Bad news. I just saw a mouse in the living room. It looks like we need to step up the fight, which we had actually abandoned once we came home from the trip and were left with SEVEN unsnapped, yet completely peanut butter-free traps. I have never seen any evidence of mice - no mouse poop, no chewed open food packages - in the house (except for the actual mouse I saw) so I sort of didn't worry about who ate all the peanut butter off the traps and let myself believe the mice were gone. So much for that.

Since Emma started school and is slowly becoming a little more worldly, there have been a few times when I've been unsure of what is the right thing to do in a certain situation. Today she went to a party that was actually a birthday party for her friend's little sister. Her friend wanted to invite Emma so she'd be able to play with someone her own age. The plan was for me to drop her off at Tunnel Voyage, then later go pick her up at her friend's grandparents' house, where they were going afterward for dinner and cake. The friend's parents didn't get a birthday party package at Tunnel Voyage, but they were going to pay Emma's way in. So, when I dropped her off, I couldn't decide if I should send her in with any money. I felt like by sending her in with no money, I was just counting on the other parents to pay for anything she might need, which I didn't want to do. On the other hand, all I had was a ten dollar bill, and sending a (barely) five year old in alone with ten dollars seemed like a mistake as well. I can just see her at the snack bar, ordering a huge soda and every piece of candy she can possibly purchase with ten dollars. I thought about giving the other parents the money, but they likely wouldn't have accepted it. In the end, I didn't give her the money. Was that the right decision?Last thing - I have a tip for anyone who might be reading this. If you've never purchased a pineapple, you really need to. You won't be sorry. I love fresh pineapple, but I've never bought one before because they always looked sort of intimidating. A couple weeks ago, Emma convinced me to buy one, and it turns out they are really no trouble to cut up and SO delicious. The kids and I have been devouring almost a pineapple a day lately. So yeah, if you see some weirdo at Costco buying five pineapples, that's me. Ahem.

We spent the last few days skiing with my family, which was great fun, as always. Emma skied for the first time this year, and honestly, I was a little apprehensive about it beforehand. When I learned to ski I was a couple years older than her, and I remember lying in the snow before I had actually even started skiing, crying because my feet hurt and begging to just skip the whole thing. Luckily, she wasn't that lame and she totally rocked! She took a lesson in the morning, then went out with us in the afternoon and then again at night. By the end of the day, she was a little speed demon. I was so impressed with her. I didn't get to ski as much as I would have liked because Allie has developed a little case of separation anxiety, but there is always next year.We drove back today, and after eight hours in the car with the kiddos, I am beat. We saw some bald eagles on the drive home, as well as on the way there. Steve was willing to stop and wait while I took a picture, but not willing to wait for me to change my lens so I could actually get a good picture.The mouse eradication is not going well. We set two traps in the kitchen before we left, and several more in the garage, all with big globs of peanut butter. We came home to find the traps in the kitchen still unsnapped, but there was no peanut butter left on them. Not a trace. We must have some very stealthy mice. I don't know yet if we caught anything in the garage - I'm afraid to look.

Awhile back we noticed that a bag of birdseed in our garage had been torn into and strewn around the workbench. We figured there might be a mouse or two living out there, but we said they were probably just trying to get in from the cold so we let it go. Two times after that, I actually saw a mouse in the garage, and briefly searched online for humane mouse trap options. Really though, we don't much care if there is a mouse or two in the garage, so I forgot about catching them and setting them free somewhere else, and we left them alone.

This morning I was changing Allie's diaper in the living room and as I glanced over to the kitchen, I happened to see a mouse run along the length of the wall and then disappear behind the refrigerator. Oh. No. Mice in the garage is one thing, but mice in my kitchen is another thing entirely and I am NOT cool with that. We tried to be nice and let them be, but now they have overstepped their boundaries.

Right after I saw the mouse, we left to take Emma to school, and then came back here just so I could run inside and grab enough diapers to last us through the day. We left again, and since the thought of hanging out in a house with mice totally creeps me out, we didn't come back home until about 8:30 tonight. We bounced from one place to another all day and did whatever we could find to do just to avoid coming home. One of the things we did was buy mouse traps - the killing kind. I am feeling very bad about this. Still, I do need to go in my kitchen at some point, so I'm just trying not to think about it. Steve is going to take care of all the mouse trapping duties so I can continue to not think about it. Except that I obviously am.

