Christmas Day (lots of pictures)

Santa was VERY generous with the size of the stockings this year...note to self, buy smaller stockings for next year. Tucker gave Addie her first doll for Christmas. Addie tasted her presents. We won't be returning these gifts.This is also an effective way to unwrap presents.Tucker was very excited about getting some new pants. I thought it was so cute that he put the pants over his shoulders like this. Santa hit the jackpot with this present. Tucker got a train table and we can barely pull him away from the thing to do anything else...including eating!Then we made our way to my Mom's house in Washougal...snow, snow, snow. There were points of the drive that looked like we were driving on Mt. Hood! Huge snow drifts, snowflakes flying and a little slip-sliding on the road!After a short explanation by Uncle Dan-Dan of what the hell an aluminum tree and color wheel is, Tucker was ready to open the presents under the tree.Is it just me that thinks Addie looks too much like this Cabbage Patch doll?

We had a wonderful Christmas and we are looking forward to a prosperous, adventurous, and exciting New Year.

The Night Before Christmas

This Christmas Eve was a really special night for me. My Dad got to read The Night Before Christmas to Tucker for the first time. Reading this story was a very big and important tradition in our family growing up. Matt has read this story to Tucker every year but this year was especially meaningful because my Dad read it to him, like he used to read it to me. I remember one year me and my brother Tommy were reading the words along with my Dad and he paused, looked at us and said, "Are you going to read it this year?" and we knew that this was Dad's thing, his moment, and we both knew the answer was "NO!" We never tried to read along again. Ok, so I admitted I didn't cry at Tucker's birthday lunch earlier in the day, but this did choke me up. I think it meant as much to my Dad as it did to me.

One, Two...I'm THREE!

So, the actual 3rd birthday came and went. I have to be honest, I didn't cry this year. I think I was just too overwhelmed with the day that I didn't invest myself emotionally like I usually do. I liked not feeling over emotional, but as crazy as I am, I sort of feel like I didn't "experience" the day because I didn't get emotional about it. Oh, my love/hate relationship with Tucker's birthday is more than I can explain.

We didn't give Tucker anything at his birthday party, we save our presents for his actual birthday so that he has something to open. I can see how as he gets older, keeping his birthday separate from Christmas is going to be more and more difficult. I want him to know his day is special, even with all they hype of Christmas going on. Tucker got a Cars fishing pole. He has figured out how to cast, but I think if we went to the lake he would just cast into the dirt. His casting basically is slamming the end of the pole onto the ground and pushing the button that releases the line! It's so funny because he casts and then tells us how good he is at casting! I love the confidence. As usual, Bo was in the middle of the celebration. Addie and Bo Tucker's birthday cake

Tucker is now 3 and Addie is 6 months old.

Pastry Chef Tucker Part II

Pastry Chef Tucker is back with another lesson on "how to make cookies pretty". Tune in tomorrow when he will be teaching a class on drop sugar cookie decorating. This lesson will have specific instructions on how to frost the cookies as well as how to pile the sprinkles in the middle of the cookie. Tomorrow's program will be a special 3rd birthday edition. My beautiful boy turns 3 on Christmas Eve. What a Christmas miracle he has been for me and Matt. (I'm sure I'll blog while crying my eyes out tomorrow. I always cry on his birthday...but I think I've already written about that in a previous blog.)

Pastry Chef Tucker

Tucker baked cookies today. Here is a quick kitchen demonstration on how to put flour on top of the dough before you cut out the cookies. Stay tuned for more cooking demonstrations by this highly regarded pastry chef.

Sleep Update: Day 3 and Snow Pics

If you could see me now, I'm dancing a happy jig. Addie is taking to the sleep program like a champ. She took 2 HUGE naps today. We woke her up from both naps today because they were starting to exceed 2 hours and wanted to make sure to preserve both second nap and bedtime. She still cried at bedtime, but not nearly as much. In fact, I'm not even sure how long she cried, but I know it wasn't constant like it's been for the last few nights. With the way the naps worked out today, there were very few hours in the day where we had both kids awake at the same time. So life was good!

