Big Girl Bed...

So we got a free twin mattress through the hub's second (actually, third) job. So very suddenly (last night) she went from her crib to a twin mattress on the floor. We were somewhat concerned about how it would go. Well, let me report that it's going AWESOME!

Last night we kept them up a bit to help her be tired and hopefully not fight the bed too much. She got up once and went to the door. (Where Mr. Cop Moose came out and told on her.) Then she cried out maybe 3 other times after that, but from her bed. Usually, her pacifier was missing.  She woke up once or twice last night. I can't remember. But was easily put back to sleep.

For today's nap, she didn't even get out of bed once! It was so awesome! And when she woke up, she just got up and opened the door herself. It was so sweet! I praised her a ton and gave her a candy for sleeping like such a big girl.

Tonight I was out while the hubs put the kids down. He kept them up again, hoping to tire her out and facilitate going to bed. Apparently, she didn't get out of bed once. I can't wait to check on her and see exactly where on that mattress she is. :)

Soo happy to have such a great 4 1/2 year old who's such a good example to his little sister. This transition is (so far) going SO much easier than I thought it would. When we brought the mattress into their room (the crib was already re-assembled in my bedroom) she ran into her room and got on it, super excited. I asked her if it was her new bed and she said, "Uh huh."

Love it. :)

Threats...

Lately Monkey has been quite the stinker about going to bed. She now refuses to be put to bed by the hubs if I'm at home. And most recently she throws a fit whenever we close the door. Last night she was being a real tough cookie, and I was bothered. She eventually quieted down, but it was such a fuss. Today's naptime looked like she was trying the same tactic, and I had had it. So I went to her and said that if she didn't cut it out, I would take away her pacifier. That did the trick. I did it again tonight, and she didn't throw a single fit. Yay for that. We'll see how long it lasts. (And no, it's not an empty threat. I would take it away.)

We got out Christmas decorations today. Me and Moose put them out. We're doing the tree tomorrow. Which, by the way, we have a fake tree that we've had for a few years now. Great for apartments. But Moose went Christmas treeing with the fam and he picked out a perfect little tree for the kids room. He told my mother in law that it was the perfect tree. Too cute. So we're going to set it up in their room and let the kids put paper chains, strung popcorn, and painted styrofoam balls all over it. So long as they don't beat on it, it can stay in there. The hubs was actually for the idea, so I jumped on board. I think it'll be adorable. I guess we'll have to get them some lights too. I think Moose will just love it.

We're completely covered in snow here. It really makes it feel Christmasy. I'm actually really excited about all the countdowns we'll have going on. We have at least 2 advent calendars here at the house we'll be doing. Too fun. I just love how infectious the spirit of Christmas is! (Moose makes it even more so!)

Gold Digger...

As I was reading Monkey's book for bed tonight, she randomly put her finger in her nose. Not entirely unusual. When I told her not to do it and helped to take it out, she revealed one big booger sitting on the end of her finger. Based on her reaction, I think the discovery was entirely accidental, though she was quite intrigued with it while we waited for Moose to quickly grab us a tissue. (I refused to move, keeping my hand on hers so that boogie didn't end up somewhere other than in the tissue.)  Oh the joys of storytime with little kids. :)

Happy Thanksgiving...

A wonderful Thanksgiving to everyone! Today was a very laid back and relaxed Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful. I spent the morning with my two adorable kiddos playing with each other, happily, for such a long time while I made rolls. Then they took wonderful naps while me and the hubs got the rest of our food contributions ready and cleaned up. We had a fantastic meal with family (who also happen to be friends!) and just had a great time.  What an amazing way to spend a day.

Today I am amazingly thankful for my kids, the one who inspire me every day, and led me to write this little blog of ditties every day. (Well, mostly every day.)  I am supremely thankful for my husband. He cooks, he cleans, he gives unselfishly every day. He's my daily battery that keeps me going and is constantly reminding me why I do what I do, and that I'm actually good at it.  I am thankful for my family, all the crazy siblings I grew up with, my parents, my new family and their kids. I have been so blessed with family that a day can't go by that I don't think of it.  I have so many wonderful people in my life, many who read this little blog. As we've moved around many times in our 6 1/2 years together, we've been able to have a new family everywhere we go. It's been such a pick-me-up. I have so much to be thankful for everyday, and I truly do my best to remember. But on a day like this, you just have to say these things out loud. (Or well, publicly.)

