Big boy room

We have been moving rooms around here. We moved back into the master bedroom, so Patrick moved into our old room. His room became an office. It was a lot of work and there is a lot more organizing to be done, but man, it feels good to spread out again. This house is so big.

Patrick's room is double the size of his old room. The first night, he was so excited about sleeping in his room and declared that it was "not scary or creepy" in his new room. He asked Maggie to sleep on his floor.

He fell asleep quickly that night and they have been getting along really well lately.they have been watching old episodes of blue's clues on Netflix together. Patrick has been quick to hug Maggie throughout the day, too.

He loves to play in his new room, too. He does forget and goes into his old room. When I told him that we were turning it into an office, he thought I meant that it was going to be a Doctor's office. He told me that his tummy hurt really bad and needed to go back to his old room!

So, we still have Christmas decorations up,but the house is starting to come back together after the big move.

Excitement

This is Maggie at 6:42 a.m. She woke up at 6:00 but Steven told her to stay in bed til 6:40. So, here she is waiting to go in the living room to open presents.

Can you see the excitement I her face?! Hope you Christmas was a wonderful one.

Merry Christmas

This year, we saved all year and took the kids to Disneyland. While it was hectic and crazy and awesome to leave two weeks before Christmas, it took some pressure off of Christmas for me. I just haven't felt stressed about it all. I bought presents online and shipped them to family before we left, so there was not much left to do once we got back. And I loved it.

So, we are sitting here, in our pajamas on Christmas Eve watching a Christmas story. The kids are about to go to bed. Cookies are baked. Carrots are ready for the reindeer. And no stress. Perfect.


May you and your family have a stress free Christmas, too.

Oh happy day!

Two years ago, our family officially grew. Patrick Steven Cole was adopted into our family. It was a crazy ride to get to that point, but it makes him even more precious to me.

We were surrounded by friends and family and swore to take care of him. Maggie was behind me as I signed paperwork. She asked me why I was crying. I told her that mommies cry when they are happy. Every picture of me has a smile bigger than my face.

I love that boy so much. I am so glad that he is officially a member of our family.

(And I am forever grateful for Christine Curry's pictures that day).

Minnie Mouse necklace

This morning, I woke up way too early and started browsing Pinterest. I found some adorable felt flowers shaped into Mickey Mouse. They actually attacked them to headbands. I decided to recreate them but she doesn't like headbands very much. So....what could I do?

Fueled on caffeine and up way too early, I decided to make the Mickey Mouse shapes into necklaces. I have seen adorable felt flower necklaces but haven't attempted them yet.

So, this is what I came up with this morning. I cut the string so that the necklace could be worn at different lengths. It was easy and fun. The hardest part was making the tiny bows for Minnie Mouse.

We will be stylin' at Disneyland next week with these necklaces.

My mommy and my daddy

Maybe I am feeling nostalgic as we decorate the house for Christmas, but I just want to freeze my babies in time and stop life from going so fast. We ordered a new tv stand for Christmas and it arrived yesterday. It had 14 million pieces and I offered to hand Steven the pieces as he was assembling the furniture.

We were sitting on the floor and Patrick and Maggie were on the sofa. He looked down at us and smiled. He said,"my mommy and my daddy."

It caught me off guard. He is just so content and happy. I think about what his life could be like right now. I think about how I longed for a baby and how we prayed for him before we met him. And he is our family.

He drives me crazy every day. He is loud and crazy and doesn't listen and kicks things. And he is our family. I don't ever want to take that simple fact for granted,

Sick

Maggie brought the flu home the weekend before veterans's day. She was really sick for about four days and lethargic for a few more days. She was fine by last Monday.

On Monday night, my throat started hurting and I was super tired. I was cutting 350 pieces of paper for leaves for her class party and I started to notice how heavy scissors were in my hands. I went to bed early determined not to be sick.

I woke up with a fever the next morning. I was panicked. Kirsten and I were in charge of the class party. I cried and asked Steven to take over for me and felt guilty. He took over for me and I thought I would be fine y the next day.

