Happy New Year!

I'll post more of our celebrations tomorrow hopefully.  We had a grand ol' time this evening.  But, I wanted to make the comparison post an annual thing.  It never ceases to amaze me how much Gabriel and Lorelai change in a single year!  They amaze me each and every day, and I so look forward to watching them learn and grow in 2012!  Happy New Year to everyone!!!

And because the doggies don't get much air time...I thought they deserved a few pictures on the blog today.  :)  Our family wouldn't be complete without them this year.  (And don't you just love the quality my new lens gives me?!  Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!)

Merry Christmas (2011)!

We have had a wonderful month full of Christmas celebrations, but nothing beats the actual big day.  And it always makes it extra special for me when not only is our own little family together, but my parents get to join in the fun!  :)  Good food and good company...and NO ONE got really sick this year (Brian had a head cold).  Gabriel finally broke his Christmas illness streak it looks like!  WOOO!!!

Gabriel started out by leaving milk and cookies, along with a little letter for Santa.  Below is his letter...his signature is on the left.  :)

 Our tree was giving me fits this year.  It's headed to the trash.  No more pre-lit trees for us anymore.  Aside from all of the lights out...you can see that Santa was VERY good to us, as were the grandparents.

 Please pardon my crazy hair.  That's what happens in the morning when your hair is short.  (I'm pretty sure I'm growing it out long again as I'm in need of some ponytail time.  lol)  Notice Lady Bug Girl by Lorelai's feet.  Don't want her to miss out on the Christmas fun.

 I was terrible about getting pictures taken this year.  :(  I miss out on all of us in our Christmas finery.  Lorelai looked so precious in her little dress, and I even got a special top for my reading at church.  Oh well.  I also missed out on lots of opportunities for pictures of my parents with the kids.  Bummer!!!!  I also didn't get a shot of my parents opening their quilts from me for Christmas.  I hope they'll take some of them with the quilts at home.  :)  If you want to see the quilts hop on over to The Cozy Pumpkin as I finally am able to have the pictures up there.

My parents had a good time with the kids...

 And yes...a little work was done as well:

 But, we got out and had some fun as well.  We headed out to the Science Museum.  Much more fun than it was the first time.  This had something to do with sound frequencies.

 Playing in the giant treehouse.  Gabriel was really enjoying the insanely tall slide.

 Lorelai was enjoying building with blocks:

 We saw model trains (as well as full sized trains and some planes, bicycles from from old to knew)...

We went to the builder area...made a garden, worked on building a "house", crawled through a tunnel, laid some floor tiles...

 painted some walls...

All in all a great visit!  Over much too quickly as always.  I think the kids are beginning to get used to goodbyes though.  While Gabriel was not happy about his Grandparents departure...he had recovered by the I returned from the airport.  We look forward to Grandma Wood's visit in April!  :)  And are happy that after a busy few months things are going to be calming down a bit here.

Pre-Christmas

This past weekend we had Pre-Christmas with Grandma Cherlyn and Grandpa Greg.  The kids had a great time and are enjoying their loot.  ;)

Gabriel was thrilled with his Bruder garbage truck.  Do Grandma and Grandpa know what he likes or what?!

 Grandma painted this darling rocking chair for Lorelai.  As you rock it plays a tune.  LOVE it!  Lorelai's favorite by far.

Lorelai also got an art easel!  YES!!!  This will make painting together soooo much easier.  No more arguing over supplies as they each got a full set of art supplies too.  Maybe it will even cut down on the mess...

 Well.  Maybe not.

 Gabriel was being VERY creative and was using his chalkboard eraser to smooth out the paint in his picture.  Love that thinking.  So out of the box.  It drove Brian insane.  Really...the whole experience did.  HA!

 Yesterday we opened presents from Granddad.  Gabriel loved the Toy Story wrapping paper.

This is a picture of our latest injury.  Lorelai fell into the edge of the fireplace.  :(  She has an egg sized bump.  This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.  Luckily it didn't bleed at all.  But, now I get to watch her for signs of a concussion...wake her up every 2 hours tonight to make sure she can wake up and she can recognize me.

Ah, the excitement of the holidays.  :)

A Little Sunday Inspiration

As Sunday draws to a close I try to spend some time reflecting on what was said at church.  This weeks homily was great in regards to gift giving.  But, I want to spend some time sharing a piece of last weeks homily...forgiveness.  Not an easy thing.  We teach it to kids as a hug and make up...saying you're sorry.

