Merry Christmas!!!

I should be taking a nap right now. Last night I went to do one of my transcripts and got a bit drowsy, so Tim got me a Starbucks to jolt me awake for the 3 hours needed to do my transcript. It was supposed to be done today, not started today. At 10pm I had a Triple Grande Vanilla Latte and 8 hours later I went to bed. Tim was going to have me sleep in today anyways, but little did he know. The "Triple" did it's job, but down at 6am and up by 9:30 makes for a very tired mama, ya think? But the post must go on!

Here goes...Christmas Eve is always spent at Grandpa's house. This year aunt Barbara, uncle Jim and Jimmy came up from Florida to visit.
***TANGENT***The night before Christmas Eve (I think) we were all at my parents house and we ended up playing a dice game called Farkle. If you find it on the shelves, you might not be too impressed, and I don't think it thrilled poor aunt Barbara who couldn't score to save her life, but it's a pretty fun game. If you can believe it, we even got grandpa to play. You tell your grandpa that you have never played a game with him and he tends to get a little soft. I'll bet none of you Rebers knew that your papa had hot hands for throwing dice. At the set out of the game, he was having unbelievable beginner's luck. He even started snapping his fingers and pointing at the dice and then calling his numbers. It was fun and funny! Thank you again, grandpa.
Back to grandpa's house. I am not sure how I missed it, but I didn't get a picture of grandpa at his post on the piano bench, but rest assured that he was there handing out presents in true grandpa fashion. "To the gift giver!!!"
Here we are in the back room waiting for Santa to come. I think there are try-outs for the role of Santa. John Paul tried it last year and I think Joel got roped into doing it this year. Eventually someone will fill the belt.
Titus isn't sure whether he is to be scared or bold enough to march right into the living room to see what all the commotion was, which he about did.

Just before we began the Christmas story, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Levi who turned 6 this day. He air guitarred the whole song. Yep, he's 6 alright. (That's Suzanna's boyfriend, Jeff, on the left.)

These are my precious pumpkins during the Scripture reading. Are they il-mannered or what? Eden has half stripped off her clothes making her look like a raggamuffin and Titus is stealing Eden's dolly and making her fly into the presents. Would someone please take control of these kids?!! Wait! That's my job. (That's Joanna's boyfriend, Nathan, on the right.)

***

On Christmas morning we got up, got ready to go to Tim's parent's house for the day and then sat under our one-presented tree to see what we got. The boys were shocked and quite thrilled to see a Wii under the wrapping paper. I wonder where my camera was for all that? Oops.

We got to grandma and grandpa's house for a wonderful brunch cooked up by Shelley and assisted by Phil. Regardless of what Shelley might say or think, it was delicious and great of her to do it all for us. Thank you!

When present time came, the kids all planted themselves one of the couches while I managed the cameras from the other end of the living room.

Micah thinks she is so big now that she can climb into this chair all by herself. Now, can she get down? I think she is asking grandpa for help.

Nadia Renee's first Christmas. I can't speak for everyone, but I am thrilled to have her in our family and am glad that we get to see them a bit more regularly for a while before they head out to Indonesia. She is learning to sit up by herself and I got a kick out of the head-to-head she had with this dog of hers, so I started snapping pictures.

Her dress was so cute. After the second kid, I don't think I remembered to get "First Christmas" outfits. Certainly nothing cute like this doll is wearing!

That night we played games and ended up staying the night because I didn't want to load everyone up in the cold to go home, plus I was tired. The next morning we got out the door fairly quickly (the kids insisted on eating breakfast...what's up with that?!?) and found that all surfaces in NW Indiana were covered in at least 1/4" of ice, if not more. It took us almost 1 hour and 20 minutes to go what normally takes around 20 minutes to drive. It was insane how often we ourselves almost crashed into other cars. The highways were closed and we were plain nuts for being out in that weather, but we needed to get home.

