I did it!

I voted today!! Robin was home, so I went and voted early at the clerks office. It's done, I didn't have to bring kids with me. I feel good about it. Enough about that,

Now What do I do??

Now that we are done with Halloween, and the Spongebob making extravaganza is over, I am bored. I swear "projects" have become a minor addiction for me. I am working on an afghan that Robin requested, but that doesn't require any thought or planning. I just sit there at work and crochet. It doesn't get my crafty juices flowing. I find myself laying in bed conjuring up new ideas and projects. I have come up with a couple and may need to take a trip to good old Jo-Anne Fabrics in the next couple days. I won't say what my new projects will be, since they may be a Christmas present or two!!

All done...

Halloween is over for me. We did Trick-or-Treating at my sister's yesterday. It was soooo COLD. Well, the wind is what made it really cold. Poor Stephen had a hard time walking when it was so windy. We got plenty of candy along with playdoh, dolls, and slinkies. It was really great to finally meet my new nephew too. He is still sooo tiny, he made Aria look like a moose. We were able to get a really good group picture will all the kids. I think they would have stayed there another 5 minutes saying, "CHEESE, CHEESE!" It was a long day with no nap for Stephen, so he passed out within 5 minutes of being on the road to go home. We weren't even on the freeway yet!!

Check out lots of new pictures of pumkin carving, playing in leaves at Gramma and Paps's new house, and trick-or-treating!!

High Demand for Spongebob!!

I initially listed the costume I made for Stephen on Ebay starting at $10.00. Well as of right now it is up to $43.50, with 7 hours to go. So yesterday I went and got everything to make 2 more. I listed those at $10 or "buy it now" for $45. Wouldn't you know one of those already sold!!! I can't believe people will spend $45 on a grocery bag wrapped in felt to look like Spongebob. I may need to make some in advance for next year to sell again. CRAZY!!!

Gotta Love Hand-me-Downs

Baby #1

Baby #2

LeAnne- If you want this I will bring it on Suday. It is pretty snug on Aria now.

Potty Update

It's been awhile since I mentioned potty training. It is still going well, as long as I tell Stephen to go potty. He still will not tell us when he has to go. And pooping is still an issue. About once a week I can get him to go poop on the potty. I was really good at timing it out for awhile, but he suddenly changed his pooping schedule. So now when I get him in the morning the first thing he says to me is "Mommy I stinky." We are going out more and more without diapers. I will not leave without those rubber undie covers though. They are a godsend, only one time did his pants get wet when he had an accident.

Worth big $$$

Updated Below------

I was just looking on Ebay at Spongebob and Patrick costumes. Would you believe that there is one Spongebob going for $102.00!!!! And a Patrick for $54.00!!! The are not home-made, but I think mine are way cuter. Maybe I am biased, but I am seriously thinking of putting them up for auction on Sunday to see what happens. I don't think we will be doing Trick-or-Treat here on Halloween, since we will be going to my sisters. We won't need anymore candy than that. So my $20 investment, could turn out to make big money!!

I put both on Ebay, and there are already bids on Spongebob!!

Why isn't it working!?

I have been working out really hard for about a month now. And really watching what I am eating. So I don't understand why I am not losing any weight, or even just toning up. I really don't care about losing any weight as much as I would just like to tone up. I don't care about the number the scale says or the size on the tag of my jeans, I just want my regular clothes to fit better. I tried on my prom dress before I tore it apart for Lyhna's costume, and it did fit. So I shouldn't be so upset about this. It is really hard to put in so much effort, but not see any results.

Ready for Halloween!!

