Oy Vai

I am long overdue to update this little blog o' mine. I've still got Santa pictures to share, for pete's sake!

So, here's a brief little synopsis of what's been going on in our lives:

Conor ~
I'm happy to report that Conor is doing GREAT! It was a little rough for a week and a half, but once we got over that hump, he is healthy and happy. He no longer complains of ear pain or throat pain AND he hasn't had a stuffy/drippy nose OR a night time cough in a week!!! Whoopeeeeeeeee!

Liam ~
Remember the Sound of Music? "How do we solve a problem like Maria"? Well, just replace that Maria with Liam and you will have a good idea of how it's going. He is definitely 3 and everytime I think his attitude is improving he throws some kind of hissy about something totally outrageous! LOL He is definitely a TV fiend and I hate that. We've been limiting his TV more than ever and there have been many, many breakdowns because of it. Today he told me he would, "NEVER, EVER play with you again unless you let me watch my shows!". It was sad, really. I swear he's never been allowed to watch THAT much TV, but while Conor was sick he watched quite a bit and I guess that's all it takes. *sigh*

BREAKING NEWS ON BOTH BOYS....
We are 100% officially BOTTLE FREE!!!! It has been really hard for Liam. I know he should have had the bottle free experience long ago, but it is truly hard to take a bottle away from a 2 year old when his 1 year old brother is happily sucking along. It actually took Conor's surgery to break the habit - he couldn't suck on bottle or straw for 2 weeks. Liam still cries sometime at night for his bottle and tells me, "Mama, I didn't want to give my bottles away yet. Not till I'm as old as you and daddy and Sonya and Mar." It's heartbreaking because he then breaks into sobs that make me feel like some linebacker has just laid me flat on the playing field.

On the opposite side of things, Conor asked for a bottle the first couple of days and when we explained that he couldn't because of his surgery he pretty much accepted it. One night he did tell me, "Dr. Hamill is bad" after I told him the dr. said he couldn't have his bottle. LOL

Unfortuneately I can't report on any breaking news in the potty training front because there isn't any. I'm extremely frustrated with it. Liam wakes up most mornings with a dry bum and when we try to get him into the bathroom to go he absolutely refuses. He's as pigheaded as his dad! (oops, did I write that in black and white?)

Oh, and if anyone has any great ideas to get my boys to drink milk from a cup now that they've done away with bottles, I'd love to hear them! I've tried chocolate milk, strawberry milk, milkshakes, etc. and it's a no go through and through.

Ok, on to my updates:

Glenn ~
He's still voluntarily unemployed. Do I really need to say anymore than that?

Me ~
See Glenn's update. LOL

CHRISTMAS ~

Christmas was wonderful. The boys are really at that magical age when everything is so totally special. They were so excited to see that Santa had eaten the cookies and given Rudolph their carrots - oh, and drank his water (I guess since they won't drink milk they don't expect the jolly one too). Then they turned around and saw all the presents...well...here's their expression

precious, huh?

And here they are discovering their Santa gifts and stockings.


And their stockings were so big that Santa had to use HUGE bags (almost as big as them) as well as their stockings. Here's Liam trying to get to the bottom of things.


And what do you get the ultimate Pink Floyd fan for Christmas? A box full of Pink Floyd T-shirts that took at least 4 hours of wandering the West Edmonton Mall to find.

We had a wonderful Christmas morning and then in the afternoon our friends and FSJ family, Sonya, Mar, Nicho and Mar's mom Madeline came over to share more presents and Christmas dinner. It was a very busy, festive day!

Oh, and Mom, Linda and Cindy...We still have Christmas cards and one other small gift to mail out. Yes, I AM that far behind! LOL I didn't even get my Christmas cards done this year - I made them, but never got them mailed out because of Conor's constant sicky's. I'm attempting to write a New Year's Letter to everyone - look in your mailboxes soon!

