Wrestlemania

Here is a little bit of video of my monkey's Wrestling. They crack me up. And I know it may look like Abby is being tortured by her big brother, but believe it or not, she is the instigator. She loves it!

Christmas At Home

I know I'm late, but Merry Christmas to everyone reading this! Due to the holidays, Josh has got to spend some extra time at home which translates into: Josh got to spend a lot of extra time playing World of Warcraft. Not a big deal really, but unfortunately, this means no free computer time for me. So the blog got put on the back burner. But we have yet another long weekend coming up due to New Year's, so I best be bloggin' before it hits. Because for some reason, World of Warcraft trumps the Blog. Christmas was great this year. We stayed home. We don't usually travel on Christmas due to having kiddos now. I prefer for them to wake up to Christmas at home. I don't have a single memory of waking up anywhere but home when I was growing up. Christmas eve was spent with my dad's side of the family and the afternoon of Christmas day was spent with my mom's side of the family. Of course, that works when your entire family is located within a half-hour driving distance.
Anyhow, true to tradition, we spent Christmas Eve with some of my dad's side of my family. It was nice. My family breeds like rabbits, so gift exchanging just isn't realistic. But it's plenty of food and fun though. We got to take the kids on horse rides. Abby spent the day crying (she is apparently a home-body). While Alex spent the day following all of the kids around. His new best buddy is Jamie. He talks about him all of the time now. The day ended with two very sleepy monkeys.
Then Christmas morning came. My little monkeys had a blast waking up to presents under the tree. Santa gave Alex (and eventually Abby) a little trampoline. The presents were ripped open in under an hour and each toy was played with before 24 hours were up. I'm also sad to say that in that same 24 hours, we had two toy casualties as well. One of their marvelous presents was a little shopping cart with play food. It was, by far, the favorite toy they got. That was, until Alex attempted to ride in it and...well...let's just say that it has a one way ticket to the recycling bin next week. There is no hope for fixing the poor toy. It never had a chance. The trampoline came with a jump monitor that was pretty cool. It lasted about 8 hours and was snapped off. In the words of the dear doctor McCoy of Star Trek....It's dead Jim. It's got a lot of jump-life in it though. Even miss Abby has had a few turns on it. She can even climb on it herself. (much to my dislike) So thanks to all who got Alex and Abby so many wonderful toys and goodies this year. They were all winners. So here is the holiday in photos. We hope yours was as nice as ours.

My mother and father in law came for an early Christmas. Abby isn't so sure about Grandpa.

Alex found his new best friends on Christmas Eve. He LOVES his cousins Jamie and Linda.

Here is Abby on Christmas morning...note the shopping cart is still in one piece.

Alex and Abby sharing a gift. Though the 'sharing' doesn't seem to be Alex's favorite thing to do now that we have a plethora of new toys.

Here we see the kiddos enjoys stocking stuffers...

...more stocking goodness.

Here we have Alex with his new fire truck. The kid is obsessed with fire trucks.

My wonderful family opening gifts. Aren't those the greenest pants you have ever seen? Who doesn't love a good pair of Mt. Dew pajama pants. Yikes. We aren't exactly known for our keen fashion sense.


Here is Alex enjoying his Christmas stocking stuffer later in the day. Christmas Fun Dip. Who knew. Notice the candy in their mouths in most of the pictures? Yeah...they didn't really nap that day.

Giggles & Grumbles

There really aren't a lot of new things to talk about in these short few days before Christmas. So I figured I would talk about some of the funny and not so funny things that have been taking place over the last week. So here is my first blog of giggles and grumbles.

Giggle: In the past few weeks, Alex has become very aware of his diaper status. Within moments of pooping, he will come and tell me that he needs a new diaper. So I figure that if he is capable of doing this, then he is coming closer to his potty training days. So a few days ago, after he told me that he needed a his poopy diaper changed, I had the same conversation with him I usually do. Here it is for your enjoyment:

Alex: "Mommy, I need a change a poopy diaper!"