Thus, began the pattern that is still continuing seven days later. I wake up and feel okay and am determined to be better that day. I take medicine and start to feel better and over do it. And am reduced to a lethargic, guilt filled mess by the end of the day.

I hate disappointing people, especially my kids and it is the week of thanksgiving and decorating. Oh yeah, and we are painting the house and moving around bedrooms, too. So there are boxes of Christmas and stuff to be put up from thanksgiving and my house is chaotic. So, everyday, I think I will tackle the house and I just can't do it.

Steven has done so much. He cooked thanksgiving lunch and set up Christmas and painted,etc. I have laid here on the sofa.

It reminds me of the last time that I was this sick. Steven and I were newly engaged and we went to visit his parents the week before Christmas. I caught some awful cold and I couldn't shake it.I laid on the sofa and watched western shows with steven's dad. That was the last time I remember feeling like this. I guess once every 12 years really isn't that bad. I really need to relax and just get better. My plan tomorrow is to just relax and get over this flu. Maybe that is what I need to be determined to accomplish tomorrow.

A year ago...

This is a repost from last year. Happy anniversary, copper!

Thankful Thanksgiving #25

Today, we surprised Maggie and Patrick with a puppy. Patrick is in love with the "baby woo woo" and I've never seen anyone more in love with Maggie before. They are stuck like glue and she wants to sleep in her room tonight (shockingly) so the puppy won't be lonely in his cage in her room.

I'm thankful for this little guy. Any name suggestions?

(No need for name suggestions..he is copper or toothless)

Jingle bells

Yesterday, the kids and I braved raley's to get a few last minute things. Patrick was so excited to see all of the Christmas decorations in the store. The line was long. While I was checking out,he begged me to go to the front of the store and see the Christmas tree set up next to the food bank donations.

He went up to it and saw a fat, red jingle bell on the tree. After getting permission, he started ringing the bell and singing (loudly) "jingle bells". For some reason, he had sort of a southern accent, so it was like,"jingle bawells".

I was watching him and trying to type in my something extra card number and glanced at the older lady in the next line. She was smiling sweetly at him and it was a sweet reminder to me to cherish these chaotic moments.

On the way home, Patrick sang out more Christmas hits. Maggie and I laughed and sang along to "jingle bells" and "we wish you a merry Christmas". That song went:

We wish you merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
And happy new year.

I wish I could have recorded this moment since it was stinking adorable. But, I have it etched in my memory instead.

Toothless

Patrick has a way of renaming our family pets. He calls Mickey, our orange cat, Boots. Last night, he was watching a "how to tame your dragon" Christmas show. There is a big, black dragon named Toothless in the show.

Patrick has renamed Copper, "toothless". Guess what? He responds to it.

What do you think?

Do you think they look similar?

Sweet

A few months ago, I was texting back and forth with Jonathan. I got a crazy idea and texted it to Jonathan. I suggested we go visit my dad. We haven't spent any time with hiking while. I always have kids with me and Jonathan is always playing gigs and it just hasn't happened in a while. Jonathan immediately agreed to it.

We spent six days together and it was just good. Good. Relaxing time together.

I am sitting at the gate about to head back to my crazy, loud life. My dad and brother have both called to check on me. They are such sweet guys and I am so grateful for the pause in life that allowed us to get together and just spend time together.

We went to our home town and saw some sweet, dear friends. But, we really just hung out and watched episodes of duck dynasty and ate good food. I am so thankful for this time together. It was good.

Girlfriend

Last night, Steven was introducing Patrick to Star Wars. We got to the part where Anakin was kissing Amadala (I have become such a geek). Both of the kids screamed "ewwww" at the kissing part.

Patrick was sitting in my lap, so I asked him if he had a girlfriend. He said, "no, I got Maggie".

Spider-Man and captain america

Jude and Patrick are both really into dressing up in costumes. The first thing Patrick asks me each morning is if he can wear his Halloween costume.

