November 30, 2008

Here is the conditions outside right now. It has been snowing ALL day, since last night. It is real cool, although I wish I had gone grocery shopping and had more "comfort" dinner foods in the house! Enjoy.

Snow Day!

Last night after the kids went to bed it started to snow ... and it was so beautiful! This morning we woke up, got the kids all dressed in their snow gear and took them to the hill across the way for a surprise. We had got Ethan a sled off Craigslist and he was so excited! Daddy took him up for his first few rides down and then he was on his own. I even got to enjoy a ride down! Kaeli was a bit cold and cranky .. I guess when you can't walk and have to be held in the miserable cold the whole time, it is not too appealing to a 10 month old! She was a trooper though and on our way back to the car the boys had a snow ball fight. We got home and it has started snowing some more, so we are hoping to have even more snow on the ground tomorrow for a better sledding experience (meaning a bit less rock hitting the bum on the way down the hill!). We got home and Ethan asked for some hot chocolate, so I obliged my sweet boys request and even added a little sprinkle. We all sat and watched Polar Express together and it got Mike in the spirit to decorate the house (Thank You Mike!), so he is off to Hobby Lobby to get the hooks to hang lights. Enjoy the pics and videos .. it sure was a great morning.

Our dirty little secret ....

Some of you know, and some of you just found out because I forgot I had not told you and I slipped up (haha). Here it is, we have a dog. I know, I know .. you are all thinking we are the worst dog owners on the planet, and our pictures (well Mine) should be distributed among all breeders and pet stores with a big red statement of "BEWARE", but before you judge hear me out! The first dog we had to get rid of because all though we loved him dearly (we miss you Denver), he started agression toward Ethan when we brought him home from the hospital and would not stop peeing in the house. It broke our hearts and Mike and I cried ourselves to sleep for many nights after giving him up. Our next dog, Sarge, well let's just say I am very glad I got rid of him and Mike complied. He was a total pain in the you know what and even my neighbor offered to shoot him for me while Mike was deployed. He did not listen, he would run from you, he would run through the house with muddy feet while you were trying to wipe them upon coming inside. He would not sit, he would constantly jump on Ethan, it was horrible! On top of that, I was dreading a cross country drive with him and a newborn baby, not knowing if we were going to have a fenced yard until the week before moving .. it was just better for him (and quite frankly, ME!) I feel bad for Mike because Sarge was Mike's bday present but .. good riddons! I hear he is doing well, and his new owner loves him and takes very good care of him and for that I am glad. Although he annoyed me to no end, I never wished ill of him. That brings us to Colorado. After being here for a few months, Ethan was feeling real lonely and sad that he had no friends and one day he broke down in tears and said "I miss my dog". I felt HORRIBLE! I thought long and hard about it and Mike was also suffering for my short comings as a pet owner and we broke down and got another puppy. We looked into getting older dogs, but were afraid they were "tainted" or abused. We thought the best thing to do with having little kids, was get a puppy and start from scratch. We adopted a full boxer puppy from Oklahoma, and he is a cutie. We were going to name him Rebound, but didn't want him to have that stigma (although it was very funny) so we went with Ollie. He is a GREAT dog, whose only hold up right now is nipping. He is so playful and energetic, he goes after your pant legs ... and he also looks at Ethan as his own personal dog toy. The vet has taught Ethan how to stand like a tree and it works more times than not, Ollie backs off. We have discovered a few great dog parks around here, and he has so much fun! We are going to work on making it a regular thing, but we either both have to go or only one with the dog only because of the kids. The last time we went, there were a couple other boxers and a huge great dane and he did not back down! He was a boxer true and true! He is 4 months old and already 30lbs! Here are a couple pictures of Ollie now that the secret is out!

What is next?

