Uh-Oh

Ben has finally uttered his first word..."Uh-oh"...and I'm not sure he knows what it means yet, but he says it deliberately and repeatedly and it's very cute, so I'm happy.

The county has just finished building a new park just two miles down the road from us, so we moseyed on down to try it out. Ben loved it, he screamed when we took him away. Patrick was still not feeling well enough to really enjoy it (yes, it's his turn to be sick this week), but he humored us. I think it's going to be great to be able to pop over there in the spring, instead of having to drive 25 min. to the big park in town. They are in the process of building tennis courts and baseball fields and picnic pavilions, and I hope they finish soon, because it was kind of isolated today and I wouldn't want to be there by myself (Luke was with us today). Anyway, it should be fun. We've been enjoying our time off and all the relaxing that comes with it, but not much has been going on, so sorry for the boring post. I'll be back when life happens again.

Christmas Fun

Christmas Day was fun and filled with activity, as usual. On Christmas Eve, we went to the 4:00 Mass with Luke's family and then went to Joan's house for the entire-family get-together and gift exchange. I had to snap a shot of how handsome my boys looked for church before they peeled their clothes off over the course of the evening. They both got some toys that night, but Patrick really had fun helping other people open their presents, and Ben had a good time with Mary Kate hanging out by the Chex Mix.

Christmas morning was fun, although Ben was so tired from the night before, we had to wake him up since Patrick couldn't wait any longer. Santa was good to them. Patrick's favorites were his "awesome fire truck and ambulance", as well as a train set and a Home Depot tool bench from uncle Adam. I really don't think Ben even realizes there were presents.

My dad came up late that morning to watch the boys finish their presents and have a delicious lunch. Luke made us his spectacular smoked pork tenderloin and it was awesome. The smoker was a Christmas present from a few years back and I don't think we've ever gotten a better gift. After Ben napped we went to Luke's parents' house and ate a wonderful turkey dinner with them and exchanged gifts. The boys loved this see-saw (well...we all did, and my quads hurt today)--it'll be nice when the weather gets better and we can go outside and use it more.

We had a very nice Christmas, and I hope all of you did as well. As I looked at these great pictures from the past two days, I was reflecting on Christmas 2005, when I didn't even take pictures, because I was so zoned out from having a six-week-old in the house. It made me really grateful to be where we are today! Here's to Christmas Past being behind me, Christmas Present being so fun, and many wonderful Christmas Futures to come!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my blogging gals! Yes, I am still alive, but we've been having marathon days getting ready for Christmas and shuttling kids back and forth to the doctor and drugstore. My kids are permanently sick this winter. After tomorrow, spring cannot come fast enough. On top of it all, Blogger decided to be testy, so I gave up for a few days and enjoyed the time away from the computer. Thought I'd check in today and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all get fun treats, but more than that, I hope the time spent and memories formed with your families and loved ones will be your greatest gift this season.

Christmas with the Fam

We made the short trek back down to my parents' house this past Sunday to have early Christmas with them and David and Sandi. My mom will be in CT on Christmas Day and David and Sandi are going to OH as usual. We had a delicious lunch, courtesy of mom and Sandi, and let our food digest while the kids slept. Then we had a delicious dessert (courtesy of me) and got to the good stuff--PRESENTS!

Patrick waited patiently next to the tree, although he did make us tell him which ones were his so he could inspect the package. He was super-psyched to get two new pairs of jammies (one with MONSTER TRUCKS on them), and so was I--he really needed them!

Ben's still getting the hang of opening gifts. Like all babies, he had a great time playing with wrapping and boxes, but he perked up when we opened one for him and showed him what it was...a basketball goal just like the one he loves in Gigi and Grandpa's playroom.

Here's each of the kids enjoying a new possession...Matthew with a Thomas the Tank Engine book, Patrick with some sort of construction mechanism (I don't know what, you have to ask him) that he is so obsessed with he wants to take it to bed with him every night, and Ben with the best gift of all, a cardboard box.

As always, it was great to see my family. Even though we'll be spread out this Christmas, I'm glad we had this day to celebrate the season together. Merry Christmas guys!

I'm allright--don't nobody worry 'bout me...