But, as you get older sometimes the transgressions are bigger and cause more pain.  I know I am guilty of not being able to fully forgive people for certain things.  (And no mom...I'm not talking about teasing you with regards to the wall color of my bedroom in Texas.  ;)  That shall continue.)

Fr. Ray shared the "10 Commandments of Forgiving" as written by Fr. Brian Joyce.  He placed them in the bulletin today and I thought I would share them with you.  Maybe you have some use for them...or will in the future.  I will bold the ones that particularly stood out to me.

1. Forgiveness is not easy.
2. Forgiveness is not forgetting.
3. Forgiveness does not overlook evil.
4. Forgiveness is not indifference.
5. Forgiveness is not the same as approval.
6. Forgiveness recognizes that people are always bigger than their faults.
7. Forgiveness allows a person to start all over again.
8. Forgiveness recognizes the humanity of the wrongdoer
9. Forgiveness surrenders the right to get even.
10. Forgiveness wishes the offender well.

Creative Minds

Apparently the Little People toys were in the way of some creative play.  Lorelai quickly dumped them all on the floor so she could have space to sit on one of the shelves of our toy organizer.

Then Paisley climbed up there for a bit.

 And then Gabriel decided to use it as a place for practicing sky diving.

If you will look to your right...

we have a rare sighting.  A pair of toddler siblings getting along.  Isn't that amazing ladies and gentleman?

Santa's Little Helpers

To be honest, as cute and funny as they were, I think Santa would have a tad of an issue with these two helping him get ready for Christmas deliveries.

While Gabriel is very organized and deliberate in what he does he wants to do it all himself.  Not so much about the team work a lot of times.  :)  Here he is "helping" Daddy with the lights.  Notice Daddy isn't in the picture.

 Then we have this little whirlwind...

The whole floor was covered in Christmas balls...luckily they were all plastic ones.  Phew!  ;)

Thanksgiving 2011

We have had quite a fun last couple of weeks.  But, first, Happy Thanksgiving from my little turkeys!  :)

Grandma and Grandpa Navarre came down for a Thanksgiving visit.  :)  We were lucky enough to have Grandma here a few days last week as well.  The kids have enjoyed seeing them again.

 Last week we had a movie night for the Pixie Hollow Games on Disney Channel.  Lorelai is a bit of a Disney Fairies fan.  :)

 We all had our m&ms while we watched.  I like how Lorelai is sitting right on the edge of the sofa.

 Uncle Steve came by for a visit.  SO FUN to see him!  Gabriel had a blast with his Uncle Steve.  Our dear friend is missed by all of us and we wish he made it up to Oklahoma more often.

Grandma had the opportunity to get to know her Granddaughter a little bit better.  When we last lived in Texas she was only 6 months old!  Can you believe we've been here almost a year?!

 Grandpa of course is enjoying his time with the kids as well.  Yesterday we headed out to the park for a bit.  Lorelai was a trooper despite having a raging cold...just like she did last Thanksgiving.  I think she's claiming it as her sick holiday.  Gabriel has already claimed Christmas as his.

 Our little engineer in training.  Grandpa was showing him engineering videos and Gabriel was fascinated.  Oh help me, Lord!

 And while most people look forward to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...I think my dog loving daughter will be most excited about the dog show year in and year out.  See the enthusiasm on her face.  She loved it.  Shrieking, pointing, yelling out "dog-dog" at each one.  lol

We have had a great time.  Tomorrow...the Christmas tree!!!! YES!!!!!

8 years ago today the sweetest, most loyal dog came into our lives.  We got to love her for 7 beautiful years, and today (and every day) I can only wish that we had had more.

We celebrated her adoption day as her birthday.  Today she would have been 13.  Happy Birthday sweet Grace!  You are loved each and every day!

Adoption day 8 years ago.

Pudding Paint

Is it sad that it just started getting cold out and I already feel like I'm running out of entertainment for the kids?!  Yeah, that's sad.  lol

Yesterday we made Double Chocolate Pomegranate Cookies together.  YUM!  My kids are such good helpers.  Both were stirring and adding in ingredients.  While the cookies were baking the kids got to paint with pudding.  This was Lorelai's first time doing this.  Gabriel has been bugging me for several weeks for this...I finally caved.  I just don't enjoy cleaning up Lorelai paint messes.  Gabriel is fine.  So easy and mess free.  Lorelai looks like she is the artwork after she is done.  She even managed to paint her entire chest under her shirt.  And she maybe painted one little stripe on her paper and ate the rest.  Gotta love her priorities.  lol

Gabriel is so into being artistic these days.  I love watching him work.  His intense concentration and how proud he is of his work.  He's even great at coloring in entire characters in coloring books.  It just makes him seem so much more grown up than a few months ago.