Me: "Okay. Bring me a diaper." (Alex lays on floor and changing commences.)

Alex: "I poopied."

Me: "Yes you did. Next time maybe you can can sit on the potty and poop, okay?"

Alex: "No, mommy."

Me: "Why not? Why don't you want to sit on the potty?"

Alex: "It too cold!"


Grumble: Over the past week, Abby has made her decision on what she would like her sleeping schedule to be. She has been gradually going to bed earlier and gradually getting up earlier as well. So for a week now, she has gone to bed at 8:30 and gotten up at 6:30 in the morning ready to start her day. Alex continues to go to bed at around 11:00. So now it appears that my children have gotten together and came up with this clever little scheme that one of them can be a night owl and the other one can be an early bird. Their ultimate plan is to rub sleep out of my life completely. Apparently God blessed me with children who believe sleep to be a dilemma and not a privilege. Grrr...

Giggle: Alex's new favorite thing to do is take a shower or bath at night. He has always liked bath time, but now it seems to be exceptionally fun for him. No idea why. But in support of his new found obsession, he has become prone to stripping down to his butt-nakedness at any given time during the day. Last night, right before dinner was to be served up, Alex came running out of the bathroom in all his glory. Apparently, he was ready to get clean.

Grumble: One of our five little furballs (the cats) have decided that they need to sleep with Alex at night. Not just with Alex, mind you, but on Alex. She is the little devil cat of the bunch and when you move a toe, she is prone to attack in full force. So for two nights now, I've woken up to poor Alex screaming from a cat scratch. So now, Jasmine has been banned to the laundry room at night. Oh...and yes...Abby wakes up screaming as well. Pitty screams, you know.

Giggle: If any of you knew Josh before I came into the picture, you should remember that he was notorious for wearing big, black framed glasses. He called them his 'sex-proof' glasses. He wasn't bound to meet a girl in those dreadful specs. That is, until I came along and saw past his exterior shield and made him buy wire-rimmed glasses. So for those of you remembering his former look, here are pics of what my kiddos are destined to look like. Aww...little Josh's.

Miss Abby's Skills

Thanks to my wonderful inlaws, I have an awesome new camera with the ability to take videos. So here I will make a feeble attempt in uploading one to the blog. Here is hoping it works. This is Abby using her fun talent of walking with toys. She just seems so small to be doing this already.

Is It Spring Yet?

Spring can not get here fast enough. Oh, I love Christmas time. It's a holly jolly time. Everyone is a bit nicer. Houses as far as the eye can see are dressed up in twinkling lights. Festive music can be heard in every store and feel good, holiday movies are on the TV. Yes...Christmas is nice. But unfortunately, with Christmas comes the dreaded winter. The bitter temperatures, the icy roads, the blankets of snow covering all that was once green. It's pretty. I can handle it. Kids can not. That beautiful blanket of glistening snow is merely an icy, white set of prison bars meant only for keeping energetic children inside. Mix that with the bitter, bite-your-nose off temperature, and it is a deadly combination resulting in the dreaded... (enter psycho music here)...Cabin Fever. Yup. My kids have it. It's not even the beginning of the cold days, and they are already bouncing off of the walls. Alex NEEDS his outside time. He begs me all day to go to the park or go outside and play and I have no choice but to tell him no. So to expel this insane amount of energy, Alex spends his time ramming the poor Christmas tree with his tractor and Abby practices pulling up and cruising on it's fragile pipe-cleaner branches. Why can't they play outside, you ask? Well, in case you aren't aware, we are amidst an arctic front and my wee ones have been battling various infections. Yet another reason we are desperate for the warmer days of spring. Alex and Abby got some kind of cold back on the day after Thanksgiving. They have yet to be well a single day since. Just when things were looking up and the snot was starting to lag, both of them got sick...again. Cue the snot rockets and breathing treatments. Hopefully they can all be well again soon and perhaps a few days will reach the 40's or 50's so that we can burn off a little of that Cabin Fever. Until then, you better pass me the glue...another Christmas tree ornament just bit the dust.

