relaxing

got up.  went to church.  came home.  took nap.  relaxed (or at least tried) the day away.

Freeeeedooooommmmm!*

* this must be said in your best braveheart voice.

     yesterday we dropped the kids off with our wednesday babysitter, jean, and she had them all night until today around 2:30ish.  let me start off by saying i have never left the kids overnight.  ever.  even with jagger, the only time i have ever left him with someone for the night was when i was in the hospital having the twins.  so though i was excited to have a night off, i was still anxious.  now, i trust jean completely and i wasn't worried about the kids.  no, i was more worried for jean.  because these kids are crazy.  and a handful.  and they're loud.  and they get into everything.  and slade hardly sleeps at night.  and jagger spits.  and i'm not sure she fully understood what she was getting herself (and her family) into.  but in the end we left them with her and we had a great night.

  we had big plans to go up to cleveland, eat somewhere nice, maybe do some christmas shopping and see a movie.  but it was cold out.  and it's even colder in cleveland.  and the stores we were going to walk around in are all outside.  and penny (that's our name for our gps) died on us.  so we headed the opposite direction and went to boardman.  after a quick stop to say goodbye to magen (bye magen! come back and visit often!) we went to carrabba's.  oh man, do i love carrabba's.  it was so ridiculously delicious.   if loving carrabba's is wrong, then i don't want to be right.  because it is just that good.  we checked out the theaters, but there is nothing really good playing right now, so we decided to skip a movie and headed over to mall to look around for a while.  at gap kids we bought the kids christmas pjs, but then i felt so guilty about how much they cost that i turned right around and returned them (well, i kept jagger's, but returned cash and slade's).  i just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on pajamas, no matter how cute they were.  i figure we can get cute pjs for a lot less somewhere else.   after a very short stop at barnes and noble (because they were closing), we headed home where we lounged around, watched tv, and then went to bed.  

holy cow, was sleep glorious.  i think it was the best sleep i've ever had in my life.  i didn't wake up until 11:00 today.  11:00!  i had forgotten what a solid night's rest was like.  boy, do i miss it.

    anyways, today i dropped off ali's birthday present at the post office (sorry it's soooo late!), dropped some books off at the library,  made a stop by pat catan's, and then came home.  corey and i set up the christmas tree (sans ornaments) and then we went and got the kids.  jean said they were good, but the night was a little tough.  don't i know it.  i don't know how to thank her and her family enough.  it was so greatly appreciated (any suggestions for a good thank you gift, please leave in the comments!)  corey dropped us off and went to work, so the kids helped me put up the ornaments.  and by helped i mean, took the ornaments, threw them all over the living room floor and broke half of them.  jagger was pretty impressed with the tree.  well for all of 5 minutes.  then he could care less.  he did keep trying to blow out the lights though and that was pretty cute.  i can't believe we actually put up a tree :)

trying to decide what to get

everything was so good

this seems like such a bad combination

setting up the tree

snowy, slippery mess on the way to get the kids

cash "helping" with the ornaments

trying to blow out the lights

self portrait, ornament style  (while being attacked by cash)

there, we have a tree.  now you all can get off my back.

today is december 4th

7:20am -- ugh... overslept big time.  supposed to be at work by 7:00. hate that panicked, rushed feeling.  get to work by 8:30.

-  feeling a little bit better today, health-wise.

-  work was busy, and i was tired (even though i got that extra bit of sleep).

3:30pm -- get home.  stayed over at work for an hour and a half to make up the time from being late this morning.

-  all kids are asleep when i get home.  relax for a bit.

-  cash and slade wake.

-  make some delicious homemade applesauce.

-  jagger wakes.

-  think about making some toffee squares.  decide against it.

-  wish kate a very happy birthday.

-  kids play, corey starts dinner.  something simple.  easy-peasy spaghetti.

-  eat.  feed kids.  

-  kids play for a bit, then to bed with them.

-  surf the net, watch some tv, blog.

yummy applesauce.  not very photogenic though.

slade enjoys it with his wonderfully grubby face

cash perfecting the pout on his sauce covered face

he and slade are experts at wallowing.

