Monkey Talk

Tonight we were reading a book about the animals of Asia and we came across a breed of monkey called the Proboscis Monkey. The conversation with Thor went something like this.

Me: "What do they call that special chamber Proboscis monkeys have?"

Thor: "A resonating chamber, its to scare of predators and other males"

Me: "Why do they need to scare off other male's?"

Thor: "Because they (other males) would try to steal their mates"

Me: "What is a mate?"

Thor: "Its a female they want to marry"

It was so hard to not crack up at his simple way of explaining it. I think sometimes we don't give kids the credit for knowing as much as they do. Some of the things they can explain seems so beyond their single digit years.

Time is Flying

The past few weeks have flown by in a blur or activities. We are getting closer every day to closing on our very first home. No one tells you how many steps there are in getting approved for a mortgage and then all the hoops there are to jump through in getting a home inspected and a lawyer to read over your contracts etc. I have been more than a little busy faxing, scanning, emailing and making dozens of phone calls to lenders and realtors. It is going to be amazing to close on the 2nd of April!

The kids had their Valentine's Day party at Story Time and I was able to take an hour off work to go to it with them and Jake. We made a last minute run to HEB (the local grocery store) for a watermelon and fresh pineapple the night before. I had seen a great idea in Pinterest where you cut the fruit into shapes and skewer them so they look like lolly pops. I cut the fruit into heart shapes; however, the skewers were too thick and they were breaking the hearts in two pieces. We adjusted fire and got out silver cupcake liners and filled them with the heart shaped fruit. It was beautiful and we got multiple comments on how adorable they were. I have to say it did look pretty amazing next to the trays of obviously last minute  bowls of gold fish crackers and deli cheese trays. I'd also like to add - I'm the only working mom in that group too. Take that! : )

Work has been so nuts as usual. We are quickly approaching my 90 day mark and it feels amazing. We actually started packing up things this past weekend and we scored a ton of nice moving boxes for free on Craigslist this weekend.

Jake just completed plans with his younger brother Adam and his dad to go on a bike trip around central and southern Texas over St Patrick's Day weekend. It will be the kids and I for 4 days - maybe we will go down to San Antonio for their St patty's day celebration. Its no Chicago celebration but it is supposed to be alot of fun and they dye their river green too. We will see how that plays out as the time draws closer.

The Bend In The Road

For some reason since my last post I feel that the kids have made it to the bend in the road. Something changed - or maybe its just me. Lately I have thought that they are exceptionally cute. Regularly Baleigh cracks me up with her inventive name calling. We have a game that we play where we call eachother silly names - and I really mean silly- she calls me a nose, I respond with "turkey", she shoots back with "book" and on it goes. My favorite the last few days has been when I pinch her butt and run away saying "squishy butt" to which she responds " NO! I'm a hard butt" It just cracks me up! We have been snuggling more and watching TV less. Playing more games and spending less time getting upset about things. Thor has all of the sudden seemed so grown up. When he got sick he lost about 5 lbs and I don't think he gained it back. Now he looks like a boy and definitely not my baby anymore.

In other good news, I found out in the last month that my sister Holly and her husband Justin are expecting a baby girl around the time we move home. AND My sister-in-law Tracie and my brother Chris are expecting a girl within a couple weeks of my sister Holly! Its going to be such a fun summer. I am so excited to be near family.

Growing Up.

The kids have been a handful lately. It seems when one difficult stage ends yet another begins. Gone are the days of bottles, dirty diapers, carrying a baby on each hip, no verbal communication, and total dependence. I thought that was supposed to be the tough age. HA!

Now we are in the stage of complete Independence....of so the kids think. They want to do everything by themselves but in the end they end up asking a million questions and making 3X the mess it would have taken to have had a parent's help.

The stage where they insist on walking everywhere ( we no longer own a stroller) and when the last loop of the zoo rolls around they are too tired to make it to the car under their own power. Try carrying two toddlers on your hips - I want my 15 lb babies back! lol

Diapers may be behind us but the laundry has not diminished. I have a little girl who reminds me daily that she is related to my little sister Holly by ALOT! She changes her clothes multiple times a day- heaven forbid that she be seen with a mustard stain on her dress or even worse Popsicle drips on her socks. She is amazing and hilarious and I lover her but some days she pushes the envelope of what a parent can tolerate. : )

Some days I long for the time when there was no sound in the house but that of a sleeping baby. Now I am bombarded from every direction when I walk in the door at night. Once they learned the dreaded phrase "excuse me mom" I decided I wanted to change my title. I love hearing them talk on the phone to grandparents and sing songs when they think no one is paying attention but some days I would give just about anything for a sound proof room ( for me to sit in).