I have not ever taken a picture of a mouse so I searched Google images to try to find a picture of a mouse for this post. I didn't want to get anything gross, so I searched for "mouse cute", which was clearly a mistake. What is wrong with me, wanting to kill those sweet, cute, innocent looking little furballs? You'll notice that there is no picture in this post because I can't put up a darling picture of a wittle bitty mouse and then come here and announce that I'm going to kill one (or more) without seeming like some kind of ogre.

And by the way, I am so thirsty right now. I am positively dying from thirst, but I can't make myself go in the kitchen and get a stupid drink. I've got issues.

Noah pretty much always tells me when he needs his diaper changed, so I figured it might be time to start the whole potty learning process. I brought the old potty chair up from the basement, and gave Noah a little crash course on what he was supposed to do. He seemed to get it, and actually acted pretty excited about the whole thing. We've tried it several times now, and here's how it always goes down.

1. He sits on the potty.
2. About 2.4 seconds later, he gets up to look inside and see if there is any pee there. "Pee?"
3. He appears surprised that the potty is empty, then shrugs and wanders off.
4. About 3.7 seconds later, he pees on the floor somewhere.
5. Immediately after that, he runs to find me and show me the puddle, all the while clapping, pointing excitedly, and exclaiming, "Pee!"

I guess he hasn't really got it yet.

My mom and grandma came to visit last weekend and we had a little pre-birthday celebration for Emma while they were here. I made and decorated her a cake, under her watchful eye and strict instructions. She dictated the colors, the shape, and told me exactly what she wanted it to look like. She wanted to do the sprinkles herself, so I handed them over and let her have at it. She worked very meticulously on those sprinkles for a good twenty minutes. While she was working so diligently, I heard her say to herself, "This just might be the best cake ever." I think she might be right.The other night I made her this birthday crown out of wool felt. I bought enough materials to make one for Noah and Allie too, and my hope is that they will each wear theirs every year on their birthday. Steve said he also wants one, so maybe I'll make one for him too. Emma seems to like hers so I'd say so far the birthday crown idea is a success.Even though it isn't really her birthday yet, it was a fun little celebration, and who wouldn't like an extra birthday party? And I, for one, am always up for extra cake.

I've been having some issues with Noah lately. He is so sweet and cute and I love how he says new words every day and how he gets so excited about tractors and how he says, "Hi, moff." whenever he sees a moth and how he takes multiple baths every day because he loves them so much and how he looks so proud when he puts on Emma's clothes. BUT...


He is into everything. Always. He doesn't stop. Ever. For example, tonight while I was trying to cook dinner, he decided he wanted to bring Jose's food and water from the kitchen into the living room. Before I realized what he was doing, he spilled the water all over the kitchen floor. While I was cleaning that up, he somehow managed to sneak by me with the bowlful of dog food and fling it all into the living room, where a lot of it fell into and got lost in two baskets of clean laundry that were waiting to be folded. While I was cleaning that up, he pushed a chair over to the kitchen sink and splashed around in the dishes that were there, making another big mess in the process. When I stopped him from doing that, he ran to the bathroom and dragged toilet paper all over the house. Dude. Stop messing with stuff!


He also wants to nurse constantly. All day long I hear this ringing in my ears, and it sounds exactly like a little voice going, "Nurse. Nuuuuurrrrse. Nuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrse." I don't want him to wean yet, but really, I could do with a little less nursing.


He is also still doing the hitting thing when he plays with other little kids, although maybe not quite as much. And, as always, I simply just cannot get that kid to sleep.


He's lucky he's cute.

Some random stuff, just because I haven't blogged in awhile and also because I have run out of other things to do to avoid going to bed.

