Updates and some links

A few updates:

• House - we are slowly moving stuff in. Fireplace is installed. Shower doors still being worked on. Will post pictures soon. Babysitter coming tonight so we can get some more stuff out of storage. Drapes look awesome, and the $99 rug I got at BJs works perfectly (especially until we can get mucho bucks to buy a HUGE rug).
• Big Man - he is addicted to eating crayons. The girls never did this. Any tips on getting him to stop? He doesn't just chomp the tops off, he munches on them too. Ick.
• K - my oldest has an issue with the seam on tights and socks. It must be right along the topside of her toes or she will completely lose it. It drives me nuts, because I think it is so ridiculous. However, a friend yesterday said she can relate and knows of others who have bought seamless socks and tights to avoid this problem. Really??!! I thought she was just insane.
• My running - I am still doing about 2.5 miles 3x a week. Turns out the gym I wanted to join to run inside during the winter doesn't open until 6:25. Scary to say, that is too late for me. I was thinking I'd run outside, but what to do about the cold? A friend at work recommended REI. I got great polartek stuff that actually allows me to be warm without sweating when it is cold outside. So far (it has only been as low as 35) it has worked.
• Xmas shopping - I have started and am getting there slowly. The hardest part is getting B to tell us what she wants. So far she wants whatever K wants.

While looking for some Christmas ideas, I stumbled on this awesome website. You can print out personalized Christmas stories for your kids, there are games, educational worksheets, etc. It is really great and FREE!

Any other good sites you can recommend?

Why Less Can Be More

When I travel for work I always get to stay at very nice, swanky hotels. Lots of glam, amazing bedding, plush towels, robes, etc. And its easy to get used to. But have you ever noticed that at those la-tee-da hotels that work is paying upwards of $270/night for, they nickel and dime you to death??!! At this last one in Las Vegas, the bottled water in the room was $8, if you went downstairs to the shop you could get it for the bargain of $6. For a small bottle of water people. And this is Vegas -- without a car it wasn't like I could hop over to the local CVS for supplies. My Dad (who came on my business trip with me) and I got room service one morning. I had a bagel and cream cheese and watermelon juice. Dad had an omelet, toast, juice and coffee. The bill was $60! $60!!!!!!!! I mean, it was really good watermelon juice, but what the (*#&$#

Last week when we went to DH's grandmom's for Thanksgiving, we stayed at a Country Inns and Suites. I cannot say enough about it. For $100 we got a one-bedroom suite (so the kids were out in the main part of the room on the pull out sofa). It came with full breakfast for free - including eggs, sausage, cereal, yogurt, pastries, bagels, waffles, juices, etc. And in the evenings there was a free dessert buffet in the lobby! Seriously, you can't beat that! They had an indoor pool and hot tub, and even a lending library of books - including kids books. It was so nice.

Funny how the places that get more money up front still charge you more, while the smaller joints give you more. Interesting...

Dancing Like its 1999

So I LOVE 80s music. Its my favorite kind. Last weekend DH and I went with 5 friends to see a local 80s cover band. Oh my gosh it was so fun. We were all dancing like crazy. I haven't done that since I don't know when. And the other people there - I would say about 70% of the women (and 30% of the men) were dressed in 80s gear - off the shoulder tops, leggings with lace on the bottom, headbands, lots of bangles, etc. It was awesome. I can't wait to go see them again - I am already searching Ebay for my perfect look!

Things I am Grateful For....

Happy Thanksgiving One and All! I can't believe its really here, but if it is, I might as well start thinking about the holidays. In that spirit - a big THANK YOU to all my friends and family who make my life possible and FUN! It truly does take a village to raise a child, and with three of them, I need more than my share of village. I am so blessed and lucky to have it - from my MIL who has allowed us to keep our jobs, still function as a family, and keep us happy -- to my amazing friends who put up with me and my crazy kids and love us anyway.

And to the people who read this blog that I don't even know -- thanks! It makes my day to get your comments, and I love reading your blogs too!

Thanks all. May you have safe travels and a blessed holiday!

35 days til Christmas??? )(#$(@*&!!!!

I am so not ready for Christmas. Usually by now I am 75% or more done with my holiday shopping. I am currently about 5% done - if that. Arghh!! We haven't started working on our Christmas letter - yes, we do one of the horrible tomes that recounts our whole year; haven't taken a holiday picture; and are just plain not ready. I don't know if its the house renovation, or just our crazy lives right now, but I am never felt so unprepared, and it is freaking me out. I really need to focus. Hopefully over the long weekend (somewhere during our 6+ hour car trips, perhaps?) I can at least make some lists to get me started.

Is it just me, or did the holidays totally sneak up on us this year??!!

I'm back

I was out of town last week for a convention..thought I might blog a bit while gone, but barely had time to breathe! Anyway, I'm back now.

Updates:

House has passed all final inspections. We can move in whenever we are ready. Of course, when we packed up our house and put everything in storage, we had our good friend Duffy living with us and she could not only help pack - but stayed at the house while we shuttled back and forth to storage. We don't have the luxury anymore. So..at some point, we will get there and bring our stuff back in and get our new spaces set up. I can't wait. I just wish I had some time to do it NOW! Will post final pictures soon. It really looks awesome. And I love our new bed, which was delivered last week.

