Ahhhh, much better

That was really nice to get out for a bit. Although my sister is, how do I put this nicely, um energetic lol oh and has a tendency to be a tad loud, but I had a really good time. Enjoyed some yummy Thai food and then on to the movies. Mmmmm, can I just say Edward is hot. And Jacob, with those bulging muscles, yummy. Gotta love a movie that involves vampires and hotties. I can't wait for the third movie to come out. I think I might just have to pick up the series and read it again.
Now it's seven o'clock, the two little's are in bed and Jr, Steve and I are sitting watching Peter Pan. I doubt Jr man will make it till midnight but I usually ring in the New Year with him because Steve is usually working but it would be neat since he's off this year if we can both ring it in with Jr. I hope every one has a wonderful New Years and stays safe!

And I'm off

I'm so excited. I get adult time. I haven't been out without the kids in so long. Don't get me wrong I love my babies more then anything but everyone needs a little time away every once in a blue moon. My mom, my sister and I are heading out to lunch (Chinese food yay) and then were going to go see New Moon. We originally wanted to go when it first came out but my mom has been back and forth at my grandparents for two months so we haven't been able to go. Soooooo I am outie 5000. Yummy vampires here I come! hehe

Two out of three aint bad

(Btw, I am not a fan of the word aint. Every time I hear it all I think of is growing up and my parents saying "aint aint a word so you aint gonna use it". I just couldn't think of a better word right now)

Back on topic. I love that out of the three kids, two of them are not in the slightest picky eaters. My oldest (Jr) would never touch what I made Samantha and Shawn for lunch, Shana's version of Shrimp Scampi, minus all but a tablespoon of butter. I just added some garlic, a little bit of salt and cayenne pepper and wha-la, lunch is served! Shawn is currently on helping number two. He will probably go for one more too. Actually I should specify that he will eat more shrimp, the rice is now covering my dining room floor.

And yes my kids are either half naked or still in their pj's. Nothing wrong with having a nice lazy day around the house :)

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas morning

Another great giveaway!

Leslie Loves Veggies is having another great giveaway. Especially if your a purse lover. You can win a purse of your choice (yes any single purse you love) from Handbag Heaven. They carry a huge line of purses, all different sizes and styles all from $15.00-$75.00 Hurry up and head on over to enter, the giveaway ends on January 11th
http://www.leslielovesveggies.net/2009/12/handbag-heaven-giveaway-winners-choice.html

Well pneumonia it is

I knew as soon as Shawn woke up yesterday he was feeling much worse. He had a temp of 101 and you could just see it in his eyes he wasn't feeling well. His breaths were short and crackly. After three phone calls to the Dr's I finally got him in at 5:30pm. The Dr couldn't believe how he went from ok to so bad. He even has a double ear infection too. He got a dose of prednisone, a shot of roceferin and a breathing treatment while we were there. When the Dr looked at his chest x-ray he immediately said that's not right. He said he thinks his lung has collapsed! After several calls to radiologists he came back and said he actually has upper right lobe pneumonia. The right lung is separated into three lobes. The top lobe of his right lung is filled with fluid. So he is treating him aggressively he progressed so quickly and so we don't have to spend Christmas in the hospital. So we were sent home with two more meds and we are continuing the breathing treatments every four hours. Today we are going back so Shawn can get his second dose of roceferin and to see how he's reacting to the meds. He has more energy which is good but still no appetite and barely drinking. Also his fever is down to 100.

My poor little man

Is sick :( It's never fun when your kids are sick. Especially when they're young and can't tell you what's wrong. Shawn has been sick for about two weeks. Nothing serious, runny nose and cough. The cough has been really persistent then the other day it changed from wet to dry and it sounded like he was whistling. So off to the Dr's we went. He has an upper respiratory infection along with wheezing. He has to do a nebulizer treatment every four hours. The Dr said to keep a close eye on his breathing because if he starts breathing rapidly or it sounds like his breathing is crackly to bring him back in and that it probably turned into pneumonia. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't turn into that but he is now running a 101 temperature. You can tell he's not feeling well. His appetite is no where near where it usually is and he's kind of dragging and you can just see it in his eyes. The kids got up at 6:30 (nothing out of the norm there, blah) but at 9:00 he grabbed his little nemo pillow, said "ni-night" and walked into his room and over to his crib. Little man was tired.