I am officially done with all 3 costumes. I tried again to go buy a yellow shirt and pants for Stephen, but refuse to spend $30 on something he will wear one time. So I bought a $3 white turtleneck, and some $2 yellow dye and made a yellow turtleneck. Then I used the leftover yellow from the actual costume to make some pants. They will be really itchy, so he can just wear some sweats underneath. I also couldn't find those nerdy athletic socks with the red and blue stripes on them, so I used an old pair of white ones and drew the stripes with marker. Some would say I am cheap, but I prefer to say crafty and frugal!!! I also had to make some minor adjustments to Lyhna's after her costume contest, so hers is done, AGAIN. I am really excited to take Stephen Trick-or-Treating this year. He had fun last year, but I am sure it will be 10 times better this time around. I have been working on getting him to say "trick-or-treat" but I he will say is treat. I am sure he will go to every house and just yell CANDY!! I feel very proud that I am able to make the costumes for my kids. My mom always made ours, I think it is really special to be able to do the same for mine.

While I was out and about today I picked up a few Halloween treats for my favorite niece. I think Stephen is jealous, but he has something very similar. See you guys soon!!

Weekend Round-up

This past weekend we (Robin and I) went to a wedding in Green Lake. It was a really nice, small wedding. The food was ok, but the band!! Have you ever been to a wedding with a live POLKA BAND??! I now can say that I have. For being a polka band it wasn't so bad, they did play a few current songs with a polka-twist to them. Needless to say, not much dancing on my part. Grandma Bee came to stay with the kids overnight. I can not thank her enough. It was soooo nice to get away for one night and not worry about the kids at all. All though I did snatch a friends baby (he is 2 weeks older than Aria) for about 15 minutes to get my fix. All in all it was a great night.

I was really busy this past week working on Lyhna's Halloween costume. Her mom called me on Wednesday to ask me to make her a snow queen costume, oh by the way can you have it done by 8:30am Saturday!! Well I made it happen. It is the best damn snow queen costume you will ever see. She went to BOOFest here in Neenah on Saturday morning and entered in the costume contest. She took 3rd out of 30+ kids. So I guess that means I did a pretty good job!!

What else.... Oh I just got back from the doctor and I have Laryngitis (sp?). Isn't that fun. I felt like I was getting a cold all last week, and during the reception I completely lost my voice. I haven't been able to find it yet! It is really hard to yell at Stephen when I need to, or do baby talk with Aria. If you could hear me it is really quite ridiculous!

Lots of new pictures up on Flickr!!

My babies...

You are never to big to become a baby burrito. I truely think that Stephen will be 10 and still have his blankie. (I wonder where he might have gotten that trait from). I tried to put him down for a nap while his blankies were in the dryer the other day, it was a 20-40 minutes that he screamed in his room. I gave him his blankies fresh from the dryer and he was asleep within 5 minutes!!

There is another "bunny baby" in the family now. She has the death grip on that thing!!

Video

Check out my video bar------> Stephen is singing and dancing!

I have FEET!

Aria discovered her feet. All day long she is grabbing at them now. Whether she is laying down or sitting in your lap, all she wants are her feet. I am sure they will be in her mouth before long. In other Aria news, she rolled over the other day. She went from her tummy to her back twice in 2 minutes. Of course she hasn't done it since. I also started to give her some cereal at night. Some days she loves it, others she wants nothing to do with it. Some nights she sleeps straight through the night, others she doesn't. I can't seem to figure this kid out. Right when I think I have predictable routine, she switches it up on me. She is quite the diva and runs this house!!

Yucky

I am starting to get sick. You know that sore throat, upset tummy, heavy head, and hot mouth feeling? Yep that's me. I am really bummed because we have a wedding on Saturday. Grandma Bee is coming to stay the night with the kids, so Robin and I were really looking forward to the night away. I hope I feel better by then, maybe it is just a little bug that will pass really quickly. I am drinking tea and hope to sleep when the kids are napping, so maybe I will feel better. It could be from the lack of sleep lately too.YUCK!

Mystery poop

I didn't get to bed until almost 2am, then Aria had a really rough time from 4 until 6:30am. I think she is starting to teeth. Nothing I did calmed her down. I felt sooooo bad, and then Stephen woke up from all the commotion too. So... they both had really poopy diapers at 5am. Which one is the culprit for the poop stain on my shirt??? Fun stuff let me tell you!!

Where is the yellow????

