Tattoo

So, getting ready for Matt's birthday Friday. His big gift this year is a loooong awaited tattoo removal. He goes in for his first treatment on his 29th birthday -- the 11 year anniversary of putting it on. That makes 11 years (minus a day or two) of regret. My mom and his mom both gave him a birthday gift of one months treatment (It is a 8-10 month process at one treatment a month). I hope our children learn from his mistakes and NEVER get a tattoo!! Temporary tattoos are awesome. Anything more, not so much. I took a picture of the tattoo tonight and will take more pictures as he goes to treatments.. I am thinking about posting a separate sight for just the tattoo removal so if anyone wants to learn about his experience (how much pain, how long treatments, etc etc) and see pictures of the progress leave me a comment and let me know, if there isn't much interest I will just document everything and not worry about posting it online.

In other news, Alissa has been much more excited about the mail man lately..lol.. her and Jon received a package from GG.. here they are opening it up:

Then Jonathan went right for the goodies:

While Alissa occupied herself popping the packing bubbles.

It was a string of the cutest Winnie The Pooh lights ever!! I asked Alissa if she would like to hang them outside, or on the Christmas tree.. and she says, "In my ROOM Mommy!!" .. Oh, of course..silly me. So the light are hanging over her window, they make a great night light(s).

I have much more to write about, but unfortunately my house needs me at the moment :)

HASTA

Christmas is in the air.. part 2

Matt and Alissa finished hanging the Christmas lights yesterday..This is Alissa trying to touch Frosty..

And Alissa putting the finishing touches on the lights on the bushes.

After hanging the lights, Ali and Daddy cleaned up all the sticks that blew off of our tree during the wind storm..

I was a little camera happy yesterday :) After the clean up Ali and Daddy watched Aladdin. I swear they look so much alike it is scary, and they both turn to zombies when watching tv..lol..

As soon as the zombies realized I was taking their picture:

ROFL.. I love it. Of course I can't leave well enough alone, so I tried for another picture of Matt.. I got a "talk to the foot" :)

And just because I don't want to leave Jonathan out, this is him the same day playing with his favorite "ball" -- one of Matt's bobbers. Note the dirty shirt -- he had just enjoyed his first powdered donut :) He was thrilled.

We went to story time this morning at the public library. I am so proud of Alissa!! She has turned into the most social kid I have ever seen. She literally rounds up the other little girls her age and gets them to play games with her. LOL.. She is a natural leader and I think that is so cool. She is a very confident and creative little girl. So for all of those out there who said attachment parenting would create a shy/introvert/stuck on mom kid -- WRONG. :) By never letting her CIO (cry it out), allowing her to nurse on demand until 22 months, letting her sleep with mommy until she one day (at about 2 1/2) came up to me and said "I'm a big girl now mommy, I'm going to sleep in my own bed", and other attachment parenting mumbo jumbo -- I didn't create a monster after all. Goes to show you should listen to your own mommy instincts and do what you think is right. Phooey on the mainstream.. don't just go with the flow because you think you have to. Do what YOU think is right as a parent..whatever craziness that might be ;) OK.. rant over. I have made mistakes (lots of them) but overall I think I've done ok, and I hope my kiddos agree.

HE DID IT!!!!!!

So normally I don't blog in the middle of the day, but I am so excited I have to share!!! Jonathan was standing in the doorway signing "poop" over and over, so I grabbed him and put him on the potty. HE POOPED!! I can't believe we are going to potty train this early -- and it is all his idea!! LOL.. I am sooooo looking forward to not changing poopy diapers anymore. YIIIPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE

Christmas is in the air..

Since I last posted it snowed here.. ok, so nothing stuck but we got to see big snow flakes and Alissa thought that was just great. From snow to rain and a wind storm that just passed. Ahh I love this time of year.
This Picture is Alissa getting her first look at the snow flakes coming down.

This is right after her first peek of snow, she insisted on running outside in her pjs to catch snowflakes.

We have tried to stay indoors as much as possible the last couple of days... not fun going out in a storm with two kids let me tell you. So we made the best of it here. Alissa and I made pumpkin bread muffins for Matt to bring to work and they were a big hit.

Speaking of Matt's work.. apparently a certain SOMEONE we know got some good news.. and we still haven't heard from this SOMEONE (you know who you are). HINT HINT

Anyways :) Today we took Bethany out shopping for a few hours and braved the storm. I was desperate for some groceries and we all needed to get out of the house. While we were out Alissa says, "Mommy, let's go play at Grandma Davis' house!" I say, "Grandma is sick sweetie." She replies, "Ok Mommy, let's go play at Grandma Adam's house." Again.."Sorry baby, Grandma Adams has work she needs to get done." then I get, "Mommy, can we go see GG now, or is it still too cold?" LOL.. at least she gets that it is too cold here for GG, but I think she still imagines GG is at her house and just refuses to go out because of the weather.. too funny. Got to give her points for trying.

