Newest pet attempt

I have never considered myself an animal hater. But compared to Josh, who is lover of all things nonhuman - everything from dogs to the baby ducklings he brought home TO MY APARTMENT from a river trip when we were engaged (WHY?), I guess I am a hater. So, after this summer when we had little puppy, Molly, and found her a new home after about 8 weeks of puppy-h-e-double hockey sticks.... I vowed our home would not be a home for animals. I like animals. They are just so much work sometimes! And with two small boys, I did not have the patience for following around a dog all day making sure it didn't pee in the corner.

But Josh? No. He has not given up. He actually wants a HUSKY! Wow. I told him when we move back to Idaho and we have a big backyard with a field he can poop in and I don't have to let him in and out all day, then it's fine. So he was pretty bummed and very, VERY convinced "the boys need a pet" that HE suggested a CAT! I was shocked. I had a cat in highschool and fine with them but had no desire to get another one. But after visiting the humane society a few times we found one we really liked and have since fallen in love with him. He is pretty obese. He looks like a big stuffed animal sleeping next to Gabe every night. (Yes, he sleeps in Gabe's bed.) But he's very good-natured and relaxed with the boys. And pretty much no work for me! Yay! :)

So here's the really funny part. Josh - the animal man - loves this cat too and decided he wanted to make a scratching post. However, somehow the "post" turned into this....



What can I say? Josh is both talented and very weird. The cat looks evil here because of the eyes but he really is a good cat. His name was Lucky at the Humane Society and we decided to keep it that. Gabe LOVES him. Caleb is still just intrigued and points and says, "Kitty!" Here's a couple more pics...

Bam Bam

We have nicknamed Caleb "Bam-Bam" for his ability to destroy a room in mere seconds. He doesn't know his own strength sometimes! He's such a cutie though... so we let it slide.

Blue Harbor

Well, we took our little annual winter waterpark weekend last Thursday and Friday. There's this new one only about an hour away right on Lake Michigan that we tried this time called Blue Harbor Resort. I really liked it. It wasn't so huge like the ones in Wisconsin Dells that take 15 minutes just to walk from your room to the waterpark. The boys, especially Gabe, are real water-lovers so they had a lot of fun. Gabe spent a lot of time on the slides. He even got brave the second day and did some of the non-kiddie ones! Caleb was content to float the lazy river with me. :) Here's some pics!











Gabe doing "This little piggy..." Caleb loves that.


And our other news is that Josh sold his Camry (the '97 one) and we bought a Highlander. (Don't worry, it's an '04 so no recall on it....:) We always planned on getting one and it just happened that Josh's car sold really fast and then we were like, "Uh...guess we need another car now or I'll be stranded at home all day!" Luckily we had already test drove this one and had really liked it. So, we're ready for five kids now!!! JK!!!! Don't even ask me when the next one is. After chasing 2 little boys at the waterpark this weekend I realized I am SO not ready for a new baby yet!

I spoke too soon...

I swear, about 3 days after my last post - the one which went on and on about how WONDERFUL my little Caleb was... he turned into the devil. It was like someone flipped a switch! He was the easy one who never cried, even when Gabe pushed him down, always smiled, and was so easy to please! Now he is like, entering terrible twos! He is also getting some teeth I think. But he is going NONSTOP, has started this new thing where he comes up and grabs my finger and wants me to follow him everywhere and if I stay sitting and try to ignore him he throws himself on the floor and has a fit! He still is cute of course, especially when he sings and dances. But it's like he's beginning to know when he wants something and when we don't listen he gets SO MAD!!! My sweet little baby is gone... :( At his last doctor's appt. January 19, he weighed 36 lbs and is about 35 inches tall I think. So he is still totally off the growth chart but the doctor showed me the line and at least it is starting to curve a little to stay parallel to the line instead of continuing to shoot upward to the moon!!! Gabe is doing good. I think he is getting more well-behaved actually (making up for Caleb's downward spiral!) He and Caleb are the little dynamic duo. He loves preschool and playing outside in the snow.

