New Year's Eve

I'll be ringing in the new year with my man and my babies.  Playing video games, watching movies, having wrestling matches, playing pretend horses, and just savoring this time when they're little and they still want to spend New Year's eve with their parents. 

God is good.

Happy New Year to you all!

Destructive

I had a brilliant idea that we would get new toy bins for the boys' room, since they have so many annoying fun little pieces to all their different toys. 

We put the thing together last night.
at 9:30pm.
they looked at it for 5 minutes before they went to bed.

Then they woke up this morning.
the very first thing they did was play in their room.
for no longer than 10 minutes.
and then I came in
and saw
this.

They actually held out longer than I thought they would.

Christmas weekend wrap-up

We had a wonderful Christmas!!! 

Friday night, my whole family came to our house for our annual Christmas Eve game/snack night.  We ate so much junk, played spoons, Mafia, and had a white elephant gift exchange.  It's always so much fun to have the whole family together!
The only thing that was missing was being with our other family.  We always miss Mike's parents and sisters when we can't be with them for the holidays!  They are so much fun, and they're better game players. :) 
Christmas morning, we got the kids up a little before 7, and let them open their presents.  They got to play with them for a little while, and then we were off to my mom's for our Christmas breakfast.  Our family, along with my 2 sisters and their families all open gifts from my mom, and she cooks us a huge biscuit/gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage casserole, quiche breakfast.  It's yum!  We then went to my sister's house later that day for Christmas dinner.

I'm worn to a frazzle, the kids are dragging, and we're overwhelmed with how much STUFF they have.  Mike's parents and my mom always give so much to us for Christmas, and while we know that getting things isn't what Christmas is about, I know it brings them joy to be able to give us such a nice Christmas.  We're so blessed to have such wonderful, Godly parents. 

The real reason we have Christmas is all because of Jesus Christ.   It's all about Him!   One of my most favorite Christmas songs is "I Celebrate the Day" by Relient K.   If you've never heard the song, here are the lyrics.  I LOVE IT!

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be


And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever


And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here


To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might [really] live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me


And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life.


I would post the pictures, but there were over 300 of them I had to go through, edit and add to facebook.  The album is here, if you'd like to see the Christmas pics.

In case you don't know

One messy house, four hyper kids, one working husband, one tired mom, and one sick Chloe with a puke bucket does not a fun Saturday make. 

Thankfully, my wonderful mom (have I ever mentioned how amazing she is?) is watching the kids tonight at our house so Mike and I can finish Christmas shopping.  I told her not to come, since there's a sick one here. She doesn't care.  She's awesome like that.  Chloe's starting to sing a Care Bears song as I'm typing.  That's always a good sign.  Maybe she's starting to feel better?  :)

There is a light at the end of this messy, stinky, crazy tunnel!

Christmas Fun

Alternately titled, "Pictures. Loads and loads of pictures."

Trimming the Tree:

{Chloe's first Christmas ornament from way back in 2003!!}

{Laney and her first Christmas ornament -- 2001.  geez.  They're getting too big!}

Annual trip to Crown Center's Crayola land:

{this picture makes me laugh}

{Little story behind this picture:  At the end of the play area, you can meet Santa and have your picture taken with him.  We usually take the picture at the end, but it's not the reason we go...the kids just like to play. Our kids don't believe in Santa, so it's not a big deal if they see him or not.  Not that I think there's anything wrong with doing the whole Santa thing...we just feel it's the best choice for us.  Anyway, we asked the girls if they wanted their picture with Santa, and Laney said she definitely did not.  Chloe was in her own little world (go figure), and she didn't care.  Then I asked the boys.  Isaac was kinda iffy about it, but Elijah definitely, absolutely, for sure did NOT want to!  He said "Mommy, I do not want to sit on his lap.  I have enough presents under the tree.  I don't need anymore."  I didn't even know he knew what Santa was all about, but apparently he does.  :)  So anyway, they, meaning Laney, Chloe and Isaac, looked at the mechanical Santa and we were on our way.  the end.}

{Dinner at Fritz's}

{My mom with the kids}

{Mayor's Christmas tree}

{Cute gingerbread village...most of it is actually edible.}

Making Christmas cookies:

Merry Christmas!!!

I'm serious this time!

