crew was there.

Collin had a great time playing with his cousin Janice (age 6). Brennan did seem to understand that Brianna (just a few days older than him) was not a "baby." All in all, we had a great time. Collin had many bratty moments, and the moms and dads had many sleepless nights, but isn't that what family trips are all about? lol

The adults enjoyed playing Bang! each night after the lil ones were in bed. Grandpa refused to play because lying was the basis for the game. Beer life points and "banging" each other didn't seem to phase him!

My parents have enjoyed traveling the world this last year, so they brought us some culture. On Sunday we had a luau, complete with leis and Hawaiian chicken. My mom even wore her mu mu! Another evening we got to hear all about their Book of Mormon tour. We each received a leather replica of the Tree of Life dream, which is often found carved among the Mayan ruins. Super cool. We also got a bookmark for our scriptures with the Mayan glyph meaning "and it came to pass." Cool huh?

For Christmas eve, we started a new tradition (at least I hope it'll be). With very little effort, we dressed up the kids and Grandma read the nativity story from Luke 2. Collin/Joseph insisted on riding in on a donkey, because why should Janice/Mary get to have all the fun? The daddies/donkeys willingly obliged.

Brennan was our shepherd and didn't want to take off his costume, and Brianna was our angel and wouldn't keep her costume on. Funny how different kids can be.

 Here they all are together. Cute huh? I particularly love Brennan's sheep (aka Monkey Mike).

 My mom came up with perfect gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

After our play, the boys opened their new jammies. Thanks, Nana! They're adorable.

We love yukis at our house, and Brennan proudly exclaimed "tall, Tall, TALL" when he saw them. So cute. Then we all posed around the tree. Try to forget that Ryan and I are wearing the same jammies as last year; I was too lazy and cheap to do new ones.

Collin was the first one up Christmas morning, sleeping in all the way until 6:30. Sigh. I love his bed-head hair in this pic with his stocking. What a cutie. Too bad his black-eye was in full force Christmas morn.

Collin asked Santa for a stomp rocket, which I apparently forgot to take a picture of him with. Brennan asked for something different each day of December, including a ball and a hammer, so he got a squeaky hammer in his stocking and a hopper ball as his "Santa gift." He caught on to the hopper method instantly and hopped across the kitchen floor effortlessly. It was amazing.

I got my Kindle Fire HD, and I couldn't be happier. Almost done with my first book! Ryan got a Blue Ray player and new shaver.

My parents have a new game they play with us now. For several years now, we've received a check for Christmas. Last year they bought these silly trick boxes where you can see the money but you can't get it out without figuring out the trick to open it. This year was a pinball machine. Good thing I'm married to an engineer; I'm pretty sure I would never get my money otherwise!

Collin and Brennan got a grill and food to share, but Collin definitely has a stronger affection for it. Isn't my little chef adorable?

We all had a wonderful day. Merry Christmas! I hope each of your Christmases was as family-filled and joyous as ours. Here's to a wonderful new year!

Happy Last Day of the World! (aka C's bday)

It may not have been the last day of the world... but it was still Collin's 4th birthday!

We started the day with blueberry snowman pancakes with chocolate chip decor.

Side story: After decorating their yukis, Ryan went to cut Brennan's into bite-sized pieces. Brennan quickly protected his plate with his arms and said, "No cut. Owie. No cut yuki. Owie!" He insisted Ryan was going to hurt his snowman. So we all ate our breakfast while Brennan stared at his yuki. After a minute or two, he pushed his plate over to Ryan and said, "Cut yuki. Eat!" It was adorable. I guess hunger over-powered his protective instincts.

While Mom cleaned up breakfast, the boys headed out to tackle the icy driveway. Our "blizzard" was hardly a dusting, but we definitely had INSANE winds yesterday. And since the snow came after 24 hours of torrential rain, there's some crazy ice under it. The doors and garage were totally layered in a thin sheet of ice. Yep, we were living in glass house.

