Recent happenings

I completely forgot that I took pictures of Christmas morning from our other camera, so I'll share a few pictures from the kids opening presents...

Santa delivered his presents this year in shiny silver wrapping paper topped with bright red bows!

One of Reese's favorite games is peek-a-boo!  She covers her eyes & we say, "where's Reese?  Reeeesseee!"  When she reveals herself we shout, "there she is!"  and she gets exceptionally excited!

Here's a picture of her trying to steal the milk from her new baby's bottle!  Not the most selfless Mama, is she?  Letting her baby go hungry as she fills her own belly!

Reese has been in desperate need for some artwork on her bedroom walls & since my parents own a frame shop, there's really no reason it's taken me this long.  A couple of weeks before Christmas my dad had asked me for a picture of Reese facing the camera wearing only her diaper.  He said the background didn't matter at all.  Once again she was playing peek-a-boo which resulted in the picture above.  I had no idea what my dad was doing with the picture but it turned out to be an adorable present for both her & us.  The pose was just perfect too since it looks like she's catching raindrops in her hands!  The text in the picture says, "Rain rain go away, come again some other day, little Reese wants to play!" 

 

The only white walls left in our house belonged to the bathroom off the bonus room upstairs.  I told Mike that the site of the white was giving me the shakes since I love color so much.  He knew it was only a matter of time before I wanted to paint it & that time came after I finished working Saturday.  I knocked out the bathroom in no time & it turned out great!

I chose a blue color from Porter Paint called Cathedral Glass & I positively love it!  Matt & Kelly just so happened to get us that wrought iron artwork hanging above the toilet & it's a perfect match.

Mike hung a lot more of our artwork over the weekend so our house is really starting to come together.  I still have a long list of things I want to do & buy, but it's a work in progress since all of those things cost moolah!

The other night we put Cam to bed in Mario pjs & he woke up looking like this!  He's been daytime potty trained since about two, but he hasn't mastered night time since a couple of months ago.  I used to joke that we'd probably send him to college in night diapers, but he literally just picked it up one week.  I had been changing Reese's diapers when he said something about babies wearing diapers.  I said, "but you wear a diaper to bed, does that mean you're a baby?"  I swear, after that he just started waking up completely dry.    The other key was limiting his beverages & insisting he pee before bed.  When he was younger he'd sneak drinks from my cup of water & throw a fit when we asked him to go potty before bed.  We were at the end of his package of diapers so I asked him if he thought we should buy more.  He insisted that he didn't need them & has done amazingly since.  Although every once in a great while he gets his pants & undies wet as he's going potty in the middle of the night.  We're pretty sure he's in his sleep & not pulling his pants down enough as he stands at the potty. 

He can't stand the idea of disappointing us so he always makes sure to change before coming out of his bedroom in the morning.

I always tell him that accidents happen, it's no big deal & I can easily wash the clothes.  Poor guy!

I took my Wednesday buddy to the park yesterday & after our picnic lunch we tried out his new stomp rocket for the first time.  We both had so much fun!  You definitely need a big, open space or it's likely to get stuck in a tree or on a roof.

Lately I have been in a major weekday dinner funk.  Over the weekend we like to plan out meals & grocery shop for the week, but with the holidays, that just hasn't happened.  I get out of work at 5 so by the time I hit the grocery store & get the kids from daycare, we're not getting home until a little before six.  There's no way I'm cooking dinner when we won't finish eating & cleaning up the kitchen until nearly seven.  Reese is so tired after school too so dinner is anything but relaxing.  Most nights I'm shoveling food into my trap as she's getting antsy in her highchair & grunting like a monkey.  I now realize why my grandma who had eight children ate so darn fast!  Tonight we made ravioli that cooked in less than five minutes & even that seemed like more trouble than it was worth!  By the time we heated the sauce & some chicken & spinach sausages, we had a sink full of dishes.  We sat for all fifteen minutes & half of that was spent trying to keep Reese happy until it was time to toss them in the bath & get Reese in bed by 7.  

What do you do for dinner during the week?  Do you plan your meals & shop ahead of time?  I'm getting to the point that I wish we could just swallow a meal in pill form & just call it a night!