2010- Fourth Quarter Recap

Wow, this is the end of 2010 and my boys are changing! I decided to start doing the quarterly updates because my boys are constantly changing and it is hard to get it all down as it happens. My hope is that one day I will actually get bound copies of my blog posts and have them to show the boys when they get older. Enough about that, on with the post.

Caiden- ALMOST 4!

-currently sleeping on the floor in his tent at night. I hope Santa is watching so he can see how much Caiden loves it!

-started Preschool 2 days a week.

-watched all the old Christmas movies like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and How the Grinch Stole Christmas over and over and over.

-plays soccer with Happy Feet every Monday.

-had his first EKG and Echo done on his heart and he was an amazing patient. He will have to have another done next year but everything looks like it should. (They thought he had a murmur but it turns out he has a prominent area on his heart- nothing to be concerned about)

-loves putting his little brother in the tent with him so they can play with the bat cave.

-likes playing with action figures, cars, his 3 Curious George stuffed animals, any of this brother's baby toys. He also like to sit on his bed and pretend like it is a car and go places. Usually I am in the "backseat" with his brother and he is the one driving.

-currently working on not sucking his thumb.....this one may take awhile.....

Lincoln- 10 months

-crawling all over the place.

-pulling up on things. He gets nervous and will start to panic if he tries to move his feet but he is getting better.

-started waking up in the middle of the night again. AHHHH!! We SO thought we were passed this phase.......

-eats some real people food. We still give him mostly baby food but whenever we can, we give him the good stuff like peas, corn, pieces of apple, bananas, bread, chocolate (just a few times).

-says Mama, Dada, Lincoln (een-keh),

-blows kisses

-wants to play with all his brother's big kid toys and even picks fights over them sometimes (he is so ornery!)

-is in the 59% for height but only the 11% for weight (we are thinking this is because of his crawling and might have something to do with him getting up at night again.)

-can scream like a banshee one minute then be happy as a clam the next.

Advent Calendar

I know it's a little late but I wanted to post about the advent calendar we made this year. Caiden wasn't into the making process nearly as much as the daily process of pulling out the numbers. In fact, he only helped me paint one roll and glue one paper on. Next year I am sure he will have more fun with it.

I made it out of poster board, toilet paper rolls (stapled on one end and painted white), buttons, sequins, and fun holiday papers I printed off the Internet.






The finished product before hanging it.


A close up.



Caiden pulling the last number while Lincoln watches.


We had so much fun with this, I think I am going to make this a new tradition.

Christmas 2010

Our Christmas in so many words...

The Advent Calendar (I will post about this in a minute)

Caiden loved pulling out the numbers each morning to count down the days until Christmas.

My beautiful plates that I bought on sale at Target 2 years ago and finally used! We ate Christmas Eve dinner on them and set out cookies for Santa on them too.

Christmas Eve services at our church.

Caiden trying to figure out why Santa brought him an empty bag.....

Oh! There is a tent and a pillow pet sleeping bag with it!

Lincoln trying to figure out why we woke him up....look at those lines on his face! He was out!

Caiden's loot from his stocking.

Ah ha! This is what Christmas is about! Lincoln with his Santa loot

Anything Caiden opened, Lincoln wanted. Anything Lincoln opened, Caiden wanted!

Caiden and his Batcave. This was the largest gift under the tree and he KNEW it had his name on it. I jokingly told him it was socks and underwear and he believed me. He saved it for last since he already knew what was in it....boy was he surprised when he found out it was the Batcave he wanted so badly!



Our family on Christmas morning mass at Queen. Happy Birthday baby Jesus!

If you're gonna dream....

Dream big right?

If I had that money tree, these are the things I would put on my Christmas list:


A new home- obviously.



The GMC Acadia, In white. Fully loaded.


A new laptop. I have a Mac at work and I LOVE it! It took me awhile to get used to but now I like them.


A girl at work uses this and the results are amazing!





I have wanted one of these since I had Lincoln. I don't necessarily like this version. I like the ones that are rings instead of coins.


A wii. We have talked for a long time about getting one.

A tropical vacation to get away from the cold and snow.

It wouldn't hurt to have an endless supply of gift cards to Etsy, Charming Charlie, Forever 21, Michael's and Target either.

What is on your list?

3 things on my mind....

1. Where are we going to put all the new toys this year? Our house is so crowded already. I have gone through the boy's toys and put away things they currently aren't playing with but seriously, THERE IS NO ROOM! So far my family has been really good at recognizing our lack of space and most of them have gotten the boys things like movies and books which don't take up a lot of room. I know they will be getting some toys which is perfectly fine. What is Christmas (to a 3 year old) without toys?!