***
Mema's house is where we went Friday night.

Friday night we all spent the night at mom and dad's so we could have our Christmas breakfast nice and early to get a start on opening the mound of gifts under the tree downstairs. This was the best shot of the kids we could muster. Levi and Eden had me cracking up with their sibling pose. Elijah was all about anything Chicago Bears. He was thrilled to get this football because besides it being the right colors, it was just his size so he could actually hold it and throw it right.

Levi was all about his buddy Toby, or as Titus calls him, "Toby tobe." Levi wants a dog so badly, but mommy's not ready for another kid right now, let alone one that poops and pees on the floor. Do they think functions like that take care of themselves??? I don't think so.

Eden got a Madame Alexander doll (much like the American Girl Dolls) and she named her Rebekah. You wouldn't tell it to look at her, but she is our girly girl princess. So NOT me in that respect.

Titus was just about tearing stuff up. Everything. Everywhere. Tear, tear, tear. At least this time he is tearing open his own present. His "bestest" toy was his planet hero figures. He loves them!
Micah was oblivious to what was going on, naturally. She did manage to find Eden's necklaces and bracelets and rings and put them on herself so elegantly. She was a natural. Uh-oh, 2 princesses in the house? Can we handle that?

After yesterday's freeze, you can imagine what our weather was like today. Or can you?



It was a high of 67, I think, so these crazy guys took advantage and played outside. Aren't they hot? No, literally!



The boys thought this was so fun, and yes, that's dad on a lawn chair.



Even the dogs got out on the ice for a little romp. All the girls were too chicken.
That evening the worst wind storm passed through bringing on old man winter again. There was a wind advisory and you'd have though the house was not going to make it, it was so bad. When we got home, this is what we found.



I couldn't believe it. I think we managed to salvage most of it, but that could have done some damage to people's property and boy are we lucky it didn't!!!

I don't know about you but I think that's about all the crazy weather I can handle for one holiday, but there's more to come, I'm sure! Stay tuned.

Elijah's Christmas Program

I love my kids' school. It's a private school and I love pretty much everything about it...except for these goofy Christmas programs. You remember how Levi's was just way too late at night? Well, this one was supposed to start at 7pm on a Tuesday night. Despite the blizzard we had to drive through to get to the program, we had school the next day and 7pm is too late, on a school night, to start an elementary Christmas program. It was a disaster waiting to happen. I think a lack of planning and strong directing was part of the problem. Here we are packed like sardines in the hallway of the local public High School, an apparent last minute change of venue, waiting to go into the auditorium as the kids inside are practicing a couple of the numbers. Titus just wanted daddy and he was fine.

The program itself could have been cute, but as is the case with most private schools that aren't rolling in the dough, it wasn't equipped with all the proper tools. The music was played from a boom box through the auditorium speakers. Tim, being a sound professional, was going nuts! The kids with speaking parts spoke too fast and not into the mics, so we couldn't hear anything they were saying. The songs were great. That was the best part of it all, but the speaking parts, the parts that contained the bulk of the message, was just background noise. Oh well, the kids looked rather cute and were singing their hearts out!

The kids were all asked to make their own shirts. Of course, I waited until the last minute and 4 hours before the program I made Elijah's, but it was fun and he really liked it! It almost made me want to make all the kids a shirt of some kind, but I didn't want to waste all the white shirts.

Getting the tree up...finally

Ok, first of all, I know it is December 29th and I'm just now posting about our Christmas tree...but sometimes I can tend to be a bit anal about things that don't matter; Having my blog show ALL photographed events in chronological order is one of them. I am going to spend the next few posts catching up on my blog. Fun, I know. So, the tree. Well due to who knows what, we didn't get a tree up until the 15th, but fear not, I will have it up until at least January 15th to make up for lost time. We managed to get the tree up, but that was just about it. Once it's the middle of December, it seems to be too late to drag it all out. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't desire to do it all. Here, the kids are all helping to fluff those lovely branches on the artificial tree. (I only went back to re-fluff a few)

In the Svoboda house, whatever night is chosen to put up the Christmas tree is also a night that we will get Dairy Queen. It's a bit of an odd tradition, but it's our tradition you could say. The kid's loved it and I will have to say that my Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard didn't disappoint!

