Can I Get Anotha Room Up In Here

...because we've run out.  Three kids, two parents, three dogs (which mainly live in the garage) and only three bedrooms = too many people / too little house.  I need more house.  This oh-so-adorable boob huggin mommy lovin baby needs to move out of my room and in to his own pad.  If only we had a spot for him.  Uh honey, there's no room in the "In", can you build a manger?

The above was from December 8, but finally posted today. There will be a step two to this post.  We are just settling the dust and adding the finishing touches.  More to come soon!

All I want for Christmas... are Comments

I know you're out there.  Drop me a comment and let me know who you are.  I see my reader numbers go up daily.  I would love to hear from you.  It would be like a giant Christmas present to me.  It would give me warm fuzzies inside.   

I got a Christmas card in the mail a couple days ago from my favorite aunt and uncle (aww) and they wrote that they love reading my blog, but aren't sure how to post comments.  So, I thought I'd try to give a little step by step and see if I am any good at directions. 

To Post a Comment:

Click on what usually says "O Comments" under the post content.  A window will pop up that allows you to type your message.  If you get an error message asking you to allow pop-ups you can select okay, or allow pop ups on this site.  It's safe.  I promise I'm not sending you bugs.  :)

Type your message in the box.

Enter the word verification for security.

Then you have to choose an ID.  If you have an email address through google/gmail or yahoo you can select the Google Account.  If you don't then you should select OpenID. 

If you select Google Account you will have to sign in on the next page (it will take you there when you click Publish Your Comment).  Just use your email address and password to sign in.  Don't worry, it doesn't share this info with anyone.  Just verifies your identity. 

If you select OpenID (which I have never used so bare with me) then you need to have an account with LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, or AIM.  I have none of these so I am not able to give this a run.  Hmmm this seems difficult.  Maybe I should check my settings to allow for anyone to post without verification of who they are.

Okay, I opened things up a bit.  Now you can also choose from Name/URL (URL optional) or Anonymous.  Please don't choose anonymous.  I like to know who you are.  If you don't have a google or yahoo ID then choose Name/URL and just throw in your name.  If you have a blog I'd love for you to leave that in the URL.  I want to read what you write about too. 

Publish Your Comment and then await my approval.  I added the approval part since I opened this up to anonymous posts.  I want to keep this family-friendly people. 

Thanks!  I'm looking forward to your comments.  Don't make me beg ~ again.  :-)

Merry Christmas!

She's a Good Kid

Mariah has a loving heart.  She really enjoys school, loves her friends, loves being a part of the dance group at school, and loves buying gifts for others.  This morning I dropped her off at school just like every other morning, but today... I almost had to park the van and help her in with all her bags.  She had a bag full of presents for her friends, a 9x13 pan of brownies that she made last night to share with her friends, a 2 liter of soda for a party in Spanish class, and her actual school bag.  She was getting out of the van this morning and looked up at me like "mom, I need a couple more arms".  We stuffed her school bag as full as we could and she scooped up all her stuff.  As she was walking in to the school one of her friends came running out and gave her a hug.  Mariah couldn't hug back because her hands were full.  Her friend quickly took the brownies ~ of course ~ and helped Mariah in to the school. 

Moments like this are heart warming and worth remembering.  She really has a loving heart. 

I love you lots Mariah.

I found this picture while looking through my phone for pictures of Mariah to add to this post.  With this picture I'll also have to say that I love your comical side too, Mariah.  So lovely of you to sneak my phone and occasionally take goofy pictures of yourself for me to find later.  :)

Hey Santa

Santa made a visit at mom and Harry's house during our Christmas party. 

Love the "earlybird" editing feature on instagram.  I'll try not to over use it, but no promises.

Grandpa "Santa" Harry and Carter

Grandpa "Santa" Harry and Ethan 

Ethan playing in the first snow of the season

Mariah and Leah with Santa (they must be too old for Santa's lap)

And then my chubber-cheakers guy.  Random, but adorable.

Christmas Caroling

On Monday evening a group of us from church headed out to a local VA Home and sang for the residents.  This was extremely touching and I was so proud to be there with my family.  Even Ethan got in to singing some of the songs.  Now this is what Christmas is all about. 

Can I Have a Couple More

Because I love these guys.  They own my world.

Carter thinks his feet are yummy

Oh yes, the bath time photo

Too much sun in the room for my phone-camera, but this moment was adorable. 

