lots of pictures with no kids in them!

 D and I went on our grown up trip! We went up to Pigeon Forge, TN for 3 nights. We'd never been there before, but we knew it was near the Smoky Mountains. We were picturing a quaint little mountain town.

You can see the mountains way in the distance from our hotel room window.

Pigeon Forge was not a quaint little mountain town. It was a Redneck Las Vegas. I'm not saying we didn't have fun - we did - but it was just not quite what I saw in my head. Gatlinburg, TN was closer to what I was thinking of. Regardless, we had fun. We went to a movie, went shopping, went to the Dixie Stampede (something I would probably not do again), and to another show called The Lumberjack Feud, which was quite entertaining. We went to 3 different wineries for wine tastings and that was awesome. We bought... a few... to bring home.

  My favorite part was when we went to the mountains. It's so gorgeous there!

That's me way up there...

It was so much fun! We did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We called home several times and I joked that my parents would run out of there when we got home. My mom sounded a little frazzled on the phone a couple of times. I think they had just about figured out a good system when we came home. Three nights was really enough though... I started to really miss the kids after a couple days. The boys did great and I doubt they missed us much. Miss L, on the other hand, has barely let me out of her sight since I came home. She was fine while we were gone, but she definitely missed us!

Oh, and the food. Oh! The food!
I probably gained back every ounce I've worked so hard to lose over the last few months. The food was so delicious. Corn fritters and creamy soups and some sort of sinful, whipped butter. Mmmm!
(If I could eat at this place every meal, I would. I'm certain it would not be a good idea.)

What a lovely Christmas present it was! 

My parents went home this morning, and time continues to fly by. I still can't quite comprehend that 2012 is almost here. Christmas will be here in mere days! I'm quite possibly as excited as the kids are!

What war? Vacation & Christmas tidbits

* I keep hearing about this War On Christmas, but frankly... I don't see it. Saying happy holidays as a greeting, on a sign, or on a card does not, in my opinion, diminish Christmas in any way. You don't hear people complaining about the War On Hanukkah.
You want to celebrate Christmas? Do it. There's no war out there.

* Friday, I hand addressed, stamped and stuck address labels on 73 Christmas cards. It took me dang near all day, and I realized I could never work from home with the kids here, because even that task was enough to make me (and them) crazy and it's not like I actually had to use much brain power.

* Saturday, I wrapped 49 Christmas presents, including the ones to my kids from us, the ones to grandparents and other family members, teachers, friends, D, and the kids gifts to each other. I haven't wrapped the ones from the inlaws to the kids yet. Santa doesn't wrap; lucky bastard.

* This Saturday D & I are going on our 10 year (6 months early...) anniversary trip! We've never left the kids and gone on a trip before - EVER. The only time we've spent nights away was when I was having other babies, and even then it was usually just me at night, and D was at home. I'm so excited and so nervous! My parents are coming down to watch the kids and I know they'll be fine, and it helps that they are at their own house with their own stuff. I'm not too worried about the boys, especially the older two, but Miss L is SO VERY ATTACHED to me. It's ridiculous, really. I'm nervous, but it's only 3 nights, right? I mean... she'll be fine, right? RIGHT?

* We're deep in the Christmas spirit around here. We're doing our advent calendars every day, Edward the elf is causing trouble every night, and we had dinner with Santa last week. We went to the Galaxy of Lights on Friday (a drive through light show about 2 miles long) and Saturday we made our gingerbread house. Either this week or next, we'll do our last Christmas outing to Santa's Village, and then all that's left is to make some Christmas cookies for fun and for a cookie exchange, and wait for Christmas Eve, when we make Baby Jesus' birthday cake.  (I'm questioning this tradition that brings MORE sweets into a sugar coma season, so it might be a teeny one this year.)
Oh, and we have all the boys' Christmas parties this week. (Plus my parents are coming, and we have 2 doctors appointments, and hopefully - please, oh please, oh please - no one will get sick!)

owls and coffee and mugs, oh my!

I got a lovely package in the mail from Saly! The note said to open it all at once, so I did! You don't have to tell me twice!!

