33!

It's my birthday, Yay!

Our Christmas:

cookies for Santa

dreaming

Jeremy hard at working building many Playmobil sets

waiting patiently in the hall while Jeremy and I get the camera and coffee ready on Christmas morning

Yay!

Theo really wanted a black dragon!

and new Automoblox

Carter loved her gift from Uncle Trevor and Kendra

Carter and cousin Chloe sing Christmas songs

My kids with their cousin's
(Baby Piper, Chloe, Carter, Cooper and Theo)



and oddly there are no pictures of adults, we were having too much fun watching our kids faces light up!

This morning in the early hours, I noticed that Theo had once again crawled into our bed and as I was carrying him back to his room I said "Theo I love you so much, I am so glad that God put you in our family" and my sleepy guy said "No, Santa put me in the family".  Good grief, it seems that no matter how many times I told Theo what Christmas was really about, the big jolly man who left too many presents trumps all!

and then there was just garland...

The kids were so happy playing with new toys that I took all of our Christmas decorations down except for Theo's garland and that is only because our recycle bin is completely overflowing!  I tend to clean up Christmas stuff really early for three reason's, one is that my birthday is December 31st and I never like to have Christmas stuff up for it and the few days after Christmas the kids are so content and quiet that it gives me plenty of time to get the house back in order without many interruptions, and third I am get very anxious when things are out of order or messy and although I love real Christmas trees the pine needles drive me crazy!

already!

Our tree already looks like this...and Santa hasn't even come yet!

make room for the stable!

I came home form work Monday night (at 11:30pm!) and saw this:



It turns out someone does read my blog (thanks mom) and saw that I needed the stable. 



It used to look like this, but now we are all complete! (my mom is the greatest!)

Snowflake Lane

Bellevue does a sweet little celebration every night that includes music, dressed up character's and fake snow and the best lollipops ever, candy cane tootsie pops, YUM!  As we were leaving the festivities however, Carter asked why we were leaving before all the fun stuff, I mentioned that we saw it all.  I guess when you are born and raised  (5+ yrs.) in New York City where they go ALL out crazy for Christmas and everything is done outrageously well, a few dressed up people and 2 minutes of fake snow just doesn't cut it!

The. Best. Advent. Calendar. Ever.

Dragon Playmobil (of course!)

'tis the season for ugly sweaters!

I totally love this guy, ugly sweater and all!
(for the record I was wearing an ugly sweater too but it was very hot and I prefered my glittery top instead)

Jeremy's brother Tyler couldn't decide which sweater he liked better so he wore both!

The world according to Theo

Every once in awhile I build this for Theo play in.

I snuck a peek inside his "house" and saw some of his beloved item's:
1. Playmobil dragon Advent calendar that he literally sleeps with every night
2. A present that is supposed to be under the tree that has Theo's name on it
3.  A Mack truck toy from the movie Cars
4. Dragon Playmobil computer game
(The kids are HUGE Dragon Playmobil fans right now, can you tell?)

Why stop at 24 links?  apparently, Theo liked doing this so much at school that his teachers let him keep going and going and going!

Theo sings.

What I love about Theo's preschool is that they celebrate Christmas and they celebrate BIG time, they are not politically correct, they are not worried about offending anyone because Theo's preschool screams "Jesus is the reason for the season" because that is the reason for Christmas after all.  I got to shed some proud mommy tears as I watched my cow licked messy haired three year old sing some cute Christmas songs and do some silly little moves which were not even close to being on target with the rest of his class but wonderful nonetheless.  It was just me and my girl and despite being really bummed that the Grandma's and Jeremy could not make it, we had a lovely time.  Carter got all decked out in her Christmas outfit, tacky sneakers and all and my sweet boy was in his red plaid shirt and dress pants with a belt.  I apparently (it's not the first time) held my camera sideways as I videotaped party of it and I don't think there is a way to flip it, so if you want to cock you head to the side you can see Theo perform. 
Merry Christmas, can you believe it's only eight days away?

also...

I am at loss as to what to get Jeremy for Christmas.  He needs "casual" clothes and I highlight that because I have never seen Jeremy in a non-collared shirt, he feels best in a suit and he also prefers to buy his own clothes.  I am getting him an subscription to Architectural Digest but I really want him to have something to open on Christmas.  What are you getting your husbands?

