Its been a fun day in Mason City

The day has been better than the night! Last night Violet was up 3 times and Calvin got up once and screamed for awhile. He just wanted me to hold him. I sat on the couch with him and he just snuggled in and laid on me for a long time. Somewhere in the middle of the night while holding him, I whispered in his ear "I need to put you back in your bed now." and he just started crying. I think he understood what I said! I laid him back down and just rubbed his back for a long time (while my legs and arms were sore and aching in that leaning-over position) and he eventually fell asleep. I'm ready for these sick kids to start sleeping through the night again!! I got my teeth cleaned at 9 am. No cavities! When I got back to mom and dad's house around 10 am, we packed up the kids and took them to the gym to burn off some energy for an hour and a half. Violet just took off, running everywhere, jumping on the trampoline, climbing across the ball pit, throwing balls, climbing on mats, she just loved it. Calvin just wandered around most of the time. I jumped on the trampoline for a little bit too. I took some pics with dad's camera, too. We fed the kids lunch when we got back and put them down for much-needed naps. Violet went to get her teeth cleaned at 3:30 and she did GREAT! I was anticipating a scared and crying Violet like we had 6 months ago, but she did so well. She clutched her blankie and hesitantly walked back with the assisant, but she eventually warmed up to them. She climbed in the chair and let my dad count all her teeth, and Nancy scaled and polished them. She got a new toothbrush and toothpaste for doing so well. I get to go pick up Dave from the airport tomorrow around 2 pm!

not a good night

Last night as I was getting ready for bed around 11:45 pm, guess who walks into my bathroom? Violet! Ugh...she was wide awake. She was like, "Mom! Nap time is over! I'm awake now!" Its hard to explain to a kid her age that its not nap time, its bed time and she needed to sleep another 8 hours. Then Calvin woke up screaming and coughing sort of croup-like, the barking type of cough. I took her to the bathroom and she went potty, and then I tucked her back into bed. She started crying pretty hard and said she was thirsty. She asked for a sippy cup of apple juice, so I got her one. I wasn't about to argue with her, so I gave her a sippy cup filled with 1/2 water 1/2 apple juice and put a pull up on her because I knew she'd drink the whole cup dry and then wet the bed. I knew Calvin's throat probably hurt too since mine was sore and Violet was complaining about being thirsty. I went to the basement and brought up the warm mist humidifier from Dave's office. I put some of the Vick's inhalant on the humidifier and plugged it in the hallway outlet, and slowly opened his door and shoved the humidifier in as far as it would go. I am glad he got himself back to sleep on his own. Sure enough, at 3 am she came walking into my room again and said she had to go potty. Her pull up was soaked, and she peed even more on the toilet. I took her back to bed and she came walking in to my room again at 6 am wanting to sleep with me. I walked her back to her bed again. She and Calvin both slept until 9 am. When I went into Calvin's room to get him up, the room was warm, moister than the rest of the house, and I could smell the Vick's stuff at work. He seemed better! I'm really tired though. I'm not used to Violet keeping me awake at night. She's really crabby and whiny today from not getting much sleep either. She says she misses daddy, and when she talks to him on the phone, she asks him if he's sad because he isn't home. This morning I made the kids scrambled eggs and toast. As I was cooking it on the stove, Violet comes in the kitchen and says "Oh my word, mom! Breakfast is almost ready!" and later as Calvin was playing with toys (and its always the toys that he picks up that she is interested in), she freaks out and wants to grab the toys from his hand, even if he didn't take them FROM her. I told her to stop, and she says "But MOM! I'm fus-ter-ated with Calvin!" and later, I say " Violet, your food is ready!" she responds with "Aww! Thats nice, mom!" and later "This is good food!" and later "Its hot. It came out of that pan - that is why it is hot." We're heading up to Mason City today sometime this afternoon.

Calvin and his belly laughing

Thanks to Violet for being his source of entertainment most of the time! I couldn't get blogger to upload the video for some reason...so I put it on my facebook page. Go check it out. :)