I haven't really said anything about how Savannah's been since her surgery, but I assure you she's doing juuuust fine. In fact, she's better off now than she was before, since Luke often takes pity on her and lets her sleep on the bed with us. Grrrr....anyway, her ear healed wonderfully--even better than her other ear did the first time we had this surgery--and she is back to her old neurotic self, passing the days by chasing falling leaves, barking at squirrels that are 50 feet over her head and licking the back patio. Don't ask, I have no idea...

I'm ready for sainthood.

You have to perform three miracles to become a saint, and I'm obviously ready since I've done three in a week. First, I made Ben and Patrick get along for 15 whole minutes by allowing them to destroy my throw pillows together, then I cured Patrick's throw-ups in less than 24 hours (I'm not sure how I did that one, but I'll still take the credit), and thirdly, I successfully got Patrick to sing (and sing happily) at his preschool Christmas program. All it took was a little bribe in the form of Barnes & Noble, his favorite "book fair" ever. He was very serious about acheiving this goal, because apparently he told all the other kids as well that there was to be no crying, no crying at all!

Well, regardless of how he got there, he sang very sweetly and did all the right hand motions (except during the part when they were supposed to be quiet so the soloist could sing, he illustrated this fact by putting his finger over his lips when no one else was doing that...it was cute at the time, but in the picture it just looks like he's picking his nose). Mommy was so proud and he was so proud of himself too, for not crying, and then he found the coolest lift-the-flap truck book at B & N, so all was well in the end.

Happy Birthday to Our Homeboy!

I'm sure I speak for all of us Blogger sistahs when I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet 3-year old Joe. I know Katie has done her own post already, but I have to give props to our man on his big day since he keeps us entertained on a regular basis (with a little help from a certain sausage...). Anyway, you're 3 now big guy, give 'em hell! (A fair warning to Katie...he's going to be taking that literally.)

Never jump into a pile of leaves holding a wet sucker.

A little bit of advice from the great Charles M. Schulz there. In what can only be described as a Christmas miracle, Patrick recovered from his illness in record time yesterday (thank yoooouuuuuuuuu, God!) and was able to go to school today. When he got home, we went outside to play since we are having unseasonable mild days (again, many thanks). We have one flower bed that has not been attended to very well this fall because...well, it's my flower bed, that's why. I haven't touched it and Luke hasn't noticed it, so the leaves are just a-pilin' up. Patrick waded in and almost sunk to his waist, and that's when the fun began.

Sob Story II

I have decided that, at least from a spectator's vantage point, that throwing up is better than diahrrea. And I would know.

Yes, in the never-ending parade of sickness that is my household, Luke awoke this morning at 5:30 to find Patrick sleeping on the couch again, but this time it was because his bed was covered in vomit. Sadly, this is the biggest thing happening in my life at the moment. Even more sad is the fact that preschool Christmas break starts Thursday and even though I was dreading two weeks at home entertaining the kids in freezing cold weather, now Patrick will miss this week and I'll actually have three weeks of entertaining sick kids in freezing cold weather. It's like summer vacation, only miserable.

Ben hasn't had any symptoms yet, but give him time and I'm sure he'll deliver...

Peek a Boo!

Thought I'd give Ben some screen time...

Patrick, Patrick and more Patrick

Boys Will Be Boys

Today the boys teamed up to give me more gray hairs, and when I mean boys, for once I don't mean Patrick and Ben, but actually Patrick and Wilson. Patrick was playing outside when he brought to the door the lovliest of gifts for Mommy dearest, namely: a live baby lizard. This would not be so bad if he hadn't been holding it by the head, which for some reason really grossed me out, so I yelled at him to PUT IT DOWN. He did, and then promptly smashed it with his shoe. That really grossed me out, so I started making loud sick noises, which Patrick took as a cue to kick around the mutilated lizard, causing it's tail to detach and squirm on the pavement, and that was the point where Wilson decided to join the fun and began to eat the twitching tail. Do I need to say any more?