Seriously, I can't find yellow sweats ANYWHERE!!!! I have looked at Target, Walmart, Kohls, Shopko, online at hanes, champion, fruit of the loom, amazon... EVERYWHERE!! I really think they don't exist. I need them for Stephen's halloween costume. I think I may have to get white and then dye it yellow. I am very frustrated with the shortage of yellow in the world!!!

Sneaking in the crib...

Last week I decided that enough was enough. No more baby sleeping 2 feet away from me. So I put the crib up again in the kids room. For those of you counting, that is 3 kids in one bedroom. Well, 2 during the week and 3 on the weekends. So far, Lyhna is excited about it. She even said that if I have a bottle warmed up, she would get up to feed her in the middle of the night. I am glad to see those motherly instincts in her, but she has yet to wake up when Aria does at 3am. The only problem we are having is that, Stephen like to climb into the crib at night. 3 times I poked my head in the bedroom last night and every time he was in there, turning on her nature soother. I woke up in a panic when Robin was getting ready for work this morning because Aria didn't get up to eat last night. My first thought was, OMG Stephen climbed in the crib again, used her as a pillow, and suffocated her and now she is dead. Obviously, that didn't happen, she just slept through the night. YIPPIE!! Naps haven't been an issue so far, in fact I think it is making Stephen sleep deeper. Right now I just put Aria down while Stephen is asleep. He didn't even flinch. It used to be that every time I would open the door to check on him, he would instantly wake up. So far, so good.

Aria had her 4 month check up today. 4 months already, I can't believe it!!! She is 14 pounds, 6 ounces, 23 inches long. She is "perfect" according to the doctor, just a little "petite." What a nice way of saying that she is a midget (only in the 16th percentile for her height). I did bring up my concerns with her snorting. She constantly sounds like she is congested, but there is nothing there to suck out. The doctor looked up her nose, and she does have swollen turbinates (circular bones in the bridge of your nose). I blame dear old Daddy for that one. He got shots in his turbinates to shrink them down during is deviated septum surgery. There is nothing we can do now, she is still to little. If if continues to be a problem as she gets older we will address it then. She also got 4 shots, man I hate that. The only good part about that was that she was really hungry by then, so I just gave her a bottle and she stopped crying, then slept the whole way home. Stephen also got the flu nasal mist while we were there. When given the option between a shot and the mist, who in their right mind would give their kid a shot when it isn't needed. I did not want to deal with 2 screaming kids.

Halloween costumes are almost done, laundry is never ending, and we have been hitting the gym really hard lately. Other than that not much else to update!

Happy Birthday Robin!!

UPDATED BELOW

Today is my darling husbands birthday. I am going to make it as special as possible for him. I already had a little home-made gift waiting for him when he got up at 5:30 for work this morning. (That only happened because Aria gets me up in the middle of the night!!) I plan on making a cookie cake and decorating it, getting balloons and streamers, and a few small presents. I hope to be able to get Lyhna before he gets home from work today too. So when he gets home we will have a mini surprise party for him, with just us. I hope everything works out!!

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Robin ruined my surprise for him. As I was coming home from getting all my decorations, I saw him going home too (at 11am!!!) He took a half day and didn't tell me. So I sent him to the gym, then did all the decorations. It still was nice, but not what I had envisioned for the surprise.

A Bit Confused...

She wastn't sure which team to cheer for. I guess it didn't matter, they both lost.

New Picture

Doesn't it look like Wesley is smiling?!

New activities...

I have been on the look out for fun (cheap) activities to do with the kids. Especially now that winter is creeping in, I don't want to be stuck at home all day everyday. So far we have started going to storytime at the libraries in Neenah and Menasha, and of course there is swimming every Thursday night. I also plan on getting Stephen in another play/toddler class at the YMCA during the 2nd fall session. I came across this store downtown and was very curious. I looked it up online and am really excited to go. It is called Mom and Pop Place. It is a regular children's/Mommy store, but with a cafe, playgroups, story time, and informative discussion groups for parents. I can't wait to go!!!