It's almost Turkey Day

It's Wednesday and you know what that means....time for my blog over at Contemporary Expressions to be published!  Today is less of a Pick and more of a contest!  I want everyone to go over to the blog and post about their favorite family traditions!  You could win a $50 gift card (good towards your holiday photos if you have yet to get those).  So click here and comment away!!

I wanted to share this photo of Zachary from last years Thanksgiving with everyone too.  Gooble gooble!

Enjoy the weekend with your friends and family everyone!  We have a pretty quite weekend ahead; dinner and football at Nick and Jamie's tomorrow, black Friday shopping, family Christmas pictures on Saturday....and just relaxing and enjoying the long weekend. 

- Paige

Back from the weekend

Santa on Saturday was a success!!! I cannot wait to see the photos :) Here is a little snapshot I took while Braden was reading with Santa and Mrs. Clause.

As for the rest of this weekend we were pretty lazy.  Yesterday Paul and Braden has a guys morning at WalMart and then had McDonalds for lunch, while Zachy and I hung out at home and caught up on some of our TV shows.

Braden enjoyed watching the AMAs last night...here is a pretty funny video of him and Paul.

As for that nothing super exciting going on here.  We are learning the letter T this week for Thanksgiving, and learning lots of fun stuff about Turkeys and everything Thanksgiving (at a preschool level of course).

Sorry this post is so short and sweet.  Time to wake the boys to get ready for gymnastics :)

- Paige

Christmas Pictures

I can't be the ONLY one who stresses herself out about taking family photos...right??? 

Well, it's that time of year again to take Christmas pictures (with the one and only Tanja of course!)  But that only means one thing....time to pick out what we are wearing.  I am SO OVER BLACK.  Every year I try and plan and plan and we all end up in the SAME thing {more or less} black, and red.  UGH BORING! But it is so simple and soooo screams Christmas.

I want to try a green/brown/navy combo this year (and I might have found the outfits in our closets) but knowing me that will change.  Maybe a royal/light blue with white/silver combo.  I am looking for PJs to possibly wear, but again, who knows.  I am not a fashionista to begin with, so putting together colors and patterns that match but are not too matchy matchy is a struggle for me!  That and adding accessories (which I never wear) is difficult to find in our house. 

O well! Any and ALL suggestions are welcome!  Have a fabulous weekend everyone!! We are going to visit Santa tomorrow, so I will let you know how that goes....last year he was "that kid" kicking and screaming as soon as it was our turn.  This year we are going to Tanja's studio, so hopefully that will be a much better environment!

- Paige

365 Memory Project

Okay, I credit this post to Pintrest as well, but another GREAT idea!  My only regret is I wish I found it sooner!!!!

Basically it's a fun, cute, and organized way to keep track of the daily memories that we all forget, in my case the crazy things the boys say and do.  It is a calendar and journal all in one.  I have not decided which route I am going to go yet, but I thought I would share both with everyone.

Option 1: Creating a DIY calendar box.  This one is a DIY, so I could potentially make extras to give as gifts for Christmas while I am making mine.  This post comes from Kate Pruitt at Design Sponge.  The only downside I see of this, is cards being lost. 

Option 2: One Line a Day: A Five-Year Memory Book (to give credit where credit is due, I saw a blog post about this on Simplify by Camille Roskelley) - I feel that this one might be easier for me to keep track of, just because it is all in one place, and I wont have to worry about the little ones getting into it and losing a day.  The downside, it only has space for 5 years...but thats a start right, and who says I can't have multiple books?

Lots of things to consider before January 1st (I figure since it's right around the corner that will be the best day to start).  But I don't think I could go wrong with either option!

I hope this inspires you to start your own 365 project too :) And some of you might know what you're getting for Christmas now ;-)

-Paige

Good 'Ol K-Town

Last weekend the family ventured to Kearney, NE for my little sisters initiation into our sorority.

Nothing crazy to report on the trip.  It was a special experience to share and help initiate my sister into Gamma Phi Beta, and made me remember all the wonderful reasons why I joined in the first place.  It was nice to visit and catch up with old friends, some who I have not talked to since I left Kearney.

Braden did okay on the drive.  We bought a duel screen DVD player for the car last year, so we plugged that in and he fell asleep after about an hour - side note: we left Friday after work so we were driving from 4:30-10pm).  Zach on the other hand did not do so well.  We had taken the drive with Braden when he was younger and he just fell asleep, Zach did the opposite, he nearly cried and whined the whole way.  And for those of you who know Zach this was VERY out of the ordinary for him - he is the most happy go lucky, easiest baby in the whole world (and I say that with complete confidence, I challenge someone to find me a more mellow manner baby).  Once we got into town he had a hard time sleeping at the hotel too.  The drive home was not much different, I think he maybe got a half hour nap in there somewhere.

Overall, the trip was fun, but it makes me incredibly nervous to take the 13 hour drive to Texas to visit Nonna and Papa with the boys anytime soon...

 

Braden enjoying snacks from the truck stop and watching his movie.  We were lucky and only had to stop once each way.  Zach was angry no matter what we were doing, so stops would have not made any difference in him crying the whole way. 

