Thanksgiving and Black Friday fun!!

Thanksgiving has always  been one of my favorite times of the year. Ever since I was 3 I got up in the morning super early and helped my mom get the turkey ready for the oven and stuff it full of the stuffing. Now I do that part myself but since we live next door to my mom I do it over at her house and she still does the stuffing because I don't like stuffing. I was going to start Caden on the tradition of helping with the turkey but unfortunately he got Casey's bug and so I had to let him sleep because we put the turkey in at 5 a.m. too early for sick little boys. He did get to help with the other dishes though and Casey helped make the pies of course and had her very first experience with GREEN STUFF!!! She loved it and I am pretty sure she would have just eaten that if I had allowed it. Caden took the whole eating as much as you can to heart at meal time and just pigged out I have never seen him eat so much and he ate some of everything which I was proud of him for. Usually we only eat the one meal on Thanksgiving because it is so large and so after naps Caden came out and asked when dinner was and I told him he already ate dinner...this didn't go over well so he ended up eating a turkey leg and pie while the rest of us just had a piece of pie since we had saved that for then anyway. Caden told us though that pie wasn't dinner and so he needed meat. Casey being her typical self ate 2 bites of the pie and was done LOL Oh and a little tid bit about the Bug she does NOT like gravy or whipped cream on her pie. Very important info which was stated multiple times yesterday so no one would forget and put some on her plate.

My favorite is still the cranberry sauce from the can I know people think I am nuts but that is the only kind I like and sweet potato fluff with marshmallows on top YUMMY!!!!

Then after the kids went to bed and Joe had watched I think 2 football games and was getting ready for his 3rd of the day mom and I headed out to start our shopping! We started at Toys R Us which was a new experience for us seeing as we always avoid that store because of the madness it is but the deals were just too good to pass up this year. We made some new friends in the line waiting to get into the store and ran into some people we knew while in the store and I was able to finish all the kids shopping! Joe and I had already gone to the store the week before to think about what we really wanted to get them because we didn't want to go over board so it was easy to find things and I know the kids are going to be so excited about the games we got (even though after I bought the one I realized I truly have turned into a home school mom because I got it because it was going to be great for teaching the Bug her letters and continue to help Caden with his sounds LOL) I got the kids a vacuum a broom that where 60% off! Caden has wanted a vacuum forever he is gonna be so excited. I also got them Lincoln logs for 12.00!!! They are usually 25.00 for 100 pieces and Joe and I have put off getting them for over a year now because of the price again the kids are going to be soooo excited. There were other great deals too like puzzles and sleeping bags that were already on clearance. I might have a little too much fun getting the good deals but seriously I was excited. I didn't even mind standing in the 45 min line at the check out.

Then mom and I headed to miromar where I got Bug a 99 cent skirt from the Disney store and 4.00 shirt for myself (I splurged I know it wasn't for Christmas) and then just walked around looking at all the crazy people. We checked out Carters but soooo not worth it I looked at the pants for Bug and Caden and they still wanted 8.00 and I didn't think that was a good enough deal so we left there with nothing but I still love looking at the cute kid stuff in there. Kohls was next it opened at 3 but we got there early of course and mom got a bunch of stuff off her Christmas list and I splurged and got the kids 2 outfits each because of the great deals they were and got my Mom in law her birthday present so I can mail that out tomorrow. Then on to Target where I found a Baby Tiana doll for 4.00 that is normally 10.00 and since that is Bugs favorite princess right now that topped off her gifts and Caden got a spiderman shaving kit for 4.99 and a big monster truck he really wanted for 5.00 and that was the end of his gifts. We headed to the mall after that and just looked around because we were killing time before Dad, Joe and the kids met us for breakfast at 8a.m. at IHOP

Joe was amazing and let me take a long nap when I got home <3 I am still tired but had so much fun.

TOMORROW WE GET OUR TREE!!!!!! 

Good weekend with a sad ending

This ended up being Joe's first weekend off! It wasn't supposed to be but it just worked out that way and we were super excited about it! Thanks to Joe's promotion to part time supervisor at UPS he doesn't work Saturday mornings anymore so now we have more family time <3

Actually though he ended up working on the chicken coop fixing some brooder boxes and I took the kids to the mall with my mom because like I said before we had thought it was going to be next weekend that he started to have off so the plans were already made and plus he needed to get the boxes done so it worked out pretty nice. We got home at around noon and the kids were so excited to have lunch with Daddy since that never happens on a Saturday (he usually doesn't get home till after they get up from naps) and then the rest of the day was spent just having fun. I took Casey to the grocery store while Joe took Caden outside to play some ball and play then a great game of candy land. Caden has decided that he will give T-ball another try now so we are going to sign him up next time it starts.

