December Daily 6: Snowglobes

Timmy made it into the bathroom today. Eric said that was creepy lol! We finished our snowglobes this morning, and Westen loved them. Saint Nicholas visited him at school and he came home with a cute little snowman he'd gotten for a gift. He said his angel LOVED his snowglobe and said "Oh thank you so much, Westen!" :) Westen drew lots of pictures today, as he always does.. but he drew one of a beautiful Christmas tree. Tonight, we had our last music class. It is SO cold out here! ...not below zero yet, though!

December Daily 5: Christmas Countdowns

Our Internet connection was down last night, so I'm just posting yesterday's now. We spent the day with my sister and her family, watching football at lunchtime and then eating at our house again for dinner. Grandma called and had gotten us each an ornament for our tree. We went to the store and got all the supplies we need for our crafts and Christmas goodies we're going to make. I'm trying some new stuff this year, so I hope it turns out! Chelsea got Westen a Christmas calendar, so we started counting down on that as well.. We now have 3 countdowns going! :) We started the snow globes, which is our first gift for Westen's angel at school, and ended the night with Harry Potter and "flizzards." (homemade blizzards Mommy makes.. for some reason, that's what Westen calls them! :))

December Daily 4: Santa & Xmas Party

Timmy was on the refrigerator this morning. :) Sneaky little guy! Westen loves telling about how he fell down from the tree when he was in there and then when "nobody was home" he got back up! :) In case you aren't familiar, nobody's allowed to touch the elves or their magic disappears.

We decided to drive to Rushville with my sister and her baby to visit Santa. Westen all of a sudden couldn't remember what he wanted when we got there, but he still had a little chat with him-- even discussing Timmy. :) Aeson had fallen asleep on the way there, so he was pretty uncertain! Sitting on his lap only lasted a second. (I'm planning on adding all pictures tomorrow!) He did enjoy the cookie and candy cane he got, though.. and they both got to pick out a bell to bring home.

Tonight, we went to Eric's Christmas party for work. His parents watched the kids. It was a good time and delicious food!

December Daily 3: Polar Express

Westen woke up to find Timmy perched on the fish tank today. We spent the morning coming up with our grocery list for holiday baking and coming up with the crafts we're going to do.. both for ourselves and for Westen's angel at school. Aeson found the elf hat from last year and wore it around the house. :) I'm planning on adding pictures to all these entries this weekend! Westen came home from school singing "Let Kevin and nature sing." haha, I thought it was cute, but I told him it's Heaven. :) I cannot WAIT for his Advent program at school! That's one thing I love about his preschool. They don't have to dance around all the holidays like public schools do. I think it makes things so much more enjoyable and fun. This whole month, he'll be bringing home books about Christmas. We read the story of Jesus being born today. It was so cute to hear him talk about Mary and Joseph. Westen also came home today with a candy cane ornament he'd made at school. My sister and her family came over for dinner and we all watched The Polar Express together. Santa may be up for tomorrow!

December Daily 2

It flurried here this morning. Westen woke up to find Timmy perched above our big picture window in the living room. It was a pretty busy day, as we had our regular Thursday "mommy playgroup." We decided on one of the gifts for Westen's "angel" next week. He has to make homemade gifts all three of the days for his angel. I was having a hard time coming up with things for another boy, but I think we have it now! The boys each got to pick a toy out tonight. My mom saves all her change and when she cashes it in, she splits it up among the grandchildren and they can use it as they wish. Westen bought two Star Wars figurines and another Transformer. Aeson chose an Elmo jack-in-the-box. He's loved Elmo lately! Also, for a child who hates socks and hats, he LOVES his mittens! So far, anyway. :) Westen also spent time with Grandma Sandy today. We didn't do anything Christmas-y, but I'm definitely getting in the mood for it. I need to come up with a grocery list so I can start baking!

December Daily : The First of December

Well, I should first mention that it snowed for the first time this year yesterday. Almost always, the first snow (well, flurries) is around my birthday (November 5), but this year it was later. Westen went outside to see if he could make a snowball, but he couldn't. :) It had just flu.rried and a tiny bit stuck to the ground. It was pretty much gone by today. Looks like more is coming, though, and Westen is VERY excited about that.

We started Elf on the Shelf after Thanksgiving for the first time this year too. Today, our elf (Timmy) is perched in above the window in the bathroom. His hiding places so far have been a shelf in the living room, the Christmas tree, our living room lamp, a fake tree we have, and a curtain. Aeson was waving and blowing kisses at Timmy tonight, so Westen had to blow him a kiss too. :)

Westen's enjoyed plugging the Christmas tree in every day. The excitement of helping us put it up wore quickly, and it ended up being Eric and me doing mostly everything! Aeson tried to stick a couple of branches in.

I'm so excited for this month.. I love all the Christmas activities.

We'd planned on watching the Grinch tonight on tv, but it was also my sister's birthday, so we had dinner with them instead!-

Thankfulness Challenge

This year is the second year I've participated in the 30 days of thankfulness challenge. I posted all of mine on facebook, but I want to copy them for here too.

1 & 2 - Yesterday, I was thankful for a brother in law who can fix anything! Today, I'm thankful for the cuddles my baby boy loves to give & being able to be home with them!

