Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas

     I hope everyone is having a blessed day spent with family and friends! The kids let us sleep, we didn't make it out to the living room till 6:45. Matthew woke up and crawled into our bed and snuggled. He didn't wake us, just wanted to cuddle. 15 minutes later Aspen comes in with a Merry Christmas. When Matthew didn't move she said, "Matthew, Santa came!"
     He then ran to the living room to look around! So it was the 14 year old and not the 6 year old waking everyone this A.M. Surprised? She told me she was awake for an hour then finally got bored! It was a good morning. The kids were very happy and couldn't wait to join their friends outside to share Christmas goody stories. The teen girls were all dressed up in new clothes walking up and down our street or sitting on a porch while the boys had Nerf gun battles! I love living in a neighborhood where the kids can just walk outside and have someone to hang out with.
     It is currently 48 degrees outside. With snow in the forecast for tonight. Boo:( Shh don't tell the kids I said that! I hate the cold and snow! It has been so cold so early this year. This is late January into February weather. I read in the news baby turtles had to be rescued in order to hatch and get to the Gulf Stream safely. The water off our shore is to cold for them to make the swim. Yuck to the cold! We are suppose to get either a dusting, an inch of rain/snow mixture or even up to 2 inches. I guess it depends on what station you watch! I am hoping for just rain. I already saw snow on Thanksgiving day while leaving NY.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

My Tip Of The Day

     A short quick post today. I want to share this little tip since so many of my friends have sick little ones me included. Matthew has a cough and fever. I hate when the kids are running a fever at night. We usually alternate Tylenol and Motrin. I used to get confused trying to remember which I gave him and what he gets next. Then if Shane was the one who gave him something I would have to wake him up to ask. So now what we do is what he received last gets turned upside down. This morning at 4 he got Tylenol. So that bottle was turned upside down and the Motrin was turned right side up. So I know what he got last and what he can have next. I hope this simple little tip helps other moms in the middle of the night.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Selling Books

     Shane and I are both in school. He is going to school for Marketing and I am going for History then my Masters in teaching. I received my Associates in May. I ended up taking the fall semester off deciding on going to a university online full time or go to school locally part time (due to work). I made my decision to late for this semester. So in January I will be doing online classes with the University of Maryland University College.
     Shane is at Tech(just like a community college in other places) working towards his Associates then onto Coastal Carolina University. He has another year of classes before he moves. We started at Tech because it is a cheaper way to get your core classes out of the way. About a thousand dollars a semester cheaper!
     He finished his last exam yesterday and sold his books back today. We were expecting $100 and was pleasantly surprised with $197. Yeah! A nice little surprise around Christmas time. A friend of mine also had a nice surprise. Her husband wanted something that was above her spending budget. So she wasn't planning on getting it. She then was looking for paper work and found a gift card to the store his wish item was at. The gift card was just enough to put the gift at their spending budget! How awesome is that?
    

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Christmas Card Pictures

I had visions of my kids dressed in red and green with big smiles on their faces! What a beautiful picture that would be in my Christmas cards I am sending out this week. Instead they fought and argued with each other. Pinching each other in between pictures. I caught an eye roll on film as well. Along with some smiles that were so fake, eh I have no witty ending to that sentence! I also got some sighs and other noises I don't know how to type:) I ended up going with the second picture I took. Second out of nine pictures! Yes nine! From the way the kids were behaving I bet you thought I took a hundred!
There they are my non holiday color, one of them with a fake smile kids! Guess what? Even if it didn't go as planned I still love them to pieces!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

He's Back!

     I first learned about The Elf on the Shelf last Christmas. A friend of mine posted everyday on Facebook what the elf did the night before. Then another friend posted something about the elf. Next thing I knew at least 10 friends posted the mischief their elf did the night before. So I looked into this Elf on the Shelf. Basically it is a book that comes with an elf. The story is the elf comes to visit during the holiday season and reports back to Santa how the children are behaving. He also moves around. So the next day the kids search all over for the elf. I really thought it was a cute idea!
     I went to the book store to get one AND this elf was UGLY! He reminded me of a toy I had when I was little. I played with it all the time because I was scared of it! I thought if I didn't play with it it would get mad at me. So I played with it and made pretend I loved it, when really I hated that stuffed lion with bright pink hair( my brother had one with bright blue hair).
     So I got creative. In our house you can't see the elf. At night he comes in and makes mischief. So the kids wake up and look for the mess our elf made. Last year he did stuff like:
-spread toilet paper all over the house
-pee green pee in the toilet and not flush
-move the car into the middle of the front yard
- put the kids underwear in the Christmas tree (that didn't go over so well)
- rip up TONS of pieces of white paper to resemble snow
- made a "snow" angel out of flour on the counter
-put all of our stools and chairs into the bathtub
     And many more things I can't think of! He is very creative with his misbehavior. Shane and I had so much fun with it! This year Aspen acts like she could care less but I know if we didn't she would say something. Matthew is still at the age where he is enjoying it. It's just a silly new tradition we started and are having a blast with! Most definitely one of the highlights of being a parent!!
     Last night the elf came for the first time this year. He left a note on the kids bathroom mirror in toothpaste. It said," I'm back! Did you miss me!" My little first grader noticed the elf used an exclamation mark when he should have used a question mark. That alone was worth the pain in the rear of cleaning the toothpaste off the mirror! Tonight he is going to make a mess with the Halloween candy looking for his favorite kind. Feel free to leave ideas for our little trouble maker!
Here is a link if you want to check out the little guys website: http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home