Last night, we went to Jude's house while Steven went to men's bible study. Jude immediately put on his captain America costume so Patrick borrowed a Spider-Man mask.

They were low crawling around the house and shooting bad guys with guns made from Legos.

I tried to take a few pictures of the super heroes. This is what I got! Jude was way more cooperative in this process.

35

This morning Steven brought breakfast to our family. Patrick only fought with me a little bit about not wearing his captain America costume to sandee's house. Sandee gave me a big hug when she picked up Patrick for day care. And Starbucks wished me a happy birthday with a huge free drink. 35 is looking pretty good so far.

Mine vs. his

I find my kids adorable and hilarious. There are some distinct differences in their personalities and those differences point to me or to their father.

Mine:
1. Patrick loves all animals. When we see one on a billboard or walking down the street, he says, "awwww....cute". He tries to pick up both of the cats and he is always running around with copper. Yesterday, sparky didn't want to be dragged around the house by a three year old. Patrick was so offended and started to cry. He said,"I just want the kitty".

2. My kids love popcorn. I suggested a movie night in the living room last night since it was chilly and overcast. They both started asking for popcorn immediately. They each want their own bowls and ask for popcorn almost every day. In fact, Patrick asked for popcorn this morning for breakfast.


His:
1. My kids have some dancing skillz. If there is any music on, they are both dancing. Maggie is usually doing the "daddy dance". Patrick does a bird flapping jump kind of thing.

Last weekend, we were in the car and I was being "d.j. Jazzy Beth" and taking song requests. Patrick kept asking for the song, "call me maybe". He loves dancing to it.

Maybe they will grow up to be semi normal adults even with our influence over them.

Paging Dr. Cole

Steven called me today with some excellent news. He applied for a scholarship to get his doctorate degree and (pending a few things) he got the scholarship. He is going to start taking doctorate level classes in the fall and he got a big scholarship to help pay for it.

I met him at the parking lot before I went to get Patrick and I told him how proud I was of him. He has started taking his leveling classes already. He gets up before the rest of us to study and read. He goes to bed early now so he can get up earlier. It is not a burden on our time as a family for him to be in school and I appreciate him doing these things so much.

I bought him some orange creamsicle gum today. He looked surprised and I told him that it reminded me of him when we were first dating. He always had this orange and cream hard candy. He was surprised that I remembered that from 12 years ago.

Twelve years ago. We have been together for twelve years. We are grown ups. SometimesI am shocked to see myself getting into my Volvo station wagon. It is such a grow up car. We have grown up in so many ways. Now, he is getting his doctorate. I am so proud of him.

Slushy magic

Today, I dressed my kids in matching Halloween shirts. They were so cute that I had to take a picture of them.

Then, I went to work and did worky things.

Then, I went to CVS and I decided to use my CVS extra care bucks on something I wanted. I wandered around for a while. Then, I spotted it. A slushy magic cup. It was $14.99. I justified the purchase by using my extra care bucks and a $5 off coupon. It was a steal.

I came home to put an ice cold coke zero in my slushy magic cup. Guess what? It was moldy. The cup and the "ice cubes" were moldy. I was so disappointed.

I took Patrick back to CVS and returned the slushy magic cup. There weren't any other ones so I just got my money back. Patrick talked me into buying him a new tow truck. He was so cute and even thanked the cashier for his new truck. So, I left disappointed but Patrick was happy so that made things better.

I decided to goggle slushy magic cups this afternoon. There were lots of parents out there trying to figure out how to replicate slushy magic without paying $14.99 for it.

I found this website. http://flowersandflour.blogspot.com/2011/08/homemade-slushie-magic.html

She basically takes 2 ziploc bags, rock salt, ice and made a slushy magic at home. So, I tried it. It works.

I was  worried about having my own slushy magic cup, honestly, because I figured my kids would always want to use it. But, now we can all make slushies and Patrick got a tow truck, too.

My month long birthday

Steven is always teasing me about my need to celebrate my birthday for a whole month. I have really decided to embrace my month long celebration.

