Too Quiet is Never a Good Thing

Yes...we all love some peace and quiet but when there are two toddlers roaming around and it get's quiet...then you know something's up.


We even had all three animals in there munching on Che-Choes with them.

Speaking of Che-Choes, it's Jackson's newest word. :o) Aiden is still on the wussat? obsession.

And here are the two bumble bee's the day after Christmas on our way to the dog park. Yes, shorts and short sleeve shirts the day after Christmas. Insanity. No white Christmas for us this year.

I'm going to the doctor today to find out if I in fact broke my rib or if I'm just a big ole sissy.

Merry Christmas!

It was about 4 am Christmas morning...but that won't stop our fun!!

"Hey, Mom! Too cool!!"

Ride 'em Cowboy!

No Girls Allowed
(except Mom)

Christmas '08 was AMAZING!

Jackson and Aiden had so much fun and Santa spoiled them rotten!

They got the new outdoor playhouse (that is still set up inside for them to play in), a bunch of tub toys, tons of clothes, a fold out love seat, Elmo Live (AWESOME toy, btw), Ride and Spin Pony, a tickle me cookie monster, Pizza Elmo, a tractor, a school bus, race cars and a race track, a choo choo train, a remote controlled airplane, more cookie monster stuff, more elmo stuff, a view finder projection thingie, movies, shoes, hats, bowling ball/pin set, a laptop, their own phones, ect. ect. They made out like little fat rats!

They were still too young to understand who Santa was or what the real reason for the season was (as most of us adults have a problem understanding, too) but they did know what a present was and how to open it! This year was the first time they were more interested in the actual toy than in the packaging. They would rip off the paper and then shove the toy in my face and say, "out". Hahaha. I'm a little disappointed that I'm going to have to wait an entire year to see their faces on Christmas morning again.

We had great food and wonderful family all day long. It was a terrific time and I can't wait to do it again.

Trespassing or not?

I've got the two sick kiddos upstairs in bed for their nap and I'm flat out exhausted so I lay down and try to get me a nap in. As I'm drifting off to sleep I'm awakened by the doorbell/Peanut. Peanut is a very protective dog and she always growls and barks when someone shows up unexpected. I know that I'm not expecting anyone (as we are all sick as dogs) so I figure it's a solicitor and I just close my eyes and try to go back to sleep. Not even a few minutes later it sounds like there are people talking in my backyard. Again, I feel like crap so I try to ignore it. Peanut suddenly starts barking frantically like something is really wrong. I roll over and see a man standing in the middle of my backyard! And he's talking to some other guy.

I know that we are not expecting anyone to come over to look at anything on our house so why are two men in my backyard?!?!

I'm furious at this point. I opened the backdoor and said, "Can I help you?!?" and his response was, "I'm looking at the siding." and he points to the bottom of the house.

"GREAT!" was my reply as I slammed the door.

Am I missing something?!?!?

I thought we BOUGHT this house back on Halloween. I didn't think this was a rent house or a lease to own kind of thing. WHY ARE PEOPLE GOING INTO MY BACKYARD WITHOUT ANY PERMISSION?!?!?!?!

WHY IS THIS OK?

WHY IS IT LIKE PULLING TEETH TO GET SOMEONE OUT HERE WHEN WE NEED THEM YET WE'VE GOT GUY CRAWLING ALL OVER THE PLACE WHEN THEY AREN'T INVITED?

I want a gun for Christmas. And shooting lessons. I'm SICK of KB Homes and the idiots that run the place.

So here's a warning to everyone....if you ring someone's doorbell and they don't answer, I'd highly advise you to NOT just invite yourself into their backyard. Especially if you happen to be in San Marcos, Tx.

Gone Baby, Gone

There is so much to update so I apologize in advance if I seem to jump around a bit.

We've ALL been sick these past few days. Jason and I shared a stomach bug and Jackson and Aiden seem to have a cold. We are all exhausted from being sick and running around doing all the holiday fun things but we've been having a good time.

We took Jackson and Aiden to Cowboy Harley Davidson last weekend so that they could get a photo with Santa. I apologize for not having a photo to share...I haven't had the time to scan the photo. Anyway, Jackson and Aiden were TERRIFIED of Santa. I think we missed the "perfect age" when they would sit with anyone. They didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with Santa at ALL. Heehee The funny thing is, Opa was the one who was dressed up as Santa. So the boys actually knew WHO he was...but they just couldn't get past his white beard. "Santa" would say, "Jackson and Aiden....it's ok!!!" and you could see that they recognized his voice.....but they weren't willing to get any closer to Santa to see if they really knew him. hahaha.

