Getting Ready for the Christmas

It's quite warm here still in sunny AZ.  In the 70's. It's quite ridiculous actually. I miss at least a chill...a breeze...something...ANYTHING. Well...at least it's sunny.

We put the tree up the other day and the boys instantly found Sponge Bob. 

Jonah kept stopping and playing his Leapster.

Noah enjoyed putting the ornaments on. 

Here he is examining a Campbell's Soup ornament from my Grandma.

Yes, they are standing on the edge of the couch.

Jonah confiscated all the stuffed animal ornaments. They now sleep in his "area" with his huge Barry the Bear. He rarely sleeps in bed, instead choosing to be entirely surrounded by all his stuffed animals, pillows, and even toys.

Our subdivision had Santa come by on Sunday so Elijah wanted to stop by and say hello. 

Noah wasn't afraid...

But Jonah wasn't so sure.

Then we played on the playground.

Hmmm...one thing that I haven't mentioned yet on here is that Elijah has a broken arm. You couldn't tell here could you? He fractured his right proximal humerus last Tuesday. This photo was taken the following Sunday. We didn't find out until Friday that it was indeed fractured and we didn't get a sling until Monday. It bothers him when he does certain things...but apparently not when he climbs on the playground.

Gotta love boys. They play hard, have fun, get dirty and, well, stink sometimes. But I love them to death.

Amazingly Wonderful News

On Tuesday we received wonderful news. Elijah went to the cardiologist and we found out that his left heart is no longer enlarged and is WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS!!! Yay! Not only that, the VSD is now measuring 4mm smaller! Double YAY! The plan...we will keep him on his Lisinopril for a year and then have a recheck. At that time we decide whether he stays on the medicine. We are SO happy. So BLESSED! I am so thankful that this now means NO SURGERY for Elijah! Happy Dance!

Of course afterwards we went to the toy store. Elijah added to his wish list lol.

Fall Day

Out here it's hard to say we have a "fall" when fall means so much more in the Midwest. Despite this, it is the end of October and a fall day was bound to happen sometime soon. Okay, okay... it was in the 80's so it was hardly fall weather but after so many >100 degree days...I'll take it.

I will admit it. I was determined to make it a fall day. I started out with making myself a hot salted caramel mocha. It was yummy. I can't say it was quite as good as Starbucks but it was a LOT cheaper and better than a plain run of the mill coffee.  On our breakfast menu...PUMPKIN WAFFLES. Not to be served plain I whipped up some whipping cream and a little sugar and put it on top with some cinnamon sugar. YUMMMMY! Oh..and yummy apple sausages (drooling again as I am typing).

Totally unrelated to fall, Noah found the few baby things that I cannot part with and have stashed away to reminisce about the "good ole' days" when the boys are teenagers and drive me crazy. Just to remind me how little and helpless they were...not the keep up every waking minute and puke all over my hair moments...those we try to forget. Anyway. Noah found this and insisted that he could still fit this. Ummmmm. I don't think so little man.

Back to fall...

Fall means

FOOTBALL!!!!

And of course we HAVE to promote the Maize and Blue. Don't mind the Red Wings shirt thrown in there...I don't have enough Michigan shirts!

Ok...so Elijah wasn't so happy...but Jonah is too cute!

A little better but not sure what happened to the photo....

And finally a beautiful pumpkin bouquet from my wonderful hubby :)

I wish I could say we went to a pumpkin patch or picked apples and got cider and donuts...but I can't. BUT when all my Michigan family and friends are shoveling snow in -whatever degree weather...I'll be groaning and complaining at our 45-50 degrees and sunny. I guess I can't really complain too much then, huh?

Popcorn Poppers

Can you guess our favorite snack?

POPCORN!

They have fun with it.

And they get it ALL OVER!

But it's YUMMY!

Busy Boys

We have busy boys. Extremely busy boys. So much so that sometimes I need to come up with ideas for them to do. Like here Jonah is playing with a concoction of cornstarch and water. It gets hard or liquid-like depending on if you are holding it or not.

Toys work for awhile,

as does pretending you're a super hero.

They are workman...

and sometimes just plain cute.

Unfortunately, sometimes I think that they are animals. Literally. On a few occasions (note: not just once) they have pulled down the curtains in their room.  They have pulled off all of the letters spelling Elijah's name that were over her bed and not satisfied with that, they went back and pulled all of the nails out of the walls. They have knocked giant boards off the wall, broken countless items in our house, trashed our floor with crumbs, milk, spit (yes, spit. They recently learned they can get an "EWWW!" reaction from Elijah when they drink water and then spit it out at him. Gross, I know). We have shampooed our carpets but to be honest that lasts, what, a week? Maybe?  I just clean up one thing and they get out another. I can barely get laundry done and the dishes cleaned up. They scream ALL-THE-TIME. And there are daily battles with what clothes they wear as Noah has become SOOOO picky about having favorite characters on his shirts/pajamas. Thankfully some days are better than others and I feel like I have entirely different children. I only with I knew what exactly caused the different "better" behavior because I would love for the good days to be the norm.

Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised that I have been suffering daily headaches. They are sometimes accompanied by nausea. Sometimes dizziness. Sometimes the dizziness lasts all day. I have random twitches. I feel like I can't think. I can't ever find anything because someone has taken it and put it somewhere (hopefully not the toilet). My poor feet (and Jake's) step on dinosaurs, legos, army men, and action figures. I think I may be suffering from some anxiety. It is very hard for me to focus on things right now. I really wish I could know that this is a short-lived thing. To be honest, this "boy" thing is foreign to me. I know I have a brother, but he wasn't this crazy. They have so much energy. If only we had a finished backyard with a huge jungle gym that I could have them use all the energy. Sigh...Maybe I could win a new backyard from Better Homes and Gardens. Maybe I should put an ad on Craigslist. "Frazzled mom desires complete complimentary backyard remodel suitable for 3 young rambunctious boys to be gated in so she can make dinner in peace." Ha! If only it were so easy.

Oh well. Right now they are watching Horton Hears a Who and are somewhat quiet. Maybe if I make them popcorn it will last a little longer and I can take some Advil and actually drink a HOT cup of tea (in other words drink it right after I poured it instead of it sitting for 3 hours before I remember I poured it). 

Sad Little Ear

Well, I guess with three boys it's inevitable. At some point we were bound to be in the ER, right? Well, Noah hit two and then decided the next day (Tuesday) to take a visit. He hit his head and split his ear requiring 6 hours and 6 stitches in the ER. Poor little guy! Today it looks much better. He points to it and says "Ear. Owie. BooBoo."

He can still give me a cheesy grin though!

2nd Birthday Party!

I can't believe this was two years ago!

Happy Birthday BOYS!

Here's a photo shoot before the party.

Here's the alien (from Toy Story) cupcakes we made.

As well as the little cakes for Jonah and Noah. I also made one of my awesome triple chocolate cakes. 

All decorated and ready for guests!

We just woke up from our naps and are ready to party!

Do you like all the mismatched bedding? We love all sorts of characters and want a little bit of everybody on our beds!

So when's the cake?

I got it!

Yay!

Dad, I just can't get this candle thing!

This is how you do it, right?

Presents!

Hey, let me see that!

The boys made out like bandits! It's almost like Christmas when you celebrate TWO birthdays at once! 

Happy Birthday BUDDIES!