 Again, bad lighting, but he finished the whole puzzle by himself!

Christmas Lights

Cory bought a groupon to go to Jelly Stone and see their Christmas lights.  We had no idea what we were in for.  It was AMAZING.  So worth the money.  This will definitely be a yearly tradition. 

(iPhone-photos)

Full Moon

Does a full moon really bring craziness?  I am pretty sure there was a full moon on Saturday night.  Even an eclipse and a giant glowing moon if I am correct.  Normally I don't think much about that stuff and instead just jokingly throw the comment around "must be a full moon", but let me tell you I am starting to believe in the creepy effects of a full moon.  Or the crazy coincidences that seem to take place when a full moon is present. 

Saturday night we went to bed.  Carter hasn't been sleeping well lately (total understatement).  So I was up with him around 10pm, 11pm - 12pm... and on and on.  Around 11:30/midnight I realized the nightlight in our room was going from dim to bright, brought back my club dancing strobe light nights.  Anyway, I thought maybe it was burning out so I turned it off.  Then I heard a beeping from our living room ~ which usually means the smoke detector on our 16' tall ceiling has a dead battery ~  Cory asked what he should do about the beeping, because getting the giant extension ladder from the garage and changing the "beepin" battery (insert word) in the middle of the night did not sound like a fun idea.  So, we shut the bedroom doors and figured we'd deal with it in the morning.  Well, in the morning we had a bit more to deal with.  Turns out the battery wasn't dead, the night light wasn't burning out... instead the power was out.  We are guessing it was out for two hours.  The beeping noise was our battery back up sump pump.  The nightlight was working on battery power instead of electricity.  And... our fish tank back flowed and we lost over an inch of salt water through the bottom of our tank and on to our carpet, ceiling tiles in the basement, and basement carpet. 

Next time... we'll get out of bed and check out the "beepin'" situation.

This is what happens when parents are sleep-deprived from a boob-huggin-mommy-lovin' monster.

 

Martini

Yes please!  I am in lust with Martinis.  A while ago Cory and I went to a martini bar with some friends.  This was the first time I had ever tried a martini and I seriously fell for them.  Like a first snow fall, the smell of apple pie in fall, the fresh air after a rain storm, the scent of baby's skin after a bath, type of yumminess.

So, now we are makers of martinis on a regular basis.  Our first martini experiment consisted of Three Olive Vodka (yumm), blue curacao, and pineapple juice, with a couple pineapple cubes for extra delight. 

I should have taken the picture before I drank half of it, but I couldn't resist.

What type of martini should we make this weekend?

Don't Co-Sleep

Because if you do, you will create a boob-huggin-mommy-lovin monster.  Don't get me wrong, I love my boob-huggin-mommy-lovin monster, but holy crap am I tired.  I love the snuggles, the grunts, the smell of baby, but I also love a good nights sleep.  Something I haven't had in over a month. 

I went back to work when Carter was 3 months old.  My boob-huggin-mommy-lovin monster was pretty much sleeping through the night.  All was well.  Then a couple weeks after getting in to our new routine my BHML decided it would be fun to start getting up once or twice during the night.  I was dragging from working all day and not being able to take a nap so I started bring my little BHML in to bed with me.  Thought we could snuggle, I could feed him, and we could all sleep.  Well that worked for a little while.  Then he got spoiled.  Realized there's-no-place-like-the-marshmallow (AKA mom and dad's bed). 

So, now we have an overly tired mama.  A boob-huggin-mommy-lovin monster that won't sleep anywhere besides the marshmallow.  And... a giant cup of coffee. 

Good night, I mean morning.  What day is it?

The guilty party (AKA Carter)

Some of My Favorites

Just wanted to share some of my favorite recent pictures.

My Thanksgiving tablesetting.

 

 Spending some time with my great friend Lindsay.

Yummmm Martinis!

Yeah... I was talking :-)

  

 Me and my Mariah.

Isn't my niece Charlotte adorable?!

Daddy getting some Carter snuggles.

Well hello monkey man!  Look at you sittin' up!

My boys ~ love them ~

Holy Crap!  Cory's on the roof! (he hates heights)

Big boy - play time.

Happy 15th Birthday Mariah!

Paige and Mariah

Carter all dressed up (on the changing table)

Cory and me

Silly kids

My pinterest inspiration ~ a snowman wreath

My Christmas Village is up, thanks Cory!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Carter's first Thanksgiving (don't ya love his new high chair!)