Sunday and Monday

I never really know what to title my posts. Its been a pretty fun 2 days! Dave is in California this week. He is attending some sales meetings at Calix's headquarters in Petaluma, CA. Violet has a sticker on her calender upstairs in her room on Friday which tells her which day daddy is coming home. There have been a couple times today that she has whined for her daddy. Tonight she started crying while she was taking a bath - out of the blue - I asked her why she was sad, she said she missed her daddy. :( She usually wants him when I have to discipline for some reason (ya know, always preferring the parent who isn't upset with her at that moment, of course!), but tonight was different. She seemed excited to talk to him on the phone a couple times today. She usually says "hi!" and then waits for him to say something. He says "how are you?" and she says "good". If he asks her what she's been doing, she usually looks to me for an answer because she doesn't know what to say. On Sunday after I got the kids in bed for naps, Dave was scrambling around the house trying to get last minute things packed in his suitcase. At one point, we were both in the kitchen and it dawned on me that we just have one car. I said "Wait. How are you going to get to the airport?" He just stopped and looked at me like "oh DUH" - we don't have the truck anymore. We both completely forgot. In order to avoid dragging the sleeping kids out of bed, we called our friend Karen Wilson and asked her if she could come over to our house and sit there for 20 minutes while I drove Dave to the airport. She quickly agreed to help out. What a blessing it is to have great friends close to us. Sunday night I took Violet to her Puggles class. She really loves going and never is sad or cries anymore. That is very nice. As long as she has that pink blankie with her, she's great. I wonder when she'll let go of taking it with her everywhere? I went to Walmart to get a few groceries and stuff with just Calvin. I felt like I was alone -Calvin is so good in the cart. He likes to sit there and just watch things. I asked the customer service desk if anybody turned in a blue fleece hat, and they HAD IT!!! I was SOO happy! So Calvin got his hat back. I didn't really pray about finding it but God answered a desire of mine with out even me asking. I picked Violet back up after that shopping trip and they went to bed pretty easy, I think. This was 24 hours ago, I don't remember much that even happened an hour ago. The night wasn't so great, though. Violet climbed into my bed at 1 am and said she had to go pee. So, she went pee and then fell asleep in my bed til 3 am. I carried her back to her bed and prayed with her again, and she fell asleep until 7 am and climbed back in my bed and said she was hungry. I'm not used to getting up in the middle of the night with her. At least she got up and went pee instead of going in her bed. That is great! Calvin is such a good sleeper, I just love it! He goes down to sleep around 7:30-8:00 and sleeps a full 12 hours, and lately, he's been taking really long naps in the afternoon. He's growing so fast, I'm sure he's going through some type of growth spurt right now. He sleeps 15 hours in a 24 hour period! Today he slept from 1 pm to 5 pm. I had to go in and wake him up so he could eat and be tired enough to go to bed. Sure enough he was rubbing his eyes and ready for bed by 8 pm. I sometimes think of things throughout the day that I can record - funny things she says, etc. I can barely keep up with the entirety of the conversation because it is just so adult-like. She speaks in full sentences and gets nearly every word right and is very conversational. Lately she likes to tell me secrets. She says "Mom, c'mere. I have to tell you a secret." So I lean over and she pulls my hair away so she can get to my ear. She said "Mom. I...I...want to play a game with you." or "Mom. I need to go to the bathroom. Can you come in there and read a book with me?" ... or whatever. Things are secrets. Its too cute. Tonight she actually requested to take a bath. She said "Mom, I would like to take a bath so I can play with my new purple and green soap that Molly gave to me." Violet and I had a fun day. Her friends Ivy, Evan and Sylvie came over this morning to play all morning and stayed for lunch. We had one of her favorites for lunch - mac and cheese. She was super tired by naptime. Later in the evening, I heard Calvin fall down and his head smacked the floor. She didn't actually see it happen, but she was right next to him when it happened, and I got up quickly to tend to him and noticed the horribly guilty look on her face. She ran to the couch and said "Mom! Don't spank me!!" So I'm about 100% she pushed him down for no reason. Through his hysterical screaming, I said to her "Violet, did you push Calvin down?" She quietly said "yes." I was a little too irritated at the moment to spank her, so she got a 5 minute time out. She sat quietly the whole 5 minutes of her time out, then happily got up, ran to give him a hug and a kiss and said "Calvin, I'm sorry for pushing you." and that was it. I hope she learned a lesson, or next time will be a spank. Other than those not-so-fun moments, there are always super funny moments between those two. I even caught one on video. Calvin thinks Violet is so hysterical sometimes. She started jumping over something over and over and over making the same noise, and he caught on to her jumping repetition and belly laughed every time she jumped making that same noise. She catches on to him thinking she is funny and just keeps doing whatever makes him laugh. His laughter is just so contagious. When either of them wake up from a nap, they want the other to play with. Usually V wakes up before him, and gives him a big hug and kiss when he wakes up after she does.