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Gabe and Caleb were pretty fun this year. Gabe made sure we sprinkled Reindeer food (oatmeal with glitter in it)on the front lawn and left out cookies and milk for Santa. Caleb just liked getting all the new toys! After our third present-opening day (our house, my mom's, my grandma's...) Gabe was like, "Where do we go to open presents tommorow!?" I think he was thinking it would never end! They were way too spoiled. Gabe's big presents included a Smart Cycle, lots of Thomas stuff, and a Dinosaur that walks/roars.... Caleb got a tricycle, a bouce and spin turtle, a husky (that actually barks and moves it's head and paws but does not need to be let out to pee and doesn't shed or bite...) and lots of other stuff. I got some boots (that of course I wore before Christmas) Josh got some Nikes (that I hid so he couldn't wear before Christmas) and some other stuff too. I love the holidays but is it bad I feel a bit of relief when it's over? Now the big goal is getting everything organized!!! We are working on our basement situation and getting our food storage stuff under control. It may take a while.... any advice? Well, good luck to all of you on your New Year's goals! Can't believe it's 2010!!!

Merry Christmas!

Only four days left! Now is everybody ready for Christmas? I feel like I've been up until about 12:30 or later every night trying to get presents wrapped, preschool goodies assembled, toys for Christmas assembled (trying to wrap them already assembled and with batteries ready to go this year- does anyone else do this or am I weird?)house cleaned things, and just things done for the holidays!














(Love Gabe's face here)

The boys are doing good. Caleb is definitely my happy boy. Gabe is Mr. Moody. When he's happy you think, "I have the funniest, cutest kid in the world." But when he's mad you think, "I was a pretty good kid. Why is God punishing me with this one?" (I blame Josh. It must be HIS genes.) As I was exiting Walgreens yesterday with a screaming, temper tantrum boy yelling and standing up in the cart, "I WAAAANT A TREEEAAAT!!!!" and people were peeking out of the isles to see this horrible child... I was just thinking, "Don't be that mom who loses it and starts spanking her child and screaming at him in the store...just get out of her VERY quickly...." I'm sure none of you have ever been through this. :)















Caleb was just smiling in the front seat of the cart the whole time. It was like, just ammusing to him. They are so night and day. Do I dare chance it with a third one or just consider the score even and be done? I don't know.

Anyways, Gabe is a good kid most of the time. He is in two preschools now and it seems like he's growing up so fast. I had him in one Tues and Thurs mornings and he loved it. Then he got screened for his speech and qualified for a program that meets Tues and Thurs afternoons so besides his lunchtime when he's home from 11:30 to 12:15, he's in school from 9:00 to 3:20 when the little bus brings him home! He usually is sleeping when I get him off the bus. However, last week it was Josh who was sleeping when the bus arrived at our house. I was visit teaching and got a call from the bus driver wondering why no one was at our house to get our son off the bus. I, of course, freaked out wondering if Josh had to take Caleb to the emergency room or was lying on the floor dead of a heart attack because surely something serious MUST have happened! I sped home as fast as I could only to peek in the deck window to see Josh passed out on the couch (blankies and all, movie still running) taking a little snoozer. When I finally located the bus at her next stop and rescued Gabe he had decided to go to sleep himself since apparently, his family didn't want him. Then when I put him in my car he groggily asked, "Why you didn't come out and get me? No one at our house come and get me?" I told him to ask Dad that when we got home...
That's a story Josh will be embarrassed about me posting but I just had to. :) He's a great, involved dad 99 percent of the time. He just had been feeling sick that day and must've decided he'd take a quick nap... guess he'll set an alarm next time.

Well, that's all for now! We'll definitely have a white Christmas here!














Here's a pic of Caleb shoveling (yes that's my pink scarf.) We put'em to work early. Merry Christmas!

Wow, it is almost Christmas time! Anyone completely done Christmas shopping yet? If you are I hate you. Jk... This year Josh and I said we were doing a simplified Christmas. The boys would each get one big present and like, two small ones and then their stockings. Well... I had those two big presents done a while ago (a smart cycle for Gabe and a Cars tricycle-ish ride-on toy for Caleb) but then I started shopping for their little presents and now I realized they are getting MANY "small presents." I think that people who try to get shopping done early in an attempt to spend less just end up shopping continually between October and December and just end up spending MORE. (That's speaking from experience...) I blame my mother. Her shopaholic ways must be genetic. I remember being a kid and having so many presents my sister and I would build ourselves castles made out of presents and sit inside them while we started opening. I really wasn't usually spoiled. My mom just loved Christmas and always went a little crazy. So anyways....hopefully I will stop shopping soon and just be done!

