Santa Brought the Space Suit

So Jake's one wish from Santa was a "space suit" which is an astronaut costume. He requested this item after I had went above and beyond my budget so luckily Grandma Sherrie was nice enough to fill the request, even though we had to tell Jake Santa brought it.

Although he may not look excited, he really was. He was trying to be Mr. Cool Guy. Now, I have to put it on him about 12-15 times a day. Luckily he has not asked to wear it out in public.

Now you can see the happiness. Notice the astronanut toothbrush in the pocket. Who knew a toothbrush could bring such joy. Tyler got a firetruck one with lights. No more battles brushing teeth! Jake's other favorite toys were his Lightening McQueen four pack of cars, and this. My favorite is this. This is a toy that I don't mind playing with him. It's almost like playing dollhouse. He also got Richard Scarry's book "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" which was a favorite of my brothers when he was little. When my brother came over for breakfast, he went through the pages to find Goldbug. You could see the excitement in his face.

Tyler had a fun Christmas. He is still to little to "really" understand what is going on. He ripped through his presents in about 10 minutes flat. A lot of his presents weren't toys he could play with right away. My favorite, which we used last night in the bath was this. He also got a bath mirror and bath crayons-which I really dislike. They are messy!! He enjoyed this wooden fire truck that I found at Target and his transportation puzzle which makes the sound when you put the piece in the correct spot.

After Halloween, I went to Joanne and stocked up on fun dress up things for the boys. I got a cart full of stuff for $40. Pirate swords, eye patches, hook arm, wigs, funny noses, a disguise, funny glasses, ect. They enjoyed that present and so do I:) I also got a fireman costume at Meijer after Halloween for $6 and they wear that 12-15 times a day as well.

Their big present was from Grandma Sherrie. It goes up and down, and around, like a merry-go-round.

Jake and Tyler were spoiled by the grandparents and great-grandparents- so we didn't have to do much. Thank goodness because David gets laid off in the winter and didn't get a Christmas bonus this year. Great-grandma Judy got Jake a game called Zingo! which is a lot of fun, even for David and I.

We had a wonderful, simple Christmas. We spent the day just with our little family. In the afternoon, we all made birdseed pinecones.

That evening, we had my side of the family to our house for a Heavenly Ham, courtesy of David's work. It was a wonderful, relaxing day. We made a point of not turning on the tv, and not going anywhere, just spending time together with the boys.

Ty At Two

This is what I get when I ask Tyler to smile. Should make for an interesting Christmas card. Anyway, here is my Ty At Two post, which I've procrastinated for two weeks! It is more for my memories than entertainment purposes.

• You weigh 25 pounds and you are 35 inches. When Jake was 2, he weighed 27.5 and was 37 inches. You have the skinniest chicken legs and arms!
  
  
• You LOVE your blankey and it brings you comfort, especially when you run the silky part on your cheek.
  
  
• You LOVE your sucky, which you call "a gah" it took us a looong time to figure out what you were saying and asking for. We let you use your sucky way to much. This should be a fun habit to break-um, Supernanny please help!
  
  
• You don't kiss on the lips, it's always been cheek to cheek. How European of you. Daddy recently taught you how to make the kissing noise, but rarely do you kiss on the lips, it's still cheek to cheek.
  
  
• You adore Jake and copy everything he does. This has made you grow up so fast. It is so different having a second, you imitate so much more and reach milestones faster.
  
  
• Shopping is your fave. We drop Jake off at school, and you say "shopping?" and I say "well, if you really want to, I guess we can go to Target.
  
  
• This makes you a mini me. We love shopping, we love our blankey's, and we love clean. Also, if we don't get our way, we are not happy.

• You've helped me do laundry since you were about ten months, putting groceries away is another fave, and lots of times you pick up your toys without us even asking!
  
  
• You play by yourself wonderfully. Another trait of being the second child. Jake still hasn't mastered this, a sure sign of the first-born. Sometimes I have to remind myself to stop what I am doing and play with you!
  
• Favorite things to do/play: swing, duplo legos, play-doh, dress up-especially the policeman, jumping in pillow pile, playing lion hunt-we go look for the cat or "lion" and when we find it we yell lion! and run back to our tent, playing with tractor and barn, digging in dirt in the garden, and building with blocks.

• Cars is your favorite movie. All day you ask to watch it. Funny thing is, in the two years we've had the movie, I've never watched the whole thing.

• Lately you have been coming to me saying "do" with your hands turned up like "what do you want to do?"