So tonight at dinner, Ethan said something he is not allowed to say ... and he knew it. Being that I am fed up with warnings, we skipped that step and went straight to pepper on his tongue. I confiscated a ton of pepper packets from KFC because it is the PERFECT portion size for 2 doses, you know because that is what you think of when you get pepper packets from the restaurant right!? Anyways, so I have him come over and I put pepper on his tongue .. not a sprinkle, but enough for him to feel it and what does he do? He swallows it, and goes to sit down and finish his dinner! Did my 4 year old just show me up? Did he just give me the "take that"? Mike and I did everything we could not to fall on the ground laughing our butts off! Under his breath Mike said, "I guess it is hot sauce next".

So the question I am asking myself is, what is next?

IT'S TIME TO REVEAL OUR TREE...

Last night we decided to decorate for Christmas. I know it is premature, but we are really feeling festive early. I think it is a mix between being our first year away from family drama and our first year of just us as a family. Also, we will be in Denver for Thanksgiving and Black Friday and Ethan was begging us to do it. We first baked cookies with Ethan's baking set. He cut the cookies and put them on the pans, I just put them in the oven. He also did the majority of the tree. I helped with a few up high ornaments, but it is really Ethan's masterpiece. He was having so much fun! It was a great year for us with him ... at one point he said "I love Christmas, it is my favorite!". He was very worried about how Santa would get in since we do not have a chimney anymore, so I bought him a special ornament that says "Santa's Magic Key" and it explains how he will use the key to get in. We have also started a new Layman family tradition. Each year the kids will get a new ornament and unwrap it after the tree is complete and put their new ornament on the tree. This year Kaeli got her "1st Christmas" ornament and Ethan got a fireman Santa. Our family ornament was a cowboy boot to signify our first year in Colorado. The final touch was the angel. Ethan said she was beautiful, and loved seeing the final product of all his hard work! We hope you enjoy all of the pictures!

Kaeli's new look

We were laughing because I made this when I was 17!

Giving Kaeli her 1st ornament

Happy decorating to all of you!

Tis the Season ....

I love tree decorating day! Usually we wait until the day after Thanksgiving, but we will be up in Denver for the holiday with friends and quite frankly... I cannot wait any longer! Although I despise Christmas music and hearing it on the radio for a month straight, I do love the decorating and getting into the festivities. Tonight we are going to put the tree up, bake gingerbread cookies and give Ethan and Kaeli their new Christmas ornament ... a new Layman tradition we are starting. Each year, I will wrap a new ornament for each of the kids and they will unwrap it after we are done decorating the tree and then they will put their new ornament on the tree. I will post pictures tomorrow.

Lesson time

Ethan has been doing very well in school. I have just been frustrated trying to get him to write his name, but I am slowly learning the tricks of how Ethan's mind works. He has to be made to feel as though he is the "leader". So today at lesson time I wrote his name on the dry erase board one letter at a time. After each letter, he had to copy my letter underneath ... then I told him that I really wanted him to show me how to write the letters the correct way and for him to be the leader and go first. So the second picture was him writing each letter first, one at a time and then I wrote mine under his. He really knew how to write his name the whole time and was acting like he had no clue what I was talking about! Should he be this manipulative at 4? But, atleast I am still a little smarter than him! haha

We had a meeting with the speech teacher yesterday. He will go to speech class twice a week, one day will be one on one with her and the other will be 1.5 hrs of class with 8 other kids. I am really looking forward to watching his progress and seeing him become more confident in his speaking. They also think that his writing ability will improve once he hears the correct sounds from the letters and getting him started will help with reading as well, whereas if we didn't get him in he more than likely would be delayed in reading. I will keep everyone posted on his progress!

Fun times with Ethan

Ethan and I had some craft time together. We made a Christmas tree ornament and a sock snowman. It was a lot of fun and Ethan got to use the hot glue gun (the highlight of his day) and did every part of the project accept cutting the popsicle sticks. It was a lot of fun!