Remember a while back, well, a long while back, when I was pregnant with Jett and I wrote this post?  I didn't exactly keep up with it after Jett came along.  I've tried coming up with a good reason as to why I haven't done anything to lose weight, but I can't.  The only thing that has slowed the weight loss process down is my Jett's dwindling milk supply when I eat less...well, that and my lack of motivation.  I thought about just starting the whole thing after Christmas...a New Year's resolution or whatever, but I can't wait.  I need this weight off.  Like now!  Yesterday, even! 

I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 day shred.  It totally kicked my butt the first day.  Like, I felt like I was gonna throw up and pass out...within the first 10 minutes. oy.  It hurt.  But I'm on day 4 now, and although it still burns and I feel like dying half-way through it, I feel so much better afterwards!  Can I just ask why no one has thought about big-chested women when they make work out dvd's?  Have you ever tried doing a jumping jack with 2 bowling balls hanging off you?  My bra cuts into my shoulders so bad, I'm surprised they didn't bleed!  I now have to hold my girls while doing the jumping jacks.  sorry if that's tmi, but there it is. 

As for my eating plan, I don't really plan on changing too much, other than just eating more fruits and veggies.  I honestly don't eat all day long (as the shape of my body would suggest otherwise).  I usually have a big iced coffee (with splenda and a little skim milk) in the morning with maybe a granola bar, if anything (I'm not a big breakfast eater) and for lunch, it's usually chicken noodle soup or a sandwich with pretzels.  For dinner, I eat okay (not great, not horrible), but I never get seconds.  The big thing for me is nighttime snacking.  After the kids go to bed, I just want to sit down and watch a movie with Mike, and it makes me wanna snack, so I'll have a bowl of ice cream, or chips.  Never carrot sticks or celery, for some reason.  ;)  I figure if I cut out the evening snacks, and drink only water and eat nothing after 6pm, it will help drastically!  Oh, we cut out pop about 3 months ago, so that's been hard, but at least I don't have the cravings for it anymore.  We'll have it every once in a while if we go out to eat or something, but we never buy it for our house anymore.  I usually drink tea with splenda.  I must start drinking more water, too. 

So that's it.  Please, please pray for me as I continue this.  I have a long way to go, and I'm just starting.  Gotta start somewhere, right?  :)   

Thanksgiving

How's that for a unique title?  Wow, this weekend was SUPER busy, but it was so much fun to spend time with family!  There's no way to put into words how thankful I am for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  He is my everything, and I just love Him so much!  He is the reason I live and breathe!  And of course, I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband, and my 5 precious children.  I feel so blessed and so grateful for every day I get to spend with them! 

Thanksgiving weekend rundown:

Thursday, we had Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's house with the rest of my family...33 people total!!  So much food, as far as the eye could see, basically.  I mean really, you've never seen a Thanksgiving dinner like our family has.  It's bordering on gluttony.  But oh my, it's goood. 

Thursday night, my mom and I ventured out at 10:30 to be at Walmart for their midnight Black Friday deals.  We stood around the palette of wrapped-up $25 leapfrog leapsters, to be sure to grab two (or at least one) when midnight came, and everyone would dig in.  and dig in is putting it terribly lightly.  You ever see on a movie where people are fighting over one toy, and things are just flying of the shelf and it looks like a war zone?  Yeah, that was it.  I was in the middle of it, and got injured, and defended the one leapster I was able to grab with my life. My mom wasn't able to grab any (apparently I get my ninja skills from my dad), but a lady kindly let my mom have one from the stash she had grabbed.  So we made off with 2 leapsters...go us!!  I got everything on my list, and so did my mom, so we left feeling accomplished and off to bed I went!  No getting up at 3am for me this year...thank goodness!!!  I'd much rather stay up till 3 than get up at 3!  I'm not a morning person!   The rush of Black Friday is fun, and I do it because I have 5 kids to buy for and not a whole lot of money to do it with.  But if I didn't have to, oh, I probably would go anyway, if nothing but to watch people fight. :)  It's like a train wreck...you know, it's totally disturbing, but you just cannot look away! 