The camera has officially bit the dust. For a while it was working about 50% of the time...so at least the odds weren't that bad, ya know? Well, it went from operating about 50% of the time to 0% of the time very, very fast. There's no hope for it anymore. She's gone baby, gone and we are so sad. I'll have to figure something out in the meantime....like getting a disposable one and getting the pictures put on a cd so that I can upload them at home? We'll see. Just know I'm trying my hardest to get up some new pictures.

Ohhhh....let me tell you about Mr. Houdini!!! (2 stories about him, actually)
The morning started like usual...nothing too odd. I took J&A downstairs after they had their milk and let them run around and play while I got breakfast ready for them. Before I put them in their highchair for breakfast, I went to change their diaper and that's when I noticed that Jackson's diaper was missing.
Missing.
Yet he was completely clothed. He had his onesie on, all three snaps were snapped and he even had his PANTS on!!

J&A have been obsessed with nudity lately. They do not like staying in their diaper when they are in their cribs at all anymore. It's beyond just a curiosity...no...this borders on obsession. OCDish, I'm telling ya! Finally Ihad enough and told Jason that we were going to be buying them PJ's that either snap or are all one piece. So far it's worked. I'm going to install a camera in there if Jackson is somehow able to remove his diaper with feetie PJ's on. He DESERVES to sleep in the nude then!!!

Another Jackson story...my poor baby boy!!! We were shopping (gasp!!) at Khols the other day and Jackson and Aiden were each in their own little shoppy cart thingie. We had them both parked near one another while we were waiting in line when out of nowhere Jackson reaches out and grabs the handle to Aiden's cart and pulls it near him. The way the carts are....poor Jackson ended up smashing Aiden's cart handle right into his nose AND upper lip! Jason and I both saw it happen in slow motion and there was just nothing we could do fast enough. I swooped him up as soon as I could but it was too late. He was already screaming and in so much pain. It took a while before I saw the blood and then there was just so much of it!! Jason was freaking out and there I was holding Jackson who was screaming his head off and his little mouth was pouring blood out down my shirt and arm. :o( Oh, it was just terrible but my little man was such a trooper. He busted his upper lip pretty bad and his nose bled a little. Of course, he was completely fine the next morning...smiling happy as ever.

Aiden is in the "What's that?" stage. All day long.
"Wus-sat"
"wussat?"
All.
Day.
Long.
It's pretty awesome, actually. I love that he's curious. I'm thrilled that he wants to know names for things.

OH! Time Outs!!!
We do time out's here now. HAHAHA! We have a few time out spots in our house, just down stairs so far...and they actually seem to work! We do it just like Nanny 911.
1. They get a warning.
2. We put them in time out and tell them why they are in time out. Then we tell them they need to "SIT THERE AND STAY FOR ONE MINUTE" and then we walk off.

Most times they just sit there and whine a little, feeling sorry for themselves. Then at the end of the minute,
3. We go back to them and remind them why they were in time out and why we don't do whatever it was they were doing.
4. Then we tell them we love them and have them give us a hug.

There hasn't been a time out yet where they weren't in a better mood at the end of the time out thanks to the hug. YAY!

That's another GREAT thing about this 18 month old age. HUGS!!!!!!!!!! I get hugs and kisses ALL DAY LONG!!!!!!!! And I was secretly worried about that, too! I was worried that little boys wouldn't want to hug and kiss. And while Jackson still doesn't like you to kiss him on the lips (nor does he like to kiss with his lips)...when you ask him to give you a kiss, he turns his cheek and leans toward you! HAHAHA! Little stinker! Aiden (most of the times) will give me a big ole wet kiss on the lips. Heehee. Lady Killer. They really are little lovey dovey things when they want to be and I CAN'T GET ENOUGH!!!!!

I'm sure I could write for hours but I've already spent more time on here than I had planned. I'll write more and update you more later. Love you all!

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Aiden and Jackson had been scouting out the cookies that were on the kitchen table and tonight they finally acted on it.

We found Jackson running around the kitchen stuffing something into his face. I bent down to see what it was he was stuffing his face with and................lo and behold it was a cookie!!

I want to share with you one of my new favorite photos of Aiden.

Can't you just picture him in another 15 years? He's going to be breaking all kinds of hearts!

Oh! Another kinda funny story....

I took J&A to Hobby Lobby today to get more things for the holidays and some canvases so I can paint pictures for their room. We spent about 45 minutes looking around so by the time we were at the check-out, Jackson was about fed-up with me. He ironically was wearing his old school onesie that said "Mr. Happy" on it. Some college "kid" in front of us in line turns around and says to me, "He doesn't seem too happy today."

HAHA

You're telling me, kid!!!

