Posts Tagged ‘Family’

Posted by Colleen     March 4, 2010

Numbers

I’m not very good math, but I think you’ll enjoy my post over at Mom Spark today, Do the Math.

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Posted by Colleen     February 15, 2010

What’s New Monday

It’s been awhile since I just updated everyone about what’s going on around here.

Let’s see…

Wade is nine months old now. He’s growing, and doing new things everyday. But he’s not the early bloomer that David was. He isn’t crawling or talking yet. He isn’t even sleeping through the night. I keep reminding myself that he doesn’t need to keep up with David. He’ll do everything in his own time. But sometimes I think, “Why isn’t he doing this or that yet? Is there something wrong?” I know there isn’t. I’m just impatient.

I do wish Wade would sleep through the night. I’ve had enough of his 2 a.m. wake up calls. He isn’t hungry. He doesn’t need a diaper change. He just wants to hang out. Sometimes he’ll be awake for an hour or two. I think some of it is because of teething. For a few nights he was waking up every one to two hours. That I’m pretty sure was his teeth. And I wonder if he naps too much during the day. I’ve been trying to get him to do less of that.

So I’m tired, and coffee is my best friend lately.

I LOVE coffee.

Have I ever mentioned how much I really, really love coffee?

David is his usual smart, funny and stubborn self. Last week you may have read my plea for help with getting him to clean his room. Thank you to all who offered suggestions. I will be trying them out.

Dave is enjoying college. He’s been back in school for a little over a month now. I think he’s decided to major in International Business. He’s doing really well. I guess I’m not as distracting to him now as I was 14 years ago.

We had a nice Valentine’s weekend. Dave’s quartet sang at a Valentine’s dinner Friday night. My mom and dad came up to watch the boys, and I went with him. It was nice to have a few hours away. Then David went home with my parents for a few days, and it was just the three of us on Saturday.

We spent Saturday catching up on everything on our DVR. You know you’re an old married couple when that’s your idea of fun.

I also spent Saturday laying on a heating pad on the couch. Somehow I hurt my back. I have no idea how, but I woke up Friday, and could barely walk or bend over. Picking up Wade wasn’t easy either. I’m all better now thank goodness.

Sunday Dave had another concert so it was just Wade and I on Valentine’s Day. It was nice to have him all to myself for a little while. I called him My Funny Little Valentine all day. Since he’s only nine months old I can still get away with stuff like that.

And then there were two. Again. When David came back today.

Wade and David were both so happy to see each other. David keeps hugging Wade. Wade keeps looking at David and smiling and squealing with delight. They’re already two peas in a pod. Can you imagine the mischief they will get into together in a few years? David is so much older. I can just see him putting Wade up to stuff.

There you go. Are you bored yet? I know. My life is so exciting.

So, what’s new with you?

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Posted by Colleen     February 3, 2010

Girl Trouble

David: What’s a girlfriend? A girl that’s your friend, right?

Dad: Well, yes, but she’s a really special friend.

David: Was Mommie your girlfriend?

Dad: Before we got married.

David: I want a girlfriend.

Mommie: When you’re older I’m sure you will have a girlfriend David.

David: Yeah, you know, I try to make friends with girls. But they won’t talk to me. I try to play with them at church, and they just tell me to leave them alone.

Dad: Live and learn, David. Live and learn.

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Posted by Colleen     January 13, 2010

David’s Fifth Birthday & A Betty Crocker Giveaway

OK, OK.

Everyone keeps asking me when I’m going to post about David’s birthday.

My mom even called today to make sure I was alright, because I hadn’t blogged in a couple days.

Yeesh!

Give me a break here people.

I have been known to put the computer down, and spend time with my kids and do housework once in awhile.

Anyway, you can all stop asking, because here it is. I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Yes, David did indeed turn five on Sunday.

He came in and woke me up at 6 a.m. to ask if he was five yet. David has wanted to be five ever since he turned four. For some reason five is a magic number for him.

We gave David a new pair of roller skates and a few other little things. He outgrew his other pair this fall, and has wanted a bigger pair for months. He loves his new roller skates, and wears them around the house all day. Poor kid. There’s too much snow outside to try them out on the driveway.

We just had a small party with the four of us and David’s grandparents. Of course the grandparents all brought more loot for David.

We did a train theme so I gave David a special train engineer hat to wear. But he had to put on a party hat too. Baby brother Wade seemed to enjoy the party also.

A few weeks before David’s birthday My Blog Spark and Betty Crocker asked me if I’d try out the new birthday party planning ideas on the the Betty Crocker website.

I was so happy I’d agreed to do it when I went to the site, and found instructions for making a train cake.

David is obsessed with trains. Half his toys are trains. He even watches videos on YouTube of real trains going down the track just for fun.

I really am not very good at decorating cakes. But the train cake on Betty Crocker’s website looked doable. I watched the video, and the instructions and diagram were really helpful.

I actually pulled it off!

Here’s my creation.

David was thrilled with it.

If I can do this, anybody can. I’m not kidding when I say decorating cakes is not my forte. I really have to thank Betty Crocker, because honestly, without them asking, I never would have tried this. It was more personal to make David’s cake than just order it from the bakery. It made me feel a little like a Super Mom.

You can see my photos and story about making the cake on Whrrl.