Sunday was church minus the kids because Caden has had a cough since Thursday night and both have had a cold with fevers off and on so that means no Sunday school and nursery for them. My parents are awesome and watched them for us since Joe and I taught Sunday school and then I had nursery durning service followed by a children's committee meeting (by the way we are gonna have an awesome Fall Festival at our church North Naples Baptist on the 30th I will post more on that another time). The rest of the day was really fun and the kids had a  great time we watched football of course and all that good Sunday afternoon fun stuff :)

Now the sad news is that I noticed on Friday afternoon when I took the kids out to play with the kittens that Sterling (the little grey kitten that my mom found in the rain) had a problem. His nose was draining and was crusted over so he wasn't able to breath through it which means he couldn't nurse (a sign he had pneumonia). We cleaned him up and I checked on him again a few times. Then Saturday repeated the process but had a feeling it wasn't going to make it. I went out early on Sunday (Caden usually feeds the cats so I had to beat him to it) and he had died so I had to remove him from the litter before any ants got into the garden and Pixie moved the other kittens. I cried...the kids handled it better than I did. Pixie of course didn't handle it that well she kept looking for the kitten and I was worried she would move the kittens yesterday but she didn't. I checked on them all this morning and was relieved to see them all out there but then noticed when  I took Caden to the doctor that they were gone :( 

I spent 40 minutes searching the yard for the kittens because I am supposed to mow the lawn tonight and of course freaking out because I don't want to hurt them. Pixie came out and walked with me but no sign of the kittens...I cried again. I am a pretty emotional animal person. I know it is just part of having animals especially when they aren't really YOUR animals they are outside animals but still. I really love those little kittens and I think I am a little depressed now and want chocolate cake. I spent a good deal of time sitting and discussing this with Pixie while she ate her can of tuna I gave her. She was a pretty good listener.

birthdays and disney!

Our baby girl is now 3 and I can't believe it! Seriously weird to know that she is growing up so fast. We celebrated at Disney the weekend before her birthday with my parents at Fort Wilderness Campground. We stayed in a cabin that was a one bedroom that had bunk beds and a full size bed in the bedroom and then in the living room had a murphy bed. It was really fun and because it is the off season it was much cheaper. It really is a blessing she was born in September! It is just after the blackout dates for the season passes, the lines at the parks are super short (the longest wait was 15 min the rest was all 5 or less), the parks aren't really busy AND they are decorated so pretty!!!

Caden is now tall enough to ride Tower of Terror, Splash Mt., Big Thunder Mt., Fast Track AND Soarin'  :) He LOVED them. My mom stayed with Casey Bug and took her to see the Country Bears and shopping while we did those rides except for Soarin' she loves that ride and Joe isn't really a fan of it that much because of the heights so he took the Bug to get her picture with ALL the characters. Never was there a happy little girl and we got some really cute pics now of her with Minnie Mouse and a super cute one of her and Joe with Pluto. During the Tower of Terror Casey got the company of both Joe and my mom because only my dad and I like that ride LOL Joe and Mom aren't really a fan of the falling feeling over and over again. Caden did great he loved it but that was the only one he didn't want to do again right away :)

We enjoyed the Hoopty-Dee-Doo Review one night which the kids seriously enjoyed and then the next night we played on the beach of the lake watching the sunset. It was really a great weekend and an amazing family time.

Monday we were home thankfully because Caden had a very bad case of the stomach flu which praise God didn't spread to the rest of us. Then after that I got a cold by Friday Casey had a fever and runny nose which postponed the plans I was going to make with the family that didn't go to Disney. Casey's birthday fell on Tuesday and we celebrated by going to McDonald's for breakfast and then watching the new Tinkerbell movie and having the Bug's favorite snack food POPCORN!!!!  Mac'n Cheese for lunch and then Pancakes for dinner :) She had a great day.

