Thanksgiving

We had our neighbors over to make these Turkey cookies. All you need is Oreo cookies, candy corn, whoppers and a little bit of Wilton Icing. They all had fun making the cookies but an even better time eating them.

I started baking for our Thanksgiving feast on Wednesday. The boys are always willing to help in the kitchen so I let them do a few things for me. We always have so much food, the usuals: green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, carrot souffle and Raspberry jello salad. I tried one new recipe from Rachel Ray, pumpkin stuffing. It was very tasty and probably will be added to the list of must haves. The meal was topped off with my homemade apple pie.

We invited the babysitter I use and her husband over to feast with us. They do not have family around here. It was a very nice and relaxing day.

We do miss being with our families to celebrate Thanksgiving. Typically the husband works the day after Thanksgiving. In addition, travel to our hometowns (which are in opposite directions) means that we must fly. That is 4 plane tickets(soon to be 5), dealing with the baby on my lap and renting a car when we get there not to mention the crowds of people who are doing the same thing. Maybe when the kids get a little older but for now we will stay at home and be thankful for all we have been blessed with.

I heart visitors

We love having visitors! We had very good friends in NC, who have since moved to SC. I met her shortly after my boys turned 2. We have been friends ever since. We lived in the same neighborhood but two years after we met they ended up moving to the house across the street from us. She has triplet girls who are 9 months younger than my twin boys. We spent just about every afternoon together to let the kids play (and get in trouble) and of course, grown up conversation. Her girls and my boys have always had such a great connection.

We live very close to my friend's in-laws so they stopped by for a night on the way to their Thanksgiving family get together. It is so nice to see them. The girls seemed to have grown so much in the last 10 months since I have seen them last.

Nic and Trish.

The kids.

Nic and family.

I so believe in arranged marriages.

The baby always wants to be included.

Role Models

That is what we heard from both teachers yesterday during the boys' conferences. We were very happy on the feedback from both of our children.

EE still tends to not participate in class but as of recently she feels he is starting to get a little more vocal. I really can't blame him as both the husband and I were reserved as children. He is doing very well in Language Arts and is a little bit ahead of the average in the class. He reads very well but he needs to work on his comprehension skills. He also seems to be learning the math concepts very easily. EE is a very good student. The teacher moved him recently next to a girl who misbehaves and talks way too much. The teacher is finding that EE is getting distracted by her and starting to talk to her when class is in session. The teacher has told EE that he needs to let the girl know that it is quiet time and he does not want to talk to her. The teacher went on to say that he is a great role model for the kids in the class. He is the line leader because the boy who should be first alphabetically can not behave.

The report from Jay's teacher is also very good. She really enjoys having him in her class. He behaves almost all of the time, may have a slip up every once in a while. In Language Arts, he is working at a level that is normally taught in January. He is working quickly through the reading levels. She stressed that he reads well and comprehends what he is reading. He also does well in Math. If he continues at the same pace, he will be considered above grade level. The teacher didn't have anything negative to say about him.

We truly feel blessed to have such well behaved children. I volunteer in the class enough to know that this is not the norm for a lot of children in the class. Although the boys don't love the work at school they do have a love of learning. My hope is that they will continue to be good students who try their hardest.

A lesson learned from this birthday party

As I have mentioned in the past, my twins have been in the same class up until Kindergarten. They have always had the same friends so birthday party invites came to the both of them. They each take a gift.

We moved shortly after the boys started Kindergarten. So birthday invites didn't start until after we moved. They were in separate classes so of course they each had invites to different parties. For some reason this made me uncomfortable at the time. I felt like one of them was being left out. But the boys were ok with it, so I quickly got over it.

Fast forward. We have made lots of friends in the neighborhood and school. Most people know that the boys are twins and some will invite both of the boys to birthday parties. This isn't always ideal because I have been spending more money on gifts for all these parties.

Jay got an invite to a classmate's party (he also lives in the neighborhood). I responded that he would be attending a long time ago. It was to one of those jumpy house play parties. Lots of fun right?

Insert additional information, EE had a bad cough that lasted over 2 weeks. Now Jay and the baby have picked it up. It is an annoying cough but not much else with it.

Jay started mid-day on Sunday (party day) that he did not want to go to the party because he was not feeling well. He had also caught wind that we were going out to dinner after we dropped him off. We told him he made a commitment to go to the party and he was going. The husband then went on to tell him that if he went he would get his allowance when he got home.