For the Lego lovers out there

You can get a free subscription to LEGO magazine! And what's even better is it's not for one year but two years. I just ordered it for my six year old son who loves building and tearing apart legos. Click Here to order yours.

Thank you Swappin Spoons for sharing!

Who knew a toy could be so much fun

We had the in laws and my sister in law and her family over the other day to exchange Christmas gifts for the kids. Jr got one of those little "indoor" helicopters. I say "indoor" because in my opinion those really need to be outdoor toys, especially when you have nasty popcorn ceiling and every it hits the ceiling chunks fall onto the floor. I have vacuumed 5 times in the passed three days. As soon as he opened it he was begging to take it for a spin. We all decided to go outside into and open area to let him play with it. Not TEN minutes later it was stuck in a tree. And not just some small tree, one of the highest one's here! My husband went into the house and came out with a ball. I laughed and asked if he was serious. After about 10 minutes of throwing it up trying to knock out the helicopter that too got stuck. Next was the soccer ball. Same end result. He and my brother in law tried shaking the tree but there it stayed.
I finally convinced him he needed to climb the tree to shake it at a higher point if he wanted to shake it out. That was my first time seeing my husband climb a tree! And you know I took pictures lol
Finally he was able to knock out the orange ball and the helicopter but the soccer ball unfortunately is still sitting, tightly wedge in the tree. Shawn ran up to the tree after the guys tried shaking it and he "shook" it. I love this age.

It's getting harder and harder

For me to get into the holiday spirit. I have been trying so hard for the kids sake but every time Jr says to me "only ____ more days until Christmas Mom" it just breaks my heart. I do not have a single gift for my kids. We have been barely scrapping by the passed couple months. And with barely having things to make it through paycheck to paycheck we haven't been able to put aside anything for the kids for the holidays. Holiday time is especially hard for us because my side of the family is Jewish so we celebrate Hanukkah also, which has eight nights of lighting the candles and the kids traditionally open a present each night after saying the prayer. We didn't have presents for them for Hanukkah this year either.
I know the holidays have turned into about giving gifts and I hate that. We've never been big gift givers and we try to teach the kids the true meanings of the holidays but it's still very hard on me thinking of Christmas morning with no presents.

Oh how I've missed you

My nikon is back in working order! For months I thought it was dying a slow death. It started not taking pictures then it would erase them as soon as I turned it off. A friend of mine sent me a program to recover all my pictures (thank you Sheila) and after that my husband suggested I try our old memory card. I haven't been using it because my mom borrowed it a while back and when she plugged it into her computer it somehow messed with the formatting or something so every time you would put it in the computer the computer would crash. Anywho, long story short, it works! It's not erasing any pictures and as long as I don't put the memory card directly into the computer all will be good. I love my nikon. I've never had such great pictures as one's that were taken with it. I can't wait to get back to taking pictures, I've missed it.

Pj's to school, that's funny mom

I don't know who was more excited for my son Jr's pj party today, me or him lol He got his special golden ticket yesterday with his name on it to attend the party. All the kids got to wear their pj's and robes to school and bring a blanket. They read Polar Express and then they handed in their ticket and watched the movie together. I think that is just the cutest thing ever! Of course I took pictures of my excited little man before school and yes I made him pose for me when I dropped him off before he ran inside. If you can't tell by the smile, he was excited!

Finally

We have a tree. We weren't planning on getting one this year and my sister law called my husband and told him we have to have one and she gave us a gift card to go get one. I am so thankful for such a wonderful family. It just wouldn't be the same without one since we have kids now. Our first real tree was in 2005, Jr was soooo excited. Since then we always get a tree. Anywho, my sister, Jr and I went to go pick one out. Steve stayed home with the younger two since he now has the sickies that I had :(
This is the first tree I have picked out and I must say, I think I did a darn good job. The guy who helped me carry it was surprised at how heavy it was for a short tree. It's VERY full. I let the kids decorate most of the tree.