There was a big beautiful coffee mug! Gorgeous! I was all set to take a picture of me sipping coffee from my new mug, but I was up half the night feeling like dying, so I do not look suitable for pictures.

There were some lovely, SOFT Christmas socks, which Edward the Elf decided to snitch over night. I'll get those back tomorrow.

COFFEE! MMMM!

A gorgeous card, a Starbucks gift card (omg! yum!) and some other neat things, like a weekly planner, body butter, lotion and a pretty, pretty nail polish!

It all came in this pretty bag, which Miss L tried to bogart immediately. No way, kid!

There were also some delicious chocolates, which are not pictured for obvious reasons. ;)

And, since I didn't mention it here before, Shelly sent me some sweet owl notecards! LOVE THEM!

Supper with Santa

You guys, I have ALWAYS loved Christmas, but there is nothing that compares to Christmas as a parent. I mean, what's not to love when you're a kid? Presents! Cookies! Lights! Trees!
As a young adult, Christmas wasn't as much fun as it was when I was a kid. I mean, there were still some gifts but it's not exactly the same experience as when you're a child.

Now, I get to make Christmas magical for my kids. There is nothing that can top that! I'm also a gift giver by nature, so this time of year has me absolutely giddy with excitement!
Santa, our elf; Edward, cookie baking, tree decorating, house lights that dance to music, gingerbread houses, birthday cakes for Baby Jesus, our local Galaxy of Lights tour, and of course, Christmas morning! If I don't get one single gift I will still be ridiculously happy on Christmas morning. It's magic!

We had dinner with Santa tonight at our local children's museum and it was so much fun! All the boys are so excited leading up to it, but then kind of clam up and whisper their wishes to Santa. Miss L was surprisingly excited too and wasn't scared of Santa at all this year, thankfully. 

Bring on the Christmas spirit!

Lulu

Dear Miss L,
Where to begin? I knew the moment you were born that our family was truly complete, and it's so bittersweet that the last 2 years have flown by so fast. I have enjoyed your babyhood so very much, even with all the bumps along the way.
Your brothers adore you, your daddy spoils you, and your mama babies you. You definitely think of yourself as The Boss around here, and we all let you get away with it - for now.
You love animals, Mickey Mouse, babies, and most of all - me. You are a mama's girl through and through, barely ever straying from my side. While it can get tiresome, I know it's going to be as short lived as those sleepless nights so I try not to wish it away just yet.
You filled a place in my heart that I didn't know was empty, and I'm so happy to call you my daughter.
We love you!

Everyone needs a Gopher

If I had to name 3 things that are essential to surviving car trips with kids they would be:
1 - snacks. Lots of them.
2- dvd player and movies. Preferably ones that don't make you want to hurl yourself out the window. (Alternately, headphones for you.)
3 - a Gopher. My family calls it the grabber, but it's essential if you have a van or kids who are too little to get the million things they drop on the floor or who want a snack or drink every 3 minutes but you don't want to take off your seat belt to climb back there. (the link is to Amazon, but you can get them at WalMart for $9.99 right now.)

-Other things that help us are limiting drinks for the bigger kids (especially the one with the tiny bladder). We only had to stop 3 times on the way to my parents' house and made the trip in 9 hours instead of 10 this time.
-Have them pack their own toys, if they are going to bring entertainment. This way, it's their own fault if they don't like what they have.
---

Our trip was fantastic! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and we had a smooth drive, a great visit with family, and left while we still felt like we'd like to stay.
(We find it's better to leave while you're still wanting more. Quit while you're ahead sort of mentality.)

We're home now, and as an aside; I've browsed/read all the posts from while I was gone, but I had almost 300 in my Google Reader and there's just no way to comment on everything, so forgive me if I skipped!
My mind is focusing on getting Mt. Laundry conquered. 

The trip home was not as great. There was no excitement about seeing beloved family members, and the kids were crabby-ish from late nights and extra spoiling, plus there were crowded highways and 9+ hours driving in the rain and cold. There were still good parts though.

mine!