~ We got a Wii Fit last weekend and I love it! I've been wanting to work out, but it's generally too cold to bring the babies out in the jogging stroller and it's pretty much impossible to go to a gym because I'm not going to leave Allie with anyone else at this point. The Wii Fit totally solved that problem. I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now my regular after-the-kids-are-in-bed activities have been replaced by hula-hooping, yoga, boxing, etc.
~ Steve has been working a ton this month and I am SO over it. I swear, putting all three kids to bed all by myself is going to be the death of me. He has to work all this weekend again, but the good news is that he is going to work from home. It's ridiculous how happy I am about that.

~ Steve and I are buying life insurance to supplement what his work offers, and earlier this week a lady had to come to our house to give us each a health screening. I think my blood pressure is permanently raised after that experience. She arrived forty-five minutes early (well before Steve was home) and since I hadn't yet had time to pick up or clean dinner off the table, I was slightly flustered. Add to that the fact that Jose (who was banished to the garage) barked constantly during the entire visit, Emma inadvertently yelled in Allie's face while yelling at Jose to be quiet, causing Allie to scream uncontrollably, and the whole visit was rapidly going downhill. Of course, it all got even better when Noah spilled my urine sample all over the kitchen table, and then tried to yank the needle out of my arm while the lady was drawing my blood. Keep in mind that I hate having my blood drawn under normal circumstances, so all this was a little more than slightly unnerving for me. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see Steve get home in my entire life.

~ I got a membership to Costco and, seriously, why didn't I do that long ago? That place is way too much fun. I actually went there three times last week, which may be a bit extreme, so in the future I will have to control myself a little more. Once a week, tops.
~ These are just random pictures to go with this random post. Although Emma and Noah sometimes seem like they never stop fighting with each other, they've got nothing but love for their sweet baby sister.

Due to it's not being used and also to my getting tired of constantly picking up various game-playing paraphernalia, our Wii has been packed away for months. Per Emma's request, this weekend we broke it out again. We spent most of Saturday playing Wii Sports, and then on Sunday purchased the old school Dr. Mario, which I'm pretty sure is the best video game ever invented. That night Steve and I stayed up until midnight playing, and afterwards I vowed to never waste that much time and stay up so late playing a video game again. My resolve is embarrasingly weak, because Monday night we stayed up until after 1:00 a.m. playing that darn game.
Last night, however, I actually managed to do something useful after the kids were in bed. I sewed this little artwork carrying case for Emma, using this for inspiration. When asked, she always wants to go to restaurants that have "drawlings", otherwise known as a kid's menu and crayons. I'm thinking she can keep this in the car and it will keep her busy even at places that don't provide drawlings. And, after I finished this, I destroyed Steve in a few (okay, many) friendly games of Dr Mario. It's all about balance around here, people.Also, this sweet baby is five months old today. Good golly. Could time be flying any faster?

Before Christmas, I saw this blog post about making a gumdrop wreath, and thought it seemed like a perfect project for Emma. We went out and bought the supplies, and it really was an easy and fun project. I'm sure she'd also tell you about an additional benefit - being able to eat a whole bunch of gumdrops, at least whenever she thought I wasn't looking. It looked cute hanging in her room but she decided to give it to my mom for Christmas, who I believe still has it displayed in her kitchen.Remember this quilt? I made it for Allie before she was born and used yarn to tie it together, but after it was finished I removed the yarn and decided to quilt it instead. Well, I finally got around to it, mostly because after being used daily for the last four months, it desperately needed to be washed and I didn't want to wash it until it was quilted.I wanted to do kind of a curly-Q type of quilting and I thought about using pink or green thread for the back, but decided against it because if the quilting looked bad I didn't want it to be too noticeable. In retrospect, I wish I had because I think the quilting turned out pretty well.
Noah has developed a disturbing habit of hitting other little kids, and I'm feeling troubled by it. It's been happening here and there for awhile, but last night we met a friend and her kids at the mall, and instead of playing on the toys, Noah ran around smacking people. He doesn't do it because he's mad and I don't think he's trying to be mean. It's more like a "hello" smack, but he does it hard enough that whoever is on the receiving end usually cries. I don't know what to do. I mean, I can only say, "Be gentle, you hurt her, you made him sad, he won't want to play with you if you hit, blah, blah, blah" so many times before it becomes silly because it's not making a bit of difference. He spent most of the time last night sitting on my lap because he couldn't stop hitting, which I don't really like because I also have Allie on my lap and it's difficult to hold them both at the same time when Noah is struggling to escape. I hope it's a very short phase because I'm starting to feel like I can't take him anywhere, and I don't want the rest of us to be stuck at home all the time because of him. Other than when he fights with Emma sometimes, he is never aggressive with anyone at home, so I just don't get it. Hmmmm.

