Christmas pics

My house is semi-clean(it could be better), so I rewarded myself with some computer time. Here's some of the pictures from this Christmas...

Coming down from the Christmas high.

Whoa! It has been a busy week. The build up from Christmas is finally over and it's hard to get back into the swing of things. I woke up this morning with every intention of cleaning the house, but I never really managed to get up off the couch or out of this computer chair, so our house still looks like Christmas morning. I really need to get motivated though because we leave in 3 days for SoCal and I don't even know where anything is!
Christmas was awesome. We started out with a get together at our house on Dec. 23. It was a fun and relaxed evening even with 9 kids running around.
Christmas Eve started out a little rough for Mia she got place on the naughty list that morning and Aaron and I were trying to figure out what we would do if she didn't straighten up. That afternoon we went up to Aaron's parent's for a big feast with all the cousins. And again there were 9 kids running around. Luckily Mia was really good and got place back on the "nice list" at the last minute. We did return to our house so Santa could find us. We started setting gifts out about 30 minutes after the kids went to bed, and it was a good thing too because Mia woke up at 1:30am, then again at 2:30, but then when Nana told her Santa might come back and take all the stuff back she didn't get up again until 7:20. If we had started much later she might have caught us playing Santa!
Christmas morning met us with a lot of bright smiles. Noah had a wonderful 1st Christmas and as usual he had more fun playing with the ripped up wrapping and bows than with the toys. Mia and Kai were delighted with their stockings and new toys. I'll put up pictures as soon as I have a clean house (could be tomorrow night, might not be until 2008!) Just in case...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

It's a nephew!

In other words Ryan and Maria are expecting another little boy in May. It's just what they wanted and who could blame them look what a cutie pie their little guy Gavin is! I just want to squeeze him, I love him in this picture from their Christmas card. They really wanted Gavin to have a little brother close in age and after seeing my two little guys together, I know how incredibly awesome it is to see that special bond between brothers grow. Aaron's a little jealous when he see's them play together, just this weekend Kai and Noah were doing their version of "wrestling" and Aaron said "that's so cool, I wish I had a brother!" So congrats to them and we can't wait for the newest family member to arrive. I'm sure Kai, Gavin, Noah and baby "M" will have a lot of fun when we get together. Mia's quite outnumbered now, but I'm sure she'll enjoy bossing those boys around!

Boooo! Taco Bell

All I have to say is the chili is gone. Yesterday Aaron and I went to go grab chilitos and we were informed they took chili back off the menu. I'm sure you know we were disappointed since I even felt the need to blog on our excitement when the chilitos first returned >>>here
What teasers those people at Taco Bell are.

Didn't want to jinx it!

Alright so we got the kids bunk beds! I was going to write about it the day after we got them, but then I thought "what if I write about how well it's going and then it backfires." SO.....it's been nearly 3 weeks and I feel like I can safely say the transition for Kai from his crib to a bed has been so easy. It's almost like there wasn't even a transfer from the crib to a big boy bed. Once we put him to bed there hasn't been a night of up and down and it's funny, he won't get out of bed unless someone comes to get him. It's like he'd been in his crib so long it's just what he was use to. I was so nervous because Mia's transition to a regular bed was awful and we ended up having to put her back in the crib for a couple months. This is how Kai's first night went:
ME: Ok, time for bed
Kai: (Climbs under the cover)
ME: I love you
Kai: La lu (love you) mommy
ME: (closes the door)
Mia and Kai: (silence...10 minutes later asleep!)
And that's pretty much how it's been every night since.
Mia loves having the top bunk and especially loves her mermaid comforter. I wanted to get something that semi-matched, but was boy girl. I know Potter Barn kids has a lot of his/her kid patterns, but everything was too grown up, so I was very happy when I found the Pirate bedding for Kai and Mermaids for Mia on olivekids.com that was still youthful and fun like I had in mind.
By moving Kai into Mia's room we were able to move Noah out of our room and into Kai's old room. Now Noah and I are getting much more sleep which always makes for a :) mommy.

What am I supposed to do with that?

This is what Mia asked Santa for. I don't want all those junky toys that are the "prizes" floating around my house and I also don't want to store the case once she's done getting all the prizes out. I especially don't want to buy more junk for a refill. Seems like a giant waste of $50.