Using a Betty Crocker cake mix, and pre-made Betty Crocker frosting was a big time saver. I just tinted the vanilla frosting with food coloring to get the colors I needed.

It did take me all day to make the cake. It was definitely a labor of love. And when I added up the cost of the supplies to make the cake, mostly because of all the candy, it about equaled the price of a small decorated bakery cake.

We just had a small party so we didn’t play games or send out invitations. But Betty Crocker has ideas for those, and even suggestions for dishes to serve at the party on their site. There are several party themes to choose from including a Magical Princess Party and a Robots Rule party. David would love the robot cake too.

So David had a great day.

Betty Crocker and My Blog Spark sent me a Flip Ultra video camera to record the day’s festivities. Here’s a video I put together.

And now for the giveaway.

My Blog Spark and Betty Crocker are giving away a prize pack that includes VIP coupons and all the baking tools you need to recreate the cake I made. To enter visit Betty Crocker, and look over their birthday party planning ideas. Come back here, and leave a comment about which cake you would like to try.

Extra entries:

Follow me on Twitter. (Give Twitter ID)

Tweet about this giveaway. (Leave permalink to tweet)

Subscribe to Mommie Daze.

Follow Mommie Daze on Networked Blogs.

Become a fan of Mommie Daze on Facebook.

Please leave a comment for each entry.

The contest will end at 11:59 p.m. on January 22nd. Open to residents of the US only. Winner will be randomly drawn and notified by email.

Disclosure: My Blog Spark and Betty Crocker provided me with coupons for free cake mix and frosting. They also gave me a gift card to purchase other party supplies with, and the Flip Ultra video camera to record the party.

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Posted by Colleen     December 9, 2009

25 Days of Merry – Day 8 – Decorating the Christmas Tree

We decorated our Christmas tree in our PJs yesterday morning. David couldn’t wait for us to get dressed first, so I just declared it a pajama day.

Wade slept through the decorating, but when he woke up he stared in awe at the tree for a long time.

Now it really feels like Christmas around here.

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Posted by Colleen     December 8, 2009

25 Days of Merry – Day 7 – Oh Christmas Tree

Yesterday we took a trip to the Christmas tree farm.

Picking out our tree is one of my favorite activities that we do together as a family each year at Christmas time. We’ve visited the same tree farm for several years. The farm and familiar faces have become a part of our family tradition.

Some snow was left on the ground from last week, and a light snow shower while we were at the farm helped set the winter mood. It was cold and windy, so we were all bundled up.

David loves the tractor ride from the main building out to the field.

This was Wade’s first trip to the tree farm. He wasn’t too impressed with having to wear the big snow suit, and he fell asleep during the ride.

It took us a little bit to find our prefect tree. We chose one a little smaller than usual, because the living room is full of baby stuff like the Exersaucer this year. David wanted to give the saw a try.

But he decided it was too much work, and it would be better if he held the tree and Daddie did the cutting.

David did help carry the tree back to the wagon.

Here we are with our spoils. There really are people under all those coats and hats.

Something else that brings us back to this tree farm each year are the gorgeous fresh wreaths the owner’s wife makes. David and I both liked this square wreath because it was so unique.

Apparently they are the latest trend in wreath design, so David and I have good taste.

Monday afternoons aren’t exactly busy at the tree farm. We were the only customers, and the usual pot of hot chocolate wasn’t on. David asked for some, he needs to work on his manners a bit, and  a few minutes later the owner’s son brought David a cup of hot chocolate he made just for him. It was such a nice thing for him to do.

See why I love that place so much?

We got the tree home and in the stand yesterday. Guess what we did today?

More on our tree decorating tomorrow.

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Posted by Colleen     December 3, 2009

25 Days of Merry – Day 3 – The Christmas Story

It’s very important to us that our boys understand that the real reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the gift of salvation. So for today’s Merry activity we simply read the Christmas story at bedtime from David’s children’s Bible.

Of course it wasn’t the first time David heard the story. But every time we read it he seems to latch on to some new little morsel.

When I read the part where Bethlehem is called The City of David, our David perked up when he heard his name. We stopped and explained to him who King David was, and told him that King David was related to Jesus. Then David said very seriously, “It’s good to be related to Jesus.”

I can only guess at all the benefits David imagines that come along with having Jesus in your family tree. Probably something like all the toys you could ever want.

David was also very concerned by the illustration that shows cows in the stable with the Baby Jesus. In the picture the cows are tied to a post. He wanted to know why the cows were tied up when they were already penned up in a barn. “But they can’t get away. Whey would they tie them up?”

Hopefully somewhere between King David and the cows he also got the rest of the story.

It’s been fun so far trying to think of way to fit some special Christmas activity in every day. Even on busy days like today. Reading that story only took 10 minutes, but it was 10 minutes well spent.

I’ve also been planning some things for next week when we have more time that I’m looking forward to.

This has certainly amped up my Christmas spirit. If you need some holiday cheer I encourage you to try and Make a Little Merry every day too.

The snow that started coming down in big, fluffy flakes tonight also helped add to the Christmas spirit around here. It’s actually sticking, and everything is frosted and sparkling in the moonlight.

David was so happy to see the snow. It didn’t really start coming down good until after dark, but he got to go out in it with Dad for a little while.

There is nothing quite like the the wonder a child finds in the first snow of the season.

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