8 years ago today, hubs and I got hitched.

This is what he gave me.

This is what I gave him.

*crickets*

Not even a card.

(I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.)

WIFE FAIL.

Update: I was able to swing a card at Safeway while breaking a $20 for the babysitter during our Date Night. Not too shabby if I say so myself.

Wow, an entire week has gone by and all I have to show for myself is a TRIP TO DISNEYLAND. Come over to Style Lush Blog to see what tips I suggested to surviving the trip with the kids in tow.

Hopefully, I can recover soon and give a little more intimate detail of our trip, including pictures!

Luckily, we scheduled a date night for this evening, just in time to detox, ALONE.

e

Dear Ryan,

On your 5th birthday, I’d like to document the latest happenings in your life hoping to capture your essence before it fades into another year, before other milestones are achieved.

When I am struggling with your brother, be it over a diaper change or he not being able to comprehend chalk eggs do not come inside the house, you come to me, bend down and give me a side hug, just to let me know you see me and know I need the support.

You tell me, “I love you Mommy,” when you feel the time is right.

You say things like “Good grief,” “Whatever”, “I know,” “This is the BEST ——- EVER!” (for most things you are excited about. It kills me every time.)

You can maneuver the remote better than most adults. You never sit through a show you are watching. You hop, jump and bounce your way through most episodes.

You love the game I Spy. You re-enact the game/show on the floor in your room, all in a perfect square. You are a whiz at puzzles and enjoy putting them together during one-on-one time with mommy and daddy.

You enjoy cooking. You can’t WAIT to go to cooking camp this summer. Your favorite part, besides licking the spoon, is to crack the eggs. “Does it have EGGS???”

I see you playing with a baby doll, so gently, so lovingly. You catch me watching you and you smile at me with that smile that will someday melt many hearts. You’ve already done that with mine.

You love having your hair played with. Every time I stop you ask me to “do more.” I gave you your first back rub recently and you told me to do it again, “It felt good.” You even like having your ears cleaned.

You truly adore your brother. You help him when you see he is struggling. Your empathy is starting to show through. It’s so lovely to see. You also get highly frustrated when he meddles into your business. Your first instinct is to wind your arm back sideways, pout your mouth and want to pounce, but as we are learning we do not hurt our brother, even though it feels like the right thing to do. (I SO get it.)

Your smile still reminds me of a little beaver with your front teeth still far apart. You mentioned this morning that you couldn’t wait to go to bed tonight, so you would lose your tooth. I guess telling you you would lose your first tooth when you were five wasn’t exactly the best way to describe the tooth fairy.

You would never exclude anyone. You would rather have more friends, than less. You bring people together rather than pull them apart.

You will be heading into Kindergarten this Fall and you are more than ready. You LOVE school and it comes easy to you. You can spell your full name, including middle. You can count to 100, even by 10’s. Your ability to read is amazing. You do get frustrated when you can’t read a word, but when you take your time, you surprise even yourself.

You’re more obedient, than you’re not. You still stay in your room for quiet time for over 2 hours a day. You play quietly. You’re always happy. You still run and hug my leg every time I pick you up from school as if we hadn’t seen each other in a week.

You amaze me. You are bright, passionate, meticulous and a such hard worker. And a little toy, like a Play-Doh Ice Cream maker, can make your world “THE BEST EVER.”

I love you Ryan. You’re everything a mommy could wish for and more. I am so very proud of you. You’re lovely.

Love,

Mommy

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from our little Irish clan!

Seems I’ve been running this little “engine that could” for THREE years now. My anniversary was on the 26th of December, but we were in Tulsa dealing with a blizzard that blew through on Christmas Eve. I’ll try to get into that in a later post, but for now, here is a picture of all the little cousins on Christmas morning waiting to go down the stairs to see what Santa brought them. (Same ritual my brother, cousins and I did ever since we were this little.)

Actually, there were only four kids on the stairs on Christmas morning. My brother, his wife, their 3 kids and my mother were stuck in Oklahoma City from the blizzard and couldn’t get up to us in Tulsa till dinner time on Christmas Day. So, we put all the kids on the stairs, again, the next day, just to get a photo op of the occasion.

e

This one was taken in the backyard of my in-laws house the day after Thanksgiving. The trees surrounding their house are insane. I am thrilled we got Hola to sit still long enough to capture this one. All we had to do was throw leaves in the air. He was smitten.