Another - much more endearing - thing he has started doing is finding discarded items of clothing around the house, wrapping them around his neck, and coming to me saying, "Help. Help." until I help him put them on. And if the clothes happen to belong to his older sister, so be it.

Purely to satisfy my curiosity, I recently figured out how much we've been spending eating out every month. I sort of wish I hadn't done it, but I guess it's good that I did, because it's an obscene amount and some changes probably need to be made.
For inspiration, I treated myself to some new cookbooks. The bottom three in this stack are from the library, but my own personal copies are on their way to me right now, thanks to my friends at amazon.com. So far everything I've made from these books has been pretty great.

Other than the fact that we just really really like to eat out, I know the (second) main reason that we don't eat at home is that so many times there is nothing prepared and either there is nothing in the house to make anyway or no one - meaning me - feels like preparing what we do have on hand. In order to reduce the number of times we find ourselves in that situation, I am going to do two things.

First, as often as possible, I am going to try to make double or triple of something and freeze the extra. Second, I am going to try to make things in advance so they will requite little to no preparation when it's actually time to eat. For example, today I made a triple batch of a sloppy joe recipe found in the Real Simple cookbook. Two batches went into the freezer and another went into the fridge for us to have sometime in the next few days. Yay, me! I know this is not rocket science, but for some reason I have always had such a difficult time doing this. Hopefully I can make it work this time, though.

For dinner tonight we had shrimp with arugula and couscous, also from the Real Simple book. It was delicious. For dessert, we had Mint Chocolate Brownies. Oh. My. Heaven, I tell you.

Due to Santa's procrastination, we finally had our own family Christmas here yesterday. Emma got her stage and microphone and they were a hit, although now the microphone is already broken. Grrr. I think Steve especially liked the microphone, because even after the kids went to bed, he was still sitting in the stage, crooning horrible but amusing made-up songs to anyone who would listen, even if that happened to be Jose.Today is our first normal day in quite awhile, and it's been a little difficult adjusting to just being here alone with the kids. The kids have all been sick in some way or another, and Steve actually took two sick days this week - his FIRST sick days ever. He is back at work today though, and I think we all got used to being together all the time, because this morning during breakfast Emma asked, "I wonder where Papa is?" Even with all the family time, I am feeling a little worn out. The kids are, of course, always here, and sometimes I wish they could go somewhere else for a little while so I could do some stuff with no interruptions. I keep reminding myself that someday I will be able to go the bathroom without an audience, and someday I will be able to sweep the kitchen without little hands flinging the dirt pile all over, and someday I will be able to make pancakes without someone spilling the entire bowl of batter all over the floor. And today, I am really looking forward to that day!

One more hat finished, although it's a little late. The weather here has been crazy cold the past few days, but I think tomorrow it's supposed to get all the way up to a balmy 35 degrees. Ah well, she still looks cute wearing it, even if she doesn't really need it. I started Emma's already, and my sad goal is to finish it before Spring.There has been a flurry of last minute crafting around here because Emma keeps thinking of more presents she wants to give. The entire top bunk is covered with various items she has either made, purchased, or found around the house, all to be given to various family members. So, any family members who may be reading this, you might want to make space on your shelves for the influx of trinkets you will soon be receiving!