When I woke up this morning, my inbox was filling up with birthday wishes and coupons from different stores and restaurants. I am going to try to take full advantage of these freebies right away.

October is going to be legen....wait for it....dary.

My first celebratory event was lunch at red robin. I got a free hamburger and side salad. Then, they brought out an ice cream sundae. If you look at the picture, you can see that Steven is already trying to dive into "my sundae".

Let's see how awesome October can be!

So thankful

Tonight, I was sitting on the floor in Maggie's room. She has a hard time going to sleep so sometimes I sit on her floor until she can fall asleep. It doesn't take her long if she knows I am in her room.

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness. God has given me these two adorable kids and a wonderful husband and I am so blessed.

Last week, Steven was on his birthday trip and he had a blast. And it went well at home, too. But, I feel a sense of relief with Steven home again and the kids can't get enough of him. It makes me realize how good things are.

So, I just laid down on the floor and thanked God for my blessings tonight. He has given me so much to be thankful for and having my eyes opened to those blessings was a wonderful thing.

craziness

Last night, Steven got home from his meeting and the kids attacked him. Steven started recording the craziness that followed.

Cookie monster

Patrick and I went grocery shopping today. He saw football shaped Oreos as soon as we walked in the store. He talked about eating them during the whole shopping trip.

When we got to the car, he said,"can I have a cookie?".

I told him that was fine and to get own his car seat and I would hand him a cookie.

He said,"no, I don't want a cookie".

I was shocked. We had been talking about cookies for thirty minutes.

He said "I don't want one cookie. I want two cookies".

He was double fisting two football shaped Oreos on the way home.

Those words

Yesterday, I was sitting on Patrick's floor sorting through his clothes. He shot up again and can't fit in his pants. I mean, he can still fit in a 2t in the waist but is a 4t in length. He is so tall and skinny.

He was playing cars next to me and talking to me about his clothes. He saw some of his older shirts out. I told him that he wore those when he wa a baby.

He said,"when I was a baby in your tummy?".

I held my breath and tried to form the right words.

We have always thought that we would be up front about him being adopted. There is no need to hide it. But how do you find the right words to explain this correctly to a three year old.

I said," no you weren't in my tummy. You were in another mommy's tummy. But we got to adopt you and you are ours."

He said," oh adopt". Trying out the new word.

He quickly moved on to talking about his cars and I looked at him for his reaction to all of this.

I wish sometimes that he was in my tummy. It would be easier for him. But, it is part of his story and it makes up who he is.

I pray that I find the right words. I don't know if I am doing this right but I want to say it in a way that makes him realize how special he is to us.

Lord, guide my words.

Crafts

Yesterday, I needed to go to Joann. I am addicted to making felt flowers and I had to get more felt.

Patrick asked me where we were going. I told him I needed to go to the craft store.

He said"why we gotta go to the crap store?".


What a man. Already hates going to the craft store.

Happy birthday

Steven's turning 40 today. He has a great day of golf playing planned.

I love him so much.

Patrick's thoughts on wheat grass

Patrick and I went to jamba juice this morning for a $1 smoothie. He was watching them make all the smoothies and saw the wheat grass in planters on front of the mixers.

He said "why they got grass at their store? We got grass in our backyard. Copper poops in our grass and then he barks".

I hope they don't let copper poop in their wheat grass at jamba juice.

The classmate

Maggie started school last week and was seated next to a cute little girl that she knew. She happily told me about how they had to "present" each other in front of the classroom and giggled over their similarities.

Yesterday, she grumpily informed me that the kids got moved around and she was sitting next to another girl now. A girl who said the "s" word.

I asked which "s" word that was while holding my breath.

Maggie whispered "stupid" and that she had to tell her teacher that the little girl said that evil word and the girl got in trouble and gave her mean looks the rest of the day.

She was not looking forward to sitting next to this girl when she went to school today. I told Maggie to give her another chance and maybe yesterday was just a bad day for that little girl.

When I picked her up, I asked how the girl was in class.

