Happy Birthday, Rebecca!!

Rebecca turned 2 on Sunday, November 16th! Happy Birthday little girl! We celebrated on Saturday (and of course on Sunday too because, for me, birthdays are at least a two day event) Saturday morning we went and saw Santa - as you saw in my previous post. Then when we came home we had Jerry's family over for a birthday party for her. It was so fun having everyone over. We had pizza and cake and ice cream, etc. Rebecca is a HUGE Curious George fan, so I attempted to make a Curious George cake. I know it's not as adorable as a store bought one, but it's much cheaper, and I like to challenge myself to see if I can do it. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself... Anyway. After her nap we went to see the matinee of Madagascar 2 as a family. We all loved it. It was such a fun day, and now Hayden is very anxious for his birthday. He knows that his birthday is after Rebecca's, so he's ready now. Not to willing to wait for another month.


Rebecca at two: She is such a fun girl. She is a ball of energy and knows EXACTLY what she wants, so don't try to convince her otherwise. She loves babies and every time she hears a baby cry, she says "Oh, a baby crying!" She is such a talker. I love her little voice. She loves puzzles, and she's even really good at them. They can keep her occupied for such a long time. She also LOVES Curious George, 101 Dalmations, and Minnie Mouse. She also loves animals. She hugs, kisses and licks them. (Yuck) It's especially cute... and gross, when she tries to pick up a small cat or dog and they squirm to get out, but she still has the behind in her arms and she nuzzles her face right in their behind to give them loves. Yeah, gross. Her best friend is her "Min-na" (Binky). She's not going to be too happy when we wean her off it soon. She also LOVES her big brother, Hayden. She loves to play with him, and to tease him - she is good at both. They are good friends.

Rebecca LOVES babies


My Curious George creation!

Me and My Becca Boo!

SANTA!!!

We always get an early start on Christmas, and we are so happy that Santa cooperates with us. We like to go to the mall to see Santa before Thanksgiving, so we don't have to wait in line long. We went to the mall on Saturday to beat the rush, but had to wait for 15 minutes because Santa wasn't there yet. Hayden's been so excited to see Santa. In fact he wants to go on vacation to the North Pole to see Santa. Hayden has been prepping Rebecca for the last couple weeks about Santa, and how he isn't scary and she shouldn't cry, since she cried last year. Will all his pep talks, she still cried, it was cute though. Oh, I love Christmas!!

Rebecca, eagerly waiting (on the floor) for Santa to arrive.

Hayden was so excited and gave him a big hug.

Abandon and Enjoy!

Hayden has been begging to make cookies for a while, so I decided to abandon all housework and be the kind of mom that I want to be. I clean every day and it still is just as dirty the next morning, so I think I need to go with abandoning and enjoying more. Rebecca LOVED this idea and had a blast cutting the cookies and getting flour all over everything. Hayden also loved choosing which cutter to use and was very helpful in rolling out the dough. It was a very fun day. Unfortunately the recipe was not very good. For sugar cookies they weren't very tasty and sweet at all. So, we'll just have to try it again soon with a better recipe. If you have a good sugar cookie recipe let me know!

If The Hat Fits...

Last week we were watching Curious George - our usual - and Hayden got a great idea to make hats, after watching George try to make a yellow hat. I have so many crafty items sitting out in my garage from when I taught, and Iknew I had been holding on to them for a reason. We finally got to get out the foam and feathers and make hats. Here are our creations.

This little princess took a nap in her hat, she liked it so much.

Our creations! Jerry had a blue king's crown.

