Christmas in NJ

On Christmas day, we headed to NJ after lunch. We went right to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Bill's to see family who were still there celebrating. We had yummy desserts and got a chance to hang out. Then we headed to Oma and Opa's to let Carter settle down before bed.

He did lots of playing with daddy's old toys!!

 

On Monday, I also got to meet my best friend, Allie, who was up from Atlanta. SUPER excited for that because it was literally a YEAR to the day since we saw each other. That is way too long when you spent so much time together in college. I loved catching up with her--every time we do, it is like we saw each other the day before.

Tuesday the 27th was celebration day with the whole family. Matt, Erin, and the kids arrived, Ben and Salli (and kids) came up, and lots of other family came, too. I even got to meet the Siczkas!! We did gifts and a yummy dinner. We, of course, grabbed the family photos as well.

Oma and Opa with all the grandkids...

A tower on Uncle Seth/Daddy.

The resident home protectors--Bentley and Baxter!

Standing on a stool to get closer to the snacks Oma put out. He was at that table ALL DAY. Finally, we had to put the stuff away because he wouldn't stop. :)

He picked up and peeled his very own Cutie. It was adorable!!

We also got a chance while we were in NJ to visit Ben and Salli's new house. Bentley are Carter especially loved it because they have a fenced in yard like us and they just ran and ran and ran. Carter couldn't get enough of their swingset and sliding board either.

We had a fun time and were glad to see so many people! As always, we were super blessed while we were there. Carter got a new picnic table with umbrella, a tray for his carseat when traveling, new playfood, flashcards, and a bunch of other things. We also got "date night" gift cards, Seth got hunting stuff, and I got new decorations!!

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Re-Cap

[Warning: a million photos to follow]

I figured I better hurry up and get the Christmas re-cap done so that it makes it into the 2011 blog book. :) We had an incredibly busy holiday season this year and while fun, is exhausting with a toddler. If you have one, you feel me on this. Ha! I'm thinking that next year with two little ones, we may be taking it a bit easier.

On Christmas eve day, we headed to my parent's house for the day. We had an appetizer lunch that was really good (thanks, Pinterest, for all the ideas!) and then the kids were rarin' to go to head downstairs to the gifts. While Uncle Bradley got changed from work, we had to occupy the kids however we could. Silly faces did the trick for a few minutes.

And some "nigh nigh" on Carter's homemade cot fashioned out of Gramma's pillows. Super cute.

FINALLY, it was time to head downstairs. They had some cute cousin cuddle time! :)

These kids aren't spoiled at ALL. This wasn't even all of them. They were beyond excited - certainly a lively year this year with three kids under two and a half!

C-man poses with Aunt Michelle and makes his infamous "cheeeese" face. I could eat him up.

A new firetruck!! He loves his new truck and spends a lot of time putting random toys in the ladder compartment and going up and down.

A new table from Gramma and Pa. Thanks for putting it together for us too - I'm certain that would have sent me to an early grave.

After a fun afternoon at Gramma and Pa's, we headed to Maw-maw and papa's for more gifts and dinner. By this time (and no nap), Carter was getting slightly antsy, but the new tractor he got made things all better. He also got a really fun dinosaur piggy bank that he has now made his purpose to fill by begging for change from every adult he sees. He's not my kid...ahem. The Christmas eve service was up next - and let's just say, thanks for keeping it short, Pastor Ed. There was no nursery and Carter is not the quietest in church. We stuffed him full of cheez-its and water, and distracted him as best we could.

The night seemed awfully short (though it always does with a little boy who gets up hours before the sun), but it's always easier to get up so early on Christmas :)

He dug right in, and was a lot of fun this year. After about give gifts, he was sort of over it though, and just wanted to play with his already-opened ones, so mommy helped finish the rest.

He got a new grill from Santa and LOVES it. It has the cutest food in it. He also got more play food from Aunt Erin and Uncle Matt, so he's having a blast force-"feeding" us hamburgers and hot dogs all day, every day. He's one cute cook. :)

I got a new Chi straightener, a panini maker, lots of decorations, a Vera Bradley duffle, Kindle case,  photography stuff, and lots more. Seth got tons of hunting stuff, cologne, running gear, gift cards, and more.