I am three years into my parenting venture as Theo's mom and I finally realized (Thanks to Sal Severe and his book "How to behave so your preschooler will, too") that I am parenting him the same way I parent Carter.  Theo and Carter are so different. I need to change my way of thinking instead of changing Theo.
I have been highlighting this book like crazy but what most stuck out was this quote: "Your child's behavior is often the result of the interaction between his temperament and your parenting style" and  "adjusting your parenting style to accommodate your preschooler's temperament is a productive strategy; labeling your child is not."  It looks like I need a parental adjustment and hopefully better behavior will follow from Theo.  Thanks for your many words of encouragement and prayers, the past few days have been great!

fun with food!



My friend in NY sent this to Theo for his 3rd birthday, it has been one of the best gifts ever!



I found the girl version last week for Carter.

Eating has never been so much fun!
(Breakfast and lunch only, nice manners are saved for dinner )

We can have fun on boring white plates too!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Decorating our weird tree (notice the odd top?).



Our Nativity scene, still getting pieces every year, I need the stable.




A yearly tradition, Christmas jammies on the night we decorate the tree!
I found these on sale at Hanna Andersson outlet in Woodinville, so cute.




Carter's new ornament, because she rides the bus and does great in school!




Theo's new ornament a car w/ the number 3 on it and a ornament Carter made for me (the red beaded one).




My favorite ornament's a Starbucks coffee mug and NYC taxi and Theo's dinosaur ornament from last year.



Another favorite, glass Christmas house.



Carter's favorite part of the tree, another past ornament a dalmatian since Carter loves them! (another Starbucks cup)




Exhausted after decorating but resting while watching Home Alone.



rain

It's raining and raining and raining here, roads are closed, streets are blocked and by some miracle we are the only ones on our street who's bathtub did not over flow with sewage (yucky).





*our tree is up, new ornaments are on it and the kids got their yearly set of Christmas jammies, pictures coming soon!

I am feeling much better!

I am just going to be really honest here...I feel like I am failing my son as a parent.  I am exhausted, I mean really really exhausted, I want to throw in the towel.  Theo is testing my patience, wearing me down, making life really hard right now.  I am so grumpy today after a two and half hour battle to get Theo to sleep. He trashed his room countless times, threw blankets, at one point he even took his crib mattress off his car bed and pulled out the wooden boards. He feel asleep at 10pm and was up at 6am, ready to go.  He hits ALL.THE.TIME, he whines ALL.THE.TIME, he is rude, he is disrespectful, he is bored, angry etc. Time outs don't work, spankings don't work, redirection barely works, movies don't work, what can I do? I am on my knees, bawling my eyes out.  I have no idea as a parent what to do and although I love Theo deeply it is very hard to show love when I am so exhausted. 
I always envisioned this beautiful life where my kids would get along and we would have a lovely life, of course I expected squabbles here and there but my kids fight ALL.THE.TIME.  They never share, they fight over pink cups, green plates, who has more water, who got a bigger cookie or even carrot stick.  They don't seem to like each other.  Carter cannot share, she is on the edge of her seat when she does homework if Theo even gets within 4 feet of her room because she doesn't want him to touch anything in there.  Theo will just walk by and rip the pencil out of her hand or hit her while she is doing her homework, it never stops.  I feel like a failure as a parent, why are my kids like this?  No consequences seem to change behavior, there are times I want to put myself in a timeout just to get a break.  I read parenting books, I pray, I try to get breaks here and there.  People tell me it is normal but this cannot be normal because I am going to lose it if it is. I see other kids and families and they are not ripping eachother's eyes out. What can I do? What are they doing that we are not?  I am very aware that Jeremy is rarely home and that could contribute to some of this horrible behavior and my exhaustion, it won't change until he graduates and even then he needs to find a M-F job.  I want my kids to be loving, kind and considerate.  I want to enjoy my kids.  I want there to be less battles.  I want Theo to not be so destructive, to not hit, to listen and to be obedient.  I want more patience, I want to be firm.  I want  to at least know what to do when he hits and how to teach him to stop.  I just want to like my kids again and have fun with them.  Advice?

yum

Look what is back at Trader Joe's?  Joe-Joe's!.

Lucky

Honestly,  luck has nothing to do with it.  I am a very blessed woman!

voodoo the total Portland experience!

waiting in line

so the donut's were only okay, but the fun is in the experience!

Portland pictures!

the kid's had a blast

we love street food!

playing Kinect, so fun!

Portland zoo Christmas lights

the park across from Trevor's apartment