Creepy, Creepy and Creepy!!!!

About 2 1/2 years ago, on a Black Friday shopping trip I bought this awesome jewelry box.  I wanted the jewelry box so bad and when I got to the store there was one left and there were two older women debating between the box I wanted and another one.  As they were looking at the other one I snuck up behind them and grabbed the box and left...wow, if looks could kill!!! LOL!  Anyway, not long after I brought it home Beau started complaining about it making noises.  I thought he was loosing his mind because I never could hear anything.  He kept telling me that the lady that I 'stole' it from had died and had come back to haunt me!  After awhile I started hearing the noise too.  It sounded kind of like a ticking watch but there was no watch in there.  Fast forward to this morning.  I opened up the box to look for some earrings for Olivia. As I opened the box I noticed some strange holes in top (see picture 1)  I also noticed what looked like saw dust down the back and in one of the compartments. I had a crazy thought and then I quickly brushed it out of my mind. So when Beau came home I showed him and what did he say?!!!  "There are termites in there!!!", "that's what we kept hearing termites!!"  No freaking way!!! That's what I was thinking, but the thought just creeped me out, there is no way that there have been termites in my jewelry box, in my HOUSE for over 2 years!!!!  So we took it outside, busted it open and sure enough there was ONE HUMONGOUS TERMITE (see picture 3)!!!  Oh my goodness I totally got the skeeby jebbies!!!  That thing has been living in my house and eating my jewelry box for over two years!!!!!!  Can anything get more disgusting?!  And now I have no place for all my jewelry. I guess what goes around comes around...I should have let that lady have it!!!

Just Because I Think He's SOOO Cute!

Snow Day

Beau and the kids both had snow days on Friday, so we took the kids sledding.  Olivia had a blast and didn't want to leave.  Asher was more then ready to be done but he was super cute in all his snow gear.

Asher-Man

This little guy cracks me up!!!  He is obsessed with food! I am so not kidding.   You should see his face when you mention that it's time for a snack/lunch/dinner...he gets so excited and runs to either the refrigerator or pantry.  Plus he won't say momma, but he sure can say cookie and cracker!  The little stinker!!!  I had to take this picture because he I was going to get him down and clean him up and he grabbed his bowl and cup and spoon and was ready to get down! HA! He had to take it all with him.

Christmas Morning 2011

We had a great Christmas this year! We decided to stay home, although I will say I did miss being around family.  It was nice to wake up with just our sweet monkey's and open gifts but it would have been nice to be around family for the rest of the day

 Not quite sure why Asher was crying here

 Presents from Santa!

 Olivia and Taryn opening their invitations and gift cards for the American Girl Store and Afternoon Tea

 Asher got some cars and a train set

 Princess Kerrigan....yes this is the dress I drove 2 hrs to get!

 Asher and his Bears slippers....which he HATES and will not keep on his feet any longer then to put them on.

 Can you tell we like Disney and Princesses around here! I just love these new dolls though they are way too cute!

 Just what she wanted!

 Beau wouldn't let me take a picture of him with his present...so Taryn decided to hold them up instead!  Who doesn't like some new undies?!

Christmas Eve 2011

On Christmas Eve the kids are allowed to open one present each.  This is a tradition that my family always did when I was a kid.  We've also picked up the tradition of having Larry Q. Elf leave everyone in the family pajamas.  The kids love it and think it's so neat that there is an elf that leaves us stuff.

Little Dude getting into the excitement of opening presents

Kerrigan got a very cute sock snowman, that Taryn made for her at school.  She named him 'Snowy' and carried him around everywhere for a few days.  Not sure where 'snowy' is now....hmmmm

 Olivia's very own alarm clock! Another responsibility taken off of Momma...yay!

 Taryn got some Zoobles not sure why I didn't take a picture of them.

 Beau was beyond excited for his Ipad and honestly I don't think he's put it down except to go to work.  Score one for ME!!

 Yay for slippers!!!  Especially one's with hard soles that I can wear outside.

 There isn't much better then new jammies.  And Asher got his first superhero item!  It's so weird after buying princess stuff for so long to be purchasing cars, trucks and superhero's. :)

Goodbye Moosie Bear

We had to say goodbye to our sweet little Moosie Bear last week. He was such a good dog, never barked, never chewed on anything, and only had a few accidents. He was a good good dog. We had been talking for a while about getting rid of him. Beau didn't like the hair everywhere and we found it a bit of a burden to find places for him to go while we were on vacation. But every time he looked at me with those sweet sad little eyes, I couldn't go through with it. What finally made me make the final decision to let him go was the possibility that the girls skin problems could be getting worse because of him. I felt like we had to keep our house as allergen free as possible.

I put an add for him on Craigslist, and within a day we had 4 interested people. I think I cried from the day I put the add up until the day he left. A very nice family took him. They lost their beagle about 7 weeks ago to a tumor and when they saw Moose they new that he needed to be a part of their family. The drove 1.5 hrs to come get him and I bawled like a baby as I watched him leave. I admit I miss him. I don't miss sweeping up his hair or letting him out to go to the bathroom on cold mornings, but I miss him. Taryn had the hardest time with him leaving. She cried all the way to school and had a rough time at school. I know his new family is loving him a lot, but it still makes me sad.

Christmas around the World

I wish I had gotten more pictures but I didn't :(. Anyway, we had a church event the other night were we celebrated Christmas around the world. We have several members of our congregation that are from some really neat places, Guatemala, Zimbabwe, France and Ireland. They told us about Christmas traditions in their home countries. We sampled food from those countries as well. The other ladies at church brought cookies from around the world. I was in charge of the hot chocolate and cookie table. Of course I never can do anything simple so I opted for homemade hot chocolate and a hot chocolate bar. I go rave reviews on the hot chocolate. It was a fun night and I am getting so excited for Christmas!!!

P.S. Mrs. Erin Wilson--I am not ignoring your request for pictures of our new digs. I am just waiting because we are getting some new furniture in a few weeks (hopefully) and I wanted to wait until then to post pictures :)

The Big Cut

Who would've thought that the decision to cut a one year olds hair would cause his Mom such anxiety and indecision! I loved Asher's longer hair, but I was starting to worry he looked like a girl. I just went back and forth and back again. I finally decided to just do it. So I enlisted his Daddy. Let me tell you....I REGRET IT!!! I miss his long hair! He doesn't look like my sweet little boy anymore. It changed his look so much and I'm still not used to it yet. :( Good thing hair grows back, huh?

Before

breaking out the clippers after the initial snip

Don't worry, I held his head to keep him still, I just took a pause for a picture

after :(