Mr. Christmas is here!!

It snowed over the weekend...not a lot but there was a dusting. It was icky wet snow so not fun to play in.  But when Gavin woke up from nap and saw the big snow flakes he exclaimed, "SANTA IS HERE!!!" I guess we told him or he heard somewhere that when it snowed that meant Santa was here. So in a rush I grabbed some paper, wrote a letter from Santa and left the letter and Elf on the Shelf on table so Gavin could find it! WHEW! So Santa WAS here but isn't any longer *sigh* lol

We read the book to Gavin and explained to him why the Elf was here. Gavin named him Mr. Christmas ;-) Fitting...don't you think? :-D

On Sunday the newspaper came with all the inserts including a Toys R' Us toy catalog. Gavin got a pen and started circling things he wanted. Adorable!! He then would either go up to Mr. Christmas and tell him what he wanted or would take catalog and show him so he could pass the message along to Santa. For a while all we heard was, "Mr. Christmas, I would like a drum set please. ok? ok thank you" or "Mr. Christmas, I would like this radio...see it here in the picture?" or "Mr. Christmas, I would like these speakers. Thank you!"

ADORABLE!!! I am going to try to catch this on video because it melts my heart :-)  Mr. Christmas has also been helpful when we need Gavin to listen and be on good behavior, hehe

Thank you Mr. Christmas!

"Is Santa Here?!"

Last year Gavin knew who Santa was but didn't really get it. This year....he gets it!!! He has been asking for a drum set since summer. He then saw one at Toys R' Us and has talked about it ever since. He tells us, 'I want the big black drum, with the little drum and the snare drum and the cymbal." While we were in SC, we went over to my brother Thomas's house and his 3 y/o son had a simliar drum set. Gavin was over the moon! That drum was very loud but the smile and excitement on his face made it somewhat bearable lol

So Marcin and I kept telling him that if he is a good listener that maybe Santa will bring him a drum set for Christmas. The other night I was tucking Gavin into bed and singing him Twinkle Twinkle when he interrupts me by telling that Santa is going to bring him drums because he is a good listener. And that Santa will bring Mama, Tata, Jakob and Kaleb drums too if they are good listeners. He went on and on about the drums. I told him that the next day we could write Santa a letter and send it to him at the North Pole. Gavin replied, "Thats a GREAT idea Mom!" So we did. I had Gavin draw pictures of the things he wanted Santa to bring him. He drew 3 black circles for the drums and a yellow circle for the cymbal. He also drew the foot pedal and drum sticks. He then asked me to draw a microphone and a guitar. I drew the outline of the guitar and he politely told me I forgot the strings. He finished the guitar for me :-) We put the letter in the mailbox yesterday. We checked it today in case Santa writes him back. I think Santa will write him back Thursday or Friday :-)

Marcin's idea is to have Santa write him back and send the 'Elf on the Shelf' to watch over Gavin for Santa since he is so busy getting ready for Christmas.

This is going to be a long two months until Christmas!! Each morning and afternoon that Gavin has woken up he asked me, "Is it Christmas?" or "Is Santa here?" And when I say not yet, he explains to me, "Santa is faaaaarrr away at his house in North Pole. He is building toys for boys & girls." Sometimes Gavin will look up in the sky to see if he can find Santa.

I love this kid!!!! Christmas is going to be so much fun this year!!! And next year even more fun when J&K get it :-)

Let the bribing for good behavior begin LOL

South Carolina!

We had a great time in South Carolina with family and friends! As usual, we didn't get to see everyone but we did our best. It is not easy getting out with 3 boys, especially working around J&K's two naps per day :-P

The drive took us 12 hours to get there....of course the day did not start off too great :/ J&K were up before 6:00 a.m., Jakob woke with a 101 fever and was not a happy camper, Kaleb didn't want to eat breakfast and Gavin...well he was under the impression that Pop Pop and Gigi's house was not very far away. We had just turned out of our neighborhood and Gavin says' Where is Pop Pop and Gigi's house?! And we heard that at least a hundred more times in 12 hours :-P But the boys did a great job on the way there and back. We stopped 2-3 times each way so we could all stretch legs. I think Jakob is pretty much done with the carseat for the remainder of his life, he screams when I put in it now. Oh well, such as life lol

My dad and Gay have done an amazing job on their house! I won't give the entire back story but this house has been a work in progress for over 2 years!!! the right side was the orginal house that was renovated. The left side if the new part. I don't know how they did it but the colors, paint, furniture...all of it came together so brilliantly! Here is a pic of the outside....my dad wanted it high enough to park his Motorcoach, (or the "school bus") as Gavin called it, underneath.

