9 years down, eternity to go

Happy Anniversary Colin!! I have been thinking of what I could write these past few days and I don't think I will do my love and appreciation for you any justice but I will try. You are such a wonderful husband and father!! You have and continue to work so hard for our family, to give us the things that we need and want. I know you would often rather be home with us but you are a great example to your family of hard work and dedication. I am grateful for your passion to be a doctor and the road to get there has been a great adventure with you.

I am happier than I ever thought I could be because of you! You never complain about the cluttered house or that I am still in my pj pants and it is 3pm. You let me be my own person, do my own thing and go along with all my crazy ideas. You tell me I am beautiful no matter the time of day or night, sick or healthy, size 10 or 14.

I am so grateful for the support you give me to be a SAHM. I know you always get an earful of our day when you get home. Thank you for always listening to me. I love that you want to be home and want to spend time with the kids. I know when you get home I can give you Cole and you will love on him, change him. Or I can get you to play with Jack and Mia and get them out of my hair. I am blessed to have a husband as involved as you are.

I know I don't appreciate you as much as you deserve and I don't fix you dinner as often as I should but I love you so much. I feel the same way that I did the day we married. I knew when I looked in your eyes and held your hand that I was marrying my best friend, the man I wanted to spend forver with. Thank you for a great 9 years and 3 beautiful children!! I love you!

Thank you my babies!

Jack, Mia and Cole were good kids today. Of course I didn't have Jack and Mia for 4 hours and I got to go to lunch with Colin and Cole for our anniversary. Cole didn't poo at all today and there were no messes to clean up that were out of the ordinary. It was very nice to have Colin home all day too. He helps keep the kids distracted.

My lilttle naughty kids!

Oh little naughty kids when we have to stay home together ALL day and then Daddy goes to work I want to lock myself in the closet and not come out! For two days in a row now you have done the EXACT opposite of what I told you to do. Yesterday I went to go change Cole's blow-out diaper, again, and you were playing and Mia wanted some cups of water. Against my better judgement I filled up 4 cups of water with specific instructions to NOT MAKE A MESS. I was upstairs for about 10 minutes and came back down to water spilled on the table, carpet and kitchen floor. It was also on Jack. I got a little upset but I didn't yell and we cleaned it up. Later on I was making my bed and I heard lots of giggling. I do love giggling but you were supposed to be eating dinner so I knew that there was trouble going on. I came down to milk cups with big bubbles in them from bubbles being blown in them, milk on the table and milk on Jack. Come on, two times in the same day. Jack was on clothes change #4. Today you were better, a bit. I left to put Cole down for a nap and you were coloring at the table. I specifically said, as I walked up the stairs, "What do we color on?" You both said, "Paper." I said, "NOT the table, not our hands, not the walls, JUST PAPER." After I put Cole down and went to my room to hang out, making sure Cole would not cry, Mia came up and showed me her orange hands. She assured me she didn't color on them but that the marker just somehow got there while coloring. At least she made the effort to wash it off. She also told me Jack had drawn on the table. AHHHHHHH, I must have put the idea in his head. I went down to see marker all over the table and all over Jack's hands. I reminded him, without yelling, that I told him not to do that and now I had to take the markers away. I also had him wipe the table, thank you Crayola for your wonderful washable markers that ALWAYS wash away for me, then wash his hands. And Cole, you sweet angel, I really, really wish you would STOP BLOWING OUT YOUR DIAPER! For about a week straight, literally, he has pooped out, in a serious way. However, thank you for always doing it at home!!! I am going to buy stock in Clorox - I love their bleach pen. Maybe tomorrow will be less naughty. I love you naughty kids!!

Egg Rolls

Egg Rolls
1 pkg. egg roll wrappers
2 C. cooked chicken breasts chopped
2 C. cabbage chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 T. chopped green onion
1 T. cooking oil
2 C. bean sprouts
1 T. soy sauce
½ tsp. fresh ginger minced or grated (optional)

Stir fry everything, except the chicken, together until tender. Add chicken.
Wrap in egg roll wrappers according to instructions on the package. Fry in oil at 350 degrees until golden brown on each side. It is easiest to fry them in an electric skillet. Your temp. will be more constant.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

½ C. brown sugar
1 T. corn starch
1 T. soy sauce
1/3 C. chicken broth
½ tsp. minced fresh ginger root
1/3 C vinegar (you can use either red wine vinegar or I just use apple cider vinegar)
1 clove garlic minced

Cook on medium high heat until it bubbles and then 2 more minutes.

More funnies of Jack

Jack wanted me to take some pictures of him so I had him pose.

Here we have his sweet boy face, such a little boy still. I can't believe he will be potty trained and off to preschool this year. He knows way more than I give him credit for. He just doesn't show it off as much as his sister. Note the bruise on his forehead. It turned into a bit of a black eye. He got it when....

he was spitting in my new Christmas boots. I yelled, "Don't spit in my boots!" He turned quickly, tripped over another shoe and collided with the corner of the molding on the door. I felt really bad about yelling at him. I think it frightened him and that is why he was moving so fast. Yelling is never good unless they are about to be hit by a car.
Here we have his spitting face. He is into that lately and I can't stand it!

