As of right now

Eating - frosted mini-wheats

Drinking - ice water

Last Night's Dinner - leftover turkey and mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving

Listening To - The Band Perry

Reading - The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

Doing - cleaning out the play room and getting the Christmas tree decorated

Creating - my December Daily album and Christmas cards

Next Crafty Thing I Want To Explore - using photoshop actions (like the one I used on Jack's photo below this post)

Waiting On - the rest of the Christmas presents I ordered to arrive

Anticipating - tonight's episode of Glee!

Exited About - spending Christmas with just Mark and the kids (and not having to fly anywhere)

Super Thankful For - my two beautiful boys

Watching - Special Agent Oso with the boys

Last Movie Watched - Iron Man 2 on pay-per-view

Next Movie To See - Love and Other Drugs

What I'm Wearing - snowman pajamas pants and a Northrop Grumman t-shirt

To-Do, At This Very Second - get Evan another bowl of cereal

Favorite Photo -

{Evan's interest in books and reading has really taken off lately. He is using his Tag a lot, and is progressing nicely through his Bob Books. I love this photo because of how Evan is sitting... how can that be comfortable?!? But he stayed in this position for almost an hour while reading his Tag books.}

This week.

Jack has been fighting a bad case of bronchiolitis for the past 5 or 6 days, which has put my Thanksgiving plans and preparations on hold. He is on medication and is finally feeling better, but isn't back to his usual spunky self just yet.



This photo was taken the day Mark took him to urgent care. His eyes were so red and puffy and he was just miserable. We spent today relaxing, watching a movie, and trying to get this little guy better. We want him healthy for the holiday on Thursday!

. . .

Karla Dudley is releasing a new kit on Thursday, and I will have a sneak peek for you tomorrow evening. Her new kit is GORGEOUS! You won't be disappointed!

E

Projects & Sick Boys.

With the holidays quickly approaching I am busy making Christmas presents, shopping, creating menus, and checking off things from my to-do list. Here's a peek at one of the projects I'm working on:


{Supplies: Patterned paper, vellum, word strip, and staples: Karla Dudley Designs. "Happy" tag and white photo frame: Katie Pertiet.}

Mark, Evan, and Jack are all sick, so I've been playing nurse-maid for the past few days. Poor Jack has been coughing in his crib for the past hour. I am checking on him regularly, and his cough doesn't seem to effect his sleep, but he sounds horrible. Mark has a cough, too, and Ev has a tummy ache and a mild fever. I must have a super immune system because I don't have any symptoms at all. So I get to wait on my boys until they are better :-)

Have a great week :-)

Erin.

Right now

He:



Taught himself how to read and surprised us with his new skill last week. Mark and I were reading books to him before bed and he started sounding out the words. I grabbed one of his Bob Books, and he read it cover to cover with minimal help from us. Mark and I were speechless! He has read books 1-4 of his Bob Books, and we are going to start book 5 tomorrow before his afternoon rest.

Is thriving in his pre-school classroom and going to school is one of his favorite things every week. He loves being the snack helper and the line leader, and talks about his friends from school constantly.



Has been keeping track of the Mustangs we see while driving to and from school, to the grocery store, etc. He is up to 31... and loves it when we spot a red one just like Grandpa's Mustang.

Loves spending time with Jack, but still has a hard time when Jack takes his toys or gets in his way. We have been talking a lot about appropriate ways to show frustration, anger, and jealousy (and the inappropriate ways to shows those emotions, too), and he is getting much better above using his words rather than whining or stomping off to his bedroom. Having a baby brother can be a challenge, and I understand that Ev needs his space, but taking that frustration out on Jack isn't acceptable. Now he will come up to me and say "Mommy! I am so frustrated right now! Jack keeps taking my toys!" or "Mommy! I don't like that Jack is bugging me! He is making me upset!" And we go from there. Usually Evan has his toys lined up a certain way, or he is playing a game and Godzilla, I mean Jack, walks/crawls/stomps through his stuff and Frustrated Evan emerges. Evan has made a lot of progress in this area, and I am so very proud of him. I think having the ability to recognize emotions and express them to me, without whacking Jack, is impressive for a four year old.