Friday, my mom and I did a little more shopping and she bought me some new jeans (yay!) and scored a few more deals.  Mike and I took Isaac and Jett to the dr. for their check-ups and my mom kept the other kids.  That took about 2 1/2 hours.  I'm thinking of changing pediatricians.  The appts. are always like that...you get there at 3:50 for an appt. at 4, and don't end up getting called back till 4:45 and then have to wait in the room for the dr., yada yada yada...  It gets old.  They both had to have shots, so afterwards, we took Isaac to look around Toys r us and let him pick out a cheap little toy.  He picked a stuffed Sonic the Hedgehog, of course.  He's been playing with him since last night, acting out the way Sonic acts in the video games and even imitating what he says.  He slept with it, too!  It's very cute! 

Today, Mike and I went to the matinee showing of the 7th Harry Potter movie (I LOVED it and can't wait for part 2!) and did a little grocery shopping afterwards. My mom came over and watched the kids (again!).  We just got finished putting up the Christmas tree and all the decorations, and now we're getting ready to watch Back to the Future 1 and 2.  or probably just 1...it's getting late.  :)  Don't hate me, but I've never seen any of the Back to the Futures.  My sister-in-law almost disowned me for it, so I'm basically watching them just for her. ;)  We'll go to church tomorrow, and maybe drive the kids around to look at Christmas lights tomorrow evening.  It's been a great weekend!

So that's my weekend in a nutshell. or maybe not a nutshell.  Whatever the case, I'm thankful for 4-day weekends like this.  We should have them more often.

He's definitely mine

There's no denying it....

He's definitely my child.

With his Daddy's blond hair. :)

He's 13 months old now, and sweeter than ever!!

He loves to snuggle like Elijah loves cars.  Yeah, that much!  It's pretty awesome!

He loves to say "uh-oh"

He's still nursing, and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out when to stop.  It makes me a little bit sad.

He loves to play cars with his brothers, imitating everything they do.

He's starting to run now...

He's my little Jett-pack, and he's living up to his name.

Laundry Day

Do people really have "laundry day"?  Really?  Do they? 

I find it very hard to believe, as my "laundry day" falls on....oh...every day.  2 loads a day.  Sometimes 3. 

Not even kidding...sadly.

I really don't mind laundry.  really, I don't. There's just so much of it.  so. much.  It laughs at me, I really think it does. 

My washer and dryer hate me.  Now that I know as a fact.  I hear them whispering to each other, plotting my demise.

All I'm trying to say is that I do alot of laundry.  a.lot. 

I'm tired of seeing the same shirts and jeans and towels and socks and underwear over and over and over. 

But I am grateful that we have clothes to wash.  I suppose.  I have to say that, right?

No really, I am.

Okay, I'm totally stalling.  The floor of my bedroom looks something like this:

source
...maybe worse.

Fine, I'm going.

Wow, my washer literally just beeped at me that yet another load is ready to be dried.  Ugghhh...I hear you dude!  Just shut up!

Sock Monkey

Reason #5,384 why I love Etsy:

Could this hat possibly be any cuter?

It came from this shop!  She has so many cute things!  The owl hat is adorable, too!

Jett's Birthday Party

I just realized that I haven't posted anything about Jett's 1st birthday party...
I thought about either not having one at all (just doing something with family) or having one for him and Isaac combined, but then I got all weepy about how this is the last "1st birthday" we'll have for our kids.  Needless to say, we had one.  :) 
I'd been entertaining the idea (if I decided to have a party) of having a Dr. Seuss theme.  I love all the bright colors, and everything Dr. Seuss is just so cute!  I found some amazing ideas online, but trying to pull it all together was a little bit hard.  Have you ever tried to find anything related to Dr. Seuss in a craft store?  Let me save you some time - you can't.  Oh sure, I found tons of amazingly cute things I could make from craft supplies, but honestly, I'm not all that crafty.  So I wandered through Joanns and Hobby Lobby looking and looking for things that I could possibly make to somewhat resemble the awesome pictures I found on the internet.  Not so much.   I mean, his party turned out cute, but I had a much grander picture in my head of what I wanted it to look like.  Is grander a word?  Oh, and also, you can't find a Dr. Seuss cake anywhere, unless you'd like to mortgage your house to pay for it.

Okay, enough about that...on with the pictures. 

The invitation:

The decorations:

{The banner is Jett's monthly picture from birth to 1 year}

{We started out with 2 fish - named, Red and Blue - but one of them died about 2 hours after we got them home.  That is precisely why I got 2. :) }

The presents:

The cake:

Thing 1 and Thing 2 - aka Drew and Mariah ;)

I still can't believe my baby is 1!