We drove down on a Thursday for my cousin's wedding. We went to the rehearsal dinner at Dockside, great little seafood place that I kept telling my dad I had never been too but he said I had. Don't you know...he was right :-P The cornbread taste like cake...delicious!!! I REALLY want fried shrimp and scallops BUT because of my Medifast (yes I stuck to it pretty well while we were away but I will talk about that later) diet, I ordered steamed shrimp...Marcin said mine was better because he ordered the fried shrimp and scallops lol Saturday was the wedding, it was a gorgeous day for an outside wedding. Gay and I decided we want to get married there! The wedding was at my Aunt&Uncle house (groom's parents), right on the river in Beaufort. And older historic home, lights strung, buffet set up with fried green tomatoes and just a beautiful setting! I got to see and re-meet a lot of old friends that I haven't seen in many, many years! It was a lot of fun!

We made it to my grandfathers house so he could meet J&K. He and his wife, Lana really seemed to enjoy meeting J&K and seeing Gavin, and us of course but really, it's all about the kids :-P I also learned Paula Deen lives a few house down from them....who knew?! That is 4 generations in the pictures, isn't that amazing?!

Marcin and I made a few trips to the outlets!! We went the first time with the boys and the whole family! I hit up the Palmetto Moon Store and got all my South carolina goodies! Marcin went straight for Under Armour! Then we back a few days later just the two of us and I was treated to a Michael Kors bag! I love it....it is just the right size for nights out for my phone, wallet and gloss :-) And we had to take Gavin crabbin' off the dock! Dad and Gay pulled out the crab nets, defrosted some bait and we waited for the tide the next morning! It was chilly down on the water and of course after about 10 minutes, Gavin was done but he toughed it out and stayed on the dock to check the nets. We ended up with 5 crabs...took them inside, cooked them and Marcin ate them for lunch lol I told Gavin Tata was going to eat them for lunch and he said 'GROSS! I can't like crabs for lunch. They are icky!"

Before.....

After....nom nom!

There was ALOT of good food over our trip....red velvet cake, a delicious pound cake Gay made, muffins, went out to eat a few times, pizza, pecan crusted chicken, prime rib, fried green tomatoes, key lime pie, lemon meringue pie, mountain butter....you name it. It was hard but I stuck to Medifast as best I could. If I veered off, I would eat a small portion of what I wanted. That being said...I very reluctantly got on the scale Saturday and had lost still managed to lose 3 lbs! And then I got on again today on my official weigh in day to see I had lost another pound! Not super great but all thing considered, I will take it! That puts me at a total loss of 8lbs in 4 weeks. Along with an inch gone from bust, hips and thighs. As you may guess, the waist line did not shrink...hmph, stupid twin skin...GO AWAY! lol

The most exciting news for me this past weekend besides a super fun sesame street birthday party (seriously...the host, awesome cook! I had a few bites of her goodies too!) was the fact that I was able to wear a pair of jeans I have not been able to fit into since october 2009! WHOOP WHOOP!!! I was so excited!! I tried on another 2 pair of my oldies but goodies...yep they fit too!!!!!

Ok got to go....I have spent way too much time on here doing facebook pics and blogging! must get dinner started before my lovelies wake up!

Week 2....

...... minus 4 lbs! I'll take it! So far it's not too bad. Especially since I made my modifications :-) I usually have one scrambled egg and a whole grain toast for breakfast. My coffee...of course. Much needed with 3 wild boys lol Then I do 3 Medifast meals, my own dinner....really I eat whatever everyone else is eating but small portion and then a Medifast snack before bed. I am sure if I followed the plan 100% I may have lost more but I am happy with 4. It worked for me and because of that, I am more motivated to stick with it :-)

We took J&K to the ENT doctor today for a follow up hearing test and ear check from their tube surgery. Their ears look perfect! what a relief! They are both pulling on one ear and I was worried but they suggested it could be from teething...which I know this but all the same, ear issues + pulling on ear = immediately think ear infection. So very relieved to know all looks good in their ears :-)

They are both off Prevacid for their reflux also!! I started weaning Jakob a few weeks ago and he did great with it. Then I started with Kaleb and also no problems, whew!!! Thats's some extra money in the bank for us! We are hoping to get rid of their bedtime bottle when we get back from South Carolina in a couple weeks! ::sniff sniff:: as much as I have looked forward to being done with formula, bottles and prevacids...it also means my babies are growing up : / It will be nice to put away the bottle drying rack and get that counter space back! We are going through about 4-5 gallons of milk a week, not bad and much cheaper than formula :-)

Gavin amazes me every day! Today he sat quietly at the table for 20 minutes drawing pictures of me, Jakob and Kaleb. And he even had the eyes and mouth in the right place! Then he proceeded to use his scissors to make volcanoes. He would tell me when it was safe for me to touch the volcanoe and whether it was too hot to touch or not. Like I said, I don't know if he is just maturing or school is playing part....probably a bit of both but the past couple of weeks he has been so much fun! And a much better listener ( i just jinxed myself but that's ok lol)!