While Addie took her afternoon monster nap, Tucker and I went out and played in the snow (ice). We had a blast and I always enjoy spending time with him. He is so much fun. He reminds me that life isn't as serious as I make it and that if I just give it up for a while and play like a kid with him...I can forget all the worries of our life and just have plain old fun. Oh, and this first picture-Tucker's new favorite thing is to make funny faces for the camera instead of look adorable with a nice smile. He took pictures of my funny faces too. Some how those photos didn't make it on here...not sure why? ha ha ha

Me and my awesome dog Bo!

A Message From Tucker and A Day in the Life...

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbvvvvvvvcccccccccccccccccxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzz
uuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbbbvvvvvvv mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,.......,,......,,,,,,,,,,mmmm,,,,,,,,,,,


Here is his interpretation of what the above typing means:
"Dear Mommy, We love you. Dear Daddy, we love you and we love you."

Ok, so on to the story. Tucker had lots of funny things to say today. Here are a few stories!

Matt was putting Tucker down for his afternoon nap and he said the funniest dang thing!
MATT: Ok, buddy I'm going to go. You need to stay in bed. I will come check on you in a little while.
TUCKER: No, Daddy, Mommy's gonna check on me.
MATT: Ok, we'll both check on you.
TUCKER: Daddy, will you send Mommy an email?
MATT: Sure, what do you want me to tell her?
TUCKER: Just tell Mommy thank you.

Tucker has recently discovered that our Mac laptop is really easy for him to use because there is no mouse and the "click" button is just one big button, unlike the left and right click of a mouse. Because it is easier for him to use he likes to play a few games online. He really likes a Curious George game where he sorts clothes, toys, recyclables, and books. Anyway, this morning he comes over to the computer and says, "Hey Daddy, can you click on P-B-S Kids dot org please? I want to play Curious George." He knew the freakin' web address!

He got a doll for Adeline for Christmas and we let him wrap it today...oh man. I think there is about 6 feet of tape on the present, but only about 3 pieces are actually holding the paper on! He was so proud of his wrapping job that he carried her present around for most of the day telling us that Sister had a Christmas present. He won't leave the dang thing under the tree. He brought it in to her when I was feeding her dinner so that she could see it. I'm sure he will get up in the morning and unwrap it for her just because he is so excited.

Today while I was getting him dressed to play in the snow he told me that we are "best buddies".

Matt was sitting in a chair and Tucker was standing in front of him. Matt had his legs locked around Tucker's waist. Usually Tucker says, "Daddy, open please!" But tonight he said, "Abre". Thank you Dora the Explorer and your animal rescuing cousin Diego.

Tonight after dinner I was feeding Addie her baby food and Tucker was hanging out in the dining room with me. He was sitting "criss-cross-applesauce" (for all you fellow teachers out there) and he said, "Mommy! I have eggs!" I said, "You have eggs?" "Yeah, look!" He leans over to one side and shows me that he is sitting on a bow that I was using to wrap Xmas packages! He was pretending that the bows were eggs and he was a chicken laying eggs!

For his birthday party, Nana and Batbah got Tucker the Diego editions of Chutes and Ladders and Memory. ALL Tucker ever wants to do is play those games. He calls them (phonetically) "Shoots and Yeah-ers" and "Mem-bore-ee". Tucker is so funny when he talks because he will say Daddy just fine, but when you ask him to say ladder he can't say the D sound. He calls Addie "Ah-ee". Matt and I were trying to get him to say a word besides Daddy that had a D sound in the middle and so Matt said, "Say Daddy."
T: Daddy
M: Say ladder
T: yeah-er
M: Say Dadder
T: Dadder
WHAT? Christy and Marta, you are speech therapists...any explaination?
He also doesn't say Ls....He must be watching too much Diego or something because they all come out as a Y sound. Too much Spanish influence, I think.

Tucker is a total riot! He never stops talking and he always has something witty to say...he is very much like Matt.

Sleep Update: Day 2

Last night was night #2 of the new sleep program. Addie shaved 2 hours off her crying time! She was asleep last night by 10:30pm instead of the record breaking time of 12:30am! We went in about every half hour last night to check her and comfort her. She ended up falling asleep after Matt went in a comforted her, so it didn't even take nursing last night like it did the night before. That was a huge success. I had to wake her up this morning to keep the sleep schedule and she just looked exhausted! She is down right now for her morning nap. She fell asleep after just a minute of crying and has been sleeping for an hour now, which is awesome! Yesterday she took 2 naps, but neither of them was longer than 45 minutes. I think the first night of misery is already paying off.