After gifts and breakfast, we headed to church. Sheetz was giving out free coffee all day on Christmas, so we headed out for 10 a.m. church around 9:35 to make a stop by Sheetz beforehand. We grabbed some coffee and made our way to church. As we approached the parking lot, I literally only saw like 10-15 cars. I have to be honest - I was irritated that hardly anyone was at church on Christmas day...seemed so ironic. Then we saw it. The big banner that said "Christmas Day Service - 10:30 a.m." WHOOPS. Needless to say, we got a good seat.

Carter fell FAST asleep on the way home - like dead-to-the-world asleep. We carried him inside and plopped him on the couch...something that has NEVER worked in our house. Well, I had to practically splash him with cold water to wake him for lunch. It was so adorable...guess he had a busy morning.

After lunch we headed to NJ to spend a few days with Seth's family (re-cap coming soon...).

All in all, we had an incredibly blessed and fun Christmas eve and Christmas day, and having a toddler certainly keeps you moving all day!! I hope you had a great Christmas too!

Pregnancy Highlights: 13 Weeks

The Christmas re-cap is coming soon, but we've been busy so I haven't gotten to it yet.

How Far Along: 13.5 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 2 pounds

Maternity Clothes: A few things, mostly pants

Best Moment this week: enjoying Christmas!

Gender: Not sure yet, and I don't have a guess either.

Movement: He/she is moving like crazy, but I don't feel a thing!

Food Craving: Nothing really

What I miss: My energy :)

Sleep: I go to the bathroom a few times a night, but fine otherwise.

What I am looking forward to: My last few days of Christmas vacation from work - relaxing and trying to get some things done, too.

Symptoms: Some nausea (though less than the first trimester) and occasional headaches. Other than that, no issues!

We heard the baby's heartbeat yesterday at the appointment, and it was upper 150s. Everything was great!  

Pregnancy Highlights: 12 Weeks

Well, I think it's safe to say the news is officially out. I love telling people--so fun! :) Anywho, I'm due on July 3, which makes me pretty happy since Seth will be off with me most of the summer again!

Since I did these updates for Carter, I feel like I should do them again. I think it'll be fun to compare years down the road.

How Far Along: a little over 12 weeks. The baby is the size of a lime already!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Not sure really, maybe 4 pounds??

Maternity Clothes: A few things, mostly pants.

Best Moment this week: prepping for Christmas!

Gender: Not sure yet!

Movement: He/she is moving like crazy, but I don't feel a thing!

Food Craving: Salty things

What I miss: Nothing yet...well, except maybe the constant underlying feeling of nausea. :)

Sleep: I go to the bathroom like 1,825 times a night, which is annoying. Other than that, it's fine.

What I am looking forward to: Celebrating the holidays and seeing how excited Carter gets this year!!

Symptoms: Nausea and occasional headaches. Other than that, no issues!

Thought You'd Like to Know...

Details to follow! :)

Almost to the big 3-0.

My gorgeous, wonderful husband is getting old. :) He's almost 30...he gets to eek out one last year in his 20s.

He's sort of like cheese. Or steak. He just gets better with age.

And tonight....DRUMROLL please....we are going on a kid-free date night. Carter will be spending the night with gramma and pa, probably getting spoiled (I think she's praying that he selects tonight as the night to sleep past 5:35 a.m.). I'm so excited for a nice dinner out where we are not feeding a small boy a steady stream of Cheerios. We'll miss him, but parents need alone time too. :) Thanks, gramma and pa!

Happy birthday, love!

Five years.

Happy five year anniversary to the perfect guy for me.

I love you.

(source)

The Sicknesses in Our House

I talked a bit about how Seth and I had the stomach bug this past week, but I think I forgot to mention that we had another sickness in our house the week before. I got a call from daycare two weeks ago that C-man had a fever and needed to be picked up. He wasn't interested in eating his lunch and just wanted to go to sleep. When I got there, he was sound asleep on his cot in the middle of the room while everyone else ate lunch. Poor thing. He was so warm and sleepy. I carried him sleeping to the car, he slept the whole way home, and then I put him in his crib and he slept there for three and a half hours (until I woke him up so he'd sleep).

