Dog For SALE

So a few days ago I blogged about how great it is to have a real Christmas tree...

 

REAL great...until your dog decides to mark his territory on it!

 

ARG!

Christmas Dance

Finley and her dance class performed at the nursing home on Monday night.  She bravely went into the "holding room" all by herself and right before they performed they came out of the room holding hands.  It was so cute to watch her from a distance!  To see the huge smile on her face, to see her chattering with her classmates, etc.  What a nice little girlie we have!  :)

 

She picked out her outfit...a sparkly tee, black frilly skirt, and silver leggings!

She looked great!

These pictures are blurry because I had to stand in the way back and didn't

 remember my camera...so my phone had to do. 

Every Monday night we leave dance and I wonder if Finley has fun...or if she is really learning anything.  Some nights she does great...other nights she looks bored or would rather make faces in the mirrors.  :)  WELL...she is made to perform!  She did awesome!  I was shocked at how well she knew the routine!  She had a little spark to her that was so fun to see!

 

When we were leaving her teacher handed out a mini candy cane to all the dancers and Finley said, "Mom, it was so worth it to come here tonight for this!"  HA!  Simple pleasures I guess.

Prayers

I love listening to Finley and Ace's prayers...and the fact that they fight over who is going to pray at supper! We never know what is going to come out of their mouths. Finley typically covers everything by thanking God for the "whole world". Ace will almost always thank God for "Mommy & Daddy, Finley, and AJ" and our supper. But the other night, these were the two prayers they said:

FINLEY:  Thank you God for your son, Jesus, that you sent to be our Savior!

ACE:  Thank you God for Rudolph!

I was first struck by how meaningful Finley's prayer was and couldn't help but tear up after I opened my eyes and saw her smiling ear to ear, so very proud of herself!  And then Ace prays...and totally cracks me up...BUT he was being serious, so I couldn't laugh at him, but instead thanked him and dished up his plate!  :)

Such special kiddos!

Lucky Kids

The kids each picked out a tree to cut down for our front steps...and Brent picked one out for our patio.  How fun that we live in an area where they can experience something like this around Christmas! 

 

When I was growing up, I don't think I knew that you could have a real tree in your house for Christmas.  There wasn't such a thing around us...that I remember anyway!  Everyone had an artificial tree with painted metal tips to know where to place them within the stand.  And mom or grandma would spend forever trying to bend the branches to fill in the empty spaces after the tree had been packed in a box for a year.  I do remember having a real tree in our house once I was in high school...but I know they were not $20 like they all are around here!  

 

Thank you to Nana, Papa, and Brent for taking Finley and Ace up north so they can experience finding their perfect tree!  It's the little things like this that they will remember!

Popcorn Anyone?

We went to the boys basketball game last week...to watch the first quarter.  We had to leave early so Papa could dig a popcorn kernel out of Ace's ear!  Nana was able to get the one he put in his right ear out with her fingers...the left ear was more difficult!

 

The picture is hard to see...but the kernel was WAY down in his ear!  Luckily, Papa had a very small tweezers at his office and was able to dig it out after a couple tries!

 

Uff...I hope Ace learned his lesson!

 

And I learned to think twice before buying the kids popcorn at an athletic event!  :)

Holiday Spirit

This last weekend we finally got our Christmas tree and started decorating!  Brent took Finley and Ace up north and cut down a tree for our patio as well as a couple small ones for outside our front door.  We don't have any snow and the temperatures have been unusually warm (I'll take it)...so it's hard to believe it's December and Christmas is only three weeks away!

 

Finley helped me decorate the tree while the boys napped.

Finished product!

The stockings are up as well as the countdown bags!

Finley saw the top of the container poking out of the bag and said to Brent, "Um, Mommy did something wrong...I can see part of the treat inside that bag!"  :)

Who Done It?

The other morning I was picking up the boys room and saw that someone had taken a crayon and colored and wrote on the side of the dresser.  The perfect W and M led me to believe that it was Miss Finley...so I questioned her.  "NO, it was Ace!"  Really?  I didn't know your brother knew how to write an M and W?  "MOM...It was him, not me!"  So I questioned Ace.  "NO, it was FIN!"  I asked him again and also told both of them that it was a sin to lie.  Finley didn't say anything and Ace changed his mind..."It was DADDY!"  HA!  So Ace and I went and found Brent and asked him why he drew on the side of the dresser.  Brent looked at me like a deer in headlights!  He had no idea what we were talking about.  The guilt must have gotten the best of Finley...she came into the kitchen and confessed that she wrote the M & W, but "Ace drew the spider webs"!  Mystery solved!  UFF!  

 

Quiet Time

Recently, AJ and I spent a morning alone with each other...he has been cutting molars and has been a bit more clingy and whiny lately.  And yes, I have another "mama's boy"!  The alone time was much needed for both of us.  He was so content to snuggle and enjoyed playing with a puzzle and pom poms.  

 

He loved this puzzle...it makes the animal noises!

He is very smart - he soon removed all of the pieces and just used his fingers to cover the sensors to make the animal noises on his own terms!  :)

This is Grandma Mari's creation...Parmesan cheese container and pom poms...

It entertained him for at least 30 minutes!

Such concentration!

"Where are they?"

"My hand is stuck!"

ALL DONE...moving out to the living room!