Its been the week of her birthday

So, Tuesday was her real birthday, but today we celebrated. So she might be really confused as to what day her real birthday is! She can say January 20, but I'm not sure she has a clue what that means. We had a little fun birthday party for Violet this morning from 10 am to noon. She invited all her friends to have a party with her at the Waterloo Trampoline and Tumbling Center. The place has 2 in-ground tramps, a double mini, tumble track, and another above ground trampoline. One of the coaches helped out by coralling the kids around the gym, but most of the time it was free for all, the kids just ran around and did what they wanted. It was so fun. I enjoyed seeing Violet interact with the kids. She was so shy at first and didn't want to stretch with Alex the coach that was there, but eventually warmed up. Poor Calvin was a mess, though. He was tired from the time we got there until the time we got home, but as soon as we got home, he was running all over the place. The party was nice. The kids jumped on the trampolines for about an hour and a half, then we ate pizza, sang her happy birthday, and had cake. Time was up and we just packed up the gifts and opened them at home later on. All who came were: my parents, Scott and Jeanne Hansen with AnneMarie and Bennett, Selena and Ivy and Sylvie Hemmer, Randy, Kim and Katie Costello, Nathan & Marisa Anderson and Devin and Sienna, Trisha Cashman with Bryer and Payce, and Kris Klunder with Vada. Jay and Molly came for a little bit and left early. She had to get to CR for her bridal shower that afternoon. She protested taking a nap with as big of a fit as she could muster, but we eventually got her down to sleep for a couple hours. I wish 3 yr olds knew what was good for them. haha!!! I can't even picture a kid that age saying "I'm so tired, I know I should sleep now so I make it through the rest of the day. Mom, I'm going upstairs to take a nap now, OK?" In my dreams!!! We ended up with way too much pizza so we are enlisting the help of our friends to demolish the rest of it (and some dessert pizza and some birthday cake!) tomorrow for lunch. Dave is leaving tomorrow for California. His flight takes off around 2 pm and he doesn't get home until Friday. He is attending Calix's quarterly sales meetings, or something like that. I know he enjoys going because he doesn't get to actually talk face to face with any of his co-workers and he enjoys the relational aspect of it, getting to re-connect with his team and be in an office setting with other people for once. I'm sure that working by himself all day alone has to get a little dry. Especially for my socialite of a husband. :) So I'm happy for him that this will be a nice week for him. Monday and Tuesday I'm going to stick around and go to MOPS on Tuesday morning, and Wednesday I'll go to Mason City and spend a couple days with my parents. Violet and I have appointments with dad to get our teeth cleaned on Thursday. I hope she does better than last time. She screamed and freaked out last time. I think if I don't go with her, she'll do better. If you think of it, pray for me that I don't go crazy taking care of the kids by myself for a week. I don't know how military moms do it with husbands who get deployed for months or years.

I had the most frustrating morning

I should have prayed before I start my day. That is my lesson learned! I went to work out this morning, same thing like every time I go...the morning is hurried because Calvin didn't wake up until 8:30 am. Through screaming, I found a mild but irritating diaper rash, had to feed him immediately because he was starving. Violet ate oatmeal like usual. I was late, got there by 9:15. I decided to stop at Walmart because I had a few things on my shopping list. Bananas, gallon size plastic bags, boring stuff really. But it turned out to be the most annoying trip to Walmart I have ever taken. First I found a parking spot, got the kids loaded into my arms and walked in. Violet screamed the whole time walking in because the wind was cold. Got all settled into the shopping cart, and I realized my shopping list was IN the car. Ughhh....So I had to take them back outside (yes, screaming the whole time) to the car just to get my little list with 15 things on it. No way could I try to wing it and just remember what I had written down, I don't trust my memory like that anymore. I found everything I needed while at the same time, constantly corraling Violet to follow me, come here, move away from that, don't touch that, it was really annoying me. As I was finished shopping and was leaving the check out counter, I realized I couldn't find Calvin's hat. His really nice, blue fleece hat. His only winter hat that keeps his head, ears and cheeks warm. Another Ughhhhhh. So after loading up all my groceries/stuff into bags, I had to turn around and retrace ALL my steps in Walmart looking on the floor in all the aisles looking for his hat. I wasn't leaving with out it. I looked (while pushing an extremely heavy cart) for about 15-20 minutes, but couldn't find it. I checked at Customer Service to see if anybody had turned in a blue fleece kid's hat, and the lady checked and said no. I left my name and number for them to call me if someone did. I got them back out to the car (yep, while they screamed the whole time because of the wind, and Calvin's little head was probably freezing although he had a hood on his coat which I used, but doesn't seal out air). I just had to sit in the car and fume for a minute before driving...I just had it. Calvin was screaming and Violet was screaming, it was just a screaming morning. I think most the morning could have been somewhat tolerable if there wasn't so much screaming. My head was pounding and I just had to sit and cool down before driving home. I was dreading coming home because that meant I had to feed them and put `em down for naps - which usually meant a fight on Violet's part with what I feed her, even if she likes the food, she gives me a hard time. Calvin dropped all his lunch on the floor. She surprisingly didn't give me too hard of a time going down for a nap, which was nice. Calvin was happy to go to bed. He buried his head in his blanket with his paci and knocked out no problem. So then I spent the first part of naptime taking a shower, drying my hair, getting dressed, throwing in a load of laundry, and cleaning up the kitchen/table because all the mess and stuff was driving me nuts. I'm sitting here now and they'll probably be up with in the next hour. Aghhh!! And there is already a lot more to get done before Violet's party tomorrow. Ok...disclaimer for this post. I'm obviously frustrated. The moment will pass, just like it always does, and I'll look back and realize what I did wrong and how I could have handled every situation a little better, a little more Christ-like. But I'm just typing away and venting.... So yeah...I'm going to pray next time I start my day.

