Eli's New Bike

After bribing Eli with M&Ms (they work for everything) we finally convinced him to ride his bike. He did great. Riding a big boy bike is very different from riding a big wheel so he has to get used to not pushing backwards as he ends up putting on the brakes. And on his hot wheel the pedals are connected to the wheel so once he gets started the momentum keeps him going, but on the big boy bike he has to push quite hard to keep himself moving. But, as you can see, he's getting the hang of it already.

The Blog Gets a New Look for 2008

As you may have noticed, I have been playing around with some of bloggers fine options. There is the great new picture of the kids, a list of links to places that we love to frequent, and a new poll. I changed the colors awhile back to Scarlet and Gray in honor of The OSU Buckeyes. It may change again, but give me some feedback.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I'm a little late at posting Christmas pics. but they're really not all that exciting. As I'm sure I've stated before, this was the first year that Dennis and I have not made it to North Dakota since we were married (a whole 5 years ago yesterday!). We greatly missed our families, but we did enjoy the peacefulness that comes with not traveling over the holidays. We ate Christmas Eve dinner before mass at 5:30 and opened presents as soon as we got home. We spent most of Christmas day in our pjs eating and playing and napping. It was splendid.
The kids got way too many presents which I guess is the American way. Eli got lots and lots of new games: Cariboo, Candyland Castle, Elefun, and Treasure Quest. He loves them all and wants to play them ALL THE TIME! Not that Dennis and I don't love games. It's just that Sadie is not quite ready for them so it ends up being a battle everytime. Sadie loves Elefun though. She just stands there, holding the net and laughing as the butterflies fly out of the elephants trunk, but she never catches any butterflies.
This was the year of the stuffed animal for Sadie. People must know how much I dislike stuffed animals. No, it's not that I don't like them, it's that I don't have the room for a gazillion stuffed animals. And now Sadie has about 50. Don't worry. We keep them caged in her crib and she sleeps on the floor.


Opening presents was a very serious job for Sadie. She really preferred playing in the paper and boxes.


Eli got the job of "gift opener" this year. He opened everyones presents and said, "Wow!", "That's nice." or "I like this." after opening every gift, even if it belonged to me or Dennis.

Santa Claus came and brougt Eli just what he asked for for Christmas-- a big boy bike. So, why isn't Eli sitting on the bike in this picture? Because, Eli will have nothing to do with the bike. He tells everyone he got a big boy bike and how much he likes it, but that's about as far as it goes.

Santa brought Sadie this way cool retro-kitchen. (Notice the stuffed animals falling out of the toy box in the background.)

"Don't send anymore stuffed animals. I have enough."

How To Make Cookies From A Kid's Perspecitve

It was one of those days that if I didn't find something to do I was going to go crazy. Eli and I had a bit of an argument over him pushing Sadie and to make the day better, I suggested to Eli that we make cookies. He said that he wanted to eat cookies and I had to tell him that it would be awhile before we got to the eating part, but it would be fun!

Here's how Eli makes cookies (from his point of view):
1. Go to the internet and pick out a recipe. Have your mom get all the ingredients together. Put on your apron and wait patiently while she measures out the ingredients so you can pour them into the bowl. Then, whenever you want turn the mixer on and off and change the speed to whatever you want. It is really fun to put it on high right after your mom adds the flour! Make your sister sit and watch telling her "No touch" the whole time.


2. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, put it in the fridge to chill, eat lunch and take a nap while dough chills.

3. Roll the dough out. Do not let your sister help. She might eat all of the dough.


4. Cut out the cookies using your favorite cookie cutters. Let your sister make ONE, but only with the cookie cutter that you don't like very much.

**We put sprinkles on our cookies before we baked them. Sprinkles are pretty boring, but mom didn't have any powdered sugar to make frosting which would have meant a trip to the store which normally wouldn't be a big deal as it's only a couple of blocks away, but dad was working and had the car which houses the double stroller in it's trunk. Mom just didn't feel like carrying me and Sadie and powdered sugar for 3 blocks especially when the wind is blowing at 50 miles an hour. AND she tells me that frosting is really messy (I love messes) and that no one really likes cookies with frosting on them anyways (I have other opinions.) I tell you, that woman is just plain old lazy!