Continues to make me laugh.

Loves to give hugs.

Has started called Mark and me "mom" and "dad", not "mommy" and "daddy".

Is my crazy, loud, spunky, opinionated, sweet 4.5 year old, and I love him to pieces.

He:

Loves to mimic words and sounds, and is learning new words rapidly. Today he said "please" for the first time and Mark and I started clapping and praising him. He responded by saying "bubble", "purple", and "elbow". He likes words that are two syllables and somewhat repetitive in their sounds. He can say "Evan", "Daaaaaaddy", "eyes", "nose", "toes", "shoe", "sock", "airplane", "door", and "happy", and I'm sure I am forgetting some words. I love how well his language is developing.



Loves to wear things: Evan's green construction goggles, his pretend stethoscope, and my glasses are all favorites of his.

Is walking most of the time now. He still has a significant pronation, but hopefully his orthotics will help correct that. He loves his shoes and if I put a pair on him while we are in the house, he does laps around the couch.



Has many, many nicknames: Jacky, Jacky-boy, Jack-a-roo, Jack-Jack, Jack-a-boo, and Bug-a-boo are a few of my favorites.



Stills adores Pup-pup, but he also loves his hippo, penguin, giraffe, and little pup-pup, too. He loves to hug them while walking around the house, one tucked under each arm. They give him some cushion when he falls down, too, which has saved him from a bruise or two while he's learning to walk.

Loves to be tickled, play peek-a-boo, and push his shopping cart around our play room.

Likes crawling into my lap to give me hugs and kisses when I am sitting on the floor playing with him. When I ask for a kiss he usually smiles and leans his forehead in so I can kiss him there.

They:

Get along most of the time. I try to give both of them their space, and allow Evan to escape to the kitchen or his room if he needs a break, but I also encourage them to work out their disagreements.

Are very loud during meal time. I must say "quiet down, please" 100 times per day. They aren't being naughty... just loud. Talking, squealing, laughing, giggling, and making boy noises, of course :-)





Make my heart happy.

Feeling Thankful.

Thankful for my little boy who is learning how to read.

Thankful for how cuddly and snugly my Jack-Jack is.

Thankful for my husband & how hard he works both at the office and at home.

Thankful that I have two boys who love to crawl into my lap and have me read to them.

Thankful for parents who love and support my family.

Thankful I have friends I can scrap with, laugh with, and hang out with.

Thankful for my happy little life.

Halloween 2010

We had a wonderful day on Sunday as we celebrated Halloween with some family friends. For the last two months Evan has talked non-stop about his Police Officer costume, and he was super excited to finally get to wear it trick-or-treating. I found an adorable puppy costume at Gymboree for Jack, who loved going door to door with the bid kids. He wasn't interested in holding his treat bucket or collecting candy, but he loved walking from house to house & smiling at the adults passing out candy.



















I love this picture of the boys. This was taken at a local park & it was the first time I had two fully mobile kids to look after. I realized that I can't be in two places at once & keeping track of both Ev and Jack was hard! Luckily Evan likes to play with Jack, so they were together for some of the time.



Evan had a spirit day at school today & had to wear his spirit shirt for the spirit assembly. He loves spirit day & talked my ear off about it on the drive home.






And this little guy loves going to school and dropping off/picking up Evan. He smiles at Mrs. Metz, talks to the other kids, and loves to walk the halls while we wait.

Karla Dudley is releasing a new kit tomorrow called Our Story (sold at Design House Digital). The papers are so beautiful & I love the flower sitckers and brushes.


(Supplies - Patterned paper: Our Story. White stitching: Digi Essentials. Tape: Digi Essentials 3
"Everyday" brush: Our Story. Flower sticker: Our Story. Vellum flowers: Our Story. Font: Georgia.)

Good night!