Maggie said,"Mommy, you know how you said that sometimes mean people are that way because people are mean to them? Well, she has to live with her aunt and her aunt is not nice to her."

She told me a story about the aunt not being nice that I didn't quite understand but it seemed traumatic to an eight year old.

I am so proud of my girl. She is learning to give people second chances. She is learning how to deal with "difficult people".

Maggie and Katelyn told me that they invited this little girl to play with them at recess, too. One of the girls from their class last year told them not to play with her, but Katelyn said no and invited her to play anyway.

I love their hearts.

Don't you love it when you come home and find a big box by the front door?

I received a big box and found these items in the big box by my door.

These are so cool. The learning bus is a touch screen like game that teaches your child about music.

The guitar is also a touch screen that looks like a cool guitar.

You can check out leapfrog.com/learning path for more information.

Disclosure: I was given these two items to try out. They don't affect my review.

first days

Patrick says

Some cute Patrick quotes from the past few days:

P: mommy, you leave the door open when I go outside?
Me: yes
P:okay, the door closed "fweaks me out".

Steven came home as I was putting Patrick to bed.
P: daddy, why you always got to leave?


After laying in bed for fifteen minutes, he called for me. I went in his room and he was sitting up reading "little pea".
P:mommy, you stay with me? I scared.
Me: what are you scared of?
P: monsters.
Me: there are no monsters in your room.
P: oh okay. I sleep in your bed? I too scared.
Me: no way!

I said no

Last week, I went on my second job interview for a great company. They asked me back for a third interview. It is a really long story but I said no.

I have had a hard time with it. I want the money and an office and all of it. But, I want this more.

I want lazy afternoons playing in the blow up pool in the backyard. Even though my kids fight with me and each other and I would love to attack our debt more aggressively, I want this time with these two cuties more.

She's crafty

Look what I made yesterday. And I took down my Christmas wreath, too. Stellar day.

Right now

I am snuggling with this guy. I can't get over how cute he is. I love his freckles that dot his nose.

Poor puppy

Can't you just hear Dug from the movie Up saying,"I do not like the cone of shame".

He came home from being fixed and he has to wear this for 14 days. He was woozy from the anesthesia and he ran into the back of my knees about 7000 times last night. It was pitiful.

He can't fit into his kennel so he got to sleep on our bedroom floor last nigh. Steven took him outside this morning and he hit the walls of the hallway over and over again. Maybe after 14 day, he will be able to navigate a little better.

Golf cart king

While we were at dad and Lisa's house, patrick decided that he wanted to drive the golf cart. Maggie and Steven were playing golf so I took him out.

He was thrilled. Patrick begs to drive our car everyday. If I tell him to get in the car, he climbs in the front set and offers to drive for us. So, this was a huge thrill for him.

We drove down to re end of the street where there was a cul de sac. I took these pictures over his shoulder while he was driving. Surprisingly, we are still alive.

The things they see

Yesterday was a long day. We drove and Patrick was fussy and Maggie was feeling nauseous and I just wanted out of this stinking car.

We made a game plan before we arrived at the hotel. I would take the kids swimming and Steven would unload what we needed, get dinner and get gas in the car.

When we got our swimsuits out, I pulled out a new pair of swim goggles and handed them to Maggie. I bought them at the end of last summer but kept them somehow!

She was so thankful and said, "mama, you think of everything."

It was such a sweet thing for an eight year old to say.

We got to the pool and there was such joy. We are out of the car! Maggie swam like a fish and Patrick has no fear with his ca chow life jacket on his white skinny chest.

The water was warm but it was cold outside. By the time, Steven got back, our lips were blue and we were so cold. We wrapped up the kids in white hotel towels and ran back to the room.

Steven had laid out our pajamas and gotten pizza and bread sticks and coke zeros. He got all my stuff out of the car and started charging up all the dying Mac products.

It was all so thoughtful and Maggie said, "man, daddy thought of everything for us while we were swimming."

I want her to remember moments like this on this crazy road trip.