time to get working on taxes

That is the plan for tonight. Who knows what processing last year's taxes is going to hold. We got Dave's W2 and all the interest statements from our mortgage holders already, so I think we have what we need to start this process. I hope its not a complete disaster dealing with all the uncompensated losses from last year. I went shopping for a few things before playing volleyball tonight. I went to Target to get the smallest curling iron I could find. They had one that was 3/8" - which is smaller than my pinky! I plan to curl all her hair into little spirals for her role as a flowergirl next month - we'll see how much she tolerates it. So far she loves it when I do her hair. She sits and lets me blow-dry her hair, and I've curled it before and she just loves to sit and watch me in the mirror. My last stop before the game was Barnes and Noble. Dave wanted me to pick up a help book for him to learn how to use Microsoft Project software better, which he is sure will help him keep up with his projects for work better. I hope it helps, too. We lost 2 volleyball games, and won the last game by just a couple points, so that was fun. I got home and Dave had both kids in bed and the kitchen was spotless! :)

Violet is 3 today

This morning around 5:30 am I heard Violet opening our bedroom door. She had her arms full of "all her stuff" - her special blankets, the yellow pillow, baby, and peanut baby. "Mom, I wanna sleep with you." she said "I have all my stuff." I whispered "Let's go potty first, then you can climb into bed with me for a little bit." She said ok, dropped all her stuff, and went potty quick. She climbed into bed between us for a little bit. I told her she really had to go back to sleep if she was going to stay in bed with us, but she never did. She wiggled around, flip flopped from side to side, and experimented with different cuddling positions. First she pressed her body against mine back to back, then she flipped over and tried resting one leg on my body. Silly girl. After a few minutes I whispered to her "Violet. You're not sleeping, so you need to go back to your own bed." She seemed to be OK with it. I carried her to her bed and laid with her for a few minutes, and she was out. I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that - I ended up tossing and turning for the next hour and a half until Dave's phone alarm went off. Calvin actually woke up before her for once. We sang happy birthday to her in the morning when she got up and gave her oatmeal like usual, but I sprinkled chocolate chips in it. She seemed to think that was really fun. She immediately said she wanted to open her presents, but somehow I distracted her. I had to take her to the doc for her well check up at 9:45 am. I got the kids fed, dressed, and out the door by 9:20 am. She wore her cream colored zip up sweater that Rachel gave her for Christmas with the fuzzy hoodie. She said "I can wear my fuzzy hoody like Molly!" because that day we opened presents with my family, Molly was with us and had a similar sweater on with a fuzzy hoodie. When I called yesterday to get her an appointment, I wasn't expecting to get in until next week or the week after because their office is always busy. The receptionist seemed surprised when she noticed an opening today. Violet did excellent at the doctor. She got to stand on the big scale and get weighed. I asked if I could put Calvin on the baby scale while I was there, he was 25 lbs. She is 34 lbs and is 38" tall. They had her stand in one spot and did a little eye exam by asking her what shapes were on a piece of paper up on a wall far away. She got every one of them right! A circle, a cup, a heart, a little hand. The nurse took her blood pressure (86/58) and then I got her changed into the little hospital gown thing. She looked so cute. It reminded me of when she was in the hospital gown at Allen Hospital being treated for pneumonia. The doctor checked her ears, mouth, teeth, nose, tummy, back, feet, reflexes, leg and arm strength, and asked her all sorts of questions like "Are you a boy or a girl? What is your name? How old are you?" and she had no trouble answering the questions. When the doc was all done, she got dressed again and then said "I want her to check to see if I'm ok again! That was fun!" So all in all, it was a good visit. Calvin was in the stroller munching on cheerios the whole time - of course - also throwing them everywhere. Cleaning up crushed dusty cheerios is not fun!

more pictures

Late snoozer: Yep, she's in there:

SBA is pulling through for us!

We got final word from the SBA that they are going to pay down the river house's mortgage in the form of a fixed rate loan. This is huge!! This enables the bank to put the insurance money we got towards the principal balance of the loan (which they were just holding on to in an escrow account). That means we don't have to continue paying the full mortgage on that house anymore. It will be rolled into the SBA loan that we already have for our new house, and the payment will be increased slightly. What a relief and a huge answer to prayer. So even though we want to get rid of the river house, the fact that the SBA is going to do this for us means that we can continue to own both houses and it will work financially - no more panic mode. Let's pray for a buyer for that house, now, so we can get rid of it for good! Thank you, Lord!

pics and videos of sledding

My dad and Violet heading up the hill: Whew! We made it to the top! Here we go! "I did it!"