OK, I know I still have the bowling party to talk about and I'm going to be really quick about it. The boys absolutely LOVED it. They are quite capable bowlers! And for the first time they weren't running the other direction from Santa, but instead actually stalking him! LOL From the moment he entered the building they were on his heels. It was so cute! Here's some pics - and notice the Nicholas "sumo wrestler" style of bowling! Too funny!



And their Santa pictures!



Happy New Year! Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Prayers and positive thoughts

I know I said I'd post the pictures from party #3 today, but we've been a bit busy. We got a call yesterday saying that Conor is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. He is having his tonsils and adenoids removed which will, hopefully, clear up the asthma and constant runny nose, stuffy nose, sore throat and earaches. While I'm glad that it is finally going to be over, I'm also a nervous wreck! Please say a few prayers for us and send some quick recovery thoughts to my brave little guy!

(((HUGS))) and Love!

Oh, I forgot...

The party on Saturday:

They seriously had one of the coolest Santa Chair's EVER! I just had to share this picture of most of the kids that attended with Santa on his chair (which was made of mats!)
Cool, huh?

Oh yes, and Conor, Liam and Nicho are standing in back of Santa...in case you were tyring to find them (make sure you click on the picture and blow it up!).

Christmas Party - Take Two

Oiy, I'm tired! Yes, we've been to all 3 parties now, but I haven't transfered the pictures from party #3 to my computer yet, sooooooo this post is all about #2.

Party #2 was on Saturday and was put on by the Chamber of Commerce and held at the NP Gymnastics Association. Of course the boys loved the fact that they got to have an hour of unstructured gymnastic time where they could run like wild bohemians around to each apparatice and PLAY. It was a little disorganized for my taste - too many children being unsupervised and acting like crazy children. One little girl was of the attitude that she was entitled to do whatever she wanted and if someone got hurt in the process it was their problem - she was only around 4 or 5, but I never did see a parent anywhere around. Several times I literally caught her in mid-air before she landed on some other (usually) smaller child. It was a bit nuts! Then they had the kids come out of the gym and into the "snack" area where they gave them...I kid you not...a prepackaged Rice Krispie Treat and a juice box AND made them wait almost 40 minutes until Santa got there. 40 minutes in a room as big as my living room with about 30 children under the age of 8! Pure and utter chaos!

All that being said, Santa more than made up for the chaos! He was AWESOME! Conor was totally awestruck and sat in the front row like a champ when his brother and buddy both got called up within the first 10 kids and he was almost last! I was able to get a couple of terrific pictures of the boys with the Jolly one. A true Christmas miracle! LOL They each got a pretty cool present from Santa - Liam an instrument set that had a Drum, Tamberine, Harmonica, Marroca's (sp?), a Recorder and an industrial size whistle (which they seriously could have left out! LOL). Conor got a set of balls - a football, basketball and soccerball and a set of plastic animals which he LOVES!

I guess the fact that the boys had a blast is really all that matters! I think they may go into withdrawal now that the party's are all done! LOL

Oh, and the fact that I got 2 great pictures of me with my little men. Cute, huh?

IN SCRAPPING NEWS:

I am very happy to announce that I got invited to be on another awesome Creative Team. I'm now on the team for Rebecca Lynn Studio's (see side notes). It's very exciting for me!

Here are 2 new pages I've done:

Credits can be seen here

Check back tomorrow - I'll have update for Party #3 and tons of pictures!

