It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are having a big Christmas party here in 2 weeks. My first ever Christmas party. I'm very excited!! It's going to be for our elder board of which I am a member and their spouses/children. Because of that, I have to get this house in tip-top shape, so we have places for these 30 people who are coming!! Because our schedule is going to be so jam-packed over these next two weeks, I decided we needed to get decorating.


Yesterday was literally the only weekend day we had available before this party comes, so after we got home from church we got right to work. Pete got me a couple of chairs as my birthday/christmas/martin luther king/memorial day present and they came on Sat. So, he got to work building them while Noah and I brought up the Christmas decorations from the basement. The kids and I got right to work!

As with any decorating, the house becomes a bigger mess than when you started, as you see in the two pictures above. The clean-up comes afterwards.

We took a little break in the afternoon, so Pete could watch the Bears game. He also had watched the Vikings game before that, but at least he worked during that game. ;-) After the game was over, we started decorating the tree.

This is the new ornament we got this year. It's a countdown to Christmas. Only 26 days left!

The kids were very happy with the finished product. I had to reign them in a bit or every single ornament we own, broken or not, would've been on that tree! We just have to find a topper now, because our star broke last year. :-(

Pete decided to add lights to the plant shelf, so once again he hopped up there to do some work.

We added a few things to it again and now it looks festive too!

This is the buffet in it's finished state. I got those light-up boxes last year at Hallmark and they are some of my favorite decorations. Aunt Phyl made me that garland the year I was married. :-)

These are our new chairs and the bookcases all decorated. When the Christmas tree gets put away after Christmas, those chairs will flank the tv. But, for now, they look really pretty here. :-) I need to finish putting up the outside lights today and get the house cleaned up and boxes put away, but at least we have one job done. Just 200 more to go before the party!

Thanksgiving Visit

We got back yesterday after a 4-day trip to IN to visit the nanas and papas. :-) The kids had a half day on Wednesday, so we got to get there earlier than we had thought, which was really nice. Gave us a chance to have dinner together and hang out a bit longer.


Our niece Allyssa was there and we discovered as everyone was getting their pjs on that she and Livie matched! They looked so cute together with their little froggy footed pjs.

The next day was Thanksgiving and we had a delicious lunch together! Nana T never fails to provide us with the yummiest Thanksgiving food! The kids ate it all up. Afterwards, we all just relaxed and enjoyed the time together. The kids played some Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.

They didn't know any of the answers, really, but they had fun anyway!

While they did that, we all looked over the Black Friday ads and writing down our lists for the morning. You can tell Scott was really excited! ;-) I ended up going up to Goshen that night around 10pm, because Em, Jeff, and I were going to stay up the entire night and shop. We started off at Walmart, where the crazy began around midnight. We tag-teamed it and went in like the pros we are and loaded up on everything we wanted on our lists. I did pretty good, even when we had to stand outside in the FREEZING cold for almost 2 hours, waiting for Target to open. Jeff was the sacrificial lamb that night, because he stood in line for us, while we ran to Walmart to scope things out. So, that poor guy was out there even longer than we were! Not to mention the fact that once we actually WERE in Target, he stayed behind with the cart, while we went back to Walmart to see which deal was better on the TVs. Target was the one to go with, so we texted him back to get in line, and we met up again shortly after. I was impressed with myself that at (almost) 36, I can still pull an all-nighter (without dying), but I will say it was not without a whole lot of whining and a few moments where I hit a wall I didn't think I could cross. Hit the first one at 4:30am and the next one at about 6:00am. But, we all survived and we had a lot of fun in the process. And, I think the kids will be more than thrilled with the things they're going to get on Christmas morning!

I went back down to the Trolingers after I finished up shopping around 7am. Pete and his mom had left to go do their own BF shopping, so Papa T was watching the kids. I got there around 8 and tried to take over by popping in Toy Story 3, but I was quickly asleep on the couch and when I got up a couple hours later, Marc told me to go upstairs and get some more sleep. He had the kids covered and, boy, was that fantastic!! Slept another hour or so and felt like I was going to be ok. Still was tired, but it was more my body than my mind at that point. Pete came home while I was sleeping and told me he had a really fun time with his mom. Really glad they got to go together. :-) Later that afternoon, we all headed up to Goshen to spend the rest of the day with the Drexler side. We got dad and mom a TV at the BF sales, but we wanted to make it fit in the old entertainment center. So, once we got up there, Pete, Jeff, and Dad got to work and modified it to make the flat screen fit.