• You can be a turd sometimes. The first year you cried. The second year you clung to me like saran wrap. What's this year going to be? This is why you will not have a sibling close in age to you :) Things aren't always easy with you!

• Anything with ketchup or ranch and you will eat it. But, you are still a picky eater. Especially slimy fruit, (which most fruit is). But you will eat the heck out of peas, cheese, graham crackers, yogurt and juice.

• You don't really look at books during the day, but at night before bed, we have our reading time. You go to your book shelf and say "ummm". I know you are thinking which book should I pick?

Tyler, we adore having you. Your antics make me laugh all the time. It is so fun watching you and Jake play together, especially now that you are bigger. It is so cute when you say his name. It will be amazing watching you grow this year and see all the wonderful things you learn. Happy Birthday. Thanks for making me a mom! Again.

Gift Idea

My mom got my boys and my sisters two boys the Scholastic video collection. I love it! Link it here. It has all the great stories I read to the boys in video form, and each story only lasts 5-10 minutes so if I need to get something done for a minute I pop one in and then they are not stuck watching a half hour show. Plus we don't have cable so the boys don't have many options anyway. The best part is that my mom mails them a movie every now and then (she lives in Colorado) so the boys get fun mail and they don't get overwhelmed getting all 100 stories at once. She mails one to my sister too, and we also trade. It is a great idea for far away grandparents and if you want a gift for different ages that they both can enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

I'm behind in blogging, so this is so stale, but I want to blog it for my own memories. We had Tyler's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. He loves tractors, but it was easier for me to do a dump truck theme. Here are the invites:
Call me Martha, I made them myself. I went to Michael's for goodies for the goody bags. I wanted to get plastic yellow hard hats, but I waited until the last minute and didn't have time to order them.

The boys got a truck or loader to paint, a truck magnet, and stickers. I did girly bags for the 2 girls who attended the party.

I also ordered a pinata, so everyone also got candy with their goodie bag.

I did two games, the first was a bean bag toss into the back of a plastic dump truck. The kids had to stand on a line I moved the truck closer or farther according to age. It was a good game because all the kids were different ages. When Tyler went, he threw the first bean bag and missed, so he walked up to the truck and backed it up so it was right in front of him. It was so funny.
The other game was pin the scoop on the digger. It was another all ages game.

For the cake, I made dirt cake, which is so easy-no baking! And I put Ty's in his own truck. He loved it.

I think everyone had a good time, except maybe Jake. He had some jealousy this year. He kept telling me he was going to change his birthday and it was going to be in 3 days, so start buying his presents. Here's a pic of the kids:
Note to self: don't have another baby in December. By the time I mail invites and thank-yous I don't even want to think about Christmas cards. Plus, I have to shop for birthday and Christmas presents. Yuck.

Flashback

I've got a week's worth of blogging to do so here it goes:

• Monday- picked my mom up from the airport during snow storm. Stopped at mall in Ann Arbor so I could get the boys Santa picture taken. $15.00 dollars later I have a picture of Jake and no picture of Ty because he was scared of Santa. He will wonder why I have no pics of him when he gets older.
  
• Tuesday- Happy Birthday to me. My sister and nephews came over for the day. We just hung out and read mags. I got a bookshelf from my mom, this with some birthday money, a watch, hat and mittens from David and this from my sister. My family made me a wonderful dinner with turkey, stuffing, squash, potatoes and chocolate trifle for desert. I asked for turkey so I could made turkey sandwiches with the leftovers. Yum.
  
• Wednesday- I watched Brock today. He has a little personality now!

Jake and I also made these cute turkey cookies.

After David got home from work, my mom and I ran around town getting stuff for Ty's birthday party. Then David and I went to the bar to meet up with some friends. We had a great time catching up with everybody.

• Thursday- Happy Thanksgiving! I really didn't drink that much, but I had a mild hangover today. I couldn't move from the couch until about noon. Then we went to David's mom and dads. I brought my mom with me. I napped some more over there and hung out. We had 12 people for dinner. It was a lot of fun and good food. I am most thankful this year for healthy kids.
  
• Friday- I spent all day getting our basement ready for Ty's party. My mom got sick after Thanksgiving dinner. This time it wasn't the pizza. Must be something in our house. She was on the couch all day today. I wish I would have taken before and after pictures of our basement. It is amazing how fast we changed the whole look. I call it the poor man's finished basement. David painted the gray cement walls white, my mom painted trucks on one wall, we bought a carpet remnant, and I hid all our junk behind curtains (tablecloths). It cost about $350 all together, but the kids have a whole new play area.
  