3 - Today, I am thankful for my sister. She's the best person ever & I honestly have no idea what I'd do without her!

4 - is thankful for friends

5 - Today I'm thankful for a gift from a daycare kiddo, my momma coming in to help me with them so I could get things ready for tomorrow night, my grandma for the use of her car & getting Aeson to sleep, beautiful flowers, a Sullivan Taylor gift card, visits from multiple people, a short nap, warm tea for my sore throat, a... short break from my kids, dinner & help from my sister & brother-in-law, and most of all hearing from all of YOU! It's definitely made me feel special :)

6 - is thankful for wine! And good friends.. and relaxation! And birthdays :)

7 - is thankful for naps, the extra hour, & lazy days!

8 - Today, I am thankful that our doctor is open to reading things that go against her recommendations and that she still continues to see us and treat us well despite not following her recommendations. She's a nice person, even if we don't agree on everything!

9 - Today, I'm thankful for 70+ degree weather in November!

10 - Today, I'm thankful for my baby nephew & getting to cuddle with him today! I'm so happy they live close & our boys will be able to grow up together! ♥

11 - Today, I'm thankful for our safety thus far.

12 - Today, I'm thankful my husband is such a good Daddy & I don't have to worry about my kids at all with him!

13 - And today, I'm thankful for my warm home! Aeson keeps saying "brrr brrr!" :)

14 - Today, I'm thankful for a vehicle to drive! It's good to get out of the house!

15 - It's the start of an extremely busy week, beginning with Aeson's sono & bloodwork :( ...which today makes me extremely thankful for the Internet-without it, I'm not sure we would have discovered BWS & definitely not as quickly as we did.

16 - Today, I am OH so thankful to Shannon & La Leche League! Without both of them, there is no way I would have the amazing nursing relationship I have with my baby & he would not have gotten the AMAZING benefits he has from being only on momma's milk! Plus, I've learned SO much & met some awesome people!

17 - Today, I'm thankful for things that make me laugh! We elfed ourselves tonight & it was pretty hilarious :)

18 - Today, I am SOOOOOOOO thankful that all of Aeson's results came back normal AGAIN! I was so nervous this time!

19 - Every time I put something I'm thankful for, it makes me feel bad because that means someone else doesn't have that.. So today, I'm thankful for the ability to help others. We cleaned our pantry out for Loaves & Fishes today, and I hope to do even more.

20 - Today, I'm thankful for wonderful in-law's! I couldn't ask for better!

21 - Today, I'm thankful for jobs that provide the money we need!

22 - Today, I'm thankful for both my parents! My mom gives without needing to be asked & my dad is the kind of person I've always looked up to. I love them both VERY much! Both are wonderful grandparents too!

23 - Today, I'm thankful for MUSIC!

24 - Today, I'm super thankful for safe travel, kids who were absolutely wonderful on a 5+ hr drive, & for being able to buy more g dipes in an actual store

25 - Today, I am so so so SO thankful I live where I do! I honestly don't know how people live in big cities... No thank you!

26 & 27 - Yesterday, I was (and always am) thankful I have somebody to talk to regularly... And today, I'm thankful for time with my side of the family & all my favorite foods! Thanksgiving at Mom's tonight & celebrating my sister & brother-in-law's birthdays.

28 & 29 - For yesterday, I'm thankful for compliments from my 4 year old... He told me I'm "hot" LOL! And today, I'm thankful for caffeine!

30 -

I failed! I didn't write anything the last day. I have so, so much to be thankful for, but some days it was hard coming up with something. It's been a pretty rough month. Eric totaled his car. I'm so thankful he was perfectly okay and not hurt at all... but it has created a lot of stress, dealing with insurance and trying to find a car-- more particularly, a car we agree on. Eric's job also continues to be stressful. I do pretty much everything around the house and with the kids, and it's impossible to keep up with it all. Our yard is full of leaves, summer things are still out, cleaning the basement was never finished, our bathroom floor remains half done, the list goes on and on! Plus, it is SO stressful for me each day knowing we have no health insurance, no chance of vacation, no retirement... My job adds into this, because I have none of this either. Taking care of multiple babies is much more stressful than I ever thought it would be too, yet I just feel so strongly that I cannot leave my kids in daycare all day every day. There has to be some solution.

We also spent Thanksgiving in Chicago this year, at Eric's uncle and aunt's house. It was an enjoyable time, with the exception of Thanksgiving Day. Eric and I spent almost all our time following Aeson around so he wouldn't fall down the stairs and trying to keep him from knocking things over, spilling the dog's water, etc. He was pretty fussy and didn't really eat either. I know it was a big change from his day to day life, but it was exhausting for both of us. I worry about my parenting skills as well and of course blame myself for when they behave badly. Anyway, that's a whole other post! We both felt bad later for not spending much time on Westen too, because we spent so much on Aeson.

Moving on, there's a thing that goes around called December Daily. It's basically scrapbooking each day of December, if I understand it correctly. I totally do not have the time for that, but I've always wanted to participate... So I've decided to do my own version! I'm going to try to blog each day.. hopefully with pictures but probably not always. Or maybe I'll add the pictures later or something. It takes too long to connect the camera & upload everything!