Family time

Yay for family time! We are about to have an entire week together as a family. Jeff doesn't have to go back to work until next Sat. We are so excited because our time together is so limited with his busy work schedule.

Recently we took a trip to the Strasburg Railroad and took a ride on the Santa train to a town called Paradise. It was a nice time - there were carollers, a visit from Santa, presents from Santa, people playing instruments, Conductors. The whole thing was rather exciting for the kids and it was nice because other than one other family we had the whole car to ourselves!

Ho Ho Ho 2011

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!

Santa photo 2011

Why are the kids matching and the adults are not? Well because we never intended on being in the photo. The babies wanted NO parts of sitting with Santa so it became an impromptu family photo op.  Piper was ok if she got to stand at a distance and tell Santa what she wanted, but forget sitting on his lap. Of course Peyton woke up with a swollen eye that day too. But regardless, we ended up with a decent photo.

The kids wishlist from Santa:

Peyton: Sonic DS game

Parker: Red Power Ranger

Piper: Pink tutu

Paxton: doesn't have one but Santa is getting him a Weeble treehouse.

Not me Hodgpodge

Follow Not Me Monday over on  MckMama's blog.

Not Me Hodgepodge:


We did NOT decide to take the kids to the Strasburg Railroad yesterday to ride the Santa train and skip nap. We were definitely NOT gone for 7.5 hours to come home with 4 exhausted kids – one of which was so tired, but so happy to be out of the car that in his racing around the kitchen and dining room did NOT stumble and hit his chin on a bin that I have NOT neglected to put away. This said toddler did NOT put his teeth into his lip and have a nasty cut on his lip only days from Christmas and all the photos that will be taken.

I did NOT attempt to get last weeks 5 baskets full of laundry put away while a starting this weeks. I would NEVER be that far behind on laundry and we would NEVER be living out of baskets only to be running out of clothes in those. I would NEVER attempt doing all this with 3 exhausted toddlers who are NOT at each other’s throats because of no nap yesterday because their parents’ would NEVER skip nap!

I would NEVER be this far behind and still be working on my Christmas cards! They are definitely in the mail and on their way to make it there before Christmas!! And I would definitely NOT be so far behind on all the class gifts, teacher gifts, and family gifts that are going out before Christmas. I bought them so early and would NEVER have a mile long list of all the things needed to accomplish this week. I was smart and did a little every week leading up so there was no last minute scramble.

Let there be heat!

We have had some wacky weather here in Pennsylvania. It snowed for Halloween...

Was in the 60s when we picked out our Christmas tree and in the 70s later that week!

And then we lost our heat and it happened to be the coldest days yet this season!!! Of course our heater breaks when the temps are in the 30s during the day and 20s at night! Thankfully though my cousin was able to order the parts and we now have a working heater again! (now that its near 60 again!) :)

Oh Parker!

Parker is a handful!! Not much more needs to be said about this one, but I will for the sake of entertainment.

Parker is the one who gets into EVERYTHING and that just might be the biggest understatement of the year! He is great at "exploring". I like to let him and Peyton down in the playroom together (typically they play together and its a nice break for me to only have the 2 in the living room with me and the other two entertaining themselves for a little). It doesn't take long before he is into something he shouldn't be. He's VERY sneaky about it too.

Recently we have caught him in the laundry room opening the water softener taking the salt out and sprinkling the floor with it. Going in my closet full of all my card supplies and taking ink pads and rubbing them all over the carpeting and himself, dumping 3 jars of glitter all over my stuff, opening and ruining several other ink pads and putting glitter on them - everything he touched was ruined including our carpets! I just stood there and cried out of shear frustration with him as well as the fact that so much of my stuff was ruined. Thankfully Jeff was here that day to help me clean it up.