I hope everyone was able to remember one good thing today, one blessing. Sometimes I feel so spoiled, because I have enough to share multiple times over. Hopefully my little thoughts are one way I can do that. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and a huge *thank you* to everyone who reads my little thoughts on motherhood and life.

Snow Day...

Today was a good old snow day. We had tons of snow yesterday and last night, and it was uber cold today. Even I got a bit stir crazy, wanting to go out, but knowing the cold would stop the kids from enjoying the snow play. But fortunately the hubs won't be working a full day tomorrow, since he's not in school, so we might be able to  make a go of snow play, even though it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow than it was today.

I'm still working on Project 2, and started Project 3, which is for Moose. It's a little bag for him to carry his scriptures to church. It's pretty darn cute. It's the most simple project I'm doing for Christmas, so I thought I'd do it early on, to help me get my sewing mojo.
We still don't have a name for Baby 3. We recently looked at our family trees to try and find some fun and interesting names. There are a few. But mostly I've been pretty uninspired. I know it's going to be the same as last time, and it will hit us in one day and we'll get our creative flow and pick the first and middle name in one sitting.  I just don't have a list of girl's names in the back of my mind. If we were having a girl, the first name would be chosen. I've thought about using it for a girl's name (it's one of those that goes either way) but I think I'm going to wait and save it for a boy. I'm pretty sure we'll have at least one more baby, and it could be a boy. That's years away, but I really had my mind set on using the name for a boy.

Any name suggestions? We like traditional names that might be out of use. We dig scriptural names, or names with cool meanings. But we really have no clue what direction we're going in. We will certainly take any suggestions we can get. :)

Thanskgiving is coming. Hope you all enjoy the day with people you care about. We're having a huge gathering. It might hamper my posting over the next 2-3 days. But I will certainly have things to talk about, with around 20+ people coming for dinner. Should be interesting...

:)

Banshee...

Today was my day one for getting Christmas Projects done. I did pretty good. Although the project I worked on was actually not Christmas related. But I bought the rest of my pillow cover fabric at the same time, so I got it done first. Although I am starting to work on a cross-stitch project tonight, that is Christmas related, which I'll probably work on a bit every night.

Today was a super stormy snowy day. Moose was rather bummed out that we couldn't go play in the snow. It was just so darn windy, it would've been pretty miserable. Especially for little Monkey who is still so new to snow, since she doesn't remember her first winter in it.

So, Monkey might be unofficially named Banshee if I have anything to say about it.  Yesterday night she was sitting and playing with a toy. She was having a hard time with something and got frustrated, and so she dropped what was in her hands and screamed as loud as she could. It was really funny at the time because you could tell it was born of pure frustration, though I made myself keep a straight face, not wanting to encourage that type of screaming.

But she seemed to like something about it, because everytime she got frustrated today, or maybe even just for no real reason, she let out a scream that I associate with horror movies. She spent a large portion of the morning in time out. This is one of those things that was only cute the first time. Not a single time after.

And I can only imagine what our neighbors must be thinking. :)

Deep Fat Fryer...

So today was a pretty ordinary Sunday for us. The most unusual and exciting thing that happened was we inherited a bunch of kitchen appliances and tools from the hub's Grandma. Among those appliances is a deep fat fryer. I've been wanting one of these for a while now. I'm not a big fried food eater, but I have come across a number of recipes that use fryers. The foods on the menu tonight both happened to be things that could be fried. (Chicken strips and french fries.) I wasn't going to be frying them, since I wasn't anticipating having one, but we got one, so I fried!

So for dinner, we ate McDonald's at home. I thought it was super good. The hubs did too. The kids ate okay. Monkey doesn't eat that stuff very well anyhow. Moose liked my french fries. We also borrowed an apple peeler-corer-slicer and they did up a bunch of apples at the table. Moose absolutely loved doing this. It was better than playing at the park. He happily rinsed off apples, and then was able to turn the crank and eat his delicious creations. It was ultimately a super fun dinner. Most unexpected and wonderful.