I Can SEE!

I had LASIK eye surgery on Wednesday of last week...which is something I've put off for almost 6 years!  :)  Mostly because of pregnancies...but no excuses now!  I was in the clinic for about an hour and a half and in the procedure room for no more than 15 minutes.  They spent a total of 20 seconds on my right eye and 15 seconds on my left eye "remodeling".  SOOO Crazy!  The worst part for me was laying in the chair and waiting for it to begin.  The doctor did a great job keeping my mind distracted during the procedure...the Valium probably helped too! :)  AND how lucky am I that I had my very own eye doctor with to "hold my hand"!?!?  Not literally, but Perry was definitely an added comfort throughout the entire process!

 

I napped for a couple hours when I got home and when I woke up, I could see!  It was clouded, but still better vision than I've had for over 20 years!  I have not experienced any discomfort since the hour after the procedure; my eyes are dry, but drops help.  I want to rub my eyes really bad...I don't know why though?  Maybe because I'm told I can't?  And I will continue to sleep with my shields for a few more days.  I am also lucky I have eyebrows left...I learned after putting the shields on the first night that I should watch where I align the tape!  YIKES!  :)

 

My vision is slowly evening out - my left eye is extremely sharp and for me, beyond perfect!  The right is a bit slower in the healing process, but is catching up with the left.  

 

After my post-op exam, I said "OH...I forgot my camera!" 

The optometrist kindly took Perry and I back in the op room and took our

picture by the laser machine!  And don't I look pretty in the plastic shields!?!?  Ha!

We Love the Boys

We drive by a dog almost every day that looks SOOOO sad and lonely to the kids...and to me too!  I've actually had to slow down a couple times to make sure the dog was alive (I don't know what I would have done if I felt it was dead?)...it's always just chained up to a small dog house...never any activity at the home...skinny/mopey looking dog...sad!  Not really any other way to put it. 

 

For the kids it's usually a competition to see who can spot the dog first...followed by "oh...he looks so sad!"  I then turn it back on the kids and ask what they would do if that was their dog?  They of course respond that they would love it...give it hugs, play with it, give him treats, etc.  

 

And maybe one night a week they remember to do the above things with their very own dogs! 

Those poor dogs...they get pushed to the back burner when kids come. 

Maybe the owners of the "sad little puppy" have three kids of their own...?  :)

 

Poor Finley

It seems like we've been telling Finley, "that's just what little brother's do" a lot lately!  Like when we're explaining why Ace took all the clothes off her Barbies...or why AJ drank all her milk!  :)

 

I'm guessing by the look on both of their faces...AJ took the phone away from Finley!

Twins

These two look so much alike!  

 

Like father...

...like son!

November?!?

We had a couple weeks of extremely warm weather for this time of year...just in time for deer hunting...and hanging lights outside!  I did some Christmas shopping the other day and it felt so strange to walk in and out of the stores with no jacket on or gloves to keep track of!

 

These pictures were taken on Thanksgiving...no jackets needed...

and obviously Finley didn't need socks!

I tried...the boys tried a little...Finley on the other hand...

Stinker!

These crack me up!  They were doing a dance routine...

...on the stage at Nana & Papa's house!  Such concentration on their faces!

Geese World

The Mill Pond in Medford has been FULL of geese for the past month or so.  We see probably three V's of geese on the way to daycare in the morning and at least that many on the way home.  The other night we got home just as about twenty "V's" flew over our house!  The geese were SO loud and the kids thought it was the coolest thing!  Finley yelled, "What is this...Geese World or what?"  

 

It was pajama day at daycare! :)

Even AJ pointed and said "OH!"

SO Big

The other day I told Ace to "go find a shirt"...and he came back with one of AJ's.  He was so proud of himself!  I couldn't bring myself to tell him that it was his little brother's shirt...so I helped him squeeze into it and smiled all day as I saw his tummy peaking out!

 

I had to crop "Captain Underwear's" undies out of the picture...HA

The shirt is a 12 month size!

Mmmm...Beans!

Our little miss Finley Jo loves baked beans...she will ask for them at snack time, at supper, and it makes her day when they have them at school...weird, huh?!?  We buy the little cans and she requests to eat them "cold, out of the can"...don't judge that we allow her to do this! 

 

Buddies

Ace and AJ are slowly becoming buds...if left to quietly play on their own, they will for quite a while.  It usually ends up with Ace getting AJ to do something they are not allowed to do...like pull the nightlights out of the sockets, empty out drawers and cupboards in the bathroom, unroll the toilet paper, and empty out Kleenex boxes...UFF!  

 

I wish my flash had cooperated with this one...

Smooches

Snuggles

Really?

Finley needed a photo for school...

Can't leave Ace out...

But when asked to pose next to each other...this is what I get!  UFF!

Feeling Crafty!

The other day Finley came upstairs and said, "Mom, come down and see your sewing room!"  The kids and Brent set up a "sewing room" for me!  Sweet!  Now I can leave my machine up, unpack my fabric, and sew away!

 

I have been wanting to make these bedside book sleeves for some time now...

...and love how they turned out!

I find different books under their beds every morning!

To make the sleeves a little more interesting, I tucked in a couple new books!

I also made this cool tote for Finley!

Coloring books fit perfectly, slots for her crayons, and it even reverses!  :)