2. When can we move? When we bought our house, the housing market was booming and we thought we would stay here for 3 years then move to a bigger home. 5 1/2 years later we are still here with no real plans to move. We know we need to, but there is this little thing that controls our lives called money. Do you know where we could get one of those trees that it grows on?

3. When are we going to get "back on top"? We had crazy medical bills 2 years ago that came out of the blue, two months later I did my student teaching so I didn't have a job for 10 months, then we had Lincoln. Money has been tight and we have made all the reasonable adjustments like getting rid of credit cards, canceling our cable, not going out and spending money on silly things, keeping our grocery bills small. I picked up a tutoring job 2 days a week and we refinanced our house to make our mortgage smaller. All these things are great but it will take awhile for them to really kick in and start helping us. Typical Americans, we want our problems solved instantly! All of this going on and my car broke down, Jay's car needs some work, oh and did I mention it's Christmas? Needless to say, it won't be the big production it has been in the years before. Our boys are each getting two gifts from us and Santa will bring them something.

As negative as this post sounds, living this way has really made us realize we are still lucky people. We have our health and we have become stronger as a family. Working through this madness has been hard but it has only proven what a strong connection Jay and I have. First and foremost we are on the same team and we have shown each other how hard we will work to provide for our family.

I know at some point we will "get our heads above water" and we will be able to live freely again. There is a light at the end of our tunnel.....

Thankful

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't blog about what I am thankful for?

So many things!

I am thankful for:

NOT being on bed rest this year for Thanksgiving- that was SO hard.

Kidz Bop on pandora, it has turned my wild beasts into the sweet little children I know they all can be during art class.

having two healthy boys- even if a day with them consists of them fighting, ganging up on me, fighting, ganging up on me.....

my job. I know in this economy there are lots of people who don't have one simply because their company couldn't afford to pay them anymore.

my boot camp class. I am in the best shape I have been in for a long long time. I am still wanting to lose more weight but I am definitely stronger so I am okay with my progress.

JBF Sales. This is the way to go if you have kids. They have two sales a year and you can get all kinds of stuff for super cheap. I bought some Christmas presents and Caiden's whole winter wardrobe for $120.

our babysitter and Boone Preschool for taking such good care of my little ones and teaching them important things.

I'm sure there are many other things I am thankful for but right now I have a little one who is refusing his nap. Duty calls!

Artsonia Artist of the Week!

Every week www.artsonia.com has a contest on their homepage where they pick (at random) student's artwork to be part of a contest called Artist of the Week. This week, MY student was chosen and SHE WON! This is a picture of her artwork that got 1,737 votes!

I am so proud of her! Even though the artists are chosen at random, they couldn't have found a better student to be a finalist for AOTW. For winning, she won a $50 gift card to Blick Art Materials and our school won a $100 gift card from there as well. There is so much I could do for my students with an extra $100 and I know she will get plenty out of her winnings too. Shavon30 was published over the summer on the cover of a magazine, I wish I knew which one. Art is a very important part of her life and she is well on her way to becoming a skilled and devoted artist.

Thanks to everyone who voted for her!

The Dentist

I went to the dentist today to get a cavity filled. At first, she thought it was small but once she got in there she realized it was much worse than she originally thought. After three shots of anesthetic and 1-1/2 hours in the chair we had to keep going even though she could not get my mouth numb. She said I had a condition (She couldn't think of the name and I don't know what she is talking about) where when a person is nervous, they somehow reject the pain medication and send it to another area. I have only had 1 filling so far in my life and it was super small so I didn't feel a thing. What I do know is that after 3 shots in my gums she told me I would be numb until 5:00 today. (Everywhere BUT where my cavity was of course!) That is exactly what anyone whose job is to stand in front of people all day long wants to hear! Anyway, since Halloween just past, I had this story in my head and thought I would share. I read this book to Caiden and even took it to school and read it to some of my classes. It is super cute!

The Dentist by Adam Rex
(from the book Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Other Stories You're Sure to Like, Because They're All About Monsters, and Some of Them Are Also About Food. You Like Food Don't You? Well, All Right Then.)

Poor son of Dracula. He's just a dud.
His daddy is famous, but his name is mud.
For how much blood
could a bloodsucker suck,
if a bloodsucker can't suck blood?
Ahem.
Everything's fine if he sucks on the throat
of a dog or a hog or a cat or a goat.
But a cold-blooded thing like a lizard or snake
makes his head start to hurt and his fangs really ache.

Frankenjunior was shocked. "You'll have to go see
the worst monster of all! She's much worse than me.
Her fingers are hooks! Hooks, needles and spears!
Her voice is a high buzzing whine in your ears!
Instead of a head there's BIG GLOWING EYE!"
The Frankenboy said with a shuddering sigh.

