Tuesday, December 23, 2008

North/Bi-Pole R

Christmas time is supposed to be a joyous and fabulous time. But for some reason, this year, oh wait, scratch that... it happens to me EVERY year. I get so excited for Christmas... I want to put the tree up by Halloween. By Thanksgiving I am bursting with enthusiasm and the holiday music has been in our CD player for weeks. I put the tree up, take out all the decorations and I've usually had most of my shopping done, with only a few minor gifts needing to be purchased on Black Friday.

Then it hits, depression. I don't know what exactly it is that makes me so sad, but it happens every year. It's not even a day to day occurrence, it's a daily occurrence. I can be in the most hugest fabulous holiday spirit and then boom, something happens... I feel guilty about Tony getting me presents, or I feel like I didn't get enough presents or the perfect present for everyone. A sleepy haze falls over me and I just want to go to bed and not wake up. It doesn't help this year that the snow is falling everywhere but here. Not to mention Spencer has been the snottiest this last week. And that this will be the first Christmas without my grandma. Ick. I just feel ick. That's the only way to describe it.

I feel mostly bad for Tony. He doesn't deserve my insanity. He tries hard to keep me in the positive. I kind of just want all the crazy to just be over with. But then there's the whole being on the other side of Christmas that you have to deal with. The downfall. It's like this massive buildup to what's supposed to be the happiest day of all and then what? It's over.

I guess all I can do is try to focus on the reason for the season... Jesus. He's pretty cool.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Owies

So while we were up in Mt. Vernon, during this wonderful snow storm, Tatum developed a weird pussy/swollen infection on the tip of one of her fingers. Don't know how that happened, but it was gross. Got her to the doc on Monday and she's on antibiotics. So sad, her first prescription. As for Spencer, last night he was standing on his stool and Tony was going to brush his teeth (which he hates) and he threw himself off the stool, landing face first into the toilet. Needless to say, he has a nasty gash on the inside of his lip and a huge bruise on his chin. Twas very close to going through. My poor babies!

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Gingerbread "Houses"

So every year around Christmastime, we get together with Tony's parents, Mark & Bev, and do a little holiday gingerbread house/train/sleigh decorating. This year was no exception. Spencer chose to decorate a choo choo train and chose lucky Grandpa Young to share it with. And seeing as I always insist on decorating by myself, Tony & Bev picked out Santa's sleigh to decorate and I was left with the only house. Spencer has no shirt on because he decorated a part of his gingerbread choo choo train and then proceeded to lean into it and get it all over his shirt.

Here is Tony & Bev's efforts... They both quit early stating they didn't know how they could possibly improve... aka, they had no idea how to help those poor reindeer. ;)

Here is Spencer & Mark's masterpiece...

Here is my little cottage: I tend to get a little anal. ;)

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Dirty Bathwater

So the other day Tatum & Spencer took a bath together.

As I was bathing Tate, Spencer pointed out that she had pooped a little in the water. I quickly scooped it up and flushed it down the toilet. Soon after, I took Tatum out and got her diapered and clothed.

While doing so, I heard a sound that was similar to someone swishing water in their mouth. I called out and asked Spencer what he was doing.

He said, "drinking the bath water."

"EEEW!" I shouted. "Tatum's poopy was in that water!"

He responded simply, "But I was thirsty."

Gross.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Finally finished the stockings!

I have been working on & off on these stockings for a couple weeks now. It took me so long because the only time I had to work on them is when Tate was asleep. And seeing as the sewing machine is in her room, it doesn't work out very well. I always start a project and feel totally excited about it, until I get about half way through. Then I am dreading it and just want it over with. These stockings were no exception. But I think they turned out rather well. The are fully lined and I'm rather proud of them if I do say so myself. :) And who knows, like every other creative project of mine, I will probably end up amending them. I am thinking of adding snow... Any thoughts?

Thanksgiving!

So this year for Thanksgiving we trekked down to Vida, OR for some Turkey and fun with Tony's dad & step-mom. Spencer spent most of the evening upstairs in the play room.

Tatum was a princess for the day.
This is Tate meeting her step-cousin, Blaze, for the first time.
This is the closest we got to all kids smiling and looking in the same direction at the same time. Not easy.
By the time we had taken 10 million photos, Spencer had had enough. Both Blaze & Tatum kept touching him and he was quite irritated.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tate is 6 months!

So now that baby girl is 6 months old, we absolutely HAD to get some photos taken. Fortunately for me, I know a GREAT photographer. Her name is Angela Cardas, and you can check her out at Cardas Photography. She did pics of Tate & Spence when Tate was 3 weeks old that I posted a while back. Here is just a taste of how she captured the essence of my beautiful baby girl... If you want to check out ALL the photos, just let me know & I'll send you the link and password...





Monday, November 17, 2008

My little non-mover...