3rd Annual-Tim is My Hero Day

Today, in my world, is Tim is My Hero Day. Tim is a family friend of ours that we met at Ft. Benning, GA. On December 19, 2005 Matt was at the schoolhouse and Tim was at our house wrapping presents for his wife. (Tim has a snoopy wife that loved to seek out all her gifts so Tim ordered everything online and had it delivered to our house.) I was sitting at the kitchen table watching Tim wrap his wife's gifts when all of a sudden...I get the sensation that I'm wetting my pants. HOW EMBARRASSING? So I excuse myself from the table and go into the bathroom. Well, friends, I'm not wetting my pants, that's the good news. But I'm 33 weeks pregnant and my water just broke! I'm in a panic in the bathroom, my hands are shaking and my face is totally white as a ghost! What am I going to do? I go back to the table and sit down like nothing is wrong. I'm not sure what my game plan was at that point, but acting cool was objective number one! Tim could tell something was wrong and so he asks me, "What happened in there, Tami?" "Nothing" "Tami, I have 4 children. You can tell me what happened in there." "Well, I don't know. I think my water broke." Well Tim is such a kind, calm and convincing man that his next question shocks me, "What color was the fluid?" are you serious? I tell him it was clear and he told me that was good news. I have no idea how he knows all this, but I'm taking is word for it. He tells me that everything is just fine and that we are just going to take care of it. He calms me down so much that I'm trying to pack a bag for myself, I take the dog outside to go potty and I won't ride in his new truck without a blanket under me. Meanwhile, Tim is sweating bullets inside because he was so confident and calm that he has me WAY too calm. He now starts to speed up the process of getting to the hospital without putting me back into panic mode. We get in his truck, call Matt on the way to the hospital. Tim drives me right up to the front door of the ER, parks his truck and walks me in. He gets me to the LD floor and helps me check in. He doesn't leave me for one second, not even to move his truck out of the ER entrance, until Matt has arrived. I won't ever forget what Tim did for me that day. I'm not sure how that all would have played out if he hadn't been there. Matt wasn't home and I would have been a mess. Tim was calm, helpful, experienced and assertive...everything I needed in that moment. So, here's to you Timmy. We love you and miss you. And thank you for helping me on a day I will never forget. You are permanently a member of our family for the help you gave me on that special and scary day. Wish you were here to see the little man turn 3.

Santa Visit Without Tears?!?

A Christmas Miracle has happened! We visited Santa this morning at the mall and NO ONE cried! I don't think it really counts as a visit to Santa without tears. I'm sure by next year Addie will be more aware and know she should be scared out of her mind. This picture will look much different next year...more like our Christmas card. Addie is red in the face with screams and tears! You can't really see her face all scrunched up in the picture but what I think is so funny is that she isn't even same color as the rest of our faces in the picture!! She is some funny shade of purple and red! MAD girl! What's so funny to me is that she is usually such a happy baby and then we send this card out and I'm sure everyone just thinks she's insane most of the time like Tucker was!

Sleep Update: Day 1

I think that no matter how painful last night was, today is worth it! We wore her down so badly last night that she has no choice but to follow our new sleep rules. She doesn't choose when to sleep anymore. There's no more cat naps during the day or falling dead asleep while nursing. Naps are for sleep, awake is for play, period. Already today, Addie has taken a morning nap where she cried for only 3 minutes (SUCCESS) and now she is down for an afternoon nap with minimal crying (again, I think about 3 minutes). If you think this is good, check this out.....TUCKER AND ADDIE ARE SLEEPING AT THE SAME TIME! And like the nut that I am, I'm blogging, not sleeping, wrapping Xmas presents, reading a book that doesn't have Elmo in it, reading a magazine, watching a recorded TV show, calling a girlfriend to catch up or anything else that I haven't done in the last 5 1/2 months!! I guess this afternoon nap time is going to really raise the expectations I have for myself. With this kind of freedom, I should be able to produce some serious projects during the day...maybe even a quilt? (GASP) A clean house? (GASP, followed by "Noooooo") Maybe a clean house, a quilt and read a book front to back? (Oh, Tami...now don't get ahead of yourself. This is just day one!) Well, for now, celebrate with me. Today, December 19th marks the beginning of a more renewed Tami, a refreshed and well rested Mommy, a happier and less naggy wife??? (...ok, again...taking this too far, but I appreciate the optimism!)

