Late one night

After Carson fell asleep tonight and Eli finished getting a bolus feeding, the house was filled with giggles. I grabbed my new Nikon CoolPix camera (thanks mom and dad) and started shooting. Isn't three a fun age?

Brotherly Love

Merry Christmas to All

I am not going to write a long drawn out post about each toy, book, funny comment, or argument the boys had over the four Christmas celebrations we had this year. There was so much joy and celebration in Carson and Elias' eyes and the magic of Christmas oozed from their beings this year. Each moment was filled with family and friends in addition to great food and fun. Thank you everyone for making this holiday season one of the best ever. Our family is truly blessed to be surrounded by such caring and loving people. Merry Christmas!

Ouch! Rearended...

Oh how I wish the roads were always dry and no one got into car accidents. We were on our way to TN this afternoon to celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately the weather about two hours into our drive decide to turn from windy to freezing rain and snow creating a lovely sheen across the highway. After slowing to a crawl (or about 25 mph) then hitting a bridge of solid ice and almost running under an 18 wheeler, Al saved our lives and corrected the slide and stopped the car in our own lane.

Whew. We were safe. We thought.

Five seconds later as I turned my head towards the back seat to make sure the boys were okay, an old Ford Ranger slammed into the back of us. Ouch! I shouldn't have done that. Thankfully Al and the boys are fine and I only have some fun whiplash to deal with. The cops were called but were only responding to non-injury accidents due to the number of severe accidents around the area. Crap. Exchange info, call insurance, calm the kiddos, oh...and ourselves too. Then we find out the guy who hit us has a MO license along with expired Arkansas plates!! But we were saved because he intelligently bought car insurance on December 10th. Whew.

Geico sent Enterprise out with a car to pick us up and a tow truck out to get Al's car to the shop. The entire back end will new replaced and maybe some frame straightening. Geico was wonderful and we can't say enough great things about them. We were set up in a rental car and our car was towed to the shop all within 35 minutes. The kids didn't get cranky and our rental was a brand new 2009 with less than 1000 miles on it. Everything has worked out until the weather got worse and we ended up in a hotel honeymoon suite with both kids for the night. We'll see TN in the morning once things settle down and we don't have to ice skate south.

School Gifts

Today our loving boys each brought home a school made Christmas gift for us.
There is no material gift more special than getting presents created from the hands and love of your children. Unpacking the boxes to decorate the tree and house each year is always sentimental because of those painted wooden boxes or those beaded wreaths. Every item brings a memory and takes you right back to your child at that age. Carson and Elias added to our priceless collection today with two wonderful additions.

Carson's gift came first stuffed into a manila envelope covered in crayon writing and pictures. It said "To Mommy and Daddy. -- From Carson" He had a silly grin on his face and we could tell how proud he was of the contents inside. Al and I opened the envelope and inside was a beautiful clay wreath ornament hung with a nice red ribbon. On the back his name and the year were scratched into the clay with a toothpick so next year we can look back and remember this moment.



Elias came bearing a long tube shaped package wrapped in white paper painted with red and green splatters and tied with red ribbon at the ends. He kept saying, "Open it! Open it! I made it!". Inside was a wall hanging with green painted hand prints in the shape of a wreath along with fingerprint holly berries. It will hang next to Carson's reindeer wall hanging from a few years ago next Christmas season when we decorate once more.




I hope everyone out there with little kids is having fun with their handmade school gifts and enjoying the holidays with their little miracle. We certainly are.

We have Kittens!!

This morning our mama rat Storm gave birth to four bouncing baby rats. She has been waddling around for the past few weeks looking more and more uncomfortable and this morning we woke up to the sound of tiny squeaking. Little Miss Mama is busy nursing the babies, chowing down on everything we feed her with, and reorganizing her house. We congratulated Ghost on becoming a Daddy and he just looked at us like we were crazy. Perhaps we are but the boys sure got a kick out of it.

I'm betting half of you are trying to figure out why I titled my post "we have kittens" when I'm obviously writing about rats. Well.... I was bored the other day and Carson and I did a little research on pregnant rats and rat babies. We learned that a baby rats are called kittens. Isn't that funny? What irony for the rats. We need to wait a few weeks to name our new little ones and I can't wait to find out what namesakes Carson and Elias give our furry friends.


*******Post written on December 18th and pictures added December 26th*******

I want the GREEN one please!

Today was our big date with Dr. Ortho Surgeon for Eli's broken foot. The staff at the ortho clinic was simply amazing and I can't say enough wonderful things about them. They truly made the experience fun for Eli instead of intimidating and scary. Hooray for awesome medical teams!! Elias' x-rays didn't look any different and he is having increased point tenderness over his fracture. This is most likely caused by the little monkey thinking he can run (awkwardly) and attempt to jump on his bed again!!! After partaking in such bad behaviors, Eli will crawl over to us, whine about how badly his foot hurts, and then explain how he has to crawl and/or be carried everywhere because of his broken bone. Too bad restraints are not allowed outside of the medical establishment for rambuncious three-and-a-half year olds!!

Dr. Ortho Surgeon ordered a cast up to the knee for the next four weeks. Elias said "okay" and wanted to know right away where the casting room was. He picked out his favorite color which happens to be a bright shade of spring green. Then when the casting started he wanted to know what the man was doing and why EXACTLY! He kept asking where his old shoe went and why his foot had to stay still. It was comical but then the cast was finished and Eli made a poor attempt at walking. He became very upset that walking was so difficult with his new attachment and wanted it off. Thankfully things have gotten easier on the walking front throughout the night and he is hobbling along fairly well. I'm sure he'll be leaping off his bed in no time once again!!