We went to the living room and the poor little boy didn't want to even be put down. He just wanted to be held and to sleep. He did this all afternoon. :(

He was home the next day as well, but his fever broke and he was feeling better. Thankfully, it was just a 24 hour fever because it could have been much worse. He's got a nasty runny nose now, but we can deal with that!

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday, we went up to my parent's house so that Seth could go hunting and Carter and I could go to Breakfast with Santa with McKenna and Eli (and my mom, Jason, and Michelle). I knew before we even went that Carter wouldn't be all oblivious and smiley like he was last year. I was fairly certain he would be a hot mess.

Case in point:

We had to give him his gift bag before we could even think of getting him close to the big guy, and he was clawing my neck as we neared him. I'm not that bad of a mom. I only snapped this one picture and quickly got him off. He stopped crying immediately, though watched him quite closely all of breakfast to make sure he didn't come too close. :)

When we got home, there was a package from Aunt Polly and Uncle Dirk for Squirt. We told him to smile for the camera and out of nowhere he said "Cheeeeese." No idea where he learned that from - we never say that to him! It was so adorable!

He was very excited about his new ornament and it will find a place on the tree that is in the "safe zone" for little boy hands. :) Thanks, Aunt Polly and Uncle Dirk!

Making cookies!

One thing we've never been super good at each year is making cookies. I'm not really good at making them, and we hardly ever eat them for more than a day or two. But this year, I was really wanting to make them with Carter, and decided to just freeze most of them to pull out here and there when needed over the next few months.

Here are a few pictures of the fun - he was so excited to watch them in the oven!

The Holidays

My plan for this year was to get my shopping done before Thanksgiving so that we can actually enjoy the holiday season without stress this year. I'm happy to say I about 85% met that goal and only have a few small things to get yet.

The relaxing part? Notsomuch. Yet, at least.

We got our outdoor lights up a few weeks ago when it was warmer so that we could turn them on Thanksgiving night...which we did. For exactly one night before a string went out. I fixed that one, and we were good for a few days. I came home Friday night and saw one string of lights out AGAIN...on each of ALL FOUR TREES. WHAT?!?! I lovingly fixed those with new strings the next day, and I kid you not, a string is out again. I give up. I'm about to unplug that bush. They just look so pretty though.

We put our tree up around Thanksgiving as well and I love it. I always love having the tree up - it makes me so happy. A certain little boy loves to touch the ornaments, but I put the non-breakables at the bottom. :)

Seth had a 24ish hour stomach bug full of all sorts of stomach issues and barfing Monday and Tuesday, so we steered clear of daddy. While he recovered, he was out of commission for the TEN TIMES Carter got up the other night.

Which leads me to how Carter is refusing to sleep and eat. It's simply lovely. He apparently can survive on fruit cups only because that's all he wants. He went through a meat and crouton only phase, but that's long gone. Pasta - no way. Eggs - you're crazy, mom. Hamburgers - HA. Get real. I can deal with the not eating part, but at 19 months, the no sleeping thing is baffling us. I'm not proud of it, but I gave him Benadryl last night. and it was glorious. A sleepy momma's gotta do what she's gotta do. Don't judge. :)

SO, the relaxing part is...um, yet to come, but we're making the best of it. We are looking forward to Breakfast with Santa this Saturday with McKenna and Eli, a family party next weekend, a date night for our five year anniversary, and lots of other fun holiday festivities!
Hope you're getting a chance to relax and enjoy too! And if you're looking for some non-stop fun in your life, we have an ADORABLE, precious toddler who doesn't eat or sleep and will keep you on your feet. :)

UPDATED: I should have knocked on wood because I no sooner posted this and I came down with the nasty stomach bug as well. Turns out, it is a fast mover in families. I'm so far behind on blogging and posting about fun things we've done, but I'll eventually catch up. :)

The (late) Thanksgiving Re-Cap

I'm incredibly far behind on our Thanksgiving re-cap, but better late than never, right?? :) We started Thanksgiving day by heading to Aunt Polly and Uncle Dirk's house. We enjoyed a super yummy meal of ALL the traditional foods plus some central PA favorites (please, someone else from central PA tell me they know what hamloaf is!!!). Carter, that little stinker, only ate hamloaf out of all the amazing food. Not sure what was up with that!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we went outside where Uncle Dirk gave the yearly hayride. Carter didn't love it at first, so Seth had to hold him. He calmed down when I got on too!