Once I finally drudged through the lights, and the ones that all of a sudden don't work and the half lit strands and all that rigmarole, we put the ornaments on. I am lucky that none of the ornaments got broken the way these sugar infused maniacs were going through my box and in the end, it was a very cozy looking tree! I love a dressed Christmas tree!

There are no presents yet, but that's mostly because we only got one thing for the kids and us and that was a Wii. Everything else that we got for everyone else I am taking to mom's for a wrapping party as it will all be opened there. Besides, with Titus around, do you think it wise to wrap a bunch of presents and leave them enticingly under the tree??? No, I didn't think so either.

Levi front and center

Last night was the Kindergarten Christmas program at school. For some reason the evening started at 7pm, but the program didn't actually start until 7:45; 15 minutes after my kids go to bed. That could have turned out worse for us. This is Levi's favorite [boy] friend, Josiah. They met this year and it turns out that Josiah's parents went to Moody with Tim. Small world. They have really clicked well together and it's probably because both of them like to fool around...a lot!

Here is a very handsome and somewhat nervous Levi getting ready to do the opening lines of the program. Every kid was given 2 lines to memorize, but Levi's part was 8 lines long. I'm beginning to see that Levi is, perhaps, the teacher's pet. He had a rough start to the year with getting in trouble a lot, but has really turned his behavior around and is excelling at all his work above most all the other kids and has become the teacher's little helper. She even has him "teach" some concepts when he gets them before the others. It's k5, how tough can it be? They are learning to read, so who knows.

Not only did he have the opening paragraph, but his favorite girl friend, Grace, went home sick, so his teacher asked him to do her lines as well since he basically knew everyone's part anyways.
He did a great job. He has the Olsen tendency to talk really fast, but he did his best to slow down tonight.

I don't remember what song this was, but it obviously involved bells. Levi and the other boy, Peter, got a little carried away with the shaking of these bells...it could have stolen the show if it went on much longer; they were having too much fun.

Ok, remember the whole bit about this part of the night starting 15 minutes after bedtime? Well, that wasn't talking about Micah's bedtime. She goes to bed closer to 7:00 and now here it is after 8:00 and she is not thrilled. She was hopping back and forth between grandma and grandpa and me and my mom, but not my dad. He is growing a beard for the time being, and she was just plain scared of him. She is beyond wasted and we haven't even had cookies and punch yet.

Titus began feeling better today. I looked at Tim and said, "Of all times for him to be feeling better, it would have to be tonight." He was all over the place, true to Titus' nature. We did manage to bring in a few things to keep him occupied, but it was almost like he was putting on a program of his own back there he was so loud and animated with his guys. Fortunately most of Titus' program was during the music portion of Levi's program. We were in the very front so the poor people behind us didn't know whether to watch the kindergartners or the crazy family with the rowdy kids that can't be still or quiet or respectful of other people's desire to see and hear their own kids. Sorry people! (It wasn't that bad, but as the parent, I sure felt like it was!)

These pictures are just for fun. There's always gotta be a kid who's making faces and having fun.

Josiah's mom and dad didn't seem to think it all that funny, though.

We got done with the program, HAD to have cookies and punch and then went home to make it to bed by 9pm. Ugh. It's always rougher in the morning when I have to wake them all up because they are zonked. Wowzers what a morning I had...I'll tell you about that tomorrow. Goodnight!

When sick, for pete's sake, STAY HOME!!!

Close your eyes (figuratively speaking, of course) and picture with me my morning as only a video could truly do justice to what a time I had. This may not interest you, but for me, it's therapy. Where do I begin???

Ok, let's set the stage for today. Titus is still running a fever and his nose is dripping like an Olsen who's been out in the cold too long (that means dripping like a faucet). This nose issue has him frustrated. It drips, he sniffs, he cries. He sneezes then he sniffs and cries because the sneeze hurt. He's tired and crabby because we haven't slept much since Saturday night, he and I, and I'm feeling it too.