A Tough Nut to Crack!

Alright, well Addie has proven to us that she is in charge.  She's not sleeping unless it's her idea.  Last night was miserable....for everyone except Tucker who was peacefully sleeping in his car bed.  At last blog, Addie had persisted for 63 minutes.  Well she proved herself to have much more endurance than I had ever imagined possible.  She started crying at 8:45pm, this chick didn't fall asleep until about 12:40am.  We went in and checked on her a few times just to be sure she was OK, but none of our efforts soothed her.  Finally at midnight I went in a fed her again because the book said that a "natural wake up" and feeding might be necessary at midnight.  After feeding her she fussed a little bit, but then finally fell asleep.  So at about 1:00am, Matt and I finally got to sleep.  At 6:30am, my other baby came crawling into bed with me.  WOW.  You know when you're so tired your eyes burn?  That's me today.  I'm going to make it through they day as long as I'm being sponsored by Starbucks.  You know the other thing I realized today?  (if you are the mother of only one child, please don't be offended)  Having one kid is SO easy!  You don't realize it while you only have one kid.  I had no idea how easy I had it.  When Tucker slept, I slept.  Now, when Tucker sleeps I'm up with Addie!  It used to be so simple.  I know I have friends out there who read this that have multiples or lots of kids and they are probably laughing at me right now for freaking out about 2 kids, but I guess you always feel like your situation is so overwhelming at the time.  I know this whole sleeping thing will eventually work out for us, but in the mean time, I hope Addie isn't permanently damaging her cute little voice with all the screaming she is doing at nap and bedtime!  Wish me luck!  I'll probably be blogging again late tonight talking about the sequel to last nights extravaganza!  

63 Minutes & Counting

Last night was one of the worst nights of sleep that I've had since Adeline was born. She fell asleep on me for a late afternoon nap. Fell asleep again around 9:00pm and we put her into bed around 10:00pm. At 10:30pm she was crying in the room, so we went and got her. She didn't fall asleep for the night until 1:45AM!!! She was awake again at 2:45am for a little snack, and awake again at 4:45 for another snack. You'd think she would sleep in a little bit, but she was awake for the day at 8:00am. She took 3 naps today that totaled 45 minutes. This made a great case for why I should start the sleeping program. There wasn't going to come a day when I decided that this was a wonderful day to hear my sweet baby cry her friggin' brains out...so I just had to decide that it was time. I'm tired...it's time!!!
She has been sleeping on me for naps during the day and sleeping in her own bed at night after falling into a deep sleep on me...nursing all the while. I've been going back and forth on when to start her on the same sleeping "program" that we did for Tucker. It's not a very fun program (depending on which method you subscribe to) for parents or baby, but it's very effective and worth the while once all the screaming and crying ceases. It's a program that's in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. Last night was my breaking point and I decided it was time. Addie is a great sleeper and that's why it's hard to make her do all this crying when I know that if I just picked her up and nursed her, all this misery could be over for her. I also am smart enough to know that nursing her to sleep and letting her sleep on me is not good for the long term, nor does it allow me any time to myself.
So here we are...Addie is screaming, 63 minutes and counting. Who knows how long this could last. Thank goodness for blogging or I'd be in there wiping the sad tears of my sweet daughter's face telling her how sorry I am for making her cry like that. I know that she just wants me, she does not need me. I know that if I were to walk in there she would smile, knowing that she has been rescued just like she wanted. She has already figured that one out, if I come in the room and pick her up...she smiles and sometimes even laughs! Booger. I'm doing the right thing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

My Adeline, Sweet Adeline

This is a photo of Addie in her "gym" that Nana bought her. This picture is courtesy of Tucker...I think he has a real talent here that we shouldn't ignore! Addie is getting so big, soon her and Tucker will be in the same size diaper. Which, Tucker still in diapers is a whole other story that I just don't want to get into. If anyone has ANY input about when I should just start forcing him to do "big boy potty" let me know. Any wisdom or advice is welcome...please post your comments! I think the most frustrating part is that we know, that he knows what he's doing. ...but never mind, I said I didn't want to get into it right now and I really don't. I just don't want to be buying 2 sets of diapers for the rest of my natural life. This is my smiling little girl just hanging out in the chair! She is usually such a happy and easy-going baby, but lately she has started seriously teething. She is drooling, chomping her gums together, biting everything that comes even close to her mouth and being cranky. Even with all that going on, she is still such a joy. I just can't explain how thrilled I am to have her. I know the kind of relationship I have with my Mom and I am so stoked to be able to share that same thing with her. Every time I do her laundry I am so thankful that the lint coming of of the dryer is PINK. I am beyond blessed with my two beautiful children and I really couldn't ask for anything more.

