Rooms

Here is some pictures of the kids room, Here is Jessie's

And Gary's.........

I'm so glad we got them done! Jess is having a friend come spend the night tomorrow to show it off, and Gary was gonna have someone come over but they wanted him to come over to their house instead. Tomorrow I'm gonna get on here and take a look back at last years goals and make some new ones. I have a motto for 2010,,, tune in to hear it.

Christmas morning

Our Christmas morning started about 2:30am, hearing doors being opened and Lots of bathroom trips,, we told the kids they couldn't wake us up until 6:30 so I think they got up to check the time a million times. WE had to wake up our precious baby when the time came,, but she did a great job of getting right in the mood. Here is my sleepy girl getting ready to open her stocking, and Gary tearing into his,

Jess too,,

Shelby, who normally sleeps til about 9 even got up for all the excitement,, here she is looking and wondering if she got anything

Don't worry Shelby, Santa didn't forget you!

Emma was very excited about her cleaning set she got,, now she doesn't have to steal my broom!

We got Jess this game,, I had never played it before,, its really fun,, we've played it a bunch of times today!

All the kids got sleds from Santa Clause. Here's Emma sitting in hers with some of her stuff.

After our Christmas we went over to moms house. Here are the 2 girls all dressed up in their pretty Christmas dresses.

Emma crawling through her tunnel that Nana got her. She kept saying Chucky Cheese, chucky cheese. I think cause they have tunnels there so it reminded her of the place.

It really was a great Christmas. The kids were all happy, as were Ben and I. Grandma got me a web cam so now we can talk to her and see her in Florida! That was a great surprise,, thanks guys! I hope everyone else had a great Christmas. I can't believe in less than a week it will be 2010!

Snow Fun

Emma got to play in the snow for the first time today!! She really enjoyed it. Here she is making her first snow angel. It was pretty funny cause she couldn't get up off the ground in her snow suit. Trying to make a snow ball....

The 2 girls with their little snow man that Mira had made earlier in the day.

And the whole bunch together. After we went inside Gary stayed out and made another snow man by himself. He did a really great job but I didn't get a picture of that one.

And here's Jess and Gary having a snow ball fight. IT was great fun until Jess got hit in the eye with a snowball. Her poor eye did swell up and she cried, but it looks fine now.

It was a fun day, and I'm glad I got to share it with the whole family... well Ben was in the woods hunting, but it was still good. Poor guys still didn't get his deer and now he says he's done. He's got one more day left to hunt but he has given up,, says its not worth his time to sit in the cold anymore. So we get to finally start on the big kids room tomorrow. I hope we get them done for Christmas!!

Painting

Its been a rough day today. The 4 year old I watch has been very grumpy and mean to Emma. I'm trying to teach her the concept of, if you dont have something nice to say dont say it at all, but thats a hard concept to grasp, even for some adults. Its hard for me to understand how you can be mean to someone thats only trying to be nice to you. Its probably just her age. She knocked Emma off the kitchen chair today then later pushed her down cause she was trying to give her a hug. I'm sure she'll cheer up later when she gets her Christmas present from me. Hopefully she'll be more grateful than the one I watch on 3rd shift,,, she acted like she couldnt care less when she opened her present and didnt even say thank you. It kinda made me sad and mad. But its all about the spirit of giving right?? I think it just feels a lot better when the person you give to is happy.

We did some painting today,, Emma loves to paint and draw.

Here is Bree's paintings

And here's Emma's. I think its an abstract! :)

I can't wait for Christmas when she gets her easel and other art stuff,, she's gonna love it so much! 7 more days!! Now I need to get off the computer and clean my house while its nap time...It's a mess!

Some pictures

I haven't posted any pictures lately so here's a couple of Emma from today.

This is one of her favorite things to do,, look at pictures!

This one is from a little while ago, but its Emma and Gary watching a Barney video on the computer. She isn't to interested in t.v., but the one thing she will watch is Barney goes to the farm, but we don't have the movie so she watches it on the PC.

Just a few more days til Christmas!! I can't wait! Today I will be baking 3 different kinds of cookies and trying to make peppermint bark for the first time. We will be passing these out to the kids teachers and the parents of my childcare kids!! Hope they like them!!