They did a great job and mom and dad got to keep all their knick-knacks.

The kids played really well together at their house. Livie had fun playing with Kendalyn and they played a lot in the basement with the toys and stuff.

We had a great visit with both sides of the family and are looking forward to going back in 3 weeks to see them all again for Kendalyn's 1st bday and Christmas!

Thanksgiving Party

Yesterday was Livie's Thanksgiving Day Party!! Gotta admit, I was really not up for it, because it was a beautiful day and I had SOOO much I wanted to get done - like getting the Christmas lights out while it was not raining or freezing me to death. But, ya know, going was important to her and it gave me the chance to just sit back and relax and enjoy an hour with her. The time goes by so quickly with our kids. I was really thankful I took the time to be in the moment with her and not concerned with everything I had to do and was missing out on. Oh but if only we had been given one more 68 degree day this month!! I could've gotten it done today instead. But, sadly, November has arrived and is here to stay. :-(


First thing she did was make a turkey with googly eyes and sparkles. Forgot to take a picture of the finished product though. Doh!

These are Livie's 2 besties. Calie is a very shy little girl, that doesn't really talk much. Livie's trying to get her to come out of her shell and has really latched on to her as a friend. It's been cute to see Livie taking care of her, holding her hand and walking with her. Livie was making a straight face like Calie in this picture. :-) Jack is her other bestie and we've known him since he was born. There's no shyness to work out there!

They got to have some play time before playing this game. They pretending to be turkeys and began chasing their teachers around. They loved it! Then we went upstairs for some fun music time. We sang a song about woodland animals. When the instructor asked the kids what other woodland animals (squirrels, owls, etc...) would live in a tree, Livie raised her hand and said "A Praying Mantis!". Wow. Really? We all laughed and sang about this praying mantis. How did I have a kid that loves bugs?!

Last thing we did was make rice cake turkeys. Mrs. T took a picture of the two of us for me. :-)

And, here is her finished turkey! It was really yummy. But, the peanut butter and rice cake really get dry in your mouth, so you have to wash it down with a lot of water. But, sure did taste good! We had a great time together and, like I said, love that I went and put all the busyness aside, so I could just enjoy that moment with my sweet girl.

Harry Potter

This is a picture of Madie when she was still excited to see Harry Potter #7. Twenty minutes after this picture was taken, all happiness and excitement vanished and it was replaced by terror. ;-) Madie and I have gone together, just the two of us, to the last 3 HP movies. Always exiting the theater with exuberance! So, I totally thought we'd have the same experience this time. We had our popcorn. We had our water. We were ready. But, I realized quickly into the movie that this one was a lot darker and much scarier than all previous movies. And, all it took was Madie tugging on my hand for me to see the tears rolling down her face. She wanted to leave. It was too much for her. So, we left and it took quite a lot of consoling to get her to calm down. So, I didn't get to get my HP fix last night, but I went with a friend today and it was AWESOME! But, also very scary and definitely not appropriate for 9 yr old. Glad I made the decision to leave when I did. I think she would've been totally freaked out if we had stayed for the whole thing. I absolutely LOVED it though and can't wait for the summer to see the final one. Then, I'll start reading the series. For once, I decided to watch the movies first before reading the books. Just hoping I can make it to the end without being spoiled!!

New Article

Here is my latest article in today's paper. And, if any of you know my kids, you'll understand what the meaning of "Hmm" means. ;-)

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=418084&query=Write Team

Bowling Party

I have been such a slacker with this blog lately!! Between writing articles, planning events for Sunday School, and just the everyday busyness that is our life, I just haven't been taking the time to post as much. I found these pictures on the camera today while looking for another picture to email my mom-in-law and realized that I never posted about it and that was 2 or 3 weeks ago! Like I said, I'm slackin'! Anyway, Livie got to go to a birthday party for one of her friends. The reason this is signifigant is because she's always been invited to go to parties with her brother and sister, but this one was just for her. Her friend Riley, from preschool, had a bowling party and she was SO excited to go!




I mean, look at all those cute faces! She's got such a great class! :-)

Now that she's been bowling 2 whole times, she's becoming quite the expert. She averages about 1-2 pins a roll. Not bad for a 4 yr old who can barely carry a ball! :-)

And, check out those bowling shoes. She looks awesome!

They had a great time bowling, eating pizza, and watching Riley open her presents. So excited that Livie got to be a part of it!