A really good morning

Today was a really good day! I had some friends over from Stroller Strides. Our instructor Sarah came up with a really great idea that each week one of us hosts a lunch/playgroup. It was so great having them over and their kiddos all played so well ... how can you not when there is a whole room dedicated to your entertainment! :-) I made quiche, muffins, overnight french toast and I threw in some fruit, that went untouched haha! I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy these women. They are all so sweet and genuine and I feel connected with so many of them, which makes it very easy to go work out with them 3 times a week. I feel very blessed to have met such wonderful women. Clean up was not too bad, it sure helps to use paper plates and cups!

Why are we punished for being a military family????

We bought our couches from the Room Store Feb 07 and I paid for the 5 year extended warranty. Mind you, I never get warranties, but with a purchase so expensive ... and having kids, I thought it would be a good idea. Anyways, the reclining mechanism is messed up and has since tore part of the couch under where the recliner closes because it is off and scrapes the inside when it closes. So I call the store to get the warranty in effect and they tell me it is not effective because we moved more than 25 miles away! Are you serious? I expressed to them it was a PCS move and we had no choice .. they don't care! So Mike called military legal here and they said there is nothing they can do. I am so pissed and not to mention just disappointed that they would not even make an effort to rectify the situation .. or help us out, throw me a bone or something! When I called initially and spoke with a sales customer service lady I asked nicely to speak with her manager and she got crappy and said "It is not going to change the fact that your warranty is not effective anymore".Heed my warning, Room Store has no customer service worth speaking of!

My dear friend Lori wrote the company a real "nice" letter explaining that they will not get her business and that we have spread the word amongst our mom's group, but they won't care! It stinks that they are so nasty.

I just got off the phone with the actual store I boubht it from and spoke to the someone who was relaying .. yes relaying my complaint and questions to the ass't manager. My final plee was since they were dead set on not fixing it, could they atleast refund my warranty so we could pay out of pocket for it. Her response: "no ma'am because it is not our fault you were relocated". Oh no she didn't!?

I have to go make some phone calls .....

I am not going

to VA for Kaeli's birthday. Quite frankly, I have to admit I am a bit relieved. I really wanted to spend time with family and friends, and I certainly wanted Kaeli to have a huge 1st, but it is bad timing. We will make the best of it here in Colorado, hopefully Mike will be back from D.C. in time for it .. otherwise we will celebrate when he gets home. It is sad, I should be fighting to get back there, but I had a sense of tension release when my I decided I would not go out there. I don't feel like dealing with the drama of who is invited, who was not going to come because of it, and where we would be staying. I would have stayed with my friend Lori, but then I knew Ethan would be so upset not to stay with my mom .. another battle I am relieved to dodge! To add to it, my sister Jamie and my newest brother in law would only be able to visit for maybe 2 days if that because of her starting a new job in December. We will probably just have Crystal and Jim come down with Nana and the girls to celebrate and maybe a few other people socialize with here.

Our Piece of God's Country

We took a drive down to our property this past weekend. It was nice because for some reason I had no pictures of it and we have owned it since August! Anyhow, here are some pictures. It is hard to see in a picture, being there in person is somewhat majestic and you feel like you could just walk forever! I will try to explain each picture the best I can.

Walking through the meadow to the site of our future house

View of the Spanish Peak Mountains .. this will be where our house faces

Another front view

Back view from our future home

Side view from our future home

Hiking down the mountain to the other 1/2 of our property

Walking down to a meadow on the bottom half (that we had just discovered that day)

Standing at the bottom edge of our property (next to the road looking up the mountain to the top 1/2) To the left of the picture, you can see a gap in the trees, that goes up to the top.

A Nice Visit

Well my mother in law just left. It was a real nice visit with her and I am so glad that she was able to take us up on the offer of coming out here and her boss let her off. Mike really needed it! And it was so great for her to finally meet Kaeli and see Ethan after a very long year, oh how 1 year is so drastic for a preschooler. Patti and Mike were afraid Ethan would not remember her, but he loved on her and made her feel very special! He slept on the floor next to her the whole time she was here, and every time she talked to him about leaving he would say "what a bummer". He really wanted his nanny to stay!