I cannot believe it is time for us to get ready to make the drive to South Carolina! I started all my lists over the weekend...I feel pretty prepared. A person should feel prepared when they have 3 lists going so they don't forget things, right?! I went shopping last night for a couple of car activities for Gavin, some drinks and snacks for the cooler. Now I just pray for a safe drive....I get a little anxious making long trips on interstates. It's the other drivers that make me nervous...you know the ones who are not paying attention, driving at warp speeds and all that. I really hope the boys all have a good day and don't get too angry at us for keeping them stuffed in the car all day : / But it's not the end of the world and they will be fine...Marcin and I will probably need a couple of drinks by the end of the day but we will survive :-)

Thank goodness my dad and Gay already have 2 cribs at their house (THANK YOU!!!), crib sheets, high chairs, diapers, wipes, plates, utensils, sippy cups and all those things that we don't have to pack or worry about! Gay even text me yesterday that they had a baby gate for the steps....I swear I thought she must have been reading my mind because I had just added that my packing list! And they are going to get a few groceries for us so we won't have to worry about that once we get there. We are thankful for those things because it is going to be a long day and that is a lot of things we will not to have worry about :-)

My bestest friend/cousin (it's her brother that is getting married) is bringing us a red velvet cake. This cake is hands down THE best red velvet cake we've ever had. She originally got it for my bridal shower and it was delicious! Most red velvet cakes I get, the icing is just too sweet. This place gets it just right...it is perfect! Marcin and I talked about that cake for a long time and then she brought it again for Gavin's baby shower. And once more last time we were down there. I even checked their website to see if I could have one shipped to Delaware LOL Mind you...this cake is NOT a part of my diet plan but I will be having a sliver (or two) of this cake. Maybe I won't eat the entire day but this is just not something that can be passed up lol If you are ever in Charleston, go here and get this cake!
http://www.sugarbake.com/home.html

I doubt I will have time to get back here until after we get back....lots of laundry to do, lots to pack and I would like to clean this house. I hate coming home to a disaster of a house after a vacation :-)

This will be our view on Friday when we wake up.....I love to see the sun coming up over the river (which of course I will since the boys will definitely be up before the sun lol)

My dad even suggested bringing our swimsuits because it has been warm enough to get in the pool...sounds fabulous to me!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Dieting, Road trips and Life :-)

I have been very frustrated with myself and my body. I just cannot remember to eat. Then I eat larger portions (bad to do) and then I don't want to eat again until I remember that I am starving...and the process starts again. I know all of this but it is just so busy with the kids that I can't keep it together on a daily basis. I will have a couple good days and then not so good days. As a result I have only lost 4-5 pounds, not where I wanted to be at this time.

So I knew a couple of people who had success with Medifast. I thought about it for a bit and thought about it some more. I really don't like those types of diets. I have always believed that you need to learn how to eat better so that the weight stays off once you lose it. I feel like on the 'diets' people lose it but it eventually always come right back. Medifast seemed simple enough.....you eat 5 of their meals and one of your own. Your own meal being a lean protein and 1/2 cup of veggies. No beverages other than water or what they sell. Easy enough right? hmph....I started this past Monday, it was not a good day. I had their spiced pancakes for breakfast (pretty good actually), a yummy peanut butter crunch bar for snack, soup for lunch, honey mustard pretzels for snack. And pork tenderloin with veggies for dinner. after dinner I was....STARVING!!! I had been starving all day. Now I was aware that it would take my body a few days to become accustomed to this new way of eating. But seriously...by the end of the night I was light headed and had a huge headache. This is not healthy. Did I mention that the Medifast meals range from 60-100 calories a PIECE!? no wonder I was starving. {EDIT} I went off on a tangent and didn't finish my thought about learning how to eat better. Being that I am clearly out of practice on this, I thought the Medifast idea would be a good way for me to get back on track. I am hoping that after a couple months of eating the smaller meals 5-6 times, it will again become routine for me. Still not a huge fan of this type of diet but I tried it on my own and didn't do so well, so here it goes!