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Christmas Hustle and Bustle

Wow. Just when you think, "everything is done - house clean, shopping done, decorations up and looking quite snazzy (if I do say so myself), bring on the relaxation and enjoyment of the holiday season!" , you realize that you are greatly fooling yourself into a false sense of accomplishment! LOL

On Monday we went to gymnastics with the boys. It was their last class of the fall season so they "graduated". They were both so proud! They make quite the event of graduation at our gymnastics company. The kids are called up to a "podium" just like in the olympics and they stand on top and receive a medal and their progress report - so cute. Of course all of the parents are flashing pictures like paparazzi and cheering for each little dude and dudette! IMHO my boys were the cutest graduates there! See for yourself:

Last week we decorated our tree. I should say Liam and Conor decorated our tree. They had so much fun picking the spot where each ornament should go. (see, even Desi helped out!) The problem with letting your children decorate the tree is that everything is placed at their level and you end up with this: 90% of the ornaments at a 3 foot level. LOL Heaven forbid I move one item they placed on the tree - memories like and elephant, I tell you! It gave me a good reason to go shopping for new ornaments and I'm happy to say our tree is evened out now - no more bottom heavy tree for us!

Yesterday was party #1 of their 3 day extravaganza. The Art Space program is always such a blessing - their teachers are so nice and they really make a great party for the kids. The boys were absolutely thrilled! Of course I took tons of pictures, but here are a few highlights: (The boys waiting to start an actual reindeer game!)(my hunk of a man - isn't he cute?!)(The closest Conor would get to Santa - and that was only because he gave him a present! LOL He later did a "drive by" and shouted thank you to the jolly old soul!)(and, of course, Liam was just THRILLED to pieces that I made him go stand by Santa to take a picture - How DARE I interupt his good time for a stinking picture! LOL)

Well, that's it from our front for today. I have exactly 3 hours to prepare myself for another 2 hours of fun and excitement and LOUD children celebrating the Christmas spirit. I must go meditate now! LOL I'm sure I'll be back tonight or tomorrow with an update of the Chamber of Commerce kids party!

Love and (((HUGS)))

Time

It seems as if I don't have enough of that one little word lately. I get up every morning with tons of plans in my head, but between the boys and Glenn, doing the necessary "chores", running here and there and everywhere, I seem to be losing time. It seems like I get up at 6 and before I know it the kids are asking for lunch! I don't know where the time is going, why it seems like I just can't get enough. I'm hoping that now that the play room is done (what an awesome godsend that is!), the house is semi-respectable and Christmas is getting closer I'll find more time to do the things I'm dying to do...like sit and read a book with my Ipod blissfully playing in my ears, or SCRAPPING (heaven knows I haven't gotten near what I wanted to have done by this time in the year - I still have literally thousands of pictures from this summer with my family that I haven't even touched yet!), or spending some more creative time with the boys (they love doing crafts and have been looking forward to helping me make Christmas cookies for a while now). As I type this I'm glancing at the calendar and reminding myself once again that the boys have 3 - count them, T*H*R*E*E* Christmas parties this week. A bowling one with the Hospital Foundation, a crafty/playful one at the local ArtSpace program, and a gymnastics one with the Chamber of Commerce. Why the couldn't all coordinate and do one a week is beyond my imagination, but that's what we've got. Oh, and did I mention that they are on 3 consecutive days? Again, time gone. Fun time, though! Picture opportunities coming out my ears. Pictures that I will hopefully have scrapped by this time next year! LOL

Let's talk boys. Why does my oldest seem to think that any volume other than SCREAMING LOUD is unworthy of using? It doesn't matter where we are or how close he is to the person he is talking to, lately everytime he opens his mouth it comes out as a eardrum shattering scream. Wow, as I type this I am wondering if there is a chance that he has blocked ears because it has been just in the last 5 days or so. Hmmmmm, should check into this , huh?

Other than his ear splintering talking, Liam has been quite the guy lately. I sometimes have to double look to make sure that it is, in fact, my son in the house with us. He's been helpful, sweet and loving 98% of the time. It's quite a switch from about 2 months ago when I was wondering what had happend to my little boy! He loudly announced today at gymnastics that he had the best little brother in the world just because he happened to glance out and see Conor playing at the little kitchen they have set up. It was definitely a heart twitching moment!