5. Then you put them in the oven to bake. The hardest part is waiting for the cookies to cool off so you can eat them. It takes practically forever.


6. Eat them with a glass a milk. They're delicious.

My House Is A Mess and A Bonnet

I LOVE having a clean house that has everything picked up and is clutter free. It makes me happy. I sleep better, I am more comfortable, and I breathe easier. With that being said my house, since having kids, usually looks like this:


And this:


And this:

It drives me crazy. Want to come visit? (OK, I started cleaning up right after I took the picture because I can hardly stand it. I would say I pick up about 300 times a day...)

I've been working on this bonnet for weeks. Not that it was hard, but Christmas crafts came up and then my sewing machine was being fixed for another 3 weeks and then I had to bake and blah, blah, blah... I love it. Sadie hates it. Whatever.


Even Eli wanted to wear it. Check out this outfit. Eli picked it out. It's part of his "Big Boy" phase. You know, the I-don't-wear-diapers-I-sleep-in-a-big-boy-bed-I-can-dress-myself phase. I think he thought it matched. The shirt and pants are both green and both have stripes. Like father, like son.

Random...

Here are some random pictures from the past week.

Sadie: It's what's for dinner.


Getting rides in the laundry basket.


Our first snow of the season. (Sadie really really does not like the snow!)

Eli talking to Grandma.


Some other things that were not photographed this week: Eli peeing on the big boy potty instead of the potty chair (yea!) and a true test of Eli's potty skills as we traveled to Pittsburgh and Eli had NO ACCIDENTS the whole trip--not even in the car on the way (yea, yea, yea!!!). Me going completely insane with two crazy kids at the library. Sadie just could not stop pulling everything off the shelves or pulling the names out of the reserved books, and kicking her boots off every second and me carrying a baby, 2 bags, 3 coats, and a whole lot of books (at the time, I swore I was never going to the library again.). A trip to the doctor for Sadie's sinus infection and oozy eyes. Dennis and I going on a date for the first time in a long long time to see John Prine and getting lost a gazillion times in Pittsburgh (I tell you, that city does not have one straight street.). Eli telling Santa that he wanted a bike for Christmas, but refusing to sit on his lap for any length of time. AND one third year pharmacy student (and his wife and kids) checking off yet another finals week!! Bring on Christmas Vacation.

O, Christmas Tree

We went out early this morning searching for the perfect Christmas Tree. We walked over to the OSU Forestry Department's annual sale that's only a block away and we asked for the "skinniest, shortest, cheapest" tree they had and they did a great job meeting our requirements. Dennis carried the tree home and Eli still thought it was silly that we were going to put a big tree in our house. However, the first thing he said when he saw the tree set up was, "cool!" which is the first time that I've ever heard him say that before!

Sadie and I strung the lights while Eli was napping. Sadie is a great helper!

My tradition with the kids is to buy them each a new ornament each year that represents who they are or what they liked that particular year. I write their name and the year on the bottom of the ornament. So, when they grow up and leave home they can have a few ornaments to take with them to put on their tree. And I'm hoping that eventually they start looking forward to the ornament and reminisce about the ornaments as they put them on the tree. The each have a "Baby's first Christmas" ornament, and last year Eli got a train ornament. This year, I found a man selling these at the OSU football game and I thought that Eli and Sadie should have a Brutus Buckeye ornament to represent their time in OSU Family Housing. It's quite tacky, but they love it.

Eli was very into hanging the ornaments.

He was on a mission. No time to play, he just hung ornament after ornament.

Unlike her brother, Sadie played the whole time. She loved the balls.


After we told her "No!" for the fiftieth time, she tried to hide behind the tree to play with the balls.

Our very first real Christmas Tree. Isn't it pretty? Don't ask about Eli and the goggles. He just really wanted to wear them.

It's A Blurry Picture...

...Of Sadie in a Santa hat.

PS Only one more day of this blogging everyday business. Whew.

The Wreath That Wasn't

It's not a wreath, it's a necklace:


It's a hat...

I Totally Forgot To Mention...