He's not only great at not respecting boundaries, he is absolutely STUBBORN!! Last night he decided to get up and ask me for a drink. I decided to oblige to avoid the multiple trips to my room begging because he didn't get what he wanted and waking everyone else in the mean time. Clearly picking my battles and hoping for the best. I make him use the potty, get him the drink, and he takes it to his bed. He then decides he doesn't want it as soon as he gets in his bed. GRRR!!! You made me get out of bed for this! So, we sit it leaning against his pillow to "save for later". I climb the two flights of stairs to my room and climb back in bed. Just seconds from falling asleep again and I hear "Mommy, my drink fell down". "Well pick it up". "I can't!" So, I go with him expecting to see it on the floor or behind his bed.....where was it you ask? It was on the bed - it had fallen onto its side right in front of the pillow!!!!!! He rights the cup and I say "You have got to be kidding me!!!! You got me up for this! You can pick up your own cup! DON'T YOU DARE GET OUT OF YOUR BED AGAIN!!!!!"

Oh, Parker!!!

Birthday Suit

Not Me Monday is back and you can check it out on MckMama's blog.

Here's my Not Me Monday!

The other night, I went in to check on our two year old daughter before I went to bed, as I do every night, and did NOT find her naked from the waist down! She most definitely is NOT following in the dreaded footsteps of one of her older brothers! She did NOT have her diaper off and thrown into her closet, the top of her pjs still on and snapped with just her bare legs hanging out. She most definitely did NOT just pee ALL over herself and the crib to the point where I was NOT giving her a bath at 11:00 at night and there was NOT a puddle sitting on her vinyl mattress. She did NOT scream through her entire bath to then start giggling over how cute her new jammies were to then laughing at herself for tooting as I was dressing her. Nope, not my daughter!
As she is NOT dancing around the room, I am NOT having to go and get my tweezers to get a knot out of her dripping wet bumper and in doing so did NOT find one, two, or three binkies under her crib, BUT 6!!! I am an awesome mother and would never forget to pull out the crib just a few inches further to see if there were any binkies under there during my weekly check. She did NOT get super excited to find them all and want to have them all back in her bed! She did NOT proceed to ask me a hundred questions as part of her “what’s that?” phase as I am barely walking around absolutely exhausted and about to pee my pants because I do NOT have the bladder muscles of someone who has had four babies!!


Oh, and this did NOT happen on the night my husband left on a hunting trip! I NEVER have to handle these fun things all on my own!

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you've ever had one of these you know they rock! This recipe makes a TON of cookies so next time I will be halving it. I actually got this recipe from a Jane Green book I read "Promises to Keep" - good read by the way!

Ingredients:
5 cups blended oatmeal
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 pounds chocolate chips (I used semi sweet - want to try milk choc. next time)
8 oz good quality dark chocolate, grated (I used Ghiradelli semi sweet reg choc, not dark bc I couldn't find dark)
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice - I didn't put these in)

Method:
Preheat to 375 degrees F

Grind oatmeal in a food processor until it is a fine powder

Cream the butter and the white and brown sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla. Stir the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda into the mixture. Add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate (I put mine in the food processor bc my grater didn't work well - just don't turn too much of it into a powder - keep it chunky), and nuts (I left these out).

Roll into balls and place 2 in apart on cookie sheet, or drop by teasponfool onto cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 min or 10-12 for crispier cookie.

MINE!!

MY FAMILY

If you have recently followed my status updates on Facebook, you've heard this from me - I am forever amazed at how ignorant and judgmental people are!!! I have 4 kids yes. They are all mine and I am NOT crazy for having 4 kids. I love EVERY one of them and although life might get kind of crazy around here and I am often found pulling my hair out and melting into a puddle of frustration, I love that we have 4 kids and that our family is as big as it is!
Do I ask the parent of an only child or two for that matter whether you are going to have any more? Do I ask you if you know how babies are made? Do I ask you if are crazy for only having one? Do I stand in a store and silently judge you with my facial expressions? Do I tell you how to discipline your children? Do I assume that because it worked for my children it MUST work for your child(ren)? Do I question your age or your marital status? Do I outwardly call you insane, crazy, or a lunatic as if this couldn't possibly be how you chose to live your life? NOOOOO I do not!! Its none of my business and neither is me having 4!!! SO BUTT OUT!!!!!!!!!!

Paxman

Some fun with Paxton...

Trying out Daddy's slippers

Which way are you going Pax?

Our little thug

Inevitable

This is how Piper most often spends her days - decked out in her tutu, princess slippers, and on occasion her sunglasses. (and on this particular day she has a dress on too!) All "girlied" out!!