No more monkeys jumping OFF the bed!

We had a friendly jaunt to the ED this morning with Elias. Last night he decided to be his usual crazy self and bounce around the room like a nut. During a brief moment of insanity he stood on the front of his firetruck toddler bed which stands about 16" off the floor and jumped off towards his toy bin. This of course ended in injury since Elias has such exceptional balancing skills. Carson started calling for Daddy and Eli was crying but not too badly. He limped the rest of the evening but there was no swelling, bruising, or point tenderness noted. Only silly limping and poor weight bearing. We chose to wait until the morning to see if his gait improved before rushing off to the ED but this morning came and Eli was still hobbling along and saying "Ow, ow, ouchie Mommy!".

The doc at the ED didn't think it was broken for all the reasons we didn't think it was broken but ordered a series of x-rays to make sure. Unfortunately for Elias, he fractured his third metatarsal (the middle bone in your foot). They gave him a Reese shoe to wear which is basically a soft walking shoe along with PRN Tylenol/Motrin orders and a date with an orthopedic surgeon for Thursday. He hates his new shoe and wants to crawl or be carried on and off. We'll see how that lasts.

Elias in the ED after finishing a green popsicle!

Christmasy

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I'm a wrapper complete with ribbon, bows, silver, and gold.

2.Real tree or Artificial?
Artificial trees for this family only due to the rugrats and their asthma and me not loving pine needles all over the floor.

3.When do you put up the tree?
Within three days after Thanksgiving. Al and the boys surprised me this year and decorated the entire house on Sunday while I was at work. It is gorgeous!

4.When do you take the tree down?
After Christmas and hopefully before New Years. Depends on my energy level.

5.Do you like eggnog?
I love eggnog and so do the boys. Al could care less about the delectable drink.

6.Favorite gift received as a child?
Santa wrapped the garage door and left a giant trampoline in our garage and my little sister and I jumped on it all day long in the garage! That tramp was used until the springs fell off in warm weather and cold.

7.Hardest person to buy for?
The boys because I want to get them so many wonderful things but also only want to buy them things they will truly enjoy.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Al. Pretty much anything makes him happy as long as you stick to his main brands.

9.Do you have a nativity scene?
Sure do. My aunt bought it for me and now the boys help me put it up every year. It is a Precious Moments nativity scene.

10.Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail them and then use the digital image of my creation as my e-mail signature for the Christmas season.

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A barbie doll when I was 14 years old. I always hated Barbies anyways but come on, 14 years old?

12.Favorite Christmas Movie?
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

13.When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I find some little things throughout the year that are sentimental items or really good deals then do the bulk of my shopping in December.

14.Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
White Elephant party gifts have certainly circulated throughout the years.

15.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast and my mom's famous cheeseball.

16.Lights on the tree?
We have all white this year.

17.Favorite Christmas song?
Jingle Bells, Rudolph, I like them all

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Usually stay at home but if work gives us the opportunity we head down to Tennessee.

19.Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?
Of course, when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I need to touch up on that trivia for the boys.

20.Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angels definitely.

21.Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One gift on Christmas Eve which is always new jammies for everyone. Then you wear them to bed and wake up Christmas morning to open up everything.

22.Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
The crazy busyness of it all.

23.Favorite ornament theme or color?
My favorite ornament is the Christmas spider. The story is beautiful and although spiders give me the creepy crawlies this ornament holds special value to me. (I'll post the story in a few days)

24.Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham with all the trimmings.

25.What do you want for Christmas this year? Healthy kids, happy family, friends to share memories with, oh.... and a pair of Danskos for work would be nice too.

Marshmallow

We welcomed a new member to our family this morning as well as a Christmas tradition. My mother brought over the Elf on the Shelf and the holiday fun began. I opened the box while the boys were sleeping and carefully removed the little cloth and plastic elf along with the hardback book filled with the magical story of the elf. After breakfast we all sat down on the couch and I told the boys I had a surprise for them. The four of us squeezed onto the love seat (because why on Earth would we sit on the perfectly good couch?) and fell into the story of Santa's helper who was coming to live with us for Christmas. The elf would watch over the boys and their behavior to see the naughty and nice things they were doing until Christmas Eve. The boys could tell him what gifts they wanted from the Big Man and he would let Santa know. Each night the elf would fly back to the North Pole and report back to Santa all of the things he saw and heard and Santa would decide on Christmas Eve what things they got out of his red sac.

There were three things the boys had to do though.

1.) Never touch the elf. He would loose all of his magic and not be able to fly back to Santa!

2.) Find the new hiding place where the elf was residing each day when they woke up.

3.) Give the elf a name so he could become a part of the family.

Al and I were sure the boys would have no trouble with #2 and #3 but that tricky #1 was going to be tough for our 3 and 5 year olds. We shall see how they do but I'm sure it will be fun no matter how it goes.

Carson and Elias were thrilled to have a new game as well as a magical elf straight from Santa's toyshop living with us. They kept whispering back in forth that them better be good so they would get their trains and Lego cities and tool sets. It was fun sitting back and taking in their childhood imaginations. Back and forth they went trying to pick the perfect name for red felted friend.

Would it be Macy? "No, that was already the dog's name, " shouted Carson.

What about Snow? "No, no, no," said Elias...."the elf wasn't white enough!!"

Finally they looked down into their hot chocolate mugs and Carson said, "What about Marshmallow?". Elias loved the name and they both grinned from ear to ear. They ran over to me and said, "Look Mommy, his name is Marshmallow and he knows Santa!!". Can you get any sweeter than that?