Baking and Big Boys

Yesterday we did our annual baking. It's always a good time. The ladies (mom, Kristin, Diane, and myself) did the baking and the boys "watched" the kiddos (with help from the ladies a little!) and worked on some projects in the basement. Thanks for the help guys.
We had a great variety this year - all of it very dangerous and half gone already! j/k
We made peanut butter cups, chocolate crinkles, caramel puffs, ranch pretzels, candy cane fudge, caramels, and frozen cookie dough covered in chocolate, white chocolate, and peanut butter....MMM....MMM. The little kiddos made it into the kitchen to try and help a few times, otherwise they played great together and were our taste testers. Nolan made his own concoction, just adding whatever he wanted, mixing it, and then telling me it was all mixed and needed what was next. He wanted to put it in the fridge and then we were supposed to bake it he said. Luckily he forgot about it and I was able to put it in the trash. Shhh.














Later that night, Matt, Mattey, and Connor went to the varsity basketball game and Kristin and Kelsey came over to hang out with Jacob, Nolan (who fell asleep right away), and I. It's so cute...Kelsey always asks for Noley, she calls Jacob and Connor Noley yet some. They are too cute together. Nolan is still working on being a little more gentler with Kelsey than he is with his brothers. After the kids went to bed, Kristin and I watched Twilight. We both weren't too sure about it before we started it- the whole vampire thing. I haven't read any of the books, and probably won't. I was very surprised with the movie though, it kept our interest and wasn't too "out there".

When the guys got home from the game, Connor decided he wanted to sleep in his new room. This is his first night in his new room!

After church on today, we finished moving everything of Connor's downstairs (the closet was in the process) and then we moved Nolan in with Jacob. The boys were a great help and so excited. Connor is now moved into his own room and has slept down there since Saturday, Jacob and Nolan now share a room (help us Lord!) and are in their new beds (clothes and toys too), and the baby room is a work in progress. I have the crib back together and am working on getting it organized, cleaned, and ready. It was a busy busy day. The boys also went bowling with Matt for his work kids' Christmas party.

Food from Animals

We were having ham tonight for dinner and Connor asked if it came from an animal.
I told him that it came from pigs like hot dogs do. He got really quiet and then came to whisper in my ear...."I really hate eating food that comes from animals". He sat back down and got all teary eyed. I looked at him eating his stuffing, smiled and winked, and said, "Stuffing doesn't come from any animals bud!"
I got a small smile and wink out of that.
Oh no....do we have a vegetarian on our hands? Matt and I enjoy meat, so I hope not.....but whatever works. ;)

Snow Day!

We had a snow day today! I'm always glad to find out we have a snow day, however we have to report in our district. We got a call this morning that the parking lot was not plowed so we could wait a little while, so the boys and I had a nice slow, lazy morning. Once it got light out I ventured out to take the boys to daycare and get to school. I almost got stuck about 5 times, it was horrible out there, and the wind made it so hard to see. Our daycare provider's street wasn't plowed. I dropped the boys off and there were only 2 other kids there. I hated dropping them off. Our lot would not stay cleared because of the bad drifts, a couple of people got stuck, and our building doors wouldn't even open. So, I got to stay home and get some work done. Matt's work closed down, so he left a little early and picked the boys up on his way home. Matt plowed this morning (said it was AWFUL), his car got stuck turning onto our street so had to walk to our house and back for a shovel, and is out plowing and shoveling again! Poor guy. I have boiling water on the stove to make him some mint hot chocolate when he gets in. The boys and I already enjoyed our hot chocolate. I love the snow...and love the days you can drink hot chocolate, watch movies or TV, and snuggle up, but the rest of the junk (cold and wind) that came with it today was not necessary. I have pictures of outside to come.

Choo Choo, Getting there, St. Nicholas

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train made a quick stop in our town tonight. The paper has been publicizing this for a couple of weeks now. It was decorated with flashing lights and one of the boxcars opened up with a band in it that played some music. Santa was even along for the ride. Grandma met up with us and stayed to watch it take off for it's next destination. (Yes, Connor's nose is red - they were doing Rudolph activities in school today)

Waiting for it to take off......Choo choo.

We're getting there with Connor's room. The final work with the outlets and lights needs to be done, I need to touch up some of the paint, we need to wash the window and walls, we need to put in shelves and pole in closet and his room is ready to go.

From this......

To this......

Connor learned about St. Nicholas in school on Friday, so right away on Saturday morning he took his shoes and his brothers' shoes and put them outside. He was sure to tell us all about it and sure enough, St. Nicholas made a visit to our house. Boy, were they excited. I love that Connor learns so much about our religion and faith at school. Absolutely love it. They are making mangers (cribs) for baby Jesus right now and when they do good deeds and help people out they get to write it down on a piece of paper (the hay) and put it in their cribs for Jesus.

You didn't say....

I'll tuck Nolan in at night and we say our prayers together. I snuggle with him a little bit, and almost always end with kissing him, saying "Good night, I love you!", and then I'll say "now close your eyes and go night night".

It's the cutest thing, if I forget to say the "Close your eyes and go night night", he's out of his room not even a couple minutes after I leave to tell me, "No tell me close your eyes and go night night". Like, "silly mom, you know I can't go to sleep unless you tell me that!".
It's so cute.