If you spend even five minutes in our house you will most likely hear a lot of fantastic vocabulary revolving around "poop, butts, and farts" followed by huge belly laughs because with 3 boys in the house (not including Paxton here) this is all apparently gut bustingly funny! Well, it has rubbed off on our sweet, girly girl, 2 year old princess. Not only does she say these things, but she finds them just as funny! So, there are inevitably two sides to this little girl who loves her princesses, but loves her brothers and Daddy even more!!

HALLOWEEN 2011

Dinosaurs, monkies, and a princess fairy

Pinkalicious: Piper is in love with the book series Pinkalicious so that's what she was for Halloween. I had a blast with this - my first all out girly costume!

Paxmonkey (which he is often called on a normal day)

The cousins

The fairies - this was totally unplanned but they looked so cute together

The boys (minus one very active monkey)

These teeth are courtesy of Aunt Dorothy - they were the hit of the night

The gang

The aftermath of wearing her hair in pigtails!

HAPPY 'BELATED' HALLOWEEN!

Do over??

So today was just an all around crappy day. Everything just seemed to fall apart all at once! I needed to vent so I sent Jeff an email, that I will now share with you...(I must preface this by saying I never give the kids Koolaid, but decided to allow them to have it as a special treat)



Today has been such a horrible day!!!!!!!!! We get to the park and Parker wipes out and is covered from head to toe (literally) with mud! Then this woman decides to YELL at the boys for the sticks that they had just picked up - I didn't even get a chance to say anything to them. She goes over and physically removes them from their hands and throws them in the grass area. If that wasn't enough to set me off - her kid was following Pax around and picking him up. The one time he was going for the steps and she lifted him and dropped him! Of course the lady had an excuse as to why it was ok everytime she did something she shouldn't have.







Then Peyton was bad, was pushing to go first and Sissy wiped out in the parking lot. He was throwing a tantrum over the Koolaid I took away as punishment while Piper was having her 100th tantrum of the day over having to get in the car.






We finally get home and they are eating lunch. They finish and I go out to the car to get the bag. I come back in to Parker standing by the gate with throw up running down his chin and belly. He threw up spaghettios and meatballs, oranges, and red koolaid in the living room, hitting blocks, toys, toy bins. Pax is over playing in it with his hands, his feet are covered, pants soaked. I get his stuff off, put him in the pack n play where he poops. Meanwhile Peyton is in the bathroom so I have Parker standing by the trashcan and he eventually says he's fine. Next thing I know he is throwing up all over the kitchen floor!!!! This whole time Piper is sitting in her chair with spaghettios and oranges - do I need to tell you how that ended up???






I have to somehow wrestle Pax to get his diaper changed and shirt off so I can wash all the throw up off in the tub. Parker is in the tub too and Pax is screaming his head off!! The throw up is now all over me!





This whole time Peyton is continually asking me for the darn koolaid!!!!!!!!!!






Oh yeah, Parker peed all over the bathroom floor!!!!






This is coming off of a rough weekend too - on Sat I went to the Post Office to mail a few packages. A 10 minute trip tops! On my way home I need to get over so that I can go around these people riding bikes.  I end up driving over someone's brake pad and it pops my tire!! Did I mention I have ALL 4 kids with me???
 
Jeff is at work, about 2 hours until he can get to me, my parents are on their way to a funeral, my brother is working, so I call Jeff's dad. He comes to help me, still hoping for about a 20 min tire change and we can all be on our way. No such luck!!! He can't get the spare tire to come down and has to go get me a new tire put on my wheel. The kids are going crazy at this point, I let them out, and Paxton falls headfirst into the pavement and scrapes up his face, gets a huge lump on his eyebrow.....I call my sister in law and she is able to come but can only fit 2 of the 4 in her car. Jeff's dad takes the other two back to the house to meet Emily. During this whole fiasco, the car doors are open, my lights are on... the battery dies!!!! Finally after 2 plus hours I am finally able to go home to find out that my neice was supposed to go to a playdate with a friend and because they had to come get my kids she couldn't go!!! I wanted to cry right along with her!!!

Trick or Treat

TRICK...

OR TREAT...