...That Sadie is completely in love with animals. This is our friends' dog, Gavin. He's a rescued greyhound and as gentle as a lamb. Sadie totally digs him and he does pretty well tolerating her. Mostly he knows that she'll give him food.

Oh, I'm So Excited

One of the kids' Christmas presents came today and now I'm trying to figure out where to hide the huge box for a month. And the truth is, I just want to break into it and play with it myself. Argh! December 25 will not be here fast enough. (If you can't tell. I've run out of things to blog about. Luckily this whole post everyday thing will be over soon.)

Exactly One Year Ago

We were taking pictures for our Christmas cards. Remember this one? Just cropped a bit:

Today we got out all of our Christmas decorations so we could decide what we need to buy to make our house look festive yet not crowded as we already don't have enough room for our stuff for the holidays. Usually we're not around for the holidays so we don't bother with too much decorating. This year, however, is the first year that we will not be going to ND since Dennis and I were married. (I'm actually looking forward to this. Yes, we'll miss our families greatly, but traveling with two little ones it just plain ol' stressful. So, I'm excited to start some new family traditions and have two well-rested and happy kids, which in turn makes for two happy and well-rested parents.) So, we're going to buy a real-live Christmas tree and go crazy with the tree decorations. It turns out that we have a lot of really old decorations that came from my mom that were old when I was little, five strings of lights, but only one that works, lots of breakable stuff and 4 stockings. It looks like I need to hit some sales before we buy our tree next weekend.

Like Mother Like Daughter

"This place is a mess," so says Dusty the Vacuum. Thanks Dusty, but I don't need your criticism. I already know this place is a mess.

As Promised, Date Pictures

On Wednesday night, Eli and I attended Sesame Street Live! Eli was so excited to see Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster, but once we got there and the show started, Eli sat and watched in his normal sit-very-still-and-just-take-it-all-in-and-just-stay-calm manor that I'm pretty sure he gets from his dad because I was crazy with excitement. He clapped a few times and made a few comments, but otherwise just sat wide-eyed without moving an inch. When the show was finished, I asked him if he had a good time and he replied, "YESSSSSSS!!!!!!".

Eli before the show started (that's a gummy bear in his mouth).


I must admit that it's weird to see your favorite monsters walking around on legs.

Gobble, Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Eli and I Went Out On A Date...

I took pictures. I'll write more about it later. Now, I'm going to bed. Good night.

And Then You Do This Mom, It's Easy!

Before long, she really will be showing me how all of this technology works.

Dennis Is Doing Such A Good Job Posting...

...that he should take over for the rest of November. My husband, seriously, isn't he just the best? Sorry you can't have him, there is no polygamy allowed in my marriage. (I just read a book called Shattered Dreams about a polygamist wife. Yaozers, I do NOT recommend marrying a man who intends on marrying 8 other women. Did this guy ever meet a cheerleading squad? Problems were bound to happen.) I wasn't feeling that great last night and was awfully tired so I was in bed sleeping while he was posting away. Once again, **swoon**

So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? We are going to our friend's the Ponesses. We were there last year and they cooked up a mean Thanksgiving dinner so when we were invited back we couldn't refuse.

Here's one from last Thanksgiving. Luke and Eli were reaaly into eating the cars:

"Go Bucks!" clothes

After losing last week, the Buckeyes are back in the running for the National Championship. (OK so they are a long-shot.) Anyway, we haven't lost faith and are still wearing our scarlet and gray. We were actually dressed up for a hockey game this afternoon, which OSU lost. That makes it a 8 game winless streak for OSU hockey, but Eli and Sadie don't care. They still love the band, the action, and the zamboni!

See what a great team we are...

I can be so miserably sick that the furthest thing from my mind is posting on the kids' blog and my husband pulls through for me without even me asking him to. Man, you just can't help but love the guy. He called in sick to work and everything for me. **swoon**

Back to the kids. Sadie is ready to move on to a bigger and better bike and I think Eli is ready to hand it down to her. When you ask him what he wants Santa to bring him for Christmas he says, "Trucks. And a big boy bike like daddy's." Hmmm... We'll have to see about that.