Bye Bye Baby

My dear sweet Sean is no longer a baby, and as such it is time to give him a big boy room.  Today phase one began.  I took down his nursery (sun, moon, stars and clouds) decals.  In the next day or so I'll take down the wall hangings, "Sweet Dreams" letters over his bed and start filling in nail wholes and sanding.

It's hard to believe that when I painted the nursery over four years ago I would have three boys in there already.  Who knew?!  It was almost exactly four years ago from now that I put up the decals and painted the stripe border.  Ah, not such fond memories of that as I was suffering from anxiety while on a medication to increase milk production for Jack.  Oh well, better times now and three happy and healthy boys.

Anyway, the whole changing of the room is also because Sean will be gone this weekend.  That makes it a perfect time to paint.  So he'll be getting gray walls and robot decals.  I haven't picked the curtains yet, though they will likely just be a solid color.  Then someday the theme can be changed relatively easily, just new decals and/or wall hangings.

I will have to post photos once it's all done.  I'm sure Sean will like no matter what.  His big brothers are already getting a little jealous, saying they want robots too! 

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was rather tame, it didn't seem much like Thanksgiving at all.  We're more used to a family gathering with my side of the family with about 20 people or so, several kids running around.  Spending the whole day together and catching up on all the family gossip, eating and cooking all day.  This year it was just the five of us and Josh's parents.  We still had fun and of course ate well!

We started the day out by taking the boys to Clemson Extension where Josh flew his rc airplanes.  You would be amazed what can fit in a Prius...two rc planes and their stuff, two children's bikes, two dump trucks and a bulldozer, plus the five of us of course!!  The boys played in the dirt, sand, rode bikes and had dump truck races.  I pushed Jack in the dump truck, big mistake.  He is too big and it is too low to the ground.  As I was giving him his final push and letting go I somehow twisted my ankle and fell flat on my behind!  My ankle bothered me on and off during the weekend.  Oh well, it was worth it having that much fun with the boys!

Then we went home, Josh's parents came over and it was lunch time.  We had homemade bean and ham soup for lunch.  It seemed odd the rest of the day since I didn't need to spend much time in the kitchen.  Usually there is lots of cooking to do.  This year I kept it simple given the small group.  We dined on turkey breast, gravy, stuffing, roasted fingerling potatoes, homemade rolls (I LOVE having a hubby who can bake great bread products), steamed broccoli and cranberry sauce.  Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake, yummy!  I actually had time to watch the Packers win!!!!

It was a fun day, just not hectic busy or full of family gossip and kids running all over.

Then came Friday.  For the first time I actually ventured out for Black Friday.  Josh was getting a new grill for an early Christmas present and we found a great deal.  Plus my Christmas china was on sale for a big savings.   So off I ventured before 4:30 in the morning.  I swung by Wal-Mart on the way out but they didn't have what I wanted.  We're getting the boys LeapPad this year.  Well it seems it is the "it" toy this year and they are sold out everywhere.  Guess they will just have to get that present late. 

Anyway I then went to my parent's house to get their minivan (grill certainly won't fit in my Prius)!!  I got to Academy Sports shortly after they opened at 5 and already the display of 3 grills was sold out.  I was the fourth person waiting for them to bring out more.  We waited quite some time, everyone was polite and several employees kept checking on the status.  We didn't get an exact answer as to how many were in back so I was hoping I wasn't waiting for nothing!

After some time the first pallet of three grills came out.  None for me....but there was another pallet they were working on getting out.  It was way in the back and on top, trying not to kill anyone with the forklift getting it out!  It came and I got one.  The line wasn't long, assuming you knew which one to get in.  Then I had to wait to get it loaded to roll out to the car.  I pushed it out and help arrived shortly thereafter.  All in all it was an hour and a half experience.  I suppose it was worth it to save $150, but that is why I NEVER to Black Friday!!

I ventured over to Belk and got my china, though by then they didn't have everything I needed to complete my 12 placesettings.  I got Josh a few presents and tried on a couple things, got myself two shirts.  I would have liked to look around more, but I'm just not a power shopper and reached my shopping limit.  I swung by Panera and picked up bagels, headed home and had breakfast with Josh and the boys all before 8:30.  I was exhausted!!

