Cigarette anyone?

The other night some friends of ours gave Cade a french fry. It wasn't until I put the pictures on the computer that I realized it looks like my nine month old is smoking a cigarette. The scary part is, he looks like he knows what he's doing.

Don't think he learned this from me, I've never touched the nasty things!

Weekend Updates

There is really nothing to report. Our meteorologists were wrong once again and the 4" of snow we were supposed to be getting turned into not even 4cm of snow. It was pretty while it lasted but there wasn't even enough on the ground to make a snowball let alone a snowman.

The wind chill was horrible though. It was so windy and cold that when you walked outside you literally thought your ears were going to fall off. It was 24 degrees here but the wind chill was below zero. Cody hated the wind and would cry every time he had to walk outside, he wouldn't even look up because he said it hurt his face too bad. What am I going to do with him when we go to Chicago on Friday??

Cade has been a little cranky lately. His stomach has been bothering him the past couple days so he has not been the happy baby we're used to. He did find the ribbons on the Christmas tree this weekend though. He would just touch them gently, never tried to pull them off. This kept him entertained for a solid twenty minutes.


Cody was a big help this weekend so I let him pick out a little something when we were at the store. His choice, a Rudolph nose! He walks around the house singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer over and over. I should also mention, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" are the ONLY words to the song he knows. I never thought I, of all people, could get sick of a Christmas song. He sure is a cute Rudolph though!


Cade hates wearing hats. Every time I try and put a hat on his head, he just rips it off. That's why it's so funny that he kept his hood on ALL day yesterday. I don't even remember who put it on his head, probably Cody, but there it stayed.


We didn't do much this weekend but it was a good thing. We are leaving Friday for Chicago so I'm sure we'll be pretty busy the whole time we're up there. I'll be spending all week trying to pack and figure out how we're going to get 8 things of luggage, 6 bags of presents, 4 kids, 2 adults and a partridge in a pear tree in the car without having to leave anything or anyone behind!

Being Lazy

Since it's been so cold and icy outside, we've been pretty lazy the past few days. It's not like we really had any other choice considering we can't really let the kids go play in the ice. An iceball fight would have an extremely different outcome than a snowball fight. With all the kids being cooped up inside, don't think the thought of letting them go outside and try this hasn't crossed my mind. A trip to the emergency room due to a blow to the head seems a little more exciting than sitting around here much longer. Not that I wish any harm to my children at all, it would just give us something to do!

Cade has been sleeping like a champ the past couple of days. His naps have ranged from 2 1/2 hours to up to 4 hours in the afternoons. I guess it might have something to do with the cold weather. It's nice and cozy in his room, who wouldn't want to stay in there as long as possible? His nighttime routine has stayed the same even with his long naps. He goes to bed around 7:30pm and doesn't wake up till around 9:00am.

His favorite place to fall asleep is on his Daddy though. I have tried to let him fall asleep on me but as soon as he sees his daddy, he crawls off of me and onto T.J.'s chest! So unfair.

The kids finally got to go back to school today but ANOTHER winter storm is supposed to come through as early as Friday. Hopefully that one will just bring snow. I can handle snow, I can still do things in snow.

I WASN'T dreaming of an ICE Christmas!

I guess when I was dreaming of a White Christmas, I should have been more specific. We have been hit by a terrible ice storm! Yes, once the ice accumulates on the ground it can look a little like snow but that really wasn't the white I was going for.

The streets are awful. Right now, they have built up over a 1/2 inch of ice on the roads and we're no where near finished. It's freakin' cold out there!


Just to give you a quick preview of what we've been hit by...just today!

a tree in our backyard this morning

an hour later


two hours later


another tree covered in ice

This is in our front yard, look at all the ice on the ground



The good news is school was cancelled today and since the roads were so bad, most parents couldn't get their kids over here so it's like a little extra vacation day for me. I did say most parents because there were a few who decided to drop their kids off anyway.

I don't mind helping friends of ours out and keeping their kids for them, but I just wish they didn't take advantage of the situation. Some of the parents who decided to drop their kids off today didn't even go into work. They risked driving in this terrible weather so they didn't have to be the ones to entertain their own kids all day. They said they wanted to "get things done around the house". They're all friends of ours who have asked me to keep their children since I stay home with ours anyway. I do it to help them out so I charge them next to nothing. If I charged them what everyone else charges then I would understand dropping them off because they're paying for it anyway. However, because I help them out, I guess I just expect them to keep their own kids when they don't have to work. Is that too much to ask??

He's gone verbal

Cade has been waving "hi" and "bye" for a couple weeks now but this morning he said "hi" as well!

I was trying to film him just waving and got a surprise when he did both!



Now we're up to three words. He can say "dada", "mama" and now "hi"

Self Control

I learned a lot about myself this morning. I learned I actually have a GREAT DEAL of self control because I didn't grab a certain 10 year old around the neck and shake her profusely!! This may sound extremely inhumane, however let me explain what happened before you begin to pass judgement!

This morning I was getting the kids ready for school (remember I have more than just my sweet angels here in the mornings) and I was finishing up their breakfast when I heard this particular 10 year old talking to ALL the other kids in the other room. She was explaining to them how Santa was not real and he was just their parents!!

I was FURIOUS...wait, furious doesn't even begin to describe it!! I literally had to stand in the kitchen and count to 10 before screaming for her to come see me right away!!

Now, McKinly knows the "secret". She also knows not to say anything because that would not be fair to the younger children. On the other hand, FOUR of the other children in the room, including Ty and Cody, still are at the age where Santa brings them great joy!

My anger began to get stronger when this young girl decided to ignore me and continued to argue with the others when they tried to defend their beloved Santa. When McKinly was finally able to drag her to me, I just handed this girl the phone and calmly, through gritted teeth, told her to call Cathy.

I did eventually calm down and she left my house unharmed, but I'm not responsible for what happens at her house and I'm sure McKinly and Ty will tell me all about it because I do know Cathy was not thrilled with what she did. I convinced Ty she was just bitter and Santa will be bringing him presents and Cody is really too young to understand any of it. As for the other two children, I told their parents what happened and that was really all I could do.

However, there is good in every situation and because of this, I learned I do have self control when it comes to a mean, bitter little girl who doesn't want anyone else experiencing joy because she has decided to no longer experience it.

But if you're having a bad day, watching your nine month old wave "hi" sure makes it all better!



Please ignore my baby talk. Cade was just being so cute waving with both of his hands.

Advantage of having a 9 year old

SHE can cook!

I was cooking dinner last night and McKinly asked if she could help. I might have misunderstood her because I took her asking to "help" as to mean that she wanted to "finish the rest of the dinner completely."

I was making empanadas. Except I wasn't stuffing them with a dessert filling, I was stuffing them with a little turkey mixture for dinner. All I did was make the turkey mixture for the inside, McKinly did the rest.

I prepared the dough. And by prepare, I mean I took it out of the box and placed it in front of McKinly to roll out.

SHE rolled the dough. SHE cut the dough in nice little circles. SHE stuffed the dough with the turkey. SHE sealed the dough around the edges.

SHE brushed egg yolk on top to make sure it would bake to a golden brown.

SHE placed them nicely on a cookie sheet

and SHE even put them in the oven herself.

SHE's one pretty cool kid!