All that being said I had one of the best mornings helping them create finger paintings for each set of grandparents. I hate that I have missed out on so many projects with them in the past 3 yrs. They deserve to have a mom around them a little more. I am looking for a teaching/aid type job for this coming fall and would love it if I was able to have all the same days off as they have so we can re-connect again.

Welcome 2012

We ushered in the new year with very little fan fare. The Wednesday prior to the new year Baleigh told me her tummy felt sick. I told her to just go lay down and about midnight she had all the symptoms of the full blown stomach flu. I stayed up with her after Jake had drawn her a warm bath and I got her bed cleaned up and laundry started. I then got up and went to work for a half day before my weekend started. When I came home I took a nap with Bean because I was feeling under the weather. (it was so warm the past few weeks that Jake cut the lawn that day as well) By that night she was feeling better and somewhere around one in the morning on Friday morning I was sick. I can only compare the stomach cramps I had to child birth to give you any indication of what I felt like. I slept until 12:45 PM Friday afternoon and then I started feeling much better. I though the boys were going to be home free until Saturday evening when Thor told me his tummy hurt. I gave him some pepto to hopefully help with the tummy upset and hoped for the best. He woke me up Sunday morning at 6AM and told me he didn't feel good- then promptly ran to the waste basket and threw up. He was a real trooper and managed to make it to an acceptable receptacle every time he got sick. He kicked the sick faster than Bean or I, and was eating real food again by Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately Jake started feeling ill late that evening. He was up all night on Sunday and slept the majority of the day on Monday (thankfully I had Monday off too). The kids and I cleaned and disinfected the house and opened it up to get the sick air out. Jake was feeling better but still slept a full night last night. Hopefully we are done with being sick for this year. 2012 made a very rough entry but it is still welcome. We are now less than 5 months before we move out of Texas and are in full blown planning mode to make a clean exit from the Army.

Christmas 2011

This year was the first year we have spent just as our immediate family. It was very different not to have to travel and pack and plan for a holiday for a change. It was amazing to hang out in our own house on Christmas Eve and track Santa on NORAD's website with  the kids. We started tracking early in the morning when Santa was in Australia and the kids headed to bed just as he was leaving Europe. They went to bed so quickly and we didn't hear a peep out of them until 6 AM the next morning when Baleigh came in and asked if she could check and see if Santa had left her anything. She woke Thor up and it was game on from there.

I loved having a quiet morning with just them. We didn't have to make them wait for other people to wake up and come over or pack them into a car and head to someone else's house. In a word it was 'amazing'.

Thor and his Christmas Loot

Baleigh and her treasures!

The kids went to the playroom to check out their stuff while I headed to the kitchen to get lunch in the oven. I had prepared the traditional "Sawyer Potato Rolls" that are  a staple at every holiday meal now, the night before and for once they turned out perfectly! We had a ham and fancy green beans that Jake prepared ( they are delicious with tomatoes and garlic and herbs- but he has to make them because they don't turn out if I do.) and mashed potatoes. The pumpkin pie was the best one that I have ever made as well. I guess it was just the year for things to be perfect.

We watched White Christmas and Holiday Inn (two of my favorite Christmas movies since I was a kid) and after lunch Baleigh and I took a long nap. It was a perfectly lovely day but I am looking forward to spending it with family next year. My sister pointed out that with us moving back next year there will be 7 new people at the celebration. With our family of 4 and the 3 babies that are due between now and June it will be quite a gathering. I can't wait. 

Santa!!!

First Christmas with 2 kids (2007)  I can't believe how big they have grown!

This year has been the best year for Christmas with the kids so far. They really understand the whole concept of naughty and nice and really thought about what they wanted from Santa. When they went up to talk with Santa they were both so polite and only asked for the one thing that they really wanted. Santa was a little shocked considering that the little boy and girl before them actually had a two page typed list of the things they wanted.