Well, we managed to get the boys off to school, but since we were running late, Levi, Titus and Micah didn't have time to eat. Titus wouldn't have anyways. After I drop the boys off, I call to make an appointment to take Titus to the Doc because while a fever doesn't get me huffing off to the doctor, the goopy eyes do and I'm supposed to clean today which means my kids have to go to Erin's house and I need to know what's going on before then. I really can't cancel on cleaning again. The only appointment I could get was at 10am, smack in the middle of Micah's morning nap. We can do without. This is more important, right (trying to convince myself)?!?

I certainly wasn't going to go home for an hour and then go back out, so what would any good mom do? Go to Walmart, of course. Micah was wearing her last diaper and I had to exchange a movie anyways, so off we went to use up our hour and a half.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, Tim's grandparents gave the kids money to spend when we went shopping, so I got movies for them. Alvin and the Chipmunks was among them. I didn't take the receipt because I didn't need it, but when we got home and we finally saw the movie, the audio cuts out after 30 minutes. So I call Wally World and explain to them that I need to exchange it but they said I'd need the receipt. Well, for ME to ask for a receipt back is not a good thing. Their family has some sort of stigma about returning things in the first place and then an even bigger issue concerning ME and returns. I guess you return one thing and they assume you return EVERYTHING, so I didn't want to ask for it back. It's a touchy subject. Call it my pride, whatever.

Instead, I decided I'd go get another movie because by now we are sick and doing movie days back to back and I kinda wanted it for our marathon, as it has become. All Walmart said was that I'd need a receipt and I'd be ok. I had to drive in to Hobart to go to Sam's club Monday to get the Christmas cards I committed to sending out this year and to make a return and so I thought I'd stop by Walmart to take care of this too. ***precursor***if you ever get the feeling you shouldn't go out because your kid's a little sick...just don't go. It won't be worth it!!!

I made my return at Office Max and we managed to get out of there unscathed so we went on to Sam's club where I was just going to pick up my cards and then eat lunch and then go to Walmart and go home for naps before getting back up to pick up the boys.

i feel like i haven't even begun this story yet...hang on...the fun is yet to come

Ok, so we get into Sam's club and imagine this, I can't find my card. No big deal, I'm just picking up pictures and eating lunch; I should be ok. I go to the photo counter and get my cards only to find out that they aren't the 4x8 size I thought I ordered, but 4x6 regular photo size. I told the counter clerk that I didn't find many selections online, let alone the cute one that I was looking at on display at the counter. The lady behind me said she just ordered that cute one. So, I'm an idiot who can't find Christmas cards on the Sam's club website. Nice to know. But now I have 4x6 cards and that's not what I wanted, not to mention they don't come with envelopes and I didn't want to go hunt those down, so I wanted to reorder them the right way right away.

Well, since I did them online, they didn't have my picture file and couldn't do them there while I waited. Frustrating that this is happening in the first place, but what can I do. Apparently I messed up. Well, I needed to pay for them since they were my error but, wait, I guess I do need my card to buy them since I didn't pay for them online like I thought I did. The kids are getting hungry and remember, Titus is sick. I look over at the line for customer service to get a temporary card and there were 8-10 people in line and I wasn't waiting. I went to get lunch instead. Forgetting completely about the cards, we finished lunch to go to Walmart to take care of the movie and then go home for naps...much needed naps!

We were in Walmart for over an hour waiting in the customer service line, trying to find the movie-which they didn't have-and then waiting to get my copy of the Chipmunks back just to get out of there and back on the road having accomplished nothing except to find out that I'm and Internet idiot. Now it's 1:35, I'm 25 minutes from home and school gets out at 3:00. There is no practicality in going home for a 45 minute, just make the kids more cranky nap, so I guess today is an early day for the boys. I got them out of school early. Problem solved.

