the cold that wouldn't DIE!

holy cow, this cold will NOT leave my house!  emily started with it last tuesday, and still has a cough.  mine started on thanksgiving, and i still have it!  oh, and i'm on day 4 without a voice!  yesterday david started with his...my husband will be the last to get it.  oh, and he'll get it!

besides the piles of tissues, coughing, and sneezing, we're doing well.  its been a while since my last post.  we had a nice thanksgiving with the family.  i'm really looking forward to getting in to the christmas spirit now!  hubs brought up the decorations last night, hopefully i'll have them up by the weekend.

on friday i'll be meeting with emily's school psychologist to discuss some strategies on behavior.  emily has been getting better, but i want to find a way for all of us to be consistent.  i'm looking forward to it!  also on friday--date night!!  woo hoo!!  seriously looking forward to that!!

i can not come up with a pic(s) to use for a christmas card.  i fear that i may use a plain old boxed card this year.  for some reason, i just have no desire to put the kids through a photo shoot.  i mean, it would be my sister shooting, but we haven't come up with a time to do it anyway.  i don't want to push them, i'll just end up regretting it anyway, and having to calm them down!  maybe next year!  i still have a little time to decide, but the clock is ticking!

david had a terrible night of sleep, so i put him back to bed when i got emily up for school.  to my surprise, he went back to sleep!!  i think i'll go pull up some couch before he wakes up again.  then we have to make a quick trip to cvs for more tissues!!  i'll leave you with some pics from thanksgiving!  hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

a passage into manhood

yesterday was an odd day.  i was super forgetful--which isn't totally out of the norm, but if my head wasn't attached, i'm sure that would still be missing today.   i went to my sissy's house with david.  i forgot extra clothes, juice, his sippie cup, and my cell phone!  and to top it all off, we got our first taste of snow and sleet all day long. 

when david and i got home, i still couldn't find his sippie cup.  no biggie, it was nap time anyway.   my good napper turned into a one hour quickie and woke up right before i had to get emily off of the bus.  crap.  instead of bundling him up i thought i would gate him in the living room.  the pink panther was on, he lvoes the pink panther.  he loves mommy more because he was glued to the window the entire time.  so i waved.  i knew he saw me wave, because then he got emily's pony flashlight and started waving it at me.

i guess he was trying to communicate with the light!  the next thing i see is him banging on the glass, with the pony light.  in my head, i knew he was yelling while banging.  i gave him the "NO" finger wave from the car...he stopped.  "that worked?", i thought..."sweet!"  i can scold him with my thoughts...i AM super mom!  until i saw him reach through the pain of glass.  "SHIT!"  i through the car in reverse, flew into the house to see the glass smashed in.  then i looked for the blood.  there was none!  thank GOD!  i snatched him up, through him in his car seat, and continued to wait for emily...checking for cuts the whole time.  because of the weather, emily's bus was a little late...good thing.  i checked again for any cuts when he had his bath.  i don't know how he made it through with NOTHING!  if that was me, i'd be a bloody mess @ the hospital--crying, no doubt.

so the sippie cup is gone.  i have no idea where it is. david has transitioned to a big boy cup...with a straw.  so the breaking of the window has lead to a new big boy stage.  i'm hoping today is just a regular normal day...broken glass-free!  i can only take one life altering moment at a time!

happy belated halloween!

it dawned on me that i never posted pics from halloween!  the kids were awesome!  david held it together despite not having his nap.  emily was so fun to watch this year!  she walked almost the whole time and even held her own bag!  

 i am now in the process of trying to come down from the sugar high.  not an easy task when there is a giant bowl of nummies calling my name!!

apples and pudding on the kitchen rug

that was our theme song last night!!  it made david dance and emily smile.  i make up silly songs when i'm in a stressful situation...try it, it helps!

last night, dinner started off a little rough.  well, kind of...ALOT rough!  emily was screaming like she was being beaten, she was throwing herself on the floor--scary stuff!  contrary to her screams, she was NOT being beaten...she was mad because david was playing with his trucks.  so i decided to whisk the two of them up for a bath.  it worked.  no, the tub was not filled with holy water to excercise her demons...but apparently it did wash away her crankies!  it was a nice night after that.  we went down to the kitchen where we all sat on our little kitchen rug and, you guessed it, ate apples and pudding!  hey, whatever works @ this point!!  we played, watched cartoons, and the two of them even sat with me at one point for a snuggle--at the same time!  good stuff.
this morning, emily was happy as a clam!

progress

 so things have been getting better with emily.  we had a really great weekend.  i'm not sure who was watching over us, but for two hours we all played nice until david went down for his nap.  it was amazing. 

on sunday night, hubs gutted pumpkins.  at that point the weekend of being alone with the kids was swiftly catching up with me.  i wanted no part in the pumpkin carving.  so after the kids went to bed, and while i was pouting by myself, hubs carved both pumpkins. 