MadGab

This week we are on the Letter D in our Letter of the Week. So I decided to show Caden that he could make some words with the letters we have learned do far like dad, cab, and bad. Well he thought that was pretty cool once he realized that the sounds really did something. So then because he pretty much knows all the letter sounds we moved on to more words like CAT, BAT, MOM all those fun things. I discovered teaching a 4 year old to read is like watching him play MadGab. It is hilarious he says the sounds separate. Then says them together. Then says them faster. Then thinks about it maybe says it a little slower again then tries it faster again till it clicked. It was hilarious and very cute. I was very proud of him for trying so hard and he was proud of himself too.

We are learning about David and Goliath for our Bible story and Casey is learning what a dozen is and working on her counting.  Our composer is Debussy and our animals are dolphins and doves (we pretty much stick with water animals and birds if we can help it because Caden just loves them). Our big field trip is DISNEY!!! I know I really couldn't have planned that better if I had meant to. The trip has absolutely nothing to do with our schooling and everything to do with Casey's birthday but it just so happens that it falls perfectly in with our Letter D week and we are Driving there hehehe maybe we should get Donuts too!

The kids are super excited. Casey has been talking about turning 3 for weeks now and Caden can't wait to go down Splash Mountain for the first time ever! He is now 41 inches tall without shoes so he is officially tall enough : ) Casey is really not very happy she isn't tall enough yet but she IS excited she is going to go shopping in the Winnie the Pooh shop with Grandma while Grandpa, Daddy and I go with Caden on his first big kid ride. Right now Caden says he is riding with Grandpa on it but I will be curious to see who actually rides with him. If he is at all scared of the ride he will end up asking to ride with me that is just usually how he does. There is a chance I might be even more excited about him going on his first big kid ride than he is but I am trying not to show it just in case he gets scared and doesn't want to do it at the last minute or something.

Caden did surprise me this weekend by going down a 20 foot water slide all by himself with no prompting from me or Joe at all. My dad's work had a company picnic and so my dad asked us to come too. It was really fun and Caden just climbed right up that big old blowup slide and went down with no problem at all and went down it like 50 times. I was pretty impressed since usually he needs to be talked into those types of things. He tends to be on the cautious side but lately not so much LOL My little man is growing up :) Casey wouldn't even consider going down it though. She said the water was cold and it was too high.

4 years!

We have been in our house for 4 years now as of Labor Day weekend! And what better way to celebrate that than on Sunday morning after we all had gotten ready for church and I had pulled the last kid from the bath and was drying them we hear our toilets and all the sinks in our house start to bubble....

That's right for all of you who don't have city water you know this means our septic tank was backing up into the house LOVELY!!! Thankfully it was just bubbling and not actually coming into the house so we immediately stopped using all water in the house. A call the septic people told us that because it was a holiday weekend that would cost us at least 100 dollars more than if we waited till Tuesday so my parents said we could just use their house till then. I LOVE living so close to them <3 

In order to keep Caden and Casey from using the bathroom I had to lock the door and they found it a lot of fun to run over to Grandma and Grandpa's side to go potty all day long. Also we were gone for most of Sunday which was good because I would not have liked to be in a house that I can't use the water in the dishes drive me nuts I ended up taking them over to moms so I could wash them. Sunday though we went to church and then to Jeni and Jarrad's for some food, pool time, fun and of course we had to talk about the baby shower which we now have the invites ordered and a whole lotta ideas for. Monday was Labor Day so we had the Fish Fry at church which was very fun and yummy. My mom had us over for breakfast so I didn't have to worry about dishes or anything for that :)

Really it wasn't that bad except we had to cancel going to a friends house for a play date that we were really looking forward to today because of waiting for the septic people to get here but even that ended up being alright because Caden woke up this morning with a very stuffy nose and a fever so I was able to have already given our friends a heads up that we weren't gonna be there instead of cancelling at the last minute.

The kids really enjoyed watching the whole ordeal this morning by the way the whole pumping of the tank and all that gross stuff through the bedroom window and the men that did it enjoyed having the kids watch they talked to them the whole time it was very cute. Casey waved and yelled "Thank you!!! Now our potty's don't bubble anymore!" when they were leaving LOL