(if you missed it...check out the previous post with all of the Thanksgiving photos.)

Thanksgiving

was a BLAST!!

The boys started off the festivities after a nice nap and woke to find that Oma, Opa and Aunt Kaity were already here, waiting to play.

It seemed that everyone got their turn to spend with Jackson and Aiden. Jason and I enjoyed hearing everyone talking about how much they thought the boys have changed since last year and in which ways.

It was SO laid back and EVERYONE pitched in so much that Jason and I didn't need to do much at ALL! It was an amazing little break amidst all the chaotic moving. Jason cooked the turkey (which was Cajun flavored)and I made the green bean casserole. The night before I made 2 pumpkin pies and a fruit salad. That's IT. Everyone else brought the rest!

Oma brought her delicious stuffing (which Aunt Kaity helped with), some yams and a mouth watering cherry pie. Aunt Backy brought the famous mac n cheese and the BEST mashed taters we've had in a long time. She also brought rolls and a cucumber/vinegar salad that her and Jason looooooooooooove. The first time Jason met my Aunt Backy was for Thanksgiving and they bonded over the fact that they loved the same stinky salad. Well guess what? Now they have the boys hooked on it!! Hahahaha! Jackson and Aiden ate it as leftovers for DAYS. Breakfast, lunch AND dinner! heehee And Paw Paw (who is still trying to decide on a name for the boys to call him!!!!) brought 2 pies.

Great, GREAT times. WONDERFUL family. And I can honestly say that it felt like a BREAK to Jason and I to have everyone here! A BREAK! Thanks, everyone. We hope you too had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We are looking forward to Christmas when Nana and Grandpa will be here, too!!!!

Fingers Crossed

For those of you following along...the Master Plan was to be completely moved and have the old place cleaned up by December 1st. It's December 3rd and we are still there. I can say without ANY guilty conscience however; it's not for lack of trying. Jason and I have given so much time and energy to moving out of that old place. And our poor children!! Each time we have to go back to the old place and the kids have to go with us, they get locked up in a pack n play for hours while we take care of what needs to be taken care of. There just is no way to let them run around the house with all the miscellaneous things laying around. They HATE it. The poor guys are getting to the point where they scream when we go to get in the car. It's terrible. I knew moving out of that place was going to be tough...but I honestly had no idea. None.

I'd been feeling really guilty about the condition of the house but I think I need to keep reminding myself (and have those of you out there continue to remind me...) that when I moved into that place 3 years ago....it was FILTHY! Disgustingly dirty. It was a nasty bachelor pad that had at LEAST 7 bachelors traded turns living there. At the point when I so stupidly decided to move in, there had already been massive amounts of damage done to that house due to all of my husband and his friends' partying. With all that being said...there is only so much I can do. I've done my very best at turning that filthy party shack into something that more resembles a home. Pardon my french, but I've busted my ass at that. When Jason and I were trying to get started with the adoption process, we countless hours trying to get that house in shape. Now it's time to move out and it's a 15 year old house. It's been rented by Pat and various other bachelors for the past 9 years. It simply is not fair under ANY circumstance to expect just Jason and I to get that house back in the original condition it was in 9 years ago when Pat moved in. Sorry. I've been beating myself up over this and I've got to say that I'm done. I have quite simply done everything in my power to clean up that place and if it's not good enough, there just isn't anything more I can do.

Jason took the van to work today and he's going to try to pack everything that's left in the back of the van during lunch and bring it to San Marcos. Let's keep your fingers crossed that today will be the very last day that we have to go back to Yora Drive.

This move has caused so much stress. It's not the actual buying or building of the house that's the tough part, it's parting ways at the old place. It's trying to keep your family happy while doing all the back breaking work while trying to balance friendships at the same time.

I just want to thank our family for their love and support they've shown us, especially in the past couple months. Thank you to EVERYONE who offered to watch J&A for us. It means a lot. A big thank you to Opa for helping us those two very long days with moving. We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks to Nana and Grandpa Mark who are always willing to help out in any way needed. Thank you Oma and PawPaw for saying, "I'd LOVE to! When?" when asked if you'd help watch the kids for a few hours. Dale and Cheryl for always offering their help with the move or with the boys. And most importantly, thank you to EVERYONE else (Grandpa Lou) for allowing us to vent to you. It's so important that we are able to talk through our frustrations and also get other peoples perspective on things. It's reassuring to know that we can tell you guys anything and you won't be so quick to judge. You let us talk and that's so important to us. Thank you. One thing is for sure, we have TONS of family that love and support us and we are extremely blessed for that. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

(I'll post a blog about Thanksgiving in a few days. I've just got to get done with this other house first.)