If you've seen Finding Nemo, then you know what I mean when I say my living room sounds like a flock of seagulls right now. Mine!Mine!Mine!Mine!
 ---
I'm feeling out of sorts today. Perhaps it's the weather (rain,rain,rain) or the fact that the weather is supposed to get worse tomorrow. I still can't hear the words SEVERE without feeling like I'm going to lose it. The Celexa helps on a day to day basis but doesn't help enough during bad weather, which seems to be my #1 anxiety trigger. Having a storm shelter also helps, but only if all the children are home. If they're at school I worry about having to drive them and if they're safe and if I should keep them home...
I had to take O & C to school during the worst part of a thunderstorm last week and I was shaking like a leaf by the time I got there. It was raining so hard I could barely see! I tried to congratulate myself for actually doing it and not wimping out, but the rest of the day I felt like I couldn't breathe. *sigh*

---
Just when I thought we were done with illness for a few days, O threw up on Thursday night. D also came home sick that day - which NEVER EVER happens. He stayed in bed the rest of the day. He stayed home Friday as well, which was good for me because I was sick that day and although he wasn't feeling well either, he took care of the kids. By Saturday I was feeling mostly better and he went to rugby.
He got a gash on his head which he is totally downplaying but definitely needed stitches. He's so stubborn.
I superglued it together twice and it's holding so I guess all's well that ends well. He bought more rugby shorts because his have a hole and I winced because that means he's not planning on retiring anytime soon.
The last game of the fall is the weekend after Thanksgiving, but then the spring season will start in late January. I don't even want to think about it.
---
I finally lost another pound.
I'm going to try really hard not to indulge TOO much over the Thanksgiving holiday. It apparently takes me 3 months to lose 11 pounds, but only a day to gain it back.
---
A friend on facebook posted about how the last few months have been really hard and that her uncle had just committed suicide. Among the comments was one of her "friends" saying that things could be worse, at least one of her kids didn't die.
Do people really think those types of comments are helpful?!
---
Tonight I get to go out for drinks and dinner and Breaking Dawn part 1 which will probably be cheesy as all get out and I'm sure I will enjoy every second of it!
---
I've got a couple friends going through some really hard times right now, and I hope they know I'm praying for and thinking about them.

Where's that trap door?

Remember my last post when I mentioned that we had 3 programs to go to? Well, 2 of them were yesterday.
O's was first and it was so cute. His school does a Fall Celebration for just the 4 year olds. They serve a real Thanksgiving meal after the program and (being on a diet) all I had eaten was an apple and coffee, so that I could eat something yummy for lunch.
Well.

Miss L was great during the program. Smiling, laughing, flirting with people behind us. She danced around! Adorable!

We were lucky (so we thought) to be the FIRST people in line for lunch. I was holding Miss L but she wanted down and I had to carry 2 plates and D had to carry three. Our plates were full and there were LOTS of people behind us when I heard a sound. THE SOUND.

I looked to my right and there was Miss L; projectile vomiting her breakfast of blueberries on the (thankfully not carpeted) floor. 12 inches from the food line and ALL THOSE PEOPLE. I wanted. to. die. o.m.g.
Horrifying.

D took her to the bathroom to begin a lengthy and not nearly good enough clean up and I got the boys settled in their seats and ate a few bites of food, as quickly as I could. My appetite was a little dampened... imagine that.
When D got out of the bathroom, I took Miss L home and he and the boys stayed and ate. I had to miss d's program last night, so that sucked.
So much for a nice family celebration day!

This is one of my top two most embarrasing parenting moments, or at least it feels like it right now. (The other one involved an OB/GYN, a toddler and a paper gown.)

She threw up 2 more times in the next hour and has been perfectly fine ever since. No fever. NOTHING. She's back to her usual self and I'm glad, but wow. Bad timing on that one.

Uh...