As requested by the birthday boy, we went as a family (Ryan used his last vacation day) to Monkey Joe's. It is a bounce house with slides and stuff for the kids. Ryan's never been, and we were the only family there for 40 minutes. It was awesome. Tons of fun. The sign may say "No Adults on jumping houses" but hey - we were definitely "assisting children under the age of 4" ...most of the time. Good times for everyone. I was exhausted! Happy birthday, big boy.

For lunch we headed to Culver's, also by request of the honoree. Unfortunately, there was a bus in the parking lot and a restaurant FULL of middle schoolers. We all survived, lol. A kind teacher let us cut in line, and the food came crazy fast. We also enjoyed some interesting gossip while eating. Reminded me of my days in sixth grade.

After nap time (Collin rarely naps anymore, and today was no exception - He did about an hour and a half of quiet time instead), we ate Culver's ice cream cake. After running away fearfully, Collin did return to the table for the birthday song and (unlike last year) blew out LIT candles. Hooray!

Lastly, we opened presents on the web cam with Nana. Coll got a fleece sheet set, tinker toys and a new game for his Leapster. <-- Mom's sanity, fingers crossed, on the car ride tomorrow.

Yep, the world may not have ended, but I have a four-year-old in my house. How did this happen!?

PS: In case you noticed his left eye... He fell last night getting ready for bed (just in time for birthday pictures) and slammed into the board books on the book shelf. For real owie.

Retirement?

I think I should take early retirement... from blogging, that is. I never blog anymore, and I never even see anything in my life worth blogging about. I seem to have run dry of all creativity, not to mention of the energy to share something of any interest to anyone at all. Sigh.

Is this the winter drearies settling in early this year? AHHH! It's gonna be an extra long winter...

In the style of my super-blogger sister-in-law, I'll post some bullets of our life:

