William

Looking through old photos to make a birthday post for our Sweet William, I found many, but these are some of my favorites!

The night he was born

A few days old

Second Christmas

Checking out his picture with Daddy

?

And now he's nine.

Not one, but two nerf blasters!

Nine Years...

ago at almost this exact moment:

William Thomas

and

Me

It's Been a Whole Week?

Already?  Wow.  That went quick.  We've been busy I guess.  And I've been tired.  I love the quote: "I can handle a crisis, it's the day to day crap that gets me down".  Amen.  In any case, I have a lot to say, and pictures to post, so off we go!

Two Saturday's ago, the whole family went to the not-so-local sale barn to see what kind of pigs they had to offer.

I was a little miffed that Ryan made me change out of my yoga pants into jeans,

so I made sure the kids wore mis-matched clothing so that we would fit in better.

Ryan bought the first couple of "lots" through the ring, 

We loaded them up, and brought them home!

The "big pigs", all snuggled up.

And the little guys.

Cute.

Right up there with sleeping babies.

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Our Bottle Battle

Yes, we've been giving our baby a bottle.  Still.   Jackson will be two in 5 weeks.  Odd.  I know I just birthed that baby boy just a few weeks ago...crazy.

Anyhoo.  A little history.  I breast-fed Jackson until April of this year.  Leaving him with my parents for two weeks was a great way to kick-off the weaning. Instead of going cold turkey, we substituted a bottle.  He liked it, and we loved it.  Nap time and bedtime were smooth.  No problem here.

I've been thinking that it was time to be done with the whole mess, but when it is easy for the parents, why? Especially at 12 or 1 am....

In the last couple of weeks, Jackson has taken to biting/chewing on the nipples of the three bottles we have creating tears in the nipples, and hence making a mess in my bed in the middle of the night from leaking bottles.  Gross.

Four nights ago, I decided I'd had enough.

I showed him where they were "broken", and then we threw them away.  He totally understood the process.  "baba bwoken?" (ten times) "fro way?" (ten times).  And then? "Mama fix it?" Um, no, Mama cannot fix it.

The first night was good. Fussed a little bit, went right to sleep. In the middle of the night? "baba bwoken?" yup. no problem.  I thought: "We have got this thing in the BAG!".  yeah....
Second night? screaming and gnashing of teeth. Bedtime and middle of the night.
Third night? Screaming and gnashing of teeth. Bedtime and middle of the night.
Last night? a little better.  Cried at bedtime, a little crying in the night. 
When he realized I was not going to give him a bottle, He said: "dinner time?"  too cute.

Tossing Cells

Last week, Isabelle and Jackson decided to "embellish" our upstairs.  With a red dry erase marker.  On multiple surfaces.  Elizabeth volunteered to wash it off with a magic eraser, and I thought it was the end of that.  Until... Cleaning the house last Sunday morning, anticipating our Halloween guest,  I was trying to get all the dirty laundry from upstairs in the laundry chute. Like many other times in my life, once I get started on one thing, I easily get distracted by another.  This day was no different.  Not only did I find more "embellishing",

Hidden under a teacup,

and not-so hidden on a closet door,   I found multiple pieces of contraband.  Like this:

I found crayons, markers, pencils AND scissors in William's room. Elizabeth is the only person who is allowed to have pencils in her room. Hmm.   Scissors? really.

Hydrocortisone cream? What in the world was he doing with THAT?? Smearing it into the carpet is my guess.



These.  Contraband of the worst kind. Hidden deep in the bowels of his closet.

I think I have Matt the Contractor to thank for these...

Pink Pigs

Every week at Isabelle's preschool they have a theme, or rather colors/things they are learning about.  Every Thursday we have to dig through her closet and come up with clothing that matches that weeks color.  Orange was hard.
This week, they were learning about the colors: pink and gray, and making crafts with pigs and mice.  Wednesday was Isabelle's snack day, and her teacher has requested "healthy" snacks.  Because I am in the running for the Mother of the Year, I racked my brain for a fun, pink pig/ gray mouse themed snack. Do you know how easy it would have been to take pink pig cupcakes?  oh well.
This is what I came up with:

Pink Pig Snacks!

I found pre-sliced ham at Kroger (and yes, I do think it funny...pigs, ham.)  sliced a small horn of cheese and cut out circles just the right size for the snouts, attached the triangle shaped triscuits with "spray cheese", used black gel decorating frosting for the eyes and nostrils.

Cuter than I expected!

Where is that Mother of the Year award? hmm? Where is the trophy? Blue ribbon? Box of chocolates? Wine of the month club? Anything??

Tee Bee and DVR

Jackson does not watch T.V. Ever. Anything.  I know some of you may be thinking: "That's great!". 
Yeah.
Not so much.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I have some things I need to get done.  Like shower.  And pee. Perhaps load the dishwasher with out someone unloading faster than I am loading.  Just perhaps.
When we moved into the house a year ago, (wow!) we decided to get the HD/DVR package in addition to our regular dish programming. We love, love, love DVR.  We record many movies and the kids can watch what they want, when we want!  Any how, back to Jackson.  We recorded this awhile back:

SPIRIT

Stallion of the Cimarron

Isabelle was watching the other day, and OH MY GOODNESS, Jackson stopped jumping off the couch/railing/chair and watched.

And now? Every waking moment?

"Mama?"

"Teebee?"

"Hosee?"

"Mote?"

"Mama?"

"Hosee?"

"Whatch hosee moobee"

"Hosee"

"Whatch hosee"

"Mote? Mote? Mote?"

"Hosee"

The best part? Watching his face while he watches the movie-priceless!

Happy Halloween!

I have not posted in awhile.  Not because I'm way to busy, or because nothing has been happening.  The same shenanigans I usually post about still occur daily in our home.  I have not posted because I'm not in the mood.  Yup.  I have a headache. Or toothache rather.  I'll tell you all about it.  When I get in the mood.

Sunday we had our neighborhood trick or treating, with our friends meeting back at our house for hot dogs and sloppy Joe's.  The kids think it is the funnest thing to dress up, AND get candy.  I love the hour they are all gone!

In typical Sarah fashion, Elizabeth's costume was pulled together 20 minutes before they were to leave.  She loved being a gypsy, and has already decided that next year, she wants to be a pirate.

William decided a while back that he wanted to be a "student".  School uniform? check. Glasses? check.

Isabelle was our little lion.  A little mascara and some whiskers and she was delighted.

Jackson's costume? Halloween themed jammies from Walmart.  Works for me, and his siblings loved it.

We then tried to get a photo off all of them together....

As good as it got!

Jackson hopped on the wagon and snuggled up.  He is such a big boy already!

Wrapped up with her best friend in the whole world....

And they are OFF!