Matt has his physical tomorrow and then another psych test and hopefully we will know more about this new job and when he is going to finally hit the road. Apparently his co-workers at the jail are trying hard to get him to stay.. hehe.. sorry guys.. no dice. He might eventually go back, but I doubt it.

Oh! On our "snow" day we got another surprise in the mail!! THANK YOU GG!! :) GG sent some books and included was a book for Alissa and Jonathan.. Yet again Alissa was a happy camper and promptly insisted we read the book over and over again. Here is a picture of Jonathan reading the book. Note that he has on my hairband..lol.. he loved to take it off my head and wear it and he says "Pretty" (one of his new words). He is going to give me grief some day for these pictures.. but it's too much fun!!

This last picture shows off Jonathan's new teeth. He has 8 teeth up front and 4 new molars. And yes, he is trying to eat my hair thingy. :)

Alissa got a surprise...

This was SOOO cute!! For the first time since Alissa is able to read her own name she got a package in the mail. She was so excited she could barely wait to get in the house and open it!! I of course grabbed the camera to capture the moment!! :)

As you can see she was VERY happy! The package was from GG in Arizona and had a couple Smokey Bear coloring/activity books (very fitting) and an advent calendar. She was especially thrilled with the calendar and can't wait to start opening the doors!! Hehe.. She said, "Mommy, I'm a BIG GIRL now and get my own mail!" LOL.. too cute. Only problem is she then started on a rant about how she wants to go to GG's house and play. Yikes.. for the 1452nd time this week (ok, small exaggeration maybe the 5th?) I had to explain to her that GG was far away in Arizona. EVERY time I tell her this she replies with, "Why?" and I try my best to explain.. although since she continues to ask I guess my explanation isn't that good. Oh well. She really misses her GG. We had a wonderful time this summer spending time with GG and the kids think she is made of gold (and so do I of course).

**I have to insert an AAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH here** Why?? I just wrote an incredibly long blog and it all just disappeared.. Sigh.. Ok.. I will try this one more time.. at least all was not lost I suppose.

Ok.. where was I? Ah.. My day.. It was uneventful for the most part. This morning we hung out with Matt, then this afternoon did some Christmas shopping. I found an incredibly perfect gift for my parents, but can't tell you what it is because I think they read this once in a blue moon. :) I swear I would have bought it regardless because it was so perfect -- but it helped that it was 75% OFF!! Ahh the blessings are endless. See, there are good things that come from losing everything you write.. I did not include that little tidbit of information in my last post that you will never see.

This evening we went to the indoor park (which was a first because we usually only go there in the morning) and that kids had a great time. Mostly hung out in the giant sand box and made castles and Jonathan ate a little sand. Fun times. After play we went with Papa to Almost Home for dinner. Alissa scarfed down some spaghetti and Jon and I shared a chicken strips kids meal (which is haunting me as I write this.. and I can't find my tums.. grrr.. I found some antacid tablets in my first aid kit that expired a year ago, but I'm desperate so we will see if they work). After dinner we went to my favorite store ever Dazy Maze (consignment store).. now when I wrote about this before I went off about how much I love this store because I can actually afford brand name stuff blahblahblah.. I'm just not motivated to go on about that again :) Lets just say I am hooked on consignment, in fact I'm sure my kids will grow up and not even know that it is possible to buy clothes from anywhere but. I bought the most fabulous robe today -- it is the most comfy and soft robe ever, but best of all no ties! It has a zipper in front.. I hate fiddling with ties.. aaaanyhow.

Once home it was off to bed. Matt had already left for work (long ago) because it is an o/t day. An o/t day looks something like this: Matt waked up at 5pm.. leaves at 6pm for work and comes home at 8:30am. Yuck. I don't know how he does it. Really.

I'm still a bit miffed that my writing disappeared, but oh well. On the good news side the expired antacids are kicking in. Woohoo.
Here are some other pictures from tonight (notice Alissa in the background of one still fiddling with her mail..hehe)


This last picture is Alissa playing in her "boat" -- the lid to her toy box.

Finally some pictures!!

This is my favorite picture EVER!! You are looking at the unedited "raw" picture. I plan on making it black and white and blowing it up to hang on my wall. Why black and white? Notice Jonathan is wearing a nightgown with pink collar and stripes? Ok, ok.. I confess.. this is Alissa's old nightgown. He is too little to care right? It would figure that's when I get this picture of them. They are huddled together in a diaper box btw.. I LOVE IT!!

This one is Alissa and Daddy reading the Sunday paper together. Alissa was reading the Toys R Us ad and pointing out all the toys she wants for Xmas.. hehe..

This is Jonathan and Lila eating together at the indoor park we go to.. the last picture is the indoor park.. the picture doesn't do it justice but you can see it is HUGE! Kiddos love it.


