Christmas Crafts

Our holidays are very relaxed around here.  I decorated a little around the main room of the house, and we did a few Christmas themed crafts here and there, but nothing major.  I have, and doubt I ever will be, one who goes "all out" on holidays.

That all being said, we did attempt 2 crafts this year: A hand print Christmas Tree, and salt dough hand prints.  The tree turned out really cute I think.  The hand impressions turned out well, could have been better though.  I am really just not sure what I want to do with them now.  I was going to let the boys paint them and turn them into ornaments, but they are just too big and heavy I think....so now I will probably just let them paint them and give them as gifts as is.  The grandparents can figure out what they want to use them for ;-)

Making the salt dough

hand prints - ready to go into the oven

....Trying to get a good photo

Nuggets Game

I can't believe I never wrote anything about the basketball game we took the boys to a few weeks ago!

Not much to say I suppose.  We found some super cheap $2 seats, and bought those on stubhub.com  With all the fees we ended up paying about $15 for 3 tickets - score! The nuggets were playing the worst team in the league, so the arena was pretty empty - so empty we had a whole seating section to ourselves. 

We ate a little dinner before we left, had some popcorn at the game, and bought the boys a Rocky Pillow pet.  I think they both had a great time watching the game, all the events/promotional activities, and playing I-Spy trying to find Rocky (the mascot). 

Cheering!

Sad he wouldn't take a picture with me

There we go

Waving to Rocky

Watching the game

cheesing with popcorn in his mouth

I screen shoot these from the nuggets website ;-)

A Very Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great holiday with your family!  I always say things are "uneventful" when in reality, our "uneventful" is a hectic mess.

On Christmas Eve we were invited over to my dear friend's mama's house for dinner and a white elephant gift exchange.  We all had a great time, dinner was wonderful, and opening, exchanging, and "stealing" presents was a hoot!  The boys (mostly Braden) had a great time playing with their little friend too! It makes me happy to see them doing so well with other babies.  It makes me a little less nervous for when #3 comes along!

Paul and I stayed up on Sunday night to wrap presents, so when we arrived home late on Christmas Eve, we were able to just put the boys to bed and set out the presents.  I also make a breakfast that you leave out over night, so I threw that together really quickly, then it was off to bed.

In the morning, I was sure Braden was going to wake us up early, but staying out until 10pm must have just wore him out!  So luckily he did not run into our room until 8:30am! Paul said this, and I must agree, that I don't think I will ever get tired of him (and eventually the rest of our boys) running into our room to wake us beyond excited for whatever reason!

Although I did get out the camera the night before, I only managed to snap a couple photos throughout the morning.  I did however flip on the video camera and caught the whole morning on video.  We have done this the past couple years, and I always say I am going to put together a short film to send out to the family who could not be with us....but lets be honest, that never happens.  I download the clips to my computer where the memories stay.  This year we were able to FaceTime with out of town family while the boys opened the gifts they sent us, so that was really special! 

Zachary was so cute opening presents.  He would rip off a piece of wrapping paper, and throw it away before ripping another piece.  Needless to say Braden was getting very impatient with how long it was taking Z to open his gifts.

After we opened all our presents, we ate breakfast, and then FaceTimed with family.  The boys were on stimulation overload, so we took advantage of having a "White Christmas", bundled up, and took them outside to shovel for a bit!  The rest of the day was filled with playing with new toys, and watching some family movies :)

Here are a few of what little photos I took from the day....Merry belated Christmas Everyone!

Daddy buried in wrapping paper

Playing their first ever Strat-O-Matic game

Trains

"Mom it's too chilly to say cheese!" ~Zachary

Eddie - The Giant Bear/Horse Dog

Oh Eddie,

Apparently you were sad that the 2 foster puppies before you had a blog post written about them, so I guess I will write one for you too.  I still need to write up one on ALL the fosters, and WHY we choose to foster :)

I was a little nervous to bring you home with us when the rescue asked if we could take you for a week.  Your size alone is extremely overwhelming, but I got over that (eventually).  I think your head alone weighed more than Zachary.  The photos don't do your size justice.  I should have placed a basketball next to your head, maybe that would have helped a little bit.

