January.......

Oh the month of January. Is there really anything more depressing than this month?! I say that, but then my husbands b-day is today Jan.26!! Every year I say, "Oh, next year I'm going to remember to have events planned to get us out and moving.", yeah right! I get into this "fog" if you will about this time and it's hard to work myself out of it. Let's be honest, you can't (don't want to) go outside and enjoy yourself cause why would you, nobody else in sight, so that's pretty boring. The sun never shines, even it don't want to come out and play. Now I will give it the benefit of the doubt, we did have some "nice" temps. for a few days recently and that was refreshing.

My kids are driving me crazy, enough to make me want to climb the walls. There is just never enough to do. Hey, Olivia is already pre-planning her b-day party in April!! I did tell her last month, "just let me get through cmas and then we will talk b-day", well it's after cmas!!! Her b-day actually works well this year, it falls on a saturday and Easter is that Sunday and spring break week follows!!

Logan is just plain funny.......that boy, he gets me everyday with something new. He is finally starting to talk more than two words at a time and he's jibber jabbering all the time about something or another! He puts his shoes on now(slide on crocs) and says he's going outside, bless his heart if he only knew it wasn't that easy. He cries when Olivia leaves out the door cause he wants to go too, and of course he gets the same 'ol "your too little to go with me". I have a feeling he's going to hear than his whole life!

He's counting forward, backwards, naming most of the letters and shapes. If Olivia stops too fast he literally runs up her butt!! If he falls or hits his head, right away he tells me "I'm okay", bless his heart!! Progress is progress.............

Got through the day!

Well, I made it through yesterday with two kids with ear infections, go figure at the same exact time. Hey, at least it happened after cmas! Olivia actually ended up down at the ER Monday night, cause hers always start to hurt at night and you have no other choice. Isn't it ironic after she just had Fri.-Mon. off already from school b/c of records day and MLK day and it's starts Monday night. For those of you that don't know she has tried since kindergarten to get a full school yr. of perfect attendance. Last yr. she missed 1.5 days with pink eye and now this year she missed 1/2 day on Tues. I wanted her to stay home but she wanted to go and ended up back home and slept the day away..................she worked so hard not to miss any days.

Logan has got to be the toughest kid I know. I've seen that boy take alot of hits and it not even startle him. This is twice now that he's had ear infections and not even let on. I had a feeling cause he started running a fever the past two days with his runny nose. I didn't know I was going to have such a hard time getting him to take the meds. I tried everything, holding him down (he would spit it out), put it in his drink and he wouldn't drink it! You can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink!! Finally tonight, he must have figured I wasn't going away and he didn't put up much of a fight and drank it..........a much happier mommy and boy we have now.

So the January blues are starting to catch up with me a little and I need to find something for our family to do. I always say Jan. & Feb. the two hardest months of the yr. to get through. What I wouldn't give for a nice warm beach vac. about right now! On the flip side to that, winter does allow me some reading time that I don't get much of during the summer. I just got done reading Hulk Hogan's Outside the Ring.........it's a pretty good book if you know about wrestling! I'm on to Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. I'll let you know when I'm done, what I think!

Is it Spring yet??

Will be back Wed. or Thurs. I've got two kids with ear infections..........All the joys of parenthood!!

Zhu Zhu's

Yes America, we have Zhu Zhu's. Very cute, I have to say. Not your typical, get 'em and they don't work anything like it says on the box or tv!! Logan loves his probably because they move on their own. He knows where the buttons are on them to push to make noises, move, etc. The only problems we've had with them are he wants to throw everything. Logan went through this stage before and then quit, but he's back at it. In fact, hitting poor Olivia square in the forehead with a plastic ball the other morning, causing her to call him a "little demon". Where do these words come from! Anyway, so once in awhile he likes to throw his Zhu Zhu and then mommy has to take Zhu Zhu and put him up on the counter so Zhu Zhu still works in the months to come! So when I take it he simply says "Bye Zhu Zhu, see ya!". Obviously he's used to me taking it off of him!!!

Olivia's cat, Stacy, loves the hamsters. He loves to chase them and watch them run through their play houses. It's actually fun to watch him, watch the hamsters run back and forth.

***Anybody wanting to watch a bear hibernate, you can go to the Today Show website...todayshow.com and there is a link on there to watch it. I have not been able to find the original website where to go and watch it in real time though. If you find it, pass it on. This is the first time a camera has been put in a cave to see what a bear really does while hibernating and this bear is due to have babies mid January..........interesting

Sled Riding

I guess you could say that after all these years living in the same climate conditions I should just learn to embrace what winter has to offer, not like it, embrace it! I got myself a pair of snow pants, snow boots and a hat this year. No I have never worn any of the above in the winter time, but old(er) age changes the way you think.

I am with my cousin on this one, I have different takes on small kids going outside playing in the snow. I guess b/c they just can't tell you that their too cold on their own. I don't think I ever bundled Olivia up at 2yo. to go and play in the snow. But with the second child and needing time to myself and just to wear kids out for bed, it was time to break that rule. Logan is a child that when not being entertain doesn't know what to do with himself. Enter me, when he thinks he's a koala bear and I'm a tree. He likes to hang on my hip for no reason when he's bored. So it was like, yeah rich I think YOU should take him outside. LOL

**This pic is not up to standards and came out very dark and I need to learn how to fix it with not having my same computer programs as Vista, but it's really cute**

I did make it outside to play and sled ride. Rich said my snow pants would never get used! I have to say, after jumping on the tube and all that, I could not lift my arms above my head for two days! So if your thinking on doing this after not doing it for quit some time, re-think what you are getting yourself into. It was awfully fun though. When I was a kid, our neighborhood kids where die hards. We stayed out long after our gloves, boots, snowsuits, and hats were soaking wet. My daughter went through 3 pairs of gloves in 15 minutes and I was still sitting out in the yard when she had come into the house!! I prefer to call her a "city girl".........................

2010

Before and after a snow! Started off very cute and then wanted to hide his face!

So, here we are, 2010 (Twenty-ten) sounds like a strong year, right? I don't think any of us could afford another 2009! Remember when 2000 was all the rage?! Gosh, it's been ten yrs. since nothing was going to work when the year changed! Where has that time gone!

I don't make promises to myself for the new year, something always happens and throws a unexpected wrench in them anyways. I like to think, this is going to be a great year. I've learned from previous yrs. and this is it. But I could also tell you I have said that for many yrs. and well....I don't know for sure how that has worked out. I can tell you that I don't drive a Cadillac SUV, live in a mansion (with a housekeeper), have a million dollars and I still weigh the same as I did last year! So I'm going to say, not many "new" promises have worked out!! LOL What I still do have is All my family still with us and healthy, two beautiful/incredible children, and a husband that has a job and supports me staying at home.......not too bad for one year, right?!

I could tell you that I want to make new changes for the better this year. Actually there's a lot I need to do and number 1 is: learn more patience! I think a lot of things I want to do require patience and I need to find mine. Thought that was the one thing God was trying to teach me with Logan, but that has been 2 1/2yrs. ago now and I need to find them again!

So I will work on my list and try to get it right. I think I just need to find more time for me. I try to do way too much and I have lost a lot of me in the process. So looking ahead, it's just another year and what you make out of it, is what it will be................

The snow and cold has found it's way here and seems to want to stay. I like to think I'm a southern chic that needs a warm climate to function, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for me anytime soon, so I will learn to embrace it.........with Long Johns, a parka, hat, gloves, snow boots and scarf. If you can't beat it, join it.......................

New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2010