Is Thanksgiving really next week?    !!!!
After we get back from our Thanksgiving trip to see my family, we will have Miss L's (2nd!!) birthday, and then our 6-months-early-10-year-anniversary trip (SO EXCITED OMG) and then Christmas and then another trip, to Texas for New Years and then OMG it will be 2012. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!
There are also 3 school programs between now and then, 3 Christmas parties we will try to attend, a few birthday parties, 2 more frickin' frackin' rugby games, and the other million jillion things we have to do this time of year.
But... I'm done Christmas shopping so that's one less thing to worry about. Our Christmas cards have arrived too, and are waiting to be addressed and sent.

Great news: D & I will have our first alone vacation since having children. I don't think words can appropriately explain the level of excitement I am feeling.

More great news: We will get to see SO much family in the next 5 weeks!

Not so great news: We will drive over 3,000 miles in the next 5 weeks. omg. My a$$ hurts just thinking about it. Plus, traveling this time of year is hit or miss. Good weather gods + PlzNoIllnessThx gods need to smile upon us.

I think I'm a little crazy and to top it off I'm still busting my butt to try to lose weight and I'm still down 10 pounds. Gah! (And I'm hungry *sigh*)
However, I feel really great so that's something I can hang on to.

 We took family pictures this weekend. You'll notice I mostly picked ones where D& I looked good because the kids were being ridiculous.
Here are a few of my favorites: 

grown ups out there?

I have 3 sick kids at home and haven't left the house since Friday afternoon and even then it was only to pick up d from school. I am going stir crazy and miss talking to grown ups and if I have to hear one more joke with a tooting sound or underwear in the punchline, well... I think there's some rum around here somewhere.
---
If everything goes according to plan, in one month and 10 days (not that I'm counting or anything) D and I will be going on a 3 night vacation. Alone. For the first time EVER since we started a family.
(PLEASE OH PLEASE let everything go right.)
---
Have you tried the Starbucks Via packs that you can get in the store? The one I picked up was for iced coffee and you just add 8 oz of water and half the packet (or 16 oz of water and the whole packet... kind of wish they made smaller packets...) and stir, add ice and voila! Iced coffee. I also added a splash of milk to mine, but overall it was very yummy and only 50 calories which is nice for iced coffee and it was different and sweet enough that it felt like a treat. It was a good pick me up for my crabby day today. 
---
I was looking through old pictures with d today (he loves to look through our photo albums) and came across some pictures of me when I was a few months past 2 years old.

I think Miss L looks like me:

Candy Tiers

All the candy in the house gets sorted into tiers (in my head). It's just automatic, based on what I like and don't like.
Tier 1 is The Good Stuff. It's the stuff I would eat even if I wasn't really hungry, just because I really like it. (It's also the stuff that is already eaten from our candy bowl...)
           Examples: Kit Kats, 100 Grand, Twix, Dark Chocolate Milky Way, Milky Way

Tier 2 is also pretty good stuff. I'd eat it if I felt like something sweet but it would be fairly safe from me otherwise.
           Examples: 3 Musketeers, Skittles, M&M's, Snickers, Star Burst, Hershey Bars, Crunch Bars

Tier 3 is sugar emergency, PMS, really bad day stuff. As in, normally I wouldn't bother with it, but in certain situations it will have to do.
           Examples: Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie or Blow Pops, Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, Whoppers, Baby Ruth

Tier 4 candy is the only candy I can keep in the house because I really don't like it and am pretty much never tempted to eat it.
            Examples: Smarties, Sweet Tarts, Laffy Taffy, Dum Dums, Candy "sticks" that are really just candy cigarettes in different boxes, Pixie Stix, Pay Day


I buy Tier 4 candy for handing out. It's really the only safe way for me to guarantee that I won't have to re-buy candy before Halloween even gets here. Unfortunately, we got a ton of Tier 1 candy during trick or treating this year.

I let my kids have at it for 2 days following Halloween and then we get rid of the candy. Really, I put a small bowl of Tier 4 (and a few Tier 3) stuff in the cabinet for bribery purposes and half a freezer bag of Tier 2 stuff in the freezer for um... emergencies. The rest goes with D to work and I pretend to forget about the bag in the freezer until I actually do. Lucky for us, my Tier 3 and 4 are his Tier 1 & 2. We married well.


What are your tiers?

