Two Ties This Sunday

J has decided to get in on the action. Despite me picking up a few more ties, B still likes his orange and brown one, although I did find some solid colored shirts!

JB...getting close to 6 months already! Still looking like his momma. Speaking of looking like his momma, I was surprised to see quite a few little freckles appearing all across B's nose and cheeks.

After more than 3 years

I have finally finished a project that I have wanted to complete for over 3 years and I am quite excited of the finished project....

It is a t-shirt quilt from all my old t-shirts I could not bring myself to get rid of. (Unfortunately I still have some more in the closet). I found a really great website that showed me how to put it all together, piece by piece. Just this morning I finished it tying it all off. Not sure how durable it will be. I have found a few spots that already need some mending, but it is done!

I also sat down last night with our taxes. Ever since we got married, we have had an accountant do our taxes (I use to work at the office for 5 years). I thought our return was not too complicated (all the major deductions) so went to turbo tax online. If everything I entered was correct, we are due back a very nice refund. However, I am afraid of screwing something up. Anyone else ever use turbo tax or do it yourself? If so, ever run in to problems where an honest mistake was made? At this point it is not a matter of paying the accountant, it is just that it takes them about 3 weeks to get them back to me and then however long to get the refund. If I do it myself I save some money and get the refund in about 1 week.

Also got our electric bill today. Was surprised to see that it was about $15 less than last month ($129 this month-woo hoo). I made two major changes and wonder if that was the reason for a lower bill. We turned our water heater down to about 110-115 (from 123) and the thermostat is set for 61 from 9pm-6am and then is on 67 for the day.

JB has a nasty chest cough. Keep checking his lungs and they sound clear. He does not like the bulb syringe (the other two did not mind it). Whenever I pull it out he starts to squirm, holds his breath and begins gagging.

Woke up this morning to a very cold morning. Was really neat to see a very thick layer of frost/ice on the trees.

and I don't like it

We have had a good quiet last half of the week. This week I decided to try not getting on the computer until at least noon. Amazing how much more productive I was and had better days with the boys. Means I don't always get to be when I would want to because I am on the computer after the boys go to bed, but it is well worth it. I am also knocking out all kinds of projects big and small. I have decided to empty out our linen closet and turn it into my computer 'room'. I won't be able to close myself in it, but it will be my space and I won't have to worry about little hands touching things. It is amazing when I start looking around our place how much I can consolidate and rearrange to gain an extra shelf, etc.

J's favorite phrase right now is "and I don't like it". If anyone does something that does not suit his fancy, he always says "......and I don't like it". Pronouncing each word very distinctly. Tonight he came up and gave me a hug and said "I love you to Alaska, to Pluto and to the sun. That is far"

B wore his orange and brown striped tie today to church again. He wore it this week with a blue and white checkered shirt. I really must find him a few more ties or either some solid colored shirts. As long as he is getting into the looking sharp thing! Once again I can't tell you how many people instantly commented when they saw him. He was grinning ear to ear. We are working with him right now on trying to work things out and not just tattling. A constant thing around the house.

JB has been sleeping about 13 hours at night. He is so sweet when he wakes up. He just lays in bed and plays until I go in there. He most times will talk/play/whine himself to sleep but he really does not need much soothing. He is still a snuggle bug too! No tooth yet but they have to be close because he is constantly biting and chewing on something. He is rolling more and more but I don't think he has totallly figured it out yet.

Off to do some more organizing and put the finishing touches on a few more projects!

Surprise Visit

JB goes about 9-10 hours at night now without a bottle. He does ocassionally wake up in the middle of the night when he is dirty or when he rolls himself over and can't get back to sleep. Once he laid in bed for almost an hour and just played and 'coo'ed until he put himself back to sleep. He has has solids now for the last week and is doing very well. Nothing but rice cereal, pears, green beans, squash and avocado. This will be the menu until he turns 6 months in a few weeks.
Here is a picture of the boys and their cousin at the bounce house!

My sister and youngest niece Kenna decided to come out for a visit for my birthday. Kenna is a year older than B. They had a great time playing together. I think Kenna was very glad she has 3 sisters instead of 3 brothers.

The TIE

My precious B and his Sunday attire. He was so proud. Several people told me they made his day, when they saw him.

I did put the kabosh on his black spiderman snow boots. That was just too much for me to handle.

