They don't get it or Do they?!

Some days it feels as though my kids just don't get it. As I'm strongly communicating with them I'm getting the glazed donut from their big blue eyes!! (I'm super excited all my kids have blue eyes). Then out of the blue, they say or do something that lets me know that it's not all sawdust in there. I've been working on a sinus infection and thanks to our friend,the doctor, he called in a Z-pak for me. So, I was with the boys getting ready for bed last night and our routine is to read some books, the bible, whatever and then sing a few songs and go to bed. Well, my voice is really rough and after a full day of communicating with my children, I was worn out. So, after I made it through the Itsy Bitsy Spider, I came down and asked Alex to help me out because I just couldn't talk to them anymore. So, he obligingly took the baby, who was asleep on him, up to her bed and finished the bed task. But before I left the boys, I told them that Mommy hurts so daddy's coming up. James and Ryan were on the bed and James told me to stand up. So, I stood up in front of him. Then he told me to turn around, so I did. Then he patted my back and said "back hurt mommy?". I said 'No, my throat hurts'. So, he rubbed my throat and then gently kissed it on either side. What boo-boo doesn't go away with a tender kiss? Well, my throat still hurt, but my heart was full!

The Cake, The Cupcakes, The Food!

When I get in cooking mode, watch out!! Sometimes I just do too much. But I don't think that happened on Saturday. I was able to knock out some items friday while the boys were at the movie theater. And the rest of the stuff was for the oven, so that didn't take a ton of time either. But, here's a picture of the cake. Boy, was it good! I know you're not supposed to compliment your own cooking, but it wasn't my recipe and I just followed directions and it was YUMMY!! Of course, I thought it wasn't big enough for everybody, so I made some box cupcakes for the kids.

Our Community group was coming over Sunday so I decided to cook some stuff for that. So, there were meatballs, pumpkin bread, cupcakes, cookies and bread bowl artichoke dip. As I was looking at my display, I asked Alex "Did I over-do it?" If I did, nobody said anything and there were hardly any leftovers. So all in all, a good cooking weekend!

Tonight, something from the freezer :)

My man is 33!

Yes, today is Alex's birthday. He turns 33, or 34 if we lived in China. To celebrate, we are going to be cleaning the house for the party tonight and then clean some more because we're hosting our community group here tomorrow. I'll be doing some cooking, although I did a bunch last night. Betsy very graciously took the boys to see Where the Wild Things Are so I was able to bake and frost a very delectable looking chocolate cake (picture to follow) and pumpkin bread. All from scratch, mind you. That's why it took so long. Today I have to make caesar salad, season the pork tenderloin, make spice cake cupcakes (from the box), asparagus and potatos.

As many of you may or may not know, Alex has a certain degree of excitement when it comes to presents. From my perspective, he is not able to let a wrapped present sit in the house for more than 24 hours. When we got back from our honeymoon, we had a room full of unopened presents. So, we had to open every single one of them at midnight, after which he proclaimed "There's nothing for me". Yep, that's what happens when you get married. One spouse ends up getting 'family' presents. Thank goodness, this hasn't happened to me. I have not yet received any bow and arrows or guns or hunting shirts.

This present excitement gene has made its way into our oldest child. James has an eagle eye for presents. He is, however, great at letting the real birthday kid open them. But James gets super excited while screaming "What is it? I don't know?!"

We had 2 boxes in our house, 1 from me and 1 from my brother. So, last night when Alex got home, James dragged both boxes over for the opening. Heaven forbid we wait another 12 hours!!! Alex got a great set of horseshoes and some fun toys from Cabela's.

So, Happy Birthday Baby! May we have another 33! (p.s. Alex doesn't read this)

Apraxia

We recently had a speech therapist come and talk to James. She diagnosed him with apraxia of speech. Wikipedia defines apraxia as "Apraxia of Speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder (MSD) affecting an individual's ability to translate conscious speech plans into motor plans. Like other apraxias, it only affects volitional movement patterns."

It is treatable, but through a more rigorous and specific speech therapy. So, we will be have Mrs. Hufnagle come to our house once a week and help James out. Hopefully we'll see some improvement within the next few months......

James in Nantucket

Here are a few more pictures from Nantucket. James had a great time. Both boys have a tendency to wander around without clothes on. Not just inside the house, but outside too. It doesn't bother me a whole lot because that's less laundry for me to do. On the other hand, it bothers Alex, probably because it looks like we can't afford to dress our kids. But anyways, this is how James enjoyed Nantucket. Eating PJ&J on the couch with no pants on. And carrying around a bowl with Cheetos and sitting on the porch in the sun. Doesn't get much better than that.

Pop Pop's Baby

It's funny what little ones understand. After having Olivia, the boys have adopted many sayings about babies. For instant, when they see an egg, it's a "baby egg". And they point to my chest and say "baby". Not sure why, but they also do this to other women.

While Ryan was sitting with Pop Pop, he reached over and very gently rubbed his belly saying "baby". I was very proud that Ryan was being gentle, because that's not always the case. Needless to say, Pop Pop was not amused. After this, Ryan had to stuff something under his shirt so he could have a baby too. No picture taken.

Charleston Repeats

This year, I consigned a bunch of stuff at the consignment sale. One of my favorite things about charleston, is the fact that children's consignment is hot!! Also, if you don't want something, you put it at the end of your driveway and someone comes by and takes it home. I've picked up many things, including bikes and swings.

This particular consignment sale goes for 3 days and is crazy!! This is a picture of half of the warehouse and there's just one more day left to shop. This has already been picked through by consignors, volunteers and first time moms. Here's the process to shop: No strollers. They suggest you bring a laundry basket and tie a rope to it and drag it around. I found that to be a little annoying, but big strollers were more annoying. Nothing like tripping over some rope tied to a laundry basket. No, I didn't trip, but I thought about it. I have a small frame stroller that would be perfect for shopping so I sent an email to the owners and specifically asked if I could bring mine. I got a response of "ok". But, it was a lot smaller than a laundry basket.

Anyways, I spent less than 1/2 of what I made selling stuff, so I figure that's not too bad.

His first Accident

James has never had an accident. That's to say, he's never fallen hard enough to really bleed or bruise. He hasn't had stitches or broken anything. Ryan, however, took a chunk out of his forehead at 6 months. Anyways, Nick and his fiance Kristy were over for dinner one night and my boys just adore her. They adore her so much, that James got so excited that he jumped right over the couch on the hardwood floor, face first. So, here's my attempt to get a picture of his Bubba Gump fat lip. He's okay. The blood was a bit scary and now one of his front teeth is turning black!! But other than that, he's doing just fine. And so is mom :)

New Clothes!

Well, Olivia might be the only one getting new clothes these days. Lucky for her, she was born after 2 boys who had a closet full of manly boy clothes. Unlucky for mom, I have no idea what kind of clothes I prefer to dress her in. I finally knew what how to shop for boys and now I am dumbstruck every time I see racks full of pink sweaters, shirts and tights!!! It turns out though, that when you buy girl clothes, you should buy a complete set. For example, those cute little blue pants ended up being spandex-ey and needed a baggy shirt. Well, I didn't have a baggy shirt. And those adorable striped pants....You get the point. Anyways, I think I'm a sucker for little dressed and one piece rompers. This is a celery colored romper from Lands End that I found at the consignment sale. So cute! I tried to get a picture of her in it, and this is the best I got. So far, Olivia's colors seem to be anything pastel.