My movie still isn't taken care of and that brings us to this morning. I go in, get the video and take it to customer service only to find out that they open the wrapping on the exchange, so I am not able to return it to get my money back. I am not one to get overheated at these people but I did politely ask to talk to the manager. Keep in mind I haven't had a full night's rest since last Friday night, so I am tired!!! By the time a manager finally shows up, the kids are crying (because they're tired and hungry) and I was making small talk with the ladies about this stupid movie and I end up so frustrated about the whole thing, I start crying. How embarrassing!!!

So now, here I am, 2 crying children, 1 teary mother and I'm trying to explain to the male manager what's going on, but to no avail. I am now the proud owner of not one, but two copies of Alvin and the Chipmunks. I'm too nice. I should have gotten all "NW Indiana" on them. Ok, maybe not.

It's only 9:30 but I'm not going anywhere else before the doctor, so I go early and get in right away. I told them it may be a noisy room, so beware. How right I was. Titus doesn't want to be there so he starts crying. Then he sneezes and since that hurts, he cries even more. I let Micah out of her seat because I had no idea how long we'd be there and I didn't need her crying to get out of there. Big mistake!

The doctor comes in right away (had I only known) and automatically Micah thinks it's for her and she starts into a full on scream. Well, Titus is still crying -just because- and it's starting to get really loud in there. I put Micah in my lap to get her to calm down, but that only confirmed to her that the doctor was indeed there for her. I put her in the stroller but couldn't get to her to buckle her because I am now holding Titus for his exam. Micah is writhing in her seat, still screaming, and so I go to pull her up, Titus still in my lap, only Micah's feet get caught in the foot rest of the stroller and I can't get her out. I put her back down only to have to get her again.

The doctor is kindly trying to look at Titus while I take care of Micah, only they are both screaming and fighting the adult who is taking care of them. I get Micah out of her seat only to have the stroller fall backwards because I have my purse and the diaper bag on the handle. I know better than that...I reached around to put her back by Eden (who is sitting in the corner with her fingers in her ears) and Micah falls over. More crying.

I am about to crawl under the bench out of sheer desperation for a moment to myself, not to mention to get away from the humiliation I am feeling at this moment. Boy am I thankful right about now that I knew when I got dressed this morning that I wasn't going to the gym or I'd totally look like the stay-at-home mom who took her kids to the doctor in her pajamas, disheveled hair and all. I did look decent.

I get Micah situated, although she is still screaming and then I have to literally pin Titus' arms down with one arm and hold his head still with the other so the doctor can look in his ears.

We're done.

The Doctor backs away, Titus climbs in my lap the way HE wants, Micah climbs in my lap, their thumbs are in their mouths and it's like nothing ever happened. One second a flippin' hurricane; the next second, nothing.

I'm worn out and dog gone it, it's not even 10am and I'm supposed to go to Linda's house to clean today??? Boy do I need the break more than ever! I would count down the minutes, but I can't in good conscience leave Titus with Erin today. She doesn't need to go through a day like this. So, my reprieve has been cancelled. Drat! I think I will just stay in and make some Christmas gifts.

This looks like the beginning of a LONG winter season for the Svoboda home.

If you imagined all that with me and now need a nap, then I did good telling the story. If not, it really was a nut job type of day. What I need is a glass of wine (except for that thing about I don't really drink), a good book and my whirlpool. Perhaps a Pepsi, my Bible and a whirlpool. Not as poetic, but what I need right now is not poetry, that's for sure!!!

Sick days on the couch

We've all had them, right? We even looked forward to them and quite possibly when we got older, tried our best to get them as often as possible. A sick day on the couch watching videos. Titus has been sick since Saturday night with fever and "huwrt belly" and "legs huwrts" and all. Today he's watching "Koofa Pandabeawr" or Kungfu Panda, as we know it. Another totally great video for young kid and older kid alike! I laughed so hard at this one. It's also full of some good one-liners that I'll be sure to be using in the near future!