The fun stuff of the day

Today was Casey's first Ballet lesson (which fit in perfectly with our Letter of the Week by the way since we are on B) She has been looking forward to this for some months now and today was a day of excitement since she knew all day long that it was today. Her poor day didn't start out so hot for her because she told me last night at the dinner table that she didn't want the food I had fixed for dinner and she would rather go to bed than eat it...so we put her to bed and she had it for breakfast this morning instead. I know that might sound mean but frankly she has this control issue thing about food and I refuse to cook something different just because my 2 (almost 3) year old says she doesn't like it. She actually loves the food I cooked she usually eats it quickly and asks for seconds but last night she pushed it across the table and said "I not gonna eat it" Taking the advice that our parents and Dr. have given us (not to mention just some plain common sense) we stuck to our guns and to bed she went. So anyway she ate it this morning after a little pouting and me not allowing her up from the table till she finished it because I knew she had to be hungry. I would also like to point out that once she put some in her mouth she ate it and told me "This is yummy mommy!" No kidding! I told you that last night when I put some in your mouth to get you to eat some remember?? LOL So after she was happily eating the food she wouldn't touch the night before we moved on to school. The kids love the letter B and are having a great time with it.

Caden has enjoyed learning a lot and he really likes the animal part of it. This week we were going to learn about Buffalo but our library was out of their books on them so we moved to beavers. There is a lot to know about those little guys! Our Bible story is John the Baptist and Caden I think loves the fact that he at locusts more than anything while Casey is impressed that he knew Jesus. Beethoven is the composer of the week and I found some tid bits about him but he was a little depressing in all honesty. I am having trouble finding the music to go with the composers I don't own any of the classical music ( I know bad of me) so if anyone has some with composers that have music done but composers with names starting in C - G that would wouldn't mind letting me borrow please let me know? .

On to Casey's class...we walk in and there is another little girl there at the same time getting her slippers on and Casey walks up to her and says "You will be my friend!" and the little girl says "Yes! I am your friend!" so there you go best friends made instantly. Casey did much later find out that her friends name is Kate and they hugged and held hands the whole time they waited for class to start. They were also joined by another little girl who asked if she could be there friend and her name is Dylan and they welcomed her instantly too. You gotta love kids they really are amazing they don't care at all about being shy most of the time you just have to be nice to them and they will be you friend right away. Casey loved her class and can't wait to go back next week. She did inform me that she was the only one there without a tutu on her leo but I have no idea where the moms got leos with attached tutus because separate tutus aren't allowed and I am not paying more than the 10.00 I paid for her leo I got from Target. the amount the class cost and the shoes cost just about sent Joe into a stroke so again if anyone knows of discount sites let me know :) It has been a very fun day and it isn't even over yet!

Baby Shower Bug

So today was an awesome day! I had a fabulous morning with the kids. We just had a laid back morning playing and cleaning. I was waiting on a phone call from a friend telling me that they now knew that it was a bouncing boy or a sweet baby girl in her ever growing tummy. The kids were very excited about this phone call to but more than find out about the baby they were just excited because it meant they got to go out with one of their favorite people after the phone call. So she called (well texted cause she was at the doctors office and she had to let a lot of people know!) and so off we went to Target.

We got there early so we killed time on the toy aisle which is always fun and with the Bug's birthday next month I enjoyed watching which toys she was enjoying the most. It really amazes me how many toys from when I was little have come back now but with a "new" look. Rainbow Bright has even come back and of course my all time favorite My Little Pony! Bug is a big fan of all of them honestly I don't think she has a favorite. Caden LOVES the dinosaurs and cars that they now have and OH MY GOODNESS they have come out with dinosaur cars! He was about to have a heart attack. It was so funny LOL Anyway they were really good and only asked if they could have things a couple times and didn't even pout when I told them no. : ) My favorite part was when Casey found the display of Twlight figures and picked up the Edward doll and goes "Mommy! It's Daddy!!" I laughed so hard.

My friend found us playing on the toy aisle and then we went in search of boy baby things which was a whole lotta fun! I am so excited about this baby it isn't even funny. The kids absolutely had a great time and were thrilled they got to go out to Burger King with her too. 

So now I am planning a baby shower for a little boy (with her mom and my mom's help) and I am thinking of going with the nautical theme because that is what the baby's room is gonna be done in and my friend loves the beach and the dad loves to sale so I figure that should be perfect and I have now found so many great ideas that I might be a little addicted to the internet baby shower search sites : /   I called Heidi and she think on it too and see if she can come up with any ideas and I have a pretty good idea for invitations already that I can make...

If anyone has any ideas for surf/beach/sailboat theme baby shower stuff please pass them my way I have 2 months to put it together so really 1 month before invites need to go out YIKES