So how about I tell you about our day? :) First thing this morning I left the kiddos with Matt and Zena and I went to Soapy Paws for a much overdue doggy bath. I used their "self-serve" tub.. they provide shampoo, conditioner, ear cleaner, nail clippers, and "doggy cologne" umm.. yeah. The biggest perk is NO CLEAN UP! You should have seen the ridiculous amount of hair that came off of Zena. Like I said, this was way past due. So I now have the cleanest dog in Salem!!

When we got home Matt went to bed and we played a bit. After putting Jonathan down for a nap, Alissa and I did some pre-Christmas room cleaning -- aka Got rid of some old toys to make room for new. It is hard with such a tiny house and no play room, things get cluttered fast! Luckily Alissa isn't much of a pack rat and helped decide which things could go bye bye. We have two huge garbage bags full of stuff for goodwill. Yippee!!

When Jon woke up we were preparing to go pick up Aunt Bethany for a shopping trip when my phone rang. It was my mom in a bit of a panic. Turns out Wheelie (her Chihaua/pappiyon/dachshund mix) got out somehow and was wandering around on her front porch. Now with some dogs, this would not be cause for panic. But Wheelie likes to take off every now and then and play dodge ball with traffic. Not good. So we jumped in the car and rescued Wheelie (who was fine but soaking wet and muddy). After making sure she was locked in the house secure, we went to get Bethany.

When we were at Fred Meyer I got a surprise from Alissa. Freddy's has a kid area where your preschool aged child can be dropped off to play while you shop. I swore I would NEVER drop off MY kid at one of those places.. umm.. Alissa BEGGED to play in there while I shopped, even after I told her mommy couldn't stay. Yikes.. I checked it out and the employee who works in there is background checked/trained/blahblah and you get to wear an id bracelet so you get the right kid and the right kid gets the right parent. Long story short, she played for an hour while we shopped and LOVED it. Who'd have thought? There were toys, movies, coloring.. all sorts of cool stuff for her to do. She is really growing up.. when I was her age there was no WAY I would do that.. I was so attached to my moms leg.. hehe.

After Freddy's we dropped off Bethany at home and went to my mom's house for dinner. Tonight is ASL class night so after dinner I said goodbye to the kiddos and off to class I went. Learned a bunch. This was the last fall class and winter class starts January 8th. I am SO excited for winter term!! Why?? Alissa gets to come! They have a preschool sign class one room over from mine that Ali is going to attend. They sign and have snack and it happens at the same time as my class.. PERFECT. Alissa is pretty excited too. She has never been as into sign as Jon, so I think this class might really make a difference when she is around her peers learning and not just boring old mom.

So class finished, I picked up the kiddos and they were both asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

Tonight is Matt's only night off. He has been putting in a TON of o/t. The last couple days were supposed to be his days off, but he worked them. Tis the season. Trying to cram in as much o/t as possible before the new job starts and we are cut off for awhile. Interesting fact: Matt was born in the Chinese year of the Horse. If you read about that it talks about how much of a hard worker he will be.. kind of creepy how accurate that is. :)

Good night all!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

First off, I am pleased to report that everyone is healthy. Grandpa Davis did NOT get the yucky bug!! WOOHOO! So, the plan is now to go to Tom and Debbie's at 4, eat light :) and then go to my mother-in-law's house at 7. This way Matt can get enough sleep, still get Thanksgiving dinner at mom's (he can't make Debbie's because he has to work tonight so needs some shut eye), and we get to hang out with the rest of the family too!!

I made some delicious pumpkin bread muffins.. supposed to make it in loaves, but I thought I would try something different and it worked out great! Alissa and I made mashed potatoes for Grandma Davis' house, and we made two batches of green bean casserole -- one for Grandma's and one for Uncle Tom's. I just can't WAIT for that turkey and gravy!! YUMMM...

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. This year I have so much to be thankful for. I thought about writing it all here, but I'm afraid I would babble on too long. Let me keep this short and sweet.
I am thankful first and foremost for my family. My incredible husband, my soul mate and man of my dreams. My children. How can I possible put into words how much my life has been enriched? Every breathe I take is a little sweeter, every morning a little brighter, every experience so much richer. I have been blessed beyond measure with my two angels (thank you God for loaning them to me, I will treasure them every second of every day and try with all my heart never to take them for granted). My parents. Their wisdom and guidance, their love and support. I am what I am today because of the sacrifices they made, although growing up I never for a second thought we were sacrificing anything. My in-laws. I feel so special and accepted, always supported and loved. I am thankful beyond measure that with my husband came such a wonderful family -- how did I get so lucky? For all of this I am thankful to God, for his blessings and his presence in our life. Man, there are so many more people I am thankful for, and so many things.. I have gone on too long already.

What do you have to be thankful for? If you really think about it.. the list goes on and on and on. Life is good.

Eat some turkey.

Did I mention I am thankful for turkey?

Happy Turkey Day.