  

• Saturday- Ty's party was today. I'm going to do a seperate post for his party because there are quite a few pictures. After the party, David and I had our 10 year class reunion at Hunt Club. There was only about 10 people there, but it was nice to see the friends we haven't seen in awhile.



• Sunday- We meant Matt and Danielle at Granny D's to get our Christmas tree. We went for a tractor wagon ride and got dropped off in a field of trees. It reminds me of Chevy Chase Christmas vacation. We were trudging through the cold to find the perfect tree. Then Matt and David cut them down and the tractor picked us back up. It has been a tradition for about five years now.
  

And we even got our outside lights up!

Holy Shit

Here comes the crazy holidays! This past week we had Brent Rice, his fiance Jenna, and their one-year old Abigael stay with us for a few days. They were in town from Louisiana to visit family. The first night they arrived, Abigael started throwing up and continued until the next day (Thursday). They took her to the doctor and she had an ear infection, so they spent the day caring for her. After I got out of work, I grabbed some frozen pizzas from Wal-Mart. A few hours after dinner, Brent started to get sick. He was in the bathroom for about an hour and flushed the toilet at least 10 times. Then Tyler woke up and puked all over his crib. I brought him down to sleep with us. Then it hit the rest of us. David, Jenna, Brent and I were up all night either with vomit or diarrhea. Our house smelled like a port-a-potty. The only one who didn't get sick was Jake. I think it was food poisoning. David and I had to call into work on Friday and it lasted until early evening. I think Brent and Jenna had a great time. They barely got to visit family and they spent most of their trip in our bathroom. Now my mom is arriving tomorrow from Colorado for a week. We are hoping to serve her some rotten pizza as well :)

A Night Out

David and I went out last night with my sister and her husband. We went to the movies and saw Fireproof. I would call it a Lifetime movie with bad acting. The couple in the movie are on the verge of divorce and the husband turns to his father for help. The father gives him a book called "The Love Dare" which is 40 days of challenges to help him learn to love selflessly. (Is that a word?) Anyway, there is really a Love Dare book that you can buy to follow the 40 day challenge. Here is the website: www.fireproofmymarriage.com I don't know how to link websites. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know how! I would say this movie is worth renting, but don't waste $17.50 to see it at the theater. Can you believe that's how much it is to see a movie for 2 now? Hello Netflix!

Baby Brock

I get to spend Wednesdays with six week old baby Brock. His mom Danielle (Perry) went back to work this week and I get to watch him once a week. It gets me my baby fix and then I give him back :) He is so cute and tiny. He makes Tyler look giant and Ty is my baby! Even though I just realized Ty is going to be two in about three weeks, he is still my little guy.

Tyler adores having a baby around. I think it is because it is someone fianally smaller than him!

I got out a baby that I used to play with when I was little, to get Jake ready when Ty was born. I never put it away and Ty has enjoyed playing with the prentend baby in the last couple of months.

Take a look at this picture. I was a little worried at first.....

Until he took off up stairs and came back with a handful of diapers to change his baby's "poop" At least that's what he told me he was doing.

I can't wait until he gets older and I can show him all these pictures. I have a lot more :)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Back to Gap I Go

I decided to return to Gap for Christmas. David's mom is laid off for two weeks, so I have free babysitting and can get a lot of time in these next two weeks and make some money! Here's the good news for you: I have 25 "friends and family" coupons good for 30% off at Gap, Old Navy and Banana. All you need to do is leave your e-mail as your comment, so I can e-mail the coupon to you. It is Nov. 13-16. If you know any friends that like to shop at Gap, send them to my blog and I will e-mail them one. Happy Shopping!

Happy Halloween!

Cookie Monster

Jake and I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for David's dad's birthday yesterday. We saved some for ourselves and they are yummy! Today, I had 2 for breakfast and then after lunch, I helped myself to 4 more. Gross. Fianally, I told Jake to hide them from me. How sick is that? I had to have a four-year-old hide cookies from his Mom! I'm going to blame it on PMS. I could have ate all of them. Eventually I will...when I find them.

Scrapbook Heaven

After reading everybody's blog about Archivers, my sister and I decided we better check it out. We spent most of the day there on Saturday and it was wonderful. I got 3 pages done in my 8 by 8 album. Why does it take so f*#%!$@ long to scrapbook? We had fun though and the store is what I would call inspiring. My sister bought me a adorable new scrapbook for my Birthday, which isn't until November so I can't use it until then. But that is o.k. because that is probably the next chance I'll get to scrap! Thanks Ra!