yesterday my mom took david for the afternoon...it was awesome.  when emily got home from school i took her down to my parents' house for dinner.  she didn't have her nap, and she was totally happy.  it was really a great night.

tonight i'll be on my own with the kiddos.  i'm going to throw some chicken in the crock pot, and keep my fingers crossed that tonight will go smoothly!  with the way things have been going, i'm confident.

so, this is about the only "scooping" that david did:

just a reminder, things are getting underway over at The Clumsy Spider!!  check it out!!

i smell cake

last night i made dinner and brought it over to my parents' house.  my dad is a hunter, and he got his first deer last week(his first one in a looong time! lol)  *please, no hunting haters!  anyhoo, i'm a big stew lover, so i made it with venison!  so yummy!  besides the stew, we had to have dessert, right?  right!  i have been eyeballing a recipe from my favorite site, allrecipes.com.  its the "too much chocolate cake", however, i was missing the chocolate pudding.  dang, i really wanted chocolate too!  ok, time to improvise.  i had strawberry cake mix and white chocolate instant pudding.  seriously, it is a winning combination.  while i didn't get the white chocolate flavor per say, the cake was so moist and delicious...and the smell, holy strawberries, did this smell good!! 
you'll need:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
*keep in  mind, you can use any flavor combination you like!!) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan. 
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar. 

i know that i've been on a healthy kick, but really, when you need a treat, this is worth it!  i did opt to use light sour cream and sugar free pudding--because that's what i had!!    i can't wait to try more flavors!!! 

pumpkin picking

ok, so even though our family photo didn't turn out how i would have hoped(again), we did have a nice time at the pumpkin patch.  emily only cried when we got there because the hay ride(with no hay) was coming around.   david loved running from pumpkin to pumpkin and helping his grandpa put the winners in the wagon!

the pumpkin patch

we took the kids pumpkin picking with my parents yesterday.  its always an adventure!  emily always cries as soon as we get there.  david has to touch every.single.pumpkin he sees!  every year we try to get a family photo...every year, we fail!  hahaha 

the proof:

2006

we don't even have a "family" shot with emily because she only wanted grandma, and cried for just about the entire time!

2007

i'm about one month pregnant with david(although i look like i'm already 6 months!), my jeans are too tight, i had a growth on my chin, and emily hated it this year too!

2008

david was clueless, the sun was too much for emily and hubs, and i looked like i was trying to smuggle some pumpkins in my shirt(and my jeans were still too tight!)

2009

holy sun!  we were all blind! 

2010

this year was no different...except we had a screamer!  david just wanted to run around the pumpkins, and try to fit as many in the wagon as he could!  emily was the best she's ever been though!  this may be a contender for the christmas card... 

maybe next year we'll have a winner!

beatitudes for friends of special children

Blessed are you who take the time to listen to difficult speech, for you help me to know that if I persevere I can be understood. 

Blessed are you who never bid me to "hurry up" and take my tasks from me and do them for me, for often I need time rather than help. 

Blessed are you who stand beside me as I enter new untried ventures, for my failures will be outweighed by the times I surprise myself and you. 

Blessed are you who asked me for my help, for my greatest need is to be needed. 

Blessed are you who understand that it is difficult for me to put my thoughts into words. 

Blessed are you whom with a smile, encourage me to try once more. 

Blessed are you who never remind me that today I asked the same question two times. 

Blessed are you who respect me and love me as I am-Just as I am, and not like you wish I were. 

i have been having a hard time with emily again.  its really not good timing with hubs starting his part time job.  i just feel stressed and weak.  i found that little passage above in emily's school handbook this year.  sometimes we all need a little reminder to put things into perspective.

i know that this rough patch will pass, just as they all do. 

fire prevention success!

hubs had a blast doing fire prevention for emily's school!  he could not stop smiling when he got home!  the kids and teachers had a great time!
i thought everyone could use a treat, so i made cupcakes with chocolate fire hats!

i had ordered fire truck molds to make lolly pops, but they came one day too late!  dang it!  so i used the chocolate melts to "draw" fire hats!  i'm not sure i'd recommend this!  i was all out of whack from being hunched over these things!  i was so concerned with finishing them, that i forgot to take pics!   ugh.  in essence, i printed off a bunch of fire hat pics from microsoft word's clip art.  then with wax paper over a cookie sheet, i traced them with the melted milk chocolate in a zippie bag with a very small hole clipped in the corner of the bag.  next i filled in with the red, then the white.  it was seriously time consuming, but i like the way they turned out! 

mentally preparing...and its fire prevention week!

tonight my hubs starts his new part time job.  he'll be a sales associate @ walmart in the electronics dept.  he's excited about it.  i'm feeling a little overwhelmed.  i'm happy about the extra income...we absolutely, 100% need the money.  but his hours are 5pm-12am.  that means he won't have enough time to stop home after his full time job.  that means i'll be on my own with the kids.  emily is least tolerant of david from the hours of 4pm-bedtime.  and they both have colds.  not to mention he'll be working weekends.  this week its saturday and sunday, next week he'll have sunday off.  its scary.  maybe i should have gotten the part time job(we've both been applying, but he got the first call--actually, i haven't even gotten one call!).  i know that if i ask my parents to come over to help, they will.  i just feel like its my responsibility.  i wish i didn't worry so much!  this really is a good thing.  he's amazing for doing this...for taking care of us. 