Christmas in the Village

Last night after work the boys and I met Grandma at the Village of Yesteryear for Christmas in the Village. As you can see the paths are lit and so beautiful. Nolan wanted to blow them out. Many of the buildings had different activities in them. We...
Saw Santa (not a very excited one). Connor again asked for a DS. Oh boy.Drank some wassail.Roasted marshmallows to make s'mores.Frosted and decorated cookies to eat.Visited Mrs. Claus, who had some SSB (Secret Santa Blend) and sprinkled it over all of us. Grandma said she needed ALOT! ;) Side note: Connor was telling Matt about it this morning and when Matt asked what the SSB did, Connor said he maybe thought it helped Santa bring what you asked him for. Totally, not the point of the SSB! ;) Plus, I think he was really trying to work it with the DS. Poor guy is really going to be disappointed when he doesn't get it.

We also made a couple of crafts and sang some carols. After Christmas in the Village, the boys went home with my mom and I went to my work Christmas party. It was a really good time.

Matt came home early this morning from his week in Orlando and Atlanta, and boy are we glad. The boys and I have been busy this week, so luckily we were kept occupied, but we always miss daddy a ton when he's gone. We're so glad he's home!!!

Connor's class is adopting a girl to raise money for this holiday season. Matt had a bunch of change from his trip and was putting it into piles for the boys to put in their banks. Connor took some of this money and instead of asking us for more money, he took what was his pile and put it in a little bag to put in his backpack for the girl. Connor asked if Jacob and Nolan wanted to give some money and each of them gave $1 also. It was really great to see and I was very proud of Connorman. There is nothing better than giving, and I hope the boys grow up understanding this.

Fa La La La La, La La La La and baby questions

Tonight was the start to the Hometown Holiday. We really enjoyed it last year. The lit up parade and tree lighting of downtown was the kick off, unfortunately Connor also had his Christmas concert. Matt is out of town all week (Orlando and Atlanta), so my parents took Jacob and Nolan to the parade, while Connor and I went to his school to get a good spot and drop off our cookies. Mom and dad and the boys came later and sat in the back bleachers to watch Connor's class sing. They did a great job singing. His class sang with the First graders, and then K-5 sang two songs together. Connor and I went downstairs afterwards to have a cookie and juice.

When I went to go check on the boys and give them a kiss again last night, Jacob opened his eyes a little bit and asked me to "nuggle" with him. He was pretty out of it however and very close to sleeping. I snuggled up with him and he all of a sudden asked me, "Mommy, how baby get out?"

I looked at him, hoping I didn't hear what he said correctly, and asked him "What?"

And yes, he asked the same question.

I looked at him with a smile and asked him, "How do YOU think it gets out honey?".

He answered in some jibberish that I could not understand, closed his eyes, and was out.

I laid there for a second or two waiting for something else, and he started breathing hard.

He had fallen asleep on me!

Whew, sigh a relief. ;) Lucky me, I have time now to figure out how I am going to answer that question to a 3- 1/2 year old.

Shots and Shows

So I took the boys in to get their shots yesterday after school. We were scheduled to get our seasonal flu shot way back in October, but we got sick so we couldn't get them. Then when I tried to reschedule, the clinic ran out. I finally got the boys in yesterday and bonus they could also now get the H1N1. I know that's still up for debate, but they're little yet, I'm pregnant, and they're at a daycare with little babies.


Anywho, if you can imagine fat ol' me taking 3 little boys into the clinic and trying to keep them occupied so they aren't thinking about the shots, you can get a good laugh. Connor got a little teary eyed, but he was very brave. Jacob was a trooper the whole time, telling me that "shots hurt just a little bit mommy". Nolan kept asking if he was getting a shot, but never showed any worries until we started walking to the room.
When they called us back, he actually stopped and started walking backwards telling me, "I no get shot, I no get shot".

I had to pick him up and walk into the room. They all sat down on the chairs looking nervous as can be. The nurse came in and asked if I wanted the boys to get the H1N1 shot or nasal spray. I asked the boys if they wanted to get two shots OR one shot and one spray in their nose. Connor right away said, "Nasal Spray!", Jacob said, "Two shots" (but he obviously didn't understand, so Connor gently helped him understand how much two shots would hurt!). Nolan still wanted nothing to do with it.

It was decided that we would do the flu shot and the H1N1 spray. The nurse asked who wanted to go first, and.......absolute silence! Connor finally looked at Jacob, looked at Nolan....sighed....and said "I'll go first! I'm the big brother". I was very proud. He got on the table, squeezed my hand, let out a little "ow" and a few tears, and got down. Jacob and Nolan looked a little scared at this point. Jacob was next, got on the table smiling at me (I'm thinking to myself how that smile was not going to last long), let out a little scream and a few tears, and got down. At this point, Nolan is crying already (not a good idea to be the last one) and fought me as I picked him up. He would not lay on the table. The nurse had to pin down his legs and I had to pin down his upper torso (and he is one strong cookie) - it was awful and I felt so bad.
He got the shot, cried quite a bit, and kept telling me "my shot hurt" for the rest of the night.

Then it was time for the spray, and that went much smoother - just a couple of sniffs.
It was quite an adventure I tell you. We had to go to Wal-Mart to get a few things, so I let them each pick out a treat for being brave. I think I should have picked one out for myself also. ;)


Here are a few shows the boys are into. We have most of them tivoed. It's perfect because they watch it in the morning while getting ready and waiting to go and they watch a little bit of one before we go to bed sometimes.


Tom and Jerry (started out as just Connor, but now they all three love this show and laugh hysterically!) It's interesting that this "old" cartoon is back.
Dora (Nolan and Jacob right now)

The Polar Express
Hotel for Dogs