There is a reason it's called The Domestic Diva

Last weekend, we took a walk down the bike trail. David kept mentioning how fun it would be to ride the trail on a bike. For some reason, neither of us have one. One click and 5 days later, and we have these

for 25.00 dollars a piece. A little rusty, but they take you where you need to go.

Then, I decided to get a toddler bed for Tyler. One click and 1 day later, we have this

for 30.00 dollars, and get this- DELIVERED to me while I scrapbooked at Archivers!

Tyler loves it!
Where am I getting all these deals? CRAIGSLIST my friends. It is my newest addiction. I really need to get a life or job! Now before you start clicking, let me give you a word of advice. If you've ever been to the fair, you know what kind of people jackson has to offer. The merchandise is no different. I got the bikes from the jackson craigslist and they weren't well taken care of. The bed I found on the Detroit craigslist and it was worth the money.

There's Nothing Like a Clean House

David's mom took the boys today, and I had a "free day" as I call them. Did I sit and read a magazine? No. Did I go shopping for fun? No. Did I take a nap? No. I spent ALL day cleaning my house. All seven hours. You must be saying right now, wow, Sadie, you must have a big house! No. It is a whopping 1600 square feet. I had a lot of time to think as I scrubbed the potty's, which if you have boys, mostly covered in pee because they have no aim. What would you do if you had seven hours of "free time"? If you work and have kids, when do you clean your house? On the weekends? After you put the kids to bed? Why does it take so long??? Then I got to thinking that I need some extra money. David, Tyler and I all have birthday's within six weeks of one another plus Christmas. That's a lot of presents to buy in six weeks. So I came up with this idea: Holiday House Cleaner. People are busy during the holidays shopping, cooking, wrapping. When do you have time to clean? Especially if you have company coming? The Holiday part works for me, because I don't want to make this a career. Just during Holidays when I need money for presents. It could come in really handy if you are planning a Christmas party as well. Just a one-time clean for the Holidays. It would also make a great gift for a grandma, single-guy, or new mom. What do you think? Good idea? My other option is a Discovery Toy rep. Free toys, and they are developmental. The only thing I don't like about this option is I'm not a big fan of the "party's". It seems like everyone these days are having these party's for jewelry, chef's, tupperware. Is everyone sick of these party's too? Or would you like an easy way to do your kids Christmas shopping? My last choice is back to Gap for the Holidays- good discount, crappy hours, cranky customers. What should I do?? I'm going to enjoy my clean house now, and guess what- I didn't even get to the upstairs yet-still more cleaning to do!!!

I love this!!

I've been contemplating starting a blog for a long time. At first, I was wondering how everybody had so much time to do all this typing and picture posting. Then I started getting addicted. I would read blogs, (yes, I am a lurker) and then tell people about everything I had read, mostly David. Now here I am after several days of "shower thinking" (where I get my best ideas), I came up with a title. After one looong night, I found a background I liked. It's a lot like scrapbooking, but I actually do it! Now, I have to figure out how to re-size my background so it's not so long, and add pictures and fun fonts. I think this is a great way to journal which I always mean to do, but don't. I want to look back at many happy memories of my kids.

Fun Fall Days

The boys and I stayed home all day today. This makes for a looong day, but I try to make the best of it. First we made pumpkin muffins after breakfast. We had a good time tasting, touching and smelling. It was messy though, especially when Ty got a hold of my eggs.

After our muffin snack, we headed outside for a walk. I was hoping to get some fall pictures of the boys. I was armed with a hand full of candy corns to bribe them. I didn't get what I wanted but they sure did. A big grader came down the road and the boys were all smiles then.

The grader driver was nice enough to stop and ask Jake if he wanted to climb up and see the inside of the grader. How cool is that? The boys are in heaven where we live. During harvest season we see combines and tractors all the time. Many of the farmers let the boys in the cabs of the combines and tractors. One farmer even gave Jake a ride in the combine! They love it and actually so do I. I have a new found love of big machines since I have two boys and I really have no choice!

After all this excitement, we went back in for lunch. Tyler went down for a nap and Jake played legos. I fianally took a shower and got ready for the day :) Then it was time for Ty to get up. He was nice enough to show us his new trick. Wow Tyler, you are special!!!

Back outside we went to play. I am dreading being couped up all winter. We raked a big leaf pile and the boys had so much fun doing "run and jumps". I thought about taking pictures but I decided to enjoy the moment instead. (Plus my battery was charging). We had a fun fall day. Hopefully all my posts will be this exciting! Yeah, right.