Rants and Raves

I'm borrowing from a friend here and doing a Rants and Raves post of my own.  ;)

Rants:

1. Earthquakes, tornadoes, Grandfather passing away, more earthquakes, roof leaks...it's been a long week.
2. Uninformed people who post on facebook.  I don't mind your opinion...but at least read the articles and get the facts before you post something so you don't look like a boob.
3. Oklahoma drivers who can't stay in their own lanes and end up in oncoming traffic.  Get off of your phones, or whatever you're doing and DRIVE!  
4. Oklahoma drivers whom apparently never learned how a four way stop works.  Or they're too busy on their darn phones to pay attention.  There are 2 stop signs by our house and every day we encounter this problem.
5. Oklahoma speed limits.  Pick one and stick with it.  Stop changing it back and forth every block.  No one knows how fast to drive so they just drive in one speed...SLOW!
6. Lack of sleep due to earthquakes, kiddos waking up with bad dreams, monitors that click on and off, and my own darn brain not being quiet.

Raves:

1. Lorelai who is learning more and more words and already communicating very effectively.  It's so much less stressful.
2. Gabriel who is just having a vocabulary explosion.  We're up to 6 and 7 word sentences at times now!!!  
3. Gabriel's love of school.  :)
4. Yummy fabrics from all over the world coming to my house.  Like little Christmas presents arriving every day.
5. My parents are back from their trip and I can talk with my mom again!!!
6. A mother-in-law who is fabulous and so willing to help in any way she can, whenever she can.  

Pop-pop

My Pop-pop (Maternal Grandfather) passed away yesterday.  And much like when my Grandmother (Maternal) passed away it's a mixture of feelings.  To be honest, I don't have a feeling of loss.  I didn't really know the guy.

I know he always had smiles for little tykes:

This is from September 2009.  When Gabriel got to meet his Great Grandfather Drill.

I know he liked sweets.  There were always circus peanuts and peanut m&m's around when we visited.

However, he did not like butter (but would eat shrimp scampi interestingly).  He also did not like the cheddar bay biscuits at Red Lobster.

He cheated at board games with little kids.  He wanted to be the winner.  He would tell me he heard my grandma calling me and then would move his piece ahead on the board while I went to see her in the kitchen.  Only to find out she didn't call for me.  And then when you told him he cheated he blatantly would tell you he didn't.  Yeah...he wasn't kidding either.  He wouldn't move his piece...and apparently he did it to his own children as well.

He liked music.  And he made me some nice tapes of a famous Jazz clarinetist when I was in band.  He introduced me to "How Much is that Doggy in the Window" on one of his records.  A song I sing to my kids now.  (I mean...my parents may have sung it to me too.  It's just the first recollection I have of it.)

He had Bill Cosby records.  My brother and I would listen to them and laugh so hard.  Our favorite was the "sketch""My Brother Russell, Whom I Slept With."  Hilarious.  Check it out if you've never heard it.

He served in WWII, and his picture is in a book about WWII.  (Sorry...I don't remember which one.  My Uncle Tom has it though.  Not that that helps you any.)

He used to tell a story about being made to mine during the Great Depression that my Grandma swore was not true.

They had really cool milk jug caps at their house that I thought were fun to play with.  (Not really about my Pop-pop so much, but I did always like them.)

And that's about it.  It's sad really.  Sad that I didn't know him more.  And yet, I don't feel any regrets about it.  The one thing that I associate with my mom's parents is that despite the negative things I may feel towards them...the did something really great.  They created my mom.  An amazing, beautiful, smart, hilarious, and loving woman.  So, thank you for that Pop-Pop.  I pray that you are filled with the happiness that I'm not sure you often felt during your life here on Earth.

Everyone sing along...

Oooooook-lahoma!  Where the...ummm...well, yeah the wind does sweep down the plain, but sometimes there's tornadoes (some touched down south of us tonight), and then apparently there's earthquakes (we had another 4.7 tonight while watching the TV waiting to hear about tornado stuff), and now there is the flash flooding...oh, and our roof is leaking.

Think they can make that into a hit Broadway show tune?  :)

If the van's a rockin'....

It means there was an earthquake!

We have had 2 earthquakes in the last two nights (all in 1 day though). On Saturday "morning" around 2:00 a.m. Brian and I were awoken by a rumbling and our bed shaking. We had just had a 4.7 on the richter scale. I felt an aftershock a little after that. Luckily the kids stayed asleep, and oddly it didn't even disturb the dogs.