This is Paxton's latest trick he attempted. I left him buckled in a five point harness in his high chair while I took Parker to the bathroom. I came back out to find Paxton standing on the tray of his high chair!!! I grabbed him with one hand and reached for my camera. He then realized it was a little scary and wouldn't stand back up for me to take the pic how I found him.

Paxton's new trick

Paxton's latest trick is to climb up on the couches and go from one end to the other, over the end table, onto the loveseat and back. The other kids think this is hilarious! I take him down, and take one step away from him and he is instantly back up on that couch!

Bulldozing his way across...

Caught red handed!

Thinks he's hotstuff!!

Why doesn't he have pants on you ask? Well because I was too tired to wrestle them back on after a diaper change.

Pumpkin Festival

We took the kids to a Pumpkin Festival. The pumpkins we got from there were horrible (rotted within days), but other than that we had a great time!

Jumping away in the moonbounce.

Sissy on the slide (and yes they are all wearing coordinating outfits) :)

Paxman enjoying the haybales and pinecone while the kids jumped.

Our four pumpkins on a hayride.

Daddy's girl

Parker's got his Mama's sensitive eyes and Peyton has his Mama's sweat gene!

Driving the old bus

A pitstop in the maze

Argh!!

Scooby posing for a pic with the boys.

 \

Parker trying out the bus.



Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon

On Sunday I participated in the Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. It was my first ever and I didn't necessarily love it while I was running it, but I'm ready to do another one! I struggled more than I thought I would and unfortunately just had a bad running day. I knew from the get go it was going to be a LONG 13.1 miles, but nevertheless I crossed the finish line.

Here are some of the photos from that day.

Center City shot - this was soon after the cross over the start line.

Don't mind all the faces I am making in the photos - this was at the end when they surprised us with a hill just before the finish line. I'm in the zone and just ready to be done in this photo.

Staring at the ground helps to keep me focused on the here and now rather than how far I have to go.

Don't know the guy next to me, in fact I don't even remember running past him.

A cell phone shot just before the race started....this is the friend that I trained with throughout the summer and ran the race with., Sandie.

AND....the FINISHLINE!!! I couldn't have been happier to see something come to an end! I am in the this photo - on the left behind the person with their hands on top of their head.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to do something like this. Running is my outlet and I have really come to enjoy it, so being able to accomplish running a half marthon was a great feeling! Thanks needs to go to Jeff and my parents for watching the kids so I could get my training runs in!!

Piper's 1st day

I may be biased, but I think she is just so adorable. I want to eat her up!!! She was so excited to go to her first day of school/playgroup and of course Mommy had her all decked out in a new outfit (right down to the shoes). She had a blast!!

1st days of school

No one wanted to smile for me for their first day of school photos. Peyton started 1st grade on Aug 31 and is loving it!

To his defense he was coming off of battling a stomach bug...

Parker started preschool today. He did ok. He cried when I first dropped him off. He is much different than Peyton so that was an adjustment for me. I struggled to hold it together seeing him cry because I was leaving him, but when I picked him up he was smiling.

Unfortunately on the way to pick up Parker, someone pulled out in front of me and I had to slam on my breaks, getting the back one stuck!! I was stranded in the parking lot with Jeff two hours away at the Hazleton plant for work! Fortunately my Sister in law saved me and picked us all up!!!! Thanks Em!

It felt like a "Not Me Monday!"....My flip flop broke while running errands with Piper and Paxton, I am 2 minutes late picking up Parker because of having to run home to get new shoes (it was either that or go in on his first day barefoot - great first impression that would have been), not to mention the whole car situation, then its 1:00 and the kids still haven't eaten lunch due to the car breaking down, we get home and I see that the chicken I was defrosting for dinner leaked raw meat juice all over the counter and floor (guessing there was a hole I didn't know about) and then I pick up both babies out of their seats from lunch and they are soaked (diapers were overloaded!!). I was so ready for naptime to just breathe...BUT that didn't happen!! Ugh! Can we just start over tomorrow??

He finally smiled, but of course was looking away! He told me he wasn't going to ride in my car, he was just going to wait for the bus to pick him up! :)

Piper needed to have her picture taken too with her backpack. :) She starts a preschool playgroup next week. She's very excited to be "going to school" just like the boys.