We dropped Jay off and had a nice dinner at a burger place. I went in to pick up Jay and I spoke with the Mom who said that he was telling her that he didn't feel well the entire time. I looked at her and said he is fine and didn't know what else to say. When Jay was in the car I asked him what he was saying to the Mom at the party. He basically told her that he wasn't feeling well and that he had to come to the party in order to get his allowance.

Can you imagine what our reaction was? We were so unhappy with him. He didn't even realize how ridiculous he made us look. The husband had a talk with him regarding why it was wrong to share that information with other people. I had to do a little damage control. I wrote the Mom a note and explained that he has had a cough on and off but was fine. And told her I still had to prod them a little to do things on their own.

So the lesson we have learned is to be very careful what you say to and around your children. They are like sponges who absorb every detail and spill it when you least expect or want them to. They have no idea what they are saying and how it affects the people around them.

Friday update

It seems as though in the last week that the baby's vocabulary has tripled. He is saying so many new words and he is even starting to put words together. His favorite word is still "mommy" repeated over and over and over. He has now figured out how to say both of his brother's names and he knows which is which. We talk about how we take them to the bus and they go to school. Even more recently he has started telling me when he goes "poop" in his diaper. This is a huge change from just a few weeks ago when he would answer "no" to a very obvious poopy diaper. So I have decided to get the potty chair out and we will see what happens. I let him sit on it before his bath and any other time we are changing his diaper. My hopes are not up as I really don't intend to train him until the beginning of summer. The baby has been a little sick. I took him to the Dr. today but I believe he just has a sore throat and has started with a little cough. Hopefully the worst is over.

The other boys have a short week next week. Two half day and then off the remainder of the week. We have teacher conferences on Monday which we are looking forward to. We have lots of questions on how the boys are doing.

We had a dusting of snow today.. It was so pretty. It stuck to the ground for just a little while and then melted. The weather this weekend is supposed to be cold. I guess that mean a lot of indoor time.

Mission: Preschool

I am on a mission to find a preschool for the fall for the baby. Most preschool start the registration process in January and February. So my research has to start now in order to be prepared by then. I have a link with a listing of all the preschools in my county. Easy enough right? Wrong!

I am not that picky (ok maybe I am picky) but I do have a few wants on my list of preschools. First, I need one that has a 2 year old program. Many of the programs here start at age 3. I would like a church program as I like what they have to offer. This is also what I am used to. The church that we have attended has a program and also starts at 2 years old. Why am I not going with this opportunity? The program is a one day a week program for 2 year olds. Why bother? The preschool programs typically only run for 2 1/2 hours. Three hours would be better and four would be heaven but I haven't seen any of these, unless you go with a Montessori type program which is so expensive. There are a few Co-op programs I have researched. A co-op is where you volunteer your time in one of many aspects of the program. For example, you could be in charge of straightening books once a week or keeping the grounds in shape etc. I am not sure I want to commit to the preschool program on-going. I have heard several great things about 2 or 3 of the programs but the drive would be anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes. When you are only talking about 2 1/2 hours you want to be able to minimize the drive time.

I have 5 places on my list that I will research a little more and maybe visit in January. There is a little part of me that would just rather keep him home. But I do know once he gets into a program he will love the interaction. I wish I had the business sense and the education schooling to open my own preschool.

One year ago

Wow, it is hard to believe that we have been in Maryland for an entire year now. I vividly remember the stress of having to move. From selling our home to buying a new one to physically moving and everything in between. Our home sold in 3 days, yes amazing. We hit it at the right time. Finding a home in Maryland took a bit more work. We took one family trip and the husband came up alone a few times on house hunting missions. It was difficult dragging around three children. The last trip the husband made included videoing 4 homes that he liked. Guess what, I ended up not really loving any of them. So we decided to bid on a house that I only saw on the computer and my husband walked through once, quickly at that. We had a tip from a neighbor who knew someone who lived here....and she was one of those people who researches every little aspect of everything. How could we go wrong? The bidding process did not go so well and I thought we lost the house. After my husband saw my tears he upped the bid just a bit and it was rejected again. A few days later they came crawling back to us and asked us if we could raise our bid $10K. We stood firm in our offer AND we ended up getting the house.

Once the house was purchased our focus was getting us packed. Yes, we had movers but we would be in temporary housing for 3 weeks. We had 2 cars fully packed and mine had a roof luggage carrier that was stuffed to the max. We left NC on Friday November 15th and arrived at our apartment on November 16th. I will never forget this day. The boys were out with their Dad lugging things from the car to our 2nd story apartment. The boys took off and ran into a different building and into a strangers' home. I will never forget the panic I felt when my husband came into the apartment asking me if the boys were here. I immediately picked up the baby (yes he really was a baby back then) and we ran outside calling their names. Thankfully, they figured it out and ran back outside. That is my first experience here.