We took this one today at the tree farm. We cut down our own tree for the first time. It was such a great experience even thought we got a smaller tree than we’ve ever had before. Luckily, it was half as much!! Plus, we got to to with a great group of people.

Here are all the cousins together on Thanksgiving day. We are missing 3 from the crew in Oregon, but we still had some good representation this year.

Until tomorrow….

e

We got up to my in-laws house right around noon today. Hola had fallen asleep for about 20 minutes during the hour drive. He was fed, then put to bed not long after for a long afternoon’s nap.

Too bad that just wasn’t meant to be. After two poops, and 2 hours, 15 minutes later, we got him up from his pack ‘n play and hoped he could make it the rest of the day.

He wasn’t too much of a mess, for the most part. He was distracted with cousins and cousins galore. He even got a bath to help wind himself down. Too bad it did no good cause about 20 minutes after hubs put him down for the night, we heard someone grunting at the gate. Hubs thought it was Rt, so when he turned the corner and saw it was Hola, let me just say we were SURPRISED as all get out. And once that feeling of surprise passed, the feelings of OMG, WE ARE TOTALLY SCREWED FOR THE REST OF TIME took over.

We had placed the pack ‘n play in btwn two twin beds originally. I had thought he must have used one of the beds to help launch himself out, but after I moved him away from any accessories, the end result was the same. He used the corner of the square to lean on and then swung a leg over the side. It happened about 10 times before he gave up.

What will tomorrow bring?

And if thinks he’s going to pull this shit when we get home, he’s got another thing coming.

A tent.

e

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving!

Been busy all day making three dishes for Thanksgiving tomorrow and BOY, am I pooped. How did my grandmother do this for all of us back in the day? (Yes, she had helped, but she oversaw everything. And that takes skill.) I am only responsible for a few SIDE dishes and I am about to keel over. I thought working out this morning would do me some good. I needed a stress reliever, time away from the kids/time to myself, and needed to get some exercise prior to eating an entire human over the next 3 days, but I feel so stiff and sore right now.

So, I put the kids down for a nap at 1p.m. and never sat down again until 6p.m. I made my grandmother Nonna’s cornbread dressing, Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes and my mom’s sweet potato casserole. All are currently residing in the garage fridge waiting to be reheated tomorrow in time for dinner around 5p.m. (at my in-laws.)

It’s always interesting spending holiday dinners away from your own family. Eating other people’s food, in this case, my in-laws. Everything truly tasted wonderful. It really does. It’s just that it’s different. So, in the past few years, I have added a couple of my own traditional platters to the mix, to bring a little home to the table. I am fortunate they are so willing to allow more than what they are used to on the menu. I know if someone asked me if they could add to my family’s meal, I am not too sure how welcoming I would be. ha!

Is there anything another family has served for Thanksgiving that you just couldn’t STAND?

The one thing I can think of, actually happened at my own family’s dinner table. My grandmother’s “boyfriend” of 20 years, Jerry, used to bring marinated asparagus. I don’t think I ever touched then, just because they didn’t look normal, but hubs didn’t think twice about it and shoved a good ol’ bite into his mouth. The look on his face was PRICELESS. A soggy, limp and mush pile of goop was currently residing in his mouth. Poor guy.

Ok, I am off to bed. Well, I have to finish Biggest Loser: Where are they Now? But, THEN I’m totally hitting the hay, Here’s to a lovely day tomorrow filled with family and friends.

Until then!

e

This year I wanted the kids to dress cohesively for Halloween. (Crap, it’s already starting.)

I figured I had about one year left to dress Rt the way I wanted to, so I went all out. (Basically, I hit “order” online and we were set, but the thought involved was quite tiring.) Rt was a scarecrow when he was 18 months old. Luckily, this year, Hola was able to fit into the same outfit. (Poor Hola. He’ll probably be wearing every hand-me-down costume I can squeeze him into. He’s such a second kid.)

So, what goes with scarecrows you say?

FARMERS.

So, Rt was a farmer. (I had given him the choice last year to be a cowboy or a farmer. I know, how nice of me. He picked a cowboy. I just couldn’t let go of the super cute farmer outfit from last year, so I ordered it for him hoping he would go for it. Luckily, that outfit came with attachable animals, accessories if you will, and he was hooked. The pitch fork didn’t hurt either.

Since I have decided to do Nablopomo, I will return tomorrow, with hopefully, more interesting commentary and less pictures to fill the space, but I am not promising anything. It could be a loooooong month.

e