Visit to See Santa 2010

Today after school we visited Santa at Santa's workshop in Shadow Lake. It was close, but it was $10! Seriously, that is crazy! I wanted to ask Santa why it is free to see him at Oakview and $10 to get a picture in Shadow Lake (and you can not use your own camera but you get a DVD of pictures).

Alivia asked for a zhu zhu pet in a cage, little doll house, and a dog pillow pet, Addison asked for a baby in a swing and a stuffed dog and a cat, and Asher asked for cars. They all liked Santa, even Alivia's friend Zoe who came along with us.


HO HO HO, until Next year!

Funny Things We Say...

Daddy came home yesterday and said to me, "I just realized today that we are married."
Me, "Seriously, it only took you 11 1/2 years!"

Then he followed it up with, "You're cute."

And he thought I was losing it yesterday because I was hearing noises (that were actually real mouse noises!).

I was teaching Addison a new word yesterday, Sit. In her workbook, there is a dot under each letter for her to sound it out. She said aloud, "Sssss iiii ttttt." Then I say, "Say it fast Addison, what word is it? Addison looked at me and smiled, "I am not going to say that word Mommy!" I believe she thought it was the SH word, not Sit!

Addison has a lot to say these days. She recently told me that when she gets older, she is going to have a baby in her stomach and live at Grandma Bets and Boppa Bill's house. I hope she is married and I hope Grandma and Grandpa don't mind!

I am working with Asher on learning our address and where we are compared to others. So, I asked Asher, "Where do Grandma Bet and Grandpa Bill live?" Asher replied, "In their home!" He was right...but I was looking for the town and state. It was pretty cute.

I find Alivia saying things that make her sound grown up more than anything. I like listening to her talk to her friend Zoe on the way home from school. They talk about loose teeth, the tooth fairy, going to Justice shopping, etc. I have to watch what Alivia says because she is clearly learning words at school that we just do not say here!

I say funny things, too, but I have a quick humor about me that is only appropriate for Chris. I would not dare post what I say!

One has to write these things down because I don't want to forget any of these funny moments.

They're Back!

We lived at our last address, surrounded by new construction most of the time, and never saw a mouse. We have lived in this house a year and have had 2! Remember last year?

Yesterday, I busied myself cleaning 3 out of our 4 bathrooms while Addi and Asher fell to sleep at nap. I came downstairs and sat at the island in the kitchen to relax for a minute before I went back to work. When, wait, what is that noise?

Piper?

No, we got rid of the cat. What is that? And, where is that coming from?

What I was hearing was scratching...and it sounded like it was IN THE ISLAND!

I called Chris who told me to take care of "it" before he got home. Um, funny.

So, break over. That was a nice 10 second break. I now had to defend our home against a MOUSE! I knew that I had to make sure EVERYTHING in the pantry was in a plastic container or the mouse would eat it. So, I completely cleaned out he pantry until it was time to walk to school to pick up Alivia. Luckily, there was no evidence of a mouse friend. Whew.

Chris came home and  laughed as he asked me if I was feeling okay (like I was hearing things). Funny. He went downstairs to work out as I walked out the door to walk to school.

I returned home, fixed the kids a snack, and began unloading the dishwasher while Chris went outside to run. I went to put a travel cup away in the pantry when a mouse practically jumped at me! I screamed and screamed and screamed! It was like I was in the house alone as the kids, who were downstairs playing at this point, did not come up to see what was wrong with Mommy! I yelled down to Alivia to have her bring up blankets so I could cover the bottom of the door and stand watch until Daddy got home.

Daddy returned home and got to work. He took out the basket of art supplies thinking the mouse was in there. But, I still heard scratching. He started to look through the next basket, but I did not think he was in there, so Chris moved on as I finished going through it. Then, the mouse jumped out at me AGAIN, and ran under the dishwasher!

Chris pulled out the dishwasher to find the second half of our beloved island is completely hollow. Lovely. Why we have no idea (What a total waste of storage space!). Chris crawled all the way in there looking under every hole and only saw one small space (which is all that is needed) around the water pipes where the little baby mouse could have gone. Chris filled all the holes in and crawled back out. There was no evidence of a mouse under there at all...as the space was clean!

We are teaching the kids to SHUT THE GARAGE DOOR! We have no idea how this mouse got inside...but we can prevent the easy entrance of the garage door that is often left open (the kids think we heat the garage...because I know they were not born in a barn!).

We now are waiting and waiting and waiting...traps all set. Seriously...how disgusting! At least I know he can't get to our food this time!

Behind our dishwasher in the island.

Chris IN THE ISLAND...Brave soul

On a mouse hunt

Can you believe this island is hollow?

The Changing Landscape

I last posted an update to our changing 4 corners on February 22, 2010. Want to see it now?

Looking to the West out of our patio door.

Looking to the West towards our new neighbors across the street and model home over the fence.

Looking to the Northwest out the back yard

Northwest...view from the backyard (that will soon be changing).

New Constuction - This was taken YESTERDAY...Today...Dirt pile in its place

View to the North out the back yard - New neigbors straight out (but far) and to the right in the picture)

Neighbors in the ranch moved in last April (and are super nice!).

View to the East from the kitchen window

Today's view (beside the model home is another hole being dug. Yeah.).

Lovely...dirt and more beeping

View out front to the Southwest

Out front door

View from Front door to the East

View from front

Front yard

View looking out the front door

My, how our landscape changes from day to day around here.

Down to One Car?