So the next day I decided this plan needed to be modified to better fit MY needs. I decided to do 4 of their meals and 2 of my own. Breakfast is a really important meal...it needs to be healthy and satisfying. After all, this is starting your day (and metabolism) off on the right foot. So on Tuesday I had my own breakfast of 1 whole egg & 1 egg white scrambled with a tomato & my coffee of course! I will not give up my coffee! Tuesday was MUCH better. I had eggs for breakfast, 4 of their meals and my own dinner. I felt more satisfied throughout the day, kept my calories below 1200 (according to fitness pal) and did not get a headache :-P

Now let's see if my 4:2 Medifast plan works!! I do like the food so far, it has been pretty tasty. I had to draw the line at powdered eggs...I cannot eat powdered eggs!!! I have been drinking alot more water...which I also needed to do. I sometimes set the microwave timer to remind myself to eat every 2-3 hours. haha isn't that funny that I actually have to remind myself...who would have thought that day would happen?!

I weigh myself on Monday, we shall see if I have lost anything.

Although I probably started this at the wrong time (is there really ever a good time to start a diet? I could come up with a million excuses to delay LOL). We are driving to South Carolina next Thursday! My cousin is getting married AND J&K get to meet all of their family 'down south.' I am so excited to get down there....we haven't been since April 2010 which is probably the longest amount of time that I have been away from the Lowcountry. My dad and Gay's house is pretty much finished (finally!) so we get to see that, my dad has a small 'digger' for gavin to ride on (This is a dream come true for him at this point in his life!) and the babies get to meet everyone! And Marcin and I get to see everyone...very, very very excited for this trip!!! NOT so excited for the 10-11 hour drive with the boys but I will have plenty of junk snacks, DVD's, toys, ipad, cell phones, activities for everyone that will hopefully keep them entertained with little to no meltdowns! And honestly, they might as well get used to the drive because purchasing plane tickets for a family of five....$$$$$$$!!!!! I see lots of driving in our future :-)

Brace yourself.....I have not started my packing list! For those of you that know me well, this is very unusual for me. I just haven't had the time. Nor am I as stressed over it because we are staying my dad and Gay's house...so really anything we need will either already be there (Thank y'all!!!!) or we can run out and get it. I just need to remember monitors, all 700 blankies/pillows, noise machines and dark sheets to cover the windows so the kids will sleep! OH and camera....there will be LOTS of pictures to be taken :-)

I hope to get my list going this weekend after the church resale saturday. We have a dining room full of toys....yes just toys to sell!! I really hope most of them sale. We also have some other baby stuff and a few house things. Whatever doesn't sell, Marcin's parents will try to sell at their yard sale in a few weeks and the rest will either be consigned or donated. It just needs to get OUT of the house....you know to make room for Christmas stuff LOL

J&K seem to be doing great after their tubes. Jakob stopped toppling over...much to our relief :-P Jakob also seems to be ready to drop his morning nap. Kaleb....not so much lol Kaleb has always been ready for a nap within a couple hours of waking up while Jakob could wait almost 3 hours before getting tired. So I am not surprised but it makes for an interesting day. Gone are my days of having all 3 boys down for their naps at same time. Which is fine...another adjustment in the routine. Kaleb will eventually drop his morning nap. In the meantime it gives Jakob some time with yours truly and he can play with all the toys without anyone taking it from him :-) We plan to take the bedtime bottle away after our trip to South Carolina. Kaleb won't miss it...Jakob will definitely miss it lol But they are doing so well with milk in sippy that they really don't need the bottle anymore. SO happy that transition was/is going so easily! I had two bottle drying racks in the kitchen and was able to put one away. It seemed like I had so much more counter space....imagine when I can put the other one away?! lol
Kaleb has really taken to books lately (he must get this from his cousin Kalina and me too, I love to read!) I gave him this when he got in the car and he didn't put it down until I took him out of carseat :-) He will sit and 'read' all the books at home also, so cute!!!

Gavin is doing better at school. He has been going for 2 months and today when we were getting ready, he only told me once that he didn't want to go. This is progress everyone.....big progress. I think he is enjoying the new school also. They started Letter week. This week is the letter 'A' so all the kids had to bring in something that started with the letter "a" for show and tell. He comes home singing all sorts of songs, pretending to be the teacher while J&K listen to him reading a book. He has also been sitting still....I don't know if this a result of school or him just getting older. But he will sit still and actually work on something for 10 minutes (that's a long time for Gav lol).

Marcin and I have our 6th wedding anniversary coming up saturday october 8! Doesn't seem possible that it has been 6 years! My sister in law and her hubby just celebrated their 20th yesterday, what a great milestone and lots of hard work I would imagine. Marriage are work....but is another blog altogether :-)

Have a great day everyone, I will leave you with this yummy treat my younger brother, Reh, shared with me. A Bourbon Pumpkin Pie Grown Up Milkshake, nom nom! We will be making these at Thanksgiving in the mountains in North Carolina....aaahhhh, can't wait to get there either!!!!
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/09/grown-up-pumpkin-pie-milkshakes/

It's Fall!!!