More Homework

Livie had her second homework assignment of the year this weekend. It's tough being a preschooler! I mean, first she has to draw a sea creature. That angry, toothful octopus. Now, a Thanksgiving mat for her Thanksgiving party. It's just so much work!! ;-)


They gave her a blank piece of yellow construction paper and gave the kids the instructions to draw something on it. They didn't want us to use crayons, since they'll melt in the laminator. We also couldn't put much on it that had height, because of the laminator. So, Livie decided to go free form and draw all the Thanksgiving-y things she could think of.

This is what she designed. You'll notice a hand-shaped grey turkey. Then a picture of daddy with his baseball hat. There's Spookely the Square Pumpkin, some leaves, Nana and Papa T's house (we go there for every Thanksgiving), a squirrel by a tree, a butterfly and cocoon, and a Blue Jay by his flower. Lots of great Thanksgiving-themed things for her special placemat.

Facebook

I never thought I'd enjoy Facebook. My sister actually signed me up and encouraged me to check it out. After much prompting, I did and now I LOVE the site!! It's a way for me to stay connected with friends, without having to send emails to everyone. The best part is I can post little "status updates" about the funny things my kids do and say and they are preserved forever. I thought I'd post some of my favorite Facebook moments that I've posted over the past year.

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Livie was eating some string cheese and I hear Noah say, "Hey Babe. Would you get me one of those bad boys?"

Reason why I'm the meanest mom in the world #43 - I won't let Noah wear blue jeans and a long-sleeved thermal shirt to school when it's 90 degrees outside to a school that's not air-conditioned. Granted, this is from a boy currently wearing his bathing suit to bed.

Love my little Italian girl! She gets right in there with me to make her great-grandma's tomato sauce, then as it's cooling, she'll take a bowl of it and eat it as is!

Livie came in and gave me a hug. She said Dora told her to hug someone she loved and since daddy wasn't here, she'd just love me for right now. ;-)

Took the kids out to lunch and when the waitress gave me the bill, Livie said, "Hey, is that another speeding ticket?". Yeah. She thinks she's a riot.

I love that as soon as Madie watches a movie she likes, she feels the need to go and act it out. Right now, she's Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton style.

For the past 3 days, as I've been getting paper plates, I've been finding that someone (Noah) has drawn smiley faces on a few of them and stuck them in random places in the pile. I love little surprises like that. :-)

Lesson #341 - Do not wait until July to inspect your child's book bag from the end of school 2 months ago. There aren't just papers in there. There's also a peanut butter sandwich at the bottom that has turned into the scariest science experiment EVER!

Ever look at your son and think "Why is he wearing toilet paper around his neck like a scarf?". I do.

I think my kids are on a toilet flushing strike. Not sure what their demands are, but I'm ready to give in.

The kids were playing Legos this morning and Noah spent the entire time making Lego toilet plungers.

Was washing grapes with Livie and every time she stole one, she'd say "ZOINK!". It was like a Scooby-Do cartoon in here. :-)

I've been trying to teach Livie to read, but was not expecting the first word she would actually recognize to be the word "POO". Noah had written this in the shower with his foam letters and that is what Livie immediately recognized when she hopped in later. What has my family come to?

Noah was pouring himself some milk today and spilled a little. I asked him what happened and he said, "Hey, I'm not a professional. I'm only an intermediate milk pourer. Sometimes I still spill it."

You know the DVR has spoiled the kids when your 4 yr old tells her sister to "pause the game" of paper dolls, so she can take a shower.

Just overhead a conversation between Pete and Noah and Pete's reply was "Umbrellas can't support your weight and neither can plastic bags. The roof is too high and you're too heavy." That can't be good, can it?

Something I never realized you're supposed to teach boys - how to pee outside by a tree without mooning the entire baseball team in the process. Proper measures have been taken to make sure he knows the correct way to do that now.

Recorded an episode of "Fairly Oddparents" for Noah, because it was all about sock monkeys. Made the mistake, however, of not actually watching it. As he was watching, I heard him getting very upset. I ran in just in time to see an evil fairy slaughtering all the sock monkeys. Total annihilation. Now Noah's mad and wanting to exact revenge on all the evil fairies of the world.

My heartless children just watched ET for the first time and DIDN'T CRY! I sobbed like I was being murdered the first time I saw that as a kid and told my dad I hated him for making me watch it. Guess only sock monkey killing fairies cause that kind of devastation around here.

Don't you love it when your children feel the need to draw smiley faces in the dust that's been collecting on your furniture?