We did not do a whole lot while she was here because she lived here many many years ago, so we just focused on spending great time together. We played Yahtzee, talked, took her to where they lived 26 years ago when Mike was a little one, and we were able to take her down and show her our property ... she even hiked down the mountain side with us, she was quite adventurous! Ethan told her that he wanted her to have a house right next to us when we build our farm on the property, it made her smile. He loves her so much! Kaeli was quite entertaining as well. She really enjoyed meeting her nanny for the first time and even fell asleep on her the first night she was here! Mike can't even get Kaeli to sleep .. it is always me that has to do it.

I love seeing Mike with his mom. He loves her so much and it breaks my heart that he does not get to see her more often! We really have to try and do something about that, because I cannot stand to see him hurt so much from not seeing her, and her seeing our kids grow up.

I have not always been that close with Patti, not for lack of interest or for dislike ... but I think just because of lack of time together. Usually when we see them I try to stand back a bit and let Mike have his time with her, but I was sick of feeling like I didn't know her very well. I have been with Mike for 9 years, I thought it was time to have an actual relationship with her ... and when she left today I felt like that was accomplished. She really is such a sweetheart with a huge heart and she wears it on her sleeve. She loves her family and her boys and now she has grandchildren that she is dying to know better, so we will work on that!

Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Shopping

How is it that we seem to get carried away? I know Christmas is not about presents, it is much more important and my kids WILL know what it means and how special it is, there is a but :-) Mike and I agreed that our kids would not be spoiled rotten at Christmas and here I am finished wrapping presents and am amazed at how much I actually did get them, especially Kaeli! Ethan's stuff is a bit pricier, hence a few less ... but in the end we totally (and by we, I mean me) went against what we "planned on". I do have to say that the stuff we got them is not frivolous and is mostly all learning toys, etc. We also agreed with the siblings just to do the kids gifts and somehow I managed to fore go that as well. Mind you, we are not rich, but I just feel like giving. I feel very festive this year, am itching to decorate and found some great finds and Colorado has some great stuff to offer that I am very excited to share with my family. One thing we did agree on that we HAVE to stick with is not buying for friends and vice verse ... we just cannot afford it. Christmas cards will have to suffice now, as sad as it is, it is just reality. When you factor in the cost of a great gift plus shipping, it is crazy! Anyhow, I am getting so giddy about having my baby girl that I got Kaeli her first dress up/princess outfit for a present and I am excited about it! Ethan is getting the Leapster handheld and we are getting him the bean bag he wants so bad, we also got him some more spy stuff and hot wheels for the ramp grandpa bought him for his birthday. Their big joint gift is going to be an art easel. Ethan is really into painting and drawing lately, and I think he will love it. Recently we dumped everything in the middle of the playroom floor and cleaned, purged and put away everything. We were able to give a lot to Goodwill and make some space for newer things.

The new rule in the house ... If you get a new toy, an old one goes to someone in need.

Update ...

So no job for this mama. I went to the interview and they wanted more bartending experience, or in my case ... any bartending experience :-) I was a bit upset, as I have never been turned down for a job. The Ass't Manager wanted me to apply for the banquet server position, but my waitressing days feel over I think. I was thinking of going to a restaurant in town maybe to waitress, but not interested in the military banquet scene. Plus, I worked at Capt. Georges for like 6 wks and that tux shirt, bow tie look got old REAL fast ... did I mention I only lasted 6 wks? So, do I apply somewhere else, or be thankful that I don't HAVE to work and that maybe I am being a bit silly to want to at this moment. After all, I am pretty busy ... just a bit bored at times. Maybe Mike should step it up and entertain me more, haha! Don't tell him I said that.

Onto the van. $150 in damage. Good thing I have all the common sense int he family and Mike listened to me about getting an estimate before paying the $500 deductible. Granted, it is every bit of $150 worth of work and had we paid the $500 our van would have a prestine new bumper, but I can tolerate their efforts of buffing out the dent, being that it is a plastic bumper and not metal so it won't rust. I think it is killing Mike that we didn't get the new bumper, but in my opinion .. he should not have hit the stinking pole to begin with! What can you do?