Updates and some advice :)

Is it true that when your cold you burn more calories??? Well if so I'm burning them now baby!! Its 18 degrees and the wind is blowing like crazy!!! I'm sure our trash cans have probably all blown away, but I'm to much of a whimp to go out and check. I hate the cold!!!!

Today was a pretty good day. My niece, Amira, came over and played for a little bit. Her and Emma are so stinkin cute together.. They give each other hugs and kisses, unfortunately that love can turn in an instant that one touches the others toy,,, but that's normal. :) I'm so glad they have each other to play and grow up with.. I hope they end up to be great friends. Sometimes I try and picture what they'll be like when there older together. They will probably sit around and make fun of us adults together.LOL.

I take Emma back to the dermatologist on Friday to check out her rash that's still there....:( He said it was eczema but I've been using the cream he gave me and its not helping. Its on her face and people always wanna know whats wrong with her.. It makes me sad. Hopefully she will grow out of it. She still scratches like crazy, poor thing.

Jess is doing great. She's enjoying being the manager for the basketball team. She came home today and told us that she has a new "boyfriend".. He is the brother of the kid that Gary will be going to his b-day party on Friday night, and she said that that boys mom said she could come to the party to since she is Caleb's girlfriend..... Ben was like...uuuuhhhh NO!!! Poor thing, shes gonna have a hard time when she gets older,,,, I don't think Ben is going to do well with letting his little girl out.

Gary's enjoying having his friend be my new childcare kid! Of course there seems to be a lot more noise with 2 boys in the house!! (mom I think you were lucky having 3 girls instead of 3 boys!) Gary seems to be doing well in school. He got an A on his project he did a few weeks ago!!

And some advice for today...... Pick your battles. Sometimes life will be easier if you just let some things slide. Whether it be something with your husband,,, or your almost 2 year old wanting to help with the dishes (even though you know your gonna have a mess to clean up after)(that ones for you Dawn.lol :)------kids are only gonna be kids once, and husbands...well you have your whole life to pick your arguments with them, so if its not something major, sometimes its better just to let it go, and you will have a more peaceful house for doing it.

Stay warm!

Menu plan

Here's what we'll be having for dinner this week:

Monday-round steak, garlic potatoes, green beans
Tuesday spaghetti
Wednesday-sirloin stir-fry and rice
Thursday-tacos, refried beans
Friday-pork chops, baked potatoes, spring veggies

Most everything on my menu I already had in the house! I was able to only spend 16 dollars this week groceries. Although I need to still get some fresh fruit.

Life update

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! All went well here. We went to mom's house like always... my dads got canceled so only one "pig out" feast. That's probably a good think though. Ben got his results from the health fair his work had and it showed he is not in good health at all. I made him a doctors appt. for Monday so he can get checked out there and hopefully get on the right path to getting healthier. Since he got his results I think it really scared him because he is really trying to eat healthier now. I'm going to do my best to have lots of fruits and veggies around for him to choose from. I'm sure I could use a little healthier eating to. I'm going to try my best to start getting back to working out. I'm paying for this Y membership that's barely getting used so I need to take advantage of it!!
Now that Thanksgiving is over that means Christmas is right around the corner. I love that holiday but I always get a little down about it to. I know its not about the presents but for kids thats sometimes hard to understand and they want so much. I wish I could give them everything they want but its just not possible. We did talk the 2 older kids into redoing their rooms for the big part of their presents. The both need new carpet and their walls pained. Jess is really excited about it!! Shes been wanting this for a long time. So since we are doing that and its not cheap they will just get a few extra other things. I've pretty much already got them from the black Friday sale.
Money is becoming a issue again,, oh wait isn't it always. :) I need to get back on the frugal track and cut out all excess, with the exception of chore rewards. I started a new chore system with the kids and once they get so many stars they are rewarded with certain things like eating out or going to a movie. I'm trying so hard to teach them responsibility. Especially Gary.
Starting tomorrow morning I will have an addition to my childcare. Its a b4 and after school boy. Its Gary's friend and hes really excited about it. Finally someone one of his same gender. :) It seems all my daycare kids are girls normally. Since its only before and after school its not much extra, but its worth it. Every little bit helps.
Well thats a little update with my life. Hopefully I'll have something new and exciting to share soon. Have a great day.