Jr's Christmas Party

Today was Jr's first school Christmas party. I may not be able to volunteer as much as many other moms but I always make sure I am there to help for any type of party for the kids. It was so cute having the kids run up to me and hug me and say "I remember you, you're Stephen's mommy". I worked at the reindeer hat station. Let me just say, that wore me out! Rotating between 35 kids, tracing all of their little hands and then cutting them out. Little scissors don't mix with me being a lefty...haha. But it was a blast. I love working with kids. They are just the cutest things. I was only able to get a few pictures but this first one I just love. Mrs. Parish, Jr's teacher was talking to the class about the holidays and the pj party tomorrow and things that got them excited and every time she stopped talking they all screamed and raised their hands, it was so funny I had to take a picture.
I have to say I really like Jr's teacher. I was very worried when they switched him to her class at the beginning of the year but the more into the school year we get the more I like her. She's not as lovey dovey as some Kindergarten teachers but she has her own ways. And a sense of humor which is always a plus. Another thing I like is she has always told me to feel free to bring my daughter who is three with me and to let her join in on the fun.

What do you say...

When your six year old comes home from school and says the kids at school were laughing at him because his hair cut looks funny? I felt so sad for my little man and mad. Yes I am one of those over protective, don't mess with my kids or you'll have to deal with me moms. I try not to let it take control of me but instinctively I just want to protect my baby from any type of harm. I asked him what he said and he said he just told them not to laugh at him. I told him that was very good of him. I don't have to worry about violence with Jr because he is one of the most non violent kids I know. I know this will not be the last time my baby will experience something like this. So how do I handle this type of situation? I want to teach him to stick up for himself but also not to let little things like teasing bother him. I'm sure I am way over thinking this, also typical of me, I'm just looking for some insight :)

As they grow up

It is so much fun watching my kids grow up. Jr is in at an especially fun age right now with everything he is learning in school. He is asking me to spell at least ten words a day, and he loves counting. His teacher said he is very good at math. They made count down rings for Christmas, besides story time that is his favorite time of day. Getting to take one ring down and count the rest still hanging up.
He has never been much of a board game player because he didn't grasp it. Now he LOVES to play them. We have played Sorry three times in the past week and my sister just got the kids Chutes and Ladders for Hanukkah tonight. He can't wait to play that next Sunday when my husband is off work. The best part about tonight, my Jr man won!!!

So tired

I have slept most of the day and still all I want to do is go to bed, but of course when I lay down my brain wont stop thinking. So I sit here with my eyes burning as if I haven't slept in two days. Have I mentioned before I hate being sick.

I thought I would update on how our little family is doing since I have some quiet time to myself. Jr is now six years old. He had a blasty blast on his birthday yesterday. He asked me the night before if he could get up early, I told him I'd prefer him sleep in but that he could stay up late if he wanted. 7:45pm I look over and he is passed out on the couch. I had my sister Tia and my other sister Kyla and her family over. We had pizza and cake and present. Small and fun. Perfect. He is excited about his new pj's and bath robe. His school is having a Polar Express party on Friday. They get to wear their pj's, bathrobe, slippers and they get to bring a blanket. They're going to read the Polar Express and then get a golden ticket so they can watch the movie. I don't know who's more excited, me or him. I think that is just the cutest idea ever.