Day 5473.6

We are heading home now. I feel like I live in this car. And this car is disgusting. We left the Monroe family this morning :( and started driving to flagstaff.

I made the mistake of mentioning swimming. We have only heard about that for 8 hours.

But... We are in a good mood. I rented some movies on redbox and the kids are happy.

Patrick learned one of Maggie's road trip games. She took off the arm rest covers and put them on her feet. Her brother thought this was hilarious and put his on, too. His look like little slippers.

We are about three hours from swimming and watching veggie tales. Patrick said that bob looked like a squishy fruit snack.

Car sick

So far, we have done really well with carsickness. Maggie has her arsenal of stuff to keep her from getting sick and she has done so well.

On our first night of the trip, Patrick threw up. It was everywhere. It was awful.

But, other than that, we have done well.

Until....... Today.

Maggie was complaining about being sick after we got on the road. She was doing better but Patrick was complaining about his tummy hurting so we stopped at a McDonald's for him to go to the potty.

As we got out, she threw up on the side walk in front of the store. The cashier was so nice and handed Maggie a sprite.

We went to lunch and then Patrick was complaining about his tummy again. We stopped at a gas station and guess who threw up? Patrick.

As we are standing in front of the store, a man came out of the store and he said he was sorry that Patrick was sick and handed him a bag of candy corn.

I am not sure about the logic there. Why does a toddler who just threw up need candy corn? It was a nice gesture though.

Maggie said: man, people are nice to us when we throw up. Maybe we should throw up more often and we could get stuff.

Great idea.

Papa

Patrick has been talking about going to papa's house since we left California.

He was apprehensive about the "big trip" but got excited to see papa when he saw all the snacks that I was packing in the car.

Then, we were leaving town and tried to stop at McDonald's. Patrick got mad and just wanted to "go see papa".

But...we drove a week and 2000 miles and his first interactions with papa were rough. He just wanted me to hold him and grunted at anyone who looked at him.

We went to dad and Lisa's house and it was like he was a different kid. He was happy and talking and playing outside and so happy.

Dad hung out with us yesterday and we took out the golf cart and Patrick had a blast. He loved nana and papa's house and playing with "Elmo" aka Bruno (the cat).

Dad's neighborhood has a security guard at the front. Everytime we came in, they would ask us where were going. As Steven was giving the address, Patrick would yell from his car seat that we were going to "papa's house".

They had a good time together. I wish the visit would have been longer.

Day five and we're still alive

Quick recap of yesterday....we got to new Boston to see Carolyn around 4:30. Steven and his mom went to get some food and I took the kids to backyard to play.

Maggie: it is so hot
Me: hot? It is not that hot.
Maggie: yeah. And it feels like rain and water on my skin.
Me: that is called humidity. I kinda like it.

It started to rain on us so we came inside. The kids played and watched tv and we fell asleep super early.

We got up on Thursday morning and headed to new Orleans. We stopped at a truck stop and Steven debated on getting cracklings and boudain. But decided against it. I got fried Cajun seasoned peanuts. They are yummy. The kids found this cool car in the parking lot.

Patrick keeps saying, "where are you taking me? On the big trip?".

We should arrive at the hotel soon. Maggie has big plans for the pool.

(we might see someone special on Sunday.....)

Day three part two

We came home and Jessica made homemade tortillas and chicken an I think Steven and I ate about a dozen of them. Maggie and her cousin, Cassidy, crafted and played. Patrick played on the backyard and ate bananas.

The girls drew with side walk chalk and Cassidy made us a welcome sign on the front sidewalk.

Aunt Billie came for dinner. Jessica made taco for us and we need to leave this girl's house. Seriously, she is a great cook! It was so nice to see aunt Billie. I haven't seen her in eleven years.

After dinner, we walked out in the front yard. There was an ugly storm about to start, but it made the night cool and wage kids just played and we hung up. Les and steven made a late night run to sonic and we watched the muppet movie. It was such a nice, relaxing day. Jessica and les are great hosts. Patrick didn't want to leave their house!