The first night you were at the house we all watched The Sandlot together, and of course, after that, Braden kept calling you Eddie The Beast.  You also decided that when we said it was bed time, that meant you come into our bed and sleep.  It makes me really sad to know that you were given away by your family, because they obviously loved you a lot.  You knew to make yourself right at home in our house.  Although, we only let you sleep on the ottoman, no couches or beds here - sorry buddy. 

I hope you have found love, joy, and happiness in your new forever home!

For more information on the rescue we work with - Life is Better Rescue, please visit their website here.

Oh please, Make yourself at home

Sure...the couch is better than the bed I guess

Braden trying to move him

This is where we would find him in the morning

Holding hands with Paul

Presents for the Family

If y'all are anything like me, you focus all your energy onto finding and buying the perfect presents for your kiddos.  And let's face it, that's where 99% of your holiday budget goes!

Skipping right over presents for you and the hubby, what are you supposed to buy grandparents, GREAT grandparents, aunts, uncles, and the rest of those family members???  Bring in one of my most favorite gifts to give...the Shutterfly Photobooks.

I LOVE scrap booking, LOVE IT!  But I have not scraped one single page since Braden was born, NOT ONE!  I "discovered" the photo books a few years ago.  It's basically scrap booking, except you can make a zillion copies of it, so EVERY family member/household can get their own copy of my "scrap book".

I did buy Photoshop Elements 10 this year, and have been playing with it throughout the year.  The idea for next year is to digi-scrap pages on elements throughout the year, and then just simply upload them as full page photos onto Shutterfly, or another like photo book software.  The only reason I use Shutterfly now, is because I like their software interface and the options they have. 

I also make/give these as gifts throughout the year.  For example, if we went on vacation that summer, I will make one for that set of grandparents (and order a copy for our house as well).

I don't claim to be a pro at this by any means, but they serve a purpose, and I think they look good :)  Feel free to take a look at the past couple books I have made.  You will just have to wait to see this years book...but here is a sneak peak at the cover ;-)

1. Christmas 2010 Book
2. East Coast Trip 2011
3. Christmas 2011 Book

Friday Ramblings

This week has been absolutely uneventful.  We picked up foster dogs #10 and #11 for the year on Tuesday.  Soon I will do a post on all our fosters.  We volunteer with an organization called Life is Better Rescue.  We never have the dogs/puppies for long, usually a week or 2 at a time.  It's nice because we can have a dog when we want one (and the boys LOVE dogs) and then when we are going out of town, or I am having those "bad days" we don't have the responsibility of owning a pet.  Plus, taking care of a dog full time in our little condo would be a nightmare. 

Braden named these 2 Bumblebee and Chompella.  Bumblebee because his latest obsession for the last couple months has been the Transformers.  And there is a story behind the name Chompella.  B likes to watch this show called Wild Kratz on PBS - great kids show about wild animals.  They named a baby alligator Chomp once, until they realized he was really a she, so they changed her name to Chompella.  One night when we were talking about the new baby with the boys, we asked Braden what we should name the baby if it is a girl and his response was, "Umm Maybe Chompella".  So the other night when we brought the puppies home and found out one was a girl, he said, "Since you didn't get a baby girl in your belly, we can just name my foster puppy Chompella."  This kid is just too cute for words sometimes - love him. 

Braden playing with Chompella

Bumblebee

Chompella

So there you have it, Bumblebee and Chompella. 

Zach has been having quite the "days" lately.  He is just getting overly frustrated and is extremely scentsitive lately.  Little things.  Like the other day, he wanted chicken nuggets.  So I was making him chicken nuggets and did everything like normal - he got the nuggets out of the freezer, goes to get his plate, I count out his nuggets, put them in the microwave, and then put the bag back into the freezer - except when I put the bag in the freezer he started freaking out because he thought I was not going to get him his nuggets, even though 30 seconds before I showed him how I was putting the nuggets into the microwave to cook...

