Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas Highlights

So, I've been too busy to do just about anything!  So I'll give you a few Christmas highlights and hopefully things can start to settle down again and I can find my camera charger....

We tried to take a picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits, but...this is the best we got.
Erin built a gingerbread house with Grandpa
Grandma got to play in the snow
and presents! (with Zac and Des too!)

And a little forced grandparent love

Hope everyone else had a merry Christmas and that 2013 holds good things for everyone!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Another try at a picture with Santa

Patrick and Allison reacted about the same way as last time, but we got a picture with everyone this time.
My silly children....lol.  At least Erin shares my love for Santa!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Making Christmas

((this is my 2nd post today, so keep going after the end!))

Friday we put up the Christmas stuff.  I LOVE putting up the tree, and apparently the kids inherited that.

This was before.  Erin was depressed because it would take "sooooooooooooooooo long!!!"
I told her to start small, so she went to work on the windows
Slowly but surely we got everything set up
And today we went to go visit Santa at the mall.  Erin was SO excited.  She ran right up and jumped into his lap.  Patrick, however, wanted to get away and Allison started screaming her face off.  But at least we have memories, right?

All full

Well, it lasted a year and 11 months, but once again I've used up my free photo storage on the blog.  So Matt and I are trying to figure out what to do.  We can either pay for more storage (which is $2.49 a month) and keep the blog here, or we can buy a domain name (~$10 a year) and host our own.  Not sure what the decision will be, but I'd like it to be made soon!

So, until then I'll try to put pictures on another way.

Thanksgiving was a blast.  The kids loved it.  I have so many things to be thankful for, but it can really be wrapped up in just a couple pictures.

And I had a little sous chef this year.  Erin and I had so much fun!


Monday, November 19, 2012

Wii Fit

So at my recent yearly checkup, my doctor chastised me to for two things. 1) putting on the health questionnaire that I don't exercise regularly and 2) being 10 lbs heavier than I was last year (6 weeks after Allison was born).  I promised her I would try to exercise at least 3 times a week, and have been pretty good the last couple of weeks of working out on the wii fit at least 3 times a week.  I take Erin to school, put Allison down for a nap and then work out while Patrick plays with his blocks and laughs at me. (yes, he thinks it's funny.  I try not to let it hurt my feelings)

Well, both Erin and Matt are home this week, but I'm trying not to let it disrupt my schedule too much.  But, since Matt wants to get several errands done today, I had to do it while Allison was awake.


Guess what, the girls wanted to participate.
 It made it really hard for me, but at least they're learning good habits, right?

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Too long

I just realized it's been 2 1/2 months since my last blog post.  And that makes me a little sad.  And looking at previous blog posts, it makes me even sadder.  I read all these great blogs and get involved in people's lives, and then you see mine and there's really very little of me there.  When I do post, there are pictures of my cute kids and a little of what went on, but you don't get *me,* you know?  So I'm going to try to post more often and post more personally.  Because in the end, I want people to know me, the mom behind the adorable kids. Maybe that's a little vain, but hey, I'm a person too.

Anyway, I didn't realize just how much having my thyroid levels so out of whack for so long was really affecting me.  I've finally been on a consistent dose for a while now (almost 3 months?), and I feel like I'm coming back to life.  6 months of changing it every 6 weeks took its toll I guess.  Luckily it's before the holidays.

I've been realizing lately just how much holiday traditions mean to me.  I think Matt and I have finally gotten into a good compromise of how his family did things and how my family did.  And we came up with a couple of our own, too, I think.  It all grew organically though, so I can't really separate out what is his and what is mine and what is ours, which I guess is good.

One of the things that is *mine* though is the crafty stuff.  I love making holiday crafty things with the kids.  I guess it's a way that we can all spend time together and do something that isn't completely mind-numbing (candyland anyone? >_<)  Anyway, this year I decided that I missed my mother's Christmas village and saw the buildings at Michael's and went ahead and bought some.  And of course I had to buy something for Erin and Patrick to paint.  So we made a mess today.
But everyone had fun and that's what matters. ((I'm going to try to hand the camera off to Erin more often so that I can be in the pictures.  I feel like that's one of the reasons I feel so lost...because I'm never there....))

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Itty Bitty

So, Allison had her 12 month well child check today.  She's 28 1/2 inches long, which puts her at the 50th percentile (or right at average), but she's only 17lbs8oz, which is at the 5th percentile.  Dr. M. isn't concerned at all, since she's active and social and exactly where she should be at developmentally.  I'm just not USED to a small child!

And some adorableness...

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Party!

We had some friends get together today to celebrate Allison's birthday on Monday.  It was fun!

Allison loved her cupcake
She wasn't too thrilled with the idea of opening presents though
She played for a bit
And then she totally crashed and is completely passed out right now.  Here's hoping for a good nap!