I find it entertaining how 2 children who came from the same mommy and daddy can be so different. Spencer has always been a terrible eater, as you all know, but Tatum is a big fan! So far she has eaten peaches, pears, green beans, yams & squash and LOVED it all! The result, a big bum bum. I was starting to feel like I might be neglecting to encourage her to crawl phase. At this age, Spencer was up on all fours rocking back and forth, or rolling from one side of the house to the other. He also loved to hold your hands and pull himself up to stand. Tate, on the contrary, is perfectly content to just sit and watch.
When I do give her some tummy time, half the time she'll push up on her hands and the other half she'll do superman pose with her hands and legs in the air balancing on her tummy.
Today I thought I might encourage her to figure out crawling by trying to put her on her hands and knees. However, I ran into a few problems. First, her pants were so tight (size 12 months but takes me about 5 minutes to squeeze her cute little fanny into them) that she had a hard time bending her legs. She has no problem bending her knees, it's the bending between hip and leg. There is so much junk in her trunk that her poor somewhat little legs have a hard time holding it up in the air. The result, I try and push her bum up from the bottom and she just holds on for dear life.

Needless, to say, we got a little frustrated after a matter of minutes and called it a day. ;)

Friday, November 07, 2008

Pics of Spence

Spence & I went to the park this morning and took some pictures of my little man. I can't believe he is three already!





























Thursday, November 06, 2008

6 Months Old

Poor Tate got her shots today. :( Twas a sad moment. She is officially 6 months old now. Not surprisingly, she is a rather large 6 month old. She is 19 pounds 8 ounces (97th percentile) 27 1/4 inches long (94th percentile) & in the 99th percentile for head circumference (if you have seen Tony's big noggin, it's not that much of a surprise). ;) These last few months have just flown by... and she is developing such a cute personality. She's so quiet and patient. When there are moments ( few & far between) when it's silent, she'll start talking... it's the sweetest little, "bobbobobobobob" noise.

Paqueno

Oh My Goodness! Spencer has been calling Tatum "pequeno" for days now. I just thought he had made up a word. He does that from time to time. But then this morning I had the sense to ask him what it meant. He went on to tell this long story about Diego and some animal he was trying to save. He said we watched it the other day and asked if I remembered. Of course I didn't. I don't really pay attention when his "toons" are on. So I decided to look it up. It's Spanish for Small! He's so smart. Why did I not remember this from high school Spanish class? Wow.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Spencer Buddy

Spencer has been super cute lately. Here's just a handful of his cuteness:

I told him he was cute the other day and he emphatically replied, "I'm not cute! I'm cool!"

I always ask him what he wants to be when he grows up. His latest reply was, "I'm gonna grow up to be a doctor & a daddy with hairy pitters & a soul patch!"

Yesterday Tony asked him if he would take out the trash and Spencer replied, "I have to grow a little bigger to do that."

He turned the tables on me and has started calling me "Spencer's bucket."

And almost every night before we tuck him in he'll ask, "Can I cuddle with you just a little bit?"

He's growing up so fast... I can hardly remember when he didn't know how to talk.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

A lion & his Steak.
So I was a bit of a slacker this year when it comes to Halloween costumes. Spencer was a lion, again, and it took me forever to think of something for Tate to be. So at the last minute I took some fabric and sewed it on the back of a romper she already had. Tada! She was a steak for Spencer to eat! So yesterday we spent the morning downtown, Spencer clad in lion costume, Tatum as his slab of meat, Braeden as a pumpkin and Ryllie as Little Red Riding Hood. The kids had fun getting their candy and I got many confused faces when people looked at Tatum... But once I explained she was a steak and her brother was a lion, they laughed. By the end of the morning she had fallen asleep sucking her thumb.Later that evening we went over to Nathan & Sheri's house to eat pizza and carve pumpkins. Spencer wanted a Lightning McQueen one so I did my best seeing as the kids just ran around screaming in the back yard while Sheri & I carved. Here's my pumpkin... Tony opted not to carve his because he had picked a 35 pound pumpkin and would have had to dig out all the goo. He did, however, help dig out our pumpkins. :)

Monday, October 20, 2008


Punkin' Patch 2008!


So every year we take a trip to Bauman Farm in Gervais with my fam in search for the perfect pumpkins. This year was no exception. Our trip involves a walk through the "petting zoo" consisting of your usual farm animal variety: goats, pigs, chickens, & a pony every year.



Then we'll walk around tasting kettle corn, apples & wine (after washing our hands of course) then watch the apple cider get pressed. This year the cider pressed was not in action, but it didn't ruin our trip. Before heading over to pick out our pumpkins we got some tasty apple cider and donuts (Tony's favortie part of the trip) then we purchased our yearly bottle of Honeywood Holiday Cheer white table wine with cranberry juice, orange exract and cloves (my favorite part of the trip)! Sidenote: tastes very good warmed up!

We then headed over to the pumpkin patch. Last year it was super muddy so we were prepared with boots! But alas, no mud. One of the wheelburrows was so clean all the kids piled in so Uncle Nathan could push.

The kids loved picking out pumpkins and Spencer even found his own.


He's not a fan of dirt, so Daddy had to help him load it into the wheelburrow. Tate was perfectly content hanging out with mommy and Ryllie picking out ghords. Braeden just wanted to see if he could pick any of the monstrous size pumpkins up. Lots of photo ops. ;)


I think there's actually a family photo of the McIntyre's floating around somewhere where everyone is smiling AND looking at the camera!


By the end of the trip Ryllie was so over the picture taking!