She has recently started eating baby food! She likes to be in charge of the spoon, which is a bad thing on so many levels. I think she wants to be in control, do things herself and wants it done a certain way (not sure where she gets ANY of these traits...I've birthed my clone). She actually has applesauce in her left eye in this picture. "Back up Mommy, I can do this myself!"

Playing in the snow!

Tucker in the snow. We had been out here for a while and his little cheeks were starting to get red and cold. This little Louisiana raised boy couldn't believe that snow was real, so far it had only been on TV! His first taste of snow!

Mommy, Tucker and Daddy

Tucker and his buddy Bo. Despite the fact that our Georgia born dog hates the rain, he LOVES the snow! He was running around wild eating the snow and sliding all over the place!

Tucker's First Snowfall

Tucker has never even seen snow with his own eyes before....

I just can't help "myelf"!

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Feet

For some reason Tucker loves to take pictures of his feet when I let him use my camera. Some of Tucker's pictures turn out amazingly great, most are horrible, but these are hysterical to me. I usually look at these feet pictures and wonder what he is thinking! But then I just realized he does this quite a bit! These couple pictures are from September, November and December. Apparently, I didn't let him take any pictures in October! These are his dragon slippers!

THIRD Birthday Party!

Last Sunday, we had a birthday party for Tucker. Had so much fun playing with other kids! It was kind of sad that he is going to be 3 on Christmas Eve, but I was able to keep it together during the birthday party. CONFESSION: I couldn't sing the last "Happy Birthday to you" because I was getting choked up. For some reason I always cry on Tucker's birthday. I don't know if it's because I'm so thankful that he is a healthy, growing, sweet boy or if it's because I know our relationship changes every day and one day he won't cry "MOMMY" anytime he is sad or hurt. I don't need to explain to you Mommies out there what it feels like to love your kids, but sometimes it just gets so intense I cry. Getting off task, I'm blogging about a fun birthday party! This is Tucker's requested "Chockit" cake. On the Sunday before, we went to my Mom's house (which is where this bday party is) for a belated Thanksgiving dinner. After Tucker was done eating his turkey, mashed potatoes and all the other Thanksgiving yummies, he asked for cake. I told him that there wasn't any cake, but that he could try some pie if he wanted to. He said, "No thank you Mommy. I want cake." "Tucker, there's NO cake. You can have pie, ok?" "No, Mommy. I'd like cake please. It's my chockit birthday cake. Where is it?" Poor kid thought we were having this feast for his birthday and he wanted his chocolate birthday cake for dessert!!! How bad did I want to just have a "micro-bake" (...if I knew you were comin', I'd baked you a cake, in my micro-bake! I never had one, but isn't that the jingle from TV? Anyone even know what I'm talking about?) Anyway, this is the FIRST piece of cake for Tucker...more to come...As much fun as Tucker had, let's be honest, this is still an adult party. Check out all the beer and wine in this photo! Hey, we figured we needed to entertain both children and adults! Party on! This is the second piece of cake on birthday party day. He got this after he ate a little bit of real food for dinner. Either way, my kid ate 2 pieces of cake in one day. On Christmas Eve, Tucker will officially turn 3. My baby. My 4 pounds, 2 ounce, 17 inches long, born at 4:28 in the morning, 6 weeks early, in the NICU for 2 weeks, love of my life, baby will be three. Where has the time gone? My eyes are welling up now, so this blog is over...he's not really 3 yet, I refuse to be sad for the next 13 days!!!

