December Visit to the Omaha Children's Museum

Yesterday, Addison, Asher and I visited the OCM for a morning of fun. We played in the big backyard with Addison's preschool friend, Lauren, went to the light-play (holiday music and lights), made a Christmas tree, and ended in the big play room. Addison loved dancing to the music at the Light- Play, but Asher wanted to be held while Mommy danced. It was a fun way of spending the morning before the afternoon craziness took over. We hope to go one more time before our membership for 2010 runs out! A membership to the OCM makes a great Christmas gift...the gift that keeps on giving!

Asher's Baptism Anniversary

This week Asher celebrated his 3rd Anniversary since his baptism. We try to get the kids a Christian book, but this year he got "How Dinosaurs Go To Bed" in an effort to help Asher go to bed peacefully (is that possible?). In God's Hands we celebrate!

Alivia "Rumbles in the Jungle"

Alivia and both of Bell Elementary first grade classes performed "Rumble in the Jungle" last night at Bell. Although I was disappointed that she was to wear jeans and a bright shirt over a cute little Christmas Dress and I wanted to hear them sing Christmas and winter songs, the performance was really cute. I guess this is the price we pay for public schools (although Alivia had a Christmas program at her OPS school and I hear that other public schools have a Holiday program). The class did a good job dancing and singing to the songs. Alivia was really excited that all of her Grandparents came to watch, too!

The Christmas Spirit

Asher and I attended the Mom's group this morning at our church. They are just starting this group, and we were glad to get involved. We talked about Christmas, traditions, and how to keep the real meaning of Christmas alive. Here were some of the neat traditions discussed:
* Advent Calender: Put a Bible passage in each day and do something special leading up to Christmas.
* What God Wants for Christmas (See link below): The kids get to open a box each day the 10 days before Christmas until they find out what God really wants for Christmas. Cute story that goes along with it. Our kids do this every year!

* The 3 gift maximum:
When Alivia was maybe 2, we decided to buy Alivia and Addison 3 presents each for Christmas. Afterall, Jesus only got 3 presents.

So, what ever happened to that idea anyway?

I believe we forgot about the 3 present policy. Next year it will be back to the 3 present policy.
Mom's group and that one mom's friendly comment was an awesome reminder for us. I forgot all about this "policy" until someone else in the group, who had 4 small kids, said that is what they do. If you think about it, why should the kids get more than Jesus? They shouldn't since Jesus is the reason. I will have to remember this for next year. Besides, buying all those presents for kids and family causes stress. I mean, there is the shopping for all the presents, the wrapping and then paying for them! I cut out a lot of the Christmas gifts a few years ago. We buy for our parents, grandparents, nephews and our kids. Chris and I do not buy anything for each other at this point. Chris and I tend to buy what we want if it is necessary. Chris wants a guitar and I want things like a vacuum cleaner. We want to keep the season more about the reason of the season and spending time with family, not shopping.

* The angelfood cake on Christmas as a birthday cake for Jesus. We do this every year too and the kids love it.

* Send Christmas cards right before Christmas. I am not judging, but we received our first Christmas card this year before December 1. Actually, I had Thanksgiving leftovers in the car as my lunch heading to work when I picked up our first card. Seriously, we don't wish people a happy birthday a month in advance? Why is Christmas so rushed?

* Along with the last suggestion, someone suggested putting up the tree in December just light up. Then, decorate the tree on Christmas Eve. I thought that was a great idea. We saw trees going up the second week of November. Again...what is the rush?

I had fun at the Moms group. It was, however, the first time I left Asher alone without Addison or Asher. I sat with him in the kids' room for a bit before I left for the hour of the Moms group. When I asked him what he did, he told me he colored a Christmas Tree, talked about Jesus and God, and got to eat crackers! I do believe he had fun!

Ebay Update

I have been selling some things on ebay a couple weeks now. It is addicting! I will say, however, that it is a total pain and can be quite time consuming. But, at night, there is nothing on TV without cable...so what else do I have to do than to clear out our old stuff?

I have sold just over $300 worth of stuff since I started. I say that, but $225 of it was 2 faucets and a shower head/tub faucet that were new in box that I had purchased for the old house and never got them installed. I sold the first faucet for $75 (which is a steal considering how much faucets are!) and the second one for $100) and the tub/shower set for $55 or something. I was happy to see them out of the storage room! Seriously, what were we ever going to do with them?

I have also started to sell the kids' clothes without much success. I sold a complete gymboree outfit for 99 cents...so it is not always worth it. I have learned to start my bidding closer to the price I actually want out of it. If the item does not sell...oh well. It was worth a shot, right?

Funny, I have been doing this for 2 weeks and the storage room is still a mess. I wish there was a quicker, easier way, and maybe one that was less painful. Until I find that way...it's EBAY!

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...