Chris and I are always trying to come up with new ways to save money. Our latest thought...selling a car and getting by with one car.

Stupid, huh?

It is a thought, though. Chris does work close to home now, so I could transport him to and from work on the days that I needed the car (which is most days).

Chris also suggested that we sell both cars and get a newer van. Our van is getting up there in miles since we purchased it used. But, then we would have licensing, taxes, etc, to pay for.

So, for now, we are giving it a try. We are going to try to use just one car and see how it goes.

I am thinking that within a couple days...we will decide to keep two cars. Some things are just not worth the savings.

Asher's 3 year check up

Today was a big day for Asher. First off, he got his hair cut at the Papillion Barber. He looked like a walking Q-tip...so he was overly due for a trim. He sat in the chair and never said a word. He sat perfectly still! He is growing his hair out a bit, but he looks much cleaner now. And, he looks older!

The next few stops were just a few errands we needed to run. But, while running errands, we stopped to play at the mall and see Santa. Santa looked a little pale and in need of some cookies, but Addison was able to ask for a stuffed dog and cat and Asher asked for cars. They were so cute!

We finally made it to the doctor's office. Asher did not want to go. I believe he said, "I don't want that man to look at me." But, he cooperated once inside. He listened and followed Dr. Calderon's instructions. He is a healthy little boy...yeah! He is 35.5 inches tall (6.49%) and 28lb (12.8%). Asher had to get one shot. He was NOT happy about it. He cried for a half hour after the shot. He improved for a while after that, then complaining again as the evening drew in. By the time he went to bed, he was a mess, limping, laying around and just not happy. He went right to sleep (which is highly unusual!).

What a day for little Asher. But, he proved, he is a big boy and a big trooper!

November in Review

November was full of enjoying the outdoors and having playdates! Alivia had several playdates with her friends from school as well as our neighbor Zoe who she even had come over for a sleepover. Alivia is getting to the point where she wants to play with someone her age ALL THE TIME! She would have never made it on the farm! Addison also had her friend Bella and cousin Gwen come to play. She loved that!

Then there were the monthly visits to the zoo, children’s museum and forest. We love the big backyard at the OCM that we went there more than once! It is great fun.

We ended the month celebrating Thanksgiving at Aunt Marsha’s in Iowa and then celebrating Asher’s 3^rd Birthday! He is now officially a big boy…he is 3!

And, now onto the Christmas and New Year (can you believe it!). The shopping is done…so now to sit back and enjoy...

Here are some (yes, just some of the more than 500) pictures from November...

NOVEMBER PICTURES...

Asher's 3rd Birthday!

Today Asher Wade turned 3 years old. Normally when Asher wakes up, he is a bit cranky. But, not today! He came running down the stairs excited for his big day. He skipped over his breakfast to go and play with his new batman cave he got from his party. He and Addison played most of the morning with those toys.

Then, it was time to head out to jump. We visited Bounce U in La Vista for open jump, along with many other kids. It was quite busy. Addison and Asher played well at first, then Asher wanted up. He was done within a half hour, but Addison kept playing for another hour. Asher and I jumped together for a bit, but I found he just does not do well with crowds of kids (especially ones bigger than he is). After jumping and lunch, the kids were ready for a nap. They were both asleep within minutes.

After picking up Alivia from school, it was time to go to the movie Tangled. The kids loaded up on treats and popcorn. It is a good thing we only go to the movies a couple times a year...prices are outrageous now! The movie, Tangled, is adorable, and we would completely recommend it. Asher, however, wanted to go home after the 15 minutes of previews (Seriously, they need to only have 1-2 previews for kids movies!). All in all, I think he (and the girls) had a good time.

Once at home, Asher opened his presents from us, scooting around the house on his new spider-man scooter, before heading back to the Bat Cave and the big truck. Those are his new favorite toys...at least for the moment. We would totally recommend the Bat Cave because it has so many things to do!

I measured Asher tonight and he did grow an inch since he was 2 1/2, but not enough to fit into his size 2 clothes yet. He is wearing mostly 24 month clothes and just a couple size 2 pants with a couple rolls on the bottoms. At this point, it does not look like he is going to be tall. Asher likes to read books, color, count (he is up to 20, only missing numbers sometimes), but he really struggles with his colors. With that said, he acted like he could not count forever, and then one day he counted 20 items like he had done it forever. It is difficult to get him to be serious enough to show me he knows things. Asher likes playing with cars and trucks, playing at the playground, hauling things behind his tractor, riding his plasma car down the driveway going mock speeds, and jumping off of the playhouse into the jumper (and no, I do not allow this!!). Asher is a bit on the wild side. But, he is a behaved wild most of the time.

Asher is very sensitive, too. He likes to fall to sleep holding my hand. He is actually sleeping on my lap as I type this (he does not like the sound from the wind). He is good about using his manners, saying sorry, please and thank you and likes to give Mommy and Daddy kisses and hugs! Asher likes to play with his friends Cameron, Keegan, and Simon, and cousins Ben, Henry and Lucas. He BFFs are Alivia and Addison. He is very close to Addison and will really miss her when she goes to school next fall.

Happy Birthday Asher! We love you!

Asher's 3rd Birthday Party...

Today we celebrated Asher's 3rd Birthday Spidey style. Asher was so excited when everyone started arriving. We celebrated with Spider Man cupcakes and snacks before opening presents fit for our little super hero.

Here's to our little boy, Asher Wade, turning 3! Happy Birthday, Asher!