We arrived prior to Thanksgiving and my first priority was to get the boys enrolled in school. My husband was having to start work right after Thanksgiving. After many phone calls to the school board and the school I was able to get a meeting set up to turn in our documents (contract on house plus the lease term on the apartment). The main rule was to ensure the kids were never late or we could possibly be "kicked out" until the move was final. You can believe they were never late.



The process of moving into our home was not smooth either. We had painters in the house for what seemed like forever. They were delayed in starting so we had to move them around from one area to the next in order to accommodate other workers. I was never so happy to have all of the work completed in our home. It seems like the unpacking process took forever, actually it did take forever. But as the weeks went by the amount of boxes were diminishing little by little.

The hardest part of all of this was having to put our dog down. She started limping, almost to the point of not being able to walk, upon our arrival. After many tests it was determined that she had cancer everywhere. We still miss her so much. She was the best dog ever.



We have come a long way in the last year. We are starting to put down roots here in the great white north. We have made a lot of friends as have the boys. I know I am doing well when my GPS system is not being put to use. It is a good feeling to know where I am going. I am not sure that I will ever get used to the cold weather but I am learning to dress a little more appropriately. Will we be here forever? Who knows but for right now it is good.

And as I know that you have been concerned, I am happy to report that we have not seen any moths in the last month. I still look for them though........

Some Pictures

The baby has won for now. I have placed his booster seat at the counter so that he can be like his brothers. Sometimes I think he is growing up way too quickly.


The boys in their assigned seats at the counter.

Jay is using his fingers to get his homework completed.

EE and the baby!

The boys all desperately needed haircuts. We took them to a kid's hair salon as we had a coupon for a free haircut. I have to say that the ladies were not really all that friendly. We got there shortly after they opened and had to wait 15 minutes or so. As we left I heard the wait time was 45 minutes. I could not imagine waiting that long. We typically go to the barber shop near our home.

These were a few pictures before we headed out to church. We went to the same church we have attended before. The church just moved into their new building this past May. This was our first visit to the new space. What I find odd is that worship takes place in a gym like room. There are basketball hoops hanging on either side of the room. There is no pretty stained glass or other indications that this is a church. I am not sure why it matters to me other than I like the visuals while worshiping. The chairs although comfortable are not permanent fixtures. The church didn't have enough funds so they could not add on the preschool program at this time. The boys did their Sunday school in a cubicle like area on the ground floor. They had many friends from school in their class. They were very excited about that. It was interesting that I had to fill out a card for each of the boys. On the card it said parents are expected to volunteer. Wow....I am not sure if we are going to join yet....much less volunteer.

We did get a different feel of the church on this visit, better than in the past. We met the Pastor on the way out of worship. They are having a Walk to Bethlehem the first weekend of December that we will attend. I wonder if it will compare to the one our church in NC had?

I am not sure what we will do about a church. I do know that I want us to get back in the habit of attending church...

Drama

I have always said this neighborhood is filled with a bit of drama. Sometimes I am all about the drama and other times it seems so silly. There are many people in the neighborhood who have been here since the beginning which is about 7 to 8 years ago. As people got to know each other groups started to form. These groups hold fairly tight around here. I don't like to think of myself as part of any group but it seems as though I probably am. It is fine with me but I do make an effort to become friends with others in the neighborhood. There are a few ladies with potential kid friends to my baby. I try to get together with them when I can.

Here is what has transpired the last few weeks. I will refer to Group 1 and Group 2. I will say that I am in Group 1 with my neighbor and several others. Someone from Group 2 had an adult Halloween party on Nov. 1st. We heard the party going on, just a few houses from ours. Apparently, the cops were called on the party, maybe more than once. The first visit was at 11:30pm. There was someone that made a comment that it was probably my neighbor that called the cops. My neighbor was out of town by the way. When she heard this and found out who supposedly said it she decided to call this person on it. The person denied saying it that she had repeated what someone else said and included that she didn't think that would be right. She went on to tell her who did say it but asked her not to say anything to this person about it. My neighbor talked to the party thrower and explained that it was NOT her that called the cops.