He is also going through his "I am a boy and I want to be naked phase".  Please tell me my kids are not the only ones who do this!?  I think baby butts are just the cutest things every, and this phase is only acceptable when they are still little, so, why not.  If it makes him happy to be naked for 15 minutes between diaper changes, then, so be it. 

He has also been showing a little interest in going to the potty (I think he just wants to be like brother).  But you try potty training a kid who does not talk, it's tough.  He usually just goes, sits down for a hot second, then gets up and runs away.  We are not pushing the issue yet though.  So whatever interest he is showing is progress in the right direction.  Hopefully when he gets his tubes in his ears things will get a little easier.  I just hope he is done with diapers by the time the baby arrives.  We shall see.

There have been a couple other boring, mundane, day to day things that have been going on around here lately, but I wont bore you with all those details...Maybe I will do a photo journal update this weekend :) 

Off to take the puppies potty, again.

Time to spill the beans

Alright, well I guess we are in the Safe Zone now, and since all of those near and dear to us should have received their Christmas Cards in the mail by now...I guess it's time to spill the beans and make our news officially official, and let the whole internet world know too -

Team Schleifer-Bell will be expanding it's roster in March 2013!!! 

Eekk! I guess now that the world knows, this is really happening!  Don't feel left out if you didn't know, nothing personal, lots of people didn't know.  With my health and the surprise of finding out we were expecting again (while I was still on all my "not great for pregnancy" medications) we kept this very quite until we felt we were in a safe zone.  At about 25 weeks, we still have quite the journey ahead of us, but it's time to start excepting the reality that we are soon to be a family of 5 - HOLY COW! It still blows my mind when I think/say it.

If you can't tell by the awesome blue bow, and all the blue the boys are wearing, Baby Schleifer-Bell #3 will be yet another boy...as if my life was not already overrun consumed with baseball already.  I think I have this whole "boy mom" thing figured out at this point, so why try and change it up now I guess.

Domain Change

...really quick, I changed the domain name to the blog.  If you have it bookmarked, please update it on your end.  I did this so it is a little easier to search for.  

Old Address: http://teamnemo87922.blogspot.com/   - Delete this!

New Address: http://teamnemoblog.blogspot.com/

If you follow us on google or via email nothing should be affected.  Just thought I would let y'all know. 

November Photo Journal

Since the last couple posts have been about mama ramblings, I figured I would do a quick photo update from November.  Some of these pictures you might have seen/read about already (sorry for the doubles), but here is our month in a photo journal.

Nonna came to visit - everyone (except me!) got really sick with a yucky bug

We took it pretty easy and watched a lot of movies

The boys discovered how to be "naughty" together...I am sure a lucky mama if this is any indication how the next 16 years will go

More movies and cuddle time

Someone couldn't sleep one night and wanted to hang out with Mommy and Daddy

B pushed Zachy down and Zach got his first "little brother" bloody nose - this is from the clean up, but he does not appear to be too upset

We babysat Kiko over Thanksgiving - the boys love having a doggy in the house...apparently, so does Paul

Watching the Thanksgiving Parade

Everyday I am so thankful for these 3 monsters!

Buster arrived

...more movies/tv on the couch, this time with a lil ice cream

Braden couldn't sleep, so went in to Zachy's crib to cuddle

"Look mom! We are crushing Sushi" ~Braden

Out to dinner with this goof ball!

He may be a little behind developmentally, but he is way advanced when it comes to eating ice cream on the couch...

...keeping his face clean is another story

Brother time - I just love their bond!!!!

"Clink our chopsticks brother" ~Braden

This is just funny!

Nighttime craft....

...making ninja turtle masks!

The great thing about homeschooling is we get to stay in our PJs!

Working on school - practicing writing and numbers

He is just such a happy kid! This smile melts my heart :)