Did you know...?

Did you know that 500Q-tips don't go back in the box the same way twice? I do!Courtesy of Titus, of course. He has been running a high fever since Saturday night and has just been lying around, quite lethargic, but when the Tylenol kicks in, so does he.

Winter Swap

I Decided to participate in a Winter Swap that my cousin was hosting and for some reason I was nervous...sort of meeting new people and then getting a gift for them...that's not easy!!! Well, nonetheless, I did it and I mailed off the gift I made (I totally forgot to take a picture of it...rats!) and then my gift came in the mail. In anticipation I yanked and pulled and wiggled and tore the package out of my mailbox that the mailman crammed in as hard as he could. I guess the 20 step walk to my door was too much for him! At anyrate, this was what I got for me and the girls.These are 2 handmade dresses that I Noe Design made (Imogene Noe) and I believe that's what's called a Tea Towel (sorry for my towel illiteracy!) I love them. The dress on the left is sized for Micah, though she will probably have to wear it next year, hopefully. I love the fact that it says Joy all over it. Joy is Micah's middle name. The other one is a vintage fabric that I think is very pretty. That one was for Eden, but sadly is too short, so Micah will be the proud wearer of that one as well. Actually, perhaps leggings will do the trick. I will have to see before doing it as leggings don't work for everything. Thank you so much for your wonderful swap gifts!!! Imogene makes these and many other gifts and you can read more about them on her site, inoedesign.com. Thank you, Imogene! I look forward to the next one!

Turkeys on the farm

First to catch up the pre-thanksgiving posts...ugh, this blogging stuff is busy work! When does the check come in? It's been several months now and nothing...
The coolest and awesomest and bestest daddy came home from work today with the makings for S'mores. After dinner and for some reason after jammies we put the 2x4's on the fireplace (it's nice living in and around new construction sometimes) and had some yummy s'mores before bed! Thank you, daddy!

She's just cute...do I need to say more???

Speaking of cute, here's a time when Titus disappeared for a bit and it wasn't disastrous. Well, only in the fashion world. He got himself dressed this morning. Catch the full ensemble lest you get behind on the latest trends in [almost] 3 year old dress these days. Yes, those are jammies, and yes, I let him wear that...until we had to go out in public, that is. Like I'd let him out in his jammies...

Ok, now for our Thanksgiving weekend...I finally got to meet my darling and precious little niece, Nadia Renee. I was so excited to finally get to hold the little doll and what a chunk. She is 4 months old and she and Micah are in the same size, for the most part. I practically melted when the first thing Nadia did was give me this ginormous cheeky smile when she saw me for the first time. She just knew that I was her bestest auntie and she was beaming. Ok, that's a bit dramatic, but I felt it!

We had a good trip to the farm. Eden and uncle Phil posed for me. That's my girl...too hot for her long sleeved sweater!

Our ever-goofy Elijah boy. He just wants to make people laugh. Unfortunately he is still learning when to be funny and when not to be, but I'll tell you what, he makes me laugh, but mostly when he isn't trying. He is training his siblings rather well in the comedic sense. Look out mama...stand-up is running rampant around here.

MomS, grandma, Shelley and I all went out on Black Friday. Not crazy early like some, but out nonetheless. I guess I got a bit bored. Boredom + a camera crazy mother-in-law = flattering photo.

Our first pose in our first photo session (done by uncle Phil) of all the cousins was interesting, to say the least. I have pity on all photographers, relatives or not. This is no easy task. Elijah was the only one to have the same look plastered on his face through out the whole time. You know the one...the school yearbook face. Mother's across the world know this one. We don't love it, but we know it!

Between poses, we sat these girls together and took this shot. It was too cute. Micah has her hand on Nadia's shoulder, as you can see, but a video would show her patting Nadia as if to say, from one chunk to another, "Hang in there kid. I'll show you the ropes" or "It could be worse; there could be 5 kids in your family..." No matter the thoughts running through their heads, it was a Kodak moment for sure.