I made a batch of gingersnaps to bring along when we went to the lake for Thanksgiving, and at least once a day since then, my brain begs me to make them again. Twice I've given in, and then been somewhat regretful because once they are here I lose all control over myself and I can't stop eating them. I think part of the problem is that I use whole wheat pastry flour to make them, and then convince myself that they aren't really so bad because it least they are whole wheat. Never mind the three sticks of butter and two cups of sugar thrown in as well. I was planning to make some for a cookie swap tomorrow, but since we have been running around nonstop for the last two days, I've decided to stay home instead. But don't think I won't still be making the gingersnaps!I did meet up with some friends for two swaps yesterday - another ornament swap and a holiday swap. I made more houses for the ornament swap, and in case you are getting tired of looking at these little houses, I promise that this is the last picture of them. For the other swap, we were just supposed to make some random item, and I made embellished towels. I was planning to do patchwork, but I waited too long and had to take the easy way out. I wanted to use kitchen-y type fabrics, and I found all of these food related prints in my stash. I actually had even more food prints so I had to narrow it down. I think having so many fabrics about food alone means I might have a little bit of a fabric hoarding problem. A couple people couldn't make it yesterday so I don't have all the swap items yet, but when I get them all I'll post a picture. The things I did receive were lovely.
One more thing - I just got some jumbo muffin pans in the mail from my friends at amazon.com and I love them. The only thing in the world better than a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin is a huge chocolate chip pumpkin muffin. Okay, or maybe a gingersnap.

I have spent most of the morning today and the first part of the afternoon trying to decide if we should go out or not. I have errands to run, but is it worth digging my van out from under the snow and taking the little ones out in the freezing cold? We need groceries and although I could scrounge around and find stuff for us to eat, we have no cream, half and half, or milk, and I need at least one of those for my coffee. This morning I tried to drink it black, and blech! All day I've been missing my coffee, which means the real question is, is it worth braving the elements so I can have a good cup of coffee? I've waited long enough that the decision has basically made itself for me, because I have to pick Emma up at 3:00 anyway. Oh Starbucks, here I come!Our Christmas tree is struggling. Since we put it up, it's been knocked over several times. Yesterday, while rolling around on the birth ball, Emma grabbed the tree to steady herself and down it went. Some part of the base must have bent when it fell because I couldn't get the tree to stand up quite right after that. While I was making dinner the kids knocked it over three more times, and I finally threatened that if it fell one more time I was taking it down. Of course, about thirty seconds later Noah pulled it down on top of himself so I removed all the ornaments and promised to take down the tree all together after dinner. Steve came home and called me a Scrooge, then stood the tree up again and fixed the base so that it would be sturdier. I ended up not taking it down, but now it has no ornaments, some of the lights have been pulled off, and one side is all smashed in from hitting the floor so many times. Very festive, let me tell you.
These photos, which have absolutely nothing to do with this post, were all taken in the last two days. I like them because they all seem to show off the kids' blue eyes.

One more ornament swap down, one more to go. I sent off these little houses yesterday. Hopefully their recipients like them. I think they are pretty cute and I wish I would have made one for myself, but I have no desire to sew any more house ornaments. I can only handle so much repetition, which is a small downside of ornament swaps.Since I had Allie, I have been amazed at the friendliness and helpfulness of strangers. Whenever I go anywhere, I generally have Allie in the sling and Noah on my hip and I can pretty much do anything I need to do while carrying both of them. Still, I must look like I need help because people are always going out of their way to be helpful. The other day we were at Panera and I was carrying a high chair to our table while also carrying Noah and Allie, and on the short trip from the stack of high chairs to our table, three different people came over and offered to carry the high chair for me. During the snow storm on Tuesday, we were walking out of HyVee and a man who was walking in turned around when he saw us, then helped me by pushing my cart all the way to my van and unloading all my groceries while I buckled in the kids. Today we were walking into Target and I was carrying both kids and a picture frame that I wanted to return, and a lady who was loading up her own car came over and offered to carry the frame inside for me. Even though I don't think I really need the help, it's nice and I appreciate the offers. Someday I won't always have my arms full of little kids, and when that time comes I hope I remember to offer help to those who do.