Timber!

It lasted longer than I thought it would, but today the Christmas tree finally bit it. Two weeks after the tree went up...it came crashing down. Alex decided that he would go behind the tree. Then once he was there he decided that he needed to come back to the front of the tree and instead of crawling underneath it like a good little boy, he opted for the more difficult route and attempted to shimmy his way between the tree and the couch. Due to space constraints, there was about a centimeter between the two and, needless to say, not enough room for a two year old to clumsily amble through. Before I had time to react, the tree lay helplessly on it's side with a guilty...and smiling...Alex standing next to it. He, of course, was proud of his accomplishment. This tree has fallen a few times in the past thanks to cats. But I suppose it only had one fall left in it. The base of the tree, made from cheap plastic, cracked into 4 pieces and is not fixable. I think I'm gonna try to find a new base for it this Thursday on my weekly run into town. Until then, it is leaning pathetically against the bookcase and the wall. Another victim of two-year old mischief. Poor thing...didn't even see it coming.

Frosty the Snowman

Winter is upon us and with the season comes many changes. Snow, colds, holidays, and much much more. And kickin' off the beginning of the winter season was a nice first snow. Alex was very excited about the snow. We have put up our Christmas tree and lights and the snow was just an added bonus of the week. Even though it makes driving conditions a bit on the worrisome side, it is nice to see the pretty white blanket of snow outside. Last year, Alex was a bit too small to appreciate the snow in all it's glory. This year though...wow. What a difference a year can man. We went outside yesterday and made our first snowman. Talk about bringing back childhood memories. The last time I can remember making a snowman was pre-high school. After making one with Alex, I realized just how much I've been missing in not making one every year. It was really fun. Abby stayed inside while she napped in her warm crib. Alex and I got all dolled up in our snow gear and headed to the backyard for some fun. He got a kick out of it and even put on the staple carrot nose. We finished off our hour outside with snow angels and snowball throwing then it was back into the warmth of the house for lunch. He was by far, no masterpiece. But nevertheless, here is our handsome snowman. He is the same size as Alex.

Note the pink snowboots. Well...my wonderfully giving sister-in-law has passed along many girl shoes for Abby. Oddly enough, these fit Alex right now and well...we don't have any boy boots for him as of now. I hope to get him a pair for Christmas though. Wouldn't want him to grow up with a complex, you know?

Anyhow, my poor little monkeys have been fighting...and I do mean fighting...a nasty cold. They both got sick over Thanksgiving and have been battling their best to get rid of it. Turned out that they got Croup and then after 12 days of green snot, coughing and sleepless nights, we headed off to the doctor for some meds. I would have waited it out, but Alex developed a fever of 103.5 and couldn't seem to shake it. Then to add to the fun, he got a nice head to toe viral rash. 15 days later, we still have green snot and wet coughs, but it does seem to be improving a bit for both my poor little monkeys. You see, when my kids get sick...the go all out. And for more added joy, Josh got really sick and then trailing the group in last place...I too have been hit with this lovely virus. Now believe me when I say it is a big deal that Josh is sick. In the entire time I've known him, he has been sick maybe 3 times. So this is big news. The guy must have superman's immune system. The doctor said that this was a pretty bad group of things for the monkeys and said that maybe this was the world's way of getting it all out of the way for the winter and we might get a nice illness free Christmas. Here's hoping.

Here are the monkeys enjoying a little playtime despite their colds.

And guess who just turned eight months old? Miss Abby! Hooray for my little girl! She is movin' along so quickly too. I sometimes can't believe that in a mere 4 months, we will have a one year old. *sniff* She is growing so fast. And just a couple of days ago she decided to try out a balancing act and let go of the couch to stand for about 3 seconds on her own. She cruises everything now and is using walker toys to make her way around the house when crawling just won't cut it. I looked back at Alex's baby book and she is moving a bit faster than Alex did. She wants to play with her big brother so badly. I imagine that this is the reason for her motivation.

Until next blog, I hope you all are having a Merry Christmas season and enjoying the