Ethan speech update

Yesterday was Ethan's speech evaluation. There were 1/2 dozen teachers/specialists, etc looking over him, testing him. He did very well. He past his eye and ear exam, played very well, listened very well and performed all of the tests these ladies asked of him. They were quite impressed at how well he sat there and listened, and focused! Good and bad news. Good news, he qualifies for free speech therapy through the school district. Bad news, he has to get speech therapy :-) They said he is very intelligent, he just cannot articulate. He will go twice a week. Once will be with a parent for 40 mins and the other session will be a drop off for 1.5 hrs and he will be in a class with about 8 other kids with the same issues. I am very excited to finally get some answers, but more importantly, someone who is willing to help him. He will probably start the first week of December, because it will take them that long to get all the information in the system, get him registered in the school district and then there is Thanksgiving holiday. The great thing is that we updated his preschool teacher and she is so awesome! She has asked us to get a copy of the letters he needs help with and she will do her part to help as well .... not necessarily something she has to do, but she loves Ethan so much and she wants to see him excel. Better yet, they all think he will have no problem continuing onto Kindergarten as he is supposed to! I will update regularly on his progress.

My first job

Well, I have a job interview today. This will be my first job in over 4 years! I applied for a bartender position at the officers club. Mike has been pushing me to get out of the house and do something for myself, and I have always wanted to bartend, so when this position came up I was pretty excited to apply. The interview is this afternoon, and if I get it I will probably only work 2 nights a week and if I don't get it ... it was not my time.

More to come ...

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Ethan's speech evaluation. He had a screening and they felt he was eligible for the eval where they bring in over half a dozen specialists including audiologist, psychologist, speech therapist, social worker, etc to work out a plan for his development. I am a bit overwhelmed about it, I just hope he does not get overwhelmed. I was just viewing a video of him from exactly a year ago and his progress is phenomenal ... but still a bit delayed. He speaks fine, and is very intelligent and his vocab is growing, he is just very lazy. In the assesment they said he catches on quick, mimics perfectly ... but in spontaneous speaking, he loses letters because he talks so fast and his brain is going so fast. The good thing is we are getting him in early and early enough that he could make 100% progress and in a couple years you would never know he was speech delayed! They have a good outlook on his progress and hopefully tomorrow with all the specialists we will get more information and they will actually map out a plan. I will keep his progress updated and I just pray that this is a great thing for him. It kills me to see him get so frustrated when people don't understand him!

More tomorrow! Here are recent photos of the kids ...

Going to Church

Sitting together, she loves her brother and he loves her so much!

Moving on up

Before he got his belt

So tonight at karate we let Ethan wear his uniform. We were having a hard time with his attitude and told him that he would not get his uniform unless he tightened up. This past week has been wonderful .. not perfect, but such an improvement! He has been respectful, a good listener, well behaved, pretty much all we have asked of him. So off he went, proud to wear his uniform! He looked so cute, but did not yet have his belt ... and did not complain one time about it either! Instructor Benji wanted to give him a little ceremony in class and make a big deal about him getting to put on his white belt, the first in a sequence of course. In front of the class, he had him bow, kneel down, bless his belt and then accept it. I was pretty much in tears because I was so proud of him and just pray that this is his "thing". We all hope to find our "thing" and get fully involved and I remember vividly how much karate meant to me, and more importantly how much it meant to achieve black belt and that is what I hope for for Ethan. I pray that he gets so involved and loves it and can go on to become a great leader in this sport, become an instructor himself, even if it is just helping the junior kids like he is now. I cannot wait to see what becomes of it, if anything because he is very passionate about it and he just beams when he is in class. Instructor Benji even talks about how impressed he is that Ethan holds a strong stance, and pays attention better than most of the 6 year olds!

Enjoy the photos, and if we can upload some video off our camera, I will .. it was a real nice "ceremony".

Kneeling and listening to how important the white belt is

Blessing his belt

Accepting his belt from Instructor Benji

Bowing