Perfecting Imperfection

This blog post could probably be the longest one yet - but I'll do my very best to keep it as short as possible.

What can I say about 2010?  It had it's ups and downs like any other year.  I learned a lot.  I changed a little and watched my kids grow more and more every day.  This is the perfect time to insert this little video that I found at the beginning of last year - and think about ALL the time.



Watch it...you might cry (I do EVERY time) but it's a good cry. If you are in my stage of motherhood, it will remind you to slow down and take notice. If you are at my mother's stage of motherhood, you will still slow down and notice but also remember.

2010 was a bumpy year.  I ended up finally asking for some much needed help and started feeling like myself again.  It took a while for me to get there - but when I did, I noticed the change right away.  I also saw my kiddos head off to preschool - both of them.  I realized that I want time to freeze - but I also realized that it won't happen.

My babies turned 1 and we had a party...they smashed cake in their face and we got the cutest pictures of them taken by my mom's neighbor - check her out here!




In 2010, we also started a new Christmas tradition!  We were visited by Tinsel and Holly Elf from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve.  What mischief they got into!  It made the pre-holiday prep so much fun!

We also ended up with our first ever overnight with one of our children at the hospital...hoping that 2011 won't bring anymore of those!

The saddest part of 2010 was losing Jerry's grandmother, Memaw.  We miss her so much - especially with all of the traditions of the holidays taking place.

Here's a picture of just some of the people who love her and will always remember what a wonderful woman she was:

This was taken outside of Memaw's house the day of her funeral

I've noticed a lot of changes in my children this year, too.

Of course, the babies have changed the most.  They went from barely eating any solid food to being able to eat just about anything you put in front of them.  They went from blobs that couldn't even roll over to these two movers and shakers!  Dean actually started walking on his own a few days ago - David has been for about a month but is now walking more than crawling most days.  They notice more and are more curious than they were a year ago.  They've both grown physically and their personalities are shining through!

Nate has learned so much - he amazes me with how much he remembers.  He's so smart and learning more every day.  The questions he asks and the facts he rambles off for me just blow my mind.  He wants to be so many things when he grows up - a hockey player, a doctor, a garbage man and (my favorite) a candle lighter. :)

Danika has become quite an artist.  She loves to color and draw.  She will actually sit for as long as an hour with her markers and crayons and coloring books.  She really loves to just draw on paper, though.  She's coloring in the lines and is always so proud of her work.  When I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up she said, "an artist" - probably because Nate always tells her that's what she is.  :)

I'm excited about the new year and what it will bring - and I'm a little sad to say goodbye to 2010.  It wasn't the best year...but it had it's moments.  I'm hoping 2011 will have even more great moments and less sad ones!

Bring it on!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm pretty sure that my house still has a floor - but I haven't seen it in 2 days.

I'd take a picture, but I'm afraid the fire marshal will show up and declare it a fire hazard to have so much "stuff" all over the place. Seriously, my children have more toys than the local Kmart.

Anyway, so...how was your Christmas?  Did you get what you wanted?  I really didn't want much.  I wanted my kids to have a great Christmas and they did, so I had a great Christmas, too!  I did get some really awesome perfume from my hubby - and a gift card for Borders (because he forgot what books I wanted).  I got a Kindle case (which is totally awesome) from my Aunt Nancy and some jewelry from my mom and dad.  One of the coolest gifts was the 1 year subscription to Netflix that my parents got Jerry and I!  We had talked about signing up for it and put it off because it just wasn't in our budget.  We watched 2 movies already.  The first one was "I'm Still Here" that Joaquin Phoenix movie where he pretends that he's going to become a rapper and leave acting.  It was awful.  Maybe I didn't get it...but it seemed like a total waste of time and money to me.  Yesterday, we watched "Food Inc." I've wanted to watch this movie since my friend, Christine, had talked about it on her blog.  It wasn't as disturbing as I thought it was going to be but it did give me a lot to think about.  I was absolutely outraged at a few parts of it.  The entire part on Kevin's Law made me sad and angry.  It was a good film and I recommend it.  I was worried that there would be really graphic scenes of slaughter but they weren't too bad.  If you haven't seen it and you have the time, watch it.  It really made me want to cook more and really pay attention to what I'm feeding my children.