Birthday

I had a pretty low key birthday yesterday. At this point, low key and uneventful is always nice. We went out for Chinese food. Because the boys had so many chinese donuts and ice cream, we did not do birthday cake when we got home. Tonight the boys decorated the cake and we all dug in.
At the chinese restaurant, several times I walked across the restaurant to the buffet line with B. Both times I was amazed that I could hear J. When you are at the table with him you don't realize how loud he is but boy, his voice sure does carry.
Today we went to a second hand store. While there B saw all the ties. He decided he wanted to buy a tie so he could look sharp on Sunday. (That is the big thing on Sundays...who will look the sharpest.) Well, he really like this one clip on tie. I wanted to encourage him but I told him he did not have a shirt in his closet that would match it. He told me he did and I would see how sharp he looked on Sunday. I am a little nervous because of the tie. I gave him several opportunities to pick out another one, but he always came back to the brown, cream and orangey striped one (something right out of the 70s - but those are in style now, right). So, do I let him totally mismatch on Sunday, but thinking he looks sharp or do I try to find something in the meantime that would sort of match the tie??
The boys also found pairs of boxing gloves and were running around the store pretending to fight each other. I don't know how many times J fell down on the floor, pretending to be knocked out. Then at one point they both walked over to the lingerie rack and proceeded to take just about every bra off the rack and hold it up and say "Mom, do you like this, this is your favorite color." I am so thankful there was no one within ear shot of that!
We hit the cosmetology school for haircuts ($7 can't beat that). Both of the boys for the first time had their hair shampooed in one of the chairs. I wished I had a camera for J. He was really tired so the expression was one of glassy eyes but wide with speculation as to what was going on. He also looked so funny laying back with all of his hair falling back into the sink. All I ever see are curls. Both boys survived and J's hair has lots more curls now that some of the length is off. His hair was 4.5 inches up top.
We hit the mall and the boys loved running in the empty parts. They always get a big kick out of going into the arcade. Amazing how much time they can spend 'playing' games that have no quarters in them. At one point a lady commented on 'three boys'. I kind of sighed as to how exhausting it can be and she immediately said 'what a blessing'. Made me realize yet again, how much I love my boys and although they really frustrate, almost daily, they truly are a huge blessing! No greater job has a human being been given than that of raising children. I have gotten in the habit at nighttime of 'blessing' each of the boys from a passage out of Numbers. "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face upon you and grant you His peace." It is neat to hear B remind me some nights if I forget.

JR has been shuttling a lot of cars to and from the airport for work. Just about every night the boys and I load up the car to go get him or take him somewhere. They are often in their pajamas and I make them put on shoes, just in case. Recently we got back home and B could not get his shoes off. He had grabbed a pair of J's boots. I told him so after the fact and he said 'but the boots said they were for an 8 year old on the bottom.' That is when I explained to him shoe sizes.

One of the things we do these days is tell each other how much we love them. J's favorite right now is "I love you all the way up to Alaska".

B was eating a chip recently and part of it broke off. He said "Look Mom, it looks like Cousin Larry's state (Idaho)". I still remember the pancake piece he said looked like California.

I am embarrased to say that B tried, for the first time, an orange yesterday. Not that he has never been offered oranges. I guess when you grow up eating mandarin oranges out of a can, you (B) can't deviate. He thought it was okay but did not really care for the 'flesh' part. Thanks to my friend Beth (thanks BA) and her recent success/breakthrough with veggies with her kids, I have started giving them 2-3 veggies on their plate at least once a day. You know what, they often times have eaten them without too much complaining. I have even started eating some of them too! Really looking forward to spring and summer so we can have all the great fresh fruits too. (Hopefully things will survive in Florida).

JB is now big enough to sit up in the playroom swing comfortably. Recently, I grabbed a blanket, pillow and book and curled up in a corner while the boys played/swung. Sure was nice!

I have just looked at the calendar for the rest of January and it is OPEN. Other than school and AWANA, there is nothing on the calendar, at least not at this point. That means lots of pajama mornings, naps, playing games with the boys, reading and cleaning/sorting things.

A recent picture of J and JB. You can still see the faint black eye that J has. It actually is more noticable than it was when it first happened.

Quiet

A week has slipped away from me.
B has started back to school. Yesterday when I picked him up from AWANA one of the leaders came over and talked with me. She asked me if he had a photographic memory. I kind of laughed and said he has a great memory. She told me, as I knew, that he is just about done with all of his verses for the year. She has noticed how he has been helping the other kids when they get stuck on their verses. So, between now and May, he will be reviewing everything and will probably become a leader's little helper. Just makes me smile and laugh to think about what does not escape that mind.
J got a shiner over the weekend (tried to take a pic of it but it did not really turn out). He accidentally got hit with a bat. He is so in to how old people are. His saying right now is "When I turn 5 I will be 6". I know makes no sense, but it cracks him up.
JB is 5 months today. Still no solids. He has had a couple of rough nights, not real sure why he is waking up 1-2 times. I try letting him cry it out, but that kid has a stubborn streak (where does that come from).
Other than getting out to take B to and from school and the few necessary errands, we are staying close to home. Not a lot of real cold weather or snow, but just the middle of winter. At least the days are getting longer now!