And so it Begins

Without an exact date nailed down as to when we are moving, I begin our packing rituals. We have moved so many times in the past ten years that we actually have a moving routine. I sort, and pack, and purge. Mike gets it all into the truck, out of the truck, and into the right room. He is also the official moving truck driver. I think I would have a severe panic attack if I ever had to drive that beast of a truck. After everything is in the right spot I begin the unpacking. We have gotten so good that at the end of moving day our new house is usually completely unpacked. No dilly dallying on that day.

As far as when we will move, we aren't sure. We are hoping to close early so that we would only have to move from point A to point B. If that doesn't happen then we would have to move out of this house and be out of here by the first. Then store our stuff, and bunk up with some poor sucker (Ryan) who will take us in for a week until we close. We are really hoping we can close early so we don't have to move everything twice.

One thing I have to admit that I like about moving is we (I) go through pretty much everything we own and get rid of all the unused/unnecessary stuff that we have collected. I am a purger. So far I have packed five boxes and tossed out four trash bags of junk. Throwing stuff out makes me feel a little less stressed for some reason.


As I was packing today, Nathan was pretty much under my feet the entire time. I must have almost stepped on him four or five times in the span of an hour until I took a break and made dinner. I am going to have to find more creative ways to keep him busy while I pack.


And this boy who shall remain nameless had a brilliant idea today. While I was packing he decided to wash out his popcorn tin he got from Christmas. Too bad he didn't think to poor out the popcorn first. He had filled the tin up with water and was mixing it when I walked into the kitchen. Maybe he was just trying to make popcorn soup. Who knows with our boys, they have some of the strangest ideas. One time Jason got toothpaste on his blanket that was in his bed. Instead of taking his blanket off of his bed to clean it, he decided to carry some water from his bathroom in his cupped hands up to his top bunk to wash off his blanket. The mind of a child is very entertaining.

I am very much looking forward to this move. To know that we won't have to move again for a long long time is such an amazing thing. I am excited to make the house our own, to meet our new neighbors, to have a real office, and to be a home owner. I'm so proud of Mike. If it weren't for his persistence we never would be doing this. I was convinced we couldn't buy a house yet, and he patiently persuaded me to try. I love that man of mine.

Boxing Gloves

My dad is the one in the family who gives those gifts that normally require permission before giving. Not that he asks. Boxing gloves are a prime example.

These are real deal boxing gloves too! I cringe every time these come out of their rooms. Seriously, they fight/wrestle so much already I didn't think gloves were really necessary, but my dad thought it was the perfect gift. Jason likes to play with them the most. His favorite opponent is Marcus and he refuses to fight with me. I don't know why.

I think there was a lot of crying after this picture. Some other great gifts my dad has given the boys are sling shots, BB guns (and that was because I refused to let him give them real guns, I'm not joking! The BB guns also have to stay at my dad's house.), and real tools (such as power drills and wood saws). Thanks dad!

Party like it's March 7, 2009

Yesterday was James' official birthday party. All the family came over to our house to celebrate and eat our lasagna and cupcakes in exchange for a birthday present for James.


The boys made really cute and festive signs for the party on poster board. This one is Nathan's sign. Marcus' sign reminded everyone to use their manners and to cover their mouth when they cough.


We hung out, played the wii, everyone took turns playing with the birthday boy, hovered around the food, and had a great time. The older kids went on a long bike ride around the lake and chased the ducks. The adults split off in their usual groups. Men in one room, ladies in the other, that way we could talk about each other safely.


Then it was present time. I was the one helping James open his presents and my husband is not a shutterbug kind of guy so sadly we didn't get any pictures. I took this one after all the presents were open. It's not very good since no one is smiling or looking at the camera but hey, it's all I got. James seemed to like the presents in gift bags. He knew how to get to the gift in those ones. I ended up opening the ones that were wrapped. After they were out of their packaging he loved them all.


Especially this. He is really good at going backwards in it. It also works as a walker since the back of it is tall for him to hold on to and walk. I made the mistake of letting him try to walk with it today. He is not interested in learning to walk and is very careful not to fall whenever he scoots along the furniture. When I let him try to walk with it and the wheels started going, he didn't have a chance. Toppled over is a good description of what happened. He bumped his bean and was very mad at me. Sorry little man, no more bright ideas from mom I promise.

It was so funny when we sang happy birthday to him. He didn't have a clue what was going on and stared at us like we are all crazy! Afterwords he was real excited to see another cupcake waiting for him.

Om nom nom nom


He is turning into a professional cupcake eater. After his cupcake of course it was bath time again. He did so good all day. He still isn't feeling well and had been so good all day. He sort of fell apart though after his bath and really needed a nap so we laid him down.


Nathan really loves cupcakes too. Everyone tried to get him in trouble by making him look like he ate 10 or so cupcakes. I think he was worried but I know Nathan and he wouldn't do that. Right Nathan?

While James was taking a nap and the guys were playing Nintendo, I got to take my mom and my Aunt Sharon to go see our new house. I was really excited to show them and also sort of nervous because I really wanted them to like it. My mom drooled over the size of my closet and Sharon loved our little backyard. I was glad they both liked the house.

It was a great day. I love hanging out with my family. I wish we could do it every weekend. I wish we all lived within a mile radius of each other, that would make it all a lot easier. I still can't believe James is one year old already. He has grown so fast and so much already.

We have Talent

This is the kind of stuff we do when we are bored on a Friday night.

Win, Lose, or Draw

Marcus got an easel for Christmas and it has definitely gotten a lot of use already. We play a lot of guess the drawing games win, lose or draw style. The artist gets to pick whatever they like to draw and everyone else has to guess what it is. Sometimes we do movie titles but mostly we stick to things.