The Importance of Being Persistent

Patrick has has a thing about Super K-Mart for about a year and a half now. I don't even remember how it started, all I know is that for the past eighteen months, whenever we passed Super K-Mart (which is every day), he would start begging for the "purple book". He was VERY CONSISTENT about this. Not a day has gone by where we haven't heard about the purple book at K-Mart. We've even looked for it on the rare occasion that we enter this store. I have never been able to figure out what the "purple book" was. Until yesterday. We went to K-Mart to look for dog food with high fat content for our anorexic dog (by the way, this dog food doesn't exist. I should have realized that after I couldn't find it at Walmart. If it's not at Walmart, it doesn't exist) and on a whim strolled through the book aisle. Lo and behold...there, amongst rays of light from heaven and amidst the choruses of angels, sat the "purple book". Patrick just about freaked, as did we, since we had obviously found the equivalent of Atlantis, or the Fountain of Youth, or the Lost City of Gold. Since it came shrink-wrapped with two other books for the bargain basement price of $2.49, we snapped it up, not caring how much it resembles all of the other truck books that Patrick owns, or that it really would have been more appropriate for him say...eighteen months ago. No, all that matters is that we have located the purple book and now he can hold it in his hot little paws all day long should he choose to. Ladies and gents, I present to you...The Purple Book!

Quiet Rule Lives!

I may have made an important discovery regarding Quiet Rule. Apparently, there is a boy at Patrick's preschool named Wyatt Carroll. Do I have to point out how similar these two names sound? I am thinking that Patrick has a little friend on the playground whose name is a little hard for him to pronouce, but that's okay, because it sounds a lot like something he hears probably eighty times a day and can pronounce perfectly, so we'll just call him that instead! And if this is the case, I'm going to hunt down Wyatt/Quiet's mom and tell her to put some pants on her kid because it's freakin' freezing outside and all my kids wants to do is imitate your kid and that means I have to have fights with him three times a day about wearing shorts and sandals outside. Other than that, he seems like a great kid.

O Tanenbaum

We put up our Christmas tree fairly early this year, which I do NOT feel guilty about because it's such a hassle that you have to make it worth the effort. This is the first year we've had a fake tree...we made the decision to switch after last year's gifts were covered in sap and bugs. So Luke's mom got this one at a discount after Christmas last year and gave it to us. I must admit, for someone who has been a Live Tree Purist her whole life, I am pleased with the results. For the first time in our relationship, Luke and I did not scream at each other while putting the tree in the stand, I did not have to string lights on it (woohoooo!), and watering it has been a cinch. Plus the branches are strong enough to hold our heavy ornaments, and evenly dispersed--no gaps! Yep, I'm officially converted...

Patrick and Ben "helping" me decorate the tree (actually, Patrick didn't do too badly as long as I kept shouting "Spread them out!!!!!" )...and the finished product!

The other day the kids were playing in front of the tree and it was so cute to see them laughing and playing together...a Christmas miracle!

Birthday Wishes for Sandi

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Sandi, dear wife to my brother David and devoted mom to Matthew. Sandi's great and since I never had a sister myself, it's fun to have her in the family to throw girl-talk around with. As it turns out, Sandi shares a birthday with two other women that I know of, one good one and one not-so-good one...

But let's focus on Sandi--pictured above with her adorable son--this is her post! Girl, you've ventured into new territory (and I say that lovingly since I am only six months behind)...make the most of it! Happy Birthday!

I'm not sure about this kid...

This is how we found Patrick at 7:00 this morning. Apparently there was a storm last night (I wouldn't know, I slept through it) and he was scared in his room. What kills me is that he actually thought out his plan of action. He came down to our room to get the blanket (which the dogs usually sleep on, by the way) and without disturbing us at all, took it out into the living room, got a throw pillow, turned on the Christmas tree and went back to sleep. I'm not sure why the living room is less scary, but whatever.

Oh, I guess now is a good time to mention that Patrick has an imaginary friend named Quiet Rule. I have great hopes that there will be more on this later. All I can tell you for now is that Quiet Rule wears shorts all the time, so Patrick wants to wear shorts as well.