Okay - that was a tangent...today is laundry day.  I'm doing laundry until it is done.  I've got one load done and one in process.  I will conquer my laundry mountain today!  I'll leave you with some Christmas pics...and next time we talk we will be talking New Years resolutions....be prepared!  I'd love to hear yours, too!

It's Christmas Eve.  My children have already started to get excited.  Eh ~ who am I kidding?  They were excited a month ago!  They aren't looking forward to saying goodbye to Tinsel and Holly but I think the presents from the "big guy" will help to smooth that over a bit.  Speaking of the "big guy"...he went WAY overboard this year.  He usually does...because he stinks at sticking to a list and a budget.  It's going to be a Merry Christmas, for sure!

I wanted to share some pictures of a family tradition that we have in my family.  I called my Dad this morning to ask him how this started - because I never thought to ask before.  I just knew that it was something that we did in our family.  For first Christmases, we get a Santa.


It started with my Dad (pictured above with his Santa).  His Grandfather bought him this Santa for his first Christmas.  He still has it today.  It is as old as he is.  I remember knowing this when my dad was in his 30s and thinking, "Wow, that's an old doll."  Now I'm in my 30s.


This is my Santa.  It's not in the best shape but it is 33 years old.  It has a hard face and if you pull the beard down around his mouth you can see how white the beard once was.


 This is Jerry's Santa.  Obviously, he didn't get it on his first Christmas.  He did get it on his first Christmas as part of my family.  It has one of those "Awww" stories behind it.  When I was in High School, we use to go and help the nuns at the mother house in Baden during their Harvest Festival.  There were all kinds of things that happened that weekend but one of them was a giant flea market.  People would buy the most bizarre things to take home.  I remember one year someone bought a lawn mower that we had to take home on the bus.

Anyway, I found this Santa.  It was in really good shape but needed some stuffing added to it.  I decided to buy it to give to whoever I married.  My mom added some stuffing to it and I gave it to Jerry on our first Christmas 11 years later.


 This is Nate's Santa.  My Dad got it for him.  He searched and searched when he found out I was having a baby because he wanted to give him the perfect Santa.  He ended up finding it on ebay - it's vintage!  The kids don't play with their Santas.  They have Tinsel and Holly and other Christmas toys to play with but these stay high up so they can't get damaged.


 Here is Danika's Santa.  Nunnu went straight to ebay for this one!



This isn't part of the tradition...but I thought I would add a picture of it ~ since I was taking pictures of our Santas.  This was mine when I was little.  It jingles when you play with it.  It bobs and rolls when you push it and all 4 of my kiddos have played with it, too.  :)

Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy remembering all of your traditions and even finding some new ones to repeat next year!

We are quickly approaching the day when Santa will be by to pick up Tinsel and Holly.  Thank goodness he will also be leaving some presents because my kiddos are gonna miss those elves!  Every morning since they arrived I have heard, "Let's go see what the elves did last night!" before my eyes even open!  :)

Here's what they have been up to lately.

Campfire with other toys

Sleeping in the tent

Chillin' in the freezer because it "feels like home"

They traced each other and colored the pictures

Hanging new ornaments on the tree

Lincoln Logs - Holly read the blueprints

Tinsel built the house

Bearing gifts

Parade with Matchbox Cars

Post it notes!

More Post its!

They also watched Christmas Vacation one night with all of the stuffed animals - and ate popcorn!  They had a snowball fight with some marshmallows and cotton balls, too!  I was in the hospital those nights so didn't get to snap a picture.