"She doesn't sound scary," said Dracula's son.
"Not scary like crosses, or stakes or the sun."
So he made his appointment for just after dark
at the New Transylvania Medical Park.

"It's awful," he whispered. "So cheery and bright!
You'd think it would kill them to turn off a light.
They need some nice coffins. It's really a shame,"
young Dracula said as the nurse called his name.

He followed inside, and before he could hide,
the dentist was standing there, right by his side!
A note to the timid or just faint of heart:
This story has come to the frightening part.
Stop reading! Now put the book down! This is scary!
Peligro! Use caution! Beware and be wary!

Still here? Very well. Little Drac stood in terror.
He knew now he'd made the most horrible error.
If he weren't undead he'd have wanted to die.
She was terrible! Awful! She smiled and said hi!

Her voice was a sweet lilting song in his ears.
Her fingers were fingers, not needles or spears.
That big glowing eye, was lamp, not a head.
It was all so much worse than that Frankenboy said!

Young Drac couldn't move, so she forced him to sit.
"Open wide now," she told him. "This won't hurt a bit!"
"You aren't flossing," she scolded, and Dracula blushed.
"And honestly, when was the last time you brushed?
You really must brush after every bite.
See? A cavity's formed in this fang on the right."

"It needs to be mended. And so, if your willing,
I'll patch it right up with a small silver filling."
A filling? With silver? Drac wanted to shout,
the werewolves will hate me! I've got to get out!

He changed to a bat-he flew up and away.
The dentist said, "Fine. We won't do it today.
"But get it fixed soon; you'll be glad that you did.
Now here-take a sucker. You've been a good kid."

He flew from the office, and homeward he raced.
He sucked on the sucker, but gagged at the taste.
He'd hoped it was flavored like blood or like liver,
How scary! It's CHERRY! he thought with a shiver.

Drac knew it was true as he spat and he cursed,
My dad may be bad, but the dentist's THE WORST!

Little Drac- I couldn't agree more.....

Carving Pumpkins

No explanation needed. Just good ole family fun.

Paradise Park

Last weekend we went to Paradise Park for their Haunted Hayride. Really, there was nothing scary about it which made it perfect for the boys. During the actual ride they told ghost stories, which were really hard to hear, so I have no idea what they were about. Halfway through they stopped and we had a bonfire. There we roasted marshmallows, ate s'mores, drank hot chocolate and played games. After about 30 minutes or so the hayride came to pick us up and take us back.

It was a nice night and a great family weekend.

Lincoln acting cool for the camera.

Lincoln acting scary for the camera while Caiden is in a sugar coma.

Yum! Hot Chocolate!

Locked, loaded and ready to roast!

Mom showing Caiden how to properly roast his marshmallow.

Our only family picture. Too bad Jay is squinting and Caiden is blinking.....

Me and Caiden on the hayride.

Seriously, I take their pictures all the time. You would think they were better at this by now!

A cute little pumpkin and a silly ghost.



More Halloween posts to come!

WE

LOVE

HALLOWEEN!

Hatrsburg Pumpkin Festival

This actually happened a few weeks ago but I am just now getting around to blogging about it.

This has become a family tradition for the Ahrens family. Pumpkins, shopping, hay mazes, pony rides, wine tasting, hayrides, more pumpkins. It makes for an amazing day! This is just a few shots that I took. I am trying to keep it short since I have a lot to post about from October.








By the time we got there, the pumpkins were pretty picked over but we got a couple cute shots of the boys sitting in the truck.


This day was filled with so many "firsts" for Caiden. I really wish Jay could have been there to see them all.


Caiden's first pony ride. His pony was named Daisy and she was so sweet. The rides lasted a loooong time too. We really got our $5 worth and Nana made sure to get plenty of pictures.




Caiden's first Hay Maze. This wasn't very long but it was kind of scary! They had turns that lead to nowhere and it was super tight and dark inside. We were both given flashlights and we met up with a couple of girl scouts inside who helped us get out. Even though Caiden was a little scared he managed to keep his cool and keep going. He did NOT want to do it again though.




Caiden's first "Tractor Ride". As we were leaving my parents spotted a "pick your own pumpkin" farm that was selling pumpkins by the wagon load. It was a great deal! They got about 15 pumpkins for $25 AND they delivered them to the car in a Gator. We had another pumpkin to pick up from another farm so my Dad and they boys rode the gator and my mom and I walked. Caiden was very excited although all he was showing was his cautious face. I'm sure it had nothing to do with me telling him 100 times not to stand up or move while the vehicle was moving ;0)

This little man wasn't as impressed by the tractor ride. He slept through the whole thing. Bumpy, stinky and full of turns. It didn't even phase him.