Checking out the tractor up close with daddy and Uncle Dirk.

Swinging with Opa...

On Friday, we got up and headed right to Matt and Erin's house for the weekend (where we had no properly working turn signals, by the way. Good times.). We arrived around lunchtime and spent the time relaxing (well, the girls did - the guys were working on a project). :)

On Saturday, Erin's mom, nana, and sister came down and we celebrated Thanksgiving with them, too! Afterwards, we took the kids outside to get out some energy. I absolutely loved watching Carter in Logan's Mini Cooper power wheels. It was precious.

Snuggles with Opa.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Erin also broke out their bounce house for the kids which was a huge hit. Carter loves bounce houses and had such a blast!

Carter had a horrible night Saturday night (traditional while we're away from home), but we all got up and went to church on Sunday and then went to Perkins for lunch. After that, we headed home! We had a fun Thanksgiving and were happy to get to spend it with family! We're looking forward to the Christmas season too. So much fun!

Blessing Bags

I have an idea swirling around in my head and I don't really have a final plan for how I'd like to carry it out or how well it would even work out. But your input would be super.

The homeless have been on my heart a lot lately. I can't pinpoint an exact reason other than it is the holidays and getting colder, but I sort of have an idea of why. A few months (weeks?) ago, Seth and I were driving on a major road near our house with lots of stoplights. At one particular light near a McDonald's stood a homeless man. I didn't think much of it...til we saw him again a few days later. We briefly (during the red light) talked about what we should do - should we go to McDonald's and buy him a meal? Give him money? Well, no sooner did we start coming up with a plan did the light turn gree. Convenient, huh? Well, I was so sad for a bit after that incident, and things I've seen recently sort of have me bummed again.

It's that (happy) time of year when we shop to our little heart's content for Christmas gifts for our already priviledged family and friends. And I really, really want to do something cool for the homeless in our area who may literally know NO joy this holiday season. We sponsor a child in Uganda and happily send him a present for the holidays with a message of cheer, and we happily pack a shoebox (or two) for Operation Christmas Child. But what about the people right here in central PA????

My hope is to create small blessing bags this holiday season (or maybe slightly after since this is probably a bit late to be starting) and (somehow) go downtown and distribute them to the homeless. I will have to call the shelter down there to see where it is even remotely safe to go or if it is better that they distribute them - I just feel like it would be so much more of a blessing to see the joy on these people's faces and deliver them ourselves.

Butttttt, I sort of need help. Anyone who lives locally or family/friends/co-workers want to donate any items to these bags and/or help distribute? Might be a nice activity for a small group or anyone really. Some ideas I've seen online have been big - as in fill a backpack. I was thinking more like a gallon sized Ziploc or paper lunch bag to start off. I'm going to the Dollar Tree this week and will see what ideas come to mind.

A few of my ideas are:
- Granola bar
- Bottle of water
- Pack of gum or mints
- Pair of gloves from the dollar store?
- Toothbrush/toothpaste
- Small hand towel or washcloth
- Some type of pop-top canned good or pouch of tuna
- Bar of soap (might be a nice way to use some of those hotel items!)
- Tissues
- Bandaids (maybe 5 or so)
- Deodorant
- Etc, etc.

So what do you think? Anyone willing to donate a few items and help bless the homeless this holiday season?? Let me know!! :)

Come ye unwanted and find affection

Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head

Come ye unworthy, you are my brother

If such a thing as grace exists

Then grace was made for lives like this

There are no strangers

There are no outcasts

There are no orphans of God

So many fallen, but hallelujah

There are no orphans of God

Another Cleaning Tip - What is up with me?!?!?

So, I have another cleaning tip that has changed my life. Ok, not really changed my life. But it has saved me A LOT of money on new clothing for one certain little toddler who shall remain nameless.