my dad came to visit on Saturday

Violet was ecstatic to see Grandpa Jon on Saturday! I had sledding on the calendar for today, and I'm glad he came down because he brought 2 sleds (we don't have any). Dad got here around 10 am. I actually woke up thinking that Violet needed snowpants, so after breakfast, I went to Target by myself and got her a pair of snowpants. I got back home just minutes after he arrived. She got us started on a game of Candyland right away. We played for awhile, then she got bored. Calvin took a nap and V had some mac and cheese. Dave stayed home with Calvin while we went sledding. I wasn't feeling so great..flu-like symptoms...so I took some Theraflu stuff and that seemed to help me feel good enough to brave the cold outside on the sledding trip. This was a MOPS organized sledding trip, but only 2 others showed up besides us. It was from 2-4 pm, bad timing for naps...but I reluctantly let her stay awake and skip her nap so she could go. We got her all bundled up and left at 2 pm. The first sledding site was at the corner of Hudson and Viking Road. It wasn't the best place - we didn't know where to go, and that corner was insanely windy. So we opted for a different location - Hope Martin Park at the corner of Fletcher and University right behind the big flood gates. There is a nice big hill right by the parking area that was much better. It was drugery going up the hill. Dad had some shoes on with attached spikes which worked much better than my slippery boots! I helped V up the hill while Dad would carry up the sleds. He brought a blue circle spinner sled and a sleigh-type sled with metal sliders. Violet was so excited to go down the hill. She was at the top copying us saying "Whew! That was tough! Man! It is slippery out here!...and on and on..." It was so funny. Her first ride was on the blue circle sled. She held on tight and as soon as I pushed her down the hill, it turned a 180 so she went down the hill by herself backwards. But she held on and didn't fall over. The next few times she went down she went on the sleigh sled, which was much better - it went straight and fast. She got to the bottom the first time and said "I did it!" After doing that a few more times, we decided it was about time to go. The wind had picked up and at times, we had 30 mph gusts of wind blowing on us - the snow bits felt like sand was blasting at our faces. We got back in the car and enjoyed m&m cookies and hot chocolate which one of my friends brought along in her car. Violet was so wiped. She sat in her car seat with her head to the side, just resting with that glassy-eyed pooped look on her face. The wind was fierce, causing completely white-out conditions at some points on our car drive back to the house. I filled up the car with gas at Walmart and got a quick car wash on the way home too. Violet was too scared of the car wash. Just the sight of the car wash building made her burst into tears. She got out of her car seat and sat in the front seat with my dad just to feel comfortable sitting there. While the car wash was running, we told her the van was taking a shower, just like we take showers. She seemed OK with that. She was hyper-whiney-tired by the time we got home. She konked out in her bed after a little while, and we tried waking her up around 5:30. She was NOT ready to wake up at that time, so she finished off her nap on the living room couch. Just then dad realized he couldn't find his keys. After searching through every place he could think of, he concluded that the keys must have fallen out of his pocked while sledding on the sled hill. So Dave and dad went back to find them - and immediately noticed them sitting in the snow right at the spot where he went down backwards. The late nap made her sleep right through supper...but she woke up at 7:30 ready to play full force again....so she ate then and was up til 10:30 pm that night. We rented the movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and watched it - turned out to be entertaining!

Their profiles look identical

I can't believe the things she remembers

This morning my mom called to chat with Violet and say hi. Violet was very excited to talk to her. She isn't all that great with flowing conversation yet on the phone, but she's getting there. At random times during the phone call she would just say "bye!" But the first thing she asked my mom was if there was still a telephone in that bedroom upstairs. Ok, so MONTHS ago, she slept in that room and was awakened by the phone ringing. It scared her something silly - so much so that she is very concerned about the phone by our bed every single morning. She asks if it rang every morning. Just last week on Sunday as she headed off to Puggles, I told her to be a good girl and listen to her teachers and obey them. She said "Okay mom. I won't push Vada and I won't throw toys at Evan." Yeah...so that happened sometime in September, or August? I can't even remember. She has barely mentioned it since, and last night pulled it out of nowhere. Calvin is changing a lot too. He usually is happy to just walk everywhere very quickly. As soon as we get home from anywhere, I set him on the floor and the first thing he darts for is the staircase. He just loves climbing stairs. We have to make sure the gate is in place before we leave somewhere. He also has a very healthy appetite. He ate a huge bowl of oatmeal with a whole banana mixed in for breakfast, and for lunch he had a bowl of applesauce and half a grilled cheese sandwich. He even got two little teeny bites of chocolate brownie. He needs the paci to sleep. When he gets the sight of his bed if he's tired, he's practically lunging as hard as he can from my grip to grab his paci and his favorite shiney blue blanket and as soon as I set him in bed, he's humming and already sleeping by the time I go to close the door. He just snuggles right in and I cover him up with another blanket so he's warm and cozy to sleep. I put both kids down at 1 pm and Violet just woke up at 2:44 pm and he's still sleeping - I love it when they nap together. This morning I didn't even check the TV or the news (I know, dumb me, I should have learned my lesson the first time) to see if school was cancelled. I rushed to get the kids fed and dressed by 8:45 am this morning, loaded them in the car, took off, and as I drove up to the parking lot, nobody was in it. I thought "no way! The sun is up, the roads are clear, whats up?" I called my friend Trisha and asked her what was up. She said the busses are down and won't start, that is why they cancelled. Ughh...so I almost turned around to go home, but Violet started crying and freaking out that we were turning around. She was so excited to see "the two Kathys" (both child care workers who watch the kids while we work out are named Kathy) and was very disappointed that class was cancelled. I decided to make a run to Aldi for some basic stuff...eggs. milk, and some other ingredients I needed to make something for tonight. Violet was so cheerful in the store. There is no music that plays at that store, so it was weirdly quiet while I shopped. Calvin is always happy to sit in the shopping cart, twist his body to look forward, and just sit there calmly while I shop - its nice. Violet walked with me, telling everybody she saw "hi!" and then she would ask "what is your name?" and "what are you looking for?" Last night at small group, all the adults were upstairs at the Wilson's house talking about the study that we're currently doing. Violet had random times when she needed to come upstairs and sit in my lap for a few seconds and then she would get down and go off to play. Well, there was a quiet moment upstairs while Gary was talking about something. She was on her way off my lap and heard Gary talking, then she noticed he stopped talking. She looked up, and said "Amen!" and everybody just laughed. She thought he was praying and stopped! haa!! It was too funny. I don't know what she thought of everybody laughing, but she got up and went off to play like nothing happened. We tried calling her friend Ivy this morning to sing her Happy Birthday but didn't get through yet. She said as we tried dialing the number "oh! Did she open her present yet? shh!!! Its a secret! Don't tell her what it is!!"