• We have had a stomach bug the last two months. Since getting our carpet (Oct 23rd), Brennan has thrown up in bed twice, and Collin has once. I have gotten both illnesses, each for only about a day. Bleck. Two bouts of ickiness in just less than a month?! 
• Collin hates preschool. He says that school days aren't happy days. Most of the time he goes without argument, but he does so because he is generally pretty obedient, and he knows his mom wants him to. We pick up a neighbor boy on Wednesdays so they arrive together, because that day is generally his harder day. It seems to be helping. He tells me he doesn't talk to anyone there either. He sits on the line in the gym for indoor recess, and he stands by his teacher on the playground for outdoor recess.  It breaks my heart.
• I teach my boys Science Time each week. It should be more aptly called Science & Social Studies Time, but Collin loves Syd the Science Kid (PBS), so Science Time it is. Each boy has a science notebook, and we sing a welcome song (I wrote it and Collin knows all the words, lol), read a book from the library, and do an experiment or craft. Some topics we've covered this school year so far: apples, pumpkins, Columbus, Thanksgiving, gingerbread, float/sink, magnetism, electricity, balanced eating, meal manners. We all love it, and it is a bright star in each of my dreary weeks.
• I love book clubs. I regularly attend a monthly meeting at our library. The kids play with toys while the women talk about the book. I am sometimes the only one with a kid (Collin is at school), but I love it. We've read some good stuff this year: selections from Poe, The Book Thief, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I also am invited to participate in a club with some sisters from the ward, but Ryan without fail has a church meeting during it, and we aren't allowed to bring our kids. I haven't been able to go since... March? Thank goodness for kid-friendly book clubs. It's my sanity.
• Ryan is singing in a stake choir for a special concert of Selections from the Messiah. We've invited our neighbors, and I think one set might even come! It has been hard on the fam (every Sunday evening for the last few months), but he is so happy when he's singing that it makes it easier on me to let him go. The concert is next weekend, and after three practices and two concerts in seven days, we'll be ready to have our daddy back.
• Brennan throws a tantrum each and every time we go shopping. Let me tell you what Christmas-errand running has been like... Actually, no. I'll let you just imagine for yourself - and then multiply that awfulness by 10! Yep, it's that bad. Sigh.
• I host our ward's playgroup each Friday morning. Sometimes we have more people than can be handled, and sometimes it is just me and my boys. I've been planning it for more than two years, and I think I need to retire. I'll have to start shopping for a replacement...
• Brennan is obsessed with hitting. He particularly loves hammers. He likes to say it three times in succession with increasing volume (think staccato): hammer, Hammer, HAMMER! Ryan has tried to teach him "little hammer," which is a tapping index finger that says "tick, tick, tick," but he definitely prefers the violent version. Go figure.
• I am the room mother for Collin's preschool class. It was easy enough until this month: teacher's half-birthday and baby shower this week, Collin's birthday party on Monday, and the Christmas party on Wednesday. Yikes. Luckily, there are a ton of moms who do just about everything, so I just try to be there. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to bring our younger children, and I've called in every favor ever owed for people to keep Brennan for me. I guess I'll be skipping some preschool events.
• Collin has three loves in life: Science Time, Family Home Evening and Playgroup.
• Brennan has had nearly perpetual diarrhea and diaper rash for more than six weeks. At first, it was stomach bug #1. Then I think it was his two-year molars. Now I've decided it is stomach bug #2. In summary, I changed SEVEN dirty diapers in 8 hours on Friday. That's... wrong.  
• Brennan has three loves in life: hammers, time out (or so it seems) and pestering anyone and everyone. What a boy.
• Ryan and I have had a dating frenzy of late: his work Christmas party last Friday, the Nutcracker last Saturday, and the Messiah this Saturday. Hooray! I love dates!
• My parents came for Collin's first primary program. He did AWESOME with his part. It was almost like he didn't even know he was supposed to get nervous. He's never sang with the primary in sacrament meeting (Mother's Day & Father's Day), but he trooped up there and sat on the stand with his class with no problem. He was super wiggly and hardly sang a word, but he's not even four yet, so I didn't mind. I was just so proud of him for doing his part!
• Ryan is awesome. Surprised? Since Joliet, he has come home nearly every evening at 5:30 to eat dinner with us as a family. He leaves for work about 7:45. He does his huge calling, his home teaching, takes care of his feverish wife (stupid flu), and changes his share of diarrhea diapers. Love you, babe!
• We hosted Thanksgiving this year. My mom did all the work (for real), and we invited a few friends over. We had nine adults and five children. We had nine pies for dessert too. Just the kind of balance I like. :-)
• I always tell the boys I love them when I put them to bed at night. Last week one night Brennan said, "Love you, Mama." It was awesome. It almost made me forget about the shopping-tantrums. Almost.
• Collin made me a get-well card at school today without any prompting or prodding from the teacher. They have a mail box where they can write letters during Center Time, and he chose to write one to me, and then he asked his teacher if he could bring it home. Yep, he talked to his teacher! It melted my heart.
• Now blogger says I can't upload photos without paying a monthly fee. My blog just isn't worth that to me anymore. Maybe I'll start a new one. Maybe I really will take an early retirement. I guess it's meant to be.

Were my bullets random enough for you? Did you make it through? If you did, congrats. If you didn't, that's why I don't blog anymore. I just can't think of anything to keep my readership. So, signing off.

Our "New" House

A photo essay of our "new" house...

 

Disclaimers: I didn't do any special cleaning. The boys love to be in pictures. All basement pics are missing the baseboards and other things, as noted. Upstairs pics are just to admire the carpet. :-) And as I look through the pics, I think we need a new camera. Everything looks better in person, I swear.

MASTER BEDROOM

NURSERY (BEDROOM #2)

 

BOY ROOM (BEDROOM #3)

GUEST ROOM (BEDROOM #4)

August

August

No furniture to speak of yet, but at least there's a bed with blankets and pillows.

Today

LIVING ROOM

FAMILY ROOM (PLAY ROOM)

August

August

September

 Ha ha. Look at this mess. At least they love it, and I don't have to look at it!

Today

FAMILY ROOM (THEATER)

August

August

 Need some wall decor and throw pillows. Also need baseboards and some "prettying" of the electronics in the corner.

EXERCISE ROOM

August

August

 Still need to raise the tv a few inches and put in the baseboard, but everything works great!

Today

BASEMENT OFFICE (CRAFT ROOM)

August

Still needs some more work organizing, but I couldn't be happier!