If you're a mom (or quite frankly, even if you're not), you have probably seen those articles of clothing completely ruined by grease stains. On Carter's clothes, they appear as dark spots all over the shirt (usually darker clothes) and they are SO annoying. Once they are dried, the stain is set and essentially, the shirt is ruined.

Except...IT'S NOT!

(source)

I was seriously getting annoyed at how many shirts he was ruining simply because he is a messy little toddler, so I once again hit the internet for some tips. One brilliant woman suggested Dawn dish soap - after all, it is meant to "cut grease" right?

Well, I took some of the worst shirts that have been ruined and dry-set in Carter's closet, put the plain, blue Dawn dish detergent on the spots, rubbed it in, and let it sit overnight (or up to a few days even).

I washed them all and I kid you not, every single spot is gone. EVEN ON SHIRTS THAT HAVE HAD SET-IN STAINS FOR WEEKS.

I am a firm believer and am so pumped to get back several articles of clothing that I had declared ruined.

I had two coupons for $1 off Dawn and they were coincidentally marked down to $1 at our CVS a few weeks ago, so I have two containers of stain-fighting madness at my fingertips at no cost.

YA-HOO! Give it a try and let me know if it works for you!

Homemade Clorox Anywhere Spray

If you're like me (or you have a messy toddler), you are probably familiar with Clorox Anywhere spray. I've been using this pretty much since the day it came out and absolutely love it. It has the cleaning power of Clorox but is gentle enough to go around babies, pets, food, etc.

(source)

We go through this stuff like it's water - which, ironically enough, it pretty much is (it's like 97% water or something crazy like that!). At $3.29 a pop, we were dropping quite a bit on this stuff. AND THEN. A light bulb went off and I was like um, hello Danielle?? Chances are you can make this for way less. I did about .2 seconds of research and found an organic chemist's recipe for the stuff.

It's highly scientific so get out your calculator.

Take the empty 22-oz. bottle of Clorox Anywhere (or any 22 oz. bottle). Add 1/4 teaspoon of clorox, and fill 'er up the rest of the way with water.

SERIOUSLY.

I am in love. And richer. ONE QUARTER OF A TEASPOON!?!? It is seriously pretty much free, since I got the entire HUGE thing of Clorox for only $1 and it will take me a LOOOONG time to go through that 1/4 teaspoon at a time. It works exactly the same, smells exactly the same, and doesn't take color out of materials - I tested it on a blue cloth. It's meant for hard surfaces though, so I wouldn't spray it on material anyway, but I had to do my test.

Anyway, that's my money saving tip for today. I am shocked. And in awe. And pumped I found the recipe online and will never have to buy the stuff again. (No offense, Clorox).

Eighteen Months!!!

I refuse to believe my little boy is a year and a half old. I mean, seriously, I'm pretty sure he was born yesterday.

So much has changed in the past year and a half. For one, he actually sleeps now. KNOCK ON WOOD. Plus, he has SUCH a personality and is so smart. It's been awhile since I've done an "update" but I will love looking back on this someday so here goes...

Carter, at eighteen months, you:

