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!