Both the boys are excited as can be about the imminent arrival of Santa and the gang. I have a feeling they are conspiring to stay up to try to see Rudolph - I've caught them talking about it several times! LOL They are both extremely well versed in the traditional holiday music - their current faves are Deck The Halls, Jolly Ole St. Nicholas (or "Johnny St. Nicholas", as Liam says), and Oh Christmas Tree (but only the version sung by Mickey, Minnie and Goofy!). It's so sweet to see them so excited about Christmas. Putting up the tree was a hoot - all of my decorations were about 3 feet off the ground, the top of the tree virtually naked, and Liam would tell me in no uncertain terms where a particular ornament went if I dared try to move them up. Oh well, it gave me more than enough reason to go get supplied with new shiny decorations! Yipeeee! (And yes, Linda, I do think I have a picture of my bottom heavy tree - I'll have to upload it...if I ever get time)

Conor is amazing me each and every day. I'm sure some of you are tired of me saying it, but his vocabulary completely floors me! The way he holds entire conversations and comes out with these HUGE complicated sentences - I'm just amazed! He's also becoming quite a cuddly guy. He will now come up and give me a kiss with no asking (ok, begging and a little fake crying, but a mom has to do what a mom has to do!).

He's quite a go getter! He likes to do whatever the "big boys" do, whether it's trying to ride their bikes or play games, etc. I watch it and truly hope that Liam never gets to the point of feeling like Conor is being a tag-along - hopefully with them being so close in age they will always remain close. Let me dream!

I have a few scrap pages to share - I do them at night on my laptop, my only moments of sanity! And hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to upload some pictures of our tree and the boys decorating and of them graduating today from gymnastics (such a cute thing!).





































Credits can be seen Here

Love and (((HUGS)))

Here's my new bathroom!

Isn't it purty? ;) I love my shower curtain hooks - little hot and cold faucets. My sink is SO cool! And you can see in the shower pics that our liner has pockets - it's tre` cool! The boys toys are in the 3 large pockets at the bottom, their soap and shampoo are stored in one and there's a few left that I'm sure we'll fill as we go! Also, I finally have a nice spot to show off the cute soap dish I got from Cindy last year! LOL Liam loves that little heart and the heart shaped soap - he's always coming in to the bathroom and smelling it!

OK, enough goofing off time...now I have to go and get cracking on the basement with Glenn. We've got the floor to paint and some bookcases/tables/etc. that will serve as storage. The floor is taking a super long time, much longer than we thought, because we have to scrape up the paint that the original owners had down (which Glenn has jokingly said is full of lead, and I do not find funny because it probably is!). It's seriously going to be one very cool play room!

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

My poor neglected blog

I haven't really been in the "blogging" frame of mind lately. Maybe it's the fact that the contents of my bathroom have been in my living room, bedroom and kitchen. Or maybe it's the fact that I've got 2 little boogers that decided to make this time of renovating more about them renovating their attitudes than about the actual bathroom renovation. Whatever it's been, believe me when I say that if I can get through the rest of this week with any hair left on my head I'll be one lucky woman!

Happily I can say that the bathroom is 90% finished. The tile has been laid, the sink, toilet, medicine cabinet and additional storage cabinet have been put in, the painting has been done, tiles have been sealed and resealed and caulking has been finished. Now I just need to figure out what shower head I want (Ok, I should say I'll compromise on because Glenn and I want totally different things) and find a shower curtain that doesn't look like the cats threw up on it (there are truly some ugly bathroom themes out there!), figure out where we are going to put up a towel rack and we'll be done like dinna!

On that them, here's a friendly PSA to anyone considering renovating a bathroom: If, like us, you only have 1 shower in the house, it is not necessarily the smartest idea to renovate without a backup shower plan. Washing in the kitchen sink does not feel as good as standing under the warm spray or soaking in a bubble bath! Somehow you never feel quite as "clean". Since the renovation began I have had 1 "real" shower. The rest has all been standing in the kitchen with the door closed, blinds pulled and freezing my tuckus off to get clean. Neither wind, snow or the -40 degree temps are going to keep me from going today to get a shower head and some kind of curtain to "do" for the meantime! Tonight I SHOWER!!!