Christmas Parade

We went to our town Christmas Parade last night, and were blessed again with very mild weather. Last year it was absolutely frigid and Ben was only a little over two weeks old or so. I had him wrapped up in about nineteen layers to keep warm. But last night all he needed was a light jacket. We had a rockin' par-tay...Luke pulled his truck up into one of the spaces on the main street and all the kids piled in the back so they could see and we could keep them corralled. I sat on the roof of the truck, using photgraph angle as an excuse, but really I just wanted to be by myself and I could say no to any kids that wanted to climb up there.

Above we have some of our local high schools struttin' their stuff in the band.

The kids enjoy the view from the bed of the truck...the Knights of Columbus from our church remind onlookers of the true reason for the holidays.

Patrick watches from atop Pa's shoulders as a decorated float goes by and then *GASP!* the fire truck!!!!

Some kids from my school marched in the parade, followed by more kids on our decked-out school bus. That's my boss Stephanie hanging out the door...I tried to get her face, but she was waving like a maniac!

Our town has a local Budweiser plant, so we always get to end the parade with the Clydesdale horses...followed by the man of the hour. He stopped to light the town Christmas tree in front of the old courthouse building and then rode on in all his glory. I feel like we've seen him so much lately that we're on a first-name basis with him!!!

The Polar Express

Last night, Ma and Pa took Patrick to Chattanooga to ride the Polar Express train all the way to the North Pole!!!!! How lucky are kids these days, huh? They went with some friend from church and their granddkids, Trevor and Nikki.

Patrick on the ride up...and presenting The Three Stooges!!!!

After dinner the kids met a fireman who was more than happy to show them the ladder truck. It doesn't get any better than that for Patrick...except when followed by ice cream!!!

Patrick and Trevor showing off their conductor hats. Aren't Trevor's eyes pretty? Nikki, being the cool gal that she is, gets to rock a pink conductor's hat!

The big moment...after they pull up to the North Pole, Santa boards the train. You can see the anticipation in Patrick's eyes! Santa listens intently as Patrick rattles off his laundry list of toy trucks that he wants for Christmas.

He had a great time but from what I hear he was zonked on the way home. He didn't remember switching cars or getting into bed. This morning when he woke up, he asked "Where's Nikki and Trevor?"

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was packed with action and thankfully (haha) we were blessed with gorgeous weather. We went to my parents' house, where my brother and his family were also staying. I believe the last time we were all together was at Ben's baptism in February...too long! It was good to see them again. Thursday before the big meal, we all headed outside for some manly time playing sports. I did not participate, but snapped some great photos: We've got Luke channeling Joe Montana, Matthew and Grandpa showing off their baseball skills, Ben and Shaeffer waiting patiently for a fumble to roll their way, and Patrick getting his speed on for a touchdown over Team Daddy. Later at the park, Matthew and Patrick practiced their tackling technique and David instructed on the art of being a kicker. Ben was getting his own thrills by heading down the slide headfirst, with or without adult supervision. In between all the fun, we feasted on a top-notch Thanksgiving buffet, which I must say, since it did NOT include rutabagas, was the best one we've ever had!

On Friday morning we headed over to the famous Yellow River Game Ranch to check out the animals up close and personal. The deer greeted Ben as soon as we walked through the gate and then sniffed out Patrick for some food. We saw lots of other great animals, including the famous rubber-faced horse...
Later, Patrick and I headed over to Katie's for a little playdate. The boys got off to a great start on the Jumpoline (formerly known as the Jumpy Thing), but when Lenny started getting frisky with Fat-pick, we moved it inside to the playroom. Check out Joe doing his rendition of Stairway to Heaven, featuring Barbie on backup vocals!

Gigi gets a little more snuggle time in with her three grandsons and then this morning we headed back home. My boys were so tired from their big weekend, they fell asleep almost the minute the car backed out of the driveway. Good times, good memories. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband Luke, and no this is not Luke in the picture--it's David--but I guess my gift to him was to not nag him about pictures, so I have none! We came down to my parents' house today for the Thanksgiving weekend, and the rest of the fam is here too, so since Luke's b-day is today and Sandi's is coming up soon, we had the party tonight. And of course, Patrick and cute little Matthew did the candle honors again...