Tonight I played it with Marcus and Nathan. Jason was off being anti social somewhere. They both drew pictures and I was supposed to guess what they were.


James likes to get all the chalk out of the chalk holders and eat them which really makes Marcus mad. I am always surprised and horrified when he tries to eat the chalk. It can't possibly taste good and the thought of eating it makes me shiver.


This is what Marcus drew. Okay now get your head out of the gutter. It's a whale! You knew that right? So did I.


This is a Nathan face. He does this face when you tell him something that is sort of funny but not funny enough to laugh at. He loves to draw, and spends hours on a single picture sometimes. His typical drawing involves a battle scene of some sort with weapons. I have had to explain to him that it is okay to draw these pictures but not at school and definitely not on the back of homework.


This was the picture he drew me. Did you guess warrior? I didn't. My first thought was- Am I raising a womanizing republican?. My second thought was- Oh good, it has five fingers and no thumbs on it's hands. It can't be a self portrait, it must be someone else. Whew, I was worried there for a second!

1

It's true, my baby is one! I can hardly believe it, my quiet, wrinkly, sleepy, purple-ish newborn has turned into a mobile, rough and tough, chubster who likes to scream a lot. He has a sense of humor now. He makes certain facial expressions that are only his. He claps when he is proud of himself and knows how to say caca (I taught him) when I change his poopy diapers. Our little baby is growing up. I even cried a couple tears last night when I laid him to bed. I looked at him and thought to myself, this is the last day he will be zero. I hugged him a little longer than usual.

I am so blessed to be able to work part time and to be able to spend most of my time with my children. I cherish everyday of it. Never the less, it still makes me sad to see them growing up. Pretty soon they aren't going to need mama as much!

I was supposed to work today but my alarm didn't go off or didn't wake me up, which is the first time that has ever happened to me. I figured that was a sign that I was supposed to spend the whole day with my birthday boy. I played hookie from work and instead Mike and I took James to buy a red helium birthday balloon. He loved it! We also bought him a birthday gift and a new outfit. Every birthday boy needs a new outfit.




He also got his first pair of shoes today! I am not kidding, James has never ever worn a pair of shoes before. We have tried getting him shoes before but he has fat/huge feet that don't really fit into shoes. We would have had to buy them so big they would look like clown shoes. So this whole first year he has gotten by wearing nothing but socks.

Today we found these really cute Converse shoes that actually are slip ons. They fit!! I had to have them, James needs shoes, so I tried to ignore the price tag.


When we got home James took a nap. I frosted his cupcakes and made a makeshift cupcake display out of his bottle rack. I am so creative. Then I waited for him to wake up.


And waited

And waited

He slept for four and a half hours!! I got impatient and decided to wake him up. He was missing his whole birthday! We are having another party for him on Saturday to celebrate with the rest of my family but I just couldn't let this day go uncelebrated. Here is his birthday party in pictures.

The party goers:








The Party:






The Cake:

The first birthday cake is a huge deal for me. I have sort of made it a tradition for the boys to have chocolate cake for the first time on their first birthday. They have had cookies, ice cream, brownies, ring pops, and everything else. But chocolate cake is special. Only on their first birthday. I was very excited to give it to James.




He really wanted the candle and thought it was funny when we sang to him.














Oh boy! I'd say he likes it.

After cleaning him up he spent the rest of the night playing and snuggling with my dad.


It was a pretty eventful evening and he was full from his cake. When he got fussy it was time for bed. I gave him a kiss and sang him our song and put him to bed.

Happy Birthday my sweet little James.

Watermelon and Guitars

I finally got little man down for a nap. Nathan so graciously passed his illness on to James who was up a million times last night and is about as crabby as one sick baby can be. Just like Nathan, he has a high fever and feel plain miserable. He just lays there in my arms crying while I rock him. Sad. I am ready for this house to be healthy again. Enough with the sniffles, sneezes, coughs, fevers, chills, and crabbiness!

Yesterday my dad came over and hung out with us. Once I told him we rented Guitar Hero World Tour there was no stopping him from coming. He's addicted, and he's good at it! It's insane how much Blockbuster can charge to rent one game, $9! If we would have known that we wouldn't have got it, but we didn't want to look like the broke idiots that change their mind after being rung up. So enjoy it kids, never again will we be renting a $9 video game.


Marcus gave his Spiderman bike a cleaning on the front porch while waiting for Grandpa to come. He even cleaned the tires and spokes. After he was done he told me he thought his bike was the cleanest bike in the world. Now if I could just get him to be as enthusiastic about cleaning his room...


My dad brought a watermelon with him to share in exchange for time on the nintendo wii


It was a perfect watermelon day. Hot but not too hot. It is definitely an outdoor food.


Even James got to sample nature's dessert. He kept trying to eat the rind so I had to take it away and cut that part off. He loved it!


After watermelon we got down to business. We each took turns on the guitar. I am not so good on medium so I stick to easy usually. Marcus is still a little too young to play by himself so he was my official star power button pusher. Jason and Nathan are professionals at medium but a little hesitant to attempt hard. Mike preferred to ignore us rockers.


My dad is pretty much awesome. He can do the songs on hard. I can't even follow the notes on that level! Way too fast.

All that rocking out made us hungry so I made sweet and sour chicken for dinner which was really good unless you are under the age of 12, then you would say it's really gross. James ate more watermelon for dinner. We talked about our soon to be house (32 days and counting!) and tried to find a house online for my dad to buy and rent out. He is thinking about it.

Uh oh, someone is awake and needs me. So much for a little break. Back to work.