Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday to me, yesterday

Yesterday was my birthday. Drew really tried hard to make my day special. He made me a terrific dinner and then friends came over for some cake and ice cream. It was an enjoyable day. Molly has been singing Happy Birthday Jenny to me all day. I kind of wish that everyone called me mommy sometimes.... If you ask her how old I am she'll promptly tell you "tweneey ix".

I really liked the show Gilmore Girls. Drew worked for a bus company when we were first married. One summer someone left season 5 on a bus, after a few months I inherited it. I also have season 7. (I found it really cheap. Probably because it was the worst season, what a disappointing season finale... ) If I see a season at the library I always pick it up. For my birthday Drew got me seasons 1, 2 and 3. When I was opening them Molly was glowing with excitement. "More Gilmore Girls" (Molly and Gabe love the credit music. They get so excited as they show off their dance moves. I love being a mom and watching those moments.) After we put the kids to bed *. Drew and I started watching season 1. I think pilots are always awkward as people are figuring out their characters etc. Example: Kirk was in it, but his name was Mick? Strange. It was kind of like watching a first date. No one's really sure how to act or what to say. Now I'm a few episodes past that and it's feeling a lot more familiar.

Thanks Drew and to everyone else who called and came over :)

*One other little happening.
Last night when we were putting the kids to bed we couldn't find Gabe's pacifier. Which is really strange. He only has it when he's in his crib so it's always in the crib or on the floor near the crib. I did the only thing I could and gave Gabe an old pacifier that they (Molly and Gabe) like to play with that has a hole in it. And then I cut Molly's. They both still want them at night/nap. I hear a lot about how they're "boke", but it's just very matter of fact. It looks like we're at the beginning of the end of being a pacifier house. I knew that I'd have to take them away at the same time and I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't be buying anymore. So yesterday was the day. And this morning Gabe slept until 10! I'm going to be delusional and say that the two are related.

Holy Snow

We got hammered with snow. Last year I was excited for snow and it didn't really snow at all. This year mother nature's making it up to me.

Molly playing in the first fakes of the morning...

What a difference a day makes. I think "they" (our local weather people)said Lincoln got 10 inches total. Then the 40 mph winds came and this is the nice snow drift out our back door. I'm guessing it was close to 3 ft...

So what do you do when it's below zero and too cold to go out and play? You play basketball inside and...

...craft. Here they are painting cut up t.p. rolls that we tied into snow flakes. Anything involving paint and glitter keeps Molly and Gabe entertained for a solid 20+ minutes. That may not seem like a lot of time, but I think 20 min at the table for a 1 and 2 year old is pretty good.

While I'm not a fan of driving in the snow it is fun playing in it. Some friends came over and we went sledding with the kids. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the kids facial expressions as they were sledding. It was priceless. Drew also got 1 1/2 snow days so that was nice. Not quite as good as LPS's 3, but having Drew home on a Wednesday was a treat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. What's better than good company and good food? yum

Happy Math Thanksgiving

This is the second year that all the math grad students, in Drew's year, have gotten together to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. I used to feel strange hanging out with Drew's school friends. 1-I'm not a math student. There are always jokes floating around about professors I don't know and equations I'll never understand. 2-We have kids. Mainly for these reasons I felt out of place and still do on occasion, but let me tell you Molly and Gabe were the life of the party. I guess because I'm with them having fun ALL the time I forget how fun they really are. If that makes any sense?. :) Molly and Gabe had 15+ adults to be entertained by. This is Molly and Gabe hiding under the table with Molly Sr. In the end we ate way too much and the kids had hours of entertainment. Not a bad Sunday afternoon.

Paint Yourself Silly

At Boo at the Children's Museum we got a bunch of coupons. One of them was from Paint Yourself Silly. We got to paint an ornament for free!

I'm probably lame, but I love pottery and all things ceramic. Thanks Emily. My roommate was taking a ceramics class and let me tag along one night with her to the ceramics studio. Wouldn't you know it, the first thing that I threw was centered and it was love from there. I took a couple of classes. I wasn't any good at it, but I love the feel of wet clay and the smell of it drying....

I made sure this coupon didn't go to waste. We painted our ornaments last night. Gabe immediately dipped his brush and put it on his face. I'm not sure if he was trying to eat it or smell it??? Either way. Yikes.

Molly picked a star. You can pick a maximum of 6 paint colors. I thought well we only really need a couple. Then I thought no if we get 6 we should pick 6. Holy cow. Molly used all her paint and some of Gabe's. Her star is beautiful, and hopefully it's dry by now :)

Daddy helped Gabe paint his Christmas tree. So pretty.

I'm excited to pick them up in a week or so. As we were leaving the store Molly slowly made her way to the ice cream parlor next door. She was very disappointed with me when I told her we couldn't get ice cream before dinner. Mom has to ruin all the fun. Right as we were leaving the building she told me that she needed to go potty. Drum roll. And she went potty on the big potty all by herself without her potty seat!!! That made my day. She also used the little potty at the library Wednesday, but the library has Molly size toilets. I think this means I might not have to bring her potty seat everywhere we go now? fingers crossed. That would be the last step of the whole process. It's been a couple weeks now since she's worn a diaper when she's sleeping and we haven't had any accidents. yippee.

*fyi when I say potty seat I don't mean an actual chair I mean the donut shaped thing that goes on top of the toilet so your kid won't fall in. We never got an actual potty chair, it kind of grosses me out, but so does carrying around her potty seat..?..

an early christmas

We live on a pretty tight budget. I knew that we'd have to when Drew decided to go back to school. (not that we were really living it up on a teachers salary before) Having said that we've also been able to buy some of the nicest things that we've ever had. We have to save, but when you're marking where every penny is going you can also see exactly what kind of surplus you have. We've been combining our surplus with the money that I made over the summer. (I watched my friends little girl for a few months.) I've wanted a nice camera for a while now and on 11/10 it arrived! After a lot of research we decided to stick with cannon. I found a deal online for the cannon xsi w/ the basic lens and a 55-250 mm lens. It wasn't cheap, but the lens was a fraction of the price it would have been separately. I talked Drew into ordering it a little before we had intended. It was a good price and who knows how long "Internet specials" will last. I've been having a lot of fun with my Christmas present.

I think this picture captures Molly and Gabe perfectly.

I have a TON of pictures. I've been experimenting and having a good time. Most of my pictures have been of Molly. She's much more cooperative... In the end I have a lot to learn, but I'm super excited.