Sorry the pics aren't great quality...I keep forgetting to use my camera!  :)

We are off to see Christmas Lights tonight - I'm hoping that will help me get more in the Christmas mood!

It's coming - ready or not!  hehehehehe

This has been (and continues to be) one of the worst weeks of my life so far.  I'm overflowing with Mommy Guilt and feeling really really helpless.  I'm also almost out of patience and just about ready to call it quits.  Isn't it funny how God knows exactly how far you can go sometimes?  I think He gave Jerry and I about all we can handle this week - and showed us that sometimes you just have NO choice but to stop everything and take care of that which is most important.  Confused?  Well ~ if you are just a blog reader and not a member of my family or a friend then you are probably REALLY confused.  So, let me fill you in.

Monday was a pretty crazy day.  Nate went to school and I did some stuff around the house but never felt like I got much accomplished.  I did make 14 dozen Chocolate Crinkle cookies, though.  :)  They were pretty yummy.

Monday night I was exhausted.  I had whipped up something for dinner and decided I would make Nate and Danika some Caesar Salad.  They LOVE Caesar Salad.  I put some black olives in Danika's because she LOVES black olives.  We started watching G-Force and eating dinner.  After dinner I let the babies loose for a little bit because it was getting close to bedtime.  We usually keep them in their "jumpers" or as Jerry calls them, "circles of neglect", while we are busy so they don't get into anything.  Jerry was upstairs sealing their window.  I was in the kitchen doing dishes.  Danika and Nate were still watching G-Force.  The babies were playing in the living room.  I had to pee.  Everything looked calm.  Everyone looked fine.  Everyone looked occupied.  I ran upstairs to the bathroom.  I was up there maybe 45 seconds.  Then I heard the scream - and Jerry running down the steps and more screaming and some "Shit...Shit...Shit"s.

David had stuck his hand into the garbage can and found the black olive can from dinner.  He must have stuck his thumb in and got it stuck.  The result was a big slice on his little thumb and a lot of blood.  We didn't panic as much as I thought we would.  We weren't prepared at all.  We did okay, though.  I took him off of Jerry and put pressure on it.  I told him right away that we were going to have to go to the hospital.  It was bleeding a lot and wasn't stopping.  When I looked at it I knew it wasn't going to stop on it's own.  He needed stitches.    

Jerry called his mom and she came over with his sister.  They stayed with the other kiddos while we took David to the local Urgent Care Center.  There was a lot of screaming and crying and I felt awful, but we left with a tired baby and 7 stitches in his thumb.

Not a great pic - it's from Jerry's phone

What it looked like after stitches came out.

Wanna see what Tinsel and Holly were up to this week?  Here's our week in review!

Saturday:

They baked cookies because they really missed Nate and Danika while they were at Grammie and Nunnu's on Friday night

 Sunday:

They built a tall tower to get to the outlet

They were trying to plug in a really cool snowman night light that projects a picture on the ceiling

 Monday:

They were playing with Nate and Danika's toys - they loved riding on the pirate ship!

 Tuesday:

They got stuck on the ceiling fan while hanging snowflakes in the living room!

They tried sled riding down some blankets after making a hill off of the couch!

 Thursday:

They were playing Tic-Tac-Toe on new dry erase boards!  Tinsel won.

 Friday:

They were hiding under Nate and Danika's Christmas tree after TPing their bedroom!

Who knows what kind of mischief they will get into next week!  I know the kids are excited to see what they have in store for us as Christmas gets closer!

 I use to work with a woman who swore that their came a time in every woman's life when she realized that she needed to get out of her mother's house so that she could do things her way.  She use to tell me a story about a stool in her kitchen that she would put in one place and her mother would move to another every time she entered the kitchen.  They spent months moving this stool, until the daughter moved out and was able to do what she wanted with her own furniture.