The only thing missing today was the sun but the cool weather, football in the background and we went to Milburn Orchards today. I seriously, love love love this season! AND our anniversary is coming up on October 8 :-D 6 years.....crazy!!

It has been raining so Milburn was a little soggy BUT because alot of the activities like the inflatables and haunted house weren't open, the admission price was FREE!!! works for us! Gavin only really cares about the maze, animals and climbing on the tractors, hehe It was still a fun time...J&K and rode in the wagon ( I finally remembered it this year!!) We met some friends there who also have kids close in age of ours. Gavin fed the goats. We got our fill of apple cider donuts, YUMMY!

And of course the pumpkin family pic (thanks chris!!!)

And last night we went out to dinner with some friends and then went bowling! So much fun! I haven't been bowling in a long time and I completely stink at it :-P It is still fun though! I have never really been much of a competitive person so I just go to play and have fun. I did get two strikes, YAY ME!!!! But I never broke a 100, oh well. It was still fun to go out with friends and do something different!

All in all a fun weekend!!! We have so much going on the next couple of months...we have something every single weekend until the 1st of December :-) Somehow this happens every year but no complaints here!

talk about procrastination! (and well...being busy!)

HA!! I have been reading the Game of Thrones series ( I am on 3rd book) and now I can't put it down! So instead of blogging, I have been reading :-) The first book was very slow with many many many characters. If Marcin and I hadn't watched the first season of the series on HBO, I would not have stuck with it. Not really my type of read but since I knew it got better, I stuck with it! So glad I did!!! Being that the books are close to 1000 pages a piece....it takes me longer than 3-4 days to finish ( :-P I am fast reader!)

We are all doing great!!! Gavin seems to really enjoy his new school. He has brought home 4 pictures/crafts already! Tells me he has a new friend named Anna and was showing me yesterday how to hop like a frog and sing a long. He is still a bundle of non-stop energy but he actually sat down the other day a few times to play with play doh, take apart and put together a digger he got for his birthday and singing a song while doing a craft. Could this be the beginning of him sitting still for a bit? I like it! lol We went to Chik Fil A's mother/son date Knight...it was so cute and fun!! Gavin loves Red Chicken (aka Chik fila lol). He has called it that for as long as I can remember, hehe So when a friend shared this info on FB, I knew we had to go! They had it all set up....tableclothes, flower centerpieces, candles, someone playing a keyboard, shields, knight crest and some cute packets of information on activities to do with your son, etc. And a horse and carriage ride!

It was a fun night!!! I love when Marcin or I can get out with one child to spend some one on one time with them. They may not seem like they notice it but I know it makes a difference in their little minds when they get us all to theirselves:-)

Kaleb is loving all the push toys we have. We have a couple from Gavin and then the babies got a shopping cart for their birthday. Kaleb will usually push two at a time...little brut! lol He is loving anything he can stack or sort, so cute! And books....he will pull all the books out of the basket and flip through them. I thought he would be walking by now but I guess he figures crawling is faster and well....you need to be fast around here with 2 other brothers going after your toys! He starting to talk/babble so much more and making so many sounds. And laughing...usually Kaleb would silently laugh but lately he has been laughing out loud and I do love that sound! He is definitely the more dominant and serious of the two :-) We have been trying (when I say we....I mean myself, Marcin AND Gavin lol) the boys sign language...just 'all done,' 'more,' 'drink.'
Kaleb decided he would make up his own sign language for 'all done'...he just throws his arms up in the air. Works for me, as long as know what he is saying :-P

Jakob is just plain silly. The kid is always dancing as soon as he hears something resembling music (although his favortie seems to be the Fresh Beat Band :-P) He is usually trying to tackle or wrestle with somone...or crawl up to you really fast and bury his face in your shoulder (giggling the whole time!). Jakob is pretty good with 'all done'....still working on the 'more.' Consistency...they will get there. He is also having fun with the push toys, cruising around. His legs and coordination don't seem quite as strong as Kaleb but that has pretty much been the same since they were born....Kaleb usually gets the hang of things first.

J&K eat pretty much anything we put in front of them which is great but then I also feel like maybe I am not offering them enough variety :-P I must pull out 5-6 different things for each meal/snack and make a huge mess of all the food.

Ok must got and get my coupons in order for my big night of shopping! Did you see there are FOUR inserts in the paper today?! WOO HOO!!!! lol it's the little things.....