The rest of the weekend was fine.  We strolled through the zoo Saturday, played outside quite a bit, Josh worked on the car....  Pretty much usual weekend routine, though for some reason one of the kids was always waking up early.  Needless to say I'm sleep deprived.  Never a chance to recover sleep once I miss it!  Josh still has off tomorrow so hopefully we can settle into "normalcy" before he goes back to work. 

I'm looking forward to next weekend....Oma and Opa are taking the boys up to the mountains.  We'll be home ALONE!!!  Busy doing projects (tiling the powder room and painting Sean's big boy room), but still no kids is a welcome break.

The boys had fun entertaining their grandparents and look forward to Christmas with them.

Hmmm, maybe I can climb up on this!

Jack and Ewan riding around.

Jack keeping an eye on Daddy and his plane.

Ewan practicing his Tour de France moves!

Jack giving Sean a push.  Sean LOVES dump truck races!

Faster Jack, faster!

Snack time in the back of the car.

Three hungry boys awaiting the feast.

Birthday Boy Ewan

Needless to say I'm behind in this post.  Last Tuesday was Ewan's third birthday.  Time just flies by so quickly!  Plus with Thanksgiving two days later we've just been swamped, well that is I'VE been busy!!

Monday night we celebrated with Oma and Opa since they left Tuesday morning to visit Uncle Nick in Seattle for the holiday weekend.  Ewan was thrilled to get a pair of hiking books just like Jack, well a different color anyway.  We had a nice family dinner and Ewan thoroughly enjoyed his peppermint cupcake, as did everyone else.

Tuesday was a quiet birthday at home.  We had a nice family dinner and Ewan (and of course Jack and Sean too) had fun opening presents.

Here are some shots of my sweet Ewan....

There's Ewan's famous smile!!  Enjoying everyone singing to him.

Make a wish big guy.

Yummy

Sean enjoying the festivities.

Jack's huge grin!

Jack taking pictures of the rest of the gang (Opa here).

Jack's shot of Ewan and Oma.

Jack's shot of Daddy, little blurry though.

Opening presents on his birthday.

Teamwork...three brother to open presents.  Jack to pull the ribbon off,

Ewan to unwrap and Sean to tear the paper to pieces!!

Flashback Friday

My littlest man one year ago.  November 2010

How do you do it all???

I hear this an awful lot.  I must say, in general it isn't too difficult.  Just NEVER get behind in the cleaning and laundry or you will never recover.  AND SAY A QUIET LITTLE PRAYER TO THE HEAVENS THAT THE KIDS BEHAVE!!!!

Today, for example, all before 7AM I got quite a bit done.  I got up and threw on my workout clothes and made the bed.  I folded a load of laundry and carefully placed two loads of clean clothes into one basket so that it was heaping way over.  I cleaned the powder room.  I Pledged the dining room table and Windexed the mirror centerpiece (ran out of time last night as the ironing took too long).  I managed to check email on my phone and even a few web sites, plus download a new shopping/coupon app on my phone.  I emptied the dishwasher.  I made room in the two fridges for the impending onslaught of Thanksgiving food.  I listened to my dear sweet Jack WHINE constantly about wanting Ewan's new watch (he was up at 5:40 this morning).

This whining leads to another subject.  The watch was taken away last night after Jack and Ewan got into major trouble at bedtime.  First Josh went up and they had been in the bathroom....took the bandaids and used several.  Later I went up.  They were in the bathroom AGAIN (I would have locked it after the first time, Josh was trying to teach them to stay out).  Somehow I got stuck cleaning the mess...this time they emptied Sean's toothpaste, put toilet paper in the toilet, sprayed stain remover all over the bathroom....

So needless to say it isn't always a breeze.  After last night and this morning the chaos is a little insane!  The sad thing is I would have been doing all this anyway, this doesn't even include extra stuff for Thanksgiving!  Oh wait, I did at least also manage to eat the last peppermint cupcake this morning too if I must confess.  I did need to put away the cake pedestal after all!!!

Weekend Fun

Not much new and exciting happening here, just the usual chaos over the weekend.  Saturday the boys and I went to the park to take Oma and Opa's pictures for their Christmas cards while Josh was out dirtbiking.  The boys and I showed up at the wrong park first, oops!  BUT, we did manage to snap a few pics of the troops before we headed to the right one.