stuff

Tonight as we drove home from the Hemmer's house Violet started freaking out like something was bothering her. She said "my hair! my hair hurts!" so I said I'd take out her pigtails as soon as she got home. She said "no, take them out now!" I said "We're driving and I'm buckled in so I can't get out of my seat right now." So she says "Just buckle it off." And tonight as we said our prayers before bed, I prayed, then Dave prayed, then it was her turn. She said "I don't want to pray." So Dave says "can you just pray a little bit?" She says "ok. Dear Jesus, Amen." which made us laugh, of course. So she says, "Ok, I'll pray a lot. Dear Jesus, Thank you for Aunt Rachel, thank you for Aunt Rachel, thank you for Aunt Rachel, and a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot, Amen." and then lots of giggles. She's such a nut. Dave has been craving fresh orange juice. He said he just want to go to the store, buy a ton of oranges and a juicer, and just make fresh orange juice and drink it all night. Weird. Maybe he's pregnant. jus' kiddin'.

a few pics

I got a lot accomplished this past weekend

I got invited to a scrapbooking party on Saturday. I normally don't do crafty artsy things with my pictures, so this type of thing isn't really my cup 'o tea. But, I decided it was finally time to set a day aside to get productive with putting all the pictures in books....so I got Dave to stay home with the kids for a day and I went and worked on just organizing my pictures and putting them in the slots of 4 picture book albums that I recently got. Over 1200 pictures got put into albums and approx 200 pictures of the flood and the damaged house got put into a scrapbook album. I also spent close to 4 hours just cutting out the newspaper articles and pictures that I wanted to keep. That is what took the longest time. I used a huge spot on the floor to chronogically lay out the articles and used scissors to fit them into the book. After the newspaper articles went in the book, all the pictures went in, 3 to a page so I could write notes by the pictures of what I remembered. It was just a huge relief to get that done. I had purchased the scrapbook months ago, ordered the prints months ago, and finally did it. Now I just need to keep up with all the family pictures, which I can handle. I order them once every 3 months or so and fill them in the book. That is managable! If I don't take too many pictures, that is. I ended up working from 2 pm to midnight. Most of the girls that came to scrapbook worked that long or longer - some staying past midnight. So Sunday I was pretty tired, not having much sleep the night before. That day was dedicated to laundry - so I got 4 loads washed, dried, and half of it put away. I dislike putting laundry away...it has to get separated into so many different little piles in so many rooms, and I don't do well going many directions at once. I went to work out this morning, but I was so tired. I yawned through most of it and hope I didn't annoy the instructor too much, haha! I put on a video for the kids to watch and I went upstairs to take a shower. They did just fine. Violet was instructed to not go upstairs and not move the gate, and she didn't. So I was happy about that. Speaking of Violet, my method of changing her "being dry in the morning" reward from suckers to stickers on a calender must have been what she needed. She's been dry every morning for the last week, with the exception of one morning. I'm so proud of her. I think she could have done it all along, because this last week seems to be a breeze for her. The last two nights though, she's woken up in the middle of the night and crawls into bed with us. Dave doesn't wake up, I wake up only for a moment to take her back to her own bed, snuggle with her for a few minutes, and tuck her back in. Every time I change Calvin's diaper, she asks "Did he poop or did he pee?" and when I tell her what he did, she crosses her arms and says "Aww maaan, Calvin doesn't get a surprise." because he's ALWAYS wet.....ha! Its snowing, again. We just got 4 inches yesterday or the day before, I can't remember. But just as we shovel off the last of the snow on the driveway, it dumps again. Dave has been working on the snowblower late in the evening, but it doesn't work. So, good old fashioned shoveling has been the ticket lately. Its a lot of work.

