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Storm 1 over . . . storm 2 in progress

Posted on December 16, 2007 12:39 pm by TheAngelForever

The storm from Thursday has come and gone and dumped about 10 inches of snow here. My poor aching back still has not recovered. Why? Well, Thursday night JL was up sick hugging our toilet (they certainly were not friends – that’s for sure). This meant that I was the lucky winner of taking care of all 3 boys and digging us out. Tons of fun since we were not able to get the snow blower from my aunt and uncle fixed and here in time (note to self – get that DONE quickly).

Here are some pictures from the last storm Thursday night as it was at the worst. These were taken when JL was coming home. His commute home is normally a 30 minute drive in BAD traffic. Well, it took much longer than that. He finally arrived home about an hour and forty minutes after he put his car into drive. Even my poor mother had her fun. She typically goes 5-10 minutes to get home. It took her over 40 minutes to get out of the parking garage at work and an hour and a half total just to go partially across the city. There were NO plows out and it was miserable to say the least.

This is a photo of JL coming down out street at about 6:30 Thursday evening. Not the best photo, but it gives you the idea of how "lovely" the conditions were.

As you can see from this next photo it was coming down quickly and had gotten a lot deeper since I went out to shovel earlier.

And now a car going down the street on that "fun" evening:

Friday everyone stayed home. I did not want to dig out and take NHL to school and he was really tired. So we stayed home and I dug us all the way out.

Yesterday we went to get things for the house (FOOD) before the next storm hit over night and today. JL was feeling better so everyone went out. This is how it looked yesterday at about 10:30 (about the time I was freaking out over the ice damns forming again):

Last but not least my boys ready to brave the cold temperatures. The poor little guy didn’t know what to do. He was just happy that we were going to get him some "cushy" tissues for his poor bleeding nose.

So here I sit moo-ing the little guy who is refusing solids today while the other boys are digging us out of 5-6 inches of snow while the sleet and freezing rain continues to fall. More photos to come later. I am off to see the sledding NHL and price out a move to Florida so I can be warm near Mickey Mouse!!!

Categories:
jl jsl losing my mind my boys nhl photos sarcasm sick kid vent winter

Chanukah Party & Family Day (12-8)

Posted on December 10, 2007 4:16 pm by TheAngelForever

Thursday evening my brother (Uncle I), sister-in-law (Aunt M) and niece (SG) came into town. Due to NHL being really sick Friday we were not able to have dinner with them that evening. Saturday morning all seemed to be well. The high fever disappeared almost as mysteriously as it had appeared. Thanks to this we felt it was fine to make plans and see our family.

Aunt M and Uncle I requested lunch out at the newly opened PF Chang’s. We all said that was fine, so I made a reservation for 12:30 for the nine of us (that included the two babies). We had a very nice lunch, looked around the crazy mall quickly and then stopped at Target. We needed to go there for more Aveeno diaper rash cream as well as frosting and sprinkles for Aunt M’s Chanukah cookies.

After that it was time to head back to my parent’s house. At Nana and Papa’s we all decided to let the kids have some of their Chanukah gifts. Nana and Papa gave NHL the new Fisher Price Smart Cycle. It seems like a great "toy" for in the house during the winter. It will provide him with muscle movement (PT), and nice hand/eye coordination with the joystick (OT) using educational games. Here is a mosaic of NHL opening the gift. Note when he finally sees what is inside. Also included are some photos of him riding on it.

Meanwhile JSL was enjoying his first Chanukah (check out the cool shirt that Nana and Papa got him). It was so fun watching him get into his new toys. He sat on the floor for quite some time playing, talking, watching and enjoying the farm toy that Nana and Papa gave him. He loved finding the places that would make music and kept experimenting with everything. Here are some photos of him including when he got there in his snowsuit, playing with Papa, modeling his "My First Hanukkah" shirt. Unfortunately we never had SG and JSL in a photo together with their matching shirts on. In addition to the farm toy he LOVED the Glow Worm from Uncle I, Aunt M and SG. When we got home Saturday night he kept singing with it. When it would stop glowing he would kiss it on the face and talk to it trying to make it go again.

Of course the Smart Cycle did not come assembled since Santa does not do that for Chanukah – *wink* Thanks to this JL had the opportunity to put it together for NHL. Here’s a shot of that fun.

NHL was quite bored waiting for his Smart Cycle to be ready. Part of the time he watched Papa’s new "baby" play Noggin.

By this point he was starting to really need something to do. Aunt M had him help SG open her Chanukah gifts.

Then he was quite sick of waiting. Note the sour puss.

Since I was getting slightly bored I took the following photo of my shoes and dreidel socks:

SG was quite content when mommy read her a book and Papa came over to chat with her:

Once NHL’s bike was set, everyone just stayed together in the living room waiting for the other family members to come to the Chanukah party.

Even the Chanukah Puppy was just hanging out:

Finally everyone arrived and it was time to eat. Here is a mosaic of all of the family gathering around the lit menorah enjoying our meal together. Oh and of course the goodies!

Poor JSL just had too much fun and excitement and fell asleep while the rest of us ate our meal.

We had a very nice time with my family celebrating Chanukah together. More photos and weekend/Birthday updates coming later.