I still don't have many good pictures to post. I am trying to buy the perfect digital camera. So far I have bought and returned a GE, a Nikon Coolpix, and the one I have in my possession (that I am returning tommorow) is a Fujifilm. I am going a little crazy. We have owned 3 Kodaks since we got married and they have all died on us - the first one lasted the longest, 2 years, and then about one per year. So, I loved the quality of the pictures but I can't handle them dying anymore! So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Here's a couple funny pictures of Caleb trying to drink from a straw and getting all wet. He's such a funny kid. It's his 18 month birthday today! Happy Half Birthday Caleb!

Wow, I am behind. My camera situation is messed up right now. I am in search of a new camera and can't decide but when I do I will post some pictures and stuff! Hope everyone's enjoying getting ready for Christmas!

Pinecones

Happy LATE Halloween! I have a funny story to share real quick. After trick or treating Gabe was sorting through his loot and starts asking frantically,"Where's my pinecone?"
Me: "What? Someone gave you a pinecone?"
Gabe: "Yeah and I put it in the stroller!" (we took Caleb in the stroller)
Me: "Well, Josh will you go look in the stroller basket for some pinecone?"
Josh: "I'm not going outside to look for a pinecone." (<-- True dad comment)
Me: "Come on! He's desperate! What could it be?"
Finally I call my sister and ask if her daughter knows what this "pinecone," which Gabe described as also being orange and yellow, could be. She finally suggests "candy corn?"
Me: "Gabe, do you mean candy corn? Like I had in the candy dish before?"
Gabe: "Yeah!!! Pinecone!!!"
Me: "Well... okay... there's none here in your bag. Maybe if you ask dad real nice he'll go get some at the store."
Surprisingly, after Gabe says please, Josh DOES agree to go! I'm like, "Really?"
Josh: "Yeah... you know why?"
Me: "Cause he said please?"
Josh: "No... cause I saw that little bag of candy corn in the bottom of the stroller and I thought you were saving it for me down there and I ate it all."
Luckily, the store was still open and they came home with a new bag of candy corn. :)

Fall Fun

I don't know how it's been in Idaho lately but Fall in Wisconsin this year has felt more like winter! It was 80 degrees in mid-September when we left for Idaho and was in the forties when we got back! But today we had one great day. It was 64 degrees, the sky was clear, and only a slight breeze. We had to take advantage of the beautiful fall day so we went on a morning walk, spent the afternoon at a park, played in the backyard, and went for another evening walk. Also, yesterday was pretty nice and we went to the Little Farmer again and did the hay ride and let the kids play. It's a really fun place with corn mazes, an apple orchard, pumpkins, goats, chickens, etc. Here's some pictures.






















Our other project this month was a new floor in the kitchen and dining room. I LOVE it. It now makes me realize how gross our old kitchen floor was! I sweep now and it actually looks clean! Gabe is loving preschool. This week he is the snack helper so wish me luck on that. I know I'm making muffins one of the days. Caleb is now only taking one nap a day instead of two. He's getting more personality every day. And he loves to dance. Any commercial with music and he instantly starts to bust a move. He tries to jump. It's funny though cause both feet are never actually off the ground at once. Gabe laughs at him and says, "My baby is funny!" (He thinks Caleb is "his baby" like some toy we bought for him.) Other than that life is the usual. Time just keeps slippin' by! I'm starting to Christmas shop which Josh makes fun of me for. I'm excited for the holidays. Our trick or treating is this Sunday. I'll post pics. That's all for now!

Last home projects

I love looking at before and afters plus I am so proud of Josh for all the work he has done. It has been one year on October 30th since we bought this house so in celebration of our 1 year as homeowners, here's a look back at all the work!