funny things

This morning Dave and I both noticed Calvin walking and then pausing to grunt for awhile. So we both mentioned in the middle of the conversation that Calvin probably had done some business in his diaper. After breakfast, the kids were walking around and Violet is following Calvin closely and says "Calvin! Calvin! Come here! I wanna SMELL your butt!" Then she grabs the little red sweeper vacuum and says "I wanna get some dirties off the floor." Last night Violet and I went to the UNI women's basketball game at the new McLeod Center with the Costello family. Violet and Katie had SUCH a fun time!! They were dancing to all the music when the game took breaks and the dancers did routines, laughing, and got a chance to run around the top of the arena together. I think I'll go again sometime. Katie told Violet that she was really excited to get something in the mail a couple days ago - it was her invitation to the gymnastics party for her 3rd birthday. Dave stayed home with Calvin and put him to bed early so us girls could go.

a smackin' good video

his first taste of a PBJ. I think he liked it!

First the bathroom mirror, now the

window. Out of the blue today...again...something broke. I was sitting in the living room by myself (thankfully both kids were sleeping) and one of the outside window panes of glass shattered. My first instinct was to look quickly to see if some kid had thrown something at the window, like a hard snowball, but nothing. It was silent out there. No dead birds, nobody, nothing. I guess the cold made it shatter. *shrug* I have nooo idea. Kind of freaked me out though. First the bathroom mirror falls off the wall in the bathroom by itself, and now the window shatters all by itself. Thankfully its the outer pane of window, not the inside one, so its not like cold air is all of a sudden pouring into the house. So, its manageable now, but now we have something else to put on the "to do" list. *sigh* So weird. I asked Dave to come up and look at it, and he said he's seen windows break like that before from the cold. Maybe there was too much of a pressure change in the atmosphere? I guess we'll never really know.

Calvin is done nursing

So yesterday was my last time nursing Calvin. He's been doing wonderful with out it, too. He takes regular milk and food really well. I'm so happy the transition was easy...I had a rough time weaning Violet. He's just so much more into food than she ever was at his age. So...YAY! And he doesn't seem to be asking for it either. Its like he forgot, which is great! I'm a little tiny bit sad, but glad to be done. He just grew up on me too fast. I feel like I got cheated out of enjoying my kids a little bit last year with everything going on. But onto bigger and better things! Its a new year. Violet loves singing those "Hide em in your heart" songs so much. She bursts into a different tune at random times during the day. "You shall love the Lord your God...with all your heart..with all your heart...soul and mind." and "Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." and "Hosanna! To the son of David..." and on and on. Its so sweet. Today was a fun morning. I got to go to Bible study and then get lunch with a bunch of the ladies there and their kids. Then both kids took long naps and I was able to clean up a little around here and put the laundry away. And then tonight I get to go out to eat with 2 of my friends! yay!

Not as bad today

The purple bruise on his forehead isn't as bad as I thought it would be today. It isn't swelled much and just looks slightly purple. Violet decided that she wanted to go to bed in her undies last night and woke up dry! I need to find another reward system that involves less sugar. She gets really whiney and dramatic on too much sugar. I think I'll get her a calendar to hang on her wall in her room and let her put new stickers on each day that she wakes up dry. I would also like to go to the store tonight and get invitations to her birthday party. I have it planned for Jan 24th at Lee's trampoline gym from 10-noon. I plan to invite Ivy, Payce, Bryer, Katie, Devin, AnneMarie, and I can't remember who else right now, I have my list written down somewhere. She doesn't have TONS of friends so I'll stick with the kids that she knows and is somewhat familiar with. She hasn't seen Devin or Annemarie for awhile, but I'm sure she'll remember them if they're able to come. Violet likes to climb in bed with us in the morning and snuggle. She said our room was too bright, haha! We don't have blackening window shades like she has. She is always saying something hilarious that makes us laugh, but if I don't write it down the moment she says it, I won't remember. There was a time that we lowered the heat in the garage to use it for a temporary storage spot for food when the refrigerator went out and there was just too much food a couple weeks ago during Christmas time. Well, today, I was pulling in the garage after I got back from work out class, and I noticed a tupperware of leftover chicken/vegetable soup sitting in the pile of garage sale stuff. This just totally cracked me up. I was thinking "How long has THAT been sitting there!?" We're finishing up the last of the leftovers today. There are still some things in the freezer, like turkey stock and gravy, but most of the turkey is gone, just a couple cinnamon rolls are left, the beef burritos are gone, and I ate the last of the ham for lunch.

guess I'll have to wait

on pictures for Calvin's first birthday! He smacked his head HARD into the door today making a big ol' purple bruise right smack in the middle of his forehead. Poor kid.