A few words about the birthday boy...he is such a great daddy to my babies and a great husband to me. I literally would not have survived the past year without him. Besides that, for the past four years he has been working two jobs so that I can stay at home the majority of the time with the kiddies--how committed is that? You can always count on Luke to make you laugh (even if he didn't mean to) and he's not too shabby to look at either!!! Well, I could keep going on and on, but then I'd just be getting corny, huh? I love you Luke! Happy birthday and thanks for everything you do for our family!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogging gals out there. I'm going to enjoy the day tomorrow and I'll be back with the recap post on Friday! Eat an extra piece of pie for me!!!

She's baaaaack...

...and LAWS-A-MASSEY she's lookin' like a real sassy Aunt Jamima in her pink headwrap! Just kidding, she is a woeful sight, although she seemed in good spirits when I went to pick her up this morning. The wrap is to keep the wounded ear pressed flat against her head so it won't fill back up with fluid, although she keeps shaking it, so the ear did flip out of the bandages at one point. That was fun. Patrick took one glance and started screaming. I'll spare you the sight of it.

Poor baby, it must be so scary spending the night in a cold kennel when you're used to disobeying Mommy and stretching out on the couch...not to mention the wierd dog in the cage next to her that had apparently bathed in urine--he probably tried to deal her some sketchy rawhide last night. I know she is glad to be home. After she and Wilson greeted each other with some sniffs in the nether-regions, she slid under the bed to stay out of harm's way and catch up on much-needed sleep.

Take a walk in my shoes...

I always have to laugh when I see Luke deal with the kids by himself, not because he's not doing well enough--he does great--but because it gives me great satisfaction to watch from the outside as my kids drive someone else up the wall. The other day Luke was trying to eat his lunch after the kids, which is a futile effort because even though they just ate, they will still try and eat everything on your plate...but I let him figure that out for himself as I sat back to enjoy the show...

The reach-in...

Luke defends his territory!

In the end I put down the camera and helped him out, but it's always nice when someone else feels my pain, if only for a few moments!

*Sniffle*

I took this picture hoping it will not be the last pretty picture I get of Savannah. Yesterday I took her to the vet, mostly because it was time for her annual check-up, but also because she has been in pretty bad shape recently. First of all, she is losing A LOT of weight--wierd since she was overweight at one point in her life--and you can count all of her ribs and vertabrae and see the bones in her haunches and shoulders and even the top of her head. She's like the canine Nicole Richie. Anyway, I attribute this to the fact that she spends her days neurotically running around the yard chasing non-exisitent things and is probably burning waaaayyyyyy more calories than she is ingesting. The vet seemed to agree with me, since he couldn't find anything wrong with her externally, but we're waiting to get bloodwork results back just to make sure. Meanwhile, she's now on a high-fat high-protein diet, while poor lazy Wilson has to eat small portions of fat-dog food (even though he's not, but he will get that way if we don't watch him).

The other thing that wrong with her is that she's developed a hematoma in her ear, which requires major surgery to be removed. The reason I know this is because she had one three years ago and we had to go through this whole charade at that point too. I am really worried because when she came out of that surgery, she looked like she had a wet oil rag attached to the side of her head instead of her pretty velvety ear. It did heal correctly, thankfully, but the vet told me that there was a chance it wouldn't, so now we're going to have to hold our breath and see again. She's going in tomorrow and has to spend the night. I'll put a picture up of her afterwards so you can feel good and sorry for her...you can go ahead and feel sorry for me now because this bill ain't gonna be cheap!

Sorry for the downer post, but I am down about the whole thing and I had to vent and draw sympathy. Tomorrow we will be back to our regularly scheduled post demonstrating the torture my children put me through every day.

A Puzzler...

How can my kids be such goofballs with such awesomely cool parents...?

Patrick's Thanksgiving Program

Today was Patrick's Thanksgiving program at school and he all of a sudden decided to get stage fright. He cried all through the two-year-olds' performance and the only way his teacher could get him on stage was to promise to let him hold one of the flags while everyone pledged their allegiance. Here he is unhappily holding the flag for her.

After the pledges, he managed to forlornly stand on stage for one song about eating the turkey, then burst into tears. As everyone watched sympathetically (and we're talking about 100 parents here), his teacher asked him what was wrong and he wailed "That SCARED me!!!!"...so then he had to get down and watch his class do the rest. He was fine afterwards.