Today

KITCHENETTE

August

Countertop and cabinet are not officially mounted yet, and obviously it's totally cluttered with tools too. There's a microwave inside the cabinet we'll put on top when we're really done with construction. We plan to stain the post black. There will be a gap at the end of the cabinet for a fridge... some day.

Today

Oh you can also see we still have to paint the french doors into the office/exercise space, which is why it's open in this pic.

 

And that concludes the tour of our home. We are so happy. There's still lots of finishing (like filling all the nail holes in the mouldings, sigh) but at least it's all usable space now. Hooray for doubling our house size!

October Goings-on

Other than basement work, carpet installation and Halloween... We did some other fun things in October.

General Conference

General Conference was something I looked forward to as a kid. I know, strange huh? We had special food we always ate, we had special activities we always did, and I knew we'd all be together as a family for two whole days (no soccer, no church meetings).

Now I am trying to start traditions with my own little family. We eat the same food I did growing up: appetizers during the sessions - carrots & ranch dip, apples & caramel, black olives (Collin's favorite), chips & salsa. And between sessions on Saturday - ham sandwiches and potato salad. Between sessions on Sunday - ham and cheesy potatoes. Yum.

I have always tried to create some activities for the kiddos to do so Ryan and I can listen. Last Spring and now this past month, I have used 15 ziploks with a picture of each of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve on the outside of each.

Inside each bag is a different quiet activity for the boys. I know it would be better if the activity had something to do with the speaker, but I haven't gotten to that point yet. :-)

 

They did great this time around. Miracle of miracles was that Collin and Brennan both slept concurrently DURING ALL of the second session on Saturday. C hadn't napped in three weeks at that point, and B never had napped for two hours straight, ever. It was totally awesome.

Tanner's Orchard

In accordance with tradition, I took the boys to Tanner's one Friday morning for playgroup. We bought cider donuts, a jug of cider and a bag of Honeycrisp apples (my fave).

They wanted to play and play and play, but I forgot my coat and was cold and crazy grumpy.

 

 

I finally dragged them away after two hours.

Leaf-Raking

The day after carpet went in, Ryan took one more day off work and painted all our baseboards, door and closet mouldings, and stair handrail on the driveway. Our neighbor across the street commented on what a work horse he was. If you only knew, Kristen!

While he painted, the boys and I raked and played in the leaves.

They were the cutest. Playing in the leaves is one of my favorite photo-taking opps. Can you tell?

Nauvoo

Last weekend, Ryan took off Friday, and we headed to Nauvoo for our ward temple trip. There is a hotel there (Nauvoo Villas & Vacation Condos) which will rent in the off-season to temple district patrons attending the temple for $50. Awesome, eh? We got a two-bedroom, two-bath, full kitchen with dishwasher, and living room with sofa bed all for FIFTY BUCKS!

Saturday morning we went to the temple while the youth and young single adults from our ward watched our kids at the Nauvoo Stake Center. Thank you to those who volunteered their time! Ry and I hadn't been to the temple together in quite some time. Peace like we hadn't felt since before Joliet.

Museum of Science & Industry

On our drive back to Peoria from Nauvoo, Ryan's youngest sister Mallory called to say she was in Chicago for the weekend for her boyfriend's best friend's wedding. Could we come?

So Sunday afternoon after church, we headed to Chicago. We stayed on Marriott points and picked up Mal & Friend Monday morning.

We headed to the Museum of Science & Industry, but we only had about three hours before our kids (who had only slept from 9pm-4am) expired and Mal had to go to the airport. We were a little disappointed, but ironically we selected the one day in November that was free for Illinois residents, and the worker let Mal and Blake in free too. For free, it was great.

It was so fun to get to see Mallory though (who lives in Brooklyn) and meet her new boyfriend. Who would have thought we'd be the first of the family to meet him?

Conclusion
So despite my lack of blogging this month, we have been QUITE busy. Life will slow down soon, right? After Christmas maybe?

Oh and don't worry - I haven't forgotten about those pictures of my new house. ;-)