Second pose...too much playing went on during this, but I loved it!!!

We certainly can't get through a visit to the farm with out football. Unfortunately, we didn't have a football. Only this green soccer ball, but no one seemed to mind. Perhaps we should consider getting one. Ahh the memories that are being made on this grass!

Here's the next Chicago Bears draftee going for a diving catch. He just LOVES football and wonders why he can't play in our town. I'll have to check into that my chicken legged little boy. Little does he know he'd be snapped in two.

Eden is so cutely and patiently sitting while aunt Shelley braids her hair. I have since started to braid her hair also, but oddly Eden won't sit still for me...hmmm. Do we have a favorite???

I put Micah's hair in pigtails just to see what it would look like. It doesn't look so much from this picture, but she was a cutie p tootie...

Even after I took them out, she kept her cuteness...crazy hair and all.

It was kinda neat, for me at least, to see "uncle Tim" fall into daddy mode with Nadia. He-voluntarily-took over some feedings and didn't bat an eye. He's an old pro at work. Hmm, did we really have to go and put the kibosh on all of this?!? What's done is done.
Nadia didn't seem to mind uncle Timmy's nurturing. She is happy and full; a good combination for mommy to come back to when she's done getting her shower.

So, I notice there are no pictures of Titus and Levi. Not too sure why, but we did bring them. I promise. Next post should be my Christmas swap and then Christmas. Yay! Have a happy holiday everyone...

Chicago winter has started early

By the way, our forecast for the Chicagoland area has been "upgraded" to wind chill below 10 degrees with 12-18 inches of beautiful, white, cold snow. Donna, do you want to wake up to THAT? Please pray that our van and I don't battle every time it snows!!!

Breathing a sigh of relief

We found out yesterday that our car isn't going to the big junkyard in the sky after all. That's bittersweet; more sweet than bitter though. Apparently as I drove out of our subdivision I took on a lot of snow. Remember, we got over 6 inches that night? Well, the snow build up caused a belt to come off and with that belt off, the battery couldn't charge. So, after that whole ordeal of a morning, all I had, in essence, was a dead battery. Thank you, God, for providing a wonderful solution to that problem! We are now breathing a sigh of relief until the next episode. I hope it doesn't come until next year though!

Good Grief!!!

Ok, so my morning was quite pleasant, as I shared earlier, but boy how things change. God is allowing a little testing to take place at our house today. Let me recap the past hour and a half.

Elijah got ready to go early, as he always does. He got up at 6:30 (though he can't come out of his room until 7:00 except to go to the bathroom) was delighted to see the snow, got his chores done and ate breakfast then went on a hunt for his snow gear. Nice. Calm.

Levi was woken up at 7:15 in a good mood which very quickly turned sour when he realized that before he could go outside in the snow, he had to do his chores (big shocker being that he's had to do them since we moved in the house 6 months ago or so) so now he's crying and whining that he wants to go outside and all that drama. Making his bed is the first thing to do and in his haste and terrible attitude he rips off his comforter (which was for the most part neatly on the bed) because he had to get to the flat sheet. Levi has inherited the trait of making mountains out of molehills and so now, the simple task of making a mostly made bed has become this monumental task of de-lumping and crying and getting angry and punching the lumps. You get the picture. By the way, I sat with him to gently remind him that his choice in attitude is making a simple task take all morning to do and consequently he'd have no time for playing outside before leaving for school. More wailing and gnashing of teeth!

Eden came in our room last night sometime so I woke her up and she got going in slow Eden fashion. The world waits for her.

Titus got up and his pull up was dry, so I said we needed to go potty. Remember that wailing and gnashing of teeth mentioned earlier? This is wailing and gnashing jr. The other pea in that dramatic pod.

Micah was a bit attitudinal this morning too. She carried her blanket to breakfast and screamed when I wouldn't let her have it in her high chair. Once I got her Chex and bananas she was happy again.