- Weigh about 33 pounds and are tall (I don't know the exact height but you are in the 95th percentile for height).
- Wear size 5 diapers
- Wear size 18, 24, AND 2T - it totally depends on the brand and style of clothing. You would be totally fine in all 18 and 24 (mostly 24), but we'd like you to get plenty of use out of some of the 2T things so we have you in them even though they're big.
- Wear a size 6.5 shoe
- Still eat pretty much anything, though you certainly have your picky moments.
- Say SO many things and babble and babble all day. Some of the words you say are dog, cat, mama, dada, Bubba, Carter (Car-er), Oma, hello, amen, ball, bath, snack (nack), turtle, duck, truck, this, Elmo, car, no, ay-ay (like when you pet the dog), book, hot, night night, juice, and many more than I'm sure I'm forgetting.
- Can ALMOST count to three. You say "one, two" and then we have to help you say "three."
- Follow simple commands so well and know how to "connect the dots" - i.e. when we say it's time for a bath, you go right to the bathroom, when we say it's time for bed, you go to your bedroom, etc. You also pick up your toys when we ask you to, throw something away if we ask you to, and so on.
- Can point out your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, arms, fingers, toes, belly, bottom, feet, toes, and...ahem, some other parts. :)
- Know the animal sounds for the cow, dog, duck, snake, and can repeat some others when we help you.
- LOVE to play outside
- Climb on things and test your limits with us by touching mommy's decorations, spitting, throwing a temper tantrum, etc.
- Love to point out "big trucks" on the highway when we're in the car.
- Still don't love loud noises like the vacuum, leaf blower, etc., though they don't bother you nearly as bad when you aren't tired.
- Go to bed around 8 p.m. and sleep until about 6:30 a.m. - sometimes 7 a.m. if we're lucky (though we usually aren't)
- Still use a paci for bed and naps and occasionally in between
- Drink mostly milk and water, but juice sometimes. You ask for "juice" a lot.
- Love to give kisses (open-mouth toddler kisses, of course) and hugs.
- Love to read which is awesome, though mommy wishes you'd pick a new book sometimes. We seriously read the same ones over and over and over. His favorite is "Wake Up, Little Ones!"
- Enjoy pushing buttons on anything you can.
- Close your eyes and fold your hands when you want to eat. You sometimes get persistent and say "amen! amen!"
- Have fussy time between 4:45 and 5:15 most nights. This is because you are getting hungry for dinner but it isn't ready yet. Most of the time, outdoor play can help, but not always.
- Still love Veggie Tales and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse the best and get so excited when they come on.

Carter, you are the most precious little boy ever. We are so proud of how smart and sweet you are. We cannot believe that you are growing up so fast, so if you'd like to be a doll, slow down, okay? We love you so much, pumpkin love. :)

Love this boy.

Weekend in the Poconos

Our friend, Sharon, contacted us a few weeks ago about going to the Poconos to a vacation cabin for her husband, Bob's, 30th birthday. Of course we were in! There were five couples total and three kids. We arrived Friday night by dinner time. The place was really nice - it was in a gated community, had a pool table, hot tub, four bedrooms and a loft, fireplace, grill, and lots more.

Carter slept well Friday night into Saturday, though he felt it necessary to get up at 5:15 a.m. Since every area of the house was occupied, we had to keep him busy in our room until a more reasonable hour. We found a secret cabinet under our bed which kept him occupied for a bit. :)

Mid-morning on Saturday, the girls got in the outdoor hot tub, and within a few minutes, it began snowing. We knew it was supposed to snow but when we woke up on Saturday with absolutely nothing on the group, we thought we'd been punked. Turns out, the weathermen were right this time! It snowed all day straight!

After naptime, we took the kids outside for photos. Carter HATED the snow. He lasted all of two minutes, and he was back inside. I took a few photos for some of our friends and we all headed back inside to the warm house. We played pool, watched movies, and just hung out - it was awesome to just relax!

The lights began flickering off and on Saturday late afternoon and I was getting really nervous. After dinner, it began to flicker more frequently. Seth and I charged our phones, our laptop, and I ran upstairs and turned our space heater on to a freakishly high 80 degrees just in case the power would go out (so it would take awhile to cool down!).

I quickly gave C a warm bath and got him in bed. He was tuckered out and fell RIGHT asleep, which turned out to be really awesome since by about 8 p.m., the power went out and never came back on. UH-OH! We dressed warm for bed and all went to bed at a fairly decent time since there isn't much to do in the pitch black. Since it was a rental house, we didn't have candles or flashlights (except iphone flashlight apps). Sarah thought ahead and brought a lantern - smart girl!! That and the light of the gas fireplace was all we had. We all slept well and Carter at least slept until 6:15 on Sunday. But when we woke up, it was FREEZING in the house. We played in our room (using the light of cell phones and our laptop) until the sun came up!

We hung out for a bit, and then packed up to head out. Here is a group shot before we all headed home. It was so much fun to get to see everyone and catch up. We hope to do this again soon!!

I was SO cold even after we left. I had my side of the car on 75 degrees, and was wrapped in a blanket. It actually took me a full day to really warm back up I was so chilled. :)