anyway.  i'll be fine.  lol

did you know that this week is fire prevention week?  ok, so thursday is a little late to be reminding you, but better late than never, right?  hubs is taking a fire truck over to emily's school tomorrow!  he's very excited to be able to do it for them.  and the school is super excited that he offered.  for some reason they have not participated in fire prevention in a few years.  i think the old principal dropped the ball.  the new principal is awesome though, and very welcoming to fun ideas and suggestions.    hopefully we'll get some pics.  david and i won't be able to attend because we have his IFSP planning meeting for early intervention.  services should be able to start in about a week after we set is goals up.

talk to the kiddos about escape routes and stop drop and roll.  don't forget to check the batteries in your smoke and CO alarms ans test them regularly!

you can also check out the NFPA for more tips and activities for the kids!

shouldn't it be friday by now?

this week is at a stand still!  it hasn't been a bad week, just long.  tomorrow is back to school night at emily's school.  i'm hoping to meet the parents of her three new classmates. 
 i stopped in for a therapy session yesterday at the request of her OT and PT.   she's doing terrific, and they're excited that emily is becoming more aware of her surroundings!  she has basically been in survival mode for the last year and a half, and she's just now really "seeing" the school.  the textures on the wall, the doors, the pictures, etc.  they gave me some great playful activities to do with her @ home to give her more body awareness.  it may sound weird to most, but she's just now realizing that she's got a mouth, and a nose, and that its her hand holding the spoon.  its exciting stuff!   she's ready to have us challenge her now in a way that will make her other senses work hard!  its going to take some time for the "whole package"(emily's body and senses fight with each other!) to come together, but we are very encouraged! 

david has qualified for speech therapy through the early intervention program.  i really didn't think that he's qualify--i was expecting them to tell me that he's just "stubborn".  he's actually only at a 14 month level, he's 28 months old.  he flew through all of the major milestones, except this one!  he'll get it...he's a smart kid!  we have two more meetings before services can start, i think he'll enjoy it--he loves the attention! lol

hubs just landed a part time job @ walmart in the electronics dept.  seriously, we need the extra income, so we're both excited!   its going to be tough...i don't think he'll be home to help me with dinner, and baths, and bed time.  we have to make it work for right now though.  i can always call my mom or sissy for a hand.  fingers are crossed that it will give us to boost we need.

well, that's the story with us this week!  like i said, not a bad week--just looong!  my mom and i are taking emily out for the day on saturday, definitely looking forward to that!

new blog!

i wanted to let you all know that i am taking my sewing adventures over to a new blog---with my sissy!!  we're both very excited about this.  now that we are both old married women, we thought this would be a great thing to do together!  her hubs has to work on some saturdays, and my hubs is so awesome that he stays with the kids all day so that we can get our sew on!  yesterday, we didn't get much sewing done, we were braistorming for our new blog....please stop on over to The Clumsy Spider! 

its a work in progress, but we can't wait to start sharing about our times together as well as solo projects.  i hope you'll stop over and follow along!  i'll continue posting about the kiddos, hubs and recipes right here though! 

pumpkin muffins...on the lighter side

i've been trying to make healthier choices lately...but its hard.  you see...this is the BEST baking season EVER!  the apples, the pumpkins...the candy!   next to baking christmas cookies, this is when i love to bake the most.   i had some leftover canned pumpkin after last weeks pumpkin chip cookies for the reunion.  lately with money being tight, i hate to waste anything.   hubs is not big on pumpkin at all, so i knew it would be me handling the bulk of these babies.  i stumbled upon a recipe at allrecipes.com(where else?!)  however, it wasn't exactly what i was looking for, so i just used it as an outline.  here we go...
Pumpkin Muffins(makes 18 muffins)

1 1/3 c all purpose flour
1c plus 1 tbs whole wheat flour
2 c sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
1/2 of 29 oz canned pumpkin
1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce
3/4 c butterscotch chips1/2 c chopped walnuts


pre heat oven to 350.  grease muffin tins or line with papers.  in a large bowl combine sugar, eggs, pumpkin and applesauce.  in a medium bowl combine all dry ingredients and spices.  next,  incorporate  the dry and the wet.  add butterscotch chips and walnuts(or if you'd like, use your own additions: raisins, pecans, craisins etc!)   scoop into muffin tins and bake for 30-35 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean. 


9 of these muffins fit comfortably in a large freezer bag.  now when i need a snack, i can just take one out and pop it in the microwave!! 


*feel free to use all whole wheat flour, all purpose, or use sugar substitute!  this recipe is easy to mix and match!