A Formal Introduction

"Hello Dog, my name is Adeline Hazel Glem. I'm better known as Addie, Ahh-ee (as my brother calls me), or goober. I'm a newbie to this family but I'm starting to get it figured out. Like when I cry a lot, someone will come get me. I pretty much pick my own bedtime, which I KNOW brother doesn't get to do. And, since I'm the baby, everyone loves me. So, Dog, what do you do around here?"
"Well, Addie, my name is Beauregard Muscogee Glem. I'm better known as Bo, Bo Dog, Bo Bo, Bo Bo Doggins or Bo Bo-Licious. My unique name comes from all the places this family has lived since they adopted me from some doggy-hell-hole just more than 3 years ago. I was adopted with the given name of Alfalfa...how embarrassing is that? So our Dad re-named me Bo. My middle name was given to me because I was adopted from the Muscogee County Humane Society near Columbus, Georgia. Then we moved to Louisiana, that was before your time, girl. We moved to Beauregard Parish, and since my name was already Bo I just got a slight adjustment to my name. But I'll tell ya, I'm sure glad we got out of the Army because I'm sure my name would have just become the family joke, gettin' a new name added on every time we PCS! And you want to know what I do around here? Well, sweetie, the answer is eat, sleep and crap...we pretty much have the same job."
"So, Beauregard Muscogee Glem, who do you think would win if we arm wrestled?"
"YOU WIN! Get off me, Newbie! Next time try not to cheat!" Do we have the best dog or what? What other dog do you know would put up with this day in and day out. Addie is being sweet as pie compared to Tucker! Tucker will pull his tail, hit and chase him with toys and this dog just takes it like a champ. We love this dog and he is just as much a part of this family as these kids who beat him. I just realized last night that Bo has been in more family Christmas photos than either of our kids! LOVE THIS DOG!

Addie Plays Jingle Bells

Notice how she chucks the bells at the end...atta girl! Only a few more years and we are signing you up for t-ball. Coach Mommy Tami is ready and waiting!

Mommy's Date with Tucker & Addie

Last night I went on a date (more or less) with Tucker and Addie. We left the house to get Tucker's haircut. The only way I could convince him that he should get his haircut was by telling him that Diego (Go Diego Go) was also getting his hair cut so that he, too, would look handsome for playing at Pump It Up Jr.!! So, a made up story about Diego getting his hair cut and one pretend phone call to Diego to confirm his haircut appointment and his appearance at P.I.U.J., Tucker agreed peacefully to the haircut. After all the hype of wanting to ask Diego if he also got a dum-dum sucker for sitting so nice at his haircut...he was very afraid of big-headed, non-human looking, mute Diego (wonder why?? ha ha ha). Tucker finally warmed up and would give Diego a high-five as he ran past. Don't let still photography fool you, there was no stopping for this picture. I should have really posted the other 7 pictures I TRIED to take but failed to actually get Tucker in the picture because he had already taken off like a shot!Tucker was kind enough to capture the moment for me and Addie too. And just because I could...I took my kids to Baja Fresh! Tucker agree to tacos and I ran with it! Addie tried her first bites of apple sauce here off big brother's plate. Tucker also offered her that milk he is drinking in the picture as well as a tortilla chip. What a nice kid! Thanks, but no thanks!

I had a blast with them last night. I feel like a super hero when I can take these two out by myself and actually get something accomplished and have fun.

Xmas Tree Truth

Ok, for those of you who read about my adorable Tucker decorating my tree...well the bottom 2 feet of my tree...it has been "re-distributed". Is that how I would say it without hurting any one's feelings? The controlling, picky, perfectionist in me just couldn't take it anymore. But I must be honest, I delegated (imagine that) the job to Matt and let him finish the decorating. I'm just being realistic, I wouldn't have gotten to it! I have 800 other things I think about during the day and that's just not one of them. Plus, when am I supposed to re-distribute the ornaments when I'm nursing a 5 month old non-stop? Bottom line, our tree is beautiful and finished! Thanks Matt!

Elf Yourself

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Pump It Up Jr.

I have found the BEST place to get your child to run like a maniac, have fun and act like a kid yourself! It's called Pump It Up Jr and it's out HWY 26 and Cornell/Bethany Rd. It's the best $7.00 we have spent in a while. The place is clean and the inflatables are smaller (made for the 6 and under crowd). They also have special jump times for 3 and under which is a great time to take the younger kids so they aren't getting trampled by more aggressive kids. We went to a similar type place in Louisiana, but all the inflatables were full size and Tucker was scared of all but one of them. Pump It Up Jr. has all smaller inflatables and he went in every single one. They had 2 slides and an obstacle course one and many more. We will be going back very soon, maybe even Friday. Diego will be there to play with the kids. I'm not sure if that will scare Tucker or not, but he does like Go Diego Go, so we will see! Check this place out, it's great!