Rebecca's Princess Hat

Hayden's Yellow Hat - of course

Sleep Deprivation

I think my whole household is suffering from sleep deprivation. I don't understand my kids at all. They are both up with the sun (at least that's the rule I finally had to make when Hayden kept coming in our room before 6:00 - he couldn't wake up until the sun woke up.) So between 6:00 and 6:30 every morning I have two happy, ready to conquer the day cuties jumping into my bed to wake me up. I am SO NOT a morning person! I don't get them. Rebecca has a 2 - 3 hour nap in the afternoon, but Hayden doesn't nap anymore. He'll usually crash for about 2 hours once during the week, and he usually has a forced nap on Sunday, but he won't sleep unless we lay down with him- which I can't do every day during the week, as much as I'd like to. So then they are going strong till bedtime at 9:00. The smart thing for me to do would be to go to bed by 10 or 10:30 so I get a good full night sleep before they're up and ready to go at 6:19 (this morning's time.) But no, as tired as I am by the time they go to bed, I have to have some time for myself, so I end up staying up too late, just for the cycle to repeat itself. Is it normal for kids to only get 9 - 9 1/2 hours of sleep a night???? I've contemplated putting them to bed earlier, but I still have hope, even after almost 4 years that they'll start liking sleep and they'll sleep past 7:00. It does happen once in a blue moon, and those mornings are WONDERFUL! So along with their early mornings they get a mom who is sleep deprived and not so happy to see a whole box of cereal poured out onto the floor. Hmm, go wonder. I learned an important lesson watching Curious George the other day (yes, he is very wise.) "Kids need sleep to grow." So here's my question... How much sleep do kids need? When I asked one pediatrician years ago (when Hayden was about 18 months) he said probably a total of 10 - 12 hours a day. Yes, including naps and night. I had to ask him because that seemed so little to me. I didn't like that answer. I'm thinking I might have to start putting them to sleep earlier and give up hope of them sleeping in, and risk the chance that Rebecca won't take such long afternoon naps. What do you think???
P.S. I appologize if I don't sound so happy and perky, I'm a little tired. :)

I Got Duped!

I'm so irritated. I went to Target today - that's not the irritating part- and on my way out a homeless man came asking for money. I usually don't give any money to pan handlers because first of all, I usually don't carry any cash, just my debit card, and second, I guess I'm a little cynical and I assume they'll use the money for alcohol or cigarettes. So at first I told him no and started loading my car. Then I started thinking about the time of year, and that I should give service and help those in need. And I started remembering my scripture reading from last night, about having charity, and helping less fortunate. So my guilt finally got the best of me and I waved the guy back over and gave him a dollar bill. Not much, but I figured I at least did something good. I had that good feeling, knowing I helped someone out, until he quickly ran to the next aisle of cars and started running and waved down his friend that was working that row of cars, and then I saw them whistle down a car that was driving through the parking lot, run and hop in the car and peel out. Did he think I couldn't see him? I guess he didn't care once he got some money. I don't know what my measley dollar is going to help them with. I guess to be fair, I don't know the entire situation, but I immediately felt duped. Oh well, I guess I can still feel good that my heart was in the right place. But unfortunately when I went to another store tonight and got asked by someone else for some money for gas I wasn't willing to help. Return of my cynicism I guess. Especially when he asked if I could go with him and use my card to help fill up his car with gas, and he'd "send me some money in the mail." Sorry, I don't think so.

That's My Man!

So, I've been doing some major de-junking and organizing in our house. I went through all the closets last week, which led to finding my box of journals, which led to abandoning cleaning and organizing to read through old journals and strolling down memory lane. It was interesting reading through entries about guys I was dating before I met Jerry. All the confusion about "how do I feel?" "How do they feel?" Stress of relationship ups and downs, and all that fun stuff. Then I met Jerry and my journal entries were much more calm, and there wasn't all that stress. I started reading all about my thoughts when we first met, started dating, got engaged, etc. and my heart was just swelling with all those warm feelings of love for this man that was just so perfect for me. Jerry was already asleep in bed, but with all those romantic feelings of love, I had to glance over at this amazing prince charming that won my heart. What do I see? Jerry sprawled out, with his mouth open slightly, snoring lightly, and saliva drooling out onto his cheek. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. That roused him enough to do a big snort, roll onto his side, and scratch his behind. Yip, that's my man. It was kind of funny.