Categories:
family food glorious food holidays jl jsl nhl photos weekend yummy

My little Cowboy

Posted on December 8, 2007 11:08 am by TheAngelForever

As noted before my 4 year old cowboy was sent home from school yesterday. He looked like a ghost and had a fever. He quickly went to sleep. During the day he felt fine (thanks to iboprofen). By the time JL got home he was getting worse again. I took his temperature and it was 102.5 in one ear and 101 in the other. *sigh* We called our doctor and were told to alternate Motrin and Tylenol. My guess (since there are no other symptoms) is that he has another ear infection. This morning he got up with no fever (97.4 in one ear and 99 in the other). He quickly pounced out of bed and made up a "I’m all better" song.

With any luck he is all better and we will be able to spend the day with my family and have a nice Chanukah dinner with them this evening.

_______________________________________________________________

Now to play catch up on some photos.

Tuesday night I was doing some cleaning since our friends were coming over Wednesday night. I happened to stumble upon a gift that NHL received several years ago. Aunt L and Uncle J sent him an amazing pair of cowboy rain boots. They were HUGE on him. I decided to look at the size and they were perfect for him now (still a good amount of room to grow). Here is what happened when they were taken out.

From top (L to R) and bottom (L to R)

1. Daddy helps NHL put the boots on.

2. Every cowboy needs a Monsters Inc hat – right?

3. Cowboy NHL gets his horse.

4. A close up of the boots.

5. Giddy-up Daddy!

6. Brave boy starts to do no hands. . . . . *sigh*

After this NHL decided it would be more fun to tote the boots all over the house and we lost one. Later we discovered the location of the boot.

Now I am off to take a certain little monkey’s temperature while daddy and little brother nap on the couch.

Categories:
fun jl nhl photos sick kid

Chanukah 2003

Posted on December 4, 2007 1:26 pm by TheAngelForever

Tonight at sundown the Festival of Lights begins. This will be JSL’s first Chanukah. Will he understand what is going on around him? No, but he will love watching the bright lights on the menorah. Just four years ago we watched NHL celebrate his first Chanukah. Here are a few photos from 2003.

Please know that we did NOT let NHL light any of the candles. We staged this pose to Photo Shop flames onto the candle to freak out relatives. LOL – it worked too!

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Here he is watching all of the candles burning:

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I hope to post some photos of our 2007 Chanukah celebration soon. This weekend my brother, sister-in-law and niece (SG) will be in town for a little family gathering/party Thanks to being in Identity Theft HELL – I have not had a lot of time for blogging lately. Lots of things to catch up on soon.

Categories:
holidays jl looking back nhl photos

Weekend Review (11/16 – 11/18)

Posted on November 19, 2007 3:31 pm by TheAngelForever

It is hard to believe that the weekend before Thanksgiving is already over. Time just keeps flying past me and I need to remember to stop and enjoy it while the boys are still little.

Friday night we were all exhausted from a busy week post visit to Uncle I, Aunt M and SG. JL and I actually went to bed at 9:00 to warm up and watch television. We fell asleep quickly and were rudely woken up my JSL at about 11:00. He was hysterical. JL rocking him did not work. I nursed him and he was not too thrilled with that. Each time JL would get him to sleep and get him into his crib he would wake up. His head would shoot up and he would start ~~bitch~~ -er chatting loudly. We were afraid he would wake NHL up. Fast forward numerous attempts to when we tried to get him to sleep in our bed. HA! The little monster would pop his head up, scootch over to me, pull up to my face on the pillow and LAUGH! I kid you not this is what my 6 month old did. After a second nursing attempt JL was finally able to get him to sleep and put him into his crib at about 2 in the morning.

Of course NHL was up at 6:30 and woke his little brother up. JL and I were walking and talking zombies. My parents offered to have us go to their house for lunch. They said they would watch the boys so we could nap (never happened). Thanks to little sleep two nights in a row we canceled going out to dinner with friends.

PJ status remained until close to 11:00 when we finally moved our rears to go to the library. My copy of Deceptively Delicious was waiting for me there. We wanted to check it out to see if we wanted to purchase a copy (we did). Before getting dressed JL read to the boys. Here are some photos of this boy bonding time.

Everyone concentrating on the book:

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Notice who was flirting with mommy and the camera:

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After the library we went to Nana and Papa’s house. Here they had a fun new toy for NHL to use with the cars at their house. Here is NHL setting up some cars:

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Ready to race the cars again:

Lunch was really yummy (and nutritious too). Our friends actually stopped by and we chatted with them for quite some time before they left to shop. At about 4:30 we left and went to the grocery store. We got lots of things and were home at about 6:00 when we had to figure out dinner. Thankfully the boys slept nicely the rest of the evening.

Sunday morning we took the boys to the craft and story time at temple. This month was all about Chanukah since it starts December 4th. Here is NHL with his craft (the candles come off and on to "light" ):

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After this we ran a bunch of errands (lunch, Kohls, Target, BJ’s) and then went home to make pumpkin pancakes with a secret ingredient!

JSL had a rough evening thanks to teething and still refuses to eat solid food – *sigh* He will tolerate Cheerios and the Gerber sweet potato puffs, but cries and clamps his mouth shut to rice cereal, oatmeal and even butternut squash. I am calling it quits for a little while. A nice plus is yesterday JSL finally figured out how to nurse without the shield and is very happy. So my poor body will now have issues after 6 months that new mommies go through. All I can say is I will cope and thank goodness for teething tablets.