Christmas Tree Decorated by Tucker

We finally got the tree out of the garage...yes, we are THOSE people who have a fake tree. Maybe slightly pathetic because we live in Oregon and we have a fake tree, but other than missing the great pine tree smell throughout the house...I really don't miss real trees. I don't forget to water the poor thing, we can set it up on December 1st and we don't have a brown tree on New Year's Eve and the best part is that I don't have to pester Matt about how many lights we should have and where they should go. I know that this fake, pre-lit tree eliminates many holiday fights between us (I'm a picky perfectionist and he just wants the job finished)! After we got the tree set up and lights on, Tucker told us that this was the biggest Christmas tree he had ever seen. We didn't try to explain that this is the same tree we had last year! So we got the tree branches spread out and it was time for Tucker to put on some ornaments. I handed over the ornaments and let him put them on anywhere he wanted. He had so much fun and really seemed very proud of the good work he was doing. It was adorable. He is really excited about Christmas for the first time, which makes it so much more fun for me. Getting off track here...so, check out the tree decorating Tucker did tonight!

These ornaments are hanging from the lighting....all 8 ornaments!

We are lucky this branch is actually reinforced wire because there are about 10 ornaments on that one branch! I kept telling him to find a new branch, but I guess these few lucky branches were the only ones good enough to get ornaments!!

1 pan, 1 pot and 30 minutes

A friend of mine recently posted a yummy looking recipe on her blog and it made me want to share one of our favorites. It's very tasty, extremely quick and has several veggies mixed in. I got this recipe from my friend Marta in Louisiana, but no, it's not Cajun. We call it "noodle and sausage dinner" although I wish it had a fancy name. It take 30-35 minutes from start to finish. Measurements aren't exact because I don't enjoy cooking as much when I have to follow specific directions...just go with your gut feeling and make changes next time if you want to!

Let me know what you think of it when you try it!

Ingredients:

Approx. 1/2 box of penne noodles

1 lb Italian Sausage

olive oil

1 spoon of chopped garlic (or to your taste)

1 sweet onion-cut into wedges

2 peppers (our favs are orange and red) cut into chunks

1 bag fresh spinach

At the same time, preheat a pan for your sausage AND start your water to boil. Brown your sausage. Whenever your water boils, dump in about 1/2 the box of noodles. When your sausage is completely cooked, set it aside in a bowl. In your sausage pan, put the garlic, onions and about 4 swirls of olive oil.(use your judgement, but use enough olive oil so everything will be coated...you can always add more later) Get your onions almost brown and add the chopped peppers. Cook your peppers until you like them (a little bit soft or crunchy). Add your cooked sausage back into the pan. Add raw spinach to the pan and cook it down, use as much or little as you prefer. I usually don't even bother dirtying the colander, so I scoop the noodles from the pot into the pan using a slotted spoon. Scoop noodles in until you like the ratio of meat and veggies to noodles. Add more olive oil if you think you need it.

Also makes good leftovers.

Also try: tomatoes cooked in, and/or shredded Parmesan on top

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I have so much to be thankful for...

My helpful, loving husband who is also a wonderful and playful father. Who is not in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I am thankful for those soldiers that ARE in Iraq or Afghanistan. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. I'm praying for your quick and safe return.

My two beautiful and loving children. I'm not sure who I would be without them. (well I can think of a few things I would be...thinner and well rested are the first things that comes to mind) but every second and pound is worth it.

My parents. I'm not even sure how to say how thankful I am. After having Tucker and Addie I now understand the kind of love and work that they put into making me who I am. What a hard job! I really didn't have a clue! Thank you!

I am especially thankful for my Mother-in-law who is sacrificing so much to help house us and keep us from starving while we are unemployed and job hunting. Thank you Michele for all you are doing for us and letting us take over your life and home.

My friends, you are the ones who keep me sane, inspired, and laughing. I would not be the person that I am without you in my life. I wish I could spend more time with all of you. I treasure each of you so much.