The Supers

Clark Kent, Wonder Woman, Bat Man (C), Iron Man (O), Super Man(d) and Bat Woman

Upcoming

Is it seriously already (pretty much) November? Why on Earth is time flying by the older I get? Do you remember when you were a kid and you would think ahead to the future and a month seemed like an ETERNITY? A year felt like an inconceivable amount of time.
Now, a whole year can pass and I feel like I have hardly blinked.
Just getting used to writing 2011 on your checks? Oh well! Too bad! Here comes 2012!!

---

Tonight, we're going trick or treating in our neighborhood. Our little neighborhood has 60 houses, so it's just about the right size to drag 4 small children through. At least 2 of the children will whine about walking and want to be carried after approximately 8 houses. If our neighborhood doesn't have a lot of lights on, we may go to the bigger neighborhood across the street, but really... we don't need that much candy.

I only bought stuff I have no desire to eat this year. Dum Dums, Laffy Taffy, Sweet Tarts and Smarties. I'm a chocolate girl, and therefore I bought none. I can't promise there will not be any stealing from my children's bags after they collapse in bed from a sugar high.

We will all be dressed up tonight, so look for a family super hero picture tomorrow. (here's to hoping I actually get a decent one.)

---

We have been talking -  for months - about going to Disney World after Christmas. Our kids are still very young, but we thought we might go for a day or possibly two and hit Magic Kingdom and then do something else. A very nice friend was kind enough to let us borrow a planning book and right off the bat we read that the time we were planning to go is supposed to be the busiest time of the year.
Secondly, we read that kids should probably be around 7 years old to really get the full experience. I know lots of younger kids that have gone, so I don't know if I agree with that, but it did give me pause to think that at least 2 of my kids will have no memory of the experience. We were hoping my parents could come with us, to up our adult:child ratio, because 2 grown ups and 4 kids, six and under, is probably not the best combo for a trip like this. However, they weren't sure if they could, and they didn't seem too enthusiastic about it.
I was also a lot less enthusiastic after I checked ticket prices. Yipes.
Miss L is still free, but even if we went for only one day it would be over $400 and that doesn't include my parents. Plus, we don't live near Orlando. At all.
Maybe I'm just being cheap, but as I added up travel expenses, tickets, meals, and incidentals, I decided that I wanted to wait until all the kids are old enough to really enjoy it! So... no Disney this year. Maybe in a couple years when Miss L is four, or five. She'll probably be into princesses then, right?
(she's not now.)

There is a much cheaper, much closer to home, vacation in the works now. We haven't yet decided if it will be all of us or just the two of us.(!!!)

---
As you may remember, Miss L had hernia surgery about 3 months ago and last week I noticed that it looks like part of the hernia came back. (do they do that? I'm not sure of the correct terminology...)
Anyway, there's definitely an issue going on and I'm hoping it's something else - scar tissue? - or something. She has an appointment tomorrow with the surgeon who did her initial surgery, and I'm hoping she won't have to have another surgery. 3 (albeit minor) surgeries in the span of 3ish months?! It seems too much! That's more than all the boys combined, in their entire lives!
So... wish us luck for that appointment tomorrow. I'm getting a bit of nervous tummy over it.

Look who can FINALLY wear pig tails!

Anybody have Band Aids?

My feet hurt from walking on eggshells the last 5 days.
I've had more alcohol in the last 4 days than I have in the last 6 months.
Related: My inlaws went home this morning.

----

My 4 year old, who has napped reliably every day for pretty much his entire life, has abruptly stopped napping save for 1 or possibly 2 days a week. I know it's a good time; he'll be going to Kindergarten next year. But, I want him to nap. I need him to have quiet time that does not involve coming out of his room every 2 and a half minutes to see if quiet time is over yet. He's in there crying right now because I just lost my temper and yelled at him. *sigh* (Although, he got VERY LITTLE sleep the past few days and actually DOES need to sleep today.)