This is Jack's concentration face. He gets it from his dad who got it from his dad.

This is his silly face. I love those kissy lips of his and his "chuggy" cheeks.

Merry Christmas

The golf clubs were a huge hit!! Thank you for the

princess game Grace!

Jack also loves the Bob the builder Scoop!

This year, in our new house, I decided to start a new tradition for Christmas Eve, we roasted marshmallows. Colin lit the gas fire place and we all had a great sticky time! As you can hear, hopefully, from the video, Jack has a unique way of saying marshmallow, he kept calling the chocolate bars hot cocoa. It was really a lot of fun.

Afterwards we let the kids open their jammies, as per tradition. I really do love them all dressed up and they were all so soft and cuddly! We got the kids in bed, Colin left for work just before 10 and I stayed up until 12am. I didn't have to but I got involved in some things. Santa came sometime after I went to bed and left some fun presents. Jack woke up at 6:30 asking for his morning warm chocolate milk and because Colin was not at home yet I kept trying to ignore him so we wouldn't have to go downstairs. It worked until about 7:15 when Colin called to let me know he wasn't off work just yet. I put the gate up at the top of the stairs before I went to bed so the kids wouldn't go downstairs before Colin got home. Thankfully Jack forgot that Santa was coming and Mia was still sleeping. Since the lights were off I took Jack down, got his milk and went back upstairs. He didn't notice a thing. Mia woke and Colin got home about 10 minutes later. It was a great day, we missed being with our family! Hope you all had a nice Christmas too!

Better Late Than Never

Trying to keep Cole warm. They were giving away

these gloves to we grabbed a pair and put them on

Cole.

Our friends

Here the kids are having a ride.

I know, we are well past Thanksgiving BUT I do not want to miss putting in on our blog. Someday I hope to publish it into a book so we have to keep up on certain things. We went to Dayton and stayed a few days with our wonderful close friends from medical school. The food was great, the company was fun and I can't wait to do it again!! We went to a little street festival downtown. It was sooooo cold but the kids had fun on the rides!! Jack and Mia had their first ferris wheel ride and loved that too. Colin and the kids helped rake leaves and love riding in the trailer of the mower. We went and saw Bolt and my kids are still talking about it.

My cute kiddos!

I tried to get some shots of the kids after Church in their Christmas clothes and as you can see the individual pictures turned out nicely but the one of all three of them turned out a bit blurry. Oh how I want Santa to bring me a digital Rebel G for Christmas or something similar. I will try again next Sunday because I am making them wear the same thing. Since I didn't get a Christmas card out I am going to shoot for a new year letter and picture. I can't believe Christmas will be here in 2 days and a wake-up!! I think I am as excited as the kids!!

Mia is pointing to her tooth because she has a loose tooth already, at just 5 years old. Does that girl have to do everything early? I think it will be out by the end of the week. She wanted me to pull it today. Yikes!!! No thank you! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas with lots of love and cheer!

Christmas Festivities

Since I am up at 5:30am with Jack who has a cold passed to him by his sister, a baby who thinks he is done sleeping for the night and a cold of my own I thought I would post some more. I post so randomly but that is how my life goes.

We went to Lake Metro Farm Park with our friends, the Yonkers. This was our first year and certainly won't be our last. The kids had a great time! We first went in to see Santa. Jack likes the idea of Santa but wouldn't even look at him. So much for making this our Christmas picture. We then went on a carriage ride and then on to the workshop where the kids were able to choose from over 50 different wooden cutouts, sand them and then paint them with an elf. It was a very cold night so we had them bundled up. The kids even got to see how a cow is milked. They liked that a lot and Jack asked for a few days if he could go back. It certainly brought back memories of when I was a child and my aunt milking the cow. Being a kid was awesome. Not that milking a cow has a lot to do with Santa. We had a great time with great friends.

My baby is 4 months

Speaking of time flying, read the previous post to understand, Cole is 4 months now. It seems he has reached milestones so much sooner than Jack or Mia. I think that is just because time is moving more quickly this time around. He is such a great baby, a bit needy but if he wasn't I would be missing out. He gives some great belly laughs now. Mia seems to be the one to get the best laughs from him. I hope I can get it on video soon.

He has settled into a routine and I seem to be more in tune with it. It's about to change I am sure. His appointment went well and he did great with his shots. He will occasionally go a long stretch at night without waking to eat but not always. It is getting better, thankfully. I do love to snuggle with him early in the morning though. He is just about as long as his bassinet and he still loves to be swaddled. His talking has gotten high pitches and he likes to squeel sometimes. If I do it back to him he will copy me. He has such a sweet face and loves to be kissed.

Mia adores him more and more each day. He will watch her until she looks at him and then he gives his incredible gummy grin to her. She loves to get him to talk and laugh. She is my big helper. Jack is becoming more and more interested and is very gentle with Cole. I love to listen to him talk to Cole, "He's my baby brofer."

Cole weighed in at 15 lbs. 3 oz. He is not as big as my other babies but seems to be pretty long in the arms and body. He's a sweet guy and such a sweet blessing! (I wish the last picture wasn't blurry.)