  The boys with the Sinclair dinosaur at Bosselmans.  As with anything, Braden was super excited to see it from far away, but as soon as we got close he was terrified.  

-Paige

New Christmas Tradition

I felt I needed to write a post today, don't want to start slacking off on day two!

The boys and I went to storage today to get our Christmas boxes out to start decorating the house this weekend.  Let's be honest, it has made me an emotional wreck! This will be the first year EVER that I have spent the holidays without my parents :( I get that I have my own family now and should start making new memories, BUT the holidays are a time for family and I want mine around.  So needless to say, Braden has asked "where does it hurt mommy" like 5 times today because I will bust out in spontaneous tears (THANK YOU STEROIDS).

On a lighter note I found this SUPER CUTE idea to do with the boys on pintrest - I only starting getting into this a few days ago, because I did not understand the craze, but it is AMAZING, so many great finds and ideas on there.  In any event the new tradition...last year we bought the boys a blue Christmas tree for their bedroom.  Lets back up for a moment - all Braden wanted last year for Christmas was a 'pink Christmas tree' don't know why, but he saw one at Khols one day while we were shopping and that was it.  So instead of buying them a PINK tree, we ended up buying a blue one.  He was slightly dissappointed last year when he saw it was blue and not pink, but was extremely excited when we got it from storage today.  Blue tree = success. On with the tradition...Blue tree in their room, wrap 24 books (could be Christmas related or not) that you already own to put under it, and each night let the boys pick a book to unwrap and read as a bedtime story!  It's an advent calendar of sorts!  Half the fun of present is unwrapping them, and honestly, they are 3 and 1, how will they know that its a book of theirs - or for that matter even care.  I just think its super simple and super cute, so I am really excited to get it started.

I need to schedule our family pictures for the year still, but I will leave you all with this picture of Paul and the boys from last Christmas :)

- Paige

Pictures with Santa

Alright, one more post for today before I have to take Braden to gymnastics (I just love when BOTH boys nap so I can play around and get some things done)!!!

I wanted to let everyone know that this Saturday, our photographer - Tanja at Contemporary Expressions - is hosting Santa and Mrs. Clause!!!!  We are headed up in the afternoon, and I hope to see some of you there! Braden is terrified of Santa and wont even go near him, soooo, I am hoping that this environment will help encourage him to sit on santa's lap and tell him what he would like for Christmas, AND get a good picture of both boys with him this year (Tanja is the worlds best photographer of course).  The BEST part, no mall lines and NO MALL GERMS!!! Tanja is FABULOUS and won't just snap and make you move on, she is going to get an amazing picture for you to cherish for the years to come :)

SOOOOOO EXCITED!!! Let me know if you need more details/want to head up at the same time - and make sure you give her the heads up that you are coming, so Mrs. Clause can have goodie bags for you kids!!

Now on Facebook and Twitter

So I figure if I am going to do this, I'm going to do this 100%.  I have attempted to set up an automatic feed onto my facebook and twitter profile...we shall see if it works! Fingers crossed :-D

The D says 'd'

As many of you know I am homeschooling Braden for preschool.  We have decided that the boys are going to start kindergarten at 6 instead of 5 (so they graduate high school at 18 and not 17) so we have a few years to get them going.

Of course every parent thinks their child is so smart and so fabulous, but we really do think Braden is exceptional at where he is at developmentally.  He needed to start learning something to give him direction.  For those of you who don't know him, or have not seen him in a while, this kid can hold a conversation with you, bring up different subjects to talk about, tell you stories about what we did last weekend, and he even surprises us with some of the things he remembers.  It is truly amazing, and everyday he makes us so proud to be his parents (because he must have got it from us, right?)

Anyways, this year we are just focusing on our letters and counting (as well as other skills, but those are the main 'subjects').  So far we have learned letters A, E, F, P, B and now this week we are starting D.

I really think he enjoys the time we spend together and learning.  We have some issues, but as the weeks go on I am learning how to overcome them and better communicate with my 3 year old.  The biggest issue we are having right now is that he thinks it's funny to give the wrong answer.  Paul and I know he is learning, because when given the opportunity he will show his knowledge on different things and talk to you about what he is learning, but when asked a question, he will give the wrong answer knowingly and giggly.

Overall, we are both having fun during the days and it gives us structure.  He loves the activities and crafts that we do, and even will wake up in the morning asking if we can "go to school yet"...but the kid has to eat breakfast first ;)

-Paige

Welcome

Why hello everyone!! I am so exciting to be starting this blog, its going to be an adventure for everyone.

I am not sure what exactly I will post about on here, but I do know that it will be about my AWESOME life.  Maybe a little bit of venting about how crazy my kids are being, maybe some pictures of my family and things we do day to day, maybe some recipes that I try (and do not kill the boys), health articles that I read and think you all would find interesting and my thoughts on them, when my disease is flaring up and what new hurdle the 4 of us have to deal with....either way this is going to be very random, but educational.

This illness (Neuromyelitis Optica) is a team battle for Paul, the boys, and I (well and everyone else, but the 3 boys have to put up with me/it EVERYDAY), but at the end of the day I want everyone to know that I am living, and despite how hard life might get some days, Team NeMO lives on :)

I hope you all like my blog :)

-Paige