On Halloween I found out that the police were at a house in the neighborhood, not far from our house. My neighbor happened to inquire from a mutual friend to find out what was going on. It is not every day you see police at a house in the neighborhood. The mutual friend must have said something to the person. The person then texted my neighbor's husband and made comments about his nosey wife. Did she think I am beating his wife or something? It ended up being a ridiculous exchange of words. Not for sure, but we think that there was a man following a group of girls who were trick or treating. If this is the case....did he not think this was worthy to share with the entire neighborhood. There are lots of kids in this neighborhood.

Lastly, there is a boy (high schooler) who lives a few houses down who has been riding a dirt bike on the road after school. I have seen him a few times. I was standing outside with my neighbor when he went flying up the sidewalk with a passenger who had no helmet. The boy then came back did a few doughnuts and then went to put away in the backyard. My neighbor went to talk with him asking if his Mom knew what he was doing. He did not answer any of her questions and played ignorant on the subject. My neighbor emailed his Mom to tell her she was sorry she was so hard on her son, but wanted to make sure she knew what was going on. The Mom was very thankful to my neighbor for letting her know. The dirt bike is now gone...apparently it came from his father's house.

Does this kind of drama go one everywhere? I do not like to be the center of the drama but it seems like I get to hear about most of it. It does seem like there is always something going on with this person or that. I tend to not let things get to me like most people. I honestly just don't have the time or the effort to put into it. So for now I will sit on the sidelines and just listen and maybe add my 2 cents in when I feel like it.

A little syrup

I should always be mindful when the baby is out of site and it is quiet. I mistakenly left the bottle of syrup out yesterday morning and the baby decided to smear it everywhere (counter top, chair, himself). And although I love syrup on my pancakes it does not make for such a lovely scent on your body.

The other night at dinner Jay bit down on his loose tooth and it started bleeding. When Dad got home he pulled it right out. Jay ended up losing it but we managed to find it on the floor. He was very excited about the tooth fairy coming to visit. He has 3 more loose teeth in his mouth so this may get a bit old after a while.

Tonight we are headed to our neighbor's house for dinner. Her husband is planning a birthday dinner for her and I just found out that she doesn't know anything about it. Luckily, I have not mentioned anything to her. This is the same neighbor that had the big "surprise" celebration a few weeks ago. Guess what I found out.....she ended up figuring out that something was going on that day. It was supposed to be a work functions and when she called someone at his work to find out what they were wearing the person didn't know what she was talking about. Then she called one of her other friends on the day of and her friend's son answered the phone and sounded surprised to be hearing from her. The friend was supposed to be at a function with her son. Then another one of her friends who calls her everyday....hadn't called her for several. Lastly, they walked right by the room at the restaurant and the blinds were open and she saw the bags with "40" on them. Which brings me to my question.....can you really ever be surprised?

Personalities

The baby's personality is really starting to show itself, and many times it is not so pretty. He has decided that he no longer wants to sit in his high chair. He instead would like to sit at the counter like the other boys. The other morning was a power struggle between he and I. I would not serve him breakfast until he sat in his high chair. He decided to cry for 30 or so minutes instead of giving in. I finally had to force him in his chair. It was 9 am and he usually eats by 7:30. This is on on-going battle between us. I am not sure how it will end. He has also decided that he no longer wants his sippy cup and would like to use a cup just like his brothers. I thought he was not wanting to drink his milk in the morning because he would refuse his sippy cup. He would sometimes throw it back at me. I finally realized that it wasn't the milk but the cup. I am not ready for this change but at times I do let him drink from a cup. It usually ends up all over him or the floor. We stick with water for now. He is very stubborn and wants what he wants when he wants it. Of course, much of this has to do with almost being 2. He is trying to figure everything out including me.

Jay mentioned last night that his friend told him about the finger you use that is a cuss word. That would be the birdie finger. We asked him if he knew what it meant and he told us that it means all the bad words like stupid. So once again we find ourselves explaining why we don't do this gesture and we don't say bad words. He also filled EE in on the a** cuss word.

As for EE, he is pretty clueless when it comes to this. I guess most of his friends don't have older brothers filling their minds with such nonsense. EE was sick for a good week. He was coughing non-stop. I tried to take him to the Doc. on Saturday. I had all 3 boys (Dad was out of town at his college reunion). We had an appointment at noon and we waited for 45 minutes until the baby started to melt. I have to admit I melted a bit too. We were all hungry and there were so many people in the office. I have never left an appointment like that. Luckily, that evening the pediatrician across the street came over to listen to EE's lungs. She said he sounded fine but to track his fever (he had been running a fever since Friday). He is now much better but still coughing a little.