Yesterday was our own pre day after Thanksgiving.  Since we had turkey for our playdate Friday yesterday was our big leftover day.  Turkey quiche for breakfast, turkey sandwiches for lunch and turkey curry for dinner!!!  Still have more turkey too.  And then wait until Thursday!!!

Catching Up

The holidays are near and things are already crazy hectic.  To catch up....Wednesday Jack had his preschool Thanksgiving show and potluck luncheon.  The children put on an excellent musical performance.  Jack waved at us a lot and clapped a lot.  He had tons of fun and it was nice to see him so excited!  Oma, Opa, Ewan, Sean and I enjoyed watching him.  The Thanksgiving feast was tasty too.

Last night we took the boys to Vista Lights.  They lit the Christmas tree in the Vista and had the streets closed off to traffic.  The boys enjoyed seeing the tree (missed Santa though).  Ewan especially loved the band and dancing to their music.  He is our party animal/dancing fool!

Then today we had a Thanksgiving feast out our house with our playgroup.  We had lots of yummy food and enjoyed playing outside too.  So, like I said, things have been busy and I'm exhausted.  AND we still have Ewan's birthday next week and Thanksgiving (I still need to figure out the menu for that feast too)!

Tis the Season

It's that time of year again when we need to compile a list of present ideas.  In our house it is always difficult.   All three boys just had or will have birthdays soon and they truly do not need much of anything.  Plus we despise having too many toys anyway.  I just cannot stand clutter in a house and toys is definitely one way to go!

This year I think I've done a pretty good job of working on the lists.  We've got educational and practical toys for Jack and Ewan, plus fun stuff they want too.  Sean is the most difficult since he gets everything handed down and REALLY doesn't need much.  I still managed to come up with a few things for him.

I am really tricky too.  There is plenty of stuff I like, but the practical part of me says I really don't need it.  Why have stuff cluttering the house if I don't need it.  Nothing worse than things taken up space and being used rarely.  Plus I do not like gift cards either.  That having been said, I do need/want clothes, yet I only trust two people to buy these (dear hubby and my mom).  So of course gift cards is a solution to that.  Gifts cards just seem so impersonal though.  What kind of greedy society are we if all we can come up with is gift cards.  It's the same as cash and just doesn't show that you put forth any effort or know the person well.  I'm torn on this issue.

Josh is another tricky person.  His ideas are usually expensive or boring...aka car parts or tools.  I'm working on him too.

Two of our lists are already off to family members.  Good luck to ya'll, hope we could come up with something easy and that interests you at least!!  I'd like to think the Dalrmple Clan has been nice this year.   Despite my complaints about the boys sometimes, they really are sweethearts.  Just the other day I was in the hammock enjoying some time relaxing with all three boys.  Sweet moments like that remind how sweet they can be!!

Uncle Nick's Visit

As I alluded to earlier Uncle Nick was here for a visit last week.  He was here for just under 48 hours and still the boys had lots of fun with him.  They LOVE to play with their uncle. 

He flew in from Seattle Wednesday morning and hit the road already Friday morning.  He was in town to pick up a car.  His transmission died so we just gave him one of our cars and he drove it back out West. 

That's right everyone, we are back down to owning only FOUR cars!!  Yeah me to having one less car in the driveway!!!!!!!!

Uncle Nick with Jack and Ewan at Oma's house for dinner.

Me...as taken by Jack, my budding photographer.

Uncle Nick, as taken by Jack.

What didn't make the cut....

This morning we went out in the back yard and worked on family pictures for our Christmas cards this year.  That is always an adventure, and even more so now with three highly active boys!  We started in the tree house, all five of us.  That's right, a family picture of everyone in the tree house.  Then it was the whole gang in the hammock, the three boys in the hammock and each boy individually in the wooded area out back.

All in all it was successful.  The biggest challenge is the whole family.  To get five people all looking halfway decent at the same time is a huge task.  Sean is especially tricky since we had the camera on a tripod and used the remote control...without somebody holding the camera he just didn't grasp where to look and who to laugh at!!  Keep in mind to get our four pictures we will use we took over 350 shots!!

So here are some of the pictures that won't be on the card....not showing which ones we did use.  The family picture was one of the biggies to get cut.  Our favorite card styles had space for four pictures, and since none of the family pictures were fabulous we just decided to skip it.   Enjoy!!!