We get a ton of toy catalogs in the mail and Emma likes to look through them and point out the things she likes. For the past couple months, I've been taking note and planning to try to recreate the things that she likes - specifically this and this. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago she came across this Star Performance Theater and now it's all she talks about. Whenever anyone, even a complete stranger, brings up Christmas, she goes on and on about the stage and the microphone that she will be getting. It seems like most of her sentences anymore start with, "When I get my stage..." I do not think this stage sounds like a good present at all, nor do I want it taking up valuable limited space in my house. Still, I can see her opening all her handmade gifts, then tossing them aside and going, "Where's the stage?", which I will definitely not appreciate. In order to avoid that scenario, and also because she really really has her heart set on the darn thing, this morning I begrudgingly ordered her both the stage and the microphone. The silver lining, however, is that now I can give her the other stuff for her birthday and I will have two additional months in which to make it.
Another Christmas present that might not work out so well is a Bumbo Seat that I purchased for Allie. I have always thought they looked cool, but the short time for which they could be used was probably not worth the price. I was excited to find a good deal on one at a resale shop and rushed home to have Allie try it out. I figured she would probably have forgotten about it by Christmas and therefore I was not worried about spoiling the surprise. She hated it. She sat there long enough for me to take this one picture, then she wanted out, immediately. Hopefully she'll like it a little more in a few weeks when I try to stuff her in there again.Over the weekend we purchased some wine to bring to a party and decided to buy some for ourselves as well. We used to have wine at home much more often but have gotten out of the habit (which might have something to do with the fact that I have spent much of the last two years being pregnant). After we agreed that we'd both like to start having wine with dinner more often, I decided to perform a little experiment. Steve picked a $22 bottle of cabernet, and then I noticed the World Market brand of the same kind of wine, which was only $4.99. I decided to get both and do a little taste test to see if we could tell the difference. Steve was certain that we would, because we've both heard that it's hard to get good red wine for cheap. When we got home, we immediately conducted the experiment. The verdict? The more expensive wine looked a little darker in the glass, but there was absolutely no difference in the taste. Either that, or we know absolutely nothing about wine and probably deserve to be drinking the cheapo stuff anyway. Isn't that interesting?

My local AP group met for lunch and had our annual ornament swap today. There were eighteen people participating this year, and if I had to do it over I'd probably make something a little less time consuming. Cutting out the 144 little pieces of fabric wasn't so bad, but trying to divide each styrofoam ball into eight even sections, then cutting all those sections, then stuffing the fabric down into the crevices was definitely getting a little old by the end. Still, I am glad I made them because I really liked the end result.I got a slew of great ornaments from everyone else, which makes me excited to set up our tree this weekend. Aren't these cute!?I'm also participating in a couple other ornament swaps this year, and have started receiving some ornaments in the mail. Yay! We already had a ton of ornaments before last year, but now, because of my ridiculous obsession with ornament swaps, I have way more ornaments than could ever fit on any one tree. I need to find some cute (out of the reach of little hands) way to display them all.

I've been wanting to post about Allie, but I can't seem to get a picture of her that makes her look as adorable as she really is. Still, I want to talk about her so these pictures will just have to do for now.When I found out we were expecting Allie, Noah was only seven months old and I basically thought it was a disaster. I planned to have all my kids three years apart and I wanted nothing to do with having two babies at the same time. Of course, what was done was done, so I tried to look forward to the new baby with something other than complete dread.Fast forward to now: I am SO happy we have this baby. So, so thrilled that she is in our family. I found out that instead of causing more stress, she brings me nothing but joy. Allie has completely brightened my life, which is saying quite a bit because my life was already pretty decent before she was born.
She loves to gurgle and coo and will continue a "conversation" for as long as anyone is willing to listen. When she smiles, which is often, her whole body shakes with happiness. I thought my other two kids were easy babies, but I'm pretty sure Allie really IS the most easy-going baby ever. I really cannot imagine a more wonderful surprise.

Tonight was a fun night - dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, browsing around Barnes and Noble, buying new shoes, seeing a surprise fireworks display, then getting coffee and driving around looking at Christmas lights until all the kids fell asleep. Now we are back at home and everyone is in bed. Well, everyone except me, of course. I am not going to waste any more time in front of this computer, but am instead going to curl up on the couch and read my book. When I get tired, I'm going to crawl into bed and try to find a space somewhere amidst all the arms and legs of my husband and children. All of whom will undoubtedly, in their sleep, soon rearrange themselves so they are as cuddled up and close to me as humanly possible. I am so very blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!