I found a list that Jay made the other day (corrected for spelling):
Plan A. Start stacking leaves.
Plan B. When its half way done make sure all the leaves are gone.
Plan C. Then we jump in the leaves.

I love the fact that he had to map out how to play in the leaves. A boy after his mother's heart. I love lists!

Living under a rock

I really feel like I have been living under a rock. Or maybe I was just trying to escape all of the presidential/vice presidential debates and news. I found out yesterday that postage was raised one penny. And not only that but it was raised back in May. Really. Could it have been that long since I mailed out a letter? No it hasn't been so either someone turned their head and forwarded my mail or they just didn't notice. I think it may be a good idea for me to do a little bit of current event reading every once in a while.

A little bit of reading

When we came upstairs last night for baths and showers we found the boys, all three of them reading Junie B. Jones' books. EE and Jay love Junie B. Jones and the baby found one with a school bus on it. He loves buses or how he says it "buthses", even if their is just one. He also wanted me to read the book "The stupid smelly bus" to him before bed. He always gets to pick 2 books. They are usually the same ones, Dr. Seuss' ABC, The tooth book, Big Red Barn or Mr. Brown can Moo can you? There may be a few more but I am normally reading the same one over and over, so this was a nice change. Here are a few pictures from when we came up last night.

EE reading.

Jay and the baby!

All three of them reading.

The baby had gotten up on the area around the tub with Dad to read. He moved when I came in with the camera.

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The baby has a canine tooth that is finally starting to pop out. This may explain his cranky mood and difficulty napping lately. His new words are uhoh, ary (sorry, because he is having to say this a lot. He also know the sign for sorry because he refused to say it for the longest time), buthses, bath, bat, cookie (this one is very important) and maybe a few more. He wants so badly to keep up with his brothers. He can turn on the CD player on his own and will constantly play the song "if you are happy and you know it". He also changes the ringer on the phone every day. He is certainly learning lots of important skills. I think he should be saying more words than he does but I am sure it will come in time.

Jay learned a new word at school the other day. He told me he knew a cuss word, "a**". He learned if from one of his close friends at school. Great that public school education is paying off for us. In reality, though I know I can't shelter him from bad words and all the other bad stuff in the world. I had a talk with him and we talked about the word and what it meant. I ended with I had better not hear it coming from his mouth. He knows that yukky soap will be involved if it does. I am a little nervous about the Christmas season and what they will hear on the bus. They have so much fun with Santa and I don't want it ruined right now.

EE is a little oblivious to the cuss words and such. He is going to be working on something very important to him....so stay tuned.

I VOTED

The boys and I made it to the polls this afternoon for me to cast my vote. We made it in and out in a flash. Now we must wait and see what happens.

EE and Jay have been out of school for the last two days. Yesterday I let them each have a friend over. They played a little, ate lunch, did a craft, played outside and of course played a little WII. They all had a great time together and no arguments.

Today after a quick trip the gym I met a friend and her kids at the bowling alley. The boys bowled for 2 games and then they helped finish their friend's game. The Mom and her youngest child did not want to finish playing. They had such a fun time.

The time change has not been kind to our family. The entire family has been getting up way early. Jay seems to be having a hard time sleeping in which is not new but it seems that he is getting up earlier than before. He says he hears dogs barking, which belong to our neighbor. The neighbor keeps the 2 dogs out all day and night. And they bark so much.

Looking forward to getting back to a normal routine tomorrow.

Trick or Treat

So many parties so little time. The boys had a party at school on Friday. I volunteered in EE's class. The kids were all so excited. We were invited to 2 parties before trick or treating was to begin. We only made it to one. The party was amazing. She had hired help to watch children, servers and a bartender. She moved all of her furniture off her main floor. The bar was in the dining room, the food in the living room and many tables were in different rooms so that people could stand and eat. The inside was all for the adults. The outside included a tent with food and drink for the kids, a bouncy house and a hockey table. It was so over the top.....but it was fun.

The boys trick or treated for maybe 2 hours. The baby last for maybe an hour or so. I pushed him in a stroller and he only got candy at a couple of houses. There were a couple of houses providing adult beverages. I was able to get a warm spiced apple drink at one. It was very tasty. The boys had a blast but are so tired today.

I had to bribe the baby with candy to sit so I could take this picture.

Our pumpkins.

I didn't realize he had gotten into his candy and was chewing on it wrapper and all.

The boys got way too much candy. We sorted it and they kept some and dad is taking the rest to work on Monday.