Holiday Foamies

We made some wicked cool foamies this year for some friends... and even had our first international order! (By we, of course I mean Carl made them and I am taking the credit...)

Here is a foamie mobile! It hangs from the ceiling, and you can remove the foamies to take kayaking!



We also made a few girly ones for the Stone Girls, I will post those later!

ETA: the Stone Girl's Lil' Huckers foamie kayaks:

Bye Bye Christmas Tree, Hello Pirates!

So today I finished putting away the Christmas decorations (with the exception of the nativity that can stay up a bit longer...)



It is kind of sad to put it all away and to see our tree go out to the fire pit...


On a completely unrelated note, was anyone else invaded by pirates today? We were... does anyone know where they come from or what to do with them? Can I feed them warm beer and bread?



And on a very pirate related note, is this not the BEST breastfeeding shirt ever?!

We got a late start today...

We didn't quite make it to church this morning. But we did get to have an awesome day together as a family!

When we realized that we were running too late to make church, we decided to see what the weather was going to do.

It turned out to be a magnificent day! Sunny, about 70 degrees, perfect for a picnic and fishing!

We didn't catch anything... but we realize every time that we go, that taking 3 kids to go fishing only lasts a few minutes, lol. I think Carl and I might have gotten to cast about 5 times each before the boys were done! Needless to say, we didn't catch much, but we did get to spend a beautiful day together.

I might take the boys to the nature center tomorrow...

Happy Birthday!

Happy 4th B-Day Girl!

We all went to the Brew-N-View to have pizza and birthday fun with the Stones, it was a blast seeing all the other Asheville mamas and papas and kiddos! I hope to do it again soon.

Did I mention how beautiful Sonya looks pregnant?

The Nature Center

We took our first trip of the year to the Nature Center today, it was a great time. Even Carl got the time to go with us!


However, before going we did learn that Oscar the Otter (who we saw just last week) passed away. Rory took it pretty hard and felt very bad for Olive. It was a hard conversation to have.

Here are some of the animals we met today on our adventure:

A Gray Wolf:


A Bob Cat:


Olive the Otter:


A Squirrel:


A Goat:



A Donkey:


And here is the one Rory liked the most...


Do you want to know why? Her name is...



Val :O)

Grammy, he thinks that is the coolest!

Val is an 18 year old (very old) cougar who was rescued after being an illegal pet. Isn't she pretty?

Ringing in the New Year

We had a wonderful night ringing in the new year with friends and family... and celebrating Rory's birthday.

When midnight rolled around, it was only Rory, Carl, and I with sparkling grape juice in the bed watching, Arden and Canyon had fallen asleep hours before, and our friends had wandered off long before then. BUT the day was filled with love and it was wonderful to have everyone drop in to celebrate...

We got to see Sara, Asher, Isiah, Makena, Shaun, Deb, Vince, Barbra, Sonya, Sacred, Savanna, Rhett, Payton, Mary, Patrick, and his girlfriend; they all came by at one time or another to wish a Happy Birthday to Rory and a Happy New Year to the rest of us. It was great!

Kind of neat, Rory's birthday is 12-31, Payton's is 1-1, and Rhett's is 1-2. And we can't forget Dad Dad's on 1-1 too! What a week!

So the New Year means new wishes, new hopes, new promises... What are your resolutions? I have been thinking of mine.

I have the normal weight loss, go to church more, exercise more types of resolutions that never work out, but I have a few others that I really want to have work out.

#1.) To make more time for me and not forgo what I need just because someone else needs something.
#2.) To let more things go and not hold onto the resentment and bad karma associated with it.
#3.) To have more patience with the boys.
#4.) To make more time for Rory's schooling.
#5.) To make time for me and my husband without children.

My life revolves around these 3 little people, and over the last few months I have found that I am not getting the time and space that I need in order to continue to give them what they need. Every waking (and sleeping) minute that I have is consumed by the children in one form or another. I have begun to realize that I don't have the patience and energy that I need for the boys.

I love attachment parenting, and I feel that I have 3 well behaved and nice boys, but I need to be able to continue to raise them into nice men. I am not getting 15-20 minutes a day to myself right now, and I need to. So that is my #1 resolution. I believe that following through with that little thing will allow me to follow through with the rest of my resolutions.

So what is planned for all of you this year?

Enough of my rambling and seriousness. Let me end the old year and open the new one by saying "Happy New Year! I hope 2009 is more prosperous for all of us than 2008 was. We love you all."

In just over 7 hours...

My little baby turns five years old.

Wow. Just wow. How and when did this happen? When did he change from that little baby in my arms into this little man?

I feel like I have missed so much and haven't been the mom I should be a lot of the time. He makes me want to be a better mother. He is an awesome big brother who does so much to help me take care of the little ones, even though he is still one himself...

I just can't believe Rory is 5!

Man I am sappy tonight. Here are a few pictures of my little guy as he has grown over the past 5 years...

ONE DAY OLD




ONE YEAR OLD

TWO YEARS OLD


THREE YEARS OLD


FOUR YEARS OLD


FIVE YEARS OLD

Just an old story that came up...

Carl and I were talking and remembered this; it happened last August (2007), but is still just as funny! I copied it from the board I posted on at the time:

Funny story from dinner tonight

---

Ok, So I have a funny story to tell from dinner this evening. Not all of you are going to think this is as funny as Carl and I did, but some of you totally will, so here we go:

So tonight I made chicken spaghetti for dinner. It is a favorite around here, and it actually gets the kids to eat meat and some veggies that are not favorites.