At the time I just thought he was being a pill, but having reflected on it, I think he may actually not like to perform for large groups of strangers (imagine that!). I think for the Christmas program I will plan to have him sit on my lap and we will watch together.

Priorities

I guess today at preschool Patrick's activity was to sort through magazines and find pictures of things that he is thankful for. Of all the things in the world, here is what Patrick chooses to give thanks for:
1. Fire boots
2. Puppy dogs

The funny thing is, I am 100% positive that he did not just find two random pictures and slap them in the page. Oh no...he saw those boots and thought "THAT'S what I am thankful for!" I have no idea where I fall in the pecking order, but at least the dogs made the cut...

Happy Birthday to My Baby!

It was a year ago today that I first met my baby boy, and I have to admit that I was very unprepared for the whole experince, even though it was my second child. I had trouble from the very start with him...even in the hospital I let the nurses keep him so I could get some sleep. Then when I came home, the thought of taking care of two needy little boys was completely overwhelming to me.

It's ironic that these two pictures are of him sleeping, because he didn't do a whole lot of that in the beginning. It was really hard for me to squeeze in the "me" time that I had gotten used to with one child. The memories that these pictures conjure up are more stressful than anything. But I could never resist smiling at that precious face!

Playtime with Katie (who kept things in perspective for me)
and starting to bond with big brother.

The arrival of warm weather and sitting up changed a lot for me. Now that he wasn't a helpless, tireless little baby any more, Ben was really becoming fun. I loved it when he started getting responsive and playful.

Hugs for Benjamin!

Turning into such a big boy...and finally buddies with Patrick!

Growing up is tiring work!

At the end of the first year, I wouldn't have traded one tough minute for the adorable little mommy's boy that I have now. Once we got into our groove, he brought me so much joy and cuddliness that I can't image my life without him. His smile is the sight that warms my heart each day and his laugh is the sound that feeds my tired soul. Happy birthday, my sweet baby Ben. I love you sooooo much!

Ben's Birthday Party

We had Ben's 1st birthday party tonight and I can safely say it was not a disaster. I tried to keep it low-key and I think that helped a lot, but I am still too tired for witty play-by-plays, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Here we have Ben opening presents...

...and of course, the big cake moment (well, cupcakes). Ben looked genuinely confused as everyone sang to him. The look on his face was priceless. Patrick did the candle honors again...

...and then Ben polished off that cupcake in no time!

After we ate the kids went outside and toasted marshmallows in our chiminea. I got this for Luke over three years ago as an anniversary gift, and this is the first time he's used it. Before this it was primarily a way to catch rainwater. I think he was sorry that he waited so long, though, because he was really enjoying it tonight. He was so proud of his HOT fire that he made me take a picture and promise to put it on the blog. Well, it did keep us toasty warm, so we all enjoyed it.

Anyway, as of 1:45 tonight Ben will be a year old (thank God!), so look for a very special birthday post tomorrow! A year ago at this moment, my stomach was really hurting!!!! :)

Fun at the Festival

Today my parents came up and took the kids to our Annual School Bazaar. This has become a tradition over the past three years. While I work at it, my parents get to spend an enjoyable time with the kids. They had a great time. Patrick spent lots of time jumping on the inflatables and both boys won a cake at the cake walk!

Luke's mom and grandma were also there. Here's Ben enjoying a chocolate covered pretzel stick with his Ma and hitching a ride on Great-Grandma's walker!

Later when we got home, we celebrated Ben's birthday with my parents since they aren't going to be here for his party tomorrow. My dad's birthday was a couple weeks ago, so it was a double party. And since we had two cakes to choose from, I didn't even have to bake! Sweet! Ben was clueless to the whole birthday thing. Patrick did the candle honors for him and he barely even noticed his presents. Oh well...next year will surely be different! By the way, I know that Ben is only one and there are two candles on the cake...one was for Ben and the other for my dad.

Ho Hum

Being sick for weeks upon weeks doesn't make for great blogging material, but here are a couple shots of the boys to take up space. Thankfully, we are all feeling much better now.