Samantha is doing good. My once little chunky monkey is now my skinny minny. She has the same personality she had while in the womb. She likes to do things her way and in her own time. I do not believe in pushing kids to potty train. We have worked with Sam on and off for about the past year when she shows interest. But it never lasted long. Well go figure on her third birthday she just woke up and said okay I'm ready. She has been in panties ever since. She has only had three accidents since then! She still sleeps in diapers but I am sooooo proud of my little girl for doing so good at potty training. She is like a little sponge just waiting to soak up knowledge. Jr is on a spelling kick right now so anytime he asks me to spell a word she then asks. So I'm teaching two of my babies to spell :)

Shawn, my "little" Shawn, haha. He is a WILD child. And I say "little" cause he is not little. He is my chunky monkey. He weighs just 1.5 pounds smaller then his bigger sister. I am convinced he is going to be bigger then both Samantha and Jr when he is older. He will be our football player. The kid is so strong and has no fear at all! I am still young but he will be the one to give me gray hairs lol. He loves to climb on everything, loves to jump, and to everything he shouldn't be doing. I love how curious he is about everything but man does he keep me on my toes. He has such a contagious way about him. He runs around with big smiles and giggles and anyone who sees him just instantly smiles. If it's not his expressions it's his hair. We get a lot of comments on his wonderful curls. I was surprised out of the three kids he got the curliest hair. He has almost all of his teeth, he is getting his eye teeth right now, three of them. He still has one eye tooth to come in then that's it until he's two.


Time is going by so fast. I am loving watching all my babies grow up but some days I just wish time would slow down so I could enjoy it more and soak it all in. But I am so thankful for what I have. Three beautiful, happy and healthy children. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

My first born

Six years ago I was laying in the hospital in Texas in labor. I had a wonderful labor experience (thank you Jr lol) I remember laying there thinking hmmmm maybe I shouldn't of had those crab stuffed jalapenos with dinner last night haha. As soon as my little man was born I cried. He was just the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.
He is growing up to be such a wonderful little man. Happy as could be and FULL of energy. I never knew a kid could have so much energy! He loves figuring new things out and asking questions and he is just a smart little guy. He has his fathers love of airplanes. I think it runs in their blood cause both Samantha and Shawn have the same love.
Jr I love you more then you will ever know. I look forward to continuing to watch you grow into a young man and seeing everything you do. Happy 6th Birthday to my first born, Stephen Jr!

I LOVE YOU!

Tinkerbell Movie Giveaway

Coupon Geek is having a giveaway for the Tinker Bell Movie the Lost Treasure, but it ends tonight so HURRY and head on over there to enter!

Princess pampering

I always knew I would have a little girl and I couldn't wait to do all the girly things with her. I wasn't the girliest girl growing up, sure I loved my barbies and Strawberry shortcake but I wasn't one for makeup and dresses and all the frilly stuff so I couldn't wait to do that with my own little girl.
Samantha is such the little princess and boy does she know it. She just has to bat her little eyes and Daddy, Papa and Aunt Tia just give into her every little need lol This morning while Jr was at school and Shawn was napping I did Samantha's hair and painted her finger nails and toe nails. She had a perma smile on the whole time. It's nice everyone in a while to get some one on one quality time with each kid.
Here's a few pics of my princess getting pampered.

Britax Giveaway

I never knew about Britax until after my son was two years old and we were involved in a car accident. Thankfully he wasn't hurt but when we went shopping for a replacement car seat my husband found Britax. I was apprehensive because of the price but after doing my research and talking with a lot of my mommy friends we decided to go ahead with it. I couldn't be happier with the Britax seat. It has so many safety features and the easy latch system is the best!
The reason I'm writing about this is because MrsMoneySaver is having a WONDERFUL giveaway sponsored by Britax for an Advocate CS Convertible car seat! Go check it out

Built Bags

Leslie Loves Veggies is having a great giveaway for bags by Built NY. Head on over to enter but hurry, the contest ends on 12/14/09!

10 little monkeys

Jumping on the bed. One fell off and bonked his head. Daddy called the Dr and the Dr said....NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED.
Jr was singing this when I picked him up from school yesterday. Talk about bringing back some memories. I used to love singing this song and acting it out on my bed as a little girl. Can I just say that this is beyond exciting to me. Seeing my little boy having so much fun at school and learning things and coming home and showing me. And then seeing him experiencing those exact same things I did as a child. It's just awesome to me.
I love watching my babies grow