----

My inlaws kindly offered to watch the kids so we could go out on a date on the one night we didn't have something planned while they were here. We had a late and large lunch, so we weren't up for dinner, and the only movie that sounded decent to us didn't start until after 8PM. (the kids have been getting up at or before 5 - urgh.) We decided against the movie but I wanted to go out and get either a drink or dessert, coffee... something. I thought it would be nice to sit and talk. We get a date maybe 2 or 3 times a year, so it's so rare. I didn't want to waste it!
D thought we should... it's so bad I can barely write it... go to WalMart. We needed a few groceries. WalMart.
For a date.
WALMART.
He thought sitting and talking sounded boring. It's making me feel sad and pissed off all over again now.
Don't get me wrong, we've gone to the grocery store before when we're out on a date. Maybe after dinner, or a movie or something, but not JUST to the store. We were only gone an hour. I came home and drank wine and ate ice cream. My diet has been seriously derailed since then.
He sat on the couch with his parents and watched the World Series. (which... it seems like that was on TV every night while they were here. No offense to sports lovers, but goodness! Sports are so damn boring.)
DATE FAIL.
----

There was good stuff too though. Two highlights were d's school Fall Festival and the pumpkin patch.

Family picture at the pumpkin patch.

The Supers.

Good Stuff

* One of my favorite couples (Hi M!) is having a baby! They also happen to be my brother in law and sister in law, and soon they'll be able to find out if the baby is a boy or girl! I'm so excited to have another baby in the family to spoil!

* My friend Tracy is going to have her baby any day now, and since T is my Htown family; I could not be more excited. PROBABLY not as anxious as she is, but I can't wait to meet her little girl!!

* I finally broke the plateau and have started losing weight again! I'm *almost* to 10 pounds lost, and although that doesn't sound like much - it has been a fight for every single ounce. So, I'm proud of those 10 pounds!

* Fall is here. Enough said. (although my allergies are a pain, so that's a trade off)

* Pinterest is still an obsession. I've made a lot more things but I'll just show you a couple that are very easy and CHEAP.

I used scrap felt and the cloth bins from our play room, a hot glue gun and this tutorial and made these super cute Super Hero bins for our play room:

They cost me nothing but my time.

The next craft is the picture frame/dry erase board. I was at Target and they had picture frames on sale. I got a 2 pack of 8x10's for only $2! I put pretty scrapbooking paper in each one and keep one (pictured) by my desk to do adding of bills or writing of recipes. I keep the other by the kids' school area, to remind me of things that need to be sent in or when someone needs lunch money.
This requires no skill, just put the paper in and you're done! Plus, I've saved a ton of paper that I usually scribble things down on - now I can just erase it and start over!

The beautiful mixer is my Christmas present which I opened a *little* early.

Christmas shopping in October

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the last minute shoppers out there, I want to do a Christmas present post. I'm pretty much done Christmas shopping for the kids.

All the kids are getting new pajamas, and a body board for our next trip to the beach. (whenever that may be...) So, those were left out of the following lists.
We're also spending a day or two at Disney World after Christmas as our family gift and family vacation for the year, so we tried to go light on presents this year.

6 year old:

Lego Space Shuttle

K'nex Mario

Lego kit

Magic Treehouse, books 5-8

Super Man t-shirt

4 year old: 

guitar 
(out of stock at Target, but Amazon has it.)

K'nex Yoshi

stomp rocket

rain boots- I got these at Zulily so there is no link. The only picture I could find was TINY too. They are blue stripes with a pirate logo on the front.

Iron Man t-shirt

3 year old:

Melissa and Doug truck

K'nex Luigi

take apart crane

rain boots - from Zulily as well. Green camo.

Bat Man t-shirt

Will-Be 2 year old:

dollhouse
I actually bought this at WalMart, at their last after-Christmas sale and got it for an insanely low price!

dress up clothes/crown/jewelry (I'm planning on picking most of this up after Halloween stuff goes on sale!) I already have this crown from Carter's and some little "junk" jewlery.

pillow pet 

rain boots

backpack - I got it at Land's End for only $5! However, I can't find a picture of it now. It's pink with little green fish on it!

stockings:
Super Hero books

Target $1 items including
pots you can paint and then plant seeds in, socks, assorted candy

candy necklaces
toothbrushes
other odds and ends