I thought she was crazy until the Christmas my mother insisted that we put all white lights on the tree.  I LOVE tacky Christmas decorations.  I love lots and lots of color.  I'm not into the whole ribbons thing - give me colorful, sparkling garland.  I don't like pearls on trees or one color of ornaments.  Now - if you decorate that way, please don't be offended.  If you like it then it is perfect for your house.  I would probably think it looks beautiful, too, because it fits in with your decor.

The year my mother decided to put beads, ribbons and white lights on our Christmas tree, I protested.  I refused to help her decorate and I stuck this ET ornament front and center on her otherwise white and maroon tree.  She made sure that I took it with me when I moved out and I make sure she sees it front and center on my tree EVERY year!

 The two ornaments above also came with me when I moved out of my parents' house.  They are both ornaments that I remember hanging on our Christmas tree for as far back as I can remember.  They are from my Grandparents - one has my initial on it and the other has a handwritten message from "Grandma Fran".  I smile and think of her every year when I hang that one on the tree.


 This ornament was given to me by my Kindergarten teacher the year I was teaching Kindergarten.  The school I went to had a Craft Show every year.  They continued to have them while I was teaching there.  My Kindergarten teacher "Miss Stillwagon" bought this ornament and had it personalized then hung it on the little Christmas tree I had in my classroom.  It was such an awesome surprise when I got to school on Monday!  :)

 This ornament has no story...but isn't it cute?  hehehe  I told you I like "gaudy" Christmas stuff!

 I got this ornament from a student I taught in Preschool.  I LOVE this ornament because it reminds me that teaching is what I was meant to do.  I also think it is absolutely precious!

 Go ahead...count them...there are 6.  The snowbell bride and groom came from my cousin the year Jerry and I got married.  Then, she sent me the little snowbell boy for Nate when he was born.  Well...I just had to keep getting them ~ so I ran out and made sure I had a snowbell girl for Danika and then bought 2 snowbell boys last year for the twins!

 Last one for tonight...I know what you are thinking...it's pretty dingy looking, isn't it?  It's also super fragile and if I break it I will cry.  It is on one of the highest branches of our tree - even though it isn't heavy at all because I don't want any of the kids to touch it.

My great grandmother bought me an entire set of these.  There were 12 and this is the only one left.  When I was little, we would drive to the mall on Saturdays.  On the way to the mall was a Pool City and once they got their Christmas stuff out, we would always stop to look.  I don't know why - probably because I was a lot like my daughter and like all things pink, but I wanted these ornaments and she bought them for me.  This is the last one left.  All the other ones have broken.  I should probably put it away or something so this one doesn't break, too...but I like looking at it and thinking of my Gram.  It's one of those "Remember Whens".

This weekend has been a tough one.  All 4 kids are sick.  We are down to just coughing and sneezing and sniffling...but Friday and Saturday there were also fevers and 1 throwing up.  It was an exhausting weekend.  We still managed to record some memories, though!

We got our tree up - and all the other decorations around the house.  I am planning on writing a blog post and showing you some of my favorites.  :)  We almost went and bought a new tree, though.  I LOVE my pre- lit tree.  Really, I do.  It's beautiful and all of the lights are perfectly placed.  It helps, though, if they all work.  Jerry and I spent the majority of the Steeler game trying to find the burnt out light that was preventing a section of our pre - lit tree from lighting up.  We never found it...can you tell?


Now...on to what Tinsel and Holly were up to this weekend.  Saturday night they found all of my nail polish and decided to paint some nails...

Jerry's painted nails

Nate's painted nails

Holly in her "Palace"

Tinsel in his "Castle"

Nate and Danika ran downstairs by themselves while I tried to get 15 more minutes of sleep . . . when they came upstairs, I asked Nate what the elves did.  He told me that Holly built a Palace and Tinsel built a Castle.  When I asked him why one was a Palace and the other a Castle he said, "Come on, Mom.  Princesses live in palaces and princes live in castles.  Duh."

So now I know...