Then last night (Saturday night) around 11 p.m. we had a bigger earthquake scoring a 5.6 on the richter scale. This is the biggest earthquake in the recorded history of Oklahoma. We may have a small crack where two walls and the ceiling meet due to it, but it could have been from the house settling and we just never noticed before. You wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it. Again...the kids slept through it. Thank goodness. But, that one shook much harder and did make me feel as though I should go and check on the kids. I didn't...their monitors stayed perfectly quiet and I worried that by checking on them I may actually wake them up.

But, yeah...I'm hoping we're not headed into the 6's this evening. Fingers crossed.

Monster Dancing

While sitting on the driveway handing out candy Brian was playing "Thriller" in his truck.  I attempted to get Gabriel to dance like a monster:

Halloween 2011

I'm so pleased with how our Wizard of Oz costumes turned out.  :)  Lorelai and Gabriel made the BEST Dorothy and Scarecrow I've ever seen for sure.  And their level of enthusiasm was just beyond great!

But, lets go back a smidge.  Earlier in the week we decorated our pumpkins.  And throughout the week the kids went out on the porch and pulled all of the stickers off of them.  lol

Now for Halloween.  I won't lie...it wasn't easy to get these ready with the kids having been sick the week before.  I'm good about planning the idea (I decided Lorelai would by Dorothy for her second Halloween around the time of her first Halloween!  Ha!) but apparently not about planning the sewing with time to spare.

But, my little enthusiastic scarecrow was ready to go!  Originally I was going to make him the Tin Man.  But, he wanted to be a scarecrow because they're, well, scary!  lol

 We practice yesterday and today what you say when you ring someone's door bell.  His response was always, "Tick-or-reet!  And den dey give you duh nin-nins!!! (m&m's)"  LOVE him!  And he walked up to every single door, rang the doorbells, said "tick-or-reet" and "tank um" after he got his candy.  Brian and I were soooo proud of him.  Not only did he conquer his shyness for the evening, but he was talking to them!  He's grown so much in his speech.  Words just can't express how proud we are of him.

As far as the costume everything except his tennis shoes was made by me.  :)

 But, of course the Scarecrow would be lost without Dorothy!  Isn't she just darling?!!  She is the perfect Dorothy!

I even made the bow to go with the dress!!!  Luckily I found sparkly red shoes in her size finally...otherwise I was going to make those too.  I kid you not!

 She seems pretty happy with her treat bag.  But, is probably wondering why it's empty.  Even Lorelai was brave enough to reach into a few bowls and grab some candy.  Impressive!  

 The aftermath...
I just adore this beautiful chocolate coated face.  :)  LOVE her!

 We had a pretty sad turnout.  Maybe it's because we're a new neighborhood?  But, we had fun eating candy, handing out candy, playing with ghost balloons, and dancing to "Thriller" (video to come later) while we sat on the driveway.

All in all a fabulous Halloween and definitely worth the stress of getting those costumes finished on time.  :)  Remind me that I felt that way next Halloween when I'm all in a tizzy about getting next year's costumes done.  Hmmm...I wonder if I can do another sibling theme again?

This is what it looks like...

when both of your kids wake up pukey:

You will need the following:

Fresh P.J.'s - Check
Comfort toys/books - Check
Cheery towels to catch any accidents - Check
A throw up bowl for the oldest kid - Check
BRAT breakfast assortment - Check
Water/Gatorade - Check
Disney movies - Check


They're both feeling better now.  But, I thought it would never end.

When the one is crazy...

 You get another one right?

Meet Scout.  The latest addition to our family.  With Paisley's hyper puppy self we thought she could use a friend around.  So, we adopted a 6 year old Chocolate Lab.  Scout is about the same age Grace was when we got her.  We wanted a slightly more mature dog that was calmer and better behaved to (fingers crossed) influence Paisley a bit, but also a dog that would still enjoy playing with us and Paisley.  We're thinking that Paisley's youth will also help to keep Scout younger and more vibrant as it gets older.

Currently they're spending a lot of time sizing each other up and working on finding out who the dominant one is.  This involves a lot of snarling and barking at times.  We're keeping a close eye on them.  Scout is great with the kids, just like Paisley.   But, I think in a few days all of the tension will pass and all will be normal.

 The kids sure do love her...

 And of course we all enjoy being together in one place...

 But, we're making sure that Paisley is getting a lot of love too.  We don't want her to feel like she's been replaced.