Kate's gettin' old

katie, kate, wheezie:

from all of us in cold, cold warren to you in warm, sunny savannah, we wish you a happy birthday!

we hope this is your best year yet :)

blasted ohio weather! + potty time + sippy cups

this house is sick again!  all of us have stuffy heads and runny yet stuffed noses.  aches and pains all over.  will we ever be healthy again?!  this weather that goes from freezing to warm every other day is not helping.  i've decided that all i want for christmas is for everyone to be healthy.  on top of the cold, poor slade is having some major constipation issues.  not fun.  it's been a rough couple of days for him.  

we did a whole lot of nothing today.  stopped by the grocery store and then just headed home and lounged around.  skipped church because the kids and i are just not well enough and we don't want to spread the cold around.  i did make a batch of citrus sugar cookies (a bit of oj and orange zest in them) but i am not happy with how they turned out.  too dry.  haven't taken any pictures of the kids in a few days because they'd be one big boogery cranky mess and i don't need to document that.  

don't be jealous of my fancy schmancy icing skills

after starting out well with potty training jagger, we really dropped the ball the past couple of months.  we weren't being consistent and were skipping days at a time, but we have rededicated ourselves to the project as of last week.  we have a timer that we set to go off every hour.  as soon as jagger hears it he yells "potty time!" and heads toward the bathroom.  i was very discouraged in the beginning because the first couple of days we started this, he didn't go the in the potty at all (and when we very first started training him, he went every time).  I thought we had screwed up big time.  but i bought a bag of marshmallows, showed them to jagger, and told him that when he goes in the potty, he gets one (and only one!).  so since he has an incentive now, he makes sure he goes almost every time :)  he's still not telling us when he needs to go, so i know we have a long way to go, but i am determined to have him potty trained by the time he is 3 (that's in about 7 months).  need to make sure i stick with it.

yummy fruit flavored 'mallows

and last but not least, we are weaning cash and slade off their bottles.  they only get sippy cups now and we have changed from formula to whole milk (i know you're supposed to wait until after they turn 1, but what's 4 weeks?).  big steps.  they actually have taken the change really well.  they do still get a big cup of milk before their naps and bedtime but then they go right down.  i am pleasantly surprised with how well it's going :)
well, i'm off to take some medicine that's sure to knock me out and then to bed. 

goodnight.

cookies!

we are having a cookie exchange at work on the 17th and i decided i needed to test out a few recipes.  tonight when magen came over, we made a couple batches of chai shortbread and andes mint cookies.  yum!  so far, the andes mint cookies are winning as the ones i'll be making, but i still think i need to try a few more recipes :)  (so much for portion control! i think i'm gonna have to wait until after the holidays.)

that odd shaped one is supposed to be a polar bear

so minty :)

and so it begins

the holiday season, that is.  corey and i have never been ones to get all worked up about the holidays.  in fact, many would say we are down right bah, humbug about it.  in the nearly 7 years that corey and i have been married, we have never even put up a tree.  we don't decorate in the least, we avoid going out shopping at all costs, and generally just try to ignore all the festivities.

but now we have kids.  and it is different for them.  true, we didn't put a tree up the last two years for jagger (and boy did i get a lot of grief from a lot of people about that!), but he was too little to care anyways .  this year, though, he's noticing everything.  in the stores he points out the lights, the trees, the snowmen, all of it, saying "look! look, papa! look, mama!"  so this is the year it begins.  we are putting up a tree, and stockings, and going to go for drives to look at all the lights.  i want to start traditions and bake cookies.  it changes things when we are doing it for them.

last year we bought a tree after christmas, so that's a start.  tonight we went out and bought the ornaments.  i had wanted to make ornaments, but it is just beyond me this year.  maybe next year.   thank god for target! (i heart target!)  we are going with a goldish and silverish color scheme.  our wednesday babysitter has offered to watch the kids friday to saturday (overnight!), so i think we will put up the tree then so they come home to it all decorated.  it'll be an interesting sight since i only plan on decorating the top half.  too many little grabby hands to place any low enough for them to reach :)  

i'm also making a little minibook to document the 25 days until christmas (inspired by ali edwards).  i have it started but still need to number the pages.  that way, i just have to insert a picture and write a little note about what we are up to each day and we'll have a nice little documentation of this holiday season (this daily december book is what i based magen's thank you book on).

i think the tree is all we will do for decorations this year.  it's a first step.  baby steps, ya know?  maybe next year we'll put lights up outside.  i'm not even sure what all decorations people do, i'm so out of the loop.  i'll be sure to post pictures of the tree once it's up :)

snowy, wintery mess outside tonight

perfect weather for a nice big cup of hot chocolate

the tree topper & some of the ornaments from target

the front cover of the 25 days of christmas minibook