Monday follow up

So the day definitely got better. It helped that Monday is one of Aaron's nights off from the airport. I got a little bit of a break once he got home(and I didn't really schedule anything for him, I just told him I was). To add to my cleaning guilt though, that same night I watched the show John and Kate plus 8-it's a show about a couple who had 8 kids in just two pregnancies, there's twins and sextuplets. EEEK! Well Kate stays home with them all and I cannot believe the amount of cleaning she gets done in a day! She mops every day, wipes her counters and cleans her sink and stove three times a day, she dusts and vacuums her whole house throughout the day, every day. Then of course her never ending laundry in a 10 person household. She also seems to organize something in her house in every episode. She was going through all the shoes and organizing her shoe racks in the show I watched. I mean what is MY excuse with only three kids?!
To put some cheer in our Monday we took the kids to see Santa for FHE. I love going early in December so we don't have to wait in a long line for our visit. It also helps with the Christmas shopping because Mia keeps changing her mind about what she wants Santa to bring her so I tell her once she's told Santa what she wants, that's it. The kids did really well. I was a little worried Kai would freak out, but he was happy to sit next to him after he saw his big sister and little brother in Santa's lap. He even said "toys please". Mia of course asked for something I don't want to get her, so we'll see how to get around that! Noah was so intrigued by Santa that we couldn't get him to look for a photo. He was just staring at Santa's face and rubbing the furry white lining of Santa's coat. So it's a relief to say it's one thing off the "to do" christmas list and that the kids all enjoyed it. Only 20 days until Christmas!

OH, and Kai steers clear of the fireplace now, but little Noah is still completely intrigued by it and we've had to usher him away more than once.

That's what I get for doing the dishes!

GRRR! I am so mad, and I am NOT just saying that. I am about to have a massive vent session here. So all last week I spent my time cleaning up throw up(all Kai) and wiping never ending snot(Kai and Noah). I didn't get much done around the house because of it. Saturday, Sunday and today I have been constantly been playing catch up with chores-and it's not even deep cleaning just the stuff that has to get done. So both the boys were sitting in front of the TV eating cheerios and I went to do my mountain of dishes. All I have left are the dishes that need to be done by hand and I look up and don't see them in the living room, I look in the playroom, no boys. I go into their bedroom, no boys! What the heck? I go back out in the living room and there's my answer they are IN the fireplace, not standing in front actually inside playing in the ash and soot. We have screen in front, but even Noah can push it aside, we've tried putting bricks in front, but it's not enough. It's a wood burning fireplace and I was just glad that we didn't have a fire last night so they weren't burned by the embers. Anyway, Noah had it the worst. It was in his mouth, his hands were black, and the front side of him was covered in ash. I spent a few minutes flushing out his mouth and stripped him down and started a tub. Grabbed Kai and had an out of the ordinary morning bath. So there my boys were all clean, smelling sweet in their fresh clothes and you think my story would end there, but it doesn't. I put them in the playroom and dump out a huge tub of toys and figure that will keep them occupied. I finish my dishes, check on them, they're happy as freaking clams. I go back to my bedroom to sort laundry and a couple minutes later I notice their voices sound further away. I run out and I am almost beside myself, they are BACK INSIDE THE FIREPLACE. Noah had on a cute Christmas shirt that was of course white and now is probably ruined. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs. I was shouting "NO" and popped them both on the bottom, I hope that gets the message across for them to -Keep Out-. Yes, I popped a 10 month old on the bottom, call CPS on me I'm a terrible mother. They were both crying, I was almost crying I couldn't believe 15 minutes after they were both scrubbed clean, I had to do it again. I couldn't believe that all I was trying to do was catch up on my housework and it just turned out so bad. I put them in my shower this time for a quick rinse off, I wasn't going through the whole 9 yards again. Noah and Kai were both trying to get out on different sides of the shower and Kai runs Noah's finger over with the shower door, so now Noah is screaming again and blood is dripping. I am ready to pull a Marie Osmond at this point and I'm not talking about her fainting episode, remember a few years ago when she ran off and didn't tell her family where she was?? Yeah, I'm ready to pull that kind of Marie Osmond! I fix Noah up and dry them off, dress them for the third time before 11 am and give them snuggles so they know I still love them. Then I called Aaron and told him I am scheduling a vasectomy for him, I can't handle any more kids! Now I feel like I can't even use the bathroom, for fear of them climbing into the fireplace and I am dreading getting a christmas tree. I want a 4 footer that I can put on a table, but Aaron says no way. Easy for him to say I am the one who will have to sit in front of it all day long to keep the kids away from it. Bah humbug!!!! Not a good way to start the week :(