We were talking about marriage at dinner tonight and I turned to Noah and told him that he had better be a good husband to his future wife. I told him to make sure he treats her well, bring her flowers, and sing her songs. He turned to Pete and said, "I don't think I'm getting married. They sound like too much work."

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So, see? These are gems about my kids that I will always be able to remember, because I wrote them down on Facebook. Oh the things they say!

Happy Veteran's Day

We all had the day off today and because God has blessed us with the nicest week in Nov EVER (yay!), we decided to take advantage of it and get outside for a while. :-) We went out to eat, ran a few errands, then walked uptown to Washington Park and went to the war memorial. I thought I had read that there was going to be a 24-hr veteran watch at the memorial, but when we got there, no one else was there. I had hoped for the kids to get a chance to really get the sincerity of the day, but we talked about how we honor those that have served instead. Don't know how much they grasp it yet. They're so lucky to live in a nation of freedom, where they really don't have to fear what each day brings like they do in other countries. They don't really understand what it is like to grow up without the freedoms we so take for granted. But, I hope as we continue to plant the seed of knowledge, that they will know always what a blessed nation we are. And that our freedoms come on the backs of the men and women who have served and given their lives to protect what we hold dear. I also want to mention the families of those who serve. Having had a small taste of what it's like to be "left behind" while the dad goes off to do his job, it made me realized the strength and sacrifice of those military families. I had a husband who left for the better part of 3 months, fully knowing the whole time he was never in danger. Those who have had loved ones overseas in dangerous and frightful areas of combat haven't had the luxury I have and many have handled it with amazingly strong wills. If it wasn't for the support of their families, our soldiers would suffer even more than they do in times of war. Thank you to the veterans who have served and are serving now and to their families for remaining strong in the face of loneliness and fear. May God bless you and protect you.

Article One

Well, it's official! I'm a published writer. Granted, not a paid one. Or even a famous one. But, hey, I'll take what I can get. :-) So, if any of you are interested, here's a link to my first published article. They'll be published every other Thursday until April.

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=417132&query=write

By the way, please excuse the ridiculous photo! The editor has been on this "hand motion" kick, I guess, so the title of that picture is "Mean mom with pointed finger". It could also be my indian name actually...

Plant Shelf

Pete got a new toy. He decided to go ahead and cash in his frequent flyer points from all his travels these past 3 years and got himself something (that he thinks..) is exciting. ;-)



Now, this special toy had parts that needed to go on our plant shelf. This plant shelf was decorated in 2003. How do I know this? Because one of the boxes up there was from Noah's 1st Christmas when he was only 10m old, so I know it went up that Christmas. In all that time, we never got up there and dusted. You can only imagine what 7 years worth of dust looks like!! Pete climbed up on that shelf and handed everything down to me and we got cleanin'!!

Can you see the dust of which I speak? Yeah. Pretty crazy.

Now the plant shelf is completely empty, save these two little black boxes. Can you tell what his new toy is yet?

It a new surround sound system with blue-ray DVD player. Not exactly the most exciting thing for his wife, but he deserves something cool after all that hard work these past 3 years! We still had enough FF points to get new phones, a set of binoculars, and (shhh...it's a secret for the kids) a consession stand popcorn popper. We're giving that to them for Christmas. Think it'll be fun for movie nights. :-) Now, I just have to figure out what I want to put on the plant shelf now. Fake ivy and plants are out! Need to find easier to clean items. Any suggestions?

Finally, a Good Visitor!

On Sunday afternoon, Livie was frantically calling us all to the basement. She had a HUGE surprise for us! There was this big bunny stuck in our window well. And, because it was where the emergency escape window was, it was tall and Pete wasn't able to grab it. Finally, though, we had a wild animal we could deal with! Much prefer cute bunny rabbits to those persistant skunks!



He was so scared and we felt so badly for him, but we knew if we opened the window and tried to grab him there was a very good chance he'd get loose and we'd have a wild rabbit in our house!

So, we put some apple slices in our animal trap and Pete lowered it down.

Sure enough, the next morning we had caught the big guy! Noah had come into our room about 4am complaining that he was hearing noises. I went into his room and heard the noises and was pretty convinced we had caught him, because it was coming from right outside his room and that's where the bunny was trapped.

So, we gathered up the kids, went outside and brought him up from the murky depths of our window well.

We got ready to release him, but you'll see in the video below, it took quite a lot of coaxing to get him to actually leave the security of that cage. But, once he got out, he took off like a rocket!! The kids all got a chance to pet him inside the cage before he went on his way, so it was an exciting morning. :-)