Catching Up

Sorry it's been a while since I updated! We aren't really that busy, just doing the normal day to day stuff with some added behavior problems added in from having a tree and presents in the house! ;o)

First, we have a new member of the household visiting for a while. His name is Ralph Elf Mistletoe and he's an Elf on the Shelf. Supposedly, he goes to Santa each night while the kids sleep to tell of their behavior for that day. Then he moves to a new spot the next morning, often making a mess or doing something silly! He has turned the toilet water glittery, hung out on the village church steeple, scattered tissues around the room, left all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen standing open, brought us presents, and made a train from our presents thru the living room! He's been alot of fun already, but he's only staying til Christmas Eve night.

Kaitlyn has had a hard time with behavior lately. I think it's all the excitement of Christmas time mixed with just being 3 1/2! We celebrated her half birthday on 12/4 with cupcakes for dessert and a trip to the dollar movies. I'm so excited about her Christmas presents- I know she's going to love them!

Brittney is doing well in school, excited about their class party next Friday. She is picking out her own clothes these days and cracking me up with what she puts together. Today, she wore a long skirt to school with fleece pajama pants underneath to stay warm and a short sleeved white shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. I guess if one outfit gets dirty she can wear the other one, right? *LOL*

Zane is rolling all over the living room floor as I write this. I came into the room one night while cooking dinner to find him under the tree with an ornament he had pulled off! He will sit up for a few seconds on his own, but has no interest at all in crawling. Rolling works fine for him! He will very soon be eating us out of house and home- I have found no food at all that he doesn't like! He begs for our food as soon as we sit down and will eat it too! He even finished off my coleslaw at a restaurant the other night!

David is working hard and we are so proud of him! He is looking foward to the holidays, even if he doesn't really get any extra time off. Holidays on the weekends are just wrong! ;o) I'm excited about giving him his presents too! Heehee!

And me, I'm just trying to keep the ball rolling. I'm 99% done Christmas shopping and it's even all wrapped and under the tree. (Where else better to hide presents than in wrapping paper!!?) We've got Christmas cards to go out, Christmas parties and playdates, visitation schedule, company coming, and all kinds of exciting things!
I thought this was funny- We got a Christmas card in the mail this week from a family member addressed to David, Meredith, Brittney and Kaitlyn. I realized they didn't even know we had Zane!! Gotta keep in touch better....

I might survive!!

David has been in Washington D.C. this week for work. Just a few days, but he travels so little that I'm so not used to it when it does happen! I might survive with the kids by myself til we pick him up from the airport tomorrow night. ;o) I appreciate that man so much- just the sanity he provides by coming home each evening and listening to me!

Kaitlyn, Zane, and I went to MOPS this morning. Actually it's MOMS now since it's not "Moms of PRESCHOOLERS" anymore, but Kaitlyn and I still call it MOPS! Mom's is my mom's house, gets confusing. We made apple pies. YUM! Going to cut myself a piece with some vanilla ice cream when I'm done typing this... Done now..... *LOL*

The Zoo and Buffy the Bison

Yesterday was Military Appreciation Day at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. So we packed everyone up, dug out David's military discharge papers from when he was in the Army, and took off! Wow, our van makes traveling so much easier! No one is touching anyone else; there are tv's to watch; and best of all, it has the best navigation system ever! Every single time David and I have been to Tennessee, we have gotten lost. Except yesterday.

The zoo was awesome! The playground inside the zoo was reason to go back! Brittney and Kaitlyn could have spent the day there! Even Zane got to swing and loved it!
After the zoo, we went to Ted's Montana Grill for an early dinner. They offer different dishes in beef or bison, and we usually get bison since we can get beef anywhere! ;o) It's really good and tender. The waitress said it's leaner than chicken!!
While at dinner, David was taking pics of the girls with the giant bison head in the background. He nicknamed it Buffy the Buffalo. So I had to google the difference in a bison and buffalo: I still don't know the difference except buffalo are from Asia and bison are American. ????

Build-A-Bear

Today was Veteran's Day so school was out. (Sidenote: I've seen people posting thanks to veterans on Facebook all day long but had to look up how to spell it for that sentence!!) I had promised Brittney I would take her to Build-A-Bear for her birthday since Kaitlyn had gotten to go on her birthday this year. The only problem is that Brittney's birthday is 2 days after Thanksgiving = shopping madness!! So I convinced her today was a good day to go. Ok, so I mentioned it and she jumped on board for "celebrating" early. She got a peace sign bear in pajamas- SO her right now! I think she'd wear pj's and slippers to school if we let her!

We also ate in the food court, I nursed Zane in the kiddie play area (see note) while Kaitlyn took a nosedive, literally, off of one of the playstructures, and we got stuck in traffic. Apparently everyone else went to that mall today too!

---> Note. Heehee. So I nursed him with my cover in the play area because the "great" family nursing room they had reeked horribly of smoke! Not like a smoker had just used it, but that they had actually smoked in there! Ick.

Can I also say that getting "stuck" in traffic is not bad at all when the kids have a tv to watch in the car?? I can't wait til Zane can turn around to see it too. Maybe then he will like riding in the car..... just maybe.

PS- I love my little boy dearly. It may seem I complain about everything about him, but I adore that child. Complaining right now is just a side effect of not enough sleep coupled with a child that cries when I try to clean the house resulting in a messy house and frazzled mommy. This too shall pass. Too quickly, I might add. Had to put that out there.

5 days...

In just five days, my baby boy will be 7 months old. Wow. How times flies by when you aren't sleeping! Zane has done really well from the beginning at sleeping thru the night. It's sleeping during the day that he refuses to do! He also refuses to sit up, crawl, or stand. He will when he's ready... maybe.

Kaitlyn is excited about the holidays. She's almost 3 1/2 and is constantly adding things to her "Ho Ho List!" She will even tell you that she wants "everything." Sometimes she's super sweet, ok, alot of the time. But she knows how to get her way too! ;o)

Brittney is doing really well in school. Her conduct has even improved this year! She got her first B on a report card this quarter- before now it's been straight A's. Even so, a "B" in the fourth grade though- Great job, girly!

David is working hard to support our family. He recently got a Nitro powered remote control car that he's trying to tinker with a little. He has the "need for speed!"

And me? Well, I'm working with the 3rd and 4th grade girls in Awanas, listening to verses. I'm also a Discussion Group Leader in our MOMS group. I am Christmas shopping like crazy, online! I even think I'm going to sit out this year's Black Friday shopping because I'm getting such great prices online for things we actually want, not just what's on sale.

I plan to try to update this often, so stay tuned!