Ok, so breakfast gets over but by now it's 7:50 and time to get in the van. Levi gets dressed and starts crying all over again when he learns that he can't go out and play. Instead he has to go outside and tell Elijah that it's time to get in the van.

I get the kids coated and in the van, I got the diaper bag packed for the gym (the kids still had jammies on) and somehow all that takes almost 15 minutes and it's 8:04. Levi and Elijah are not in the van and they're not answering when I call them so I'm beginning to get a bit irritated that my older kids aren't listening to me. I know it's the first snow and all, but they still need to obey, right?!?

I find the kids out in the lot next door and I loose my patience. I tell them (nice and quietly and kindly, I'm sure) to get in the van and eventually we leave. We get out of our subdivision and I can tell that the van isn't running so well. The battery light was on, and I thought it stalled out. Also, the steering is bad. It's almost like the power steering went out...again. It's very difficult to steer and there's about 6 inches of snow at least on the ground so it's slippery and let's just say, not easy or safe to operate. Such is life with our van. I got out of the van to see if there was just too much snow built up in the wheel wells, but there wasn't. Nice thought though.

We got about a mile from the school and all my dash board lights went on, the van started hiccuping and I'm trying to put it in neutral to give it gas to keep from stalling, trying to break for stop signs without sliding into the person in front of me, which almost happened. Ugh.

Next thing I know something is beeping, the radio lights are out, all the dash lights are on and I'm dead in the road. Right in the middle. Why today? I've got kids in pajamas, a little girl who brought her jacket instead of a coat and we had several blocks to go to get to the school. I guess we're walking. Double ugh.

I bundled everyone up and found that someone from school had pulled over to help. Yippee! Come to find out that there was a two hour delay at school that I wasn't informed of...that would've been helpful information! Well, at least we don't have to walk. That would've been an experience!

I'm back at home now. The van has been towed and is in the shop. Now we are praying that it will be a minor fix or we will be up a creek without a paddle. Good timing. God has always provided in the past. I believe he will provide now.

That was my morning. How was yours?

Good morning Winter!

I awoke to this sight this morning... Well, actually I got up at 5 this morning and it was dark and still snowing, but once the dust cleared, so-to-speak, this is the chilling sight that remained. I am so thankful for heat and blankets and a house and warm clothes and all those things that we all take for granted. Those were the first thoughts to go through my head after the initial "Ugh" for the beginning of a Chicago winter. It is always beautiful in the beginning. But for the Gary smog, I'd go eat some right now! Well that and the fact that no one needs to see me in my nightgown, robe and black socks outside eating the snow. I guess it's time to find a new blog background.

Happy first snow to you all!

Some cuteness to brighten your day!

Titus sucks his thumb, right!?! (He does) Well because of that, he tends to get a little blister on his upper lip and then he peels it off. Why? I don't know. He's a boy. Now, call me the meanie mom, but I generally don't keep bandaids in the house. Somehow bandaids heal the body like smoke and mirrors. All they do is add to an already dramatic event and we are all sold out on drama here. However, my mom sneaks the bandaids in the house, generally of the superhero or princess variety adding to the NEED for the smoke and mirrors. At any rate, Titus got into the linen closet (surprising, I know) and got the bandaids for his boo-boo on his lip. Being the sympathetic mommy that I am, I agreed to put it on for him. My unusual compliance to bandaid usage had nothing to do with how goofy he would look afterwards. Really.
Micah has a double ear infection; her first ever, so she has been unusually lethargic and sleepy which allows for even more cuddle time with her. Daddy takes advantage this time. Lucky (totally like Napoleon Dynamite)! Next we have the little devil hiding in my unfinished laundry room sneaking...can you guess...c'mon you all know him by now. Yes. Candy! (I'm sure it helped that he actually has a sucker hanging out of his mouth)

Nothing special here. Just a cute baby girl using an available car seat as her own personal lounge chair. Besides, I don't need a reason to take a picture of this precious little thing! So there. With the boys in school, I've really got to get snapping pictures at night or they may start to feel left out.