The other renovation we have going on right now is our basement. We are trying to convert the basement into the boys playroom in an attempt to make my living room livable. Our goal is to have it all done, including the "moving in" part, by Saturday so that we can go and pick out our Christmas tree this weekend. It's amazing how many problems you can run into when trying to DIY. First, we bought paint for the 2 end walls in this brilliant BRIGHT green. We thought we had bought enough. Turned out we needed more, no problem, right? Go back to the store and get another gallon - how lucky we were, the same girl was mixing it and new exactly what we were talking about - mixed it up and said it would be a perfect match...ummmm, WRONG! One wall is now this color green and the other is this color green. BIG difference! *sigh* Oh well, at least it's the kids playroom and the other walls are even different colors (Orange and purple). You'd think that would be enough, right? Welllllllll...nope. Glenn went to reattach the light fixture that has been hanging from the ceiling and when he started to screw it into place the darn thing quit working. Someone cut us a break, huh?

Other than renovation disaster zone, life has been pretty boring. The temps have been in the -40's for what feel like MONTHS now (yes, I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but have YOU ever been stuck inside a house with reno's going on, a sick 2 year old and a "I know better than you" 3 year old? I'm telling you, MONTHS!). The boys are beyond stir crazy. Daddy and mommy have been so involved in reno's that they have been poorly neglected, but we have promised to make up for it starting next week, when everything should be finished (knock on wood REALLY hard!).

Conor has become quite the conversationalist lately. His vocabulary just kills me - where the heck did he learn some of these words?! He's also become very snuggly lately and I don't mind that one bit...well, except when he demands to be picked up when I'm in the middle of doing my chores...oh, wait, that's when I like it the most! LOL

Liam has become...well, a 3 year old boy. He can be driving me right up the wall one minute and then, right when you are the most exasperated he will call your name for the 1000th time and when you snap, "WHAT?" he says, "I love you". Stinker. He really knows how to work the system! LOL

I have been doing a bit of scrapping, too. Thought I'd share them while I'm here!









Credits: Picture frame & Santa Hat - Chain Gang (Modern Christmas_SBB)
Papers, Ribbon - Lena Brandenburg (Glad Tiding's_Elemental Scraps)
Title Font - Santa's Big Secret BB
Journaling Font - Aramis
Brads - Gina Miller (Bundle Up Baby_Gina Miller Designs)









Credits: Paper, Tag, Ribbons, Brad and Alpha from Jen Wilson's Everyday Bliss Kit
Font on Tag - ZapfEllipt BT
Stitches - Ztampf (ARTiStitches No. 3_SBB)

















Credits: Hearts: Gina Miller (Mixed Bag _ Gina Miller Designs)
Arrow: Gina Miller (Bedazzled _ Gina Miller Designs)
Paper and Doodle Frame: Jen Wilson (Funny Little One _ SBB)
Title: "So" & "You"- Alpha Thin, Unbelievably - Carpenter ICG
Journalilng - Tall Paul
Ribbons: Michelle Underwood (To Be Cool Kit _ SBB)











Credits: Papers, Alpha, Ribbon - Lena Brandenburg (Plum Pudding_ACOT)
Stitches - My own














Credits: Papers, Ribbon, Tag - Lena Brandenburg (Snugglebaby_Elemental Scraps)
Title Font - Kitchenette
Journaling Font - Girls are Weird
Template - Gina Miller (Curved Template_Her blog)












Now, I know there are lots more scrap pages of Conor this time than Liam, but believe me, in the scheme of things, they are pretty even.

In other scrapping news:

I'm very excited that I have been picked to be on Lena Brandenburg's Creative Team! I am really honored and excited to be a member of her great team!

That's all for now - I'll try to take some pictures of my bathroom and post them soon. Oh, and maybe some of the boys, too! LOL

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!