Rory has some slight allergies and this humidity doesn't help much. . . so his frequent sniffles and occasional sneezes are something we don't pay much attention to. . .

Well tonight at dinner he sneezed a few times while Carl and I were talking. . . a few minutes later he sniffles and says "mama do you see the noodle in my nose?" Mind you he is 3 and his noodles do get everywhere.

So I glance over, no noodle on his face, just a ton of sauce, so I responded "No honey, I don't see any noodles."

I go back to eating and he says "No, mama! I mean this one"

I look up at him and see that HE IS POINTING TO A FULL LENGTH NOODLE ON THE TABLE THAT HAS NO SAUCE ON IT!!!!!!!! It turns out there was a noodle in his nose; he had sneezed an entire noodle out of his nose!

I about fell out of my chair laughing, it took Carl another 30 seconds to get it! He was just looking at me like I was a lunatic before it clicked... Both of us laughed about it and then had to try to explain why it happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saving the TaTas...

Today Carl and I fasted in memory of those who have died from breast cancer, in support of those who are dealing with breast cancer, and for those who have dealt with it. We both have felt the effect of breast cancer in our families. His mother passed from breast cancer when he was young, my mother has been in remission for a while now, and other cancers have touched both of our families.

Every time I began to feel a little hunger, I began to think about what I would do if I were in the place that these women and their families are in. I spent my day praying often for the families.

I titled this blog after a mom who has terminal breast cancer that they "thought" was cured. Please read her blog and pray for her: http://jennjewkes.blogspot.com/

The Aftermath...

It rained. I think that might be what Carl really wanted for Christmas, because he took off bright and early to go kayaking. Who knows when I will see him again. I figure he might hide until the water comes down, and the aftermath of the holiday is already taken care of ;)

Yesterday I did well with getting everything separated into the different recycling bins and trash cans... I made a turkey, with all the side to go with it... but I didn't get around to cleaning up much, just putting the food away.

Needless to say this will be a day of cleaning and headaches... Here is what I am off to tackle today:

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that the day has treated you all well!

Today was an awesome event filled day for our family that ranged from chaotic to peaceful...

Santa did make an arrival last night, leaving goodies for all the boys and a few things in stockings for mom and dad.


Rory got a guitar that was hidden behind a sleigh; Arden got drums and a sled; Canyon got a percussion table that he can sit up behind, and a sled that we can strap him into and pull him around.

I'm not quite sure what Santa was thinking on a few accounts.
#1. It was almost 65 degrees here today and there is no sign of snow in sight.
#2. Dad works from home and the house is loud enough.
#3. I'm out of beer and this means a LOT of noise.

Pretty soon the boys grew tired of opening presents and took a break to play... another to eat, then another to eat... amazing isn't it? It took us until 3 or 4 and well after lunch to finish unwrapping everything.


Highlights of the day included the quilts made by MamaAnn, all the dinosaur stuff, and I think the best thing (besides Rory's guitar) was the globe from Grammy and DadDad and the desk from PaPa.

After supper, we decided that the boys could watch a DVD in our room and then go to bed.

As the movie (Kung Foo Panda) ended, I turned to see if Arden needed to use the potty before going to sleep... here is what I found:


It really was a big day for all the boys, and for us too! I passed out about 5 minutes after we put the boys to bed!

Thank you everyone, they honestly do love everything they got!

Christmas Eve

What does Christmas Eve mean to you? Do you remember it as a child? I hadn't really thought about the anticipation and excitement until this year. Rory really gets it, Arden was old enough to be excited and understand what was happening, and it was Canyon's first Christmas.

Our Christmas Eve was a night (whole day actually) filled with anticipation, excitement, and love. It was really cool!

Mom decided that there would be no naps today. Aren't I nice? The boys thought so! (Believe it or not it wasn't b/c I wanted to be nice. It was a calculated plot to make sure that Rory actually went to sleep and stayed in bed, Arden too.)

At 5, we ate dinner with our neighbors, who really have become a part of our family. There are times that I think I would go nuts without the love and support that Deb offers us.


Then we tracked Santa on the computer to see where he was, and at 7, it was time to go to Christmas Eve Service. Which was the first service our boys have sat through... it was... well... long for the boys, but absolutely beautiful for me. Our minister has an amazing voice that I hadn't heard before, and the church members are all so loving and accepting. It was nice to spend Christmas Eve there remembering what the holiday truly is about.

Christmas Eve also means that the boys get to open one present, specifically picked by mama, but from MamaAnn. This is Canyon's first present,


and the boys were excited to open them:



What was it you ask?


Matching footie PJs for Christmas! Thank You MamaAnn! We know they were hard to find!

Aren't they adorable?


After this, it was time for everyone to go to bed and wait until daylight to see if Santa actually came...

Santa Claus, Popcorn Balls, and Critter Holes...

That was our morning! We had a blast this morning. We got up early to head to the park to go see Santa Claus.

Santa must have had a late night, because he was 45 minutes late in arriving to the park to meet and greet the crowd of children waiting to take their photos and sit on his lap...

The boys passed the time well. We found Santa's mail box and deposited our letters...





While we were waiting, Rory and Arden climbed on the rock fixtures, ran around, and met other children. It was really fun for all of us...


Canyon hung out with his dad:


A nice elf even handed out popcorn balls to the kids:



I think that the "critter holes" Rory found were more of a hit than the old man himself!


But here is Jolly Old Saint Nick in all his glory, with my 3 beautiful boys.