Went to the river house tonight

Dave has been working on getting the river house prepped and ready to sell over the last couple days. The old flooded and rusty truck was finally hauled away by a salvage dealer. They gave us $150 for it. He hauled 500 pounds of garbage to the dump the other day, including the container we kept Abby's dog food in. The house actually listed today, and Gary said there is already somebody coming to take a look at it tomorrow. After the kids woke up from their nap we made a family trip and went to Menards to get some pieces of plywood to take to the river house and cover up the big holes in the floor boards. Since people will be walking through there and we want it to be less of a hazard zone. I was upstairs with the kids for most of the time. Violet was reallllly excited to go back to that house and walk around. Of course, it was freeeezing cold. I left the kids' hats and coats on and let them walk around upstairs while I moved some items from an old box to newer boxes. A big box of my life collection of trophies and awards was still sitting over there all muddy. The kids started fighting over the stroller that we had up there for Calvin to sit in, so that made my work go quicker. Violet was whining about her feet and hands being cold. Then she said she had to go poop. Great. So we were stuck in a house with no toilet. I thought quick and grabbed my diaper bag and looked in it. There were a couple disposable diapers in it. So...I unwrapped a clean disposable diaper and laid it in the toilet upstairs (which had a big block of ice in it, we forgot to drain that toilet so it cracked and broke....oops). I told her to sit on the toilet and poop into the diaper. HA! She thought that was just the coolest thing, so she did, and I wrapped up the dipe and told Dave to throw it in the burn pile outside that he had started. Calvin did his business in his diaper while we were there too. So apparently it wasn't the best timing! We didn't stay long there. Dave took me and the kids home so I could get them baths and right to bed. He went back to finish a few things. He just got home at 11 pm tonight. Earlier today I was coloring with Violet and I started writing down the things she was saying. I said to her "Violet, how did you get so smart?" She said "Because I'm so precious." and then went on with a huge run on sentence that was this "You can color with the blue one if you want to! I'll color dis part, ok? When you are done with dat part we can get a different page ok? Mommy, I need dat pen. I need dat pen mom. Tank you. *slightly slips off chair* Oh no! I almost felled. What is dat mom? Are you writing? Again?" It just never stops. She is a verbal waterfall and never stops talking and coming up with new words I never knew she knew and new concepts almost daily. I think she learns more in one month than ever, and then the next month passes and surprises me even more. She enjoyed having all her cousins here so much. She keeps randomly saying "I am sad for my cousins." I am trying to teach her when her birthday is. She obviously doesn't get the concept of weeks or months, but she can say January 20. She'll be three in just a few weeks! I want to have a party over at the trampoline gym. We'll see if that idea actually materalizes. Another thing I wanted to record and not forget: Tonight I was rocking with Violet in the blue recliner. She could see the front door in her line of view. As we rocked, the glass in the window sparkled as the light from the front porch sconce lights shone. She said "Mommy, the light in the window is rocking with me." and then later I turned a 180 in the chair so she could see the other direction. She caught a glimpse of the picture we hung over the fireplace, and said "Mommy! I like the new picture by the fireplace! It looks kinda like animals!" Calvin is terrified of the water running to fill up the bathtub. He was paralyzed with fear of the noise until it turned off, and like a lightswitch, he was a happy splashing kid in the tub after it went off. I thought he was just starting to hate bathtime, but I'm glad its just the sound of the water. He is much more sensitive than V to stuff like that. Loud noises, sudden bursts of light or sound, he freaks out. Like the beginning of the baby einstein videos - the moment that little caterpillar starts crawling across the screen with the music, he screams, he's so terrified. He prefers the hymns to the BabyFaith videos over the baby einstein ones.

2009 is here!

After a short break once the LaMarche family left the house, it was filled again with 2 more sets of guests. Rachel, Shawn and Kim, and Dorothy and Nicky Rowe and their 2 kids, Darcy and Abigail. We had lunch with Shawn and Kim on Wednesday. I served leftover turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and veggies, and when the Rowe family came, we had leftover spaghetti sauce, salad, and garlic bread. We made a triple layer mud pie for dessert. We managed to stay up til midnight and slept in til 8 am. Rachel had made pecan sticky buns for breakfast, and Dave scrambled up a pile of cheesy eggs. We didn't have a real plan for the visit, just hang out and have fun. The kids all did great playing together. I used leftover turkey (again) to make a spaghetti casserole, which I'll make again for sure someday, it was delicious! Everyone left by 5 pm...and the house was silent again...what a relief! Its fun entertaining people, but at the same time, its exhausting! Dave and I are pretty tired, and are looking forward to getting the house back together, in order and clean again.