As I type nobody is sick...as far as I know. So far so good. K had a fever most of the weekend, but no other symptoms. We think it was a reaction to a flu shot. And Big Man cried for about 2 hours around 10pm last night. No idea why and he would not be consoled. Perhaps teeth? He seemed fine this morning. DH and I are nearly done with courses of antibiotics for sinus infections. A few illness-free weeks would be very welcome, please.

B continues to be both incredibly adorable and unbelievably annoying. I forgot this stage of 3. She is so cute and so verbal, but also so stubborn. Bless DH for not killing her while I was gone last week.

Big Man was so cute when I called while I was gone. He would start saying "mamamama" and then not understand why he couldn't find me in the house. I had to stop talking to him or he would just get upset. He was so excited to see me when I got back. He still runs right over to me when I come in from a different room - like he is not sure I am ever coming back every time I leave. Poor guy!

K had lots to report while I was gone. Her second tooth is about to come out - very wiggly. She learned a song and a poem for Thanksgiving. I assured her the cousins and Greatgrandmom will love to hear them. She is really starting to understand reading. She gets the concept of sounding out and has a bunch of sight words. Its very exciting to see and she is pumped!

DH is a saint for handling the kids all week (I was gone Sun-Fri)...even took them to their flu shots (which they were completely freaked about, but admitted barely hurt when they got them), and not destroying the house completely. I even got to stay an extra 12 hours and hear James Taylor in concert - yayy!

The Magic Words

I love the kids phrase "you get what you get and you don't have a fit". It is like magic with my kids. If you are giving them their dinner and one of them whines "but I wanted the red plate"..you just say the magic words and they let it go. Same with "her milk is more full then mine" or "but I wanted to shut the tv off" or even "but it was my turn to do it". I don't know why that phrase solves everything, but somehow it does! My oldest, k, has even expanded it to "you eat what you get and you don't have a fit". Given the few number of foods she will eat - this will be interesting to try out.

Our daycare has a phrase "I don't like it, don't do it again" to use when one kid is hitting another or stealing their toy or whatever. When K was 1 1/2 she went through a phase and I couldn't get her to stop hitting me. The teachers at school said she never did it to them. Then I heard them use that phrase with another kid. I tried it the next time K hit me, and that was the end of that.

Do you have any magic words that work for your kids?

NO BOYS ALLOWED

(k is doing MUCH better, thanks for all the good wishes. I am cloroxing the heck out of my house, lets keep our fingers crossed!)

So I am a big believer in girl-time. Sometime you need to get away from the DH and kids and get with your girls. I have an amazing circle of close girlfriends that live in town (and a few out of town) and I am so lucky to have them around me. The core group started from college and has grown a bit from there. Most of us have known each other for over 20 years and we are still close. I am so blessed. Now we have kids that are growing up together. We all had kids around the same time - at one point 4 of us were pregnant with our second child at the same time - gave birth in June, July and August of the same year! There are now 11 kids ages 6 and under. It is really great.

And while we do lots of family events together, I love when we get together - just the girls. The husbands think we spend the time together bitching about them. I'm not going to say that has never happened, but really it is just that women can talk to women about more things than husbands or others care to hear about. I think that time is so precious, and love when we get the opportunity to do it.

Every few weeks we have a girls dinner (although we have been slacking lately - need to get back on that), a few times a year we go on a "girls weekend" away, and when several of us turned 30 we decided to do a week-long girls trip every 5 years.

At 30 we flew to Nashville, TN; rented an RV, and drove across the South. It was awesome. None of us were particularly into camping, nor had any of us lived in or driven an RV. But we had a great time (nevermind the smashing the a/c unit off the top of the thing, or Duffy nearly having a heart attack at my driving down rainy, wet mountain roads).

At 35 we stayed in a b&b in Santa Fe and did day trips around the area. So relaxing, and so BEAUTIFUL! We took a cooking class, did lots of shopping, ate GREAT food, saw opera, hiked, and even had mud baths.

Next year, several of us will be 40. We are renting an apartment in Paris for a week. I am so excited. I already have my plane ticket, and we aren't going until August. All of us have been to Paris before, so we are really just going to try and hang out - eat great french food, drink french wine, and enjoy the culture.

How do you all spend time with your girlfriends?

Down, but Still Fighting

The norovirus sucks. Really. My oldest, K, had it about 3 weeks ago. She had never been so sick. Luckily it only lasted about 36 hours. Then, last week, B got it. Again, lasted about 36 hours and we were all miserable. Then last night at 3am, K got it AGAIN! I cannot believe it. We washed all her bedding and stuff, but I realized this morning we forgot to throw out her toothbrush. Maybe that is it? ARGHHH. I am so sad for her. This thing really is awful - LOTS of vomiting, LOTS of cramping. I feel so bad. Tomorrow - full cleaning of everything - lots of Clorox, and throwing out anything questionable. Somehow neither the adults nor Big Man have gotten it - did I say that out loud?