We're very excited to have Scout.  New pretty collars have been ordered.  A comfy bed for the master bedroom.  Really, what more could a dog ask for?  A forever home?  Check that off of the list too.  :)

Those Crafty Kids...

We've started to get into the colder weather days.  I'm loving it, and thrilled that we FINALLY get to enjoy autumn.  I was so tired of 2 days of chilly weather in Texas.  But, with colder weather means more time spent indoors.  We were a high of 49 the other day.  YES!!!!  We still go out in the afternoons, but morning outings have been dwindling a bit.  So this mommy is striving to keep those little hands busy with a couple of skill set activities.  If those little hands aren't busy they begin to hit other little people in the house.  lol  We don't need that.

So, we broke out some old favorites like play-doh.  We introduced stamping.  And this morning we worked on some fine motor skills with pipe cleaners.  (One of the many great activities I got off of Pinterest that I expanded on.)

Gabriel was very serious about rolling out the play-doh an cutting it with his animal cutters.  Lorelai mostly tried to eat it or put it in containers.

Lorelai was a mess stamping.  She tried to eat the stamps and stamp pad.  She looked like a Smurf when we were done.

Gabriel took this very seriously as well.  And he followed directions REALLY well.  We practiced all kinds of different techniques.  Lots of fun!

When not being crafty we headed out to the Outlet mall to score some wintery clothing items.  While there we headed into the Disney Outlet (which has a much better selection than the Disney Store I think).  I've been looking for something to bring along to restaurants for Lorelai, but she just doesn't have a "thing" yet.  Gabriel always has some Toy Story figures that I keep in my bag.  Well, we happened upon the Fairies and it was love at first site.  She hugged that box all of the way through the store.

Each kid got a little mini-lunch box to keep their "restaurant toys" in as well.  Of course Gabriel's is a Toy Story one.

Back to craftiness...Gabriel worked on small motor skills by placing pipe cleaners from one hole to another.  This was a breeze for him, but it kept him entertained for about 20 minutes.

Lorelai got to place them into a large cup.  Notice how she wants to do them all at once.  lol

I spent a bit of this morning printing off some color and number activities for Gabriel.  I'm going to have them laminated so we can use them over and over.  :)  Looks like the teacher in me is beginning to emerge again.  It feels good!

A little me...

I know this is probably egotistical of me, but I'm happy when I (or someone else) sees a bit of me in my children.  I spend a lot of the day noticing traits of my husband in them, and I'm very grateful for those, but sometimes it's harder to notice the things that are like yourself (although somehow the negative things are always glaringly obvious...why is that?).

But, today, this little guy:

was sitting at the kitchen table with two books, completely ignoring his breakfast, and enthralled in what he was "reading."  He tells me he's reading.  And amazingly he understands that words in books mean something, and he can tell that each word means something different.  Some kindergarteners don't know that!  Color me impressed.  I was/am quite the bookworm.  My parents used to be amazed at my ability to read while the TV was on.  I could at times be found sitting on the steps half way down because I needed to read more of my book before I reached the bottom landing.  And I still remember reading at the kitchen table.  (Before I believe that got banned due to my lack of conversation with the family.)   I remember the exact moment I learned how to read without saying/whispering the words out loud.  My dad told me if I was going to read at the table then I needed to do it silently.  Yes, sir!  And I did!  :)

I'm so glad Gabriel has a love of books.  And he has an attention span for books much older than you would think he would.  My only mommy dilemma...do you threaten to take the books away when he's ignoring his breakfast?  I did this morning.  I felt guilty.  lol  Why do I feel guilty for making my son eat?  Ugh...motherhood.

Then there's this little girl:

 (Sorry for the sad looking photo.  She was running around being a bee and I asked her to stop and look at me for a picture.  She was not amused.)  Today a shop owner commented on how she looked just like me.  Oh, that makes me so happy.  Everyone says both of my kids look like Brian.  I won't lie...I hate strongly dislike that.   After giving birth to both of them...one better look a smidgen like me.

And this one...well, it's just because I thought her Grandma Wood might enjoy seeing Lorelai enjoy her Calico Critters dollhouse...complete with handicapped dog family.  ;)  (They're all handicapped because Paisley seems to have trouble leaving them out of her mouth.  Oops!)

Maybe Paisley is a distant relative of my old Labrador, Lucy.  Lucy made one of my Barbie's handicapped once, she had her arm amputated from the elbow down.  And then there was the time she blinded my Lassie stuffed animal.  Ah, good memories.