That was the most exciting thing that happened today. We're currently dehydrating the apples that weren't eaten at dinner. (Another acquisition from Grandma.) Hope they turn out. We'll be snacking dried apples for the next few days.

Can't wait to see Grandma in a few days and tell her what an exciting dinner we had thanks to her! :)

Christmas Shopping...

So the hubs and I did a bunch of Christmas shopping yesterday. (Half of which is now wrapped.) This evening after he got home from work, I went off on my own to JoAnns to pick up materials for the homemade projects I have in mind. I was actually able to stay in budget (Yay!) and I'm super excited. Most of them are really easy, so they shouldn't take too long. I can't wait.

Moose saw the wrapped presents when he got up from his nap. He wanted to know who they were for and which were his. He's so excited. As we said good night he asked me when the new month would begin. I told him not until after Thanksgiving. Then he got excited and said something about, "That's when Christmas comes!" It's so cute.

I'm pretty eager for Thanksgiving to be over. Not that I'm not thankful. :)  I'm so excited to get out Christmas decorations, satisfy my urge to bake (won't have time til Thanksgiving is over for that.), and decorate the tree. I love the anticipation I get from Moose. Last year he was jazzed about opening the presents, but he didn't have the anticipation. Moose has been waiting for Christmas all year long. It's so cute. It just brings out the childhood excitement for me all over again. Only now I'm excited to watch my kids open their presents, not to open my own.

Oh, have I mentioned we're not teaching him about Santa? I don't remember ever believing in Santa and I was fine. I just can't lie to him about some fictional big guy going down chimneys and bringing him presents. (I don't think it's wrong to do so, I just can't bring myself to do it.) I'm very proud of the fact that we bought those presents with our hard-earned money. Not Santa. Anyway, what are your philosophies on Santa? Like I said, I'm not against him. But my kid might be the one who decides to tell your kid he's not real. :)

Movie Night...

Spent our date night Christmas shopping. Was actually quite fine. Makes me super excited to watch them open their Christmas presents. Now we're having movie night with MOose. We got How To Train Your Dragon in the mail today. So we're letting Moose stay up way late and watch it with me and the hubs, while we scarf down some dinner. Spent our whole eating time shopping. Can't wait to wrap it all! :)

On with the movie and popcorn!

Tears and Time out...

So the last few days, Moose has been particularly weepy. My only guess is because he's been waking up super early to go to the bathroom. He goes back to bed, but I'm sure it disrupts his sleep, and I don't know how much he sleeps when he goes back to bed. This morning, it was in the 5 o'clock hour. (Maybe even around 5:00) The smallest things set him off and he literally starts bawling. So I severely limited any liquid intake this evening to try and prevent a super early potty trip. We'll see what happens.

Monkey has been a semi-permanent fixture in time out today. Mostly for yelling. My father-in-law and I discussed this just recently. Girls have a thing for screaming. Some boys do too, but it's still not the same decibel level that girls have. Something about girls and screaming. Anyhow, so she spent time there for that. And for not sitting in her chair at dinner. Even if we buckle her into her high chair, she can still get onto her knees and turn around. (I admit, I hate the buckle on our high chair. Silly design.) She just can't sit still in that chair very long. (Which I know is normal.) So she spent much of dinner in time out for not sitting in her chair. Oh, and for throwing. I don't know if she understands exactly what throwing means. It wouldn't surprise me, but I try to give her some wiggle room. But she was sent there a few times for throwing legos too. Was a few inches away from taking out one of Moose's eyes.

Tomorrow starts the Christmas shopping for us. We're going to go out during our date night tomorrow and start looking/buying. Pretty exciting. :) This is the first year we've had a budget to spend Christmas money on our kids, and we're pretty jazzed about it. It's hard to decide what to get though. But I know they'll love whatever they get. And they're getting plenty spoiled from their grandparents too. Lucky kiddos. :)